Oscar Winning ‘Another Round’ Producer Among 20 Selected for Producers on the Move Lineup

The producers of this year’s International Feature Film Oscar winner “Another Round” and Berlin Silver Bear winner “Natural Light” have been selected for European Film Promotion’s Producers on the Move program, which promotes promising producers and fosters international co-productions. The 20 participants for the program, which runs online from May 17-21, will be presenting their latest projects in speed meetings and during roundtable sessions. More than half of the selection are women.

The participants, who were selected for the program from all of the nominations submitted by the EFP member organizations, are Annabella Nezri (Belgium), Nikolay Mutafchiev (Bulgaria), Bojan Kanjera (Croatia), Marek Novák (Czech Republic), Kasper Dissing (Denmark), Jean-Christophe Reymond (France), Maite Woköck (Germany), Sára László (Hungary), Ruth Treacy (Ireland), Marica Stocchi (Italy), Iris Otten (The Netherlands), Gary Cranner (Norway), Beata Rzeźniczek (Poland), Tathiani Sacilotto (Portugal), Bianca Oana (Romania), Katarína Tomková (Slovak Republic), Andraž Jerič (Slovenia), Clara Nieto (Spain), Nima Yousefi (Sweden), and Sarah Born (Switzerland).

The participants have already been behind a number of award-winning films: Kasper Dissing produced Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” whose tally of prizes includes five Robert Awards, four European Film Awards and, most recently, the International Feature Film Oscar; and Sára Laszlo produced “Natural Light,” which won the Silver Bear at this year’s Berlinale.

Other prize-winners are Marica Stocchi (“The Macaluso Sisters,” Francesco Pasinetti Award 2020, Venice Film Festival); Iris Otten (“Take Me Somewhere Nice,” Special Tiger Jury Award 2019, Rotterdam, Heart of Sarajevo Award 2019); Nima Yousefi (“A White, White Day,” Edda Award, 2019); Bianca Oana (“Touch Me Not,” Golden Bear 2018, Berlinale); Clara Nieto (“Madre,” short film, Goya Award 2017, Oscar nomination); and Gary Cranner (“It’s Only Make Believe,” Kosmorama 2014, Best Producer).

Some producers have tended to concentrate on the production of animated films such as Woköck with her Berlin-based company Telescope Animation (“The Last Whale Singer”). Others focus on debut films, such as Jerič, who is developing first features by Ester Ivakič (“Neither Voice”), Gregor Andolšek (“This Is a Robbery!”) and Tosja Flaker Berce (“One Minute to Recess”), Annabella Nezri, who produced the 2020 Berlinale entry and first feature film “Jumbo” by Zoé Wittock, and Sarah Born has Pascal Reinmann’s debut “Carnivalesque” in development.

The lineup also includes producers who continue the long-standing collaboration with “their” directors such as Marek Novák (Cristina Groşan with “Along Came a Prince,” 2020, and “Ordinary Failures,” 2021), Tathiani Sacilotto (António Ferreira with “The Dead Queen,” 2018, “America,” 2021, and “Arménio,” 2022), Beata Rzeźniczek (Aleksandra Terpínska with “The Best Fireworks Ever,” 2017, and “Other People,” 2021), Katarína Tomková (Juraj Lehotský with “Nina,” 2017, and “Applause,” 2020), and Jean-Christophe Reymond (Manele Labidi with “Arab Blues,” 2019, and “R.,” 2021).

Nikolay Mutafchiev and Ruth Treacy will be donning both the producer’s and director’s hats for “The Platform” and “Louise Lives Large” respectively.

″We decided to shift our program again to the digital space this year. It worked very well last year, and it was important for us to give the participants a clear sense of planning that wouldn’t be dependent on how the pandemic situation develops,” EFP managing director Sonja Heinen said.

Heinen expressed her gratitude to EFP’s partners: the Creative Europe Media Programme of the European Union, Eurimages and the participating EFP member organizations “for their flexibility.”

She added: “Digital will never replace the personal exchange of ideas and experiences or networking in a festival setting. But we have learned a lot over the last year and promise that we are doing our very best to connect these creative producers and make their work visible for the international industry.”

She said “if all goes well” the producers “might even have a chance of meeting in person at the festival in Cannes in July.”

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