MeetMarket Film Projects: Synopses & Production Details

MeetMarket Proyects
ANGALANEQ (THE TOUR)
Denmark, Norway, Greenland, Finland / Stray Dog Productions, Intrepid Cinema / Director: Mike Day; Producers:
Henrik Underbjerg, Mike Day / Co-producers: Sami Jahnukainen, Kristine Ann Skaret
Two groups set out on tours of Greenland’s coast. One a hip-hop collective from the capital, Nuuk, by plane, the other,
European Christian missionaries on a former Danish military vessel, claiming to ‘save them from hell’. An exploration of
faith, self-belief, and taking on cultural imperialism.
AZ HOUSE
Israel, United States / Heymann Brothers Films / Director: Anna Oliker; Producer: Barak Heymann
In a Jerusalem suburb, fifteen young American drug addicts, abandoned by their ultra-orthodox Jewish families, share
both pain and great hope that Eric, another recovering addict, will save them from death.
BEATE & SERGE: NAZI HUNTERS
United Kingdom / ROAST BEEF PRODUCTIONS LIMITED / Producer & Director: Mike Lerner
After 50 years fighting Nazis - the work of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld continues in a Europe still grappling with the forces
of extremism.
BECAUSE OF MY BODY
Italy / B&B FILM / Director: Francesco Cannava; Producer: Raffaele Brunetti
Access to sexual pleasure has long been denied to disabled people. In Italy, the first course for sex assistants is taking
off. It will train aspiring operatives to meet people who have been waiting for this chance all their lives. It will be an
unprecedented event, on the margins of legality.
BOTTLEMEN
Serbia / Rt dobre Nade / Director: Nemanja Vojinović; Producers: Marija Stojnić, Nemanja Vojinović
Once the archaeological site of an ancient civilisation, today the biggest Balkans landfill, Vinča is a workplace for a group
of Serbian Roma plastic bottle collectors. We follow the last days of this community before their jobs become obsolete.
BRUNO: THE PEOPLE'S CHAMPION
United Kingdom / Gospel / Director: Adam Darke; Producer: Jon Carey.
The rags to riches story of one of the most loved British sportsmen of all time, Frank Bruno, following the highs and lows
of his journey to become the Boxing Heavyweight Champion of the World during the 80s and 90s.
CHAIN OF ROCKS
United States / Mooshido Productions / Director: Damon Davis; Producer: Chris Renteria.
Through one filmmaker’s relationship with a man sentenced to death, we see the ambiguity of justice and how truth is
manipulated and sacrificed in the name of freedom.
CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Ireland, Canada / Wildfire Films / Director: Kim Bartley; Producers: Adrian McCarthy, Martha O'Neill; Coproducer: Trish Dolman
Celibacy, fatherhood, love, lies and betrayal. These are the true stories of the legion of invisible sons and daughters of
Catholic priests.
COLD CASES
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium / Wingman Media / Director: Mads Brügger; Producer: Peter Engel
On the trail of the murderers from apartheid into the sinister heart of darkness.
CRUZ
Mexico, Spain / BWP / Director: Teresa Camou Guerrero; Producer: Bettina Walter / Executive Producer: Jenny
Mügel
Cruz, a determined Raramuri native from Mexico, and his family had all of their land taken from them by drug traffickers
because they refused to grow opium poppies instead of corn and beans. They now live in exile under the threat of death,
desperately seeking justice.
DANCING FOR AKEEDA
United Kingdom / Antenna Pictures / Director: Dominic Ozanne; Producer: Jago Lee; Executive Producer:
Deborah London-Harrington
Born in one of the most violent neighbourhoods on earth, 14-year-old Faakhir is trying to dance his way out of poverty.
Mentored by the Royal Ballet’s first black dancer, we follow Faakhir’s journey from South Africa’s Cape Flats to a crucial
life-changing audition at London’s Royal Ballet School.
DARK RIDER
Belgium, Netherlands / Serendipity Films / Director: Eva Küpper; Producers: Elisa Heene, Eva Küpper; Coproducers: Denis Vaslin, Hanne Phlypo
Despite the enormous risks, Australian blind motor racer Ben Felten is determined to break the world land speed record.
Together with former grand prix champion Kevin Magee, he sets out on a thrilling journey to become the fastest blind
motorcycle rider in the world.
