European Short Pitch (ESP) is an initiative for the co – production of European short films, which will be in its thirteenth year to support young filmmakers by helping to develop short film projects and supporting their co – production and distribution.
The program consists of a screenwriting workshop and a co-production forum that brings together screenwriters, directors and industry professionals from across Europe. In September of this year, a scenario development workshop will take place, where during an intensive week of work, scenario consultants will edit, comment and discuss the participants’ scenarios both in group sessions and in individual conversations. This will be followed by individual work on the scenario until November, when the Co-production Forum will take place (12-15 November) and the developed scenario ideas will be presented to producers and industry professionals from all over Europe, thus attracting potential co-producers to the projects. Since 2007 European Short Pitch 287 screenplays have been developed and 135 short films have been completed, which have later helped many directors to embark on successful international careers.
The program European Short Pitch 2020 is special because it has even managed to exceed the set target of at least half of the seats for female authors – this time 60%, seven of the twelve selected project creators. In addition to gender equality, the ESP’s mission is to include participants from as many different European regions as possible; This year, a selection of the best projects consists of applications from young authors from Latvia, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Finland, Ukraine, Macedonia, Croatia and Hungary. The program is supported by the Brittany region (France) and the AVEK or Audiovisual Culture Promotion Center (Finland).
Twelve projects on current topics have been selected for participation in the program, ten of them are short films of the game, two – animation projects. The animation also includes a project by director Anna Zača Apartment for short people – 10 minutes long puppet and 3D animated film for adults.
The main character of the story is 30-year-old artist Indra, who is expecting her first child and is looking for a new home. There is an embodiment of her dreams – an attic in the very center of Riga, but during the inspection of the apartment it is clear that the apartment is not suitable for Indra. Through the amusing and absurd solutions of rebuilding and inhabiting the apartment in Indra’s imagination, the viewer, together with the main character, experiences the process of acceptance and surrender, served with a light dose of self-irony.
Anna Zača has been working in the Latvian film industry for more than ten years, she is known as a curator of short film programs and an animation specialist, currently also programs of the Riga International Film Festival (Riga IFF). Short Riga curator.
He returned to making animated films in 2019, creating a short film together with Nile Skapan All my friends are dead, is currently working on two projects in parallel – Gluten Tomorrow a Apartment for short people, participated in the presentation of short film projects at the Baltic Pitching Forum, winning one of the main prizes – participation European Short Pitch 2020.
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