Take your short-film idea and make it a reality.
MIDPOINT Shorts 2025-2026
Shorts
Upcoming
Benefits
Get closer to realisation of your creative idea
A complex program dedicated to script and project development of short films in Europe connected vitally to the film industry. The combination of in-depth script analysis and professional project development directs projects on their path in the cinema.
For teams of writers, directors and producers
- it will bring your project to the next level and prepare for entering the industry world (from one-pager to treatment, from treatment to script, from the first draft to final one, from scratch to pitch)
- chance to get a deeper understanding of the creative aspects involved in the work, as well as insights into financing, sales, festival, and distribution strategies
- showcase at When East Meets West
- networking & meeting new industry partners
- front gate to The Focus WiP section of the Short Film Corner | Rendez-vous Industry at the Festival de Cannes
Program Structure
Comprehensive project-development program for short-film projects
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All ParticipantsOnline Feedback SessionJuly 28-31, 2025 | Online
From all applications, the reading committee will select approximately 20 projects, whose creative teams will receive a detailed online assessment from three experienced professionals (script consultants and producer) during the Online Feedback Session.
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All ParticipantsWorkshop 1September 29 – October 5, 2025 | Brno, Czech Republic / in collaboration with the ISFF BRNO16
This workshop focuses primarily on creative development and dramaturgy. Participants also begin to work on promotional materials and production strategies with the Producer Tutor. They also meet Guest Tutors from the short-film industry through special lectures and inspiring masterclasses. The workshop is organized within the framework of ISFF BRNO16, offering short film screenings and networking opportunities.
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All ParticipantsOnline ConsultationsDecember 2025 | Online
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All ParticipantsWorkshop 2January 15-21, 2026 | Trieste, Italy / in collaboration with When East Meets West and Trieste Film Festival
This workshop serves as a platform to develop scripts further, while also incorporating distribution strategies and addressing presentation skills and promotional materials. The entire program concludes with a project showcase within the When East Meets West Co-Production Forum, plus one-on-one meetings with important decision-makers within the industry.
Projects
BETWEEN THE SKY AND THE SEA
In the summer heat of Cassis, 16-year-old Felix works at his father’s campsite. His days drift by with friends and cliff dives at the Calanques, a summer like every summer. The arrival of Milan ...
BRAVE BOYS
Šomi(8) is a seemingly naïve boy who loves playing with his toy rifle. Loud music from his headphones is drowning out the outside world. Through a Voice-Over, we’re witness to Šomi’s thoughts, ...
Decay of Strawberry Moon
Laura and Martin, a recently broken-up couple unwilling to fully let go, take a seasonal job picking strawberries, hoping the hard work and change of scenery will distract them from their decaying ...
THE GOLDEN TOUCH
A successful Prague-based influencer and media entrepreneur faces a potential setback when a satirical social media account begins targeting his brand with viral parodies. Desperate to secure his ...
LUCIA AT THE WINDOW
LUCIA (80), a retired nurse and widow, lives alone in a second floor apartment in the center of Madrid, where she spends her days resting and preparing her homemade kombucha recipe. However, her ...
MANCLAVE
Ari, a lonely 19-year-old college freshman living an unfulfilled life in suburban Germany, idolizes Dominic Zane, a charismatic manosphere influencer who promotes hypermasculinity to his online ...
NIGHT GAMES
Anna (20), feeling increasingly isolated, works as a counsellor at a summer camp. The kids ignore her, she’s stuck with the worst tasks, and her girlfriend, Radka (23), openly cheats on her. One ...
PRIMO
After the death of his father, CARLOS (29) is left to care for his grieving mother ROSA (60) and keep their failing family kiosk alive. While Rosa clings to the kiosk to preserve her husband’s ...
MIDPOINT participants:
Richard FelizLaurian-Luis SchymuraVincent SaundersJosephine HasenjagerRichard Feliz
Participants
Tutors
Inspirational professional with a passion for sharing
Build on the solid foundations of traditional script analysis, MIDPOINT Shorts brings experts from the short-film industry to the service of your stories.
Head of Studies & Group Leader
Pavel Marek is a globetrotter – born in India, early childhood in the USA, now a writer and director of Czech features, shorts and docs, and professor of directing at FAMU Prague.
As Head of Studies, Pavel oversees the methodology of the program, ensures participants' needs are met, and guarantees the practical value and industry impact of the training you receive.
As Group Leader, Pavel also oversees the development of all projects from the beginning of the program through graduation.
Pavel Marek
Czech Republic
Pavel Marek is a graduate of the Faculty of Computer Engineering, Technical University and the Directing Department at FAMU. He received a scholarship at the NFTS in the UK. During the communist era ...
