10. September 2025 | redaktion2 The participants of the upcoming 8th edition of European Work in Progress (EWIP), which will take place in Hamburg from 29th of September to 1st of October 2025 have been selected. 27 film projects were chosen from a record number of more than 240 applications. All participating projects are in the final stages of production and are on track to play an important role in the international film industry of the near future. The projects will be presented exclusively to EWIP guests and the international jury in 15-minutes pitches. Furthermore there will be direct meetings between filmmakers and producers, distributors, world sales and other supporters organised by EWIP. EWIP will again shine a light on African cinema as it has done in 2024 with projects hailing from Nigeria, Cameroon and Kenya. This year two African co-Productions will be featured at EWIP: AVENIR (Burkina Faso) and GUARDIAN OF THE ISLAND (Ethiopia). EWIP will give out awards this year totaling a prize sum of 140.000 Euro. That translates to an increase of 75.000 Euro compared to last year. The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 30th of September 2025 at 7:00 pm. For the first time EWIP will be held in Hamburg as part of the FILMFEST HAMBURG INDUSTRY DAYS in cooperation with FILMFEST HAMBURG and MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein. Thanks to this new partnership EWIP continues to grow and further expands its standing as a trailblazing event. Lately the sales company OneGate Media has become a strong partner of EWIP. Furthermore the company alliance “Northern Stars – Hamburg Film Partners“, consisting of Loft Tonstudios, CineGate, Zeigermann_Audio, Optical Arts and Zeitkostüm GmbH will be first time EWIP-sponsors. Other new sponsors include post production specialists The Post Republic and VFX experts D-Facto Motion. EWIP will also be supported by longstanding partners K13 Studios, Gruvi, WayFilm and mm filmpresse. The selected projects: A LITTLE BIT OF DYING (WT) Director: Marleen Valien / Tragicomedy / 91 Minutes / Germany / Spring/Summer 2026 Production: Julius Wieler, Tristan Schneider (KURHAUS PRODUCTION FILM & MEDIEN GMBH) Coproduction: Catherine Baikousis, Toni Jaschke (ANORAK Film GmbH) 12-year-old Lou tries by all means to keep the family together around her artist father Edgar. When Edgar realizes that he is running out of money, he comes up with the absurd and morbid idea of faking his own death. AVENIR Director: Basilio Maritano Sailer / Documentary / 90 Minutes / Germany, Burkina Faso / April 2026 Production: Nikola Scharl (FILMAKADEMIE BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG GMBH) Coproduction: Alexandra Rilli (THIRD PICTURE GBR), Mamounata Nikiéma (PILUMPIKU PRODUCTION) In a red quarry in Burkina Faso, young actors create a play about peace. Facing war and insecurity, they confront violence with art: A portrait of a generation searching for hope and connection through theatre. BELÉN (La Otra Orilla) Director: Francesca Canepa / Coming-of-Age-Drama / 110 Minutes / Peru, Mexico, France / May 2026 Production: Enid Campos León, Jimena Hospina (SPLIT FILMS) Coproduction: Mónica Moreno, Rubén Expósito (PIANO), Delphine Schmit (TRIPODE PRODUCTIONS) Through the murky canals of a floating neighborhood in the Peruvian Amazon, Belén, a twelve-year-old mother, struggles to belong to the world that has been taken from her. In a canoe drifting down the Amazon river, carrying her son in her arms, the rain will awaken in her an irresistible desire for freedom. BIKE BIKE BABY (Sommer auf Asphalt) (WT) Director: Simon Ostermann / Tragicomedy / 90 Minutes / Germany / 2026 Production: Daniel Hartmann, Levin Hübner (WÜSTE MEDIEN GMBH) Bike courier Les lives fast and free — nights