27/09/2016 - Projects at the Holland Film Meeting received prizes worth a total of €25,000

The Holland Film Meeting in Utrecht brings together producers from across the world, who present promising projects to potential partners from the domains of finance, production, sales and distribution. At the 29th edition of the event, 23 projects at different stages of development, as well as four works in progress, competed for the awards in different categories. Twelve projects were invited to the HFM Co-Production Platform, which attempts to facilitate co-productions between the Netherlands and other European countries. For the first time, the Holland Film Meeting teamed up with Rotterdam’s CineMart to give the projects a further boost by presenting them at both events as part of a longer-running expert programme entitled BoostNL. 

Vanja Kaludjercic, head of the Holland Film Meeting, and Ido Abram, moderator of the HFM Co-Production Platform and BoostNL, proudly presented the winners at the awards night. The Cam-a-lot & Filmmore Cinema Emerging Talent Prize for Best Project, which is worth €10,000 in camera and post-production facilities, went to The Religion of Night Walks by Serbian writer-director Nikola Ležaić. “It is extremely topical in today's world of separated families,” said the jury of the story about a Yugoslav engineer who is setting up a wind farm in the Iranian desert in the 1980s.

Another project set in Iran is the British-Dutch-French co-production Tehran, City of Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Ali Jaberansari, which won the WarnierPosta Prize that comes with €5,000 in audio post-production facilities in one of the WarnierPosta studios. “Sex continues to sell, even when it isn't shown,” according to the jury; “and so does seeking love stories told from authentic perspectives, whether indoors or outside.”

At the fourth edition of the HFM Work-in-Progress sessions, four projects were presented in Utrecht. Mormaco by Marina Meliande received the Filmmore HFM Work-in-Progress Prize, valued at €5,000 in facility services.Though the film is at an early stage of the editing phase, the jury saw great potential in the material. Set in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Olympic Games, the film is about a public defender who receives the news that the building where she lives is to be turned into a luxury hotel. Finally, the Dutch-Belgian co-production In Blue [+see also:
trailer
interview: Yannick Jozefzoon
film profile] by Jaap van Heusden was awarded the Haghefilm International Post-Production Prize, valued at €5,000 in facility services. 

Here is the complete list of winners:

Cam-a-lot & Filmmore Cinema Emerging Talent Prize for Best Project
The Religion of Night Walks - Nikola Ležaić

WarnierPosta Prize
Tehran, City of Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Ali Jaberansari

Filmmore HFM Work-in-Progress Prize
Mormaco - Marina Meliande

Haghefilm International Post-Production Prize
In Blue - Jaap van Heusden