I am sitting here on the 11th floor of the Albert Hotel in Riga, where the Baltic Sea Docs, edition 21 is taking place. The filmmakers have been preparing their presentation since wednesday, many trailers and verbal texts have been changed, it is very intense and yet a relaxed, non-hysterical atmosphere. There is nothing better than helping each other… after quite many years this is my experience with the documentary community. They do so.Tomorrow and sunday it’s show time. 24 projects are to be pitched to a panel of so-called decision makers: 7 minutes of presentation and 7 minutes of feedback followed by individual meetings.

On the photo you see one of the pitching teams, Latvian Marta Bite, Ivars Zviedris and Haralds Ozols. Their project is called ”The Smugglers”, takes place at the border of Russia and Latvia, where Vietnamese people come to Latvia, with the help of local people, hoping to have a better life there or in another Western country. The filmmakers have been filming for one year, will continue for another year to make this film about a small community, where you survive through breaking the law. The material shown is very promising and for those who remember Ivars Zviedris brilliant ”The Documentarian”… you can only have high expectations.

http://balticseadocs.lv/ 

– and we bring the welcome catalogue text by the director of the National Film Centre of Latvia, Dita Rietuma entitled “With a Taste of Certainty”

I warmly welcome the Baltic Sea Docs participants and Forum team! Baltic Sea Docs continues on – now for the 21^st time, bringing together documentary filmmakers, popularizing documentary films and offering a special film programme Flavours of Conviction for a wider audience in Riga and several other Latvian cities.

This year’s festival poster features an eccentric, grey-haired woman with giant glasses – those in tune with the fashion industry may recognize fashion and lifestyle icon Iris Apfel, while in turn, those familiar with documentary film history will perhaps pause in reverence upon seeing the name of the film’s director – Albert Maysles. Yes, he is one of the legendary Maysles brothers who made documentary film history with their direct cinema style films of the 1970s.

Iris was Albert Maysles’ second last movie – a clear testament to both the direct cinema tradition and to the power of creativity, irony, style and vitality, which this inspiring lady named Iris undoubtedly possesses. For the most part, these qualities are also reflected in the 25 projects selected for Baltic Sea Docs.

In total, 25 creative teams will be presenting their projects – from the Baltic States, Belarus,

Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden and other countries. This year’s Baltic Sea Docs projects represent 20 countries including many co-productions, which is a testament to the fact that Baltic Sea Docs continues to carry out one of its most essential tasks – to further creative cooperation between documentary filmmakers of various countries, and to promote the documentary film circuit (film screenings) on various platforms in various European countries.

One of Baltic Sea Docs’ assignments is to also follow up on the path/fate of film projects presented in previous Forums. This year, audiences will get a chance to see the Danish-Russian-Ukrainian co-production, On the Edge of Freedom, which participated in last year’s BSF project presentation (under the name Russian Revolution).

The film distribution and screening scene in Europe is trying to adapt to the changes brought on by the digital era. We’re happy that among the Baltic Sea Docs panel of experts we have, not for the first time, documentary film specialists from the influential TV and film distribution companies – YLE, ERR, ARTE G.E.I.E, SVT, Taskovski Films, Rise and Shine, et al. We’re happy that there will also be new guests – representatives from Current Time TV, Slingshot Films, Influence Film Foundation, Syndicado Films, et al.

I hope that this Baltic Sea Docs too becomes a worthy experience! May it inspire new ideas, further cooperation between documentary filmmakers, presenters and distributors, and help powerful documentary films reach their audiences!

http://balticseadocs.lv/ 

This review is written by young Bosnian film critic Arman Fatic, who I met in connection with the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Two Bosnian directors, Nejra Latić-Hulusić and Sabrina Begović Ćorić, with their film production company „Hava“, have been working for the last five years on women’s affirmation in culture, education of young filmmakers and they have promoted diversity and human rights in film. Their second directorial collaboration  „Undercovered“, a documentary short, had its premiere at the 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival, where it got huge ovations with a Q & A session that almost overlapped the start of the forthcoming film, due to audience interest.

