Docs in Orbit

Hi everyone, Aylin Gökmen here, with a new episode featuring a conversation with Pablo Álvarez-Mesa about his film, The Soldier's Lagoon (2024), which received the Docs in Orbit Invitation Award at Cannes Doc-Marché du Film last year.The Soldier's Lagoon  is a strikingly beautiful and multi-layered piece centered on the Colombian páramo region. The film explores the land's history, encompassing Bolívar's political legacy, colonialism, and the presence of armed groups, shedding light on how past conflicts persistently impact both the land and its people. Additionally, it addresses the urgent environmental issue of ecosystem preservation, which has become even more pressing this year due to an unprecedented wildfire season that has devastated the páramo. As a result, The Soldier's Lagoon already feels like an archive—a part of the region's historical fabric.Blending evocative and mystical elements, Pablo Álvarez-Mesa unveils the unseen, emotionally connecting us to the páramo's past, present, and speculated future. In this conversation, we delve into these themes as well as Pablo's artistic process. For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

Hello everyone. This is Hosein Jalilvand in Geneva with a new episode for Docs in Orbit featuring a conversation with Matthew Lancit about his latest film, Play Dead! (2023). Play Dead!  is a funny, tender video diary on living with diabetes, where Lancit playfully transforms his personal experience and fear of dying into a body horror film, where an invisible disease crawls inside his body. The film premiered in the Camera Lucida sidebar of Dok Leipzig in October 2023 and available to stream on Arte TV in France until 16 March and at Jean Rouch International Festival in May. I hope you enjoy our conversation and his film as much as I did. GUEST BIO: Matthew Lancit is an award-winning Canadian documentary filmmaker currently based in Paris, France. After leaving his advertising job as a director in a New York animation studio to live in Cameroon, Lancit embarked on the making of his first feature-length documentary, Funeral Season (2011) – which has since been chosen for preservation by the Library and Archives of Canada and selected to over 50 international festivals.Lancit is known for his autobiographical films that intertwine his personal life with philosophical subjects. His films are marked by his simultaneously poetic gaze and self-deprecating humor, which sometimes borders on the burlesque.CONTRIBUTOR BIO:Hosein Jalilvand is an Iranian film director-scholar based in Geneva. His films play with the intersections of history and cinema. After completing his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, Hosein began pursuing his long interests in cinema with a Master's in Film Studies at the University of Tehran and a Master of Arts in Documentary Film Directing from DocNomads. His short documentary “Song of the Bell” (DocLisboa, 2018) won the best director award in the Green Years competition section. Since then, he has been researching a series of texts about colonialism and its manifestation in wildlife movies while developing a feature documentary on the topic.For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

We are releasing a conversation recorded on Tuesday, November 14th, 2023, at IDFA, where I met with Julian Ross and Farah Hasanbegović to recap Corresponding Cinemas. Corresponding Cinemas was a new series at IDFA this year, and in many ways, it was an experiment to see what invisible connections surface when an institution decides to transfer over its curatorial control to filmmakers. The idea is simple and compelling. It would be a series of films and conversations with filmmakers who have inspired one another, and the day would follow this chain of inspiration, with each filmmaker selecting the works of the next. The series was planned months in advance and formally announced in September; in the very first announcement the festival made about its program - it reported that the event would kick off with Sky Hopinka and include Basma al-Sharif, Jumana Manna, Ibrahim Shaddad and Abderrahmane Sissako. In this episode, Farah, Julian, and I run through the events leading up to Corresponding Cinemas as we experienced them on the ground. We first discuss the opening night and the release of IDFA's statement apologizing for a protest banner that appeared during the ceremony and condemning a slogan that was on the banner proclaiming it should not be used in any way and by anybody anymore - despite a recent ruling by the Dutch Court of Appeals that this is not considered hate speech. In response to IDFA denouncing this slogan, Jumana Manna, Basma al-Sharif, and Sky Hopinka circulated a joint statement refusing to comply with IDFA's statement the evening before their participation in Corresponding Cinemas. The series took place, and Farah, Julian, and I recount how the day unfolded, detailing how each filmmaker used their screenings in different ways to transform a cinema space into a forum for urgent, meaningful, and needed exchanges. TIMECODES:0:00  INTRO & GUEST INTROS 4:23: OPENING NIGHT + IDFA STATEMENT12:30 CORRESPONDING CINEMAS - FILMMAKERS REFUSAL TO COMPLY  14:30  SKY HOPINKA SESSION17:40 BASMA AL-SHARIF SESSION25:14  JUMANA MANNA SESSION39:10 IBRAHIM SHADDAD SCREENING SESSION 43:12 SOLIDARITY ACTIONS FOLLOWING CORRESPONDING CINEMAS STATEMENTS REFERENCED:Opening Night: Workers for Palestine Intervention IDFA Statement #1: IDFA and Artistic Director's Statement about the Opening Night IDFA Statement #2: IDFA Calls for an Immediate Ceasefire I/We Do Not Comply - Artists' Refusal IDFA Statement #3: A Message from IDFA to the Documentary Community RELATED PODCAST EPISODESOrwa Nyrabia on Corresponding Cinemas, Docs in Orbit, Episode 71 Jumana Manna on Docs in Orbit, Episode 44Basma al-Sharif on Docs on Orbit,  Episode 27 For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

Today is the first day of the 36th edition of IDFA, the world's largest documentary film festival - a twelve-day event in Amsterdam featuring more than 250 titles in 22 sections. Earlier this week, I sat with Orwa Nyrabia, the Artistic Director of the festival, to speak with him about the role, responsibility and relevancy of film festivals and how IDFA is meeting the current moment. We also discuss some of the new sections in the program, including SPECIAL SCREENINGS,  SIGNED, and the highly anticipated introduction of CORRESPONDING CINEMAS, a unique program featuring a series of films from filmmakers who have inspired one another, including Sky Hopinka, Basam al-Sharif, Jumana Manna, Ibrahim Shaddad, and Abderahmane Sissako.  We end the conversation with an amusing story of how Wang Bing came to be this year's Guest of Honor. [Image from the short film, Deep Sleep by Basma Al Sharif, which is screening in the Corresponding CInemas section on Saturday 11 November]Time codes and Films Referenced00:03:30 How is IDFA meeting the current moment00:08:22 Films in the Program on Orwa's mindOccupied City (2023) by Steve McQueenSocialist Realism (2023) by Raul RuizArna's Children (2003)00:12:00  SPECIAL SCREENINGS00:13:34  SIGNED00:16:28 16 WORLDS ON 16, including works by Agnes Varda, Sarah Maldoror, Chantal Akerman, Maya Deren, Robert Frank, and The First Year (1972) by Patricio Guzman and First Case. Second Case (1979), by Abbass Kiaristami 00:21:30 FABRICATIONS, including notable works from Shirley Clarke, Rosine Mbakam, Safi Faye, and David Schickele00:26:26 CORRESPONDING CINEMAS, including works of Sky Hopinka, Basma al-Sharif, Jumanna Manna, Ibrahim Shaddad Abderahmane Sissako 00:40:00 - 00:46:00 WANG BING, Guest of Honor and his curated TOP 10 filmsFor show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

An abandoned house opens the door to revisit the past by bringing to life a unique, nearly destroyed image archive from the unrecognized territory on the border of the Black Sea: Abkhazia. A place normally inaccessible for Georgians because of the ethnic conflict that happened between Georgia and Abkhazia back in 1993. Combining voice, archive, and recent footage, the film examines a lost and split identity stuck between the margins. The audio-visual fragments of this archive are intricately woven together to create a personal and political biography that recalls the complicated and controversial historical past of Georgian-Abkhaz relationships.The highly personal narration delves into the complexities of nationalism and identity in times of war and global displacement. Ultimately, these reflections on recent history become a potential manual for what can come next, once the wars are over.Conversation moderated by Hosein Jalivand as part of Docs in Orbit coverage of films at Dok Leipzig. For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

