Ecosystem of Czech Documentary Film Institutions. Patterns of Cooperation and Usage

The aim of this paper is to uncover the system of actors who have shaped the environment of Czech documentary film and its transformation over the last ten years. These are major institutions such as television, The Czech Film Fund, festivals and institutions dedicated to the education of film professionals. The ecological perspective gives insight into individual aspects as well as the overall system. From this perspective, different parallels with life, relationships and sustainability in nature are emerging, which are becoming a tool for analyzing relationships in the media world. The ecosystem study of documentary film institutions relies on research into the environment through individual actors that are active in the system, are involved in a network of collaborative and exploitation relationships, provide direct insight into the environment and can determine its specificities and capture transformations (directors, producers, television or educational platforms). Through the method of oral history, we examined the relationship of respondents to individual institutions, whether and how they perceive them, how they (together) communicate, what constitutes their experience with them, and how it develops and changes, what are the reasons and tools of change. The picture of the environment of documentary film was constructed from interviews with actors and an analysis of a system of mutual relations.

Keywords: documentary cinema, institutions, media ecology, Czech Television, The Czech Film Fund, film festivals