Hubert Sauper and Millennium Docs Against Gravity’s Artur Liebhart (pic: Ludwik Lis)
Millennium Docs Against Gravity’s Artur Liebhart reflects on the success of his hybrid festival, held across seven cities in Poland September 4-13* and online September 19-October 4.
“It was a very ambitious if not a cheeky plan, but once cinemas opened again at the end of June we gradually started to prepare the festival with a rising optimism,” comments Millennium Docs Against Gravity director Artur Liebhart of the 17th edition of his festival. “During the opening evening I asked the question to the audience ‘who is the first time in the cinema after lockdown?’ 80% of the audience raised their hands. I was very happy that MDAG obviously was that event not to be missed, despite the odds, and could bring thousands back to cinemas in Poland.”
The live component of the festival attracted an audience of 65,000 spectators which, given the considerably reduced capacity per venue was, for Liebhart, a very satisfying turn-out. “It was difficult to have steady expectations back in the summer. We could not compare that situation to anything in the past,” he says. “What we knew was hard facts of a 94,000 audience during the 2019 edition of the festival and a strong conviction that the film program we proposed this year is fabulous and that the media love MDAG. Only the very good numbers of ticket presale triggered expectations. The score of 65,000 tickets sold in those circumstances was probably the best one in the pandemic festival world so far.”
“That first physical film festival in Poland after lockdown brought back the feeling of a community of authors and audience despite the strict anti-Covid regulations and only 50% seats available,” he adds. 160 films were screened live, of which 154 were Polish premieres.
The subsequent online roll-out, which attracted an estimated audience of 102,000 spectators, comprised 125 films with 4 online premieres, says Liebhart. The online program was augmented with new and recorded Q&A sessions and panel discussions. (This is in addition to the 110,000 online visitors who gravitated towards the May 2020 Docs Against Isolation online event organised by Liebhart.)
“We set a separate PR and marketing campaign for the online festival also with stars of Polish cinema and other celebrity recommendations of the films,” the festival director comments. “We had great feedback after the cinema festival, so the online live Q and A sessions went in a different atmosphere. Filmmakers were very happy. David Franz (Welcome to Chechnya, who wasn’t in Poland for the event), named MDAG his highlight of the year. Hubert Sauper’s (Epicentro) masterclass in the cinema was well attended with 145 audience and then 850 viewers online so far.”
“The relief and joy of the success brought by the detailed plan and painstaking execution was one of the best professional experiences I had,” he adds
So how will the 2020 experience shape the future development of the festival? “To reach a new audience has been in our DNA from the first edition,” Liebhart responds. “By executing two online film events this year we set the mind for a quick launch of our own VOD service with a strong education component for all levels of teaching. The five university faculties we supply with documentary films have switched from cinema to online during the time of pandemic. I guess festival in cinemas and online will be a normal practice. Our current and future audiences are expecting this operandum. We want to stay with them all over the year in the cinemas and online.”
“I learnt that the documentary industry has a big chance now to gain new audiences,” he adds of the doc response to Covid in 2020. “The same type of problems [as endured by fiction] hit the doc industry but as far as I know documentary filmmakers are more flexible and have more freedom in the artistic process. Festivals responded very differently to the crisis and learned faster than their feature counterparts. But it is still a time for a “big check” among documentary festivals. In my opinion, festivals caring most for audience growth will survive.”
Liebhart, who also runs distribution outfit Against Gravity, further notes how, “as for the future plans, we keep buying films. Our last acquisitions include I am Greta and The Painter and the Thief and many titles for VOD.”
* Warsaw, Wrocław, Poznań, Katowice, Lublin, and Bydgoszcz. The Gdynia edition of the festival started a little later and ran to September 18.
