Astra Film Festival in Sibiu Romania

… has existed since 1993 and offers a quality program, of course with a focus on what happens in current Romanian documentary but also with an international scope – the festival takes place October 16 to 22 in nice Sibiu. I was there some years ago and enjoyed the stay and the festival.

Let me quote from the site and urge you to get the whole picture through the link below:

”Voices of Doc is a theme section dedicated to authors whose names have become a synonym of authenticity and creativity in cinema. This section bring the latest works signed by three

authors: Wang Bing (China), believed to be the most prominent director of his time, Nikolaus Geyrhalter (Austria), an artist of cinema, famous for his fascinating images and his own rhythm, and Amos Gitai (Israel), a committed director, often vexatious and always controversial because of his uncompromising stance towards the eternal conflict in the Middle East. The films in this section are: Mrs. Fang (by Wang Bing), which has just won the Golden Leopard at Locarno, a disturbing and straightdforward film about the cultural transformation in present-day China, that transposes a millenary civilization into the model of a consumerist society; Homo Sapiens (Nikolaus Geyrhalter), the extraordinary and terrifying view of a post-human world, as disturbing as a SF thriller; and West of the Jordan River (Amos Gitai), the director’s journey into Palestinian territories taken over by Israel in an attempt to find solutions in the energy of the people he meets which politicians are unable to find.”

”Authenticity and creativity in cinema”… The festival has competitive sections and – as above – works with themes like ”post-truth”, ”the look of delusion”, ”a quest(ion) of identity”… and also at this festival days are dedicated to an industry programme that presents ”Romanian Docs in Progress” and ”financing and networking opportunities” with talks by Hanka Kastelicová on HBO Europe, Maja Lindquist on ”Doc Lounge” and being festival programmer for the Nordisk Panorama, and Vincent Lucassen who will ”introduce the work of UMW, an aggregator that offers a one-stop-shop solution to film makers and producers to exploit their films on global platforms like iTunes, Google, Amazon and Microsoft”.

And there is Bill Nichols, American film critic, talking about Herzog’s ”Grizzly Bear”. From the International competitive program let me mention ”Burma Storybook” (PHOTO) by Petr Lom and Corinne van Egeraat. From the section from central and Eastern Europe Polish ”Communion” by Anna Zamecka, ”Convictions” by Russian Tatiana Chistova and ”The Beast is Still Alive” by Mina Mileva and Vezela Kazakova – all written about on this site – not to forget Alexandru Solomon’s ”Tarzan’s Testicles”, a film that I will watch very very soon.

http://www.astrafilm.ro

Jihlava International Documentary FF

… takes place October 24 till October 29, DOKLeipzig starts October 30 and runs until November 5, 10 days later it is IDFA in Amsterdam. It is rather crowded with important documentary festivals within a month, one can say, I have before been able to jump from one to the other, this year I go to Leipzig and Amsterdam.

But let me start by commenting on some of many fine elements of the 21st festival in Jihlava in Czech Republic: 10 competition sections, including ”testimonies” on politics, knowledge and nature. Let me mention one fine title from each – ”Ghost Hunting” by Raed Andoni, ”… when you look away” by Phie Ambo and ”Wilder than Wilderness” by Marián Polák. I saw a clip from Polák’s film in Prague in March, very appealing, here is the synopsis: ”An expedition into the Czech countryside reveals the adventurous stories of plants and animals that take place all around us, and explores fascinating places where nature is returning after being devastated by man. The film, narrated by the filmmaker, captures the true wildness of nature and the course of filming.”

Film history is represented through a retrospective of films by legendary Jean Rouch and I would have loved to be in Jihlava to

salute Marcel Ophuls and re-watch ”Hotel Terminus” (1988), ”Munich or Peace in Our Times” (1967), ”The Memory of Justice” (1976) and ”The Sorrow and the Pity” (1969).

And there are masterclasses with Austrian director Andreas Horvath, who has made a film (PHOTO) on the Visconti-darling, actor Helmut Berger (ahhh, his role as Ludwig!), and with DoxBox Syrian documentarians, now based in Berlin, Diana El Jeiroudi and Orwa Nyrabia within the Ex Oriente training program led by Danish Mikael Opstrup together with Czech Filip Remunda and Ivana Pauerová Miloševićová.

