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THE 2012 HOT DOCS FORUM REPORT, PART THREE: FIRES, LIARS AND INSIDE JOKES
by Adam Benzine
Real Screen
May 22 2012
In the final installment of a three-part comprehensive report,
realscreen reviews the final pitches from the 13th annual Hot Docs
Forum's second day, identifying the projects that wowed international
commissioners, and those which missed the mark.
Part one of this report can be found here.
Part two of this report can be found here.
Elephant Soldiers
Production company: Bars Media (Armenia); director: Inna Shakyan,
producer: Vardan Hovhannisyan.
Budget: $59,000 already in place (SVT, Armenian Second TV Channel),
$222,000 sought.
The Hot Docs Forum continued through its second day with an Armenian
project offering an innovative take on the eco-thriller. The trailer
for Elephant Soldiers began unremarkably enough, with some hard-hitting
footage of elephants being hunted, killed and chopped up.
Moving stuff, while not really original.
The plot took a twist however, with the introduction of Cambridge
scientist Max Graham. Charismatic on screen, Graham plans to install
GPS chips in the tusks of poached elephants so he can trace smugglers
back to the source of the demand for ivory: China.
Reaction to the pitch was positive, with the BBC's Nick Fraser telling
the team: "I thought it was fantastic - it was really good. The
BBC's certainly looking for a replacement for David Attenborough,
and I totally think you have to build the action around him [Graham]."
He added that while it was not really a fit for his strand
'Storyville,' he would do his best to champion the project at the
BBC and "to broker a deal with all the other parts of the BBC that
are interested in natural history."
Also impressed was Axel Arno, commissioning editor at SVT in Sweden.
Taking a break from moderating duties, he offered that the film "could
be The Cove for elephants," a sentiment echoed by Iikka Vehkalahti,
documentary commissioning editor for Finland's YLE TV2.
"I agree with Axel - it's not a natural history film," he said,
"it's an investigative thriller."
[Read the rest at
http://realscreen.com/2012/05/22/the-2012-hot-docs-forum-report-part-three-fires-liars-and-inside-jokes/
From: A. Papazian
by Adam Benzine
Real Screen
May 22 2012
In the final installment of a three-part comprehensive report,
realscreen reviews the final pitches from the 13th annual Hot Docs
Forum's second day, identifying the projects that wowed international
commissioners, and those which missed the mark.
Part one of this report can be found here.
Part two of this report can be found here.
Elephant Soldiers
Production company: Bars Media (Armenia); director: Inna Shakyan,
producer: Vardan Hovhannisyan.
Budget: $59,000 already in place (SVT, Armenian Second TV Channel),
$222,000 sought.
The Hot Docs Forum continued through its second day with an Armenian
project offering an innovative take on the eco-thriller. The trailer
for Elephant Soldiers began unremarkably enough, with some hard-hitting
footage of elephants being hunted, killed and chopped up.
Moving stuff, while not really original.
The plot took a twist however, with the introduction of Cambridge
scientist Max Graham. Charismatic on screen, Graham plans to install
GPS chips in the tusks of poached elephants so he can trace smugglers
back to the source of the demand for ivory: China.
Reaction to the pitch was positive, with the BBC's Nick Fraser telling
the team: "I thought it was fantastic - it was really good. The
BBC's certainly looking for a replacement for David Attenborough,
and I totally think you have to build the action around him [Graham]."
He added that while it was not really a fit for his strand
'Storyville,' he would do his best to champion the project at the
BBC and "to broker a deal with all the other parts of the BBC that
are interested in natural history."
Also impressed was Axel Arno, commissioning editor at SVT in Sweden.
Taking a break from moderating duties, he offered that the film "could
be The Cove for elephants," a sentiment echoed by Iikka Vehkalahti,
documentary commissioning editor for Finland's YLE TV2.
"I agree with Axel - it's not a natural history film," he said,
"it's an investigative thriller."
[Read the rest at
http://realscreen.com/2012/05/22/the-2012-hot-docs-forum-report-part-three-fires-liars-and-inside-jokes/
From: A. Papazian