The selected projects for the Venice Gap-Financing Market

The 11^th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market (August 30 - September 1, 2024), organised as part of the Venice Production Bridge, will take place during the forthcoming 81^st Venice International Film Festival (August 28^th - September 7^th, 2024) and will offer selected projects from Europe and around the world the opportunity to close their international financing, through one-to-one meetings with international decision-makers.

The 3-day Venice Gap-Financing Market will present 61 projects from around the world in the final stages of development and funding. Almost 320 project applications have been received and the selection reflects the great diversity of backgrounds, stories and talents, aesthetics, genres and budgets of the projects submitted for consideration.

This year, the Venice Production Bridge is celebrating the 11^th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market. We are proud that this co-production market has progressively gained importance to become one of the key events for the Film and Immersive industries.

In 2024 the VPB Focuses will be Luxembourg & Wallonia-Brussels, supported by Film Fund Luxembourg and Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel, and Japan, supported by JETRO.

The selection is divided as follows: 

• 34 feature-length Fiction Film and Documentary projects (incl. 6 VPB Focus projects)
• 16 Immersive projects (incl. 4 VPB Focus projects)
• 8 Biennale College Cinema - Immersive projects
• 3 Biennale College Cinema projects

The Venice Gap-Financing Market will be setting up one-to-one meetings between the teams (producer and director) of the 61 projects and top industry decision-makers (producers, private and public financiers, banks, distributors, sales agents, TV commissioners, streamers, VoD platforms, institutions, post-production companies…). All meetings will be held at the Venice Production Bridge venues (Excelsior Hotel and Venice Immersive island) and organised through the Venice Production Bridge website.

• Fiction Films: 27 projects for feature-length fiction films (19 from Europe and 8 from around the world), that need to complete their funding package with minority shares in co-production, having at least 70% of the funding in place.
• Documentaries: 7 projects (4 from Europe and 3 from around the world) for narrative or creative documentaries (fulfilling the same requirements as the fiction films above).

Projects from Luxembourg & Wallonia-Brussels and Japan, the VPB Focuses 2024, are included in this line-up.

1. A SWEETNESS FROM NOWHERE documentary (Sweden, Norway) by Ester M. Bergsmark, Garagefilm International
2. AMA fiction (Luxembourg, France, Japan) by Yuki Kawamura, Les Films Fauves, Good Fortune Films, Flag Pictures – Focus on Luxembourg
3. AMOEBA fiction (Singapore, The Netherlands, France, Spain) by Siyou Tan, Akanga Film Asia
4. BECOMING EMA documentary (Denmark, Spain, Slovakia) by Patricia Drati, 
   Good Company Pictures
5. BETTER CLASS fiction (Spain) by Victor García León, Buenapinta Media
6. BLACK WATER fiction (Poland, Finland, Estonia) by Aga Woszczyńska, Lava Films
7. CUBA & ALASKA documentary (Ukraine, France, Belgium) by Yegor Troyanovsky, 2Brave Productions, TAG Film
8. DEATH HAS NO MASTER fiction (Venezuela, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Spain) by Jorge Thielen Armand, Volos Films Italia, La Faena Films
9. DENGUE fiction (India, France, The Netherlands) by Prantik Basu, Riverine Films, Jba Production, The Film Kitchen
10. DEVOLUTION fiction (Belgium, Italy, Poland) by Nicolas Boucart, Tarantula Belgique – Focus on Wallonia - Brussels
11. DUST fiction (Belgium, Greece, Poland, United Kingdom) by Anke Blondé, A Private View bv
12. GLOBAL PROJECT fiction (Portugal, Luxembourg) by Ivo M. Ferreira, O Som e a Fúria, Tarantula Luxembourg
13. GOLEM fiction/animation (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia) by Jiří Barta, Hausboot
14. IF I SEE A RAINBOW fiction (China, France) by Zhao Hao, Good Time Films
15. IN ALASKA fiction (The Netherlands, Canada) by Jaap Van Heusden and Vinnie Karetak, Ijswater Films
16. JEALOUS WHITE MEN fiction (Argentina, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Germany) by Ivan Granovsky, Frutacine, O Som e a Fúria, Ring Film, Biônica Filmes, Pandora Film
17. LA BALEINE fiction (France, Spain, Belgium) by Sylvère Petit, Les Films d’Ici Méditerranée
18. LAST NIGHT I CONQUERED THE CITY OF THEBES fiction (Spain, Portugal) by Gabriel Azorín, DVEIN Films
19. LEGÍTIMA fiction (Mexico) by Elisa Miller, Pimienta Films
20. LOVE BEFORE SUNRISE fiction (Taiwan, Japan) by Chen-Ti KUO, A Thousand Tree Films / J&K Entertainment Inc. 
21. MARIE & JOLIE fiction (France, Tunisia, Qatar) by Erige Sehiri, Maneki Films, Henia Production
22. MOVIE  KINTSUGI (WT) documentary (Japan, Germany) by Eva Knopf, Trixta Ltd, Amerikafilm GmbH – Focus on Japan
23. NO GOOD MEN fiction (Germany,  France, Norway, Denmark) by Shahrbanoo Sadat, Adomeit Film Gmbh
24. THE BLOOD COUNTESS fiction (Austria, Luxembourg, Germany) by Ulrike Ottinger, Amour Fou Vienna – Focus on Luxembourg
25. THE GOOD LIFE fiction (United Kingdom) by Matt Winn, Funny Peculiar Ltd.
26. THE ISLE OF THE DEMOISELLE fiction (Belgium, France, Canada) by Micha Wald, Stenola Productions – Focus on Wallonia - Brussels
27. THE LIFE OF SIMON JASHI fiction (Georgia, France, Lithuania) by Dmitry Mamuliya, Millimeter Film
28. THE MAGIC CITY documentary (Belgium, France, Sweden) by Pablo Guarise and Guillaume Maupin, Naoko Films - Focus on Wallonia - Brussels
29. THE RESERVE documentary (Argentina, Spain, Mexico) by Ezequiel Yanco, Isoi Cine, Lacima, Fiasco 
30. THE STATION fiction (Yemen, Jordan, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Qatar) by Sara Ishaq, Screen Project
31. THEFT OF FIRE documentary (Canada, Palestine, France) by Amer Shomali, Intuitive Pictures Inc.
32. THREE BLACK NIGHTS fiction (Chile, Spain) by Theo Court, Quijote Films, El Viaje Films 
33. TRISTES TRÓPICOS fiction (Austria, Argentina) by Gastón Solnicki, Little Magnet Films, Filmy Wiktora, Primo
34. TWINS fiction (Ukraine, Poland, The Netherlands) by Eva Neymann, Toy Cinema

