The Alpi Film Lab has presented eight projects born out of Italian-French collaboration
- The eight stories put forward by as many French and Italian director-producer teams were heavily involved in the pitching session where Les Héros Américains scooped the Scarab Award
A room packed full of over one hundred market guests from all over the world on the occasion of the Alpi Film Lab 2022 pitching session, held on Thursday 24 November as part of the TFI Torino Film Industry event; eight stories created by teams of French and Italian producers in league with their respective directors, six of which will ultimately become Italian-French co-productions thanks to a collaboration between AnnecyCinéma Italien and the TorinoFilmLab incubator initiative; 50 professionals, 16 developed projects, 8 residential workshops, 4 online sessions and 30 tutors and experts involved in training, are the figures from the first two editions of Alpi Films, which is a unique example of joint work between filmmakers from the two countries.
Thursday saw eighteen brilliant, dramatic, engaging and often entertaining stories showcased in the event. The Italian projects on the agenda consisted of three fiction films and one animated documentary. There’s Grisun, presented by Francesca Duca, a producer with BabyDoc Film which she co-founded with Andrea Parena, who is himself a documentary maker whose numerous works have been selected for the Locarno, Venice and Turin festivals, and who directs the present film. Their French development partner is the 2022 Producer on the Move Andrea Queralt, who works for 4A4 Productions, with whom she previously oversaw Fire Will Come [+see also:
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interview: Óliver Laxe
film profile] by Oliver Laxe (awarded the Jury Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section) and Matadero [+see also:
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film profile] by Santiago Fillol (Locarno 2022), among other works. I figli della scimmia, meanwhile, is directed by Tommaso Landucci alongside Andrea Calbucci, a producer with Lungta Film (Padrenostro [+see also:
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interview: Claudio Noce
film profile] by Claudio Noce, which won Pierfrancesco Favino the Volpi Cup in Venice 2020), and his partner on the other side of the Alps Clémence Crépin Neel, who co-founded Moderato (Paris), a firm who co-produce with Greece, Chile, Italy, Syria and Russia. La Casa Bianca by newcomer Francesco Romano, is produced by Raffaella Pontarelli of Amarena Film, in league with their Paris-based partner Giovanni Donfrancesco, who’s a director and producer for Bocalupo Films (whose most recent title is Il Posto – A Steady Job [+see also:
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interview: Gianluca Matarrese and Matt…
film profile] by Mattia Colombo and Gianluca Matarrese). Last but not least, there’s the autobiographically-inspired animated documentary I Game You by Laura Viezzoli, made alongside Lorenzo Cioffi of Naples’ Ladoc, in league with French partner Alexandre Charlet of Les Films du Cygne, who made the stop-motion animated movie Even Mice Belong in Heaven [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was nominated for the 2021 European Film Awards and won a Czech Lion Award.
The projects put forward by the French teams taking part in the event also consist of one documentary and three fiction films, including Les Héros Américains, which bagged the Scarab Award for Post-Production 202', a prize consisting of €12,000 in post-production services from Scarabeo Entertainment’s film division in Sassuolo. The project was put forward by Sophie Beaulieu - who is also the author of two short films - alongside Camille Genaud of Paraíso Production and their Italian partner Ottavia Fragnito of Maremosso. The documentary on the French agenda, Par Delà Les Montagnes by the duo Manon Ott & Grégory Cohen, is produced by Céline Loiseau of TS Productions, alongside their Italian partner Chiara Andrich of Ginko Film. There’s also Capitaine, Romuald Rodrigues Andrade’s feature film debut and his third collaboration with producer Jérôme Nunes of Films de Force Majeure, made in league with Manuela Buono of sales and production company Slingshot Films. Last but not least, we find Underdog, a first work by Zoel Aeschbacher who won the 2019 Student Academy Award via Bonobo, and who is now collaborating with Nelson Ghrénassia who co-founded Paris-based firm Yukunkun Productions, and Italy’s Salvatore Lizzio of Revok, who previously produced Fulvio Risuleo’s The Dog Snatch [+see also:
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“It’s a training initiative based on the idea of developing simulated co-productions so as to provide an opportunity for enhancing skills”, Alpi Film Lab’s Head of Studies Francesco Giai Via explained to Cineuropa. “Real familiarity with the other country’s system is just as important as the desire to co-produce or the tools which institutions can put forward. It’s about creating a space for mutual understanding with a different pace and purpose to a co-production forum. The results speak for themselves. Genuinely solid relationships have been built as a result of working so intensely on projects, on mutual understanding, on developing cross-competencies between teams. It was wishful thinking to believe we could turn these simulated co-productions into real ones, and it happened for 60-70% of the projects, which are set to become co-productions. All training and development spaces, and this one in particular, represent a safe space where filmmakers can experiment freely, and maybe even make mistakes, in order to understand what they do or don’t need to change. It’s not a strictly financial idea of co-production, it’s also about artistic and cultural exchange; advanced training of this kind requires time, the opportunity to get to know one another and to encourage things to develop. It’s definitely a process which leads to the growth of teams, who become more aware of the strong and weak points of the contexts which their projects are entering into”.
