Interviews

Louisiana Mees-Fongang’s feature doc debut concerns 15 unaccompanied minors living in a community centre who had previously arrived in Belgium as refugees. “Part of their reality is complex and hard. They had tough moments. But, at the same time, they’re young, active and full of energy and potential. This is also something I really found important to show,” the director tells Business Doc Europe.

In his 2018 feature documentary Breathless, Daniel Lambo took on the asbestos industry. In his new project Porto Central, (a documentary feature pitch at Connext), Lambo has Shell and the oil industry firmly in his sights. “Usually, that is a motor for my work. When I get kind of angry, I need to do something with this anger,” Lambo tells BDE of what motivates him as a filmmaker.

Kathleen McInnis is both Connext moderator and trainer/mentor to the film teams presenting their new projects and works-in-progress in 2023. “I believe firmly in what I call the Cinematic Trinity, which is filmmaker as artist, audience at the other end, and in the middle the industry as conduit," she explains to BDE of the message she is driving home to the professionals in her charge. "You need all three parts of these to be engaged in the process of visual storytelling."

It’s over 30 years now since the night skies of Belgium were lit up by what seemed to be an invasion of UFOs. All these decades later, there is still fierce debate as to whether the visitation from the UFOs happened for real or whether it was an elaborate hoax. Bram Conjaerts’ new doc series project attempts to get to the bottom of the unsolved mystery. The director talks to BDE.

Three brothers wish to honour their dying father by fulfilling his dream. But there’s one major snag, the dream is insane, and entails crossing the Atlantic Ocean on two floating cars without any sailing experience. This is the premise of Jesus Garcès Lambert’s new documentary feature project Ocean Drive, pitched at MIA 2023 and produced by industry veteran Alessandro Lostia for Rome-based Indigo Stories.

The Rome-based 5-day market opens its doors October 9, promising a feast of doc activities, at the core of which is the presentation of new Italian and international projects and a celebration of new local output (Italians Doc It Better). Panels will assess the fertile ground for high level collaboration between Italian and European docmakers, while speakers include Sara Bernstein, president of Imagine Documentaries, in conversation with MIA director Gaia Tridente. Marco Spagnoli talks to BDE.

Emmy Oost (Cassette for timescapes) is one of Belgium’s most innovative producers whose work invariably has a strong sense of political and social engagement. One such work is the new doc series She They Us - Towards an Equal Future by Sam Peeters, Heleen Declercq and Zaïde Bil which profiles seven people facing discrimination because of gender, sexuality, colour, age, class and religion. The producer talks to BDE.

“This year, it is quite obvious that filmmakers have gone out again, looking further…it was possible again after the lockdowns to go out into the world,” the Leipzig boss tells BDE about one of the trends within his 2023 programme. He also fulfils a longstanding ambition in 2023. For the first time, DOK Leipzig will host an International Competition for animated film.

On the face of it, the images we see in the post-war home films of Rose, the grandma of German director Annika Mayer, reflect nothing other than domestic bliss, good health and affluence, all set against a backdrop of the country’s economic recovery. But the footage we see hides 23 years of domestic violence, which is revealed by 90-year-old Rose as she is shown once more the Super-8 chronicle of her earlier life. The director talks to BDE.

During the busy days of Nordisk Panorama Forum 2023, Business Doc Europe caught up with Klara Nilsson Grunning, a commissioner at the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) and one of the body’s decision-makers for documentary features, international co-productions, series and digital storytelling.