Inverness holds pitching workshop for Scottish filmmakers

Experts from the Sheffield Documentary Festival are inviting film producers to a workshop in Inverness on Thursday (July 17) to prepare them for pitching to an international documentary market at the Sheffield Documentary Festival in November.

The event will be held at Eden Court and as is the only workshop of its kind taking place in Scotland and it is open to any Scottish producer.

International marketplace specialists Christina Burnett and Karolina Lidin from the festival team visiting Inverness will offer an opportunity for filmmakers and producers to have a one-to-one with them in order to develop their projects and ideas. This workshop is part of a bigger Scottish showcase taking place at this year's festival.

The Sheffield Documentary Festival celebrates the art and business of documentary making during five intense days in Sheffield in November. It offers pitching opportunities, controversial discussion panels and in-depth filmmaker masterclasses as well as a wealth of inspirational documentary films from around the world.

As the only place in the world where all the British documentary industry are under one roof, the Sheffield Documentary Festival is an ideal place to launch documentaries, pitch new ideas, meet future co-production partners and get insider tips from some of the world's best documentary makers.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is supporting the event and Amanda Millen, screen and broadcast industries development manager for HIE is looking at creating and developing a sustainable professional industry in the region. She said: "There's a wealth of talent in Scotland that's completely untapped. There are thousands of people with brilliant ideas working in education and corporate media and what HIE would like to do is shift that balance towards the professional broadcast commission.

"HIE is very excited to be part of this fantastic programme and I look forward to discovering and developing some strong screenwriting talent from the Highlands and Islands. The festival is a relaxed and friendly place to hold meetings with producers, commissioners and distributors, learn about the latest trends in production and discover new innovations and emerging talent."

Any Scottish based film producer interested in attending the event can contact Amanda Millen on 07887 605 062 or email amanda.millen@bbc.co.uk. The workshop starts at 9.30 and will finish at 5.30pm.