Alisa Kovalenko: My Dear Théo

I will write about this film again and again. Here just some few notes. The film will travel to all festivals and it will win awards. Happy that it simply has been made. It was not the idea, Alisa told the audience at CPH:DOX. It was her friend and colleague Marina Stepanska, who said that “there is a film” in the material – your letters to your son, the video clips, what you have shot… She told the audience that there was only 20 hours of material making a tribute to the editor, Polish Kasia Boniecka, “she is a magician”.

The tone of the film. Beautiful, balanced, Alisa´s voice, the voice of Théo in the face time clips, her colleagues at the front, the constant sound of bombing, I had to shake my head after the screening to get it away, the decision not to include any battle scenes, Alisa did not shoot any, everything is so well thought and she survived (!) contrary to many of her colleagues, we see them at the end credits with the sad information that they did not make it. And we see – like in the film of Olha Zhurba – a long sequence, where cars on the road pass people kneeling to pay respect. It gives me tears in the eyes every time I see it.

Alisa and Théo, Mother and Son. A love story. A hope for the future?!

Nicolas Philibert: The Typewriter and Other Headaches

Of course there is a film by Nicolas Philibert at CPH:DOX. And of course it is placed in the category “Highlights”. This time the third of the triptych that started with “On The Adamant” followed by “Averos & Rosy Parks” with protagonists, who have a relationship to the Adamant, the great psychiatric place on the Seine. In this film a couple working for Adamant pays visits to some of the patients, who have problems with things. The poet and his typewriter, the woman and her cd that does not function – and she wants to hear Janis Joplin! – the piano player and his friend with printer-problems and the painter, who lives in a one room flat. The caregivers talk so well with the hosts, solve their problems and create an atmosphere that is warm. Because of the man behind the camera, who always has respect and understanding for the people he films. You sense that and you sense that the protagonists trust him.

”Constantly looking for beauty… my work consists of creating the conditions for something to happen, he said once, this great filmmaker, who masters the art of listening to the other. I am a documentarian and not a fiction filmmaker, I do not want people to play roles. Maybe I ask them to repeat something or ask if I can be present on a special occasion but they are themselves.”

There is not so much more to say about this – one more – masterpiece of Nicolas Philibert. The last of the five in the film, the painter, showed the visiting woman paintings from sunshined buildings in rue Saint-Antoine in Paris and of Jim Morrison and his Pamela – he goes to rest on his couch in the corner of the room and you expect Doors-music. No a LP is set to play with birds singing. The sun was shining when we left the cinema. Merci beaucoup!

France, 2024, 72 mins.

Viktor Nordenskiöld: The Eukrainian

Olha Stefanishyna er “The EUkrainian” med formentlig akkurat så mange rejsedage som Jens Stoltenberg havde på sit sidste år som NATO’s generalsekretær i flg. festivalens åbningsfilm “Facing War”. Svenske Nordenskjiöld har været tæt på hende, hun er diplomat, men holder sig ikke tilbage, når Ukraines sag skal tales på de store adresser i EUropa. Jeg må ikke anmelde filmen før premieren den 24. marts så dette er en anbefaling, hvor jeg har valgt at give ordet til filmens instruktør, en tekst taget fra pressematerialet:

”I disse dage virker det relevant at spørge: Hvordan ville verden være, hvis flere kvinder ledede verdens stormagter?

Efter at have filmet Olha Stefanishyna i to år, fangede jeg et intimt øjeblik af hende. Hun kigger ind i kameraet og taler direkte til sine børn og siger, at hun ønsker, at de kan “leve det liv, de vil”. De fleste forældre kan nok relatere til dette. Men det faktum, at hun er vicepremierminister i et land i krig, et land der er blevet invaderet, gør ønsket skræmmende alvorligt.

Hvad kræver det, for at ukrainere kan leve det liv, de ønsker? Hvad kræver det for nogen at leve det liv, de ønsker, i en verden, hvor autoritære regimer vinder magt?

