Editing students cut across borders in Poland

The workshop brought together students and tutors from five European film schools: FAMU (Prague, Czech Republic), VSMU (Bratislava, Slovakia), Film School Łódź (Łódź, Poland), ADU (Zagreb, Croatia) and RITCS (Brussels, Belgium). The collaboration between these institutions has been ongoing since 2017 and, since 2022, has taken the form of a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) supported by Erasmus+. Within this framework, mixed international teams of students work intensively for one week on an editing assignment exploring themes such as space, time or point of view. Alongside the creative challenge, the programme encourages exchange on film education, student work and professional practices.

“The strength of this project lies in the diversity of the student groups, each guided by a different team of tutors. Students not only learn to see editing from a new perspective, but also to engage with different ways of working and giving feedback. It’s inspiring to place teaching methods and creative habits from different countries side by side – it broadens their view, and ours as teachers.”, says Patrick Geeraerts, tutor Editing.

A week of film, collaboration and inspiration

This year’s masterclass took place on the campus of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Rogów, followed by two final days in Łódź. Students were accompanied by tutors Laikin Chang and Patrick Geeraerts, beginning the week with film screenings and team formation. During the day, they collaborated in international groups on their editing projects, while evenings were devoted to screenings and discussions of student films.

Midweek featured a masterclass with editor Marek Kráľovský, paired with a screening of the animated feature Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light. The day concluded with a festive bonfire evening on campus. The final days in Łódź included a city exploration, a case study at the Film School, and a public screening of the completed edits.

European collaboration

The European Editing Masterclass is part of an annual rotation between the participating schools. Following previous editions in Brussels (2022), Slovakia (2023) and Prague (2024), this year’s workshop was hosted by Poland. Each year, a professional editor from the host country is invited to present and analyse a recent film with the students, offering valuable insights into the local film culture.

This growing international partnership continues to evolve. For one inspiring week, young editors developed not only their creative and technical skills, but also their ability to think, communicate and create across borders.