The contemporary film festival
06/06/2025 12:00 PM

10th of June: 10am - 5pm

Short introduction of our guest, Jürgen Brüning and overview of the seminar procedure

Part 1: Survey of student opinions on the topic of "film festivals and producers"
Task: "Knowledge & myths about festivals & film producers"

Part 2: How do film festivals work? 
I: Basics: Film festivals - what do they do with the films? As an example Berlinale. 
II: Myths and facts: How can filmmakers improve their chances, what legal aspects do they need to consider? 
III: Overview of important film festivals 
IV: Strategies for festival exploitation: importance of premieres, visibility of films and success factors, relevant networks.

Part 3: Film screenings as practical examples and final discussion

Screening of short films by students. Discussion after each short film and their festival evaluation with the students.

Lunch break: from 1pm to 2pm

Part 4: What does a producer do?
Part 5: What are pitching markets?
Part 6: Pitching of student film projects:
I: Each student can pitch a selected project (maximum 10 minutes) followed by around of comments and questions by the other students (maximum 10 minutes) followed by comments by Jürgen Brüning (maximum 10 minutes)
At the end of the day the Cinema of Disobedience Manifesto is distributed to the students and the have to read it for the next day.

11th of June: 10am - 5pm

Screening of a production by Jürgen Brüning Filmproduktion
Part 1: The title of the film will only be disclosed to the students just before the screening. After the screening Jürgen Brüning will ask students what they think at what festivals the film has been shown and about the commercial potential and also about the cross-over potential. Then producer J.B. will talk about the creation, festival history and distribution history of the film.

Lunch break 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Part 2: Screening of Klappe by Jürgen Brüning (64 minutes) followed by a Q&A with Jürgen Brüning and Robert Lakatos.

Break: 3pm - 3:15pm
Part 3: Screening of short films by students. After each film there will be a discussion about the film and their festival potential.
Part 4: Discussion about the Cinema of Disobedience Manifesto

Bio: Jürgen Brüning is a Berlin-based film producer, director and curator. Helming projects by queer luminaries like Dennis Cooper, Cheryl Dunye, Thunska Pansittivorakul, G.B. Jones, Shu Lea Cheang, Maria Beatty, Emilie Jouvet, Lior Shamriz, and Ela Troyano, Brüning produced Bruce LaBruce's debut feature, NO SKIN OFF MY ASS and most of the filmmaker's subsequent projects. He has been working as a selection committee member for film festivals like DOK Leipzig, DokArt Festival Neubrandenburg and Ljubljana International Film Festival and is currently a member of the Advisory Selection Committee of the Panorama section at Berlinale. He was programmer at Kino Eiszeit and Media Art Center Hallwalls in Buffalo, N.Y. in the 1980's and also at Kino Arsenal in the 1990's.