Sites of Initiation: Film Training Programs at Film Festivals

Abstract

The movie business is a fast-moving world, in which new technologies can turn existing practices upside down and where everybody is looking for ways to “make it.” It is an extraordinary business that defies regular approaches to education and career development. It seems, then, that the education of the filmmaker does not stop once training in a well-established film school has been completed. Instead the initiation of young talent into key practices merely begins at this point, as does the major process of sifting out the lucky few, who succeed, from those who will continue to struggle throughout their professional careers. In this chapter I will look at the role film festivals play in the development of emerging filmmakers. My focus will be on the European continent. At the start of the new millennium, a series of training initiatives developed by European film festivals quickly gained popularity and acquired significant influence in the industry. Dieter Kosslick, director of the Berlin International Film Festival, took the tenth anniversary of the hugely successful Berlinale Talent Campus as an occasion to reflect back on the ambitious undertaking in question:

When we prepared the first edition of the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2003 this idea sounded wonderful, desirable and forward-looking on the one hand—and totally crazy on the other. How could the complex system of one of the world’s leading film festivals stand another 350 accredited guests, and how would all this be financed? Today, as we celebrate the 10th edition, we can easily say: The Berlinale Talent Campus is one of the best things that has ever happened to the Berlinale! The Festival and the Campus interact efficiently on many levels. While the Talents profit from the input of distinguished Berlinale guests, the Festival itself is refreshed by mingling in young filmmakers from all over the world.¹