Just Talking, the parallel section of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – Images of the 21st Century that began last year for the purpose of creating a communication and cooperation platform for creators, “opened” its daily programme on Saturday, March 17 at the lower level of Room With a View (Olympion, 5th floor). There was an open discussion on the subject of how the filmmaker approaches his leading characters, with the participation of Jack Youngelson (Tierney Gearon: The “Mother Project” / Portraits: Human Journeys), Benita and Todd Sills (Red Without Blue / Portraits: Human Journeys) and Mark Verkerk (Buddha’s Lost Children / Dutch Documentaries).

Todd and Benita Sills began by saying that this is a very personal film, as it explores family dynamics. “We tried to achieve and so our fist concern was to gain their trust”, Todd Sills declared. Jack Youngelson, the subject of whose film is a famous photographer, noted that he had a similar goal: “If she didn’t want to do it, it would not have been possible to make the film. However, the fact that shooting lasted 3 years played an important role”. Finally, Mark Verkerk pointed out that the greatest difficulty he faced in communicating with his leading character was the fact that he spoke a different language, so that it took months for the necessary trust to develop.

Then the conversation shifted to the way the characters - subjects reacted to the finished film. As Benita Sills said, there were no reactions from the twins, aside from some aesthetic issues, and neither did they themselves have any problems in changing some scenes, since their leads had devoted 3 whole years of their lives: “It was a kind of fair trade. They had given us so much, we could also give something so simple”.

The conversation expanded to the legal issues that follow once the film is released, such as contracts between filmmakers and subjects, and finally turned to the issue of the director’s emotional involvement. Mark Verkerk was categorical: “ For me, emotional involvement and bonding with the

subject are particularly important. Documentaries such as mine are not journalistic material, not an objective recording of facts. The documentary maker is absolutely dependent on his subject. If his subject doesn’t “give” him something he can’t make his film, so contact is a prerequisite for the creation of a documentary”, he stressed. “The director has to take the risk of involving himself in the life of the person he is filming and must always be sensitive to him.”