This year the 12 creative feature and 5 documentary series projects will “start their Ex Oriente journey in La Rochelle,” before moving on to DOKLeipzig in October 2023 and East Doc Platform (Prague, 22-28 March 2024).
Ex Oriente is an international project-based film training programme and creative lab for documentarists from Central and Eastern Europe. In the past, the programme was aimed at feature length projects, but has now expanded its remit and for the first time includes factual creative documentary series projects (see all projects below).
“It is a very special edition of Sunny Side of the Doc for us,” comments Zdeněk Blaha, East Doc Platform Manager (Institute of Documentary Film, IDF). “Thanks to our partnership with Sunny Side we are introducing new training program for series. It is very exciting to develop a new a brand new training for series here. We cannot be grateful more to have such a fabulous partner as the Sunny Side of the Doc who will host the program also in the coming years.”
Mathieu Béjot, Head of Strategy & Development of Sunny Side of the Doc comments: “We are thrilled to host the first session of the Ex Oriente workshop this year again. Sunny Side of the Doc has its roots in Europe and the meaningful partnership we have developed with IDF brings exciting projects and talents to our market where they get international exposure and networking opportunities. Sharing experts and mentors and opening Ex Oriente sessions to SSD attendees also contribute to building bridges between participants from Central and Eastern Europe and the international documentary community.”
During the La Rochelle workshop an international panel of tutors composed of directors, curators and producers will help participants to analyze and understand the potential of their subject matter, ideas, and plot, in order to find what is universal within them and to expand on and strengthen story of the film and its protagonists. Further emphasis is placed on analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each project, and constructing a basic concept for the strategy of the film’s production, financing and “orientation” within the system of European funding, grants and broadcasters. The first part of the workshop will also offer “inspirational sessions” by renowned filmmakers as well as film screenings.
The second session will take place for the first time in Germany in October during DOK Leipzig. Nadja Tennstedt, the director of DOK Industry at DOK Leipzig comments on the new collaboration: “Institute of Documentary Film has been a valuable and trusted partner of DOK Industry for many years. Each year we are continually impressed by the high quality of projects selected for Ex Oriente. Therefore, it brings us great joy to welcome the talented creative teams of documentary feature and documentary series along with the knowledgeable and inspiring professionals who will be guiding and mentoring these teams.”
The third and final session will be organized by the Institute of Documentary Film during East Doc Platform (22-28th March 2024).
Ex Oriente Film Feature 2023: Selected Projects (synopses supplied by film teams)
Acting Classes dir. Sasha Shegai, prod. Assel Yerzhanova (FilmFilmFilm), Yevgeniya Moreva, KZ. Vera, 87, is a newcomer to a municipal nursing home, who gets the main part in an amateur theatre play. Rehearsal intrigues, neighbors’ hatred and reflection on life. Can Vera overcome everything and become a local star?
Armenia Phantom dir. Tamara Stepanyan, prod. Céline Loiseau (TS Productions), FR, AM. To find my cinematographic ancestors, I return to Soviet Armenian Cinema (1923-1990) to decode and question the images they made and I ask myself how these male-made images have influenced the female filmmaker I am today.
Becoming Roosi dir. Margit Lillak, prod. Margit Lillak (Tiny Desk Productions), co-prod. Dirk Manthey (dirk manthey film), Hõbe Ilus (Tiny Desk Productions), EE, DE. Coming of age at the end of the world.
Birdie dir. Aneta Ptak, prod. Małgorzata Staroń (Staron Film), PL. A cathartic visual diary of loss and longing. A poetic story about the journey of inner emancipation stimulated by the sudden death of a father and a marriage brake-up reflected in intimate mother–daughter conversations.
Do Magic dir. Vera Lacková, prod. Peter Drössler (Golden Girls Film), AU, SK. Hoping to break an ancient family curse, a Roma film director sets out to find a real witch of her people. Along the way, she discovers that she is looking for cures for a different kind of curse: Prejudice and racism.
