Ten participants have the opportunity to work on their feature-length debut scripts during the eight day residency (September 17–24), with dedicated writing time as well as tutoring, group sessions, individual sessions, screenings and peer feedback. Pustnik has selected the eight fiction projects from 93 applications received from 39 countries, including one from the European Short Pitch alumni network.
This year’s special guests are screenwriter Laurence Coriat, known for her collaborations with director Michael Winterbottom, film and cultural relations specialist Joanna Duncombe, and BAFTA-nominated producer Len Rowles. For a fourth time, the residents will also benefit from the expertise of Delia Vasile, a psychotherapist and narrative consultant.
Screenwriter Laurence Coriat’s collaborations with director Michael Winterbottom include “Wonderland”, selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999 and awarded the top prize at the British Independent Film Awards that same year, “A Mighty Heart” (2006), starring Angelina Jolie, the Colin Firth-starrer “Genova” (2008), as well as “Everyday” (2012), nominated for a BAFTA Award. She also co-wrote, among other films, Sandra Goldbacher’s “Me Without You”, starring Michelle Williams and Anna Friel, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2001. In 2016, Coriat was part of a writers room with showrunner Hossein Amini, where she wrote two episodes of the International Emmy-winning BBC series “McMafia”.
Joanna Duncombe has a wealth of experience developing innovative, international film and arts programmes. She has presented programmes and hosted talks and Q&As at events including the Cannes, London and Rotterdam film festivals, and currently works with British Council, BAFTA, the National Film & Television School (NFTS) and the Victoria Film Festival in Canada. At British Council, Duncombe is the senior consultant responsible for the Film Department’s New Talent and International Collaboration programmes. She has previously worked as a film programmer for the Independent Cinema Office in the UK, and was programme director at London Short Film Festival. She was the creative producer and programmer at Birds Eye View Films, where she helped to develop and launch their highly successful Reclaim the Frame programme alongside Mia Bays.
Len Rowles is a producer known for her focus on visionary filmmakers and clear genre stories with global resonance. As Head of Scripted, Film & International at Climate Spring, she supports film and international TV productions that weave the climate crisis into their projects. Previously, Rowles built and managed Protagonist Pictures’ in-house development and production slate, and produced the inaugural title, “The Man in the Basement”, directed by Nadia Latif and starring Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe. Len also served on Protagonist’s EP team, which secured private finance and structured co-productions on slate projects, including “The Outrun”, starring Saoirse Ronan. Prior to Protagonist, she ran the development slate at two-time Oscar nominated Wildgaze Films and was on the Creative Team at Pathé UK. Len has been drawn to climate storytelling since her earliest films: BIFA nominated “Skyborn” and BAFTA and EFA nominated “Orbit ever after”.
Delia Vasile is a communicator, psychologist and psychotherapist with a humanistic approach, based in Bucharest, Romania. She graduated from the Faculty of Letters and the Faculty of Psychology and since 2012 she has started her training in Transactional Analysis with Yorkshire Training Centre International. Her therapeutic approach is a narrative one, being passionate about understanding life stories and the scripts people act out in their lives.
The projects selected for this year’s Pustnik residency are:
“A Backstreet Boy”, by Hannu-Pekka Peltomaa, Finland
“Bunker”, by Anthony Foussard and Christian Legrand, France
“Exotic Toxic Erotic”, by Denisse Conn Tübacü, Romania
“Late Spring”, by Yuan Yuan, China
“Mariposa”, by Victoria Visco Mendonça, Brazil
“Please Bear with Me”, by Gabriela Serrano and Mariana Serrano, Philippines
“Reality Shirley”, by Stella Carneiro, Portugal
“Tigress of Patha”, by Saee Haval, India
Maintaining its commitment to the local community, Pustnik is also organizing free film and storytelling workshops as well as screenings at the “Gheorghe Vasilichi” Theoretical High School in Cetate, hosted by Pustnik alumna Anca Buja.
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About Pustnik
Pustnik is a programme created in 2014. Its aim has always been to focus on the writer’s needs. Good cinema needs time and intimacy to develop, and this has always taken centre stage in whatever happens at Pustnik. Our aim is to create an environment that encourages and emboldens upcoming writers whose work we admire, away from the pressure of the industry.
Pustnik is organized by T.E.T.A Association
TETA is an NGO founded in June 2006 with the purpose of developing cultural activities and alternative education to stimulate cultural revival within overlooked communities. TETA also produces films and theatre performances.