It's been a few days since Dok Leipzig wrapped up, but we are still reminiscing about the films we encountered and the people we met. So, we made a little souvenir of our time there, featuring a collection of voice memos from a cross-section of festival attendees sharing their favorite film discoveries from this year's event.FEATURING: Juliette Menthonnex, director of Tale of the Three Flames, speaks about Man In Black by Bing WangEka Tsotsoria, editor of Self-Portrait Along the Borderline speaks about The Der Wind nimmt die mit by Ann Carolin Renninger Adheep Das, director of Moonless speaks about Drijf by Levi Stoops Pauline Blanchet, co-director of 2 or 3 Words About the Cité 4000 speaks about No Changes Have Taken In Our Life by Xu Jingwei Sara Jurinčić, director of Valerija speaks on Zima by Tomek Popakul & Kasumi Ozeki Tess Martin, director of 1976: Search for Life on Zoopticon by Jon Frickey, Thies Mynther, & Sandra TrostelDaryna Mamaisur, director of Smoke of the Fire on Universe Department Store by Taewoong Won Mariana Cadenas Sangronis, director of Draw for Change: We Exist, We Resist on The Mother of All Lies by Asmae El MoudirAnn Carolin Renninger, director of Der Wind nimmt die mit on It's Just a Whole by Bianca Scali Jani Peltonen, director of 30 Kilometres per Second on The Tuba Thieves by Alison O'Daniel For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

Twenty-six years ago, for the 35th New York Film Festival, curators Gavin Smith and Mark McElhatten introduced the festival's experimental sidebar, Views from the Avant-Garde.While their inaugural program featured names like Stan Brakhage, Gregory Markopoulos, and Nathaniel Dorsky, it also opened a space where voices experimenting with cinema's language might meet new audiences. In the festival's intervening years, the vocabulary around this type of cinema evolved and Views from the Avant-Garde has since transformed, first into Projections and then into its most recent incarnation, Currents.When Currents was first announced in 2020, it was also the first year of Docs in Orbit, and every year since, it's been where we have encountered gems of the festival to bring into conversation, such as My Mexican Bretzel by Nuria Giménez (NYFF58), A Night of Knowing Nothing by Payal Kapadia (NYFF59), and Rewind & Play by Alain Gomis (NYFF60).So, for this year's edition, we decided to focus more intently on their programming to get a behind-the-scenes look at their curatorial approach. In today's episode, I sit down with the curators of Currents at the 61st New York Film Festival. Our guests are Aily Nash, Rachael Rakes, and Tyler Wilson. They put together an exciting collection of films, which we'll explore, and what sets Currents apart from other programs in New York and abroad. Moderated by Emile KleinSHOW NOTES / FILMS AND BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEMan in Black by Wang Bing, Last Things by Deborah Stratman, The Human Surge 3 by Eduardo Williams , Slow Shift by Shambhavi Kaul, A Prince by Pierre Creton, The Night Visitors by Michael Gitlin, The Fist by Ayo Akingbade, Nowhere Near by Miko Revereza, Live from the Clouds by Mackie Mallison, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell by Thien An Pham, Mangosteen by Tulapop Saenjaroen, Bold Eagle by Whammy Alcazaren , Coral by Sonia Oleniak, ALLENSWORTH by James Benning, Ungentle by Huw Lemmey and Onyeka Igwe, and Film as a Subversive Art by Amos Vogel (revised edition with new forward by Herb Shellenberger)FOR GUEST BIOS AND MOREhttps://www.docsinorbit.com/nyffImage: Film at Lincoln Center NYFF61 poster by Jim JarmuschFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

As we prepared for the festival, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Franka Sachse, a director and animator who is also the curator for the Animation Night at DOK Leipzig. Aylin Gökmen moderates the conversation.The Animation Night is scheduled for Friday, October 13th, featuring Tess Martin showcasing several of her short films that provide a fascinating insight into the artist's creative journey. The event will be divided into two parts: the first part will focus on her accomplished works as a professional filmmaker, while the second part will delve into the inspirations behind her earlier creations. Franka Sachse - Biography After her studies at the Bauhaus-Univeristät Weimar, Franka was selected to realise a film during the European Animation Masterclass in Halle, Germany. This marked the beginning of her career as an independent filmmaker. To create her films, she assumes the role of a scriptwriter, director and animator. Furthermore, Franka is animating young talents to animate through her sessions at international workshops and her lecturing positions at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. As a board member of the ASIFA Germany, she is committed to young talent in her home country. She is part of selection committees and juries for festivals such as DOK Leipzig, the Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart and the Festival of Animation Berlin and curates film programmes independently for various occasions.. Together with her colleagues Ana Vallejo and Catalina Giraldo, she founded the we animate collective. In the darkness of the night, she projects her colourful live visuals and handmade loops as VJ Loov.For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

The 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland has come to a close, but we are still thinking about many of the films we encountered there. For our recap, we invited a cross-section of attendees to share their favorite film discoveries. Included in this episode are films from nearly every section of the festival - the Concorso Internazionale (International Competition), the Concorso Cineasti del presente section (Filmmakers of the Present), the Pardi di domani (Leopards of Tomorrow, competition for short films), Semaine de la critique (Critics' Week) and Fuori concorso (Out of Competition section).  Aylin Gökmen, Docs in Orbit Co-Producer and the director of EVER SINCE, I HAVE BEEN FLYING  on THE ISLAND by Julien Pujol, and I LOOK INTO THE MIRROR AND REPEAT TO MYSELF by Giselle Lin Julien Pujol, director of THE ISLAND on THE INVISIBLE FIGHT by Rainer Sarnet Giselle Lin, director of I LOOK INTO THE MIRROR AND REPEAT TO MYSELF on DREAMING & DYING by Nelson YeoNelson Yeo, director of DREAMING & DYING on DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD by Radu Jude Arya Cagin from EVER SINCE, I HAVE BEEN FLYING on SCORCHED EARTH by Markela Kontaratou Markela Kontaratou, director of SCORCHED EARTH on CONANN by Bertrand Mandico Anna Joos, filmmaker and academic on THE FIRST DAYS by Stéphane Breton Ruth Baettig from Film Explorer on  BEEN THERE by Corina Schwingruber Ilić and THE HUMAN SURGE 3 by Eduardo WilliamsFor additional show notes, please visit For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

This year was a special year for the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan. It celebrated its 20th anniversary and also the 100-year anniversary of Armenian cinema. To recap the event, we invited filmmakers, film critics, and other guests to share their impressions about a favorite film they encountered at the festival. We hope you enjoy listening to this mosaic of impressions from a cross-section of participants!Jude Chehab, Director of Q , speaks about Silent House by Farnaz Jurabchian Fahd Ahmed, editor and co-producer of Q, speaks about Silent House by Farnaz JurabchianFarnaz Jurabchian, Co-Director of Silent House , speaks about Luca by Jessica WoodworthMohammad Reza Jurabchian, Co-Director of Silent House on Black Stone by Spiros JacovidesLeonardo Goi, Film Critic on Our Body by Claire SimonForrest Cardamenis, Film Critic on Samsara by Lois PatiñoKetevan Kipiani, Producer of Kartli in the Works in Progress Workshop on The Magic Mountain by Mariam Chachia and Nik Voigt Levan Tskhovrebadze, Film Critic on Landshaft by Daniel KötterDaniel Kötter, Director of Landshaft on Eureka by Lisandro AlonsoFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

