Lidia Sheinin: Harmony

Grandmother is old and fragile, she can not live on her own. Her daughter with four children, 3 boys, the oldest 6-8 years old I guess, and a baby girl, moves in, to help; into a flat that has little space. Not difficult to imagine the messy consequences, the constant ”don’t do this and that” from granny, whose space is invaded, who does not eat regularly – and to imagine and see the constant exhaustion of a mother of four.

The director is there with her camera, observing, no intervention.

Watching how life goes on under these hard conditions. It’s tough to be there with the family as a viewer but it’s also life-affirming and fun because the situation is recognisable, the energy from the kids, their questions, ”why are we living here”, the patience of the mother, the despair of the granny when the screaming and crying fill the rooms – and the piano that takes so much space, has been part of her life, if it could go there would be more space…

It could take place in many corners of the world – well, in Denmark the granny would maybe have been skipped off to an old people’s home – here it is in St. Petersburg; I was happy to be with the family in a very fine and balanced documentary, on 3 generations, that you leave at the kitchen table with a smile on your face.

The film is shown this afternoon and tomorrow at the Visions du Réel festival in Nyon.

Russia, 2017, 59 mins.

https://www.visionsdureel.ch/film-by-section/section/competition-internationale-moyens-metrages

Laura Cini: Punishment Island

Director Laura Cini was at DocsBarcelona 2016 at a rough cut screening in front of a selected panel with me as the moderator. She has now finished the film, sent it to me, asking my opinion as she experiences rejections from many festivals. What’s wrong, she asks? I answer ”well the competition to get into festivals is strong” and ”most festivals play safe and your film is not very ”sexy” subject-wise” in comparison with the many current social and political issues in the world right now. Even though you can see it is as a women’s story.

Nothing is wrong, I can tell the director after I have seen the final version of the one hour long documentary. My impression is the same as when it was selected for the Barcelona session: The director has made her aesthetic choice that brings a quiet, intimate tone and brilliant cinematography – she mixes fiction and documentary in a way that you don’t think about what is what. And content-wise the story about the unmarried pregnant women, who were taken to the island Akampene in South-Western Uganda to be forgotten and die by starvation in loneliness, is touching more than shocking due to the way the old women and (some) men tell what they remember or what they remember to have heard. Some were chosen by men without bribes and taken from the island, often to live as outcast. Wonderful expressive faces meet the camera, mixed with images from the lake and nature, where the island was and is no longer. My grandmother came back, a man tells, (grand)mother and daughter next to each other, a woman who does not remember her age, ”does it matter”, reverend Stephen introduces the story about Mauda, who was 4 days on the island, ”I was raped”, says she or another woman, again it does not matter as the film turn it all into a collective voice on pain and survival. Other stories came up when religion came, when the whites came, they are not in the film.

Some small dramatizations are made (unfortunately the words of the one impersonating the island that speaks to the audience are difficult to understand, please subtitle), a fine song is song, and a man is drawing scenes from the stories on Punishment Island.

Festival readers of this post, take a look.

https://www.facebook.com/PunishmentIsland

Anja Dalhoff: Dansen med Monica

Jeg var inviteret til premiere i går. Af Anja Dalhoff, som jeg siden min tid i Statens Filmcentral altid har respekteret som den engagerede dokumentarist hun er. Vi har skrevet om hendes film flere gange, Allan Berg positivt om ”Trafficker” fra 2015, mig endnu mere positivt om ”Sårbare sjæle” fra samme år og ret negativt om ”Når månen er sort” fra 2008. Sidstnævnte med samme tema som ”Dansen med Monica”. Her er den synopsis, som fulgte med invitationen:

En film om en handlet kvindes kamp for at undslippe menneskehandel og prostitution. Den colombianske kvinde Monica har filmet sit liv igennem 25 år.

