Michel Wenzer will share his experience of filming in a maximum security prison with men who will never be free again. He will also discuss the importance of soundscape and sound design in documentary.

FREE but places are limited so please RSVP to flore@scottishdocinstitute.com

At Night I Fly will screen at the Glasgow Film Festival on Wednesday 22 February – 3:45pm – Book your seat here!

We are delighted to announce the selected filmmakers:
Alasdair Bayne – In search of the Wallaby
Paul Fegan – Pouters
Yu-Hsueh Lin – Takeaway
Chico Pereira – Seafarers

More hard work ahead! The films are expected for delivery by the end of May 2012.

Consistently picking up awards, BAFTA’s, special mentions and festival screenings in over 40 countries worldwide, Bridging the Gap is one of the leading documentary new talent initiatives for cinema in the UK. It offers an intense creative training programme alongside production and distribution. This year the four short documentaries have been allocated a budget of up to £16K each (8K cash, 8K in-kind).

Bridging the Gap is supported by Creative Scotland and Edinburgh College of Art (Edinburgh University)

Bart Simpson has produced ‘The Corporation’ (Sundance winner), a documentary exploring the curious history, inner workings, controversial impacts and potential future of corporations, and Frederik Gertten’s ‘Bananas!’, on Nicaraguan banana workers battling against Dole Food and their use of a banned pesticide.

Can films change the world? How do you raise awareness through documentaries? And how do you turn films into movements?

Don’t miss this great opportunity to get an experienced producer’s answers to these burning questions!

FREE but places are limited so please RSVP to flore@scottishdocinstitute.com

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Rosie Crerar, Program Manager said: “The jury felt the film was outstanding, and reached a unanimous decision very quickly tonight”

The Flickerfest Film Festival is held during the summer on the glorious sands of Bondi Beach, Australia. Now in it’s 21^st  year the film festival is the only competitive short film festival in Australia. In 2003 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science elected to recognise Flickererfest as a qualifying festival for the Best Short Film and Best Animation categories of the Academy® Awards. In 2010, Flickerfest was also recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), making films from the UK that won at Flickerfest, eligible for a BAFTA nomination. They are the only short film festival in Australia with BAFTA and Academy® accredited status.

Directors Adrian McDowall and Finlay Pretsell said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be given the award for Best Documentary Film at Flickerfest. What a great way to start the film’s festival circuit! This is a fantastic achievement to get to this point. The film was such a challenge to make at every step of the way – the award goes to everyone who worked tirelessly on the film to get it finished and of course the generous help of the Scottish Prison Service and the prisoners that opened up their lives and allowed us to tell this story”.

Sonja Henrici, Head of Development at Scottish Documentary Institute said: “It’s exciting to see the continued success of proven short film talent with a 30’ documentary this time. SDI has been delighted to be part of the team.”

The film was screened on BBC2 in November and screened yesterday at London Short Film Festival. The film was produced by Imagine Pictures and DigiCult and funded by Creative Scotland, UK Film Council and BBC Scotland.

Leslie Finlay of Creative Scotland said: “Creative Scotland is delighted that Cutting Loose has won a major prize at this prestigious film festival.  It celebrates the depth of documentary talent being invested and supported by Creative Scotland across Scotland.”

Bridging the Gap PLUS offers the opportunity to work closely with SDI, through bespoke and individual consultancies, and get a 30 min commission from BBC Scotland. We are looking for filmmakers willing to develop creative projects for television and a festival distribution.

There is no imposed theme but we would strongly encourage filmmakers to explore Scottish stories.

6 projects will be selected on the basis of the proposal and the profile of the filmmaker. In the following weeks they will be developed and honed further through two individual consultancies. At the end of April, 2 of these 6 projects will be commissioned for broadcast by BBC Scotland and produced by SDI Productions. Expected delivery: early 2013

For more information, read our Guidelines, and Apply here.
Deadline to apply: Friday 24 February 2012 (midnight)

Bridging the Gap PLUS is supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland and BBC Scotland

Acclaimed filmmaker Vadim Jendreyko is doing us the honour to come to ECA and present his latest documentary ‘The Woman with the 5 Elephants’, unreleased in the UK. 

The screening will be followed by a masterclass.

“From a filmmaker at the top of his game, this film is a living Vermeer, beautifully framed, elegant and elegiac, with an artistic vision that mirrors and augments its subject. This graceful and compelling work explores how beauty and creativity can transcend the harshness of life, and the jury believes it will be as rewarding in 40 years as it is today.”  Grand Jury Award, Silverdocs, Sterling World Feature Price

Although witness to unspeakable horrors, eighty-five-year-old Svetlana Geier dedicated her life to language. Considered the greatest translator of Russian literature into German, Svetlana has just concluded her magnum opus, completing new translations of Dostoyevsky’s five great novels—known as “the five elephants.” As a precocious teenager living in Ukraine with an unusual facility for languages, Svetlana was brought to the attention of her country’s Nazi occupiers during World War II, and found uneasy refuge translating for them. She fled in 1943 and never returned … until now.

The film interweaves the story of Svetlana’s early life with her literary work, and follows her on her first trip back to her homeland after nearly six decades away, all the while revealing how a love of language outshines all else.

For more information on the film, go to www.5elefanten.ch or have a look at the Trailer.

FREE but places are limited so please RSVP to flore@scottishdocinstitute.com

The selection process was tough, as usual, and we decided to go for 11 projects in the end. We had a wide range of proposals from across Scotland, dealing amongst other things with immigration, unemployment, depression as well as a range of first person stories. But not all was gloomy and our development period will tease out new layers for each film. Thank you to everyone who applied. For those who didn’t get selected, Bridging the Gap will be back next year and watch out for other opportunities coming your way.

