he Book of European Short Pitch. - Nisi Masa

EUROPEAN 

SHORT 

PITCH 2012

CONTENTS 

ABOUT NISI MASA 

ABOUT EUROPEAN SHORT PITCH 

PROJECTS 

TUTORS 

PARTNERS AND CONTACT INFO 

2 

3 

4 

Geoff Bellhouse Life UK 5 

Lucio Besana Midnight News Italy 6 

Eicke Bettinga Chain Germany/Bulgaria 7 

Nina Blazin Dawn Slovenia 8 

M. Bonnici & C. Galea Is-Shab Malta 9 

Eni Brandner ERSATZ Austria 10 

Antonio Celotto Field Trip Italy 11 

Maria Dicieanu Little Stones Romania 12 

Una Gunjak The Chicken UK/Italy/Bosnia 13 

Szymon Jachimek Sweet Home à la Mamma Poland 14 

M. Kotecka & K. Poryzala Musk Poland 15 

Nora Lakos Helen’s Kitchen Hungary 16 

Piotr Litwin Flora&Fauna Poland 17 

David Mahmoudieh Seaside Samurai UK 18 

Klaus Pas & Luc Walpoth CTRL-ALT-DEL Belgium/Switzerland 19 

Clarisse Potoky Aboudi Lao France 20 

Martin Repka Tiger Fight Slovakia 21 

Júlia Széphelyi Incella going to buy bread Hungary 22 

Léa Triboulet Sofia B. didn’t sleep well France 23 

Acim Vasic The Nail France 24 

Iacopo Zanon 6:30 on a Summer Evening Italy 25 

Frédéric Zeimet Cowboy Luxembourg 26 

Barbara Zemljič The Right to Love Slovenia 27 

Avgousta Zourelidi Electrifying Love Greece/UK 28 

29 

30

ABOUT NISI MASA 

OUR PROFILE 

NISI MASA is a European Network of Young Cinema gathering hundreds 

of film enthusiasts and professionals from 26 countries. NISI MASA is 

composed of national organisations with different profiles, but all consisting 

of young Europeans sharing a common passion: cinema. 

OUR MAIN ACTIVITIES 

NISI MASA holds an annual call for short film projects for young European 

scriptwriters and filmmakers aged between 18 and 35, which 

results in European Short Pitch. All year long, NISI MASA organises 

various events all around Europe, involving hundreds of film buffs and 

talents: seminars, scriptwriting and filmmaking workshops, as well as 

film festivals and screenings. 

Moreover, NISI MASA publishes Nisimazine during different European 

and International films festivals (Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Cannes, Rotterdam, 

Venice, etc.) as well as a monthly newsletter, Mas y Mas. 

OUR MAIN AIMS 

- Discover and promote new film talents 

- Foster European awareness through cinema 

- Develop cross-cultural cinema projects 

- Create a platform of collaboration for young European filmmakers 

NISI MASA Associations 

* Albania - First Step Association 

* Austria - kino5 

* Bulgaria - SEVEN 

* Croatia - Kinoklub Zagreb 

* Croatia - Palunko 

* Czech Republic - Fresh Film Fest 

* Estonia - NISI MASA Estonia 

* Finland - Euphoria Borealis ry 

* France - NISI MASA France 

* Germany - filmArche 

* Germany - Munich Film Society 

* Hungary - NISI MASA Hungary 

* Italy - Franti NISI MASA Italia 

* Kosovo - 7arte 

* Lithuania - Kaunas International Film Festival 

* Luxembourg - Filmreakter 

* Macedonia - Cre8ive8 

* Netherlands - Breaking Ground 

* Portugal - FEST – Associação Cultural 

* Romania - Control N 

* Russia - Moviement 

* Slovakia - Early Melons 

* Slovenia - PIFF 

* Spain - Cinestesias 

* Sweden - NISI MASA Sweden 

* Turkey - NISI MASA Turkey 

* UK - Encounters 

* Ukraine - CinemaHall 

3

ABOUT EUROPEAN SHORT PITCH 

4 

European Short Pitch is an initiative aimed at promoting 

the European coproduction of short films. It 

combines a scriptwriting workshop in residency, an 

on-line session and a coproduction forum bringing together 

scriptwriters and industry professionals from 

all over Europe. 

Selected on the basis of their short film projects, 

young European talents gather to discuss, rewrite 

and learn to promote their ideas on a European level. 

They eventually pitch their project in front of a panel 

of European producers and distributors. 

Initiated by NISI MASA, European Short Pitch is now 

in its 6 th edition and is the continuation of our European 

Script Contest, held from 2001 to 2008. 

European Short Pitch’s rewriting session was held 

in Luxembourg at the beginning of January, with 24 

participants from 15 countries attending. From collective 

brainstorming to working in groups or individually 

with professional tutors, participants discussed their 

projects in depth, receiving various feedbacks to 

nurture their projects. 

This year, European Short Pitch’s pitching session 

will take place on the 3 th of March in Maribor, Slovenia, 

this year’s European Capital of Culture, followed 

by one-to-one meetings in the evening and on the following 

day.

GEOFF BELLHOUSE 

UNITED KINGDOM 

LIFE 

Tel: +44 208 947 8855 

E-mail: Geoff@thebeatpicture.com 

Intention 

Life offers a brief glimpse into the world of two pained 

characters. It portrays the parallels and similarities 

they both share as an after effect of this killing. A sister 

has lost her brother and a mother has lost a son to jail. 

The emotional impact on both women is extreme and 

as a result this moment when they encounter each 

other is intensely affecting and poignant. 

I wanted to deal with the devastation left upon both 

family lives a year after the incident. It is witnessed 

through Meagan’s eyes and it is her story but it is also 

her humanity, which allows the viewer into Kay’s world. 

Both women have a different relationship to this mur- 

der and so the feelings are varied but equally there is 

an overriding consensus of bereavement and failure. 

When they discover each other and acknowledge the 

other person for who they are, this is the coming together 

of two extremes. However what exists, rather 

than anger or revenge, is a common acceptance that 

they are both in equal positions of futility. Both are subjected 

to the emotional consequences and damage of 

murder and both have lost the person they most cared 

about. 

Synopsis 

A year on, Meagan struggles to balance a fractured 

home life with creating a future for herself. She spends 

most her time tending to her now bereaved mother 

and younger sister whilst working at an oriental store 

to bring home the family income. 

One day during work, Kay unexpectedly walks back 

into Meagan’s life – a woman Meagan never thought 

she would have to deal with again. At first disgusted, 

Meagan is soon fixated and compelled to follow Kay 

home. 

Later, waiting outside her house, an opportunistic moment 

occurs as Kay leaves and with the house alone 

and temporarily vacant, Meagan snatches her chance 

and breaks in. Once inside she is unexpectedly moved 

and confused by the similarities that her house and 

this woman share. Both are absent of someone very 

dear and significant. 

Finally, when the two women confront each other over 

what is going on, they soon realise they both share 

conflicted feelings of loss and hopelessness… 

PRODUCTION FACTS 

Estimated Budget: £18,000 

Director of Photography – David Procter 

www.davidprocterdop.com 

Meagan – Antonia Thomas 

www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/9411- 

8975-5851 

Locations needed: Meagan’s Flat/ Swimming 

Pool/ Wing Yip Cash & Carry/Bus/ 

Kay’s House 

“What is it to seek 

compassion in the 

person who has 

hurt you most?” 

Director Biography 

Born in London 1984, I began my film career 

at the Septima Ars Film School in Madrid, 

Spain. I studied direction for a year, 

before returning to the UK to complete 

a Masters in Filmmaking at The London 

Film School. Having graduated in 2010 

and worked on several award winning 

independent shorts and documentaries, I 

am now writing my first feature film. 

I predominantly focus on fiction, looking 

at everyday people and their relationship 

to experiencing new, unusual and affecting 

situations. So far my works have been 

screened and exhibited at festivals across 

Europe. I have a BIFA nomination for writing 

and my latest fiction short Life is currently 

in the early stages of production. 

5

LUCIO BESANA ITALy 

MIDNIGHT NEwS 

Tel: +39 039 695 7204 

E-mail: luciobesana@gmail.com 

Intention 

By depicting Max and Laura’s emotional dilemmas, I 

want to talk about the extreme difficulty in dealing with 

your pain and losses in a society without boundaries 

for communication and information-sharing. 

The Midnight News affects Max and Laura by destroying 

their certainties about death, making them all the 

more dazed and confused. No answer will be given 

at the end of the short, whether the voices are true or 

false, or what is right or wrong to do. I want the audience’s 

response to be emotional. 

I’ll direct Midnight News as a psychological drama. I’ll 

6 

stay close to the characters and focus on their feelings. 

In the visuals, the outside will mirror the inside: 

I will depict an abstract, existential city, more a place 

of the soul, shot entirely at night, a barren landscape 

of deserted streets and eerie halos of electric lights. 

Even the scene in Max and Laura’s apartment is set 

at night time, lit by lamps, bubbles of light in the darkness. 

On the other hand, handheld cameras will stay close 

to the characters, snatching their feelings and insisting 

on details revealing their emotions and their physical 

reactions to pain. 

Synopsis 

A big city, present day. Every night at midnight, a radio 

station broadcasts a weird talk show where you 

can listen to what are claimed to be the voices of the 

dead. 

Max and Laura have lost their five-year-old son 

Michael, yet they’ve found the strength to carry on. 

Two years after their loss, Laura is pregnant again. 

But their newly found balance is put at stake when 

their neighbour makes them listen to the Midnight 

News. In one of the voices Laura recognizes Michael, 

their lost son. 

Max doesn’t want to believe and refuses to try to get in 

touch with his son through the transmission, but Laura 

can’t just leave Michael alone. The crisis forces them 

to cope with a sorrow now impossible to comfort. 


