Magnificent7 Festival Moves to New Venue

The Belgrade festival that screens 7 films, one per night, from June 8 till June 14 is moving from the Sava Centre to central Belgrade, to Kombank Dvorana.

I asked the festival directors to give me words about the new venue that opened after a total renovation a month ago. Here they come:

Dear Tue. it’s hard to put in two lines the history of the very first elite concert hall, festival hall and congress hall in socialistic Yugoslavia. Also the place of many different events that were attractive for big audiences and for media, sometimes European, sometimes from all over the world.Legendary kings of jazz (Luis Armstrong, Miles Davies, Oscar Peterson, B.B.King among the others) were there on the stage during sixties and seventies. Film stars at the biggest film festival FEST – Sophia Loren, Kirk Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Richard Burton, Elisabeth Taylor. Concerts of the most popular singers, groups, but also of some high class musicians like Artur Rubinstein.

Here is a small history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Sindikata

You should pay attention to the new name of the place KOMBANK DVORANA (where KOMBANK is the name of the bank giving the money for overtaking the name) and DVORANA that means hall.

Varme hilsener (Danish for Warmest) Svetlana and Zoran Popovic

http://www.magnificent7festival.org/en/index.php

Andreas Dalsgaard: Fædre & Sønner

Jeg reagerede ved visningen under CPH:DOX 2017 spontant efter filmoplevelsen ved at skrive en mail til kollegerne: ”Så, Tue og Sara, har netop set filmen om Henning Haslund-Christensen og hans to sønner og om Torgut folket og om ekspeditioner og indsamlinger og kulturdrab og tabet af hukommelse. Den er vidunderlig og Michael i den er så ægte charmerende som ude i virkeligheden. Nu vil jeg gøre hvad jeg kan for at skrive om Dalsgaards store filmiske fortælling.”

Sådan, nu havde jeg lovet det, røbet min samlede vurdering, som kun kan blive alle vore 6 penne, røbet en disposition for min tøvende, langsomme kommentar, som skal begrunde vurderingen, og jeg har det igen som Peter Plys når Grislingen siger ”Det var ikke særlig klogt sagt” og Peter Plys forklarer: ”Det var klogt, da det var inde i mit hoved, men så skete der noget på vejen ud”.

1

Den ældste af titlens fædre er berømt, jeg ved det jo godt. Det er Henning Haslund-Christensen, og Werner Jacobsen fortalte mig for mange år siden meget om ham. Det var dengang, jeg færdedes i museumsverdenen.

Jeg finder hans bog Asiatiske akkorder frem. Den er oprindelig fra 1965, min udgave er fra 1991. Werner Jacobsen har et afsnit om sine rejser i Mongoliet. Haslund, som han kalder ham, var der i forvejen, Jacobsen præsenterer ham sådan:

”Blandt danske forskningsrejsende i vor tid er der to, hvis navne overstråler alle andre: Knud Rasmussen og Henning Haslund Christensen. På mange måder var de forskellige, og de arbejdede på to vidt forskellige steder på kloden, men der var også slående lighedspunkter. Begge arbejdede de under det handicap ikke at have modtaget en formel uddannelse inden for det arbejdsfelt de valgte, men begge skabte de gennem deres virke en uvurderlig skat af kulturmateriale, som står til disposition for generationer af fremtidens forskere. En sjældent svigtende intuition førte dem til problemer, hvis løsning var af betydning. Begge var de i besiddelse af en næsten drenget begejstring for ny oplevelse og en lysende optimisme, som måtte inspirere selv den trægeste. Det føltes som om de hentede deres glade styrke fra selve livets urkilde.”

Der er mange spejlinger og gentagelser på færde, som fædre, så sønner. Werner Jacobsen var selv ramt, han indså det, kaldte sin bog Asiatiske akkorder, Haslunds fra 1945 hedder Asiatiske Strejftog, sådan er det nogen gange med sønner og fædre, elever og lærere.

