The official poster of 18^th Busan International Film Festival is revealed! The poster is based on the original work of SHIN Sung Hy, created by the artist’s signature technique called “nouage”. A 3-dimensional space created, by the interweaving of dots, lines and gaps, resonates with the idea of film as a complex media that incorporates diverse genres and art forms. Each intersection of lines resembles numerous encounters between cineastes and the audience within the Festival environment. The 18^th Busan International Film Festival poster is considered the “brightest” of all its preceding posters and reflects Busan International Film Festival’s focus on hosting a truly festive event.

Born in 1948 in Ansan, Korea, SHIN Sung Hy is one of the most internationally recognised Korean contemporary artists. SHIN Sung Hy left for Paris in 1980 and was based in Europe for most of his artistic career. He mastered the technique “nouage”, which he began to experiment with in 1996. “Nouage” involves three stages – painting color dots and lines on the canvas, tearing what is painted, and tying the remnants back on to the surface. Through this technique the artist is able to recreate a 3-dimensional space on a 2-dimensional plane, stretching the limits of traditional fine arts. Celebrated as one of notable contemporary artists with a singular artistic vision, SHIN Sung Hy was internationally associated with the Baudoin Lebon Gallery (Paris), Leonard Hutton Galleries (New York), Gallery Proarta (Zurich), and Gallery Hyundai (Seoul).

(Via 18th BIFF Press Release)

David Ocón has interviewed Ilang Ilang Quijano, one of the participants of  ‘Catch-Tell-Transform: 4^th Documentary Filmmakers’ Workshop’. Organised in Manila, The Philippines from April to October 2013, this unique initiative gathers young promising filmmakers from Southeast Asia to enhance their skills and build new audiences for their work. The project is supported through ASEF’s Creative Encounters: Cultural Partnerships between Asia and Europe programme.

During my visit to the documentary filmmaking workshop Catch/Tell/Transform in Manila I had the chance to interview Ilang Ilang, a young documentary filmmaker from the Philippines. Ilang Ilang is a representative of the new wave of emerging documentary filmmakers in the country. They are working with issues and topics never before treated by local filmmakers, some of them even long forgotten by society. Her project “Mothers of the Cordillera”, a film about indigenous women in Northern Philippines, who resisted mining, construction of dams and logging in their ancestral lands, promises to rescue one of those long-buried stories.

Q: Why did you decide to apply for Catch/Tell/Transform?

I applied for it because when I finished my first documentary, I quickly came up with another idea for a documentary. Later on at a pitching workshop in Jakarta, I presented my idea and I had a very positive experience there, I felt I knew how to sell the story I was thinking about, but the workshop did not include any funds for development, it was more a pitching exercise. So when the call for this workshop came, I applied so I would have the chance to finally do my project since it also offers a seed fund and could help me in the development, something very important after selling your story.

Q: What do you expect to get from this workshop?

Although filmmaking is a part of my profession as a journalist, filmmaking is not my full-time work. However after the first workshop, I learnt a lot from the mentors there, especially from Bettina Braun, and I feel this second workshop would equip me with the knowledge, the skills and the experience to be able to do a better documentary film. The previous film I did I think it was a successful one in its own little way, I learnt a lot with it but there are a few things I wouldn’t do now. I feel there is a lot of room for improvement and I would like to practice and apply what I learnt in the first workshop by making another film.

Q: I attended your pitching exercise for “Mothers of the Cordillera”. The pitch raised a lot of attention from the mentors and the participants. They asked many questions, gave feedback and suggestions, but also constructive criticism. How do you relate to such criticism? Is it useful for you? Will you apply some of what you learnt from it to your script and production?

This is why I am here in the workshop, to test my ideas against someone else’s. To test if what I think could actually work. The criticism and the comments are very useful for me; they are something I can think about and I take them as part of the learning experience. I won’t apply them immediately; I will take some time for me to think about them before applying them. But definitely I am grateful for the comments and criticisms, as long as they are constructive. In the end, they will make you reflect harder about your project.

Q: Last year’s workshop you were all Filipino participants. This year you have co-participants also from Indonesia, Cambodia, Bhutan and Singapore. How has this changed the dynamic of the workshop?

