It starts October 21st and runs until the 25th – the documentary film festival in the Georgian capital. A quote from the website of the festival:

”After a long and difficult selection process, we are very happy to unveil the program of CinéDOC-Tbilisi 2015! We have received hundreds of interesting documentary films from all over the world. Our program department has watched all of them and carefully selected those films which will be presented in the five sections of the festival: International Competition, Focus Caucasus Competition, CinéDOC Young, Guest Country: Israel, and Women in Frame.”

Headed by Archil Khetagouri and Ileana Stanculescu, it is no surprise that the festival has a high quality in selection with Karolina Bielawska’s ”Call Me Marianna”. Giedre Zickyte’s ”The Master and Tatyana” (photo) and ”Twilight of a Life” by Sylvain Biegeleisen as just three of the 10 films in the international competition. The latter is the opening film, brilliant choice of the Belgian/Israeli film and also an introduction to Israel being the Guest Country in the programme of the three year old festival.

In the Focus Caucasus competition you find ”Double Aliens” by Latvian Ugis Olte, produced by Uldis Cekulis, a film that won first documentary prize at the festival in Batumi recently – and ”Be My Brother” by Olga Maurina – and ”Strange Particles” by Denis Klebleev.

Of course the festival has a section called CinéDOC Young, and a ”Women in Frame” with strong titles as ”A Separation” by Karin Ekberg, ”Belleville Baby” by Mia Engberg and ”Dreamcatcher” by Kim Longinotto.

Master Audrius Stonys from Lithuania has his ”Gates of the Lamb”, just awarded in Vilnius, shown in ”Special Screenings”.

Enjoy the festival, dear friends – and the khatchapuri, the khinkali and the chacha, writes a man who twice visited a wonderful Georgian restaurant in St. Petersburg last week!

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

The English version of the M2M in St.Petersburg awards and statistics was published today on the website of the festival. I have taken some clips from the long text, the whole press release you can find clicking the link below:

”At the closing ceremony, the festival juries announced the winners, the director of the festival presented overall results of this year’s Message to Man and set goals for the future. For the first time in festival’s history, the opening ceremony of Message to Man was held on Palace square. The grand celebration was attended by more than 20,000 people. Many Russian and international film stars took part in the 25th festival. Among the jury members and special guests of Message to Man were Nastassja Kinski, Brilliant Mendoza, Jean Roy, Mikhail Iampolski, Vladimir Posner, Rudolf Thome, Velimir ilnik, Alice Rohrwacher and 45 other guests from 22 different countries… Altogether more than 30,000 people attended the festival’s events between September, 26th and October, 2nd…

And the prizes that were given to documentary films:

The Danya Gurevich Prize went to the Director of Photography of THE CONVERSATION Pavel Skvortsov. The prize was presented by Ludmila, Gurevich family friend.

The Viktor Astafiyev Prize went to EDGES OF MEMORY by Anton Moiseenko. The prize was presented by the daughter of the writer Viktor Astafiyev Anastasia Astafieva.

The Pavel Kogan Prize went to IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS by Dmitry Sidorov and Svetlana Demidova. The prize was presented by the President of Pavel and Lyalya Fund Ludmila Stanukinas. 

The Bellona foundation Special Prize went to SEE NO EVIL by Jos de Putter (Netherlands, Belgium).

The St. Petersburg Labour Union Federation Special Prize for best documentary film about the working man (RUR 100,000) was awarded to SIBERIAN FLOATING HOSPITAL by Tatiana Sobolewa (Russia).

Message to Man Honorary President’s Prize went to VARICELLA, short documentary film by Viktor Kosakovsky (Russia). The prize was presented by the Honorary President of Message to Man director Mikhail Litvyakov.

The Student Jury Prize was awarded to THE OTHER SIDE by Roberto Minervini (France, Italy).

The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize went to ABOVE AND BELOW by Nicolas Steiner (Sweden, Germany, Unites States).

The Russian Press Jury Prize was awarded to CALL ME MARIANNA by Karolina Bielawska (Poland).

Diploma of the National Competition “For breaking stereotypes” was awarded to IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS by Dmitry Sidorov and Svetlana Demidova (Russia).

Centaur Prize and RUR 20,000 for best debut film in the National Competition went to YAMAHA by Inna Omelchenko.

Centaur Prize and RUR 30,000 for best short documentary film in the National Competition went to YAMAHA by Inna Omelchenko.

Centaur Prize and RUR 30,000 for best full-length documentary film in the National Competition went to CEREMONY by Elena Laskari.

Special Prize of the International Jury was awarded to FREE BULLET by Caroline Detournay and Paulina Pisarev.

Centaur Prize and USD 1,000 for best debut was awarded to THE SHEPHERD’S SONG by Vahram Mkhitaryan (Poland, Armenia).

Centaur Prize and USD 1,000 for best short documentary film was awarded to IF MAMA AIN’T HAPPY, NOBODY’S HAPPY by Mea Dols de Jong (the Netherlands).

