07-10-2009

Digital center planned for Baltic film school

By Martin Aadamsoo

    The Tallinn-based international Baltic Film and Media School (BFM) has launched an architectural competition for its new prmemises, complete with a digital cluster, due for completion by the end of 2011.

    The new premises will house BFM's 300+ students and digital post-production centre.

    The construction budget for the project was awarded by Estonia's government from EU structural funds in November 2008 and amounts to 2.2M EUR.

    The new building will hold a TV training studio, a green-screen film studio with adjacent facilities, editing suites, a screening hall and auditoria. The digital post-production centre will form a separate zone in the complex and include centralised technological facilities and business premises for postproduction companies.

    The joint project aims to draw together young talent and the industry, hoping to tap into, and generate, innovation in the fast developing digital production modes. The digital cluster is applying for funding from Enterprise Estonia to the tune of 1M EUR for initial technical setup. The cluster initiative draws on the results of an international feasibility study conducted by the London and Berlin-based Peaceful Fish consultancy in Spring 2009.

    BFM is the only English language film and media school in Northern Europe, founded in 2006 with a start-up grant from the Denmark based Nordic-Baltic Film Fund

    www.bfm.ee