BERLINALE TALENTS 2015

Florian, you took the helm as Berlinale Talents programme director in July of 2014. How did you make yourself at home and acquaint yourself with the work? Should the talents and your audiences expect any modifications in content?

FW: First and foremost, my mission is to get to know this wonderful and highly manifold enterprise in exact detail. Part of the nature of Berlinale Talents is its liability to constant change, and accommodating for that effectively comes with the new role I'm in. Some changes were already planned before I came on board, such as the conversion of the post-production studio to a camera studio. In general, our goal remains that of finding strong connections to the rest of the festival and deepening partnerships with individual sections. I'm already very familiar with curatorial work within the Berlinale through my previous position as assistant director of Generation. One of my new tasks is to use that experience to ensure that the opportunities offered by Berlinale Talents to its participants serve the festival as well.

What concrete cooperations are planned with other festival sections and areas?

CT: Highlighting our selected Talents within the bustle of the festival has always been one of our priorities. Since 2013 we've been cooperating with Canon to create large-format portraits of all 300 participants, and with last year's introduction of "Berlinale Talents Market Hub" at the EFM, we clarified the relevance of our programme for the film trade and consciously directed the attention of market visitors to our Talents. This year, our booth will once again be a reception and meeting point for trade representatives interested in getting to know today's young generation of creatives. Starting in 2015 we'll also be inviting our Sales & Distribution Studio alumni to a Happy Hour at the EFM with the goal of creating networking opportunities between partners from the film industry and this year's Talents. More of the same kind of industry meetings are being introduced at the HAU: The DTI (Department: Trade and Industry) from South Africa, for example, will attend the EFM with 20 representatives; in their Happy Hour at HAU, they are specifically interested in meeting Talents from countries with existing co-production contracts. And in the Project Labs, selected Talents will once again have the opportunity to present their content to the public - including specific producers and trade representatives that we invite with the support of the sections or the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

"2015: A Space Discovery"

Last year you put the focus on storytelling. This year's motto "2015: A Space Discovery" is dedicated to film as a multidimensional spatial artwork. Will the focus this year be primarily on the artistic subsections, and will technical developments come into play?

FW: To begin with, the theme itself is an open space in which all kinds of things can be placed; that naturally includes technical cinematic developments. But we're also going to be sounding out what else happens within that space, what movements take place, as well as the development of the story and how characters unfold unusual spaces in plot and narrative. Honestly, what makes this year's focus so fertile is its literal breadth. The words are easy to interchange. “Space” can become “land,” “movement” can become “migration” - and a political connotation that fits within the context of film creation can be generated.
We want to try to encourage dialogue between the subsections that might never cross paths on the set but can nonetheless benefit from an exchange. The creation of a film like Gravity, for instance, involves not just the director's thoughts, but the thoughts of an entire village of creative people on the question of space and the movement of the actors. In one of our panels we'll be talking to experts who worked with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock on the pretence of zero gravity - a choreographer and puppeteers from the UK.

CT: We'll also be talking about the future role of cinematographers in the newly created Camera Studio. Five years from now, will there even be a need for a person directly behind the camera, or will it all be controlled beforehand or afterwards with a computer? And what conditions need to be established for digital workflows in the future?

What's in store at the Acting Studio?

Creativity is seldom something that can be called upon at will. What conditions for an informal, productive and artistic atmosphere do you create?

FW: What's special about numerous events at Berlinale Talents is that they are very specific. We're not focused on disseminating general knowledge or touching lightly on a subject and moving on to the next. No matter whether you're in a workshop with ten participants or at an event with 500 visitors at HAU1 - we try to locate concrete challenges beforehand, or initiate them in conversation. And the Talents themselves - they come to Berlin with very specific interests. Sometimes, formulating the right questions again, together, is enough. Then the Talents find the answers on their own.

CT: Amidst all the hustle and bustle, Berlinale Talents still gives its participants a creative break from their own work. We try to stimulate them further in that and to encourage them along their own special path.