Production of Documentary Films on the Status of Palestinians in Jerusalem

Terms of Reference for the Production of Documentary Films on the Status of Palestinians in Jerusalem

Published on October 11, 2020

INTRODUCTION

The Jerusalem Human Rights Consortium (JHRC), is a consortium of 4 leading Palestinian human rights organizations native in Jerusalem; The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC), The Land Research Centre (LRC), The Saints Yves Association (St Yves) and the Women’s Centre for legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC).

The consortium has started the implementation of the project “Protecting Marginalized Communities in East Jerusalem through legal aid, planning and advocacy”, funded by the EU East Jerusalem Programme, The overall objective of the project is to support the marginalized Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, increase their resilience, prevent forcible transfer and reinforce the Palestinian identity of East Jerusalem. Over the course of the project, the consortium and its member organizations will support the resilience of Palestinian Jerusalemite communities through the provision of legal aid, land planning assistance, and local and international advocacy efforts.

The legal aid efforts the consortium organizations will provide can be broken down into

· House Demolitions

· Residency Rights

· Social & Economic Rights

· GBV and Family Rights due to Israeli discriminatory laws and policies

· Public Interest Cases

The JHRC is hosted by the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC), and thus JLAC acts as the legal representative of the JHRC.

RATIONALE

Since occupying and eventually annexing East Jerusalem illegally, Israeli occupation authorities, through the Jerusalem occupation municipality, the Ministry of Interior and other official bodies, have sought to erase Jerusalem’s Palestinian identity. The policies adopted and implemented to achieve this purpose have impacted every aspect of Palestinians’ quotidian lives.

These policies are part and parcel of a larger apparatus of forcible transfer, judization and erasure, to which we refer here as the “architecture of dispossession and repression.” Not only do the laws, regulations and policies upon which this architecture is formed violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law, they even contravene, on many occasions, with the Israeli Basic Laws and constitutional norms.

Besides targeting their identity, existence, civil and political rights, these policies have left the Palestinian residents in Jerusalem reeling from poverty, unemployment and social and economic disenfranchisement.

Any discussion of the situation of Palestinians in Jerusalem should have as its starting point the legal status imposed by Israel on the city’s Palestinian population, that of the “permanent residents,” whose residency is fragile and revocable.

In addition to the revocability of their status, Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem live under the constant threat of home demolitions, a direct consequence of systematically discriminatory planning policies that attempt to exclude Palestinians from the urban space.

The legal challenges facing Palestinians in Jerusalem have been further exacerbated over the last decade with the rise of the Israeli right, which has pushed for various laws and regulations to solidify the Israeli control over East Jerusalem.

Among the most striking manifestations of such legislations is the amendment to the Israeli Planning and Construction Law, commonly known as the Kaminitz law. The amendment provides inspection units with unprecedented powers in the realm of enforcement while also imposing harsher fines and criminal sentences to “deter” the phenomenon of “unauthorized construction.” Moreover, the amendment limits the power and discretion of the Local Affairs Court, under whose jurisdiction the issue of unauthorized construction lies, by restricting the number and length of the injunctions that freeze demolition orders.

This drastic escalation requires the re-evaluation of the legal strategies to be adopted by organizations or individual attorneys active in defending the rights of Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Above all, we argue that to confront these changes, efficient coordination among Palestinian human rights organizations is urgently needed as is, at some point, the institutionalization of such coordination. The main objectives of this desired coordination is the crystallization of a strategic legal plan with tangible outcomes, coordinating legal action, and augmenting their power to affect and challenge the Israeli legislation, policies and measures in East Jerusalem.

This does not, by any means, imply that there is a shortage of efforts focused on offering legal protection to residents affected by demolition orders, residency revocation, and general denial of rights. Yet, these efforts are scattered, lack the proper methodology, and are geared toward case-by-case litigation and individual solutions rather than constituting a comprehensive strategy based upon coordination, cooperation and centralization. Only by formulating such a comprehensive, crosscutting strategy can we aspire to effectively confront the discriminatory, repressive and coercive legal landscape charted by Israel.

SCOPE OF WORK

Objective: To raise attention, advocate, and trigger awareness and political discussion about the current day situation of Palestinian Jerusalemites, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized communities, within and outside the Israeli Separation Wall, within and outside the unilaterally assigned municipal borders, and shedding the lights on the main areas of intervention of the Jerusalem Human Rights Consortium. The JHRC is looking for a production studio or agency to produce the films.

The JHRC welcomes original innovative ideas and approaches for an impactful and groundbreaking delivery of the messages. The documentaries are to be empathy driven, moving and motivational, told mainly from the perspective of the local communities.

The films should be produced in Arabic and English, at highest market quality standards, high-definition, fast paced and colorful, with clean stylistic touches.

The entire film production i.e. writing, filming, editing, voicing/narration etc. should be done by the contractor, delivering a final ready-to-air product in broadcast standards and in HD technology format 16:9.

