The organizing committee of the Belarusian Filmmakers’ Network (BFN) has finalized the program of the upcoming convention of Belarusian independent filmmakers. The event will be held in a BarCamp format from August 18 to 20 in Warsaw, Poland.

Krzysztof Zanussi, a world-renowned filmmaker, will take part in the BarCamp. On the opening day, he will conduct a master class entitled “From Amateur Short Films to Cannes and Venice”.

Maksim Zhbankou, a Belarusian culture expert and film critic, will host the panel discussions “Is It The Cinema’s Death Or Afterlife? How To Make Films Today” and “Nomads Against The System: Mobile Art Activism Or The National Industry?”.

At the organizational platform, the representatives of BFN, the Belarusian Independent Film Academy (BIFA), Belarusian production companies, specialized media about cinema, and 3D content creators will talk about the opportunities for filmmakers.

The speakers of the conceptual platform will cover the topics of the past, present, and future of the Belarusian cinema, its problems and the ways of addressing them, possible models of the Belarusian “new wave”, funds and resources, and the shape of a new Belarusian cinema aesthetics.

The film program of the show-and-taste platform includes documentaries, animation, feature films, and video art. Comfortable Guy by Arseniy Aleinik; ChinChins Overflew Like Cuckoos and the pilot Overstaying of the anthology Processes by Andrey Kashpersky; The Cat and Shirey Mara by Nata Korneyeva; 23.34 by Tanya Svirepa, and The Wave Of Life are among them.

Participants in the industrial platform will learn to make micro-budget films, integrate into an international context, and promote their films globally.

Leonid Kalitenya, Manager of BarCamp 2023, comments: “Already at the event’s planning stage, the BarCamp format proves horizontal communication to be efficient. We’ve put numerous proposals from the participants on the agenda. We’ve also left some free slots to implement the filmmakers' ideas "on the spot" as the most original concepts are born in the process of interaction and emotion sharing. A start towards creating a unified strategy for Belarusian cinema has been definitely made”.

Photo by ChrisMurray