We are delighted to have 6 brilliant projects and emerging filmmakers for our inaugural film fund. Please take some time to read about who they are and info about their projects below.
British-Turkish-Iranian documentary filmmaker and composer based in London. Her masters film ‘Harvesting Our Tea’ was selected for the One World Media Global Short Docs Forum 2021, and later, commissioned by BBC Our World and broadcast in February 2022. It has since been nominated for a One World Media Award, and short-listed for the Student BAFTA and Grierson Documentary Awards 2022.
‘Here to Stay’ is an observational portrait of Ayfer, a 40-year-old Turkish woman navigating life and recovery in an earthquake-torn village in southern Turkey. Through sensitive access built by the British/Turkish director, we closely follow Ayfer and her female community – from protesting the local government, to travelling 1,000km to perform a play – as they spread their powerful pledge to rebuild their homeland.
UPDATE September 2023:
Sheida is currently working on the film. She has had 4 trips out to film in Turkey. The OSBD film fund helped enable that. She is creating a teaser and pitch doc to help raise further funding. She is pitching to major organisations and funders. We will share the teaser here very soon and some images.
Lily Usher has worked at BBC Studios, Channel 5, Lime Pictures, CAA, and has completed an MA in Culture, Diaspora and Ethnicity at Birkbeck. She has worked in Creative Development at The Independent Film Trust (IFT) and most recently works as an Assistant Producer at Story Compound. Lily is currently producing her first documentary short for the BFI Doc Society: Made of Truth fund. The doc is set in Ethiopia and explores the memories of a survivor of the Ethiopian Red Terror.
Set against the backdrop of the Ethiopian Civil War in the 1970s and at present; The Medallion is a story of hope, strength, and resistance. Ruth (Director) was barely a teenager when her mother passed down her Medallion, etched with a golden portrait of Nefertiti. A symbol of beauty and strength. Not only was this medallion an artefact, it was an emblem of her mother’s inconceivable plight; captured in middle school by the Derg communist military regime and raised in a prison camp for years, separated from her family. This story follows her early memories of the Derg Genocide, and how she first became in possession of the medallion upon her escape. This medallion symbolised her freedom, and was passed down to Ruth, for her to pass on to her children, to keep her family and country’s story alive.
After celebrating her 25th birthday and comprehending the woman she is becoming, Ruth returns to Ethiopia amidst a new civil war. Ruth asks her mother all her previously unanswered questions and journeys to understand how her mother’s plight has shaped her life, and the woman she is today. The Medallion highlights the bond between a mother and daughter, it’s a story of resilience against all odds and shines a light on current Ethiopian struggles as well as the abundance of joy and culture that still breathes through the country in dark times.
UPDATE September 2023:
The film is finished and has been picked up by a major US distributor which is amazing. It has been selected and seen at a few film festivals too and very well received. We will share the trailer asap. We will also share where the film can be seen when available publicly.
Ryan Pollock is a 24-year-old filmmaker from Wishaw, a small town just outside of Glasgow. He has recently graduated with distinction from the MA Filmmaking course at the University of the West of Scotland. Ryan is a fan of Captain Beefheart, Jack London, Lynne Ramsay, Lou Reed, Enrico Cocozza, Brian Clough, and around three or four other things.
Nick, a sixty-six-year-old retiree, lives in a ghost town. He is the sole remaining resident of an empty council estate that’s in line for demolition. Under pressure from the council but steadfastly refusing to vacate his home, he fears that his exhausting David and Goliath battle against the establishment is beginning to take its toll.
UPDATE September 2023:
Filming is finished and final edit almost done. The film is looking and sounding really good. As soon as we can share the trailer we will and also where it can be seen.
Charlie Scrimgeour is a British documentary filmmaker currently living in London. He grew up in Spain, before moving to Glasgow to study Geography and Politics. He then completed a master’s in creative documentary at UCL where he made three short documentaries. Since graduating he has been working as a production assistant and assistant producer for documentaries.
1 year after the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, a Burmese Artists escapes to Europe. He plans to use his art to advocate for the 9000 political prisoners in Myanmar; His father is one of them. As he puts on exhibitions and attempts to settle into the routines of a life in exile comfort is unreachable. He is haunted by memories, graphic images of suffering, his fathers uncertain fate and the guilt of leaving. Can his art make a difference? or will it simply be enjoyed in Europe as a point of conversation?…
UPDATE September 2023:
The film is almost done. A really strong draft edit has been done and Charlie has been out to Bangkok for a few days of final filming. The film is currently being picked up by a major international broadcaster. Brilliant! We will share the trailer and where it can be seen as soon as possible.
Julia Parks is an artist filmmaker exploring the different relationships between landscapes, plants, people and industry. She works with experimental documentary forms often using 16mm film, archival footage, poetry and song.
As a recipient of the Film London Artist Moving Image FLAMIN Fellowship in 2020/21, Julia made Seaweed, a short film that explores the relationship between people and seaweed in Northern Scotland. Funded by Arts Council England, the film premiered at Alchemy Film Festival in April 2022, screening alongside Julia’s previous films Haaf (2020), Workington Red (2019), and Solway Steel and Cyclamen (2019).
Julia recently took part in a 6-month residency with Alchemy Film & Arts in Hawick as part of their The Teviot, the Flag and the Rich, Rich Soil programme where she created four new shorts exploring themes around ecology, plants and people.
Robert & the butterfly – In this short personal & poetic documentary, the filmmaker follows her dad in his quest to help the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly survive in its farthest north outpost in North Yorkshire. As he makes the difficult decision to retire from this work, he dreams of flying through the air with a glider – an activity he did as a young man. The relationships between flying, fragility, hope and care are explored in a film which meditates the butterflies’ decline and the parallel human ageing process.
UPDATE September 2023:
Julias’ project is technically the most demanding, shooting on super 16 mm film. She is currently wading through footage and sound files to navigate how she wants her film to work. Having seen some footage, it looks very beautiful and engaging.We will keep you posted.
Jake is a London-based filmmaker working across documentary, narrative fiction and commercial projects. He has shot for clients including Gucci, Channel 4 and The Fund for Global Human Rights. His work has been screened internationally: a recent project was shown at the London Southbank centre and Camden Roundhouse. He believes collaborative filmmaking can enable new modes of storytelling and transform working practices behind the camera.
THE TREES DANCE (working title) follows rock climber, botanist and poet Libby Houston who, at 80 years-old, continues her work climbing throughout the Avon Gorge to investigate rare plants. Having reached every ledge on every rock face, Libby has helped establish the area as one of England’s most important botanical sites. But as it stands, there is only one known member of her namesake species – Houston’s Whitebeam – and reflecting on its inevitable extinction prompts Libby to contemplate her own legacy.
UPDATE September 2023:
The film is shot and deep into the edit. Jake has done a great job. It does look really good. We will share trailer and further updates asap.
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