LIM Boosting Ideas Workshop June 18-23 2023

When: The course kicks off with a dinner for tutors and participants on Sunday June 18th at 16:30. Workshop Monday-Friday, June 19th.-23rd. 09:00-16:30.

Where: The Norwegian Film School in Oslo: Myrens verksted 6F, entrance by Akerselva

Fee: 4800 kroner per participant (includes lunch every day and dinner on Sunday 19th).

Language: English

Application deadline: Tuesday May 23rd at 23:59.

Target group: Writer-directors and writers. The workshop is open also to novelists and playwrights with a project for a fiction feature film. Filmmakers who are working on their 2nd or 3rd feature will be prioritized.

Less is More is one of Europe’s leading writer and project development programmes. For the fifth year, the Norwegian Film Institute & the Norwegian Film School is offering the chance for up to 9 Norwegian writers to take part in an intensive screenwriting workshop at the Norwegian Film School in Oslo, from Sunday June 18th to Friday 23rd 2023.

"LIM Boosting Ideas Workshop" aims at helping writers turn creative limitations into opportunities for innovation in script development. LIM helps writers to dig deeper into emotion, structure and the power of the script’s story at an early stage, before entering the often long development stage and even before starting the writing process. LIM embraces limitations as a catalyst for exciting film experiences and in doing so, brings out a filmmaker’s unique imprint, enabling their work to stand out. The idea is that the more that can be explored and determined prior to the writing process begins, the more powerful a first draft will be.

Tutors

The workshop will be led by script consultants Lucile Hadzihalilovic (France), writer-director of Innocence and Evolution, and collaborator of Gaspar Noé for most of his films, and Simão Cayatte (Portugal) who attended the 2016 edition of LIM and has co-written multiple TV series in Portugal and recently directed the series “Vanda” which was selected for the Berlinale Series Selects 2022 (see full bio below).

Who is LIM Boosting Ideas workshop aimed at?

The workshop will focus on ideas for a fiction feature film and is suitable for writers and writer-directors. Novelists and playwrights without screenwriting experience are also welcome to apply, but only with a fiction feature film project.

The workshop is open to talents based in Norway. Filmmakers who have already made their 1st feature film and are working on their 2nd or 3rd feature will be prioritized.

Please see a short statement by filmmaker Kaveh Tehrani, one of the participants at a previous LIM-workshop in Oslo.

When will the workshop take place and what does it imply?

The workshop kicks off on Sunday June 18th at 4.30pm with a first introduction and dinner, and continues Monday 19th through Friday 23rd from 9am to 4.30pm.

All participants will also be expected to attend a one-hour introduction session online on Friday June 16th 12:00 – 13:00.

Be aware that the weeklong workshop is an intense and collaborative experience. The participants are required to attend all workshop hours the whole week and are also expected to work individually on their projects after the common part of the workshop ends at 4:30pm each day.

What is the workshop fee?

The workshop fee is 4800 NOK. The fee includes dinner on Sunday and lunch and refreshments throughout the day Monday through Friday.

Participants outside of the Oslo area can contact their regional film center to apply for travel support.

How to Apply

To apply we require the following information:

• One-page description of a project at an early stage or an idea (sending the summary of a script already written is not advised).
• A 3-5 minutes motivation video explaining why you want to attend and your expectations.
• Short resume and links to previous works (1 page).

Please fill out the form and upload all the necessary documents here to apply.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday May 23rd 2023 at midnight.

The selection will be done and announced by May 29th.

About the tutors

Lucile Hadzihalilovic

Lucile Hadzihalilovic studied art history before graduating from the Paris film school IDHEC (now La Fémis).

Her debut mini-feature LA BOUCHE DE JEAN-PIERRE premiered in Un Certain Regard in Cannes in 1996. In 2004, INNOCENCE received the awards for Best Film in San Sebastian in 2004, Best film and Best Photography in Stockholm Film Festival. EVOLUTION (co-written with Alanté Kavaïté) picked up the Special Jury Prize in San Sebastian in 2015, and Best director award at Dublin film festival. Her latest film EARWIG (co-written with Geoff Cox) received the Special Jury Prize in San Sebastian in 2021.

Additionally, Lucile has directed the short films GOOD BOYS, NECTAR and DE NATURA.

She edited and produced Gaspar Noe’s CARNE and I STAND ALONE and is also his production partner in the company Les Cinémas de la Zone.
She has been a consultant at La Femis and in different workshops such as Sarajevo and Berlinale talent campus, and she has contributed to the writing of Gaspar Noe’s ENTER THE VOID.

Simão Cayatte

Simão hails from Lisbon and works as an actor and writer/director. He holds a BA in Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths University London and an MFA in Film at Columbia University School of the Arts, New York. While in New York he also worked at Darren Aronofsky’s company Protozoa Pictures as a script trainee in development.

His first short film as a writer/director « A Viagem » (The Trip) was selected in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Cinefóndation and went on to play at a number of international festivals. His most recent short film « Menina » (Young Lady) was selected by the French Academy Les César as one of the top European short films of 2017. He has co-written multiple TV shows in Portugal and recently directed the 8-episode TV show « Vanda », produced by Legendary Pictures, La Panda and SPi which was selected for the Berlinale Series Selects 2022.

His first feature film « Vadio », a Portuguese/French/Polish co-production, premiered in 2022 and was developed at the 2016 edition of LIM | Less is More.

As a producer he recently worked on Richard Stanley’s « Color Out of Space », starring Nicolas Cage and produced by SpectreVision.

About LIM

LIM | Less is More is the European feature film development programme for committed filmmakers in a changing world. 

Supported by Creative Europe - Media, LIM is led by Le Groupe Ouest (France) and co-elaborated with a wide range of European partners, such as NFI. LIM aims to help filmmakers, writers, producers and development professionals fully integrate limitation as a creative tool and a trigger for a more in-depth creative process at early stage.

LIM | Less is More has been set up to empower a generation of filmmakers in opening new avenues by tackling new issues.

LIM is a program of Le Groupe Ouest, which for 16 years has been exploring new methods for creating stories, coaching writers, helping them find their “touch” and produce a meaningful story in a context of European cooperation and innovation. 

NFI is also a partner of the LIM main training programme. Every year we collaborate to maximize the chances of having a writer/director and a Development Angel (creative producers, story-editors, development executives, commissioning editors) attending the main year-long training programme.

Each year, around 200 writers from all around the globe are coached by Le Groupe Ouest, through its different programmes, to boost their writing process.
Among them: Massoud Bakhshi - Yalda, a night for forgiveness (Grand Jury Prize, Sundance), Maïmouna Doucouré - Cuties (Directing Award, Sundance), Ralitza Petrova (LIM tutor) – Godless (Golden Leopard, Locarno), Houda Benyamina – Divines (Golden Camera, Cannes), ), Nathalie Biancheri (LIM) – Wolf (Toronto Film Festival), Alina Grigore (LIM) – Blue Moon (Concha de Oro, San Sebastian), Christian Volckman (LIM) - The Room (Number 1 on Shudder during the first confinement and who is actually part of LIM projects this year), Lukas Dhont - Close (Grand Prix, Cannes), CJ Obasi (LIM) – Mami Wata (Cinematography Award at Sundance).