On Monday, March 2, 2015, the fourth edition of East Doc Platform, the biggest documentary event of its kind in the Central and Eastern Europe begins in Prague. This event is traditionally organized by Institute of Documentary Film, supporting documentary film in the CEE region in all stages of development, in association with One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.
KineDok Project - Focused on the Audience
Within East Doc Platform, a new and unique project of international importance will be introduced, named KineDok. “The project aims to adress the creative documentary audience, who are convinced that these films are worth seeing on the big screen and being accompanied by debates with the filmmakers or other interesting guests. KineDok will be welcomed by those who believe that a shared experience with friends at their favorite venue is better than solitary streaming at home and those who prefer the genius loci of alternative spaces to the unified multiplex cinema halls. Not to mention the possibility of meeting new people who think alike from five different countries and an opportunity to become an active part of this alternative distributional network“, says Jana Ripplová, the main coordinator of project KineDok.
The pilot edition of KineDok will be oficially launched on March 6, 2015 at La Fabrika - Slévárna. Within this ceremony the Postproduction Award will also be handed in by Czech TV - the General Media Partner of Institute of Documentary Film and also the media partner of KineDok Project. A brand new documentary - Sugar Blues by Andrea Culková was chosen for the introductory screening - a thrilling personal diary of the director and at the same time committed mother, who after a diagnosis of gestational diabetes decides to find out what is hidden behind our sugar addiction and a machinery that makes us eat sweet things. The screening will be followed by a party with DJ Rumdom.
Sugar Blues is the first of twelve documentaries that will be screened at various alternative venues in five countries during the following year. Apart from the Czech Republic - the headquarters of the main project coordinator - Institute of Documentary Film, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are involved. The local partners and festivals will help building a community of people interested in creative documentary and the topics it deals with. The selection of thought-provoking films that will be screened during the pilot edition, contains for example the Czech documentary Daniel’s World by Veronika Lišková, courageously depicting the life and feelings of people with pedophilia, an eight-year-long detective quest in the name of right for justice - Normalization by a Slovak director Robert Kirchhoff, which had caused a stir in the Slovak society. A visually sharp documentary Comeback will also be represented, in which the director Miro Remo focuses on the problematics of recidivism via the eventful life stories of two Slovak convicts, as well as other appraised documentaries from Poland, Romania and Croatia.
Doc Tank will bring documentaries about Ukraine and coping with the loss of loved ones
After the successful launch of Doc Tank project in 2014, the new edition of this laboratory focused on transmedia projects will have its space at East Doc Platform. All seven projects selected to participate have activistic approach and potential for campaigns in common. The mentioned Sugar Blues project by the director Andrea Culková is connected with an interactive website and application, which is supposed to help people who decide to change their dietary habits. Polish director Jedrzej Michalak will introduce his documentary We need to talk, whose protagonists are people, who are willing to share their experience with losing somebody close to them and talk about it via online platform. The project Mirrors of the Self by the Romanian director Ioana Mischie, whose part was made for the British Channel 4, follows the stories of the people who decided to cover their old tattoos by new ones. What do they regret and why are they trying to escape their past? What kind of stories can be carried on our skin? On Thursday, March 5, at Cafe Neustadt, there will be a public presentation of some of the Doc Tank projects, including Staring at the Sun, a documentary following the fates of several direct participants in the Ukrainian war conflict and the related web platform Chronicles of Change.
From unveiling family taboos to reflections of the current world conflicts
The novelty of East Doc Platform 2015 is the EDP Award granted by Institute of Documentary Film, associated with the financial support of EUR 7500 for the best project in development of all the participating Central and Eastern European documentaries. All projects will also compete for the Co-production Award handed in by the Executive Producer of Documentaries for HBO Europe, Hanka Kastelicová.
Among the candidates there will also be the 10 projects selected for the traditional event East European Forum, consisting of a five-day workshop and final pitching, open not only to the professionals, but also to the wider public. Within these public presentations, for example the new project The Beast is Still Alivewill appear by the Bulgarian filmmakers Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova who still face harsh criticism and censorhip attempts because of their previous film about Donyo Donev. Polish director Jakub Piatek in his project A Film for my Mom and a renowned documentarist Vitaly Manskiy in his Close Relations - The Ukraine Crisis, My Family and I both embarked on deep family probes, in the latter case disclosing the causes of the present conflict at Ukraine.
IDF intensively supports Czech documentaries
Lean a Ladder Against Heaven, Into the Clouds We Gaze, Happy Together, Plan, My Home, Long Live Hunting! or Daniel’s World - these are just some of the total of 26 films that were supported by Institute of Documentary Film and will be screened at One World 2015. Among them, there is also the film Always Together that was presented in September at the Panel of Czech documentaries and that represented Czech documentaries greatly at the prestigious festival IDFA, when it was selected and then shortlisted for the First Appearance Award. “For me, personally, it was kind of a stimulus. I belong to those who doubt a lot and even though I was thinking and hoping that the film would be good, but you can never be sure. To take part in the activities of Institute of Documentary Film was an honour for me, “ says the director of Always Together, Eva Tomanová.
