Polar Star Films is currently working with producer Christian Popp, Yuzu Productions on our latest documentary project.

Christian began his career as a commissioning editor at ARTE in 1997 before becoming an independent producer in 2005. He has produced many award-winning documentaries, among them this year’s Cannes selected BECOMING CARY GRANT. During a production meeting in Barcelona, we took the opportunity to ask him a few questions.

Núria Palenzuela: What brought you to the world of documentaries?

Christian Popp: I started as a journalist, first for newspapers, and then for ARTE. And at some point I wanted to do something longer, more in depth. One day I knocked at the door of the theme evening department at ARTE. They needed someone at that moment. Lucky for me. So it was a natural process, it wasn’t a planned thing. And it wasn’t a kind of a revelation like: wow, I see a documentary and I want to become a documentary producer. I also directed documentaries at some point. It’s just that one day I decided not to direct any more but to produce only.

NP: How does being a producer differ from being a commissioning editor?

CP: Well, my first reason to become a producer was kind of a frustration of not being really hands on and not being close to the project itself, to the development of the project and ultimately to reality. As a commissioning editor, you read the project, you discuss with the producer and the director, then it goes through a decision making process and if successful it is ultimately made. You see it when it’s more or less done, which is beautiful, but for me, personally, it was a frustration not to be there at all stages. And the decision to become a producer was based on that, on the feeling that I needed to be closer to the reality of production.

NP: You have worked as a producer both in Germany and France. Is film production different in different countries?

CP: Depending where you’re based, you produce in a certain way. And this has to do with firstly how documentaries are perceived and approached artistically in a country. Films made in Germany are different than films made in France, because there’s a different taste, a different history, aesthetic history as well, I’m not judging, I’m just saying that this is different, so you need to acknowledge these differences first. Then, producing in Germany is a bit harder, TV channels are investing less than French TV channels. But it is very good as well because in France you need to develop for a long time, and write a lot before you even approach your funders. While in Germany you can go to TV channels and say “okay, what do you think about this idea”. So, it’s difficult to say I prefer producing in France, but I think I do. For the aesthetic reasons I was mentioning, but also for these financial reasons, not only because there is potentially more money, but also because this process is more interesting. You know… to go deeper into a project, to develop it, to be very careful with the development before you say: Yes, I want to take it, to finance it, to produce it.

NP: What have you learned from international co-production over the years? What tips can you share?

CP: I think you shouldn’t do an international co-production if you don’t need it. And with need, I don’t mean only and not even primarily money. Because the idea of international co-production is to aggregate funds from different countries so that you can raise the budget of your ambition. But on the other hand it’s also about collaboration. It’s very much about local knowledge, local taste, local talent that you want to bring together to make the best film possible. So I set up co-productions, or I agree to enter a co-production if it makes sense. Yes, we can bet on a fund, but we also need a creative collaboration.

NP: What do you think about transmedia? Is this the future for documentary?

CP: If you look at film history, it’s a very young way of telling stories. And this is evolving because the technology and the opportunities to tell stories are evolving. So transmedia is for me just a tool to tell basically the same stories, but differently than how we did it before. And, while a few years ago, web based interactive documentaries were the new “El Dorado” in a way, not financially but in terms of attention, this has changed, now it’s VR, Virtual Reality. People are exploring how to tell stories in VR, there are beautiful projects, there are really amazing things that have been done, however I think that Augmented Reality has a more interesting future than Virtual Reality. And I agree that while right now linear documentaries for TV and theatrical release are still very important and still very big, in addition to that, there will be shorter forms. You can tell stories on Facebook, on Snapchat. You can tell stories on VR or Augmented Reality, location based, so all this will grow. And I am happy about that.

NP: This is your second collaboration with Cosima Dannoritzer. What attracts you to her projects?

CP: What I like about Cosima’s approach is that she takes on films that, without having this huge ambition, can change something in the world and I think this is very important. The Light Bulb Conspiracy, The E-Waste Tragedy, now Time Thieves, are films which are relevant. They have an impact. I wish them to have an impact to the world. The second thing I like about Cosima’s approach is her precision in a way in approaching things. She’s a very creative director, but she’s also a journalist, in the sense that she is very precise in how she approaches things. So artistically on one hand, but then as a journalist, carefully crafted, and carefully told, to make films that have the impact I was talking about.

NP: How do you control time in your life? What kind of timepieces do you use?

CP: I use a watch but I don’t have it with me all the time. I try not to be too much bound to time. I try to organize my day in order not to be overwhelmed by ‘time thieves’ from outside. I manage quite well the ‘time thieves’ which are mine, and I try to keep in balance and to be careful with ‘time thieves’ from outside. But the reality is that production, documentary production, is a ‘time thief’ in a way. I don’t know why we went to the U.S. or Barcelona, or Berlin or elsewhere to film, we could have filmed in our office (laughs). So, we learned a lot about our daily work too by producing this film, how to be more efficient. But I like to drift as well, I like not to do anything at some point, and not to have the feeling that if I’m not doing anything I’m losing time. So, I have a very ambivalent relationship with time, we all do.

NP: Do you think time is money?

CP: Of course time is money, but I think it shouldn’t be, and we should fight that it is only money. There are different sorts of time. There’s a time, which might be valued in money, but there’s a time, time for relationships, time for love, time for pleasure in a way, which shouldn’t be valued in money, which shouldn’t be valued at all, just enjoyed.