forum The guest of this year's Young Academy Forum was Jára Moravec, a director working on the international scene. What practices does he base his directing practice on and what habits and opinions are essential for his creative method?

workshop The Director's Workshop provides opportunities for young filmmakers who go through the process of making a film from the very beginning and work for an established brand with the support of mentors: How does they rate the process? What did they expect and how did everything turn out? Watch the talk of this year's final Director's workshop in Pilsen.

workshop Ztracený čas. The winning film of Young Academy 2022 by director Ondřej Erban highlights the enormous amount of time spent on computers and mobile devices. "For the first time in my life I wrote and shot a film which is less of a drama. It’s an exaggerated story with a pinch of humour."

workshop Dezinformace. In his film, director and Young Academy 2022 winner Adam Martinec draws attention to the fact that people can succumb to misinformation under the influence of loneliness, social media pressure and fear. "Unfortunately, the impact of fake news on relationships within the family or other close relationships is not a subject of a public debate."

workshop Young Academy in collaboration with T-Mobile announces winning short films on digital wellbeing | 20 September 2022

winners In just a few weeks, winners of the Directors Workshop 2022 Adam Martinec and Ondřej Erban will begin the production of their short films produced by Pavel Picek from Armada Films and Petr Oplatka from Creative Embassy. Congratulations!

forum Take a look at the snaps from the first edition of the Young Academy Forum. The three-day event took place on April 5–7, 2022, and was jointly curated by Young Academy and the Pragueshorts Film Festival. Lectures, screenings, and presentations took place in the Bio Oko and Světozor cinemas in Prague as well as in Kino Pilotů in Vršovice and Kino 35.

about young academy

Advertising is a growing industry and an opportunity for young creators. But it's also a world of allure and collective loneliness – and sometimes also masked boredom. Let's pause for a moment and ask your ideas what kind of environment they live in. Couldn't they use more time? Don't they need more patience? Wouldn't they like to hear feedback from more experienced colleagues? And don't they want to have a chat with your friends' ideas? The Young Academy is an ideas lounge where your creative process will feel at home.

To create is to search. But why search alone? At the Young Academy we're not looking for proven ideas or the best recipes. Rather, we strive to connect all those who have a sense of craft and aesthetic, promoting care, curiosity, and honesty in advertising. At the core of our events is an open dialogue between the established and emerging generations of creators. In collaboration with innovative brands, we organize the Directors Workshop giving young directors the opportunity to work for a real brand and contribute to solving a real problem by telling a meaningful story. Together with the Pragueshorts Film Festival, we run the Young Academy Forum, where local and international guests offer a taste of their approach to the field.

The Young Academy is a startup project of the Audiovisual Producers' Association (APA), whose mission is to cultivate the working environment in the film and advertising industry. The Young Academy builds on the work of the Young Directors competition, with the aim of connecting the widest possible circle of people interested in audiovisual advertising.

2022 forum

2022 forum
talks, screenings, presentations

The first edition of the inspiring Young Academy Forum was prepared by the Young Academy together with Pragueshorts Film Festival. The Forum included a series of lectures and presentations dedicated to the whole spectrum of approaches to the development and production of short audiovisual works, whether in the field of film, television or commercial production.

The programme in four Prague cinemas (Bio Oko, Kino Světozor, Kino Pilotů, Kino 35) featured the following guests:

Jára Moravec
Jason Felstead
Total Refusal (Robin Klengel a Leonhard Müllner)
Jan Malíř
Petra Vaněk Svarinská
Vica Kerekes
Ladislav Krapek
Jan P. Muchow
Timothée Hochet

The long-term goal of the Forum is to provide the youngest generation of filmmakers with new impulses for creative approaches to audiovisual production and to present innovations in the film medium in a variety of conditions and uses. The project also provides a meeting and networking space for a community of filmmakers who share an interest in the short format and present a selection of distinctive short films to the public.

Young Academy Forum 2022 was made possible with the support of the Association of Producers in Audiovisual, the State Cinematography Fund and T-Mobile.

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2022 workshop
director's best friend

2022 workshop

We aim to discover emerging talents among the youngest generation of directors and help them to stay focused on what's most important: filming.

The Young Academy supports young talents in finding their own approach to storytelling. In the world of advertising, a successful creator must withstand a variety of influences while maintaining their unique vision. The Directors Workshop is a place for your ideas to hatch and grow. It is a space for curiosity, doubt, trials, and errors. Because in the creative process, there are no mistakes or absolute right answers.

The Directors Workshop is intended for directors under 35 who want to get hands-on experience working for an established brand and contribute to solving an existing problem by telling a meaningful story. Each year, the workshop is defined by one strong partner – a brand that brings context and themes to the workshop. This year’s format is branded content with a maximum length of 2 minutes.

The selection of workshop participants is based on registered reels in any genre of the following forms: video clip, advertisement, branded content, short film. Selected participants will go through the practical segments of the workshop: the brief day with the workshop partner, group work on the treatment, individual consultations with mentors, and the open pitch presentation of the final work. Up to three of the most interesting ideas will proceed to realization in the professional facilities of established production companies.

The Directors Workshop is a place of open discussion and communication, where a sincere interest in the opinions of others brings inspiration to quality creation. The goal of partnership in advertising is for the creator to understand the client and for the client to inspire the creator.

Applications until: 28 February
Shortlist announcement: 7 March

All applicants gain unlimited access to the Young Academy Forum, which the Young Academy will be running in April in collaboration with the Pragueshorts Film Festival. The program of the forum comprises many inspiring interdisciplinary meetings, masterclasses, and talks.

