NISI MASA

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NISI MASA is a European network for the promotion of young film, which is composed of various associations and organizations across Europe. In most countries there is a member organization, for example in Germany it is the Münchner Filmwerkstatt .

NISI MASA is a non-profit organization supported by the European Union (Youth, Civil Society & MEDIA Programs), the European Council , the European Cultural Foundation , the Allianz Kulturstiftung , the 'Fondation de France' and the French 'Ministère de la Santé, de la Jeunesse, des Sports et de la Vie associative "(Ministry of Health, Youth, Sport and Club Life) is promoted.

The logo of NISI MASA

The main goals are to discover new film talents, to promote intercultural, audiovisual projects and to create a discussion platform for young European filmmakers, on which they can also work themselves. A general aim is also to promote European identity through cinema and film.

The organization maintains a large number of different projects, such as a European short film competition, various film and script workshops, film screenings, film-related conferences and seminars, as well as the publication of various writings from books and brochures to the monthly newsletter 'Mas y Mas'. Time and again, NISI MASA appears at film festivals through a daily magazine called 'Nisimazine', in the past this has already been the case at the festivals in Cannes , Helsinki, Alba, Turin, Amsterdam, Tehran and Kars.

Each project is co-organized by one or more national member associations. All activities of the network are coordinated by a central European secretariat in Paris.

Emergence

The organization was founded in 2001 by three friends who wanted to create a Europe-wide platform for intra-European cooperation between young filmmakers. Today there are 28 member organizations in 26 countries, which are no longer limited to the EU, but can also be found in neighboring countries (Kosovo, Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey, Russia). The name refers to the film 8 ½ by Federico Fellini , in which Marcello Mastroianni repeats the sentence Asa Nisi Masa several times. When choosing a name, both the film, an important European film classic, and the sentence (Asa Nisi Masa), a kind of magic formula that is not tied to any specific, existing language, play an important role: both should reflect the cinematic and intercultural spirit of the Reflect network.

Main activities

Activities focus on audiovisual projects in which intercultural exchange plays a central role. The workshops and meetings take place throughout the year in the EU and in the neighboring countries; they are often cooperations with film festivals.

European script competition for short films

A central goal is to discover new film talent. For this reason, an annual European script competition has been held since 2002. Young people between 18 and 28 from one of the member countries can submit their scripts, which are then first assessed and selected nationally. In a second step, a European jury, consisting of the NISI-MASA member countries, decides on the winners. The theme of the competition changes every year; In 2008, scripts on the topic of “escape” were received. Thousands of young people have taken part in the competition since 2002 and a dozen short films have been produced with the support of NISI MASA.

Film and script workshops

Another important task of NISI MASA is the development and continuation of transcultural and audiovisual projects. A common example are script workshops, in which participants from all over Europe discuss their scripts with one another, reformulate them (if necessary) and learn to implement their ideas on this intercultural, European level. They are supported by international tutors who give them feedback on their script individually or in groups and conduct brainstorming sessions with them. A central aspect of the seminars is above all intercultural cooperation, as the young people come together in short but intensive periods and also have to deal with their different cultural backgrounds. A large part of the recently held workshops also dealt with the location of the seminar itself: in 2006, twenty short films ( 20 Visions of Paris ) were made in 20 Parisian districts and in Budapest the public spaces were at the center of the action ( Budapest Squares ).

Some examples of the recent film and script workshops

  • Visions of Istanbul: In April 2007 young people from all over Europe came to Istanbul to discover and film the city, which is at the crossroads of civilizations, in their own way. The aim was to get a deeper understanding of Turkish culture and its customs. The resulting films were then shown during the International Istanbul Film Festival.
  • Snow Workshop: Based on the novel Snow by the Turkish writer and Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk , another film workshop took place in Turkey in November 2007. The novel Snow is set in Kars , a city in the north-east of the country that has greatly inspired the writer. For this reason, the ten participants in the workshop first read the novel in order to then observe how the book influences their perception of the city and how this affects the short films they make on site. The workshop was organized in cooperation with the 13th Festival of European Films on Wheels, which presented the short films after the workshop.
  • Cine-Train: In September 2008, 18 young filmmakers will embark on a journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok . In doing so, they will use a unique working method that was developed by Russian documentary filmmakers in the 1930s. Under the direction of Alexander Ivanovich Medwedkin , they drove through the Soviet Union in specially equipped wagons. 80 years later, camera teams will set out on the 9302 km journey, constantly investigating the following question: 'Have we just crossed the European border?' The films made on the trip will be presented at the sixth Vladivostok International Film Festival that will follow .
  • Script & Pitch (script development and promotion): This workshop has existed since 2005 and is carried out in collaboration with the Italian film school Scuola Holden in Turin. It is an advanced workshop for scriptwriters and story editors (screenplay companions or writer editors ) for cinema and television productions. In 2008, 20 participants (16 scriptwriters and four “story editors”) took part in the entire scripting process: from developing ideas and structuring the material, through a first and second draft of the script (SCRIPT) to the final verbal (or audiovisual) promotion of the film idea in front of invited producers, agents and buyers who could support the film financially (PITCH).
  • European Short Pitch: This workshop is the continuation of another seminar in which the respective winners of the European script competition have been participating since 2004. It is a five-day scriptwriting workshop in Moulin d'Ande in Normandy , during which 25 young people discuss their scripts and develop them with the help of professional tutors. The finished film ideas were then presented to a group of invited producers, editors-in-chief and sales people (PITCH) during the renowned short film festival Festival du Court-Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand . The aim is to support and produce European short films from the start.

Publications

'Mas y Mas' is a monthly newsletter that deals with trends in European film. A different NISI-MASA member and a NISI-MASA member organization are presented in each issue. In addition, it contains up-to-date information on ongoing competitions, workshops, etc. NISI MASA has also printed various daily magazines during several film festivals and distributed them online. These magazines are created as part of film journalism workshops in which young people from all over Europe take part:

  • Balkans Identities, Balkan Cinemas: This book was published following a youth seminar, which took place in cooperation with Art Group Haide in March 2006 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. A total of 25 young people from eight Balkan countries and several other European countries took part in the one-week seminar that dealt with the social significance of film. In various workshops and role-plays, the participants dealt with the following question: What are the generally known film images for Balkan countries? The book includes texts that arose during the debates of the seminar.

Human Rights & Visual Culture : This e-book is the continuation of the seminar 'Human Rights and Audiovisual Culture' that took place in November 2006 in Ankara (Turkey) during the 11th Festival of European Films on Wheels. The event, in which about 30 young people from different European countries took part, was organized by NISI MASA and NISI MASA Turkey.

The organization regularly produces DVD compilations of European short films that are created during the workshops or are the result of the winners of the script competition.

Member clubs

  • Bulgaria: Seven
  • Germany: Munich Film Workshop
  • Finland: Euphoria Borealis
  • France: NISI MASA France
  • Italy: Franti NISI MASA Italia
  • Kosovo: 7arte
  • Croatia: Palunko
  • Croatia: Kino Klub Zagreb
  • Macedonia: NISI MASA Macedonia
  • Netherlands: NISI MASA Netherlands
  • Austria: kino5
  • Romania: Argo Audiovisual Association
  • Russia: Moviement
  • Sweden: NISI MINI
  • Spain: CINESTESIAS
  • Czech Republic: Fresh Film Fest
  • Turkey: NISI MASA Turkey
  • Hungary: Cras tibi

Web links