FULL CIRCLE LAB
NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE
HESSEN 2024
Full Circle Lab Nouvelle-Aquitaine Hessen is a capacity building international training program, which aims at supporting and accompanying the writing, development and post-production of 10 feature films closely connected to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region in France and Hessen Region in Germany.
The lab is addressed to both emerging and more experienced filmmakers, French, German and international projects.
It relies on the local cinema ecosystem of festivals’ initiatives, and residencies such as the clos-FIFIB, the Biarritz Bal Lab, the Poitiers Film Festival and fosters synergies with filmmakers and producers active in the region.
The program is financially supported by Alca Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Hessen Film & Medien, the Lot-et-Garonne Department and takes the form of residential and online workshops.
> Accompanying projects closely connected to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region in France and Hessen Region in Germany, and supporting their feasibility, and international potential in a tailor-made way.
> Supporting the whole cinema ecosystem in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Hessen Regions in an integrated manner and accompanying 6 projects at scriptwriting stage (the Development Lab) and 4 projects in editing phase (the First Cut Lab).
Aims
of the program
1st module
Development Lab
During the 7 months of the Lab, the six selected projects focus on script & project development.
Module & structure
The Development Lab selects 6 projects, which will have the chance to attend two residential workshops, each lasting four full working days, and 1 industry event.
Full Circle Lab Nouvelle-Aquitaine Hessen is open to teams of scriptwriter/director and producer. Both of them will attend the workshops.
An individual follow-up
During the last months of the program, projects are followed individually.
According to their needs, a participation to a specific co-production forum or film industry event will be suggested and facilitated, either in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine or Hessen Regions, in France or internationally.
Three on-site sessions
The first workshop takes place in La Maison Forte in Monbalen, on June 11-15 2024, and offers analysis of the treatment together with main rewriting axes, consultancy on overall production plan and markets and festivals strategy.
The second workshop takes place in Schloss Biebrich, Wiesbaden, on September 22 – 26 2024, and offers analysis of the script and consultancy on the full presentation, the financial elements, distribution and sales.
The third phase takes place in Poitiers during the Poitiers Film Festival where the participants pitch their projects at the TAP – Théâtre Auditorium on December 6, 2024 and meet sales agents and distributors.
A great flexibility
The limited number of participants & projects will allow great flexibility in the agenda, moving between plenary and group sessions, and individual consultations when needed.
Module & structure
The First Cut Lab is open to the filmmaker, producer and editor of the project and it takes place online.
The exact dates of the workshop are chosen in agreement with the selected teams to best answer the needs of their films. The workshop takes place during the period from April 29th to October 31st 2024.
Each film is accompanied by First Cut Lab for a period of roughly 3 weeks, even though the core of the Lab takes place over two consecutive days.
Tools provided for future
After the workshop, the film team receives a memo of the discussions and all suggestions, to serve as a road map in the further editing.
Tailor-made chosen advisors
The core is an in-depth discussion where the filmmakers get to test their questions and dilemmas with carefully chosen film industry experts.
An editor consultant helps the teams throughout the whole process with preparatory and follow-up meetings.
For more details
First Cut Lab is an international initiative, regularly joining Full Circle Lab for unique collaborations.
To know more about this module, discover all the information here.
2nd module
First Cut
Lab
This second module selects 4 feature films in the editing phase, supported by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the Hessen Region for their production.
Development Lab
projects
Burning Skin
Directed by Behrooz Karamizade
Produced by Jacob Weydemann and Lisa Marie Wischer (Weydemann Bros, Germany)
Coproduced by LPP
Synopsis: MARYAM, a 22-year-old Iranian student, lives with her father HOSSEIN (50) and her little sister near the Pakistani border. Her world changes when Hossein suddenly disappears and Maryam finds out that he is involved in fuel smuggling. Determined to find out the whereabouts of her father she disguises herself as a man and joins the smugglers on a dangerous journey, where Maryam learns shocking truths about her father’s double life and his suspected murder.
Cracks
Directed by Elisa Puerto Aubel
Produced by Coralie Dias (Interspinas, France)
Countries of Production: France, Spain, Belgium
Synopsis: Madrid, near future. An extreme heatwave with temperatures up to 60ºC strikes the city, forcing everyone to flee. Air conditioning becomes a basic necessity. In a downtown building, four very different neighbors who barely know each other are forced to stay in their apartments for various reasons. As fires begin to consume the city and the sky turns red, the building threatens to collapse under the deadly heat. Odalí, Laura, Sophie, and Ximena will have to unite their forces to try to escape.
