Character driven documentary film is the only art form where the building blocks are beyond control of the creators. This is a defining element in our art form, and it raises a lot of interesting questions.
What is a character – and how does it differ from a person? How does a documentary script look? What are we looking for when we read people instead of writing characters? What’s the difference between events and stories? How is Quantum Mechanics and directing a documentary related? How do I handle 3 versions of myself?
What happens when we break the unity of time and space? The issue of experiencing vs Information. What’s the effect of using VO? How do we film subtext? Moments vs Structure. The Scene, documentary version. The Now. The problem with subtitles.
Mikael Opstrup’ll give it a try with some answers, through words and visuals. With the ambition to inspire you to exchange mine with your own answers. Or even better, formulate your own questions.
After all, when it comes to art questions are so much more interesting than answers.
Mikael will bring to Kyiv a limited batch — only 40 copies of his book The Uncertainty.
The book will be available for purchase immediately afterthe masterclass — a rare opportunity to get a copy directly from the author.
Special price for participants — lower than the standard retail price.Mikael Opstrup specialises in international documentary project development, trailer consultancy, co-productions, workshop planning & tutoring. Author of The Uncertainty — a book about developing Character-driven Documentary. Head of Studies at European Documentary Network, EDN (2011-2019), creator and editor of EDN's Co-production Guide.
Worked as expert, tutor, moderator for IDFA (The Netherlands), Hot Docs (Canada), Nordisk Panorama (Nordic), Institute of Documentary Film (Czech Rep.), Baltic Sea Docs (Latvia), Docs Barcelona (Spain), In-Docs (Indonesia), Dox Box (Syria & Germany) a.o.
Developed and headed several international workshops. Produced international documentaries for a couple of decades, most recently as co-owner of Final Cut Productions in Copenhagen, Denmark (2002-2009).
