Documentary Filmmaking and Storytelling

Event Details
September 18-19, 2021
Virtual

Goethe-Institut Toronto and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) present Documentary Filmmaking and Storytelling with Daniel Carsenty.

A free two-part digital workshop.

Co-presented with Toronto Arab Film (TAF) and the Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF).

• Part 1: Artist Talk Saturday, September 18, 2021 from 1:00pm – 3:00pm ET. Register here.
• Part 2: Facilitated Workshop Sunday, September 19, 2021 from 1:00pm – 4:00pm ET. Register here.

The central element of this workshop is the idea that a film—documentary or fiction—is at its core a character-driven story. The camera captures the relationships between people and visualizes the unspoken elements at play. Most films pivot around ‘dramatic’ scenes. Scenes in which characters express their wants and needs either vocally or through the subtext of body language. They run up against an obstacle and we as an audience ‘discover’ their true character in the way they deal with the obstacle on screen.

This two-part workshop, aimed at emerging and intermediate filmmakers, will create awareness for the basic elements of storytelling at play and show examples in which these elements have been successfully captured on screen. After a 90-minute introduction open to registered participants and general audiences, where Carsenty will be joined from Berlin by his collaborator filmmaker Mohammed Abugeth, the workshop participants will go out and independently film a dramatic scene with their own cameras, which has the power to stand alone as a short film or could be the centre of a longer documentary. On the second day, the workshop participants will screen their work and have a collaborative discussion, critique the work of their peers and grow an understanding of storytelling.

Instructor: