A scene from the PBS Interactive Workshop in Washington, D.C.

Silverdocs is a seven-day internationally renowned film festival that celebrates independent thinking, diverse voices, and free expression and fosters the power of documentary to enhance our understanding of the world. Jen Kaczor, senior producer at ITVS Interactive and Independent Lens, participated in this year’s PBS Interactive Workshop entitled “Building Your Digital Toolbox.” She reports from the steamy East Coast:

The AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival, presents an opportunity for those who work in disciplines that touch documentary film to connect and share expertise in their fields.  The goal of the “Building your Digital Toolbox” workshop was for filmmakers to present their online strategies to extend the reach of their films, and for a group of us who work in the PBS interactive realm to give feedback and input.

The panel, moderated by Stephen Gong, executive director at the Center for Asian American Media, included:
Lauren Aguirre, executive editor, NOVA Online
Kevin Dando, director, PBS Digital Marketing and Communications
Mary Hope Garcia; senior manager, PBS Interactive
Jen Kaczor, senior producer, ITVS Interactive
Catherine Quayle, Web editor-in-chief, Need To Know
Theresa Riley, director, P.O.V. Interactive

The three projects covered vastly different subjects: the longest-runing pick-up softball game, which happens in Central Park every Sunday; a project on chocolate, how it’s produced, and the perspectives of four people who are effected by chocolate in very different ways; and the mission of an Appalachian grandmother who is trying to stop mountain top coal mining from destroying her community. The strategies proposed by the filmmakers included social media, iPhone apps, outreach campaigns, and online games.

The panel asked questions and offered feedback, covering questions about audience and goals of the films. Panel attendees had questions for the panel members as well, wondering what panelists most successful online projects had been. Ideas shared included taking advantage of Facebook and its tools, offering features that gave users a chance to find out info about themselves and be able to “compete” with their friends, and considering the ongoing commitments required for efforts that called for user-generated content or long-term maintenance.

It was great being a part of hearing about the online strategies of documentary makers — which are becoming de rigueur to plan for early on — and the perspectives of my public media interactive colleagues. I was also glad I got to check out some of the great docs at the festival, including a short called The Poodle Trainer, about, well, what you think?

A Discussion with Filmmakers from the Geneva Forum on Social Change

Geneva is a hotbed for international dealings whether it be diplomacy or finance, and the GFSC represented that to a tee by attracting participants whose work reaches so many corners of the globe: international organizations, NGOs, private corporations, diplomatic corps, foundations, the list goes on. In one room I would meet someone working to develop water and energy conservation programs for an entire country on behalf of USAID, and then turn around and meet another person who started a foundation to support youth in a small village in Africa with nothing more than what was in their savings account and the help of a few friends. The amount of brain stimulation and soul inspiration to be had was off the charts!

As I mentioned earlier, ITVS presented four films at the GFSC: Garbage Dreams, A Village Called Versailles, Pickles Inc., and Project Kashmir. There was a lot of buzz around A Village Called Versailles and people were eager to see the film and discuss what’s happening with the Vietnamese American community in the Gulf Coast right now in the aftermath of yet another disaster — the oil spill. The level of awareness and concern that I felt in those conversations showed me what a small world we truly live in, and that global citizenship isn’t just a pipe dream.

"Garbage Dreams" filmmaker Mai Iskander at the Geneva Forum on Social Change

We were incredibly lucky that Mai Iskander, director of Garbage Dreams, was able to attend. Mai and I co-presented a workshop on community empowerment and education where we showcased The Garbage Dreams Game, an innovative online game that teaches us about the interconnectedness of recycling to local economies and the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. Mai also provided a great deal of insight into the Recycling School, a model program run by the Spirit of Youth Association which is featured in the film; through their efforts, young Zaballeen are not only given economic opportunities but educational opportunities where there would otherwise be none. Mai said of the experience, “the forum was an important opportunity to engage those interested in social entrepreneurship and sustainability in powerful dialogue. I am so honored that Garbage Dreams was included in a conference that offered real, objective insight into the nature of social and cultural progress.”

