Jonas Mekas See Everything Like for the First Time

Renowned critic and writer Richard Brody has – in the New Yorker – written a long and extremely interesting article on – as he calls him – ”Jonas Mekas, Champion of the ”Poetic” Cinema”. This time the theme is not Mekas as a filmmaker and founder of organisations/assocations for the independent cinema, ”but the activity that’s suddenly in the forefront is his critical writing: his “Movie Journal: The Rise of a New American Cinema, 1959-1971” has just been reissued by Columbia University Press, and it’s a cause for celebration—and consideration. The original edition, from 1972, is long out of print. The book is a rich trove of cinematic wisdom, an artistic time capsule of New York at a moment of crucial energy, and a reflection of controversies and struggles regarding independent filmmaking that endure to this day…”.

The excellent introduction that Brody’s article gives to the book that I will order asap (as well as I will go buy Danish Lars Movin’s new book (in Danish) on American Avantgarde Cinema) mentions Mekas fascination about the French Wave, states that he has written the best ever about Welles ”The Trial”, and about Marlon Brando this ”(his) best work is “the bits in between the action. It’s there that every little word, every little motion, every silence suddenly becomes charged with expression.” And about Cassavetes of course but also Max Ophuls and Godard… READ THE ARTICLE, link below.

Mekas was (is in his 93rd year) a visionary, who predicted with his never sleeping enthusiasm that film with the technological development will be able to reach everyone. BUT as the true documentarian he is (written in 1966): … Let’s show everything, everything. We can do it today. . . . We have to see everything, to look at everything through our lenses, see everything like for the first time: From a man sleeping, from our own navels, to our more complex daily activities, tragedies, loves, and crimes. Somewhere, we have lost touch with our own reality and the camera eye will help us to make contact again.  

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/jonas-mekas-champion-of-the-poetic-cinema

http://jonasmekas.com/diary/

Audrius Stonys: The Truth of Life…

… this is just a natural thing in documentary filmmaking, the moment you think you know everything and it only remains to capture your “discoveries”, the truth of life takes over and turns against you. So, I let my visions be transformed. The essence lies in the quest. Subsequently, the films will live the lives of their own….

Says Audrius Stonys in an interview on cineuropa, very well made by Aukse Kancereviciute. I recommend you to read it all, here is a taster:  

The film Ūkų ūkai emerged from a desire to expose the beauty industry, but in the course of shooting your attitude changed radically. Does it often happen that life adjusts preconceived visions?

Perhaps not a single one of my films was unaffected by this. The idea changes, because reality turns it upside down and destroys it. At first I was very frightened; it seemed to me that was it – that was the end. I had an idea and everything took another turn. Then I understood that this was supposed to be so. None of my films are as I originally conceived them. In Ūkų ūkai both the theme and the characterchanged. Instead of a strong, healthy, young man who goes swimming every day irrespective of whether it rains or snows, we have a tiny old woman tip-toeing across her room. Alone (Viena) was supposed to be about a girl who is going to visit her mother, who is in prison, and talking what she sees and feels, but instead I made a completely silent film. New Martyrology (Tas, kurio nėra) was supposed to show a man who died unbeknownst to anybody, but instead the Lithuanian film director Augustinas Baltrušaitis, whom fate and circumstances tossed into complete oblivion, became the protagonist of the film. When shooting Cenotaph it seemed that the film was about the meaning of reburial, but it turned out to be about meaninglessness. The initial concept is therefore diametrically opposite…

http://cineuropa.org/it.aspx?t=interview&l=en&did=307560

Sara Broos: Homeland

14 minutes was all needed to make this gem of a film. It reminds me, who watches loads of feature duration documentaries, how strong a short film can be when you have a wonderful person in front of the camera and one behind the camera, who knows how to bring the best out of her = Raghad Kanawati, refugee from Damascus Syria, now living in Värmland Sweden, who tells Sara Broos, the director of the film, what music means to her. ”Every song has its memory”, she says, while she listens to hymns to Allah, who now – she says – is her ”homeland”, the only one she has. Broos asks her which song has meant most for her, she answers ”Hunting High and Low” by Norwegian pop band A-ha, a super-hit from the 80’es – and the film changes completely mood with Raghad remembering her childhood with that song, and with Morten Harket, lead singer of the band arriving in Värmland to meet his fan. It sounds banal, it IS banal, wonderfully banal because of Raghad Kanawati and her beautiful expressive face and presence in the moment.

