Pedro Costa at Festival dei Popoli

Retrospective and masterclass with one of the absolute masters of Cinema today, Portuguese Pedro Costa, at the legendary Festival dei Popoli that starts in two days. The festival site has this introduction to Costa:

“To go back on Pedro Costa’s filmography means first of all to follow the mutations and changes, film after film, of his recurring characters, such as Vanda Duarte, Ventura, and Vitalina Varela. The bodies change, decline, and as years go by expose the truth of time, which carves the marks of grief and pain on them. Real bodies that incarnate collective traumas, a theme that has always haunted the cinema of the Portuguese director. 

Costa is not seeking mercy for the last; he shows their power, their almost sacred dimension with its transfiguring potential, reminiscent of Pasolini. Each of Pedro’s shots is therefore potentially documentary, precisely because it is in search of a truth of the world by submitting spaces (Cabo Verde, or the Fontainhas neighbourhood) to a transformation process. At this juncture, enter the other great ‘character’ of his cinema: black. In Costa’s films, the bodies and spaces are sources of light surrounded by darkness. Black, however, is not an ornamental choice or aesthetic mannerism: on the contrary, it descends from a precise theoretical decision. 

Black is the truest and deepest offscreen space of film. Time falls in it and hides, swallowed by a present without memory that pushes nonetheless to come to the surface. In black lies grief; the traumas and sorrows of the past have settled on it. Light and white (like the hospital in Cavalo dinheiro or the new houses in Juventude em marcha) thus become the obliteration of time, the aseptic sign of obliviousness.”

The festival also welcomes other big names like Ulrich Seidl and Liv Ullmann. Photo of Costa from the site of the festival

Pedro Costa

Ostrochovsky, Pekarcik: Photophobia

… with the first names Ivan and Pavol are known by me for their “Velvet Terrorists”, that I called “an original, intelligent and humorous” film in a review from 2013 (https://filmkommentaren.dk/ostrochovsky-pekarcik-kerekes-velvet-terrorists/). If you take away “Humorous” and use “poetic” instead, it fits what I think of this film from a metrostation in Kharkiv Ukraine. Filmed during 4 months from the day after the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine.

Original in the way it uses the “photophobia”. The family that lives underground in the metro does not dare to exit in fear of light and of the strikes happening or that could happen just walking on grass as one says – mines are placed there. And intelligent in the way the two main protagonists, Nikita and Vika, around 12 years old, can experience the world outside through watching slides of people (mostly) posing for the camera holding animals. This is how the world is shown outside in the slides. With smoke from bombings but also with the sun rays that the two can catch, when they go to the staircase to the metro. Poetry!

Nikita wants to go out, his mother says no, brings him to the doctor – there is a clinic in the metro, much is very organized here – who gives him some vitamine pills and advice to write a diary instead of staring at his cell phone all the time. But he meets Vika and that becomes a small love story with the two running around in the metro having fun and thus also showing us viewers around in the world downstairs, where small “homes” are arranged and where Nikita’s mother is cooking the okroshka soup, he likes.

Apart from the intelligent set-up of the love story of the two kids, accompanied by a cowboy-hat bearded singer who with his guitar brings love songs alive, the film gives the audience numerous sequences of impressions and stories of especially older people, who have ended up here, whose relatives have passed away or are not to get hold of. Classical documentary scenes from the beginning of a senseless war.

Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, 71 mins.

