IN THE NEWS:
October 2015
Miners Shot Down nominated for an Emmy
The harrowing documentary Miners Shot Down - which was recently released on VIDI - has scored an International Emmy Award nomination in the Best Documentary category.
There were 40 nominees across 10 categories and 19 countries, including Angola, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
The acclaimed film, directed by Rehad Desai, exposes the truth behind the Marikana mineworkers strike and the subsequent masscacre. Using the point-of-view of the miners, Miners Shot Down follows the strike from day one, showing the courageous but isolated fight waged by a group of low paid workers against the combined forces of the mining company, Lonmin, the ANC government and their allies in the National Union of Mineworkers. Six days after the strike began, the police used live ammunition to brutally suppress the workers, killing 34 and injuring many more. What emerges is collusion at the top, spiralling violence and the country’s first post-colonial massacre.
Released last year, Miners Shot Down has received worldwide acclaim and gone on to win multiple awards including:
The Cinema for Peace Award winner 2015;
The Václav Havel Jury Award at the One World Human Rights Film Festival;
Camera Justitia Jury Award at the Movies That Matter Human Rights Film Festival;
The Aung San Suu Kyi Jury Award at Hrhdiff, Myanmar;
The Audience Award at the African Film Festival, Cologne;
The Audience Prize at The Black Movie Film Festival, Geneva;
The Best Reality Documentary Award at The Ugu Film Festival, South Africa;
Jury First Prize For Documentary, Fespaco, Burkina Faso;
Best Documentary Feature South African Film And Television Awards; and
Human Rights Jury Award, Amnesty International, Durban International Film Festival.
“Every year, the international television community competes to be recognized for excellence on the International Emmy's global stage,” said Bruce L. Paisner, president & CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “We congratulate the 2015 Nominees for their outstanding programs and performances.”
Winners will be announced at a black-tie Ceremony on Monday, 23 November 2015 at the Hilton New York Hotel.
Other documentaries in the Uhuru Productions collection include Alexandra My Alexandra, Father Inside, Bhambatha: War of the Heads 1906, The Choir, Taking Back the Waves Nasser Tapes, Cops 17: An Activist's Diary, Weather Gods, Permission to Stay, Battle for Johannesburg, You Chuse, Bushmen’s Secret, The Heart of Whiteness, Born into Struggle, Looting the Nation, My Land My Life, Dilemma and Carlos Cardoso: An Independent Spirit.
For more information on these and the hundreds of other movie and TV titles, visit www.vidi.co.za. For more information on Miners Shot Down, visit www.minersshotdown.co.za.
SA directors contribute to Al Jazeera woman empowerment documentaries
Launched on 26 September, Women Make Change is a new series from Al Jazeera showcasing women who have started impactful local projects in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Papua New Guinea. Focusing on areas as diverse as water, agriculture, family planning and sport, their work shows that investing in women is indeed smart economic sense. Former Nigerian media personality of the year Femi Oke hosts the new series.
When the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit met from 25 to 27 September, they discussed the progress made in the 20 years since the Beijing Declaration of women’s rights. This series shows the human story behind those debates and profiles some of the work being done to reduce poverty.
“At a time when the world is debating gender equality and sustainable development goals, we wanted to hear first-hand from women who are already making significant changes in their communities,” says Ingrid Falck, Al Jazeera English’s head of Documentaries. “We interrogated the latest research findings to see how the ripple of impact can work. The combination of impressive, authoritative women who live with these issues in the real world, together with integrated graphics, paints a thought-provoking picture.”
South African Karin Slater directed the first film, The Water Women, traveling to Kenya to talk to Rose Atieno and Catherine Ondele. These women have been instrumental in training local women to build rainwater harvesting tanks to villages which had been without clean water. Forty-three percent of rural Kenyans are without clean water, essential to combat preventable diseases. Since they built the tank in one village, they have not had a single case of cholera. It’s also been transformative for a nearby health centre, which can now offer a range of new services.
