non-fiction 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

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.

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 Director Jerry Rothwell and Producer Jeremy Dear about the film THE REASON I JUMP (2020). Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, the film is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people. The film blends Higashida’s revelatory insights into autism, written when he was 13, with intimate portraits of five remarkable young people. It opens a window for audiences into an intense, overwhelming, but often joyful sensory universe. 

THE REASON I JUMP is the winner of the World Cinema Documentary Competition Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Aylin Gökmen moderates the conversation. 

Conversation moderated by Aylin Gökmen  

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

In this episode, we feature a conversation with Nuria Giménez, the director of My Mexican Bretzel (2020). 

My Mexican Bretzel is Nuria’s debut feature-length film made entirely from her grandfather's home footage; Super 8 and 16mm films from the 1950s and 1960s are juxtaposed with excerpts from a diary to reveal the inner thoughts of Vivian Barrett. 

The film is a personal reflection where love, desire, and death are explored. Through personal archives, we become privy to Vivian's seemingly aspirational lifestyle - skying in the Alps during winter and sailing the Mediterranean during the Summer. The footage is contrasted with her journal entries, where she reveals her concerns and observations, allowing a nuanced and intimate reading of the images.

It is an excellent film; one of those rare experiences with cinema when as soon as the film ends, you feel compelled to re-watch again from the beginning. Out of pure admiration, we invited the filmmaker to speak with us about her process. In addition to her generous insight into the making of My Mexican Bretzel, we also discuss her previous short film, Kafenio (2017), which the filmmaker kindly made available to stream on Docs in Orbit.

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