Georgian director Uta Beria’s Tear Gasoline gained two of the 9 prizes on the Worldwide Movie Pageant Rotterdam’s IFFR Professional awards on Wednesday evening (February 5)
The winners have been chosen from 24 initiatives in growth introduced at CineMart and 12 initiatives within the Darkroom work-in-progress programme.
Tear Gasoline, a love story set amid violent demonstrations in Tbilisi and introduced within the Darkoom programme, gained the Outward Gaze award and the inaugural HBF empowerment award, price €10,000 every. It’s by produced by Anna Khazaradze, Nino Chichua and Guillaume Dreyfus.
The HBF empowerment award celebrates filmmakers working beneath politically difficult situations or tackling pressing themes of freedom of expression, displacement, and human rights. The jury spoke of its “hanging urgency, uncooked emotional depth, and fearless storytelling”.
Eurimages’ Innovation Award for a CineMart challenge in growth, price €20,000, went to One Charming Evening, an ’Alice in Wonderland’-inspired surreal musical immersive expertise by Robin Coops, produced by Corine Meijers.
Eurimages’ outreach award for Darkroom work-in-progress initiatives, price €30,000, was gained by ghost story Bloques Erráticos by Chile’s Thomas Woodroffe, produced by Rodrigo Díaz and Pascual Mena. It tells the story of the ghost of a cinematographer who breaks free after a century trapped throughout the glaciers of Patagonia.
The ArteKino Worldwide Award for a standout challenge to help its growth, price €6,000, was gained by romantic drama Inbetween Worlds by Czech-Vietnamese filmmaker Diana Cam Van Nguyen, produced by Karolina Davidova and Jakub Viktorin.
The Filmmore Work-in-progress post-production zward, price €5,000 for a Darkroom challenge, went to Wild Canines Don’t Chew by Georgia’s Rati Oneli, produced by Rati Oneli, Evgeniia Marchenko, Archil Gelovani and Sergey Yakhontov.
The Filmmore post-production award, price €5,000 for a CineMart challenge, was gained by stop-motion fairytale The March Of The Sunflowers by Erik Ricco, produced by Ivan Melo.
The VIPO Award, devoted to supporting Japan’s content material trade internationally and price €3,000, was gained by 4 Seasons In Java by Kamila Andini, produced by Ifa Isfansyah. It’s the story of a girl’s journey to find peace after being unjustly convicted of murdering a younger man in self-defence..
The 4DR Studios award for finest immersive challenge in CineMart went to Strata by Lilian Hess, produced by Marion Guth, whereas the 4DR Studios award for finest immersive challenge in Darkroom was awareded to The Nice Orator by Daniel Ernst, produced by Siuli Ko.
Head of IFFR Professional Marten Rabarts, mentioned: “We’re delighted and proud to see the popularity the juries have given to the awarded initiatives which is able to solely add to the momentum from CineMart and the Darkroom presence which all initiatives have skilled. Along with our delegates right here for this vibrant version in Rotterdam, they’ve opened conversations, discovered companions and moved their initiatives ever-closer to realisation.”