Estimated Budget: 30.000 € 

To be shot in English. 

Written with Milan in mind, but can be set in 

many other big cities (i.e. London) 

Self-contained, yet conceived to be a teaser for 

a feature. 

I need a more-than-amazing sound designer to 

create the outer world sound design. 

“Stay tuned.” 


Born in 1982, Lucio Besana grew up in 

a small town near the banks of the river 

Adda, east of Milan. He’s been writing 

since the age of 9. At first he created short 

stories and novels, then, as a teen, started 

writing stage plays for a school acting 

course – an activity which he kept up for 

the following 10 years, writing, acting and 

directing dark comedies in amateur theatre 

companies. At 23 he was selected for 

the Directing Course at the Scuola Civica 

in Milan, where he wrote, shot and edited 

short films and documentaries. He’s now 

working as a First Assistant Director and 

freelance Script Editor and Filmmaker.

EICKE BETTINGA 

GERMANy/BULGARIA 

CHAIN 

Tel: +49 173 444 7266 

E-mail: ebettinga@gmx.net 

Intention 

During the initial research I came across the shocking 

fact that during the Cold War, GDR citizens trying to 

flee across the Bulgarian borders to the West were in 

some cases shot, even when they could have simply 

been arrested. The GDR regime allegedly paid 1.000 

Mark to a Bulgarian border soldier for every ‘neutralized’ 

GDR citizen. Additionally, the Bulgarian State 

awarded the soldiers with up to ten days of vacation. 

The more I learned about this issue, the more I became 

determined to get this story out there and to 

shine a light on an unknown issue of recent European 

history, which until today remains a taboo. 

My goal is to create an emotive, truthful and visually 

striking short film, which takes place over one day and 

one night during which the lives of two people change 

dramatically. 

The story would be told using poetic cinematic language, 

focusing on the tensions within the characters. 

I intend to direct the film with an emphasis on creating 

subtext consisting of gestures, glances and facial 

expression which will be brought out in the subtleties 

of the performances and in a restrained use of visual 

suspense. 

Synopsis 

Southern Bulgaria, 1989 – only a few months before 

the fall of the Berlin Wall. While on holiday, twenty year 

old Andrea - a free spirited and idealistic girl from the 

GDR - decides to carry out a secret plan to cross the 

border to Greece. 

One morning she gets on a bike and sets off. When 

the chain unexpectedly falls off, it appears that Andrea’s 

plan is shattered. But then Dian, a young Bulgarian 

man, comes along and helps Andrea fix the bike. 

Soon they start talking and visibly enjoying each others 

company. For a brief moment it seems that anything 

is possible. Yet, a little later they say goodbye 

and part again. 

Night falls and Andrea becomes increasingly restless. 

She heads towards the border fence through the darkness 

of the forest. Andrea manages to cut the wires 

and experiences the first moments of liberty, when all 

of a sudden she is surrounded by a group of Bulgarian 

border soldiers… 



Contrast Film Ltd 

E-mail: katya.trichkova@yahoo.com 

Nominated for the Co-production Prize of 

the Robert Bosch Stiftung 

Status: Seeking European co-production 

partner, public/private funding, television 

pre-sales 

“Bulgaria, summer 

1989. The story of a 

girl and a boy who 

meet as friends in 

the morning, and the 

same night again – 

but this time as enemies.” 


Eicke Bettinga studied film directing under 

Stephen Frears at the National Film & 

Television School in England. His graduation 

short Shearing was selected for Cinéfondation 

at Cannes and won a number 

of awards. After attending the Berlinale 

Talent Campus, Eicke directed TRUST, 

Wohltat, a sci-fi drama set in the year 

2020 - commissioned by ZDF. In 2009 

Eicke was awarded the cast & cut scholarship, 

which led to his short Together. 

The film was selected for competition at 

Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. Eicke 

is based both in Berlin and London, currently 

working on a variety of projects, 

including a historical feature film commissioned 

by Film4. 

7

NINA BLAzIN 

SLOvENIA 

DAwN 

Tel: +38 640 265 638 

E-mail: nina_blazin@yahoo.com 

Intention 

In one appartement the young family is waiting for a 

baby to be born. Pregnant Lejla is mostly in her bedroom. 

Boyfriend Tine and father Jovan try to assemble 

a baby bed. They have a lot of problems – they can’t 

read the manual, they don’t find the matching pieces 

to assemble the bed. In a humourous situation the 

men deal with their issues. Jovan has come from Serbia 

to see his daughter. He thinks of Tine as a boy who 

doesn’t deserve his daughter. He tries to show him this 

with every action and every word he makes. Tine tries 

to be accepted. 

In another appartement a son, Robert sees his father 

8 

after many years. His dying father lives in his own 

world of music and isn’t able to communicate with 

anybody apart his sister. Through the music slowly the 

father makes the connection with Robert. 

The light in the film is very intimate - only some parts 

of the shot are lite, the rest in dark. The light from the 

window is used to make a special atmosphere in the 

film. 

Camera is handheld and sometimes very close to the 

charachter. The overall feeling of film is rough, shot 

in a documentaristic style. The light gives the shots a 

poetic feeling. 

Synopsis 

Pregnant Lejla (31) and Tine (30) are about to have a 

baby. Lejla’s father Jovan (55) has come from Serbia 

to stay with the couple. Tine and Jovan are trying to 

assemble a baby bed. Jovan doesn’t accept Tine – he 

thinks Tine isn’t good enough for his daughter. Tine 

tries to convince Jovan that he can be a good partner 

to Lejla. When the arguing gets too loud, Lejla reminds 

them why they are together – because of the new life. 

Slowly they overcome the problems and learn to deal 

with each other. 

Robert (50) comes to visit his dying father (75) and his 

sister Barbara (40). Because of old resentments Robert 

hasn’t seen his father for many years. The father 

is very ill. As a retired composer he can only communicate 

through music. The sister Barbara spends all 

of her time helping her father. While visiting his father 

Robert resolves old problems. 

Everything happens in a 3 hour period – from early 

morning when it’s still dark until the beginning of the 

new day. One life ends so another one can begin. 



Casablanca Productions 

Igor Pedicek 

Intends to acquire about 45 – 75% of the estimated 

budget from the National sources. 

The rest of the budget will come from the coproductions 

in financial, technical and human 

resources in production and postproduction. 

“A story of 4 men 

where 2 men overcome 

cultural differences 

while making 

a baby bed and 2 are 

joined together with 

music – in one story 

life ends so in another 

one life can begin.” 


I was born 3 months before the date. 

My weight was like a loaf of bread – not 

even 1 kilo. I didn’t even have a name, 

just a surname and the word GIRL next to 

it. When I was a bit bigger my father put 

me into an old shoe box and entertained 

me by slideing the box around the appartment. 

My first holidays I spent dressed in 

shorts and a telephone number written on 

my behind – just in case I wondered away 

and got lost.I still like to wonder away and 

get lost in stories, situations and interesting 

people. After finishing my diploma in 

the Film Academy (AGFRT) in Ljubljana, 

Slovenia I’ve worked on different projects: 

I’ve written and directed short films, long, 

short documentaries, tv-shows.

MARTIN BONNICI & CHRIS GALEA 

MALTA 

IS-SHAB 

Tel: +356 274 321 35 

E-mail: martin@martinbonnici.com 

Intention 

Can you find balance again after losing the most important 

thing in your life? And can faith and belief help 

you through the journey of regaining this balance? 

How does someone who has known only one life for 

many decades, adapt to a sudden change? The intention 

of this project is in itself an internal journey aimed 

at questioning accepted norms of life, love and old 

age. 

Through subsequent drafts we have discovered a 

world that’s grounded in Mediterranean traditions and 

religion but also allows nature’s magic to work itself 

into everyday moments. With the help of Guzeppi, 

we explore a rural world were emotions are rarely expressed 

but colour every aspect of life as its inhabitants 

seek to release them. 

The story is sombre but supported by light comic moments, 

aimed at provoking the audience into questioning 

the value of life, the strength of one’s beliefs and 

the eternity of love. 

“After losing his wife, an old 

farmer embarks on a journey that 

makes him question life, but comforted 

by her memories and his 

faith in humanity, he finds a way 

to be with her for eternity....” 

Synopsis 

Guzeppi is a 74 year old farmer from the small Mediterranean 

island of Gozo. He’s been married to Rita 

for 55 years and in their old age, they still enjoy a loving 

relationship and find magic in everyday moments. 

Every year, they celebrate their anniversary with the 

first fog of November, sitting together in their field at 

the edge of a cliff, as they are covered by the advancing 

fog. 

One day, Rita dies unexpectedly, and Guzeppi yearns 

to fill this void that she leaves behind. As Guzeppi 

spends his days trying to recreate the moments he 

used to share with his wife, he makes friends with an 

old man called Karmenu, and a lonely street dog. 

With their help, Guzeppi begins to understand more 

what it was that Rita brought into his life but ultimately, 

Guzeppi must accept that nothing can replace the love 

and company of Rita and seeks a way to join her for 

eternity. 



Shadeena Film ltd. 

Supported by Studio 7, a Maltese production 

house, that offers studio space and 

rental services. 

Looking for a co-producer that can bring 

additional talent to the project in the form 

of Director of Photography, post-Production 

and others as well as the remaining funds. 


Through the past 7 years Martin Bonniċi 

has worked with various Maltese agencies 

and production houses and for the 

last 2 years as a freelance Director and 

Post-Production Artist. As of January 

2012 he is engaged fulltime as director of 

Shadeena Films. Shadeena Films’ first inhouse 

project, Tele-Monkey, an animated 

short directed by Martin Bonniċi, has just 

been completed. 

