The First Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival

Theme: Man and Nature – Looks and Roots

Date: 15th October －18th October 2016

Location: Frankfurt, Germany

Pre-Selection Jury

Jean-Claude Carrière (France)

French novelist, playwright, film festival dean, former president of the French state film school La Fémis, recipient of the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement as screenwriter at the 87^th academy awards, Academy Award for Best Short Subject for “Heureux Anniversaire” (1963).Pierre-Henri Deleau (France)Actor, film producer, film festival founder and leader, chairman of the independent segment “Director’s Fortnight” at the Cannes Film Festival, first director of the French TV-festival FIPA, jury member of the International Film Festival Venice.

Patrick Deshayes (Latin America)

Director, producer, expert for latin american films, scholar, member of the French Institut International Transcultura, representative work: From the Perspective of Indians from another World”.

Zhang Yaxin (China)

Currently professor at the TV and Journalism School at the Communication University of China, doctoral tutor, director of the Television Program Institute, jury member of the China TV Golden Eagle Award, main works include: “General Theories of Video-Based Culture Documentary”.

Noa Karavan (Israel)

Famous personality in the international culture and film world, cultural and creative production executive, chairwoman of Artists for Public Art 1777, Founder of an international symposium for public art, representative works: “Production Cooperatives”, “Air, Light and Utopia”.

Hans Christoph von Bock (Germany)

Famous documentary director, producer, outstanding figure in the area of music documentaries, reporter for RIAS-TV, representative work: “The Colón Ring – Wagner in Buenos Aires”.

Pallavi Arora (India)

Film and Video graduate of the India National Institute of Design, experienced documentary film director, representative works: “The Eternal Gandhi”, “Girl Stars”.

Final Jury

Thomas Frickel (Germany)

German film director, producer and Executive Chairman of the documentary association AG DOK, supervisory board member of ONLINEFILM AG and member of the board of the film promotion agency FFA, member of the managing council of the third professional group at VG Bild-Kunst, representative of AG DOK in the media committee of the German Cultural Council, founding member of the European Documentary Network (EDN).

Zhang Yaxin (China)

Professor at the TV and Journalism School at the Communication University of China, Doctoral Supervisor, Director of the Television Program Institute, Visiting Professor at the Univérsité Panthéon-Assas in Paris and the Macao University of Science and Technology, Board member of the China Television Artists Association, Executive Vice President of the work committee of the China Television Artists Association and Jury Member of the China Documentary Academic Awards.

President of the expert jury for the documentary film segment at the 6^th Beijing International Film Festival, jury member for the “Reddish-Gold Cotton Awards” at the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, jury member at the Banff China Documentary Film Festival, jury member of the China TV Golden Eagle Award.

Main Works: “General Theories of Video-Based Culture Documentary”. Multiple Chinese TV-series planned, produced and co-written by her have won a series of national and international documentary film awards.

Paul Lewis (Canada)

Paul Lewis is a famous Canadian journalist, producer and now president of Great Pacific Television. Before joining Great Pacific he launched the world‘s first daily science program Daily Planet on the Discovery Channel Canada. He served as president and general manager during Discovery Canada‘s most significant period of expansion and made it the most watched factual channel in the country. Paul has supervised a multitude of TV-networks and websites and is a founding member of the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers and the Canadian Science Media Centre, as well as director of these institutions.

Paweł Łoziński (Poland)

Currently a lecturer for documentary film technology at the Gdansk Film School in Poland. Director, screenwriter and producer and has received awards at numerous international film festivals, including Best Television Documentary at the Prix Europa in Berlin and the Golden Dove at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film. Among his most outstanding works are: “You don’t know How Much I Love You” (Nawet nie wiesz jak bardzo cię kocham), 2016; “Father and Son” (Ojciec i syn), 2013; “Chemia” (Chemo), 2008.

Pieter van Huystee (Netherlands)

Producer. Among his representative works are: “The New Rijksmuseum” and “On the Way to School”, among others.

Once a very creative director at IDTV, he founded his own production company in 1995. Since then he has been working with famous Dutch directors such as Johan van der Keuken, Heddy Honigmann and Klaartje Quirijns, among others, to produce documentaries and feature films. His company is now one of the most influential independent production companies in the Netherlands, which is highly respected in the industry for its quality and wide-ranging business. In 1999 Peter’s business expanded with the addition of the department Public Film, intending to introduce German documentary films to local cinemas. It is worth mentioning that many of Peter’s documentaries and works have been screened at various global film festivals and have won numerous awards.

