Budapest Debut Film Forum 2023

Dear Participants, dear Guests,

Welcome to the Budapest Debut Film Forum.

In challenging times the power of collaboration becomes more valuable. This is what we aim to catalyze at BDFF.

The fourth edition of BDFF offers a platform for ambitious filmmaking talents from the CEE region to develop their ideas with accomplished industry professionals. After the comprehensive group works and lectures, they also have the chance to present the projects in front of producers, film fund representatives, and fellow filmmakers.

We aim to create an environment where the creative power of the BDFF participants can be switched on. The special microcosmos of Margaret Island is a perfect home for this, while still nestled in the city centre, it is a car-free green area where participants and guests can break away from their everyday routine.

Besides developing the project’s content and packaging, we believe that a real community can be formed from the BDFF participants. After the group works and the presentations, there will be helping hands, collaborations, and friendships that will accompany the BDFF alumnus along their career.

Of course, there will be more concrete outcomes, too: each participant will have a developed package to present to our industry guests. In the end, all the participants will win, but there will be prize winners too: just like at the first BDFF back in 2019 when the Victim received the main award – then the film was premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival. (The creators will return this year with their wonderful case study.)

The future of CEE’s film industry relies on collaboration and bright ideas. Both of them will be highlighted at the Budapest Debut Film Forum.

Dániel Deák Director

Budapest Debut Film Forum – founded in 2019 – is a platform for teams of writerdirectors and their producers aiming to make their first film or series projects. The workshop aims to help the participants assemble strong material for their debut projects to make them suitable for presentation and further development.

WORKSHOP PROGRAM OUTLINE

GROUP A (feature film projects)

Batallion Records (Romania)

Grammatik (Germany)

Homeland (Czechia)

Lady Sunshine (Hungary)

Lost Years (Slovenia)

GROUP B (series projects)

As If Nothing Happened (Romania)

Cold (Lithuania)

That’s Why She Doesn’t Ski Anymore (Poland)

The Adventures of a Turbo-Folk Princess (North Macedonia)

The Uneasy Life of Wondering Comedians (Slovakia)

After their intensive work, the teams will be ready to show their ideas and prepared for co-production talks: participants present their projects in a non-traditional, stressfree pitching format to the decisionmakers invited to the closing event.

Lectures and panel talks are also essential to the BDFF experience, open to students and industry professionals.

BDFF is organised by the team of Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival, the most significant short film event and development platform in Hungary. Therefore our mission is to help talented filmmakers to step further in their careers – toward their first feature or tv series.

Group Leaders and Experts:

Feature Film Producers’ Group:

SINISA JURIČIĆ

Feature Film Scriptwriters’ and Directors’ Group:

GEOFFROY GRISON

Series Producers’ Group:

KRISTOFFER RUS, ANNA ZÁVORSZKY

Series Writers’ Group:

PAUL TYLER

Pitch, distribution and sales experts:

ZSUZSI BÁNKUTI, ISABELLE FAUVEL, GÁBOR GREINER, HAKIM MAO

GROUP LEADERS

GEOFFROY GRISON

grew up and studied in Strasbourg, graduating with a Master’s degree in Classical Literature. He then worked at ARTE as a script advisor, before moving on to filmmaking. He has participated in various writing labs such as LIM, Locarno Open Doors, Midpoint, Holland Film Meeting/Cinemart, Next Step, or Talent Village/Les Arcs Film Festival. He has written or produced a dozen international arthouse feature films, including Israeli bittersweet comedy directed by Raphael Nadjari “A strange course of events”, Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s debut film “Ave”, or “Tehilim” directed by Raphael Nadjari that premiered in competition at Cannes 2007. As consultant or translator, he has worked with directors such as Pia Marais, Ola Jankowska, Teboho Edkins, Magnus von Horn or Ben Russel.

