Networking for the next generation of filmmakers

She already has an Oscar under her belt, her short film debut as a Director screened at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival - and was the winner of the Screen Talent Europe Pitching Forum last year. We're talking about Hamburg-based Director of Photography, Director and Script Writer Zamarin Wahdat. She won over the international jury with her project ARI in June 2020 and is now receiving 4,000 euros in production funding for its realisation. The Pitching Forum is one of three workshops on offer within Screen Talent Europe: "You apply with an idea or even a first draft of a screenplay and then learn how to pitch your story in a two-day workshop. At the end, the participants then have five minutes to convince our jury and an expert audience of their project," reveals Filmwerkstatt Kiel director Arne Sommer, who has been President of the network since 2020.

An elevator pitch for filmmakers that prepares you for your day-to-day work. After all, it is not uncommon for up-and-coming filmmakers to talk to potential partners at festivals and have to present their ideas convincingly within a few minutes. In addition to Zamarin Wahdat from Germany, up-and-coming talents such as Hille Norden and Hilke Rönnfeldt have already taken part in the pitch in recent years - the latter's German-Danish-Icelandic co-production "The Silence of the Fish" screened at several renowned festivals. 2020 was the first Pitching Forum that had to take place entirely online due to the pandemic. For the upcoming edition from 9 to 13 June 2021, you can still register until 12 Mayvia this linkapply.

The DocCamp

"The basic idea of Screen Talent Europe is to connect up-and-coming filmmakers internationally as early as possible and to promote exchange. Later on, the resulting short official channels can be enormously helpful," says Sommer. And there are few events where so much dialogue takes place as at the DocCamp, which has taken place three times so far and lasts a total of four weeks each time. The format, which is aimed at budding Directors, Executive Producers, DoPs and Editors every two years, attracts almost 20 participants. After a workshop with experienced industry practitioners takes place in the first week (most recently at the Copenhagen Film Academy), films are produced in small teams in the following three weeks, which in the best case scenario will later be shown at a festival. All participants live together in one place for this time. But how exactly do you apply for DocCamp? "Each country in the network sends one or two filmmakers. Anyone from Germany who wants to take part in the workshops has to apply to Filmwerkstatt Kiel. In Germany, we are the link to Screen Talent Europe. The same procedure applies in the other countries. If you want to take part from Ireland, for example, you apply to the Galway Film Centre, which is part of the Screen Talent Europe network," says Arne Sommer. A small drop of bitterness: due to the coronavirus pandemic, the camp will probably not take place again until 2022.

Shared festival experience

The "Talent Link North" is another Screen Talent Europe networking event that takes place annually. The Talent Link is embedded in the Nordic Film Days Lübeck and sends participants on a shared festival experience with numerous film viewings as well as participation in a workshop and other events. Here, too, the focus is on international networking - participants have recently come from Denmark, Norway, Germany and Greenland. In autumn 2021, there will also be the first "Short Film Bootcamp", which will take place in an online format. What exactly is behind it and who can take part will be revealed in the coming weeks. By the way: Anyone who would like to get a taste of the Screen Talent Europe network without a specific film project should look out for the Screen Talent Europe reception at the Nordic embassies at next year's Berlinale.

Since 2014, the Screen Talent Europe initiators have amassed a wealth of knowledge with regard to further education programmes in the film sector. As it would be a shame if only the network were to benefit from this, the jointly published "Method Book" (digital + print) will be published in March, which is intended as an aid for other institutions wishing to include similar support programmes in their portfolio

If you can hardly wait to apply for one of the next offers now, you should take a look at theofficial website and Facebook presencefrom Screen Talent Europe. Here you will be the first to find out when the next submission deadline starts. With this in mind: Get connected - even if only digitally at the moment.