The entire development and production process will be closely monitored by the JHRC Director, together with selected colleagues from member organizations, providing continuous review, comments, thematic inputs support, technical information and access to communities when needed.

OBLIGATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE AGENCY/STUDIO/CONSULTANTS (CONTRACTOR):

1. Consult with JHRC Director and communicate with consortium partners, stakeholders, and beneficiaries;
2. Review all documents and materials (Project documents, activity reports, any other visibility material produced such as brochures, press releases, social media content, etc.) in order to better understand the project objectives, project aims and results to be achieved;
3. Develop the Inception report including detailed work plan, a structure for the documentaries and a script (in close consultation with the Project team) for comments;
4. Prepare final version of the script and narration for overall project documentaries and videos;
5. Make arrangements for logistics including local transport, equipment, communication and translation services and any other needed details;
6. Advise JHRC and consortium colleagues on issues related to the assignment in a timely manner;
7. Produce the documentary films in both long version and short versions in English and Arabic;
8. Present the documentary film to the consortium;
9. Finalize the documentary film incorporating the comments arising from the presentation to the consortium team.

DELIVERABLES

The contractor will deliver the following:

1. An inception report that will include: the implementation strategy, plus a detailed production and post-production schedule for filming process; a draft script including proposed interview questions of the documentaries for comments by the Project team (14 calendar days of assignment day);
2. Raw footages captured in project areas;
3. First cut of the documentaries for comments;
4. 4 documentary films with long versions (8-12 minutes);
5. 4 promo/trailer version segments;
6. Presentation of the documentary films to the consortium team;
7. The Products should be available in English and Arabic in HDV 1080i50 broadcast quality or better;
8. 5 copies each of the final films (long and short versions) to be delivered in DVDs.

Note: The minimum standards for the video quality are as follows:

• frame size and image dimensions 1440 pixels wide x 1080
• Base temps 25 ips
• Variable Bit Rate 18,50 Mbits/s max
• Screen Aspect Ratio 16:9
• Interlacing Compatible version
• Other appropriate formats that enables the films to be uploaded to JHRC and partners’ websites, YouTube, flickers, etc. in five (5) working days from receipt of final consortium team’s comments and clearance.

OBLIGATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF JHRC

1. Organize an inception coordination meeting between the contractor and project team (a ZOOM meeting can be an option);
2. Establish and facilitate contact with field staff involved and any external contacts needed;
3. Review and approve the work plan, including schedule for filming, timeframe, script and approach to be used;
4. Provide reference material;
5. Provide feedback when and where necessary;
6. Meet the relevant costs related to this production, as agreed in the contract upon approved offer;
7. Review and approve the draft and final production as stipulated in the deliverables section and contract.

TIMEFRAME

The assignment is to last a maximum of five months as of assignment date. The Inception report, including the implementation strategy and detailed production and post-production schedule and a draft script is due within 14 calendar days of assignment date. Detailed timeframe will be agreed after the Inception meeting, following the submission of the Inception report.

RESERVATIONS AND CONFIDENTIALITY

JHRC reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/output is incomplete, not delivered, or for failure to meet deadlines. In the event of the producer ending the contract prior to delivering all agreed upon products, a portion of the payments shall be returned to the JHRC.

The contractor undertakes to maintain confidentiality on all information that is not the public domain and shall not be involved in another assignment that represents a conflict of interest to the prevailing assignment. The Contractor shall undertake to refrain from promoting any factional/partisan political or religious beliefs in the documentary movie which is the subject of this contract.

SELECTION PROCESS

There will be two-step selection process. Based on the following evaluation criteria, shortlisted teams with highest points will be invited to present their concept to the consortium team. The winning offer will be selected after the presentation of the teams.

Evaluation criteria are as follows:

1. Expertise of the team: samples of previous works of similar nature as well as full list of productions completed and in process, including references from previous clients: 20%.

2. Brief presentation of the team, with CVs and functional responsibilities of the key experts to be engaged in the production of the documentary: 20%

3. Proposed methodology, approach (creative and innovative ideas) and brief implementation plan with proposed timeframe for pre-production and postproduction: 40%.

4. Financial proposal – break-down of all estimated costs, including estimated days of shooting, production team, days of editing, travel costs, music, etc.: 20%

Please note that all costs, including transport and translation, should be included in the total sum, no additional payments will be made outside of the total budget.

MODE OF PAYMENT

Payment will be made in three instalments. 30% payment will be made upon receiving, reviewing and approval of the Inception report following the inception meeting, 40% will be made upon approval of the draft versions of the long and two short versions and remaining 30% will be made after successful delivery of the final videos.

REPORTING

The contractor will work closely with the JHRC Director and the consortium team. All reports and draft documents/resources will be submitted to the JHRC Director within dates specified in the work plan as agreed during the inception meeting and stipulated in the contract. It is the responsibility of the contractor to ensure timely and quality reporting for each phase and deliverable in the assignment. The reports will be reviewed by the JHRC and input will be provided for best execution of the task at hand. Reports should be sent via email to [email protected]