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Carles Pastor • Producer

"I spend around four years on average working on a documentary film"

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- We met up with Carles Pastor, Emerging Producer 2017 from guest country Spain, to discuss his work with the production company Gaia Audiovisuals

Carles Pastor  • Producer

We met up with Carles Pastor, Emerging Producer 2017 from guest country Spain, to discuss his work with the production company Gaia Audiovisuals.

What qualities should a documentary producer have these days?
A documentary producer should be flexible, passionate and persistent. Flexibility is very important because producers must change the film’s pitching by guessing what the film is going to be like before the film is actually finished. However, reality usually takes us by surprise: we don’t always get what we expect. We need to be flexible to be able to adapt our film to what the reality is giving us. Passion and persistence is, in my opinion, a great asset in producing documentaries because this is where the strength to carry out the project comes from. I spend around 4 years on average working on a documentary film – from the very beginning till the end. If you are not passionate and persistent, you will not be able to spend such a long time dealing with one project.

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To what extent do you, as a producer, get involved in the creative process?
I think it is very important for producers to be involved in the creative process because we are able to take a different angle than the directors who often lose perspective of their work. In addition, in most cases, the creative process is painful and it is very important to be at hand when this happens. However, it is very important to allow the director and the other authors their freedom and only intervene when necessary.

What projects do you have under way?
Right now we are finishing a documentary about human rights, a Dutch/Spanish co-production called The Subversives, which is going to be finished at the end of February. On the other hand, I have secured half of the finances for a Spanish/German co-production called The Man Who Wanted to See It All and we are going to the Guadalajara Film Festival´s Doculab in March. Finally, we are in development with another Spanish / German documentary called The Earthmasters.

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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 2018 edition is 31 March, 2017. Click here.

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