Croatian projects under development at international forums in Italy and the Czech Republic
The feature children’s film Young Tesla and Idea Poachers will participate in the co-production forum Focus Asia, connecting projects and producers from Europe and Asia. Petar Orešković’s screenplay and project development was co-financed by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. Furthermore, the team from the animated film John Vardar vs. the Galaxy, a Croatian co-production, will present their project under development at the 6th Visegrad Animation Forum in the Czech Republic.
Young Tesla and Idea Poachers at Focus Asia co-production market
Young Tesla and Idea Poachers is a feature length children’s film by director Petar Orešković, who, along with Vanja Obad, co-wrote the script. The film is produced by Siniša Juričić and Matija Drniković of Nukleus Film in cooperation with Jaako Dobra Produkcija. Besides the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the project in development received financial support from Creative Europe – MEDIA and RE-ACT.
The project will participate at the Focus Asia co-production market aimed at connecting European and Asian projects and producers. 14 projects from 12 countries with co-production potential in Europe and Asia are participating in this year’s market. The market will be held in Udine (Italy) from April 24th to 27th during the Far East Film Festival. For a list of all selected projects please visit the Far East Film Festival’s official website.
The Young Tesla and Idea Poachers project’s director and writer, Petar Orešković, graduated with a degree in film directing from the Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is the author of a number of short films including Get a Move On! and Rođendan (Birthday). He also directed the feature film Simon Magus as well as several feature length documentary films. He has also worked on a number of TV formats – comedies, television documentary films and others.
Young Tesla and Idea Poachers is a film about Nikola Tesla who wants to create a Happy-Ray and cheer up his parents devastated by the recent loss of their older son. In an attempt to stop him, an Austrian general hires two Idea Poachers. Nikola goes after the Poachers and comes to a castle finding the general and a twisted scientist. They want to use Tesla’s idea to create a Death-Ray and take over the Empire. Nikola will have to give up his noble idea in order to save the world from destruction.
Croatian films and filmmakers at Visegrad Animation Forum
Another project under development, also a Croatian co-production, will be presented at an international forum. John Vardar vs. the Galaxy is a Bulgarian-French-Danish-Croatian co-production. The animated film has been selected into the Visegrad Animation Forum programme in the Czech Republic.
The Visegrad Animation Forum is an educational platform aiming to support young professionals, help them develop their projects with experienced international experts, and connect with other film professionals. The platform also helps with pitching and, along with workshops for authors and producers, offers support in preparing presentations. The workshops focus on three key elements of each project: plot structure, realistic development plan and a well-structured pitch. The forum will take place from May 1st to 3rd in Třeboň, Czech Republic.
Furthermore, two Croatian animated films have been selected into the short film programme in Visegrad where projects will ‘battle’ for a 2 000 EUR cash prize and the chance to participate at Cartoon Forum 2018. The films are Iris by Lucija Bužanić, and Matia Dances by Marko Dješka. Also competing in the same category is Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves by Chintis Lundgren (Estonia), Emmanuel-Alain Raynal (France) and Draško Ivezić (Croatia).
Cover photos: Authors of project Young Tesla and Idea Poachers at Pitching Forum in Split; concept art for Young Tesla and Idea Poachers; scene from John Vardar vs the Galaxy