Category Archives: Festivals

EN, Festivals

Photo Gallery: Prix Europa 2014 Online Category

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141021 prix europa TV online

Fresh from Berlin and Prix Europa!

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For the online category the Jury members, after watching and discussing the projects, vote on:

  1. Concept
  2. Innovation
  3. Public value
  4. Production Quality
  5. Overall appeal

They can give 1-10 points, meaning: weak, okay, good, very good, exceptional. It is a very democratic system to choose the winners!

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Silvia Costeloe from the BBC ("Using new technologies effectively to tell the stories has always been the heart of my work”), Coordinator at Prix Europa of the Online Jury Group, here with Jo Raknes, creative officer in the content development department at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, also Coordinator of the Online Jury at Prix Europa
Listening with interest!
Being so inspired can be exhausting!

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Tips:
Have a look at ARTE's Type : Ryder a game-documentary  about the history of typography.

14 Diaries of the Great War is a German Production about the 100th anniversary of the First World War.

The Online category will be completed on October 23,so do not miss Synaps  a great online interactive  experience. You can choose from a collection of Super 8 film clips spanning from the 1940s to date. They are drawn from the film When I will be a Dictator by Yael Andre.

Pictures Copyright PRIX EUROPA

Doc-making, EN, Festivals

Prix Europa 2014 starts now!

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Once again it's time for this year's Prix Europa in Berlin!  Although I'm personally involved in the festival since 2011, I can't help but recommend it as a showcase for Europe’s best television, radio and online productions.

A total of 13 PRIX EUROPA Trophies will be awarded. This year's competition includes 210 entries handpicked from more than 650 projects by 294 organizations from 35 countries.

Media professionals from all over the continent flock to Berlin in October 18-24 to watch the films, listen to radio projects, surf through websites and vigorously debate the nominated productions. There are no juries like in other festivals. The juries in Prix Europa categories are the nominees themselves! Starting Monday October 20 2014 they will watch all the nominated projects in their respective categories; every afternoon they will discuss and vote, and on Friday the winners will be announced.

Listen to an interview with the directors of the fantastic Meet the Fokkens, TV Documentary 2012 winners.

The festival is open to visitors. If you are involved in the media business, a director, producer in TV or Radio, a journalist, or a student, it's totally worth it to visit Berlin's Haus des Rundfunks, next to the broadcasting headquarters of the Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg. It is a great opportunity for networking and inspiration! Check out this year's exciting entries in the programme.

PRIX EUROPA is organized by a coalition of 28 major European broadcasters and institutions, including the European Broadcasting Union.

How about a look back at the 2013 winners to relieve the tension?

See you at RBB in Berlin!

CineDoc, EN, Festivals, Screenings-Events

Stuck in Athens: STOP-OVER

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The Talent Dove of the Sparkasse Leipzig Media Foundation, the top prize in the Young Cinema Competition, went to Kaveh Bakhtiari for the Swiss-French production L’Escale (Stop-Over). The prize money of €10,000 is intended to serve as seed funding for the Iranian-born director’s next documentary project. You can immediately feel the Iranian realism, and that is strange because this time it's a documentary.

Kaveh Bakhtiari

When I saw the documentary at DOK Leipzig I had the feeling that I discovered something very special. A film set in Athens, showing what is going on with irregular immigrants. It gives a human face to what we normally regard as mere statistics.

Kaveh Bakhtiari spends a year in a flat shared by irregular immigrants in Athens. Along with him are his cousin and others who are stuck in Athens, hoping to find a way to move on to Germany, Norway, or any other European country where they can find a job and survive. The filmmaker follows them in Athens and the result is a poignant, poetic film.

Greece's geographical location and extensive, island-fringed coastlines have long made it a natural stopping-point for people from the Middle East seeking better opportunities elsewhere, with consequences that have become a major domestic political concern in the country over the last few years. This wider picture isn't part of Bakhtiari's remit - instead, his reportage examines the human cost of the situation. Sequences in Amir's unofficial guest-house alternate with external footage in which Bakhtiari accompanies Mohsen and company on their forays into the city, where they're in constant fear of attracting official attention. Through the film you get to know another face of Athens. escale-kaveh-bakhtiari-migrants-athenes-clandestin

Claas Danielsen, DOK Leipzig director, described the film in his opening talk last week in Leipzig:

"And those who see the young Iranians in Kaveh Bakhtiari's film Stop-Over while they desperately risk their lives to arrive in the West, next time they see images of irregular immigrants in the high-security borders of Europe they won't be able to look indifferently the other way."

I myself will never forget the curtain of this small apartment. This image haunts me every time I pass by a basement in Athens.

The film is this year's CineDoc premiere on October 8 2014, 20.00 at the French Institute in Athens (31, Sina Str.).
The film will be followed by a discussion led by journalist Maria Psara, a Migrant Kitchen event by Culinary Backstreets Athens and Give Hope Charity Foundation, and live music from the Eastern-Mediterranean region by Michalis Klapakis and his group Ta Daktyla tis Ekatis.

