IDFA Bertha Fund activity report 2016

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Main Partner:

Activity Report 2016 1


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The Last Year of Congo Mirador, Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, Venezuela/UK, in production photo: John Marquez


The IDFA Bertha Fund is designed to stimulate and empower the creative documentary sector in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe by supporting innovative documentary projects by talented filmmakers from these regions.

MAIN PARTNER OF THE IDFA BERTHA FUND

TABLE OF CONTENTS

5 Highlights 2016

7 How we work

11 Funding documentary projects 11 IBF Selection 2016 11 Funding process

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Talent development IDFAcademy Summer School IDFAcademy at IDFA 2016 Tailor-made consultancies

19 Festival circulation & distribution 19 IBF Harvest at IDFA 2016 25 Festival circulation of IBF Docs Bertha Foundation supports activists, storytellers and lawyers that are working to bring about social and economic justice, and human rights for all. Envisioning a society in which activists build collective power, stories come from many different voices, and law is used as a tool for justice. By investing in the IDFA Bertha Fund the Foundation supports the global creative documentary field and films that make a difference. Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Director of Social Impact Media at Bertha, “We are proud to support the IDFA Bertha Fund, where we are consistently inspired by the depth and breadth of the projects being supported. The Fund plays an important role in strengthening the documentary field globally and we are honored to be part of it.”

27 IBF network 27 Meeting at IDFA 28 International collaborations

30 30 31 32 33 36 38 40 40 41 41 42

Appendix I IBF Countries II Selection Criteria III Organisation and selection committees 2016 IV Selected projects 2016 V IBF Harvest 2016 VI Overview IBF Summer School projects 2008 – 2016 VII Docs for Sale viewing statistics VIII Festival circulation of IBF-supported docs IX Screenings in the Benelux X Consultants at international festivals in 2016 XI Statement of Income and Expenditure

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World Première of Skulls, Of My People at IDFA 2016 with Yolanda Ncokotwana and director Vincent Moloi from South Africa and protagonist Esther Utjiua Muinjangue from Namibia Director Jiu-liang Wang and producer Ruby Chen from China winning the Special Jury Award for Plastic China

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IDFA BERTHA FUND 2016 HIGHLIGHTS

At the core of the activities of the IDFA Bertha Fund lies the belief in the power of visual storytelling and the importance of having stories told from a different perspective than the mainstream. 2016 was an inspiring year with a new selection of projects, new completed films and new partners, all of which brought different and original stories, perspectives and points of view.

A total of 23 documentary projects were supported through the IDFA Bertha Fund Classic funding scheme, hailing from 18 different countries including Ecuador, Sudan, Russia and Iran. Films in which filmmakers show everyday life in their countries through visual storytelling, giving insight into controversial and important issues. IDFA Bertha Fund Europe entered its second year, with a new selection of six projects receiving co-production support and the first selection of five projects receiving distribution support. With the IBF Europe program, the Fund aims to bring support of films in the IBF regions to the next level, by supporting the production and distribution of international co-productions between European producers and their colleagues from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. This allows the Fund to invest bigger sums into the production of feature-length documentaries with the potential to appeal to a broad audience, and to offer producers and directors the opportunity to work at an international level and expand their networks. The support of film festivals was put on hold temporarily as the Fund looks for additional financiers. However, the Fund entered into a new partnership with Filmlab Palestine. Eight award-­ winning documentaries supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund were shown in the IDFA Spotlight at the ‘Days of Cinema’ in Palestine. The IDFA Spotlight included last year’s IDFA Audience Award winner Sonita, the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature­-Length Documentary winner Ukrainian Sheriffs, Venice Film Festival competition entry Behemoth, and Powerless, the biggest documentary release in India to this date. To further assist filmmakers in the development and production of their documentaries, the Fund has facilitated the participation of four supported projects in the IDFAcademy Summer School 2016 and invited filmmakers from eight projects to attend IDFA and the IDFAcademy program during the festival. In addition, five projects supported by the Fund were selected to pitch at IDFA Forum. Three projects that participated in the IDFAcademy Summer School before were successfully screened at IDFA this year: A Memory in Three Acts, which was selected for IDFA’s competition program; An Insignificant Man, which had premiered at Toronto International Film Festival; and Whose Country? which started its festival life at Hot Docs. This illustrates the validity of the Fund’s tailor-made guidance of its selected filmmakers, which is an essential part of our work.

The first three films realized with support through IBF Europe were all selected to be screened at IDFA 2016: Hissein Habre, a Chadian Tragedy, China’s Van Goghs and The Grown-Ups, the latter selected for IDFA’s competition program. IDFA screened an impressive harvest of IBF films: films dealing with the traumas left by a colonial history, telling personal stories, or reflecting on problems in modern-day society. Alongside The Grown-Ups, Machines was also selected for the Feature-Length Competition. Three debut features were selected for the First Appearance Competition: A Memory in Three Acts, Amazona and Plastic China, the latter of which won the Special Jury Award. A number of films from the harvest had already had successful screenings earlier in the year at international festivals such as Hot Docs, TIFF, the Berlinale and Cannes and were screened in IDFA’s Best of Fests section. The IDFA Bertha Fund could not have done the work it did in 2016 without the support of the Bertha Foundation, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Creative Europe Media program. The Bertha Foundation is our main partner, enabling us to continue supporting creative and courageous filmmakers that make a difference through the IBF Classic categories. The new IBF Europe scheme was made possible by support from the Creative Europe Media Programme. And with support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Fund continued its program for documentaries on human rights and social injustice for a third year. Nurturing talented, courageous and tenacious documentary filmmakers will remain at the core of the IDFA Bertha Fund’s activities. By continuing to give financial support, mentoring, and access to a network of documentary professionals, the Fund creates opportunities for filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe to create beautiful, remarkable and necessary documentaries – films that enrich the international documentary landscape. This annual report gives an outline of the Fund’s activities in 2016 and the impact its support has had on filmmakers and organizations in this period. In addition to an overview of the Fund’s activities, a number of interviews with filmmakers has also been included, giving insight into their work and development, filmmaking in their countries, and their reasons for making documentaries.

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MAITE ALBERDI Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s The Grown-Ups was among the first wave of films supported through the IBF Europe scheme for international co-productions. The film, which shows a year in the life of the students at a school for people with Down’s syndrome, had its world premiere in the IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary and took home the IDFA AWFJ EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary.

‘I don’t want to confine myself to my own country’ “One of my goals with the coproduction, and a reason for applying with IBF Europe, was to get artistic feedback on the film. I wasn’t just about fulfilling contractual obligations and having enough people from another country in the crew. I really wanted an outside perspective, someone from another context, from outside the Chilean mood, which I think is quite conservative. “I really wanted to make it more international and more universal, to have the opportunity to reach a different audience. Otherwise I would only be able to reach a Chilean audience. It’s a small country, and the number of people watching documentaries is even smaller! So you have to try and catch this small number of people in every country, to build an audience. I don’t make films that are trying to change

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the world, but I think I can put questions in ­people’s minds, and I don’t want to confine that to just my own territory. “I knew that the area in which the film could really grow was in the editing. There are a lot of good editors in Chile, but most are working in fiction, there aren’t many editors specialized in documentary. I finished Tea Time with Menno during the IDFAcademy Summer School, and he really gave us another vision. That was the same for The Grown-Ups. It was a bit like a fellowship, having the chance to work with someone I admire and learn from him. “Menno really helped in removing subjects that were too local, or explaining things that people outside Chile wouldn’t understand. It can be really small things. For instance, to me it was completely obvious that the pro-

tagonists weren’t living at this school, but for M ­ enno it wasn’t, so we had to put in little scenes to explain this. “He also pushed me to use scenes that I maybe wouldn’t have put in if I’d have done it alone. There are moments that were uncomfortable to me, and still are. For example, there’s a scene where one character tries to caress another and she refuses. I didn’t want to use it, because I was afraid that she would get in trouble with her mother because of it. Or the scene where Ricardo’s grandmother calls him stupid, I really hesitated to use that – I’m still not sure about it. It’s an important scene, but the grandmother also has Alzheimer’s, so it’s a very complicated situation. With those kinds of scenes, I often didn’t have the courage to use them, but ­Menno convinced me.”


HOW WE WORK The IBF was designed to stimulate and empower the creative documentary sector in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe by supporting the development, production and distribution of documentary projects by filmmakers from these countries. The Fund not only provides financial support, but plays a crucial advisory role as well. In addition, the Fund acts as a matchmaker and promoter of the supported talented filmmakers and documentaries to financiers, producers, sales agents and festivals worldwide.

Each year, projects are selected for financial support in four different categories. The Fund maintains a list of eligible countries (referred to as IBF countries in the proceeding), and only filmmakers from these countries are allowed to apply. An overview of the IBF countries can be found in Appendix I. The applications the IBF receives are assessed by an international selection committee consisting of members active in the documentary film industry in various capacities. Appendix II shows the selection criteria applied in making the selections and Appendix III gives an overview of the selection committees in 2016. After selection, the IBF also makes efforts to strengthen and promote these projects and to ensure that filmmakers have access to an international network of film professionals.

FUNDING SCHEMES The IDFA Bertha Fund supports documentary projects in four different categories.

IBF Classic Script and Project Development Contributions for project development during the early phase play a crucial role in starting up a project. The maximum contribution for project development is €5,000. Filmmakers may use the contribution for research, for the development of a script and/or for the production of a trailer.

IBF Classic Production and Post-production Financial support during the production phase allows film­ makers to make a start on the actual realization of their projects. During the post-production phase, the documentaries are edited, finished and formatted for screening on television, in cinemas and at (international) festivals. The maximum contribution for production & post-production is €17,500. The filmmakers may use the contribution for all forms of production and post-production.

IBF Europe International Co-production With the IDFA Bertha Fund Europe program, the Fund supports the production of documentaries co-produced between European producers and producers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. This category is for documentary projects that have a director from an IBF country in any stage of production. The maximum amount awarded per project is €40,000.

IBF Europe Distribution for International Co-productions This category is designed to support innovative distribution plans for documentaries realized through international co-productions in which at least one European and one producer from an IBF country is involved. Distribution plans should seek to reach a broad global audience. Financing is made available for plans that make use of both innovative means of distribution and more traditional distribution forms. The maximum amount awarded per project is €30,000.

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TALENT DEVELOPMENT

IBF NETWORK

By focusing on talent development and assisting the selected filmmakers in further professionalizing their practice, the Fund stimulates the development of these filmmakers, thereby also strengthening the documentary genre. The Fund offers a range of activities aimed at supporting filmmakers in their creative process: IDFAcademy Summer School: Selected filmmakers supported by IBF can take part in the annual IDFAcademy Summer School, where they receive intensive coaching from leading documentary professionals from all over the world. IDFAcademy at IDFA: Each year filmmakers and producers of supported projects are invited to IDFA to follow the ­IDFAcademy program, a training program for emerging ­filmmakers held during IDFA. Tailor-made consultancies and feedback: Supported filmmakers can receive individual consultancy in areas concerning script or editing. The Fund can also provide advice to filmmakers on distribution, festival strategies or entering into agreements with distributors or TV stations.