Keynote speakers at the GFSC included Marc Koska, founder of Safepoint and inventor of a non-reusable syringe, which cannot pass on an infection to further users; Arnaud Mourot, Executive Director of Ashoka Europe, a leading association of over 2,000 social entrepreneurs worldwide; Dr. Graham Clewer, Director of Ethical & Community Trade for The Body Shop; Arthur Wood, Founder of Total Impact Advisers, and a leader in creating and implementing new Social Financial models with cutting edge global social entrepreneurs.

My time in Geneva was deeply inspiring and invigorating and I’m looking forward to carrying this energy towards cultivating new partnerships with the many contacts made.

Chi Do
ITVS Associate Director of Communications

Between screenings, Lois discovers Banksy art behind the Egyptian Theater in Park City, Utah.

Marquee at the Egyptian Theatre

Arriving in Park City, Utah at 8:00 AM on Friday morning, January 22, a couple of things were clear: it was doubtful that I would get caught up on sleep here. The list of documentaries I needed to screen in the next five and a half days was growing faster than the snowdrift that lay between me and our condo front door –– and this was going to be a snowy Sundance.

Three ITVS funded films were featured at 2010 Sundance: Last Train Home by Lixin Fan, The Oath by Laura Poitras, and My Perestroika by Robin Hessman. My colleagues Claire Aguilar and Cynthia Kane attended their screenings and I headed out to find new shows for Independent Lens acquisition consideration.

Seventeen films, countless shuttle rides, bad sandwiches on the run, and many snowstorms later, here’s what I remember now that I’m back in sunny San Francisco.

• Discovering Banksy street art on Main Street at 8:00 AM, Monday morning, en route to an early morning screening. I know there has to be more so I’m in hot pursuit…
• The Impact Partners party on Saturday night. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, is in the house. We end up talking about the now-canceled TV show Life, and the joys of working with Adam Arkin with whom she starred.
• Unique offerings at Sundance 2010: Utopia in Four Movements by Sam Green; Double Take by Johan Grimonprez; and Saint Louis Blues by Dyana Gaye, a 48-minute musical documentary from Senegal. Too long but totally unexpected.
• Finding out when the next special screening of Exit Through the Gift Shop will take place. Banksy pursuit continues…

• Hanging with Lisa Heller at the HBO party. Real food while sitting down.
• Discover another Banksy behind the Egyptian Theater. A rat with 3-D glasses. He obviously knows more about the film industry than one might think.
• Lunch with Cooper, Cort, David, Saundra, and Cinda – the Sundance old timers. I realize we’ve known each other more than 20 years, since I was hired for the 1990 Sundance Film Festival. Cooper is still the funniest person at the table.
• Catfish is getting the buzz, buzz, buzz.
• Not as much swag as past festivals — landfills across the country sigh in relief.
• Great one-on-one meetings with filmmakers at Miner’s Hospital. Many great projects-in-progress including: An American Promise by Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster, Regarding Susan Sontag by Nancy Kates, 25 to Life by Michael Brown and Yvonne Shirley, Rose and Nangabire by Beth Davenport, Elizabeth Mandel, and Kathy Chevigny to name just a few.
• Joan Rivers. (Yes, that Joan Rivers). Work alcoholic? Who knew. Too much plastic surgery? Definitely. But she ain’t afraid to speak her mind and after 14 films about the troubles in the world its good to laugh out loud.
• Tuesday morning: three hours at the Commissioning Editors Round Table Meetings. Can’t help but wonder how so many independent filmmakers persist, but they do.
• More snow… stuck on a shuttle bus. Get to the theater in time for the screening but only front row seats still open. Will need a neck brace if this happens again.
• Exit Through the Gift Shop.
• This would be a great film to leave Sundance on but I have three more films to see before I leave in 20 hours.
• Someone painted over Banksy’s art on the barn outside Park City. (Feels like the Grey Ghost in New Orleans all over again).

If all goes well, three of the films that unspooled at Sundance 2010 will have their television premiere 12 to16 months from now on Independent Lens.