George Kalomenopoulos (Greece)

Founder and owner of the company 2k, an independent production company based in Athens, producing and co-producing documentaries, feature films and commercials. 2k works with Greek and foreign directors that share common goals, in order to produce films in line with the global interests of a wide audience. The company also develops and produces documentaries, short films and feature films representing the original and innovative views of their directors and reflecting the modern world’s cultural diversity.

Opening ceremony 

Dialogue Forums

Broadcasting Right Trade

 Hessian Gourmet Night

Filmmaker's Night

Closing ceremony

The Second Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival

Theme: Man and Nature

Date: 6th September－9th September 2017

Location: Frankfurt, Germany

   Pre-selection Jury

Romain – Philippe Pomedio (France) 

President of CINAPS TV channel

He founded and still directs CINAPS TV（Science television in southern Paris）. 

His main productions concern the origins of the world, quantum physics, the impact

of Broad Hadron Collider, black holes, etc. in collaboration with Steven Klein and 

French Atomic Energy Authority. 

Representative work

“Violins of the World with violin player Didier Lockwood”

Pieter Fleury (Netherlands)

Director, Producer, Editor

Independent director, producer at Golden Monkey Enterprises

Member of the National Selection Committee for Judges at the Netherlands Council

Senior consultant of the academic committee of western documentary of Chinese  TV artists association

Senior Advisor of the Documentary Films Academic Committee of China TV Artists

Association Communication Ambassador Global Eco Forum of China Senior

Consultant International Gold Panda Documentary Festival    

Representative works

“war witnesses”, “from the children's voice”, “in the day of the DPRK”, “ the emperor era”

Fritz Wolf (Germany)

Independent journalist, Author, Lecturer and Media publisher

Jury member of the 3Sat Documentary Awards

Jury member of the Baden-Württemberg Documentary Film A wards in 2003

Conducted thorough cooperation with multiple media companies regarding topics

such as politics, culture and science and technology

Zhang Yaxin（ China）

Chinese Professor, Ph.D. supervisor at the School of Television and Journalism

and director of the Television Program institute of the Communication University of China

Visiting professor of Université Lyon 2 - Accueil

Visiting professor Macau University of Science and Technology

Permanent Vice President of the Working Committee of the Movies and Television

Institution of the China Television Artist Association

Permanent Member of Council of the Documentary Work Committee of China Radio

and Television Association    Beijing International Film Festival Documentary Unit Jury Chairman and China

Documentary Academic Award Judge

Takuma Akifumi （Japan）

Producer, Editor

He graduated from the master after the Japanese Fuji TV work, has been

engaged in television production for nearly 40 years, is the Japanese film and

television industry of the elderly    

Representative works

"29 Years of Christmas", "No One Loves","101 times to marry"

Francois Verster（South Africa）

Director, Producer, Writer, Freelance camera, Sound recordist

Guest lecturer: University of Cape Town    

Representative work    "The Dream of Shahrazad"

Marcelo Fortaleza Flores（ Brazil）

Director, Producer    Ph D in anthropology    

one of the most innovative audio-visual producers and visual anthropologists to come out of Brazil     

Representative works

"River of Gold","Katsa Baba: Humorous Dramas" as well as a feature    documentary“ Trópico da Saudade”

   Final Jury

Thomas Frickel (Germany)

German director, producer and executive Chairman of AG DOK.

