International commissioning editors are descending on the Vancouver International Film Festival [VIFF] this fall for an expanded Storyville creative documentary pitching session.

‘Storyville Vancouver was such a success last year that we are increasing the number of projects pitched from seven to 14 and widening the eligibility from just Vancouver filmmakers to include the Pacific North West [Washington, Oregon and B.C],’ says Katrin Bowen, creative Director of the Film & TV Forum, the conference portion at VIFF.

Storyville Vancouver — which aims to stimulate the co-financing and co-production of creative, point-of-view documentaries at the development stage — is a partnership between the Film & TV Forum and B.C. educational broadcaster Knowledge Network.

The second annual rendition of Storyville Vancouver takes place Sept. 28th and commissioning editors participating include Tom Koch (PBS), Gregory Sanderson (BBC), Randy Brinson (KCTS9), Hans Robert Eisenhauer (ZDF/Arte), Tomoko Okutusu (NHK), and Murray Battle (Knowledge Network).

A jury will pre-select the projects for pitching and the event is also open to delegates who want to observe the session.

‘It’s a chance to hear from commissioning editors from the world stage and find out what they are looking for, as well as get your project critiqued,’ says Bowen. ‘Storyville Vancouver is also a great place to network with other producers.’

For filmmakers interested in pitching, application forms are available at www.viff.org/forum/storyville. The Submission deadline is August 20th.

The 25th annual Vancouver Film & TV Forum takes place Sept. 28th to Oct. 1. VIFF runs Sept. 30 to Oct. 15.