A 5,000 $ Grant for a Lebanese Documentary Project in Production Within the partnership between The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) and BeirutDC, and in the framework of Ayam Beirut Al Cinema’iya, the DIFF would like to encourage documentary filmmaking in Lebanon by offering a 5,000 $ grant to a Lebanese documentary project in production.

Criteria and eligibility: *The project has to be: – A feature documentary (54 minutes and up) -Directed by a Lebanese filmmaker or an Arab filmmaker living in Lebanon *The filmmaker has to send a file containing: -A cover page with the title of the project, the names of the filmmaker and of the producer and their full contacts -A synopsis of the film (2 pages) -An intention note (1-2 pages) -A treatment (2-3) pages describing the style of the film, the visual aspect, the structure and the story -A small paragraph about the filmmaker -A one page budget summary, fundraising plan, and status of the film -A DVD containing one previous film by the filmmaker Once granted, the filmmaker has to commit that he will give the Arab premiere of his film to DIFF. Please send your material in 2 languages (Arabic and English/or French) by electronic mail to: news@beirutdc.org Subject: Grant for documentary project As well as a printed version of the material with the DVD to: Beirut DC, Furn el Chebbak, Selim Khoury St, Rose Akiki Bldg., Ground Floor, po box 116-5118, tel: 01293212.

The deadline for receiving the projects is Monday, September 13th, 2010

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR CINEMA IN MOTION 5

Cinema in Motion 5 will take place at the 57th International Film
Festival in San Sebastian on Monday, 21 September 2009.

The deadline for registering and receiving material in San Sebastian
is 30 June 2009.

This programme, organised by the International Film Festival with the
Amiens and Fribourg international festivals, will exclusively comprise
feature films at the end of their filming or at the post-production
stage.

This rendezvous is open to filmmakers from the Maghreb, Portuguese-
speaking African countries and developing Arab countries: Algeria,
Angola, Cape Verde, Egypt, Guinea, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya,
Morocco, Mozambique, Palestine, Sao Tome y Principe, Syria and
Tunisia.

The directors and/or producers of the selected films will have the
chance to defend their projects before professionals from all sectors
accredited at the International Film Festival Sales Office.

Different kinds of aid will be granted within the framework of Cinema
in Motion 5, among which:

§       Mactari mixing auditorium – €15,000 in services.

§       Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) – €10,000 to cover
the cost of post-production in France.

§       Amiens Festival – a 35 mm copy.

§       Fribourg Festival – a 35 mm copy.

§       Titra Film – French or English subtitling up to €2,500.

§

The Cinema in Motion 5 registration form can be found at:

www.sansebastianfestival.com

This is a great opportunity for Arab filmakers or wannabees to present their film scripts and have the opportunity to join the Middle East Screenwriters Lab. Have a look at the following info:

Tomorrow, another round table about the war and filmakers who have dedicated their work to tell people what TV doesn’t always tell.

DoxBox is a very bold association of independent filmakers who since 2007 has been working on creative documentary in Syria and all across the Arab world.

A Jordanian animation company, called Media Plus, has just won the Silver Award at the Cairo Arab Media Festival with its cartoon series“Nahfat Ailetna” which tells a lot about Jordanian society in a very nice and entertaining way. But this is not the only good news for the country.  Institutions like the Royal Film Commission are doing a great job to raise up a new generation of filmakers by providing training in the audiovisual field and by renting the film equipment to who wants to practise filmaking.  The team of the RFC is all made up by young people, plenty of talent and energy.

Like Sarah, the lebanese young lady who teaches camera and filmaking. I attended her class today and  have to say that I have rarely seen such an energy and a talent in teaching technical stuff. She was also enriching her lessons by quoting all sorts of films, from the “Russian Ark” by Russian director Sokurov to “L’Avventura” by Antonioni: films that I have rarely heard quoted in a similar course in Europe.  I would really love to introduce people like Sarah to the ones in Europe who say -too often- that we should “train” the young ones in the Arab world, teach them how to use the digital technologies, etc etc. During the last Euromed meeting I attented in Cairo few days ago this attitude was sometime out once again, and I think it’s very bad that the people in Europe still have their eyes closed on what’s happening in the Arab world. Young people in the Arab world are gifted, talented and plenty of energy and creativity like Sarah, plus they know very well how to use digital media.

The group in the RFC is exactly proving this. They are active, plenty of  talent, and they are trying to build up an industry and a new generation of filmakers in a very passionate way.

They also have a very cool movie library that they are trying to build up and a very cosy screening room where people will be able to seat and watch European movies as well as Arab, Asian, American, etc. This gorgeous screening room has been designed by two young architects, Jordanian of course. Keep an eye on this new generation of Jordanian people that will be booming with such a passion!