Andrei Nekrasov: The Magnitsky Act

… has the subtitle ”Behind the Scenes” and indeed this is what it does, or rather where he takes us, Andrei Nekrasov, known for his controversial film on the poisoning of Litvinenko, for his ”Russian Lessons” that deals with the Russian-Georgian war and for his tv series ”Farewell Comrades”. In other words Nekrasov is an experienced, professional director behind big international films. His new film digs into what actually happened to Sergey Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison in 2009, where he had been sitting for 380 days, arrested by the police after having reported a financial tax fraud of considerable size. To the authorities.

Magnitsky, a young lawyer, was hired by American lawyer and investor, based in London, William Browder, who has been insisting, since then, on Magnitsky being tortured to death, and has made himself a human rights activist and a ”Public Enemy no. 1” of Putin’s Russia.

Browder went to the US Congress, had an Magnitsky Act passed and signed by President Obama, an act that made Russian officials involved in human rights conflicts banned to enter the US.

About the overall narrative of the film: Step by step, Nekrasov gets closer to people and documents around the case, an insight that makes him question, whether Magnitsky was actually beaten with death as the consequence or whether he died a natural death… and whether this whole story was set up by Browder to clean himself for being involved in the fraud.

I read about the film being taken off the program at the Norwegian Film Festival in Grimstad – the festival was threatened to be sued by Browder and his lawyers – and I read that it was not shown at a planned screening at the European Council because Browder presented papers stating that the film was full of wrong statements and conclusions – for the same reason broadcaster arte/ZDF has put the film on hold to investigate… The film, however, was screened on the initiative of the producer Piraya Films, in Oslo, in Washington at a closed session and at the Moscow International Film Festival some days ago. At the two latter mentioned events raising upheated debates.

A ”hot” film in other words. Thanks to brave Norwegian Torstein Grude from the production company Piraya in Stavanger Norway for letting me watch the film AS A FILM and not as a piece of investigative journalism even if it is also what it is…

So here comes an attempt to make a film review of a film that with its narrative structure includes several film styles, several angles.

This is what makes it interesting, the richness in approaches with three main personalities, Magnitsky, Browder and Nekrasov.

It starts with Nekrasov, who hears about the Magnitsky case and wants to make it into a film. He contacts Browder, who since 2009 has told the story again and again, is a good storyteller, who seems convincing when he talks in between the dramatized sequences of Magnitsky being beaten up in the prison, as Browder says, Magnitsky being arrested in his home by the policemen in front of his wife and two children, the corrupt policemen having meetings with mafia guys in night clubs, the involved mysteriously being killed one after the other, the interrogation by the policemen – ”if you sign here that you did not tell the truth when you reported the crime, you can go home…”. So here Nekrasov presents Browder’s version of the truth. Classical drama with the voice of Browder taking us through the story.

Even if these sequences are sometimes a bit too cliché-filled in the décor, they ”survive” because of the good actors playing Magnitsky and the police officer Karpov. The drama-documentary set-up has music ”from wall to wall” (apparently this is what stories like this must have, it is beyond my understanding that it is necessary), anyway the drama parts are not only interrupted by interviews but also by tv news clips that communicate how the media treated the case.

But slowly disappears the drama documentary and the film director Nekrasov becomes the investigative journalist, who goes from place to place, from Moscow to London to New York, searching for the truth, discovering that Magnitsky was called upon as a witness in the financial fraud case and not as someone accused, and that he never mentioned the name(s) of the policemen in the first official report. Karpov from the police, one of those criminalised by Browder, suddenly comes into the film in a scene, where Nekrasov asks the actor who plays him to be present at the meeting, where Karpov tells Nekrasov his version of the case and why he sued Browder in London, a case that the English court did not want to deal with. Nekrasov often includes the making of the film in  the film by letting the viewer see the actors being directed, the cameraman with the camera and himself and the editor in the editing room. It is done without stopping the flow of the film.   

It is towards the last third of the film that my notes say ”now it is too complicated”, at least for me, I could not follow the story, when Nekrasov compares documents in Russian and English translation (he calls it manipulation) and explains how Browder and his company performed their creative money game. I get that Nekrasov wants to to prove that Browder lies and manipulates to whitewash his actions and make himself a name, but I don’t get the detailed arguments. Therefore I turned my attention to watching a more and more engaged, almost obsessed investigator Nekrasov, who goes deeper and deeper and who also – and here we are far from the ”heroic” journalist kliché – is in doubt. Is it right what I am doing? Me who has always been critical to my country Russia and to the politics of Putin, me who had to flee the same country because of my criticism… I am now being accused of supporting the same regime.  

