Interviews

Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov talks to Business Doc Europe about 20 Days In Mariupol, a Dutch premiere in Best of Fests and already an Oscar contender. The film is sold by Dogwoof. “What I didn’t want to do was to impose any feelings or judgements on the audience by being too emotional or over-analysing. But at the same time, I needed to show care. I am part of this society. I am part of this country,” says Chernov.

“What I seek is added value, films that add value to the life of the viewer and…to the art of filmmaking itself,” Orwa Nyrabia tells Business Doc Europe on the eve of Amsterdam’s celebration of all things doc. “Originality, authenticity, imagination, innovation, artistic integrity, stylistic coherence…all lead to the hope that this adds value and meaning to the human condition.” The 36th IDFA runs November 8 - 19.

Laura McGann’s feature documentary tells the story of a love which seemed predestined, between two people who were driven by their dedication to the perilous sport of freediving: Alessia Zecchini, an Italian world champion diver, and Irish Stephen Keenan, an adventurer who devoted his life to making sure divers came back up alive. The director discusses her film, which deals, in equal measure, with endurance, danger and death.

In his new film, Nôs Dança (a world premiere earlier this week in Doclisboa’s Heartbeat section) Rui Lopes da Silva accompanies his friend, dancer and choreographer António Tavares, on an epic journey across the Cape Verde islands. “The idea of the film began at a New Year’s party at the house of a friend. During that night, we danced all the styles of dance of Cape Verde,” the director tells BDE.

Czech producer/director/festival chief Veronika Janatková talked to Business Doc Europe after she was presented as one of Ji.hlava’s Emerging Producers of 2023. “I believe that through film one can perceive and consider society differently, and pay attention to those that are not in power. Film can be the fuel for action,” she underlines.

If you’re Estonian, then it’s a great time to be a docmaker, as evidenced by the ongoing acclaim for Anna Hints’ Smoke, Sauna, Sisterhood. Another top Estonian is Liis Nimik, whose Sundial (which she also directed) was selected for the Hot Docs Changing Face of Europe programme in April 2023 and who, this week, has been enjoying the attentions of the international doc community as one of this year’s Emerging Producer cohort this year.

Pioneering new Brazilian political doc The Chamber/A Câmara (a world premiere in Doclisboa’s From The Earth To The Moon section) takes viewers deep into Brazil’s Chamber Of Deputies late during the highly controversial presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. The film follows the politicians in classic fly on the wall style - and all its subjects are female. The directors talk to Business Doc Europe.

“I started the film 20 years ago,” Ricardo Leite says of his feature documentary, whose full title reads ‘Lucefece: Where there is no vision, the people will perish.’ At film school, the director was part of a collective which made experimental shorts - and the new doc has links to the work he was doing then. “I saw this film was a way to find my own path, my own language, but still with references from the school.”

The new short film, directed by Dutch filmmakers Jefta Varwijk and Jaap van Heusden, focuses on paramedic Louis who recounts a series of horrific and traumatic events experienced in the line of duty over the course of 23 years. It is a film that demonstrates more graphically than most how, once seen, some things just cannot be unseen. “These are images that are etched into their retinas or etched into their souls,” Varwijk tells Business Doc Europe.

Czech filmmaker Petr Jančárek is not apologetic about his huge admiration for former President Václav Havel (1936-2011), the subject of his new feature documentary, Havel Speaking, Can You Hear Me?, which opens this year’s Ji.hlava IDFF. “It’s actually true that Havel is perceived differently abroad than at home. Czech society is quite sharply divided between his admirers and those who actually hate him - literally,” the director tells BDE.