Arte has dedicated a theme evening to five short documentaries made by well-known directors from five different countries. They were all asked to tell about themselves and where they live. The filmmakers were asked to frame their neighbourhood, its atmosphere, buildings, people and history, and they were urged to be personal. TUE STEEN MÜLLER comments on this new collection of neighbourhood films.
When constructing a story for the small or big screen, you will benefit by rummaging through the screenwriter’s toolbox. Even though writing fiction is very different from scripting a documentary, some of the devices used in dramatic storytelling seem relevant for non-fiction stories.
In “Profils paysans: l’approche”, it is as if the camera is waiting for life to unfold within the frame. It is a documentary that spends time with the people it depicts. In Raimond Depardon’s insisting observational style, time is vital. It is the only way to capture the small dramas of rough farming life in the rural regions in central France. He spent several months just getting to know his protagonists and getting their permission to film them in their everyday life.
If you have forgotten what it’s like to be in love, watch Claire Simon’s new documentary “800 Kilometres’ Difference” to be reminded of those delightful moments of true teenage love filled with charming and naive innocence.
In “Runaway”, Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini revisit the memorably fertile ground of strong Iranian women fighting against restrictive males.
The D-Word Community’s “Essays on Documentary” marks a new step toward producing docs for the web.
Whereas Nazi cruelties during W.W.II have received and still receive extensive coverage in German documentaries, silence has embraced the atrocities committed in Asia by the Japanese Imperial Army from 1931 to the end of WWII.
Afghanistan is one of the forgotten areas of our world, a hidden, unapproachable country with women behind chandors and very limited access for journalists.
Though the story is small, its theme and relevance are huge and universal.