The short-listed filmmakers now have two months and two intense training workshops ahead of them to get their project ready for the commissioning pitch in early February 2012. We are looking forward to working with them!

Alasdair Bayne – Wallaby
Paul Fegan – Pouters
Martin Glegg – Glasgow and the Curiosity of Ice Cream Vans on Cold Nights
Shaun Glowa – Stuffed
Daniel Gough – The Boogie Woogie Swamp
Zak Hanif – My Dad the Reluctant Scot
Chris Leslie - The End of the Line
Marie Liden – Dead to the World
Yu-Hsueh Lin – Sweet and Sour
Wendy McMurdo – The Robot House
Chico Pereira – Seafarers

Bridging the Gap is supported by Creative Scotland and Edinburgh College of Art (Edinburgh University)

Agnes & Nancy

Agnes was diagnosed with dementia in her fifties. Five years have passed and she is still struggling with her new identity, and the loss of who she once was. A film about friendship and living with dementia.

Director/Producer: Anne Milne
Editor: Anne Milne
Camera: Anne Milne
Sound: Sabine Hellmann
Music: The Performers
Sound Edit/Mix: Rob Walker
Executive Producers: Ruth Barlett, Caroline Hick
Made possible with support from the Economic and
Social Research Council

Screening Formats: Digi Beta, HDCam, DV-Cam

Highlights:
IDFA, 2011 (The Netherlands)
Scottish Mental Health Film Festival, Edinburgh Filmhouse, 2011

If you are a festival programmer or buyer, please contact us if you’d like to view the film online.

Mariella Frostrup hosted The Grierson Awards 2011

Edinburgh College of Art student film triumphs at the British Documentary Awards

Bafta-winning graduate Lou McLoughlan picks up her third big prize this year

Scottish documentary talents continue to make an impact on the national and international stage.

Caring for Calum directed by Lou McLoughlan took the inaugural Sky Arts Best Student Documentary award. BBC’s Charlotte Moore, who chaired this jury said: “The jury was hugely impressed by this beautifully observed, poetic film. Very much in control of her material, the director showed real maturity and vision, by allowing the man’s disturbing and surprising story to unravel gently to produce a film that is both touching and gripping in equal measure.”

The Griersons 2011 – the most prestigious annual British Documentary Awards, supported by Sky Arts HD and Honda was hosted by presenter and cultural commentator, Mariella Frostrup (picture), the star-studded awards ceremony took place at the BFI Southbank where the great and good of the documentary world came together to celebrate another outstanding year of film-making.

Director Lou McLoughlan, who graduated from eca/Screen Academy Scotland last year said:
“The Grierson award is such a milestone in any documentary makers career that to get it at this stage is hugely encouraging. Its also a fitting tribute to the openness and the generosity of Uisdean and Calum who have entrusted extraordinary moments in their lives with me. This award from the Grierson’s also fortifies my conviction to create a full length version of the film, “Sixteen Years ’til Summer”.

Emma Davie, Programme Director Film & TV at Edinburgh College of Art / Screen Academy Scotland said:
“We’re delighted by Lou’s success with her MA film – to have this on top of her  two new talent BAFTAs wins really promises well for her further ambitions as a documentary maker. Her cohort of postgrads at Edinburgh College of Art (who have just left) have done exceptionally well internationally with their graduation films and I think the community of filmmakers they formed and their ability to support and challenge each other’s work whilst here, is something which we should all celebrate in Scotland. Space for these films on BBC Scotland or STV  would be wonderful! Local audiences should see the work which is winning prizes all over the world for Scotland !”

Robin Macpherson, Director of Screen Academy Scotland said:
“Lou McLouglan’s win, so shortly after Julian Schwanitz’s award at DokLeipzig, provides yet more evidence, if any were needed, of the great documentary talent flowing from eca and Scotland onto the world’s screens.”

Sonja Henrici, Head of Development at Scottish Documentary Institute said:
“To be nominated for a Grierson is a major achievement already. Winning this award is going to support Lou’s aim in making this story into a feature documentary, and SDI is committed to realising her ambition to tell this important story.”

Viewers will be able to see highlights of the awards in 11 mini-docs spread across the Sky Arts 1 schedule throughout November, or tune in to Sky Anytime from 8th November to see all the action from the complete ceremony

Ends/.

Link to Film Synopsis.

Link to Film: http://vimeo.com/31322834 (pass word protected, please contact us)

For further information, photos and full press release please contact: Sonja Henrici on tel: 0131 221 6125

Susan Korda edited the Oscar-nominated and Sundance-winner For All Mankind and Teddy winner Trembling Before G-D. She also writes and directs, and was most recently a producer on William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe. Her own work includes Vienna is Different and One of Us.

Korda will speak about her work, storytelling and the power of film editing. So come and get inspired!

Masterclass is free but places are limited so please RSVP to flore@scottishdocinstitute.com

Uisdean and Calum

After years in exile, Uisdean (58) returns to his home on the edge of a Highland loch, to face a complex past that threatens his ambition to look after his father. As 92 year old Calum recovers with the care and boisterous humour of a shared home with his son, a tragedy in Uisdean’s past unravels.

Director / Producer: Lou McLoughlan
Camera / Edit: Lou McLoughlan
Producer: Emma Davie
Produced by: Edinburgh College of Art

Highlights:
Winner Grierson Best Student Documentary Award 2011
Winner BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award for Best Director
Winner BAFTA Scotland Best Short Film Award
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Reykjavik International Film Festival
Cologne Film Festival

Link: Lou McLoughlan

You can watch it with a password (available on request) here: http://vimeo.com/31322834