EAVE project PETITE ROSE started shooting

In Production and Post-Production September 2024

In production

• EAVE project PETITE ROSE (BLUE FLOWER) by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, produced by EAVE graduate Fanny Drew is in production. The co-production between Canada, Belgium and Bulgaria started shooting in September in Montreal. It was selected as part of the Venice Gap-Financing Market in 2023 and received support from Eurimages, Telefilm Canada and SODEC earlier this year. Dulude-De Celles had her fiction feature debut Une Colonie (2018) premiere at the Berlinale. Colonelle films’ Sarah Mannering and EAVE graduate Fanny Drew will produce. The film should be ready for a major film festival drop past the midway point in 2025. The film tells the story of a man, Mihai, who works for an important art collector in Montreal. The latter wants to acquire a work by Nina, a young Romanian prodigy painter. Mihai is therefore called to return to Romania for the first time, 30 years after leaving this country to settle in Quebec.

https://www.colonellefilms.com/

• LES BARONNES by Nabil Ben Yadir and Mokhtaria Badaoui, producer: EAVE graduate Benoît Roland is in production. Co-written according to an idea by Nabil Ben Yadir’s mother Mokhtaria Badaoui and Stéphane Malandrin, the story is that of 65-year-old Fatima whose world collapses when she learns her husband has been leading a double life in Morocco for the past dozen years. Furious and determined not to be outdone by fate, she decides to pick up where she left off 50 years earlier, when she was supposed to play Hamlet. Together with her fellow "Baronnes" - her best friends Mériem, Romaissa and Inès, three other grandmothers from Molenbeek – she makes a decision which will shake up their lives, the lives of those around them, their neighbourhood and the entire country. The film will be punctuated by dances and musical scenes, set to be directed by the Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Ckerkaoui. LES BARONNES is being produced by 10.80 films, and co-produced by EAVE graduate and Luxembourgish National Coordinator Bernard Michaux from Samsa Film (Luxembourg), A Team Productions (Belgium), Komoko and Special Touch Studio (France). It has secured backing from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre, Film Fund Luxembourg, Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Screen Brussels, BNP Paribas Film Finances, RTBF, Proximus, VOO & BETV, VRT, TV5 Monde and Creative Europe.

https://www.cinergie.be/organisation/10-80-films

• KIKA by Alexe Poukine, producer: EAVE graduate Benoît Roland is in production. The film paints the portrait of a young woman whose partner has just died and who is stupefied to realise she’s pregnant. Not only is her heart in pieces, she’s also totally broke, so she’s forced to sort out her priorities: first of all, dig herself out of this hole, and secondly, think about whether or not to keep the child. Having kicked off on 15 September, shooting on KIKA will continue until 5 November in the Brussels region. The film enjoys support from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre, screen.brussels, RTBF, Voo, Proximus, the CNC, the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, Creative Europe MEDIA, Eurimages, and Cineventure.

https://wrongmen.be

• WIRBEL by Tomas Hubacek, producer: EAVE graduate Jan Macola is shooting. Hubacek’s debut feature is a mystery-infused drama film set in the landscapes of the Central Bohemian Highlands. The feature explores the themes of home, identity and humanity’s relationship with nature. The film follows Martin, a burnt-out man who inherits a decaying house in the Czech countryside. While sorting through the property, he discovers ancient maps and meets the enigmatic Agnes. As Martin traces Agnes’s path, he unearths the forgotten rituals of the displaced inhabitants and the forces that once protected the land from destruction. His journey mirrors a personal transformation, reflecting the healing of the wounded landscape. “For me, the atmosphere of a place is central,” Hubacek explained, reflecting on his approach. “The story is shaped by the landscape, not just set in it.” The project, which has been seven years in the making, saw Hubáček and his team scouting locations across the Central Bohemian Highlands, the Plzeň region and Slovakia. The dramatic volcanic peaks and expansive fields will serve as both backdrop and character in this film, which blends elements of drama, arthouse and genre cinema. The movie is set in the former Sudetenland in the Czech-German border region, though it serves as a universal representation of areas across Europe affected by population displacements in the 20th century. WIRBEL is being produced by Mimesis Film (Czech Republic) and co-produced by Slovak outfit sentimentalfilm. The Czech Film Fund, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and the Pilsen region have all supported the project.

