Cross-industry collaboration, concerns over big tech firms, and independent media channels were among the key discussion points at the inaugural CPH:Summit, held on Monday, March 25 at CPH:DOX.
The five-hour conference took place at Copenhagen’s Kunsthal Charlottenborg, curated by producer and broadcaster Mark Edwards, and hosted by Doc Society co-founder and co-director Beadie Finzi. It united documentary professionals with politicians, researchers and thought leaders to discuss the future of the audiovisual industry. Screen has collated the talking points from the afternoon.
Tech concerns
The most concerted applause of the day came for Matthias Pfeffer, director of think tank the Council for European Public Space, when he addressed “the elephant in the room… the absolutely unacceptable concentration of power in the hands of big tech industry worldwide.”
“I want to make stories about the dark times; but first I want to ask how did we get to the dark times,” said Signe Byrge Sorensen, the Oscar-nominated producer of The Act Of Killing and Flee, speaking alongside Pfeffer on the session titled ‘How can we get closer to audiences?’.
“We got here because we allowed [the dominance of] big tech. All of us here are paying all the time to Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. And all of that money is bleeding out of our systems. We saw at least three big tech people standing behind Trump at the inauguration; it’s scary, because even if they weren’t political from the start, they’re definitely being bent over by Trump at this moment.”
Several panellists advocated for greater understanding of the tech platforms, instead of separation from them. “Media organisations understand the platform opportunities more than the platform risks,” said Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Copenhagen and senior research associate of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford. “People actually seem to value what these platforms have to offer, at the expense of what legacy organisations have to offer.”
Independence days
A solution to big tech dominance is independent media, according to Christo Grosev, lead investigator at Der Spiegel and The Insider, and co-creator of Oscar-winning documentary Navalny.
“We should be focusing on distribution channels that are independent of the interests of United States-based corporations,” said Grosev, on ‘The state of information in Europe’ panel with Nielsen. He added that the movement towards “non-risk-taking” in documentary commissioning by US networks began before the first Trump administration, “and now this is happening at an accelerated pace on steroids, even in scripted films.”
“There is currently a self-imposed censorship in the US, not to take on films that would attack Russia,” said Grosev. “Because they’re not sure if Russia will not open up as a market for them again. So we have to find a large enough, sexy-enough distribution network based on alliances of public broadcasters with existing American broadcasters that are not up for sale, such as PBS.”
Stronger together
In a session titled ‘Are we putting money in the right places?’, several panellists advocated for greater collaboration between funding bodies to secure the future of documentaries.
“Many public broadcasters and film funds are competing institutions – why?” said Tine Fischer, CEO of the Danish Film Institute and founder of CPH:DOX. “It’s insane; we’re such a small sector and we’ve been competing between us, which is ridiculous.”
Tomas Eskilsson, founder of Sweden’s Film i Vast and author of the research project ‘Public Film Funding at a Crossroads’, said countries with production incentives “let the fox into the hen house” as regards collaboration. “We can love that if we are commissioners, producers,” said Eskilsson. “But [production incentives] made us competitors – wherever they exist, they are there to compete for production.”
On the ‘Information’ panel, Ingrid Libercier, director of programs at Arte GEIE, said sales agents must remain part of this collaboration. “Productions cost money, and the sales of these programmes are used to help the financing,” said LIbercier. “We have to work together and not against each other.”
Kids are all right?
Barbara Truyen, commissioning editor at Dutch broadcaster VPRO, called for greater outreach to a young demographic. “Why are we, all old people, talking about what we should do for young people?” said Truyen in the ‘money’ session. “We should ask the young people what they want and need, and how can we help them doing that. We need a lot younger people in our teams.”
Audience outreach provided a point of contention on the panel. “It’s a way of securing future funding,” said Eskilsson. “If you reach the citizens, you are acknowledged as successful. If you don’t reach the citizens, then you have a political problem. Why should citizens support public service broadcasters and film agencies? We need to have an answer to that.”
“The film funds do not agree with your take on it,” responded Fischer, who highlighted the outreach work the DFI does in schools. “Should we go with our funds and content to where the kids are? Or should we bring them to where we believe they should be? Of course there is a middle ground. But counting eyeballs on YouTube – it really depends what they’re looking at.”
Filmmakers should consider how to make their work palatable to audiences, regardless of its subject matter, said Grosev. “For a large part of the audience, facts are spinach and conspiracies are candy,” said the journalist. “So I decided to make my investigations candy as well. My son and daughter helped me by converting them into short videos that look at fun, shocking, unexpected approaches – not just educational teaching a message.”
Gaza protest
On the day when No Other Land co-director Hamdan Ballal was attacked by Israeli settlers then arrested by police (since released), the topic of Gaza and the West Bank remained prominent at the CPH:Summit.
Danish culture minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt had only just begun his opening address when he was interrupted by a protestor. Without identifying himself or his affiliation, the protestor claimed “we have a festival that’s not allowing Palestinian voices to be heard.” [There are three documentaries in this year’s programme promoting Palestinian voices plus several projects in the Forum market; while the festival distributed No Other Land in Denmark last year].
The protestor was allowed to finish his remarks before leaving the stage. Engel-Schmidt then said he will continue to advocate for a two-state solution and respect for human rights.
“What is happening in Gaza is a scandal, and the silence around it is so shocking,” said human rights lawyer and director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute Helena Kennedy, in her own keynote address. “The great shame rightly felt in Western nations about what happened in the Second World War and the Holocaust can never mean that we don’t shine lights on atrocities happening today.”
The CPH:Industry programme continues until Friday, March 28, with further pitches in the CPH:Forum market on Wednesday 26.
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