The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Venice reception this year was a familiarly laid-back affair. Guests networked poolside at the Lido’s Moorish-styled Excelsior hotel overlooking the azure Adriatic. The bar did a brisk business in ruby spritzes and arriving VIPs bathed in photo flashes as they arrived. Shia LaBeouf took selfies with fans leaning over the velvet ropes while Patricia Clarkson mingled with the cast and crew of Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica.

The guests of honor had less familiar faces – but no less reason to celebrate. These were the four young directors who had just been named 2022 fellows of the HFPA Residency, the mentoring program aimed at filmmakers from around the world, now in its fifth year, which the HFPA initiated as a collaboration with Film Independent and some of the world’s top film festivals.

As Residency fellows, they will travel to Los Angeles next winter for a three-week intensive program of workshops and master classes sponsored by the HFPA and administered by Film Independent. As announced by HFPA president Helen Hoehne, this year the filmmakers who will make the trip to Los Angeles as fellows are Tahmina Raffaella  (Azerbaijan), Monica Dugo (Italy), Eldar Shibanov (Kazakhstan), and Hanna Västinsalo (Finland). All of them are graduates of the Venice Festival’s Biennale College program.

Most major film festivals – Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, Rotterdam, and of course Sundance  – feature Labs. The programs aimed at young and emerging filmmakers usually take the form of workshops running during the festivals, often focusing on script development, occasionally geared to the production of shorts, generally supporting young talent to emerge in the independent cinema space. The Venice Film Festival has brought this kind of hands-on mentoring to another level with its Biennale College program which this year celebrates its tenth anniversary, and with which the HFPA has been honored to be associated for the past several years.

What sets the Venice program apart is that it does not simply workshop scripts of produced shorts but delivers four completed feature films every year which are screened at the festival. The brainchild of Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera and managed by program head Savina Neirotti, Biennale College is truly a complete cycle mentoring machine.

The process starts with evaluating applications (upwards of 250 were received last year from around the globe). Selection starts with a first screenwriting workshop after which the four finalists are chosen and for the first-time directors, hailing from far-flung countries and diverse experiences, the real adventure begins. They will have approximately 10 months to take their idea from concept to its debut screening at the following year’s Venice Festival. The Biennale supplies the €150,000 budget (€200,000 starting next year) as well as a faculty of international industry professionals serving as mentors in their areas of expertise. In this way Barbera and Neirotti have established what amounts to a stealth film academy that not only imparts knowledge but supplies the production budget and platforms the films at one of the world’s most prestigious showcases. To date, no less than 34 feature films have been produced and screened (as well as 21 works of immersive virtual reality). 21 more films have come to fruition after partaking in Biennale College’s initial scriptwriting intensive.

And these are the elements that make Biennale College the ideal partner for the HFPA’s own global emerging director mentoring residency, to which the four directors are invited each year.

After having emerged with a feature from their trial-by-fire production experience, fellows will now have an opportunity to receive an insider overview of the American indie film landscape. The Residency program overseen by Film Independent’s Maria Bozzi will consist of an intensive schedule of sessions focusing on both the business and creative aspects of independent filmmaking, with multiple networking opportunities, cultural engagement activities, workshops, field trips, master classes, and one-on-one mentoring. As part of the program, fellows will screen their films in LA to share their work with industry professionals and the broader film community. By design, the Residency allows for the flexibility to tailor the program to each filmmaker’s individual needs and interests.  

We look forward to welcoming these talented artists to Hollywood next winter.