KRISTOFFER RUS

directed and co-wrote award-winning short films (The Big Leap, The Naturals) and television series (The Elements of Sasha - Fire, Professional Secrecy, Better Half). Kristoffer’s feature debut, Into the Wind, premiered on Netflix 2022 and ranked among the top ten non-English language films worldwide. His second film Too Old for Fairy Tales (theatrical release March 2022) had the best opening weekend for a family film since 1989 in Poland, and after its premiere on Netflix it was the number 1 most watched non-English language film in the world in July 2022. Since 2020, Kristoffer is the head of the Polish branch of the international production company Paprika Studios, where he has produced documentary series like Human To Human (Viaplay) and drama series like Murderesses (Viaplay).

PAUL TYLER set-up Handling Ideas

to provide online & inperson story consultancy for writers, directors and producers around the world. His unique method for handling stories draws out the relationship between story, theme and audience. He brings years of experience developing & creating concepts, strategies & projects within the cultural, public & corporate sectors that all started with four years in theater production and touring, followed by twelve years at the BBC, ending up as a TV producer and studio gallery director. Paul has worked for hundreds of clients and projects across 20 countries, including Venice Biennale College Cinema since 2013, Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) TV Series development programme since 2019 & Documentary Campus since 2020. Paul applies a highly developed analytical, creative & often humorous approach to reveal the complex ecosystems in which we work, rest and play. Paul is based in Copenhagen.

SINIŠA JURIČIĆ

born in 1965 in Zagreb, graduated in production from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in 2009. Founded Nukleus Film in 2002. His focus is on the production of films by talented filmmakers from Southeast Europe. The films produced have been awarded and funded in and outside the country, winning awards in Cannes and Berlin. In 2012, he was awarded the annual Albert Kapovic Award by the Croatian Producers Association for his contribution to the international promotion of Croatian film. He is a member of the European Film Academy and the production networks of EAVE, ACE and Inside Pictures.

FEATURE FILMS

BATTALION RECORDS (Romania)

Genre: docu-fiction / heist film / comedy

Writer: Ștefan Bîtu-Tudoran

Producer: Diana Caravia, Ada Solomon

Estimated budget: 800,000 EUR

Synopsis:

Outraged by the industry’s poor conditions, a group of local cultural dissidents storm into Romania’s ex-communist music studios armed to their teeth, to shoot a documentary about the role of propaganda in the Romanian communist era pop culture.

Led by ANA (28), the disowned daughter of a rockstar from the old communist regime, the self-proclaimed multidisciplinary artistic group known as the Romanian New Rave quietly takes over a local radio station to make their announcement: The Electrecord Studios are under attack and all employees are to be taken as hostages.

The film’s action splits into two separate narratives: the heist and documentary storylines. As the action unravels, interviews develop chronologically, starting with the early 20th century, taking a leap throughout the Golden Age of Romanian disco days, and finishing with the dark times of the late 80s, just as the authorities are breaking into the building and finally apprehending the rebels.

Contact info

Diana Caravia - dianacaravia10@gmail.com

Ada Solomon - ada.solomon@gmail.com

GRAMMATIK (Germany)

Genre: romantic drama

Director: Popo Fan

Producer: Julia Cöllen

Production company: FÜNFERFILM

Estimated budget: 1,100,000 EUR

Synopsis:

QING (25) moved from China to Germany because of his obsession with German DJ JONAS (35). To enter a university here, he needs to pass his German exam. But instead of studying, he spends most of his time on clubbing and sex. One day his German teacher pairs him with the best student in class, Syrian refugee BASSAM (30) to study together. Qing finds him annoying for his preachiness. Despite many conflicts, amorous tension slowly builds up between them while learning different grammar terms. Not ready to commit to anything serious, Qing tries to ignore it. When they finally end up making out one night, the day after Bassam is suddenly gone without a trace. Realising the loss Qing decides to get a grip on his life. Although he fails the exam in the end, Qing has found out what is really important to him. A few years later, as Qing is studying in Stockholm, he walks into a Chinese-Arab fusion fast food restaurant, and finally sees Bassam again.

