Filmmaker Support
Filmmakers Aliona van der Horst (left) and Salomé Jashi (right) lead the IDFAcademy Talk: The visual language of storytelling. Photo by Roos Trommelen.
Now a major department at IDFA, the Filmmaker Support team continued to champion documentary filmmakers around the world in 2021, serving them through a wide range of funding, training, and tailor-made activities.
Q&A with Salomé Jashi,
Director of Taming the Garden
Since gaining support by attending IDFAcademy Summer School and from the IDFA Bertha Fund, Georgian director Salomé Jashi's Taming the Garden became one of the biggest documentary hits of 2021, with an incredible festival run that started at Sundance and ended up in IDFA's Best of Fests. In addition, it had theatrical distribution in some of the biggest territories, including Germany and the UK.
How do you see the reasons for the success of your film? It is difficult to pin it down, but it was a combination of several elements. One is great teamwork—everyone who worked on it enriched it tremendously. We all felt for the topic and for its form: the researcher, the co-cinematographer, the sound recordists, even the camera assistant; also the editor, the sound designer, and the music supervisor. And of course the Swiss and German producers. These individuals, their dedication, their understanding of my vision, but also their individual perspectives very much contributed to the success of the film.
Secondly, as we were filming it, we never waited for funding. With every bit that came in, we'd go out there and work, and we’d be on the road every single month for two years, gathering material. It was hard work—quite demanding physically, uncertain in terms of the schedule and story development.
Thirdly, what made the film successful internationally, was that even if we were filming a local story, happening here and now in Georgia, we used it to tell something universal—a story that would shake everybody who is aware of the disbalance of power in the world.
Finally, what must have contributed to the success of the film is the artistic approach—the balance between the topic and the audiovisual form; the dichotomy of the beautiful scenery telling something perverse; the non-didactic approach leaving space to the audience to connect threads to make their own judgment.
How would you define success? I don't think I aim for self-acclamation as such. But it certainly makes me happy when my film reaches such a large audience and touches many hearts and minds. And maybe I, together with my team, have been successful in creating an experience for the audience which carries them to the realms of emotions, of wonder, of thought.
How was your experience at IDFA 2021? Screening in the big cinema hall of Pathé Tuschinki was a physical indicator of success for me. Seeing Taming the Garden in this extraordinary cinema with quite some audience on Sunday morning shook me deeply. I was sentimental about it. And this edition, being part of IDFA fully, participating in one talk, moderating another one, and another film I had produced, How the Room Felt, being included in the festival's International Competition, did feel like a turning point in my professional journey.
To add a small note here, I am lucky to be working in this industry of documentary film where I feel a lot of solidarity. It's as if we all work together to tell compelling stories and ignite magical experiences, with the aim to change the world for the better.
From left to right: moderator Margje de Koning with IDFA-supported filmmakers Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh, and Aicha Macky at the Industry Talk: My film, my vision! Maintaining the editorial voice within international collaborations. Photo by Jurre Rompa.
Patience Nitumwesiga
IDFAcademy Participant, winner of IDFA Spotlight Award at Durban FilmMart: “IDFA opened up the box that contains documentary film industry secrets. The IDFA Spotlight Award connected me to countless new opportunities. The personal tailoring of meetings is unmatched. We have so much interest from co-producers and partners now. Sessions with sales agents were most enlightening for me and spared us from mistakes. Tutors were extremely knowledgeable and attentive, and exchanges between sessions were sacred. Coming from a national film industry that is barely existent, IDFA support has been surreal.”
Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas
The Director-Producer team of Writing with Fire, and alumni of the IDFA Bertha Fund, IDFAcademy, and IDFA Forum, upon winning the NPO IDFA Audience Award: “It's 11pm here, we're jet-lagged, physically crushed with all the travel but our spirits feel alive. This little opening where we were able to present the film to audiences in person has been absolutely, absolutely special. And to see everyone's reactions in the theaters, in the streets, and generally the whole IDFA vibe—and then to top it off, this audience award, makes it all so beautiful. We're a bit lost for words but just so, so happy! Thank you, so much gratitude!”
Film still: Taming the Garden, dir. Salomé Jashi.