Eight documentary projects from around the world (Iran, Georgia, Palestine, India, Kenya, Sweden, Ukraine) were selected for the Movies that Matter Rough Cut Service 2022. They all addressed relevant and urgent topics and issues with great cinematic and narrative storytelling. Read more about the selected projects via the drop-down menu below.
On 12 and 13 April, each filmteam privately met with a panel of mentors with the aim of getting feedback on their rough cuts and further improving the structure and narrative of their story. Dream’s Gate was chosen as the winner of the Rough Cut Service. Docs Up Funds awarded the film team of Dream’s Gate € 1500.
The Movies that Matter Rough Cut Service was organised in collaboration with Close Up, Docs Up, Docu Rough Cut Boutique Sarajevo, MEDIMED, Watch Docs and DOCUBOX. A special thanks goes out to the mentors Sigal Yehuda, Alex Szalat, Sergi Doladé, Maciej Nowicki and Rada Sesič.
The sessions were moderated by Gitte Hansen.
Film title: Dream’s Gate
Director: Negin Ahmadi
Writer: Negin Ahmadi
Editor: Reza Shirvani
Producer: Elaheh Nobakht
Production Company: ELI Image
Country(-ies) of Production: Iran
Production Status: post-production
Expected Release Date: 30 September 2022
(Estimated) Final Length: 75
Shooting Language: Kurdish
Logline: Negin, an Iranian girl leaves Tehran to go to Syria looking for her real identity as a woman by visiting some soldier women who are fighting against ISIS.
Contact: Elaheh Nobakht
Film title: The Kindergarten
Director: Hanie Yousefian
Writer: Hanie Yousefian, Moin Karim-oddini
Editor: Moin Karim-oddini
Producer: Mohammad Tayyeb
Production Company: DEFC
Country of Production: Iran
Production Status: nearly the end of production
Expected Release Date: September 2022
(Estimated) Final Length: 70
Shooting Language: Farsi
Logline: The film is about the children who are born in prison and all their own perception of the world is only restricted to the prison. After 3 years they have to leave their mothers and the prison.
Contact: Mohammad Tayyeb
Film title: Motherland
Directors: Alexander Mihalkovich, Anna Badziaka
Writers: Alexander Mihalkovich, Anna Badziaka
Editors: Olha Zhurba, Alina Gorlova
Producer: Mario Adamson
Production Company: Sisyfos Film Production AB
Countries of Production: Sweden, Norway, Ukraine
Production Status: in production
Expected Release Date: 1 September 2022
(Estimated) Final Length: 90
Shooting Language: Belorussian
Logline: available on request.
Contact: Mario Adamson
Film title: No Other Land
Directors: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Shor, Hamdan Balal
Writers: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Shor, Hamdan Balal
Editors: Yuval Abraham, Rachel Shor
Producers: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Shor, Hamdan Balal
Production Company: No Other Land
Country of Production: Palestine
Production Status: in production
Expected Release Date: 1 April 2023
(Estimated) Final Length: 84
Shooting Languages: Arabic, Hebrew
Logline: For ten years, Basel, a young Palestinian activist, has been filming homes in his community being destroyed by Israeli soldiers. As the community faces mass eviction, during the darkest period of his life, Basel develops an unlikely, intimate relationship with a similarly aged Israeli journalist – who joins his struggle.
Contact: Yuval Abraham
Film title: Smiling Georgia
Director: Luka Beradze
Writer: Luka Beradze
Editor: Nodar Nozadze
Producers: Nino Chichua, Anna Khazaradze
Co-producers: Eva Blondiau, Bacho Meburishvili, Sophio Bendiashvili
Production Companies: 1991 Productions, Color of May, Enkeny Films
Countries of Production: Georgia, Germany
Production Status: post-production
Expected Release Date: 2023
(Estimated) Final Length: 70
Shooting Language: Georgian
Logline: Nine years ago, the elderly population of a Georgian village without a name was left deceived and toothless as a result of a failed pre-election campaign called “Smiling Georgia”. In this village people live from election to election waiting and hoping to receive new teeth.
Contact: Nino Chichua
More information about this project will follow shortly.
Working title: Testament
Directors: Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu
Writers: Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu
Editor: Jordana Berg
Producers: Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu and Eliane Ferreira
Production Companies: Twende Pics, AfroFilms International and Muiraquita Films
Countries of Production: Kenya, USA, Portugal
Production Status: post-production
Expected Release Date: January 2023
(Estimated) Final Length: 85
Shooting Languages: Swahili, English
Logline: A Kenyan woman’s search for her father’s remains becomes an investigation into British colonial atrocities including concentration camps and land theft. As her personal mission expands, she transforms into a powerful advocate for justice and land resettlement.
Contact: Meena Nanji
Film title: We are all Gauri
Director: Kavitha Lankesh
Writer: Kavitha Lankesh
Editor: B. Ajith Kumar
Producer: Kavitha Lankesh
Production Company: Esha Lankesh Productions
Country of Production: India
Production Status: rough cut complete
Expected Release Date: April/May 2022
(Estimated) Final Length: 55
Shooting Languages: English, Kannada, Hindi
Logline: There were more than 200 reported attacks on journalists in India in the last five years, Out of which over 30 of them have been murdered in the last decade. India’s number in the global press freedom index is 142 out of 180. The last decade saw the death one such prominent journalist turned activist, Gauri Lankesh which sent shockwaves across the country and the rest of the world. The documentary shall juxtapose the arc of Gauri Lankesh and the rise of Hindu nationalism, specifically in Karnataka and India at large, and their confrontations.
Contact: Kavitha Lankesh
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