European film festival network Moving Images – Open Borders (MIOB) launched the third edition of the LAB of Cultural, Creative and Festival Journalism, a workshop for young cultural and film journalists and critics. This year's participants gain new skills during the online training and on-site training at the network's festivals European Film Forum Scanorama (Lithuania), Les Arcs Film Festival (France), Trieste Film Festival (Italy) and Seville European Film Festival (Spain).
The third edition of the Lab focuses more on film criticism theory and practice. 24 young film critics and journalists were selected through a competition of 90 young applicants. On November 6 and 7, they attended a two-day series of online lectures on the basics of film journalism, film criticism, video journalism, working in film festivals and building international cultural relations within the film festival network conducted by dr. Janet Harris, senior lecturer at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Vladan Petkovic, correspondent at Screen International, senior writer at Cineuropa, Neil Young, a film critic and curator and Ana Stanic, head of video department at Cineuropa. Afterward, the participants further their practical skills at Scanorama, Les Arcs, Trieste and Seville international film festivals.
The first MIOB Network workshop at Scanorama in Vilnius, Lithuania on November 9 - 14 was led by British film critic, curator, film festival programmer and international jury member Neil Young. The participants at Scanorama were young journalists and film critics Levan Tskhovrebadze (Georgia), Anastasiya Stoeva (Bulgaria), Lucija Furač (Croatia), Gijs Suy (Netherlands), Rahele Magdalena Jung (Germany) and Marlene Penn (Austria). You may find their reviews at the website's press area press area as well as the network’s Facebook page Facebook page
The schedule included daily theory workshops, joint film screenings and personal festival attendance, reviewing and reporting. The Lab participants at the Scanorama were watching the opening film Cannes Best Director winner Tran Anh Hung's The Pot-au-Feu, attended Lithuanian premieres, retrospective program, this year dedicated to the TV works by acclaimed film directors and competition programs.
November 23 - 29 the second group conducted their practical training in the 20th edition of the Seville European Film Festival, led by Spanish journalist Alfonso Rivera. Young professionals selected for practical training in Spain were Lucía Villalba Pérez, Álvaro Dionisio, Susana Alba, Marina Redondo, Marina Selene, Rojo Pérez, Raquel Ibáñez Monforte. You may find their reviews and reports here.
Practical training at the Les Arcs International Film Festival on December 16 - 20 and Trieste Film Festival is being conducted by the film critic and journalist Vladan Petkovic.
