SOFA Goes Tbilisi: Up, Up, Up for the Third Year
The third edition of the Tbilisi SOFA workshop takes place in the beautiful Georgian capital from April 1 – 6 2019. The participants of the 2018/2019 edition: Eva Brazdžionytė (Lithuania), Agnieszka Kruk (Poland), Victoria Leshchenko (Ukraine), Marat Parkhomovsky (Israel), Róbert Vámos (Hungary) and Natia Nikoleishvili (Georgia) meet after the August 2018 Warsaw workshop for a concentrated follow-up. After Warsaw’s focus on project development, the Tbilisi workshop will concentrate on deepening the marketing aspects of their projects. For that, all participants will be supported by experienced professionals from the AV industry. This year they will include: Josef Reidinger (Managing Director of ARRI Media GmbH); Richard Naylor (Director of BOP Consulting); Karin Schockweiler (Deputy Director of Film Fund Luxembourg); Renaud Redien Collot (Senior Analyst at Institut Friedland); Juliane Schulze (Media Deals); Cornelius Ochman (Director of the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation) and Jowe Harfouche (Executive Director of the Network of Arab Alternative Screens NAAS). The programme will include two public events. The first one on April 4 at 5pm will be a conversation with Josef Reidinger. The second one on April 5 at noon will start with an introduction on the current state of the Georgian film industry led by Tamara Tatishvili (Georgian film agent), followed by a mission statement by SOFA Head of Studies, Nikolaj Nikitin and a final project presentation by the participants 2018/2019.
Find details on www.joinsofa.org.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Meanwhile, film/AV-related cultural managers are invited to apply for the 7th SOFA edition that will be held in Warsaw, Poland (August 18 – 23, 2019) and later continued in Tbilisi, Georgia (April 25 – 30, 2020). Selected SOFA running projects will be invited for a third workshop focused on financing, in Vilnius, Lithuania (September 17-21, 2020). Project submission deadline: May 29, 2019. More information on: www.joinsofa.org.
Don’t sit on your coach, join SOFA!
SOFA – School of Film Agents is a programme of workshops aimed at strengthening national film industries and the European cinematic landscape, as well as kick-starting projects in the realm of cinema. SOFA helps its participants to develop their ideas into concrete projects, opening up new avenues towards application for financing programmes and final implementation. SOFA’s focus on cultural managers and film agents rather than producers and directors has made it a unique programme on the international film/AV scene.
www.joinsofa.org, www.facebook.com/SchoolofFilmAgents/
www.joinsofa.org
SOFA – School of Film Agents is a joint project of Filmplus gUG (Berlin) and Institute for Democratic Changes (Tbilisi), funded by German Federal Foreign Office and Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The executing company of the Georgian workshop is Takes Film with the support of local funding partners: Georgian National Film Center, Ministry of Culture and Sport of Georgia, Enterprise Georgia (Film in Georgia). In addition, the 2019 Polish workshop will be funded by: Polish Film Institute, SDPZ (Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation), Mazovia Warsaw Film Commission and the Lithuanian session by the Lithuanian Film Centre. The organizers also wish to thank the strategic partners: Goethe- Institut, EAVE and the Network of Arab Alternative Screens (NAAS).
WHAT WE DO In its 7th edition SOFA – School of Film Agents invites up to eight professionals for intense workshops to Warsaw (August 18 – 23, 2019), Tbilisi (April 25 – 30, 2020) and Vilnius (September 17 – 21, 2020). We support film initiators, cultural managers and catalyzers with unique project ideas in the AV world. Selected participants will be trained in various creative fashions to reach local and international cinema-goers as well be given the opportunity to make ties beyond borders. With the help of experienced lecturers, you will receive a tailor-made coaching which enables you to realize your dream project efficiently. Our work- shops connect you with decision makers and high-level professionals in the AV industry. The rest is up to you – make your dream come true!
All participants are coached on-the-scene by Oliver Baumgarten (programme director, Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis, Saarbrücken), Ewa Puszczyńska (producer, Ida/Cold War), Christine von Fragstein (pitching expert), Renaud Redien-Collot (marketing expert) and Nikolaj Nikitin (head of SOFA). Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick acts as godfather. Among last editions’ experts were Marion Döring (European Film Academy), Karel Och (Karlovy Vary IFF), Roberto Olla (Eurimages), Sonja Heinen (European Film Promotion), Rainer Rother (Deutsche Kinemathek), Funa Maduka (Netflix), Anna Serner (Swedish Film Institute), Juliane Schulze (Media Deals), Vitalijus Zukas (Lithuanian virtual reality creator) and Tamara Tatishvili (Georgian film agent).
WHO WE LOOK FOR AV professionals with previous experience in cultural management (studies, business etc.) from Central or Eastern Europe / Central Asia / republics of Caucasus / Greece / Israel / Germany / MENA region Project proposals could include establishing a film festival, film fund, film commission, digital distribution platform, a cinema theater, film museum / archive, a project connected to copyright law, a print or online film magazine, VoD platform, a training initiative or another creative and highly innovative project in the field of film culture management.
HOW TO BE PART OF IT If we drummed up your interest, submit the following documents (in English) to Nikolaj Nikitin, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. until May 29, 2019:
max. two pages of project description: what’s your project idea about? What’s your motivation? Tell us about your objectives and what’s so new and unique about your project! Why is it you who can make it? a one-pager on the budget a one-pager financing plan a business plan a professional biography and background info on how you got involved working in the AV sector
For selected participants, there is an administration fee of 750 EUR. Scholarships are available upon request.
