Following the successful development of the Sarajevo Film Festival’s programme sections and its industry segment, the Festival went further in its development of the networking platform.
In cooperation with the Berlin International Film Festival and the Berlinale Talent Campus, the Sarajevo Talent Campus was launched in 2007, offering an intensive programme of lectures, workshops, discussions and screenings dedicated to talented young directors, actors, producers and screenwriters from the region. From 2012, film critics are also invited to apply for the Sarajevo Talent Campus programme.
To find out more information about the Sarajevo Talent Campus, the networking platform for emerging filmmakers from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Kosovo, please visit the website www.sff.ba or contact the Talent Campus team at talent-campus@sff.ba.
Sarajevo City of Film
Make a short film on a micro budget with maximum production value.
Step 1: Attend the Sarajevo Talent Campus. Step 2: Meet your peers, develop an idea together and submit your script. Step 3: Get selected. Step 4: Develop your project. Step 5: Get a green light. Step 6: Shoot the film for 3 days in Sarajevo with a professional crew. Step 7: Screen your film during the Sarajevo Film Festival and let us promote your talent!
I applied to the Talent Campus a couple of times before actually being selected. This time, I felt I had a really strong script for the Script Station application. I can’t say I wasn’t pleasantly surprised with the invitation! I’m looking for inspiration and some added winds in my sails! -Ivan, 27, scriptwriter, Serbia
Where my strength lies is hard for me to tell. What I know is that I feel myself ready, despite the conditions, to go on making films – films that I like, stories that concentrate on small details, on small but powerful changes. I try to focus on finding more and more simple stories that can have a thought-provoking and self-questioning effect on the viewer. -Dénes, 31, scriptwriter/director, Hungary
I think I was chosen for various reasons. First of all, having attended the Sarajevo Talent Campus I believe gave me an insight to the Berlinale Talent Campus. I gave quite a bit of thought to my application, took my time in answering the questions and wrote down what I felt described my passion and my strengths the best. And the main part, of course, was choosing what to include in the portfolio. I spent a great amount of time in writing my first feature, so I applied with the script of that one. But it all comes down to writing the most intriguing synopsis because that is what presents your film. Even if you have the best screenplay, if you don’t pitch it well on paper, it won’t matter. -Basak, 31, scriptwriter/director, Turkey
Hopefully the Script Station will help me polish “Working Class Heroes” to an extent my co-writer and I are happy with. Also, the chances of the project reaching various film markets and such will definitely rise. As a personal goal, I hope I’ll get a better understanding of screenwriting as an art, and that the exposure to some of the best and brightest minds in the world, both established and upcoming, will enable me to find new ways to challenge myself! -Ivan
In preparation for the Talent Campus, I made DVDs with Gobbel and printed a few business cards. Having read the news about the award that Meryl Streep is going to receive made me realise I could actually see her in person, which would mean a lot to me. -Raluca, 23, scriptwriter/director, Romania
There are so many talent campuses, film labs, film fellowships out there but I believe that the Berlinale Talent Campus is the one that brings together unique filmmakers. Not only its popularity and high application numbers are motivating but I also love the idea that it is open to not only the usual suspects – directors and writers – but also editors, sound designers, actors, critics and now, distributors. -Basak
I hope to extend my professional network and also to share my experience with other young directors. A great scenario following the Talent Campus would be to open new collaboration paths for future projects, international or Romanian. -Raluca
It is a very difficult time now for filmmakers in Hungary. Many of my rookie colleagues stopped their activity as filmmakers, mostly because of financial reasons: the almost total lack of possibilities for financing your film. I feel that the only way to think in is a European co-production. -Dénes
I have high expectations from the Script Station of the Campus, the hands-on training programme for selected screenwriters. Having worked with a story editor one-to-one at the Sarajevo Talent Campus, I know the importance of having a mentor who will spend quality time with you on the weaknesses of your project, who can look at the big picture when you’re too close. I think the Campus, in general, will teach me a great deal of “lessons” you can’t learn in any film school. -Basak
“The first talent Campus was amazing, when everybody, the Campus team, the founding partners and the colleagues from our festival realised that the concept worked.“ A talk with Christine Tröstrum, project manager of the Berlinale Talent Campus. The Campus is 10 years old! Surprises are bound to be revealed. Read on!