Over the past 18 years, aided by IDFA’s status within the documentary industry, the Fund has built up an extensive international network of contacts and a wealth of experience with local partners as well as knowledge of the documentary industry. Making these contacts, this experience and knowledge available to filmmakers and organizations in IBF countries is one of the Fund’s core tasks. Meeting at IDFA: The IBF strives to bring filmmakers and organizations from IBF countries in contact with the international documentary industry. To achieve this, every year the Fund invites filmmakers and producers of supported projects to IDFA, a major meeting place for the documentary industry. At IDFA the invited filmmakers can follow a special route through the IDFA Forum, IDFA’s international co-financing and co-­production market, IDFAcademy, a training program for emerging film­ makers during IDFA, and the Industry Talks which deal with current developments in the documentary industry. Collaboration with international organizations: The Fund maintains a number of structural relationships with organizations in IBF countries. Every year, the IBF sends consultants to workshops and festivals all over the world in order to promote the Fund and IDFA, to extend its network and to provide concrete professional support to filmmakers from IBF countries.

FESTIVAL CIRCULATION AND DISTRIBUTION Getting a film made is one thing; getting it screened is quite another. The Fund assists its selected filmmakers in navigating the international documentary field. IBF Harvest at IDFA: Each year, the completed documentaries are presented at IDFA and included at IDFA’s market Docs for Sale, where international distributors, festival programmers and television buyers view the new documentary harvest. IBF-supported documentaries contribute to the cultural diversity of IDFA and play a significant part in attracting interested ­audie­nces to the festival. Festival circulation of IBF-supported documentaries: IBF-­ supported documentaries are annually screened and win awards at prestigious festivals as well as numerous smaller film festivals around the world. In this way, local stories are disseminated worldwide. In the Benelux, each year, a number of titles are included in The Best of IDFA on Tour, screened online through IDFA.tv and/or selected for special IDFA screening programs such as IDFA in ­Kriterion, IDFA@Vlieland and Docu by Night in Pakhuis de Zwijger.

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JACKIE LEBO

Jackie Lebo’s work-in-progress documentary Turkana: Race for Resources will show the consequences of heavy mining in a rural Kenyan area. The industry is bringing new chances to an underdeveloped region, but also wreaking havoc on local nature and traditional ways of life. Through IBF as well as participation in workshops such as Kenya Docubox and the IDFAcademy, the filmmaking team is building an international network to strengthen this local story.

“People want to see themselves on screen” “I originally studied literature, but I moved into film because it reaches more people, both in Kenya and globally. I grew up in a small town just on the edge of where the great north of Kenya starts, which is very different to the rest of the country. When I grew up the area was very isolated. But then about four years ago, there was a big oil discovery. The community in the area is very strong, still very much in touch with the old ways. Don’t get me wrong: they want the modern things of life, they want roads and schools, but not at any cost. So there’s a big struggle going on. “I got in touch with an old schoolmate who had become a well-known activist, and she said things were really going the wrong way. So I went there and started filming. That was about two years ago, so it’s been a long

development process. But all the delays have been good for us in the end; it allowed us to work with the IDFA Bertha Fund, and then to come to IDFAcademy, which has brought a lot of knowledge and new perspectives. “When we came to IDFA we thought we had finished shooting, but after meeting people here we realize that documentary can do a lot more than we thought. So we want to take our time and really make it the best we can. We’ve taken a step back and said we’ll do one more year of shooting, and then work on a festival and outreach plan. Through the IDFA community, Kenya Docubox and Good Pitch Kenya, we now have this incredible web of partnerships that we’re working with to give voice to communities in areas where mining is happening. “It’s been very interesting to get input from

people from all over the world. Of course, we don’t agree with everything! Someone may be an expert, but that doesn’t mean they know everything about our style. There’s a certain Northern European aesthetic that would never work in Kenya; a type of slow and dark and melancholic film which people in Kenya would never watch. “I tend to make films for a Kenyan audience, since there are a lot of films that already serve the world outside of Africa. With my two previous documentaries, we found that people have a great interest in seeing themselves represented on screen. Since this is a film that is looking to change things at a local level, I feel like the primary audience is in the region it comes from. But there is some universality in it that can travel elsewhere. I’m constantly looking for that balance.”

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Brother on Paper, Carlos Hernรกndez Restrepo, Colombia, In Development 10


ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS

FUNDING DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS The IDFA Bertha Fund supports independent documentary projects by both experienced and talented young filmmakers. In addition, the IBF is one of the few funds in the world that supports projects at the development stage, as well as projects dealing with risky topics or shot in dangerous situations.

Applications

FUNDING PROCESS IBF Classic: Stimulating documentary in emerging countries The IDFA Bertha Fund’s Classic categories are open to independent documentary filmmakers from the IBF countries (see Appendix I). With these categories the Fund strives to encourage a new generation of filmmakers to develop a voice and style of their own and consequently to stimulate and empower the creative documentary sector in these regions. With the term filmmakers we consider both directors and producers, since the two often play an equal role in the creation of a documentary:

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Total 34 projects 663.000

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150.000

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Europe: Distribution for International Co-productions 5 projects

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240.000

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Europe: International Co-production 6 projects

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233.000

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40.000

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Classic: Project Development 8 projects Classic: Production & Post-Production 15 projects

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Project contributions

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In 2016, the Fund supported 34 projects with a total amount of €663,000 in all its categories combined. The table below gives an overview of the selection in 2016. This year the Fund was unable to support documentary festivals because of a lack of financing for this category. New in 2016 is the category IBF Europe – Distribution Support for International Co-productions. With support from Creative Europe, the Fund was able to initiate the IBF Europe scheme, which started in 2015 with a category supporting international co-productions and added support for the distribution of co-productions in 2016. A complete list of all selected projects, including descriptions, can be found in Appendix IV.

Selected

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IBF SELECTION 2016

the director working on content and the producer in the area of getting the film made. In 2016, the Fund received 512 applications to IBF Classic. The regional spread of all applications is depicted in the diagram above. In total, 38% of these applications came from Latin ­America, 23% from Asia, 14% from Africa, 16% from MENA ­(Middle East North Africa) and 9% from Eastern Europe. Compared to previous years, these percentages have remained relatively stable, as they partly reflect the level of productivity of independent documentary filmmakers in these parts of the world. Of the 512 applications, 23 projects were selected. This constitutes less than 5% of applications received. In total, the documentary projects supported through IBF Classic came from 18 different countries. Some of these projects are from unstable areas or countries with limited freedom of expression, an essential precondition for an independent film industry. Based on the ranking list of Reporters Without Borders, 14 IBF Classic projects (61%) were selected from countries where the situation concerning freedom of the press is difficult or very difficult. All percentages mentioned are nearly the same as in 2015. Concerning the regional spread of the entire selection, most projects came from Latin America (30%) and MENA (30%), while the remaining projects came from Eastern Europe (17%), from Africa (13%) and from Asia (9%). 11


IBF Europe Co-Production Support IBF Europe: Stimulating international co-productions Since 2015 the Fund has worked to facilitate international co-productions between Europe and IBF countries through the new IBF Europe scheme. By focusing on funding documentaries from IBF countries through these European partners, the Fund is able to increase the support to these films, to strengthen the creative participation of the European partners and to stimulate the circulation of documentaries from IBF countries in a world that is mostly dominated by western media. For IBF Europe the Fund received a total of 34 proposals for co-production and distribution support from applicants across Europe. One of the goals of the IBF Europe program is to support European producers in the smaller EU countries and to encourage them to co-produce. Applications from these countries have fallen behind, with most applications coming from France and Germany. Producers in these countries lack the financial opportunities to finance co-productions, and the eligibility criteria for IBF Europe may make it harder for these producers than needed. The Fund continues to work alongside the other co-production funds the Hubert Bals Fund, World Cinema Fund, Aide au Cinema du Monde, Torino Filmlab and Sørfund in talks with the EU to see where adjustments can be made. The smaller EU countries have also been given extra focus in the recruitment and research of projects. 2016 The Netherlands Germany UK France Portugal Spain Norway Finland Slovenia

received

selected

5 8 3 10 1 4 1 1 1

3 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 1

From all the applications six were selected for Co-production support and five for Distribution support. See below for an overview of the entire IBF Europe selection.

The Last Year of Congo Mirador, Anabel Rodríguez Ríos (Venezuela) Co-producer: Spiraleye Productions (UK) China’s Van Goghs, Haibo Yu & Kiki Tianqi Yu (China) Co-producer: Trueworks, Inc. (The Netherlands) The Waiting Bench, Suhaib Gasmelbari (Sudan) Co-producer: Agat Films & Cie (France) Veterans, Memories of War, Lola Arias (Argentina) Co-producer: Bettina Walter Productions (Spain) Los Reyes, Ivan Osnovikoff & Bettina Perut (Chile) Co-producer: Dirk Manthey Film (Germany) Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait, Avani Rai (India) Co-producer: IV Films (Finland)

IBF Europe Distribution Support for Co-Productions Ukrainian Sheriffs, Roman Bondarchuk (Ukraine) Co-producer: VFS Films (Latvia) Holy Cow, Imam Hasanov (Azerbeidzjan) Co-producer: Kloos & Co. Medien GmbH (Germany) Machines, Rahul Jain (India) Co-producer: IV Films (Finland) & Pallas Film (Germany) China’s Van Goghs, Haibo Yu & Kiki Tianqi Yu (China) Co-producer: Trueworks, Inc. (The Netherlands) The Grown-Ups, Maite Alberdi (Chile) Co-producer: Volya Films (The Netherlands)

FOCAL POINTS OF THE SELECTION New talent Discovering and stimulating new talent is at the core of the IDFA Bertha Fund selection. Projects by young, talented directors who have almost no chance of finding finance elsewhere make up a significant part of the selection. In this way, the Fund strives to encourage a new generation of filmmakers to develop a voice and style of their own. Of the 34 selected projects in 2016, 21 projects by debut or second-time directors were selected, which is 61% of the total selection.

Female filmmakers The Fund considers it important that female filmmakers are represented among the selected projects. Of the 34 projects supported in 2016, 22 projects have at least one female director (65%) and 19 projects have at least one female producer (56%). Some projects have more than one director or more than one producer; if we count all filmmakers together, there are 38 men and 55 women included in the selected projects, either as director or producer. Compared to previous years, the percentage of female filmmakers is higher than ever before. 12


China’s Van Goghs, Haibo Yu & Kiki Tianqi Yu, China/The Netherlands, 2016

Human Rights & Social Injustice With support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Fund could support four projects concerning human rights and social injustice as part of its May 2016 selection round. The focus was on stories of human rights violations which would not be seen or reflected upon without these documentaries. Stories which denounce social injustice through powerful means such as first-hand accounts. Stories whose revelation put their makers, defenders of human rights, at risk. In the selection process, the focus was put on individuals who are at risk in their home countries, fighting for their own rights or for the rights of their communities. Therefore an exception was made concerning the living situation of the filmmakers. As a result the Fund could support two projects from Syrian filmmakers who recently settled in Europe and are working on films that take place and deal with issues in their home country. Furthermore the Fund supported a project from a Russian filmmaker about the danger of falling asleep in a former uranium mining village in Kazakhstan and a project from an Afghan filmmaker about an Afghan women opposing the will of her family and traditions to seek justice for years of sexual abuse from her father.

