Sérgio Tréfaut

The reason for this small homage to the Portuguese director, producer and promoter for the documentary film genre is that the Danish Cinematheque in Copenhagen shows a mini-series of the director’s work, starting this coming thursday with the masterpiece ”Alentejo, Alentejo” from 2014, that has Joao Ribeiro as cameraman, from my point of view one of the best in Europe. A quote from the review I wrote about the film on this site:

”… In this –to warn you: I will not be short of praising adjectives in this review – wonderful emotional journey into the history of ”cante”, its roots, its connection to the farming and cooking culture (you see how a bread soup is made, and how bread is baked and red wine is enjoyed) you are invited to enjoy the ”cante” singing by primarily male choirs constituted by Men with furrowed faces and well-fed stomachs, who make the most beautiful performances. You may close your eyes and enjoy, but it would be wrong as the camera catches superbly the faces and the English subtitles, as good as subtitles can be, give you the content of the songs…”

Two other films by Tréfaut is on the programme in Copenhagen, ”Another Country” from 2000, produced by Pedro Martins, about the carnation revolution and ”Fleurette” from 2002 about his mother and her son, the director. Informative and personal and always with an artistic ambition. Here is the cv of Sérgio Tréfaut from his own website:

”Sérgio Tréfaut was born in Brazil in 1965. After a Master in Philosophy at the Sorbonne (Paris), he started his career in Lisbon as a journalist and assistant director. Eventually he became a producer and director. His documentaries were presented at IDFA and in more than 30 countries, receiving several international awards. His main titles are Outro País (1999), Fleurette (2002), Lisboetas (2005), The City of the Dead (2009). Lisboetas was the first documentary running in Portuguese cinemas for more than three months. His first feature fiction Journey to Portugal (2011), based on a true story and starring Maria de Medeiros is a provocative statement about European airport borders nowadays. It also received several international prizes and was nominated for a Portuguese Golden Globes award (best film, best actress). Sérgio Tréfaut directed Doclisboa International Film Festival from 2004 to 2010. He was also President of Apordoc, the Portuguese Documentary Association and member of the Executive board of EDN – European Documentary Network.”

http://www.sergiotrefaut.com/alentejo/

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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