Inspiring Sessions: Østergaard, Glawogger, Geyrhalter, Lozinski, Kostomarov
Industry Section at the Jihlava IDFF
October 23, 27 and 28, 2010 / Jihlava, Czech Republic
10:00 - 11:30, Saturday, October 23, 2010
Inspiring Session: ANDERS ØSTERGAARD
Open for: EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation
Where: Secondary Graphic Art School (Křížová 18)
A native of Copenhagen, Anders Østergaard made his debut in documentary film with Johannesburg Revisited. In 2004 he followed up with Tintin and I and two years later released Gasolin, at the time Denmark's most successful documentary film. Burma VJ - Reporting from a Closed Country hit cinemas in 2008 and has so far received over 40 international awards. In addition to his sensitive portraits of the Danish cult band Gasolin, Belgian comics writer and artist Hergé, and Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson, Anders Østergaard likes to explore broader contexts of global social and political conflicts.
In his films, he has captured the developments in South Africa after 34 years; followed the trail of a Danish-funded development project which met with protests from the local environmentalists in Mosambique and involved the issue of double standards; portrayed Danish diplomats who are doing a balancing act amidst the violence and chaos in contemporary Baghdad; and recorded violent protests in Burma VJ. Østergaard's recurring concern seems to be to probe the potential of documentary film and, especially, its power to impact the turbulent regions captured in his films. Mr Østergaard is attending the Ex Oriente Film workshop as a tutor in order to assist in the development of 24 East European documentary projects. General audiences are welcome to attend the Inspiring Session to find out more about Mr Østergaard's approach to filmmaking.
Saturday, October 23, 2010 / 10:00 - 11:30 / EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation / Secondary Graphic Art School (Křížová 18)
13:00 - 14:30, Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Inspiring Session: NIKOLAUS GEYRHALTER
Open for: EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation
Where: Assembly Hall - Multimedia Art College (Březinovy sady 31)
Taking place during our Austrian Day focused on Austrian documentary professionals, the Institute of Documentary Film will host Nikolaus Geyrhalter, a versatile filmmaker and producer. At 22 he founded his own production company, managed in cooperation Markus Glaser, Michael Kitzberger and Wolfgangem Widerhofer since 2003. Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion has to date produced over 30 author-driven documentary features, most of them made for theatrical release. The company also has a knack for finding young innovative talent and is active in co-production projects with partners from neighbouring countries.
Nikolaus Geyrhalter's films are a blend of a precise enigmatic form and epic scope, long shots, distance and a lack of commentary. His protraits of places and their internal mechanisms shape and revisit, for example, contemporary Chernobyl (Pripyat), a different Sahara co-existing with the popular Dakar Rally (7915 km), a visual travelogue (Elswhere), and the processes governing our approach to food (Our Daily Bread). Instead of being exact and exhaustive analyses, his films circle around new perspectives and angles that provide a new vantage point on the subject in question. In addition to his Inspiring Session about his work and method, Mr Geyrhalter will also attend Documentary Works-in-progress with his latest project Occident, a portrait of nighttime Europe and of the many systems set up for its protection, maintenance and surveillance.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 / 13:00 - 14:30 / EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation / Assembly Hall - Multimedia Art College (Březinovy sady 31)
Nikolaus Geyrhalter will also present his project Occident at the Documentary Works-in-progress on Wednesday, October 27 from 15:00.
17:30 - 19:00, Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Inspiring Session: MICHAEL GLAWOGGER
Open for: EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation
Where: Assembly Hall - Multimedia Art College (Březinovy sady 31)
Michael Glawogger, another major figure in Austrian documentary film, will host the third Inspiring Session in Jihlava. His films keep coming back to several different cinematic poles. Glawogger roams between social critical documentaries that capture the shifts and undercurrents in Austrian society, global phenomena taking place on multiple continents (Megacities, Workingman's Death), and delirious, unclassifiable comedies that feature his favourite actors and authors of Theater im Bahnhof, Michael Ostrowski, Pia Hierzegger (Contact High, Slugs).
In his documentary films, Glawogger emphasizes the need to set conscious restrictions in order to find the gist or an elementary key to very broad subjects. On the other hand, he resists appropriating the images and, instead, encourages their dissemination and meaning shifts, whether it be using the random principle and the scattering of visual and narrative breaks in his comedies or releasing his Megacities footage for reediting into a new form in Life in Loops. Mr Glawogger is currently working on another feature documentary Whore's Glory that follows the stories of prostitutes from Mexico to Thailand.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 / 17:30 - 19:00 / EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation / Assembly Hall - Multimedia Art College (Březinovy sady 31)
14:00 - 15:30, Thursday, October 28, 2010
Inspiring Session: PAVEŁ ŁOZIŃSKI
Open for: EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation
Where: Festival Center - Industry Screening Room (Komenského 10)
Pawel Łoziński is another respected documentary filmmaker who will meet with audiences in Jihlava during the Polish Day. After two sessions hosted by Austrian filmmakers who, to a great extent, keep a deliberate and visually manifested distance from their protagonists and subjects, Łoziński always chooses to stand by his protagonists. In his latest and acclaimed documentary film Chemo, in Kitty Kitty, a portrait of old cat ladies, or in his contribution to the collective project Across the Border, the viewer dissolves into the world of the protagonists, forgetting all about the director, author, mediator. He undertakes yet another personal journey in his current project Father and Son. A camper van serves as both a film location and a therapy couch as Łoziński and his father - famous documentary filmmaker Marcelem Łoziński - set out on a trip to Paris, discovering new landscapes as well as previously unexplored topics.
Thursday, October 28, 2010 / 14:00 - 15:30 / EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation / Festival Center - Industry Screening Room (Komenského 10)
Pawel Łoziński will also present his project Father and Son at the Documentary Works-in-progress on Wednesday, October 27 from 15:00.
17:30 - 19:00, Thursday, October 28, 2010
Inspiring Session: PAVEL KOSTOMAROV
Open for: EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation
Where: Festival Center - Industry Screening Room (Komenského 10)
Radically straightforward, Pavel Kostomarov will host the last Inspiring Session organized in Jihlava by the Institute of Documentary Film. A graduate of Moscow's Biology Institute and the State Film Institute (VGIG), Kostomarov ranks among the most important documentary filmmakers in Russia since his early films, co-directed with Antoine Cattin (The Transformer, Life in Peace, Mother). During the finalization of the documentary film Together, he and Alexander Rastorguyev began to explore new forms of experimental radicalism. Entitled You Too, their work-in-progress delves into the very blood stream of personal relationships. Cameras pass hands while young people navigating through a mess of fading and new relationships record frenetic video diaries filled with love, ennui, sex and desire. At his Inspiring Session, Mr Kostomarov will discuss his awarded films and present the upcoming You Too to Jihlava audiences for the first time.
Thursday, October 28, 2010 / 17:30 - 19:00 / EEF/EOF participants + All types of accreditation / Festival Center - Industry Screening Room (Komenského 10)
Pavel Kostomarov will also present his project You Too at the Documentary Works-in-progress on Wednesday, October 27 from 15:00.
