DocumentaryTank@AFF
The industry programme at Astra Film Festival 2016 aims to reflect the key industry topics of the day and invites its guests and audience to take part in a series of expert-led discussions about the newest forms of documentary filmmaking, financing strategies for European documentaries, new models of digital distribution and advice on targeting a documentary project for international film festivals.
ROMANIAN DOCS IN PROGRESS
Following Astra Film Festival’s decades-long tradition of bringing together and supporting local talents, DocumentaryTank@AFF 2016 initiates the Romanian Docs in Progress programme which will give six documentarists currently developing stories originating in this part of Europe, the opportunity to present their ongoing work to a jury of both local and international film professionals in order to attract finance, co-production and distribution. Aiming to support new voices and bridge the gap between new talent and decision makers, Romanian Docs in Progress will award the winning documentary projects with prizes meant to help the teams push their documentaries’ production to the next stage.
The projects selected to compete in the Romanian Docs in Progress 2016 programme are In Between (dir. Maria Cinar-Jiga), Maia- A Portrait with Hands (dir. Alexandra Gulea), Phoenixxx (dir. Mihai Dragolea), Cries and Whispers (dir. Andra Chirac), The Teach (dir. Alex Brendea) and The Northern Republic (dir. Manuela Morar).
FINANCING AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
Several lectures in the DocumentaryTank@AFF 2016 programme will be dedicated to discussing the challenges and concerns that documentarists usually face when putting together a financing strategy for their project and the opportunities that some of the major film industry forums in Europe are offering in this direction:
Creative Europe MEDIA, opportunities for documentary filmmakers
Valentina Miu, Head of Media Desk Romania will be expanding on how documentarists can access funds through the Creative Europe MEDIA programme, while Romanian director and producer Monica Lăzureanu Gorgan will use her film Circuit/ Green, Green, Green as a case study of working with Media Desk Development Fund (presentation in Romanian).
East Doc Platform, Production Tour of Europe
Miriam Ryndova, the manager of East Doc Platform Prague, the biggest documentary industry event in Eastern Europe will present an in-depth analysis of TV slots, funding systems and sales & distribution companies open for cooperation. Miriam will provide to filmmakers seeking financial and distributional support, examples of various produces, sales and TV representatives and film consultants currently active on the European documentary market.
A Vision is More Than a Look: Vision du Réel’s programming and Doc Outlook-International Market
Mourad Moussa, Festival Programmer for Vision du Réel, Switzerland is going to discuss the ethos of the festival he is working for, focusing on how the event gathers thousands of film professionals around the world each year, fostering contacts for funding and promotion of documentaries as well as enabling networking and acquiring of film rights.
Introducing OPPOSE OTHERING! -goEast's latest projects for young filmmakers and activists
Rebecca Podlech, Coordinator of OPPOSE OTHERING! and head of the editorial department for goEast, Wiesbaden will introduce goEast’s new pilot project which will pair filmmakers from Germany and Central and Eastern Europe and send them on a filmic journey through their countries to investigate exclusionary attitudes towards individuals of different social, religious, cultural, ethnic backgrounds and / or sexual identity and to present portraits of individuals and projects that are working to promote solidarity, civil courage and resistance to discrimination.
A PROGRAMMER’S POV
- A highlight of this year’s DocumentaryTank@AFF programme is Claire Aguilar’s lecture on how to target a documentary project for festivals, online distribution and television. Claire is a former commissioning editor for ITVS and festival programming director of Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK and will be sharing a festival programmer’s point of view on conceiving a documentary while taking into consideration its consequent festival life.
- Ioana Diaconu, the Country Manager of MUBI Romania will be hosting a short presentation aiming to offer to documentarists an overview on how the Video on Demand platform MUBI works with local directors to bring Romanian film titles to its catalog and subsequently distributing them globally.
NEW DOCUMENTARY FORMS
Arnau Gifreu, film director and researcher in the audiovisual and multimedia field, will be mapping out the new forms of documentary-filmmaking within the new media genre, touching on web-documentaries, immersive Full-dome, 360 and virtual reality film formats. Director Paula Oneț and producer Antonio Cadierno Parodi will present their work in progress web documentary 4GenWomen and share their experience of developing an interactive film.
CHALLENGES AND CONCERNS FOR ROMANIAN FILMMAKERS
The Romanian documentarists participating in DocumentaryTank@AFF 2016 will have the opportunity to discuss about the challenges they are facing in the process of raising production funds, developing and distributing their documentaries, during a round table moderated by the well-known Romanian film critic and trainer in cinema education Ileana Bîrsan.
You can find the schedule of the DocumentaryTank@AFF events here:
Thursday, Friday, Saturday.