Berliner

26 Pages·2015·0.37 MB·English

Berliner
Synopsis
A corrupted politician from Bucharest arrives in a small town some-
where in Transylvania. Trying to escape justice he will run for the EU
parliament. His chameleonic strategy is to live together with a common
family from town, showing the voters that he is a people’s man, a nor-
mal human being like everybody else.
Director’s note
Elections in small towns can sometimes be as passionate as running
for the US president. I found Romanian politics on this scale to be
funny, but in the same time telling some truths about election psychol-
ogy and schemes everywhere in the world. In the last decades, we had
elections that were both ridiculous and tragic, candidates were crying
live on TV, candidates moving from villas to small apartments to show
they are normal, candidates jumping from airplanes to show they are
courageous, candidates that were jailed just after elections and so on.
I am coming from a small town and seeing politicians acting like nor-
mal people is funny. I am imagining the meeting of two strangers from
totally different worlds. The high profile corrupted politician and the
provincial common Romanian guy that works on a tractor. The film will
be treated as a black comedy.
Director
Original title: Berliner
Genre: comedy
Marian Crisan, born on the 8th of September, 1976, in Salonta, West
Screenwriters: Marian Crisan, Gabriel Andronache Romania. He received his bachelor’s degree in Film and TV Directing at
Director: Marian Crisan UNATC Bucharest in 1999. He directed the short films Family Portrait
(2006), Amateur (2007) and Megatron (2008). The latter, Megatron,
Producer: Marian Crisan
won the Palme d’OR for Best Short Film at the 2008 Cannes Film
Production company: Rova Film Festival, 61th edition. In 2010, his first feature film Morgen won the
Language: Romanian Special Jury Prize at the 63rd Edition of the Locarno Film Festival and
Country: Romania was the Romanian entry for the 84th Academy Awards®. In 2012, his
second feature film Rocker was premiered at the 60th edition of San
Budget: 650 000 EUR
Sebastian IFF.
Financing in place: 50 000 EUR
Goals at BE: co-producers, sales agent, funds
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Berliner
Co-Production Market
Romania
Producer
Marian Crisan acted as a producer for the feature film Orizont - 2015
(premiere at 19th edition of Tallinn Black Nights FF), as associate
producer for Morgen - feature film 2010 (Special Jury Prize Locarno
2010) and the short films Portret de Familie (Best Romanian Short,
UCIN, 2007), Amateur (Best short at Festival de Cinema Independent
L’Alternativa Barcelona 2008), documentaries, music videos and com-
mercials as well.
Production company
ROVA FILM co-produced the feature film Orizont - 2015 (premiere at
19th edition of Tallinn Black Nights FF) and the short films Portret de
Familie (Best Romanian Short, UCIN, 2007), Amateur (Best short at
Festival de Cinema Independent L’Alternativa Barcelona 2008), docu-
mentaries, music videos and commercials as well.
Representative at BE:
Marian Crisan, producer and director
Contact
Rova Film
Jean Steriadi 30-38, M 10, sc J, ap 131, sector 3,
Bucuresti, Romania
Contact Person / Position:
Marian Crisan / Producer, director
Phone: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
www.rovafilm.ro
15
Baby Jane
Synopsis
Jonna, 19, is a small town girl. She graduates from school and leaves
the town the very same evening. Jonna arrives in the city and enjoys
her newly found freedom until one night a drunken man attacks her.
Piki, 30, a woman with intense dark eyes, comes to her rescue. They
fall deeply in love and promise they will walk together in freshly fallen
snow. But autumn comes, and the lovely dreams fade in the rain.
Piki keeps refusing to leave the apartment in daylight. Jonna is working
hard to pay the bills, but the money just isn’t enough. Piki comes up
with a plan to sell phone sex, and with the added bonus of lingerie with
a female scent, they have a very good business plan. The lovers are
happy again but there’s a snake in paradise; Piki’s ex-girlfriend Bossa
seems to be around a lot more than necessary. When Jonna rises to
challenge Bossa’s position, Piki and Jonna get into a fight. Piki gets
severely injured and doesn’t want to see Jonna again. An era of loneli-
ness begins, with Piki and Jonna now only working together as friends.
