EAVE project UNCOMFORTABLE BEINGS by Maja Kriznik is in production
Development & Production News April 2025
In development / pre-production
Eurimages
Eurimages supports the co-production of 23 feature films, including 5 documentaries and 2 animations. 11 of the projects are produced by EAVE graduates:
- BEHIND THE GREEN CURTAIN by Neasa Ni Chianain, co-producer: EAVE graduate Hanne Phylpo
- EAVE project GLORY B by Konstantinos Antonopoulos, producer: EAVE graduate Fani Skartouli, co-producer: EAVE graduate Nicole Gerhrards
- EAVE project THE DIFFICULT BRIDE by Rubaiyat Hossain, producer: EAVE graduate Aadnan Ahmed, co-producer: EAVE graduate Ingrid Lill Høgtun
- FJORD by Cristian Mungiu, co-producers: EAVE graduates Jussi Rantamäki, Katrin Pors
- FOLK PLAY by Mirjana Karanovic, producer: EAVE graduate Snezana van Houwelingen
- FROM A BODY TO ANOTHER by Mariana Otero, producer: EAVE graduate Carine Chichkowsky
- GET UP STAND UP by Mari Sanders, co-producer: EAVE graduate Amanda Livanou
- KILLABEES by Eché Janga, producers: EAVE graduates Derk-Jan Warrink and Koji Nelissen
- MELVILE by Fabrice Nzinzi, Romain Renard, producers: EAVE graduate Anne-Laure Guegan, PUENTES graduate Geraldine Sprimont, EAVE graduates Paul Thiltges, Adrien Chef
- THE ASSIGNMENT by Patrice Toye, producer: EAVE graduate Hans Everaert
- THE WOLF WILL TEAR YOUR IMMACULATE HANDS by Nathalie Alvarez Mesén, producers: EAVE graduate Anne-Laure Guegan, PUENTES graduate Géraldine Sprimont
- YUGO GOES TO AMERICA by Aleksa Borkovic, Filip Grujic, co-producer: EAVE graduate Vanja Jambrovic
IDFA Bertha Fund
- PURE MADNESS by Ines Arsi, producers: EAVE participant Kaouthar Hadidi, EAVE graduate Sarra Ben Hassen receives funding by the IDFA Bertha Fund IBF Classic: Development
https://professionals.idfa.nl/bertha-fund
Finnish Film Foundation
The Finnish Film Foundation supports 11 fiction features, eight documentary films, two shorts and one VR project. Three fiction features and one documentary film are minority co-productions. 7 of the films are produced by EAVE graduates.
- BLACK WATER by Aga Woszczynska, producers: EAVE graduate and National Coordinator Poland Agnieszka Wasiak, co-producers: EAVE graduates Liisa Karpo, Elina Litvinova
- BLUE BABY by Klaus Härö, producer: EAVE graduate Kaarle Aho
- CANCEL by Tuukka Temonen, producer: EAVE graduate Jukka Helle
- FJORD by Cristian Mungiu, co-producer: EAVE graduate Jussi Rantamäki
- LADIES OF STEEL 2 by Pamela Tola, producer: EAVE graduate Aleksi Bardy
- LAPLAND WAR by Aku Louhimies, producer: EAVE graduate Mikko Tenhunen
- LEX JULIA by Laura Hyppönen, producer: EAVE graduate Essi Haukkamaa
- LOOK AT ME NOW by Anders Hazelius, producer: EAVE graduate Oskari Huttu
- ORSOQ – SEASONS OF SOLITUDE by Inuk Silis Høegh, producer: EAVE graduate Emile Hertling Péronard
- WINGMAN 2 by Kari Ketonen, producer: EAVE participant Jonna Enroth
FFA
The Franco-German film funding commission for development and co-production – carried out jointly by the German FFA and the French CNC – supports three films. Among them:
- BILINGUAL by Alexandre Koberidze, producers: EAVE and TTB graduate Guillaume Dreyfus, PUENTES graduate Delphine Schmit
- LE SENS DE LA VIE by Élise Girard, producer: EAVE graduate Sébastien Haguenauer
Croatian Audiovisual Centre
Croatia announces Minority Co-production grants: 11 films received production support. Among them:
- GODS MUST BE MISTAKEN by Jakob Krese Weidner, producers: EAVE graduates Vanja Jambrovic, Tibor Keser
- FALL OF THE PATRIARCH by Anna Shishova-Bogolyubova, producer: EAVE graduate Sinisa Juricic
- THIRD SHIFT by Ana Opacic, producer: EAVE graduate and Croatian National Coordinator Tamara Babun
Lithuanian Film Centre
The Lithuanian Film Centre has announced the recipients of state funding for fiction and documentary film pre-production and production as well as the minority co-production grants. A total of 55 film projects have been awarded financial support. Among the feature films specifically receiving production grants, seven are fiction, six are documentaries and one is animated.
