A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
Zhanna, Lyosha and Maria. St. Petersburg 2013. Small apartment. Full of smoke from the cigarettes of Zhanna and Lyosha. Maria is the mother of Lyosha. She provides the two junkies with food – and love. She works, they do not…
Erich Lessing, born 1923, Austrian reportage and art photographer, associated to Magnum, famous for photos from Hungary 1956 and for photos of art in museums. And probably for much more – which is not the theme of this film that…
The other day I visited the National Gallery in London. I was there for three hours, generously being introduced to the fabulous collection by skilled art historians, who took me and others to watch and learn. We stood in front…
Normally, there is no reason to bring a photo of two men signing a contract but in this case I want to honour my dear friend and colleague Joan Gonzalez (right) for making one more of his many dreams come…
The 55th edition of the Firenze based documentary Festival dei Popoli is running now – until December 5. A rich programme and it’s all very professionally presented on the website. And I liked the welcoming words of the festival director,…
Denmark’s oldest film journal Kosmorama (first issue in 1954) presents a slate of articles (online and in English as well) that could interest the true film buffs among our readers. The articles are written by film historians and academics. The…
Got this press release from Andrea Pruchová from DocAlliance this morning – concerning an early super-generous xmas gift to all of us documentary fans: His films tend to attract general attention. While festival juries churn out awards, as seen in…
How should a jury work? Is there a recipe? No, of course not. Should a jury talk after each screening or… how to remember the films you have seen? The idfa jury 2014 for First-Appearance competititon did like this, an…
Here is the full press release from idfa – it came in late last night: The winners have just been announced in IDFA’s various competition programs in the Compagnietheater in Amsterdam at the awards ceremony of the 27th IDFA. Of…
I met her in Damascus during the DoxBox festival and later again in Cairo for a workshop, so I know how hard Nadine Sahib has been working to complete her film, that now (bravo!) is at idfa, in the First…
From November 30th till December 7th the DEFC (Documentary & Experimental Film Center) organizes the 8th edition of Cinema Vérité Iran International Documentary Film Festival. There have previously been appeals for boycott of this festival, that of course is supported…
The 22nd edition of Camerimage in Poland, a festival that has its focus on cinemetography ended on the 22nd of November. The festival includes documentaries in its award-giving and distributes life-achievement awards as well. One was given to a well-known,…
It’s never too late to review an important documentary. I had for years known about “Judgement in Hungary”, seen clips, some very rough cuts, always in doubt whether it would be possible to make a feature length documentary (primarily) located…
Festival director and film critic Amir Labaki is in Amsterdam for IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) and is interviewed for the fine Daily News of the festival – an online press service of the festival, in general to be…
This is how the ICP (International Center of Photography) introduces the exhibition: ”Genesis is the third long-term series on global issues by world-renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado (born Brazil, 1944), following Workers (1993) and Migrations (2000). The result of an eight-year…
I was there yesterday – on the bowery in New York. And of course remembered the 1956 docufiction classic by Lionel Rogosin. That carries the title “On the Bowery”. Back in the hotel I watched the trailer of the film,…
All members of EDN received this mail yesterday before the General Assembly to be held at the General Assembly at idfa in Amsterdam. The proposal will be presented by PeÅ Holmquist: Dear EDN member,In relation with the General Assembly of…
Idfa started yesterday, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the 27th edition, amazing it is in itself, and ” what differentiates IDFA from other European doc festivals is its appeal to public audiences and professionals alike”, a quote from realscreen…
This is by every standard a remarkable film – not because it tells us about the extensive surveillance of all but everybody, but because we get to meet an otherwise obscured person of such significance to today’s society and because…
Sundance Documentary Film Program director Tabitha Jackson talked at the DOC NYC, the documentary film festival that runs in new York right now, until the 20th of November. Jackson who used to work at Channel 4 in London, and was…
Around three weeks ago I had a pleasure attending Leipzig Networking Days, a much anticipated annual pitching event brought about by Documentary Campus in the framework of its development workshop Masterschool. It was my third time at the event and…
Hurry up, Breaking News: CPH:DOX has announced the list of films that will be available for free streaming in cooperation with Doc Alliance. Over the course of 48 hours, on 16 and 17 November, the following five films will be…
The main competition awards of this year’s cph:dox, the DOX:AWARD went to two brilliant documentaries according to the jury – and the filmkommentaren.dk editors, who have praised both ”The Look of Silence” by Joshua Oppenheimer and his many named and…
As someone close to the philosophy of Eurimages (the cultural support fund of the Council of Europe. Established in 1989, currently numbers 36 of 47 member states), that is not the EU, I am happy to bring this message from…
Press release from the Copenhagen festival “that has yet again experienced a severe demand from the audience and a great number of films has guaranteed full theaters during the festival – now CPH:DOX sets up even more screenings of the…