The Talent Campus is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2012. What was the initial present their idea behind starting the Campus?
Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick had an idea to build an international network for co-production and cooperation between young filmmakers from all over the world and to integrate them into a renowned international film festival. He wanted to foster cultural exchange between young filmmakers and established film professionals and engage them with public debates about politics, society and film. We give our thanks to many cooperative partners worldwide, the support of regional and federal funding institutions, the European Union, embassies, the Goethe-Institutes, and the Federal Foreign Office, who’ve all helped to create this platform.
Can you recall the first Talent Campus? What was it like? What has changed since?
The first Talent Campus was amazing, when everybody, the Campus team, the founding partners and the colleagues from our festival realised that the concept worked. I think it was a relief for the upcoming generation of filmmakers to get easy access to a festival like the Berlinale and to meet people from around the globe who had the same experience when they were trying to enter the film business. The basics of the Campus structure are still in our programme: the five Ps – PHILOSOPHY, PRE-PRODUCTION, PRODUCTION, POST-PRODUCTION and PROMOTION, designed by the first Campus manager Christine von Fragstein. After 10 years, the Campus is more focused on the individual coaching of our participants, more hands-on, and the reflection on the process of filmmaking is more holistic and considers teamwork. The Campus also became more of a market place where the next generation could present their projects and work.
The Campus was born out of the idea of helping emerging young filmmakers. Can you tell us what kind of blanks the Campus aims to fill?
The Campus idea was a missing piece in the puzzle: to get practical advice on how to work internationally, to encourage emerging filmmakers, to create new impact and to spread ideas. We know from many participants that the Campus has been a turning point in their careers. The filmmakers learn a lot about why it is so important to create a network and to see that everybody in the world has to struggle with production workflows, financing their projects etc. And the Campus closed the gap between the upcoming filmmakers and the established film industry. The industry knows that we present the next generation of filmmakers every year and they can discover rising talents very easily through the Campus events or our online community of around 4000 filmmakers.
How will you celebrate the anniversary – are you planning any special programmes or events?
We will celebrate it with long-time companions, friends and partners, like the Media Programme of the European Union, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and many more. FOCUS FORWARD, the new Cinelan documentary initiative from New York, supports the tenth anniversary of the Campus and will host the Closing party alongside other events. And the Campus alumni will get a birthday present: together with my colleague Matthijs Wouter Knol we designed a new Berlinale programme, the Berlinale Residency. It will be open not only to Campus alumni, yet our motivation was to continue to support the alumni by offering a four-month scholarship in Berlin to sharpen their scripts and to help them find the right markets and sales – from script to the public.
This year’s topic is Changing Perspectives – what basic perspectives are changing nowadays?
One reason why we had the idea of “Changing Perspectives” was the high demands that are placed on everybody nowadays, to have to be flexible in many levels of our society, especially in this day and age when many different spheres of life are subject to such tremendous digital changes. The challenge, not only for filmmakers – is to react to these changes in a positive way, to be open to new ideas while keeping and preserving what has been acquired. We said in this context, “Changing perspectives means a process that requires active participation: sharing ideas and experiences, approaching filmmaking in an interdisciplinary way, getting inspired by visionary pioneers and being open to the unexpected along the way…”
In your opinion, what is the best way to bring out the most of the Talent Campus?
A good team spirit, nice participants, perfect locations, a good balance between one-on-one meetings, workshops, master classes, parties, food and drinks. Nice encounters between rising talents and masters of cinema, and partners who are eager to invest in the next generation.
The Talent Campus is one of the most desirable places for aspiring filmmakers. This year there were more than 4000 applicants from more than 130 countries. What is so special about the Talent Campus – what is the secret ingredient?
One of the secrets is the atmosphere created when people come together from over 100 countries and share their passion for film over the course of six days. The second thing is that we invite all fields of work: directors, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers, editors, production designers, score composers, sound designers, distributors and film critics, and encourage exchange between them.
How can you determine that the Talent Campus has been successful? How can you measure it? In prizes, in connections between filmmakers?
