European Work in Progress Cologne 2021: This year’s 24 competing European film productions

On 19 October 2021, the fourth edition of European Work in Progress Cologne (EWIP) will be launched in the run-up of the 31th Film Festival Cologne. 24 film projects with the participation of 22 countries have been chosen by the selection committee, and the production teams now have the opportunity to present their films to an international industry audience. A careful and comprehensive hygiene concept ensures the safety of all attendees and allows the participation on site at the Cinenova. Furthermore, an online participation is also being offered for the second time. The industry event aims to bring together creative minds with leading experts and representatives from international distribution and world sales companies as well as film festivals and other industry delegates in order to further develop and enhance the possibilities for collaboration and financing strategies.

Torsten Frehse, board member of AG Verleih: “The continuity of our partners and sponsors is a crucial factor in EWIP’s success. The interest within the industry has continuously grown, therefore, I am very pleased to welcome important partners from the fields production, sales, distribution, and financing on a regular basis in Cologne. We have managed to establish the event as a firmly scheduled date in the industry’s calendar.”

Some of the production companies represented in this year’s edition are already familiar from previous editions, e.g., we are delighted to welcome back the winner of the main award 2018, COLOR OF MAY, who received the prize for END OF SEASON, which later premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and won the FIPRESCI Award, as well as AGITPROP, participant of EWIP 2020 and production company of THE CARS WE DROVE INTO CAPITALISM. Further, it is our pleasure to welcome back MATCH FACTORY PRODUCTIONS, the successful production company of MARTIN EDEN (EWIP award winner 2018), NIGHT OF FIRE (EWIP award winner 2019) and FABIAN, which celebrated its world premiere at the 2021 Berlinale.

All film projects will be exclusively presented to the attending industry experts in 15-minute pitching sessions. In addition, there will be one-to-one meetings as well as various panel discussions and workshops in cooperation with Creative Europe Desk NRW and Creative Europe Desks Germany. The award ceremony will be held on Wednesday evening, 20 October at 08:00 pm.

EWIP is mainly supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, one of Europe’s leading film funding institutions. The industry event takes place in cooperation with Film Festival Cologne and AG Verleih, the association of German independent film distributors.

The jury is once again comprised of recognized industry representatives: longtime Arte editor and director Alexander Bohr (Mainz) and Clémence Lavigne, co-head of sales and acquisitions for The Party Film Sales (Paris), will be supported by CEO and film distributor Daniel Melamed, New Cinema (Tel Aviv). Aranka Matits, founder of the Featurette agency (Amsterdam), as well as Fabian Massah, film producer and CEO of Endorphine Production (Berlin), complete the high-class EWIP jury of 2021 and will award prizes worth a total value of 52,500 €, which include stage and room rental services, post-production services and publicity work at an international festival.

This year’s award sponsors are K13 Studios, MMC Studios Cologne, LAVAlabs Moving Images, ARRI Media and ZOOM Medienfabrik.

As in the previous year, the selection of film projects impresses with a variety of themes and genres. In addition to a 2D Animation, Coming of Age features, a Fairy Tale, Historical Drama, Music Documentary, a Social Satire/Absurd Drama and Thrillers have been chosen.