Veronika Lišková: The Visitors

Oh, what an intelligent film with many layers, was my thought after the 85 minutes in company with Zdenka and her family in Svalbard. Including not only the young Czech social anthropologist going to the Arctic with her family to study the life of the people, who have chosen to live there, and how the community is built up, but also existential questions like “what can we give back to other people”, when you are – as she says, clever Zdenka – “a short time visitor or a long time tourist”. In a skype talk Zdenka has with her mentor, the latter tells her that you can not be an anthropologist and a social worker. This is one of the many qualities of the film that it takes the protagonist from being the neutral interviewer to become involved in the complex mindset of being a Svalbard citizen, who tries to be at home or build a home. Is it Norwegian, Svalbard, not really the film says through the many conversations Zdenka has with citizens of Longyearbyen – what a name for a city. Zdenka talks to a journalist, a mining engineer (the mining industry is to stop or has stopped), the mayor of Longyearbyen, a priest, a librarian, a biologist, a student, a goldsmith, an Ethiopean, Zdenka has helped but who has no job and can not get a place to stay… the anthropologist breaks down, “I can’t help you”, she says in that scene.

I/we would like to stay here, my kids (she has three of them) consider this their home, she speaks good Norwegian, she gets along with everybody, she has a nice husband. But what is home and she misses the green trees and the smell of spring back home in Czech Republic?

Which brings me to the thought that Veronika Liškova must have had in mind, while making this beautifully shot (the icy sceneries, the tiny kids in the extraordinary nature playground) respectful and also personal documentary about the good human being, who wants to understand and help: But has to realize that it is not possible for a Zdenka or a film director Veronika, who will stay the short time visitor. But less is more and again a skilled documentary director has taken her audience to a mythical place on the earth. Enjoyable and food for thought.

Czech Republic, 2022, 85 mins.

Anneta Papathanasiou: Laughing in Afghanistan

There is quite an interview in this both entertaining and scary documentary: Mohammad Sadic Akif Mujahir, spokesman for the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and prevention of Vice, says that music is a satanic art… and reflects, rather he states that there are three kinds of smiles: There is the one where the lips are sealed, then there´s the smile where you can see the teeth, and then there´s the loud laughter. Which is a bad thing in our society, he says. A mullah, just after the interview, shouts that loud laughter is not allowed in the new (taliban) Afghanistan, which leaves no space for charming actor Karim Asir, the protagonist of the film, who wants to be the Afghan Chaplin, and that he can fill in that role, is demonstrated elegantly by Anneta Papathanasiou, organising small Chaplin b/w sketches as we know them. They make us laugh but they can not be performed in the home country of Karim, the country he had to leave after death threats when he had performed.

Anneta Papathanasiou could have made a reportage style film with interviews, she decided “to go with” the actor, tell his story, do it in a way full of charm and funny episodes – and then cut to Karim to have him express emotionally NOT to be in his country and make people happy with his art. Touching!

According to Anneta Papathanasiou the film has done well in cinema screenings, it will be shown at Al Jazeera Balkan and at festivals, I am sure, it has an audience. My recommendation!

Greek Documentary Association

… was built up in May 2013 “by professionals of all disciplines – directors, producers, screenwriters, cinematographers, editors … – with a common passion for Creative Documentary…” with the vision “From the start, we sought to support the Documentary as a distinct form of filmmaking in Greece and to work for its further recognition and promotion internationally, by Organizing spezialized educational events/ Developing ways and means for the promotion and distribution of documentaries/ Building collaborations with similar organizations, international festivals and markets/ Fighting for the recognition and standing that the Greek Creative Documentary deserves from state authorities” – quoted from the website of the association, https://en.hellasdoc.gr.

In June same year, 2013, the public broadcaster ERT was closed and this raised a lot of protests, also from the Association. On this site we brought a text sent to us by filmmaker Marianna Economou, I quote again “…

“We, the creators of documentaries, united citizens and peoples, will fight for the immediate re opening of ERT, so that Greek creativity and culture reaches every house. We will fight the bill that the government announced as it continues and even strengthens the interference of the political parties and their control of public television. We will make propositions for necessary reforms in order for this voice to acquire its important educational, cultural and ethnic role, especially during these difficult times that we are traversing.

We are the only country in the world that has a black out on the public television screen and where the radio waves are silenced. Let’s fight, so that these media become the essential means, guardians and catalysts for the promotion of education and culture.” The whole text is here: https://filmkommentaren.dk/greek-documentary-association-protest/. ERT exists today, don´t know for how long time there was “black screen”!.

