19/05/2015 - CANNES 2015: A partnership has been created between Trieste’s When East Meets West, Rome’s New Cinema Network and the Film London PFM to provide greater opportunities to new projects

Adrian Wootton (FL), Helena Mackenzie (FL), Alessandro Gropplero (WEMW) and Alexia De Vito (NCN), in Cannes

Building new bridges and offering real co-production opportunities: this is the objective of a new initiative presented during the Cannes Film Festival. It sees the involvement of Trieste, Rome and London, and will offer co-productions a fast track to the European markets.

Its name is TRL Espresso and, as Alessandro Gropplero, head of Trieste’s When East Meets West, explained to Cineuropa, it will involve "three representatives of the respective markets, who will select a producer taking part in the pitching sessions that will take place in Trieste in January 2016. The chosen producer will also be guaranteed the chance to take part in the New Cinema Network co-production market at the Rome Film Festival and London’s Production Finance Market in October 2016, where he or she will have the opportunity to meet various international financiers."

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The call for applications at WEMW will open next September. In order to be eligible for TRL Espresso, the projects must be feature films (either fiction or documentary, in any language) that are setting their sights on a theatrical release, with at least 30% of the funding in place and a budget of over one million euros.

The idea, explains Gropplero, arose following the success of the Focus on English-speaking countries at the 2015 edition of WEMW. "This partnership seemed to be a natural continuation of that collaboration," says Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission. "For more than ten years, our PF Market has served to connect international funding and creativity, and we are always on the lookout for new ways to expand and grow our offering to financiers. TRL Espresso fosters new relationships and will help us to obtain new projects, particularly from Eastern Europe, from talented producers who are working on projects that show themselves to have global potential." 

"Trieste is a gateway from the East to the rest of Europe and the world," adds Helena Mackenzie, head of inward investment and business development at Film London. "TRL Espresso is a huge opportunity, and the projects that already have a director will have an advantage over the others."

(Translated from Italian)