This film must have a huge audience potential, not only at festivals for documentaries and short films but also on television… if there are time slots for 14 minutes?

Sweden, 2015, 14 minutes

http://www.broosfilm.com/

Alberti & Zickyte: I’m Not From Here

From the production side it is interesting. The film is commissioned by Danish festival CPH:DOX under its program CPH:LAB, where filmmakers from different countries meet to work together. 10 intensive workshop days, original ideas to develop, one year to make the film. I have no idea about the budget but see that there is Chilean as well as Lithuanian funding for this film that is made by Maite Alberti and Giedre Zickyte. A quote from the CPH:LAB page (link below): ”CPH:LAB encourages creative risk-taking, celebrates raw talent, facilitates collaboration across borders andbusiness sectors and supports frontrunners within the film industry to push the existing boundaries of filmmaking as we know it.”

Yes, Chilean Albert and Lithuanian Zickyte have taken the creative risk to make a film that with its minimalistic film language conveys perfectly the situation for the 88 old Basque born Mrs.Josepe, who lives in an old people’s home in Chile, and has done that for almost a year but thinks it is for days and that she can soon return to Renteria, her Basque town near Saint Sebastian. She has to educate some of the other residents about the Basque country, she turns to Basque language on occasions of arguments against the Spanish speaking, she is a proud woman, who also rejects to hold the hand of a 90 year old flirter – and tells a woman next to her in the couch to take care not to fall when she gets up, after which she herself gets up and falls…

Small situations, touching observations like in Alberti’s award-winning “Tea Time”, humour is there, reminds me of Jon Bang Carlsen’s “Before The Guests Arrive” and Eva Stefani’s “In the Box”. Back to the CPH-LAB word “Risk”… well, on the other side you could say that Alberti already showed her skills with the old lady drinking tea, and Giedre Zickyte had her international breakthrough with the film on legendary photographer Luckus in “Master and Tatyana”. On the other side this succesful collaboration would never have happened without the initiative of CPH:DOX.

Best short film at Visions du Réel 2016, the film will have a long festival life, and TV stations, wake up, this is a film with a universal them and a duration that will fit your 26 minutes slots.

Chile, Lithuania, Denmark, 26 mins., 2016

http://cphdox.dk/cphindustry/cphlab/

DOK Leipzig 2016: Disobedience

“This year’s edition of DOK Leipzig, which runs from 31 October to 6 November, stands under the motto “Disobedience”, in German “Ungehorsam”. The term acts as an integral aspect throughout the Special Programmes. For instance, the Retrospective explores the styleshaping and courageous Polish documentary, which has ensured heated discussion at DOK Leipzig time and again due to its proximity to feature films. In addition, Special Programmes involving works from countries such as Poland, Russia or Turkey cast light on the kinds of artistic strategies filmmakers develop in a restrictive environment.”

A citation of the first paragraph of a press release from (see post on Krakow FF below) another of the old, renowned documentary and animation film festival, from where I have sent reports in the previous years. I salute that the festival comes out that early with information on what kind of program they intend to build, and I salute that the orientation to the East is kept, at least, as mentioned, with Poland and Russia – and with the EUropean constant discussion on the relationship to Turkey. I am looking forward to seeing the selection from there.

Most welcomed reading, however, is the Hommage to Marina Razbezhkina, director and founder of the School of Documentary Film and Documentary Theatre in Moscow, the very welcomed alternative to the state film school VGIK. Her constant protest, disobedience, against censorship in Russia and her effort to support young talents, will be honoured in Leipzig, so very well deserved. The press release says: ” Her artistically creative oeuvre is distinguished by direct and politically bold works in which fictional and non-fictional film are closely interlinked. Razbezhkina will also be appraising the winning film in the Next Masters Competition in her own capacity as “Master”.”

