Invited guests at this year’s PriFest and PriFORUM

After their visit to Cannes Film Festival, the PriFest management has revealed some of the experts and companies which will be present in this year’s edition of Prishtina International Film Festival.

As part of the Best Pitch competition in PriFORUM, this year PriFest will host renowned experts of the prestigious network European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs (EAVE).

Script development expert Jacques Akchoti has confirmed his participation, as part of which he will hold a script development workshop with a number of projects which will be selected from the Best Pitch applications.

Financing and coproduction expert Linda Beath (EAVE) will also be present, offering her advice for financing and coproduction opportunities to projects selected for the Best Pitch competition.

A number of sales and distribution companies have confirmed their participation in the fourth edition of Prishtina Rendezvous, an event within PriFest which provides opportunities for networking between producers and sales companies to facilitate developing projects.

“I’m very pleased that together with Vjosa and Fatos we have worked to prepare for this edition from the beginning of the year and have managed to confirm the participation of many prestigious companies and renowned individuals of the film industry. This is of great importance for our filmmakers who have developing or completed projects which they want to sell or distribute in the international market. We are talking about companies such as Memento International, Level K, Loco Films, Film Republic, Fandango etc. This year the program will be packed and intense, so I encourage all who are interested to visit PriFest’s website and social media, so that they can apply for these programs. Personally, I am a part of this industry and I know a lot about the limitations we face and opportunities we have to participate in these programs in Europe, so PriFest provides a truly extraordinary opportunity. It is just about impossible to get the chance to meet these people in festivals like Cannes or Berlin. PriFest provides this opportunity to us,” said Besnik Krapi, the director of PriFORUM who has joined the PriFest team this year.

Applications for Best Pitch will be open until May 30. Anyone who is interested can apply by following this link: https://prifest.net/best-pitch/

BEST PITCH is a series of project development trainings which have a competitive character. It has been an integral part of PriFest and PriFORUM since the early festival days. Through BEST PITCH, producers will have the chance to develop projects which are in the first phase of production.

Projects selected for BEST PITCH can benefit from the opportunity to participate in trainings with prestigious European experts, companies and networks, in script development sessions, or head-to-head sessions with Linda Beath, our invited financing and coproduction expert who has years of experience in the field. Moreover, during the festival days, participants will get the chance to meet distributors and sales agents from some of the most important companies in Europe, as part of Prishtina Rendezvous. In the end, an International Jury will select the winners of the Best Pitch awards.

Only Feature film projects which are in the development or financing phase and are the first or second project of the filmmaker (who must be from the Balkans) are eligible for applying for the Best Pitch competition.

Best Pitch is one of many activities which are organized at PriFest as part of PriFORUM, the festival’s regional platform for film industry development.

PriFest will be held from 16 to 22 July, whereas PriFORUM from 18 to 21 July. Visit the PriFest webpage (www.prifest.net) to get accredited, and PriFest’s social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) to get informed about all activities in the upcoming edition.

Friendship. Forever. PriFest.