16 Immersive projects (11 from Europe and 5 from around the world), including fiction, documentary, animation film and other interactive installation based experiences. All projects have secured 30% of their budget and have this financing in place.

Projects from Luxembourg & Wallonia-Brussels and Japan, the VPB Focuses 2024, are included in this line-up.

1. 275 MILION BIRTHS AND DEATHS (Belgium, The Netherlands) by Zam Zadeh, Cassette for timescapes
2. A CURE FOR STRAIGHTNESS (United States of America, France) by Cameron Kostopoulos, Kost, Floréal
3. BODY/MEMORY (Germany, Italy) by Stefano Casertano, Daring House
4. COLLECTIVE BODY (France, United States of America) by Sarah Silverblatt-Buser, Atlas V
5. DEMARÉ, A SENSORY JOURNEY INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN (Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Austria) by Emilia Sánchez Chiquetti, Presencias, Detona Cultura   
6. DYSMORPHIA: PLAYING WITH REALITY (France, United Kingdom) by May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy, Floréal, Anagram, 
7. FIRST VIRTUAL SUIT (Japan) by Kazuki Yuhara, CinemaLeap.inc – (developed during BCCI 8) - Focus on Japan 
8. HARVEST (United Kingdom) by Matt Shaw, William Trossell, ScanLAB Projects
9. LALALABYRINTH (WT) (Germany) by Pedro Harres, Reynard Films
10. MUSEVA (Belgium, France) by Sergio Ghizzardi, Domino Production – Focus on Wallonia - Brussels
11. RESONANZ  (Germany, Denmark) by David Adler and Ioulia Isserlis, Anotherworld VR
12. TACHYCHRONIA (Luxembourg, Canada) by Gwenael François, Skill Lab - Focus on Luxembourg
13. TEMPUS ALTERNA (Luxembourg, Canada) by Nimrod Shanit, Blimey, a_BAHN - Focus on Luxembourg
14. THE ANCESTORS (The Netherlands) by Steye Hallema, The Smartphone Orchestra  (WildVreemd)
15. TINY PEOPLE: PROLOGUE (United States of America, Brazil) by Ricardo Laganaro and Marcelo Marcati, ARVORE Immersive Experiences
16. WHEN BROOKLYN WAS QUEER (United States of America, Australia) by Yasmin Elayat andWadooah Wali, New Canvas

8 projects, that have been developed during the workshop of the Biennale College Cinema - Immersive, 8^th edition, and that have reached different stages of development, pre-production and post-production.

1. EDIFICE (Germany, United States of America) by Andreea Ion Cojocaru, Numena
2. EPORIA, THE MOUNTAIN MERMAID (South Africa) by Kirstin Lee Grey Erasmus, Different Immersive
3. KITCHEN OF MEMORIES (United States of America) by Mattia Casalegno, Flavor Five Studio
4. LIBRARY OF DREAMS (Georgia, Germany) by Jane Rzheznikova, Less Media Group
5. MNEMOSYNE (China, Japan) by Wuer, Wuerone Film Production
6. MONS VENUS (Argentina) by Paula Orlando, Groncho Estudio
7. PROPRIOCEPTIVE MEMORY (Australia) by Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts, Pernickety Split
8. UNSCROLLING THE TRUTH (Poland, India) by Joanna Murzyn, Eternal Engine 

3 projects, that have been developed during the first workshop of the Biennale College Cinema, 12^th edition, and that have reached different stages of development and pre-production.

1. DOG DAYS OF SUMMER (Italy) by Camilla Carè, Piroetta
2. JAYSAN (Kyrgyzstan) by Aisha Sultanbekova, Koyon Media
3. THE FOREST (Hungary) by Bálint Kenyeres, Anabanana

The Book of Projects, detailing each project, will be published online in the second half of July. Accredited professionals from the film industry will be entitled to request one-to-one meetings with the teams of the selected projects through the Venice  Gap-Financing Market’s dedicated area on the Venice Production Bridge website (veniceproductionbridge.org).