Da jeg først mødte Olha Stefanishyna ved et EU-møde i Prag i juni 2022, vidste jeg med det samme, at hun var én, der kunne personificere og gøre den komplicerede og komplekse historie levende. Hvis man vil tale om Europas fremtid og demokratiets fremtid, skal man bruge en følelsesladet, skarp, jordnær og fascinerende person...

Det er 30 år siden, jeg for første gang tog til Ukraine. I løbet af det sidste årti, har jeg lavet mange workshops i Kyiv og Odessa. Mange af de folk, jeg har mødt, er blevet fantastiske filmskabere. Nu har nogle af dem været nødt til at opgive deres kameraer for våben. Når Ruslands fuldskalainvasion begynder, har man i Ukraine ikke noget valg, hvis man vil bevare muligheden for at vælge. Det er hjerteskærende på så mange måder.

Selvom jeg har tilbragt mange måneder i Kyiv efter fuldskalainvasionen – og hørt Ukraines soundtrack, luftalarmerne mange gange – er jeg blot en besøgende. Mit job har været at rejse mellem Kyiv og andre europæiske hovedstæder, at forstå det diplomatiske bånd, at undersøge den politiske koreografi, og gennem en hovedkarakter lave en overbevisende film, en “politisk thriller”, som jeg håber vil blive i folks hjerter og inspirere til kritisk tænkning.

Hvad lærer Ukraine os? Tror vi stadig på, at demokrati og de værdier, som EU-familien blev grundlagt på, er værd at kæmpe for? Jeg håber, at nogle seere vil reflektere over disse spørgsmål, og også over hvilke ledere de ønsker for fremtiden.”

Producers: MALCOLM DIXELIUS, Sweden, OLHA BESKHMELNYTSINA, Ukraine, CHRISTIAN POPP, France, SERGIO GHIZZARDI, Belgium.

2025, 90 mins.

Christian Sønderby Jepsen: Faderen, Sønnerne og Helligånden

Jeg vender tilbage til min afdøde kollega Allan Bergs tekst om “Testamentet”, som han skrev I 2013. Her er i citat det meste af det smukt formulerede oplæg til en visning af filmen I Randers.

”Der er Andreas, Christian og mig, Henrik og min far og min mor og min hustru. Alle drikker.” Det siger fortælleren. Det er altså personerne, og han er en af dem, hovedpersonen, første person, ental, og jeg er inde i et familiedrama, i gang med at lytte til og iagttage en sørgelig historie, og det er disse mennesker, jeg skal være sammen med en film lang. Jeg har problemer med at holde mig fast, for jeg kan ikke holde med, ikke identificere mig, ikke forelske mig, jeg kan ikke holde det ud. Jeg stødes fra, hvor jeg skulle trækkes ind og opsluges. Og jeg kan ikke bare afvise filmen, jeg får mistanke til mig selv, til mine evner til at udfylde min rolle, min opgave. Den at være publikum, som her viser sig som et ansvar. Først og fremmest gæstens ansvar, jeg skal være høflig og forstående og accepterende, jeg er i et fremmed land, hos et besynderligt folk, som opfører sig særegent, som taler et anderledes sprog. Men jeg er anfægtet og jeg kommer i tvivl. Jeg holder filmen ude fra mig, undrende.

Jeg er ikke optaget af hovedpersonens projekt, jeg er ikke optaget af instruktørens projekt. Jeg kan ikke lide nogen, fascineres ikke af nogen. Jeg oplever mig selv som ufrivillig kigger, vil genert vende ansigtet væk, se ned i gulvet. Men jeg krummer ikke tæer, dette er fremragende film, det er autentisk, det er ægte. Sådan er det for mig nogle minutter inde i filmen, efter begravelsen, efter mødet med faren, det ubehagelige menneske, efter mødet med broren, denne mærkeligt uinteressante stakkel.

