At the culmination of the eighth edition of the ScripTeast programme in Cannes today, the winner of the prestigious Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award for the Best Eastern and Central European Script was presented during a ceremony at the Producers Club. The selection was made by the Advisory Board members, comprising Sandy Lieberson, Manfred Schmidt, Simon Perry, Antonio Saura, Dariusz Jablonski, and Heads of Studies, Tom Abrams and Christian Routh.
The winning screenplay is ‘MERICAN CHICK by Evita Naušová and Viktor Tauš, from the Czech Rep. Along with the award, the writers receive a prize of 10 000 Euros to be spent on further work on the project and a statuette designed by Adam Fedorowicz.
Based significantly on personal experiences of difficult times, this well crafted screenplay carries the ring of authenticity, as well as presenting an entertaining and ultimately life-affirming account of a teenager’s search for freedom during the 1980s. The main character, a defiant circus girl, is a memorable creation who refuses to give in to the oppressive institutions and society she has to endure back in communist Czechoslovakia after being kidnapped from her freewheeling life in America. The script offers a thoughtful examination of life before the Velvet Revolution, as well as the promise of an exhilarating cinematic odyssey.
As this year's screenplays were exceptionally close to each other in terms of quality The Advisory Board decided to highlight another project.
A Special Mention was presented to Life Beats Reality by Andreea Valean (Romania)
A script that cries out because of it's anarchic style, originality, and unflinching honesty in telling the unique story of a filmmaker using a camera to to save his family. The story of Pogo, Fatty, Freak, and Grandpa.
A film so rooted in the 21st century that it demands to be made.
A number of previous Kieslowski award winners have already been produced, including “The House” (Zuzana Liova), “Womb” (Benedek Fliegauf), “The Japanese Dog” (Ioan Antoci), and “False Witness” (Iglika Triffonova – in post-production).
It this year’s editions 10 projects from 8 Eastern and Central European countries were participating in the programme. The participants were working on their scripts from September 2013 with the help and advice of Creative Advisors (among others: Michael Schiffer – the American screenwriter of the triple Oscar nominated „Crimson Tide”, Marc Baschet – the French producer of, among others, Oscar and Golden Globe awarded „No Man’s Land”, Diana Elbaum – the Belgian producer recipient of the prestigious Eurimages Award, Eran Kolirin– the Israeli director of „The Band's Visit” which won prizes at several international film festivals including 3 at Cannes), and Heads of Studies – Christian Routh and Tom Abrams.
The Feature Film Projects of the 8th ScripTeast edition were:
BORN IN SECRECY
by Éva Pataki, Márta Mészáros, Zoltán Jancsó (Hungary)
HOLIDAY
by Paweł Ferdek, Arkadiusz Milcarz (Poland)
‘MERICAN CHICK
by Evita Naušová, Viktor Tauš (Czech Republic)
EXIT by Agnieszka Trzos, Jarosław Kamiński (Poland)
CALL ME SHAKESPEARE by Valeri Yordanov (Bulgaria)
KINGS‘ SHIFT by Ignas Miškinis, Saulius Drunga (Lithuania)
LIFE BEATS REALITY by Andreea Vălean (Romania)
MINISTRY OF LOVE by Pavo Marinković (Croatia)
MY FRIEND BOEING by Matevž Luzar (Slovenia)
MY NAME IS DAMJAN by Suzana Tratnik, Maja Weiss (Slovenia)
ScripTeast is the most effective training program for the best screenwriters from Eastern and Central Europe. The aims are; to help the screenwriters strengthen their scripts, make them attractive to a wide international audience, and enhance their competitiveness. At this point 11 supported films have been produced and 8 are in production.
ScripTeast is organized by the Independent Film Foundation and supported by Media Program of EU, Polish Film Institute, National Centre for Culture, and Apple Film Production, in cooperation with the European Film Academy, the ACE Program, Producers Network and Film New Europe.