Participants

PhD student in sociology at the University of Florence. Film-maker and producer for Unità di Cooperazione Creativa (UCC, www.uccvideo.org), the first italian agency fully dedicated to documentary making within the context of national and interanational solidarity. From 2005 he lives in Barcelona, where he is also working with Fundaciò La Brecha for implementing documentary projects within NGO frameworks in Catalonia and Morocco.

I am currently the Director of a non-profit organisation I cofounded in 2000 called ‘PhotoVoice’ (www.photovoice.org). PhotoVoice is the only organisation of its kind in Europe which uses the medium of photography to empower marginalised groups within the sphere of international development.
Over the past seven years I have personally initiated, led, often fundraised for and run training workshops in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Macedonia, Russia and the UK, training groups of women living with HIV, street children, orphans, disabled youth and homeless people in photographic skills. At PhotoVoice I have in the past documented a number of the photography projects using video and have scripted and produced short documentaries and presentations. Collaborations have included with the Community Channel, the National Geographic Channel and the BBC. I have managed a project training indigenous groups in Cambodia in digital story-telling techniques. Their short personal 3 – 5 minute films using their own still images were distributed world-wide through NGO networks. At the BBC World Service Trust I managed and implemented the worldwide distribution of an award-winning documentary ‘New Face of Leprosy’, including to many developing country broadcasters.

I am journalist for cultural programmes in ladin language in the RAI, Italian Television in Bolzano since 1988. For my job I have to research documentation, to contact people, to make interviews, to write the storyboard, to select music, to organize and direct the shooting and the cutting of the cultural programmes for radio and television. All programmes are realised by myself from the beginning to the end with the support of 2 technicians (cameraman and cutter).

My education is within social sciences, anthropology and psychology, I have worked as researcher and business manager. I have spent one year in the film industry as manager of Lillehammer Film AS. My focus is on developing ideas and manuscript and work as producer, but also to develop basic skills in directing, editing and photo, within a wide range of social / global issues.

Aube was born in Montreal, Canada. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Media Arts from NSCAD University in Halifax. Her most recent directing credit is a National Film Board of Canada (NFB) documentary entitled “Dis-moi ce que tu manges”. This film features organic family farmers and slow food advocates who propose a flavorful and delightful alternative to the agri-business model of mass-production which dominates current food production. Her first NFB film, "A Demain Chères Prunelles" is a short documentary which explores new artistic possibilities and consequences of digital imaging technologies. Both films were broadcasted on CBC and shown in Canadian festivals.
Aube’s enthusiasm for filmmaking emerged from her work with various NGOs and some of her projects were produced in close collaboration with these NGOs. With limited professional and financial resources, these projects demanded a fair dose of creative problem-solving skills. They include a one-hour film entitled "Beyond Pyramids" investigating the environmental and cultural impacts of the tourism industry in Egypt, a 20 minute film on children’s rights and participation in India, and a 20 minute video on youth volunteerism in Canada.
Aube spent the last 6 months in London working alongside Oscar-winning producer Margaret Matheson, at Bard Entertainments. She is currently doing an internship at Article Z in Paris where she is working with producer Patrice Barrat. Her main areas of interest at the moment are agriculture and trade, culture and globalization, and biodiversity.

Calliste studied for a degree in Film & Video at the London College of Communications (formerly the London College of Printing), majoring in Directing & Editing. Whilst there she assisted on numerous film shoots and wrote & directed 3 original fiction films.
After graduation she worked for a local charity assisting unemployed youths with courses in the Creative Arts. She then worked for a Film Sales & Distribution company, reading scripts and marketing films for a small independent firm. This gave her a valuable insight into the film industry, and led her to put her skills to more practical and compassionate use at the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). There she worked in the media team on photo and video assignments, maximising press and media coverage for various international projects and campaigns, with a particular focus on editing campaign videos (including Japan’s Bear Parks; Caged Cruelty: Indonesia Zoos; Cairo Stray Dog Control).
In her current job at Friends of the Earth (England Wales and Northern Ireland), she coordinates all video and photo work. This includes commissioning new work, collaborating with film-makers and photographers, and editing video projects. She has recently worked on video news releases: Gas Flaring in Nigeria and Climate Change in the Himalaya, as well as producing promotional videos for funding purposes. Her current remit is to produce and utilise video as a powerful communication tool for Friends of the Earth, and to develop a video strategy as part of their major campaign on climate change, ‘The Big Ask’ (launched 25th May 2005).

