School of Film Advancement European Training Program (SOFA), which aims to strengthen regional film industries across Europe with a focus on the Eastern Partnership, has launched its ninth edition and selection of projects 2022-2023.

The first SOFA workshop, which runs until September 30, kicked off outside the Polish capital of Warsaw on Sunday.

After two virtual years, the program returns with an expanded edition that includes a line-up of 16 projects and 20 participants, made up of promising film industry executives, curators and cultural leaders from 17 countries, including Ukraine, Belarus , Poland, Czech Republic, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Bangladesh, Switzerland and Germany .

During the opening session of the programme, participants underlined the need for creative cross-border cooperation between the Eastern Partnership countries and the EU, given the difficult political situations in a number of European countries.

SOFA’s selection of 2022-2023 projects includes commercial and institutional projects focused on environmental activism, mental health in the film industry, film education, Indigenous cultures, sustainability, inclusion and accessibility , and the preservation of independent journalism and film criticism, as well as distance learning.

Projects are selected on the basis of their “quality and feasibility” in the evolution of film culture and industry in their country of origin and must “carry the ambition to promote structural change or new forms of cooperation in the regional cinematographic landscape”.

Projects include Cinema Nutsa by documentary filmmaker and Sundance/Berlinale 2021 alumnus Salomé Jashi (Georgia), which aims to establish the first art house cinema in Tbilisi; the creation of an Audiovisual Production Council in Azerbaijan by Gunel Gadirova; and Louise Højgaard Johansen’s Sane Cinema (Denmark/Czech Republic), an international consultancy specializing in mental health in the film industry and developing tools for organizations and individuals. Other projects include Warszawa\Praga Studio, a digital media and video production facility linked to the redevelopment of a gritty neighborhood in Warsaw, and MoreFilm.Fun by Olga Zhurzhenko and Sia Titova (Ukraine/Poland), a company distribution focused on children’s content.

SOFA’s one-year intensive program, comprised of three focused workshops complemented by regular virtual sessions, aims to support, nurture and bring to fruition the “dream projects” of participants, who apply with a specific project plan in the areas of distribution, education, financing, exhibition, preservation or criticism. Projects are then tracked over the course of the year, with each of the intensive workshops focusing on project development, marketing strategies, as well as financing and business plans.

SOFA Director Nikolaj Nikitin said, “Projects supporting activism, freedom of expression or institution-building that help evolving pan-regional cultural industries are highly valued by SOFA this year. In these difficult times, alongside the development of new businesses and independent institutions, it is a clear priority to support projects that conceive of cinema and audiovisual media as a force for freedom of expression, resistance and strengthening of society. civil society through our common work.

Berenika Partum, SOFA Project Manager for Poland/Hungary added: “The heart of SOFA is to nurture and connect the human infrastructure that can support a positive and cooperative impact of a film industry and culture across Europe and beyond.”

SOFA makers include Ewa Puszczyńska (Poland), producer of the films “Cold War” and “Ida”; Tine Klint (Denmark), founder of commercial agent and aggregator LevelK; Jan Naszewski (Poland) of New Europe Film Sales; Iza Kiszka-Hoflik IKH Pictures Production (Poland); Michal Bregant (Czech Republic), CEO of Národní filmový archiv, Prague, and President of ACE – Association of European Cinematheques; Karel Och (Czech Republic), artistic director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; Marit Van Den Elshout (Netherlands), former head of IFFR Pro; Jay Rinsky (USA), who runs Little Cinema; producer Peter Rommel (Germany); and former director of the Israel Film Fund Katriel Schory.

The SOFA 2022-23 participants are:

  • Leonid Kalitenya and Natalia Bruzhnik (Belarus / Lithuania) with the BFN – Belarusian project
    Filmmakers Network
  • Dániel Botos and Máté Körösi (Hungary) with the CinemaJam project
  • Bibesh Roy and Arifur Rahman Khan (Bangladesh) with the project TALKIES – A Cinematic Pleasure
  • Olga Zhurzhenko and Sia Titova (Ukraine / Poland) with the MoreFilm.Fun project
  • Pavel Ruzyak (Czech Republic) with the Filming without Barriers project
  • Gunel Gadirova (Azerbaijan) with the Council for Audiovisual Production project
  • Salomé Jashi (Georgia) with the Cinema Nutsa project
  • Grzegorz Czyż (Poland) with the Warszawa\Praga Studio project
  • Louise Højgaard Johansen (Denmark/ Czech Republic) with the Sane Cinema project
  • Elena Rubashevska (Ukraine / Poland) with the IFCH – International Film Critics Hub project
  • Teimuraz Chkhvimiani (Georgia) with the Deli Residency project at Svaneti IFF
  • Joanna Wyrwa (Poland) with the Film for Better project
  • Nadejda Koseva (Bulgaria) with the CITE project – Cinema International Teenage Education
  • Aleksandar Arsovski (North Macedonia/Croatia) with the project Short Fits – Film Market
  • Danijela Radulović (Montenegro) with the PROFILMIA LAB – Virtual Film Lab project
  • Anja Mayer (Germany / Switzerland) with the My Remote Knowledge Guide project