The six-day Berlinale Talent Campus is a creative academy and networking platform for 350 up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world, aimed at Directors, Screenwriters, Actors, Cinematographers, Producers, Editors, Sound Designers, Composers, Production Designers and Film Critics.
Its theme for 2011: Filmmakers positioning themselves in today’s world of cinema.
One of the six applicants from India selected:
Shakeel Mohammed
Scriptwriter, Kolkata
When I was accepted for the sister Berlinale Talent Campus held at the Osian’s film festival in Delhi in 2008, I realised how rejuvenating and inspiring workshops and lectures are for an aspiring filmmaker. Attending Paul Schrader's workshop in 2008 was an eye-opener in terms of scriptwriting. It helped me greatly in writing the script of my diploma film, Doyam (Participant at IMAGINEINDIA FILM FESTIVAL), during my course at Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Film Institute (SRFTI). For the following two years I have been applying to the Talent Campus. In my application, I submitted segments of the feature film script titled The Ghost of my Father, which I am currently writing - it was short-listed for the Hubert Bals Fund in 2010.
I was born and brought up in Chhattisgarh (in central India), and studied for my BA there. I did not have many friends as a child. I enjoyed reading books and later watching films. By the time I was in my 12th standard I had made up my mind to pursue filmmaking as a career. I wrote to Pune's Film and Television Institute and also to Kolkata's Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) for admission and came to know that one has to be a graduate to apply. So for the next three years I watched one film every day and did my graduation in English Literature. Attending SRFTI was the best thing that happened to me - a great learning experience. Film school is a place where you get complete freedom and a chance to interact with many different types of people. The greatest boon the Institute offered me was that I got to make films. There is no other way to learn filmmaking. I am now looking forward to attending the real event at the Berlin Talent Campus. I hope to reap the benefits of sharing knowledge and experiences with the veterans and the greats and also my fellow filmmakers.
