New Feature Film Projects on Their Way – Prizes at the Berlinale Co-Production Market 2024

On Sunday, three cash prizes and one in-kind prize were awarded to selected feature film projects at the Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 17 to 21).

The Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, endowed with 20,000 Euros, went to the producers of ForeFilms from Ukraine for their project Screaming Girl (director: Antonio Lukich). The award is presented by the European film fund Eurimages to promote the development of the project. Jury members this year were funding representative Emma Scott (Screen Ireland, Ireland), world sales agent Oscar Alonso (Latido Films, Spain) and producer Uljana Kim from Lithuania (Studio Uljana Kim, Lithuania).

The VFF Talent Highlight Award with the prize money of 10,000 euros, annually presented by the VFF – Copyright Agency of Film and TV Producers, promotes one promising project from the Talent Project Market organised by the Berlinale Co-Production Market in cooperation with Berlinale Talents. This year the award goes to Silence Sometimes (director: Álvaro Robles), pitched at the Berlinale Co-Production Market by the producer Mireia Vilanova (Cartuna, USA). Nominee awards of 1,000 euros each went to the producer and director Assel Aushakimova (Risk Pictures) from Kazakhstan and the producer Liselotte Persson (Snowcloud) from Sweden.

The ARTEKino International Award 2024 goes to Ich bin Marika by Hajni Kis, produced by Proton Cinema (Hungary). This award worth 6,000 euros is presented by ARTE to honour an artistically outstanding project from the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

For the second time, an in-kind prize, the World Cinema Fund Audience Strategies Award, will go to a Co-Production Market project from a WCF-supported country: the producers of Seera Films from Germany and director Fradique will receive extensive consultations on optimising the audience and communication strategies of their film project Hold Time for Me.

At the 21st Berlinale Co-Production Market, the producers of 34 selected feature film projects meet co-producers and financiers. Over 1,500 individual meetings with potentially suitable partners among the total of over 600 participants were planned and coordinated in advance.

Ten books for screen adaptations and ten new series projects will also be presented. They are the focus at the pitch events Books at Berlinale and Co-Pro Series.

More than 370 films and 22 series that have sought partners at the Berlinale Co-Production Market in recent years have now been completed.

Five outstanding films are screening in this year’s Berlinale programme: Keyke mahboobe man (My Favourite Cake) by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha in the Competition, Arcadia by Yorgos Zois in Encounters, Quell’estate con Irène (My Summer with Irène) by Carlo Sironi and Comme le feu (Who by Fire) by Philippe Lesage in Generation and Oasis of Now by Chee Sum Chia in Forum.

The Berlinale Co-Production Market is a Berlinale Pro* initiative of Berlin International Film Festival and is supported by MDM – Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme as well as the FFA – German Federal Film Board. Another cooperation partner and main venue is the Berlin House of Representatives.

More information can be found on the website of the Berlinale Co-Production Market.