Masterclasses and DOKLeipzig Films on DocAlliance

Again and again DocAlliance, “Your Online Documentary Cinema”, brings quality to its users, who are hopefully many. This time a series of filmed masterclasses from the Jihlava 2014 festival. I visited one of them last year, the one with Wojtiech Staron, which was great, take that or always interesting Godfrey Reggio. For free until tomorrow included. Then you can pay the small fees that DocAlliance operates with and/or go to watch films from DOKLeipzig, for free from this coming Monday October 19 until November 1st. The offer includes a slate of animated documentaries, one of many specialities at the Leipzig festival:

Watch films such as Still Born (winner of the Golden Dove award for the best animated film at DOK Leipzig 2014) and other films oscillating between an intimate and political message in a unique animated form: Counting Days and Years, Broken Branches, Amerykanka. All included, The Predicate and the Poppy, T’s World: The Over-identification of Terry Thompson.

And links to the masterclasses connected to the names of the directors:

DAFilms.com presents master classes of leading filmmakers who attended Jihlava IDFF in the past year. The directors whose film lectures you can watch until October 18 include Spanish enfant terrible Albert Serra (winner of Locarno IFF among others), respected American filmmaker Deborah Stratman, Austrian master of found footage Peter Tscherkassky, famous director of the Qatsi trilogy Godfrey Reggio (PHOTO), Filipino independent filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik and Polish cinematographer and director Wojciech Staroń.

http://dafilms.com

CPH:DOX 2015 NB /5

”… De bedste film fra hele Norden er nomineret til NORDIC:DOX Award. Udvalget afspejler diversiteten og ambitionsniveauet i den nordiske dokumentar. Ikke mindst kunstnerisk i film, der har en klar vision og et personligt præg – netop på det punkt hvor den nordiske dokumentar i disse år markerer sig på den internationale filmscene. Serien spænder fra det poetiske til det politiske og sætter tilskueren i en aktiv, kritisk position. Og så er mange af filmene lavet af unge instruktører med nye visioner og med mod til at eksperimentere.”

Sådan introducerer Katrine Ravndal, CPH:DOX denne festivalafdeling af film fra Sverige, Island, Finland, Norge og Danmark. Jeg hæfter mig ved ordene diversitet, ambitionsniveu, ny vision, personlig, poetisk, politisk (disse to som yderpunkter), mod til at eksperimentere og ungdom og så at jeg som biografgænger, som publikum vil blive sat i en aktiv kritisk position. Jeg tager den dybe, tøvende indånding og lover Katrine Ravndal at gøre mit bedste og så kigger jeg nøje på beskrivelserne:

”A Place Called Lloyd af Sebastian Cordes (DK) Sammenholdet er lønnen i sig selv i et konkursramt flyselskab i Bolivia, skildret i et formmæssigt og fotografisk fuldendt portræt af et ukueligt fællesskab.

Et Hjem i Verden af Andreas Koefoed (DK) Livet som asylbarn i Danmark set igennem øjnene på 10-årige Magomed.

Ghost Rockets af Michael Cavanagh & Kerstin Übelacker (SE) En svensk UFO-klubs rørende og muntre forsøg på at opklare det ultimative mysterium: Teorien om spøgelsesraketterne.

Grace of God af Kristján Loðmfjörð (IS) Islandsk film om kunsten at betragte dyrene og spejle os i deres tavshed – og om hvad vi kan lære af dem.

Homo Sacer: The Sacred Man or the Accursed Man af Lode Kuylenstierna (SE) Fanget på video, hængt ud på nettet, fundet død. Et digitalt fantoms tragedie i en drilsk og kompleks film om ikke at tro på alt, hvad man ser.

I Remember When I Die af Maria Bäck (DK/SE) Hvis du rent faktisk kunne fastholde et enkelt minde for evigt, hvad skulle det så være? En dybt original rejse i bevidsthedens mysterium.

