New Top Portraits

After a long time with three male directors, three female directors go to the top of the filmkommentaren.dk:

Maite Alberti, Agnès Varda, Giedre Zickyte.

Maite Alberdi, Chilean director, is known for her warm-hearted films, to be mentioned ”Tea Time” from 2014 and ”The Grown-Ups” from 2016, many times awarded, both of them got the main award at DocsBarcelona. She co-directed in 2016 the short film ”I’m Not from Here”, a gem of a documentary, with, to the right

Giedre Zickyte from Lithuania, who made the beautiful love story ”Master and Tatyana” in 2014, introducing to us the superb photographer Vitas Luckus and his dramatic life in Soviet Lithuania. Before that, in 2011, she had made ”How We Played the Revolution” that goes back to 1984, the beginning of perestroika in the USSR, where the rock group Antis had an impact on the fall of the empire…

Agnès Varda is in the middle, 89 years old master of cinema, who needs no further introduction for her volume of short films, fiction and documentaries, the latest – together with photographer JR – ”Faces, Places”, full of energy and originality.

Docudays – TV and Documentaries

Angelina Kariakina from Hromadske (google it, interesting online channel) was the moderator and she did a good job, keeping the panel engaged:

Olga Zakharova from Media Group Ukraine that includes a big commercial tv channel, Ivan Bukreev from NLO TV channel, also a commercial channel and Kenan Aliyev from the Russian language TV channel (started in 2014) Current Time TV.

The questions for the three dealt with the possibility of matching the documentary film sector and its productions with television. The two Ukrainian channel representatives mentioned what they had done in terms of documentary broadcast, not a lot, but some series and the sentence ”our audience is not interested in documentaries” came back again and again; the audience go to our channel to get away from problems of social and political nature – words to that effect.

Whereas Kenan Aliyev told the audience that his channel buys into 100 documentaries per year, being an alternative to the official Russian tv channels, ”a project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in cooperation with the Voice of America” with a budget to be approved by the American Congress. We have to prove that we reach an audience, Aliyev said, being proud to say that the documentaries are more watched by his audience than the news.

Aliyev, based in Prague, has set up shorter documentary shows called ”Unknown Russia” and ”Unknown Ukraine”, and he has a slot called ”Real Cinema”, where Vitaly Manski presents the documentaries coming to the channel. The same Manski is now finishing a film, supported by Current Time TV, called ”Putin’s Witnesses” dealing with how Putin came to power. He showed a clip from the film and on the screen waiting to be shown as well, but there was no time for that, was ”Lida” (PHOTO) by Anna Eborn, bravo, a fine piece of creative documentary. I have met Aliyev several times now, in Riga for the Baltic Sea Docs, in Prague for the East Doc Platform and now here. He is very interested in collaboration with festivals. Good news in times where public broadcasters in Europe are cutting down, playing a minor role in support of documentaries.

docudays.ua/eng/2018/events

Docudays: Looking for Lenin

Up, up, up the slippery street Andriyivskyy Uzviz to the fine Triptych Gallery together with Da’rya Averchenko and Roman Bondarchuk to watch the exhibition ”Looking for Lenin”, Da’rya chose the photo to accompany the text: Gagarin, Stalin and Lenin watching television! And here comes a copy paste of a text from the website of the festival, more to be found via link below:

”Ukraine’s Leninfall is perhaps the most sensational of symbolic purges in the contemporary world, but not the only one. Swiss photojournalist Niels Ackermann and French journalist Sébastien Gobert travelled extensively across Ukraine in the wake of the Revolution of Dignity in search of the fragments of the crumbling Soviet past. Myroslava Hartmond, a contributor to their joint book of the same name, which was published in 2017, and managing director of the Triptych: Global Arts Workshop gallery in Kyiv, reflects on the importance of taking stock of fallen Lenins in the context of this year’s theme of equality. The project is supported by the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine and the Journées francophonie 2018 programme.

Niels Ackermann and Sébastien Gobert’s ‘Looking for Lenin’ is a snapshot of a country in crisis that captures Ukraine at war with its past, its Russian neighbour, and its identity. The series, which reveals the different fates of statues across the breadth of the country, had great success in the global media, became the basis of a book of the same name published in the UK and Switzerland, and has been exhibited in France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Lebanon. All over the world, Ukrainian Lenin was cited as an example. Because this series resonated with the reassessment of the symbolic vocabulary of cities worldwide – the Rhodes Must Fall campaign in South Africa and the UK, the removal of Confederate monuments in the US, as well as heightened sensitivity to Belgian colonial statues…”

http://docudays.ua/eng/2018/news/docu-info/photo-exhibition/

Warscape Winner Work-in Progress

At Docudays 2017 the winner of the Warscape competition was a film project with Valeriya Treshchova as the director. A film about herself living in Kiev with her father and mother living in Donetsk. In other words, in the war zone. When she pitched the project, she had very little material, first and foremost some skype conversations with her father, who suffered from amnesia. I am writing this in the past as her father passed away a couple of months ago. This is how the director presented the film a year ago:

“This film is a “message about hopelessness”. Hopelessness of war will be shown through the story of my father, whom I knew totally different before this war. Now I learn to show my feelings and to forgive, because ‘tomorrow’ can never occur. The war reminds us about it every second. My dad is trying to regain his life, being trapped into double isolation between his lost memory and new uneasy reality of his hometown”.

I was invited to attend a rough cut screening at the festival the other day together with representatives from the Red Cross, who has supported the film as has the festival, and the teacher of young Treshchova, acclaimed Ukrainian director Sergey Bukovsky. The screening was hosted by Darya Bassel from the festival.

What we saw was very promising. The film, right now with the working title ”Double Trap”, portrays the father in a beautiful way, a charismatic smiling man with a daughter, who goes back home to mum and dad, to a place, where there is reason to be scared. The father enjoys his music, Jethro Tull, John Mayall etc., takes his daughter to his childhood’s school, does the dishes in the kitchen, sits there and gets his pills from his wife, remembers back in time but has no comments to the war going on, which could be the reason for his amnesia. Bukovsky told us about the family archive that could be part of the film as well, bringing back a time where reality was quite different. The ambition is to make a feature documentary.

Look out for this film, representatives for autumn doc festivals.

Last Men in Aleppo..in Kiev

I have just come back from giving an introduction to a screening of “Last Men in Aleppo”, written and directed by Feras Fayyad, produced by Kareem Abeed and Søren Steen Jespersen Larm Film Denmark, co-directed by Steen Johannessen. A screening in Ukraine Cinema in Kiev within the program of the Docudays ua festival. Full house = close to 500 people in the cinema. Most of them young people. The reason for me giving this introduction was that the Danish ambassador could not be present – I did not mind saying some few words about the film that is winning awards all over = meaning, much more important, that it is shown globally. And I passed some words about my personal experience being in Damascus for the DoxBox documentary festival until it had to stop in 2011, alas. The director of the festival, Orwa Nyrabia, is now appointed director of IDFA festival Amsterdam! There IS an audience for documentaries, also in Kiev at the Docudays festival, I have attended three screenings with full houses and one with 300 spectators, Arunas Matelis, “Wonderful Losers”, this afternoon. It’s all very professionally organised. More will follow, and on behalf of the Embassy of Denmark and Danish documentary it’s nice to see not only “Last Men in Aleppo” but also “Distant Barking of Dogs” by Simon Lereng Wilmont, “Lida” by Anna Eborn and “Bobbi Jene” by Elvira Lind.

http://docudays.ua/eng

CPH:DOX 2018/ 12 Days

RAYMOND DEPARDON: 12 DAYS

Wow – Raymond Depardon’s latest film 12 Days made a deep impression. It is simple, powerful, sober and precise.

In France, a citizen who is involuntarily committed to psychiatric treatment has, within 12 days, the right to have his case overlooked by a judge, and it is this meeting between the patient, the mental health system and the system of justice Depardon examines in his documentary.

The film opens up with the camera moving slowly through the empty corridors of the closed ward of a psychiatric hospital ending up in front of the locked door, immediately installing the claustrophobic sense of being deprived of one’s freedom. It sounds like a cliché as I write it, but in the film it’s an important and very powerful scene.

When we are in the small court room with the patient, his or her lawyer and the judge, every case opens up to poignant, universal and fundamental questions of ethical, societal and political order.

No one is being judged or demonized and there are no easy answers, but the imbalance of power within the system is clearly visible.

How do you oppose when authority has decided what is “in your interest”? Are the lines blurred between incarceration and forceful psychiatric commitments? Is the system reacting adequately when there are children involved? Why medicalization and not psychotherapy? What if symptoms of work harassment are mistaken for a psychiatric diagnosis of the individual? Should you have the right to decide whether you want to live or not? These questions are put forward by the psychiatric patients themselves who, in their own words and in a language so different from that of the medical and jurisdictional officials, arguments clearly and rationally.

This is the patients’ opportunity to have their voice heard. The majority (but not all) of the films cases opposes to the medical decision of their forced hospitalization, and they have the right to appeal the verdict of the judge, who is practically always in agreement with the psychiatric expertise. But the judge agrees when one patients states that she won’t appeal because it would be of no use: “That’s exactly it, it would be of no use at all”. “Thank you for your abuse of power” as another patient bluntly puts it.