The Institute of Documentary Film (IDF) is behind many of the activities in Jihlava, including the Silver Eye Awards. The nominations have been made for short, mid-length and feature docs. Decisions on the winners will be made in Jihlava. Click on the link below and take a look at the many good films that have been made in Central and Eastern Europe. In the feature section you will find Askold Kurov’s ”The Trial – the State of Russia vs. Oleg Sentsov”, Marcin Borchardt’s Polish archive portrait film ”The Beksinskis” and Glawogger/Willi’s ”Untitled”. To give you the diversity. Jihlava offers again a very rich program to its audience, local and professional visitors.

http://www.ji-hlava.com

https://dokweb.net/articles/?tag=6

Niewiera/Rosolowski: The Prince and the Dybbuk/ 2

I had high expectations to the new film by Elvira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski. I liked their ”Domino Effect”, link to the review below, and I have followed ”The Prince and the Dybbuk” through a read of the treatment and I  attended a clip presentation at the Krakow Film Festival. The expectations became even higher, when it was picked for the festival in Venice and won a big award. Had the couple succeeded to fulfill their ambitions to make a big, archive-based adventurous Film? YES they had! For me “The Prince and the Dybbuk” is a strong candidate to be the Documentary of the Year. I will tell you why in this review, but first an intro to the story. Here comes a synopsis borrowed from the catalogue of the festival in Venice:

The Story

Who was Moshe Waks really? A golden boy of cinema, cunning fraud or a man who constantly confused the illusion of film with reality? The son of a poor Jewish blacksmith from Ukraine, died in Italy as Prince Michaeł Waszyński, Hollywood producer and exiled Polish aristocrat. He made more than 50 films including cinema hits with Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale. However only one film was his true obsession—Der Dibuk (The Dybbuk)—based on an old Jewish legend, the most important and mystical Yiddish film ever made, directed by Waszyński shortly before the the outbreak of the World War II. To the american magazine “Variety” Waszyński once claimed to be fascinated with the downfall of great nations. The related imagery of pogroms and migration are the sights and images that Waszyński had so often witnessed in his life. It seems he had achieved almost everything he could possibly have wished, but something seemed to be stalking him, leaving him permanently restless. Waszyński kept searching for the lost print of his film Der Dibuk (The Dybbuk), which held his early memories of the jewish shtetl and his first love. What secrets did he keep hidden in this old masterpiece of Yiddish cinema?

An Elegant Man

Take a look at the photo above. Prince Waszyński smoking a cigarette, In his palazzo. An elegant man. Like a character in a film by Luchino Visconti – I wonder if the two met each other in Rome? I want to ask the directors, when I meet them. ”A very kind and gentle man” is another comment that comes from the widow of American director Joseph Mankiewicz, with whom he worked. Waszyński produced ”The Fall of the Roman Empire” (directed by Anthony Mann) with Sophia Loren and a scene in the film takes the viewer to the location, where it was shot and where the colossal scenery was set up. In most scenes like that, the film lets one, who was involved on that occasion, take us back in time to describe what Waszyński did. That is the information side of the film.

His popularity at the end of his life, in Rome, is proved at the start of the film through archive footage from his funeral: cut to a man who takes us to the grave and from there to relatives of the family Dickmann, to whom he was very close. He is buried at the family’s burial place…

The Mysterious Dybbuk

… that the man is looking for. And already here up front the film delivers some small blinks of b/w material to appear at the cemetery. Cinema, the film surprises me. This is the interpretation side of the film. The director’s cinematic note of intention through material that refers to his upbringing as a Jewish kid in Kovel in Ukraine. There is wonderful archive material from Jewish life – they looked into the camera at that early film time – and there are clips from the film ”Dybbuk”, that Waszyński made in 1937. The film continuosly comes back to the Dybbuk legend and the filmmakers go to Kovel to hear if there are old people, who remember him – his dates are1904-1965. There are. And they also go to Tel Aviv to meet with people with connection to the Ukrainian village. All in all, let me put that in here, it is a film, that is researched in details. Impressive work is done.

His Diaries

… are in themselves brilliant pieces of literature, as they are quoted and read in Jiddish. You get the sense of a man, who wanted to forget his past, who fled from Kovel, converted to being Catholic, made films in Warsaw, became a celebrity that was often in the Polish chronicles, when a new film came out, who fled the German occupation, was in Siberia, followed the Polish soldiers, who joined the Allies in Italy, filmed the Battle of Monte Cassino and made a film called ”The Unknown Man from Monte Cassino”. A long sequence from this film shows the protagonist being unable to remember, who he is and where he comes from. A clear reference to Waszyński, and his rich but tormented life. Director’s cinematic interpretation.

