[Commlist] Announcing an Academic Competition: Associate Professor (t-t) of Documentary Film

*Academic Competition*

/Professor of Documentary Film (Tenure Track Associate Professor)/

Tallinn University has announced a public competition for the position 
of Professor of Documentary Film. The elected candidate commences work 
on the first career level of the position (associate professor) with the 
aim of supporting their development into a leader of the relevant study 
and research field in Tallinn University, and moves to the second career 
level of the position (professor) by way of evaluation.

Position: Associate Professor of Documentary Film (career level I of 
Tenure Track Professorship)
Academic unit: Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School (BFM)
Study area: arts
The position will be filled from 01.09.2021.

https://www.tlu.ee/en/associate-professor-documentary-film

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Professor of Documentary Film (Tenure Track Associate Professor)


Tallinn University has announced a public competition for the position 
of Professor of Documentary Film. The elected candidate commences work 
on the first career level of the position (associate professor) with the 
aim of supporting their development into a leader of the relevant study 
and research field in Tallinn University, and moves to the second career 
level of the position (professor) by way of evaluation.

Position: Associate Professor of Documentary Film (career level I of 
Tenure Track Professorship)
Academic unit: Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School (BFM)
Study area: arts
The position will be filled from 01.09.2021.

Description of the field of the academic work:  Documentary is an 
independent branch of film art. The term contains almost everything 
non-fiction, starting from factual TV-programs and youtube clips ending 
with auteur documentaries. Nonfiction storytelling fills people’s every 
day, it is delivered from TV, Internet and Theatres. Every significant 
phenomena requires studies, both locally and globally. Discourse of the 
documentary is in constant move, the theory needs to develop parallel to 
that. TLU as an Estonian university needs to focus to the developments 
of Estonian documentary as well.
School context: Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School (BFM) 
has internationally highly valued track record in the film education 
field. Established in 2005 it has by now, became a leading film school - 
a competence centre for audiovisual knowledge and expertise in the Baltics.
At BFM a film, especially documentary film, is the strongest area of 
artistic research and creation. BFM alumni have won prizes in many 
international film festivals.
According to the Tallinn University Development Plan university's  goal 
is to educate creative professionals and critical and active citizens 
with diverse media literacy, including the ability to create a 
state-of-the-art image world to narrate stories and contribute to the 
development of society as well as enrich Estonian and global culture. 
TLU is an important centre for learning and development of creative 
(including film) people.
For fulfilment of all these high targets set in the Development Plan BFM 
is establishing a professorship in the field of documentary filmmaking.

The strategic importance of the position
The relevance of the field to the development priorities of TLU, Estonia 
and Europe: Regarding the first aspect, attention should be paid, in 
addition to European and TLU policy, to the Estonian level policy in 
education and research. Regarding education, of importance are, as an 
example, the Estonian strategy of education and the Administrative 
Contract (Haldusleping) between TLU and the Ministry of Education and 
Research. The latter addresses TLU responsibilities in the audiovisual 
arts and media production.
Documentary films have had a significant role in the Estonian 
cinematography history since the 1960ies, and gained a lot of 
international recognition. In the 21st century the role of audiovisual 
arts has ever increased, therefore the relevance of teaching them has 
also become more and more important. “Kultuur 2020”, the document 
describing the cultural policy of Estonia stipulates that “the Baltic 
Film, Media, Arts and Communication School of Tallinn University will be 
a modern international school of cinematography and media studies where 
the education in the study fields of cinematography and audio visual 
media can be obtained both in Estonian and English.”
In BFM documentary studies in its various forms have actually been 
taught since the foundation of the school, currently within the 
curricula of the BA studies of Film Arts, BA studies  of audio visual 
media and separately at the MA level as an international curriculum.
The administrative contract concluded between the Ministry of Education 
and Research of Estonia and Tallinn University stipulates that Tallinn 
University is responsible for teaching  audio visual techniques and 
media production in the study group of the arts curriculum, it is also 
its responsibility in the digital and media culture which is one of the 
focus areas of the development plan of the University.

Requirements for the candidates (incl. professional experience)
Candidates for the tenure system position shall meet at least the 
requirements of career level I of tenure system professor (associate 
professor), which are stipulated in Annex 2 and respectively in Annex 9 
and 10 to the Employment Relations Rules. As this position is in the 
field of arts, at least a Master’s degree or an equivalent qualification 
is required.

Academic activity requirements
The following requirements are considered necessary:

    considerable demonstrable knowledge in the field of documentary 
film and documentary filmmaking;
    a list of significant creative works including nominations and/or 
awards from international film festivals or film organisations. Research 
and publication record would be beneficial. (Submitted among the other 
application documents);
    experience in international film production;
    experience in organising international workshops and speciality 
meetings;
    active membership in international and national professional and/or 
creative organisations, expert groups, journal editorial boards, 
programme committees of international conferences;
    substantial pedagogical experience in teaching and supervising in 
the field of film art, especially documentary film;
    experience in organizing societal outreach activities including 
collaborations with film industries;
    experience in developing and running curricula in the field of 
documentary film.

Leadership aspects of the role: Professor of Documentary Film is 
expected to have existing experience in leading and managing creative 
teams. It is recommendable for the candidate to evidence skills in team 
and consensus building.

Job responsibilities
In accordance with Annexes 1, 2 and 10 to the Employment Relations Rules.
Duties are approximately divided between research (40-65%), teaching 
(20-40%) and internal and external service (10-30%).
Particular work duties linked to the profile, include:

    development of the study programs both in BA and MA level;
    co-ordinating the activities of the academic staff;
    teaching theory of the documentary;
    supervising creative courses of the documentary;
    initiating international networking, international relationship 
(i.e participating in the teaching documentary network of CILECT);
    promoting documentary studies in the country and abroad;
    searching for additional funds for financing students’ creative 
projects;
    participating in the festivals for film schools.

Representing BFM in the teaching documentary network of CILECT; European 
Documentary Network, Estonian Documentary Guild.

Ethics. The job holder will cooperate with local ethics committees when 
planning and executing creative activities and research.

Language skills:

    Estonian at a high level (C1). An employee who does not speak 
Estonian is expected to start acquiring proficiency in Estonian upon 
starting work and achieve language proficiency level B1 within three 
years and a level comparable to level B2 within five years in order to 
be able to perform tasks related to institutional development and 
administrative work in Estonian.
    English at a high level (C1). The candidate needs to possess high 
command of English for conducting creative works in an international 
setting.

Working load: 1,0 (40 hours a week).
Remuneration: In accordance with TLU Remuneration Regulation and by 
negotiations with the director of the School where the position shall be.
In addition to remuneration, a limited allowance is foreseen to the 
tenure professor, which can be used to cover the costs of research and 
development expenditure, members of the research team etc related to the 
position.
Location: Professor is expected to live in Tallinn and work at the 
premises of Tallinn University.

Required application documents shall be submitted by 20th January 2021 
(incl) to Personnel Office of Tallinn University. A list of significant 
creative works shall include nominations and/or awards from 
international film festivals or film organisations. Research and 
publication record would be beneficial.

Additional information: Please address your administrative questions to 
(konkurss /at/ tlu.ee), and questions on the content to the Administrative Head 
of the BFM Kaie Viigipuu-Kreintaal, (kaie.viigipuu /at/ tlu.ee)

Time-schedule of the competition and the selection procedure
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