A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
And now words about the new photos on top of this site, www.filmkommentaren.dk. I have mentioned the three by their last name. I could also have chosen to name them by first names: Alisa, Niels, Eva. That’s how I address…
There is a short text at the beginning of the film bringing us to the location: “… a network of rural communities (that) provides shelter to individuals struggling with addiction and mental health issues”. A former abuser is running the…
I took this from the website of the producer Onassis Culture to have a precise content description of the film: Filmmaker Eva Stefani follows the preparations behind Transverse Orientation and its tour across theatrical stages in Europe, observing from a close distance Dimitris…
At numerous workshops in Eastern Europe I have told filmmakers from that part of the world that to call all characters or protagonists “heroes” is not a good idea – as in English they are people, who have done something…
Take a look at the photo/still from the film from Bucha, the city that experienced, what has been called a massacre, where Russian crimes against humanity took place in February 2022. Documented it is by several sources. Including the Office…
The 22nd Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival has announced its winners. However, Docudays UA does not end there: the winning films can be watched during the screening day 13 June. Some recordings of the festival discussions will…
How to pitch your upcoming documentary here and now? And how to successfully promote it once it’s completed? On June 11 and 12, the DOCU/PRO platform will host events that will help industry-accredited participants explore the tools of development, effective pitching,…
Look at the photo… A douce painting by Edgar Degas, for me the first true documentarian? No, an edited still from a Danish documentary – coproduced with a Spanish company – directed by Robin Petré and with Ecuadorian cameraperson María…
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge“, one of many quotes from Albert Einstein that I was thinking of while watching this well made originally thought documentary from Ukraine. Take a…
Thanks to Filmin I could watch some more documentaries that were shown at DocsBarcelona from a soft armchair in a town at Costa Brava. After the festival. All good, some better than the other of course, some more artistic, some…
Gosh, what a film, what a woman, a sad comedy, but also a documentary with a message… Let me give you the precise logline from the website of the director’s company: “Carmen’s life has always been a Quixotesque comedy. Living…
Tomorrow will be the final day of a training week in Baku in Azerbaijan arranged by The Azerbaijan Union of Film-makers (AUF). With filmmaker Afaq Yusifli as the workshop leader, taking care of everything, the perfect organizer behind this project…
“Turning pain into happiness” is a key sentence in the film that deals with a Gaza, before it was totally destroyed after October 7 2023 and the consequent events. The pain of the director Areeb, Palestinian living in the US,…
Wolski pitched “The Big Chief” in Sarajevo last August. During a workshop at ZagrebDox he told me that the film was to have its premiere at Visions du Réel in Nyon. It had, the other day. He sent me a…
Barcelona, April 8, 2025 · The Barcelona International Documentary Film Festival DocsBarcelona will hold its twenty-eighth edition from May 8 to 18 at the CCCB, the Renoir and Phenomena cinemas, and the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the festival’s regular venues, in addition to Casa Montjuïc and Espai Texas.…
I was invited to the premiere by Marie (Schmidt-Olesen), who with her company Northern Soul produced first time long documentary of Camilla Arlien, who has graduated from the film school in Copenhagen. I could not attend and later on in…
6.4.2025. The Big Stamp went to Mr. Nobody Against Putin by David Borenstein and Pasha Talankin in International Competition and My Dad’s Lessons by Dalija Dozet in Regional Competition. The Little Stamp for best short film went to Arshia Shakiba…
Best International Film:Mr. Nobody against Putin (Denmark, Czech Republic) (PHOTO)Directed by David Borenstein, Pasha TalankinProduced by made in copenhagenCoproduced by PINK in association with BBC Storyville, DR, ZDF/ARTESupported by the Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, FilmFyn, Fritt…
Second time I saw this film. Same reaction. Emotional reaction. A mother decides to go to war to fight for her country. And first and foremost for the future of her child with whom she video-communicates during the film and…
Foreword to the festival catalogue: With all the explosions, sirens howling, cries andfights pervading our small endangered planet, all Ican hear is – silence.The silence of intelligence, reason, dialogue and –humanity.The world is dominated by bullies, some new ‘gold’defines the…
I still have some films that I would like to watch from the CPH:DOX festival program but I will catch up with some of them. I was in the position that I had seen all films in the main program,…
The juries have deliberated and the winners of the international competitions at CPH:DOX 2025 have been announced this evening at the festival’s Award Show at Kunsthal Charlottenborg. The international competition lineup included a total of 71 films in competition, in…
Brilliant film, full of life, observing and arranging, lots of music, the end credits invite you to dance, young people, well read the intro from the catalogue to know where we are in the world: “There is a lot of…
Eleanor Mortimer’s debut feature might be the most inspiring science doc of the year. Funny and serious, light and dark, poetic and informative. “Why we called it planet Earth when more than 70% of its surface is water?” says Mortimer’s…
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…
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”…
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…
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…
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…
More than 200 new films representing different stories from across the globe: a record number of 94 world premieres, 23 international premieres and 8 European premieres are featured in this year’s festival. The 22nd edition of CPH:DOX comes at a…
In a previous post I listed the five nominated documentaries for the Latvian awards: Beigas (The End), rež. Māris Maskalāns, prod. VFS Films (Latvija) Esi uzticīgs līdz nāvei (Be Faithful Until Death) , rež. Ivars Zviedris, prod. Dokumentālists (Latvija) (PHOTO)…
I got the following press release today from the international press contact: claudiatomassini+associates, Claudia Tomassini claudia@claudiatomassini.com Lanzmann’s ‘Shoah’: New trailer and poster ahead of Special Tribute at Berlinale Ahead of its screening in official selection (Berlinale Special) at the 75th Berlinale,…
“Trains” got the first prize at IDFA 2024. I got a screener from Lithuanian co-producer of the film Rasa Miskinyte, Era Film. I know of Drygas from the Balticum Film&TV Festival on Bornholm. Two of his films were shown there,…
It’s a tradition that I advertise the approaching deadline for project submission to dok.incubator. Simply because the workshop has proved to be of great help for filmmakers from all over the world. To be sure of the project quality also…
Being a fan of Latvian cinema, especially the documentary one, I have noticed the nominations that have been done for the yearly award ceremony, Lielais Kristaps, that will take place in February. Many films and filmmakers are nominated in several…
The never ending discussion of what is a documentary… Do you remember the story about the good old direct cinema icons (Leacock, Maysles, Drew, Pennebaker…) were sitting together on the first row at a festival, where Werner Herzog “attacked” them…
When I was young and so much younger than today… I spent hours with the Beatles during these holidays. It was great nostalgia, fun, thought provoking, opening for sweet memories from when I was a lad and joined Ove from…
Take a look at the poster photo: A young woman kissing a tree with a bouquet of crocheted flowers. One of the themes of the fine film made by Italian director Francesca Scalisi. Valentina is her name, she lives with…
In “Spoon” (2019) and “Homes” (2021) Latvian director Laila Pakalniņa worked with cinematographer Gints Bērziņš, a collaboration that continued with “Termini”, that is as the previous films formally interesting due very much to the work of Bērziņš following the ideas…
The public pitch of the 6 selected projects of the 9th Verzió DocLab workshop and pitch platform! Verzió DocLab is the only workshop and pitch platform dedicated to nurturing new voices in Hungarian documentary filmmaking and supporting filmmakers of the region and…
Copy Paste of the press release tonight from the festival: “La Jetée, the Fifth Shot” by Dominique Cabrera Triumphs with the Golden Dove at DOK Lepzig’s International Competition Documentary Film Long animated film “Pelikan Blue” receives Golden Dove | Long…
Strong move from Jihlava FF, copy paste from press release of today. Personal note – all three are for me important directors, who have in previous films shown their talent. And here comes what is to be expected: 110,000 EUR…
I had big expectations after Olha Zhurba’s first long documentary “Outside” – – and I was not disappointed. “Songs of Slow Burning Earth” is a film that will stay in Ukrainian documentary history. And internationally as a film that…
Sometimes with the announcement of films for main documentary competitions you do not know the films or those who have made them as the festivals in some categories go for premieres, world or international. This is the case for IDFA…
IDFF stands for International Documentary Film Festival, number 28 it is, high quality always. A quote from the email I received yesterday from the festival: “We are thrilled to announce titles, which have been selected to the Opus Bonum and First Lights International Competitions…
“We all think we know what light is. But if we take a closer look, we realise that we don’t,” the film “Tracing Light” tells us. DOK Leipzig will open at the CineStar in Leipzig on 28 October with the…
The 21st Verzió program has been curated by a new programming team. Running from November 6-13, it offers both award-winning films and hidden gems. This year, Verzió will dedicate special sections to the themes of decolonization and disinformation, and will…
by Sissel Morell Dargis, 94 min, Denmark, Spain, 2024. Synopsis:In the heart of Brazil’s favelas a secret society of hot air balloon-makers risk arrest to create and fly their illegal masterpieces, painting the sky with colour. Condemned by the authorities…
This was the 21st edition of the classic Nordic meeting for documentary directors and producers held parallelly to the Nordisk Panorama festival here in Malmö, where it has had its home for years after – as in the beginning –…