Archives | 2004 | Scriptwriting Workshops

Caen, April 24th - May 3rd 2004

“Crossing Borders”, a meeting organised for the finalists of the script writing competition 2003, took place in Caen, France from the 24th April till the 3rd of May 2004. The aim of this meeting was to make the finalists of the contest meet and also communicate around the topics debated in their scripts.

Besides public readings of the scripts, debates and script workshops were carried out in order to take the whole advantage of this meeting. “Crossing Borders” was open to the local people as well and was organised in partnership with the Caen Short Film Festival 5 Jours Tout Court.

About 20 finalists of the contest coming from 10 different countries of Europe were invited to Caen where they could experience:
- scriptwriting workshops by professionals such as Savina Neirotti or Ewa Banaszkiewicz,
- visits to the historical places of Caen and its surroundings,
- the activities of the Festival (screenings of films, debates, etc.).
Together with several young people from the NISI MASA Network, the participants could learn from each other, have their scripts read by university actors and debate about the way they wrote and understood the theme ‘Borders’.

The meeting lasted for 10 days and was very successful when it came to creating personal and professional contacts between participants. Some participants decided to join NISI MASA in their own country.

Several short films were made following this workshop, like Carlos Val Naval's "The Igloo" (Spain) -picture above- or Kristine Vitola's "The Remote Control" (Latvia).

“Crossing Borders” was supported by the Youth Programme of the European Union, the Regional Council of Basse-Normandie, the General Council of Calvados and the CROUS of Caen University.