Una Gunjak’s Alfa receives 50 000 EUR grant at Torino Film Lab
The Torino Film Lab supports first and second films by young directors, and this year Una Gunjak has received production support for her first feature length film Alfa, a Croatian-Bosnian&Herzegovinian-French-Italian co-production. The 10th Torino Film Lab Meeting was held on November 24th and 25th as a part of the Torino Film Festival and hosted more than 300 filmmakers from around the globe. 12 projects in the final development phase were presented.
Una Gunjak is the author of the multiple award-winning short film The Chicken, a German-Croatian co-production for which, among others, the film received the European Film Award for Best Short Film in 2014. Gunjak started developing Alfa in 2015 at the Cinéfondation residency, a project supported by Creative Desk Europe – Subprogramme MEDIA, as well as the Sarajevo City of Film Fund.
Una Gunjak graduated with a degree in Film Studies from the University of Torino in 2008, and in 2010 received her MA in Editing at the prestigious National Film and Television School in London where she currently resides and works as an editor and director of feature and documentary films, as well as commercials. The Chicken was her first professional project.
The aim of the Torino Film Lab Meeting grants, which are awarded by an international jury, is to support project finalization. The 50 000 EUR prize is granted upon the evaluation of the script, budget, financial and production plans, and public project presentation. The jury also meets directly with the films’ directors and producers. The jury members change every year, and this year included Laura Milani (jury president, Italy), Director of the National Cinema Museum in Torino (Museo Nazionale del Cinema); director Karim Aïnouz (Brazil); filmmaker and artist Tala Hadid (Morocco/Iraq); director and screenwriter Anna Rose Holmer (USA); and producer Georges Schoucair (Lebanon).
Along with Alfa, the second recipient of a 50 000 EUR grant is Sole (Italy, France, Poland), directed by Carlo Sironi.
Also of note, the ScriptLab module featured the project Dark Mother Earth, and adaptation of Kristian Novak’s novel and produced by Antitalent (Croatia).
More information on Alfa is available here, while information on Dark Mother Earth can be found here. For details on the Torino Film Lab please click here.
Cover photo: Una Gunjak at Torino Film Lab awards ceremony