The realisation rate of projects we’ve selected in a development stage either for the Talent Project Market, or the Doc and Script Station is very high. Most of these finished films are screened worldwide at major international film festivals. Around 30-40 filmmakers who’ve participated in former editions are selected to the Berlinale every year in the official programme.
Many alumni have won international prizes, the short films of the Berlin Today Award series have won many prizes as well, among them the German short film prize for Best Documentary etc.
We opened the Editing Studio two years ago and realised that many of the projects we chose were very successful internationally. We began worldwide collaboration with other festivals in Guadalajara, Buenos Aires, Durban, Sarajevo and Tokyo and adapted the Talent Campus model to their regions successfully. And last but not least, the concept was copied many times by other institutions and festivals.
I know that Dine & Shine is one of your favourite programmes – can you tell us some scoops or stories about this special event?
Our guests have liked the idea since the beginning because it is different to ordinary evening events, as we do a kind of “musical chairs” over dinner. It has become a secret hot spot as a Berlinale evening event, where festival guests can meet the Talents over a three course dinner. Many people who are now collaborating first met at the Dine&Shine dinner.
Last year, when we at Daazo.com – The European Short Film Centre – decided to make short interviews with some of the directors from the Berlinale Shorts competition, we did not really believe at first that we had found such a big black hole in the film industry.
On the one hand, it was a disappointment that the accomplished ‘established’ media had nothing else in their sights but red-carpet with A-listers and the world of feature films. On the other hand, we felt that this was the perfect time to create a World of Shorts.
It started as no-budget blog entries, continued as low-budget, but beautifully designed, .pdf magazines at the Cannes and Sarajevo IFFs, and now we have got to the point when we are able to print a real live, proper, paper magazine, with the same creativity and enthusiasm as standard of course!
The Berlinale is the perfect occasion to come up with the printed version of World of Shorts. This is a well-cu-rated short film competition, which presents one-minute spicy animations
to 30-minute-long heavyweights – no matter who they come from, whether it’s an accomplished director or a newcomer.
Nothing else counts: just the overall quality and style of the work and – even more important – the general standards of the Berlinale: being personal, self-reflecting and telling a universal story, having it worked out with the filmmaker’s own handwriting. So we asked this year’s Berlinale Shorts directors to map their minds and send us a drawing if their films. It could be a symbol, a landscape or the main character’s childhood phobias – anything. There were no rules. Just pure, spontaneous thought-drawing.
There is no doubt that the Talent Campus is one of the most important forums of today’s short film marketplace. Nowhere else do so many young filmmakers come together to get to know each other and to get familiar with the freshest waves in the film industry – both from an artistic and technical point of view. Besides having lectures about the newest 3D technologies and the new ways of short film distribution, the Talent Campus has an even more important aspect: it provides
self-awareness for young people who have just started their career in the filmmaking business.
After participating in the Talent Campus they can identify themselves as professional filmmakers, who are part of an international network with dozens of contacts. You can read about the expectations of this year’s talents, and we also asked Zaid Abu Hamdan to tell his own charming success story after having taken part in the Talent Campus.
We strongly believe that the current climate – despite the economical difficulties – is perfect for the brand new world of short films. As we experience day by day, there are more and more new platforms for presenting shorts: smart phones, smart TVs, tablets, VOD platforms etc. People need and want these gadgets, but the really exciting news is that these gadgets (and their manufacturers) need talented people who create content to watch and enjoy. So there are plenty of opportunities for young filmmakers, which is good news, but that alone doesn’t make things simple: being up-to-date is crucial in this business. That’s what we do with the World of Shorts magazine.
But this is just a part of our job regarding short films. We also have a freshly redesigned community web platform: www.daazo.com, where you can watch quality short films, upload your own works to build your portfolio or submit them to film contests to win valuable prizes. You can find us on mobile platforms, smart TVs, tablets, etc., and we also organise short film events.
So we welcome everybody to the World of Shorts. We would be very glad to be your guide during the Berlinale’s short film-related programmes and we hope you will stay with Daazo.com and the World of Shorts magazine for the rest of the year too.
