DOX (svt)
… is a high quality magazine on documentary and the name of a very strong strand on SVT (Swedish public television) that has published its autumn repertory, opening this week with ”Pussy Riots” by Mike Lerner. ”The Act of Killing” is there of course, ”Free the Mind” by Phie Ambo, ”I will be murdered” by Justin Webster and a film I would like to highlight, as does the commissioning editor for DOX, Axel Arnö, ”Little World” by Marcel Barrena. I ”met” this film two years ago at DocsBarcelona rough cut session and am very impressed by the work, which is Barrena’s debut documentary.
To those of us who can watch Swedish television, go for it on September 3. Here is a description:
Albert Casals is a young man who has been in a wheelchair since suffering leukemia at the tender age of five. But this hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his dream: to travel around the world. And to do it his way. Without money, without companions, without luggage… He sets off from home armed with nothing but his imagination and his courage.
Little World takes us along on his greatest challenge yet: to reach the exact opposite side of the planet. Is it possible to cross the earth in these conditions? Mixing home video techniques and traditional documentary methods, we will get to know this young man, his love story, his philosophy of life and his parents’ approach to raising him. We will see how Albert and his girlfriend, Anna, go from Barcelona to a remote lighthouse in New Zealand… or how they fail in the attempt. The journey (and the film) can be considered sheer madness, an endearing romance or an epic adventure. Or perhaps a little of everything.
