CREATIVE TRAINING n OVERVIEW n CREATIVE COURSES GUIDE


A session at the Berlinale Talent Campus


Student uprising O


ne of the quirks of the Euro- pean film industry is that there has always been a far greater emphasis on


creative training than on business train- ing. Whereas most business courses have only been set up over the last two decades, European film schools targeted at directors and screenwriters have been in existence for very much longer. The eastern European schools, with


their emphasis on craft, have formidable reputations and long histories. In Rus- sia, for example, the VGIK was formed in 1919 and is by some distance the old- est film school in the world. The Film and TV School of the Acad-


emy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague was formed in 1946, while the film school in Lodz, Poland — now known as the Polish National Film, Tel- evision & Theatre School — was


‘What is important in our school is practice. Directing students make six films during


their studies’ Robert Glinski, Lodz


n 14 Screen International European Training Special 2011


Europe has a grand tradition of film schools which teach the art and craft of film-making. Geoffrey Macnab explores how they are expanding their approach and making links with the business side of the film industry


founded two years later, in 1948. These schools still adhere partly to the same principles which have defined their pro- grammes for years. At the same time, they are striving to adapt to the digital age and to new media. “We teach in general in two ways,”


explains Robert Glinski, the rector at Lodz, whose graduates include such luminaries as Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski. “One way is very traditional, with old cameras and 35mm. On the other side, we teach new media with digital cam- eras, computers and editing with Avid and Final Cut.” Some European schools have an


increasingly international profile, espe- cially on the directing courses. Directors such as the UK’s Emily Young, whose feature debut Kiss Of Life screened in Cannes in 2003, have studied at Lodz.


“Every student wants to be Polanski or Kieslowski,” Glinski says, arguing that the reputations of the school’s celebrated alumni inspire students to live up to them rather than proving a burden. Glinski says the school is similar in


some respects to other institutions such as FAMU and the UK’s National Film and Television School. “But what is important in our school is practice. A student from the directing faculty will make six films during his studies. When you make films, you can make mistakes and correct your thinking.” One common criticism of creative


training is that it ignores practical issues. “I think it has been developing very late,” EAVE chief executive Kristina Trapp says of the fact creative training schemes are finally acknowledging industry needs. “It is an industry that is professionalising bit by bit.”


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