South African filmmaker James Carroll has been invited to attend the Berlinale Talent Campus which takes place during the Berlin International Film Festival (7 – 17 February) with the year’s special focus on “Screening Emotions- Cinema’s Finest Assert’.
The Talent Campus, which has been in existence since 2007, aims to bring young talent and experienced professionals together. To date, 2500 young filmmakers from all five continents stand alongside 500 experts. Recently an online “community’ space on the website (www.berlinale.de) was launched which will promote and support professionals networking and cooperation between former Campus participants.
“There are over 350 young filmmakers who attend the six day campus and the aim is to exchange ideas, reflects ideas, have panel discussion and work on their projects. “I entered the Talent Campus as I had heard about it from friends who had previously entered and they said it was a great experience. They met a lot of like-minded people and had the opportunity to learn from the best in the world,’ says Carroll.
“We will also be looking at the essentials of filmmaking including: story development, production models, new markets etc. Former experts who attended the campus are: Park Chan-Wook, Stephen Frears, Dennis Hopper, Anthony Minghella, Ridely Scott and many more.’
Carroll explains that he has several projects in development. “My main project is based on a short film, Pnky Pinky, I produced while at film school. Turning it into Pinky Pinky the feature has been a very long and arduous process. I am very happy with the script and am excited to speak to people at the market.
My other projects range from a very small and culturally specific horror set in the Karoo to an action packed safari thriller. I am partner in a great production company called The Film Factory and we are releasing our next feature in theatres on 18 April called Bakgat, a teen comedy.’
