FIPRESCI Warsaw Critics Project 2016

Call for Participants

Applications are now open for the 11th FIPRESCI Warsaw Critics Project – a training programme for young critics and film journalists from Central and Eastern Europe coordinated by the Warsaw Film Foundation and FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics.

Workshop will be held during the 32nd Warsaw Film Festival between 7 and 16 October 2016. A group of young critics will be invited to the festival and have a unique opportunity to take part in one of the most prestigious film events in the region, meeting high-profile film professionals and contributing to the deliberation meeting that decides which film is awarded by the festival’s FIPRESCI jury.

With more people writing about film than ever, standing out from the crowd can be increasingly difficult. The Warsaw Project is designed to help participants widen their tastes, to follow their interests, to place their own viewpoint in a broader cultural landscape, to develop their writing skills and self-confidence and to sharpen their critical thinking.

The Project also provides a hands-on experience of attending a film festival in a professional capacity: participants will be pro-active in writing critical and journalistic coverage of the festival under the guidance of expierienced professionals, and will be exposed to the realities and opportunities of film journalism. Participants will work under multiple deadlines, meet and network with fellow professionals, learn how to get their work commissioned by editors and will be encouraged to find new ways to write critically and creatively about the cinema and the world at large.

The FIPRESCI Warsaw Critics Project is devised and coordinated by British critic Michael Pattison and New Zealand’s Berlin-based critic Carmen Gray. Both are experienced industry professionals, members of FIPRESCI and their regular publications include Sight & Sound, Dazed & Confused, Screen International, The Guardian, Vice, Fandor and others.

Under their guidance, participants will be covering the festival and industry events, delivering film reviews and conducting interviews with directors and filmmakers. They will be encouraged to use their own initiative and will receive constructive, positive feedback about their work.

Workshops are designed for critics under the age of 30 with proficient skills in written and spoken English. All participants are granted with shared travel and accommodation grants.

Previous participants have gone on to contribute to major international film publications like Screen International, Indiewire, The Hollywood Reporter, Cineuropa and Film New Europe.

Please send your application including CV, self-introduction, and three samples of your published work to fipresci@wff.pl. Deadline: 15 September 2016.

More information at: http://wff.pl/journalists/workshop