Back from ESoDoc

Sorry for not writing for the past month. Ever since the Mediterranean Voices came to end, I've decided to take on the project on my own expense. It’s going to be tough to keep it going since I'm going to have to chase after "bread n butter" jobs. Oh well.

I just got back an excellent workshop titled ESoDoc (European Social Documentary). Held in the north of Italy between the 20-26 May, it gathered many well known documentary film makers and 23 participants from around Europe. It was great being around so many people on the same wave length who are coming from various backgrounds, disciplines and approaches. Everyone’s work was very inspiring. I felt like a sponge soaking up what everyone is doing.

Klaas Kuitenbrouwer’s presentation on interactive documentary telling was very impressive. It’s very true that new media will change the way we tell stories.

Katerina Cizek’s (Czech-Canadian documentary film maker) presentation on “making a movie that matters” truly inspired me and at her small group workshop along with three other participants and Keith Shiri (African film maker) put the spark back in the documentary I’m currently developing on the situation of domestic workers.

Every night we screened the eachothers documentaries. One of the most uplifting documentaries screened was produced by a British film maker called Rosa Rogers. Her documentary introduced the wonderful world of samba music through the eyes of a young deaf girl. I’ve requested for a copy of the documentary and plan to screen it here for the deaf community.

The workshop is a three part series. The next session will be held in Budapest.

The participants