Scriptwriter Biography 

Christian Galea is primarily an actor who 

has written and co-directed theatre productions 

and composed music for video 

art and theatre productions. He is now directing 

his attention towards film. He has 

studied literature at post-graduate level 

and lectured on Shakespeare. Currently 

he writes scripts for corporate a/v productions 

and reviews publications on a prominent 

newspaper in Malta. 

9

ENI BRANDNER AUSTRIA 

ERSATz 

Tel: +43 699 1151 6696 

E-mail: eni@chello.at 

Intention 

In my story I want to show a man, who easily ‘buys’ 

things, without looking behind their surface. By conforming 

to uniformity of mass production instead of 

using his skills to improvise and find new solutions - 

anything is marketable with the right target audience, 

no matter how useful it is. I want to play with the aesthetic 

of a constantly monitored world and the voyeurism 

it causes - surveillance and monitoring, also in the 

sense of behavior that is instilled through propaganda 

or advertisement. 

Ersatz will have an approximate duration of 5-7 minutes 

and will be made with stop motion and pixilation 

10 

technique, shot partly in a real environment, partly on 

green screen - which will be made to look like a realistic 

environment through 3D compositing. The protagonist 

as well as the objects, will be recorded and animated 

in the real environment and on green screen. 

The aesthetic is realistic, we can’t see it is a digitally 

created environment, until the surreal elements appear, 

when the layers start to shift and twist out of perspective 

- a visualization of how easily pictures can be 

manipulated and we need to look behind their surface, 

before we believe in them. 

Synopsis 

Ersatz looks at the daily life of a human, that is increasingly 

influenced by the effects of trying to consume 

the instant happiness promised to him by convenience 

products. 

The more simple he tries to make his existence, the 

more he suffers from some adverse effects: the objects 

surrounding him begin to come to life instead of 

him and, bit by bit, the human turns into a perfect but 

hollow shell of his original self. Items and gadgets start 

to appear out of nowhere on their own, growing and 

changing into different versions of themselves, filling 

the space up to its last corner, constantly moving and 

transforming. Everything gets full of activity ...except 

the human. 

Will he be a victim of his own consumption? Or can he 

break free amidst all of the commotion that is going on 

around him? 



Amour Fou Filmproduktion 

Looking for co-producer(s) in Animation, 

Digital Compositing, Location/Studio 

“A life taken over 

by objects and 

gadgets.” 


Eni is a European filmmaker, animator and 

visual artist. In her work she is interested 

to reflect on and around social-critical thematics 

and experiment with creating narratives 

from fragmented visual elements. 

After studying Multimedia Art (Salzburg/ 

Austria, 1999-2003) and Animation & 

New Media (Zagreb/Croatia, 2003-2005), 

she collaborated with directors and artists 

from different disciplines as animator 

and digital artist. After showing her first 

film Granica successfully at more than 

30 international Festivals receiving four 

awards, she is currently based in Vienna, 

working on her second animated experimental 

short film Exhaustibility, which will 

be finished in 2012.

ANTONIO CELOTTO ITALy 

FIELD TRIP 

Tel: +33 761 598 435 

E-mail: antonio.fandan@alice.it 

Intention 

Field trip is the story of a journey into the memories 

evoked by a place, a confrontation between past and 

present that reveals things we couldn’t see otherwise. 

Giacomo is a character afraid of radical changes but 

soon he has to deal with the reality that if he doesn’t 

evolve, things around won’t wait for him. He realizes 

why he can’t keep his promise, simply because life 

changes things and people; in this case it happened 

that he and Alisia went both in different directions. 

The movie will be rich of textures, washed out like far 

memories, like painted with watercolours, all focused 

around Giacomo: since it is a story focused on a char- 

acter’s interiority no one element must force the audience 

out of the story or away from his point of view: 

motivated camera movement, natural cuts, reaction 

shots, natural feeling of the light. 

The sea is a meditative point for the story, it represents 

the edge, the abyss: at the same time it is a space out 

of the ordinary reality: it is lived in two different opposite 

moments of Giacomo’s life. 

Synopsis 

Giacomo and Alisia are a couple trying to adopt a child. 

They have the chance to obtain it when, by her initiative, 

he is accepted for a better position he doesn’t 

want, in a private university. Sonie, his ex-girlfriend 

and colleague, suggests him to talk to Alisia about the 

issue, but Giacomo and Alisia hardly communicate 

and he lies to her instead of resigning. 

He decides to join the school field trip in order to get 

some time to think. The trip is in a place where he has 

been with Alisia in the past. Here, his memories will 

show him that the woman he is with is not anymore the 

one he loved, and that he is holding to the past. He will 

spend a nostalgic moment with Sonie. 

But Alisia is going forward with the adoption, unaware 

of his lie, and he is forced to stop her when she gives 

him the good news. Alisia tracks him down to demand 

an explanation and they confront each other, reaching 

the conclusion that their relationship has arrived 

to an end. 



Locations needed: social assistant studio 

/ the road to the school / the road for the 

bus / Giacomo and Alisia’s apartment / the 

school / the seaplace 

Will need special make up to make Alisia 

and Giacomo look 5/6 years older. 

The class is composed of 10 young extra’s 

who look about 17/19 years old. 

“What does it cost 

to keep holding 

the past instead of 

flowing with life? ” 


Antonio Celotto was born in Italy and 

has lived in Paris for the past four years. 

A musician since youth, his passion has 

always been writing. He worked as editor 

for fashion videos and director of fashion 

shows for five years. At the same time, he 

kept writing music and lyrics, and studied 

literature independently. After a personal 

crisis caused by the dissatisfaction of that 

lifestyle, he quit his job and moved to London 

to start again from scratch. It’s there 

that he discovered the magic of cinema. 

He then went on to study at the EICAR 

film school in Paris, where he directed, 

wrote, edited and was the DoP for several 

short movies. He is currently working 

on Faithless, the thesis project for his 3rd 

year of studies. 

11

MARIA DICEANU ROMANIA 

LITTLE STONES 

Tel: +31 624 989 465 

E-mail: ricutza@yahoo.co.uk 

Intention 

A couple of years ago I fell in love with a Tim Burton 

short story about a character called Oyster Boy who 

gets consumed by his parents unhappy with the way 

their son had turned out. I started thinking about the 

ways the family, friends and society are shaping and 

re-modeling us and that that growing up is not just a 

gaining-knowledge process, but it implies loosing other 

things as well. 

A story began emerging in which becoming mature 

meant physically altering one’s self. I imagined that an 

artistically inclined child might feel a greater need to 

hold on to his childhood, realizing what is at stake with 

the growing up. 

12 

Oyst doesn’t plan to be a rebel, nor a hero. He just has 

his passion for colors and doesn’t want to give it up. 

He loves his family and friends, he doesn’t want to hurt 

them in order to make a statement but he also finds 

it impossible to conform to the standards of society. 

He tries to hold on to his childhood thus delaying the 

growing-up process, but soon realizes that this is also 

not a solution. Nobody can keep staying as a child but 

this shouldn’t mean that we have to give up everything 

we valued when we were young and simply let outside 

factors shape our future. 

Synopsis 

Set up in a world where kids have large stone-like 

heads, wear colored clothes and are encouraged to 

express themselves, Little Stones explores the painful 

growing-up process of a boy, Oyst. 

Born in a perfect loving family, Oyst is a very talented 

painter crazy about colors. Together with his bestfriend 

Layla, he is preparing to start his education 

process. 

However, school brings considerable changes because 

in order to become grown-up kids have to 

physically make their head fit through an oval shaped 

golden mask, relinquish the idea of standing out and 

accept to live in a perfectly organized neat monochrome 

world. 

Every single thing that Oyst has to give up makes a 

small piece of his head fall, and the child soon finds 

himself not only trying to save his passions but also 

the small loose parts of himself. When the disappointment 

of his family, the ridicule of his friends and society 

become evident, Oyst is faced with a tormenting 

decision: conforming or becoming an outcast. 


Little Stones will be an animated movie of 

approx. 20 minutes. 

The exact technique is yet to be decided but 

as textures and shapes play an important 

role in the story it is quite likely we will use 

something in the realm of CGI. 

“If you carry your 

childhood with 

you, you never 

become older.” 


In 2004, Bucharest-born Maria Dicieanu 

was accepted at Romanian National Film 

University in the Multimedia Sound and 

Image Editing department. During the 

school years Maria worked on several 

short films among which It Doesn’t Matter 

by Andreea Stan winner at the International 

Film Festival Where Is The Love. 

Although initially drawn to film editing, 

Maria ended up embracing ‘multimedia’ 

by working on commercials, TV shows, 

projections for theater plays and choosing 

a theoretical master of Film Studies 

at the University of Amsterdam which she 

graduated from in 2009. At the moment 

Maria is a free-lance visual artist and is 

looking forward to step things up and start 

creating her own projects.

UNA GUNjAK UK/ITALy/BOSNIA 

THE CHICKEN 

Tel: +44 789 679 4409 

E-mail: una.gunjak@gmail.com 

Intention 

The reason why I want to make The Chicken is to 

show how during the war one can grow up five years 

in a single day or just in a few hours. 

Childish games can become dangerous and deadly, 

consequences of our even most benign and innocent 

actions can become extremely cruel. You wake up as 

a child and you go to bed as an adult. 

Synopsis 

The Chicken is a story of a six year old Selma, set in 

wartime Sarajevo, where she lives in a flat with her 

parents and her sister. When on her birthday, Selma’s 

dad, who is away on the front, sends her a chicken, a 

live one, Selma is convinced that the bird is meant to 

be her new pet. She quickly grows very fond of it and 

is looking forward to the fun times together. 

Discovering that her mother Sabina is supposed to 

kill the chicken and prepare it for their dinner, is both 

shocking and upsetting for Selma, so she decides to 

secretly free the chicken and save its life. When her 

mother finds out about Selma’s mischief, angry, she 

heads outside to find the chicken. 