“Livet på stepperne og i ørkenen er farligt”, skriver Haslund et sted, Lennart Edelberg husker i sin biografi, “farligt, fordi man først for sent opdager, at tilværelsen inden for den civiliserede verden – selv når den er smukkest – kun kan gøre det ud for det næstbedste.” Altså livets urkilde.

Det er selvfølgelig det, Andreas Dalsgaard skildrer, måske med mere afdæmpede udtryk, men lige så intenst, kompetent, ja, fyldt med visdom i Fædre & sønner, en film, som generøst rummer, tror jeg efter første gennemsyn, mindst fire fortællelag, hver for sig så rige, at de alle kunne være en afrundet film. Det må jeg se i øjnene, efterhånden som jeg i eftertanken forsigtigt trænger ned i det vældige filmværk og dets videnskabshistoriske, filmiske og litterære sammenhænge.

2

Etnografen Henning Haslund-Christensen står på fotografiet midt på højslettens vældige tomme flade med bjergene i dis langt, langt borte. Fotografiet er fra en af hans mange rejser i Mongoliet.

Filmen begynder imidlertid ikke med ham, dens tid er ikke hans tid. Den begynder med Søren Haslund-Christensen og Michael Haslund-Christensen, hans søn og sønnesøn. I den allerførste scene er de i gang med et af deres talrige projekter, i filmens nutid at finde arkivstof til dens realisering. Søren står op ad en dørkarm i hjemmet: ”Skulle du ikke på loftet?” Kort pause. ”Det bliver måske først i morgen?” Den lille ironi er så velkendt, at den næsten overhøres, i klippet peger den direkte ind i familiehistorien, det første af filmens fortællelag. Michaels lette charme er svaret, han fortsætter leende med sit, der er ligevægt mellem de to, som charmen er en del af dem begge, den er en arv fra Henning, ligesom Sørens ironiske kommandotone vel måtte findes hos Henning dengang, han havde ledelsesfunktioner, og nu hos Michael som travl filmproducent. Hans beundring for faderen må underdrives til gang på gang at fremhæve, at faderen kan bevæge ørerne. Her på et still fra filmen er de på netop den mongolske steppe, hvor Henning var på sine ekspeditioner dengang. Snart vil de få brug for tricket at vippe med ørerne.

Deres rejse til Mongoliet i fortællingens nutid er en filmekspedition, som skal være rammen i Andreas Dalsgaards film, et fortællelag, som med udgangspunkt i familiehistorien linker til Henning Haslunds ekspeditionshistorie, til en historie om kulturtab og til en særligt bevægende skildring af et hukommelsestab i vente. I alt er der således fire, fem fortællelag, måske et par stykker mere, sindrigt elegant vævet til et billedtæppe med dialog, lyd og forunderligt nærværende musik, et filmessay over et århundredes ekspeditionsvidenskabelighed og mytologi.

Familiehistorien er ligesom helt Dalsgaards egen fortælling, jeg oplever den fra hans fortrolige position. Han bygger den på et stort og rigt familiearkiv af fotos og smalfilm og så på sit observerende kameras fortælling i filmens nutid. Her er fortællepositionen også, når der interviewes med andet kamera og i anden kamerastil. Optagelserne af samvær og interviews, altså begge slags er på helt samme måde intense og nærværende. Dertil er interviewene er klogt udførte i en diskret, men dyb empati.

3

Da jeg så filmen, var jeg i første omgang selv mest oplagt til det ekspeditionsmytologiske essay. Jeg kom lige fra arbejdet med Per Kirkebys film, hans rejser, hans forståelse af ekspeditionens væsen. Kirkeby fortæller, at han nu, han er i gang med den her film (Ekspeditionen, 1988) må erklære, at han har mistet lysten til det filmiske, at han vil fortælle om denne personligt skelsættende begivenhed, ekspeditionen i sit liv, som i hans sind vokser som drøm og forestilling og gennemtænkning til hele mytologien om ekspeditionerne i dette grønlandske landskab, hvor døden får sin ikke fortrængte plads, så livet bliver til fylde. Det vil han fortælle om i en lysbilledserie.

