Take your short-film idea and make it a reality.
MIDPOINT Shorts 2022-2023
Shorts
Archive
Benefits
Get closer to realisation of your creative idea
The only complex program dedicated to script and project development of the short films in Europe connected vitally to the film industry. The combination of in-depth script analysis and professional project development directs projects on their path in the cinema. Thanks to a multi-stage project selection process, the program allows to support more emerging talents.
For teams of writers, directors and producers
- it will bring your project to the next level and prepare for entering the industry world (from one-pager to treatment, from treatment to script, from the first draft to final one, from scratch to pitch)
- chance to get a deeper understanding of the creative aspects involved in the work, as well as insights into financing, sales, festival, and distribution strategies
- showcase at When East Meets West
- networking & meeting new industry partners
- front gate to The Focus WiP section of Cannes Court Métrage
Program Structure
Comprehensive project-development program for short-film projects
-
Online Feedback SessionSeptember 5-7, 2022 | 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.
-
Online Ideas IncubatorSeptember 12-15, 2022 | Online
Based on assessments from the online feedback session, approximately 10 projects will be selected into the Ideas Incubator, a 4-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 PackagingNovember 13–18, 2022 | Prague, Czech Republic
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.
Lectures
Masterclass: Love, DadDiana Cam Van Nguyen
November 14, 17:30 p.m | Mama Shelter Hotel, Prague, Czech RepublicMasterclass by Czech-Vietnamese filmmaker Diana Cam Van Nguyen, mostly about her short film Love, Dad (2021) which is nominated for Best Short Film in European Film Awards 2022, won BFI Short Film Award, Clermont-Ferrand Connexion Award and several other awards.
The Do’s and Dont’s of Co-ProductionDora Nedeczky
November 15, 9:30 a.m | Mama Shelter Hotel, Prague, Czech RepublicAfter long years of backbreaking work, you’re finally ready to spread out and look for partners for your film in development. Now what? Tallinn-based Hungarian producer Dora Nedeczky’s lecture on co-production from the filmmakers’ perspective will equip you with the essential toolkit you need for navigating the film industry and to choose the most fitting path for your film project. She’ll lend you her knowledge via practical info: from positioning your film on the market to building up your package. Expect a deep dive into maintaining healthy producer-director relationships but also examining out-of-the-box, hands-on ideas and advice on how to streamline the process and benefit from it.
All You Need to Know About Co-Production MarketsAlessandro Gropplero
November 16, 9:30 | Mama Shelter Hotel, Prague, Czech RepublicAll around the year and all over the world there are hundreds of opportunities to pitch your film and find new financial and creative partners. No matter if you are developing a short or a feature, nor if it is a physical or a virtual presentation, it is always essential to plan your strategy and carefully combine all the ingredients you can use to best introduce your project.
The lecture will be presented in a hybrid format.
Masterclass: The ChickenUna Gunjak
November 17, 9:30 a.m | Mama Shelter Hotel, Prague, Czech RepublicUna Gunjak will present a masterclass about her short film The Chicken which premiered at Cannes Film Critics Week and won the European Film Academy Award for Best Short Film in 2014. The film was shown at 270 festivals in total, including Sundance Film Festival, New Films and New Directors, and won 70 awards altogether.
-
Online ConsultationsDecember 2022 | Online
-
Workshop 2: Industry Insights & Project Showcase20 - 26 January 2023 | 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.
Lectures
Pitch or PerishStefano Tealdi
January 21, 14:00 | Savoia Excelsior Palace / Trieste, ItalyPublic and on-line presentations of new projects and professional talent have become widespread and filmmakers and producers must master the skills of verbally presenting themselves and their new proposals in brief. The plenary examines what the pitch means for the various players attending a public forum, a one-to-one meeting or an on-line pitch, what it implies at different levels and how to structure and handle it.
Festival Strategy for Shorts in the Long RunWouter Jansen
January 23, 12:00 | Savoia Excelsior Palace / Trieste, ItalyWith plenty of film festivals out there and new ones popping up every day, it is easy to get lost trying to find the ones that suit your film (and you) best. When and where to start whilst working on your film, what festivals to screen at in the beginning and what choices should you make after having your premiere? How can you get the most out of your festival run? What are the possibilities for spreading and screening your film online? In this we will explain the best way to get your short film out into the world.
-
Follow-up Online ConsultationsSpring 2023
Projects
Honey of War
In a War torn country, we follow Sasha, an old nomadic beekeeper, on his journey to make the finest honey. He will cross paths with Ari, a lost orphan. Through the life cycle of the beehive, Ari ...
Certificate of Life
Vera, the 75 years old widow, living in a small town, is wrongly pronounced dead by the city administration. She struggles to prove that she is really alive so she can continue receiving her monthly ...
We're Having a Boy
Nika, a soon to be mother, and her boyfriend Bojan are out shopping for groceries. While they are squabbling over pricey pasta, they get briefly interrupted by Jasmin, a Romani boy. At the till, ...
Welcome Home
Together with her son Jan, Vera returns to her hometown in Zagorje, a rural area in Croatia that she ran away from to Slovenia ten years ago. Upon her arrival, deep-seated family grudges connected ...
The Big Night
Sara, a middle-class teenage girl from Skopje, is a host of an exchange student Jill. The school year is over and the two girls are having their last party together, before Jill leaves for home. ...
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.
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
Fee
Online Feedback Session
20 EUR
per project
Online Ideas Incubator
200 EUR
per project
Workshop 1 + 2: 700 EUR
700 EUR
per participant
The fee includes accommodation, board, and tuition during the residential workshops. Travel costs are NOT included.
Application deadline
July 29, 2022
Who can apply
- teams of writers, directors and producers (2–3 members in one team)
- open to projects of professional or graduation short films
- eligible countries:
open to projects from the whole world with a focus on CEE region
Application requirements
To apply for the workshop, please create an account on the MIDPOINT Visitor Page and follow the instructions within the submission form.
Application process:
The multi-stage application process runs online. Applicants are asked to fill out the application form and submit all attachments in PDF format (if not stated otherwise).
The application materials consist of:
- basic information about the applicants and the project
- synopsis (0,5–1 page)
- author´s statement (0,5–1 page)
- producer´s statement (0,5–1 page)
- previous work of director - link(s) to previous reference film(s) of the director (including English subtitles)
- short professional biographies of all team members in full sentences (max. 1000 characters incl. spaces per each biography)
- photos of all team members
- optional materials: script / treatment / step outline, moodboard
FAQs
You may ask...
-
Can I apply with a documentary short film project?
Sadly, this program does not work with documentary projects, its focus are live-action fiction.
-
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.
-
Are there any time requirements regarding the minimum or maximum length of the short film?
The recommended length is approximately 7-25 minutes.
-
Do we have to have some financing in place while applying for the workshop?
Nope!
-
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
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
Contact
Did we forget something? Don't hesitate to ask
Funders
General Partners
In collaboration with
Gallery
