Check in, get the information you need for the week and get ready to start the Challenge.

A short daily check-in for tutors to align on the programme, teams and priorities for the day.

Meet the FilmEU Challenge community, discover this year’s theme and get an overview of the journey ahead.

Take a short break, grab a coffee and reconnect before the next session.

Get to know your international team, take a closer look at your selected NGO, explore each other’s backgrounds, skills and creative interests, and start building the foundations for your collaboration.

Refuel, talk, connect and get ready for the afternoon programme.

Lecturer: Darius Miniotas

A practical introduction to thinking beyond a single audiovisual output and approaching creative work as a campaign.

This lecture is led by Darius Miniotas, filmmaker and Assistant at the LMTA National Film School (KIMO) in Vilnius, where he teaches Film Directing, TV Commercial and Music Video. He has over 12 years of experience in international advertising agencies, including DDB, McCann Erickson and Publicis, where he worked as a Creative Director. His campaigns have received awards including Silver Drum and Silver Arrow, and he also has extensive directing experience across film and television.

Lecturer: Hana Hančinová

How has freedom been visualised throughout modern history? This lecture explores the symbols, images, slogans and graphic languages used by protest movements to communicate ideas of freedom, dignity, equality and social change.

The session is led by Hana Hančinová, Slovak film director and screenwriter. Her short film Hot Flush won First Prize at the FilmEU Film Festival 2026 and was also nominated for the Slovak national film award The Sun in a Net in the Best Short Feature category.

Get your practical and creative instructions before heading out into the city with your team.

City of Bratislava

Step outside the classroom and explore Bratislava through a new lens. Working in your creative teams, move through the city and look for places, details, images, sounds, situations or unexpected moments that connect with your own understanding of freedom.

They do not have to be famous landmarks or places historically linked to the theme. The aim is to notice whatever speaks to you — something visual, emotional, symbolic or surprising — and collect impressions that can later inspire the language of your campaign.

See how powerful campaigns turn ideas into messages that people remember. This evening brings together a selection of striking examples from brand campaigns, social impact, culture, activism and beyond — different approaches, different tones, different visual languages, all chosen to spark your own thinking.

The evening is hosted by Róbert Šveda, Slovak film and television director, screenwriter and educator, and Head of the Directing Department at FTF VŠMU. His work spans feature films, television and documentary series, including Fetishes of the Velvet Revolution, a documentary project exploring the symbols, stories behind a movement of the 1989 Velvet Revolution.

The evening takes place at Mozart House, a place directly connected to the story of freedom in Slovakia. At the end of November 1989, the building became the headquarters of Public Against Violence (Verejnosť proti násiliu), the civic movement at the heart of the Velvet Revolution in Slovakia. Its coordinating centre worked here, key political decisions were made here, and strategies for negotiations with the communist authorities were developed within these walls.

There is a striking twist to the building’s history: before November 1989, it had also housed the Evening University of Marxism-Leninism. Within weeks, the same place became one of the centres of democratic change.

A fitting place to think about how ideas become messages — and how messages can become movements. Come for inspiration, unexpected examples and campaigns that might spark ideas for your own work.

Tutors meet for a short daily check-in to share observations and align on the teams’ progress.

Lecturer: Studio Družina

How do you turn an important social issue into a campaign that people will actually notice, understand and respond to? This lecture introduces the key steps of building a social impact campaign — from understanding the NGO’s real need and defining the audience to finding a strong message, creative concept and the right way to communicate it.

The session is led by Studio Družina, a Prague-based creative studio specialising in ethical and socially beneficial campaigns, particularly for NGOs, human-rights, social, environmental and cultural projects. Drawing on real campaigns and practical experience, the lecture will also look at how to communicate complex or sensitive topics creatively, how NGOs and creative teams can work effectively together, and what makes a campaign succeed — or fail.

Take a short break, grab a coffee and recharge for the next stage of the Challenge.

Meet your NGO partner online, understand the real challenge behind their work and translate your conversation into a shared NGO Collaboration Brief.

Refuel, exchange impressions and prepare for the afternoon work.

Explore what is realistically possible within the Challenge production framework and begin turning your NGO brief into first campaign ideas.

Tutors review the teams’ progress and align on the guidance needed for the next creative phase.

Get the practical and creative instructions for the afternoon hands-on activity.

Turn the impressions you collected during Find Your Language into something tangible. Using your own photographs as raw material, create a collage that captures your team’s visual interpretation of Freedom — and perhaps even becomes the starting point for your campaign’s visual identity.

This is a hands-on session: cut, tear, glue, layer, draw, rewrite and combine. Step away from the screen, work with your hands and let unexpected connections lead you somewhere new.

In cooperation with Post Bellum Slovakia [https://www.postbellum.sk/30-years-after-the-fall-of-the-iron-curtain/](https://www.postbellum.sk/30-years-after-the-fall-of-the-iron-curtain/) , an organisation dedicated to preserving the memory of the 20th century through personal stories, we invite you to experience recent history from the inside. Post Bellum’s workshops use role-play, real witness stories and simulated situations to explore life under the communist regime, the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and the value of democracy and freedom today.

In The Velvet Change, you will step into the roles of people living through this period and discover how political change, censorship, civic courage and everyday choices shaped their lives. The workshop connects directly with this year’s theme of Freedom — not as an abstract idea, but as something people had to fight for, negotiate and protect.

Staré Lýceum is a historic cultural and community venue in the heart of Bratislava, connected with education, civic life and public debate. Today, it serves as a space for culture, learning and encounters across generations and communities.

Take time to refuel and reflect before moving from historical context back into campaign development.

