A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
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 –…
Lovely to have a correspondent who was at the celebration of legendary master of Latvian documentary Ivars Seleckis at his Birthday feast and the premiere of “To be Continued. Teenhood”. I wrote words to Ivars here In that text…
90 minutes at the Nordisk Panorama yesterday afternoon. With a great filmmaker, Swedish Göran Hugo Olsson, who together with Cecilia Lidin gave the audience an excellent introduction to his working method, and who characterised himself as a documentarian of existing…
Dear Ivars. Paldies for your extraordinary life-long documentary work and congratulations on this birthday! If anyone, you have introduced me to your country, its history and culture and its citizens, in all ages. Much appreciated that you with “To Be…
One of the most important European authors, one of the pioneers of modern documentary, Virpi Suutari creates a film in her own unique style, creating scenes in which we perceive reality as dreamlike and surreal. But this time she contrasts…
The film of one of the world’s most significant documentary filmmakers, Nicolas Philibert, screened at the Berlin Film Festival as a distinctive, masterfully made, auteur documentary. Nénette is a charming orangutan, an unusual and irresistible being. She is the oldest…
The Whanganui River in New Zealand is the first river in the world to be given the legal status of a person, a living and indivisible being. This happened in 2017 and confirmed the belief and philosophy of the Maoris…
Claudia Tosi shared her brilliant, engaging film “I Had a Dream” with the viewers of Magnificent Seven 2019, but at the same time she herself was inspired by the great Hedy Honigman’s film “Buddy”. So, from this festival she brought…
You only have your 20th birthday once and that is to be celebrated. Even on a Friday the 13th… The celebration of the 20th edition of the Magnificent7, the European Feature Documentary Film Festival, took place at the MTS Hall…
This text is written by the festival directors of the Magnificent7, Svetlana and Zoran Popovic. This is one of the films that deal with the burning issues of today. We are in the middle of a process of galloping disappearance…
A great work that was premiered at just ended festival in Sarajevo, where it had the honor to open the main competition programme for documentary films and where it was awarded with a special award for its exceptional values that…
This text is written by Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, the Magnificent7 festival directors. The film will be screened tonight at MTS in Belgrade. If you also want to read my review of the film, click here Brazil, favela labyrinths…
This text is written by Magnificent7 Festival founders and organizers Svetlana and Zoran Popovic introducing the opening film of the 20th edition of the festival: A masterfully created documentary that in one fell swoop won over audiences at festivals in…
I am in Riga for the Baltic Sea Docs. I am with Uldis Cekulis, who has been to Magnificent7 twice. As the producer of “Ramin” by Audrius Stonys and “Bridges of Time”, that Stonys directed together with Kristine Briede. I…
Projects explore family stories and various forms of resistance The 20th edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market welcomes 35 documentary projects from 30 countries that will have the opportunity to find international financing and co-production partners. This year sees a…
One afternoon – a tradition – I left the pitching venue at the Baltic Sea Docs to have a couple of hours with Davis Simanis Jr, documentary and fiction director, and now also rector of Latvian Academy of Culture. We…
You must have been at least 50 times to Riga, the driver next to me said. Uldis Cekulis is his name, a key person in Latvian documentary, producer and cameraman, a man who cannot sit still, always in action, and…
I take the opportunity to copy paste – again – a text from FilmNewEurope of yesterday, written by Alexander Gabelia about a Latvian director, whose documentary carreer I have been following for decades: Dāvis Sīmanis. here iot goes: RIGA: The…
28th Edition of Baltic Sea Docs set to showcase 26 film projects… The 28th edition of Baltic Sea Docs documentary pitching forum is set to take place in Riga, 1-8 September. This year, the forum will feature the presentation of…
The Baltic Way for me and for my whole generation, those who survived this event, will remain as a genetic code that is deeply and substantially engrained in the consciousness. As a believer, I see this event from a theological…
A copy-paste from FNE (FilmNewEurope) about a film that I have seen close to final cut thanks to the producer Guntis Trekteris, loved it: RIGA: Latvian director/writer Jānis Ābele is currently in postproduction with his documentary The Last Will, which…
As usual the Baltic Sea Forum launches a strong film program parallel to the Industry section with its development workshop and pitching. Let me mention the wonderful “Agent of Happiness” by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, reviewed on this site,…
A brief content description taken from the catalogue of the Sarajevo FF, where it was shown at the 16th Human Rights Day, a beautiful initiative this is: A quarter of the Bosnian city of Zenica is a giant steel plant.…
