Estadao.com.br New site to store and promote Latin documentaries BUENOS AIRES - Last Tuesday, 11, a cultural promotion team launched in Buenos Aires the Docfera web site, a pioneering platform which will give the public access to the most important digital archive in the world of Latin American documentaries. Andrea Hirsch, who directs the team, explained that the platform aims to preserve, disseminate and distribute via internet the enormous wealth of Latin American documentaries in the most diverse digital formats, with subtitles and with the highest possible quality. The site will also help filmmakers to promote their work and collect their royalties on line. Hirsch is the daughter of Paul Hirsch, the creator of various foundations, including Antorchas in Argentina, Vitae in Brazil and Andes in Chile. She explained that the principal audience for Docfera will be universities and schools from around the world, and it has already received the support of various prestigious institutions of higher education. She explained that the site allows the search for contents in the archive with one totally rational and precise system and with another which is intuitive and user-friendly. According to Hirsch the "user-friendly search" format is geared to younger users, who are more accustomed to surfing the internet in a less specific way, on the basis of key topics and ideas, without knowing exactly what they might come across. Docfera also includes a module to allow for the organisation of virtual film festivals. The members of the jury may be in different places but they can still watch, discuss, comment and vote on the films. For Andrea Hirsch the idea behind the "On-Line Festival" module is to organise competitions "with ever more prestigious figures who due to problems of timing, costs and other commitments often find it impossible to travel to the different venues where these events are held. She added that filmmakers now have a new channel through which to disseminate their work and will be able to sell their documentaries securely with copyright protection under the DRM protocol, which sets the levels of reproduction and copying permitted for each work. In addition to that, the system allows authors to keep track of the movements of their works and their income. The team led by Hirsch began to promote Docfera last year in various different countries. The initiative has received the support of organisations such as the Goethe Institute, the University of Southern California, the Universidad del Cine de Buenos Aires, the Vídeo Brasil Cultural Association and the Museo Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires.