Sergey Dvortsevoy in Cannes

In 2010, at DOKLeipzig, I attended a masterclass with the director, whose documentaries I have always adored and still do. One of the true masters of modern documentary. I knew him from the 1990’es, where his ”Paradise” was shown on Danish television. Later on came ”Bread Day”, also shot on 35mm material, a no-budget film that he made from the negative material that he had won as awards for ”Paradise”. Ratio: 1:2,5!!! And ”Highway” and ”In the Dark”, a film about a blind man in Moscow, it was four years in production. Dvortsevoy is a director, who makes no compromises, always looking for precision.

The year before I had written an open letter to the director, a quite pathetic one, where I express my regret that he had turned to fiction with ”Tulpan”. My criticism: ” You got some of the magical documentary moments that you can not put into a script. But you also have a story and it is full of humour and warmth. It is close to the reality you know, but they act, you can see that they perform, some of them over-act. I like it but you lose something in terms of the truthfulness you have in your previous work…”

You had explained to me that one of the reasons for turning to fiction was to avoid the problems you had had with ”Paradise”, where the people who took part in the film was heavily critisized for showing the Kazakh reality as poort and miserable. Respect for that. So Dvortsevoy went for fiction, as did Kieslowski.

Years ago, when in Moscow, my wife and I met Dvortsevoy, who told us passionately about his new film project, that is now finished and taken for the main competition in Cannes next month. Original title is ”Ayka”, international title is ”My Little One”. The synopsis goes like this ” A young Kyrgyz girl – Ayka – lives and works illegally in Moscow. After giving birth to her son she leaves him in hospital. Some time later, however, her motherly yearning leads her to desperate attempts of finding the abandoned child… Dvortsevoy told us that he had done the research with a video camera, the whole film, to be sure that all would work when the real filming was to start.

So curious to see how many magical documentary moments the great director has found this time!

#abn_berg

DocsBarcelona 2018

DocsBarcelona has existed for more than 20 years. As an industry event, a market, where documentary projects are developed and pitched, where professionals meet to exchange ideas and push films further.

The DocsBarcelona as a festival, however, started small scale in 2007, getting growing to be what it is today with 40 films, competitions, an official Panorama section, a section called Latitude (”a selection of the best documentaries made in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America”), a section called ”What the Doc” for ”the most radical and innovative films of the current documentary scene..” Plus special sections and Doc-U, films made by local universities.

The selection is great, hmm – I can say so as I took part. But having films in

the Panorama section like ”Bobbi Jene” by Elvira Lind, ”Dolphin Man” by Lefteris Charitos, ”Miss Kiet’s Children” by Petra and Peter Lataster, ”Of Fathers and Sons” by Talal Derki, ”Ouga Girls” by Theresa Traore-Dahlberg, ”Over the Limit” (PHOTO) by Marta Prus, ”The Distant Barking of Dogs” by Simon Lereng Wilmont and ”Wonderful Losers” by Arunas Matelis to mention 8 of the 16 in the main competition witness not only the diversity in the program but also the high standard of European documentary today. Most of these films have had strong marks on www.filmkommentaren.dk.

BUT DocsBarcelona has also an eye for films spoken in Spanish or Catalan language. Two of the winning titles from previous editions carry the author name, Maite Alberti. This year there is a gem In the Panorama section, ”El Espanto” by Martin Benchimol and Pablo Aparo, here is a clip from the description: … In a remote village in Argentina, home-made cures replace traditional medicine. Every ailment is treated by neighbours except “El Espanto”, a rare disease that affects women and can only be cured with the mysterious abilities of a peculiar old man from the outskirts of town, whom no husband wants to see visiting their wife…

Not to forget the absolutely lovely covent film ”Hasta Manana, si Dios quiere” by Ainara Vera. There is so much love and joy in this film about Franciscan sisters and their daily life. And the film from Uruguay, ”La Flor de la Vida”, by Claudia Abend and Adriana Loeff: ”After five decades of marriage, Aldo and Gabriella are going through a crisis and begin to wonder why they continue together. Their story, narrated with humour, distance and scepticism, tender and ironic all at once, along with that of other testimonies in their eighties, compels us to face the inevitable question: is love everlasting?”

