Doker 2021 Andrš Jindrich: A New Shift
It’s a good film. Not because of the theme (a mine is closed, miners are without job, what to do?) that is pretty much known. This time it takes place in Silesia, a region that has also been described before,…
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A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
Filmkommentaren.dk
A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
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Læs mereDoker 2021 Andrš Jindrich: A New Shift
Doker 2021 Billie Mintz: Portrayal
The Russian documentary film festival has chosen quite a story to open its 2021 festival. Well crafted and told, full of layers and conflicts with several strong characters. With the young Roman Lapshin as the one in focus. He wants to…
Doker 2021
The festival starts on Friday June 18 and goes on until June 27, the Moscow International Documentary Film Festival, that is close to my heart, because of the dedication, thoughtfulness, independence and competence of those, who are running it,…
Biograffilm Festival Bologna
With the subtitle “International Celebration of Lives” the festival started June 4 and runs until June 14. It has a section called ”Meet the Masters” and Leena Pasanen and her festival staff earns respect for bringing cinematic ”celebration of lives”,…
Tatyana Soboleva: The Russian Way
”After twenty years abroad, Natalya comes back to Russia and tries to change the life in her native village by using Western experience, but the authorities don’t want that and the villagers fear them.” This brief description is connected to…
Sun&Sea (Marina) An Opera-Performance
… by three Lithuanian artists; One of them Rugilė Barzdiukaitė, who stood for the direction and scenography, was to kind to invite me knowing my enthusiasm for art and culture in her country. The texts were made by Vaiva Grainytė, translated from…
DocsBarcelona 2021 Awards
DOCSBARCELONA 2021 Awards DocsBarcelona Award for Best Film : Gunda, directed by Victor Kossakovsky. New Talent Award: Inside the Red Brick Wall, directed by Hong Kong Documentary Filmakers. Latitud Award: El secreto del Doctor Grinberg, directed by Ida Cuéllar. Amnistia…
Letitia Popa: What is documentary
This essay is written by Romanian film student Letitia Popa. It follows essays written by students from Zelig Film School in Bolzano according to the same exercise described below: What is a documentary? A few weeks ago, me and my…
CinéDOC Mentoring & Pitch/1
This is a quote from a text posted here some months ago… when the mentoring program started. At the next post you will find the awarded projects at the pitching session of yesterday, a long and fine day with 66…
CinéDOC Mentoring & Pitch
This post starts with a quote from a text I wrote, when the Film Mentoring Program of Cinédoc Tbilisi started: “I have not talked to anyone, who prefers zoom to face-to-face meetings. On the other hand the zoom or teams…
DocsBarcelona 2021
… has been running for some days and goes on until May 30 in a hybrid version: online and with screenings in cinemas. I was not there last year and the same goes for this year, alas. At the 24th…
Krakow opens wirh „Polański, Horowitz..
The opening ceremony of the Krakow Festival and the international premiere of the film “Polański, Horowitz. Hometown” by Mateusz Kudła and Anna Kokoszka-Romer will be held on the 30th of May at 8 p.m. at the cinema Kino Kijów. The…
Nordisk Ministerråd: No support for NP in 2022
NP – Nordisk Panorama, held annually, has for the last 30 years been the key venue for promoting and launching Nordic short and documentary films. This reduction equals a 60% cut in NP’s operating budget, which in turn will mean…
CPH:DOX 2021
Don’t Just Watch. Listen Since 2003, it has been the mission of CPH:DOX to reflect the complexity of our world. That hasn’t changed but the world is changing in unexpected ways. Reality is being reshaped Facts are being rejected We…
Camilla Nielsson: President
”You’ve got to have love for your characters and do everything you can to give them confidence in the job you’ve been assigned”. Said Camilla Nielsson to me in an interview back in November 2014, published in a Danish Film…
Baltic Sea Docs 2021 announces call for projects
Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries (BSD) is the most important documentary training and pitching event in the Baltic countries, taking place in Riga, Latvia. The 25th edition is scheduled to take place in a hybrid form from 1 – 12 September…
IDFF Artdocfest / Riga announces winners
With permission from FilmNewEurope and its Latvian correspondent Zane Balčus, we bring her article about: Riga: International Documentary Film Festival Artdocfest / Riga run from 28 April to 3 May in Riga and outside the city. The main prize of the Artdocfest…
CPH:DOX – Forum/ 2
I knew it from visits to Kiev, the film project ”Expedition 49”, presented by director Alisa Kovalenko and producer Stéphane Siohan, with film and ArtdokFest festival director Vitalyi Mansky as ambassador recommending. But I had not seen the teaser they had…
CPH:DOX – Forum
In between watching films, mentoring for the CinéDoc Tbilisi, having the first corona vaccination and being tested in mouth and (luckily not so often) nose… I had the pleasure to check some of the pitches at the CPH:DOX Forum. More…
CPH:DOX – Skál
… which means Cheers in Faroese language and is the title of the film by Cecilie Debell & Maria Tórgarð The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in…
Welcome to DocsBarcelona 2021
At a press conference today the DocsBarcelona programme was announced. In Barcelona. The Head of Programming – me – living in Copenhagen – was not there but I had in beforehand sent these welcoming words: Here we go again… No, here…
CPH:DOX – Jon Bang Carlsen
The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also)…
CPH:DOX – Artists and Auteurs
The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also)…
Positive News from Ji.hlava IDFF
“After several years of preparations, we started revamping the festival’s competition sections, the jury structure as well as the award categories. The aim is to pay tribute to documentary cinema which has been undergoing enormous changes, at the same time…
CPH:DOX – Captains of Zaatari
