16/10/2019 - Joo Paulo Miranda Maria's Memory House, Eri Mizutani's Grace and Sonia Liza Kentermans Tailor have received 10,000 each

Brazilian director Joo Paulo Miranda Maria, who won the EWIP ARRI Media Award for Memory House

The second edition of European Work in Progress Cologne (EWIP, 14-16 October), an event aimed at creating opportunities for carefully selected arthouse projects to meet appropriate distributors, co-producers, world sales agents and festival representatives, unveiled its winners during an awards ceremony that took place on 15 October at Kunsthaus Rhenania in Cologne. Considering that many of the projects selected last year went on to be awarded at prestigious film festivals, much is to be expected of this editions laureates.

We are delighted about the high quality and the diversity of the projects presented. Additionally, it is exciting to see that EWIP has continued to enjoy enormous popularity during its second run. We obviously struck a chord with this event. We wish all of the projects the best of luck and congratulate the winners from the bottom of our hearts, said Bjrn Hoffmann, chairman of the board at AG Verleih.

This year, 28 carefully selected and extremely varied projects that are either in production or in post-production were given the opportunity to be presented during a pitching session in front of industry professionals, as well as discussed in more depth during one-to-one meetings. This years jury comprised Lili Hinstin, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival,Margrit Strk,director of acquisitions for Feature Films at ZDF Enterprises,Sabina Kodra, co-founder of the Albanian film production company ERAFILM, andYohann Comte, sales agent and co-founder of world sales agency Charades (France).

Endowed with a voucher worth 10,000 for colour-grading services, the EWIP ARRI Media Award went to Memory House (Brazil/France), the first feature-length project by Brazilian director Joo Paulo Miranda Maria (see the news). The film, produced by Paula Cosenza (Bossa Nova Filmes) and co-produced by Didar Domehri (Maneki Films), will focus on a Brazilian man who works in a milk factory in one of the countrys former Austrian colonies. Lonely and ostracised, he discovers an abandoned house, where he takes refuge and ends up losing his sanity and committing murder. This promising first-time director shows strong visual creativity, a rich imagination and sensitivity in approaching the political situation of his country through a main character representing the major issues of minorities today, the jury stated.

This year, documentary projects were also eligible to take part in European Work in Progress Cologne. Of the four participating doc projects, one received the EWIP K13-Studios Award, a prize consisting of a voucher worth 10,000 for sound mixing: the lucky title was Grace (Poland/Finland) by Eri Mizutani. Set in the Kawaguchiko region in Japan, the movie follows a female teacher and her group of young, virgin girls who practise chigonomai, a dance intended to keep Mount Fuji from erupting.

Furthermore, Sonia Liza Kentermans debut feature, Tailor (Greece/Germany/Belgium), received the European Work in Progress LAVAlabs Moving Images Award, a prize endowed with 10,000 for visual effects. The project tells the story of a tailor who finds surprising ways to keep his business afloat during the economic crisis in Greece.

The EWIP Eclair Award, which comes with a voucher worth 2 x 2,000 for the subtitling of a movie in two languages, went to Night of Fire (Mexico/Germany) by Tatiana Huezo, which will be the Mexican-Salvadoran filmmakers third feature-length project. Set in the mountains, the movie tells the story of three little girls who find out what it means to be a woman in a rural town plagued by violence.

Lastly, the European Work in Progress ZOOM Medienfabrik Award (7,500 intended for international festival public relations) went to two projects: Philipp Yuryevs debut feature, The Whale Hunter (Russia/Poland/Belgium), and Melanie Waeldes coming-of-age drama Naked Animals (Germany), which is also a debut feature.

Here is the complete list of winners at European Work in Progress Cologne 2019:

EWIP ARRI Media AwardMemory House - Joo Paulo Miranda Maria (Brazil/France)Producer: Paula Cosenza (Bossa Nova Filmes)Co-producer: Didar Domehri (Maneki Films)

EWIP K13-Studios AwardGrace - Mizutani Eri (Poland/Finland)Producer: Anna Fam (Polished Productions) Co-producers: Finnish Television - YLE (letter of intent), Niklas Kullstrom, Hillstream Pictures (letter of intent)

EWIP Eclair AwardNight of Fire - Tatiana Huezo (Mexico/Germany)Producers: Nicols Celis, Jim Stark (Pimienta Films)Co-producers: Michael Weber, Viola Fgen (Match Factory Productions)

EWIP LAVAlabs Moving Images AwardTailor - Sonia Liza Kenterman (Greece/Germany/Belgium)Producer: Ioanna Bolomyti (Argonauts Productions) Co-producers: Tanja Georgieva (Elemag Pictures), Melanie Andernach (Made in Germany), Isabelle Truc (IOTA Production)

EWIP: ZOOM Medienfabrik AwardNaked Animals - Melanie Waelde (Germany)Producer: Anja Wedell (Czar Film GmbH)Executive producers: Thorne Mutert, Jan Fincke

The Whale Hunter - Philipp Yuryev (Russia/Poland/Belgium)Producers: Alexey Uchitel, Kira Saksaganskaya (Rock Films) Co-producers: Marion Hansel (Mans Films Productions), Radoslawa Bardes (Orka Studio Produkcyjne)

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European Work in Progress Cologne 2019 hands out its awards - Cineuropa