ShorTS Development & Pitching Training for short film projects

It’s all about knowing how to tell a story. How it is told, the importance that story has for the person telling it and the importance it can have for the listener. This year I decided to further develop the excellent pitch training initiative with an earlier but fundamental phase: the development of the story. ShorTS Development & Pitching Training has thus become a workshop where stories are created and shared. Ten projects participate in the first development phase. Of these, five are later chosen to explore the different possibilities of pitching as a professional tool for telling one’s story to an audience of industry experts and will be presented during ShorTS 2022. I’m convinced that this three months’ work, dedicated to filmmakers from Italy to the Middle East, via the Balkans, can give rise to new and exciting projects that we hope to see on our screens soon, possibly during a ShorTS screening.

Massimiliano Nardulli
Curator, ShorTS Development & Pitching Training

Selected projects

TAMARA BROCIC, CVAT / BLOOM

In the summer of 2004, eight-year-old Sara investigates the life of a teenage girl from the village in order to discover if her secret boyfriend is actually a vampire.

BOGDAN DRUMEA, PLANETA ZORKY / ZORKY PLANET

A little story about a girl and her estranged father. They meet at Zorky Planet, a place from their past, present and maybe future.

KOSTA KARAKASHYAN, TE / THEY

They follows two professors over a day. Lyudmil starts a new position at Sofia University where Miho, the older chairman, is busy juggling work and family. At the end, the two are seen living together, tender but keeping their relationship a secret.

VIRON ROBOCI, STOLEN LIFE

Year 2033, the world is dystopian due to lack of food supplies. TWO LITTLE KIDS 5 and 7 years old fight for survival.  Attracted by its flicking light, they find a candy/snack machine close to a destroyed fasade and realize it’s a trap from a distant SHOOTER. For every victim, the Man sticks its chewing gum on the trench and replaces it. The kids want to get the food but before that, they should steal his chewing gums and “neutralize” the shooter.

ALESSIO VASARIN, UNA NOTTE / ONE NIGHT

One night, Giulio tries to confide an important matter to his close friend Lara, but he is thwarted by a series of unforeseen events. This experience helps him see things from a different perspective and somehow tests his relationship with Lara.

Other participant projects

ELISA BACCOLO, INTO THE FRAME

Interior of a photography studio. Sophie, who has finally accepted to be photographed by her boyfriend Dave, faces the lens. A series of failed attempts lead to an escalation that reveals the true nature of their relationship.

HANIS BAGASHOV, STRIKE

With the help of her older brother and the money from the victory of their goose, the little Marina is on her way to Skopje for the second round of a singing competition, until the last moment when her father’s reckless act prevents her from traveling.

VIREN BELTRAMO, 1997 – LA PRIMA VOLTA / 1997 – THE FIRST TIME

Portrait of a generation that was adolescent in the Italian province of the 90s thorough the story of Giulia, 14 years old in 1997, and her not so romantic first time.

IVAN MILOSAVLJEVIC, RADOVI NA PUTU / ROAD WORK

After an idyllic vacation, a young married couple prepares to return home. Before the journey begins, one phone call changes everything. After an emotional roller coaster ride, breaks, stops, and detours they finally arrive at the destination.

MATO ULJAREVIC, UROS / UROSH

UROSH is an experimental biographical animated film about the life and work of Montenegrin artist Urosh Toskowitch, famous for his unusual behavior.
Urosh goes through the horrors of war as a boy, which leaves lasting consequences on him. Throughout his life he is haunted by the fear of death, and the face of a soldier he remembers from his youth. He sees it in the faces of ordinary people, passers-by, friends. He tries to escape from this ominous apparition by resorting to various “recipes” for achieving immortality.

Prizes

One project will be selected by representatives of TSFM – Talents and Short Film Market to attend You Only Pitch Twice in November during TSFM vol. 7. You Only Pitch Twice is a pitch session for short films projects that have been previously presented at other pitching forums. The aim of this pitch is to give filmmakers the possibility to expand their network and present their projects in development to another audience of film professionals, in order to have more chances to find the right partners for completing their newest films.

Lights On will be awarding the best project, and the prize will consist of participation in the HALO (High Atelier Lights On) consulting programme. The programme will consist of two online consultation sessions, lasting around two hours each, mainly focusing on the distribution possibilities of the project. The timetable of the sessions will be decided between Lights On and the winning project.

The producers

FLAVIO ARMONE

Flavio Armone graduated in Cinema History; soon after, he started working in film festivals and in 2015 co-founded Lights On. The company supports emerging filmmakers from all over the world following them from the first steps in short movies to feature films. The movies distributed by Lights On have premiered in some of most prestigious festivals worldwide: Cannes Film Festival, Semaine de la Critique, Berlinale, Sundance Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.

AMOS GEVA

Amos Geva is the international manager of T-Port, the online platform for short & student films supported by MEDIA. His background as a filmmaker and independent producer focused on international co-productions brings him to the forefront in building bridges between the film industry as a business and young talents as filmmakers. An alumnus of TAU and the Atelier Ludwisgburg-Paris, Geva has won numerous awards in renowned international film festivals both as director and producer.

ENRICO VANNUCCI

Enrico Vannucci is member of the selection committee of Pardi di domani at Locarno Film Festival and the artistic director of TSFM, which he co-founded in 2016. He has been working in film festival programming teams since 2010 and he was a member of the selection committee at LIM – Less Is More for several years. He co-founded Varicoloured, a short film agency, in 2018. In 2021 he became a member of the European Film Academy.

Previous editions / ShorTS Pitching Training