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The IFC has a great opportunity for individuals with documentaries ideas.  If you have a good concept for a documentary and want to get funding for it or get it seen by decision makers, you need to check out the IFC The Back to Basics Documentary Challenge.

You are only required to submit three minutes of video with your idea for the film, but the deadline is fast approaching (August 3, 2008), so you need to get organized quickly.

IFC is looking for a short documentary or a documentary trailer. It must be a non-fiction with the subject matter of your choosing. Please note, for this contest, IFC is only accepting documentary concepts. Film submissions will be judged on the filmmakers ability to portray their unique point of view with their chosen subject matter as well as the film’s overall creative and technical production merits.

Two cash prizes are being offered: 1st prize is $7500, Runner-up prize is $2500.

To get signed up and upload submissions, visit www.ifc.com/backtobasics 

Documentary Films .Net receives emails frequently from individuals with ideas for a film, but no idea how to take the next step.  This is the next step.  Use your video to pitch the idea you have always had.

Go to the IFC challenge webiste here www.ifc.com/backtobasics.  Opportunities to just pitch ideas are very limited.  This challenge is your opportunity.



Comments:
Danielle on November 14th, 2008 at 4:42 pm 

That is a fantastic idear!! wow its really nice to know that there are REAL, HONEST people out there that really do care, and are jenuene people!! because lying and decieving are wrong!! Do it!!! good bye


sharafat on January 2nd, 2009 at 4:11 am 

heloo.
i am sharafat hussain shaikh. i am anthroplogist.
i belong from Sindh, place of Sufis and land of peace and the place of civilization. i have experience in making documentry, i have made documentries for NGO. i have many ideas for producing new things on the screen.
best regards.
Sheikh Sharafat


sharafat on January 2nd, 2009 at 5:04 am 

heloo.
i am sharafat hussain shaikh. i am anthroplogist.
i belong from Sindh, place of Sufis and land of peace and the place of civilization. i have experience in making documentry, i have made documentries for NGO. i have many ideas for producing new things on the screen.
best regards. age 27 seven years. Graduate from Quaid-I-Azam University Islamabad. Pakistan
Sheikh Sharafat


vivek mahendra adaniya on February 4th, 2009 at 6:06 am 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharana_Pratap – 57k


vivek mahendra adaniya on February 4th, 2009 at 6:12 am 

n 1567, when Crown Prince Pratap Singh was only 27, Chittor was surrounded by the Mughal forces of Emperor Akbar. Maharana Udai Singh II decided to leave Chittor and move his family to Gogunda, rather than capitulate to the Mughals. The young Pratap Singh wanted to stay back and fight the Mughals but the elders intervened and convinced him to leave Chittor, oblivious of the fact that this move from Chittor was going to create history for all times to come.

In Gogunda, Maharana Udai Singh II and his nobles set up a temporary government of the kindom of Mewar. In 1572, the Maharana passed away, leaving the way for Crown Prince Pratap Singh to become the Maharana. However, in his later years, the late Maharana Udai Singh II had fallen under the influence of his favorite queen, Rani Bhatiyani, and had willed that her son Jagmal should ascend to the throne. As the late Maharana’s body was being taken to the cremation grounds, Pratap Singh, the Crown Prince decided to accompany the dead body of the Maharana. This was a departure from tradition as the Crown Prince did not accompany the body of the departed Maharana but instead prepared to ascend the throne, such that the line of succession remained unbroken. Pratap Singh, in deference to his father’s wishes, decided to let his half-brother Jagmal become the next king. However, knowing this to be disastrous for Mewar, the late Maharana’s nobles, especially the Chundawat Rajputs, forced Jagmal to leave the throne to Pratap Singh. Unlike Bharat, Jagmal did not willingly give up the throne. He swore revenge and left for Ajmer, to join the armies of Akbar, where he was offered a jagir – the town of Jahazpur – in return for his help. Meanwhile, Crown Prince Pratap Singh became Maha Rana Pratap Singh I, 54th ruler of Mewar in the line of the Sisodiya Rajputs.