Jeg ville så gerne være positiv overfor denne film om en kvinde i ”a circle of shit”, som hun selv karakteriserer sit liv, hvor hun ses i Spanien, Japan, Italien og Danmark. I sidstnævnte land – som i de andre lande – filmer hun selv med mobilen: trøstesløse bare rum med senge, der venter på Monica og hendes kunder, og optagelser af bordelmutter og indehaveren af den lejlighed, hvor hun holdes indespærret. Lige til en politianmeldelse, men politiet havde ikke tid til sagen, fortalte Anja Dalhoff før filmen!

Det er trøstesløst, det er forfærdeligt at se Monica tage fra land til land ude af stand til at komme videre i sit liv på en ordentlig måde. Det er urimeligt forkert at mennesker skal have et sådant liv. Men hvorfor er det at jeg ikke blev fanget af historien. Mit umiddelbare svar er at den er umusikalsk fortalt, hopper frem og tilbage i tid og sted, fra den ene arkivoptagelse til den næste – kun scenerne med Monica og moren i Colombia fungerer godt. Dalhoff’s interview med moren havde ro og antydningen af den fordybelse, som filmen mangler. Var der scener med moren og Monica, samtaler som kunne være brugt? Var morens historie i virkeligheden mere interessant? To kvinder som er blevet misbrugt fra barndommen. To kvinder som i filmens fineste scene danser sammen ude på landet i Colombia. 

Danmark, 75 mins. 2017

http://www.danishdoc.dk

Jude Ratnam: Demons in Paradise

There are a handful of documentaries  in ”La Sélection officielle 2017” at the 70th edition of the Cannes Festival, May 17-28. No surprise that films by Agnès Varda, Raymond Depardon, Claude Lanzmann and Eugene Jarecki are listed, and no surprise that world famous actress Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut ”Sea of Sorrow” has been taken.

But such a pleasant surprise that Jude Ratnam´s personal and highly cinematic film essay ”Demons in Paradise” stands next to Lanzmann and Redgrave in the section ”Séances Spéciales”. World premiere for the director’s first film. Here is the synopsis of the film:

“In 1983, a Sri Lankan Tamil boy escapes an ethnic massacre by fleeing on a train. Today, now 30 years later a filmmaker, he boards a new train to revisit the recently ended civil war that tore his country apart. But once war is over, how does a country stop the never-ending cycle of fear and violence when that‘s all they‘ve ever known?”

I will write a review in connection with the screening in Cannes. With great pleasure as it also brings back memories of meetings with sympathetic Jude Ratnam, who took part in the valuable Archidoc sessions conducted by Héléna Fantl from la Fémis. His sense for cinematic language was obvious at this project level.

The film is co-produced with French Julie Paratian from Sister Productions and has achieved support from the IDFA Bertha Fund. They will not be disappointed with the final result.

Sri Lanka, France, 2017, 92 mins.

http://www.festival-cannes.com/fr/infos-communiques/communique/articles/la-selection-officielle-2017

 

ALAFx + AAFx 2017 /Filmene

AALBORG ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL

AARHUS ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL

Det her still er fra filmen Rem af Tomas Koolhaas, 2016 om hvilken det hedder i katalogteksten: ”Med en hidtil uset grad af intimitet og umiddelbarhed introducerer Rem stjernearkitektens (Rem Koolhaas ed.) liv, arbejde og filosofi og giver dermed en dybere forståelse for hans værk…” Jeg skriver hmm i marginen, men er dog sikker på, jeg vil se den film trods store og vel også noget forbrugte ord i den synopsis, jeg citerer fra. (Vises i Biffen Nordkraft 29. april 19:00, i Øst for Paradis samme dag 19:30)

Arkitekturfestivalerne i Aalborg og Aarhus er gået sammen om i biograferne Biffen Nordkraft og Øst for Paradis og på Gellerup Museum at arrangere en slags filmisk masterclass i arkitekturens æstetik. De samler syv hovedsageligt biografiske essays over seks berømte arkitekter: Rem Koolhaas som nævnt, Bjarke Ingels, Richard Neutra, Robert Moses og Álvaro Siza. I Aalborg tillige Gottfried Böhm og i Aarhus på Gellerup Museum en Álvar Siza film mere. Jeg har lyst til at se det hele! Og i det er der jo en anbefaling, som ikke hviler på en viden og en analyse, men ærlig talt blot på min fornemmelse.

