Tatino, Alternativa, QCinema Team on Pop Up Asian Film Residencies

Tatino Films, a French production and consultancy company involved in industry events in Asia and Europe, has teamed with Kazakhstan-based Alternativa Film Project and the Philippines’ QCinema Project Market for three film residencies.

The partnership will yield two Pop Up film residencies called the Pop Up Alternativa Awards for filmmakers from Central Asia and one Pop Up QCFC (Quezon City Film Commission) x QCinema Award for Southeast Asian filmmakers to develop their upcoming film projects.

Launched by Tatino Films in 2019, the Pop Up Film Residency is an international network of residencies for feature film projects that works with the likes of Cannes, Eurimages, Brazil’s BrLab and the Doha Film Institute among others. Recent films developed at the Pop Up include “Slow” (best director, Sundance 2023) and “Stepne” (best director, Locarno 2023).

The Alternativa Film Project and the QCinema Project Market were both launched in 2022. Backed by tech company inDrive, the Alternativa Film Project is developing a support system for Central Asian filmmakers that will culminate with the Alternativa Film Awards taking place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Dec. 2, with a total prize money of $100,000.

Alternativa feature film nominees this year include “12 Weeks” (Philippines); “A Childless Village” (Iran); “Bauryna Salu” (Kazakhstan); “Bride Kidnapping” (Kyrgyzstan); “Cotton 100%” (Uzbekistan); “Haeil” (Korea); “Joseph’s Son” (India); “No Winter Holidays” (Nepal); “QORYQPA” (Kazakhstan); “Sunday” (Uzbekistan); “The Prisoner of Wakhan” (Kyrgyzstan); “Tul” (Kazakhstan); “Whispers of Fire & Water” (India); and “Who is Next?” (Kyrgyzstan). Short film nominees, for which only Central Asia is eligible, are “A Birdsong” (Kyrgyzstan); “Bride Stone” (Kyrgyzstan); “Dordoi City” (Kyrgyzstan); “Fairy Tale” (Uzbekistan); “Sary Omir” (Kazakhstan); “Son of the Sun” (Kyrgyzstan); and “The Late Wind” (Kazakhstan).

An initiative by the QCinema Film Festival, the inaugural QCinema Project Market will take place in Quezon City, Philippines, on Nov. 18-20. Some 20 projects in development will participate.

Tatino is known for its Full Circle Lab in France, which also has Philippines and Indonesia iterations, and First Cut Lab Japan, in cooperation with Visual Industry Promotion Organization. Asian projects that have recently benefited from Tatino initiatives include Indian filmmaker Dominic Sangma’s Locarno-selected and Mumbai-winning “Rapture,” and Nepalese filmmaker Abinash Bikram Shah’s Venice Production Bridge title “Elephants in the Fog.”

Matthieu Darras, CEO and director of Tatino Films, said: “Pop Up Film Residency expands its horizon by collaborating with two brand-new initiatives that are poised to become absolute game changers for independent filmmaking in Asia. We are humbled and looking forward cooperating with them. Our ambition is to foster the most distinctive film talents from Central Asia and Southeast Asia and make them benefit from the unique ecosystem of the Pop Up Film Residency.”

Liza Diño-Seguerra, managing director of QCinema Project Market, added: “We are thrilled to announce a groundbreaking partnership between the QCinema Project Market and the Pop Up Film Residency, a unique collaboration designed to elevate the art of filmmaking in Southeast Asia. By merging QPM’s commitment to provide a platform for films to be financed and with Pop Up Film Residency’s dedicated mentorship, we aim to further enhance the opportunity for projects to be nurtured to its full potential and for filmmakers to be in a space where they can focus on developing their script for production.”

Liza Surganova, head of the Alternativa Film Project, said: “This is an honor and a privilege for us to have such a prominent company as Tatino Films as our partner, and we are grateful that they have put trust in our initiative at such an early stage. We believe that their creative residencies present an incredible opportunity for emerging filmmakers from developing industries and will help them gain international recognition. We aim to become a global networking platform and collaboration with Tatino Films is an important step in this direction that will help us connect talents from different countries with esteemed film professionals.”