Projects

Projects

Goes to Cannes

The Exposure

Category: Solothurn Goes to Cannes

Directed by: Thomas Imbach

Produced by: Thomas Imbach; Andrea Staka; Okofilm Productions, Zurich; Dan Wechsler; Prestige Films, London

Country of production: Switzerland/United Kingdom

Language: German

“Never will I sell myself. I’ll give myself away.” Lili, daughter of a gambling lawyer, is torn between family ruin and personal disgrace.

Goes to Cannes

The Laundry

Category: Solothurn Goes to Cannes

Directed by: Zamo Mkhwanazi

Produced by: Philippe Coeytaux - AKKA Films / Zamo Mkhwanazi - KUDE Media / Jim Stark

Country of production: Switzerland – South Africa

Original title: Uhlanjululo

Language: Zulu , Afrikaans and English

Runtime: 100'

South Africa 1968. Khuthala hates the family-owned laundry. But as the apartheid government cracks down on Black business ownership, Khuthala is torn between chasing his music dreams and fighting the injustice that threatens the business that is the sole means of support and glue of his family.

Goes to Cannes

Do you Believe in Angels, Mr. Drowak? (Working Title)

Category: Solothurn Goes to Cannes

Directed by: Nicolas Steiner

Produced by: Pascal Nothdurft & Marc Müller-Kaldenberg; Zieglerfilm Baden-Baden (Germany); Katrin Renz tellfilm (Switzerland)

Country of production: Germany & Switzerland

Original title: Sie glauben an Engel, Herr Drowak? (working title)

Language: German

Runtime: 110'

Welcome to the grim world of Hugo Drowak. A misanthrope, boozer, and stinking old good-for-nothing. We invite you on a fanciful journey replete with romance, gloom, and poetry. A story about longing. Starring Luna Wedler, Karl Markovics, Lars Eidinger, Dominique Pinon, Jan Bülow

Cannes Docs

A FACE TO BE LOVED

Original title: Jag har ett ansikte för att bli älskad

Directed by: Angelica Ruffier

Produced by: Brynhildur Þórarinsdóttir, Marta Dauliūtė (MDEMC, Sweden)

Country of production: Sweden

Runtime: 80'

Expected release: February, 2026

Production stage: Development

Budget: €417 000 (19% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents, Distributors, Buyers, Co-Producers

Synopsis:

While emptying her childhood home after her estranged father’s death, Angelica recalls a fierce and solitary love she had for her history teacher, Miss S. As her list of duties never seems to diminish, an intense desire grows in Angelica: to meet her again.

Director’s profile:

Angelica Ruffier is a screenwriter, director, and documentary filmmaker, born in Luleå Sweden, raised in France and living in Sweden since 2017. Angelica holds a master’s degree in documentary film direction from Stockholm University of the Arts (2021-23) and has also completed the documentary program at Biskops Arnö Folk High School (2017-18). She also possesses a degree in graphic design from École Supérieure d’Art et Design Grenoble-Valence in France (2010-13). Angelica has directed, edited, and produced the short films “From Here and Back Again” (2019), “Stranger” (2020), and “People at the Recycling Market ” (2023). Since 2019, she has been developing the documentary “The Strikers” in collaboration with Helena Molin and Olga Ruin, as well as the documentary “A Face to Be Loved,” both under the production company MDEMC.

Producer’s profile:

Brynhildur Þórarinsdóttir (born in Iceland 1991) holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Stockholm University and a master’s degree in film production from Stockholm University of the Arts. She has produced the shorts “Babes Roll Out” (2017), “Real Mother” (2018), and “Donkeyland” (2023), and also worked as a production manager in the film and TV industry. She is currently serving as an associate producer at the Swedish production company Garagefilm International.

Marta Dauliūtė (born and raised in Lithuania 1984) holds a master’s degree in film directing and production from the Valand Academy. Since 2010, she has been co-running the production company MDEMC and has directed and produced several films that have been screened at Hot Docs, DOK Leipzig, Kasseler Dokfest, Transmediale and Thessaloniki IFF amongst other. She has also been working as an intimacy coordinator since 2020.

Cannes Docs

ONLY ON EARTH

Original title: Only on Earth

Directed by: Robin Petré

Produced by: Malene Flindt Pedersen, Signe Skov Thomsen (Hansen & Pedersen, Denmark); Carles Brugueras, Marieke van den Bersselaar (Polar Star Films, Spain)

Country of production: Denmark, Spain

Runtime: 90' / 58'

Expected release: January, 2025

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €1 069 035 (70% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festivals, Gap Financing, Buyers, Distributors

Synopsis:

A journey deep into southern Galicia, one of Europe’s most vulnerable wildfire zones, during the hottest summer ever measured. Humans and animals alike struggle to cope as inextinguishable fires draw closer. Wild horses have roamed the Galician mountains for centuries and are indispensable when it comes to fire prevention by grazing but they are vanishing in today’s clash between human progress and nature.