Det gamle ord anfægtelse falder mig ind, jeg er jo altså ikke rørt, bevæget, imponeret, overbevist, jeg er anfægtet af filmen, den bestrider det, som er mig, går imod min kultur, er hævet over min smag, indifferent over for min dannelse. Jeg mærker, tæppet skride under mine fødder. Filmen anfægter mig.

Måske har jeg det med Sønderby Jepsens film, som Henrik har det med morfarens testamente. Han anfægter det, bestrider det…”.

Jeg har det med “Faderen, Sønnerne og Helligånden” som Allan havde det med “Testamentet”. Jeg er i et et fremmed land og jeg kan ikke umiddelbart holde af de medvirkende. Ikke umiddelbart men jo længere jeg er med dem, jo flere nuancer Sønderby Jepsen giver sine karakterer, jo mere jeg forstår jeg de problemer, de har og har haft, brødrene og deres familier. Faren der ikke vil vide af dem, moren som døde alt for tidligt, misbruget, de kan ikke tage sig sammen, men kærligheden er der og jeg bliver så glad, når jeg ser Henrik komme i gang med arbejde og ende med at kaste sig over det fag, som han er uddannet i: elektriker. Derimod er det trist at se Christian falde for en serbisk militssoldats religiøse broderskab og hans racistiske holdninger: “Under krigen lagde vi bomber i moskeerne og så boom..” Danmark for danskere, siger Christian, det er du for klog til at mene, tænker jeg.

Aleksander er ét af Henriks børn. Han bliver student med topkarakter. Den første i familien med hue. Henrik er pavestolt og konen er tilsyneladende holdt op med at drikke. Christian er med til festen, jeg tror det er hans søn han taler kærligt med. Der er måske håb forude.

Med Allans ord: dette er fremragende film, det er autentisk, det er ægte.

Albert Serra: Afternoons of Solitude

It’s looking at you, the bull. From the big screen in the cinema Grand in Copenhagen. Together with an almost full hall on a Wednesday afternoon, the first day of CPH:DOX 2025, I booked a ticket for Catalan Albert Serra’s first non-fiction film. Admired for his fiction films, considered a true auteur, he had a masterclass last year at DocsBarcelona, that I missed but I understood that he and editor Artur Tort told that they had spent 9 months of editing the two hour long bullfighting documentary! And that Serra said that it would have been impossible to find an actor for the role of torero. That’s why he decided to leave fiction for this film. He found Andrés Roca Rey, see photo.

You also hear the breathing of the bull. It’s ready for the fight that in most cases ends with its death. And in some cases with blood on the torero, again see photo of Roca, as they call him, in a hotel room undressing after a fight assisted by what you could call his butler. The same man is the one who – in a precious scene – dresses Roca starting with feminine underwear and pink socks before the heavy colorful outfit is settled on the body of the young man.

A fight yes, but also a show, that Serra has his focus on. No spectators are seen, but they are heard, we see Roca in the arena alone with the bull with his red cloth, moving, inviting the bull to attack, the sound is strong, Roca communicates with the bull, he gets advice from his team and praise, all is hearable and even more so when they are back in the car, the sole other location, “you’ve got balls”, “you are the best”, simple dialogues in this world of men.

It’s all about the image. I don’t remember having seen so poignant closeups of a bull suffering; with blood all over it keeps the attack until Roca delivers the death blow with his sword after the bull has received lances in its body. Serra comes back with detail after detail of Roca, bull after bull, taking dancing steps with inviting sounds toward the animal and a face that changes expression depending on how close we are to the final sword thrust. In some sequences Roca performs as a kind of Shakespearean character supported by strong music, classical.

I would never enter a bullfighting arena, it’s disgusting animal cruelty what is going on there to entertain us – Serra is not telling us what to think about this cultural phenomenon – up yo you, but I was caught by the drama as it was magnificently conveyed on the screen by a filmmaker, who knows his métier. One man in the arena.

Spain, France, Portugal, 2024, 125 mins.

