Hot Docs Festival 2011

If idfa in Amsterdam is the biggest in Europe, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market. It returns for its 18th annual edition from April 28 to May 8, 2011. Showcasing the best Canadian and international documentaries, Hot Docs is set to welcome delegates, filmmakers and audiences to Toronto for this 11-day event. This year, Hot Docs will screen over 199 documentaries from 43 countries on 16 different screens across Toronto. More from the press release:

“This year is something of a game-changer for Hot Docs,” says executive director Chris McDonald. “We are expanding the number of film presentations by one third, we are screening in new neighbourhoods across the city, and we will be providing more direct financial support to filmmakers. The doc-making marketplace has changed dramatically, and so has our role within it. We are not just screening great work, we are helping to finance and distribute films in a meaningful way. Stay tuned for the announcement of a major new international initiative in the coming weeks. Until then, we look forward to sharing a staggering array of quality docs with our unbeatable Toronto audiences at this year’s Festival.”

The 2011 Festival will feature 199 official selections and retrospective titles in ten programs, as well as eight films by young filmmakers aged 14 to 18 screening in this year’s Doc It! showcase, and films selected as finalists in the International Documentary Challenge. In addition to screenings, international buyers and industry professionals will attend the Festival to participate in a full slate of conference and market events. These events include the world-renowned Hot Docs Forum and a vast number of other market and networking opportunities.

“Every year we start with the goal of showing everything documentary can do,” says director of programming Sean Farnel. “Yet, more so than ever, what documentary is doing is re-inventing itself, expanding our notions of its capacity to communicate contemporary stories and ideas. So let’s call 2011 the year that docs broke wide open.”

Photo:  Dennis Danfung: Helle and Back Again, UK/USA, 88 mins. – to be shown in one of the many categories, International Spectrum.

http://www.hotdocs.ca

SVT and Documentaries

Well, it is first and foremost for us Northeners, who can read Swedish… but I write this text in English anyway to praise the documentary profile, quality and volume of the SVT, Swedish public broadcaster, that publishes a very good newsletter on the documentaries that is broadcasted on the different slots on SVT1 and 2. You can subscribe on the newsletter for free through the address below.

Coming up in the coming week is Frederick Wiseman’s ”La Danse” (photo) (tuesday 10pm) from the Parisian ballet and a film on Jörgen Persson, great cameraman for Bo Widerberg, Roy Andersson and Bille August (monday 09.50 am). During Easter many other Swedish subject and international documentaries have been on the schedule.

dokumentarfilm@svt.se

Marcel Lozinski on DocAlliance

The excellent vod (video on demand) portal DocAlliance, set up by five European film festivals, makes a generous offer: to watch five films by Polish documentary master Marcel Lozinzki. The five films, including the masterpiece ”Anything can Happen”. Here is the text for the free streaming of the first three documentaries:

”From April 18 to 25, three of Łoziński’s films made in the 1990s will be introduced. These will include the short film 89 mm od Europy (89 mm from Europe, 1993), which received an Academy Award nomination and a number of other prestigious awards. Situated on the border between Poland and Belorussia, at a train station in Brest where the European narrow-gauged railway ends, the black-and-white impression muses on where Europe and the world of Western Christianity end. Two years later, Łoziński boosted his international renown by his film Wszystko się może przytrafić (Anything Can Happen, 1995). The film protagonist is the director’s son Tomek who has already had an essential role in 89 mm from Europe. This time, the six-year-old boy meets retired people in a park in Warsaw, asking them rather “mature” questions about life. The confrontation of his notion of the future and the vision of people who don’t have much time left results in a gentle reflection on life and death. The last of the presented films made in the 1990s is Żeby nie bolało (So It Does Not Hurt, 1998). A follow-up to the film Wyzita as seen from the distance of twenty four years, the film follows the encounter of farmer Urszula Flis, a press photographer and a journalist from the “Gazeta Wyborcza” daily, dealing with loneliness, life’s victories and losses, as well as with the borders of Urszula’s privacy, which have already been overstepped by the media in the past and which are again challenged by the film crew in the present.”

Again – go to DocAlliance, watch these films and pay for many others. It is cheap and high quality!

http://docalliancefilms.com/

Oscar Perez: Ventrada

Nothing happens. Or a lot happens. Up to you as audience. It depends on how you define ”a story”. In mainstream definition terms one would say that there is no story, and yet here is an outline of the short documentary shot in the countryside near the delta of Ebro:

An old man in an electric wheelchair is the ruler of an old farm with dogs and sheep. From his chair he orders the others around, including the sound man from the film team, when some puppies just born are about to be killed unintentionally by the dog ”bitch”, who protects her litter.

