The 2013 Wild Talk Africa Festival takes place at the Docklands Hotel & Conference
Centre in Durban from 23 to 26 July 2013, running concurrently with the DIFF (Durban
International Film Festival), invites wildlife filmmakers to submit proposals for the
open pitching sessions.
Wild Talk Africa is Africa’s key film festival and conference for natural history and
wildlife film and television programming. It is a four-day event including workshops,
seminars and commissioning panels, and valuable networking events with
international delegates and industry leaders.
Filmmakers interested in pitching their work to commissioning editors are invited to
submit their ideas in advance. These will be moderated and 12 successful proposals
will be awarded a slot at the Open Pitching Sessions. Filmmakers will have an
opportunity to pitch to top national and international commissioners and funders.
Past years’ pitching panels have included commissioning editors from Animal Planet,
NHK Japan Broadcasting Corp., BBC NHU, National Geographic, SABC, NFVF,
Smithsonian Networks, NHU Africa and more. All documentary formats and all natural
history subjects are eligible for submission, and the panel will critique and comment
on each pitch.
“This is a fantastic way for filmmakers to present their projects to some of the best
global exhibition platforms for wildlife films,’ says festival director Donfrey Meyer.
“We are really pleased to be presenting the festival at the same time as the Durban
International Film Festival and Durban FilmMart, where the film industry gathers to
network and start the conversations that lead to the creation of projects.’
For those not selected for the open pitching sessions, there will be other
opportunities to arrange one-on-one meetings with commissioners at the festival, and
there will be “speed-dating’ pitching sessions, subject to availability.
Submissions should be sent in as a one-page project summary, along with
photography from the production, a short biography on the filmmaker / producer and
the name and contact details of the person pitching.
A short (5 minutes maximum) sample reel of the work-in-progress is recommended
but not essential. This can be a promo, sizzle reel, or clips from the development
process or research. The submission deadline is Thursday 6 June 2013.
For more information on Wild Talk Africa go to www.wildtalkafrica.com.
For tips and information on how to pitch, log in and visit the Free Resources page.