Going outside is a dangerous business in 93’ Sarajevo, 

though. Sabina becomes the target of a sniper 

while looking for the bird and Selma is forced to watch 

her own mother being shot at and fight for her life. “If 

something happens to mum, it’s all gonna be your 

fault”, Selma’s sister says to her. 


Estimated Budget: 25,000 € 

Parkville Pictures 

E-mail: cecilia@parkvillepictures.com 

Cinematographer – Dan Stafford-Clark 

Production Designer – Luke Hull 

Post-production in place in the UK 

Target: Co-producer on the ground (Bosnia, 

Croatia, Slovenia) 

“Turning 6 in wartime 

Sarajevo it’s 

not like any other 

birthday. ” 


I was born and raised in Sarajevo, where 

in the aftermath of the 90’ war my love 

for filmmaking was born, as a form of 

escapism. After a degree in Film Studies 

and several student shorts, I went to 

the National Film and TV School in UK 

where I graduated with an MA in Editing. 

Since then I have cut numerous fiction 

and documentary films that have travelled 

through Cannes, Palm Springs, Edinburgh, 

Toronto and many other festivals. 

I directed several commercials including 

a commissioned viral for Toshiba and a 

test commercial for Armani. The Chicken 

is going to be my first professionally produced 

short film where I will work again 

with Cecilia Frugiuele and Parkville Pictures 

as my UK producer. 

13

SzyMON jACHIMEK POLAND 

SwEET HOME A LA MAMMA 

Tel: +48 506 758 397 

E-mail: szymonjachimek@o2.pl 

Intention 

Some people say that every single story ever told is 

about love. It’s surely true for my script. Bizarre at beginning, 

warm (hopefully) at ending: no matter who 

your mother is, she’ll overcome every obstacle to take 

care of you. Even if most of the times it’s you who has 

to take care of her. The four kids live in a building that 

consists of their mother and walls around her. Through 

the whole movie, mother is only a mysterious decoration. 

Once the kids are in danger though, she awakens 

and rescues them. 

The script is intended for a short cartoon movie. I believe 

that through its creativity and colorfulness it can 

14 

Synopsis 

Four red-haired, intensively freckled children live in 

an awry, colorful house. Next to them there is an old 

neighbor, whose life passion is esthetics: he’s in love 

with his wonderful garden and a view at lake from 

the window. One day he discovers that this strange 

house... moved and uncovered the view on rusty, dirty 

factory. He talks to the children, trying to get to know 

the story of the house. Children are unwilling to share 

a secret. But we see that they treat the house in an 

unusual way: they talk to it and they ask it for advice. 

You don’t see regular people doing that, at least in Poland. 

Neighbor tries to live his life normally, but then the 

house moves again and destroys part of the neighbor’s 

garden. He decides to go on a battle. He calls 

up the authorities to take care of parentless children. 

They are taken away. But their relationship with the 

house is stronger than anyone could expect. No wonder 

why – it turns out that within the walls lives their 

huge, huuuuge mother. 

attract younger, older and even the oldest viewers 

possible. PRODUCTION FACTS 

GS Animation 

Robert Jaszczurowski 

E-mail: biuro@s-g.pl 

“True love can 

tear every wall 

apart.” 


Szymon was born in 1982 in Poland. He 

was an ingenious pupil in primary school, 

a smart boy in high school and a very average 

student at university. Since he became 

a Master of Sociology in 2005, he’s 

trying hard (and successfully!) to avoid 

any regular job. Instead of a regular job 

Szymon: 

- is an actor of Kabaret Limo, well known 

Polish comedy group; 

- writes songs, short stories and scripts; 

- spends a lot of time on Facebook. 

He’s proud of: 

- getting a scholarship at Theatre Department 

at University of Northern Iowa 

(USA; 2004); 

- writing several scripts for TV series for 

children (Basia, Mami Fatale); 

- running a marathon last year (3:45:01).

MONIKA KOTECKA&KAROLINA PORyzALA 

POLAND 

MUSK 

Tel: +48 691 034 456 

E-mail: moonisk2@gmail.com 

Intention 

The world is moving forwards due to the power of our 

brains. So we like to think. Michel Foucault does not 

agree with this - in his opinion we are driven by instincts. 

According to his definition instincts are innate and are 

the hereditary capacity of animals - including humans - 

to perform behaviours driven by impulses. In our movie 

an awakening instinct can destroy everything which 

a loving couple has created so far. Fruitless efforts to 

have a baby have caused stagnation in their relationship. 

It makes our heroine no longer lust after her husband, 

but it doesn’t change her love for him... Sophy 

escapes into the world of “animal instincts”, knowing 

that she won’t find any solace there. 

On the other hand - does staying with Peter not condemn 

her to fail as a biological mother? Is the decision 

to be in a relationship with a man who cannot give her 

a child an act against nature? We took the filming style 

from nature films: recording the slightest movement, 

textures, meatiness and colour. Our aim is to carefully 

observe our heroes and their emotions. We reduce 

dialogue to a minimum, and put the soundscape to 

the foreground. Sounds of nature will create a dense 

soundtrack. 

Synopsis 

It’s an unusually hot September. PETER (37) and 

SOPHY (33) go on a short vacation to their newly acquired 

lodge. Peter thinks that this house surrounded 

by nature will “cure” their relationship. It has been their 

dream to have a baby and it turned out that it’s impossible 

–Peter is infertile. Sophy goes with the hope that 

they’ll have a chance to talk. 

The lush and vibrant summer highlights the emptiness 

they find within themselves. 

Trees in orchards bend under the weight of apples. 

The warm light of the sun extracts the obsolete, outgoing 

colours of summer. Every now and then the wind 

brings to the yard the odour of musk. Neither Peter nor 

Sophy had any idea that mating season had started. 

The silence is being disturbed by the roars of agitated 

bulls. 

In this scenery two people undergoing a crisis cannot 

find a common language. Sophy becomes obsessed 

with her body, which begins to take precedence over 

rationality. Instinct wins. 


Estimated Budget: 65.000 - 80.000 € 

- Looking for coproduction partners – sound 

designers / sound postproduction 

- We’d like to get part of the money from Studio 

Munka 

- We’d like to shoot it on a Arri Alexa 

- We already have a location 

- We would like to use only the sounds from 

nature to create the whole sound track. 

“Sex without love 

is as hollow and 

ridiculous as love 

without sex.” 


Monika graduated from the Lodz National 

Film School in 2009, after completing 

short films that have been shown at prestigious 

International Film Festivals. She 

also participated in international projects 

– Cinetrain, Triangle in Cooperation, City 

Space. In 2008 she was selected for the 

Berlinale Talent Campus. 

Karolina’s love for movies started at the 

National Film School - she studied photography 

but also worked on many short 

films there. She has created photographic 

projects and exhibitions shown in Europe. 

Since 2010 she has been creating 

with Monika Kotecka a collective called 

KURKOT (http://kurkot.tumblr.com/ http:// 

kurrrkot.blogspot.com) which focuses on 

photo shoots, fashion movies and music 

videos. 

15

NORA LAKOS 

HELEN’S KITCHEN 

Tel: +36 705 561 509 

E-mail: lakosnora@gmail.com 

Intention 

I was searching for something in the library when found 

an issue of the Hungarian Women Magazine from 

1953 by chance. On the cover there was a women riding 

a tractor. The main article said: women on tractor 

should take sunflower oil from the kitchen and put it on 

their face to protect their skin from sunshine. 

I turned over and found: those who do not have children 

have to pay extra taxes. So surreal but true. So it 

means the ideal women work, and have children at the 

same time. But we are in Eastern Europe in the 50’s. 

These women are not suffragettes, they don’t do it to 

free themselves. They are forced by the state to deal 

16 

HUNGARy 

with all these things. 

Helen’s kitchen is about a young dreamy, naive, cheerful 

pastry girl who is just on the right track to fulfil all 

these requirements when her fiancé leaves her. This 

point she has to realise no matter how hard she tries 

to fit the ideal picture of women, she fails. She has to 

loose her naivety and needs to grow up and find her 

own way in a strict society. 

The film is a playful tale on Helen’s invention that 

changes women’s sexual life and in this sense they 

free themselves for real. 

Synopsis 

Helen’s Kitchen is a fairy tale placed in the dawn of Socialism. 

A story where Chocolate meets Vera Drake. 

There are more women then men after the war. The 

competition amongst women to get married is high. 

Helen the inventive pastry girl prepares a birthday 

cake for her fiancé when he splits for another woman. 

Helen is depressed, her tears make all the pastries 

salty. She gets fired from the pastry shop. 

On top of that, she realises she caught a venereal 

disease. Helen sees she is not alone with her problem: 

women are scratching secretly in the market, in 

the street, everywhere! As Helen is baking wedding 

cake for her best friend, she discovers that cacao butter 

helps to ease her itching. She starts experiencing. 

One morning she finds a thick white cream in her pot. 

She forms it to cones. In a few days Helen’s disease 

is gone. 

Helen spreads her magic cones in a special way. She 

places them on the top of her cake as if they were candles. 

A secret women movement starts in the city. 



PoP Film 

Károly Fehér 

Will apply for support to the Hungarian National 

Television Fund in March 2012. 

“A fairy tale 

placed in the 

dawn of 

socialism.” 


I’ve been working as a journalist in Budapest, 

then one day I got pregnant and 

felt this is a new start not only for the baby 

but for me, as well. I got admitted to the 

Hungarian Film Academy, and made several 

shorts as a director. My most recent 

short titled: Edina, was selected to the 

Sarajevo City of Film program last year so 

I could make my first international short. 

And even won the British Council Short 

Film Award and the SCF special mention 

with it! At the moment I’m finishing my 

documentary which was developed in the 

framework of the Robert Bosch Stiftung 

co-production prize program and beside 

that I’m writing my first feature script.

