Filmfest Hamburg is hosting three new initiatives to promote closer links between young European filmmakers at the beginning of their careers.
The first initiative sees the festival join forces with Cannes’ Critics’ Week, the Institut Francais and the Association of German Film School Students to launch the #Atelier22 initiative.
16 film students - two each from eight German film schools such as Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Munich’s University for Television and Film (HFF), Berlin’s German Film & Television Academy and Hamburg Media School - will be in Hamburg from October 5 to 7 to attend exclusive screenings of Simon Rieth’s Summer Scars, Emmanuelle Nicot’s Love According To Duluva, and Mikko Myllylahti’s The Woodcutter’s Story.
The students will have an opportunity to discuss the three debut features which had their world premieres at this year’s Critics’ Week after each of the screenings.
In addition, there will be a presentation by Pauline Mallet, a member of Critics’ Week feature film committee since October 2019, about the sidebar’s work and the challenges and opportunities for filmmakers wanting to make the transition from film school to the world of A-festivals.
Future Frames
Meanwhile, Hamburg-based European Film Promotion will be presenting four of the films showcased in its Future Frames Next Generation of European Cinema at this year’s Karlovy Vary IFF in July.
The public screenings on October 6 will include If You Know by Nicolai G.H. Johansen, who graduated from the Danish independent film school Super8 last year, Slovak filmmaker Alica Bednáriková’s Liquid Bread, which premiered in the La Cinef competition at Cannes in May before being selected for Future Frames, and I Was Max by Lukas Kacinauskas, a graduate of Lithuania’s Academy of Music and Theatre.
According to the Filmfest, the participants of #Atelier22 and Future Frames will be able to meet and network at a reception held for the two initiatives on October 5 as well as during the Filmfest’s traditional harbour tour organised by MOIN’s Film Commission on October 7 and other events during the Filmfest’s Industry Days.
Young Nordic Producers Club
Thirdly, the Young Nordic Producers Club (YNPC) has chosen Filmfest Hamburg as the venue for its new training initiative called Nordic Producers Club - Plus which will be held parallel to the festival’s Industry Days.
The new venture is an offshoot of the YNPC workshop programme which has been organised for Nordic producers by Tina i Dali Wagner and Noemi Ferrer during the Cannes Film Festival for the past 12 years.
The Hamburg programme, which is being supported by the Nordic Film Institutes, Nordisk Film & TV Fund, Creative Europe - MEDIA, MOIN and Filmfest Hamburg, will feature hands-on case studies and workshops focusing on contracting, financing and recoupment as well giving insights into co-producing with Germany and ways to access the German regional film funds.
Speakers being lined up to speak over the three days from October 5 - 8 include producers Bettina Brokemper (Heimatfilm), Sol Bondy (One Two Films), Karsten Stöter (Rohfilm Factory), sales agent Thorsten Ritter (Beta Cinema) and Peter Bille Krogh of the European Collection Agency.
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