Og jeg forstår, at Teit Jørgensen er sat til at filme lysbillederne, mens Kirkeby viser dem med sit lysbilledapparat på lærredet og ind imellem med sin finger peger på en bestemt linje i det viste landskab, noget, han vil pointere, som han derefter i sit store værk, akvarellerne og malerierne atter og atter har pointeret. Film er for den rejsende Kirkeby først og sidst billeder.

Sådanne mytologiske billeddannelser var tidligere i mit liv tekster af Lennart Edelberg (Nuristan) og Klaus Ferdinand (Afghanistan) og Geoffrey Bibby og P.V. Glob (Bahrain) og Werner Jacobsen (Mongoliet) og af mine egne kolleger Torkil Funder (Ceylon, Oman) og Jens Vellev (Oman) og Bo Madsen (Israel og Irak). De fortalte og fortalte om etnografiske, arkæologiske og geografiske feltarbejder på arabiske og endnu fjernere asiatiske destinationer.

Selv har jeg aldrig rejst, kun i bøgernes digt, i Rider Haggards Afrika og i andre bøgers farverige nøgternhed som alle de polarrejsendes. Sidst var der for mig i mit sind denne oplistning af navne og deres associationer ved at opleve Daniel Dencics rejse ind den kortvarigt isfrie nordgrønlandske fjord i hans film Ekspeditionen til verdens ende, 2013, som Michael Haslund skrev sammen med ham og producerede og som må være blandt forudsætningerne for Haslunds og Dalsgaards arbejde med Fædre & sønner, for en vigtig del af fremstillingen, nemlig den digteriske behandling af ekspeditionsmyten. Jeg bemærkede dengang jeg så Dencics film et sted ikke langt inde, at døden i en stor rejses sammenhæng er trådt ud af sin fortrængte plads. En kortfattet kvindestemme, Katrine Warsaaes høres med en pludselig og løsreven bemærkning med venlig og beskedent tilbageholdt pondus af viden om arters massedød tidligere i Jordens historie, men faktisk meget sjældent, med årmillioner imellem. Nu sker det måske igen, siger hun, en art er ved at uddø, denne gang ved at destruere sig selv, vi er måske midt i det.

Haslund og Dencik havde lavet en ung og opsætsig film med deres helte på rejse i et sejlskib frem mod verdens ende. Nu er navnene Jonas Bergsøe, Minik Rosing, Per Bak Jensen, Jeppe Møhl, Jens Fog Jensen, Tal R, Morten Rasch, Bo Elberling, Katrine Worsaae og Daniel Richter. De er om bord på skibet, de er ekspeditionens medlemmer, og de er filmens medvirkende, og små bidder af det, de siger til hinanden foran det observerende kamera, bliver efterhånden til filmens essayistiske udsagn.

Sådan forberedt ser jeg, at i Fædre & sønner etableres den videnskabeligt / kunstneriske / eventyrlige oplevelse i første omgang en del enklere ved at introducere en smuk empire kommode og dens indhold af hemmelighed og ved at give afgørende plads til blot to medvirkende vidner og researchere af fascinerende kvalitet, en dansk antropolog og en britisk historiker. Deres vildt spændende små bidder af viden og fortolkning vokser i et centralt detektivisk forløb til en regulær thriller om spionage og kontraspionage og våbensalg og våbentransport.

Og med det er filmen slet ikke færdig! Der er jo flere handlingstråde, som skal færdiggøres og knyttes. Man kan glæde sig: Der er TV premiere i morgen, 9. juni 2019 på TV2

Danmark 2018, 87 min. Instruktion: Andreas Dalsgaard, fotografi: Valdemar C.V. Leisner og Andreas Dalsgaard, klip: Denniz Göl Bertelsen, produktion: Haslund Film, producer: Michael Haslund-Christensen. Filmkommentarens vurdering: 6 kongepenne af 6 mulige. Distribution: TV2 

