Documentary Pearls at Copenhagen Cinematheque

From the site: “The Cinematheque in the heart of Copenhagen offers a rich programme of more than 60 films every month, many of which are in English or with English subtitles. In October, we present roadmovies, East by Southeast, women’s lives in the Middle East, MIX Copenhagen Film Festival, Hollywood shorts, and much more.”

… and documentaries of high quality, indeed, which is the reason for this promotional text that also offers our readers to see what we previously have written about a couple of the films:

In the series “East by Southeast” you find Andrey Paounov’s “The Boy Who Was a King” about King Simeon, who in 2001 came back to Bulgaria to be elected prime minister. Paounov is an original film talent, which he has shown several times, among others with the wonderful “Mosquito Problems and other Stories”. Equally to be seen is Lithuanian “Barzakh” (photo) by Mantas Kvedaravicius about whom a colleague said to me: ”He is not a film director, he is a thinker”, who made the film over a period of years, now completing his PhD (and a book) on the affects of pain. And the film is about pain, about people in Chechnya, families whose members disappear or have undergone torture.

As the monthly documentary, the Cinematheque presents a gift to its audience. Seven screenings are set up of Viktor Kossakovsky’s “Vivan las Antipodas”, for this blogger maybe the most important and visionary documentary being published for years.

Finally, the “SønDok” (documentary on a Sunday including a debate with the

director, organised by EDN/European Documentary Network), the Dutch documentary “Gozaran – Time Passing”, which was described in the following way at idfa festival last year:

“In 2005, Iranian composer Nader Mashayekhi was asked to lead the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. He knew the weak position of Western classical and contemporary music in Iran would make this a difficult task. But he took on the challenge, and after having spent several years in Vienna studying, living and working, he returned to his country. As he puts it, “with only one suitcase containing only one thing: my dream to make music in my hometown.” Less than two years later he returned to Austria, his suitcase filled with the pieces of his broken dream. Filmmaker Frank Scheffer captures the passionate composer during rehearsals with young musicians in Tehran, wandering through a desolate desert landscape and a deserted village, looking for inspiration for new compositions and challenging performances, and then back in Vienna as he reflects upon his time in Iran. Political entanglements are only implicit in the film. The director chose for beautiful shots in a contemplative setting, in which Mashayekhi’s voice sounds like an internal monologue. He reflects on his life and debates the meaning of music and poetry, and his impossible yet unscathed love for his country.”

http://www.dfi.dk/Service/English/Filmhouse-activities/October-in-the-Cinemateque.aspx

Share your love
Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

Articles: 3920