The Busan film festival’s Asian Network of Documentary (AND) is partnering with Al Jazeera English (AJE) on documentary scheme Viewfinder: Asia (working title).

The project aims to support documentary filmmaking and promote networking for co-production in the region.

The Qatar-based international current affairs broadcaster AJE founded Viewfinder in 2011 to discover, develop and showcase new documentary talent and films. The aim is to collaborate with a local film institution on each continent to discover documentaries in key global regions. So far, AJE has partnered with Doc Montevideo in Uruguay for Viewfinder: Latin America and Viewfinder: Asia is the second initiative.

Out of a selected group of 25 new documentary filmmakers, Viewfinder: Asia will shortlist ten to participate in a seven-day workshop Sept 30-Oct 6 in Busan. After that, Viewfinder will identify potential commissions to be broadcast on AJE and sign contracts with directors.

Viewfinder: Asia is open to submissions until Aug 3 at www.ajeviewfinder.com. 

In addition, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in June also signed a partnership contract with Cinelan, a New York-based video publisher that brings documentary filmmakers to global audiences. The fest expects the partnership to allow AND to expand its network beyond Asia globally.

Based on its five-year results, AND will also publish a white paper called Asian Documentary Today for the upcoming BIFF (Oct 4-13). The white paper will look at the documentary production situation in Asia with interviews with Asian filmmakers.

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