LITTERATUR

https://www.dfi.dk/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/film/faedre-og-sonner-0 (synopsis og creditliste)

http://www.nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/news/interview/the-great-games-creators-on-letting-the-past-define-the-present (interview med Andreas Dalsgaard og Michael Haslund-Christensen)

Werner Jacobsen: Asiatiske akkorder, 1965/ mindeudgave 1970 og 1991. Lennart Edelberg: Henning Haslund-Christensen i Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, 3. udg., Gyldendal 1979-84. Hentet 27. maj 2018 fra http://denstoredanske.dk/index.php?sideId=290871

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3358/ (om Per Kirkebys film)

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/2282/(anmeldelse af Daniel Dencic: Ekspeditionen til verdens ende)

SYNOPSIS

The Great Game (dansk titel: Fædre & sønner) is an epic adventure and family chronicle across three generations about extraordinary men and destinies: film producer Michael Haslund, his father, the former Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Danish family Søren Haslund-Christensen, and his grandfather, explorer/anthropologist Henning Haslund-Christensen. The Danish explorer, who died in Kabul in 1948 under mysterious circumstances, made his mark in Central Asia in the early 20th century but he was also rumoured to be a gunrunner and British agent.

As Søren’s health starts to deteriorate due to Alzheimer and with time is running out Michael takes his father out of the nursing home and on a journey in his grandfather’s footsteps. They travel across China and meet chiefs and ancestors who reveal that Henning was a true Lawrence of the East, a man who fought to unite the Mongol tribes and defend them against the Russians. (Nordisk Film- og TV-fond)

Magnificent7 Belgrade 2018

There he stands, the Prince Waszyński, in his palazzo, smoking a cigarette. An elegant man. Like a character in a film by Luchino Visconti. Did they ever meet the two in Rome, where the Prince passed his last years? After the more than turbulent life he had lived. His story is what Polish Elvira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski unfolds in “The Prince and the Dybbuk”, that is the opening film for the 14th edition of the festival in its new venue, the Kombank Hall in central Belgrade.

And this is for sure, like all 7 films, a film that deserves the big screen. It is Cinema to be enjoyed because of its elegant narrative structure, its use of archive, the editing, the music, the dignity with which the directors treat the Prince.

Do we go for themes, when the selection for the festival takes place? No, we go for the Cinematic quality and originality, that our audience expect – and I say it again, the best audience in Europe is the one in Belgrade. Nevertheless, having done the selection this year, we discover that three of the films put the focus on children.

Oh, I would hope that teachers all over could see and learn from “Miss Kiet’s Children”, with the

amazing Kiet Engels, whose way of taking care of the refugee children is an example to follow. She has a teacher’s skills and she cares. Which is obvious in the superb piece of observational humanistic Cinema performed by Petra and Peter Lataster.

Likewise with “The Distant Barking of Dogs” by Simon Lereng Wilmont, who in several films has shown his ability to get close to and get the best out of children. In this case 10 year old Oleg and his cousin Yarik. It is a film with many layers from a war-torn area in Ukraine, and it has to be said with grandmother Alexandra in the centre of the story. A film about Childhood, about Fear, about Survival, about Love. Made with love. And cinematic skills on how to build a story, compose the images and put them together with a soundtrack that stresses the atmosphere of the scenes, without killing them.

Children play likewise a role in the Swedish “Giants and the Morning After”, where the lovely mayor of the small community Ydre welcome the newborn children with a gift to the parents, hoping they will stay and make more babies. Malla Grapengiesser, Per Bifrost and Alexander Rynéus stand behind the film with an old friend of the festival Finnish Mervi Junkkonen as the editor. It has a tone of humour, it has a universal theme (the depopulation of rural communities) and a cinematic language that adds mysterious connections to the surrounding nature.

Can we live without art? Of course not. The festival’s ambition is to be a tribute to the art of documentary Cinema and to bring in tributes to other art forms. We are very happy to have the latest film of Thomas Riedelsheimer in the program. His “Leaning into the Wind” with the extraordinary Andy Goldsworthy is about nature and how to explore and interpret it as Goldsworthy does, and as Riedelsheimer does so well including the artists he used for the “Touch the Sound”, the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the composer Fred Frith.