• Last Men in Aleppo, Firas Fayyad & Søren Steen Jespersen, Syria/Denmark • On Screen Off Record, Rami Farah, Syria/Denmark/France • Insomnia, Lera Latypova, Russia • Obstinate, Sahra Mosawi, Afghanistan/France

FILMS REALIZED IN 2016 In 2016, 24 documentaries that previously received a contribution from the Fund were realized. Of these, 15 were selected for IDFA 2016, of which four were selected for IDFA’s competitions. The harvest also contained the first results of the IBF Europe scheme which was launched in 2015: The Grown-Ups, Hissein Habre, a Chadian Tragedy and China’s Van Goghs. Of all realized films, 8 were debut or second films. A complete overview of the IBF Harvest 2016 can be found in Appendix V.

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VINAY SHUKLA

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‘It was an exercise in patience’ After premiering at the renowned Toronto International Film Festival, directors Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla presented their documentary An Insignificant Man in IDFA’s Best of Fests section. The film portrays the first political steps of polarizing activist Arvind Kejriwal and his Common Man’s Party.

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Ranka: “We still wonder how it happened that the IDFA Bertha Fund picked us out of this huge stack of other applications. It’s almost a miracle, and it was also essential for the pro­ ject. We were turned down by every institution in India because of the political subject, so they were the first people who gave us the confidence that we have a film.” Shukla: “We started shooting in 2012, when we decided to go to Delhi to see about this bunch of protesters who had just announced the founding of their political party. We spent almost a year and a half just following them around. Simply being there early and showing up every day allowed us to follow them into


KHUSHBOO RANKA

spaces that no other camera was allowed in. No-one else was interested in them when we started, but their story grew much bigger than anyone had imagined, including us. It was an exercise in patience: we shot 400 hours to make a 95-minute film, and there were many more hours of waiting.” Ranka: “We didn’t do interviews; our intention was to be as invisible as impossible. People don’t work like this in India – not even within documentary. Most films will have interviews, most films will be done in a much shorter time. So I think at a certain point they thought we just didn’t know what we were doing!” Shukla: “Pretty early on they signed on to very

difficult challenges within the political sphere, making promises with regards to transparency and decentralization. We were very interested in how feasible this would be in the real world. We tried to stay as close to these ideas as possible: will our protagonist be able to enforce them, and what obstacles will he encounter along the way?” Ranka: “One of the things that attracted us to the story was also his character; he’s not black or white. I think the audiences feels this dilemma the more time they spend with this guy: they’re not sure what to think of him, and that’s good. Because it leaves space to understand that politics is a very messy, chaotic thing, and that he himself changes from scene to scene. He’s rare

within the realm of Indian politics: he’s somebody who has risen on the basis of talking about economics, more than identity of clichés of disenfranchisement.” Shukla: “The challenge for every documentary filmmaker is where do you start and where do you stop? We were very clear that we wanted to focus on the journey of these absolute outsiders, who said they were going to be the change that they wanted to see. We wanted to see if that challenge was possible, so the film ends when they get into government. That was the end of the story we set out to tell, and we knew that it would be a ten-year process before you could understand their impact.”

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IBF filmmaker Maite Alberdi from Chile (r) with editor Menno Boerema giving the industry talk Between Director and Editor hosted by Cecilia Lidin Ukrainian director Alisa Kovalenko pitching her project Home Games in the Pitch & Trailer workshop at IDFAcademy together with her producer Maksym Vasyanovych

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ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS

TALENT DEVELOPMENT IBF offers its selected filmmakers a number of training opportunities to stimulate their development and strengthen their documentaries. The Fund aims to support filmmakers in their creative process and, where necessary, help them bring their work to an international level.

In most countries where the Fund is active, there is little or no film training and hardly anything that could be called a film industry. Often there are no funds offering support to documentary filmmaking and filmmakers struggle with inadequate screening opportunities for their documentaries. In the last few years, the IDFA Bertha Fund has made it a priority to not only give financial support to filmmakers, but also provide tailor-made practical guidance. Since 2008, filmmakers with projects selected by IBF have been able to participate in the ­IDFAcademy Summer School. And since 2013 the Fund invites filmmakers to visit IDFA where they are able to immerse themselves in the IDFA and IDFAcademy program, attend lectures and discussions, consult with experts in the area of development, editing or outreach and meet other international documentary professionals. Both these programs offer supported filmmakers different opportunities to receive consultancy on the development, editing and distribution of their projects. The Fund covers all travel costs and facilitates participation in these programs.

IDFACADEMY SUMMER SCHOOL Summer School Participants The IDFAcademy Summer School 2016 took place July 4-9. A select group of up-and-coming international filmmaking talents got the chance to work on their film scripts or rough cuts with esteemed film professionals in Amsterdam. Two types of training possibilities were offered: Script Development, intended to strengthen film projects by working intensively on a strong narrative in the early stages, and Editing Consultancy, during which the participants refined a rough cut of their film. Of the 16 selected projects, with filmmaking talent hailing from 17 different countries, four were previously supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund.

IBF Participants at IDFAcademy Summer School 2016 Development Love Song. Pastorale, Tinatin Gurchiani & Tamar Gurchiani, Georgia Testament, Meena Nanji & Zippy Kimundu, Kenya

Editing The Fire We Will Become, Gloria Carrión & Alvaro Serje, Nicaragua Samuel’s Truth, Pete Murimi & Justin Wachira, Kenya

Summer School Outcomes For most of the filmmakers the Summer School provides a much-needed push, resulting in powerful documentaries screened all over the world. The latest harvest of IBF documentaries that participated in the IDFAcademy Summer School in previous years were screened at IDFA 2016. A Memory in Three Acts participated in the Summer School twice, in both the development and the editing category, and was selected for the First Appearance Competition at IDFA. Whose Country? participated in the editing category, premiered at Hot Docs and screened in the Best of Fests section at IDFA. An Insignificant Man also participated in the editing category, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and also screened in IDFA’s Best of Fests section. Since 2008, 53 IBF projects have participated in the ­IDFAcademy Summer School. More than half of these have since been realized. Of these 32 completed projects, 27 were selected for IDFA (84%). Almost half of these films (13) were screened in one of the festival’s competitions, and six of them won awards at IDFA. Three of these films had successful premieres at other international festivals and were screened in the Best of Fests section at IDFA. Of all the projects, 17 (32%) are still in production and 4 projects (8%) are on hold due to safety concerns or a lack of production funds. Of the projects still in production, 15 are expected to be completed in time for IDFA 2017. Appendix VI contains a complete overview of all IBF projects that have participated in the IDFAcademy Summer School.

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IDFACADEMY PROGRAM AT IDFA 2016 IDFAcademy participants From November 16-27, IBF filmmakers of eight projects in production were invited to attend the IDFAcademy program during IDFA 2016. The participants were able to attend sessions giving insights into editing, co-productions, blending impact and distribution strategies, storytelling on digital platforms, and festival and sales strategies. They had the chance to meet wellknown filmmakers and experts like Jessica Brillhart ­(Google), who gave a masterclass on immersive storytelling, Sergei Loznitsa (Filmmaker in Focus at IDFA), who gave a masterclass about his own work and the role of sound in documentary, and Nikolaus Geyrhalter (renowned documentary filmmaker), who spoke about creating your own signature as a filmmaker. During the Pitch & Trailer workshop the filmmakers of IBF-supported project Home Games got the opportunity to pitch and receive feedback from a panel with experts. Another hightlight was the live public brainstorm on the IBF project Obstinate from Afghanistan during the Blending Impact and Distribution session, in which the mentors mapped out a potential impact strategy and identified possible partners. During the Industry Talk Between Director and Editor another IBF filmmaker was put in the spotlight. Based on their own films and experiences, Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi and her renowned editor ­Menno ­Boerema shared their views on picking the “right” ­editor, bringing rough material to the next level through editing and balancing a narrative between several characters.

IBF Participants at the IDFAcademy program IDFA 2016 • Brother on Paper, Carlos Hernández & Anna Casals, Colombia • The Belly of the Whale, Horizoe Garcia, Cuba • Home Games, Alisa Kovalenko & Maksym Vasyanovych, Ukraine • Insomnia, Lera Latypova & Marusya Syroechkovskaya, Russia • Obstinate, Sahra Mosawi, Afghanistan • Off Khartoum Sides, Marwa Zein, Sudan •T urkana: Race for Resources, Jackie Lebo & Chelagat Lebo, Kenya •W ritten on your Face, Simon Bingo, South Sudan

TAILOR-MADE CONSULTANCIES AND FEEDBACK

The timing of the IDFAcademy Summer School and the ­IDFAcademy program at IDFA is not convenient for all film­ makers in relation to their production process. In order to still offer support to these filmmakers, the Fund offers feedback from the IDFA staff on rough cuts of the films. In some cases outside experts are also asked to give feedback on story development or the editing of a project. Since 2015 the Fund makes use of the Rough Cut Service, a collective of renowned editors giving feedback on rough cuts. In terms of the business side of documentary making, the filmmakers can also approach the Fund for advice on distribution, on festival strategies or on agreements with distributors or TV stations. To provide this, the Fund makes use of the knowledge present within IDFA as well as its extensive international network.

IBF Filmmakers meeting each other at the IDFAcademy: Marwa Zein from Sudan, Inadelso Cossa from Mozambique and Kesang Tseten from Nepal 18

H


“Cuba needs more urgent films”

HORIZOE

After getting script development support from IBF in 2013 and production development earlier in the year, Cuban filmmaker Horizoe Garcia participated in the 2016 IDFAcademy training program for international film talents with a project that is both intensely personal and strongly political.

“It was a very, very busy week, but a very good week. The sessions and discussions at the IDFAcademy were very interesting. Cuba is still an isolated country, so it was great to be able to meet people from all over the world – from Europe but also the Middle East and Africa. Hopefully, it was also interesting for those people to meet someone from Cuba! “My project The Belly of the Whale is a film I’m working on about my father. For a very long time, he withdrew from society, because he didn’t agree with the direction the country took after the revolution. The Cuba around him was not the Cuba that he had fought for. With all the changes happening now, I’ve been trying to bring him back into society, and show him trough my eyes what Cuba is today. But he does not see a place for himself in either of these – there was no room for him in the old Cuba, and there’s no room in the new Cuba either. “It’s a slow process. There are changes in international politics and in the economy, but not in government itself or the way that the country is run. For filmmakers, not much has changed. There’s still no official film fund on Cuba, so films are either made completely independently, or funded from abroad. And what’s true for production is also true for distribution. There is simply no support, so it’s very difficult to screen the films, except at a few film festivals. “There has been a debate to start a film fund for the last few years, but that seems to have come to a standstill. There is a film institute, but only a few people work there, and only around three or four films are made there every year. Of course, such a film fund won’t fix everything. I lived in Brazil for a while, where there is a system in place, but even there it’s very hard to get a film made and distributed – especially a documentary. “With additional funding, I hope Cuba will see a broader selection of subjects. Right now, people don’t even care about the small number films that are getting made, because they’re not about the things that people are actually dealing with. So I hope that there will be more space to deal with more urgent themes. There is a very strong tradition of socially conscious films in the history of Cuban cinema, but that has all but disappeared now. “I’d love if there were more films that actually make people think. That’s the role documentaries can play, especially because they’re relatively cheap to make compared to fiction films, which is where all the funding is going now. I think Cuba needs a strong and critical documentary industry, especially at this point in its history.”