The Association has around 200 members today, it organizes documentary events, is active at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival and arranges its own small festival for new Greek documentaries and projects in development. I was invited to come to Athens to do two masterclasses, one was for makers, who wanted to know more about how to prepare projects, pitch (writing, showing via a teaser/trailer, talking) where I had the pleasure to make a case study together with talented Ukrainian/Greek Vera Iona Papadopoulou and her work-in-progress “Nova Opera – The Art of War” AND do a presentation (the second day) of the narrative diversity of the documentary genre of today showing clips from Denmark, Sweden, Eastern Europe including Georgia. Not with the same countries but with the same INSPIRATION goal as 25 years ago (!), where I was invited to do the same but with more days. It was indeed a wonderful come back to friends from the documentary scene in Greece – including memories from numerous visits organized by Kostas Spyropoulos in the periods 2009-12 and 2013-17, through Storydoc.

… and you are treated well in Greece. That’s what I chose as a photo taken by a waiter with the cell phone of Marianna Economou, who is the one in yellow on the left side of the table. On FB there are other photos with introductions.


 

Festival East By Southeast

Under den 12. udgave af festivalen East by Southeast præsenterer Cinemateket 10 af de bedste helt nye fiktions- og dokumentarfilm film fra lige så mange lande i Central- og Østeuropa. Formålet med festivalen er ikke mindst at give et dansk publikum mulighed for at stifte bekendtskab med kulturen og den rige filmproduktion i vores europæiske ’nabolande’. Alle ti film har danmarkspremiere under festivalen, der får besøg af fem instruktører.

Under den 12. udgave af festivalen East by Southeast præsenterer Cinemateket 10 af de bedste helt nye fiktions- og dokumentarfilm film fra lige så mange lande i Central- og Østeuropa. Formålet med festivalen er ikke mindst at give et dansk publikum mulighed for at stifte bekendtskab med kulturen og den rige filmproduktion i vores europæiske ’nabolande’. Alle ti film har danmarkspremiere under festivalen, der får besøg af fem instruktører. I de fleste central- og østeuropæiske film er karaktererne stadig vigtigere end plottet, men i forsøget på appellere til et større (hjemme)publikum, udnytter regionens filmskabere i stigende grad en række genrekonventioner, som det sker på kreativ og effektiv vis i det rumænske actiondrama ’The Father who Moves Mountains’ og i den tjekkiske thriller ’Suppressed’. Mange instruktører i regionen udsender dog stadig meget personlige værker. Det gælder f.eks. ungarske Dimitry Ljasuk, der besøger festivalen med den inspirerende feel-good-film ’Island of Good Hope’, hvor hovedpersonen/instruktøren går i selvvalgt eksil på en lille ubeboet ø ved Tisza-søen. Et andet eksempel på en personlig tilgang er Agnieszka Zwiefkas ’Vika!’ – et bevægende portræt af den 84-årige polske dj, Wirginia Szmyt. Den slovakiske instruktør Peter Kerekes præsenterer under festivalen sit prisvindende drama ’107 Mothers’ der følger den autentiske historie om 107 mødre i et fængsel i Odessa. Kerekes har desuden været producer på den rørende dokumentar, ’Fragile Memory’, hvori den unge instruktør, Igor Ivanko, portrætterer sin Alzheimers-ramte bedstefar, Leonid Burlaka, der i perioden 1964 til 1999 stod bag kameraet under produktionen af 30 film fra det berømte Odessa Film Studio. East by Southeast åbner filmgrænserne den 2. november med danmarkspremiere på den forrygende litauiske komedie ’Parade’ (2022), instrueret af Titas Laucius, som selv vil introducere sin film og svare på spørgsmål fra publikum, og Litauens Ambassade byder på et glas vin i Asta Bar efter filmen. Tak til de central- og østeuropæiske ambassader, der yder støtte til gæstebesøg og afholder receptioner i forbindelse med forestillingerne. Mette Camilla Melgaard og Jesper Andersen, programredaktører / Cinemateket

IDFA Opening film

The artistic director of IDFA Orwa Nyrabia announced yesterday what will be the opening film of the 2023 festival: A Picture to Remember. Here are the words about the film from IDFA’s website:

Olga Chernykh spent her childhood in Donetsk in the 1990s, before moving with her parents to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Her grandma stayed in the Donbas region, large parts of which were occupied by pro-Russian rebels in 2014. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the ensuing war, only increased the sense of distance between Chernykh and her grandmother.

A Picture to Remember is an essay-style account of the war from the perspective of three generations of women. There are frequent video calls between Chernykh, her mother (a pathologist working above a morgue, where it feels surprisingly safe during bomb attacks) and her grandmother. Recordings of their conversations are interspersed with photos and videos from the family archive, and news reports, as well as images of the parasites Chernykh’s mother observes with a microscope.

The result is a kaleidoscopic and personal film. Traveling fluidly through time, it connects the current violence in Donbas with the destruction there during the Second World War—as related by Chernykh’s grandmother. A sense of absence and loss prevails throughout.

And take a look at the photo (still?) from the film. Reminds me of Latvian Herz Frank. and the opening of “Bridges of Time” by Kristine Briede and Audrius Stonys

IDFA Press Conference 2023

… was held yesterday afternoon with artistic director Orwa Nyrabia in the leading role after Head of New Media Kaspar Sonnen had introduced the DocLab: Phenomenal Friction. For more than an hour Nyrabia talked us through the 2023 program with a start of mentioning the atrocities going on in the world, the conflicts, the wars, stressing that the festival is also a place to debate – and let´s try to listen. He invited the audience to enjoy the new old place Vondelpark, that will be one of the venues for meetings and screenings during the festival. (I remember sitting there being in the jury in 1996 together with wonderful Diane Weyermann, who is no longer with us). Wang Bing is guest of honor and has chosen 10 films, Chinese, from 1999-2012, and he has a retrospective of 8 films of his own. Great initiative. And there is a chance to enjoy 5 films of Peter Greenaway + an unfinished film from the “dissident of Cinema” as Nyrabia characterised him.

Before going into details with two sections of the festival – “Envision” and “International Competition” – Nyrabia mentioned section after section, I sometimes mention a couple of director names: “Fabrications” (Safi Faye, Shirley Clarke), “16 Worlds on 16” mm (Varda, Maysles), “Corresponding Cinemas”, “Best of Fests” (Alisa Kovalenko, Mariam Chacia & Nik Voigt…), “Special Screenings” (Raul Ruiz with a film from the Allende period, restored after having been on the shelf as it was critical to Allende and Ruiz decided to nor show it after the death of the President), “Signed” (previously mentioned on this site, focus on the filmmaker rather than on the film), “Paradocs”, “IDFA on stage”, Competitions – youth, short, “Frontlight”, “Luminous”, where Nyrabia said that Love was a strong theme – and colonialism!

“Envision” – what is evident after Orwa Nyrabia became artistic director of IDFA is the diversity in geography. Here there are films from Brazil, Japan, Thailand, Russia, China, Tunisia and glad to see Macedonian Kumjana Novakova’s strong “Silence of Reason” selected, was also in Sarajevo FF.

And re: the International Competition, “the best films of the year”, Orwa Nyrabia was highlighting “The World is Family”, the first really personal film by Indian master Anand Patwardhan. But also the Danish surprise (for me as well) “As the Tide Comes in” by Spanish/Danish Juan Palacios on the island Mandø (the only time I did not understand Orwa Nyrabia’s pronunciation…) is there and “Limitation” (PHOTO) by Elene Asatiani and Soso Dumbadze from Georgia, really happy for them, they worked hard on the film (also) during the Film Mentoring Program of CinéDoc Tbilisi this year. And many many other films like Jaboly´s “Life is Beautiful” from Norway/Gaza, and films from Armenia, Central African Republic, Taiwan, Poland… Global? Oh Yes!