- 101 by Marat Sargsyan, producer: EAVE graduate Ieva Norviliene
- MARIJU ZEME by Viktorija Mickute, Ieva Balsiunaite, producer: EAVE graduate Dagne Vildziunaite
- ULYA by Viesturs Kairiss, producer: EAVE graduate Ieva Norviliene
- KARMIK KNOT by Signe Baumane, producer: EAVE FFF graduate Roberts Vinovskis is currently in preparation. with Karmik Knot, a Latvian/US/Italian coproduction starring Patrick Wilson, Polish-born American actress Dagmara Dominczyk and Matthew Modine. The story: In 1971, when Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union, a poor upbeat family of four (an engineer, a schoolteacher and their two daughters) move into a large house that they cannot afford to buy. The father's brother lends them money on the condition that the family starts an underground business of growing and selling rose cultivars to gardeners and collectors in Russia. United by the purpose to pay for the house and keep it, the family toils in their garden and greenhouse. In the process they become quite wealthy, but with the wealth come arrogance and a sense of invincibility. As the Soviet Union starts to fall apart, the family also unravels. “One overcast morning in the midst of the pandemic, I was looking outside the kitchen window of my studio when a familiar feeling hit me: the world-as-we-know-it was ending. This was familiar to me. In the 1990’s I had lived through the collapse of the Soviet Union. Standing in my kitchen I thought I should revisit what my Latvian family and I experienced as the Soviet Union crumbled, throwing Latvia into social turmoil. I believe that animation is the best medium to tell this complicated story, where each point of view or character’s inner thoughts can be represented in different visual styles”, Signe Baumane said. Dominiks Jarmakovics and Roberts Vinovskis are producing through Latvian Studio Locomotive in coproduction with Signe Baumane and Sturgis Warner through the American company The Marriage Project, and Leonardo Barrile through the Italian Samarcanda Film. The project is funded by the National Film Centre of Latvia, the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia and New York State Film Tax Credits. The project is also being developed through individual donations, as well as donations made through private foundations. The producers also intend to apply for the Eurimages Co-production Support.
In production
- EAVE project UNCOMFORTABLE BEINGS by Maja Kriznik, producers: EAVE graduates Lija Pogacnik, Vlado Bulajic, co-producer: EAVE FFF graduate Marta Zaccaron is in production. The story revolves around three semi-estranged sisters, Ema, Megi and Rubi. Ema needs to sell the family home and take care of her nephews while Megi fights the same illness that took their mother’s life years ago, and Rubi is busy furthering her career. When Ema finds some old family tapes in the house, it triggers a wave of delayed grief, leading them to the conclusion that sometimes, the most important things are the simplest ones and that somebody’s chosen “tribe” can be their family as well. UNCOMFORTABLE BEINGS is being produced by Lija Pogacnik and Vlado Bulajic of Slovenian company December, and co-produced by Marta Zaccaron, of Italian Incipit Film. RTV Slovenia also serves as a co-production company. The project was developed at the EAVE Producers Workshop, and was presented at Sofia Meetings and Baltic Event in Tallinn. The Slovenian Film Centre, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual Fund, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission and Creative Europe – MEDIA financially support the project, while Viba Film Studio provides technical support. According to the schedule, the shoot will last 29 days and will unfold on location in Gorizia, Grado and Lignano in Italy, as well as in Ljubljana, Sempeter, Strunjan and Skofja Loka in Slovenia.
https://brlab.com.br/en/participante/marta-zaccaron
- YO NO MORIRE DE AMOR by Marta Matute, producer: EAVE graduate and National Coordinator Spain Maria Zamora is in production. The story: at 18 years of age, Claudia has no desire to be the heroine in her family. Her mother’s illness bursts into the household like a silent storm. However, the girl wishes to live a life just like any other person her age. Straddling her duty to her family and her wish to make the most of her youth, she will have to choose how to love without giving up on herself. The writer-director stated: “Between the ages of 19 and 28, I spent much of my life caring for my mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Now I am 35, and my memory of that stage of the illness only harbours a scant few images. Nevertheless, what it left me with is an immense library of emotions. The driving force that spurred me on to start writing this film was the desire to address all of those people who are caring for a loved one and take them by the hand. I would like the movie to be a mirror for those youngsters who become carers way too early and who are inevitably forced to grow up and sacrifice part of their youth out of love.” Matute has worked as a video technician, an assistant director and an actress, and she currently teaches acting classes at the William Layton Theatre Laboratory. In 2020, she was selected for the Spanish Film Academy Residencies with Yo no moriré de amor, which picked up the SGAE Julio Alejandro Screenplay Award in 2021, and which has partaken in the Ventana CineMad, CDPAI, Ventana Sur and La Incubadora ECAM labs. YO NO MORIRE DE AMOR is a co-production by José Esteban Alenda and César Esteban Alenda for Solita Films (Spain), María Zamora for Elastica (Spain) and Flavia Biurrun for Saga Film (Belgium), which has secured support from the ICAA, Eurimages, RTVE, Movistar Plus+, the Community of Madrid, Madrid City Council and Filmin.
- KARATEKA by Aritz Moreno, producer: EAVE graduate Benoit Roland is in production. The film shows true story of the Spanish karateka Sandra Sanchez’ journey from of humble beginnings in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) to winning gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The film will depict how Sandra, guided by her coach and life partner Jesus, achieved Olympic gold at the age of 39—redefining the meaning of perseverance in a sport typically dominated by the Japanese and where most athletes retire by the age of 30. Director Aritz Moreno says that: “I never thought I’d take on a biopic, until I heard about Sandra. In that moment, I felt compelled to share her epic story with as many people as possible. KARATEKA is an ambitious film, both in scale and on a technical level, with an epic narrative typical of a sports and adventure manga.” KARATEKA is produced by Jaime Ortiz de Artiñano for Atresmedia Cine, Leire Apellaniz for Sr&Sra Producciones, Karateka A.I.E, Apaches Entertainment and Colosé Producciones, along with Benoit Roland for the Belgian company Wrong Men. It has the participation of Atresmedia and Netflix, in collaboration with Madrid City Council, supported by Creative Europe MEDIA and Wallimages and with funding from the ICAA.
- JÉSUS-LEÓPARD by Patrick-Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic, co-producers: EAVE graduates Gilles Chanial, Jean-Yves Roubin is in production. Revolving around a hypnotist who falls in love with someone not necessarily made for him, the story centres on Dylan who has an extraordinary gift for healing but who refuses to turn a profit from it, out of shyness. Because of this, his best and only friend, Jessica, mocks him. But Dylan isn’t interested in money: he wants to experience true love. And love presents itself to him unannounced when Jessica entrusts her mortally wounded friend to him... Produced by Alain Benguigui on behalf of Parisian firm Sombrero Films in co-production with Luxembourg outfit Les Films Fauves and Belgian firm Frakas Productions, JÉSUS-LEÓPARD has been pre-purchased by Ciné+/OCS and enjoys support in the form of an advance on receipts from the CNC, as well as backing from the Brittany region, from Film Fund Luxembourg and from the SOFICA company Cinécap. The 22-day film shoot will unfold between 2 June and 5 July in Luxembourg and Belgium with Jako Raybaut heading up photography.