I think the workshop is more interesting than last year because it has other young filmmakers from other Southeast Asian countries. Last year we were all Filipinos and among us we tend to be fooling around a bit and maybe be less focused. Being surrounded by filmmakers from other countries makes you be more open to other ideas, to other cultures and the stories are much more interesting for us because they are new and different to us. It also makes the workshop more challenging, you are more motivated because there are people from other nationalities and you don’t want to disappoint them, it all becomes more serious but in a good way, it feels more professional.

Q: Being such a difficult craft, with such limited opportunities to get funding for, why did you choose documentary filmmaking?

Documentary filmmaking is not the only professional path I am taking. I am also doing journalism and advocacy, so documentary filmmaking probably won’t be my only life path, it is difficult to live only from it. But I think that ever since I got into it I have been really interested in improving myself in the craft and I think it is a very powerful way of telling stories. I discovered that documentary filmmaking, although difficult, is very special and very unique, and I am not going to let go off it, no matter what. The workshops are there to remind you of that, to push you, they make you not forget that your are the filmmaker, also that you can choose the way in which you want to tell the story and that only you can make this film true and that you have the responsibility to tell and keep that story you have chosen alive.

Catch/Tell/Transform is a workshop organised by the Goethe Institut Philippines, the Embassy of France and the Alliance Française in Manila, in collaboration with the University of the Philippines Film Institute. It has the support of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).

David Ocón has served as Head of the Cultural Department at Instituto Cervantes’ centres in Ireland and China. Previously he was a Project Manager at the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), and a Communications Officer for the European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres (ENCATC).

He has taught International Cultural Cooperation courses since 2008 at University of Barcelona, and has published academic articles in several international specialised journals and co-edited a number of publications and art catalogues. At present he is an arts manager, consultant and researcher based in Southeast Asia.

ASD 2013 Award Winners

Kuala Lumpur played host to the 4^th edition of the Asian Side of the Doc (ASD), an international documentary co production market. The four day conference which took place from 19^th to 22^nd March 2013 was organised by Bang Singapore and Sunny Side of the Doc in collaboration with the ASD/Crossing Borders training program. It was sponsored by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture of Malaysia and the European Union Media Mundus Fund.

ASD was established by Yves Jeanneau, the founder of Sunny Side of the Doc, the annual international documentary market held in La Rochelle, France since 1989 with the intention to reach more territories and create new alliances. Besides ASD, he also created LSD (Latin Side of the Doc). ASD is an annual meeting place between key decision makers and producers from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and other countries around the world.  The first ASD was held in 2010 in Hong Kong followed by Seoul (2011) and Tokyo (2012). In 2011, Yves joined forces with Keiko Bang of Bang Singapore to organise ASD. Bang Singapore has since become the Asia based organiser.

ASD’s main objective is to create new co-production opportunities for both Asian and international producers and commissioning editors, allowing new ventures and collaborations.  It offers a platform to build strong professional and international networks, to promote deals and presales for programs in production, to initiate new coproduction projects as well as a learning and training ground for producers. It has been growing from strength to strength. ASD 2013 saw 510 participants from 43 countries including 104 decision makers. 13 new countries attended this year; Afghanistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Maldives, Pakistan, Iran, Thailand, Lebanon, UAE, Chile and Kenya.

Amongst the broadcasters who attended were ABS-CBN Philippines, AETN, Aljazeera, ARD/MDR Germany, Arte, Astro Malaysia, BBC Worldwide India, BBSC Bhutan, BTV Bangladesh, CBC Canada, CCTV 9, China Central Television,  LIC China, Discovery Asia, Discovery Canada, DR TV Denmark, EBS, France Télévisions, KBS, Mediacorp Singapore, NHK, NRK Norway, PBS USA, PTS Taiwan, RTHK, SBS TV Australia, TVK Cambodia and ZDF Germany.

The event organises four key activities in bringing documentary producers and broadcasters together; master classes, pitch sessions, side by side meetings, and panel discussions.   Prior to the main event, master classes were held this year helmed by Crossing Borders.  Selected Malaysian producers went through a 5 day training workshop which ended with the National Malaysia Documentary Pitching Forum. This was an opportunity for Malaysian producers trained by Crossing Borders to pitch local documentary projects to an audience of international commissioning editors. Selected producers went on to pitch their projects on behalf of Malaysia at ASD. 3 out of 9 projects were selected for the final pitch.

