The panel consisted of award-winning filmmakers Liam Saint-Pierre, Chloe White, Marc Silver, and Gemma Atkinson, with documentary programmer and DocHouse producer Jenny Horwell moderating the discussion.
The discussion began with an overview of techniques and inspirations from each filmmaker – and it was soon evident that the speakers did not stick to any unchangeable formula in their work.
“There is no process for when I’m making films,” Silver said, with White adding that he views himself as “more of a spontaneous filmmaker.”
Atkinson said: “I let the character dictate what direction the film goes in, rather than going into it with a big plan, which means it can go in any direction.”
“It has been quite nice to hear the others tonight, often I thought it was just me who was so haphazard!,”commented Saint-Pierre.
Great to see such a talented, eloquent bunch of documentary makers at @frontlineclub. Time I dusted off the camera. pic.twitter.com/JXSRVQbox4
— Peter Yeung (@ptr_yeung) February 15, 2016
Although there was a general consensus that the creative process should not be formulaic, three elements were highlighted for their significance at the start of a project: inspiration by way of specific characters, places, and issues.
“I like characters who are really passionate about something, and they are kind of on the edge of society,” said Saint-Pierre, as he explained how he found the shopkeeper around whom his first film centred.
Silver added: “for me, the place is a character. It’s not just the people, but also the essence of a place.”
Each of the panellists agreed that they aimed to spend as much time as possible with their subjects. Silver explained that on a five-day shoot, he would try and spend the first two days with his subjects without his camera. “I might take a stills camera, just for fun. But I’ve learnt from the past that I don’t need to over-shoot – and also I need to get past the first layer with that person and gain trust.”
However, the panel also reflected on how working with tight budgets and shorter timelines meant that the aim of spending significant time with their subjects was often unrealistic.
Horwell then moved the discussion onto one of the final stages of short documentary production: the editing process.
She asked the filmmakers to comment on their top tips for this stage, and how they avoid common mistakes.
“Hold the shot for longer than you plan. Whatever time you are holding it for, add an extra 5-10 seconds” Atkinson advised.
White agreed, and cemented the point with an extended clip from her film The Long Haul: “At the time I didn’t know that shot would be so useful, but trusting your shots and holding them for a long time, you’ll be thankful when it comes to the edit.”
Saint-Pierre added that for him “it was a matter of the character; you don’t want to turn the camera off. Often I’ve done it and then missed an amazing moment.”
The conversation did not run chronologically through the filmmaking process due to the non-linear nature of short documentary production – as Horwell had predicted – and the discussion touched on subjects including the use of ‘playful’ introductions, to how to best distribute your content online.
]]>Full programme:
NOT FOR SALE
Director: Matthew C. Levy
2013 / 11 min / United States
http://matthewclevy.com/
Inside an antique shop where nothing is for sale, Anthony Pisano invites you to stop in, reflect on life, play jazz and satisfy your curiosity.
TOUCH LIFE
Directors: Leo Bruges and Marcin Knyziak
2014 / 13 min / United Kingdom
Agata is living the life of the modern, independent blind woman when she meets Matt. He is attentive and loving, and now he wants to introduce Agata to his American family 3,000 miles away. In the days leading up to the trip, Agata ponders on what it means to be in a relationship.
HOW I LIVE, AS YOU WANTED TO KNOW
Director: Christian Einshøj
2014 / 15 min / Denmark
http://www.einshoj.com/
The young filmmaker’s grandfather has lived alone since his wife died last year. But now he has met a new woman online. To persuade her to visit him, his grandson helps him shoot a small film about what the title promises: how he lives. The result is a warm, loving and understatedly witty ‘home video’. Every small detail is full of the stories of a lifetime.
COSMIC VALENTINE
Director: Chris Cascarano
2015 / 5 min / USA
dotwebdotinfodotnet.com/
This film explores the profound and gritty wisdom of our channel to the cosmos: the bodacious, blonde-haired astrologist ‘Angel Eyedealism’. Our cosmic sage is an East Village icon, counselling thousands of people on love and how to get it.
HONEYMOON
Director: Grzegorz Krawiec
2010 / 30 min / Poland
http://www.polishdocs.pl/en/director/1482/grzegorz_krawiec
Tomek has just left prison after 7 years. On his release day he joyfully marries a fellow inmate, Agnieszka. While she awaits her trial from prison, Tomek begins a new start in life, reconnecting with his estranged mother and searching for a home for himself and his new wife. The couple work to sustain their romance while navigating the strict regulations separating prisoners from the public.
