Two commissioning editors from Al Jazeera will be in Cape Town on 15 June at the Protea Breakwater Lodge at the V&A Waterfront and host an Al Jazeera Pitching Forum session during the Encounters film festival.
This is the second year in a row that the news channel is reaching out directly in South Africa straight to documentary producers for content they can pitch straight to decision makers.
Each person will have a maximum of 5 minutes to pitch their film, with an additional 10 minutes for feedback and questions from the Al Jazeera panel. Visual aids will be provided for those who have DVD's or presentations.
People who want to make a submission need to email Nikissi Serumaga at manager@encounters.co.za before 16:00 on Monday 27 May and people need to be available for a one-day pitching workship on Friday 14 June. Selections will be confirmed by Friday 31 May.
People who want to make a pitch need to submit before 27 May to the email address a one-page synopsis of their film, a one-page biography of the filmmaker and include contact details.
The Al Jazeera Pitching Forum will be done by Dominique Young and Diarmuid Jeffreys.
Dominique Young is a senior producer based in Al Jazeera's English bureau in London. He commissions a wide range of documentaries on African and Middle Eastern subject matter for broadcast on the channel's flagship documentary strand Witness.
Witness broadcasts one 25 minute film and one 48 minute film each week and stories are character led, first-person stories set within the context of the daily news agenda.
Diarmuid Jeffreys is an award-winning journalist and television producer and has been an executive producer at Al Jazeera English since 2008, and is now based in Doha. He's responsible for the People & Power investigative current affairs programme and a range of other documentaries.