27 projects were pitched at the main pitching sessions. It was a rigorous session with moderators helping to get immediate feedback from decision makers. Topics for panel discussions included Co-Producing with Malaysia, Science TV-Facing the Future, New Media – New Audiences, Stories of Islam. Specific co production case studies were also discussed which provided a valuable insight into the advantages and challenges of co production. There are also documentary screenings and an event called Government Sidebar which is a private event with leading government promotion agencies and public broadcasters to share ideas regarding initiative, incentives and policies for producers.  This year at ASD, Screen Australia which is the key funding body for the Australian screen industry gave a presentation to share their existing incentives and how they develop policies.

A key activity which was introduced this year is the Doc-In-Progress session which saw 7 near completion projects being presented to create awareness and also as an attempt to garner support for their final leg of financing.  The projects that were presented already had a history in ASD; either the projects were pitched during development at previous edition of ASD and/or co production deals started from ASD. It clearly showed the intention of the organisers to follow through and support projects from beginning till the end.  Some producers were seeking advice regarding international sales because their version of edit may work for their local audience but not necessarily work for international audience.  Nearly finished films allow the decision makers to know exactly what they are buying into.  It proved to be a fruitful and valuable session.

The vibes and atmosphere at the event was very welcoming, casual and full of enthusiasm. Yves Jeanneau said that the aim is to create an equal and democratic platform for communication and the challenges for them as an organiser are really understanding the cultural differences and finding the right format to allow the free flow of exchange. In a nutshell, the ASD plays the role of match maker. Deals are made or are in the process of being made at the event. A few noted outcomes in 2012 were the establishment of Tokyo Docs and Tokyo Association of Producers. In 2013, direct outcomes were the signing of MOU between FINAS and Sun Media International Co. Ltd for post production collaboration and 5 Asian broadcasters have also met and agreed to collaborate.

ASD team does many outreach programmes and collaborations with other events throughout the year.  For instance, selected project from CNEX Chinese Doc Forum (CCDF) and Tokyo Forum are invited to pitch at ASD. The Best Asian Pitch project at ASD is invited to pitch at Sunny Side of the Doc at La Rochelle.

Full List of Winners of ASD 2013:

Best International Pitch: Love is not a Crime, Babel Press, Thomas Ellis – UK

Best Video Pitch (Docs In Progress): Okwhan: Mission Impossible, Filmpark Production, Marek Mackovic – Slovakia - Sponsored by Sunny Side

Jury’s Special Award: Like Ants for Sugar, Pickle Jar, Shirley Abraham – India

Best Malaysian Pitch: Borneo Punk Rock, Matavia Reka Sdn Bhd, Ilana Nadira – Malaysia - Sponsored by Crossing Borders

Second Prize: The Gold Detective, Rack Focus Films Sdn Bhd, Ahmad Puad AHMAD YAZID – Malaysia

Best Asian Pitch: Please Remember Me, Shape Pictures, Zhao Qing – China - Sponsored by the French Embassy

For more information and announcement about the next edition of Asian Side of the Doc, please visit:

http://www.asiandocumentaries.com

http://www.sunnysideofthedoc.com/en/asian-side/edition-2013-5/presentation

Photos courtesy of FINAS. Photographer: Zaharah Md Jaferi

Sharon Gan has an MA in European Cultural Policy & Management. She is an independent film producer and publicist based in Malaysia. 

SC: You have just been awarded the prestigious EDN award for your work in enriching documentaries in Southern Europe. Can you tell us more about how it all started?

ST: In the South of Europe, countries like Spain, Italy, Portugal, documentary culture has become a black hole. There is no investment in documentary film, either from government institutions or broadcasters. Spain is better because some funds are available to make regional films, but there is lack of money and intent to make documentary films. Reasons for this are many but historically, countries in South Europe which experienced dictatorships in the 20^th century are yet to overcome that era when documentaries were either made for propaganda or altogether banned. Italy’s famous filmmakers such as Antonioni, Rossellini, Fellini started out by making documentaries but when television came out, they thought that the documentary form will move to television and stopped making them. Documentary never got its full due.

When I started making films in 1995-96, I had to go abroad to find the funds where we were seen as poor filmmakers. We had to change this image and I founded Documentary in Europe, together with Juan Gonzalves who started Docs Barcelona. We bought broadcasters from abroad to Italy and Spain who immediately understood the situation of documentary in these countries. Initially we started by screening local talent but soon we started organizing business oriented meetings and pitching sessions which brought together two different sets of people – local filmmakers interfacing with decision makers.

