Interview - Part Two

CONTINUED FROM > Part One

G-HC: Initially when you started in 2003 what was the idea? Was the idea that something must be done to help youngsters, as filmmaking is an expensive process? What was the idea of creating a talent campus as it did not exist in other festivals? What was the real idea when Berlinale Talent Campus was launched in 2003?

Struck: The concept for a Berlinale Talent Campus started with a change of heads at the Berlinale Film Festival. It all started when Dieter Kosslick was nominated as the head of the Berlinale. I’ve known Dieter Kosslick for a long time. We worked together in Hamburg 20 years ago. When Dieter Kosslick reshaped the Berlinale, he knew that it is not enough these days just to show films and just to show supposed blockbusters. He felt that in order to make a festival interesting it is important to discover talent. This should be one of the main aims of a film festival. Secondly, a festival should provide some kind of a background where people can start to communicate. So therefore Talent Campus is an ideal tool because it is a tool where the industry can discover young talent, as industry people are curious to meet these unknown people. On the other hand it is also attractive for people—in a way not known to the industry—to come to an A-category festival. Otherwise they would not be there. So it is a special entrance for people to come to a highly professional world of filmmaking, meet highly professional experts, and get in touch with them without complications. Talent Campus is not a substitute for a film school. Talent Campus is just a platform to meet people, get ideas, share opinions. It is not an academic approach. We don’t care whether someone comes from a film school. It is only the sample work which is decisive for us. It is very much up to talents to get mileage out of such an opportunity. They really do use their time at the Berlinale Talent Campus. That’s for sure!

G-HC: Once a talent is revealed at Berlinale Talent Campus, what happens after that? Does Berlinale Talent Campus continue to maintain contact with former talents?

Struck: That is something really under construction. We consider this as a virtual talent campus. The communication continues among many talents as they all have their addresses. They can see their work samples on the web site. If I am interested in working in India for instance, I can find out who are the talents coming from India, I could contact them. This is same for someone from outside as all information is on the web site. We also offer transcripts and video excerpts of the lectures. So people can continue to get in touch with each other through the website. Outside of the website we are giving them the opportunity through a special competition for making a short film which carries a “Berlin today” award. People can apply and after Talent Campus they can come back to Berlin. We are under construction. With this any proposals are welcome as to how we can improve the communication and how can we make this program attractive throughout the year.

G-HC: What was the idea behind the Berlinale Talent Campus working and having a project at Osian Cinefan Asian Film Festival? For the last two years the Osian Cinefan Talent Campus in India has been in existence.

Struck: The main idea is to support initiatives aimed at promoting young and up-and-coming filmmakers. This is kind of a niche area, and we have decided to support it. It is in our interests to be present in India, as there are a lot of Asian filmmakers. We see that they have the opportunity to come to Berlin, just being here, showing the flag in a way. So the Berlinale Talent Campus is just making them aware of this opportunity.

G-HC: Currently Berlinale Talent Campus is active at four festivals. Are there any plans to extend this Talent Campus to other festivals in the world?

Struck: There is a plan to make it a worldwide network as strong as possible which would be beneficial to all sorts of filmmaking. On the other hand it is impossible to do this just by manpower and financing.

G-HC: The idea should come from both the parties. From the film festival also. They should approach you with this idea?

Struck: We have some kind of a policy. We are not interested in working specifically in European countries, let us say in western European countries. We are interested in those countries where the structure of creative filmmaking is not as strong as it could be—where the film industry lacks infrastructure, like in India, where there is a very commercial film industry but for art cinema the infrastructure is not so strong. This is a good reason for these kind of films to make a jump from here to Berlin. It could be very interesting in other regions and other countries to be present at Berlinale Talent Campus. For instance we are planning to start a Talent Campus for the entire Mediterranean area, from Northern Africa, Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, etc. That is another complicated area.

G-HC: How do people apply to the Berlinale Talent Campus?

Struck: One thing is that there is no rule besides shooting a one-minute film. There is also a theme competition. Last year we organized a theme competition on soccer called “Shoot Goals, Shoot Movies.” It was a special competition. People could make films up to five minutes on any kind of perspective related to football (soccer). The results were very interesting as well as creative. It gave us a perspective on a popular sport like football from a totally different background. You don’t see it on television or in films because it was done really on a grassroots level. What is surprising is the fact that entries from football-crazy countries like England, France, and Italy were not so creative. But from nations which have no name in football, like India, the films on football were amazingly creative, amazingly innovative. Thus you see that the new digital world of filmmaking is creating a different approach of film language. That was so encouraging that we decided to continue with the theme competition. Now for Talent Campus IV, which happens in February 2006, we are offering the opportunity to enter short films on the subject of “Hunger, Food and Taste.” So anything connected with the subject of food can be turned into a film. Anything, anybody can do a special focus, because the creative processes of preparing food and producing a film are pretty similar. The most important thing to note is that good cooks and good filmmakers have the same philosophy. They act locally but they think globally.

Lalit Rao interviewed Thomas Struck in New Delhi for the German-Hollywood Connection on July 17, 2005 during the Osian 7th Cinefan Asian Film Festival 2005 (New Delhi, 15-24 July 2005).

BACK > Part One

MORE > Interviews

Related Pages/Links

• Berlinale Talent Campus - Official site, application info, etc.
• Berlinale - Berlin Film Festival - Official Berlinale site
• Berlinale Talent Campus 4 - 2006 - from the Berlinale site
• Thomas Struck Filmproduktion (German and English)
• Thomas Struck - Bio - in German / auf Deutsch

• Film Festivals
• Connections (German-Hollywood)

Copyright © 2005 Hyde Flippo