CinéDOC-Tbilisi CivilPitch
Sooo, what is that. I was curious and happy to be invited to see if that can work – the match of ngo’s and filmmakers. Such a good idea, a challenge for the filmmakers and for the ngo’s. Supported and hosted by Open Society Georgia Foundation. 11 projects had been selected after a call that included both ngo’s and filmmakers, who had met before at a meeting, where the matching was established.
The festival direction: We want ”to link civil society organisations with filmmakers, media professionals and donors. Together we can transform CivilPitch into an important annual event that inspires, provokes and ultimately proves to be invaluable to civil society as well as to donors and media professionals. CivilPitch is a central platform where professionals representing different fields can merge their skills and experiences in order to create a valuable film product that can appeal to a wider audience, transcending the limited number of interest groups that may usually follow these topics.”
I attended a training session and was asked to moderate the pitching of the 11 projects yesterday. The training had been led by two young filmmakers, Dutch/German Daniel Abma and Georgian Ana Tsimintia and the 10 panelists were representatives from ngo’s with the addition of a couple of film people.
It was fun and it was informative for a foreigner as the projects mirrored key problems in the Georgian society: Urban planning, everybody told me that there is no such thing, discrimination of muslim citizens, integration of so-called New Georgians, drug abuse and rehab, activism and demonstrations, forgotten villages, to be gay in Georgia, to be mentally ill in Georgia, women empowerment. Voilà!
Only problems… Luckily several of the projects were presented from a positive angle, but with this message: This is wrong, something has to be done! The projects at the CivilPitch were at very different angles, some ngo’s and filmmakers had just met, others had had the chance to film some research material, some had taken photos to illustrate the theme.
And awards are to be given. More about that after the prize ceremony tonight, where the festival winners will also be announced.
