Message to Man St. Petersburg
There are 11 feature length documentaries in the international competition of the Message to Man festival that takes place September 22-29. There are well known festival hits and winners like ”Bad Weather” (Giovanni Giommi), ”The Collaborator and His Family” (Adi Barash and Ruthie Shatz), ”Planet of Snails” (Seung-Jun Yi) and ”Bakhmaro” (Salome Jashi), but also a bordercrossing (between fiction and documentary) film like ”Summer of Giacomo” by Italian Alessandro Comodin. And this film blogger, who was in the jury of the festival two years ago, looks forward to watch Jerome Lemaire’s documentary from Marocco, ”Tea or Electricity”, as well as ”Miner’s Hymns” by Bill Morrison and Antoine Cattin/Pavel Kostomarov ”Playback”.
The festival includes several sections with short films, animation/fiction/documentary and has a national documentary competition, ”Gateway to Russia”, 23 films, long and short. Sergey Miroshnichenko presents his much awaited ”Born in the USSR: 28 UP”, built on the concept that was introduced by Michael Apted with ”7 UP”. The audience will also have the chance to watch talented Sergey Kachin’s ”On the Way Home”.
The festival has special programmes that are intriguing, like a chance to see films by the pioneer Vladislav Starevich, a section called ”nuclear propaganda” and a true film historical focus, the Oberhausen manifest that was made 50 years ago:
“The old film is dead. We believe in the new one.” On 28 February 1962, at the 8th West German Short Film Festival in Oberhausen, 26 West German filmmakers proclaimed the Oberhausen Manifesto. This moment marked a milestone in the development of German cinema – never before, and never again, would a break with existing production conditions be demanded, and induced, with such vehemence. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto, the project “Provoking Reality – 50 Years of the Oberhausen Manifesto” provides a concrete basis for addressing this proclamation and related 1960s movements aiming at cinematic, cultural and political renewal in Germany.