Contact info:

Julia Cöllen - julia@fuenferfilm.de

Popo Fan - fanpopo@gmail.com

HOMELAND (Czechia)

Genre: drama / dark comedy

Writer: Marek Čermák, Alice Krajčírová

Director: Marek Čermák

Producers: Hana Blaha Šilarová, Karolína Fránková

Estimated budget: 1,012,400 EUR

Synopsis:

Architect Matěj (51) moved to a small village in Central Bohemia a few years ago to find a quiet place after years of working abroad. In addition to his farmhouse, which he is renovating, he’s also in charge of a reconstruction of the local community centre. It is not yet finished, but the mayor’s birthday party is being held there anyway. In the early evening, when the festivities are about to begin, Matěj is surprised by a German tour guide Eva (40) who’s looking for help. She is in charge of a bus full of elderly people that are heading to the Sudetenland. They want to visit places from where their ancestors were forcibly expelled after the war. But the bus has had an accident and won’t start. The villagers invite the Germans to join them until the problem is fixed. After all, there is plenty of room and food. However, due to misunderstandings and inherited prejudices, the well-intentioned act escalates into a heated conflict between the locals and the foreigners.

Contact info:

Marek Čermák - marek-cermak@seznam.cz

Karolína Fránková – frankova.karolina@gmail.com

LADY SUNSHINE (Hungary)

Genre: drama

Writer: András Soós

Director: Anna Korom

Producer: Anna Szijártó

Production company: TBD

Estimated budget: 500,000 EUR

Synopsis:

Mária (55), also known by her stage name Lady Sunshine, is an amateur pop singer who has never given up on her dreams of fame and beauty. After multiple failed attempts at stardom, she has become a plastic surgery addict and struggles to connect with others. One day she accidentally meets Kálmán (60), her former bandmate and first love who left her 30 years ago without explanation. When Kálmán doesn’t recognise her, Mária sees an opportunity to rekindle their relationship while keeping her true identity hidden. But as they grow closer, her obsession with discovering the truth behind their separation risks exposing her, and her addiction to plastic surgery intensifies as she tries to become the woman she believes Kálmán wants.

Contact info:

Anna Korom - korom4nna@gmail.com

Anna Szijártó - anna@kinomoto.tv

LOST YEARS (Slovenia)

Genre: melancholic road movie

Director: Aron Horvath

Producer: Andraž Jerič

Production company: Temporama

Estimated budget: 830,000 EUR

Synopsis:

It’s 1999. Bors works in a grocery store in a small village in Vojvodina where nothing ever happens. Time passes by as he dreams of leaving on the local bus that comes and goes once a day. Suddenly a foreign girl enters the store while the bus drives away with her backpack. Bors decides to help her as they jump on his rusty motorcycle to chase after the bus. They quickly get lost in the fields, get soaked by a summer storm, meet a man preparing for an encounter with the aliens, and get drunk at a local wedding. They also fight and make up, but most importantly they realize they have a lot in common; when Bors tells her he was raised by his grandma, Tana reveals she is in search for her real mother. After finding the backpack Tana soon bids goodbye. Bors returns home happy about the adventure but sad knowing that nothing as exciting is ever happening again. As he returns to his routine, he quickly realizes that he does have the courage to leave and finally hops on the bus to drive away.

Contact info:

Aron Horvath - horvath.aron@hotmail.com

Andraž Jerič - andraz@temporama.si

SERIES

AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED (Romania)

Genre: drama

Format: 10x50’

Writers: Ioana Bogdana, Eva Todică

Producer: Carla Fotea, Ada Solomon

Estimated budget: 3,500,000 EUR

Synopsis:

How do you survive in a system where being yourself is a crime? Cristina and Nana, best friends of opposing social backgrounds, lead an illegal and bordering incestuous love story in the final decade of Ceausescu’s regime in Romania, while a bleak and exhausted society unravels around them. In a town in Transylvania, during their final year of high school, Cristina and Nana confess their attraction to each other. But being queer is illegal. Nana retracts, terrified to acknowledge her sexuality, and runs away to Bucharest, while Cristina marries Nana’s brother, Radu, in a misguided attempt to stay close to her lover. What follows is an on-and-off relationship across ten years marked by misery, abuse, and secrecy. Grappling with their identity, femininity, and artistic calling, fighting over the control of their own minds and bodies, Cristina and Nana are exponents of a recent history that still haunts Europe and the world.

