DAVOS 1917 by Jan-Eric Mack, Anca Miruna Lăzărescu and Christian Theede will premiere at Zurich Film Festival 2023. The project was developed during the ACE Series Special 2 by Ivan Madeo, and produced with his colleague and business partner Stefan Eichenberger (ACE Switzerland)

As World War I ravages Europe, the noble resort town of Davos seems like an oasis of peace. Behind the scenes, however, a relentless battle between secret agents of the world powers is raging in neutral Switzerland. The young nurse Johanna Gabathuler unexpectedly gets caught between the fronts of the spies. To save her illegitimate daughter, she becomes embroiled in a deadly game with the German secret service. Set against the breathtaking mountain panorama of the Grisons, the spy thriller DAVOS 1917 unfolds a politically explosive chapter in European history.

How did the ACE Series Special benefit you as a producer, and your ACE project?
The Series Special 2 Programme was a great benefit for DAVOS 1917 both on the development level and on the project presentation level with our series bible. I will never forget the valuable dramaturgical exchange with Emmanuel Oberg. He was a tremendous blessing that I was happy to share with our head writer Adrian Illien. With my fellow producers, I was able to discuss a variety of financing scenarios even before we knew how the final financial setup for our high-budget series would come together. Another extremely valuable aspect was the exchange with colleagues from the programme about the production challenges we face day by day, not only on a legal, financial and negotiation level but also on a psychological and emotional level. Because our profession is truly extraordinary and affects our personal lives profoundly.

What was the most challenging in getting this series from script to screen?
The first difficulty for us and our writers’ room was to tell a story that is set in a small village in the middle of the Alps but is still as internationally relevant as possible – and in a way that never feels constructed. I think we succeeded quite well thanks to numerous research on the true events during World War I as well as the cross-national cooperation of dedicated writers, producers, and commissioning editors from Swiss Television SRF and German Television ARD Degeto. The second major difficulty was the endless script revisions that were necessary due to the constant inflation, be it because of Covid, be it because of the Ukraine war. We finished financing and writing our series DAVOS 1917 half a dozen times before we had to tap additional sources of funding and face simplifications and cost reductions at the script level.

What’s ahead for you and your company? What are you currently working on?
The variety of films we are currently working on at Contrast Film is as large as inspiring. In Locarno, we have just premiered OF LIVING WITHOUT ILLUSION by Katharina Lüdin, a first feature that is now touring the festivals. At the other end of the budget scale are two big productions that we will premiere at the Zurich Film Festival: our TV series DAVOS 1917 starring Dominique Devenport, Jeanette Hain and David Kross as well as the co-produced feature film STELLA. A LIFE by Kilian Riedhof, a multi-country co-production led by Letterbox Filmproduktion Hamburg and starring a mesmerising Paula Beer. Furthermore, we are in post-production of our historical feature THE TRAITOR by Michael Krummenacher with Luna Wedler, Fabian Hinrichs and the fascinating new talent Dimitri Krebs as well as in post-production of the documentary CAN LOVE BE SIN by Martin Witz, a Locarno veteran. We are also involved as a minority partner in STRAY BODIES, a film by Elina Psykou as a co-production between Greece, Switzerland, Italy, and Bulgaria. On top of that, several co-productions are in the pipeline and new series are in development. So, there is some work, but also excitement ahead for the company.

More information on the ACE Series Special can be found here.

LA BELLA ESTATE by Laura Luchetti will premiere at Locarno International Film Festival 2023 at the Piazza Grande. Producer Giovanni Pompili (ACE Italy) participated with the project in the ACE 30 Annual Programme.

1938. Young Ginia has just moved to Turin from the countryside. Looking for adventure she discovers the dazzling artists’ world and begins an affair with a painter. Amelia, the model who leads her into the bohemian quarters, is sensual, free, and different from anyone she has ever met. During her ‘beautiful summer’, Ginia yields to her first great love, celebrating the courage to be truly herself.

How did the ACE Annual Programme benefit you as a producer, and your ACE project?
Participating in the ACE Annual Programme definitely was a turning point for my education and career, as well as strengthening my industry knowledge and my international network. Meeting and sharing with my peers always brings different points of view on common topics and this is absolutely the greatest value the experience can bring. It helped me a lot to be able to look at myself from the right distance to my professional experience and to the company management.
And: The Annual Programme doesn’t finish with the workshop, but the ACE journey starts with it, being part of the association today is extremely important.

Unfortunately, we experienced it in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and we were still not used to handling this kind of online engagement. I did the first session from a hotel room while we were in Sardinia on the set of a shooting (SILENT LAND, co-produced with Lava Films and I/O Post) with COVID alert and protocol to manage and it was difficult to stay 100% focused. However, the ACE team did a tremendous job of making it as interactive and inspiring as possible. The feedback from my script team was invaluable, it was really the confrontation I needed at that time.

