JAMESON FIRST SHOT COMPETITION 

DEADLINE APPROACHING

The deadline for the Jameson First Shot competition, January 2nd 2014 17:00 GMT, is approaching fast. The two South Africans who have been among the winners of the past competitions are  Hanneke Schutte and Alan Shelley. You could be next. To watch their entries go to the official Jameson First Shot competition website. 

In a nutshell:
What's it all about?
"Do the best you can do to give audiences something that maybe they haven't seen before," Kevin Spacey.

Kevin Spacey and Trigger Street Productions are looking for more outstanding writer/directors to enter the 2014 competition, where they will be offering an incredible opportunity; giving people a ‘first shot’ in the film industry by having their short film produced by the Academy Award-winning Trigger Street Productions and giving them the chance to direct Uma Thurman in the leading role. 

In order to enter you must be from South Africa, Russia or the US (now including California!), be at least 25 years-old, and write a script of no more than seven pages based on one of three themes (‘Legendary’ OR ‘Humorous’ OR a ‘Very Tall Tale’).

An expert team, including Kevin Spacey, Dana Brunetti and Uma Thurman who will star in the films, will judge the scripts and the finalist’s shortlisted scenes. The judges are looking for freshness, originality, good structure, good shots, good sound and above all, a great story. 

From the scripts sent in by the closing date, a shortlist of candidates from each country – South Africa, Russia and the US (now including California) – will be chosen. Each shortlisted candidate will be required to further showcase their talent and capabilities. They will be asked to supply a video bio, a director’s treatment of their submitted script, and choose one of three scripts provided by Trigger Street to shoot footage based on or following on from the scene provided.

What's the prize?
Jameson First Shot comes with an incredible prize where one winner from each country will have their script made into a short film by Trigger Street Productions, starring Uma Thurman. This is an opportunity where you get to call the shots, direct a Hollywood star in your short film and have the backing of an award-winning production company. You couldn’t ask for more from a first shot. 

Rules:

For more information on the Terms and Conditions and to enter, go to their website by clicking here. 

The Africa Movie Academy Awards Call for Entries 2014

The Africa Movie Academy Awards invites filmmakers to submit their feature, short and documentary works for consideration for the 10th edition of the prestigious 2014 AMAA Awards that honours and celebrate the best in the art of filmmaking and the professionals who make the industry the pride of Africa.

The deadline for submissions is 15 January 2014 and nominations will be announced in the first week of March. Acceptable genres include feature length films, shorts and documentary entries. Only films produced, premiered and or released between May 2012 and December 2013 are eligible. Features may not exceed 120 minutes and shorts should not be longer than 40 minutes.

The Jury of the prestigious continental motion picture reward system rising from its Annual General Meeting which took place recently in Durban, South Africa has approved the guidelines for the submission of films for the 2014 edition of the awards.

The AGM which was attended by Mr Ayo Baku, Director of Pan-African Film Festival Los Angeles, Dr. Asantewa Olatunji, Co-Director of PAFF, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of National Mirror Newspaper, Mr. Shuaib Hussein, Journalist and Film Critic, Ms June Givanni, an international film curator, Mr. Keith Shiri, an international Film curator and programme advisor to the London Film Festival, Mr. Berni Goldblat, member of the jury of the International Francophone Film Festival of Namur (FIFF Namur) in Belgium and Professor Hyginus Ekwuazi, lecturer at the department of Dramatic Art, University of Ibadan and also former Managing Director of Nigeria Film Corporation, Jos.

Speaking on some of the decisions taken by the Jurors, Ms. Givanni who presided over the AGM revealed that the Jury made some amendments of the award categories adding that the awards organization and the jury are poised to deliver a good tenth year anniversary event.

"We made some changes on the award categories. We have introduced an award that is named after former President Nelson Mandela called Madiba Africa Vision Awards which will be given at the discretion of the Jury to any film captures the essence and vision of the category. The category of Best Film by African Living Abroad has been cancelled.

We also renamed two categories after two exceptional Africans who have contributed to the growth and development of the film industry. The Best Film in African Language will now be Sembene Ousmane Awards for Best Film in African Language while the Best Short Film Award category will now be called Efere Ozako Award for Best Short Film. AMAA is immortalizing the names of these two great men with the awards," she said.

Ms Givanni also said that a new category Best Director First Feature Film has been introduced to encourage young and upcoming film directors to continue to strive for excellence and best practices.

The award in its nine years has had international music and Hollywood icons such as Danny Glover, Forest Whittaker, Morris Chesnut, Rockmond Dunbar, Angela Basset, Monique, Miriam Makeba, Mario Van Peebles,Jimmy Jean Louis, Hakeem Kae Kazim and host other others in attendance at different times.

Over 700 films were entered for the awards in 2013 from over 40 countries within Africa and the Diaspora and the award has been described by international media most especially CNN as the Africa's Oscars.

The awards organization also holds nominations gala night where nominees are announced for different categories across different African cities to drive home the pan-African vision of the scheme with the last 2013 nomination gala night was hosted in Lilongwe, Malawi by President Joyce Banda who has now also endowed a prize for the best film depicting positive stories about women.

"There is this great awareness of the possibilities in Africa. This has been an exciting year for African cinema as many big budget productions have been produced on the continent and distribution is becoming more accessible to African films," says AMAA founder Academy CEO Peace Anyiam-Osigwe.

The primary aim of the African Movie Academy Awards (popularly known AMAA) is to facilitate the development and showcase the social relevance of African Film and Cinema. Presented to recognize excellence in professionals in the Africa film industry, including directors, actors and writers, the Awards are aimed at honoring and promoting such excellence as well as uniting the African continent through arts and culture.

Submission must be entered online at www.ama-awards.com. Each completed entry form must be accompanied by all the supporting materials listed on the submission forms, including the synopsis of the film, the list of credits, 5 DVD copies of the film and proof of the right to submit.

For more information see www.ama-awards.com

We look forward to seeing your film!

Sincere regards,
CEO: Ms Peace Anyian-Osigwe and the AMAA Team

WRITERS' GUILD NEWSLETTER

December 2013

FROM THE CHAIR

It’s been a while since I’ve last had the pleasure of sharing my thoughts with our membership, but with the year winding down and the loss of so many of our greats like Tata Madiba and writing guru Syd Field, it has become obvious that we have to take every opportunity to communicate.

“So, what happened to the magazine?” many of you have asked. Well, let’s say it’s gone on a sabbatical. Or rather, the people who gave their time and talent for free to produce the WGSA Magazine have found it necessary to earn a living for a change. Unless we actually charge for the mag, or find a gracious sponsor to provide at least a minimum wage for those who spend a good two weeks of every month creating the mag, for the time being it’s back to the newsletter we had two years ago. Our grateful thanks to all the people who contributed, from Kyle Stevenson to Thea Aboud, Liam J Stratton, Sean Bosse, Sam Phillips, Thinus Ferreira, Anonymous (and no, I’m still not going to tell you who it is) and all the photographers, council members and members who had their say on the WGSA Mag pages. And here’s to hoping that we will manage to resurrect it in due course.

In the meantime, the newsletter will inform members of urgent Guild news, and our regular contributors will find a new home next year on an interactive blog on our revamped and exciting new web page.

What’s happened with the Guild over the last couple of months? 