Once again a total of around 350 films from all over the world are going to be screened in the Official Selection and Special Programmes during the festival.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/

Krakow FF Announces Intl. Competition

The festival, that runs May 29 till June 5, has previously announced the selection of Polish documentaries and short films and animated films for competitive sections, as well as a special focus on Sweden this year. And not to forget a tribute to master Marcel Lozinski, whose ”Anything Can Happen” recently was honoured as The Best Polish Documentary Ever – today arrived a fine press release on the 19 titles invited to compete for the Golden Horn in the international section.

Talented Piotr Stasik opens the festival and the competition with a film from New York, ”21 x New York”, ” an extraordinary story about loneliness which accompanies the contemporary inhabitant of a great metropolis, shown from the point of view of twenty one people, met in the New York City subway…” Stasik has previously been praised on this site for his “The Last Summer” and “A Diary of a Journey”.

The press release: “Every year, the competition is characterised by extraordinary diversity of stories, portrayed protagonists or phenomena. However, very often the dominating motifs of the films mirror the current reality or social problems around the world…” in other words the festival selection mirrors the world we live in so you will find films about refugees, on “how we perceive “the others” today, on the armed conflict in Ukraine, but also films on “family bonds”, “interpersonal relationships, intricate and multi-faceted…”. Among them is Swedish Sara Broos “Reflections”, reviewed on this site.

Let me finish by giving you a full paragraph from the press release: The competition section does not lack cinematic portraits, either. Among them, there is the film “My Friend Boris Nemtsov” (dir. Zosya Rodkevich), depicting the last period in the life of the eponymous protagonist, the leader of the opposition in Russia, shot dead last year. The camera accompanies him during his pre-election journeys and also in less formal moments, but it also allows to notice the close bond which the director managed to create with her protagonist. “All You Need Is Me” (photo) (dir. Wim van der Aarn) is a story about young Dutch painter, his work and life, made on the basis of abundant archival materials and conversations with the protagonists, creating a colourful and at the same time tragic portrait of a contemporary artist.”

All titles and a mention of all sections, go to the website of the rich festival:

http://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/news/618

Christian Holten Bonke: Ejersbo /2

… En særlig vægt og aura har interviewet med forlagsredaktøren Johannes Riis, optagelser som bliver en beretning helt for sig selv, en indlevet rapport om selve det litterære arbejde og kun det. Et element som distanceret faglig og indlevet digterisk findes centralt i filmens konstruktion, og det peger da også direkte mod filmens kerne: det store berømte romanværk og der særligt Afrika trilogien. Riis’ redegørelse er i sammenhængen et uundværligt element, det forekommer i og for sig alene en film, en tv-dokumentar værd…

TV2 Dokumania sender ”Ejersbo” på tirsdag 26. april 20:45. Jeg skrev om filmen ved DOXBIO premieren i efteråret, jeg anbefaler den igen meget, læs hele anmeldelsen:

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3372/

Olexa & Scalisi: Half Life in Fukushima

It makes me glad, when it goes well for former students from the Bolzano based Zelig Documentary School, where I was a teacher for many years. Therefore my curiosity made me ask Mark Olexa and Francesca Scalisi for a vimeo link, when I read that the film was selected for Visions du Réel, where it had two screenings followed by cinema screenings in their country Swizerland with upcoming 3 shows at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto. With Olexa and Scalisi as directors and Jakob Stark as cameraman a fine film has been made from a no-go zone in Fukushima, five years after the catastrophe, and 30 years after Chernobyl. The film is shot on super 16mm (!) by Stark, who is (sorry!) a very Strong and talented cameraman as he, also a graduate from Zelig, demonstrated with ”Guanape Sur” by János Richter and ”Dal Profondo” by Valentina Pedicini.

I write this as an excuse. I can see the quality of the images but of course the experience will be quite different, when I will have the chance to watch it on a big screen, and not on my MacBook.

