BCC 15th edition

Presentation
Biennale College Cinema has reached the 15^th edition: a strategic programme for training new filmmakers from all around the world, which was already operating in the Art, Architecture, Dance, Music, and Theatre departments of La Biennale di Venezia. Biennale College fosters new talents, allowing them to work in contact with masters in order to develop “creations”.
This is a project of crucial importance and the Cinema department of La Biennale di Venezia has been revitalized and given a brand new configuration: a program of permanent activities “after and beyond the Festival” with a strong commitment to developing new creative energies channeled into producing art.

Biennale College Cinema, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, is supported by the Ministry of Culture – Directorate General Cinema  with the additional support of Chanel.
The programme is held in academic collaboration with  The Gotham Film & Media Institute in New York and the TorinoFilmLab.
The educational activities are made possible by the Creative Europe – Media programme.

The primary goal is to supplement the Venice International Film Festival with an advanced training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget audio-visual works, open to teams of directors and producers from around the world.

The challenge is to be able to create – at the end of a year-long series of activities that cover the entire spectrum of filmmaking including the conception, development, production, marketing, audience engagement, sales and distribution of films – up to 4 feature length micro-budget audio-visual works. Among these, at least one is presented by an Italian team and at least 2 are presented by female directors and they will be world premiered during the Venice International Film Festival and also have an online screening on the “Sala Web”, the virtual theatre added to the traditional theatres that house the screenings for the public and pass holders on the Lido.

An essential element of the initiative is the combination of not only training and production finance but also the screening of the completed film at the Venice International Film Festival giving the selected filmmakers much needed visibility – the lack of which is one of the major problems of today’s independent cinema.

Biennale College Cinema also aims to advance research on micro-budget productions, which have become, in times of economic crisis, one of the few opportunities that new talents have to make the leap into producing and directing full feature films. At the Biennale College Cinema we strongly believe that central to the successful development and production of a micro-budget film project within a short time frame there must be a strong team of producer and director. It is essential that the team shares the same vision of the film and respects each other’s roles and responsibilities.  For that reason the programme is structured to reinforce this relationship giving equal status to the producer and director.

In the course of the first ten editions, the first one successfully launched in August 2012, BCC has received 3132 applications from all over the world; out of the 216 projects participating in the first development workshops, 72 micro-budget features have been produced: 45 funded by La Biennale di Venezia, each one with € 150,000 raised to € 200,000 and premiered at the Venice Film Festival from its 70^th edition, 27 produced independently.

The fifteenth edition comprises two different calls, one Italian and one International. The training activities will be in English and both courses will proceed on the same path from October onwards.

For each call, Biennale College Cinema is looking for feature-length audio-visual concepts that can be made, starting with this 15^th edition, within € 200,000 and could be completed, developed, produced, edited and screened at the Venice International Film Festival in 2027.

For the ninth year we launch the call specifically dedicated to team of director and producer, both Italian.

Once the submission phase, which will stay open between January and April, is closed, eight micro-budget Italian projects will be selected and their teams will be invited to participate in a development workshop in Venice, from July 13^th to July, 17^th  2025. During these 5 days, international tutors will mentor the teams supporting them through the creative process.

At the end of the workshop, on receipt of updated materials in early August, 3 teams will be selected and invited to participate, along with 9 teams selected through the International Call launched in May, in a 10-day development workshop in Venice, in October 2026.

The announcement of the selected projects for the October training will be made during the 83rd Venice International Film Festival; from this moment on the two courses of this fifteenth edition, BCC-Italia and BCC-International, proceed on the same programme.

The call “BCC 15 – International” will be open after the Italian one, starting from May until July.

The call is dedicated to teams of director and producer, from all over the world.

Biennale College Cinema will select nine international microbudget projects and their teams will be invited to participate in a 10-day workshop in Venice.

The October project development workshop in Venice, attended by the 12 project teams, includes a public presentation organized at Ca’ Giustinian, La Biennale‘s historical headquarters.

The teams have a further three weeks to work on their projects and deliver a first draft of the script and updated production documents by early November 2026. On receipt of these materials the Festival Director will select the Italian project and the international projects attending the next workshops and to be considered to receive the € 200,000 grant. The Director’s decision will be notified by the end of November 2026.

The selected teams will participate in two workshops in December 2026, in Venice,  and January 2027, online,  focused on script development, pre-production, editing and post production.
Following the January workshop, each team will sign an agreement with La Biennale di Venezia, which will define the obligations of the teams and terms to access the € 200,000 grant.

