Category Archives: Network Activities
Remapping Europe Atelier in United Kingdon – First Residential
6th BFI Future Film Festival
Remapping Europe Atelier in Seville – WeTube!
Book European Souvenirs now!
Delving into audiovisual materials from leading European archives, Doc Next Network brings you European Souvenirs that offer a trip down memory lane. Remixing music, photography and film, the European Souvenirs artistic group re-examines the prevailing imagery of immigrants across European communities and re-maps Europe visually, geographically and conceptually.
European Souvenirs is a major live-cinema performance by artists Karol Rakowski (PL), Barış Gürsel (TR), Farah Rahman (NL), Malaventura (ES) and Noriko Okaku (JP/UK).
European Souvenirs tours in different countries across Europe and beyond. You can book the show for your own event or venue now! Download the folder including the booking conditions and contact information by clicking on the image on the right.
This video shows 15 minutes of European Souvenirs. The original length of the performance is 50 minutes. More…
FACTS
- We produced 57 films, photographic projects and scouted 33 ocumentaries, political video remixes for the Doc Next Media Collection;
- We organised 14 media-making workshops with 90 participants;
- We organised 13 Doc Next programmes with more than 25 film screenings for more than 200.000 viewers;
- We gave 4 documentary bursaries;
- We published 4 calls for work;
- We held 3 pitching sessions;
- We organised 6 trainings and seminars with more than 50 participants;
- We organised 4 internal knowledge sharing meetings;
- We partnered with over 30 festivals, universities, cultural and social organisations and companies;
- We engaged thousands of young media-makers, researchers, educators and arts, cultural programmers and policy makers in their social media platforms;
- We developed one expanded education methodology;
- We launched 4 local sustainable Doc Next media labs;
- We developed one methodology engaging across sectors, with local immigrant organisations;
- We kicked off the joint 2-year project “Remapping Europe – a Remix Project” with the live cinema performance “European Souvenirs” in Vienna, Amsterdam and Bilbao.
HIGHLIGHTS
A major achievement in 2012 was the development of one methodology and practice across borders: the creation of 4 media labs. A practice in which young media makers are part of a safe environment in which they share, learn and create amongst peers.
The premiere of European Souvenirs at De Balie during the Imagening Europe event was a highlight that embarks the start of the networks first real joint project “Remapping Europe – A Remix project”.
Doc Next@IDFA was organised in November 2012 and brought fresh short documentaries by young European D-I-Y media-makers to the big screen. A catalogue and DVD of Doc Next @ Idfa 2012 was made available to more than 2000 international professionals, such as broadcasters, producers and festival directors.
WHAT’S NEXT?
“Remapping Europe – A Remix project, highlighting the migrant perspective (2012-2014)” will be at the heart of the network’s practice. We will organise media labs, remix workshops for 48 participants with migrant backgrounds. Their works will be showcased internationally. We will produce another live cinema performance (next to the tour of “European Souvenirs”. We are working on a print publication and a seminar , both due in April 2014.
Developing sustainability of Doc Next Network is another goal in 2013. We will achieve this by:
- working across sectors with non-cultural organisations;
- reaching out to different communities, including (im)migrant local communities;
- attracting new partners for using the media collection;
- diversify funding sources;
- engage in an advocacy-agenda related to “expanded education, media and society in Europe”.
