KEY BUYERS EVENT: WEMW GOES TO RUSSIA FORUM UNVEILS THE CO-PRODUCTION FINALISTS

17 projects from Russia and 9 international projects hailing from 8 countries have been selected to take part in WEMW Goes to Russia, a new international co-production forum between Roskino and When East Meets West which takes places during the upcoming Key Buyers Event: Digital which runs from 8-10 June 2021 with three additional days of screenings and matchmaking.

The Key Buyers Event: Digital event now in its third year has expanded the co-production programme and together with WEMW, they aim to boost co-production with Russia and introduce international and Russian filmmakers to find the right partners and access essential funding to complete their projects.

The selected global teams will now have the unique chance to meet leading Russian producers, find the possible right partners and access a minority co-production support granted by the Russian Ministry of Culture, which traditionally mounts up to RUB 10 million (about 110.000 EUR).

The line-up includes 9 international and 17 Russian feature-length projects in development which span animation, drama, documentary, comedy, and action-adventure.

Head of WEMW Alessandro Gropplero explained: “We received an amazing number of international applications, almost 60 from 25 different countries. I am sure none of us could expect this response at the beginning of the call. We finally selected 9 very diverse projects from 8 different countries. All projects have a different genre, a different profile of directors, and a very solid package and significant funding in place that increase their chances to be produced. Having the chance to have a Russian point of view in the selection was a key element as we wanted to be sure to include projects with high chances to raise the interest of possible Russian co-producers.”

Evgenia Markova, CEO of ROSKINO said: “With expanding the co-production section at Key Buyers Event, we have responded to the global demand for partnering and co-producing with Russia that we’ve seen over recent years. The number and quality of the entries for our inaugural year of WEMW Goes to Russia has exceeded our expectations. Apart from the well-known titles such as ‘Persian Lessons’, ‘Dovlatov’, ‘The Whaler Boy’ and their creators, there are also a lot of new, less obvious IPs and opportunities for partnerships. It’s not only about Russian projects – this year we have a selection of international titles as well, which could benefit from the minority co-production support from The Ministry of Culture, which launches the competition right after the Key Buyers Event.”