What kind of world do we leave for our children? A banal and pathetic question maybe. But it came to my mind this morning, when I attended the Warscape pitching in Kiev at the Docu/Pro section of Docudays. 6 projects from around 25 were selected – ”an international competition for documentary film projects about Ukraine or the Eurasia region, on the consequences of conflicts and other situations of violence inflicted upon civilians.”

In ”84” by cameraman Volodimir Yermakov, his first film as a director, to be 10-15 mins. long, children are playing in the city of Sloviansk, that was occupied by rebels for 84 days. The final scene of the lyrical clip presented by the director shows children ”playing funeral”. Heartbreaking, makes you think.

In the Georgian ”The Playground” by Ana Tsiminia and Esma Berikishvili children of Abkhazian refugees play among the ruins of a paper factory near the border between Georgia and Abkhazia chatting about where to go. Paris? The plays represent their social reality in what is going to be an observational documentary. Expectations are high after the director’s ”Biblioteka”.

The pitching this morning ended with the French/Ukrainian ”The New Life of Vitaly”, a film by director Vadim Moiseenko, produced by Marie Odile Gazin to be shot in small Krymske in the Luhansk region close to the frontline. Like small grown-ups the kids, with Vitaly as the main protagonist, talk about who is in war with whom, what foreign nationalities are there as soldiers, what the rebels took and destroyed, when they were there… They lost their childhood.

Photo: Ana Tsiminia and Esma Berikishvili preparing their pitch outside the venue of The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the sponsor of the workshop and the award for the best project.

http://docudays.org.ua/eng/

… which is of course a simplification but I was thinking of it several times during the days here in Kiev, where the Docudays goes on, one of those many festivals, less known, compared to IDFA, CPH:DOX, DOKLeipzig and Hotdocs BUT with a high quality selection and, as far as I have been able to register attending a handful of screenings, full houses. With a professional relaxed atmosphere.

Form comes first has director and editor French/Czech Stan Neumann said at many tutoring sessions. The same goes for Viktor Kossakovsky who talks about making an aesthetic choice as the first thing to do before you start shooting.

But sometimes you find the form, the shape, the handwriting as you go along, as did Georgian Alexander Kvatashidze, when he

did his “See You in Chechnya” (PHOTO) that was shown here in Kiev Monday the 26^th. The director told the audience after the screening, how he kept on filming the war photographers, the subjects of his film, for years, at the same time as he was looking for the right way, the right form to tell the story. He found it, he made a first person narration that takes himself and the audience to the many interesting war photographers, we meet in the film. He could have made a straight forward more journalistic documentary, he did not make that choice and thanks for that.

The same goes for Salomé Jashi with her “The Dazzling Light of Sunset”, who starts her film with an amazing camera movement that ends up at a choir singing beautifully and thus setting the mood and telling the audience that here is someone, who makes films in a different, personal manner. As does Roman Bondarchuk with “Dixie Land”, when he opens his film with the band at the sea to set the tone regardless of classical dramaturgical rules.

One more to be mentioned among many, Slovak cinematographer and director Martin Kollar, whose “5 October” I had been waiting to see, and I was not disappointed – it is an intimate film about the director’s brother, who is to undergo a serious surgery and goes on a journey that might be his last… It sounds like a sensationalistic suspense documentary but Kollar has chosen his form, has made an aesthetic choice that for me takes the theme to a high existential, philosophical level. A many-layered documentary of the best.

http://docudays.org.ua/eng/ 

It was one of those lovely moments, where a huge audience had come to celebrate the premiere of a film, ”Dixie Land”, that was 7 years on its way – for many reasons, one of them being that the director Roman Bondarchuk and his script writer Darya Averchenko were busy with the making of and promotion of ”Ukrainian Sheriffs”.

The film about jazz music performed by kids in a band in Kherson Ukraine, led by their old teacher, who founded the band just after WW2, picking up homeless children to give them the chance to develop their skills, gave them a life, simply – is a warm, so well made – Bondarchuk has indeed a documentary-eye – interpretation of a happy childhood, where kids have a good time developing their creative skills. As it is written in the catalogue: We all live once in Dixie Land – the country where politics, money and death do not exist at all. But over time this country is disappearing… yes, we are in Ukraine of today.

