Interviews

Dutch director Festus Toll discusses his provocative short film which tells the story of Ne Kuko, a 19th Century chieftain in Boma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who was duped into passing his land over to an unscrupulous Belgian colonialist. The film also appeals for the return of stolen objects, some of enormous spiritual value, from the museums of Europe.

Jagoda and Zuzia, two smart, articulate and very funny young Polish teenagers talk about life as they see it in Aga Borzym’s charming doc selected for IDFA Youth Competition. “Generally, Polish documentaries like to show really tough topics,” says the director, “It’s not so [usual] to have a documentary where the protagonists are kids.”

It’s like The Apprentice, but on steroids. But unlike that Trumpian gift to television, the candidates in Piet Baumgartner’s The Driven Ones are seriously smart (potential) entrepreneurs. In the film we meet five students on the world-renowned Masters program at the Swiss University of St. Gallen. But student life accounts for a mere quarter of the film. Because Baumgartner then follows his subjects into the wider world to see how they put theory into practice. The director gets down to business with BDE.

US director Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, The First Wave) was in Amsterdam during IDFA this weekend. He gave a Q&A following a Soho House screening of his new feature doc American Symphony (available globally on Netflix on 29 November) that follows the Grammy and Oscar winning musical maestro Jon Batiste as he composes a major new work. Heineman also spoke to Business Doc Europe about the film.

In Karim Sayad’s highly cinematic 2G, world-premiering at IDFA, the Niger government’s ban on unlawful migrant transportation forces four former smugglers to reassess their future prospects, which mainly involves digging for gold in the desert. The film is made with a ‘western’ visual aesthetic, Sayad tells BDE. “They are modern cowboys. Instead of riding horses they drive a Toyota Hilux or ride motor bikes across the desert.”

Elvis Sabin Ngaibino talks to Business Doc Europe about his new film, which concerns living with the stigma of AIDS within the Central African Republic. “The AIDS virus has wreaked too much havoc in Africa and it continues to do so. Among all the continents, Africa has paid the heaviest price. Therefore, I think it’s vital to present [this film] in my country and at African festivals,” Ngaibino explains.

Girl Away from Home follows 13-year-old Nastia, an elite gymnast from Kyiv who, after winning the Ukrainian championship with her tightknit group of friends, is forced to flee to Germany with her grandmother due to war in Ukraine. “What does it mean for a kid to be driven out of their own country? That’s why we decided to follow up in Germany,” Danish Wilmont explains.

In his funny and melancholic “coming of old age” doc, Rogier Kappers looks to overcome a mid-life crisis by making, and going on the road with, a glass organ, a musical instrument comprised of water-filled drinking glasses. “The film is about all these existential questions we all have; love, how to be happy, how to be someone meaningful or what to do with your life, what to dream about, and what the purpose of life actually is,” says Kappers.

It’s now almost exactly 20 years since Saddam Hussein, the toppled President of Iraq, was discovered by US troops hiding in a hole in remote farmland. The story of Alaa Namiq, the farmer who harboured the world’s most wanted man, is told in the new feature doc from Norwegian-Kurdish filmmaker, Halkawt Mustafa. “It took me four years to make him feel sure he wanted to tell his story!” the director tells BDE of his subject.

The IDFA offer to doc professionals is very much in evidence again in 2023, with 64 projects selected for Forum, a Docs for Sale catalogue of 350+ projects and a series of talks that underline the “solidarity” with the filmmakers for whom the festival exists, both to promote and serve. “The filmmakers…are our ears and eyes in society, and it is very important to remember that we should give space to them to make their work possible,” says Industry Head Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen.