Biennale College Cinema – Twelfth Edition

Call BCC 12 – International

The call is dedicated to teams of director and producer, from all over the world. Biennale College Cinema will select nine international microbudget projects and their teams will be invited to participate in a 10 day workshop in Venice.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This initiative consists of the selection and development of 9 micro-budget projects and the production of up to 3 audiovisual works and presentation during the Venice International Film Festival. The selection will be made by the Artistic Director of the Cinema Sector of La Biennale di Venezia, whose decision will be final, assisted in the various phases by a staff of consultants of his own choosing. The audiovisual concepts will be developed from every point of view, focusing not only on the artistic development, but also on the audience design. This means addressing a specific, even niche, audience from the earliest phases of the development of the film. The program will also focus on the production and budget control.

PARTICIPANTS

We will select up to 9 micro-budget concepts/ideas presented by international teams consisting of a director and a producer, with no age limit and with the following:

• The application  must be submitted exclusively by a team of a producer and a director.  There is no participation or registration fee.
• It is mandatory that the team that applies, if selected, is the same team that participates in the workshop and if awarded the grant continues together to produce the film.
• The directors, at their debut or second audio-visual work, must present themselves in tandem with producers who have already produced at least 3 audio-visual works (including short film, web docs, web series, music videos, advertisements, etc.) If the producer has already produced a feature-length fiction or documentary film distributed and/ or presented at Festivals, they are still eligible to participate in the Call.
• Teams that have previously submitted an application to the previous Biennale College Cinema editions will not be able to re-apply with the same project. Participants who were selected for the workshops of the previous Biennale College Cinema editions will not be accepted again.

DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED FOR APPLICATIONS (to be presented in English):

• A Synopsis (1 page, max 350 words or 1.800 characters)
• Treatment for a micro-budget project (5-10 pages, max 3.500 words or 18.000 characters) that fully describes the project. It can be a feature film, an animation, a documentary – all genres eligible and a statement outlining how the project will explore the micro-budget aesthetic –what particular challenges the film team is looking to explore in terms of form and content. (No more than one page). To be presented in the same file of the treatment.
• Director’s Vision: it can be represented by a mood board, a project-book (few pages of a storyboard, a colour script, a series of drawings or photographs) or by a video (max 3 minutes). It visually complements the written concept, and describes the project through images.
• Previous works by the director (max 2) digital or on film, to be uploaded directly on the website, with english subtitles
• Casting Idea (1 page, max 350 words or 1.800 characters).
• Total Budget up to a maximum of € 200.000,00
• Biographies and filmographies of the director and the producer. The filmography needs to include the following information: all previous works including the title, year, length of film, genre (documentary or fiction) and role in the production.
• Production Company Profile.
• Video-Pitch Presentation, in English, by the director (max 3 minutes)
• Audience Engagement Plan (1 page, max 350 words or 1.800 characters), which describes how to create audience awareness through on-line communities.
• Rights Disclosure with regards to full ownership of rights to the submitted project or, should the rights of third parties be involved, a guarantee that the acquisition of all rights in view of production has been concluded or is currently being negotiated. In the latter case the cost must be indicated in the budget, cannot exceed the total of € 200.000,00.
• Signed agreement between the producer and the director confirming their willing to complete the project within the requirement and schedule of the program.
• Confirmation that the project has not being supported already with finance for development or production.
• List of training courses and events in which the project has circulated already.

Please complete the application form HERE by 3rd July 2023.

DATES, VENUES, TIMELINE

The selected teams will be involved in a series of on-line and off-line activities, starting from July 2023 up to the Venice International Film Festival in 2024.

• 3 May 2023 – Call for Applications “BCC 12 – International”
• 3 July 2023 (23:59 CET) – Deadline for applications “BCC 12 – International”
• 30 August – 9 September 2023 – Announcement of the 12 selected teams: 3 from “BCC 12 – Italia” and 9 from “BCC 12 – International”
• 19 September 2023 – Deadline for delivery of detailed step outline and production documents.
• 7 – 16 October 2023 (travel dates: October 6^th  e 17^th ) in Venice – workshop for the selected teams (3 Italian and 9 International).
• 10 November 2023– Deadline for all 12 project-teams to deliver 1st draft scripts, budgets and schedules.
• by 24 November 2023 –  Notification of the results
• 4 – 7 December 2023 (travel dates: December 3^rd  e 8^th ) in Venice – workshop dedicated to script development.
• 3 January 2024 – Delivery of 2nd draft script, updated budget, shooting & production schedule.
• 10–17 January 2024 – on-line workshop dedicated to pre-production
• 11 July 2024 – All film projects to have screened final cut to Festival director
• 16 August 2024 – Delivery date for the Venice International Festival

For more details about BCC 12, visit their website HERE.

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