Well, we attended countless meetings on Guild and membership related matters, we had 6 meetings with broadcasters, two meetings with government's Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) and are still waiting on a further meeting with both the DAC and Department of Communication (DOC,) (which controls the public broadcaster). We worked hand in hand with the South African Screen Federation (SASFED) to lobby for better funding opportunities and to streamline the controls on what is classified as a “local” movie. We attended workshops on Intellectual Property (IP) and commented – in some cases quite strongly – on proposed changes in the IP and contract laws. We assisted 23 members with legal and contractual issues, collaborated with the IPO on new standard industry contracts and had face to face meetings with producers to ensure that residuals and royalties would be paid to the writers who did the work. This is an on-going matter which is still far from resolved.

In October, Thea and I headed off to the yearly AGM of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, which was this time held in Toronto, Canada. We spoke about the challenges which SA writers face, and they heard us - loud and clear. In fact, WGSA will collaborate with WGA West and individual show runners in Canada and the USA to bring a show runner training course to South Africa. We have also initialised the international side of a long distance training project, where our members will be able to attend workshops with some of the biggest names in the international writing community via the Ethernet or possibly even satellite, as well as still have “real” live workshops like our upcoming one with people like Andrew S. Walsh, one of the most experienced and exciting people in computer games development in the world. The next IAWG AGM will happen in Warsaw, Poland, next year, and will form part of an international writers’ festival. We are already working on the logistics and financing to take at least 5 deserving WGSA members with us to the festival.

Further, WGSA has been in constant communication with many of the local writer training facilities, and we are looking to jointly provide a full and on-going grassroots development and mentorship programme for up and coming screenwriters – and this time not just in the major centres, but in all corners of SA via long distance training. Eventually this training will be provided in a number of ethnic languages via our Train the Trainer project.

We have also teamed up with Audio Describe SA and Access Media Inc in Toronto, Canada, to train  AD writers and roll out Audio Description for the visually impaired people of SA, enabling them to not only hear what others can see at museums and galleries, but also to bring theatre, sporting events and film and television to those who cannot see. The museum and gallery project is already underway in pilot phase in Durban, with other centres to follow soon.

Then, of course, the inaugural Muse Awards, an award specifically for writers by writers, was started by WGSA in August this year. With big name local and even international judges, this award promises to finally shine the spotlight on the so often ignored local performance writer. More on this later in the newsletter, and we hope to see you all at the awards ceremony in March next year.

And finally, our negotiations with government and the broadcasters have made it very clear that WGSA has to unionize if we want to force through legislation which is crucial to the growth of the South African performance writer. At this stage, negotiations with the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO) and the Actors Guild (SAGA) are already underway to establish a “closed shop”, where all three organisations will only work with producers, writers and actors who are members of organised industry like the IPO, WGSA and SAGA, which will guarantee quality, professionalism and recourse for all. Please make sure that your membership is up to date and get all your colleagues to join, so that we can all be part of this ground-breaking occasion. 

For now, the very best wishes for the holiday season from council and all of us here at WGSA. Be safe, be creative and be with those you love. And be there next year, which we know will be a huge one for the South African writer.

Much love and, as always, Unite to Write,

Harriet

GUILD NEWS IN A NUTSHELL 

MEMBERSHIP

Thanks to our WGSA MUSE AWARDS, the Guild has grown over the past couple of months to a nice 200, but we’re still not where we were last year this time. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our new members and also remind all our other members that renewals for the 2014/2015 membership cycle are now open.

WGSA PROGRAMMES

Since our last magazine we had some very interesting workshops in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.  Our next series of workshops will start in mid January 2014.  As most of you know by now, we are bring Andrew S Walsh from the UK to South Africa – Cape Town and Johannesburg - in May 2014.  Get your tickets now.  More information available from admin@writersguildsa.org.

Over and above what Harriet mentioned earlier, over the last few months WGSA also attended the NFVF Film Indaba, where we lobbied for organised industry, and the DAC’s Copyright Act Review Committee, where  we focused on obtaining rights for our writers and residuals from all users (that is all broadcasters, not just SABC).

While we were at the 3 day Conference of the International Association of Writers Guilds in Toronto, we subscribed to the following resolution on behalf of WGSA:

“IAWG RESOLUTION

At the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds meeting in Toronto, Canada on October 3, 2013, the member guilds unanimously passed the following resolution:

The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds condemns all practices in which screenwriters around the globe are pressured, coerced, or otherwise impelled to provide free work, whether prior to engagement, or in excess of contractual provisions.  This exploitation by producers and broadcasters undermines the writers’ right to fair payment for their creative labours.

Moved by Roger Williams, Chair, Writers Guild of Great Britain

Seconded by Lowell Peterson, Executive Director, Writers Guild of America East

Passed unanimously”.

BACK IN SOUTH AFRICA

On 1 November 2013 we had our annual year end function, mainly sponsored by our landlord, Steven White.  Thanks, Steven, for making this such a memorable evening and feeding all the starving writers. 

Our next big function is the WGSA MUSE AWARDS.  At this point, we are in the first round judging process, where the nominees in the 6 categories will be selected. Our judges are:

First Round: 

Feature Film:  Clive Morris, Helena Spring, Richard Nosworthy, Sam Shale, Thandi Brewer,  Pulane Boesak

TV Drama:  Ayanda Halimana, Larry Brody, Vanessa Jansen

TV Comedy:  Dr. Eubulus Timothy, Sir Liam J Stratton, Marvin Mathibe

Documentary:  David Forbes, Harriet Meier, Peter Michael Goldsmid

Stage Play:  Clinton Marius, Julie Hall, Sam Phillips

Afrikaans Scripts:  Harriet Meier, Leon van Nierop, Nicci Bothma

(The first round of adjudication will be concluded on 31 December 2013.)

Final round:

Janet van Eeden

Larry Brody (International – USA)

Louis Minnaar

Ramadan Suleman

Richard Nosworthy

Thinus Ferreira

Thomas McLaughlin (International – Ireland)

This round will conclude on 28 February and the winners will be announced during the WGSA MUSE AWARD 

The Ceremony will take place on 15 March 2014.  So get your fancy dresses and bow ties out, this is going to be a very “grand affair” – en soos ons in Afrikaans sê, gaan polish die skoene vir die grênd affêre!

WGSA WEBSITE

I had some anxious enquiries about our website – why is it down?

The answer is: We are – at last - working on the development of a brand new site! Not just a little upgrade, but a full new cyberspace home for WGSA.

What you can expect from the website:

• All membership applications will be done online – even the payment of your annual fees.  Your membership cycle will run from the date you make payment for 365 days.
• All events will be posted on the site, and you can make your bookings and payments online.
• An online script registry
• An online marketing site for writers – market your services and market your spec scripts online via the WGSA site
• Updates on all WGSA information and industry news
• Entries to the Annual WGSA Muse AWARDS and Great Idea Competition
• An interactive blog
• Writing tips and articles
• And much, much more...

When?  We hope to launch in late January, but the official launch will coincide with the WGSA Muse Awards.  We cannot party twice – so we have to do this all in one!

Please note that our offices will be closed from 13 December 2013 to 6 January 2014.

All the best for a very happy and peaceful festive season and may, 2014 bring you loads of work with loads of money!

Thea

Public Call for DIRECTORS 

(Thursday 5 December 2013)

Out In Africa (OIA), producers of the South African Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, has received funding from The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) for the purpose of making a full-length narrative Omnibus feature film.