Clémence Crépin Neel of Moderato discussed her participation in Alpi Film Lab as part of the team which worked on I figli della scimmia: “I’d seen Tommaso Landucci’s first film Caveman – The Hidden Giant [+see also:
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interview: Tommaso Landucci
film profile], and it really impressed me. When I spoke with producer Andrea Calbucci I realised that we were talking the same language in terms of producing movies with auteur filmmakers. The script for I figli della scimmia is really original and moving. We don’t usually talk about disability in this way in films. Alpi Film Lab was an incredible opportunity because we were trained to a high level by the tutors and we worked together, producers and directors, on potential films of tomorrow. Landucci, meanwhile, confirmed that “the Lab was a great opportunity, because it provided me with a specific timeline. It’s not easy, on our own, to find the time and motivation to see projects through to a successful conclusion”. The Italian producer also says he’s looking “for a talented individual with an approach which results in a powerful story, and I found this in Tommaso, with his ability to identify the angle from which to shine a light on these themes. Each and every project is different; trying to pigeonhole films is a very risky business. But Alpi Film Lab’s initiative requires great willingness to collaborate on the part of authors and producers, including in phases where you don’t often tend to share your ideas”.
The same day also saw the presentation of the 6 projects within the Up & Coming Italy initiative, which is geared towards creative, emerging Italian producer-director teams who want to take their first steps in international co-production. The list of projects is as follows:
2022 Selection:
Italian professionals
Chiara Andrich (Ginko Film)
Manuela Buono (Slingshot Films)
Ottavia Fragnito (Maremosso)
Salvatore Lizzio (Revok)
French professionals
Alexandre Charlet (Les Films du Cygne)
Clémence Crépin Neel (Moderato)
Giovanni Donfrancesco (Bocalupo Films)
Andrea Queralt (4A4 Productions)
Italian participants and their projects
Grisun - Andrea Parena
Production: Francesca Duca (BabyDoc Film)
I figli della scimmia - Tommaso Landucci
Production: Andrea Calbucci (Lungta Film)
La Casa Bianca - Francesco Romano
Production: Raffaella Pontarelli (Amarena Film)
I Game You - Laura Viezzoli
Production: Lorenzo Cioffi (Ladoc)
French participants and their projects
Par Delà Les Montagnes - Manon Ott & Grégory Cohen
Production: Céline Loiseau (TS Productions)
Les Héros Américains - Sophie Beaulieu
Production: Camille Genaud (Paraíso Production)
Capitaine - Romuald Rodrigues Andrade
Production: Jérôme Nunes (Films de Force Majeure)
Underdog - Zoel Aeschbacher
Production: Nelson Ghrénassia (Yukunkun Productions)
Up & Coming Italy
Homicide House - Emanuele Aldrovandi
Production: Ariens Damsi (Eliofilm)
Jana - Matteo Pianezzi, Valeria Usala
Production: Matteo Pianezzi (Diero)
Jaune et bleu - Giulia Grandinetti
Production: Vincenzo Filippo (Lupin Film)
La guerra de las mujeres - Anna Recalde Miranda
Production: Ilaria Malagutti (Mammut Film)
Martino - Alessandro Abba Legnazzi
Production: Alessandro Carroli (EiE Film)
Sema - Lorenzo Puntoni
Production: Andrea Gori (Lumen Films)
(Translated from Italian)
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