2009 Centre national de la cinématographie Centre national de la cinématographie
This new edition of the États généraux du film documentaire, eagerly awaited each year, gives me the opportunity to restate with conviction that the CNC and Lussas defend the same ambitious concept of documentary: a work of art that expresses an author's point of view through original writing and directing.
Documentary has greatly evolved over these last years and the genre is now marked by great formal variety and invention, more and more frequently exploiting what François Niney called the "mixed breeding" with fiction, an interconnection which has allowed the genre to renew itself by exploring new forms of narrative. The growing taste for the genre among the general public as testified to by the success of the Documentary Film Month is highly encouraging.
The Audiovisual Aid Fund for Creative Documentary with its two aspects – seed money for writing and development support – was set up to encourage the creation of diversified and demanding works of art. The programme of reinforced development aid renewed in 2009 prolongs the effort. The programme will be illustrated this year during the États généraux by a workshop around the project which was the beneficiary in 2008: "En quête de jasmin" by Alain Ughetto, produced by Alexandre Cornu (Les Films du tambour de soie).
The rise of the internet also seems to open up interesting prospects for documentary. Web-documentary is displaying, from its beginnings, great vigour and creativity. The CNC is already working to allow the format the means to develop.
I thank Jean-Marie Barbe and the entire team for their unconditional commitment to the cause of documentary.
Véronique Cayla, Director CNC