After unspooling for eight months, the first edition of Munich Film Up! (MFU), the mentoring and residency programme for film-school graduates, is about to come to an end during the first weekend of Filmfest München (24-25 June). After having started last November, the initiative spearheaded by HFF München, with the Pop Up Film Residency on board as exclusive creative partner, in partnership with the Filmschoolfest Munich and Filmfest München, is designed to support six filmmakers from all over the world who are developing their feature debuts (see the news), whether they are still students or fresh out of film school.

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The co-directors of Munich Film Up!, Matthieu Darras and Elena Diesbach, designed the curriculum and offered an individual plan that met the specific needs of each participant. Each filmmaker was coached by industry mentors during their Pop Up Film Residency, including filmmakers Teodora Ana Mihai, Marcelo Martinessi and Daniel Borgman; script consultants Ayman El Amir, Nadja Dumouchel and Matthieu Taponier; and producers Katja Adomeit, Sebastián Peña Escobar and Ada Solomon. They also received consultations from Munich-based and German film-industry executives, including Melissa Byrne, Fabian Halbig, Tassilo Hallbauer, Philipp Kreuzer, Roman Paul, Silvana Santa Maria and Cosima von Spreti.

On the Young Talent Day (24 June) during the Beergarden Convention, the industry hub of Filmfest München, the six participants in Munich Film Up! pitched their projects to the festival’s industry audience gathered at Munich’s Amerika Haus. The jury, composed of French producer Céline Dornier from Logical Pictures, Austrian producer Alexander Glehr and Lebanese producer Myriam Sassine (Costa Brava, Lebanon [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), decided that the Kirch Foundation Award, consisting of a €5,000 cash prize, would go to Cyrielle Raingou’s I’m Coming For You. The project, which is at an early stage of development, was presented for the very first time to the industry.

I’m Coming For You focuses on Karthoumi, a young mother who always wears a hijab and, strangely, rides a Bobber motorcycle in the Sahel, in order to trade with Boko Haram terrorists. Once exposed, she is cursed and banned from her village. Hence starts her journey to get back to her baby.

The second edition of Munich Film Up! will be launched soon, and the call for applications will open in July. The deadline has been set for 5 September. The Kirch Foundation will also support the second edition, which will run from November until June 2023.

Elena Diesbach, co-director of Munich Film Up!, stated: “The fact that MFU offers an individual, three-week residency in different countries is of huge importance to us, as are the meetings and stays in Munich for the film festivals – at the beginning and the end of the programme. The residencies broaden the horizons of the participants and have a positive effect on the stories, whereas the stays in Munich encourage networking within the group and with the film industry at a project’s early stages.”

The participants in the first edition of Munich Film Up! were as follows:

Lana Bregar - Dark Head (Slovenia)
Film school: AGRFT Ljubljana

Erec Brehmer - Lightness and Weight (Germany)
Film school: HFF Munich

Anastasiya Gruba - Women Suicide Season (Ukraine)
Film school: Kyiv Karpenko-Kary University

Loïc Hobi - Crypto Lover (Switzerland/France)
Film school: Ecole de la Cité

Cyrielle Raingou - I’m Coming For You (Cameroon)
Film school: Doc Nomads Master

Pratik Thakare - A Midnight Meal (India)
Film school: Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI)