The first 12 projects have been selected for the fifth edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2016/17, submitted by teams composed of directors and producers who will take part in the first 10-day workshop to be held in Venice from October 5th to 14th 2016. The international Call was launched on May 6th 2016.

Biennale College is an innovative and complex experience that engages every sector of the Biennale di Venezia.

Biennale College – Cinema is the project that promotes new talents in cinema by offering them the opportunity to work closely with master filmmakers in the production of micro-budget films. 3 of these 12 projects will receive support in the amount of 150,000 Euro to produce a maximum of 3 feature-length films (debut or second film), one of which must be Italian, to be presented at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in 2016.

The 12 projects were announced during the press conference held on 4 September on the Lido di Venezia (Palazzo del Casinò), at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival (31 August – 10 September 2016), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta.

The 12 projects selected for the first phase of Biennale College – Cinema are:

•  The Anthill –Hanna van Niekerk (director, The Netherlands) – Maarten Kuit (producer, The Netherlands)

•  Clementine – Lara Jean Gallagher (director, USA), Karina Ripper (producer, USA)

•  Film di Confine – Giorgio Ferrero (director, Italy), Federico Biasin (producer, Italy)

•  Inaccessible – Loran Bonnardot (director, France), Jean des Forêts (producer, France)

•  In the Making – Kristoffer Borgli (director, Norway), Riina Zachariassen (producer, Denmark)

•  Killer? – David White (director, New Zealand), James Ashcroft (producer, New Zealand)

•  Lala – Ludovica Fales (director, Italy), Igor Princic (producer, Italy)

•  Lightning Ride – Alena Lodkina (director, Australia), Kate Laurie (producer, Australia)

•  Martyr – Mazen Khaled (director, Lebanon), Diala Kachmar (producer, Lebanon)

•  Mirny Mining Town – Saverio Pesapane (director, Italy), Costanza Julia Bani (producer, Italy), Fabian Martin Diering (Germany)

•  Night/Vision – Eva Weber (director, Germany), Nicole Stott (producer, United Kingdom)

•  Voice of Silence – EuiJeong Hong (director, South Korea), Afolabi Kuti (producer, United Kingdom)

The 12 projects were selected by the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera, with the help of the Biennale College – Cinema team, and will be documented on the website http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/collegecinema/.

At the close of the first workshop, which will be held in Venice from October 5th to 14th 2016, 3 teams will be invited to participate in two successive workshops, to be held in Venice from December 2nd to 5th 2016 and January 9th to 13th 2017, after which production will begin on 3 feature-length films (debut or second films), one of which must be Italian, which must be low-cost, will be funded in the amount of 150,000 Euro, and will be presented at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in 2016.

Biennale College – Cinema, organized by the Biennale di Venezia, is supported by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction Cinema. Biennale College – Cinema relies on the academic collaboration of the IFP in New York and of the TorinoFilmLab, and continues its collaboration with the Busan International Film Festival. The Director is Alberto Barbera, the Head of Programme Savina Neirotti.

• Biennale College – Hybrid

Also, the Biennale di Venezia will further integrate the activities of the Biennale College and the Venice Production Bridge with the launch of the new BIENNALE COLLEGE – HYBRID, a program developed to explore today’s most innovative technology: Virtual Reality. This supports the aim of the Biennale to investigate various facets of the audiovisual creative industries, proposing works of virtual reality and TV series, and presenting projects in the development stage in search of financing.

The Biennale College Hybrid explores the esthetics and the narrative opportunities offered by Virtual Reality, providing filmmakers and creatives all over the world with the proper knowledge for making the most of Virtual Reality. Biennale College – Hybrid, in partnership with Nederlands Filmfonds, will prepare nine teams of directors and producers who will work with Virtual Reality projects in their initial phase, helping them to advance under every aspect: creative, production, audience and the market, and financial.

All projects will be presented as a part of the industry office of the Venice Production Bridge, which this year includes feature films, documentaries, virtual reality projects, TV and web series.

The 2017 edition of the Biennale College – Cinema  project, which will include Virtual Reality, will receive essential financing from the European Commission – Connect Directorate General’s Media – Creative Europe Programme.  The educational activities of the 2017-2018 edition will thus be funded by a MEDIA grant. This grant is in addition to the funding which the MEDIA Programme has given to the development of the Market and Venice Production Bridge.

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– The first edition of the 2012/13 Biennale College – Cinema closed at the 70th Venice Film Festival in 2013 with the screening of the three films: Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director, Thailand) and Aditya Assarat (producer, Thailand); Memphis – Tim Sutton (director, USA) and John Baker (producer, USA); Yuri Esposito – Alessio Fava (director, Italy) and Max Chicco (producer, Italy).

– The second edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2013/14 closed at the 71st Venice Film Festival in 2014 with the screening of the three films: Blood Cells by Joseph Bull (director, Great Britain), Luke Seomore (director, Great Britain), Samm Haillay (producer, Great Britain), Ben Young (producer, Great Britain); H. by Rania Attieh (director, Lebanon), Daniel Garcia (director, USA), Shruti Rya Ganguly (producer, India), Pierce Varous (producer, USA); Short Skin by Duccio Chiarini (director, Italy), Babak Jalali (producer, Iran/Great Britain).

– The third edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2014/15 closed at the 72nd Venice Film Festival in 2015 with the screening of the three films: Baby Bump by Kuba Czekaj (director, Poland), Madgadalena Kaminska (producer, Poland); Blanka by Kohki Hasei (director, Japan), Flaminio Zandra (producer, Italy); The Fits by Anna Rose Holmer (director, USA), Lisa Kjerulff (producer, USA).

– The fourth edition of Biennale College – Cinema 2015/16 closed at the 73rd Venice Film Festival in 2016 with the screening of the four films: Mukti Bhawan – Hotel Salvation by Shubhashish Bhutiani (director, India) e Sanjay Bhutiani (producer, India); Orecchie – Ears by Alessandro Aronadio (director, Italy) and Costanza Coldagelli (producer, Italy); La Soledad by Jorge Thielen Armand (director, Venezuela), Adriana Herrera (producer, Venezuela), Rodrigo Michelangeli (producer, Venezuela) and Manon Ardisson (producer, Venezuela); Una Hermana – One Sister di Verena Kuri (director and producer, Argentina) and Sofía Brockenshire (director and producer, Argentina).

(Source:www.labiennale.org)