The Film+ program is dedicated to young filmmakers who have a small budget project for a short or a feature film in the making, and need consultancy and support. Depending on the stage of the project, there are three categories where they can be submitted to:

• Film+ Development – for projects that need guidance and consultancy in script development and preparation for the production stage.;

Entries are open until July 12th, 2019.

• Film+ Production – for projects that need support and consultancy for the filming and production stages, as well as access to physical resources such as film equipment, shooting locations, gathering a whole crew; the maximum length of the submitted films has to be 40 minutes;

The last application date is August 1st, 2019.

• Film+ Work in Progress – for projects that need support and consultancy in the post-production stage, both artistic and technical, such as editing, post-processing, photography, sound, special effects, graphics, as well as access to physical resources (sound studio, image processing, graphics etc.); the maximum length of the submitted films has to be 40 minutes;

Entries are open until August 23rd, 2019.

 Filmmakers can submit their projects regardless of the genre (fiction, animation, documentary, experimental). Film+ offers mentoring provided by industry professionals, specific support based on the development stage of each project, and, of course, networking between the participants and film industry professionals and companies.

The Film+ team is made up of Paul Negoescu (director), Anamaria Antoci (producer), Ana Drăghici (director of photography), Alex Trăila (cinematography and audiovisual consultant). Film+ seeks to help young directors by offering consultancy, masterclasses and workshops with established filmmakers.

To be eligible, projects must not exceed a budget of 30,000 euros (for Production and Work in Progress sections), and for the Development section entries are open for projects that don’t have a source of funding yet. The same participant may submit projects to different sections, but not the same project to more than one section.

And to find out more about Film+, we went straight to the source, Paul Negoescu, one of the co-founders, who answered our questions:

1. Why is Film+ necessary in the Romanian film industry?

Film+ covers the gap between film school (whether it’s institutional or not) and the film industry because it offers to graduates or to filmmakers who are at the beginning of their career the possibility to make their first films on their own, without the help of the Romanian Film Center, but in similar conditions to professional standards. Everybody knows the first steps are the most difficult, especially under the conditions of the Romanian funding system that is based on the points earned from previous productions, so the Film+ program covers exactly this need for the beginners. I should mention that Film+ doesn’t produce, but only supports these productions, so we don’t ask for the rights of the films, they are owned by the authors.

2. What will the participants learn at Film+?

The support Film+ provides to participants consists primarily in consultancy in the three areas of the program: development, production and post-production. In the Development module, participants receive guidance in writing and improving their screenplays, and then learning the first steps in getting them to production, more specifically to find producers (some of them directors, too) and funding. In the Production module, participants are offered support and consultancy on production, cost efficiency, equipment and human resources optimization, also material support, as the case may be. And the Post-production module, dedicated to already shot but unfinished projects, provides the participants with editing and sound design consultancy, as well as logistical support for post-production: colorization, sound mixing, special effects or deliverables. This year, besides the fact that the program has expanded to our neighbors (projects from Moldova, Bulgaria and Serbia will also be eligible now), we will organize a one-week residency in Bucharest where participants will have the opportunity to attend a series of workshops suited to their needs. It will be a kind of film school condensed in a week.

For the 4th edition of Film+, entries are open until July 12th, 2019 (Film+ Development), August 1st, 2019 (Film+ Production), August 23rd, 2019 (Film+ Work in Progress). The guidelines can be accessed here, and to apply click here.

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.