When Denisse Arancibia (photo) applied for this year Belinale Talent Campus, she thought it could be her first opportunity to express her point of view outside Bolivia. The day Denisse knew her short film project Pis have been selected for the first round of the Berlinale Today Award 2011 competition, she knew the opportunity had become a reality.

The question: Do Latin American young filmmakers always have to take a transatlantic flight to jump into a Talent Campus? The answer was a strong negative in 2005, when the Berlinale Talent Campus Abroad initiative extended for the first time to a Latin American Film Festival. Organized by widely recognized “Universidad del Cine”, Buenos Aires Talent Campus takes place during one of the largest and most prestigious film events in the continent: Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI). This Talent Campus welcomes 25 argentine and 25 South American young filmmakers each year, and is reaching its fifth version next April.

The initiative to create Talent Campus platforms of participation and communication among young Latin American filmmakers was the only one until 2009, when another film festival of the continent managed to develop this experience. This March, Guadalajara International Film Festival, in cooperation with Berlinale Talent Campus, organizes for the second time a Talent Campus focusing on learning and perfection of skills and knowledge in making a good script.

“I want to learn”, affirms Denisse before leaving for the Berlinale Talent Campus. Now, she is one of the upand- coming filmmakers representing the diverse cinematic perspectives of more than 120 countries in a Talent Campus. As we want Buenos Aires and Guadalajara experiences to continue, we hope these platforms trigger more initiatives and boost Latin American young people work in different and new contexts.

by Mary Carmen Molina Ergueta