POWR pitching session, 2016
The two initiatives by Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event that work with script projects, have announced the 2017 participants.
Script Pool Tallinn is the new script development competition that is launching at this year’s Industry@Tallinn with the main prize including 5000 euros and mentoring sessions with a professional script doctor, both provided by the European leading licensing company Telepool. Seven teams consisting of scriptwriters and producers will be competing in Tallinn at the open pitch on the November 30th of November.
Triin Tramberg, Industry@Tallinn ScriptPool competition coordinator comments: "We are positively surprised to have such a diverse and great selection of projects for the premier edition of Script Pool and it's wonderful to welcome back a couple of filmmakers who already have a history with the Black Nights Film Festival."
Selected projects
Pekka Lehto, Mika Purola (Finland) - The Box
In the fatal fall of the Finnish mobile giant Nokia, a middle-aged lawyer lost his fortune and decided to commit a perfect crime to save himself and his family from ruin. The Box is by well-known Finnish film writers and directors, Pekka Lehto and Mika Purola.
Marteinn Thorsson (Iceland) - Yosoy
Yosoy is the only TV-series selected in Script Poo and isl by the director Marteinn Thorsson who directed the very controversial XL. Yosoy is about a celebrated neurologist hired by a shadowy group of billionaires to investigate YOSOY, an underground circus of extreme performance artists in a village in Iceland. At the same time, a burnt and dismembered body is discovered in a nearby glacial lagoon.
Aleksander Kott (Russia) - The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse is set on a remote island. The story follows the aging lighthouse keeper, Zavyalov, and how his life irreversibly change after he finds a pregnant woman washed up on the shore after the boat she was on sank during a storm. Alexander Kott is a Russian director known for his 2014 film The Test and 2015 Insight, which travelled around the world - including Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival - winning various prizes for script, direction, and cinematography.
Igor Cobileanski (Romania) - Coma
Coma is a third person told drama that tries to follow, in a linear manner, the evolution of the main character – Alina – a 45-year-old woman, religious, modest, sincere – medical nurse at the emergency hospital. The context in which life puts her are complex and Alina has to make an important decision that will shatter her personal, moral and religious principles. The film is from Igor Cobileanski, whose 2016 Eastern Business premiered in the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Official Selection.
Andrea Pallaoro, Orlando Tirado - Monica
Monica is an intimate observation of a transgender woman returning to her Ohio hometown to take care of her dying mother, who is in the advanced stages of breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Monica has not seen her mother in over 35 years, since being kicked out of her home. The project is by Andrea Pallaoro whose recent film Hannah premiered in the main competition of the 2017 Venice International Film Festival and will screen at Black Nights. Orlando Tirado has been collaborating with Andrea since 2000, co-authoring projects including Wunderkammer and the award-winning Medeas.
Andrius Lekavicius (Lithuania) - Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday VR is an experience based on real events that happened on January the 13th 1991, in Vilnius, Lithuania. Using the archive audio and real setting of the events animated in 3D, the VR experience will create a based-on-true-event storytelling piece where the user can make his own decisions. Screenwriter Andrius Lekavicius is an all-around media storyteller and interactive orchestra conductor for the images, forms, and medias. He has built a profile of projects on various media platforms: from creating brand image to VR experiences, from directing high-end commercials to his first feature documentary Game of the Nation.
Shonali Bose (India) - The Sky Is Pink
Shonali Bose is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker. Both her feature narrative films – Amu and Margarita, With a Straw – played in over 150 film festivals including TIFF, Berlin and Black Nights and has won numerous prestigious international awards. Her The Sky Is Pink is based on a true story that spans 30 years in the life of a family who find the ability to remain positive and happy in the face of terrible tragedy.
POWR Baltic Stories Exchange gives Nordic and Baltic screenwriters access to an informal and international forum where they can present their projects and writing talent during the largest regional film market in Northeastern Europe. This year’s selection includes projects from I@T&BE’s focus region Flanders, Belgium. The workshop mentor is Valeria Richter (Denmark/TFL), pitch coach Helene Granqvist (Sweden), and selected industry guests. The open pitch will take place on November the 29th, and will be followed by a round-table session where selected producers and other film industry representatives will share their feedback and advice.
Selected projects
Birute Kapustinskaite (Lithuania) – 200 Beats per Minute
Elina Veira (Latvia) – Met-a-way
Gilles Weyns (Flanders, Belgium) – My Name is Howitt
Heidi Lindén (Finland) – The Night Train is Coming
Hilde Heier (Norway) – The Opera Singer
Osmond Karim (Sweden) – The Macabre Mysteries of Viktor Kasparsson
Teresa Mecklin (Finland) – The Pretending Game
Valeria Richter, POWR Head of Studies says: "This year you’ll meet two strong biopics, one about a British female historical painter, writer and women’s rights activist, and one telling the story of a world famous Norwegian opera singer; two family dramas each with their unique comic voice; a dark action story set in the corporate world; a strong character drama laced with magic realism; and finally, a grand fantasy story based on two graphic novels."
2017 marks the 10-year anniversary of POWR Baltic Stories Exchange. The workshop was launched by our region’s MEDIA Desks with the goal to bring forward the young talent of the Nordic and Baltic countries. A few years into its success, POWR was moved under the Baltic Event Co-Production Market to give the participants an even wider forum to present their stories. Over the years, many participating projects have found a producer from Baltic Event. Several stories have become films and travelled Europe and beyond. We are especially proud of the Estonian scriptwriters Livia Ulman and Andris Feldmanis, whose film Pretenders (formerly Metaphors We Live), directed by Vallo Toomla, was a POWR project in 2012.
Happy 10th anniversary to all the POWR participants throughout the years!
Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event take place during Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival from November 27 until December 1.