The year was 1572. Pratap Singh had just become the Maharana of Mewar and he had not been back in Chittor since 1567. His old fort and his home beckoned to him. The pain of his father’s death, and the fact that his father had not been able to see Chittor again, troubled the young Maharana deeply. But he was not the only one troubled at this time. Akbar had control of Chittor but not the kingdom of Mewar. So long as the people of Mewar swore by their Maharana, Akbar could not realize his ambition of being the Jahanpanah of Hindustan. He had sent several emissaries to Mewar to get Rana Pratap to agree to sign a treaty but the letter was only willing to sign a peace treaty whereby the sovereignty of Mewar would be intact. In the course of the year 1573, Akbar sent six diplomatic missions to Mewar to get Rana Pratap to agree to the former’s suzerainty but Rana Pratap turned down each one of them. The last of these missions was headed by Raja Man Singh, the brother-in-law of Akbar himself. Maharana Pratap, angered that his fellow Rajput was aligned with someone who had forced the submission of all Rajputs, refused to sup with Raja Man Singh. The lines were completely drawn now – Akbar understood that Maharana Pratap would never submit and he would have to use his troops against Mewar.

With the failure of efforts to negotiate a peace treaty in 1573, Akbar blockaded Mewar from the rest of the world and alienated Mewar’s traditional allies, some of whom were Maharana Pratap’s own kith and kin. Akbar then tried to turn the people of the all-important Chittor district against their king so they would not help Pratap. He appointed Kunwar Sagar Singh, a younger brother of Pratap, to rule the conquered territory, However, Sagar, regretting his own treachery, soon returned from Chittor, and committed suicide with a dagger in the Mughal Court. Shakti Singh, Pratap’s younger brother now with the Mughal army, is said to have fled the Mughal court temporarily and warned his brother of Akbar’s actions.

In preparation for the inevitable war with the Mughals, Maharana Pratap altered his administration. He moved his capital to Kumbhalgarh, where he was born. He commanded his subjects to leave for the Aravali mountains and leave behind nothing for the approaching enemy – the war would be fought in a mountain terrain which the Mewar army was used to but not the Mughals. It is a testament to the young king’s respect amongst his subjects that they obeyed him and left for the mountains. The Bhils of the Aravalis were completely behind him. The army of Mewar now raided Mughal trade caravans going from Delhi to Surat. A section of his army guarded the all important Haldighati Pass, the only way to get into Udaipur from the North. Maharana Pratap himself undertook several penances, not because his finances forced him to do so, but because he wished to remind himself, and all his subjects, why they were undertaking this pain – to win back their freedom, their right to exist as they wished. He foreswore that he would eat from leaf-plates, would sleep on the floor and would not shave. In his self-inflicted state of penury, the Maharana lived in mud-huts made from mud and bamboo.

In 1576, the famous battle of Haldighati was fought with 20,000 Rajputs against a Mughal army of 80,000 men commanded by Raja Man Singh. The battle was fierce though indecisive, to the Mughal army’s astonishment. Maharana Pratap’s army was not defeated but Maharana Pratap was surrounded by Mughal soldiers. It is said that at this point, his estranged brother, Shakti Singh, appeared and saved the Rana’s life. Another casualty of this war was Maharana Pratap’s famous, and loyal, horse Chetak, who gave up his life trying to save his Maharana.

After this war, Akbar tried several times to take over Mewar, failing each time. Maharana Pratap himself was keeping up his quest for taking Chittor back. However, the relentless attacks of the Mughal army had left his army weaker, and he barely had enough money to keep it going. It is said that at this time, one of his ministers, Bhama Shah, came and offered him all this wealth – a sum enabling Maharana Pratap to support an army of 25,000 for 12 years. It is said that before this generous gift from Bhama Shah, Maharana Pratap, anguished at the state of his subjects, was beginning to lose his spirit in fighting Akbar.