The titles mentioned are in original language, yet all films are with English subtitles.

From the ”What the Doc!” section of five films – Milo Rau’s ”The Congo Tribunal” is an amazing mix of documentary film and documentary theatre giving the audience a chance to dig into the ever complex situation in the suffering country. Portuguese Sergio Tréfaut is back in Barcelona with his aesthetically challenging ”Treblinka” shot by super cameraman Joao Ribeiro – and don’t miss the masterpiece by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski ”The Prince and the Dybbuk”.

The festival takes place from May 16 till 27.

I will be there to report, from the industry sections as well but not a word about the Champions League final, but that’s another story…

http://www.docsbarcelona.com/en/docsbarcelona-2018/festival/programacio-2018/

 

Elvira Lind: Bobbi Jene/ 2

Med mere end 50 filmfestivaler på sit cv – og flere i vente bl.a. Ciné-doc i Tbilisi og DocsBarcelona i maj måned – får den fremragende danske dokumentarfilm ”Bobbi Jene” af Elvira Lind biografpremiere i Danmark den 19. April. I dagens Politiken er der et fint baggrundsinterview med instruktøren og filmens hovedperson. Gå ind og se den film, som har energi i hver eneste scene. Det er en sjælden smuk og usædvanlig oplevelse! Et citat fra pressematerialet:

Elvira Lind: “Da jeg mødte Bobbi Jene, stod hun som kvinde og kunstner konfronteret med et dilemma, og jeg så muligheden for at fortælle historien om en kompromisløs kvindelig kunstner, der ikke var bange for at skubbe grænser. Hun var aldrig bange for at være sårbar, samtidig med at hendes styrke og uafhængighed blev opretholdt. Jeg havde selv lyst til at se en film om nogen som hende.”

Jeg så filmen i Vilnius Litauen for et halvt år siden på stort lærred og med de studerende lavede vi en anmeldelse, som jeg citerer fra:

… The love she feels for the 10 year younger Or… of course we talked about that. She is so open about it and she expresses her feelings constantly. Her smiles, her doubts, her disappointment when he does not want to stay with her in NY. I am not ready, he says and Israel is my country.

A student referred to Pina Bausch. Dancing is healing. I don’t know if the artist Bobbi Jene, who works so hard ”to get to a place where there is nothing to hide”, would formulate it like that. Her dancing is so strong and expressive, sculptural, naked both literally and as a metaphor for her search for freedom in all aspects. Her nakedness, even her voice has this fragility that you could call naked, one student said.

What a drama, what a film. I explained the students that we at filmkommentaren work with a rating system. How many pens would they give? Strong majority for 6… The best!

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4030/

Veronika Kaserer: Überall wo wir sind/ 2

Veronika Kaserer graduated from the Zelig school in Bolzano/Bozen in Italy in 2010. Since then she has done many non-film activities and some shorter works. At the Berlinale she came with the feature duration documentary that won the festival’s

Compass-Perspektive-Award. I know Veronika from teaching at Zelig, she asked me to watch the film, I did – and want to share with you the fine, reflective jury motivation for the award. So well formulated it is:

Veronika Kaserer has made a film about grief, which at the same reminds us that life is worth living. With an astonishing closeness, unconventional montage, and many surprising moments, she portrays the last weeks and days of Heiko Lekutat, a 29-year-old Berlin dance instructor, and, most notably, his wonderful, big-hearted family. Does the film cause us pain because the family’s sorrow distresses us so, or do we suffer because we feel that the great intimacy to those grieving oversteps a line and in doing so impinges on our own sense of well-being? The editing constantly flashes back and forth between “before” and “after” Heiko’s death. Is it legitimate to disrupt the process of dying in this way in order to arouse, on an abstract level, empathy for the psychological and emotional process of grieving? The fact that a film triggers fierce sentiments and debates is a fine quality. We congratulate director, producer, and camerawoman Veronika Kaserer.

I wrote to Veronika…: It’s a very emotional film, it goes very close, you use the family archive material beautifully, you give the viewer time to breathe – I am amazed that the family gave you such an access and when we meet one day I would like to hear about your relation to Heiko, what you talked about, what shooting agreements you made with him; you show a lot of respect and you really catch the feeling of what it meant for the parents and the sister to go through all this.