Even if I have to say that there are doubting scenes/sequences that I find over the top: Nekrasov in chairs contemplating, Nekrasov standing at the window thinking etc. etc. Storytelling clichés… Even so I never doubt the honesty of Nekrasov and his feelings: This is a drama documentary and an investigative documentary and a first person film essay rich in content and form, and courageous in its approach…

… is he right or not – I can not say, let me ”hide” behind the former CIA intelligence officer Philip Giraldi, who – according to the FB of producer Torstein Grude – as one of the first saw the film, and wrote about it, link below:   

”To be sure, Browder and his international legal team have presented documents in the case that contradict much of what Nekrasov has presented in his film. But in my experience as an intelligence officer I have learned that documents are easily forged, altered, or destroyed so considerable care must be exercised in discovering the provenance and authenticity of the evidence being provided. It is not clear that that has been the case. It might be that Browder and Magnitsky have been the victims of a corrupt and venal state, but it just might be the other way around. In my experience perceived wisdom on any given subject usually turns out to be incorrect…”

Below there are also links to newspaper articles, American and Russian orientated, about this “scandalous” film that Washington Post called “agitprop”… Torstein Grude says, that he plans to make a follow-up on the media and how they treat(ed) the film. He is going to have a lot of material to draw from!

But first, let this film be shown all over, let debates be held. They will be one-sided first of all, but please bring in nuances as well. From my side: Respect!

Norway, 2016, 145 mins.

http://www.unz.com/article/the-magnitsky-hoax/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/world/europe/sergei-magnitsky-russia-vladimir-putin.html?_r=0

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/russian-agitprop-lands-in-washington/2016/06/19/784805ec-33dc-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html

https://www.rt.com/news/346642-magnitsky-film-shown-washington/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-film-challenges-story-behind-us-human-rights-223526531–politics.html

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/behind-the-scenes-of-the-magnitsky-act-op-ed/573943.html

http://www.rferl.org/content/magnitsky-film-on-hold-european-tv-channel-arte/27704772.html 

Finn Larsens fotografier og udstillinger

En handling, en facade, et beboelsesrum, et ansigt – hver af disse er altid en opsummering. (Sune Jonsson: “Ni funderinger over 1/125-delen”, 1978)

Finn Larsen er den ene af de to fotografer (den anden er Lars Johansson) med udstillingen i Øksnehallen, København, ”Ung i Randers 1978-1979”, som Tue Steen Müller for nogle dage siden anmeldte begejstret her på Filmkommentaren og derfor må jeg lige repetere de tos arbejdsmæssige løbebaner, i dag altså Finn Larsens. Om hans fotografier skrev jeg engang i 1993 en introduktion i et tidsskrift, den tager jeg lige frem igen.

”Man kan godt begynde med de tre tyrkiske teglas. Fotografiet er titelvignet i Finn Larsens bog ”Billeder fra Tyrkiet” (1985). Jeg standser hver gang ved det billede. Sidder længe og funderer. Glassene er tømte, personerne har forladt dem, og de står tilbage på deres små tallerkener på cafébordet. De minder mig om en respektabel kultur, hvor man nøjes med lidt. De er så forbavsende små for en dansk tedrikker. Kan jeg forfriskes af så lidt, før jeg skal videre med dagens program, videre på rejsen? Ja, sådan er der i det land. Et glas te er nok. I den ting ligger landets sjæl som et konkret og materielt faktum. ”Tyrkiske teglas, Ankara, 1983” kan der stå på skiltet ved montren.

 

Billeder fra Tyrkiet (1985)

Finn Larsen er et rigtigt museumsmenneske. Allerede tidligt i 70’erne havde han opgaver på museet i Randers, han hjalp til ved udgravninger, indmålte tingene og noterede deres data. Han assisterede ved udstillingsarbejder, lærte at udvælge genstanden med fortællingen og skrive dens kendsgerninger på det lille skilt. Da han i 1977 begyndte sin fotografuddannelse, blev det helt selvfølgelig museet, som blev praktikstedet og museets fotograf Lars Johansson, som blev læremesteren. Finn Larsen blev museumsfotograf. Læretiden var et regulært samarbejde mellem de to, det førte blandt andet til den store fotodokumentariske registrering med udstillinger og en film om ungdomskultur i Randers 1978-1979…” I kataloget/avisen, som ledsager den aktuelle udstilling af dette materiale findes en fyldig og på mange måder forbavsende oversigt over hvad der videre skete:

 

FINN LARSEN FRA DENGANG TIL NU

Af Randi Jensen

Finn Larsens arbejde er over tid løbet sammen i tre tematiske spor, der alle består af en mangeårig, løbende indsamling af materiale til stadigt voksende arkiver, som er råstoffet for hans kunstneriske udstillings-virksomhed, udgivelser mv.: Tyrkietsporet startede 1983. Finn Larsen har rejst i/genbesøgt Tyrkiet hvert 5 år siden. Landskab-sporet har han arbejdet med siden 1988 i form af en række større og mindre fotografiske projekter om landskaber, der er formet af menneskelig/samfundsmæssig aktivitet, især i Danmark og Sverige. Grønlandssporet har han arbejdet med siden 1991, baseret på op mod 30 rejser.

