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/

CPH:DOX 2015 NB /1

Når jeg læser den velskrevne pressemeddelelse om de tre gæste-programredaktører knyttet til CHP:DOX 2015, Naomi Klein / Avi Lewis og Olafur Eliasson får jeg lyst til at sætte NB i margenen. Det har jeg gjort ud for vigtige og tankevækkende og smukke steder i tekster siden min geologi- og geografilærer Mogens Walther, som lærte mig så mange fundamentale ting om den konkrete verden, også lærte mig dette: det her er et sted, og så læste han op af lærebogen, hvor I skal sætte NB i margenen. Med blyant. I pressemeddelelsen fra CHP:DOX er der to sådanne steder, to afsnit, som får mig til først at nyde formuleringerne, dernæst forhåbentlig holde dem fast og finde ud af mere om problemstillingerne og om filmene som belyser dem, skildrer dem.

”POLITISK ENGAGEMENT OG FILMKUNSTNERISK ORIGINALITET

Den canadiske journalist og forfatter Naomi Klein er den væsentligste stemme i den handlingsorienterede, moderne klimaaktivisme. Klein slog igennem med bestselleren No Logo, der samlede miljø- og antiglobaliseringsbevægelsen i en international kritik af den neoliberale verdensorden. Og som slog fast, at aktivisme ikke (kun) handler om protest, men også om at angive konstruktive, praktiske og realiserbare løsningsforslag – og at leve efter dem. Hvilket skinner igennem i det kuraterede program af hende og filminstruktøren Avi Lewis.

Her finder vi 10 dokumentarer med bud på hvordan politisk engagement, filmkunstnerisk originalitet og stærke fortællinger kan gøre en forskel. Du kan opleve filmen Intet bliver som før, der er baseret på Kleins opsigtsvækkende bog This Changes Everything, der kontroversielt hævder at klimakrisen ikke blot er vor tids absolut mest presserende udfordring. Den er samtidig den største mulighed vi nogensinde har haft for at ændre verden.”

Programmet omfatter endvidere klassikere som Hour of the Furnaces og Harlan County USA og nye filmiske banebrydere som West of the Tracks og Leviathan. Desuden The Pearl Button og aktivistiske manifester som The Corporation og The Take.

”KLIMAET I DEN ANTROPOCÆNE TIDSALDER

Det kuraterede program af Olafur Eliasson er, i lighed med kernen i Eliassons egne værker, film der tager afsæt i den fysiske verden omkring os og menneskets sansning af samme. Programmet bevæger sig igennem naturen og ser på de enorme, menneskeskabte forandringer af både klimatisk og geologisk karakter, som har givet det relativt nye begreb, Det Antropocæne så markant en relevans i såvel samtidskunsten som filosofien og geovidenskaben.

Begrebet refererer til en tidsalder, hvor den traditionelle opfattelse af naturen er under afvikling. Den antropocæne tid refererer til en periode i Jordens historie, hvor mennesket påvirker omgivelserne i sådan en grad, at naturen ikke længere findes i ”naturlig” tilstand.

Det er denne nye tid, som filmene særligt bevæger sig igennem – det er film, der kalder på nærvær, sansning og engagement, men det er også film med et underliggende kritisk perspektiv på menneskets indflydelse på klodens landskaber, både de naturlige og kunstige. Filmene bevæger sig langt fra dogmatiske dagsordner, men tilbyder i stedet et frirum til refleksion og inspirerer til, at man som tilskuer træder i karakter og sætter sig selv i spil.” (Katrine Ravndal, CPH:DOX)

Programmet omfatter værker af Werner Herzog, Claire Denis, Zhao Liang, James Benning, Anouk de Clercq, Pierre Huyghe og Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

CPH:DOX 2015 / 5. – 15. november

Den fulde oversigt over programmerne Klein/Lewis og Eliasson har redigeret kan ses fra 16. oktober på www.cphdox.dk hvor også billetsalget starter.

