Young Filmmaker Leo Vitasović at Prodigy Camp Workshop in Seattle
Young filmmaker Leo Vitasović is currently at a film camp Prodigy Camp held each year in Seattle surroundings. Workshop gathers most talented young filmmakers from around the world and is being held by best film professionals. Prodigy Camp selectors chose young Croatian filmmaker to participate in a camp after seeing his film Voicemail at Croatian film selection at Youth Film Festival in Karlovac.
Leo talked to us from USA: It’s gorgeous here; we are placed in a big house about an hour drive from Seattle. First couple of days we had lectures about structure, character development and film story and directing. Some of our lecturers are people working for Pixar, as well as former director of film academy in Seattle, John Jacobsen. Main focus of the camp is on film storytelling and how to create true art which means openly talking about most personal questions in front of people we just met.
Besides learning and meeting talented peers, it is extremely important that youth included into this project gets a chance to make a short film together with top quality mentors. We don't doubt that Leo will have a great time because he has been in film industry for a while. He comes from Udruga Blank and has been successfully participating at children and youth film festivals for years. His 27-minute long film Voicemail, created as a part of a project done by high school seniors and college students gathered around Dignitas organization, talks about orphanage patrons which, after turning 18 and finishing high school have to leave the orphanage and start their own life.
Collaboration between Prodigy Camp and Croatian Film Association, precisely Youth Film Festival and Four River Film Festival started last year with their initiative. Workshop founder Rick Stevenson contacted Croatian Film Association secretary Marija Ratković Vidaković through Hadley Hillel, young awarded American filmmaker that had visited Four River Film Festival for two years now. Participation at a workshop like this is of a great importance for forming young and talented filmmakers so we can't wait for Leo to apply his new knowledge on film sometime soon!
13.07.2016.