I was born 1974. I am social anthropologist with a degree in theatre and communication arts, and I am working in cultural management in Berlin. For over five years, I have been oranizing Film festivals dedicated to films from Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Since 2002, I was executive producer of the film series “Utopías Visuales”. We produced three fiction films and one documentary with disadvantage youth in Colombia and Germany, and currently I am distributing the films of this project at festivals. I am also working as journalist for the left-wing national newspaper “taz”, and as adviser and teacher in intercultural education work. At the same time, I am involved in the development and the financing of projects we hope to realize in the next two years: a documentary about Colombian history, a docudrama about foreigners seeking Asylum in Germany, and a feature film about a journalist following the tracks of Alan Ginsberg in India.

Studied Mathematics and Film Theory, has been involved in 3 documentary projects and made on short fiction film. A new short and a new documentary are currently in preparation. Participated at the 3. Berlinale Talent Campus in February 2005 and the SOURCES 2 script development workshop in April 2005.

As for my professional profile I'm cinematographer. I like little documentaries with a small teams of enthusiasts. May be these days my favourite documentary is Czech Dream. I still prefer film but I have practiced much more on video. The only thing I insist about the video is that the camera should be small (I hate the Betacam-sized pro-heads) and the picture should be ment to be video and I believe one should never try to fake - it's tape, not film and the few advantiges it carries with it shold be used as more they could be.I highly appreciate three-year-observations in documentaries but I believe that the deadline makes the team working, so it should be always written with bold red letters in the moviemakers minds - it is very stupid but the most of film project crushes I've seen were connected with deadline crossing.

I started work in films in the 90’s. First I helped out my friends at the Film Academy with their short films. After some years and films I became involved very much. I still work as an assistent for directors I like (and sometimes for the money). I’ve became an editor for some years now so I also edit documentary films. This year I started the first two films I would also direct. This two are under develeopment. I study Film and Media the University of ELTE.

I was educated in USA. My last degree, Master of Arts in Mass Communication with emphasis on TV was gained from the University of Florida. When I returned to Cyprus I worked for 2 National TV stations and one cable channel for a period of 7 years. I then moved to a private college where I set up a TV and Radio Unit which I head until now. During my years with the TV channels I wrote and directed 3 documentaries, I produced and directed several magazine programs, talk shows and news bulletins. In addition, for one TV season, I researched, produced and presented a weekly investigative program on social issues.
As a Director of the TV and Radio Unit (1997 to present), I got involved with a lot of NGOs for which I produced, wrote and directed several documentaries: ‘Water: The Life Giver’ (2002). An educational video explaining the significance of water as valuable source of nature. Prepared for the NGO ‘Ecognosia’ A series of documentaries (4) titled “Mainstreaming Hearing Impaired Students in the Cypriot Educational System” (1999), ‘Your Deaf Child - Myths and Realities’ (2001), ‘Hearing Loss and Technology’ (2002), ‘Ways of Communication’ (2004). Prepared for the NGO, Parents Association of Deaf Children ‘Vehicle Pollution in Cyprus’, a TV program for the European Project “Life” (2004) ‘Patient Rights in Cyprus’ (2004-5). A documentary prepared for the NGO, Patient Rights Movement in Cyprus. ‘Halloumi-Hellim: the Indigenous Cheese of Cyprus’ and ‘Flaouna-Pilavuna: a common pastry for Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots’ (2004). Documentaries prepared for the NGO ‘Eurotoques – Cyprus office’

