Nikolaus Geyerhalter at DocAlliance

Pleased to recommend a new offer from the vod DocAlliance, this time related to Austrian documentarian Geyerhalter. Here is a slightly edited version of the promotion text from the vod site:

We offer a selection of the best films by Geyerhalter in the period December 7-9, for a small fee. Scenes from the life of animals in mass-production shown in Our Daily Bread (photo) represents one of the most powerful visual depictions of the food-processing industry. The director alternates between sequences of shots of machines in operation with images of workers during breaks captured alone and without words which would, in any case, be drowned in the never-ending humming of the machines. All is clean, hygienic and synchronized, including the slaughters of mass-produced animals.

An apparent similarity with the impersonal mass-production processes can be found in Abendland. An observation of the European continent at night shows crowds of people partying, protesting as well as impersonal crews of workers at conveyor belts, for example burning coffins in a crematorium. Besides, scenes of employees of a help line, nurses and medical staff are also observed through absolutely unbiased, cold and distant lens. The impartiality and detachment of the camera constantly merge in CCTV supervision or permanent police controls.

In 7915 km, Nikolaus Geyrhalter follows the route of the Dakar Rally race. He shows the ordinary world of ordinary people living along the route of the race at the moments when the track is free of vehicles. The substantially different characters portrayed in this documentary share their experience with the competitors who are passing through. Their experience is mainly reduced to the roar of motors and whirling clouds of dust. The film presents variations on the idea of the West speeding through countries which would prefer the world to slow down and pay attention to the problems their inhabitants have to cope with.

http://dafilms.com/

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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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