His wife (or sister?) walks into the picture, and another character, an old man who seems to be a bit retarded, is the one that the ruler commands to get rid of most of the puppies leaving only two to live. At the end of the film the camera goes with the ruler on his way into the marshes to follow his sheep. It is almost like a still life, brutal in tone, he is not really likeable, you start wondering about the kind of life he has had, he just sits there without a smile on his stone-face.

A story or a tableau, both I would say. Because of the stubborness/patience/eye of the film director/cameraman who waits to seize the moments. And gets some. Classical documentary observation, and multi-layered like a creative documentary should be.

Spain, 2009, 22 mins.

www.docsbarcelona.com

Storydoc Wants Films from the Mediterranean

It is not unusual that we do proper promotion for events that we are involved in ourselves. This is no exception! Loyal readers have read my texts from Israel and Palestine – where a workshop was held that ended up with the selection of 4 Palestinian film projects for the Storydoc 2011. Now we need good projects from other countries. Deadline April 26. Read all about it and join what will be valuable and fun! :

2011: Call for Filmmakers with Mediterranean Projects.

Storydoc is a training programme with the focus on the development of documentary projects – www.storydoc.gr.

The Projects wanted should have a strong Mediterranean connection.  The call is open to filmmakers from the Region, other filmmakers with a project that deals with the area.

20 projects will be selected, plus 5 from Greece and STORYDOC will offer 5 scholarships to the selected projects.

The selected creative documentary projects will be developed through two sessions tutored by experienced documentary directors, commissioning editors, producers, editors and generalists. See below. At the second session extra 10-15 commissioning editors and distributors will be invited.

The work will be performed in groups and on an individual basis. There will be work on treatments, scripts as well as on visuals (trailers, demos, teasers). Inspirational lectures will be held on several documentary relevant subjects. Main focus is the creative process of developing film projects to secure quality and originality.

The Participants will be documentary professionals and filmmakers (including authors, directors, producers, screenwriters, and consultants) with experience in their local environment, aiming at working on an international level. A strong impact will be put on networking between the participating filmmakers and producers as well as broadcasters. Collaboration will be encouraged between Mediterranean producers from the South and the North.

Between the two sessions the participants will be offered online consultancy from selected tutors.

Deadline for submission of projects is April 26.
We ask for a two page written presentation of the project (synopsis, treatment, visual style, cv’s, status of the project) plus eventual trailer or other kind of visual material connected to the project.
The sessions in 2011:
1st session in Corfu July 11-15. See July 2010: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OavAEuqajnA) .
2nd session in Athens late November 26-30.
–   a special session took in Ramallah March 25-27.
Price for participation: 400 euros per one person, 250 euros for the second person per project and for the observers 200 euros  (this includes all lunches and coffee breaks , one dinner per session and special discount for hotel accomodation)

Documentary consultant Tue Steen Muller is the Head of Studies.
Project manager is the broadcaster Kostas Spiropoulos.

The Storydoc Tutor Team: Emma Davie (UK), Mikael Opstrup(EDN/Denmark) Niels Pagh Andersen(Denmark), Iikka Vehkalahti (Finland), Jordi Ambros (Spain), Louise Rosen (USA), Peter Symes (UK), Stan Neumann (France), Madeleine Avramoussis (France), Sanna Salmenkallio (Finland), Kathrin Brinkmann (Germany), Rea Apostolides (Greece), Ann Julienne (France), Illia Papaspirou (Greece), Eva Stefani (Greece), Gena Theodosievska (Fyrom),George Khleifi (Palestine), Diana El Jeiroudi (Syria).
Storydoc is organised in collaboration with ERT and EDN.
                                                Projects and queries: STORYDOC,
                                      Att: Chara Lampidou,Event Manager
                                     19, Mithimnis str, 112 57 Athens, Greece
                                      Tel: +30 210 8663963  -Email: lampidou@storydoc.gr

Photo: Isra’ Odeh, ChewingGum Gang, Palestine.