David Borenstein: Mr. Nobody Against Putin

This is not a review. The film is already known and has been shown in Denmark and came home from Sundance with an award. Adrian Horton wrote this (a quote) in Guardian to refresh your memory and for all those who are to watch the film during the festival:

…Any formal quibbles I had while viewing – and there were few – were easily overridden by fascination and gratitude, so infrequently is an unvarnished, honest, personal portrait of Russian daily life available to a western audience, especially since the invasion. To wit, this film was only possible because of a documentary team outside of the country, and the fact that Talankin, at great personal cost, decided to leave Russia for an undisclosed destination, an outcome the film touches on just briefly at its bookends. Mr Nobody Against Putin ultimately stands as both an act of service and a tribute – to a school that once was, to students whose lives were and will be irrevocably changed for the worse by the regime, to a once fruitful job. Talankin has produced a must-watch, indelible document of ideological warfare that echoes far beyond Russia. How’s that for a nobody?…

Tommy Gulliksen: Facing War

Unique access to film is what is written in the festival press about the opening film of CPH:DOX 2025. Unique access to former General Secretary of NATO Jens Stoltenberg during his last year in that position. And this is what Gulliksen had to his compatriot, access. Example: Oh… I had forgotten that you would be here, Stoltenberg says a couple of times, when he enters the car waiting for him, to take him to the next meeting. Gulliksen is there with the camera and questions.

Actually, Stoltenberg entering cars and getting out of cars are the most used scenes in the film about the very sympathetic Norwegian diplomat, who wanted to end his Brussels career to come home to wife and family, but President Biden convinced him to take one more year of hard work.

Stoltenberg, a warmhearted man, goes to Kyiv, meets Zelenskyj – great scenes in the train(s) trips to Ukraine – good scenes with his advisors in the office in Brussels – Stoltenberg having breakfast quite alone in his NATO salon – Stoltenberg trying to make the Hungarian troublemaker, Putin-lover Orban, refrain from making trouble at one of big NATO meetings, where Stoltenberg aims for a unity FOR Ukraine.

The meetings and the themes discussed at them are well known and the film structure is a classic cinéma vérité style, it’s a well known built visual monument of a great statesman, a diplomat indeed, but how close do we really get to him – yes, once, with archive from the emotional and intelligent speech Stoltenberg made in 2011 to commemorate the victims of Utøya. Now he is Minister of Finances in Norway… Does that give him more of the rest, he deserves after NATO and the eternal traveling…

Norway, Belgium, 2025, 100 mins.

DOX:DANMARK

Jeg har sakset lidt i en pressemeddelelse fra cph:dox for at fremhæve festivalens landsdækkende success, hvor mere and halvdelen af Danmarks kommuner er med i festivalen. Sådan skal det være skriver denne tidligere ansatte ved Statens Filmcentral, som netop var landsdækkende i sin virksomhed med filmvisninger i skoler, kulturhuse, biblioteker og biografer, en gang imellem. Nu er dokumentargenrens popularitet and festivalens suveræne sans for promotion baggrunden for at film, som vi københavnere kan se på det store lærred også er at finde landsdækkende. Det er filmpolitik, det er kulturpolitik og det manglede bare! Her er klip fra pressemeddelelsen:

Vild vækstkurve: DOX:DANMARK – den landsdækkende udgave af dokumentarfilmfestivalen CPH:DOX – har på få år femdoblet sin størrelse og når i 2025 ud til rekordmange danskere.

I år er der synkront med festivalen i København lokale dokumentarfilmfestivaler i mere end halvdelen af Danmarks kommuner, der vil give biografgæster over hele landet mulighed for at opleve dokumentarfilm om alt fra Putin og Netanyahu over Cirkeline og Prins Joachim.

CPH:DOX og DOX:DANMARK foregår fra den 19.-30. marts

Stor interesse på tværs af hele landet

På blot tre et halvt år er CPH:DOX’ nationale udgave DOX:DANMARK vokset til mere end femdobbelt størrelse. Tilbage i efteråret 2021, hvor festivalen søsatte initiativet, deltog 9 kommuner – i år er antallet steget til intet mindre end 54. Dermed er mere end halvdelen af landets 98 kommuner en del af dokumentarfilmfestivalen, som også er en af de største på verdensplan, og som hvert år præsenterer både dokumentarfilm, talks, debatter, kunst og en bred vifte af andre events. 

