Db x Looking Sideways Fund: Summer 2023 Update!

Catch up with what happened after Jen, Antoine and Eloise won our inaugural creative grant.

Aug 01, 2023

A couple of years ago, I had the idea of trying to find a practical way to help new creatives and storytellers get into the industry. So partnering with Db to launch the Db x Looking Sideways Fund last year was the realisation of a long-term ambition for me, and it was brilliant to see how many people were inspired to enter.

If you’ve been following the story of the Db Fund, you’ll remember that in December 2022 we chose two winning entries from the 300 people who entered the contest. Those winners won €5000 each to help make their idea a reality, as well as bespoke mentoring from myself and some hand-picked Db friends and ambassadors.

Let’s remind ourselves who those winners were, and get an update on how things have unfolded since then.

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1. Antoine Couturier and Eloise Curran

Idea:

A surfer on the east coast of Scotland gets sick after swimming at his local beach. He and others in his community discover that sewage pollution is at the root of it all. To protect their natural playgrounds and backyards, surfers, kayakers and activists alike go looking for answers - and action from those responsible.

We are looking for funding to finish filming, producing and editing this documentary in full, and then promote it to get it seen by as many people as possible. The more people see it, the more chance there is of action being made!

This film has been in production for over a year now using any money we make from other work to fund it. There is still a lot to film to really bring this project to life, and we need help as funds are getting tight, and the project will suffer without additional support.

For this, we will need to travel, rent some equipment from time to time, and pay some of the bills! …. and we would like to enter as many film festivals as we can.

Judge’s feedback:

“A really relevant global topic, and I think governments and companies need to be held to account. I was also impressed with how far into the project they are, and get the impression they’ll use the funding and mentorship wisely”. - Owen Tozer

What happened next?

Let’s remind ourselves what Antoine and Eloise hoped to get out of winning the Fund:

“The award gives our project some credibility. We're thrilled to have been selected for the award and that we caught the interest of such well respected brands in the industry. Hopefully that alone helps to strengthen our message and spread awareness about the issue we cover in our film”.
With some funds to work with, we'll be able to get to set and shoot more scenes, rent kit when we need it, and hopefully hire someone to help us communicate some of the more technical aspects of the story.
The mentorship is where we're breathing the biggest sigh of relief. Making a film on your own with no experience is hard, and there are an endless list of questions and hurdles along the way. We want this film to be successful and to be seen across the UK and beyond. To get there we could use some help, and this mentorship award is very promising!”

When it came to helping Antoine and Eloise’s realise their topical, ambitious idea, we had the perfect mentor in mind: Timothy Myers.

As anybody who listened to my episode with him last summer will recall, Tim is an award-winning and renowned cameraman, cinematographer, journalist and storyteller who has carved out an extremely interesting career for himself telling human interest stories as a freelance gun-for-hire for people like the BBC, CNN and the UN. Listen to our conversation below:

Tim knows how to tell, sharp, impactful stories through the medium of film, so was the perfect partner for Eloise and Antoine.

Since then, in a series of monthly Zoom calls with Tim, Eloise, Antoine, Db’s Jon Weaver and Ole, and myself, Tim has helped Antoine and Eloise hone their idea, given them countless insights into the creative process they can use to inform their own project, showed them how to make their budget stretch further, and given them invaluable advice on equipment.

Here’s mentor Tim’s take on the whole project:

“Since the modern age, it hasn't been difficult to spot environmental injustice. The challenge comes trying to lend it a voice though the barrage of noise that has come with today's cyberculture. Eloise and Antoine are going back to basics: telling a story that is well-researched, significant, and most importantly, relatable. Their documentary aims to hold accountable the authorities responsible for the communities severely affected, but their passion is the heart of this film... and it's that heart which will both enrage and inspire audiences”.

Me in interviewing Chris and Lewis about the Big Sea at the 2022 LSFF.

Another great development is that we’ve arranged for a first short-cut premiere of the project to be screened at this year’s London Surf Film Festival in October! (And yes, that deadline did terrify Antoine and Eloise).

I’m the main media partner at this year’s event, and I’m so grateful to my pals Chris and Demi for offering the duo a showcase spot at this year’s festival. I’ll also be interviewing Antoine and Eloise on stage about their project, a conversation I’ll also be releasing as a bonus episode of the podcast. Exciting stuff.