– The three-day co-production market will allow fiction, documentary and immersive projects to complete their financing by way of one-to-one meetings
Director Lav Diaz, whose new project An Entry Into a Portuguese Woman’s Sadness has been selected (© Sara Komatsu)
66 projects from around the world, in the final stages of development and financing, will be presented over the three-day-long 13th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market (unspooling 4 – 6 September), as organised by the Venice Production Bridge within the 83rd Venice Film Festival. The selected projects will get to complete their financing through one-to-one meetings with international professionals.
The organisers of the co-production market, which has become a key event in the film and immersive industries, report that more than 370 projects were received and that the selection reflects the great diversity of backgrounds, stories, talents, genres and budgets of these numerous submissions. This year, the VPB Focus will be on Greece, with the support of the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center, and Switzerland, with the support of Swiss Films.
The selection is divided into 38 feature-length fiction and documentary projects (including 9 VPB Focus projects), 14 immersive projects (including 3 VPB Focus projects), 11 Biennale College – Immersive projects, and 3 Biennale College – Cinema projects.
The Venice Gap-Financing Market is organising one-to-one meetings between the director-producer teams behind the 66 projects and industry decision-makers (producers, public and private financiers, banks, distributors, sales agents, TV channels, streamers, VOD platforms, institutions, post-production companies…).
Of the 38 selected projects, 31 are fiction films (20 from Europe and 11 from the rest of the world) which need to complete their financial package with minority co-production shares and already have 70% of their financing secured, while the documentary slate comprises 7 projects (2 European and 5 from further afield) which are either narrative or creative (and meeting the same conditions as the afore-mentioned fiction films). Projects from the 2026 VPB Focus on Greece and Switzerland are also included in this line-up.
The 14 Immersive projects (8 European and 6 from elsewhere) include fiction, documentaries, animated films and other interactive installation experiences. All the projects have 30% of their budget in place. This line-up includes the projects selected for the 2026 VPB Focus on Greece and Switzerland. The 11 projects developed during the workshop held within the 10th edition of Biennale College Cinema Immersive are at various stages of development, from pre-production through to post-production.
Last but not least, the line-up also includes the 3 projects developed during the first workshop held within the 14th edition of Biennale College Cinema, which are now at various stages of development and pre-production.
The Book of Projects, containing detailed information on each and every title, will be published online around mid-July. Film-industry professionals accredited for the Venice Production Bridge will be able to request one-to-one meetings with the project teams via the dedicated Venice Gap-Financing Market section on the Venice Production Bridge website.
The list of projects is as follows:
Films
Ballad of the Phoenix – Rodolfo Ambriz Rendón, Arturo Ambriz Rendón (Mexico) (animation)
Production: Woo Films, Cinema Fantasma
Kyūshū Moon – Stéphanie Argerich (Switzerland/France) (fiction)
Production: Intermezzo Films, Les Films du Bélier
Cábula – Lila Avilés (Mexico/Spain) (fiction)
Production: Pimienta Films
Stallions – Rita Baghdadi (Morocco/United States) (documentary)
Production: Lady & Bird Films
The Smuggler – Kaveh Bakhtiari (Switzerland/Greece/France) (fiction)
Production: Beauvoir Films, Homemade Films, TS Productions
The Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Lene Berg (Norway/Sweden/Germany) (documentary)
Production: Twentyone Pictures
News from Lod, a Letter to Chantal Akerman – Michale Boganim (France/Belgium) (documentary)
Production: Blue Train Films
Primo viaggio – Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey Kauffman (Italy/France) (fiction)
Production: Sacher Film, Halley Production
Holiday – Wissam Charaf (France/Italy/Greece/Lebanon) (fiction)
Production: Aurora Films, Intramovies, Marni Films, Né à Beyrouth Films
Ya & Niki – Rä Di Martino (Italy/France/Lebanon) (fiction)
Production: Dugong Films
An Entry Into a Portuguese Woman’s Sadness – Lav Diaz (France/Philippines/Portugal) (fiction)
Production: Films Boutique
Wolfmother – Ismaël El Iraki (France/Morocco) (fiction)
Production: Special Touch Studios, Kasbah Films
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me – Asmae El Moudir (Morocco/Norway/France/Chile) (documentary)
Production: Insight Films, Haut et Court Doc, Quijote Films, Lofoten Film
The Rope – Alberto Fasulo (Italy/Switzerland) (fiction)
Production: Nefertiti Film
Untitled Water Documentary – Carola Fuentes (Chile/Canada) (documentary)
Production: La Ventana Cine, Intuitive Pictures
A Year Without Summer – Flurin Giger (Switzerland/Germany) (fiction)
Production: Beauvoir Films, Heimatfilm
