Transmedia means telling a story via several different media platforms and giving the audience the option to participate. This does not mean that the story is just ‘displaced’ from one platform to the next: true transmedia stories use each platform to add something new to the overall narrative.
This is one of the first and the most successful transmedia project.
And this is the ultimate guide to transmedia.
KISMET - How Turkish Soap Operas Change the World
directed by Nina Maria Paschalidou premieres at idfa on 23.11
Have you ever watched a Turkish soap opera? What to you think about them?
Turkish soap operas are incredibly popular - and not just in Turkey. Throughout the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans and Asia, millions of viewers are glued to every episode of series such as Noor, Fatmagul, Suleiman and Life Goes On. The Turkish cities used as locations have become tourist attractions, and huge numbers of parents name their children after the main characters. Kismet seeks out the secrets behind the soaps, which while breaking taboos also count many strict Christians and Muslims among their loyal audience. The film alternates interviews with the stars, directors, and scriptwriters with analyses by sociologists and portraits of faithful fans - most of them female - from Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Athens, Mostar, Sofia and Istanbul. The soaps transcend cultural and religious boundaries, and their devotees see them as much more than a temporary escape from their often dismal social reality. They may swoon at the hotly debated romantic intrigues, but they are also emboldened by the female characters, all of whom are strong, independent fighters. Alongside illustrative scenes from the series, the documentary brings us the personal stories of women who followed in the footsteps of their heroines to fight for their rights, and to ultimately break free of oppressed lives.
Watch the trailer.
Sussanne Guggenberger organized DOK-Talks.
There are over 4000 festivals in the world! At the Dok talks of Dok Leipzig we had the possibility to get to know – hear little more about, Krakow Film Festival, the Docu Festival in Kosovo, the Moscow Film Festival, Dok Outlook International Market, Cinema Du reel in Paris, Sheffield Doc Fest, Bratislava Doc festival, CineDoc in Athens, Tempo Documentary Festival in Stockholm Sweden and Chopshots Documentary Film Festival held in April in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Krakow Film Festival was founded in 1961. It is held end of May-beginning of June, after Cannes and before Sheffield, and has a new exiting category: Music Docs! This year they also have a special country tribute to Britain. They are looking for author-driven docs; the stories should be universal, and the premiers must take place in Poland.
There may be no cinemas in Kosovo, yet the Dokufest.com organizers created eight cinemas in public spaces! There they festival is held every year in August. They topics are human rights, environment, youth, films from the Balkan area. This year they have the theme
Breaking borders. They submission begins on Friday 1st November and ends in March. The Kosovo doc festival made it into to create cine clubs in highshools and schools and they hold a program called Future is here. This aim is to help students up to 25 years to try to produce short docs in 7 days.
Moscow has a very popular and successful Film Festival with a small doc section. And they have created a strand in television for their films.
Visions du Reel,
in Nyon, Switzerland, focus on director-driven films with an emphasis on cinematographic language and is held in the end of April. Next year they have a special on Tunisia. The festival is a Doc Alliance member and has a very strong market.
Cinema Du Reel
is a festival held at the Centre Pompidou, in Paris. All topics are fine with them, as long as the film has an author point of view, is director-driven, with a signature, or follows the rules of cinéma vérité. They don’t have a market but next year they will organize special screenings for professionals. Deadline for submissions: March 20-30.
Sheffield Doc Fest is a big and important documentary festival in Britain. They have 20.000 visitors and the festival is held in June. There are screenings, a market and a conference. Submissions are online until 25/1. They have several awards; one of them is the Green award. They care about topical stories with a strong point of view. Their Meet Market is a one-to-one meeting place where 65 projects are pitched to the 300 decision makers. Sheffield makes a lot of matchmaking work! There is also a cross-platform program where new formats and hybrid interactive docs find their place. They cooperate with the documentary campus. Hint: don't miss their parties – especially the roller disco!
Check out filmfestivallife.com! They have 800 festivals listed and counting. And they do a great job helping directors not only to find the right festival, but also to apply easily.
See also my post Festivalitis.
