1st Symposium 2007

FRIDAY 9 March 2007

13.00-13.30
REGISTRATION

13.30-15.00
SCREENING
The Government Inspector (2005, 100 min)
directed by Peter Kosminsky and produced by David Aukin

Synopsis: A factual-based drama about the scientist Dr David Kelly, moving between his time as a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq in the 1990s and the frenetic weeks and months in which the Blair government attempted to persuade a doubtful nation of its case for war. It charts David Kelly's own journey from behind-the-scenes expert to a man exposed to a media onslaught as he became caught up in the crossfire between the government and the BBC over the war in Iraq.

15.00-15.30
COFFEE BREAK

15.30-17.00
PRODUCING REAL LIFE DRAMA

• David Aukin, Daybreak Pictures, London, UK *

The Hamburg Cell (about 9/11), The Government Inspector (about the Iraq War), A Very Social Secretary (about the scandals surrounding ex British Home Secretary David Blunkett), The Trial of Tony Blair (a satire set in 2010) - these ground-breaking factual dramas were all produced by David Aukin, one of Britain?s leading film and TV Executive Producers. As Head of Film Four in the 90?s, he was responsible for films like Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, Welcome to Sarajevo and Four Weddings and a Funeral. In this session he?ll show clips from his recent work and talk about the challenges involved in the kind of controversial factual drama he makes ? questions of veracity and accuracy, of getting the ideas commissioned, and of achieving high-quality drama on relatively modest budgets.

17.00-18.00
WHAT DOCS ARE HOT ON BBCTV AND WHY?

• Richard Klein, BBC, London, UK

Richard Klein is Commissioning Editor, Documentaries at the BBC responsible for commissioning independent producers and in-house BBC producers to make single films and documentary series for the two BBC terrestrial channels, BBC1 and BBC2, and for the two key digital channels, BBC3 and BBC4. With an increasing emphasis at the BBC on so-called 360 degree commissioning ? making an idea work on all platforms, terrestrial, digital and on broadband, and on inter-activity ? what difference is this making to the way he and his colleagues commission. Is his series The Verdict in which a celebrity jury hear a criminal case and then deliver their judgement ? a big 360 degree commission ? a sign of the future? We?ll be asking Richard to review his past couple of years and tell us what has really worked for him, and what he is hoping for in the immediate future.

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SATURDAY 10 March 2007

9.30-11.15
SCREENING
Rain in my Heart (2006, 100 min)
filmed, directed and produced by Paul Watson

Synopsis: In his most powerful film to date Paul Watson tackles the subject of alcoholism. Under the care of the Dickens Ward of North Kent's Medway Hospital, four alcoholics are fighting for their lives. 43 year old Vanda turned to alcohol at the age of 12 to escape her brutal father and now has an ongoing battle with the dark monsters in her head. 29 year old Mark is admitted to hospital on death's door, leaving in his wake a string of failed relationships, a child and a mountain of debt. Nigel has been dry for ten years, but his liver is failing after years of abuse. And 26 year old Toni fell victim to a society that revolves around the pub. As Watson follows their struggles over the course of a year in and out of hospital, a gripping portrait emerges of the epidemic that is weighing down the NHS and UK society. Their stories are both shocking and utterly typical of the many thousands of alcoholics battling an illness, which Watson says we have for too long ignored.

11.15-11.45
COFFEE BREAK

11.45-13.00
THE ART OF THE TOUGH DOCUMENTARY

• Paul Watson, Tonbridge, Kent, UK

Paul Watson makes tough and often controversial observational documentaries. Rain in My Heart is the latest. Despite its nearly two hour running length, it achieved an unexpected large audience and extraordinary attention from the press when it was shown on BBC2 just before Christmas. There is a great deal that is unusual about this film: Paul?s role and appearance throughout questioning the editorial decisions he is taking; the style of interviewing and the way that the interviews are inter-cut; the very grammar of the film. In this session, Paul Watson will be discussing his innovative, powerful and sometimes controversial approach to documentary making. He will be showing clips from the film and some of the sequences he chose not to include.

13.00-14.30
LUNCH BREAK

14.30-15.30
THE COMPLEXITY OF EXPLORING HISTORIC EVENTS BEHIND THE SCENE

• Michael Christoffersen, Team Productions, Copenhagen, Denmark

Critically acclaimed director Esteban Uyarra has been in Baghdad since September 2005 following the trial of Saddam Hussein behind-the-scenes. He filmed with the key players from the defence team, the Iraqi tribunal and the US-team assisting the court. The ambition was to gain an understanding of what the case involved, and that the prosecutors have faced a struggle from start to finish. The Team Productions film company, led by producer Mette Heide and director Michael Christoffersen, documented also Slobodan Milosevic's trial at The Hague. Since the trial against the former Serbian president started in 2002, director Michael Christoffersen has followed the key players with exclusive access behind-the-scenes enabling him to film with the prosecutor, Milosevic' assigned counsel and his Serbian advisers. The documentary is the only insight to the trial from the inside.

