Greenhouse/Descriptions of workshops and presenters

Creative pre-production

Pre-production is the most important tool for a budding director – a time to develop creativity and prepare solidly for work on set. In this workshop we will discuss key aspects of this stage, such as staging, casting, working with the actor and building the director’s vision.

Pre-production is not only the cheapest, but also the most effective time to work out the details. The workshop will show step-by-step how to plan activities so that on the set you can focus on the most important thing: working with the actor and responding to variables. Participants will learn how to deal with casting, working with actors and solving problems that may arise during production.

The presenter: 

Aleksander Pietrzak – screenwriter, director, and creator of cultural initiatives (Big Festivalowski, Museum of Memes). Member of the European Film Academy and Board Member of the Polish Filmmakers Association.  Graduate of the Secondary Music School in the piano class, and the Warsaw Film School in the Film Directing Department. His diploma film “Mocna kawa nie jest taka zła ‘ and a short film made at the Munk Studio ’ Ja i mój tata ” won more than 20 awards, including the audience award at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis and in Huesca, Spain. 

At the age of 25, he made his feature debut with the black comedy “ Julius ”, which qualified for the main competition at the Gdynia Film Festival (the youngest director in the festival’s history). He made his television debut by directing 5 episodes in the returning after 10 years cult TVN series “39.5 weeks ”. 

In August 2021, his second comedy-drama “Black Sheep” (produced by TVN Discovery) entered theaters. Recently, he also directed series: Planet of Singles (Canal+), Camera Cafe (Warner TVN), Algorithm of Love (Canal+), Goosebumps (Amazon Prime). Currently, Alek teaches pre-production at the Warsaw Film School, camera work at the Theater Academy, hosts a program on Kampus radio called “Continuation of Cinematography” and is preparing more film projects.

Color correction from A to Z – a practical workshop for video makers and creators

A workshop for video creators who want to work consciously and effectively with color in their productions. Participants will learn what color management is and how to effectively color correct.

The workshop will discuss practical applications of color theory and its key role in building the visual consistency of a video. Participants will learn how to precisely match the color palette to the narrative and how to use readily available tools to achieve the desired effect.

The workshop is not only about learning techniques, but also an opportunity to develop your own visual style. With the skills you gain, your productions will become more professional, consistent and unique.

Raise the quality of your projects to a higher level and build your unique visual language!

The presenter:

Igor Podgorski – trains in recording, editing and coloring videos. Produces podcasts and marketing videos for companies. Runs a video studio in Szczecin. Creates a podcast for filmmakers SUPER35. He has worked with brands such as Canon, Samsung, TVN, Orange, T-Mobile, Netia, Ernst & Young, Dawtona, Grupa Azoty, Carl ZEISS, Fujitsu, SAP, Obag, EPEE, 3Shape and Osadkowski, among others.

Writing is a team game

It is accepted to think that scriptwriting is tedious and solitary work. Participants in the workshop, meanwhile, will find out that creating stories can be an enjoyable team game. During the course of the workshop they will discover how, with joint efforts and in small groups, it is possible to build multi-dimensional, interesting and non-obvious characters. They will also learn how to launch their characters into scenes, bringing their characters’ unique personalities, stories and language to the scene.

Leading: 

Anna Bielak – screenwriter and script consultant, Head of Development at Aurum Film since the end of 2020. She works conceptually on projects developed in-house. She is also a co-founder of the Screenwriting Atelier and Script A Story workshops. She developed her screenwriting knowledge mainly at international workshops including: LIM – Less is More, Midpoint – Training for Trainers, Feature Launch and Writers’ Room, as well as Six Days of Practice and Script Circle or Kino Dzieci PRO (now Young Horizons Lab). She made her debut in 2023 as co-writer of the romantic comedy and mini-series “In Your Place,” directed by Antoni Galdamez Munoz. Written in duo with the director, Iwo Kondefer, the short “Today we will all hide” premiered at the 2024 Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, and their joint feature-length screenplay “Echo” was a finalist in the 2024 Script Wars Screenwriting Competition.

Photo author – practical workshop

The workshop is an opportunity to learn about the work of a cinematographer from the ground up – from the complex process of film production to the ins and outs of cinematography knowledge. Participants will learn how to plan the visual vision of a film and realize it with cinematographic tools.

During the class, each participant will create their own visual story, using the language of film and photographic techniques. We will discuss how to build a narrative with images, work with lighting and composition to convey the emotions and message of the film. This is a practical workshop that will introduce you to the world of cinematography, combining theory with hands-on activities.

The presenter:

Filip Pasternak – started his professional career as an IT specialist, but soon after that he took up the art of cinematography seriously. He was admitted to the Warsaw Film School to study cinematography, where today he is a lecturer. He is the cinematographer of such productions as “Control” (a web miniseries with more than 80 million views) and “Random” starring Julia Wieniawa and Maciek Musialowski. “Control” lived to see a total of as many as four seasons co-produced with Player.pl, available today on Max. In addition to films, Filip is an active creator in the advertising sector, responsible for shooting commercials for brands such as Pocztex, Modivo and Netflix.

The partners of the National Greenhouse Film Festival are the Local Government of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Kino Centrum at the “Signs of the Times” Center for Contemporary Art in Torun, Pers and the Studio M6 Foundation.