20-07-2017
In August 2002, a giraffe called Brownie rammed its head against a light pole, fell to the ground and died in the middle of its cage in Qalqiliyah Zoo. The cause of Brownie’s panic is the raid of Israeli soldiers on the Zoo to use it as a tactical ground for attacking a nearby school with gun-shots, tear gas, and flare grenades. Ruti the partner of Brownie, aborted and lost her calf ten days later out of grief. The giraffe family was mummified by the Zoo’s veterinarian and then placed in the Zoo’s museum, which is packed with mummified animals, each has a bizarre story with death.
The Public Programme, A. M. Qattan Foundation invites filmmakers and artists to submit proposals for short fiction films that relate to the above-mentioned theme of ‘Zoo’ and its limitless connotations, allegories and projections, notwithstanding the unfold the relationship between humans and animals.
Application
• Applicants are to submit concept note (400 words), including the name of the applicant/s, and contact address by 12:00 noon, 18th August 2017.
• This open call is applicable only to experimental films, fiction and conceptual documentary.
• Expected duration of the film 10-12 minutes
• Shortlisted applicants will be invited for ‘pitching’ their ideas on August 21st
• Selected applicants will be contracted and granted a maximum of $10,000 for the production of their films.
• September, October and November 2018 will be dedicated to the production, and postproduction of the films and a public screening will be scheduled in December 2017.
Interested applicants are to submit their concepts to the following address not later than 12:00 noon, 18th August 2017: d.abbas@qattanfoundation.org
This open call is part of ‘Fiction’ one of the projects of the Public Programme at the A. M. Qattan Foundation. In a well-known statement by Godard, he asserted that in 1948, when the Jews "walked out of the water to the ‘Holy Land’ -- the Palestinians walked into the water, the Jews became the stuff of fiction, the Palestinians became a documentary." The programme promotes the production of short fiction films on Palestine contra to the common notion of documentary. An open call for filmmakers to submit promos and concepts for critical fiction. A jury will select some of the films for a production and post production award.