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Machines, Rahul Jain, India, 2016

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ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS

FESTIVAL CIRCULATION AND DISTRIBUTION Various means are used to promote IBF documentaries among festivals and distributors ­worldwide. Most of the documentaries realized are presented at IDFA, an important starting point for the international career of a documentary. Documentaries that screen at IDFA and are included in Docs for Sale often go on to have many more screenings at international ­festivals or to be broadcast on television worldwide.

IBF HARVEST AT IDFA 2016 In 2016, 15 new documentaries supported by IBF were presented at IDFA, and the festival saw a lot of extra attention for IBF-supported films and filmmakers. Five docs were selected to participate in a competition program. which resulted in Plastic China winning the IDFA Special Jury Award for First Appearance and The Grown-Ups winning the AWFJ EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary. Nine docs celebrated their world premiere at IDFA and all other six had their world premieres at other prestigious film festivals around the world, such as the Cannes International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival. See Appendix V for a complete overview of the 2016 Harvest with short loglines of the films. Besides the regular screenings IBF documentaries were screened in IDFA’s school program, in the special sponsor days of the Groene Amsterdammer, the VPRO and the Volkskrant, and at the close of the festival Plastic China and The Grown-Ups became part of the Best of IDFA program, consisting of award-winners of the festival. The many screenings and selections made 2016 a very successful year for the Fund, which is reflected in the viewing numbers. All 82 screenings of IBF documentaries during IDFA together sold 16,139 tickets. Especially successful were The Grown-Ups with a total viewing number of 5,342 and Machines with a total viewing number of 3,362.

Special Themes and Extended Q&A’s Two docs were selected for the special theme program Shifting Perspectives, a program of films and debates investigating the way we see and think about race and identity and the perspectives from which we do so. One doc was selected for the special theme program Assembling Reality, a program which focused on editing in documentary. In total six docs got special focus with Extended Q&A’s:

A Memory in Three Acts, Inadelso Cossa, Mozambique: In a poetic tale, different people who were involved in the bloody struggle for independence in Mozambique tell their side of the story. After the screening, journalist Claire Diao and director Inadelso Cossa discussed the open wounds of Mozambique’s history. Skulls, of My People, Vincent Moloi, South Africa: Descendants of Namibian tribes that were deeply affected by German colonial rule fight for the return of their ancestors’ skulls. After the screening Ikenna Azuike, host of What’s up Africa (BBC/RNW Media), talked to Vincent Moloi and protagonist Esther Muinjangue about the Herero tribe’s fights against the German government for recognition of the genocide and repatriation of their ancestors’ skulls. Machines, Rahul Jain, India: Director/editor Rahul Jain and editor Yael Bitton discussed the editing process of Machines in a talk with film critic Nicolas Rapold. Jain envisioned this visually stunning portrait of the gruelling daily routine in an Indian textile factory as a film without an emphatic narrative structure. An Insignificant Man, Khushboo Ranka & Vinay Shukla, India: The spectacular rise of the Common Man’s Party in India. Ranka and Shukla documented the transformation of a grassroots movement into a significant political force. After the screening there was an in-depth conversation between journalist Casper Thomas (De Groene Amsterdammer) and the filmmakers. Plastic China, Jiu-liang Wang, China: Yi Jie and her family live next to a primitive recycling plant. Her world consists of mountains of plastic waste from Europe, the United States and Asia. After the screening, TV host Bahram Sadeghi and director Jiu-Liang Wang discussed social inequality and the hopelessness of the family’s existence. Whose Country?, Mohamed Siam, Egypt: Against the backdrop of revolution, Mohamed Siam gets to know an officer in Egypt’s feared police force. After the screening, host Katinka Baehr and Siam discussed the future of Egypt.

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RECENT IBF SUCCESSES

Sonita, Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami, Iran • World premiere at IDFA 2015 – Audience Award + DOC U! Award • Sundance Film Festival – Grand Jury Prize + Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary • 115 festival selections in total and 23 awards

Ukrainian Sherrifs, Roman Bondarchuk, Ukraine • World premiere at IDFA 2015 – Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary • Ukrainian entry for the 2017 Oscar for Best Foreign Film • Extensive distribution in own region through a traveling cinema in 13 Ukrainian cities, special screenings, a web platform and theatrical distribution with a total viewing number of 12,300 in Eastern Europe.

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An Insignificant Man, Khushboo Ranka & Vinay Shukla, India • World premiere at Toronto International Film Festival • Indian premiere at Mumbai Film Festival with standing ovation • Special screenings in India for the nearly 800 supporters of the film’s crowdfunding campaign

Hissein Habré, a Chadian Tragedy, Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Chad/France • World premiere at Cannes Film Festival • Selected for the IDFA Masters section • Screened at other prestigious festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival

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Docs for Sale 2016 In 2016, 24 new documentaries supported by IBF were included in Docs for Sale, both in the catalogue during IDFA as well as the market’s online library (starting from November 2016). Besides the new documentaries, 13 older films of the previous harvest were still available in the online library throughout 2016. Docs for Sale is IDFA’s documentary market, with an extensive online catalogue available throughout the year and a video library during IDFA where the documentary industry can watch the latest films. It is a major meeting point for distributors, sales agents, television buyers and festival programmers worldwide. The Fund pays for all IBF-supported titles to be offered in Docs for Sale as well as Docs for Sale Online for a period of one year, in order to reach those documentary professionals who couldn’t be at IDFA in person.

Especially popular from the 2016 harvest were Plastic China, The Grown-Ups and Machines, with Plastic China leading the charts of most viewed films in the video library during Docs for Sale and The Grown-Ups and Machines coming in at number four and five respectively. These same films also scored very high at Docs for Sale online, along with Sonita from the previous year’s harvest, which remained on offer throughout 2016 and which scored a record with 332 views online. In total the IBF films at Docs for Sale as well as Docs for Sale Online garnered 1532 views. For a complete overview of the Docs for Sale viewing statistics, see appendix VII.

Plastic China – IDFA Special Jury Award for First Appearance in memory of Peter Wintonick

‘China is a plastic country’

photo: Corinne de Korver

In Plastic China Jiu-liang Wang portrays a less glorious side of the booming Chinese economy: the huge mountains of waste being imported as cheap raw materials. Of course, nobody cares about unhealthy working conditions or child labor.

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Filmmaker and photographer Jiu-liang Wang has been studying the subject for almost a decade. In 2008, he started taking pictures of the about 450 landfills and garbage dumps surrounding the economically bustling city of Beijing, which in 2011 led to the documentary Beijing Besieged by Waste. “Because I often noticed foreign labels on the waste, I began to immerse myself in the recycling industry”, he says. He discovered that there are several vast agglomerations in China where the entire population works in the sorting and processing of plastic that is shipped in from all over the world.

It was at one of these places that he encountered Yi Jie, a nineyear-old girl who had not gone to school a day in her life. “Over the course of a year we found that through her story, we could make clear what Plastic China is about. A country that fails to allow every child to attend school is a ‘plastic’ country. It’s fake.” Yi Jie and her family belong to an ethnic minority from the mountains in the northwest of China. “Compared to the economic conditions there, Shandong Province, where they moved to for work, is rich.” Wang has enough sense of aesthetics to find the most beautiful images in these mountains of waste. And Yi Jie herself is like a flower on this dunghill. Wearing her cute dresses (which she got from villagers) she always manages to find or create toys from the discarded materials that are all around her. Any spoiled consumer could learn something from her.

Article from the IDFA Daily 2016


FESTIVAL CIRCULATION OF IBF-SUPPORTED DOCUMENTARIES Every year, IBF-supported documentaries are screened and win awards at prestigious film festivals around the world. 2016 was a very successful year with a lot of IBF titles being programmed at the major international festivals and receiving important awards there. Besides these highlighted successes, IBF-supported docs were screened at various other festivals around the world; a complete overview can be found in Appendix VIII. In 2016, a total of 33 IBF documentaries were screened at 516 festivals worldwide. Of the total festival circulation in 2016, 15% was at festivals within the country of origin or within the region and 85% concerned screenings at international film festivals. Together, the films picked up 61 awards at festivals worldwide. These figures have remained more or less steady over the past couple of years. Asian and Latin American docs, as well as IBF-supported docs from Eastern Europe, once again did particularly well within their own regions, which can also be explained by the relatively large number of smaller festivals within these regions compared to other parts of the world.

Screenings of IBF documentaries in the Benelux In 2016 in the Benelux, IBF-supported documentaries were shown at IDFA, online, on TV, at festivals and in special themed programs. The Grown-Ups and Machines were screened at satellite festival IDFA@Vlieland. Sonita and The Chinese Mayor were part of IDFA by Night, a special IDFA selection at the outdoor cinema at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. Ukrainian Sheriffs and Sonita were part of the Best of IDFA on Tour program, with a total of 72 screenings in 53 cities throughout the Netherlands and Belgium. Whose Country? and Tea Time were screened during De ­Uitmarkt, the yearly opening of the cultural season in ­Amsterdam. In addition, Sonita was added to the IDFA ­Docschool Online collection, an online catalogue with documentaries and accompanying study materials for primary schools, high schools and intermediate vocational education. Furthermore, a number of films were available on-demand through several Interactive TV services, including Cinetree and The Entertainment Group (TEG), which manages a number of platforms, including services for KPN TV-subscribers, Tele2 subscribers as well as Videoland On Demand and MeJane.com. The Dutch public broadcasters purchased some IBF-supported titles, including China’s Van Goghs and Sonita. China’s van Gogh was also purchased by Cinema Delicatessen and released in the Dutch cinemas in December 2016. Furthermore, 75 IBF-supported documentaries were available through IDFA.tv during 2016. For an overview of all screenings in the Benelux, see appendix IX.

Director Maheen Zia (l) showing her documentary Lyari Notes in the presence of the main protagonists at the Sindh Mountain Film Festival in her home country Pakistan.

25


At the IDFA table director Lola Arias (r) and producer Gema Juรกrez Allen (m) from Argentina pitching their project Veterans together with IBF managing director Isabel Arrate Fernandez (l) at the IDFA Forum 26


ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS

IBF NETWORK The IBF has an extensive industry network, which encompasses both the international film industry and organizations active in the regions the Fund focuses on. In addition to the core activities outlined before, the Fund utilizes this network to provide information to filmmakers and organizations and to mediate between supported projects from emerging countries and the international film industry. The new IBF Europe category further extended this network in the past two years, and the Fund hopes to be able to use this network to connect European producers with filmmakers from IBF countries.

