Visegrad Film Forum (VFF) is a networking event focused mainly on film students. Ittakes place in Bratislava, Slovakia. It provides opportunity for young filmmakers to show their work to an international audience, to communicate and share their experiences with renowned film professionals and among themselves. VFF is divided into several sections, including screenings of student films, master classes with renowned experts and case studies of interesting film projects. Invited speakers have decades of experience in making, financing and promoting films. Last year, among others, Allan Starski, Academy Award winner for Spielberg's Schindler's List and Christian Berger, Michael Haneke's long-time DOP gave talks at VFF.
Christopher Newman is a respected American sound mixer. He won Academy Awards for The Exorcist (1973), Amadeus (1984), and The English Patient (1996). He also received eight BAFTA Awards nominations and he won the award two times. He currently teaches sound production at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Christopher Newman started studying at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). When he was twenty he decided to become a sound mixer. Starting his career in the 1960’s he worked on commercials and documentaries. He also worked for NBC during the war in Southeast Asia and Vietnam.
His first feature was Medium Cool (1968). After that, he made sound for more than 85 feature films including The French Connection (1971), Godfather (1972), Wall Street (1987), Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007). During his long career he worked with different types of sound recording and mixing: “„Always be thinking. Always be conceptualizing. Trust no one myself included. Assume nothing. Double check the equipment endlessly. Always have fresh batteries as well as fresh underwear,” says Newman.
He received his first Academy Award for the Exorcist in 1973. In order to find the perfect „demon voice“ for the possessed child Regan, he began working on the film with audio expert Ken Nordine six months before the shooting itself. After millions of hours of trying, director William Friedkin himself found his „demon voice“ – it belongs to Mercedes McCambridge, radio and film actress.
In 2013, Cinema Audio Society honored Christopher Newman with its highest accolade Career Achievement Award at the 49th Annual CAS Awards.
Visegrad Film Forum (VFF) is a networking and educational platform for emerging film professionals, students with major in film, media or audiovisual studies and film enthusiasts. Through open dialogue, sharing and exchange of innovative experiences it aims to strengthen cooperation among young film professionals. VFF's main goal of is to set up an educational base focused on film-making issues specific for Europe and to promote quality projects of young filmmakers, allowing them to introduce their work and find partners for their international co-productions.
Visegrad Film Forum 2015
Application deadline: 7. March 2015
Dates: 11. - 14. March 2015
Place: Bratislava, Slovak Republic / Venues: Faculty of Film and Television VŠMU, KC Dunaj
Accreditation: 30 Eur / 20 Eur with student discount
Organiser: Boiler, o.z.
Co-Organizer: Faculty of Film and Television VŠMU
Financially supported by: Slovak Audiovisual Fund, International Visegrad Fund
Partners: Slovak Film Institute, Hostel Blues
Partner schools: Vysoká škola múzických umení / VŠMU (Slovakia), Akademija dramske umjetnosti / ADU (Croatia), The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts / FAMU (Czech Republic), The Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television / AGRFT (Slovenia), Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre / LMTA (Lithuania), The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Lodz / Lodz Film School (Poland), The Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest / SZFE (Hungary), The Caragiale University of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography / UNATC (Romania)
