24/02/2003 - An excellent result for the first-ever Talent Campus in Berlin. Nearly 500 directors, 68 events and 1000 visitors in 5 days

The first-ever Talent Campus at the Berlinale was a huge success. Organised by the Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, dal Film Council, MEDIA Promotion e House of World Cultures, the five-day event unfolded between 10 and 14 February with 476 filmmakers from 62 countries taking part in 62 events and workshops covering all aspects of the filmmaking process, from writing and creative financing, to editing and marketing. The list of experts taking part is a long one, it included Lia van Leer, Wim Wenders and Ken Adam. Directors like Stephen Frears, Anthony Minghella, Tom Tykwer, Atom Egoyan and Spike Lee either held a seminar, spoke at a conference or even just had lunch with the participants. Film industry professionals like Nik Powell, Cédomir Kolar and Rainer Kölmel described various aspects of their careers, including their flops. The presence of people like Lynn Hershman, Mike Figgis, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Jacques Delmoly, David Eggby, Mechthild Holter, Jakob Claussen, Karl Baumgartner, Ioan Allen and many, many others contributed hugely to make this first Talent Campus such an exceptional event.
More than 1000 visitors joined the participants at those afternoon events that were open to the general public. The Talent Movie of the Week project allowed 20 of those accredited to the Talent Campus to make four digital short films that were subsequently screened at the closing ceremony. The winning film was Dangle by Phil Traill.
Three of the Campus students are in competition for the Berlin Today Award. With the support of a production company and Berlin-Brandenburg film commission and helped by directors like Andreas Dresen, Esther Gronenborn and Volker Schlöndorff, they will make a number of short films for screening at next year’s Talent Campus.
"This Campus exceeded out wildest expectations," said Christine Dorn, the event’s project manager. "With results like these it will be much easier to organise and finance the 2004 edition. "