Take your short-film idea and make it a reality.
MIDPOINT Shorts 2023-2024
Shorts
Previous Edition
Program Structure
Comprehensive project-development program for short-film projects
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Online Feedback SessionAugust 16 - 18, 2023 | Online
From all applications, the reading committee will select approximately 20 projects, whose creative teams will receive a detailed online assessment from two experienced professionals (script consultant and producer) during the online feedback session.
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Online Ideas IncubatorAugust 30 - September 1, 2023 | Online
Based on assessments from the online feedback session, approximately 10 projects will be selected into the Ideas Incubator, a 3-day consultation online workshop focused on further script and project development of your project.
After this incubator, the final 4-5 projects will be selected for the MIDPOINT Shorts program (two residential workshops). -
Workshop 1: Script Development & Project PackagingOctober 16 – 22, 2023 | Brno, Czech Republic / in collaboration with International Short Film Festival BRNO16
This workshop focuses primarily on creative development and dramaturgy. Participants also begin to work on promotional materials and production strategies with the Producer Tutor. They also meet Guest Tutors from the short-film industry through special lectures and inspiring masterclasses. The workshop is organized within the framework of ISFF BRNO16, offering short film screenings and networking opportunities.
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Online ConsultationsDecember 2023 | Online
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Workshop 2: Industry Insights & Project ShowcaseJanuary 18-24, 2024 | Trieste, Italy / in collaboration with When East Meets West and Trieste Film Festival
This workshop serves as a platform to develop scripts further, while also incorporating distribution strategies and addressing presentation skills and promotional materials. The entire program concludes with a project showcase within the When East Meets West Co-Production Forum, plus one-on-one meetings with important decision-makers within the industry.
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Follow-up Online ConsultationsSpring 2024 | Online
Awards
HAVC & MIDPOINT Development Award
A cash prize of 3000 EUR for the best project of MIDPOINT Shorts 2023-2024 program. The award aims to support emerging filmmakers with the financial support to further develop their creative vision and bring their short film project to life. The winner will be awarded during When East Meets West in January 2024.
Awarded project: unavailable
Projects
Gone
Jindra (40) is supposed to spend New Year’s Eve with his daughter - Bara (15). The atmosphere between them is tense. Bara blames the father for the divorce of her parents. Right after arriving at ...
Little House
Tatjana (40) lives with her parents in the village. She spends much of her time on Pinterest, dreaming of having her own house that she can't afford. She starts her day working as a manicurist in a ...
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Egon and Marko are two architechts hiding their relationship from everyone in their office, due to Markos position as son of the owner who’s expected to inherit the firm from his father. When Markos ...
Unavailable
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, 18-year-old Serhii lives in the evacuation zone at the West of Ukraine while his mother decided to stay in their occupied hometown to take care of Serhii's ...
Tokos
On Christmas Eve, Tomi, a trans man and Larissa, a trans woman, while preparing for dinner at Tomi’s mom start a conversation about having a baby. Thinking he might be pregnant, Larissa hopes he'll ...
Participants
Tutors
Inspirational professional with a passion for sharing experience
Build on the solid foundations of traditional script analysis, MIDPOINT Shorts brings experts from the short-film industry to the service of your stories.
Head of Studies & Group Leader
Pavel Marek is a globetrotter – born in India, early childhood in the USA, now a writer and director of Czech features, shorts and docs, and professor of directing at FAMU Prague.
As Head of Studies, Pavel oversees the methodology of the program, ensures participants' needs are met, and guarantees the practical value and industry impact of the training you receive.
As Group Leader, Pavel also oversees the development of all projects from the beginning of the program through graduation.
Pavel Marek
Czech Republic
Pavel Marek is a graduate of the Faculty of Computer Engineering, Technical University and the Directing Department at FAMU. He received a scholarship at the NFTS in the UK. During the communist era ...
Complete bio
Producer Tutor
The Producer Tutor makes sure each project develops effective promotional materials and realistic budgets and schedules.
Dora Nedeczky
Estonia
Dora is a Hungarian producer and strategist, with a background in aesthetics and film theory/history. She's lived in ...
