Locarno Pro

Alliance 4 Development 2023 © Locarno Film Festival

Alliance 4 Development (A4D), the co-development program for projects in development from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, has selected 11 projects for its upcoming 9th edition. The aim of A4D is to future-proof the market potential of the projects and foster long-term creative and business ties between the targeted countries.

Running during Locarno Pro (August 8 to 13, 2024) at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, A4D consists of a dedicated three-day program for the selected projects to enhance their co-production potential through curated one-on-one meetings, pitching sessions, networking events, lunches, workshops, and feedback sessions with industry guests attending Locarno Pro.

A4D will conclude with an award ceremony, where participants have the opportunity to win several awards to further support the development of their projects: the Alphapanda Market Breakout Award, consisting in consultancy services in the value of 3,500 €; a script consultancy residency at DreamAgo, offered by the Valais Film Commission, worth 5,000 CHF; the MIDPOINT Consulting Award for an in-depth online script consultancy with one of the MIDPOINT Institute experts; the Ticino Film Commission Residence Award, which consists of a 2-day location scout (worth 4,000 CHF) and Letter of Intent (LOI) for financial support for the production company (worth up to 12,000 CHF), if all or part of the film will be shot in Ticino.

This year’s selected projects include the debut feature by Kim Lêa Sakkal, director of the short Immaculata which was selected at Quinzaine des Cinéastes in Cannes this year, the sophomore film by Lukas Nathrath, whose debut feature Letzter Abend (2023) won the Cinegrell First Look Award at Locarno Pro in 2022, and the latest films by Julia Niemann, co-director of Sundance and IFFR entry Veni Vidi Vici (2024), Alessandro Grande, whose first film Regina (2020) premiered at the Torino Film Festival, and Hugues Hariche, whose debut Rivièrehttp://veni (2023) screened at Locarno76.

The full selection of this year is:

• 6 Mois 6 jours (6 Months 6 Days) by Michale Boganim, produced by Mathilde Leite (Vilanova Productions, France), co-produced by Dorothe Beinemeier (Red Balloon Film, Germany)
• A Paradise Lost by Kim Lêa Sakkal, produced by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay and Claus Herzog-Reichel (filmfaust, Germany) and Solal Coutard (Collective Cinema, France)
• Bourgeois Paranoia by Lukas Nathrath, produced by Linus Günther (Klinkerfilm Production, Germany)
• Dal pianeta terra (From Planet Earth) by Luca Magi, produced by Claudio Giapponesi (Kiné Società Cooperativa, Italy)
• Ein Jahr ohne Sommer (A Year Without Summer) by Flurin Giger, produced by Aline Schmid (Beauvoir Films, Switzerland) and co-produced by Cécile Tollu-Polonowski (Match Factory Productions GmbH, Germany)
• Hôtel des thermes by Maéva Ranaïvojaona and Georg Tiller, produced by Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu and Bady Minck (AMOUR FOU Vienna GmbH, Austria), co-produced by Laurence Lascary (De l’Autre Côté du Périph’, France)
• I’m Not Here to Make Friends by Julia Niemann, produced by Katharina Posch (Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion, Austria)
• Itaca (Ithaca) by Alessandro Grande, produced by Alessandro Amato and Luigi Chimienti (dispàrte, Italy)
• La Fin de l’été (Atlantic Mirage) by Hakim Mao, produced by Emma Binet and Charles Meresse (Furyo Films, France)
• Paradis perdu (Lost Paradise) by Hugues Hariche, produced by Xavier Grin (P.S. Productions, Switzerland)
• Undercurrents by Beatrice Minger produced by Rhea Plangg and Michela Pini (Cinédokké and Lido Pictures, Switzerland)

Alliance 4 Development Project Manager Francesca Palleschi comments:

From drama to dark comedies and thrillers, these projects unravel different places and faces, all unified by themes of identity, nature, family ties, and the sense of belonging and displacement. This year’s selection showcases a fascinating blend of realism and magic, reflecting our world’s complexities through diverse stories and styles. We are very excited to welcome these projects to Locarno, most of which – 6 out of 11 – are debut features.

For the first time this year, an international pre-selection committee comprising of Claudia Bluemhuber, CEO and Managing Partner of Silver Reel, Dyveke Bjørkly Graver, Producer and Partner at Eye Eye Pictures, and Ido Abram, Artistic Director of the Netherlands Film Festival, contributed to choosing the participating projects. Finalists were picked out of 86 submissions, an increase of 16% in comparison to last year.

Recent hit titles to have come out of the program include Mo Harawe’s The Village Next To Paradise (2024) screening as part of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, Berlinale 2023 entries Music by Angela Schanelec and L’Amour du Monde by Jenna Hasse, Chicken for Linda! (2023) by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (Cannes ACID & Annecy), Continental Drift (2022) by Lionel Baier (Quinzaine des Cinéastes, Cannes), and Semret (2022) by Caterina Mona, which debuted on the Piazza Grande at Locarno75.

Alliance 4 Development is possible thanks to partnerships with CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, France), FFA (Filmförderungsanstalt, Germany), DGCA-MiC (Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo del Ministero della Cultura, Italy), ÖFI (Österreichisches Filminstitut, Austria), and the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) / MEDIA Desk Suisse, Switzerland. A4D is also made possible by contributions from Eurimages, which promotes and sponsors one of the initiative’s networking events, and from the European Producers Club, which offers consultancy on the various issues covered.