I think you and Kathrin Dietzel (love that you stick together – with her and with Jakob Stark as Cameraperson, both former Zelig students) have chosen a daring editing structure. To comment on the jury’s comments above, it feels right to go before and after death, but is also means, my small criticism, that towards the end it feels a bit too long and repetitive some times. It’s a detail in comparison with what you have achieved.

There must be many festivals waiting for your film.

Germany, 2018, 92 mins.

Camilla Magid: Land of the Free

Time, yes, again Time means everything for many documentaries. And the other big T, Talent. And of course the most important quality for the documentarian, who cares… curiosity and compassion, maybe that is a big word, but in this case also a word that fits to the work done by a group of people, an NGO of volunteers, in Los Angeles, a priest, a psychologist/therapist and other social workers, who want to help people and families suffering from longer or shorter emprisonments. Camilla Magid, caring and compassionate, share the ambition to take strong human stories to the audience and she does it so well, because she has taken her time – the film is shot over a period of two years – and because she has a strong filmic talent as she already showed in her 2012 documentary ”White Black Boy”.

The film is structured around meetings in this Continuum, where

former inmates present their life stories. Three of them constitute the film: Brian, out from prison after 24 years convicted for murder, Mexican origin Juan out after being in for drug sales and Gianni, 7 years old, his mother was in for three years.

Brian is the main character, the others come second. BUT, Brian, what a character description and development, no fiction film could have made such a convincing and truthful portrait as Camilla Magid has done: In the beginning it is all outlined, Brian, 42 years old, stands at a highway where cars are passing at high speed. Wow, he says, drinking a starbucks coffee, delicious he says, did not know that coffee could taste like this. Slowly the story is built so fine, how to get a work, a place to stay, how to be intimate with women, how to meet his mother, what is e-mail and so on so forth. It is made with sensitivity and – sorry for that word again – care, your sympathy for Brian goes up and up, you want him to succeed, HE wants to succeed, if he does or not I will not reveal, look for yourself.

And Gianni, OMG there is scene of desparation with him and his mother, there is beating but there is also clever Gianni, with a lot of traumas from his mother being away from him, and there is the mother, who wants he boy to get away from the street and the violence, that he sees and hears every bloody day.

And the young father Juan, who comes out but can’t stay away from the drugs and the related Easy Money, you can earn in the streets, in again and out…

Far too many who get out, end up in jail again, says Mr. Richard, the psychologist/therapist who takes part in the Continuum meetings and is the one, who formulates the film’s strongest criticism of the lack of perspective in the authorities way of giving former inmates a chance to get a life.

Brian goes back to the place where he 24 years ago took another man’s life. Filmed with respect and understanding as is everything in this work… (PHOTO: by Consuelo Althouse) Brian looks at Gianni, who is about to give the ones at the Continuum meeting some good news…

Denmark/Finland, 2017, 91 mins.  

Visions du Réel Starts Tomorrow

… and seems to keep the high quality for ”auteur” documentaries that was the profile created by Luciano Barisone. The festival, in Nyon Switzerland, now with Emilie Bujès as artistic director, goes on until April 21, and announces on its website the following numbers: 174 films from 53 different countries, 78 world premieres, 23 international premieres, 2 European premieres, 42 Swiss premieres, 139 film directors attending the Festival. The last numbers are important… 139 out of 174, important!

There is a special focus on Serbia this year with 18 documentaries, including of course newer titles as ”Depth Two” by Ognjen Glavonic, ”In Praise of Nothing” by Boris Mitic, ”The Other Side of Everything” by Mila Turajlic, but also older ones like Dragan Nikolic’s ”The Caviar Connection” and ”Dragan Wende – West Berlin” by Dragan von Petrovic and Lena Müller, both of them important films.

Also to be mentioned: French Claire Simon is ”Maitre du Réel” with

several of her films to be shown, but not ”Coute que Coute”, a masterpiece from 1995. Why not? 12 sections, where 5 of them are competitive – with very good money awards. We are in Switzerland…

Let me mention some of the films that I know about: Happy to see the Ukrainian ”My Father is my Mother’s Brother” by Vadym Ilkov with Darya Bassel as one of the producers. It is a debut film made with a lot of emotional care for Katya, the little girl who is raised by uncle Tolik, an artist, as her mother is not able to do so.

Equally glad to see the selection of Latvian Davis Simanis ”D is for Division” in which the biggest talent in Latvian cinema uses the essay form carried by his own text and voice that is not only saying where we are but is personal, reflective and makes the film grow. Simanis is around the border all the time – with strange images almost empty surroundings, sad images, lifeless and then close by there is patriotism/nationalism/fanatism. It’s horrifying to watch all these people gathering to celebrate, all those people in uniforms, to hear all these speeches and songs which are hymns to won battles or battles to come.

In quite another mood is the veteran master of Latvian documentary, Ivars Seleckis, who has made “To be Continued”, his first film about children, full of love and warmth, I saw it when almost finished and wrote – a quote – to Seleckis, whose work I have followed since the 1990’es: “I have seen your film. I love it. As FILM and as a grandfather with kids at the same age: 2 are 6 years old and have just started in school, 2 are 4 years old.

Children are children, wherever they are and I coukld recognise so many ways of behaviour, so many reactions, their facial expressions, their clever thoughts. And I could see that the Latvian school system is different from the Danish. More classical, more based on marks and competition.

BUT the great thing – one of them – is that you succeed to bring out the personalities of the kids: Karlis is a real Boy, Gleb revolts to his parents, indeed he does, Zane is a darling, so is Anette whose mother works abroad (good you have that aspect in the film!) and Anastasia is the star, the one who stands out for me (and you, Ivars) with her phantasy, her living in the countryside with horses helping mum… (PHOTO).

And a Russian documentary is in the medium length competition, Alex Markov archived based “Our Africa”, that tells the story about the Soviet leaders wanted to conquer Africa, when the Westerners left their former colonies. Amazing to see a young Brezhnev in Africa, kissing the leaders in a film that is an important interpretation of history.

And then of course the festival hits 2017/18 are there: Talal Derki’s “Of Fathers and Sons”, Marta Prus “Over the Limit” and Finlay Pretsell’s “Time Trial” with David Millar.

https://www.visionsdureel.ch/en/festival/programme/competition-nationale

Max Kestner: Slette omstændigheder

Et centralt nærbillede er fra en scene hos en grafolog. Er det et ”a” der på kortopmålingen? Hvad særligt er der i givet fald ved det ”a”? Jeg kan ikke svare, jeg kan ikke skrive om Max Kestners forunderligt vidunderlige film uden en spoiler sniger sig ind. Eller kan jeg? For hvilken undersøgelse foretages? Eller er det sådan, at flere undersøgelser overlapper hinanden? Er filmen en spændingsfilm, som jeg lægger væk, når jeg har fået vejret, eller er den et essay, som jeg stiller på reolen, så den gemmes nær mig, fordi de spørgsmål, det essay rejser, kaster flere af sig, flere spørgsmål, flere undersøgelser, yderligere læsninger?

Filmen vil så lykkeligt for folk i nærheden blive vist i biografen i Humlebæk 23. april, og jeg kan kun anbefale at sikre sig en billet, se link til bestilling længere nede, for det bliver en vigtig begivenhed, og instruktøren Max Kestner og produceren Henrik Veileborg vil være til stede og stå til ansvar, de ”har lavet en skøn, skør og skødesløs dokumentarfilm, skriver Humlebio i sit program, en film ”der tager afsæt i den mytiske Danmark-Ekspedition til Nordøstgrønland i 1906-08. Filmen følger en amatørhistoriker, der vil afdække sandheden bag den officielle forklaring der fortæller, at tre mand døde på ekspeditionen, men at man kun fandt liget af den ene. Det bliver en opdagelsesrejse rundt på statens arkiver, hvor det viser sig…” og nu er biografdirektøren også tæt at spoile – “at sandheden er en helt anden, end vores hovedperson i sin vildeste fantasi havde forestillet sig.”

