Lea Glob: Apolonia Apolonia
Main award at IDFA 2022 for Danish director Lea Glob for a film she has been working on for 13 years. A huge achievement to say the least. I saw the film two days ago at home online and was…
Filmkommentaren.dk
A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
Filmkommentaren.dk
A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
Festival
Read MoreLea Glob: Apolonia Apolonia
Alina Gorlova: This is Not Putin’s War
I am often asked how boycotting the protesting Russian cinema will help win the war. I found a good example to talk about it with. I came across the project of a documentary film by a Russian director, which is…
Verzio Documentary Moments
When you have been watching scenes and footage from 8 projects at the Verzio DocLab Budapest last week there are moments of what you could call authentic truth that stay in your mind. Let me mention 4 of them: A…
Verzio DocLab 2022
From tuesday till saturday 8 film projects were being worked on in Budapest as part of the Verzio Human Rights Film Festival. The filmmakers came with their material and were met by mentors and colleagues, who gave them feedback in…
Verzio Budapest 2022
The International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival starts tonight. The director Oksana Sarkisov writes the following strong welcome words with the headline “Taming the Fire” In 2022, the phrase “world on fire” is more than a metaphor or a reference to some…
European Film Awards Documentary
Click above and you will see the shortlisted documentaries for the European Film Award in the documentary category. Today the nominations for the award to be decided in Reykjavik on the 10th of December were announced: The House of…
AWARDS AT THE 26TH JI.HLAVA FF
The award for the most notable international documentary film was granted to 07:15 – Blackbird by Judith Auffray, the best Czech documentary is Kapr Code by Lucie Králová. The award for the best Central and East European documentary and for the best sound design went…
What is a documentary?
What is a documentary At my first day in Zelig Film school i met a man named Tue Steen Müller that immediately asked us to present ourselves and talk about a documentary we saw. I briefly explained what brought me…
Zelig Film Fest Bolzano/ 2
Here is how the director Kyrylo Naumko introduces his film “Dear Odesa” on the website of Zelig (): I did not notice exactly how and when life in Odesa became unbearable. But, probably, last 2 years I had a terrible…
Zelig Film Fest Bolzano
Zelig Film Fest Bolzano 10 films, 28 graduates… 5 films were shown last night, 5 will hit the screen tonight. I am not here to review the films but I will not refrain from saying that the general quality is…
Awards of the 10th Aegean Docs
The Best Foreign Film Award of 1.000 euros. Shared equally to: Maija Isola (Finland), Leena Kilpelainen. and Looking for Horses (Bosnia-Herzegovina/France),Stefan Pavlovic Best Greek Film Award of 1.000 euros with the support of Greek Film Centre: The Bet (Greece)Maria Leonida. The Award…
What is a Documentary?
While in the Greek island: Two mornings with film students from Romania, organised by Ana Vlad, documentary teacher at the university and a film director I have known for many years. Pleasure to work with her. I asked the students…
Aegean Docs 10th Edition/ 3
An important film was programmed last night in the cinema in Myrina: A Jewish Life Direction Team: Christian Krönes, Florian Weigensamer, Christian Kermer, Roland Schrotthofer. Israel, Austria, 114 mins. 2021. Annotation: Marko Feingold, born in 1913, grew up in a…
Aegean Docs 10th Edition/ 2
It’s your night, Kostas Spiropoulos, the director of Aegean Docs, said to me. He knows that the two films shown last night are very much appreciated by me, and written about on www.filmkommentaren.dk They are “Looking for Horses”, quote: “Stefan Pavlović…
Aegean Docs 10th edition
Lucky us, my wife and I, to be invited to Aegean Docs on the island of Limnos. The 10th edition of a special documentary film festival that takes place in 9 (nine!) islands in the North Aegean Sea: Lemnos, limnos, Ikaria,…
Curiosity and Love… Magnificent7
Total trust can only come from curiosity and love, Heddy Honigmann said in an interview. The director who passed away this year continued by saying that she loved the people, she films. That is so obvious in her “Oblivion” from…
Nordisk Panorama/ The Forum
