21 film projects from 18 countries will be showcased at the 14^th edition of When East Meets West, the Italian Co-Production Forum taking place from January 21-24, 2024 in the frame of the Trieste Film Festival. The selected projects in development – comprising 9 feature documentaries, 9 fiction features, and 3 short animations – emerged from a pool of 486 submissions and will be presented, most of them for the very first time, to more than 500 decision makers and professionals from all over the world.

As in previous years, the forthcoming 14^th edition of the WEMW Co-Production Forum will feature a compelling mix of daring first-time directors, including Anna Llargués (Crack of Dawn, 76^th Cannes Film Festival – La Cinéf Official Selection), Lala Aliyeva (They Whisper but Sometimes Scream, Vision du Reel 2020) and Leo Černic (Pentola, Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2022), and experienced authors, such as Peter Kerekes (107 Mothers, Best Screenplay Award at Venice IFF – Orizzonti 2021), Mina Mileva & Vesela Kazakova (Women Do Cry, Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard 2021), Alessandro Cassigoli & Casey Kauffman (Californie, Venice IFF – Giornate degli Autori 2021) and Caru Alves de Souza (My Name Is Baghdad, Silver Bear for Best Feature Film at the 70^th Berlin International Film Festival – Generation 14plus).

“This year, we received an exceptional number of submissions, and after a careful and extensive selection process, we are delighted and excited to showcase an impressive variety of talents and stories from various corners of our planet. Furthermore, for the first time, we are introducing short animation projects on the “stage” of WEMW with the aim of fostering new creative and professional connections within Europe and beyond,” commented Alessandro Gropplero, the head of WEMW.

All projects will have the opportunity to compete for two 5,000 EUR cash prizes: the Film Center Serbia Development Award, and the CICLIC WEMW Award (granted by the French, Centre-Val de Loire Region). Thanks to a strong and reliable network of partners, the Co-Production Forum will also feature a series of other major awards, including the EAVE Producers Workshop scholarship, the Marché du Film Producers Network Badges, the DAE Talent Development prize, in cooperation with the EFM, the Pop Up Film Residency Award, the Taskovski #DocsConnect Training Award and the Laser Film Post-Production Award, consisting in 8.000€ in colour grading and 30% discount on a minimum spent of 10.000€ on post-production services. Moreover, all female identifying directors will be eligible for the EWA Network’s Award for Equality & Inclusion, of the value of 500€ & 1 EWA Network Year Membership.

Alongside the Co-Production Forum, WEMW 2024 will be as vibrant as ever, featuring several sections dedicated to films in post-production: Last Stop Trieste, This is IT, First Cut+ and First Cut Lab Trieste. Additionally the programme will include the MIDPOINT Shorts Showcase, the third edition of the EAVE Slate and eight new Inspirational Labs.

Details about the works in progress and participants selected for all other sections will be disclosed in early January. However, a limited number of industry accreditations is already available on www.wemw.it: this will allow access to the full programme of WEMW and provide an opportunity to network with the attending international decision-makers and professionals, in particular from the East & West 2024 spotlight countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine & Spain, Portugal, Latin America.

 

The 21 projects selected for WEMW 2024 are:

Animal directed by Amaia Remírez García and Raúl De la Fuente Calle, produced by Kanaki Films (Spain) and Bellota Films (France)

Cosmonauts directed by Leo Černic, produced by Finta Film (Slovenia), Staragara IT (Italy) and Adriatic Animation (Croatia)

Hystera directed by Asimina Proedrou, produced by Wild At Heart (Greece) and co-produced by Fiction Park (Germany)

Invisible directed by Jorge Forero, produced by Marginal Cine (Colombia)

Joy directed by Agata Wieczrorek, produced by Futur antérieur production (France)

La Mancha directed by Lindsey Cordero and Armando Croda, produced by so-cle (France) and Bengala (Mexico)

Lenin’s Pawn directed by Dragos Turea, produced by Parmis Film (Moldova)

Let it Roll directed by Caru Alves de Souza, produced by Manjericão Filmes (Brazil)

Made in Mud directed by Anna Llargués, produced by Mayo Films (Spain) 

Marathon directed by Peter Kerekes, produced by kerekesfilm (Slovakia), Hypermarket Film (Czech Republic) and Eclipse Film (Hungary)

Rebellion of Memory directed by Joël Jent, produced by Aaron Film GmbH (Switzerland), Amazona Producciones (Peru) and Les Films d’Ici (France)

Sonia directed by Péter Akar and Rita Balogh, produced by Campfilm Kft. (Hungary)

Strange Sea directed by Lala Aliyeva, produced by Yaman Film (Azerbaijan)

The Amateur Photographer’s Family Portrait directed by Nurlan Hasanli, produced by Radium Films (Georgia)

The Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole directed by Tetiana Khodakivska, produced by Pronto Film in association with Babylon 13 and Moon Man (Ukraine)

The Broken R directed by Ricardo Ruales, produced by Incubadora (Ecuador) and Small Boss (Italy)

The Hand directed by Alexander David, produced by Rua Escura Crl (Portugal)

The Man Who Played the Saxophone directed by Aram Shahbazyan, produced by OnOff Studio LLC and Silhouette Studio LLC (Armenia)

Turquoise Mountain directed by Barbora Chalupová, produced by Nochi Film (Czech Republic) and Hitchhiker Cinema (Slovakia)

Vittoria directed by Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman, produced by Ladoc / Zoe Films and Sacher Film (Italy)

Womaniser directed by Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova, produced by Activist38 (Bulgaria) and Dan Films (United Kingdom)