Zero Budget

5^TH LOW COST FILM WORKSHOPS. NO BUDGET FILMS

The "No Budget" workshops are back for the fifth time. They have become one of the most refreshing and eagerly awaited events of ALCINE. And this time round we are celebrating half a decade's worth of achievements.

Five years during which we have borne witness to the origins of short filmmakers whose names are now inseparable from the contemporary Spanish film scene. We watched them make short films for just one euro using a supermarket trolley, filming their flatmates making coffee or their girlfriends and friends discussing the news on a piece of wasteland. And we have watched them walk down the red carpet and lift golden statuettes, whether they be Goyas, Oscars, or from Málaga or Alcalá de Henares. We have seen them nervously presiding over press conferences for debut works, and confidently defending later projects; and some have even crossed borders and oceans for their work. And what's even more gratifying, we have watched them return to short film, and even to low budget short film, which is a great way of closing the loop by bringing some of them back to celebrate five years spent defending the idea that film can be made without million-dollar budgets.

PROGRAMME

Low cost film workshop:

Four participatory sessions will be used to tackle a range of aspects necessary for the production of a short piece of film. Script, planning, editing, promotion… Everything you need to make a short film in four days ready for its premiere on Friday evening.

Four participatory sessions will be used to tackle a range of aspects necessary for the production of a short piece of film. Script, planning, editing, promotion… Everything you need to make a short film in four days ready for its premiere on Friday evening.

Óscar Martín and Elena Muñoz (El Ojo Mecánico)
They have a wide-ranging and rich career in the audiovisual world, from video-clips for groups such as Mago de Oz, through documentaries on the National Jazz Orchestra to advertising, with a special emphasis on the world of short film. In this field they have participated and won awards in numerous festivals with films such as Full of Empty, Smoking on heaven's Doors and El efecto Doppler, with which they won the Madrid Province Video Marathon, and their latest film: Bonsai.

They have become of a fixture of our workshops, which have given rise to works that will remain "for posterity" such as Clown Killer or Se me ha ocurrido… Zombi. Check them out on You Tube!

Script:

Scripts have always been seen as essential to any piece of film. And this is truer still when the resources do not exist for fantastic photography, stunning special effects or famous actors to paper over your failings.

The keys to developing a good script for our low cost film will be discussed during this session. Emphasis will be placed on a common and 'cheap' genre in the short film world, comedy, with a special guest at the helm:

Borja Cobeaga
Borja learnt his trade in the TV, where he was one of the architects behind the cult ETB programme Vaya Semanita. He also has a great track record making short films with La primera vez and Éramos pocos..., which won at the Festival de Alcalá and was nominated for an Oscar. Cobeaga has one of the most lucid minds in contemporary Spanish comedy.

The critical and public acclaim garnered by his debut work Pagafantas is still fresh in our minds and he's now preparing a new delight for our screens, Retrasado with scriptwriter Diego San José.

Directing

We will be going over the keys to making the best decisions before, during and after the shoot. Setting up scenes, handling actors and post-production… How to ensure the most is made of our project once we have an idea and the money required to carry it out.

Alex Montoya
One of the most prolific directors on the Spanish short film scene. He began by setting up RLUX with Raúl Navarro, with whom he shot short films such as Gris, Sólo con los hermanos, written by Daniel Sánchez-Arévalo or El punto ciego, with which they won at several festivals. He has now gone solo and has had great success directing Abimbowe, Malditos pandilleros and Cómo conocí a tu padre, and a collection of over 30 awards. He is now working through his production company Morituri, and defends the virtues of the Red One camera with projects such as Marina, a story from Cantabria currently in the production process.

Production

Are we truly aware of the importance of being a good producer when undertaking our short film project? This session will explain essential knowledge not related to writing and shooting, which will enable our low-cost project to get off the ground. Learning to work within the limits of our minimal budget and understanding the tools and aids we have at our disposal are fundamental to a successful project.

Koldo Zuazua
One of the most important names in the world of short film today. He is behind award-winning and important work such as Hongos by Ramón Salazar, La Guerra by Luiso Berdejo and Jorge Dorado, with whom he repeated in Limoncello alongside Borja Cobeaga, and Traumatología, Daniel Sánchez-Arévalo's return to short film. In addition to a vibrant career as an executive producer in cinema, advertising and videoclips through his company Common Films, his name is linked to Julio Médem, with whom he has produced work such as Caótica Ana, La pelota vasca and Yo también, the promising debut of short filmmakers Naharro and Pastor.

Round Table. "Five Penniless Years"

As we mentioned above, during the first five years of these workshops, born with the name "Cine sin un duro" (Penniless Films) and changed to "Presupuesto Zero" (Zero Budget) with the arrival of the euro, we have worked hard to bring in directors who see low budget as not just a question of need, but rather as of interest in itself and an essential feature of their work. Many of them are now well-know directors with fascinating feature film work that maintains many of the characteristics of their short films.

The objective of this round table is to bring them together once again to learn first hand what has changed, and how they see the present, past and future of cinema, with or without a budget, in Spain.

With David Planell, Nacho Vigalondo and others to be confirmed.

 

SHIFT	TUESDAY 10TH	WED. 11TH	THURS. 12TH	FRI. 13TH
MORNING 10:00 14:00	FILM WORKSHOP I El ojo mecánico	FILM WORKSHOP II El ojo mecánico	FILM WORKSHOP III El ojo mecánico	FILM WORKSHOP IV El ojo mecánico
EVENING 16:30 20:30	SCRIPT PRESENTATION Borja Cobeaga	SCRIPT PRESENTATION Alex Montoya	SCRIPT PRESENTATION Koldo Zuazua	ROUND TABLE: "FIVE PENNILESS YEARS" N. Vigalondo, D. Planell...