Owned and managed by Slawomir Idziak, a BAFTA and Oscar-nominated director of photography for over 70 films in 19 countries, including Krzystof Kieslowski's Double Life of Veronique and Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, the venture is also aimed at modernizing film education. The Film Spring Open Foundation is an institution focused on the future of the industry and forum for discussion and for creating film projects with new technologies.
In 2013 it will focus on the production of a feature in a "new economic system of film production". With limited budgets now common, organizers argue that too much money is still being spent and production needs to improve in efficiency, resulting in more output. That can start with the selection of feature film ideas using Previs, an audiovisual system for presenting a better draft, says Idziak.
The project is supported by partners who will serve on the selection jury including the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl), Polish Filmmakers Association (www.sfp.org.pl), the National Audiovisual Institute (www.nina.gov.pl), the Krakow Film Commission (en.film-commission.pl), Media Desk Poland, Polish TV broadcaster Film Agency TVP (www.tvp.pl), Orange Polska (www.orange-ir.pl), CD Projekt (cdp.pl), Platige Image (www.platige.com) and the Katowice Film School (the Krzysztof Kieslowski Faculty of Radio and Television at the University of Silesia, www.writv.us.edu.pl).
Organizers differentiate themselves from existing competitions for scripts by focusing more attention on ideas that often get passed over because of decreasing production possibilities, says Idziak. Instead of scripts, applicants can send a previsualization, using consumer cameras, in any location (not necessarily the ones from the shooting script), engaging student or non-professional actors to create their draft.
The jury keeps in mind that they are not judging a completed film and decide which can be professionally produced using the new economic model. Shooting is expected to start at the Film Spring Open-Air filmmaking workshops in May 2013.
