23/09/2022 - Up-and-coming filmmakers are welcome to apply to become one of the 16 writers and directors selected to develop and produce their next feature

Less Is More (LIM) has opened the call for its 2023 edition. Sixteen writers and directors will thus have a chance to participate in next year’s programme, which will allow them to develop and produce their next feature film. The European training programme is focused on the development of first to third features, is powered by Creative Europe — MEDIA and is organised thanks to an alliance of ten European countries.

At the heart of its new label created in 2021 (see the news) lies the fundamental idea that using the concept of limitation is not only a matter of budget, but even becomes a necessity, both to enhance creativity and to rethink how independent cinema is conceived at a time of deep environmental and political concern. LIM is intended as a platform to help talented new filmmakers sculpt the films that are needed by today’s humans, and the platform maintains its emphasis on the necessity to work collectively on generating meaning amidst the void created by the modern-day religion of quantity and consumption. The aim of the LIM team is to continue to open up new types of collaborations between writers, filmmakers and producers in order to help independent cinema broaden the horizons of humanism.

The LIM programme includes three one-week workshops to be held between March and October 2023, as well as a tailor-made event, LIM MEET, to allow the participants to benefit from the input of industry professionals from all over Europe.

The call is now open, with the deadline set for noon on 10 October, and LIM welcomes applications from writers and directors from (and/or living in) the European Union, Eurimages countries and non-EU countries participating in the Creative Europe programme, as well as the United Kingdom, applying with a fiction project at an early stage of development. LIM is also open to candidates coming from the backgrounds of theatre, documentary and visual arts. All of the necessary information can be found here.

Massimiliano Nardulli, LIM head of talents, gives his input: “I really believe that nowadays, the role of cinema, and the role of screenwriters and writers/directors, is a mix of fighting and poetry. On one hand, it's a social, political and ethical fight. But on the other hand, there is a need for a lot of poetry, a need for a new way to communicate with people. And we need to get back this depth, this substance and this feeling of beauty that cinema can bring. That is what we are trying to do here with LIM: rebuilding poetry, without forgetting to fight.”

LIM is supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme. It is led by Le Groupe Ouest (France), and developed with Control N (Romania), the Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds – VAF (Belgium) and the Krakow Festival Office – KBF (Poland), in partnership with the Lithuanian Film Centre, the Norwegian Film Institute and the Brittany region (France), as well as Screen Scotland (UK) and Focal (Switzerland).