PIOTR LITwIN POLAND 

FLORA & FAUNA 

Tel: +48 605 353 596 

E-mail: peterlitwin@o2.pl 

Intention 

Flora & Fauna is a story of a peculiar day. A story 

inspired by two different real life stories, that found 

me during the last two years. Although it deals with an 

uneasy subject it tries to show human beings without 

judging them. Only suggesting that perhaps they got a 

bit lost in the modern World. It also tries not to explain 

human behaviour as by watching someone from aside 

or through a glass window we are not able to tell about 

motivations behind actions. We can only observe 

them, their actions and the consequences that they 

lead to. As with fish in a bowl or an aquarium. 

This is the perspective and distance I want to maintain 

during the film. I hope this will allow me to play with the 

audience expectations and desires as we follow the 

day of Jan and Marysia and their growing frustration. 

Hopefully this will also underline the absurd nature 

of the situation they got themselves into resulting in 

some black humour. 

Although Jan and Marysia will be eventually left unsatisfied, 

their meeting will perhaps allow them to move 

on from the point of life they stuck in. And we, for a 

moment during the dinner, will see a twisted vision of a 

possible but improbable family. 

Synopsis 

Jan (56) is a high school teacher who decides to buy 

a young girl’s virginity. Marysia (15) decides to sell her 

first time with a man. They agree to meet and go to 

a hotel where their contract can be settled and consumed. 

Due to Jan’s lack of erection they are unable 

to do so. They part ways without resolving their contract. 

Later in the day as emotions cool down, Jan realizes 

that he paid for something he did not get. Jan and Marysia 

meet again. To his surprise Marysia informs him 

that she needs his cash and convinces him to continue 

with the contract at her place. 

Inside her flat Jan overcomes his passiveness, but 

now Marysia begins to have second thoughts. Jan almost 

rapes her but in the last moment he is brought 

to his senses by the girl’s scream. For the first time 

this day they see each other as human beings and 

talk honestly. Their idleness is interrupted by Marysia’s 

mother early return home. Marysia tries to lie herself 

out of the situation. Jola has doubts but eventually Jan 

stays for dinner... 



To be produced by the Polish National 

Film School and by MX35(film equipment). 

Looking for sound design co-production 

possibilities. 

Looking for financial co-production possibilities. 

“I want my money 

back.” 


Piotr Litwin. Born in 1983 in Moscow, 

USSR, from Polish father and Korean 

mother. Living in Poland since 1986. 

From 2002 till 2007 a student of Warsaw 

University at Law Faculty and Social Science 

Faculty, with a short stint at Korean 

Philology. Since 2007 a student of Directing 

at the Polish National Film, Television 

and Theater School in Lodz. Since 2011 a 

co-owner of MX35, a film equipment rental 

house. Some awards. Does not believe 

that the World will end in 2012. Currently 

preparing his graduation film and observing 

how his six months old son is growing 

up. 

17

DAvID MAHMOUDIEH 

UK 

SEASIDE SAMURAI 

Tel: +44 776 595 0650 

E-mail: mahmoudiehd@yahoo.co.uk 

Intention 

I chose this subject matter because I can relate to the 

struggle to fit in. As a kid, I moved around a lot after 

my parents divorced, and endured a period of bullying 

shortly after moving to a new town and new school. 

The bullying centered on my Iranian heritage and in 

the end was the single-most important experience of 

growth I underwent throughout my childhood. Despite 

this, I still wish I had the services back then of a Sam; 

a loyal samurai to even up the number a little. 

In a way, I did; writing and cinema were my Sam. I 

grew up instilled with the limitless optimism of charac- 

18 

ters such as Daniel Laruso, Jack Burton, Marty McFly 

– heroes of my childhood, breathing life into me and, in 

turn, inducing me to authenticate their invention. 

Seaside Samurai is therefore about fiction directing 

truth. It is an effort to express the ancient importance 

of stepping out of reality in order to step back into it 

truly inspired. 

The film is also a homage to my late father, Afzal, who 

sadly passed away last year. Some of my fondest 

memories as a child were sitting beside him watching 

kung fu movies, believing one day I could fight the 

evil forces of the world too. Maybe with this short, I 

still can. 

Synopsis 

13-yr-old Marek is a misfit. Having just moved from native 

Poland to a bleak windy seaside town in England 

with his mother, he’s struggling to adapt to his new 

country. 

Friendless and regularly tormented by a vicious gang 

of bullies, Marek takes solace in his passion, art; drawing 

picturesque renditions of his local beach. Trouble 

is, such is Marek’s attraction to the sea, his tormentors 

always know where to find him. 

When his latest savage beating results in his beloved 

sketches being swallowed by the sea, Marek 

encounters a mysterious blind man who tells him the 

legend of “Sam”, a lonesome hobo who was once a 

great samurai warrior but currently dwells in one of the 

beach-side caves. 

Upon following the blind man’s strict instructions, 

Marek finds Sam and enlists him as a guardian against 

his aggressors. 

Soon it’s Marek and Sam against the world, but as the 

true origins of Sam’s arrival emerge, Marek learns his 

actions have come with a set of consequences even 

he could have never foreseen. 


To be shot on the Arri Alexa with Cooke Anamorphic 

lenses (both of which my DP owns) 

Predominant usage of natural light, utilizing silhouette 

as a tool to press home the alienation Marek feels to 

his surroundings 

Music shall be a throwback to the catchy yet minimalist 

themes of early 80’s fantasy (i.e. Escape From 

New York, Big Trouble In Little China, Risky Business, 

Goonies, etc) 

“Marek, an immigrant 

teenager suffering 

regular beatings by a 

vicious group of bullies, 

enlists the services of 

a mysterious vagrant 

at his local beach, who 

may or may not be a 

real samurai…” 


David is a 27-year-old award-winning 

writer-director, UK-born but of Iranian 

heritage. His career began in Canada 

as a trainee AD on productions such as 

Outer Limits, Wolf Lake and X-Files before 

he graduated to 1st Assistant Director. 

Having also worked extensively as a 

2nd Unit Director, David made the step up 

to Director with a number of story-driven 

Music Videos for labels including Mercury 

Records and EMI. In 2008, David’s script 

Rain won Best Short Script at the ECU 

European Film Festival in Paris, the rights 

for which have since been assigned for 

development as a six-part mini-series in 

the US. In addition to Rain, David is currently 

in development on his first feature 

as writer-director, The Frail.

KLAUS PAS & LUC wALPOTH 

BELGIUM/SwITzERLAND 

CTRL ALT DEL 

Tel: +41 786 145 402 

E-mail: klaus@turbulencefilms.ch 

Intention 

With Ctrl-Alt-Del, we guide the audience through a 

visual journey along the pathways of our consumption 

habits. What if mothers nurtured warm feelings of love 

for their mechanical children? What if we could get out 

of a relationship simply by terminating our partner’s 

existence? What would we be left with if we lost all 

form of compassion for humankind and only saw it as 

an expendable by-product of our society? 

Combining the emotional impact of a family drama 

with the action-driven narratives of the sci-fi genre 

allows us to explore the abyssal needs awoken in a 

mother by the loss of her child. Obsessed by an in- 

ability to conceive, which is further exacerbated by her 

purposeless programming as the perfect wife, Amy will 

confront the system that made her and prove herself 

more human that those surrounding her. 

Through our characters’ individual stories, we interrogate 

ourselves on how we fight to find a purpose in life 

when hope seems gone. Exploring Amy’s existential 

need to give life, Christopher’s pathetic attempt to live 

the illusion of a family, and Sophie’s simple urge to 

survive, we paint a grim reality that is not so far from 

ours. A reality where again, hope lies in the younger 

generation. 

“When humanity 

turns functional, the 

heart of machines 

beats louder.” 

Synopsis 

In 2061, following a virus that decimated half of the 

world’s population, humans are compelled to take a 

daily vaccine making them sterile. To cope with their 

incapacity to give life, couples buy young androids 

who grow up with them. 

Ctrl-Alt-Del is a twenty-minute science fiction family 

drama telling the story of Amy, a loving mother forced 

to terminate her only daughter, a dysfunctional 13year-old 

android. Deeply affected by this emotional 

void, she loses track of the reality she lives in. Her 

husband Christopher desperately tries to comfort her 

but Amy’s craving for motherhood pushes her to take 

in Sophie, a wandering, flesh and bone gutter kid. 

When Chris finds out, a violent clash follows, forcing 

Amy to choose between the child and her husband. 

Her choice leads her to discover that like her daughter, 

she is herself nothing more than a companion object, 

another android that will soon be disconnected and 

replaced. 



Interest from Swiss production company. 

Looking for more partners. 


Born in Zurich in 1981, Luc Walpoth grew 

up in Bern, studied law in Lausanne and 

film directing in Paris. He works as a director, 

producer and cinematographer 

in France, Italy and Switzerland, accumulating 

award-winning short films, international 

commercials and feature film 

experience, which led him to co-found 

Turbulence Films with Klaus Pas in 2009. 

Scriptwriter Biography 

After a career in finance, and a Master in 

film directing in Paris, Klaus worked as a 

producer, writer and director for both documentary 

and fiction. Ctrl-Alt-Del is the 

second film co-written by Luc and Klaus, 

after their 2010 success Invisible Trajectories, 

which premiered in Clermont Ferrand’s 

international competition, and went 

on to win six awards. 

19

CLARISSE POTOKy 

FRANCE 

ABOUDI LAO 

Tel: +33 683 517 060 

E-mail: cla.potoky@yahoo.fr 

Intention 

“Desertion” has always been an important theme in 

my family story. During the Second World War my 

Jewish grandmother fled Austria and took refuge 

in France where she met my grandfather. They had 

three children but, struggling with money, had to give 

them away for adoption. At the age of 15, my father 

discovered that he was adopted. When he was 18, he 

travelled through France to find his biological mother. 

Sadly, the encounter with my grandmother didn’t give 

him the answers he was looking for, leaving an emotional 

scar that never healed. 

Aboudi Lao gives me the opportunity to deal with this 

complicated subject. However, I didn’t want to tell the 

20 

story of my father and I felt the need to focus on the 

opposite point of view: the deserting mother. 

As children, my friends and I often invented a magic 

dialect in order to exchange secrets. This game was a 

symbol for a deeper dream, the possibility of creating 

a world in which imagination had no boundaries. Such 

creations are characteristic of childhood and, personally, 

I think they are most sacred. 

The secret dialect in Aboudi Lao is a “poetic metaphor” 

of a painful and profound wound. Anna’s only way to 

communicate with her son and to help him in his grieving 

process is to learn his language. That is her last 

possibility for redemption. 

Synopsis 

Settled in Nice, Anna, 23, is a promising young photographer. 

One day, a phone call is enough to turn her 

life upside down. Her ex fiancé has just died, leaving 

Pierre, their 4-year-old son, an “orphan”. 

Anna is suddenly forced to face her past mistake: being 

psychologically fragile, Anna couldn’t take on her 

responsibilities and abandoned him after his birth. 

Now Marie France, Anna’s mother-in-law, has started 

a procedure to obtain the boy’s custody. 

Torn between the conviction of being a bad mother 

and the fear that her mother-in-law will get custody of 

her child, Anna finally decides to spend the three days 

preceding the verdict of the judge with Pierre. Totally 

inexperienced and awkward as a mother, she tries to 

overcome the rejection of her son. 

Her surprise is all the stronger when she finds out that 

the child has been expressing himself in a strange 

language that nobody understands since his father’s 

death. More and more involved, Anna realises that the 

only way to communicate with Pierre is to learn this 

language. 



Iloz Productions 

Anna Sarkissian 

“All true language 

is incomprehensible.” 


Just after finishing a Master’s degree in 

Cinema, I crossed the Channel in 2009 

and worked in London for a year as a 

production assistant. Back to Paris, I was 

active in the same area for a production 

company specialised in kids TV programs. 

Then I worked as a web editorialist 

but soon discovered a need to learn 

the craft of screenwriting. I participated in 

a few competitions and was lucky enough 

to be a prize winner of the Estran Script 

Competition 2011 with a short film project 

Les Anglais ont débarqué. Straight after 

that, Aboudi Lao won 3rd prize for best 

script at the Film Festival of Lille. It has 

been selected for European Short Pitch 

2012 with Iloz Productions attached to the 

development.

MARTIN REPKA SLOvAKIA 

TIGER FIGHT 

Tel: +43 699 199 499 80 

E-mail: mrepka@web.de 

Intention 

In the Indian metropolis Chennai I discovered a gem 

- the short story Tiger Artist. Its author the Tamil writer 

Ashoka Mitran gave me his blessing to adapt it. Now 

I am trying to create an audio-visual world that shows 

the cycle of dependency between art and capital in an 

original way. 

On the one side stays the poor tiger dancer Kader, 

who is a metaphor for an artist struggling for recognition 

and a basic living. His antagonist, the lousy 

filmmaker Sharma, got stuck in his past glory. These 

two characters clash together in a typical up to date 

situation: in a humiliating casting with zero chance for 

Kader to get a job. 

Tiger Fight is a perfect experimental field for a 12–14 

min 3D live-action short. Stereoscopic shooting offers 

me the opportunity to capture the space with a 

presents and dynamic that was not possible in 2D. 

The Tiger Artist extends his hand to the audience and 

takes him into another reality. The path of the Tiger is 

more than reality and creates new images within the 

spectator. The images invade you with the permanent 

fear of the possible death of Kader. 

Synopsis 

It was an ordinary working day up to the moment when 

KADER (29), the Tiger Artist appeared in SHARMA`s 

(50) office to introduce himself. This desperate Artist 

put everything on one card to get a small role as an 

actor, although there was no job for him. 

Sharma, who didn’t succeed for years to follow up 

on his earlier successes as a filmmaker, takes the 

unexpected role as a Casting Director with gratitude 

and enjoys it to degrade this poor fellow. But Kader is 

not stupid. He is a fighter. Stubbornly, he directs the 

casting exactly right where his strength lies: the ‘tiger 

dance’. 

With a breathtaking dance performance in front of the 

astonished eyes of Sharma Kader wins his respect. 

Nevertheless there is no job. Kader collapses. He 

leaves the office humbled. Meanwhile Sharma caught 

fire. He sees in Kader his long-awaited chance to get 

back into the spotlight. When he finally has the role for 

Kader, all attempts to find the Tiger Artist fail. 



Financing in place: 14.000 € 

Associated Producer: 

PubRes s.r.o. (Slovakia) 

Open for: crazy film artists & financiers, 

postproduction facilities 

Shooting location: India 

“Director Sharma, 

who lost the ability to 

feel and doesn’t listen 

what life brings him, 

misses the chance 

for a come back and 

destroys the life of a 

true artist - Kader.” 


Graduate of the Film & Televison Academy 

VSMU in Bratislava. Author and Director 

of several internationally successful 

and award-winning short films such as 

Swimming, The last Supper & Thieves. 

His full length feature film debut Return of 

the Storks was the Slovak national entry 

for the 80th Academy Awards. Besides 

his artistic work, he also works successfully 

as a contract director for TV and 

advertising and as producer, production 

manager, script editor and lecturer. Currently 

he writes on two feature film scripts 

and develops the short film Tiger Fight. 

21

jULIA SzEPHELyI 

INCELLA GOING TO BUy BREAD 

Tel: +351 914 323 909 

E-mail: anaisabelalmeida@gmail.com 

Intention 

In this grotesque short movie the protagonist is the 

house itself and the ensemble of its tenants. The 

characters, even Incella and her family, represent archetypes 

but all of them have distinctive attributes (a 

dachshund, a saucepan, a walking frame). The most 

recurring location of the movie is the stairwell, where 

the neighbours meet and where the elevator stands 

(with Incella in it). Being jumped around by the fussy 

crowds of tenants the stairwell becomes the metaphor 

of intellectual impotency. The building with its helpless 

community, the empire of István the caretaker, represents 

Hungary. 

22 

HUNGARy 

The visual style and the material surroundings reflect 

the timeless state of Hungary and the disposition of 

people here to keep stalling. The approach is not that 

of kitchen sink realism, it is slightly elevated and cartoonish, 

both in terms of visual style (set-design, lighting), 

and acting. The non-hierarchical, ensemble cast 

is visually expressed by the long takes of the film, enabling 

the characters to enter and exit a scene, maintaining 

the illusion of perpetual action, while nothing 

significant happens. 

Synopsis 

Incella is the teenage daughter of a greengrocer. She 

is a confused and vulnerable creature. Prompted by 

her alcoholic mother, she leaves to buy bread, when 

the elevator of the run-down Budapest apartment 

block breaks down and gets stuck for three days. 

As no-one reacts to the alarm bell, Incella sits and 

waits patiently. The family notices with interest that 

the elevator is broken, and after a day... that Incella 

is missing, too. The family and other tenants come 

to help - under-informed policemen, lost repairmen, 

a thin-mouthed social worker and a colourful group 

of vacuous ladies - all expecting István, the almighty 

caretaker, to come up with the solution. 

Finally, Győző, an 8-year-old little friend suffering from 

Down syndrome hears Incella’s voice coming from the 

elevator and rescues her. After 3 days in her prison, 

Incella escapes. But to what end...? It seems she had 

a better time inside. 


Production company: 

AZT-Media (www.aztmedia.hu) 

Locations, casting: in progress 

Possible co-production companies: Hungarian 

Rental Houses 

Other Funds: application in progress (NKA, 

MTVA) 

Other info: script received grant from FilmJus 

(annual scriptwriting grant) 

Looking for: other producers, post-production 

capacity. 

“After no one reacts 

to the alarm 

bell, she sits 

down and starts 

to wait patiently. 

Patiently.” 


I graduated from the University of Drama 

and Film, Budapest as a scriptwriter, and 

have also studied at the HFF Konrad Wolf 

Potsdam-Babelsberg. Currently I work for 

AZT-Média, a Hungarian production company, 

as a writer and creative consultant. 

I’ve written two feature length scripts, 

several shorts, directed a few shorts and 

some non-commercial ads – two of them 

award-winning. I directed TV spots for the 

French Mezzo TV and also participate in 

projects as co-writer and consultant on 

dramaturgy. With a few colleagues from 

the University we founded the Science 

Fiction Scriptwriter Lab. Most recently 

we’ve been working on developing an 

original TV-series format.

LEA TRIBOULET 

SOFIA B. DIDN’T SLEEP wELL 

Tel: +33 677 736 715 

E-mail: lea.triboulet@gmail.com 

Intention 

Sometimes, one reacts by withdrawing from the world 

- by closing doors. It’s an instinct for survival, to protect 

oneself. And it’s difficult to get out of. When you grow 

up without family, when you have to face a hostile environment, 

you learn to build yourself alone, without 

any love. 

Sofia never had a family, she is an outsider but she 

wants to change her life. She is looking for her own 

family. The most important question for Sofia is how 

she will be able to relate to other human beings. Meeting 

this man, Bernardo, and her grandmother is a turning 

point for her. 

FRANCE 

The script focuses on the confrontational relationship 

between two women of two different generations; how 

they evolve, how they tame each other. It shows the 

evolution of Sofia’s mental state. The script was built 

as a progression, with cuts, passages and pieces of 

dialogue. For the set, I have in mind industrial mining 

towns. They are empty, lifeless. Time seems to have 

stopped. The city is cold and oppressive in contrast 

with the upheavals of the characters’ inner lives. In this 

environment, Sofia changes and so do her relationships 

with others. 