A conversation with Karen Avetisyan, the Artistic Director and CEO of the Golden Apricot Film Festival in Yerevan, Armenia, which took place from the 9 - 16th of July.This year it marked a double milestone for the festival, celebrating both its 20th anniversary as well as the 100th anniversary of Armenian Cinema. Eka Tsotsoria traveled to Yerevan for the occasion, and before making her way there, she sat with Karen to learn more about the programming. In this conversation, Karen shares the origins of the festival and a bit of historical background on the development of Armenian Cinema. He also lends some texture around how the “region” is defined and the festival's role in building a new wave of Armenian Cinema. - Moderated by Eka TsotsoriaFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

Moving beyond Empathy and Equity in Global Stories - The distinction between the West and the rest has been replaced by a multipolar world where the cultural influence of “the rest” is rising. This presents the chance for the documentary industry to re-invent itself by moving beyond empathy and equity. But is the documentary industry ready for this? A panel discussion presented at this year's Cannes Docs - Doc Day with producer, writer, and director Mehret Mandefro, cofounder of various organizations at the intersection of social impact and media in the US, Ethiopia, and across Africa at large. Mehret Mandefro is an Emmy-nominated producer, writer, entrepreneur, physician and thought leader who champions the creative arts as a path to developing a more just society. Her track record in both using narrative to shift culture and scaling media businesses secured her a spot on Variety's list of most impactful women in global entertainment. Drawing on her training at Harvard University in Medicine and Anthropology as the foundation to approaching social issues as a filmmaker, Mehret co-founded the independent production company Truth Aid Media in 2008 in the USA. She has since set up A51 Pictures as its sister company in Ethiopia as well as the Realness Institute in South Africa, and was formerly Executive Producer of Kana Television in Ethiopia, which was subsequently acquired by Canal+. Her latest media venture, TBTM Studios, is headquartered in Dubai and has a slate of projects across documentary and scripted, featuring Africa's leading voices. Mehret's credits include the Sundance and Berlinale Audience Award winner Difret, the New York Times Critic's Pick Little White Lie and she was showrunner for Ethiopia's first-ever teen drama series Yegna. She executive produced the American Masters feature documentary film How It Feels To Be Free and feature narrative film Sweetness in the Belly, both on Amazon Prime. Her latest documentary feature about reparations in America, directed by Yoruba Richen, is called The Inheritance and is in post-production. A member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Mehret is a sought-after speaker and has a widely watched TED talk about the impact of the creative industry on economic growth in Africa. Mehret has a BA in Anthropology from Harvard University, an MD from Harvard Medical School, a MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as a Fulbright Scholar, and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Temple University. She was a White House Fellow in the Obama Administration.This discussion was organized by Cannes Docs - Marché du Film with the support of Doc Alliance, Participant, LaScam in association with L'oeil d'or, Année du Documentaire, DAE, CNC, & ACID. Distributed by Docs in Orbit in partnership with Cannes Docs. For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

An impenetrable Field of Optimism: Intersections of the Personal and Political in Documentary Filmmaking - Filmmakers Zeynep Güzel, Mina Keshavarz and Sahra Mani (Bread and Roses, Special Screenings, Festival de Cannes 2023), will come together to discuss their work, dreams, aspirations, and hopes for the future, both professional and personal.This discussion was organized by Cannes Docs - Marché du Film with the support of Doc Alliance, Participant, LaScam in association with L'oeil d'or, Année du Documentaire, DAE, CNC, & ACID. Distributed by Docs in Orbit in partnership with Cannes Docs. For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

Director & DOP Kirsten Johnson, President of the 2023 Œil d'or Jury, and writer, director, and producer Guetty Felin in conversation about the many ways filmmaking creates possibilities to search for the invisible, to bring life to the dead and to time travel in our own lives.This discussion was organized by Cannes Docs - Marché du Film with the support of Doc Alliance, Participant, LaScam in association with L'oeul d'or, Année du Documentaire, DAE, CNC, & ACID. Distributed by Docs in Orbit in partnership with Cannes Docs. For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

Notes from Eremocene (Berlinale Forum, 2023) by Viera Čákanyová is an experimental documentary that delves into the future possibilities of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. Through a captivating blend of analog footage and 3D scanner images, Čákanyová captures the clash between traditional and digital elements of contemporary society.This is her third feature, concluding a trilogy that began with her debut work, FREM (2019), followed by the documentary White on White (2020). Across all three films, she explores the same themes: artificial intelligence, a dystopian future for humanity, analog versus digital, nature versus civilization, and climate change.In a fun conversation about serious matters, this episode explores Čákanyová's artistic process, which can be solitary at times, and her approach to sound, editing, and cinematography. We also delve into the different perspectives she inhabits in each of her films and the profound questions these films raise about our existence and the future of our societies. Moderated by Aylin GökmenProduced by Christina Zachariades & Aylin GökmenFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

Panel discussion presented at Cannes Docs 2023 at the Marché du Film, Festival de Cannes and curated in partnership with the DAE - Documentary Association of Europe The documentary industry, like the rest of the audiovisual chain, has been in a radical period of transformation in the last 10 years. We hear more and more often about content and format, rather than film and language. Where is the place for the creative documentary in this value chain? This panel discussion explores this topic with curators, distributors, and other players bringing such work to global audiences. What is the worth of a creative, author-driven documentary?PANELIST: Emilie Bujes - Artistic director at Visions du Réel, Edo Choi - Associate Curator of Film at the Museum Of The Moving Image,  Ryan Krivoshey - President/Founder of GRASSHOPPER FILM MODERATOR: Brigid O'Shea - Co-Director at Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

Panel discussion presented at Cannes Docs 2023 at the Marché du Film, Festival de Cannes on May 20, 2023 and curated in partnership with the DAE - Documentary Association of Europe Parts of the independent film industry are currently engaged in a crucial discussion about the need for more equitable and accountable curation in film programming and selection processes. More and more filmmakers and industry stakeholders alike are openly questioning the traditional power structures that have historically influenced art and cultural institutions intending to achieve diversity, inclusion, and representation at all levels.This panel discussion explores the latest curatorial trends, sustainable career paths, and effective audience engagement strategies from the filmmaker's perspective. Panelists from diverse geographies and artistic backgrounds share their experiences with ethical representation, storytelling, and questions of their sovereignty that they have faced making and disseminating their documentary films. Together, they also delve into how filmmakers navigate the challenges posed by the persistence of selection processes lacking awareness and accountability mechanisms and how they can influence the freedom of the filmmaker's artistic vision of the maker.MODERATED by Rico Johnson-Sinclair - Race Equality Lead at BFI - BRITISH FILM INSTITUTEPANELIST - Yolanda Maria Barroso - Creative and executive producer, Malin Hüber - HER Film, Nada Riyadh - Director/Producer Felucca Films, and Paul Sng - DirectorFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

To kick off our collaboration with Cannes Docs this year, we sat with Pierre-Alexis Chevit, the head of Cannes Docs, and Babette Dieu, the coordinator for the event, to hear about this year's thoughtfully designed program. They also share their personal experiences that shaped their interest in documentaries and the importance of creating physical and symbolic spaces in the industry for the independent filmmaking community to feel supported. Each year, during the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Docs provides the documentary film community with a dedicated forum and tailored program that includes daily workshops, talks, curated panel discussions, networking events, and an energizing showcase of docs-in-progress from around the world. This year's event will take place from the 18th of May until the 23rd and concludes with the annual Doc Day, a highly anticipated daylong celebration of documentary cinema. CANNES DOCS PROGRAM LINKED HERE  |  EPISODE TRANSCRIPT LINKED HEREFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

