Schools Without Borders

Young Filmmakers Training

1 day, 6 schools, 27 films, 1 horizon: the Cinema. That's School Without Borders, a whole day on the big screen, dedicated to the works of students from Swiss film schools.

This review of films produced by Swiss film, television and animation schools is an event that has been an integral part of the Locarno Film Festival for twelve years. CISA has coordinated this event from the beginning, inviting Swiss universities and specialized professional schools to participate with a selection of their best short films, in order to exchange on their respective production realities, in synergy with BaseCamp. Recent diploma short films from ZHdK Zurich, HSLU Lucerne, écal Lausanne and HEAD Geneva are presented, as well as a selection of film essays from USI Lugano and Mendrisio.

The Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) offers a bachelor program in which students experience filmmaking from conception to screening. The master program deepens the study and practice of fiction and documentary filmmaking, screenwriting, photography, editing and creative production.

The Lucerne School of Art and Design (HSLU) offers bachelor and master degree programs in animation and video. These programs focus on both animation and digital storytelling. The master program focuses on documentary film and experimental narrative forms.

The University of Art and Design of Lausanne (écal) offers with its bachelor program an initiation into the various professions of filmmaking such as writing, directing, photography, sound and post-production. The master program is aimed at developing a personal cinematic vision with a focus on fiction cinema.

The Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD) offers a bachelor program aimed at exploring the diversity of film writing, between documentary and fiction. The master program is focused on documentary cinema. Écal and HEAD have created their master programs in partnership.

Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) has activated a course on how to film architecture and inaugurated, in collaboration with the Locarno Film Festival, a Chair titled Future of Cinema and the Audiovisual Arts.

The International Academy of Audiovisual Sciences (CISA) of Locarno is a Higher Specialized School with a two-year program culminating in the diploma of Visual Designer - Film, followed by a one-year specialization program with five majors (in directing, film-television photography, sound, editing, creative production) leading to the federal post-diploma qualification in filmmaking and television.

Marco Poloni
Director, CISA

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