Please note: A full listing of industry delegates along with a full program for the Points North Documentary Forum is listed at the bottom of this release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2012
Contact: Debra Tenenbaum, gBritt PR
207-286-4271
debra@gbritt.com
International Leaders in Documentary Film Converge in Camden for
Fourth Annual Points North Documentary Forum September 28-29
Forum Held in Conjunction with Camden International Film Festival September 27-30
Camden, Maine ? The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) has unveiled the lineup for its Points North Documentary Forum. Now in its fourth year, Points North has quickly become the largest gathering in New England of documentary filmmakers and key industry decision makers. The two-day conference program runs concurrently with the festival from September 28 ? 29, 2012 at the historic Camden Opera House.
Points North provides independent documentary filmmakers opportunities for professional development and creative inspiration through a wide range of panel discussions, workshops, case studies, networking events and a public pitch session. Additionally, several industry delegates will be available for one-on-one pitching sessions with forum attendees on September 28.
Filmmakers, students and other Points North attendees will have numerous opportunities to connect with industry delegates throughout the festival weekend, both formally during one-on-one pitch sessions and informally during CIFF parties, happy hours and a special Friday-night reception honoring the 25th anniversary of PBS? flagship documentary series POV, sponsored by The Orchard.
?What really distinguishes Points North from other documentary conferences in major cities is the opportunity to connect on an intimate, personal level with both industry delegates and fellow filmmakers in a beautiful setting,? says Points North Director Sean Flynn. ?Camden provides the perfect retreat-like environment for filmmakers to focus on professional and creative development while reflecting on the future of documentary storytelling.?
One of the themes in this year?s Points North program will be how documentary storytelling is changing in response to new media technologies. In one panel discussion, top representatives from the New York Times, Vimeo and Etsy.com will explore how short documentaries are being used on the web to engage new audiences and experiment with new creative directions. A series of curated shorts from each of these sources will be shown before select screenings throughout the festival weekend.
As documentary filmmakers begin to explore the creative possibilities of interactive storytelling, Points North will host an exclusive hands-on workshop with Zeega, an open-source platform for inventing new forms of storytelling which was incubated at Harvard?s metaLAB. The workshop will be open to both professionals and amateurs alike, since using Zeega requires no prior filmmaking or programming experience. It will be presented in partnership with the University of Maine, Bowdoin College, Maine Media Workshops and Northeast Historic Film.
Another conference highlight will be ?Kickstarter School?, a crowdfunding workshop led by Kickstarter?s film program director Elisabeth Holm. Other panels will provide an overview of the current broadcast and distribution landscape for independent documentaries.
For filmmakers interested in strengthening their storytelling craft, Points North will feature an editing and story structure workshop led by Mary Lampson, Maine-based editor of the classic Academy Award-winning Harlan County, USA, and another workshop led by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin, directors of Downeast and last year?s critically-acclaimed Girl Model.
Once again this year, some of the documentary industry?s leading broadcasters, distributors, funding organizations and executive producers will convene at the Points North Pitch, a public pitch session held during the Forum on September 29. Up to six filmmakers will be given an opportunity to pitch their works-in-progress and receive critical feedback before a live audience. The event, which will be free and open to the public, is a unique opportunity for filmmakers to secure vital support for their projects and audience members to see how documentaries are developed in their early stages.
Filmmakers with feature-length documentaries in the works can apply to the Points North Pitch by submitting a short synopsis and trailer before the extended September 7 deadline. This year?s panel will include some of the documentary film industry?s most important decision-makers, including Simon Kilmurry from the PBS series POV, Beth Janson Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute, Brian Newman from Brainstorm Media and DIRECTV, Winona Meringolo from Discovery Channel, Sara Archambault from LEF Foundation, and many more. One project will receive a ?Best Pitch? award, which comes with a $1000 cash prize from Documentary Educational Resources and a $3000 scholarship to Maine Media Workshops.
In 2010, Maine-based filmmakers Jason Mann and Cecily Pingree won ?Best Pitch? with their film Betting the Farm. Since then, they?ve won competitive grants from the Sundance Documentary Fund, LEF Foundation and Chicken & Egg Pictures, and have been invited to the prestigious Sundance Producers Institute. They now return to CIFF to screen as the official opening night film.
?In just two years, we?ve seen tremendous success connecting regional filmmakers with leading industry representatives,? says Ben Fowlie, founder and director of the Camden International Film Festival. ?It is extremely exciting to see this event grow each year, and we?re honored to provide a platform for filmmakers to introduce their projects to some of the most influential decision-makers in the documentary industry.?
Access to the full conference program is open to all CIFF passholders and is not limited to those who are selected for the pitch. Passes are now on sale on the Camden International Film Festival website. For more information, please visit: www.camdenfilmfest.org/pointsnorth.
The Points North Documentary Forum is funded in part from the generous support of the LEF Foundation, the Quimby Family Foundation, the Virginia Hodgkins Somers Foundation and the Maine Arts Commission. A full conference schedule and list of industry delegates is attached to this press release and available online.