OIA has commissioned three Writers to deliver a parallel narrative script with a gay and lesbian theme. OIA intends to engage three (3) Directors, and each will direct a strand of the Omnibus. However, this will be done in such a way that all strands interweave and the finished product is a single, integrated  feature.

This Call is an opportunity for talented, experienced DIRECTORS, professionals who have the relevant filmmaking experience, but who have not yet made a feature film.

The Omnibus is to be shot in Cape Town and completed in 2014.

OIA invites interested Directors to submit the following:

• A 2 page CV detailing relevant experience and referees who may be contacted by OIA.
• A show-reel of work. This should be delivered via a Vimeo link.

Deadline for submissions:       Friday 3 January 2014

Delivery address:                        info@oia.co.za

                                                        Put ‘Omnibus Director’ in the subject line.

OIA is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender presentation.

The NLDTF relies on funds from the proceeds of the National Lottery. The Lotteries Act and regulations guide the way in which NLDTF funding may be allocated. The NLDTF wants the grants to make a difference to the lives of all South Africans, especially those more vulnerable, and to improve the sustainability of the beneficiary organisations. Available funds are distributed to registered and qualifying non-profit organizations in the fields of charities; arts, culture and national heritage; and sport and recreation. By placing its emphasis on areas of greatest need and potential, the NLDTF contributes to South Africa’s development.

Doccie filmmakers fly SA flag at IDFA

SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: A team of South African documentary filmmakers has just returned from the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in the Netherlands, following a successful two-week long event where industry players from all over the world converged. 

IDFA is one of the biggest international documentary film festivals globally and creates a meeting platform for filmmakers, broadcasters, funders and distributors. This year’s festival ran from 20 November to 1 December.

“This is an exciting time for South African documentary filmmaking industry. Last year none of our films got a screening at IDFA, but this year we had five,” says Neil Brandt, producer of The Devil’s Lair, which also screened at the festival.

Adds Joanna Higgs, producer of I, Afrikaner: “We were enormously excited and overwhelmed by the support and attention I, Afrikaner received at IDFA. From the night of the premiere to the final screening we had sold-out audiences with engaged Q&As.” 

She continues: “We had promising conversations with sales agents, broadcasters and distributors, and we met filmmakers and potential collaborators, strengthened existing relationships, and of course, watched the kind of films that inspire us to keep pushing the limits of our medium.”

One of the highlights of the festival, the IDFA Forum, is a ‘must-attend’ for every delegate. This is where filmmakers pitch their projects in front of a panel of broadcasters from across the globe. 

“Before I went to IDFA, I knew filmmaking was more than just having a good story and the ability to make it visually appealing, but what I didn’t realise was the fact that one also needs an extraordinary sharp mind and people skills to make a successful film,” says Molatelo Mainetje, who made her debut attendance at the festival with her completed project A Helping Hand.

Adds Mariza Matshaya, producer and director of Marikana: The Tale of Invisible Women: “My IDFA experience was truly crucial for my growth as an independent filmmaker. I also learnt that our perspectives and experiences of the world we live in need to be shared with the international community and IDFA is just the right place to explore that.” 

“As a filmmaker, you never attend IDFA and remain the same,” concludes Mainetje. 

The South African delegation to IDFA was made possible by the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Film and Video Foundation, the Independent Development Corporation as well as provincial film commissions, working together with industry associations.

Report by Molatelo Mainetje

SABC’s Hlaudi Motsoeneng ‘guilty’

24 November 2013 6:001A “damning” provisional report by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has decried the abuse of power and maladministration by senior executives and former board members of the SABC. City Press has seen the recommendations made in the report, which slams “unlawful” behaviour by the SABC’s acting chief operating officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, and “improper conduct” by group chief executive officer Lulama Mokhobo. Madonsela’s investigation began early last year after complaints from disgruntled SABC staff members. The report lists 14 current and former staff members who were suspended or fired unfairly. The report also lambastes the “fruitless and wasteful expenditure” on drawn-out labour disputes with these employees and recommends that the SABC publicly apologise to them. But that’s just for starters. The report also slams current executives, as well as Pule and the former board. 

Go to City Press for the full story.

Announcement of the JUDGES for the Inaugural WGSA Muse Awards

"WGSA has created the WGSA Muse Awards to recognise the hard work done by our members in the SA film, TV and entertainment industry. It is an award by writers for writers, which finally shines the spotlight on the often forgotten custodians of SA arts and culture," says Harriet Meier, Chairperson of the WGSA. "We are thrilled with the number of entries, and that we have been able to secure some of the top names and stakeholders in the country as well as international writer and mentor Larry Brody as adjudicators."

Entries have now closed and the Writers’ Guild of South Africa is proud to announce the judges who will select the winners of the very first WGSA Muse Awards.

The judges for the various categories in the First Round are as follows:

 Feature Film:  Clive Morris, Helena Spring, Richard Nosworthy, Sam Shale, Thandi Brewer,  Pulane Boesak

  TV Drama:  Ayanda Halimana, Larry Brody, Vanessa Jansen

  TV Comedy:  Dr. Eubulus Timothy, Sir Liam J Stratton, Marvin Mathibe

  Documentary:  David Forbes, Harriet Meier, Peter Michael Goldsmid

  Stage Play:  Clinton Marius, Julie Hall, Sam Phillips

  Afrikaans Scripts:  Harriet Meier, Leon van Nierop, Nicci Bothma

The first round of adjudication will be concluded on 31 December 2013.

The judges for the Final Round and selection of winners in all categories are as follows:

 ·         Janet van Eeden

·         Larry Brody (International – USA)

·         Louis Minnaar

·         Ramadan Suleman

·         Richard Nosworthy

·         Thinus Ferreira

·         Thomas McLaughlin (International – Ireland)

This round will conclude on 28 February and the winners will be announced during the WGSA MUSE AWARD Ceremony on 15 March 2014.

For more information or to participate in the gala event, please contact:

Thea Aboud

Writers' Guild of South Africa

admin@writersguildsa.org

Tel: 011 888 4349 or mobile 082 575 6901

Writers' Guild of South Africa on Facebook

THE COFFEE TABLE MAGAZINE FOR WORLD TELEVISION POP CULTURE LOVERS 

The third electronic issue of the visually stunning and informative Disbook 2013 is now out! Have a read. You won't be disappointed. To find out more about the book itself have a look at their impressive press kit. 

And to see more about Discop Istanbul and other news go to the Discop site by clicking here. 

Enjoy!

Right2Know Leadership School: 2-6 December 2013

The Right2Know is holding our first national Leadership School from 2-6 December at the Magalies Retreat in Magaliesburg, Gauteng.

We've secured funding for 50+ R2K activists from across SA (selected through R2K Provincial Working Groups) and would like to extend the opportunity to participate in the School to other activists and R2K supporters.

Please consider joining us and/or sending others from your organisation.

We're asking organisations to contribute R3500 per person to cover costs for the full 5 days (excluding transport to Braamfontein). If people only want to attend part of the school we can agree a nominal cost for that.

Please let me know if you are interested in sending comrades to the school before next Wednesday (27 November).

Contact us for a draft programme for the Leadership School .

