The Institute of Documentary Film is proud to present 12 documentary projects that have been selected for the 20th edition of the Ex Oriente Film workshop. The first session of the Ex Oriente Film will take place in La Rochelle, June 17-22, in cooperation with Sunny Side of the Doc.
Love and Capitalism
Director: Bara Jichova Tyson
Production: Alice Tabery (CINEPOINT), Kristina Škodová (CINEPOINT), Alexandra Nikolchev
Czech Republic, USA
Told from the point of view of children, Love and Capitalism is a documentary film investigating how a culture shapes the mindset of future generations. Are we engineering our children for survival or extinction?
Director: Roman Blazhan
Production: Roman Blazhan (Minimal Movie)
Ukraine
341 residents of Yahidne spent 26 days in captivity during the Russian invasion. A school basement where they were kept remains a grim reminder of the collective trauma. How to deal with this memory?
Beautiful Void
Director: Andris Gauja
Production: Elza Gauja (Riverbed), Andris Gauja (Riverbed)
Co-production: Margus Õunapuu (Filmtower)
Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland
Where do we all come from? Several very different characters, from leading physicists to music composers, each reach a similar answer: in essence, the universe is radiant empty space, constantly exploding into existence.
Chasing Stumps
Director: Mihai Gavril Dragolea, Radu Mocanu
Production: Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan (Manifest Film), Elena Martin (Manifest Film)
Romania
While filming a documentary on illegal logging, two filmmakers and an activist are attacked by the wood cutting mafia. After the attack, a fight for justice starts that will decide the fate of the forest.
December
Director: Grzegorz Paprzycki
Production: Piotr Śmiechowski (Telemark)
Poland
The arrival of December destroys the current order. Along with snow and frost, it brings to Europe people called migrants, refugees and even enemies. Winter takes over not only city streets, but also people's hearts.
European Union Wolf
Director: Jadran Boban
Production: Dana Budisavljević (Hulahop Film & Art Production)
Croatia
In the Dalmatian Hinterland life has always been tied to sheep farming until wolves turned up. The villagers resort to the international conspiracy as the only explanation for their situation.
Iron Man
Director: Maryna Nikolcheva
Production: Oleksandra Kravchenko
Ukraine
After a successful film debut 12 years ago, Max, film director, has never returned to filmmaking. Trying to come out of the doldrums, he commences the project of repairing his 1986 year Volkswagen Golf, alone.
Maomi
Director: Judit Oláh
Production: Inez Mátis (Pi Production), Annika Mayer (Majmun Films)
Hungary, Germany, Poland
11 countries, 6 children, 3 men at a time. In the 1960s, Maomi raised her children in the spirit of free love, outside social norms. Now she must face her demons and answer the question if she made the right choices.
May It Be a Girl
Director: Katerina Suvorova
Production: Aruan Anartayev
Austria, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstani women, named after their parents’ wishes: “May it be a boy”, live their lives on the border between old values and current time, forcing them to make a decisive choice or learn to balance this thin line.
Mothership
Director: Ana Vijdea
Production: Horatiu Curutiu (Numa FIlm)
Romania, Portugal
An essay film about the different forms of abuse experienced by Mara, a girl who grew up in a Romanian small town.
War on Women
Director: Maris Salumets
Production: Maris Salumets, Volia Chajkouskaya (Allfilm)
Estonia, Poland, Slovakia
Young Blood
Director: Agata Baumgart
Production: Grzegorz Pacek (Wytwórnia Filmów)
Poland
Growing up girls want to tell the world a story about why teenagers don't want to live and how they enter adulthood battling a mental health crisis.
The Ex Oriente Film is a training program focused on development and funding of creative documentary films from Central and Eastern Europe. The team of experienced tutors will help workshop participants with the development of their projects during three sessions:
1st Session: Find Your Way – Vision, Space and Storytelling
June 17-22, 2022 (in La Rochelle, at Sunny Side of the Doc, France)
2nd Session: Production and Story Development
October 24-28, 2022 (at Ji.hlava IDFF, Czech Republic)
3rd Session & East Doc Forum: Market, Here I Am!
March 24-30, 2023 (in Prague, Czech Republic, within the East Doc Platform & One World IHRDFF)
The leading tutors of the 1st Ex Oriente Film 2022 workshop session are documentary expert Mikael Opstrup, consultant and producer Iikka Vehkalahti, director and script editor Ivana Pauerová Miloševičová and director and producer Filip Remunda. Among the guest tutors are director Marc Isaacs, producer Heidi Fleisher, director and producer Aliona van der Horst, director and actress Nino Kirtadzé and sales agents Aleksandar Govedarica and Samuel Joyce.
[Updated on June 2, 2022]
