04/08/2023 - We take a closer look at four projects showcased in Locarno Pro’s co-development programme for films from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland

Cineuropa gained access to four interesting projects showcased in Alliance4Development (A4D), Locarno Pro’s dedicated co-development programme for films from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

During the three-day event unspooling from 4-6 August, the delegates of the 11 selected projects were given the opportunity to receive feedback from international experts on their presentations, partake in one-on-one meetings with potential partners, and attend panels and networking events.

La Passion d’Aline – Rokhaya Marieme Balde (Switzerland)
“La Passion d’Aline is a hybrid, intimate film, mystical and historical about Aline Sitoé Diatta, a resistante against the French colonisation in Senegal – and a childhood heroine to Rokhaya. It is Rokhaya’s first feature and it will be produced by Seeland Filmproduktion,” said Chantal Scheiner, who is staging the picture alongside Linda Vogel and Cyril Schäublin.

“We are in early development with support from the Swiss Federal Office for Culture and we are currently looking for co-production partners in Senegal and France. A4D will be the first occasion to present the project to the industry,” she added.

In her director’s statement, Balde further explains: “From my childhood, I was nurtured by the story of Aline Sitoé Diatta. Her story was briefly summarised in a framed photograph on our living room wall: ‘Heroine of Senegal 1926 – 1944.’ My father taught me, her story, our history, ‘The history with a small h,’ he said, ‘the history that falls too often into oblivion.’” 

Pas Ta Maman – Michèle Flury (Switzerland)
The film, produced by Jochen Laube, Fabian Maubach and Felix Schreiber for Switerzland’s Sommerhaus Filmproduktion, revolves around working-class, 24-year-old Mandy, the new nanny of diplomats at the Mediterranean. As she faces abuse from the husband, Mandy forms a complicity with his wife and befriends the elderly Carmen. A series of sexual assaults drives her to seek revenge for her freedom and the legacy of the three generations of women, ultimately leading to an act of tyrannicide.

“In Pas Ta Maman, we not only tell an encouraging story of a young woman seeking freedom in patriarchal society, but also the story of three generations of women and their experience in dealing with sexual abuse. With elements of a thriller and a modern fairy tale, we elevate her story and the act of tyrannicide to a symbolic level. Alongside the darkness and brutality, Michèle’s debut is thrilling and even tragicomic, leaving us both entertained and deeply moved.”

“At Locarno Pro, we hope to be inspired by other great stories and creatives from all over Europe and to find partners who believe in the power of young filmmakers and cinema itself,” Schreiber told Cineuropa. The team is currently looking for “partners from all over Europe” but also film and TV producing and financing partners from Switzerland, as well as from Greece or Spain, one of the countries where they plan to shoot the film.

The Young One – Despina Athanassiadis (France)
The story zooms in on Sabine, an experienced and lonely female truck driver who is forced to work with Manon, a 22-year-old hire. While they embark on an express delivery to Greece, the two women will be sharing the same space and tame each other, driving all along some dangerous European roads. The picture is an adaptation of the director’s previous short Night Drive (pictured).

Quentin Daniel for Wombat Films is producing. “The Young One is a dramedy and a road movie taking place on the European roads. Attending A4D is an amazing opportunity to meet co-producers, sales agents, [and to form] any kind of partnerships but also a good way to get feedback on the project itself. As it's our first feature project, it’s important to find support through this European scheme. The project has received development support from the CNC and the Grand Est regional funds,” Daniel told us.

The creative team is currently looking for co-producers, sales agents and distributors.

Calm – Sara Fattahi (Austria)
Penned by Fattahi herself, the story unfolds twenty years after the end of the war in Syria. Leila makes the surprising decision to leave behind her life in Vienna. She ends up in Beirut, hoping to return to her native Damascus. Between here and elsewhere, Leila’s sudden decision is greeted with concern by both victors and vanquished, family and friends, who fear she might plunge them back into their silent memories. 

“Calm is a drama filled with moments of mystery and wonder, secrets and apparitions. It centres on a non-traditional plot about return. It’s a film about the traces left by war in the memory of individuals. Where does reality begin? What remains of a story that’s never told? These are some of the questions that Leila and the other characters in the film ask. In Calm, reality blends with the imagination, the future with the past, while the present flickers on the edge of the abyss,” reads the director’s statement.

Producing are Sabine Moser and Oliver Neumann for FreibeuterFilm. Moser revealed that the team is looking for “international co-production partners, sales agents and distribution partners.”