Golden Centaur Grand Prix and USD 5,000 for best film was awarded to CALL ME MARIANNA by Karolina Bielawska (Poland).

http://www.message2man.com/en/news/6308-message-to-man-2015-winners-and-results/

One film festival follows the other and the months of October and November is high season. Tonight the veteran Astra Film Festival in Sibiu Romania starts and runs for 7 days with an exciting programme that is both looking back and reflects what goes on in documentary filmmaking of today.

For the looking back enthusiasts, the film historical interested, there is a series called ”NeoRealism and New Realisms” with films by Visconti (La Terra Trema, of course) and de Sica as well as ”The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” by Romanian Cristi Puiu and Portuguese Teresa Villaverde’s ”Os Mutantes”, to mention a few titles.

The festival has four competitive programmes: International, CE (Central and Eastern Europe) Europe, Romania, Student – all together 48 films. In the international section of 10 films you find ”I am the People” by French Anna Rousillon – it has this description:

“January 2011 in Egypt was marked by anti-government demonstrations. While tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo, poor villagers in the country’s south followed the tense situation on Tahrir Square on their TV screens and in the daily newspapers. It is from their perspective that this documentary captures the political changes in Egypt, from the toppling of President Mubarak to the election and fall of Mohamed Morsi. The film reveals the villagers’ hopes and disappointments, and shows that despite the wild events, very little has actually changed in their lives, Anna Roussillon’s interviewees fretting more about their irrigation systems and pregnant wives than ideological struggles and political emancipation.”

And of course Oppenheimer’s “The Look of Silence” is there, as Nanau’s “Toto and his Sisters” is in the CE Europe category as is Tina Gudac’s Croatian “Naked Island” (PHOTO).

Take a look at the website and notice the many interesting side programmes, there is a lot of thought behind this programme.

http://astrafilm.ro/astra-film-festival-2015-starts-on-monday.aspx?theme=1

A non-urban selection, indeed. Most of the films in the national competition took place outside the big cities. And very often in Siberia. Films about people and culture, clashes between indigenous people and the so-called civilisation like in ”The Land Where Mammoths Slumber” (Eva Belova), that is an informative documentation about the Nenets culture, where the reindeers have almost disappeared, but where they still have their ”chums”, tents, now often with tv and internet. A man with a foot in both cultures is the one conveying the dilemmas they face, another one is an artist, a charismatic man, who claims that bureaucrats are the worst enemies for the nenets, ”human rats”! The film stays on the informative level far from the artistic ambition that we have seen from the hands of Estonian Mark Soosaar.

I am afraid that I don’t have many fine words for another film far away from big cities – ”Kamchatka – the Cure for Hatred” (Yulia Mironova) that follows a war correspondent, who takes refuge in this far east island filming himself and his spouse, they get a child, she returns to Moscow, he stays and one year later he is back in war in Syria! I don’t see or hear reflections on the traumas he is to have brought from the Chechen war. The title remains a postulate.

Talking about war – ”Edges of Memory” (Anton Moiseenko) is a film with

talking faces, war veterans, who remembers, personalities, who are good to watch and listen to, an absolutely non-heroic story, and yet why does the director include a young, mostly smiling soldier of today, who says nothing but pops up once in a while… is it to say that this is what is waiting for you? A forced element into the narrative, I think.

Also disappointing for me – more so as I am a big fan of what Marina Razbezhkina and her film school is doing – was ”Yamaha” (Inna Omelchenko) about the young man who can not find a place to perform his passion, because he is making noise with his yamaha… the film lacks energy, I find it flat, sorry. A pity as my first note on the paper was: Finally a film about young people!

AND NOW TO THE ONES I LIKED…

First of all Tatyana Soboleva’s ”Siberian Floating Hospital” (PHOTO) that I first met at the Baltic Sea Forum in Riga 2011 and that I now saw on the big screen that ”liked” the beauty of the images, the warm and respectful approach to the characters on the ship, these fine women, first of all, who are away from home for six months to travel to remote areas to offer the locals medical assistance. Soboleva has filmed for years, you can see that – time is quality.

But also ”In Search of Happiness” by Dmitry Sidorov and Svetlana Demidova about the couple, who ”left the big city in search of peace, solitude, and freedom” – almost 30 years ago. They have bees, goats – who have names – and themselves, and a son, Ilya, and that is where the trouble begins. Ilya takes beautiful photos, he helps on the farm, but he also has a girl friend, with whom he skypes and with whom he would like to live, much to the disappointment of especially the mother, who thinks that Katya, the girl in question, should just give up her ideas about studying and come and live with them. There is a great scene, where the three of them argue about this theme; it’s not difficult to have sympathy for the grown-up young man, who has no future with mum and dad in this far-away dream of their’s. Producer Viktor Skubey told me that the budget they had allowed for two weeks of shooting and three weeks of editing. On that background, a very fine result it is for a 70 minutes long film.

And Olga Maurina succeeded to create atmosphere and catch situations in ”Sons” about boys, orphans, in a foster family. There is a fine observed intimacy in the scenes and she dares to have long scenes where nothing happens – contrary to the wonderful symbolic scenes, where the new boy Igoryek learns – by himself – to bike. Touching and funny at the same time. 40 minutes long, fine for a documentary like that.