DEFENDING THE BEAST
Denmark, Poland / Made in Copenhagen / Directors: Lukasz Konopa, Emil Langballe; Producer: Heidi Kim
Andersen; Executive Producer: Helle Faber; Co-producer : Pawel Kosun
For the first time in history, an ex-child soldier is being indicted at the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC).
The film follows his defence team at the ICC and in Uganda, as they gather evidence, material and witnesses. Is the
defendant a victim or a perpetrator?
DISAPPEARING VILLAGE
United Kingdom / Director: Megumi Inman; Producer: Andy Glynne; Executive Producer: David Clews
A 200-year-old Japanese village is on the brink of extinction. Can the nation’s sacred drink, saké, save it?
EARTHLINGS CALLING
Sweden / Fosfor Produktion AB / Directors: Per Bifrost, Alexander Rynéus; Producer: Malla Grapengiesser
This film takes us on a thought provoking, controversial journey with a handful of underdog scientists in the hunt for ET.
The story reflects back on us as species and with underlying humor portraits the contrast between big questions and the
ongoing everyday life.
ELI: A DOG IN PRISON
Germany, United Kingdom / MAKO / Producers: Nora Mandray, Jason B. Kohl; Directors: Nora Mandray, Jason
B. Kohl; Executive Producer: Sophie Robinson
Three convicted murderers’ world turns upside-down the day an unruly Labrador puppy steps into their cell. Tasked with
the mission of transforming him into a highly-disciplined dog in just 12 months, they chart an uncertain path to
rehabilitation within the broken American prison system.
FOREIGN VOLUNTEERS - IN THE HELL OF RAQQA
France / Premières Lignes Télévision / Directors: Pedro Brito da Fonseca, Paul Moreira; Producer: Luc Hermann
The untold story of young westerners who liberated Raqqa. Filmed, fly on the wall style, fighting, talking, laughing, being
attacked by suicide bombs and sniper fire. We were with them until Raqqa was freed. And then followed them back
home. Changed forever.
GAME OF MINDS
Finland, Germany / napafilms ltd / Directors: Petri Luukkainen, Jesse Jokinen; Producers: Liisa Karpo, Marianne
Mäkelä
You need to know yourself deep down in order to win in esports – the greatest game of minds.
UNTITLED DOCUMENTARY PROJECT
United States, United Kingdom / Director: Camilla Hall; Producer: Tabs Breese
A rigorous true-crime investigation into a historical scandal.
GHOST WIVES
United Kingdom / Odd Girl Out Productions Ltd / Producer & Director: Eva Weber
Walking the razor’s edge between true-crime documentary and stylish noir thriller, GHOST WIVES tells the story of a
Chinese journalist who investigates the case of a real-life serial killer – Song Tiantang, a 53-year old man, who killed six
women to sell their bodies for ghost weddings.
GOLD MINERS
Finland, Norway / Napafilms / Director: Inka Achté; Producer: Liisa Karpo; Co-producer: Christian Falch
When Mustafe prayed to Allah for an adventure, he didn't expect to discover that his family’s land in Somaliland was
heaving with gold. Upon hearing the news, he decides brave the culture shock, open a mine and take his wife and kids who grew up Finnish - back to the country he left 25 years ago.
HALLELUJAH
Norway / UpNorth Film / Director: Tonje Hessen Schei; Producers: Christian Falch, Torstein Parelius.
Project information available to participating Decision Makers only.
HAVE A NICE DAY!
Brazil /Director: Tali Yankelevich; Producer: Minom Pinho; Co-producer: Marco Del Fiol
Have a nice day! is about a small group of workers who spend most of their days inside a clockwork supermarket. Built
around the alienating universe of repetitiveness that the store creates, the film sets up the stage for an imaginative
exploration of hidden dreams and existential questionings.
HORSEMEN
United Kingdom / SDI Productions Ltd; Parcel of Rogues Ltd / Director: Amy Hardie; Producer: Sonja Henrici
A Scottish movie of horses, men, resilience and pain. Set in the mountains of the Cairngorms, this is a film about finding
the courage to make change when everyone has given up on you - even yourself. When damaged racehorses meet
damaged veterans, can both find a way to rewire their brains?
IRAQ, DESTRUCTION OF A NATION
France / ZED, TOHUBOHU, SLUG NEWS / Director: Jean Pierre Canet
From the first days of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980 to the fall of Daesh, for the first time, a landmark series tells the entire
story that led Irak to chaos. A story in which major powers clash due to economic interests. A look at 40 years that
changed the world.