The 29th edition of the Forum for Co-Financing of Documentaries. I was there for the two days, where 24 projects were pitched to a panel of TV-editors and Film Fund/Institute consultants with another 22 listed in the catalogue as observers,…
Nordisk Panorama/1
Nordisk Panorama in Malmø. In Sweden. Sunday. Had our passports ready in the train for border check. But no check. 5 minutes to the Scandic Hotel and voilá you are at the very well organised Nordisk Panorama with a fine…
Magnificent7 Belgrade 2022 Matter Out of Place
This text is written by Magnificent7 directors Svetlana and Zoran Popovic: Austria, 2022 110 minutes director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter A grandiose fresco about the state of our planet. After extraordinary films Homo sapiens and Earth, the great Austrian documentary filmmaker once again shows…
Magnificent7 Belgrade 2022 Zoo Lockdown
This text is written by Magnificent7 directors Svetlana and Zoran Popovic: Austria 2022 73 minutes director: Andreas Horvath This is an exciting visual adventure by an exceptional Austrian photographer and filmmaker who exclusively introduces us to the world closed behind the long-locked…
magnificent7 Belgrade 2022 The Treasures of Crimea
This text is written by the Magnificent7 directors Svetlana and Zoran Popovic: Netherlands 2021 82 minutes director: Oeke Hoogendijk The work of a prominent Dutch director famous for her magnificent films dealing with the world of art, which introduce us to the…
Magnificent7 Belgrade 2022 A Provincial Hospital
This text is written by Magnificent7 festival directors Svetlana and Zoran Popovic: Bulgaria, Germany 2022 102 minutes directors: Ilian Metev, Ivan Chertov, Zlatina Teneva This film begins its festival life right after its premiere at the big festival in Karlovy Vary, as…
Magnificent7 Belgrade 2022 Young Plato
This text is written by Magnificent7 directors Svetlana and Zoran Popovic: Ireland, Great Britain, France, Belgium 2021 102 minutes directors: Neasa Ní Chianáin and Declan McGrath A remarkable continuation of dealing with school and growing up problems from creative and life tandem…
Magnificent7 Belgrade 2022 The Wind that Moves Us
This text is written by the festival directors Svetlana and Zoran Popovic. Spain 2021 78 minutes director: Pere Puigbert This film with its beauty has conquered the whole of Spain going from festival to festival. Awarded as the best Spanish film in…
Magnificent7 Belgrade 2022 Balcony Movie
This text is written by the festival directors of Magnificent7, Svetlana and Zoran Popovic: Poland 2021 101 minutes director: Pawel Lozinski The work of one of the most important European filmmakers, the masterful cinéma vérité as a direct embodiment of the legendary…
Magnificent7 Belgrade 2022 Pawel Lozinski
I Have No Idea How Much They Loved It – but I think they did, the audience for the masterclass with Polish Pawel Lozinski. We (Lozinski and I as the moderator) enjoyed a lot what we were asked to do: Choose 7 shots/sequences…
Magnificent7: Heddy Honigmann in Memoriam
Heddy Honigmann died May 21 this year 70 year old. Some of her films have been shown at Magnificent7. On Sunday the 18th at 6pm one of her masterpieces, “Oblivion”, from 2008 will be shown for us to remember a magnificent…
Magnificent7 Belgrade 2022
“We haven’t seen so poetic documentary for a long long time! Beautiful shots, true beauty of the nature and people, true beauty of the documentary!” A visit “behind the scene” is this email text from from Svetlana and Zoran Popovic…
Baltic Sea Docs 26. edition Ukraine
Baltic Sea Docs 2022: Four films were screened made by Ukrainian directors and/or about Ukraine directly or indirectly. And at the pitching forum there were projects like “Little People” by Ivan Sautkin, “Iron Man (One Day I Wish to see…
Baltic Sea Docs 26. edition "Mental Health…
… in the Times of War” was the title of a seminar at the Baltic Sea Docs. Including as moderator Rebecca Day, Ukrainian filmmakers Roman Bondarchuk, Ivan Sautkin, Anna Machukh, CEO of Odesa International Film Festival and Latvian producer and…
Baltic Sea Docs 26. edition
Monday morning. Copenhagen ariport. Departure for Riga. Beautiful weather. Arrival one hour later at 9am, 20 minutes ahead of time. Hugging friends upon arrival at the hotel, shaking hands with newcomers. Lovely to see – after years – Ukrainian Darya…
What is a Documentary?