The benefits go even deeper though. There are reduced attacks on women, who no longer have to travel long distances to the communal well. Each woman saves almost six hours a week, which is now time she can spend working or studying. And there’s a direct financial benefit to the community, which sells the water to the water company and invests the money in starting new businesses.
Scorecard Rwanda, directed by UK director Alistair Waterson, highlights the benefits of sport for Rwandan women whose families and communities were in desperate need of healing post-genocide. The women initially faced resistance from the men in their community when Felicite Rwemalika came to enlist them in a local football team, but there have been clear and long-lasting advantages from involving women in team sports. In addition to the health benefits, sport has given the women a space to meet and talk. For many, they’ve expanded their ideas into new businesses, resulting in farming cooperatives and community restaurants. The project has also helped girls stay in school and built confidence and aspirations. “You can be future leaders,” Grace Nyinawumuntu says. “Don’t just think of being a coach like me or Felicite. You can be Minister of Sport and help your country.”
Education is taken for granted by many, but having access to this basic right is still a challenge for many. Directed by South African Brian Tilley, Going Places focuses on Zainab Andan and Dolores Dickson, two women in Ghana who are working hard to make sure that girls, in particular, are given the opportunity to go to school. Andan benefited from a bursary awarded by an international charity, Camfed, and now she is part of an alumni group that works in communities to help girls in her former school. Her community work also takes her to neighbouring villages, where she can share her skills by holding financial literacy workshops. Dolores Dickson, director of the charity, oversees training workshops for local projects. One of those which started out small is a shea butter processing project that now supplies a range of outlets, including The Body Shop. Watch the video of Femi Oke talking about women as a force for change.
Rights, Camera, Action: Sunshine Cinema
Lloyd Maanyina is a charcoal burner from Livingston, Zambia - "home of the mighty Victoria Falls." The dirt from a hard day's work jammed beneath his fingernails, Maanyina counts his money as he tells a story of guilt and reconciliation.
Deforestation caused by charcoal production is a growing environmental problem in Zambia, where most of the population relies on charcoal for fuel. As Maanyina has become increasingly aware of his own impact on the environment, he is proud to have opened a micro nursery that sells trees to the community, giving back at least some of what he takes from the earth.
The award winning short documentary, Amazing Grace, has brought Maanyina's story to a global audience.
But how will his story have an impact in his community - the very community he hopes to enrich - when access to Internet is scarce and the country is facing an energy crisis?
This question led photographer Sydelle Willow Smith, filmmaker Rowan Pybus (whose company - Makhulu Productions - produced the film) and innovative design specialist Janine Johnston to create Sunshine Cinema.
Sunshine Cinema is a mobile, solar-powered cinema and platform with a mission to share knowledge and skills among African communities through film screenings, skill building workshops and discussions. With a steady supply of power regardless of the state of energy from the national power grid, Sunshine Cinema is able to screen content uninterrupted.
Producing and screening instructional videos on subjects ranging from how to make a solar cooker out of cardboard and empty chip packets, to how to build a chair out of tires, wire and rope, Sunshine Cinema deploys practical ideas and local knowledge to address social and environmental issues.
This is especially important in communities where there might not be access to research tools like Google. Sunshine Cinema also produces and screens films (its own, and those of other African filmmakers) telling the stories of innovators and change agents like Maanyina, and promoting sustainable innovations.
"There are so many incredible films that have been made by African filmmakers from all over the continent," Smith said. "But so much of that content never gets seen in local theaters, firstly because there might not be a cinema there and secondly because most of the media that's shown here tends to be reruns from American series or flashy Blockbuster films."
Sunshine Cinema's goal is simple: "We're not trying to be these Pan-African idealists," Smith said. "We really just want to showcase what is happening here and celebrate it."
Born and raised in South Africa, Smith was introduced to photography at a young age by her father, a darkroom technician. Her experience in a diverse schooling environment, sharing a classroom with young black photographers from diverse backgrounds at a time when South Africa was divided economically and racially, helped inform her artistic consciousness.