And the Opening Film, praised by a proud Orwa Nyrabia is “A Picture to Remember” by Olga Chernykh from Ukraine, 3 generations.

IDFA takes place 8-19th of November 2023.

Alas, I will not be there but hope to watch a lot from home with a newly replaced hip…

Yes, HipHipHurra for IDFA!

DOKLeipzig Awards 2023

Last night the DOKLeipzig awards were distributed – and there were many. The festival has always been good at finding sponsors for the awards to their sections of long, short and animations films. Here is a copy paste of the press release:

The seven Golden Doves and two Silver Doves of the 66th edition of DOK Leipzig were awarded at the Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig on Saturday.

In the International Competition Documentary Film, the Golden Dove Feature-Length Film went to Peter Mettler, to whom this year’s homage was dedicated, for “While the Green Grass Grows” (Photo). This cinematic diary draws upon the Swiss-Canadian filmmaker’s own memories and family relationships as it looks at life cycles and the way the world is constantly changing. “An unpredictable film whose quality of observation makes the viewer see everyday events, places and objects in a poetic new light” is how the jury described it. The 10,000-euro Golden Dove is sponsored by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. The award was presented by MDR commission editor for documentaries Thomas Beyer.

The Golden Dove Short Film, which includes 3,000 euros in prize money, was presented to Bo Wang for “An Asian Ghost Story” (Netherlands, Hong Kong), a search for traces based on the 1965 US embargo against “communist” real hair wigs from Asia. The jury called it “a smart, hip, funny amalgam of fact and fiction made with exceptional craft”.

The films that have earned Golden Doves in the International Competition Documentary Film qualify for nomination for the annual Academy Awards®, provided they meet the Academy’s standards.

The Silver Dove Feature-Length Film, sponsored by 3sat, for the best feature-length documentary by an up-and-coming director, was awarded to Hovhannes Ishkhanyan for the Armenian-French production “Beauty and the Lawyer”. The jury praised it as “a film that builds an intimate relationship with its characters who generously let us into their lives as they invent a new path to deal with a homophobic world”. Johannes Dicke, head of programming at 3sat, presented the filmmaker with the 6,000-euro award.

The Silver Dove Short Film, which includes 1,500 euros for the best short documentary by an up-and-coming director, sponsored by the Sächsische Landesanstalt für privaten Rundfunk und neue Medien (Saxon State Agency for Commercial Broadcasting and New Media, SLM), went to “30 Kilometres per Second” by Jani Peltonen (Finland). The jury described it as “a film which, by using the montage as its main strategy, unveils potentialities for this cinematic direction.” The award was presented by Katja Röckel from the SLM’s Media Council.

The winners of the International Competition Documentary Film were selected by Jennifer Fox, Radu Jude, Marie-Pierre Macia, Steven Markovitz and Rima Mismar.

In the International Competition Animated Film, the newly created Golden Dove Feature-Length Film, endowed with 3,000 euros, went to Xu Jingwei for “No Changes Have Taken in Our Life” (China), the story of a musician who tries in vain to find work after graduating from university. The jury called it “a courageous and challenging film that is as specific as it is universal, and as critical as it is witty, tackling the uncomfortable subject of dreariness and a lack of perspective”.

The Golden Dove Short Film in conjunction with 1,500 euros, sponsored by the Deutsches Institut für Animationsfilm e. V., was awarded to Barbara Rupik for “Such Miracles Do Happen” (Poland). In its statement, the jury said: “The film uses outstanding technique of a kind of liquid stop-motion animation, which is also irreplaceable and deeply connected to its theme.” Dr Volker Petzold (chairman of DIAF) addressed the audience at the award ceremony.

