Doc/Fest Blog
GUEST BLOG 3 // Benjamin Wigley @ Documentary Campus Masterschool
By Chris Black 17 September, 2012
This is the third part of our guest blog from festival friend Benjamin Wigley at Documentary Campus Masterschool, where he is developing his feature documentary Paa Joe: Dead not Buried.
Day 5: Doc Campus Masterschool | Potsdam | Festivals, Funding & Goodbyes
Today Mark Atkin took us on a virtual whistle stop tour of international documentary film festivals – there are loads! Some better than others and some much more suited to particular films than others. We spoke about CPH:DOX which nudged us back into thinking about our application for the CPH:FORUM. Mark was super helpful and gave us lot of tips to refine our treatment and by the afternoon we’d submitted to the Forum and were ready to listen about funding opportunities from within Europe – I won’t go in to all the details but it’s safe to say that Germany has more money available (and easily accessible) to documentary film than the UK.
The day finished with Manu Winkler and Mark giving us an insight into what’s in store for us in Leipzig – THE BIG PITCH! – and we spoke about the week’s campus as a whole. Everyone agreed that having the one-on-one sessions with the tutors (Joel Wykeman, Sam Anthony, André Singer and Mark) was incredibly helpful and allowed us time to take in the advice and work on our treatments, trailers and pitches in between sessions. I have to say, all the tutors on the programme so far have been so supportive and insightful – both Ben and I feel that our project has developed brilliantly under their guidance.
The night finished with some tasty tapas, weissbeir and wonderful company. The next 6 weeks are going to be hectic in preparation for Leipzig, but we’re really looking forward to seeing our classmates and their final pitches. And fingers crossed we’ll be seeing some more projects at CPH:FORUM in November. Watch this space!
Follow us on our Blog, our Facebook page and Twitter pages too!