At the culmination of the seventh edition of the ScripTeast programme in Cannes, few minutes ago, the winner of the prestigious Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award for the Best Eastern and Central European Script was presented in a ceremony at the Plage des Palmes. The selection was made by the Advisory Board members, comprising Sandy Lieberson, Manfred Schmidt, Antonio Saura, Dariusz Jablonski, and Heads of Studies, Tom Abrams and Christian Routh.
The winning screenplay is “The Mute”, written by Bartosz Konopka and Przemyslaw Nowakowski, from Poland. Along with the award, the writers receive a prize of 10 000 Euros to be spent on further work on the project and statuette designed by Adam Fedorowicz. “The Mute” is set in the early Middle Ages, and recounts the conflict between two men as they struggle to convert a remote Pagan community.
The Advisory Board explained their decision with the following statement:
The award goes to a strikingly original screenplay that confronts themes of spirituality, loyalty, and family dynamics in an ancient setting, while relating an exotic and thought-provoking personal conflict set against the clash between early Christianity and paganism. The jury are confident that the strong dramatic potential of this engrossing screenplay will result in an excellent quality film with international audience.
A Special Mention award was presented to Vaclav Marhoul from the Czech Republic for his screen adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s harrowing tale of an abandoned boy in World War II; “Painted Bird”. It is a challenging and ambitious project that the writer has taken on tenaciously, resulting in a fascinating and moving script that we believe will lead to an imaginative and moving film - Advisory Board motivated their choice.
A number of previous Kieslowski award winners have already been produced, including “The House” (Zuzana Liova), “Womb” (Benedek Fliegauf), “The Japanese Dog” (Ioan Antoci), and “False Witness” (Iglika Triffonova – in pre-production).
It this year’s editions 12 projects from 8 Eastern and Central European countries was participating in the programme. The participants were working on their scripts starting from September 2012 with help and advice of Creative Advisors (among others Michael Schiffer or Marleen Gorris) and Heads of Studies – Christian Routh and Tom Abrams.
12 Feature Film Projects of 7th ScripTeast edition were:
1989 - Andras B. Vagvolgyi - Hungary
18 % Gray - Borislav Chouchkov, Victor Chouchkov, Zachary Karabashliev - Bulgaria
Black Maria - Adi Voicu - Romania
I Miss You - Malgorzata Pilacinska - Poland
Painted Bird - Vaclav Marhoul - Czech Republic
Retro Paradise - Katarina Uhrova - Slovakia
Soldier - Mart Kivastik - Estonia
The Mute - Bartek Konopka, Przemyslaw Nowakowski - Poland
The Year of the Kuker - Nadejda Koseva - Bulgaria, Bojan Vuletic - Serbia
The Young Friends of the USSR Club - Stephan Komandarev, Emil Spahiyski - Bulgaria
Traces - Wiktoria Szymanska - Poland
Viking Line Story - Xandra Popescu, Stefan Constantinescu - Romania
ScripTeast is a training program for the best screenwriters from Eastern and Central Europe. The aim is to help the screenwriters strengthen their scripts, make it interesting for wide international audience, it is meant to enhance the best written scripts’ competitiveness. ScripTeast is organized by the Independent Film Foundation and supported by Media Program of EU, Polish Film Institute, National Centre for Culture and Apple Film Production, in cooperation with the European Film Academy, the ACE Program, Producers Network, Film New Europe and Final Draft.
