‘Cameraperson’ Director Kirsten Johnson, ‘Four Daughters’’ Kaouther Ben Hania to Attend Cannes Doc Day (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Lise Pedersen Cannes Docs, the Marché du Film sidebar dedicated to documentary film, has unveiled the line-up of its Doc Day, which unspools on May 23, as the final event in at Cannes Docs.

Veteran U.S. cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, president of Cannes Festival’s Œil d’or Jury which hands out an award to the best doc in Cannes’ Official Selection, will open the morning session in a conversation with writer, director and producer Guetty Felin (“Ayiti Mon Amour,” “Closer to the Dream”).

Entitled “Cinema and the Pleasures of the Impossible,” it will explore the many ways filmmaking creates possibilities to search for the invisible, to bring life to the dead and to time travel in their lives. “It’s an exciting and side-stepping angle compared to usual industry talks,” explains the head of Cannes Docs Pierre-Alexis Chevit, “which we really like at Cannes Docs, because that is what we’re trying to do: Offer talks and conversations that are slightly out of the industry box.” In the same vein, the following discussion features an all-female panel made up of filmmakers Zeynep Güzel (“Impressions of A Summer,” “Come Rain or Shine”), Mina Keshavarz (“The Art of Living in Danger,” “Braving the Waves”) and Sahra Mani (“A Thousand Girls Like Me, “Bread and Roses”), who will come together to discuss their work, dreams, aspirations and hopes for the future. “Called ‘An Impenetrable Field of Optimism,’ this will be a precious and very intimate conversation that goes beyond the classic production filmmaking issues and dive into very personal challenges, especially for women filmmakers trying to work in dangerous countries like Afghanistan or Iran,” says Chevit.