THOMAS BIDEGAIN TO GIVE MASTERCLASS AT BRUSSELS FILM FEST

Thomas Bidegain

The 10th edition of the Brussels Film Festival is about to kick off on June 8, 2012. The festival has historically favoured first films from European directors. This year's event will have special Polish, Italian, Spanish and Walloon (the French-speaking half of Belgium) evenings.

The festival also has a series of masterclasses lined up that include Peter Aalbaek, the producer of Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg (director of "The Hunt"), Jean-Michel Bernard (Michel Gondry's composer) and directors Peter Greenaway and Lucas Belvaux. Scriptwriters should block June 10, as Thomas Bidegain, writer of two exceptional films at this year's Cannes - "De Rouille et d'Os" (Rust & Bone) by Jacques Audiard and "A perdre la raison" by Joachim Lafosse, will be giving a 4-hour masterclass from 2pm at the Flagey centre.

The official competition features 12 European films competing for a total amount of €45,500, among which €10,000 for the Golden Iris Award for best film. The jury is composed of Frédéric Fonteyne (director), Tania Garbarski (actress), Peter Greenaway (director), Edouard Molinaro (director), Koen Mortier (director), Mireille Perrier (actress) and Bernard Yerles (actor).

For details, visit Brussels Film Festival.  List of films in competition.

MIPCOM kicks off in Cannes

The MIPCOM TV trade fair has kicked off in Cannes. Early news from the kids section is that short-formats are back in style, with a preference for live action. Established characters are being sought out (which is not such good news for people that want to try and create new ones). As scriptwriters it is important to keep an eye on these things, as I don't see the point in working for 18 months on a dead format.

Check for details on Cannes or Bust.

Kathyrn Bigelow and Mark Boal in London

Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" is picking up pretty breathless reviews. She'll be in London with her screenwriter Mark Boal to talk about it, courtesy of The Script Factory and The Screen on the Green.

A preview plus conversation with Kathryn Bigelow & screenwriter Mark Boal August 18
Screen on the Green
83 Upper Street
London N1 0NP

Details at The Script Factory.

Award-winning writers to speak at Screenwiters festival

Britain's Screenwriters Festival will be held this year July 1-3 in Cheltenham. The guest speaker line up so far includes Christopher Hampton, Oscar winning writer of 'Dangerous Liaisons' and the 2008 Oscar-nominated 'Atonement', and Kay Mellor producer and BAFTA award winning writer of such well known series' such as 'Band of Gold', 'Playing the Field', 'Fat Friends' and 'The Chase'.

The programme for the 2008 Festival will be up on the website on Friday 14th March 2008. The festival also has a pitch contest. See the details on their website.

Belgium: workshops and round table

French-speaking writers might be interested in two upcoming events in Belgium. Laurent Denis, an award-winning scriptwriter and producer with Cookies Films, is running a workshop focused on building characters and writing dialogue in August and September. Later workshops will cover an introduction to scriptwriting and writing a short film.

Check the details on Cinefilms.

A new event, Brussels Film Days, is to be held in the Wolubilis complex this September. In addition to avant-premières and open-air screenings, the writers association ASA will host a round table on the theme of the script and professional scriptwriting on September 13. Writers and directors will be present - although it doesn't say which ones. More details on the ASA site.

UK's Screenwriter Festival posts programme

This year's Screenwriter Festival in Cheltenham, July 3-6, has an exciting programme that has been split into two broad sections. The two-day Rising Talent section will focus on issues of most interest to writers trying to break into the sector. Agent Julian Friedmann, Tony Jordon (writer of "Life on Mars"), reps from the BBC's Writers Room and William Nicholson ("Gladiator") are amongst the many speakers. The second "pro" section features a script market, Michael Goldernberg (the latest "Harry Potter"), a section on Spanish cinema and Simon Oakes, CEO of Hammer Films on the re-launch of the studios.

For more details, visit Screenwriter's Festival.

Brussels: literature and adaptations

This Friday, April 20, an interesting event will bring together scriptwriters and writers for a discussion about adaptations in Brussels. Books remain a very important source for new films, as producers try to build on the success of a writer by transposing his work to the screen. But the field is rife with pitfalls. This event will look at the issue from an African viewpoint, although the actual writing issues are probably the same no matter what language or culture you work from.

Guests include directors such as Toumani Sangare who are attending the Afrique Taille XL festival and the Canadian scriptwriter Marcel Beaulieu. The discussion will be chaired by Isabelle Fauvel, who develops films through Initiative Film in Paris.

For details, visit Afrique Taille XL. Don't forget to catch some of the African films on show, as they are only too rarely shown in Europe.

10th screenwriters fest in France

The 10th screenwriters festival will be held in Bourges, France between March 28 and April 1. Guest of honour this year is Nicole Garcia, and a special event will celebrate music in film. Yet traditionally one of the most interesting aspects of the festival is the criée des scénaristes - writers' auction - which gives writers 10 minutes to pitch their projects. It's a hairy undertaking but a great experience. Another regular is the short film writing marathon.

The festival also features workshops, seminars and readings. For full details, visit ScenarioauLongCourt.com.
Nicole Garcia sur Amazon FR

Germany's Scriptforum announces conference programme

The Scriptforum Conference in Berlin in October is one of the Europe's foremost scriptwriting events. In addition to the conference itself, a series of workshops are being organised in English and/or German. These include "Eroticism in Screenplays", "Creativity Access: Diving into Story" and "Action – Writing for a Successful Genre”.

For details, see the Scriptforum website.