European Film Promotion (EFP) in collaboration with its member organisations have once more selected 20 promising European producers for its 26th edition of PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE during the Festival de Cannes (13 – 24 May 2025).
The following producers with a strong female presence, are taking part in the special EFP networking programme at this year’s festival: Blerina Hankollari (Albania), Andi G Hess (Austria), Géraldine Sprimont (Belgium), Magdelena Ilieva (Bulgaria), Tamara Babun Zovko (Croatia), Daniel Mühlendorph (Denmark), Lionel Massol (France), Fred Burle (Germany), Claudia Sümeghy (Hungary), Deirdre Levins (Ireland), Francesca Andreoli (Italy), Kristele Pudane (Latvia), Klementina Remeikaitė (Lithuania), Vincent Quénault (Luxembourg), Bojana Radulović (Montenegro), Janne Hjeltnes (Norway), Agnieszka Wasiak (Poland), Carla Fotea (Romania), Eliza Jones (Sweden) and Thomas Reichlin (Switzerland).
The producers will participate in tailor-made sessions to foster international co-productions, intensify the exchange of experiences and help create new professional networks. Pre-festival kick-off online gatherings, which already started yesterday and are going to run until 30, offer 1:1 speed meetings, roundtables and pitching sessions. All participants will then meet in person during the festival in Cannes from 16 to 20 May and take part in a five-day on-site programme, incorporating case studies, social events and an extensive promotional campaign.
With their respective companies, the 20 producers are putting forward a wide range of narrative forms and genres, from drama and comedy to documentaries, series and animated films, from horror, fantasy and action to science fiction, coming-of-age and thrillers.
Three of the selected producers will be presenting their films which have been selected for this year's Festival de Cannes: Fred Burle (One Two Films) is the German co-producer of Kléber Mendonça Filho’s, The Secret Agent which runs in Competition (as an entry from Brazil), Géraldine Sprimont (Need Productions) from Belgium is involved in Déni Oumar Pitsaev’s documentary, Imago part of the competition section of this year’s Critics’ Week and French Lionel Massol (Films Grand Huits) is the associate producer of the short film Loynes by Dorian Jesper selected for La Quinzaine.
Six of this year's group of producers were involved in the production of their respective Academy Awards entries for the International Feature Film category. Kristele Pudane from Latvia (Sunday Rebel Films) produced the multi-award-winning film and Latvia’s 2022 entry for the Academy Awards, The Pit by Dace Pūce. Blerina Hankollari from Albania (Artalb Film Production) produced Gentian Koçi’s, A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On (2023) and Francesca Andreoli (Cinedora) the Italian entry Vermiligo by Maura Delpero (2025). Agnieszka Wasiak (Lava Films) is the Polish co-producer of this year’s shortlisted Academy Award entry for Denmark, The Girl with the Needle by Magnus von Horn and Klementina Remeikaitė from Lithuania (afterschool production) was the producer of the Lithuanian entries Pilgrims (2022) and Drowning Dry (2024), both directed by Laurynas Bareiša. Thomas Reichlin from Switzerland (Alva Film) was one of the producers of 2024 Swiss Oscar entry Reinas by Klaudia Reynicke and shortlisted with Hive (as Swiss co-producer) for the Kosovo entry in 2022.
Further producers have attracted attention with highly acclaimed and award-winning films, such as Eliza Jones (Grand Slam Film) from Sweden with Pleasure by Ninja Thyberg as well as Tamara Babun Zovko from Croatia (Wolfgang&Dolly) who produced the IDFA Award winner for Best-Feature Length Documentary, The Other Side of Everything by Mila Turajlić whilst Vincent Quénault from Luxembourg (Red Lion) entered the Berlinale Competition twice in a row with his co-productions, Black Tea by Abderrahmane Sissako (2024) and The Safe House by Lionel Baier (2025).
Claudia Sümeghy from Hungary (JUNO11) and Carla Fotea from Romania (microFILM) are also putting their focus on the production of films for younger audiences; Sümeghy produced Nóra Lakos’ I Accidentally Wrote a Book and Fotea was involved in Ana-Maria Comănescu’s debut feature film, Horia.
Concentrating on debuts, Daniel Mühlendorph from Denmark (Hyæne Film) takes credit for the production of Lisa Jespersen’s comedy-drama Persona Non Grata (2021) while other producers of the group follow their `trusted` talent such as Andi G Hess from Austria (Schubert) who produced Sandra Wollner’s fiction film, The Impossible Picture (2016) as well as The Trouble With Being Born (2021). Likewise, Norwegian Janne Hjeltnes (Empathitude Pictures) continues working with director Halkawt Mustafa (Hene Films) Hiding Saddam Hussein (2023).
With Eternity Package (2024) Magdelena Ilieva from Bulgaria (Little Wing Productions) also produces her own films as a director, while other female producers with their respective companies and films are focusing on stories told from a female perspective and realised by female or LGBTQ+ filmmakers: Irish Deirdre Levins (Fantastic Films) for example, was involved in the film You Are Not My Mother, and BojanaRadulović (CODE BLUE PRODUCTION) will produce Eleonora Veninova's next project, Fires.
EFP PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE is made possible thanks to the support of Creative Europe – the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Eurimages, Film i Väst, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and LETTERBOX FILMPRODUKTION, as well as the participating national film promotion institutes (EFP’s member organisations) from the Producers on the Move countries: Albanian National Center of Cinematography, Austrian Films, Bulgarian National Film Center, Cinecittà (Italy), Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Danish Film Institute, Film Centre of Montenegro, Film Fund Luxembourg, German Films, Lithuanian Film Centre, National Film Institute Hungary, National Film Centre of Latvia, Norwegian Film Institute, Polish Film Institute, Romanian Film Development, Screen Ireland / Fís Éireann, Swedish Film Institute, SWISS FILMS, Unifrance and Wallonie Bruxelles Images (Belgium). The main media partner is Variety, with Cineuropa as an additional media partner.
