As any good documentary film-maker will tell you, the truth is a nebulous thing. Depending on where you put your camera, what you choose to shoot and how you finally edit your material, it is possible to produce diametrically opposed portraits of the same subject. The current state of documentary and non-fiction filmmaking for film and television is a case in point. From one perspective, the form shows encouraging signs of revival, with serious documentaries such as Hoop Dreams, When We Were Kings and One Day in September achieving successful cinema releases - something unimaginable a few years ago. Digital technology is making it possible for a new generation of film-makers to explore subjects which previously would have been inaccessible or impractical to cover.
In Ireland, a more enlightened approach by RTE, through its True Lives series of one-off documentaries, and a range of commissioned series, along with support from the Irish Film Board, has led to a perceptible rise in the quality and range of documentaries being made.
On the other hand, at a seminar on "the creative documentary" at this year's Galway Film Fleadh (chaired by this writer), film-makers queued up to bemoan the philistinism of television commissioning editors, the declining standards and reduced budgets which new technology encouraged, and the general dumbing-down of factual programming. "Reality" may be the buzzword for broadcasters these days, but many non-fiction filmmakers appeared to believe that serious work was being edged out by docusoaps, cheap fly-on-the-wall series and voyeuristic fare such as Big Brother.
Part of this can be attributed to the red mist of rage which seems to descend on most seminars when an audience of film-makers faces a panel of purse-string holders. But there did appear to be a genuine concern for the future of the documentary - particularly the single, feature-length documentary - in an uncertain and fast-changing environment.
Although most media attention is directed towards its support for drama and feature films, the Irish Film Board has been a significant player in the Irish documentary scene for some years now. Indeed, the IFB's chairman, Louis Marcus, is one of the country's most respected documentary-makers. The Board tends to lend its support towards longer, more authored documentaries on single subjects - the kind of work of which broadcasters are traditionally more wary. But it is-well-nigh impossible to produce documentaries these days without significant broadcaster involvement, and it's this sort of co-production environment which a new event starting in Dublin this evening aims to enhance.
Doclands, Ireland's first ever festival and film market dedicated exclusively to documentary, reflects some of the huge diversity of work being produced here and around the world, while offering the opportunity to filmmakers and financiers to discuss new projects and make new contacts. Established in response to an industry call issued through the Film Board late last year, the event runs for three days at venues around Temple Bar.
"We looked at what had developed internationally at events such as the Rotterdam Festival, and indeed at the Galway Film Fleadh Fair," says the IFB's chief executive, Rod Stoneman. "And we decided we wanted something focused on Irish documentary-makers. The starting point was the market, but the best first contact point for a market was at a festival, so we've launched this quite modest festival, which offers a broad snapshot of some of the most interesting work around at the moment."
Doclands opens tonight with the world premiere of the latest documentary from one of Ireland's finest film-makers, John T. Davis. Co-directed with Dublin-born photographer Alen McWeeney, May the Road Rise Up uses the photographs which McWeeney took of Irish Travellers in the 1960s as a starting point for an exploration of what has happened to these people since.
The festival features two other world premieres: Philip King's Freedom Highway looks at the role of song in the fight for civil and religious liberties, and human rights, in the 20th century - from the suffragettes to the anti-apartheid movement - while Barrie Dowdall's An Bothar Fada tells the story of the Irish navvy and emigrant workers in Britain. Other new Irish titles include Pat Collins's Talking to the Dead €1 tonight) and Lisa Mulcahy's Dan, Dan, Dad and Me, (on RTE 1's True Lives series tonight).
Other films well worth catching are Chris Smith's hilarious Sundance Festival award-winner, American Movie, about a Wisconsin man determined to make his own horror movie, and Mike Mills's Eating Sleeping Waiting Playing, following French band, Air, on their world tour. But the range of subjects is exhaustive: there's men in heat in The Holy Brotherhood of Steam and Agony, about the Finnish world sauna championships; female Japanese wrestlers in Gaea Girls, and modern hobos in Train on the Brain.
Veteran American documentary maker, Albert Maysles, will be in Dublin to introduce a retrospective of his work to the festival. The instigator of the Direct Cinema movement, together with his late brother, David, Maysles has been responsible for some of the most memorable portraits of US life on film. The retrospective includes such acclaimed documentaries as Showman (1963), With Love from Truman (1966) and Salesman (1968). The highly distinctive Maysles style and approach to documentary making will be explored in a workshop organised by FilmBase and supported by Screen Training Ireland.
Some 200 film-makers, factual programme producers, distributors, financiers, commissioning editors and buyers will participate in the Doclands Market, while there will be seminars on Documentary in Europe and the US - and Reality TV. In addition to its prime purpose of encouraging and developing Irish production in co-operation with international producers, Doclands offers the Irish public an opportunity to consider the current state of the documentary and see some of the best contemporary examples of the art. As such, it is a welcome addition to the ever increasing range of mini-festivals and film events in the capital city, and one which Rod Stoneman hopes will continue.
"The single documentary sector has built in confidence in recent years," he says "I really hope that this event does go on and build in years to come."
Doclands runs until Thursday, October 26th. For further information, tel: 01-6708177. For ticket reservations, contact the IFC Box Office, Tel: 679 3477
