Adelaide film festival & AIDC

Thursday 22 of February
I arrived totally bombed out after the long journey. I had hoped for an easy start, but Joan Morselt and Joost den Hartog from AIDC, Australian International Documentary Conference informed me about me first job: To tutor Australian collegues about to have a series of individual pitches of their projects at the MEET MARKET. I have now idea if I said anything of use, I have no memories. The good thing was that I quite soon got to know a lot of people.
Big party at the Town Hall. Many new faces. Too many, maybe. Or was I tired?

23 of February

It’s strange to travel to the other side of the world and end up in a Hilton lobby. Quite sad to be honest, but the Adelaide Hilton is a perfect place for a meeting like AIDC. Many workshops running at the same time, and a huge area for informal meetings. I meet friends and collegues. Rudy Butignol from TV Ontario who once commisioned my film “The Socialist, the Architect and the Twisted Tower”. Early believers in your films are friends for ever. Kevin Dawson from RTE, and early supporter of Belfast Girls, also hung around the lobby. Cynthia Kane supported “An ordinary family” when she worked at Sundance Channel, now she is moving to San Franscisco to work for ITVS . She represented IVS together with Claire Aguilar. Claire and Cynthia are real filmmakers friends.
I also met Debra Zimmerman from Woman Makes Movies in New York, Bruni Burres from Human Rights Watch and Sundance Institute and Barbara Truyen from FilmsTransit.

24 of February

Documart they call the pitching-Forum down here. I was pitching our Argentinian-Chilean-Swedish-Danish co-productiuon “Final Image.”. I had no expectations but the interest was big and real. Everybody told me that I did the pitch of the day. I had several meetings with BBC, CBC, SBS, Sundance. ITVS, YLE and I think this can end really well. But since there’s no contract signed I stay with the positive vibes. I felt welcome.
Debra Zimmerman interviewed me about my filmmaking at Hilton. I threw tickets to the screening of WG films into a little quiz. We got some good laughs.
First Screening of “The Socialist, the Architect and The Twisted Tower”. Lot of people and a Q & A that sweet Adele Hann from the festival had to stop. A delegation from the little Swedish Community of Adelaide showed up. Very sweet. Also the Swedish Embassy to Australia was there. I felt important. Wow.

25 of February

Follow up meetings at the conference. All day. No pitching without follow up and it takes a lot of time. Waiting for meetings, some of them useless. But when suddenly the unexpected happends and the interest from Clarie Aguilar and ITVS really made my day.
A full day of meetings in the Hilton Lobby. Strange life!

26 of February

A few meetings and then off to the second screening of “The socialist...” Again a big and interested audience. The kick of day was that Simpsons co-writer Mike Reiss attended. And he liked the film. Now my Simpson-loving son Ebbe will think I’m cool. I also hope that Calatrava one day shows up in Simpsons. He would fit perfectly.
Afternoon at Henley beach.
Night and AIDC closing party at the Adelaide Bowling Club. Drinking and dancing, most people in a happy after-pitch mode. The best way to be. The stress is out. Let’s dance.

27 of February

Today I became a real film director. The festival took us for an excursion. One Swede, three Russians, two Hong Kong girls and one French-German film critic. Great fun. A beautiful beach, a vinyard and then we all got to hug a Koala.
Evening and the first screening of Thin Ice. The film works so well, also in a hot country. Dolkar and her friends inspire people to fight and follow their destiny.

28 of February

My last day down under was combined shopping and enjoying life on the beach with Debra, Joost, Joan and others. The beach looked great in the sunset. I nice last memory of Australia. I’ll be back one day.

Thinlas & Dolkar about our stay in sweden

Hello this is Stanzin Dolkar and Thinlas Chorol expressing our view to what happens in our life travelling from Delhi to Sweden. Before we were in Sweden we stayed two nights in Amsterdam and enjoyed Himalaya film festival. It is a very beautiful place. Lot of people were there to watch the film THIN ICE and every body liked it and start presenting themselves to us. In the end of the film people began to ask questions and we were ready to give them answer also. We met some players and coaches in Amsterdam where we played for a little while. We did not get time to see much of Amsterdam.

On the 11th of February in the morning we were in Stockholm and the weather was very cold. The photographer Östen and the director Håkan meet us in the airport, we were very happy to see them again. We didn’t know at all who would come to fetch us. It was such a surprise! We went to the train station where we meet Tekla (Håkans daughter) and Carolina from WG Film. We had not meet Carolina before and only knew her through mail correspondence and phone calls. It was just like a dream that everybody was there to welcome us. Then came another surprise, we got free tickets to go and see the ice hockey match between Finland and Sweden in the Globe. Lars G Karlsson welcomed us. He showed us the Globe and told us everything. It was really exciting. We were happy to see it all. We could not differentiate dream from reality when we saw the game. The match was very good and we enjoyed it. Then we went to Teklas place and borrowed some warm clothes. After that we took the train to Örebro with Carolina. Lars Lidström meet us at the train station which was a happy surprise, also Ylva Liljeholm was there to greet us. We then drove to Lindesberg where we stayed with a host family, Annelie, Åke and their daughter Fanny.

Next day on the 12th at 8:45 in the morning we went to the rink to try out equipment and to play hockey. We played only for 2 hours after that we went to the host family to meet journalists and make interviews. At 13 o’clock we went to have lunch with the Swedish national team of women player in ice hockey. After lunch we saw their press conference and afterwards it was time for our own press conference together with Carolina, Ylva at Film in Örebro Län and Micke Pers at SISU sports educators. Later in the afternoon we went to practice with the Swedish national team Damkronorna. They were very good and we learnt some methods from them and their coach Peter Elander. In the evening we joined with small children and played with them on the ice. It was really fantastic to play with them.

Docs Barcelona

Viva Docs Barcelona! I mean the city is great, but now there's also a documentary film festival. I was invited with "THIN ICE" for a special screening for school kids. The film worked extremely well and afterwords I was bombarded with questions on every aspect of filmmaking and on life in distant Ladakh. Kids are smart. Especially 12 year olds.
Docs Barcelona is organized by the production company Parallel 40. Great and hardworking people. For ten years there has been a pitching forum. I pitched my film "An ordinary family" with great results three years ago. Last year I returned and screened the film at Fundacio Tapies. A very good feeling. Now for the first year it's a full film festival with a very good selection of films. It ment of course a lot of meetings with collegues, but as the pitching Forum was on it ment also a lot of meetings with the so important commissiong editors from several European broadcasters. I met my friend Jenny Westergaard from YLE, Bert Janssens from Humanstic broadcasting The Netherlands and Wim van Rompaey, Lichtpunt Belgium. People who has supported some of my previous films.
As documentary film on the international level is a travelling circus I meet new and old friends all the time. Like mon chere frere Alexandre Cornu from Les Films du Tambour de Soie in Marseille, co producer on Belfast Girls. He pitched a project on Greek war children with the filmmaker Marco Gastine. I loved the project and look forward to see the film. We dined together at restaurante Bilbao in Gracia. A place to recommend!
Parallel 40 also are behind "Documental del Mes". They screen documentaries at 13 different cinemas around Catalunya. Last year my "The socialist, the architect and the twisted tower" was screened. With good results. Around 900 people came. Now Documental del Mes will show the film even more in Spain. We also signed a contract on "Thin Ice". Azucena Carrasco, Joan Gonzales from Parallel 40 and I celebrated with a glass of wine. Now it's less than one year to the next Docs Barcelona.

The Socialist The Architect and the Twisted Tower

A film that shows thorny confrontation between dreams and reality: cultural clashes, financial crisis and heavy personal defeats. A hazardous project: the deposits are high, everyone in it has something to loose. You can ask a question to Fredrik Gertten right here, in the blog.

On Thin Ice in Amsterdam

Back again after some intense days in Amsterdam. Meeting new and old friends, and a lot of (for us) important people. As we had Thin Ice, by Håkan Berhtas, in the Silver Wolf Competition we looked good. You always feel better if you have a film in competition. Even if you know that many good films are not selected. I strongly think that Belfast Girls, by Malin Andersson, should have played very well in the First Appearence Competition. But anyway a good film will get more chances. Malin Andersson and I had a constructive meeting with Debra Zimmerman from Woman Makes Movies in New York and the great people from other distributor Films Transit. So from now on Woman Makes Movies will represent Belfast Girls in US. That's great.
The audience really loved Thin Ice and the crowd clapped with music in the end. For a long time we were in top 5 in the audience award. It's a lovely film, and now it will travel. Many festivals and TV-stations will take the film.
Margarete Jangård and producer at WG film like myself, spend three busy days at the Forum. We met with all the commisioning editors from the films we do and we also pitched some new projects. It's good to be in Amsterdam, but extremely exhausting.
Now we concentrate on the homework. Next time we'll meet in Barcelona, Thessaloniki or maybe at the Australian Documentary Conference in Adelaide in February. I'll be there.

An Ordinary Family

An Ordinary Family have been screened all around the world and is still going strong. Fredrik Gertten will answer your questions here here in the blog.

Amsterdam here we come

Friday we leave for Amsterdam. Is it eight year in a row? Don't know any longer. The world of international documentaries is like a parallel life. I have a lot of friends out there and in Amsterdam we meet again.
This time I travel with my collegue Margarete Jangård, producer at WG film. We have "Thin Ice" in Silver Wolf competition. And of course we also have new projects looking for monies at the Forum. Is this what we call life? Maybe, I always dream of riding a car on a dusty road, filming, meeting people. The festival life is also nice, but a bit too safe sometimes. But we need it as much as we need new stories to film.
We'll stay in Amsterdam the whole week. I'll try to attend all our screenings. For sure looking out for familiar faces AND new friends.

Thin Ice

Do you have any questions about Thin Ice? - The director and producer will answer them for you, right here in the Blog!

For now, check WG Film, the archive and the Thin Ice page for news.

Belfast Girls

Feel fre to ask questions in the blog, the director and producer will answer them for you!

Malin Andersson will also keep you updated on whats happening to Belfast Girls.

Have you seen the trailer ?

If you have a question about another film, you can ask it here to

Introducing WG Film's Blog

Our english blog will be up and running in a week or two. Here you will find out whats going on when its going on. You can already post comments and ask questions and the director or producer will answer them for you.

Best Regards