Leaving the festival last night it was obvious I hadn’t done anything to erase my sleep deficit. Documentary filmmakers (especially those working with international themes and sometimes with less money) were thriving, and sloshing through the snow to make it to four or five screenings a day requires commitment, warm gloves and the willingness to occasionally hitch hike in Park City if you just cannot get a taxi.

- Lois
Vice president and Independent Lens series producer

I spent last weekend in Izmir, Turkey, where I had the pleasure of participating in a unique training program for documentary filmmakers, Greenhouse. Supported by the European Union, Greenhouse creates cultural exchange between countries in the Mediterranean region, including the Middle East.  Selecting more than a dozen filmmaker teams with their documentary projects, Greenhouse stages three seminars and training workshops over the course of the year. Emphasizing creative documentary with innovative cinematic approaches, Greenhouse gives filmmakers unique tutorial sessions with strong experts and mentors, and culminates in a pitching session with international commissioning editors from around the world. This last session was a showcase of these documentaries, and although they are still in development, we could see the potential of the great films that they would become.

Izmir is known historically as Smyrna, and although I didn’t know much about it before now except for its famed golden raisins, it is a large port city on the Aegean sea. Izmir was chosen as a location for its accessibility, since the filmmakers who participated in Greenhouse came from Turkey as well as Egypt, Palestine and Israel.

Guy Davidi (producer) and Emad Bornat (director/producer) of 5 BROKEN CAMERAS.

The projects had gone through two previous stages of development, working with top-notch editors Joelle Alexis, Maaik Krijgsman and Srdjan Fink — and with documentary experts Lucinda Broadbent, who ran a pitching workshop, and Paul Pauwels, who coached teams and moderated the pitching session. Mentors Steve Seidenberg, John Appel, Nenad Puhovski and Hans Robert Eisenhauer worked with the teams on editorial and content.

After the pitching forum, ITVS gave a $15,000 research and development prize to the strongest of the 13 projects. Selected by the participating commissioning editors, including Tabitha Jackson (Channel 4/UK), Margie de Koning (IKON/Netherlands), Leena Pasanen (YLE/Finland), Alex Szalat (Arte France) and Marieanne Bergmann (Film Fund Hamburg/Germany), the prize was awarded to the astonishing and courageous 5 BROKEN CAMERAS by Emad Bornat and Guy Davidi. Director/producer Emad Bornat stated: “My name is Emad Bornat. I am a cameraman. During the last five years I have had five different video cameras and each camera has lived certain events. Each camera tells a story. When I started filming it was a way of reacting to reality, but soon after, it became a way of survival.” The footage from Emad’s five cameras ranged from the personal lives of his family and his friends, to the landscapes of his village home near Ramallah in the West Bank, being bulldozed. Other footage features violent demonstrations where soldiers shoot gas bullets — even capturing one of Emad’s friends who is hit by a gas bullet as he rolls to ground and dies. It is remarkable and fearless in its intimate point of view of documentation of life in Palestinian village. Israeli producer Guy Davidi, states that the “real story of resistance comes alive through filmmaking” and it is seen clearly through his own collaboration on this Israeli-Palestinian film.

Greenhouse showcased many other strong documentaries in the making. I am certain that many of them will progress well enough to come to ITVS for international funding in February 2010 and will be competitive candidates. They will surely tell stories that American audiences haven’t heard, and hopefully give us insight and perspectives that we haven’t seen. Next year, Greenhouse is looking for projects about racism and human rights for their development training program. For information and application, see: www.ghfilmcentre.org.

Special thanks to the Greenhouse team for organizing a dynamic and captivating event: Sigal Yehuda, Yair Lev and Sarah Assouline.

- Claire Aguilar
ITVS Vice President of Programming

Matthew Meschery, director of Digital Initiatives, and Karim Ahmad, programming manager, present the new FUTURESTATES iPhone application.

