Russia participates at When East Meets West forum in Italy

The Russian film industry will be widely represented at the international co-production forum When East Meets West (WEMW), which will be held January 24–28 in Trieste, Italy. For the first time, Russia will be “a country in focus” of one of the largest European co-production platform.

Five Russian film projects selected by the jury will be presented at the forum, and the directors and producers of these films will be able to personally present their work to the international professional community. The national delegation will include producers taking part in special sessions and panel discussions.

Evgenia Markova, CEO of Roskino: “The participation of the Russian delegation in the international co-production forum When East Meets West in Italy is a logical continuation of both our partnership with the forum as part of the market for Russian content 'Key Buyers Event' and the further development of our dialogue with the Italian industry that began at the Venice Film Festival in 2021, when we organized a 'Focus on Russia'. The increase in interaction with the European production community is not accidental. We can see a readiness for co-production from Russian colleagues and the international community. It is significant that almost 10% of the total number of applications for the WEMW co-production forum came from Russia. I am sure that the forum will give the Russian film industry an opportunity to maximize its potential and will also help raise the level of expertise of Russian producers.”

The WEMW forum will be held in partnership with the Roskino export brand Russian Content Worldwide (RCW). This year, WEMW will take place in a hybrid format: delegations from participating countries will join WEMW physically and virtually.

RUSSIAN SELECTED PROJECTS
"A Short Summer", directed by Nastya Korkia, and produced by Natalia Drozd; "White Road!" directed by Ella Manzheeva and produced by Victoria Lupik; "The Year of Birth" directed by Mikhail Mestetsky and produced by Sergei Kornikhin and Semyon Zakruzhny; "Against the Wind", directed and produced by Tatyana Soboleva. and "Talk to Me", directed by Yulia Mironova.
The Russian delegation, which will include producers and cinematographers, headed by Roskino CEO, Evgenia Markova, will take part in the business program of the forum. A “Meet the Russian Delegation” session is also planned: Russian film industry professionals will be able to present themselves and their companies to all the participants of the WEMW forum.

Alessandro Gropplero, Head of the When East Meets West forum: “In this incredibly challenging edition of WEMW, one of the most pleasing outcomes is the Russian film industry’s huge interest in our range of activities. Over the past few months, we have received an incredible number of high-quality Russian submissions for all our sections, and we are very happy to have selected several promising talents and outstanding projects, and we hope to offer them the chance to find co-production partners, festival premiere and international sales amongst the 750+ international WEMW attendees.”