"I am South African in terms of my passport - my grandparents were born here - but I am also a settler," Smith said. "So as a white South African, I feel like I have a responsibility to do much more research before I tell any type of story, and to think deeply about what role I'm going to play. I think there is an entitled attitude perpetuated that needs to be addressed through more dialogue and listening on the part of those whose experiences are steeped in privilege."
Applying that same thoughtfulness to their work at Sunshine Cinema, the growing team of media makers and designers work with local partners to show films with appropriate subtitles (South Africa has 11 official languages), followed by community-facilitated discussions about the content they show.
"Instead of taking African stories from the continent and showing them to a Western audience, we wanted to create something that didn't just have a one-way flow of information,' Smith said. "We wanted to try to address problematic issues that we had encountered around distribution, and help democratize the flow of information by taking art outside of the gallery walls and into diverse communities."
But for Sydelle, making the film is only the first step. "It's all well and good to make a film that shows people in a difficult or inspiring situation," Smith said. "It gets out there on the Internet and across the digital divide, and the people who are able to watch it watch it, but the local social actors and stakeholders don't necessarily get to unless they have access. To me, that's not creating the intended dialogue that the film is supposed to."
In South Africa and elsewhere on the continent, mobile cinemas have had a dark history. Used as a tool to support colonial power, films shown via mobile cinemas were used to "civilize" African people, sometimes portraying them as the caricatures of Mr. Wise and Mr. Foolish - Mr. Wise, of course, adapts to colonial ways, while Mr. Foolish clings to his African traditions.
Smith, intent upon not "coming across as a bunch of saviors from the post-apartheid generation," hopes that the problematic historical use of mobile cinemas can still be one of the issues that Sunshine Cinema can address. But instead of the colonial-era Mr. Wise telling viewers what to do, community members and stakeholders are able to exchange information directly with one another, teaming up to find immediate solutions to problems.
While the idea of bringing media into local communities is nothing new, Smith explains that she and the team initially felt there wasn't a space for the exchange of information.
"It's something you really feel when you spend time in places where people don't have access to affordable Internet or computers," she said. "There is this dominant narrative of mobile phones being the cure to all of Africa's problems in terms of the so-called digital divide, but for people accessing online spaces through mobile phones, data costs still remain extremely high."
For Smith, Sunshine Cinema's potential to become a platform for broader interaction and engagement is what draws her to the work.
"At the end of the day, we are in love with cinema," she said of the Sunshine Cinema team. "We are media junkies; we watch thousands of films and have access to them. To be able to share them with people who might not have that same access is so important. We don't just want to show information-based content; we want to show content that provokes dialogue and discussion and see these stories used to create local networks."
Africa in Motion celebrates ten years of African cinema
Africa in Motion is Scotland’s annual celebration of African cinema. The programme this year will be packed with an array of films, director Q&A sessions, masterclasses, music events, an African TV lounge and children’s workshops.
The theme of Africa in Motion 2015 is connections, exploring the interrelatedness of the myriad aspects of African experiences. The programme of films and events engages with the many diverse interpretations of connections - from political connections, artistic collaborations, generational ties, lost and restored cultural links, and pan-Africanism.
Highlights include the creatively curated documentary, The Dream of Shahrazad, that blends together multiple stories of art and activism. The rich traditions of African storytelling will be further discovered through a documentary about one of the most prominent female African writers in The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo. Family ties, kinship and lost relations are the focus of films such as Dis Ek, Anna (It’s Me, Anna) and Ayanda, both by South African female filmmaker Sara Blecher.
Audiences will venture down African streets to discover the continent’s cities in films such as the Egyptian classic Cairo Station and the UK premiere of the Ugandan feature film The Boda Boda Thieves.
Lost connections with the African continent will be uncovered in the powerful documentary Bound: African vs. African American. Fragments and disconnections within contemporary Africa are explored through a strand of experimental films, including the striking Rwandan feature Things of the Aimless Wanderer.
