Documentary trends - Where Are We Headed?
Where is the documentary film genre heading, what trend is the profession currently being defined as? Festival directors and distributors talk about contemporary documentary film.
Alexa Bakony graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest (SZFE) as a film director. Her debut film, Colors of Tobi, was supported by the Sundance Institute and the Hungarian National Film Institute. It was screened at many prestigious festivals such as DOC NYC, BFI Flare, Ji.hlava. Colors of Tobi won the Hungarian Film Critics Award in 2022 and the Best Hungarian Film Award at Verzió in 2021.
Chiara Boschiero is head of educational projects and senior programmer for the Biografilm Festival in Bologna, Italy. She graduated in Film Production at the National Film School of Rome, and received her Master's Degree in Human Rights and Democratization in Latin America (LAT.MA) in Buenos Aires. She has 18 years of experience in the development of international co-production film projects, and is a trainer in cinema and human rights in Italy and Argentina. Before Biografilm Festival, she was the production manager of the International Human Rights Film Festival of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hanka Kastelicová is the VP and Executive Producer of Documentaries for HBO Europe. Based in the Prague office, she works closely with HBO Europe’s production centers and is responsible for the development and production of HBO Europe’s documentary films. She commissions and co-produces documentary programming for HBO Europe, focusing on feature length productions, and documentary series which should have a strong connection with the countries where HBO Europe broadcasts.
Anna Petrus is a filmmaker, film critic, cultural researcher, professor, and currently, Artistic Director of DocsBarcelona International Film Festival. She holds a degree in audiovisual communication from Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona). She has directed multiple films, including video art, fiction, and documentary, which have toured festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival, Festival des Films du Monde (Montréal), Sitges - Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya, and FicXixón, among many others. She has worked as a film critic for several relevant film magazines and newspapers in Spain (such as Dirigido por, Cahiers du Cinéma -Spain, and La Vanguardia). She is currently a contributor to the newspaper Ara, where she writes about cinema, audiovisuals, and feminism. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Dones Visuals (Visual Women), the association of women filmmakers in Catalonia.
Anne Rethfeld joined DAE in May 2021. She is a project manager, cultural producer, writer and podcast producer who has worked for European film festivals and documentary organizations since 2014, including DOK Leipzig, CPH:DOX, DOX BOX e.V., European Film Market and Berlinale.She holds a Bachelor's in European Media Science and a Master's in Design Studies at Burg Giebichenstein, University of Art and Design Halle.
