Biennale College Cinema has now reached the 10th edition: a strategic programme for training new filmmakers from all around the world, which was already operating in the Dance, Music, Theatre Section of La Biennale di Venezia.
Biennale College fosters new talents, allowing them to work in contact with masters in order to develop new creations.
This is a project of crucial importance and the Cinema Department of La Biennale di Venezia has been revitalized and given a brand new configuration: a program of permanent activities “after and beyond the Festival” with a strong commitment to developing new creative energies channeled into producing art.
The primary goal is to supplement the Venice International Film Festival with an advanced training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget audio-visual works, open to teams of directors and producers from around the world.
The challenge is to be able to create – at the end of a year-long series of activities that cover the entire spectrum of filmmaking including the conception, development, production, marketing, audience engagement, sales and distribution of films – up to 4 feature length micro-budget audio-visual works. Among these, 1 is presented by an Italian team and at least 2 are presented by female directors and they will be world premiered during the Venice International Film Festival and also have an on-line screening on “La Sala Web”, the virtual theatre added to the traditional theatres that house the screenings for the public and pass holders in the Lido.
An essential element of the initiative is the combination of not only training and production finance but also the screening of the completed film at the Venice International Film Festival giving the selected filmmakers much needed visibility – the lack of which is one of the major problems of today’s independent cinema.
Biennale College – Cinema also aims to advance research on micro-budget productions, which have become, in times of economic crisis, one of the few opportunities that new talents have to make the leap into producing and directing full feature films.
In the course of the first nine editions, the first one successfully launched in August 2012, BCC has received more than 2000 applications from all over the world; out of the 131 projects participating in the first development workshops, 44 micro-budget features have been produced: 24 funded by La Biennale di Venezia, each one with € 150.000,00 and premiered at the Venice Film Festival from its 70th edition, 20 produced independently.
The tenth edition comprises two different calls, one Italian and one International. The training activities will be in English and both courses will proceed on the same path from October onwards.
For each call, Biennale College Cinema is looking for feature-length audio-visual concepts that can be made within € 150.000,00 and could be completed, developed, produced, edited and screened at the Venice International Film Festival in 2022.

Biennale College Cinema Italia:
For the fifth year we launch the call specifically dedicated to team of director and producer, both Italian.
Once the submission phase, which will stay open for eight weeks between February and April, is closed, eight micro budget Italian projects will be selected and their teams will be invited to participate in a development workshop in Venice, from July 6th to July, 10th 2021. During these 5 days, international tutors will mentor the teams supporting them through the creative process.
At the end of the workshop, on receipt of updated materials early August, 3 teams will be selected and invited to participate, along with 9 teams selected through the International Call launched in May, in a 10 days development workshop in Venice, in October 2021.
The announcement of the selected projects for the October training will be made during the 78th Venice International Film Festival; from this moment on the two courses of this tenth edition, BCC-Italia and BCC-International, proceed on the same programme.

Biennale College Cinema – International:
The call “BCC10 – International” will be open after the Italian one, starting from May and for six weeks until July.
The call is dedicated to teams of director and producer, from all over the world. Biennale College Cinema will select nine international microbudget projects and their teams will be invited to participate in a 10 day workshop in Venice.

BCC – Italia and BCC – International
The October project development workshop in Venice, attended by the 12 projects includes a public presentation organized at Ca’ Giustinian, La Biennale‘s historical headquarter.
The teams have a further three weeks to work on their projects and deliver a first draft of the script and updated production documents by mid-November 2021. On receipt of these materials the Festival Director will select the Italian project and the international projects attending the next workshops and to be considered to receive the € 150.000,00 grant.
The selected teams will participate in two workshops in December 2021, in Venice, and January 2022, online, focused on script development, pre-production, editing and post production.
Following the January workshop, each team will sign an agreement with La Biennale di Venezia, which will define the obligations of the teams and terms to access the € 150.000,00 grant.
Teams will be expected to deliver updated scripts/script treatments, draft and actualized budgets, and schedule breakdowns to release payments. They will also be required to provide reports on their progress with their tutors.
All films have to be submitted by the 16th of August 2022 in DCP format and subtitled in order to be presented at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.