IFB Sponsor Special Industry Event at Guth Gafa Documentary Festival
Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) in collaboration with Guth Gafa Documentary Film Festival are pleased to announce a new event for Irish documentary makers at the 2007 Guth Gafa Festival.The event, entitled ‘Meet the Experts’ will focus on marketing and distribution strategies for documentary films, and will aim to develop awareness among Irish producers and directors of the importance of documentary sales strategies, and of thinking of distribution from the inception of their projects. The industry experts who will be involved in this event are Geoff Gilmore, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, award winning documentary director Micha X. Peled’s and Elizabeth Bradshaw, Head of Acquisitions at TVF International
The event will be styled as a ‘40 minutes with.....’ event, where 3 experts in the field of international theatrical documentary will present their experience and take questions from filmmakers on a 40 minute ‘round robin’ basis on the morning of Saturday 12th May between 10am and 1pm.
Irish filmmakers who apply to participate in this event will have the opportunity to meet at least two of the three experts for 40 minutes in groups of maximum 10 people. Our 3 experts will be a programmer of one of the larger international documentary festivals, an international sales agent/distributor, and a visiting filmmaker who has had success in international festivals and markets.
The event is open to Irish documentary producers and directors. There is no charge for attending the event but those wishing to attend must have had at least one film broadcast, released theatrically or shown at a festival to be eligible. Applications can be made on-line at www.guthgafa.com/meettheexperts where further details about how to apply will be found.
Geoff Gilmore
Geoff Gilmore is the Director of the Sundance Film Festival, and has been for the last 17 years. He is responsible for film selection as well as overseeing the artistic direction of the Festival and general Festival management. Geoff also directs the annual Sundance Independent Producers Conference, a four-day forum on the production, financing, marketing and distribution of independent film, he presents and hosts a range of seminars and conferences about independent filmmaking and distribution in various international venues, and he participates in numerous guest lectures at film schools and other institutions on a regular basis.
Micha X. Peled
Micha X. Peled’s first professional film, Will My Mother Go Back to Berlin won awards on both sides of the Atlantic. His next two films were Inside God's Bunker and You, Me, Jerusalem. These films got wide distribution, airing on television in 14 countries worldwide, establishing Peled’s international career. In 2000, Peled completed ‘Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town’. This PBS film won numerous awards, and so has his last film “China Blue”, conceived as a prequel to the previous film.
Elizabeth Radshaw
Elizabeth Bradshaw is Head of Acquisitions at TVF International. TVF International is a market leader in the distribution of independently sourced factual programming, and they represent some of the world's most established and award-winning producers. Over a decade they have acquired more than 1500 hours of quality singles and series from around the world. TVF International is also able to raise finance on behalf of producers, through co-productions, pre-sales and investment advice. TVF International is part of TVF Media, a cross-media group operating in television, internet and multimedia production.