Industry Program
Prague Short Film Festival
Programme is supported by Nadace ČEZ and Kancelář Kreativní Evropa.
Friday 1 March
11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Kino Světozor
Třetí sál
The Power of Pre-Writing: Maximizing Creativity and Delving Deeper in Story Development
Do you have a concept that you are planning to develop further? Have you been told to go deeper? On the occasion of the launch of applications for KVIFF TALENTS 2024, we would like to invite you to a presentation dedicated precisely to this creative phase and to exploring possible techniques and tools that can help you to delve deeper into the material and grasp it from multiple perspectives.
Aurélie Valat will take you into the Groupe Ouest approach to story conception. What tools and collaborative setups can enhance both creativity and substance, and what is the difference between the conception stage and the writing stage? The pre-writing stage will be presented as a key and collaborative moment for writers and industry members involved in development.
LE GROUPE OUEST is an international film lab located in Brittany that has earned major awards from all A-list festivals and whose programs have been attended by filmmakers and writers from sixty countries. Hand-in-hand with its applied platform for research in storytelling, the StoryTANK, Le Groupe Ouest has created a unique methodological approach to script development. LGO also joined with Creative Europe and partners from ten countries to create the LIM | Less Is More film development program.
Aurélie Valat was born in 1977 in Paris to a Greek mother and a French father. Her educational background can be divided into four stages: first, theater and acting at Cours d’Art Dramatique Jean Périmony, then cinema at NYU-SCPS with a certificate in directing 16mm films, then professional coaching at L’Académie du Coaching, and finally a degree in narrative therapy from Aix-Marseille University. Her professional activities range from co-writing feature films for cinema (in collaboration with directors such as Yann Gozlan, Thomas Kruithof, Emma Luchini, Simon Moutaïrou, and Eric Valli) all the way to individual consultations on projects (for writers, directors, actors, and amateurs) and creative workshops involving writing and walking on the island of Crete.
Saturday 2 March
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Kino Světozor
Malý sál
Dylan Holmes Williams: From Short Film Success to Directing for Apple TV and Disney+ Series
British director Dylan Holmes Williams has crafted several outstanding genre-infused short films, one of which won an award at Sundance. Following this success, he directed four episodes of the acclaimed series Servant, which was produced and co-directed by the cult filmmaker and genre producer M. Night Shyamalan. Recently, he contributed two episodes to the highly anticipated 14th series of the enduring British television hit Doctor Who.
How can a successful short film open doors to further career opportunities? How does one secure work on television projects for major streamers? What does the dynamic between the individual directors and showrunners of a series look like, how is stylistic continuity maintained, and what lessons can be drawn from such experiences for future creative projects?
Discover all this and much more, and seize the chance to ask plenty of questions in a discussion hosted by Ondřej Zach.
Dylan Holmes Williams is a writer and director based in London. His short film The Devil’s Harmony (2019) won the Jury Prize for International Fiction at Sundance 2020, was named Best UK Short at the London Critics Circle in 2020, and was nominated for a 2019 BIFA for Best British Short Film before being acquired by Disney+ and the Criterion Channel. His short film Stilts (2019) had its international premiere at Slamdance 2021, and another short, The Nightmare on Deskteeth Street (2017), premiered at the 2017 BFI London Film Festival. His television work includes directing episodes for M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant for Apple TV+ and Doctor Who for BBC and Disney+. He is currently developing a number of feature film projects.
