YDA Week 2021 schedule announced
Interviews with directors Ninian Doff and Martin de Thurah, panels on deepfake, presentations on AI, plus a lot more are all to come in this year's YDA Week, which culminates with the Young Director Awards ceremony and announcement of the 2021 winners.
The Young Director Award, in partnership with shots, is pleased to announce that YDA Week is back.
With the pandemic seeing the Cannes Lions - the YDA's spiritual home - cancelled once again this year, the YDA has again created a bespoke online event to partner the traditional YDA awards ceremony.
This year's theme is freedom, and across next week [July 5 to 8] YDA Week will explore the multi-faceted nature of freedom in filmmaking; from liberating or limiting technological advances, and the amount of creative freedom a director can maintain while balancing the demands of clients and agencies, to the broadening of career paths for new directors coming into the industry.
Below you can see the schedule for YDA Week 2021 and a brief outline of what to expect from each our panel talks, presentation and interview.
Monday July 5
Creative Freedom Interview: Ninian Doff [2pm BST/3pm CEST/9am EST]
shots Co-Editor Danny Edwards talks to Pulse Films' Ninian Doff about his journey from brilliant, low budget music videos and short films to brilliant, higher budget commercials, all the way through to his recent feature debut, Get Duked. He discusses how he has maintained his creative freedom in the face of demands from brands, production companies, and studio executives, and we get a glimpse into how he has carved a path through both the commercial and entertainment worlds all while maintaining his creative integrity and freedom.
Human-AI: Symbiosis In Media [5pm BST/6pm CEST/12pm EST]
In a live presentation, Michaela Pňačeková, award-winning XR Artist, producer and researcher at York University Toronto, explores the relationship between Artificial Intelligence, the media industry and freedom. Exploring how AI can mimic the human brain, and how its use in new media and film has expanded or diminished our concept of freedom, we ask: can AI really become trustworthy?
Includes a live Q&A.
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Tuesday July 6
The F-word [2pm BST/3pm CEST/9am EST]
Whisper it, but not all directors are signed to a production company. Some people... freelance. Some because they've yet to find the right home, more because certain territories don't operate with set rosters, others because they value the freedom of choice being a freelancer gives them. We speak to a panel of producers and directors who are able to give insight into the pros and cons of working both within and outside of the production company structure to find out what path might best suit you.
Panellists:
Daniel Bergmann, President, Stink Group
Jeremy Goold, Founder, You Are Here Productions London
Sara Dunlop, Partner and director, The Corner Shop London
Ian Pons Jewell, director
Chaired by shots Co-Editor, Danny Edwards
Above [clockwise from top left]: Jeremy Goold, Danny Edwards, Sara Dunlop, Ian Pons Jewell and Daniel Bergmann discuss the pros and cons of the traditional production system.
Wednesday July 7
Could deepfake be deep trouble? [2pm BST/3pm CEST/9am EST]
If filmmakers have the freedom to make anyone say anything, what responsibility do they have to their audience and the wider world? With the advent of deepfake technology filmmakers and technicians can manipulate people’s images to say anything but is the freedom to control other peoples’ expression a freedom too far?
Panellists:
Ryan Staake, director, Pomp & Clout
Joe Wade, Founder, Don’t Panic London
Michaela Pňačeková, XR Artist, Producer and Researcher at York University Toronto
Mike Woods, Director of Immersive Content/ECD, m ss ng p eces New York
Chaired by shots Co-Editor, Danny Edwards
Thursday July 8
Creative Freedom Interview: Martin de Thurah [2pm BST/3pm CEST/9am EST]
shots Co-Editor Danny Edwards talks to Bacon director Martin de Thurah about his journey from artist to filmmaker, the evolution of his directorial language, the themes of his work and how he approaches every job - be it a commercial, promo, short film or TV series, in a specific way.
YDA 2021 Awards Pre-show [3.30pm BST/4.30pm CEST/10.30am EST]
Join the YDA as it announces the winner of this year's Born to Create Drama competition, the brief of which was to make a film using the phrase ‘Born to Create Drama’ as inspiration. It could be no more than three minutes long, and could be funny, scary, odd, exciting, unsettling – as long as it makes the YDA board sit up and take note.
YDA 2021 Awards Ceremony [4.45pm BST/5.45pm CET/11.45am EST]
The announcement of all of this year's YDA winners across all of the event's categories. With introduction and insight from YDA President Francois Chilot, and this year's jury chairman, Executive Producer and Partner at HALAL, Gijs Determeijer.
