THE PROGRAMMERS AND FILM EVALUATION CRITERIA

The Programmers’ group is made up of people of different ages and nationalities, authors, filmmakers or experts in the field, who, over a period of two quarters, view some 700 films from the Faito Doc Call for Entries, from the proposals or suggestions of a group of consultants and experts from different countries, and from the discoveries made by the programmers themselves during other international documentary festivals. Up to 50 creative documentary films (features, shorts and ultra-shorts) from around 27 countries are then selected, made by filmmakers whose visions of reality inspire a variety of escapism in us as viewers.

The diverse backgrounds and professionalism of the programmers, their critical sense and in-depth look at particular realities allow for intense debates and comparisons before providing a high quality final selection. The poetic and human qualities of the films are always privileged over the quantity of works presented.

Twice a month, the programmers meet in the house of artistic directors Nathalie Rossetti and Turi Finocchiaro (in presence and in visioconference) and discuss auteur documentaries, from direct to experimental cinema, from intimist films to animated documentaries. Both the director’s point of view and the form and originality of the work are taken into consideration, as well as the theme and its multiple meanings.

The debates revolve mainly around certain evaluation criteria.

 

Evaluation criteria :

  • The director’s point of view: the original gaze that the director places on reality, his vision ;
  • The director’s empathy with the people he films and who become his characters ;
  • The cinematographic language: the way of telling, the original way of staging the story told through authentic and surprising shots at the service of the story and which never settle for a simple “reportage”, through personal visual and sound editing, the sense of rhythm and the art of mixing; a poetic, sensitive and original language ;
  • Taking into account the theme of the edition ;
  • Finally, the need to show, through cinema, visions of the historical reality of the human being and the world in which we live, thus choosing films that provoke reflexion, positive “conflicts”, to enrich knowledge and encourage the life journey of each spectator, attentive to both social and environmental issues by retracing the past in the present and in anticipation of the future.

Milena Bochet
“Our choice this year focused on films in which the filmmakers courageously question their relationship with others.From one film to the next, the camera becomes the one who unveils hidden faces, the one who creates a bond, the one who fights to safeguard life, the one who questions filmmaking, the one who makes the most sparkling of life bloom. You will discover diversity in this edition.”

Salvatore Fronio :
“I live my participation in the selection as a great privilege. Even if not all works meet my sensitivity and appreciation, each film is a unique and unrepeatable glimpse, and this is of inestimable value to me. Opening up to unknown realities increases and deepens my existential experience and for this I will be forever grateful, to cinema and thus to the Faito DOC Festival.”

Chiara Pacifico
“The 2022/2023 selection work led me to broaden the horizons of the possible, to bring out discourses, sensitivities and pieces of life through the image, narration, editing and testimonies of the protagonists of the documentaries. One might ask, ‘diversity’ with respect to what? I would answer: – to the dominant discourse, to the known, to the visible.”

Maria Hermosillo
“I am Mexican, I have lived in Belgium for 8 years and I have been a selector at the festival for 4 years now.For me it is very enriching, both in the organisation, where I have found a field for experimentation and learning, and in the selection committee, where I have found a space to discuss and learn about documentary cinema.Our selection I think succeeds in representing diversity in multiple aspects. I hope you will enjoy it!”

Seda Sat
“This year’s films are not only about diversity, they invite us to embrace it.They tell us that it is possible to build a world with more and more empathy for what is different from ourselves, finally giving diversity the importance it deserves. Everyone can be important because everyone can serve a purpose – Martin Luther King”

Abdullah Karasu
“Being a selector of the Faito Doc means above all living the festival in advance. For several months we have the privilege of viewing the films before the others and appreciating their qualities. The choice is often difficult. The theme of diversity addressed by the directors in our selection will leave no spectator indifferent.”

We would like to thank the advisors :
Nina Toussaint, Antonio Maiorino and Élias Preszow