Last week, on the heels of the announcement about FUTURESTATES, a new online fictional series by ITVS, I had the pleasure of previewing the series and one of its key distribution and promotional tools at this year’s AFI Digifest. This was part of AFI’s Digital Content Lab, an incubation program where content makers and technical innovators collaborate to create new media projects. For ITVS, it was our first-ever iPhone application.

This is the third year ITVS has collaborated, and this time, we really sought to break new ground. FUTURESTATES is about the future––each episode presents a different filmmaker’s vision of the not-too-distant future, allowing them to use speculative and science fiction to comment on current events. We were determined to match this content with technical innovation in our distribution approach. That’s how we got the idea of the FUTURESTATES iPhone application.

To go from the basic concept to the presentation of the prototype took us less than two months, due solely to the talent and resourcefulness of the team AFI put together for us. We worked with iPhone app developers Omnilogic Systems, based out of Saskatoon Saskatchewan (that’s right, Saskatoon) and new media guru Garnet Hertz. We started with the basics––full episodes from the series as well as behind the scenes photos and videos streaming to your iPhone––because after all, the future is content accessible anywhere on-demand.

But that was just the beginning – what we really wanted was a way to use the iPhone to engage audiences––to go beyond the literal content of the episodes and inspire people to talk about the future of this country and the world. We discussed data “visualizers,” wikis, newsfeeds, social apps. Ultimately, we decided to combine all of these into an innovative new game called the Future Feed, an interactive timeline allowing users to see the backstory of each episode of FUTURESTATES (i.e., the filmmakers’ predictions of the future) laid out graphically. Users would be able to make their own predictions and comment on other users’ predictions about the future.

Armed with a prototype and a video teaser of the series, Matthew Meschery, ITVS’s director of Digital Initiatives, and I headed down to LA to present the project at AFI Digifest. Between presentations of web-based mentoring platforms and augmented reality campaigns, and alongside Digital Content Lab mentors like DavidLynch.com and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, ITVS unveiled the FUTURESTATES series. Along with with Omnilogic, we conducted a live demo of the app to a packed house and got an overwhelmingly positive response.

The attendees were genuinely impressed and refreshed to see that not only does ITVS maintain its commitment to supporting fiction filmmaking, but that even after all our new media forays to date, we continue to make new strides forward into the field of digital distribution and promotion¬¬––this time, on the iPhone.

Though personally, for FUTURESTATES season 2, I’m hoping for an app that shoots laser beams.

-Karim Ahmad, ITVS programming manager

Filmmaker Christen Marquez with her mother Elena Marquez, both subjects of the documentary work-in-progress HAKU INOA: To Weave a Name.

Richard Saiz gives out homework. Really, there was a take home assignment.

Filmmaker Sarah Del Seronde presents her project on a family in Tonga to the panel.

Every time I return to Hawai‘i, I am grateful to see my Mom, spend time with her, and learn from her. As a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) of mixed heritage currently living in California, I truly appreciate any opportunity to learn from all the people I meet here on the islands. This trip was exceptionally exciting because I was one of 19 fortunate documentary producers and directors selected to attend the Pacific X-change conference, which was a collaboration between ITVS and Pacific Islanders In Communications. Held in the Prince Kuhio hotel in Waikiki, the workshop consisted of two days of workshops and pitching sessions.

At the beginning of the conference ITVS Senior Programming Manager Richard Saiz revealed that he has read an astonishing 8,000 documentary proposals. Wow! I would probably have brain damage. Thankfully, instead of crippling himself, Richard has gained great insight into what goes into a successful treatment. Just one memorable tidbit he shared with us was his holy trinity of doc proposal writing. Which distilled to premise, theme and story. If you can make each of these elements truly compelling Richard swears that you will be successful.

Up next was lovely local girl Cheryl Hirasa, who also happens to be a production manager at ITVS. By coincidence, she was in Hawai‘i visiting family and actually gave up some of her vacation to attend the conference. She presented a workshop on producing for public television, which helped explain deliverables and public television distribution.

