Making a Film Is a Minor Miracle Ged Doherty, Co-Founder of Raindog Films with Colin Firth, on the Film and Music Businesses
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SPECIAL EDITION OF KVIFF’s MAIN MEDIA PARTNER 4 4/7 2016 FREE INSIDE Official Selection: The Teacher, The Next Skin English Section, page 2 Amazon’s Ted Hope returns to KVIFF English Section, page 3 East of the West, and actress Adriana Urgate English Section, page 4 Photo: Milan Malíček Ged Doherty says he got into the film business to make films about important subjects, and finds that the industry still has a lot to learn MAKING A FILM IS A MINOR MIRACLE GED DOHERTY, CO-FOUNDER OF RAINDOG FILMS WITH COLIN FIRTH, ON THE FILM AND MUSIC BUSINESSES Michael Stein whoever it might be – and then I got into where all the money is spent on the mar- more about. In the case of Eye in the Sky, your projects helped attract others to the music business for 30 years. I wanted keting leading up to the opening weekend it was drone warfare, because there was your future projects? After 30 years in music, Manchester na- to go into something completely different of that film, and often a lot of films won’t still very little in the news about drones Oh, very much so! We’ve never an- tive Ged Doherty was looking for a new but also something involving a team. I en- be in the theater in three weeks’ time. To then. In the case of our second film, nounced our company. We’ve never done challenge. So he called up longtime friend joy putting teams together, and to me that spend all that money to get only a small Loving, about an interracial relationship, any interviews. This is the first interview Colin Firth and they decided to start a pro- was exactly the same. You need to find percentage of the audience who can actu- it’s also more than ever a very timely sub- I’ve ever done. We like to let our work duction company, now called Raindog a good script then put the right team ally see it at that time, then the only op- ject in the world about relationships be- speak for ourselves. And we think that by Films. Their first film was the British around it; that’s what I enjoy doing. tion if it’s not available on Amazon or tween human beings who just happen to choosing the right projects and putting the thriller Eye in the Sky (2015) starring Netflix, iTunes, or whatever the platform have a different color of skin. right talent around it that will attract the Helen Mirren about military personnel What are the big differences between may be, then the person has to wait four right talent – writers, directors, actors – facing legal, ethical, and political dilem- the film and music businesses? months to see it. They can’t remember Is it hard to balance the social aspect and it seems to be working. z mas presented by modern drone warfare Well, that’s an excellent question. How anything about it. Then you have to mar- with making commercial films? against terrorists, and civilians endangered honest do you want me to be? (laughs) ket it all over again. It’s a lost opportuni- To run a business, you mean? (laughs) by it. In his first interview since entering The difference obviously is the scale and ty. I’d rather pay to see a movie right Yes, it’s extremely challenging. And film, he talks about Raindog’s mission, speed of things. Film is so unbelievably when it comes out. In the music business, we’ve been extremely fortunate. We’ve how the biz should learn from the music slow. In music, you and I could be in a bar you’d get a song on the radio and you had very good partners, a German-Swiss KVIFF TALKS industry’s mistakes, and the minor mira- tonight and find a band.... and six months couldn’t buy it for eight weeks because it company called Silver Reel is supporting cle of a finished film. after finding them, you’re starting to build was all about advanced promotion, [so] us to make the sort of films we want to an audience, to build awareness. In film, you’d drive your consumers to piracy. make and in establishing a plan. And now CHARLIE KAUFMAN You started out in the music business. you’d have had two meetings in those six Now as soon as you hear music on the ra- we’re trying to figure out how to take that Why did you get into film? months. I also think the film industry has dio you can buy it – stream it, download to the next chapter. But, yes, it is a chal- Oscar-winning screenwriter and di- I was in the music business from the age learned absolutely nothing from [the dec- it, whatever. In