IFFR at Cannes 2022

Stories

IFFR at Cannes 2022

11 May 2022

The 2022 edition of the Cannes Film Festival welcomes a number of IFFR-backed titles, projects and producers back to la Croisette for a full May edition. Hubert Bals Fund supported titles from Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, Ali Cherri and Andrés Ramírez Pulido are selected for the festival’s sidebars, with HBF and CineMart projects continuing their development at L'Atelier and La Fabrique Cinéma. IFFR has nominated a number of Rotterdam Lab and CineMart producers for the Producers Network. A delegation from IFFR also attends.

Festival selections

Ukrainian filmmaker Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk premieres his debut feature Pamfir in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight), supported in 2020 through the HBF’s collaboration with Creative Europe – the HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme. Set against the Ukrainian national carnival Malanka, the film follows Pamfir, who despite trying to be a decent family man, must turn to his troubled past to support them. His thesis short The Beard previously appeared in the short film corner at Cannes 2012 before it was named as part of the Ukrainian New Wave showcase in Kyiv.

Also in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs is the feature debut of Lebanese visual artist and filmmaker Ali Cherri. Fresh from winning the Silver Lion for promising artist at La Biennale di Venezia Arte 2022, Cherri premieres The Dam, which was awarded development support by the HBF in 2020. His work as an artist focuses on artefacts and the natural world, extending to his feature-length cinematic debut set in Sudan about a bricklayer on the Nile who builds a mysterious construction.

La Jauría by Colombian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido, is the sole Latin American selection in La Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week). The film advances the director’s attraction to the dense, isolated jungle setting of his home country seen in the award winning shorts El Edén (2016) and Damiana (2017), and this time as the location for an experimental juvenile centre where the main character Eliú is incarcerated. The film received HBF development support in 2017.

Film still: La Jauría

Film still: The Dam

Film still: Pamfir

In development

L'Atelier of Cannes’s Cinefondation hosts two projects at the co-production forum which IFFR have also supported through development. Guria, named after the region in Georgia where the film will be set, is directed by Levan Koguashvili and was supported previously by the HBF for development in 2019. The Last Tears of the Deceased by Ethiopian director Beza Hailu Lemma was presented at CineMart in 2021 and portrays a young priest’s confrontation with mortality.

The tailored development programme of La Fabrique Cinéma de l'Institut français hosts Ground Zero, also presented at CineMart 2021, which uses the setting of an open-pit iron ore mine to uncover buried Ukrainian history. Elephants in the Fog by Abinash Bikram Shah focuses on a group of five trans-women in Nepal and received HBF development support in 2021.

The Bali-set XR project Alternates (Bergantian) directed by Jonathan Hagard was part of the IFFR Pro Immersive selection at CineMart in 2022, and is now selected for the Cannes XR Development Showcase with NewImages Festival.

Delegation

A delegation from IFFR attends the festival, including festival director Vanja Kaludjercic, managing director Marjan van der Haar, IFFR Pro’s Inke Van Loocke, Alessia Acone, Sara Juricic and Jeske van der Slikke from the Hubert Bals Fund. Meeting requests can be sent to the relevant team at [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected].

For press contact Aubéry Escande via [email protected].

Co-production Night

CineMart is taking part in the Marché du Film's Co-production Night on Friday 20 May. The event is designed to match-make badge-holders with five of the most prominent international co-production markets. There will be a series of informal stand-up speed meetings in which each participant will meet at least five different professionals. The second part of the evening features the ‘Co-Pro Night Live Band’, playing the best (and worst!) of ’80s pop music!

Friday 20 May | 20:00-23:30 | The American Pavilion (Village International)

Producers Network

Rotterdam Lab and CineMart producers who attended IFFR 2022 are nominated to receive badges for the Producers Network at the Marché du Film. Read the full list below:

Rotterdam Lab