Back to the fest of a premiere where the superstar of the film (see photo from the screen of the cinema) Polina was present and performed with three instruments, when the closing images of the film came up. It was marvellous and there were flowers and standing ovations to a film that is full of love. A human film that gave many of us tears in the eyes. Look at the photo… Polina is now 15 years old, study in Moscow, we had thanks to Ilona Bicevska, the producer of the film, the chance to meet her after the screening. And her parents… you learn so much by being here at Docudays in Kiev.

Latvia, Ukraine, Germany, 2016, 60 mins.

http://dixielandfilm.com/

… and runs until March 31. I am happy to be here participating at the Docu/Pro, the industrial platform of a festival that celebrates its 14th edition this year. The platform includes talks from knowledgeable people like Brigid O’Shea from DOKLeipzig, Miriam Ryndová from IDF (Institute of Documentary Film) in Prague and Latvian producer Uldis Cekulis. My job is to coach filmmakers, who have been selected for Warscape, ”The international competition for documentary film projects about Ukraine or the Eurasia region, on the consequences of conflicts and other situations of violence inflicted upon civilians”…6 projects.

They will be pitching their projects on Thursday March 30 in a competitive session open to the public. The same goes for 5 projects in another competition, ”DokWorks”.

The screenings of the festival opened last night with the screening of ”The Yes Men are Revolting” by Laura Nix, an excellent start for

the festival that this year has Climate Change as its theme. Per tradition the festival came up with a fine, humorous introduction show – and well edited visuals for the many sections, competitive or non-competitive, the films have been divided into.

”4 degrees” is the motto of the Docudays 2017. It is explained like this on the website:

… Four degrees Celsius is the amount by which, according to the environmentalists, the average temperature on Earth will increase by the end of this century.

“Just” +4⁰С – and the World Ocean level will rise almost by 9 meters, and the territories inhabited by more than 600 million people will be flooded. The streets of London, Bombay, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, and Sydney will be covered with water.

“Just” +4 degrees С – and the whole Southern Ukraine will disappear under water.

“Just” +4 degrees С – and we’ll bid farewell to 1/6 of the life species on Earth.

At the same time, if the water level will increase only by one meter, displacement of people and construction of protection facilities would cost 950 billion USD…

http://docudays.org.ua/eng/

2 days of Forum at the CPH:DOX March 22-23. I was there to check out what is happening with the ”creative and visually strong film projects”, that the CPH:FORUM ”financing and co-production event” is set up to help. Are great documentary films that use the language of cinema coming up? Concluding impressions at the end of this text.

First the venue, the new ”palace” of CPH:DOX, Charlottenborg in central Copenhagen near the harbour area. An absolute improvement for the ambitious festival. Lively activities inside and outside in the courtyards. Open to the public were several activities – discussions on subjects of today’s world.

The Forum took place in the colourful (see photo) Social Cinema, a very good place, a bit too hot, some called it a sauna, but I sat well and heard and saw, what was going on up there on the stage, where Tribeca’s Ingrid Kopp and Sundance’s Tabitha Jackson were moderating. They did that well. Not an easy task as most of the pitchers and panelists talked too much and went over the 14 minutes dedicated to each project. 300 projects had been submitted, 30 were picked. With overlapping categories ”fictionnonfiction”, ”cinema”, ”f:act”, ”art”.

In its presentation of the Forum, CPH:DOX circles around big names, well-known auteurs, who unfortunately were not there in persona, but were presented by producers, who often had brought

along videos, where directors like Hubert Sauper, Roberto Minervini, Sally Potter and Jørgen Leth talk about their project. It created respectful comments from the panelists – 4 per project, changing from project to project – but it is obvious that a dialogue with the director present would have been much better. Much depends on the visuals presented and for Sauper and Minervini it was almost impossible to see what that could lead to. Tabitha Jackson, one of the moderators, argued that ”the creative process is messy”, yes, but the visuals presented on occasions like this must at least be attractive. Sauper and Minervini had put no work into it.

Sally Potter, however, with ”Oh Moscow”, had made an explanatory fascinating video with herself in the picture, ”a musical film using solely archive footage, based on a song cycle inspired by the cold war, drawing parallels between past and present”. My reaction: I want to see that film. With Jørgen Leth the same, our great great filmmaker, who was warmly presented by producer Sigrid Dyekjær who takes care of the project together with Jacob Thuesen, who had made a brilliant teaser for ”I Walk”, I knew that project in beforehand, I was moved to see and hear Jørgen talk about what it means to be close to 80 and have problems with walking. He talks about slowness, about his postponing getting out of bed in the morning, about life and love. Nothing new if you know Jørgen Leth but from a new perspective.