The festival will open in Edinburgh on Friday, 23 October, with Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambety’s towering masterpiece Hyènes (Hyenas), an intimate story of love and revenge, and a critique of neo-colonialism and the effects of consumerism on African cultures. The screening will be followed by an opening party celebrating the 10th edition at Summerhall, an evening filled with African beats, circus acts, and African-style cocktails and snacks.
The tenth Africa in Motion Film Festival will be host to a number of UK premieres, and will be attended by a number of esteemed African filmmakers, including Philippe Lacôte (Run) Sara Blecher (Dis Ek, Anna and Ayanda), Samba Gadjigo (Sembène!), Kivu Ruhorahoza (Things of the Aimless Wanderer), and Yaba Badoe (The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo).
Other significant aspects of this year’s festival include the Nigerian-Scottish Film Odyssey, which explores the connections between the film industries in Nigeria and Scotland through red carpet Nollywood film screenings, director Q&A sessions and an industry day. The newly inaugurated AiM TV Lounge located in the Old Hairdressers, Glasgow, will present a daily selection of popular African television shows including soaps, sports shows, mockumentaries, and cooking programmes. In keeping with the festival theme, a strand entitled ’The Unrepaired Past’ will focus on connecting the histories of slavery and colonisation to the present. Once again, the festival will be presenting films outside of the traditional theatrical setting, through the Nomad Cinema series, which will see films being viewed in a great diversity of settings, including lecture theatres, community centres, cafes and more.
AiM will also present a special exhibition of photographs on the theme ‘Ways We Watch Films in Africa’, which captures the diverse and innovative film-viewing habits across the African continent. This exhibition is comprised of a selection of photographs that were submitted to AiM as part of a competition and will be displayed in Filmhouse, Edinburgh and The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow for the duration of the festival. Further competition strands include the annual Africa in Motion Short Film Competition, this year rebranded as the Aduna Award for Best Short Film, and a brand-new documentary competition strand.
EVENTS
Beyond Beyond
Artist: Kali van der Merwe
Curator: Jackie Ruth Murray
Thursday 8th October 18:00
Cameraland 68 Long St Cape Town
parking at Park on Long 55 Hout St
includes November First Thursdays (5th November)
Exhibition closing – Saturday 7th November
Opening night includes:
a ‘couch conversation’ exploring plant intelligence and consciousness:
common and endangered fynbos flowers and insects.
conversationalists:
Kali van der Merwe: Featured Exhibition Artist
George Davis: SANBI Fellow with the CareTakers Biodiversity Film Project
Virginia Mac Kenny: Michaelis School of Art Associate Professor in Painting, art critic, and writer with a special interest in environmental issues
Hanien Conradie: Fine Artist whose work searches for answers to questions around belonging and uniqueness.
Gerhard van Deventer: Environmentalist and educator, Sandberg Fynbos Reserve
A percentage of sales will be donated to Sandberg Fynbos Reserve - educating youth to be environmentally responsible global citizens
TCFF2015 opens in Cape Town, October 2 – 10
#TCFF2015 continues its travels around the country with a five-day run of social impact films in venues across Cape Town. Our excellent selection of films deal with a broad range of issues from corruption, social justice to state surveillance and open up spaces for discussion and debate. For more information on this year's selection please download the 2015 catalog below.
CAPE TOWN SCHEDULE 2015
Thursday 08 October
6:00pm CITIZENFOUR
The Fugard Theatre – Corner Caledon & Lower Buitenkant Street
Book tickets here.
Friday 09 October
6:00pm THE YES MEN ARE REVOLTING
8:30pm RED LINES
The Fugard Theatre – Corner Caledon & Lower Buitenkant Street
Book tickets here.
Saturday 10 October
6:00pm DREAMCATCHER
8:30pm INCORRUPTIBLE
The Fugard Theatre – Corner Caledon & Lower Buitenkant Street
Book tickets here.
