BRITDOC FESTIVAL/GLOBAL MONEY

It is extraordinary how quickly this Festival has made its name on the world stage. Fixed to run from July 23 to 25 this year, again at the lovely Keble College in Oxford, it is now a cornerstone of the documentary filmmaking industry.

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Its formula for success? Simple: show the best documentary films in the world along with the chance to do serious business with key international funders and distributors.

Completed films are the essence of BritDoc naturally, but there is growing excitement about the fact that this is one show where there is actually real money on the table for future projects.

How rare is that!

And BritDoc makes it easy to access the finance. Which is ever rarer still!

No need to trot around confusing markets or dingy hotel corridors trying to find the needle in the haystack with some cash.

Instead, BritDoc runs front and centre not one, not two but three pitching strands where the panels are actively looking for new projects and ready to sign contracts.

There is a session for Big feature length documentaries, for Short ones and, new this year, for Good subjects (read humanitarian matters).

This year 27 projects are up for grabs and listening to them over the course of the festival’s three days will be proven funders like HBO, NHK, IFC, Participant and the Sundance Institute.

Full details of all projects foping for attention and alll the funders in attendance can be found here .

Money aside, BritDoc has opted this year to enliven the Festival by celebrating the role of music and comedy in documentaries, by looking at the craft of great soundtrack and asking: "Are too many documentaries too serious?"

Comedy / music highlights include a chat with Borat director Larry Charles; a "Serious About The Funnies" Masterclass featuring the Yes Men, Kurt Engfehr (Michael Moore's Editor), and Jeremy Chilnick (Morgan Spurlock's Producer); soundtrack Masterclass featuring Michael Nyman, Nitin Sawhney and Jonathan Dove; and a special screening of Robert Flaherty’s seminal silent film Nanook of the North with a special musical accompaniment by The Shine Synchro System.

Oh! As for the films themselves, there will be a Best British Feature Documentary Competition, a Best Of Fests international programme, and the FourDocs Passat Short Film Competition, with details on each available here.

A full list of the films and other details can be found here.

The BritDoc home site is www.britdoc.org/festival.

Posted July 15, 2008.