The 7th Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival(GTIDFF) will be held at Le Grand Rex Paris on April 21 - 23, 2023.

The following content is the introduction about forums at GTIDFF.

Roundtable 1 :

Documentaries and Imagining Alternative Models

The world is facing ecological challenges that threaten the survival of humanity (climate change, biodiversity collapse, pandemics, widespread plastic and chemical pollution...).

The solutions do not only lie in technology - alternatives exist in areas such as food production, transportation, and construction, among others - but often it is the lifestyle and development model (e.g., consumption, relationship with nature, social connections) that must be called into question.

Therefore, a large-scale model change is imperative in order to break out of the continuous cycle of environmental degradation. But these existing alternative models are often caricatured, lacking visibility, or confined to the lunatic fringe (from organic farmers to eco-activists and collapsologist hermits...).

It is, however, difficult to imagine and project ourselves into alternative models while immersed in our social and physical environment, prejudices, and fears. Documentaries can be a way to discover other ways of looking at the world; moving us towards sobriety and respect for nature in major life choices as well as daily actions.

We remember documentary films that have marked several generations (from Jacques Cousteau to Al Gore, and more recently Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent) and that go beyond exposing deviations and growing risks, to proposing solutions and showing men and women implementing them.

What is the role of documentaries in forming perceptions and changing attitudes towards major environmental challenges?

Which approach should be favored to make an impact which promises the long-awaited breakthrough? 

Roundtable 2 :

Documentary Films and Artificial Intelligence (AI):  Opportunities and Challenges

Full answer from ChatGPT:

Opportunities:

1.Data analysis:  AI can help analyze large volumes of data to find trends or patterns that can be useful in documentary production.

2.Automation:  AI can help automate certain post-production tasks, such as sorting and classifying images, which can save time and money.

3.Research: AI can be used to search for images or videos based on keywords or concepts, which can facilitate the search for relevant content for documentaries.

4.Narration: AI can be used to create automatic narrations based on certain information, such as historical or geographical data.

5.Personalization: AI can be used to personalize documentaries based on viewers' preferences, providing real-time recommendations.

Challenges:

1.Bias: AI can introduce biases in documentary production if it is misused or misunderstood. It is important to understand the limitations of AI and ensure that it is used ethically.

2.Quality: AI can be used to produce lower quality content, such as blurry images or poorly articulated narrations.

3.Costs: The use of AI in documentary production can be expensive, especially for small productions with limited budgets.

4.Confidentiality: The use of AI can raise privacy concerns, especially if it is used to analyze personal or confidential data.

5.Relevance: AI may not always produce relevant results for documentaries, especially for complex or emotional subjects that require deeper human understanding.

Do you find this artificial analysis intelligent?

Roundtable 3 :

Documentary Film and Art: The Risks of a Commercial Relationship

Documentaries about artists or art movements can be a useful tool for the public to better understand them.

They can provide an insight into the artist's life and creative process, thereby allowing for a better appreciation of their personal experiences and creative philosophy. They are also an opportunity, often, to place artworks in their historical and cultural context. Additionally, for non-experts, they usually help (through analysis of composition, aesthetic characteristics, etc.) to better understand the connotations, messages, and language conveyed by these works, also contributing to raising the level of understanding of art in general.

How to find a balance between praise and criticism in documentaries?

In particular, and this is especially valid for the presentation of living or commercially active artists, what is the risk that such documentaries lack objectivity or resemble ‘advertorials’? (even if the relationship with art is subjective by nature). Is it possible to avoid this bias, and if so, how?

Roundtable 4 :

Women In Front Of and Behind the Camera

When women are the subject of discussion, it indicates that they are already in an unequal position, just as when we emphasize that the directors are women or when we make women the subject of documentaries. Whether it is their condition or the discriminations they face, or on the contrary their success, that are shown, whether their story is an individual case or a phenomenon, making it a subject expresses this inequality.

Women should be able to be masters of their own lives, and yet this is not always the case. For a long time, women have lived in a system designed for and by men. Even today, in many countries, a woman's body does not belong to her. Inequalities of varying degrees persist around the world. There have certainly been advances, but recent examples, both in the West and in the East, show that regressions are possible.

Documentaries are one way of making people aware of these facts and of women's struggles around the world (in different periods and in various contexts). They are also an opportunity to discover women who excel in everyday life, sports, art or politics... These experiences of women in front of the camera often make us feel empathy, encourage us to reflect, and then to act. But when the emphasis is on the ‘female director’ behind the camera, or conversely in front of the camera on female power or ‘the rise’ of women, is a prejudice not being created? (accentuating the notion of ‘the exception’).

The world of cinema is known to be predominantly male, particularly in jobs related to directing. This is where the ‘Me Too’ movement began, with very marked gender stereotypes. However, it seems that the documentary film sector is noticeably more egalitarian, with a relatively high proportion of female directors. What are the main reasons for this? Can documentary film be a prescriber in this area and inspire other branches of cinema?