Interviews

Melt is a movie that intends to wrap its audience in a giant white shawl; to explore snow in all its manifestations and guises - and, yes, we do also see penguins traipsing across icy landscapes. But it also offers a grim reflection on how snow is an element in retreat. “If this film had had the title ‘Climate Change,’ nobody would have wanted to see it,” he reflects. “I’m not expecting a film like this to change the world, of course not, but consciousness is the beginning for any change…you can raise awareness!”

White Smoke over Schwarze Pumpe, selected for German Competition at DOK Leipzig, is a film of two halves, looking at working class life in an East German industrial town. The first part was shot by Peter Badel and Dieter Chill just after reunification, the second half between 2019 and 2025 by Badel and Martin Gressmann, the latter of whom answers questions posed by Business Doc Europe.

Some see OnlyFans as purveyors of “fair-trade” porn, allowing content creators control over their business from the safety of their home. Others see it as no less exploitative in its objectification of women than pornography has ever been. “It's consensual from both sides, so that's why we decided that we want to do it in a very observational way,” Czech producer Pavla Klimešová tells Business Doc Europe of her Ji.hlava opener Virtual Girlfriends. “We just wanted to shoot the situation and make the viewer make the decision about what they think.”

Swiss audiences may be startled by Gregor Brändli’s new feature premiering in International Competition at DOK Leipzig, and sold by Filmotor. The film looks at the very troubling legacy of the Swiss naturalists Paul and Fritz Sarasin who looted huge amounts of sacred objects and even body parts from Sri Lanka in the late 19th and early 20th Century. “We always grew up with the narrative that we didn’t have colonies and so we’re the good guys,” the director tells BDE, and therefore hopes the film will spark discussions about this little-known side of Swiss history.

The 29th edition of Ji.hlava IDFF, the most important docfest within the CEE region and one of key staging posts within the global yearly calendar, kicks off October 24 with the world premiere of Virtual Girlfriends by Czech director Barbora Chalupová. The opening film may be Czech, but the festival is solidly international in outlook. “It is important for us to connect films from all over Europe in the program, to create a place where filmmakers from the North and South, as well as from the West and East, can meet,” festival director Marek Hovorka tells BDE.

The outgoing Artistic Director of the world’s oldest docfest is in feisty mood, specifically on the defence of culture, as evidenced by his choice of Claire Simon’s Writing Life: Annie Ernaux Through the Eyes of High School Students as opening film. “[It] shows in exemplary fashion how important culture is in our lives, and how it shapes us as human beings…In these times, when culture institutions are being asked to spend less, and effectively reach fewer people, it is important to insist the work that we are doing is fundamental,” he tells BDE. The 68th edition of DOK Leipzig runs 27 Oct to 2 Nov. 

Roberto Rossellini - Living Without A Script is the latest production from B&B Film, the company which also made the hit 2020 documentary, The Rossellinis, about the great director’s colourful and eccentric family dynasty. In their new film, Ilaria de Laurentius, Andrea Paolo Mascara and Raffaele Brunetti place the focus firmly on Rossellini himself. “I think I discovered not so much the filmmaker, but Rossellini the man, his fragility and his contradictions,” co-director de Laurentiis tells BDE.

Director Chai Vasarhelyi is fulsome in her praise for courageous and “diligent” conflict photographer Lynsey Addario, the subject of the new National Geographic feature doc Love+War. Wherever she is, Addario has “the discipline to do the work to an excellent, uncompromising level…and what is so special about her work is the heart, humanity and emotion she brings to it,” she says. Addario joins Vasarhelyi in conversation with BDE.

“We need to care for the people that bring the films here, and we need to care for the people that come to watch the films - it's like a mantra,” director Helder Beja tells BDE on the eve of Doclisboa 2025. The Portuguese docfest (Oct 16 to 26) presents 211 films from 54 countries, which include 93 feature films and 118 shorts. Thirty-nine of the films play as world premieres, while 31 films are made by Portuguese filmmakers. The 23rd edition of Doclisboa opens October 16 with Palestinian Kamal Aljafari’s With Hasan in Gaza.

Filmmaker Antonio Palumbo and co-writer Mariangela Barbanente talk to BDE about their urgent new project which demands justice for a horrific murder committed over 40 years ago. “We do not want to merely recount a crime story,” the creative team tells BDE. “We want to honour Palmina’s life, showcasing her dreams and aspirations as a young girl against the backdrop of poverty in Puglia during the 1970s and 1980s.”