The Brazilian focus started with master-classes that covered various technical aspects of film-making. These included: film directing and scriptwriting, film editing, cinematography and sound.
A New Generation of Filmmakers
Selected participants were mentored by five young film practitioners: Marcel Izidoro, Azul Serra, Bianca Turner, Rafa Calil and Andre Soler.
Marcel Izidoro
Marcel was born in 1985, Sao Paulo, Brazil. At 15, he went through a year long work experience programme at Fox Studios in Australia. Marcel holds a Degree in Social Communications majoring in Film. In college, he managed to create an impressive portfolio having worked on nearly 50 short films harnessing experience in all fields of filmmaking to direct and produce his own material.
To date, he has directed and produced over 25 short films, which have been screened in festivals around the world that include, Hamburg International Film Festival, Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and Shangai International Short Film Festival. He has also directed two feature films, the first one being Karnak’s Multicolored Book which was screened as part of the documentary competition at ZIFF 2007 and Caixa Preta (Black Box) which had it’s world premiere during ZIFF 2008. Apart from that he has received many awards as an Art Director for Izidoro Comunicacao, an advertising and marketing agency in Brazil and has become one of the leading music videos directors in Brazil.
Azul Serra
Azul was born in 1983 in Brazil, Sao Paulo. His interest in Photography started during his first year in film school, where he worked on a number of short films as a Cinematographer. His final project won the Best Short Film in the Internacional Rio Film Festival (Brazil) in 2006. Since then Azul has worked on documentaries around South America as well as short films that were showcased in London, Rome and Tokyo. Currently based in London, Azul is working in music videos, documentaries and a British produced feature film. ZIFF 2008 screened one of his short films called, Kite filmed in a slum in Sao Paulo. This film has been presented at several International Festivals.
Bianca Turner
Bianca was born in 1984 in Brazil. After 7 years studying theatre and acting, she studied fashion design and graduated, mixing her two passions- theatre and fashion, she has created a creative portfolio as a costume designer for short films, theatre productions, advertisements and dance performances in Brazil.
She moved to London in 2007 to study a 3 year long programme in Design for Performance at the Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design and to work as an art director in films and theatre.
Rafa Calil
Rafa was born in 1980, Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has graduated in two different colleges, with degrees in Filmmaking and Marketing Advertisement. During college, he worked on nearly 30 short films. During his studies, he worked at MTV Brazil as a Director for almost four years, where he made 20 different TV shows, mainly documentaries and reality shows. Nowadays, he teaches at a film school in Brazil and he is also working on personal/authorial documentaries projects. Parallel to filmmaking, he is also a musician and plays on a band in Brazil.
Andre Soler
Andre was born in 1984, Sao Paulo, Brazil. For the last 8 years he has been working on short-films, feature-films, musician and producer. Andre a degree in Filmmaking. In college he worked on close to 30 different short films and on one feature film- working in different areas of a film production: direction, production, art assistant, editor, sound engineer, camera man, cinematography, electrician, camera movements, and scriptwriter. He has also worked on an assorted array of television productions. Andre plays in the same band as Rafa.
Film Baking Workshops
These workshops ran concurrently with the Festival. Participants went on to shoot two short films that were given the working titles A Broken Promise and Imagine. Rafa Calil commented, 'We are impressed with the eagerness shown by the participants. They have a unique way of story telling that gives a base to create great short films.'
As part of the grand focus, the Brazilian Embassy premeired the Feature, O Ano em que meus Pais Sairam de Ferias (The Year My Parents Went on Vacation).