The festival may have come to a close, but many of the films have continued to stir something inside us. This episode features a collection of voice memos gathered from a cross-section of attendees at  Visions du Réel, sharing their responses to a film they encountered at the festival.-----FEATURING:Nicole Chi, Director of Guián, about This Woman by Alan Zhang Ghada Fikri, Director of How Are You, Baba? about Locus Cordis by Alhasan YousefAlhasan Yousef, Director of Locus Cordis, about Love is Not an Orange by Otilia BabaraOtilia Babara, Director of Love is not an Orange, about Our Body by Claire SimonInge Coolsaet, Film Critic for Fantomas and Representative of Argos, on Where the Green Grass Grows by Peter MettlerAnna Dziapshipa, Director of Self-Portrait Along the Borderline, about Where the Green Grass Grows by Peter MettlerVadim Rizov, Film Critic and Director of Operations for Filmmaker Magazine, about Human, Not Human by Natan CastayBen Mullinkosson, Director of The Last Year of Darkness, about Knit's Island by Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse & Quentin L'helgoualc'hEkiem Barbier, Co-Director of Knit's Island, about Corpo Celeste by Alice RohrwacherNarges Kalhor, Director of Sensitive Content, about Waking up in Silence by Daniel Asadi Faezi & Mila ZhluktenkoSonia Ben Slama, Director of Machtat, about Pure Unknown by Mattia Colombo & Valentina CicognaZiad Touma, producer of Made to Walk, about Orlando, My Political Biography by Paul B. PreciadoHosein Jalilivand, filmmaker, film scholar, and contributor for Docs in Orbit, about Memories of a Perfect Day by Davina MariaFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

[April 20, 2023] Docs in Orbit Podcast - Episode #55 - Visions du Réel 2023 with Emilie Bujès (moderated by Christina Zachariades)In preparation for the 54th Edition of Visions du Réel, we sat (virtually) with Emilie Bujès, the festival's artistic director, to hear about how this year's program came together. Visions du Réel has a strong reputation for championing creative, contemporary non-fiction cinema and has played a vital role for independent documentary filmmakers for decades. The festival has also been a significant source of inspiration for this podcast, where we have discovered many filmmakers and invited them onto the podcast.   This year will be the 54th edition, and the collection of films has us fully energized, with more than 160 films, 82 of which are world premieres on display from April 21st to the 30th.Episode Transcript Docs in Orbit Podcast -  Episode #39 A conversation with Emilie Bujès  For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

In this episode, we turn our attention to First Look, an annual showcase of new and innovative international cinema at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. This year's event will mark the 12th edition of the festival, which will take place March 15 - 19th. Over the course of those five days, more than 30 works from all over the world will be exhibited for the first time in New York at the museum - this includes features, short films, fiction, and non-fiction, as well as forms that fall outside the boundaries of traditional theatrical distribution. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure to sit with Eric Hynes, the Curator of Film at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, where he heads up year-round programming as well as the annual First Look Festival, to learn more about the program. Eric is also a longtime critic and journalist, with outlets that have included the New York Times, the Washington Post, Film Comment, Rolling Stone, Slate, New York magazine, Sight & Sound, the Village Voice, and Reverse Shot, where he has been a staff writer since 2003 and writes a column on the art of nonfiction. Films discussed include: Silent Love by Marek Kozakiewicz, Fremont by Babak Jalali, Away by Ruslan Fedotov, The Taste of Mango by Chloe Abrahams, The River Is Not a Border by Alassane Diago, Jill, Uncredited (2022) by Anthony IngOther relevant links: Museum of the Moving Image, Reverse ShotFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

Featuring a conversation with Alexander Abaturov about his film Paradise (2022), which premiered at IDFA in the International Competition section.The film is set in the small village of Shologon in Northern Siberia, documenting the local inhabitants battling severe and extreme wildfires during the summer months.Alexander Abaturov is a filmmaker based in Paris. He was born in Siberia. Paradise (2022) is his second feature documentary film. His first film, The Son (2018), premiered at the Berlinale Forum and documented the Russian Military training of young soldiers in Siberia.Facilitating the conversation is Eka Tsotsoria, a filmmaker and editor from Tbilisi, Georgia, with a background in art history, creative documentary, and film criticism.About Docs in Orbit: Docs in Orbit is an independent artist-run platform focused on contemporary non-fiction cinema and modern approaches to curation. We co-curate our selection of films, collaborating with several rotating contributors from around the world who are invited to follow the film festival circuit to discover new works and have the opportunity to explore the filmmaking process of others. For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

We are joined by Cristina Nord, the Artistic Director of the Berlinale Forum, an independently curated section of the Berlinale with a focus on diverse cinematic forms and narrative approaches. I invited Cristina to speak about the rich history of the Forum and what has shaped her curatorial eye. We also discuss some of the non-fiction films included in this years collection, which will be the 53rd edition of the program. Moderated by Christina ZachariadesFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

As we put the final touches on our first batch of episodes, we wanted to just pop on to say hi, we appreciate you tuning in, and we are excited to discover new films together! - Christina ZachariadesFor show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

Last week brought the close of the 35th edition of IDFA and this year's edition felt monumental. Not only for the sheer number of films on display (277) but also for the necessary and thought provoking panel discussions that were platformed - including an examination of the growing prosecution and incarceration of filmmakers around the world, the emergence of co-creation as a practice grounded in equity and justice, and a bold, critical examination of the power dynamics inherent in film festivals that are designed around exclusivity and competition.  All said, it was an impressive offering that gave air to many meaningful exchanges. And midway through the festival, I had the great chance to catch up with Orwa Nyrabia, the Artistic Director of IDFA, to discuss the organizing of this year's festival experience and unpack some of the ideas and notions that were pushed to the foreground. ABOUT ORWA NYRABIA: Orwa Nyrabia  was appointed Artistic Director of IDFA in 2018.  Born in Syria, he started his career as an actor and journalist, before moving into film production. In 2002, together with his partner and fellow filmmaker, Diana El Jeiroudi, they established an independent production company that focused on author driven documentary cinema. In 2008, he moved into festival organizing where he and his partner launched DOX BOX which grew to be the most important documentary film gathering in the Arab world. Just before the 5th edition of the festival, the organizers made a public statement announcing the suspension of further editions in protest against the violation of human rights in Syria. Instead they advocated for Syrian films to be shown in festivals around the world as an act of solidarity in light of the violence that by then had taken hold in Syria. A few months later, Orwa was arrested in Damascus and the international film community came together and successfully called on the Syrian Government for his release. Now exiled in Europe, Orwa continues advocating for the power of documentary film and the rights of filmmakers. RELATED LINKS: IDFA talks during the festival mentioned on this podcast are freely available on the VOD library on the IDFA website, https://www.idfa.nl/en/selection/141496/talks-libraryAdditional Q&A's with filmmakers featured in this year's best of fests section and including a curated watch list of IDFA2022 with Wouter Jansen from Square Eyes https://www.docsinorbit.com/idfa2022 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:original music by Nayeem Mahbub in Stockholm.  special thanks to Anne Takahashi, Angie Obeid and Farah Kassem. For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

INnenna Onuoha speaks with Alain Gomis about his latest film REWIND & PLAY (2022), which she encountered last month at the New York Film Festival. REWIND & PLAY follows American jazz pianist Thelonius Monk on a 1969 trip to Paris. Monk is in town to perform at the Salle Pleyel, and along the way becomes the subject of a French television program. Rewind & Play unfolds exclusively from the recovered rushes of this recording. And from this single event the film unravels complex subjects including the media's objectification of Monk's celebrity, and its simultaneous refusal to recognize his full humanity.Throughout the interview, we witness painfully, how Monk's responses, unsatisfactory to his interviewers, are dismissed, spoken over, and edited out. Yet, with a masterful delicacy, the film inter-cuts shots of him playing the piano, allowing his music to assert itself and interrupt the unbearable media machine that has attempted to enfold him. In the conversation, Nnenna speaks with Alain Gomis about his interest in Thelonius Monk, and how he handled the challenges of representation in the making of this film. The conversation wraps up with some practical advice about how to honor one's creative vision as a filmmaker, in what can sometimes be a very demanding industry.We hope you enjoy the conversation. For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

