U ARE THE UNIVERSE is in post-production

In Production and in Post-production December 2022

In production

VIET AND NAM by Truong Minh Quy, producers: TTB graduate Bradley Liew and TTB group leader Bianca Balbuena, TTB graduate Stefano Renting, EAVE graduate Marie Dubas, EAVE+ graduate Joost de Vries is in production. Nam and Việt love each other. Both are miners, working 1000 meters below ground, where danger awaits and darkness prevails. In the brief moments of respite, in the exhaustion of male bodies, they kiss. The town where they live makes a living out of coal. Nam, like other young people, has decided to leave the country soon. In his village, many families get out of poverty thanks to the money they receive from relatives working abroad, most of them i receives support by the Swiss fund visions sud. lllegal immigrants — underground money. Through a relative, Nam gets in touch with an agent who can smuggle people abroad in containers. But at that moment, Nam’s father, a soldier who died in the war, comes back in his mother’s dreams to tell her where he died. The film received support by the Swiss fund Visions Sud Est.

THE CELEBRATION by Bruno Ankovic, co-producers: EAVE+ graduate Danijel Hocevar and EAVE graduate Zdenka Gold is in production. Based on the award-winning novel by Damir Karakas, which was adapted for the screen by Jelena Palijan, the film follows the life of Mijo and his family in a poor Croatian village, during the turbulent years of World War II. The non-linear and elliptical plot gradually forms a clear picture that testifies to the eternal cycle of history and the impossibility of a real change in the Balkans. The Croatian Audiovisual Centre supported the film in 2020, with additional financing being secured through the MEDIA desk of Creative Europe. In 2021, the film was further developed through the Ekran+ workshop organised by Polish Studio Wajda. The film is produced by Rea Rajcic through Croatia’s Eclectica in co-production with Serbia’s Bas Celik, Slovenia’s Vertigo and Croatia’s Spiritus Movens, started filming last week in the Lika-Senj County.

LOST COUNTRY by Vladimir Perisic, producer: EAVE graduate Janja Kralj, co-producer: EAVE graduate, group leader and Croatian National Coordinator Ankica Juric Tilic is in production. The story, written by Perisic and French scriptwriter Alice Winocour: Belgrade, 1996. Stefan is 14. Following the victory of the opposition party in the elections, Milosevic’s Socialist Party falsifies the results. As the party decides to annul the vote, the country enters a turbulent period. Stefan's mother Marklena is the spokesperson for the party. Because of his love for his mother, Stefan cannot trust his best friend Milan telling him that his very mother is involved in election fraud. Street protests explode. The co-production of France, Serbia, Luxembourg and Croatia is produced by Janja Kralj through France’s KinoElektron, and Omar El Kadi and Nadia Turincev through Easy Riders Films (France), in co-production with Vladimir Perisic through Serbia’s Trilema, Vincent Quenault and Jeanne Geiben through Red Lion (Luxembourg), and Ankica Juric Tilic through Croatia’s Kinorama. CNC, Arte France Cinema, Film Center Serbia, the Luxembourg Film Fund and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre support the project. The film is being shot on 40 shooting days by cinematographers Sarah Bloom and Louise Botkay on 16 mm.

BULLSHIT by Milad Alami, co-producer: EAVE graduate Esko Rips is in production. Based on a best-selling book by Camilla Stockmann and Janus Køster-Rasmussen, the show centres on a rootless young couple, Pia and Henning, who long for rebellion and belonging. Drawn into Copenhagen’s biker subculture, their dream rapidly turns into a nightmare. Described as “an unconventional coming-of-age drama”, the series was created and penned by Milad Alami, Bo Hr Hansen and Molly Malene Stensgaard. BULLSHIT is being produced by Malene Blenkov for Denmark’s Nordisk Film/Creative Alliance, with Marlene Billie Andreasen serving as the executive producer for Viaplay Group. It is also being produced in partnership with Estonia’s Nafta Films, with support from Public Service Puljen, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Film Estonia’s cash-rebate incentive and the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme. The show will be released exclusively on Viaplay next year.

In post-production

U ARE THE UNIVERSE by Pavlo Ostrikov, producer: EAVE graduate Vladimir Yatsenko is in post-production. According to the plot, after the Earth explodes, a lonely Ukrainian space trucker, Andriy, thinks he is the only survivor – until he hears a French scientist called Catherine on the radio. Despite all the obstacles in his way, Andriy decides to go and see her. Yatsenko said: “Since this is a sci-fi film, a very large part of which is made up of computer-generated special effects, we have finished shooting the film completely, but now a huge amount of major post-production work is starting … By making this film, we intend to show that we are an invincible people and that even war will not stop us when we want to create something interesting.” Production duties are handled by Ukraine’s ForeFilms and the Ukrainian State Film Agency.

LIFE INTERRUPTED by Ilze Kunga-Melgaile, producers: EAVE graduate and Latvian National coordinator Aija Berzina and EAVE and PUENTES graduate Marija Razgute is in post-production. The film’s main character is based on the journalist and politician Ita Kozakevica, a bright figure in the pro-independence movement in the final Soviet years, who passed away suddenly at the age of 35 years in 1990. LIFE INTERRUPTED tells the story of Alicija (33), a Polish-born liberal free-thinker, living in Latvia, who joins the Awakening movement in the late 80s and 90s. Awakening (Atmoda) was a movement advocating for the restoration of Latvia's independence from the Soviet Union. Alicija's social activism soon intertwines with her personal life, as she learns of her husband's potential involvement with the KGB. The film is produced by Latvia’s TASSE Film and co-produced by Lithuania's M-Films. The National Film Centre of Latvia, the State Cultural Capital Foundation of Latvia, the Lithuanian Film Centre and Creative Europe MEDIA are supporting.

FIVE AND A HALF LOVE STORIES IN AN APARTMENT IN VILNIUS by Tomas Vengris, producer: EAVE FFF graduate and Roberts Vinovskis is in post-production. The plot: Five guests experience a crisis of love in an Airbnb in Vilnius, unaware of the stories that have transpired within the same walls and under the same bedsheets. Between each episode, the quiet cleaning lady, Jolanta, arrives to wipe away the evidence of their joys and tragedies, while her own silent love story unfolds. The Lithuanian/Irish/Latvian co-production is produced by Uljana Kim through Lithuanian Studio Uljana Kim and co-produced by Alicia Ni Grhaine through Irish Tiger Darling Production and Roberts Vinovskis through Latvian Studio Locomotive. The project received financial support from the Lithuanian Film Centre, Eurimages, Screen Ireland, the National Film Centre of Latvia, and the Lithuanian Radio and Television Group.

Page published 21 December 2022.