SC: How did the filmmakers respond to international broadcasters? 

ST: At the first pitching session, a big fight broke out between the filmmakers who did not agree to what the commissioning agents were telling them. The commissioning agents were usually seen as the enemies or people who were opposed to the filmmakers. Discussions often broke out in verbal fights. However, both sides found importance in meetings and pitching. Eventually, a lot of talent that was not used to dealing with commissioning processes could emerge because of these meetings.

We started by preparing filmmakers with a pitch – what we call a PITCHING LAB.

The training programs worked out very well. We could anticipate and play out situations before hand. We could identify what was not working for the filmmakers – not in terms of their films but expressing their ideas. Eventually, a common language evolved between filmmakers and commissioning agents.

SC: Can you do a Pitching Lab for our audiences, many of whom are young and aspiring filmmakers? 

ST: Ok. Let me break it down for you in points –

No musts to a good pitch 

There are no real rules to making a good pitch – no musts to a good pitch. A film pitch needs a build up according to the story and according to the person making the film. It is a process that brings together these two elements. The rules for pitching a documentary and a fiction feature film are the same. There is no difference at all except that today in documentaries, we expect a teaser or a trailer, which could tell you what the film would look like. Sometimes it is not possible to make a trailer for a fiction project because of high investments involved.

Chose the right moment!

It is important to understand where one stands in the development process of the film. That is to say, one needs to pitch the project at the right time. If a pitch is made too early, there will be a chance that filmmaker does not have enough information. If the decision makers do not find any clear ideas in the project, they will not be interested. If one is already done shooting, the decision makers might see that the project is already so ahead in the process that there is little possibility to influence or change what is being pitched. Once decision makers have made up their mind about a project, it is very difficult to change it later. Filmmakers need to find the right moment to pitch their project – one that is neither too early, nor too late.

Make them curious!

The pitch should be involving and make the decision makers curious about the project. It should not reveal everything about the film. Keep the pitch short and seductive. Remember that people are not prepared to listen to detail in the first encounter. They are looking for the highlights of a project. Make a precise and clear presentation. It should focus on 4-5 points. The biggest challenge that comes out in our training sessions is – How to tell the story of your film in 5 to 10 minutes? One will never have more than 5 minutes for the pitch. It is important to use this time wisely and point to the highlights of the film. The decision makers should be left with a sense of, ‘this is interesting. I want to know more.’

Design your pitch with care

It is not enough to give the people an idea of what the film will look like. When you are speaking, people are imagining the film that they want to see. Try and use words, which help them see the film. You must identify your Characters and focus on how your story develops. The narrative arch should be constructed so that it brings you through a story till its end. You should give a clear idea of your visual approach in the pitch. For documentaries, it is important to be careful not to pitch before you have guaranteed access to your subjects. For this, one needs to build enough trust and that takes time. Don’t pitch for what you cannot film. In features, be sure that the project is both possible and feasible to do.

Pitching is collaborating

Think of the pitch as a moment when you are involving other people in your project. In a pitch, don’t always look for money but see other ways in which people or groups can contribute to your film. This may come in the form of collaboration, support or networking. My advice to youngsters is that not to be afraid of mingling with people and talking to them. They will definitely listen to you and people will answer willingly. Write what you do. Show them your talent; make a short film or a teaser. Express your thoughts immediately.

SC: What kind of events would you suggest that early career filmmakers should attend for their projects?

ST: When we started out, there was only the Amsterdam Pitching Forum for documentary funding. In fiction, it was only the big festivals – Cannes, Berlinale, which organized film markets. Today, there are a lot of events organized all over the world, which are accessible to independent and young filmmakers who have a good idea and a vision. I would suggest that as a starting out filmmaker, go to the workshop closest to you and start meeting people. Even if you don’t have a project, you can gain the basic knowledge about pitching by listening to other pitches, distributors etc. These events often have like-minded people at an early stage of their productions looking for collaborations and new talent.

SC: How has Internet impacted filmmaking, especially the production processes?

ST: Internet has changed the way we make films. It opens up the possibility of reaching out to the people who watch the films I make. I can get feedback, comments and connect to millions of my audiences through the Internet. Earlier, the only opinion on films that really mattered was that of the broadcasters.

