FRED Film Radio - English Channel

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews director Matthew Heineman.

An interview with American documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman, who was the subject of a retrospective at the 2019 One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. The dedicated strand presented three of his feature documentaries: Cartel Land, which takes a riveting behind the scenes look at the battle with drug cartels and the enormous impact that it has on the live sof people in Mexico and and the USA; City of Ghosts, a raw portrayal of the atrocities committed in Syria as viewed by two Syrian civil journalists; and The Trade, a film that examples the drug epidemic and communities on both sides of the US/Mexico border. In this interview, Heineman shared with us how he stumbled into documentary filmmaking and some of the ways in which he works within the works. He also discusses whether he believes the camera has any sort of direct impact on the events that he captures, the universal aspects of his works and whether retrospectives, such as that put together this year by One World, invites him to reflect upon his career thus far and the impact that his films have had or continue to have.

In his relatively short career, Matthew Heineman has built a respected position on the American documentary scene. He has already earned an Oscar nomination and won an Emmy Award. His gonzo style, reminiscent of narrative feature films, is very naturalistic and does not show any signs of the clumsiness that sometimes accompanies docudrama films. Although often working in extreme conflict situations or among the drug cartels, he is able to gain the confidence of the parties involved, while maintaining an impartial approach.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Sean McAllister, director of the film A Northern Soul.

An interview with Sean McAllister, director of A Northern Soul, screened at the 2019 One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. After shooting his last film, A Syrian Love Story, in Syria, the British filmmaker turns his attention to his British hometown of Hull and documents the story of a working-class hero: Steve Arnott, a factory worker with a dream to take hip-hop to council estates across the city in 2017, the year that Hull was chosen as UK City of Culture. In this interview, McAllister talks about how he met Arnott and discusses the importance of telling stories about people like him. He also talks about some of his techniques, such as what prompts him to include himself in his own films and some of the things that influence his documentaries when shaping their narratives.

A Northern Soul: Steve loves hip hop and his daughter, whom he sees only once in a while. As a warehouse worker he spends his days carrying out a monotonous job without any hope of improvement and barely gets by on his paycheck. When Hull is chosen as the UK City of Culture 2017 Steve has the opportunity to create an original recording studio using trucks. For some local disadvantaged children it is a chance to experience success through rap and to attract the attention of those around. The director approaches the protagonist, whose life and existential problems are like those faced by thousands of others, with empathy and uses the film to openly reflect even on his own life.

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The post Sean McAllister – A Northern Soul #jedensvet2019 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews documentary mentor Mikael Opstrup.

An interview with veteran documentary Mikael Opstrup, one of the mentors of the Ex Oriente workshops at the 2019 East Doc Platform in Prague, Czech Republic. Opstrup is the former chairman of the European Documentary Network and currently serves as its head of studies. He has also produced a number of international documentaries in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has worked as tutor at a large number of workshops and forums around the world – including, of course, the Ex Oriente Film Workshop, during which this interview was recorded. In the first part of this interview, we focus on the pitching process: what the pitching is, the do’s and don’ts, the various challenges and possible ways to overcome them. We also talk about the impact that technological evolution has had on the pitching process, production and financing of documentaries. Opstrup also shares with us what, from his point of view, have been the recurring themes as of late in documentary filmmaking, and talks a bit about his work with Ex Oriente.

The post Mikael Opstrup #EDP2019 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews producer and transmedia expert Frédéric Dubois.

An interview with Frédéric Dubois, producer and transmedia expert, and one of the mentors and experts of the 2019 East Doc Platform in Prague, Czech Republic. As an expert, we ask Dubois to help us decipher the meaning behind the terms interactive documentary and transmedia. Another term that he helps us reflect upon is “impact,” a word that is thrown around a lot in the industry but can mean many things to different people. In this interview, Dubois also takes the time to talk about a new project of his that he is currently post-producing – Field Trip, an open source doc about the Tempelhof Field in Berlin.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews producer Torstein Parelius.

An interview with Norwegian producer Torstein Parelius, one of the mentors at the Ex-Oriente workshops and an expert at the 2019 East Doc Platform in Prague, Czech Republic. Among the topics discussed on this interview is one that is rarely talked about: in an age of excess, how do you present a film that apparently deals with a topic that has been explored by other films as an original story? Parelius gives an example from projects that he has worked on himself, before a discussion, as an example, of the theme of migration in documentary filmmaking as such a theme, one that is important but risks being overlooked by the mass audience as a result of excess. Besides this, Parelius also talks about his role as a mentor of the Ex Oriente workshops and what his role as an outreach producer entails.

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PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Reinhold Bidner and Karl Zechenter, artists and members of the Austrian artistic group Gold Extra.

An interview with Reinhold Bidner and Karl Zechenter, artists and members of the Austrian artistic group Gold Extra, who were among the experts and mentors at the 2019 East Doc Platform in Prague, Czech Republic. Gold Extra produces artworks in and in-between fine arts, performance, music and hybrid media. In this interview, Bidner and Zechenter talk about the possibilities of the medium of digital games and virtual reality, introducing Gold Extra’s approach to documentary games and non-fiction storytelling by using the example of some of their works.

The post Reinhold Bidner, Karl Zechenter #EDP2019 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews director Steven Simpson.

Steven Simpson talked at the Sofia Meetings about his case of self distributing world wide his last film, avoiding general distribution and the classic mechanisms that most of the times are non profitable for small films and independent producers. A hard and intense ride that made him completely rethink and bend the distribution options that the market offer.

The post Steven Simpson #SOMEET2019 appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Debra Zimmerman, executive director of Women Make Movies.

Debra Zimmerman entered the organization Women Make Movies as an intern in the late 70’s. Her work there has been intense, fundamental and life changing both for her and for the women directors who, through the organization, managed to have their film made and distributed in the world. In our chat, we face the issues of a male dominated world such as the one of movie business and the big steps done so far, and of course the biggest yet to be done. Because the guard has to be always high…

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PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews Tonislav Hristov, director of the film The Magic Life of V.

Tonislav Hristov won the Best Documentary Award at the Sofia International Film Festival. We talk with him about his winning film The Magic Life Of V, and also about his previous works especially The Good Postman, who was an international hit, which Tonislav have some interesting news about, to reveal.

The Magic Life of V: While trying to become more independent and to help her mentally disabled brother through live-role-playing, a young woman haunted by her childhood traumas learns how to face her own past.

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PODCAST| Angelo Acerbi interviews producer Nik Powell.

Nik Powell was friend and business partner of Virgin Records, then founder with Stephen Woolley of Palace Productions (for films such as In Company of Wolves, Mona Lisa, The Crying Game), then CEO of Scala Productions, head of the National Film and Television School in London. He shares with us a little of his past successes and some pieces of experience.

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