Agents for change
Puma, announcing its long-term partnership with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation late last week in London, involves a number of key awards and programmes to support the medium of documentaries, recognising and rewarding them as powerful vehicles for change.
Applications for grants are now open at www.britdoc.org/puma.
Another key element of the relationship is the launch of the PUMA.Creative Impact Awards offering inaugural grants to aid the production of documentaries. The first ten winners were announced at the Awards Ceremony held at the Criterion, London on 10 September, attended by Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, His Royal Highness Prince Hamzah of Jordan and UK actress Ophelia Lovibond. One of the winning entries is The Wretched of the Rainbow, directed by South African Riaan Hendricks on the xenophobic attacks its poor want to wage against black foreign nationals. This is a story in search of heroes-leaders from the most conflict-ridden areas "affected" by the presence of foreigners. Where, with conviction, they are engaged in a great battle to capture the heart and minds of their communities as they champion justice for a peaceful co-existence.
At the 3rd cycle meeting of the NFVF Council in early September, its management recommended funding seven feature films and four documentaries, that have previously been funded in development, for production. This is the first time the council has made such a recommendation and is indicative of the rigorous development process instituted over the past three years, with script editors assigned to every promising feature concept or project and a hands-on development process for all documentaries.
Unfortunately, only five of these feature projects can be funded out of this year's budget, with the remaining two being rolled over for reconsideration in the new financial year, commencing 1 April 2011. A limited number of documentary applications for production may still be considered in the present financial year.
After a 17-day run in Cape Town and a satellite run in Johannesburg, Encounters has announced the winners of the annual Audience Awards for Best South African and International Documentary of the 12th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival 2010.
The audience award referee, Professor Tim Dunne, head of Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Cape Town, analysed the eligible ballot forms submitted by the Cape Town festival-goers. The NFVF is the primary sponsor of the Festival.
