SABC1 and Encounters Documentary Festival, in partnership with Fuzebox Productions and O-Dacity Films, call for entries for Black on White – a series of six 48-minute documentaries made by “black” filmmakers about “white people” – as part of the Close Encounters Documentary Laboratory.

“We want six black filmmakers that have the courage to say that race matters in this country and who can express these ideas using the different traditions and genres of documentary filmmaking. The series will be contentious – it will call into question the notion and nature of identity in a country that seeks homogeneity, whilst preserving diverse cultural heritage. We do not wish to prescribe the content of the films, nor do we know what to expect. What we do know is that there are untold stories – experiences, feelings and thoughts – about race, which are not publicly expressed. We believe that Black on White is a vehicle for those expressions. We are also proud to announce that we have appointed producer and editor Sam Pollard as head trainer “

Between 1990 and 2000, Sam Pollard edited a number of Spike Lee’s films: Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers and Bamboozled. Sam and Spike Lee also co-produced a couple of documentary productions for the small and big screen. Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson, a biographical sketch for HBO for which Sam received an Emmy, and Four Little Girls, a feature-length documentary about the 1965 Birmingham church bombings which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Sam Pollard is currently a Professor in Film Studies at New York University Tisch School of the Arts

The deadline has been extended to 17h00 on May 24, 2004. All proposals are to be submitted to Joan Legalamitlwa at Encounters Doc Fest: Black on White at either 10 Buiten Street, Cape Town, 8001, or PO Box 16191, Vlaeberg, 8018.

For more details visit www.encounters.co.za or call Joan Legalamitlwa on 021 426 0405.