Are you an emerging documentary filmmaker who loves archive film? The Make Film History Challenge offers you access to forty archive films for creative reuse. Make a short film (up to three minutes) which reinterprets the archive in new and imaginative ways! Six films will be screened to an industry panel at Sheffield DocFest in June during a Make Film History session on archive-inspired storytelling. One film will be chosen to win a £1000 cash prize.
This is an opportunity for filmmakers without significant experience to engage with the enormous untapped potential of archive film, and to learn to integrate it into their practice. We are especially keen to hear from underrepresented voices and communities. Entry is open to anyone over 18 based in the UK or Ireland who has not directed or produced more than one feature film (over 60 minutes) or two TV episodes of over 30 minutes.
How can I apply?
Browse the archive films below, choose one or two you’d like to respond to and send us 100 words about yourself, the films you’ve chosen and how you’d like to creatively respond to them, connecting past and present using clips from the archive film alongside footage you’ve shot yourself. Here are some examples of archive-inspired films from a recent project we did around the BBC centenary: www.archivesforeducation.com/bbc100
Please send your short proposal to Colm McAuliffe (C.McAuliffe@kingston.ac.uk) as soon as you can with the subject line Make Film History Challenge. Once we’ve accepted your proposal, you will need to sign a simple license agreement to access the archive film(s).
When is the deadline for submitting your archive-inspired film?
11.59pm on Monday, June 10th. We will host an online workshop to support the editing of your film in early June and notify the six filmmakers whose work will screen in Sheffield by Wednesday, June 12th.
This project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (part of UK Research and Innovation) and supported by our archive partners: BBC Archive, the British and Irish Film Institutes, Northern Ireland Screen, Yorkshire Film Archive and Villon Films, with thanks to Alex Wilson, Jackie Jones, Martin John Harris and David Falconer Rea.
You can follow us @makefilmhistory #makefilmhistorychallenge