Member of: the supervisory board of ONLINEFILM  The board of directors of FFA 

Representative of AG DOK in the area film/media of the German Cultural Council

A founding member of the European Documentary Network

Paul Lewis (Canada）    

Journalist, Producer President of Great Pacific Television   

Founding Board director for the "World Congress of Science", "Factual Producers"

and "Canadian Science Media Centre of Canada"

He served as president and general manager during Discovery Canada's most

significant period of expansion, made it the most watched factual channel in the country

Gao Feng(China)

Vice-president of Chinese Culture Promotion Society

Director-General of China Science Film & Video Association

Chairman of China Television Artists Association

Deputy Director of China Central Television(CCTV)

Eva Dekanovska(Slovakia)

Executive officer of the City TV Foundation

Chairwoman of the Steering Committee of annual Festivals of Local Televisions in

Koš ice, Slovakia    President of the International Jury, MITIL, Vevey, Switzerland

Co-author of the book "Comunidad y Comunicación. Prácticas comunicativasy

medios comunitarios en Europa y América Latina", published in Madrid, November 2012

Gilles Lyon-Caen (France)    

Producer, Movie critic    

Gilles Lyon-Caen selected movies for the Cannes Film Festival, Official Selection, 

short films and foreign feature films    Gilles Lyon-Caen has wide experiences extending from film production

(The  Coproduction Office) to DVD edition (MK2) and movie critic

George Kurian(Indian)

Director, Photo journalist

As a director of television documentary films, Kurian uses extensive sources for

his films, including current events, history, culture, wild animals etc. His films have

been broadcasted on many international television networks, including BBC, CBC, 

NHK, Al Jazeera Television, National Geographic, Discovery Channel. His work as a photojournalist has also been published in a number of international media outlets,

such as The Sunday Times (UK), Aftenposten (Norway), as well as print media in Australia, Switzerland

Gervais Hugues Ondaye (Congo)

The Professional cultural operator in Brazzaville, Congo 

General commissioner of the Panafrican Music Festival

He participated in the production of the documentary series“ Passeport - Musique

Amérique Afrique” with the television Channel CINAPS TV. His rich experience and

commitment to the culture of the African continent have earned him the following

honors“, Chancellor in the Congolese Order of Merit”, “Big Prize of Arts and Letters of

the Republic of Congo”,“ Award of Excellence for Cultural Action in Africa”

Opening Ceremony

Dialogue Forums

Forums 1: New Production and Distribution Channels for Documentaries and Documentary Industry

 TV stations become platforms – or platforms become tv stations?

   In the beginning studios around filmmakers saw SVOD platforms

   rather as an additional means of distribution at the end of the

   distribution cycle. By now platforms such as Netflix, Amazon,

   Apple have turned into producers and buyers with million dollars

   budgets. Documentary films have become part of the portfolio.

   Certainly the audience response to documentary films on the

   popular platforms can't be compared to top series like Game

   of Thrones“ or „House of Cards“, but content providers such as

   Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and of late Facebook and Vimeo as well

   also produce and buy high class documentary productions. At

   the moment the proportion of bought and own productions for

   Netflix is said to be 50:50. Among others Netflix has „Man on Wire“,

   Academy Award winner 2009 for „Best Documentary Film“ and

   films of Werner Herzog's, namely Into the Inferno“.

Forums 2: Filming in extreme Areas

We have all gotten used to seeing daily reports from crisis and

conflict zones. Television news are seemingly documentarily

authenticated with shaky, mostly vertical, cellphone footage.

Maybe add a short sentence by a correspondent and we can

leave the war zone behind again. There is little space in modern

news flow to look behind the scenes and get to know the people

affected. The guests of the Forum“ Location Conflict Zone” show,

that there are other possibilities and ways to work.

   Forums 3: Documentary and Television: Today and Future

   To deliver the information, to build the connection, to provide the

   social and political insight, all of which belongs or should belong

   to the natural duties of television. Especially in the time of the

   growing self-referential confusing “Fake-News”, the journalistic

   classifications are of the utmost importance. However, the reality

   of the world doesn’t only reflect in News, Magazines and the

   formatted documentations. The documentary filmmakers all over

   the world put their own insights towards what happens in the

   world and in front of their cameras. In the hands of documentary

   filmmakers the reality is a material as similar as the script of a

   fictional production.

   Together with international experts, we would, through this panel,

   try to explain the rolls of documentary films, especially those in

 artistic formats, in television systems in different countries.

Forums 4: Investment and Documentaries -- New Investment Model for Documentary Films

 Documentary investors, producers and buyers from Germany,

 China, Canada, Switzerland, Greece and other countries, with

 demand and hope for the documentary investment market, At the

 Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival, face to face

 with documentary films in the forum dialogue, For international

 cooperation and investment.

 Firstly, Investors from different countries will introduce and analyze

 the documentary investment in the country or the industry'

 situation and trends;

 Secondly, Investors from various countries will explore the

 investment cooperation in the documentary area under the

 impact of globalization with their personal experience;

 Lastly, Investors from various countries express the

 recommendations and prospects for investor platform at the

 Golden Tree International Documentary Festival.

Forums 5: Documentary - Educational Model and Prospect

 The interdisciplinary approaches will lead to a higher interface

 competence and open the door to career paths in many branches

 such as film, television, advertising, communication, education

and culture.

 The graduates of the subject of “Media: the Conception &

 Production” can carry out the conceptual duties as well as

 the technical tasks relating to the producing in fields such as

 broadcasting organization, media and advertising agency,

 production company, company communication, event

 management etc. Meanwhile, the integrated foreign semester

 provides the opportunities to the international career.

 In the panel “Documentary Film – the methodology and the

 perspective on education”, we would certainly like to get involved

 into many small segments concerning the education in the

 documentary film industry.

Forums 6: Documentary and Philosophy :What is our consciousness?

 The major Homo sapiens’s challenge in this XXI century will be to

 understand and take care of his own psychic growth.

 How to set the real face to intersubjectivity?

 What contemporary research gives up in cognitive psychology?

 How to interpret senses’ physiological localization in our brain?

 What is the impact of new technologies of information and

 communication and cinema on our cognitive practices?

 What are the consequences of the important brain plasticity?

 In front of the immense fields of investigations’ diversity, it

 seems to us important to extend the meetings by integrating

 in this Forum contributors with spiritual practices on state of

 consciousness’ changes (shamans, Griots ...) and introduce them

 into this scientific research debate.

The Second Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival has concluded.

On the evening of the 9th of September, the official award ceremony of the second Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival took place in Frankfurt/Germany before the festival  officially concluded on the same evening. After 31 movies that made it to the finals of the competition went through a strict review and discussion process by the final jury, a total of 6 documentary films climbed to top of the Golden Tree film competition.

“Callshop Istanbul” by the Canadian filmmakers Sami Mermer and Hind Benchekroun won the award for the Best Feature Length  Documentary ;“ Coming of Age”, a documentary by the South  African director Teboho Edkins won the award for Best Medium- Length Documentary; another award went to South Africa  when Simon Wood’s film“ Orbis” won the award for Best Short Documentary; the award for Best Mini Documentary was given to Miguel Argilès from Spain and his film“ Eli. Swedish Passion” which tells the story of a sick yet optimistic girl called Eli, whose thinking about life is very thought-provoking. Simon Gillard received the award for Best Director. His film “Boli Bana”tells  the story of the Fulai children in Burkina Faso. The three Chinese  directors He Shiping, Fu Peng and Zhou Chengyu won the Special Jury Prize for their work“ Hermit”.

The  Third Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival

Theme: The Roots and Future of Culture

Date: 19th September – 22nd September 2018

Location: Frankfurt a. M., Germany

   Pre-selection Jury         

The President of Pre-selection jury

Kathryn Bree Fitzgerald (Canada)

Producer, Programmer, Cinematographer, Photographer

Board of Directors& Head of International Programming of Luang Prabang Film Festival

Kathryn has 20 years experience working in film and television as a producer and camerawoman. Most of her early experience is in documentary television for New York Times Television producing shows for National Graphic, Discovery and A& E Networks. As photographer, her photography works have always been published on the covers of GQ, Esquire, Vogue, The Bangkok Post, etc.

Kathryn has produced almost 20 documentaries. A Quest for Justice once got Emmy nominated and was the Winner of Gold World Medal at New York Festival Awards 2011.

Paolo Bertolin（Italy）

Producer, Film Writer, Festival Programmer

As Festival Programmer, Bertolin has collaborated with several international film festivals and institutions, including the Venice, Beijing, and Hanoi IFFs, Locarno Open Doors, the Doha Film Institute, the Udine Far East FF, Visions du Réel, IFFRotterdam, the Cannes Critics' Week, and the IFFBratislava.  
As Producer, he has producer credits on Phan Đăng Di's Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories (2015), Amit Dutta's Chitrashala (2015, short) and Lav Diaz' A Lullaby for the Sorrowful Mystery (2016), all entries in the Berlinale competition.

