From Turin to Cannes: TFL films on the Croisette

by Vittoria Scarpa

08/05/2012 - With Children selected to the Certain Regard, A Respectable Family to the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and 6 projects to the Atelier de la Cinéfondation, the TorinoFilmLab will be well represented at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27),establishing itself as a worthy breeding ground for new talent.

Children, second feature by Bosnia's Aida Begic (Snow [trailer], Grand Prix of the Semaine 2008), was developed within FrameWork 2010 and won a Production Award worth €100,000 at the TFL Meeting Event the same year. Produced by Bosnia's Film House in co-production with Les Films de l'Après-midi (France), Kaplan Film (Turkey) and Rohfilm (Germany), it is the story of two Bosnian war orphans.

A Respectable Family, first fiction feature film directed by Iran's Massoud Bakhshi, was developed within the frames of two of TFL's programmes: Script&Pitch in 2009 and FrameWork in 2010, winning the Audience Award worth €30,000. Produced by JBA Production (France) and Firoozei Films (Iran) with the support of CNC (France), VisionsSud-est (Switzerland), EED Ezef (Germany) and IDTV Films (The Netherlands), the film is a modern version of the story of Cain and Abel.

Six TFL projects have also been selected to Cannes' Atelier de la Cinéfondation: Marco van Geffen's In your name (The Netherlands, Script&Pitch 2009), Ralston Jover's The Dog Show (The Philippines, Script&Pitch 2012), Adina Pintilie's Touch Me Not (Romania, Script&Pitch 2007, FrameWork 2011, winner of a €150,000 Production Award), Pablo Lamar 's The Last Land (Paraguay, FrameWork 2011), Pengfei Song's Underground Fragrance (China, FrameWork 2011, €140,000 Production Award) and Mai Masri's 3000 Nights (Palestine, Interchange 2011).

(Translated from Italian)