Old ('birds') and New ('birds') all together at the Babylon Theatre in Berlin for the Berlin Asian Hot Shots '09 Left to right : Me(Jeremy), Royston (Tan), Leon (Cheo), (Chen)Junbin, Wesley (L Aroozoo), Shaun (Koh)
Trip was made possible with the help of the SFC Overseas Travel Grant.
From (Tan) Pin Pin, Victric (Thng), Leonard (Lai) and (Tay) Bee Pin :
You must have heard by now that the SFC overseas travel grant has been cancelled and replaced with an Inspire grant that kicks in only if a director/producer has a "market" meeting set up overseas. A bunch of us met informally and decided that we would like to ask MDA/SFC to reconsider this decision to cancel the grant.
We feel that this cancellation is particularly harsh on the new generation of short filmmakers (Since there is hardly a market for short films) or filmmakers that aren’t making work for “markets”. It means filmmakers are unlikely to get to see their films seen before an unfamiliar audience, meet others like themselves, or travel to a strange land, all important for a filmmakers’ growth.
As we chatted, we realised that we could form ourselves into a group that could give feedback to MDA/SFC about their policies. This group could also be useful for MDA/SFC to consult with (we hope!) when they make changes to their schemes. Its also useful if they want to inform us of new events and meetings.
In short, there is a good reason for us to come together to help MDA help us and vice versa.
More importantly we could come together for networking and mutual support: Sharing crew info, intelligence on lenses, camera chips, censorship strategies, distribution strategies, supporting SIFF etc. Someone was suggesting organising drinks once a quarter. I suggested a talk on insurance coverage since most of us aren’t covered for accidents, being self-employed.
More importantly we could come together for networking and mutual support: Sharing crew info, intelligence on lenses, camera chips, censorship strategies, distribution strategies, supporting SIFF etc. Someone was suggesting organising drinks once a quarter. I suggested a talk on insurance coverage since most of us aren’t covered for accidents, being self-employed.
If any of this resonates with you, let's meet
Thurs 25 June, 7-9pm, Substation Theatre
Bring friends if you like, I don't have everyone's contacts
Thurs 25 June, 7-9pm, Substation Theatre
Bring friends if you like, I don't have everyone's contacts
Discussion points
1 Do we have enough similiarities to be part of a collective which has common aims and objectives. What would they be?
2 Would we want to be consulted by MDA or represent "our" views to MDA?
3 What is the best way to do that ? (Options: form an indie film version of AIPRO, join AIPRO, or, as a loose collective seek out regular roundtables with SFC, form a yahoo/Facebook group etc etc, we can discuss different ways)
4 What issues would we like MDA to consider ?
5 Most importantly, what can we do to help ourselves and each other.
6 Finally, what is the best way to get them to reconsider their OTG decision!!!
1 Do we have enough similiarities to be part of a collective which has common aims and objectives. What would they be?
2 Would we want to be consulted by MDA or represent "our" views to MDA?
3 What is the best way to do that ? (Options: form an indie film version of AIPRO, join AIPRO, or, as a loose collective seek out regular roundtables with SFC, form a yahoo/Facebook group etc etc, we can discuss different ways)
4 What issues would we like MDA to consider ?
5 Most importantly, what can we do to help ourselves and each other.
6 Finally, what is the best way to get them to reconsider their OTG decision!!!
See you!
Electric memories of Berlin in Jan 2009
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