Madli Laane is an Estonian film director, writer and editor. She holds an MFA in Film and Media Production from the University of Texas at Austin, USA (2017), where she concentrated on fiction directing. Her thesis film, coming-of-age short fiction Three August Days (2018) has screened at more than 70 international film festivals and won sixteen awards, including Best Children’s Film at Uppsala International Short Film Festival and Best Short Film in Malta, Morocco and Ukraine. Her short documentary ABC (2012) was one of the five nominees for Berlin Today Award at Berlinale. At the moment she is working on her first feature length script.
Project developed in BSR 2019:
“Jungle.Law” (finished)
fiction, 20′, Estonia
Mirjam (14) is a bold and curious girl living in a small quiet town in rural Estonia, who is fascinated by the over-sexualized Instagram stars on her phone. One summer evening she accidentally encounters two city boys Chris (15) and Taavi (16) at her favourite hang-out spot by the sea. The boys have just met in a sports camp. The three strangers manage to turn an innocent flirt into a provocative power game to hide their own insecurities. The dare or not to dare game gets out of hand and none of them is brave enough to stop the downward spiral.
After studying psychology in Belgium, Wim Vanacker moved to Dublin to work as a psychologist in the field of drug addiction. Three years later, he picked up studying again at EICAR where he made two shorts. After graduating, he discovered NISI MASA – European Network of Young Cinema where he became the Head of the Script Department and the Project manager of the MEDIA funded project, European Short Pitch. Furthermore, he’s a member of the Selection Committee for the Official Short Film Competition of the Cannes Film Festival and he works as the Editorial Consultant for the First Cut Lab. On the side, he works as a script consultant, creative advisor, programmer, tutor and guest speaker for many workshops, film festivals and projects in development. As a writer/director, he’s currently developing the films [ˈsɪə.ri.əl ] and Psycho Revisited.
