In Progress MFN: Call for proposals for a laboratory dedicated to the productive development of projects – Deadline: March 1st

Milano Film Network has decided to renew its support for young Italian authors in 2022 and confirm its commitment to accompanying them in the crucial development phase of their works. Since 2014, Milano Film Network placing development at the centre of a process that identifies it as an important and critical moment in the creative and production process, often overlooked in the Italian system and on which the concrete outcome of cinematic ideas and a large part of the organizational, production and financial structure of a film depend. Thus the call for proposals returns. IN PROGRESS MFN, the first and only Production laboratory for the development of audiovisual projects, aimed at Italian authors and directors.

The experience, now in its seventh edition, is based on thirty years of activity supporting the production of Filmmaker (thanks to which the first films by Studio Azzurro, Bruno Bigoni, Silvio Soldini, Alina Marazzi, Michelangelo Frammartino, Giovanni Maderna, Paolo Vari, Martina Parenti were produced) successfully renewed in recent years by MFN. The format was inaugurated in 2013 with the workshop "Terrestrial Nutriments, Celestial Nutriments" and was subsequently perfected with the editions of In Progress MFN from 2014 to 2021.

>>> All the successful case histories of projects developed in past editions of In Progress MFN: awards, co-productions, and festival selections.

The project

Through this call, Milano Film Network intends to support authors in the development and production of films and audiovisual projects that are innovative in terms of language, techniques, content, and production methods. The whole project is aimed at development of cinematic ideas which, once formalised in implementation projects, will be selected and supported from a creative, organizational and financial point of view.

The In Progress MFN 2022 call is open to fiction, documentary, and experimental projects.

The workshop will see the participation in 2022, as members of the board of mentor of the selected projects, Of Leonardo Di Costanzo (At school, The interval, The intruder, Ariaferma), Michelangelo Frammartino (The Gift, The Four Times, The Hole), Carlo Hintermann (The Dark Side of the Sun, The Book of Vision), with a first introductory meeting by Alessandro Rossetto (Small Homeland, Domino Effect). The tutors will be Alice Arecco, Gaia Formenti, Raffaella Milazzo, Luca Mosso and Giulio Sangiorgio.

Mentoring and tutoring activities are individual for each author.

The training path is divided, in parallel with mentoring and tutoring, into a series of theoretical and practical insights conducted by international professionals, which will address all the key issues that authors are called upon to deal with today when developing a project that is intended to be capable of accessing the market: among others, Eddie Bertozzi (Locarno Film Festival programmer and buyer for Academy Two), Alessandro Gropplero (programmer of the Venice Film Critics' Week and director of the European co-production forum When East Meets West), Franco La Cecla (anthropologist expert in cinema and visual arts).

Who it is for

To all authors, Italian or foreign, residing in Italy, who by the deadline of the call have produced at least one audiovisual work presented publicly.

How to apply

To participate in the selection, you must submit a film or audiovisual project divided into the following materials:

1. a) self-introduction of the author (max 2000 characters) and motivations for the project presented (max 2000 characters)
2. b) CV with filmography (free format max 2000 characters)
3. c) link to previously created work(s) (preferably Vimeo or YouTube)
4. d) Synopsis of the project under development (maximum 2000 characters). Full freedom of genre and duration is allowed.
5. e) directorial intentions (max 2000 characters)
6. f) indication of the project's feasibility elements (access to people and locations, research carried out and any site inspections, etc.), and any creative and productive collaborations (max 2000 characters) and any registration and/or participation in other labs or industry programs during the months of the workshop
7. g) personal and professional contacts, personal website and social media pages if applicable

Pre-selected candidates may be asked to attend a preliminary interview.

Deadline and place for submitting applications

Applications for admission must be uploaded by filling in the specific online form no later than March 1, 2022.

How to participate and schedule

A commission appointed by the Milano Film Network selects a maximum of 15 candidates who will be asked for a written confirmation of participation and the payment of a registration fee of 1000 euros + VAT.

The meetings will be held partly onsite and partly online, in intensive sessions during weekends between March 26 and July 31, 2022.

At the end of this process, the selected candidates will have to develop an artistic-production dossier relating to the audiovisual project developed, which will be evaluated by an external jury composed of experts in the sector and nominated by the Milano Film Network. Only the works presented by candidates who have participated in at least 75% of the meetings will be admitted to the jury's evaluation. The authors will present the projects developed and the dossiers drawn up at the 8th edition of the Milan Industry Days – MID by MFN #1, which will take place in September, with moments of presentation and one-to-one session with Italian and international producers and professionals, at the end of which the jury will award the development grants.

The MFN will in fact financially support the best projects with two development grants, the first of 5,000 and the second of 4,000 euros.

The decisions of the commissions, the organization and the jury are final.

General rules

The act of registration implies acceptance of the following minimum conditions:

1. Include the Milano Film Network logo in the opening credits of your audiovisual productions, along with the wording: “Project produced with the contribution of Milano Film Network, as part of the IN PROGRESS MFN 2022 development workshop.”.
2. In case of awards, a) First Prize IN PROGRESS MFN 2022 by Milano Film Network b) Special Jury Prize IN PROGRESS 2022 by Milano Film Network with related logo.
3. Grant free use of works created from projects developed at In Progress for screenings organized by the Milano Film Network and its member festivals as part of their institutional activities.
4. Acceptance of the conditions of this call, of the privacy policy of the Milano Film Network and of the Filmmaker Festival (available at this link), and subscription to the Milano Film Network newsletter and its associated festivals.

For further information: workshop@milanofilmnetwork.it.