A major new partnership has been announced between the Bertha Foundation and BRITDOC that will bring an extra £1.5 million in funding over the next three years to the doc world. Details of the partnership were given at yesterday’s IDFA discussion on new funding models.
The Bertha Foundation will now join BRITDOC’s Board of Directors and will launch two new funds. Details of the first two projects that will be supported have already been confirmed. Steve James’s
The Interrupters (controversially overlooked by the Oscars) and Sonya Kirpalani’s We The People are the first projects to receive support.
BRITDOC CEO Jess Search outlines the thinking behind the partnership. “We met Bertha about a year ago. They’re quite a new foundation, run by people who’ve taken quite a long-term interest in documentary”, Search comments.
The Foundation was founded in 2010 by a family who believes (according to its website) “that bright ideas, combined with resources and strong leadership, can create profound social impact.”
Hard-hitting
BRITDOC and Bertha are setting up two funds. One, The Bertha BRITDOC Documentary Journalism Fund is for documentary journalism. Search says that the hope is that this will enable filmmakers to do in-depth investigative work of the sort that used to be carried out by “the traditional hard-hitting press.”
The idea is that this fund will support long form docs from journalists who want to break into documentary and from filmmakers who are trying to make investigative, journalistic-type films. “For us, it is important to have this feature-length film, because that has a longevity which the film world has over the ephemeral nature of television.”
Fast turnaround
£250,000 a year is available to this fund, which is expected to be very flexible. It can invest as much as £50,000 in a single project. “But we are also happy to put in smaller amounts of money when it really, really matters.”
Filmmakers who need “fast turnaround, high risk” funding immediately to pursue a fleeting opportunity will be able to apply. The Funding will also support filmmakers who might need specialist legal advice to make a film possible. “We want to be flexible about supporting this kind of journalism in the way it needs to be supported, on a case by case basis”, Search comments.
Social justice
The second Fund, The Bertha BRITDOC Connect Fund, which will also have £250,000 a year at its disposal, will be investing in outreach and engagement work. Steve James’s The Interrupters is the first grantee. “The Interrupters represents the best of contemporary social justice filmmaking”, commented Rebecca Lichtenfeld of Bertha Philanthropies.
Grant
Search notes that, often, doc makers are so exhausted by the process of making their films that they’re not able to help push and promote their work in order to effect social change. “We will want filmmakers to apply to us when their film is at least at rough cut stage – and possibly completely finished – with their plan of who they think they can reach and what they think their film can do.” This money is a straight grant. Sonya Kirpalani’s We The People, the first film backed by the Documentary Journalism Fund, explores a miscarriage of justice against migrant workers in Dubai.
“Through this one story, Kirpalani is able to create a wider picture of the lives and vulnerability of the migrant workers, who have very little real stake in society there,” comments Search.
Reinvestment
BRITDOC is already funded through Channel 4 (which invests around £600,000) a year and Puma (which invests a similar amount.) Channel 4 is BRITDOC’s broadcast partner and will now have a “first look” at the films financed through Bertha. BRITDOC won’t ask for any rights in Bertha/BRITDOC-backed docs.
“If the film becomes profitable, we’d like to recoup the grants, but only up to the value of the grants,” Search comments. When this happens, the money recouped will be invested straight back into further docs.
By Geoffrey Macnab