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Author Archives: Matthew Cuzner
FollowWe are More
We are More – act for culture in Europe is a Europe-wide campaign for the arts and culture. It was launched in October 2010 and will run until 2013, when the EU decides about its next multiannual budget.
The we are more campaign promotes culture, heritage and the arts, together with education, social cohesion and environmental sustainability, as key areas in which the EU has to make more bold investments if it wants to reach its growth objectives and Europe to remain a thriving democracy in the future.
The force behind the we are more campaign is Culture Action Europe, a coalition of more than 100 organisations and many artists across Europe, in strategic partnership with the European Cultural Foundation. It is an open source advocacy tool that encourages arts and cultural organisations across Europe to get involved and stand up for increased support to arts and culture in the policies and programmes of the European Union.
The campaign has two demands; firstly, a reinforced Culture Programme that is more daring and experimental than the current one. Secondly, an increased and more explicit support to culture, heritage and the arts in the EU Regional Development Funds dedicated to cohesion and local and regional development. More information about the campaign demands can be found here.
Be our guest at IDFA 2011!
On Sunday 20 November (10.30 am – 12.00 am / Escape Theatre, Rembrandtplein) Doc Next and IDFA organize a special Industry panel. In the panel we will tackle the question:
“Is the documentary industry over the hill?”
Against the backdrop of an aging television audience there is a new generation of media consumers, who in many cases are also makers. Should the documentary industry try to adapt to these “prosumers” and how should it go about doing so?
We invite you to be our guest! Attendance is free but reservation is required.
Moderator: Cath le Couteur
A graduate of the National Film and Television School in England, Cath has won numerous awards on the film festival circuit for her short films and is developing three features. She is also the co-founder of the social entrepreneurship organisation Shooting People (shootingpeople.org) the online social network dedicated to the support and promotion of independent filmmaking.
Special guests:
ON STAGE
Jeremy Boxer (USA)
Creative Director, Film + Video at Vimeo, co-director at Vimeo Festival
Also, director and founder of Boxer, a consultancy which connects talent with new career opportunities for them.
Stan van Engelen (NL)
Editor in chief of Metropolis TV / VPRO
Metropolis is a globally produced website and TV show initiated by the Dutch public service broadcaster VPRO and the NGO Hivos. Metropolis has its own radically different approach in reporting on global issues: all of their stories are produced by local filmmakers who form a network of over 60 video journalists from six continents. They each explore their local surroundings and capture stories that go beyond the increasingly dominant culture of sound bites and headlines that currently defines global news media. “Great symbioses of 21st century technology and ‘old school’ documentary storytelling.”
Alexandre Brachet (FR)
E-producer and CEO of Upian
Upian is one of the world’s major players in web documentary making and at the intersection of documentary cinema and digital storytelling. In recent years, Upian has produced or co-produced some of the most highly regarded web documentaries, including La cité des mortes, Thanatorama and Gaza Sderot, the project with which Brachet put the interactive documentary on the map. In the spring of 2010, Upian presented Prison Valley, a new kind of interactive road movie: a journey into the American prison industry, directed by Philippe Brault and David Dufresne and co-produced by French TV channel Arte. Alongside its production activities, Upian is also a successful web agency, creating websites for brands and media. In June 2008, Upian opened a contemporary art gallery next door to its offices.
FRONT ROW
Mawaan Rizwan (UK)
Online presenter/producer / presenter at Battlefront
Self-made YouTube sensation Mawaan Rizwan (20) recently graduated from the industry-funded film training initiative Second Light, where he developed his skills in screenwriting and directing. “I write, perform and edit my own online comedy show, which has 47,063 online subscribers and over 10.5 million views on YouTube. My ambition is to look for unique stories and characters. I want to find more quirky stories covering themes such as immigration, cultural differences and disoriented families. I want to travel the globe, meet people, learn and creatively engage with different lifestyles and cultures while finding humour in everyday life.”
Willemijn Maas (NL)
CEO AVRO
AVRO (Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep or “General Association of Radio Broadcasting”) is a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the the Netherlands Public Broadcasting, the name used in the Netherlands to refer to the country’s public-service broadcasting system as a whole; it is used, for instance, as the name of the joint portal coordinated by the NPO on behalf of all the broadcasting associations.