MEETING AT IDFA Each year, the Fund invites all filmmakers of IBF-supported documentaries selected for the IDFA program, as well as a number of supported filmmakers that are still in production, to attend IDFA. Attending IDFA is a great opportunity for documentary professionals to expand their networks, as well as to see many documentary films unavailable in their own region. They can then make direct contact with the approximately 3,000 international professionals who are present in Amsterdam during the festival. During IDFA, many activities take place aimed at stimulating filmmakers to make use of existing networks and co-finance markets, such as the IDFAcademy, the IDFA Forum, the Industry Talks and the daily Guests Meet Guests drinks. These are all excellent occasions for the Fund to introduce filmmakers to specific people from its own network who can be of use to the filmmakers. Introduced in 2015, IDFA’s Industry Office houses Guest Services, the Press Desk, a box office, the writing room and the First Aid Doc Clinic. It’s a place for all pass holders to meet up, network and do business, with services including consultancies on various subjects and daily Industry Sessions on subjects such as distribution, impact and funding campaigns and video-­ on-demand. For IBF filmmakers, as for others, this became an important hub to meet up with contacts and extend their professional knowledge. To further encourage networking between IBF-supported filmmakers and producers at the festival, the Fund organized its annual IBF Lunch inviting all IBF filmmakers and producers, European co-producers involved in IBF-supported projects, as well as the IBF partners and selection committee. Given the informal setting and the profiles of the attending guests, this IBF Lunch proved to be a great networking session.

IBF at IDFA Forum Of the 60 projects selected for the IDFA Forum, five were previously supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund. The Egyptian project All About Amal and the Indian project Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait were selected for a round table pitch. Veterans from ­Argentina was selected for a central pitch and Bullet Catcher from Ukraine and Obstinate from Afghanistan were selected for the Rough Cut presentations. During the IDFA Forum, these projects were presented to an industry delegation of 706 film professionals from around the world. Besides the public pitches, the project representatives were able to pitch their ideas and plans to interested commissioning editors, sales agents, distributors and funders in pre-arranged one-on-one meetings. During the three-day market, All About Amal met with 16 potential partners, Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait with 18, Veterans with 18, Bullet Catcher with 21 and Obstinate with 15. The results of these meetings will be harvested over the course of 2017. Additionally, two projects attended the IDFA Forum as observers to broaden their network and to meet possible financiers or co-producers. IBF facilitated the participation of the projects in the Forum as well as a preceding pitch workshop, helping them prepare their presentations. For All About Amal and Veterans the managing director of the IBF assisted the pitch itself as a financier of the project. In light of its new IBF Europe category, the Fund also invited a number of European co-producers for the first time. Of all the projects at the Forum, three projects come from the IBF Europe selection.

27


COLLABORATION WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS The Fund collaborated with FilmLab: Palestine, the organization of Days of Cinema in Palestine, for the first time in 2016. At the year’s festival edition, the organization screened an IDFA Spotlight with eight award-winning documentaries supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund. Furthermore the Fund continued and reinforced partnerships in 2016 with the Durban FilmMart in South Africa, the annual co-finance market for documentary projects from the region at the Durban International Film Festival; with Dox Box in Berlin, an association which emerged out of the Dox Box Film Festival in Syria to support emerging and established documentary filmmakers in the Arab World; with DOCUBOX in Kenia, a film fund in Eastern Africa; and with Afridocs in South Africa, a weekly broadcast stream allowing mainly African documentaries to be screened across 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, the Fund is in contact with several organizations to exchange information and knowledge about documentaries, filmmakers, organizations and contacts, such as the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, the Rough Cut Service, Dare to Dream Asia, the Movies that Matter Foundation and the NAAS Network in the Middle East. The IDFA Bertha Fund is also part of a network of co-production funds which includes the Hubert Bals Fund, World Cinema Fund, Aide au Cinema du Monde, Torino Filmlab and Sørfund. These funds consult each other on a regular basis and share experiences on the implementation of the new co-production

schemes in the new Creative Europe program that has been operational since 2015. In 2016 both IDFA and IBF in collaboration with Cinecrowd promoted the crowdfunding campaign for the project The Last Guardian from Bhutan through their respective newsletters, websites and social media channels. Every year IDFA is host to official delegations from various countries. The Fund is closely involved with several of these contacts and helps put together an activity program. In 2016, delegations from Chile and South Africa as well as a delegation from the Arab Funds for Arts and Culture (AFAC) from Lebanon and from Future Logic from Palestine, a new platform for the development of Palestinian cinema, were assisted in this way.

CONSULTANCY WORLDWIDE Each year, the Fund sends consultants to workshops and festivals all over the world. During these visits, concrete support is provided to individual filmmakers from the region, local organizations are incorporated into the Fund’s network, the Fund is promoted worldwide and the knowledge and contacts obtained are shared. During individual consulting sessions, filmmakers are given concrete feedback on their documentary projects as well as advice on fundraising in general and on the IDFA Bertha Fund in particular. In 2016, such working visits were made to documentary events in amongst others South Africa, Ukraine, Cuba, India, Mexico, Panama and China. For a complete overview of all festival visits and consultancies worldwide see Appendix X.

Rima Mismar (director AFAC) and Mohanad Yaqubi (Future Logic) promoting the new Future Logic initiative from Palestine at the IDFA Forum Producers Breakfast. 28

V M


VINCENT MOLOI

When South-African director Vincent Moloi found out about a nearly forgotten genocide carried out on the Herero and Nama people in Namibia by German soldiers in 1904, the subject demanded he make a film about it.

‘It stayed in my system’ “Seven years ago I made a short film about the traditional gowns of the Herero people. That was when I found out about the genocide in Namibia, and I just couldn’t let it go. The most embarrassing thing was that I didn’t know about these atrocities myself. I consider myself a well-read person, and I’ve traveled the world, but I wasn’t aware of it. So I had to make a film about it. I didn’t have any funding, and for over a year I tried to forget about it, but it stayed in my system.” “I was raising the money as I was already filming, bit by bit. Sadly, this meant that I missed some important events in the story. One of the biggest turning points came when Germany decided to release some of the skulls of their ancestors to the Herero people, and I wasn’t there. I missed the texture of how my protagonist, Esther Utjiua Muinjangue felt when she

saw this happen. It’s a very sad pain that every documentary filmmaker probably knows.” “When I met Utjiua I immediately took a liking to her. It struck me that she doesn’t speak about the genocide as a historical event, but as if it’s happening right now, from her own emotion. When I saw her drive and passion, I wanted to tell the story of this very confrontational woman, ready to take on the mighty Germany. But to make that kind of film you have to be there all the time, and I couldn’t be. So it became a testimonial for this very tired people who have been fighting for recognition for a long time.” “Like many filmmakers I often suffer from post-production-depression. You spend time with a group of people, share their pain and joy, but when the film is finished you have to let go of them. There are always new sub-

jects you want to explore. That’s the thing that helps you deal with it: there’s more work ahead with as much importance as what you have just done.” “As an observer of society I have a responsibility to reflect the desires, passions and challenges of the people of my community. We are all citizens of the world, and film is a platform that allows engagement and interaction. We have so many boundaries and dividing mechanisms that stand in the war of a dialogue. I’m frustrated with the lack of communication and engagement in the world. No matter how thorny the issues are, we have to engage with them, because that’s the only way we’re going to find solutions. That’s what most of my work is about: none of us has the answers, but not trying to find a solution is just as bad as being an enabler.”

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APPENDIX I: IBF COUNTRIES Afghanistan

Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Azerbaijan

Bangladesh

Belarus Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Botswana Brazil Burkina Faso Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cambodia Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Côte d’Ivoire Cuba

D

emocratic Republic of the Congo Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia

Fiji G

ambia Gabon Georgia Ghana Grenada Guatemala 30

Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

India

Indonesia Iran Iraq

Jamaica Jordan

K

azakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kyrgyzstan

L

ao People’s Democratic Republic Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya

Madagascar

Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru Nepal Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue

Palau

Pakistan Panama

Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines

Rwanda S

aint Helena Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Syrian Arab Republic

Tajikistan

Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine Uruguay Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Venezuela Viet Nam

Wallis and Futuna

West Bank and Gaza Strip (Palestine)

Yemen Zambia

Zimbabwe


APPENDIX II: SELECTION CRITERIA SELECTION CRITERIA IBF CLASSIC:

Quality of the co-production structure (maximum score 20 points)

General criteria for selection:

• Level of artistic involvement of applicant in the project • Added value of IDFA Bertha Fund - Europe program compared to other co-production schemes in applicant’s country of origin

• Intrinsic qualities of the proposed project • The cinematographic qualities of the project • The importance of the subject • Originality of the subject, the perspective on the subject and/or the style of the proposed film • The narrative structure of the proposed project

Secondary criteria for selection: • Trust in the filmmaker and the proposed project • Need for financial aid from the fund to achieve the proposed project • The situation of the documentary climate in the region or the country • The presence of a documentary tradition and options for fundraising • Intensity of general documentary productions • The position of the producing country on the DAC-list of the OECD1

SELECTION CRITERIA IBF EUROPE INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION In selecting the projects the selection committee uses the following criteria, for which a maximum of 100 points can be attributed:

Quality of the proposed project (maximum score 25 points) • Originality of the subject, point of view, style • Subject matter • Narrative structure and treatment • Cinematography • Audiovisual presentation (trailer, demo, edited sequence)

Feasibility of project (maximum score 20 points) • Feasibility of the budget • Feasibility of the finance plan • Assessment of the proposed expenditure of the grant • Feasibility of finalizing production before end 2016

Artistic quality of the team (maximum score 20 points) • Experience of the filmmaker • Artistic quality of previous work • Professional experience of the applicant • Professional experience of other co-producer(s) from Europe (if applicable) • Professional experience of the co-producer(s) on the DAC list

Quality of the global distribution and marketing strategy (maximum score 15 points) • Distribution plan • Analysis of potential target groups • Timeline

SELECTION CRITERIA IBF EUROPE DISTRIBUTION FOR INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS In selecting the projects the selection committee uses the following criteria, for which a maximum of 100 points can be attributed:

Quality of the proposed project (maximum score 40 points) • Originality of the subject, point of view, style • Subject matter • Narrative structure and treatment • Cinematography • Audience potential

Quality of the global distribution and marketing strategy (maximum score 30 points) • Distribution plan • Outreach plan (if applicable) • VOD, digital platform component • Research potential audience for film • Marketing plan (website, social media) • Strategy for monitoring results

Feasibility of project (maximum score 15 points) • Feasibility of the budget • Feasibility of the finance plan • Assessment of the proposed expenditure of the grant

Quality of the distribution partners (maximum score 15 points) • Professional experience of the applicant • Professional experience of the partner(s) attached to the project • Quality of the proposed collaboration between partners 1. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OEDC). The DAC list of the OECD gives an overview of countries which qualify as a developing country.

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APPENDIX III: ORGANIZATION 2016 Board The board has the following members: • Chairman: Walter Etty, partner at ­Andersson Elffers Felix (till dec. 2016) • Member: Jan Hoekema, former director Cultural Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs • Member: Adrienne van Heteren, director small media foundation London • Member: Marischka Leenaers, consultant in fundraising and sponsoring • Member: Marijn Wiersma, transition development and innovation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs • Member: Marry de Gaay Fortman, lawyer-partner at Houthoff Buruma (from oct. 2016) • Member: Cees van ‘t Hullenaar, festival director IDFA (from oct. 2016) • Member: Margje de Koning, commissioning editor EO & IKONdocs (from oct. 2016)

Staff Managing Director: Isabel Arrate Fernandez Project Manager: Mélanie de Vocht Producer: Marloes den Hoed

• Malka Jonas, project officer communications at European Cultural Foundation (the Netherlands) • Mélanie de Vocht, IDFA Bertha Fund project manager (the Netherlands) • Raul Niño Zambrano, senior programmer IDFA (the Netherlands) • Yorinde Segal, coordinator IDFA Forum (the Netherlands) Pre-selection committee May 2016: • David Teigeler, IDFA viewer (the Netherlands) • Isabel Arrate Fernandez, IBF managing director (the Netherlands) • Joost Daamen, senior programmer IDFA (the Netherlands) • Laura van Halsema, senior programmer IDFA (the Netherlands) • Laurien ten Houten, coordinator IDFA Docs for Sale (the Netherlands) • Mélanie de Vocht, IDFA Bertha Fund project manager (the Netherlands) • Rada Sesic, critic, filmmaker and programmer (the Netherlands) • Raul Niño Zambrano, senior programmer IDFA (the Netherlands)

Selection committee IBF Classic: Pre-selection committee for IBF Classic: All projects submitted for IBF Classic are first assessed by a pre-selection committee. This committee is composed of IDFA staff members and documentary experts on specific regions. Pre-selection committee February 2016: • David Teigeler, IDFA viewer (the Netherlands) • Ileana Stanculescu, filmmaker and programmer of Ciné-Doc Tbilisi (Georgia) • Isabel Arrate Fernandez, IBF managing director (the Netherlands) • Joost Daamen, senior programmer IDFA (the Netherlands) • Judy Kibinge, director East African Fund DOCUBOX and film director (Kenya) • Laura van Halsema, senior programmer IDFA (the Netherlands) • Laurien ten Houten, coordinator IDFA Docs for Sale (the Netherlands)

32

The selection committee of the documentary projects is composed of a group of alternating members and guest readers for each selection round. The committee consists of five or six members per round. Committee February 2016: • Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, Head of IDFA Industry Office (the Netherlands) • Alex Szalat, CEO ARTE (France) • Isabel Arrate Fernandez, IBF managing director (the Netherlands) • Rada Sesic, critic, filmmaker and programmer (the Netherlands) • Rebecca Lichtenfeld, director of Social Impact Media at Bertha Philanthropies (UK/USA) • Uldis Cekulis, producer VFS Films (Latvia) Committee May 2016: • Isabel Arrate Fernandez, IBF managing director (the Netherlands) • Christian Popp, producer YUZU ­Productions (France)

• Fleur Knopperts, producer, Volya Films (the Netherlands) • Rasha Salti, Independent curator and writer, former programmer for TIFF (Lebanon) • Steven Markovitz, producer Big World Cinema (South Africa)

Selection committee IBF Europe: All projects submitted for IBF Europe are assessed by a selection committee composed of IDFA staff members and internationally renowned documentary experts. Committee IBF Europe: Co-production February 2016: • Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, Head of IDFA Industry Office (the Netherlands) • Andrea Hock, director TV Sales Autlook Filmsales (Austria) • Isabel Arrate Fernandez, IBF managing director (the Netherlands) • Orwa Nyrabia, producer No Nation Films (Germany) • Siniša Juricic, producer Nukleus Film (Croatia) Committee IBF Europe: Distribution February 2016: • Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, Head of IDFA Industry Office (the Netherlands) • Andrea Hock, director TV Sales Autlook Filmsales (Austria) • Andy Whittaker, founder Dogwoof (UK) • Isabel Arrate Fernandez, IBF managing director (the Netherlands) Committee IBF Europe: Distribution September 2016: • Anaïs Clanet, General Manager, Wide House (France) • Ana Vicente, Head of Theatrical Sales, Dogwoof (UK) • Isabel Arrate Fernandez, IBF managing director (the Netherlands)


APPENDIX IV: OVERVIEW OF SELECTED PROJECTS The following projects received support from the Fund in 2016. The list below includes the amount granted and a brief description of each project.

Project development 1 Brother on Paper The director's family lived inside the Colombian armed conflict for forty years. Some of them Carlos Hernández Restrepo, Colombia were warriors, others were victims. The recent Colombian history from the point of view of the € 5.000 people who are now working for peace and reconciliation. 2 The Forbidden Strings Hassan Nouri, Iran € 5.000

Born and raised in Iran, four young Afghans take a dangerous journey from Iran to Afghanistan in order to make a dream come true: performing their first concert in a fatherland they’ve never seen.

3 The Mole Agent Maite Alberdi, Chile €5.000

The Mole Agent is a documentary feature in development. The production phase will start in 2017.

4 Robertson Street Cecilia Mendoza Vázquez, Mexico € 5.000

A man with an obscure past, a young trumpet player and an embalmer face death everyday in New Orleans. A jazz funeral breaks into Robertson Street joining their stories. Death is the excuse to find life throbbing in one of the most violent cities of the United States.

5 The Son of the Hunter Germán Scelso, Federico Robles, Argentina € 5.000

Intimate portrait of Luis Quijano, son of a former oppressor of Argentina’s military dictatorship, whom after his father’s death in 2015 decides to file a formal accusation against him before the Court that deals with crimes against humanity lawsuits.

6 Testament Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu, Kenya € 5.000

Many freedom fighters who fought for Kenya's independence from British rule, were imprisoned in concentration camps, where they underwent beatings, starvation and torture. Nowadays, they are part of a 20,000 strong contingent of Kenyans suing the British government for restitution.

7 Then They Would Be Gone Maheen Zia, Madiha Aijaz, Pakistan € 5.000

In Pakistani villages, the arrival of a mela (fair), with its luscious performers, used to be a reprieve for the farmers and their families. Except, the melas are disappearing as the religious right comes down hard, security is upped, cable television permeates and the money dries up for the performers.

8 Transect Manolo Sarmiento, Ecuador € 5.000

The film tries to answer questions about colonization by following two stories in contemporary Ecuador. Former members of a community in the Amazonia reunite after twenty years with the scientists who once conducted with them an ethnobotany study. In parallel the film follows a group of ecologists from Quito who proposed a moratorium on oil exploitation in Huaorani land.

Production & Post-Production 9 All About Amal Mohamed Siam, Egypt € 17.500

Adolescence in post-revolution Egypt that’s shifting around an angry teenager who’s turning from an infant into a young woman during an extraordinary context of upheaval and violence.

10 The Belly of the Whale Horizoe Garcia, Cuba € 15.000

The certainty of a change is breathed in each of the corners in Havana. While everyone seems to be hurried to sell or buy, the father or the director looks at the changes with apparent indifference, while refusing to go to the street.

11 Braving the Waves Mina Keshavarz, Iran € 17000

Rogieh, a woman in Southern Iran, is trying to secure jobs for women in her community through a Bazaar she established and run. Over 800 women work in her bazaar when the mayor threatens to destroy the Bazaar and build a big shopping mall.

12 City of the Sun Rati Oneli, Georgia € 17.000

City of the Sun is a surreal vision of a post-apocalyptic ghost town and its several inhabitants. The lives, dreams and destinies of the characters unfold amidst the grand ruins of once “glorious” Soviet architectural and technological achievements in a semi-abandoned mining town of Chiatura.

13 The Darkroom of Xiloá Eugenia Carrion, Nicaragua € 5.000

Carmen, a former photographer of age 71, receives an invitation to the opening of a Photo exhibition which includes the work of her passed away husband. The invitation encourages her to look for negatives from the past and to activate the darkroom that lays asleep in her basement.

33


14 Happily Ever After Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir, Egypt € 17.000

In the midst of the chaos of Egypt’s Arab Spring, filmmaker Nada falls in love with Ayman. The initial euphoria makes way for doubt, anxiety and blame – a metaphor for the disappointing trajectory of events in Egypt.

15 Home Games Alisa Kovalenko, Ukraine € 15.000

The story of Alina, a poor 20-year-old girl from Kiev, saved from begging by football. Life challenges her once again: her mother dies, leaving behind two kids and a blind grandma. Now, Alina must choose: football or family…

16 House in the Fields Tala Hadid, Morocco € 17.500

A portrait of a rural Amazigh community in the High Atlas Mountains that has remained essentially unchanged for hundreds of years despite being confronted with the rapidly changing socio-political realities of the nation at large. Two sisters experience the last seasons of childhood.

17 Insomnia Lera Latypova, Russia € 17.500

In a village in Kazakhstan, during a thaw or rain people relapse into an unexplainable sleep, which can last up to two weeks. The inhabitants suspect it's all the fault of uranium mines, that were left after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

18 Last Men in Aleppo Firas Fayyad, Søren Steen Jespersen, Denmark/Syria €16.000

After 5 years of war in Syria, the remaining citizens of Aleppo are readying themselves for a siege. Through the volunteers from The White Helmets we experience the daily life, death and struggle in the streets of the city. They fight for sanity where war has become the norm.

19 Love Song. Pastorale Tinatin Gurchiani, Georgia € 17.500

What will happen if we give erotic books to elderly people and ask them for comments? A film about memories; memories about their lives, love, erotic experience, truth and fantasy, which are otherwise a tabooed subject.

20 Obstinate Sahra Mosawi, Afghanistan € 17.500

In a village in Kazakhstan, during a thaw or rain people relapse into an unexplainable sleep, which can last up to two weeks. The inhabitants suspect it's all the fault of uranium mines, that were left after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

21 Off Khartoum Sides Marwa Zein, Sudan € 9.000

A story that reveals the complicated Sudan; where the social and political situation affect even Football! Through the magical reality of two young women football players, the director questions women's situation within minority ethnic groups.

22 On Screen Off Record - an investigation into the images of the Syrian uprising Rami Farah, Syria €17.000

Yadan Draji, a Syrian activist and four of his friends had been filming the Syrian uprising since the first day in the city of Daraa, as it went from a non-violent movement, to a vicious civil war. This film investigates these images and to make us rethink their stories and the media machine they became a part of.

23 Turkana: Race for Resources Jackie Lebo, Kenya € 17.500

A passionate young activist leads her desert community in the fight for a fair share of resources, found their land against big oil drilling companies while trying to preserve their traditional way of life.

IBF Europe International Co-Production

34

24 China's Van Gogh Haibo Yu, Kiki Tianqi Yu, Netherlands/ China € 40.000

An intimate portrait of peasant-turned oil painters who are transitioning from simply making copies of iconic Western paintings to creating their own authentic works of art, emblematic of the complexities of China’s Dream for the 21st Century: to go from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’.

25 The Last Year of Congo Mirador Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, Venezuela/ UK/Brazil € 40.000

"El Ultimo Año de El Congo Mirador" tells the story how several inhabitants of the small ­Venezuelan village Congo Mirador are dealing with the gradual disappearance of their village, which is built on stilts in the middle of Lake Maracaibo, Latin America's largest oil field. It is slowly turning into a swamp and neglect and corrosion not only leads to the decay of the village but of the people themselves. But then a long forgotten mythical ship appears in the jungle and restores people's hope.

