Three projects pitched at CPH:FORUM – the industry program of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen-based documentary festival – have been awarded cash prizes. They are Robin Petré’s “Only on Earth,” Iryna Tsilyk’s “Red Zone” and Yegor Troyanovsky’s “Cuba & Alaska.” The filmmakers were awarded at a ceremony in the Danish capital on Thursday.
Petré’s “Only on Earth” garnered the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award worth €20,000 for best pitch. The docu, produced by Signe Skov Thomsen, and Malene Flindt Pedersen, depicts a journey deep into one of Europe’s hottest fire zones, Galicia, where wild horses roam the mountains under the watch of local cowboys. These horses are excellent at fire prevention, but now they are vanishing in the clash between humans and nature.
Emma Scott (head of distribution, short film production, Screen Ireland), Rikke Tambo Andersen (producer at Tambo Film) and Heino Deckert Makri (producer at ma.ja.de.) made up the team of jurors for the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award.
On their motivation for selecting “Only on Earth” for best pitch, the jurors said: “The Eurimages co-production development award goes to a visually stunning project that brought us to a place where nature is burning, climate change is evident, but hope is to be found between humans and animals.”
This marks the tenth year that the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award has been presented at the CPH:FORUM.
“Red Zone” conveys the idea that the war not only kills people – it also changes those who survived.
Courtesy of CPH:DOX
Scott, Andersen and Makri also served as jurors for the new special Eurimages Development Award, which was created to express CPH:DOX’s support of and solidarity with the Ukrainian film industry.
The award, presented to Tsilyk’s “Red Zone,” comes with a cash-prize of €20,000, which was provided by the Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund.
Produced by Darya Bassel, “Red Zone” conveys the idea that the war not only kills people – it also changes those who survived. In the doc, Tsilyk, a Ukrainian filmmaker, shares her intimate, female perspective on the question of what it means to be a woman in times of war.
On their motivation for choosing “Red Zone,” the jury said: “This innovative look at the inner lives of women as they go about their daily lives with humor and courage while in the midst of a terrifying war captivated the imagination of the jury.”
Ukrainian productions and co-productions, eligible for both Eurimages awards, had a strong representation of 12% of this year’s projects lineup, across the selection of CPH:FORUM, CPH:WIP and CHANGE, CPH:DOX’s development co-production training program in collaboration with IMS and EAVE, featuring projects from the European Union’s Eastern Partnership countries.
Finally, the Unifrance Doc Award for the best French majority or minority co-produced pitch was given to Troyanovsky’s “Cuba & Alaska.”
This marks the first time the CPH:FORUM has given the Unifrance Doc Award, which consists of €2,300 in post-production support for subtitling at TitraFilm, to be used within three years. Additionally, the prize, provided by Unifrance and TitraFilm, comes with a Unifrance membership for one year for the value of €1,590 for the producers of “Cuba & Alaska,” Olha Beskhmelnytsina and Christian Popp. A Unifrance membership also gives access to other support such as the refund of promotion expenses in a limit of €1,500, totaling the value of the award to €5,390.
“Cuba & Alaska” depicts two young paramedic women, Cuba and Alaska, who live on the edge in the war-torn Kharkiv region.
Courtesy of CPH:DOX
“Cuba & Alaska” depicts two young paramedic women, Cuba and Alaska, who live on the edge in the war-torn Kharkiv region. Their mission is to save lives while sharing good humor, and belief in victory.
The Unifrance Doc Award jury was composed of Nora Philippe (director at EURODOC, France), Vibeke Vogel (producer at Bullit Film, Denmark), Emelie Persson (deputy program director culture and society, SVT, Sweden) .
“This pitch took us to a space and time where life and death dwell together in an unspeakable proximity, where courage and combat are female, and where fight against oppression is led in the name not only of Ukraine, but also of us further in Europe and in the world,” the jurors said. “We wish to acknowledge a project that is bold and strikingly alive, the intimate access to a singular sisterly duo, a portrait that embraces the complexities of youth, care, creativity and trauma, and finally a coproduction endeavor (Ukraine + France) that will hopefully, bring the project to full funding and rapid completion.”
