What I Learned at Off Courts Trouville
- by Arjun Acharya, filmmaker.
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of taking part in two film workshops.
In the summer I partook in the workshop portion of The Nordic Youth Film Festival (NUFF). An annual film workshop for young filmmakers between 15 to 26, held every June in Tromsø, Norway. It focuses on international and cross-cultural collaboration, where the goal is to create short films together, from a brainstormed idea to a finished product in just one week. This year the workshop took place right after the film festival portion of NUFF. A two-day short film festival that screens international films made by directors up to 30-years old. It is hosted at the iconic Verdensteatret cinema in Tromsø; Norway’s oldest municipal cinema that still regularly screens films. This was something I personally thought was nice, since I always, after festivals, feel a wave of inspiration, as well as a false sense of confidence. Despite the cliche naïveté of thinking “I could totally make something like that”, I do feel like it was a good way to keep the momentum going throughout the workshop week and develop ideas within one’s group while the rush of creativity still lingers.
After NUFF, I was asked by Tvibit if I wanted to partake in the International Creation Laboratories, a Kino workshop at the Off Courts festival in Trouville, France. An initiative similar to NUFF, or so I was told… With the help of Tvibit Filmfond, I was able to travel and partake in the workshop. Then, I was asked to write a bit about my experience and what I learned. So, here is my somewhat messy, yet earnest attempt at a blog type format, presenting my subjective experience at Off Courts. Perhaps the best way to talk about this experience would be to compare and contrast it to NUFF. They are both similar, yet have quite different approaches to the same goal.
The information on the website was in short supply, vague and mysterious, and left me with more questions than answers. I went in with very little expectations of how things would actually be organized. All I had to go off was knowing it would be somewhat NUFF-adjacent. After getting to the Airbnb, I met a couple of other international participants. Mostly from Quebec. They seemed to be seasoned veterans at the Off Courts format, having partaken in the Kino workshops multiple times. They let the cat out of the bag and told me how the workshops were actually structured and what expectations to have. It seemed that most people come prepared, with an idea to pitch. However, since I just came from NUFF, I had expected more of a collaborative brainstorm, where everyone comes up with an idea together. To me, that was an appealing and essential part of the collaborative process. So, I thought it would be interesting to see how this Kino workshop would tackle this.
What even is Kino, anyway? Allow me to briefly tangent and explain. The Kino movement was established in 1999 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It encourages low or no budget filmmaking, small crews and non-competitive collaboration. “Kino Kabarets” is a branch of Kino, where members of the public are invited to collaborate on the filmmaking. Since its inception, Kino has spread all over the world. It has even made it to Northern Norway, where NUFF acts as a form of the Kino movement.
The Quebecers I met informed me that the International Creation Laboratories workshop would be split up into two sessions, each lasting three days.
Session one: Kino Kabaret
This part was meant mainly for the French and the locals of Trouville. On the first day, everyone gathered in the ‘village’ courtyard. According to my tentatively estimated guess, there were about 100-200 people. I am not exaggerating when I state that Trouville, the locals, and the whole experience felt quintessentially French, almost to the point of being offensively stereotypical. If you close your eyes and think of France right now, you will likely be quite close to visualizing reality. Members of the public and anyone interested could come and pitch a project. The courtyard was filled with people of all ages, from children to senior citizens. All effortlessly stylish, dressed in marinière sweaters and bright blue workwear jackets, carrying a carefree energy of a life well lived. Around 95% of them were casually rolling or puffing away at their tobacco, or having a glass of wine to get the day started, or both. Coming straight from Norway, I was desperately trying to find a normal, big cup of filter coffee; a concept seemingly unheard of in France. Any inquiry about filter coffee would be met with a confused and judgmental side-eye, followed by the question: “Do you mean Americano?”. Needless to say, I was chronically under-caffeinated throughout my trip. I did not even know that small espresso paper cups existed.
When everyone was settled in and the welcomes were over, they introduced the festival and all the people who would be there to help us with our projects throughout the week. Those being professionals in all fields, ranging from prosthetic makeup artists and VFX artists to composers and sound designers, editors, DOPs and sound recordists. All of whom would be at our disposal to help the films come to fruition. A big queue was formed, and everyone who was French could pitch a film idea and say what kind of crew members, actors or general help they needed to make their idea happen. It could be any film, there were no restrictions, censorship or required film length.