But it doesn’t take long until the bitter memories rise from the silence.
Piki says things to hurt Jonna, and Jonna leaves once and for all.
Original title: Baby Jane Jonna now has a new life living with a man. Their life looks perfect, but
Jonna is unhappy. Then one night Piki calls; she is not doing well, just
Genre: drama
keeps hiding in her apartment. Jonna makes the last attempts to save
Screenwriters: Veera Tyhtilä, Katja Gauriloff her, but Piki is already too deep down. Piki decides she wants to die.
Director: Katja Gauriloff And Jonna will have to help her. With everything Piki needs in place,
Producer: Joonas Berghäll, Satu Majava Jonna delivers Piki’s last letter to Bossa, triggering a final twist in the
control that Piki has over the lives of these two women – now bound
Production company: Oktober Oy
together with Piki’s wish for their freedom.
Language: Finnish
Country: Finland
Director’s note
Budget: 1 480 000 EUR
Financing in place: 117 000 EUR
Baby Jane is a film about falling in love and using power. It raises ques-
Partners attached: Izabela Igel / Alter Ego Pictures, tions about what is genuine love and whether we are capable of it. I’m
Dutch co-production company, Danish co-production interested in how our personal fears, choices and actions affect other
people. On the other hand, it is a question of how far we can carry
company
responsibility for the life and choices of another person. Can you save
Goals at BE: to secure funding, co-production
another person, and at what cost? I see the film as a play of light and
companies and an international distributor shadow also visually. The genre courts with a spirit of film noir and is
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Baby Jane
Co-Production Market / EAVE
Finland
passionate, strongly dark-toned, even suggestive. The film contains Representatives at BE:
many opposites, starting from the stark differences between the char- Joonas Berghäll, producer
acters and the two different worlds that are entwined in a dreamlike Satu Majava, producer
way. I have always been intrigued by contrasts and multiple layers in Katja Gauriloff, director
film, aspects that I have been working on already with my previous
films.
Director
Katja Gauriloff is a film director, screenwriter and a co-owner of the
Oktober production company. Her latest documentary Canned Dreams
was premiered at Berlinale in 2012. The film has been screened at vari-
ous festivals around the world, for example in London BFI Film Festival,
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Silver Docs
AFI (USA), CPH:DOX Copenhagen and Planete Doc Review, Poland.
Producer
Joonas Berghäll works as a producer at his own production company
Oktober and has been involved in film making since 1998. His film as a
director and producer, Steam of Life, was nominated for Oscars as a
Finnish candidate and for the European Film Award in 2010 and since
then has won fifteen international film awards. In 2010 the Central Or-
ganization of Finnish Film Producers awarded Joonas Berghäll as the
film producer of the year. Joonas has been part of several international
producer workshops, for example Producers on the Move, Cannes
2011.
Production company Contact
Oktober Oy
Oktober is a Finnish production company, which was established in
Orvokkitie 15 B, 00900 Helsinki, Finland
2004. During its existence Oktober has gained a reputation as a cre-
ative production house producing quality documentary and fiction films Contact Person / Position: Joonas Berghäll / Producer
focusing on cutting edge social issues that evoke both strong feelings Phone: [phone]
and deep thoughts. Oktober has developed a wide network with both
E-mail: [email protected]
national and international connections through the co-production and
distribution of its films. www.oktober.fi
17
The Boy with the Dog
Synopsis
Ten-year-old Zigis lives with his family in a house on the bank of a river
in Riga, Latvia. The Second World War has begun, but Zigis’s child-
hood is as carefree as before; he goes to school and plays with his
friends and his trusted companion, his dog Džeris. In 1941, Latvia is
occupied by the German army. Repressions begin against the Jews.
Žanis, Zigis’s father, works at the Luftwaffe factory in Riga to which
Jews are taken every day from the ghetto. An enthusiastic and fearless
adventurer, he thinks of a way to save the Jews working at the factory
but condemned to a certain death. In the yard of his house, he digs a
bunker to hide them. Žanis’s decision changes the lives of Zigis and his
mother Johanna. Hiding Jews is punishable by death and even young
Zigis would not be spared. By helping the Jews, Žanis has robbed the
simple familial happiness that Zigis so wishes for. In time, Zigis under-
stands his father’s humanity and this experience changes him from a
careless and dreamy boy to a mature adolescent who is fully aware of
the cruelty of war. The film is a story of growing up against the back-
ground of the tragic events of the 20th century.
