Summary of ViSTa Lab workshops
The Visual Story Talent Lab took place from February 24 – March 1, 2020 in Sokołowsko. Young people from five countries: Ukraine, Poland, France, Italy and Malta, spent an intensive week in the artistically inspiring and culturally unique region of Lower Silesia.
The main goal of ViSTa Lab Academy was the international exchange of experiences between young adepts of film art, in particular scriptwriters and directors. The exchange of experiences between peers is the essence of an organized event.
Participants had the opportunity to consult their ideas with experienced filmmakers, among whom were the internationally awarded: Alexandru Baciu (screenwriter), Rafael Lewandowski (director and screenwriter) and film critic, screenwriter consultant and coordinator of ViSTa Lab Michał Oleszczyk.
As Michał Oleszczyk says: “The idea for ViSTa Lab was born from my contacts from the Krzysztof Kieślowski Archive in Sokołowsko. The archive and the spirit of Kieślowski in the place where he grew up and watched the first films are unique. This year’s workshop proved that Sokołowsko is a great place to creative exchange between young people with a passion for cinema from different parts of the world.”
The workshop program was focused around Kieslowski’s work. Young filmmakers had the opportunity to get to know his artistic achievements, his perspective and understand what kind of problems he was interested in his movies. There is a reason for a screening in the iconic ‘Zdrowie’ cinema, or a visit to the Krzysztof Kieślowski Archive of Creative Arts, which is still being expanded by the ‘In Situ’ Foundation.
Participants of the event emphasized many times that Sokołowsko is an original and inspiring place – spending a week in one of the valleys in the Sudeten mountains proved to be a rich and worth repeating experience.
The result of the work of ViSTa Lab participants are 42 script projects for documentary and feature short and full-length movies. During the official pitching summarizing the implementation of the workshop participants presented their stories to a group of experts from the film industry. The project evaluation committee is: Alexandru Baciu (screenwriter – Romania), Joyce Grech (expert of Malta Film Foundation – Malta), Diana Dąbrowska (film journalist – Poland), Rafael Lewandowski (director and screenwriter – Poland / France), Laura Abbaleo ( specialist of promotional film campaigns – Italy), Marek Pawlikowski (film producer – France) and Karim Kourani (director and screenwriter – France). The work of the commission was chaired by Michał Oleszczyk.
Below you can find a presentation showing script projects of all people participating in pitchings.
The project was organized by the FILMFORUM Association (Poland), and co-organized by: KINOGRAPHE (France), Associazione Cinematografica e Culturale LABORATORIO DEI SOGNI (Italy), CINEMAHALL (Ukraine) and the Malta Film Foundation (Malta). The main partner of the project was the IN SITU Contemporary Art Foundation (Poland). The “Visual Story Talent Lab – ViSTa Lab” was financed by the European Union Program ERASMUS +.
Realizację „Visual Story Talent Lab – ViSTa Lab” sfinansowano ze środków Programu Unii Europejskiej ERASMUS+.