What is the audience for Human Interest documentaries? What do these films need to earn back the interest, market-value and importance they once had? How do digital platforms affect them? Do we have to redefine documentaries on Human Interest in order for them to survive on TV in the future? MIA|DOC 2017 will try to answer all of these questions.
Tore Tomter, former Commissioning Editor of NRK in Norway, will moderate a panel on this topic during MIA Market 2017 on saturday 21.
What exactly are Human Interest documentaries? There is no clear-cut definition. In theory, all documentaries can be included in this genre, because Human Interest films, tell the human side of stories, laying bare all possible points of view. If Current Affair, for example, can be categorized as ‘recent events’, Human Interest is more universal. It is not a category, but rather an approach.
The panel’s goal is to rediscover how various broadcasters have reinterpreted Human Interest, which is still alive as a television genre today, but is slowly moving to non-traditional platforms such as Netflix or Amazon.
This kind of documentaries illustrate what makes us similar to one another and what unites us.
The panel speakers will be:
Fabio Mancini – Commissioning editor – RAITRE – Italy
Margje De Koning – Commissioning editor, documentaries – EO – The Netherlands
Krishan Arora – Commissioning Editor – SBS – Australia
Lars Säfström – Commissioning Editor, current affairs – SVT – Sweden
