At the end of 2015 the Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund joined forces with four European festivals to establish the "Eurimages Lab Project Award" for innovative projects exploring new forms of expression, as from 2016.
This prize, amounting to €50,000, was awarded by the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the European Film Festival des Arcs within the framework of their “Works in Progress” events.
To be eligible, projects had to be mainly produced in a Eurimages member state, participate in one of the above events and show co-operation between at least two countries.
During its strategic meeting in October 2019, Eurimages Board of Management decided to suspend, as from January 2021, support for lab projets in its current form and to launch an independant study on the relevance and modalities of support for non-conventional cinematographic projects. Following a market consultation launched in September 2020, this study on the feasibility pertinence and design of a Lab Projects support programme for the Eurimages Fund has been entrusted to the structure Tatino Films (FR).
You can read the final report of this study which was presented to the Board of Management at its plenary meeting on 19 March 2021 in full or in summary.
On the basis of the conclusions of this report and the discussions of a Study Group, the Eurimages Board of Management adopted in December 2022 the creation of two new Eurimages Lab Awards: the Innovation Award for innovative and experimental projects in development andthe Outreach Award to promote public awareness of innovative and experimental projects at the end of production or in post-production.
During its meeting on 29-30 June 2023 and following the call for proposals launched in March 2023, the Eurimages Board of Management approved the selection of two initiatives to present the Eurimages New Lab Awards, each consisting of one Innovation Award of €20,000 and one Outreach Award of €30,000 in 2024-2026, namely:
CPH:DOX (Denmark) and
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) (The Netherlands).
projects rewarded by this prize
2024 - EURIMAGES NEW LAB AWARDS
INNOVATION AWARDS
Garden Alchemy by Michelle and Uri Kranot, produced by Peter Fisher (DK) - Copenhagen
Cherub by Barbara Rupik, produced by the company Madants (PL) - Rotterdam
OUTREACH AWARDS
Timestamp by Kateryna Gornostai, produced by Olha Beskhmelnytsina and Natalia Libet (2Brave Productions / Rinkel Film & Docs, UA & NL) - Copenhagen
Duchampiana by Lilian Hess, produced by Tchikiboum (FR) in co-operation with Germany - Rotterdam
2020
Magdala de Damien Manivel (m), produit par la société Mld Films (FR) - Les Arcs
Tracking Satyrs de Maciej & Michal Madraccy (m) et Gilles Lepore (m), produit par Beata Rzeźniczek de la société Madants (PL) - Thessalonique
A Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic de Teemu Nikki (m), produit par Jani Pösö de la société It's Alive Films (FIN) - Haugesund
Atlantide de Yuri Ancarani (m), produit par Marco Alessi de la société Dugong Srl (IT) en coopération avec la France - Karlovy Vary
m : masculin ; f : féminin
2019
Figures in the Urban Landscape by Ekaterina Selenkina (f) and produced by Vladimir Nadein (RU) - Les Arcs
Mother Lode by Matteo Tortone, produced by Alexis Taillant and Nadège Labé from the company Wendigo Films (FR) in cooperation with Benjamin Poumey from C-Side Productions (CH) and Margot Mecca from Malfé Films (IT) - Thessaloniki
Him by Guro Bruusgaard (m), produced by the Norwegian company Alternativet Produksjon; A Special Mention went to Jessicaby Ninja Thyberg - Haugesund
Bottled Songs written, directed and produced by Kevin B. Lee (m) and Chloé Galibert (f) respectively from Germany and France - Karlovy Vary
m: male; f: female
2018
White on White by Theo Court (m), produced by Jose Alayon from the company El Viaje Films (ES) - Les Arcs
Undergrown by Marta Ribeiro (f), produced by Joana Peralta from the company Videolotion (PT) - Thessaloniki
Burning Man by Itonje Søimer Guttormsen (f), produced by Maria Ekerhovd from the company Mer Film (NO); A special mention from the Eurimages jury went to the film Season by John Skoog, produced by Erik Hemmendorff (Plattform) - Haugesund
Normal by Adele Tulli (f), produced by Valeria Adilardi, Laura Romano and Luca Ricciardi from the company FilmAffair (IT) - Karlovy Vary
m: male; f: female
2017
Gold Is All There Is by Andrea Caccia (m), produced by Dugong Films (IT), Picofilms (FR) and Rough Cat (CH) - Les Arcs
Speak So I Can See You by Marija Stojnic (f), produced by Marija Stojnic and Milos Ivanovic from the company Bilboke (RS) - Thessaloniki
Jimmie by Jesper Ganslandt (m), produced by Jesper Kurlandsky, Hedvig Lundgren and Juan Libossart from the company Fasad (SE) ; Special Mentions went to the projects Alma by Kristín Jóhannedóttir produced by Gudrun Edda Thorhannesdottir, Anna G. Magnusdottir, Ilann Girard, Jim Stark, Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir andt Elfar Adalstei and The Second Sex by Katja Eyde Jacobsen produced by Maria Ekerhovd and Elisa Pirir – Haugesund
The Stand-In by Rä di Martino (f), produced by Dugong Srl (IT) in co-operation with France and Marocco - Karlovy Vary
m: male; f: female
2016
The Hidden City by Victor Moreno (m), produced by the companies El Viaje Films (ES) and Pomme Hurlante (FR) - Les Arcs
Thorn (GR, DK) by Gabriel Tzafka (m), produced by Panayiotis Kakavias (Kakavias Film) and Michael Bille Frandsen & Theis Nørgaard (Nitrat Film) - Thessaloniki
The Wind Blew On (IS) by Katrín Ólafsdóttir (f), produced by par Incoherence Cinema Limited - Haugesund
Perseverance (Vztrajanje) (SI, HR, IT, RS) by Miha Knific (m), produced by Siniša Juričič – Karlovy Vary
19/12/2017 – Last night at the closing ceremony of the Work in Progress event organised by Les Arcs European Film Festival, the Eurimages Lab Project Award of €50,000 went to the project Gold Is All There Is by Andrea Caccia, produced by Dugong Films (IT), Picofilms (FR) and Rough Cat (CH). The jury composed by Charles Tesson (Artistic Director of Cannes Critic's Week), Elad Samorzik (Director of Jerusalem International Film Festival) and Tamara Tatishvili (Georgian representative to Eurimages) appreciated this “project with sensitive visual narration, craftful mixing of genre and solid presence of a place.” See the press release.
