Regional Action (RE-ACT) Begins
Representatives of audiovisual centres of Slovenia, Croatia, and Friuli Venezia Giulia presented in Portorož the RE-ACT initiative (Regional Audiovisual Cooperation and Training) in detail, whose basic goal is to structure the current excellent cooperation between these three funds on a formal level. The intention is to ensure regular collaboration between filmmakers and professionals living in the area connecting the Adriatic, Alps and Pannonia lowlands through vocational training and co-financing of joint feature film production of all genres.
The functioning mechanisms and guidelines of this initiative were presented on Saturday in Portorož, during the 17th Slovenian Film Festival, by the head of the Slovenian Film Centre Jožko Rutar, head of the Audiovisual Fund of Friuli Venezia Giulia Paolo Vidali and Sanja Ravlić, artistic advisor for minority co-productions and Croatian representative at Eurimages.
In the first phase, RE-ACT is planning cooperation with the international film development platform TorinoFilmLab (TFL) in two forms: through regular international educational TFL programmes and a trans-regional workshop held at FrameWork TFL. Every year the workshop will invite a maximum of nine producer-director teams, at least two from Croatia, Slovenia and Friuli Venezia Giulia. The selected candidates will participate in Framework’s plenary sessions, develop a project at individual meetings with mentors and experts from TFL, and present their projects to potential co-production partners from Croatia, Slovenia and Friuli Venezia Giulia. This programme will be open to projects supported by at least one of the three of RE-ACT’s funds, or projects with at least two producers from the partnering countries. The first public calls will be available in late February, with deadlines closing in April 2015.
The development of co-production projects will be launched in autumn 2015, intended for feature-length fiction, documentary, animated or experimental films. Eligible projects need to connect thematically the three regions’ territory, or have three co-producers, at least two from the partnering countries, or are supported by at least one of RE-ACT’s funds. The first public call for project submission will be available in September 2015, and the decision on the selected projects will be reached by the Programme Council (appointed by RE-ACT’s funds) in December 2015. A maximum of six projects a year will be financed in the maximum amount of 10,000.00 Euro per project. The main goal is to stimulate co-productions of works covering engaged issues from the region, and help them find their way to new audiences and markets.
Real possibilities of such collaboration are visible from the example of three titles presented in Portorož: the Slovenian-Croatian film Inferno, which recently premiered in Slovenia, and two co-productions that achieved success at international festivals, the Italian-Croatian film TIR (Golden Marcus Aurelius for best film and best editing at the Rome International Film Festival 2013), and the Italian-Slovenian film Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot (Venice International Film Festival 2013, FEDEORA Award, and International Critics’ Week Award).
More information about RE-ACT is available on the official website of this initiative. Photographs from the presentation can be downloaded on this link; photos by Andrej Firm.
Title photos: Jožko Rutar, Paolo Vidali, Sanja Ravlić, audience; logo