15.30-16.00
COFFEE BREAK

16.00-17.30
MOVIES THAT MATTER

• Diane Weyermann, Participant Productions, Beverly Hills, USA *

How to deliver compelling entertainment that will inspire audiences to get involved in the issues that affect us all. Can film encourage activism and create real change? The power of non-fiction film to ignite debate, uncover corruption, provoke political movements ? and move audiences is at the heart of the discussion with Diane Weyermann. Films to be discussed:

An Inconvenient Truth (2006 / 100 min)
directed by Davis Guggenheim; Executive Producer: Diane Weyermann

Synopsis: Al Gore has travelled the world delivering a presentation on the global climate change, proving that humankind must confront global warming now or face devastating consequences ? this film captures his journey as a worldwide environmental champion.

CHICAGO 10 (2006 / 103 min)
written/produced/directed by Brett Morgen; Executive Producer: Diane Weyermann

Synopsis: CHICAGO 10 is an innovative documentary that combines historical storytelling, archival footage, animation and music to tell the story about the 1968 anti-war protests around the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that resulted in the famous Chicago Conspiracy Trial in 1969.

Angels in the Dust (2007 / 95 min)
directed by Lousie Hogarth, produced by: James Egan; Executive Producer: Diane Weyermann

Synopsis: Angels in the Dust tells the story of a South African orphanage for children victimized by HIV/AIDS, founded by the Cloete family, who gave up their life of comfort to provide shelter and education as well as love, hope and healing to more than 550 orphans and other children in need.

17.30-19.00
SCREENING
Selections of "Taxi to the Dark Side" (2007), a work in progress
written, directed and produced by Alex Gibney

• Alex Gibney, New York, USA

Synopsis: How did it come about that the United States, while spreading its own message of democracy around the world, also formulated what would now appear to be a policy of using torture in its war against terror? Films and articles have documented individual cases of torture, or dealt with the mechanics of ?rendition.? Alex Gibney, who made Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room, is interested in the whys and hows. ?I?m following the perpetrators,? he says. ?We need to know how ideas that go back to Magna Carta were subverted. The revelations of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo are indeed damaging to the American self-image. But the ease with which all this was done is a truly important factor. How can we believe in a democratic future when this happened so easily, without public outcry??

20.00
DINNER RECEPTION

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SUNDAY 11 March 2007

9.30-10.30
CASE STUDY
Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) & Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

• Hans Robert Eisenhauer, ZDF/ARTE, Mainz, Germany
• Alex Gibney, New York, USA

In this case study, we will discuss what the role of the long-form documentary is in this period of news saturation, and more specifically with regard to Enron and the torture policies and practices pursued by the US.

10.30-11.00
COFFEE BREAK

11.00-12.00
WIDE ANGLE: GLOBAL ISSUES FOR THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

• Stephen Segaller, Thirteen/WNET, New York, USA

WIDE ANGLE is the only American program exclusively dedicated to international current affairs documentaries. In its first five seasons WIDE ANGLE travelled to more than 50 countries to present global stories on a human scale and offering Americans uncommon and invaluable insight into today's interconnected world. We ask Stephen Segaller how WIDE ANGLE works and what are the possibilities for Europeans to work for his strand on WNET/PBS.

12.00-13.30
WORLDS APART - DOCUMENTARIES AND CURRENT AFFAIRS?

• Eamon Hardy, BBC, London, UK
• Angus Macqueen, Channel 4, London, UK

Most broadcasters worldwide have a department dealing with current affairs and another department dealing with documentaries. But is this an anachronism ? something that damages both genres? Does it have the effect of confining much current affairs to reportage and reduce the opportunity for documentary makers to make powerful but journalistic narrative films? Angus MacQueen and Eamon Hardy are both distinguished filmmakers who have recently become commissioning editors, Angus MacQueen as Head of Documentaries at Channel 4 and Eamon Hardy as Head of Independent Commissioning (CA) at the BBC. What are their plans for the future of their output, and how do they see this separation between the worlds of documentary and current affairs?

13.30-15.00
LUNCH BREAK

15.00-16.30
SERIOUSLY FUNNY?

• Andy Bichlbaum, New York, USA *
• Mike Bonanno, New York, USA *
• Alan Hayling, London, UK *
• Sean Langan, London, UK *

Young audiences are deserting serious TV ? both current affairs and documentaries, leaving it to an increasingly aged demographic. So do our documentaries need to become more entertaining? Arguably, Bowling for Columbine, Supersize Me and The Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno) have all shown that journalistic documentaries can be funny and yet tackle serious issues. The BBC has been experimenting with this approach with its Mischief series (Alan Hayling) and Channel 4 has recently broadcast witty but searing films by Sean Langan from Afghanistan. Is this the new way forward for broadcasters anxious to recapture the interest of young viewers?

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(*) not included in the Discovery Campus Yearbook 2007.