6th International Documentary Challenge

Image by Danilo Prates via Flickr

6th International Documentary Challenge will take place from March 3-7,2011.Registrations for the competition is now open.The speciality of this filmmaking competition is that filmmakers will have to make a short film about 4-7 minutes in 5 days i.e. Write, shoot and edit a short documentary in 5 days.All of the registered participants make their films during the same time period and send off their film by the deadline.This years set time period to make and submit films is March 3-7, 2011.

Genres

The genres are assigned to give participating filmmakers a direction in which to take their film. Filmmakers are given 2 genres that they can choose from. Some genres are content related and some are form related.The documentary genres that will be randomly assigned are:

1st Person

Told from the point of view of the Director - either through off camera narration or an on-camera presence.

Art

Focuses in some way on art and/or artists.

Biography/Character Study

A full account of the facts of the life of a particular person, or closely related group of people (Biography) or an exploration of a single character's personality and current life situation (Character Study).

Experimental

The application of innovative techniques to non-fiction material - experimenting with new ideas, forms, techniques and expressions. An exploration of how the camera can emulate and/or enhance visual and audio perception.

Image by Jim Blob Blann via Flickr

Historical

Focuses on stories of past events and/or people.

Music

Focuses in some way on music and/or musicians.

Nature/Environmental

Focuses on an aspect of the natural physical world, including animals, plants, landscapes, etc.

Social Issue/Political

Focuses on a social and/or political issue.

Sports

Focuses on events and/or people involved in sporting activities (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition.)

Theme

All filmmakers will be assigned a broad theme that must be addressed at some point in their film. The whole film can be centered around this theme or the theme can just appear in one scene, or even in one interview question. In the end, a judge must be able to notice that at some point in the film the assigned theme was brought up.

Image via Wikipedia

Judging & Prizes

More than 20 Awards will be given - including the Grand Prize Winner - Best Film of the 2011 International Documentary Challenge.

All eligible films will be reviewed by the International Documentary Challenge judges - an independent panel of international documentary professionals. Films will be judged on both story and production values, as well as adherence to genre and effective use of the assigned theme.

Out of all of the entries, twelve "Best Films" will be named. These films will screen at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto in April/May 2011 where the winners will be announced. Each of the 12 finalists receives two industry passes to Hot Docs (an ₨36,508.31 (₨36,508.31 ($800)) value) and an invitation to the official Doc Challenge reception at Hot Docs.

For more details, log on to http://www.docchallenge.org/