Papaya Young Directors to Showcase Competition in London

Papaya Young Directors and London Film School are holding a showcase of the Papaya Young Directors competition. It will take place on 14th November at 6pm at the London Film School Cinema. It is free admission. 

Papaya Young Directors is a competition for young directors in Europe. It is organised by Papaya Films - a production company with offices in Warsaw, London and New York. It helps young aspiring filmmakers break through into the world of commercials. In previous editions the competition benefited from support from global brands such as Huawei, Volkswagen. McDonald's, Sprite and H&M. Young filmmakers created 81 films, and submitted over 4000 treatments. Recent winners got recognition from the most renowned Award shows, such as SHOTS Awards and Cannes Lions.

The show will be hosted by Kacper Sawicki with a guest appearance from Toby Dye.

Kacper is executive producer and founder of Papaya Films. Since 2006, the company has been delivering quality content and entertainment around the world for various media platforms. Kacper has collaborated with the best in the business, creating authentic and energetic stories that matter. Papaya Films has three offices (New York, London and Warsaw), has worked in 28 countries and has until now been distinguished with 63 industry awards, including Cannes Lions and SHOTS Awards. Fixie cyclist in his spare time.

Toby is a London based film director affiliated with Ridley Scott Creative Group since the beginning of his career. Toby started out in documentaries but quickly made a transition into commercials, successfully collaborating with brands such as American Express, Lurpak, Heineken and Sky. His “Free the Kids” film for Persil won Best of Best Gold and Silver Awards at Campaign Magazine’s Brand Film Festival 2017 and a Bronze Lion at Cannes. At the moment Toby is developing his feature film project.

The competition is targeted at students and graduates of film schools, as well as art schools, liberal arts schools, amateur filmmakers and people without a higher education between the ages of 20 and 35 (according to the year date, not particular months).

To apply, you need to submit an idea in the form of a treatment in response to a chosen brief of a sponsor brand. The sixth edition will start on 14th January, 2019. Besides the competition, Papaya Young Directors is a year-long educational project consisting of workshops, lectures, inspiration sessions and a video series called #PYDMASTERTALKS, where authority figures from the industry share their knowledge and experience.

Authors of the best treatments are chosen by the jury, are invited to participate in further stages of the competition - the workshop stage and the shooting board stage. The finalists are given a budget and support to shoot their film.

The films are judged by a jury consisting of a couple dozens of creative directors, copywriters, cinematographers and directors.

The premiere screening of the films, as well as the award ceremony take place during the final gala in June. The prize pool is 22000 GBP.