CinéDOC Tbilisi – Good EUnews

Georgia is (still) not a member of the European Union and yet there is a cultural link that works as in this case, I copy-paste a message from the festival FB page:

”We are very proud to announce that CinéDOC-Tbilisi is the first Georgian film festival to be funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union! We are honored to be funded in the same group with such great film festivals like Dok Leipzig, Sarajevo Film Festival, Oberhausen, La Rochelle, Doc Lisboa, Jihlava Documentary Film Festival and 23 other festivals selected out of 108 eligible applicants!

The selection letter made us extremely happy: “This is a very valuable festival led by a professional team. The event has a strong representation year round and outside its home city.[…] The festival is a very good example of decentralisation of European festival life, bringing European cultural works to new audiences.””

The festival takes place October 21-25.

http://www.cinedoc-tbilisi.com/

Jørgen Leth: Lyrikporten – 28 danske digtere /1

Jeg kunne da umuligt dengang tro at Jørgen Leth kunne gentage mesterværket ”Dansk litteratur”. Det kunne han så bare. Her er nogle få scener, tilsammen en færdig film inde i et filmværk som jeg langsomt vil åbne op. Rationerer jeg med én om dagen, er der til en måned, næsten. I dag, premieredagen er mit klare valg:

Jørgen Leth præsenterer Lea Marie Løppenthin:

http://28danskedigtere.gyldendal.dk/#show/346be144-04d4-459b-abc0-f9d6aa647b45

Der er non-stop visninger i Cinemateket:

http://www.dfi.dk/Filmhuset/Cinemateket/Walk-in-Bio.aspx

http://www.dfi.dk/Filmhuset/Cinemateket/Billetter-og-program/Serie.aspx?serieID=12360

DocsBarcelona 2016 Poster

By courtesy of Louie Palu, the main character of ”Kandahar Journals”, that he also directed together with Devin Gallagher, the upcoming DocsBarcelona festival, is using one of his photos to promote the festival. Stunning. Attractive. From the website of the film a citation from the synopsis of a film that comes to the Barcelona festival with a lot of awards:

… April 2006. Photojournalist Louie Palu, finds himself in the midst of body parts and the smell of burned flesh. On his first visit to Kandahar he is covering a suicide bombing. Arriving in the country as the wars violence spirals out of control, Louie is unaware that he will spend the next five years covering the conflict. He begins writing a series of journals reflecting on his personal experience and what the war looked like and felt to him. This film explores a photojournalist’s first hand account of his psychological state while covering a war. The film follows Louie’s journey covering the war in Kandahar from 2006 to 2010 and its aftermath…

http://www.kandaharjournals.com/project-history/

www.docsbarcelona.com

Torben Skjødt Jensen: Eksil /2

Scenen er fra Teater Nordkraft i Aalborg fra Mikkel Flyvholms opsætning i 2013 af ”Eksil” skrevet af Andreas Garfield på grundlag af Jakob Ejersbos roman fra 2009 med samme titel. Skuespilleren med front mod os er Sofie Saaby Mehlum. Hun er et uartigt barn, en vild pige, en udfordrende kvinde. Hun er Samantha fra romanen, hun er den fjerne kvinde som vi i vignetformede spillefilmscener i en anden skuespillers ganske anderledes fremstilling så i Christian Holken Bonkes film ”Ejersbo” på DR2 Dokumania i aftes, hvor der i et lag for sig kan læses synes jeg ”… en fortællelinje som dannes af interviewene med søsteren, faderen, moderen, vennen i Tanzania og kæresten i Danmark, et forløb som er en næsten nyfigen skildring af hvad der egentlig er en ganske privat familiehistorie, hvor der kun i ét af temaerne, i tegningen af kærlighedsforholdene skimtes poetisk kraft i Holten Bonkes ellers nøgternt prosaisk episke behandling af dette stof, allermest i skildringen af forholdet til en sjælsallieret, en vigtig fjern kvinde. Dette afsnit har Bonke fint og kontrolleret smukt viet en iscenesættelse af en rekonstruktion.” (Filmkommentarens anmeldelse). Denne vigtige fjerne kvinde er Samantha.

Hun er efterhånden blevet en mytisk skikkelse i dansk litteratur- og filmhistorie, for mig i høj grad fordi Torben Skjødt Jensen i en forrygende overførsel til tv og samtidig en klog og følsom fortolkning har fastholdt Garfields, Flyvholm og Saaby Mehlums teaterværk i et dokumentarisk filmværk, hvor ”hun (Saaby Mehlum som Amantha) lader hvert øjeblik med sin energi, sin musikalitet, sin autenticitet i hver eneste reaktion og hvert eneste udtryk. Og netop det er noget, dokumentarens iagttagelse om ikke muliggør at se, for sådan er det heller ikke, men udpeger og understreger, så jeg ikke alene oplever en 15 årig kvinde, men en voksen kvinde i sit mimesiske øjeblik på øjeblik på øjeblik, en skuespiller i sin kropslige erindring.” (Filmkommentarens anmeldelse)

Skjødt Jensens dokumentarfilm må da på en eller anden måde kunne gøres tilgængelig for publikum så forevigelsen den sådan fortjener, kan nå sit mål: Vi må have de to Ejersbofilm ved siden af hinanden, så hans Samantha kan leve videre i nye skikkelser, nye forståelser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsRZqbe4-JM (Teaser fra ”Eksil” på Teater Nordkraft)

http://www.peripeti.dk/2013/03/26/eksil-pa-teater-nordkraft-instrueret-af-mikkel-flyvholm/ (Anmeldelse af teateropførelsen af ”Eksil”)

http://www.filmdir.dk/da/torben-skjdt-jensen(Torben Skjødt Jensens lange filmografi med dokumentarversionerne af teateropførelser som de nyere af hans værker)

Christian Holten Bonke: Ejersbo /3

“Det åbner så smukt med en arkivoptagelse af forfatteren Jakob Ejersbo i en bus i Tanzania må det jo være, smuk, glad, forventningsfuld. Så vandrer han hen ad den afrikanske landevej, kameraet ser ham bagfra. Vi vil gerne følge ham, vil gerne blive i den her filmpoetiske historie.

Men straks derefter tages der med det observerende kamera fat på bjergvandringen som gennemgående fortællelag…”

TV2 Dokumania sender ”Ejersbo” I AFTENl 20:45. Jeg skrev om den meget interessant komplicerede film ved DOXBIO premieren i efteråret, jeg anbefaler den igen meget, læs hele anmeldelsen her:

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

 

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/