Det var ret tilfældigt, at det var Tyrkiet og Grønland, der blev Finn Larsens faste udsigtspunkter uden for selve Danmark. Det var ikke helt så tilfældigt, at han flyttede til Malmø i 2004, men også det er et nyt sted at kigge ind og ud fra. Det handler for ham om at forankre perspektivet forskellige steder og derfra forsøge at se billeder, som man ikke har i hovedet i forvejen.

Fotografi er Finn Larsens indgang til verden, men han er blevet stadig mere interesseret i at arbejde med, hvordan kunst og fotografi spiller ind i verden, frem for bare at producere flere billeder. Det handler om at undersøge og fremlægge noget, der interesserer ham uden for sig selv.

TYRKIET

Projektet er påbegyndt i 1983 og Finn Larsen har genbesøgt Tyrkiet i 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 og 2013. Det er et ”portræt over tid” af det Tyrkiet, der har tilknytning til Danmark via migration. Finn Larsen har gang på gang genbesøgt og meldt tilbage til de steder og mennesker, han mødte på sine tidligste rejser – mest konsekvent til landsbyen Himiroglu Koy, den nærmeste provinsby Corum og hovedstaden Ankara på indlandets højslette, men han har også flere gange besøgt storbyerne Istanbul og Izmir og den store landsby Kizilcasögut i Vesttyrkiet samt landsbyen Beskardes i det centrale Tyrkiet. Finn Larsens interesse i projektet har undervejs flyttet sig fra det primært kulturhistoriske til kunstneriske og samfundsmæssige perspektiver, der handler om at undersøge og anfægte vedtagne billeder og forestillinger.

Tyrkiet-sporet har undervejs resulteret i to bøger: ”Ingenmandsland eller Tyrkerne fra Randers” (Rosinante 1984) og ”Billeder fra Tyrkiet” (KLIM 1985) og otte udstillinger:

”Ingenmandsland eller Tyrkerne fra Randers”, vandreudstilling, biblioteker mv. i Danmark / ”Billeder fra Tyrkiet”, Galleri Image, Århus / ”Güzel [Smukt]”, Galleri Ægidius i Randers, 1988 samt museer med mere i Danmark, Sverige og Grønland / ”Kasaba [Lille by]”, blandt andre Kizilcasögut i Tyrkiet og Køge Museum, 1993 / ”Zaman ve Yer” [Tid og sted] på Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, 2001 / ”Billedet af Tyrkiet?” på Det Kongelige Bibliotek i København. En dialog med Melchior Lorcks grafik fra 1500-tallets Istanbul, 2008 / ”Focus: Turkey” / Landskrona Museum, 2014 (gruppeudstilling) / ”Rejse i Tyrkiet”, Davids Samling i København, 2014-15.

Kvinde i Himiroglu, Tyrkiet

GRØNLAND

Grønland er på nogle måder et fotografisk overeksponeret land – men det er ikke alt i Grønland, der er gennemfotograferet. Finn Larsen opdagede allerede ved sit første besøg i Sydgrønland i 1991, at der er betydeligt flere havedyrkere end fangere i Grønland – tydeligvis uden at hverken besøgende eller de fleste grønlændere har bemærket det. Det har været en væsentlig anledning til at Finn Larsen i stigende grad blev interesseret i at undersøge sammenhængen mellem fotografi, kommunikation og virkelighed og at udfordre vedtagne billeder og forestillinger gennem at fotografere det, som alle ser men ingen lægger mærke til – som f.eks. haver, træer, menneskeskabt landskab og lossepladser i Grønland. Og at fremlægge billederne i sammenhæng med viden om det grønlandske samfund baseret på andre kilder – grønlandske aviser, planer, rapporter, statistik og diskussioner med grønlændere og andre med interesse for landet. Den lille by Narsaq i Sydgrønland er det oprindelige udgangspunkt og det centrale omdrejningspunkt for hele Grønlands-sporet.

Grønlandsprojektet har resulteret i publikationerne ”NERI – Mad – Food. Mad i Grønland gennem 1000 år” (Hovedland, 2000), ”Tamaviaartumik. Haver i Grønland”(eget forlag, Malmö 2006) og ”MANS LAND” (avisformat Malmö, 2012) samt udstillingerne:

”Narsaq. Saligt er det folk, der kender frydesangen”, 1992. Museer i Grønland, Nationalmuseet m.fl. i Danmark samt museer i Sverige, Norge og Finland / ”Tamaviaartumik [Passion]. Haver i Grønland”, 2002. museer i Grønland, Museumscenter Aars med flere i Danmark og Malmö bibliotek / ”Eqqaavissuup Nunaa” [Lossepladsens land]. Med Nuka K. Godtfredsen og Lisbeth Valgreen, 2005. Narsaq Museum i Grønland /

”MANS LAND”, Dunkers Kulturhus i Helsingborg, Galleri Pi i København og museer i Grønland.

