PRESS RELEASE - JANUARY 2010
Launch of PRODUCTION SUPPORT PROJECT
A Culture and Arts Programme Project (Audio-visual Unit)

The Culture and Arts Programme of the A.M. Qattan Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of its Production Support Project as part of its newly established audio-visual unit. The project will provide in kind as well as financial aid for short and medium length fiction films in Palestine and is co-funded by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The project’s main objective is to contribute to the achievement of a more vibrant and sustainable film making industry through the following strategies:

1- Increase and attract investment in Palestinian film production;
2- Build up the technical infrastructure;
3- Develop local professional capacity in specific technical departments.

The project draws significantly on the experiences of the Palestinian Audio-visual Project (2004-2007) and Classics of European Cinema in Translation (2008), both of which have recently been successfully completed.

Background
While there has been a significant increase in films being produced by Palestinians inside Israel and the Occupied Territories over the last two years, and while there has been growing interest among young people to learn a filmmaking-related profession, two of the biggest financial and logistical handicaps facing local filmmakers continue to be:

1.The scarcity of private or public production funding;
2.The inevitable need to hire international technicians to head departments (sound, photography, grip, lighting, etc) and to either have to import specialist equipment or hire it from Israeli companies at uncompetitive rates.

Two areas in particular are the Lighting and Grip Departments. The Grip Department covers all aspects of movement and stability around the camera, including tripods, dollies, tracks, sand bags, reflectors and protective umbrellas The Lighting Department, similarly, is an expensive item in any film production. In these two technical areas, local expertise and equipment are either scarce or rudimentary.

Selection Process
During its first three years of operation, the project will offer two rounds of production funding to short and medium-length fiction films on a competitive basis. There will be two types of funding: in cash and/or in kind through the free provision of equipment.

The grants will be for production only (as opposed to development or post-production). No grants will be given unless at least 75% of a project’s financial resources have been secured.

Applying projects must be shot entirely in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem or Israel with a crew which is at least 75% Palestinian. Any individual who was born in Israel and the Palestinian Territories and/or is of Palestinian descent on either their mother or father’s side will be considered Palestinian for the purposes of this project.

An independent jury will make decisions on grants. Applicants will be asked to submit a screenplay as well as a detailed budget, financial plan, director and producer CVs, examples of previous work by the director, proposed cast, crew and location lists and a realistic production schedule.

Successful applicants will then be offered a co-production contract whereby the Project will give its grants in return for equity in each film. All income will be reinvested in new projects or equipment.

The Lighting and Grip Units
Well-equipped mobile lighting and grip units will be purchased and imported into the country. The Foundation will be responsible for the units’ staffing, insurance and maintenance costs.

The units will include essential items of lighting and grip equipment and will be motorised. They will be made available free of charge to winning applicants as part of their overall support “packages”.

A maintenance technician will be hired and trained to operate the units and keep them in good working condition. The units will also be rented out at competitive rates to professional productions when they are not being used on the Project’s own films, with the aim of generating additional income. All net income will be reinvested to upgrade the units or fund new projects.

Important Dates
February 15, 2010: application forms (for Round 1 funding) will be available on the following website: http://www.qattanfoundation.org/psp
April 15, 2010: deadline for Round 1 applications
June 1, 2010: successful applicants will be announced