Mark Weinberg

R2K National Coordinator
NEW CELL 0849930591

OFFICE 0214471000

mark@r2k.org.za

www.r2k.org.za

CROWD-FUNDING CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR – JOHANNESBURG ONLY

Highly tech-savvy and social media expert required to execute a three-week crowd-funding campaign for a documentary at local and international level. The successful candidate will be YOUNG. ENTHUSIASTIC. PASSIONATE. Highly computer & Mac literate with excellent social media networking skills. An opportunity to make your name. Will suit a highly creative, lateral-thinking innovator. Bonus commission for exceeding targets. Fluency in English required, indigenous languages/French an advantage. Women only need apply. APPLY ONLY VIA E-MAIL with CV to david@shadowfilms.co.za

To go to the Cape Film Commission Newsletter click here

Clarification on Cape Film Commission Production and Distribution Company

Despite our attempts over the past 18 months to outline to industry why the CFC needed to set up a production company there now appears to be concern in the industry as to why we have created this new company.

Please allow me to explain. For some time now, it has been a prerequisite for a production company to be registered with the Cape Town Film Permit Office in order to apply for a film permit.

Companies that are not registered with the City of Cape Town Permitting Office (CTFPO) for filming on City owned properties are often referred to the Commercial Producers' Association (CPA,) South African Association of Stills Producers (SAASP) or other organisations by the CTFPO and advised to apply through one of their member companies for a permit. This was confirmed by these organisations at a meeting some weeks ago.

The Cape Film Commission occasionally needs to take promotional photographs or videos of our territory to include in marketing missions, etc. The fact is that we are unable to take promotional photos or videos without a film permit. The CTFPO refused and has been refusing to register the CFC for permit applications for some 18 months. Their suggestion to overcome this was to establish a separate production company and register it. This we have now done.

The Cape Town Film Commission Production and Distribution Company (CFCPDC) has not been registered to enable us to produce films. It has been registered only to enable the CFCPDC to apply for permits and for Previously Disadvantaged Individual (PDI) filmmakers, students, independent photographers etc., including small international productions to apply for a film permit through their membership of the CFC without having to register with the CTFPO (some do not have the relevant paperwork to do this.)

The CFC is offering this free of charge service to enhance the industry, not compete with the industry. Please let us assure you and your colleagues that there is no intention to take work away from you. This is all in line with the discussions we have had with yourselves and industry professionals over the past year. The details were sent out in our emails and newsletters to the broader membership during that time.

As we have stated in our most recent newsletter on the subject, please advise us if you have any concerns or suggestions over what we have put in place to allow us to consider any changes we may need to make.

From our perspective, we would encourage debate on issues but it is also unfortunate that industry members prefer to discuss their concerns with each other rather than address them directly to the CFC, as we requested during the course of developing this proposal. We work on the basis that if you do not comment then you are happy for us to progress proposals.

Regards

Denis Lillie

CEO

Cape Film Commission

Calling South Africa's Emerging Filmmakers

Jan 2014 - June 2014

The Africa Centre provides a platform for exploring contemporary Pan-African cultural practice as a catalyst for social change. Based in Cape Town, but working globally, Talking Heads, one of Africa Centre’s core projects, was created to disrupt the common narratives about Africa as a place of disease, poverty, and corruption. Talking Heads through live events, audio and video casts brings Africa’s thought leaders, social disruptors and change makers to the public to share their ideas and experiences and demand we think differently about who and what it means to be African.

Recognising that video is a powerful tool to realise its goals, Talking Heads has chosen to enhance its video production methodology and embark on a six-month long project called Innovate ZA: Video Lab (January 2014 – June 2014). This project intends to contribute to the development of local emerging filmmakers in South Africa. Through experiential skills development and guidance by established industry professionals, emerging film-makers will consolidate and expand their skills in concept development, script writing, cinematography, animation, sound/camera use and editing.

The Africa Centre invites submissions from all emerging South African filmmakers from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Click here to apply to participate in the Innovate ZA project
Click here for more information about Innovate ZA

The application deadline is the 16th of December 2013

5th Floor Exchange Building, St. George’s Mall, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 418 3336

Encounters 2014 Call for Entries

The organisers of Encounters are calling for entries from South African and international filmmakers for the 2014 edition of the festival. Due to the extraordinary number of entries, Encounters has decided to charge a nominal submission fee of USD15. African filmmakers are exempt. Encounters is the only South African distributor dedicated to distributing documentaries to the South African public. Encounters makes sales of films to television, theatrically and on DVD.Awards:Audience Award for Best South African filmAudience Award for Best International filmDeadline for submissions: 25th March 2014For details on where and how to submit go to www.docfilmsa.com

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic

The 49^th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is calling for feature films, feature documentaries and short documentaries for its competitive and non-competitive sections. The sections in the festival are: Official Selection (Competition), East of the West (Competition), Forum of Independents (Competition), Documentary Films (Competition), Documentary Films (Out of Competition), Horizons, Another View, Imagina, Variety’s Ten Euro Directors to Watch, Midnight Screenings, Retrospectives and Tributes, Out of the Past and Czech Films.

All films must have been completed within twelve months before the start date of the festival. The feature films must be over 60 minutes in length and must not have been internationally premiered before September 1, 2013. Feature length documentary films must be over 60 minutes and must not have been internationally released before January 1, 2014, while the short documentaries should not exceed 30 minutes of duration. The first deadline for submissions is March 10, 2014. There is no entry fee for this deadline. Post this date the films will be accepted as late entries. The fee for feature length films and documentaries is Euros 50 and for short documentaries is Euros 30. The last date of submission for late entries is March 31, 2014. If the films are not in the Czech or English language they should have Czech or English subtitles. 

The submissions will require the following: A complete entry form (one will need to register and create a log in id to complete the entry form), DVD screener (Entrants will have to clearly mention if the screener is the final film or a work in progress. The festival does not accept online screeners). The printed online entry form and the DVD screener should be posted to the address mentioned below. The names of the selected films will be announced by the end of May, 2014. The festival will be held from July 4-12, 2014.
Address:
Film Servis Festival
Program Department
Panská 1
110 00 Prague 1
Czech Republic
program@kviff.com
For more information or website links go to www.docfilmsa.com

VIENNA, Nov 12 2013 – The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed indications that Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will not sign a controversial media bill that was approved by parliament last month. 

IPI further urged lawmakers to abandon other efforts to assert more government control over the media.

William Oloo Janak, chairman of the Kenyan Correspondents Association, told IPI that the president is expected to formally return the Information and Communications Amendment Bill to parliament. A presidential adviser told the Daily Nation that Kenyatta declined to sign the legislation on grounds that it conflicted with constitutional protections for press freedom. IPI and Kenyan media organisations say the draft law would give a government-appointed panel the authority to determine who can work as a journalist and to impose fines for violating a new code of conduct.

“President Kenyatta must stand firm against legislation that would give the government unconstitutional influence over journalists,” said IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “Part 2 of the Constitution specifically bans state interference in the news media or state-imposed penalties for reporting the news. The next step is for the Parliament to scrap its plans to insert political control over decisions that properly belong in newsrooms or in Kenya’s independent media organisations.”

"The president is right to reject the bill,” said Joseph Odindo, chairman of the Media Council of Kenya and Editorial Director of the Nation Media Group. “When he returns it to parliament, we hope the MPs will consult the industry and draw up a law that promotes open government and free expression. Every law should be consistent with the Constitution."

To follow the progress of this process follow this link. 

Hey everyone
 
You have the insight of a psychologist, the vision of a painter and the stamina of a long-distance marathon runner according to the Binger Filmlab - you, the documentary filmmaker.
 
Those of you who may have seen the tv series The Crazy Ones featuring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle "Buffy" Gellar about the insane world of advertising may have wondered where your office stand-up comedian is; be assured that in our corner of the television and film industry, you're probably juggling that role in addition to that of psychologist, painter, runner and a whole bunch of other roles including caterer, concierge, chief whip and cheerleader. Thank goodness you've got that stamina thing going for you!   
 
So please take a minute or two to breathe and read through our offerings tonight.
 
Remember our pending application deadline of 30 November for those wanting to attend Hot Docs in April 2014. This incredible opportunity is made possible through the DTI and NFVF and is only open to paid up members of the DFA - so encourage anyone you know who might want to apply to make sure they have a membership.
 
After that quick advertisement, let's jump right in...
 
NEWS
 
NFVF hosts Film Indaba, 14-15 November
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) will on the 14th and 15th of November 2013 host a National Film Indaba with the aim of bringing together key film industry stakeholders to help draft the industry's response to the National Development Plan and the Revised White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage. The 4th National Film Indaba, to be held at Emperors Palace Conference Centre will review the NFVF's long-term macro strategy for the film industry. The Indaba will be opened by NFVF Council Chairperson Ms Mmabatho Ramagoshi ahead of the keynote address by the Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr. Paul Mashatile.

"The South African government recognizes the important role played by the film sector in nation building, promoting social cohesion, reconciliation and supporting economic growth and job creation. We can only strengthen the sector by all of us working together to find the best solutions for us, ones that will allow the South African film industry to reach even great heights," Mashatile said ahead of the conference. The Indaba is held every four years and seeks industry input on the state and direction of the film industry. It will be attended by governments departments namely:
Arts and Culture, Communications, Trade and Industry as well as other provincial and local government representatives, film industry representatives, broadcasters and private funders who will also form part of the delegation.

"The NFVF has engaged with various stakeholders in intense consultation processes on our journey towards a national strategy for the film and audiovisual sector. These consultations have been enriched by a number of research surveys and market reviews," said NFVF CEO Zama Mkosi. "We are now seeking industry input into the way forward. Our discussions here, as well as the written input we may receive afterwards, will help articulate the policy going forward and inform our response to the new policy environment we operate in," said Mkosi.

The Indaba comes at a time when the industry is experiencing a boom with a number of local films such as Khumba, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Nothing for Mahala, Elelwani, Felix, Musiek vir die Agtergrond, Of Good Report, Bakgat 3 and Vehicle 19 in the market. Some of these films were NFVF funded. The South African Film Industry Economic Baseline Study Report (2012) commissioned by the NFVF released in April this year revealed that the film industry is contributing more than R3.5 billion to the South African economy. This value is based on revenues and expenditures directly related to activities within the industry across the four stages of the value chain that includes pre-production, production, post-production and distribution.
"Various interventions that we have made as the NFVF are beginning to bear fruits. We want this session to go beyond discussion to constructive engagement that will ensure film takes its rightful position as a key contributor to economic and social development," said Mkosi.

Discussions at the Film Indaba will focus on four key strategic issues: Transformation and Human Capital Development; Infrastructural Development; Funding and Institutional Models; and, Markets for South African Content. "These topics will provide the industry's contribution towards strategic pillars that have been identified in various government policy documents including the NDP, Mzansi Golden Economy and the draft White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage," said Aifheli Makhwanya, NFVF Head of Policy and Research and Acting Head of Marketing & Communication. "South Africa is also on the verge of digital terrestrial broadcasting roll-out where there are a lot of opportunities envisaged for content creators. To this end, we need to know how the industry needs to position itself within this new era and what role the NFVF and other government or private institutions can play to best support the film industry.

"In addition, we are asking how the film industry can attract additional public and private sector investment and expand the infrastructure base for the film and audiovisual industry," said Makhwanya. The NFVF is also welcoming written submissions on the strategy. View the 4th National Film Indaba discussion guide here.
 
Al Jazeera screens award-winning documentary about divorced Moroccan wedding camerawoman
Casablanca Camerawoman premieres on Wednesday, 13 November 2013 at 22:30 GMT on Witness, Al Jazeera's flagship documentary strand. Khadija is in demand as a camerawoman at weddings in Casablanca. Although working women are still taboo in the more conservative sections of Moroccan society, many parents prefer a woman to film their daughters at weddings. But the fairytale world of the colourful Moroccan weddings Khadija films is in stark contrast to the realities of her life. She’s divorced, has an 11-year-old son, and is living as the only breadwinner with her family, who’re ashamed not only that she’s divorced but that she works, and works at night.

Directed by Moroccan filmmaker Karima Zoubir, the verite-style documentary won the IDFA Academy Worldview Award; The Human Rights Award at Fidadoc; and The Ulysses Award for Best Documentary at the Cinemed Film Festival, as well as the PUMA Creative Catalyst Award at Durban FilmMart. “Alternatively joyful and sad, Casablanca Camerawoman is an intimate portrait of Muslim women in a rapidly changing society,” says Paul Eedle, Al Jazeera’s director of programming. Watch the trailer here. For more information go here. 
 

Locarno dedicates section to Sub-Saharan Africa

The Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors co-production mart will return to focussing on French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa in 2014. Open Doors this year is open to submissions from: Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Purpose of the mart/workshop, which will run August 9-12 next year, is to help selected projects connect with co-production partners, especially European producers.

Open Doors also assigns a prize worth Euros 40,000 ($54,000), and other smaller cash nods offered by Gaul’s CNC and broadcaster ARTE.
The 2014 edition of Open Doors is the first to be managed by longtime Locarno collaborator Ananda Scepka, who succeeds Martina Malacrida. Scepka has been working with the festival since 2009. The festival is once again working with African cinema specialist Alex Moussa Sawadogo, who is director of Berlin’s AfriKamera film festival, as consultant in selecting a dozen participating projects. The 67th Locarno Film Festival will run Aug 6-16, 2014
   
EVENTS
 
tvebiomovies 2013 – voting is now open!
After a record 565 film proposals from 75 countries were entered for this year’s tvebiomovies competition, the 14 finalists’ films selected to go into production are now live on YouTube – marking the start of the two month voting period to find the ultimate 2013 winners by 19th December.

This year’s finalists come from across the globe, from Bolivia, Cameroun, Canada, Colombia, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Peru, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, the USA and the UK, with our film-makers ages ranging from two 15- year olds - Ronan Baranger from Concarneau in France, and Connor Kelley from Pueblo West in Colorado, USA - to 39-year old Raúl Pérez Albrecht from La Paz in Bolivia. Their ambitious - sometimes poignant, sometimes whacky - one-minute films tackle a wide spectrum of big ideas on the environment; from halting global climate change to tackling marine pollution, from cutting back food waste to restoring degraded soils. They employ an equally wide range of techniques and styles to get their messages across – from animation and music, to drama and satire.