What was the most challenging in getting this film from script to the screen?
Making a film based on a book is always a great challenge. If the book is written by Pavese, a master of Italian literature, the challenge is even greater. With Laura, we talked a lot and the only way to respect such an important author was to make him our own. So, the script itself was the first challenge. In the production build-up, we had another big challenge given the fact that the film was supposed to be a co-production with France but four months before shooting everything fell through.
Thanks to our associate partners Lucky Red, Tapeless and True Colours who are handling international sales, we’ve managed to get to the set without changing or reducing the shooting days.

What’s ahead for you and your company? What are you currently working on?
In San Sebastián we will premiere in competition with PUAN, directed by Maria Alche and Benjamin Naishtat, a film I’m super proud of! It is an Argentinian-Brasilian-Italian-French-German co-production, led by Pasto and Pucara Cine together with Infinity Hill – Pandora Filmproduktion (Germany) – Atelier de Production (France) – Bubbles Project (Brazil)

In post-production, we have currently two films, the second feature by Carlo Sironi starring the French actress Noee Abita and co-produced with Julie Billy at June film in France and a minority co-production with the Netherlands based on the book A Beautiful Imperfection by Arthur Japin. It is produced together with Maarten Swart at Kaap Holland Films and Eye-Works Belgium starring Dar Zuso and Jonah Hauer-King.

In October we will have the principal photography of POLVO SERAN, directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet in co-production with Lastor Media (Spain) and Alina Films (Switzerland).

We are developing more films, both majority and minority co-production, it is in our souls to work on stories regardless of the passport of the authors. But the biggest challenge is to structure the company so that it can be independent of me, that is, to train professionals who can one day carry on what I started ten years ago.

SWEET DREAMS by Ena Sendijarević will premiere at Locarno International Film Festival 2023 in Concorso Internazionale. Producer Erik Glijnis (ACE The Netherlands) participated with the project in the ACE 30 Annual Programme.

1900. A secluded island full of flora and fauna. Amidst another sugar crisis, Jan — patriarch and head of a sugar factory — dies, leaving his two women to their own devices: Agathe, his wife, and housemaid Siti, the mother to his bastard son. A family reunion follows. When the illegitimate son turns out to be the only heir, it’s every man, woman, child, plant, and animal for themselves…

How did the ACE Annual Programme benefit you as a producer, and your ACE project?
ACE 30 was an extraordinary edition as we started during the COVID-19 pandemic. We had the pleasure of participating in the ACE Annual Programme for over one and a half years. During that time, I developed SWEET DREAMS together with writer/director Ena Sendijarević from the first draft until a shooting script and from the start, it was clear that it was an ambitious project.
My fellow producers within the group helped shape both the content and financial set-up of the film. At the end of my ACE journey, we moved forward to a shooting period in the Summer of 2021. The shoot was bound to take place in Indonesia, however, the Delta COVID variant really hit hard that summer. During our pre-production, we had to stop due to safety reasons. Later, we tried to re-set it up in Indonesia, but also started researching alternatives, and came across the island of La Reunion and eventually moved the production there. We finally shot the film a year later in the summer of 2022. It was an extremely tough period. I’ve learned a lot from this process, from my fellow participants’ input and from being involved in helping them with their projects.

What was the most challenging in getting this film from script to the screen?
On a productional level, it was what I mentioned above, creating a period piece with a small budget amidst COVID-19. The co-production structure was Dutch, Swedish, Indonesian, and French, getting our different cultures and way of working in line and being the first ever international co-production to shoot in La Reunion meant we had to work very structured. I should not forget to thank my dear colleague Leontine Petit (ACE NL) and my producing partners: Erik Hemmendorff (ACE SE), Judy Tossell (ACE DE), Kristina Borjeson (FilmiVast), Mandy Marahimin (Tala Media, Indonesia) and Laurent Medea from (TikTak production, La Réunion). We had just completed the co-production PLEASURE, where Plattform was the majority producer, and it was great to continue our relationship and collaborate on SWEET DREAMS.

What’s ahead for you and your company? What are you currently working on?
We’re happy our different outfits (Lemming Film Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany) have a lot going on in terms of production. In the meantime, we’re working on our development slate and strengthening the organisation and our team. We’re also spending quite some time on the creative alliance we’re part of called The Creatives to further intensify our collaboration.

Regarding the projects: We’re in post-production with Tallulah Schwab’s MR. K, Lucrecia Martel’s CHOCOBAR, Stefanie Kolk’s MELK, Wang Xiaoshuai’s ABOVE THE DUST, Justin Andersons SWIMMING HOME and Isabella Eklöf’s KALAK.

This fall, I’m finally shooting David Verbeek’s feature film THE WOLF, THE FOX & THE LEOPARD, a co-production between The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Croatia, Ireland, and Taiwan. We’re involved as a minority co-producer in VÄRN, directed by John Skoog, and produced by Erik Hemmendorff and Caroline Drab (Plattform), with Denis Lavant as the lead. We’re also working on SKIFF, a feature film by Cecilia Verheyden, produced by Elisa Heene (Mirage Films). In the Spring of 2024, I’m shooting Michiel ten Horn’s ANY OTHER NIGHT with our German (One Two Films) and Canadian (Lithium Studios) partners. We also have two series and a high school comedy going into production in the first half of 2023, so it’s pretty packed until next summer with a wide variety of great projects.