A round table was held in Minsk during the Eurasia.DOC Festival. What media experts discussed

The round table “Conflicts and Contours of the Modern World” was held on October 1 during the X International Documentary Film Festival of the CIS countries “Eurasia.DOC”. At the meeting, experts discussed the acute social issues raised in the competition. Details - in the material of the correspondent of the agency "Minsk-Novosti".

The discussion was moderated by the Executive Director of the festival, Chairman of the Board of the Belarusian Union of Journalists Andrey Krivosheev.

The experts discussed professional ethics, the problem of censorship in the digital space and the impact of regional conflicts on public opinion.

In his opening remarks, A. Krivosheev noted that despite the acute social theme of the competition films, none of the works of the festival caused pessimism.

- The main topics that concern documentarians today are the confrontation between artificial intelligence and living empathy, the human approach to historical facts and deepfakes, as well as issues of geopolitics and the “epidemic” of social loneliness. The authors of the films offer their directorial, journalistic view on the solution of these problems or leave an ellipsis for historians, political scientists and opinion leaders so that they can reflect on what is happening and find a way out of current conflicts, the moderator commented.

In turn, Valery Shekhovtsov, Director of the Eurasia.DOC Festival, added that documentary filmmakers are able to capture the “nerve of time”, analyze reality through the prism of the past and predict the future. On the example of the ten-year history of the Eurasia.DOC Festival, the project director noted that the authors were able to predict many acute geopolitical processes: from the first wave of “color revolutions” to the purposeful fight against historical memory in the Baltic States, which was expressed in the demolition of monuments and the persecution of independent journalists.

During the conversation, the participants of the round table discussed in detail the phenomenon of “information fascism” associated with deliberate distortion of facts. They also stressed the need to create not only truthful, but also high-quality content that appeals to a modern audience.

For reference

The meeting was also attended by Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia Vladimir Solovyov, Director of Broadcasting Media Company of the Union State Roman Galperin, Head of the National Center for Historical Memory under the President of the Russian Federation Elena Malysheva, Russian TV journalist and columnist of the NTV channel Vladimir Chernyshev, political scientist and writer Vladimir Sergienko, journalist and creator-head of the media project “Time – Forward!” Evgeny Super and the head of the correspondent point of the media group “Russia Today” in Belarus Andrei Kachura.

Photo by Elizabeth Davidovskaya