Staying with landscapes depicted as paintings put together in a totally different way that we are used to is “Sleep has her House” by Scott Barley, who himself characterizes the film like this “through long static takes, the film develops a contemplative, hypnotic experience, akin to paintings that move, mixing live action and still photography (shot on iPhone) and hand-drawn images”. Wow, looking forward to see it on a big screen!

The closing film is “Entrepreneur” by Virpi Suutari, film director and professor of art. It is funny, it is about Love, it has magnificent music composed by Sanna Salmenkallio. It is like her previous M7 film, “Garden Lovers” about ordinary people, with an extraordinary Cinematic language.

http://www.magnificent7festival.org/en/index.php

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

DocsBarcelona: The Winners

I received the English language press release from DocsBarcelona. Here it comes in a slightly edited version:

DocsBarcelona 2018 ends consolidating the growth that began in the 20th edition of the festival, with an increase of days and audience. The 21st edition of the International Documentary Film Festival of Barcelona has hosted 66 sessions and one month of online screenings reaching more than 20,000 spectators, with an average of 133 people per session.

Also, the activities dedicated to the industry and professionals have had an extensive follow-up, with 1,800 attendees.

The main winner of DocsBarcelona 2018 was The Distant Barking of Dogs, whom the jury chaired by Paco Poch joined by Jessica Murray, Xavi García Puerto and Montse Armengou awarded the DocsBarcelona TV3 Award for Best Documentary. Directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont, this film portrays the life of Oleg, a Ukrainian boy, and his grandmother, in a border area where they often live with anti-aircraft fire and missile attacks. The Jury said this is a “film that takes care of photography with a detailed and delicate observation. A look that allows us to listen to the most vulnerable”.

Also, the jury gave a Special Mention to Miss Kiet’s Children, by Petra Lataster-Czisch and Peter Lataster, about a Dutch teacher who welcomes

and teaches refugee children “because beyond a careful style that puts the focus on children as protagonists, it reveals to us a teacher who is a model example of how to be solidary, peaceful and positive.”

The New Talent Award, awarded to debut filmmakers, was given to the Argentinian directors of El Espanto, Martín Benchimol and Pablo Aparo, “because it from a peculiar theme through a great staging and time control, half-distance and humour, gives us a very human movie that speaks very well about the future of these young directors. ”

The Official Section Latitud, sponsored by Antaviana Films, the Jury formed by Sumpta Ayuso, Anna Rebés and Oriol Font awarded the Chilean film Robar a Rodinby Cristóbal Valenzuela, which “definitely surpasses the fiction, and takes us through a journey with increasing curiosity and a narration full of surprises”.

The What the Doc! Jury awarded The Prince and the Dybbuk, by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski, “to turn the history of cinema into an existential dilemma through a set of sensations that confronts fantasy and reality, cinema and life “.

The Amnistia Internacional Catalunya Award, awarded by a Jury of members of the organization, was given to The Congo Tribunalby Milo Rau.  

DocsBarcelona 2018 Awards

DocsBarcelona of the Month Award: Angry Inuk

www.docsbarcelona.com

DocsBarcelona: Talal Derki

The Syrian director was not at the closing ceremony of DocsBarcelona Sunday night so I did not have the chance to thank him for three meetings we had during the festival: Two times talks with him and the audience after the screening of his masterpiece ”Of Fathers and Sons” and a 90 minutes seminar, where he had chosen 7 clips from the film to make us get closer into what he experienced, when that scene was shot, what choices he had to take during the 300 days he spent with the father and his children, first of all Osama and Ayman.

There were standing ovations after one of the two screenings of the film and after both I had to – as moderator – to raise my hand for “stop” to have time for the questions. I admire filmmakers like Talal Derki, who with respect for the audience take their time, festival after festival, to give an insight to – in this case – what it means to be filming in a war zone. The 7 clips were carefully chosen and there was a lot to talk about at each one. Film talk.

