The landmark 25th edition of Producers on the Move is casting a spotlight on the numerous collaborations launched through the program since its inception. The European Film Promotion initiative, which happens before and during the Cannes Film Festival, gives 20 emerging European producers the opportunity to promote their work and enlarge their international network.
Over 500 participants from 37 European countries have taken part in the initiative over the years. Producers who met at the program went on to work on films such as Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” Ruben Östlund’s “The Square” and Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann.”
“Our main goal is a very simple thing: get people together,” Producers on the Move program director Jo Mühlberger tells PvNew. “At the beginning, we were wondering what to do, because it isn’t just about being in the same room, but how to structure conversations and interactions. As simple as it sounds, it takes work. When we first started Producers on the Move, there was no event dedicated to producers in Cannes.”
Producers on the Move alumna Ruth Treacy of Ireland’s Tailored Films believes one of the program’s greatest strengths lies in how it allows for personal connections. Treacy is behind this year’s Cannes competition title “The Apprentice,” an Irish-Canadian-Danish co-production directed by “Border” filmmaker Ali Abbasi, which charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power. The project reunited her with fellow Producers on the Move 2021 participant Nima Yousefi (“Clara Sola”), who boarded the film as a co-producer at a later stage.
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“Working on ‘The Apprentice,’ reignited the desire to work on more projects with Nima,” says Treacy. “He is such an experienced producer and it was great to meet him during Producers on the Move. There are also other participants from that year I am hoping to work with soon, including Jean-Christophe Reymond. We are discussing a possible French-Irish co-production at the moment.”
Treacy and Yousefi are currently scouting locations in Ireland for “Clara Sola” director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s next film, titled “The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands.”
PvNew spoke to Treacy in the middle of sound mixing for “The Apprentice,” a film she believes will “surprise a lot of people.” “We are so excited that Ireland is involved in ‘The Apprentice.’ People might look at it on the page, see a film about Donald Trump and say ‘No, thank you,’ but this is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It truly is an origin story and it is going to defy what people expect of it.”
Like Treacy and Yousefi, Janine Jackowski of Germany’s Komplizen Film and Alexander Glehr of Austria’s FILM AG met during Producers on the Move in 2009 and went on to work together on Marie Kreutzer’s Un Certain Regard 2022 entry “Corsage.”
“I’ve met quite a few people via the program that I have stayed in touch with,” notes Jackowski. “Working together in a co-production requires a lot of trust and faith that one will listen to the needs of the other. Almost every film we do is a co-production, they are immensely important to us as a company. Getting to meet people you enjoy working with, who share your tastes and who you can trust is an immense joy and Producers on the Move has certainly helped me in that sense.”
Glehr highlighted how working alongside Jackowski on “Corsage” gave him a taste of a prestigious festival experience. “It gave me a goal, a drive to continue making films,” he says, going on to emphasize how Producers on the Move changed his perspective on collaborating with not only different producers but different countries.
“The program broadens your perspective. You realize there are things available you would have never thought of before. The market has changed immensely over the last 15 years and it’s incredibly important to have international connections so you can get a wider vision of the whole industry and where it is headed.”
Mühlberger is particularly proud of how Producers on the Move connects people from countries not used to co-producing. “You are not only meeting 19 other people, you are opening yourself up to another 19 countries. It’s also not just about paying a fee for a networking event. The national film institutes of 37 countries choose their representatives and we choose 20 producers from that batch. This is a very select group of producers and what we do is we connect people and countries more than we connect projects.”
“In Ireland, we’ve always had a very co-production-focused approach to filmmaking because we feel on the edge of Europe,” remarks Treacy. “It’s great that we can meet new people and share resources with producers in countries you might not have immediately thought of. This collaboration is vital for filmmaking going forward in Europe because, with all the changes brought on by streamers, things are less certain than ever. It’s really important that independent producers can stick together, share resources of what’s available in each other’s territory and work to continue making European films the way we want to make them and not be massively influenced by streamers or the U.S. system.”
With 25 years on the books, what is still in store for Producers on the Move? Mühlberger says he wants to work with AI, which he calls a “game-changer” and learn more about international co-financing to minimize unnecessary travel for productions within Europe and curb a still-concerning carbon footprint.
“Lastly, I would like to emphasize that a film is for consumption,” poses the program director. “We want to reach an audience. If someone is watching your film on a smartphone in the subway, be happy your film is being seen. New technologies are hard to integrate into the program because the industry is quite conservative. Opening up is not in the genes of the industry and you have to open up.”