Zhang Tongdao （China）

Documentary Center Director & Professor of Art and Media School of Beijing Normal University, Documentary Producer

Chairman of Film and Television Education Professional Committee of China Association of Higher Education

Chairman of China Documentary Development Foundation

He wrote China's first documentary Blue Book China Documentary Development Research Report, published continuously for the past 9 years.

Jongsuk Thomas Nam（South Korea）

Director, Consultant, Curator

Managing Director of Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF)

Festival Consultant and Programmer of Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN)

NAM graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park, USA in 1993 with a degree in Communication Arts/RTVF.

Andras Novak（Hungary）

Producer, Editor, Reporter

Since 2001, Andras has made over 40 documentaries. From 2004, he regularly made reports for  CNN World Report and CNN World View.

Now he is International Chief Adviser, foreign Correspondent in ATV-Hungary from 2013, and Editor in Chief of GloboTV from 2014. Before, he served in MTV (Hungarian National TV station) and RTL-Hungary as producer, broadcaster, reporter, editor. 

Riaan Hendricks（South Africa）

Director, Visiting Lecturer, Expert Mentor,

Founder of DocStreet Radio

Story Consultant for DOCFILMSA

Riaan’s first documentary film A Fisherman's Tale was described as a "sterling directorial debut" and won a Jury Special Mention for Documentary at the Apollo International Film Festival.

David Bradbury（Australia）

Director, Producer

Two-time Academy Award-nominated director and producer, a documentary legend whose films have taken us around the planet and deep into the heart of individuals with extraordinary stories about war, uprising, injustice and exploitation.

 Final Jury

The President of final jury

Denis Harnois (France)

Director, Advisor, Expert,

President of Videoshare Festival, President of the Directors' Association "La Cie des Réals",

Adviser to the "Ecole Superieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle",

Administrator& Jury Coordinator of Institutional & Corporate Image International Film Festival

In 2015, Denis created the festival "Films & Companies", a festival co-produced with Hopscotch Group and dedicated to digital video creations, renamed in 2018 the "Videoshare Festival" of which he holds the position of president.

he worked as a writer-director in the field of corporate film, reportage, documentary and magazine for television. He also made several assignments for "Canal France International" as an expert director, to train the production teams of the national channels of several West African countries.

Krishan Arora （United Kingdom）

International Content Consultant, SBS Television Australia

Producer, Consultant

Experienced multi-lingual television executive, with a strong track record in BBC commissioning, executive production, broadcast strategy, international co -production and communications, UK and internationally.

Sep 2014-present, International Content Consultant, SBS Television Australia

Erica Ginsberg （United States）

Director, Producer,

Executive Director of Docs In Progress, non-profit film arts organization and incubator

Co-Host of The D-Word

M.A., Film and Video, American University (Washington, DC)

HONORS:      

TIVA-DC Distinguished Achievement Award for Service to regional film community

NAMAC Creative Leaders Fellowship at Sundance

Amudhan R.P. （India）

Director, Curator, Media Activist

President of Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 

Mahmoud Shoolizadeh（Iran/United States）

Director and Producer

Writer, Editor and Lecturer

Mahmoud Shoolizadeh is an independent film Director, Producer and Screen Writer based in

USA. He received a Bachelor degree in Film Production and an Master degree in Management

and has been a film director for over 30 years and made several films.

Peter Rippl （Germany)

Director, Producer, Visual Artist

Peter Rippl studied sculpture and film design at the university for design in Offenbach, then a scholarship from the script workshop at the HFF Munich. Subsequently he began the development of material and scripts for Bavaria, ARD and ZDF.

Antonio Cadierno Parodi(Spain/France)

Director, Producer and Distributor of Social and Anthropological Documentaries and Professor.

Co-founder of the "Audiovisual Anthropology Group" of the Instituto Madrileño de Antropología since 2010.

He has extensive experience in the management and execution of cultural audiovisual projects on a national and international level.

Christopher Hird(United Kingdom)

Founder and Managing Director of Dartmouth Films

Christopher Hird is the founder and managing director of Dartmouth Films, which has pioneered new ways of funding, producing and distributing documentaries in the UK. 

Opening Ceremony

Forum

 Joint Meeting Hall

 Closing Ceremony 

Awards