With such an overwhelming number of films on offer at IDFA, we invited Wouter Jansen to help curate a watch list of films that will be on display. Wouter is the founder of Square Eyes, a sales and distribution company based in Vienna specializing in bold, author driven features and shorts. This year, he will be at IDFA with two titles, ANHEIL 69 by Theo Montoya and EUROPE by Philip Scheffner.  In this episode, we go through each section of the program at IDFA and take turns selecting titles of interest to help navigate our festival experience.  Films discussed include PARADISE by Alexander Abaturov, NON-ALIGNED: SCENES FROM THE LABUDOVIĆ REELS, HOW DARE YOU HAVE SUCH A RUBBISH WISH by Mania Akbari, and A ROBUST HEART by Martin Benchimol, among many others. For our full Docs in Orbit x Square Eyes x IDFA 2022 watch list, please visit here . EPISODE TIMECODES: 00:00 - Intro / About Square Eyes |  10:30 - Best of Fests  |  16:30 - Paradocs  |  23:25 - International Shorts Competition  |  32:10 - Competition DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction  |  35:35 - IDFA on Stage   |  40:28 - Envision Competition  |  45:35  - International Competition  |  52:30  - Laura Poitras Top 10SPECIAL GUEST BIO: Wouter Jansen is the founder of the sales and festival distribution company Square Eyes. He worked as the head of programming at the Go Short - International Film Festival during the first 10 editions. In 2013 he started Some Shorts, which changed to Square Eyes in 2019, which specializes in having outstanding non-mainstream films find the audience and recognition they deserve. With Square Eyes, Wouter represents bold, author-driven features and shorts, and collaborates closely with the filmmakers to devise bespoke festival distribution and sales strategies. This has resulted in a small catalogue of films premiering at prestigious festivals and winning multiple awards over the last few years like main prizes at Cannes, TIFF, Berlin, Locarno and Clermont-Ferrand. Wouter has been giving lectures at schools like Le Fresnoy, HEAD Geneva and Netherlands Film Academy and is an expert for Locarno Open Doors and First Cut Lab. He has moderated as well as lead workshops at festivals like IDFA, True/False, Winterthur, VIS Vienna Shorts and others. He is a Berlinale Talents alumni.For show notes visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit for updates.

It is night in America. A young anteater is found dead by the side of a road in Brasilia, a boa constrictor wanders into the suburbs, and a maned wolf is found on a farm. The question is: are animals invading our cities, or rather are we occupying their habitat?IT IS NIGHT IN AMERICA (2022) by Ana Vaz is a spellbinding film that comes to the Camden International Film Festival wielding a strong energetic power that, no doubt, will transfix spectators and provoke reflection on the visible and subjective effects of colonialism. To hear Ana speak about her artistic process is as affecting as experiencing her work. Facilitating the exchange is Zaina Bseiso, a programmer at the Camden International Film Festival. 

Fall is upon us, and what better way to begin this new season than in the cozy atmosphere at the Camden International Film Festival in mid-coast Maine - a major documentary event in the United States. In anticipation for this year's festival, I caught up with Milton Guillén, Senior Programmer at CIFF to provide texture around this year's stellar line-up and how the program came together. We also discuss some of the talks and panels that will be on offer.The festival will take place from September 15th - 18th with an online edition available to stream for North American audiences until September 25th.Moderated by Christina Zachariades, Docs in OrbitTimecode: 00:00  - Intro, new programming team, and CIFF environment04:00 - Festival sections and environmental theme10:00 - Haptic cinema and Points North Forums 15:00 - HARELL COMPETITION FILMS19:27 - CINEMATIC VISION COMPETITION FILMS25:00 - BEST OF FESTS + SPOTLIGHT ON DIANA WEYERMANN32:00 - SHORTS

Our first episode of a series covering the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival. We are joined by Rada Šešić, who leads the selection of films in the Documentary Competition. Rada SESIC (Croatia) is a critic, film maker, lecturer and a programmer. She is specialized in South Asian and Eastern European cinema. She also organizes the DocuRough Cut Boutique which we discuss in our conversation as well as the origins of the Sarajevo Film Festival which is rooted in cultural protest during the Siege of Sarajevo.  Towards the second half of the conversation, we dive into some of the documentary films in competition, which holds 22 films from the region, 9 of which are world premieres. 

This year, the Locarno Film Festival is celebrating its 75th anniversary from August 3 - 13th in the beautiful Swiss Canton of Ticino.It's a festival that is known for supporting independent, arthouse and avant-garde cinema, often showcasing darling films that break and blur the boundaries between cinematic genres. That is why I've always enjoyed and admired their program. It has introduced me to many directors and works throughout the years that have moved me and influenced my creative process as a filmmaker.  So, I'm very happy to welcome Stefan  Ivančić as our guest today. Stefan Ivančić is a programmer of the Locarno Film Festival and together we discuss some of the non-fiction films that will be on display. Films highlighted include: CONCORSO INTERNAZIONALE  (international competition)Balıqlara xütbə (Sermon to the Fish) by Hilal Baydarov - Azerbaijan, Mexico, Switzerland, Turkey  ·  2022  ·  89' Skazka (Fairytale) by Aleksandr Sokurov - Belgium, Russia  ·  2022 ·  78'CONCORSO CINEASTI DEL PRESENTE, Filmmakers of the Present (first or second feature film competition)É Noite na América (It Is Night in America) by Ana Vaz - Italy, France, Brazil  ·  2022 ·  66'Fragments From Heaven by Adnane Baraka - Morocco, France  ·  2022  ·  84'Safe Place by Juraj Lerotić - Croatia - 2022 - 102'ARNOLD IS A MODEL STUDENT by Sorayos Prapapan - Thailand, Singapore, France, Netherlands, Philippines, 2022, 83'FUORI CONCORSO, Out of Competition Objectos de Luz (Love Lights) By  Acácio de Almeida & Marie Carré - Portugal  ·  2022  ·  67'Onde Fica Esta Rua? ou Sem Antes Nem Depois (Where Is This Street? or With No Before or After) by João Pedro Rodrigues João Rui Guerra da Mata - Portugal, France  ·  2022  ·  87'Nuit obscure - Feuillets sauvages (Obscure night - Wild leaves (The burning ones, the obstinate)) by Sylvian George - France, Switzerland  ·  2022  ·  265ADDITIONAL FILMS ON OUR WATCH LISTPrologos by Mantas Kvedaravičius -  Lithuania, Greece  ·  2021 ·  89'Matter Out of Place by Nikolaus Geyrhalter - Austria  ·  2022  ·  100' And everything LAURIE ANDERSON

In this episode, we are pleased to share a special conversation with Jumana Manna about her recent film, FORAGERS, which we discovered at Vision Du Reel this past April. Jumana is a Berlin based visual artist and filmmaker. Her work explores how power is articulated, focusing on the body, land and materiality in relation to colonial inheritances and histories of place. Her new film, Foragers depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel. Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, Jumana artfully blends fiction, documentary and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. Israeli nature protection laws prohibit the collection of 'akkoub and za'atar, which have resulted in fines and trials for those caught collecting these native plants. For Palestinians, these laws constitute an ecological veil for legislation that further alienates them from their land, while Israeli state representatives insist on their scientific expertise and duty to protect. Foragers intelligently moves between documentary, fiction, and archival footage, recounting the story of this contested land and its inhabitants with wry humor and meditative pace, presenting us with a work that invites reflection on the absurdity of living under Israeli occupation.Teyama Alkamli, moderates the conversation  where they discuss everything from the inspiration for the film, to the ingenious use of discordant music, which, coupled with her generous use of wide landscape shots, helps to create an atmosphere of something ominous bubbling under the beautiful surface.

