Doc Society (formerly Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and BRITDOC Foundation) is a
social entrepreneurship organisation created in 2005. They have supported the production of over 60 films that have won awards .
Development
Initially supported by UK broadcaster
Channel 4 to support British documentaries declined by broadcast commissioners, the BRITDOC Foundation has grown to receive further funding from
NGOs, brands and foundations such as PUMA.Creative and the Bertha Foundation to invest in the support of documentary film. The Foundation also works in other areas of film funding by creating the pitching forum 'Good Pitch' and popular film torrent site
VODO. Their mission is to support international
documentary film from production to distribution to outreach. The Foundation is headed by three directors: Jess Search, Beadie Finzi and Maxyne Franklin.
Documentary titles
Documentary titles the Foundation has supported include ''The Bengali Detective'' by Phillip Cox, ''
Hell and Back Again'' by
Danfung Dennis, ''Self Made'' by
Gillian Wearing, ''
The Yes Men Fix the World
''The Yes Men Fix the World'' is a 2009 English language documentary film about the culture jamming exploits of The Yes Men. The film premiered in New York City and Los Angeles on October 23, 2009 and in other U.S. cities beginning on October 30. D ...
'' by
Mike Bonanno,
Andy Bichlbaum & Kurt Engfehr, ''
Erasing David
''Erasing David'' is a 2010 dramatized documentary ( docufiction) film from the United Kingdom. Stating that as of today the UK is "one of the three most intrusive surveillance states in the world, after China and Russia", director and performer ...
'' by filmmaker David Bond (d.)
Ashley Jones (p.), ''
Sounds Like Teen Spirit: a Popumentary'' by Jamie Jay Johnson, ''
Moving to Mars'' by Mat Whitecross (d.) and Karen Katz (p.), ''The End of the Line'' by
Rupert Murray Rupert Murray (born 28 May 1969) is a film director working in London. Murray began by making television documentaries for Channel Four's Cutting Edge series including Playing For England and Seconds To Impact (cameraman and editor), and short films ...
, ''The Solitary life of Cranes'' by Eva Weber, ''
Afghan Star'' by
Havana Marking
Havana Marking is a British producer and director of documentary films. She is known for her first feature documantary in 2009 ''Afghan Star''. This film won Best Director and the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Plot
The fi ...
, ''
We Are Together''
Paul Taylor (d.) and
Teddy Leifer Teddy Leifer (Edward Leifer) founded Rise Films in 2008 and has since produced or executive produced all of its films and television programmes including the 2013 Oscar nominee ''The Invisible War'' and 2018 Oscar winner Icarus (2017 film), ''Icarus ...
(p.) and ''
Here's Johnny'' by Adam Lavis, Kat Mansoor and Will Hood.
As a result of the long-term partnership initiated in 2010 between BRITDOC Foundation and PUMA.Creative, a growing number of international films concerned with the themes of
social justice,
peace and environmental issues have received funding and support.
The following films were winners of the PUMA.Creative Catalyst Award: ''Speed Sisters'' by Geoffrey Smith, ''DRAGONSLAYER'' by Tristan Patterson, ''Teenage'' by
Matt Wolf, ''Charlie PELE'' by F. Simiyu Barasa, ''Shadow Girl'' by Maria Teresa Larrain, ''Beyond the Wave'' by Kyoko Miyake, ''I, Afrikaner'' by Annalet Steenkamp, ''Femme à la Camera'' by Karima Zoubir.
PUMA.Creative Mobility Award winners: ''
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry'' by Alison Klayman, ''Fish Fight Europe'' by William Anderson, ''Who is Dayani Cristal?'' by Marc Silver, ''
A Small Act'' by
Jennifer Arnold, ''Turkey Creek'' by Leah Mahan, ''
The Island President'' by Jon Shenk, ''
Ping Pong'' by Hugh Hartford, ''25 to Life'' by Mike Brown, ''Moving to Mars'' by Matt Whitecross (this film provided the inspiration for the song "
Moving to Mars" by
Coldplay).
Good Pitch
''Good Pitch'' is a documentary pitching platform established at the BRITDOC Film Festival in 2008. It is a partnership between The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and The
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. The international platform brings together filmmakers with NGOs, foundations, philanthropists, brands and media around leading social issues – to forge coalitions and campaigns for the benefit of all parties. To date, more than 90 documentary projects have been presented at Good Pitch events in
London,
Oxford,
New York City,
Washington, D.C.,
Toronto,
San Francisco and
Johannesburg. In that time more than 1,500 organisations have attended.
Additionally in 2011, BRITDOC Foundation launched a satellite version of the forum, called Good Pitch² (Good Pitch Squared). With the same mission as their flagship events – to 'connect good films to good people'. The first Good Pitch² was held by the People to People (P2P) International Documentary Conference in Johannesburg on 13 September 2011. Good Pitch² events have been hosted in India, Argentina, Taiwan, Australia with events scheduled for Kenya and Southeast Asia.
Recently the Bertha Foundation has partnered with the BRITDOC Foundation to launch two new funds for documentary feature films totalling £1.5 million over three years. The funds are available for journalism documentaries and documentary outreach campaigns.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
* http://britdoc.org/
Television festivals
Documentary film festivals in the United Kingdom
Documentary film organizations
Film festivals in England
2005 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organizations established in 2005
Social enterprises
Film organisations in the United Kingdom