… took place at Westbad, a former venue for the citizens to go to swim. Now turned into one big room for concerts, conferences and the prize ceremony of the 60 year old festival. Tables were put up with wine and snacks, very nice, as was the performance of the conferencier, former MDR commissioning editor Claudia Schreiner. Not an easy job – seven Golden Doves and an overall total of 21 awards, comprising €73.500 – and it was not her fault that the ceremony took almost three hours.

One who contributed to the overtime was the spokesperson for the Interreligious Jury. She talked and talked and came up with a harsh criticism of the festival for its selection and lack of political films. Schreiner, as conferencier, opposed her on stage and the producer of ”The Congo Tribunal”, Arne Birkenstock, used his thank you speech for an honorary mention to the film to make a pretty tough attack on the jury spokesperson for saying – in German that many in the audience do not understand – that 11 films out of the 12 in the main competition were bad. His speech was warmly welcomed. Also festival director Leena Pasanen felt that she had to make the comment that the festival does not look for films that directly point to what the filmmaker wants the audience to think. Of course not.

No reason to hide that this incident – a jury member that makes a strong critique of the selection, a jury member from the Interreligious jury! – did take away some of the good atmosphere of the ceremony, especially because we non-fluent-in-German-language did not get what was going on.

Having said so, it was great to have competent filmmakers and –

lovers on the stage to make professional motivations for their choices. Heddy Honigmann giving an honorary mention to Aliona vand der Horst for ”Love is Potatoes”, the master to her pupil, Rod Stoneman reminding us about the strength of the short film, and Jay Rosenblatt, who was the one-man-jury for the Next Masters section, honouring three films, ”The Strange Sound of Happiness” by Italian Diego Pascal Panarello, ”Delta” by Ukrainian Oleksandr Techinskyi and South Korean director Boram Kim for “Baek-gu”. Four South Korean young women were on stage to receive the award. Thank you speech in their own language…

You can read about all the awards on the site of the festival. Here is a quote from the press release mentioning the three main winners:

The Romanian-born filmmaker Ana Dumitrescu has won the prestigious Golden Dove in the International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film, granted by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR). In “Licu, a Romanian Story” (PHOTO) (“Licu, o poveste românească”), the former photojournalist films Liviu Canţer, aka Licu, as he shares his memories of the 20th century and all its extremes. In an intimate atmosphere, the 92-year-old talks of the war, expulsions and the post-communist era. During the course of the film, the director becomes more of a visitor than an observer and a relationship based on trust develops between her and her protagonist. The jury praised her approach: “This way goes directly to our hearts, creating a filmic journey which lasts only 86 minutes but for us it is a life lesson.” 

Two of Dumitrescu’s other documentaries have already been released in French cinemas. 

The Golden Dove in the German Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film was awarded to the Israeli-German coproduction “Muhi – Generally Temporary” by Rina Castelnuovo-Hollander and Tamir Elterman. Muhi, a six-year-old boy was born in the Gaza Strip. He has an auto-immune disease and has spent most of his life in an Israeli hospital, accompanied by his grandfather. Even when his hands and feet are amputated, he demonstrates strength and optimism. 

The film was co-produced by the Leipzig-based production company “Neue Celluloid Fabrik”.

The South Korean director Boram Kim won the Golden Dove in the Next Masters Competition for “Baek-gu” („Gae-ui-yeok-sa“). With the help of an old limping dog, the filmmaker becomes acquainted with the inhabitants of a calm district of Seoul, who all seem to live in separate worlds. The prize, which is donated by the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig, provides financial support to kickstart another film project. The 20-year-old Norwegian filmmaker Maja Arnekleiv won the Golden Dove for the best animated documentary film for her debut “Mum’s Hair” (“Mammas hår”). She captured the physical transformation of her mother – diagnosed with cancer – over two years. She then compiled over 2000 images to create a playful and personal montage of positive memories.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/

 

The introduction of a ”Next Masters Competition” at DOKLeipzig is an excellent idea. I have seen some of the choices for this year and so far one stands out, the Ukrainian ”Delta” by Oleksandr Techynski. It lives up to the reasons I give when asked why I often praise Eastern European documentaries:

It is multilayered, it has a clear aesthetic choice with a skilled camerawork that suits the theme or rather the location, it’s a Film: the delta of the Danube, a kind of Klondyke, where people live under harsh chaotic conditions and where men with worn faces struggle their way through the reed that they harvest to sheaf, to bring in to be sold. They work in all kind of weather – ice cold winters, and under milky foggy skies. Most often on a boat as you can see on the photo, where a man lies dead drunk next to wood that has been cut down to stump. But it is also a place where the transport of a dead body demands quite an effort. There are some moments, where the film takes the viewer inside a house, where a grown-up son has his hair cut by his mother and there are many scenes with vodka being drunk. Lots of focus on faces.

