The 2nd edition of
Balkan Film Connection (BFC) educational/networking platform for Southeast European film students and young professional is set to start tomorrow in Belgrade, in the frame of the
Auteur Film Festival, taking place these days in Serbian capital.
Lasting 5 days, BFC will focus on one of the most delicate phases in every filmmaker’s life - developing a script for the first feature-length fiction film. Eight chosen participant will get the possibility to work on their projects with renowned tutors scriptwriters and professors Laila Stieler and
Srdjan Koljević through collective and individual working meetings, as well as engage in interactive lectures and discussions with some of the leading film auteurs and experts. The participants will also get the opportunity to watch the films on the Auteur Film Festival program accompanied by some reference screenings designed specifically for them.
Balkan Film Connection 2014
Here are the final 8 participants and their projects:
Nikolas Makris, Greece - Sisyphus
Stefan Malesevic, Serbia/Bosnia-Herzegovina - Usud
Mischie Ioana Maria, Romania - 237 Years
Christos Netsos, Greece/Albania - Dajna
Minos Nikolakakis, Greece - Entwined
Valerie Wolf Gang, Slovenia - Love Letters To Strangers
Beside working on their scripts, the participants, along with directors from the
Brave Balkan section of the Author Film Festival, will also join the the round table
What Is Bravery In Balkan Cinema?, which will try to answer the following: Is Balkan cinema brave? What is this bravery and where is it coming from? Is the bravery same here as anywhere else? How can Balkan cinema become braver?
Two internationally acclaimed filmmakers, Turkish
Emin Alper and Colombian Cesar Augusto are expected to share their experiences with the 2015 participants. Alper, a rising star of European cinema, who won the
Special Jury Prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival with
Frenzy (Turkey/France, 2015), will talk about his distinctive poetics and specific approach to contemporary social-political issues, while Augusto, who won the Caméra d΄Or, along with three more awards at the Cannes Film Festival this year with
Land And Shade (Colombia/France/Netherlands/Chile/Brazil, 2015), will focus on the relation between personal and fictional in his work and his authentic film-making approach that combines poetics with politics.
The executive director of the
Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion (ACID), Fabienne Hanclot, will present activities of the French association of film directors, which, for 23 years, has been promoting the cinema distribution of independent films and encouraging debates between the authors and the audiences. Every year, ACID supports 20 to 30 feature films, fiction and documentaries. The selection of ACID films is annually presented at the Cannes Film Festival. The presentation on BFC, which will be followed by Q&A, is opened for the general public.
