FOCUS FORWARD – SHORT FILMS, BIG IDEAS ANNOUNCES NEW FILMMAKERS AT THE 2012 BERLINALE TALENT CAMPUS
3-Minute Documentary Initiative Hosts International
Premiere of First Five Films from the Series
And Invites Submissions for $200,000 Filmmaker Challenge
Berlin / New York, N.Y. (February 13, 2012) —CINELAN announced that the latest filmmakers to join the FOCUS FORWARD - Short Films, Big Ideas initiative, which will make its international premiere at the 2012 Berlinale Talent Campus, are Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker (Gunner Palace), Michael Glawogger (Workingman’s Death), and Supriyo Sen (Wagah), an alumnus of the Campus. The first five films in the series will screen today at 2pm at a special public event and panel session at HAU1 in Berlin. Several FOCUS FORWARD filmmakers, including Jessica Yu, Phil Cox, Fredrik Gertten, and David W. Leitner, joined CINELAN’s Karol Martesko-Fenster and Damon Smith in a discussion moderated by former Hot Docs festival director Sean Farnel. The films are also available for viewing online at http://www.focusforwardfilms.com.
CINELAN is a supporter of this year’s Berlinale Talent Campus and has brought along award-winning filmmakers to inspire emerging talents and encourage submissions to the $200,000 FOCUS FORWARD Filmmaker Challenge, first announced at the Sundance Film Festival in January. GE and CINELAN plan to award cash prizes to the top five entries in the professionally juried Challenge (http://www.focusforwardfilms.com/challenge), with $100,000 going to the Grand Jury Award Winner. Submissions for the Challenge open in April.
“We are thrilled to be supporting the Berlinale Talent Campus on the occasion of its 10th anniversary,” said CINELAN co-founder Karol Martesko-Fenster, “and to put some of the world’s best practitioners of documentary in conversation with the new generation of filmmakers. By inviting them to submit their own short films to our series on innovative thinkers and pioneering ideas that have bettered humanity, we hope to discover some fresh, brilliant young voices and hear stories of next-level inventions from around the world that might otherwise be overlooked.”
The schedule of FOCUS FORWARD events in Berlin is as follows:
MONDAY, February 13, 2012 | HAU1 Stresemannstr. 29 | 14:00-15:30
FOCUS FORWARD - Short Films, Big Ideas
Panel with Jessica Yu, Phil Cox, Fredrik Gertten, David W. Leitner, Damon Smith,
Karol Martesko-Fenster and Moderated by Sean Farnel
TUESDAY, February 14, 2012 | HAU2 Hallesches Ufer 32 | 9:30-11:00
Rise and Shine breakfast & short presentation
TUESDAY, February 14, 2012 | Fox Bar at HAU1 Stresemannstr. 29 | 12:50-13:40
Meet the Expert session with CINELAN’s Karol Martesko-Fenster and Damon Smith
THURSDAY, February 16, 2012 | HAU2, Hallesches Ufer 32 | 21:00-late
Talent Campus Closing Night Party, hosted by FOCUS FORWARD
After Berlin, additional FOCUS FORWARD films will premiere as curated collections at the Tribeca Film Festival and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), both strategic partners of the program, and at major festivals in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East throughout 2012.
A partnership between GE and CINELAN, FOCUS FORWARD - Short Films, Big Ideas is a series of 30 three-minute nonfiction films by leading documentary filmmakers about the incredible human power of ideas and invention that will screen at prestigious film festivals globally, followed by day-and-date distribution online to millions of viewers.
The full list of award-winning professional filmmakers who are contributing to the series include Jessica Yu, Phil Cox, Jeremiah Zagar, David W. Leitner, Jessica Edwards & Gary Hustwit, Katy Chevigny, Nelson George, Eddie Schmidt, Kief Davidson, Lixin Fan, Michele Ohayon, Steven Cantor, Jeff Reichert, Fredrik Gertten, Senain Kheshgi, Annie Sundberg & Ricki Stern, Lucy Walker, Liz Garbus, Ross Kauffman, Barbara Kopple, Leslie Iwerks, Steve James, Alex Gibney, Joe Berlinger, Morgan Spurlock, Stanley Nelson, Victor Kossakovsky, Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker, Michael Glawogger, and Supriyo Sen.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with so many distinguished filmmakers on this project,” said Damon Smith, CINELAN’s Director of Content Strategy & Acquisitions. “I am consistently impressed by the level of commitment each of our contributors has shown in proposing and then meticulously honing their story ideas to fully engage with the FOCUS FORWARD concept. Seeing what experienced documentary filmmakers can accomplish dramatically and emotionally within a three-minute time frame is truly remarkable and a testament to the potential of short-format storytelling.”
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About FOCUS FORWARD: Short Films, Big Ideas
GE and CINELAN, the leading publisher of three-minute non-fiction films, have partnered to create a new series of short nonfiction films focused on the incredible human power of ideas and invention. The effort, led by CINELAN co-founders Morgan Spurlock and Karol Martesko-Fenster, and head of special projects Douglas Dicconson, is working with Oscar- and award-winning documentary filmmakers, to produce 30 three-minute films that will be featured at prestigious film festivals globally, followed by day-and-date distribution online to millions of viewers. These films will be telling the stories of visionaries such as scientists, engineers, economists, mathematicians, physicists, financiers, and in some cases everyday folks who have facilitated human progress or reshaped our world by their efforts and inventions. Without production oversight of the films, GE aims to have the program provide authentic, enjoyable content, aligned with its own mission to viewers globally. For more information, visit www.focusforwardfilms.com.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ge.com
About CINELAN
CINELAN, led by CEO and co-founder David Laks, is a filmmaker-driven video publisher dedicated to delivering new audiences and opportunities to documentary filmmakers. CINELAN’s contributors include co-founder Morgan Spurlock and award-winning directors including Steve James, Ross Kauffman, Floyd Webb, and Marilyn Agrelo. For more information, visit www.cinelan.com.
About Berlinale Talent Campus
The Berlinale Talent Campus #10 is a creative academy and networking platform for 350 up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world taking place alongside the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival (February 9-19, 2012). The Campus lasts for six days and offers a huge variety of master classes, seminars, workshops and one-on-one meetings with actors, directors, cinematographers, distributors, editors, film critics, producers, production designers, screenwriters, sound designers and composers. At several hands-on training programs at the Campus, filmmakers are selected to further develop or present their film projects, improve their writing skills, acting techniques or knowledge on digital workflows, record and mix film music or strengthen the narratives of their rough cuts. For more information: www.berlinale-talentcampus.de
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