After first revealing its programme (read the article), the 18 projects of the Co-Production Village (news) and the eight young filmmakers of the Talent Village (news), Les Arcs Film Festival (whose 15th edition takes place from 16 to 23 December) has unveiled the highly anticipated list of 13 films currently in post-production taking part in its Work in Progress (WiP) programme, which will take place on Sunday 17 December.

An unmissable appointment for international sales agent, the event had last year unveiled the first images from Foremost by Night [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Víctor Iriarte
scheda film] (2023 Giornate degli Autori 2023), Légua [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Filipa Reis, João Miller G…
scheda film] (2023 Directors’ Fortnight) and three titles later selected in competition in Locarno (The Permanent Picture [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Laura Ferrés
scheda film], The Invisible Fight [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] and Rossosperanza [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]), among other titles. Some of its success stories since its inception are Girl [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Lukas Dhont
scheda film], System Crasher [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Nora Fingscheidt
scheda film], Lamb [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Valdimar Jóhannsson
scheda film], Clara Sola [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
scheda film], Small Body [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Laura Samani
scheda film], Reflection [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Valentyn Vasyanovych
scheda film], And Then We Danced [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Levan Akin
intervista: Levan Gelbakhiani
scheda film], Koko-di Koko-da [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Johannes Nyholm
scheda film], Diamantino [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel S…
scheda film] as well as I Am Not A Witch [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Rungano Nyoni
scheda film], to cite just a few titles among the many gems spotted by the Les Arcs team.

This year, the selection put together by Frédéric Boyer (artistic director of Les Arcs Film Festival) is made up for 13 films (of which 7 are directed by women) in post-production, long clips (eight minutes total) of which will be introduced by the filmmakers and their producers to the international sales agents, distributors and festival programmers present. Among these 13 titles (selected from a record number of 181 candidates) coming from 17 countries are eight debut features and four second features.

Standing out among them is France’s Marie Losier (whose work has been at over 200 festivals, including the 2011 Berlinale Forum with The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jane [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] and to the ACID section in Cannes in 2018 with Cassandro the Exotico! [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]), Sweden’s Frida Kempff (revealed in 2021 in Sundance with Knocking [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Frida Kempff
scheda film]), Denmark’s Jeppe Rønde (in competition in Rotterdam in 2015 and the winner of multiple awards, notably at Tribeca, with Bridgend [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film], attending Les Arcs with his new project Acts of Love – read the news) and Germany’s Mascha Schilinski (discovered at the 2017 Berlinale with Dark Blue Girl [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film], in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino programme). Also worth pointing out among the debut features are Little Trouble Girls by Slovenia’s Urška Djukić (news), Year of the Widow by the Czech Republic’s Veronika Lišková (news) and Zion by France’s Nelson Foix (news).

The projects are up for three awards this year. The TitraFilm award (€10,000 euros in image and sound post-production services) will be handed out by a jury composed of the UK’s Paul Ridd (new director of the Edinburgh Film Festival and former head of acquisitions at Picturehouse Entertainment), Belgian director Fien Troch and Swiss programmer Annina Wettstein. The Alphapanda Audience Engagement award (focused on the film’s digital marketing and worth €6,000) will be given by critic Frédéric Mercier (Positif) and film marketing strategists Mathias Noschis and Joanna Solecka. Finally, the 22D Music award (€10,000 aimed at financing the production of an original score) will be handed out by international sales agent Carole Baraton (Charades), 22D founder and CEO Emmanuel Delétang, and composer Delphine Malaussena.

The Work in Progress selection:

Competition

Acts of Love - Jeppe Rønde (Denmark)
Production: Paloma Productions (Denmark)

Hotel Orion - Zoltan Moll (Hungary)
Production: Zoltan Moll (Hungary), Odesa Films (Hungary)

Little Trouble Girls - Urška Djukić (Slovenia)
Production: Spok Film (Slovenia), Staragara I.T. (Italy), Izazov 365 (Croatia), Nosorogi (Slovenia), Non-Aligned Films (Serbia)

Paradijs - Bobbie Koek (the Netherlands)
Production: FIXY (the Netherlands), A Private View (Belgium)

Peaches Goes Bananas - Marie Losier (France)
Production: Tamara Films (France), Michigan Films (Belgium)

The Doctor Says I’ll Be Alright But I’m Feeling Blue (provisional title) - Mascha Schilinski (Germany)
Production: Studio Zentral (Germany), ZDF - Das Kleine Fernsehspiel (Germany)

The Swedish Torpedo - Frida Kempff (Sweden)
Production: Momento Film (Sweden), Amrion (Estonia), Inland Film Company (Finland), Velvet Films (Belgium)

Toxic - Saulė Bliuvaitė (Lithuania)
Production: Akis Bado (Lithuania)

U Are The Universe - Pavlo Ostrikov (Ukraine)
Production: ForeFilms (Ukraine), Stenola (Belgium)

Wind, Talk To Me - Stefan Djordjevic (Serbia)
Production: Non-Aligned Films (Serbia), Katunga (Serbia), Restart (Croatia), Spok Film (Slovenia)

Year of the Widow - Veronika Lišková (Czech Republic)
Production: Cinémotif Films (Czech Republic), Kerekesfilm (Slovakia), Pipser (Croatia)

Zion - Nelson Foix (France)
Production: De L'autre Côté Du Périph (France), Kissfilms (France)

Out of Competition (partnership with Flanders Image)

Young Hearts [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Anthony Schatteman
scheda film] - Anthony Schatteman (Belgium)
Production: Polar Bear (Belgium), Family Affair Films (the Netherlands)