Complete bio
Group Leader
Gabriele Brunnenmeyer
Germany
GABRIELE BRUNNENMEYER is a script mentor, pitching coach and project consultant. She ran the MEDIA Antenna ...
Complete bio
Producer Tutor
The Producer Tutor makes sure each project develops effective promotional materials and realistic budgets and schedules.
Dora Nedeczky
Estonia
Dora is a Hungarian producer and strategist, with a background in aesthetics and film theory/history. She's lived in ...
Complete bio
Successful Shorts
Selection of our successful alumni
Ice Break
Sixteen-year-old Alex is the only girl on a boys’ ice hockey team coached by her father Michal. She is a tough player who feels little affinity for the world of women. But this all begins to change when she falls in love with one of her teammates and yearns to be seen more like a girl.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Rozalie Brozkova, Elvira Dulskaia
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Shorts
Genre:
Drama
Rites
A twelve-year-old Michal was born with a cleft lip.
He feels inadequate because of his deformed face.
His only friend Ondra convinces him to join a street gang to finally break free from a position of an outsider.
Two friends have one afternoon to show they have what it takes to pass the admission to the gang. Michal desperately wants to prove he is good enough, but the tempting adventure suddenly turns into an initiation ritual into adulthood.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Damian Vondrasek
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Shorts
Genre:
Drama
Magic Moments
Parents struggle to earn money, so sisters basically take care of each other alone.
-Why do we walk on the grass?
-So that we step into dogshit and are lucky.
Thanks to the bond they have, they might have already won over life´s shit.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Martina Buchelova, Erika Paulinska
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Intensive Early Melons 2013
Atlantis, 2003
2003, four years before Slovakia entered the Schengen Area. Martin and Denisija, a young couple from Ukraine, are trying to get illegaly to Germany through Slovakia, like many people before them. The border between Slovakia and Ukraine will be in a couple of years one of the most secured borders in Europe, but in 2003 it is still open for smugglers and for people hoping to find a new life in Western Europe. Martin and Denisija both dream about getting to Germany, a place they’ve never been to, both ready to sacrifice everything they have to reach this destination.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Michal Blasko, Jakub Brychta
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Shorts 2015
Inversion
A film about the complicated friendship of three adolescent girls, two swimming pools, and one malicious act of revenge.
Status:
realised
MIDPOINT participants involved:
Lucia Kajankova
Developed at:
MIDPOINT Shorts Dresden 2017
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References
A motivational experience that elevates your project
Intense, precise, friendly and very useful.
Petar Lakic
Director, Writer, MIDPOINT Shorts 2024-2025, Alumnus
The MIDPOINT SHORTS was a great experience. Our project was developed a lot, we got very useful feedbacks from our tutors and the other participants. And the program was also a good opportunity to connect to professionals and show our project to the industry's relevant members.
Anna Toth
Producer, MIDPOINT Shorts 2024-2025, Alumna
MIDPOINT Shorts is an invaluable experience, that brings together people and stories.
Markela Kontaratou
Writer, MIDPOINT Shorts 2024-2025, Alumna
MIDPOINT Shorts met and exceeded my expectations with great organization, thorough and dedicated involvement in our project on all the important levels, from the concept and story development all the way to the promotion, marketing and sales, enriching it and teaching us along the way.
Nikola Kupresanin
Writer, Shorts 2020–2021 Alumnus
We have managed to achieve almost final version of the script in three months. All the workshops were very wisely chosen and inspiring.
Elvira Dulskaia
Writer, Director, Shorts 2020–2021 Alumna
MIDPOINT gave us great support from the development stage to the final edit. Apart from that, it was a very pleasant personal experience.
Damian Vondrasek
Writer, Director, Shorts 2021-2022 Alumnus
I believe that this program is a giant leap forward for anyone who is serious about his short film.
Patrik Svehelka
Producer, Shorts 2021-2022 Alumnus
FAQs
You may ask...
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Can I apply with a documentary short film project?
Sadly, this program does not work with documentary projects, its focus are live-action fiction.
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Can I apply without a writer OR director OR producer in the team?
You can't. All these creative roles have to be present in your team. One person could represent more than one role (writer/director OR director/producer, etc.), or there could be two people representing one role (2x writer OR 2x producer, etc.). In any case, the team must consist of 2-3 people.
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Are there any time requirements regarding the minimum or maximum length of the short film?
The recommended length is approximately 7-25 minutes.
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Do we have to have some financing in place while applying for the workshop?
Nope!
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My English no good. Me can apply?
Sadly, no. As the entire training runs in English, and during the working days you'll be asked to write directly in English, we require an intermediate level of these language skills. This simply means: your grammar doesn't have to be perfect, but you need to talk/write fluently and have the vocabulary to do so.
Contact
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