One World Festival Prague
Some of the best new documentaries are in competition at the big One World Festival in Prague, that has this subtitle “international human rights film festival” and takes place March 5-14.
Let me mention Alexander Nanau’s ”Collective » (PHOTO) and « The Earth is Blue as an Orange » by Iryna Tsylik, both reviewed on this site:
http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4662/
http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4702/
The main competition includes 13 films. From the North of Europe you find works by veterans like Finnish John Webster (“Eye to Eye») and Swedish Peter Tornbjörnsson (“Ninosca”), who has returned to Nicaragua – “For forty years, Peter Torbjörnsson has been filming life in the village of San Fernando/ Nicaragua. What began as a portrait of a village became the story
of Ninosca. Her struggle for independence requires her to face her past in the machismo culture of Central America.” The director presented the film project at DocsBarcelona 2019 together with the producer Stina Gardell.
Also interesting – from looking at the trailer – looks Norwegian “The Painter and the Thief” by Benjamin Ree and “The Self Portrait” with experienced Margreth Olin as one of the directors. “The Self Portrait is a film about choice – choosing life. This is a choice no one can make for you, you will have to make it yourself. The Norwegian artist Lene Marie Fossen (32) is an up and coming, unique talent in the world of photography, facing an international breakthrough. Critics claim she is among the best still photographers in our present time. At the same time she appears to be dying from anorexia. Lene Marie stopped eating when she was ten years old…”. Heartbreaking trailer.
Heartbreaking are also many of the photos by Danish Jan Grarup, who will be in Prague with an exhibition and to discuss with the audience after Boris Benjamin Bertram’s film with and on him, “War Photographer” – http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4618/
Apart from the competition program the audience is offered « The Best of the Best”, films like “The Cave”, “For Sama”, “When Tomatoes Met Wagner”…
The One World shows films in 35 cities around Czech Republic, organised by People in Need, some words about this organisation: “People in Need was established in 1992 by a group of war correspondents and foreign correspondents who were no longer satisfied with simply bringing back information to the Czech Republic and therefore began sending out aid. People in Need has gradually established itself as a humanitarian organisation that aims to help in troubled regions and to support the observance of human rights around the world.
In the 28 years it has been in existence, it has become one of the biggest non-profit organisations in Central Europe. It also began devoting itself to education and helping people living in social exclusion.
If you don’t want to see finished films… you could visit the EDP, East Doc Platform, which is for “industry professionals and documentary film lovers with discussions, masterclasses, screenings, presentations”. Pitching of course. 120 filmmakers and more than 100 key decision makers attend, the organisers say. IDF stands behind the event, Institute for Documentary Films, which has been written about and praised numerous times.
