Antra Gaile • Producer
“The conventional path is no longer the only one”
- Antra Gaile, producer for Latvian company Mistrus Media and Emerging Producer 2016 from the country, deciphers her work
![Antra Gaile • Producer](imgCache/2016/03/17/1458226967829_0620x0413_0x11x640x426_1679466239680.png)
Antra Gaile, producer for Latvian company Mistrus Media and Emerging Producer 2016 from the country, deciphers her work.
Cineuropa: What qualities should a documentary producer have these days?
Antra Gaile: If you are looking for a list of qualities producers should have, try Google. What I learnt at the Emerging Producers 2016 programme is very simple – be aware of what you are standing for. Why the project on the table is worth producing, why it matters to you and your audience. If a producer finds the answer, then I’m sure he/she will also find their way and people with whom to collaborate.
To what extent do you, as a producer, get involved in the creative process?
I must admit that the part I like most about production is the development stage, because at that stage we enter a completely new world full of adventures and excitement. It is the beginning of a new experience, unknown challenges and opportunities and it requires us to be open to the world and the people around us. And it is very natural for me to be a part of the creative process.
Even if we are talking about fundraising for projects, it is clear that the conventional path is no longer the only one. There are many other creative ways to bring the project to the audience.
What projects do you have under way?
The crew behind the documentary People from Nowhere(dir. Jaak Kilmi, Gints Grūbe)is getting ready to enter the production phase as we intend to close the financing in March. We all are thrilled by the opportunity to tell this amazing story of a daughter of a Cold War double agent set in Latvia, Russia and the US.
Two other projects in progress have received support from the Latvian National Film Centre in December 2015. The coming-of-age drama The Boy with the Dogis a story about a boy who kept a secret and saved fifty Jews from certain death in 1942 in Riga. The film is based on true historical events. Talented Latvian director Davis Simanis together with young scriptwriter Matiss Gricmanis is now working on the script and we plan to enter production in 2017. This is my first fiction project and I’m producing it together with Gints Grūbe. The documentary in production To be Continued: Through the Eyes of a Child (dir. Ivars Seleckis) aims to look at our country’s destiny through the eyes of children as well as to observe how the situation in the country shapes children’s lives. Over the course of two years, this film will look at the events in Latvia and its regions through the eyes of these children. A follow-up of this documentary will be created every seven years. The release of both these projects is planned for Latvia’s centennial in 2018.
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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.
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