Saturday 10 October
2:00pm PAROLE CAMP
4:00pm THE SHORE BREAK
The Khayelitsha Green Point White Hall
Elements Film Lab
8 - 10 October 2015 | Cape Town Club
Elements Film Lab is an initiative of the shnit Expanded Talent Focus programme for Playground Cape Town in 2015. Over the festival weekend filmmakers will participate in a series of workshops, discussions, conversations and engagements that will further their paths in making world-class short films. This year Elements Film Lab will be hosted at the historical Cape Town Club on Queen Victoria Street, a short walk from the festival hub at the legendary Labia Theatre.
See more at www.elementsfilmlab.org.
EDN AGM at IDFA
On Sunday 22nd of November 2015, between 10.00 am. and 1.00 pm., EDN organises the Annual General Assembly. The venue will be the Zuilenzaal in the Compagnietheater in Amsterdam, the same spot where the Forum activities take place. More information and the Executive Report on 2015 will be sent to you soon.
In order to allow us to organise the meeting in the most efficient way, we should be grateful if you could let us know whether you intend to be present. We would highly appreciate receiving a confirmation message from you on jorg@edn.dk before November 10th, 2015.
CAPE TOWN WGSA presents: Writing is memory...
DATE: 17 OCTOBER 2015
TIME: 9h00 to 15h00
VENUE: SAE Institute South Africa, UNIT A307, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock
When you face the flashing cursor and begin to write you can draw from two main sources, other movies and books OR your own life experiences. What you have done, seen and heard about in your own life. Often the first results in imitation, the second in fresh innovation. Learn how to incorporate your life experiences into all your work from drama to sci-fi, the stronger work is the one where you put a bit of yourself into it.
ABOUT MATTHEW KALIL
Matthew has an MA in Screenwriting from the Northern Film School, Leeds, UK and has been teaching and writing screenplays for the last 15 years. He has written on various TV shows including the international Emmy Award winning, SOS.
His scripts and plays have received various funding and awards from institutes such as Yorkshire and Humberside Arts, The National Arts Council, The South African Screenwriting Institute and The National Film and Video Foundation.
He has held lecturing positions, and given guest lectures, at various institutions including the University of Cape Town, City Varsity, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, AFDA Film School and TISH at NYU, to name a few.
Bookings essential: admin@writersguildsa.org. Bookings close on 15 October at 12h00
WGSA Student members - R50
Members / Students with valid student card / Affiliated organisation: R200
Non-Members: R300
To secure your booking: Please pay the required cover charge to our bank:
WGSA Current Account
Standard Bank, Melville
Branch No: 006105
Acc No: 300082444
Acc type: Current
Please use your name and surname as reference / CT_17/10
OPPORTUNITIES
Emerging Black Filmmakers Transformation Fund
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) are inviting emerging black filmmakers to submit proposals for consideration under the Emerging Black Filmmakers Transformation Fund (EBFTF). Launched in 2014, the EBFTF provides financial, marketing and other related support to emerging black filmmakers. The fund has been designed to support black directors who have released fewer than five feature films.
Subsequent to the launch last year, a call was made to South African black filmmakers to apply for support from the fund. The call was aimed at identifying a pilot film project that would be used to refine the EBFTF process from selection through to contracting and releasing of the film.
The NFVF and the IDC have announced that after a vigorous selection and consultation process, Finders Keepers, a film directed by Maynard Kraak, was selected as the pilot project. The film is currently in post-production.
Call for 2015 proposals:
Black directors and producers are requested to submit proposals based on the following criteria:
- Films directed by emerging black SA directors with a budget capped at R5.2 million (excluding marketing and company statutory costs);
- Director and producer must be black South African citizens;
- The films must be commercially viable;
- The films must demonstrate economic and creative merit;
- Films must be at the level of theatrical release;
- Scripts must be at second draft;
- Cast must be South African;
- Compliance with the dti South African Emerging Black Filmmakers Incentive
- Rights:
- Both the emerging black producer and black director must collectively own at least 75% of the film rights.