26 Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait Avani Rai, Finland/India €40.000

An unframed portrait of a man who is one of world´s greatest photographers. He has covered five decades of the history of India—from the political lives of India's nation makers and the atrocities of war, to the spiritual healing of Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama. The story of Raghu Rai and his India is told through the eyes of his own rebel daughter.

27 Los Reyes Ivan Osnovikoff, Bettina Perut, Germany/Chile €40.000

Los Reyes is the story of three low-income teenage skateboarders that embody the challenge of becoming adults in a segregated and classist current day Chile.


28 Veterans, Memories of War Lola Arias, Spain/Argentina € 40.000

Veterans is an innovative feature documentary that reveals the personal stories of both British and Argentinean former soldiers whose lives were deeply affected by the Falklands war. The stylized individual narratives, where real experience is turned into fiction by veterans re-enacting their own memories, reveals deeper emotional truths about the consequences of war. A unique documentary timed for the 35th anniversary of the war.

29 The Waiting Bench Suhaib Gasmelbari, France/Sudan/ Chad € 40.000

Ibrahim, Manar, Soliman and Eltayeb, four Sudanese filmmakers and close friends since more than 45 years, try to inspire the love of cinema in a wounded country. One of their last heroic acts is to resuscitate a cinema theatre in Khartoum.

IBF Europe Distribution for International Co-productions 30 China's Van Goghs Haibo Yu, Kiki Tianqi Yu, The Netherlands/China € 30.000

China's van Goghs tells the stories of peasant turned painters who are carving out different paths for themselves after years of hand copying Western masterpieces, which are sold to high street retailers around the world. While van Gogh only sold one painting in his life, these production line painters have sold van Goghs in the thousands. But van Gogh represents more than just the livelihoods of these painter workers; his art, life and legend motivates them to fulfil their dreams. Their journey is emblematic of China’s Dream for the 21st Century: to go from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’.

31 The Grown-Ups Maite Alberdi, The Netherlands/Chile €30.000

A group of friends with Down syndrome have attended the same school for over 40 years, they’re aging and they have not been allowed to live adulthood on their own.

32 Holy Cow Imam Hasanov, Germany/Azerbaijan/ Romania €30.000

Tapdig has a dream of bringing a European cow into his picturesque village in Azerbaijan to improve the condition of his poor family. He decides to call it Madona. His passion unsettles the traditional community. The Old Men see a threat in having a foreign cow as they say its milk is full of chemicals. Even his wife Vafa does not want to take care of such a strange breed. But Tapdig is ready to risk it all and challenges the conservative mentality to rethink the attitude. How do human beings handle change while remaining true to their own traditions?

33 Machines Rahul Jain, Germany/India/Finland €30.000

A visually compelling look behind the doors of a giant textile factory in India, exploring the meaning of modern day labor, exploitation and the human cost of mass production in our globalized world.

34 Ukrainian Sheriffs Roman Bondarchuk, Slovenia/Latvia/ Ukraine €30.000

In the country with the biggest police force in Europe, Ukraine, there is a lack of policemen in rural communities therefore villagers of Stara Zburievka village have found a solution. They chose two local men – the smartest and the strongest – to take care of the public order. Villagers give them power, a car, and shiny tokens and name them “sheriffs”. Sometimes wild and violent, the other times awkward and funny, sheriffs’ actions, according to the village community, are always fair. However, the recent political events taking place in Ukraine have changed the situation in Stara Zburievka village, too.

35


APPENDIX V: IBF HARVEST 2016 Audience

IDFA Competition for Feature Length

Attendance

1

The Grown-Ups Maite Alberdi Chile/The Netherlands/France, 2016, 80’ WP

A moving, confrontational portrait of four Chilean adults with Down syndrome, who are attending the same school for over 40 years. Although they feel ready for adult life, society doesn’t agree.

5.342

2

Machines Rahul Jain India/Finland/Germany, 2016, 71’ WP

A mesmerizing, rhythmic portrait of everyday life for workers at a textile factory in India. There is enchanting beauty here, but the film also reveals deplorable conditions.

3.362

IDFA Competition for First Appearance 3

Amazona Clare Weiskopf Colombia, 2016, 82’ WP

After a tragedy, an Englishwoman left her kids and escaped into the ­Colombian jungle. Thirty years later her daughter confronts her and tries to heal the wounds of the past as she struggles to define motherhood on her own terms.

754

4

A Memory in Three Acts Inadelso Cossa Mozambique, 2016, 64’ WP

The colonial history of Mozambique left a big wound in today’s collective memory. In a poetic tale, people who were involved in the bloody struggle for independence in Mozambique tell their side of the story.

219

5

Plastic China Jiu-liang Wang China, 2016, 81’ WP

Yi Jie and her family live next to a primitive recycling plant. Her world consists of mountains of plastic waste from Europe, the United States and Asia, a glimpse of a different, much richer life.

1.012

An emotional encounter with victims of the Chadian dictator Hissein Habré and his reign of terror that lasted from 1982 to 1990 – with American and French support.

135

Masters 6

Hissein Habré, a Chadian Tragedy Mahamat Saleh Haroun Chad/France, 2016, 82’ DP

Best of Fests 7

Ambulance Mohamed Jabaly Palestine/Norway, 2016, 78’ DP

A raw and personal report from war-torn Gaza in 2014, most of it filmed on nail-biting ambulance rides, racing around to save lives.

454

8

An Insignificant Man Khushboo Ranka & Vinay Shukla India, 2016, 96’ DP

A riveting political thriller that gives you a ringside view of an outrageous Indian election. Debutante activist Arvind Kejriwal takes on the government while struggling to keep his own idealism alive.

575

9

Tempestad Tatiana Huezo Mexico, 2016, 105’ DP

A poetic reconstruction of the stories of two women who fall victim to a corrupt system in which people are a commodity.

415

Whose Country? Mohamed Siam Egypt/France/Kuwait/USA, 2016, 58’ DP

Against the backdrop of revolution, Mohamed Siam, a filmmaker gets to know an officer in Egypt’s feared police force.

374

10

Panorama

36

11 China’s van Goghs Haibo Yu & Kiki Tianqi Yu China/The Netherlands, 2016, 81’ WP

A Chinese replica painter feels a deep affinity with Van Gogh and travels to Amsterdam to find the spirit of his own work.

12 Happily Ever After Nada Riyadh & Ayman El Amir Egypt, 2016, 68’, WP,

In the midst of the chaos of Egypt’s Arab Spring, filmmaker Nada falls in love with Ayman. The initial euphoria makes way for doubt, anxiety and blame – a metaphor for the disappointing trajectory of events in Egypt.

288

13

Descendants of Namibian tribes that were deeply affected by German colonial rule fight for the return of their ancestors’ skulls – and more.

327

Skulls, Off My People Vincent Moloi South Africa, 2016, 67’ WP

2037


14

Trembling Mountain Kesang Tseten Nepal, 2016, 84’, WP,

Survivors of the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015 attempt to rebuild their lives in the magnificent Langtang Valley.

503

15

Zaineb Hates the Snow Kaouther Ben Hania Tunisia/UAE/France/Qatar/Lebanon, 2016, 94’ DP

In this intimate portrait of adolescence, a Tunisian girl named Zaineb loses her father in a car accident, and has to get used to a new family in the ­Canadian snow.

378

Docs for Sale only 16

Avec l’Amour Ilija Cvetkovski & Atanas Georgiev Macedonia, 2016, 66’

A film about the retiring professor Dionis, his passion for vintage cars and his dream of opening a museum in the little, uneventful town where he lives. While Dionis is fantasizing among his decaying cars, his wife makes an earning for the family and for each new car of Dionis by making wedding cakes.

n/a

17

Braving the Waves Mina Keshavarz Iran/Norway, 2016, 90’

Rogieh, a woman in Southern Iran, is trying to secure jobs for women in her community through a Bazaar she established and run. Over 800 women work in her bazaar when the mayor threatens to destroy the Bazaar and build a big shopping mall.

n/a

18 Guerrero Sebastián Moreno Chile, 2016, 67’

Manuel was 14 years old when his father was brutally assassinated during the Chilean dictatorship. Since that day he has dedicated his time to investigate events that resulted in his father’s death and becomes an icon of the fight against the dictatorship and a public figure.

n/a

19 I Never Left Shazia Khan India, 2016, 60’

Tahira’s marriage was a love match, then her husband disappeared. Filmmaker Shazia Khan returns to her homeland to record this story and make sense of her own.

n/a

20

In Exile documents the plight of migrants who have fled the civil war in Myanmar for refuge in Thailand. Exploited by their Thai landlords, living in constant fear of the police and being vilified by most Thais, they live without rights in the shadows of the fields where they harvest.

n/a

21 In Spring My Dreams Come True Amanbek Azhymat Kyrgyzstan, 2016, 40’

Syiagul cares for children with autism abandoned by their parents, while she has three adult kids of her own. In the mean time Syiagul has also been fighting cancer for many years.

n/a

22

Thank you, Doctor! Adilet Karzhoev Kyrgyzstan/France/Poland, 2016, 27’

Ernst Akramov has dedicated all his life to surgery. He is 80 years old and has been living in a small room of a hospital for 25 years. He is an excellent doctor however he never had a family - all that he has is a writing desk and sick patients.

n/a

23

Two Schools Srdjan Sarenac Bosnia/Croatia/Serbia, 2016, 47’

After the war in Bosnia the famous Travnik Gymnasium building has been divided into 2 schools. Children from two ethnic groups, Croats and Bosnians, attend classes in the same building. The christmas football tournament is the only thing that unites children from both schools.

n/a

In 2016, the last weaving factory from the communist era in North-West China was demolished. Weaving follows two textile worker families during the five year demolition process as they struggle to adapt to outside change while trying to keep their families intact.

n/a

In Exile Tin Win Naing Germany/Myanmar, 2016, 73’

24 Weaving Yang Wang China, 2016, 93’

WP = World Premiere, IP = International Premiere, EP = European Premiere, DP = Dutch Premiere

37


APPENDIX VI: OVERVIEW IBF SUMMER SCHOOL PROJECTS 2008 – 2016 Since the first Summer School in 2008, the Fund has facilitated participation by a number of supported projects. The Table below shows the course these projects have taken, and the final outcome. Year Summer School

Country

Status

Cinema Komunisto

2008

Serbia

completed

The Caviar Connection

2008

Serbia

completed

The Devil Operation

2008

Peru

completed

King Naki and the Thundering Hooves

2008

South Africa

Retiro Shelter

2008

Good Old Bad Times

2008

Documentary project

38

IDFA

Docs for Sale

Total Festivalscreenings

Total Awards

2010: FA Competition

2010

31

5

2008: FA Competition

2008

32

5

2010: Panorama

2010

45

4

completed

2011: FA Competition

2011

7

2

Argentine

completed

2008: Panorama

2008

14

3

Bolivia

on hold

IDFA Forum 2007

Therapies in Tehran

2008

Iran

on hold

The Death of Jaime RoldĂłs

2009

Ecuador

completed

2013: Panorama

2013

18

10

My Name is Salt

2009

India

completed

2013: FA Competition

2013

78

30

2012

34

5

Sand Fishers

2009

Mali

completed

2012: Panorama

World without Shadow

2009

Maleisia

completed

rejected for 2011

Other

Winner First Appearance Award IDFA 2013

1

The Iron Demon

2009

Sri Lanka

completed

expected for 2017

5 Broken Cameras

2010

Palestine

completed

2011: FA Competition

2011

64

22

Oscar Nomination 2013, Audience Award & Special Jury Award IDFA 2011

Are you Listening!