MORE

- A Navalla Suiza (Turkey)
- Association for the Development of Srebrna Góra – Srebrna Activation (Poland)
- Ayuntamiento de Sevilla Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia (Spain)
- Battlefront (UK)
- Boldface Productions (UK)
- Bornova Municipality in Izmir (Turkey)
- Cafe Kulturalna (Poland)
- CCCB Transit Projectes (Spain)
- Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (Spain)
- Channel 4 Education (UK)
- Chłodna 25 Café (Poland)
- CICUS Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)
- Digital Film Academy (Turkey)
- Doc in a Day (Turkey)
- Doc Istanbul (Turkey)
- Documentarist, SALT (Turkey)
- Embajada de Francia (Spain)
- Encounters Short Film Festival (UK)
- Ethnographic Museum in Zielona Góra (Poland)
- Exposure (UK)
- Glasgow Youth Film Festival (UK)
- Guadalinfo (Spain)
- HAMACA (Spain)
- Holland Doc / VPRO (The Netherlands)
- IdeasTap (UK)
- Instituto Andaluz de la Juventud (Spain)
- International Documentary Festival Amsterdam IDFA (The Netherlands)
- Istanbul Bilgi University’s Center for Migration Research (Turkey)
- Istanbul Digital Culture and Arts Foundation (Turkey)
- Izmir Ekonomi University (Turkey)
- Kino Polska TV (Poland)
- Klamra” Foundation (Poland)
- Leeds Picturehouse (UK)
- London Film Festival (UK)
- Maeve Films (UK)
- Miejski Dom Kultury (Poland)
- Ministerio de Cultura – ICAA (Spain)
- Museo Reina Sofía (Spain)
- NINA (Poland)
- Open City London (UK)
- Payda (Turkey)
- Photomonth in Kraków (Poland)
- Planete Doc + Film Festival (Poland)
- Polish Film Institute (Poland)
- Praha Cinema (Poland)
- Refugee Youth (UK)
- Screen South (UK)
- Step2TV (UK)
- Tarlabasi Community Center (Turkey)
- The Common University J. Lipski and the Educational Foundation J. Kuron (Poland)
- UNIA Consejería de Cultura (Spain)
- Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain)
- Uscreen (UK)
- Vimeo (International)
- Watershed (UK)
- We The Peoples Film Festival (UK)
- Wilton Pictures (UK)
Doc Next Network develops into a movement, with various target groups that all have different needs. Our digital media connect all these audiences.
In 2012 we have implemented all our online (social) media into a plan that is manageable, affordable and tailored to the needs off our primary target groups. Key elements are: to share ownership, to connect via social media, to take good care of the works in our media collection, to get the debate started and to base our communication on content and the stories of our community of media makers.
MEDIA COLLECTION
In 2012, we created a safe and sustainable space for storing and sharing our Doc Next Media Collection. Now cultural distributors and broadcasters have acces to hundreds of amazing alternative short documentaries, political video remixes, reportages and photos. The Doc Next Media Collection is for free use for film screenings, exhibitions and conferences.
The collection now contains more than 1500 videos; about a third is produced via the offline activities of our hubs, the others were scouted via partners and other Youth & Media Programme projects of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF).
A selection of our video collection can also be seen for all in our Vimeo group.
DOC NEXT WEBSITES
www.docnextnetwork.org (120.000 views in 2012) functions as a virtual hub for all Doc Next Network activities.
For a more local context, and to serve their own specific target groups (in their own language), all hubs have their own online ‘Doc Next’ spaces as well. Some use other platforms to connect with a likeminded audience.
- Polska Doc
- BFI Doc Next community on Ideas Tap
- Mode Istanbul
- 98LAB
- Doc Next Lab UK
- European Souvenirs
SOCIAL MEDIA
Doc Next is growing on Facebook and Twitter. In 2012, we decided to have a featured theme every 2 months. Our editorial team wanted to enter more deeply into certain topics, as to fuel the debate on Doc Next issues voor research and debate.
- Traffic on our websites predominantly via Facebook and Twitter
- Likes on Facebook: 1050, total reach: 505.000, growth 72%
- Facebook profile: 60% female, 55% aged 18-44 years old
- Vimeo: more than 3.000 plays of Doc Next films
Short Documentary Workshop
When: 30 January – 5 February 2012
Organized by: MODE Istanbul, Izmir Ekonomi University, Bornova Mevlana Science
Where: Izmir Ekonomi University / Bornova Municipality Mevlana Science and Community Center, Izmir, Turkey
15 participants first took a 2-day course on documentary filmmaking, theme selection, script writing, camera techniques and editing. In a collective brainstorming session, the participants presented their own subjects. Devided in 4 groups, participants were assigned to film (3 days) and edited (2 days).
Each group of media creators completed approximately 5-minute short documentaries about Life on the streets of Izmir, which were showcased on the final day of the workshop to a more closed group of their peers and instructors/mentors. The 4 completed works were also showcased to the public during the Youth MODE Short Documentary Screening held as part of the 4 Seasons 4 Colors Exhibition at the Bornova Municipality Ugur Mumcu Culture Center.