- Where the producer is black, but not emerging (>5 feature films), the black director must own at least 50% of the film rights;
- Where the producer is not black, the black director must own at least 75% of the film rights; and a young black producer must be mentored.
Information to be provided with the application must include:
- Script ( second draft)
- Two page concept document outlining:
- Genre
- Target market
- Log line
- Synopsis
- Directors Treatment
- CV (production team):
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
- DOP
- Summary budget (Amounts to be spent at pre-production, production and post-production):
- Declaration that the applicant owns the rights as per criteria above
- Declaration that the application complies with the dti criteria for the Emerging Black Filmmakers’ Incentive.
- Tax clearance certificate
- Production schedule
- Cashflow schedule
- Project information:
- Location of principal photography
- Jobs created (In the same format/details provided for the dti application)
- Skills development and skills transfer plan
- Details of the post-production company and their experience
- Chain of title documentation including script, music etc
Interested parties are invited to email their applications and queries to production@nfvf.co.za.
Disqualifications:
- Late entries will not be considered
- Projects that do not meet the criteria will not be considered
- Projects that do not have developed scripts will not be considered
- Budgets that are above the fund amount of R5.2 million will not be considered
Applications will close at 00h00 on Wednesday, 14 October 2015.
NFVF Cycle 3 Funding Call for Applications
The NFVF calls for applicants for the following areas of funding: Development Funding, TV Formats Funding, Production Funding, Documentary Archive, Markets and Festivals Attendance Funding.
Closing date is 17 October 2015.
As the target for the year has been met and exceeded, the NFVF can only consider filmmakers attending the following festivals, for funding:
- International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
- Rotterdam International Film Festival
- Pan African Film Festival
- RIO Content Market
- Berlin International Film Festival
- Festivals, Marketing and Distribution Funding
For these funding categories, the NFVF will still accept applications for Cycle 3.
All applications and supporting motivation must be hand delivered or posted to the NFVF at 87 Central Street, Houghton, Johannesburg, 2198. No e-mail submissions will be accepted. Closing date for applications is 17th of October 2015. Please note that all applicants should provide a copy of tax clearance certificate.
See details at http://nfvf.co.za/home/index.php?ipkMenuID=&ipkArticleID=345
The NFVF will inform applicants of the outcome of the applications at the end of January 2016. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications received after the deadline will only be considered for the following quarterly meeting of council.
Application forms can be accessed from the NFVF website or on the following link: http://nfvf.co.za/home/index.php?ipkContentID=240&ipkMenuID=57
DISCOP 50% discount on Registration
DFA has negotiated a 50% discount on DISCOP Johannesburg tickets for our PAID UP DFA members! Should you be interested in attending DISCOP in Johannesburg 4-6 November 2015 please reply to this address with your name, company name, projects you want to take to DISCOP and motivation of WHY YOU would like to attend.
Please note that this discount is for your DISCOP ticket and does NOT include accommodation or travel expenses to the event. Should you be based outside of JHB this is for your own account. This is also ONLY VALID if you are paid up for 2015. DFA will confirm your membership status and send your details on to DISCOP AFRICA for further communication.
Apply to EuroDoc 2016
- If you are looking for an in-depth analysis of your documentary or cross-media project in development,
- if you want to test its appeal and potential abroad, to get advice and follow-up on complex budgeting and financing, legal and technical aspects of co-production,
- if you are seeking to present your project to the main commissioning editors from Europe & beyond, in one-to-one meetings, in a friendly and privileged setting,
Submit your application and join the EURODOC network
The programme
EURODOC is a training programme specifically designed for co-producing creative documentaries at the international level, a documentary think-tank covering a wide variety of narrative styles and production modes with the aim of defending the documentary genre.