The future of filmmaking explored: 150 experts join the anniversary edition of the Berlinale Talent Campus #10 including Mark Cousins, Alex McDowell, Thomas Demand, Tony Gatlif, Uli Hanisch, Brillante Mendoza, and Keanu Reeves
For the tenth edition of the Berlinale Talent Campus, 150 experts from all over the world will join the Campus to meet, talk, mentor and intensively coach 350 filmmakers from around 90 countries at the Hebbel Theater am Ufer (HAU) between February 11-16, 2012.
The future of filmmaking
The question of the future of filmmaking runs like a red thread through the six-day programme, including the panel “Building Narrative Worlds: Digital Design for Cinema” on Monday, February 13. Renowned production designers Alex McDowell (Minority Report, Fight Club), Uli Hanisch (The International, Cloud Atlas), Habib Zargarpour (The Bourne Identity), and acclaimed German visual artist Thomas Demand will be moderated by Andrew Shoben and discuss the current state of production design, in which the ability to create entirely new digital worlds and alternate universes; offering exciting perspectives for screenwriters, directors and artists when it comes to storytelling (Monday, Feb 13, 2pm, HAU2).
The way in which audiences interact with stories has also transformed radically over the past decade. How can storytellers and filmmakers adapt, as audiences move effortlessly from one platform or device to the next – from mobile to social media and other digital platforms? Leading cross-media experts like Michel Reilhac (ARTE France Cinema) and Timo Vuorensola (Iron Sky, Panorama 2012) will shed light on the new storytelling language and behavioural mindset that cross-media stories require and will share their experiences building narrative worlds, characters and locations (Monday, Feb 13 and Tuesday, Feb 14, 2pm, HAU3).
(Photo: David Ausserhofer, Berlinale 2011)
The Post-Production Studio offers emerging directors, cinematographers, editors, and producers the opportunity to work with the newest camera equipment and to learn from mentors Stefan Ciupek and Dirk Meier about the intricacies of corresponding digital workflows. The Post-Production Studio is run in cooperation with dffb and Camelot Broadcast Services.
The future of digital filmmaking is the main theme of Chris Kenneally’s Side by Side, featured in this year’s Berlinale Special and produced by Keanu Reeves, who also conducts the interviews in this documentary film. Together with director and film critic Mark Cousins (The Story of Film – An Odyssey, Berlinale Special), Reeves will delve into the art of interviewing and the skills required to deliver an on screen conversation that moves audiences and engages with them. Both Cousins and Reeves will use a plethora of interview excerpts from their respective films (Thursday, Feb 16, 11:15am, HAU1).
Other confirmed experts include directors Brillante Mendoza (Captive, Competition 2012) and Tony Gatlif (Indignados, Panorama 2012) as well as acclaimed editors Andrew Bird (The Future), Susan Korda (For All Mankind), Gesa Marten (Low Lights), Alex Rodriguez (Children of Men) and Molly Malene Stensgaard (Melancholia).
FOCUS FORWARD prominently joins the Campus with new documentary initiative
Binoche, Ceylan, Sophie Fiennes, Hope, Kaboré, Kossakovsky, Lachman, MacDowell, Powell, Schlöndorff, Vachon, and Yan Geling as well as Berlin Today Award jury 2012 confirmed for anniversary edition
The Robert Bosch Stiftung, fostering cultural exchange between young artists for decades already, has become main partner of the Berlinale Talent Campus #10 together with the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. The Robert Bosch Stiftung’s partnership increases and consolidates their involvement in the Campus and in the future the Stiftung will further develop the Co-Production Prize in Berlin and internationally. “This partnership is an important step to connect the aims of both our organisations to support the international collaboration of young filmmakers more intensively,” says Festival director Dieter Kosslick.
FOCUS FORWARD prominently joins the Campus with new documentary initiative
FOCUS FORWARD, the new Cinelan documentary initiative from New York, supports the tenth anniversary of the Campus. Under the motto “Short Films, Big Ideas”, top notch documentary filmmakers Phil Cox, Frederik Gerten and Jessica Yu will join Cinelan’s Karol Martesko-Fenster for a panel session at the Berlinale Talent Campus #10 to discuss the new short film initiative and encourage emerging filmmakers to submit new short film proposals to be produced by fall of 2012. Additionally, meetings with talented filmmakers will take place and FOCUS FORWARD will host the Closing Party of this year’s Campus.
