Discussion about the importance of film documentaries on February 7th on ORF III
Vienna (OTS) – What we don’t see… are the hidden interests, the secret agreements, the backgrounds and some of the connections that hold the world together but often remain hidden. It is precisely these “blind spots” that journalists who work in the “documentary” genre look at. At the ORF RadioKulturhaus, experts discussed the documentary genre and why documentarists are so indispensable for society as part of an ORF Dialogue Forum. A recording will be broadcast on ORF III on February 7th at 12:05 a.m.
Karin Moser, University of Vienna / Economic and Social History, made a clear demand right at the beginning: “Democracy is an important good and must be preserved, and for this we need independent, reputable media. In the future, more money will have to be spent on high-quality productions. There will need to be differentiation from the large number of AI products.”
Zuzana Kučerová, co-producer of “The Killing of a Journalist,” explained what makes a successful documentary: “A sophisticated documentary must wake up society and serve a social aspect.” The filmmaker says about her future projects: “They should appeal to the younger generations address and shed light on the issues that are important to them.”
Sharon Nuni, ORF Kultur, wants to “show selective views and get close to people. At ORF we allow ourselves to tell slower stories. Because there are no rules about how documentaries should be, we don’t always know how it works. Art needs to be supported, especially in difficult times, because it doesn’t solve all problems, but it solves us.”
Jennifer Rezny, director of “Never Enough – the Body Cult in Social Media,” explains why she ended up making documentary films: “I think the image level in documentaries often has more power than the language. And I want to immerse myself deeply in other worlds.”
Lukas Sturm from neulandfilm immediately agreed: “You have to be curious about other people’s stories. We’re doing the ‘Dok 1’ series for ORF and we’re seeing that the audience is really longing for it. Documentaries are also booming with the big streamers.”
“Documentarists are awake spirits who take up anew certain questions about society that arise again and again. That is also necessary – unfortunately the economization of journalism is the enemy of documentarists,” complained Tom Matzek, ORF Education, Science and Current Affairs.
The ORF DialogForum was moderated by Klaus Unterberger, ORF Public Value.
The ORF DialogForum is an ORF initiative to stimulate conversation with its audience, Austrian institutions, organizations and groups in society.