PROJECT MARKET AWARDS WINNERS
The QCinema Project Market, the industry initiative that accompanies The Philippines’ QCinema International Film Festival, revealed its winners list on Tuesday delivering almost $500,000 of grants and in-kind support.
The prizes followed a two-day networking and pitching event on Nov. 18 and 19 for 19 feature-length fiction film projects from Southeast Asia.
Two projects received the QCinema Project Market – Philippines Co-production Grant, with both collecting $55,000 (PHP3 million). They were: “The Remotes” from director-producer John Torres; and “Filipiñana,” by director Rafael Manuel. “Filipinana,” a black comedy set on a golf course, won a second prize on the night worth another $18,000. At the recent Asian Project Market in Busan it had also been a multiple prize winner.
Two film projects also received the QCinema Project Market – Philippines Co-production Grant worth $27,000 (PHP1.5 million) each: “The Boy and the Fight of Spiders (Diwalwal)” by director Jarell Serencio and “Ella Arcangel: Ballad of Tooth and Claw” an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name, by director Mervin Malonzo. It was the only animation project in the roster.
QCinema Project Market – Southeast Asia Co-production Grant worth $35,000 each was given to “The Sea is Calm Tonight” by Vietnamese director Le Bao and two film projects from Singapore — “The Drought” and “Trinity” from directors Nelson Yeo and Boo Junfeng, respectively. “The Sea is Calm Tonight” won two further awards at QCinema: one providing color grading support, the other worth $9,000.
“QCinema Project Market has been met with warm welcome and overwhelming interest from the country and the region and we hope to be able to continue this as an annual integral program inside QCinema,” said QCinema artistic director Ed Lejano.
EURIMAGES CO-PRODUCTION AWARD
Film funding organization Eurimages and the European Film Academy have decided to bestow this year’s Eurimages International Co-Production Award on producer Uljana Kim.
Eurimages and the EFA said the award went to Kim “to mark her outstanding commitment to co-production and the strong co-producing partnerships she has built up over the years. It is also an acknowledgement of the excellent track record of her company in the competitive arena of the Eurimages co-production support program.”
Born in Kyrgyzstan, Kim studied in Moscow before emigrating to Lithuania, where she founded Studio Uljana Kim in 1997. Since then, the company has produced 34 feature and documentary films.
Recent films from Studio Uljana Kim include “Feature Film about Life” by Dovilė Šarutytė, premiering in 2021 at Black Nights Film Festival, “Mr. Landsbergis” by Sergei Loznitsa, premiering in 2021 at IDFA, “Prologos” by Mantas Kvedaravičius, premiering in 2022 at Locarno, “Mariupolis 2” by Mantas Kvedaravičius, premiering at Cannes in 2022, and “Five and a Half Love Stories in an Apartment in Vilnius, Lithuania” by Tomas Vengris, premiering this year at Black Nights Film Festival.
Kim will receive her award at the 36th European Film Awards on Dec. 9 in Berlin.
PETTING TWO
Animal hospital series, “For the Love of Pets” has been licensed by National Geographic for broadcast in the U.S. The network has picked up both seasons in a license deal with Escapade Media.
The Context Media series is narrated by Australian star Jai Courtney and recently started its second season on the country’s Nine Network.
It was previously licensed to the U.K.’s Channel 5, and has now secured other deals with TVNZ, New Zealand, and with Truevisions in Thailand for one season.
Courtney was recently seen in: Texas-noir drama “Catching Dust,” which premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival; Netflix non-linear heist series “Kaleidoscope”; Prime Video’s action thriller series “The Terminal List” alongside Chris Pratt; and in the film “Black Site” for Redbox.
‘FERRARI’ TO CLOSE RED SEA FEST
The Middle East premiere of Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” about three crucial months in the life of Italian sports-car magnate Enzo Ferrari has been set as the closer of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival. No talent is to make the trek to Saudi for the pic that was backed by the Red Sea Fund and is screening as part of the fest’s International Spectacular strand. Other high-profile titles bowing in the region from this section of the festival comprise Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” Ava Duvernay’s “Origin,” and John Woo’s “Silent Night,” all sans talent in tow. The fest’s third edition will run Nov. 30-Dec. 9 in Jeddah, on the Red Sea’s eastern shore.
