Next up for Fame is the Russian/Irish/French/Lithuanian coproduction of Ivan I. Tverdovsky’s Jumpman produced by Moscow’s New People Film Company in partnership with F&ME founders Mike Downey and Samantha Taylor, Arizona Productions and UAB Tremora, and supported by Eurimages. Jumpman tells the story of Denis, a young man suffering from a rare disease, who becomes the centre of a corrupt scam, organised by a group of Russian civil servants.
F&ME (IRE) is also partnering with Ivan Ostrochovský and Katarina Tomkova of Bratislava’s Punkchart Films on a screenplay written by Rebecca Lenckiewicz and Marek Leščák entitled The Disciple. Ostrochovský directs this drama set in a Catholic seminary in Communist Slovakia, which began shooting in March. The film is also a recipient of a Eurimages award. The Disciple tells the story of 17-year-old best friends Michal and Juraj, who leave their home village in Slovakia to join a Seminary in Bratislava, fighting an oppressive system. The film is a Slovak/Czech/Romanian/Irish coproduction led by Ostrochovský’s Punkchart, with Pavel Strnad’s NEGATIV, Tudor Giurgiu’s Libra Film Productions (Libra Film) and F&ME (IRE) as partners.
F&ME will partner once again with Vladimer Katcharava’s 20 Steps Productions on Nene, winner of the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) development grant in December. Based on a true story, the feature is centred around the subject of the arbitrary use of power by law enforcement agencies and their use of force against citizens. The film will be produced and co-written by Katcharava, in partnership with Downey and Taylor, as well as Dede collaborator JaJa Film Productions of the Netherlands.
F&ME is also partnering with Šárka Cimbalová and Svatka Peschková’s Czech production company Marlene Film on Agnieszka Holland’s Charlatan, a Czech/Irish/Slovak coproduction written by Marek Epstein, which will be coproduced by Film & Music Entertainment (F&ME) and Slovakia’s Furia Film. The story is about a man with exceptional abilities (inspired by the real-life healer Jan Mikolášek) living in totalitarian 1950’s Czechoslovakia.
F&ME will mark its 20th anniversary in 2019.
