Second day of the Forum, better atmosphere, better projects in general and a proof that the pitching sessions in a smaller room with around 10 broadcasters and film funders around the table, that this extra-to-the-big-room-format work well and can give a good dialogue. At least for an observer like me, but maybe not for the filmmakers presenting their project who hear positive remarks and ”let’s talk more” followed by a one-to-one meeting where the editors are more outspoken and often say ”I don’t have a slot for this”.

I am afraid that this was the case for Hungarian director Guyla Nemes, a Filmmaker, who has won prizes for his cinematic works, but this time had a topic that could fit for television (”recycling”/”how do we deal with our garage”) but presented visual material that is far from what most television channels go for today.

More focused on the market is another Eastern European film project, presented by Tomas Kudrna from Czech Republic. ”All that Glitters”, on a rough cut stage, filmed in Kyrgyzstan, the story about a small village and its inhabitants, whose lives will be completely changed by the presence of a gold mine company run by the Canadians.

In the big room I attended the strong presentations by two Nordic companies. Finnish John Hakalax and his film about legendary ski jumper Matti Nykänen, ”by his own Words” was a winner through a powerful humourous trailer that teased everyone  – followed by Swedish/Armenian Suzanne Khardalian’s ”Grandma´s Tattoos”, very touching: ”my gradmother was raped in front of the eyes of her sister”. Knowing what Khardalian and her producer PeÅ Holmquist have done together, including ”Her Armenian Prince” (PHOTO), I can only say that this will be a fine film.

 

www.idfa.nl

 

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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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