African Grey – Yorgos Goussis (Greece/Bulgaria) (fiction)
Production: Plankton Films
Land of Savages – Fernando Guzzoni (Colombia/United States/Chile) (fiction)
Production: Oso Films
Toxic – Jessica Hausner (Austria/Germany/France/Sweden) (fiction)
Production: Schubert
Urihi – The Forest Land – Morzaniel Iramari (Brazil) (documentary)
Production: Aruac Filmes
Salut Robert – Laura Israel (United States/Switzerland/France) (documentary)
Production: Correspondent
La Manche – Damian Kocur (Poland/Germany/France) (fiction)
Production: Kijora Film, Les Contes Modernes, Oma Inge
The Funeral – Carolina Markowicz (Brazil/Portugal/Romania) (fiction)
Production: Biônica Filmes
Quiet Land – Ursula Meier (Switzerland/France/Canada) (fiction)
Production: Bande à part Films, Paradise City Films
Chocolat Amer – Valentin Merz (Switzerland/Germany/France) (fiction)
Production: Cinédokké
Magnum Opus – Bogdan Mirica (Romania/Poland/Bulgaria/Moldova) (fiction)
Production: deFilm
Faux Bijoux – Jessy Moussallem (France/Lebanon/Belgium) (fiction)
Production: Vixens
They Burn in the Same Way – Clarisa Navas (Argentina/Brazil) (fiction)
Production: Gentil Cine
Shitballs – Alfrun Ornolfsdottir (Iceland/Canada) (fiction)
Production: Compass Films
Wake – Thelyia Petraki (Greece/Cyprus/Serbia) (fiction)
Production: Filmiki, Out the Box
Patrimonial Fears and Other Illusions – Elina Psykou (Greece/Netherlands/Cyprus) (fiction)
Production: Jungle Films, Homemade Films, StudioBauhaus, Studio Ruba, Bark Like A Cat Films
Kurinji – Payal Sethi (India/France/Germany) (fiction)
Production: FilmKaravan, Blue Monday Productions, 70 Steps
The Amateurs – Felipe Solari Yrigoyen (Chile/Argentina) (documentary)
Production: Quijote Films
Something Strange Happened to Me – Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine/United Kingdom) (fiction)
Production: Mellivora Production
The Langfang Republic – Katsuya Tomita (Japan/France/Taipei) (fiction)
Production: Kuzoku
Lionfish – Thanasis Trouboukis (Greece/Germany) (fiction)
Production: asterisk*, Studio Zentral
All Clear – Christina Tynkevych (Ukraine/Germany/Luxembourg) (fiction)
Production: Evos Film
Light Boxes – Theodore Ushev (Bulgaria/Canada/France/Belgium/Poland) (animation)
Production: Cinelibri
Immersive projects
Race Against the Machine – Amir Admoni, Fabito Rychter (Brazil) (immersive experience)
Production: Delirium XR
The Berlin Wall – Karim Ben Khelifa, Tina Ahrens (France/Germany) (immersive experience)
Production: Lucid Realities, Filmtank
Opi and the Quiet Ones – Federico Carlini, Jorge Tereso, Fernando Maldonado (Argentina) (immersive experience)
Production: 3DAR LTDA
Pilgrims – DARKFIELD (United Kingdom) (immersive experience)
Production: DARKFIELD
The Mysteries of Eleusis – John Fitzgerald, Simon Critchley (United States/Greece) (immersive experience)
Production: Techno Firma, Onassis Onx
Hide and Seek – Fabienne Giezendanner (Switzerland/France) (immersive experience)
Production: Elefant Films
Montmartre, la nuit – Pierre-Alain Giraud, Stéphane Foenkinos (France) (immersive experience)
Production: Novaya
A Funeral for the Internet – Samantha Gorman, Scarlett Kim (United States/United Kingdom) (immersive experience)
Production: Thresholds & Co.
The River Within You – Hsin Hsuan Yeh (Taiwan) (immersive experience)
Production: Joyful Beings Animation Studio
Marta Becket’s Death Valley – Gilles Jobin, Susana Panadés Diaz (Switzerland) (immersive experience)
Production: Cie Gilles Jobin, Studio 44 MocapLab
After the Flood – Chloé Lee (Germany) (immersive experience)
Production: Reynard Films
Animal Being – Barnaby Steel, Ersin Han Ersin, Robin McNicholas (United Kingdom) (immersive experience)
Production: Marshmallow Laser Feast
Gloomy Eyes & The Last Standing – Jorge Tereso, Fernando Maldonado (Taiwan/France/Argentina) (immersive experience)
Production: HTC VIVE Originals, Atlas V, 3dar
Wolf – Of Hide and Flesh – Alex Verhaest (Belgium) (immersive experience)
Production: Timescapes
Biennale College Cinema Immersive
Walking with Ghosts – Alejandro Angel-Torres (Colombia) (film)
Production: Armadillo: New Media & Films
Visitor – Spyros Boukas (Greece/Luxembourg) (film)
Production: asterisk*
Mystis – Tatiana Collet Apraxine (United Kingdom) (film)
Production: Onism Studio
Pelle – Stefano Conca Bonizzoni (Italy) (film)
Production: Officine Creative-Università di Pavia
Isabella, Mad with Love – Giulia Falciani (Germany/Italy) (film)
Production: Studio Fazi
Oubliette – Wen-Yee Hsieh (Taiwan) (film)
Production: Wen-E Studio
Primer Plano – Giulia Jiménez Tani (Venezuela/United States) (film)
Production: Casivache
Sāmoa Ocean Odyssey – Yuki Kihara (Samoa/New Zealand/Australia) (film)
Production: Pernickety Split
Unstill Stillness – Bang-Yao Liu (Taiwan) (film)
Production: Boilfilm Studio
The Mother Tree – Vernante Pallotti, Daniele Zen (Italy/Brazil/Portugal) (film)
Production: Gastonia Motion Srl, Hilda Motion
Damned – Nataliya Velikanova (France/Ukraine) (film)
Production: Da Prod
Biennale College Cinema
Barnacles – Andrej Chinappi (Italy) (fiction)
Production: Mosaicon Film Srl
Piggy Baby – Maria Giménez Cavallo (Italy/France) (fiction)
Production: Berta Film
Tithes & Offering – Tony Koros (Kenya) (fiction)
Production: We Are Not the Machine Ltd.
(Translated from Italian)
