The 10th anniversary edition of international co-production platform Transilvania Pitch Stop kicks off this week at the Transylvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with ten selected projects in development, coming from first- and second-time directors from Romania. , Georgia, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova, pitched to producers, distributors, sales agents, film fund representatives and other industry professionals, followed by one-on-one meetings.
“This year, 45 projects were submitted to Transylvania Pitch Stop and after very, very long consideration, our selection committee carefully reviewed and selected 10 projects for further consideration,” said Dumitrana Lupu, Head of Industry for the Transylvania International festival.
Launched in 2014 as a workshop for emerging directors from Romania and Moldova, the main industry event of the festival is now one of the leading co-production events aiming at cross-border cooperation between the Balkans and the countries from all over the world to improve. Black Sea region. Some of Transilvania’s Pitch Stop success stories include a Russian-French-Estonian co-production The man who surprised everyone by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, which premiered in the Orrizonti section of the 2018 Venice Film Festival; Romanian drama Samplesscreened by Marius Olteanu at Berinale’s Forum in 2019; Apples by Christos Nikou, the Greek Oscar nominee and executive producer by Cate Blanchett, which screened in 2020 on the Orrizonti sidebar of the Venice Film Festival; Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai La civilwhich premiered in Un Certain Regard in Cannes in 2021, and the Ukrainian drama Butterfly visionn by Maksym Nakonechnyim who bowed in the same Cannes section last year.
This year’s Pitch Stop selection included a documentary for the first time: Second line by Ukrainian director-producer Olga Stuga, is an intimate family chronicle of life after the Russian invasion. Romania is represented with two projects: The dark comedy FEZZ by Teodor Mirea and the post-war drama Pyrrus by Cosmin Nicolae. The lineup also includes Little death by the Greek Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis, produced by Yorgos Tsourgianniso from Yorgos Lanthimos’Dog tooth fame, which won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard award in 2009 and went on to garner an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
“All 10 projects demonstrate artistic excellence, strong stories and a unique vision. Mystery and unexpected is the common ground for all projects, and they are very different in terms of genres, from drama to thriller and war documentary,” notes Lupu.
Projects will compete for the Chainsaw Europe Prize ($27,000/€25,000 in post-production services), the UPFAR-ARGOA Award ($3,300/€3,000), the Transylvania Pitch Stop Development Prize offered by Avanpost at a cost of $5,500/€ 5,000 , the $1,600/€1,500 CNC Moldova Prize, the VILLA KULT Development Prize for a Romanian/Moldovan project in development, which comes with a $550/€500 grant, and the 5-day residency CoCo Award for a Romanian/Moldovan project in development presented by Connecting Cottbus Co-Production Market. The awards will be presented in a ceremony on Friday, June 16, prior to TIFF’s closing awards event on Saturday, June 17.
Projects selected for 2023 Transylvania Pitch Stop
FEZZ (Romania)
Directed by Teodor Mirea
Produced by Liviu Marghidan, Ruxandra Flonta (Scharf Film Production)
Just one drop (Georgia)
Directed by Stefan Tolz
Produced by Martichka Bozhilova (agitprop), Karine Jana Sardlishvili (Studio 99) Stefan Tolz (Filmpunkt)
Little death (Greece)
Directed by Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis
Produced by Yorgos Tsourgiannis (Horsefly Films), Anamaria Antoci (Tangaj Production)
Pastoral (Turkey)
Directed by Michael Önder
Produced by Jozef Erçevik Amado (bluff film)
PyrrusRomania
Directed by Cosmin Nicolae
Produced by Velvet Moraru (Icon Production)
Second line (Ukraine)
Directed and produced by Olga Stuga
Soft hours (Hungary)
Directed by Anna Gyimesi
Produced by Zsuzsanna Gyurin
The circle (Moldavian Republic)
Directed by Vareriu Andriuta
Produced by Iulia Andriuta (Amprenta Films), Carmen Rizac (Avanpost Media)
The life we never had (Bulgaria)
Directed by Martin Markov
Produced by Vanya Rainova (Portokal)
Veha (Turkey)
Directed by Elif Sozen
Produced by Elif Sözen (Elves Films), Soner Alper (Jester Film)
