Rosvita Dransfeld: The Master of Cinéma vérité

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Season 1, Episode 1

Rosvita Dransfeld: The Master of Cinéma vérité

A documentary director and producer, Rosvita’s body of work is extensive. She started as a broadcast journalist in her native Germany, and made the transition into documentary film after moving to Canada in 2000. Over the past two decades, she’s produced and directed more documentaries than she can count, all in her adopted home of Edmonton where she runs her company ID Productions. Rosvita was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on Vital Bonds, a documentary which explores the world of organ donations at the University of Alberta hospital. Her Cinéma vérité-style films are character driven and look at the human condition in its many forms.

In this episode:

We hear about how Rosvita got started directing feature documentaries in Canada. We learn about how she gets access to, and builds trust with the people in her films to create an emotional experience for the audience.

Rosvita also talks about the importance of having a vision and telling difficult stories, marketing films that can't be easily categorized, and finding your voice as a filmmaker.

Finally, we hear Rosvita's three tips for starting out in the film industry.

Links:

• ID Productions
• Vital Bonds
• The Ward
• Memento Mori: From Death Comes Life
• Broke
• Who Cares
• Queens of Dogville