The Mediterranean Film Institute first implemented its European program of script workshops in Nissyros in 2000. For ten years it has organized numerous successful training activities and it continues to grow and evolve.

Since 2000, 300 European filmmakers have joined MFI’s workshop to develop their feature film projects. Out of these projects, many entered production, resulting in films that were artistically acclaimed as well as they were successfully distributed.

The number of the workshop’s participants steadily grows through the years, as well as that of MFI’s academic personnel, which consists of accomplished scriptwriting professors, producers and industry experts from Europe and the USA.

In June 23, screenwriters, producers and directors from 11 European countries and Greece will join the workshop in Nissyros for its first residential session of the 2010 program. Film professionals from France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark, Slovenia, Germany, Greece and several other countries will meet in the small volcanic island of the Northeastern Aegean and co-exist for 15 days; they will work collectively and individually, all with the same goal: the improvement of their screenplays and the pursuit of the realization of their projects to the utmost of their potential.

And, just like every year, when they will say their heartfelt goodbyes at the port of Nissyros, leaving with their “luggage” heavier than it was at their arrival, they will promise to meet again in October for the program’s second residential session in the island of Samos in the East Aegean. There, they will have the opportunity to re-engage in the creative “volcano” of the workshop, complete their script drafts and organize an effective strategy for the development, promotion and production of their projects.

Furthermore, MFI is glad to announce the completion of the documentary on the workshop by Dimitris Yatzouzakis, filmed during the 2007 & 2009 programs. The documentary effectively portrays the strenuous and sometimes “invisible” effort to develop a script and a film project. It features interviews with MFI trainers, experts and participants, extensive examples of the workshop process from pitching a project to its re-writing through group work, and excerpts of lectures. It offers an insight on MFI’s methodology & philosophy, as well as on the practices, difficulties and opportunities of advanced script & project development. Finally, it introduces the notion that developing a feature project from script to film is much alike the effort of athletes: it requires intense training, an ardent quest for improvement, character strength and deep faith to one’s potential.

The MFI is also glad to announce the publication of the book “Of Scripts and Life” by Jan Fleischer, writer & scriptwriting professor, and MFI trainer since 2000. The book, a combination of screenwriting manual and autobiography, offers practical insight on the craft in a non formulaic way. Using his life experience to set up a story and then a screenplay, Fleischer teaches the fundamentals of drama, while he also introduces the notion that the source material of every script is the life of the writer itself; as a source of inspiration, but even more so as a measure of the humanity of the script itself. Fleischer encourages writers to be in their stories, reminding them that their characters and circumstances should embody reality and not just be contrived. A successful screenplay, Fleischer states, should be made up from real life energy and not mechanized rules and recipes; it should originate from life itself and end up offering the viewer a life experience.

The MEDIA Programme of the EU, the Greek Film Center, and the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) are the main supporters of the Mediterranean Film Institute.

Furthermore, the Municipality of Nissyros, the Prefectures of Dodecanese & Samos, and the General Secretariat of the Aegean and Island Policy are also valuable, enduring contributors to the MFI’s training activities.

MFI partners include the European Co-production Forum CROSSROADS, organized within the framework of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the Rodos International Festival ECOFILMS, the Festival for the Dialogue between Cultures ICARUS of Ikaria, and the online script promotion and marketing platform ScriptΒase.eu of Hungary.