Berlinale Co-Production Market

#IrishAbroad: Two Irish projects selected for 15th Berlinale Co-Production Market

Two Irish projects have been selected for the 15th Berlinale Co-Production Market, which takes place at the prestigious Berlinale Film Festival from February 17 to 21. They are Savage Productions’ Soul Hunter and Fantastic Films’ Dr. Glass.

The current selection comprises 36 new feature film projects that are looking for co-producers. In addition, five high-profile production companies will be introduced in the exclusive “Company Matching” programme.

Soul Hunter is the story of an idealistic young man seeking adventure in Siberia who finds a home among an indigenous tribe. Angered at their exploitation by criminals who govern the fur trade he ignites a dangerous revolution. Forced to flee into the frozen wilderness, he must embrace the tribe’s shamanic beliefs to survive. Based on a true story, the script is written by Glenn Montgomery and will be directed by Danish director Andreas Dalsgaard, who is best known as a documentary filmmaker and director of The Human Scale. Soul Hunter is to be produced by Savage Productions. Savage Productions has worked with him before when they co-produced the documentary Life is Sacred which is produced by Signe Byrge of Final Cut for Real.

Maudie director Aisling Walsh will tackle Dr. Glass, which is based on the classic Swedish novel by Hjalmar Soderberg. The book is described as being daringly philosophical in its sexual and social evocations, thriller-like in the tension of its morality and love. Stockholm, 1905. Dr Glass, introspective, stylish, intellectual. He shields himself from his life and his past with a cool and clinical veneer which passes for a normal and satisfactory existence but his life and values are thrown into turmoil when he falls obsessively in love with Helga, wife of the disgusting Pastor Gregorius. Helga abhors her husband and loves – not Dr Glass – but the handsome Recke. Dr Glass finds himself at the heart of a complex and shifting moral and erotic dilemma. Murder should be the furthest thing from his mind… Dr. Glass is a co-production between Makar Productions in the UK and Fantastic Films in Ireland.

Interested co-producers, world sales agents, distributors, broadcasters, film funds and financiers from all over the world will come together in Berlin in more than 1,200 pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with the producers of the selected projects from a total of 28 countries. Each meeting will be organized based on specific partnering needs for each project.

For the 2018 market, 21 promising feature film projects, with budgets ranging from 750,000 to six million euros, were selected from 326 submissions. The projects, which will be presented by producers with international experience, already have either production support from their home countries, or financing of at least 30 percent in place.

In addition to the meetings with potential partners, the producers of the selected projects have a chance to win high-profile prizes endowed by various entities, such as the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (20,000 euros), the VFF Talent Highlight Award (10,000 euros), and the ARTE International Prize (6,000 euros).

The 550 participants can also ask for meetings with four companies from Germany, France, Uruguay and Lebanon as part of the “Company Matching” programme, aimed at discussing structural relationships or a production slate, and potentially establishing long-term cooperations.

An extensive side-bar programme will also provide participating producers with chances to network and get up-to-date information on current production issues.


The official project-selection for the Berlinale Co-Production Market 2018

– The Hole in the Fence (D: Joaquín del Paso), Amondo Cine, Mexico
– The Woman With the Gun (D: Yorgos Servetas), Argonauts Productions, Greece
– Home (D: Franka Potente), Augenschein Filmproduktion, Germany
– Nobody Likes Me (D: Tomas Weinreb, Petr Kazda), Black Balance & Love.Frame & Arizona Productions, Czech Republic / France
– Haunted (D: Koen Mortier), Czar Film & TV, Belgium
– Motel Acacia (D: Bradley Liew), Epicmedia Productions & Potocol, Philippines / Singapore
– Dr. Glass (D: Aisling Walsh), Fantastic Films & Makar Productions, Ireland / United Kingdom
– The Sound of Animals Fighting (D: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer), Fireworx Media, South Africa / Brazil
– Three (D: Juanjo Giménez), Frida Films, Spain
– My Camino (D: Louise Archambault), Item 7, Canada
– Pelican Blood (D: Katrin Gebbe), Junafilm, Germany
– The Siren (D: Sepideh Farsi), Les Films d’Ici & Lunanime, France / Belgium
– An Empty Goal (D: Sergio Castro), Manufactura de Películas & Bigbonsai, Chile / Brazil
– The War Has Ended (D: Hagar Ben Asher), Match Factory Productions & Madants & Transfax, Germany / Poland / Israel
– Abdullah and His Sons (D: Esen Isik), Maximage, Switzerland
– Advantages of Travelling By Train (D: Aritz Moreno), Morena Films & Señor & Señora, Spain
– My First Time of Dying (D: Cristiane Oliveira), Okna Produções, Brazil
– I, Alex (D: İlker Çatak), Riva Filmproduktion, Germany
– Soul Hunter (D: Andreas Dalsgaard), Savage Productions, Ireland
– The Quarters (D: Todd Solondz, Anna Muylaert, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Arsinée Khanjian), Six Island Productions & Green Productions & Impulse Pictures, Canada / Israel
– When I’m Done Dying (D: Nisan Dag), Solis Film, Turkey

“Berlinale Directors” projects

– Doi Boy (D: Nontawat Numbenchapol), Anti-Archive & Mobile Lab Project, Cambodia / Thailand
– Three Minutes of Silence (D: Boris Khlebnikov), CTB Film Company, Russian Federation
– The Strangers of the Cold Mountain (D: Albertina Carri), El Borde, Argentina

“Rotterdam-Berlinale Express”

– Mon legionnaire (D: Rachel Lang), Chevaldeuxtrois & Wrong Men, France / Belgium
– A White, White Day (D: Hlynur Pálmason), Join Motion Pictures & Snowglobe, Iceland / Denmark

“Talent Project Market” – projects and selected production talents

– Nudo Mixteco (D: Ángeles Cruz), Amard Bird Films (P: Paula Alamillo), Germany
– The Empty House (D: Rati Tsiteladze), ArtWay Film (P: Rati Tsiteladze), Georgia
– Mascot (D: Remy van Heugten), Bind (P: Joram Willink), Holland
– Lynx (D: Sharipa Urazbayeva), Filmstar.kz (P: Sharipa Urazbayeva) & Tandem Production, Kazakhstan / Germany
– Tropical Memories (D: Shipei Wen), Foolish Old Man Production (P: Jing Wang), People’s Republic of China
– Milk (D: Maya Kenig), Green Productions (P: Maya Fischer), Israel
– The Far Mountains (D: Mitra Tabrizian), Sonatine Films (P: Zadoc Nava), United Kingdom
– The Isle of the Demoiselle (D: Micha Wald), Stenola Productions (P: Anton Iffland Stettner), Belgium
– Flee (D: Jonas Poher Rasmussen), Sun Creature (P: Charlotte de la Gournerie) & Final Cut for Real, Denmark
– Sáve – The Last of the First (D: tba), The End (P: Khalid Maimouni), Norway

“Company Matching” programme

  • Heimatfilm, Germany
  • Indie Prod / Indie Sales, France
  • Mutante Cine, Uruguay
  • Schortcut, Lebanon