Director’s profile:

Robin Petré is a Danish film director based in Copenhagen. Her work revolves around our coexistence with nature while placing the audience at eye level with the animal world, and her award-winning films have screened at numerous festivals around the world. Her feature-length debut FROM THE WILD SEA (2021) premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival with a nomination for the Berlinale Documentary Award, and received the Grand Prix at the Global Science Film Festival among other awards. Her short film PULSE (2016) was awarded the Silver Dove for An Outstanding Artistic Contribution at DOK Leipzig. Robin Petré was among the Jurors of the 2022 IDA Awards. She’s an alumna of Berlinale Talents (2022), Nordic Film Lab (2020) and IDFAcademy (2019). She holds an MA in Documentary Film Directing from Doc Nomads (2015).

Producer’s profile:

Malene Flindt Pedersen is co-owner and producer at Hansen & Pedersen. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, she has produced and co-produced a number of internationally renowned documentary films. Malene is Chairwoman of WIFT Denmark and on the board of the Danish Producers’ Association. From 2006-2012 she was Head of development of Short and Documentary at the Danish Film Institute. Signe Skov Thomsen holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature, has a background in publishing and has worked with documentary production for 8 years; the past 6 years in close collaboration with Malene Flindt Pedersen. Signe is an EAVE Producers Workshop graduate and alumna of IDFAcademy. The film is co-produced by Carles Brugueras and Marieke van den Bersselaar from the Polar Star Films, one of Spain’s most prominent Spanish documentary production companies on the international market.

Goes to Cannes

From All Sides

Category: Queer Screen Goes to Cannes

Directed by: Bina Bhattacharya

Produced by: Bina Bhattacharya and Alexander McGhee - Gemme de la Femme Pictures Pty Ltd Bina Bhattacharya and Alexander McGhee - Gemme de la Femme Pictures Pty Ltd

Country of production: Australia

Original title: From All Sides

Genre: Comedy, Coming-of-Age, Drama, LGBTQ+

Language: English

Runtime: 118'

A multiracial bisexual married couple and their teenage children find themselves beset from all sides as they navigate work, school, sex, friendships, romances and their colourful neighbours in the outer suburbs of Sydney.

Goes to Cannes

Arms Of A Man

Category: Queer Screen Goes to Cannes

Directed by: Rohan Parashuram Kanawade

Produced by: Neeraj Churi | Lotus Visual Productions, UK

Country of production: India, UK, France

Original title: Sabar Bonda

Genre: Drama, Romance

Language: Marathi with English Subtitles

Runtime: 120'

Completed in: 2024

A thirty-year-old city-dweller compelled to spend ten-day mourning of his father in the rugged countryside of Western India tenderly bonds with a local farmer struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, he must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress.

Goes to Cannes

Strange Creatures

Category: Queer Screen Goes to Cannes

Directed by: Henry Boffin

Produced by: Rachel Forbes & Riley Nottingham | Strange Creatures Pty Ltd, Humdrum Comedy Pty Ltd

Country of production: Australia

Original title: Strange Creatures

Genre: Black comedy, Road Movie

Language: English

Runtime: 87'

Completed in: 2024

Two estranged brothers are forced back into each others’ lives when they’re tasked with scattering the ashes of their recently deceased mother in the country town where she grew up.

Goes to Cannes

Under the Influencer

Category: Queer Screen Goes to Cannes

Directed by: Bryn Woznicki (Director); Lauren Neal (Technical Director)

Produced by: Jill Bennett, Katie Hall | Lion & Lamb Studio, Team Stillwell, Fair Play Films

Country of production: USA

Original title: Under the Influencer

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Language: English

Runtime: 103'

Completed in: 2024

When a struggling digital artist has her work appropriated by a popular art curator, will she remain a victim, or become the perpetrator of an even more villainous crime?

Goes to Cannes

Heart of the Man

Category: Queer Screen Goes to Cannes

Directed by: David Cook

Produced by: Blake Northfield | Bronte Pictures

Country of production: Australia

Original title: Heart of the Man

Genre: Coming-of-Age, Drama

Language: English

Runtime: 85'

Completed in: 2024

A young boxing prodigy coming to terms with his sexuality must battle between fulfilling his father’s dream and becoming his own man.