BUSAN, South Korea — Eave Ties That Bind, the Asia Europe Producers Workshop held during the Asian Film Market, wrapped its first edition Oct. 13.
Organized by European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs, it is a new development workshop for Asian and European film producers, in partnership with the Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual Regional Fund, Udine Far East Film Festival and the Pusan Film Festival. It consisted of two four-day workshops, one held in Italy’s Udine in April and one at South Korea’s Pusan fest.
Ten producers from Asia and Europe presented their films in development, and had discussions and meetings with industry experts from both continents during the workshops. The selected 10 projects included “Glendragon” (U.K), “Endless Day” (Spain/Singapore), “La Comedie humaine a Paris” (South Korea/Japan), and “Dear Comrade” (Japan).
At the Udine workshop, producers covered script writing, development and packaging of their projects, and co-production between Asia and Europe.
At the Pusan workshop, the producers were trained on more complicated processes of film production such as the sources of financing in the two regions, marketing and promotion, and legal aspects of co-production. They also had the chance to present their projects to decision-makers during the Pusan Promotion Plan project event.
Pusan also offered a case study on one of the fest films, “Dooman River,” which was co-produced by South Korea’s Lu Film and France’s Arizona Films, from Korean-Chinese helmer Zhang Lu.
Other programs included Film Fund Talk and Intl. Conference on Transmedia, which invited experts on those topics.
“The workshop was really useful, because we have never been to film festivals in Asia. It is a good opportunity to meet all the people, and see other projects,” said Ireland’s Katie Holly, the producer of “China Girl,” who is looking for Chinese and Taiwanese partners for her project and consulted with the Taiwan Film Commission for shooting locations.
The workshop has been planned as a new platform aiming at cultivating more co-productions between the two continents. Unlike other project marts, it offers more concrete advice to the selected producers.
“Unlike Hong Kong fest’s HAF and Pusan fest’s PPP, we’re meeting and talking about our projects to everyone. I presented my projects, then discussed them for an hour and a half,” said Singapore-based producer Bee Thiam Tan, who is developing a Singapore-Malaysia co-production mystery horror “Matahari.” “All of the panelists have read my scripts and give me different advice about whom I should meet or what kind of steps I should take to actualize this project. That is very helpful.”
“Endless Day,” a Spain-Singapore co-production by Spanish helmer and producer Fan Borgia featured in the workshop started shooting three weeks before Pusan began.
“We’re quite happy at the two workshops done this year. Along with ‘Endless Day,’ we’re looking forward to seeing more projects being turned into actual films soon,” said Kristina Trapp, chief executive of EAVE, told Variety.
List of Projects at EAVE TIES THAT BIND 2010:
“Glendragon,” produced by Darren Bender (U.K.)
“Endless Day,” producer, Fran Borgia (Spain/Singapore)
“China Girl,” producer, Katie Holly (Ireland)
“Friday League,” producer Francis Lim (South Korea)
“Faramita,” producer Michelle Li (China)
“La Comedie humaine a Paris,” producer Kiki Sugino (South Korea/Japan)
“Matahari,” producer Bee Thiam Tan (Singapore/ Malaysia)
“Dear Comrade,” producer Yuki Toyoyama (Japan)
“Sae and the Rhino,” producer John Williams (U.K./ Japan)