2010

Bangladesh

completed

2012: Panorama

2012

31

5

Opening Film Leipzig Int. F.F.

Citadel

2010

Bolivia

completed

2011: Panorama

2011

8

1

Where the Condors Fly

2010

Chile

completed

2012: Panorama

2012

29

5

Bukom Fighter*

2010

Ghana

in production

In the Dark

2011

Serbia

completed

2014

14

3

Lost in Shanghai

2011

China

completed on hold

3

expected for 2017 2011 online

2014: Panorama rejected for 2014

Waiting for Heaven

2011

Palestine

What Will Tomorrow Bring

2011

Nigeria

on hold

The White Volta

2011

Ghana

in production

The Devil's Lair

2012

South Africa

completed

2012

2013: Best of Fests

2013

19

I, Afrikaner

2012

South Africa

completed

2009

2013: FA Competition

2013

15

Red Wedding

2012

Cambodia

completed

2011 online

2012: ML Competition

2012

24

4

Winner First Appearance Award IDFA 2012

Camera / Woman

2012

Morocco

completed

2012 online

2012: ML Competition

2012

48

3

Nomination First Appearance Award IDFA 2012

The Cleaner

2012

Morocco

not in production

GITI - Paradise in Hell

2012

Rwanda

in production

Logs of War

2012

Kenya

in production

Whose Country?

2012

Egypt

completed

The Mulberry House

2013

Yemen

completed

2013: Panorama

2013

21

3

The Silence of the Flies

2013

Venezuela

completed

2013: Panorama

2013

65

10

Little Red Dragonfly

2013

South Africa

in production

expected for 2017

Die Before Blossom

2013

Indonesia

completed

2014: FA Competition

2014

7

3

Lyari Notes

2013

India

completed

2015: Panorama

2015

12

2015

expected for 2017

expected for 2017 expected for 2017 2011

2016: Best of Fests

The Shadow Lawyers

2013

Egypt

completed

rejected for IDFA 2015

The Donkey that Carried the Cloud on its Back

2013

Kenya

in production

expected for 2017

Mother of the Unborn

2014

Egypt

completed

2014: FA Competition

8

2014

27

Premiered at Hot Docs 2016

Nomination for Alliance of Women Film Journalists' EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary IDFA 2015

6

Peter Wintonick Special Jury Award for First Appearance IDFA 2014


Year Summer School

Country

Tea Time

2014

Another Wall in the Sugar Fields

IDFA

Docs for Sale

Total Festivalscreenings

Total Awards

2014: FA Competition

2014

39

10

Status

IDFA Forum

Chile

completed

2011

2014

Dominican Republic

in production

expected for 2017

Bukom Fighter*

2014

Ghana

in production

expected for 2017

Samuel's Truth*

2014

Kenya

in production

expected for 2017

A Memory in Three Acts*

2014

Mozambique

completed

2016: FA Competition

1**

An Insignificant Man

2014

India

completed

2016: Best of Fests

6

Ukrainian Sheriffs

2014

Ukraine

completed

2015: Feature Length Competition

Documentary project

Have a Nice Day

2015

Brazil

in production

expected for 2017

The Sound of Masks

2015

South Africa

in production

expected for 2017

Spiral

2015

Armenia

in production

expected for 2017

Stories from the Field

2015

Bhutan

in production

expected for 2017

Anonymous project

2015

Paraguay

in production

expected for 2017

A Memory in Three Acts*

2015

Mozambique

completed

2016: FA Competition

Winners

2015

Iran

completed

rejected for IDFA 2015

Love Song. Pastorale

2016

Georgia

in production

expected for 2018

Testament

2016

Kenya

in production

expected for 2018

The Fire We Will Become

2016

Nicaragua

completed

expected for 2017

Samuel's Truth*

2016

Kenya

in production

expected for 2017

2015

39

Other Alliance of Women Film Journalists' EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary IDFA 2014

Premiered at Toronto Film Festival 2016 2

Special Jury Award for Feature Length Competition IDFA 2015

1**

FA Competition = IDFA Competition for First Appearance ML Competition = IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary FL Competition = IDFA Competition for Feature Length Documentary *These films participated in the Summer School twice **These films had their world premiere or international premiere at IDFA 2016 and are starting their festival careers in 2017.

39


APPENDIX VII: DOCS FOR SALE VIEWING FIGURES IDFA 2016 Plastic China The Grown-Ups Machines Amazona China's van Goghs An Insignificant Man A Memory in Three Acts Ambulance Zaineb Hates the Snow Happily Ever After Skulls, Off My People Hissein Habré, a Chadian Tragedy Tempestad Braving the Waves* In Exile* Guerrero* Two Schools* Whose Country? Trembling Mountain I Never Left* In Spring My Dreams come True* Thank you, Doctor!* Weaving* Avec l'Amour* Total

Docs for Sale @ IDFA 2016 60 51 51 34 27 18 16 14 10 8 7 6 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 4 2 0 0 0 308

Docs for Sale online 2016 93 92 78 35 23 21 19 35 10 14 7 9 12 11 2 4 5 4 15 9 unknown 0 7 8 513

IDFA 2015 Sonita Behemoth Ukrainian Sherrifs Cecilia Roundabout in My Head Afghanistan Night Stories Fireflies in the Abyss Checks and Balances The Chinese Mayor Surire Please Remember Me Lyari Notes The Siren of Faso Fani Total

Docs for Sale online 2016 332 96 83 31 30 28 26 20 19 16 16 13 1 711

* These films were not selected for the official IDFA selection, but were still part of the Docs for Sale collection

APPENDIX VIII: CIRCULATION OF IBF-SUPPORTED DOCUMENTARIES AT FILM FESTIVALS IN 2016 4 IBF films from Africa shown at 49 festivals worldwide 10 IBF films from Asia shown at 124 festivals worldwide 6 IBF films from Latin America shown at 111 festivals worldwide 11 IBF films from MENA shown at 193 festivals worldwide 2 IBF films from Eastern Europe shown at 39 festivals worldwide In Total 33 IBF films shown at 516 festivals worldwide

40

Screenings in own region 10% 16% 32% 4% 46% 15%

Screenings international 90% 84% 68% 96% 54% 85%

Awards 4 17 6 34 4 61


APPENDIX IX: SCREENINGS IN THE BENELUX OF IBF-SUPPORTED DOCUMENTARIES Film Screenings Benelux Le Quai 14 RITSC School of Arts Focus Art Cantara Brussels Festival des LibertĂŠs Mooov - films facing the world Royal Embassy of the Netherlands Luxembourg City Film Festival Leiden University IDFA On Tour Cinema Arabe LAB 111 Cinema Kriterion IDFA Special Assen International Film Festival IDFA Uitmarkt Festival Preview Movies that Matter Film Festival Read My World Festival Theatrical Release

Belgium Belgium Belgium Belgium Belgium Luxembourg Luxembourg Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands

Sonita Mother of the Unborn Fest of Duty Sonita Sonita Sonita Sonita The Mulberry House Ukrainian Sheriffs, Sonita From My Syrian Room Ukrainian Sheriffs Behemoth The Storm Makers Whose Country? Sonita, The Chinese Mayor Ukrainian Sheriffs China’s van Goghs

TV Screenings Benelux AMC/ Sundance Channel Global Networks RBTF - TV Hert VPRO

Benelux Belgium Netherlands

The Chinese Mayor Sonita Sonita

APPENDIX X: CONSULTANTS AT FESTIVALS IN 2016 Country Bosnia China Croatia Cuba

Documentary Event Sarajevo Film Festival GZDOC2016 Guanghzhao

France Germany India Mexico

Zagreb Film Festival International Film and Television School Cuba Cannes International Film Festival Berlin International Film Festival Docedge Kolkata Guadalajara Film Festival

Morocco Panama Qatar

Greenhouse International Film Festival Panama Qumra 2016 in Qatar

South Africa Taiwan Ukraine Uruguay USA

Durban Film Festival CNEX DocuDays UA Doc Montevideo Sundance Film Festival

Activity Part of pitching panel for rough cuts and individual meetings with filmmakers Part of pitching panel, individual meetings with filmmakers and presentation IDFA + IBF Part of pitching panel and individual meetings with filmmakers Part of pitching panel and individual meetings with filmmakers Individual meetings with filmmakers Individual meetings with filmmakers Part of pitching panel and individual meetings with filmmakers Part of pitching panel for rough cuts and individual meetings with filmmakers Part of pitching panel and individual meetings with filmmakers Individual meetings with filmmakers and presentation IDFA + IBF Part of pitching panel for rough cuts and individual meetings with filmmakers Part of pitching panel and individual meetings with filmmakers Part of pitching panel and individual meetings with filmmakers Presentation IDFA + IBF and individual meetings with filmmakers Part of pitching panel and individual meetings with filmmakers Networking

This overview also includes travels to Germany, France, Croatia, Bosnia and Taiwan. These are not countries where the Fund is active, but are regularly visited by filmmakers from regions where the Fund is active.

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APPENDIX XI: STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE 2016

2015

FNL. STMNT 2016

BUDGET 2016

FNL. STMNT 2015

Government grants

464.968

455.000

307.428

Other grants

420.000

420.000

460.000

68.924

80.700

44.269

953.892

955.700

811.697

INCOME

Other income

EXPENDITURE Administration costs Staff

29.361

27.550

29.999

Housing/support costs

39.016

37.000

35.230

Total administration costs

68.377

64.550

65.229

78.000

74.850

78.266

Activity costs Staff Projects and programmes

808.827

816.300

682.008

Total activity costs

886.827

891.150

760.274

-

-

-

955.204

955.700

825.503

-1.312

-

-13.806

Contingency

Net result

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THE IDFA BERTHA FUND WOULD LIKE TO THANK ITS FINANCIERS Main partner

Partners

COLOPHON Text: Mélanie de Vocht, Isabel Arrate Fernandez Interviews: Joost Broeren-Huitenga, Sasja Koetsier Appendix: Mélanie de Vocht, Marloes den Hoed Translation: Joost Broeren-Huitenga, Kees Driessen Design: Sjoukje van Gool Photography: Bram Belloni, Nichon Glerum, Felix Kalkman, Corinne de Korver, Joke Schut This annual report is a publication of the IDFA Bertha Fund Contact: IDFA Bertha Fund | E: idfaberthafund@idfa.nl | P: 31 20 6273329 / www.idfa.nl/en/info/idfa-bertha-fund

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