Press release No. 1
April 29, 2010
Another round of the Berlin Today Award has begun. This ninth edition of the Berlinale Talent Campus' short film competition once again offers participants the chance to produce five short films in collaboration with producers from Berlin-Brandenburg and with the support of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. The theme for the Berlin Today Award 2011 is "You Are Leaving The Familiar Sector" and invites international directing talents to create a filmic vision of a world outside of the familiar. Campus Talents, as well as five producers from the region, were selected to create these films.
150 young filmmakers from 55 countries replied to the Campus' call for entries and submitted project ideas for participation in this year's short film competition round.
15 up-and-coming directors and 10 production companies were invited to a "Producers’ Meeting" during the Berlinale Talent Campus in February 2010. The meeting gave the directors the opportunity to pitch their film ideas to the producers in attendance, to meet and speak with them individually, and to team up with the right producer for their project. Representatives of the Berlinale Talent Campus, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg held a jury meeting to select the following five Berlin Today Award 2011 finalists:
In The Ambassador's Wife, Michael Lavelle from Ireland tells the story of Sandra, who is willing to go beyond all boundaries for the body of her dreams. The project will be produced by Macchiato Pictures Filmproduktion. Eva Pervolovici from Romania will direct Little Red in collaboration with Beleza Film, a fairy tale about female initiation from the point of view of 10-year-old Ica. Together with Kloos & Co. Media, British director Tristan Daws will film The Day We Danced on the Moon, a documentary that follows the members of the Reggae band "Channel One", a group of mental health patients who use their music to express the experience of psychosis. heimatmedien will produce Spoilt Broth with Toby Roberts, also of Great Britain, a black comedy about a post office robbery that takes a highly unusual turn. Finally, in Hackney Lullabies, Kyoko Miyake from Japan will portray three young migrant mothers in the London neighbourhood of Hackney and ask them about their dreams and hopes for themselves and their children in their new home. The documentary will be produced by Filmkantine.
The five short films will be produced with the support of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg in Romania, Ireland, Great Britain and Germany until the end of 2010. The five finalist films will celebrate their world premiere during the Opening Ceremony of the Berlinale Talent Campus 2011 on February 12, 2011. The winning film will be selected by a jury of prominent filmmakers and will receive the Berlin Today Award. More information at www.berlinale-talentcampus.de/berlin-today-award
The Berlinale Talent Campus is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, a business division of the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media upon a decision of the German Bundestag, in co-operation with MEDIA - Training programme of the European Union, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as Skillset and UK Film Council.
April 29, 2010