The selection has been made of the 3 projects that will proceed to the second phase of the Biennale College – Cinema, consisting in a workshop that will make it possible to actually make a mini-budget film, with funding of 150,000 euro each.
The 3 projects, chosen at the end of the first workshop among the 15 previously selected projects from all around the world (presented by a team of one director and one producer) are:
- Memphis (USA), Tim Sutton (director) and John Baker (producer)
- The Year of June (Thailand), Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director) and Aditya Assarat (producer)
- Yuri Esposito (Italy), Alessio Fava (director) and Max Chicco (producer)
The goal is to present the 3 feature-length films, debut or second works, at the coming 70th Venice International Film Festival (28 August – 7 September 2013), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta.
Biennale College is an innovative and complex experience that gathers all the Sectors of the Biennale di Venezia, promoting young talents and offering them the opportunity to work directly in contact with the masters, to develop their “creations”.
The Biennale College – Cinema is a higher educational workshop for the development and production of micro-budget audiovisual works, launched at the 69th Venice International Film Festival 2012. At the close of an international call for participation, the initial submission counted 433 projects from 77 countries from around the world. 15 of these projects were selected, and their teams (one director and one producer) participated in the first workshop in Venice from January 7th through 17th 2013.
The Biennale College – Cinema is a programme organized by the Biennale di Venezia in partnership with Gucci. It is supported by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction Cinema – and by the Regione del Veneto, and held in collaboration with the New York IFP, the Dubai International Film Festival and TorinoFilmLab.
The second workshop of the Biennale College – Cinema for the 3 selected teams (composed this time of a maximum of 5 people) will be held from February 18th through March 1st 2013 in Venice (Director Alberto Barbera, Head of Programme Savina Neirotti). This will be an intensive workshop dedicated to direction and pre-production, which will explore the visual aspects of the 3 projects. Each team will work with a mentor-director and a certain number of tutors/trainers for each different area, to ensure that at the end of the workshop the teams are ready to start, to shoot and to edit the film over the next five months, under the supervision of a team from the Biennale College – Cinema.
The 12 projects that will not participate in the second workshop may benefit in any case from an online follow-up, and opportunities may open up for them to find co-producers in collaboration with the New York IFP, with the Dubai International Film Festival and with the TorinoFilmLab.
The following are the concepts for the 3 projects admitted to the second phase ofBiennaleCollege – Cinema:
- Memphis (Usa) – Tim Sutton (director) and John Baker (producer): establishing its own inner rhythm with a meditative approach, Memphis follows the transformation of Ezra Jack from beloved soul singer to ecstatic contemplator. Immersed in ethereal folklore, soul music, urban decadence and the abstract rhythms of life and death, Memphis is a story that looks with subtlety at a man who achieves obscurity in the hope of finding salvation and rebirth.
- The Year of June (Thailand) – Nawapol Thanrongratanarit (director) and Aditya Assarat (producer): a “digital adaptation” of a year in the life of an anonymous female student through her Twitter status. The girl “de-constructs” into hundreds of fragments, and the filmmakers “re-construct” them into a story. The result is a fantastic, fast and fun adventure of a young girl inBangkok.
- Yuri Esposito (Italy) – Alessio Fava (director) and Max Chicco (producer): a man lives in a state of perennial sluggishness, for no apparent reason. A team decides to follow him for a year to make a documentary about him. Things become complicated when his wife gets pregnant.