DOC Discussion/ 8

Comments on the Doc Discussion have been posted on facebook as well. They take different directions. Producers Marie Olesen, Scotland and Sinisa Juricic, Croatia characterise the pitching  as “a fool’s game” and “a showcase of big ego’s from the other side of the table… not a useful tool for film financing”, wheras several acknowledge the contribution of Philippe van Meerbeeck. Mark Daems, producer from Belgium writes: “I’d like to click the ‘like’-button, but in fact I don’t like that Philippe is so close to the truth”.

The debate can, and should, go on but in this round the idea is now to ask Louise Rosen and Mikael Opstrup to make some closing remarks that could very well deal with: What can be done, what’s next? Their texts will be brought asap, before that you may want to read what others have to say:

Simon Kilmurry, very active commissioning editor for POV in the US writes: Hi Tue, This is a fascinating discussion, and Louise (Rosen) and Mikael (Opstrup) make some interesting and troubling observations. Another part of the problem, I think, is the sheer volume of work being produced. We are seeing twice as many films as we did 10 years ago. But resources and slots have not increased commensurately. While we have a few more slots at POV, overall broadcast space has diminished. Thanks for sharing this.

Kilmurry kindly refers to two articles about “The Fate of Documentary”, the first one, with that title, to be found in New York, August 16, written by Leslie Stonebraker – to be responded by guest blogger at POV, Heather McIntosh. I quote the end words of her article, but read both articles in full length, through sites below:

“… Documentary is an amazingly flexible, versatile and innovative form, and its makers and believers have been remarkably creative in applying it and bringing it to audiences. The mainstream presence is new, and it will become part of the documentary history as we move through the changes over time. The mainstream presence certainly expands the documentary conversation, but it is such a small part of the rich form with an even deeper and more nuanced history. Not to mention, an even deeper and more nuanced present.”

Photo: Armadillo, Janus Metz, recently broadcast on POV.

http://www.nypress.com/article-22735-the-fate-of-documentary-film.html

http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/2011/08/the_fate_of_documentary.php

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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