Life People Reality Subjectivity Perspective Rhythm Observation Truth Poetic World Imagination Discovery Unfiltered Raw Story Real Unique Relationship Experiences History Time Communication Values Changes Memory Passion Revelation Era Generation Commitment Achievement Care Psychology Environment Makedox What are the three words…
Srdan Keca: Museum of The Revolution
To safeguard the truth about us, were the words architect Richter used, when he presented his plan for a Museum of the Revolution to be built in Belgrade in 1961… Director Srdan Keca takes this – with great propaganda archive…
Mijke de Jong: Along the Way
Zahra and Fatima are twins and the protagonists of the Dutch film that was shown last night at the one year old Cineplex that is now the main screening venue for the Sarajevo Film Festival. The film’s title is “Along the…
Anna Shisova: The New Greatness Case
One of my Russian friends wrote this to me not long ago: “A few days ago…Two women and their five children aged 7 to 11 were detained at the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow yesterday. The children drew a poster “No…
Sarajevo Film Festival/ 2
It was presentation day for the four stories at the TSM, True Stories Market. It took place at the Atrium of Hotel Europe; four people, two women, two men on stage and a full house of interested people, among them…
Sarajevo Film Festival/1
After two years I feel privileged to be back to a festival that has given me so many fine moments. The atmosphere in the city of course, a city that celebrates cinema with its many genres, a festival that greets…
Niewiera & Rosolowski: The Hamlet Syndrome
… first names Elwira and Piotr, Polish directors, awarded for previous works “The Domino Effect” and “The Prince and the Dybbuk”, both praised on this site for their originality and professional skills. The same goes for this new film that…
Docu Talents from the East 2022
This is a copy paste of a text from the Sarajevo FF site, an event organised by the Jihlava FF. High quality projects, know some of them and know talents like Goran Devic, Vlad Petri, Diana Fabiánová and Lesia Diak.…
Baltic Sea Docs 22
The projects to be presented in the yearly documentary gathering, number 26, since 2005 held in Riga Latvia, have been selected with Latvian Zane Balcus as the head of the Forum, she rightfully describes in the following way: “This international…
Turkan Huseynova: Papanin
Turkan Huseynova is a young filmmaker from Baku. Last year she took part in the Jihlava FF with her documentary “Papanin”, Which appeared in the “Joyful Section”. Well placed even if the film refers to a district in Baku that…
Sarajevo FF Documentary Competition
1. DIARY OF A BRIDE OF CHRIST / TSCHODENNYK NARECHENOI CHRISTA, Marta Smerechynska (Ukraine, 2021, 90 min.) – World premiere 2. LIGHTS OF SARAJEVO / SVJETLA SARAJEVA, Srđan Perkić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2022, 68 min.) – World premiere 3. LITURGY…
Alexandru Solomon: Cold Waves
The Romanian director – and cinematographer – and producer – and festival organizer of One World Romania – Alexandru Solomon is being celebrated at the Transilvania International Film Festival in Cluj that runs now and until the 26th of June. I…
DOK Leipzig News
DOK Leipzig will host its 65th edition in local cinemas and venues once again — a decision that signals the festival’s continued commitment to bringing back cinema culture and shared festival experiences. From 17 to 23 October, DOK Leipzig will…
AWARDS of the 62st Krakow Film Festival
DRAGON OF DRAGONS AWARD for the contribution into development of the world animated film JARMO JÄÄSKELÄINEN (Finland) KFF RECOMMENDATION to the European Film Award in a documentary category BOYLESQUE, dir. Bogna Kowalczyk (Poland) INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION Having watched all the competitive films the International…
Pere Puigbert: El Vent Que Ens Mou
The google translate of the Catalan title goes like this: “The Wind that Moves Us” for the film, that won the first prize in the DocsBarcelona Latitud category. And I don’t hesitate to say that this was so well deserved,…
DocsBarcelona – Films
There is quite a distance from “The Territory” by Alex Pritz to “Maija Isola” by Leena Kilpeläinen. Both are films that have seen selected for the Official Panorama competition program of this year’s DocsBarcelona. “The Territory” is a product made…
Sara Dosa: Fire of Love
Katia and Maurice. Volcanologists. Scientists and Filmmakers. A couple. Married in 1970. Decided not to have children. That would have prevented them to do their work or with a better phrase: to Live their Passion. The dangerous passion that killed them. A quote…
DocFests in Belgrade and Warsaw
Beldocs in Belgrade started two days ago, Millenium Docs Against Gravity takes off today. The latter in 8 cities and with an online version from May 24. Both have industry sections and both have a focus on Ukraine. In Belgrade…
Marusya Syroechkovskaya: How to Save a Dead Friend
Filmed by Kimi Morev and Marusya Syroechkovskaya Edited by Qutaiba Barhamji Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, 103 mins., 2022 I have previously posted a beautiful text by Marusya – where she writes about her film. I write this using her first name.…