The Women in Cinema Romanian Association (ARFC) launches the call for projects for the 2021 FemArt Residency, dedicated to female filmmakers at the beginning of their career. The call is open to Romanian or Romanian-based film school graduates, who so far either wrote, made or produced at least one short film and are currently in the development stage with their first or second feature film.

It’s the first edition where screenwriters or film producers are also accepted, and not just directors.

Applicants must submit a draft or a treatment of minimum 12 pages for a feature film. The selection criteria shall include their previous films, the contemporary relevance of the project theme, the originality, potential and quality of the script. Five participants will be selected.

This year’s theme focuses on films that propose “innovative forms or within the fantasy genre, and which represent a first step in setting a platform for the formal development of genres and cinematic language.”

The participants will be announced in August, and the residency will take place between October 4-9, meaning 1 week of intensive work on the development of the selected projects under the guidance of important Romanian and international filmmakers. The program also includes workshops and film screenings.

Three awards will be offered at the end of the residency: a cash prize worth €1750, a grant consisting of script consultancy services, and a grant to participate in an international co-production platform.

The programme is part of another project of the association – FemArt Film Fest, dedicated to women in the film industry, now at its fourth edition. According to Anamaria Antoci, film producer and member of the ARFC board, one of the reasons why such an initiative is necessary is that: “There are many female filmmakers, screenwriters or directors who have projects in early stages and would like to share them with the public eventually, but they may feel vulnerable or unprepared yet, so if they see people or organizations that are open to supporting them, they may find courage to take a step forward and develop their ideas into becoming a film.”

The call for the FemArt Residency is open until June 30, 2021. For more details and the latest news, visit the ARFC page.

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.