Docu director capturing spectacle of daily life
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By Han Sang-hee
Legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock once said that "in feature films, the director is God; in documentary films, God is the director".
While films are made based on a script brought to life by the director, writers and actors, documentaries rely solely on reality: no scripts, no retakes and no demands.
This is why it's so hard to make one, and also why it strongly tugs at the hearts of viewers. For Academy-Award winning German documentary filmmaker Pepe Danquart, this is exactly why he can't stop working on them.
"Documentaries become interesting (because they are) a no man's land. You enter a new world which you don't know. That's why I'm so addicted to it than fiction", he said.
Danquart won the Oscar with his short "Schwarzfahrer" (1993), or "Black Rider", in 1994 and has been in the documentary film industry ever since. He is currently a professor of film at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg and commission editor at the National Cultural Film Fund under the German Ministry of Culture.
The director flew to Korea for the first time to attend the EBS International Documentary Festival (EIDF) as head judge, and although he came directly from the airport for the press conference, he showed little signs of fatigue and was willing to talk about his career and love of documentaries.
"I'm much honored to head the jury. What I find very interesting about (Korea) is that it's a place of globalization and cultural clash. Languages (are) different, but in terms of cinemagraphic, dramatic structure and storylines, European and Asian films have something (in common) now", the director said.
More than 536 works from 83 countries competed for the preliminaries, covering issues ranging from plastic surgery ("Beauty Refugee"), child trafficking ("SOLD: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade) to midlife crises ("Portrait of a Man") and even falcons ("Feathered Cocaine").
"You get to have an attentive grasp of reality. With fiction, you create your own reality, which is not comparable. Fiction is like ending up with a forecast", he said.
Since the 1960s, the evolution of films has been affected by many advancements, including smaller movie cameras and the switch from black-and-white to color, and filmmakers have started to search for the true, authentic form of reality, "the spectacle of daily life", the director explained.
Many directors strive to capture that true essence, be about a person, an event or a mere happening, but it is hard to escape the criticism that their grasp of reality is not, in fact, real, but just a quick slice of the surface.
"Which is why I decided to switch over and deal with psychological subjects", he said.
Finishing a documentary takes time; some five to six years and others more than a decade. Because it takes so much time and effort, it's easy to get attached to it and, sometimes, you get to learn and discover something that you may have never had unless you worked on the film.
"Issues tend to be confronted personally in (documentaries). It's about (people) discovering things. Most filmmakers are very curious in finding (new) things and that is exactly what we do. (The audience) is now bored with the same stories and content coming up in entertainment channels. They can now find real subjects in documentary films. Whatever you find in entertainment _ storytelling, adventures and curiosity _ you can now find in documentaries. This is why (they) have a bigger chance nowadays", he said.
Because such films are about true events and real people, plans are of no use. As a director, you can get blocked by various obstacles, including threats, financial difficulties or a dead end.
"Overcoming fear and (reaching) something that no one has reached before is an extraordinary feeling. If you go into a subject that you don't know, find a way and finally bring it to a movie, then that's something extraordinary and that means going over the boundaries", he said.
Danquart also acknowledged that the 3D wave will also affect the documentary scene.
"Think about the evolution of the small portable cameras. You could pack them on your shoulder and film whenever needed. I believe the biggest boost in 3D filmmaking will be on the documentary side. What it can open up for documentary scene is immense. Just imagine", he said.
"How exciting would it be if a character in a true story could grasp you right on the shoulder like this?" he said lightheartedly while placing his hand upon this reporter's shoulder.
The EIDF continues through Aug. 29 at various venues including EBS Space and Arthouse Momo. Viewers can also view the films on EBS. For more information about the venues and screening schedules, visit http://www.eidf.org
Legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock once said that "in feature films, the director is God; in documentary films, God is the director".
While films are made based on a script brought to life by the director, writers and actors, documentaries rely solely on reality: no scripts, no retakes and no demands.
This is why it's so hard to make one, and also why it strongly tugs at the hearts of viewers. For Academy-Award winning German documentary filmmaker Pepe Danquart, this is exactly why he can't stop working on them.
"Documentaries become interesting (because they are) a no man's land. You enter a new world which you don't know. That's why I'm so addicted to it than fiction", he said.
Danquart won the Oscar with his short "Schwarzfahrer" (1993), or "Black Rider", in 1994 and has been in the documentary film industry ever since. He is currently a professor of film at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg and commission editor at the National Cultural Film Fund under the German Ministry of Culture.
The director flew to Korea for the first time to attend the EBS International Documentary Festival (EIDF) as head judge, and although he came directly from the airport for the press conference, he showed little signs of fatigue and was willing to talk about his career and love of documentaries.
"I'm much honored to head the jury. What I find very interesting about (Korea) is that it's a place of globalization and cultural clash. Languages (are) different, but in terms of cinemagraphic, dramatic structure and storylines, European and Asian films have something (in common) now", the director said.
More than 536 works from 83 countries competed for the preliminaries, covering issues ranging from plastic surgery ("Beauty Refugee"), child trafficking ("SOLD: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade) to midlife crises ("Portrait of a Man") and even falcons ("Feathered Cocaine").
"You get to have an attentive grasp of reality. With fiction, you create your own reality, which is not comparable. Fiction is like ending up with a forecast", he said.
Since the 1960s, the evolution of films has been affected by many advancements, including smaller movie cameras and the switch from black-and-white to color, and filmmakers have started to search for the true, authentic form of reality, "the spectacle of daily life", the director explained.
Many directors strive to capture that true essence, be about a person, an event or a mere happening, but it is hard to escape the criticism that their grasp of reality is not, in fact, real, but just a quick slice of the surface.
"Which is why I decided to switch over and deal with psychological subjects", he said.
Finishing a documentary takes time; some five to six years and others more than a decade. Because it takes so much time and effort, it's easy to get attached to it and, sometimes, you get to learn and discover something that you may have never had unless you worked on the film.
"Issues tend to be confronted personally in (documentaries). It's about (people) discovering things. Most filmmakers are very curious in finding (new) things and that is exactly what we do. (The audience) is now bored with the same stories and content coming up in entertainment channels. They can now find real subjects in documentary films. Whatever you find in entertainment _ storytelling, adventures and curiosity _ you can now find in documentaries. This is why (they) have a bigger chance nowadays", he said.
Because such films are about true events and real people, plans are of no use. As a director, you can get blocked by various obstacles, including threats, financial difficulties or a dead end.
"Overcoming fear and (reaching) something that no one has reached before is an extraordinary feeling. If you go into a subject that you don't know, find a way and finally bring it to a movie, then that's something extraordinary and that means going over the boundaries", he said.
Danquart also acknowledged that the 3D wave will also affect the documentary scene.
"Think about the evolution of the small portable cameras. You could pack them on your shoulder and film whenever needed. I believe the biggest boost in 3D filmmaking will be on the documentary side. What it can open up for documentary scene is immense. Just imagine", he said.
"How exciting would it be if a character in a true story could grasp you right on the shoulder like this?" he said lightheartedly while placing his hand upon this reporter's shoulder.
The EIDF continues through Aug. 29 at various venues including EBS Space and Arthouse Momo. Viewers can also view the films on EBS. For more information about the venues and screening schedules, visit http://www.eidf.org
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