About Us
Close Up is a training, development, and mentorship program for documentary filmmakers from
South West Asia and North Africa.
Positioned at the intersection of arts, media, social change, and peace-building, Close Up is the only initiative of its kind in the region, creating a transformational experience for young filmmakers, coming from diverse ethnic, religious, cultural, and political backgrounds, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
Close Up was founded as a non-profit organization based in Belgium by five partners who collectively believe that working with emerging filmmakers from our region is essential to creating and maintaining cultural awareness and protecting our future. The partners include: Sigal Yehuda, Bruni Burres, Vincent Melilli, John Appel and Ahmet Boyacioglu.
Our Program
We support filmmakers in developing and creating compelling documentaries that illuminate the social and political realities of our complex and ever-changing region.
News & Newsletter
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THe Directors Elsadig Mohamed and Abuzar Osman won the Sørfond Award at the Durban FilmMart!
Congratulations to the directors Elsadig Mohamed and Abuzar Osman, and the producer Alyaa Musa, who pitch their project THE CAMERA NEVER CRIES to the 13th edition […]
Zohar Wagner’s project SAVOY won best directing and best editing awards at the Jerusalem Film Festival!
Congratulations to Zohar Wagner, whose film SAVOY premiered at Jerusalem Film Festival last week and won the Diamond Award for Directing and the Diamond Award for Editing! SAVOY participated in Close Up’s 2020 […]
CLOSE UP Call for applications 2022/2023 has ended successfully!
This year again, Close Up Call for applications has ended successfully. We received more than 140 applications for the Close Up 2022-2023 program from all across […]
Jude Chehab selected at Sundance 2022 Producers Summit
The 2022 Sundance Producers Program, which took place at the Sundance Resort in Utah, has selected Jude Chehab (director of the Close-Up mentored project Q), to […]
RESIDENCY AWARDS FOR CLOSE UP FILMMAKERS
After the announcements we had for the WHICKERS BURSARY, DOCS UP FUND, CPH:DOX AND MEDIMED AWARDS in the last few weeks, we are super happy to […]
SAVOY will do its international premiere at the Jerusalem film festival !
Congratulations to Zohar Wagner, filmmaker that participated at the 2020-2021 edition of Close Up, with her film SAVOY! SAVOY traces back the story of Kohava Levi, a […]
OUT OF PLACE received a development grant from the Swedish Film Institute!
Congratulations to director Mohammed Al-Majdalawi whose project OUT OF PLACE received a development grant from the Swedish Film Institute, which promotes contemporary Swedish films of all […]
NOTHING CALLED HOME Selected to Sunny Side of the Doc 2022
NOTHING CALLED HOME has been selected to Sunny Side of the Doc! Congratulations to director Arkus and producer Gargi Chakrabarti! As part of Sunny Side’s New Voices […]