The first WIP session that took place during this year’s Industry@Tallinn was the Just Film section, which focuses on film projects for children and young people. The Just Film Youth and Children’s Film Festival is the biggest sub-festival of Tallinn Black Nights. The winner of the section receives a €1,000 monetary prize, to be decided on by a jury comprising Estonian film director Jaak Kilmi; senior project leader at the Network Film Education Margreet Cornelius (Netherlands); and Nicola Jones, the director of the Golden Sparrow Children’s Media Festival. Below we take a closer look at the projects being presented this year.

Empire of the Rabbits - Seyfettin Tokmak (Turkey/Mexico/Lebanon/France/Croatia)
Producer: Zeynep Koray (ZKF)
Co-producers: Xavier Rocher (La Fabrica Nocturna), Gabriela Gavica and Carlos Hernandez (MandarinaCine), Lara Abou Saifan (Lara Abou Saifan), Sinisa Juricic (Nukleus Films)
The coming-of-age film follows Musa, who lives with his father – a man who provides rabbits for the greyhound races in their village. He also forces Musa to learn how to act like a disabled child because he wants him to go to a school for disabled children. Musa obeys and finds himself in a classroom full of disabled children and other kids faking a disability, where the only thing that he is interested in is Nergis, the cleaner girl who teaches children how to act like disabled people. This is the sophomore feature by Seyfettin Tokmak (Broken Mussels), and it is being backed by Istanbul- and Ankara-based production company ZKF. It is looking for gap financing, distributors, sales agents and co-producers.

Government of Children - Ioana Mischie (Romania)
Producer: Irina Petrescu (Studioset Production)
Government of Children is an aspirational and social awareness-driven global documentary franchise that aims to facilitate the creation of a playground for children, in which they will have the power to reshape the political and social reality we and they will live in. Children from diverse backgrounds will also be empowered to see themselves as leaders and to imagine a future in which they will feel comfortable existing. Ioana Mischie is a Romanian-born transmedia artist (screenwriter/director) and futurist, already awarded for filmmaking, cinematic virtual reality and innovative concepts. Her cinematic projects have travelled to more than 200 festivals worldwide. This project is being produced by Bucharest-based Studioset, and is looking for gap financing, distributors, festivals, co-producers and film markets.

Jonja - Anika Mätzke (Germany)
Producers: Norman Bernien, Christoph Holthof, Daniel Reich (kurhaus production)
The film follows 13-year-old Jonja, who does not feel at home any more, especially since her mother has got together with a new boyfriend. She decides to go on holiday with her best friend, Paul, and his well-off family – without telling her mother. The summer days by the lake are fun-filled and exciting, Jonja falls in love for the first time, and her friendship with Paul intensifies. This is the debut feature by German director Anika Mätzke, who wrote and directed a number of award-winning short films and other works in Leipzig. Produced by independent company kurhaus production, the film is in post-production, and is looking for distributors, sales agents, festivals and streamers.

Kissing Bug - Luis Zorraquin (Argentina/Brazil)
Producers: Esteban Lucangioli (Pelicano Cine), Bruno Autran (Labuta Filmes)
Nelson is a 15-year-old boy who gets entangled in an anti-drugs bust and is forced to travel to the neighbouring city to work undercover for the police. His mission is to assist at a private school and befriend the daughters of the suspected boss of the drug cartel, and he lives with Gustavo, a military man, who suspects that Nelson has had an affair with his wife. Set in a world of lies and treason, the sophomore feature by Argentina’s Luis Zorraquin (Guaraní) is being backed by Pelicano Cine from Argentina, and is looking for gap financing, distributors, sales agents, festivals and streamers.

Raw Material - Martin Boross (Hungary)
Producer: Gábor Osváth (Filmfabriq)
Tamás, a young film director, is invited to teach community filmmaking classes in a Hungarian village. After overcoming a few initial setbacks, he’s accepted by the local youth and receives positive feedback from the mayor. However, a boy named Palika starts missing sessions, which worries the team, since he was the most enthusiastic participant, and so they try to find out what has happened to him. Martin Boross is a theatre director, writer, performer and emerging film director, and he has directed two short films and a community documentary. The company Filmfabriq Kft is producing, and the film is eyeing gap financing, sales agents and festivals.

Snot and Splash - Teemu Nikki (Finland)
Producers: Jani Pösö (It's Alive Films), Ari Matikainen (Kinocompany)
In a fantasy-comedy for all ages, brothers Snot and Splash try to catch a thief who’s been stealing fishing holes from the ice, only to end up saving the town and the entire world from being sucked into a collapsing waste-disposal system. When they manage to save the Earth from the black hole, they also free the little town’s citizens from dental-coating hypnosis. Finnish director Teemu Nikki (The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic [+lee también:
crítica
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entrevista: Teemu Nikki y Jani Pösö
entrevista: Teemu Nikki, Jani Pösö y…
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