10/11/2017 – The Eurimages Lab Project Award of €50,000 presented in Thessaloniki went to the project Speak So I Can See You directed by Marija Stojnic, produced by Marija Stojnic and Milos Ivanovic from the company Bilboke in Serbia and co-produced by Tibor Keser and Vanja Jambrovic from the company Restart in Croatia. Set at the intersection of an audiovisual experiment and an observational documentary, this film connects the strangers from the opposite ends of the radio signal and re-imagines the role of the old-school, live, spoken-word radio in contemporary life, reinventing its purpose in the global epidemic of loneliness. This year’s Agora Works in Progress Jury consisted of Dorien van de Pas (Eurimages Representative from the Netherlands Film Fund), Bero Beyer (Artistic Director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam) and Ilias Georgiopoulos (distributor, Danaos Films, Greece). More information on the newsletter / press release.
25/08/2017 - The Eurimages Lab Project Award of €50,000 presented in Haugesund went to the project Jimmie by Jesper Ganslandt, produced by Jesper Kurlandsky, Hedvig Lundgren and Juan Libossart from the company Fasad (SE).
The jury also decided to award a Special Mention to the projects Alma by Kristín Jóhannedóttir produced by Gudrun Edda Thorhannesdottir, Anna G. Magnusdottir, Ilann Girard, Jim Stark, Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir and Elfar Adalstei, as well as to the project The Second Sex by Katja Eyde Jacobsen, produced by Maria Ekerhovd and Elisa Pirir. More information can be found on the Festival's website.
The jury also decided to award a Special Mention to the projects Alma by Kristín Jóhannedóttir produced by Gudrun Edda Thorhannesdottir, Anna G. Magnusdottir, Ilann Girard, Jim Stark, Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir and Elfar Adalstei, as well as to the project The Second Sex by Katja Eyde Jacobsen, produced by Maria Ekerhovd and Elisa Pirir. More information can be found on the Festival's website.
Moreover, the Norwegian Film Critics Award was given to the opening film of the 45th Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, Thelma (NO, SE, FR, DK) by Joachim Trier, a co-production supported by Eurimages. The films Bye Bye Germany (DE, BE, LU) by Sam Garbarsky received the Audience Award while the Andreas Ecumenical Award went to Kornél Mundruczó's Jupiter's Moon (HU, DE): both films were supported by Eurimages. See the complete results.
12/07/2017 – The Eurimages Lab Project Award @KVIFF amounting to € 50,000 went to The Stand-In (La Controfigura), directed and written by Rä di Martino and produced by Marco Alessi from the company Dugong SRL (IT) in co-operation with the French production company Haut Les Mains. The Jury composed of Iole Maria Giannattasio (Italian Eurimages Representative), Cedomir Kolar (A.S.A.P. Films) and Susana Santos Rodrigues (VAIVEM) decided to reward this project for its ironic visual experimental approach to innovative narrative and for being an intersection of art and film. The final eight projects were selected from 45 submitted projects from Eurimages countries that are currently in production or post-production, are being made outside the traditional filmmaking framework, and involve international co-operation. More information on the festival’s website. Moreover, the film Little Crusader by Václav Kadrnka, winner of the Grand Prix - Crystal Globe of the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival which ended on 8 July 2017 had received the Eurimages Co-production Development Award at the New Cinema Network in Rome in November 2013. The Special Jury Prize of an amount of USD 15,000 to be shared equally between the director and the producer of the award-winning film went to the Eurimages-supported co-production Men Don't Cry (BA, RS, DE, HR, SI) by Alen Drljević, also rewarded with the Europa Cinemas Label Award for the best European film in the Official Selection and in the East of the West Competition; Last but not least, the Best Actor Award was given to Alexander Yatsenko for his role on the film Arrhythmia by Boris Khlebnikov, a co-production between Russia, Finland and Germany supported by Eurimages.