ARTE, the power of images
"The language of the documentary has the power to engage consciences that might frighten some. Public television’s task is to address citizens without worrying about the market. Therefore, it has to promote documentary production and distribution." Thus spoke Thierry Garrel – Director of the Documentary Department of the French-German cultural network ARTE and a European point of reference – in summing up the international conference held last Friday at Rome’s Casa del Cinema.
Divided into two parts – one dedicated to writing, the other to production – the day of debates witnessed the impassioned participation of representatives from throughout Europe: directors Hughes Le Paige, Michael Busse and Maria Rosa Bobbi, Gabriella Angheleddu, Ernst-August Zurborn, Robert Bober, Daniele Segre, Gianfranco Pannone; ARTE President Jérôme Clément; Sabine Rollberg (WDR/ARTE); Carlo Sartori (RAI-SAT); Paolo Ruffini (RAI3) Emiliano Calemzuk (Fox Italia); Christian Beetz (Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion); Jacques Bidou (JBA Production); Fabrizio Grosoli (Fandango); Alessandro Signetto (Doc.it); and Renato Parascandolo (RAI). The numerous young Italian documentary filmmakers in the audience complained about the lack of mediators and attention on the part of public TV. Jérôme Clément reminded everyone of the agreement signed one year ago between ARTE and RAI-SAT for a three-hour window dedicated to documentary programmes. The president of ARTE confirmed the agreement’s renewal for 2006, expressing his regret over the impossibility of further collaborations with Italian public television. "The documentary is an instrument of information and civilization, and we have witnessed a renewed interest in it on the part of the television audiences, due to a deterioration of information from television news. There pervasiveness of an unbridled liberalism prevents commercial TV from taking this form of expression into consideration. Public service has an obligation towards the documentary, and it is up to us to find the means to continue giving sense to this undertaking."
On the occasion of the conference, Casa del Cinema, in collaboration with ARTE, is presenting 23 documentaries (screened from December 13-21) by European directors, which depict Italy of the last 50 years, taking on current events such as L'affare Sofri by Jean-Louis Comolli.
(Translated from Italian)
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