The 8th edition of Pustnik Screenwriters Residency will take place mid-September 2022, and the call for applications is open until March 6.

Pustnik is a feature film development program for young filmmakers from anywhere in the world and is intended for those who have written at least one fiction short film that has screened at a well-known international festival. An advanced level of English is required for all activities during the residency.

As every year, the residency will be hosted by the Cultural Port Cetate on the banks of the Danube, where participants have the chance to work on their projects in a peaceful environment and under the guidance of the tutors.

Residents will also have the opportunity to meet Pustnik alumni who have already produced or released their debut films and who can provide feedback on their projects. Besides dedicated writing time, the program also includes common working sessions and screenings of the guests’ own work. In this way, the Pustnik organizers encourage collaboration and the development of a community spirit among international filmmakers.

The participants must be developing the screenplay for their first feature film, which they will perfect during the residency. Eight projects, two from Romania and six from overseas, are selected.

The program is designed for fiction projects only. You can apply with one project; writing duos must apply together. It is allowed to re-apply with a project that has been submitted in the past but has not been selected.

Projects are selected by the co-founders of Pustnik, Andreea Borțun (director and screenwriter) and Bryn Chainey (director and screenwriter, UK/Australia), and will be announced towards the end of May.

“Pustnik began as a residency hosted by screenwriters for screenwriters. For us, it has always been about focusing on the writer’s needs. Good cinema needs time and intimacy to develop, and this has always taken center stage in whatever we do at Pustnik. Our aim is to create an environment that encourages and emboldens upcoming writers whose work we admire,” say co-founders Andreea Borțun and Bryn Chainey.

There are no application or participation fees. For more details, visit the Pustnik website.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.