Som et slags belæg samler jeg her lige nogle flere citater fra progamavisens synopser, sætninger som nærer min nysgerrige lyst. For det er under alle omstændigheder et fornemt filmprogram, og kunne det lade sig gøre, så jeg gerne det hele:

Kasper Astrup Schröders helt nye Big Time om Bjarke Ingels, ”giver et intimt portræt af den nyskabende og ambitiøse dansker, der i hele verden fejres som et geni.” (Biffen Nordkraft 3. maj 19:00, i Øst for Paradis samme dag 19:00), Elissa Browns Windshield, 2016 om Richard Neutra, om et særligt hus og om ”den modernistiske arkitekturs historie, som… gik fra idealstatus til siden at blive miskendt og underkendt.” (Øst for Paradis 4. maj 17:00). Matt Tyrnauers Citizen Jane, 2016 handler på sin måde også om miskendelse og underkendelse, men her i form af direkte og samtidig modstand, nemlig bydelsaktivisten Jane Jacobs energiske litterære indsats mod byplanlæggeren Robert Moses’ moderne, ensartet afklarede masterplanarbejde i New York i 1950’erne, ”som var tidens modernistiske mantra” (Biffen Nordkraft 30. april 16:30, i Øst for Paradis 4. maj 17:00). Hvad der skrives i kataloget om Iain Diltheys Having a Cigarette with Álvaro Siza, 2016 begejstrer mig mere end noget: Filmen er ”en samtale om arkitektur”… ”hvad er arkitektur? Og hvad er det særlige ved arkitekturen som kunstform? … Álvaro Siza Vieira giver sine bud på, hvordan disse store spørgsmål kan besvares” (Øst for Paradis 5. maj 19:00).

 

Sådanne spørgsmål kan også besvares i en mere direct cinema skildring, det viser Maurizius Sterkle-Drux i sin Concrete Love, der skrives nemlig: ”Træd med ind i Gottfried Böhms arkitekturgale familie, hvor selv gartneren er arkitekt.” (Biffen Nordkraft 28. april 16:30). Cándida Pinto har lavet fire halvtimes film med Álvaro Siza under titlen Neighbours, 2016, hvor den gamle arkitekt besøger og reflekterer over fire boligbyggerier, han har opført i Porto, Haag, Berlin og Venedig. (Gellerup Museum, Aarhus 5.maj 17:00)

www.cafx.dk

DocsBarcelona 2017

So there they are the films selected for the 20th edition of DocsBarcelona. Listed in alphabetical order or in sections or according to screening hours and venue, it starts May 18 and ends May 28, with an extension of some screening days compared to previous years. It started being an industry event, years ago the festival was added. I have been ”part of the furniture” from the very beginning, first working for the industry and now for the festival selection. It’s been pure pleasure and I am looking forward to a long stay in Barcelona in a professional and warm festival atmosphere.

At the launch of the festival today festival director Joan Gonzalez informed about the opening film, Clare Weiskopf’s ”Amazona” (PHOTO), a film that has already been at several festivals but now returns to Barcelona, where it was presented, when it was a project and where it took part in the rough cut session that DocsBarcelona organises every year.

I have had the privilige of following the film at editing stage, from time to time. I have been worried about the final result – those worries are gone, the final version is excellent. To quote the catalogue text: ”A fascinating journey between mother and daughter through the Colombian Amazon, filled with conversations that fire sparks and leave us facing a moral dilemma around freedom and responsibility.”

I will later return to the films being shown at the festival in Barcelona, a pretty big portion of them have been reviewed on this site – no need to hide that I have been part of the selection team. BUT let me mention the three sections.

