About Us
Close Up is a training, development, and mentorship program for documentary filmmakers from
Southwest 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 emerging 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 in Brussels, Belgium by five independent 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, Ahmet Boyacioglu, Bruni Burres, John Appel and Vincent Melilli.
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
Join our mailing list to hear updates about our program and activities
We are extremely excited to announce our new collaboration with the wonderful radio and audio platform @helsinkiopenwaves ! All Close Up podcast episodes will be aired on Helsinki Open Waves from now on and all past & future Close Up podcast episodes will be accessible in this wonderful platform!
We are starting our collaboration by airing the First Close Up Podcast Episode titled “Ethics and Politics of Representation” on 30th May Tuesday at 16:00 CET / 10:00 EDT! The conversation will be aired live!
Link in our bio to listen to the conversation tomorrow!
The First Close Up Podcast Episode features a conversation between Close Up 2020-2021 cohort of filmmakers Jude Chehab from Lebanon and Ruzgar Buski from Turkey. The release of our podcast on Helsinki Open Waves platform comes in light of the much-anticipated world premiere of our dearest filmmaker Jude Chehab's debut feature documentary Q at Tribeca Film Festival on Friday June 09th and international premiere at Sheffield Doc Fest on Thursday June 15th! It is truly inspiring to hear filmmakers speak about all the challenges and complexities they experience as artists and the many ways they reclaim their own cultural and historical narrative through their films.
Helsinki Open Waves (HOW) is a translingual, non-profit, community-driven platform that encapsulates a network of trans-local radio and audio practices. Their goal is to create a multi-voiced shared space that is supported by contributors' participation. Within this platform, HOW explores and reimagines fresh strategies for a translingual society to oppose the hegemony of monolingualism.
We are so honoured to share this profound conversation which provides an open space for us all to join and to contemplate together with Jude and Ruzgar! ... See MoreSee Less
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We are thrilled to announce that Close Up project from the 2021-2022 cohort has been selected to participate at the wonderful @sunnysidedoc. This year, 42 projects from 23 countries will have the privilege to compete for the best pitch prize in seven different categories, and Life In The Shadows was selected as one of the six films for the "new voices" category.
Sunny Side of the Doc will take place from June 19 to 22, 2023 in La Rochelle, France.
Congratulations to Close Up filmmaker K.D. and producer Ilyas Yourish from Afghanistan on their selection for this wonderful industry opportunity! We wish them the best of luck! ... See MoreSee Less
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“Our project 40 YEARS OF SILENCE received incredible creative and strategic guidance from seasoned professionals… What makes CLOSE UP different from the others is the wonderful continued support even beyond the end of the programme"
40 YEARS OF SILENCE
@maythemridha (Director and Producer), Iraq
Close Up cohort 2019/2020 ... See MoreSee Less
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