FEBRUARY

Metropolis TV Shows, series I
When: February – March 2012
Organized by: Metropolis TV, VPROO
Where: 9 episodes aired on primetime on Dutch National TV (NL3), with an estimated average of about 300000 viewers each episode.
Metropolis TV made European reports for the TV show and website.
Via all Doc Next Network hub partners we scouted young European filmmakers. They were involved in extensive discussing and brainstorming by e-mail and phone about their ideas. Their proposals led to commissioning new stories from these makers.
1st Documentary Bursary Screening
When: 3 February 2012
Organized by: BFI, BAFTA
Where: BFI Southbank, London, UK
BFI hosted a screening of the 4 Doc Next Network documentaries made through our BAFTA documentary bursary award last year.
Tweetapitch at Glasgow Youth Film Festival
When: 12 February 2012
Organized by: BFI, Glasgow Youth Film Festival, Glasgow Film Theatre,
Where: Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, UK
BFI hosted a Twitter pitching competition at Glasgow Youth Film Festival, with young people submitting 140 character pitches. This time 6 finalists pitched live, and 2 were chosen to be part of the international exchange bursary programme. We also screened 3 Doc Next Network media collection films whilst the judges were reaching their decision.
5th Future Film Festival
When: 18 – 19 February 2012
Organized by: BFI, Little white Lies, IdeasTap, David Westhead,
Where: BFI Southbank, London, UK
The Future Film Festival 2012 included a strand devoted to documentaries made by young people, with a selection of these screened in one of the BFI’s cinemas, along with an award for the winning film.
There was another Twitter pitching competition, with the live pitch running within a documentary pitching masterclass led by David Westhead (Wembley to Soweto, Mandela’s Children). From this competition one young person was selected for our international exchange bursary programme.
During the festival we also had an open screening of Doc Next Media collection films running over the entire weekend, with DNN publicity and DVDs available for visitors.
A group of Young people were asked to document the festival, and will be producing 3 short documentaries based on themes represented at the festival.
Workshop on intellectual property, media and culture I & II
When: 21 – 23 February 2012
Organized by: ZEMOS98
Where: BFI Southbank, London, UK and ECF offices, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This 3-day workshop in London and Amsterdam aimed to give a comprehensive view of copyright law, so that participants can be able to understand why copyright exists and how it works.
The London session addressed the main issues of copyright law, giving both a wide and rigorous perspective of them. We analysed in depth the narratives of copyright to stress the fundamental public interest that copyright originally served, and the reasons why this original purpose is nowadays, at least, blurred. We also discussed the role that technology has had to boost a profound debate on the subject.
Since we are facing a transnational issue, this first session focused on the two main legal systems to analyse the structure of copyright law and to find the common principles that apply to any legal system. We ended this first session with an analysis of the interests of the participants in the program so that we will have raw material to work with in the next session.
The Amsterdam session focused on copyright issues around our media collection and European Souvenirs.
Short Documentary Screening as part of 4 Seasons 4 Colors Exhibition
When: 23 Feb 2012
Organized by: MODE Istanbul, Bornova Municipality
Where: Bornova Municipality Ugur Mumcu Culture Center, Izmir, Turkey
MARCH
Step2TV Documentary Bursary Scheme
When: October 2011 for March 2012 Delivery
Organized by: BFI, Step2TV, The ‘TV Mole’
Where: Ealing Studios. London, UK
BFI partnered with Step2TVto offer 4 talented young filmmakers a bursary of £500 each to create a new documentary piece, with mentoring from Step2TV’s Liana Stewart and a ‘TV Mole’.
What’s Your Story? Doc Next Network celebration day
When: 17 March 2012
Organized by: BFI, Metropolis TV, IdeasTap, Battlefront/Channel 4 Education.
Where: BFI Southbank, London, UK
We screened 12 of the short films we have funded through our Doc Next Network activities over the last 18 months as well as hosting a panel discussion on how young people can get their documentary made with representatives from IdeasTap, Metropolis TV and Battlefront/Channel 4 Education.
