Florian Weghorn, programme manager of Berlinale Talents

PODCAST: FRED’s Matt Micucci interviews with Florian Weghorn, director of programmer of Berlinale Talents.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture of the film

The 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.

We join its programme manager Florian Weghorn to talk about this year’s edition, that is particularly defined by its theme titled “The Nature of Relations”. On top of introducing some of the highlights and new features of the 2016 Berlinale Talents, that will be welcoming 300 participants from different countries and different fields of the film and TV industry, Weghorn talks about its history, the way in which it has evolved over the years and reveals how the selection process for the talents works.

The Berlinale Talents offers a priceless opportunity for anyone wanting to flourish in the film and TV industry, and a further testimony of its importance is that this year, more than 100 talents alumni will be presenting films at the festival.

“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.

It was initiated in 2003. 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.” (Description in italics taken from the official website of the Berlinale Talents.)