In the coming days, a new version of Berlinale Talents will begin within the context of the Berlin International Film Festival (Feb. 20 – March 1), a formation and learning event that brings together young film industry professionals from around the world and from different audiovisual areas, including directors, producers, editors, directors of photography, and film critics.

Berlinale Talents is one of the most prestigious formation encounters in the world and gathers more than 300 new filmmakers in the German capital every year, offering them a space for exchange with bigtime creators, in addition to being present at other strategic points during the year, such as Buenos Aires and Guadalajara. Arriving here this year are three professionals from the national industry who exercise their labors in the areas of production, direction, and art direction.

The young people to represent Chile at Berlin Talents are director-screenwriter Camila José Donoso, executive producer Alba Gaviraghi, and art director Nicolás Oyarce.

Following their selection in the German event, the professionals made their declarations on how they feel about participating in a platform of this magnitude and what their expectations are. Gaviraghi comments that she feels “very content to be able to participate in Talents. It’s a well known event worldwide for having a great profile of participants, master classes, and people from the industry linked to this space at the Berlinale.” In addition, she comments, “I hope this year at Berlinale Talents that the model is replicated of meeting people with common ideas and collaborating on projects that, from Chile, can contribute as well as begin to create out of a freer space of co-production and of creative input. […] Plus, Berlinale Talents has supported new generations; among those selected there are always young people and people who are considered emerging producers, as is my case,” says Gaviraghi.

Meanwhile, Oyarce specifies that his expectations “are to generate contacts, networking, and above all, learn from my colleagues in Talents, systems from other parts of the world, and to generate empathy and investigations, especially in this historic moment, where radical changes are being sought from a political place as well as a place of the body and of nature.” He continues, “I think this instance is relevant because, on a political level, Chile needs to generate creative alliances, productive alliances within the audiovisual industry, now more than ever. I think it’s the moment for the world to put its eyes on Chile, and let’s create work in unison […] in order to create more policies regarding cinema such as new systems of execution and production. From my perspective as an art director, that’s through representation. What these festivals do is inspire their attendees, open their eyes to new possibilities; that’s what has happened to me in every festival I’ve visited […] I feel like my perspectives of the world have changed.”

The program brings together approximately 250 professionals per year who will have the opportunity to share their experiences with experts, attend workshops presided over by professionals from diverse areas, and dialogue with filmmakers, producers, and creatives from all over the globe.