Talent development and capacity building in small nations : on the twinning of filmmakers
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Journal of Scandinavian Cinema
Publication Date
6-1-2016
Volume
6
Issue
2
First Page
81
Last Page
100
Publisher
Intellect Ltd.
Keywords
Capacity building, Co-authorship, Multiculturalism, Partnership of equals, Public values, Twinning
Abstract
In a small-nation film and media ecology, cogent thinking about capacity building is of critical importance. In the context of Danish documentary filmmaking, twinning has emerged as a promising model. Twinning engages Danish filmmakers with a world beyond Denmark, thereby counteracting certain parochialisms. At the same time, this model ties in with the Danish state’s development goals in the cultural domain, including the aim of fostering dialogue and understanding between Denmark and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region). This article evokes the landscape of twinning, as developed by Danish institutions, and provides a rationale for taking the phenomenon of transnationally paired practitioners seriously. More specifically, twinning is seen as a means of realizing public values through filmmaking. A specific instance of twinning involving collaboration between a Danish and a Lebanese filmmaker is discussed in detail, the aim being to identify the conditions under which the relevant type of co-authorship can be said to succeed. The emphasis in this regard is on the ways in which a partnership of equals emerges in the process of making the documentary En Araber kommer til byen (An Arab Comes to Town) (Larsen and Ghossein, 2008).
DOI
10.1386/jsca.6.2.81_1
Print ISSN
20427891
E-ISSN
20427905
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2016 Intellect Ltd Article. Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Hjort, M. (2016). Talent development and capacity building in small nations: On the twinning of filmmakers. Journal of Scandinavian Cinema, 6(2), 81-100. doi: 10.1386/jsca.6.2.81_1