The First Sarajevo Talent Campus Call for Entries

The First Sarajevo Talent Campus Call for Entries
Sarajevo Film Festival has the pleasure to announce that the call for entries for the First Sarajevo Talent Campus begins on May 21, 2007.

Young filmmakers and students from the Region can apply via an online application form which is available from May 21 to June 21, 2007.


SARAJEVO TALENT CAMPUS

The First Sarajevo Talent Campus, a new educational programme dedicated to young filmmakers from South-eastern Europe, will be held from 20 to 25 August, 2007, as part of the 13Th Sarajevo Film Festival. SFF is organising this project in cooperation with the Berlinale Talent Campus (www.berlinale-talentcampus.de) and the Berlin International Film Festival. Sarajevo Talent Campus will gather distinguished film professionals from the Region and from all over the world. They will give lectures and practical workshops for young, talented filmmakers in three different film disciplines – directing, production and acting.

“The main goal is to create a platform to provide a unique opportunity for young talented authors to learn and improve their knowledge by working with the most prominent representatives of film industry in the Region and worldwide. In addition to that, the Sarajevo Talent Campus will offer its participants access to the global film network“ said Mirsad Purivatra, Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Purivatra reminded that following successful rounding up of its programmes, Sarajevo Film Festival also developed an industrial section of the Festival through the CineLink Co-Production Market.

“We are now ready to start developing a new segment of the Festival with the aim to create conditions necessary for additional education and specialisation of young talents coming from this part of Europe. The well-established model of the Berlinale Talent Campus is simply the ideal way to realise this project” Purivatra said.

Results of the Berlinale Talent Campus speak for themselves and do justify selection and implementation of this model to Sarajevo Talent Campus: during the past five years, the Berlinale Talent Campus hosted more than 300 international film experts and film artists, as well as around 2.500 of young filmmakers from more than 120 countries. Many participants of this Campus have in the meantime realised their projects and presented them at prestigious festivals all over the world – many of them taking home awards for their works.

Berlin International Film Festival was happy to cooperate with the SFF and with Sarajevo Talent Campus as a branch of Berlinale Talent Campus. This is another conformation of the indisputable position of the Sarajevo Film Festival as the centre of regional film industry and a prestigious meeting point for film professionals coming from the region and from all over the world.

“We are extremely happy that a New Talent Campus Abroad initiative has found a new home base in Sarajevo, a festival known as a highly attractive hub for Eastern European film making”, said Dieter Kosslick, the Director of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Speaking about the reasons to start a new form of cooperation between Sarajevo Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival, Kosslick pointed out: “As most of you are aware of: very friendly and highly productive ties between our two festivals are already existing, namely between CineLink and the Berlinale Co-Production Market, as well as between the Sarajevo TeenArena and Generations, the section of our festival for children and young adults’ films. Of course, these bounds have helped to spark off the idea to form this latest cooperation.”

Ending his official statement on the occasion of launching the Sarajevo Talent Campus, Kosslick wished the partners – talents and experts – an inspiring, encouraging and joyful Campus during the forthcoming Sarajevo Film Festival. “As for long term expectations: we are very much looking forward to eventually welcome the Sarajevo Talent Campus participants also in Berlin – with their future projects to be marketed and films to be screened and celebrated“ stated Kosslick.

The first Sarajevo Talent Campus will be open to young filmmakers and final year students at Film Academies from: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey and Kosovo. Some 70 young filmmakers are expected to take part in the first Sarajevo Talent Campus. We will invite applications from 21 May to 21 June 2007, and the final selection of participants will be announced on 5 July 2007.

More Details:www.sff.ba