[spectre] Open Call for Proposals - Transitland EUROPA Commissioned Videos

[Margarita Dorovska]

Open Call for Proposals
Transitland EUROPA Commissioned Videos
Deadline: March 15, 2008

Transitland EUROPA (http://transitland.eu) invites artists, filmmakers, 
documentarists, and activists from the 10 new EU member-states to submit 
proposals for producing new videos that creatively interpret the 
phenomenon of “transition.” A jury will select 10 proposals, each 
receiving an award of 3000 euro for production, including expenses and fee.

About Transitland EUROPA
Transitland EUROPA is a collaborative project between InterSpace in 
Bulgaria (http://www.i-space.org), D Media in Romania 
(http://www.dmedia.ro) and Videoaktiv in Germany 
(www.videoaktiv-berlin.org) to create a video archive of 100 works 
spanning 20 years, starting from the fall of the Berlin wall. Since much 
of the history of the “new” European countries is being represented from 
the outside, this is an attempt to present a history from within. The 
archive will serve as a visual timeline of transition - from the shape 
of the revolutions, to the role of the media and consumerism, the 
various histories of privatisation, delocalisation, and migration, to 
the erasure of old borders and the creation of new ones.

90 older works (1989 to 2008) and 10 newly commissioned videos (2008) 
will be selected for the archive by a jury of co-organisers and external 
experts. The output of the project includes the production of archive 
jukeboxes and DVD compilations that will travel to different venues in 
Europe, a website and online version of the archive for international 
access, the production and distribution of a print publication and DVD 
insert, and a combination of screenings, exhibitions and conferences in 
Berlin (Feb 2009), Sofia (Mar 2009), and Bucharest (Apr 2009).
Transitland EUROPA is supported by the Culture 2007 Programme of the 
European Union.

Eligibility
Artists, filmmakers, documentarists, activists from Bulgaria, Romania, 
Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, 
Estonia are eligible.
There are no age restrictions.

Format
Genres: Documentary, docu-fiction, experimental narrative, poetic 
monologue, or hybrid forms on the edge of documentary are welcome 
(fiction film and documentation of artistic performance are excluded).
Length: 15 - 45 minutes

Thematics for the videos
The proposed video should connect to the theme of Transitland EUROPA - 
transition in the former communist countries – preferably with a focus 
on the recent changes following last 2 accession rounds. It is possible, 
but not required, for the video to engage one of these subtopics:
1. the meaning of communism and postcommunism and the significance of 
the revolutions
2. new forms of activism and civic engagement, and the meaning of civil 
society
3. the changing role of the mass-media, advertising and consumer culture
4. markets and labour: privatisation, delocalisation, migration, 
precarity, social protections
5. borders: disintegration of old unions, creation of new ones, 
territorial re-mappings, wars
6. nationalisms: old & new forms of fascism, discrimination of ethnic 
minorities & human rights
7. gender: commodification of sexuality, changing gender 
representations, inequality of labour

Timeline
15 March 2008: deadline for submissions (postmark)
15 April 2008: announcement of selected participants
1 May 2008: first installment of award
1 October 2008: deadline for submitting final work
1 November 2008: second installment award
March 2009: participation in exhibition and artists presentations in Sofia

Terms of participation
The award of 3000 Euro (for production, inclusive of expenses and fee) 
will be transferred to selected participants in two rounds - 50% before 
production and the remaining 50% after receiving the completed work.
The videos produced in the frame of the project will become part of the 
archive of 100 works and will be presented in a series of screenings, 
exhibitions and conferences in Bulgaria (at the launch in Sofia and one 
follow up event), Romania (at the launch in Bucharest and Cluj and one 
follow up event) and Germany (at the launch in Berlin and one follow up 
event) in 2009. The authors of the commissioned videos are expected to 
participate in a screening at the launch in Sofia (4 days in March 2009, 
all expenses covered) and to make a presentation of their work.
In addition the videos will be included in the online archive on the 
project website (http://transitland.eu) and as a DVD insert in the print 
publication, which will include a compendium of all the videos in the 
archive (descriptions, still images and artists’ contact info), an 
introductory overview, 9 interviews with theorists, curators and 
artists, and 16 newly commissioned essays that examine transition and EU 
accession in a theoretical framework while also making specific 
references to videos in the archive.
The authors of the videos will receive no additional fee for the 
screenings and disseminations that are part of this project, but can 
request fees for any subsequent screenings by any other institution, in 
any other contexts. The Transitland EUROPA team will also do its best to 
promote the re-screening and re-dissemination of the works by other 
institutions and venues with additional screening fees going directly to 
authors.

Copyright
The Transitland EUROPA team prefer the authors producing the 
commissioned videos to CopyLeft their works (permitting free access and 
dissemination as long as it is non-commercial – this would include 
internet, educational, research and non-profit use, but exclude use by 
festivals, museums, cinemas or other venues that charge entrance fees) 
or, alternatively, to use a Creative Commons license (an attribution, 
noncommercial, nonderivative license). In the event of objections, 
copyright can remain with the authors, as long as they agree that their 
videos are included in the screenings, website and publication connected 
to this project.

Submission guidelines:
Proposals are submitted by completing the application form, 
down-loadable from the project website - http://transitland.eu,
with the following sections, which together should not exceed 3 pages:
- detailed concept description (overall idea, format, montage, style, etc)
- description and timeline of implementation
- budget plan of how you use the 3000 euro commission (what part 
expenses, what part fee, etc)

Additional materials:
- CV (up to 4 pages)
- 2-3 samples of previous works -
You can send DVDs with full videos/films, or a selection of 5-10 minute 
excerpts in avi, mpeg, mov or ogg format. You may also send a portfolio 
of previous projects with texts and images (in pdf format). Materials 
will not be returned.

The signed application form should be sent by post along with the CV and 
samples of previous works to the address:

InterSpace Association
27 Benkovski str, entrance B, floor 1, ap. 18
1000 Sofia - Bulgaria

Deadline: 15 march 2008 (postmark)

For further information or questions about the application, contact:
email: info at transitland.eu
tel: +359 2 983 48 43 (InterSpace)
www.transitland.eu


-- 
Margarita Dorovska
Research and Development
--
InterSpace Association
http://i-space.org
tel/fax:+359 (0)2 983 48 43