Ved siden af detektivromanens story line, som er Kestners observerende kamera i hælene på historikeren, er der en løbende essayistisk fremstilling, som ligger i Kestners venligt distancerede, så smukt docerende fortællerstemme, som huskes fra tidligere film. Og tab nu ikke tråden fra begyndelsen og hør godt efter, for essayet indledes i titelsekvensen til et stort betagende natlandskab under stjernehimlen (STILL), hvor Kestners fortællerstemme indleder et foredrag om fraktaler og om gengivelse af virkeligheden fra landskabet over korttegning og landskabstegning til notatet og påpeger, at i alle disse optegnelser er der mulighed for falskneri, fejl og fejltolkning og efter denne roligt alvorlige besindighed og tæt på at spoile (men fortumlet af Nanna Frank Møllers underfundige klip opdager jeg det ikke) vælter Kestner og hans bårne kamera og hans film ind hos detektiv-historikeren Steffen Holberg, som så i den grad tager over som fortæller og holder min opmærksomhed i fast greb gennem forhindring efter forhindring den hele time akkompagneret af instruktørens kloge kommentarer og ved klipperens elegant musikalske greb styret ind i og ud gennem fysiske, personlige og tænkemæssige vanskeligheder. Det er en sært krævende og meget, meget spændende film.

SYNOPSIS

Three Danish polar scientists tragically lost their lives during an expedition to North-Eastern Greenland from 1906-08. Only one of them was found. More than a hundred years later the mystery and tragedy still nags indomitable amateur historian Steffen Holberg, who is absolutely determined to solve it. With help from knowledgeable people, professional experts and state archives, he moves ever deeper into the rugged terrain between truth and myth, fiction and reality to find out what happened – if he can. Mylius-Erichsen, Høgh Hagen, and Jørgen Brønlund died in the wilderness, but the expedition’s search team only found Brønlund’s dead body and did not even look for the other two. But why not? In his poetic and imaginative signature style, Max Kestner pays tribute to Holberg’s curiosity and to the fundamental human desire to satisfy it. ‘Every time you move closer, new worlds appear,’ says Kestner about his own working method. That movement is performed with humour and grace in his new film. (CPH:DOX 2018 programme)

Max Kestner: Slette omstændigheder, Danmark 2018, 60 min. Manuskript: Max Kestner og Henrik Veileborg. Fotografi: Max Kestner. Klip: Nanna Frank Møller. Produktion: Upfront Films, producer: Henrik Veileborg. Distribution: Vistes på CPH:DOX 2018 og i DR.TV nogle dage. Vises nu i Humle Bio 23. april 19.00.

http://humlebio.dk/OrderMovieTicket.aspx?showId=9085 (Billetter til forestillingen i Humlebæk 23. april 19.00

http://www.upfrontfilms.dk/films2.php?mit_indhold_id=2&films_id=17 (Upfont Films om sin film)

https://www.dfi.dk/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/film/slette-omstaendigheder (DFI om filmen)

FilmHotel und FilmUni Konrad Wolf

I live for several days at the Hotel am Griebnitzsee, which is wonderfully situated – as the name indicates – and the last two day I have been breakfasting in the terrasse of the hotel. Frühling is hier – in Potsdam, where the hotel is full of film: old cameras, photos. I pass every morning ten photos of the one and only ”die Asta” (Nielsen), Danish film star, who was acting in many films in Germany (1881-1972) before WW1 and after up to the end of the thirties, where she returned to Denmark. The only true film star we ever have had in Denmark.

At the Film University I have met 10-15 (depending on the days) dedicated film students (camera and direction and one from animation). They have seen and discussed films like ”Cameraperson” by Kirsten Johnson and ”Wongar” by Andrijana Stojkovic. The latter was awarded the other day in Belgrade, I am happy to say that it worked fine with the young German students, who have also heard their teacher talk about Agnès Varda, Frederick Wiseman, Miroslav Janek, Kossakovsky, Loznitsa, Pennebaker, Robert Frank, Herz Frank, Juris Podnieks, Maysles… and many others. And pitching and market.

This third day, however, has been the day of student films to be shown and discussed. Have to say it has been both joy- and fruitful, open discussions and constructive criticism. Tomorrow is the last day, we are to see Stasik`s ”21 x New York” and wrap up trying to define what is a documentary today.

