The winners of the third edition of the Prix Eurimages, an award acknowledging the decisive role of co-productions in the European film industry, were announced on Saturday at a lunch held in the framework of the “New Cinema Network” in Rome attended by a large number of professionals from the cinema industry.
This year’s prize will go to two outstanding producers who have combined their efforts to develop and promote European cinema: Diana Elbaum and Jani Thiltges – two major names in international film production who head, respectively, two established production companies, namely Entre Chien et Loup in Belgium and Samsa Film in Luxembourg. Diana Elbaum and Jani Thiltges also joined forces with Patrick Quinet, Sébastien Delloye and Claude Waringo to create Liaison Cinématographique a production company based in Paris.
Together, under these different structures, they have co-produced films notably by Sam Garbarski, Lucas Belvaux, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Pierre Paul Renders, Lisa Azuelos, Marina de Van as well as by Nathalie Borgers, Jacques Doillon, Nabil Ben Yadir, Frédéric Fonteyne, Jeanne Labrune, Flora Gomes, Amos Kollek, Wang Bing, Ben Sombogaart, Teona Mitevska, Faouzi Bensaïdi, Antonio-Pedro Vasconcelos, Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth.
Since founding her own company Entre Chien et Loup in 1989, Diana Elbaum has produced a wide range of award-winning films – fictions and documentaries – which have received critical acclaim on all continents. Joined by Sébastien Delloye in 1999, they have together produced some 30 films. In 2008, Diana Elbaum co-founded the company Dream Touch Pictures, the new distribution structure in Belgium.
Diana Elbaum has been a group leader at EAVE since 2006. Graduate of New York University, she now lives in Brussels.
Graduate of the INSAS in Brussels, Jani Thiltges co-founded the company Samsa Film in Luxembourg in 1986. In association with the producer Claude Waringo, he has gained a solid reputation as a producer of commercial arthouse films and has built up a catalogue of some 40 feature films. Jani Thiltges is President of the EAVE programme. In 2004, he was decorated by the Grand-Duke of Luxembourg for his activities in the cinematographic field.
The European Co-Production Award – Prix Eurimages will be presented during the European Film Awards Ceremony in Bochum (Germany) on Saturday 12 December 2009.