Gideon Koppel: Sleep Furiously/CPH:DOX 15

Trefeurig is the name of a small village community in Wales. This is where director and cameraman Gideon Koppel takes us – on a stunningly beautiful, wonderfully slow, and editing-like surprising voyage that I have difficulties in forgetting after two viewings at the markets at DOCLisboa and now at cph:dox.

I long to watch it on a big screen, I want to dwelve into the landscape paintings, to a rythm of Life that is disappearing. But it is also a documentary about the people, who live there and as a librarian educated in the last century, it creates a sweet memory in me to see a library bus arrive and the old people come to get their books and have a chat with the librarian. Who worries because ”they” want him to install a computer to make his work easier! ”How are you”, ”keeping going” is a dialogue often performed in the film. Many, many banal daily life scenes, but in the film lifted up to something different, a confirmation of the value of Life.

It is season after season, it is gorgeous when you see a whole image full of a scenery with sheep going down slooowly, absolutely outstanding, episodical, f… all modern claims for ”story”, nostalgic, yes, a hymn to nature, with a precise sound design and music by Aphex Twin. A quote at the end of the film, dont know from whom: It´s only when I see the end of things, I get the courage to speak, the courage, but not the words.

Wales, 2007, 94 mins.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A39788239

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/2007/12/03/library-van-inspires-film-of-changing-community-91466-20194101/

http://www.cphdox.dk/d1/front.lasso

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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.

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