High-profile experts confirm for anniversary edition
Acclaimed actress Juliette Binoche will join renowned Burkina Faso filmmaker Gaston Kaboré and German Oscar-winning director Volker Schlöndorff for the Campus Opening session “Changing Perspectives”. Victor Kossakovsky and Sophie Fiennes will elaborate on the skills of documentary filmmaking in the panel session The “Other Side of Reality”, which will focus on the filmmaker’s ability to shape cinematic moments out of daily life situations. Turkish multiple award-winning filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia), American cinematographer Ed Lachman (Mildred Pierce, I’m Not There), Chinese novelist and screenwriter Yan Geling (The Flowers of War), three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell (Hugo), acclaimed American actress Andie MacDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), as well as top indie producers Christine Vachon and Ted Hope join for discussions with the finest 350 up-and-coming filmmakers from around 90 countries selected for this year’s Berlinale Talent Campus.
Berlin Today Award jury 2012, the Campus short film competition
Directors Guy Maddin (Keyhole) and Jasmila Žbanić (Grbavica) and cinematographer Judith Kaufmann (When We Leave, Four Minutes) form the jury of the Berlin Today Award 2012 “Every Step You Take”, the Campus short film competition. The five nominated short films have been made with support by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and will celebrate their world premiere during the Opening Ceremony of the Berlinale Talent Campus at February 11, 2012.
The award ceremony will take place one day later, during the “Dine&Shine Talent Rendezvous” at February 12, 2012.
The Berlinale Talent Campus is a creative academy and networking platform for 350 up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world.
The Berlinale Talent Campus lasts for six days and offers a huge variety of different programme elements for ACTORS • DIRECTORS • CINEMATOGRAPHERS • DISTRIBUTORS • EDITORS • FILM CRITICS • PRODUCERS • PRODUCTION DESIGNERS • SCREENWRITERS • SOUND DESIGNERS and COMPOSERS
CHANGING PERSPECTIVES
Getting out of your reality tunnel: the ability to see things from multiple perspectives is an essential skill when it comes to approaching today’s vibrant issues. It requires imagination and transforms change into an opportunity to improve one’s work. Emerging filmmakers will play an increasingly essential role in this film industry, where shifting paradigms strongly affect how films are presented and reach audiences. Changing perspectives is a process that requires active participation: sharing ideas and experiences, approaching filmmaking in a transdisciplinary way, getting inspired by visionary pioneers and being open to the unexpected along the way.
The Berlinale Talent Campus brings emerging talent and seasoned film professionals together and offers them a platform to refresh their views, discover new horizons, find fellow filmmaking collaborators and discuss new trends and developments in contemporary cinema and media.
(photo: David Ausserhofer)
BEFORE YOU START
Please take a moment to see if you meet the following criteria. You must be able to answer “yes” to all these questions to be eligible to apply:
- Are you fluent in English? (In particular, can you fill out the application in English and understand a lecture or discussion in English?)
- Do you work or study in the areas of screenwriting, documentary filmmaking, producing, directing, cinematography, acting, editing, film criticism, distribution, sound design, film music composition, art direction or production design?
- Have you worked on a short film that was awarded a prize OR Has your work been screened at an international film festival OR Have you worked on a film of at least 60 minutes in length OR Are you a film student in your final year or in a post-graduate programme?
- Will this be your first time at the Berlinale Talent Campus, or are you a Campus alumni that wishes to apply to the Talent Project Market?
If you can affirm all these questions, you are eligible to apply for the Berlinale Talent Campus.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
1) General application – obligatory for all applicants of the Berlinale Talent Campus #10 – download preview to the application questions
2) Hands-on training programmes application – applicants have the opportunity to fill in an additional application for one of the hands-on training programmes related to their field of work. The hands-on training programmes application is an additional application. The general application has to be completed and submitted first before applying for one of the hands-on programmes.
