Submit to the 10th International DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting! Deadline 1st August 2014

Last call from DOK Leipzig:

‘Dear Friends and Colleagues,

***Less than 10 days to submit your film in development to the 10th International DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting!!***

If you are looking for co-production partners and to meet financiers in an intimate and productive environment, we invite you to submit your projects now for consideration. Deadline August 1.

Find more information the online submission form here:
http://www.dok-leipzig.de/industry-training/industry-offers/meet_and_pitch/co-production-meeting

The two day programme (27 & 28 October 2014) offers:

– Individual Meetings with broadcasters, film funds, sales and distributors and other potential partners and financiers. For a list of industry representatives at DOK Leipzig in 2013, please click here.
– Individual Meetings with your fellow producers, offering you and them the chance to build international co-productions, also with a small selection of hand-picked German production companies.
– The most up to date information on working internationally and networking opportunities through our round table sessions and case studies.
– Unstructured space for colleagial exchange and networking in a friendly, intimate and productive environment.

Against the backdrop of DOK Leipzig: the 57th Festival for Documentary and Animated Film. We will also welcome a delegation of Catalonian Producers, organized with Catalonian Films & TV.

Good luck and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions! (oshea@dok-leipzig.de)

Brigid O’Shea & Christine Hille

DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting: call for projects in development

From our friends at DOK Leipzig:

“Dear Friends,
We are so pleased to announce that the 10th International DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting is now open for submissions. We are looking for:

Creative documentaries in development that are international in scope and looking for diverse financing partners, from Germany and abroad. In particular, theatrical documentaries intended for cinema release, however one-offs, series and trans/cross media projects are also welcome to apply.

The application deadline is August 1, 2014.

The 10th International DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting will take place on the 27 and 28 October. The two-day programme consists of individual meetings between producers, potential financiers including commissioning editors, film funds, distributors, and sales agents, as well as carefully-selected German producers looking for international projects. We also offer the most up-to-date information on working with international partners through our case studies and round tables. Participation costs 180 Euros for one participant, 260 for two (ex. VAT), including festival accreditations for the 57th DOK Leipzig Festival for Animated and Documentary Film.

This year we will focus on working with Scotland and countries of the Former Yugoslavia. Once again we will welcome projects from our partner initiatives Ex Oriente/IDF, Dragon Forum and Pitching Doc Montevideo.

For more information and the online submission form please click here: http://www.dok-leipzig.de/industry-training/industry-offers/meet_and_pitch/co-production-meeting

We are looking forward to your projects and wish you all the best for the upcoming summer!

Brigid & Christine”

‘Silent Signal’ work in progress website by Animate! Projects

Image by Samantha Moore for Silent Signal.

Animate! projects with the Wellcome Trust has commissioned six artist/scientist teams to put forward ideas for possible animated works under a project called Silent Signal.

“Silent Signal explores how research into genetics, cell biology, immunology and epidemiology is advancing our understanding of how the human body communicates with itself, how it adapts to fight disease and how environment affects the chain reaction. Six biomedical scientists who are furthering these fields with cutting-edge research are collaborating with six artists who use a variety of animation techniques and new digital technologies in their artistic practice. Through these collaborations audiences will be engaged with the biological processes that their bodies perform with an artistic approach to communicating the science.”

They have published the process on their blog http://www.silentsignal.org/, which is a fascinating insight into the collaborative relationship between the scientists and artists. The site also shows work in progress of various applications of animation  from animated documentary, participatory animated documentary, game art through to interactive experiences using animation.

http://www.silentsignal.org/

http://www.animateprojects.org/

 

‘Another day of life’ by Raul de la Fuente & Damian Nenow

A hybrid film featuring live action alongside animated documentary, this is the story of Ryszard Kapuscinski, a journalist covering independence movements throughout Africa in the 1970’s.

The animation and style is sublime, building on the style associated with ‘Waltz with Bashir’.

We are not sure when this film will be completed – but we anticipate its release!

You can read the review here:

http://twitchfilm.com/2013/06/watch-the-astounding-trailer-for-hybrid-animation-documentary-another-day-of-life.html

You can visit the website here:

http://anotherdayoflifefilm.com/en/index.html

‘The Vanni’ by Benjamin Dix

‘The Vanni’ is a graphic novel set in Sri Lanka, India and the UK and follows the story of a fictional Tamil family living in a fishing village in Sri Lanka. The story starts in 2004 following the Tsunami and takes us through to the following conflict and then life for the family surviving as refugees.

