Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival will return to screens big and small in 2020 despite the recent COVID-19 shutdown.
The C-Doc team team has been fermenting and bubbling along in hibernation during lockdown, unable to resist the urge to bring audiences the sixth annual event and a ‘break in the clouds’ in the middle of winter.
C-Doc director Claire Jager said that as with so much of our lives, C-Doc 2020 would hit our screens online in a distilled – but not diluted – form.
C-Doc In the Clouds will consist of three films shown over three evenings at the Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal with limited ticketing, and online, and will take place across the originally scheduled festival weekend of July 17-19.
“C-Doc In the Clouds will present three wonderful, entertaining and illuminating films with accompanying events and panels to remind us of the importance of sustaining culture, welcoming difference, reflecting on what’s happening around us to and to celebrate that what we do each day is precious,” Ms Jager said.
The event will commence on Friday July 17 with the film Picture Character, which tells the story behind the humble emoji.
Chances are you use emojis every day and know very little about them. Did you know that emojis don’t just spring into being all by themselves? They must be approved by something called the unicode consortium. This film follows the story of the development of three new emojis.
On Saturday July 18 catch the inspiring film Into the Jungle about two remarkable young Australian zookeepers who bring about change that would seem – on the face of it – impossible, as they attempt to persuade 10,000 people not to hunt an endangered species that has been part of their traditional diet for centuries.
The festival will be capped off with the film What is Democracy. Director Astra Taylor’s idiosyncratic, philosophical journey spans millennia from the Athenians’ groundbreaking experiment in self-government to capitalism’s roots in medieval Italy; from modern-day Greece grappling with financial collapse and a mounting refugee crisis to the United States reckoning with its racist past and the growing gap between rich and poor.
Coming at a moment of profound and social crisis, What is Democracy? reflects on a word we often take for granted.
Each of the three films will be followed by a panel discussion live-streamed from the Theatre Royal.
“We are delighted to be able to preserve the festival’s cherished and essential films and forums, bring together people and ideas, vigorous provocation, debate and laughter. It is a much-needed coming together in the way of our times,” Ms Jager said.
To find out more about C-Doc In the Clouds visit cdocff.com.au