KASHMIR
United Kingdom, India / Grain Media / Director: Sadhana Subramanian; Producer: Anna Murphy; Executive
Producer: Orlando Von Einsiedel
This film explores what it's like to live in what's said to be the most dangerous place in the world during one of its most
febrile years, giving a rare glimpse of life in the crossfire.
KINGS OF THE BOARDWALK
United Kingdom / Bungalow Town Productions Ltd / Directors: Joe Barker, Isabel Colbourn; Producers: Isabel
Colbourn, Rachel Wexler, Jez Lewis
A tale of boom or bust in the fight to be Mayor of one of America’s most weird and wonderful iconic towns, Atlantic City.
LUCY IN THE SKY
Australia, Russia /Director: Maria Dudko; Producer: Sam Griffin, Maya Kuzina; Executive Producer: Chris Hilton
Lucy Dudko spent 7 years in prison for hijacking a helicopter to pluck her lover John Killick from jail. Although the story
became legendary the hidden facts surrounding the event made the filmmaker wonder: was it a tragic love tale or a
startling miscarriage of justice?
MAGALUF GHOST TOWN
Spain / Boogaloo Films, Little Big Story / Directors: Miguel Ángel Blanca, Raúl Cuevas; Producer & Executive
Producer: Bernat Manzano
Magaluf is a peaceful spot that transforms into one of the most saturated tourist zones in summer. How do locals survive
in this low cost tourist paradise?
MAMA BEARS
United States / Mama Bears Documentary / Director: Daresha Kyi; Producer: Laura Tatham; Executive Producer:
Scotch Ellis Loring
MAMA BEARS is a feature length documentary about the ways in which the lives of conservative, Christian mothers are
utterly transformed when they decide to accept their LGBTQ children.
MASTER OF LIGHT
Netherlands, United States / Docmakers / Director: Rosa Ruth Boesten; Producer: Ilja Roomans; Executive
Producer: Roger Ross Williams
After being incarcerated for ten years, George Morton becomes the first African American to graduate from the Florence
Academy of Art. Through the process of painting the key figures of his turbulent past, George's story is revealed in his
quest to rewrite the script of his life.
MEETINGS WITH MONSTERS
Germany, United States / Director: John Goetz; Producer: Poul-Erik Heilbuth; Executive Producer: Barbara
Biemann
A man who was tortured sets out to meet his tormentors. He discovers that his tormentors include the journalists who
convinced the world that he was a terrorist.
MEMENTO MORI
Denmark, Norway / Stray Dog Productions / Director: Christian Holten Bonke; Producer: Henrik Underbjerg; Coproducer: Kristine Ann Skaret
Throughout time we invented stories and religions to ease our fear of the violent and silent darkness of Death. Now it
seems that our rational thinking is erasing traditions, leaving us in an empty space, maybe waiting for science to
outsmart death.
MILISUTHANDO (WORKING TITLE)
South Africa / The Good Black Project / Director: Milisuthando Bongela; Producers: Batana Vundla, Marion Jill
Isaacs
In this coming-of-age personal essay, Milisuthando - a black South African born during apartheid but who was unaware
of it until it was over - explores how blacks and whites learned to live together after 342 years of racial segregation,
especially for new black kids at old white schools!
NOGGINS
United States / Director: Noah Hutton; Producer: Kellen Quinn
With brain-related diseases and disorders on the rise and human consciousness still unsolved, Henry Markram declares
in 2009 that his Swiss-based Blue Brain Project is going to build a full-scale digital simulation of a human brain within ten
years. This is the story of what happened next.
NOTHING COMPARES
Ireland, United Kingdom / Tara Film Limited / Director: Kathryn Ferguson; Producers: Michael Mallie, Eleanor
Emptage
NOTHING COMPARES is the story of one singer’s phenomenal rise to worldwide fame, and how her iconoclastic
personality would result in her exile from the pop mainstream. Focusing on prophetic words and deeds across a five-year
period (1987-1992), the film reflects on the legacy of this fearless trailblazer, through a contemporary lens.
OFF THE RAILS: LIKE. COMMENT. SUBSCRIBE
United Kingdom / Faction Films / Director: Peter Day; Producers: Rob Alexander, Grant Keir
Why does a man surf trains, climb cranes and scale sky scrapers? Is it YouTube fame or is it something darker?