Director’s note
The idea of the film is based on the incompatibility of three radically dif-
ferent worlds. One is the world of Zigis’s isolated childhood, in which
he has found his only real partner in conversation – the dog Džeris as
well as his mute girlfriend Silvija. Into this world of children’s imagina-
Original title: Puika ar suni
tion gradually steal the father’s secrets, the realisation that there is
Genre: coming-of-age something completely wrong with the order of this world as well as
Screenwriters: Davis Simanis, Matiss Gricmanis the spite of early adolescence to do something special. The second is
Director: Davis Simanis the dangerous world of Žanis Lipke. Lipke encounters death in a quite
direct way and its danger defines his life. He sacrifices the individual
Producer: Gints Grube, Antra Gaile
for the common good, which he may not have fully understood. The
Production company: Mistrus Media third world is the one created by violent and stupid power that individu-
Language: Latvian, Russian, German als, including Latvians, have become besotted with to such an extent
that they can justify the extermination of other people. Moreover, in
Country: Latvia
this world there are not only the wicked who humiliate and kill or who
Budget: 1 255 000 EUR
preach vile ideological stupidities but also those that in the absurd sur-
Financing in place: 22 000 EUR vival situation of war simply do not see what is going on around them.
Goals at BE: finding co-production partners Every clash / drawing closer situation of these quite different worlds
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The Boy with the Dog
Co-Production Market
Latvia
reveals a little more of how it is possible to overcome fear, sacrifice Representatives at BE:
oneself and rise above one’s simple self-preservation instinct. This Gints Grube, producer
conflict also tells us a very personal story of a child’s growing up, which Antra Gaile, producer
is condensed in both intensity and time by the surrounding, real histori- Davis Simanis, director
cal events. It is little Zigis’s story and his observations in the world of
grown-ups that offers the possibility of making this film.
Director
Davis Simanis, PhD Arts, is a Latvian filmmaker and theorist. He has
directed a number of poetic documentary films as well as cross-genre
features that have participated in a number of major festivals. His re-
cent films include docu-fiction Escaping Riga (2014) and his first fiction
feature My Peaceful Place of Exile, which tells a tragic story about the
fate of a remote mental institution in the times of I World War.
Producers
Since 1998, Gints Grube has been scriptwriter, director and producer
for more than 10 documentaries. His latest production is fiction feature
Chronicles of Melanie by Viesturs Kairišs that is a co-production with
Inland Films (Finland) and 8 Heads Productions (Czech Republic).
Since 2012, Antra Gaile has gained profound experience in the pro-
duction of creative and historical documentaries, including production
of six short documentaries about Riga by well-known European direc-
tors.
Production company
Contact
Film production company Mistrus Media was established in 2000 and
Mistrus Media
has since become one of the leading film production companies in
Blaumana street 11/13 – 13, Riga, LV 1011, Latvia
Latvia. Mistrus Media is a producer of documentaries, TV projects, and
feature fiction films as well as provider of filming and location services. Contact Person / Position: Gints Grube / Producer
Phone: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
www.mistrusmedia.lv
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Compatibility
Synopsis
In the span of twenty-four hours, as the death of one will become the
hope for life for another, in a few taxi cabs in Sofia the fates of people,
victims of the decline of a suffering nation, collide.
Director’s note
Lack of spirituality, poverty, an ever-growing inequality and a sense of
social failure – those things have become commonplace in Bulgaria.
For huge groups of people the dreams of a respectable life have been
replaced by a struggle for day-to-day survival. More territories are turn-
ing into ghettos when it comes to social behaviour and human rela-
tions. A huge portion of the people feel betrayed, cheated and ruined.

The honest representation and understanding of our life is the first con-
dition for transforming it, the single prerequisite for effective action.
And the only way to find hope.
