Industry
At the Forum decision makers' table, from left to right: Frederic Pfeiffer (RTS Switzerland), Charlie Phillips (formerly The Guardian), and moderator Mandy Chang. Photo by Jurre Rompa.
A central meeting place that is carefully curated for co-producing, financing, selling, buying, and debating documentary films is the backbone of IDFA Industry. Here, doing business goes hand-in-hand with sharing knowledge and setting the agenda. In 2021, the team propelled the sector forward and—just as importantly—gathered key players to discuss why and how we do it.
Q&A with Nishtha Jain,
Director of Farming the Revolution
Indian filmmaker Nishtha Jain is a regular at IDFA, and in 2021 she took part in IDFA Forum for the second time with her new project Farming the Revolution, which deals with ongoing farmers’ protests at Delhi borders against corporatization of Indian agriculture.
What was your feeling at the Forum in 2021, and how did it impact your project? My initial preference was for grants rather than co-production funds for Farming the Revolution. While we did receive support from Alter Cine and BBC, the other grants would take longer to materialize. And since we were nearing completion of filming, I could not afford to wait a year to begin post-production. That's when I decided to apply to IDFA Forum once again.
I was tempted to attend online, as getting a visa was proving difficult due to the pandemic circumstances, but my French co-producer Valérie Montmartin, whom I met in 2019, absolutely insisted that I come to the Forum and she was so right. It was very important to see her in person and prepare for the pitch. She brings an immense amount of experience, love, and passion to the project.
Clearly, it made all the difference to be present physically at IDFA. Arte France, RTS, and several other broadcasters are on board, and we had positive meetings with everyone. And as ever, I feel eternally grateful to IDFA and the Forum staff for making all of this happen—from getting the visa to all the match-making with decision-makers.
What do you understand as being successful? My upbringing was modest and emphasis was on building compassion, ethical behavior, and a just society. So to me, success in filmmaking or life has always meant starting off important social conversations to create a more equitable society, especially uncomfortable conversations that we sweep under the carpet. I have always tried to strike a balance between the artistic and the political. Now I want to move on from social-justice themes to explore topics that allow me to plow more depths. Success would mean conceiving, writing, and getting together with a team of inspired collaborators to make films in tune with my personal growth.
Film still: Farming the Revolution, dir. Nishtha Jain.
Johanna von Hessen
Project Manager in charge of Documentary, Exhibitors and Cross-Sector Actions at Unifrance: “It's been a little over a year since Unifrance started to develop specific work around documentaries. It made us understand the necessity of getting closer to professionals: producers, sales agents, and artists to understand what their needs were and how our work could be useful. We therefore wanted first of all to go to the places of creation, and encourage networking and promotion in these places. Unifrance is aware of the extreme diversity and richness expressed in creative documentary and wishes to provide the best possible support for these strong yet fragile documentary films in strategic and essential places like IDFA. We try to explore on a daily basis the means that allow creative documentary films to have maximum visibility and will continue to develop our work with documentary festivals and professionals in order to provide the best possible promotion around these films. IDFA is undoubtedly a key place for the funding, promotion, and future of creative documentary film and we are very proud to have been able to inaugurate our first collaboration with the festival this edition.”
Oris Aigbokhaevbolo
African Film and Media Consultant, Contributing Critic for The Film Verdict, and participant of the think tank & session Representation and diversity in film criticism: “It is not often the case that the international scene remembers to consider Africa in discussing criticism. So, to my mind, the panel on diversity in film criticism was an unqualified success. And beyond success, it was meaningful for a critic like me because sometimes it feels one barely exists, working as one does from this frequently neglected region. The next step would involve more festivals, more publications, and more programs with a global outlook incorporating some of what we discussed in their thinking. That, frankly, looks like it might take a while to come to fruition. In the meantime, we can talk and create a portrait of the ideal situation. If IDFA heard my voice and the voices of the other panelists who look nothing like the ‘historical film critic’, well, so can other platforms.”
Where did the selected films come from?
Moderator Phuong Le (left) and speaker Oris Aigbokhaevbolo (right) at the Industry Session: Representation and diversity in film criticism. Photo by Jurre Rompa.
IDFA Forum is supported by Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands, and Creative Europe Media