Ex Oriente Film
Ex Oriente Film 2008
• 2nd workshop: Production Development
Venue: Písek, Czech Republic
When: June 11 - 15, 2008
TUTORS
TUE STEEN MÜLLER – Head of Studies (Denmark)
Born in 1947. Worked with short and documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board - as press secretary, head of distribution and information and as a commissioning editor. Articles for national and international newspapers and magazines. Co-founder of Balticum Film- and TV-Festival, Filmkontakt Nord and Documentary of the EU. Travelled to European short and documentary festivals often to be seated as a jury member. Has given documentary courses and seminars in more than 30 countries. In 2004 awarded the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. In 2005 awarded a prize at the DOCLisboa for his contribution to the international development and promotion of Portuguese documentaries. Since its foundation in 1996, director of EDN (European Documentary Network). Given the EDN Life Achievement Award in 2005. From 2006 freelance consultant and teacher in Danish and European documentary matters.
MARIJKE RAWIE – film consultant (Netherlands)
Marijke Rawie, Managing Director of ExpertDocs, was during the last 17 years Head of Art Documentary at AVRO, 1st public broadcaster in the Netherlands. In 1991 she founded the documentary slot "AVRO Close Up" which became one of the leading international co-producers and co-financers of documentaries in Europe. She started her tv-career in1974. She worked as director and producer of documentaries at various Dutch broadcasters (NOS, VARA, NCRV), before she went to AVRO. Marijke Rawie is involved in several international documentary institutions: Vice President of EBU Documentary Expert Group; Vice President of Advisery Board Discovery Campus Masterschool; Boardmember of the 1st World Congress of Arts Producers; Doc.expert EDN; Doc. expert Eurodoc. She is the founder of ExpertDocs, International Documentary Training & Consultancy, in which she combines the international documentary coproduction and (pitching) training knowledge she has acquired over the years.
STEFAN RÜLL - legal expert, Stefan Rüll Law Office (Germany)
Born in Munich on May 7th, 1956. Law studies and doctorate in Munich, several periods of practical legal training in Paris and San Diego; defence attorney and attorney for commercial law in Munich from 1986; in 1988 move to Hamburg and the audio-visual industry as general counsel of the POLYPHON Group with subsidiaries in Berlin and Munich and an office in Los Angeles which produces and distributes national and international television programmes; from 1993 in-house lawyer and managing director at ROYAL/SENATOR Film Production/Distribution in Munich and Berlin; 1996 founded own law firm "Stefan Rüll Law Office" in Berlin; other: member of MiMMA (Mediation in denMedien - Mediation in the Media, Music & the Arts e.V.), German Film Academy, filmlounge.berlin, lecturer at the German Academy of Film and Television (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin, DFFB), lecturer at various European MEDIA supported professional training programs, and founder of THINK AHEAD, a German business affairs training program for film and TV professionals.
ALEXANDRE CORNU - producer, Les Films du Tambour de Soie (France)
He took part in the creation of the production company Les Films du Tambour de Soie in 1987 and became its manager in 1996. Les Films du Tambour de Soie produces, creative documentaries for both French and foreign television channels, centred around history, discovery, arts and society. They have the support of directors as diverse as Jean-Paul Fargier (Impressionnisme, les Origines, Special Mention at the Biennale Internationale du film d’Art in Paris, 1994), Sandra Kogut (Adieu Monde, awarded at more than twenty international festivals), Alain Bergala (Fernand Léger or Pier Paolo Pasolini), Marie Mandy (Madeleine au Paradis, broadcast by RTBF and France 2, 2002) et al. He was a member of the CNC's Writing Grants Commission (Commission d'Aide a l'Ecriture) from 1999 to 2001. He was selected (final selections) for the Best French Producer Award in 2001 and 2004. He is the president of the PROCIREP's Television Commission since January 2005. Lecturer at workshops organized by the Femis, EDN and Eurodoc.
MARTICHKA BOZHILOVA - producer, AGITPROP (Bulgaria)
Martichka Bozhilova (degree in Law and Art Management; Graduate in European Documentary Production from EURODOC 2005) has been producer of AGITPROP since 1999. Her films include Georgi and the Butterflies, The Mosquito Problem and other stories, and Corridor #8. In 2006 she received the International Trailblazer Award, launched by Robert Redford and Sundance Channel at MIPDOC in Cannes for creativity, innovation, originality and breakthrough in the field of documentary cinema. Official representative of the European Documentary Network (EDN) in Bulgaria.
