Today, Tuesday 24 October, will mark the beginning of the Cinemed Meetings, which will see three days of professional meetings unspooling within the 45th Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival (read our article and interview with Christophe Leparc). Stealing focus on the agenda is the 33rd edition of the Development Grant, with 14 fiction feature film projects selected and set to be presented by their filmmakers and producers to a jury composed of Catherine Bizern (Céci Moulin d’Andé), producers Marianne Dumoulin (JBA Production) and Dominique Welinski (DW and the head of La Factory), and distributor Thomas Pibarot (formerly of Le Pacte).

Two development grants (funded by the CNC and the Occitanie region, and involving technical assistance from Titra Films, French Kiss Studio and Saraband) are set to be awarded, as are places on two writing residencies (Céci Moulin d’Andé and La Fabbrica Culturale Casell’arte). Other films to have taken part in these pitching sessions over recent years include Until the Birds Return [+lee también:
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entrevista: Karim Moussaoui
ficha de la película] by Karim Moussaoui, Summer 1993 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Carla Simón
ficha de la película] by Carla Simon, The Last Queen [+lee también:
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entrevista: Adila Bendimerad, Damien O…
entrevista: Damien Ounouri
ficha de la película] by Adila Bendimerad and Damien Ounouri, Alma Viva [+lee también:
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entrevista: Cristèle Alves Meira
ficha de la película] by Cristèle Alves Meira, Costa Brava, Lebanon [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Mounia Akl, Mediterranean Fever [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Maha Haj and Excursion [+lee también:
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entrevista: Una Gunjak
ficha de la película] by Una Gunjak.

The Cinemed Meetings will also host the 9th edition of the "Du court au long" initiative (8 debut feature film projects offered up by filmmakers who also have a short film screening in this year’s competition, set to be assessed by a jury and with three writing residencies up for grabs); the second edition of the Cinemed & Aflamuna/Beirut DC programme (a selection of ten projects in development hailing from the Arab world), co-production meetings involving the usual individual meetings between project bearers and professionals present in Montpellier; the second edition of the Chemin Faisant, Pulp Fiction and Châtaignes Boost Camp residency pitching sessions; pitching sessions organised by the Occitanie Region workshop; professional meetings (notably involving Dominique Cabrera); and the "Talents en court" initiative.

The selected projects are as follows:

The Hearse To The Final House Of Happiness - Wisam Al Jafari (Palestine)
Production: Muayad Alayan and Aroub Hamed for PalCiné Productions
In the city of Bethlehem, a family of hearse drivers are preparing for their daughter’s wedding. But on the eve of the wedding, Palestine’s political parties declare a general strike in response to Israeli hostilities, threatening to disrupt the celebrations. The bride's sister, Lina, and her uncle who’s on a temporary leave from a psychiatric hospital, try to deliver an artificial hymen to the bride-to-be ahead of her wedding night. However, the strike goads her to drive an injured, masked young man to the hospital, travelling in the opposite direction to the wedding and leading to its cancellation.

Fatih - Onur Yagiz (France/Turkey)
Production: Pierre-Louis Garnon for Baxter Films
24-year-old bachelor Fatih is faced with two problems: firstly, his parents, with whom he still lives with his sister Leyla, want to see him swiftly married to a girl from the Franco-Turkish community and, secondly, he's losing his hair. What should he do?

Striker Number 7 - Nitzan Rozen (Israel)
Production: Shira Hochman for Mina
An unstoppable Palestinian football player joins the best club in Israel, which is riven with racism, in the divided city of Jerusalem, bringing triumph and chaos as he battles to earn his place.

Justine Nowhere  - Lucie Anton (France)
Production: Serge Lalou for Les Films d'Ici Méditerranée
The fates of three women - Justine, Huguette and Marina – collide in this world where women have no place and where a heatwave soon disrupts the ties that bind them together.

Le malentendu - Sarra Abidi (Tunisia)
Production: Ibtissem Labidi for Synergy Production
Fatma is assigned to a rural school with a majority of deaf-mute children, even though she doesn't know sign language. Her dream to become a teacher soon turns into a nightmare, and her life is turned upside down when one of her pupils disappears.

Milah - Amos Holzman (Israel)
Production: Talia Bernstein
New mother to a son Shira has doubts over the tradition of circumcision. On the day of the Bris, she has to confront her father-in-law, Nevo, who’s in the throes of an existential crisis and is determined to have things his own way at all costs.

Mimouna - Amel Blidi (Algeria)
Mimouna and Radi take flight in order to avoid reprisals after a brawl gone wrong, bringing nothing but music with them.

You Only Die Once - Katia Saleh (Lebanon/France)
Production: Nadine Naous for Batoota Films
This black comedy mocking life while focusing on the approaching death of 49-year-old Aziz sees the latter consumed with cancer and by the incurable Lebanese situation, and embarking on a semi-surreal journey to organise his funeral without running it by the men of God governing his country.

Let’s Not Sleep Early - Aytaç Uzun (Turkey/Croatia/Bulgaria)
Production: Ömer Çapoğlu
Co-Production: 4 Film and Revo Film
Two friends in their early sixties plan to change their lives forever and leave their village behind them. However, when one of the pair unexpectedly marries, the other is left all alone and finds himself drifting towards another journey of discovery deep inside of his soul.

From Far Afar - Tahar Kessi (France/Algeria)
Production: Soukaina Sentissi for Les Ménines
Searching for answers after several mysterious disappearances, Boualem - who suffers from inexplicable bouts of amnesia - embarks on a journey across the Algerian desert, confronting his past and present on this spiritual and initiatory quest.

The Sun Has Seen Eveything - Wissam Tanios (Lebanon)
Production: Christian Eid for Abbout Productions
A mother of two in her late thirties, Neyrouz is faced with an unforeseen challenge following the sudden death of her husband, in the form of the debt he has left behind. Determined to free herself of this financial burden in a struggling country, Neyrouz and her teenage daughter Carla embark on a transformative journey which forces them to confront a difficult, haunting past while revealing hidden truths and helping them to break free from the web of lies which has held them captive.

Under The Ground - Mohamed Hossameldin (Italy/France)
Production: Luca Cabriolu for Ombre Rosse Film Production
Co-Production: Manny Films
16-year-old Yousef leaves Egypt to join his father in Italy in hope of a better life. But in Rome, an aggressive boss and hard work await him. He must fight to set himself and his father free from their exploited condition.

The First Daughter - Arnaud Khayadjanian (France/Armenia)
Production: Martine Vidalenc for Midralgar
Living in modern-day Armenia, Diana's life changes dramatically when she learns she’s pregnant with a little girl. According to local traditions, she should seek out an illegal abortion, but Diana will do anything it takes to escape her destiny.

Weedestine - Saïd Zagha (Palestine/Jordan/Sweden)
Production: Myriam Sassine for Philistine Films
Co-Production: Linda Mutawi for Fikra
Abbas is a virtuous mechanic living in Zone C where cannabis-growing thrives. When his eldest son is killed at an Israeli checkpoint, a thirst for revenge rises within him, mainly directed towards his brother-in-law who’s also the local drugs trafficking boss. But his quest for revenge proves complicated in this country where the law doesn’t always win out and where Abbas's youngest son risks being drawn into this very same spiral of violence.