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Crossing the borders. Summer Masterclass
The Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, the Film School in Lodz (PWSFTviT ) and Film Spring Open Foundation have joined their efforts and expertise to create a joint project across the borders.
The result of this cooperation is The Summer Masterclass during which students from both of the film schools will produce a film using Cinebus, a mobile film studio provided by our Foundation. Cinebus will park in the historic city centre (Übersicht Marienplatz) of Görlitz, a town in the German state of Saxony. It lies opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec. Regardless of their turbulent history, today Görlitz and Zgorzelec, two towns on opposite banks of the river, get along very well. The bridges over the river have been rebuilt and the cooperation between the two cities resulted in renaming Görlitz the City of Culture.
In such a symbolic location, from the 30th of July till the 11th of August, German and Polish young filmmakers will work on a joint project.
This is not the first film adventure for Görlitz. Due to its historical architecture the city has a great potential as a shooting location and it was used as the primary location for Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel. It was also used as the location in the movie-in-a-movie Pride of the Nation for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, The Book Thief, The Reader and the first German 3D film Die Vermessung der Welt.
– In Görlitz/Zgorzelec border towns physically linked by bridges we can promote building a metaphorical bridge between cultures and encourage exploring subjects that trigger the process of community thinking. And it must not be done in the serious way. Let us try to focused on a common objective – truly European audiovisual project/s – exlpains the idea of the project Prof. Slawomir Idziak not as cinematographer but educator, founder of our Foundation, a Visiting Professor at Filmuniversität Babelsberg and spiritus movens of the creation of the Cinebus.

Cinebus and the new model of film production are the answers to the ineffective and outdated film production system which has not adapted to the radical advancement of technology. The new model proposed by our Foundation includes all main rules of modern industry, which for many reasons are overlooked and absent in today’s film production: risk control (risk management), flexible production (agile manufacturing), management and production (lean manufacturing).
More detailed insight into these issues can be found in the essay by Prof. Idziak: How to make films cheaper and better .
Cinebus provides production and post-production services which allow to produce a small-scale feature film from scratch to a final DCP. Students participating in the Summer Masterclass in Görlitz will have a great opportunity to use all of its functionalities in practice.

With the Cinebus, the location becomes a production location: a wonderful form of contemporary dialogue. The Cinebus and the participating film students are clearly visible in the respective public and produce a direct effect. The Cinebus project combines in a fascinating way the tradition of the medieval artists of the traveling people with the high-end cinema production – says Prof. Peter Badel, the Cinematography faculty at Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf.
Thanks to Cinebus, young filmmakers will be able to implement the rules of the new production model on their filming set. The point of departure for their films and the motto of the entire project is “crossing the borders”. Young filmmakers will interpret the motto in a few or one short film, depending on their choice. They can film, do post-production and then screen the produced material everyday, which will allow to introduce changes and improvements when still on the set. Cinebus is a great tool of the new production model and allows cheaper film production, therefore being a great chance for young debuting filmmakers to start their career.
We are convinced that sustainable development and economical solutions are the future of film production – underlines the importance of these solutions Prof. Badel.
Prof. Badel, together with Prof. Zbigniew Wichłacz from PWSFTviT in Lodz and Prof. Idziak as well as Dr Veit Quack are responsible for this wonderful idea of the Summer Masterclass and its implementation.
Following the tradition of painters’ en plein air, our Summer Master Class will be en plein air for young German and Polish students – filmmakers to give them the opportunity to network, socialize, relax, get inspired and at the same time make a film or films – says Prof. Slawomir Idziak.
Similar idea of „en plein air”; however, on a huge scale is being implemented each year during international and interdisciplinary Film Spring Workshop organized once a year by our Foundation. The 13th edition of our workshop will take place in Krakow, Poland, 17-26 of October, 2018 and like every year there will be also the space for exchange of ideas and looking for new solutions regarding modern film production. Please feel invited to join us this year!
More on Cinebus and new production model
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