The first session of the Ex Oriente Film workshop (March 12-19, 2011) will offer participants a special three-day Industry Session (March 12-13) called ”One World, Many Ways – New Directions in Human Rights Documentaries” (working title) organized by the Documentary Campus Masterschool in association with the One World Film Festival and IDF as a content partner.
Prague audiences, international guests as well as participants of both workshops will have a chance to take part in a three-day event that combines thought-provoking panels for industry professionals with workshops and expert advice for newcomers. It is a forum for East and West to network, to discuss professional development and co-production opportunities from the filmmaker to the commissioning editor level.
In the afternoon of the first and second day, the focus will be on panels designed for established professionals. During this time workshops for newcomers will run parallel. On the last day the panels will be focused on newcomers.
Selected highlights of the Industry Session programme:
THE AGE OF WIKILEAKS
A skype interview with Julian Assange, the founder and managing director of the whistleblower website. Audience Q&A about this extraordinary human rights tool.
UNEXPECTED OUTCOMES
We go into making documentaries about human rights issues with passion and a desire to do good but sometimes the outcome is not exactly what we expect. Interviews with a panel of filmmakers who could never have imagined the effects their documentaries would have, both positive and negative. These extraordinary thought-provoking stories will make us pause before we begin to try to change the world. Example: The Devil’s Miner by Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson.
Panelists and films to be decided in cooperation with the One World festival.
PREACHING TO THE (UN)CONVERTED
Do documentaries influence or preach to the converted? Examples of both hard line and softer sell films, what sort of audiences do they reach and what is their impact?
Panelists and films to be decided in cooperation with the One World festival.
TV IS STILL AN OPTION
A panel of broadcasters from East and West. Which broadcasters are broadcasting human rights films? What slots? Is it necessary that they rate - do they rate - what types of stories? Peter Hamilton, the man behind the incredibly successful Documentary Television website will moderate this panel.
On Saturday, March 12, the Industry Session will also host two small workshops:
WORKSHOP 1: SO YOU THINK YOU HAVE A STORY?
A short workshop about a good story well told, which still is the most important component of a documentary. It will deal with basic question, such as What is a good story? Back to basics, back to structure.
WORKSHOP 2: WHAT’S IN A TITLE?
A second short session will focus on the the fact that it depends on who you are pitching to, by understanding titles we learn how different styles of story telling can open different markets.
On last day of the Session, Sunday, March 13, there will more panels and discussions for newcomers to the market, for example:
WHOSE RIGHTS
Teaming up is sometimes the best way to make a film. But who with and what should you expect? A panel which will open up the problems producers and filmmakers have to deal with when they team up. Three top producers from the West will listen to the stories of three budding filmmakers from the East, what is their advice, what do the filmmakers expect. Can they meet halfway?
This panel could also be done the other way round, with producers from the East being pitched to by newcomers from the West.
WHEN YOU DON’T WANT TO BEND PART 1 AND 2
When the way you want to tell your story does not fit the market, how can you make your voice heard?
PART 1
A panel of filmmakers who can talk about how they used the internet, financing from other sources (including NGO’s) and traditional fundrasing to get their films going. How much finance can you reasonably raise this way and how long will it take?
PART 2
How to distribute your film to the maximum audience, using a number of successful case studies, and also people who were not so successful.
THEY DID IT THEIR WAY
Documentography
Meet a group of filmmakers and artists who couldn’t get any work. So they teamed up and here’s the result. A case study of how to make your own way in the media.
Please note that the programme is preliminary and may be subject to change.