Lecturer: Michaela Martonová, MADE BY VACULIK [https://www.vaculik.com](https://www.vaculik.com)

A good idea is only the beginning. This session explores how to turn a first creative spark into a clear, coherent and convincing campaign — how to sharpen the central idea, define the message and audience, and make sure every campaign element supports the same strategic direction.

The session is led by Michaela Martonová, Head of Strategy at MADE BY VACULIK, one of Slovakia’s leading independent creative agencies. With more than a decade of experience in marketing, advertising and brand strategy, she has worked across sectors ranging from telecom and finance to FMCG and non-profits, and has been recognised by awards including Effie Slovakia and Young Lions Slovakia.

Work with your tutor to identify your strongest direction and begin shaping it into a focused campaign concept.

Step away from the work for a moment, grab a coffee and come back with fresh eyes.

Continue developing your campaign independently and make the key creative decisions that will define its direction.

Tutors compare team progress, identify potential issues and coordinate the feedback needed for the next stage.

In cooperation with Peter Konečný https://peterkonecny.sk and KC Dunaj, one of Bratislava’s best-known alternative cultural venues, we invite you to test your film and TV knowledge in a lively quiz packed with memorable clips, surprising questions and unconventional cinematic challenges.

The quiz is created and hosted by Peter Konečný, founder and editor-in-chief of Kinema.sk, film critic, broadcaster and one of Slovakia’s best-known film educators and popularisers.

You will compete in your creative teams — and the team with the highest score wins a prize.

Tutors align on the final campaign-development day and identify what each team needs before moving into pitch preparation.

Review your campaign with your tutor, sharpen its core idea and agree on what needs to be communicated in the final pitch.

Make the final creative decisions and lock the campaign concept before shifting your focus to presentation.

Take a short pause and recharge before turning your campaign into a pitch.

Work with your tutor to build a clear and convincing structure for your seven-minute Creative Pitch. Develop your presentation, divide speaking roles and rehearse how to communicate your campaign clearly and confidently.

Refuel before shifting from campaign development to planning your long-term international collaboration.

Lecturer: Mette Jellinge

Good collaboration does not happen by accident. This session introduces the Team Collaboration Agreement — a practical tool for setting up the way your international creative team will work together after Ideation Week.

You will look at the essential building blocks of successful collaboration: roles and responsibilities, communication, decision-making, deadlines, meeting routines and ways of handling challenges within the team. The goal is to create a shared framework that makes long-term online collaboration clearer, fairer and more effective.

The session is led by Mette Jellinge, Associate Professor and Programme Coordinator at VIA University College’s Department of Film & Transmedia in Aarhus. With around 20 years of experience in film and television production, her work focuses on producing, leadership of creative collaborations and sustainable film production — combining hands-on industry experience with teaching and research.

Lecturer: Jana Fratrič

Working across countries, cultures and time zones can be inspiring — but it can also make small misunderstandings grow quickly. This session looks at the most common mistakes in online collaboration and the practical habits that help international teams work well over time: clear communication, realistic expectations, shared rules, good meeting routines, responsibility and ways of dealing with disagreement before it becomes a problem.

The session is led by Jana Fratrič, organisational culture and design advisor and qualitative researcher. Her work focuses on how teams, processes, structures and organisational environments influence the way people behave and collaborate — and on identifying the hidden barriers that prevent cooperation from working as intended.

Agree as a team on how you will communicate, make decisions, divide responsibilities and organise your work after Ideation Week. 

Tutors review the teams’ development and prepare for the final consultation on their collaboration plans. 

Take a short break before the final team consultation of the day.

Review your agreement with your tutor, resolve any unclear points and leave Bratislava with a realistic plan for working together online.

Come together to reflect on the week so far, ask practical questions and clarify what comes next.

An informal evening moment for tutors to connect, exchange experiences and reflect on the Challenge together.

In cooperation with Bratislava in Movement, Slovakia’s largest international contemporary dance festival, we bring you two performances that connect strongly with this year’s theme of Freedom. Through movement, both works explore questions of identity, belonging, emancipation, cultural memory and the freedom to define who we are.

L’EXPAT by Salim Mzé Hamadi Moissi is a dance solo about leaving, returning and living between cultures, exploring identity, belonging and the changing meaning of home.

BLACK by Oulouy reflects on Black identity, violence and emancipation through a powerful mix of dance, music and street styles from Africa and its diaspora.

This workshop introduces Samsara 2.0 – the Samsara Fish Model, FilmEU’s pedagogical framework for designing creative, collaborative learning.

Through practical activities and collaborative reflection, tutors will explore how the model can support the planning, facilitation and assessment of project-based learning, and how its principles, methods and tools can be adapted to the FilmEU Challenge.

Put the finishing touches on your presentation, rehearse your seven-minute pitch and make sure the whole team is ready.

Take one last break before the final pitch preparation and presentation.

Run through your pitch with your tutor, make final adjustments and check that your campaign story is clear and convincing.

Presentations are loaded, technical details are checked and the room is prepared for the final pitching session.

Teams 1–7 present their campaigns in a seven-minute Creative Pitch followed by three minutes of feedback.

Recharge, exchange first impressions and get ready for the second half of the pitches.

Teams 8–14 present their campaigns in a seven-minute Creative Pitch followed by three minutes of feedback.

Close Ideation Week together, review what happens after Bratislava and get ready for the next phase of the FilmEU Challenge.

Bohema Bar 

Celebrate the end of Ideation Week together with music, dancing and the people you have spent the week creating with. ;You can also try something you’ve probably never danced before!