Lucky 13 compete in debuting screenplay market

List of CEPF participants final

In the end, 13 screenwriters from all around Europe has got the opportunity to present their screenplays at the Pécs International Film Festival in October 2007.

The first all-European screenplay market thus provides 13 writers with the opportunity to present their screen stories in front of a panel of internationally acclaimed producers during the Pécs International Film Festival between 30 September and 4 October 2007 in the hope of giving their projects a much needed professional boost.

The Central European Pitch Forum is unique among the many pitching events all across the continent in that it is a story market, meaning that writers can apply without having producers attached to their projects.

The Central European Pitch Forum to be held this October in Pécs, Hungary, has received a surprising number of screenplays: all in all 60 applications have arrived from as many as 19 countries. For a first-of-its-kind event making its debut it is a stunning amount, proving the organizers’ theory that CEPF will definitely fill a void in Europe among the screenwriting workshops and co-production forums. The 60 applications have arrived from the following 19 countries: The UK, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Holland, Croatia, Ireland, Poland, FYROM, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Romania, Spain, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The pre-selection reader panel (consisting of FadeIn founder scribes Bálint Hegedűs, Balázs Lovas and Gábor Krigler) faced a tough job processing all 60 submissions within barely two weeks. This work has been made significantly easier by the high overall quality of submitted projects. In the end, more than 20 screenplays might have easily been selected on the merit of their excellence and professionalism. The final selection was done on the basis of variety in terms of nationality, genre, theme and subject matter. Especially delighted were the pre-selecting readers by the overall professionalism of the Hungarian script submissions. Thus instead of the planned three, four Hungarian projects have been selected, making the final line-up of participants 13.

The list of participants of the 2007 Fade In - Central European Pitch Forum is as follows:

Love Fixation by Jakub Dulban, Poland, romantic dramedy

Weekend by Péter Gál and Csaba Tóth, Hungary, drama/thriller

The Hit Man and Her by Kulvinder Gill, UK, caper comedy

The Pit by Eva Keuris, Holland, drama

Red Diploma by Maria Lappalainen, Finland, drama

Sleepwalkers by Balázs Lengyel, Hungary, drama/thriller

Loop by István Madarász, Hungary, action/thriller/mystery

Plateauby Jaroslaw Marszewski and Anthony Marais, Poland – Germany, drama

The Majority by Angel Mirou, Spain, fantasy-thriller

Fluxus 69 by Emil Novák, Hungary, drama

Amore by Jana Ondikova, Slovakia, drama

Witness by Mitko Panov and Tomasz Pasikowski, FYROM/Switzerland – Poland, drama/thriller

The God of the Hills by Paolo Poti, Italy, drama

The jury/advisory team will provide each participant with a detailed script analysis to advise how to improve their screenplays. This is followed by an online consultation period, by the end of which the participants are expected to rewrite their scripts.

We are proud to announce that our jury team consists of some of the best in the craft. Head of jury is Christina Kallas (D-GR, Head of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe), the other members are Maciej Karpinski (PL, screenwriter, deputy head of the Polish Film Institute), Richard Kwietniowski (UK, BAFTA-winning writer-director) and Giovanni Robbiano (I, screenwriter-director, professor of the Genoa University).

The 12 participants will get an opportunity to hone their presentation skills on a 2-day residential workshop directly before the pitch in Pécs. This is facilitated by two outstanding presentation trainers, Jurgen Wolff and Rupert Widdicombe from the UK. Following the preparation, the 12 writers have nothing else to do but tell their stories to the 15 producers and go for one of the cash prizes of the pitch forum. In all, 10 thousand euro will be handed out.

The 15-strong producers’ panel is being assembled, but we have already received confirmation from some key players of the industry. Cyriac Auriol (Les films du requin, France - Bab Aziz, Heros), Borislav Chouchkov (Chouchkov Brothers, Bulgaria - Tilt), Andrey Deryabin (Hermitage Bridge Studio, Russia – Russian Ark), Anna Gudkova (Profit, Russia – Voroshilov’s Shooter, Luna Papa), Gabriele Kranzelbinder (KGP, Austria - Taxidermia) László Kántor (Új Budapest Filmstúdió, Hungary - Trap, Dallas), Alexander Ris (Mediopolis, Germany - Trap, The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes) and Karla Stojakova (Axman Production, Czech Republic - Restart) have already confirmed their participation. The full list of producers will be completed by the end of July.

More info: www.fadein.eu/pitchforum

Contact:
Gabor Krigler, Project Manager
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00-36-30-396-9486