The hands-on training programmes of the Berlinale Talent Campus include:
- the Score Competition for score composers and sound designers
- the Campus Studio for directors, producers, cinematographers, and editors involved in post-production stage
- the Script Station for scriptwriters
- the Doc Station for documentary filmmakers
- the Talent Project Market for producers and directors
- the Talent Press for film critics
- and the Talent Actors Stage for actors.
The theme for this year is “Our Time – My Point of View”. What inspired this theme? How is it connected to previous Campus editions or the Sarajevo Film Festival?
Interest for auteur film, creative choices and authors’ responses to the times we live in have inspired this year`s theme. The programme will address the difficulty but necessity of decisions that need to be taken throughout the creative process of filmmaking. With last year`s theme „Storytelling – From Your Backyard to the World” we set to examine how the local, specific and authentic achieve the level of universal recognition. From placing a focus on local stories in 2010, this year we have a natural shift towards auteur cinema, creative choices and positioning one’s point of view. The Sarajevo Film Festival with its Competition Programme-feature and documentary greatly focuses on auteur cinema so there is an expected bond with the Campus` theme.
How is the selection process going on? There are probably participants who have already attended the Berlinale Talent Campus. Is that an advantage or disadvantage?
The selection has been successfully completed. Among participants there are also Berlinale Talent Campus alumni. The main criterion for selection is that participants have strong applications, with regards to their motivation letters, samples of work and filmography. Consequently, they are candidates with convincing and original “voices” and performances. The experience has shown that many of those have attended BTC as well.
The Sarajevo Talent Campus is addressed to directors, scriptwriters, actors and producers. What was the reason for omitting cinematographers?
The Sarajevo Talent Campus, commenced in collaboration with the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Berlin International Film Festival, is a project which develops year by year. Last year we introduced the project segment “Pack&Pitch” and enlarged the existing programme structure. This year we are launching its second edition. In the future we hope to introduce other disciplines, and open the programme not only for cinematographers, but also for editors, film critics and others.
What are the programme highlights of this year’s Sarajevo Talent Campus?
Having in mind auteur film, creative choices and authors’ responses to the times we live in, director Wim Wenders will talk about the challenges of 3D technology he faced while “capturing” the space between the dancers in his film PINA. From a perspective of past-present consideration, Béla Tarr will talk about his latest feature THE TURIN HORSE. In this feature, the Hungarian director uses fiction to reconstruct historical fragments. Having considered split roles of the past and the present, as well as the written sources the film is based upon, the adaptation process from literature to film has become a focus of our interest. On that occasion, screenwriter Olivia Hetreed and script consultant Kate Leys will talk about adapting a literary work into a film script. Among others, they will answer the questions: How to adapt a literary work and who is a target group of an adapted script. Writer and screenwriter Abdulah Sidran will share his experience from working in both media, starting from one autobiographical novel to making two film scripts: DO YOU REMEMBER DOLLY BELL? and WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY ON BUSINESS. Katriel Schory will discuss the process of adaptation in the context of film development, but from the perspective of a creative producer.
Among many others, the 5th Sarajevo Talent Campus will include such experts and lecturers as Philippe Bober, Gabriele Brunnenmeyer, Licia Eminenti, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Lucile Hadžihalilović, Alby James, Leon Lučev, Pierre-Alain Meier, Zeynep Özbatur, Vladimir Perišić, Erwin M. Schmidt and Frank Stehling.
As in previous years, we will continue the successful practice of intensive “speed matching” and “one-on-one” meetings that are traditionally implemented with our partner, the Robert Bosch Foundation. Through a line of lectures, presentations and screenings, we will continue to cooperate with “Minimarket” and answer questions such as: what is a short film today?, what are good examples of successful, contemporary regional and European short films?, what does the short film industry stand for?. This year we are also starting a collaboration with “Rough Cut Boutique”, a newly created project of the Documentary Competition Program of the Sarajevo Film Festival and the Balkan Documentary Center, which aims to upgrade the development, distribution and promotion of regional documentary films.
The Pack&Pitch workshops train directors to sell their stories to producers. What should a director expect when pitching their project in front of producers at the CineLink Co-Production Market? What makes a pitch the winning pitch?
