520 film talents from 84 countries join the Berlinale for the first time

An explosive, creative mixture: 520 film talents from 84 countries were able to qualify for the Berlinale Talent Campus 2004 with the samples of their work (films, scripts and sound) they submitted. They will now meet internationally acclaimed professional filmmakers, for example Eleanor Bergstein, Anthony Minghella, Walter Murch, Nicolas Philibert, Zbigniew Preisner, Alan Parker and Wim Wenders.


Compared to last year the total number of countries represented has increased by 23, including, for the first time, young filmmakers from countries such as Afghanistan, Palestine, Kazakhstan, Burkina Faso and Columbia. This year more than 3600 talents from 101 countries applied (in the previous year 2000 applicants from 70 different countries). Apart from the 80 German talents chosen to participate, the majority of talents come from UK (67), USA (47), Canada (21), France (21), Spain (18), Poland (12), Switzerland (12), Italy (11) and Israel (10). Of these, 39% are directors, 25% script writers, 11% producers as well as cinematographers, actors, editors, sound designers and composers. 41% of Campus participants are women.

The complete set of statistics can be accessed on www.berlinale-talentcampus.de.

The international team of experts – the crème de la crème of the film industry
Luckily a large number of the Campus events are open to the public otherwise one could quite easily be jealous of the talents: there are events with Eleanor Bergstein (Dirty Dancing), Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr. Ripley), Alan Parker (Evita, The Commitments), Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things), Nicolas Philibert (To Be and to Have), Mike Leigh (All or Nothing, Naked) and Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Buena Vista Social Club). Cinematographers Andrew Lesnie (Lord of the Rings) and Michael Ballhaus (Gangs of New York) will be there, as well as the philosophers Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou and the legendary Ken Adam, famous for his spectacular film sets for James Bond.



For the main topic The Sound and Music the following, amongst others, have confirmed: film music composer Zbigniew Preisner (Kieslowski trilogy: Three Colours: Blue/White/Red, David Holmes (Ocean’s Eleven, Out of Sight) and, as host, sound designer and editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient).



In cooperation with other sections of the Berlinale, film professionals from countries such as Israel, South Africa, Afghanistan, India, Brazil and Iran are also expected at Campus.