Nemesis by Thomas Imbach
DAFilms Executive Director Diana Tabakov talks to BDE about the online portal that has, for the past 16 years, delivered festival docs to living rooms around the world. The virtual distribution outfit is currently presenting the ‘No Short Cuts’ Thomas Imbach retrospective, and will host on December 7 an online live-stream interview between Imbach and Argentinian critic/curator Roger Koza.
Launched in 2006 by the Doc Alliance of seven leading European docfests* (and at around the same time as YouTube and Netflix), the remit of DAFilms was always clear, to drive smart, dynamic, challenging and (maybe most significantly) cinematic documentaries into the homes (and devices) of ever wider European and global audiences.
Furthermore, it was devised “to bridge the gap between curators and the audiences, and somehow give a larger, stronger, longer life to the documentary films that basically had theatrical distribution in just one or two or three territories at that time,” explains DAFilms Executive Director Diana Tabakov. “The specifics of this Alliance is that it’s very much formed on a mutual understanding of how to work with documentary film as an art form.”
DAFilms currently curates, presents and promotes more than 3000 documentaries, and pays a whopping 60% of revenues to the makers.
The portal saw five-fold growth in subscriber numbers in 2019, but 2020 was the gamechanger (Covid, lockdown et al) insofar as DAFilms had to respond to the urgent online demands of festivals, cinemas and producers for whom theatrical was (at least in the short to medium term) no longer an option. What’s more, audiences were turning to the platform more regularly, whether for entertainment or instruction, with 20 times more visitors to the site, and the content on offer was increasingly premiere-led now that festivals were presenting virtually.
“It was such an exciting time for us,” says Tabakov. “We are the type of platform that presents films that are made for cinema. So we will always support the fact that cinemas will exist and have to exist… but because the cinemas were closed, film festivals had to move to online spaces, [but] we were there and prepared to help out in communicating a program that was live-streamed or online and help sustain the identity of the film festivals in an online space.”
The portal also operates outside of Doc Alliance, working with a wide range of festivals and institutions on a series of richly themed programs and retrospectives, such as the ‘Trinh T. Minh-ha: There Is No Such Thing As Documentary’ program (“a very exclusive retro that people can’t find on other VOD platforms”) or bespoke selections dedicated to subjects as diverse as housing, the environment or even the output of Portugal’s University of Beira Interior.
“We enjoy to present tributes to filmmakers that are also like whole bodies of art,” adds Tabakov. “You have the possibility to look through their whole work, their filmography, in this way, because it’s also like an online digital archive that you can always come back to.”
The Thomas Imbach retrospective** meets this criteria, with Tabakov noting the director’s “bold forms of expression in film… his dedication and passion for making, and also the mix of genre within his cinema.” She further cites Imbach’s Nemesis (2020), emphasising “the voiceover, the strong commentary of the director, his sense of humour, but also [his] insightful commentary on the future path of Switzerland.” The film, shot from his apartment window, chronicles the slow demolition of the historic Zurich railway station.
Adds DAFilms curator Christopher Small: “To us, director Thomas Imbach is that kind of filmmaker who never ceases to surprise filmgoers with each and every film he releases. We’re thrilled to be able to present nine of his films in addition to Nemesis, which is fresh off the festival circuit. This ‘No Short Cuts’ retrospective casts a spotlight on Imbach’s unwavering dedication to finding new formal approaches and everything his cinematography stands for.”
The December 7 (20:30 CET) interview between Imbach and Argentinian critic/curator Roger Koza is part of the live stream series, DAFilms Conversations, which is available to watch directly on DAFilms Live and on DAFilms’ Facebook pages.
“I think this is something pretty unique to our platform that other art house platforms are not doing that much,” says Tabakov of DAFilms Conversations. “What we wanted to do with this was to cover the gap that came with the closure of cinemas, where there was a missing dialogue between the directors and the audiences.”
“I think that creating this dialogue online is pretty fascinating, when you have questions coming from Tokyo and London and Prague all together, and somehow creating a global universal audience for a film that could have just been shown in a small cinema somewhere in Switzerland for an audience of just 30 people.”
*Doc Alliance festivals: CPH:DOX, Doclisboa, Millennium Docs Against Gravity, DOK Leipzig, Ji.hlava IDFF, FIDMarseille, Visions du Réel
** Thomas Imbach retrospective:
Nemesis (2020)
Glaubenberg – My Brother My Love (2018)
Day is Done (2011)
I Was A Swiss Banker (2007)
Lenz (2006)
Happy Too (2002)
Happiness Is A Warm Gun (2001)
Ghetto (1997)
Well Done (1994)
The retrospective is available in the following countries: Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain, Slovakia, Austria, UK, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.