A KISS, DEFERRED
Animated by the Moth Collective
Directors: Daniel Chester, Dave Prosser, Ifor Ashton, Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits
2015 / 4 min / UK
http://mothcollective.co.uk/
A 12-year-old girl’s life is shattered by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Years later, she receives an email from her childhood crush.
TRANSGENDER, AT WAR AND IN LOVE
Director: Fiona Dawson for the New York Times
2015 / 13 min / USA
http://www.fionadawson.com
www.transmilitary.org
This short documentary shares the challenges of a transgender military couple, who are banned from serving openly.
The Frontline Club is delighted to partner with Cinema for Peace to bring you a night of short films illuminating the experiences of refugees and displaced persons.
Cinema for Peace is a non-profit organisation based in Berlin that aims to raise awareness for the social relevance of films, and to make active use of the influence of film on the perception and resolution of social, political and humanitarian challenges. Since 2002, the group has been inviting filmmakers, humanitarian and human rights activists, and public figures to its annual awards ceremony in Berlin to honour a selection of cinematic works on humanitarian and environmental issues.
The programme will comprise international short documentaries, narrating the personal experiences and journeys of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless and internally displaced persons from several areas across the world and representing multiple environmental and humanitarian issues.
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Sharron Ward.
The lineup:
MY ALEPPO
Director: Melissa Langer
2015 / 18 min / USA
http://melissalanger.com/
The young Abdullah family fled the Syrian civil war and settled in Pretoria, South Africa. There, in their little one-room apartment, the Internet is all that connects them with Aleppo.
THEN I CAME BY BOAT
Director: Marleena Forward
2014 / 11 min / Australia
https://marleenaforward.wordpress.com/
Tri and his family escaped by boat from Vietnam to Australia. Now he has found a way to say thank you to Australia.
A LIFE ON HOLD
Director: Marc Silver & Nick Francis
2013 / 6 min / UK
http://www.marcsilver.net/projects/a-life-on-hold.php
When the 2011 war broke out in Libya, thousands of refugees from countries such as Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea were forced to flee for their lives. They are now waiting in refugee camps along the Tunisian and Egyptian borders – unable to return home due to war or persecution, unable to return to Libya due to ongoing violence and discrimination.
RESIDENT ALIEN
Director: Naiara Eizaguirre-Paulos
2015 / 17 min / USA/Spain
http://www.naiaraeizaguirre.com/
15-year-old Carlos saw his best friend shot dead in front of him in Honduras and escaped gang violence by fleeing to his grandmother in the U.S., but his undocumented status leaves him vulnerable to deportation.
SYRIA: HIDDEN WAR ON WOMEN
Director/Producer: Sharron Ward
2015 / 7 min / UK / Channel 4 News
www.katalystproductions.co.uk
As the Syrian war enters its fifth year, the pressures on displaced families have caused a dramatic rise in violence against women. But domestic abuse is a taboo subject in Syrian society and the true scale of the problem is unknown. Violence against women is the hidden war on women in Syria. Filmmaker Sharron Ward gained rare access to brave Syrian refugee women in Jordan & Lebanon who spoke out in their own words about their experiences of forced child marriage, domestic violence and other gender based violence.
The evening will include short stories capturing the essence of big issues, films showing life in other parts of the world under difficult or extraordinary circumstances, and stories focusing on remarkable individuals.
The lineup:
LOOKING AT TIME
Director: Brandon Lavoie
2015 / 3 min / USA
http://www.brandonlavoiefilms.com/
Salim Shariff, a 72-year-old watch repairman originally from Bombay, India, now living & working in Jackson Heights shares his memories of living in NY for the past 30 years.
STREET ANGEL
Director: Stella Scott
2014 / 4 min / UK
http://www.stellascott.net/
Street Angel follows an angel-card reader through London as she looks for connections and people who need guidance. The film blends the hyper-real with the familiar, offering us a new perspective on our everyday realities.
