The Tallinn Lab of the 9th European Genre Forum, a training programme boosting the careers of future European players in the genre film industry, took a close look at the marketing and packaging of film projects, and presented eight genre film projects.
According to Karlo Funk, the head of Tallinn Lab of European Genre Forum, several successful film projects have started their development in the forum. “In the last few years, we have witnessed the premiers of our alumni in various high-profile film festivals - “Hatching” by Hanna Bergholm was presented in Sundance 2022 and more recently, “You’re not Me” by Moises Romero and Marisa Crespo at Fantastic Fest in Austin. We are happy to observe the growing presence of female directors in genre cinema.“
During the 9 editions, the forum has seen growing interest in the projects of emerging filmmakers. This year’s selection was versatile, including films from science fiction to eco-horror and magical realism. Themes and styles of graphic novels are gradually more present in films.
The Tallinn Lab of the forum strongly focuses on marketing and packaging. In addition to events designed only for European Genre Forum participants, the programme also hosted an open workshop taking a close look at writing for games.
The European Genre Forum, organized by the collaborative efforts of the Black Nights Film Festival, Imagine Fantastic Film Festival, and Fantastic Zagreb Film Festival consists of three talent labs. These labs provide a wide selection of trainings, panel discussions, mentorship opportunities, and pitching sessions. The Screenwriting and Directing Lab, hosted by Fantastic Zagreb, is dedicated to script development and other artistic aspects of film projects. The Producing Lab, organized by Imagine Fantastic Film Festival, focuses on the business aspects of the industry, covering co-production and legal considerations among other topics. Finally, the Marketing and Packaging Lab, hosted by the Black Nights Film Festival, takes a dive into marketing and packaging.
During these three talent labs, up to eight chosen film projects will be able to discuss their ideas with script consultants, learn about the different aspects of (co-) production, sales and packaging from Industry professionals. Mentoring sessions with established genre filmmakers, crowd funders, legal experts and case studies of recent, successful films complete the programme.