The biggest is the “Panorama” – This section shows the best documentaries of the current international scene. The films in this section compite for DocsBarcelona TV3 Award to the Best Documentary and the New Talent Award to the best film of debuting directors.

Then there is “Latitude” – A competitive section which includes a selection of the best documentaries made in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. DocsBarcelona Latitude Award is sponsored by Antaviana Films.

And “What the Doc!” – A competitive section that shows a selection of the most radical and innovative films of the current documentary scene. Like “Untitled” by Glawogger and Monika Willi, “Woman and the Glacier” by Audrius Stonys, “Brothers” by Wojciech Staron and “You have no Idea How Much I love You”.

http://www.docsbarcelona.com/en/docsbarcelona-2017/festival/programacio-2017/

Andrei Dascalescu: Planeta Petrila

I had high expectations. I had seen and admired the director’s ”Constantin and Elena” from 2008. I had seen Andrei Dascalescu pitching the project at East Doc Platform in 2016, I wrote these words on this site: ”(Planeta Petrila was) presented with passion and humour, the director said it to be a rockn’roll film, about a mine to be closed and an artist fighting to keep the old buildings and make them into art. A Don Quijote, the director asks? The trailer was unconventional, hopefully the film will be the same…”

I am not disappointed. There is some rockn’roll atmosphere in the film, there is a Don Quijote, Ion Barbu, and yet he is very grounded in the reality that he lives in; he is a creative charismatic artist, who used to work in the mines of Petrila as topographer; he knows and expresses compassion for the history of the mines and for the few miners, who are there. The last ones before the mine activity stops.

Ion Barbu argues that the only solution for Petrila after losing the mining industry is culture

and he is the one to push in that direction. He wants factory buildings to stay as historic monuments, as a museum, he organises happenings, makes installations, an underground theatre festival, there are slogans and quotations on the walls, the grey buildings become full of life and colours, I noticed the name Kirkegaard… thanks for bringing our national hero to Petrila! It’s fun but it is also serious political activism. Barbu works with Ilinca Paun from an NGO, you understand that she is the one, who communicates with the authorities, and we are told that one of the reasons that the politicians want the mining building taken down is that there is a lot of €´s at stake to be given by the EU meant for ”greening”. But does ”greening” mean demolition, a clever woman says. Ilinca Paun?

It is maybe easy to think from the description above that the film is one of the trendy documentary works – ”movies that matter”, a campaign film, a film with an impact – it is not! There is no ”halleluja” here, it matters as a film about creativity and it is a beautiful homage to a dangerous industry and those who worked there or ”died for the coal”. In an excellent scene you see Barbu and helpers create a wailing wall with the names of the many who died while doing their work in the mines. Followed by a song. Solemnity. To add to that there is a scary scene from underground, where the ventilation suddenly does not work, and where the call to ”upstairs” is ”we have no air, we are dying down here if no ventilation…”. Not to forget the burial ceremony for the mine at the end of the film, it is absurd and moving at the same time.

On the photo Ion Barbu stands in front of a mural called ”Petrila, the Sleeping Beauty”. Yes, the mine has been put to rest but Barbu and his helpers have shown that you can make protests against the power and the bulldozers. Through artistic expression on many platforms. And with humour – as he says in an interview with a television crew: ”In Petrila everything is at risk of demolition. Except for the mayor”. It is possible to make a population wake up to be engaged and committed.   

Young Dascalescu has made two impressive documentaries, this one rockn’roll and unconventional cinema, an obvious talent.

Romania, 2016, 80 mins.

https://www.facebook.com/PlanetaPetrila/

CAFx 2017 /Nysgerrigheder

COPENHAGEN ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL

Og så blader jeg videre i festivalkatataloget og fascineres ved enkelte bemærkninger i præsentationerne, formuleringer som gør mig nysgerrig. Først Kasper Astrup Schröders Big Time, 2017 om arkitekten Bjarke Ingels, hvor jeg bliver optaget af, at den skildrer, hvordan Ingels udfordres af svigtende helbred under arbejdet med de store nye bygninger i det centrale New York. (Grand Teatret 26. april 19:00) Det er åbningsfilm for festivalen og det er premiere for den helt nye film.

