Interviews

Ukrainian Iryna Tsylik presented her animated docudrama project Red Zone, about life during just one day of war, last week at EFM. “I chose an animated format for this film because, I believe, it can address even the most intimate and painful experiences safely but accurately,” she comments. “Animation pairs beautifully with my personal art form, poetry. Unlike a more traditional documentary, these two art forms can express the absurdities of my mundane life (which is really anything but mundane), with just the right amount of humour and a hint of magic.”

The only documentary in 2026 Berlin Competition, YO (Love is a Rebellious Bird) is a paean to love and friendship, and told using puppets. It details the close relationship between director Anna Fitch and her best friend Yolanda Shea, 50 years her senior. “It feels good, and I feel like the process of bringing it [the film] to the world is very dynamic and alive, and Yo feels present in that too,” Fitch tells Business Doc Europe before the February 20 world premiere.

Around Paradise is a film of opposites and extremes, of myths, legends and beliefs. Set in a poor region of Paraguay, it is also a film about neo-colonialism, as practised by “settlers” from around the world [many of whom are German]. Meanwhile, locals such as students Will and Yoha are trying to eke out a living. “We were actually there to listen and to explore," director Lokshina tells BDE. "This is how we work in general... we are genuinely interested in understanding the dynamics of the places we are spending time in, getting an idea of what's driving the people who we interact with.”

Two tragic stories are at the heart of What Will I Become? the new feature documentary from Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos (premiering in Generation 14plus and sold by Taskovski Films). Blake Brockington and Kyler Prescott were both young trans men. They were very different personalities. Blake was extrovert and charismatic, the “homecoming king” at his high school in North Carolina. Kyler was a quieter, more reflective personality, a poet and a musician. Both were to end up committing suicide. The directors discuss their film with BDE.

Finlay Pretsell’s documentary on the great Scottish artist, sold by Autlook and produced by Sonja Henrici and Pretsell himself, is as close as you can come to watching a major talent in full flow. “I was fascinated by what makes a great artist tick, I suppose,” the director tells BDE. “He’s almost in some sort of trance, making this work. This would take hours. We would often spend 12 to 15 hours [a day] in the studio.”

Traces, selected for Berlin’s Panorama section, addresses head-on the collective trauma suffered by survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), as perpetrated by the Russian military on Ukrainian women and men since 2014. More so, the film is about the refusal to remain silent, and centres on Iryna Dovhan, head of SEMA Ukraine, who documents the testimonies of survivors. “You see these women, you see their faces. They're not covered. They're not blurred. They're ready to talk. They're ready to sacrifice their privacy for the sake of truth,” co-director Kovalenko tells BDE.

Tristan da Cunha may be the most remote inhabited island on the planet, but it is nevertheless the place where Loran Bonnardot, a piano-playing doctor from Paris, is determined to settle. His existentialist journey, part-fictionalised, is chronicled by Swiss director Tobias Nölle. “I saw in Loran a castaway from our hyper-competitive society, seeking an authenticity we’ve lost, on an island secluded from our war-torn world; a dream I wanted to transform into a cinematic experience,” he says.

In her new feature doc, a deep longing for motherhood, intensified by relentless pressure from those around her, compels a woman (Alejandra) to stage a false pregnancy, which leads to her eventual exposure and incarceration. “I always think reality is stranger than fiction,” Alberdi tells BDE. “I thought the events were extraordinary but, at the same time, quickly I connected with the questions about the depression of motherhood.”

The first documentary ever to open Berlinale’s Generation Kplus section, Brazilian Eliza Capai’s delightful feature engages the talents of a group of young girls to examine the business of…well, being young girls. As well as some other big topics, such as death and religion and their future lives. “I felt it was really powerful, because when we laugh about these topics in this crazy world, we are able to think about these topics,” Capai tells BDE of her experience with the girls. “We were able to create empathy.”

Business Doc Europe interviews Isa Willinger, one of seven German film talents selected for German Films’ Face to Face showcase of February 16. In her recent feature doc No Mercy (2025), sold by Cinephil, Willinger interviewed a series of other female filmmakers who inspire her today. “Film is really a more popular medium,” says the former academic. “For me, it was always important to communicate with an audience - and not just a super tiny niche audience.”