First Cut Lab Switzerland is a consultancy program designed for two feature films in editing phase from Switzerland. The program is made in collaboration with the Solothurn Film Festival, within its program section dedicated to the filmmaking process called “A l’atelier”, organized with the support of the Story Lab of the Migros Culture Percentage. It is the second time that First Come Lab comes to Solothurn. In 2021 a consultancy program was organized in parallel to the Solothurn Film Festival. The selected projects were Foudre (Carmen Jaquier), Like an Island (Tizian Büchi), A Piece Of Sky (Michael Koch) and Wet Sand (Elene Naveriani), which all had a very successful festival career.
The selected teams (director/producer/editor) are offered a creative framework, both welcoming & challenging, where to open up and to explore new artistic perspectives for their films. They screen their rough cut in a private session, and receive expert feedbacks from three international film industry advisors, as well as tailor-made advice from a consultant editor.
Film teams will be working editor consultant Benjamin Mirguet, with discussions moderated by editorial consultant Wim Vanacker. European Film industry advisors will be defined according to the profiles of the films selected.
Once the workshop is over, they receive a report & a roadmap that can serve as guidance for further editing. Eventually, the ambition of First Cut Lab is to enhance the audience potential of the films.
Submission deadline extended:
9. December 2022
DATES
Extended deadline for submission: 9. December 2022
The workshop will take place in Solothurn (Switzerland) in parallel to the Solothurn Film Festival, from the 20th to the 22nd of January 2023.
The core of the Lab takes place over two consecutive days for each film, preceded by an online preparatory session a week before.
SUBMISSIONS
All applications must include:
– complete application form and video material not less than 30 minutes long. In order to submit your application and the required material, you need to fill out the form.
Please find here below the complete guidelines and detailed info about the submission process.
Applications must be sent to: julie.marnay@firstcutlab.eu
1. GENERAL GUIDELINES
Please note: the extended deadline for submitting a project to First Cut Lab Switzerland 2023 is December 9, 2022.
In order to submit your application and the required material, you need to complete the submission form. All application materials and subtitles should be in English.
2. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Submissions should include: A complete online submission form in English and video material with a minimum duration of 30 minutes and with English subtitles.
The video material submitted can be selected scenes, a first assembly or a rough cut with a minimum duration of 30 minutes.
The video is mandatory to be available via streaming service password protected (e.g. Vimeo). No transfer services or cloud storage is accepted.
Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.
3. SELECTION & ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
The project should be a feature film with international market potential – minimum length of 70 minutes.
First Cut Lab has no specific fixed criteria in terms of content and each project will be considered on its own merits. The main criteria for selection are the artistic & audience potential of the film, corroborated with the specific needs identified by the organizers in each project in regards to the specificity of the First Cut Lab workshop.
Projects should be new or recent. Projects should not have been presented at any public screenings. The project can be in different stages of post-production, though it is highly recommended to be in early editing phase. The project should have a director and/or majority producer from Switzerland.
4. SPECIFIC CONDITIONS
Once a project has been selected, both director and producer should be available during the days of the Lab. The presence of the editor is recommended, but not compulsory.
Finished films that participated in First Cut Lab should mention First Cut Lab and display its logo in their credits. The following sentence should be mentioned in the credit list: “This project participated in First Cut Lab Switzerland 2023” together with the First Cut Lab logo and Solothurn Film Festival logo.
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