Stylistically there is a move on the film, a flow that is carried by painting-like images superbly composed, no music (thank you for that!). No message, it seems to me that the director wants to say: this is what I saw, he keeps a distance, he interprets with his images, he is not from there, he observes.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/

I have not (yet) been able to watch all films in the international competition for long documentaries – there are 12 – but I want to highlight two, which could deserve an award tonight:

Experienced Aliona van der Horst has made a wonderful film, ”Love is Potatoes” (Netherlands, 2017, 90 mins.) that takes place in the countryside in Russia, where her mother grew up before she as a grown-up married a Dutchman and moved with him. Her mother had five sisters. Van der Horst goes to the small house (PHOTO), meets up with cousins as she is inheriting 6 square meters of the house! It’s a film, where she wants to find out what kind of life her mother had in Stalinist Soviet Union. She looks at photos, she talks to cousin Tanya, to aunt Liza, who does not remember any big problems, ”all was normal”, but it was NOT, she slowly finds out – women were dying in the corn fields, 1933, the deadly famine… Van der Horst uses (brilliant) animation by Italian Simone Massi and what is so unique about the film showing the safe hand of the director: the quiet, non-dramatic tone of the film and some unforgettable scenes like the one, where she puts all the shoes on the floor, lots of shoes… why, the male cousin asks, because they did not have shoes, so after the famine… The film has touching scenes: the mother, still alive but not able to talk, to react to the daughter’s questions. The daughter/director looking at photos of her mother as young. Yes, I can identify. Great film.

”The Congo Tribunal” by Milo Rau is an amazing achievement by the film&theatre director. He set it all up, two tribunals, he found his characters to come to one tribunal in Congo, one in Berlin, he shot a lot of material in the country, he has witnesses to the many massacres talk, he has so-called experts analyse the mining industry and its international players. A fictional tribunal, a documentary theatre, but one that brings forward the human atrocities of a country that seldom is on the front pages of the media. It is full of strong moments and characters. After this film I want to know more, to understand better what has happened and what is happening in the tormented country forgotten by the EU and and the UN.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/

One of the many good things at the DOK Leipzig is the market, where you go with your 300 page catalogue to choose between 272 films from 66 countries! You have your code, you find a film, put on your headphones and you watch a film in good quality on the monitor. All films screened in the festival cinemas are there but you can also find small pearls that did not make it to the competition like ”Country of Women” from Belarus, by young Aliaksei Paluyan, who lives in Germany and in Belarus.

Look at the photo, she is one of the four women in the film, who are introduced one after the other, tell about their lives, sing a song or two, while they take the viewer around in their houses. She lived 56 years together with her husband, ”a peaceful life together”, she is full of life as are the other three, although two of them had a tougher life. One has been a widow for decades, the other says ”I suffered with him for 40 years” – alcohol. It’s memories, it’s survival and it’s put together in a simple montage with shots from the landscape surrounding the village and storks who reside on the houses. And the singing is wonderful.

Go to the website, link below, look at the photos and the trailer; fine film by the director, who prepares a new one, ”People from the Moor”. He asked me if it was a good idea to take it to the training programme Ex Oriente. Indeed! That’s where talents can grow.

Belarus, 26 mins., 2017

http://www.countryofwomen.com/

Festival director of DOK Leipzig Leena Pasanen regrets the lack of female directors in the German competition for long documentaries. She wants to do something about it, read this from the opening of the festival monday night:

“Women in film business have been in the headlines over the last weeks, but once again not for the reasons they should be there, as celebrated directors.

Unfortunately, our news are not good either. In the German competition for long films, we only have one female director as a co-director.  After a strong year in 2016, we are again in this situation.

We have checked our statistics and we can see, that every second or third year, there is a lack of female directors in German competition for long documentaries. This is the case even when the number of submitted films and the selection criteria stay the same. What is wrong?

It would be easy to blame others, say that we are just the receiving end, and the problem is in funding and production. There surely are structural issues, and we need a proper research to look into the problem. But it is also our duty as one of the leading festivals to push for the change. For the film selection of 2018 and 2019 the head of the selection committee Ralph Eue and I have decided to put a quota in our German Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film for female filmmakers. I’m well aware that there will be strong voices against this quota, also from women filmmakers, but I can only say, sometimes you need strong decisions to break the tradition and push for a change.  We cannot have another year, without female voices in German competition.”

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/

At the Jihlava Intl. FF they have a fine tradition that has been picked up by other festivals: to have a one man/woman jury for one of the competitive sections, the Opus Bonum.

Legendary filmmaker from Latvia Laila Pakalnina was the one to choose this year according to this rule (quote from the festival site): … an outstanding documentary film of the year from a diverse collection representing tendencies in world documentary; since all of the films are significant, the festival suggest the following game; a single juror picks a single film, a “brilliant” work…

The Best World Documentary Film 2017 was – according to Pakalnina: ”The Wall” by Dmitry Bogolubov. Motivation: ”For using the film language to express the inexpressible. For Film”.

