Emanuel Rotstein from ICON DOCS: The Fascination for truth

Emanuel, you've been Head of Documentaries at Bavaria Fiction since 2022, which now has its own brand with ICON DOCS. What makes the job appealing to you?

Emanuel Rotstein: Building up a new business area within an established production company with documentaries. Because everyone in the industry knows Bavaria, it's a door opener. The challenge now is to combine the stability and wealth of experience of the company with the workflows of non-fictional storytelling.

And is that working so far? Which of your personal experiences have you been able to contribute?

Emanuel: This works very well, as two horizons of experience come together. After eleven years at the History Channel, the American style of storytelling, which focuses on human destinies and aims to touch people emotionally, is very close to me. When I built up the in-house productions there, my focus was on local stories with regional relevance, in order to then turn them into stories that work globally. I came to Bavaria with this aspiration: I want to tell stories from Munich that move people beyond the borders of Germany. Stories with social relevance that explain the background to a complex world, shed light on grievances and impart in-depth historical, scientific or cultural knowledge.

Major themes such as freedom and justice appeal to viewers

At Doku-Unit, you can now look back on a relatively short period of time since the end of March 2022. What processes have you been able to initiate in this time?

Emanuel: We have already finalized two major projects. One is our true crime documentary “The Parking Garage Murder – Who Killed Charlotte Böhringer?” for Sky, which tells the story of Benedikt Toth. Benedikt Toth is the nephew of Charlotte Böhringer, the millionaire owner of the Isar parking garage in Munich, who was brutally murdered in 2006. Although the clues, motives and evidence were controversial, Toth was sentenced to life imprisonment with particular gravity of guilt. He served 17 years in prison and was released early on parole in April last year. We accompanied him exclusively with our camera, tracing the life of this man on the one hand and taking a close look at a verdict that is still controversial today on the other.

And the second project?

Emanuel: For 3sat and ZDF, we were able to tell the story of a young man, Akiva Weingarten, who left his ultra-Orthodox background behind for the desire for freedom. And who is still fighting for his children today. Both are stories that deal with the central elements of being human: freedom, self-realization and questions of justice. These are the big themes that appeal to us, that make people think and inspire them and that add crucial aspects to the supposedly familiar.

Human abysses and success stories are good documentary material for ICON DOCS

Which materials are particularly suitable for becoming an ICON DOCS theme?

Emanuel: Large, iconographic subjects that are important to us as a society and also deal with the big questions of humanity: Who am I? Where do I come from? What defines me as a human being? It is the human abysses that are fascinating, as well as inspiring success stories that appeal to a large audience. They all show that we have more in common than divides us.

How do you see the current market situation in the documentary segment?

Emanuel: The market is currently consolidating. When streamers joined the market a few years ago, the non-fiction sector became extremely inflated. On the one hand, due to the sheer volume of productions that were commissioned, but also due to the budgets that were suddenly available on the market and provided by the streamers to inspire customers for exclusive and high-quality content. There was a gold-rush atmosphere. And many producers who didn't actually come from documentary storytelling began to play in this field. Now, in times of tight budgets, some are withdrawing from the market again. In my opinion, the classic documentary producers will remain in the medium term.

What role does AI play in your individual production steps?

Emanuel: I've been using AI for some time now, for example when transcribing interviews. Of course, it makes the workload easier. However, AI does not replace the human ear and brain, at least not in the way I know it. There is no question that it makes it easier to deal with texts. But stories are not created by artificial intelligence. Bringing together ideas, concepts and the big questions of humanity is up to us. The newly created lies – at least for now – in human hands.

The documentary genre on streaming services is booming because of our fascination with truth

The two major documentary film festivals Dok Leipzig and Dok.fest Munich have enjoyed growing popularity among visitors for years, and documentary films are also becoming increasingly popular in streaming. Where do you think the trend towards documentaries comes from?

Emanuel: Documentaries have always been interesting. But until now – before streamers entered the market and media libraries were launched – it was relegated to the fringes. Why are people interested in documentaries? Well, it's because of the fundamental fascination with truth.

Is the German market particularly documentary-savvy right now?

Emanuel: It is “documentary-savvy”. This is due to the strength of public television, which has promoted documentary formats from the very beginning. We have the great advantage that documentary storytelling is financed by license fees. Many formats do not have to conform to the strict laws of the market because they serve the educational mission. The big disadvantage of the German documentary film scene is that we produce in German. This is a limitation on the global market. Our colleagues from the UK, USA and Canada have it much easier.

You work as a producer, but have always made documentaries as a director. These include works such as “The Eleventh Day – The Survivors of Munich 1972”, “The Liberators” and most recently “Ultra-Orthodox – The Struggle of Rabbi Akiva”. Will you continue to work on your own material as part of your work at ICON DOCS?

Emanuel: Yes. On the one hand, I work on my own material and on the other hand, we acquire material that I am responsible for as a producer or showrunner. That's why I'm always on the lookout for partners who have a similar approach to storytelling so that we can realize these stories together.

What is particularly important to you in the style of your own films?

Emanuel: The signature is my relationship with the protagonists. It's a very close relationship based on mutual trust. I build up an extremely close relationship with my interviewees. People entrust me with their stories. I know what responsibility I have. It goes far beyond the movie.  

Your own historical material has already taken you to Munich and Dachau twice. What connects you to the region? And will you continue to deal with it on film?

Emanuel: When you grow up in Munich as a German Jew like me, there are two events that you can't avoid. One is the Holocaust and Munich's role in National Socialism, and the other is the 1972 Olympic Games. I dealt with both of these topics when I was growing up and then saw them as part of my professional work. And of course, as a Jew and as a German, I feel obliged to confront our history. There are two hearts beating in my chest. On the one hand, the Jewish heart, with which I stand on the side of the victims, but also the German heart, with which I, as a German citizen and democrat, have the responsibility to make history tangible and to make what I experienced understandable for future generations.

After the attack on Israel: video footage must be handled sensitively

What role do the events of October 7 play in your own work and will the events also occupy ICON DOCS?

Emanuel: We are currently working on a project called “Black Saturday – The Survivors of October 7”, which tells the story of October 7 and the Nova massacre from the perspective of ten young survivors. Their experiences were recorded shortly after the attack. It was the wish of these young people to have their experiences recorded as quickly as possible and as raw and unbiased as possible. We have these unique testimonials and we have the news and the video footage from the bunker where they were hiding. This is extraordinary, but requires a very careful, conscious and sensitive approach to the subject. We have not yet been awarded a broadcasting license, but we are in talks. We are planning to broadcast it on the first anniversary.

Apart from “Black Saturday”, what other projects are you working on in the near future?

Emanuel: We have two exciting projects that I'm very proud of. One tells the story of the producer and Hollywood agent Paul Kohner, who was approached by many German-speaking artists to help them into exile. Our second major theme tells the story of the Wackersdorf anti-nuclear festival, where in 1986, shortly after the Chernobyl accident, the largest German music festival of the time took place, which was also known as the German Woodstock.

What role does Bavaria play for you as a company as a production location?

Emanuel: Munich, with its central location in Europe and a very well-equipped production landscape, offers everything that producers need. There is a great deal of expertise in the technical, creative and manufacturing sectors. The political framework is noticeably favorable to both non-fictional and fictional storytelling. The training opportunities are also excellent thanks to HFF, BAF, SAE and other private companies. And with ProSiebenSat.1, Disney+, Amazon and Sky, important clients are represented in the location.