www.mimesis.cz

• PARKINGS by Valéry Rosier, producer: EAVE graduate Benoît Roland, co-producer: EAVE graduate Sébastien Hagenauer is in production. The film speaks of the intertwined destinies of several loners who are all struggling, to a greater or lesser extent, in their lives: there’s a radio presenter who’s hiding a painful recent past, a retired woman who’ll do anything to avoid being alone, an animal undertaker, a taxi driver who’s self-conscious about his bald patch… All unfolding in a region where pets seem to be disappearing… PARKINGS is produced by Benoît Roland on behalf of Wrong Men (Belgium), who are shooting an endless number of films this year. The movie is co-produced in France by Sébastien Hagenauer on behalf of 10:15 Productions, with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre, RTBF, Pictanovo and Creative Europe MEDIA. Having kicked off on 3 September in the Tournai region, shooting on the movie will continue until 23 October.

https://wrongmen.be

• BUGONIA by Yorgos Lanthimos, producer: EAVE graduate Ed Guiney is shooting. The remake of the 2003 South Korean sci-fi comedy Save The Green Planet! is currently being produced by Element Pictures, Square Peg, and Fruit Tree in Wycombe. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are in the cast.

www.elementpictures.ie

• MOM’S ALIVE TODAY by Josip Lukic, producers: EAVE graduates Tena Gojic, Dragana Jovovic and Bujar Kabashi is shooting. The Croatian filmmaker tells the story of the strong, but pathological, relationship between a Millennial man and his mother. The story revolves around a Millennial man, Jakov, who has a hard time dealing with his own existence, marked by a looming crisis both on the personal and the social level. He abruptly decides to come back to his hometown to take care of his schizophrenic mother, with whom he has a deep, but mostly pathological, relationship. The connection they have prevents him from growing up and taking control of his own life, which brings him to the edge of a nervous breakdown. MOM’S ALIVE TODAY is a co-production between Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo. It is being produced by EAVE graduate Tena Gojić from Dinaridi Film, Dragana Jovović, Stefan Ivančić and Ognjen Glavonić from Non-Aligned Films, and Bujar Kabashi from Mobius. The project was presented at the 2023 CineLink Industry Days at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and it has also received support from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Center Serbia, the Kosovo Cinematography Center and the City of Split.

www.nonalignedfilms.com

• HOTEL ALCOHOL by Jan Cvitkovic, producer: EAVE graduate Miha Cernec is in production. A drunk, a madman and a junkie fail to win the ‘Olympics’ in the psychiatric hospital. After a dispute with the Senior Doctor, they run away in frustration. Running out of medication, they occupy a pharmacy where they each experience their own enlightenment. “Since childhood, my life has been closely intertwined with people with special needs, alcoholics, mental patients and drug addicts. With strange and outcasted people. I want to bring their world closer to people and demystify it, in a serious way, interspersed with comic elements, because I believe that taboos can be broken through the prism of intelligent humour,” says Cvitkovic. HOTEL ALCOHOL is produced by Staragara in co-production with Propeler Film (Croatia), Independent Partners Film (Germany) and Solsticij (Slovenia). The project is supported by the Slovenian Film Centre, RTV Slovenija, Nordmedia, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and Creative Europa MEDIA. The 33-days shooting of this Slovenian/German/Croatian co-production takes place in Idrija, Ajdovscina and in Gorizia (Italy).

www.staragara.com

In post-production

• SAND IN YOUR HAIR by Mantas Verbiejus, producer: EAVE graduate Živile Gallego is shooting. The story, penned by Verbiejus himself in tandem with Gediminas Cibulskis, follows Malvina, a former ballerina in her mid-eighties once celebrated for her gracefulness on stage, but who now languishes in a monotonous routine. After she unexpectedly meets Kipras, a talented painter of her age, he becomes the catalyst for change. Together, they defy society’s expectations about seniors, transcending age and challenging taboos. As they escape from relatives and institutions, they discover that freedom isn’t merely physical; it’s about breaking free from invisible chains. Their journey unfolds as a pas de deux – a dance of resilience, rebellion and redemption. Can love overcome loneliness, and can two ageing hearts rewrite their own ending?

www.fralitafilms.com

Page published 30 September 2024. Updated 31 October 2024.