National Film Board of Canada in a Digital Age

It was a scoop that DFI (Danish Film Institute) had invited James Roberts, assistant director general from National Film Board of Canada (NFB), to come to the Danish DOK-dag (Documentary Day, see more below) to talk about the online film distribution policy of the 72 year old public film institution, set up by visionary politicians and the one and only Scotsman John Grierson, who saw before anyone else what role film could play in education and information in a democratic society.

A scoop, because Roberts very clearly and enormously inspiring could explain, how the NFB had implemented a strategy paper from 2008 into a very generous offer – more than 2000 films for free for individuals, online, and not only for Canadians, see below what to do, and a subscription system for the schools and institutions, still – in the spirit of Grierson – the major client of the NFB. ”Start Watching” was the headline of the plan and 10 million views have been done so far. 400 people are employed at the NFB that has offices all over Canada and is very up-beat when it comes to the use of new media. 15% of the production of the NFB is channelled into interactive documentaries. (I will write about one of the award-winners later, titled  ”Highrise”).

The website of the NFB is exemplary for how to make it easy to navigate for the users – to find the necessary film historical titles and watch a trailer or a full film. Or to see where films are screened in Canadian cities, or how to

download a title or buy a dvd, with photos and search possibilities by decades, or titles, or directors. You name it…

Here is a clip from the interesting strategy plan (19 pages, can be downloaded), caption ”Mission”. Pure socialism, some would say, proud cultural policy I would say:

For almost seventy years the National Film Board has played a vital role in Canadian society as a public producer and distributor of audiovisual materials in the public interest. It is recognized and celebrated the world over as one of the great cultural laboratories for research, development and innovation in documentaries, animation, and now, new media. It is unique in providing Canadian creators a place to develop new forms of authentic, socially relevant works that are central to creating common democratic, civil values in a rapidly changing and increasingly diverse society. By supporting emerging filmmakers, members of diverse cultural and linguistic communities, Aboriginal communities and the disabled, the NFB ensures that its audiovisual works reflect the country’s diversity and explains the changing cultural and social realities of Canada. It is the most trusted provider of Canadian audiovisual content to Canada’s educational system and is a significant carrier of Canadian values to Canada’s youth. As a public provider, it is uniquely placed to break new ground and take the creative risks that neither the private sector nor the public broadcast sector can undertake.

In a digital era, the need for the NFB as Canada’s public producer and distributor is more essential than ever to undertake the kinds of risks that an audiovisual industry in constant state of change and turmoil cannot afford to take. Again and again, the NFB has shown that it can lead initiatives, on its own or in private-public partnerships, which benefit the industry and Canadians. It is one of the hallmarks of the NFB to step into areas of market failures to create public goods that enrich the country and provide cultural leadership both domestically and internationally. The NFB’s enormous international brand value, its creative work and its constant inventiveness have attracted broad interest in Canada as evidenced by the ongoing demand for NFB works by our embassies and trade missions in all parts of the world. It has also opened doors for the private sector to new markets such as Brazil and Singapore because their industries and governments have seen the NFB as their first port of call in engaging with the Canadian audiovisual industry.

www.nfb.ca

NFB: Watch Hundreds of Films Online

I have been surfing around on the site of NFB for an hour now. I have seen some trailers, I have seen clips from some of the films that I remember from a long festival life, and from the imports that was done when I was employed at the National Film Board of Denmark (Statens Filmcentral). Yes, down memory lane, but also down film history lane when you think about the excellent films that has come from the Canadian sister organisation: animation films by Caroline Leaf and the master himself Norman McLaren (photo), documentary films by Colin Low and direct cinema pioneers Roman Kroitor, Wolf Koenig and Michel Brault. At least a hundred NFB films were offered the Danish audience on 16mm, and if with dialogue and commentary, with Danish subtitles or in a Danish version. And from today “RIP” and “Up the Yangtze”, just to mention a couple that is available online by a click from your home computer in Denmark. Much easier than your home access to the Danish documentary history! Go Canadian, DFI, Danish Film Institute, and learn from them how to advertise. At the NFB site, for all titles, both those you can watch online and for those where only a trailer is watchable – there is information about where to buy a dvd or where to download with prices etc. Pure pleasure for one, who was educated librarian maaany decades ago. But start here:

Create your NFB profile today.Enjoy documentaries, animations, alternative dramas and interactive productions on the web, on your personalized home page, or on your iPhone. Don’t forget to check out our trailers, playlists and upcoming online releases. Free for personal use and on a subscription basis for schools and institutions.

www.nfb.ca

Danish Documentary/Status

Twice per year the Danish Film Institute (DFI) invites the national documentary filmmakers, distributors, promoters and bureaucrats, including television people, to meet for information and inspiration. The first meeting took place on monday this week, a so-called ”DOK-dag” (Documentary Day) was arranged, the second meeting will take place at the European Film College a weekend late August.