the film business, you lenge. How any film ever gets made is rector Charlie Kaufman known for com- of 16 when I was playing in bands. I was imation of] the music business. can’t. a miracle, because something can go plex stories such as Being John a drummer, but by the time I was 18 I re- wrong at any minute. So I’ve nothing but Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal alized I was terrible – but I love music, so What is the film biz doing wrong? Did you and Colin Firth create respect for anybody who’s ever put a film Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will sit I became a promoter. This was when punk The audience wants their content when Raindog Films to make a particular together. It’s a minor miracle. down with the audience today at 2pm exploded in 1977, so I booked all the big they want it, from the device they want it, kind of film? at Vodafone Lounge. Scott Feinberg of punk bands of the day – Siouxsie And The now. They don’t want to wait four or five We wanted to make films about a sub- Have Raindog’s social priorities and The Hollywood Reporter is hosting the Banshees, The Damned, The Adverts, months. It seems to me there’s a model ject or matter that people should know all the talent you’ve already brought to KVIFF Talk. z SEE YOU THERE EXPLAINER DIRECTOR CLOSE RELATIONS, HIDDEN FACES EXPOSE ANTI-SELFIE THEME VITALY MANSKY UNDER THE SUN In sharp contrast to the posters of last idea of Hollywood celebrities attending I’m recommending two films linked to the year’s KVIFF, which had smiling film KVIFF, but she also designed graphics documentary genre: the first one, Zoology, is fans posing for full-on portraits, the inspired by newspapers and magazines a fiction film entirely. Its author, Ivan theme chosen by Studio Najbrt for this from the ’60s and ’70s. It was their col- I. Tverdovsky, began as a documentary film- year is celebrities trying to hide their league Michal Nanoru who insisted that maker, and I even was his opponent for his dis- faces from the pesky paparazzi. the celebs’ faces remain hidden. sertation. He won the main prize at Artdocfest. The “anti-selfie” theme is in fact a di- In all, hundreds of photos were taken, His docs are provocative, so perhaps the provo- rect comment on how we document our out of which around 40 were selected cation of reality has become too tight a space for own lives in the digital age as well as together with festival president Jiří him, so he resorted to provocative inventions. those of luminaries.“We live in an era Bartoška, whose most important criteri- The other is The Land of the Enlightened by where a lot happens just for the sake of walking, snacking... We want to bring on was authenticity. Pieter-Jan De Pue. He spent seven years in the cameras,” studio head Aleš Najbrt the god-like celebrities to our level as Najbrt, who has worked for KVIFF Afghanistan and made up a fictional story, says. they flee through the backdoor or shop on festival visuals since 1995, didn’t re- which he placed into the documentary world. “It’s normal to turn the cameras on in their sweatpants, so that we feel clos- veal the names of the glitterati appear- The film is about an army of children who want ourselves and ask not just our family er to them as we publish our own shop- ing in the posters, but he did admit that to take down Kabul and build a happier world – circles but also the vast unknown public ping photos,” he says. they are connected to the festival and this only happens in fiction films, while this is for their approval. We’re the stylists of Zuzana Lednická, the creator of the don’t need camera exposure to get a documentary. (HG) z our own media events: running, dog- design, has returned to the recurring recognition. (HG) z strana 2 / page 2 FESTIVAL DAILY Monday, July 4, 2016 OFFICIAL SELECTION OFFICIAL SELECTION THE NEXT SKIN – THE RETURN THE TEACHER – HIGH STAKES DRAMA OF THE QUESTIONABLE SON IN A COMMUNIST-ERA CLASSROOM Photo: KVIFF Photo: KVIFF Sergei López and Àlex Monner face off in an unconventional reunion Jan Hřebejk’s classroom drama pits families against petty corruption Michael Stein The creative duo of Laceusta Next Skin would ultimately ex- Brian Kenety though she’s a Communist offi- fight over which path to take. and Campos begin writing their plore. cial, it’s not the parents’ loyalty to “Our boy will pay!,” she responds. When a teenage boy is brought screenplay in 2005 for actress “Some of the subjects which The year is 1983.