”En filmfestival som CPH:DOX skal være for alle danskere, uanset hvor de bor. Derfor er vi virkelig stolte over, at så mange kommuner nu bakker op om DOX:DANMARK og giver deres borgere mulighed for at deltage i deres egen, lokale filmfestival. Det vidner om, at der er stor interesse for dokumentarfilmgenren, og for alle de vigtige samtaler, der følger med,” lyder det fra Niklas Engstrøm, der er kunstnerisk direktør i CPH:DOX.

Fra Putin til Prins Joachim

Uanset hvor i landet man bor, er der god chance for, at man i en af nærområdets biografer kan opleve dokumentarfilm og forskellige dokumentarrelaterede events under DOX:DANMARK. Faktisk er det over 100 forskellige biografer og kulturinstitutioner, fordelt i de 54 kommuner, der inviterer deres lokale publikum indenfor. Biograferne vælger selv, hvilke film de vil vise ud fra en liste på mere end 20 film fra årets festivalprogram.

En af de dokumentarfilm, som mange biografer i DOX:DANMARK gerne vil vise, er Mr. Nobody mod Putin (foto) hvor vi følger en modig skolelærer, der i al hemmelighed filmer, hvad der sker i det russiske skolesystem i kølvandet på Putins invasion af Ukraine. Men mange biografer i DOX:DANMARK er naturligvis også interesseret i film fra egen hjemmebane. Flere steder vil man således kunne opleve dokumentarfilmen Hærvejen, hvor Prins Joachim og forfatter Steffen Jacobsen begiver sig ud på den danske vandresti, mens de taler, reflekterer og diskuterer om stort og småt.  

Danmarks dokumentarglade biografgængere kan også se frem til blandt andet Facing War om Jens Stoltenberg, Kærestebreve fra Thy om det danske band Ganger, Take The Money and Run om Jens Haanings bemærkelsesværdige kunstværk, der endte i en stor retssag – og rigtig mange andre. 

Meget mere end dokumentarfilm

Men CPH:DOX nøjes ikke bare med at vise film. Ud af de mere end 300 visninger arrangerer festivalen også omtrent 150 skræddersyede events efter visningerne, hvilket kan være alt fra instruktør-besøg til brætspilsaftener, rock- og jazzkoncerter,  og ekspertoplæg – blandt andet med kendte navne som den tidligere danske toppolitiker og nu direktør i Tænketanken Europa Lykke Friis, kunstner Jens Haaning, tidligere fodboldspiller Jonathan Richter, forfatter og Rusland-kender Leif Davidsen, musiker Karen Mukupa, livsstilsekspert Flemming Møldrup og ikke mindst hele Danmarks yndlings-ægtefælle fra ‘Gift ved første blik’, Morten Mortensen. 

Der skal også være plads til de skæve events, såsom en lokal rengøringsdame der læser sine digte op inden visning af Kærestebreve fra Thy, hekseritualer i forbindelse med filmen Heks, og en lokal danseskole der laver K-pop dans i forbindelse med visningen af dokumentarfilmen Forever We Are Young om K-pop-gruppen BTS – og rigtig meget mere. 

Alt sammen arrangeres i tæt samarbejde med de lokale kulturaktører, og de individuelle programmer vil fremgå af biografernes egne hjemmesider og på cphdox.dk/doxdanmark 

Honorary Golden Alexander to Nicolas Philibert!
Multi-award winning director Nicolas Philibert, one of the most important documentary filmmakers of our times and the 27th TIDF’s guest, received the Festival’s honorary Golden Alexander on Friday, March 7th, at Olympion theater, prior to the screening of the film On the Adamant (2023), Golden Bear winner at the Berlinale. The award was bestowed to the exceptional French filmmaker by the Festival’s General Director, Elise Jalladeau, and the Head of Programming, Yorgos Krassakopoulos, who welcomed the audience. 