Besides the corridor scenes (a returning theme) and the court room sessions, 12 Days is composed of a number of carefully framed images of the surroundings of the hospital, grey everyday life, that works as tableaux of society as we have organized it.

A truly cinematic examination of a crucial ethical subject by a master eye, 6 pens without hesitation.

DocuDays Kiev Ukraine: Equality/ 2

Look at the photo, an elderly couple studying the program waiting for the opening of the 15th edition of DocuDays UA. My wife, Ellen, and I have been here several times, the hospitality is always warm and generous and the program, 62 films this year and masterclasses, pitchings, photo exhibitions, you can not have any objections to. For the first time there is a special competition for Ukrainian feature films, 6 of them, I will try to watch as many as possible. The opening included great live music to accompany trailers for the many sections, good speeches around the theme of equality, again, alas, all of us standing up with yellow papers saying “Free Oleg Sentsov”, and the very obvious choice of an opening film “A Woman Captured” by Hungarian Bernadett Tuza-Ritter. With a fine Q&A afterwards. The opening took place at the new Zhovten Cinema that has – hope I am right – 4 cinema halls and meeting places. The festival people are committed, they have something to say about their country and the world and human rights. And Bravo again to Sweden that is the main sponsor of the festival. And it is not pocket money! The sun is shining outside Hotel Rus where I am right now waiting for the day program to start. I’ll be back with reports and reviews.

http://docudays.org.ua/

Awards at CPH:DOX

The winner of Dox:Award 2018 is ‘The Raft’ ( PHOTO) by the Swedish director Marcus Lindeen, which tells the story of one of the strangest social experiments of all times – told by those who took part in it.

The jury states:

“The winner of the DOX:AWARD 2018 is a film about an endless curiosity for the world and the characters who try to survive in it. Its great accomplishment lies in the equal measure of conceptual and emotional elements in the construction, in which feelings and emotions get literally elevated. Two very different forms are intertwined and merge surprisingly well: we see love, companionship and stamina triumph over darker sides of human behavior. We applaud the director for his stamina to continue working on this extensive and complex project until it reached a form where it looks deceptively effortless to the innocent eye. This jury is not innocent but we were nevertheless captivated and very moved by this film.

The jury perceives the film as a unique record of time and

culture, of aging and ultimately, a monument to the courage of people formerly known as the weaker sex, who embark on a journey into the unknown.

We cannot imagine a better metaphor for what it is we’re all trying to do everyday in the documentary field. We’re proud to announce a film that oozes CPH:DOX from all its pores, in its perfect marriage of form and content, of humanity and aesthetics: we’re delighted to announce as the winner of the DOX:AWARD 2018: The Raft, by Marcus Lindeen.”

The winner of the F:ACT Award is ‘Laila at the Bridge’ by Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei. A powerful film about a woman who is willpower in its purest form.

The jury states:

“In a time where the media leaves societal issues behind after long ages of war documenting the repercussion of conflict this film stands out for its vivid realism, unflinching focus on the fraught reality of a very human story. A story that ultimately we are all collectively responsible for.

In Kabul, full of scars and disappointment, we meet a true hero who tries to catch the faded hope in the eyes of thousands of opium addicts living under a bridge.  They rather take drugs than eat bread and the price is almost the same, but the consequences unbearable. But Layla Haidary has a mission and she fights every day to save lives without any support from a corrupt government. Breaking rules and social norms of a woman’s place in Afghanistan, Laila remains resilient and brave.

Meanwhile, the two directors remain persistent and engaged, carrying the flow of the film with honesty and agility, turning their investigation into an ethical mission despite the danger and risks they undertake to fulfill it. Juxtaposing their hero with a horrid environment and a countless number of people and issues aiming at portraying her as a true archetype, entangled in the world’s tragedy but never shying away from her near constant hope to change her world and the world. The award goes to: ‘Laila at the Bridge’ by Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei.”

The winner of the New:Vision Award is the film ‘Wild Relatives’ by Jumana Manna.

The jury states:

“In a diverse selection of New:Vision-ary works in which Nature is understood both as Presence and the Present that defines us, the New:Vision jury has selected an ambitious work of non-fiction that draws a multi-dimensional Venn Diagram in which disparate geographies, contemporary geo-politics and Agro-Feminism intersects in the  form of a cinematic seed pod. For its optimism, empathy, and agility in engaging with the present, the New:Vision Award goes to Wild Relatives.”

The winner of the Nordic:Dox Award is the film ‘Lykkelænder’ by the Danish director Lasse Lau.

The jury states: 


“The Award goes to a film that challenges in both perception of those portrayed and through its form of representation. The winning film reflects upon historical imbalance with charm and playful questioning of those relationships in the present. This new voice presents a polyphonic cinematic topography that travels beyond borders. The Nordic:Dox Award goes to Lykkelænder.”

