Collage Arts is delighted to announce we have received National Lottery funding to produce seven short films within some Haringey key communities. This is a chance for writers of Turkish, Kurdish and/or Iranian heritage to work with local communities on a semi-professional production, led by Collage Arts.

We are inviting writers/ film makers to send us a one-two page brief for a short film that can be shot in one day. If your film is selected to be commissioned and made into a film, we will pay you £350.

Once we commission the brief, communities will rehearse the script facilitated by Artistic Director, Steve Medlin, ready for filming. Collage Arts will then edit and produce the final film by the end of March 2021.

Guidelines for film briefs:
• Your film should last between 5-9 minutes: total reading time for the script should be no longer than 7 minutes.
• Each film should include English as well as at least one other language. You may switch between languages as you see fit and we will subtitle both ways in post-production.
• Your film should include a female character (played by a Kurdish actress who will feature in all of the films) who can either be a key character or she can be incidental e.g someone who stops a character in the street to ask a question or knocks at the door to pick something up/ deliver something.
• We’d like you to tell a story from your community that would interest a wider audience.
• The overarching element tying in all the films is the Persian festival of Novruz/Nowruz/Newroz. Your film should include mention of this and this can be large or small.
• There are seven ingredients associated with the festival (eg garlic or sumac) and also various objects, eg a mirror or goldfish. These again should not be at the heart of your story but some type of nod to them would be helpful.
• The location should be one that would be easy for us to access. The more contained the better and if it’s one you can supply then it helps. A story based on a cruise ship or at an airport will probably be too challenging to accept.
• A cast of thousands will also be challenging, so consider whether your script is easily populated by your community, though we do have a diverse bank of voluntary actors to draw upon as well if required. Scenes involving 1 – 4 people are much more achievable, however, you may in some instances have a community gathering where people are happy to be filmed and in these cases we would welcome a discussion.

To apply for a commission:
Please provide a brief outline of idea/story including cast and any ideas on location and community members that could be involved.

Email: andry@collage-arts.org
Closing Date: 6 November 2020