Papaya Young Creators: Unlock Your Potential. The Renowned Competition to Relaunch Under a New Name and Tagline15.01.2022

Since its inception, the contest has been helping aspiring filmmakers get a good start in the industry. Now, the time has come to highlight its multidisciplinary character and its emphasis of the importance teamwork. 

The rebranding carries a clear message—shooting films or commercials is a team effort, and collaboration often underpins much of our creative work. In past editions, this notion was embodied by the contributions made by people who supported the finalists—they shared in the work, but also in the success. Without their involvement, the finished films would likely look very different. Which is why we decided to drop the “Directors” from the name—we believe that "Papaya Young Creators” better reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the competition and highlights the panoply of creatives involved in film production, all of whose contributions carry equal weight. 

The Papaya Young Creators initiative is more than just a competition for young emerging filmmakers. It seeks to highlight the need for teamwork, emphasize a highly inclusive approach to contributions made by every creative involved in the project, and show that the very term “creative” extends beyond the directors or content creators—the final shape of every film is ultimately determined by the combined talents of the entire crew taken together. 

Today, video content can be developed for a variety of constantly evolving platforms using ever newer production suites and tools. Creative storytelling can draw on a bevy of forms and themes. In 2022, Papaya Young Creators participants will have the opportunity to experience that diversity first hand—the competition will include entirely new categories, built around wholly new avenues of storytelling and content creation. 

The only initiative of its kind in Europe, Papaya Young Creators will seek out the finest emerging filmmaking talent and honor the selectees at the Grand Finale gala. The Papaya Young Creators manifesto below puts it clearly: in a world dominated by content, creativity can have many different forms and dimensions. Hence, the decision to change the competition’s name was only natural—we wanted our appreciation to extend to not only directors, but also DPs, editors, set designers, costume designers, and production designers. All of them are creative professionals and content consumers, with a fierce love of film, music, culture, and the arts. If you believe yourself someone like that, it’s time to unleash your potential with Papaya Young Creators. 

Papaya Young Creators values original ideas above all else. Everything starts with a unique, original interpretation of what we call creative starters—competition briefs compiled by the brands and artists involved with Papaya Young Creators. Everyone can pick one of the starters and use it to put together an original idea (a treatment) for a film or a music video. Papaya Young Creators is open to anyone between the ages of 20 and 35 (1987–2002 by birth year). The competition will conclude with a Grand Finale gala, held in June 2022.