VGF — Inter­na­tion­al Pro­duc­ers Pro­gramme

VGF — DFFB Inter­na­tion­al Pro­duc­ers Pro­gramme

The Inter­na­tion­al Pro­duc­ers Pro­gramme adds to the pro­duc­tion stud­ies, espe­cial­ly in the main course of study, prepar­ing pro­duc­tion stu­dents specif­i­cal­ly for inter­na­tion­al mar­kets and the time after grad­u­a­tion. The pro­gramme includes sem­i­nars and work­shops with inter­na­tion­al experts from the film indus­try, net­works and excur­sions to impor­tant Euro­pean film fes­ti­vals and men­tor­ing to facil­i­tate the tran­si­tion between study­ing and work­ing. In all areas, the aim is to engage in dia­logue with estab­lished film­mak­ers in order to sharp­en and ques­tion one’s own pro­file as a pro­duc­er.

The Inter­na­tion­al Pro­duc­ers Pro­gramme con­sists of the fol­low­ing com­po­nents:

1. sem­i­nars and work­shops

With the sem­i­nars and work­shops we offer an in-depth knowl­edge of the glob­al film indus­try, the val­ue chains and new devel­op­ments in the areas of pro­duc­tion, sales/​distribution and mar­kets. We invite inter­na­tion­al­ly active experts from the film indus­try, who use case stud­ies to explain how to deal with larg­er bud­gets for inter­na­tion­al pro­duc­tions and teach new ways of financ­ing and exploita­tion. It is always impor­tant for pro­duc­tion stu­dents to be open and curi­ous about the dif­fer­ent posi­tions and work­ing meth­ods and to draw con­clu­sions for their own work.

2. Men­tor­ing and prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence

In their final year, all pro­duc­tion stu­dents are assigned a men­tor who works in the Ger­man film indus­try. The stu­dents receive indi­vid­ual sup­port and guid­ance with regard to their final film and their future career. Men­tors in the last two years have includ­ed Sergei Loznit­sa, Anke Greifened­er, Car­olin Ann Ren­ninger, Jonas Dorn­bach, Marie Kjell­son, Peter Rom­mel.

3. inter­na­tion­al forum and impor­tant mar­kets

In addi­tion to a sound knowl­edge of the craft of pro­duc­ing, it is par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant for pro­duc­tion stu­dents to know the fes­ti­val land­scape in order to eval­u­ate their films in the best pos­si­ble way and to estab­lish per­son­al con­tacts with fes­ti­val organ­is­ers, dis­trib­u­tors and oth­er pro­duc­ers. At the fes­ti­vals, the main focus is on exchang­ing ideas with oth­er film­mak­ers and net­work­ing. The dif­fer­ent mar­kets are impor­tant, as is know­ing why you should sub­mit one film here and anoth­er there.

What chal­lenges do pro­duc­ers face today in dis­trib­ut­ing their films? What are the new exploita­tion options and which part­ners are the right ones for my film? What Euro­pean trends are there and how do I posi­tion myself and my projects?

4. excur­sions to fes­ti­vals

We offer excur­sions to var­i­ous fes­ti­vals, such as IFFR Rot­ter­dam, Fes­ti­val de Cannes, Fes­ti­val de San Sebas­t­ian or DOK Leipzig.

We also enable pro­duc­tion stu­dents to trav­el to oth­er film fes­ti­vals in addi­tion to the joint fes­ti­val trips if the films they have pro­duced are shown there. It is impor­tant to mar­ket your own film at fes­ti­vals and make con­tacts for fur­ther work.

The Inter­na­tion­al Pro­duc­ers Pro­gramme is made pos­si­ble by the gen­er­ous sup­port of the VGF.