Thanks to Peter Badel and Daniel Abma, who got me here and have treated me so well.

PS. Forgot to say that Rahul Jain passed by yesterday to show his masterpiece ”Machines” in one of the big cinemas that the school has. Rahul is excellent in talking about his film and where the inspiration came from.

Baltic Frames i Aarhus

Det her skrives på dansk for vi skal have folk i Aarhus og omegn i biografen, hvor de skal se baltiske film. Det foregår i kunstbiografen Øst for Paradis og det er ifølge arrangøren Det Danske Kulturinstitut i de baltiske lande ”(en) perlerække af rørende, morsomme og dybsindige film”, som er valgt ud, (også) for at lykønske de baltiske lande med 100-årsjubilæet. Endnu et citat: “For 100 år siden, i 1918, kunne Estland, Letland og Litauen for første gang erklære sig selvstændige stater. Filmfestivalen Baltic Frames 2018 er en dansk markering af dette vigtige jubilæum for tre lande, der de seneste 100 år har gennemlevet radikale omvæltninger. Et konstant element i de tre landes udvikling har været fornemme filmtraditioner, der også helt aktuelt fostrer medrivende og nyskabende produktioner.”

Det er sandt, hvad såvel Allan Berg og jeg, redaktører af filmkommentaren.dk har erfaret siden vi mødte baltiske film på Bornholm for 25 år siden på festivalen Balticum Film & TV Festival. Efterfulgt af ture til de dejlige lande.

Festivalen Baltic Frames åbnes på fredag 6. april med en af verdens bedste

dokumentarfilm, “Ten Minutes Older” af Herz Frank – den varer ti minutter, blev lavet i 1978 – og er optakt til aftenens nye internationale cykelsport-hit, “Wonderful Losers. A Different World” af Arunas Matelis, en film og en instruktør som har fyldt vore spalter i de seneste uger.

To andre – meget forskellige – dokumentarer, som har gået deres sejrsgang verden over på festivaler er “Liberation Day” af Letten Ugis Olte, der sammen med norske Morten Traavik besøgte Nordkorea med legendariske kultband Laibach, som optræder foran et måbende publikum. Spektakulært og musik for fuldt drøn, med de begrænsninger der var for et besøg i Nordkorea. Den er på programmet lørdag 7. April – dagen efter vises Audrius Stonys “Woman and the Glacier”, et af hoverdværkerne i den poetiske dokumentar, som balterne er så gode til.

Hele programmet kan ses ved at klikke på linket nedenfor. Hvis du vil vide mere om de nævnte film, er der links tilgængelige, også nedenfor. 

https://www.danishculture.com/baltic-frames-filmfestival-i-oest-for-paradis/?lang=da

Herz Frank: http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3393/

Wonderful Losers: http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4048/

Liberation Day: http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3752/

Audrius Stonys & Woman and Glacier: http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/2296/

Martovski Festival Awards Andrijana Stojkovic

Two days ago Martovski Festival = The March Festival, 65th edition = Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival gave the main award for Best Long Documentary to Andrijana Stojkovic for “Wongar”. If you click below you can read what I have written about this extraordinary film that had the director go to and fro the editing room for years. It was worthwhile and my hope is now that the film will have the festival life it deserves – and maybe one or two tv stations as well, if they dare celebrate a high quality creative documentary. Here is the English translation of the jury motivation:

Out of the thematically strong selection the jury decided to award the film that distinguished itself by its minimalism, modesty, wisdom, cinematic value and a purposeful and rounded film form. A film about a foreigner in a foreign country, who, after his life spent in recording and fighting for the voice and rights of those who are systematically abolished, is seen in the old age. Old age marked by attention and calmness devoted to the dingos with whom he lives, wild dogs in which he recognised and found his mysteriously missing family, wife and children.

By making a conscious decision the author Andrijana Stojković does not explain to us the film, does not impose an attitude and an opinion about her hero, does not use the medium as a platform to hold historical or moral lessons to the audience. The director decided only to show us – without external interventions – to hand us over the universe she deals with in the film. This she accomplishes with long, melancholic and static shots that carefully capture the details of that world, at the same time submerging us in its rhythm, rules and values.

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4137/

http://martovski.rs/en/