The idea competition Your Ciné, held for the third time, invites BIPOC artists to refine their film and TV series ideas together with mentors. The competition will take place on May 30-31, 2024 (workshop), and on August 23, 2024 (pitching contest).
The idea competition Your Ciné, meant for early-career filmmakers, is back again! Started in 2022, the competition is an initiative by Espoo Ciné towards a more diverse cinema, hence targeted at underrepresented minorities; those whose voices are not yet sufficiently visible on the screens due to norms and structures. The competition is open to students as well as emerging makers whose works have not been previously published. In 2024, the competition is aimed at BIPOC filmmakers.
An expert panel assembled by the Writers Guild of Finland (Sunklo) will select approximately ten finalists from the submitted ideas, whose writers will be invited to participate in the competition workshop. The workshop will take place on May 30-31, 2024, in the Helsinki metropolitan area. During the workshop days, the finalists will meet the competition mentors, receive training in storytelling, and develop their idea with one selected mentor. With the assistance of mentors, competitors will craft short pitches from their ideas, which will be presented to all mentors on the second workshop day. The language of the workshop is Finnish and/or English depending on the participants.
The competition culminates in a pitching contest on the opening day of Espoo Ciné on Friday, August 23, 2024, and the final winner will be chosen by a jury of professionals. The selection criteria include the originality of the idea, production feasibility, dramaturgical structure, and emotional impact. The winner will be awarded a prize of €2,500 at the opening screening of Espoo Ciné.
The application for the competition closed on April 19, 2024. Those selected for the workshop will be notified by May 3, 2024.
In previous years, the winners of the Your Ciné competition were Maaret Louhelainen and Pinja Eskola. You can read about Louhelainen's thoughts on the competition here and Eskola's here.
For more information, please contact Emma Vuorinen, Head of Production:
emma@espoocine.fi
Picture from last year's competition. Photo: Anna Hallikainen
