Alumnus Nicolas Neuhold, from Austria,
recently visited the school and gave a presentation on comedy:
The EUROPEAN FILM COLLEGE is a truly oustanding place. In its 8 month
course period it is easily as intense as a 3-year course in many other
places because you work and live on the campus. You don't even have to think
about cooking your own food, it's all taken care of for you - something
which I did not appreciate enough until I had to return to the real world.
Also you really have no place to go to as you live in the middle of nowhere,
so you are not wasting any time on anything other than living and learning
the seventh art.
One of the amazing possibilities at the school was to meet industry
professionals who came to give lectures at the school. In my year (1998/99),
we had visits from now Berlinale-director Dieter Kosslick, Danish directors
Soren Kragh-Jacobsen (Mifune) and Bille August (Smilla's Sense of Snow, Pelle
the Conquerer), and most importantly to me, Saul Zaentz. Then 87 years old,
he is the most impressive person I ever met in the film industry. He is the
only person to have three (!) Oscars for Best Film: for One Flew over the
Cuckoos Nest, Amadeus and The English Patient. Earlier in his career he
proved to have a good sense of what the audience wants when he bought the
rights to a little book that was considered unfilmable, The Lord of the
Rings. He openly shared anecdotes and his wisdom with us, and made
filmmaking seem like a craft that can be achieved with enthusiasm and hard
work, and not just like the untouchable magical thing that we get to see in
the cinema. He stayed not just for a lecture but all weekend, lived on the
campus among the students, talked openly with everyone and was a great
inspiration for me.
After leaving the EFC, I did not go to a typical three or five year
filmschool, but just started making my own films. I am also still in touch
with the college, having been involved with arranging the annual reunions of
former students and have now also returned twice to give a crash course in
comedy. I had the best 8 months of my life at the EFC and can recommend it
highly to anyone starting his or her education for the film and television
industry.
