A key component of the First Hand Films IDFA 2021 slate is the Forum rough cut presentation of Polish Hanka Nobis’ project Brotherhood, that concerns a conflicted young man who by day espouses extreme Catholicism, xenophobia, homophobia and celibacy within a hardline organisation, but at night wants to let it all out and meet women at techno parties.
First Hand Films CEO Esther van Messel decided to produce the project after meeting the director in Warsaw in 2019, and since persuaded HBO Europe and MDR/ARTE to come onboard. “Now we’re in this very normal space for documentaries where we’re in financing, in editing, in production and in post-production at the same time.”
“She’s very creatively intelligent or intelligently creative,” says van Messel about director Nobis. “She’s an incredible talent. It’s really my privilege to work with her.” First Hand is also working on Nobis’ next project, titled So-called Sisterhood, in which Margot, Łania and Lu live in a lesbian threesome and comprise the queer collective ‘Stop the Bullshit’. Together they fight against the conservative, oppressive norms and arbitrary police violence in today’s Poland, a divided nation, reads the synopsis.
Van Messel tells BDE that she passed on a number of titles in IDFA selection in 2021 but has been working as a consultant on Norwegian Håvard Bustnes’ Name of the Game in Luminous. The film follows popular Norwegian politician Trond Giske on a comeback campaign after allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour towards young staff members within the Labour party are levelled at him. “It is a very local but also universal story, excellently made and I like the crew a lot,” says van Messel.
Producer/sales doyenne van Messel points out how she divides her time 50:50 between business and creative concerns, stressing the company’s mantra of ‘Passion for eQuality.’ “As an entrepreneur my priority is always to do first what brings me money and to do less what costs me money. That’s just as an entrepreneur, but as an artist or as a creative in this industry, I will always choose passion above everything else.”
She cites her recent production, top-selling festival favourite A-ha: The Movie (on which she was exec-producer) which, if made elsewhere, could have been more “loud”, given the band’s ongoing global appeal, she says, and less artistic.
“It’s a good film with a very courageous ending that is not bam, bam,” she says, indicating the doc’s inherent sense of nuance and understatement. It’s very close to the people and it’s actually a film about creativity. It’s not a film about a band. It’s about what people do for music. And I know that if I had done it with a streamer, it would look different. I think we as creatives, we absolutely have to rethink how we want to tell the stories, so they really reach audiences, while we do not sell our soul.”
As regards IDFA, van Messel can’t wait to get back into the swing of things. “We’re in a business of emotions. We’re not selling chairs or glasses. We’re selling stories,” she says. Of course, she did the treadmill of Zoom and suchlike, and successfully extended her company over this period with the addition of a production fund, but “the little magic moments,” were missing.
But the vibe is returning slowly, she says, citing a busy MIA in Rome when she spent a lot of time with Salma Abdalla from Autlook.
“She’s so smart and dedicated and knowledgeable and I always learn stuff. These serendipitous things would never happen outside of a physical kind of ‘come on, let’s have a drink here, kind of thing,’ which has not been happening. For me and for our work, it is really important to meet people.”
