Who might win the Golden Bear in the future? - By Klaus Grimberg

In just six years, the Berlinale Talent Campus has developed into a coveted springboard for up-and-coming international filmmakers. This year, 350 newcomers out of more than 3,000 applicants from almost 100 countries were invited to the Berlin film festival.

All Franziska Mueller has is five minutes to give a quick rundown on the characters in her script - men and women around 30 who have to make fundamental decisions about love or their career. The young woman from Berlin, herself just 30, describes them and their constellations, outlines the situations and conflicts - and her five minutes are up.

"You have come up with some very interesting people who have a lot of potential," Juror David Thompson of the BBC − assigned to evaluate her and 11 other screenplays, told her afterward. "But it's not entirely clear to me how the various stories are connected - you should work more on that." Mueller nods, relieved. The juror basically thought her idea was good and that was encouraging.

Scenes like this one from the Script & Doc Station for feature or documentary films are part of the Berlinale Talent Campus, which had its sixth run this year during the Berlin International Film Festival. A total of 350 people from almost 100 countries came to Berlin: directors and camera people, producers and art directors, editors and sound engineers. They were selected from more than 3,000 applicants to present their cinematic vision alongside the main films of the Berlinale to experts in the field and to get feedback from them. And, of course, to make contacts all over the world.

The time when the Talent Campus was regarded as just one huge Berlinale party is over. The atmosphere on the three different stages in the Hebbel Theater in Kreuzberg reminds one of bees in a beehive during the swarming season. Those who aren't busy introducing themselves and their projects to producers or editors in one of the diverse pitch sessions are hurrying to attend one of the moderated discussion forums.

There are 80 events during the more than week-long campus; 150 experts take part in sessions on the various podiums. They include such impressive names like directors Mike Leigh and Stephen Frears, actresses Julie Delpy, Sandrine Bonnaire and even Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

Campus participants have an agonizing variety of choice. In one of the auditoriums, Alex McDowell, one of the most creative set designers in Hollywood, is offering a glimpse at the complicated processes involved in a major production such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" or "Minority Report." While McDowell is still chatting about what it was like to work with directors Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg, a debate, titled "Real Life Emotions" is starting over the increasing fascination in biopics. That is where British director Stephen Frears ("The Queen") meets successful German producer Bernd Eichinger ("Downfall") and Bonnaire ("Jeanne D'Arc") - one can hardly think of a better group of participants.

Regardless of what field the aspiring talents are in, they all dream of returning to the Berlinale in the near future - which, for example, was the case for Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke (2003 campus) and his American colleague Lance Hammer (2004 campus). With their current feature films, the two are the first to have made it into the festival's most prestigious event, the competition.

At the end, Eimbcke even won the highly esteemed Alfred Bauer Prize for his innovative coming-of-age story, "Lake Tahoe." And Lance Hammer also only received good reviews internationally for his sharp-eyed Mississippi family drama, "Ballast."

The Talent Campus functions as a springboard to a career in the global film industry - this claim has long since become reality. Diverse former campus participants can also be spotted in the Berlinale's Panorama and Forum sections. The film "The Amazing Truth about Queen Raquela" perhaps best illustrates what networking can do for the up-and-coming market: Danish director Olaf de Fleur Johannesson initially met his actor Stefan Schaefer when they were both campus participants. Johannesson also got in touch with Philippine producer Arleen Cuevas through the campus Internet database. That is how the film came about which this year screened in the Berlinale's Panorama division.

As a platform for exchange and networking, the Talent Campus has, in just six years, grown to become an important element in the Berlinale. Each year, the campus family grows a bit, and yet it remains closely connected to the festival and the city of Berlin. Next year, the Talent Campus again expects several thousand applicants. Those who want to get in will have to come up with something extraordinary for their application video.

One thing making the rounds during this year's festival was regarding Madonna and her directorial debut "Filth and Wisdom": If she had applied to the campus under a pseudonym, she definitely would not have been invited to Berlin.

- Klaus Grimberg is a Berlin-based journalist.

Picture (top): Berlinale: Who got the Bears