EN, Festivals

Dealing with the Past in Prizren DokuFest

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In between screenings and late night parties, DokuFest in Prizren (16-24/8) will continue the tradition of hosting a variety of panels. 

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DEALING WITH THE PAST (August 18, 17:30h)
Debate and open discussion about experiences in peace building, tolerance and dealing with the past in protracted social conflicts.
Moderator: Adriatik Kelmendi
Panelists: Enver Robelli, Reuf Bajrovic. Predrag Bambic
Place: Mullini, Marash Park

COMPLEX CITIES (19 August, 17:30 h) 
A conversation between architects, urban planners and anthropologist on public space and the collective memory of city life.
Panelists: Rozafa Basha, Gezim Pacarizi, Dukagjin Hasimja, Nita Luci and Astrit Hajrullahu
Place: Mullini, Marash Park

DE, Festivals

Nicht zu verpassen DOK. fest München 7-14/5 !

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In seinem 29. Jahr ist das DOK.fest, das Internationale Dokumentarfilmfestival München, längst eine etablierte Größe. Wettbewerb, Festival-Specials, ein umfassendes Rahmenprogramm und ein Forum bieten Zusehern wie auch Branchenkennern eine Plattform, um internationale Produktionen zu sehen, sich über Dokumentarfilme auszutauschen und auch eigene Ideen vorzubringen.
62148_1 Daniel Sponsel, Festivalleiter

In weniger als einer Woche startet das DOK.fest in seine letzte Zwanziger-Runde: 135 Dokumentarfilme aus 41 Ländern werden vom 7. bis zum 14. Mai 2014 an elf Spielorten gezeigt. Drei Wettbewerbsreihen küren die besten Filme, Brasilien ist diesjähriges Gastland, eine Retrospektive widmet sich den Arbeiten der britischen Filmemacherin Kim Longinotto
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und Specials, Musikfilme und die erstmalig statt findende Best-of-Oscar-Reihe bieten Dokumentarfilmfans eine Woche lang fast rund um die Uhr Information, Inspiration und ein unterhaltsames und reichhaltiges Programm.

Ein wichtiger Teil des Festivals ist die Branchen- und Nachwuchsplattform DOK.forum. Der Treffpunkt für die Branche wartet mit einem vielfältigen Programm in drei Teilbereichen auf: Das "Filmschulfestival" hat in diesem Jahr elf Hochschulen zu Gast. Die "Perspektiven" diskutieren unterschiedlichste Themen – von 3D, über die Qualität des Fernsehens für seine jungen Zuschauer bis hin zu neuen Vernetzungsmöglichkeiten – in spannenden und besuchenswerten Workshops und Werkstätten.

Der dritte Teil unter dem Namen "Marktplatz" bringt im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes alle Entscheider an einen Tisch: Während der Roundtables auf dem DOK.forum Marktplatz, die sich als Bühne für neue Projekte verstehen, stellen Filmemacher, Autoren und Regisseure ihre Konzepte und Ideen vor
namhaften Redakteuren, Produzenten und Vertrieben sowie Verleihern vor. Die moderierten Runden – ihr Fokus liegt auf dem deutschsprachigen Produktionsraum – sind thematisch zusammengestellt und finden auch zu Spezialthemen wie Crowdfunding, Distribution, Digital Workflow oder Cross
Media statt.

Das Programm zum DOK.fest 2014 sowie Tickets sind unter
http://www.dokfest-muenchen.de erhältlich.

Doc-making, EN, Festivals

The workshop for docs in a rough cut stage! DOK Incubator

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Let's get personal was the motto of this year's DOK INCUBATOR at the Leipziger Pfefermühle. And the presentation was full with people who came to see the nine selected documentaries. A fine initiate witch started by Andrea Prenghyova, the creator of the DOK.Incubator in collaboration with DOK Leipzig three years ago..

Dok Incubator is a course that runs for three weeks, during half a year, where you apply with a rough cut.

dok01_color_0_2502c317b1d5fc They work with the teams of director, editor and Producer, with their films, to improve their film and work with the producers and teams to learn how to do international financing and distribution. They also work with the films to make them more international as well. Director and editor has cooperation with big european editors to improve the films. The course is held in different European cities. It is a media supported program like EAVE, but just for documentaries in post production.

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Sigrid Dyekjær is one of the central teachers

On Tuesday at DOK Leipzig...

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Claas Danielsen, the DOK Leipzig Director, together with Andrea Prenghyova – creator of the DOK.Incubator, journalist, film maker, documentary film producer and founder of Institute of Documentary Prague, and Ilo von Seckendorff.
EN, Festivals

Who is going to be the next DOK Leipzig Director?

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DOK Leipzig, the oldest documentary film festival in the world is looking for a new Festival Director who is fluent in German and English and should take up her or his position on 1 January 2015.

You can find more information on the job profile and application here.

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The 57th edition of DOK Leipzig will be between 27 Oct. and 2 Nov. 2014

Doc-making, EN, Festivals

IDFA is looking for emerging documentary film talent!

