Documentary and non-fiction/factual media makers may find the following proposition attractive.
There are a lot of tour operators promising immersive cultural experiences. But there isn’t anything else like Filmmaker Abroad, which is an invitation to participate in a collaborative creative endeavour, experiencing a place and its people through the eyes of a professional documentary film crew.
Successful applicants travel in small groups to exotic destinations and spend 9 or 10 days making their own mini documentary, with the supervision of seasoned professional filmmakers. The focus being on true stories told by real people, as against actors or celebrity hosts.
The privileged access afforded by the camera provides the potential for building lasting relationships, and allows participants to really get to know the location. The days are busy, and sometimes the nights too, but there’s always time to relax, share a drink and stories from the day’s filming. All this is routine for film crews ‘on the road’, and it’s a world away from a package tour!
A list of fully researched stories is provided for aspiring filmmakers to choose from, with terrific characters and entre to places most tourists never see. These story ideas cover a wide range of subjects, all of them being personal, character driven, stories about remarkable individuals doing amazing things that relate to and raise larger social or environmental issues. Each being achievable in a relatively short filming window.
“The idea came about”, says company founder Sean Cousins, “after reading travel brochures that promised immersive cultural encounters virtually from a bus window. I felt that the experience of making a documentary film in a remote and exotic destination was an infinitely better articulation of that promise. And then the penny dropped. People have often said to me that they’d love to share the experiences I’ve had on the road – so, why not offer them the chance to make their own documentary with myself and other experienced filmmakers as mentors helping them in the field – a truly immersive experience, and potentially, the start of a whole new direction in life for them”.
It’s taken more than a year to refine the formula, research locations, find stories and lay the foundations, but now several trips are available, like the one to the magical Cambodian city of Siem Reap, this October. Awaiting aspiring filmmakers are extraordinary stories discovered during a recent on the ground recce trip by co-mentor, Steve Warne – former Documentary Manager at Film Victoria, and a highly experienced film educator.
“People that apply for these trips are almost universally passionate about things like human rights, habitat preservation and so on. Our motto is “through the quest for self expression, social change.” I’ve always believed in the transformative power of screen culture. So I am really keen to help people find their voice and go out into the world empowered with new story telling skills. As well, this is a way of giving a voice to the people of the countries we visit, voices which are rarely heard in their local media, let alone internationally. And yes, we assist in globally distributing the completed films”.
Details of the trip, including all inclusions and exclusions, are available on the website www.filmmakerabroad.com or by emailing info@filmmakerabroad.com
A discount is offered to students with a valid student card, and there’s a reduced rate available for those who wish to work as a team of two.