Towards the End

… of the film and the story of the life of the elegant man, the word ”mythomania” is mentioned. Was he a mythomaniac, or a liar, did he know how to play his cards in life. For the latter maybe. It is indicated – he married a countess, who died very quickly after their marriage and he inherited the fortune and the palazzo. In one of the most beautiful scenes in the film, again with a brilliant editing, you see his god-daughter Michaela walking around in an empty flat, she remembers him, talks so nicely about him, there are clips from how it appeared when he lived there – the mentioned cigarette scene – he was a true aristocrat, a Prince. Who was able to set his own life en scène. The film at no point goes in the tabloid direction, it mentions that he was probably gay, and there is an interview with one of his lovers but it is kept in a tone that keeps up the dignity of the man, who kept a lot for himself. It is actually an elegant film, with superb editing and a narrative structure, where the viewer gently is taken back to the Jiddish roots of Michal Waszyński. Back to the cemetery from the beginning of the film.

The film has a fine FB page.

Will be shown at the upcoming IDFA in the Best of Fests Category.

Poland, 2017, 81 mins.

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/2758/

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3942/

http://polishdocs.pl/en/news/3628/the_prince_and_the_dybbuk

(… at the Venice International Film Festival)

Chris Marker: Level 5

French computer programmer Laura tackles a challenging video game. She researches World War lI’s bloody Battle of Okinawa, the last pre-nuclear face-off between the US and Japan, interviews with Japanese experts and witnesses, including filmmaker Nagisha Oshima, cause Laura to reflect deeply on her own life and human kind. Will she be able to go beyond Level 5? A fascinating humanistic reflection on war, memory and history. (DOCAlliance synopsis)

This documentary uses fiction to address shared memory of the Battle of Okinawa. Laura tries to get to the most difficult stage, level 5, of the computer program left behind by her late husband. In this are revealed statements by Rev. Kinjo Shigeaki, who witnessed the mass suicide at Tokashiki Island; documentary footage of people jumping to their deaths from cliffs on Saipan Island; and the image of a soldier who lost his memory due to the Battle of Okinawa, portrayed in John Houston’s film Let There Be Light, which was banned from public viewing for thirty years. (Chris Markers synopsis)

Chris Markers film, både denne og de andre i den retrospektive serie, bliver tilsyneladende stående tilgængelige på DOCAlliances streaming. Det giver mig mod til at fortsætte mit forsøg på at se og skrive om så mange af hans film som muligt. Jeg vil gøre det på den måde, at jeg lader uregelmæssigheden i dette letsindige foretagende skinne igennem i mine blogindlæg, som jeg pludseligt afslutter på steder, jeg i skrivende øjeblik bliver nødt til, fordi kræfter og tanker svinder…

Men jeg sætter alle nye tekster ind i blogindlægget Chris Marker Collected posts & notes on his works som så lidt efter lidt vokser og bliver ved med at leve op til sin titel, mening og bestemmelse, ligesom Filmkommentaren.dk som blog (= ”weblog”, altså journal på nettet) forsøger lever op til sin genre, altså at notere Tue Steen Müllers, vore skrivende gæsters og mine kommentarer til filmene vi ser. Nu til Markers Level 5 fra 1997.

Det første billede er en hånd, hendes og-eller hans, med en computermus som bevæger sige søgende på sit underlag og på skærmen, som også er del af og snart bliver til filmens titelsekvens, som er en kaotisk collage af natlige bybilleder set højt oppe fra, skærmbilleder opløst i punkter og streger, klip med flag der blafrer i vinden, klip med et tv-interview med William Gibson og så kvindestemmen, med det samme uforglemmelig smuk, med denne tekst (på fransk) som er én lang replik, en af den slags scener i film jeg elskede lang tid før Markers, jeg tænker på Godards film, nogle af Bergmans film: ”What can these be, the playthings of a mad God who made us to build them for him? Imagine Neanderthal man glimpsing a flash of city at night, all motion and light. He can not tell what it means. He have had a poetic vision, all motion and light. A sea of lights. He can not unravel the the images that lands in his mind like birds swift, unreachable birds. Thoughts, memoires, visions are the same to him, a scary hallusination. Such was William Gibson’s vision when he wrote Neuromances and invented Cyperspace. He saw the Sargasso Sea full of binary algae…”

Det her er så et nødvendigt, men også godt sted for mig at standse for nu og tænke sig om, se efter igen (det er jo det streamingen giver mig mulighed for) og om lidt skrive videre. Jeg ved der nu kommer en kærlighedshistorie…

Frankrig 1997, 105 min. På DOCAlliance i den smukt restaurerede franske version med engelsksprogede tekster:

https://dafilms.com/film/10159-level-five (Streaming af hele filmen)

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3946/ (Chris Marker Collected posts & notes on his works) 

Award at the Aegean Docs festival to

… ”The Beast is Still Alive” by Bulgarian Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova as the best International Documentary of the 5th Aegean Docs in Greece, that was held October 1-6, in Mytilene on the island of Lesbos.

