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January 2008 Documentary Center to Bring International Filmmakers to GW with State Department Grant
Ten emerging filmmakers from around the world will participate in a six-week intensive fellowship at GW this spring with the support of a $400,000 grant to the University’s Documentary Center from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The fellowship in documentary filmmaking will allow the filmmakers to build upon their experience and share their vision of the art of nonfiction production with fellow filmmakers around the globe. GW and the State Department are soliciting applications from emerging filmmakers from Algeria, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Somalia, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Participants in the program, which will be held in May and June, will focus on developing their insights into the theory of documentary filmmaking and expanding their abilities in documentary production using the GW School of Media and Public Affairs’ advanced video technology. During the course of the six weeks, fellows will make three short documentary films and will have roundtable critiques with some of America’s top documentarians. “This fellowship will allow us to engage filmmakers from all parts of the world and of various cultures and to challenge their creative and storytelling talents,” says Nina Gilden Seavey, founder and director of GW’s Documentary Center in the School of Media and Public Affairs. “In addition, we believe we can substantially heighten the visibility and impact of these filmmakers’ work here in the West.” Seavey credits the center’s myriad resources—including its long-standing relationship with notable national filmmakers; its partnerships with broadcasting entities such as Public Broadcasting Service, the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic; and its location and access to all of the important visual resources found in Washington, D.C.—with helping secure the highly competitive grant. Information on fellowship opportunities and how to apply for the program will be communicated through diplomatic cultural channels, at international film festivals and universities, and through local cultural and media organizations within these nations and territories. “The center has graduated hundreds of students in the last 17 years,” says Seavey. “We have internship programs, and we send students to all the major broadcasters and independent filmmakers in Washington, D.C. We are right in the epicenter of the documentary world, so we have offered something specifically related to what we expect these fellows to experience. I cannot think of another place in the United States that embraces the documentary form in the expansive and all-encompassing way we do.”
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