On the second day independent filmmaker Lisette Marie Flanary (American Aloha, NA KAMALEI: The Men of Hula) gave a case study presentation of her experiences getting funding. She was heartbreakingly honest about the arduous task of getting a documentary funded. Her overall presentation remained positive and she stressed the importance of persistence and being open to criticism––encouraging us to not only be artistic, but also responsible and to think of our films as a small business enterprise.

The most difficult and helpful part of the conference for me and the five other presenting filmmakers were the project pitches. Each presenter spoke before a panel of six judges including Derek Hoppe and Robert Pennybacker from PBS Hawaii and Leanne Ferrer of Pacific Islanders in Communications. Sometimes the criticism was harsh, but I think each of our projects will be stronger for it.

One of the presenting filmmakers Jacob Holcomb, who is currently working on a film about the revitalization of the art of Tongan tattooing, said this of the conference “The Pacific has so many stories, but our access to these kinds of resources is limited because of geography. We all learned a lot not only about putting together winning proposals, but actually became better storytellers. It was great to meet all the other presenters from across the country and outer islands as well. I can’t wait to see these projects on national television”

Richard and Cheryl, I hope that you will find your way back to Hawai’i soon to provide Pacific Island filmmakers with more encouragement and resources to help us elevate our projects to the strict standards demanded for national television broadcast. From all of us Mahalo nui, me ke aloha pumehana! Many thanks and warm wishes!

- Christen Marquez
Independent documentary filmmaker.

Learn more about her projects >>

Check out more pictures and stories of other participants from the Pacific X-change workshop on the Paradocs Productions blog >>

Situated in the Italian Alps about one hour North of Torino (aka Turin––think Fiat and the Shroud), Bardonecchia is a charming, albeit quiet, town in summer, making it a fantastic place to focus on documentary. In winter, I’m told that it’s a far different scene––packed with skiers, snowboarders and glamorous Italians. Most people know Bardonecchia as one to the sites of the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics.

Although the event doesn’t officially begin until Wednesday, many participants arrived early this week to attend the Pitching Forum. There were several successful pitches from the past––including two ITVS International docs: THE MOSQUITO PROBLEM & OTHER STORIES, produced by Martichka Bozhilova and directed by Andrey Paounov, and JOURNALS OF A WILY SCHOOL, produced by Debu Bhattacharyya and directed by Sudeshna Bose. In total there were 23 projects during the two days of the Pitching Forum. I also kept busy by attending a matchmaking/development session with 14 projects that were pitched and discussed at length. This session was the most interesting to me since I’ve never seen most of the projects, thus it had many good possibilities for International Call 2010.

There were not only filmmakers and producers from Europe, but from various parts of the world – including three fantastic projects from India, a Malaysian filmmaker tackling topics related to Japan and several filmmakers with dual citizenship. Maria Yatskova, a U.S.-Russian-Azerbaijani filmmaker was present with a fantastic project, Cententarians of Azerbaijan. Her previous film, Miss Gulag, won multiple awards and has been broadcast, quite literally, around the world. Filmmaker Tomas Sheridan is a U.S.-Italian citizen living and making films in Scotland. His documentary Archive of Dreams opened the week’s screenings along with Bjarte Thoresen and Bente Olav’s When Castro Seized the Hilton.

The Indian filmmakers and producers had enormous difficulties this year getting visas due to the G8 summit––taking place near Rome, nowhere near Bardonecchia in the North––so go figure. Nilotpal Majumdar, director of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata, where DocEdge is hosted each January, was unable to come at all in the end. One pitch, English is Easy, was done by Skype by its filmmaker/producer Sayak Bhattacharya. Thank the gods for 21st century technology!

There was much talk of 360-multiplatform strategy in both Matchmaking and the Pitch. Not all the filmmakers are thinking this way, but the majority have either well-designed 360 elements or are at least in the idea stages of how to enhance a core documentary (very much in line of the thinking at ITVS).

