The International Co-Production Forum Regiofund will be held in Katowice from 4th through 7th October. The event is visited by film producers, representatives of European film funds, financial institutions, regional film funds, and local authorities, as well as private investors, television broadcasters, distributors, sales agents, and film distributors.

From among the projects submitted to Regiofund Forum from all over the world, the organizers have chosen 10 carefully selected film and TV series projects with international co-production potential. The qualified projects come from Poland, Albania, Romania, Italy, Austria, and Great Britain.

The pitching session is scheduled for the 6th of October and will be conducted before an international group of Regiofund’s guests who represent various areas of film industry, from financial institutions and regional film funds to film distributors and sales agents. Regiofund’s participants, who will present their projects during the pitching session, had a say in preparing the list of guests, as they were asked by the organizers about their demands and expectations. The session will be moderated by Karolina Lidin, a representative of Nordisk Film&TV Fund.

The following fiction and documentary films and animated TV series will be presented in Katowice:

• Film Odyssey – an inventive feature film for children, directed by Piotr Stasik and produced by Telemark, Poland
• Flesh – director Marcin Koszałka’s documentary attempt at facing the inevitability of death, produced by Szarobiuro Production, Poland
• Mediterrencee – an animated TV series focused on a number of important European women, directed by Bepi Vigna and produced by Zena Film, Italy
• Sirena (Hear The Whisper) – a surreal feature film about a certain graphic novel artist, directed by Giorgio Borgazzi and produced by Topanga, Austria/Italy
• Squeek – an animated TV series about the struggle of Maya’s gang of mice against the totalitarian rule of Julius, directed by Łukasz Kacprowicz and Marcin Wasilewski, and produced by GS Animation, Poland
• The Anselins – a suspenseful feature film by Dan Radu Mihai, described by the filmmakers as a project about duality. Produced by Anchor Films, Romania
• The Deathless Woman – an experimental documentary feature film about the poignant history of the Roma in Europe, directed by Roz Mortimer and produced by Animate Projects Productions, Great Britain
• The Gingers – a Christmas musical about a singing-loving family who own a gingerbread shop. Produced by Artcore, Poland
• The War Has Ended – Hagar Ben-Asher’s feature film set after World War II and telling a story about the meeting of 13-year-old Lily with master marionettist Joseph. Produced by Madants, Poland/Israel
• Three Lions Heading Venice – a story of filmmakers whose journey to the Venice Film Festival is a truly wild ride, directed by Jonid Jorgji and produced by EJF Production, Albania

All presentations are scheduled for Friday and will be preceded by two days of intense training course lead by Regiofund’s pitching experts: Maggie Ellis and Katrin Nandelstädt.

Maggie Ellis has been co-operating with the organizers for several years now, and she has almost 30 years of experience in running film trainings and schemes. As Film London’s Head of Production and Talent Development, she has commissioned hundreds of films from new and emergent talent. Katrin Nandelstädt, however, will train the participants in the art of presentation by exploring such areas as body language, voice training, managing the emotions, working on beliefs and attitudes, stage presence as well as formulating core messages and storytelling.

This year’s edition of Regiofund Forum will be held in Katowice from 4th through 7th of October. Its organizer, Silesia Film Commission, is a part of Silesia Film Institute, a cultural institution of the Silesian voivodeship.

You can still purchase Regiofund’s Observer Pass that enables participation in pitching session, discussion panels, workshops, and network meetings.

You can find more information on the event’s website: http://forumregiofund.pl/en/acreditation/