It was the 20th edition of this precious initiative developed at the Jihlava FF and co-hosted here in Sarajevo by the festival. Head of the festival in Czech Republic Marek Hovorka and Sarajevo Industry boss Masha Markovic led the presentation…
Early departure from Hotel Europe, the classic Sarajevo hotel with a fabulous outdoor terrasse, an indoor swimming pool, a huge breakfast assortiment, with the same elderly waiters I have met year after year, indeed my wife and I feel at…
In collaboration with various partners, the panels will cover a wide range of relevant topics, including best practices in managing intellectual property, co-productions, artificial intelligence, gaming, representation, and intimacy coordination. The 2024 CineLink Talks will revolve around three core themes:…
These days I receive many press releases from the Sarajevo FF. About films to be shown and about what is going to happen at the industry platform CineLink that as usual brings makers behind films-to-be together with potential funders. In…
… With a programme curated – as usual – by Rada Šešić, who picked 21 films for the programme. Nineteen films are competing for awards: 3 will have their world premieres, 5 their international premieres, 1 its European premiere, 8…
This debut film premiered at the Krakow FF and has been awarded at the Romanian Transilvania festivals. No doubt for me that it will receive more recognition at festivals this autumn. Because it is excellent told as a film and…
Apply for the Verzió DocLab international documentary workshop on story development and editing! The 9th Verzió DocLab is a 5-day intensive editing workshop for directors and editors, organised during the 21st Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Budapest…
Darya Bassel: “Documentary cinema speaks better to people about events happening right here and now” A conversation between the Ukrainian filmmaker and screenwriter Maryna Stepanska and Darya Bassel, the Director of the DOCU/PRO Industry Platform and film producer, about the…
MajorDocs 2024 focuses on cinematography with Nicolas Philibert as guest of honor Palma – With just three months to go before the start of its sixth edition, the MajorDocs festival is beginning to reveal some of the ingredients of its…
Written by Vladan Petkovic for Cineuropa, 18.6.2024 The winners of the new Georgian national Eliso Awards, established by London-based actress Natalia Jugheli through the Nato Vachnadze Foundation, named after her great-grandmother, a pioneering actress of Georgian cinema, were revealed on…
We are thrilled to announce the 26 selected projects for this year’s Baltic Sea Docs! As usual, we will meet in Riga where the forum will take place on 1-6 September (industry dates). 22 new projects, currently in development and…
All right, let’s have the synopsis (Scanorama Festival Kaunas 2023) first: ““The Mammoth Hunt” is a story about a film reel that for many years has been thought to be lost. On the reel, under conspiracy conditions, an abolished anti-Soviet…
The ‘Truth & Film’ symposium (June 22-23) will bring together leading international filmmakers from documentary, fiction, and visual arts at the National Film School of Denmark to engage in discussions about cinematic truthfulness, current global challenges, and the possibilities for…
This year, the Dragon of Dragons award will go to two outstanding creators: a legendary American director and an eminent Polish cinematographer. Godfrey Reggio’s films are a cultural phenomenon – visually captivating and pioneering essays that have left their mark…
At least some of them, films I have seen: Docs Award for the Best Film in the Docs&Pearls Official Selection: Laura Plancarte: Mexican Dream. The jury motivation goes like this: “For emerging as a generous and vibrant film, courageously delving…
Thanks to my membership of the European Film Academy I could watch this emotionally strong, storytelling-wise original film after a masterclass at DocsBarcelona yesterday arranged by the festival and DocIncubator, whose founder and director Andrea Prenghyova was in a fine…
“A book about Developing Character driven Documentary. Suggested by Mikael Opstrup”. I write /2 as I have praised the book, when it came out in November 2021, with a follow-up, second edition in January 2023 adding five new chapters to…
A good advice: If you have the time – go for a festival and stay there for the full period, it goes on. I had the luck – with my wife – to be for the 20th edition of ZagrebDox,…
Love that film. It’s beautiful shot, it has a modest and yet charismatic Amber as the main protagonist, who – with a colleague – is conducting – on behalf of the authorities – interview sessions to find out whether Bhutan…
The Barcelona International Documentary Film Festival DocsBarcelona presents the titles that will be part of its 27th edition, a showcase of the best of the world’s documentary production, which this year renews its structure and proposes a program to question colonialisms. On…
I have done some copy-pasting to give you words about the masterpiece that is Silence of Reason, watched tonight at ZagrebDox, having missed it at IDFA and Sarajevo FF: Foča is a municipality in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina where women…
Director: Luka Beradze Georgia. Countryside. A village with the name No Name. In 2012 Misha (Mikheil) Saakashvili came to the village to promise – part of his televised presidential campaign for re-election – the villagers new teeth and smiles (!)…