Fiction and documentary titles from Canadian production companies Sphere Media, Peripheria, La Ruelle Films and micro_scope are among the projects selected for the 10th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market.

The three-day market, which will run Sept. 1 to 3, is part of the Venice International Film Festival’s Venice Production Bridge (VPB) initiative. It provides filmmakers the opportunity to close international financing for their projects through one-on-one meetings with industry decision-makers, including financiers, banks, sales agents, TV commissioners and streamers.

The market takes place during the 80th Venice International Film Festival, which will be held from Aug. 30 to Sept. 9. Projects from Germany and Quebec will be showcased as part of the VPB Focus this year.

A total of 62 projects in the final stages of development and funding were selected from 280 applications received from around the world, according to a news release.

The selection includes 34 feature-length fiction and documentary projects and 14 immersive. An additional 14 titles workshopped at the Biennale College Cinema have been selected, including 11 virtual reality projects and three films.

Projects in the fiction and documentary selections have at least 70% of funding in place, said the release.

Among the Canadian documentaries selected are Fredy (Peripheria), directed by Will Prosper, and Nothing but Truth About Extraterrestrials (La Ruelle Films), by Guylaine Maroist and Eric Ruel. Both films are part of VPB Focus Quebec. Also selected is the narrative feature The World of Hamdi (micro_scope), directed by Isabelle Lavigne.

Among the Canadian coproductions is the biopic Ethel, produced by Montreal-headquartered Sphere Media and Ireland’s Port Pictures. It centres on Ethel Stark, the founder of the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra. The film is directed by Irish filmmaker Aisling Walsh (Maudie) and will be distributed by Sphere Films.

Additional Canadian copros are Canada-Belgium feature Blue Flower, directed by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles and produced by Montreal-based Colonelle Films; and the Chile-Argentina-Uruguay-Canada film Summer War, directed by Alicia Scherson and produced by Santiago-based Araucaria Cine.

The immersive projects include An Empty Seat (VPB Focus Quebec), a Canada-Denmark copro, directed by Johan Knattrup Jensen and Mads Damsbo, and produced by Montreal’s Art et essai and Copenhagen’s Makropol; Tartupaluk, a Canada-Denmark-Greenland copro, produced by Montreal’s Scintilla and Greenland-based Ánorâk Film and directed by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory; and the Italy-Canada partnered As I Lay Dead, directed by Simone Salomoni and produced by Bologna-based Vitruvio Virtual Reality. All projects in this category have secured 30% of their budget.

Rounding off the Canadian presence is The White Saboteur in the Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality selection. The project is a France-Canada copro by Barthelemy Antoine-Loeff and Hugo Arcier and produced by Paris-based Risette.

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