American Documentaries Showcase

The Cultural Programs Division in the Office of Citizen Exchanges in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) announces an open competition for a cooperative agreement to administer the American Documentaries Showcase program. Through this program, ECA seeks to showcase and promote American documentaries and their filmmakers at international venues, including U.S. Embassy-organized events and/or U.S. Embassy-supported international documentary film festivals. ECA therefore seeks an organization to identify and select a thematic collection of twenty (20) to thirty (30) American documentaries that offer a broad overview of the best in American documentary filmmaking. The documentaries should demonstrate high artistic quality, illustrate diverse viewpoints, address a variety of social issues, and reflect the creativity inherent in an open, democratic society. The collection should include documentaries addressing universal themes and issues such as - but not limited to - nature and the environment, human rights, HIV/AIDS, and other subjects that reflect contemporary American society and culture. The documentary collection will be available to U.S. Embassies to program in its entirety or in part. U.S. Embassies also may choose to submit appropriate documentaries from the collection to local documentary festivals. This program will also provide for travel by the documentary filmmakers in conjunction with the presentation of their documentaries overseas at U.S. Embassy programs or local festivals. Travel by film experts will include public presentations, workshops, master classes, interviews, and outreach activities designed to address underserved and younger audiences overseas. Applicants should submit proposals that show how they will identify and select the collection of American documentaries outlined here and how they will assist ECA in programming the documentaries and their filmmakers in eighteen (18) to thirty (30) U.S. Embassies overseas.