with her crew, days on the move, no room for pause. But when her estranged father Bert suddenly reappears and secretly takes over her job, just as she learns she’s pregnant, her world spins off course. What she doesn’t know: Bert came only to tell her he’s dying. Now, caught between a fading life and one just beginning, Les must face a future she’s spent years outrunning — and decide what kind of story she wants to write for herself. DOUGLAS GORDON BY DOUGLAS GORDON Director: Finlay Pretsell / Documentary / 90 Minutes / Great Britain, France / May 2026 Production: Sonja Henrici (PARCEL OF ROGUES LTD) Coproduction: Estelle Robin (GRAND OURSE FILMS) When Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon opens his Berlin studio to filmmaker Finlay Pretsell, the question becomes: who’s really directing whom – revealing the cost of artistic obsession. DOWN BY THE RIVER (A Margem do Rio) Director: Enock Carvalho, Matheus Farias / Drama / 90 Minutes / Brazil, Germany, France / First half 2026 Production: Enock Carvalho, Matheus Farias (GATOPARDO FILMES) Coproduction: Flavia Oertwig (TAMA FILMPRODUKTION), Christoph Lafont (POETIK FILMS) Amid rising conservative violence terrorizing his riverside town, Izaquiel’s search for desire turns into a fight for survival and self-determintion. ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG Director: Abinash Bikram Shah / Drama / 110 Minutes / Nepal, Germany, Brazil, France, Norway / 2026 Production: Michael Henrichs (DIE GESELLSCHAFT DGS), Anup Poudel (UNDERGROUND TALKIES NEPAL), Justin Pechberty (LES VALSEURS BORDEAUX) Coproduction: Prachanda Man Shrestha (JAYANTII CREATIONS), Paul Zischler (ZISCHLERMANN FILMPRODUKTION), Leonardo Mecchi (ENQUADRAMENTO), Tatiana Leite (BUBBLES PROJECT), Verona Meier (STORM FILMS) In a small Nepalese village nestled in the heart of a forest populated by wild elephants, Pirati is the matriarch of a community of transgender women. She aspires to a « normal » life with Master, the mustachioed man she is in love with. But when one of her « daughters » disappears, she must choose between love and responsibility to her community. GUARDIAN OF THE ISLAND ( የደሴቷጠባቂ) Director: Sewmehon Yismaw Sendekie / Drama, Romance / 117 Minutes / Ethiopia / March 2026 Production: Tamirat Mekonen Teklu (TAMIRAT MEKONEN FILM PRODUCTION) In 1988 Ethiopia, a Muslim man and a Christian girl risk everything for a forbidden love that defies family, faith, and the turmoil of war, leading them to a mythical island where lovers dream of freedom. HEIRLOOM Director: Upamanyu Bhattacharyya / Animation, Drama / 90 Minutes / India, Germany / First half 2027 Production: Arya Menon, Shubham Karna (ODD & EVEN), Upamanyu Bhattacharyya (OTTER) Coproduction: Fabian Driehorst (FABIAN&FRED), Jeremy Chua (POTOCOL), NFDC, POM POM ANIMATION Sonal, terminally ill, struggles to build a lucrative textiles business. When she discovers that her husband, Kirti, has vanished after driving their family into debt, she must choose between escaping into the comforting memories illustrated in a tapestry woven by Kirti’s grandmother, or confronting her limited time to secure her daughter’s future. HEYSEL 85 Director: Teodora Ana Mihai / Documentary / 90 Minutes / Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany / 2026 Production: Hans Everaert (MENUETTO FILM ) Coproduction: Anette Unger (LEITWOLF FILMPRODUKTION), LES FILMS DU FLEUVE. TOPKAPI FILMS When 39 people are killed at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels before the start of the 1985 European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool, the daughter of the Brussels mayor and a journalist with Italian roots are torn between their professional obligations, their family concerns and human nature itself. HIDDEN