Pustnik Residence, the only Romanian initiative of this kind, seeks to create a space for writing screenplays. Accommodation, meals and travel costs from Bucharest to Cetate Cultural Port are covered by Pustnik so that the participants can spend all their time developing their projects under the guidance of the residency’s special guests, surrounded by nature and encouraged to listen and learn from the experiences of others.

For nine days, eight selected filmmakers (three from Romania and five from abroad) will have the opportunity to develop their scripts within the Residence. To be eligible, the participants must be on their first or second feature and have already written the script for at least one short film or for a feature that was presented at a well-known international festival. Fiction projects at different stages of development are expected.

The Residence’s curators are Andreea Borţun (screenwriter and director, Romania) and Bryn Chainey (screenwriter and director, Great Britain / Australia), co-founders of the Pustnik program. And for the 5th edition, internationally renowned producers, screenwriters and filmmakers will join Pustnik Residence as special guests, and will hold tutorial sessions, masterclasses, roundtables and discussions on co-production opportunities with Romania.

Among them will be Soudade Kaadan, Syrian filmmaker who won the Award for Best Debut Film at the Venice International Film Festival in 2018 (The Day I Lost My Shadow) and the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2019 (Aziza), and Laurence Coriat, screenwriter of Wonderland (directed by Michael Winterbottom), selected for the 1999 Cannes competition and winner of the Best British Independent Film Award. She is also the co-screenwriter of Me Without You, presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2001, and she collaborated once again with Michael Winterbottom on A Mighty Heart.

About the projects they expect, Andreea Borţun and Bryn Chainey say that they look for “passion and sincerity, stories told by people who love people and films”, but also for different personalities that are reflected in the work of screenwriters. “We want to see that the project has something urgent, personal and unique. It should be obvious that the project is worth watching and that there is only one person who can write it. “(Bryn Chainey).

About Pustnik Residence,  Bryn says: “For me it’s become a yearly opportunity to realign with what matters: the joy of quiet time and the thrill of writing.”, and Andreea: “A place where I get lost in order to pull myself together again. At Cetate, the venue of the residency, I find clarity and time for my writing, but also for myself.”

The deadline for entries at Pustnik Residence is April 22nd, 2019. Residency training will take place between September 2nd-10th, 2019. Submit your project here, and visit the Pustnik website and the Facebook page to find out more about the residency.

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.