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 thrilled to continue of our beautiful long-time partnership with the Middle East Now Film Festival (MEFF), in Florence, Italy, which is taking place between October 10-15th! Our partnership with MENFF grows strongly each year and this year we will have a full house of Close Up alumni filmmakers presenting their work-in-progress projects, completed films, having panel discussions and more.
Our Founder & Executive Director Sigal Yehuda curated a special WORK-IN-PROGRESS program with 6 alumni Close Up projects and all 10 Close Up filmmakers (directors and producers) are invited to Florence to present their work and have Q&A with the audiences in-person! The selected projects for the W-I-P program showcases the diversity of voices coming from our region, where each project highlights the nuances and complexities of the issues that filmmakers are facing within their communities.
We are also very excited to announce that for the first time this year a special REAL SCREEN AWARD is made possible by the wonderful MENFF team and Berta Film, and a selection of jury professionals will give a cash prize to contribute to the development of one Close Up project.
The projects selected for this year’s W-I-P are:
SHE WAS NOT ALONE directed by Hussein Al-Assadi and co-produced by Huma Gupta from Iraq (Close Up 2020-2021)
LIFE IN THE SHADOWS directed by K.D and produced by Ilyas Yourish from Afghanistan (Close Up 2021-2022)
OUR SEEDS directed by Erhan Arik and produced by Meryem Yavuz from Turkey (Close Up 2022-2023)
RED INK directed by Redha Menassel from Algeria (Close Up 2020-2021)
DEPOT-VENTE directed by Cherine Karam from Lebanon (Close Up 2020-2021)
ONE OF THOSE CREATURES directed by Ali Ozkul from Turkey (Close Up 2020-2021)
In addition to the W-I-P program, two Close Up completed films Q by Jude Chehab from Lebanon (Close Up 2020-2021) and BAGHDAD ON FIRE by Karrar Al-Azzawi from Iraq (Close Up 2020-2021) are invited to screen their films. This is such a special occasion as Middle East Now Film Festival was the first festival that Jude and Karrar’s films were screened on the big screen at festival’s 2021 program as part of the Close Up W-I-P showcase when the films were in production! We are so happy that the filmmakers return to Florence for their Italian Premieres!
We would like to deeply thank our dear colleagues and friends, the Founders & Directors of the MENFF Lisa Chiari and Roberto Ruta and the whole festival team for this fruitful partnership that beautifully grows every year and for providing this meaningful cinematic home for filmmakers from our region.
Check out the full festival program via the link in bio!
@middleeastnow.festival ... See MoreSee Less
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
We are happy to announce that POINTS NORTH AWARD winners Erhan Arık and @meryem.yavuz are having their curated one-on-one industry meetings as part of the @pointsnorthinstitute Virtual Industry Meetings programme!
OUR SEEDS directed by Erhan Arik and produced by Meryem Yavuz from Turkey are selected for this wonderful award as part of their successful presentation at the Close Up Pitching Forum earlier in June 2023.
We would like to deeply thank Sean Flynn and the whole team of Points North Institute for providing this wonderful opportunity to Close Up filmmakers! ... See MoreSee Less
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
On Thursday, we had a wonderful showcase at the beautiful Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem, NYC! We were so happy to partner with the Maysles Documentary Center to present 3 Close Up alumni projects! Close Up filmmakers showed excerpts of their thought-provoking work and had fruitful and inspiring conversations with the audience on issues around belonging, displacement, living with intersectional identities, and creative independence.
The projects included in the program were 'Q' directed by @judechehab from Lebanon (Close Up 2020-2021 alumni); 'NO OTHER LAND' directed by @basilaladraa, @yuval_abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Balal from Palestine & Israel (Close Up 2020-2021 alumni); and 'LIFE IN THE SHADOWS' directed by K.D and produced by Ilyas Yourish from Afghanistan (Close Up 2021-2022 alumni).
We deeply thank our dearest colleagues Nan Collymore and Emily Apter and entire team at Maysles Documentary Center for welcoming us at their historical venue and creating a special space for dialogue and exchange. We are very much looking forward to deepening our collaboration together! ... See MoreSee Less
0 CommentsComment on Facebook