Cineuropa spoke to Kasia Siewko, Papaya Young Creators’ project lead. During our conversation, we talked through the mission of this groundbreaking international competition for young creative talents, its eligibility criteria and the great professional opportunities it can bring to its participants, among other topics.

Cineuropa: Could you please talk us through Papaya Young Creators’ mission? What kind of opportunities does it offer young talents?
Kasia Siewko: Papaya Young Creators, formerly Papaya Young Directors, was born of a need to let young filmmakers create advertisement content on their own terms and enable them to break through in this fairly hermetic industry. The founders of Papaya Films, the production company behind the initiative, as young producers, experienced a relatively similar response while trying to establish their business in 2006. Until 2014, it was all about the ad world, and the majority of the contestants were Polish. Now, we are not only an international competition, but also a talent development programme supporting creators long after they finish their competition journey. We wish to give them a platform to express themselves and showcase their work to a wider audience, including decision-makers. Moreover, we expanded the project to non-commercial categories. We evolve year by year, but the core principle remains the same. Neither main partners, brands, music labels nor artists have any influence over the scripts or production. The contestants retain full creative freedom.

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Who is eligible to participate? How can one apply?
Anyone who feels creative can participate if he, she or they are between 20 and 35 years old. We invite each and every person who has a story to tell. Owing to the rebranding of the competition, even more talents can apply and be discovered at a later stage. I strongly believe that creativity doesn’t belong just to a single creative or industry, so as long as you are young enough, you can make yourself familiar with the categories to see what resonates with you the most. To apply, you should first go through the creative starters. These are tasks that can allow you to develop ideas in the form of a simple treatment. Submissions will be closed on 28 February. Thereafter, contestants will await the jury verdicts. Treatments are submitted anonymously, so the jury evaluates just an idea, regardless of experience, gender or any other factors. The jury will pick the best ideas and qualify them for the semi-finals. Then we reach out to contestants to spread the good news, so that the fun can begin. Next, they participate in pitching sessions and benefit from mentoring panels that we prepared for them. To qualify as a finalist, they need to send their shooting boards and improved treatment when required.

What are the next steps for a group of finalists?
If you qualify for the finals, we will make sure we surround you with proper knowledge and support to bring your project to life. Being a finalist implies getting a massive promotional boost and, more importantly, receiving financial support (up to 19,800 PLN, or circa €4,300). Each of the finalists will have a dedicated mentor, an established director, director-DoP or screenwriter, to guide them through the whole process. Besides, we will have several companies on board that will bring some very beneficial conditions. Finalists can count on, for example, well-known rental services, post-production support, composers and insurance policies. Papaya Films’ legal and production department will be involved as well, sharing their knowledge and answering the hardest questions. At this stage, we invite not only the finalists, but also their crew, to participate in the workshops and benefit from these as best as they can.

Could you elaborate on the categories of this year's edition?
This year, we have managed to put together five categories. The first is Branded Stories, showcasing advertising content for our main partners. There’s a variety of tasks and topics available: driving passions and dreams, celebrating sensitivity, and fighting fake news, to name just a few. Music Stories are all about getting inspired by the songs provided by the artists supporting us – just lyrics and music – and that’s the only brief that the contestants have. For the first time ever, we have some extremely talented up-and-coming international artists on board, such as Czech-based Slovak female rapper Hellwana and Spanish experimental duo Jansky. We will also have other Polish artists who have kindly shared their pieces with us. The Creative Playground by TikTok category is split into two sub-categories: TikTok Branded Stories, consisting of ad content, and TikTok Unique Stories, which are stories about diversity and inclusion. Having TikTok on board is such a thrill. The platform is bursting with creativity and is getting noticed by the film industry as well as inspiring new modes of storytelling. It’s worth mentioning that TikTok was featured in the Göteborg Film Festival’s latest Nostradamus Report, which dissected how the industry will evolve in the next three to five years. Observing these trends, I can’t wait to be taken aback by the outcome of these categories. Last but not least, we set up the Audio Stories category for screenwriters to pitch their audio series ideas; however, this category is open to Polish-language content only.

What about the June event? How will it be structured, and where will it take place?
Each edition is wrapped up with the Finale. A premiere showcase for all the films produced at the current edition is the highlight of this. We will celebrate the talents discovered and what they have achieved. The awards ceremony will be followed by industry workshops and panels, concerts, and Q&A sessions with the finalists. The physical event will take place in Warsaw, honouring the origins of the initiative, yet it will be an international gathering, showcasing emerging talents from all over the world. The awards gala will be streamed online, and screenings of the event will be held in other Polish and European cities. Creating smaller, side events enables us to gather finalists, their crew members and industry representatives, without a need to fly them over, which might still be an issue in a pandemic-afflicted world. I truly hope this won’t be the case and that we will be able to gather on a large scale to celebrate the finalists and their work as they deserve.

Would you like to share some success stories from Papaya Young Creators' former finalists?
Iwona Bielecka, the Grand Prix winner of the third edition, was honoured with the prestigious New Director of the Year title by SHOTS. As for the latest editions, Tight frame, an ad directed by Jakub Skitek and Katarzyna Jarecka at the seventh edition, was recently awarded the First Prize in the Porsche Awards Festival, organised by Filmakademie Baden Wurttemberg and the National Film & Television School (NFTS). During the eighth edition, animator-director Bara Halirova completed an animated short film promoting the Kuchinate African Refugees’ foundation. The film was awarded with a Bronze at the KTR Festival of Creativity. Besides these accolades, we are happy to see how new collaborations have started up thanks to Papaya Young Creators. Nils Hansen, a director and a finalist at the eighth edition, invited 27km, a Berlin-based production company, to help him bring his competition idea to life. They recently collaborated again on Nils' first TV ad produced by 27km as well.

How does Papaya Films help former finalists to promote and continue their work after the event wraps up?
We don’t say our goodbyes right after the lights of the awards gala go down. Finalists are invited to 1:1 evaluation sessions to sum up their experiences. A part of this is to check what the finalists are up to, and how they plan to develop their careers. With such knowledge, we are able to meet their needs and refer them to upcoming projects, including the ones produced by Papaya Films. After the 2021 edition, we invited finalists to join ten projects produced by both Papaya Films and other outfits. In addition to production services, Papaya Films also has its roster of directors. Five talents represented by Papaya Films have their roots in the competition.