"We attracted over 450 professionals, which isn’t bad given that the Industry Village (which unspooled from 11-14 December) usually draws in somewhere between 500 and 550 people. It shows that, despite the wider context and occasional complications with regard to travel, we’re still an attractive prospect. All the project bearers attended in person, with the exception of one or two, and our professional attendees hailed from all over Europe. The gamble we took in trying to hold a physical edition in the current environment was, by and large, a success", enthused Jérémy Zelnik, head of the professional sidebar organised within the 13th Les Arcs Film Festival. It has to be said that the now well-established reputation for high quality projects within the Co-Production Village and films presented at the Work in Progress event, did attract a large number of first-rate, international sales agents to the Alpine resort, including Playtime, mk2 Films, Charades, Totem Films, New Europe Film Sales, Les Films du Losange and Film Constellation, to name a few.

Opponent [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Milad Alami
scheda film] by Sweden’s Milad Alami (which went on to win the jury’s major award – read our news) earned itself the greatest number of meetings in the wake of the Work In Progress matinée, followed by Nika by Russia’s Russe Vasilisa Kuzmina (which also triumphed), The Ordinaries [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sophie Linnenbaum
scheda film] by German director Sophie Linnenbaum (produced by Banden Film and Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf), Dogborn [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Isabella Carbonell
scheda film] by Sweden’s Isabella Carbonell (produced by Momento Film) and Eismayer [+leggi anche:
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intervista: David Wagner
scheda film] by Austria’s David Wagner (produced by Golden Girls Film).

With regard to the Co-Production Village, as emphasised by Industry Village Artistic Director Lison Hervé, "ultimately, all 18 of the projects were very much in demand, we couldn’t really say that any of them struggled". Solitude [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ninna Pálmadóttir
scheda film] by Iceland’s Ninna Pálmadóttir (which won the ArteKino International Prize – news) dominated the meetings rankings, outstripping The Swedish Torpedo by Swedish filmmaker Frida Kempff, Insect Empire by Switzerland’s Hannes Baumgartner, and two French projects: The Girl Under the Snow by Louise Hémon, and Francesca by Salvatore Lista.

And finally, in terms of the Talent Village, the project The Land of Nowhere by Belgium’s Théo Degen (who won first prize in Cannes’ 2021 Cinéfondation competition for his short film L’enfant salamandre) proved a hit, earning itself just as many meetings as its most sought-after cousins within the Co-Production Village. And standing proudly in second place is Fantasy, a project by Slovenia’s Katarina Rešek (who won the Grand Prize in Clermont-Ferrand this year for her short film Sisters).