Iron Grandpa af Janiv Oskar & Terhi Romo (FI) Finsk deadpan møder ‘Rocky’ i en skæv og anderledes film om en 72-årig VM-vægtløfters vej til karrierens sidste triumf.

Monalisa Story af Jessica Nettelbladt (SE) Nede, ude og på heroin i Malmø. En usædvanlig film om en sårbar, stærk og stædig kvindes kamp med sig selv og verden, optaget over hele otte år.

Natural Disorder af Christian Sønderby Jepsen (DK) Ramt af skæbnen og linie 1A! En ung mands brave og selvironiske kamp for at iscenesætte sit liv som handicappet, fra instruktøren af ‘Testamentet’.

Return of the Atom af Mika Taanila & Jussi Eerola (FI/DE) Atomkraft – ja, tak? Det første, vestlige kernekraftværk siden Tjernobyl var en kulsort, menneskelig komedie ifølge den finske samtidskunstner Mika Taanila.

The Accidental Rock Star af Igor Devold (NO) Ind under gasmasken på Kaizers Orchestra og ind i hjernen på den excentriske organist Helge Risa, hvor norsk naturidyl møder ’12 Monkeys’.

Time Passes af Ane Hjort Guttu (NO) 10 måneder på gaden med en tiggerske: er unge Damlas kunstprojekt et socialt manifest eller ren forfængelighed? En performativ – og subtilt tvetydig – film.

Still: Grace of God af Kristján Loðmfjörð

NORDIC:DOX

”2 carefully selected films are nominated in the competition presenting the best documentaries from the Nordic countries. The best films from the Nordic countries are nominated for NORDIC:DOX Award. The selection reflects the diversity and the level of ambition of the Nordic documentary. These are films with clear vision, personal touch and artistic flair, standing out in a field where the Nordic documentaries have in recent years made their mark on the international film scene. The series range from the poetic to the political, placing the spectators in an active, critical position. Many of the films are made by young directors with a new vision and the courage to experiment. The award is kindly sponsored by the Producer’s Association. The nominees are:

A Place Called Lloyd by Sebastian Cordes (DK) The solidarity is reward enough at a bankrupt airline in Bolivia, portrayed in a stylistically and photographically complete portrait of a resilient community.

A Home In the World by Andreas Koefoed (DK) Life as an asylum child in Denmark seen through the eyes of 10-year-old Magomed.

Ghost Rockets by Michael Cavanagh & Kerstin Übelacker (SE) A Swedish UFO club’s moving and cheerful attempt to solve the ultimate mystery: the theory of ghost rockets.

Grace of God by Kristján Loðmfjörð (ICE/POL) An Icelandic film about the art of watching animals and mirroring ourselves in their silence – and about what we can learn from them.

Homo Sacer: The Sacred Man or the Accursed Man by Lode Kuylenstierna (SE) Captured on video, published on the internet, found dead. A digital phantom’s tragedy in a tricky and complex film about not believing everything you see.

I Remember When I Die by Maria Bäck (DK/SE) If you could actually hold a memory forever, which one would it be? A highly original journey into the mystery of consciousness.

Iron Grandpa by Janiv Oskar & Terhi Romo (FI) Finnish deadpan meets ‘Rocky’ in an offbeat and unusual film about a 72-year-old weightlifter’s road to the last triumph of his career.

Monalisa Story by Jessica Nettelbladt (SE) Down, out and on heroin in Malmö. An unusual film about a vulnerable, strong and stubborn woman’s struggle with herself and the world, shot over no less than eight years.

Natural Disorder by Christian Sønderby Jepsen (DK) Struck by fate and the Number 1 bus! A young man’s brave and self-effacing struggle to stage his life as a disabled person, by the director of ‘The Will’.

Return of the Atom by Mika Taanila & Jussi Eerola (FI/DE) Nuclear power – yes please? The first western power station since Chernobyl was a black, human comedy according to the Finnish artist Mika Taanila.

The Accidental Rock Star by Igor Devold (NO) Underneath the gas mask of Kaizers Orchestra and inside the brain of the eccentric frontman Helge Risa, where Norwegian natural idyll meets ’12 Monkeys’.