Mans Land

LOSSEPLADS

Finn Larsens foto: Fjorden ved Narsarsuaq, når han med sit kamera ser den ene vej, og når han vender sig og ser den anden vej.
Finn Larsen fik for nogen tid siden en støtte i sit arbejde med at dokumentere den forkastelige, uansvarlige og farlige håndtering af lossepladserne i de grønlandske byer. Støtten kom fra et sted, han slet ikke havde ventet, kom som en stor og glædelig overraskelse i hans daglige avislæsning: http://sermitsiaq.ag/dansk-politiker-ryd senere fulgt op med: http://sermitsiaq.ag/affaldshaandtering-halter-i-bygderne
Hans dokumentation på videoen “Dumpen” fra udstillingen “Mans Land”, 2012 kan ses på Youtube: …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbHfLqkyRl0&t=197s

The Dump – growing mountains of waste inGreenland, is part of the exhibition ”MANS LAND” 2012, Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg, Galleri Pi, Copenhagen and museums in Greenland, now on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cta1-rrX6Xs&feature=youtu.be (The Dump, streaming, ENGLISH version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qs7xcuC9lE (The Dump, streaming, GRØNLANDSK version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbHfLqkyRl0&t=197s (The Dump, streaming, DANSK version)

WASTE

There are 56,700 inhabitants in Greenland, in 18 cities and 50-60 settlements. There is practically no waste management. In the larger cities there are waste combustion systems, but they are undersized and malfunctioning.

Waste disposal management in Greenland is in worse state than it is in Denmark, even though Denmark is no role model. Numerous campaigns want to reduce Greenland to a victim of climate changes. But the majority of Greenlanders does not share this conviction.

The government of Greenland desires room for economic growth and as a result, they agitate the right to increase pollution. Oil drilling and extraction of gold and rare metals are under planning. The economic potential is immense. So are the possibilities of environmental disasters and the risk of expanding al-ready existing social gaps.

The problems Greenland is facing with waste disposal and societal dilemmas are the same, as those of other Nordic and European countries.The distinction is that the problems in Greenland are worse and more evident.

Greenland is no different from any other country. That’s the problem. (Finn Larsen, 2016)

Finn Larsen: The Dump, a journey from north to south of Greenland. Sweden, 2012 (web 2016) 26 min., YouTube. (LOSSEPLADS is written 21-01-2017 by Allan Berg Nielsen)


LANDSKAB

Dette spor i Finn Larsens arbejde består af en lang række fotografiske projekter, der afspejler hans interesse for, hvordan mennesker og deres virksomhed påvirker landskaber og landskabsopfattelse. De kunstnere og fotografier, der interesserer ham, indgår således i en global og historisk dialog om, hvordan verden ser ud og hvordan den formes i samspillet mellem natur og kultur. I projekterne har han arbejdet med f.eks. byer, landbrug, industri, råstofudvinding og ikke mindst trafik som forandrende kræfter i landskabet og han undersøger den måde vi opfatter landskabet på, alt efter hvilket forhold vi har til det. Også her forsøger han konsekvent at stille sig et andet sted og at se og fotografere andre billeder end dem, vi har i hovedet i forvejen.

LAND-sporet har resulteret i bøgerne ”BANE” (Forlaget B, 2001) og ”På den anden side” (Viborg 2005) samt ”LAND” (avisformat, København 2014). Desuden en lang række udstillinger, bl.a.:

”Saltholm”, Randers Kunstmuseum og Kastrupsgårdsamlingen, 1992 / ”Hække og Stativer. Bylandskaber i Randers”, Kulturhistorisk Museum og Randers Kunstmuseum samt Galleri Image i Aarhus, 1995 / ”Landskab”, Leoni Gallery, Viborg, 1999 / ”BANE”, Randers Kunstmuseum, Arkitekturskolens Udstillingsbygning i Århus, 2001 samt Kunstmuseet Arken, Ishøj, som del af udstillingen ”Nordiske Stemninger”, 2008 / ”PARK/AREAL”, Brænderigården i Viborg og Fotografisk Center i København, 2002 / ”TID og RUM”, Randers Kunstmuseum og forskellige offentlige pladser i Randers, 2003 / ”På den anden side”, udsmykning Viborg Handelsskole, 2005 / ”KALK” Form/Designcenter, Malmø, 2013 / ”LAND”, Museumsbygningen, København 2014 / ”GRÄNSEN” Malmøs kommunegrænse, serie på udstillingen, Tråkiga landskap, Malmø 2015.