Now, it is easier to involve audiences at an early stage of filmmaking. We did that with a film on the Jewish Harp by a young filmmaker from Sicily. In Italy, it is called Schiacciapensieri – literally translated as ‘Blowing thoughts out one’s mind’.  The Jewish Harp is a part of different cultures across the world but we were not convinced that this theme would appeal to the traditional mindset of the broadcasters. We immediately fell in love with the footage we saw initially, not only because the filmmaker is talented but also because this instrument is rather special and we do not know much about it.

Instead of taking this project to the broadcasters, we decided to make a website for it and start a $10000 crowd funding campaign. The pitch was to raise the money from audiences with the aim of reaching Siberia, where it is the national instrument, called Yakutzia. We not only got the money to shoot, but also a lot of feedback from our audiences. This gave us confidence to pitch the film at another event and now we have production partners in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. This will be a feature length documentary, with a very simple tag line, ‘How small things in life can bring great happiness.’

SC: Personally, what makes you passionate about striving for your work? 

ST: I have the absolute privilege of doing the most beautiful job in the world – Telling stories through a visual medium. To get up every morning and fight to tell these stories is not easy, but it is extremely rewarding. Is there a better job? No!

TIFF is presented by Romanian Film Promotion. Founded in 2002, Transilvania IFF is the first international feature film festival in Romania. Transilvania IFF has become a well-known brand in Romania, not only due to the outstanding films screened every year, but also for the effective organization, sparkling atmosphere and density of events, from seminars, workshops and panels to fabulous concerts and crazy all night long parties. The 2012 edition of TIFF showed 240 films from 46 countries, screened in the 13 festival locations, attracting over 67.000 spectators during the ten days of the festival.

12 young directors are competing for the trophy of the 12th edition of Transilvania IFF . It’s an edition focused on first time directors – 10 of the competition titles belong to directors making their feature length directorial debut. The competitive section is traditionally focused on first and second time directors, and the 12 films come from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Poland, Sweden, SUA, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, India, Slovakia and Japan.

Click here for more information on attending TIFF.12

“As well as being a successful film-maker in his own right, Claude Miller was passionate about European cinema and diversity. Under his Presidency, the Europa Cinemas network expanded to nearly 3 000 screens in more than 60 countries. He will be greatly missed by those who knew him and worked alongside him,” said Commissioner Vassiliou.

Miller, who came to prominence working with François Truffaut, had a career in films spanning nearly 40 years. His best-known works included La meilleure façon de marcher (1976), Garde à vue (1981) and La Classe de neige (1998)

At the time of his death, his final film, a re-make of Thérèse Desqueyroux starring Audrey Tautou, was in post-production.

(Via Europa Press Release)

The submission of films for both the main category and the teen category begins on 6 May, on www.tropfest.com/sea and closes 28 October. All residents and citizens of South East Asia are eligible for the competition. Submissions made under the teen category are also eligible for the main category awards. All winners will be announced at the Festival on 25 January 2014 in Penang, Malaysia.

All films entered must adhere to the following guidelines:

1. The film must be seven minutes or under, including titles and credits
2. The film must be made specifically for Tropfest SEA 2014
3. The film must not have screened publicly (including on the Internet)
4. The film can be produced in any language but must be subtitled in English
5. The film must include the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI) which in 2014 is “RICE”
6. The TSI can be interpreted or incorporated in any way.

YxineFF receives support from many organizations, companies and individuals, including the Danish Cultural Development & Exchange Fund, Goethe Institute Vietnam, British Council Vietnam and the U.S Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City.

YxineFF 2012 screens 66 films from 150 submissions in 4 categories:

• International Competition
• Local Competition
• Panorama
• In Focus.

Using the online method, YxineFF focuses on the interactive features of online network in the advanced technology era. YxineFF attracts more than 1 million views in 2010, almost 2 million views in 2011 and 2.5 million views in 2012.

Blue Productions Limited – an independent production company in Vietnam is the main partner of YxineFF for the 2012-2014 period.

The Queen’s support through her various patronages of industry organisations has long been recognised, having been patron of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts , the Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund , and the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (for which money has been raised by Royal Film Performances ) since 1952. Over the years, The Queen has visited countless film and television organisations, supporting their efforts by shining a light on the work they do. More recently, The Queen starred in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond .

Source: via BAFTA Press Release