BFI DOC SOCIETY LOCAL
In a handful of immersive regional events (‘locals’) exploring the new national BFI Doc Society fund and current landscape for non-fiction film, we hear from the filmmakers and decision makers serving the docs community. After inspiring events in Newcastle, Birmingham, Wales and Northern Ireland, we’re heading to the South East joining our colleagues at Screen South for a day of Doc appreciation at Depot, Lewes on Tuesday 17th September 2019.
South East dwelling documentary filmmakers convene! BFI Doc Society is the delegate partner for the BFI National Lottery funds for UK documentary film. We invite new and emerging creative filmmaking talent, established filmmakers and diverse voices to join us to explore the landscape for non-fiction film across the UK. We will be diving into the detail on Doc Society and how we work with filmmakers, sharing news on the BFI Doc Society Fund, showcasing inspiring creative documentary shorts and features, excavating commissioning opportunities and hosting an afternoon of 1-2-1 doc surgeries and networking.
So whether you’re a doc-maker, doc-lover or simply doc-curious, Doc Society invite you to join the community as the embrace a new vision for documentary film.
To register to attend for the whole day, please sign up here
If you live anywhere in the South East region and you require financial support to attend this event, BFI Doc Society has a limited amount of bursaries available to support costs of attending the event. Bursaries are limited and we prioritise applications that support BFI Diversity Standards. To enquire about bursary support to attend this event, contact: aisha@docsociety.org
The Fund will encourage talent to take risks on form and content, where the more commercial sector cannot. We heart the cinema, but we are also platform agnostic and open to projects that reach audiences in new ways.
We can support:
What we don’t fund:
To bear in mind:
Sign up to the Doc Society newsletter to get news of opening and closing dates on the film funds as well as dates for our regional events, connecting and building the docs community in the UK.
Made of Truth: BFI Doc Society Short Film Fund. In our second year, we invite passionate filmmakers to take the temperature of our world and create electrifying films for the UK and beyond. Part of BFI Network the Fund supports all forms of docs - personal stories, hybrids, artist films, essays, observational and social issue projects. This is an urgent opportunity to tell stormy stories which reflect our turbulent times.
Made of Truth: BFI Doc Society Fund is committed to building a diverse community of filmmakers and working with people from underserved backgrounds including BAME, LGBTQ+, mixed ability and non-filmmaking talent. We’re reaching out to new storytellers from around the country and all communities and are especially keen to increase the number of projects originated outside London.
DETAILS, DETAILS
We’ve got the cold hard cash and can fund ten short films with budget contributions of up to £15,000 and are happy to look at ideas of any length up to 40 minutes. Applications will be accepted until noon on Tuesday 9th of July 2019 and once selected, films will need to be delivered by the end of January 2020. Documentary filmmakers and those with related experience over the age of 18 are welcome to apply.
Projects will receive creative and mentorship support from the BFI Doc Society team, and relevant industry partners. Filmmakers do not need to have a producer or production company to apply. We can facilitate partnerships with producers.
THAT SOUNDS LIKE ME, SO HOW DO I SUBMIT?
The only way we can assess projects and offer advice is for applicants to submit their proposal and materials via our online application system.
We will then be in touch with all applicants within 5 weeks of the fund closing to let you know if you’ve been shortlisted for the second application stage.
If you have a stratospheric short film idea, we darn well want to know about it.
Please check out our comprehensive guidelines which should help with any burning questions. If you can’t find what you need, please contact our BFI Doc Society Production Manager Hannah Bush Bailey at hello@docsociety.org
To make sure you’re in the loop, please ensure you’re signed up to our newsletter here
To bear in mind - All films have to pass the cultural test in order to be eligible.