The film that earns the Golden Dove Short Film qualifies for nomination for the annual Academy Awards®, provided it meets the Academy’s standards.

Jury members Pavel Horáček, Anne Isensee and Irina Rubina also awarded a Special Mention to Tomek Popakul and Kasumi Ozeki for the animated Polish short film “Zima”.

In the German Competition Documentary Film, the Golden Dove Feature-Length Film went to “One Hundred Four” by Jonathan Schörnig, a real-time documentation of a rescue at sea on the Mediterranean. “The film team and the crew of the rescue ship show us clearly what it means when we look the other way every day. But they also show that help is possible and needed,” the jury emphasised. This 10,000-euro award is sponsored by Doris Apell-Kölmel and Michael Kölmel.

The Golden Dove Short Film, in conjunction with 1,500 euros, was awarded to Franzis Kabisch for “getty abortions” (Germany, Austria), a desktop video essay that explores how media illustrate the topic of abortion. “Our award-winning film finds a convincing contemporary form to address an ancient and at the same time highly topical issue,” said the jury comprised of Birgit Kohler, Claus Löser and Serpil Turhan.

This year’s winner of the Golden Dove in the Audience Competition was selected by jury members Billie Bauermeister, Fritz Czaplinski, Anna Eulitz, Charlotte Hennrich and Annegret Weiß. They honoured Asmae El Moudir for her documentary film “The Mother of All Lies” (Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar). In her search for memories of her childhood, the filmmaker recreates her neighbourhood in Casablanca as an elaborate miniature and in the process comes across a trauma of Moroccan history. “With great fervour and love of detail, a surprising work emerges that dissolves the boundaries between fantasy and reality,” extolled the jury. This 3,000-euro award is sponsored in part by the Leipziger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Filmkunst e. V.

DOKLeipzig Partnership Awards

There are so many awards to be handed out in Leipzig today that they had to be split into two ceremonies. Here is a copy paste of the press release about the first round of applauses, that happened this afternoon, the second comes later tonight after the embargo has been lifted:

The DEFA Sponsoring Prize, which includes 4,000 euros and is granted by the DEFA Foundation, went to Julia Charakter for “The Children of Korntal” (Germany).

The 3,000-euro MDR Film Prize for an outstanding eastern European documentary film was awarded to Marianna Kaat for “The Last Relic” (Estonia, Norway).

The Film Prize Leipziger Ring, which honours a documentary film about human rights, democracy or civic engagement, is sponsored by the Stiftung Friedliche Revolution and includes 2,500 euros in prize money. This year’s award went ex aequo to Jonathan Schörnig for “One Hundred Four” (Germany) and Nantenaina Lova for “Where Zebus Speak French” (France, Madagascar, Germany, Burkina Faso).

The Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize, which includes 2,000 euros, licensing and subtitling in eight languages, was also awarded to “One Hundred Four” by Jonathan Schörnig.

“One Hundred Four” further received the 1,500-euro ver.di Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness, bringing the total to four awards, making this the film earning the most honours at DOK Leipzig 2023.

The 2,250-euro Prize of the Interreligious Jury was awarded to Sarah Mallégol for “Kumva – Which Comes from Silence” (France). This award is sponsored by VCH-Hotels Germany along with the VCH-Hotel Michaelis in Leipzig as well as the Interreligious Roundtable and the Oratorium Leipzig.

The Prize of the International Film Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) was awarded to the South Korean production “Universe Department Store” by Taewoong Won.

The mephisto 97.6 Award went to the short animated film “Compound Eyes of Tropical” by Zhang Xu Zhan (Taiwan).

The Gedanken-Aufschluss award went to Nele Dehnenkamp for her first feature-length documentary film, “For the Time Being” (Germany). This award was voted on by a jury comprised of prisoners at the Juvenile Detention Centre Regis-Breitingen.