It is a film that I have reviewed on this site as an interview with myself (hmmm!), here is a quote, link for the whole thing below:

”The period of communism is not dealt with in the school books in current Bulgaria. You understand why, when you in the film, person by person, is told what this and this parliament member did during the years of communism and when you see and hear about the concentration camp Belene, where thousands of opposition people ended their lives. This is the strong side of the film, the focus on Bulgaria – present and past…”

The film that has created a lot of debate in Bulgaria (and anger from politicians) has been long on the festival circuit, which proves that the festival life of a film can be longer than the normally mentioned one year.

Go also to the first link to discover more about the fine small Greek festival. 

http://www.aegeandocs.gr/en/?cat=25

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3672/

http://beast-film.com/beast-film_home/index.html

Finland in Focus – in Belgrade

The M7 in Belgrade stands for the Magnificent7 Festival – 7 feature duration European documentaries. The festival has launched 13 editions, number 14 is coming up January 31st till February 6th 2018.

But before that the tireless director couple of the festival, Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, has decided to put Finland in Focus this month, very soon: October 13 & 14th. As an extra M7 activity.

To be shown are what you could call Finnish neo-classics, and gosh they have made good films in that country. Opening film will be ”Screaming Men” (2003) about the famous screaming men choir. It is the hope of the organisers that the Mika Ronkainen, who will be present, will scream the National anthem of Finland!

The next day ”Living Room of the Nation” will come to the screen, the film by Jukka Kärkkäinen from 2010, followed by Ronkainen’s ”Finnish Blood, Swedish Heart” (2013) and ”Soundbreaker” (2012) by Kimmo Koskela with the fantastic mucisian Kimmo Pohjonen.

Ronkainen will have a busy stay in Belgrade as there will also be a masterclass with the director, whose presence has been supported by the Finnish Film Foundation, Marja Pallassalo.

All films have been shown at…

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

Arunas Matelis: Wonderful Losers

… with the subtitle ”A Different World”, a film that many of us, who think Lithuanian Arunas Matelis is a great artistic documentary film director, have been waiting for – will have its premiere at the Warsaw International Film Festival that takes place October 13-22, a festival for fiction, shorts and documentaries. Arunas and his wife Alge, from their Studio Nominum in Vilnius, have produced a film of high quality (I have seen it just before final cut) that deserves to travel the world because of its cinematic qualities and its invitation to us viewers to look into – as the subtitle says- a different world. It’s (also) a film on professional cycling that touches upon existential questions. Here is the synopsis from the site of the film, link below:

”For spectators, cyclists in the back of the race are simply the losers. They are called water carriers, domestics, gregarios, and Sancho Panzas of professional cycling. Moreover, they have no right to personal victories – these sportsmen sacrifice their careers to help their teammates. We follow the magnificent world of the race from the point of view of the doctors’ team situated in a claustrophobically small medical car surrounded with wounded cyclists. The life of the medical team in race reminds one on the frontline of war. Cyclists crash, rise and race again. And amongst this fight, many magnificent things happen. This film-odyssey reveals the untold world of the wonderful losers, true warriors, knights and monks of professional cycling.”

From a production point of view the credits show an amazing list of co-producers (with 10 cinematographers!) – let me mention them from the credits: Stefilm Italy, Dok Mobile Switzerland, Associate Directors Belgium, VFS Films Latvia, Dearcan Media N.Ireland/UK, Planet Korda Ireland, SUICA Films Spain, Arturas Jevdokimovas for Kino Kontora.

Normally you say that too many cooks spoil the meal – having know Arunas Matelis and his work for more than 25 years I can assure you that this is a film that has his signature.

Wish you luck wth the premiere!

http://www.wonderfullosers.com

https://wff.pl/en/festival-2017/programme

En klassiker om ugen!

