Three monetary prizes were awarded to selected narrative film projects at the Berlinale Co-Production Market which was held from February 17 to 21, 2018.
The Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, endowed with 20,000 euros, was presented on Sunday to the project The War Has Ended, represented by the producers from Madants, Poland, Match Factory Productions, Germany and Transfax Film Productions, Israel. The prize money is intended as a project development grant from the European film subsidy organization Eurimages. The first Eurimages Co-Production Development Award in Berlin in 2015 went to the project 3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon), directed by Emily Atef, and the resulting completed film is celebrating its premiere at this year’s festival in Competition.
The VFF – (Film and Television Producers Rights Association) from Munich awarded its VFF Talent Highlight Award, endowed with 10,000 euros, to the project Tropical Memories (dir: Shipei Wen), presented at the Co-Production Market by producer Jing Wang from the People’s Republic of China. Each year since 2004, the VFF has honored a promising project by up-and-coming filmmakers from the “Talent Project Market”, organised by the Berlinale Co-Production Market in cooperation with Berlinale Talents. This year, producers Maya Fischer from Israel, and Charlotte de La Gournerie from Denmark were also nominated. They pitched their projects to participants of the Berlinale Co-Production Market and each received a nomination prize of 1,000 euros.
The ARTE International Prize this year also goes to the project The War Has Ended by director Hagar Ben Asher. ARTE bestows the 6,000 euro prize on an artistically outstanding project drawn from the selection of the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
At the 15th Berlinale Co-Production Market, the producers of the 36 selected narrative film projects also meet potential co-producers and financiers. The more than 1,300 one-on-one meetings with potentially matching partners among the total of 600 participants are meticulously planned ahead of time. Books for possible screen adaptations and series projects are also presented. They are the focus of “Books at Berlinale” and “CoPro Series” respectively. The team received more than 2,100 requests for meetings this year. More than 270 films that came to the market looking for partners have since become completed films. Five of those are screening this year at the Berlinale.
Image: Eurimages Co-Production Development Award 2018 – front row: Marek Rozenbaum (Transfax), Beata Rzeźniczek (Madants), Klaudia Smieja (Madants), Catherine Trautmann (Eurimages), Hagar Ben Asher (Director), Doreen Boonekamp (Eurimages Award Jury); back row: Martina Bleis (Berlinale Co-Production Market), Roberto Olla (Eurimages), Francine Raveney (Eurimages), Csaba Bereczki (Eurimages Award Jury) © Lydia Hesse / EFM 2018