The Italian project Small Body is the winner of the eighth edition of When East Meets West. The project directed by Laura Samani and produced by Nadia Trevisan (Nefertiti Film) is a rough fairy-tale about Agata and her dangerous journey to bring her stillborn baby back to life, just enough time for one breath. The international WEMW jury consisting of Benjamin Illos (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs), Petri Kemppinen (Nordisk Film & TV Fond), Riina Sildos (Amrion) and Mila Turajlic (Dribbling Pictures) honoured Small Body with the Film Centre Serbia Development Award (3.000 EUR cash prize) as the best of the 21 projects in competition.

The new Baltic Award, another prize of the value of EUR 3.000, has been delivered by the three Baltic Film Centres to I’ll Stand by You, a Lithuanian/Italian film by Virginija Vareikyte and Maximilien Dejoie. For the second consecutive year the European Women’s Audiovisual Network comes back to Trieste and gives the EWA Network Best Woman Director Award to Haidy Kancler, director of the Slovenian documentary Skiing in Scarves.

Thanks to the partnership with a large international network of training programmes and markets, Serbian producer Dragana Jovovic (Theory at Work) received a scholarship for the participation in the EAVE European Producers Workshop, producers Snezana Penev (Film Deluxe International, Serbia) and Eirin Hogetveit (Norsk Fjernsyn, Norway) will have a free accreditation to the Cannes Marche du Film Producer’s Network whilst the Hot Docs Industry Pass has been granted to the Bosnian director/producer Srdjan Sarenac (Novi Film).

Futhermore, the Flow Postproduction Award, prize of 10.000 EUR in post-production facilities, goes to the Dutch project Confessions of Love produced by Fleur Knopperts (Volya Films) and directed by Tatjana Bozic,whilst the Czech project Plague will be offered a complete marketing package thanks to the new Asterisk Visual Marketing Award.

Lastly, three prices have been granted for the two sidebar sessions targeting films in the post production phase. The jury of Last Stop Trieste composed by Sabine Bubeck-Paaz (ZDF/ARTE), Ryan Harrington (Hot Docs) and Esther Van Messel (First Hand Films) has delivered the HBO Europe Award to the Argentinian/Italian documentary 100 Trips Around the Sun by Victor Cruz and the Flow Digital Cinema Award to the Czech/Latvian project My Unknown Soldier by Anna Kryvenko.

The international jury of This is IT, the brand new work in progress session dedicated to films produced or co-produced by Italian producers, including Rémi Bonhomme (Cannes – Semaine de la  Critique), Gabor Greiner (Films Boutique) and Iole Maria Giannattasio (DG Cinema MiBACT) gave a special mention to the film Città Giardino by Marco Piccarreda and granted the Slovenian/Italian film Stories from the Chestnut Woods by Gregor Božic with the Laser Film Award.

The eighth edition of WEMW ends with a series of impressive numbers: 21 projects selected, almost 300 submissions, over 45 different countries represented, 200 international decision makers, 460 registered participants and more than 600 scheduled one-to-one meetings.
WEMW CO-PRODUCTION FORUM AWARDS

FILM CENTRE SERBIA Development Award
SMALL BODY by Laura Samani – Nefertiti Film (Italy)

BALTIC AWARD
I’LL STAND BY YOU by Virginija Vareikyte, Maximilien Dejoie – M&N (Italy), InScript (Lithuania)

EWA European Women’s Audiovisual Network Award
SKIING IN SCARVES by Haidy Kancler – Studio Virc (Slovenia), Kinocompany (Finland), Flairfilm (Austria)

EAVE PRODUCERS WORKSHOP scholarship
Dragana Jovovic – Theory at Work (Serbia)

PRODUCERS NETWORK Prize
Snezana Penev – Film Deluxe International (Serbia)
Eirin Hogetveit – Norsk Fjernsyn (Norway)

HOT DOCS INDUSTRY PASS
Srdjan Sarenac – Novi Film (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Serbia)

Flow Postproduction Award
CONFESSIONS OF LOVE by Tatjana Bozic – Volya Films (The Netherlands)

ASTERISK VISUAL MARKETING AWARD
PLAGUE by Jan Tešitel – Sirena Film (Czech Republic)

LAST STOP TRIESTE
HBO Europe Award
100 TRIPS AROUND THE SUN by Victor Cruz – 16m films (Argentina), Kinoproduzioni (Italy)

Flow Digital Cinema Award
MY UNKNOWN SOLDIER by Anna Kryvenko – Analog Vision (Czech Republic), Baltic Pine Films (Latvia)

THIS IS IT
Laser Film Award
STORIES FROM THE CHESTNUT WOODS by Gregor Božic – Nosorogi (Slovenia), Transmedia (Italy)