US IN PROGRESS is the first industry event in Europe devoted entirely to US-indies and focused on the completion and European distribution of American indie feature films at post-production stage.
The event was held in Wrocław on 14-16 Nov for the second time, as part of the 3rd American Film Festival (AFF). Participants saw six American independent films at post-producton stage, of which five were made by first-time directors. Five films were shown in full and one as a 30 minutes-long compilation of excerpts.
Two juries of professionals awarded the following films: Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Carbone received prost production services from the Warsaw-based VFX studio Platige Image, worth $10,000 and DCP and subtitling services from DCinex and VSIParis/Chinkel $5,000; Bluebird by Lance Edmands received post-production services worth €10,000 from Alvernia Studios – Poland’s biggest private film studio; A Song Still Inside by Gregory Collins will get a $10,000-worth soundtrack from the Polish composer, Maciej Zieliński (Soundflower Studio from Warsaw).
The jury also awarded Matt Porterfield’s film I Used to be Darker with promotion and distribution support from Europa Distribution and CICAE.
Additionally, producers of Hide Your Smiling Faces (Jordan Bailey-Hoover) and Milkshake (Mariko Munro) will receive free passes for the 2013 Cannes Producers’ Network.
60 professionals attended the event including 20 buyers, such as Urban Distribution, Wild Bunch, K5 International, Artificial Eye, Canal+, Gutek Film, Imagine, Sophie Dulac Distribution, New Europe Film Sales and The Works. Post-production companies, film funds and programmers from Berlinale Forum, Cannes Semaine de la Critique and Locarno were also present.
US in Progress is organized by the New Horizons Association (organizer of the AFF and the T-Mobile New Horizons IFF) and New York- and Paris-based Black Rabbit Film with the support of City of Wrocław, Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the American Embassy in Poland. Partners include: Platige Image, Soundflower Studio, Alvernia Studios, DCinex, VSI Paris/Chinsel, Europa Distribution, CICAE, Producers Network, IFP, Wajda Studio and US in Progress Paris.