APRIL
Political Remix Video’s shown during the ZEMOS98 Festival
When: 14 April 2012
Organized by: ZEMOS98, EMBED
Where: CAS (Arts Center of Seville), Seville, Spain
We had a call for Political Remix Videos (PVR), open until January 2012 by EMBED and Doc Next Network. PRV is a genre of transformative DIY media production whereby creators critique power structures, deconstruct social myths and challenge dominate media messages through re-cutting and re-framing fragments of mainstream media and the popular culture. Works participating became part of EMBED events.
MAY
Step2TV Bursary Films Screening
When: 17 May 2012
Organized by: BFI, Step2TV, Meat and Onions Gang
Where: BFI Southbank, London, UK
We hosted a screening of the latest Documentaries produced through our Step2TV bursary scheme at the BFI, with a mixture of invited guests and industry representatives that totaled over 50 people. The screening was followed by a live street-performance by the Meat and Onions Gang, a punk band that were the subject of one of the documentaries.
JUNE
New Media (Interactive Documentary / Web Doc) Workshop – module 1 (Introduction)
When: 3 – 6 June 2012
Organized by: MODE Istanbul, Documentarist, SALT, Payda, BFI Future Films
Where: SALT Galata, Istanbul, Turkey
The workshop was composed of 4 main modules across a period of two months.
The first module (4 days) was designed as the introductory section. Within this context, various concepts and examples for digital interactive documentaries were explored, discussed and set in practice including approaches of non-linear, multi-linear and interactive forms of narrative, HTML 5 and Open Video. There were lectures by renown guest speakers who shared their own experiences and knowledge on digital storytelling, digital filmmaking and digital marketing with the participants.
The second module (4 consecutive days at SALT Galata) was designed to delve further into the theory and practice of interactive documentaries.
The third module (10 days in total) was the period where the remaining 10 media makers worked on their web structure and shot their footages for their demo works in groups of 2.
The fourth module (4 consecutive days at SALT Galata) was designed as the finalization section.
Doc Next Screening @ Documentarist 2012
When: 6 June 2012
Organized by: MODE Istanbul, Documentarist, SALT
Where: SALT Beyoglu Open Theater, Istanbul, Turkey
A Doc Next screening was held at SALT Beyoglu as a part of the program of the Documentarist Festival 2013. The program included a selection from Youth MODE Workshop videos, scouted films and international films from the DNN collection. A short list of suggested films were sent to Documentarist programmers, who put the final selection list together according to their annual program. The selection including works from different countries with different DNN themes illustrated the scope of the Youth and Media Program. The Documentarist audience and MODE Istanbul community of media makers attended the screening. The Youth MODE Interactive Documentary workshop participants also attended the Doc Next screening as an extension of the workshop. There was a panel and Q&A session held after the screening with the participation of filmmakers, instructors and representatives of project partners. This session allowed the audience to engage in a direct dialogue with the filmmakers and project implementers.
Glynne of Mosaic Films & Documentary Filmmakers Group
When: 13June 2012
Organized by: Sheffield Doc/Fest, Second Light, Association of Creative Initiatives ‘ȩ’, Mode Istanbul, Zemos98, ECF, documentary Filmmakers Group,
Where: The Crucible, Sheffield, UK
8 participants from the Doc Next Network networks and 9 participants of the Second Light Documentary Lab took part in a day long pitching masterclass, in which they were given examples of great documentaries and advice and key things to think about when coming up with an idea for and pitching a documentary.
Life’s A Pitch
When: 14 June 2012
Organized by: Sheffield Doc/Fest, Second Light, Association of Creative Initiatives ‘ȩ’, Mode Istanbul, Zemos98, ECF, documentary Filmmakers Group, Ravi Amaratunga, Daisy Asquith, Emma Hindley
Where: Town Hall Council Chamber, Sheffield, UK
After the masterclass and workshop the participants came up with their own documentary ideas to pitch live in front of a panel of industry experts (Ravi Amaratunga, Daisy Asquith, Emma Hindley) and to an audience at Sheffield Doc. They were then given feedback and advice from the panel.