Anyway, the film bears evidence of a clear personal aesthetic choice. Long and quiet sequences take us to an insight visit to the empty streets of the radiated zone with Naoto, who lives there with his father. He is the one the camera follows around to his cows and horses, to the packed contaminated garbage, to an ostrich who is happy to see him (!), to an absurd situation where he stops his car at a traffic crossroad waiting for the red light to become green (!) with noone else present, to another absurd situation where he plays golf in this middle of nowhere (!), to him being in brief conversation at home with his father. Otherwise the information and the emotion is primarily given through a voice-off of Naoto. It’s a pretty silent visualization of a post-catastrophical landscape and the filmmakers deserve a praise for bringing in the absurdity and humour – we have seen enough images from the nuclear disaster, we have them in our heads, when Naoto shows around to the consequences. A couple of times we hear desperate people’s sound bites (from 2011) following Naoto, I could have done without them, much more productive are the loudspeaker messages about how deal with the garbage and other safety messages (!). A no-message film, no archive, no disturbing music to make us ”feel”, with a fine editing rythm (Zelig teacher Marzia Mete has taken part in that process) that suites the superb images that keep a respectful distance to Naoto, whose point of view the film conveys.

Switzerland, France, 2016, 61 mins.

https://www.facebook.com/HalfLifeInFukushima/?fref=ts     

Mads Ellesøe: Børnesoldatens nye job

Når Nagieb Khaja, som har min tillid og respekt som journalist anbefaler en ny dokumentar på sin facebookside, bliver jeg opmærksom. Han skrev i forgårs: ”På tirsdag kl.20.45 viser Dokumania på DR2 Mads Ellesøes dokumentar Børnesoldatens nye job, som handler om udlicitering af krig. Jeg har ikke set den endnu, men med mit indgående kendskab til Mads´tidligere produktioner, han er efter min opfattelse en af Danmarks dygtigste undersøgende journalister, er jeg sikker på, at det er en hårdtslående og vigtig dokumentar.”

Mads Ellesøe laver for tiden tv-dokumentarer for DR og har tidligere instrueret tv-serien Pind & Holdt i USA (2012) og filmen  Far, far, krigsmand (2009) om en dansk soldat udsendt til Afghanistan. I det, Ellesøe har skrevet om sin film i pressematerialet, finder jeg en overvejelse efter aksluttet research og en konklusion på materialets udsagn, som jeg læser som en vinkling af den nye dokumentar: ”… Filmen er ikke tænkt som en kritik af privatisering eller af udbud og efterspørgsel. Der er intet galt i, at en virksomhed vil tjene penge. Men filmen giver et portræt af, hvad der sker, når markedskræfterne får lov at virke helt uden regler. Ganske som vand altid vil finde den letteste vej ned, så vil uregulerede markedskræfter i et globalt marked altid søge efter den billigst mulige arbejdskraft. Og de billigst muligt unge mænd med massiv våbenerfaring er åbenbart tidligere børnesoldater fra Sierra Leone, der tager til Irak for 250 dollars om måneden. Ganske enkelt fordi det er deres eneste mulighed for at tjene penge.”

Filmen har to afdækninger, den første: vestens krig i Irak overlades i stigende omfang til private firmaers hære, og den anden: disse firmaer bruger de billigst mulige lejesoldater og blandt disse mænd som er oplært i krigens håndværk som børnesoldater i Afrika, hvor de metodisk har lært at anvende de frygteligste grusomheder og følgelig dehumaniseredes.

Fra pressemeddelelsens synopsis citerer jeg yderligere to nødvendigt lange stykker, for det er kompliceret det her: ”Filmen begynder på et rekrutteringskontor i Uganda, hvor man ikke har noget problem med at hyre tidligere børnesoldater. Derfra fortsætter dokumentaren til Sierra Leone, hvor en række tidligere børnesoldater fortæller om, hvordan de blev trænet i den nationale Camp Lion, før de skulle sendes til Irak. Samtidigt fortæller dokumentaren om, hvordan den private militære sikkerhedsindustri (Private military contractors) er boomet eksplosivt siden 11. september 2001. Og om hvordan de krige, der er blevet besluttet i Washington, støttet på Christiansborg og udkæmpet i Irak og Afghanistan i stor stil har været udliciteret til private militære firmaer. Private selskaber, der er gået i krig for at tjene penge og på mange niveauer har kunnet gøre, som det passer dem i forhold til rekruttering.”

