Entries are now open for the 6th edition of Pustnik Screenwriters Residency, the only international residency for film development, dedicated to young and emerging filmmakers, taking place in Romania. The project is organized by TETA.

This year’s edition of the residency will be held between September 7-15, 2020. So far, the residency has taken place at Port Cetate, Danube. However, since the situation remains uncertain for the foreseeable future due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Pustnik team is ready to move the 6th edition online, if required.

The call is open for emerging filmmakers from all over the world, at their first or second feature film, who have previously written at least one short or feature-length film which has screened at a notable international film festival. Eight screenwriters will be selected, two from Romania and six internationals.

Projects can cover any fictional subject, and this year’s theme of the residency is The Seen and Unseen.

During the nine-day retreat, the participants will develop their first or second feature-length screenplays, under the guidance of the invited trainers. Projects can be written in any language, but the working language of the residency is English.

Residents are selected by Andreea Borțun (writer/director, Romania) and Bryn Chainey (writer/director, UK/Australia), co-founders of Pustnik. The invited trainers are established European filmmakers. The first confirmed trainer is film producer Bianca Oana (Touch Me Not, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale, 2018; collective, 2019 – selected at film festivals such as Toronto, Venice, Sundance).

Moreover, for the first time, Pustnik will offer eight micro-grants to the participants, worth 700 euros each, if the edition will take place online.

According to Andreea Borțun “we are living through times in which artists are themselves going through a cultural state of emergency. We have designed this programme to offer you a context of freedom. That may mean to run away in a remote place or to stay at home and get paid for your writing.”

When talking about this year’s theme of the residency “The Seen and Unseen”, Bryn Chainey mentions that “the writer’s challenge and privilege is to navigate the seen and unseen aspects of our world, and to forge connections between them.”

Entries will open on May 19 and you can apply until June 15, 2020. The eight participants will be announced in July 2020, and that’s also when it will be announced whether the residency will take place online or at Port Cetate.

For more information, go to the Apply page on the Pustnik website, and here you can find the application form.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.