Featured case study
Rose Chamberlain (Something from Brasil)
When Brazilian filmmaker Rose Chamberlain completed her MA
in TV documentary in 2003, she was in for a nasty shock. "I had been in London
for four years but I just couldn't find a job," she says. "I realised very
quickly that it would be difficult for me to compete with British directors."
Determined not to abandon her love of film, she decided to
use the increasing popularity of Brazilian cinema in the UK to launch a new
career. In 2005, after two years of planning, she organised two celebrations of
Brazilian cinematic talent: 'Mostra Brasil' – staged in Covent Garden over five
weekends in summer 2005 – and 'New Brasil: The UK Brazilian Film Festival',
which was held at the Old Truman Brewery in the East End and attracted more
than 2,000 people in five days.
"The festivals were a huge success," she recalls. "Everyone
was raving about the films we showed and saying why don't we do this every
year."
That winter, Rose met fellow Brazilian filmmaker Bianca
Rezende Buys. She had just launched a Brazilian film festival in Birmingham,
and instead of competing, the pair decided to join forces. In January 2006,
they launched their business, Something from Brasil, with the aim of bringing
Brazilian films to new UK and European audiences.
In the short term, however, they had to find a reliable
revenue stream. Rose and Bianca had started the business with a £10,000 loan,
but they needed a source of regular income.
In 2006, they spotted a niche in the publishing market.
Broadening their horizons beyond Brazilian film, they launched a new quarterly
title, The Film Festival Magazine, to
support and promote the rapidly growing number of small film festivals in the
UK.
Since the launch, the magazine and its website have brought
in valuable advertising revenue. Both were started in September 2006, which
coincided with Something from Brasil's '2nd UK Brasilian Film
Festival' and its first contact with CIDA.
"I heard about CIDA from the manager of a cinema we were
showing films at," explains Rose. "They were immediately very enthusiastic
about us, and invited us to pitch for their Festival Focus programme."
A specialist capacity-building programme for London-based
cultural festivals, CIDA's Festival Focus aims to place them on the London 2012
cultural calendar and ensure their sustainability thereafter.
Something from Brasil was one of the 18 organisations chosen
for the programme, which ran from July 2006 to April 2007. It enabled Rose and
her fellow festival organisers to access specialist advice on business and
management development, raise their profile with key funders and potential
partners and participate in strategic planning workshops.
"I really learned a lot during those nine months," says
Rose. "For me, it was like business therapy. We worked in groups and that
environment really helped me to decide on what directions to take." Rose also
attended one-to-one meetings with CIDA's Cultural Arts Project Manager Yemisi
Mokuolu to discuss her business plan.
"We developed a really good relationship," she says. "Yemisi
really helped my financial awareness."
Today, Something from Brasil has never been busier. Besides
preparing for the '3rd UK Brasilian Film Festival' and issue four of
The Film Festival Magazine, Rose and
Bianca are also in discussions with major international film festivals,
including Cannes, and have recently agreed to represent a Brazilian company
which owns the rights to 400 Latin American films.
"We are building up the business and our own names," says
Rose. "There is so much happening right now. It feels like we are really taking
off."
Contact:
Rose Chamberlain
07985 248 419
Something from Brasil
Photography by:
Anna Schori
anna@photo-booth.net
07968 211 087
