Sponsors
Partner
Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
Calls for entries Log-in to MY FESTIVAL 
Agenda Programme and tickets Search 
You can’t please everyone, as documentary- makers found on Thursday at the IX Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-production Forum.
Chilean producer Diego Canizal wasfirst told by a Spanish commissioning editor that his project about Chilean children in revolt, “Cruzando,” would need a Spanish element added to the story, and then was told by a French commissioner that it would have to have a French element.
“You have to add a link with Spain,” said Andres Luque Perez from TVE.
“We would need a character with a French dimension,” said Sandrine Delegiewicz of Planete+.
No doubt if the Finnish commissioner, Pentti Valiahdet of YLE, had been asked... well, you get the picture.
Ironically, at a time when broadcasters are demanding that the programmes they commission should have a local angle, they are increasingly looking to co-produce with international partners as their budgets have been cut.
“Many pathways for documentaries have been closed,” said Jordi Ambros Hortensi of Catalonia’s TV3.
Their budget are further constrained, they reported, because they now have to pay for a raft of online content.
Changes in the market are also affecting the commissioners’ decisionmaking. Chello Multicanal, for example, is increasingly dependent on advertising so ratings are of great importance. This leads them to «inject a greater degree of entertainment» into their documentaries, said Ramon Verdet. “We want to do this, but do it responsibly and avoid superficiality,” he said.
The channel was now after shows with positive, uplifting stories, he said.
“We are uncomfortable about just looking at the bad things in life,” he said.
But despite the tough environment for documentaries, there were no shortage of high calibre projects being pitched at the Forum. Two of note were “Dali, Lacroix... Au Dela de l’Objectif,” which uses freshly uncovered photos and recordings of Salvador Dali, and “Oleg,” about another eccentric, Russian composer Oleg Karavaichuk.
The Dali project in particular got the commissioners salivating. Ali Delici of Arte France wanted it to look at the artist’s creative process, while Jordi Ambros Hortensi at TV3 wanted it to show Dali as a normal person.
LEO BARRACLOUGH
Monday to friday: 09:00h a 14:00h | 16:00h a 19:00h