Cinemateket i Aarhus viser meget snart klassiske film hver tirsdag, for Cinemateket i København åbner 9. januar 2018 en filial i biografen Øst for Paradis i Aarhus. Og biografens direktør, Ditte Daugbjerg er glad, hun siger til Aarhus Stiftstdende:

” – Vi har måske også det publikum, som interesserer sig mest for film og som netop er målgruppen for at skulle se nogle af de film som er erklærede klassikere, som er 50 år eller ældre, men også nogle af de nyere klassikere, som David Lynchs “Blue Velvet”, som vi viste for nylig, som ikke er vildt gammel, men som man ikke længere kan se i biografen. ”

Nemlig, vi her i Østjylland har altid kigget misundelige til københavnernes cinemateks overdådigt og fantasifuldt kompetent redigerede program med mange, mange visninger af klassiske værker fra filmmuseets berømte samling. Nu sker det med en beskeden, men lovende begyndelse, som Tue Steen Müller og jeg og FILMKOMMENTAREN kun kan hilse velkommen og efter bedste evne støtte.

Cinemateket i København skriver i går i sin pressemeddelese, at ”fra årsskiftet etableres en filial af Cinemateket i Aarhus-biografen Øst for Paradis, som hver tirsdag vil stille en sal til rådighed for cinemateksvisninger. Filialens program vil udgøre en miniudgave af Cinematekets program i København – ikke mindst i form af særarrangementer, hvor film sættes i perspektiv via eksempelvis introduktioner, foredrag, debatter, musik eller mad og drikke.

Øst for Paradis er en oplagt ramme for den nye filial i Aarhus. Med en stærk profil inden for arthousefilm, er der et godt match mellem biografens kernepublikum og Cinematekets program.” 

‘Cinematekets program består af film af ældre dato, sjældne og smalle film, og film i forskellig event-indpakning af både formidling og oplevelse. Dét tiltaler vores publikum i Øst for Paradis. Vi ser rigtig spændende perspektiver i dette samarbejde med Cinemateket, og glæder os helt vildt’, udtaler biografdirektør i Øst for Paradis, Ditte Daugbjerg Christensen.

Det Danske Filminstitut begyndte 2016 ordningen ”Cinemateket præsenterer” for at give filmpublikum i hele landet mulighed for at se filmarven. Det er offentligt-privat samarbejde mellem Cinemateket og kommercielle danske biografer og foreningsbiografer rundt omkring i landet om visning af ti film årligt fra Cinematekets program. Øst for Paradis i Aarhus er én af de 15 biografer, der er tilmeldt samarbejdet i år.

‘Erfaringerne med “Cinemateket præsenterer” i Øst for Paradis tyder på, at der er stor efterspørgsel på et tilbud som Cinematekets i Aarhus. Derfor udvider vi nu forsøgsvis samarbejdet med en decideret filial, der – hvis den viser sig succesfuld – kan blive til flere’ siger vicedirektøren i Det Danske Filminstitut, Jakob Buhl Vestergaard.”

Jeg tror bestemt ikke Buhl Vestergaard behøver at være så forsigtig, vi vil strømme til hver tirsdag…

Filialen åbner altså med filmvisning tirsdag den 9. januar. Mere information om den og om programmet fra Cinemateket i Aarhus vil følge, og vi her på bloggen vil følge op.

3 Documentaries from Netflix

I have no real overview of what Netflix offers, when it comes to documentaries. Below you find a link to an article that recommends the best documentaries on Netflix and there are many fine names. And titles which you can also find, when you go to Netflix itself and click on the documentary section. You find names like Werner Herzog, AiWeiWei, Banksy, Errol Morris, Marina Abramovic, Nick Broomfield, Albert Maysles and titles like ”O.J. Simpson”, ”Long Shot”, ”Making a Murderer”, ”Amanda Knox”, ”The Promise”, ”Strong Island” – all crime documentaries, not to forget the films on Janis Joplin and Nina Simone… But you have to search carefully as they are listed among a lot of tabloid stuff.

Nevertheless – as we are Netflix subscribers in our household – I assure you that the grandchildren already from age 3 know the name Netflix – I watched three documentaries recently, two of them were at Nordisk Panorama competition in Malmø and the third one I picked up because it was the subject of a double page article in a Danish newspaper.

I am referring to Bryan Fogel’s two hour long investigative work, ”Icarus” on the Russian state organised doping of athletes to take part in the Olympics. The film’s main character is the man who was leading the laboratory that manipulated the urin tests until he blew the whistle, Grigory Rodchenkov, who left Russia and is now hiding somewhere in the US. He is an amazing character for a film.