Willemijn is known for het efforts to involve makers into programming the channel. She is also working on reviving the old Film Museum in Amsterdam, changing it into a lively place where young makers can develop their ideas into projects.
Mark Reid (UK)
Head of Education at the British Film Institute
BFI Education and Learning exists to reach out to audiences new to specialist, independent, archive and art film and other forms of moving image media throughout the UK.
The Education and Learning team at the BFI aims to:
- Educate audiences about the historical, formal and geographical diversity of the moving image, while developing their critical and creative skills, and, where appropriate, training educators who work with audiences.
- Facilitate engagement with BFI programmes for our audiences – from the core to the marginal – through our cinemas, Mediatheque, Gallery, and online.
- Advocate for the moving image in education, and for education in film, through public debate, lobbying and campaigning, where possible backed by evidence from research which we either conduct, gather, or disseminate.
- Innovate by developing, trialling, and evaluating new ways of engaging audiences in education about film.
- Collaborate where possible with partners locally and nationally, in film, culture and education.
Above all we value experiences with film that are transformative: that is, that change people, ideas, and organisational approaches and practices.
Gokce Su Yogurtcuoglu (Turkey)
Founder/producer/director at MODE Istanbul (one of Doc Next Networks hub organizations) and producer/Director at Resfest Turkey.
MODE ISTANBUL is a motion pictures and digital arts initiative which organises cultural, social and educational activities such as film screenings, exhibitions, video workshops and seminars. By supporting artists of different ages and backgrounds and contributing to various creative productions, MODE ISTANBUL inspires cultural dialogues that go beyond borders and generations, and encourages further film, video and animation productions through strengthening the networks between audience and filmmakers.
Paulina Capala (Poland)
Directing Manager at Association of the Creative Initiatives “ę”
Since 2002, the Association of the Creative Initiatives ‘ę’ has been conducting social projects and workshops across Poland that seek to educate and inspire young people to be creative in artistic activities such as film, photography and theatre. The Association of the Creative Initiatives ‘ę’ supports new media makers, cultural animators, non-governmental organisations, teachers and artists in discovering passions, facing new challenges and realising ideas in the cultural sphere.
Ruben Diaz Lopez (Spain)
Co-founder en co-director of ZEMOS98
ZEMOS98 is a creative cultural management team that focuses on new narrative forms such as internet, digital video, internet radio and weblogs, and produces cultural events dealing with communication, education and digital culture issues. ZEMOS98 has been responsible for research and training projects in various formats such as seminars, workshops, exhibitions, conferences, courses, debates, projections and audio-visual concerts.
Matthew Cuzner (UK)
Project Manager at British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) promotes the understanding and appreciation of film and television heritage and culture. The BFI maintains the world’s richest and most significant collection of film and television, and is the UK’s leading body for film. The BFI backs a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity thrive through connecting audiences with the widest choice of cinema, investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work, promoting British talent to the world and supporting the next generation of filmmakers and audiences.
‘SECOND’ ROW
Doc Next goes IDFA
For the 2nd year, Doc Next Network presents short documentaries of a next generation of makers at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). These do-it-yourself media makers are ready to represent Europe with fresh ideas, new forms of documentary and unexpected local heroes.
Doc Next films are personal reflections that portray another Europe. What crisis means to young Greeks, late nightlife in a London launderette, a Turkish girl immigration story and the neighbour who knows everything about everyone in Warsaw… How do they deal with daily life? Which images of Europe do they reveal?
Metropolis calls for new correspondents
For the upcoming series Metropolis is looking for new video journalists/TV producers outside of the Netherlands to join our global collective. A great opportunity for reporters to produce commissioned stories for an international audience.
Metropolis is an innovative TV show and website that shows remarkable stories from everyday life from all around the world. All reports are produced by professional local video journalists. We are looking for new video journalists to join our global collective.
Metropolis employs a correspondent network of more than 70 video journalists and TV producers from across six continents. As a Metropolis correspondent you explore your local surroundings to capture remarkable stories in everyday life. Weekly global topics are the starting point: what is it like to be an outcast, how are children raised in your culture, how do people deal with a broken heart, what are local dangers and how do people deal with them?