Time Passes by Ane Hjort Guttu (NO) Ten months on the street with a beggar: is Damla’s art project a social manifesto or pure vanity? A performative – and subtly ambiguous – film.” (Katrine Ravndal, CPH:DOX)

NB

Tue Steen Müller vil senere her på Filmkommentaren.dk anmelde Et Hjem i Verden af Andreas Koefoed. Jeg selv kan stærkt anbefale Natural Disorder af Christian Sønderby Jepsen som jeg anmeldte for nogen tid siden, og den film vil blive ved med at være en del af min erfaring som noget afgørende jeg har oplevet. Af de øvrige film på listen ville jeg først se Monalisa Story af Jessica Nettelbladt og allerførst Grace of God af Kristján Loðmfjörð på grundlag af Ravndals beskrivelse og så på grund af det der still…

CPH:DOX 2015 NB /4

 

Anne Wivels nye film Mand Falder med maleren Per Kirkeby bliver åbningsfilm på CPH:DOX 2015 og umiddelbart efter vises filmen i samarbejde med DOXBIO i en række biografer. Jeg vil anmelde filmen senere, men foreløbig skriver Katrine Ravndal, som er medarbejder ved festivalen, så fint i dag dette om filmen og dens premiere:

”Hvad sker der, når en verdenskunstner pludselig mister sine naturgivne evner, når han ikke længere kan skelne farvernes nuancer og lærredets kanter?

Filminstruktøren Anne R. Wivel har fulgt sin ven, maleren Per Kirkeby på nært hold, efter at han faldt ned ad en trappe og slog hovedet. Han havde tidligere overvundet følgerne af en hjerneblødning og to blodpropper, men faldet på trappen for to år siden resulterede i en hjerneskade, der forhindrer ham i at arbejde. Han har ikke bare mistet sin førlighed, men også evnen til at føre de store penselstrøg og det velkendte hug, som har gjort Per Kirkeby til en af vor tids største kunstnere…” Læs videre og se filmens trailer:

http://cphdox.dk/content/den-danske-film-mand-falder-bliver-%C3%A5bningsfilm-p%C3%A5-cphdox-2015

”The new Danish film Mand Falder about the artist Per Kirkeby will be the opening film at CPH:DOX 2015 and will afterwards be screened in cinemas all over the country in a collaboration with DOXBIO.

What happens when a world-famous artist suddenly loses his natural abilities, when he no longer can tell the colours from each other or see the edge of the canvas?

The film director Anne Wivel has followed her friend, the painter Per Kirkeby, up close after he fell down a flight of stairs and hit his head. He had previously recovered from a brain haemorrhage and two blood clots, but the fall on the stairs two years ago resulted in a brain injury that prevents him from working. He has not just lost his mobility, but also the ability to recognise colours and even his own art works.

In an intense drama the film follows Per Kirkeby, who is fighting for a comeback, while at the same time acknowledging his lack of progress…” Read more + trailer:

http://cphdox.dk/en/content/danish-film-%E2%80%99mand-falder%E2%80%99-opening-film-cphdox-2015

Hanka Kastelicová HBO Europe

In the series “EDN Member of the Month”, Hanka Kastelicová from HBO Europe presents, what her job at the channel is, what her background is, what she is proud of to have supported…

It’s very informative and good reading (you don’t have to be a member of EDN to get to it) and I can only add that Hanka is one of the most filmmaker supportive commissioning editors that I have met… last time was at the Baltic Sea Forum in September, where she was a very much loved tutor. A busy woman, read the answer to “what lies next for your calendar”:

“A forum, festival and market in Leipzig, an HBO workshop at the Documentary Film Festival in Jihlava, in between a short stop in Prague, meetings with several of our teams, and the premiere of the new HBO fiction series Mamon. Then several days in Budapest, more work in the office and also involvement with our Hungarian projects. After that a visit to the editing room in Belgrade, meetings with filmmakers with new proposals in Warsaw, the local premiere of a Romanian documentary, and meetings with Romanian filmmakers, and then IDFA. I have quite a busy life, but I love it just the way as it is…”

http://www.edn.dk/news

CPH:DOX 2015 NB /3

Journalistik på film på CPH:DOX. Det stiller voldsomme krav til en tilskuer som mig. Jeg bliver nødt til at undersøge titlerne og især instruktørerne én for én, for der er en hurtighed over det materiale, disse værker, som hvert og et slår ned i nyhedsstrømmen og udvider en begivenhed, en problemstilling, skildrer et menneske i en bestemt dags belysning og truer med i aktualiternes stadige vekslen hurtigt at forsvinde igen. Jeg ved at dette opmærksomhedssvigt jævnligt rammer mig, når jeg folder avisen sammen, så det er i en nervøs uro, jeg kigger ned over listen over de udvalgte film i den kategori: er der noget jeg har glemt?

”Årets F:ACT Award er festivalens pris for dybdeborende dokumentarjournalistik.” Jeg smager på formuleringen, på betegnelsen for en genre, jeg altid selv har svært ved at give navn. Men Camilla Henriet uddyber for mig, ” CPH:DOX dedikerer hvert år en pris til film, der bevæger sig i feltet mellem dokumentarisme og dybdeborende journalistik. I år er 10 film nomineret og det er både med danske og internationale film på programmet.” (Camilla Henriet…, CPH:DOX)

“F:ACT Award is the festival prize for investigative documentary journalism. Each year CPH:DOX dedicates a prize to films that lie in the area between documentary and investigative journalism. This year 10 films are nominated – both Danish and international.” (Camilla Henriet…, CPH:DOX)

Her er hele listen, det er vigtigt det her, jeg skal sætte NB en del steder. Efterhånden som jeg får googlet og kommer i tanker om:

”Among the Believers af Hemal Trivedi & Mohammed Ali Naqvi (PK) En chokerende insider-rapport fra den radikale islamismes mørke maskinrum, i et møde med hjernen bag den mest ekstremistiske jihad-skole i Pakistan.

Citizen Khodorkovsky af Eric Bergkraut (CH/DE/RU)Kampen for et åbent Rusland ifølge landets mest markante oppositionspolitiker – den stenrige, kontroversielle oligark Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Deprogrammed af Mia Donovan (CA) Kidnapning og omvendt ‘mind control’? Mød en flamboyant og kontroversiel ekspert i at omvende hjernevaskede sektmedlemmer og radikaliserede unge.

Dreaming of Denmark af Michael Graversen (DK) Ankommet til Danmark som 15-årig, smidt ud igen i en alder af 18. En afghansk teenagers liv som flygtning i en stærk og personlig film.

Intet bliver som før af Naomi Klein & Awi Lewis (CA/US) Klimakrisen er ikke bare vor tids største udfordring. Den er også vores største mulighed for at ændre verden. Naomi Klein forklarer hvordan.

Je suis Charlie af Daniel Leconte, Emmanuel Leconte (FR) Tragedien, efterspillet og den demokratiske krise efter angrebet på Charlie Hebdo oprulles i den ultimative film om det ikoniklastiske ugeblad.

Motley’s Law af Nicole Horanyi (DK) En kvindelig forsvarsadvokat i Afghanistan tvinges til at tage en beslutning om sit idealistiske arbejde, der vil ændre hendes liv for altid.

Sugar Coated af Michèle Hozer (US) Hvad er sundt, og hvad er sandt? En film, der vil få dig til at tænke over, hvad du spiser – og hvem, der har bestemt, hvad der er i maden.

Town on a Wire af Uri Rosenwaks og Eyal Blachson (IL) Det dokumentariske svar på ‘The Wire’. En rapport fra en israelsk grænseby i total opløsning, hvor fremtiden er i hænderne på en enkelt mand.