Form, think about form, how do you want to convey your theme as a film – Elena Laskari has done so with her ”Ceremony”, in stylistical terms the only original film (56 mins.) in the Russian competition at the Message2Man 2015. Boris Borisovich, the boss of the posh crematorium is the character of the film, the one who calls the funeral ceremony a theatre play, where you have to create a scenario of your own leaving this earth. And the director follows him superbly in this point of view. The film is staged as the procedures are, the clothes to wear by the performers of the ceremony intercut with small episodes where the relatives have to confirm that the name on the urn with the ashes is the right one. Some take the urn to have the ashes spread somewhere. There is also a sequence where you can test how it is to lie in a coffin and be lowered down in the ground! – And the question is put: Do you want to be beautiful in the coffin? You can of course have a pre-paid contract set up, the music to be chosen, the text to be read, all it tested, also in new uniforms. ”When children die”… is there as well in a film that is fascinating to watch, a theatre performance indeed at a special, rich place in Russia.

http://www.message2man.com/en/

I came to M2M for Russian documentaries and have so far been watching 16 of the 23 in the ”National Competition of Documentary Films” in the Velikan cinema number 4 – good seats, almost full house for all screenings. With people walking in and out of the cinema, some even come for the last five minutes (!), quite disturbing, writes a grumpy man, who thinks respect for the filmmakers and their works is important. Do your zapping from one channel to the other at home in front of the television set. Not in the cinema, please!

The selection of films this year, one more reason to be grumpy, sorry, is pretty weak. Does this really qualify for a national competition I have asked myself several times. Is this an image of the general quality of Russian documentaries today? Or do other festival in Russia take the best?

The selectors show it already – a quote from the catalogue: The topics of the films vary widely, but of course include some of the favorite themes of Russian documentaries: village elders and city eccentrics, simple Russian workers and lonely philosophers, parents and children, children and school, a bit of politics, a bit of war…The National Competition always tries to embrace as many sides of our daily life as possible and show what surrounds us, whether hidden or obvious…

Themes are mentioned but no artistic criteria, for obvious reasons, as most of

the films I have seen are quite ordinary in narrative terms with bad editing and medium quality cinematography. I asked some Russian filmmakers why editing seems to be such a problem in Russian documentaries. The answer was that there are no teaching in editing and that the directors want to do the editing themselves: ”Keep your fingers away from my work”.

Yesterday at a lecture at the university I mentioned that 20 years ago – at the Balticum Film & TV Festival on Bornholm in Denmark – the filmmakers from Russia and the Baltic states said that an editor in their world was one with technical skills, not necessarily one with a creative function. A filmmakers at the university confirmed that this is still the case! At the university I also asked the 200 students, what they were aiming for. Most of them raised their hand for fiction films, 10-15 for documentary, and ONE wanted to become a producer. Yes, producers, how many are there in Russia or should I ask, how is the profession considered? Several have said to me ”a producer’s job is to bring money to the table”, they listen with respect, when I say ”… and to be the partner of the director, to be constructive and critical, to be involved”.

The films in this first report, that is the one with critical remarks, as I will get back in the second one to the few titles that have quality: ”The Conversation” (Anastasia Novikova) (PHOTO), short film school film about lonely man with mobile phone trying to get in contact with his wife in the hospital, nice but could have been shorter than the 22 mins. it is. ”Swimmers” (Kristina Paustian), different stylistical elements, a narrative mess, psychedelic, super-pretentious. ”Rebalda” (Elena Otrepieva), a visit to Solovki, where camps have been and people with criminal records still live, interesting it could have been, but the editing destroys it all. As does the bombastic music. ”The Countryman” (Anastasia Zverkova), black man in Irkutsk, tram driver and weather man on tv, he is sympathetic, the duration of 15 mins, is sympathetic, no big objections but at a National Competition, the best of the best… ”Grumant. Island of Communism” (Ivan Tverdovsky) (54 mins.), I might not have understood it totally, this film from Svalbard, made in an old-fashioned propaganda style, history and today, confusing…”Everyday Life of an Usual Peasant” (Ekaterina Dorofeeva) is sweet, as the protagonist is sweet. She lives half of the year alone in nature with her animals, the other half husband and son are there to help her with tourism. But again, sorry, poor story building, could have been so much better. As could ”Maria’s Home” (Alexei Lagerev), a sympathetic visit to a place for disabled, you can only have sympathy with the project and the people but as a film, maybe fine as a tv-documentary, will have an audience. ”Way to Charon” (Yury Manusov) is an insult to the audience, close-ups of dead Ukrainian soldiers being picked up by Russian soldiers, 10 minutes of disgusting reportage material wrapped in some philosophical comments in the beginning and end. Finally, ”Tsurtsula” (Alexei Nikolayev) has indeed production value but I don’t get why the director want us to be interested in going with him to Mongolia to a deserted Soviet military camp, where Mongolian soldier are based now. A nostalgic trip for the director, but what does he want to say? What is the message to Man?

I read that the three men jury consists of one film critic and two philosophers, interesting to know what they can take from the selection!

http://www.message2man.com/en/