In post-production
- Y by Maria Popistasu and Alexandru Baciu, producer: EAVE graduate Anamaria Antoci is in post-production. Set against the backdrop of post-revolution Romania, the film uncovers a forgotten chapter of the nation’s history while telling a deeply personal story of reckoning and reconciliation. The story follows Olga, her father and her two sisters, who have been living a carefree life thanks to the fortune of her grandmother, Ileana, a former lawyer. Her sudden death disrupts the family’s fragile balance – especially for Olga, who is haunted by a deathbed confession: the international adoption files Ileana handled after the Romanian Revolution are riddled with irregularities, and the fates of several children remain unknown. To clear her grandmother’s name and confront her own moral dilemma, Olga is compelled to unearth painful truths and make peace with the past. Y is written and directed by Popistașu and Baciu. Producer Anamaria Antoci, of Tangaj Production, said: “Y presents a compelling perspective on legacy, moral responsibility and the unseen costs of personal comfort. What began as a reflection on inheritance evolved into a nuanced exploration of family dynamics and unresolved histories. The film stands out for its courage in addressing a rarely discussed chapter in Romania’s recent past. It is a project that challenges both its creators and its audience to re-examine the boundaries of personal accountability.” Y is being produced by Anamaria Antoci for Romania’s Tangaj Production, with Ana Voicu serving as executive producer, in co-production with EAVE graduate Effie Skrobolas, Vassilis Tzanidis, George Kyriakos and Costas Labropoulos for Greece’s View Master Films. The project has been supported by the Romanian National Film Center, the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center, the European Union’s NextGenerationEU initiative and Romanian Television. Y has been presented at major industry platforms, including Thessaloniki’s Agora Crossroads, ArrasDays, where it won the ArrasDays City Prize, and Sofia Meetings.
- DICE-CHING-O-MAT by Kristijonas Vildziunas, co-producers: EAVE graduates Paul Thiltges, Adrien Chef, EAVE FFF graduate Roberts Vinovskis is in post-production. Scripted by Vildziunas himself, the film centres on 55-year-old Vilis, an Asian Studies scholar, who is trapped in the Cube, a mysterious, elevator-like structure. After hitting his head, he loses his memory, and must find his way out through red and green doors. The red doors lead him to a frozen Vilnius during the 2020 pandemic, where he encounters his wife and children, whom he doesn't recognise. His family seems unfazed, having long been estranged from him owing to his academic devotion. As his children face misfortunes, Vilis must re-enter the Cube each time to continue his quest. With only three attempts, he uses his knowledge of the I Ching to manipulate the Cube's mechanism, but he eventually realises that forming an emotional connection with his children is the key to finding the green doors. “2020 was a year that shook the world to its core, shattering the illusion of stability,” elaborates Vildziunas in his director’s statement. “The swift unfolding of global events forced people to search for answers to life’s profound questions. The story of DICE-CHING-O-MAT centres on such an identity crisis – the protagonist’s realisation that his academic preoccupation has overshadowed his relationship with his family. The overturned Cube at the start of the film is a cinematic image of that abrupt change in self-perception. Accompanied by a cast of archetypal characters, the Cube becomes a reflection of Vilis’s psyche, serving as a platform for his internal dialogue, while emanating an inhospitable ambiance, reminiscent of a timeworn Soviet elevator, hinting at the character’s childhood.” Production was divided into three shooting periods and lasted 29 days around the city of Vilnius and at a countryside homestead nearby, on a soundstage, and along the Baltic Sea coast on the Curonian Spit, while the cinematography was entrusted to DoP Jurgis Kmins. Besides Studio Uljana Kim, the film is being co-produced by Latvia’s Studio Locomotive and Estonia’s Filmivabrik, with Paul Thiltges Distributions intending to join as the fourth co-producer. Financing support comes from the Lithuanian Film Centre, Lithuanian National Radio & Television, the National Film Centre of Latvia, the Estonian Film Institute and the Estonian Cultural Endowment.
