TRAINING REELS: Programs at Berlin and Cannes benefited helmer Lance Hammer ('Ballast').
While an unsteady global film industry has budding filmmakers worried about their futures, there's never been a better time to develop their craft. From Sundance's Labs to Berlin's Talent Campus to Cannes' Cinefondation, nowadays most major film festivals have some training component, squarely aimed at recruiting and aiding the next generation of auteurs.
Whether an all-expense-paid trip to Berlin, 4½ months in a Paris pied-a-terre or a week in a mountaintop resort, such programs sound less like the grueling ways of iconoclastic filmmaking than a plum prize from a gameshow. Indeed, many of the participants who've taken part in these retreats have gone on to receive the ultimate award: the financing and completion of their first feature film.
Berlin's 7-year-old Talent Campus -- held during the height of the Berlinale -- is the most expansive of programs. With 350 participants (winnowed from some 4,000 applications), the Talent Campus conducts massive master classes, taught by such experienced filmmakers as
"When you have a big film festival where industry and public come together, it makes sense to have a platform for young people to come together and get inspired," says Talent Campus chief Matthijs Wouter Knol.
Specially selected "talents" also take part in more intimate sessions devoted to craft technique, screenplay and documentary development, film criticism and a film-score competition (this year, mentored by Max Richter).
"Ballast" producer-director Lance Hammer (Talent Campus '04) says the experience of mixing with filmmakers from around the world had more "inspirational value" than practical, he says. "It refueled my desire to be a filmmaker and left me a lasting impression: that I don't have to be locked in this myopic view of American filmmaking."
For a more tangible helping hand, the program also selects 10 films for the Talent Project Market, which offers producers and directors the chance to pitch at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
"It was a tremendous opportunity," says "Amreeka" director Cherien Dabis (Talent Campus '07).
If Talent Campus is like a Big Ten school, Cannes' Cinefondation is like an elite year-abroad program, with just six filmmakers selected for its bimonthly, Paris-based Residence program and 15 projects for its Atelier, a separate track devoted to getting films financed with at least 20% of their budgets in place.
Since beginning in 1998, Cinefondation has spawned 55 feature films, with another 22 currently in pre-preproduction, according to program manager George Goldenstern. "I think it's a good record," he says. Last year, the Cannes Film Festival hosted 14 Cinefondation alumni, including Kornel Mundruczo ("The Delta"), Amat Escalante ("Los bastardos") and Antonio Campos ("Afterschool").
The New York-based Campos says Cinefondation was "a great experience," essential for the development of "Afterschool." "It's really about giving you the space and time to finish your work." In addition to creative writing time, Residence participants go to either Rotterdam's Cinemart or Locarno to meet with funders.
Goldenstern also points out the value of community, especially for directors from developing countries. "They don't have to feel alone," he says. And projects from as far away as Sri Lanka ("The Abandoned Land") and Romania ("12:08 East of Bucharest") have been able to forge crucial French financing partnerships.
If Cinefondation lets its participants find their own way, the Asian Film Academy, co-hosted by the Pusan Intl. Film Festival, Dongseo University and the Korean Academy of Film Arts, is more like an intensive film course: Over 17 days, 24 fellows from 12 to 15 Asian countries are divided into two teams and work on separate HD short films. "Our main focus is production experience and networking with established directors, who participate in AFA as faculty members," says AFA manager Cho Young-jung. Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao Hsien, for example, serves as the AFA's dean.
While the AFA is only 4 years old, results are starting to come in: Indonesian director Edwin's "Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly" screened at the recently concluded Rotterdam fest, and Malay filmmaker Chris Chong Chan Fui's "The Tour" participated in this year's CineMart.
Compared with its brethren, the Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program -- which comprises a twice-yearly Screenwriters Lab, a Directors Lab, a Film Music Lab and a Creative Producing Lab -- is like a venerable liberal arts school, feeding alums directly into the American independent film scene since 1981.
"We introduce our filmmakers to producers in a very targeted way," says Michelle Satter, the program's longtime director, citing two recent fruitful introductions, Alex Rivera ("Sleepdealer") to producer Anthony Bregman, and Cruz Angeles ("Don't Let Me Drown," Sundance '09) to producers Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen.
Satter says roughly half of all projects that go through the Lab have become released feature films. Notable grads include Darren Aronofsky, Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. Just this year, 10 Lab-supported films premiered at Sundance.
But the Labs are most known for their creative development and intimate mentorship with industry vets. "We give them a place where they can re-examine their work, ask the tough questions, enhance their skills and be a part of a community of passionate storytellers," Satter says.
"The remoteness is really key," Satter adds. "You can do this in the city, but if the cell phones are not working and the Wi-Fi is spotty, if you disconnect from the chatter of everyday life, it really allows for a different kind of process."
"It's best for filmmakers to have the right expectations going into any of the training programs --I don't think they provide any shortcuts to getting films made," says "Lucky Life" director/writer Lee Isaac Chung, adding, "there is much work left to be done, but more opportunities and liaisons become available to the project."
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