“Tonight, it is an honor to bestow the Golden Alexander to one of the most significant documentary filmmakers of our time, Nicolas Philibert. A creator whose primary attributes include patience, sensitivity, and profound commitment to capturing the complexity and beauty of everyday life with precision, respect, and humanitarianism. Nicolas Philibert has been with us before, and through the years, we had the pleasure to showcase nearly his entire body of work. From the emblematic To Be and to Have, which was a turning point for the contemporary documentary genre, to On the Adamant, a film in which he tenderly documented a mental health care facility, and which is going to be screened this evening, his work defined the way we perceive the art of documentary,” they stated.

Nicolas Philibert warmly thanked the Festival for the invitation: “thank you from the bottom of my heart, all this is truly wonderful. For me, it is very important that I am able to share this award with Linda, my partner and companion throughout this whole journey, the one who makes my work more radiant and illuminating. She has also accompanied me here, in Thessaloniki. I will place this beautiful gift you have bestowed upon me in its rightful place at home. More specifically, I will put it in a corridor that I pass by 20 to 30 times a day, which means I will think of you quite often. Okay, perhaps not 30 times a day, but most certainly a lot,” Nicolas Philibert initially said.

Subsequently, he narrated a fascinating story to the audience: “two years ago, Berlinale honored me with the Golden Bear award for On the Adamant, and the following day, I had issues in the security check at the airport. The Golden Bear was packed away in my suitcase, and naturally, when I went to pass by the machine, it started beeping. The lady behind her computer asked me to open it. So, I take out the little figurine and the lady immediately calls her supervisor. The supervisor, in turn, summons his own supervisor, and the latter ends up calling the police. I swear to you that everything I’m telling you is true. Two huge German policemen arrive, wearing bulletproof vests, and they look at the little bear quite inquisitively. They also call their supervisor. He arrives, recognizes the object and shakes my hand, extending his congratulations”.

Photo from post of Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival.

Latvian Academy of Culture Masterclass

I was invited by Davis Simanis Jr. to come to Riga to teach documentary for a week at the new premises of the Academy of Culture, where Davis, a prominent fiction and documentary director, has signed a contract of four years to be the Rector of the Academy that (Wikipedia) is “a higher education establishment in Latvia offering various bachelor’s, magister and doctoral degree programmes on cultural subjects. The academy was founded in 1990.” The new place includes several buildings and is said to have been the factory of the cigarette company Prince… Danish.

Davis – see photo, to the right – took me and producer Uldis Cekulis (left) around and proudly we were on the rooftop, fifth floor, perfect for summer receptions.

I had 13 students for the five days, some were there all the time, others had to leave some times as they had work to do in the industry. I managed to have one hour meeting with all the them to know a bit more about them and to hear which project they are working on as part of their study – they have to finish a short documentary. The themes were many, portraits of course, a child with autism, a family, “do you want to have children or not”, death, city transport, immigrants doing Wolt or Bolt, jobs that Latvians don’t want to touch and the scout movement in the country during and after Soviet Union.

And I showed them clips and full films – started with “Bridges of Time” to tell the students about Herz Frank and Uldis Brauns, the intellectual filmmaker and the poetic filmmaker. They were already pretty much – from their Master’s Programme – informed about the Direct Cinema and Vérité, so I skipped the wonderful film that legendary Peter Wintonick made about the latter, with stars like Richard Leacock, Maysles and Pennebaker.

Historically Latvian documentary is strong. I mentioned Herz Frank and Uldis Brauns, I have written about Juris Podnieks and – still alive – the masters Ivars Seleckis, and Ivars Zviedris, and with producers like Guntis Trekteris and Uldis Cekulis, new talents will get their chance to develop projects. Not to forget, Latvia has its National Film Centre that functions well giving money for production and taking care of sending films to international festivals.

Thanks for the invitation Davis Simanis, hope the students got some inspiration.