CEU - Auditorium A

How can human rights film festivals become more inclusive? In this interactive workshop led by Andrea Pócsik, audiences can meet the participants of the international curatorial workshop and explore questions of representation, decolonisation and audience engagement together.

Registration is required. The workshop will be held in English and Hungarian.

This masterclass explores what it is like to make films in a country other than your own. It looks at the creative and practical challenges of working in a different cultural and professional environment, and how living and working away from home can shape a filmmaker’s perspective, creative process and approach to filmmaking.

How can documentary filmmaking become a tool for social change? Following an introduction by Andrea Pócsik, the programme features a screening of the Kenyan documentary #ThePeopleShall. Afterwards, co-director Mark Maina joins an online discussion to share their experiences and insights from the film's impact campaign.

This roundtable is an important part of this year's Roma focus at Verzió, offering an exceptional opportunity to jointly examine the productive encounters between different artistic disciplines (film, visual arts, theatre) through the work of the invited participants. Following an introductory lecture by art historian Tímea Junghaus, we will reflect together on the international and Hungarian experiences of the institutionalisation of Roma culture. What practical results have emerged recently from collaborations between “majority” institutions organising major visual arts events (such as documenta in Kassel, OFF-Biennale, the Cannes Film Festival and the European Film Academy) and ERIAC? What are the experiences regarding the issues outlined in the introductory lecture? Where, what and how should things be further improved?

Tímea Junghaus's keynote:
The next paradigm shift in European documentary cinema is not about improving the representation of marginalized communities, but fundamentally transforming who controls the image, the narrative, and the means of production. Drawing on two decades of curatorial and institutional work, from grassroots Roma cinema to the Cannes film market, Timea Junghaus challenges the documentary tradition of speaking about communities rather than enabling them to define their own cinematic languages. Decolonizing or revolutionising film in Central and Eastern Europe requires more than visibility or inclusion: it demands a redistribution of authorship, resources, institutional power, and the authority and creativity to imagine the future.

In the masterclass, Bill Morrison will track the arc of his career and show how his work has gradually moved from the metaphorical to the forensic. He will also demonstrate how social justice has become an increasingly visible theme throughout his work, and the role the Archive plays in accountability.

What does it mean to film in extreme conditions, when locations are dangerous, circumstances unpredictable, and filmmaking itself involves risks? Ross McClean, Bronte Stahl (Magilligan), Anton Shtuka (The Last Prometheus Dombas), Chico Pereira (11 Underground), and Piotr Pawlus (Death in the Making) share their experiences of filming in extraordinary circumstances, exploring the challenges they face and the limits of their presence as filmmakers. How can filmmakers persevere and capture high-quality footage in such conditions while ensuring their own safety and that of others?

What lies ahead for Hungarian documentary film at a time of transformation in the country's film industry? As a guest of Verzió, Viktória Petrányi, Ministerial Commissioner for Film Reform, discusses the place and prospects of documentary filmmaking within the changing funding system.