What we offer
– A great opportunity to show the world stories from your country to a global audience
– The possibility to produce reports on a regular basis
– Work that can be combined with other documentaries/projects
– Appropriate remuneration for each contribution
What we ask
– Great eye for unexpected and remarkable characters and stories
– The ability to make a professional and personal 5-minute report
– Experience in making TV reports and/or documentaries
– A lot of enthusiasm to join a unique global collective of video journalists!
How to learn more
Don’t hesitate to contact us! Please contact editor Iris van der Spoel i.vander.spoel@vpro.nl
Surf our website to find reports from all around the world, more information on the project and of course all episodes.
Here you can find more information on how to join and a link to the topic list our correspondents are working on this Autumn.
DNN in Wroclaw, Poland
Doc Next Network will be present at the European Culture Congress in Poland in September 2011. In Poland Doc Next Network will have hour-long screenings of selected films from the media collection on 8 + 11 September in the Festival Club. At the congres Doc Next Network has its own space in a container, designed by young Polish architects and graphic designers from Super Super and video artist Karol Rakowski.
This trailer was made especially for the European Culture Congress by our Polish hub partner Towarzystwo Inicjatyw Twórczych „ę”.
We are nominated!!!
Doc Next Network is nominated for the Erasmus EuroMedia Awards 2011!
The Erasmus EuroMedia Award is an annual prize, launched in 1995, to outstanding media productions contributing to the development of a European society. Doc Next has been nominated for its media collection and the entire network that is providing content to this media collection.
The award ceremony will take place on 14 October 2011 in Vienna. The ceremony is a meeting point for international media professionals. The afternoon presentation of the winners and the festive evening reception provide the ideal ambiences to socialise and exchange ideas. Covered by news media from all over Europe, the EuroMedia Awards attract attention to our work.
The EuroMedia Awards honour media productions that:
- enhance the media discourse on Europe
- provide a qualitative discussion of objectives, perspectives and challenges for the development of European Societies
- relate to European topics like cohesion, social values, migration, identity, solidarity …
- show an educational ambition
- invest ideas and ambition in an European Public Sphere
Çanakkale 2010 – A Story of a Year
This publication tells the story of an unusual year-long civic project that took place in the Turkish city of Çanakkale in 2010, carried out by Anadolu Kültür, who have been closely involved with the ECF European Neighbourhood programme since 2005. Chosen by United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) as an example of good practice, the project encouraged the city’s entire population to get involved in cultural policies and activities – through workshops, focus groups, activities and meetings.
Downloadable in English and Turkish, this publication documents the project’s progress from start to finish in the words of the citizens themselves. It includes statements of mission and vision, activities that led to the development of a city-wide manifesto, press coverage showing the project’s visibility and evaluations of the project, as well as some suggested next steps.
The idea for Çanakkale 2010 was developed under the framework of ECF’s ‘(In)visible Cities’ project, which provided arts management training and advice to local cultural operators working on cultural projects in three different Turkish cities, including Çanakkale.
Studenten Docs
Op 4 juli start de IDFA Summerschool 2011. Naar aanleiding daarvan presenteert IDFA TV een speciaal themaprogramma rondom creative, jonge talenten. Het programma bestaat uit acht documentaires die de afgelopen jaren in de IDFA Competition for Student Documentary te zien zijn geweest. De documentaires zijn allemaal gratis te bekijken.
Het programma bestaat o.a. uit de documentaires What’s in a Name (Eva Küpper – winnaar van de IDFA Competition for Student Documentary 2010), Du Soleil en Hiver (Samuel Collardey – geselecteerd voor de IDFA Competition for Student Documentary 2006), en Paradise – Three Journeys in this World (Elina Hirvonen – winnaar van de IDFA Competition for Student Documentary 2007).
Bekijk de Studenten Docs hier online
New Narratives for Europe
Amanda Vähämäki: White nights
We are not necessarily united by a song contest, a single market or a parliament. We do all share a war-torn history and a − resistible − rise in populism. The European Cultural Foundation launched an online space is for the stories − imaginative and confrontational − that make Europe move forward. The site includes insights, reflections and commentaries, keeping you up-dated on all narrative-related activities. The discoveries will also be showcased during an event in the autumn of 2012, in Amsterdam.