The Industry talks start tonight with the profile of a few quite interesting international festivals. Moderated by Susanne Guggenberger in the Pfeffermühle Café, the Talks with industry experts and producers/filmmakers,cover topics such as distribution and marketing options for your film and transmedia project, as well as specifics of markets, their players and introductions to festival programmers. So tonight we will meet festival programmers and find out what they are looking for! Neasa Ni Chianain, Guth Gafa International Documentary Festival, Falcarragh, Ireland (tbc), Galla Bador, Doc Aviv, Tel Aviv, Teddy Grouya, American Documentary FF, Palm Springs, Lulu Ratna, Doc Shot Indonesia,Yogyakarta (tbc), and Ana de la Rose Zamboni, IFF Guadalajara, Mexico.
If you want to know more about festivals check out filmfestivallife.com.
This year’s important novelty is the SEED initiative launched by Restart and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre alongside six other regional partners with the aim of promoting documentary films made in Southeast Europe.
SEED – South East European Documentaries, is the initiative launched by Restart from Zagreb in association with the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and several regional partners: Bulgarian National Film Centre, Film Center Serbia, Slovenian Film Centre, Macedonian Film Fund, Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, and Balkan Documentary Center from Bulgaria. The aim of the initiative is to draw attention to regional co-production potentials, present the latest films to other festival programmers and stimulate networking between documentary filmmakers in the region and beyond.
Several Croatian films have also been included in the DOK market (and SEED also published a catalogue). These are Gangster of Love by Nebojša Slijepčević (nominated also at Prix Europa 2013), Occupation, The 27th Picture by Pavo Marinković, The Verdict by Đuro Gavran and Velvet Terrorists by Peter Kerekeš.
PRIX EUROPA - Best European TV Documentary of the Year 2013
THE PUNK SYNDROME - A FILM ABOUT PERTTI KURIKAN NIMIPÄIVÄT / Kovasikajuttu Directed by Jukka kärkkäinen, J-P Passi
entered by Yle, Finland, produced by Mouka Filmi, co-produced by Indie Film, Auto Images, Film I Skåne
This film is about Finland’s most kick-ass punk rock band, Pertti kurikan Nimipäivät. The band members, Pertti, kari, Toni and Sami, are mentally
handicapped and they play their music with a lot of attitude and pride. We follow these professional musicians on their journey from obscurity
to popularity. We watch them fight, fall in love and experience strong emotions. We witness long days in the recording studio and on tour.
They laugh, cry, drink and fight over who gets to sit in the front on the tour bus. Then it is time to make up and go talk to people in the audience
and tell them how great their band is. Their songs are about the problems in society as well as about things that
they face in their everyday life: how going to the pedicurist sucks and the misery of living in a group home. The guys give a piece of their minds
to both politicians and people whose attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities need improvement.
This film is about the essence of punk. It is a story of handicapped people rebelling against the mainstream. This time you are allowed to stare and
wonder why they act the way they do. And you will fall in love with them as you watch how the most kick-ass punk band in Finland conquers the
world.
trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM58kP_JHkQ
and at the category of
TV IRIS - Under the Patronage of the Dutch Public Broadcaster NTR
PRIX EUROPA Best Intercultural TV Programme of the Year 2013
the documentary
DISPLACED PERSSONS / Familjen Persson I främmande land, Directed by åsa Blanck and Johan Palmgren
Per Persson left Sweden 40 years ago in search of adventures. He drove eastward in his Land Rover and ended up in Pakistan where he
fell in love with Shamim. They married, settled down in Lahore and had two daughters, Zahra and Maria. Per raised his daughters to be free and
strong women which wasn’t very popular with neighbours and relatives. As Zahra and Maria grew older the family felt more and more threatened
by the surrounding society. At last, when the girls are in their mid-twenties, the family takes the difficult decision to move to southern Sweden, back to Per’s roots. Shamim, Zahra and Maria have great hope for their lives in the new country but once in Sweden nothing turns out as expected. The family have to live in a small caravan while being stuck in the Swedish bureaucracy, with endless meetings and paperwork. Money is scarce and their dreams slowly fades away.
