17/03/2016 - Emerging Producer 2016 from Germany Caroline Kirberg, of pong film GmbH, talks about her approach to the business

Emerging Producer 2016 from Germany Caroline Kirberg, of pong film GmbH, talks about her approach to the business.

Cineuropa: What qualities should a documentary producer have these days?
Caroline Kirberg: The ability to hang on against all odds, awareness of the politics of the image, and an attitude.

To what extent do you, as a producer, get involved in the creative process?
This very much depends on the stage each project is in when I am approached. If there's a script or concept that already convinces me, I work with the writer/director on the details. If there's just an idea, we work together on the concept to the extent to which time and money allows us to. I especially like discussing the audiovisual style of the film. Based on my discussions with the director, I make suggestions for team members who also influence the creative process. And the financing also influences the creative process, something that I always discuss openly with the directors in order to find solutions together.

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What projects do you have under way?
I have three feature-length hybrid films combining documentary and fiction in development: Hotel Medena by Clarissa Thieme, a poetic film about a hotel in which two opposing realities collide, a holiday resort and a refugee camp; Mutwillig, Shayne by Stephan Geene, a glitter film about a failed Schlager star from Germany in the 1970s; and Original Sin by Susanne Sachsse, a film noir about a rebellious woman who built an unconventional family home in former GDR.

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Emerging Producers is a promotional and educational project, which brings together talented European documentary film producers. The programme is organised and curated by the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Deadline for applications to the Emerging Producers 2017 edition is 31 March, 2016. Click here.