Berlinale Talents: Expand your horizons

Initiated back in 2003, Berlinale Talents is the annual summit and networking platform of the Berlin International Film Festival for 300 outstanding creatives from the fields of film and drama series.

Berlinale Talents is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, a business division of the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, in cooperation with Creative Europe MEDIA, a programme of the European Union, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

In addition to the extensive summit programme of master classes and panel discussions with top-notch experts, Berlinale Talents offers a range of Project Labs in which you can further develop and present your own project. Berlinale Talents also provides Studio programmes and workshops for specific groups of film professionals. As an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, the entire event is closely linked with the programmes of the festival sections and the European Film Market.

While the roots of Berlinale Talents are firmly planted in Berlin new shoots of the initiative have been sprouting internationally. These Talents International editions, Talents Beirut in Lebanon, Talents Buenos Aires in Argentina, Talents Guadalajara in Mexico, Talents Durban in South Africa, Talents Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Talents Tokyo in Japan have the familiar structure and purpose of their German counterpart; all the while retaining a regional perspective and finding support and the necessary amenities in a locally based international film festival. Talents initiatives are supported by local partners as well as by the Goethe-Institut.

Every February, this initiative brings 300 selected talents from the criteria offered in the Berlinale Talents together with professionals from the international film industry. This vital platform has developed into one of the most exciting initiatives at the Berlinale and has led to many success stories of films made by Talents alumni, which can increasingly be enjoyed in the Berlinale film programme.

The criteria as dictated by Berlinale Talents for applicants are:

Actors 
Cinematographers
Directors
Distributors 
Editors 
Film Critics 
Producers 
Production Designers
Sales Agents 
Screenwriters 
Score Composers
Sound Designers

The application process is mostly similar for all these criteria in that you would need a decent amount of experience in the field you wish to apply in as well as upload a sample of your work to the authorities there. 

The great thing about this initiative, especially for us Bangladeshis, is that they take in applicants from around the world. And as mentioned above, the application process is not complicated at all and has no age restrictions whatsoever. For those talented individuals who wish to participate but may back out when thinking of costs, don't fret. Berlinate Talents will cover the full expenses of travel and living once you have been selected, thus helping to truly open the borders for anyone wishing to expand their creative horizons.

www.berlinale-talents.de/