Limburg Film Pitch 2022
Win €2.000 for your dazzling film idea!
Submit your short fiction or non-fiction project, take part in the Limburg Film Pitch at the SHIFT Film Festival, follow a pitch training, network and compete for a €2.000 grant!
Limburg Film Pitch
CineSud stimulates new filmmakers and professionals in several ways. We organise training programs, Writers Rooms and offer filmmakers lots of other activities. Via our Pitch Forums we are able to offer filmmakers small production grants, which they can use to co-finance their next projects. The winner of the Limburg Film Pitch will receive a production grant of €2.000, which has to be used for producing the project that is pitched.
The Limburg Film Pitch is closed for submission.
Selected projects & participants
Anatolia 1890, Ilgin Sacan, animation, Türkiye
In 1890, a cameraman visited rural Anatolia to record daily life. During the shoot, the camera captures supernatural incidents.
MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS, Volodymyr Bakum, fiction, Ukraine
Victor is in a midlife crisis. Before his wife's anniversary, having no money for her gift, he decides to sell his collection of butterflies. But a rooster gets in the way.
PAST, Maarten Sleegers, fiction, the Netherlands
A rich man’s life changes after a homeless man makes him an unusual proposition.
To The Moon, Chinh Tran & Juulia Kalavainen, fiction, the United Kingdom
In a world where Moon travel has been commercialised, an alienated 20-year-old Vietnamese woman must learn how to connect to the world around her when her far fetched dream of moving to the Moon suddenly becomes possible.
Uncanny Home, Eric Bitencourt, fiction, Germany
Uncanny Home is an experimental drama about the night two friends went back home in the virtual world but ended up opening real wounds.
Ilgin Saçan
Ilgin Saçan (Filmmaker, Writer, Animator) is based in Istanbul. She has produced music videos, shorts, and a recent mockumentary called In the Woods which is screened during SHIFT Film Festival 2022. The short film made its premiere at Stuttgart Animated Film Festival in 2022 and competed in the Tricks For Kids competition. It has been screened in thirteen countries and used in schools for educational purposes. In the Woods has also been represented by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the General Directorate of Cinema at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, and met with the participants at the Marche du Film. The themes in her work include satire and hyperrealism; through the narrative and design, she blends stylized realism with the intention of breaking disbelief.
Volodymyr Bakum
Volodymyr Bakum (Director) is a Ukrainian film director, graduated from Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theater, Cinema and Television University (master’s degree). During the study years, he directed the film-tetraptych “Donbas, I love you” (its three parts are fictions, while one part is a documentary). The last film of the tetraptych “The Fogs” won financing from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (UCF). In addition, Volodymyr is a recipient of Kira Muratova’s competition (screenplay “My Family and Other Animals”). Volodymyr’s body of work creates links between fiction and documentary worlds, addressing the questions of what constitutes the representation of social reality in Ukraine in connection with the world nowadays
Maarten Sleegers
Maarten Sleegers (Screenwriter & Director), coming from Asten, a town in North-Brabant on the border with Limburg, curiosity has taken Maarten all around the world for the past 15 years. First he completed a bachelor in Cultural Anthropology in Italy and Spain, then a European Master in Global Studies. Maarten had planned to start a career in the space sector, but then opted to follow his true passion: telling (visual) stories. For the past 10 years he taught himself how to write screenplays and then enrolled himself at LUCA in Brussels for a degree in Audiovisual Arts. In 2022 he wrote, directed and produced his first short film outside of school, Jagers. It has been selected to premiere at the Dutch Film Festival. All of Maarten’s stories are essentially about lost souls looking for a new home, both in the literal and metaphorical sense.
Juulia Kalavainen
Juulia Kalavainen (Screenwriter-Director) is a filmmaker from Helsinki, Finland. With a particular interest in anthropological, spiritual and environmental themes, she seeks to explore the relationships between humans, culture and nature in her work. She graduated with an M.A. in film directing from the Kinoeyes Erasmus Mundus program. She started her career as a freelance cinematographer, later moving on to the production and assistant directing departments. Her first short film, Everybody Hates Ulf, won an award at the Tampere Film Festival in 2017 and her latest film Checkpoint won a Jury Award at the Short of the Year festival in 2020. Juulia has directed four short fiction films that have been screened and nominated at various international film festivals. In 2019, her graduation film My Days of Night was shortlisted for Bumble’s Female Film Force.
