27-11-2020

The Croatian series project AFTERPARTY wins the HBO Europe Award at MIDPOINT TV Launch

    Czech branch of HBO Europe grants again a financial award at MIDPOINT TV Launch 2020, held  online within the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event of the Tallinn Black Nights FF.  

    After six months of training, the TV Launch program peaked with the Season Finale pitching  presentation held on Thursday, November 26, 2020. Nine series projects in development coming  from Croatia, Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Serbia and Ukraine were presented  online to a pool of industry professionals. 

    The HBO Europe Award of 5.000 USD for the best project went to the drama series project AFTERPARTY by writer Dora Sustic and producer Maja Pek-Bruenjes

    In the words of Steve Matthews, who handed over the award on behalf of HBO Europe: 

    The difficulties of running the MIDPOINT programme online this year have certainly not resulted in  any loss of quality: the participants all rose to the challenge with professionalism and innovation. As  always this was a very difficult decision: several of the projects displayed extremely high levels of  craft and attainment from teams who were collaborative and determined always to keep pushing  themselves. But one stood out for having achieved those craft objectives but which also displayed an  additional spark of personal passion and the courage to explore difficult and controversial modern  topics with great honesty. A writer’s job is to explore an issue, not to preach about it – and for that  reason the winner of this years’ HBO Europe prize is AFTERPARTY.“ 

    Synopsis of the project: 

    AFTERPARTY is a contemporary drama series that explores the world of Lucija and her best friends,  Ruža, Maja and Iva, as they navigate through their late twenties while the political aspirations of the  ultra-conservative movement threaten their sexual freedom, health and self-esteem. In desperate  need of money, Lucija begins working for a warmhearted pro-life activist Anđela, which puts Lucija’s  relationship with her best friend and lover Maja to the test. When Iva gets pregnant and reluctantly  decides to have an abortion, the gap between the girls widens and the time comes to take  responsibility; to reassess their beliefs and values, to give up jobs or boyfriends, and as in Ruža’s  case, to face their buried traumas. Challenged to sustain their lifestyle, they fear not only the loss of  ownership of their body, but even more so the loss of each other. 

    All presented projects underwent complex training consisting of group sessions, individual  consultations, lectures and intensive work on the script as well as producing, financing, or pitching  strategies. They collaborated closely with three group leaders, namely Gabor Krigler, Ben Morris and  Cyril Tysz. Furthermore, the training was enriched by the presence of several tutors such as Marike Muselaers, Michaela Sabo, Ben Harris, Christopher Mack, Steve Matthews, Maggie Murphy, Rumle  Hammerich, Fabian Haslob or Nebojsa Taraba.

    About 

    MIDPOINT TV Launch, an "idea-to-market" project development program, is the only existing  residential, project-based program targeting and tailoring its content for emerging television  professionals – both creative teams and development executives – coming from the Central and  Eastern European region. 

    The 2021 call for applications will be open in few days, with the deadline set for January 31, 2021. 

    You can find more information here

    MIDPOINT TV Launch 2020 is realized with the support of the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme  of the European Union, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Czech Film Fund. It is  presented in cooperation with HBO Europe, Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event, Series Mania, Marseille  Web Fest, Czech Audiovisual Producers' Association, Meeting Point Vilnius, New Europe Market,  C21 Media, Serial Eyes, MediaXchange, MIA TV Market Rome and Seriencamp. MIDPOINT Institute  operates under the auspices of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

    Last modified on 28-11-2020