Now it’s up to the global public to choose the winning films. With every view on YouTube notching up one vote, the winners will be the most watched films on the tvebiomovies website: with one victor to be chosen in each of seven categories, each film has a 50:50 chance to win. The seven different categories are:-

1) UNEP prize for Climate Change;
2) The Lighthouse Foundation prize for the Seas and Oceans;
3) The Biodiversity International Prize for Agricultural and Forest Biodiversity;
4) The Inlaks Shivdasani prize for People and the Planet;
5) UNEP Prize for Food Waste;
6) The EBRD prize for Sustainable Resource Initiative;
7) WWF - UK prize for A World Worth Protecting

UNEP (the UN Environment Programme) will also screen all 14 films at the next UN Climate Conference COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland, on 11th November. To watch the final 14 films go to our Facebook page.
 
 
HOT DOCS Forum
The focus of the forum is documentary and factual projects in the broad social, cultural and political genre. It includes projects which touch on natural history, science, health, travel, etc. One-hour or feature length one-offs and limited series. Regarded as the most effective international documentary market in North America, the Hot Docs Forum (formerly the Toronto Documentary Forum) is a dynamic pitching event that stimulates international co-production financing for projects at various levels of completion.
 
The Hot Docs Forum is a two-day, limited-seating event. Focused around a slate of pre-selected international project presentations showcased in front of a round table of commissioning editors, programming executives and delegates from around the globe, the Hot Docs Forum’s intimate and intense format has proven extremely successful in building international partnerships and raising additional financing for both presenting and observing producers.


WGSA Workshop: Writing dialogue and narrative in an interactive medium
From London and the depth of cyberspace, we welcome writer/director Andrew S Walsh to JOHANNESBURG and CAPE TOWN!
An award winning video games writer with credits which include the immensely popular Prince of Persia, Need for Speed, Lego City and various Harry Potter episodes, Andy Walsh will share not only his experience as a writer, director, producer and story consultant, but is also a one-stop shop from concept to pre-production; from scripting to voice, performance capture and localisation. In addition, he has credits in film, television, radio, stage plays and animation, offering local writers the full package of learning how to spread their talents from film and TV across the full spectrum of new media.
Venue: To be announced
Date and Time: JOHANNESBURG: 10 to 11 May 2014 and CAPE TOWN: 17 to 18 May 2014 at 8h00 to 17h00

This two day workshop will mix talks with workshop exercises which cover a wide range of interactive writing challenges from concept to shipping. Learn to recognise and analyse the different challenges offered by the various platforms, narrative genres and gameplay genres that face writers working in this medium. If you'd like to know the jargon, common pitfalls, career paths, formats, narrative structures, speech design principles and to get the chance to test out these elements, then this is the workshop for you. Organised by an industry veteran with experience on more than 60 game titles as well as film and television, these two days will contain vital information for those new to writing, established writers wishing to examine a new approach to their work and anyone wanting to dig deeper into the impact of interactive narratives.

Andrew S. Walsh is an award-winning writer/director with credits across film, television, theatre, radio, animation and videogames. A man of many job titles he has appeared as writer, director, speech designer, narrative designer, narrative producer, story consultant, script editor, motion capture director, camera director, voice director, story producer, story liner, story editor and once mysteriously as 't - by', something which he can only attribute to being a tea drinking Englishman.

To date he has worked on more than sixty videogames including Fable Legends, Prince of Persia, Harry Potter, Risen, XCom, Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol, Medieval II: Total War, SOCOM, LEGO City:Undercover, X3 Reunion, and the new Need for Speed : Most Wanted. His film work includes the English version of Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, while in television he has learned a lot about accents having worked on projects involving Yorkshire men in woolly hats (Emmerdale), Geordie school kids (Byker Grove), a bunch of Canadians (Risk) and variety of others too diverse to mention. His latest play, an adaptation of the Wind in the Willows, was performed in London over the summer. He won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Videogames Award for Prince of Persia in 2009 which made him very happy. He hopes to continue doing things like this because he appears to be good at them. He is currently working as Lead Writer at Lionhead Studios, and is developing projects for the stage and screen for SixTeenFeet. In any spare time he is the Treasurer of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.
 
OPPORTUNITIES
 
Call for entries to the Inaugural WGSA Muse Awards
**Extension of closing date to 15 November 2013**
Entries are open for the inaugural Writers’ Guild of South Africa’s Muse Awards. In its continued endeavour to unleash the potential of South African writers, WGSA has launched the Muse Awards to honour its members. With the growth in the South African film and television industry it is critical that credit is given where credit is due. Often it is an overlooked fact that it is the writers who are the backbone of the Film and TV industry, as without their vivid imaginations there would be nothing to watch on our screens.
 
“WGSA has created the WGSA Muse Awards to recognise the hard work done by our members in the SA film, TV and entertainment industry. It is an award by writers for writers, which finally shines the spotlight on the often forgotten custodians of SA arts and culture,” says Harriet Meier, Chairperson of the WGSA. There are six categories for which entries will be accepted for the 2013 WGSA MUSE AWARDS:
· Feature Film
· TV Drama
· TV Comedy
· Documentary
· Stage Play
· Unproduced in any genre

While the main language of the entries should be English, short dialogue sequences in other SA official languages are acceptable as long as English translations are supplied. As the Muse Awards grow, more categories will be added, including new media, gaming, animation, shorts and a category for student writers. The WGSA Muse Awards forms part of the WGSA’s schedule of initiatives to strengthen the writing profession by offering skills development programmes as well as protecting the interests of South African writers.

Entry for WGSA members is R100 per entry.  Non-members who join the WGSA now will get membership until end February 2015.  Terms and Conditions apply. Entries close on the 15^th of November and the winners will be announced at a gala event on 22 February 2014. For more information or to submit entries, please visit the website or contact the WGSA office on admin@writersguildsa.org, Tel: 011 888 4349 or mobile 082 575 6901.
 
 
Wavescape launches its short film contest
An adventure sports film contest, Wavescape Shortcuts, has been launched to celebrate South Africa's growing passion for extreme sports. Short films are a great format for sharing stoke in the Internet age, and the popularity of adventure sports is higher than ever.
With the advent of quality, easy to use action cams like GoPro, almost anyone with passion can tell an adventure story and share it with a wide online audience. Wavescape director Ross Frylinck says, "We have seen the exponential growth of adventure sport short films over the last decade at the Wavescape Surf Festival and here. Shortcuts has been created to celebrate and support this movement in SA."

Adventure sports films covering surfing, skating, kitesurfing, bodyboarding, MTB, snowboarding are all welcomed. Film entries need to be between 30 seconds and 5 minutes in length, and can explore all aspects and angles through documentary, stop-frame, animation or anything in between. Dewald de Jager of GoPro, says, “GoPro is making it so easy to create, manage, edit and share high quality video using innovations like the GoPro app and newly released GoPro Studio. Anyone can now download the GoPro Studio application for free and edit a great video using one of the templates provided. It is that easy."

"We're delighted to be part of the Wavescape Shorts Film Contest", says Marié van Niekerk, marketing director of BOS Ice Tea. It creates a wonderful platform for self expression within the realm of natural sports and ties in wonderfully with our philosophy of Joy through Creativity." The contest launched on Friday, 20 September and runs until Saturday, 30 November. Winning entries will be screened at the Wavescape Surf Festival in Cape Town in December. Prizes include R30 000 in GoPro cameras, a custom BOS surfboard, a year's supply of BOS drinks and R5000 cash bonus if the winning film was shot on a GoPro camera.
 
