Documenta Madrid closed two weeks ago, and I still needed to publish some notes from the programmers’ meeting that took place on Saturday, May 30, in collaboration with Acción Cultural. The guests were: Dr. Grit Lemke, programming director of DOK-Leipzig (Germany), Elena Fortes, co-founder and general director of the Ambulante Festival (Mexico), Hussain Currimbhoy, programmer for the Sundance Film Festival (USA), and Elena Subirà, project director of DocsBarcelona, moderated by Diego Mastrelles, from Documenta Madrid.
Overall, it was very good, and very interesting topics for festival distribution were discussed, not only for documentaries:
- For Sundance, it is better to submit finished films rather than work-in-progress copies, whereas for Leipzig, it was advised to do so, as it is difficult to submit a finished film due to the festival dates.
- Sundance receives more than 12,000 films, and Leipzig about 3,000; the selection processes are very complicated. In all cases, all films were watched, and Hussain even stated that at Sundance, films were watched several times before reaching the final selection.
- Premieres are highly valued. One of the reasons was the need for some festivals to show a significant number of international premieres to their sponsors and supporting institutions, even if it is not mandatory by their rules.
- At Leipzig, a German premiere is required, but international and world premieres are also valued.
- In the case of DocsBarcelona, each case and film type is studied. Some films premiere in Madrid and then go to DocsBarcelona if they haven’t been shown in the city yet, but films already premiered in Barcelona are usually not screened at the festival.
- Sundance only requests premieres for American films; for international films, they only require an American premiere. For short films, they do not require a premiere; if they have quality, they are accepted. However, it should be noted that Sundance is a festival with significant international impact where a premiere can help a film’s journey through the festival circuit.
- The Ambulante Festival does not have a policy for international or Mexican premieres, and they have even selected films that were already available on Netflix, as they cater to different audiences.
- In the case of Documenta Madrid, all documentaries, both short and feature films, must be Spanish premieres, except in the Spanish panorama section, although this year there was an award for the best Spanish feature film premiere.
- Regarding short and feature films, everyone agreed that they were valued equally. The programmer from Leipzig commented that they often encounter mediocre feature films that could have been brilliant short films.
- Diego made a very important recommendation: review the catalogs and programming from previous years before submitting, to understand the type of cinema they usually program.
- A final note for submissions this year at Leipzig: Grimt confirmed that each year they dedicate the festival to a theme, and this year it was disobedience.