(T)error af Lyric R. Cabral og David Felix Sutcliffe (US) Undercover på begge sider (!) af USA’s kontroversielle kamp mod terror, hvor balancen er hårfin imellem at forhindre forbrydelser – og selv at skabe dem.” (CH, CPH:DOX)

http://cphdox.dk/content/cphdox-offentliggør-de-nominerede-film-i-årets-fact-award

NB I MARGENEN

I første omgang bliver det Naomi Kleins og Awi Lewis’ film, som jeg selvfølgelig skal se, dernæst Nicole Horanyis som jeg venter mig meget af. Og især glæder jeg mig til Eric Bergkrauts Citizen Khodorkovsky. Jeg husker hans Letter to Anna (2008) for dens følsomhed og klogskab og omhu, dens langsomme alvor.

”THE NOMINEES

(T)error by Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe (US) Undercover on both sides (!) of America’s controversial fight against terrorism, where the line between preventing crimes and creating them is very fine.

Among the Believers by Hemal Trivedi & Mohammed Ali Naqvi (PK) A shocking insider report from the dark engine room of radical Islam, in an encounter with the mastermind behind the most extremist jihad school in Pakistan.

Citizen Khodorkovsky by Eric Bergkraut (CH/DE/RU) The struggle for an open Russia, according to the country’s most prominent opposition politician – the wealthy, controversial oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Deprogrammed by Mia Donovan (CA) Kidnapping and reverse mind control? Meet a flamboyant and controversial expert in converting brainwashed cult members and radicalised youth.

Dreaming of Denmark by Michael Graversen (DK) Arrived in Denmark at the age of 15, thrown out again at the age of 18. An Afghan teenager’s life as a refugee in a powerful and personal film.

This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein & Awi Lewis (CA, US) The climate crisis is not just today’s biggest challenge. It is also our greatest opportunity to change the world. Naomi Klein explains how.

Je suis Charlie by Daniel Leconte, Emmanuel Leconte (FR) The tragedy, aftermath and democratic crisis after the attack on Charlie Hebdo is presented in the ultimate film about the iconoclastic magazine.

Motley’s Law by Nicole Horanyi (DK) A female defense lawyer’s idealistic work in Afghanistan is forced to make a decision that will change her life forever.

Sugar Coated by Michèle Hozer (US) What is healthy and what is true? A film that will make you think about what you eat – and about who decides what is in the food.

Town on a Wire by Uri Rosenwaks, Eyal Blachson (IL) The documentary answer to ‘The Wire’. A report from an Israeli border town in total dissolution, where the future is in the hands of a single man.” (Camilla Henriet…, CPH:DOX)

http://cphdox.dk/en/content/cphdox-reveals-nominated-films-year%E2%80%99s-fact-award

FOTO: Citizen Khodorkovsky af Eric Bergkraut 

Nima Sarvestani: Those Who Said No

It’s playing in Mexico these days, it has been at festivals for a year now, I managed to watch it last night on Swedish television and can only add ”I agree” to the many praising words and awards it has received.

Here is one: At the One World Festival in Prague March this year the film received the Václav Havel Jury Award, the motivation went like this:

“This documentary is first and foremost a message to whoever commits human rights violations: they will be held accountable. Impunity for human rights violations is intolerable for victims, their relatives, and for the society as a whole. Even years after the violations occurred, Iranian victims and their relatives had the power to join forces to reclaim justice – ignoring how much control one might have over State mechanisms or how powerful one might be. The perseverance of those victims and their relatives deserves the highest recognition, because in the spirit of Vaclav Havel they are the proof that one person can make a difference.“

So much for the content – as a film it is impressive how the director Nima Sarvestani and his editor Jesper Osmund have managed to build a film narrative out of the basic material shot at the three day long Iran Tribunal in den Haag, The scoop is of

course to have the main protagonist, Iraj Mesdaghi, who lives in Sweden and who suffers from the consequences of the torture he experienced in Iran, be the one, who drives the story. He prepares to travel to the Tribunal, he goes with the film crew to Japan, where one of the perpetrators attend a (human rights?!) conference, he is the personification of the suffering and traumas of a generation of opponents to Khomeiny and his gang. And you watch him at home with the proceedings of the Tribunal online on the television set. He is in the film the last to speak at the Tribunal. A fine enlarged synopsis (from the Sheffield festival) of the film I found on the site of the film:

“The Ayatolla’s fatwa was brutally clear: “The political prisoners, who stand by their beliefs are considered waging war against God and are Islam’s enemies. They should be executed immediately.” In the 1980s, the new Iranian regime consolidated its power by executing thousands of political prisoners – many in the single summer of 1988. Now, after 25 years of silence, and with the perpetrators still in power, the world is hearing for the first time the details of the atrocity. Whilst the torturers enjoy complete immunity, the Iran Tribunal in The Hague investigates the executions over three moving days, determined to out the truth. Director Nima Sarvestani, whose brother was one of those executed, brings his own documentary footage to the hearing. His film weaves between the courtroom and the survivors and victim’s families who have been working for a quarter century for their voices to be heard.”

Sarvestani has made other films of great importance: ”No Burqas Behind Bars” (2012), ”I Was Worth 50 Sheep” (2011). On the website, link below, you can read about them and you can buy the film(s) at the same place – and via the distributor’s site, Deckert, see below.

Sweden, 2014, 89 mins.

http://www.nimafilmsweden.com/index.php

http://deckert-distribution.com/film-catalogue/those-who-said-no/

CPH:DOX 2015 NB /2

Vi på Filmkommentaren.dk er bortset fra en enkelt titel, Ah Humanity! som folkene bag Leviathan(2014) står bag, helt uden forudsætninger når vi læser listen over film som opererer i det poetiske område mellem maleri, skulptur, installation, fotografi og film, som til dagligt må opsøges på museer og gallerier og sjældent når biografer som nu, hvor de vises på CPH:DOX i en udfordrende afdeling, NEW:VISION med 14 værker. Jeg har sat NB ved et par steder i programmaterialet:

”I forbindelse med dette års CPH:DOX, der starter den 5. november og slutter den 15. november, er konkurrencen NEW:VISION skudt i gang. Kopenhagen har fået æren af at offentliggøre de nominerede værker, der alle opererer i det eksperimenterende grænsefelt mellem kunst og film.

AH HUMANITY!

Ernst Karel, Véréna Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor. Det Harvard-baserede Sensory Ethnography Lab repræsenterer det mest avancerede kontemporære krydsfelt mellem film og videnskabelig research. Véréna Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor og Ernst Karels helt nye film- og lydværk ligger således i forlængelse af mastodontværket Leviathan (New Vision Award, CPH:DOX, 2012), som i den grad har sat et før og et efter i både filmens og forskningens verden. Ikke mindst forsøget på at give den verden, der omgiver os og som vi selv har skabt, en filmisk form, der lader os se og erkende den på ny. Og denne gang er det Fukushima – optaget på en mobiltelefon og med et massivt lyddesign i fire parallelle spor.” (Kathrine Børlit, Kopenhagen)

http://kopenhagen.dk/magasin/magazine-single/article/newvision-nominerede-offentliggjort/

NEW:VISION

“The artistic and experimental part of CPH:DOX’s programme has just been revealed, and once again the challenging NEW:VISION award offers experimental films on the edge between documentary and artistic reflection.

This year 14 films are nominated for the NEW:VISION award, announced today by the Copenhagen-based art magazine Kopenhagen. The films are notable mainly for being of international character, and like their country of origin, the filmmakers’ professional backgrounds also differ. Some are famous for their work with documentary films, while others are usually known within an art context. The nominees will reflect in the best way what the NEW:VISION competition is about, namely examining the characteristic field located at the intersection of film and art. The directors and their films stand in this grey area and operate within disciplines that do not usually overlap.

AH HUMANITY!

