IFFR Pro Award winners announced

The 37th CineMart came to a close 29 January 2020 with the granting of six IFFR Pro Awards, including the inaugural Splendor Omnia and IFFR Pro Young Network Awards.

Eurimages Co-production Development Award

The Eurimages Co-production Development Award, valued at €20,000, is given to one of the selected CineMart or BoostNL projects that is, or will be, a European co-production.

Winning project

Infanta by Natalia Garagiola, producer: Rei Cine (Argentina)

Jury report

The winning project promises to be an intense drama, with a starting point in real historical events. It is also a reflection on the power of collective delusion and the societal norms that make this possible. After a first film set in an exclusively masculine and contemporary world, this plunge into an all-female universe will be a fitting follow-up. With a strong directorial vision and an evident complicity between producer and director, the jury is pleased to award the Eurimages Co-production Development Award to this film.

Jury members

Rémi Bonhomme, Didar Domehri, Susan Newman, Dorien van de Pas

Filmmore Post-production Award

The Filmmore Post-production Award is presented by visual effects and post-production lab Filmmore and comes with a €7,500 prize. Both BoostNL and CineMart projects are eligible.

Winning project

A Shadow Creeps in Silver Trees by John Trengove, Urucu Media (South Africa)

Jury report

"The jury was unanimously intrigued by this psychodrama about whiteness. White people have for a long time dominated the world and are used to looking at the world from their point of view. But the world is predominantly non-white. This story is about white people who hide beyond the walls of a gated community, only to find out that danger doesn’t come from outside but from within."

Jury members

Ilse Hughan, Annamaria Lodato, Anton Scholten

ArteKino International Prize

The ArteKino International Prize, worth €6,000, is given to the producer of the best CineMart or BoostNL project to support its financial development.

Winning project

Sleepwalkers by Radu Jude, producer: microFILM (Romania)

Jury report

"A very original and convincing project by a director who has already created an important body of work made up of diverse and captivating films. The producer is experienced and competent and the partnership with Radu is very solid. The project questions the meaning of intimacy in the age of the internet, and deals with the impact of exposure on the articulation between individuals and our current society."

Jury members

Ilse Hughan, Annamaria Lodato, Anton Scholten

Wouter Barendrecht Award

This prize of €5,000 is awarded by CineMart in partnership with the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation to a filmmaker under the age of 35 who has directed three or fewer films. Both BoostNL and CineMart projects are eligible.

Winning project 

The Station by Sara Ishaq, Screen Project (Yemen/Jordan)

Jury report

"After careful consideration the jury decided to give the award to a team which we think can make a difference with regard to country’s film culture and industry, or more precisely the lack of the latter. The Wouter Barendrecht Award 2020 goes to a topical, appealing and accessible project: The Stationby Sara Ishaq, produced by Nadia Eliewat.”

Jury members

Ellis Driessen, Nelleke Driessen

Splendor Omnia Sound Mix Award

The winner of the new Splendor Omnia Award receives €9,500 worth of post-production at Splendor Omnia Postproduction Studios in Tepoztlán, Mexico. Both BoostNL and CineMart projects are eligible.

Winning project

Celosos hombres blancos by Iván Granovsky, Frutacine/O som e a fúria (Argentina/Portugal)

Jury report

"Celosos hombres blancos explores new ways of telling a story and is highly original in many aspects and on many levels. We will travel through time, backward and forward and, in a certain way, we will be invited to re-think history, all the time guided by beautiful and interesting images on the screen. And last but not least, we will, for sure, have a few good laughs."

Jury members

Ilse Hughan, Annamaria Lodato, Anton Scholten

IFFR Pro Young Network Award

The new IFFR Pro Young Network Award is valued at €2,500 and gives young people a voice as to which project they want to see realised. The core members of the IFFR Young Network pick the winning project fromall projects presented during the IFFR Pro Days.

Winning project

Electric Sleep by Zeynep Dadak, producer: Fenafilm/unafilm (Turkey/Germany)

Jury report

"This daring project captures our generation’s continuous obsession with sleep and productivity. Set in a dystopian society, it elegantly bridges the gap between the beloved science-fiction genre and independent cinema. As the filmmakers are still in need of funds to close the financing of the film, we feel the urgency to empower these creatives further with this award."

Jury members

Noah Bos, Celine Yuchao Feng, Tsania Hisbaron, Jildou Loskamp, Sonia Shvets, Borah Spoorenberg

Dutch Post-production Award

The Dutch Post-production Award is a collaboration between the Netherlands Film Fund, the Hubert Bals Fund, and the Netherlands Post production Alliance.

Projects previously supported by one of the HBF schemes can be submitted and an international jury awards two cash prizes of €50,000, and a surplus of €5,000 in kind by a member of the NPA, to two projects, and to be spent on post-production in the Netherlands

The 2020 winners are

• La hija de todas las rabias by Laura Baumeister, Nicaragua/ Mexico/ Netherlands/ Germany/ France.
• Ningdu by Lei Lei, Hong Kong/ Netherlands/ US

Head of IFFR Pro, Marit van den Elshout commented after the awards: “As we have just celebrated the 37th edition of CineMart, are commencing our 31st HBF year and are approaching the 50th edition of IFFR in 2021, it is obvious the world around us has changed.

"This means we spend a lot of time thinking about and discussing how to stay relevant and original, to contemplate our footprint on the climate, but also how to create something positive in the world through stories that need to be told.

"This edition of IFFR Pro proved to me that bringing together talent and ideas, and those who can support them, remains a very relevant thing to do, and that innovations need time to grow.

"Our 3rd roll-out of the Spotlight formula worked very well and the production teams had focused meetings for their projects. We connected 69 young producers in the Rotterdam Lab, discussed originality in many forms in Reality Check, and welcomed music composers, creators of dynamic new formats in IFFR Pro XVR, and grounded sci-fi film and TV makers through our partnership with Videoland Academy.

"Cinema and the stories we aim to bring to fruition are relevant and have meaning. I am very proud of this year's edition and look forward to tweaking our endeavours in the future to both create and reflect the change."

• A complete list of the 37th CineMart selections can be found here.
• Click here for an overview of the BoostNL 2019/2020 selections.