Når der i en filmbeskrivelse står at ”indvandrerne ikke vinder over de andre (de ’etnisk svenske’ unge red.) gennem ondskab og vold, men ganske enkelt fordi de bevæger sig i Göteborgs byrum på en klogere måde” bliver jeg nysgerrig på om de fremmede er bedre til at finde vej og på hvor elegant filmklipperen lykkes med at fortælle hvordan bevæge sig i Ruben Östlunds Play, 2011 (KU.BE 5. maj 16:30). Det er ordet ”klog” som i den sammenhæng fæstner sig ved mig. I beskrivelsen af Danmark ved Ganges, 2017 af Nicolás Nørgaard Staffolani er det ordet ”nostalgi” i formuleringen ”om der (i kolonihistorien red.) er plads til nostalgi i en nøgtern postkolonial tid.” For mig er nostalgi en vigtig grundlæggende følelse af længsel, smerte, skønhed, orden, ro. Er det sådan instruktøren skildrer Indiens “engang smukkeste by”? (Nationalmuseet 2. maj 17:00)

”Jacques Tati skabte sin helt egen kulisseby, Tativille, der med den nye 4K-restaurering fremstår lige så imponerende som den var tænkt” står der om instruktørens Playtime, 1967, og jeg tænker lige hvad det mon sådan formuleret i tekst er redaktøren ved om hvor imponerende Tativille var tænkt af Tati, hans arkitekt og snedker? Men den nye version af filmen viser det altså (Cinemateket 4. maj 16:45). Var det muligt, må jeg helt bestemt se den! Ligesom jeg nødvendigvis og absolut skal se Stanley Kubricks ”enorme samling æsker, som var fulde af research fra de perfektionistiske film i hans sene fase”, som Jon Johnson i sin Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes, 2008 åbner og folder ud, vel i det klogeste kloge filmessay håber jeg fuld af forventning. (Cinemateket 6. maj 21:30)

Jeg kan huske, at Frantz Ernsts Ang. Lone, 1970 var en smuk film, nu genser jeg den virkelig gerne, mærker jeg tydeligt, også når den her i kataloget præsenteres som ”70’er-realisme” i et cinéma vérité – inspireret drama med ”socialkritisk bid og udstrakt brug af location-optagelser som giver filmen et næsten dokumentarisk strøg.” (Cinemateket 28. april 16:45) Jeg bliver glad og nysgerrig ved at læse sådanne formuleringer…

www.cafx.dk 

CAFx 2017 /Anbefalinger

COPENHAGEN ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL

Jeg ser det store program igennem, koncentrerer mig jo om filmvisningerne, et par stykker af filmene kender jeg og kan kommentere, de fleste kender jeg ikke, men finder formuleringer i beskrivelserne, som gør mig interesseret. Først de to jeg kender, som jeg tidligere har skrevet om her på Filmkommentaren:Tarkovskijs Solaris, 1972 og Kestners Drømme i København, 2009:

SOLARIS

Jeg ved godt, at Solaris først og fremmest er et visuelt mesterværk. Og i den nye rensede og smukke dvd-udgave bliver jeg overbevist fra første billede. Dette russiske landskab omkring det nye gammeldags landhus brydes kun af en motorvejsbro langt væk – men smerten ved den kommer som et stik i idyllen.

Og smerten sidder i denne spiller Donatas Banionis som en særlig alvor fra dette allerførste billede, hvor skarpheden i smertestikket er lyden fra bilen, som kommer med gæsten, som indfører dialogen i kammerspillet, som herefter i den langsomme, langsomme rytme bliver elementet ved siden af billedfortællingen, og Solaris er mere end noget et kammerspil, et spil i replikskifte, i det russiske landhus, i dets smukke rum, og senere jo i rumstationen anderledes kølighed i kredsløb om planeten Solaris.