 
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS TO ATTEND HOT DOCS 2014
You have the chance to attend Hot Docs 2014 as part of the DFA’s application to the Department of Trade and Industry’s Group Export Sector Specific Assistance Scheme (SSAS). The DTI is doing great work in helping emerging documentary filmmakers promote their film projects at some of the world’s top documentary events.
 
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival  in Toronto is North America’s largest documentary film festival, which also hosts a pitching forum, conference and opportunities to meet with film financiers, television commissioning editors, distributors and sales agents. It takes place from late April to early May each year.
 
While some individuals can apply to the DTI directly, the advantage of the group scheme is that the DTI pays suppliers upfront for flights, transfers, accommodation and breakfast as well as for the group’s stand, printing of brochures and the freighting of promotional materials. Many filmmakers are not in a position to cash flow a trip and be refunded later as per the individual scheme.
 
The group scheme is predominantly for emerging filmmakers (60%). Preference will be given to previously disadvantaged applicants, especially those who have never attended an international film market before. Applicants who are not first time market attendants should ideally have market ready projects, preferably with a trailer or some scene selections to do business at the market.
 
Criteria:
Closing date: 30 November for electronic applications
•          NO LATE APPLICATIONS
•          no originals until DFA board has approved the application
•          All applicants must be prepared to join DFA as members if not yet a member and existing members must be paid up.
•          Membership fees are R300 per annum and proof of payment must be send with application. Please note that this also apply to candidates applying via the NFVF
•          A non refundable application fee of R350 is payable upon submission of application and proof of payment must be submitted. (WITH THE CORRECT REFERENCE: name & surname HOTDOCS14
 
Applications must be emailed to thea@docfilmsa.org
 
Forms to submit:
o          Duly completed & signed application form
o          Company profile as per guide on the application form – this could be done on the application form itself or separately but must be in line with the guidelines set out on the application form
o          Proof of registration of the enterprise in the form of CIPRO certificate if a CC or (Pty) Ltd or
o          A certified copy of your ID document in the case of a sole proprietor.
o          Valid tax clearance certificate – at least valid until the end of the HotDocs 2014
o          Comprehensive colour brochure/ CD ROM, Photographs or Pictures of the relevant products marketed by the company – at this point a copy or a link is sufficient
o          Audited Financial Statements or bank statements of at least three months, stamped by the bank
o          A valid copy of the passport of the representative of the firm to be traveling to the exhibition.
 
After the DFA board has approved the application, delegates need to pay an administration fee of R650 – send email proof of payment to thea@docfilmsa.org
 
Deliver original documents within the prescribed period (normally 7 days) to:
125rd STREET,
LINDEN,
JOHANNESBURG– during business hours (8h00 to 17h00) or
 
mail counter to counter to
P.O. Box 1330,
Fontainebleau,
2032
 
Bank Details:
ACCT NAME: Documentary Filmmakers’ Association
BANK: Standard Bank
BRANCH: Melville
ACCT: 401036057
BRANCH CODE: 6105
Please remember to send your proof of payment to (e-mail) treasurer@docfilmsa.com
 
NB - When completing the payment, please use your NAME and SURNAME & HOT DOCS14 as the deposit reference when renewing as an individual.
 
 
Doc Nomads applications now open for 2014-2016 intake
OC NOMADS is open to European and non-European students with a BA degree in Motion Picture or Media Studies; other degrees are accepted for applicants with a convincing portfolio. In order to guarantee a high-quality individual training, small group tuition is offered (maximum 24 students). This two year Masters level documentary course is open for scholarship apllicants - entries close 20 December 2013.
 
The Academic Board of the DOC NOMADS Erasmus Mundus Masters Course is seeking applicants who are:
socially minded, empathetic, responsible, and have civic awareness;
who are inquisitive, creative, and curious to explore reality;
who are original and both value and seek artistic independence and a personal voice;
who are open-minded, self-reflective, flexible, and innovative;
cooperative, receptive, and good team members;
tolerant and open to criticism;
with good skills of cinematic approach and good visual skills.
 
The DOC NOMADS EMMC has three full partners and enjoys the backing of 17 European and non-European associated members. In order to provide a high quality European Masters Course in Documentary Film Directing, three European HEIs with different pedagogical approaches and experiences in higher education have been chosen for the Consortium:
 
DOC NOMADS aims at developing students' basic skills in techniques, fieldwork and writing, as well as their creative filmmaking and management skills in an international production environment within the framework of a truly integrated training that marries traditional European art education and modern studies based on the film, media and new media industries’ requirements. Visit our website.
 
 
FILM FESTIVALS
 
Phone Dox
ZagrebDox Pro cell-phone-made documentary film competition. Authors from all over the world are invited to submit their cell-phone-made documentary films (up to 15 minutes of running time). The films should deal with is MY NEIGHBOUR IS A EUROPEAN... ZagrebDox Pro has chosen such a theme to mark the Republic of Croatia's accession to the European Union in 2013. Authors are encouraged to use a broad approach to the theme and to their neighbors (countries, peoples, ethnic groups, various groups of people, individuals etc).  Deadline for entries is 25 November 2013. 
 
 
Full Frame Festival, USA
Full Frame celebrates the power and artistry of documentaries. Full Frame serves the documentary form and its community by showcasing the contemporary work of established and emerging filmmakers. The festival provides a space that nurtures conversation between artists, students, and the Full Frame audience. Full Frame is committed to enhancing public understanding and appreciation of the art form and its significance, while making films more accessible to a wider audience. Entry deadline is 6 December 2013. 
 
 
Rome Independent Film Festival, Italy
The Roma Independent Film Festival (RIFF) is Rome 's first independent and international film festival. Its aim is to unite enthusiasm for films and filmmaking among young filmmakers with the realities of film production and distribution. The competing sections are: Feature Films; New Frontiers (first time director); Documentary Films (documentary films on human rights and on free themes); Short Films; Digital Video; International Student Films (for cinema students); Animation; Screenplays & Subjects Festival deadline: 15 December-2013  
 
 
Ethnocinema, Austria
the 8th ETHNOCINECA will take place from the 12th - 16th of May 2014 in the Votivkino in Vienna. ETHNOCINECA is a film festival focusing on the diversity of ethnographic and documentary films with special emphasis on sociocultural issues. This year we proudly present a further innovation to our festival, the ETHNOCINECA Student Shorts Competition (ESSA). We would like to invite you to send us your contributions until the15th of December or to forward our Call for Films to interested filmmakers, students and scientists. You can find more information about the submission process on our website 
 
 
Göttingen International Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany
Göttingen IFF is a biennial event with an aim to promote documentaries in the context of intra- and intercultural communication and give credit to new films, videos or interactive media dealing with anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. The festival promotes documentary cinema with a special emphasis on new films, videos or interactive media (published after 1.1.2009) dealing with socio-cultural processes in a wide sense of the term. The festival is open to all filmmakers, but especially those coming from an anthropology, sociology, folklore, history etc. background .
Festival deadline: 15 December 2013  
 
 
Créteil International Women's Film Festival
Submissions are now open for the 2014 edition of the Créteil International Women's Film Festival (14-23 March 2014) in France. Launched in 1978 and located southeast of Paris, the festival is a 10 day event screening over 50 films directed by women from around the world. The festival also offers film classes, thematic forums and debates. The competition is open to narrative and documentary feature films and short films (less than 50 minutes). Official deadline: 15 December 2013  
 Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Australia
REVELATION will screen from 3-13 July 2014 in Perth and filmmakers from across the globe are invited to enter their films. Regarded as one of Australia’s most exciting independent film festivals, the search is on for unique, signature-driven works from both emerging and established filmmakers. Founded in 1997, REVELATION has developed into an internationally renowned film festival, screening stand-out works and giving a platform for distinctive approaches to production, distribution and exhibition. REVELATION is an outstanding networking opportunity for the Australian and international film community. The event’s reputation as a leading light of the Australian screen industry has resulted in an impressive number of Australian and world premieres and growing attendance by the film industry’s brightest and best.

