Monday, September 19th, 2016
On September 9th and 10th, took place the second edition of the Webfest Berlin and Joël Bassaget wrote a report for World Wide Webserie.
The second edition of Webfest Berlin took place on September 9th and 10th and, following the event throw Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it seemed to be really great. Unfortunately we couldn’t be there, but our awesome colleague Joël Bassaget of Web Séries Mag, wrote this report just for us, describing this awesome second edition of the first German webfest.
Here his report:
Webfest Berlin 2016 (2nd edition) took place September 9 and 10 at the “Blog Fabrik”. About 150 people (mostly creators, some producers, distributors and a few experts) had registered for the event and, even if they did not all showed up at the same time, it was always pretty packed at the second floor of this renovated ancient factory in the heart of Kreuzberg.At Webfest Berlin, the schedule is German and the days were pretty intense! There were a total of eight panels or presentations over the two days and it was pretty studious (and hot). Storytelling, Virtual Reality and 360°, feminism, future of German web series, webdocs expriences, history of web series… Plus the screenings.
The quality of the content was truly high and there was a lot to learn. And if you were not attending a lecture or a panel, you could go to a VR workshop.
Berlin Webfest is also an international competition. This year, 37 web series were selected in 7 different categories. The great winner this year is indubitably Tubeheads. This crazy pop culture spoof puppet show, won three deserved awards: Audience Award, Best animation/puppet and Best German series. This hilarious and perfectly crafted web series was also one of the “special pick” I presented during the “professional day”, one of six web series chosen for their high market values. Of course, as usual, the festival was also one more opportunity to meet, to party and to make new friends from other parts of the planet.
Webfest Berlin is obviously turned toward the future (its “What’s Next” says it all) and tends to promote creators and shows that “will make the next years”. The festival has 3 very special What’s Next Awards to focus attention on young promising writers, directors or producers. Maude Morissette, talented creator of the crazy La Dump was designated “Next Writer”, Dirk Rosenlöcher (creator of Discocalypse) was awarded Next Director and the team from Day and Night media as Next producers for their tremendous work on MEM. Also, the “mission” of Webfest Berlin does not end with the awards ceremony. It will soon release the catalog of all submitted programs and will make it available for any production or distribution companies.
I truly think that Merdith Burkholder, founder and director of Berlin Webfest, really succeeded in turning this festival into a very specific and useful moment to learn on what is really going on and to discover and support the new trends and talents. No doubt she will raise the bar again next year.
Joël Bassaget
for World Wide Webserie
Well, thank you so much to Joël for this summary of this awesome webfest we couldn’t attend. He made a clear and detailed picture of what the Webfest Berlin 2016 was, and we felt like we were there. If you want more details about the second edition of WFB, you can find here the article Joël wrote about it on Web Séries Mag: Plus beau, plus fort, plus loin : Berlin! (It’s in French).
Check out the whole list of the winners here: www.webfest.berlin/awards and watch the video of the awards ceremony (you will find it here below). Take a look at the pictures of the event, visit the official website www.webfest.berlin and follow it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
