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Bringing Words to Life
by Marcos Kurtinaitis
The Berlinale Talent Campus' Actors Workshop, in conjunction with the Script Station, offered a great opportunity for young screenwriters and actors to jointly exercise their skills. Held over four meetings, the mentors and the group worked on two scripts previously selected from those submitted by the scriptwriting talents: LOVE, TERESA, a romantic and delicate piece about coming to terms with the past by Colombian Tatiana Villacob, and VOICE, a CRASH-style, multi-plot, action drama by Carol Castro from Brazil.
With constant supervision and advice by experts, the scripts were thoroughly read and enacted by the actors in the presence of the writers, who constantly reviewed and rewrote their work. For scriptwriters, it was a chance to have their texts read by real actors, getting immediate feedback on what was working and what was not. "It gave me another perspective on my characters," said Tatiana Villacob, after a run-through of her script. "In my head, I know exactly how I want them to sound, but the actors showed me many other possibilities. It has opened my mind a lot," she explained.
The hands-on training also provided the actors an excellent opportunity to practice their acting skills with a script still in development, discussing aspects of their roles and lines directly with the author. "It's exciting for me to be able to help the writers bring their words to life," said Rupak Ginn, a 26-year-old actor from Los Angeles. In just its second year as part of the Berlinale Talent Campus, the Actors Workshop is seen as great news. "It is a very good thing that the actors also have their own specific programme during the Campus", says Eleftheria Gerofoka, 28-year-old actress from Greece. Nonetheless, the fact that all the Actors Workshop's activities were connected to those of the Script Station, was seen as something that could be improved, with more time being devoted to the actors sharpening their skills with gestures, body-language exercises and acting for the camera. "Since it is attached to the Script Station, the practical aspects of the acting craft are a little overlooked by the workshop", said 28-year-old London-based Norwegian actress Ingrid Berdal, clarifying that this minor criticism did not take away from the marvellous and gratifying experience. This years' Campus initiative that won high praise by the acting Talents was the panel “Embodying the Character”, presented by Jean-Louis Rodrigue. All in all, a great workshop to hone acting and film writing skills.