Ernst Karel, Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor (JP / FR / US). The Harvard-based CPH:DOX winners behind Leviathan are back with a new film and a remarkable soundtrack, recorded on a mobile phone in Fukushima.” (Freja Sofie Madsen, CPH:DOX)

http://cphdox.dk/en/content/cphdox-reveals-year%E2%80%99s-newvision-award

Photo: Ah Humanity!

Festivals!!!!!!

Yes, it is documentary festival time, indeed. In this and in the coming month. My mailbox is full of news from festivals that want to tell the film communities about the selection that has been done for competitions, for retrospectives, for focus on a country, for ”panoramas” + the new organisational steps that have been taken.

Yes, it is festival time among my FB friends as well, texts are posted that proudly state that ”my film was taken for xxx”. Good news for many, those whose films were rejected do not announce that on FB.

The documentary film festivals of today want to be open to the current discussions going on in the world (climate, environment, politics, refugees) and invite influential artists, commentators and activists to take part. We have already written about the CPH:DOX (November 5-15), that invites Naomi Klein and Olafur Eliasson as curators and that the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (October 27 – November 1) will have visual and verbal contact with Julian Assange. The festival now also announces ”the participation of the former member of Pussy Riot, Masha (Maria Alyokhina),

who has a first-hand experience from Russian prison where she was incarcerated after her performance in Moscow’s most prominent orthodox cathedral. This experience further encouraged her to fight for human rights.”

The DocLisboa International de Cinema (October 22 – November 1) wants ”to question the present of film, bringing along its history and assuming cinema as a mode of freedom. By refusing the categorization of film practice, it searches for the new problematics that cinematic image implies, in its multiple ways of engagement with the contemporary. Doclisboa tries to be a place to imagine reality through new modes of perception, reflection, and possible new forms of action…” Not quite clear what is meant but from the programme I can see that fiction films are at the programme as are the so-called hybrid.

At DOKLeipzig (October 26 – November 1) there are many new things happening under the leadership of Leena Pasanen, whose first festival this is. There is a mix of documentary and animation in one of the competition programmes, there is an interactive tent set up on the market square called Neuland (photo) for the presentation of interactive documentaries. And juries are to include people from outside the film circles.

Read this clip from a newsletter: “An animator and director from the USA who gained fame through the animated cartoon series “The Simpsons”, David Silverman, is coming to DOK Leipzig as a member of the jury. He is one of 40 jurors on 12 panels who decide on the winners and awards given at this year’s festival. As of this year not only experts on film will be sitting on the juries: artists from other fields are taking part as well. Leena Pasanen, the new festival director, wants to open up the evaluation of the films to include other artistically creative influences. As a result, Christoph Ruckhäberle, a painter from Leipzig, and writer Ingo Schulze, a native of Dresden, shall be co-deciding on a number of award-winners. The jury for the Next Masters Competition is equally new and now made up of only one person. This year British video artist John Smith is going to decide on the ‘next master’ in Leipzig’s competition for up-and-coming film-makers. In light of the current debate regarding refugees, the new structure of the Ecumenical Jury is a noteworthy factor. For the first time it not only consists of representatives of Christian churches but has been expanded by adding one Muslim and one Jewish member to the jury.”

Filmkommentaren will report – and bring reviews – from DokLeipzig, CPH:DOX and IDFA. The latter after the end of the festivals in Leipzig and Copenhagen. IDFA takes place November 16-29.

And I am sure I have forgotten to mention other important festivals in this small line-up…

http://www.dokument-festival.com/

http://doclisboa.org/2015/en/

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/en#&panel1-1

http://cphdox.dk/

https://www.idfa.nl/industry.aspx

 

Riga International Film Festival

… starts this coming week, the 15th of October and runs for 10 days. With many interesting films to watch. Below you will find a review of ”Double Aliens” by Ugis Olte, that is on the programme that includes several documentaries. If I was there I would hurry up to get tickets for the new film of Sergei Loznitsa, ”The Event”, 74 mins., that is introduced like this: ”Leningrad 1991. TV broadcasts ”The Swan Lake”. The streets are full of anxious people. A rumour goes that a coup has taken place… the so-called August putsch will become a breaking poin in history, the beginning of drastic changes and the collapse of USSR…” No need to stress how strong Loznitsa is when he deals with archive material. I will watch the film in Leipzig.

