08/03/2016 - Caroline Velan, Emerging Producer 2016 from Switzerland, represents production company Caravel Production

Caroline Velan, Emerging Producer 2016 from Switzerland, represents production company Caravel Production.

Cineuropa: What qualities should a documentary producer have these days?
Caroline Velan: Intellectual curiosity and ability to think out of the box. Ability to guide the director and to make decisions. Clear-headed understanding of the originality and interest factor of the given topic, and the financial reality. And awareness of new ways of communication, distribution and narration.

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To what extent do you, as a producer, get involved in the creative process?
I discuss the film profoundly with the authors and I support them when necessary. When I have to build the team, I always look for collaborators with the same, or complementary, artistic vision as the director.  I am much involved in the process from the beginning until the end. Together with the director, we first talk a lot about the subject and how to treat and handle the film. Then, I might help her or him to define a point of view regarding the group we’re targeting. I am also involved in the editing process by discussing the construction of the film with the editor and the director. Concerning the distribution, I prefer distributors to take care of this part. But if there are none, I arrange for the film’s release in my country and look for festivals.

What projects do you have under way?
Aubrun, a documentary by Frédéric Pajak, writer, publisher, painter, on Aubrun, a radical French artist who lived in the second half of the 20th century, working in pursuit of transparency. A very personal and philosophical portrait of an artist exposing also the work and choices of a publisher of art books.

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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.