13/03/2018 - An interview with Slovakian producer Barbara Janišová Feglová of Hitchhiker Cinema, one of the participants of Jihlava's 2018 Emerging Producers

An interview with Slovakian producer Barbara Janišová Feglová of Hitchhiker Cinema, one of the participants of Jihlava's 2018 Emerging Producers.

Why do you produce documentaries? Do you believe that they have the power to change the world?
Barbara Janišová Feglová: There is not one single reason but rather a combination of different impulses. I started producing films about ten years ago, when I was convinced my personal mission was to be a part of the revitalisation process within the Slovak film industry. Now I believe that documentaries are an effective way of dealing with relevant topics. Maybe you won’t change the world but you can help get to know it better and understand it a little more. Documentaries definitely contribute to important discussions.

What do you think is the future of distribution of documentary films?
The market is overloaded and the audience seems to be increasingly fractured. I guess the appropriate distribution strategy is the most difficult and mysterious part of planning. Undoubtedly, festivals have their voice and power. VOD has become more available and reasonably priced, but I think the internet has its perspective still ahead, especially regarding short formats.

What projects do you have under way?
In a few weeks we are about to complete a new TV documentary series for the Slovak public broadcaster with the title Unsung Heroes on the current corruption culture in Slovakia. We have two documentary feature debuts in production, Commune, with its experimental form which combines archive footage, animation and stylised parts, tells the unexposed personal stories from the Czech and Slovak dissident movement. The second one, Lines, we’ve defined as an urban essay and it is visually inspired by Slovak conceptual art and photography. Finally, we extended our focus on fiction films and we’ve been working on three feature fiction projects, all of them in the early stage of development.

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Emerging Producers is a promotional and educational project, which brings together talented European documentary film producers. The programme is organised and curated by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Deadline for applications to the Emerging Producers 2019 edition is 31 March, 2018. Click here.