CPH:FORUM wants to be different. With the selection this year they were not. Lea Glob and Andreas Koefoed want to make a film about ”United Nations – The End of the Beginning”, yes, I will watch the film because I know they can make something interesting, but what they showed was nothing special, maybe too early for the pitch? Andrei Nekrasov was not able to communicate why he wants to make a sequel to ”Magnitsky Act”. The American ”Alt-Right” was pure journalism without any creativity shown, ”The Second Israel” was categorized under ”Cinema”, I could not see why, ”Jozi Gold” the same but with a charismatic main character so maybe a Film will come up …

Too American? Well, there were many projects from the US and many from other countries dealing with American reality. And the majority of the panelists invited to the stage to comment were from the US. Of course it is questionable, why there are no projects from Asia, from Eastern and Central Europe (there was Filp Remunda from Czech Republic), from South America. Do they not apply? Do they consider the Forum to be élitiste?

Anyway, two of the American projects I look forward to see as finished films: Crystal Moselle (The Wolfpack) had wonderful visual material to accompany her ”Skate Girl” as had RaMell Ross, a photographer’s first feature documentary with ”Hale County this Morning, this Evening” from the Black Belt region in the US. Both of them were present and had prepared fine texts for their presentation.

All right, let me give the benefit of the doubt to photographer Seamus Murphy and his ”Staring Through the Glass”, where he follows PJ Harvey making a new album inspired by his photos and their common travelling – the problem was the classical at pitching sessions: Sympathetic Murphy told the audience that the film is not going to be as the trailer… Very well received was ”Sisters With Transistors” by Lisa Rovner, a story about female pioneers in electronic music. Great archive material did the job.

What happened at the individual meetings after the two days of Forum, I have no idea, hopefully there were inspiring dialogues between those, who make the films and those who need them for distribution in theatres or on television.

A professional event, full house, good atmosphere, a more precise project selection is needed with a wider geographical spread and with the stressing of the artistic/cinema language. FILMS, please!

https://cphdox.dk/en/ 

…of the festivals many sections are – in an edited and shortened Danish version of the press release of the festival of tonight:

DOX:AWARD:’De sidste mænd i Aleppo’ (“Last Men in Aleppo”), instrueret af Feras Fayyad samt debuterende co-instruktør Steen Johannessen, som er et uforglemmeligt portræt af tre modvillige heltes arbejde med at redde Aleppos civile midt i krigszonens centrum – og årets åbningsfilm på CPH:DOX.

Juryen udtaler om vinderfilmen: “De sidste mænd i Aleppo’ er en film hvis ødelæggende, følelsesmæssige umiddelbarhed kaster os ind i en shakespearsk’ tragedie om en befolkningsgruppe, der kæmper for at bevare deres menneskelighed på trods af den ubarmhjertige realitet, de befinder sig i”. 

Special mentions til ’Gray House’ af Austin Lynch og Matthew Booth og ’The John Dalli Mystery’ af Jeppe Rønde. ’Gray House’ er et mørkt og

stemningsfuldt værk mellem dokumentarisme og abstraktion, der er både stemnings- og udtryksmæssigt beslægtet med Lynch senior. Om ‘Gray House’ udtaler juryen: “For dens forbløffende brug af filmisk sprog til at skabe en dyb følelse af menneskelig isolation. Filmens ekstraordinære lyddesign, cinematografi, og formelle strenghed skaber uforglemmelige landskaber af både trussel og skønhed”. 

Juryen anerkender også ‘The John Dalli Mystery’, der følger Mads Brügger og Mikael Bertelsen i en nervepirrende morsom detektivfilm, hvor det ene twist tager det andet, “for dens kombination af gribende efterforskning med dristig, absurd, og fortvivlende film noir. Og alt dette udfolder sig midt i vores mest presserende europæiske politiske realiteter”. 

F:ACT Award: ’Radio Kobanï’ af Reber Dosky, en usædvanligt medrivende historie om en stærk, 21-årig kvindes kamp for sin lokale radiostation i den krigshærgede by Kobanï.

