As I am writing these few lines, I have just come back from the first residency of the Script 2 Film Workshops 2018. With my luggage still half unpacked, having arrived home last night straight from the island of Nisyros, I am glad of having joined the Mediterranean Film Institute for the third time in a row as I saw how the initiative is steadily growing. With 25 feature film projects being developed this year, MFI also opened its doors to television by welcoming 6 TV series in the making.
As per my previous sessions there, I ran my usual format “Connecting Stories: From Scripts to Audiences” and worked on audience and marketing ideas for 2 selected projects from this edition over two three-hours workshops on 25 June, and presented the results during an open lecture on 27. This year I had the pleasure to work with Greek filmmaker and scriptwriter Thelyia Petraki, and the Palestinian brothers Muayad (writer/director) and Rami (writer/producer) Alayan from PalCine Productions. In both cases, I had a great time discussing how they are pushing their next cinematic stories through the hurdles of the film industry and look forward to hearing that they made it soon.
Along with my activities, I made the most of the three days I spent in Nisyros by taking advantage not only of the tasty food and the overall cheerful atmosphere, but by also attending the rich program of lectures ranging from production considerations with Simón de Santiago, to insights on the development process with Initiative Film’s Isabelle Fauvel.
Putting on the shoes of a fanboy though, the open sessions with director Daniel Attias were a personal highlight. He worked on so many TV shows of my teenage and adult life (including Beverly Hills, 90210,The Sopranos, Lostand The Wire) that it really was insightful to delve into his approach to the work with actors and to recall some creative choices he made on the sets of some of the most popular TV series of the past 30 years.
Eυχαριστώ, MFI! Until next time.
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