HILLS Director: Virgil Vernier / Drama / 90 Minutes / France, USA / Q4 2026 – Q1 2027 Production: Jean des Forêts, Amélie Jaquis (PETIT FILM), Miléna Henochsberg (OPENING NIGHTS FILMS) Coproduction: BLOSSOM STREET FILMS Pest control, bachelorette weekend and thanatopraxy: Los Angeles, Beneath the Surface. I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE (Ameisen fressen kein Halva) Director: Alisa Kolosova / Drama / 95 Minutes / Germany / 2026 Production: Tristan Bähre, Philipp Maron (MAVERICK FILM GMBH) After their best friend’s suicide, Yalda and Lou are left with grief – and with the child she left behind. As they empty their friend’s apartment, memories from their shared youth resurface, forcing them to confront old conflicts and navigate the question of who will raise the child. I WON’T DIE FOR LOVE (YO NO MORIRÉ DE AMOR) Director: Marta Matute / Drama / 90 Minutes / Spain, Belgium / Q1-2 2026 Production: José Esteban Alenda (SOLITA FILMS), María Zamora (ELASTICA FILMS) Coproduction: SAGA FILM Claudia is 18 when her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Reluctant to relinquish her youth and become a young carer, her motto away from home is not to stop… But the disease shares the same motto. I’LL BE GONE IN JUNE Director: Katharina Rivilis / Drama / 135 Minutes / Germany, Swiss / 2026 Production: Léa Germain (ROAD MOVIES GMBH) Coproduction: Katharina Rivilis (WOLFSKIND FILMS), 8HORSES An exploration of post-9/11 suburban America through the eyes of 16-year-old Franny, a German exchange student stranded in Las Cruces, a small town in the desert of New Mexico. KILL ME LIKE A DOG Director: Robiul Alam Robi / Drama / 62 Minutes / Bangladesh, Norway / Q1 2026 Production: Robiul Alam Robi (MADE IN BANIALULU) Coproduction: Samuel Kirby, Nic Osborne (SUNDAY FILM AS) The unexplained arrest of a banker in contemporary Bangladesh spirals into a surreal world of performative justice, voyeuristic control, and bureaucratic cruelty — where guilt is presumed and truth is irrelevant. MENSCH PUPPE Director: Thomas Janze / Documentary / 90 Minutes / Germany / Second Quarter 2026 Production: Thomas Janze A documentary film about Heinrich Sabl, who spent three decades creating exclusively his stop-motion film «Memory Hotel» with minimal financial resources. MY FRIEND THE PORNSTAR (Mein Freund der Pornostar) Director: Rosa Friedrich / Documentary / 90 Minutes / Austria / k.A. Production: Dominic Spitaler (OSTBLOK GESBR) My buddy Timo wants to make an intimate sex film. And I want to do a fun and fervent making-of on it. But where do we find a suitable partner for Timo? And what is stronger: the desire to show oneself or the fear of being judged for it? RESONANCE (РЕЗОНАНС) – presented in cooperation with TorinoFilmLab – Museo Nazionale del Cinema / TFL Coming Soon Director: Yordan Petkov / Drama / 90 Minutes / Bulgaria, Greece, Türkye / 2026 Production: Victoria Mitreva (GARTI FILMS), Vanya Rainova (PORTOKAL) Coproduction: Mina Dreki (MARNI FILMS), Zeynep Ekmekci (IKINCI YENI FILM) A solitary hermit on a mission and an ambitious young policeman find themselves strangely entangled under the howling sirens of a malfunctioning Public Warning System. RUNNER (Corredora) Director: Laura García Alonso / Drama / 100 Minutes / Spain / March 2026 Production: Miriam Porté Solano (DISTINTO FILMS) Coproduction: María Zamora (ELASTICA FILMS), Àngels Masclans (DOS SOLES MEDIA) Cris, an elite runner, suffers a psychotic break that forces her to step away from high-level competition. Not everyone around her will be able—or know how—to help, but Natàlia, her sister, will become her shelter as she learns to accept her condition and redefine the pace of her life. THE BOG (Klajumā aiz meža) Director: Reinis Kalviņš / Crime Drama / 