Berlinale Talents 2017 Ready for Action: Courage!

Courage is the theme of this year’s Berlinale Talents, the meeting of up-and-coming talent of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. Around 250 young filmmakers from more than 70 countries come together in Berlin and take part in workshops given by renowned professionals. One highlight is the Robert Bosch Stiftung’s Film Prize for young filmmakers from Germany and the Arab world.

Robert Bosch Stiftung | February 2017
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David Ausserhofer

With the title Courage: Against All Odds, the spotlight of the Berlinale Talents’ 25 public events is on the everyday courage of today’s filmmakers. The program includes workshops given by internationally renowned artists such as Polish director Agnieszka Holland, the American Christo, and the German documentary filmmaker Andres Veiel. Cultural exchange between the film creators is one of the main purposes of the Berlinale Talents, which was started in 2003 and supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung. And the talent that has been promoted is truly impressive: 93 alumni films are being shown at this year’s Berlinale.

Filmmakers in the Arab world need a special brand of courage. That is especially true if they want to tell stories about independence and self-determination. Stories like that of a young Egyptian woman who has to deal with the increasing dominance of her boyfriend and that of two young Palestinians who craftily evade their deportation from Germany – two of 11 film projects that are nominated for the Film Prize for international cooperation between Germany and the Arab world.

Impressions from the Film Prize Pitch Forum

The Film Prize enables young filmmakers from the areas of directing, production, camera, and screenplay writing to learn new styles and ways of working in a different country. Cultural exchange is the focus of the process. And it’s more than a competition. The one-year training program comprises workshops on project development, producers’ meetings, and a forum on preparing pitches. The winning German-Arab film teams from the three categories of animation, short film, and documentary will each receive 60,000 euros and were announced on Sunday, February 12, at the award ceremony in Berlin.

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David Ausserhofer