La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta announced a new Biennale Prize in the amount of € 5,000 to the best film in the post-production phase from the Final Cut in Venice workshop.

The 5th edition of the Final Cut in Venice workshop will take place from 3 to 5 September 2017 as part of the Venice Production Bridge, during the 74th Venice International Film Festival directed by Alberto Barbera (Lido di Venezia, 30 August – 9 September).

The new Biennale Prize will be awarded by a Jury of three members appointed by the Director of the Venice Film Festival.

With this new acknowledgment, La Biennale wishes to reinforce the concrete assistance it provides for the completion of films from Africa and from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, which is the goal of the Final Cut in Venice workshop, held since 2013 at the Venice Film Festival. Final Cut in Venice offers producers and directors an opportunity to present films in progress to international film professionals and distributors with the aim of facilitating post-production and promoting co-production partnerships and access to the market.

To participate in the 5th edition of Final Cut in Venice, applicants must fill out the online pre-selection entry form on the website http://www.labiennale.org, and submit a copy of the film to the email address finalcut@labiennale.org on or before June 17th 2017.

The 5th Final Cut in Venice workshop will consist of a three-day work session (3 – 5 September 2017) during which the working copies of up to six selected films will be presented to producers, buyers, distributors and film festival programmers. There will be opportunities for networking, encounters and gatherings in which the directors and producers can meet with the participants in the workshop.

In addition to the new Biennale Prize, the following other prizes will be awarded, to provide financial support for the films during their post-production phase:

·  € 15,000 euro for color correction for a feature-length film offered by Laser Film (Rome) for up to 50 hours of work (technician included);

·  € 15,000 offered by Mactari Mixing Auditorium (Paris) for the sound mixing of a feature-length film (up to 12 days of work, sound-mixing technician not included);

·  Up to € 10,000 for digital color correction, for the creation of a DCP master and French or English subtitles, offered by Titra TVS (Paris);

·  Up to € 7,000 euro for the production of a DCP master with subtitles in Italian or English, offered by Sub-Ti Ltd. (London).

·  Up to € 7,000 for the accessible contents of the film for audiences with sensory disabilities: subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired and audio description for the blind and visually impaired, including audio subtitles in voice-over, in Italian or English (the SDH file and the audio-described soundtrack for DCP will be provided), offered by SUB-TI ACCESS Srl (Turin)

·  € 5,000 for the purchase of two-year broadcasting rights by Rai Cinema;

·  A 35mm print (without subtitles) or share in the production costs of a DCP (€ 2,000), offered by the Festival International du Film d’Amiens;

·  A 35mm print (without subtitles) or share in the production costs of a DCP (€ 2,000), offered by the Festival International de Films de Fribourg;

·  marketing, publicity and distribution in the Arab world offered by MAD Solutions for an Arab project (except for projects already being handled by MAD Solutions)

While the Biennale Prize will be awarded by a jury composed of three members appointed by the Director of the Venice Film Festival, the other prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the Director of the Venice Film Festival, assisted by the partners in the project, and the executives of the institutions and service companies underwriting the prizes.

 

At the Berlin Film Festival 2017, important awards and recognition were received by films that participated in the Final Cut workshops organized by the Biennale at the 2016 Venice Film Festival.

In particular:

·  Félicité by Alain Gomis (France, Senegal) won the Grand Jury Prize – Silver Bear

·  Istiyad Ashbah (Ghost Hunting) by Raed Andoni (France, Palestine, Switzerland, Qatar) won the new Prize for Best Original Documentary.

In addition to the two award-winning films, two other titles selected for Berlin 2017 came from the workshops of Final Cut in Venice:

·  The Wound by John Trengove (South Africa) in Panorama

·  Tigmi Nigren (The House in the Fields) by Tala Hadid (Morocco, Qatar) at Forum

 

Final Cut in Venice, along with the Gap-Financing Market, is one of the programs offered by the Venice Production Bridge, the film market of the Venice International Film Festival that is intended as an opportunity for meeting and networking for all categories of professionals involved in making films: producers, financiers, distributors, sales, public and private investment funds, banks, film commissions, broadcasters and Internet platforms.