A WEE NIGHT IN
Director: Stuart Edwards
2014 / 11 min / UK
http://www.scottishdocinstitute.com/tag/stuart-edwards/
Chrissy is now 95, frail but full of life. From her house in a village near Glasgow, she engages in activities that keep her active. Today, Chrissy’s 91-year-old boyfriend Bill is coming over for a nice evening that will pass by according to the slow rhythm of age. An intimate, heartwarming portrait of love in old age, full of recognisable, comedic moments.
CALLING UKRAINE
Director: Jean Counet
2015 / 12 min / Netherlands
http://www.tamfilms.com/
Through a Skype call the daily life, dreams and fears of a family in Eastern-Ukraine is revealed while the bombs are falling in the background. A grandmother in Latvia phones with her sister and child who live in the war zone of Eastern-Ukraine, months without often having water and electricity. We see the traces of the war on the face of the grandmother who, like the viewer is powerless.
THE TYPIST
Director: Kristine Stolakis
2015 / 8 min / USA
From the archives of the “queer Smithsonian,” San Francisco’s GLBT Historical Society, comes the forgotten history of a gay Korean War veteran tasked with writing the military discharges of outed gay seamen. The Typist details a conflicted clerk’s participation in discrimination and his divided allegiance to homosexuality and heroism.
MARATHON
Director: Theo Rigby, Kate McLean
2015 / 9 min / USA
http://www.immigrant-nation.com
Julio Saucé, an undocumented, Ecuadorian New Yorker, struggles to makes ends meet, all while running 80 miles a week to train for the biggest race in the world, the New York City Marathon.
GOING BACK HOME
Director: Tim O’Donnell
2015 / 17 min / USA
http://www.GoingBackHomeMovie.com
Fueled by the ghosts of a tragic past, a Lost Boy of Sudan works three jobs in a tireless effort to achieve the American Dream and return to his wife and children halfway across the world.
The evening will include short stories capturing the essence of big issues, films showing life in other parts of the world under difficult or extraordinary circumstances, and stories focusing on remarkable individuals.
Total runtime 82 minutes
The lineup:
VEGAS
Director: Lukasz Konopa
2013 / 24 min / UK
In the middle of the Mojave Desert, a city of neon shimmers like a mirage. But the closer you get, the more you see through the false image. The glitz, glamour and gambling are all just smoke and mirrors. At the peak of the economic crisis, three Las Vegas residents find their luck has run dry and struggle just to get by.
MINERITA
Director: Raúl de la Fuente
2013 / 27 min / Spain
Cerro Rico in Potosí, Bolivia is a lawless territory, characterised by brutal violence. Here miners risk their lives every day, digging for silver and zinc in crumbling galleries. The ones that survive think they’re entitled to anything and everything, including the local women. Minerita is the story of three women —- Lucía (40), Ivone (16) and Abigail (17) — who work as night watchwomen or inside the mine, struggling to survive in an inhuman inferno.
SLEEPERS’ BEAT
Director: Anastasia Kirillova
2014 / 16 min / UK
For weeks they are away from home leading a subservient life, from early morning until late in the evening. Yet living and working on the Trans-Siberian Railway is something the train staff wouldn’t and couldn’t live without. They feel more at home on the train now than in their own homes. Sleeper’s Beat is a hymn to the train, which they regard as a living being.
SUN SONG
Director: Joel Wanek
2013 / 15 min / USA / silent
A poetic journey from the darkness of early dawn into the brightness of the midday sun in the American South. Filmed entirely on the number 16 bus route in Durham, North Carolina over the course of six months, this expressively shot silent film is a celebration of light and a meditation on leaving.
]]>The evening will include short stories capturing the essence of big issues, films showing life in other parts of the world under difficult or extraordinary circumstances, and stories focusing on one particular remarkable event or person.
