Young Filipino counterparts wow German documentary maker

BETTINA Braun: “The docu is an individual, intellectual approach to a story.”

For the second phase of workshops on documentary filmmaking, the Philippine Independent Filmmakers Cooperative (IFC) brought in German filmmaker Bettina Braun to facilitate week-long lectures recently at the College of St. Benilde, Manila.

Braun, who has made docus in Europe, was “pleasantly surprised” by her interaction with Filipino students. “We had very intense, thorough discussions on the topics they wanted to tackle in their docus,” she told Inquirer. “They are intelligent, open-minded, very interested.”

Majority of the students’ topics revolved around poverty, she said. “But they are approaching the issue from different angles,” she clarified. “One student proposed a docu on a slum community that’s about to get demolished. Another wanted to tell the story of fisher folk who cannot send their children to school.”

Braun sees in the students’ proposed docus the conflict between “the old and new worlds.”

TEACHER screens her docu “Whatz Up?” for the Filipino students.

“The docu is an individual, intellectual approach to a story,” she said. “As a filmmaker, it’s about finding your own language, your voice – from an emotional or formal perspective.”

She showed the students one of her docus, “Whatz Up?” – which follows four Muslim teens growing up in Germany in the course of two years.

From her discussions with the participants, she said, she realized that this new generation of Filipino documentarians is eager to make films that veer away from the usual fare shown on television.

BRAUN (second from left) hits the streets to shoot with the workshop participants.

“When you watch TV, you see stories tackled the same way. It only reflects one aspect of reality in the country,” Braun noted.

She is optimistic about the future of docus in the Philippines: “There is a crowd for works that deviate from mainstream entertainment.” She hopes that the local scene will develop this audience, while “encouraging a new breed of passionate and committed filmmakers who will make movies that will truly move people.”

The IFC joined forces with the Goethe Institut Manila, the College of St. Benilde and the Film Development Council of the Philippines in mounting the docu workshops.

GERMAN documentarian (center) shares her shooting skills with the students.

IFC chair Doy del Mundo said the group is conducting a monthly Film Forum series. “We started last May with a screening of ‘Dominic,’ a film shot in Spain and France, with foreign actors and Filipino crew members.”

Last June, the IFC hosted a screening of Jim Libiran’s “Happyland” at Fully Booked on Bonifacio High Street.

IFC’s Margie Templo put together the Film Financing Forum where filmmakers pitched ideas to prospective financiers during the recently concluded Cinemalaya fest, said Del Mundo.

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