17th Eurasian Media Forum: exchange of experience

Documentaries are a reflection of society. Works of this genre will be of unprecedented historical value many years later, and therefore the creators of such a film take on great responsibility. World documentary stars shared their best practices at the traditional Eurasian Media Forum, which lasted three days. Documentary Filmmaker Clementine Malpas came to Kazakhstan all the way from the United Kingdom. She shared some of the subtleties of working with people’s stories. Her portfolio contains several films about Syrian refugees and women’s rights in their society. She remains in touch with all the heroes who participated in her documentaries. Malpas is now going to visit Afghanistan. However, this is not possible yet due to the unstable situation in the country.

“A documentary may resemble a Hollywood movie, but the biggest difference is in its realism. There are three important things to remember when making a film. First, you have to answer the question: “What does your hero want?”. The second question is: “What obstacles does this person have in his life?” And the third rule is that the solution to the issues raised in the documentary must be presented at the end. And it doesn’t matter if it’s positive or negative,” said Clementine Malpas, documentary filmmaker from UK.

This year, the 17th Eurasian Media Forum was organized in online and offline formats. The event was attended by leading Kazakh and international media outlets, as well as international experts, politicians, scientists, public and cultural figures.

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

Editing by Saule Mukhamejanova