The festival has an official competition, mostly fiction films, a section of ”auteur features” as they call them, a Latvian section, a Nordic Highlights, short films, films for children, a ”In Kino Veritas” that features what has led to what today is called hybrid films: Jean Rouch with ”Chronique d’un èté”, Cassavetes ”Faces” and (good move!) ”Golden Gloves” by Canadian Gilles Groulx.

Most interesting, however, is that the festival has given Russian director of films and the festival Artdocfest, Vitaly Mansky, space in

the programme to show 7 films that he would never get permission to show in Moscow, the city where his festival took place for years.

One of the films is Austrian Ivette Löcker’s ”When it Blinds, Open Your Eyes” that I reviewed on this site, first words: ”Zhanna, Lyosha and Maria. St. Petersburg 2013. Small apartment. Full of smoke from the cigarettes of Zhanna and Lyosha. Maria is the mother of Lyosha. She provides the two junkies with food – and love. She works, they do not – and yet, Lyosha is seen at the beginning of the film helping other drug addicts. He gets out of the appartment, Zhanna does not except for the ending of the film in a wheel chair pushed by Lyosha.”

Another one is from Abkhazia ”Domino Effect” (photo) by Polish Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski, reviewed on this site, here is text of one paragraph: ”Co-director Rosolowski is also the cameraman, who brilliantly has captured the devastated Abkhazian capital Sukhumi, the empty houses, the ruins, it looks hopeless – and it is on this background that Rafael Ampar, minister of sports, a proud patriotic man, tries to build his life with Natasha, Russian opera singer and mother of a child, who comes to visit. She has – to say the least – huge problems to adapt to a culture and the Abkhazian language, she does not understand, she argues with Rafael, wants to leave, there is no job for her, whereas her daughter seems to have good time with Rafael.”

Lots of good films and of course the Riga film buffs also get the chance to watch ”Amy”!

http://www.rigaiff.lv/2015/en/

Ugis Olte : Double Aliens

In early August Latvian producer Uldis Cekulis sent me a link to this co-production between Latvia and Georgia. The film won an award as best documentary at the BIAFF, the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival, it is in the Focus Caucasus competition at the upcoming CinéDOC Tbilisi, at the mid-length competition at the upcoming IDFA AND in the national selection at the upcoming Riga International Film Festival. Voilá!

Here follows a review, an edited version of the response I gave to Cekulis two months ago, but first the synopsis:

”Road maps are open, endless texts that may contain any number of stories, including the story of the traveler himself. A filmmaker from the north and a photographer from the south travel to a strange place. It is a land where people are worn out by their history, where time tends to freeze and every encounter is a distortion mirror that makes you look into familiar eyes.”

It is impressive for a first-time (feature duration) director, bravo. Because he dares pathos and to be solemn and personal in the very difficult essay genre!

Normally I am against music in documentaries because it is often illustrative and only serves to “fill holes”, here it is creative and adds to the (sometimes, not always) magic scenes, the mystery atmosphere, the ambition to create a spirituality, because it is a film on existential questions.

And a film about traveling to meet people and try to understand them. I am not a fan of Daro, the photographer, she is just behind her camera, she does not communicate any feelings, no charisma… oh, if there had been some more conversations/reflections between her and Ugis on travelling, on “home”, where do we belong etc. on documenting, on film and photography, just a little, now we only have the artificial conversation in the car…

Characters, love them all, of course the big man with the father, who dies and the son, who does not box any longer and his story about moving – as an Armenian – to the village being met with unwelcomingness (is that an English word?) from a Georgian.

Camerawork – superb, absolutely.

Georgian producer is Anna Dziapshipa.

Latvia/Georgia, 56 mins.

http://www.rigaiff.lv/2015/en/