After a while Zahra falls in love with Aun, a fellow Pakistani also trying to find a new life in Sweden. When Aun’s Swedish visa expires he moves
back to Pakistan and from there he proposes to Zahra, which she accepts. After a tearful goodbye Zahra leaves for Pakistan but promises she will be
back in Sweden, in a year or so. In the meantime Per, Shamim and Maria slowly begin to build a decent life in Sweden and especially Maria likes
her new country more and more. And finally, after years of longing, the family is reunited when Zahra and
Aun comes back to Sweden.With them they bring their son Lille-Pelle, Per’s first grandson. The whole family celebrate and rejoice, but will they live happily ever after?
Well, as Per says: ‘Right now things are pretty good, but how the future will be? Inshallah!’
entered by SVT, Sweden, produced by Strix, co-produced by The Swedish Filminstitute, NRK, Yle
http://www.svt.se/kultur/film/familjen-persson-i-frammande-land
More about Prix Europa here.
WATCH my presentations of the ARTE THEME GREEK DAY on August 15 2013 on YouTube!
Available in German (original language) and French.
PRESENTATIONS in GERMAN : http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlQWnS27jXh8tc9hu53lhwlwfQYlJYLmE
PRESENTATIONS in FRENCH : http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmfiCnVD2LL6kKEXGltuRbemuVYD2jwjY
In 25 years, Michael Haneke established himself as one of the most important directors in cinema history. From his early work to AMOUR, he created a unique universe, revealing like no other the dregs of our society, or existential fears and emotional outbursts. Through the vision of his actors and previously unseen footage, MICHAEL H. depicts the work of a rare artist. 
Yves Montmayeur talked to Dimitra Kouzi about his new documentary Michael H. Profession: Director when visiting Athens for the screening at CineDoc on October 9, 2013.
Listen to the interview he gave me (in English).
Watch the official trailer.
Konstantinos Georgousis was born in Athens, Greece in 1980. He holds a degree in Social Anthropology from Pantion University, Athens. In 2007 he continued his postgraduate studies in Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Documentary at the University of Manchester, UK. Having discovered his passion for documentary, he joined the National Film and Television School. He graduated from the school in March 2013. His latest film, “THE CLEANERS” follows the pre-election campaign of the neo-Nazi party “Golden Dawn”.
What was the role of the Greek media with respect to the Golden Dawn in your opinion?
In the beginning, about one and a half year ago, the Greek media were a bit ignorant of the neo-Nazi identity of Golden Dawn. A lot of journalists were treating Golden Dawn as a common political party, let alone that some journalists and TV broadcasters supported them intentionally. Moreover, they were presented as a tough attractive life style for youngsters and so on. Lately, especially after the arrests, corporate media became more critical and try to expose the Nazi past and present of Golden Dawn. However, there are still a lot of awkward approaches, since a lot of reporters have no idea who these people really are.
You are a Visual Anthropologist – how do your studies influence your point of view and your approach to your film, The Cleaners?
As a visual anthropologist I am trained to approach every social context quite differently than the majority of journalists and directors. I have developed extreme patience and the ability to live with aggressive people for extended periods of time. The anthropological technique helped me approach Golden Dawn members slowly and with the necessary persistence I managed to gain access and film them. It is “participant observation”, a method initially applied by anthropologists and now wide spread in other social sciences, that helped me coexist with Golden Dawnists.
What does the film show and what does it not?
In the movie you can watch Golden Dawn members being openly racist in front of the camera and actually being proud of it. You can see the banality of their cruel and vulgar behaviour, full of resentment. Their need for scapegoats and victims is more than obvious. You will not see knives and killings or any actual physical violence.
What are your sources of inspiration? Which issues in Greece interest you?
That’s a very difficult question to answer. My interests are not limited around politics like the neo-Nazi movement for example. I had a great interest in the Golden Dawn issue as I have experienced their politics since I was an adolescent but now I want to move to different issues. For me it is not the issue that it is important but the aesthetics of a film which actually make the movie work. Having said that, every issue can be turned into a good film if the director knows what he/she is doing and tries to make a movie and not reportage for TV.
What is it that makes you prefer to live outside Greece?
