Doc Challenge, Quickie filmmaking !

Team Beijing Dreams From China – behind the scenes of award-winning Lao Shan Lao Yin – Jakob makeup

 

I am amazed how many people are able and willing to make films without funding. A couple of years ago I chaired a competition called Green Camera ( Caméra verte) and we received 135 short films although the deadline was tight. There are also a number of competitions where teams make films in 48 hours of a week. One of the better established ones is The International Documentary Challenge which returns to Hot Docs in April 2008. Registration for the 3^rd annual Doc Challenge held from March 6 to 10 2008, is now open. I put a few questions to the producer of the event Doug Whyte.

Doug Whyte, Doc Challenge Producer.

 

1. Where did the idea come from?

I work for KDHX Community Media (www.kdhx.org), a non-profit community media organization in St. Louis, MO. (Though I am now based out of Portland, OR.) I produce the St. Louis 48 Hour Film Project (www.48hourfilm.com) for them and after seeing how the fiction filmmaking community has embraced the 48 Hour Film Project, I figured I’d try and launch a similar event for non-fiction filmmakers. Of course, I wasn’t sure how this would work for docs since it often takes years to make a decent one. But the results have been tremendous! The films are so good that Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival (www.hotdocs.ca) came on board to be the Presenting Partner and host the premiere of the finalists and the awards ceremony. Other screening partners include SILVERDOCS, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the International Documentary Association, the Documentary Organization of Canada and the 48 Hour Film Project.

2. And how many times have you done this?

This will be the third year of the Doc Challenge and the second year at Hot Docs. This year we will be doing more regional screenings in cities with clusters of participants, including (most likely) Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, St. Louis, Washington DC, Missoula, and Toronto. These screenings will showcase the locally made films as well as some of the international winners.

3. Is there a theme, or constraints? When do the contestants learn what they are?

On Thursday morning March 6 each team is given the choice of genres for its film, be it Character Study, 1st Person, Music, etc. In addition, all filmmakers will be given a broad theme (such as “Freedom”) that must be addressed at some point in their film. To ensure the films were made within the required time frame, each team must prove the date the film was made by adding a time element to the film or credits (such as the main subject holding a newspaper.)

Then the film must be sent to Doc Challenge headquarters with a postmark no later than Monday, March 10.

4. It seems more and more people are willing to contribute audiovisual pieces for free, to competitions and web sites. Do you think established people with a production company or whatever have an edge here, or that it’s really a pretty equal playing field given how accessible new technologies are?

I would say in a competition like this it is a fairly equal playing field. With such a short time frame, it comes down to engaging characters and story (as it usually does.) That’s not to say that very professional camera work and editing doesn’t give a film an advantage, but it must have the story first. Some of our finalists in the past 2 years have ranged from established filmmakers like Doug Hawes-Davis (Libby, Montana on POV) to first-timers that found extremely engaging and unique subjects. The Doc Challenge is an event that appeals to both novice and professional filmmakers alike: novice filmmakers have the opportunity to go through the whole filmmaking process in less than a week, learning the art of documentary production in a trial by fire situation, and professionals have the opportunity to work on a creative, personal project without having to commit years of their life. One thing I would like to say about this event is that filmmakers are doing much more than just entering a festival. First, we limit the number of entries (250) where festivals do not. (Sundance just had over 8,000!) Second, by registering, they are in the competition, not just “considered” for it. We work toward getting the films screened and distributed, no matter if they are winners or not. At a festival you get one screening (maybe two.) In the last 2 years we worked all year on getting the films screened many times and we actually got more TV distribution for non-winners than winners! And if we find distribution for a film, the split is 75% (filmmaker) to 25% (Doc Challenge.) Also, we are a non-profit organization and all proceeds go back into the event to make it better.

Thanks to Steven Ladouceur for the help with this blog.

Complete details and entry forms can be found online at http://www.docchallenge.org/
Email info@docchallenge.org with questions.
Check out Hot Docs here: http://www.hotdocs.ca