- Margarita Jimeno’s "OTTO – My Life is a Soundtrack" (working title) won the jury prize at U.S. in Progress, an industry confab dedicated to American indies in post production and hosted at Sophie Dullac’s Champs Elysees Film Festival, Variety reports.
The drama, produced by Margarita Jimeno, follows the journey of an artist in Germany and Poland. Andrew D. Corking is exec producing.
Jimeno’s credits include "Gogol Bordello Non-Stop," a documentary feature about the Gypsy punk band which won an award at CPH: DOX.
The U.S. in progress prize, which rewards artistry and innovation in independent American cinema, includes a post-production and distribution package worth 40,000 Euros.
The work-in-progress sidebar – whose mandate is present a crop of American indies in post production to European sales agents, distributors and festival programmers — showcased four narrative feature films and two docs selected out of more than 50 submissions.
The other pics and docs presented were Mike Ott’s "California Dreams," Adam Keleman’s "Easy Living," Andrea Sisson and Peter Ohs’s "Everything Beautiful is Far Away," Brent Chesanek’s "Academy" and Matt Yoka’s "Whirlybird."
This year’s jurors were Alain Budzyk from Arenberg Créative Mine), Myriam Achard from Centre Phi, Bruno Deloye from Ciné Plus, Xénia Maingot from Eaux Vives Production, Dan Schoenbrun from Kickstarter, Julie Bergeron from Producers Network, Sydney Levine from SydneysBuzz and Sophie Frilley from TitraFilm.
Now in its 5th edition, U.S. in Progress was launched in collaboration with American Film Festival in Wroclaw, the Champs-Élysées Film Festival in Paris and Black Rabbit Film.
Champs-Élysées Film Festival, created by French distributor Sophie Dullac, wraps its fifth edition on June 14th.
