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Revision as of 11:59, 25 February 2009

NISI MASA is a European network of associations, currently present in 19 countries. It was created in 2001 and 7 years later, the number of countries in the network has increased to 19 (now including both EU states and neighbouring states such as Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Turkey and Russia) and currently there are 20 member associations with around 1000 individual members.

The non-profit organisation is supported, amongst others, by the European Union (Youth, Civil Society & MEDIA Programmes), the Council of Europe, the European Cultural Foundation, the Allianz Cultural Foundation, Fondation de France and the French Ministry of Youth, Sports and Associative Life.

NISI MASA’s main aims are to discover new film talents, to develop cross-cultural audiovisual projects, to foster European awareness through cinema and to create a platform of discussion and collaboration for young European filmmakers.

The logo of NISI MASA
The logo of NISI MASA

NISI MASA undertakes different kinds of projects, including an annual European Short Film Script Contest, filmmaking and scriptwriting workshops, screenings, cinema-related meetings (conferences, seminars, etc.) and publications (books, a monthly newsletter and also a daily magazine produced during several film festivals - most recently, the Cannes Film Festival).

Each project is organised by one or several member associations. All activities are coordinated by a central European Secretariat, based in Paris, France.

Origins

NISI MASA was founded in 2001 by three film enthusiast friends who wanted to create a Europe-wide platform for cooperation between young filmmakers. 7 years on, the number of countries in the network has increased to 19 (now including both EU states and neighbouring states such as Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Turkey and Russia) and currently there are 20 member associations with around 1000 individual members.

The name ‘NISI MASA’ is a reference to the film 8 ½ by Frederico Fellini, in which Marcello Mastroianni repeats the phrase Asa Nisi Masa. The film, a European cinema classic, and the sentence, an incantation belonging to no specific language, both reflect the cinematic and cross-border spirit of the network.

Main Activities

NISI MASA is a network of young cinema. At the centre of their activities is audiovisual work across Europe, with a strong emphasis on intercultural exchange. Meetings and workshops take place regularly throughout the year both within the European Union and its bordering countries, often in cooperation with international film festivals.

Script Contest

In order to discover new film talents, the association holds an annual European Short Film Script Contest and assists the awarded scripts in production and distribution. Young people aged between 18 and 28 from all network countries can participate by writing a script on a specific theme, which changes each year. The prize for the awarded scripts is support for the production of their short films. Since 2002, thousands of young scriptwriters have participated in the contest. A dozen short films have already been made with the support of NISI MASA. In 2008 the theme of the contest is Escape. The rules of the contest and more information can be found on the official website: http://www.nisimasa-scriptcontest.eu.

Filmmaking & Scriptwriting workshops

One of the main activities of NISI MASA is to develop cross-cultural audiovisual projects and scriptwriting workshops. In the scriptwriting workshops participants from all over Europe discuss their scripts, rewrite, and learn to promote their ideas on a European level. Supported by international tutors and trainers young Europeans hold collective brainstormings, work in groups or individually with professional tutors hence receiving various feedbacks for their scripts. Recent filmmaking workshops have consisted largely of explorations of the cities in which they take place, usually following a specific theme. In order to benefit from different cultural perceptions, the participants of these workshops come from different countries to work together in a short but intensive period.

Some recent examples of NISI MASA filmmaking and scriptwriting workshops:

Visions of Istanbul: In April 2007 eight groups of young people from all over Europe came to film Istanbul from their own points of view - discovering a city which is at the crossroad of civilisations. The aim was to gain a deeper understanding of Turkish life and customs. The films were screened during the famous International Istanbul Film Festival. The idea came from a similar project that NISI MASA had previously organised in 2006 – ’20 Visions of Paris’.

Snow Workshop: In November 2007 another filmmaking workshop took place in Turkey, more precisely in Kars, a city in the far-east of the country. Nobel prize-winning writer Orhan Pamuk was inspired by this place to write his novel Snow (novel), which was the starting point of this workshop. Ten selected young Europeans were invited to shoot short films, having read the book beforehand. The idea was to show in which way Pamuk’s book influenced the filmmaker’s perceptions of Kars. The workshop took place in partnership with the 13th Festival of European Films on Wheels.

Cine-Train: 18 young filmmakers will go for a trip on the mythic Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok in September 2008. In collaboration with its Russian member association Moviement, NISI MASA will bring up-to-date a unique working method, invented by Russian documentary filmmakers in the 1930s: film crews, under the guidance of Aleksandr Medvedkin, used to travel through the Soviet Union in specially equipped wagons. In 2008 there will be 6 shooting crews and the theme of the project, Did we just cross the European border, will be checked constantly during the 9,302 km of the mythic railroad track. The documentary films will then be screened at the 6th Vladivostok International Film Festival.

Script&Pitch: Organised in cooperation with the Scuola Holden (Torino, Italy) Script&Pitch is an advanced script-writing and development course for scriptwriters and story editors of cinema and TV movies. It was founded in 2005. For the third edition in 2008, 20 participants from all over Europe (16 scriptwriters and 4 story editors) are following the whole scriptwriting process: from the generating of ideas and structuring of the material through a first and second draft up to a final pitch in front of invited producers and sales agents.

European Short Pitch: Initiated by NISI MASA, European Short Pitch is the continuation of a scriptwriting workshop held for the finalists of its European Script Contest since 2004. It aims to develop a European production of short films through promotion of projects starting from the phase of writing, by meetings between scriptwriters, directors and producers on the European level. It combines a 5-day scriptwriting workshop in residency (Moulin d'Andé, Normandy) and a pitching session during the most important short film festival in Europe (Festival International du Court Métrage Clermont-Ferrand).

Publications

NISIMAZINE is a monthly network newsletter focusing on trends in the European Cinema Industry and news concerning NISI MASA members and young European filmmakers in general.

NISI MASA has also been publishing special daily editions of NISIMAZINE during several film festivals, in the framework of film journalism workshops for young European film critics:

  • Cannes Film Festival, France (May 2006/2007/2008)
  • Torino Film Festival, Italy (November 2007/2008)
  • DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival, Finland (January 2008)
  • Alba International Film Festival, Italy (March 2008)
  • Cinéma Verité – Iran Documentary Film Festival, Tehran (October 2008)
  • IDFA – International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam]], The Netherlands (November 2008)
  • Festival of European Films on Wheels, Kars, Turkey (November 2008)

Balkans Identities, Balkan Cinemas: This printed publication is a follow-up of a youth seminar organised in cooperation with Art Group Haide in March 2006, in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. It gathered 25 young participants from 8 Balkan countries and some other European countries. The seminar dealt with the social impact of cinema. Through different workshops and role-playing games, participants explored the question: Which are the common cinema images for Balkan countries The texts contained in this book are a result of the debates which took place during this week-long event.

Human Rights & Visual Culture’ E-Book: This E-Book is the online follow-up of the “Human Rights and Audiovisual Culture” seminar which took place in November 2006 in Ankara (Turkey) alongside the 11th Festival of European Films on Wheels. It was organised by the member association NISI MASA Turkey and NISI MASA. Around 30 youngsters from different European Countries participated.

NISI MASA also regularly releases DVD compilations of European short films – including both workshop videos and productions of our script contest winners.

Support

The non-profit organisation is supported, amongst others, by the European Union (Youth, Civil Society & MEDIA Programmes), the Council of Europe, the European Cultural Foundation, the Allianz Cultural Foundation and the Fondation de France.

The 20 member associations of NISI MASA

External links

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