Next Journalism:
tunisia literature

Deadline: 31 March 2011

Are you interested in the work of a correspondent in a foreign country? Would you like to spend the month of August in Finland learning more about the country, its society and the Finnish way of life?

If you are a newly graduated journalist or a student of journalism/communications due to graduate soon, you may be eligible to apply for a scholarship to take part in the Foreign Correspondents’ Programme (FCP) in Finland in August 2011.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland now welcomes applications from citizens or residents of the following countries: Armenia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, India, Japan, Germany, Poland, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The programme provides an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about Finland, Finnish society and the Finnish way of life. It also offers you the means to enhance your professional skills, as well as expand your network of professional colleagues and international friends.

Programme

The programme starts on August 1st and ends on August 26th, 2011. It includes briefings on Finland today; meetings with professionals, politicians and people; and visits to business enterprises, cultural sites and institutions. It includes a weekend as a guest of a Finnish family, as well as trips to different parts of Finland.

During the programme you will have an opportunity to cover additional aspects of Finland in which you have a particular interest. You will also have access to working facilities with PCs, internet, telephone, printers and copiers at the International Press Centre.

What does it cover?

The scholarship covers the costs of travel to and from Finland, local travel in Helsinki, accommodation in a single room in a student residence and the daily programme including meals, events, transportation and lodging. The programme does not cover medical insurance or per diem allowance.

Requirements

Applicants should possess a good command of written and spoken English, be from 20 to 25 years of age and have the ability to adapt to a multinational group of people.

The application documents should be sent by email only to the Embassy of Finland.

The application documents should include:

1. Application form
2. A curriculum vitae using the CV template
3. An essay which emphasises the applicant's particular interest in Finland (600-800 words).

Note! Be sure to include a photograph in the CV.

Please include in your application copies of published articles, transcripts and other documents that may be helpful in the selection process.

The closing date for applications is March 31st, 2011.

Contact information
Ms Sara Haapalainen or Ms Marjaana Sall
Address: Embassy of Finland, 628 Leyds Street, Muckleneuk, Pretoria 0002
Telephone: +27-12-343 0275
E-mail: sanomat.pre@formin.fi

Deadline: 28 February 2011

REGISTRATION FOR GREENHOUSE'S NEW PROGRAM IS NOW OPEN

We are glad to announce that Greenhouse's 2011 call for applications for The Development of Documentary Films by Southern Mediterranean Cinema School Graduates supported by the EU in the framework of Euromed Audiovisual III is Now Open!

We would like to invite Cinema School Graduates & Emerging Filmmakers from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria & Tunisia to submit documentary projects at any stage of development!

The selected filmmakers will be awarded a complete grant covering tuition fees, round trip plane ticket, accommodations and meals during the seminars

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: February 28th 2011

Greenhouse is an advanced contemporary development program for documentary films aimed at Mediterranean Cinema School Graduates & Emerging Filmmakers from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria & Tunisia.

Greenhouse is supported and funded by the European Union in the framework of EUROMED AUDIOVISUAL III program and managed by the New Foundation for Cinema and TV – Israel, ESAV Marrakech - the Marrakech School of Visual Arts – Morocco, The Ankara association – Turkey, Zebra Production – Spain and APPEL & HONIGMANN – Holland.

Greenhouse is a yearly program hosting 10-12 projects each round.

The selected filmmakers are invited to participate in three seminars in which they will develop a full international production package and a professional trailer which will be presented in a pitching forum in front of international commissioning editors, film funds directors, producers and distributors from the documentary international market.

In its 5 years of activity, Greenhouse has achieved exceptional success and has become a leading organization for documentary filmmaking internationally. Greenhouse is working with leading forces from the international audiovisual sector, commissioning editors, film funds directors, producers, distributors, TV stations and film festivals from all over the world – The Sundance Institute, Jan Vrijman Fund (IDFA), ARTE/ZDF, ITVS, Channel 4, BBC Worldwide, World Cinema Fund, P.O.V, MDR Germany and many others.

In its five years of activity 7 films were completed and won prestigious awards in international film festival; 62 projects and 80 filmmakers participated from 9 MEDA countries.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

■ The participants must be citizens and residents of one of the MEDA countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia.

■ The seminars, workshops and tutorial sessions will be held in English, so the participants must have basic knowledge in this language.

■ Each team (director and producer) will have to participate in a full series of three seminars within a year.

■ The project submitted may be in any stage of development, including initial footage.

■ Applicant may act as a director-producer of a project.

■ Eligible are filmmakers who made at list one film but not more than two films or a feature length documentary

SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS

A team of International and MEDA experts will select a maximum of 12 projects each year, in teams of director/producer (i.e. max. 24 participants) on the basis of the application submitted, which should include:

■ Application form- Download entry forms: Greenhouse_Entry_Form_2011.doc

■ Synopsis of 1 to 3 pages

■ Director's statement

■ Initial budget and financial support

■ The applicants' CVs

■ Two references from a professor or a professional (for each team)

■ Previous cinematic work (if applicable) – DVD only.