Contact info:

Ioana Bogdana – ioana_bogdana@outlook.com

Carla Fotea – carlafotea@gmail.com

COLD (Lithuania)

Genre: limited series, dramedy

Format: 5x50’

Writers: Birute Kapustinskaite, Arturas Voinicius

Director: Domas Petronis

Producer: Greta Akcijonaite

Estimated budget: 3,605,000 EUR

Synopsis:

COLD” is a TV series set in 1991 Lithuania during political upheaval. A national movement faces off against Soviet authorities while a group of KGB agents steals documents to gain power. In the first episode, Daiva Hoffmann, a German woman of Lithuanian descent, meets Vilnius criminal kingpin Vytas Matulis while traveling to Lithuania to pay a ransom for her son Jan’s alleged kidnapping. In the second episode, Vytas gets involved in the KGB’s plans for post-Soviet Lithuania, tasked with retrieving stolen documents for KGB officer Vladimir Popov. In the third episode, Jelena Popov, Vladimir’s daughter, leads her lover Jan to the documents, which have unforeseen consequences. In the fourth episode, Vladimir recruits Vytas to help him search for the stolen documents. Meanwhile, he’s trying to keep the disappearance of the documents a secret from Moscow. In the series finale, Jan leads the convergence of storylines and life-altering secrets are revealed. “COLD” slow-burning, character-driven drama with a linear plot that culminates in a grand finale.

Contact info:

Greta Akcijonaite – greta@magic.film

Domas Petronis – domas.petronis@gmail.com

THAT’S WHY SHE DOESN’T SKI ANYMORE (Poland)

Genre: adventure / road movie

Format: 8-9x30’

Writer: Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska

Producer: Magdalena Sztorc

Estimated budget: 1,900,00 EUR

Synopsis:

Klaudia’s wedding is scheduled for tomorrow. All the guests arrived at the expensive hotel in the mountains. Bad luck has it, that on the eve of the wedding Klaudia has a ski accident so unfortunate, that she loses an eye and gains a scar across half her face. She’s taken to a hospital, where she meets Belarusian girl Stefania, who gives Klaudia a new name: Hunter. Together they steal the hospital chief’s awesome old Camaro and embark on a journey across Poland with a banal goal: Stefania wants to see the sea for the first time in her life. Two guys are setting off in pursuit of them: Filip, a wedding videographer who feels the call of a real documentary filmmaker and Maciek, the hospital chief’s son, whose father ordered him to recover the Camaro. The situation unleashes long-suppressed desires in everyone. Stefania and Hunter reach the seaside just as the police arrive to catch them. Hunter turns herself in, so that Stefania can make her wish come true and finally look at the sea.

Contact info:

Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska – sonia.orlewicz@gmail.com

Magdalena Sztorc – magda@beforemyeyes.pl

THE ADVENTURES OF A TURBO-FOLK PRINCESS (North

Macedonia)

Genre: comedy / crime / musical

Format: 8X30’

Writers: Andrej Volkashin, Petar Vlchev

Producer: Pece Taleski, Ilija Tiricovski

Production company: OXO Production

Estimated budget: 950,000 EUR

Synopsis:

This is the story of the biggest turbo-folk star to be! Her name is Vaska, a clumsy Macedonian small-town girl who crowns her series of disasters when she accidentally poisons her gangster fiancé, a day before their wedding. Inspired by her idol - the legendary Serbian singer Kuraima, she runs away from home with his money. Her mentor becomes the cunning, short tempered Bulgarian-Romani stripper Eboni, who promises to pave her way to stardom. Their goal is to win the biggest turbo-folk song contest in all of South-East Europe –the BALKAVISION, while trying to run away from Eboni’s pimp - the narcissistic and flamboyant casino owner, who also happens to be the boss of Vaska’s dead fiancé.