It makes you proud as a programmer, when you feel that the choice of a film is appreciated as well as having the filmmaker present to meet the audience. This was the case with Talal Derki again four years after he was in Barcelona with “Return to Homs”. He did not win this time, but he won the respect of the audience and he took us “behind the scenes” to a place we can not and do not want to go.

“I am a storyteller”, he said to me. Indeed, and a brave one. Many scenes will stay in my mind – like the one where the father talks warmly about his son Osama at the same time as he, as a sniper, is shooting to kill, while the director sitting next to him looks exhausted and frustrated at the whole situation.

The film and it’s director is now at the Krakow Film Festival, I have changed position to be a journalist for this site, and have given it highest points as you can see at the link below.

www.docsbarcelona.com

http://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/58th-kff/festival-newspaper/

DocsBarcelona: Children

Sunday morning I took a walk in the Eixample of Barcelona, where my home has been since the beginning of the festival. Lots of parents were in the street with their kids. Happy moments for boys and girls to be out in the good weather to play, have an ice cream, have fun, make friends…

In the cinemas of DocsBarcelona the reality was different for the children. I will never forget the two boys from “Of Fathers and Sons” by Talal Derki, Osama (Photo) and Ayman, the first one to be sent to a sharia camp by his father, the latter staying at home to take care of the smaller siblings and the father, who had lost his foot at a mine explosion, and who is the one, who decides on the future of Osama to be a jihadist warrior. It’s pretty hard to watch Osama, this soft boy, having his childhood spoilt by religious fanatism.

Another child who lives in a war zone is Oleg in “The Distant Barking of Dogs” by Simon Lereng Wilmont, a film that takes place in the Eastern part of Ukraine. Oleg lives there with his grandmother, a relationship that is described with sensitivity. How to live in the neighborhood of bombs exploding, how to cope with the scars it gives a child when he grows older?

And what about Syrian Zeid, who lives with his father and brothers in Spain in the fine film “Hayati” by Liliana Torres and Sofi Escudé. In a materialistic way, he does not suffer, but his mother stays in Turkey and he communicates with her via skype…

Other children are very much present in “Miss Kiet’s Children” by Petra and Peter Lasaster, where Miss Kiet is teaching refugee children language and how to adapt to live in the Netherlands. My hero here is the little Haya, who struggles with her new situation in a way that you get tears in your eyes.

www.docsbarcelona.com

DocsBarcelona: Ouaga Girls

It’s one of those documentaries that makes you smile through the whole film, Ouaga Girls by Swedish Theresa Traore Dahlberg. It was shown yesterday at DocsBarcelona at the Aribau Club cinema followed by a Q&A with the French coproducer Estelle Robin You, who is also involved in the production of “Dolphin Man” by Lefteris Charitos, that plays in the competitive Panorama section of the festival here in Barcelona.

The smile… because of the life energy of the girls from Burkina Faso, who study to become auto mechanics in a male society and enjoy the company of their sisters in the school, where they learn, are introduced to adult life and where they have fun, and share the good and the bad experiences they have and have had in their lives. They all come from a tough social background, which is conveyed to the viewer in tense interview situations with a psychologist. A brilliant cinematic solution where the action – the slate of joyful, lively scenes from the auto workshop and from the classroom and from parties and concerts in the city – is stopped to give close-ups and time for reflection.

Estelle Robin-You told us that the film has been running in cinemas in France – and Sweden of course – that the music score is composed by the father of the director Seydou Richard Traoré – that French editor Alexandra Strauss was called for to help finalising the film; Strauss who has edited “I’m not Your Negro” and has worked for master Roy Andersson.

How can we get a women empowering film like this shown in rural areas, a woman in the audience asked. There must be Ngo’s, who can use the film. Of course.   

http://momentofilm.se/films/ouaga-girls/

www.docsbarcelona.com

DocsBarcelona: When Directors Meet the Audience

Aribau Club Cinemas in Barcelona. Two cinema halls, one bigger than the other. The home of DocsBarcelona for four days, yesterday the first where I had the privilege to introduce and moderate three films in the competitive Panorama section. With Pol Roig as responsible for the running of the screenings.

