Entering the fourth year of International Works in Progress, Industry@Tallinn introduces 8 projects coming from and all over the world that are in the post-production stage, are looking for sales agents and festivals to screen them.

Triin Tramberg, International Works In Progress and Screenings coordinator about this year’s selection: “This year’s slate really reflects on what Black Nights Film Festival is as a whole: a combination of interesting films from different countries in a wide range of various genres. All selected projects target different audiences, which makes it diverse and really exciting.”

Industry@Tallinn is welcoming the second feature of award-winning Luong Dinh Dung, Drowsy City (Vietnam) about the quest for revenge of an innocent man Tao who finds himself unfairly tortured by strange men. Luong’s very first feature Father and Son achieved numerous awards including Best Asian Film Award at 36th Fajr International Film Festival this year, screened at the last edition of Black Nights Film Festival and is Vietnam’s Representative for the 90th Academy Awards Foreign Language features selection.

Golden Voices (Israel) is a drama comedy by Evgeny Ruman about Victor and Raya Frenkel, the masters behind the Soviet film dubbing who emigrated to Israel along with hundreds of thousands of other Soviet Jews as the Soviet Union collapsed.

A Colombian Film development fund awarded drama Days of Whale (Colombia) by Catalina Arroyave follows the life of two Medellín-based artists Cristina and Simon who take risks and defy a criminal gang as they decide to paint over a wall.

This year’s slate presents two features from Russia. Industry@Tallinn welcomes back Baltic Event B’EST EAVE 2015 workshop project Senafon (Russia, Thailand) by Evgeny Shelyakin about a 70-year old man whose new adventurous life begins as he wakes up having been found unconscious on a Thailand beach. Former long-distance running athlete Eduard Bordukov presents On the Edge, a film about two best female saber-fencers in Russia.

Coming Home (Armenia) by Darya Shumakova takes a look at a psychological conflict in an Armenian family, where the father returns from war and the son is obliged to redefine the parental roles in his life.

A feature The Hunt (Turkey) by Emre Akay follows a police officer hunting a young woman who has escaped from a raid. Emre Akay has directed many award-winning shorts and directed and co-produced the documentary Un Noeud Dans Mon Bosphore with Arte France.

Sisters (Norway) by Silje Salomonsen and Arild Østin Ommundsen is a family drama about two children who try to save the life of their father in the Norwegian wilderness.

Baltic Event Works in Progress programme, held for the 16th time this year, presents films in the advanced stages of production or post-production, providing film professionals with a selection of 11 promising projects from the Baltic region and Finland.

This year’s selection brings a majority of projects mainly produced in Estonia. An anticipated historical drama Truth and Justice directed by Academy Award nominated Tanel Toom and produced by the Golden Globe and Academy Award nominee Ivo Felt is based on a literary classic, one of the foundational Estonian literary works by Anton Hansen Tammsaare.

Estonia is also represented by Goodbye Soviet Union (Estonia, Finland), the first full feature by Lauri Randla a coming-of-age drama taking place during the turbulent times of the collapse of the Soviet empire. This year’s selection brings also a more experimental sci-fi thriller Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway (Spain, Estonia, Ethiopia) by Miguel Llansó and debut features Rain (Estonia, Poland) by Janno Jürgens and a psychological drama Sandra Gets a Job by Kaupo Kruusiauk.

Finland is represented by three projects this year, an artistic romantic comedy Aurora by the award-winning director Miia Tervo, and two dramas Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (Finland, Latvia) by the critically acclaimed and awarded J-P Valkeapää and Maria’s Paradise (Finland, Estonia) by Zaida Bergroth.

Baltic Event is happy to welcome Juris Poskus’s new feature, a humorous 24 hr Sunshine on the border of drama and comedy. His film Kolka Cool was selected to Tallinn Black Nights FF competition in 2011. Latvia is also represented by the historical drama City on the River (Latvia, Czech Republic, Lithuania) by Viesturs Kairišs, whose Chronicles of Melanie was selected in the Official Selection of Black Nights in 2016.

Lithuania brings one feature, a magical-realist The Flood Won’t Come by award-winning Marat Sargsyan to Baltic screens.
 

Marge Liiske, Head of Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event:

“On the occasion of the centenary of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and the 101st anniversary of Finland, we are pleased to present 11 new films from the region, telling our stories from the past to the present from very different angles, by both debutants as well as established and awarded filmmakers. Our intertwined history and culture is also evident in the pleasingly plentiful co-productions, both on the traditional Estonian-Finnish-Latvian-Lithuanian-Polish axis as well as in the slightly more unusual direction of Spain-Ethiopia.
With our two Works in Progress presentations, we are delighted to be able to boost 19 very different films on their flight to the stars.”
 