Swedish Kasper Collin’s ”I Called him Morgan” (PHOTO) is a film that is based on a sound interview with the trumpeter Lee Morgan’s widow Helen, who shot him one snowy night in a jazz club. AND based on great archive material AND wonderful music from Blue Note and other famous jazz sources. It’s a love story, it has a fine tone, it has interviews with people, who knew the two. One snowy night – there are beautiful images ”from” 18.2.1972, when it happened.

Both films are well crafted, professional and I watched them with pleasure because of their interesting stories. In these cases you can say that ”Content is King”, even if I got irritated of the wall-to-wall  mix of sound and music that serves to tell the spectator what to feel right now, in this scene, in this sequence. Mostly obvious in that respect is ”Icarus” but there is also a lot of ”noise” in the third film, the English/Icelandic ”Out of Thin Air”, a crime story, described like this on the webpage of the English producer Mosaic Film: ”Set within the stark Icelandic landscape the filmexamines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance  of two men in the early 1970s. Iceland in the 1970s  was a idyll; a farming community, pretty much cut off from the much of the rest of the world. Crime was rare, murder rarer still. Then two men disappear under suspicious circumstances and foul play is suspected. The country demands a resolution. Police launch the biggest criminal investigation Iceland has ever seen. Finally, six people confess to two violent murders and are sent to prison. It seems the nightmare is over. But in many ways the nightmare has just begun….”.

This is the weakest of the three films to be found on Netflix that I watched. Simply because it jumps from one suspect to the other, mixes it with archive and an interview with one suspect, a woman. There is no clear red thread in narrative.

Is Netflix good or bad? Well from a viewer’s point of view it can only be good that documentaries are made available on a vod for a price that is not overwhelming but are they documentaries that could have ended up on public service channels anyway? And the industry side… that I dont know enough about: Netflix takes all rights world-wide, when they buy a film (I am not talking about those films that they finance/produce themselves) and if they come in at the end of a film’s life in festivals and on public tv, then what is the problem. But do they? Tell me.

”I called him Morgan” by Kasper Collin (2016, Sweden/USA, 92 mins.)

”Out of Thin Air” by Dylan Howitt (Iceland, 2017, USA, 86 mins.)

”Icarus” by Bryan Fogel (USA, 2017, 120 mins.)

http://www.icarus.film/

http://nordiskpanorama.com/en/festival/competition-programme/

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/the-best-documentaries-on-netflix/

 

International support to Catalonia

… after the violation of its democratic and individual rights. This is how the DOCSBarcelona team addresses colleagues around the world. Here is the mail I received:

Dear colleagues

I contact you on behalf of DocsBarcelona director Joan Gonzàlez, who is in Chile at the moment, and the whole team of the project in Barcelona.

At DocsBarcelona we have been very respectful and neutral in the last years with the political situation in our territory, but the events that are taking place these days in Catalonia deeply disturb us. 

Democracy in our country is at serious risk at the moment. We are suffering from direct repression, with the combined use of security forces, legal action, and attacks on our institutions and our political representatives, through direct economic intervention and the absorption of competences of our legal public institutions.

A group of representatives of the cultural sector and European citizens living in Catalonia have launched a call under the umbrella of the Fundació Catalunya Europa www.catalunyaeuropa.net to raise awareness and mobilize creators, programmers, professionals, politicians and people in charge of the media from all over the world. 

We want to share our concern with you and ask for your support. We would like to alert the international community about the situation we are living in and ask them to help us defend the right for freedom of speech: it is our democracy that is being attacked by all means.

The group’s  first call is towards our close European fellow citizens. But at DocsBarcelona we feel we need to extend it to our whole international professional community, in the US, LATAM and Asia. A community that works some way or another with documentary, a film genre that stands for reality, freedom of speech, respect and personal points of view with no exception.

Therefore, we ask you to:

 Adhere to the call by signing in the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/gzK3tgYziSoHQ9t13

 Address to your international contacts and especially Europeans, encouraging them to do the same. (Attached you’ll find our request in different languages)

 Address your parliaments and governments and request the adoption of measures, especially by European institutions, aimed at stopping the inadmissible and repressive actions of the Spanish State and to protect our rights, that are also yours.

Without a clear international positioning, the Spanish State will continue its useless and painful strategy, trying to turn a political conflict into an issue of public order with a very uncertain ending.

Today, Catalonia needs the international community. We need the support of all of you.

Adhere to this Call and do it as extensive as you can.

Best regards and many thanks,

The DocsBarcelona Team