The 3 final projects for the Biennale College Cinema 2017-18

The following are short descriptions of the 3 projects:

• Deva Mall - “Now we are going to take you gently, throw you into the fire.” (debut film)

• The Ice Rift - A small village in the mountains, where everything is motionless. Fifteen year old Vanessa is tired of being seen as just the prettiest girl in town and she sees an escape, or maybe even her first love, in Maia, a tomboy who fights on the ice-hockey rink as well as against her own solitude. (debut work)

• Yuva (Home) - The solitary life of the animal-man Veysel in the woods is disrupted when the land he lives on is sold to investors. His persistence turns to a confrontation with his younger brother Hasan who comes from the city to convince him to leave those places (second film).

The three selected teams will participate in two additional workshops, also to be held in Venice, from December 3rd through 6th 2017, and from January 11th to 15th 2018. These will lead to the possibility of actually producing the three feature-length micro-budget films thanks to a grant of 150,000 euro each. The films will then be presented at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in 2018.

The Biennale College is an innovative and complex experience that engages every Department of the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta, that cultivates young talents by offering them the opportunity to work side by side with the masters, to develop their “creations”.

The Biennale College – Cinema, organized by the Biennale di Venezia, enjoys the support of the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction Cinema. Biennale College – Cinema relies on the academic collaboration with the IFP in New York, with the TorinoFilmLab and with the Busan International Film Festival. The Director is Alberto Barbera, Head of Programme is Savina Neirotti.

The Biennale College – Cinema and Biennale College – Cinema Virtual Reality projects for the 2017/2018 edition, will receive significant funding from the European Commission – Connect Directorate General’s MEDIA – Creative Europe Programme. The educational activities of the 2017-2018 edition will thus be supported by a MEDIA grant. This grant increases the funding which the MEDIA Programme has awarded to the development of the Venice Production Bridge.

Starting this year, the Biennale College – Cinema will enjoy the support of Eurimages, the cultural fund of the European Council, to cover the expenses for travel, hospitality and training for one woman director (Eurimages Residency Grant), who this year will be Petra Szocs (Hungary), director of the Deva Mall project.