Emerging doco-makers issue call to arms

By Simon de Bruyn

 

The recently formed Emerging Doco-makers Network of Australia (EDNA) is calling for entries for their inaugural ‘Uncut’ workshop, which will see an industry panel headed by Australian filmmaker Tom Zubrycki give advice on five selected documentaries.

 

EDNA co-founder Loosie Craig explained Uncut was designed for documentary makers, inclusive of film, TV and radio projects, that might be looking for a forum in which to brainstorm ideas and further develop their project.

 

She said the workshop was the first major event for the group, which was formed to be a voice and support network for independent documentarians.

 

“While [Australian documentary forum] OzDocs is good and has passion and energy, they all talk in this jargon and its all quite intimidating if you are starting out,” she said.

 

“EDNA ultimately wants to be an important voice in the industry and a lobby group for emerging filmmakers. It can be really lonely making documentaries, and there is no central location to find out in plain simple language what to do if you want to make a documentary in Australia . You don’t have much of a voice as an independent filmmaker but as a network you do.”

 

Craig, who is currently completing surfing documentary 3 Mates 7 Seas, added the group was aiming to set up future mentor programs with other established filmmakers, and stressed that the network was interested in having members from all sections of doco making.

 

“We want to have local meet up groups and a national network, but still have a very fluid structure. We expect our members to shape us and don’t want to be exclusive to any particular group or set of interests,” she said.

Craig said filmmakers should submit 5-7 minutes of material on DVD plus a short outline of the project by May 12, while the workshop event was planned for a date in June.