3rd Session of the Polska.doc Lab
When: 21 -24 June 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”
Where: Łupki, Masuria (Artists’ Retreat) Poland
In June we organised the third session of the Polska.doc Laboratory. It was a 4-day off-site session. The participants could develop their skills in documentary sound realisation, cinematography and activities related to photographic archives.
Art Coaching training
When: 29 -30 June 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”
Where: “ę” Association, Warsaw, Poland
June was also the date of the 4th session of our coaching training for 17 coaches working with young artists. It was conducted by Małgorzata Marczewska. We deepened our knowledge of coaching. We worked in groups and individually. We acted to view the process from different perspectives: of the coach, the coaching client and an observer. We learned new coaching tools as well as supervising and feedback elements.
JULY
Summer film workshop, film screening
When: 9 -15 July 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”, Flying Cultural Animators Network
Where: Stalowa Wola, Poland
In the holiday season we conducted 5 summer workshops for a hundred children and youth with little experience in the field of media. The activities were led by experienced tutors from the Flying Cultural Animators Network supported by volunteers chosen from the participants of Polska.doc Laboratory. 8 participants of the Polska.doc Lab had the chance to develop their competencies under the eye of experienced animators. We organised 4 shows to present the effects of the summer workshops (photographic exhibition, photo shows, film screenings) to the local communities. Approximately 460 people took part in those events.
Art Coaching training
When: 25 – 28 July 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”
Where: “ę” Association, Warsaw, Poland
For more information, see ‘Art Coach traing’, June.
Summer multimedia training, photocast presentation
When: 23 – 29 July 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”, Flying Cultural Animators Network
Where: Białowieża, Poland
For more nformation see ‘Summer Film Workshop’, July.
New Media (Interactive Documentary / Web Doc) Workshop – module 2
When: 19 – 22 July 2012
Organized by: MODE Istanbul, Documentarist, SALT, Payda, BFI Future Films
Where: SALT Galata, Istanbul, Turkey
For more information, see ‘Interactive Documentary / Web Doc Workshop’, June.
AUGUST
Start setup 98LAB
When: July 2012
Organized by: ZEMOS98
Where: Seville, Spain
98lab is an open and situated laboratory that works as an space for investigation, thinking and production of cultural creation and new media. An opportunity to generate an educational itinerary aside formal education, focusing on matters and practices ranging from digital and audiovisual culture, to feminisms or to models of civic participation, with the aim to encourage critical thinking.
98lab is work in progress. Part of the activities are: a partnership with Centro de las Artes de Sevilla, a bilingual website with blog, calendar and people, and recruiting 12 98lab participants(young journalists, audiovisual communicators, artists and educators). There will also be International Exchange with BFI’s lab participants.
Summer photographic workshop, photographic show
When: 30 July – 5 August 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”, Flying Cultural Animators Network
Where: Srebran Góra, Poland.
For more nformation see ‘Summer Film Workshop’, July.
Rovin Photographic Shop (Wędrowny Zakład Fotograficzny)
When: 6 -12 August 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”,
Where: Podlachia, Poland
Summer film and photo workshop, photo vernissage, film screening
When: 13 – 19 August 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”, Flying Cultural Animators Network
Where: Żywiec, Poland
For more nformation see ‘Summer Film Workshop’, July.
New Media (Interactive Documentary / Web Doc Workshop – module 3
When: 23 July – 1 Aug 1 2012
Organized by: MODE Istanbul, Documentarist, SALT, Payda, BFI Future Films
Where: Different locations for filming, Istanbul,Turkey
For more information, see ‘Interactive Documentary / Web Doc Workshop’ June.
New Media (Interactive Documentary / Web Doc) Workshop – module 4
When: 2 – 5 August, 2012
Organized by: MODE Istanbul, Documentarist, SALT, Payda, BFI Future Films
Where: SALT Galata – Istanbul / Turkey
For more information, see ‘Interactive Documentary / Web Doc Workshop’, June.
