Cinéma du Réel Report 4
Maybe – at the end of the day – documentary festivals will be events that you travel to in big numbers as you travel to visit art exhibitions, says Allan, my co-blogger. He could be right if you consider the enormous number of people who visit this year’s Cinéma du Réel.
Festivals have changed completely. When I started to go in the late 70’es, the festival in Paris was for the professionals, first of all. Festivals in general were for the community, they tended to be élitaire, those days are over. Luckily. Most festivals are for the audience and the average age is low. Festivals are part of the distribution scheme strategy for the producer and distributor. Young people want to watch documentaries. They have given up on television, and right they are.
Apropos. I talked to a French producer, who told me about the stand still of French documentary production due to the discussions initiated by monsieur le président Sarkozy. He wants to get commercials out of France Télévisions, i.e. FR2, FR3, FR5 and Arté France. But who is to finance the funding that does not come in when the commercials are no longer there. Remains to be seen! No commissions for the moment.
