Running for the 13th time, New Horizons Studio+, the training programme for directors and producers developing their first or second feature films, will take place from 21-24 July, during the 22nd New Horizons International Film Festival in Wrocław. The programme is organised by the New Horizons Association and Creative Europe Desk Poland.

During its four days of workshops, New Horizons Studio+ will feature a series of lectures and consultations on various aspects related to the development of projects and their promotion. This year, eight director-producer duos have been selected with their projects, half of whom hail from Poland, while the rest come from Georgia, Romania, Spain and Ukraine. The participating pairs will pitch their projects in a contest held on the last day of New Horizons Studio+.

Regarding the consultants and speakers who are participating this year, they include Álvaro Vega, of EAVE and CEO of DobleSentido, who will deal with the projects’ dossiers; Agathe Valentin, of EAVE and co-founder of Totem Films, who will explain what it is like to work with international sales agents; script consultant and screenwriter David Pope (London Film Academy), who will offer his tips on how to pitch a story; and Eleni Oulani (Heretic), who will focus on social media and online strategies.

On the final day of New Horizons Studio+, an open hybrid lecture will be organised by the New Horizons Association in partnership with Creative Europe Desk Poland, on the topic “Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Film Industry”, which aims to explore the aftermath of COVID-19 in the industry. The speaker at the lecture will be Janka Neustupová, expert at SEFEX (Safety Film Experts), the sister company of the non-profit European Institute for Health and Safety in the Film Industry (EIHSFI), based in the Czech Republic. Safety Film Experts was founded in early 2020 to provide health-and-safety-focused production support and COVID-19 safety supervision as a direct result of the pandemic. The lecture will be held on Sunday 24 July from 13:45-14:45 CET at the Lower Silesia Film Center – DCF cinema and will also be available online: the public can register here.

Here are the selected projects for the 13^th New Horizons Studio+:

Dawn Chorus - Mykola Zaseev (Ukraine)
Producer: Natalia Libet

The Great Adventure - Cecilia Stefanescu (Romania)
Producer: Marius Balanescu

Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes - Gabriel Azorín (Spain)
Producer: Carlos Pardo

The Last Warm Summer - Daria Woszek (Poland)
Producer: Michał Jarosik

Milk & Honey - Tornike Gogrichiani (Georgia)
Producer: Tekla Machavariani

Rebel Girls - Katarzyna Trzaska (Poland)
Producer: Maciek Hamela

Sara's Bungalow - Julia Rogowska (Poland)
Producer: Krystyna Kantor

The Sparring - Piotr Dylewski (Poland)
Producer: Monika Matuszewska

The partners of New Horizons Studio+ are EAVE, the organiser of the EAVE Producers Workshop and the EAVE Marketing Workshop; the London Film Academy; Ale kino+; and the Romanian Institute of Culture. Also, for the second year in a row, the Pop Up Residency Visegrad is one of the partners of the programme and will hand out one of the awards.