The Essential and the Non-Essential of Documentary Film: A Czech-German-UK Dialogue

Dialog

During this open seminar which takes place on April 29th and 30th at the Minor Theatre from 12 o'clock, six directors from the Czech Republic, Germany and Great Britain will attempt to illustrate general questions of the documentary genre in contemporary Europe through examples from their own productions. The seminar aims to spark a debate about the ways in which documentary films can communicate messages in foreign countries and how the audiences abroad react to documentary film. Traditions of documentary filmmaking in the respective countries will be explored during the seminar, strengths and weaknesses will be assessed, and the question of how documentary productions from these countries can enrich each other will be addressed.

Dialog

The seminar will be divided into three case studies (Czech, German, UK). Directors will present their projects. Following each presentation questions and answers will be dealt with. One hour is reserved for summary and discussion at the end of each day. Throughout the seminar, directors will be asked by the moderators to explain how they got the idea for their projects, to summarize the basic film facts, to describe their dream documentary, and to introduce the "documentary filmmaking tradition" of their country. During the seminar filmmakers Sean McAllister (The Liberace of Baghdad), Sebastian Heinzel (89 mm), Jochen Frank (Afghans Don't Flirt) and Ben Stark (We Are the Indians), Martin Řezníček (Long Live to Republic), Vratislav Šlajer (producer of the film The Source) will relate their professional experiences.

The seminar will be moderated by Sirkka Moeller (UK) - the Festival Programmer of the International Documentary Film Festival in Sheffield, Claas Danielsen (Germany) - Director of the Leipzig International Documentary Film Festival, and Marek Hovorka (Czech Republic) – Director of the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Directors

Jochen Frank (Germany)

After his graduation in Media Studies from the Hochschule Mittweida , Frank studied at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg (Germany), in the Department of Documentary Film Directing. While he was studying Media, he gained experience as an intern on different productions for the SWR, as well as "Spot Service" in Stuttgart in the Department of Post Production.
He currently works as an editor assistant and freelance editor. "Afghanen flirten nicht"is his graduation academy work.
Frank Jochen is the director of the film Afghans Don't Flirt.
www.indifilm.de/englisch/popup_film/film_afghanen.htm

Sebastian Heinzel (Germany)

Sebastian Heinzel finished school with the "Abitur" in 1998 and subsequently went to Philadelphia, USA, for his alternative national service. Upon returning to Germany, he took up the study of theatre, film and television science – which quickly convinced him that he would rather be shooting films himself instead of merely talking about them.
His journalistic experience includes editorial work for music television station VIVA TV and Taz – Die tageszeitung. His subjects as a young documentary filmmaker are subculture, media, metropolitan life and people.
Sebastian Heinzel studies documentary film at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg.
Sebastian Heinzel is the director of the film 89mm.

Sean McAllister (UK)

Sean McAllister graduated from the United Kingdom's National Film and Television School in 1995. In 1996 he made the award-winning film "Working for the Enemy". "The Minders" won the Royal Television Society award for best documentary in 1998. His other films are Settlers (2000) and Hull's Angel (2002). He is currently in development with BBC Films to direct Stackers, a feature film he wrote while holed up this year in a Baghdad hotel.
Sean McAllister is the director of the film Liberace of Bagdad.
www.seanmcallister.com

Ben Stark (UK)

Ben Stark has worked for the last 12 years in many creative fields ranging from theatre to music to photography and film - often incorporating all into a single project. Over the past 5 years Stark has primarily been a freelance film and television editor based in London with occasional forays into the world of commercial photography and directing. Ben has been editing long-form premier strand documentaries for various leading UK and international broadcasters. He was the producer/editor for the 4-year-work We Are the Indians.
Ben Stark is the producer and the editor of the film We Are The Indians.
www.nativevoicefilms.com/default.htm

Moderators

Sirkka Moeller (UK)

Dialog

Sirkka Moeller has been working for film festivals across Europe since 1988. She is currently the Festival Programmer at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. From 1988 until 1996 she worked for the Days of Independent Films and its International Film Students Symposium as well as for the Augsburg Shortfilm Weekend. From 1997 until 2001 she was a member of the Programme Committee at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film. In addition to her extensive experience at film festivals, Moeller has also been working in subtitling, marketing and distribution. She is dedicated to helping young filmmakers and assists them by organizing schemes and evaluating documentary film treatments.
www.sidf.co.uk

Claas Danielsen (Germany)

Claas Danielsen first worked as a journalist and then later completed his study of documentary film direction at the Film Academy in Munich. He directed seven documentary films, several of which were screened at film festivals and received international awards. Since 1997 he has worked as an assistant at the Department of Documentary Films at the Film Academy in Munich, where he helped to establish the Department of Television Journalism. Since 2000 he has worked in the training center of the Discovery Campus, which focuses on documentary film directing. In 2004, he became Director and General Manager of the International Documentary and Animated Films Festival in Leipzig.
www.dokfestival-leipzig.de

Marek Hovorka (Czech Republic)

Marek Hovorka is co-founder and director of the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival. The festival began as a spontaneous student activity in 1997 and has grown to become an important Central European film event. Currently, Marek Hovorka is in the fifth year at the documentary department of the Faculty of Film and Television (FAMU) in Prague. His films include Highway (Dálnice, 1999), The Metamorphosis of Angels into Parents, Retired People, and Cadavers (Promeny andelu v rodice, duchodce a mrtvoly, 2000), and Wachtman – Freedom is Slavery (Wachtman - Svoboda je otroctví, 2001).
www.dokument-festival.cz