Within the framework of “Pack and Pitch”, producers and directors are offered specific packaging and pitching training and one-to-one consultations. This training focuses on how to prepare projects for an effective presentation in front of the audience, composed of distributors, producers, financiers, sales agents, festival programmers (Sarajevo Film Festival guests, CineLink Co-Production Market participants). “Pack and Pitch” was designed to bring the Campus participants closer to a true film business environment, which is ahead of them. The winning pitch will be the one that wins the audience with its conciseness, credibility and passion.
How are the audience and the general mood at the Campus?
Hectic, fun, inspiring. Happy-go-lucky!
The Sarajevo City of Film project is a kind of a follow-up to the Talent Campus. How do these sections work together?
Sarajevo Talent Campus alumni apply their previously gained knowledge by teaming up and developing scripts for short films.The best four projects receive script development guidance before being turned into micro-budget short films. During the consecutive SFF’s edition, films are being screened and filmmakers share their experience with a new generation of STC participants.
What do you think about the relationship between short films and the Internet? When should a filmmaker put his film online?
It is a great opportunity to keep and make short films accessible to a wider audience. Short film online platforms are an exquisite promotional and research tool in regards to country specifics, genre diversity, festival preferences etc. Filmmakers should put their films online once their festival run is over.
As the program manager of the Sarajevo Talent Campus, when would you say the Campus edition that you organized has been a successful one?
A Campus edition has been a successful one when a space for interaction between experts and participants, as well as among participants has been created. Also, when participants team up with fellow talents they have just met, and get eager to work on new film projects.
Synopsis:
Mirsad’s father’s village is evacuated due to dam construction. The village will soon be under water. Mirsad arrives from the city intending to move his father’s remains from the old village cemetery to a grave in the new village’s graveyard.
We’d like to know who you are. Where are you from, how old are you, what film school (if any) did you graduate from?
I’m from Turkey. I’m 26 years old. I studied Film at the University of California, Los Angeles. I am currently living in Los Angeles and working at a production company.
Also, we’d like to know why you make films, what makes your filmmaker heart beat faster, what describes you as a filmmaker.
I believe the reality is larger than what we see. Cinema helps me to extend the borders of ‘reality’ around me.
In a film, when I experience a feeling / emotion which I’ve never experienced through my life, it makes me excited. Seeing a character in the middle of a situation I’ve never lived and observing his reactions / feelings to the facts of that specific situation make my heart beat faster.
There are a lot of things around to be curious about. Filmmaking is a good way to satisfy this curiosity inside me. I’d love to be described as a curious student who learns by filmmaking.
Posthumous – On the Set
What is your film about? Could you summerize the synopsis and tell us about the story’s background? Why did you choose this topic, how did you find your actors – tell us a little “behind the scenes” info!
Posthumous is about Mirsad who visits his dead father’s village for the first time after many years. Mirsad’s father’s village is evacuated due to dam construction. The village will soon be under water. Mirsad arrives from the city intending to move his father’s remains from the old village cemetery to a grave in the new village’s graveyard.
This is my 8th short film. Five of the previous seven were about different aspects of the concept of death. Posthumous is the sixth one on death. I like working on ‘death’ which I will never personally experience while living. I had a unique image of Sarajevo in my mind from the last time I was there for the Talent Campus. That image always reminded me of death with its wounded buildings and scattered graveyards around the city. I had a sentence from my father in mind: ‘Death is an inevitable but beautiful teacher.’ This sentence, Sarajevo and my father are combined all together and turned into this story.
Senad Alihodzic(Mirsad) was my friend from the Talent Campus. We met there. After the Talent Campus, I saw Loving Glances, a feature film he was lead-acting. I loved how he made it. I sent him the script of Posthumous and he accepted to work in the film. When I went to Sarajevo before the shooting started, I with Adnan (Imam) who was also a former participant of the Talent Campus. We became very good friends and he got into the production.
There was a highly committed and serious group of people behind the film. Everybody was working silently together as friends. I became very good friends with each of them.
Posthumous – On the Set
Looking back, why do you think your script was selected for production at the City of Film? What is its strength?
