The Greenhouse Project is back in action. Thetraining program for the development of feature-length documentaries, whichlaid dormant for the best part of the last ten months, is now registeringcandidates for its first round of seminars, to take place in January 2007 in Istanbul. Targeting East Mediterranean territories, the programmeexpects candidates to come from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, thePalestinian authority, Syria and Turkey.

Originally launched early in 2006 by the NewIsraeli Fund for Cinema and Television in partnership with the Ramallah FilmInstute, and with $1.9m (Euros 1.5m) support from the European Union, theprogramme raised an uproar when it was announced, with many Palestinian film-makersclaiming it as an Israeli initiative and complaining the project's Palestinianpartner was insufficiently reliable. The protest scared away not only some ofthe original supporters of the programme but also some of the potentialpartners in its organization.

The European Union, accused at the time ofinsensitivity to the entire Middle East situation, decided to reconsider the project andcheck accusations of eventual financial irregularities in the management of theRamallah institute. After several months, once the accusations were provedunfounded, the entire programme was re-confirmed, now with a new team ofpartners at the helm. The leading factor is still the Israeli New Fund for Cinemaand Television, now joined by the Ankara Cinema Foundation in Turkey, TheInstitute of Documentary Films in the Czech Republic and VOFAppel & Honigmann in the Netherlands.

To participate in The Greenhouse Project, directorsand producers would have to present a synopsis of their intended projects,personal CVs, a declaration of intents by the director, a preview of thebudget, recommendations from their home territory and any previous work, ifavailable. By the end of the seminar, the participants should be able to puttogether an international production package and an eventual trailer.Registration ends on Oct 26, and further info is available at www.ghfilmcntre.org.

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