DV Director - Shooting Producer

Shooting Crisis in Care. Pt.2 The weight of pictures

Documentary On TV
Published on by Ismar Badžić

Note: This blog is about the first episode of Crisis in Care. It’s on BBC iPlayer now and will be available for 11 months. Intimate Access The word ‘access’ is an important one in the documentary lexicon. The difference between a pie-in-the sky idea for a film about, let’s say Facebook’s hate speech monitoring team and a pitch that will get commissioners excited is ‘access’. Organisation X allowing filmmakers Y in to film them. One of the special aspects of Crisis in Care was the ‘access’ granted by Somerset County Council – because council’s don’t tend to open their doors…Keep reading >>

Shooting Crisis in Care. Pt.1 A big opportunity

Documentary On TV
Published on by Ismar Badžić

Background I was the shooting assistant producer on two-part documentary Crisis in Care which goes out this evening. It’s by far the biggest thing I’ve ever filmed. I’m not an industry old-hat, I’m new to broadcast docs but was fortunate to be given a chance by an incredibly generous and supportive company. Just a few years ago I was struggling to make any headway in the industry despite years of slogging and shooting. I decided to do a masters course in documentary as one last try before I accepted I couldn’t make it in my dream job and did something…Keep reading >>

The Trial of Ratko Mladic on iPlayer Now

Documentary On TV
Published on by Ismar Badžić

Whatever I go on to do, I will always be grateful for the opportunity that Robert Miller and Henry Singer gave me on their mammoth project “The Trial of Ratko Mladic”. They took a punt on someone straight out of film school with no relevant broadcast credits and gave me a job. But they also went a step further – they asked my opinion on the film as it was being cut. And a step further than that – they listened to my opinion. And another step – they actually valued it. They didn’t have to do any of that…Keep reading >>

Deeper than Snow available to rent / buy on Vimeo

Documentary
Published on by Ismar Badžić

A few years ago I made a film about Jake Cornish, a snowboarder who survived an avalanche in Switzerland. At the time we decided to make it, there were some amazing snowboard films out there but they were all style over substance – big tricks instead of character and story. So we decided to make a very different snowboard film, one that focused on one man, his risks and his family – centrally, why a man a whisker from death chose to get back on his board and ride again. I made the film whilst in my second year at…Keep reading >>

The Trial of Ratko Mladic screens at IDFA

Documentary
Published on by Ismar Badžić

‘The Trial of Ratko Mladic’ screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam on 18th November 2018. The screening had a profound effect on me. The film was immensely powerful and it allowed me to reflect on what a key phase in my career, and my life, working on the film had been. Not only was it my first documentary job out of film school – working on the film gave me a chance to face the demons I carry each day, confronting the long shadow the Bosnian war has cast upon my life. Every day at work gave me…Keep reading >>

2 Grierson Awards for Rogan Productions

Awards Documentary
Published on by Ismar Badžić

Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation won 2 Grierson awards last night – Best Documentary Series and Best Historical Documentary. When I joined Rogan Productions in March, they were finishing the films off ahead of an April air date. Suffice it to say, the three films were tough to watch but sensitively and  intelligently crafted. The films made an instant impact – within days, one of the suspects was arrested and it was announced that 2019 would see the inaugural Stephen Lawrence day. Clearly, the police and the country as a whole have deep seated issues with racism which…Keep reading >>