documentary film podcast

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 Jurabchian
• Farnaz Jurabchian, Co-Director of Silent House , speaks about Luca by Jessica Woodworth
• Mohammad Reza Jurabchian, Co-Director of Silent House on Black Stone by Spiros Jacovides
• Leonardo Goi, Film Critic on Our Body by Claire Simon
• Forrest Cardamenis, Film Critic on Samsara by Lois Patiño
• Ketevan 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 Kötter
• Daniel Kötter, Director of Landshaft on Eureka by Lisandro Alonso

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

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 Tsotsoria

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

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 HERE

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

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 Gökmen
Produced by Christina Zachariades & Aylin Gökmen

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

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 Manna
• ROJEK by Zaynê Akyol
• L’ÎLOT by Tizian Büchi
• INNER LINES by Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd
• 143 RUE DU DÉSERT by Hassen Ferhani 
• VACATION IN VAL TREBBIA by Marco Bellocchio
• MARX CAN WAIT by Marco Bellocchio
• EUROPE by Philip Scheffner

LINKS AND REFERENCES

• Visions du Réel
• Visions du Réel 2022, International Feature Competition

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

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 Jashi
• LOOKING FOR HORSES with Stefan Pavlović
• A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING with Payal Kapadia

And 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! 

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

In this episode, we feature a conversation with the esteemed Director Arami Ullón about her latest film Apenas El Sol (Nothing but the Sun) which was selected as the opening film at IDFA this year. 

NOTHING BUT THE SUN is set in the Paraguayan Chaco region, a semi arid region in Paraguay with very low population density that is being rapidly deforested. It is also the home of the Ayoreo, an indigenous people that have been colonized by missionaries.  

The film’s central protagonist is Mateo Sobode Chiqueno, who traverses the Chaco recording the voices of other Ayoreo who, like him, were born in the vast forest, free and nomadic, without any contact with white civilization, until religious missionaries forced them to abandon their ancestral territory, their means of subsistence, their beliefs, and their home.  Through Mateo, we are invited to listen to the stories, songs, and testimonies of the Ayoreo people as he attempts to preserve fragments of a disappearing culture. 

The entire film is an act of care, in which Ullón offers a dignified and honest representation of the Ayoreo people, not only as victims of the harsh and brutal colonial practices, but as complete men and women, owners of words and acts and ideas of their own, and of unique knowledge that we can all learn from. 

Mariana Cadenas moderates the conversation. 

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

In this episode, we feature a conversation with Allison Chhorn about her film THE PLASTIC HOUSE (2020). THE PLASTIC HOUSE is a highly immersive film that occurs almost entirely inside and around her Cambodian family’s dilapidated greenhouse in South Australia. Economical yet expansive, Chhorn filters and displaces her fears about her parents’ deaths and a precarious future onto an intensely moving narrative of ritual, physical labor, and isolation.

Also referenced in this podcast is Chhorn’s Carte Blanche from Visions du Reel, which you can view here. 

Zanré Reed moderates the discussion.

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

We continue to highlight films from the Krakow International Film Festival, featuring a conversation with Francesca Mazzoleni about her documentary film, PUNTA SACRA (2020), a sensitive documentary that focuses on a tight community living in illegal houses on the last triangle of habitable space at the mouth of the Tiber. Its inhabitants call it Punta Sacra, which translates to Sacred Point. Here, we are introduced to a strong, women-centered community resisting the forces of nature and the ever-existing threat of eviction. The film has a nostalgic feel and is built around themes of resistance, resilience, and sisterhood. 

Yvonne Nouwen moderates the conversation. 

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

In this episode, we feature a conversation with Radu Ciorniciuc about his award-winning feature-length documentary, ACASA MY HOME (2020).   

The film is set in the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, an abandoned water reservoir just outside the bustling metropolis. Here we meet the Enache family consisting of nine children and their parents living in perfect harmony with nature: sleeping in a hut on the lakeshore, catching fish barehanded, and following the rhythm of the seasons. Their life changes dramatically when they are forced to leave the area and move into the city so the city can transform the Delta into a public national park.   

With their roots in the wilderness, the nine children and their parents struggle to find a way to conform to modern civilization. With an empathetic and cinematic eye, filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc offers a compelling tale of an impoverished family living on the fringes of society in Romania, fighting for acceptance and their version of freedom.  

ACASA MY HOME premiered at Sundance, winning the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography. It then went on the screen across Europe at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, Vilnius International Film Festival in Lithuania, DOK Fest Munich, where it was awarded the VIKTOR in the Main Competition, and Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece, where it took home the special jury award. It was recently screened at the Krakow International Film Festival, where it was awarded the GOLDEN HORN for Best Director and Best Film. The next screening will be at DocEdge in New Zealand.   

The film is an impressive debut and essential viewing for filmmakers that lean into cinema verite style. The story is strong, and the cinematography powerful, but what is equally remarkable is the social impact campaign that surrounds the film.   We discuss the details of this and the inspiration behind the movie in the following conversation moderated by Romanian filmmaker Cristina Hanes. 

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

Featuring a conversation with Asia Der and Sari Haragonics on their debut feature documentary, Her Mothers (2020), which had its world premiere at Hot Docs. 

The film is an intimate tale of love and freedom. With a sensitive lens, directors Asia Dér and Sári Haragonics follow Virág and her partner, Nóra, through the long process of adoption. However, as the rising tides of hate and homophobia in Hungary simmer, their lives hit a boiling point, and they must face the difficult decision of leaving their country behind.

Krisztina Meggyes facilitates the conversation.

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

IA conversation with director  Alyx Ayn Arumpac about her remarkably powerful and brave film, ASWANG.  

ASWANG tells the story of the national war on drugs in the Philippines. Since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016 and announced his campaign to rid the Philippines of drug addicts and dealers, as many as 20,000 Filipinos have been murdered — usually at night and always at the hands of vigilantes, hired assassins, or police officers. 

In her unflinching debut feature documentary ASWANG, Arumpac confronts these executions and their aftermath through the eyes of several families that have been left without a father, a brother, or a son. 

ASWANG is a brave film, and Arumpac is a fearless filmmaker that breathlessly follows the everyday struggle of those radically affected by the regime as she chronicles the terror and systematic human rights violation that unravels against the backdrop of the Manila slums.

ASWANG premiered at IDFA, where it won the prestigious FIPRESCI Award. It then was invited to screen at MoMA in New York as part of their Doc Fortnight Documentary Film Festival, True/False,  Geneva International Film Festival, One World Prague (where it was nominated for the Jury Prize), and Cinema du Reel. 

I caught up with Alyx Ayn Arumpac to discuss her film, her experience taking on politically provocative topics, and navigating emotionally charged violent filming scenarios. 

Conversation Moderated by Christina Zachariades.

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

A conversation with the director and producer of Off the Road (2020), which is set to premiere at Visions du Réel.

Off the Road  is a genre-blending documentary film set in a remote town in Baja, California, Mexico, following locals preparing for the Baja 1000 - the world's biggest off-road motorsport race that passes through their small village.

José Permar, the director, was born in South Baja California, Mexico. He studied Audiovisual Arts at the University of Guadalajara and is a recipient of the Ariel, the national film prize for his short documentary Aurelia y Pedro (2016), which was also nominated for a Student Oscar Academy Award and received a special mention at the Berlin International Film Festival. His producing partner, Daniela Silva, is also from Mexico and is the co-founder and producer at the audiovisual cooperative Tardigrada. Both Jose and Daniela are currently part of DocNomads, the EU-funded master’s program in Documentary Filmmaking. 

In this thoughtful exchange with Docs in Orbit contributor Alexandra Yakovleva, they discuss how this film started and the journey it took to completion.

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit