Speed Warm-up
Global Speed Matching Opens a Door For Talents to Achieve Potential Co-operation
By Alice Danhua Wang

Global Speed Matching may be the speediest event in the Berlinale Talent Campus. It's not always that we have such an opportunity in our life, an opportunity that provides people with so many friends around the world in a quite short time. The event invites all talents to HAU 2 to get to know each other in a succession of three-minute meetings, which is a good warm-up exercise in training people to do efficient socializing over the coming days.

It's the common love for films that easily breaks the cultural barriers among them, whose spirits and enthusiasm are mobilized in a brief moment. To gauge the atmosphere in a close-up, I throw myself into the warm "Global Speed Matching" pool, joining this turbulent "global filmmakers' village" which includes actors, directors, screenwriters and producers from various countries. In about an hour, the "villagers" enjoy a really rich culture tour thanks to fast speed matching.

It's relaxing, as well as intensive. After a quick introduction, the pair sitting opposite me can start a nice conversation almost at random. "Where are you from?" "What do you do?" The opening words are repetitive but very necessary, which provides the other person with a basic knowledge about your background and dictates the topic of the conversation. Behind each talent stands a different culture. Although the encounter is too short, the different topics of conversation display the diversity of cultures, expressing people's common aspirations in a globalizing world.

Chen Jiakui, once a stage actor in Taiwan, now studies screen acting in London. His favorite genre is the slow, delicate art movie, which is also the featured style of Taiwan films. Kone Salouka is a screenwriter from Burkina Faso. The subject of her script is interesting. "I'm writing fictional films, about women's lives in my country, especially about the choice of their first marriage." Ivan Tchankov, a documentary producer from Bulgaria, describes his new project as being about the story of the ordinary people for whom the Great Powers make "history". South African producer Danie Bester is keen on commercial films, willing to make movies by telling authentic, entertaining stories about South Africa. But he also admits that the current situation of South African film is not very good because of lack of money.

As a film journalist from China, an interesting thing for me is that most people I talked with in the Speed Matching session all mentioned China's martial arts blockbuster Hero by Zhang Yimou. They like it because of its excellent imagery and story. Their comments on Hero give me a fresh perspective on films in my country.

Time runs out, and the participants have to speed up. Without music, without food and drink, this hectic chat-session opens the door for talents to achieve potential co-operation in future. Thanks to everyone's desire and passion for cinema, one need never feel abandoned among this warm-hearted group of global strangers – even if the time is all too short.

Alice Danhua Wang

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