In 1986 he founded his own production company Mestiere Cinema, Venice with which he directed and produced several documentaries.
In the last ten years he worked mostly in the capacity of Line Producer (Associate Producer, Co-Producer, etc.) for many international productions shooting in Italy such as: Lasse Halstrom’s DISNEY Prod. ‘Casanova’, George Lucas’ LUCASFILM Prod. ‘Star Wars Episode I, II and III’, F.G.Gray’s PARAMOUNT Prod. ‘The Italian Job’, Richard Attenborough’s NEWLINE Prod. ‘In Love and War’, Hugh Hudson’s SONY Prod. ‘I dreamed of Africa’, including directors like Woody Allen (Everybody says I love you), Otar Ioseliani (Lunedì Matin), etc.
Beside the production service activity, he has been trying to keep producing documentaries and commercials, co-producing – UK, Italy - the first feature film in 2004.
In the last years he became the executive producer for all the documentaries produced by AMREF.

Producer and director of youth organisation " Avantis" ( young, creative , mobile) Avantis is a public, non governmental youth organization, with a mission to help young people to spend their leisure time meaningfully. Avantis supports creative initiative among young people, and their participation in sports, education, social and cultural activities. Avantis is one of the leading youth organizations in Latvia, with film, music, event organization, sports, and extreme sports departments.

Journalist (reportages, documentary features, script-writing) with the National Bulgarian Television, Channel 1. Background in Philosophy and Political science. Key Qualifications: Extensive experience as a journalist at a political and social commentary programmes at the National Bulgarian Television – Channel One (1999 till now) and at the National Bulgarian Radio (1993-1999).
Experience as Author ( script-writing, research and content editing and director) in social issues, short documentary films (10 min) on current political and social topics such as:
- Minority problems – drama with the Roma minority in Bulgaria
- Poverty
- Crash between the ecology and business – pollution, lack of responsibility,
- Civil society – civil activism – paradoxes of having so many NGO’s and so low civil activity within the society. Low pressure toward governmental policy
- Corruption
- Freedom of speech, open source, free culture etc. Art/Entrainment topics
- Portraits of subcultures – underground movements, music, tattoo, youngsters, snowboarding as a life style, vegans…
- Music as political message – Punk and Hardcore scene in Bulgaria and in Europe, World music – interviews and portraits of Faithless, Transglobal underground, Laibach and Neue Sloveniche Kunst , Manu Chao, Mobi, Buena Vista Social club, Agnostic Front, Omara Portuondo, Zuco 103
- Interviews and portraits of writers and intellectuals from Bulgaria, US and Europe – such as: interviews with Noam Chomsky (for the National Bulgarian Radio in 1995 on the topic of Oklahoma drama), Serge Latouche, Zbigniev Bzezinski, and Umberto Eco… History and research –special interests in the field
- At the moment I am finishing the editing of a documentary “One cold Coke during the Cold war” on the story how Coca– cola has succeeded to enter Bulgaria in the mid 60–ties– the very first communist country behind the Iron curtain.
- In 2002 I was a script writer and author of a documentary on “Pope John–Paul II and Bulgaria”, broadcasted two times on the Channel 1, BNT

I would call myself a traveller who uses the camera as a key to open new doors, a hitch-hiker who likes to find the right place and the right people by intuition. I believe in long-term preparation for the film journey but during the journey I need to let go of all the prejudicies and dogmas. When filming I am immersed in the process itself and I have experienced that my human instincts come before those of a film-maker. I never ask people to perform in front of the camera or change their everyday routine to suit the film, it is me who has to accommodate to the new environment by letting go of my own identities (national, religious, professional) and goals. At the same time I am not interested in athropological observations but believe that a documentary film is not so different from a feature film. I cannot make a film without charismatic characters and I am looking for archetypes, people who tell the story of a larger group. The place and timing is also of great importance because a documentary film documents a slice of history in time. My strength is the mood, atmosphere, rhythm, subtle contrasts. I usually film alone but always work with an editor. I am interested in the beauty of seeing the world in a grain of sand and observe the people whom the world passes by in their rush for achieving whatever they are trying to achieve. The story-telling is cyclical rather than linear and I am looking for synthesis of different film methods.

