FEST Pitching Forum is a unique opportunity for upcoming filmmakers to pitch their projects to top industry producers, financiers, fund managers and investors. In a 5 minute pitch, each participant will have the chance to unravel their project, in whatever way seems more appropriate. FEST Pitching Forum 2016 will take place in Espinho, Portugal, at the Biblioteca Municipal José Marmelo e Silva, on June 25th and 26th 2016. In past years we’ve had over 60 projects being pitched, from all over the world. We had participants coming in from coming Hong Kong and India, from the United Kingdom and Italy, from Belgium and Germany, from the United States and Romania, and, of course, from Portugal, among many other countries. FEST Pitching Forum welcomes the following film categories: Feature Film; Short Film; Documentary and TV Series. One session will be held for each category. But there are limited places, therefore there will be a pre-selection. Only 7 projects projects will be selected for each session – in a total of 28 projects. As part of the FEST Pitching forum there will be a section for training and the Forum itself. The 28 selected scriptwriters, writer-directors and producers will be able to take part in a 3-day training-program, in preparation for the big event. On the pitching sessions, participants will pitch their film projects in front of a panel of 44 experts divided into the above mentioned 4 sessions: – Feature Film – Short Film – Documentary – TV Series At the end of each pitch, there will be 10 minutes for feedback and discussion with the experts. At the end of FEST Pitching Forum, each participant will partake in an exclusive meeting with all the experts, for more private feedback and counselling about their project. AWARDS Each of the 4 sessions will have immediate awards at FEST Pitching Forum. The most valued projects will have the opportunity to be tutored and helped in their development by one of the experts, who will support the project get to a new level, otherwise hard to achieve. The list of awards is the following: 1st Place – 3 months tutoring and project development by an Expert. 2nd Place – A weekend training at a FEST FILM LAB Workshop of their choosing. (www.filmlab.fest.pt/2015) There is much more to be gained in addition to the immediate awards at FEST – Pitching Forum. Firstly, each member of the panel of experts can select projects that they would like to develop/ tutor/ finance/ produce. If your project doesn’t win any of the immediate awards, or isn’t selected individually by any of the experts present to be developed/ tutored/ financed/ produced, there is still something extremely valuable you will take home: The feedback from some of the most experienced professionals in the film industry. This will be given to you immediately after your pitch, and privately at the end of the session. This will be constructive feedback that will help you to significantly improve your project, and will stay with you for the coming years. Regular Submissions are open from October 28th 2015 until March 21st 2016. Good luck! For further information, please contact: pitching@fest.pt
