Going European program
CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée) has confirmed the second edition of Going European program, launched in 2023 and funded by the European Commission's MEDIA program. Series Mania (France), Conecta Fiction & Entertainment co-production and networking market (Spain) and Sarajevo Film Festival - CineLink Industry Days (Bosnia-Herzegovina) are partners of the initiative.
Going European is a training program for pairs of international writers which aims to train writers in the co-writing, co-development and co-production of international series. A total of 30 authors will be supported throughtout the program, all of them involved in international series co-writing projects.
This year, five pairs of writers have been selected and will come together for three week-long training sessions at the three partner events. They will take part in workshops and masterclasses on the specific challenges of creating an international series. Leading professionals, like Austrian showrunner Jacob Groll, will share their experience of international series with them, tackling the creative, financial, legal and environmental issues involved, as well as production, distribution and promotion questions related to this format.
The first session kicked off on March 14th, at Series Mania - Lille / Hauts-de-France. The five pairs of writers selected in 2024 are:
• Nadja Dumouchel (Germany) who wrote the documentary series "Art Stories" and is currently co-writing the series "Zebras" with Nicolas Ducray, as well as several feature films and documentaries.
• Nicolas Ducray (France) who is developing his first feature film as a director as well as two series supported by the CNC: "Bang Bang" and "Zebras".
• Judit Banhazi (Hungary) who has developed stories for Gaumont, Audible, Banijay, Mediawan and Odeon Fiction. She is co-author of "Transformation", a sci-fi project by Volker Engel.
• Pierre Puget (France) joined the Netflix series "1899" in 2020 as a translator and set consultant. He recently co-founded his own production company, BRAINS.
• Paul-Ravzan Macovei (Romania) who second feature film "Romina, VTM" is one of the five best-selling Romanian films of the last thirty years and had the best opening in recorded history. He is currently directing Bravo, "tată".
• Simon P.R. Bewick (France) who has directed several documentaries. As a producer, his work on "Play Dead with Arte" was recognised at DOKLeipzig and DOCPOINT.
• Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia), her films "The Tree" and "History of Love" were nominated for Oscars in 2016 and 2020. Her series "Trigrad" was presented at Series Mania and has been nominated several times for the Sarajevo Film Festival 2023.
• Teona Mitevska (Macedonia), her filmography includes acclaimed films such as "God Exists", "Her Name Is Petrunya", which won the 2019 LUX Prize, "The Happiest Man in the World" and "21 Days until the End of the World."
• Alex Balassa (Hungary), who has been involved in a number of international projects in America, Europe and Asia. He also founded Balassa Films, Blind Spot Pictures and co-founded the investment fund Blindspot Capital.
• Ewelina Agata Chyzynska (Poland), has worked on over 1,700 episodes of series. She is a script consultant at House Media, where she contributes to the development of premium series and feature films.