The concept comes from Bejamin Dix, a former UN staff member who spent 4 years living in Sri Lanka until 2008 when all NGO’s were asked to leave Sri Lanka. He has teamed up with illustrator Lindsay Pollack. The story and images are based on his real life experiences of living and working with communities after the Tsunami and as refugees.

The graphic novel is still in production, but you can see an interactive preview on their website.

http://www.thevanni.co.uk/

Call for applications to DOK Leipzig’s Net Lab

“An inspirational conference lab on the current trends of new media providing access to new information, intense networking and individual support for transmedia projects linked to documentary or animation.

Friday & Saturday, 1 & 2 November 2013

The DOK Leipzig Net Lab 2013 is a two part conference lab open for transmedia creatives, thinkers and makers. It offers intense individual support for your cross-media project, with an in-depth look at interactive storytelling and media architecture.

Film-makers, media professionals and transmedia creatives are invited to apply with their multi-platform projects linked to documentary and/or animated film. Up to eight projects will be selected from all applications and the head producer and two team members are invited to participate.

Deadline for project entries: AUGUST 18, 2013

Filmmakers, media professionals and transmedia enthusiasts without a project are also welcome to attend. Please apply till: SEPTEMBER 18, 2013.

We offer participants with and without projects new insights and inspirations on transmedia storytelling and production and provide a platform to exchange, network and join forces with experienced colleagues and media professionals.

Costs:
Participation fee with project (day 1 and 2): 250 € per project incl. 7% VAT and one festival accreditation amounting to 80 €.

Participantion fee without project (day 1): 120 € per person incl. 7% VAT and one festival accreditation amounting to 80 €.”

More info at: http://www.dok-leipzig.de/industry-training/training/dok-leipzig-net-lab

‘Dole Animators’ Trailer

Dole Animators is a group of benefit claimants based in the UK who are working together to make an animated documentary about the reality of the impact of the governments recent welfare reform.

The final film will use a mixture of stopmotion and collage animation.

Animateddocumentary.com’s Ellie Land is working with the group in partnership with Ruth Patrick, a researcher from Leeds University.

The final film will be released in Autumn 2013, you can watch the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fTsXDVHYOBw

Crowd funding ‘The Last 40 Miles’, a film by Alex Hannaford

Although not claiming to be an animated documentary The Last 40 Miles, ‘a short animated film about life, death and compassion’, is based on a true story. The mixed media animation refers to the real life narrative of a death row inmate whom Alex Hannaford, writer and director, came across while working as a journalist covering the Texas prison system.

Not yet completed, the filmmakers have chosen to use crowd funding to raise the rest of the capital they need to pay the production costs. Crowd funding has become an integral resource for contemporary independent filmmaking. Although not a new phenomenon, the advent of social media and specially designed sights has lead to greater numbers of productions choosing this root.

Often such campaigns offer rewards in exchange for donations, the highest levels of philanthropy resulting in a credit as executive producer. Follow the link below to see how the team have used a short video to pitch to potential donators. Indiegogo, the fundraising platform also allows us to observe their progress.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-last-40-miles?c=home

‘Green Porno’ by Isabella Rossellini & Jody Shapiro

No animation here, but a new way with documentary story-telling which we feel sure you’ll want to see!

Five years ago, the most iconic of David Lynch’s heroines, Isabella Rossellini, went from ‘Blue Velvet’ to ‘Green Porno.’ The actress and student of biology took on the characters of a mantis, a dolphin, a bedbug, a snail and many more, all for the purpose of enhancing our knowledge on the sex lives of animals.

These educational, experimental videos see Rossellini in full species costume, puppeteering her cardboard mates, whilst providing thoroughly researched narrative in her sultry accent.

Rossellini recently gave an interview for the Independent to discuss a new series for 2013, ‘Mamas’. This time she’s exploring maternal instincts in the animal kingdom.

For those who missed the online series (if you’re past the PG age) I’d recommend watching all of the ‘Green Porno’ videos.

In North America you can view them and lots more info on the Sundance Channel website http://www.sundancechannel.com/series/greenporno/

Elsewhere you’ll need to watch on Youtube:

Also available on iTunes for $9.99.

You’ll never look at an earthworm in the same way again.

‘February’ from 365 Days by the Brothers McLeod

365 – February from The Brothers McLeod on Vimeo.

Might be pushing it a bit here, but the makers describe their project to make 1 second of animation a day, every day of 2013, thus:

‘Some of the days are things that happened, others are things that have been fired off in our imaginations, and some are inspired by other people – particularly music or sounds given to us by our collaborators’.

So on the basis that some of what you see here is autobiography, of a sort, enjoy!