FREE masterclass with Nick Broomfield

Date: 7 March 2008T
ime: 2.30-5.30pm
Location: Edinburgh College of Art Main Lecture Theatre, 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF
Cost: Free, but RSVP to scottishdocumentaryinstitute@eca.ac.uk

Scottish Documentary Institute is delighted to welcome acclaimed director Nick Broomfield who will give an intense three-hour masterclass about his work and show his film Battle for Haditha at Edinburgh Filmhouse followed by Q&A. Famous for his idiosyncratic approach to observational cinema, Nick will be discussing and showing clips from a range of his films from his latest fiction feature Battle for Haditha to his documentary Fetishes.

While making Driving me Crazy in 1988, Nick decided to put himself and the producer in the film to try to make sense of the event. This experiment led to a greater sense of freedom from the confines of observational cinema and led to a more investigative and experimental type of filmmaking. For example: The Leader, his Driver and his Driver's Wife, Aileen Wuornos, Kurt and Courtney, Biggie and Tupac.
Battle for Haditha Screening
Director: Nick Broomfield
Location: Filmhouse Cinema, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9BZ
Date: 7 March 2008
Time: 6pm (93 mins)
Tickets: £6/£4.50
Documentarian Nick Broomfield's third fictional feature is a forensic cinema verité-style account of a real-life massacre in Iraq, when US marines gunned down 24 Iraqi civilians in cold blood. Nick Broomfield's re-enactment of the massacre explores the events from multiple perspectives. Shot in the naturalistic style seen in his last film about the Chinese cockle pickers Ghosts, the film brings the audience close to life on the ground in this troubled country.Following the screening Nick will take part in a Q&A.

From Scottish Screen

NPA Courses

Netribution has just poured praise on New Producers Alliance Courses. I'm terribly pleased as one of their tutors Becky Knapp is a friend of mine.

The Script Factory

They are just launching their 9 month Practical Screenwriting Programme.

Which looks interesting but most of the programme will be taught in London.

Screenwriting Express Course at end of May - delivered by The Script Factory and The Long Distance Screenwriter will be taught by Adrian Mead on the 9th of June in Edinburgh.

Arvon Foundation

They run 4 1/2 day courses across the UK at the various centres they run. All in gorgeous locations. The courses are intense but a great way to get into writing over a concentrated time with likeminded people. Normally a small group and two tutors. Here is a list of the screenwriting courses they run this year. They are pricy but they have a very generous bursary scheme for students, low income, and on benefits.

Paul Abbott's Writers Studio

"The talent base needs to grow," said Paul.

Which is why he's set up his own Writers' Studio, taking up to five new writers at a time, and teaching them how to hone their craft.

"The Writers' Studio is an obscenely expensive experiment that I've put together, a building where people are trained. They don't go home at the end of the day but they stay there for five or six days, so everyone is talking about the project all the time. It's a completely different, unique experiment. I almost staple people into the building, and bring out the best in them!" he explains.

"Writers don't talk to each other, which I don't think is right," adds Paul. "Writing is a really weird job to take on. I work an average of 10 hours a day and usually I'm on my own, although you have to learn to be on your own with 500 voices in your head. And it's one of the toughest jobs in the world.

"You have got to learn to sit on your own and put your heart on paper. You really do have to give a lot of yourself every time you write a script, so you have to be tough with yourself," he explains.

Asked by Lynne McCadden how would-be writers could get involved in the Writers' Studio, Paul's reply was simple. "Write a top-notch script and get it to us," he says. "The ones who are determined to get through, get through."

More at Netribution.

MIMAC - the Moving Image Media Access Centre

based in Fife is going to be reborn as a social enterprise in July. This is great news as we seem to be losing media access centres with their low cost training and cheap hires left right and centre. More info about MIMAC here.