- ARCANES by Michèle Jacob, producer: EAVE graduate Diana Elbaum, co-producer: EAVE graduate Miha Cernec is in post-production. Set in the fictional small post-industrial town of Gravines, the film delves into the intertwining mysteries of a missing teenager and the unsolved death of a former factory manager’s son. Set in the 1990s, the series follows the disappearance of a local teenager, Stella, which reopens old wounds for Clémence Rosier, the last CEO of the MTLK factory before it closed down. Her son Benjamin's unsolved death two years prior is now tied to the case, and Clémence is forced to team up with Antonio D’Ambrosio, a factory worker long suspected of being involved in her son’s death. The duo must decode a mysterious book written by the two children, uncovering secrets that threaten to destroy the fragile community. Producer Diana Elbaum, of Belgium’s Beluga Tree, explains the approach to creating the industrial setting of Gravines: “ARCANES takes place in this fictional post-industrial town, once at the heart of the region's steel industry. It thrived until the 1990s, when factory closures triggered mass strikes and political unrest. To recreate this atmosphere, we didn’t have to look very far – such post-industrial towns still exist in Wallonia, not far from Brussels. However, they are evolving, and industrial sites are becoming scarce. Fortunately, we were still able to access some of the remaining locations.” The search for the right locations was one of the production team’s main challenges. Elbaum recounts, “Scouting locations proved to be one of our biggest challenges in pre-production – our scouts literally went from door to door, searching for the right interiors.” One crucial scene, set on a bridge where a critical death occurs, could not be filmed in Belgium. “This led us to Slovenia, where producer Miha Cernec joined us as a co-producer. There, we found a bridge that perfectly met our needs,” she explains. Elbaum credits the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Programme for Series Co-Production Support as being vital to the success of ARCANES. “The Programme for Series Co-Production Support was absolutely essential to the project. It gave us the financial backing to move forward, particularly by enabling us to shoot in Slovenia – where, aside from tax rebates, there is no direct support for international TV series. At the same time, we had to ensure that Belgian funds were spent in Belgium. This programme provided the oxygen we desperately needed to make it all work.” The series is currently in post-production and had its world premiere in Series Mania Forum’s Coming Next Series section. It is being produced by Belgium’s Beluga Tree SA in co-production with Slovenia’s Staragara, as well as Proximus and RTBF.
- HYGGE by Lena Falker and Zarah Schrade, producer: EAVE graduate Linus Günther. A couple consisting of two women, Levi and Minu, participate in a reality TV show called Hygge, inspired by the Swedish lifestyle concept of the same name. On an island, the new community they form part of takes advantage of their remoteness from society in order to experiment with its own values. But contrary to Levi's expectations, the ideals of traditional gender roles still seem to prevail among the show’s bosses. Therefore, at a certain point, Levi tries to escape and to convince Minu to leave with her. The directors say about their project: “Hygge is a satirical drama, drawing inspiration from films like Parasite, The Stepford Wives and Get Out. The community in Hygge is depicted as a place of comfort, where viewers can project their dreams of the perfect heteronormative family, despite the mainland suffering from resource shortages, an unstable climate and strict birth-control policies. As we spend more time in this picturesque village, the cozy interiors and underlying value system reveal a growing sense of claustrophobia.” Linus Günther is the producer in charge for Klinkerfilm. HYGGE is a production by Klinkerfilm in co-production with NDR. It was funded by MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and nordmedia. The film is currently in post-production and will likely wrap this stage at the end of May. Shooting lasted 23 days and took place in Germany – specifically, in the regions of Wendland, Lower Saxony; Olpenitz, by the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein; and Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg.
- LIEBHABERINNEN by Caroline „Koxi“ Kox, producers: EAVE+ graduates Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, Herbert Schwering is in post-production. Koxi’s film is based on a 1975 novel, Die Liebhaberinnen by Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek, widely considered as one of the most acclaimed contemporary German-language authors. Jelinek is known for her works focused on female sexuality and critiques of a patriarchal, capitalist system that inherently oppresses women. She is also known for her semi-autobiographical 1983 novel The Piano Teacher, adapted for the screen into Michael Haneke’s 2001 erotic drama. Set in 1970s Austria, the original book tells the story of 15-year-old Paula and the only slightly older Brigitte, working-class girls who seek to escape their respective societal conditions by marrying upwards in socioeconomic class. The two follow different paths: while Paula fantasises about true romantic love to a tragic end, Brigitte begins to lose her personal identity as she falls in line with heteronormative ideals of marriage and her role as a wife and mother. With Jelinek’s signature ironic and satirical flairs, the tale comments on the commercialisation of love and the interrogation of expected gender roles. LIEBHABERINNEN is a German-Luxembourgish co-production by Cologne-based Coin Film in co-production with btf, Amour Fou Luxembourg and Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR), and in cooperation with MMC Movies Köln.
Page published 30 April 2025. Updated 6 May 2025.
