Projects selected for the Venice Gap-Financing Market

The 10^th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market (September 1 – September 3, 2023), organised as part of the Venice Production Bridge, will take place during the forthcoming 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30^th – September 9^th, 2023) and will offer selected projects from Europe and around the world the opportunity to close their international financing, through one-to-one meetings with international decision-makers.

The 3-day Venice Gap-Financing Market will present 62 projects from around the world in the final stages of development and funding. Almost 280 project applications have been received and the selection reflects the great diversity of backgrounds, stories and talents, aesthetics, genres and budgets of the projects submitted for consideration.

This year, the Venice Production Bridge is celebrating the 10th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market. We are proud to have initiated this new co-production market which has progressively gained importance to become one of the key events for the Film and Immersive industries.

The VPB Focus 2023 will be Germany and Quebec.

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The selection is divided as follows:

• 34 feature-length Fiction Film and Documentary projects (incl. 4 VPB Focus projects)
• 14 Immersive projects (incl. 4 VPB Focus projects)
• 11 Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality projects
• 3 Biennale College Cinema projects

The Venice Gap-Financing Market will be setting up one-to-one meetings between the teams (producer and director) of the 62 projects and top industry decision-makers (producers, private and public financiers, banks, distributors, sales agents, TV commissioners, streamers, VoD platforms, institutions, post-production companies…). All meetings will be held on-site at the VPB venues.

The VPB Office will support the teams and the registered professionals in organizing tailor-made meetings.

34 SELECTED FICTION AND DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS:

Fiction Films: 26 projects for feature-length fiction films (16 from Europe and 10 from around the world), that need to complete their funding package with minority shares in co-production, having at least 70% of the funding in place.

Documentaries: 8 projects (5 from Europe and 3 from around the world) for narrative or creative documentaries (fulfilling the same requirements as the fiction films above).

Projects from Germany and Quebec, the VPB Focus 2023, are included in this line-up.

AFTER THE EVIL documentary (France) by Tamara Erde, Gloria Films Production

1. ALL BEFORE YOU fiction (Palestine, UK, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) by Annemarie Jacir, Philistine Films
2. ANIMUS documentary (France) by Eliane De Latour, Les Films d’Ici Méditerranée, Les Films Du Tambour De Soie
3. BLUE BLOOD fiction (Latvia, Estonia, Greece) by Juris Kursietis, White Picture
4. BLUE FLOWER fiction (Canada, Belgium) by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, Colonelle films
5. CARAVAN fiction (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy) by Zuzana Kirchnerová, MasterFilm
6. DAUGHTER’S DAUGHTER fiction (Taipei, USA) by Huang Xi, Sun Lok Productions
7. DAYAO SWIMS AGAINST THE FLOW fiction (France, China, Luxembourg, Portugal, Korea) by ZHANG Tao, House on Fire
8. DROWNING DRY fiction (Lithuania, Latvia, Serbia) by Laurynas Bareisa, Afterschool Production
9. EARTHQUAKE fiction (Japan, USA) by Neo Sora, Cineric Creative, Zakkubalan, Cinema Inutile
10. ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG fiction (Nepal, France) by Abinash Bikram Shah, Les Valseurs, Underground Talkies Nepal
11. ENGLAND MADE ME fiction (Sweden, Belgium, United Kingdom) by Måns Månsson, Fasad Film Production AB
12. ETHEL fiction (Canada, Ireland) by Aisling Walsh, Sphère Média
13. FIORE MIO documentary (Italy, Belgium) by Paolo Cognetti, Samarcanda Film
14. FREDY fiction (Canada) by Will Prosper, Peripheria (VPB Focus Quebec)
15. FROM THE DARK fiction (Italy) by Giovanni Piras, La Sarraz Pictures
16. GIRL IN THE CLOUDS fiction (France, Belgium) by Philippe Riche, Brio Films
17. HEN fiction (Germany, Greece) by György Palfi, Pallas Film, View Master Films, Twenty Twenty Vision (VPB Focus Germany)
18. INVISIBLE documentary (Italy, France) by Adele Tulli, FilmAffair, Pepito Produzioni, Les Films d’Ici
19. JACINDAMANIA documentary (New Zealand) by Pietra Brettkelly, Justin Pemberton, This Too Shall Pass, Pietra Brettkelly Films
20. NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH ABOUT EXTRATERRESTRIALS fiction (Canada) by Guylaine Maroist, Eric Ruel, La Ruelle Films (VPB Focus Quebec)
21. PICTUREHOUSE fiction (Vietnam, France, Philippines, Singapore) by Minh Nguyen-Vo, Girelle Production, Hkfilm, East Films, Add Oil Films, Daluyong Studios
22. POEM ABOUT STARS fiction (Ukraine, Italy, France) by Dmytro Kashuba, Sarke Studio Ukraine
23. RE-CREATION documentary (Ireland, Luxembourg) by Jim Sheridan, David Merriman, Hell’s Kitchen, Joli Rideau Media
24. RESHMA SHERA fiction (Germany, India) by Megha Ramaswamy, NiKo Film, Nicole Gerhards (VPB Focus Germany)
25. STARSEED fiction (Romania, France) by Anca Damian, Aparte Film, Special Touch Studios
26. SUMMER WAR fiction (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada) by Alicia Scherson, Araucaria Cine
27. THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! fiction (Germany, Palestine) by Laila Abbas, In Good Company GmbH
28. THE BONE SPARROW fiction (Australia) by Kim Mordaunt, Carver Films
29. THE DAMNED fiction (Italy, Belgium, USA) by Roberto Minervini, Okta Film, Michigan Films, Pulpa Film
30. THE FRENCH TEACHER fiction (Brazil, France, Portugal) by Ricardo Alves Jr., Entre Filmes, Les Valseurs, Karõ Filmes
31. VERMIGLIO OR THE MOUNTAIN BRIDE fiction (Italy, France, Belgium) by Maura Del Pero, Cinedora, Charades, Versus
32. THE WORLDS OF HAMDI fiction (Canada) by Isabelle Lavigne, micro_scope
33. ZSAZSA ZATURNNAH VS THE AMAZONISTAS OF PLANET X fiction (Philippines, France) by Avid Liongoren, Rocketsheep Studio,Ghosts City Films

