Baltic Event for East comes to Moscow
by Annika Pham
The industry meeting place of the 32nd Moscow International Film Festival (June 17-26), Business Square (MIFF BS), is collaborating for the first time with Baltic Event to promote and encourage co-production activities between Russia, Ukraine, Baltic and Scandinavian countries.
The Baltic Event for East initiative, supported by Media International and launched at the 2009 Baltic Event in Tallinn, invited four Ukrainian and Russian projects along with top industry representatives. Now Moscow will welcome a delegation of 18 Baltic and Nordic film professionals coming to discuss potential partnerships and present four films selected for the Moscow Co-production Forum (June 18-20), which is being held during the Festival.
Two projects come from Finland: Pekka Lehto’s €1.5m comedy Ordinary Capitalist and the €2m fantasy thriller The White Reindeer (a remake of a Finnish classic), to be directed by Peter Lindholm and produced by Pauli Pentti (Pet Films). Estonia is presenting Erna’s Journey, directed by Valentin Kmik for producer Reet Sockmann, while Latvia is introducing Siberian Triangle, the latest project by the established director of Black & White, Boris Frumin.
Tomorrow, a panel of distinctive Baltic and Nordic professionals will explain the latest co-production rules in their home territories and their own experience in working with Russian partners.
The key industry speakers are: Riina Sildos, Estonian producer and managing director of Baltic Event; Marge Liiske, head of the Estonian Film Foundation; Petri Kemppinen, head of Production at the Finnish Film Foundation; Gunnar Carlsson, executive producer at Swedish public broadcaster SVT; Danish producer Bo Erhardt (Nimbus Film); and Finnish producer Ilkka Matila (Matila Röhr Productions), who has been involved in four co-productions with Russia in recent years and will discuss the making of Georg Ots, co-produced with Estonia and Russia.
“It seems natural for Russia, Scandinavia and the Baltic countries to try and co-produce more. Our goal is to make it a new trend,” said Anna Katchko, artistic director of MIFF BS and EAVE representative in Moscow.
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