The open program of the Ex Oriente Film 2021 workshop 2nd session (October 25-30, at Ji.hlava IDFF) will offer a series of lectures, case studies, and masterclasses dedicated to various aspects of documentary filmmaking, production and distribution. The 2nd session is organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in cooperation with FAMU. The open program is available to holders of all types of accreditation.
The guest tutors joining the 2nd session are editor Phil Jandaly, who will talk about his work on Dmitry Bogolyubov’s film Town of Glory, producer KriStine Ann Skaret, director Agnieszka Zwiefka, who will talk about finding a unique and organic style for your film, producer Julianna Ugrin, festival programmer Rada Šešić, director Stan Neumann, film curator Cintia Gil and attorney-at-law Stefan Rüll. Among guests of the 2nd session will be director Vitaly Mansky. The lead tutors of Ex Oriente Film workshop are expert Mikael Opstrup, producer and consultant Iikka Vehkalahti, director and script editor Ivana Pauerová Miloševičová and director and producer Filip Remunda.
2nd Ex Oriente Film Session: Production and Story Development
OPEN PROGRAM
Monday, October 25
4:30 PM — 6 PM Dukla Cinema
Screening: Town of Glory
(2019, Russia, Czech Republic, Germany, 83’)
Directed by Dmitry Bogolyubov
Nothing interesting happens in the small town of Yelnya on Russia’s western edge. The locals are leaving en masse and those who stay have few joys in life. One is the victory over fascism. At the start of the war, Stalin allowed the town to be symbolically freed – at the cost of enormous loss of life – so as to inspire hope in his people and strengthen the spirit of heroism. Dmitry Bogolyubov’s personally tinged film tracks two local patriots and their families for three years. Teen-age Masha, who attends nationalist meetings, singing the praises of long-dead fallen heroes and ageing Sergei, who digs up their bones and secretly dreams that things will change. Through them the film shows how the unhealed wartime trauma infiltrates generations, forming the social life of ordinary Russians and, with the help of political propaganda, gradually changes into hate towards the current “fascist” West.
6 PM – 7:30 PM Dukla Cinema
Narrative through Character
Masterclass by Phil Jandaly supported by Filip Remunda
Phil Jandaly will discuss the editing process of Town of Glory with producer Filip Remunda. How does one build stories when there is no obvious narrative? They will look at digging out hidden dimensions in characters that on the surface don't seem to have any, and the many stages of the editing process that you need to go through to get you there.
Tuesday, October 26
10 AM – 11:30 AM Hotel Gustav Mahler
Lecture for Producers by Julianna Ugrin
Hungarian producer Julianna Ugrin will discuss two documentary projects she has been recently working on: The Missing Tale (dir. Klára Trencsényi, working title Wardens of Memory) and Holy Dilemma (dir. Marton Vizkelety and Julianna Ugrin, working title Our Father).
Thursday, October 28
10 AM – 11:30 AM Hotel Gustav Mahler
Good Encounters
Lecture by Cintia Gil
Drawing the life of a film means looking for good companionships, and film festivals can be spaces where films not only meet their audience and critical context, but also future avenues for themselves and for their makers. This is a complex, sometimes confusing environment that needs to be approached with a critical spirit and a strong sense of priority. On the other hand, film programming is a specific way of thinking about the films and determining relations, contexts, and validation. In this session, we will consider both sides of this question, and look for possible ways of enabling fruitful encounters based on respect, mutual interest and generosity.
5 PM – 6:30 PM Hotel Gustav Mahler
Real fiction. The Fingerprint. Crossing the Boundaries in Documentary Storytelling
Lecture by Agnieszka Zwiefka
How to find a unique and organic style for your film? We will dive into the backstage of creating a film and look at different ways of discovering the nature of the story and how it should be told. Based on her personal experience of working with very different storytelling styles, Agnieszka Zwiefka will look at different ways of combining fiction scenes with a documentary core, using clips from her films. When and how the precise ideas for the style of our films come out? Does it happen at the beginning, or does it come from the challenges the author faces in the filmmaking process?
