GROWING UP: next CEE Productions for a young audience
The webinar was held live, 26 April, 2021, ZOOM
There is a visible growth in CEE productions for a younger audience. We share exclusive previews of two upcoming live-action film productions ready to launch for a cinema release later this year. Get insights from their lead producers regarding their motivation, artistic choices, audience reach strategies and get a closer look behind the scenes at the whole development process. Joining the conversation with Ola Salwa and the creative teams will be Film Marketing Expert Joanna Solecka who will discuss with the creative teams methods to expand an audience reach.
Speakers: Zivile Gallego, producer of “A Butterfly’s Heart”, Fralita Films, Lithuania, Maja Popović, producer of “How I Learned to Fly”, Sense Production, Serbia, Joanna Solecka, Head of Alphapanda Warsaw, Film Marketing Expert, Poland, Mikołaj Pokromski, producer of “Too Old for Fairy Tales”, Pokromski Studio, Poland
Moderated by: Ola Salwa, journalist, Poland
Hosted by: Katarzyna Janiak, Industry Project Manager at New Horizons Association and Viola Gabrielli, Head of Programme, Kids Kino Industry at New Horizons Association
Discover the projects:
A BUTTERFLY’S HEART
Directed by: Inesa Kurklietyte
Written by: Modesta Jurgaitytė, Inesa Kurklietytė
Producer: Zivile Gallego
Production company: Fralita Films
The film tells the story of a ten-year-old boy named Juozapas, who is one in a million because he was born with his heart outside of his chest and survived. Juozapas avoids interaction with children; the center of his world is an old, deserted manor house and the insects he is raising there. His peace is disturbed when same age girl Rugile moves to the town and it’s time to go to school. After sharing various experiences, they gradually become friends.
HOW I LEARNED TO FLY
Directed by: Radivoje Andrić
Written by: Ljubica Luković (based on the book by Jasminka Petrović)
Producers: Maja Popović, Milan Stojanović
Production company: Sense Production
A seemingly boring vacation with two old ladies turns into a life changing experience for 12 year old Sofia as she kisses a boy, reunites with estranged family and faces mortality on an idyllic island in the Mediterranean.
TOO OLD FOR FAIRY TALES
Directed by: Kristoffer Rus
Written by: Agnieszka Dąbrowska
Producer: Mikołaj Pokromski
Production company: Pokromski Studio
The film tells the story of a spoiled eleven-year-old who wants to compete in Europe’s biggest gaming tournament. It seems that his mother’s illness and his eccentric aunt’s strict treatment will put paid to his hopes but ultimately, thanks to them, the boy will gain something far more valuable than victory in a competition.
A Butterfly’s Heart
A Butterfly’s Heart
How I Learned to Fly
How I Learned to Fly
Ola Salwa
Journalist
A film journalist and a film critic with almost 20 years of professional experience. She worked with top Polish weeklies, film magazines and co-created one – “Polish Film Magazine”, which was promoting Polish film abroad. For 4 years Ola was a programmer and industry coordinator at Transatlantyk Film Festival. Her current job is head of Polish section at “KINO”, Polish correspondent at Cineuropa.org and human mom for two lovely kittens: Ola and Tolo (she did NOT pick their names). She is a coffee and Zoom meetings enthusiast.
Zivile Gallego
Producer of "A Butterfly's Heart", Fralita Films
Zivile has completed her management studies in Lithuania, France and UK, she has studied filmmaking in NYFA, LA. After working as producer at Lithuanian Film Studios from 2004, Zivile established her own production company Fralita Films in 2009.
Fralita Films is an ambitious film production company actively involved in different projects, and working with established directors and new talents. Within the company Zivile has produced over 10 films, released and awarded nationally and internationally. The films were co-produced with France, Norway, Poland, The Netherlands. Recent productions are done in cooperation with Estonia, France and Italy. A Butterfly‘s Heart is a first feature for children target audience produced by Fralita Films.
In 2015, Zivile was nominated as Producer on the Move by European Film Promotion. Graduate of EAVE 2011 and ESoDoc 2017 she is a member of European Film Academy, European Women’s Audiovisual Network, Lithuanian Independent Producers Association.
Maja Popović
Producer of "How I Learned to Fly", Sense Production
Maja is a producer with a decade-long experience with TV content. She was born in 1984 in Belgrade, Serbia and graduated Film & TV Producing at the Faculty of Drama Arts. She founded SENSE Production in 2010 with Milan Stojanovic and participated as one of the producers on the feature film Barbarians (2014 / Special Mention at Karlovy Vary FF / Seyfi Teoman Award, European FF Palic / Best Film, Crossing Europe Linz). She produced the documentary Kumanovo: Blood and Mist (2012 / Beldocs IFF) as well as the short film Feral (POFF Shorts 2020) directed by Bojana Babic. She is currently producing the feature film How I Learned to Fly, directed by Radivoje Andric, and also co-producing the film Balaur by Octav Chelaru, a Romanian, Serbian and German co-production. She is a graduate of the EAVE Producers Workshop 2017 and a participant of the EWA Mentoring programe for Women Producers 2018.
Mikołaj Pokromski
Producer of "Too Old for Fairy Tales", Pokromski Studio
CEO of Pokromski Studio, a company specializing in production services and European co-productions. His long education in business finished in Master class of German-French Film Academy at Film Academy in Baden-Württemberg and La Fémis – Paris, which he graduated as a Master in International Film Production. Due to the international success of his documentaries (I love a Hooligan, Fuck For Forest, The Whale from Lorino) Mikołaj started also to produce full-length feature films (Winter’s Daughter, Marie Curie). Member of Polish, German, and European Film Academy.
Joanna Solecka
Head of Alphapanda Warsaw
Joanna is a Film Marketing & Social Media strategist with extensive experience of working for film producers and cultural institutions. Lecturer, mentor and speaker at the international training workshops for fiction and documentary filmmakers such as CIRCLE – Women Doc Accelerator, Impakt, Torino Film Lab, Moving Docs, DOC.Incubator. Member of the Advisory Board of Documentary Association of Europe.
Between 2004 – 2015 Joanna worked as Head of PR, Festivals and Sales at Wajda Studio & School, Warsaw, Poland.
Since 2015 Joanna has joined Alphapanda, a European film marketing agency based in Berlin, Geneva and Warsaw, founded in 2011. Alphapanda specializes in the development of marketing strategies and the implementation of social media campaigns for the film industry. Alphapanda’s clients list includes the European Film Awards, Warner Bros, Psyop, Under the Milky Way as well as many European sales agents, distributors and production companies.
As a mother of three daughters, Joanna especially enjoys working on young audience and women empowering stories. Among titles Joanna handled are campaigns for films like: Stop-Zemlia (Berlinale Generation ’21), Ninjababy (Berlinale Generation ’21), My Extraordinary Summer with Tess (Berlinale Generation ’19) and Invisible Sue (Cinekid ’18).