And several Italian broadcasters were present––Lorenzo Hendel and Luca Franco of Rai 3, who launched a new creative doc strand two weeks ago with Raffele Brunetti’s Hair India––and the young and brilliant Davide Scalenghe of Current-Italy, sister channel of Current-U.S., but with a twist. They show both short form as well as long form documentaries and is one of the most watched channels in the country. Current-U.S., I am told, is looking to make some changes due to the success of the Italian model.

Finally we were fed fully and richly in intellect, body and soul (yes, unbelievable meals and Piemontese wines – oh yeah!) A week very much worthwhile.

-Cynthia
ITVS International Programming Manager

Dragon forum pitch session.

The 49th Krakow Film Festival kicked off with Paul Mazursky’s Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy as its opening night film, which was followed almost immediately by the Polish premiere of UNMISTAKEN CHILD, an ITVS International co-production with filmmaker Nati Baratz who introduced the film to the jammed-packed theater with renowned Polish director Andrzej Wajda in attendance.

Now I must say I have admired Mazursky for a long time and even loved some of his films. This one was a lot of fun (and at times LOL-fun) watching Mazursky and gang travel to Uman in the Ukraine for Rosh Hashanah to celebrate joyously at the burial site of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, the founder of Kabbalah. And might I add, slightly different in tone to UNMISTAKEN CHILD. By the end of the week, Nati was awarded the Best Documentary Feature Prize––the Golden Horn for “both an impressive, thorough and undoubtedly genuine and intimate” documentary about a Buddhist monk’s pursuit of the reincarnation of his beloved lama. A documentary “that transforms into a story about the mystery of human life, and a perfect combination of an attractive form and intimate portrait of a deeply believing monk and his relationship with the unmistaken little boy.”

Krakow is kind of the perfect place to attend a film festival. It’s the artistic and cultural center of Poland with four universities on hand, an exquisite former capital that survived complete destruction during World War II. You can watch a number of films and then either take a meditative walk along the greenway that marks the former city walls or find yourself in a bar like Singer in the Kazimierz neighborhood (the old Jewish quarter) discussing for hours what you’ve just seen. It’s paradise for a film and doc nerd like me.

I presented ITVS International at the Krakow Film Market and had a packed auditorium in the National Museum. Since Nati was in town, I invited him to the front to speak about his experiences making the film and working with us. I know the logistics about how we work, what we’re looking for and our next International Call deadline (on February 5, 2010) are useful, but there’s no better way for filmmakers and producers to understand and know ITVS than through their filmmaking peers. Immediately afterward, I was once again talking on a panel about international co-production with Stefan Kloos (Rise and Shine Sales), UK/US producer Steven Seidenberg, Danielle DiGiacomo (Indie Pix), Patricia Finneran (Sundance Documentary Program) and Ina Rossow (Deckert Film Distribution). Later, a group of us joined the Andrzej Wajda Film School’s dinner in a wonderful old restaurant in the Kazimierz and then a festival and film market party.

Dragon Forum is an annual documentary film workshop in the middle of Europe. It included pitching and giving practical advice on development and production of a film for international audiences produced by Dorota Roszkowska and Arkana Studio with support from the Andrze Wajda Film School. Earlier in the week, the workshop gathered for the third and final time to rehearse their project pitches, then for the following two days, commissioning editors from the Polsih broadcasters as well as from all over Europe and two Americans –me and Patricia Finneran on Sundance–participated in the pitching forum. The tutors on hand included filmmakers Rada Sesic and Marcel Lozinski, producer Steven Seidenberg and Simone Bauman moderated the sessions where 24 projects were presented. It was a wonderful chance to encounter this group of filmmakers from parts of the world we want to reach out to with the hopes of funding in future calls.

Sadly I had to leave beautiful Krakow… and my next challenge was to get back to San Francisco in time for our annual Diversity Retreat!