DEMOCRATS Af Camilla Nielsson Jeg havde egentlig tænkt mig at anmelde Camilla Nielssons ”Democrats” på engelsk, men da jeg så Kim Skottes slappe afvisning af filmen, på ti linier i dag i Politiken, skiftede jeg mening og skriver dette som…
East Beats West… that is what I have often written on filmkommentaren.dk and this year in Jihlava I again saw fine Eastern European works and attended workshops with Wojciech Staron and Peter Kerekes, and had meetings with talented people from…
Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado: THE SALT OF THE EARTH Arrogant as I am, films about still photography (or paintings) are not something I usually pay much attention to. The relationship between the timeless photography and the time-dependent moving image…
IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY? by Michel Gondry Wow, the theatre is almost packed. Average age is around or even under 30 and several hipster beards are in sight. I suspect these are fans of either Gondry or…
For those who can watch Danish television – DR2 viser i morgen ”1989” i det sædvanlige tirsdag-slot ”Dokumania” og i de kommende to uger en række af de film, som vises på festivalen cph:dox. Da cph står for Copenhagen =…
ESCAPING RIGA by Davis Simanis One of those screenings where everything worked out as it should. Young Latvian director Davis Simanis (looking at you from above on this page) travels to Copenhagen, where he has never been before. He walks…
Cph:dox fills our columns these days – reviews, reports etc. BUT the second largest city in Denmark, Aarhus, has its own festival, Aarhus Filmfestival that includes shorts and docs, the latter with themes like ”fights”, ”life”, ”female”, ”ex-Soviet” and titles…
A copy-paste from the fine Cineuropa of today: Just the Right Amount of Violence (photo) Denmark Written and directed by Jon Bang Carlsen Produced by Helle Ulsten and Jon Bang Carlsen Master of the Universe [+] Germany/Austria Directed by Marc Bauder…
Is the headline of the generous invitation made by unique vod DocAlliance, that until November 9 (you better hurry up!) offers excellent documentaries, all nominated for the Silver Eye Award, read more about it on the site that you have…
THE LOOK OF SILENCE by Joshua Oppenheimer It’s horrifying, it hurts to watch the scenes that shows these brutal perpetrators re-enact their killings committed around 1965 in Indonesia, where the slaughtering of communists were performed by a…
Scenes to remember… one of the many good things about being at a festival is the conversations you have with colleagues in the breaks. Conversations that very often bring up scenes that have impressed you, scenes that will stay in…
Here follows the jury motivations for the main competition winners and for the German competition winner, Domino Effect, a film that has been reviewed on filmkommentaren.dk Golden Dove: Claudine Bories und Patrice Chagnard (Frankreich) for the film Les règles du…
The winners have been found. And apart from “my” main prize the juries agreed with me, awarding “Les Regles du Jeu” and “Toto and his Sisters”. Here is the press release and notice that you can find the motivations on…
The title refers to the 9th of May, where Russians celebrate the end of the WW2, the nazi capitulation, a day that is not celebrated by the gay and lesbian couples in the new film of Rudnitskaya. Maybe that angle…
Allow me to be nostalgic – this film brings me back to my days at Statens Filmcentral (National Film Board of Denmark), where brave women were sitting in a row, repairing the 16mm copies that had been returned from screenings.…
Your filmkommentaren.dk correspondent has seen the 12 long documentaries in the Dok International Competition 2014. He thinks it would be fun to make HIS list of winners for that category. I.e. a main prize and two honorary mentions. The films…
I have just left a nice chat with a former Zelig film school student – one of a handful who go to Leipzig to watch films and meet people, build contacts and enjoy masterclasses. It helps that Leipzig is such…
Czech Andrea Prenghyova, the founder of DOK.Incubator, was on stage to welcome the participants to the presentation of the 2014 film projects that had been developed during half a year with the help of Claas Danielsen and Ilo von Seckendorff…
Copy-pasted press release from the festival: The documentary film CITIZENFOUR about the NSA scandal and Edward Snowden’s revelations was awarded the “Leipziger Ring” on Wednesday night. US American filmmaker Laura Poitras received the film prize of the Peaceful Revolution Foundation,…
In his opening speech to the audience of DOKLeipzig Monday the 27th, departing festival director Claas Danielsen reflected on ”freedom” and gave good advice to the public broadcasters! I have copy pasted some sequences of the speech, the whole one…
Time runs. From Jihlava to Leipzig monday, from one documentary film festival to the next one with a special bus, a symbol of festival friendship, this initiative has been called. And we were many, who accepted the generous offer of…
The website of the Jihlava IDFF announced last night: OPUS BONUM – Best World Documentary Film Award Best Film: Je suis le peuple (I Am the People), dir. Anna Rousillion Special Mention: 20 Centavos (20 Cents), dir. Tiag Tambelli and…
News taken from the website of the IDF (Institute of Documentary Films): For the sixth time at Jihlava International Film Festival, Institute of Documentary Film announced Silver Eye winners at the Closing Ceremony. The holders of the awards are three…
Take a look at the photo. It’s about Love, isn’t it? It comes from the film of Polish Wojciech Staron, ”Siberian Lesson”, that he made in 1998. On film stock. Here is the Jihlava catalogue description of the film: In…
Gustav Mahler was in Jihlava. His face is looking at me from the wall in the breakfast room of Grand Hotel, which was grand once, an art nouveau building from the outside but how could they put that terrible furniture…