, Universal Cinema was able to interview Miguel Ribeiro, a Festival Director){kind=link}
During the Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea IFF), UniversalCinema Magazine as able to interview Miguel Ribeiro, a Festival Director for Doclisboa Film Festival since 2020, though he’s worked for the festival since 2012. What follows is part of that conversation.
Cara-Lynn Branch, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Your festival is interested in feature films, can you say a little bit about your festival? How is it different from other festivals?
Miguel Ribeiro (MR): As the name suggests [Doclisboa], looks more into documentary films, but in a way that is a very open approach to what documentary cinema can be. Indeed, I would say that what documentary can be and is, every time is always reinventing itself and welcomes new forms and new ways of addressing the world and the times. [That] is what we are interested in. With this said, we see it as a film fest, as a cinema festival, where the cinema is in the center. And what we are interested in is how filmmakers engage with the world through the tools of cinema and in what ways also does the history of Cinema can build dialogues, confrontations, and tensions with what is happening nowadays in film.
(UM): So you have a very broad definition of documentary, but even for you, I imagine that the feeling that represents or says something about real events can be called a documentary feature film?
(MR): Yes, and not only real events. I mean, I think that’s the real. Also, I think that imagination, the dreams, the desire are all things that are part of the real. So, in a way, it’s really about this link or way in which cinema can document or reflect upon the world that’s reality.
(UM): It’s a very interesting approach to reality and its relationship with cinema.
(MR): It’s more about thinking of documentary as a form of representation than as a format. That’s what we are interested in.
(UM): Okay, and your artistic director, how is your relationship between you and the programmer? Do you have a programmer, how does the program restriction take place in your festival?
(MR): We have a selection committee of eight very different people, from different places all based on this planet. But I would say that the program of the festival really comes out of these group discussions between us about what we see. And what becomes clear within the programming committee in what ways we get surprised by the way that filmmakers are addressing reality. And so, it’s tremendous. We are tool makers, eight programmers, but we are divided by sections in a way. We are more responsible for some sections than others, but this is also like something very fluid. That’s why we don’t separate. That’s why when you go to the webpage, you don’t select who is responsible for what. Because every section welcomes ideas and desires that programmers from the selection committee to build new things within every section of the festival.
(UM): So I imagine that, for example, when the festival programmer watches the movie and liked it, he would suggest it with other people, and you watch it together and then will make it official?
(MR): Yes, yes, definitely, yes. That’s the way that things go as we are going through the submissions. For the submissions, we go and find films that we would like to discuss. And through those discussions, the program starts getting better.
(UM): At some festivals, the festival director has the final word of approval on selecting films, is yours the same?
(MR): I wouldn’t call it like final word of approval. I would call it more – okay. Of course, I take responsibility upon the program as a whole, but my work is also to articulate these differences across the selected program. It’s a continuous conversation and everyone takes part in this conversation, the program committee. But of course, the responsibility of the program, in the end, is mine.
(UM): What are you looking for at Red Sea IFF?
(MR): I’m mostly going to the works-in-progress sessions and so far, it has been a delightful experience to discover all these new projects.
(UM): And when you are watching movies here, or want to consider movie from Middle East, are you looking for political films? Like, films that criticize society? Or if a movie comes here and is in favor of patriarchy which is different from some traditions. How do you feel?
(MR): I would say that first and foremost, we are looking at artistic visions, more than themes. And I do believe that everything is political, and I do believe that there’s a very interesting tension that can be created through cinema and that is important. I’m not looking for films that are defending the patriarchy. But I agree that there can be a really good film that has in it, a discussion that people can see in its defense of the patriarchy. But I also think that if that would be the case, and we are talking in very general terms, you know, like this it really depends on what is the film and in what ways it does it. But I think that this discussion could also take place in the film theater. And that’s what’s interesting about film festivals is that most of the films happen with a discussion and happen in the presence of a Q&A. And I think that the filmmaker that would be doing that film now would probably be ready to have a conversation about that. But these are very general terms and I don’t think that things can be said like this. Of course, I like when I watch a film that on the contrary, is not on the defensive of the patriarchy. [It] gives me some inspiration, like about other world possibilities. But I will not tell you upfront that a film that defends the patriarchy is itself a bad film, and that would therefore be censored. We would have to watch that film together and then we could have a conversation about it.
(UM): And in terms of diversity, because many festivals today are saying they care about diversity: Oscars, Berlinale, Cannes, even here (Red Sea IFF). And diversity is becoming a leading factor for many film festivals. And they all want to say that they are very diverse. But at the same time, do you feel that all the festivals are somehow becoming the same? They have the same political agenda, they are following the same trend, because they all care about diversity. And you don’t see too much difference between festivals at some point, because they are becoming all the same. So, I’m just curious how this aspect of diversity is seen in your festival.
(MR): So, first of all, I would say that that critique that you are doing, I think that it comes from the beginning of this conversation. When you are asking me about what themes, I would be looking for because I think that that is the problem. That many times we are talking about themes and about contents, and not about filmmaking, not about artists’ work and it’s not about form. And I think that if the conversation goes to the other side, we wouldn’t be seeing so many similarities because I think that there is where most of the bravest things within filmmaking and artistry happen. And that’s why I didn’t want to tell you about like what themes because I do think that, that’s how you keep something inspiring. It’s not just about what is said within the film but how it is said, how it is constructed, and how images and sounds are generated there. So, in this case, but first of all, I invite you to come to Doclisboa so that you can see something that really inspires you a little bit more.
But then, I don’t know, I think that this diversity that you talk about is very interesting. I think that for what it’s worth, this is not a new question. I mean, we always were interested in understanding how filmmakers from different backgrounds have been using cinema to engage with the world. And I think that’s fundamental because you cannot have only one type of person talking. Like in building discourse and images about the world. But I think that it’s very important that this diversity is not only about identity or traits, it’s also about different modes of production and different forms of accessing the tools of cinema. In what ways do these differences, make different films? What films do we see being made with, or within this context? And again, we go to the form part, like, having a diversity of forms, diversity of languages like languages of cinema. I think this is how you can see true diversity in how a film is being made.
Because nowadays what my concern is that many times you have these concerns for diversity, but it’s about the diversity of the filmmaker, while what we see is very formatted ways of filmmaking, you know, like the same narrative, the same types of stories, the same kinds of storylines, the same types of editing the say, you know? I’m not sure if this is diverse. I think that this tells us that you still have the same structures of power allowing different filmmakers to differently identify filmmakers to make these different authorships. But then the films that you see are being mandated by television view, this kind of problem. So, I would say that in the end, what we aspire to is to have these films, but have many different contexts for producing films. In this way, I think that we can talk about diversity.
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