104 Minutes / Latvia, Germany, Estonia / Early 2026 Production: Gints Grūbe, Inese Boka–Grūbe (MISTRUS MEDIA) Coproduction: Verena Gräfe-Höft, Lisa Herbers (JUNAFILM), Aet Laigu (METEROIIT) A boy’s body is discovered in a peat field, and a local drunk confesses to a decades-old murder. Policeman Broze reopens the case and is forced to confront his own role in the tragic game played by boys 30 years ago – a day he can’t remember or forget. THE FOURTH KING (Četvrti kralj) Director: Zvonimir Jurić / Drama / 80 Minutes / Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia / July 2026 Production: Ankica Jurić Tilić (KINORAMA) Coproduction: Eva Rohrmann (FORUM LJUBLJANA), Miroslav Mogorović, Szabolcs Tolnai (ATALANTA) One winter weekend, family members gather in a small town on a small island to sell their family land. One of them, Anica is determined to do her best to keep their fragile world from sinking down. THE GUESTS (Die Gäste) Director: Cristina Diz, Stefan Butzmühlen / Historical Drama / 90 Minutes / Germany, Spain / Q2-3 2026 Production: Begüm Bakirci, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen (THE MATCH FACTORY) Coproduction: Luisa Romeo (FRIDA FILMS SL) A young couple; she is a Spanish guest worker, he is a German student. They have to bring her dying mother from Western Germany to Galicia, a road trip in 1973. THURSDAY NIGHT IS TOO DARK (Perşembe Gecesi Çok Karanlık) Director: Onur Sefer / Drama / 95 Minutes / Türkye, Germany, India / Q1 2026 Production: Sinem Kanat (PRAKSIS FILM), Katharina Suckale (BOMBAY BERLIN FILM PRODUCTIONS – Germany), Arfi Laamba (BOMBAY BERLIN FILM PRODUCTIONS – India) Police officer Fatih faces an investigation over possible negligence in the shooting of his colleague. The night before, on patrol, he learns his partner and ex-girlfriend plan to accuse him, and spends the night searching for ways to clear his name. TOUR ONE (AT) Director: Seamus McNally / Thriller / 105 Minutes / Germany, Bulgaria / February 2026 Production: Seamus McNally, Polya Dimitrova (TOUR ONE PICTURES GMBH) Coproduction: Max Thillaye (PRODUCT VISION LLT) Anelia, a Berlin paramedic caught in an abusive relationship, embarks on a haunting journey, intertwining her emergency response calls and her own inner demons. TRUCK DRIVER (Camionero) Director: Francisco Marise / Creative Documentary / 100 Minutes / Spain, Argentina / September 2026 Production: Ezequiel Seguí, Olmo Figueredo (LA CLAQUETA PC, SL), AMANIA FILMS Coproduction: AMATEUR CINÈMA Truck Driver: A road movie without a road VERDANDI Director: Dagmar Knöpfel / Drama / 100 Minutes / Germany, Faroer Islands / 2026/2027 Production: Natalie Hölzel, Sandra Hölzel (ELFENHOLZ FILM GMBH) Coproduction: Dagmar Knöpfel, Annegret Weitkämpfer-Krug (GRETCHENFILM GMBH) Inspired by a true faroese family story. LIV travels back to her childhood home on the remote Faroe Islands for her grandmother SEMONA’s 80th birthday, and uncovers a family secret – a trauma that Semona suffered during the war at a young age but never spoke about. Slowly, LIV manages to break the silence that weighs so heavily on her mother BARBARA and her aunt POULA. WISH I DIDN’T KNOW NOW; WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW THEN (Netav ar vitsode akhla, is rats ar vitsodi mashin) Director: George Sikharulidze / Drama / 100 Minutes / Georgia, Germany / September 2026 Production: Giorgi Kavteladze, Mariam Dvalishvili (MERIDIAN 1520) Coproduction: Hasmik Avetisyan (NOR FILM UG) A blind filmmaker and her partner, a film actor, are a Georgian couple in crisis, who navigate the complexities of faded love and intimacy as they seek, among other characters in contemporary Tbilisi, answers to the questions of eroticism, commitment and types of alternative relationships today.
