14/01/2020 - The Italian co-production forum, which this year is focusing on Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as Hungary, Moldova and Romania, has unveiled its picks for its sidebars plus their juries

The tenth edition of When East Meets West (WEMW) has put the finishing touches to its line-up for this iteration. Taking place from 19-21 January, as part of the 31^st Trieste Film Festival (17-23 January), the Italian co-production forum is this year focusing on Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as Hungary, Moldova and Romania. In detail, it has announced the selection for its side sections, the international juries, and the complete programme of events and discussions.

The 22 selected projects that will be participating in the WEMW Co-production Pitching Forum, which takes place on 20 January, were announced back in December (see the news), and now the members of the international jury have been confirmed. Marjorie Bendeck (connecting cottbus), Tobias Pausinger (The Match Factory) and Federico Pedroni (RAI Cinema) will be deciding on the winners of this section.

Regarding the other WEMW side sections, which focus on projects in the post-production phase, the sixth edition of Last Stop Trieste (LST), the documentary work-in-progress platform, will showcase five creative docs. A closed screening session for 40 invited film professionals is being organised, and all of the projects will be vying for the HBO Europe Award, the Flow Digital Cinema Award, the LST Award worth €2,500, sponsored by Film Center Serbia, and the new First Hand Fabulous Award, which consists of rough-cut script consultancy as well as promotion and distribution advice. The LST jury is made up of Pierre-Alexis Chevit (Cannes’ Marché du Film), Jutta Krug (WDR) and Alex Szalat (Docs Up Fund).

Organised for the third year in a row, the This is IT section is once again taking place in partnership with Milano Film Network and will welcome nine feature-length fiction and hybrid projects that are being produced or co-produced by Italian producers, and which are currently in the post-production phase and are thus ready for their festival premieres or international distribution. The jury, made up of Cosima Finkbeiner (Beta Cinema), Olivier Pelisson (the Cannes Critics’ Week) and Alexia De Vito (MIA), will decide on the winner of the prestigious Laser Film Award.

Furthermore, eight previous participants in the First Cut Lab workshop will be presented within the work in progress section dubbed First Cut + (see the news), and the jury members for this session are Yohann Comte (Charades), Izabela Igel (ORKA Film) and Thierry Jobin (Fribourg International Film Festival). They will deliver the ORKA Film Award for colour-grading services and the Sub-Ti Award for subtitling services. The three feature-length fiction films that are currently at the editing stage and will participate in the sixth First Cut Lab workshop will be announced shortly.

To celebrate its tenth anniversary, WEMW will present a new report on trends in co-production between Eastern and Western Europe between 2008 and 2019; also, during the “In the Spotlight” panel discussion, representatives of the countries in focus will offer a range of insightful advice based on their experience, while EAVE will organise a session focused on SVoD platforms and their performance.

Finally, in partnership with MIDPOINT, which is organising the first workshop of its 2020 Feature Launch (see the news) in Trieste, WEMW is launching the first edition of Cold Open, a programme dedicated to ten independent producers who come from a feature-film background but who are shifting to high-quality television content.

Here is the list of the titles selected in the various WEMW sidebars:

Last Stop Trieste

This Rain Will Never Stop [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Gorlova
film profile] - Alina Gorlova (Ukraine/Latvia/Germany/Qatar)
Producers: Maksym Nakonechnyi, Ilona Bicevska, Patrick Hamm

Everything Will Not Be Fine - Adrian Pîrvu, Helena Maksyom (Romania/Ukraine)
Producers: Alexandru Solomon, Ada Solomon

Holy Father [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Andrei Dascalescu (Romania)
Producer: Anda Ionescu

I’ll Stand by You - Virginija Vareikye, Maximilien Dejoie (Lithuania/Italy)
Producers: Lukas Trimonis, Maximilien Dejoie, Mark Olexa

Soviet Man - Ivo Briedis (Latvia/Lithuania/Czech Republic)
Producers: Elina Gedina Ducena, Inese Boka Grube

This is IT

The Angel in the Wall [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Lorenzo Bianchini (Italy)
Producers: Sabrina Baracetti, Thomas Bertacche, Samantha Faccio

Atlas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Niccolò Castelli
film profile] - Niccolò Castelli (Switzerland/Belgium/Italy)
Producers: Villi Hermann, Michela Pini

Cent’anni - Maja Prelog (Slovenia/Poland/Italy/Austria)
Producer: Rok Bicek
Co-producers: Alessandro Leone, Massimo Casula

Divinations [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Leandro Picarella (Italy/France)
Producers: Luca Scarabelli, Luciano Barisone, Serge Lalou

The House of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Luca Ferri (Italy)
Producers: Federico Minetti, Andrea Zanoli, Pietro De Tilla

The Jungle - Cristian Natoli (Italy)
Producers: Chiara Toffolo, Anita Juka

The Last Ride of the Wolves [+see also:
film review
interview: Alberto De Michele
film profile] - Alberto De Michele (Netherlands/Italy)
Producer: Francesco Bonsembiante

The Stonebreaker - Gianluca De Serio, Massimiliano De Serio (Italy/France)
Producer: Alessandro Borrelli

Through the Waves [+see also:
interview: Marco Amenta
film profile] - Marco Amenta (Italy)
Producers: Simonetta Amenta, Cristina Pinto Marques

Cold Open

Karin Berghammer - Berg Hammer Film (Austria)
Eva Blondiau - Color of May (Germany)
Luigi Chimienti - Dispàrte (Italy)
Johannes Jancke - Bon Voyage Films (Germany)
Dragana Jovovic - Non-Aligned Films (Serbia)
Natalia Libet (Ukraine)
Claudia Schroeter - Kinderfilm GmbH/Grown Up Films (Germany)
Radu Stancu - deFilm (Romania)
Nadia Trevisan - Nefertiti Film (Italy)
Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos - Plays2Place (Greece)