IFP Week Project Forum Slate Includes New Projects from ‘Bacurau’ and ‘Hale County’ Filmmakers – Exclusive
The Independent Filmmaker Project on Wednesday announced the slate for its upcoming Project Forum, to take place during its long-running signature event, IFP Week, running September 20 – 25. The sales and development forum — which is going fully virtual this year — includes 144 feature and series projects, and for the first time 36 audio projects.
Among the featured narrative projects are “Mouse” from Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, whose “Saint Frances” won Jury and Audience awards at last year’s SXSW. Producer Emile Lesclaux, who produced the Cannes Jury Prize-winning “Bacurau,” will be at the forum with “Heartless.”
Producers Cait Panesgroux and Elias Ribero, who produced the Sundance award winner “This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection,” will be there with “The Spirit Guest.” And “Short Term 12” producer Asher Goldstein will have “First Generation.”
Notable nonfiction producers will also be there with new documentary projects, including “Bitterbrush” from Oscar-nominated Su Kim (“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”), plus “Cain and Abel” from producer Karim Amer (“The Square”) and executive producers Spike Lee and Geralyn Dreyfous (“Spaceship Earth”). “Rich Hill” director Tracy Droz Tragos will be there with a new project with the working title “Sarah.”
The event, which typically takes place in New York, is noted for helping build connections between emerging filmmakers and industry leaders and is now celebrating its 42nd year. This year’s slate offers a peek at some promising projects in the pipeline: In recent years, IFP Week has helped launch the Oscar-winning projects “Moonlight” and “American Factory,” as well as a host of other acclaimed films, such as “Swallow,” “The Witch,” and “Monos.”
“During this time of great uncertainty, the team here at IFP is proud to have been able to pivot to a completely virtual event this year while considering a record-setting number of submissions, truly a testament to the vibrancy and the remarkable perseverance and passion of the industry and independent storytelling community,” said IFP Executive Director Jeffrey Sharp. “We also look forward to introducing a new element to IFP Week, with the debut of this year’s Audio Hub, creating an opportunity and unique market for independently created audio content.”
IFP bills the forum as the only international co-production market for narrative fiction and non-fiction series in the U.S. This year’s virtual effort comes on the heels of last year’s banner in-person event, which saw 4,699 meetings take place. IFP leaders are hoping to further expand the event’s reach this year.
IFP Week will also feature a multi-day conference of panels and workshops open to the public, with discussions centered around a range of topics impacting the industry, plus screenings, Q&As, and more.
New for this year is the aforementioned Audio Hub, created in response to the rapid growth of audio storytelling. It will include a project forum to connect creators with industry professionals and a platform where independently produced podcasts can be pitched in one-on-one meetings with executives and presented before an audience of buyers.
Among the 36 projects on the audio slate are “Star Power,” the fourth season of award-winning podcast “Threshold”; the “EOS10” spinoff “EOS10:Command”; “Ensemble for the Romantic Century,” an adaptation of Eve Wolf’s stage productions of the same name, and new work from Elizabeth Lodge Stepp (“Monsters and Men”), Hanif Abdurraqib (“The Crown Ain’t Worth Much”), and Raúl Esparza (“Company,” “Speed-the-Plow”).
A full list of participating projects is available here.
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