The film opens with the introduction to the history of the city, where the film takes place. They show us Sarajevo occupied by the Ottoman Empire, by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, then as part of Yugoslavia and of course Sarajevo today. By giving us the context of the city, not to the East, not to the West, not spiritually lost, not occupied by consumerism – Sarajevo appears to be a fertile ground for “miracles,” or perhaps better, a great place for diversity, understanding and progression.

In this environment, Nejra and Sabrina chose six successful women to

present their everyday life, and what they do: art, photography, design, karate, taxi driving and scientific research. Each of them tells their interesting life story, sitting in front of an anti-fascist monument in the Vrace settlement (Sarajevo). What is common to these women – and why  they are gathered in this film – is their specific way of expressing freedom, through clothes. Their clothes are considered a taboo in the twenty-first century, and because of their life choices, the West is shaken by them living in stereotypes, thinking that these woman are either terorists or poor creatures enslaved by their husbands!

Of course, as Sarajevo is the city of “miracles”, these six miraculous women are impossible to cram into the stereotype of the hijab that governs the world. Listening to the individual stories of each of them, we find that “veil” is a personal choice, something that each one of them has decided to wear, without any pressure from the family, friends or others. The directors, by asking girls questions about their “hijab”, at the same time are educating the audience about what is happening behind the veil and also pushing the girls to answer questions they have probably never asked themselves

“Educating the audience” part gets really interesting with Tesni Karišik, teenage photographer who decides not to answer questions, like the other girls but to take a camera and show her life which does not differ in any way from the life of any other curios teenager. One of the more emotionally strong moments of film might be when director Nejra asks one of the girls (Lejla) how did her family react to her decision to wear hijab. After explaining the struggle she had with her family to convince them that hijab is a good choice for her, Lejla bursts into tears and asks the director “Nejra, why those questions?”

The film has a precisely targeted audience: people living with the stereotypes of the hijab. Those who are a little bit more familiar with the theme will admit that the film looks quite sterile, cleaned off any external influences. Putting these six girls under the glass bell and asking them questions gets a bit one-sided. It could be rather interesting if we had a chance to see how girls interact with the rest of the world -with the citizens of Sarajevo.

All in all “Undercovered” is a very successful documentary showing the ideal of the second generation of feminism through the prism of Islam. This is a film that will surely help to some people to get rid of the stereotypes the world has created about the Islamic world and it just might open eyes to some people to better understanding freedom of expression.

Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2017, 53 mins.

www.sff.ba

… BSF meaning Baltic Sea Forum that with this edition holds edition 21… organised by the National Film Centre of Latvia, helped by EDN, European Documentary Network and with ”the largest financial support from the EU funded Creative Europe Media Program”. BSF includes a project development workshop with pitching at the end (18 panelists) of the 24 projects that have been selected, all of them thematically connected to the region, and many of them touching indirectly on the present political situation with the tensions between Russia and her neighbours.

I will – I have been there all years – be present to tutor the filmmakers, which is a privilege and an experience full of joy. I learn so much from these sessions as I am sure will do the colleagues Mikael Opstrup from EDN, filmmakers Daniel Abma and Ester Gould from Holland, Noe Mendelle from Scottish Documentary Institute, consultant in all documentary matters Peter Jaeger and film editor Phil Jandaly, who is there to help the filmmakers to shape their trailers.

The workshop runs from the coming wednesday September 6 till sunday September 10, but already a documentary film program runs in cinemas in the Latvian capital – and it is good:

”On the Edge of Freedom” by Anita Mathal Hopland and Jens Lengerke – that was pitched last year’s BSF and reviewed here –

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3870/

my review starts like this: ” I heard myself saying “don’t do it, stop” several times, alone in front of the screen, when the young Russians and Ukrainians were climbing unfinished buildings and cranes. To take photos of themselves. Or videos. Scary like hell. And I am after having seen the film not sure that I understand why they challenge themselves in that way. Says someone from another generation…

And wonderful Irish documentary ”In loco Parentis”, which now has the title ”School Life” by Ní Chianáin and David Rane, reviewed here – http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3821/

A quote from the review: For John, rock music is another subject to Math, English, Latin and religious education. He cherishes a special kind of youthful revolution by teaching responsibility and independence in equal respect, wrapped in heavy metal or pop, encouraging the children to play whatever they want in the school basement rock club. For Amanda, the key liaison with children is a book and she uses all ways to catch young minds. The children sit as transfixed when she leads them on magical journeys with fantastic heroes of different stories… I am sure the way these two teachers teach will provoke a fine discussion after the screening on wednesday.

