Alliance 4 Development
A co-development platform for film projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland
A co-development platform for film projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland
Alliance 4 Development (A4D) is a co-development program for film projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland hosted by Locarno Pro. The aim of the program is to future-proof the market potential of the projects and foster long-term creative and business ties between the targeted countries.
In 2024, Alliance 4 Development presented eleven projects: two from Austria, France, Germany and Italy, and three from Switzerland. The selected projects took part in a dedicated three-day program to enhance their project's co-production potential through curated one-on-one meetings, pitching sessions, networking events, lunches, workshops, and feedback sessions with industry guests attending Locarno Pro.
The projects selected for the 2024 edition:
The projects competed for several awards: the Alphapanda Market Breakout Award, consisting in consultancy services in the value of 3,500 €; a script consultancy residency at DreamAgo, offered by the Valais Film Commission, worth 5,000 CHF; the MIDPOINT Consulting Award for an in-depth online script consultancy with one of the MIDPOINT Institute experts; the Ticino Film Commission Residence Award, which consists of a 2-day location scout (worth 4,000 CHF) and Letter of Intent (LOI) for financial support for the production company (worth up to 12,000 CHF), if all or part of the film will be shot in Ticino.
The Alliance 4 Development 2024 winners are:
Alliance 4 Development is possible thanks to partnerships with CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée), France; FFA (Filmförderungsanstalt), Germany; DGCA-MiC (Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo del Ministero della Cultura), Italy; ÖFI (Österreichisches Filminstitut), Austria; the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) / MEDIA Desk Suisse, Switzerland. A4D is also made possible by contributions from Eurimages, which promotes and sponsors one of the initiative's networking events, and from the European Producers Club, which offers consultancy on the various issues covered.
The Project Manager of the Alliance 4 Development is Francesca Palleschi. For more information, please contact her at: industry@locarnofestival.ch.
The call for projects for the 2025 edition will open early 2025.
Recent hit titles to have come out of the program include Mo Harawe's The Village Next To Paradise (2024) screening as part of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, Berlinale 2023 entries Music by Angela Schanelec and L’Amour du Monde by Jenna Hasse, Chicken for Linda! (2023) by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (Cannes ACID & Annecy), Continental Drift (2022) by Lionel Baier (Quinzaine des Cinéastes, Cannes), and Semret (2022) by Caterina Mona, which debuted on the Piazza Grande at Locarno75.
Several film projects selected at Alliance 4 Development have become international successes: Dopo la guerra (Après la guerre) by Annarita Zambrano, selected to compete in the section Un Certain Regard at the Festival de Cannes 2017; L’ospite by Duccio Chiari premiered at the Locarno Film Festival – Piazza Grande in 2017; La dérive des continents (au sud) by Lionel Baier, presented at the Quinzaine des réalisateurs (Cannes 2022).
Alphapanda Market Breakout Award
Pas Ta Maman by Michèle Flury, produced by Felix Schreiber from Sommerhaus Filmproduktion
Jury statement: “The Alphapanda Market Breakout Award goes to a film that will certainly move audiences just like it has moved us, a brutal yet playful tale, that uses contrasting genres to explore a current and important topic, abuse against women and what it means to be sexualised, victimised, and to fight back. We were very touched by the pitch and can’t wait to see this film on a big screen.”
Script consultancy residency at DreamAgo, offered by the Valais Film Commission
La P’tite (The Young One) directed by Despina Athanassiadis, produced by Quentin Daniel (Wombat Films, France)
MIDPOINT Consulting Award
Who/Man directed by Lorenz Merz, produced by Michela Pini (8horses, Switzerland)
Ticino Film Commission Residence Award
Objet a by Ann Oren, produced by Kristof Gerega, Sophie Ahrens and Fabian Altenried (Schuldenberg Films, Germany)
Selected projects:
Calm, directed by Sara Fattahi, produced by Sabine Moser and Oliver Neumann (FreibeuterFilm, Austria)
ll principe Aden (Prince Aden), directed by Gianluca and Massimiliano De Serio, produced by Alessandro Borrelli (La Sarraz Pictures, Italy) in coproduction with Luis Urbano (O Som E A Furia, Portugal)
Irina Makinskaïa (working title), directed by Alexandra de Saint-Blanquat, produced by Omar El Kadi and Nadia Turincev (Easy Riders Films, France)
La Passion d’Aline (The Passion of Aline), directed by Rokhaya Marieme Balde, produced by Linda Vogel, Cyril Schäublin and Chantal Scheiner (Seeland Filmproduktion, Switzerland)
La P’tite (The Young One), directed by Despina Athanassiadis, produced by Quentin Daniel (Wombat Films, France)
Mila/Marija, directed by Andrina Mračnikar, produced by Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu and Bady Minck (AMOUR FOU Vienna, Austria) and Daniel Hočevar (Vertigo Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Objet a, directed by Ann Oren, produced by Kristof Gerega, Sophie Ahrens and Fabian Altenried (Schuldenberg Films, Germany)
Pas Ta Maman, directed by Michèle Flury, produced by Jochen Laube, Fabian Maubach and Felix Schreiber (Sommerhaus Filmproduktion, Germany)
To Put Out One Fire, directed by Jela Hasler, produced by Olivier Zobrist (Langfilm, Switzerland)
Urania, directed by Pier Lorenzo Pisano, produced by Domenico Procacci and Laura Paolucci (Fandango, Italy)
Who/Man, directed by Lorenz Merz, produced by Michela Pini (8horses, Switzerland)
Alphapanda Market Breakout Award Winner 2022:
Selected project:
Switzerland
France
Germany
Italy
Project Manager: Francesca Palleschi
For the 2019 edition, four projects were selected among the beneficiaries of existing bilateral development funds between the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo MiBACT (Italy), the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA, Germany) and the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC, France). Three Swiss projects that requested development help through MEDIA Desk Suisse, and that are looking for German, French or Italian co-producers, also participated in the initiative.
For the 2018 edition, four projects were selected among the beneficiaries of existing bilateral development funds between the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo MiBACT (Italy), the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA, Germany) and the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC, France). Three Swiss projects that applied for development support through MEDIA compensatory measures, and that are looking for German, French or Italian co-producers, also participated in the initiative.
Project Manager: Thibaut Bracq
In 2017, the followin project were selected to take part in Alliance For Development:
Project Manager: Lucas Rosant
Project Assistant: Tanja Weibel
In 2016, the following projects were chosen among the bilateral co-development funds:
Chosen from the 2016 submissions for project development within the Swiss MEDIA compensatory measures:
Project Manager: Lucas Rosant
Project Assistant: Marianne Wirth
In 2015, Alliance for Development chose the following projects: