Leading Polish film producers Ewa Puszczyńska (Ida, Cold War) and Klaudia Śmieja (High Life, Gareth Jones, The Innocents, Under the Tree) are teaming up with Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales (Rams, Summer 1993) to set up a new production outlet called NEM Corp. The new company’s aim will be attracting prestigious international film projects to Poland, both as co-production and service work, as well as developing new projects with the most interesting Polish talents.
The company is working on a slate of projects already and wants to take advantage of the 30% tax incentives newly introduced by the Polish parliament as well as the soft money and private funding opportunities available in the country.
Ewa Puszczyńska is an Oscar and European Film Award winner for Ida and Cannes award-winner for Cold War (Cannes and TIFF 2018), both by Paweł Pawlikowski. She also coproduced Robert Schwentke’s latest film The Captain the Berlinale-selected Hostages and works as an expert for the Torino Film Lab, among others. Klaudia Śmieja is the producer of Agnieszka Holland’s upcoming $8,5mln historical drama Gareth Jones and Claire Denis’ High Life (TIFF 2018). She also coproduced some of the most successful Polish minority co-productions in recent years – Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents, Haffstein Gunnar Sigurdsson’s Under the Tree and Babis Makridis’ Pity.
New Europe Film Sales – run by Jan Naszewski and Katarzyna Siniarska is one of the leading European sales agencies with films such as Grimur Hakonarsson’s Rams (Prix Un Certain Regard 2015), 2016 Silver Bear winner United States Of Love by Tomasz Wasilewski, Venice/TIFF-selected Under The Tree (sold to over 30 countries), 2017 Berlinale best debut Summer 1993 by Carla Simon, and Locarno winner Winter Brothers by Hlynur Palmason. New Europe Film Sales has also a leading position in the short film market and over the years has represented over 10 Oscar® shortlisters and shorts by Ruben Östlund, among others.
The group hopes to use its combined resources and international and domestic position to become a leading European production outlet and a go-to address for top international partners and local talents. New Europe also plans to further cement its position on the European market and enter projects not only as a sales agent but also as a co-producer, especially on the new films by the filmmakers discovered by the label. The representatives of the group will attend Venice, Telluride and Toronto this year to discuss projects with key partners.
