- 12th edition of the Script Fiesta Film Festival at the Elektronik cinema in Warsaw takes place on April 18-21 and includes four days of film screenings, discussion panels and workshops, as well as two screenplay competitions.
- What events are behind us and what are ahead of us? Below, we report on the panels in which Interia's film editorial team has participated so far.
The 12th edition of the Script Fiesta Film Festival takes place from April 18 to 21 in Warsaw at the Elektronik cinema. This event is dedicated to the art of screenwriting. The four days of the festival were filled with thematic panels, film screenings, and meetings with creators and people from the industry. The organizer of the event is the Warsaw Film School.
On the first day, the festival participants welcomed a special guest – Philip LaZebnik, author of scripts for timeless animations such as “Pocahontas” and “Mulan”. The creator conducts screenplay workshops around the world, is a tutor at the Młode Horyzonty Lab script development workshops and conducts individual consultations on the Młode Horyzonty Industry forum. In a conversation with Interia just before the start of Script Fiesta, he admitted that he felt great in the role of a mentor.
“Workshops give me great pleasure. I am an artist myself, so I know that you have to devote a lot of time, concentration and energy to it, but I really like it. First of all, it is very important for me to have contact with younger creators. My mother always “She said you have to have friends who are younger than you. I think it gives you energy and keeps you in touch with the industry,” LaZebnik admitted.
The event “Masterclass with Philip LaZebnik: How were Pocahontas, Mulan and Shrek created?” accompanied by a show of the fairy tale “Pocahontas”. Thematic panels were held on the same day and discussed, among others: how to safely work through your own experiences in the script, or what the actor sees that the screenwriter does not. The guests of the events were: Katarzyna Warnke and Gabriela Muskała.
The opening film of the 12th edition of Script Fiesta was “Imago” directed by Olga Chajdas. Right after the show, there was a panel: “How to turn a real family into a film family?”, in which the “Imago” actors took part – including: Lena Góra and Wacław Warchoł.
The second day of the festival brought more exciting events. Among such diverse and rich panels, it was difficult to choose the most interesting ones. The organizers cannot complain about the turnout – the Elektronik cinema hall is filled to capacity for most events. Below is a report from three selected panels in which we took part.
Script Fiesta includes two script competitions. The jury of the competition for the best written script includes: Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk, Oscar nominees Jerzy Skolimowski and Maciej Ślesicki, Berlinale winner Małgorzata Szumowska, and this year's winner of the Golden Lions, Polityka Passport and Polish Film Orzeł Paweł Maślona, and winners of previous editions of Script Fiesta – Kaja Krawczyk -Wnuk and Tomasz Habowski.
The committee selected three projects that will compete for the award. The winner will be announced during the awards gala on April 21. The final three of the competition included: “Bread and Salt”, scenes. Damian Kocur, “Filip”, stage. Michał Kwieciński, Michał Matejkiewicz and “The Green Border”, stage. Maciej Pisuk, Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko, Agnieszka Holland.
On the second day of the festival, the second of the above-mentioned titles was shown. After the screening, the participants had the opportunity to hear behind the scenes of the creation of the script for the film “Filip”. The host Łukasz Knap, together with the author of the text, as well as the director and producer of the film, Michał Kwieciński, wondered how the curse of adapting Leopold Tyrmand was broken.
“If you saw the first version of the script and the film made according to it, and what you saw today, you wouldn't recognize this film” – revealed Kwieciński, adding: “Tyrmand's novel only describes events, and does not describe psychology, so the first version was about events that are actually here. I slowly began to identify with this character and realized that he was going through much more interesting things than these events, so I started adding my thoughts to this scenario. For example, running around the room. I just started thinking about this character very contemporary. I added a lot of things that were my private thoughts.
Kwieciński also told a story related to the battle for the rights to adapt Tyrmand's book. He also revealed that the author's family was moved when they saw the film.
The second fascinating event in which we had the opportunity to participate was the panel “Script written with a song”, during which Lena Góra, together with composer Wojtek Urbański, music consultant Patrycja Bukowska and host Joanna Rawska, wondered how to add action and characters with the help of music.
An hour was definitely not enough time to tell what it is like to select and compose music for films and TV series. Lena Góra revealed how it was done in the case of “Imago” and “Roving woman”, in which music is of key importance.
“And 'Imago' and 'Roving Woman' stand for uncompromising, honest, important music. It was only possible to do it because so many people want to make films this way and want to listen to it, they help in an incredible way,” she said. In the case of “Imago”, Góra played the main role and co-wrote the script. As for “Roving Woman”, she not only played the main character and worked on the script, but also produced it and took over as the casting director.
The panel particularly focused on music rights used in films and, above all, the costs associated with them.
At the end of the day, the organizers prepared something for the participants Music video night, i.e. a show of 24 Polish clips. People gathered in the hall could vote for the music video with the best script. On Friday evening, Warsaw's Elektronik cinema played songs such as “FIFI HOLLYWOOD” by Daria Zawiałow, “Mori” by Dawid Podsiadło and “BYM POSZEDŁ” by Łona x Konieczny x Krupa.
It must be admitted that such an event, taking place on Friday evening, was a hit – the viewers had a great time!
We are already halfway through this year's Script Fiesta. It is impossible to hide the delight caused by the richness and diversity of events. At times you may regret that you don't have enough time and strength, because each panel is interesting in its own way.
The last day is ahead of us. It is worth taking an interest in, for example, the Proper Medical Writing panel, where the presenters will talk about how to write a healthy script (12.15 p.m.). One of the guests will be Beata Dzianowicz, director and screenwriter of the film “Strrzępy”, which focused on Alzheimer's disease.
On Sunday, there will also be a Respect Energy panel led by Dawid Muszyński. At 4 p.m. the gentlemen will talk about the response of genre cinema to the climate catastrophe. The guests will also include Piotr Biedroń, who directed and wrote the script for last year's film titled “All Hope Is In Them”.
The full schedule can be found on the official Script Fiesta website.