Skåne

SYNOPSIS

Finn Larsen (b. 1956) was interested as a child in archaeology and history. Aged 13, he became a volunteer helper at Randers Kulturhistoriske Museum. He graduated from there as photographer in 1980.

“What I have gained from my Museum studies is a broad, scientifically-oriented research as a background for and a continuous element in my photographic projects. I am thus notoriously curious on many levels in relation to what I am occupied with, for example regarding society, history, architecture, art, anthropology, geology and botany.”

Finn Larsen works with projects and primarily photographs landscapes that have been formed by human beings.

“The photographs and the art that interest me enter into a global and historical dialogue about how the world looks and how it can be understood. It is about seeing the world, society, the landscape as soberly as possible, without God, sentiments, nationalism, symbols and other abominations.”

Finn Larsen has published a number of books, and his BANE/TRACKS from 2001 was included in the Exhibition at the National Photography Museum, The Open Book 2006, as one of the twenty-eight most important Danish photography books. He has exhibited in numerous contexts, including: Arken Art Museum, Randers Art Museum and North Jutland’s Art Museum. His work is represented at the Museum of Art Photography, Odense and the National Photography Museum, Copenhagen.He is a member of the Society of Artists and the Association of Visual Artists in Denmark as well as the National Organisation of Artists in Sweden, where he lives and works. He has received travel- and work grants from the Danish National Arts Foundation, a travel grant from Fogtdal’s Photographer Prize and a work grant from the Swedish Author’s Fund. (Ole Christiansen, thephotographersprint.com)

LINKS OG LITT.:

https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/VisWeilbach.do?kunstnerId=8840&wsektion=alle (Kunstindeks Danmark/Weilbach)

https://www.randerskunstmuseum.dk/media/21277/nr-3-2003 (Årets kunstner, Randers Kunstmuseum 2003)

Allan Berg Nielsen: “Sjælens materie”, Hrymfaxe, 23. 2. 1993.

Carsten Brandt: “Kendt fotograf i nyt format”, Foto & Video, nr. 4, 1993.

Finn Larsen, red.: “Ung i Randers 1978-1979”, avis / katalog, 96 sider til udstillingen, Museum Østjylland, Randers og Øksnehallen, København, 2016, info@finnlarsen.se 

Foto: Finn Larsen på arbejde i 1978 fotograferet af Lars Johansson.

Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey: Mapplethorpe

Aros i Århus viser i forbindelse med sin udstilling ”Robert Mapplethorpe – On The Edge” (til 30. oktober) den amerikanske tv-biografi ”Robert Mapplethorpe – Look at the Pictures”. Filmen vises i hele udstillingsperioden hver dag 11:00, 14:00 og 19.00 (kun onsdag aftener).

Lars Movin skriver om filmen i Ekko: ”… Som det er, går det meste af spilletiden på små to timer med biografisk stof, anekdoter og miljøskildringer. Det blandes med nogle ganske underholdende sekvenser, hvor kuratorer med stofhandsker og blussende kinder dykker ned i arkivernes kildevæld af homo-erotisk overskridelsesæstetik. For dette biografiske lag i filmen må gives topkarakter.

Hver en sten synes vitterlig at være vendt. Og blandt de nye facetter, der føjes til den ellers relativt velkendte livsfrise, er det direkte rørende at møde hovedpersonens lillebror, Edward Mapplethorpe, som livet igennem har stået i skyggen af sin berømte storebror. Robert Mapplethorpe pressede sågar broren til at skifte navn, da denne annoncerede sin egen debut som fotograf.”

Når den i dette emne og i denne biografiske metode mere end kompetente Lars Movin i sin anmeldelse giver filmen topkarakter må filmen ses. Således anbefalet!

USA 2016, 108 min.

SYNOPSIS

An examination of the life and work of the revered and controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. (IMDb)

LINKS

http://www.ekkofilm.dk/anmeldelser/mapplethorpe-look-pictures/ (Lars Movin i Ekko)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/arts/television/review-mapplethorpe-look-at-the-pictures-on-hbo-gives-context-to-controversy.html?_r=0 (James Poniewozika i New York Times)

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/21/robert-mapplethorpe-photographer-look-at-the-pictures-review (Peter Bradshaw i The Guardian)

http://www.aros.dk/besoeg-aros/udstillinger/2016/robert-mapplethorpe/ (Aros’ program)

Moscow Intl. Film Festival/ Doc Winners

The Russian festival ended last night, I was not there in persona but if I had been you would have seen a happy man, who so many times have been at award ceremonies without having seen the winner(s). This time I had seen and written about the winners.

