FOLLOW THE NILE at DOK.fest München @home 2020

New Fellowship Programme by Robert Bosch Stiftung and DOK.fest München

This year DOK.fest München together with the Robert Bosch Stiftung offers a Fellowship Programme accompanied by training in story and treatment development, financing and pitching.

Kenya Film Commission

We are proud to annouce that Said Gougaz and Salima Benmoumen (Team AMAZIGH) as well as Mo Harawi and Alexander von Piechowski (Team VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADIES), two filmmaker teams are taking part in the FOLLOW THE NILE programme at DOK.fest München @home 2020.

FOLLOW THE NILE programme 2020

Follow the Nile is a Robert Bosch Stiftung film development programme, created in partnership with Sudan Film Factory, DucoBox, JCC film festival and DOK.fest München. It offers eight directors / writers the opportunity to develop their feature films (documentary and fiction) with the help and supervision of our mentors. The aim of of the programme aside from developing the stories, is to strengthen the connections and collaboration between Northern and Eastern Africa, through one-to-one meetings with potential producers, partners, financiers. 

The participants at Berlinale 2020


In the first cycle of the programme that started in 2019 the participants had 3 stops: 

  1. Kenya (August 2019)

First one in Kenya enjoying 10 days of an intensive writing residency with our mentors in a beautiful secluded costal area in Kenya. 

  1. Tunisia (November 2019)

For the second stop the teams took part in Carthage international Film festival (JCC) in Tunisia. They got the chance to experience North African film industry at first hand, where they had access to all film screenings and most workshops and master classes, as well as one-to-one meetings with experts and a pitching workshop. Two teams were selected to pitch their projects in JCC Shabaka and one team won the development grant offered by the festival. 

  1. Germany (February / May 2020)

As for the last stop the teams got split, the fiction teams got the chance to attend Berlinale Film Festival as guests of the Berlinale Talents programme with full access to the festival, as well as the chance to pitch their projects at the Reception of the film academies and meet potential financiers.

As for the Documentary teams they got sent to take part in DOK.fest München and its market, with the chance to work, develop and pitch their projects with the help of DOK.fest München mentors. 

The training programme 2019

Block 1: Online mentoring sessions

During the first training block, the fellows further developed their materials with their mentors Daniel Lang (lecturer at University of Television and Film Munich) and Don Edkins (filmmaker). The programme included workshops and mentoring in the following areas:

  • Story and treatment development
  • Budgeting and financing

Block 2: Pitching at DOK.fest 2020

During the online festival edition of DOK.fest München the fellows will have the opportunity to pitch their projects at the industry platform DOK.forum Marketplace (May 7th to 12th, 2020). This period includes the following steps:

  • Pitch training
  • Pitch production

At selected one-to-One meetings, all participating filmmakers will be invited to discuss and further develop their projects with producers, commissioning editors, distributors and sales agents especially interested in African content. The objective is to facilitate new co-productions through targeted matchmaking. The residents will get full accreditation for the 35th DOK.fest München from 6th to 24th May 2020.

 

Retrospect: DOK.network Africa Residency Programme 2019