The event consists of a closed screening of short films by directors from the Baltics and Portugal, after which an international panel of experts will provide feedback, recommendations for finishing the films, and suggestions on festival strategy. The basic principle of the event is to gather representatives of notable film festivals, distributors, sales agents and talent scouts in one place. The screenings should serve as a springboard for getting the selected films into the festival circuit. The participants benefit from editing consultation, on-site pitching training prior to their presentations, and individual meetings with the decision makers during the event.
One Test Screenings project will be awarded a prize of post-production services worth 5 000 euro, thanks to our partners BBPosthouse. BBPostHouse is a post-production house based in Riga, Latvia. BBPostHouse provides film and digital video media services that include online editing, color grading, digital cinema encoding, sound design, VFX, mastering, film scanning and data archiving. They work with all elements of post-production in commercials, shorts, feature films, documentaries, tv-series or music videos and all media including cinema, television, radio and internet are provided. Their team is made up of experienced professionals and talents who value high quality, effective service and excellent results.
The 12 test screenings films are split into two screenings held over two days. Before each film, the filmmakers will explain what stage their film is currently at, and what the main issues and questions that they wish to clarify are. Then together with the experts and participants we have the screening. The experts will comment and take questions after each pitch. Further communication on the projects takes place at the one-to-one meetings. The event is moderated by SHORT RIGA Test Screenings curator Lenka Tyrpáková.
For additional information please contact programme representative Lauma Kaudzīte (lauma@rigaiff.lv).
11:00 - 14:00
10:00 - 13:00 Florian Fernandez coordinates the various industry initiatives elaborated as part of the Short Film Corner | Rendez-vous Industry, a four-day forum dedicated to short films and their creators organised by the Cannes Film Festival. Fernandez is also part of Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma and SXSW Doc Shorts pre-selection committees, and formerly was involved in Encounters Film Festival. He yearly collaborates as part of the European Short Pitch reading committee and The Short Film Lab training program. He also takes care of a handful of shorts per year on the distribution and sales side through Protest Studios.
Anna Grabo works in Sales and Acquisition for the Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg. In addition, she is a freelance filmmaker, art educator and curator. She has been a member of the collective cinema B-Movie in Hamburg for 10 years and is responsible for film programs and projection. She is currently focussed on analogue techniques and the representation of utopian and dystopian parameters in the moving image and archival film practices. Most recently, she co-curated an exhibition on Hamburg’s cinema, film history and a program exploring the Anthropocene in cinema. Anna Grabo grew up in New York and Chemnitz and studied image and film in Jena, as well as art theory and film at Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. She has been living in Hamburg since 2013.
Andris Grants is an accomplished Latvian film editor known for his work on numerous local and international titles. His extensive experience spans both experimental and commercial cinema and his work has earned him multiple nominations and awards, including Latvian as well as Estonian National Awards for Best Film Editing. His most notable works are Firstborn (2017), Jelgava ’94 (2019), Sisters (2022) and The Sleeping Beast (2022).
Laurence Rilly has been a short film programme manager at ARTE in Strasbourg since 2016. She coordinates the weekly short film magazine programme Short Circuit, one of the channel’s last French German magazines. Laurence also works with two short film series, Ludwigsburg Paris Workshop and a series with DFFB, the Berlin film school. Before joining the fiction film series department at ARTE, Laurence worked in the culture department for the ARTE creative platform with its founder Alain Bieber. This platform was dedicated to new cultural and artistic practices. In 2001, Laurence launched the programme Cultures électroniques on arte.TV, an online show dedicated to new technologies and images, covering net art, bio art, music and performance.
Carla Vulpiani lives in Italy and Ireland. Since 2021 she serves as a Short Film Advisor for Venice International Film Festival’s, Orizzonti Short Film Competition. She is also co-founder of Varicoloured Holistic Film Agency, a distribution agency dedicated to short films and works as a producer for the Dublin-based animation studio and maps and plans. Additionally, Vulpiani is a consultant for different international market and film industry events.
The curators of SHORT RIGA Test Screenings select 10 to 14 promising short films that are split into two screenings held over two days. The films are evaluated by a commission of five experts that changes yearly so as to guarantee in-depth evaluations from different perspectives. The panel will have familiarised themselves with the projects in advance, but final feedback and evaluations will follow only after seeing the films on the big screen.
The participants also benefit from an on-site pitching training prior to their presentations.
Before each film, the filmmakers will explain what stage their film is currently at and what the main issues and questions that they wish to clarify are. The experts will make comments and take questions after each film. Further communication on the projects takes place at one to one meetings.
For additional information, please contact Short Film Programme Manager Lauma Kaudzīte – lauma@rigaiff.lv.
One Test Screenings project will be awarded a prize of post-production services worth 5 000 euro, thanks to our partners BBPosthouse.
BBPostHouse is a post-production house based in Riga, Latvia. BBPostHouse provides film and digital video media services that include online editing, color grading, digital cinema encoding, sound design, VFX, mastering, film scanning and data archiving.
They work with all elements of post-production in commercials, shorts, feature films, documentaries, tv-series or music videos and all media including cinema, television, radio and internet are provided.
Their team is made up of experienced professionals and talents who value high quality, effective service and excellent results.
– The programme is open to directors either residing, or born in the Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – and each year’s guest country.
– The guest country for 2024 is Portugal.
– There are no genre or technique restrictions or requirements for the submitted films.
– Runtime: rough cuts – up to 40 min., finished films – up to 30 min.
– Submitted films must have English subtitles added.
– There is no submission, or participation fee.
– In case a film is selected, filmmakers must confirm their availability for the whole event on site in Riga.
The deadline for applications is 12 August 2024, 23:59 (local time in Latvia, GMT+2).
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