an EAVE Plus workshop in association with Dubai International Film Festival
December 12 to 16, 2008
Continuing the collaboration after the successful workshop in 2007

The Dubai International Film Festival is offering a high quality professional development programme for film producers from Arab countries in December 2008. The programme is a joint venture between the Festival´s Industry Office and EAVE, one of Europe s leading training and development organisations. This follows the very successful first edition which took place at the Festival in 2007.

The programme will take place from December 12 to December 16 inclusive in Dubai. The Dubai Film Festival will pay participants travel and hotel costs. Candidates successfully selected for the programme will be asked to pay an admission fee of USD 100.

The programme, to be delivered by experienced producers and experts from both Arab and European countries, will include sessions and training on:

• the role of the producer
• script development
• legal issues of production
• budgeting, finance and financial planning
• pitching and presentation
• marketing and packaging
• finance in the Region and Europe
• distribution and exhibition in the Region

The programme will be delivered through a mix of plenary sessions, individual meetings, group discussion, expert panels and case studies. Participants projects will be discussed in individual meetings with script consultants as well as with each other in group sessions. There will also be individual pitching and presentation training. The week will conclude with a presentation of the projects to a panel of leading industry figures.
There will be plenty of time for participants to network with each other and to build relationships for future collaboration across the Arab countries and with Europe.
The programme is aimed at producers who are already active in the industry and will have already produced, for example, short films, music videos or, perhaps, a low budget digital feature. It is not aimed at experienced feature film or documentary producers who are already familiar with the regional and European film producing environment.

The programme will be conducted in English.

Applicants should apply with a project they are in the process of developing since the programme will feature development of the projects through group and individual discussion. Projects can be fiction or documentary and there is no requirement about genre, type or length.

"Along with Jacques (script consultant), Roshi (group leader) and the group work was the most valuable part of the workshop for me. And not just for my own project. I found it almost just as valuable to be part of the discussion of other projects. This workshop was a great opportunity", Jackie Sawiris, Jordan

"This initiative has been very helpful and, beyond that, very important to reassure that establishing and developing independent film making and producing in our countries and regions is a ‘must’ and it is only me/we who are able to make it real in the coming years", Vrej Kassouny, Syria

"I was really impressed with the energy put into the workshop. I learned a lot", Iman Kamel, Egypt

Applications can be received from: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

The deadline for receipt of applications is October 1, 2008.
Application forms can be downloaded here.

If you require further information,  please email us.
Alan Fountain
Roshanak Behesht Nedjad
Jacques Akchoti

More information will be posted soon!