STEP INTO IT! Creative documentary deserves support...
Cervantes Institute and Komedie Theatre in Prague will welcome more than 400 guests from Czech Republic and all over the World: directors, producers, distributors, TV, funds and festival representatives and other experts from the documentary industry. One of the VIP guests will undoubtely be Gordon Quinn, Artistic Director and founding member of Kartemquin Films (Chicago, USA), dealing with the ethics during shooting of documentaries. Another guest from the USA will be the screenwriter and producer Adam Siegel, at the moment preparing an online project The Red Book with the director John Woo. The programme focused on transmedia will welcome for example the producer and executive director of BeActive, Nuno Bernardo.
The visual of 2015 EDP edition are shoes as the loyal bearers of our stories and the motto STEP INTO IT, trying to motivate the participating filmmakers to find courage to create and the present decission makers to support the documentary filmmaking. The Central and Eastern European creative documentary can be supported in all stages of development, via a suitable distribution strategy, via finding coproduction partners or helping them to get to the prestigious international festivals. In the last 14 years of its existence, Institute of Documentary Film managed to help more than 180 documentaries to be finished and almost 1000 other films to be distributed successfully.
HIGHLIGHTS OF EDP OPEN PROGRAMME AND IDF´S STAPLE ACTIVITIES:
(Cervantes Institute, Na Rybníčku 6, Prague 2)
TUESDAY, March 3
10am – 11.30am | Case Study: Three Co-production Stories|
In his case study, German producer Helge Albers will focus on three of his recent internationally successful documentaries: As Time Goes By in Shanghai, Above and Below and Imagine Waking Up Tomorrow And All Music Has Disappeared. His lecture will provide an interesting insight into theactual trends and possibilities offered by the current European documentary co-production landscape.
6.00pm – 8.30pm | Special Screening & Master Class: ROBERT KIRCHHOFF |
Screening of the documentary film Normalization followed by a master class by the well-known Slovak filmmaker Robert Kirchhoff. In his master class, the director will introduce his filmmaking focused on the current social topics that cope with the “traumatic” heritage of historical events in Central Europe in the 20th century.
WEDNESDAY, March 4
10am – 11am| Case Study: Sound of Torture |
The case study of the multi-award winning documentary observed from its development phase to the final film package and reaching the audience, presented by Swiss producer and sales agent Gitte Hansen. Sound of Torture takes a disturbing look at the torture camps for Eritrean refugees.
11am - 12am | Lecture: Transmedia storytelling in the present-day entertainment industry|
Sara Bozanić from Institute for Transmedia Design will deal with the new forms of storytelling based on the harmony of the story, human interaction and technology.
5.30pm – 7.00pm | Special Screening: STEVIE (dir. Steve James, 144 min, USA 2002) |
In 1995, filmmaker Steve James returns to a rural hamlet in Southern Illinois to reconnect with Stevie Fielding. He finds that the once difficult, awkward child has become -- ten years later -- an angry and troubled young man. Stevie was the winner of numerous festival awards including the IDFA and was named one the best documentaries of the decade.
THURSDAY, March 5
10am – 11.30pm | Lecture: The Ethics of Documentary Filmmaking |
Gordon Quinn, Artistic Director and founding member of Kartemquin Films (Chicago, USA), addresses the issues of ethics and morality when making a film. What are the most essential questions that documentary filmmakers should be asking themselves when they set out to record a true story?
01pm - 02pm | Lecture: Submarine Channel - The future of storytelling is here. Free Your Screen!
Submarine is a production studio in Amsterdam that develops and produces feature films, documentaries, animation and transmedia. The company has been cooperating not only with renowned talents such as Peter Greenaway and Tommy Pallotta, but also with young and emerging progressive filmmakers.
FRIDAY, March 6 – La Fabrika – Slévárna,Přístavní 22, Prague 7
8.30pm – 02.00am | OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF KINEDOK PROJECT |
Official launch of the new project KineDok, focused on creative documentary screenings at alternative venues. The introductory screening of Sugar Blues will be followed by a party with DJ Rumdom.
SATURDAY, March 7 – Komedie Theatre, Jungmannova 1, Prague 1
9.30am – 1.30pm | EAST EUROPEAN FORUM – Public Presentations |
21 feature-length documentaries in development and production from Central and Eastern Europe are pitched to international industry professionals and potential funders.
The complete East Doc Platform open programme will be available at
