La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, announces the 3rd edition of the Biennale College – Cinema, which begins today May 6th 2014 with the launch of the international call for participation on the website www.labiennale.org(open through July 1st 2014).
The first two editions were launched with great success in August 2012 and May 2013, receiving over 680 applications from all over the world. The three feature-length films produced during the first edition of the Biennale College – Cinema, which had their world premiere screening at the 70th Venice International Film Festival and were later presented in other international festivals, won many awards and were greeted with critical acclaim.
Biennale College – Cinema accompanies and enriches the Venice International Film Festival witha higher-education, research and experimentation workshop, to develop and produce micro-budget audiovisual works, open to a maximum of 12 teams of emerging film directors and producers from around the world.
The goal is to bring to completion – at the end of a year-long series of activities covering the entire spectrum of concept, development, production, direction, marketing, audience engagement and distribution of a film – up to three feature-length micro-budget audio-visual works (150,000 € each), to be presented at the Venice Film Festival.
The international call for participation for the 3rd edition will be available from May 6th to July 1st 2014. Participation is open to teams of directors making their first or second film, and producers who have produced at least 3 audio-visual products distributed and/or screened at festivals. The selection of the 12 projects and teams for these micro-budget feature-length films will be announced during the 71st Venice International Film Festival.
Three of these projects will then be selected to participate in the subsequent phases, each to be developed and produced thanks to a contribution of 150,000 € and then presented at the 2015 Venice Film Festival. They will also be screened online on the Sala Web, a virtualscreening room that will supplement the traditional screening rooms on the Lido.
The official and complete text of the international call for participation for the 3rd edition of the Biennale College – Cinema is available online starting today May 6th 2014 at the following address: www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/collegecinema/.
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Biennale College is a complex, innovative experience that engages all sectors of the Biennale di Venezia, promoting young talents and offering them the opportunity to work side by side with the masters, to develop “creations”.
Biennale College – Cinema, developed by the Biennale di Venezia, is supported by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction Cinema, and by the Regione del Veneto. Biennale College – Cinema relies on the academic collaboration of the IFP in New York, and the collaboration of the Dubai International Film Festival, the TorinoFilmLab, andthe Busan International Film Festival. The Director is Alberto Barbera, andthe Head of Programme is Savina Neirotti.
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Great international success has accompanied the three feature-length films made during the first edition of the Biennale College – Cinema, presented in their world premiere screening at the 70th Venice International Film Festival and at several other festivals after that, winning many awards and critical acclaim:
Memphis (USA) by Tim Sutton (director), produced by John Baker, participated in the Sundance Film Festival, the NEXT <=> competition, the Miami Film Festival, the Irish Film Institute, the Wisconsin Film Festival, the Sarasota Film Festival and the Sundance-London Film and Music Festival. In the United States, it will be distributed in theatres this summer by Kino Lorber and on VOD for Vimeo a month after its release. It is showing on cable TV this spring on the AMC/Sundance Channel Global.
Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy (Thailand) by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director), produced by Aditya Assarat , participated in the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, winning the Netpac Competition for Best Asian Film; the Busan International Film Festival, the Festival Internacional de Cine Valdivia, the Tokyo International Film Festival, the Torino Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Pan-Asia Film Festival, the Italian Film Festival – Special Venice Edition (Asian Showcase) in Singapore, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival. It also won 4 Thailand National Film Awards (out of 10): Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing; and 3 Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards (out of 9): Best Actress, Best Editing, Best Art Direction; it won 5 Kom Chad Luek Award nominations: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress. It was released in theatres in Thailand on November 28th 2013, and will be released in theatres in England and in Ireland in the fall of 2014 (distributed by Day-for-Night).
Yuri Esposito (Italy) by Alessio Fava (director), produced by Max Chicco, participated in the Stockholm International Film Festival and the Torino Film Festival, attracting excellent reviews.
There are three new projects from the second edition of the Biennale College – Cinema currently being developed, which will be presented at the 71st Venice International Film Festival (27 August – 6 September 2014). Theyare:
Blood Cells by Joseph Bull (director, Great Britain), Luke Seomore (director, Great Britain), Samm Haillay (producer, Great Britain), Ben Young (producer, Great Britain) (debut film);
H. by Rania Attieh (director, Lebanon), Daniel Garcia (director, USA), Shruti Rya Ganguly (producer, India), Pierce Varous (producer, USA) (second film);
Short Skin by Duccio Chiarini (director, Italia), Babak Jalali (producer, Iran/Great Britain) (debut film).
A special section of the Biennale website, www.labiennale.org, is dedicated to reporting on the activities of the Biennale College – Cinema, and makes it possible to follow the production phases of each project.
Venice, May 6th 2014