The synopsis goes like this: ”The Stalin Cult is once again gaining

in strength in Russia. Every December 21st, the former Communist leader’s admirers gather to honor him on Red Square, at the site of his grave in the Kremlin Wall. In this observational documentary, the Russian director introduces the principle of “walking heads” – the majority of the footage consists of long takes showing the faces of the people waiting in line to place flowers and pay homage in front of a bust of Stalin. Accompanied by the sound of shuffling feet, a representative sample of various human types parades in front of our eyes, their faces reflecting almost a sacred reverence for a man who was responsible for the murder of several millions of their fellow citizens.”

And the director’s note to his film: “Imagine thousands of Jews praying to Hitler’s grave. Impossible? How people can worship the one who annihilated them? In modern Russia we can witness a similar paradox.”

Does it work this observation of people, who come with flowers to the mass murderer? In 43 minutes, no commentary, pure observation of faces, old people mostly, close-ups, only once a young man addresses one single person, who protests against the hommage: ”… those who do not respect Stalin, should die…”

I felt a bit like when I watched ”Austerlitz” by Loznitsa (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3840/). It is challenging aesthetic approach, you have to ”get into it” before it works for you, these ”walking heads”. And you think why and who are they, what are their stories, why are so much linked to the past, what does that say about the present Russian society, now this year, 100 years after the revolution? And I think about what I read in Svetlana Alexievich’s documentary books (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3976/) about ”Homo Sovjeticus”.

I could identify one person in the crowd, Gennady Zuganov, who has been the general secretary of the Communist Party since 1993.

The British journalist Nick Holdsworth has written a fine review of the film, link below, on DOK Revue, one af many fine initiatives of the Czech festival. He praises the camera work of Vladimir Kuleshov, I agree totally.

http://www.dokrevue.cz/en/clanky/the-wall

http://www.ji-hlava.com/

https://www.feelingreality.com/wall

Russia, 2017, 43 mins.

For the fourth time the Antalya Film Forum took place. I was here last year as well and can say that the always smiling and positive Zeynep Atakan and her young female team has established an event that has grown and is run with professional generosity.

The documentary has found a place at the Forum – it is still a little brother but one that is taken care of and recognised. The six selected projects were all interesting one way or the other and I had the privilege to get to know the people behind the films to be. Through training and meetings.

The two jurors Sevdije Kastrati from Kosovo and Dennis Wheatley

from the UK chose the two winners, who both of them will get a development grant of 8000$. Not bad!

On the photo you see Kastrati handing over the award to Tayfur Aydin for his ”12 Years Later…”. The film is a kind of ”7UP” story. In the clip Aydin showed, kids, all Kurdish, attend a summer camp in 2007 and express what they want to be when they grow up. The location of the camp is in South-East of Turkey, in the region Batman close to the Syrian border. Some of the kids, now around 20 years of age have been to war. The place of the camp is today a ruin. The director wants to find some of the kids to see where they are in their lives. Did some of their dreams come through?

Also awarded was the charming ”Mimaroglu” to be directed by Serdar Kökceoglu with Dilek Aydin as one of the producers. Dilek Aydin was involved in two other projects that were awarded. She is one of those natural born pitchers, who can sell sand in Sahara! The project is a love story about Ilhan and Güngōr Mimaroglu, he being a man who developed the electronic music scene, she being politically active and several times emprisoned for her taking part in demonstrations in New York, where they lived. He became famous when he made music for Fellini’s ”Satyricon”.

There were two fine projects dealing with Cyprus. One, to be directed by Sevinc Baloglu with her daughter Su as the producer and one of the characters in a film, that has three other women taking part, two photographers and the 99 year old woman, who lives in the middle zone, also called the buffer zone. The other Cyprus film-to-be is ”Beats-N-Pieces” by Ekin Calisir, targeting a young audience, again a film about the absurd situation on the island, that has been divided since 1974.

Experienced film couple Orhan (the director) and Nurdan Tekeoglu (producer) took part with a film with a moving story, ”Time to Leave” about a father, whose son – living in Germany – turned ill and wanted to come back and live with the father in a cottage in a mountain area. The father prepares his return, but the son dies and the father regrets that he had no contact with the son, when he was in prison because of drugs.

Finally Alp Kamber presented ”The Quest”, which has 58 year old Yusuf, psychologist, as the main character. He was born in Kashmir, but left for Istanbul with his father; the mother stayed in the war zone. Yusuf has no idea if his mother is alive or dead. One day a phone call from the Indian embassy in Istanbul tells him that his mother might be alive. He decides to go to Kashmir to look for her, the film crew comes along.

www.antalyaff.com