Featuring a conversation with Shaunak Sen about his film, ALL THAT BREATHES. In one of the world's most populated cities, cows, rats, monkeys, frogs, and hogs jostle cheek-by-jowl with people. Here, two brothers fall in love with a bird - the black kite. From their makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement, the "kite brothers" care for thousands of these mesmeric creatures that drop daily from New Delhi's smog-choked skies. That is the synopsis for the film ALL THAT BREATHES by Shaunak Sen, which could sound straight out of an allegory - but this story is far from metaphor. Instead, it brings us close to the ecological crisis our planet and all its inhabitants face and the political toxicity and violence inflicted on one another. It's a devastatingly honest, straightforward, lucid picture of where we are in humanity. And though this film is set in a specific moment in time and place (filming overlapped during escalating social unrest that came with the passing of a new citizenship law in India that excludes Muslims), it is far from elsewhere. The circumstances the film brings into focus, and the emotional reverberations belong to everyone - to all of us. This festival season, I am finding myself gravitating towards films that confront the challenges of living on this planet -  where not only is our ecology collapsing, but where toxic discrimination, dehumanization, and oppressive political structures also threaten us. It is overwhelming to begin to think about the enormity of collective pain and wounds inflicted on human life and then to start to factor in non-human lifeforms as well; it just becomes too enormous to contain, to make sense of, to look at. And that is precisely what makes ALL THAT BREATHES such a necessary film to experience. It holds all these things together in a visible way. When I first watched this film, it was during its virtual premiere at Sundance, and I screened it together with a friend and collaborator, Eka Tsotsoria - and we were both stunned. It's a beautiful film, it's very sensitive, gentle, and layered. But it also somehow left us feeling hopeful - and we grew curious about this - how one could construct a film of this nature and still convey a sense of hope?And as we searched for questions to ask Shanauk Sen for this conversation, it became interesting to think about the questions that the film asks for us. We are far beyond simply wondering, what are we doing to the planet? Rather, how are we coping with what we are doing to the planet, and how is the planet coping with what we are doing? 

Geographies of Solitude with Jacquelyn Mills moderated by Sean Van Wert in Toronto.Featuring a conversation with Jacquelyn Mills about her most recent film GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE.In GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE, Mills offers us an immersion into the rich ecosystem of Sable Island and the life of Zoe Lucas, an environmentalist who has lived over 40 years on this remote, sliver of land off the coast of Canada where she spends her life collecting, cleaning, and documenting marine litter that washes up on the islands' shore.Shot on 16mm, the film often incorporates eco-friendly filmmaking techniques to capture, in beautiful effect, Mills' encounters with Zoe Lucas and the Island. In this sense, Zoe Lucas and Sable Island are not “subjects” of the film, but collaborators and co-creators.We spoke with Jacquelyn Mills to learn more about her intuitive approach in making this film and the different ways she worked with her surroundings - including eco-friendly hand processing techniques like using plant emulsion, exposing parts of the film in moonlight and starlight, and placing specimens from Sable Island on film stock.Towards the end of the episode, we speak briefly about her previous film, IN THE WAVES, a touching portrait of the director's grandmother as she grieves the loss of a sister available to stream on Vimeo.

In this episode, I am joined by two film critics whose work I adore, Inge Coolsaet and Jordan Cronk - both of whom I had the great pleasure to meet at this year's swiss festival, Visions du Réel. Inge Coolsaet is a film critic based in Brussels. She writes for several international publications, including Point of View magazine, Filmmagie, Photogenie, and Cineuropa. She is co-editor-in-chief of the new Dutch-language, Belgian-based film quarterly Fantômas. This year, Inge was invited to Visions du Reel to serve as a Jury Member to award the FIPRESCI Prize for this year's best first feature film. Jordan Cronk is a film critic and founder of the Acropolis Cinema screening series in Los Angeles. His writing has appeared in Artforum, Cinema Scope, Sight & Sound, and many others. He is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and was invited to Visions du Reel to host a discussion on casting for non-fiction films. We regrouped last week to talk about some of the standout films we encountered, including: FORAGERS by Jumana MannaROJEK by Zaynê AkyolL'ÎLOT by Tizian BüchiINNER LINES by Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd143 RUE DU DÉSERT by Hassen Ferhani VACATION IN VAL TREBBIA by Marco BellocchioMARX CAN WAIT by Marco BellocchioEUROPE by Philip ScheffnerLINKS AND REFERENCESVisions du RéelVisions du Réel 2022, International Feature Competition

In this episode, we feature a conversation with Diem Ha Le about her debut feature film, CHILDREN OF THE MIST, which premiered at IDFA and had its Swiss premiere in the Grand Angle section of Visions du Réel.  The film follows Dzi, a 12-year-old girl from the Hmong ethnic group in Northern Vietnam. During the Lunar new year, girls as young as Dzi become part of the customary practice of "bride kidnapping," where young girls are abducted by a boy who wishes to marry them and held for ransom while the families negotiate the price of the bride. Dzi finds herself in a situation where she is forced to grow up and find her way of navigating between the Hmong culture and her own desires. In this conversation, filmmaker Diễm Hà Lệ speaks about keeping a memory of childhood alive through film and shares with us insight into her relationship with Dzi and how she navigated opposing opinions as she bared witness to Dzi's abduction and bridal negotiations. Diem also speaks of the personal and practical challenges she faced while filming and how she was able to translate the complicated relationships and situations that were unfolding in front of her into cinema.Moderating the conversation is Venice Atienza, whose film, LAST DAYS AT SEA, also shares an inquiry into the fragility of childhood and was invited to screen at Visions du Réel last year in the Grande Angle section.  This episode was co-produced by Christina Zachariades in Brooklyn, Venice Atienza in Mumbai, and Aylin Gökmen in Zurich, with original music by Nayeem Mahbub in Stockholm.

An episode focused on Visions du Réel, the international documentary film festival held in April in Nyon, Switzerland. Visions du Réel has a strong reputation for championing creative, contemporary non-fiction cinema and has played a vital role for independent documentary filmmakers for decades. And it has also been a significant source of inspiration for this podcast, as we have made several film discoveries, including El Father Plays HImself, Looking For Horses, My Mexican Bretzel, and Faya Dayi... the list goes on and on!  And this year, the 2022 selection is full of promise, with more than 160 films on display and a broad spectrum of forms, including many hybrid works. Before traveling to Nyon for the festival, I had the great pleasure to speak with Emilie Bujès, the artistic director of the festival. The conversation turned a masterclass on programming, with insight into her journey into film curation and influences along the way. Emilie also walks me through the International Feature Film Competition that holds 16 films - most of which are world premieres and over half from first-time feature filmmakers. We also briefly touch on one of the non-competitive sections (and one of my personal favorites), LATITUDES. LINKS AND REFERENCES: FROM THE EAST by Chantal Akerman, 1993, 110 minMY MEXICAN BRETZEL by Nuria GiménezEUROPE by Phillip Sheffner, 2022, Germany, DAY OF THE SPARROW by Phillip Sheffner, 2010, Germany / 104 min Yann Andrea Steiner by Marguerite Duras Other Lives But Mine by Emmanuel CarréreVisions du RèelVisions du Rèel 2022, International Feature CompetitionVisions du Rèel 2022, LatitudesThis episode was co-produced by Christina Zachariades in Brooklyn and Aylin Gökmen in Zurich with original music by Nayeem Mahbub in Stockholm. Special Thanks to Ursula Pfander and Fanny Graf. 