Digital optimism
How does digitization change people?
Benefits and responsibility

2022 workshop theme

Progress and innovation have always provoked a broad public debate. For some, technological development is a symbol of society’s steady movement forward, while others urge caution. Although it may seem at first glance that these are two separate worlds, emotions and technology go hand in hand. Just as the introduction of electricity and the development of the railways fundamentally changed the world in the nineteenth century, at the beginning of the twenty-first century we are witnessing even deeper changes.

Thanks to the internet, almost the entire world is connected, and a growing portion of our lives is taking place in the virtual space. From year to year, the amount of shared content and joint tasks that require an internet connection is increasing, as are the requirements for connection quality and speed. High-speed network coverage is key to keeping up. But our society is diverse. Some are comfortable with the rapid development of communication technologies and feel like a fish in water on the internet network, while others look at progress with skepticism and worry about whether the machines are going to replace us and whether we can still express love face to face – as we did before.

Whatever our attitude, life without the internet and smart devices is hard to imagine. Digitization has countless dimensions. What are the benefits and challenges for society that come with digital identity, e-learning, online business and culture, augmented reality, the digitization of public services, the internet of things, or remote access to machines? And what does all this mean for an individual’s life story?

open call

We are looking for young directors who would like to develop this theme into branded content which will become part of the public debate through the communication channels of our partner (T-Mobile). Does the theme of the workshop appeal to you? Are you under 35? Sign up for the 2022 Directors Workshop and work your way up to shooting your own spot.

2022 mentors

2022 graduates

ondřej erban

bart klimsza

david payne

david semler

insar shaken

petr vlček

young and grown

The Young Academy grew out of the Young Directors competition. The theme, partners, and format have changed, but one thing remains – the growing number of talents applying each year.

In 2017, our collaboration with the Art Directors Club (ADC) began. The ADC brought the theme of the commercial to the competition, and the jury focused on the directorial approach. Pavel Soukup, who later became well-known as an Emmy winner for the series #martyisdead, also placed among the three finalists.

Since 2018, the theme of Young Directors has addressed current social issues. In "Advertising needs more women!" each director came up with their own story. When Veronika Jelšíková won the main prize, she was still studying production at FAMU. She now works as a director and producer at the international company Stink.

In 2019, together with the Tereza Maxová Foundation, we raised the sensitive issue of the chances that children from children's homes have for a good life. Five participants qualified for the second round, in which they worked on the animatic of their spot. There were a lot of talents and ideas, but we could only realize one, and the award was won by director Jay Walker.

And then came covid. We passed the time in quarantine by looking for new methods and partners who, like us, are interested in education and quality in advertising. That's how the Young Academy was founded. We turned the Young Directors competition into the Directors Workshop, based on the principles of brand-film partnership.

2019 workshop
The entry of young people
from children’s homes into life and employment

2019 workshop

Many young adults are struggling through life without the safety net of a loving family. What are the hardships and challenges that these men and women face as they exit children's homes on the verge of adulthood? In 2019, we partnered with the Tereza Maxová Foundation to spark a debate about the discrimination, lack of trust, and loneliness that pervade the lives of these vulnerable members of our society. Fifteen shortlisted directors took part in the script development workshop, and the spot of Prague-based director Jay Walker was selected for realization. In the 60-second ad, we follow the day-to-day struggles of a young girl bullied and marginalized by her peers.

partner
Nadace Terezy Maxové

mentors
Klára Králíčková
Marek Partyš
Martin Přikryl
Tereza Svěráková
Filip Malásek

finalist
Jay Walker

shortlist
Bao-bab
Terézia Halamová
Prokop Jelínek
Jakub Jirásek
Filip Knoll
Adam Kořínek
Amálie Kovářová
Adam Martinec
Jan-Karel Pavlík
Adam Koloman Rybanský
Hannah Saleh
Petr Simon
Jana Smokoňová
Šimon Štefanides
Jay Walker

Thanks to all for the great work!

ad by Jay Walker

on set

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pitch day

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brief day

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2018 workshop
Advertising needs more Women!

2018 workshop

A glass ceiling obstructs their career path, and their pay is notably less than that of their male counterparts. Across professions, women face many obstacles, and the fight for an equal society has yet to be won. In 2018, Young Directors seized the zeitgeist and, in collaboration with the Art Directors Club, made it clear that advertising needs more women. Nine directors took part in the workshop, and three were selected to have their works realized: Matyáš Fára, Tereza Vejvodová, and Veronika Jelšíková. The latter won the Main Prize, and her ad was premiered at the annual ADC Creative Awards in Prague.

partner
APA

mentors
Petra Ondřejková
Tomáš Otradovec
Klára Palmer
David Suda
Jitka Bret Srbová
Julie Žáčková

finalists
Veronika Jelšíková
Matyáš Fára
Tereza Vejvodová

shortlist
Oliver Beaujard
Martina Buchelová
Lucie Gukkertová
Emília Ondriášová
Luboš Rezler
Tereza Vejvodová
Kilián Vrátník

Thanks to all for the great work!

ad by Veronika Jelšíková

ad by Matyáš Fára

ad by Tereza Vejvodová

shooting day Veronika Jelšíková

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2017 workshop
ADC Elixir

2017 workshop

Participants in the first year of Young Directors were faced with a tricky challenge: to promote the advertising industry itself by advertising a hair growth tonic. The finalists delivered three distinctive takes on the difference between inner and outer beauty.

partner
ADC

finalists
Radim Vaňous
Pavel Soukup
Daniel Konopáč

ad by Radim Vaňous

ad by Pavel Soukup

ad by Daniel Konopáč

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