As part of the 21st edition of ZagrebDox, three masterclasses will be held at Dokukino KIC. In collaboration with the Festival, we will host one of the most prominent Polish documentary filmmakers, Tomasz Wolski, the artistic director of the leading global human rights festival Movies that Matter, Margje de Koning, and this year’s winner of the Honorary Big Stamp, Peter Mettler.
Tomasz Wolski’s masterclass titled Listening to the Archives is scheduled for Tuesday, April 1 at 3 pm. His triptych consisting of An Ordinary Country (2020), 1970 (2021) and A Year in the Life of a Country (2024) is based on archive materials about recent Polish history. The three archive films demonstrate three different approaches, all three characterised by a powerful narrative structure and focus on the impact of politics on the lives of ordinary citizens. Wolski’s films have won awards at many international festivals, including Visions du Reel, Krakow Film festival and ZagrebDox, and he is also known for his collaboration with Sergei Loznitsa – he edited Babi Yar. Context (2021) and The Kiev Trial (2022). Wolski’s masterclass will focus on the analysis of his work method and process resulting in a creative way to approach the story if there is too little or too much archive materials – from staging, through animation, to editing thematic sequences. The masterclass will be moderated by film critic and curator Dina Pokrajac.
Masterclass titled Movies that Matter: Take on Film & Impact is scheduled for Thursday, April 3 at 3 pm and it will be held by the festival director Margje de Koning, who has many years of experience in directing and producing creative and engaging documentaries for Dutch public television. In her masterclass she will speak about how film can contribute to a shift in perspective on all levels, from the local community to decision makers. What does the Movies that Matter festival aim to achieve? How can film make an impact on engagement and raising awareness about globally important issues? How to reach audiences with topics such as human rights, sustainability, democracy and various international challenges through film festivals, educational events and social activities? How can collaboration between filmmakers/producers, campaign managers and NGOs lead to bigger audiences and broader reach?
On Friday, April 4 at 5 pm, Swiss-Canadian audiovisual artist Peter Mettler will hold the masterclass Let Life Make This Film. In this enigmatically titled masterclass, accompanied by excerpts and cinematographic plans, Mettler will focus on the methods and strategies of spontaneous and improvised filmmaking, retracing the trajectory of his documentary pursuits – from the trilogy consisting of Picture of Light (1994), Gambling, Gods and LSD (2002) and The End of Time (2012), to the recent seven-part diary film Where the Green Grass Grows (2023). Mettler’s documentary work is unique in its innovation and creating new art forms. His hybrid films often combine travelogue, essay, interview, fiction and critique. The topics of transcendence and relationship between nature and technology are explored by instinct, in turn based on discipline, structure, skill and artistry in filming impressive imagery and big stories. The masterclass will be moderated by film author and curator Ivan Ramljak.
Admission is free.
More about the program and tickets (in Croatian): dokukino.net.