This episode pulls focus on CPH:DOX - one of the biggest documentary film festivals in Europe today. Situated in Copenhagen, the festival began on March 23, and we just wrapped up a full week of screenings!This year, the festival is hosting many exciting in-person events in Copenhagen and online offers for both the industry and the public, with a selection of films streaming online in Denmark for the first ten days of April. Eka Tsotsoria from Tbilisi joins Nico Centrone in Italy and Daniel Oxenhandler in Copenhagen to recap the festival.Eka and Nico have been following the festival remotely, while Daniel offers his perspective directly from the ground. Apart from the ambiance and energy of CPH:DOX this year, we discuss our highlights from the program, including, The Territory by Alex Pritz, Holidays by Antoine Cattin, and the spellbinding film Afterwater by Dane Komljen.This episode was co-produced by Eka Tsotsoria in Georgia, Nico Centrone in Italy, Daniel Oxenhandler in Denmark, and Christina Zachariades in the U.S.A, with original music created by Nayeem Mahbub in Sweden.

Edo Choi, a curator at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York and film critic extraordinaire joins the podcast to discuss several standout films we encountered at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.  Films discussed include Avec amour et acharnement / Both Sides of the Blade / Fire, Rimini, Dry Ground Burning, Europe, Rewind and Play, See You Friday Robinson, and A Little Love Package.  We also spend the last 15 minutes discussing First Look which is an annual festival showcasing an artfully curated selection of international films at New York's Museum of the Moving Image from March 16th to 20th.TIMECODES0:00 - 5:00 Introduction, Edo Choi and the Berlinale Festival Vibe5:30 Avec amour et acharnement / Both Sides of the Blade / Fire by Claire Denis 12:00 Rimini by Ulrich Seidl18:00 Dry Ground Burning by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós22:50 Europe by Philip Scheffner30:45 Rewind and Play by Alain Gomis34:40 See You Friday, Robinson by Mitra Farahani37:30 A Little Love Package by Gastón Solnicki45:00 First Look Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image, Program ReviewLINKS First Look Festival: https://movingimage.us/series/first-look-2022/Museum of the Moving Image: https://movingimage.usReverse Shot: http://reverseshot.org/Fire by Claire Denis at Film at Lincoln Center: https://www.filmlinc.org/films/fire/

Greetings from Berlin. In this episode, we are joined with Anna Henckel Donnersmarck, the curator and head of Berlinale Shorts. Berlinale Shorts is the section dedicated to daring works of the short form. This year's line up does not disappoint, with a selection of 30 international and world premieres from new and established filmmakers like  Radu Jude, Atsushi Wada, Sky Hopinka, and many more as well as new filmmakers with equally strong and aesthetically interesting perspectives. Earlier this week, I sat down with the curator and head of the section, Anna Henckel Donnersmarck to get a glimpse into all the gems to be discovered and a little insight into how the program came together. The program runs through February 11 - February 19th. Tickets can be booked online. 

In this episode, we recap some of the films we encountered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival with special guest Milton Guillén - an award-winning filmmaker, faculty member at CalArts, and a programmer at the Camden International Film Festival.Films we discussed include:4:58 FIRE OF LOVE by Sara Dosa  9:12 ALL THAT BREATHES by Shaunak Sen15:53 WE MET IN VIRTUAL REALITY by Joe Hunting25:38 DOS ESTACIONES by Juan Pablo Gonzalez29:58  I DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE by Reid Davenport

In this episode, I am joined with filmmaker and dear friend, Venice Atienza ahead of her traveling to IDFA where we review the program. IDFA is one of the largest documentary film events, and their extensive programming is energizing for the international documentary film community but it's also very overwhelming with over 260 titles and only ten days. So before boarding her flight, we went through each section of the program and co-curated a watch list to help guide our festival experience. Venice is a filmmaker currently living between Mumbai and Manilla. She is a graduate of the European film school, DocNomads and her first feature film LAST DAYS AT SEA debuted in March 2021 at the Berlinale and is closing out the year in the Best of Fests section at IDFA. She is also a returning contributor to the podcast and sat with us earlier this year to discuss  LAST DAYS AT SEA, (episode linked here). We also have three additional filmmaker interviews featuring works that are included in the Best of Fests section at IDFA. TAMING THE GARDEN with Salomé JashiLOOKING FOR HORSES with Stefan PavlovićA NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING with Payal KapadiaAnd lastly, in this podcast, we reference an essay by Hito Steryel, IN DEFENSE OF THE POOR IMAGE that you can find here. Visit our website www.docsinorbit.com/IDFA2021 for a complete list of show notes! 

In this episode, we recap films from the Camden International Film Festival which just wrapped up over the past weekend. I sat with a dear friend of the podcast,  Bronte Stahl, a filmmaker and producer from Westerly RI who is a frequent attendee at CIFF and also part of the festival's screening committee. Bronte and I studied documentary in film school many moons ago at the  European master's program, DocNomads.  Since then has participated in a few fellowships and residencies including Points North Institute, Flaherty Seminar, UnionDocs, and Open City Assembly Lab. His short films have been screened at international film festivals including Rotterdam and DocLisboa. And his current projects are supported by Sundance and DocSociety, among others.We discuss several films from the Camden International Film Festival includingNORTH BY CURRENT by Angelo Madsen Minax EXPEDITION CONTENT by Ernst Karel and Veronika Kusumaryati TERRA FEMME by Courtney Stephens FAYA DAYI by Jessica BeshirSpirits and Rocks, an Azorean Myth by Aylin GokmenA NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING by Payal Kapadia ASCENSION by Jessica Kingdon 

Featuring a conversation with Payal Kapadia about her remarkably brave and powerful film A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING which took home awards at Cannes, TIFF, and CIFF. Here, she discusses with us her artistic approach, sources of inspiration, and the freedom she finds in documentary filmmaking.Kapadia is a filmmaker and artist based in Mumbai, and she studied at the Film and Television Institute of India.  A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING is her debut feature film.The film is structured around a series of love letters, written by a university student in India to her estranged lover and separated because of caste differences. Read in voiceover from an unseen protagonist, the letters provide an intimate glimpse into a young woman's life and the drastic changes taking place around her, while shining light on a contemporary convoluted India. Composed mostly of grainy black in white analog film, and mixed with newspaper clippings, family archives, and viral videos found off the internet,  A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING takes on an amorphous form, merging reality with fiction, dreams with memories, fantasies with anxieties. It unfolds like a long, unpredictable night, where we are all in the dark of what to expect next. It's a remarkably powerful and brave film that I still find myself circling back to days after watching. And it is with great admiration that we reached out to Payal Kapadia to invite her to speak about her artistic practice, sources of inspiration, and the freedom she finds in non-fiction cinema. Facilitating the conversation is Aylin Gökmen. Aylin is a Turkish-Swiss filmmaker. Her short film SPIRITS AND ROCKS: AN AZOREAN MYTH premiered at Locarno, and has screened at a number of festivals including Sundance, and Telluride. Aylin also takes on a formally inventive approach, blending carefully composed black and white documentary images with archive and an evocative soundscape. For a list of sources and references from this episode, visit https://www.docsinorbit.com/a-night-of-knowing-nothing