First Polish “Over the Limit” by Marta Prus (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4091/) with half an hour talk afterwards, where the young director told, how she found her characters, how she got permission to shoot, how she filmed for one year and edited for one year, how she wanted the film to look like a feature film, how she as director had to make production decisions as well and of course many words about the trio of women in the film, Margarita the gymnast and the two coaches Irina and Amina.

Second Syrian “Of Fathers and Sons” by Talal Derki (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4094/) the director who was back in Barcelona, where he was in 2014 with “Return to Homs”, that got the first prize at the festival. I asked him how it was to be “playing the role of a war photographer”, an observer, who comes into this mad world of jihadism and refrains from discussing the issues being brought up by the militant father. He explained his relationship to Osama, one of the sons, Ayman, being the other. The reception of the film, measured by the applause, was considerable, an understatement…

Third Greek “The Dolphin Man” by Lefteris Charitos, a film about the legendary Jacques Mayol, his life, his record breaking diving down to 100 meters, his glamorous life with many women in his life, and yet his loneliness, told through archive material, interviews with his daughter and son and amazing underwater camerawork by Stelios Apostolopoulos, in a film that is multilayered and dealing with philosophical and existential questions. Charitos answered all kind of questions from the audience, including those about his suicide in his house on the island of Elba.

All three films had a good audience, the photo shows the line of people waiting to get in to watch “The Dolphin Man”.

And all three films have a second run.

www.docsbarcelona.com

DocsBarcelona Rough Cut Sessions

It’s become an institution, the rough cut sessions of DocsBarcelona and I am proud to be the one, who has chosen the projects and the one playing the ball to the panelists, who sit in comfortable sofas in a living room-set-up watching and commenting. Panelists this year were – among others – veteran Jordi Ambros from TV3, Mandy Chang from BBC, Aleksandar Govedarica from sales agent company Syndicado, Yoshihiko Ichiya from NHK, Lelda Ozola from National Film Centre of Latvia, filmmaker Canan Turan living in Catalunya of Turkish origin… The sessions last 2 hours including the full rough cut, feedback and comments. 

The three projects selected this year were “Operation Globe” from Rolling Basis Films, director Ariadna Seuba Serra, “Pariah Dog” by Jesse Alk and “Colis Suspect” by Sofia Català and Rosa Pérez.

www.docsbarcelona.com

DocsBarcelona: Audience & Form

On the way back to Vilnius after two succesful screenings of “Wonderful Losers” at DocsBarcelona, Lithuanian Arunas and Alge Matelis met Joan Gonzalez, director of the festival who was happy to tell them that 210 students in Granollers, a city at 30 km from Barcelona, one of the 9 cities where people can see some of the docs of DocsBarcelona, had seen their film.

Likewise I was happy yesterday to attend the screening of Hendrick Dusollier’s “Last Days in Shibati” (Photo) with a full house at the CCCB Auditorium. As a selector for the Panorama and What the Doc! of the festival, I do not review films in these sections but great to experience that the reception from the audience was overwhelmingly positive. The film’s theme – the demolition of an old Chinese quarter to make space for a new China – is interesting as is the form and method the director has chosen; he comes back to the quarter, makes friends with a trio of people, and he comes the first time with almost no knowledge of the language, the second (6 months later) and third time (6 months later) it is better with the language and he is accompanied by local people, who speak the language. He just goes there to visit… and he knows what he is looking for. Authenticity in the situational sequences.

The same, achieving an authenticity, goes for “Hasta mañana, si Dios Quiere”, which will be shown later in the festival. The film – quote from the catalogue – is “A joyful story about how seventeen women live in a convent of Franciscan octogenarian sisters…” but where the film from China lives from improvisations, Ainara Vera, the director, has very carefully chosen a style, made an aesthetic choice, that makes the film beautiful to watch.

The Documentary genre has many faces! Hurrah for that!

www.docsbarcelona.com