Digital Storytelling Workshop
When: 10 – 17 Aug 2012
Organized by: MODE Istanbul, Tarlabasi Community Center, Bilgi University’s Center for Migration Research, Digital Film Academy, Payda, Istanbul Digital Culture and Arts Foundation
Where: Tarlabasi Community Center; Digital Film Academy – Istanbul / Turkey
This workshop constituted the introductory step towards the Istanbul atelier of the “Remapping Europe: A Remix Project” in that it was designed for the young people with migrant backgrounds living in the Tarlabasi district of Istanbul. The participants first attended a preparatory/introduction meeting and then a 2-day workshop session at TTM. They learned about the steps of shooting and editing, then were questions for them to answer about themselves, their families, friends, school and neighborhood. The answers to these questions were shared within the group and were then turned into their digital stories to be narrated by them. Each participant completed 2 to 3-minute digital stories about their life in Tarlabasi, which were showcased on the final day of the workshop to a closed group of their peers and instructors/mentors.
SEPTEMBER
4th session of the Polska.doc Lab
When: 7 – 9 September 2012
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”
Where: Association “ę”, Warsaw, Poland
Last group session of the Polska.doc Lab. We specified the ideas for the multimedia projects of the participants. A series of masterclasses took place, as well as consultations with professional filmmakers, photographers and multimedia artists, consultations with participants, supervised by group tutors: film, photo, multimedia and a coaching session for the whole group.
Visual Seminar
When: 27 – 30 September
Organized by: Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”
Where: Oczyszczalnia, Regów, Poland
In August we started to promote the Polska.doc Visual Seminar and we opened the call for applicants. We started contacts with a dozens of institutions, NGOs and animators working in the field of visual education. As a result of the application evaluation we invited 17 educators and a dozen experts to the 4-day seminar. Together we have discussed the state of visual education in Poland. We created a glossary of terms, exchanged experiences and described our usual practices, we left the comfort zone and asked each other difficult questions. We drew from the experience of our partners from the Doc Next Network (Zemos 98, BFI). We discussed the idea of expanded education and about the need for scenarios of the future of media education. Read more…
OCTOBER
European Souvenirs Live Show at Imagining Europe
When: 6 October 2012
Organized by: ZEMOS98, ECF, BFI, Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”, MODE Istanbul
Where: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
European Souvenirs assembles an artistic collective of 5 young mediamakers researching into found material from different European archives in the course of 4 workshops led by various artistic collaborators, in 4 different European cities, to create a live-cinema performance was staged for the first time in October 2012 in De Balie (Amsterdam). This major live-cinema performance will tour afterwards in different countries across Europe and beyond. The collaborative multi-media project is created by artists Farah Rahman (The Netherlands), Karol Rakowski (Poland), Barış Gürsel (Turkey), Malaventura (Spain) and Noriko Okaku (Japan/UK). Universal concepts such as ‘family’, ‘travel’, ‘borders’ and ‘memory’ are the starting point for their expedition. European souvenirs website…
Metropolis TV Shows, series II
When: October – November 2012
Organized by: Metropolis TV, VPRO
Where: 9 episodes aired on primetime on Dutch National TV (NL3), with an estimated average of about 300000 viewers each episode.
For more information see ‘Metropolis TV Shows, series I’, February.
Metroplis TV also partnerd in the IDFA Academy, providing an afternoon workshop to young European makers.
NOVEMBER
Doc Next @ IDFA 2012
When: 14 – 25 November 2012
Organized by: European Cultural Foundation (ECF), IDFA
Where: Different locations, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Doc Next @ IDFA is an initiative of International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) and the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), based on a mutual desire to make sure the voices of young D-I-Y media talent are included in public opinion.
Doc Next @ IDFA brings fresh short documentaries by young European D-I-Y media-makers to the big screen. Their portrayals of everyday heroes reveal small, sympathetic, local actions that have a big impact. About the love for storytelling, dancing, coffee, birds, personal belongings, memories and gardens… What are the images of Europe that they reveal? Doc Next @ IDFA mixes patient-eye documentaries with critical and political remix videos.
Doc Next shorts were screened before featured IDFA documentaries, and shown every day in the Mini Cinema (Rembrandtsplein). We produced a special DVD and festival guide.
