Interviews

The hybrid 61st Krakow FF kicks off May 30, running 8 days through June 6 and presenting 170 films across 3 competition and 12 non-competition sections. Festival director Krzysztof Gierat guides BDE through a film programme which emphasises the “protagonists' determination in their search for the truth and their fight against adversity.”

The Pitch Award of the Haus des Dokumentarfilms was won by Max Carlo Kohal for his film Der Siebte Sohn, described as “a documentary river-movie about growing up between the big ports of Europe, which also addresses the economic-political importance of international shipping trade.”

The Deutscher Kompositions-Förderpreis was given to composer Akmaral Zykayeva (aka Mergen), who will create an auteur soundtrack for May it be a Girl in close collaboration with director Katerina Suvorova and producer Viktoriya Kalashnikova. The film concerns Kazakhstani women whose names indicate their parents’ wishes to have had a boy.

Julia Fuhr Mann’s British Pathé Archive Award winning project seeks to explore the utopian potential in competitive sports, aiming “to create a world far away from strict sex and gender perceptions – because sex segregation is still socially accepted in sports, but unimaginable to be that rigid anywhere else in today’s society.”

Series director Asif Kapadia, director Danielle Peck and James Gay-Rees (exec producer) tell Business Doc Europe about their epic Apple TV series that chronicles 12 marvellous musical months during which the world was knocked right off its axis.

In Marina Belobrovaja’s film about motherhood and children conceived through sperm donorship, the Zurich-based director seeks to challenge traditional, patriarchal notions about parenthood and family, she explains to Business Doc Europe.

“I went deeper into the story and asked the questions that have never been asked before,” explains director Melanie Lischker to BDE about a film that attempts to solve the mysteries of her mother’s life after the discovery of a cache of home footage.

Julia Teichmann, Head of Documentary & Regional Desk Central and Eastern Europe at German Films, explains to Business Doc Europe why she expects the German documentary sector to bounce back quickly after the Covid crisis.

“Amazon…member of a fabled tribe of female warriors,” reads the dictionary definition quoted at the start of Thaïs Odermatt’s prize-winning feature doc, Urban Amazons. The film is intended as is a paean to strong women. It celebrates modern-day Amazons - females living in Berlin who have all fought to overcome sexist stereotyping.

Polish director Krzysztof Kasior has a phrase which sums up perfectly his approach to documentary. He talks to Business Doc Europe of the “patient eye.” When he was a student at the Krzysztof Kieslowski Film School, his teachers emphasised the importance of filmmakers taking the time to win the trust of their subjects.