In one incident that caused him extreme pain, his children’s meal – bread made from grass – was stolen by a dog. It is said that this cut into Maharana Pratap’s heart deeply. He began to have doubts about his resolute refusal to submit to the Mughals. Perhaps in one of these moments of self doubt – something each and every human being goes through – Maharana Pratap wrote to Akbar demanding “a mitigation of his hardship”. Overjoyed at this indication of his valiant foe’s submission, Akbar commanded public rejoicing, and showed the letter to a literate Rajput at his Court, Prince Prithiraj. He was the younger brother of Rai Singh, the ruler of Bikaner, a State established some eighty years earlier by the Rathores of Marwar. He had been compelled to serve Akbar because of his kingdom’s submission to the Mughals. An award-winning poet, Prithiraj was also a gallant warrior and a longtime admirer of the brave Maharana Pratap Singh. He was astonished and grieved by Maharana Pratap’s decision, and told Akbar the note was the forgery of some foe to defame the Mewar king. “I know him well,” he explained, “and he would never submit to your terms.” He requested and obtained Akbar’s permission to send a letter to Pratap, ostensibly to ascertain the fact of his submission, but really with a view to prevent it. He composed the couplets that have become famous in the annals of patriotism:

The hopes of the Hindu rest on the Hindu; yet the Rana forsakes them. But for Pratap, all would be placed on the same level by Akbar; for our chiefs have lost their valour and our females their honour. Akbar is the broker in the market of our race: he has purchased all but the son of Udai (Singh II of Mewar); he is beyond his price. What true Rajput would part with honour for nine days (nauroza); yet how many have bartered it away? Will Chittor come to this market …? Though Patta (an affectionate name for Pratap Singh) has squandered away wealth (on warfare), yet he has preserved this treasure. Despair has driven man to this market, to witness their dishonour: from such infamy the descendant of Hamir (Hamir Singh) alone has been preserved. The world asks, from where does the concealed aid of Pratap emanate? None but the soul of manliness and his sword … The broker in the market of men (Akbar) will one day be surpassed; he cannot live forever. Then will our race come to Pratap, for the seed of the Rajput to sow in our desolate lands. To him all look for its preservation, that its purity may again become resplendent.

The now-famous letter led to Pratap reversing his decision and not submitting to the Mughals, as was his initial but reluctant intention. After 1587, Akbar relinquished his obsessive pursuit of Maharana Pratap and took his battles into Punjab and India’s Northwest Frontier. Thus for the last ten years of his life, Maharana Pratap ruled in relative peace and eventually freed most of Mewar, including Udaipur and Kumbhalgarh, but not Chittor. Bhagwat Singh Mewar: “Maharana Pratap Singh (was) called the light and life of the Hindu community. There were times when he and his family and children ate bread made of grass.” Maharana Pratap became a patron of the Arts. During his reign Padmavat Charita and the poems of Dursa Ahada were written. Palaces at Ubheshwar, Kamal Nath and Chavand bear testimony to his love of architecture. These buildings, built in the dense hilly forest have walls adorned with military-style architecture. But Pratap’s broken spirit overpowered him in the twilight of his years. His last moments were an appropriate commentary on his life, when he swore his successor, Crown Prince Amar Singh to eternal conflict against the foes of his country’s independence. Maharana Pratap was never able to win back Chittor but he never gave up fighting to win it back.

In January 1597, Rana Pratap Singh I, Mewar’s greatest hero, was seriously injured in a hunting accident. He left his body at Chavand, aged 56, on January 29, 1597. He died fighting for his nation, for his people, and most importantly for his honor.


Abram Valdez on February 11th, 2010 at 7:07 am 

I have a 3min documentary trailer and I need information to submit it for funding. Can you please send me information?

