Forty-seven film projects have been selected for the 21st CineMart, the first and largest co-production market worldwide, to be held January 25 - 29, 2004 as part of the 33rd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

CineMart director Ido Abram: "With this promising line up of film projects by established film-makers as well as projects by new talents from all continents, we are looking forward to a very strong 21st CineMart. We feel that this selection connects extremely well with the character and profile of both the festival programme and with the IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund activities."

The CineMart 2004 Selection includes new film projects from high profile independent film-makers like Lou Ye (SUZHOU RIVER), Catherine Breillat (FAT GIRL and the forthcoming ANATOMY OF HELL), Kim Ki-Duk (SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING AGAIN), Bent Hamer (KITCHEN STORIES), Pen-ek Ratanaruang (6IXTYNIN9; MON-RAK TRANSISTOR), Thom Fitzgerald (THE HANGING GARDEN; THE EVENT) and a film project that involves directors Goran Paskaljevic, Otar Iosseliani and Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

Furthermore many directors previously selected for IFFR's VPRO Tiger Awards Competition now return to Rotterdam within the CineMart Selection: Dagur Kari (NOI THE ALBINO), Santiago Loza (STRANGE), Maria Speth (THE DAYS BETWEEN), Sinisa Dragin (EVERYDAY GOD KISSES US ON THE MOUTH), André van der Hout (THE ARM OF JESUS) and Jeong Jae-Eun (TAKE CARE OF MY CAT).

Finally, the CineMart 2004 Selection includes projects for second feature films from directors whose first films were selected for previous CineMart editions. These returning film-makers are Pierre-Paul Renders (THOMAS IN LOVE), Dagur Kari (NOI THE ALBINO), Dorothee van den Berge (A GIRL), Ineke Smits (MAGONIA) and Faouzi Bensaïdi (A THOUSAND MONTHS).

Acclaimed films that have been presented at CineMart in recent years are amongst others THE MAGDALENE SISTERS by Peter Mullan, SPRINGTIME IN A SMALL TOWN by Tian Zhuangzhuang, FUSE by Pjer Zalica, FATHER AND SON by Alexander Sokurov, BRIGHT FUTURE by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and 29 PALMS by Bruno Dumont.

CineMart works as a highly efficient catalyst and matchmaker in the filmmaking process. During IFFR, CineMart invites a select group of co-producers, television buyers, sales agents, distributors and fund representatives to meet up with projects' representatives. Year-round, CineMart continues to actively support the selected film projects through alliances and partnerships with other international film festivals, training organisations and funding bodies.

CineMart is supported by the European Commission's MEDIA Program, the Rotterdam Film Fund, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Dutch Film Fund and Dutch non-governmental development organisation Hivos.


The CineMart Selection 2004 (alphabetically by project title)

FILM PROJECT TITLE, director; production company; country

3 NEEDLES Thom FITZGERALD (Emotion Pictures) Canada
THE ABANDONED LAND Vimukthi Jayasundera (Unlimited) France Sri Lanka
LES AMANTS RÉGULIERS Philippe Garrel (Maïa Films) France
BARCA! Tariq Teguia (Mandala Productions) France/Algeria
BÉNARÈS Barlen Pyamootoo (Nord Express / Artcam Int.) Mauritius/France
BETTER THINGS Duane Hopkins (Third Films Ltd)
UK KAMU'S DESIRE Cathrine Kaseketi Musola (Zebra X Pictures) South Africa/Zambia
BLANCHE NEIGE LA SUITE Picha (YC Aligator Films) Belgium/France
CHINESE STATE OF MIND Emily Tang, Han Jie, Diao Yinan (Xstream Pictures) China
CITTÀ INVISIBILI Goran Paskaljevic, Otar Iosseliani, Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Rea Film) Italy
THE COLOUR OF WATER Peter Brosens & Jessica Woodworth (The Ice House) Belgium
COMME TOUT LE MONDE Pierre-Paul Renders (Entre Chien et Loup) Belgium
DEAF, DUMB & BLONDE Sara Driver (Exoskeleton) USA/Argentina
THE EXECUTIONER IN LOVE Jasmin Dizdar (Osiris Produktion) UK/Germany
FACTOTUM Bent Hamer (Bulbul Films/Starksales Inc.) Norway
THE GOOD HEART Dagur Kari (Zik Zak Filmworks) Iceland
HABITACIONES VACIAS Santiago Loza (Aeternam Films) Argentina/France
THE HUNTER Daniel Nettheim (Porchlight Films) Australia
IF THE SEED DOESN'T DIE Sinisa Dragin (Sinisa Dragin) Romania
INVISIBLE WAVES Pen-Ek Ratanaruang (Cinemasia) Thailand
KEY TO THE DREAM Sasa Gedeon (Negativ s.r.o) Czech Republic
THE LONELY PLANET Jacob Tierney (Victorious Films Inc.) Canada
MADONNEN Maria Speth (Pandora Film) Germany
ME, YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW Miranda July (Gina Kwon)
USA MIENTRAS TANTO Diego Lerman (El Campo Cine) Argentina
MY QUEEN CARO Dorothée van den Berghe (Lumière Producties/K2) Belgium
NÃO POR ACASO Philippe Barcinsky (O2 Filmes/Buena Onda Films) Brazil
THE PARAFFIN CHILD Simone Horrocks (T.H.E. Films) New Zealand
THE PORCUPINE Srdjan Dragojevic (Bluelight) UK/Serbia
PUSH Allard van der Werff (Kasander Film Company) Netherlands/
UK EL SOL VERDE Fernando Tallo (Lita Stantic Producciones S.A.) Argentina
SONETÀULA Salvatore Mereu (Gianluca Arcopinto) Italy
STRAY DOGS Marziyeh Meshkini (Wild Bunch) France/Iran
THE SUMMER PALACE Lou Ye (Dream Factory) China
TAEPOONG TAEYANG Jeong Jae-Eun (LJ Film Co. Ltd) South Korea
TAXIDERMIA Gyorgy Palfi (Memento Films) Hungary/France
LA TRAHISON Philippe Faucon (Kinok Films) France
TROPICAL MALADY Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Kick the Machine/AS Films) Thailand/France
UNTITLED PROJECT Julia Loktev (Julia Loktev) USA
UNE VIEILLE MAÎTRESSE Catherine Breillat (Flach Film) France
DE VLIEGENIERSTER VAN KAZBEK Ineke Smits (Van Huystee Film & TV) Netherlands
WELTMEISTER Florian Flicker (Coop99) Austria
WOMEN WITHOUT MEN Shirin Neshat (Essential Filmproduktion) France/Germany
WWW Faouzi Bensaidi (Gloria Films) France/Morocco
YURI Kim Ki-Duk (LJ Film Co. Ltd) South Korea/Germany
LES ZONES TURQUOISES Jean-Christophe Klotz (Les Films du Poisson) France
HET ZWIJGEN André van der Hout & Adri Schrover (Waterland Films) Netherlands