I'm Maija Pohodneva Latvian journalist with 10 year experience in social and crime news. Not only working as print journalist but since 1998 working with numerous TV: BBC, CBC and other. Independent producer and author of several doc films. Interests: investigative journalistic and documentary making.

Independent UK filmmaker, currently living in the Netherlands, who has produced and directed documentary, narrative and experimental films for educational distribution, broadcast and theatrical release. Over the last 4 years, her film work has focussed more on issues surrounding maternal health. In this connection, she is developing an expertise filming in sensitive environments in which women and children are extremely vulnerable. She is now working as a consultant Producer for Safehands For Mothers, a UK charity developing a series of training films in partnership with Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia and the Canadian Society for International Health, to help reduce maternal mortality in remote areas of Ethiopia. Work has included filming in remote communities in the Awassa region, dealing with sensitive medical environments, communicating with medical personnel, and filming vulnerable women in labour under very harsh conditions.In 2004, Manuela began working with Women’s Global Network For Reproductive Rights, a network of over 2000 members that stimulates, informs, supports and empowers individuals and organisations around the world to be effective agents of change for reproductive and sexual health and rights and to take action to create enabling social, economic, and cultural conditions to achieve these rights at all levels.
In the winter of 2004, she began documenting a variety of events and filming/editing promotional segments for funding purposes. She is currently in discussions with Anjana Suvarnananda, the Head Office Co-ordinator, as well as the Board of Directors, about building a Film Unit with this NGO. WGNRR is currently acting as her consultant partner on her EsoDoc film project proposal: “HIV, Dreams and Motherhood.”

I am a screen writer and film maker. I have been working in this field for about three years. I did a Screen writing MA on a scholarship from the British film council who have funded various of my projects. I do a lot of community film work, with young offenders and in prisons as well as in areas of social deprivation. I am working on this project with Stampede who produced my first T.V documentary which was about Iraqi asylum seekers living in Great Yarmouth and did very well. Until recently I have been running a community TV station in Great Yarmouth whose philosophy was to give ownership back to the people and empower them by allowing them to make their own content.
I recently wrote and directed a short drama for TV about a boy who wants to be a pirate (and runs away to sea to join a band of pirates) this is being developed as a 13 part series. I am currently working as a writer on a UK TV series as well as developing a feature with the UK Film council, and several documentaries including the Malaria one I bring to you, a mini series about blind pilots and a piece about coastal erosion in the U.K
I have just finished a film called ‘Playing the Game’ a half hour documentary, commissioned by the prison service in which seasoned prisoners explain to new inmates how to get by in jail.
I also run a production company which specializes in commercials and promotional video. My passion in for the story of the underdog, to use film to get close to lives usually ignored or brushed aside or stories which would otherwise go untold.

Director and Producer, Moment TV AS I have studied to become a journalist at the Norwegian School of Journalism in Oslo. I have also studied a semester of journalism in American University in Washington D.C. Before that I studied sociology at the University of Oslo. I have worked as a reporter in the national TV news for 2 years, both for NRK (Norwegian State Channel) and TV 2 (National, commercial channel) Since 2002 I have worked with making documentaries for these two channels. I wrote the script and directed the international documentary “Tampa”. I founded the production company Moment TV in March 2003. Through this firm, I have produced and directed several documentaries, often with a social profile. I was nominated for “Best Facts Program of the year” (with the production “AS Norway”) at the annual TV 2 Awards 2005.

Documentary filmmaker based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She has been making films for Dutch National Television since 1995, primarily about human rights and trauma. 2001: Teaching “Interview voor documentary” at CREA (creative centre of University of Amsterdam) 2004 – 2005: Participated as filmmaker and webmaster in the development of “26,000 Faces,” a documentary project about asylum seekers who have lived in Holland for more than five years and who now face deportation. It was shown e.a. at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (2004) and the Human Rights Watch Filmfestival 2005.
Other work includes: “Should I Cry” (2004) Should I Cry? shows the work of a MSF’s mental health program for people affected by Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war. It is a poignant, painful, and realistic portrayal of the impact of war and violence on individuals and communities. “Gaza, Gabbers en Graffiti” (1997) portrays the experiences of a Palestinian boy living in the Gaza Strip and a Dutch boy living in Amsterdam who are both arrested for graffiti. This film was nominated for the “Prix d’Europe” (Berlin, 1997), and appeared at the Danube Festival (Bratislava,1998), Cinekid (Amsterdam,1998), and Basic Trust (Tel Aviv, 2000). “Souvenirs,” (2001) a docudrama about 12-year old Kalumbo Prospere who meets a nurse from Doctors Without Borders in a refugee camp in Zambia. He teaches her to play chess and tells her about his former home in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I came to filmmaking through politics, and to politics through a stint at UNESCO in the mid-1990s, where I worked as a researcher on a project examining the (largely negative) impact of development on non-Western cultures.
From Paris, I moved to Cairo in 1997, where I spent three years working for a local newspaper, travelling to India during my vacations to volunteer as a farm labourer in the trans- Himalayan province of Ladakh. It was my frustration at not being able to convey in words the precise texture of what I saw and heard during my travels that led me to buy a MiniDV camera.
I returned to Europe in 2000, settling in Brussels. There I began making no-budget documentary films in collaboration with activist and grassroots groups, doing all the technical work myself as part of an extended apprenticeship process. I also used the opportunity to catch up on my film education -- not only the documentary tradition, but also silent movies and experimental cinema.
In 2003, I quit my day job to take up a commission from Newcastle University for a film about water access problems in the Occupied Territories. This film was shot and edited in collaboration with the Palestinian filmmaker Rima Essa during 2003 and 2004, and a final cut is currently being agreed with our funders.
Meanwhile, I continue to work as a freelance print journalist, and have just completed an EU training course for crisis management experts, specialising in media development.

I was born in 1973 in Bologna. I graduated in Contemporary Art at the University of Bologna, and my thesis was on British artists who use film and video - “Thinking through images: Art and Video in Britain, 1980-2000”(partly published in Last generation of artist and new media in Europe in the xx century, Clueb Edition, 2002). In 1995 I studied at the University of Amsterdam, and in1999 at the Goldsmith College in London. In 2000 I participated in a program on directing, film and editing funded by the European Community Then I worked as a director assistant for Studio Azzurro, a production company based in Milan.
At this time I work free-lance as a director and camera operator for various production companies in Bologna and Milan as well as shoot promotional video and reportage. Since last January I’ve been working at the University of Reggio Emilia (Italy) at the Department of Communication, as a researcher studying new forms of audiovisual communication and formats for web and digital television. I also teach practical seminars with students on how to use a camera, film language, etc. I’ve been working for the last few years on a project concerning Media and Human Rights. The first part is Radio la Colifata which has been screened at various festival and won first price for best film at “Un Altro Sguardo e’ possible” festival in Nocera Inferiore (Italy). The second part, I believe in miracles, which I’m presenting here at ESODOC deals with radio and women in Afghanistan.

A certain part of my journalistic publications is focused to the strangers: not in the spotlight, but worthwhile than the Establishment.
As a screenwriter/director I am interested in places and people still untouched by the crowds’ foolishness. People who have vision of what we possess and what we – modern human beings, are able to destroy forever.