Unfortunately for me, everything was in French; and not everyone who knew English, knew it that well. So, it was impossible to understand all the ideas. After all of them were presented, everyone who wanted to be an actor could introduce themselves. It was expected that we, the invited international guests, will help the Kino Kabaret however we can. We also had to introduce ourselves, say what our competence was and what we could offer to different productions. When all the introductions, presentations and pithes were over with, we all took some polaroid pictures of ourselves, wrote our name, number and competence for a production. If you want to DOP, edit, do sound or act, you could write it all down on the polaroid. Then, it would be hung up along with all the other polaroids on the wall for everyone to analyze. The whole ordeal was very chaotic, to say the least. Everything is expected to be on your own initiative. It is your responsibility to socialize, “sell yourself”, network and find a group to be a part of. Something that can be quite difficult, if you are an introvert. The fact that a lot French people have a hard time with English (and the Quebecers would rather talk French) makes it all a lot harder, and can in some instances feel alienating. No one will assign you to a group or force you to do anything. You either have to find someone to work with, or hope they will see your polaroid on the wall and call you up. Thankfully, I ended up helping a couple of different projects with sound, editing, camera, even as an accidental and somewhat reluctant actor. When the filmmaking actually started, the socializing and inclusivity came naturally and everything worked out great. After three days, there was a huge, free screening of all the Kabaret films, that lasted ca. three hours and was open to the public.
Session two: Kinoworld
After three days of Kino Kabaret, it was time for the international guests to take the lead. The second session started the same as the first. Invited guests would pitch ideas and let everyone know what they were looking for. Then, we contacted people on the polaroid wall and got help from the local community. At this point, I still had not come up with a solo project that I wanted to make, but I though this would be a good opportunity to help others with their ideas. I decided to collaborate with the only other person I met, who also did not know French (an Italian). I co-directed, shot and edited a poetic and surrealist hybrid film about migration through the British channel; using pearl clams as a leitmotif. This was an interesting opportunity for me to try out a new genre that was more loose in its workflow than what I am used to, as I personally never made films like this before. We used a wide selection of cameras; everything ranging from small camcorders, to Sony FX3s and Buranos. We even tried our luck at catching a glimpse of the blood moon, but because of the clouds, we were not able to successfully catch any footage of it. We asked the vendors at a local fish market if they would let us film them. We would wake up at 05:00 in the morning to catch a glimpse of the boats coming into the harbor to deliver the goods. Then, we would film in pouring rain and strong winds. I even had to fashion a garbage bag as a raincoat, given that I was too optimistic regarding weather during the packing. Then, same as after the Kabaret, we held a screening of all the Kinoworld films. There were over 60+ different films made during whole International Creation Laboratories.
Parallel to the Kino workshops, there were concerts and a wide selection of other mini-workshops that one could attend, if they found the time; ranging from the cinema, camera and editing courses, to workshops on music and intimacy coordination. Unfortunately, I was too busy with all my productions to experience all the side quests, but it is OK, because I think they would have all been in French anyway.
Towards the end of the workshop, I realized that a completely separate film festival was taking place at the same time; The Deauville American Film Festival. Apparently, there is a long-standing feud between the Trouville and Deauville festivals, separated by a river, and with parodic levels of rhyming of arch-nemeses names. I will not even attempt to explain the whole squabble in detail here, as I simply do not know enough, but as a questionable authority on the matter, I would explain it as follows: While Deauville is focused on the exclusivity, luxury, glamour and prestige of the screened films and their stars, Trouville has been a counter-reaction to this. The main focus at Off Courts is to democratize films and filmmaking, making them more accessible to the wider public through hosting a festival with activities, workshops and screenings free and open for all to partake in.
To conclude, if NUFF is an idyllic kayaking trip in a boat full of strangers, whom over the duration of your trip you will get to know better; through helping each other navigate down a winding river toward a shared destination you realize the true meaning of collaboration and friendship…Then Off Courts is a non-stop plunge down violent rapids, alone and in a canoe, surrounded by hundreds of other canoers with a promille of 0.5‰ or above, while French piranhas nip at your oars. Eventually, everyone will end up at the bottom of a cascade, yet how you get there is entirely up to you.
All in all I am thankful for the time I had in Trouville. It was really cool to experience their way of doing Kino and how they approach making films in such a short time. It was really chaotic and intense, but in a super fun way. The freedom and lack of constraints can be a blessing as well as a challenge and it was interesting to be pushed in that way. I would definitely partake again. Especially now after knowing what to expect. I think International Creation Laboratories is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to a high intensity, unrestrained, creative, and potentially chaotic, experience. Or anyone who’s already partaken in NUFF and feels like they want to do the same thing, but with different challenges. Its definitely a film workshop that forces you to put yourself out there, maybe even going out of your comfort zone, and collaborate in unique ways.
Same:
Make a film in a short amount of time in the spirit of kino movement.
Focus on collaboration.
Experienced people to help the projects be realized
Equipment supplied.
Similar coastal town vibes.
Different:
- Nuff assigns you to a group that you will be a part of for the whole duration, while Off courts focuses on collaboration across multiple films and roles, pitching and “selling yourself” and what you bring to the table.
- Nuff is more organized and you have a dedicated mentor leading you though the whole process, making sure you reach your goals. While no one holds your hand during Off Courts and it is up to you to seek or offer help independently.
*The views expressed in this blog post is entirely that of the writer and has been unaltered by NUFF.