OFFICE 39
Germany / a & o buero filmproduktion / Directors: Sebastian Weis, Carl Gierstorfer; Producer: Tristan
Chytroschek
A hard-hitting insight into what is probably the most unscrupulous state-sanctioned financial mafia in the world: North
Korea’s Office 39.
OH MOSCOW
United Kingdom, Poland, Germany / Adventure Pictures / Director: Sally Potter; Producers: Christopher
Sheppard, Lucie Wenigerova, Anna Jancso; Co-Producers: Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska, Isabel Iturriagagoitia
Created and performed at the end of the Cold War as a song cycle, this musical documentary will seek parallels between
the past and present, using archive and contemporary news footage set against music composed by Lindsay Cooper,
with lyrics by Sally Potter.
PANDORA’S BOX
Hong Kong SAR, China, France / CNEX Foundation / Director: ZHAO Liang; Producers: Serge Lalou, Ruby Chen,
ZHAO Liang
In the context of contemporary high-advanced technology and totalitarianism, Pandora’s Box presents the predicament
of global warming in terms of humanity’s choices about nuclear power.
PILLS & THRILLS: THE HAPPY MONDAYS STORY
United Kingdom / Gospel / Director: Adam Darke; Producer: Jon Carey
The definitive feature documentary on the band that defined an era and reinvented rock n'roll...The Happy Mondays.
Reflecting on the so called "Mad-chester" scene of the late 80's, with unheard tales of pandemonium and debauchery
from one of Manchester's most celebrated bands.
PRAY AWAY
United States / Multitude Films / Director: Kristine Stolakis; Producer: Jessica Devaney, Anya Rous; Executive
Producers: Daniel J. Chalfen, Jim Butterworth, Katy Drake Bettner
PRAY AWAY tells the story of the history and continuation of the "pray the gay away" or ex-gay movement.
SCHOOL SHOOTERS (WORKING TITLE)
Denmark, Sweden, France / Final Cut for Real / Directors: Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors; Producer: Anne
Köhncke; Co-Producers: Frida Barkfors, Sallah-Edine Ben Jamaa
As the disaster of yet another school shooting hits, some parents are faced with a brutal fact: their child was pulling the
trigger.
SCREAMERS
Ireland / Cowtown Pictures / Director: Ciaran Cassidy; Producers: John Wallace, Alan Maher, Colum McKeown
SCREAMERS is the story of Jenny James and the radical female fronted commune Jenny founded over forty years ago
known as 'The Screamers'.
STAY REAL - WAITING FOR GODOT
Sweden / Picky Pictures / Directors: Tova Mozard, Staffan Julén; Producer: Daniel Pynnönen
Three former inmates reiterate an unlikely meeting with Waiting for Godot. Reluctantly cast in the play, they realize their
lives has been spent playing parts dealt to them. In the third act of their lives, they decides to choose for themselves.
THE CONCESSION
United Kingdom, Sierra Leone / Met Film Production / Directors: Jerry Rothwell, Sam Liebmann; Producer: Jerry
Rothwell
Spanning four continents, The Concession is a three-part serial which travels from boardrooms in London, to village
meetings in Sierra Leone to a state enterprise in Beijing to Trump’s America to tell a story from the frontline of the global
battle for resources.
THE CREATION MYTH
United Kingdom / Hadaly Pictures / Producer & Director: Andrea Vecchiato
An entire generation define themselves through the music that Creation Records made possible. For the first time the
Godfather of Britpop, Creation founder Alan McGee, opens up about the patterns of abuse that both plagued and
inspired his alternative family of musical pioneers.
THE DISAPPEARING WORLD OF HARUKI MURAKAMI
United Kingdom, France / My Accomplice / Director: Raphael Levy; Producer: Aleksandra Bilic
This documentary is a night time capsule with the world-famous writer Murakami Haruki. This former jazz-bar owner who
began writing decades ago gives here his testimony about a Japan that is about to completely disappear.
THE DOUBT MAKERS
France / ZED / Directors: Pascal Vasselin, Franck Cuveillier; Producer: Gaëlle Guyader
How can science be manipulated to raise doubts? Why and in who’s interest? And how do we, as individuals and
citizens, consent to that? One by one, this film dismantles the workings of this clever manoeuver that aims to turn
science against itself.
THE HOME
South Africa, United States / Producer & Director: Chase Musslewhite, Jessie Zinn; Executive Producer: Justin
Cohen
The residents of a South African old age home struggle to elect a new Resident Committee amidst the heat of a droughtstricken summer and the nuisance of noisy renovations.
