06/07/2023 - The Venice Production Bridge is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its co-production market with projects from Europe and all over the world, and a VPB Focus on Germany and Quebec

62 projects hailing from all corners of the globe and in the final phases of development and financing will be presented during the three-day-long Venice Gap-Financing Market, running 1 – 3 September, within the Venice Film Festival (unspooling 30 August – 9 September). Over the course of the tenth edition of the co-production market organised within the Venice Production Bridge, these projects will get the chance to round off their funding via one-to-one meetings with international professionals.

In all, close to 280 projects were submitted this year, and the selection reflects the great diversity of backgrounds, stories, talent, genres and budgets characterising the projects which are set to be presented in the co-production market, which has become a key event for the film and immersive industry over the years. The VPB Focus countries of 2023 are Germany and Quebec. The selection is split between 34 fiction feature film projects - 26 projects (16 European and 10 from around the world) which are yet to round off their financing with minority co-production partners, and which already have 70% of their funding in place – and documentaries: 8 narrative or creative projects (5 European and 3 from around the world, which meet the same criteria as the afore-mentioned fiction films), including projects from Germany and Quebec; 14 immersive projects (9 European and 5 from around the world), which include films, whether fiction, documentary, animation or other experiences, and interactive installations (all projects have 30% of their budgets secured, and projects from Germany and Quebec are also included in this line-up); 11 projects developed during the seventh edition of the Biennale College Cinema VR workshop, and which are all at different stages, from development through to pre-production and post-production; and 3 projects developed during the first workshop of the Biennale College Cinema’s 11^th edition, which are all at different stages of development or pre-production.

The Venice Gap-Financing Market will host meetings between the teams (composed of a producer and the director) behind the 62 projects and professionals with decision-making power (producers, private and public funders, banks, distributors, sales agents, TV networks, VOD platforms, streamers, institutions and post-production companies). The VPB Office can help these teams and accredited professionals organise their meetings via the Venice Production Bridge website.

The Book of Projects, containing detailed information on each of the projects, will be published online around mid-July. Film industry professionals accredited for the VPB can request one-to-one meetings with the project teams by going to the dedicated Venice Gap-Financing Market area on the Venice Production Bridge website.

The selected projects are as follows:

Films and documentaries

After the Evil - Tamara Erde (France) (documentary)
Production: Gloria Films Production

All before You - Annemarie Jacir (Palestine/UK/France/Qatar/Saudi Arabia) (fiction)
Production: Philistine Films

Animus - Eliane De Latour (France) (documentary)
Production: Les Films d'Ici Méditerranée, Les Films Du Tambour De Soie

Blue Blood - Juris Kursietis (Latvia/Estonia/Greece) (fiction)
Production: White Picture

Blue Flower - Geneviève Dulude-De Celles (Canada/Belgium) (fiction)
Production: Colonelle Films

Caravan - Zuzana Kirchnerová (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Italy) (fiction)
Production: MasterFilm

Daughter's Daughter - Huang Xi (Taiwan/USA) (fiction)
Production: Sun Lok Productions

Dayao Swims Against the Flow - Zhang Tao (France/Portugal/Luxembourg/China/Korea) (fiction)
Production: House on Fire

Drowning Dry - Laurynas Bareisa (Lithuania/Latvia/Serbia) (fiction)
Production: Afterschool Production

Earthquake - Neo Sora (Japan/USA) (fiction)
Production: Cineric Creative, Zakkubalan, Cinema Inutile

Elephants in the Fog - Abinash Bikram Shah (Nepal/France) (fiction)
Production: Les Valseurs, Underground Talkies Nepal

England Made Me - Måns Månsson (Sweden/Belgium/UK) (fiction)
Production: Fasad Film Production AB

Ethel - Aisling Walsh (Canada/Ireland) (fiction)
Production: Sphère Média

Fiore mio - Paolo Cognetti (Italy/Belgium) (documentary)
Production: Samarcanda Film

Fredy - Will Prosper (Canada) (fiction)
Production: Peripheria (VPB Focus: Quebec)

From the Dark - Giovanni Piras (Italy) (fiction)
Production: La Sarraz Pictures

Girl in the Clouds - Philippe Riche (France/Belgium) (fiction)
Production: Brio Films

Hen - György Palfi (Germany/Greece) (fiction)
Production: Pallas Film, View Master Films, Twenty Twenty Vision (VPB Focus: Germany)

Invisible - Adele Tulli (Italy/France) (documentary)
Production: FilmAffair, Pepito Produzioni, Les Films d'Ici

Jacindamania - Pietra Brettkelly, Justin Pemberton (New Zealand) (documentary)
Production: This Too Shall Pass, Pietra Brettkelly Films

Nothing But the Truth About Extraterrestrials - Guylaine Maroist, Eric Ruel (Canada) (fiction)
Production: La Ruelle Films (VPB Focus: Quebec)

Picturehouse - Minh Nguyen-Vo (Vietnam/France/Philippines/Singapore) (fiction)
Production: Girelle Production, Hkfilm, East Films, Add Oil Films, Daluyong Studios

