News

Global Short Docs Forum. A new competition for documentary filmmakers

07 October 2018

One World Media, the British Council in Ukraine and Docudays UA invite emerging documentary filmmakers to submit projects to Global Short Docs Forum! It’s a unique opportunity for makers of short films to meet representatives of VOD platforms and combine their efforts in collaboration with them.

 

For the first time, this Forum took place in 2018 in London. It was visited by such important media and digital platforms as The Guardian, BBC Stories, AJ+, Zoomin.TV.

 

“The most exciting thing for me is facilitating the dialogue between talented new filmmakers from around the world and the digital platforms and seeing the filmmakers being commissioned or their films being acquired — where they previously wouldn't have known who to approach or how to approach them. That's the main aim of the project, to help filmmakers, to make the playing field more level, and at the same time introduce different narratives made by new voices, into the mainstream,” says Flora Gregory, the project director of Global Short Docs Forum.

 

This year, the Forum will take place in Kyiv during Docudays UA 2019. Its participants will include equally powerful VOD platforms which are going to become partners in the work on future films.

 

Docudays UA doesn’t just show films, it supports their making — again. In the past years, with the support from the British Council in Ukraine, the Festival organized two projects: The Guardian Goes Ukraine competition in collaboration with The Guardian, and DocWorks: UA/UK with the Sheffield Doc/Fest.

 

“We are happy that, as a result of continuous development of the British Council in Ukraine Arts programme, and with the help from our partners – we have enabled plans to organise such an important forum as GSDF in March 2019 in Kyiv,” – comments Arts manager of the British Council in Ukraine Ilya Zabolotnyi.

 

Global Short Docs Forum is a new and unique opportunity for filmmakers from Ukraine and other countries to tell their stories to the whole world.

 

“In the past two years, we have organized an industry platform at Docudays UA, where Ukrainian documentary filmmakers can meet international professionals and find support for their projects,” says Darya Bassel, the curator of the Festival’s industry platform DOCU/PRO. “Every year, in collaboration with our partners, we emphasize different formats, forms and topics. We try to bring to Ukraine the things that are the most relevant today in the world. This year, we are happy to host the Global Short Docs Forum. Few Ukrainian documentary filmmakers have any experience of working with VOD platforms. So GSDF is a great opportunity to find out more about this. In addition, I think it’s important that the Forum works with short films in particular. Because Ukraine lacks developed industry, proper dialogue between documentary producers and TV or online channels, we still consider short films to be some kind of student format which is supposedly experimental and can be interesting only for a very narrow circle of viewers. But it’s not true. And GSDF, which gathers together many representatives of major VOD platforms, from Facebook to Lush, proves it.”

 

GSDF will select 16 documentary filmmakers to attend a residential workshop. Filmmakers will benefit from invaluable pitching training, mentoring and masterclasses from industry experts, and one-to-one meetings with decision makers.

 

Thanks to the support from the British Council Ukraine, participants from a number of countries, including Ukraine can claim a submission fee waiver and apply free of charge (see the Submission Information for more detail on the procedure). The submission deadline is 23 November.

 

See more details about all the conditions of selection and participation here.

Join to FB-event - here.

 

Global Short Docs Forum is organized by One World Media. The 2019 edition is sponsored by Facebook Journalism Project, supported by the British Council in Ukraine and The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and hosted by International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA.

22 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
 6 — 13 
June 2025
17 Docudays UA events now available for free on DOCUSPACE online cine…
Programme Review
22 June 2025
17 Docudays UA events now available for free on DOCUSPACE online cinema
Programme Review
22 June 2025
An Invaluable, Rare Resource: Highlights from Docudays UA 2025
News
20 June 2025
An Invaluable, Rare Resource: Highlights from Docudays UA 2025
News
20 June 2025
Docudays UA has begun to digitise the Catalogues of Ukrainian Documen…
Cultural Diplomacy
17 June 2025
Docudays UA has begun to digitise the Catalogues of Ukrainian Documentary Films and presents the online publication of the 2019 edition
Cultural Diplomacy
17 June 2025
Welcome the Winning projects of the RAW DOC 2025 Showcase
News
14 June 2025
Welcome the Winning projects of the RAW DOC 2025 Showcase
News
14 June 2025
Working with memory, unique acoustics, and dialogue: interviews with …
Interviews
13 June 2025
Working with memory, unique acoustics, and dialogue: interviews with the organizers and mentors of the LAB
Interviews
13 June 2025
Congratulations to the Winners of Docudays UA 2025
News
12 June 2025
Congratulations to the Winners of Docudays UA 2025
News
12 June 2025
How Much Sleep Does the Docudays UA Communications Team Get, or Come …
Interviews
06 June 2025
How Much Sleep Does the Docudays UA Communications Team Get, or Come Get a Hug at the Festival!
Interviews
06 June 2025
The Voices of Ukrainian Documentary: Docudays UA presents a new editi…
Cultural Diplomacy
06 June 2025
The Voices of Ukrainian Documentary: Docudays UA presents a new edition of the Electronic Catalogue
Cultural Diplomacy
06 June 2025