Interviews

NFB’s Anita Lee discusses the new doc project charting Chinese Jessea Lu’s attempt to free dive 100 metres in one breath. “It's going to be a combination of compelling, thrilling, but at the same time deeply psychological,” she says. “Having a young, Asian female in this male dominated sport as a lead protagonist really brings another layer to the storytelling.”

Documentary, more than any other medium, embraces, analyses and contextualises events in this world that we all inhabit. Which is why documentary is the perfect medium for Stonebreakers, Valerio Ciriaci’s project about the tearing down of historical monuments within a very contemporary US. Business Doc Europe chisels away at the director.

Drummers, like goalkeepers, are a totally different breed. They play by different rules, as evidenced by Topper Headon, who beat the sticks for The Clash in the first days of punk, and who is the subject of a new feature project by Lionel Guedj, who rocks (the casbah) with Business Doc Europe.

In his 6-part/3-part series Massimo Brega will follow in the footsteps of Odysseus along his epic journey back from the Trojan War. The director will traverse The Mediterranean, shedding new light both on the Greek hero and his chronicler Homer, ultimately looking to determine whether the epic voyage ever really took place. Producer Camilla Tartaglione of Italian production house Kepach weaves a tale for BDE.

Scottish director Martyn Robertson talks to Business Doc Europe about his new surfing documentary screening at London FF this week. The film isn’t just about a teenage prodigy tackling the breakers. It is, as importantly, a story “about love, about family, about growing up and parenting,” says the filmmaker.

Kind Hearts sets out to present a candid portrait of first love in all of its newness, inherent uncertainties and future life expectations. Co-director Gerard-Jan Claes explains more about what drove the him and partner Olivia Rochette towards the subject.

Manu Riche’s new documentary will deliver a lyrical cri du coeur about fossil fuels and their corrosive effect on the planet. “The film doesn't set out to describe the factual state of our world, nor present a numerical analysis. Instead, it explores how we got here, what caused us to reach this tipping point, the psychology and philosophy that underlie this debacle,” he says.

Now in his early 50s, Dries Meddens is finally making his documentary feature debut. His film, pitched at RE>CONNEXT this week, is a deeply personal project with a gestation stretching back almost 20 years, to when his father was still alive. In it he asks why his father, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was so badly treated, both by psychiatrists and by society in general. BDE reports.

In Alain Platel and Mirjam Devriendt’s complex and visually stunning feature doc, which screens at RE>CONNEXT before its world-premiere at Film Fest Gent, the question of why we fight is posed not only to dancers in choreographer Platel’s company, but to a range of experts across core academic disciplines. Co-director Devriendt reflects on the hows and the whys of her project.

A documentary which manages the seemingly impossible feat of merging myth and actuality, thereby becoming mythological itself without diminishing the impact of its factual reporting on the disappearing reindeer and reappearing mammoths of the Siberian tundra.