14 IMMERSIVE PROJECTS

14 Immersive projects (9 from Europe and 5 from around the world), including fiction, documentary, animation film and other interactive installation based experiences. All projects have secured 30% of their budget and have this financing in place.

Projects from Germany and Quebec, the VPB Focus 2023, are included in this line-up.

1. AN EMPTY SEAT (Canada, Denmark) by Johan Knattrup Jensen, Mads Damsbo, Art et essai, Makropol (VPB Focus Quebec)
2. AS I LAY DEAD (Italy, Canada) by Simone Salomoni, Vitruvio Virtual Reality
3. EDDIE AND I (Israel) by Maya Shekel, Maya Shekel – Yuval Kella
4. FREE UR HEAD (Taipei) by Chou Tung-Yen, Very Theatre Company
5. GAY SIMULATOR (The Netherlands) by Iris Van Der Meule, Studio Biarritz
6. GENESIS – The LIFE Experience (WT) (Germany) by Joerg Courtial, Faber Courtial (VPB Focus Germany)
7. IMPULSE: PLAYING WITH REALITY (United Kingdom, France) by May Abdalla, Barry Gene Murphy, Anagram
8. LIVING WITH THE SNOW LEOPARDS (Germany, India) by Gayatri Parameswaran, Felix Gaedtke, NowHere Media (VPB Focus Germany)
9. OKUS FOKUS IMMERSIVE (Belgium) by Emmanuel Di Martino, Poolpio
10. SELINA – A NARRATIVE VR ADVENTURE (Germany) by Sven Haeberlein, Trotzkind GmbH
11. TARTUPALUK (Canada, Denmark, Greenland) by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Scintilla, Ánorâk Film company (VPB Focus Quebec)
12. THE CLOUDS ARE TWO THOUSAND METERS UP (Taiwan) by Singing Chen, The Walkers Films, Taiwan Public Television Service
13. THE PHOTO BOOTH WITH JONATHAN YEO (United Kingdom) by Jamie Davies, Factory 42
14. THE TIME OF A MOMENT (Belgium) by Kate Voet, Victor Maes, Cassettes for timescape

11 BIENNALE COLLEGE CINEMA –  IMMERSIVE PROJECTS

11 projects, that have been developed during the workshop of Biennale College Cinema VR, 7^th edition, and that have reached different stages of development, pre-production and post-production.

1. A PETITE SENSATION OF JOY, NUMBER 4 (USA) by Nicole McDonald, Bardo La
2. BELOW DECK (Germany, Italy) by Martin Prinoth, Martina Mahlknecht, TÒ SU Film
3. DANTE’S VISION (Italy) by Massimo Ottoni, Francesco Forti, IBRIDO Studio
4. GARDEN ALCHEMY (Denmark) by Michelle and Uri Kranot, Tindrum production, The Animation Workshop
5. ISILIMELA: BECOMING WITH THE STARS (South Africa) by Nirma Madhoo, Ambient
6. MOMENTS IN A COFFEE SHOP (United Kingdom) by Aleyeldin Baracat, No Ghost
7. OSAGE ’85 (United States) by Liz Hinlein, Edward Button, Storyverse Co//Lab
8. OUT OF NOWHERE (Austria, United Kingdom) by Kris Hoffman, Animate Projects
9. REACH OUT (Sweden) by Daniel Adolfsson, Charlotte Davidson, GötaFilm
10. THE MASTER (Greece, Germany) by Loukia Alavanou, Artcore Film
11. THE WHITE SABOTEUR (France, Canada) by Barthelemy Antoine-Loeff, Hugo Arcier, Risette

3 BIENNALE COLLEGE CINEMA PROJECTS

3 projects, that have been developed during the first workshop of Biennale College Cinema, 11^th edition, and that have reached different stages of development and pre-production.

1. ARMS OF A MAN fiction (India, United Kingdom, France) by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, Lotus Visual Productions
2. TO SEE THESE DAYS fiction (Italy, Switzerland) by Federico Lodoli, Carlo Gabriele Tribbioli, Ring Film, Jasa Productions
3. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOUR PRIVATE PHOTOS, fiction (Brazil), by Marcelo Grabowsky, Matizar Filmes

The Book of Projects, detailing each project, will be published online in the second half of July. Accredited professionals from the film industry will be entitled to request one-to-one meetings with the teams of the selected projects through the Venice  Gap-Financing Market’s dedicated area on the Venice Production Bridge website (veniceproductionbridge.org).