Thanks
Abe


rich brown on May 4th, 2010 at 12:50 am 

over the th past 5 years i have been in the texas prison system, i am 44 years old and i am white .
i have an idea about a movie/doc about race. while i was there i interviewed thousands of blacks and whites about their hatred towards
each other. i went to an all white high school in clear lake city (houston) i now live in kerrville where i take care of my mother.
if you could sit down with me, in person or over the phone, i believe you will be
fascinated at my idea’s.
5 minutes is all i ask.
if you are not the right people i need to be speaking with, then put me in touch with who is.
thank you
richard


molefe on June 23rd, 2010 at 7:00 am 

I want to write a documentary about the survivors, i need a computer ,printer, fax machine, a digital camera and a white board it can be old or new.Material can be delivered at 4707 Malengena Street ,kagiso 2,Mogale City 1754

Thanks


col young on July 17th, 2010 at 4:28 pm 

This is basically the story of a band, a covers band that play the pubs up and down the Northwest. We’ve had our shot of fame on the original circuit but unfortunately wrong place, wrong time etc. Luck was not on our side. And so, like countless other bands, we haven’t “made it” into the music industry.

But, hey, we gave it a go, and at least we got to do – and still do – what we love the most; play live music.

But, whilst doing countless gigs over the years, we’ve been offered a slot on Latvia’s version of Glastonbury, through a friend of ours who runs a recording studio in Burnley.

So my idea to you is; would your company be interested in following and filming a U.K. band on their travels to a foreign festival, and capturing whatever happens on the way?

A chance to show viewers with an interest in this sort of thing just what happens to a bunch of normal lads with musical aspirations, and how they fare on a different stage.

The camaraderie within the band is always fun as the “delusions of grandeur” disappeared years ago…but we just get on with the music enjoying every aspect of it, good or bad.

So would you be interested in following us on our journey?

(Who knows you may end up with Spinal Tap 2)


Renee on September 25th, 2010 at 9:05 am 

DOCUMENTARY IDEA:

Format Title: Women who have multiply deployments in the military.

Logline: I in vision this project to be about women who have deployed in the military, with at least two full tours. The deployments actually have affected or changed her way of normally living. The project follows women who decided to exit the military and women who made the decision to stay in the military, who have significant stories to tell about personal experiences.

Description:
Women in the military have several issues that they must deal with, the military has it’s own world and way of doing things. Sexisum, racism, and unfair treatment still exist in the military, but sometimes things are done underhanded due to legal repercussions. The negative words are not actually said to women and sometimes they are boldly put into words by the men around them behind closed doors. Some women are put into situation where they feel unwanted at a unit or made to feel like a outcast, (not one of the boys). Women also have health issues in the military but, when duty calls health situations maybe put on hold for duty. Other times it can be other women who are in top positions causing problems to women they supervise, due to pressure.
Facilities may not have been provided to these women for hygiene and it was covered up. The people above them that should mentor them for success are causing them stress and trying to put them out of the military or give them negative evaluations. Women are often undermined in the military by peers and you deploy side by side with the same persons to combat zones. This show will actually have women telling there stories and what they are going through or went through in the military. We always hear about the good things but, in the military the majority of the women do have a story to tell and you would be suprised at the negetive that exist in this mans world. Some women may both positive and negative stories to submit but, alot to overcome. Women in the military do not got the credit they deserve.


Renee on September 25th, 2010 at 9:06 am 

DOCUMENTARY IDEA:

Format Title: Women who have multiply deployments in the military.

Logline: I in vision this project to be about women who have deployed in the military, with at least two full tours. The deployments actually have affected or changed her way of normally living. The project follows women who decided to exit the military and women who made the decision to stay in the military, who have significant stories to tell about personal experiences.