We the Peoples Film Festival
When: 19 November 2012
Organized by: BFI, UNA-UK, We The Peoples Film Festival
Where: BFI Southbank. London, UK
A program of film screenings, workshops and Q&A sessions focused on issues that influence and affect young people, with a satellite link-up to sister events in Ghana and Johannesburg. We also hosted a Doc Next branded Twitter competition, in which young people entered Twitter pitches, with 6 finalists pitching live. One winner was then given a GBP500 Cash Budget and professional mentoring from Ed Stobart to create his documentary for the Doc Next Media Collection.
The Winning Pitch at Encounters Short Film Festival
When: 20 November 2012
Organized by: Encounters Short Film Festival, BFI
Where: Watershed Cinema, Bristol
BFI put out an online call-out for 140 character ‘Twitter’pitches for documentaries. 10 finalists were then selected to go to Encounters Short Film Festival where they were to pitch their idea live in front of an audience of their peers and a panel of professionals. Whilst the judges selected a winner, 3 films from the Doc Next Media collection were screened. One winner was selected to take part in our international exchange bursary programme.
DECEMBER
Screening at Filmoteca de Córdoba
When: 8 December 2012
Organized by: ZEMOS98
Where: Filmoteca de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain
A selection of nine Doc Next films were screened at Eutopia. The films presented young people’s visions of life in Europe. Their independent, self-produced films tell small stories about media and politics. One of the highlights of the event was the coexistence and interconnection of different artistic disciplines, through experiences ranging from the training field to the creation in situ. In its sixth year, takes on new challenges and Eutopia enters a concept such as the creative intelligence and their application to art, to the business or the configuration of cities.
Aha! This is Remapping Europe!
We all like stories. We create them. We consume them. We distribute them. And we remix them. Today, I have a little story to tell you about Remapping Europe.
A lot of time, the most interesting things that happen around proffesional and cultural projects are the unexpected and unplanned things. Yes, you usually have a budget, meetings, agendas, dates, workplans, teams, tasks, documents, emails and of course, stressful situations.To be very brief, Remapping Europe is an international project run by Doc Next Network, to create and share stories to rethink our european identity. We want to work with migrants to ‘re-map’ Europe visually, geographically and mentally. But as you can see (and feel), this is the official definition. And of course, I can tell you a lot of things from this perspectives (because believe me, in the Doc Next Network, we love to open new documents. We are on the very brink of crashing Google Docs). So, this morning, I experienced something that showed me a personal and unofficial definition of what Remapping Europe is.
This is Ahmed. He was born in Somalia but he is living in London. His father was very lucky: in Somalia, someone working at the BBC there who could get out people of the country organized a kind of job-offer to get out 3 people from there. There were a lot of people who wanted to leave the country. Ahmed’s father was one of these.
Ahmed studied Filmmaking in London. Now, he is in contact with the Refugee Youth organization, based in London. And now, this organization is collaborating with the British Film Institute (one of the hubs of the Doc Next Network). He will be one of the “Travelling Participants” in Remapping Europe. His responsibility is to travel to every country (Poland, Turkey, Spain) and to be the storyteller of these experiences to the rest of Refugee Youth.
I met him yesterday. It was the first workshop of Remapping Europe in Warsaw. We had to make a game to present ourselves. We were in pairs, and we had 15 minutes to tell our story. Then, we had to present our partner to the others and take a photo of him/her. It was in the moment that Ahmed told us that he has two kids, and in the photo you’re watching he is imitating one of his kids making a “double-sign-of-peace” with his hands.
But it was this morning when I really felt “Ok, this is Remapping Europe”. We were having breakfast. When you are not an anglo-parlant, it’s the worst moment of the day because your english-skills are still sleeping. But then we started a conversation about free culture. And I was myself again, explaining the main core of Free culture, the Creative Commons licences, what the public domain is, etc. And then we connected with the african oral tradition of Ahmed.
And there we were: a Canary guy with French and Andalusian roots (and maybe it’s my intuition, with Phoenician ancestors) talking about free culture with a Somali guy living in London, in the middle of the snow in Warsaw.
I know that maybe it sounds naive, but for me, I realised in this moment that it’s part of my work. But it’s also part of my life. Because we were remapping europe.
—
Abrelatas says: Thankx Matt, for helping me with my English!

Follow
