Interviews

If there is one filmmaker who can cope with lockdown, it is Victor Kossakovsky. Put it to the director of porcine-themed Gunda that you could put him in a shoebox and he’d be able to make a documentary, and he readily agrees. Kossakovsky gets cosy with Business Doc Europe.

Swedish directors Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri profile the troubled actor Björn Andrésen, who found early fame as the 15-year old muse (and object of both fascination and desire) for Dirk Bogarde in Visconti’s classic adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice.

“What a year to launch a new entity…but it has been a really rewarding process and we have learned a lot.” DAE (Documentary Association of Europe) co-directors Brigid O’Shea and Marion Schmidt open up to BDE about the fledgling organisation’s first year in business, and assess the year to come.

The doc industries of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary are in the spotlight during FIPADOC Industry Days with a full programme of workshops and panels designed to promote industry collaboration. New doc pitches from the four countries start January 20, running for two days.

As the awards momentum behind Romanian director Alexander Nanau’s Collective (sold internationally by Cinephil) gathers, one executive who can justifiably feel pride is Hanka Kastelicová, Executive Producer of Documentaries for HBO Europe. She talks to Business Doc Europe.

“I am making this film for my family, for my people, for me,” Swedish-based Iranian director Nahid Persson tells Business Doc Europe ahead of her impact documentary Be My Voice’s world premiere in Nordic Documentary Competition at Göteborg Film Festival.

Ebullient producer-distributor-sales agent Frank Mannion, boss of London-based Swipe Films, is taking the plunge into directing with Sparkling: The Story Of Champagne, a feature doc that looks into the origins of one of the world’s most favourite and fizziest of luxury tipples.

Like many other Georgian citizens, filmmaker Salomé Jashi was startled to see images of a gigantic tree floating down the Black Sea. It was on its way to the home of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire former Prime Minister of Georgia, who wanted it for his garden. Jashi branches out with BDE.

“Structurally, I wanted to make a film whose experience was akin to peeling back layers of truth, one that seems like a history documentary but becomes a psychological thriller.” UK docmaker Sam Hobkinson talks to BDE about his Sundance selection Misha And The Wolves.

Andrea Prenghyová, Project Director of dok.incubator, tells Business Doc Europe what project teams should expect during the 2021 post-production workshops, and in return what she is demanding from this year’s submissions. “The most important thing for our selection is the material and its originality,” she stresses. “We are simply looking for good films.”