First Cut Lab Trieste is a consultancy program designed for feature films in the editing phase. In January 2024, First Cut Lab will celebrate the 10th edition of its founding program, launched in cooperation with When East Meets West in 2015.
For this 10th anniversary edition, a sympolic focus will be put on Ukrainian cinema, one of the focus countries of this year’s When East Meets West. Moreover, First Cut Lab has experienced some of its most fruitful moments with Ukrainian filmmakers. From When The Trees Fall by Marysia Nikituk workshopped in Trieste in 2017 to Stepne by Maryna Vroda that will be part of Trieste Film Festival competition 2024, a dozen of Ukrainian films have been taking part in our Lab.
First Cut Lab Trieste 2024 offers the selected teams (director/producer/editor) a creative framework, both challenging and protective, where to open up new perspectives and to explore the whole artistic potential of 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.
Consultant and industry advisors will be defined according to the profiles of the film selected. An overview of regular consultants of First Cut Lab can be found here: http://firstcutlab.eu/people/
Once the workshop is over, the participants 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 opportunities of the films.
Submission deadline:
5 December 2023
DATES
Deadline for submission: December 5, 2023
The program will take place in Trieste, and each film will be workshopped within the period January 22-25, 2024.
Each film is accompanied by First Cut Lab for a period of roughly 6 weeks (from the 15th of December 2023 to the 30th of January 2024), even though the core of the Lab takes place over three consecutive days.
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 deadline for submitting a project to First Cut Lab Trieste 2024 is December 5, 2023.
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.
3. SELECTION & ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
The project should be a first or second 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 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 majority producer from Ukraine.
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 Trieste 2024” together with the the First Cut Lab and the When East Meets West logo.
Partner: