Interviews

A world premiere in IDFA International Competition, Journey To The Sun marks the first occasion when revered Portuguese filmmaker Susana de Sousa Dias co-directs a film with Ansgar Schaefer (her partner and usually her producer). The filmmakers discuss their collaboration with Business Doc Europe.

What David Simon did for Baltimore in The Wire and what Fred Wiseman has done with institutions all over the US in his films, Peter Nicks is doing for Oakland, California. Hulu documentary Homeroom is the third in his trilogy set in the city, following on from The Waiting Room (2012), set in a hospital waiting room and The Force (2017), looking at the inner workings of the city police department as it tries to reform.

“Returning to cinemas, in my view, is an act of resistance,” Orwa Nyrabia tells BDE ahead of an IDFA that may be presented with a greater degree of sobriety in 2021, but with no less ambition and vigour. “The challenge is that we all come together and share the responsibility, prove together that a film festival can be a serious collective experience, and be safe and healthy, at the same time. That said, being ‘healthy’ is not only a matter of not catching a virus, but also a mental, cultural, political, and philosophical question, and even more so during a pandemic.”

“Steve moves faster than us. He is one person with one camera and his energy is really exceptional. He never gets tired.” French filmmaker Denis Delestrac reflects to Business Doc Europe on illustrious US snapper Steve McCurry, the subject of the new feature doc which world-premieres at DOC NYC November 13.

‘Layers of Reality’ is the slogan of the 18th VERZIÓ Human Rights Documentary FF which kicks off across Hungary November 9, running to Nov 14 and presenting 64 films from 35 countries before going online from 15–21 November. “We feel our mission is to bring films that show the world in all of its complexity and diversity,” says Festival Director Oksana Sarkisova.

Filmmaker Gorki Glaser-Müller and his subject and collaborator Patricio Galvez are in London this week for the Raindance Festival screening of Children Of The Enemy (sold by Cinephil). They’ll be giving a Q&A after the UK premiere at the Genesis Theatre tonight (Wed 3 Nov) and their documentary will also be available to watch this week on Curzon Home Cinema. The pair talk to Business Doc Europe.

The logline says it all, telling of two shamans, their tech-obsessed kids and a 1000-mile road trip that takes them back into the heart of the Amazon rain forest. Glasgow-based Basque director Borja Alcalde tells BDE about his doc that will be ready for early 2022, and which he describes as Little Miss Sunshine meets The Mosquito Coast.

It was the story that had the world on tenterhooks in 2018 as an international coalition of critical rescue and support teams, as well as an idiosyncratic group of caving enthusiasts, set out to rescue twelve young lads and their football coach from deep inside a flooded cave in Northern Thailand. Co-director E. Chai Vasarhelyi discusses the film, which opened in the UK on October 29, with Business Doc Europe.

The dust of the film’s title is what is discarded by men within the Vietnamese Sedang community when they retreat to the jungle during their annual process of spiritual cleansing. Director Franziska von Stenglin tells Business Doc Europe about this odyssey, as undertaken by main character Liêm and his three companions, that she recorded on 16mm.

A massive bronze statue in East Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg Park is the inspiration behind filmmaker Betina Kuntzsch’s new film which screened this week in German Competition at DOK Leipzig. She explains to Business Doc Europe the monument’s significance within the “black and white” area she grew up in which has itself undergone the inevitable process of gentrification.