10-10-2019
Ramallah- (A.M. Qattan Foundation):
On Saturday, 5 October 2019, at the A.M. Qattan Foundation building in Ramallah, the seventh edition of Ramallah Doc concluded with a pitching session under the supervision of Italian coach Stefano Tealdi, with the participation of producers, editors, international commissioners and representatives of different TV stations. The event was attended by a large number of cinema goers and was organised in the context of Palestine Film Days.
To mark the launch of the pitching session, which extended throughout the day, Mahmoud Abu Hashhash, Director of the Arts and Culture Program at A.M. Qattan Foundation, welcomed the attendees from partners, guests and participants, wishing everyone a fruitful working day, thanking the guests of Ramallah Doc for their participation and their interest in supporting the documentary film industry in Palestine.
The Director of the Goethe-Institut Mona Kriegler explained that the selected projects have a clear and powerful narrative vision and what distinguishes Ramallah Doc from the past years is that this spring, it organised a three-day seminar entitled "Out of Sight.”. The author Adania Shibli was tasked with building it to question how the image is made Palestinian.
Brigitte Bolad, Executive Director of Film Lab explained that the program was full and rich. While Louise Devillers of the Consulate General of France in Jerusalem said she was excited to see and evaluate the projects with participants and artists and thanked them for attending.
On his experience, director of the project "Theft of Fire" Amer Shomali said that Ramallah Doc was a good opportunity to get to know and hear from international and local directors and producers, and the workshops were beneficial.
Shomali also noted that entrepreneurs have been able to evolve their projects thanks to the pitching sessions, but expects grants to launch developing them.
For his perspective, film producer Kamal Aljafari stressed the importance of Ramallah Doc as a project that contributes to the preservation and sustainability of Pales
tinian cinema in historic Palestine, especially after the cultural and geographical diversity of the selected projects. Aljafarinotes that diversity gives dynamism to the project. Furthermore, Aljafari praises the workshops and their importance in developing and accumulating projects.On the flip side, Aljafari believes that financial funding is not everything to produce a good film, as freedom of artistic production and techniques are more sophisticated and less expensive.
This year, 13 projects were selected to participate in the final pitching session of Ramallah Doc, including: “Scattered Land” by Rihab Shraydeh, “The Birth of Words” by Imtiaz Diab, “Good-bye Tiberius [a letter to my mother] by Lina Sweilem and Hiyam Abbas, "Code Name R", by Wissam Aljafari, "Deportation Room" by Mohammed Harb, "Displaced in Paradise" by Khaled Jarrar, "I Remember Salma" by Rashad Saleh, "Lydda in Exile" by Rami Yunus and Sarah Friedland, Nahed Awwad's “Orthodox Uprising”, “Salima - Untold Stories” by Nidal Badranah, “Stories and Recipes from Palestine” by Maral Qatinah, “The Donkeys Project” by Ahmad Al Baz, and “Theft of Fire” by Amer Shomali.
In preparation for the day, a pitching workshop with Tealde was held at the Goethe-Institut on Tuesday and Wednesday, 1st and 2nd October 2019, during which participants presented their projects and discussed them with the trainer and other participants. The participants benefited from the workshop in developing their techniques in presenting their projects, and a simulation session was held before the final presentation on Thursday 3 October 2019 at A.M. Qattan Foundation to prepare for the final pitching session.
In August 2019, a production workshop with trainer Sylvia Stevens was held between August 18 and August 24, during which participants developed their film projects. Film editor Iyas Salman also worked with participants bilaterally to develop their trailer during August and September.
The Ramallah Doc project is organised by the A.M. Qattan Foundation, the French Consulate General in Jerusalem, Goethe Institute and FilmLab Palestine to support documentary filmmaking in Palestine by giving young Palestinian filmmakers the opportunity to present their documentary projects and support them directly in front of a group of producers and authorised editors from major international TV stations.