Model Village
Hayoun Kwon is not allowed to film in the North Korean propaganda village, Kijong-dong, situated close to the border. In order to document her denied journey she builds a scale model and films it. The result testifies to the real state of the ghost village – a mechanism of fiction unattainable other than by imagination. Directed by Hayoun Kwon | Duration: 10′ | Year: 2014
Shipwreck
In October 2013, a boat carrying 500 Eritrean refugees sunk off the coast of the Italian island Lampedusa. More than 360 people drowned. Abraham, one of the survivors, walks through a graveyard of shipwrecks and vividly remembers the nightmarish experience. Meanwhile at the harbour, hundreds of coffins are being loaded onto a military ship. Directed by Morgan Knibbe | Duration: 14′ | Year: 2014
Winter
Winter is a portrait of a season – a journey through North Russia and Siberia, through the feelings and thoughts of the people who have to cope with one of the world’s harshest climates. Cristina Picchi captures a reality where the boundary between life and death is so thin that is sometimes almost nonexistent, where civilisation constantly both fights and embraces nature and its timeless rules and rites. Directed by Cristina Picchi | Duration: 12′ | Year: 2013
Autonomous
The boundaries between what is real and unreal are becoming increasingly blurred through technological advances. Is there a limit for what can be replaced? Autonomous is an intense, emotional look into a future that is already here. Directed by Per Eriksson and Alexander Rynéus | Duration: 14′ | Year: 2014
Down on the Corner
Beer, cigarettes or margarine, the corner store in Sirča has it all. It is also the meeting point of those who didn’t emigrate. For those who stayed, there is no work and no money, but a lot of humour and friendship. Down on the Corner captures everyday life in central Serbia. Directed by Nikola Ilić & Corina Schwingruber Ilić | Duration: 15′ | Year: 2013
In Guns We Trust
In Kennesaw, a small American town in the state of Georgia, a good citizen is an armed citizen. By law, since 1982, each head of household must own at least one working firearm with ammunition. Photographer and filmmaker Nicolas Lévesque takes the viewer on a stunning exploration of this town where the right to bear arms trumps every argument. Directed by Nicolas Lévesque | Duration: 12′ | Year: 2013
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The evening will include short stories capturing the essence of big issues, films showing life in other parts of the world under difficult or extraordinary circumstances, and stories focusing on one particular remarkable event or person.
Xenos
A bleak tale of lost Lebanese souls in Greece unfolds over the course of a telephone conversation between friends. Stranded in a country gripped by economic catastrophe, refugees have resorted to desperate measures to buy hard drugs for fleeting solace. Directed by Mahdi Fleifel | Duration: 14′ | Year: 2013
The Source
The Source shows life in a depopulated village destroyed by the war in the south of Nagorno-Karabakh. Everything seems to occur as if in a daydream. An older woman is drying walnuts in her devastated house, which is the only occupation. She shares her story about the dead that haunt her under the walnut tree by the spring. Directed by Marcin Sauter | Duration: 6′ | Year: 2014.
Two at the Border
Based in the Turkish city of Edirne, Ali and Naser help refugees cross the border into Greece. European authorities are working hard to patrol the border, which makes the crossing increasingly difficult. In between the preparations to get their clients out of Turkey, they hang around their apartment, smoke and chat about their families at home, where they hope to return one day. Directed by Tuna Kaptan and Felicitas Sonvilla | Duration: 30′ | Year: 2013.
The Opposition
In the wake of the 1973 military coup in Chile, American-backed dictator Augusto Pinochet transformed Santiago’s National Stadium into a concentration camp where political opponents were tortured and assassinated. Only months later, that same stadium was scheduled to host a decisive World Cup qualifier between Chile and the Soviet Union. Directed by Ezra Edelman & Jeffrey Plunkett | Duration: 23′ | Year: 2014.
Adrift
Forced to flee his home country of Uganda, Simu now works and lives 150 km above the Arctic Circle. Surrounded by the frozen landscape, he shares his family story. Directed by Frederik Jan Depickere | Duration: 9′ | Year: 2013.
Founded in 2010 by a group of Syrian filmmakers, Abounaddara anonymously releases weekly films on the web in order to avoid censorship. These weekly short films are a testimony of the fight for freedom in Syria. The film Syria: Snapshots of History in the Making is an intimate journey constructed from these short films.
The film alternates personal stories and poetic images, fragments of an unfinished story, in which the actors are ordinary Syrians. We meet an old taxi driver who insists on searching for a lost street while listening to Arab tango on the radio; a young woman who preferred elections over the revolution; and a deserter from the Free Syrian Army who now believes they are going in the wrong direction.
Abounaddara is one of the projects supported by WARM, an international foundation dedicated to war reporting, war art, as well as history and memories of war. Before the screening, WARM members Patrick Chauvel and Paul Lowe will join founder and head of the organisation, Remy Ourdan and producer of Abounaddara Films Charif Kiwan to discuss how the depiction of conflicts has changed over the years.