As will Daniel Abma’s ”Transit Havana” on friday, where there will be a meeting with him and ”chair of association of LGBT and their friends “Mozaīka” Kristīne Garina”. The film is reviewed on this site – http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3546/ – I wrote ”a well told character driven, emotional and informational, visually excellent documentary from a country, where the president’s daughter Mariella Castro is ”heading a new state program for transgender care”.

And there are Fredrik Gertten’s discussion piece ”Bikes vs. Cars” that gone to all big cities, Mia Halme’s ”Every Other Couple”, Albert Maysles last film ”Iris”, ”Radio Kobani” by Reber Dosky – not to forget the artistically best, the amazing (love) story ”Bobbi Jene” (Photo) by Elvira Lind, produced by Danish Sonntag Pictures and selected for competition at the Nordisk Panorama and many many festivals all over. The fantastic expressive dancer Bobbi Jene filmed over several years, there is energy in every scene, intimacy, honesty, it is painful to watch, tense, how could she get so close to the core of life! Wow. Go and watch it.

http://balticseadocs.lv/

Here they are, all the winners from Makedox 2017, with the jury motivations:

Onion Award for the Best Film in the Main Program

Jury: Choosing from the highly competitive films with an exceptional authorial voice, the jury decided to give the award to the film “21 x New York” by Pjotr Stasik, considering its mastery to complement the cinematic and visually sophisticated expression with the layered fluency of the film’s subject and content. The film by Pjotr Stasik radiates with its emotional dimensions as much as with its intellectualism.

Young Onion Award for the Best Film by First or Second Time Director – Jury: “A passionate trip of visual beauty, filmmaking at its best. A multilayered story of Georgia seen through the eyes of youth, and the fine balance and collaboration of these three filmmakers. For its unconventional and surprising visual narration, we award the prize to “When the Earth Seems to be Light.“

For succeeding in ambitious storytelling on an essential 21st century subject, we need to highlight Guillermo Garcia Lopez’s beautiful essay film, “Delicate Balance“ with a special mention.

Onion Seed Award for the Best Student Film – Jury: “To do a

documentary is to explore. You can move through space, even through time. Where you go is up to you. The award goes to a film that said: Take my hand, I’ll take you to the hearts of two people who have been in love for 45 years. Don’t worry, it’s only 18 minutes away. The title is “Close Ties”.

Sliced Onion Award for the Best Short Film – Jury: “1st place: I am not from here – Because we unanimously found it the best.

Special mention: Cucli – For the visual narration.”

Moral Approach Award for the Best Moral Approach in the Film – Jury: “The members of the Moral Approach Award jury, Aneta Duchevska, Brina Vogelnik and Vito Flaker decided to give this award to the film Machines by Rahul Jain. The film provides a profound portrayal of the lives of millions of people who live and work in the dilapidated buildings of the textile industry in India. Through the intense and striking depiction of the workers, as well as of the proprietors and the entrepreneurs, the film raises a number of questions regarding the moral and ethics of labor.”

http://nov.makedox.mk/en/awards/

Last night the award ceremony of the MakeDox festival took place outdoor in the Kurshumli An, a unique place for a festival in Skopje in August – one of two open air screening venues. I will announce all the winners when the motivation texts from the juries are available but allow me to start with the Main Program where we jurors – Anton Calleja, Vladimir Blazhevski and I – decided to give the Onion Award to Polish Piotr Stasik for his ”21 x New York”.

Here is a quote from the review I wrote long time ago about the film on this site:

What is it that makes Stasik’s film so attractive… Everything actually. It is a musical composition with a superb score, with use of music of very different nature, with a sound design that includes all that comes from the subway trains with an editing and a rythm, that is carried by the director’s fascination and ability to bring the film to a level of reflection on human existence…

Stasik was in Skopje and took part in the workshop on ”visual narration” – the photo with him and me and filmmaker and translator for Stasik Katarzyna Gondek is taken at the venue, the National Gallery. We are waiting for the light to be turned off so the clips to be shown could be more visible.

http://nov.makedox.mk/en/festival-2017/

Go home Alexandra, she kept on saying, the dog-lover from Karelia in Finland, producer Kristina Pervilä. We were on our way back from a restaurant half an hour from Skopje. Good food, amazing location at a lake, and good company, a tour of adventure organised by the Makedox festival couple Petra Seliskar and Brand Ferro.

