New Fest of British Feature Documentaries

The power and impact of British feature documentaries is celebrated at a new festival, BRITDOC 06, an annual showcase and meeting of the best documentary talent from Britain and around the world.

BRITDOC 06, in association with Nokia, will be an essential calendar fixture for key players in British feature-documentary production, bringing leading international film producers, distributors, and financiers together in the UK for the first time to meet British talent face-to-face.

Documentaries are a vital part of British culture, with a unique role to play in reflecting on the way we live and challenging our ideas, assumptions and fears about the past present and future of the world.

BRITDOC 06 will facilitate funding, marketing and distribution of brilliant feature documentaries which can win new audiences and affect hearts and minds. Launched by the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation, BRITDOC 06 will feature

• World premieres and screenings of documentary features and shorts

• Offer one-to-one surgeries with world-renowned documentary figures

• Host masterclasses in production, finance and distribution

• Enable direct access to decision-makers in an international pitching forum

• Provide structured and informal networking opportunities across the three days

•  all against the intimate and beautiful backdrop of Keble College, Oxford.

“Documentary filmmakers in the UK are the best in the world,” comments Beadie Finzi, festival director, BRITDOC 06. “Yet up until now we have lacked a truly international showcase for their work. BRITDOC 06 will change that.

“For three days the eyes of the industry will be on the UK, as the cream of international documentary film gathers to watch exceptional documentaries by the most talented filmmakers from Britain and abroad. Serious about documentaries, or simply passionate about them, BRITDOC 2006 is the essential summer fixture in the international film calendar.”

IN-COMPETITION FILMS & SPECIAL SCREENINGS

BRITDOC 06 will host two competition strands – British and International.

In-competition British films include Rex Bloomstein’s award-winning KZ, a powerful, groundbreaking and radically different exploration of the holocaust and Black Gold, Nick and Marc Francis’ film revealing the darker side of the coffee trade, which caused a stir at this year’s Sundance.

International features include Doug Block’s 51 Birch Street, a personal family story which evolves into a broader meditation on universal questions of life and Darkon, a tale of fantasy role playing and real life in modern day Baltimore and winner of the audience award at South by South West, directed by Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer.

Alongside the main competitions there will be four special screenings, two British shorts programmes and three open-air public screenings.

The festival team are currently open for submissions for shorts sections.