Programme fundamentals include widening your horizons to discover new territories of cooperation and experiencing new outlooks together with around 30 professionals from Europe and beyond.
To tackle every aspect of the development process of a film project, more than 50 experts, currently active in the field of documentary production and financing take part into the training programme:
producers, lawyers, co-production consultants, commissioning editors, distributors and financiers.
A new outlook
For two years now, we have been organizing short Master Classes with major players in the audiovisual world and new media.
Considering the significant changes occurring in the fields of production, distribution and broadcasting, the objective is to gain in-depth understanding of how the main protagonists tackle them today.
Although the training programme is mainly focused on the development of the projects presented by each producer, the idea here is to provide a personal approach to understanding the future direction television channels are planning to take and how they make their decisions.
The network
Today, EURODOC is a strong and influential network of nearly 900 professionals from 57 countries.
See the list of produced films
Who can apply?
Independent producers of documentary projects with international potential,
Commissioning executives from the documentary departments of broadcasters or from partners in the sector, financiers, distributors.
30 participants are selected to take part to the programme, 5 of them coming from non-European countries.
Under the responsibility of the Head of Studies, Serge LALOU (producer, LES FILMS D'ICI - France), two language–based working groups (French and English) are established.
They are led by two talented tutors: Matthieu BELGHITI, producer (WHAT'S UP Films - France) and Heino DECKERT, producer & distributor (MA.JA.DE. Filmproduktion - Germany).
2016 Calendar
The programme is composed of 3 one-week sessions spread out over 8 months.
SESSION 1 – Development / March 2016
SESSION 2 – Budgeting, Financing, & Packaging / June 2016
SESSION 3 – Meeting the Commissioning Editors / October 2016
APPLICATION DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 16, 2015 For more information: www.eurodoc-net.com
Good Pitch Kenya
At Durban Filmmart, part of the Durban International Film Festival, a new joint initiative has been announced between UK-based documentary organisation, BRITDOC and the East African documentary film funder, Docubox. The two organisations are collaborating to produce the pitching forum Good Pitch² Kenya, which will connect Africa’s best social justice documentaries with new partners and founders.
Good Pitch is a project of BRITDOC in partnership with the Ford Foundation and Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. Since 2009, Good Pitch has been bringing together documentary filmmakers with foundations, NGOs, campaigners, philanthropists, policymakers, brands and media around leading social and environmental issues – to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for all these partners, good for the films and good for society.
The Good Pitch 2 programme was developed in 2011 to enable regional organisations to host their own Good Pitch 2 events. In 2015 there are Good Pitch programmes operating in the US, Europe, Australia, South East Asia, Argentina and now Kenya. Good Pitch 2 Kenya will be taking place in Nairobi in October 2016. It will present up to seven film-making teams to pitch their feature documentary and its associated audience engagement campaign in front of a live audience of funders and changemakers.
Once selected, these teams will receive sustained mentorship and professional development over the course of a year. This will include two campaign development workshops, taking place right after project selection and again on the eve of the live event.
The organisers are looking for six independent film teams from across the African continent ready to join the 2015/16 programme:
- Films that tackle a significant national or global issue or have something important to show us about the world and ourselves
- Film teams who are looking for partnerships and funding to help their film create change around leading social and environmental issues
- Films that are currently in production and will be 60+ minutes in length when finished
- English-speaking filmmakers who are citizens of an African country
The call for entries is now open and will close on November 2nd , 2015.
To find out more information and apply, click here or contact Judy Kibinge, Docubox: judykibinge@gmail.com or Elise McCave, Britdoc: elise@britdoc.org.
FILM FESTIVALS AND COMPETITIONS
SA Writers' Guild: Muse Awards 2015
Following the second very successful WGSA Muse Awards, which culminated in a highly acclaimed awards ceremony in April this year, the 2015 WGSA Muse Awards are about to launch with a bigger, better list of categories and a televised awards ceremony on Saturday, 2 April 2016.