Taking place from September 27th ? 30th, 2012 the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting a snapshot of the cultural landscape through the year?s best non-fiction storytelling, connecting audiences with the industry?s emerging talent to discuss documentary film as an art form, a catalyst for change and as an outlet for the independent voice. For more information, visit www.camdenfilmfest.org.
Points North Documentary Forum
September 28 ? 29, 2012
Camden Opera House
INDUSTRY DELEGATES
Alice Apley, Executive Director, Documentary Educational Resources
Sara Archambault, Program Director, LEF Foundation
Daniel Chalfen, Co-Founder/Producer, Naked Edge Films
Danielle DiGiacomo, Manager of Film Distribution, The Orchard
Phil Engelhorn, Founder/Executive Director, Cinereach
Judith Helfand, Co-Founder, Chicken & Egg Pictures
Elisabeth Holm, Film Program Director, Kickstarter
Beth Janson, Executive Director, Tribeca Film Institute
Simon Kilmurry, Executive Producer, POV
Mary Lampson, Editor, Harlan County USA, A Lion in the House
Sheila Leddy, Executive Director, Fledgling Fund
Andrea Meditch, President, Back Allie Films (Man on Wire, Encounters at the End of the World)
Winona Meringolo, Senior Director of Development, Discovery ID
Brian Newman, Acquisitions Consultant, Brainstorm Media / direcTV
Kara Oehler, Co-Founder, Zeega
David Redmon, Co-Founder/Director, Carnivalesque Films
Ashley Sabin, Co-Founder/Director, Carnivalesque Films
Jesse Shapins, Co-Founder, Zeega
Jason Spingarn-Koff, Series Producer and Curator, New York Times Op-Docs
Blake Whitman, VP Creative Development, Vimeo
Tara Young, Senior Video Producer, Etsy.com
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Friday, September 28
10:30am ? 12:00pm
Carnivalesque Films Workshop
Six-time CIFF filmmakers David Redmon and Ashley Sabin (Girl Model, Downeast) discuss their creative process, influences and evolution, exploring both documentary ethics and aesthetics, shooting and editing choices, and their approach to establishing access and story development.
10:30am ? 1:00pm
One-on-One Pitches
Industry delegates TBA
1:00 ? 2:30pm
Broadcast Forecast
Commissioning editors and programmers from major networks engage in a discussion about the shifting landscape of documentary broadcast, including how networks are transitioning into a multiplatform world of VOD, online streaming and other forms of distribution, and what it all means for independent filmmakers who want to show their work on television.
1:00 ? 2:30pm
Kickstarter School
Kickstarter is on track to help creative projects raise over $150 million in 2012, putting it on par with the annual budget of the National Endowment for the Arts. Elisabeth Holm, Director of Film Projects at Kickstarter, reveal best practices and common pitfalls when planning and executing your Kickstarter campaign, including statistics and detailed case studies.
3:00 ? 4:30pm
Short Docs on the Web
Representatives from New York Times, Vimeo and Etsy.com explore how documentary filmmakers are using web platforms to discover new creative opportunities and build new audiences outside of traditional distribution channels.
5:00 ? 7:00pm
POV 25th Anniversary VIP Reception, sponsored by The Orchard
Join us as we honor POV Executive Producer Simon Kilmurry and celebrate a quarter century of some of the finest documentary programming on television.
Saturday, September 29
10:00am ? 1:00pm
THE POINTS NORTH PITCH
Six filmmakers pitch their works-in-progress to an international panel of funders, broadcasters and producers. Each pitch lasts 7 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of critical feedback. This is an invaluable chance to see first-hand how these industry representatives evaluate projects. One filmmaker will be given ?Best Pitch? award, including a $1000 cash prize from Documentary Educational Resources and a $3000 tuition scholarship to the Maine Media Workshops.
2:00 ? 3:30pm
Documentary Editing and Story Structure Workshop with Mary Lampson
Acclaimed Maine-based documentary editor and Sundance Labs mentor Mary Lampson reveals her unique approach to discovering a film?s story structure, developing characters and building compelling scenes. Examples will be drawn from her past and present work, including the Academy Award-winning classic Harlan County, USA.
2:00 ? 5:00pm
Hands On with Zeega: Interactive Documentary Workshop
Learn how to start your own interactive documentary project by experimenting with Zeega, a user-friendly, open-source tool for inventing new forms of storytelling on the web, on mobile devices and in physical spaces. Attendees will be split up into small groups and invited to play with Zeega and create their own collaborative, interactive narratives about local issues and characters in Midcoast Maine, drawing on both original content and media from across the web. No prior filmmaking or web development experience is necessary! Some computers will be made available, but please bring your laptop if possible. Presented in partnership with University of Maine, Bowdoin College, Maine Media Workshops and Northeast Historic Film.
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