Just before June we launched a new phase of our Doc Next partnership – The Doc Next Media Labs. In the past, we’ve run individual bursary schemes with the Doc Next Network, giving young filmmakers a small bursary and professional mentoring to create new documentaries for the Doc Next Network (Follow the link to see these impressive films). However, as the project has progressed, we felt these individual projects weren’t as sustainable as we’d like. It’s good to support young people making new films, but we felt we could do more to nurture their talent and help them become professional filmmakers.
We therefore decided to launch the Doc Next Media Lab. Rather than work with 4 or so individuals at a time on single projects, we are now working with a group of 8 talented young filmmakers, offering them documentary mentoring, technical training and multiple opportunities to create new works with a £1500 total budget.
With mentors Phillip Warnell (Kingston University) and Kwame Lestrade (Franklyn Lane Film) on board, as well as technical assitance from Tea Films, the group will meet regularly over a period of 6 months, creating new work, visiting industry companies and learning about documentary, before having a final showcase in December.
To push our participants in at the deep end, after just 2 weeks Kwame Lestrade ran a 2 day workshop with the Labs participants, going through the life cycle of a documentary in 2 days, from conception to completion. The final films blew us away, and we were impressed by what our young media makers had produced. You can check them out here:
Doctor Loco from BFI Future Film on Vimeo.
Astronauts from BFI Future Film on Vimeo.
To find out about what our Doc Next Labs participants are getting up to now, head over to the Doc Next Media Lab blog and read more!
Video fragment from Astronauts – click to view
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