Beacons Webinar: Documentary
Are you a documentary maker, born or based in Wales, and aspiring to create your first industry-funded short film? Or perhaps you have some experience in factual, or in another creative field, and would like to cross over into cinematic documentaries?
Join Ffilm Cymru and BFI NETWORK Wales to find out more about our Beacons short film fund, which is run in partnership with BBC Cymru Wales and reopening for applications in April 2021.
During this free webinar we will be joined by special guest filmmakers Jay Bedwani and Angela Clarke, who will share their own experiences of making documentary short films. We will also hear about the exciting new initiative One Stop Doc Shop, which offers a wealth of resources for aspiring documentary makers.
You will then have the opportunity to find out more about Beacons, with tips on how to make your application stand out. There will be a Q&A at the end of the event.
Beacons provides funding as well as creative and practical support, training and mentoring opportunities to help filmmakers advance their careers. Short films produced through the scheme have achieved success at festivals, won numerous awards, been broadcast on BBC Wales and released on iPlayer. Find out more about Beacons here.
Please note that we are hosting further events focused specifically on Animation and Live Action Fiction. We invite you to sign up for the event you feel is most relevant to you – you are of course welcome to sign up to several different sessions.
About our special guests
Jay Bedwani
Jay is a U.K. and U.S. based filmmaker specialising in character led documentaries. His short films have played in over 50 international film festivals, with MY MOTHER winning Best U.K. Short at Europe's largest LGBT film festival, the Iris Prize, and being selected for BFI Postroom Short of the Month. His 2018 film OVERSHARE premiered in the O2 Arena in London, before completing a sold out theatre run in the U.K. His last short, STRETCH, premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival and was awarded Best Short at the Wales International Documentary Festival. Jay has trained with The Scottish Documentary Institute, Ffilm Cymru, the British Council, BFI and NFTS, and was a member of BAFTA Crew 2018-2020. Jay recently received a John Brabourne Award for Film and TV.
Angela Clarke
Angela is a director and producer whose independent documentary short BACHELOR, 38 was shortlisted for the Best British and Best International Film at the Iris Prize film festival in 2018, and BAFTA nominated for Best British Short Film in 2019. Angela has a strong track record in factual documentaries, having over the last 16 years exec produced, directed and developed a myriad of factual content for UK and international broadcasters. After heading up Development for Avanti Media for two years, she left to set up her own company Wheesht Films. Having filmed across the world, in a host of challenging locations, Angela is adept at managing large productions, working with talent, as well as securing and delivering sensitive access. Angela is currently working on developing two additional short films, and is keen to explore the world of Virtual Reality.
