Initial announcement:
Eight documentary filmmakers will be selected for an all-expenses-paid week long Laboratory, in the company of filmmakers such as the 2002 Oscar nominated director, Christian Frei, to develop their ideas for a one hour documentary. The Laboratory takes place during the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival.
The Close Encounters Documentary Laboratory, which for the past three years has been open only to first-time directors, is now calling for experienced directors with proposals for 48 minute films to take part in the 4th Laboratory in Cape Town, Sunday 21st – Saturday 30th July 2002.
The Laboratory entails an intensive week working with established international and South African filmmakers as Tutors, providing a supportive atmosphere in which to develop projects. The week culminates in a pitching session to Simunye SABC1 which intends to commission three films that fall within its brief and budgeting practice.
“We are very excited about the new focus of the Laboratory. We are looking forward to working with experienced filmmakers and Simunye SABC1 and developing longer, more substantial films. It’s a response to the repeated requests of South African documentary directors to give them “time out”… the opportunity to work in a supportive environment, with some of the best documentary directors in the world.
Most South African documentary directors do not have the opportunity to significantly develop their films before production. This Laboratory will give them that chance. Then, of course, we have Simunye SABC1 as the exclusive broadcast partner. So, besides the care and interest in the development stages we have the real promise of films being made.”
Steven Markovitz & Nodi Murphy. Festival and Laboratory Co-Directors
“Simunye is proud to be associated with the Encounters Documentary Festival.
Siven Maslamoney, Simunye Head of Programmes.
We share a commitment and passion for building a strong documentary story-telling culture in our country. Apart from our commitment to a weekly documentary strand for our viewers, the channel has also committed to the development of talent in this genre. Our work with Encounters is a demonstration of this commitment and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.”
The Laboratory has been very successful, in three years 9 half-hour documentaries have been produced for e.tv and of those 4 have won national awards. In addition many of these films have been screened at international film festivals.
A country without documentaries is like a family without a photo album.
Christian Frei, Director of the Oscar 2002 nominated War Photographer – Encounters Guest Filmmaker 2002
As part of it’s continuing support for independent South African documentary filmmakers, The Close Encounters Documentary Laboratory presents a series of workshops during the 5th Encounters South African Documentary Festival in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Workshop One
STORYTELLING: FORMS AND FORMATS
How have recent technological changes affected the way people make documentaries?
With the advent of smaller, versatile cameras it is now cheaper to shoot and easier to acquire more material and gain intimate access previously unattainable. But does this mean we are making better films? How can the filmmaker use digital technology to improve their storytelling skills?
Speaker:
Peter Wintonick [Canadian documentary producer / director including Manufacturing Consent and Seeing is Believing]
Cape Town: 9am – 12.30pm, Thursday 24 July 2003, Victoria Junction Hotel, Green Point.
Johannesburg: 9am – 12.30pm, Thursday 31 July 2003, National Electronic Media Institute of SA [NEMISA], Parktown.
Workshop Two
STORYTELLING: EXPLORING IDENTITY
Central to the creation of a South African film industry is an understanding of local ‘identity’. Documentary films are a means to explore what it is to be South African, a more immediate starting point for developing the skills of our storytellers. It is important that we create storytelling styles that are at once unique and that refer to South African storytelling traditions and aesthetics, and are still accessible to international audiences.
Cape Town Speakers:
- Archie Baron [Filmmaker, Takeaway Media, and director of Motherland, UK]
- Mark Anderson [subject of the film Motherland, UK]
- Zulfah Otto – Sallies [Filmmaker, O-dacity Films, SA]
- Beverley Mitchell [Freelance documentary producer and director, SA]
Cape Town: 9am – 12.30pm, Friday 25 July 2003, Victoria Junction Hotel, Green Point.
Johannesburg Speakers:
- Archie Baron [Filmmaker, Takeaway Media, and director of Motherland, UK] Mark Anderson [subject of the film Motherland, UK]
- Dumisani Phakati [Filmmaker, SA]
- Dr. Rae Vally [Anthropology Dept. WITS, SA]
- Kethiwe Ngcobo [Filmmaker, Fuze Box Productions, SA]
Johannesburg: 2pm – 5.30pm, Thursday 31 July 2003, NEMISA, Parktown.
Workshop Three
TECHNOLOGY NETWORKING [TECHNET]
The digital age is upon us. More and more filmmakers and students are setting up and editing films on their own edit suites. While this brings us freedom and flexibility, there are also some very real and ongoing problems that we all experience. This Laboratory workshop will bring together the users of digital edit equipment, the suppliers and technicians as well as the established post production houses to discuss common problems and successes and to find a smoother, more integrated way of working together.
Speakers:
- Nicky Newman [Independent director and producer, See Thru Media, SA]
- Sava Spasojevic [Apple Video Solutions, SA]
- Laddie Bosch [Editor, Idol Pictures, SA]
- Evan Brighton [Technical Specialist, Vision and Sound, SA]
- Barry Strick [Post-production Supervisor, Video Lab, SA]
Cape Town ONLY: 2pm – 5.30pm, Thursday 24 July 2003, Victoria Junction Hotel, Green Point.
Workshop Four
REDISTRIBUTION
With changing technology there are real opportunities to create new affordable space in our cinemas for regular documentary slots.
The purpose of this seminar will be to explore distribution models for independent filmmakers in South Africa and to encourage exhibitors, filmmakers and industry to collaborate in developing distribution alternatives in the cinemas.
Speakers:
- Paul de Bont [CEO DocuZone, NL]
- Frisky Domingues [COO, Ster Kinekor Theatres, SA]
- Mike Dearham [MD, Distributor – Film Resource Unit, SA]
- Gina Bonmarriage [Training and Development Manager, NFVF, SA]
- Ronald Henry [Director, Spectrum VNS]
Cape Town ONLY: 2pm – 5.30pm Friday 25 July 2003, Victoria Junction Hotel, Green Point.
The Sam Pollard Editing Master Class
Sam Pollard has been a feature film and video editor, a documentary producer and director for almost thirty years. He edited a number of Spike Lee’s films: Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers and Bamboozled and is currently a Professor in Film Studies at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He co-produced Four Little Girls, a feature-length documentary about the 1965 Birmingham church bombings, which was nominated for an Academy Award.
Sam Pollard is here courtesy of the Maurits Binger Institute, Sundance Institute, SABC1 and the National Film and Video Foundation [NFVF].
Johannesburg ONLY: 9 am – 1.30 pm Saturday 2 August 2003, SABC.
For more information please contact:
Molly Slingsby at the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival
Tel: 021 426 0405
Fax: 021 426 0577
Email: info@encounters.co.za