■ Applications must be submitted in English

■ Applications must be sent in ONE "WORD" FILE which includes all requested documents mentioned above.

** Submissions should be sent by email to: submission@ghfilmcentre.org

Entry Form Download & FAQ please click HERE >>

Deadline: 15 March 2011

An International Journal of Communication (IJoC) Special Features Section on the recent Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions in North Africa to be published in 2011.

Guest Editors: Johanne Kuebler and Ilhem Allagui

The International Journal of Communication is accepting papers for its Feature Section about the Tunisian and the Egyptian protests and its sequels in the Arab region.

Despite numerous efforts by Arab leaders to limit Internet access and to censor all media—especially new media—the spread of satellite TV and the Internet have transformed the media landscape in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Revolutionary protests by Tunisians led to the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who maintained a strict media censorship after 23 years in power. Similarly, just weeks after the Tunisian uprising, demonstrations and riots have left the rule of the Hosni Mubarak government in a quandary. The oppression of the free speech and democratic political participation galvanized both Tunisians and Egyptians into unprecedented acts of revolt, demonstrating perseverance toward the goal of real political change.

Some observers attribute the success of the Tunisian revolution to the use of new media and social networking sites. While the penetration rate of Facebook in Tunisia is barely 19% (according to Socialbakers, the Facebook statistical portal), YouTube and DailyMotion were banned until January 13, 2011 despite Ben Ali’s desperate attempts to calm the population by promising unblocked access to Internet Web sites. Ben Ali eventually fled Tunisia on January 14.

As of this writing, the outcome of the Egyptian uprisings remains to be seen, and the potential for similar uprisings throughout the Arab world is very much in evidence.

This Feature Section of the IJoC invites discussions about these events occurring in the North African region in relation to communication technologies. By addressing these events, we aim to have a better understanding of the role of communication technologies as instruments for social change.

The submissions, empirical or theoretical, could be short observations, analyses or opinions of 1,500–5,000 words. Papers should follow the APA style (5th Ed.). Submissions will be peer reviewed.

Please send submissions to: Ilhem Allagui at iallagui@aus.edu

"This is a well chosen collection of some of the best Arab writers I've come across, with a broad spectrum of themes, well chosen and beautifully rendered into English."—Raja Shehadeh, author of Palestinian Walks

In November 2009, the International Prize for Arabic Fiction organized a workshop for eight critically acclaimed writers from Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates.

This bilingual volume brings together the pieces produced during this workshop, showcasing the creativity of a younger generation of Arab writers. A range of styles and themes are explored: from Egyptian social realism to a tale from the deserts of Darfur, a grim Tunisian allegory, family drama in Saudi Arabia, and a story about home and exile in Sana’a.

Includes a foreword co-written by Inaam Kachachi, an Iraqi born writer whose debut novel The American Granddaughter was shortlisted for the 2008–2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and the Lebanese author Jabbour Douaihy, whose novel June Rain was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2007–2008.

About the Editors

Peter Clark: Peter Clark is a Middle East specialist, a Trustee of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and a contributing editor of Banipal. He has translated fiction, history, drama and poetry from Arabic since 1980.

Inaam Karachi: Inaam Kachachi was born in Baghdad in 1952. Her debut novel, 'The American Granddaughter', was shortlisted for the 2008–2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.

Jabbour Douaihy: Jabbour Douaihy was born in 1949 in Lebanon. He is the author of a collection of short stories and two novels. Douaihy’s 'June Rain' was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2007–2008.

Deadline: 4 February 2011

Satellite TV and the internet have transformed the media landscape in the Arab and Muslim world. Although their development is a recent phenomenon, new media have not only opened up new opportunities for journalism but also empowered audiences and civil society organizations with unprecedented platforms for ‘free’ expression and social activism. The WikiLeaks phenomenon is said to have empowered the public with a wealth of secret information previously hardly if not impossible to obtain about governments in the Arab world.

In light of the dramatic development of events, which have led to a social revolution in Tunisia, it has become evident that new media have been playing a key role in keeping the momentum going, and bringing the voices of the disengaged Tunisian youth to the attention of world media, and hence to international public opinion. Mobile phones, Blogs, YouTube, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds have been instrumental in mediating the live coverage of protests, public speeches, as well as police brutality in dispersing demonstrations. The internet in this case has assumed the role of a very effective uncensored news agency from which world media have been able to freely source newsfeeds, raw from the scene. Such developments have proven very significant in changing the rules of the game, of journalism production, and dissemination of information in a
country where the government historically keeps tight control on the media and where almost no platform has been available for opinions critical of the political elite.