How I Became a Hijacker dir. Andrew Carter, prod. Aleksandra Szczesna, PL, DE. After a simple escape plan goes terribly wrong, an East German waitress hijacks a plane, and lands up in the middle of a Cold War trial.
Keepers of the Ruins dir. Mariia Shevchenko, prod. Ella Shtyka (New Kyiv), PL, UA. The film is about Kharkovians giving the war in their city a new meaning.
Letters dir. Andrei Kutsila, prod. Sofiia Zadorozhna, PL, BY. When the streets are quiet and people are afraid to even discuss politics, letters can give us an insight into the feelings of pain, despair, love, and hope.
Lights dir. Mila Teshaieva, prod. Marcus Lenz, DE, UA. They find themselves in the middle of a war disaster: a teenage girl, a freshly married couple, a town official, a yoga teacher. They handle it with strength and solidarity, but how will war trauma affect their life?
Man Under the Ice dir. Eva Tomanová, prod. Michal Kráčmer (Analog Vision), Veronika Kührová (Analog Vision), Kenan Aliyev, CZ. A film about breath, cold and dreams.
The Poor Cry Too dir. Viktorija Mickute, Ieva Balsiunaite, prod. Dagne Vildziunaite (Just a Moment), LT, MX. Factories halted in the post-Soviet countries when Mexican telenovelas were on air in the 1990s, while Mariana became a very popular baby name because of viewers’ love for the main character of The Rich Cry Too.
What About Little Peter? dir. Martin Trabalík, prod. Jan Bodnar (GNOMON PRODUCTION S.R.O.), CZ
Despite his circumstances, a widowed father tries to keep his family together and care for his autistic son Peter and daughter Vanesa. Is love enough to manage all of his new responsibilities?
Ex Oriente Series 2023: Selected Projects (synopses supplied by film teams)
Exit Only dir. Timo Novotny, prod. Tereza Horská (Hypermarket Film), CZ, AT. Documentary series about the catastrophic effects of energy production on our planet. The destruction and violence with which we humans affect the earth creates frightening cinematic aesthetics.
Tito. The West’s Favorite Dictator dir. Bence Máté, prod. Gunnar Dedio (Looks Filmproduktionen GmbH), Regina Dr. Bouchehri (Looks Filmproduktionen GmbH), DE, AT, HR, IT. In Tito. The West’s Favorite Dictator, we tell the rise and fall of Yugoslavia through the life story of its controversial president and use his biography as a mirror of the 20th century world history.
Unhero or a Falling Star dir. Georgi Tenev, prod. Martichka Bozhilova (Agitprop Ltd.), BG. A scandalous film actor is about to fail, threatened with going to prison. As he tries to restart his life, he is drawn into an investigation of a mysterious death of a graffiti artist with a powerful social message.
The Murderers of Anna Labancz dir. Balázs Dudás, prod. Balázs Dudás, HU. Hungary’s most notorious unsolved murder case – true crime from behind the Iron Curtain.
She Is Not in the Business of Making Friends dir. Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, prod. Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan (Manifest Film), Elena Martin (Manifest Film), RO. A political thriller that tells a complex and layered story of conniving, illegal operations, betrayal, media manipulation and political espionage.
“All the selected projects have strong international potential and cover a variety of relevant and important topics reflecting the current social, political, human stories and issues coming from talented, passionate, daring and innovative storytellers,” underlines Anna Kaslová, the Ex Oriente Film project manager.
Adds Ruth Reid, producer and lead tutor of Ex Oriente Series:“Documentary series is a genre with endless possibilities. One that has challenged our industry’s practices and opens new doors to audiences we have never met before with creative documentaries. I’m thrilled to act as lead tutor for this unique pilot programme – the first of its kind in the region.” “I look forward to working with teams who have an eagerness to interrogate the essence – then elevate the potential of their projects; and to challenge and expand the genre itself. By bringing creative documentary practice to the series format, the sky’s the limit.”
