EFP is heartily welcoming filmmakers and industry professionals to this year's EUROPE! HUB at the Sundance Film Festival (23 January – 2 February 2025). In collaboration with one of the most important film festivals in North America as well as the staunch backing of the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the co-hosting of five European national film promotion institutes, a light will shine on the latest European films from this year's festival line-up totaling 29 European titles.
EFP has been the face of European films and industry at Sundance for a few years. Filmmakers, producers, sales companies, institutions and press from Europe and the US are again invited to use the EUROPE HUB as a meeting and networking point. The HUB is located and signposted at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel (The Yarrow), 1800 Park Avenue, Park City, with opening hours from 9am to 6pm, Thursday, 23 through Monday, 27 January. Films from Denmark, Germany, France, Norway and Poland, brought to the attention of the US industry and audience by their respective countries, are celebrating their world premieres in different sections of the festival:
Set in the Copenhagen queer community, Mathias Broe’s feature film debut, Sauna (Denmark, 2025), follows Johan, a young man who believes he will find a community by working in a gay sauna, subsequently falling in love with transgender William. The screenplay, based on Mads Ananda Lodahl’s novel of the same name, was written by the director together with William Lippert (World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Danish Film Institute).
Adapted by French-US director Vladimir de Fontenay himself from the novel Legend of a Suicide by David Vann, Sukkwan Island (France, Norway, Belgium, UK) is about 13-year-old Roy who agrees to spend a formative year of adventure with his father deep in the Norwegian fjords. What starts as a chance to reconnect descends into a test of survival as they face the harsh realities of their environment and confront their unresolved turmoil (World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Unifrance).
In Alireza Khatami’s The Things You Kill (Turkey, France, Poland, Canada) an university professor is haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother. He coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance (World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Polish Film Institute).
All That’s Left of You (Germany, Cyprus) by Cherien Dabis portrays an epic historical drama chronicling the story of one family over three generations and examining the passage of trauma. After a Palestinian teen confronts Israeli soldiers at a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the series of events that led him to that fateful moment, starting with his grandfather’s forced displacement (Premieres, German Films).
The Ugly Stepsister (Norway, Poland, Sweden, Denmark) is Emilie Blichfeldt’s feature debut. In a fairy-tale kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira battles to compete with her incredibly beautiful stepsister. She will go to any length to catch the prince’s eye (Midnight, Norwegian Film Institute).
>>discover all European titles screening at the Sundance Film Festival
Prior to the festival, EFP and the Sundance Film Festival hosted its annual exclusive online event for North American distributors, presenting three of the five aforementioned world premieres plus the documentaries Mr. Nobody Against Putin by David Borenstein from Denmark and the Czech Republic (World Cinema Documentary Competition, Danish Film Institute, Czech Film Center), GEN_ by Gianluca Matarrese from France, Italy and Switzerland (World Cinema Documentary Competition, Swiss Films) as well as DJ Ahmet by Georgi M. Unkovski from North Macedonia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Croatia (World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Czech Film Center, Croatian Audiovisual Centre).
The EUROPE! HUB at Sundance is made possible thanks to the support of the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union as well as this year’s participating national film promotion institutes, EFP’s members – the Danish Film Institute, German Films, the Polish Film Institute, the Norwegian Film Institute and Unifrance.
Film Sales Support (FSS)
To round off its promotional activities for European cinema at Sundance, EFP is awarding €15,000 in Film Sales Support (FSS) to three European world sales companies, providing their films with a significant promotional boost at the festival for sales to North America and other countries outside of Europe. FSS is supporting marketing strategies of Films Boutique, representing the World Cinema Dramatic Competition entry DJ Ahmet by Georgi M. Unkovski (North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia), of Mediawan Rights, promoting the documentary GEN_ by director Gianluca Matarrese (France, Italy, Switzerland) and of MK2 for Sukkwan Island by Vladimir de Fontenay (France, Norway, Belgium, UK).
An FSS Top-Up Grant of 500 EUR per application, increasing the standard FSS funding, has been awarded to DJ Ahmet and GEN_ in recognition of the film’s portrayal of diversity and underrepresented groups. FSS Top-Up Grants for the promotion of inclusive films offering a maximum of 5,500 EUR per campaign relate to the marketing expenses and may not exceed 50% of the overall costs incurred by the world sales company.
The FSS awards were confirmed by the North Macedonia Film Agency and Unifrance.
