Ukraine at 66th Berlinale

66th international film festival Berlinale will take place in Berlin in February. As a part of the festival, European Film Market (EFM) will be held from 11 to 19 February – it will gather producers, distributors and other industry professionals from around the world. Ukraine also takes active part in the market – this year Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist organizes the Ukrainian national stand - Ukrainian Film Corner at the EFM together with the Ukrainian State Film Agency.

Traditionally, Ukrainian Film Corner will become a meeting place for Ukrainian filmmakers with their international colleagues. The Catalogue of the Ukrainian Cinema 2015-2016 will include information on completed feature and short films, documentaries and animated films of 2015; projects that will be completed in February 2016; full-length feature films, documentaries, planned to release in 2016, as well as the projects still in production. Ukrainian stand will be located at Marriott hotel.

Along with Ukrainian Film Corner another Ukrainian stand at the EFM (at Martin-Gropius-Bau) will host one of the biggest powerhouses in Ukraine and CIS – FILM.UA Group.

It is worth noting that in the course of EFM screenings one of Ukrainian feature films will be presented to the wide audience. Upon preliminary information it will be historic drama "Hetman" (director Valery Yambursky, producer Victor Veretennikov).

The business program of Berlinale 66 will traditionally include Berlinale Talents – an annual platform for creative specialists in film and series production from 79 countries. The event will be held on 13-18 February at HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Around 35 workshops and master classes by leading film industry experts from around the world are awaiting for participants.

At the Talent Project Market 2016, which is again organised in co-operation with Berlinale Talents, ten up-and-coming producers, chosen from a total of 152 applicants, will present their projects to Berlinale Co-Production Market participants in one-on-one meetings and will meet experts to learn more about international co-production.

It stands to mention that Ukrainian film "Tank" produced by Max Serdyuk (Noosphere Films) is also included to the Talent Project Market shortlist. Previously, the project was presented in September at the pitching session of Kyiv CoProduction Meetings in the course of KYIV MEDIA WEEK 2015. We keep an eye on the participants of Kyiv CoProduction Meetings and wish "Tank" creators to find reliable partners and score a success.

Besides at Ukrainian Film Corner all EFM participants will have an opportunity to get acquainted with #KinoKraina (#КіноКраїна) - the initiative of the largest Ukrainian TV and film production companies united around an incentive scheme for the local film industry. One of the key goals of this project is to promote Ukraine as a country with  favourable climate for filmmaking – 25% cash rebates for foreign producers are expected to be implemented in 2016. We hope that this project will soon become a reality and new opportunities will be opened both to Ukrainian and European filmmakers.

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