Rough Cut Service

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.

Selected Projects

  • Dream's Gate

    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

  • The Kindergarten

    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

  • Motherland

    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

  • No Other Land

    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

  • Smiling Georgia

    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

  • The Sound of Broken Glass

    More information about this project will follow shortly.

  • Testament

    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

  • We are all Gauri

    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