Budding Filmmakers and Professional Training in Germany

Since 2008 Matthijs Wouter Knol has been in charge of the Berlinale Talent Campus at the Berlin International Film Festival. In an interview with goethe.de he looks back at the Berlinale 2009 and takes stock.

Mr Knol, your first Talent Campus is over. How do you feel the Campus went?

The 2009 Campus was a success and I was thrilled with it in many ways. Once again it became quite clear that such an encounter between new talent and “old hands” would lead to some exciting and unexpected moments. This year I was particularly impressed by the relaxed atmosphere during the week of the Campus. Naturally the careful selection of the newcomers and experts played a role here. The general concept of the Campus gets better and better from year to year and is beginning to bear more and more fruit.

A unique experience for new filmmaking talent

Just how important is it, in particular at a film festival, to bring professionals and newcomers together?

I am convinced that the opportunity to organise a program geared specifically to new filmmaking talent at a big film festival is a unique experience for those taking part. Apart from the thrill of being invited, for the young filmmakers it is also the idea of being part of a big, international festival and being taken seriously, getting a particularly warm welcome to the business and being inspired by all the other filmmakers they will meet in Berlin. For the various experts who have been in the business for so long it presents an opportunity for them to exchange ideas with young talent on their work and their approach to filmmaking, in a relaxed atmosphere far away from the red carpet and the daily routine of the film business. A festival like the Berlinale is ideal for bringing these groups together fast and is of real benefit for everybody.

What countries did the participants come from this year?

This year there were 350 up-and-coming filmmakers from 102 countries taking part in the Campus. Among them, taking part for the first time, newcomers from Botswana, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mongolia and Qatar.

Broadening their horizons

Are there differences in the way various countries approach the medium of film?

Of course, and it is exactly this variety that is the driving force at the Campus. We trust in the idea that different ways of making films can be both inspiring and helpful. I believe that it is these differences in particular that enhance the whole project and that the people taking part are able to realise that a broadening of one’s own horizon can sometimes be the solution to many a problem. Differences are good for making it clear to people what they would like to do most.

This year the emphasis at the Campus was on “Suddenly, It All Happened – The Turning Point In Close-Up”. What were the talented newcomers able to learn from it?

The decision to focus on the theme of “Turning Points” at the Campus had a very inspirational effect right from the start. In the “Storytelling” section you might at first think “Turning Points” would naturally involve telling a story and how the audience’s expectations and hopes are fulfilled in the story. In the process of making a film however there are also decisive turning points occurring over and over again - when the filmmaker, for example, decides to add a new, different angle to the story. On the one hand this is due to the fact that when you are not working on a budget of millions, a lot of things simply cannot be realised and, on the other, a content-related restriction or a new direction can often have a positive effect on the film project. These decisions are not easy to make and can change repeatedly throughout the making of the film. It can be of huge benefit indeed however for newcomers to then learn from more experienced colleagues just how they deal with these processes, or to hear from renowned experts how they, at some point in their career, decided to break out in a new direction.

Stable partnerships

In 2009 the Talent Campus was sponsored by the EU MEDIA program, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Skillset, the UK Film Council, Volkswagen as well as by 25 other partners. Just how stable are these partnerships for the future?

Due to the long tradition of cooperation the partnerships are very stable indeed – last year the Campus actually signed a four-year partner framework agreement with the MEDIA program of the EU. Medienboard and Skillset, along with the UK Film Council, have been in on the project right from the start and will also quite definitely be supporting the project in the future within the realm of their means.

The German Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs (Das Auswärtige Amt) has also signalised their support for the Talent Campus in Durban, South Africa, and once again we are quite optimistic about this. Due to the financial crisis we shall have to wait and see to what degree the film industry is going to support the Campus on a main-partner level in future. As we are able to look back at a number of successful projects over the last few years however, the chances of us keeping our existing partners on board or even welcoming new partners to the Campus are looking good.