Description:
Women in the military have several issues that they must deal with, the military has it’s own world and way of doing things. Sexisum, racism, and unfair treatment still exist in the military, but sometimes things are done underhanded due to legal repercussions. The negative words are not actually said to women and sometimes they are boldly put into words by the men around them behind closed doors. Some women are put into situation where they feel unwanted at a unit or made to feel like a outcast, (not one of the boys). Women also have health issues in the military but, when duty calls health situations maybe put on hold for duty. Other times it can be other women who are in top positions causing problems to women they supervise, due to pressure.
Facilities may not have been provided to these women for hygiene and it was covered up. The people above them that should mentor them for success are causing them stress and trying to put them out of the military or give them negative evaluations. Women are often undermined in the military by peers and you deploy side by side with the same persons to combat zones. This show will actually have women telling there stories and what they are going through or went through in the military. We always hear about the good things but, in the military the majority of the women do have a story to tell and you would be suprised at the negetive that exist in this mans world. Some women may both positive and negative stories to submit but, alot to overcome. Women in the military do not get the credit they deserve.


Madelon McCullough on January 1st, 2011 at 9:10 pm 

I have an idea of a documentary. There is a block on Long Island that has a history of drugs, death, violence. The community has been effected by poverty, drugs, violence and death for a numerous amount of years. No matter what law enforcement agencies came in there was no stooping this block. Then finally and idea from another state and many residents were able to take the block back.


Mary Rugh on March 7th, 2011 at 2:46 am 

I am adopted from somalia into a diplomatic american family, I am in college now and planning on travelling back to somalia again to look at the culture and lifestyle and see if i can mend in, seeing its the poorest and most dangerous country in the world I am already planning on hiring people to watch over me and film this journey i take and attempting to find a family i have no documents on. People in my society only know somalia for the few pirates they have, not the people suffering, I want people to see how this truly is the poorest and worst off country and how the world has forgotten about it since 1990. And truly that is what has happened, all countries have pulled out aid due to the fact it was to dangerous, and after doing so, the world forgot about the millions and millions suffering, I plan on bringing light on what is going on in somalia at this moment.
I know the deadline passed years and years ago but I’m hoping to get feedback or just advice on how to get film makers involved if not i’ll just continue writing my book on the current situation and my journey from the us back to somalia seeing that the us wont allow it ill have to travel through ethiopia and take buses and trains and I just truly think it’d make a fantastic doc.


mike rana on March 29th, 2011 at 4:04 am 

There is enough in the history of India 1890-1940, that will attract large TRP


Mo Luv on December 3rd, 2012 at 1:11 pm 

48 Hours Rich – the tell-all book that brings light to the reality of finding other people’s money. In the book you will be able to follow along with Mark, from the time he found the money, turned it in, and what he had to endure to get his just reward. 48 Hours Rich is a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to actually have money fall from the sky and the truth behind finder’s keepers. 48 Hours Rich will take you on a journey from joy to sorrow and back again, while giving you a glimpse of what to expect when dealing with what it means to have sudden riches.

Found Cash Case #2 Man finds $640,000, actually returns it.

Way back in 2001, when $640,000 was real money, Mark Morant, 38, had a pretty good day. Mark, who had two jobs as a security guard, was walking one morning outside of the downtown Cleveland building where he worked when, three, 42-pound bundles of cash fell out of the back of an armored truck. What did Mark due? Well, he returned all $640,000 two days later, with the cash still wrapped in plastic. Did he think about keeping it? There were some hints that he may have seriously considered it. Ken Kennard, security director of the Federal Reserve Bank, said Mark called from a nearby pay phone before he arrived with the money to say he was “concerned and worried, and wanted to know what to do.”

“He said he had the money, and he was concerned that he may not have done the right thing. And he wanted some help and guidance as to what to do,” Kennard said. Kennard talked to Mark for a few minutes and persuaded him to come into the bank.

A word of advice, if you are looking for a neutral person to help you work through whether or not to return more than half a million dollars, probably the OWNER of the money isn’t the most unbiased confidant to listen to.

