Cannes: Documentary Powerhouse Brunch

• by Raphaela Neihausen, May 18, 2009

For a second year, the Marche Du Film hosted a Documentary Brunch to bring together the documentary community attending the Cannes Film Festival.  The brunch was presented along with the National Film Board of Canada and attended by over 125 filmmakers and industry professionals from around the world.  In honor of the 70th anniversary of the National Film Board of Canada, the NFB shared a clip of their latest film CAPTURING REALITY: THE ART OF DOCUMENTARY.  (Photo: Tom Perlmutter - Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson of the National Film Board of Canada, with Louise Blais - Director of Canadian Cultural Center.)

A few snapshots from brunch:

Swiss Documentary filmmaker Christian Frei, renowned for WAR PHOTOGRAPHER (2002 Academy Award Nominee) and THE GIANT BUDDHAS (2005).  His new documentary to be released in the summer is SPACE TOURISTS (about billionaires traveling to outer space for fun).

Nancy Gerstman (co-founder and co-president of New York-based distribution company Zeitgeist Films) and Marian Masone (Director of Festival and Associate Director of Programming for New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center).

Christian Vesper - head of acquisitions for the Sundance Channel since 2002 (now part of IFC/Sundance Channel since 2007).  He and his team acquire ~250 features and documentaries a year for the two networks. 

Distribution consultant Peter Broderick joined by Ally Derks - director of the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) and of the Jean Vrijman Fund that supports international filmmakers from developing countries.

Filmmaker Jean-Marie Teno, whose films include CHEF! (1999), A TRIP TO THE COUNTRY (2000), THE COLONIAL MISUNDERSTANDING (2004), LE MARIAGE D’ALEX (2002) and LIEUX SAINTS (2009).

Filmmaker Ron Mann, whose documentaries focus on alternative and dissent culture and include IMAGINE THE SOUND (1981), POETRY IN MOTION (1982), COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL (1988), TWIST (1991), DREAM TOWER (1994), GRASS (1999), GO FURTHER (2003) and his latest KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS (2009).

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