The jury decided to give the Best Documentary Award to “Mrs.B – A North Korean Woman”, directed by Jero Yun, a fascinating, unbelievable story shot over several years with a strong main character. What a life she has had, from North Korea to China to South Korea, involved in smuggling, being smuggled herself, accused of being a spy for North Korea when in the South…

And… take a look at the picture… I was not the only one, who loved “24 Snows” by Mikhail Barynin. It got the audience award that, according to my contact at the festival Georgy Molodtsov “is measured over all films in doc competition and free thought programs”. Well done as competitiors were Gianfranco Rosi, Wojciech Staron and Michael Moore!

Furthermore, Molodtsov tells me, that famous “Sonita” by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami received an award from the NETPAC jury (they were watching all Asian and Pacific Ocean films in all programs of the festival).

www.moscowfilmfestival.ru

Mikhail Barynin: 24 Snows

Take a look at the photo. If you are addicted to documentaries like me you think of Nanook, don’t you? If you have been around for decades like me, you might also think of Estonian master Mark Soosaar, who travelled to Siberia to make his masterpiece ”Father, Son and Holy Torum” about the Khantys and their shamanism. But the smiling man on the photo is a Yakut, from Yakutia, at the very far North West of the Russian Federation. The film is about him, his look at his own life, his look at life in general; he is a hard working man full of a generosity that makes room for a grounded sense of wisdom that he conveys to the audience in an extraordinarily beautiful documentary, that is one of the 8 works competing at the Moscow International Film Festival that runs this thursday included. I have seen only 3 of the 8 so far but this one must be one of the favourites for the best documentary award.

Sergey… I was not given a last name, but it does not matter because you want to be on first name with this man, who loves life – ”life here means work” as he says – and who is able to formulate his love to the horses, the reindeers, to his family, wife and 4 children, and express his concern about who will take over his nomadic kind of work, that he has been doing for 24 Snows – seasons! He follows the herds to where they go, he has, again as he says ”cabins to stay in all over”, we see that, well we see so much from this permafrost region Yakut, in winter and in summer. The camerawork is excellent and the director takes us out where he is alone with the animals and to the village, where the family lives and where he rarely is. And comes along when Sergey travels 700 kilometer with the frozen fish, he has caught with friends at the lake. Or stays discreetly in the background when he kills the horses, he has given names, talking to them with a whispering voice before death is a fact.

Many anthropological studies never get close to its characters. ”24 Snows” deals with the Yakut culture through a temperament, through the charisma of Sergey, who is a man full of a humour that contributes to make the film entertaining. There are joyful scenes with horse racing, there is Sergey with his smallest child, Sergey being an amateur when it comes to get milk out of the cow at home in the village. He is a storyteller – the film uses both voice off and direct sound – and he has himself had a camera in hand, as we are invited to see in stunning b/w footage where he is cleaning horses, who got lost in the wilderness and when found needed to have big ice pieces cut away.

 I am normally very much hesitant to music in documentaries but here it is composed/used perfectly to accompany the often mindblowing images.

Hail the horse people, Sergey says, and this is exactly what this rich film does. I don’t remember to have seen anything so engaging from the tundra since Mark Soosaar took his trips. Jean Rouch would have loved it!

Russia, 2016, 90 mins.

PS. I also have seen the French film ”Tomorrow” that is screened in Moscow. It is about our world in global danger – nature, food etc. – and what should be done about it. Filmmakers go out to find out… It must have been selected for the festival because of its subject and not for its film quality.

 

Ryan White: Serena

This film about tennis superstar Serena Williams is one more of the many current documentary portraits of celebrities in the entertainment business and political life. Contrary to the classics in this direct cinema tradition (“Primary” (JFK), “Lonely Boy” (Paul Anka), “Stravinsky”) you sense that you don’t get it all, that the huge amount of people around Serena have had an influence on what to be filmed and what not to be filmed… control of the public image in other words. A limitation of course…

… and yet you get close to a lovely and lively, funny and serious, emotional, extremely professional sportswoman, who is also into the fashion business and who loves her sister Venus, very often the one she has to play against in the big matches. She is much more interesting for a film than Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi.

The grand slam tournaments are the red thread in the film – the director has followed Serena over the season where she had the chance to win all four tournaments within the same year. She wins the three and fails on the last one, where she loses to a skinny Italian… This constitutes the dramatic highlight of the film, after she lost she does not want to talk to anyone, her French coach leaves his hotel room not knowing about his future, cut to Serena in her bed with her teddy bear, a little girl with some grown-up comments and a text saying that she then stayed away from tennis for a long time.

