The Guardian: Destination Docs
The British newspaper, always strong on cinema, has launched a series of (sponsored) articles named “Destination Docs”, published in connection with the Sheffield DocFest. The headline goes like this, “Despite new documentary formats, traditional fact-based films still attract impressive audiences – and offer value for money”. The series reminds you of the constant documentary dominance in the UK of the broadcasting companies, contrary to the rest of Europe, it is good reading, even more so when the floor is given to one of the best documentarians of today, Molly Dineen:
“Bafta-winning documentary maker Molly Dineen believes Channel 4 has shown bravery in the past with its factual shows, but has a word of caution to all the broadcasters. “Channel 4 is still very cool for factual, but it needs to be stretched by the subject matter. There’s a risk that all channels are suffering an unhealthy pressure for docs to become more light, sexy, cheap and overly dramatic.
“The adventure has got to be in tackling issues that need to be tackled, that could be expensive and unpopular. Filming real-life is expensive; structured reality is not,” warns Dineen.
Channel 4 also risks losing out to competition from the web, she says. “There needs to be collusion between the mainstream and what young filmmakers are shooting [for the web] and their motivation.” Dineen adds: “If C4 let too much of the genuine political underbelly of documentary move to the web, then they could be sunk because telly will then just be advertising and titillation, and the serious look at life will end up on the web.”
Molly Dineen’s documentaries will be out on dvd thanks to the British Film Institute: a three-volume collection. The first volume, out on 25 April, contains Home from the Hill, My African Farm, Heart of the Angel and In the Company of Men, her three-part examination of Welsh Guardsmen on a final tour of duty in pre-ceasefire Belfast.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/11/factuals-big-fat-viewing-figures