-Cynthia
ITVS International Programming Manager

On Friday, June 5, Beyond the Box Blog hosted a live streaming discussion about this issue from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication, which was streamed simultaneously at the Geneva Forum on Social Change, a global event co-sponsored by ITVS with keynote speaker Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Moderator Sandy Tolan, journalism professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication, led a discussion about developing media strategies with Enrica Colusso, filmmaker of ABC COLOMBIA; Tamara Gould, vice president of distribution at Independent Television Service International; and Diana Diaz, commissioning editor and head of programming and content at the Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia. This panel also explored the role of independent and public media in changing the way the world sees America and Americans see the world, and examined case studies of documentary exchanges that connect citizens with citizens through traditional broadcast, new media, outreach and co-production relationships.

Missed the live stream? Watch the full discussion below (TRT: 90 minutes):

Click To Play

The 11th Israel Market for International Co-Productions.

I just participated in the 11th Israel Co-Production Forum in Tel Aviv. It was my fourth time at the Co-Pro and in Israel, and as always it was an inspiring and invigorating experience.

This was a special year for ITVS, where we were honored with a special tribute for films that we produced with Israeli producers as well as films presented by ITVS International through co-productions or acquisition. The tribute to ITVS opened with the film BE LIKE OTHERS, by Tanaz Eshaghian and Peter Wintonick, which explores transsexual counterculture in Iran. This unprecedented film explores the re-assignment of gender in a Muslim country, where sex-sex operations offer a cure for “diagnosed transsexuals.” In Israel, there obviously is interest in Iran on all levels, and this film offered insight into an intimate part of the culture. Nine other films were featured in the ITVS tribute including ON THE BORDERS OF DESPERATION, STORM OF EMOTIONS, YOUNG YAKUZA, PICKLES, INC. and UNMISTAKEN CHILD. These films will tour in cinematheques across Israel.

The tribute to ITVS was a great kick-off for the Co-Production Forum, which presented its 11th edition of 27 co-productions from Israeli producers in the development and production stage. This is one of the finest co-production forums in existence, helmed with insight and dedication by Orna Yarmut and her talented team, and superbly moderated by Pat Ferns, the father of the documentary public pitch, which he launched 35 years ago at the Banff Film Festival. The Co-Pro assembles the projects and their producers and presents them to a 15-member panel of commissioning editors and broadcasters from all over the world, including Jean Pelletier (CBC-Télévision Radio-Canada), DRTV (Denmark), Iikka Vehkalahti (YLE, Finland), Alax Szalat and Marianne Lévy-Leblond (Arte France), Nick Fraser (BBC Storyville), Hans-Robert Eisenhauer (ZDF/Arte, Germany), Mette Hoffman-Meyer (DR, Denmark) and many others.

Each year the projects pitched are informative and thought-provoking, offering a range of points of view of many subjects, and not only about the Middle East conflict.

In the past 15 years, Israel has produced a striking number of excellent documentary producers including Yulie Cohen (My Terrorist), Yoav Shamir (Checkpoint) and Ari Folman (WALTZ WITH BASHIR). Ari Folman’s project WALTZ WITH BASHIR was one of the first Israeli projects that I commissioned through ITVS International during my first visit to Israel. Simply based on an innovative idea and a single animated scene and aptly pitched from Folman, who had limited documentary experience, it was clear that this film would be original and historic.

This Co-Pro contained veteran and new producers, and covered subjects as diverse as: a look at Dead Sea as it dries up and collapses; a Polish priest who discovers that he is actually born to Jewish parents and decides to return to Israel; sales agents peddling weapons and technologies for urban warfare; multicultural and multi-religious 8-years olds in a classroom in Tel Aviv, Russian neo-Nazis and their dreams of ethnic cleansing.

In two days I heard a wide and dizzying array of subjects, approaches, filmmaking styles and sometimes personal confessions! After the seven-minute verbal pitch for each presentation, we watched video samples and gave critiques and feedback, and sometimes there was a pre-buy commitment from a broadcaster.

The Co-Pro also organized a German delegation pitching to Israeli broadcasters, and presented a sampling of 360 multi-platform projects that were included in our mix of creative documentaries and social issues. An enriching experience, and hopefully we can return with more great projects from this country and creative talent pool.

“Toda raba” to Dror Moreh for his saavy technical assistance (card reader)…

- Claire
ITVS Vice President of Programming