HONORARY EVENT FOR ALLY DERKS
Market Talks, a new venture, organized in the framework of the 14th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Market, held its third session on Thursday, March 15, 2012, at the Excelsior room of Electra Palace Hotel. The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) Director Ally Derks, was the speaker of the session. The speech was followed by a special event in Ms Derks’ honor and she was presented with an honorary plaque as a token of appreciation for her overall contribution in the field of documentary.
Derks discussed the inner workings of documentary film promotion in the international festival circuit and referred in particular to IDFA’s birth and role, explaining briefly its various aspects. “IDFA is the biggest documentary festival worldwide; it hasn’t always been like that, though. When we started, it was a very small festival that sold just about 2,000 tickets. We were three girls sharing a single typewriter and a single phone. We had no computers and not even a fax machine, I think. 25 years later, things have changed of course. Last year, more than 3,000 guests from all over the world, producers and mainly directors visited the Festival”, underlined Ms Derks. In regard to the filmmakers that are invited to the festival, Ms Derks said: “This is one of the festival’s great successes. From the very beginning, we always believed that if a film is screened at the festival, we should also try and have the director with us, because it may be true that a documentary is made-up of its story and narrative, however, it has also to do with exchanging opinions and participating in constructive discussions. This is the reason why directors attend and stay to answer questions after the screening, a significant procedure to them, as they want to observe the audience’s direct reaction to their films”. Speaking about the first IDFA festivals, Ms Derks referred to the year 1988 and the Perestroika era, when films from the Soviet Union participated and said: “The Russian directors arrived at the festival accompanied by the KGB and brought along films that had been left in the box for years, as their screening both in the Soviet Union and abroad was forbidden, thus, it was a unique chance to watch them for the very first time. This event has been of great importance and helped us a lot to become established in the field, as next year our audience doubled and our guests grew in number”.
Ms Derks explained that when in 1992 IDFA, in collaboration with the Forum- now known as European Documentary Network, EDN- launched the documentary co-financing program, the time-period was very rough, because the documentary almost didn’t exist as a film genre. She also explained that the festival has always been interested in the “creative documentary, the one characterized by a powerful narrative and a personal perspective of reality and not in films that show a neutral approach”. IDFA’s director particularly referred to the Pitching Sessions events as she attended one of them with great interest, in the framework of Docs in Thessaloniki / Pitching Forum 2012 of the 14th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Pointing out their significance in general, she commented: “Everyone thinks that talking about their films’ stories is an easy thing, however, one has to be trained in order to do it the right way and Pitching can teach that”.
Ms Derks referred to the films applying to participate in IDFA, underlined that there are two application deadlines annually – April 1st and August 1st – and reassured that: “If you send a film to IDFA, it will be watched by at least two people and if it’s a good one by at least three”. She also added: “We are active all year round, both through our webpage, where filmmakers can submit their application online, and through Docs for Sale, a documentary market available during the festival period and once it’s over, online, in the same way”. Ms Derks also referred to the educational programs run by IDFA throughout the year, such as actions happening in schools, which include documentaries made by children for children, critical-thinking workshops for children to develop critical skills towards what they watch, as well as the IDFA Academy. In addition, the institution organizes seminars for Dutch directors who, for a few months, get the chance to be instructed on how to plan a project. The best project is screened on Dutch television. Ms Derks also spoke about the IDFA Fund, which offers its support to filmmakers in developing countries and to the organization of seminars.
“Our intention at the IDFA is to honor the documentary as a film genre and make it as significant and excellent as fiction. I think one of our common achievements is the fact that big festivals such as Berlin, Venice, Sundance and Tribeca Festival now include documentaries in their screening programs”, Ms Derks pointed out. She also added that under the current financial circumstances, buyers travel less, thus, a market in the form of Docs for Sale is more than useful and that they may choose to buy a number of documentaries instead of an expensive fiction movie.
Speaking about the documentary’s deeper nature, Ms Derks commented: “To us, documentary is a way of talking about the reality and to start a discussion among us, a dialogue channel between the various cultures. This is the important thing in festivals, the fact that they launch dialogue. Even with no money left, we will continue making documentaries, because directors have great stories to tell”.
In the framework of Market Talks, Ms Derk gave the participants practical advice. “When, for example, a film comes in two versions -90 minutes and 58 minutes long, the TV version- we at IDFA evaluate one of the two. So, before submitting your film, ask yourselves and choose between the two versions. Ask yourselves whether your film can ‘hold’ the audience for one and a half hour or it would better fit a television screening in a shorter version”. She also pointed out, as far as the films participating festivals are concerned: “You have to think carefully where you want to send your film to, where you want to introduce it to the market. If you think your film is worth it, you should address to the top festivals of Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Amsterdam. A premiere in such festivals makes sure that buyers and festivals programmers from all over the world will watch the film. However, in the case that you don’t manage to participate in these festivals, try every smaller documentary festival, such as Sheffield”.
After Ally Derks concluded her speech in the Market Talks part, the 14th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival paid honor to the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam in a special honorary event that took place at the Excelsior Room of Electra Palace Hotel.
The event opened with a four-minute video screening, dedicated to Ally Derks’ life work, a video made with humor and love by her collaborator, the Canadian film producer and director, Peter Wintonick, who was also present at the 14th TDF. Next, TDF Director Dimitri Eipides, offered to the event’s special guest a honorary plaque, pointing out that: “The only thing I could add is the love and admiration I feel for this great lady, who brought documentary out on stage internationally, and for 25 years now, she inspired, through IDFA, the creation of many more festivals, the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival included. I admire her deeply for her achievements; she has managed to bring documentary in the light widely, attracting millions of spectators and professionals. At the same time she has helped numerous filmmakers make their work known to people worldwide. We want to thank her for being here with us and present her with this honorary plaque”.
Ms Derks thanked Mr. Eipides for the honor and Mr. Wintonick for the video, pointing out that: “It is a team project and not something I do on my own. Don’t forget I have 25 collaborators in my office who work very hard for IDFA to come into reality and they work with love and passion. Dimitri, I thank you in particular, because you inspired me, many years ago. Thank you all”.
