Special online and live seminars, talks, debates, masterclasses and lectures from experts. Grant writing, contracts, preparing your applications, film marketing and more.
Get the latest scoops and insights, increase your knowledge via intimate seminars, masterclasses and talks – strictly off the record!
Stay tuned. Next Off the Record sessions are coming up in September 2024!
Latest editions:
Reading Contracts: Or how I learned to stop worrying and read the small print.
We all struggle with some of the more mundane parts of documentary filmmaking: I am a creative person! Let me make my art! Or sometimes we make the mistake to think we are all making films for the same reasons. And oftentimes, by making our films, we create obligations that need to be fulfilled to creative, financing, distribution and other partners. After all, filmmaking is a team sport!
There is a not-so-secret place where all intransparency can be resolved: via contracts! But many of us have a hard time to read them, fear legal jargon, don’t know what is negotiable, or trust the best interest or expertise of the contract writer.
This Off-the-Record Seminar 3-part series was kindly hosted by The International Emerging Film Talent Association.
# 5: Off the Record with Tijana Djukic
Your film is (almost) done and ready to be shared with the world! Now comes possibly the most nerve-wracking of all contracts; making a deal with a sales agent.
But no need for panic; get informed with Tijana Djukic, who will explain the role of the sales agent in the audiovisual ecosystem and how that is reflected in their contracts.
This is the third session dedicated to reading contracts, covering contracting between directors and producers.
This Off the Record seminar with Tijana will be available in our media library!
About Tijana Djukic (Stranger Films Sales):
With a degree in Art History and 15+ years of cultural and cinema sector experience, Tijana has held political and operational roles. Since 2015, she’s worked as a sales agent for creative documentaries as well as factual entertainment. Currently, she is the head of sales and acquisitions at Stranger Films Sales. Among the films she has acquired and represented are The Dead Nation by Radu Jude, The Seasons in Quincy by Tilda Swinton, Bruce Lee and the Outlaw by Joost Vandebrug, Fashion Babylon by Gianluca Matarrese, We Will Not Fade Away by Alisa Kovalenko, A Picture to Remember by Olga Chernykh … In addition to her other work, she is presently involved in freelance acquisitions and programming at Current Time TV. She is overseeing the documentary slot for children and young adults, which she had a hand in creating.
# 4: Off the Record with Kesmat El Sayed and Bramwel Iro
We invited two producers to discuss their experiences co-producing documentaries and having healthy and transparent producer-to-producer relations.
The session covered what they wished they’d known starting out, what standard terms between two companies can be, and how to keep ownership of your projects.
This is the second session dedicated to reading contracts, covering contracting between co-producers.
This Off the Record seminar with Kesmat El Sayed (Seera Films) and Bramwel Iro (LBx Africa) will be available in our media library!
About Kesmat El Sayed (Seera Films):
Kesmat Elsayed is a producer and co-founder of SEE MEDIA PRODUCTION and SEERA FILMS GmbH, independent production companies based in Cairo and Berlin respectively. With a passion for storytelling, Kesmat embarked on her journey in the film industry by independently producing films in Egypt. Her focus is on crafting stories that are artistically profound, socially relevant, and capable of reaching a global audience.
Throughout her career, Kesmat has championed first-time filmmakers and women directors, contributing to the release of three short documentaries and three feature documentaries that have premiered at international festivals and garnered awards. She has also served on jury panels and selection committees for festivals in Egypt and internationally. Currently based in Berlin, Kesmat continues to work on a variety of film projects in various stages of development. She is an EAVE Producers Workshop Alumni 2021 and a Berlinale Talent 2023.
About LBx Africa:
LBx Africa is a Nairobi based production company that produces high quality Fiction and Non-fiction content. They collaborate with both local and international filmmakers to bring uniquely African perspectives to global audiences, almost always trying to have fun while at it. They also offer film production services in and around the East African region. Established in 2012 , LBx Africa is run by the duo of Creative Producer Bramwel Iro and Director/Producer Sam Soko.
# 3: Off the Record with Maksym Nakonechnyi and Selin Murat
Two inspiring DAE members Maksym Nakonechnyi and Selin Murat will help you learn to love reading your contracts!
This is a special talk designed for directors and producers! This isn’t a legal advice session, but strategies to get motivated to read and understand contracts.
This is the first of three sessions dedicating to reading contracts, covering contracting between directors and producers. Not-to-be-missed for the jargon-timid!
This Off the Record seminar will be available in our media library!
About Selin Murat:
Co-founder of Canadian Parabola films, Selin Murat started her career as a creative producer. For over a decade she produced author-driven documentaries for festivals, theatre and broadcast and became a solid member of the Canadian documentary landscape. Moving on to the world of Film Festivals and Industry events, in 2017, Selin became film programmer and head of Industry at the Montreal Documentary Film Festival RIDM where she managed to create strong relationships with European festivals and markets. In this role she co-created the If! Doc Lab in Istanbul (2016-2018), has lead co-production workshops for Quebec at CPH:DOX, Sunny Side of the Doc, Hot Docs, and the Marché du film de Cannes Docs in Progress, and consulted for several international film markets including EFM-Berlinale. Since summer 2021, she joined the Forum team as Markets Manager at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFA
About Maksym Nakonechnyi:
Maksym Nakonechnyi is a Ukrainian filmmaker and a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy. He graduated from the Ivan Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University of Theater, Film and Television and is co-founder of the production company, Tabor, which produces documentaries and feature films, theater plays and social videos. He produced This Rain Will Never Stop directed by Alina Gorlova, which won many prizes including IDFA first appearance competition. Maxim Nakonechnyi’s Butterfly Vision (2022) premiered at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in the “Un Certain Regard” section, screened at many international film festivals and was theatrically distributed across Europe.