Going to a festival means that you meet old friends and get new friends. For me a pleasure to see Pervilä again after many years, remembering years of teaching at Ex Oriente seminar, where we were having drinks at the teachers appartment at the Czech film school FAMU with a view to the bridge and the castle, where Vaclav Havel resided.

And Roberto Blatt who has been to this festival several times. Last

time I saw him – years back – was in Buenos Aires, where the man, who lives in Madrid and in Montevideo Uruguay, was in a panel for pitching at the time, where he was working for Multicanal in Spain. Blatt is now retired, writes books but when a panelist he was always great to have because of his clever and encouraging comments to filmmakers. And of course it is wonderful to meet a man, who is interested in and knows about football… in Buenos Aires we watched Atletico Madrid, his team, against Barcelona, my team, together with Jordi Ambros from TV3 Catalunya. Blatt was not happy with the result.

As he was not happy with the development of television at the Under the Fig Tree Talk yesterday at the festival. This daily event starts at 6 and goes on until around 7.30, where the call for prayer from the mosques makes a fine and natural end of the session. How to get to the audience was one of the themes, what about all these pitching sessions, are they good, is there money around, are there too many of them, how to build networks… etc.etc. Pervilä and I could talk about the privileged situation in our Northern part of Europe, with well functioning public support of documentaries, Ilona Bicevska from Latvia advocated for the (upcoming, the 21st edition!) Baltic Sea Forum, and I dared to say that one of the reasons for the success of Georgian documentaries right now is that the filmmakers have travelled, made contacts, raised a bit of money here and there, won awards. Made themselves visible. Georgian documentaries are in focus at the festival (as it will be at DOKLeipzig this year) with 7 films, including ”City of the Sun” by Rati Oneli, who won in Sarajevo a while ago, ”When the Earth Seems to be Light” by Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze, David Meskhi, the beautiful ”Listen to the Silence” by Mariam Chacia. They are building a documentary culture in Georgia that also is strong right now in fiction – There is a festival, CinéDoc-Tbilisi run by Ileana Stanculescu and Artchil Khetagouri, and there are Sakdoc filmmakers who have for years arranged courses for pitch and projects development Anna Dziapshipa and Salomé Jashi.

Jashi was here at the festival, showed her ”The Dazzling Light of Sunset”, and was one of the four filmmakers, who took part in the  sessions of the workshop called ”Visual Narration”, where she talked about her camerawork and showed clips. For those of you who have seen the film: we talked about the beginning of the film, the only camera movement in the film, a unique emotional start of the brilliant film. Audrius Stonys was there to talk about the camerawork done by Audrius Kezemys in the mountains of Kazahkstan for ”Woman and the Glacier” as was Piotr Stasik with his amazing ”21 x New York” 100% filmed by himself and Miroslav Janek with ”Normal Autistic Film”. The veteran who has been to film school but stressed that he has been at ”The School of Life”. Oh, you see that in his films. We showed clips from his masterpieces ”Unseen” and ”Cha-Ci-Pe”, both of them dealing with kids.

People come, people leave at this – as with other festivals. I have just had a nice morning coffee with Kristina Pervilä and Selin Murat, Turkish/Canadian producer and programmer for the RIDM festival in Montréal. The two of them are in the Young Onion jury for newcomers/talents together with Talal Derki, the Syrian documentarian who made ”Return to Homs”. He should have been here but could not get a travel insurance… I know which film they will award, but I will not tell you before tomorrow!

Go home Alexandra… Kristina Pervilä did not give up. It was obvious that the dog, who had been with us during the dinner, wanted to come with us. Of course not possible but she led us to the car and ran ahead. We saw her looking at us from the side, when we passed in Brand Ferro’s big car. Emotional moment in real life, as we have seen so many of at this unique festival in Skopje, Macedonia.

Photo from the opening film of the festival, title ”Avec l’Amour” which is made by Ilija Cvetkovski, a very sweet film and a precise description of the feeling you sense that the organisers want to communicate to us visitors.