Focusing on documentary makers
By Xu Wei |
June 16, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
YVES Jeanneau, one of most celebrated documentary film makers in France, founded the Sunny Side of the Doc Festival in 1989. He changed a situation at that time when documentary film makers and broadcasters of different countries hardly had chance to talk and know each other.
In the 24 years since, Sunny Side of the Doc has become one of the most prestigious and influential documentary festivals in the world.
At last week's 19th Shanghai Television Festival, Jeanneau was the jury president of the Magnolia International Documentary Awards (MIDA). He also gave a lecture at the MIDA Master Class, sharing with Chinese film makers his experience in documentary production.
In his lecture, he noted the importance of a deep and clever storytelling for a documentary work. And what makes a documentary stand out is not its story, but how the story is told, he said.
Jeanneau has more than 25 years' experience in French documentary filmmaking and over 100 films to his production credit, including Jean-Xavier de Lestrade's Oscar-winning documentary film "Murder On a Sunday Morning," which documents a murder trial in which a 15-year-old African-American is wrongfully accused of a murder in Florida.
At the beginning of his career, Jeanneau ran Les Films d' Ici, a production company, for 16 years. He then had years of working experience as head of documentaries at the France 2 television chain and documentary producer for Telfrance. He is also the creator of Sunny Lab, which is dedicated to cross-media training.
In 2010, in response to the growing documentary market in Asia, Jeanneau established the Asian Side of the Doc, an international documentary co-production market and meeting.
He talked with Shanghai Daily earlier this week.
Q: As jury president of Magnolia International Documentary Awards, what's your judging criteria for an outstanding documentary?
A: Basically, what makes the difference among all the entries is not the topic, the subjects, or the technical quality, but the way to tell the story. And you can really see some stories are told in a better way than others.
Q: What encouraged you to found the Sunny Side of the Doc and the Asian Side of the Doc? How do documentary film makers benefit from these events?
A: I created the festivals to gather documentary directors, broadcasters and producers from all over the world so that they could talk, meet and cooperate. It was just a dream 25 years ago because documentary film makers at that time seldom exchanged views with each other. But now the dream has been turned into reality.
Q: As a veteran documentary producer, what's your advice to the young first-time directors?
A: I think first they should think twice about what it means to make documentaries. Then they should spend much time training. They need to watch lots of documentaries. It's a process like learning calligraphy. It takes time, dedication and effort to achieve.
Q: How should documentary directors tell a good story?
A: They must tell a true and sincere story. However, truth is a complex thing as different people can see it from different perspectives. Actually, we do not see the same way. So the director has to check from different points of view and choose one that is really close to the truth.
Q: In your opinion, what's the future prospect for Chinese documentary industry? How to grow the market?
A: Each time I come to China, I can see the evolution of the growth of the industry. You're creating new channels, new slots, new theaters to screen more documentaries. I am very impressed by the speed. Chinese documentary film makers learn very quickly these days. But they still need to extend their cooperation with international professionals to study how to tell the story.
Q: Some local documentary film makers told me that these days people are more willing to invest on an entertainment reality show than a documentary. How do you solve a problem like that?
A: Yes, it is a same problem for many countries today. Co-production is a good solution for that, particularly for a documentary that can travel. You can raise part of the money in China and other part of the money in other countries. The documentary with an international storytelling can be distributed worldwide.
Q: What do you think of the strength and weakness of Chinese documentaries?
A: The Chinese documentary industry is no more a "baby." You are a boy or a girl. But you are still young. You still need to be careful not to make mistakes. There are so many interesting stories in China. The world wants to understand China and know more about the country. That is such a good thing.
Q: Do you have any new collaboration projects with Chinese TV stations and documentary film makers?
A: I am working with the production teams of Shanghai Media Group and some Beijing-based companies to share my expertise and experience in documentary filmmaking with the young people.
In the 24 years since, Sunny Side of the Doc has become one of the most prestigious and influential documentary festivals in the world.
At last week's 19th Shanghai Television Festival, Jeanneau was the jury president of the Magnolia International Documentary Awards (MIDA). He also gave a lecture at the MIDA Master Class, sharing with Chinese film makers his experience in documentary production.
In his lecture, he noted the importance of a deep and clever storytelling for a documentary work. And what makes a documentary stand out is not its story, but how the story is told, he said.
Jeanneau has more than 25 years' experience in French documentary filmmaking and over 100 films to his production credit, including Jean-Xavier de Lestrade's Oscar-winning documentary film "Murder On a Sunday Morning," which documents a murder trial in which a 15-year-old African-American is wrongfully accused of a murder in Florida.
At the beginning of his career, Jeanneau ran Les Films d' Ici, a production company, for 16 years. He then had years of working experience as head of documentaries at the France 2 television chain and documentary producer for Telfrance. He is also the creator of Sunny Lab, which is dedicated to cross-media training.
In 2010, in response to the growing documentary market in Asia, Jeanneau established the Asian Side of the Doc, an international documentary co-production market and meeting.
He talked with Shanghai Daily earlier this week.
Q: As jury president of Magnolia International Documentary Awards, what's your judging criteria for an outstanding documentary?
A: Basically, what makes the difference among all the entries is not the topic, the subjects, or the technical quality, but the way to tell the story. And you can really see some stories are told in a better way than others.
Q: What encouraged you to found the Sunny Side of the Doc and the Asian Side of the Doc? How do documentary film makers benefit from these events?
A: I created the festivals to gather documentary directors, broadcasters and producers from all over the world so that they could talk, meet and cooperate. It was just a dream 25 years ago because documentary film makers at that time seldom exchanged views with each other. But now the dream has been turned into reality.
Q: As a veteran documentary producer, what's your advice to the young first-time directors?
A: I think first they should think twice about what it means to make documentaries. Then they should spend much time training. They need to watch lots of documentaries. It's a process like learning calligraphy. It takes time, dedication and effort to achieve.
Q: How should documentary directors tell a good story?
A: They must tell a true and sincere story. However, truth is a complex thing as different people can see it from different perspectives. Actually, we do not see the same way. So the director has to check from different points of view and choose one that is really close to the truth.
Q: In your opinion, what's the future prospect for Chinese documentary industry? How to grow the market?
A: Each time I come to China, I can see the evolution of the growth of the industry. You're creating new channels, new slots, new theaters to screen more documentaries. I am very impressed by the speed. Chinese documentary film makers learn very quickly these days. But they still need to extend their cooperation with international professionals to study how to tell the story.
Q: Some local documentary film makers told me that these days people are more willing to invest on an entertainment reality show than a documentary. How do you solve a problem like that?
A: Yes, it is a same problem for many countries today. Co-production is a good solution for that, particularly for a documentary that can travel. You can raise part of the money in China and other part of the money in other countries. The documentary with an international storytelling can be distributed worldwide.
Q: What do you think of the strength and weakness of Chinese documentaries?
A: The Chinese documentary industry is no more a "baby." You are a boy or a girl. But you are still young. You still need to be careful not to make mistakes. There are so many interesting stories in China. The world wants to understand China and know more about the country. That is such a good thing.
Q: Do you have any new collaboration projects with Chinese TV stations and documentary film makers?
A: I am working with the production teams of Shanghai Media Group and some Beijing-based companies to share my expertise and experience in documentary filmmaking with the young people.
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