It might be that this story is trying to have a natural, organic and silent connection with Sarajevo and its history. I’d recommend everyone look up the definition of the title ‘Posthumous’ to have an idea about what I mean. Posthumno, the film’s Bosnian title, has a slightly different meaning than the word “posthumous” but that meaning also fits the story perfectly. Again, please look up ‘Posthumno’ in a dictionary.
What was it like to work on this project, being part of the Sarajevo City of Film? Was it any different than the way you normally shoot? (Was it well organized? Did you have a big or small team at your disposal? Did you have good equipment?)
I was working with a crew who was really aware of the story and what we were trying to do. It is what a director needs most in order to realize his dream. The smiles on their friendly faces and their professionalism are what I will always remember from our set. Regarding the production, we had some restrictions but the producers were trying to do their best to provide everything we needed. We had some problems before or during production but what I liked most was how we solved the problems as a team. I always felt the generous support of the SCF with me: their producers and coordinators were frequently visiting us and asking if we were happy with everything.
Posthumous – On the Set
Tell us a funny/interesting story that happened while on the set.
For the driving scene with Imam’s green truck we had a very long way to drive from the beginning to the end of a road. There was no room in the back of the truck for me so I was waiting at the end of the road. Senad and Adnan were repeating the scene because the road was long enough to take the scene 6 times. They had a dialogue in that scene. After we had taken the scene, I watched the takes. I saw the first take and felt that something was wrong. But what? At first, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I realized that I understood what they were saying to each other! I wasn’t supposed to, because I don’t speak Bosnian. We were shooting the film in Bosnian but Senad and Adnan wanted to make a joke to me and had the first take of that scene in English. I turned back smiling to Senad and Adnan and they, with the whole crew, were all watching me behind on the edge of a big laugh. We had five other perfect takes in Bosnian. We deserved to smile.
What plans do you have with this film?
I hope it can succeed transferring what I feel to its audience. I hope it can be seen by as wide an audience as possible.
We all love summer, just as we love short films. Summer is a dedicated time for short film people. On one hand, it’s the most frequented period for shooting a film: the weather is good, and you can easily gather friends to team up to create something cool.
On the other hand, it’s the time to watch shorts wherever you want: fancy a festival in Southern Europe with open air screenings? You can find dozens. Or are you just having fun at the beach? In the brave new world of short films, you just get your smartphone and after a few tappings you can reach Daazo.com and the best shorts are there for you. Which include yours, of course, if you want to add them – and they will always be there for you.
In May, we came out with the first edition of our World of Shorts Magazine – apropos of the Cannes Film Festival. Now we can admit that we were a little nervous about it. “Is it worth the effort? Do people want to read about short films?” – we were asking ourselves. The answer was quite clear. More than 10.000 unique readers thumbed the magazine, which is really great for a start.
So we would definitely like to continue and the Sarajevo Film Festival seems to be the perfect opportunity to make World of Shorts even more complex. The SFF, one of the coolest European cinema events in the summer, includes many interesting projects that are very attractive for short film makers from South-Eastern Europe. Talent Campus; Sarajevo City of Film; Competition – what a nice journey for a filmmaker from the region. Károly Ujj-Mészáros has done it – he’s just waiting for his first feature to screen in SFF’s competition. Beginning directors, producers can get pretty much from this festival – now you can read about their experiences in this issue.
Also, we at Daazo.com think that our mission – to put short films in the spotlight – is not a lonely mission. So we asked some of our friends to join to the WOSH project: the London-based Raindance organisation is present with an article that summarises all the important steps to become a successful short film director. Barcelona-based Shortz.tv has written a smart article about the current state of short film distribution.
We would like to involve as much creativity as possible. So we asked the directors of the Competition Short Film to make a drawing that illustrates their film best. It could be a symbol, a landscape or the main character’s childhood phobias. No rules, just pure self-(and film) expression. We think this is much more interesting than an old fashioned Q&A with the well-known questions. Also, we asked talented photographers from the region to illustrate the magazine.
Daazo.com is the online center of European short Films. Beside of our weekly film premieres it is also a collection of short films made by you. Visit Daazo now!
Following the successful development of the Sarajevo Film Festival’s programme sections and its industry segment, the Festival went further in its development of the networking platform.