The cab drivers are our characters, they are often the most accurate
witnesses of reality. Some of them are forced into the role of thera-
pists, some are saviours, some aggressors, others are victims. They
Original title: Savmestimost
are part of the real world, not the fictitious “reality” the media presents.
Genre: drama Our other characters are the cab drivers’ clients – the different faces
Screenwriters: Simeon Ventsislavov, of Bulgarian society. The Compatibility project can be described as a
Stephan Komandarev realistic drama dominated by emotionally intense moments but with
the occasional break for a smile and some humour. Same as in life.
Director: Stephan Komandarev
Producer: Stephan Komandarev, Katya Trichkova
Director
Production company: Argo film
Language: Bulgarian
Stephan Komandarev is a Bulgarian director, producer and script-
Country: Bulgaria
writer, who has a number of award-wining feature and documentaries
Budget: 380 018 EUR films such as: The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner
Financing in place: 200 000 EUR (It was the first Bulgarian film Shortlisted for the Best Foreign Lan-
guage Film at the Oscar Academy Award 2010), and the most world-
Partners attached: Bulgarian National Film Centre
wide theatrically released Bulgarian film ever – it was distributed in 93
Goals at BE: We are currently looking for a minority
countries, won 35 awards from international film festivals, out of which
co-producer and world sales. 1/3 were audience awards); The Town of Badante Woman (2009,
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Compatibility
Co-Production Market
Bulgaria
documentary), Alphabet of Hope (2003, documentary), Bread over (Romania), co-production between France, Romania and Bulgaria,
the Fence (2002, documentary). His last feature film The Judgment with the support of EURIMAGES.
won 10 awards from international film festivals and is the Bulgaria’s
entry in the foreign-language film category of the Academy Awards Representative at BE:
2016. He currently works on two documentaries and two feature films. Katya Trichkova, producer
He is 2011 EAVE graduate and Member of European Film Academy,
Bulgarian Film Directors’ Association and Bulgarian Film Producers’
Association.
Producer
Katya Trichkova graduated with a master’s degree in Law and Film
and TV directing. In 2009, she became a founder and manager of
production company Contrast Films. Since 2011, she has also been
working as a freelance producer/consultant for other Bulgarian pro-
duction companies, such as Argo Film (founded by Bulgarian direc-
tor Stephan Komandarev), Chouchkov brothers, Izograph, Cineaste
Maudit Productions and others. In 2011, she participated in Sarajevo
Talent Campus and Kyoto Filmmakers Lab. In 2015, she attended
EAVE and EURODOC. Her recent credits include The Judgment that
won 10 awards from international film festivals and is the Bulgaria’s
entry in the foreign-language film category of the Academy Awards
2016 and Chain – short fiction film, director Eicke Bettinga (Germany).
Co-production with France and Germany, selected in more than 20
international film festivals.
Production company
Argo Film Ltd. is an independent film production company based in
Sofia. It was founded by Stephan Komandarev in 2001 for the produc- Contact
tion of feature and documentary film projects aimed at the national and
Argo film
international markets. The company has produced and co-produced
Yantra Str. No 5B, 1124 Sofia, Bulgaria
several feature and documentaries films, some of them as Europe-
an co-productions. The last two features are: The Judgment (2014), Contact Person / Position: Katya Trichkova / Producer
director Stephan Komandarev – co-production between Bulgaria, Phone: [phone]
Germany, Croatia and Macedonia, with the support of EURIMAGES,
E-mail: [email protected]
Bulgaria’s entry in the foreign-language film category of the Academy
Awards 2016; and Dogs (in post-production), director Bogdan Mirica www.argofilm.eu
21
Dark Christ
Synopsis
An aged and shabby art dealer, Olavi, is planning to retire. In a presti-
gious auction house he stumbles across an old painting that he sus-
pects is more valuable than his colleagues have priced it. At the same
time, his daughter, whom he hasn’t met for years, asks him to help her
with her teen-age son – Olavi’s grandson.
Olavi, addicted to art and dealing it, decides to show for the last time
to himself, his colleagues and his estranged family that he can make
it. He begins proving that the painting, Dark Christ, is much more valu-
able than originally claimed.
