European Documentary Portal

Fate of Jan Vrijman Fund hangs in balance

March 11th, 2007 by Zsofia

To the astonishment of the documentary festival organisers behind IDFA, the Dutch government has cut off funding for the Jan Vrijman Fund, a key source for documentary filmmakers in non-EU and developing countries. IDFA founded the Jan Vrijman Fund in 1998 to encourage the documentary climate in developing countries by supporting local documentary projects, filmmakers and festivals.

Over the past years, hundreds of projects and films were supported and many were screened at IDFA, Berlin, Locarno and Sundance, and on TV networks across the globe. The fund has also been the backbone of an international documentary network, bringing together filmmakers from developing countries and the rest of the world.

IDFA is shocked at the prospect of losing two-thirds of its budget, but other funders - such as Foundation DOEN and the Hivos-NDCO Culture Fund - continue to be on board, and have increased their contribution for 2007. Owing to this support, the fund can remain operational for the time being and the first selection round in February can go ahead as planned. Meanwhile, the fund actively looks for new partners, and will decide in April whether the second selection round can take place in June.

Read more on the Fund’s homepage.

   Filed under Documentary news, Film festivals, Documentary funding    Closed

Documentary film funding guide available

February 27th, 2007 by Zsofia

The European Documentary Network (EDN) has released the 2007 version of its ”TV-Guide” - a key resource for producers and directors working on European television documentaries. The guide contains detailed information on more than 100 European TV channels including their profiles, commissioned documentary strands, as well as useful emails and phone numbers. EDN members can access an online version too, which can be searched according to countries, thematic references and length of slots. Non-members can purchase a hardcopy for 70 euro here.

   Filed under Documentary news, Documentary funding    Closed

Dubai to host documentary workshop

February 15th, 2007 by Zsofia

Arab broadcast journalists and filmmakers are invited to apply for an all-expenses-paid workshop to be held in Dubai in May. The “Arabic Documentary Workshop” (ADW2007) is organized jointly by the Al-Arabiya news channel and the Dubai-based O3 productions company.

Of 25 participating film projects, five will be chosen to be produced and aired on Al-Arabiya. The workshop is also a good opportunity to hook up with O3 which has made a number of documentaries and current affairs programmes on issues affecting the Arab world and the Middle East.

Documentary proposals can be submitted until March 15, either in Arabic or English. For more information, visit O3 Productions.

   Filed under Documentary news, Documentary funding    Closed