Living abroad is not that easy as Greeks believe but there is a big difference, especially being a director, compared to living in Greece. In our country there are not enough “critical minorities” involved in the art world or even in academia. There are not enough specialists willing to build a context in which artists and thinkers can operate creatively. I write better film proposals when I live in London that when I am in Greece. I think Greek society is very conservative and people who want to do something different can easily disappear in the wrong context. I want to make films with Greece as a location but not live in the country.
What’s your take on the state of political affairs in Greece today?
What would you change in the country’s policy if you had a magic wand?
I am sure the biggest problem of Greek politics is definitely the presence of Golden Dawn in the parliament and the increasing support to the extreme right in general by Greek society. It is inconceivable to hear MPs deny the holocaust and who are openly Nazis inside the parliament of the “cradle of democracy”. It is disappointing to watch Greeks becoming fascists so easily.
What is the role of aesthetics in a documentary film?
Aesthetics for a film is almost everything. Stories are important but actually not that important. Through the aesthetics of a film, through image and sound, our perception changes and that is how we become able to experience a film and live the apocalypse of it. Documentaries which stand on the side of journalism are indifferent to me. I do not believe that revelations are important for a society.
How did you intend the filming and the shots you chose for The Cleaners to function?
I want the audience to be able to experience the film like being on location with Golden Dawn members. That is why the film is purely observational. I want people to feel the resentment of the neo-Nazis and in the end to feel that they cannot take more. I tried to make a film with good aesthetics so the audience can feel the sense of place, the neighbourhood and not only listen to what people say. It is more important how the film looks that what the characters say. That is why I don’t like interview films which are often very dry and the sense of place is absent.
What is your opinion about script in documentaries – does it fit cinéma vérité?
The script in observational cinema is a challenging issue. When you propose an idea to a production company you have to prove that you will follow a certain path so commissioning editors will give you funding. But life is unpredictable so an observational movie is always made on the way and it’s always transforming. I do believe though that the director should know where he/she is going especially in terms of aesthetics and form of the film. Script in the sense of fiction movies and storyboards are almost impossible to be prepared in observational cinema.
Your model is Victor Kosakovsky. How did he inspire you in this film?
Kossakovsky is kind of a lonely fighter in the documentary industry. But we do need people like him. Without directors like Kossakovsky the art of documentary would have died already. I cannot say that The Cleaners is a Kossakovsky type movie, this would be stupid. But I was always bringing in mind some of his rules that I also want to apply to my next projects. That the aesthetics of cinema are always a priority, that the basis of cinema is image and not really what people say and that films need to have something to show, not something to say. Even if somebody does not follow exactly his rules you always become a better filmmaker if you listen to him.
What has your film’s trajectory been so far?
The Cleaners premiered at IDFA last year in the student competition section and the film was also screened at the same festival as one of five films that are important for Europe currently. It was a special screening of the “Vrij Nederland” magazine. It won the special Jury prize of the Sarajevo film festival in August 2013. It has also being screened in smaller festivals. Part of it was broadcasted by Channel4 in England and it was also screened on a special workshop at the “Topography of Terror” museum in Berlin last spring. Now the film premieres in Greece and it also sent in other festivals around the world.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing, as you have, a Master’s degree at the British National Film and Television School?
The NFTS is an amazing film school. I would suggest to any of my friends to study there without a shadow of a doubt. It is a unique community of people and it has cutting edge equipment. I can’t really think of any negatives in the school. It’s just a bit industry oriented but this is not necessary negative. Maybe people who want to follow a more “arty” career will find NFTS is more of an industry school but in my opinion any student can find a personal pathway and actually the tutors who have a huge experience leave us do whatever we like. The films students make in NFTS are actually quite diverse.
http://www.channel4.com/news/racist-anti-semitic-violent-the-true-face-of-golden-dawn
Director’s Filmography: (All documentaries)
1. Skizaftiko: 67 minutes 2010
2. The Festival 16 minutes 2010
3. Gathering 18 minutes 2010
4. Foreseeing 6 minutes 2010
5. The Parliament Square Diaries 12 minutes 2011
6. The Last War 4 minutes 2011
7. Khaos 30 minutes 2011
8. The Cleaners 36 minutes 2012