The Hungarian film Land of Storms directed by Ádám Császi -- a 2010 MIDPOINT workshop project -- premiered in the programme of Berlinale Panorama and was picked up by world sales agent M-appeal.
MIDPOINT recently put out a call for applications for its 5th edition.
The programme, founded by Prague FAMU in collaboration with film schools in Bratislava, Lodz, Berlin, Bucharest and Budapest five years ago, has been cooperating with a group of international tutors (http://midpoint-center.eu/page.php?page=28) who provide invaluable input in guiding filmmakers and helping them to get the best out of their scripts. Many of the MIDPOINT projects have resulted in films in the meantime, and several of them are already celebrating an international success.
Iván Szabó, the screenwriter of Land of Storms, said about the programme, “MIDPOINT has the best tutors who can teach you in Europe. During the pitching forum you can get to know important people from film festivals and the industry.”
Other examples of internationally successful projects coming from MIDPONT are Flora & Fauna by Polish director Piotr Litwin, a 2011 project which premiered this January at the Trieste Film Festival’s short film competition and the 2013 project Out by György Kristóf, a Slovak-Hungarian-Czech-Latvian coproduction which was selected for the last edition of the coproduction markets at New Cinema Network in Rome and the Baltic Event.
Another MIDPOINT project The Candidate premiered in autumn 2013 and has been the 8th most viewed majority Slovak film since 1993. Its scriptwriter and MIDPOINT participant Maroš Hečko said about the workshop,“My experience with the MIDPOINT workshop confirmed how important the events of this kind are for the creators of a film. The tutorial work of Milena Jelinek was exceptional and thanks to the confrontation with her opinions, I made a big step in the development of my script.”
The fifth edition of MIDPOINT, a three-month script development programme which includes two residential workshops and concludes with an international pitching forum, is now open for submissions. Fiction and animation projects are eligible for participation.
Deadline for applications is 17 March 2014.