Chinh van Tran
Chinh van Tran (Screenwriter) is originally from Vietnam, where she worked as a writer for four years in the film and advertising industry. In 2018, Chinh moved to Europe to obtain her M.A. in screenwriting from the Kinoeyes Erasmus Mundus program. Over the course of the two-year program, Chinh lived and studied in three countries: Portugal, Scotland and Estonia. She has experience writing for online media, documentaries and short films. Her work has been selected in various international short film festivals, including Tampere Film Festival (Checkpoint, 2019). In 2019, she was awarded a grant from Germany’s Crossing Borders Foundation to conduct a research trip to Leipzig and Berlin for her mini-series project Be Happy, Or Else!.
Eric Bitencourt
Eric Bitencourt (Director-Screenwriter) started as a line producer in political documentary films for Jorge Furtado (Silver Beard and Emmy winner) and Maria Ramos (Golden Leopard - Locarno). He was part of the Film Artist Training of Universität der Künste Berlin and finished the Master’s Program of screenwriting at the Internationale Filmschule (ifs) in Cologne. Eric has dedicated himself to researching true stories adaptation genres in cinema and TV. His first shorts traveled to festivals worldwide and won best documentary short film at Curta Criativo Firjan for Encontros e Despedidas (2012) and Best Screenplay at Roteiro PUC for A Lavadora (2013).
Meet the Coach!
Nicky Onstenk will coach the pitch training sessions to prepare the participants for the Limburg Film Pitch on September 18, at SHIFT Film Festival.
Nicky Onstenk
Nicky Onstenk (Producer, The Netherlands) completed her Bachelor of Media & Culture at the University of Amsterdam in 2015. In 2019 she graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy with the short fiction film Porfotto, which was nominated for a Student Oscar. After graduation, she started at IJswater Films as a junior producer. The documentary Dunya (directed by Tim Bary) premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival 2021. The short film Vlekkeloos (directed by Emma Branderhorst) won the main prize for the best short (youth) film at Berlinale 2022. Currently, there are several projects, both documentary, and fiction, long and short, in development and production.
Meet the Jury!
These are the jury members for the Limburg Film Pitch and SHIFT Short Film Competitions. Meet them at SHIFT Film Festival.
Zorba Huisman | Director
Zorba Huisman is a director and also member of the artistic team of Theatergroup Maastricht for the talent development trajectory. In 2021 she directed Lentekus, Zomerkus, Herfstkus and Winterkus; each a series of six short films in sign of the beginning of new seasons. She also has created two documentaries.
Romano Haynes | Actor
Romano Haynes is a film and theater actor based in Rotterdam. Graduated from Toneelacademie Maastricht in 2019 Romano played a recurring role in the NPO series “Dit Zijn Wij” from 2019 to 2020. In 2020 he created the VaderSessie session, a “platform voor vaders in alle vormen” where Romano focuses on parenting and fatherhood through his posts, podcasts and videos. He currently works both for the screen and the stages in many productions and series.
Patrick Tass | Director
Patrick Tass is a Belgian director of Palestinian origin born in Beirut in 1992. He completed degrees in directing at ALBA (Lebanon) and scriptwriting at the ULB (Belgium). As a script doctor, he teaches cinema analysis and scriptwriting courses at various Belgian cinema labs. He is currently directing two short films and co-writing a feature-film. In his works, Patrick focuses on themes such as identities and sexualities.
The complete program of SHIFT Film Festival
Join us and improve your script writing skill! Take your script and project plan to a higher level with our online pitch training.
Join us and improve your script writing skill! Take your script and project plan to a higher level with our online pitch training.
Who is this Karim D. ? The new young writer whom the media can't get enough of? Or his alias, Arthur Rambo, the author of old hate-fuellled messages which are dredged up, one day, from social media websites.
Queen, Mari Ørstavik, fiction, Mediefabrikken, Norway
Let It Burn, Adam Starsmark, fiction, FilmCloud, Sweden
Ada and Naemi, Wiebke Becker, fiction, MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Lucas Brunelli Donnard, Germany
Little Lark, Catriona MacLeod, fiction, GMAC, Scotland
January Seventh, Jamila Versi, fiction, Film Workshop Copenhagen, Denmark
Sunshine Motel, Rosita Wolkers, fiction, New Noardic Wave, The Netherlands
Lesya has committed a crime of passion which brings her a seven-year sentence in one of Odessa’s women’s correctional facilities. She has just given birth to her first child, and now she is entering a world populated only by women: inmates, nurses and wardens, women of all ages, wives and widows, daughters, sisters, pregnant women, and women with children. If not for the color of the uniform, it would sometimes be hard to tell who is who.
Brass Fest Forever is a new wind music festival that was first launched in 2021 in Heerlen. For the 2022 edition, Brass Fest Forever is collaborating with the residents of the Royal Theater; CineSud and Filmhuis De Spiegel for the screening of some sparkling music films on September 16 and 17 during SHIFT Film Festival.
