Italian
Thom Lunshof’s “First Zone,” Jaume Claret Muxart’s “Strange River” and Janicke Askevold’s “Solomamma” picked up a trio of post-production prizes out of this year’s Les Arcs Film Festival Industry Village, which ran from December 14 – 17.
Capping its 16th edition, the industry event brought together 700 professionals – among them leading sales agents, festival programers, producers and distributors – for three days of collective pitches and one-and-one meetings, all with a healthy amount of skiing (and fondue) thrown in.
Winner of this year’s TitraFilm Award for $10,500 in post-production funds, “First Zone” tells a post-apocalyptic story on a more intimate register.
The film follows a rather grizzled loner as she travels across a postdiluvian vision of the Netherlands that has already been flooded for a generation. At his Sunday morning pitch presentation, director Thom Lunshof likened his feature debut to a cross between “Waterworld” and “Nomadland,” while the jury praised the project for its “capacity to convey the anxieties of the present into a possible future.”
Popular on Variety “By reworking the codes of the western, the director succeeds in creating a film that resonates with the contemporary while maintaining a timeless universal expressive force,” said jurors Beatrice Fiorentino (Venice Critics Week), Hrönn Marinósdóttir (Reykjavik International Film Festival) and Ivo Andrle (Aerofilms).
“Strange River” Digital marketing service Alphapanda offered a $6312 Alphapanda Audience Engagement Award to Jaume Claret Muxart’s queer coming-of-age drama “Strange River” while singling out Maxence Voiseux’s decade-spanning hybrid film “Gabin, a Youth in the Backland” with a special mention.
Produced by ZuZú Cinema alongside Miramemira and Schuldenberg Films, “Strange River” gives first-love a metaphysical touch as it follows an adolescent boy whose crush may or may not be a mystical embodiment of the Danube River.
“This film delves into the complexities of familial bonds amid a backdrop of ambiguity and self-discovery, skillfully navigating the delicate balance between dreams and reality,” said jurors Marilou Duponchel (Journalist), Joan Sala (Filmin), and Joanna Solecka (Alphapanda). “We would like to recognize the artistry and the sensitivity of mise-en-scène that captures both intimate and universal emotions.”
Rounding out the Work-in-Progress prizes, Janicke Askevold’s “Solomamma” claimed the 22D Music Award, and with it a $10,500 grant to help finance an original musical score.
22D Music CEO Emmanuel Delétang joined award-winning composer Atli Örvarsson (“Silo,” “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”) and MK2 Films managing director Fionnuala Jamison to praise Askevold’s dramedy about modern parenting.
“[The project] powerfully reflects the modern phenomenon of single motherhood and offers a poignant commentary on evolving family dynamics in contemporary society,” said the jurors. “The film’s music drives its tone, moving fluidly from drama and thriller to humor, with the score developed early in the process to build a cohesive narrative.”
“Solomamma” Projects at earlier stages of development and financing benefitted from a number of prizes linked to Les Arcs’ Talent and Coproduction Villages, with Floor Van der Meulen’s “Happy Days” and Anastasiia Solonevych’s “30 Days of Summer” both receiving $21,027 Eurimages coproduction development grants.
Meanwhile, Clara Lemaire Anspach’s “Rosa Candida” won the ArteKino International Award to tune of $6312. Produced by Haut et Court, the film plays as a romance in reverse, following a duo who first have a baby and then fall in love.
Finally, Anna Llargues’ development title “Made in Mud” took home the Ciclic Talent Village Award, claiming a $5253 grant while winning over jurors Jérôme Parlange (Ciclic Film Fund) and Margaux Juvénal (Take Shelter), who praised the fragmentary coming-of-age tale “for its truly emotional and poetic attachment to memory, youth and territory, its unique yet rooted formal approach [and] its impressive origins in a short that deeply touched us.”
The jurors also offered Selma Sunniva “Silk” a special mention.
