BRITDOC 08 promises stellar line-up
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Sundance winner Man on Wire, war photographer documentary Blood Trail, and the inspirational Day After Peace, about a peace campaigner questing for a rare day of world peace, are amongst 17 feature-length documentaries and shorts from Britain and around the world to be screened at the BRITDOC Festival, Keble College, Oxford (July 23-25).
This year, for the first time, the festival introduces Best of the Fests, featuring documentaries selected by programmers from Sundance, Berlin and Toronto amongst others.
In addition to the programme, there will be two special screenings; The Yes Men, anti-corporate activists, will show a work-in-progress preview of their latest documentary, The Yes Men Fix the World; and a live score will accompany Robert Flaherty’s legendary Nanook of the North.
Festival programmer Maxyne Franklyn said, “What a year for British Documentaries! The Brits have been storming the world, picking up awards at Sundance, having premieres at Cannes and Rotterdam - proof, if ever we needed it, that British filmmakers are making their best work ever and taking their rightful place on the international stage.”
The themes for this year’s festival are comedy and music. Festival Director Beadie Finzi said, “A great soundtrack is at the heart of every film and yet in documentary it is often compromised by time and budget. At BRITDOC we will be celebrating the craft of soundtrack – hearing from our best composers how docs present their own special set of rewards and challenges.”
BRITDOC CEO Jess Search said, “Comedy is a powerful tool to carry important messages to wide audiences and we will be debating whether documentaries are too serious for their own good.”
Naman Ramachandran