The annoying elements of a film that is well designed with music to tell us what to feel – yes it is mainstream in that aspect – come up when the director asks some of the people around Serena to talk about/characterise her, unnecessary as she herself has all the charisma needed, and comments brilliantly on the media interest on her curves and muscles…

Unnecessary except for the coach, the Frenchman who is a good accompanying character in and outside the picture, the latter when he comments on her performances: I love you and I trust you.

USA, 2016, 90 mins.

Two of the Competition Films at MIFF

– i.e. Moscow International Film Festival, that has a competition section for documentaries with 8 films. I have had the pleasure to get access to some of them, here are some notes on the two I have watched so far, a disappointment and a pleasant surprise:

It is no secret for readers of this site that Czech Helena Trestikova is a director, we have followed and highlighted for years for her long term observational documentaries on people living on the edge of society – “René”, “Katka”, “Marcela”, “Private Universe” to mention those who have travelled successfully all around. It is therefore understandable that the Moscow festival has picked her new film, made together with Jakub Hejna, “Doomed Beauty”, which has the actress Lida Baarová as the portrayed character, whose life and relationship to nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made her enemy of Czekoslovakia. Trestikova filmed her at the end of her life – the film is professionally made – fine archive of course but it is, sorry for this reaction, unbearable to watch the old woman crying all the time having problems with expressing herself. I can not help think that the footage should have stayed on the shelf.

The Korean film, however, “Mrs.B – A North Korean Woman”, shot over several years, brings a fascinating, unbelievable story to the screen about a woman, who is smuggled out of North Korea to China to be forced into marrying a Chinese farmer. She turns into being a smuggler and drug dealer herself, and has the intention to get her North Korean husband and her two sons out of the country to live with her in South Korea. She succeeds, but after being interrogated by the secret services from both Korea’s if I get it right, she is thought to be a spy. But basically she wants to return to China to her Chinese husband and his farmer family.

It is a difficult film that Jero Yun has made and you sense that it has not been possible to say and show everything. But it lives strongly in the scenes where you are at home(s) in China with the husband and his parents, and with the Korean family members the director has chosen to interview. They convey the confusing claustrophobic atmosphere that these poor people are in. But first of all it lives because of Mrs.B., who wants a decent life and puts a lot of energy into achieve that. And if you take all the politics connected to the three countries away, the film is maybe first of all a love story.

www.moscowfilmfestival.ru

Asif Kapadia: Amy /2

I næste uge inviterer DR2 Dokumania til gratis visninger af Asif Kapadias (Senna) film over sangerinden Amy Winehouse’s liv og karriere. Den dejlige film havde biografpremiere sidste år og denne velkomne serie repriser nu vil foregå i Aarhus, Viborg, Horsens, Svendborg og København.

Her kan man se filmen: JYLLAND Tirsdag den 5. juli DokuramAa Kunsthal Aarhus – i baggården J.M Mørks Gade 13 8000 Aarhus C / Torsdag den 7. juli Kulturjægerne Viborg Kunsthal, Riddergade 8 8800 Viborg / Fredag den 8. juli Jernlageret Horsens Havn, Jens Hjernøes Vej 10-12 (mellem Havnetrekanten og Lystbådhavnen) 8700 Horsens FYN Torsdag den 7. juli Dokken Ribers Gård ved Harders, Møllegade 36 5700 Svendborg SJÆLLAND Torsdag den 7. juli Videomøllen Krydset mellem Ravnsborggade og Sankt Hans Gade 2200 København N / Søndag den 10. juli Carpark Movie Nights Under Bispeengbuen mellem Nordre Fasanvej og Bispeengen 2000 Frederiksberg

Filmen starter klokken 22.30, men tjek det lokale event for, hvornår arrangementet går i gang. Man kan læse om arrangementerne på www.dr.dk/dokumanialive  Amy får tv-premiere på DR2/Dokumania til efteråret.

Jeg kan kun anbefale gensyn på gensyn, Kapadias helt særegent vellykkede film holder til utallige. Sådan skrev jeg om den: “… Jeg gik til filmen uden specielle forudsætninger, kendte ikke Amy Winehouse, kender faktisk ikke meget til jazz, har slet ikke forstand på jazz. To af mine venner tog mig med og med vilje lod jeg være at læse foromtaler og anmeldelser. Men jeg var fordomsfuld, ventede et musikerportræt, et stykke journalistik, ja, ventede et konventionelt værk bygget af arkivmateriale og interviews med Winehouse’s familie, venner og kolleger.