It was an optimistic Head of Production, former producer Claus Ladegaard, who gave us some headlines: ”Armadillo” by Janus Metz had sold 135.000 cinema tickets, ”Burma vj” by Anders Østergaard had received its 50th international award, there were more than 1 million tv viewers for ”Armadillo”, ”Tommy” (Danish pop star) by Sami Saif and ”The Home Front” by Phie Ambo, the special documentary distribution initiative DoxBio had done pretty well in its attempt to get documentaries shown around Denmark – and funding-wise it was strong that the new 4 year film agreement with the Ministry of Culture included more money for the creative documentary through the consultant system. In 2011 each of the two documentary consultants will have 15 million DKK, which is a bit more than 2 mio.€, to support production of documentaries. The consultant for children docs and shorts will have a bit less.

For this money 30-35 documentaries are to be made every year. To talk about access a representative from the Distribution department of the DFI told that 240.000 online screenings had been organised, of the 1000 films that are available – primarily in the educational circuit. Schools have subscriptions for the films available through ”Filmstriben”, for libraries goes the same but the individual public library can put a limit on how many films a user can have per month – the more screenings through the libraries, the more expensive it gets. The DFI considers to introduce another system to reach the homes.

www.dfi.dk

Kaspar Schröder Danish Multi Artist

From the DOK Dag (see above): Could have listened to and watched much more of the work of multi artist Kaspar Schröder, an original talent, who also makes films and has got a lot of well deserved praise for his ”The Invention of Dr. Nakamats” and ”The Playground”. I write also, as Schröder, visit his excellent site, is a painter, a photographer, a furniture designer, a graphic artist… he prefers to make all by himself when he films and he is able to get a distinct graphic expression into his work. He told us about how he worked with the showman Dr. Nakamats, who wanted to be in control and always addressed the camera. ”When I discovered that, I made the decision to use it as a stylistical element” , said Schröder who also said that he immediately starts to frame when he enters a room, and that he often has a composer, and music, connected to a film when he starts filming.

Schröder, definitely a refreshing new talent in Danish documentary, is working on a new film, also from Japan. This is what is to be found on the site of DFI:

“No one understands me”, says Mr. Ryuichi, father, husband and keeper of secrets. Mr. Ryuichi, the protagonist of Kaspar Astrup Schröder’s I Want to Cheer Up Ltd., is head of a clandestine business of professional stand-ins. With his portrait of the iconic Dr. Nakamats last year, Kaspar Astrup Schröder moves to the other end of the scale in his choice of a protagonist in his new film I Want to Cheer Up Ltd. Here we have a man who conducts his second life after hours, unobserved by even his immediate family.

Mr. Ryuichi and his 32 employees are professional stand-ins, part of a growing service sector catering for clients who are in need of a companion – a spouse, relative, friend, colleague, boy or girlfriend – to accompany them to social functions such as weddings and funerals. The film explores how Mr. Ryuichi juggles with so many secrets and why his clients cannot bear public scrutiny of their personal lives. Not able to be the ubiquitous dad or face up to his own shortcomings, Mr. Ryuichi finds satisfaction in being a stand-in for other families. But, is this giving him a better life? – Mette Heide, +plus pictures, produces the films of Kaspar Schröder.

www.drnakamatsmovie.com

www.kasparworks.com

http://www.pluspictures.dk/COMING_SOON.html

www.dfi.dk

Vaclav Klaus on Camera

Below is a text about a new Danish television documentary, ”The President”, which describes the absurd process that lead to the nomination of totally unknown haiku-poet and politician, Belgian Herman van Rompuy, as President of the EU – according to Romani Prodi and Joshka Fischer an evidence of the fall of the European project.

It is quite entertaining, well made, but maybe it does not bring anything clever or new to the table, it stays on the surface, reviewer Allan Berg thinks.

An EU sceptic, Czech President Vaclav Klaus (Photo from March this year, Klaus and Sarkozy), however, brings something new to the table: a not very well hidden cleptomania performed during a press meeting in Chile. Oooops, was I on camera? Take a look on your own on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdobFPqr8c4