Pol Roig: The Identity. Book Launch at IDFA
Mikael Opstrup’s new book presentation at IDFA was a deligthful event to reflect about the essence of documentary filmmaking. Opstrup’s book invites 11 directors from 11 countries to share their point of view around one core question: what does it mean to be a documentary film director?
The book presentation offered a charming and generous dialogue between Emma Davie and Salomé Jashi with Opstrup’s insightful comments. At some point of the presentation, Davie and Jashi started to ask questions to each other in order to learn about their own creative process. This back and forth was a gift to the audience. Davie pointed out that having unanswerable questions is crucial in the process of making documentary films. And Jashi added that she considers herself a filmmaker, not a director, because she doesn’t have the answer of which direction she is going, when starting a project. During the presentation I realized that The Identity is the reverse of The Uncertainty, both Opstrup’s books are a must for any documentary cinema lover.
Pol Roig is a filmmaker, previous artistic consultant at DocsBarcelona, now working with Tue Steen Müller on this festival’s Industry section.
Photo from the book launch session this morning at IDFA. From left Emma Davie, Mikael Opstrup and Salomé Jashi.
