The world's major film and television schools have long been organised as CILECT whereas the independent film and media workshops in Northern Europe have lacked an association to unite them.
Several of these film workshops in the region have sought closer collaboration and, consequently, have now founded Screen Talent Europe. The ambition is to have a united Nordic network organisation to help nurture and further develop the work of talented filmmakers in the region.
According to the founders, the organisation wants to share ideas, information and experiences, create cross-national co-productions and contribute to further internationalisation within the environments of talent development.
The heads of film workshops in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Faroe Islands, Ireland and Germany met on 28 and 29 November for a meeting in Aarhus where the new organisation was founded. Morten Hartz Kaplers from the film workshop in Aarhus and Prami Larsen from the corresponding workshop in Copenhagen organised the meeting.
Transnational talent development
The workshops and media centres represented all support talent development through access to equipment, seminars and workshops rather than financial support. Their work is reflected by a "learning by doing" ethos, collaborating closely with companies within the industry.
Screen Talent Europe, on an organisationel level, has an ambition of including and involving film and media workshops, union educations and other institutions working with semi-professional talent development for the film, television and gaming industries.
According to plan, the Screen Talent Europe members will meet annually with more and more representatives of institutions working with – and for – aspiring filmmakers. The new organisation is to be a strong platform for a professional and political network organisation that will also improve on and develop the Nordic film workshop model – as well as helping countries like Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Greenland create and develop film workshops according to similar educational and professional principles.
The participants at the meeting in Aarhus on 28 and 29 November:
Jákup Veyhe, Klippfisk, Faroe Islands
Arne Sommer, Filmwerkstatt Kiel, Germany
Alan Fitzpatrick, Filmbase Dublin, Ireland
Conor Murphy, Filmbase Dublin, Ireland
Anders Fristad Rudolph, Mediefabrikken Akershus, Norway
Thomas Bjerke, Filmværkstedet i Oppland, Norway
Anne-Marie Söhrman Fermelin, Filmbasen Stockholm, Sweden
Hanna Sohlberg, Film i Skåne, Sweden
Morten Hartz Kaplers, Aarhus Filmværksted, Denmark
Prami Larsen, Filmværkstedet, DFI, Denmark
Jane Roneklint, Odense Filmværksted, Denmark
Tim Guy Leborgne, Open Workshop at the Animation Workshop, Denmark