“The Palio is shrouded in mystery and secrecy, and the players can't discuss their devious schemes.” Quote by Cosima Spender
“Paradoxically, in the field being a woman actually helps you: people often feel more comfortable talking to women, which is key in documentaries.” PeopleFeelsHelpingTalkingFieldsKeysComfortableDocumentariesBeing A Woman Author:Cosima Spender
“I would like people to feel that they've understood something more about Siena than the usual Palio as seen by tourists. It is full of beauty, romance and tradition, but also power, schemes and bribery. It's Italy in a nutshell, with all its incredible mixture of beauty and betrayal.” PeopleFeelsRomanceUnderstoodTraditionIncrediblesBetrayalUsualSchemesMixturesTouristsBribery Author:Cosima Spender
“If something I make succeeds, people say it was luck. But I don't just throw myself into the unknown. I research my subjects and listen constantly to what the characters have to say. Luck comes into it, but the story is made by them.” PeopleIfsMadeCharacterStoriesSubjectsSucceedResearchLuck Author:Cosima Spender
“Documentaries are unpredictable. You never know what will turn up, and the drama occurs in real time. But if you listen to people, a narrative always emerges.” PeopleIfsKnowsRealTurnsDramaNarrativeUnpredictableDocumentaries Author:Cosima Spender
“It was life under the Soviet system - we were struggling with every big problem. Publicly, my parents had to queue up to buy food, but were able to live secret lives in their private rooms. With the TV set in the living room, we were able to see Western pop culture -a different reality from what we were living. For me, it was like two different universes existed at the same time, and we got used to being in these parallel universes.” TwoDifferentProblemBigsRealityAbleUsedCultureUniverseParentRoomsSecretStruggleTvsWesternPopsSovietParallelsPop CultureLiving RoomBig ProblemsSecret LifeQueuesParallel UniverseDifferent RealitiesDifferent Universes Author:Jaak Kilmi
“The Soviet Union wasn't so closed - it wasn't North Korea. It was a practical system. People were creative and industrious, so if they wanted to see Western TV programs, they would invent a way to do so. It's strange in a way. There was an official truth, and there was daily life.” PeopleIfsWayWantedCreativeStrangeTvsProgramUnionsWesternPracticalsOfficialsDaily LifeSovietSoviet UnionKoreaNorth KoreaIndustrious Author:Jaak Kilmi
“In Northern Estonia, the Soviet authorities didn't have a recipe on how to fight against the popularity of Finnish TV. Audiences didn't want to watch hardcore Soviet propaganda.” WantFightingWatchesAudienceTvsAuthorityPropagandaSovietPopularityRecipesHardcoreFinnishEstoniaSoviet Propaganda Author:Jaak Kilmi
“In the mid-1980s, however, the Estonian TV programmers came up with a clever idea: they asked Moscow for millions of rubles to make propaganda in Estonia to fight the Finnish programs' popularity. They got millions from the government, but what they made was not propaganda at all! They simply made good, entertaining programs - no one in Estonia recognized them as propaganda, only Russia thought it was, so they got away with it. Of course, Russia provided their own propaganda programs, but Estonians knew to avoid them.” MadeIdeasGovernmentFightingCoursesMillionsTvsProgramRussiaCleverPropagandaEntertainingPopularityProgrammersMoscowFinnishEstoniaEstonians Author:Jaak Kilmi
“My childhood in the Soviet Union was not terrible, it was very joyful.” ChildhoodTerribleUnionsSovietJoyfulSoviet Union Author:Jaak Kilmi
“Life under the Soviet system was often funny, absurd really, especially for children.” ChildrenAbsurdSoviet Author:Jaak Kilmi