Synopsis 

16-year-old Sofia is a boarding school pupil. Solitary 

and distant, abandoned by her parents, she has an inner 

visible force, ready to explode. One day she can’t 

stand it anymore and decides to run away. 

She goes to visit the only person she has an address 

for, a grandmother she never met. When she arrives, 

the old woman tells her to go away but Sofia decides 

to stay and take advantage of the situation. She imposes 

her presence but the old woman rejects her. 

Sofia realizes that she is looking for her own family. 

In this little industrial town of eastern France, Sofia 

meets Bernardo, an older Italian worker, and they begin 

to pass time together without any expectations. 

Step by step, he begins to want to take care of her. 

In parallel, Sofia and her grandmother begin to tame 

each other but it’s not easy. 

When Bernardo must go back to Italy he asks her to 

go with him. Sofia cares about them both. She has the 

possibility to leave but also the possibility to stay. She 

has to make a decision. 


SHORT FICTION – APPROxIMATE 

TIME : 20 MINUTES 

“How to confront 

yourself and relate 

to others?” 


Léa Triboulet was born in 1987 in the 

south of France. During her studies at the 

Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of 

Strasbourg and her Erasmus exchange 

in Estonia, she practiced set design, photography 

and made her first short films. 

She graduated with a Master’s degree in 

2010. In parallel to her directing activities, 

she works in set design both for cinema 

and for the theatre company Le théâtre 

destinerrant. All of these experiences, as 

well as her trips to Eastern Europe and 

other countries, have improved her artistic 

work. She has a poetic and contemplative 

approach to cinema; a cinema of contrasts, 

silence, empty spaces, waiting and 

loneliness but also of hope, movements 

and contradictory feelings. 

23

ACIM vASIC 

THE NAIL 

Tel: +33 611 980 858 

E-mail: tzdsc@yahoo.com 

Intention 

24 

FRANCE 

The Nail is a satirical short film which explores the 

brainwashing of society by advertising. 

Time travel serves as a fast-forwarding device, where 

thirty passengers on a bus from the early 20th century 

- representing a group of people from a more innocent 

time - travel to the year 2020, allowing a social, cultural 

and temporal comparison of consumerism and 

materialism. 

As the film has no dialogue, the sound design will be 

imperative in setting the tone. Sound effects will drive 

the characterisation and help create the atmosphere 

of a flat, deserted, windy landscape. 

The Nail is set on a simple country road which passes 

through endless fields. An old bus, a customised 

bicycle and three big billboards are the main props 

required. Rain is necessary for one scene, while the 

only post production special effect will be the lightning 

strike. The main costumes are from the 1930s period. 

This film is universal for its themes and storyline, which 

reflect upon today’s global situation and the future to 

come. The imagery will speak clearly to an international 

audience, relating as they watch the madness 

rise in an increasingly consumerist world. 

Synopsis 

In the 1930s, an intercity bus is struck by lightning, and 

its thirty passengers and driver unknowingly travel to 

the 2020s. 

The bus suffers a flat tyre due to a big nail in the middle 

of the road and stops next to three billboards. The 

oblivious bus driver, Marcel, starts changing the tyre, 

while the passengers notice a strange worker putting 

new posters on each of the billboards. 

One by one, the passengers are brainwashed by the 

posters, becoming super-consumers. As they run out 

of things to buy, they begin rioting. When Marcel finishes 

repairing the tyre he discovers that his passengers 

have gone mad. They begin to attack him, though 

he manages to escape, speeding away in the bus. 

Soon enough, the same nail pierces the same tyre. 

The strange worker appears once again, and starts 

putting up a new poster on yet another nearby billboard… 



Christophe Lambert expressed his interest 

in the project, for the role of the bus driver. 

“Buyer beware.” 


Aćim has been based in Paris for the 

past eight years, having originally moved 

from his Serbian homeland to study film 

in France. His latest award-winning short 

film 8 has been screened at many festivals 

worldwide and shown on several 

TV stations across Europe. Aćim is represented 

by Partizan in Paris, and is currently 

developing two short film projects 

with them.

IACOPO zANON ITALy 

SIx THIRTy ON A SUMMER EvENING 

Tel: +39 349 372 5821 

E-mail: iacopozanon@gmail.com 

Intention 

I began thinking about this story while I was filming 

Sono Qui (They’re Here). The film revolved around 

Italian language schools for immigrants in my city, 

Rome. In the span of one month, moving from location 

to location where immigrants could receive shelter 

and food, the crew and I filmed hundreds of immigrant 

faces. 

Although each one had its own innate peculiarities, 

every face had something in common with the others: 

a gleam in their eyes that was so alive, so full of light. 

That gleam was the testament to their strength and a 

fierce determination, so rarely found in human beings, 

to live life completely. I began asking myself when I 

had last seen that in the eyes of one of my Italian compatriots. 

Two films immediately came to mind: Paisa 

by Roberto Rossellini, and The Bicycle Thief by Vittorio 

De Sica (both filmed at the end of the 40s). 

I began to elaborate a story taking place in Rome, in 

which an immigrant woman attempts to restore in her 

ex-boyfriend, who is Italian, that same strength and 

dignity. The means the woman uses is the son they 

had before breaking up. She hopes that by putting the 

most precious thing she has on the line she will save 

the man from self-destruction. Ultimately she hopes 

he will regain a state of being based on respect for 

himself as well as others. All this is: Six thirty on a 

summer evening. 

Synopsis 

Shikha is a young Bengalese woman living in Rome. 

She decides to let Emiliano, her ex-boyfriend and father 

of her one-year-old child, take care of their son 

for the day. 

The encounter between the young man and his child, 

who up until now have been strangers to one another, 

becomes an opportunity for Emiliano to overcome his 

self-destructive habits made up of unhappiness and 

alcohol. 

It is an opportunity for him to create a relationship with 

his son. 



Pin Up Filmaking s.r.l. 

Giorgio J.J. Bartolomucci 

Locations needed: Bar / Tram / Emiliano’s 

home / Public park / Shikha’s home / Notturno 

club / Train station 

Most key positions already in place. 

“A child. A drunk 

father. One day to 

get to know each 

other.” 


Iacopo Zanon was born in Rome in 1979. 

After graduating from a high school specialised 

in the classical arts, he enrolled 

at Sapienza University majoring in Literature 

and Cinema. While completing 

his degree he worked for three years on 

various movies as an assistant director to 

Mimmo Calopresti, Francesca Archibugi 

and Nanni Moretti. 

During these years he also shot and completed 

production on two small documentaries 

and a short. He graduated from Sapienza 

University with a thesis on Marco 

Belloccio’s film Buongiorno Notte. He then 

moved on to direct several short films. He 

is currently working on two music videos 

for the band Mamavegas. 

25

FREDERIC zEIMET 

COwBOy 

Tel: +352 691 736 703 

E-mail: scriptdoctors@gmail.com 

Intention 

Cowboy is a very personal and intimate project. It is 

the story of a young boy having trouble facing the cruelty 

of life and trying to reconnect with his father. 

It’s a drama but with some comic parts. I did not want 

to tell a dark and sad story, I needed Cowboy to narrate 

something tragic but with some lighter parts. This 

is reflected in the relationship between Joachim and 

Cowboy. Children have a way of coping and of looking 

at things that we, as adults, have lost. We bury 

ourselves in our grieving processes, forgetting what 

surrounds us. 

26 

LUxEMBOURG 

The original language of this project was French and 

I intend to shoot it in French too. Without a doubt, a 

story has to be universal, but every filmmaker writes to 

touch the people who are closest to him and my family 

is French-speaking. 

My inspirations were Calvin and Hobbes and Where 

the wild things are. 

Synopsis 

Eight-year-old Joachim has a peculiar friend, Cowboy, 

who comes to his rescue after his mother suffers a terrible 

car accident that leaves her comatose. Joachim 

was also in the car but barely remembers the event. 

Joachim meets his playmate in an imaginary world 

that he creates to cope with the trauma. His buddy is 

a clumsy, funny and plump cowboy in whom he finds 

refuge. 

Joachim’s father, Philippe, tries to shield his son from 

seeing his mother who is in a vegetative state. However, 

he is unable to communicate with him. Philippe 

is torn between anger and pain, since his wife had the 

accident just as she was leaving him for another man. 

In an attempt to lessen his pain and to apprehend what 

happened, Joachim asks many questions for which 

there is no redeeming answer. Slowly, it becomes 

clear that his friend Cowboy can no longer manage 

to bring him all the comfort he needs… His imaginary 

world and reality will collide, and this young boy will 

have to face the truth. 


Estimated Budget: 70.000 - 100.000 € 

No producer definitely attached yet (one 

Luxembourgish and one from France are 

interested). 

Locations: flexible (France, Luxembourg…). 

“In a desert of solitude, 

it’s always 

great to be able to 

count on your 

imaginary cowboy.” 


An eager storyteller, passionate about 

movies, Frédéric Zeimet decided at the 

age of 18 to learn the complex craft of 

screenwriting. His first step was to study 

History of Art at Brussels University for 

5 years. His final dissertation was about 

Wim Wenders. He then started a 2-year 

course in Scriptwriting and Analysis at 

the same University. He worked with Luc 

Dardenne on his first script (selected at 

the International Screenwriters’ Festival in 

Bourges, France). 

Frédéric has co-written a feature-length 

script and collaborated on the development 

of three more. He participated in 

several screenwriting competitions, winning 

in 2010 the Best Junior Screenwriters’ 

Prize in France.