… ”Samtidigt oprulles historien om, hvorfor politikere gerne vil bruge private soldater, da de dels ikke tæller som ”boots on the ground” og dels ikke kommer hjem i kister med flag på. Og vi ser hvordan der er tætte bånd mellem diverse politiske og militære nøglepersoner, beslutningstagere og så de private militære firmaer, der får milliardkontrakter af de selvsamme personer.”

Ellesøe og klipperne Bodil Kjærhauge og Steen Johannesen bygger i en neddæmpet, nøgtern, alvorlig stil deres konstruktion på fire elementer: interviews, erindringsstof i korte fortællinger, nye reportageoptagelser, og et omfattende arkivstof, især fra tv. Altså som man ofte eller oftest gør i sådanne journalistiske fremlæggelser beregnet for tv, men vel at mærke her med en story-line, som ikke bygger på en opklaringens spænding, men mere på en journalistisk undersøgelses vidnesbyrd på vidnesbyrd: interviews med en række nøglepersoner, tidligere medarbejdere i de undersøgte private defence services (de private hære), efterretningsfolk og undersøgende journalister, interviews med både aktive og tidligere soldater, som begyndte som helt små drenge.

Der klippes ikke i filmscener, der klippes direkte i vidneudsagnene og der indsættes dækbilleder, men de medvirkende er alle intense og meget kompetente og fotograferet i smukke omhyggelige filmbilleder og dækbillederne er valgt medfortællende mere end blot illustrerende, så i lange forløb oplever jeg faktisk en samtales kvaliteter. Ad den vej lykkes det fortællemæssigt yderst fornemt ved præcist valgte dækbilleder især fra arkivmaterialet at etablere Tim Spicer, lederen af de måske største militære firmaer / private hære Sandline, som bliver til det nuværende Aegis, som gennemgående hovedpeson skønt han, oplyses det til sidst, har nægtet at give interview, nægtet at medvirke i filmen.

De afrikanske lejesoldaters vidneudsagn er optaget i en mere uroligt bevæget reportagestil og klippet i kortere forløb, men tilstækkeligt lange til at skildre usigelige grusomheder. Jeg glemmer ikke disse fortællinger, men jeg når heller ikke at blive fortrolig med vidnerne, så fortrolig, at deres udsagn om det frygtelige vokser ind i mig og bliver en del af min erfaring, min forståelse af livet.

Det roligste vidnudsagn fra den anden hovedperson, Tim Spicers modsætning, forfatteren og journalisten Stephen Armstrong, som jeg hele vejen igennem støttede mig mest til, formulerer i filmens slutning dens sammenfatning: ”Den private sikkerhedsindustri vil fortsat arbejde for regeringer. Vi vil se private firmaer føre krig. Firmaerne ligger i vores lande. De vokser takket være vores penge, og de er registrerede på vores børser. Bor man i et demokrati og er utilfreds med regeringen, kan man stemme på oppositionen. Hvis man er utilfreds med et firma, kan man ikke gøre noget.” Jeg er sikker på at Nagieb Khaja i aften vil se at han havde ret, det er en hårdtslående og vigtig dokumentar.

Mads Ellesøe: Børnesoldatens nye job (The Child Soldier’s New Job), Danmark 2016, 68 min. Foto: Henrik Bohn Ipsen, Nadim Carlsen og Thomas Jensen. Klip: Bodil Kjærhauge og Steen Johannesen. Produktion: Mette Heide / +pluspictures for DR. Premiere i DR2 Dokumania i dag 19. april 20:45.

