Friday, May 26, 2006

Cannes: ScriptEast to support "east wind rising"

I won't bother giving you a low-down of what was happening at Cannes, as every newspaper in the world (and a good handful of blogs) cover the event. One thing that did stand out for me is the continuing rise of film-makers from the former East European countries. This is not exactly new, as "Kontroll", "Up and Down" and "The Death of Mr Lazarescu" made big impacts in previous years (not forgetting the work and Palmes that have gone to Roman Polanski and Emir Kusturica). But their production is now comparable in numbers to that of Belgium and Ireland. For a good round-up of what's what on the scene this year, check this article on DW-World.

But what about the scriptwriting scene? A new development project was launched at Cannes. ScriptEast is a project-based training programme designed specifically for scriptwriters from Eastern and Central Europe. The aim is to select the best local scripts and their authors and "help them become renowned worldwide" (according to their literature). Concretely, it will involve a one-week workshop in Poland with online follow-up, an evaluation session during IFF in Berlin, followed by more homework and a final session at next year's Cannes.

Costs are covered by Poland's Independent Film Foundation, supported by the Media programme, TVP, the Plish Film Institute and Apple Film Production. Participants pay a mere €200. For details, contact Katarzyna Dlugosz on katarzyna.dlugosz@pnf.pl. I have a website address, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'll place it in case it comes online some time soon: Script East.

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