The edited book project aims to address the above themes. We seek contributors who wish to specifically address the revolution in Tunisia and the role new media have been key tools in fuelling the regime change. Contributions may consider the following themes:

- Blogging and bloggers as citizen journalists; what difference have they been making?
- Satellite TV and the internet as cites of resistance/alternative media or sets of ‘censored national enclosures’
- Arab TV and the mobilization of public opinion in Tunisia
- E-campaigning and political/social groups
- WikiLeaks, political corruption and the right to know
- How are activists/the youth interacting with platforms like ‘YouTube’, ‘Facebook’ to fuel the protests that have led to the collapse of Ben Ali’s regime?
- Media censorship in Tunisia
- Women bloggers/activists and the mediation of women issues
- Youth subcultures and new media
- Support/responses of the Arab street to the Tunisia revolution

Submissions:

Please send an abstract of about 350 words for your proposed paper by 4th February 2011. The abstract should provide and outline of the main themes/questions, research method and sample of the study. Please make sure that your abstract includes the following: Title, name of the author, affiliation, complete contact details and a short author’s bio. Final papers should be about 8500 words. All submissions will be refereed.

Deadline for submission of full papers: 25th March 2011

Please send your abstract to:

Dr Noureddine Miladi (Editor)
School of Social Sciences, University of Northampton,
Park Campus, Northampton NN2 7AL, UK
E-mail: noureddine.miladi@northampton.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)1604 892104

Deadline: 25 January 2011

Registration DOCmed 2011

If you are a producer and/or a director/producer, holder of a documentary film project and you wish to:

* Benefit from a profound expertise of your project under development,
* Apprehend in detail all the steps of work, the writing and the development, the negotiation of rights, the modalities of production, the budgeting, the financing, the co-production deals, the enterprise of production, and the situation of the international market of documentary.
* Exchange and debate around the concrete projects, with documentary film professionals from Europe and elsewhere.

Every year, 10 Arab independent producers1 have the opportunity to participate in the DOCmed program. They will be supervised by experts and experimented tutors active in the field of production and documentary financing.

Eligible are the producers and/or directors/producers of the following countries:

Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian occupied territories, Syria and Tunisia.

The program consists of three sessions of one week each, for a period of one year2.

Program 2011-2012:

Session 1: Development / March 2011 - Lebanon

Session 2: Budgeting, packaging and financing / June 2011 - Croatia

Session 3: Meeting with the decision makers / March, April 2012 - Tunisia

The full accommodation and travel expenses will be taken in charge by DOCmed

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 25 January 2011

Kindly send all the requested material including DVDs of your previous work, before the 25th of January 2011.

Head of studies: Jacques Bidou (France)

Tutors: Hala Abdallah (Syria), Serge Lalou (France)

Head of programme: Anne-Marie Luccioni (EURODOC / France), Jad Abi-Khalil (Beirut DC / Lebanon)

Kindly send your applications and the requested files on the following address3: info@beirutdc.org

Objectives

DOCmed is a training program which works on a project basis, on international co-production of creative documentaries. It is addressed to producers and directors/producers of Mediterranean Arab countries who are developing a project of international ambition. This program allows them to optimize all the fields of documentary production, the creation, the financing, and the technologies.

This program is implemented by Beirut DC (Lebanon), Eurodoc (France), and Doc à Tunis (Tunisia), in association with Arte France.

We find it important to experiment and develop the possibilities of networking between these Arab countries, and furthermore, establish cooperation between these countries and Europe.

The objectives of DOCmed are:

- Improve the development standards, the financing and the management of documentary projects with international ambition.

- Dedicate the presentation of these projects to decision makers of the Arab world, Europe and elsewhere.

- Face technology changes in the field of development, production and distribution.

- Reinforce the small and medium enterprises.

- Set a durable network of competence and exchanges by reuniting the experts and the international decision makers of this sector.

- Promote the exchange between the experts of the Mediterranean and the European countries.

We hope that the impact of DOCmed will reinforce the evolution of the careers of the participants, through a better apprehension of the international documentary market and a strengthened professionalism.

Producers would be able to find partners for the projects that they are developing.

The cooperation between the different participants will certainly develop beyond the training program to establish cooperative agreements.

We are convinced of the importance of enlarging the field of documentary Arab production worldwide. It is also our cultural and economic interest, which is essential for the vivacity of the Arab documentary production to be confronted with other cultures and other experiences.

Requested materials

• Synopsis
• Treatment
• Production strategy
• Budget and financing plan in Euro
• CV of the Director
• CV of the Producer
• Company profile
• DVD of previous works of the director
• Letter of motivation of the candidate
• Signed application (Download here)

2 The directors of the selected projects will participate to the first session with their producers. They will benefit from the same training. They will not participate to the second session dedicated to technical aspects related to international production, but will join their producers for the third session.

3 The files can be sent in Arabic but with a French or English translation and should contain, among others, a motivation letter for the participation to the workshop as well as an intention letter for each of the producer and the director.

Contact:

Beirut DC Tel. +961 1 293212 // info@beirutdc.org

EURODOC Tel. +33 4 67 60 23 30 // eurodoc@wanadoo.fr