Contact info:

Pece Taleski - pece@oxo.org.mk

Ilija Tiricovski - ilija.tiricovski@gmail.com

THE UNEASY LIFE OF WONDERING COMEDIANS (Slovakia)

Genre: family adventure comedy

Format: 8x26’

Writer: Peter Gärtner

Director: Samuel Spišák

Producer: Milan Vojtela, Lukáš Teren

Production company: Teren Limited

Estimated budget: 1,500,000 EUR

Synopsis:

Lara is a young girl whom poor mother decides to marry her to Ivan – son of farmer Jakub in exchange for land. Lara is amazed by group of comedians who arrived with their caravan - puppet master Harlekyn, dancer Isabela and mime Pierot, later joined by strong Scaramouche. Lara runs away with them in the day of the wedding. Ashamed Jakub sends Ivan to bring the bride back. Girl is very keen to free life of comedians but Harlekyn is too proud to keep her. As his theater withers, he agrees. Lara keeps struggling rampant life of wandering artists in hope they will arrive to enigmatic old principal of the group Geppetto who can help her solve the mistery of her origin. She cures ill Harlekyn after cruel snowy days and she reveals that he was hiding all the money earned by the group. They disband and Lara has to persuade them to finnish their journey, keep safe from the pursuers and discover her origin.

Contact info:

Peter Gärtner - petergartner@petergartner.sk

Lukáš Teren - lukasterenson@gmail.com

SCHEDULE

March 28

8:30 WELCOME SESSION

9.00–11.00 FILM TEAMS: Group work with SINIŠA JURIČIĆ

SERIES TEAMS: Group work with KRISTOFFER RUS

11.30–13.30 FILM TEAMS: Group work with GEOFFROY GRISON

SERIES TEAMS: Group work with PAUL TYLER

Lunch break

15:00–16:30

LECTURE: Sales and packaging by ZSUZSI BÁNKUTI

17:00–19:00 CASE STUDY + SCREENING: Victim (JAKUB VIKTORÍN)

March 29

9.00–11.00 FILM DIRECTORS/WRITERS: script development with GEOFFROY GRISON

FILM PRODUCERS: Financing and coproduction strategies with SINIŠA JURIČIĆ

SERIES PRODUCERS: project development with KRISTOFFER RUS

SERIES WRITERS: Group work with script consultant PAUL TYLER

11.30–13.30

FILM DIRECTORS/WRITERS: script development with GEOFFROY GRISON

FILM PRODUCERS: Financing and coproduction strategies with SINIŠA JURIČIĆ

SERIES PRODUCERS: project development with KRISTOFFER RUS

SERIES WRITERS: Group work with script consultant PAUL TYLER

Lunch break

14:30–15:30

PANEL TALK: Trends and Practices of Kids Content

(RÉKA TEMPLE, NÓRA LAKOS, ZOFIA HORSZCZARUK)

15:45–17:15 CASE STUDY: White Plastic Sky

(ORSOLYA SIPOS, TIBOR BÁNÓCZKI, SAROLTA SZABÓ)

17:45–19:15

PANEL TALK: How to build an international co-production?

(SARAH NAGEL, ISABELL WIEGAND from In Between Film) *

March 30

9:00–10:45 FILM DIRECTORS: Group work with GEOFFROY GRISON

FILM PRODUCERS: SARAH NAGEL, ISABELL WIEGAND

co-prod workshop I. *

SERIES PRODUCERS: Lecture by ANNA ZÁVORSZKY

SERIES WRITERS: Group work with PAUL TYLER

11:00–12:45 FILM DIRECTORS: Group work GEOFFROY GRISON

FILM PRODUCERS: SARAH NAGEL, ISABELL WIEGAND

co-prod workshop II. *

SERIES TEAMS: Pitch prep with ZSUZSI BÁNKUTI

SERIES WRITERS: Group work with PAUL TYLER

Lunch break

14:00–16:30 FILM TEAMS: pitch prep with ZSUZSI BÁNKUTI + GÁBOR GREINER

SERIES TEAMS: One-to-one with ANNA ZÁVORSZKY

17:00–18:30 PANEL TALK: Co-productions in the CEE region (PETER BADAČ, CSABA KÁEL, GORDAN MATIĆ, MAJA VUKIĆ)

20:00 DINNER FOR PARTICIPANTS AND GUEST EXPERTS

March 31

10:00–11:00 PITCH FORUM Pt. 1

11:30–12:30 PITCH FORUM Pt. 2

Lunch break / Networking

14:00–15:00 ONE-TO-ONE MEETINGS

15:00– AWARD CEREMONY

* In collaboration with NFI’s Fast Forward Program