European Work in Progress Cologne 2022 – This year’s international jury is set

We are pleased to announce the jury for this year’s anniversary edition of European Work in Progress Cologne (EWIP). The now fully established industry event will take place from 17-19 October in the run-up to the Film Festival Cologne for the fifth time.

Once again this year, five renowned and highly experienced experts from the international film industry will deliberate on which projects have the potential to play a significant role in the international film scene for the coming years. The members of the jury include:

Olivier Barbier has been active in the French film industry since 2012. Initially, he was active as Sales Executive at Wild Bunch International. Finally, he took over the position of Head of Acquisitions at the renowned international sales powerhouse mk2 films. Here he was responsible, among others, for the acquisition of the films PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, PETITE MAMAN, ALCARRÀS and CORSAGE.

Vanja Kaludjercic has been festival director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) since 2020. Kaludjercic has over 20 years of industry experience, both on an international level and within the Dutch film landscape. The International Film Festival Rotterdam is one of the strongest and largest public festivals in the world, as well as an unmissable date in the international festival calendar. Prior to her position as Head of IFFR, she was Director of Acquisitions at MUBI and held key positions at Les Arcs European Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Netherlands Film Festival (NFF) and IFFR, where she established the IFFR Talks & Masterclasses from 2016 to 2018.

Julien Rejl is a graduate of the renowned La Fémis cadre. Between 2010 and 2020, he was responsible for distribution and acquisitions at the world sales company Capricci. In this context, he worked with directors such as Abel Ferrara, Hong Sangsoo, Albert Serra, Wang Bing, Tsaï Ming-Liang and Philippe Garrel. Julien Rejl initiated the theatrical release of numerous restored masterpieces of film history including films by Jean-Luc Godard, Kenji Mizoguchi, Ingmar Bergman, Maurice Pialat, David Lynch and David Cronenberg. He worked as a film critic and writer and took over the programming of the Sofilm Festival between 2015 and 2019. In June 2022, he was entrusted with the artistic direction of the Cannes Director’s Fortnight.

In 2014 the filmmaker, author, actress and producer Saralisa Volm founded the production company POISON. Among others, she produced the film FIKKEFUCHS (directed by Jan Henrik Stahlberg), which was successfully released in German cinemas in 2017. She has already published several books and celebrated the world premiere of her feature film debut SCHWEIGEND STEHT DER WALD (THE SILENT FOREST) at the Berlinale 2022 which was priorly presented at EWIP 2021.

Thanassis Karathanos (TWENTY TWENTY VISION in Berlin, PALLAS FILM in Halle) is a successful international film producer. He produced films by Olivier Assayas (CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA), Bruno Dumont (MA LOUTE), Paul Verhoeven (ELLE) and Elia Suleiman (MUST BE HEAVEN), among others. Two of the films he produced, THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN and AJAMI, were Oscar® nominated. His most recent productions, THE GRAVEDIGGER’S WIFE and MARIUPOLIS, celebrated their world premieres in the official selection of the Cannes International Film Festival in 2021 and 2022. He was the only German to be invited as an Oscar®-Academy member in 2022.

Once again, up to 30 European co-productions will compete on the EWIP stage and enter the race for the numerous awards and support that will be presented in Cologne. A total of 52,500 uros in funding is at stake, awarded by EWIP’s joint partners K13 Studios, MMC Film & TV Studios, LAVAlabs Moving Images and mm filmpresse for post-production as well as festival PR. For the first time, the EWIP-TorinoFilmLab Audience Design Award will be presented this year.

The event presents feature film productions with the participation of at least one European country, which have excerpts of already shot material to present to the attending and experienced professional audience from the areas of world sales, distribution, film festivals and TV broadcasters. Pitches are scheduled for a maximum duration of 15 minutes including film clips and a Q&A. In addition to the many informal networking opportunities, one-to-one meetings will be organized.

“We are very proud to bring together an impressive line-up of extremely experienced colleagues in this year’s jury for our 5^th anniversary. They represent the premier league on an international level in the fields of festival, production, world sales, directing. They bring in the perspectives of both the established and the experienced side of the industry, but have also proven themselves to be innovators and impulse generators. We are looking forward to an exciting edition and with this jury we have created the right basis for an inspiring exchange, which is a real enrichment for the projects, but also for all other participants. 

Torsten Frehse, EWIP-Organizer

EWIP is significantly supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, one of the leading film funding institutions in Europe and takes place in cooperation with AG Verleih, the association of German independent film distributors. Accreditation for the European Work in Progress Cologne 2022 is possible until 10 October 2022 and is reserved for colleagues who are actively involved in the film industry. The accreditation also allows access to all film screenings as well as industry events of the Film Festival Cologne depending on ticket availability. The pass is non-transferable. The accreditation fee is 65.00 euros.

For further information and enquiries please contact the press agency mm filmpresse, Sylvia Mueller, Tel. +49 (0)30 – 41 71 57 22, mueller@mm-filmpresse.de and Claudia Hegner, Tel. +49 (0)3741 – 55 03 414, hegner@mm-filmpresse.de.