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IDFAcademy Summer School 2014

From June 30 through July 5 2014, IDFA organizes the seventh edition of the Summer School: a tailor-made training program for emerging filmmakers, taking place in Amsterdam and aimed at strengthening the narrative structure of documentary projects. Around sixteen projects from all over the world will be selected for the Summer School 2014. The deadline for submission is April 1, 2014.

IDFAcademy Summer School offers the opportunity to meet and work with highly esteemed filmmakers and film professionals who are willing to share their knowledge and experience with emerging film talent. The Summer School combines individual coaching with group sessions and an inspiring cultural program in a relaxed atmosphere. It offers two types of training possibilities: Script Development and Editing Consultancy.

Participants will be coached by eight international documentary experts. In previous years experts like Gianfranco Rosi (Director, Italy), Audrius Stonys (Director, Lithuania), Emma Davie (director, Scotland), Kate Townsend (Executive Producer BBC Storyville, UK), Sabine Bubeck-Paaz (Commissioning Editor ZDF, Germany), Debra Zimmerman (Distributor Women Make Movies, USA), Jesper Osmund (Editor, Denmark) and Peter Wintonick (Producer/ Director, Canada) were tutors at the Summer School.

Filmmakers who are selected have the opportunity to bring a sparring partner: a creative producer, a co-scriptwriter, or an editor in the case of participation in Editing Consultancy. If a project is selected, a participation fee for two persons of a total of €1000,- (excluding VAT) or in case of one person for a total of €750,- (excluding VAT) is due. This fee does not cover travel, accommodation or food expenses. There is a scholarship available per project (accommodation) for international participants.

For more information IDFAcademy Summer School how to apply, see http://www.idfa.nl/industry/idfacademy/attend-summer-school.aspx

EN, Festivals, Interviews

Interview with Gudrun Sommer, doxs!

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Dimitra Kouzi talked with Gudrun Sommer, the director of the unique festival Doxs!, which just took place in Duisburg, Germany (November 4-10). Watch the interview.(video in German with Greek subtitles)

doxs! is the oldest German film festival exclusively presenting documentaries for children and adolescents. The international film programme is part of the well-known documentary festival Duisburger Filmwoche. Each screening is accompanied by a moderated Q&A. The entry to all screenings is free for accredited festival guests and pupils.

doxs! works in various fields of media education and constantly develops new pilot-projects that set pace and break new ground.
doxs! jointly produced with the Goethe Institut a unique European Documentary film package, Young Heroes, in 2006.

EN, Festivals

Festivalitis

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Sussanne Guggenberger at the DOK-TalksSussanne Guggenberger organized DOK-Talks.

There are over 4000 festivals in the world! At the Dok talks of Dok Leipzig we had the possibility to get to know – hear little more about, Krakow Film Festival, the Docu Festival in Kosovo, the Moscow Film Festival, Dok Outlook International Market, Cinema Du reel in Paris, Sheffield Doc Fest, Bratislava Doc festival, CineDoc in Athens, Tempo Documentary Festival in Stockholm Sweden and Chopshots Documentary Film Festival held in April in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Krakow Film Festival was founded in 1961. It is held end of May-beginning of June, after Cannes and before Sheffield, and has a new exiting category: Music Docs! This year they also have a special country tribute to Britain. They are looking for author-driven docs; the stories should be universal, and the premiers must take place in Poland.

There may be no cinemas in Kosovo, yet the Dokufest.com organizers created eight cinemas in public spaces! There they festival is held every year in August. They topics are human rights, environment, youth, films from the Balkan area. This year they have the theme
Breaking borders. They submission begins on Friday 1st November and ends in March. The Kosovo doc festival made it into to create cine clubs in highshools and schools and they hold a program called Future is here. This aim is to help students up to 25 years to try to produce short docs in 7 days.

Moscow has a very popular and successful Film Festival with a small doc section. And they have created a strand in television for their films.

Visions du Reel,
 in Nyon, Switzerland, focus on director-driven films with an emphasis on cinematographic language and is held in the end of April. Next year they have a special on Tunisia. The festival is a Doc Alliance member and has a very strong market.

Cinema Du Reel
 is a festival held at the Centre Pompidou, in Paris. All topics are fine with them, as long as the film has an author point of view, is director-driven, with a signature, or follows the rules of cinéma vérité. They don’t have a market but next year they will organize special screenings for professionals. Deadline for submissions: March 20-30.

Sheffield Doc Fest is a big and important documentary festival in Britain. They have 20.000 visitors and the festival is held in June. There are screenings, a market and a conference. Submissions are online until 25/1. They have several awards; one of them is the Green award. They care about topical stories with a strong point of view. Their Meet Market is a one-to-one meeting place where 65 projects are pitched to the 300 decision makers. Sheffield makes a lot of matchmaking work! There is also a cross-platform program where new formats and hybrid interactive docs find their place. They cooperate with the documentary campus. Hint: don't miss their parties – especially the roller disco!