Paul Venn, manager of the TROPFEST Aarabia, said in an exclusive interview during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia that he was in the Kingdom to provide young filmmakers a chance to show what they can do. The event, which will premiere in Abu Dhabi in November, is open to citizens of Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. “I am here to give young Saudi filmmakers a platform; to enhance their talent; to give them a workshop, with the cooperation of Mamdouh Salem, famous Saudi filmmaker, director and producer; to explain what the TROPFEST festival is; and to encourage them to participate,” he said. “In our workshop, we will explain how people can get into the media industry with short films because the first film they make tend to be a short ones rather than long feature films.” There are two things to keep in mind, he said. First, there are limited opportunities for first-time filmmakers in Saudi Arabia. That is why they want to give young and new filmmakers a chance to show their talent, he said. “There are a lot of film festivals going on in the region, but those are for professionals and not for the beginners,” he said. “That's the first thing the TROPFEST is considering. If you think about the other side of the coin, the media industry, particularly in Gulf, doesn't see film-making as a nice career choice. Parents want their children to get proper jobs and there are a lot of people doing that as per their parents' wishes. For any profession, you need passion and passion for films still exists. So our aim is to establish a media industry across all platforms.” The TROPFEST festival started in 1993, by its founder John Polson, who made a short film and showed it to his friends. About 200 people came to a café in Sydney and over the years it has grown to become the world's largest film festival. “In Sydney last year, they had 150,000 people come to TROPFEST an all-day, open air festival that has become an iconic cultural event in Sydney, which we brought here in the region and now especially to Saudi Arabia because anybody can get into it and Saudi Arabia has a lot of talent that requires a platform,” Venn said. He explained that the films of the TROPFEST are not the greatest in terms of lighting, sound, direction, cast or cinematography but focus is on creativity and films that work best for the festival. “It's our aim to give a chance to predominantly first-time filmmakers, people who never submitted a film to any festival before can participate in it,” he said “Although only Arab nationals can participate, they can have anyone on their team, but the main participant should be Arab,” he said. In the workshop, he showed three TROPFEST films, two from Australia and one from New York. One film was shot entirely on a mobile phone and had no dialogue, just a series of photos; another was animated and cost about SR300 to make. Those films could have been made by anyone, Venn said. “This is only to encourage young filmmakers because they are afraid to come forward. So this festival is all about telling people that they can do it,” he said. “They can shoot it on their digital camera or their phone. They don't need to be a professional to make an award-winning film. “That's what our message is: We want to give the Arab World TROPFEST Aarabia so people can take the plunge and enter this field in the same way TROPFEST started.” Venn believes the Arab World is looking forward to more Arabs entering the media industry because it will bring a better understanding and less fear. Venn has done a number of workshops worldwide and particularly in the Gulf region with the aim to establish the brand. “If I can get 200 to 300 entries in the first year and five to 12 good films I can show in the next event, in November in Abu Dhabi, we will build on that next year and that would be a success,” he said. Judging will be transparent, with several steps. The first is to check that the entry meets the criteria, including that it is no more than 7 minutes long. The filmmaker must be an Arab national, the film must have been made specifically for TROPFEST ARABIA, it must be screened for the first time, it must be broadcast in the region and it must contain the TROPFEST signature item. “The TROPFEST signature item is something we change every year that must be in the film in some way,” he said. “This year we picked stars so the filmmaker must include the stars in some way. It can be as simple as reference to them. It is just meant to challenge the filmmakers' creativity.” __