Poem About Stars - Dmytro Kashuba (Ukraine/Italy/France) (fiction)
Production: Sarke Studio Ukraine

Re-Creation - Jim Sheridan, David Merriman (Ireland/Luxembourg) (documentary)
Production: Hell's Kitchen, Joli Rideau Media

Reshma Shera - Megha Ramaswamy (Germany/India) (fiction)
Production: NiKo Film, Nicole Gerhards (VPB Focus: Germany)

Starseed - Anca Damian (Romania/France) (fiction)
Production: Aparte Film, Special Touch Studios

Summer War - Alicia Scherson (Chile/Argentina/Uruguay/Canada) (fiction)
Production: Araucaria Cine

Thank You for Banking with Us! - Laila Abbas (Germany/Palestine) (fiction)
Production: In Good Company GmbH

The Bone Sparrow - Kim Mordaunt (Australia) (fiction)
Production: Carver Films

The Damned - Roberto Minervini (Italy/Belgium/USA) (fiction)
Production: Okta Film, Michigan Films, Pulpa Film

The French Teacher - Ricardo Alves Jr. (Brazil/France/Portugal) (fiction)
Production: Entre Filmes, Les Valseurs, Karõ Filmes

Vermiglio or the Mountain Bride - Maura Delpero (Italy/France/Belgium) (fiction)
Production: Cinedora, Charades, Versus

The Worlds of Hamdi - Isabelle Lavigne (Canada) (fiction)
Production: micro_scope

Zsazsa Zaturnnah vs the Amazonistas of Planer X - Avid Liongoren (Philippines/France) (fiction)
Production: Rocketsheep Studio, Ghosts City Films

Immersive Stories

An Empty Seat - Johan Knattrup Jensen, Mads Damsbo (Canada/Denmark)
Production: Art et essai, Makropol (VPB Focus: Quebec)

As I Lay Dead - Simone Salomoni (Italy/Canada)
Production: Vitruvio Virtual Reality

Eddie and I - Maya Shekel (Israel)
Production: Maya Shekel - Yuval Kella

Free Ur Head - Chou Tung-Yen (Taiwan)
Production: Very Theatre Company

Gay Simulator - Iris Van Der Meule (the Netherlands)
Production: Studio Biarritz

Genesis – The LIFE Experience (WT) - Joerg Courtial (Germany)
Production: Faber Courtial (VPB Focus: Germany)

Impulse: Playing with Reality - May Abdalla, Barry Gene Murphy (UK/France)
Production: Anagram

Living with the Snow Leopards - Gayatri Parameswaran, Felix Gaedtke (Germany/India)
Production: NowHere Media (VPB Focus: Germany)

Okus Fokus Immersive - Emmanuel Di Martino (Belgium)
Production: Poolpio

Selina - A Narrative VR Adventure - Sven Haeberlein (Germany)
Production: Trotzkind GmbH

Tartupaluk  - Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory (Canada/Denmark/Greenland)
Production: Scintilla, Ánorâk Film company (VPB Focus: Quebec)

The Clouds are Two Thousand Meters Up - Singing Chen (Taiwan)
Production: The Walkers Films, Taiwan Public Television Service

The Photo Booth with Jonathan Yeo - Jamie Davies (UK)
Production: Factory 42

The Time of a Moment - Kate Voet, Victor Maes (Belgium)
Production: Cassettes for Timescapes

Biennale College – Cinema

Arms of a Man - Rohan Parashuram Kanawade (India/UK/France) (fiction)
Production: Lotus Visual Productions

To See These Days - Federico Lodoli, Carlo Gabriele Tribbioli (Italy/Switzerland) (fiction)
Production: Ring Film, Jasa Productions

I Would Like to See Your Private Photos - Marcelo Grabowsky (Brazil) (fiction)
Production: Matizar Filmes

Biennale College – Immersive Projects

A Petite Sensation of Joy, Number 4 - Nicole McDonald (USA)
Production: Bardo La

Below Deck - Martin Prinoth, Martina Mahlknecht (Germany/Italy)
Production: TÒ SU Film

Dante’s Vision - Massimo Ottoni, Francesco Forti (Italy)
Production: IBRIDO Studio

Garden Alchemy - Michelle and Uri Kranot (Denmark)
Production: Tindrum production, The Animation Workshop

Isilimela: Becoming with the Stars - Nirma Madhooc (South Africa)
Production: Ambient

Moments in a Coffee Shop - Aleyeldin Baracat (UK)
Production: No Ghost

Osage '85 - Liz Hinlein,Edward Button (USA)
Production: Storyverse Co//Lab

Out of Nowhere - Kris Hoffman (Austria/UK)
Production: Animate Projects

Reach Out - Daniel Adolfsson, Charlotte Davidson (Sweden)
Production: GötaFilm

The Master - Loukia Alavanou (Greece/Germany)
Production: Artcore Film

The White Saboteur - Barthelemy Antoine-Loeff, Hugo Arcier (France/Canada)
Production: Risette

(Translated from Italian)