Complete bio
Pitching Tutor
The Pitching Tutor helps participants prepare the presentation of their projects, not only for the program's final pitching session but for any eventuality.
Stefano Tealdi
Italy
Born in Johannesburg (South Africa) in 1955, he studies Architecture in Torino – Italy, and founds with others the ...
Complete bio
Guest Tutors
References
A motivational experience that elevates your project
We have managed to achieve almost final version of the script in three months. All the workshops were very wisely chosen and inspiring.
Elvira Dulskaia
Writer, Director, Shorts 2020–2021 Alumna
MIDPOINT Shorts met and exceeded my expectations with great organization, thorough and dedicated involvement in our project on all the important levels, from the concept and story development all the way to the promotion, marketing and sales, enriching it and teaching us along the way.
Nikola Kupresanin
Writer, Shorts 2020–2021 Alumnus
MIDPOINT Shorts program is an amazing opportunity to take your project to the next level with skillful industry professionals.
Emilios Avraam
Writer, Director, Shorts 2020–2021 Alumnus
MIDPOINT gave us great support from the development stage to the final edit. Apart from that, it was a very pleasant personal experience.
Damian Vondrasek
Writer, Director, Shorts 2021-2022 Alumnus
I believe that this program is a giant leap forward for anyone who is serious about his short film.
Patrik Svehelka
Producer, Shorts 2021-2022 Alumnus
FAQs
You may ask...
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Can I apply with a documentary short film project?
Sadly, this program does not work with documentary projects, its focus are live-action fiction.
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Can I apply without a writer OR director OR producer in the team?
You can't. All these creative roles have to be present in your team. One person could represent more than one role (writer/director OR director/producer, etc.), or there could be two people representing one role (2x writer OR 2x producer, etc.). In any case, the team must consist of 2-3 people.
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Are there any time requirements regarding the minimum or maximum length of the short film?
The recommended length is approximately 7-25 minutes.
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Do we have to have some financing in place while applying for the workshop?
Nope!
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My English no good. Me can apply?
Sadly, no. As the entire training runs in English, and during the working days you'll be asked to write directly in English, we require an intermediate level of these language skills. This simply means: your grammar doesn't have to be perfect, but you need to talk/write fluently and have the vocabulary to do so.
Successful Shorts
Selection of our successful alumni
Ice Break
Sixteen-year-old Alex is the only girl on a boys’ ice hockey team coached by her father Michal. She is a tough player who feels little affinity for the world of women. But this all begins to change when she falls in love with one of her teammates and yearns to be seen more like a girl.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Rozalie Brozkova, Elvira Dulskaia
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Shorts
Genre:
Drama
Rites
A twelve-year-old Michal was born with a cleft lip.
He feels inadequate because of his deformed face.
His only friend Ondra convinces him to join a street gang to finally break free from a position of an outsider.
Two friends have one afternoon to show they have what it takes to pass the admission to the gang. Michal desperately wants to prove he is good enough, but the tempting adventure suddenly turns into an initiation ritual into adulthood.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Damian Vondrasek
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Shorts
Genre:
Drama
Magic Moments
Parents struggle to earn money, so sisters basically take care of each other alone.
-Why do we walk on the grass?
-So that we step into dogshit and are lucky.
Thanks to the bond they have, they might have already won over life´s shit.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Martina Buchelova, Erika Paulinska
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Intensive Early Melons 2013
Atlantis, 2003
2003, four years before Slovakia entered the Schengen Area. Martin and Denisija, a young couple from Ukraine, are trying to get illegaly to Germany through Slovakia, like many people before them. The border between Slovakia and Ukraine will be in a couple of years one of the most secured borders in Europe, but in 2003 it is still open for smugglers and for people hoping to find a new life in Western Europe. Martin and Denisija both dream about getting to Germany, a place they’ve never been to, both ready to sacrifice everything they have to reach this destination.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Michal Blasko, Jakub Brychta
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Shorts 2015
Inversion
A film about the complicated friendship of three adolescent girls, two swimming pools, and one malicious act of revenge.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Lucia Kajankova
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Shorts Dresden 2017
FUNDERS
GENERAL PARTNERS
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