Anas, a former rapper, is employed in a cultural centre. Encouraged by their new teacher, the students will try to free themselves from the weight of traditions to live their passion and express themselves through hip hop culture.
During our Writer's Workshop you will develop your script and project plan even further with intensive group coaching. Team up to correct and improve your story, brainstorm with other participants, and learn from your coach.
Selected projects & participants
1. Clit’s Complicated, Lisanne Sweere, fiction, the Netherlands
To whom clit may concern.
2. CELENE, Julia M. Free, fiction, the Netherlands
Two (former) lovers, two women in their 70s, meet each other again after 40 years, on one afternoon on a square in their former village.
3. Dawn Chorus, Mykola Zasieiev, fiction, Ukraine
Is it possible to live without memories?
Enhance your Director’s vision! Learn to affirm your style and find your voice through our Director’s workshop. Team up to correct and improve your directing skills, and exchange with the other participants and the coach, on the importance of a vision, and what it needs to be made your own.
Selected projects & participants
1. Clit’s Complicated, Lisanne Sweere, fiction, the Netherlands
To whom clit may concern.
2. CELENE, Julia M. Free, fiction, the Netherlands
Two (former) lovers, two women in their 70s, meet each other again after 40 years, on one afternoon on a square in their former village.
3. Dawn Chorus, Mykola Zasieiev, fiction, Ukraine
Is it possible to live without memories?
Come and watch several Ukrainian short films to discover, learn and support Ukrainian cinematographic identity.
The screening will be held free of charge for the Ukrainian refugees who live in the Netherlands. The earnings from ticket sales will be donated to support Ukraine.
Forest Song, Andrey Naumenko, animation, Ukraine, 2 min
This film is about what people are focusing on and what they sometimes miss.
Dad’s Sneakers, Olha Zhurba, fiction, Ukraine, 19 min
13-year-old Sasha lives in a boarding school for children deprived of parental care. He is one of the luckiest – a family has finally agreed to adopt him. Today he will move to America forever - but there’s something that won’t let him go.
Krovyanka, Arkasha Nepytaliuk, fiction, Ukraine, 23 min
While parents, people of traditional rural values, are cooking blood sausage for the visit of daughter-in-law, Andriy, their son, tries to communicate the fact his fiancee is Jewish.
The Prince and the Mystery of the Charmed Frog, Nataliya Skryabina, animation, Ukraine, 4 min
This is an ironic story about the relativity of any stereotype situation, based upon the folk tale about the Prince and the Frog-Princess.
Mia Donna, Pavlo Ostrikov, fiction, Ukraine, 14 min
The life of forty-six- year-old Oksana changes when her husband Tolik turns into a seven-year- old boy. Doctors are powerless and nobody can turn him back.
Not Today, Khrystyna Syvolap, fiction, Ukraine, 18 min
The old man Lyosha and his lady Christie decided to die happily in one day. But Lyosha has to finish something very important first. He does desperate things to implement his secret plan and convince his woman to delay the day of their death.
The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.
Selected international participants will present their short film ideas and compete for the chance of winning a €2.000 development grant.
MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS, Volodymyr Bakum, fiction, Ukraine
Victor is in a midlife crisis. Before his wife's anniversary, having no money for her gift, he decides to sell his collection of butterflies. But a rooster gets in the way.
Anatolia 1890, Ilgin Sacan, animation, Türkiye
In 1890, a cameraman visited rural Anatolia to record daily life. During the shoot, the camera captures supernatural incidents.
To The Moon, Chinh Tran & Juulia Kalavainen, fiction, the United Kingdom
In a world where Moon travel has been commercialised, an alienated 20-year-old Vietnamese woman must learn how to connect to the world around her when her far fetched dream of moving to the Moon suddenly becomes possible.
Uncanny Home, Eric Bitencourt, fiction, Germany
Uncanny Home is an experimental drama about the night two friends went back home in the virtual world but ended up opening real wounds.
PAST, Maarten Sleegers, fiction, the Netherlands
A rich man’s life changes after a homeless man makes him an unusual proposition.
Don’t miss the first part of the Short Film Competition where International films will compete for the Best Film Award and a cash prize of €250, Special Jury Mention and a cash prize of €100 and the Audience Award.
Return, Ghiath Al Mhitawi, fiction, Germany, 16 min
Husam is a Syrian soldier who visits his family on a 24hr leave. After a long absence, he enjoys the company and food of his mother, but there is a lump in his throat.
Phase, Mykola Zaseev, fiction, Ukraine, 20 min
10-year-old boy Yarik spends the last days of summer vacation with his grieving mother in the countryside. Playing in the woods, Yarik and his friend see a couple wandering: Yarik suspects that the woman is strangled by the man. Yarik investigates the possible murder.
