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CoPro - Documentary Marketing Foundation (R.A)
CoPro - Documentary Marketing Foundation (R.A) is a first and one-of-a-kind Israeli organization which markets and promotes Israeli documentary cinema overseas. Its distinction lies in bringing the overseas decision-makers to the documentary filmmakers here in Israel. In its 15 years, CoPro has gained a reputation for having made several, formidable financial achievements and for revolutionizing the extent of international co-productions involving Israeli documentaries, in addition to boosting the sales of Israeli documentaries overseas.

The foundation was established and is run by Ms. Orna Yarmut.

History
The Foundation was established 1999 By Ms. Orna Yarmut as an initiative that would bring a solution to the fact that the sheer wealth of Israeli documentary filmmaking and the messages it embodies, could not break out beyond the nation's boundaries. CoPro's activities are founded on systematic, professional and long term thought processes, whereas both European and US models are closely tried and tested and are then adapted to the financial and professional reality of the Israeli market. In 2005, CoPro was granted the Knesset Chairman Award for its body of work

Primary Activities
To Date, CoPro's Body of Work has Yielded:

279 International documentary co-productions

210 purchases of finished documentaries

180 investors and buyers from leading, worldwide television networks have come to Israel (Including BBC Four's Head of Programming, Head of ZDF ARTE's acclaimed Theme Evenings programme, Head of Canada's Educational TV Network, and so forth)

49.7 million Shekels have been invested in Israeli documentaries, owing to CoPro's activities

147 million viewers worldwide

189 films broadcasted in dozens of TV channels both in Israel and worldwide.

CoPro's Primary Activities:

1. The Israeli Documentary Screen Market. The Market is held annually for the past 15 years, for one week at the end of May. The Israeli Documentary Screen Market is regularly attended by up to 60(!) leading television network executives, international film funds and leading global producers, including: BBC, The UK's Channel 4, WDR, SWR, Germany's ZDF-ARTE, Denmark's DR, Finland's YLE, France's CANAL PLUS, PLANÊTE, ARTE FRANCE, Canada's CBC, TV ONTARIO and KNOWLEDGE TV, The Sundance television network, the Sundance film fund, the US ITVS film fund, and many more.

During the week long market filmmakers disclose a variety of films in various avenues:

A. Docoshuk – the documentaries market for ready-made films. Top international media buyers and acquisition directors are invited to the ready-made film market as part of the CoPro Market. The buyers, who are all on the lookout for a large number of documentaries, watch the various films in private screening booths, making the acquisition process that much more pleasant. The 2013 catalogue for CoPro 15 features 120 ready-made films.

B. Pitching – A public presentation of screenplays for foreign investors.

C. Close Encounters – This initiative was founded to promote mutually beneficiary collaborations between Israeli and foreign producers.

D. CoPro Campus – CoPro has been hosting CoPro Campus for the past years to enable recent cinema graduates to fit in with the international filmmaking industry with relative ease. A select number of senior year students are invited to take part in various CoPro activities.

E. Docs & Cuts Rough-cut – The unveiling of films in advanced cutting stages.

F. Pitching New Media Documentary Projects – The chosen projects showcase their work before a group of investors as part of the main pitching event.

G. The Remake Market– Tracking down documentaries with a riveting plot and vast potential to lend themselves to a feature-length, fiction film adaptation. The selected films were featured in Hollywood’s Remakes Market.

2. Overseas Producer Delegations. Every year, CoPro sends select groups of producers to leading international markets.

2009- A delegation was sent to the Leipzig Festival.

2010- A delegation was sent to a regional workshop in Greece and to Sheffield Doc/Fest.

2012- A group of producers attended the Hot Docs Forum in Toronto, Canada, and another group was sent over to Copenhagen's DOX.

2013 – A delegation of producers was selected to attend Sheffield Doc/Fest, and another delegation shall leave to the Leipzig Market.

3. Master Classes. These are held in preparation for the pitching sessions and throughout the course of the Screen Market. The workshops are conveyed by Israeli and foreign facilitators alike. The Master Classes offer young and talented documentary filmmakers the necessary tools to convey their ideas in front of leading television network executives. Even for the more seasoned filmmakers, these workshops provide an opportunity to further hone in their skills and improve upon their artistic body of work.

4. DocuChild. Promoting international co-productions within this unique genre of children's documentaries. Every two years, CoPro teams up with Tel Aviv's Goethe Institute and Germany's Prix Jeunesse for a workshop on quality television programs for children. CoPro's aim is to help Israeli filmmakers pitch their own ideas for children's documentaries to local and foreign broadcast networks, in order to generate collaborations.

5. The CoPro Guide. A Bi-annual book that CoPro first published in 2003. Its preliminary goal is to assist independent Israeli filmmakers to find ways of raising international funds for their film during the production stage and to guide them towards the right kind of foreign distribution. The guide includes essential information about documentary film festivals worldwide, in addition to advice and tips on international film funds and global cinematic treaties that were signed between Israel and other countries. The fifth CoPro guide edition, in cooperation with the Rabinovich Foundation for the arts, has been published during 2013 as a free online e-book.

6. CoPro Campus. In order to promote new and creative filmmaking in the periphery, CoPro has launched an additional avenue of activity whereby students in the country's peripheral regions are informed of all the various options at their disposal upon graduation, with the Foundation's aid. Whilst continuing to offer its support to leading, seasoned filmmakers, CoPro is committed to promote young filmmakers who embody a unique point of view and a promise of many years of fresh and ever-innovative filmmaking.

7. DoCommunity - Filmmakers for the Community. As part of this communal activity, CoPro screens a selection of the finest films that have been made with its support and which touch upon a range of issues, from human rights and children, to gender and the regional conflict. These screenings are brought to a variety of populations who live in peripheral, isolated areas across Israel. These films are accompanied by Arabic and Russian subtitles so that even those who have limited recourse to documentaries are given the opportunity to watch them. DoCommunity offers filmmakers of all sectors, religious denominations and cultures in Israel an equal opportunity to partake and express themselves.

CoPro's Goals
• Promoting dialogue between Israeli documentary filmmakers and their overseas peers; • Exposing international audiences to new, thought-provoking insights as to the Israeli reality and its social complexities; • Nurturing and grooming young and talented Israeli filmmakers of all religious denominations and all walks of life; • Raising funds for Israeli-foreign co-productions and boosting Israeli documentary film sales.

Some of the films that have procured funds via CoPro

 * The Gatekeepers / Director: Dror Moreh, Production: Dror Moreh, Phillippa Kowarsky
 * The Law in These Parts / Directer: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, Production: Liran Atzmor
 * 5 Broken Cameras / Direction and Production: Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
 * The Champagne Spy / Directer: Nadav Schirman, Producer: Eilon Ratzkovsky
 * My First War / Director and Producer: Yariv Mozer, co-producer: Yael Perlov
 * Sharon / Directed and produced by Dror Moreh
 * Six Days in June / Directer: Ilan Ziv, Producer: Arik Bernstein
 * Cutting the Cord / Directer: Danny Sirkin, Producer: Dana Cohen
 * The Way Home / Tomer & Barak Heymann
 * Children of the Sun / Directer: Ram Tal, Producer: Amir Harel

Links
CoPro Official website CoPro on Facebook