Less Is More launches internationally at the Transilvania Film Festival
by Vassilis Economou

13/06/2017 - LIM – Less Is More, the development programme for limited-budget feature films, launched internationally at the 16th Transilvania IFF through an open discussion and a pitching session

LIM – Less Is More, the European development programme for limited-budget feature films, led by Le Groupe Ouest and supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme, has been launched internationally at the 16th Transilvania International Film Festival.

LIM started its eight-month-long project last March in Flanders, Belgium, where the first workshop in a series of three was hosted. LIM’s second stop was in Transylvania, Romania (5-13 June), where, in partnership with TIFF and Control N, the representatives of the 16 selected projects and four emerging producers were hosted in the ski resort of Baisoara. For two days (9-10 June), LIM was transferred to Cluj-Napoca and, more precisely, the TIFF Industry Hub.

On 9 June, an open discussion was organised under the topic “How to Make Low-budget Cinema Creative, Exciting and Borderless?” The discussion was led by Boglárka Nagy (representative of the French Cultural Institute in Romania), and the panel comprised film professionals Olivier Thery Lapiney (producer), Iulia Rugina (director) and members of the LIM initiative Antoine Le Bos (screenwriter, script consultant, LIM artistic director) and Massimiliano Nardulli (festival curator, LIM head of talent). The discussion dealt with all of the major topics that relate to low-budget cinema and the diverse tools that filmmakers should use in order to overcome the financial limitations.

After the discussion, LIM director Vassili Silovic introduced the audience to the LIM platform, explaining the necessity of creating a programme that is aimed at limited-budget films but that does not compromise on creativity or innovation. The director also gave an initial introduction to the projects that were going to be presented for the first time in front of an audience the following day.

On 10 June, the 16 projects, which have all evolved since their initial selection for LIM and have been developed during the workshops, were presented at an open pitching session. For the very first time, the participants were able to offer a glimpse of their projects to an audience of industry representatives. It should be noted that the development of each project was based on a treatment, rather than on a script, which allows more flexibility for further adaptations. Also, the most innovative part of the session was the fact that the pitching of the story, or the “tell-me”, as LIM called it, had already been done via a pre-recorded video of the participants narrating their stories. This decision was for everyone’s benefit, as all of the participants could be treated equally and got the chance to select the best version to represent themselves while avoiding the anxiety of speaking in public. After the video presentation, the participants were available for questions and further discussions on their projects. The pitching session was followed by one-on-one meetings with film professionals.

For convenience, here is the updated selection of projects and filmmakers that have been selected for the 2017 edition of LIM:

Animus – Tomasz Sliwinski (Poland)
Anselini – Radu Mihai (Romania)
Banvard – Pieter Coudyzer (Belgium)
Corcovado Borealis – Karolis Kaupinis; producer: Marija Razgute (Lithuania)
Electricity – Ivaylo Minov and Svetozar Georgiev; producer: Vanya Ralinova (Bulgaria)
Not Here. Not Us. – Taisia Deeva; producer: François d'Artemare (Russia)
Organs in the Grass – Rory Alexander Stewart (Scotland)
Sandra – Simao Cayatte; producer: Pandora da Cunha Telles (Portugal)
Showdots – Kabir Mehta (India)
Sister – Dina Duma; producer: Marija Dimitrova (Macedonia)
Stéphanie – Leonardo van Dijl; producer: Bram Versteyhe (Belgium)
The Belly of the Whale – Marianela Maldonado; producer: Luisa De La Ville (Venezuela)
The Paths of My Father – Mauricio Osaki; producer: Sara Silveira (Brazil)
Tro Fañch – Giil Taws; producer: Hervé Alexandre (France)
We Kiss in Dark Nightclubs and I Explain – Daphné Hérétakis (France)
Wolf – Nathalie Biancheri (Italy)
The film producers selected for LIM 2017 are:
Jelena Miseljic (Montenegro)
Frédéric Prémel (France)
Gabi Suciu (Romania)
Aneta Zagorska (Poland)

The third LIM workshop will take place at the beginning of October in Finistère, in Brittany, France.

In collaborazione con Cineuropa