The winner of the Next:Wave Award is the film ‘Beautiful Things’ by the Italian directors Giorgio Ferrero & Federico Biasin.

The jury states:

“The award goes to an original film that marries boldness, style, meaning, precision and surprise: Beautiful Things by Giorgio Ferrero & Federico Biasin.”

The winner of the Politiken Audience Award is ‘False Confessions’ by the director Katrine Philp, a legal thriller about a pro-bono idealist’s work for justice in a cynical justice system.

https://cphdox.dk/

 

 

CPH:DOX 2018/ Dreaming Murakami

NITESH ANJAAN: DREAMING MURAKAMI

As a writer and film maker who is quite interested in (and even feel an affinity for) the Japanese author Haruki Murakami, I felt almost obliged to be disappointed and a bit bitter after watching this film. I just knew that about myself because I’m petty and jealous.

But lo and behold: I found that this is a good film and that you should see it.

The film discreetly and knowingly follows Danish translator, Mette Holm, and her work on one of Murakami’s first novels (first published in Denmark last year). At the same time an alternative world is introduced in different ways. Most prominently by a giant frog (inspired by the Murakami-story “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo” from the collection “After the Quake”) and for instance more subtly by adding another moon in a couple of scenes (inspired by the three-volume novel “1Q84”).

It actually works surprisingly elegant due to very convincing VFX. As we follow Holm, her thoughts and her talks with colleagues in a somewhat “normal” documentary style and therefore are forced to activate our cognitive skills, we are also introduced to that special other-world, which is so prominent – but feels truly “natural” – in his novels. So not only are we getting closer to the work of the translator (I actually prefer Holm’s translations and has stopped reading him in English), we are also getting a sense of the special characteristics of the authorship.

At some point, we are let to believe that the film’s climax will be at the Royal Danish Library where Holm will be on stage with Murakami himself after he has been given the “Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award”, but – SPOILER ALERT – I happened to know that THAT wouldn’t happen. They gave the performance, yes, but he just won’t appear on film.

Of course, that must be a bit disappointing for the average viewer – and it does amputate the film a bit – but at the end of the day, director Anjaan (still a pupil at Danish Film School) still offers us a great deal.

The film was selected for IDFA (Panorama section) and is currently featured at CPH:DOX.

PS. How did I know that Murakami wouldn’t appear in the film? Because we’ve tried ourselves for another project, and actually there is a small and somewhat crazy follow-up story in Danish here on that story: http://mikkelstolt.dk/extras/. Look for “PÅ JAZZKLUB MED MR. M.”.

Dreaming Murakami, dir. Nitesh Anjaan, 58 min., 2017

CPH:DOX 2018/ Giants…

ALEXANDER RYNÉUS, MALLA GRAPENGIESSER, PER BIFROST: GIANTS AND THE MORNING AFTER

I saw a clip of this Swedish documentary in Malmø at the DocIncubator presentation of new projects in connection with the Nordisk Panorama. Promising it was and I was not disappointed, when I saw the final result, a warm and beautifully shot documentary from the small community Ydre; quite right decision of the organisers to put the film in the main competition of CPH:DOX.

There he is, Sven-Inge, the mayor who welcomes new citizens to Ydre by going to the parents and the baby with a small welcome gift for the latter – encouraging the parents to continue to make babies in a town suffering from depopulation. Around 3000 they are but there is a slight increase, which makes the old white-bearded man happy. You see him often in the film studying the population statistics, when he is not taking part in the many activities that the film crew has caught so well during filming over several seasons.

And there are other characters of importance – the owner of the

sawmill, a third generation factory, that has problems to overcome but succeeds. You see him with his wife, and you see him in a lovely scene with his daughter, where they are decorating the xmas tree. Daughter: Cool down, let’s have a nice and quiet xmas, she says. Father is stressed but ”yes, and Aleppo is liberated”! Dialogues like that pop up in the film in situations of understated humour that there are so many of. The film lives from situations that are put very well together following the seasons.

And for a jealous Dane: Swedish summer, forest, it’s green, lakes, cows, horses and blond young girls and boys, who sing and dance, when it is mid summer and make activities like setting up ”Annie”. There is a positive welcome attitude to immigrants and to the parliament member, who come to learn about the problems the community have, like falling prices on milk.

11 meter tall Bule and the saga about him, the Giant, the symbol of Ydre, is embracing the film and its characters, Sven-Inge and his lovely citizens in a film that is much more than a report from a depopulated town due to the excellent cinematic storytelling that made me sit with a smile the whole film along. This is how life, according to the filmmaker’s interpretation, should be lived in small towns!

https://cphdox.dk/program/film/?id=722