Twenty Emerging European Producers Selected for EFP’s Producers on the Move Program

Leo Barraclough
·4 min read

Twenty emerging producers from across Europe have been selected to take part in European Film Promotion’s promotion and networking platform Producers on the Move before and during the Cannes Film Festival.

The producers who were selected for the program from nominations submitted by EFP’s member organizations are Gentian Koçi (Albania), David Bohun (Austria), Julie Esparbes (Belgium), Vanya Rainova (Bulgaria), Miljenka Čogelja (Croatia), Stelana Kliris (Cyprus), Alice Tabery (Czech Republic), Emile Hertling Péronard (Denmark), Emilia Haukka (Finland), Silvana Santamaria (Germany), Vicky Miha (Greece), Júlia Berkes (Hungary), Kathryn Kennedy (Ireland), Valon Bajgora (Kosovo), Dominiks Jarmakovičs (Latvia), Erik Glijnis (The Netherlands), Elisa Fernanda Pirir (Norway), Radu Stancu (Romania), Juraj Krasnohorský (Slovak Republic), and Julia Gebauer (Sweden).

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They will take part in a tailor-made program to foster international co-productions, increase the exchange of experiences, and help create new professional networks. The pre-festival online program, which started yesterday and runs until May 4, includes 1:1 speed meetings, roundtables and pitching sessions. The producers will then meet during Cannes from May 18 to 22 and take part in a program spread over five days, which will include case studies, social events and an extensive promotional campaign via the international trade magazines.

Three of the selected producers will be presenting their films at Cannes: Dutch Erik Glijnis co-produced “Lost in the Night” by Amat Escalante, which is running in Cannes Premiere section. Following “Dalva” in 2022, Julie Esparbe’s “The (Ex)perience of Love” by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balbonin will be screened in Cannes‘ Critics Week while Juraj Krasnohorský’s animated short “Electra” by Daria Kashcheeva will be premiering in the La Cinef selection.

Other participants of this year’s Producers on the Move lineup have already been behind a number of award-winning films.

Miljenka Čogelja produced Juraj Lerotić’s “Safe Place,” whose tally of prizes includes three awards at the Locarno Film Festival and two awards at the Sarajevo Film Festival as well as being Croatia’s candidate for the 95th Oscars.

Gentian Koçi’s own films as producer and director, “Daybreak” and “A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On,” were both Albania’s Oscar entry in 2018 and 2023 respectively.

David Bohun from Austria produced “The Trouble With Being Born” (Special Jury Award, Berlinale in 2020; Special Award of the Jury, Austrian Film Awards in 2021); and “Movements of a Nearby Mountain” (Grand Prix, Cinema du Reel in 2019; Political Film Award of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Filmfest Hamburg in 2019).

Germany’s Silvana Santamaria produced “Pamfir” (George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Competition 2023, Cleveland Intl. Film Festival; Scythian Deer/Grand Prix 2022, Molodist International Film Festival).

Romania’s Radu Stancu produced “Alis” (Crystal Bear and Teddy Award, Berlinale in 2022) and “To the North” (Premio Bisanto D’Oro, Venice Film Festival in 2022).

Some of the producers have concentrated on documentaries such as Emile Hertling Péronard from Denmark, who produced Lin Alluna’s “Twice Colonized,” which premiered at Sundance in January; Czech producer Alice Tabery, whose credits include the films “Traces of a Landscape” by Petr Záruba and “Reconstruction of Occupation” by Jan Šikl; Greece’s Vicky Miha, who produced Gregoris Rentis‘ hybrid documentary “Dogwatch”; and Elisa Fernanda Pirir, producer of Luis Alejandro Vero’s “Calls From Moscow,” which screened at this year’s Berlinale.

In addition to creative documentaries, animation and feature films, Dominiks Jarmakovičs from Latvia has also been producing films for younger audiences like Jaak Kilmi’s “Christmas in the Jungle” and “The Sleeping Beast,” and is now raising the finance for Signe Baumane’s animated feature “Karmic Knot.”

Some producers from this year’s selection were also creatively involved in their own productions, including Stelana Kliris from Cyprus, who wrote, directed and produced “The Islander,” and Ireland’s Kathryn Kennedy, who wrote the screenplays for the psychological horror feature “Púca” (Pooka), and the satire “My Mother, She Wrote” as well as co-writing the scripted animated series “The Thin Place” with Anthony Murphy.

The lineup also includes producers who continue long-standing collaborations with directors, discover new talents in their respective countries or focus on debuts, such as Júlia Berkes from Hungary (Gábor Reisz’s “For Some Inexplicable Reason,” 2014, “Bad Poems,” 2018, and “Explanation for Everything,” in post-production; Hajni Kis’ “Wild Roots,” 2021; Kosovo’s Valon Bajgora (Blerta Basholli’s “Hive,” 2021, and “Era”), Sweden-based Julia Gebauer (“The Swedish Connection” by Thérèse Ahlbeck and Marcus A. Olsson), Finland’s Emilia Haukka (“The Woodcutter Story” by Mikko Myllylahti) and Vanya Rainova from Bulgaria (“January” by Andrey Paounov).

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