For så vidt netop hvad det viste sig at være, men i Kapadias film er disse byggesten brugt til at konstruere et filmværk, som i stedet får mig til at tænke på de store skæbnefortællinger som Jacobsens Fru Marie Grubbe (1876) og Duras’ India Song (1975), og den mellemliggende store gruppe af sådanne alvorligt gjorte skildringer af intense kvindeliv i buers stigning og fald, korte eller lange, men uafvendelige…” Læs mere

Youth in Randers 1978-1979 /2

… seen by Finn Larsen and Lars Johansson, a photo exhibition at Øksnehallen in Copenhagen, running until August, curated by Finn Larsen and Hans Grundsø, with an exhibition newspaper catalogue of almost 100 pages that is in Danish AND English language and includes photos from the exhibition about how young people looked like, what they did in their free time, how they met the opposite sex, cigarettes, beer, mopeds – there is also a section on a rocker group – ordinary life interpreted in an extraordinary manner, a close-up of a generation in the sixth biggest city in Denmark some four hours away from the capital, where the exhibition now is to watch.

Yes, a classical documentary approach by two skilled photographers Lars Johansson and Finn Larsen, who later on have developed their own careers in film and literature and visual art – reminding us how important it is to have time to go deep and to catch the moment. Larsen, editor of the impressive newspaper catalogue, has been so generous to puiblish a great reflective article by Swedish legendary documentary photographer and filmmaker Sune Jonsson. Here is a quote:

“The reportage confrontation is a fragile method of documentary work. But even so unfavorable an assigment situation can be transformed: IF the photographer is given sufficient time, IF he is given time to gain a knowledge of the environment that will enable his pictures to function as documentary statements, IF he has the personal qualifications to deepen his empathy, his social commitment, and his responsibility as a fellow human being…”

A must-read article for documentarians as the exhibition is an inspiration. It is all about the Gaze as Albert Maysles would have put it.

Publisher of the newspaper catalogue: Finn Larsen info@finnlarsen.se 

Ung i Randers 1978-1979 /2

– set af Finn Larsen og Lars Johansson, og udstillet i Øksnehallen i København indtil begyndelsen af august, med Larsen og Hans Grundsø som kuratorer.

Jeg tog derind i går søndag til det fine udstillingssted ved Halmtorvet og mødte en lys og inviterende udstilling, ordentlig lavet med masser af fotos, de fleste sort/hvide sat op i hvide rammer og med nøgterne tekster, der giver den nødvendige baggrund for oplevelsen af de tre udstillinger samlet i én og så filmen “Ungdomsbilleder”. Jeg var der et par timer og tog så hjem til haven med udstillingsavisen i hånden, små hundrede sider, en præstation i sig selv, som jeg nød og fordybede mig i – i nok et par timer.

… en ung mand med krøllet hår på gaden med en smøg i munden ved aftentide. Han har – viser billederne – været på grillbar, nu tager han på knallert (sammen med to andre på samme køretøj) hen på et værtshus, hvor der er piger, hvor der er gang i den… og så sidste foto der tages af fotografen Lars Johansson, taget af Finn Larsen, går jeg ud fra.

En filmisk sekvens gengivet i forstørrede kontaktark på bannere, der daterede hænger fra loft til gulv. Det her fotograferede vi den dag i 1978, se på dem, se på hvad de gør, hvordan de ser ud, se på deres ansigter. Det er for mig udstillingens scoop, denne suite af bannere, der dokumenterer (sorry!) dokumentarismens styrke, hvad der kan komme ud af, som Johansson og Larsen har gjort det, at være sammen med unge i en dansk provinsby i længere tid, interessere sig for dem, fange dem i hverdag og (mest) i fritid, lige på og hårdt og nænsomt og kærligt. De har taget den tid, det tager at få noget vigtigt og ægte frem.

Som den legendariske svenske dokumentarist Sune Jonsson skriver i en artikel (citeret fra den engelske oversættelse) gengivet i udstillingsavisen:

“The reportage confrontation is a fragile method of documentary work. But even so unfavorable an assigment situation can be transformed: IF the photographer is given sufficient time, IF he is given time to gain a knowledge of the environment that will enable his pictures to function as documentary statements, IF he has the personal qualifications to deepen his empathy, his social commitment, and his responsibility as a fellow human being…”

Citatet bringer mig tilbage til avisen, de små hundrede sider, som er fremragende redigeret af Finn Larsen, og disponeret så dobbeltsider med en gengivelse af fire af de omtalte kontaktark-bannere kan foldes ud. Lige til at hænge op. Der er kloge tekster – tak for Sune Jonsson – en flot åbningstale af Johansson, da udstillingen åbnede i Randers, to ligeså flotte interviews med Allan Berg og Vibe Mogensen, som begge var med på holdet bag “Ungdomsbilleder”, filmen som blev lavet via Workshoppen i København efter udstillingen åbnede med succes dengang. Filmen, jo jeg så den igen, men den virker – og det er den jo – som et noget tungt museumsstykke, hvor fotografierne har beholdt sin friskhed. Se selv i avisen, kig forbi Øksnehallen og se hvordan – som en dokumentarist har udtrykt det – man kan lave noget “extraordinary out of the ordinary”.