BarBara Zemljič 

SLOvENIA 

THE RIGHT TO LOvE 

Tel: +386 313 112 89 

E-mail: barbara.zemljic@gmail.com 

Intention 

I strongly believe that considering the current political 

situation in Slovenia, it is of utmost importance to 

talk about human rights. The Right to Love is a family 

melodrama, concerning a wide range of interactions 

which go beyond the typical idea of a family. 

We could find aesthetic and visual parallels in the Susanne 

Bier films Open Your Heart and After the Wedding. 

The film addresses the fact that some things 

need to be said, especially the things we don’t want to 

see or talk about, and the truth has to come out eventually 

in order to gain peace of mind and freedom. 

At the moment we are hoping for your help with the coproduction 

investment and hopefully the exchange of 

knowledge and experience on an international scale, 

which is an opportunity I would gladly take advantage 

of. 

Synopsis 

Magda, a mother and a wife, is ill. She is aware of the 

fact that she only has a few more months to live, and 

that her ability to speak will evaporate in just a few 

weeks. Therefore she decides to gather her family and 

speak about the issue which binds them together. 

Her husband Jože is forced to host his homosexual 

son Igor with his partner Hans and their adopted 

daughter Tončka, whom he did not see or talk to for 

several years. Everything starts to make sense when 

Magda uses her right to speak, which she is about to 

lose, to tell the long buried family secret which makes 

undigested past events come to the surface. 

The film is about human rights. The right to speak: 

What do you say when you’re about to lose your 

voice? The right to be different. And last but not least, 

the right to love. 


A Atalanta 

Brana Srdić 

Received 70.000 € production help from the Slovenian 

Film Centre. 

Will be made as micro-budget feature to be shot mid 

April 2012. 

Two post-production companies attached to the project: 

Filmservis and Nuframe. 

Looking for a possible co-producer to invest in the film. 

“What do you 

say when you’re 

about to lose your 

voice?” 


Barbara Zemljič graduated in film and TV 

directing from the Academy for Theatre, 

Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana 

in 2009, and in philosophy from the Faculty 

of Arts of the University of Ljubljana 

in 2005. She has been working at RTV 

Slovenia as a director and screenwriter 

since 2005. She has directed 8 documentaries, 

written 5 documentary and 6 short 

film scripts, as well as directing more than 

500 TV shows and many live concerts. In 

2010/11 she wrote, staged and directed 

TV show Viktorji (Slovenian Oscars) and 

in 2011 co-wrote and acted in a supporting 

role in the feature film Panem et circenses, 

which won an audience award 

- Vesna awards for supporting female and 

male roles, and for best costumes, at the 

Slovenian national film festival. 

27

AvGOUSTA zOURELIDI 

ELECTRIFyING LOvE 

Tel: +44 790 687 3087 

E-mail: avgousta_zourelidi@yahoo.com 

Intention 

I was inspired to write this story in the summer of 2011. 

During a train journey I noticed several lines of electric 

pylons stretching out into the distance. They reminded 

me of parading soldiers marching into the void 

of the morning fog. Their anthropomorphic structures 

sparked an idea for a tragic love story. 

The musical elements in this film will create a great 

contrast between the static reality of these metal structures 

and the vibrant dance numbers they share to express 

their love for one another. 

This is an allegorical tale about two characters from 

28 

GREECE/UK 

very different backgrounds and the cultural differences 

they have to overcome in order to communicate. It is 

about the alienation and stereotyping of people that 

move from their homeland to another country and the 

problems that arise with that. But above all this is a 

story about relationships and how love can help deal 

with all these issues. 

I’m drawing from personal experiences to write this 

film. When I was 9 years old my family moved from 

Russia to Greece. The cultural differences and language 

barrier caused many problems in my interactions 

with other people and I believe these are important 

issues to explore in a film. 

Synopsis 

Electrifying Love tells the tragicomic musical love story 

of a male electric pylon from Siberia who is accidentally 

transported and installed in the heart of the English 

suburbs. Although he tries his best he doesn’t manage 

to fit into the new cultural environment. 

Things get even worse when he meets and falls in love 

with a female pylon. His attempts to win her heart fail 

miserably. All that he achieves is to annoy her and create 

interference in radio and electricity transmissions. 

One day a heavy blizzard hits the city. Pylons fail to 

provide electricity causing blackouts and accidents in 

the nearby town. The Russian pylon is the only one 

who can withstand the cold and saves the day. 

The Female pylon realizes that she loves him. They 

share a moment of happiness, in form of a musical 

duet, just before he is taken away to be recycled. Female 

pylon is devastated and decides to shut down 

her own circuit, she is also taken away. The two pylons 

are reunited by being recycled into one object. 



Technique: 2D Digital Drawn animation technique with some 

CGI elements for the musical numbers. 

Overall Schedule 48 weeks. 

Production: Helen Brunsdon has agreed to be on board as a 

consultant. Helen has worked for BBC, Aardman and Arthur 

Cox. 

Studio Sun and Moon in Bristol have agreed to provide studio 

space and expertise. 

Music: I have teamed up with music composer Paul Lambert. 

Paul’s credits include the live action short film The Confession, 

that was nominated for an Academy Award in 2011. 

“Great love will 

spark electricity in 

the most unlikely 

characters.” 


I was born in St.Petersburg, Russia and 

have since lived in Greece and the UK. 

At the age of four I drew a red bunny rabbit 

and was admitted into art school–there 

was no turning back. Since then I have 

completed an MA in Animation Direction 

at the National Film and Television School 

in the UK, my graduation film Laika has 

been shown in more that 40 festivals 

around the world. I have four years experience 

working in the animation industry, 

most recently as the Animation Director 

on the popular CGI pre-school series, 

Chuggington. In the future I would like 

to develop more short films and at some 

point perhaps immortalize that bunny in 

his own film.

TUTORS 

FABIENNE AGUADO 

f.aguado@moulinande.asso.fr 

Fabienne Aguado holds a BA in Film Studies 

(thesis about Jacques Tati) and a Masters 

Degree in Sociology. Her early professional 

life was spent on film sets and on writing film 

reviews. Her experience includes managing a 

film production company, running evenings for 

film clubs, reading scripts and being a regular 

member of juries attributing development 

grants. ` 

In 1998, she helped founding the Centre for 

Cinematographic Scripts (CÉCI) and has been 

managing it for the past seven years. The 

CÉCI holds its offices at the Moulin d’Andé, a 

cultural association of international reputation 

located in Normandy (France) where artists 

have found support and inspiration over the 

last fifty years. It provides a permanent program 

for film screenwriting which supports innovative 

and personal projects. 

ORSOLYA BENKÖ 

orsolya.benko@gmail.com 

Based in Budapest, Orsolya Benkö is working 

as member of the script development board 

of the Hungarian National Film Fund. After 

graduating at the Faculty of Cinema Aesthetics 

and English Studies at ELTE University 

in Budapest, she completed a research work 

at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. As part of 

her studies, she did a traineeship as a production 

and distribution assistant for The Coproduction 

Office in Paris. 

She has contributed to the organisation 

of several film festivals in Budapest and 

joined the Hungarian Desk of the MEDIA 

Programme. She started collaborating as a 

script consultant in 2007 with Hungarian production 

companies. In 2010 she participated 

as a story editor trainee in the Script&Pitch 

Workshops. Currently she is also cooperating 

on various Hungarian and international 

projects as a script consultant. 

ANTOINE LE BOS 

Antlebos@aol.com 

Antoine Le Bos is a French screenwriter and 

script consultant, with 25 feature scripts delivered 

under contract, and the experience 

of a hundred feature projects followed as a 

consultant. After a first life as a sailor and an 

interrupted PhD in philosophy, he graduated 

from the French Conservatoire for Film writing 

in 1996. He directed short films shown 

in more than 50 film festivals, and on-stage 

experiments (theater, contemporary opera in 

Paris and Prague). He then co-created the 

animation series Ratz, shown in more than 20 

countries. He won the Gan Foundation Prize 

as a writer in 2005, and works with among others 

the Afghani director and Prix Goncourt Atiq 

Rahimi. He teaches screenwriting at Brest 

University. Since 2007 he has been the artistic 

director of Le Groupe Ouest, European center 

for film creation in Brittany (France). He’s 

been a tutor for Script & Pitch Workshops and 

Torino Film Lab since 2007. 

FABIO GRASSADONIA 

fabio.grass@yahoo.it 

Fabio Grassadonia is an Italian filmmaker 

and script consultant. Born in Palermo, he 

graduated in Arts and Philosophy with a specialization 

in Comparative Literature. After 

taking a two year post-graduate diploma in 

narrative techniques from the Holden School 

in Turin he started to work as a scriptwriter 

and script consultant in Rome. He has collaborated 

as development consultant and 

acquisition consultant for major Italian production 

companies, such as Fandango and 

Filmauro. In 2004 he wrote with Antonio 

Piazza the film Ogni volta che te ne vai, a 

romantic musical comedy set among the 

night clubs of the Romagna coast, produced 

by Fandango. In 2009 the same partnership 

between Fabio and Antonio gave life to the 

short film Rita, their debut as directors. Rita 

is one of most successful Italian short films of 

recent years. Fabio and Antonio will realize 

their first feature film as directors, Salvo, in 

summer 2012. 

29

30 

PARTNERS & CONTACT INFORMATION 

wITH THE SUPPORT OF 

wITH THE PARTNERSHIP OF

CONTACT 

99 rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 

75010 Paris 

Tel.: +33 (0) 9 60 39 63 38 

Email: europe@nisimasa.com 

Website: www.nisimasa.com 

President 

Hannaleena Hauru 

Director 

Matthieu Darras 

In charge of European Short Pitch 

Wim Vanacker 

We wish to thank all scriptwriters and tutors 

for their kind contribution. 

A NISI MASA PUBLICATION 

Editor-in-chief / Layout 

Wim Vanacker 

wim@nisimasa.com 

31

32 

NISI MASA # European Short Pitch # March 2012

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