While curiosity on the 13th Mumbai film festival, a Reliance entertainment initiative organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image is building up, today the 13th Mumbai Film Festival announced that it will host an Indo-German script development workshop for Screen-Writers, Directors, Producers and Film Students willing to explore the opportunities in Intercultural storytelling and more globally accepted story development especially between Germany and India.
Scheduled to be held from the 11th to the 13th of October 2011, the three day workshop will include discussions by eminent global and Indian speakers including the renowned director; Dani Levy, known for his numerous films, including ‘My Fuhrer‘ and ‘Go for Zucker‘ , Director, Producer and Writer; Ashutosh Gowarikar (Lagaan, Swades…)Screenwriter; Anjum Rajabali (Raajneeti, Aarakshan…), screenwriter and Director; Sooni Taraporevala (Namesake, Salaam Bombay…), Writer and Director; Thorsten Schulz (Boxhagenerplatz, In the name of innocence…), and Actor, Director and Producer Rajat Kapoor amongst others.
With discussions on various topics scheduled, including: The secret about stories crossing borders, International influences in national film storytelling and The power of film characters shown in practical “Script Constellation” exercises; the workshop will be open to script writers, directors, producers and film students on a first come first serve basis.
“Any writer, director and producer who have at least one film to his credit can apply for the workshop. Film direction and script writing students from the Film Institutes like FTII in India can also attend the workshop. We have the privilege of welcoming talents like Dani Levy, Thorsten Schulz, Jochen Brunow who will share the platform with Indian directors such as Ashutosh Gowarikar amongst others, we believe that this is a huge step forward.” said S.Narayanan, Festival Director, 13th Mumbai Film Festival.
As a special program, an Indo-German Project has been invited to be presented during the workshop as a case study in how collaboration between Indian and German Writers and Directors might work. The final date to send in a project is scheduled for the 26th of September 2011 (www.primexchange.eu). With a workshop fee of Rs 3000 for the three consecutive days, general applications to participate at the workshop are open till the 4th of October 2011.
“Nowadays Germany is looking at India and especially Mumbai, representing the biggest film industry in the world for interesting content. It is an exciting time right now to exchange ideas and cultural point of views in film making and storytelling. It is both a great honor and initiative for writers and directors from Germany to have discussions with some of the most eminent writers and directors from India.” Said Stephan Ottenbruch, Managing partner, Life Entertainment GmbH. Designed as being a series of workshops aimed at developing Indo-German projects, the first workshop will be held at the 13th Mumbai film festival 2011 followed by one at the Berlin film festival 2012 and the 14th Mumbai film festival 2012 to further develop prospective projects. Furthermore the workshop will assist screenwriters and producers in getting a better understanding about the Indian, respectively the European way of storytelling.