With the help of his grandson Otto, Olavi finds proof of the originality
of the Dark Christ. Olavi bids for the painting successfully but in the
process of finding the money to pay for it he ends up violating the
newly built trust to his daughter. Meanwhile the auction house starts to
suspect that they’ve done a bad deal by selling the painting to Olavi.
Olavi needs to find money for the painting, to prevent the auction
house to sabotage his deal and to win back the trust of his daughter
and grandson.
Original title: Tumma Kristus Director’s note
Genre: drama
Screenwriter: Anna Heinämaa To me Dark Christ is a piece of classic storytelling. It is a crusade of an
old man; a last attempt to reach the dreams of a person who has not
Director: Klaus Härö
quite fulfilled his ambition in life.
Producers: Kai Nordberg & Kaarle Aho
Production company: Making Movies Oy And of course Olavi, our main character, does not reach his goal. He
Language: Finnish does not get the money for his retirement. He feels like he has lost
the game and he dies. But actually he has made it. He has found his
Country: Finland
treasure and leaves it to his family. And more importantly, by doing this
Budget: 2 000 000 EUR he finds a way back to the hearts of his daughter and his grandson. He
Financing in place: 80 000 EUR wins his family back after his death.
Partners attached: Finnish Film Foundation,
It is a very emotional story, a kind of story I like. And there’s a clear
Creative Europe
moral in it. It shows that people should have dreams and ambitions
Goals at BE: finding co-producers and sales agents and passion, but the most important thing is our relation to our fam-
22
Dark Christ
Co-Production Market
Finland
ily and friends. And, when you’re reaching to the stars you may find prize in Sweden 2005) new feature film The Fencer (Finnish Oscar
something more valuable as long as you keep an open mind. nominee for 2016). Other feature films by Making Movies include Petri
Kotwica’s Rat King (Shanghai, Tribeca 2012) and Black Ice (Berlinale
competition 2008) as well as Jan Forsström’s The Princess of Egypt
Director (Mannheim-Heidelberg Competition 2013).
Klaus Härö is one of the most internationally praised Finnish directors. The documentaries produced or co-produced by Making Movies in-
He has directed 5 feature films and they have been festival hits as well clude many award-winning films like Happiness (Sundance Documen-
as audience and critics favourites both in Finland and Sweden. tary competition 2014, world rights sold to Universal Pictures), and
A Decent Factory (IDFA 2004) by Thomas Balmés, In the Dark (2004)
He received the Ingmar Bergman Award in Sweden 2005 for his film by Sergey Dvortsevoy, Love & Engineering (Tribeca, Hotdocs, Visions
Mother of Mine. His first feature film Elina won Crystal Bear in Berlinale du Réel, Karlovy Vary, Sarajevo 2014) by Tonislav Hristov and Look
Kinderfilmfest 2003. His latest film The Fencer is the Finnish entry for of Silence (Venice, Toronto 2014, Berlinale 2015) by Joshua Oppen-
Oscars 2016. heimer.
Representative at BE:
Producer Kaarle Aho, producer
Kaarle Aho was born in Helsinki in 1968. He has MA degree from
the University of Helsinki and he is an EAVE-graduate 1999 and EU-
RODOC-graduate 2004. He has worked as a producer and share-
holder in Making Movies since 1998 and produced eight feature films
and over 40 documentary films.
Production company
Making Movies Oy (Ltd.) is a Finnish film production company based
in Helsinki. Established in 1996 the company produces and co-pro-
duces fiction and documentary films for international market. The man-
agers, founding members and shareholders of Making Movies are Kai
Nordberg and Kaarle Aho. Contact
Making Movies Oy
Since 1996 Making Movies has produced 8 feature films and more
Torkkelinkatu 3, 00500 Helsinki, Finland
than 40 documentary and short films and TV-dramas. The films pro-
duced by Making Movies have been distributed in more than 40 coun- Contact Person / Position: Kaarle Aho / Producer
tries worldwide. Phone: + 358 40 725 3936
E-mail: [email protected]
In spring 2015, Making Movies released Klaus Härö’s (the winner of
the Crystal Bear award in Berlinale 2003 and the Ingmar Bergman www.mamo.fi
23