News reports about the missing money, statements that the money was marked, along with the FBI’s release of a description given by a witness who reported seeing a well-dressed man pick up the packages at the busy intersection all “put the pressure on this guy to turn it in,” FBI agent Stu Shoaff said. Apparently there are only a couple of well-dressed men in Cleveland leaving him easily identifiable.

Man who found $640,000 from armored truck to get $75,000 CLEVELAND (AP) — Mark Morant got lucky twice.

On Wednesday the 38-year-old was walking his downtown beat as a part-time security guard when the back door of an armored truck came open and three bundles of cash fell out.

Morant took the $640,000 to his car, knowing he said, that security cameras were trained on the street and recording his actions.

On Monday, the FBI announced Morant would get the $75,000 finders fee, even though he didn’t return the cash for two days.

“He did the right thing,” said Van Harp, head of the FBI office in Cleveland, “although, like I said, it was two days later.”

The FBI announcement came after Morant held a news conference Sunday and pleaded with AT Systems Inc., operator of the armored truck, to keep its pledge and reward him for returning the money.

The FBI began publicizing a tipster’s description of Morant a day after the incident when the money wasn’t returned. By Friday, Morant arranged to hand over the cash at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

The tipster was given a $10,000 reward, Harp said.

Morant said he wanted to return the money earlier but didn’t know where he should take it.


Joelso on November 13th, 2015 at 4:37 pm 

CHETAK was a pure KATHIAWARI breed horse.The TRUE story is something like this….A very small vaillge called KHOD, near to-days CHOTILA in Saurashtra region of Gujarat state had more population of “Danti Charans”living their. They use to travell all over Gujarat and Rajasthan and do business of selling Good Breed Horses to Big Kingdoms.When they heard of the Mahara Pratap’s fighting with Delhi Sultanate, they had selected Two 92) lovely Colts from KATHIAWAR, both Grey colour one was 1 yr 2 months named “NATAK”…and another was 3 months old named “CHETAK”.They took it to Chittore, and wanted to see Maharana personally to gift this both horses. But some how they couldn’t…after fe days Maharana came to know from his sources that the Danti Charan’s from Saurashrta region of Gujarat is here to meet you , and he called them. These Charans explaind about the quality of the KATHIAWARI breed horses to him, and Maharana was NOT satisfied with the talks , and he asked them to show some proof…!They kept NATAK in front of Maharana and put only sand up to Hoofs of the colt…and just gave a sound from behind….to all surprised…NATAK..jumped and started running in ground…leaving behind his Hoofs into the Sand pit…! Maharana was impressed with the KATHIAWARI breeds POWER and STRENGHT…and he accepted the gift of the CHETAK as both were from the same mother and father….and rest is History..everyone reads today in India.


auto insurance on December 14th, 2015 at 5:01 am 

That’s way more clever than I was expecting. Thanks!


http://www.blrimages.net/ on April 28th, 2016 at 5:52 pm 

Doesn’t really what he calls himself. He’s a powerless phony who doesn’t even have the courage to give his own name.“Haber” is one of those leftists that tells others what they should give up while he lives an incredibly comfortable life off the country he wants to destroy.


http://www.ionicbathfootdetox.com/ on April 28th, 2016 at 6:21 pm 

Liebe Barbara, auch bei uns gibt es offene Gartentüren. Meinen Garten hatte ich schon 2 mal geöffnet und es macht richtig Spaß sich mit den Besuchern auszutauschen. Natürlich besuche ich auch gerne andere Gärten.Der von dir gezeigte Garten muß ein richtiger Wohlfühl-Garten sein.Liebe Grüße Monika


http://www.dmitryillustration.com/ on June 21st, 2016 at 1:26 am 

Gerwin zegt:Hoi Marco,Dat is helemaal gaaf als er vissen van jezelf op staan.Maakt het allemaal nog mooier.Jij ook fijne dagengroetjesgerwin


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