Interviews

Maurice O’Brien’s feature debut, about one man’s desire both to build and conquer a Wall of Death, is a madcap story of derring-do, obsession and pain, both physical and emotional, with a large dose of artistic ego thrown in for good measure. But the end result, as much in cinematic as in real-life terms, is quite magical. Director O’Brien and producer Grant Keir talk to BDE.

Formula One may not be to everybody’s taste, but it sure makes for compelling documentary. Torquil Jones’ latest film tells a high octane story of speed, rivalry and obsession, but this time from the perspective of the loved ones who are left behind to pick up the pieces after tragedy and mayhem ensue. “You have these two men [Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi]…to be in the moment with them, the sensation is incredible…but the negative side of it is, you get collateral damage,” the director tells BDE.

Prolific documentary director Mark Cousins talks to Business Doc Europe about his latest work, about another highly productive filmmaker, the late and very great Alfred Hitchcock. From the outset Cousins realised that his approach to a subject whom we all are familiar with would have to be unique and distinctive. “I wanted to take the road less travelled,” Cousins says of the route he embarked on through the Hitchcock oeuvre.

As Allison Gardner points out to Business Doc Europe, documentary looms large in the programme of the 19th Glasgow Film Festival, running 1-12 March. “I think Scotland punches above its weight in terms of the documentaries it produces,” she says. “There has been great support for that genre, and so we have featured a lot over the years.”

These have been tough years in Lebanon. Political corruption, inflation, economic problems and the 2020 explosion in the port in Beirut have made the lives of Lebanese citizens increasingly difficult. But as Lea Najjar shows in her new doc, some folk turn to very alternative pursuits to find respite, such as pigeon competitions. The director takes flight with Business Doc Europe.

EFM’s Baltic Doc Rough Cut Showcase promoted new doc feature projects nearing completion. Stanislavs Tokalovs’ project forms a portrait of Latvia’s Russian-speaking community, following three women from his own family – his grandma, who came to Latvia from Russia in 1955 at the age of 93; his mother, a former university lecturer, and his sister, who is starting her adult life by trying to break away from her family.

This year’s European Film Market focused on the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. One of the industry initiatives, the Baltic Doc Rough Cut Showcase, promotes new non-fiction feature projects nearing completion. The Estonian project Kelly - Someone Else’s Dreams was initially planned as a sports documentary revolving around the record-breaking freestyle skier before it turned into a much darker story…

“Kiss the future!” rock star Bono of band U2 shouted at the crowd during the historic concert in Sarajevo in 1997. The city was then emerging from siege and war. It was time, the Irishman was telling them, to look forward after the years of horror. Now, the story behind the concert, and how it happened, is told in the new feature doc directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and written by Bill S Carter, who speak to Business Doc Europe.

When D Smith (whose Kokomo City won two awards at Sundance last month) made her transition from male to female, she was startled by the hostility she encountered from her colleagues in the music industry. She was an award-winning producer and songwriter who had worked with some very big names, including Katy Perry and Lil Wayne - but all of a sudden, it was as if no-one wanted to know her, she tells Business Doc Europe.

Before the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, five kids from Donbas were transported to the Himalayas, away from the conflict and the bombs and the ruins, and were briefly shown a glimpse of paradise. After they returned, full scale war broke out. “This film is about this last light of teenagers from this generation before the darkness swallows their dreams,” director Kovalenko tells BDE.