SYNOPSIS

It is a well-known fact that private military companies are becoming significant players in conflicts around the world, supplying not merely the goods but also the services of war. Large parts of both the logistics and the actual warfare have been outsourced to private companies who want to maximize profit. They hire cheap labour from the poorest parts of the world. The gravest example is the employment of former child soldiers. The film explores how the globalization has changed the industry of warfare. How is it possible that companies can hire former child soldiers despite the codes of conduct that have been formulated for the private military industry? (DFI Fakta)

”… A former senior director at a British firm says that it employed mercenaries from Sierra Leone to work in Iraq because they were cheaper than Europeans and did not check if they were former child soldiers. James Ellery, who was a director of Aegis Defence Services between 2005 and 2015, said that contractors had a “duty” to recruit from countries such as Sierra Leone, “where there’s high unemployment and a decent workforce”, in order to reduce costs for the US presence in Iraq.”

“…Aegis Defence Services, which is chaired by Sir Nicholas Soames, a Tory MP and Winston Churchill’s grandson, had a series of contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to provide guards to protect US military bases in Iraq from 2004 onwards. From 2011 the company broadened its recruitment to take in African countries, having previously employed people from the UK, the US and Nepal.

Contract documents say that the soldiers from Sierra Leone were paid $16 (£11) a day. A documentary, The Child Soldier’s New Job, to be broadcast on Monday in Denmark alleges that the estimated 2,500 Sierra Leonean personnel who were recruited by Aegis and other private security companies to work in Iraq included former child soldiers.

“When war gets outsourced, then the companies tries to find the cheapest soldiers globally. Turns out that that is former child soldiers from Sierra Leone. I think it is important that we in the west are aware of the consequences of the privatisation of war,” the film’s maker, Mads Ellesøe, said.” (The Guardian 17. april 2016)

http://www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/film/da/96536.aspx?id=96536 (DFI Fakta)

http://www.madsmedia.dk/#intro (Ellesøes hjmmeside)

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/apr/17/uk-firm-employed-former-child-soldiers-as-mercenaries-in-iraq (The Guardians foromtale)

Litt.: Stephen Armstrong: War Plc. The Rise of the New Mercenary. (2008)

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/jul/06/review.features (Interessat kritisk anmeldelse af Stephen Armstrongs bog)

Salomé Jashi: The Dazzling Light of Sunset

A magic sense of piousness is what Georgian Salomé Jashi creates at the beginning in her new documentary film, that has its world premiere at the Visions du Réel in Nyon this coming Wednesday April 20. A traveling shot from above in a run-down theatre building is accompanied by the performance of a passionate melancholic love song. The sequence ends with the four singers on a stage followed by the title of the film; voilà, the journey into the small society of the Tsalerijikha region of Georgia can start with the local tv journalist, anchor- and camerawoman Dariko Beria as the character, who is present at the events which are filmed by her – and by Salomé Jashi.

From the small tv studio with the wallpaper photo of trees and sea, paradise on the wall in a working place that otherwise communicates no luxury, to youngsters preparing catwalk for a fashion show or is it a beauty contest, villagers performing on stage, as the politicians do at the meetings before the local elections in the town hall or when they are on television interviewed by Dariko Beria, the name of the journalist, who is full of life and finds the right mood, when she is to read obituaries and chose music that fits. She hurries out when a giant owl has been found, to film and interview, and she is present, when the importance of going to church is discussed, and at the ceremony in the church building.

Tradition meets modern life in this film with many layers, old and

young people, sad landscapes with ruins and a modern conference centre, the threat of survival for the small tv station in a digital media landscape. A visual interpretation is provided full of empathy and respect, and humour without making fun of the characters performing in funny situations. Godard it was, who said that every camera angle is a question of moral.

Salomé Jashi, whose work we have followed on this site (“Their Helicopter”, “Speechless”, “The Leader is always Right” and “Bahkmaro”) demonstrates again her big talent for composition. Every image is a like a nature morte that invites you to discover details and colours, that play a significant role as they also did in “Bahkmaro”. It seems like Jashi thinks in colours. Scenes like the ones around the wedding preparations and the filled up tables with food, bottles and people in different stage of soberness, bring me to think about Brueghel.

At the end Dariko Beria and her colleague Kakha Kvaratskhelia express to Salomé Jashi their hope for what the film will show and to what effect. For someone far away from the region and with big admiration for the cinematic skills of the director, my answer would be: This is a beautiful vision du reel from our common, universal “Theatre of Life”.

Georgia, Germany, 2016, 74 mins.