Directed by Abounaddara Collective
Duration: 53′
Year: 2014
This screening is in partnership with WARM, an international foundation working on the world’s contemporary conflicts and supporter of Abounaddara Films.
The total running time of the evening will be 85 minutes.
Things I Heard on Wednesdays (Egypt)
Illustrated by family pictures and the personal stories of his relatives, filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky takes us on a lively journey through modern Egyptian history. This photographic documentary shows the strong bond tying human lives with the history of the nation.
Director: Abu Bakr Shawky | Duration: 9′ | Year:2012
Kiev (UA) President Yanukovych’s decision to pull out of a treaty with the EU in late November sparked anti-government protests in Kiev, Ukraine. Filmmakers Oleksandr Techynskyi and Aleksey Solodunov chronicled the increasingly tense protests on Independence Square. This is a raw account of the events on 20 and 21 February 2014. Directors: Oleksandr Techynskyi & Aleksey Solodunov | Duration: 5′ | Year: 2014
Aus Dem Auge (Germany)
An enormous concrete building constructed during the Nazi era reminds us of the architectural absurdity of national-socialism. This abandoned cathedral got lost and forgotten somewhere in a loophole of history. This cinematic and aesthetic film becomes a statement of critical analysis.
Director: Matthias Zuder | Duration: 11′ | Year: 2013
30% (Women and Politics in Sierra Leone) (UK)
This oil-painted animation brings to life the stories of three powerful women in postconflict Sierra Leone. Anna Cady reveals the violence and corruption these women face as they fight for fairer representation in governing their country.
Director: Anna Cady | Duration: 11’| Year: 2013
Lost on the Roof of the World (US)
The Wakhan Corridor in eastern Afghanistan is tucked between the Hindu Kush mountain range, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China. This territory is home to the Wakhi and Kirghiz people who lead lives virtually unchanged for centuries, battling an extremely rugged environment without roads or amenities. Director: Frédéric Lagrange | Duration: 20′ | Year: 2013
Hear This! (NL) Ten-year-old Tristan loves football. His biggest wish is for his father to be his team’s coach. The club says his father would never be a good coach because he is deaf. Tristan thinks that’s nonsense. His father is a brilliant football player; he even plays for the Dutch national team for the deaf. Director: Soulaima El Khaldi | Duration: 15′ | Year: 2013
Sayadeen (UK) Forced to fish within a three mile sea frontier, the fishermen of Gaza are struggling to survive. While supplies are dwindling, they risk everything to feed their families.
Director: Murat Gökmen | Duration: 13′ | Year: 2013
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This is the selection for the upcoming edition. The total running time is 85′.
Vultures of Tibet explores the recent commercialisation of a sacred Tibetan funeral tradition known as Sky Burial. With the modernisation of Western China and the expansion of tourism in Tibet, burial sites are now highlighted on tourist maps and local officials charge visitors admission to view the private ritual. Directed by Russell O. Bush | Duration: 21′ | Year: 2013
Feeding 500 portrays Sediq, who has an irresistible determination to feed 500 of UAE’s stray cats each day – which he has been doing tirelessly since 1995. While he is expected to send money home to his family in India, he spends all his earnings on cats. Directed by Rafed Alharthi | Duration: 20′ | Year: 2013
Layla’s Melody follows a young Afghan girl who hasn’t seen her mother in four years. Her father was killed in the war and poverty landed Layla in a Kabul orphanage. When she gets a message that her mother is coming to visit, Layla is worried that she wants to take her back to the village and marry her off. Directed by Jens Pedersen | Duration: 17′ | Year: 2013
Recollections depicts the power of around 750,000 photographs, found in the debris near the city of Yamamoto after the March 2011 tsunami in Japan. Damaged by sea water, oil and mud, young Yuji Mizoguchi realised how much a photo could mean to a surviving relative and started looking for ways to repair the images. Directed by Nathanael Carton | Duration: 13′ | Year: 2013
Stremt 89 goes back to Romania in 1989 when the anti-communist revolution was taking place in the streets of big cities. All around the country, people were waiting with contained excitement for something to change. Although the road through Stremţ ends in a mountain wall, its inhabitants were eagerly awaiting army tanks, terrorists and glory. Directed by: Anda Puscas and Dragos Dulea | Duration: 14′ | Year: 2012
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