Teams will be expected to deliver updated scripts/script treatments, draft and actualized budgets, and schedule breakdowns to release payments. They will also be required to provide reports on their progress with their tutors.

All films have to be submitted by 12^th August 2027 in DCP format and subtitled in order to be presented at the 84th Venice International Film Festival.

Applications must be made in teams of director and producer. The team is an essential element of the Biennale College Cinema programme and is a core consideration at all stages of the selection process.

The application consists of a number of written and visual materials, which you will need to submit (see list below). Please supply all requested submission materials as we will not consider incomplete applications. Teams that have previously submitted an application to the previous Biennale College Cinema editions cannot re-apply with the same project. Participants who were selected for workshops of the previous Biennale College – Cinema editions will not be accepted again.

You will have to provide the following materials in English:

a. Synopsis (1 page, max 350 words or 1,800 characters)
b. Treatment for a micro-budget project (5-10 pages, max 3,500 words or 18,000 characters) that fully describes the project. It can be a feature film, an animation, a documentary – all genres eligible  and a statement outlining how the project will explore the micro-budget aesthetic – what particular challenges the film team is looking to explore in terms of form and content. (No more than one page). To be presented in the same file of the treatment.
c. A Director’s Vision: it can be represented by a mood board, a project-book (few pages of a storyboard, a colour script, a series of drawings or photographs) or by a video (max 3 minutes). It visually complements the written concept, and describes the project through images.
d. Previous works by the director (max 2) digital or on film, to be uploaded directly on the website.
e.  Casting Ideas (1 page, max 350 words or 1,800 characters)
f. Total Budget up to a maximum of € 200,000.
g. Biography and filmography of the director and the producer. The filmography needs to include the following information: all previous works including the title, year, length of film, genre (documentary or fiction) and role in the production.
h. Production Company Profile.
i. Video-Pitch Presentation, in English,  by the director (max 3 minutes)
j. Audience Engagement Plan (1 page, max 350 words or 1,800 characters), which describes how to create audience awareness through online communities.
k. Rights Disclosure with regards to full ownership of rights to the submitted project or, should the rights of third parties be involved, a guarantee that the acquisition of all rights in view of production has been concluded or is currently being negotiated. In the latter case the cost must be indicated in the budget, which in any case as specified above in point f, cannot exceed the total of € 200,000.
l. Signed agreement between the producer and the director confirming their willingness to complete the project within the requirement and schedule of the program.
m. Confirmation that the project has not being supported already with finance for development or production.
n. List of training courses and events in which the project has circulated already.

The selected teams will be involved in a series of online and off-line activities, starting from July 2026 up to the Venice International Film Festival in 2027.

15 January 2026 – Call for Applications “BCC 15 - Italia”
13 April 2026 (23:59 CET) – Deadline for applications “BCC 15- Italia”
5 May 2026 – Call for Applications “BCC 15 – International”
Early June 2026 –  Notification of the results to the applicants of “BCC 15 – Italia”
6 July 2026 (23:59 CET) – Deadline for applications “BCC 15 – International”
13 July - 17 July 2026 – Development Workshop in Venice. The workshop will be held in English. (Travel dates: July 12^th – July 18^th)
7 August 2026 – Deadline for the delivery of the updated treatment BCC 15 - Italia
2 - 12 September 2026 – Announcement of the 12 selected teams: 3 from “BCC 15 - Italia” and 9 from “BCC 15 – International”
21 September 2026 – Deadline for delivery of detailed step outline and production documents
6 – 15 October 2026 – (travel dates: October 5^th and 16^th ) in Venice – workshop for the selected teams (3 Italian and 9 International)
9 November 2026 – Deadline for all 12 project-teams to deliver 1st draft scripts, budgets and schedules
by 24 November 2026 – Notification of the results
11 – 14 December 2026 (travel dates: December 10^th and 15^th ) in Venice - workshop dedicated to script development
3 January 2027 – Delivery of 2nd draft script, updated budget, shooting & production schedule
11-18 January 2027 – Online workshop dedicated to pre-production
9 July 2027 – All film projects to have screened final cut to Festival director
12 August 2027 – Delivery date for the Venice International Festival

The official text of the calls, Biennale College Cinema 15 – Italia and Biennale College Cinema 15 – International, are available at labiennale.org.

La Biennale di Venezia reserves the right in any case to modify, cancel or interrupt the initiative described above, in that the announcement or the selection do not constitute a binding contract for the same, nor do they entail the right to the reimbursement of any expense other than those specified above.