JENNY WESTERGARD - Head of Acquisitions & Co-productions, commissioning editor YLE FST (Finland)
Jenny Westergard is a graduated journalist from Helsinki University and has been working for YLE The Finnish Broadcasting Company since 1985. Currently she is Head of Acquisitions & Coproductions at YLE FST and the Commissioning Editor for documentaries. YLE FST (Finlands Svenska Television) is the Swedish language channel on YLE. FST offers full service 7 days a week with an average broadcast of 2000 hour/ year. At the moment FST has three one hour slots/week for documentaries; including domestic, Nordic and European films and programmes. Of those approximately 150 hours, the main part is acquisitions and about 25 hours are co-productions and prebuys. YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is the national public service broadcasting company with duties laid down by law. YLE operates five national television channels and thirteen radio channels and services. The emphasis in YLE programming is on the supply of information; news, current affairs and factual programmes, as well as culture and education.
MIROSLAV JANEK - director, cinematographer, FAMU lecturer (Czech Republic)
Born 1954 in Nachod, Czech Republic where he wrote, directed and produced nearly forty short films. He also worked as a film editor for the Czechoslovakian Television before immigrating to the United States in 1979. Settling down in Minneapolis, he began working as a freelance film editor and cameraman. In 1981 he began teaching filmmaking at Film in the Cities in St. Paul, MN. During his six years in Minneapolis he also produced and directed a number of independent films sponsored primarily by the local foundations. In 1986 he moved to New York City where he continued his freelance work until 1994.The next two years he spent in Treviso, Italy, collaborating with American director Godfrey Reggio on developing a multimedia project Fabrica. Since 1993 he has shot and directed many documentaries for Czech Television. Currently he resides in Prague. Since 1998 he has been teaching at the documentary department of FAMU (Film Academy in Prague).
JAN GOGOLA – director, commissioning editor, Czech Television (Czech Republic)
Born 24/8/1971, married to Martina, children Eliska and Simon. Director, script writer, commissioning editor, Czech Television, lecturer at FAMU, journalist. Graduated from the Faculty of Journalism, Charles University and from the Department of Documentary Films, FAMU-AMU. Author of interviews, reviews, articles and essays, worked with the GaG and NFA publishers, magazine HOST, Coffeehouse A.f.f.A, etc. Selected filmography: Nation to Itself, or 18 High Tides of the Czech Sea (2003), Non-stop (2002); short documentaries: Witness Frantisek Daniel (1999), Panenka Against the Rest of the World (2001), Nemcova’s Babicka Journal (1999), Ave Branik (1999), Veseli pod Moravou (1998), Distance and Contact of Dan Trubac (1998), Vila Inocent (1997); Intolerance (1998-2000, TV series, 6 parts), Archive Essays (1999, TV series, 7 parts). Commissioning editor for a number of awarded documentary films, including Dust Games, Fight for Life and Fester or Fiction.
SIGNE BYRGE SØRENSEN - director, producer, Final Cut Film Production (Denmark)
MA in Communication Studies. Producer at Final Cut Productions. Previous experience includes directing the documentary The Sound of People (Klangen af mennesker), In Language We Live - Voices of the World (I sproget er jeg - Voices of the World), and producer of the documentaries Johanna-Yohanna, Do you love me? (Elsker du mig?), Ancestors On-line (Online med forfædrene), Syrian children in Denmark (Syriske børn i Danmark), Hotel of Dreams (Drømmenes hotel). The films were produced in South Africa, Sweden, Zimbabwe, Senegal and Denmark. Signe Byrge Sørensen has previously worked as a producer at Spor Media and functioned, among other things, as coordinator of the Danish creative input to the South African film project Steps for the Future.
OBSERVERS
OTTO SCHWARZ
Born in Vienna, Austria in 1972, Otto Schwarz studied History and Art History at the University of Vienna, and spent some time of his studies at the University of Poitiers (France). After graduation he started working for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation in Vienna (ORF). His focus as director is on historical items, but his documentary work for television comprises a wide range from social to cultural topics. Otto Schwarz is also a successful book-author (“Marcel Prawy” and “Behind the facades – The Vienna Ringstraße”). His documentary films include e.g., “Inside Karajan” (2008), “Marcel Prawy – Bigger than Life” (2006), “The Vienna State Opera – the Rebirth of an Opera House” (2005), “Fritz Grünbaum” (2005), "Vienna Ringstraße” (2004), “Hugo Wiener – Fun Is Life” (2004).
