19 films in production or post-production looking for sales agents or festivals for international premieres will be presented at the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event Work in Progress sessions on November 28.

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 the 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:

1. Golden Voices, directed by by Evgeny Ruman, produced by Avraham Pirchi, Chilik Michaeli, Eitan Even, UCM, Evanstone Films, Israel
2. Days of the Whale, directed by Catalina Arroyave, produced by Jaime Guerrero, co-produced by Natalia Agudelo, Nicolás Herreño, RaRa, MadLove, Colombia
3. Senafon, directed by Evgeny Shelyakin, produced by Vasily Solovyov, Julia Mishkinene, Yury Khrapov, Anna Peskova, 2D Celluloid, Vita Aktiva Production, Russia, Thailand
4. Drowsy City, directed by Luong Dinh Dung, produced by Nguyen Thi Huong, Tu Van Media, Vietnam
5. On the Edge, directed by by Eduard Bordukov, produced by Elena Glikman, Mikhail Degtyar, Telesto-Film, Russia
6. The Hunt, directed by Emre Akay, produced by Tolga Topçu, Emre Akay, Diloy Gülün, Jaguar Projects, Turkey
7. Sisters, directed by Silje Salomonsen, Arild Østin Ommundsen, produced by Gary Cranner, Chezville, Norway
8. Coming Home, directed by Darya Shumakova, produced by Benik Arakelyan, co-produced by Anna Gasparyan, Makar Zaporozhskiy, Movses Film, Armenia, Russia

Baltic Event Works in Progress 2018:

1. Goodbye Soviet Union, directed by Lauri Randla, produced by Peeter Urbla, co-produced byMark Lwoff, Misha Jaari, Exitfilm, Bufo, Estonia, Finland
2. Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway, directed by Miguel Llansó, produced by Sergio Uguet de Resayre, Kristjan Pütsep, Miguel Llansó, co-produced by Guna Stahovska, Lanzadera Films, Alasti Kino, Spain, Estonia, Ethiopia
3. Rain, directed by Janno Jürgens, produced by Kristjan Pütsep, co-produced by Karolina Galuba-Kowalska, Alasti Kino, Furia Film, Estonia, Poland
4. Sandra Gets a Job, directed by Kaupo Kruusiauk, produced by Anneli Ahven, Kopli Kinokompanii, Estonia
5. Truth and Justice, directed by Tanel Toom, produced by Ivo Felt, co-produced by Armin Karu, Madis Tüür, Allfilm, Estonia
6. Aurora, directed by Miia Tervo, produced by Max Malka, Dionysos Films, Finland
7. Dogs Don’t Wear Pants, directed by J-P Valkeapää, produced by Aleksi Bardy, Helen Vinogradov, co-produced by Alise Gelze, Aija Berzina, Helsinki-filmi, Tasse Film, Finland, Latvia
8. Maria’s Paradise, directed by Zaida Bergroth, produced by Daniel Kuitunen, Kaisla Viitala , co-produced by Evelin Penttilä, Liisa Penttilä-Asikainen, Elokuvayhtiö Komeetta, Stellar Film, Kaiho Republic, Finland, Estonia
9. 24 hr Sunshine, directed by Juris Poskus, produced by Madara Melberga, FA Filma, Latvia
10. City on the River, directed by Viesturs Kairišs, produced by Guntis Trekteris, co-produced by Julietta Sichel, Kestutis Drazdauskas, Peter Pagauss, Ego Media, 8Heads Productions, Artbox, Latvia, Czech Republic, Lithuania
11. The Flood Won’t Come, directed by Marat Sargsyan, produced by Ieva Norvilienė, Tremora, Lithuania

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 by the leading Finnish post house 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.