Nikolaj Arcel's ‘My Fairytale Life' among latest Eurimages recipients

Projects from Isaki Lacuesta and Nikolaj Arcel are among the recipients of European film support body Eurimages’ latest round of funding, each receiving €500,000, the biggest award available. 

Spanish two-time San Sebastian Golden Shell winner Isaki Lacuesta’s next film, Close To Me is a Spain-Belgium co-production that follows two friends growing up in the 1980s in a small Catalan town, with Global Constellation handling international sales.

Sergi López, Àlex Brendemühl and Alba Guilera are set to star.

Danish filmmaker Arcel’s My Fairytale Life is a Denmark-Germany co-production. It is a biopic of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, who will be played by Caspar Kjaer Jensen, with TrustNordisk selling. 

This round has supported 33 co-productions, including three documentaries and four animations, for a total amount of €10.2m. Sixteen are to be directed or co-directed by women, which represents 48% of the total funding awarded.

Benjamin Massoubre and Fursy Teyssier’s France-Luxembourg animation thriller The Wolf, from France’s Xilam, has received €450,000. Crunchyroll has pre-brought world SVOD rights from Goodfellas.

Further projects receiving funding are Panamanian director Ana Elena Tejera’s next film Culebra Cut; Russian filmmaker Kira Kovalenko’s sophomore feature Heavens Don’t Care, following Cannes 2021 title Unclenching The Fists; and Aref, French filmmaker Camille Vidal-Naquet’s follow-up to his feature debut, Cannes 2018 selection Sauvage.

Eurimages latest funding round

A Satellite For Burulai (Switz-Ger) dirs. Antonin Lechat, Suium Sulaimanova - €109,000 (documentary) 

A Song That Slays (It-Can-Switz) dir. Maureen Frances Scarpelli - €150,000

Achinos (Greece-Cro) dir. Iris Baglanea - €250,000

Ama (Lux-Japan-It-Fr) dir. Yuki Kawamura - €91,000

Aref (Fr-Cyprus-Belg) dir. Camille Vidal-Naquet - €375,000

Close To Me (Sp-Belg) dir. Isaki Lacuesta - €500,000

Culebra Cut (Fr-Panama-Belg-It) dir. Ana Elena Tejera - €260,000

Evaporated (Fr-Ger-Belg-It) dir. Koya Kamura - €390,000

Happy Days (Ukr-Sp) dir. Vladlen Odudenko - €70,000

Heavens Don’t Care (Fr-Belg-Armenia) dir. Kira Kovalenko - €400,000

International Women’s Day (Ser-Ger-Cro-Rom-Bul-Slovenia) dir. Srdjan Dragojević - €316,000

Isabelle (Fr-Bel) dir. Léa Fehner - €500,000

Karmic Knot (Latvia-Ger) dir. Signe Baumane - €350,000 (animation)

Lisa & Lilly (Swe-Est) dir. Julia Lindström - €300,000

Lorca (Sp-Bels) dir. Fernando Franco - €300,000

Magnum Opus (Rom-Pol) dir. Bogdan Mirică - €190,000

Mulatresse Solitude (Belg-Lux-Fr-Neth) dir. Baloji Tshiani - €400,000

My Fairytale Life (Den-Ger) dir. Nikolaj Arcel - €500,000

My Name Is Lily (Cyprus-Belg) dir. Yianna Americanou - €425,000

Neither Day Nor Night (Fr-Can) dir. Monia Chokri - €500,000

Night Tram (Czech-Fr-Slovakia) dir. Michaela Pavlátová - €340,000 (animation)

Patrimonial Fears And Other Illusions (Greece-Neth-Cyprus) dir. Elina Psykou - €390,000

Rivo Alto (Fr-It-Belg) dir. Clément Cogitore - €500,000

Rosa Candida (Fr-Greece-Belg) dir. Clara Lemaire Anspach - €171,000

Saajve (Swe-Nor) dir. Oskar Östergren Njajta - €176,000 (animation)

The Black Dog (Fr-Belg) dir. Nyima Cartier - €194,000

The Kingdom (Fr-Bel) dir. Samira Hmouda - €150,000 (documentary)

The Odyssey Of The Deep (Fr-Switz) dir. Jacques Lœuille - €300,000 (documentary)

The Silence Of God (Belg-Fr) dir. Stephan Streker - €150,000

The White Week (Ser-Slovenia-Cro-Mont) dir. Bojan Vuletić - €125,000

The Wolf (Fr-Lux) dirs. Benjamin Massoubre, Fursy Teyssier - €450,000 (animation)

Three Ages (Sp-It-Belg) dir. Jiajie Yu Yan - €390,000

To Live In A Shout (Sp-Greece) dir. Diana Toucedo - €500,000