Jiska Rickels: 4 Elements

Normally you say that something must be wrong if you leave the cinema to say that the cinematography was excellent, but the rest of the film… You do say so with this ambitious film but it is justified because it also has an idea and does not only tell about air, water, earth and fire, but link the elements to people, who work in hard and harsh conditions. Reminds you of Glawogger’s film ”Working Man’s Death” but has its own distant approach to the characters and is a visual formidable interpretation of a forest being cleaned, a fishing boat in high sea, a mine deeep down and an astronaut training venue.

The montage keeps you watching this our world, fascinating and scary at the same time, no eco-preaching, see for yourself, reflect, an essay maybe, some overall (biblical?) texts linking the chapters one after the other, and the sound design second to none.

What a pleasure to watch a film that insists on the image.

Holland, 2006, 85 mins.

http://www.fuworks.com/4elements/

http://www.idfa.nl/en/programme/festival-2007/film.aspx?id=34046

http://www.trentofestival.it/

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: 3933