Interviews

For two years Polish doccer Zofia Pręgowska has been following Trotsky and Natalia, a couple desperately in love but fundamentally at odds. He is a dreamer and a non-conformist. She is a practical home builder. He wants to go abroad to street busk. She wants to get a loan and buy a house. Can their love survive their differences?

In her directorial debut, Polish filmmaker Aga Borzym will delve into the world of adolescence, with all its ups and downs, as experienced by 11‐year‐old Jagoda and 13‐year‐old Zuzia. “We will observe their family, their peers, and above all their very close circle of friends, including boys, and we will get the key to their very fascinating world.”

Sérgio Borges and Helvécio Marins Jr. aren’t just respected filmmakers whose work has been shown widely on the international festival circuit. They’re also passionate fans of Clube Atlético Mineiro, the Brazilian football team nicknamed Galo, the subject of their IFFR selection. Marins Jr. discusses the beautiful game with BDE.

Spanish director Alba Sotorra talks to Business Doc Europe about her doc in which she she explores the plight of the so-called ISIS brides, including the divisive Shamima Beguma from the UK and the American Hoda Muthana.

After an eight-hour phone conversation, Russian filmmaker Julia Sergina and the charismatic, outspoken, ranting and highly unusual taxi driver Viktor decided to work together on a doc. The resulting film screens in Krakow Documentary Competition. The director flags down BDE to explain more.

To call Walk With Angels a tough documentary to make is somewhat of an understatement. During shooting in the townships surrounding Johannesburg, Polish director Tomasz Wysokiński had a shotgun pointed in his face and saw someone murdered in front of him. He tells all to BDE.

Norwegian Magnus Skatvold gets to grips with legendary New York cop Bob Leuci who exposed corruption in the NYPD in the 1970s, inspiring filmmakers such as Sidney Lumet. But the man Skatvold came to know wasn’t the hard-boiled and divisive whistleblower, rather a genial grandfather in his 1970s. Skatvold explains all to BDE.

Director Joke Olthaar and DoP Andre Schreuders talk about their precipitous alpine documentary Berg, shot at 2500 metres in Slovenia’s Triglav Natural Park, and selected for the 50th International Film Fest Rotterdam.

What is the point of documentary? What is the point of doc festivals? And given the plethora of rescheduled events competing for both industry and public attention, what is the point of Sheffield? To answer these questions Doc Fest director Cíntia Gil goes back to first principles with Business Doc Europe.

Doc Lab Poland, the documentary component of KFF Industry, kicks off June 2 as local doccers pitch their projects (in post-production) during the Docs to Go! programme. The following day the Docs to Start session! sees the pitch of a dozen brand new Polish projects. KFF Head of Industry Katarzyna Wilk discusses her professional event with Business Doc Europe.