THE LONG FRIDAY
Iceland, United States / Alternate Image Productions, Inc / Director: Pamela Hogan; Producer: Hrafnhildur
Gunnarsdóttir
What if every woman just simply took the day off? The Long Friday spans decades to tell the powerful story of a day that
catapulted Iceland to its status as the superpower of gender equality.
THE LONGEST GOODBYE
United States, Israel / Director: Ido Mizrahy; Producers: Nir Sa'ar, Ido Mizrahy; Executive Producers: Valda Witt,
Josh Braun
Social isolation affects millions of people. Curiously, it might even endanger Mars-bound astronauts. A team of NASA
psychologists is tasked with mitigating this elusive threat.
THE REAL TRUMAN SHOW
United Kingdom / Misfits Entertainment / Director: Clair Titley; Producer: Andee Ryder; Executive Producer: Ian
Bonhote
How one Japanese TV audition turned into a real-life Truman show... an inspirational tale of the power of the human
spirit over adversity – the adversity of the world’s most outrageous reality TV show.
THE SOLDIER
United Kingdom, Germany, France / Perfect Splice / Director: Aleksandar Nikolic; Producers: Gregor Streiber,
Quentin Laurent; Co-Producer: Aleksandar Nikolic
Made entirely out of found footage, the film subsumes many real soldiers who fought in Suez, Vietnam and The War on
Terror into a single composite protagonist. The film then follows this archetypal Western soldier on a harrowing journey
from idealism before the war to disillusionment after it.
THE STORY OF LOOKING
United Kingdom / Bofa Productions / Director: Mark Cousins; Producers: Adam Dawtrey, Mary Bell
On a single day in Edinburgh, Mark Cousins takes us on a guided tour through the visual history of the world, from the
dawn of time to the digital age.
THE WORLDS OF ERIKO
Denmark, Norway / Sonntag Pictures / Director: Jannik Splidsboel; Producer: Sara Stockmann
THE WORLDS OF ERIKO is the story about the Japanese classical pianist Eriko Makimura. It conveys the ways in which
a female classical pianist from Japan was shaped, through force, public humiliation and an endless sea of loneliness.
The piano simultaneously became her executioner and her savior.
TO THE MOON
Ireland/ Inland Films / Director: Tadhg O'Sullivan; Producer: Clare Stronge; Executive Producer: Celine Haddad,
Fionnuala Sweeney
A poetic feature documentary that explores humanity’s timeless relationship with our moon.
TOMBOY
United States / Director: Lindsay Lindenbaum; Producer: Eleanor Emptage; Executive Producer: Senain Kheshgi
TOMBOY shines a light on a hidden generation of woman drummers, in a field that was once the exclusive domain of
men. The dynamic narratives of these extraordinary women interweave, launching a timely dialogue on gender and
artistry, which extends far beyond the musical sphere.
TOWERS OF LONDON: F**K IT UP
United Kingdom / Producers & Directors: Glenn Barden, David Hills; Executive Producer: Teddy Leifer
Five friends dreamed of being rock stars. When Towers of London landed themselves a multimillion-dollar record deal it
looked like all their dreams had come true. This is the story of how they spectacularly and hilariously f**ked it up.
ULTRAS
Sweden / Story / Director: Ragnhild Ekner; Producer: Tobias Janson
Through a cinematic mosaic of football supporters and their societal contexts around the world, a comprehensive
document of a subculture is created, as well as a subtle but powerful image of the political world situation and the power
of youth.
UNTITLED FORBIDDEN STORIES DOCUMENTARY
France / Forbidden Films / Directors: Alexis Marant, Arthur Bouvart, Jules Giraudat; Producer: Forbidden
Stories; Executive Producer: Alex Winter; Co-Producer: FrenchKiss Pictures
Follow in real time the investigation of dozens of journalists who carry on the work of assassinated reporters.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WT)
Germany, Switzerland / gebrueder beetz filmproduktion / Director: Marcus Vetter; Producers: Georg
Tschurtschenthaler, Caroline Schaper; Executive Producer: Christian Beetz; Co-Producer: Werner Schweizer,
Dschoint Ventschr
A never-seen before inside perspective on the World Economic Forum and the complexity, humour and delicacy of
international relations: can the Forum create a better world for everybody? Or just for the powerful few?