Our latest Bridging the Gap films are beginning to make their way in the world and we’ll be able to announce some selections to festivals soon!
The audience at the World Premiere screening were partial to a special bit of information that we’d like to now share with you all. The theme for the next round of Bridging the Gap is …*drumroll please* … RED!
Our Director, Noe Mendelle had these inspirational words for all you potential applicants:
Red has more personal associations than any other colour.
Physically it increases enthusiasm, stimulates energy, encourages confidence, and recognised as a stimulant, red is inherently exciting. So many facts about red: did you know that it is the first colour you lose sight of at twilight and the only bright colour bees cannot see! Red is very present in all cultures, it even seeps in our subconscious through language: “in the red”, “red herring”, “paint the town red”, “seeing red” and of course with the short film you are going to hit the “red carpet”.
Pablo Picasso once said: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”. Everything Picasso did in his paintings can be applied to documentary. He went beyond making portraits in order to use the power of evocation and capture the spirit of the moment. That is why Picasso is a great anthem to simplicity and storytelling. It is beautifully captured in one of his paintings “Woman in Red Armchair” currently exhibited at the Tate.
I lived in Montmartre for a while and every morning I woke up with our concierge singing the best opera’s arias while washing the dustbins. She had run away from Franco’s civil war while studying music and never returned to Spain. As a memory to her youth, she kept a pair of red shoes on her window sill so she could fly away at night in her dreams. I often wondered if Almodovar had met her and used this recurrent image in his films.
We are looking for stories evoking RED and moving our understanding of people beyond it, tackling the complexity of being.
Never heard of Bridging the Gap?
Bridging the Gap is one of the leading documentary new talent initiatives in the UK, offering intensive training and commission opportunities to emerging filmmakers. The programme helps the filmmakers to develop their 10-minute documentary projects and allows them the chance to work closely with industry professionals and SDI over a period of nine months.
The films produced to date have enabled the filmmakers to take successful first steps in the industry, picking up awards, BAFTAs, special mentions and festival screenings in 60 countries world-wide.
If you, or a budding documentary filmmaker that you know, would like the chance to take part in Bridging the Gap this year then now is the time to start working on a project! We’ll open for applications in a few weeks and the deadline will be around the end of September. Finalised dates will be announced shortly and all the info will be on our Bridging the Gap page.
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