The Fall Film Festival season has begun! And to kick things off, we invited Milton Guillén, a programmer from the Camden International Film Festival, to take us through the 17th edition of the festival lineup, featuring over 70 documentary films (features and shorts). In this episode, Milton provides a peek into how the program came together and adds texture to some of the films in the different sections. This year, the festival will take place both physically (September 16 - 19th) as well as virtually. An online edition of the program will be available to stream for North American audiences from September 16 - 26th. It's a truly excellent curation of films and for folks who are unable to attend in person, please do consider streaming via their online platform as it is a wonderful way to support a festival that has long had a tremendous impact on advancing the documentary film genre.FILMS DISCUSSED INCLUDE:SPIRITS AND ROCKS AN AZOREAN MYTH by Aylin GökmenMOTORCYCLIST'S HAPPINESS WON'T FIT INTO HIS SUIT by Gabriel HerreraDATURA'S AUBADE by Jean-Jacques Martinod and Bretta C. Walker A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING by Payal KapadiaFAYA DAYI by Jessica BeshirOSTROV - LOST ISLAND by Svetlana Rodina and Laurent Stoop PROCESSION by Robert GreenMAGALUF GHOST TOWN by Miguel Ángel BlancaNORTH BY CURRENT by Angelo Madsen MinaxLAST DAYS AT SEA by Venice AtienzaROOTS by Tea LukačTERRA FEMME by Courtney Stephensand others! We covered a lot of ground! https://pointsnorthinstitute.org/ciff/ABOUT MILTON GUILLÉNMilton Guillén is an award-winning Nicaraguan filmmaker and programmer whose work centers on the cinematic intersections of de-colonial ethnographic research and affect. Milton's films have screened globally at CPH: DOX, Hot Docs, DOK Leipzig, Rooftop Films, and more. In 2017, his debut feature, The Maribor Uprisings, co-directed with Maple Razsa, received the Society for Visual Anthropology's Best Feature Award. Milton recently received support from the Tribeca Film Institute and ITVS for his project, On the Move. He also was named a North Star fellow at the Points North Institute, a MediaMaker Fellow at Bay Area Video Coalition, a Kartemquin Diverse Voices in Documentary, and is the recipient of several international artists' residencies and grants.

For our third episode dedicated to the 27th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, we feature a conversation with Stefan Pavlović whose film, LOOKING FOR HORSES, took home the Special Jury Prize in the documentary competition.Looking for Horses is Stefan's first feature-length film and the result of his graduate studies at the Netherlands Film Academy in Artistic Research in and through Cinema titled, From Filming Intimacy to Filming Intimately, where he investigates how the cinema apparatus can overcome the limits of verbal language and how the camera can be a tool to practice intimacy with and through.Looking For Horses chronicles a growing friendship between the filmmaker who struggles to communicate in his mother tongue due to a heavy stutter, and Zdravko, a fisherman he meets who lost most of his hearing during the Bosnian Civil War.  Despite their speech and hearing limitations, a bond develops between the two as they forge a common language between them.  Facilitating the conversation is Docs in Orbit co-curator Kopal Joshy. Kopal is an Indian filmmaker and cinematographer who is currently in the process of expanding her thesis film from her MA studies in DocNomads into a feature film. In her film, Joshy chronicles her encounters with a man that lives in solitude by a lake in Portugal and engages in similar questions about filmmaking as an intimate act of sharing between two people.

The festival just wrapped but our coverage continues! In this episode, Christina Zachariades is joined by Macha Tsarencov and Steve Rickinson to discuss their travels to Sarajevo, the atmosphere of the festival, and several documentary films that screened as part of the competition. Films discussed include FACTORY TO THE WORKERS by Srđan Kovačević, THE SAME DREAM by Vlad Petri, DISTURBED EARTH by Kumjana Novakova and Guillermo Carreras-Candi , RECONCILIATION by Marija Zidar, and LOOKING FOR HORSES by Stefan Pavlović. 

Our first episode of a series covering the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival. We are joined by Rada Šešić, who leads the selection of films in the Documentary Competition. We discuss her work as a filmmaker, critic, mentor, and film programmer. We also talk about the origins of the Sarajevo Film Festival and how it's rooted in cultural protest, review some of the films included in this year's Documentary Competition including LOOKING FOR HORSES by Stefan Pavlović, LANDSCAPES OF RESISTANCE by Marta Popivoda, WHEN WE WERE THEM by Danis Tanović and Damir Šagolj, and the Georgian documentary film, SUNNY by Keti Machavariani. More episodes from the ground are in the works, so please be sure to subscribe to get more updates! 

Featuring a conversation with Basma Alsharif, whose films we recently encountered on Another Screen's beautifully curated program titled “FOR A FREE PALESTINE: Films by Palestinian Women”, featuring a rolling selection of work from over a dozen Palestinian directors.  It was through this program that we here at Docs in Orbit were introduced to the works of many incredible Palestinian filmmakers, among them: Basma Alsharif. A visual artist and filmmaker of Palestinian origin, Basma was raised as something of a nomad between Kuwait, France, the US, and the Gaza Strip. Her work straddles that line between cinema and installation, centering on the human condition in relation to shifting geopolitical landscapes and natural environments.We stepped into the program without knowing anything about Basma but soon found ourselves returning to her films, again and again, parsing through layers thick with visual metaphor, and deeply moved by her powerful use of sound.We hope you enjoy this conversation and have the chance to view her work available on Another Screen until June 18th. Reference Links: “FOR A FREE PALESTINE: Films by Palestinian Women”: https://www.another-screen.com/films-free-palestine-womenDonating to Another Screen is encouraged, which will go towards supporting organizations on the ground, as well as filmmaking and cultural programs in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. More about BDS Movement: https://bdsmovement.net/ 

A roundtable conversation featuring three filmmakers presenting work at Hot Docs International Film Festival in Toronto, in the shorts section and were made within the framework of DocNomads, a European Master degree program in Documentary film, Directing.Anna Artemyeva’s film, DON'T HESITATE TO COME FOR A VISIT, MOM (2020) is a powerful and timely film chronicling Anna’s separation from her young daughter as she was unable to obtain a visa for her family to join her in Europe from Russia. The film was completed before the pandemic and has since screened at several festivals, recently receiving the IDFA Spotlight Award in the Opening Scenes section at Visions du Reel.Olga Lucovnicova’s film NANU TUDOR (2021) premiered at Berlinale where it won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film.  In her short film, Olga courageously travels back to her great-grandparents' home in Moldova to confront a childhood trauma. Remaining calm throughout the confrontation, Olga is incredibly somehow able to distance herself as a filmmaker from herself as a traumatized child.Andrés Cornejo’s film, LETTER FROM EUSAPIA, is an essayistic short film thatridging past and present time between Belgium and Ecuador to tell a story of loss and uncertainty and a family separated by a global pandemic.  Moderating the conversation is Teyama Alkamli, filmmaker and Alumni of DocNomads based in Toronto.*While we highly recommend seeing all three of these films, we think it is important to let audiences know that MY UNCLE TUDOR / NANU TUDOR contains graphic descriptions that could be retraumatizing for survivors of sexual abuse.

In this episode, we feature a conversation with Venice Atienza about her film LAST DAYS AT SEA which was part of the Grand Angle section of Visions du Réel. LAST DAYS AT SEA follows Reyboy, a twelve-year-old boy living in an isolated fishing village in the Philippines where he grew up. Reyboy loves his village and the sea, but by the end of summer, he will have to leave to study in the city.At the heart of the film lies an environmental story of marine preservation, but one that is told ever so subtly through Reyboy's charming young eyes, and Venice’s contemplative narration.What’s most striking about the film is the tender relationship between Venice and Reyboy, who seem more like affectionate siblings than Director and Protagonist. LAST DAYS AT SEA is a beautiful piece of empathetic filmmaking, one that transports us to a dream-like existence.  - Teyama Alkamli, Filmmaker and Co-Curator of @docsinorbit