The Sessions - Day One

The desire to split into 3 parts always presents itself at film festivals, and INPUT is like others in that respect  - you have to choose which sessions to attend. A difference, though, and something others should emulate, is the video on demand library where you can see all the programs you missed – if you have time!

The screenings are taking place in the very nice and comfortable Hoyts Cinema, a multiplex in the Entertainment Quarter. This is a pedestrian-only area of the city that is home to the Fox Studios, the Australian Film Television and Radio school and various shops, all situated within a beautiful park ringed by giant fig trees. Apparently when the trees are fruiting they attract vast flocks of flying foxes, a huge native bat. The flora and fauna here really remind you that you're "down under." Ibises, so exotic in the U.S., roam the streets like pigeons!

I chose to attend “The Art of Genre Building in Arts and Culture,” a session exploring the ways in which public TV arts producers are using humor, entertainment and elements of reality TV to attract new and younger audiences. The programs included “Masterpiece Scandal” from South Korea, an arts magazine; “Strada” from Finland, a hybrid of documentary and entertainment; “Photo for Life,” a French/German production and “Cover Me,” both cross-generational reality shows.

This was a fascinating session. The programs were all innovative and unlike anything I’ve seen on public TV in the U.S., but the first two seemed strained while the other two worked really well and made you say to yourself, “I wish I’d thought of that!”

“Photo for Life” follows a master class in photography led by Oliviero Toscani, who takes a group of 6 young photographers through their paces. The first reality style show for Arte, produced with the BBC, it’s based on a BBC program called “Design for Life,” featuring Phillipe Stark. The producers didn’t include the casting process in the show but said that they had gotten quite a bit of feedback from audiences requesting that they do so next time. The program is completely unscripted and its success depends heavily upon Toscani’s aggressive and camera-ready personality. He’s opinionated and tough on the young ones but not to the point of making the audience cringe, and watching the class unfold is gripping.

Even better was “Cover Me,” from the Netherlands, which is based on a highly original concept – the host, a Moroccan Dutch rapper, pairs older, well-known musicians with popular young rap artists and each covers one of the other’s songs in the period of 7 days. In this case a tattooed and pierced black rapper with a grill of gold teeth, who is recently released from prison, meets a grandmotherly blonde who is a famous Dutch crooner. Their meeting, the introduction to each other’s music and the presentation of the cover songs that emerge all make for great TV. The producer called it a “character-driven show with a musical treat at the end,” which it is, but it’s the cultural exchange that makes it a real pleasure to watch. The concept has been replicated in several countries and I think it would be a big hit in the U.S. It has appeal to a wide audience and is a lighthearted approach to bridging social divides. 

A nice innovation at INPUT this year is the establishment of longer lunch breaks that incorporate genre networking sessions and other special lunchtime sessions. A good use of time, I think.

In the afternoon I began with the session called “TV and Public Opinion: Enlightenment of Reinforcing Stereotypes,” which opened with Isaac Solotaroff’s  “Wham, Bam, Islam,” one of U.S. selections. This documentary about Naif Al-Mutawa, the creator of the first comic book based on Islamic superheroes, “The 99,” engendered a good debate, I thought. The audience challenged the director to explain why he had not created a verite style film and he talked at some length about the issues he had with access, particularly to Saudi Arabia, where critical events occurred. There was also interesting discussion about the problems inherent to a program with a strong, canny central character who is very aware of how he is presenting himself to the camera.

I left that session to attend the second half of “Going for the Young Ones: Recipes to Reach the Next Generation,” where another U.S. selection, “Worker Drone,” by Sharat Raju, part of the Future States series, was being shown. It followed a very long but innovative program called “Pixelschatten,” from Germany, a broadcast simulation of a blog. By the time “Worker Drone” screened there was a skimpy crowd in the audience and very little time for discussion. I’ve seen this sort of thing happen before occasionally at INPUT, the result of overreaching in the programming, with the organizers wanting to do too much and doing less as a result. It’s understandable but disappointing.

The day wrapped up with a session called “Women and Girls: the role of Public Media,” where we got to hear from some powerful female producers from around the world. Then all our U.S. producer fellows and friends met for dinner, drinks and more rousing discussion. A long day and a good one!