Berlin

Storytelling that expands your senses: Ade, Al Mansour, Begić, Côté, De Laurentiis, Gearty, Gerwig, Gondry, Grisoni, Heisenberg, Hoss, Jordan, Llosa, Luna, Navarro, Petzold, Porumboiu, Rădulescu, Schamus, Solomon, Stockhausen, Strickland, Thornton, and Vesth are among confirmed industry experts to share their experience with the world’s 300 most promising new film professionals

Focusing on how to successfully push storytelling and create compelling films, over 120 experts will join the 300 film professionals selected for the upcoming edition of Berlinale Talents, taking place from February 8 to 13, 2014 at the HAU Hebbel am Ufer Theater.

This year’s Summit programme will revolve around the intricacies of screenwriting, creating strong characters, building audiovisual story worlds and using innovative narrative formats. Kicking off on Sunday, February 9 with the session “Once upon a Time: How to Start a Film?”, screenwriters James Schamus (Lust, Caution), Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha) and Michel Gondry (Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?), who produced, directed or acted in the films they wrote, will discuss how to write a good start to a story, as we delve into a series of sessions that reveal the secrets to successful storytelling on screen (HAU1, 10.30 to 11.30 am). Acclaimed screenwriters Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Claudia Llosa (The Milk of Sorrow, Aloft) and Răzvan Rădulescu (Child’s Pose) will focus on character development in film scripts, and Canadian helmer Denis Côté (Vic and Flo Saw a Bear, Joy of Man’s Desiring) and Bosnian award-winning director Aida Begić (Children of Sarajevo) will share their experiences writing scripts and creating scenes that engage our emotions and reveal important character traits by subtly showing instead of explicitly telling. Featuring accomplished producer Martha De Laurentiis (Hannibal) and Oscar-winning director Neil Jordan (The Borgias), Berlinale Talents also closely explores the narrative advantages and challenges of creating a story for a serial format.   

Technical mastery and optimizing story worlds is a focal point for sessions that invite sound designers, production designers and visual effects specialists. Oscar-winning sound designer Eugene Gearty (Hugo) will join filmmaker Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio) to discuss how a sophisticated concept for a film’s sound design can add indispensable layers to the story. Production designer Adam Stockhausen will join to give insight into the collaborative process of making Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave. How story visuals are further enhanced will be revealed in a master class on the ‘invisible world’ of visual effects. Preeminent visual effects producers Pierre Buffin (Nymphomaniac) and Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor (Game of Thrones) will discuss their creative process and collaboration with filmmakers.

In a focus on hybrid films, filmmakers will discuss how they are increasingly breaking formal rules and boundaries between genres, and thinking outside of the story. Warwick Thornton (The Darkside), Corneliu Porumboiu (The Second Game) and Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays), all presenting their new films at the Berlinale, will speak to the benefits of using innovative documentary and narrative strategies. Acclaimed German filmmakers Christian Petzold, Benjamin Heisenberg and Maren Ade, representing the internationally renowned “Berlin School” will reflect on their work and its reception in Germany and abroad, joined by MoMA’s Chief Curator of Film, Rajendra Roy. In the session “Taking the Lead”, Silver Bear-winning German actress Nina Hoss (Yella, Barbara) will talk with actors and directors about her intensive collaboration with several German directors. Returning to Berlinale Talents, Mexican filmmaker Diego Luna will join for a workshop session focusing on “Directing Actors”, to discuss his experience in both directing and acting, illustrating this with examples from his new film Cesar Chavez.

How do producers find the right stories to develop and once the films are made, how do they sell them to audiences? Award-winning producers Bertha Navarro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Ada Solomon (Child’s Pose) will share their experiences supporting and working creatively with directors. Producer Louise Vesth (Nymphomaniac) will shine her light on film marketing strategies and on effectively creating a buzz around controversial films.

In its twelfth year, Talents from previous editions will return to Berlin to take part in the Summit programme of Berlinale Talents, among them Anthony Chen (Ilo Ilo), Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox), Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda), Edwin (Postcards from the Zoo) and editor Lee Chatametikool (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives). In total, the 64^th Berlin International Film Festival features 62 films made by 79 alumni of Berlinale Talents.

For more information, go to: www.berlinale-talents.de