Des Oreilles, Une Bouche
Directed by Jules Follet
Produced by Marie Lesay (Rue de la Sardine)
Coproduced by Alexandre Gavras (KG Productions)
Synopsis: As a Lingala interpreter for the police and courts, Cheikh has always managed to stay discreet. Just ears and a mouth, nothing more. But eager to please the officers who employ him, especially the young team leader Damien, he agrees to lend his voice to the police’s intimidation of young Malia, a source in a fake ID trafficking investigation. The interpreter becomes more and more involved, and soon begins to stumble, tripping over his words.
False Positive
Directed by Theo Montoya
Produced by Bianca Oana (Monogram Film, Romania), Theo Montoya (Desvio Visual, Colombia), Romain Blondeau (Parcelles Films, France)
Synopsis: In Colombia, between 2002 – 2009, the country experienced one of the darkest moments in its recent history: the false positives, where 6,402 civilians were killed by the army to pass them off as guerrillas and show better results in the war against the FARC-EP. False Positive will be a fiction film set in 2009 that weaves four narrative lines into a story that explores the horrors of false positives and the manipulation of reality.
Les Grandes Marées
Directed by Kahina Le Querrec
Produced by Emilie Tardif (Améthyste Films, France)
Synopsis: Batz’s Island 1904 Brittany. The world of Katell and Paola, two inseparable sisters, is the rock and the sea, the laborious harvesting of seaweed, and their parents Aela and Jean. To protect them from the harshness of life, Aela tells them lots of fairy tales about the dead and the living. One day, as they’re all working, Aela is swept out of the sea. Like the rest of the islanders, their father believes the sea has taken her forever. Only Katell and Paola refuse to believe she has drowned: what if fairy tales were real?
Where we’re going
Directed by Dascha Petuchow
Produced by Julian Gerchow (Plotlessfilm, Germany)
Synopsis: Where We’re Going tells the story of the single mother Nadja and her daughter who leave their home in Kazakhstan behind to emigrate to Germany in pursuit of a better future. Torn between the values of her upbringing and the hardships of adapting to her new surroundings, Nadja struggles to reconcile her past with her present.
First Cut Lab Projects –
Projects in the post-production phase
La Couleuvre Noire
Directed by Aurélien Vernhes-Lermusiaux
Produced by David Hurst (Dublin Films, France)
Coproduced by Diana Bustamante (Burning, Colombie) and Paola Wink, Jessica Luz (Vulcana Cinema, Brazil)
Synopsis: After being gone for several years, Ciro is back in the Colombian desert of Tatacoa, a harsh and hostile environment where his family has lived for several generations. When he comes to his dying mother’s bedside, he must confront the ones he’s left behind, questioning his past decisions and the future of Tatacoa.
The Origin of the World
Directed by Borbála Nagy
Produced by Petra Iványi (Lupa Pictures, Hungary) and Margarita Amineva Jester (Voices Films, Germany)
Coproduced by Julie Paratian (Sister Productions, France) and Daria Wichmann (Deutsche Film – und Fernsehakademie Berlin, Germany)
Synopsis: In Paris, Adél faces an unwanted pregnancy. In Budapest, Nóra hides her and her husband’s adoption plans. In Berlin, Becky confronts her family about becoming a single mother. These three women in their forties, each grappling with abortion, infertility, or single parenting, must decide the course of their future. As their perceived solutions create deeper conflicts, the story questions whether society or their own self-imposed limits truly restrict their freedom to live as they desire.
Tens Across The Borders
Directed by Chan Sze-Wei
Produced by Alemberg Ang (Daluyong Studios inc., Philippines)
Coproduced by Yasmin C. Rams (Perennial Lens, Germany), CHAN Sze-Wei (Oddpuppy Productions Pte Ltd, Singapore) and TAN Si En (Momo Film Co. , Singapore)
Synopsis: Sun, Teddy, and Xyza’s lives are transformed when they discover vogue dancing and underground ballroom, a subculture originated by the Black and Latinx LGTBQ+ community in New York. The three start ballroom communities in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines for youth in need of safe spaces for sexuality and gender expression. The film follows Teddy’s first visit to New York City, Xyza as she brings ballroom to the distant provinces, and Sun’s ballroom-inspired performance premiere in Norway.
Tree, Earth, Human
Directed by Niklas Seehausen
Produced by Aria Azizi (YAL Filmproduction, Germany)
Synopsis: In 2024, protests are happening all over Europe. Against the ever-spreading high-tech industrialized world of agriculture, small family farms are fighting for their last remaining piece of land and tradition. A profound and intimate portrait of the hops-farming families from the Hallertau region of Bavaria, Germany.
Calendar
in 5 steps
Timeline
1 – April 8, 2024 – Deadline for application
2 – May 19, 2024 – Announcement of selected participants & projects at Cannes Film Festival
3 – June 11 – 15, 2024 – First Development Lab residential workshop in La Maison Forte, Monbalen
4 – September 22 – 26, 2024 – Second Development Lab residential workshop in Schloss Biebrich, Wiesbaden.
5- December 6, 2023 –Industry Day during the Poitiers Film Festival in Poitiers.
Tutors
& mentors
Matthieu Darras
CEO of Tatino Films
Matthieu Darras designs and leads several programs of film/talent development and consultancy that are active worldwide: the First Cut Lab, the Pop Up Film Residency, and the Full Circle Lab. Previously, he founded and directed the European Network of Young Cinema NISI MASA, wrote for the film magazine Positif, and was the artistic director of the TorinoFilmLab.
He also worked for major film festivals in Europe: as a programmer for the Cannes Critics’ Week, as a consultant for the Venice Film Festival, and as a delegate for the San Sebastian Film Festival.
He also directed the Bratislava Film Festival.
Myriam Sassine
Head of the program and Producer Consultant
Myriam Sassine joined Abbout Productions producing several features and documentaries such as Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl (Venice Film Festival Official Selection / TIFF 2021), 1982 by Oualid Mouaness (TIFF 2019) and Panoptic by Rana Eid (Locarno 2017).
From 2016 to 2020, she was the COO of Schortcut Films dedicated to co-producing international films. In 2016, she cofounded Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the first and only genre film festival in the Middle East.
Since 2021, she’s the project manager of Aflamuna Connection, Aflamuna’s coproduction platform. Myriam is an alumni of EAVE Producer’s Workshop (2019) and Film Independent Producing Lab (2019).
Philippe Barrière
Script Consultant
Born in 1978, Philippe Barrière has a Masters in philosophy and formal logic at La Sorbonne University.
Script consulting is way for him to combine his interest for analysis and his passion for cinema.
Over the past years, Philippe Barrière has had several relevant experiences in the field of script consulting such as head of the development for Mille et une Productions or, since 2010, as an independent script consultant.
He is notably the co-author with Rubaiyat Hossain of Made in Bangladesh (Toronto 2019). He teaches scriptwriting in different film schools in Paris, and works on several script development workshops, such as La Scénaristerie, Cannes Talent Unlimited and Le Groupe Ouest.
Britta Krause
Script Consultant
After having studied at NYU’s Film & TV programme and her graduation from the London Film School with a distinction in script-writing, Britta worked internationally as a writer/director/editor on short and TV-films and made a career directing commercials. Since 2012 she has been working as a scriptwriting tutor for institutions like the Doha Film Institute, European Short Pitch, Torino Film Lab, Nipkow Programm, Attagirl (BFI), Semaine de la Critique’s Next Step workshop and Full Circle Lab. She is currently a mentor for the Netflix Accelerator workshop and teaches at Filmakademie Ludwigsburg and ifs Cologne besides working as a freelance script consultant with writer-directors from all over the world.
Alexis Hofmann
Industry consultant
Alexis Hofmann is graduate in Modern Literature and in Distribution at La Fémis.
After working for Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC), he joined HAUT ET COURT, and then MEMENTO FILMS, working in the booking and marketing departments for each.
He joined BAC FILMS in 2006, as a booker and then became marketing project manager for the company.
Alexis now oversees acquisitions for BAC FILMS.
Edyta Janczak-Hiriart
Producer Consultant
Edyta Janczak-Hiriart is a French producer of Polish descent. A graduate of the Lodz Film School, she’s also a member of EAVE, ACE Producers Series Special, and Producers To Watch at MipTV. In 2008, she founded Kometa Films, a company based in Paris and Orléans, specializing in producing films and series through international co-productions. Among her recent productions are “Anatomia” by Ola Jankowska, presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2021, and “By Flavio” by Pedro Cabeleira, presented in Berlinale’s short film competition in 2022.
Partners
& financial
support
Alca, the cultural agency for publishing and cinema in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, supports creation and production of fiction, animation and documentary films through fundings, artists-in-residence program, partnerships with Labs and international market and a regional film commission.
It also stands by film professionals from the region for national and international film festivals, coproduction events and to support distribution and promotion.
A service of Gironde Tourisme, its aim is to facilitate fi lm shoots in the department by off ering a free service to cinema and audiovisual professionals.
Hessen Film & Medien is the first point of contact for film funding in Hesse, Germany, and strengthens the regional film and media industry. It supports film and media professionals and those who want to shoot and produce in Hesse while planning and shooting their projects. Hessen Film & Medien promotes both the artistic and commercial quality of film and series productions and offers support throughout all production stages from treatment to shooting and distribution. Its goal is to pave the way for artistic daring and it stands for the promotion of young talent, diversity, social and environmental sustainability as well as transparent structures.
The Lot-et-Garonne Department Council is active in the cinema industry, specifically through the action of the BAT47 Filming Office, the main actor of the Department’s cinema and audiovisual policy.
In collaboration with