The website includes an English version of the text about the guest curators:

POLITICAL COMMITMENT AND ARTISTIC ORIGINALITY

“The Canadian journalist and author Naomi Klein is a leading voice of modern action-oriented activism. Klein became known for her bestselling book No Logo that linked the environmental and anti-globalisation movements in a criticism of the neoliberal world order. She stated that activism is not (only) about protest, but also about providing constructive, practical and feasible solutions – and living by them. This sentiment shines through the programme curated by Naomi and the film director Avi Lewis.

The programme will consist of 10 documentaries with suggestions on how political commitment, artistic originality and strong narratives can make a difference. During the festival you will be able to experience the film This Changes Everything, based on Klein’s sensational book of the same name, which raises a controversial claim that the climate crisis is not only the most urgent challenge of our time, but also the biggest opportunity we ever have to change the world.

In the programme you will also find classics of documentary cinema such as Hour of the Furnaces and Harlan County USA and the cinematic and innovative West of the Tracks and Leviathan, the Berlinale winner The Pearl Button and activist manifestos The Corporation and The Take.

THE CLIMATE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE EPOCH

The programme curated by Olafur Eliasson, close to the core of Eliasson’s own work, consists of films that are based on the physical world around us and the human perception of it. The programme moves through nature and examines the important man-made changes of both climatic and geological character that have given the relatively novel concept of Anthropocene a marked relevance in contemporary art as well as philosophy and geoscience. The concept indicates an age where traditional views of nature are phasing out. The Anthropocene epoch refers to a period in the history of the Earth, when humans influence the environment to such an extent that nature is no longer in its “natural” state. It is this new era that the films explore in particularity – films that call for presence, sensory perception and commitment, but also films that underlie the critical perspective of the human influence on the planet’s landscapes, both natural and artificial. The films are moving far from dogmatic agendas, but instead offering a space for reflection and inspiration to man whom as the spectator gets into character and joins the game.

The programme is rich in visionary and innovative works by artists and filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Claire Denis, Zhao Lang, James Benning, Anouk de Clercq, Pierre Huyghe and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.” (Katrine Ravndal)

http://cphdox.dk/en

CinéDOC Tbilisi 2015

 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/

Chantal Akerman: La chambre

I går var der to facebookopdateringer og igen i dag en fra en følsom og klog filmproducent jeg ad den vej kender og følger, opdateringer vedrørende Chantal Akerman som døde i forgårs og om hendes arbejder. To nekrologer og et link til hendes film La chambre fra 1972.

Det er hendes første film efter hun har forladt filmskolen i Belgien og er flyttet til New York. Hun er 22 år. Det er et studium i filmscenens væsen. Én eneste optagelse, en panorering langsomt dvælende cirkelformet i værelset først den ene vej så den anden vej til sidst i kortere ruter frem og tilbage til en medvirkende formodentlig hende selv som ligger i en seng og spiser af et æble.

Filmen La chambre viser mig en scene som ikke er en historie, ikke er en del af en historie, ikke er en anekdote, der er ingen pointe, blot en naturlig afslutning. Den filmscene er en skildring af et værelse, et bestemt værelse, ikke et værelse som sådan, men det her værelse, netop som filmens præcise titel siger.

SYNOPSIS

In a 360° circular panoramic shot the camera slowly pans an entire apartment (or house). When it first passes the bedroom there is nobody there but each time it shows the room again Chantal Akerman is sitting on the bed, motionless first, then busy doing something (peeling an orange, eating an orange, etc.). When she is last seen she yawns and lies down on her bed. The camera continues panning but after 10 minutes and 21 seconds the film comes to an end and she can’t be seen asleep. (IMDb / by Guy Bellinger)

USA, 1972. 12 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AGakyb3eBU

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/postscript-chantal-akerman?intcid=mod-latest&mbid=social_facebook

Message2Man Awards and Results

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/