ORF has several slots for documentary, among them three for cultural documentaries: "Matinee am Sonntag" - a Sunday morning slot for prevailingly classical music programmes, for a conservative auditory, "art.genossen" - on Monday evening, after the culturale magazine: large cultural items with a well working dramaturgy (30-45') "dok.film" - a slot in the Sunday evening for author films an long documentaries (80-90'). There is another slot for society/history: "Menschen und Mächte" - Big time documentaries for second primetime from the international market. And another for religion: "Kreuz und Quer" - on Tuesday evening, social and religious questions, often house productions.
PETER JANECEK
Born June 13th 1977 in Vienna. Studied film production at film academy Vienna from 1997-2003. Abroad internship at film academy in Prague (FAMU) from 2001-2002, Participant of the 19th Independent Producers´ Conference in Sundance in July 2004. Since June 2005 Production Manager at Mischief Films. Among his projects are, e.g., "Ich Muss Dir Was Sagen" (2006), "Miss Universe 1929" (2006), "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema" (2006), "Calling Hedy Lamarr" (2006), "No Name City" (2005). Current projects in production include "Beyond Mecca", "Cooking History" or "Cash & Marry".
Mischief Films is an independent production company founded in 2002 by Georg Misch and Ralph Wieser. We are striving to create extraordinary documentary films for cinema and TV. Our main areas of emphasis include cooperation with Austrian and Eastern European directors and people in the film business. Another core focus of our work is collaborating with international co-producers. Mischief Films is working internationally - cooperating with renowned TV stations and film producers like BBC, Channel 4, Arte, WDR and ORF. The regional focus of our Co-Productions is on Great Britain and Central Europe. We are members of the Association of Austrian Film Producers, dok.at and EDN (European Documentary Network). Our credo is to reach a wide audience with quality films through energy, the necessary know-how, and a feeling for the issues.
SUSANNE GUGGENBERGER
Since fall 2007 sales manager (TV) for AUTLOOK Filmsales (Vienna/Austria). From 2005 - 2007 producer for Navigator Film (Vienna/ Austria), focus on development and marketing , 2002 – 2005 various positions in multimedia projects , 1998 – 2004 various positions in documentary films, studies of communications and history. Born 1970 in Lienz, Austria. Documentary projects include "Time to Go" (2006), "Stift Klosterneuburg" (2006), "Hanno und das Haus" (2004), "Hedy Lamarr" (2003), "Kosova Transit" (2001). Multimedia projects: ziel2wien.at (2002-2005), literaturtv.at (2003), lehrlingsweb.at (2003).
AUTLOOK Filmsales is an Austrian, Vienna based worldsales-agent for feature and TV documentaries. We distribute internationally to all media, do pre-sales, support production devolopment and make marketing strategies for films we are working with. AUTLOOK Filmsales regards attending most international film markets and festivals as a very important part of the sales-strategy. Personal relationships with all clients, buyers and decision makers are as important as representing the films in person at the various markets. Some documentaries films of our lineup are: Our Daily Bread, Echoes of Home, NömadakTX, Calling Hedy Lamarr, Technocalyps, It Happened Just Before, Zuoz.
KATHARINA DUFNER
Studied Spanish, music sciences and history in Freiburg, Barcelona and Hamburg. She also worked as a director's assistant and production director in several theater productions. After receiving her master's degree, she worked for the Mexican Goethe Institute and their Festival Internacional Cervantino. 2004 - 2006, master's degree in film production at Hamburg Media School, free-lance editor for "Das kleine Fernsehspiel", ZDF’s showcase for new talents in film, television and Internet. In 2007, she was involved as producer among others: a comedy TV series show, a TV movie for channel Sat.1 as well as a debut feature film screened at Berlinale 2008. Since January 2008, commissioning editor for "Das Kleines Fernsehspiel". Simultaneously, she works as a free-lance producer.
ZDF - Das kleine Fernsehspiel
Slot: Monday 00:15 (12 x 40'–120') open slot, approx. 50% commissioned productions and 50% coproductions. ZDF’s showcase for new talents in film, television and Internet. Each year, the department funds 26 new productions, including fiction films, personal and creative documentaries, essay films and docufiction, either as made-for-TV-films or as co-productions with theatrical release. It offers know-how and experience during all production stages. Focus: low-budget films demanding creativity and a strong commitment; personal and creative docs about everyday life, society and politics in Germany / international productions with interesting visual styles and insights into their particular country of origin. Each year, “Das kleine Fernsehspiel” arranges a special focus on documentary called “100%Leben” (“100%Life”). The Internet is one of the great challenges of our time. And in this respect, we will also endeavour to break new ground.
