Script Pool competition, a part of Discovery Campus educational program, takes place for the sixth time this year. The programe highlights five promising international projects and the team behind them - director, scriptwriter, and producer. It is time to get to know more about the people behind the magical film projects!
To introduce th talents, we have asked a number of Script Pool participants to fill in Q&As. Read the short interviews to find out about the current projects and what kind of superpowers would they choose for themselves!
How would your best friend describe you? Rational and calm.
What are you working on right now? I'm working on putting together a diverse slate of projects for the next few years, mainly fiction (features and shows) - but not leaving documentaries aside.
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? Celine Sciamma.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? Positioning my company and creating a solid production project now with feature films as I did with short films, which is a challenge due to the systemic underrepresentation of independent producers in Spain.
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? Sharing our project and receiving feedback from the other participants and attendees. Also, getting to know other projects and peers to forge future partnerships.
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? Anything that feels true.
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? I have a hard time choosing between being able to stop time or teleport.
How would your best friend describe you? I’ve just asked him and he said like an only child. I don't know what he means, but I think it isn't good…
What are you working on right now (project, studies)? I work writing and directing podcasts. I'm taking acting lessons. And I'm also writing another film at the Film Academy Residencies.
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? I love working with my co-writer. He's my dream collaboration. I hope he’s alive, because having talks every day with a dead person would be creepy… If Alejandro were to die I think I would like to collaborate with Miranda July.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? Speaking in English for more than five minutes at a time :(
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? I want to discover if a feature film so local and personal like mine could be moved for people from another place of the world.
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? Luckily, I sleep like a log. But if you ask me for a book that blew my mind I would say Cara de Pan by Sara Mesa.
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? Being a polyglot.
How would your best friend describe you? Strongly opinionated and unnecessarily sarcastic at times, yet caring and compassionate.
What are you working on right now? My main focus at the moment is on developing the slate of projects we have in the works at Stellar Film and searching for fresh ideas and authors.
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? Tove Jansson.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? Deciding that filmmaking truly is what I want to do with my life and not looking back.
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? I am very excited to present Rise of the Water Fox, a coming-of-age film for all ages, at Script Pool.
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? Most recently, I sacrificed several hours to Fredrik Backman's Beartown, a book that rips your heart out and then carefully glues it back together, leaving one small piece lying somewhere on the floor.
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? Elastigirl's powers to complement my all-over-the-place mind.
How would your best friend describe you? Hopefully kind, fun and passionate. But if you ask my best friends they will probably give sarcastic responses. So, fingers crossed.
What are you working on right now? I’m working on my first-feature film which is also a part of the Script Pool at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event.
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? Oh, man… There are so many but I’m gonna go with Emmanuel Lubezki and Jonny Greenwood for this one.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? That I have to juggle so many things and wear different hats while making films from writing to producing and even to distributing… But that is also what makes the journey so fun, rich and vivid.
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? I’m looking forward to meeting all the new amazing people! You never know who you’re going to collaborate with next. And I’m terrified of the winter swimming but still bringing my swimsuit.
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? Most recently, What Happened Was... (1994) by Tom Noonan.
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? Flying would be great, thank you.
How would your best friend describe you? A hardcore cinephile and walking film encyclopaedia.
What are you working on right now? Various documentary and fiction film projects as producer, here on the feature drama What Remains by Léon Yersin.
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? Alive: Charlotte Wells or Aleksandre Koberidze. Dead: John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? Every project has its own challenges, that’s what makes our job so exciting. Luckily, I’ve never been in a situation I would describe as the biggest challenge ever in retrospect.
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? To meet some exciting new people and hopefully catch some great films in cinema.
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? Andy Warhol’s Sleep? On a more serious note, Trust by Hal Hartley is a film I could watch on loop and The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño a book I could read over and over again.
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? To have unlimited time in order to watch even more films…?
How would your best friend describe you? I think it is something like a hyperactive emotional fluff, cancer boy. I think that means that I am emotional, but also stubborn but caring… and constantly doing something.
What are you working on right now? Right now I am in the 3rd year of my PhD in artistic research and working on my first feature (at Script Pool) script and making my second feature documentary while exploring other ideas for films or performances.
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? I feel some kind of kinship with Emily Dickinson, like we could understand some things in a similar way. Her or maybe Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? There are many. The constant need to produce to be deemed 'worthy' by a heartless industry that is focused on money making, like the constant pressure to be 'successful' and make 'successful' pieces. It is exhausting and pointless. I think the unavoidable capitalist reality of the system invites us to burnout to 'achieve' too. I guess then it is mental health and the unstable existence of a filmmaker.
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? It is always the people. Sharing and knowing other ideas while widening the connections. To learn and hear from different experiences. People are always more interesting than the things we talk about.
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? These are constantly changing. Women as Lovers by Elfriede Jelinek left deep cracks in my heart. Ocean Vuong's poetry stays with me, and comes back, like waves. And some in the film world I'd say Hale County This morning, This Evening and Women Talking are with me.
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? I can try to imagine answers, but it has always been spider powers, like Spider Man. They seem like a lot of fun.
How would your best friend describe you? My best friend was way too kind with her words to the extent that it would seem completely unbelievable and annoying for a stranger to read, so to conclude her words - I’m incredibly giving and honest.
What are you working on right now? In addition to co-writing Rise of the Water Fox (Stellar), I am currently preparing for my directorial debut with a short film called Stiina that will be shot in the upcoming spring (Nafta Films), alongside a TV documentary about sugar relationships and an autobiographical feature that has received all of the national development funding and is waiting on the backburner for its turn.
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? Jim Jarmusch and/or Ken Loach.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? The realisation of the importance of social media presence and a fear of parasocial relationships.
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? I am looking forward to sharing ideas and meeting awesome projects and faces behind them.
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? Let the Right One In (2008).
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? I’d be a vampire.
How would your best friend describe you? Curious, open-minded. Sometimes a little bit stubborn but always dedicated and loyal.
What are you working on right now? I am developing my first feature film titled What Remains.
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? Stanley Kubrick.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? Finding the right balance between creativity and efficacy.
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? Sharing experiences with the other filmmakers, meeting new potential collaborators for my project and expanding my network.
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? Kairo by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? To be able to fly.
How would your best friend describe you? Confused and smiling all the time :)
What are you working on right now? Debut feature film development, development of 2 TV series
Who would your dream collab be, dead or alive? Vittorio Storaro, legendary Italian cinematographer
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an audiovisual professional so far? Balancing between production and directing
What are you looking forward to the most at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event? Drinking :) Kidding, of course, meeting and networking with potential partners and connecting to new collaborators, and I love the atmosphere of the festival in general!
What is a film (or book) which keeps you up all night? Valery and Her Week of Wonders, horror coming of age fairytale from 1970 by Jaromil Jireš, Czech. This film influenced me as a filmmaker
If you could have one superpower, then what would you choose? Flying
Check out all the Script Pool participants
Read more about Script Pool
Learn about Script Pool projects
Do not miss the pitching of Script Pool projects on 16 November at 14.15(EET)!