Budapest Debut Film Forum (BDFF) will be held for the fifth time between 27-31 March. BDFF is an intensive workshop for teams of writer-directors and their producers aiming to make their first film or series. During the event the participants present their projects and exchange experiences with their European colleagues. The goal of the organizers is to provide professional guidance for the successful implementation of the upcoming film plans.
Budapest Debut Film Forum (BDFF) will be held for the fifth time between 27-31 March. BDFF is an intensive workshop for teams of writer-directors and their producers aiming to make their first film or series. The participants present their projects and exchange experiences with their European colleagues during the event. The organizers' goal is to provide professional guidance to implement the upcoming film plans successfully.
Since 2021, television series have also been accepted in addition to feature films. The deadline for application for the 5th BDFF is February 20, 2023. The organizers keep in mind that co-production plays a crucial role in film production: they can benefit not only from financing but also from a distribution point of view that is created as a collaboration between several countries.
BDFF is waiting for debut film and series projects at an early stage of development. The selection committee will pick a maximum of 5 feature films and 5 series projects. The workshop aims to help the participants put together a strong kick-off material for their debut projects to make it suitable for further presentation and development.
Financing, sales, and distribution experts will join the teams of tutors. The workshop will mainly focus on financing and distribution strategies amid the changing industry landscape and specialize in emerging distribution platforms. The workshop's primary goal is to give the teams specific ideas and suggestions tailor-made to the needs of the projects to make the best possible financing and distributing strategy right at the early stage of the development.
At the end of the workshop, the teams will have a treatment or step-outline and a project booklet. The participants will present their projects in a non-traditional, stress-free pitching format to the decision-makers invited to the closing event of BDFF.
In the last years, participants developed their projects with the help of established film industry professionals such as Ada Solomon (Palme d'Or & Golden Bear winner producer), Marcin Łuczaj (representative of New Europe Film Sales), Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska (European Film Award and Un Certain Regard Award winner producer), Boris Pugnet (film marketing specialist) and Jakub Viktorín (winner of the 2019 BDFF).
The most promising feature length projects and series will receive a development grant of 1,500 euros.
The first BDFF main prize was won by the young Slovak director Michal Blaško's project Victim in 2020. In 2021 the best project was Nothing to See, directed by Borbála Nagy and her short film Praise of Pannonia won the main prize of the 9th Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival. In 2022, the most promising full-length film was the Hungarian-German co-production The Origin of the World by director Borbála Nagy and producer Margarita Amineva. The most promising series was the project Killswitch by Slovak director Anastasia R. Hoppanova and producer Lukáš Teren.
The BDFF also awards the Visegrad Co-Production Award every year. The winning project will be translated into the languages of all Visegrad countries.
The workshop will be accompanied by events, presentations, roundtables and case studies open to the participants from the industry and to the public (film industry professionals, film school students, journalists etc.), which will also be available online.
BDFF is supported by the National Film Institute of Hungary and the International Visegrad Fund.
More information and application form at the website: Budapest Debut Film Forum