The WGSA Muse Awards, launched by the Writers’ Guild of South Africa (WGSA), is the only award in the country that honours the South African Performance Writer exclusively and allows the local content production industry to celebrate and promote the creativity, quality and writing excellence of local writers.
Entries will be accepted for the 2015 WGSA Muse Awards in eight different script categories:
- Screen (Feature Film, Short Film)
- Telefision (Drama, Soap, Sitcom/Comedy)
- Documentary (Feature, Series, Short)
- Stage Play
- Radio Drama
- Animation (Feature, Series, Short)
- Games
- Web Series
- Unproduced Scripts may be entered in any genre.
A panel of independent judges will be looking for excellence in concept and theme, characterisation, genre, language and style, story and structure, pace, dialogue, and professional format and presentation. Every nominee will receive a personalised Nomination Certificate, and each winner will receive a personalised Winner’s Certificate and a beautiful specially designed WGSA Muse Trophy.
The WGSA is a registered Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) and a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO and is the only organised industry association in South Africa with the sole purpose of protecting, developing and empowering performance writers in the local film, television, radio, stage, animation and new media (internet – mobile and digital distribution, and gaming) industries. The WGSA is a key member of SASFED (The South African Screen Federation).
The judging process will take place during November 2015 to middle February 2016, with the nominees announced at the end of February 2016. This will be followed by the award ceremony, which will take place on Saturday, 2 April 2016 at the Soweto Theatre.
Entries for the 2015 WGSA Muse Awards open on Tuesday, 1 September 2015 and the deadline has been extended to midnight on Sunday, 25 October 2015. All entries have to be submitted online. The online entry system, competition rules and regulations, FAQ and entry details can be found on the WGSA website at http://writersguildsa.org/muse-awards/
Screendance Africa calls for dance films from Africa
Screendance Africa will be curating a selection of African dance films for the Tanzrauschen Festival in Germany, to be screened at a ‘Looping Cinema’ at the festival, taking place from 28 to 31 January 2016. Screendance Africa welcomes any genre of dance on screen: dance video, narrative or non-narrative, experimental, student and/or professional. Screendance Africa is looking for dance videos that activate the crossover of dance, choreography and the cinematic medium. The festival curators will select dance videos that demonstrate a clear intention, that use the dance, location(s), choreography, camera movement and the edit to activate this.
Requirements for submissions:
- Films should be of good quality, produced and completed during or after 2014.
- All films must be produced in Africa, preferably made by Africans.
- Not shorter than two minutes and not longer than ten minutes.
- Recordings of live stage performances will not be considered.
Selected applicants will be requested to send their films in an mp4 file via WeTransfer. Entrants are required to submit a private online YouTube link with the following details before 1 November 2015:
- Title
- Director's name
- Nationality
- Producer
- Choreographer
- Dancers/Company
- Length
- Date of production
- First premiere
- Screenings
All links and information can be emailed to jeannette.ginslov@gmail.com
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece
The TDF is carried out every March in Thessaloniki since its inception in 1999. Through tributes and retrospectives, the TDF focuses on filmmakers internationally renowned for their contribution to the documentary genre.
Early deadline: 04 September 2015
Festival deadline: 27 November 2015
www.filmfestival.gr
IFEMA, Sweden
IFEMA 2016 offers one week of films – documentaries, features and shorts. We will screen films all over Skåne and present a programme with films, seminars and guests in Malmö. IFEMA gives the possibility to see films not presented in Swedish distribution, to experience stories we do not know, to get a perspective on reality we might not even think existed. All films are of course directed by women.
Interested in screening your film at the coming festival?
Send an E-mail to susann.torgander@femalefilmfestival.se, or send us a DVD to:
IFEMA
Imagenes del Sur
c/o Filmcentrum Syd,
Monbijougatran 17 E
211 53 Malmö
Sweden
Submission open until the 20th of December 2015
To subscribe to the DFA newsletter contact them on their website: http://docfilmsa.com/contact/
