CineMart Award winners 2017. Photo by Melanie Lemahieu.

46th International Film Festival Rotterdam: 25 January – 5 February 2017 | 34rd CineMart: 29 January – 1 February 2017

Rotterdam, 1 February 2017

This evening, the CineMart 2017 awards were announced, marking the close of the 34rd edition of the co-production market. Out of 26 international projects from 24 countries the jury chose 4 different projects. Russian/French co-production Jumpman was awarded the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €20,000, which is given to a project presented by a European producer. Italian/French co-production Martin Eden was awarded the €6,000 ARTE International Prize and the Wouter Barendrecht Award was given to Lei Lei's first feature film project Ningdu. The prize of €5,000 is awarded by the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation. New this year was the Filmmore Post-Production Award, granted for the first time. The prize of €5,000 went to Martyr's Lane (UK). 

The jury for the ARTE, Eurimages and Filmmore awards was comprised of Uldis Dimiševskis, Head of Production and Development at National Film Centre of Latvia, producer Annamaria Lodato and Anton Scholten, co-founder of leading Dutch post-production and VFX house Filmmore. The Wouter Barendrecht Award is decided on by representatives of the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation, Nelleke and Ellis Driessen. 

This year’s Eurimages Co-Production Development Award winner, Jumpman by Ivan I. Tverdovsky is produced by New People (Russia) in co-production with Arizona Productions (France). On the jury’s decision, Uldis Dimiševskis commented: “The award goes to a project that through a seemingly simple story questions our ever-growing numbness evidenced so clearly in our societies today. In doing so, this young and talented filmmaker attempts to bridge a high quality filmmaking to a wider audience while further expanding and developing his cinema language.” 

The ARTE International Prize winner is Martin Eden (Italy/France) by Pietro Marcello, produced by Avventurosa and Shellac. On presenting the award, Annamaria Lodato commented: “Our award is given to a talented filmmaker who has already been able to create a very personal universe. I was touched by the quality and originality of his previous work and by his sensitive artistic vision. He is now planning to make an adaptation of a beautiful novel dealing with class struggle, love, culture and political ideals.”

The Filmmore Post-Production Award winner is Martyr's Lane by Ruth Platt (UK), produced by Ipso Facto Productions. Filmmore's co-founder  Anton Scholten commented: “Martyr’s Lane is a deeply personal and original film about a family where something has gone terribly wrong. An unsettling ghost story and a psychological horror, but born out of character and painted relationships, not out of formula.” 

The Wouter Barendrecht Award winner is Ningdu (USA), directed by Lei Lei, produced by Chinese Shadows and C-Ray Studio. "After careful consideration the jury decided for a project that tells of a personal family history during a well known historical period and that stands out in originality in form and style. We were impressed by the visual material, it looked fabulous and clearly a work of art. We are convinced that the grant of €5,000 shall be well spent in the further development.”

CineMart 2017 saw the launch of the Propellor Film Tech Hub, an initiative by IFFR, EFM, CPH:DOX and Cinemathon, to develop new business models for the production, distribution and experience of films. During the Propellor | Kickstart event ten innovative ideas were developed and eventually pitched to an audience of professionals from different disciplines (film & tech). Two ideas were selected to be pitched tonight at the CineMart Closing Night to the audience. The audience voted for Culture Cues (working title), to be presented with the Canon Innovation Award. The award includes travel, accommodation and participation in the Propellor bootcamp in Berlin this summer.

Culture Cues - a Tinder-like app for film viewers - shows trailers and gathers the data of the users and the trailers they like. Culture Cues shares this information with distributors and exhibitors who can then prepare targeted campaigns since they know who wants to see their films where. The Culture Cues team comprised of Victoria Thomas (UK), Sterre Heinis (The Netherlands), Imke Poeschel (Germany) and Jacob McPherson (USA).

Click here for the full selection list for CineMart 2017.

CineMart ran from 29 January to 1 February 2017 as part of International Film Festival Rotterdam which runs from 25 January to 5 February. CineMart was the first platform of its kind to offer filmmakers the opportunity to launch their projects to the international film industry and to connect with appropriate industry executives to secure financing. Launching new projects in need of additional financing, CineMart also heralds an important start of the film year. Every year, CineMart invites a select number of directors/producers to present their film projects to co-producers, bankers, funds, sales agents, distributors, TV stations and other potential financiers.

Concurrent with CineMart, Rotterdam Lab takes place: a five-day training workshop for young and emerging producers. It is designed to build up their international network and provide skills and confidence to navigate the festival circuit, including international film financing, sales and distribution.