How to fund an international reporting project
A chat with Floor Van Der Meulen
by Barbara L. L. Maimone*
DIG Awards is a great opportunity for professionals to network and to spread their message across the world. That’s what happened with Floor Van Der Meulen.
An an acclaimed film-maker, Floor was born in 1989 in the Netherlands. She studied Audiovisual Design at the Rotterdam WdkA Art Academy and the School of Visual Arts in New York; during her career, she has been awarded internationally for a variety of reporting projects.
We asked her to share her tips on how to get the necessary funding to work on a story that needs to be told.
Floor, it is a pleasure to have you with us. So, tell us a bit about your work as an investigative reporter. And how was your journey to great achievements internationally?
Floor: To be honest, I would not consider myself an investigate reporter, since I am not a journalist but a filmmaker. Greetings from Aleppo, our short documentary, is a result of our previous works about Syria. Both Thomas Vroege and I have done documentaries in the region before. While making one film, most of the time, you stumble upon another subject or interesting person that leads to your next work. In Syria, we had the pleasure to meet the Syrian photographer Issa Touma and we started to collaborate. Since he is from the region and we are from the West, it was interesting to combine and compare our perspectives and this collaboration became the base of our works 9 Days, From My Window in Aleppo and later Greetings from Aleppo. We have been working together since 2015. I would say it is all about human interest, listening to each other and collaboration with people from all over the world. Try to understand each other and each other’s world; that often leads to great achievements.
How do you choose the stories you work on? Is it because of a particular knowledge or area of expertise, or do they “find” you?
A story can come in all kinds of ways and forms. As I mentioned above, mostly one story derives from previous work and research. When I dive into a story and the people that live in that ‘world’ for long periods of time, I discover interesting stuff. Sometimes I meet the character of my next film, or I come across an article or a picture that intrigues me and then I just follow my guts and go look for the story behind it. I would say that I choose my stories based on what interests me. Mostly human stories that mirror our state of being, the status of our world and its inhabitants. Those are very human, but also urgent on a bigger scale.
Now, looking closely to the financial side of making a project, how were your projects founded? Was it difficult to find fundings?
Every project is a new struggle, and every project needs its own kind of financing. My longer documentaries are mostly funded through several Dutch media funds, film funds or international co-productions. You will need a producer and a Dutch broadcaster that are willing to commit to your project, and then you can apply to the several funds for the needed funding. The short documentaries that we did were funded through the collaboration with De Correspondent (an independent online media platform in The Netherlands). They have a small budget for short films on international matters. We did everything ourselves, produced, filmed, editing, and so on. Afterwards we would make some money by winning several international awards. That’s how the work paid back. Submitting your work to all festivals helps, your get noticed, you can win money and with this sum perhaps start your next project. In addition we could apply for a small experimental film budget from the Dutch Film Fund, which helped.
Is being funded by an external institution or a private person a condition that somehow influences your work in terms, for instance, of style or deadline?
I have never been funded by a private person, so I couldn’t say how that works. Mostly I have been funded with the support of the film fund and other media fund and they understand the position of the maker. You keep your artistic freedom as maker, so they don’t influence your style, they try to think with you. You have a contract with them, so there are binding deadlines and delivery formats. But again, all together you try to make the best work and help each other.
You are a young woman who has already achieved a lot. Your films and documentaries have received positive feedback and nominations at high levels. What would you suggest to young people who are starting in the field?
If you find a story or subject that truly intrigues you or fascinates you and that only you can tell: stick to it and make it happen! It is tough, but find partners who can help you, follow your guts and don’t give up. In the end it will pay off. You truly have to believe in your story, because it is going to be hard, and you have to be willing to stick to it for several years sometimes before you can even make it. So, make sure that this is what you need to tell.
And related to the previous question: how difficult is to do this job in 2018 with so many new challenges with technology?
Well with more technology at hand, more people can tell stories. So, there is competition, but it also became much easier to tell stories. For another film I did, I gave fighters in Syria small mobile phones to film their lives at the front lines which was a place I could never be. In that occasion, technology helped me tell a story and portray a world I otherwise could not have shown.
If a journalist has a very big project in their mind or a great idea and great information but no funding to keep on with the investigation, what are other solutions?
Crowdfund it, or pitch the story to newspapers. More and more international newspapers have an in-depth video channel as well and they have budgets for good stories.
Would you like to tell something to our readers regarding DIG Awards?
I would like to thank the people from the DIG Awards for recognizing our work Greetings from Aleppo. And to all readers interesting in making films, investigative reports, keep at it! Because there are a lot of untold stories that deserve an international audience. We should know the world we are living in and even what people are hiding behind closed doors.
* Barbara L. L. Maimone is currently doing the International Journalism MA at City, University of London. She previously took a Law degree and she believes journalism is the way to give voice to the voiceless. Barbara is the editor of Doppio Standard, a famous Italian blog about gender stereotypes. She’s also interested in environmental issues, geopolitics, security and crime. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn.
