14 Jul IEFTA collaborates with CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator Training Initiative
IEFTA are delighted to announce they are collaborating with CIRCLE’s Women Doc Accelerator, an exclusive training programme for ten carefully selected women-identifying documentary filmmakers who are seeking support to develop their films and professional skills.
In addition to contributive funding, IEFTA is also providing a travel scholarship for one of the filmmakers selected for this years program, Faezeh Nikoozad (lean more about Faezeh and her project below), to attend three modules in which the selected participants will work with renowned directors, writers, and producers on in-depth analysis of their films, covering multiple aspects of project development. This includes fine-tuning their scripts and narrative structures, creating captivating trailers, and preparing production strategies for international audiences and markets.
Faezeh Nikoozad (Director)
Faezeh Nikoozad is an Iranian filmmaker and video artist based in Hamburg, Germany. She gained a BA and MA in Filmmaking at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg (HFBK). Her work, which ranges from documentaries to experimental films and mixed media, cover a relatively wide spectrum of themes, including home, childhood memories and displacement. Faezeh’s short films have been presented and awarded at numerous international film festivals.
Selected participant in Circle 2023 Women Doc Accelerator awarded flights to all modules.
Project description:
Portrait of a Friendship
Three friends, three decisions and three perspectives on what home, migration and exile mean.
The film tells the story of the Iranian filmmaker Faezeh and her two friends Narges and Hamideh. All three women have in common that they make films and come from Iran. Though they have very different experiences of what home means to them.
Faezeh came to Germany in 2009 to study film. In the same year, her friend Narges also came to Germany. Because of the regime-critical implications of her film, she has not returned to Iran since. On the other hand, her other friend Hamideh has never been abroad. Faezeh is the only one who can see her two friends.
Today, after thirteen years of trying to be at home in both countries. She is now overcome by the feeling of being a stranger in both places.
The film embarks on a passage between worlds. Into a transit space, neither here nor there. In one cosmos Hamideh in Iran, in the other Narges in Germany. And in a categorical in-between: the filmmaker Faezeh.
A Good Fit
CIRCLE‘s programmes merge well with IEFTA’s mission, as both entities act as a springboard for instigating transnational collaborations, and, through this, empower targeted demographics to achieve their full, international potential. In this instant it is to empower women in the film industry and increase the visibility of women-identifying authors and filmmakers in broader Europe and general.
IEFTA is proud and delighted to be able to collaborate with CIRCLE and invest in such a worthy and prestigious programme. Find out more about CIRCLE 2023 programme, participants and modules, or visit the CIRCLE website for more information.