Sprungbrett – young filmmakers in an intercultural dialogue

Filmmakers/producers/students from Lower Saxony work together on a film project with international filmmakers/producers as part of a workshop in Hannover. A stepping stone for international co-productions. In a five-day international workshop (November 20th – 24th, 2011), five young filmmakers/producers studying Film at the Braunschweig University of Art meet five international filmmakers/producers who are distinguished by their different cultural backgrounds and individual methods of film work and are participants in the current international competition of the up-and-coming film festival.

The international filmmakers/producers contribute their professional and artistic experience, as well as their connections to the young film scene, to the training of talented filmmakers who live and study in Lower Saxony.

The international filmmakers come from Hong Kong, Lisbon, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Lillehammer.

In teams of two (German/international), the filmmakers exchange ideas in the form of a cinematic self-portrait and prepare the material for a future film project designed as an international co-production.

Topic: Google Street View, AroundMe, Qype, route finders, navigation devices, how do I get from A to B, finding your way around on site – with smartphones, GPS navigation...... obtaining detailed additional information about the environment via augmented reality – and always wanting to animate reality.

Task: Getting from one end of the city of Hannover to the other with a camera, but using only streets, squares, alleys, parts of town that begin with a pre-defined letter of the alphabet. The filmmakers themselves decide which letter of the alphabet they want to take – they can choose any letter they like. The topic is defined such that artistic and innovative cinematic processing takes place. Technical / formal requirements: the result must not be a music clip; voice-over commentaries added in post-production are not allowed.

During the course of the workshop, the participants create film outlines (treatment/film script) and five-minute films; the genre can be anything from short feature and animation to experimental and documentary film.

The international filmmakers

Ikuko Shirakuma *1982, Tokyo

Graduated from the Asagaya College of Art and Design. Filmed 8-millimeter movies. Restarted filming again when she moved to where she lives now.

Mariana Castro *1986, Lisbon

Photographer and filmmaker. Graduated in Cinema (ESTC, Lisbon), Master in Philosophy, Aesthetics (Universidade Nova de Lisboa).

Yoav Hornung *1983, Tel Aviv

Studying Filmmaking at the Department of Film & Television at Tel Aviv University. Currently working on his thesis film – a short film which will take place in the Israeli desert.

Jon Vatne *1984, Lillehammer

Documentary filmmaker with experience from TV news broadcasting. Worked as a video journalist, cameraman and editor for local and national TV.

Zune Kwok *1985, Hong Kong

Graduated from the Film & Television School at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2009. His film “A Day in a Life” was awarded with the International Young Film Makers Award at the 2009 u-a-c.

Students of the Braunschweig University of Art

Julia Loste *1985

Studied Free Art at L’ENSA (École Nationale Supérieure d’Art), Dijon France; since 2010 Erasmus Year at the Braunschweig University of Art.

Martina Gromadzki *1990

Studying Free Art at the Braunschweig University of Art, majoring in Video.

Rizki Resa Utama *1982

Works mostly with video, film, photography, installations and performances. His main artistic focus is on the issues of social life in addition to integration, assimilation and daily life’s issues.

Tobias Dostal *1982

Has been studying Free Art at the Braunschweig University of Art since 2004. Specialized course in installations.

Vivian Oliveira *1983

Has been studying at the Braunschweig University of Art since 2009 and is presently focusing on film.