Herude forstår vi, at smerten hos Banionis er, som kollegerne der (låste i den videnskabelige kontekst, de selv dementerer) bemærker, en banal kærlighedssorg. Kvinden, som altså er i mandens tanke, kommer derude genfødt til stede og genkender sig selv på fotografiet, han har taget med. Og han ser hende rygvendt til stede, som fotografisk gengivelse og som spejlbillede… Læs mere:

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/547/

Vises under CAFx 5. maj 16:30 i Cinemateket

 

DRØMME I KØBENHAVN

… Netop dette er indsigtens kerne. Det er byen, som er konstansen i en evig variations og forandrings uforandrethed. Byen er der. Altid. Menneskene passerer. Og så er det sådan, at byen ikke er menneskenes.

Det er omvendt. (For alle tegnestuer i filmen er ens, alle forhandlingerne der er ens. Det er først i teksterne til sidst, vi ser, at en længere række tegnestuer har medvirket.) Som menneskene og deres liv er ens. De bliver til i elskov, de er i vejen for forældrenes travlhed, de kører ad de samme ruter alene i busserne, de mødes med hinanden i værksteder, på kontorer og i tegnestuer og tror, de skaber byen. De dør ensomme, og der ryddes anonymt op efter dem. Nye folk flytter ind i deres boliger, som tilsammen er byen, som består. I den fineste komposition af et mylder af juxtapositioner, fortæller Anne Østerud en historie så almindelig og så generel, men også så gribende, at jeg i mørket noterer ”lutter ømhed” som det eneste under den biografvisning… Hele anmeldelsen:

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/979/

Vises under CAFx 27. april 16:45 i Cinemateket

www.cafx.dk 

Krakow Film Festival: Music without Borders

A press release came in from one of the oldest documentary film festivals, in Krakow, that celebrates its 57th edition BUT with a young competition on music documentaries, the fifth edition of this novelty.

A quote of a quote: “As Anita Piotrowska, film critic and the co-creator of the programme of Krakow Film Festival points out, “music documentary film becomes more and more inclusive. Music always plays the main role here, but often it is additionally charged – it tends to be a political manifesto, an expression of rebellion against stereotypes, a new look at history or a sign of a complicated ethnic identity. It is increasingly difficult to find an “unadulterated” music documentary film. But this is which, in my opinion, proves its vitality and richness. And this is precisely this diversity – not only of the music itself, but of the contemporary ways of telling stories about it – that we tried to capture while selecting the competition titles.”

Wise words and here you have the films selected:

“Chavela,” dir. Catherine Gund, Daresha Kyi, USA, 90’

“Far Western,” dir. James Payne, Japan, USA, 82’

“Red Gringo,” dir. Miguel Angel Vidaurre, Chile, 69’

“Festival,” dir. Tomasz Wolski, Anna Gawlita, Poland, 85’

“When God Sleeps,” dir. Till Schauder, USA, Germany, 88’

“Sara Baras, All Her Voices,” dir. Rafá Moles, Pepe Andreu, Spain, 91’

“Revolution of Sound. Tangerine Dream,” dir. Margarete Kreuzer, Germany, 90’

“Born To Lose-a film about Lorenzo Woodrose,” dir. Palle Demant, Denmark, 82’

“Soul Exodus,” dir. Csaba Bereczki, Hungary, 92’

“The Wonderful Kingdom of Papa Alaev,” dir. Tal Barda, Noam Pinchas, Israel, France, 74’

I have seen the latter, which is a family story full of music with the Papa (see the fantastic photo) of the Alaev family (who emigrated from Israel to Tajikistan in 1990s) as the main patriarchial character, who has to face, but does not want to, that children and grandchildren wish to take over, or at least have their independence as members of the family, and a religious community. And the orchestra! Sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching, always with great music! And very well told.

www.krakowfilmfestival.pl