Submissions may include narrative features, documentary, short film, animation, experimental work and anything in between. Entries for the Revelation Perth International Film Festival close on 11 April 2014. 
Revelation offers an online entry option. Further details and entry forms can be found here.
COMMUNITY 
 
Community Media Trust is looking for a Media Programme Manager. 
Community Media Trust (CMT), a national NGO which does media training and produces TV and radio shows and films, requires a Media Programme Manager. Your excellent organisational skills, reliability and media background coupled with a relevant tertiary qualification may land you this post. The position would suit somebody who lives in/around Cape Town. Please visit our website to find out more about CMT

Job Description (May include but is not limited to)
* Developing budgets and writing proposals for submission to donors and broadcasters.
* Budget and expenditure management alongside finance department. Ensuring strict adherence to budget targets as per contractual obligations.
* Meeting all donor and broadcaster requirements including compiling narrative, financial and M & E reports. Authoring reports and activity statements on all aspects of operational process and history of project for funding entities
* Scheduling and management of all production in media department.
* Supervising pay roll and signing off on all payments.
* Responsible for (alongside HR), interviewing and hiring of staff in media department, staff relations including performance monitoring, disciplinary action and staff motivation.
* Re-organizing and strengthening project systems to ensure maximum efficiency and timely completion of work. Responsible for appropriate work prioritization and meeting targets.
* Regular meetings with Deputy Director, Director, and Production and Post-Production Managers to report on project status, budget issues and future plans.
* Checking of facilitator guides and workbooks to accompany training materials.
* Monitoring project status and determining progress, creating regular reports and chairing meetings to review project progress.
* Assistance in the creation of templates for office staff and fieldwork staff to carry out effective administration and monitoring and evaluation.
* Writing of regular narrative reports for donors and internally as required.
* Communication with donor's and facilitation of donor site visits
* To complete ad hoc duties as requested from time to time by your supervisor;

To apply:
1. Please download and complete the "Employment Application Form" available here, and use the reference " MediaMan " in the subject line of your emailed application to recruitment@cmt.org.za.
2. Please include/attach the following to your emailed application:
3. One page motivational covering letter
4. Your CV + A certified copy of your highest qualification
5. A list of three of your most recent job referees with landline contact numbers

Shortlisted candidates must be prepared to undergo competency testing and Credit/ITC checks. Closing date: Friday, 15 November 2013

Due to the high volume of applications received on a daily basis, please note that correspondence will only be conducted with short listed candidates, please consider your application unsuccessful if you have not received a response by Monday, 18 November 2013
 
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Journalism or Communications, or a related field
- Masters in Public Health beneficial
- Minimum three years' Management experience a must
- Experience in managing projects and project logistics
- Media background
- A perfectionist with an eye for detail
- A strong project manager with the ability to produce accurate project cost to profit estimates and the wherewithal to ensure a project is produced to budget
- A fantastic people manager, trainer and mentor with the ability to draw out the best from colleagues from across the organisation
- Productive and efficient (completes expected amount of work, to the highest standards, timeously)
- Valid South African ID
- Valid drivers' license
 
Personal Skills/Attributes
- It goes without saying, but you need to have a demonstrated passion for all things digital - and you must be computer literate.
Other qualities include:
- Be able to write engaging content in a clear manner.
- Communications or public relations experience would be an advantage.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
- Multi-tasking: you can work on multiple projects simultaneously.
- Proven ability to think creatively and problem solve quickly.
- Attention to detail.
- Ability to work well under pressure and work well in a team.
 
Details

Province: Western Cape
Education level: Degree
Travel requirement: Occasional
City: Rondebosch / Cape Town
Type: Permanent
Job level: Management (Jnr - Mid, 1-4 yrs)
Benefits: Lifecover

Contactrecruitment@cmt.org.za
Reference #MediaMan
 
 
Right2Know request for education/ public screening suggestions
Right2Know is compiling a DVD of films and documentaries that will be used for popular education and public screenings and need your help...Please take a moment to recommend films that you think our activists and supporters should watch on the themes of secrecy, access to information, media freedom & diversity and organising/movement building. You can either email comrade Carina on carina.r2k@gmail.com or complete our online form. If nothing immediately comes to mind, you can review and recommend some great documentaries here: Films For Action, ThoughtMaybe, Top Documentary Films, Free Documentaries or Documentary Storm.

 
Survey on experiences of Film Festivals
Lindiwe Dovey writes to us from SOAS London to ask if African filmmakers can help with research into their experiences of film festivals. " It should take about 20 minutes. As you will see, by completing it (and then emailing me) you will also be entered into a draw for £100. Please could you also circulate the survey to as many of your African filmmaker friends as possible? Thank you! You will find the survey here. Or contact Lindiwe on ld18@soas.ac.uk
(Thank you to Francois Verster for passing this on to the DFA community)
 
 
Mama Dance signs 4 international libraries
Mama Dance now offers its clients eight international libraries as well as 74 albums of high quality South African and African flavour tracks. Following the success of recent signings Atomica and Inspired Production Music, Mama Dance has been proactively seeking out more fresh and innovative international libraries to compliment their legendary and fast growing 100% home grown catalogue.
They have recently signed POPVIRUS, a rapidly growing and exciting in-your- face selection of almost 400 albums covering all genres from pumping dance grooves, pop and rock right through to monumental orchestral film score material and Reality TV music toolkits.
RELIABLE SOURCE MUSIC is another established UK library recently available on Mama Dance. It contains 142 albums and is especially strong in era specific releases such as the 20’ to 60’s anthologies as well as very impressive dance, cinematic and drama orientated albums.
MINDS AND MUSIC is an esoteric boutique European library that is popular with our TV and Doccie clients, whilst UNDERCURRENTS is a new high quality US label by Atomica that specialises in minimal moods and ever popular drones and tension beds.
“After 12 years in the business, we’ve got all the clients” says Craig McGahey, owner of Mama Dance “but until now we didn’t quite have all the music! Now we’ve got over 40 000 tracks in ALL genres available for quick search and download from our website or hard drives that we distribute countrywide. Because our catalogues are now so extensive, our free music searches are proving even more popular. We do searches every day and can deliver our busy clients a suggested playlist in less than an hour. In the production music business, service counts and with our team of three experienced music lovers, we deliver!”
The Mama Dance Music Libraries can be searched and downloaded here or contact Craig, Dale or Jeff at 021 424 0314 or info@mamadance.com for a hard drive delivery or free music searches.
 
 
Until next time...
 
warm regards
Liezel Vermeulen
DFA Newsletter Editor
Line Producer: Development and Production, Okuhle Media