Application to Sheffield Doc/Fest Youth Jury 2011 Many thanks for your interest in the Youth Jury programme.

Please complete the following questions and email this form along with your CV to Annabel Bennett - HYPERLINK "mailto:annabel@sidf.co.uk" annabel@sidf.co.uk : Name: Chiara Feliciani E-mail address: chiarafe@gmail.com Contact no. 07552778631 1.Tell us a bit about yourself. Were looking for things that arent on your CV, e.g. What do love? What do you hate? What inspires you? (200 words max) I'm from a very international background. My parents are italian but I lived in Holland all my life and attended an international school. This is probably what most defines me as a person, having grown up in a multi-cultural environment has made it so that my primary interest lies in learning about and understanding the different culture which people are born within and shaped by. I have been lucky enough to have travelled around a lot with my parents. My best trip this year was to Lebanon; it was fascinating to visit a country which has so many historical layers to it and learning about the many clashes within the different communities which have been left to share this politically unstable environment. I am prone to find myself very emotionally shaken by visits like these, and always end up following current affairs of the countries which I have visited. Whilst traveling I like to take photos and have in the past also kept up some blogs, although I am slowly growing less fond of the art of blogging and would rather write for myself for the time being. I hate the commercial distractions which infest the interest, which often prevent me and others of my generation from maintaing a solid interests in all the wonderful cultural things which the world has to offer. 2.If you were commissioned to make a documentary, what subject would you choose to focus on and why? (200 words max) Considering I am studying media at this point in time I would probably be looking at the different effects television is having in terms of lifestyle decisions on the younger generations of different countries in Europe. I think England and Italy would both be appropriate countries to choose from because the extent to which television is involved in younger people's lives, is very visible. However reality TV was founded in Holland so it would be interesting to look at the role TV plays in dutch society too. It has always been an aspiration of mine to document a cultural aspect of the three countries I have lived in one documentary to show the parallel differences, and I think television would be an interesting one to choose from as it is one that I have studied in depth in the past two years. 3.What elements of a documentary matter to you as a young person? (200 words max) I think documentaries importance lies in the role it takes on the responsibility of telling as much of an un-biased truth as possible. Naturally there are documentaries which are made with a specific political objective, and they tend to make it rather obvious when this is the case. The documentaries which I most admire are ones where the subjects are left given a fair opportunity of telling their own story, which would not have the possibilities of reaching such a vast crowd without the medium of documentary. I think that the elements of aesthetics should still be valued in the art of documentary; the more powerful the images shown the

more strongly it is received. 4. Tell us about your favourite documentary, and why it is your favourite. My favorite documentary would probably have to be Videocracy, by Erik Gadini. The documentary analyses the impact of italian television on culture and politics in Italy emphasizing the extreme influential position of Berlusconi's media empire. Gadini looks at both the impact that banal television has had on working class italian citizens as well as taking a closer look at some of the most important characters in the celebrity world; a big paparazzi and a celebrity agent. The very right-wing vein of italian television is highlighted through scenes such as the one in which the big celebrity agent Lele Mora is sitting in his famous white mansion recreationally listening to fascists anthems on his mobile phone. Aside from tackling a topic which is very appealing to any furious Italian, such as myself, this documentary manages to do so in a very powerful way through its impressive cinematography . One of its most impressive features is its use of classical orchestra music to dramatize suggestive images of girls auditioning to appear on TV, creating a very unsettling atmosphere. I think this documentary is effective in portraying how scary the levels of Berlusconi's media influence are, although unfortunately being banned from its promotion on local television it ended up only reaching out to a national audience which was already very aware of the situation. 5.Now tell us about your least favourite documentary and why you dislike it! I think I've always managed to successfully avoid documentaries which I don't like, but I guess I would have to say that through time I have realized that I do not really like the approach which RIchard Dawkins takes in his documentaries. In The Root of All Evil, although Dawkins is trying to highlight the dangerous situations which he believes religion has created he fails to demonstrate sufficient respect to people who devote their entire life to venerating god. His tone is far too patronizing and places himself as a pedestal in the documentary acting as the ' voice of reason'. His documentaries would achieve the same scope if he let the subjects speak for themselves more, something which other documentary makers such as Louis Theroux succeed in. 6.Where do you see yourself working in documentary? I would love to write and direct documentaries but I don't know if it would necessarily be a good idea for me to get too involved with the subjects of the documentary if my intention was to demonstrate their negative controversial aspects as I would find it quite difficult to maintain sufficient distance to appear neutral and passive. 7.What was the last documentary you saw on TV? I recently stumbled upon a BBC documentary from a couple of years back about the first child beauty pageant in the UK. Needless to say it was shocking to see mothers imposing ideas of success on girls as young as 6, and that some of them probably saw the documentary as an opportunity to promote their little girls more than an insight into what goes on behind the scenes where such a heavy load of pressure is placed upon their tiny daughters. Just two more questions! Who do you admire most in film and why? (max 200 words) I would have to say that the person I most admire in film is Werner Herzog. I like the extent to which he gets involved with the environments he sets his movies in, especially after seeing

scenes of him in his documentary " My Best Fiend" where he films an entire scene on a ship which is about to tip over, his entire crew on the ship on no form of security in case of emergency. What most fascinates me of Herzog's films, aside from his dedication as a director, is his fusion of fiction and reality in his feature documentaries. He tells a story with such appeal that as an audience one no longer wishes to question which aspects of it are true and which are formulated out of his own fantasies drawn on the real story being told. What do you know about Sheffield Doc/Fest? I was volunteer at the last DocFest and attended about 12 screenings and most of those had Q&A's. So quite a lot I suppose in terms of what sort of movies are shown! I also assisted a couple of conferences. So, all first hand experience! Only one conference's experience, but I was very involved for the 4 days I was there. Please remember to provide your CV and Equality Monitoring Form (below) with your application. Best of luck! Equality Monitoring Form - CONFIDENTIAL
This form is to be returned together with your application. We want to ensure that all aspects of Screen Yorkshires work reflect diversity and support equality of opportunity. We hope that you will complete the form as this monitoring information helps us to identify areas of under-representation among applicants to Screen Yorkshire and assists in developing strategies to attract talented people from these groups. Your cooperation in completing this form is greatly appreciated. Any information you provide us with will be strictly confidential. You do not have to answer any of these questions, but to achieve a true picture of who applies for, opportunities from our organisation, we would like to achieve a 100% response rate. The information you provide will be used for monitoring purposes only and will not influence the outcome of your application in any way.

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