resilient was chosen for The Good Pitch at Hot Docs
Hot Docs' flagship market event, the Toronto Documentary Forum (TDF) is pleased to partner with the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program to present the Good Pitch. The Good Pitch will feature five human rights-focused documentary film projects to be pitched to an invited group of organizations, NGOs, film funds and charities at this year’s TDF, May 6 and 7.
“We are honoured that the TDF is hosting the very first North American Good Pitch,” said Elizabeth Radshaw, director of the TDF. “It’s a perfect complement to our commitment to ambitious, global documentary filmmaking.”
The five participating projects where selected from 150 submissions. The filmmakers will present their projects in a live pitching event on the second afternoon of the Toronto Documentary Forum (TDF) on May 7. Attending organizations include: ABA Center for Human Rights; American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); Amnesty International USA; Arts Engine; Canadian Friends of Burma; Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights; Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Chicken & Egg Pictures; Educational Foundation of America; Human Rights Watch's Women's Rights Division; Incite Productions; InterAction; International Center for Transitional Justice; jhr (Journalists for Human Rights); The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Mines Action Canada; Samara; Save the Children Canada; Social Delta; The Fledgling Fund; Working Films; World Organization for Human Rights USA; and Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The inaugural Good Pitch was held at the BRITDOC Film Festival in 2008, aiming to maximize and broaden the impact of those documentaries dealing with positive social change. After leaving Hot Docs, the Good Pitch will also make stops at this year’s SILVERDOCS Festival as well as IFP's Independent Film Week in New York City. The Good Pitch at Hot Docs is supported by Fledging Find, Working Films, CIDA, The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights.
The five selected projects are:
BURMA SOLDIER
Ireland | leBrocquy Fraser Productions Ltd
Follows Burmese soldier Myo Myint who turned against his own commanders in the quest for his country’s freedom, during which he was victim of a landmine explosion, became a political activist and was jailed and tortured.
OUR SCHOOL
USA | Sat Mic Films
OUR SCHOOL tells the story of Roma (“Gypsy”) children struggling to break the barriers of segregation in a small Transylvanian town. The film follows three school children - Alin, Beniamin, and Dana - fighting to overcome racial stereotypes in a mainstream Romanian school.
RESILIENT
USA | Salty Features
RESILIENT is a celebration of women all over the world who are compelled, despite terrible circumstance, to find an inner strength that motivates them into action.
THE PROMISE OF FREEDOM
USA | Principle Pictures
THE PROMISE OF FREEDOM is a modern-day Oskar Schindler story that focuses on Kirk Johnson, a 27-year-old American aid worker fighting to save tens of thousands of Iraqis whose lives are in danger because they worked for the US to help rebuild Iraq.
UNTITLED IMMIGRATION PROJECT
USA | Two Tone Productions, dba Hiptruth Productions
The Untitled Immigration Project will examine the state of U.S. immigration policy as it relates to Latinos, looking at the issues such as deportation, discrimination and crossing the border.