Interchange 2013
Two workshops in Torino and Dubai for writer and producer teams from Europe and the Middle East working on the development of their features.
W1 IN TORINO (IT), June 27 - July 2
W2 IN DUBAI (AE), December 6 - 10
The Interchange programme was created with the goal of building cooperation between film professionals from Europe and the Arab world through professional training centred on the in-depth development of a number of feature-length fiction film projects every year. It is open to 10 teams of writer/director & producer – usually about half of the participants are Arab and half are European –, as well as to 3 Arab film professionals interested in story editing training.
The four main concerns around which the course is built are project development (including script and comprehensive production development), co-production strategies between the European and Arab world, pitching & networking (at the Dubai Film Connection). The project-based training is designed to match the needs of experienced professionals who want to develop their skills through concrete work on their projects - under the expert guidance of international tutors – and who are ready to share their ideas with colleagues and engage themselves in discussions in order to improve and increase their knowledge.
Through 2 workshops – 1 in Turin and 1 in Dubai – and 2 midway on-line tutoring sessions, participants develop the projects and prepare for the conclusion of the programme: a final pitch at Dubai Film Connection, the largest co-production market between Europe and the Arab world with industry attendees from both areas, adding further value to the previous stages of the training.
More specifically, we aim at bridging the two regions by training and supporting film professionals from all over Europe and from the following Arab countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. We will select 10 teams of writer/director & producer + 3 Arab trainee script consultants, and bring them together for 2 residential workshops, one in Turin at the end of May/beginning of June and one in Dubai in December. The trainee script consultants will be trained as story editors working each on 3 or 4 out of the 10 selected projects.
Interchange is run by TorinoFilmLab, the Dubai International Film Festival and EAVE and it is supported by MEDIA Mundus.
Workshops & on-line sessions
Participants’ activities take place across 6 months as follows:
May: 1st four-day residential workshop in Torino: assessment of projects’ status, development and pitching workshop with group sessions, lectures and case-studies
August - September: 1st on-line/Skype/e-mail development session: feedback & consulting, task-setting
October - November: 2nd on-line/Skype/e-mail development session: feedback & consulting, task-setting, preparation of Book of Projects (catalogue for the final pitching event)
December: 2nd five-day residential workshop in Dubai: final script assessment, project advice, pitching training, producers’ coaching, case studies + Pitching event and one-to-one meetings at Dubai Film Connection with film industry professionals from EU and Arab regions.
The training of writers/filmmakers, producers, and story editor trainees is carried out simultaneously in both residential workshops and, as mentioned above, the curriculum is designed around project development and co-production strategies, as well as pitching training in the final session.
Participants will continue working on-line between the two residential workshops and will receive feedback on project development through a schedule of Skype/e-mail consultations.
A Head Producer will supervise all 10 teams. Each team’s project will also be analyzed in depth by one of the 3 professional tutors overseeing and guiding as many working groups.
Page last updated 20 November 2014