Juryen udtaler: “Som vinder af F:ACT Award er vores valg faldet på en smukt udformet film – en film om liv og død, krig og fred, tabet af håb for menneskeheden og generhvervelsen af dette håb. Filmen er et voldsomt intimt værk, og et gennem-researchet stykke civil-journalistik. Filmen foregår i den kurdiske by Kobanï i Syrien – en landsby, der blev et symbol på skiftet i krigen mod ISIS. Denne film inspirerede os alle i sin skildring af Kobanïs indbyggeres modstandskraft og mod, men især hos kvinderne: mødre og døtre, som ofte er udeladt af dominerende fortællinger om globale konflikter”. 

Juryen valgte også at give en special mention til ’Trophy’ af Shaul Schwarz og Christina Clusiau, en enestående velfortalt film om kapitalismen bag storvildtsjagt og den menneskelige moral. Juryen udtaler: “Vi vil gerne give Special Mention til en film, der kunstfærdigt præsenterer os for et komplekst dilemma. Filmen er en undersøgelse af kommerciel storvildts- og trofæjagt, og rejser dybere spørgsmål om fremtiden i forhold til bevarelsen af det vilde dyreliv og om vores forhold til truede dyrearter og til naturen selv. Både hvad angår produktion, cinematografi, redigering og lyddesign, er ‘Trophy’ en meget vellykket præstation”. 

NORDIC:DOX Award: ’Land of the Free’ af Camilla Magid, et sensitivt og menneskeklogt billede af en hård, social virkelighed i det udsatte South Central Los Angeles.

Juryen udtaler: “… vi var dybt bevægede af en film, der tager os med ind i den menneskelige skrøbeligheds dybder. Dens veludvalgte og gribende historier spejler hinanden på stærkeste vis. Karakterernes konturer blander sig med hinanden, og adskillige portrætter flyder sammen til ét. På denne måde vises det, hvor let livet kan tage en forkert drejning, men også hvordan nyt håb kan findes i noget så simpelt som at genopdage smagen af kaffe. Med dens stærke protagonister formår filmen at opnå en utrolig intimitet, og forbliver loyal over for dens filmiske valg. Prisen gives i til dette elegante arbejde, der har resulteret i et mesterværk

Juryen giver en special mention til ’69 Minutes of 86 Days’ af Egil Håskjold Larsen, der følger en 3-årig pige og hendes families lange rejse fra et græsk flygtningecenter til Uppsala i en bevægelse, der giver tragedien både form og ansigt.

Juryen udtaler: “NORDIC:DOX-juryen har den store glæde at give Special Mention til en modig, fordybende og engagerende film, der bruger dens filmiske midler til at tackle et kendt emne på en måde, så det fremstår friskt og nyt. Den utrolige cinematografi, den formfuldendte redigering, det kreative lyddesign og musikken smelter sammen til en yderst medrivende oplevelse. Selve filmens rytme imiterer det farlige hav, som er startpunktet for en rejse, der fokuserer på Lean – en uforglemmelig 3 år gammel pige. Denne lille pige kropsliggør både håb og mod i en tid, hvor det er allermest nødvendigt. Cadeau til Egil Håskjold Larsen som instruerede, skød og redigerede denne sin første spillefilm.

Vi har anmeldt hovedprisen Last Men in Aleppo på dette site, flere anmeldelser vil følge af en festival, som varer til den 26. Ds. For resten af priserne, og en engelsk oversættelse, check CPH:DOX hjemmeside:

www.cphdox.dk 

… was one of the around 30 projects pitched at the CPH:FORUM that took place wednesday and thursday this week. Director Danish/Swedish Maria Bäck, producer Anna-Maria Kantarius. Who did a strong presentation of a project that in CPH:DOX terminology is FICTIONnonFiction – hybrid is another word for a film like this, where the director will have to find creative solutions to build a narrative for the five days the director experienced alone as 14 years old in the Swedish capital after her mother was brought to hospital to be treated for her mental illness. The film to be – no objections – got the the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €15.000.

Maria Bäck graduated from the Danish Film School, documentary line in 2013.

Chapeau for a jury that chose to go for a talent and not one of the established directors, who pitched or whose projects were pitched by producers.

General comments on the Forum will follow.

Photo: Director Maria Bäck.

https://cphdox.dk/en