The Train Driver, Christian Wittmoser & Zuniel Kim, documentary, Germany, 6 min
In the five-minute animated documentary film "The Train Driver," an anonymous train driver recounts his experience with suicide on the rails.
Visiting Ben Shemen, Miriam Harris, documentary, New Zealand, 16 min
In 1946, three young Jewish teenagers met at the palestinian Ben Shemen school, after the Holocaust and WWII. Now in their late eighties they recount the ways in which Ben Shemen offered a healing and soul-nourishing refuge.
The Peephole, Tiziana Martini, fiction, Italy, 6 min
Two women’s eyes, hidden behind the peepholes of their front doors. They both face the same hallway and see the pain of a drunken man, locked out from his wife’s house. What happens if one of the two doors opens?
In The Woods, Ilgın SaçanIn, animation, Türkiye, 2 min
The Woods is a recorded diary of monsters living in an urban forest. Max, one enthusiastic showrunner monster boy, takes us on a tour while his best friend P. records everything.
These are the selected films for the second part of the International Short Film Competition. Who do you think will take home the awards and prizes? Get ready to vote on your favorite film.
Fanmi, Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers & Carmine Pierre-Dufour, fiction, Canada, 14 min
Heart-broken following a break-up, Martine receives the unexpected visit of her mother, Monique. Engrossed in sadness, Martine fails to notice that her mother is hiding something.
Prosopagnosia, Steven Fraser, documentary, United Kingdom, 10 min
Prosopagnosia means face-blindness and to understand this neurodiverse behaviour, the contents of a memory box are intricately explored.
Cleaner, Edwin Mullane, fiction, Ireland, 15 min
Angela is a shy domestic cleaner. Mairead is a house-proud mother alone at home with the children. A friendship soon blooms between the two women. But is this relationship just another work-based transaction?
Shiny New World, Jan van Gorkum, fiction, The Netherlands, 9 min
Fifty-year-old Barry is a special kind of cleaner: he cleans crime scenes where demons have wreaked havoc. While shooting a promotion for his business, things quickly get out of hand.
Canary, Chrysoula Korovesi & Marios Gampierakis, animation, Greece, 6 min
A canary is born in captivity amongst other caged birds. A coal miner is experiencing the hardships and risk of everyday labour. The two of them will meet and form a special bond.
Broken Record, Marie Seurin & Mathilde Cadrot, fiction, France, 13 min
Francis, a depressed and nostalgic thirty-year-old, can't get over his break-up and spends his time listening to an old French variety song that reminds him of his lost love.
Limburg has so much to offer! In this competition, discover films that are produced in Limburg. The films will compete for the Best Euregion Film Award and a cash prize of €250, Special Jury Mention and a cash prize of 100€ and the Audience Award.
Undergrowth, Tim Ewalts, fiction, Belgium, 16 min
Two brothers and their father who live secluded in a forest. While their father tries to teach them how to become lumberjacks, the two are stuck in an escalating struggle for power.
Funkele, Nicole Jachmann, fiction, The Netherlands, 16 min
Fifteen-year-old Robin and her best friend Merel share everything and are inseparable. Except for Robin's budding sexuality and curiosity.
Shut, Niels Bourgonje, fiction, The Netherlands, 15 min
When Jonas visits his father after a long time, he's shocked to find him in a confused state. Has his father's mental state badly deteriorated or is something more sinister going on?
Dick, Kiki Henger, fiction, The Netherlands, 7 min
When Ben tries to hold his brother back from making the wrong choices, the opposite happen.
Come and watch different out of competition SHIFT Special films, and meet their makers to share the joy and exaltation during the award show as we announce the winners of the Film Competition & Film Pitch!
All That Could Be, Sam van Zoest, The Netherlands, 17 min
An introverted millennial goes on vacation with his sister's artist group where he is challenged to push his boundaries.
Wine, Anna Demianenko, The Netherlands, 25 min
After 10 years of not seeing her family, Sanne has to spend a night at their house, waiting for her father to wake up after a risky surgery. She fears that with the death of her father, she can never be a part of this family again.
The Pamphlet, Justin Heyl, The Netherlands, 17 min
October 1944. Allied forces are determined to destroy the sea-dikes of the Netherlands. Pamphlets warning the citizens of the impending danger fall into the hands of two young lovers on a secret rendezvous in the dunes. They rush back to their homes to sound the alarm, but the danger is already too close.
Stay for the networking drinks, meet & mingle the filmmakers and audience and engage in driven conversations around refreshing beverages.
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