International Works in Progress 2018 selected projects 

Golden Voices by Evgeny Ruman
Israel
Producers: Avraham Pirchi, Chilik Michaeli, Eitan Even
Production companies: UCM, Evanstone Films

Days of Whale by Catalina Arroyave
Colombia
Producer: Jaime Guerrero
Co-producers: Natalia Agudelo, Nicolás Herreño
Production companies: RaRa, MadLove

Senafon by Evgeny Shelyakin
Russia, Thailand
Producers: Vasily Solovyov, Julia Mishkinene, Yury Khrapov, Anna Peskova
Production companies: 2D Celluloid, Vita Aktiva Production

Drowsy City by Luong Dinh Dung
Vietnam
Producer: Nguyen Thi Huong 
Production company: Tu Van Media

On the Edge by Eduard Bordukov
Russia
Producers: Elena Glikman, Mikhail Degtyar
Production company: Telesto-Film

The Hunt by Emre Akay
Turkey
Producers: Tolga Topçu, Emre Akay, Diloy Gülün
Production company: Jaguar Projects

Sisters by Silje Salomonsen, Arild Østin Ommundsen
Norway
Producer: Gary Cranner
Production company: Chezville

Coming Home by Darya Shumakova
Armenia, Russia
Producer: Benik Arakelyan
Co-producers: Anna Gasparyan, Makar Zaporozhskiy
Production company: Movses film
 

Baltic Event Works in Progress 2018 selected projects

Goodbye Soviet Union by Lauri Randla
Estonia, Finland
Producer: Peeter Urbla
Co-producers: Mark Lwoff, Misha Jaari
Production companies: Exitfilm, Bufo

Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway by Miguel Llansó
Spain, Estonia, Ethiopia
Producer: Sergio Uguet de Resayre, Kristjan Pütsep, Miguel Llansó
Co-producer: Guna Stahovska
Production companies: Lanzadera Films, Alasti Kino

Rain by Janno Jürgens
Estonia, Poland
Producer: Kristjan Pütsep
Co-producer: Karolina Galuba-Kowalska
Production companies: Alasti Kino, Furia Film

Sandra Gets a Job by Kaupo Kruusiauk
Estonia
Producer: Anneli Ahven
Production company: Kopli Kinokompanii

Truth and Justice by Tanel Toom
Estonia
Producer: Ivo Felt
Co-producers: Armin Karu, Madis Tüür
Production company: Allfilm

Aurora by Miia Tervo
Finland
Producer: Max Malka
Production company: Dionysos Films

Dogs Don’t Wear Pants by J-P Valkeapää
Finland, Latvia
Producers: Aleksi Bardy, Helen Vinogradov
Co-producers: Alise Gelze, Aija Berzina
Production companies: Helsinki-filmi, Tasse Film

Maria’s Paradise by Zaida Bergroth
Finland, Estonia
Producers: Daniel Kuitunen, Kaisla Viitala
Co-producers: Evelin Penttilä, Liisa Penttilä-Asikainen
Production companies: Elokuvayhtiö Komeetta, Stellar Film, Kaiho Republic

24 hr Sunshine by Juris Poskus
Latvia
Producer: Madara Melberga
Production company: FA Filma

City on the River by Viesturs Kairišs
Latvia, Czech Republic, Lithuania
Producer: Guntis Trekteris
Co-producers: Julietta Sichel, Kestutis Drazdauskas, Peter Pagauss
Production companies: Ego Media, 8Heads Productions, Artbox

The Flood Won’t Come by Marat Sargsyan
Lithuania
Producer: Ieva Norvilienė
Production company: Tremora

JURY

Tatiana Detlofson – Mediaplan (USA)
Alena Shumakova – Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (France), Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival (China)
Alexandre Moreau – Memento Films International (France)

AWARDS

International Works in Progress Main Award

Post Production Award (10 000 Euros)
Post production services in the amount of up to 10 000 Euros but not more than 2/3 of the expenses incurred at Post Control. The award is given to the project, which successfully combines creative and commercial potential.

Baltic Event Works in Progress Main Award

Baltic Event Works in Progress Award (3000 Euros)
The Baltic Event Works in Progress Award will be given to the project with the strongest and boldest artistic vision. The award will help the film gain visibility during its promotion and distribution in the Baltic States by covering related costs in the region.