The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also)…
CPH:DOX – Kossakovsky: Gunda
The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also)…
CPH:DOX Courage Aliaksey Paluyan
The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also)…
CPH:DOX – Virpi Suutari: Aalto
The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also)…
CPH:DOX – The Other Side of the River
The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also)…
DocuDays Ukraine 2021 Online
Yes, online again this year for the 18th International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival that I have visited several times with many memories in and outside the cinema. Yesterday Ileana Stanculescu from CinéDoc Tbilisi reminded me and Lithuanian Audrius Stonys…
DocsBarcelona Offers Creative Feedback
… on creative documentaries under the headline “Artistic Consultancies for Rough Cut Projects”. Prominent documentarians have agreed to take sessions – let me do the name-dropping: Salomé Jashi, Gitte Hansen, Noemy Schory, Elena Fortes, Marc Isaacs (PHOTO), Carles Bosch, Pawel…
Tal Amiran: Dafa Metti (Difficult)
3 years ago I posted a positive review of the short film «Sand Men” by Tal Amiran. () Now the director is back with another social engaged, well crafted short film that likewise deserves to be highlighted. It takes place…
Film Mentoring Caucasus & Central Asia
I have not talked to anyone, who prefers zoom to face-to-face meetings. On the other hand the zoom or teams or skype make it possible to see and talk to each other in these times of pandemic. And it works…
John Webster: Donner – Private
I am hooked from the very first moment. Director John Webster puts a pillow behind the back of Jörn Donner (1933-2020) as the start of the last interview Donner did. He sits in an armchair, it’s December 2019, he has…
Jonas Poher Rasmussen: Flee
DANISH FILM INSTITUTE wrote yesterday: “Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee and Camilla Nielsson’s President took home top prizes at Sundance, as the festival celebrated this year’s winners during Tuesday night’s awards show. The two films, both produced by Final Cut for Real, have garnered rave…
Camilla Nielsson: President
DANISH FILM INSTITUTE wrote yesterday: “Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee and Camilla Nielsson’s President took home top prizes at Sundance, as the festival celebrated this year’s winners during Tuesday night’s awards show. The two films, both produced by Final Cut for Real, have garnered rave…
Dusan Hanak Retrospective
This is a copy-paste of a press release from DocAlliance’s excellent platform DAFilms, written by Martin Černý: The DAFilms streaming portal is paying tribute to Dušan Hanák, one of the most important Slovak directors, by presenting thirteen digitally restored films in…
Dimitra Kouzi: Good Morning Mr Fotis
In these times of lockdown all over, where kids sit at home meeting their classmates, and their teacher(s), via a computer, this is a film that can show us how important it is that children are together, when they are…
Bar Mario Closed
I got a mail this morning that made me sad but also made me think of many many good visits to the bar next door the Zelig Film School in Bolzano. The mail came from Stefano Lisci, here is the…
Nicolas Philibert Interviewed
… In le Monde by Jacques Mandelbaum, film critic at the newspaper since 1995. You have to be a subscriber of le Monde to read the whole interview. I have taken the liberty to quote from the excellent meeting with…
dok.incubator 2021
Andrea Prenghyova wrote me a couple of days ago, asking if I could mention that the 10th edition of her dokincubator is coming up. Really, 10th edition (!), I thought, and I dare say that Prenghyova has managed to put…
Michael Apted 1941 – 2021
“I wanna be a jockey…” is a sentence that my wife and I always remember, when we talk about and recall the UP series by Michael Apted, who passed away yesterday. We got acquainted with the series at a festival…
Šabotić & Varushev: Twins Woven from Dreams
The film is co-directed by Sead Šabotić & Lea Vahrušev, the latter is also the producer. Take a look at the still above. Marko is trying to find out if his new sneakers fit him. His wife has sent them…
Lithuanian Documentarians Honoured
… well, they are so far nominated « For Promoting Lithuania Globally », the directors and producers Arunas Matelis and Giedre Zickyté, by an organisation GLL (Global Lithuanian Leaders), that is a non-profit association for professional individuals that identify with Lithuania and care…
Oeke Hoogendijk: My Rembrandt
This text is written by Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, directors of the Magnificent7 Festival in Belgrade. A dramatic documentary exclusive insight into the world behind the facades of top art, the author who amazed us with a saga about the…
Joonas Berghäll: The Happiest Man on Earth
This text is written by Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, directors of the Magnificent7 Festival in Belgrade. The celebrated author of the film about saunas, one of the greatest documentary hits in Finland, reveals in his latest work the world of…
Magnificent 2020 Belgrade/ 2
Just a quick note of enthusiasm. They had less than a week to announce the 16th edition of Magnificent7 that is running right now in Belgrade. I am not there as at the 15 first editions but contrary to pandemic…
German Kral: Our Last Tango
This text is written by Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, directors of the Magnificent7 Festival in Belgrade. Buenos Aires nights echo with the sounds of the bandoneon, with stories of love, and with the unique and unmatchable beauty of tango. During…
Artemio Benki: Solo
This text is written by Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, directors of the Magnificent7 Festival in Belgrade. A documentary that tells an equally exciting story about the colorful world and the music that fills and transforms it. A poignant drama about…
Carl Olsson: Patrimonium
This text is written by Magnificent7 Festival directors Svetlana and Zoran Popovic: Awarded a special prize for artistic excellence at a major international festival in Moscow, this film by a young Danish director with its exceptional style is one of…