Close Up Partners with The Whickers

We are very happy to announce that a brand new documentary funding award for filmmakers in Southwest Asia And North Africa has been created by The Whickers in partnership with Close Up Initiative!

This new fund worth £3,000 will be available to participants taking part in Close Up’s annual year-long training and development program for documentary 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. As from today one such project selected for the Close Up Initiative will receive additional funding thanks to the Whickers initiative.

Jane Ray, Artistic Director of The Whickers said: “We are so excited to be deepening our relationship with Close Up and offering a chance to filmmakers from across the region to win some early support to develop their projects. I have been following the work Sigal and her colleagues started with Greenhouse in 2006 with increasing admiration and respect. To that winning formula of passion, commitment, and expertise we now have an opportunity to add a modest injection of cash. We are looking forward to helping the amazing work Close Up does to nurture the next generation of documentary filmmakers.”

Sigal Yehuda, Founder & Executive Director of the Close Up Initiative added: “All of us here at Close Up are delighted to be partnering with such a strong organization like The Whickers, one that is deeply dedicated to supporting and nurturing original and innovative documentary cinema. Our shared commitment to encouraging emerging filmmakers to create outstanding films is highly valued, as there continues to be a great need and urgency for support for our community of filmmakers. We are grateful to Jane Ray and everyone else at The Whickers for making this wonderful grant possible.”

News of the Bursary comes the year after the participants of the Close Up Program 2019 / 2020, Ilyas Yourish and Shahrokh Bikaran (Kamay) were awarded the prestigious 2021 Whickers’ Film & TV Funding Award of £80,000, to direct their first feature length documentary.

To read more about The Whickers >>
https://www.whickerawards.com/