Ukranian Docu/Space

The photo is by Ukranian photographer and filmmaker Alexander Glyadyelov, whose exhibition was arranged during the 2015 DocuDays UA festival in Kiev. About him is made a 6 mins. short documentary with interview and examples from his work. Title “You see, My Brother”, the title of the exhibition as well.

The film is part of an “Online Cinema House which presents documentary films on human rights in Ukraine.” Let me quote some interesting words about the photographer, who also sees “war and maidan as events of the same patterns:

”Glyadyelov still makes films the way they made films half a century ago. He shoots his films in black-and-white and uses analog video cameras with manual focus, a mechanical shutter system and no burst mode. It seems as if these details are strictly technical, but it makes his works conceptually different from the stream of images we see every day. It is almost impossible to film like that in the middle of a fight. That is why the cameraman has to scan what is going on during pauses. In other words, he films not death, but life. Then he develops his films and makes photographic prints manually; that takes time. You cannot shoot news broadcasts this way – that’s why the cameraman has to gaze at non-transitory things.”

Back to the Docu/Space that includes two handful of films, many of them with English subtitles. The unstoppable team behind the festival launches the site and it gives you a good chance to see behind the news and get portraits of people, who fight for change:

“It is the first online cinema house in Ukraine, which presents documentary films on human rights. All the movies are about Ukrainians and filmed in Ukraine with the support of different NGOs in association with International Documentary Human Rights Film Festival Docudays UA. The characters are ordinary people who try to change the life in their country for the better. They go towards their aim insistently overcoming the external difficulties… Characters of the movies are united by pursuing justice, making good causes and acknowledging that the state starts from people…” 

Director and cameraman Roman Bondarchuk made the short documentary about the photographer and also “Roma Dream” that has been reviewed on this site before. And has been behind the realization of the project in general. Another film one I saw, “Peace”, 19 mins. long, made by Sergey Lysenko, gives a portrait of a patriot, whose answer to the question what he would ask Putin about if he met him was: “Nothing, I would do…”. Pause. “I would kill him”. Mir (Myroslav) – quoting from the DocuSpace site “has established a volunteer foundation in Kiev… and every other week he brings to the Anti-Terrorist operation zone food, uniforms, night vision googles, and other goods needed by the military. Between his trips he is a professional actor and acting teacher, director of dance numbers at SBT TV-channel on the project “So you think You can Dance”. Interesting, charismatic and you don’t always have to like characters in a film…

In other words: DocuSpace to be recommended.

http://myr.docuspace.org/eng/

Alina Rudnitskaya Interview

”Gateway to East European Documentaries” – that’s what the IDF (Institute of Documentary Film) calls its website DokWeb that I check out pretty often because of its information and articles, like the one by Filip Sebek, who has interviewed Russian director Alina Rudnitskaya, whose fine film ”Blood”, that has been awarded here there and everywhere, is to be screened in Prague later this month and is included in the Kinedok screenings ” so it is also possible to see it at non-traditional venues during the whole year within this project organized by Institute of Documentary Film.”

Alina Rudnitskaya talks about the conditions for documentary filmmaking in Russia as they are today, about the big audience that wants to watch documentaries, the insufficent support from the state and her inspiration, here is a quote:

”I was influenced by Czech cinematography of the 60s and 70s, because I am a fan of black and white movies. I like the ironical films by Miloš Forman as well as the bitter tragicomic films by Jiří Menzel and the paradoxical women’s world in the films by Věra Chytilová. Tragicomedy is my favourite genre. Laugh through tears. Life is very paradoxical, not only black or white.  Everything has its own contrast: birth – death, love – hate. People are multilayered personalities. I look for the inner collisions and such situations in which people react in various manners.  They cooperate and sometimes contradict and get in conflicts with each other. And one more aspect – I live in Russia where the situation often changes 180 degrees: yesterday one kind of values was acclaimed and today the values are quite different. And if you don’t have a good sense of humor you can get depressed.  We live in spite of it.  And I try to catch it in my films.”

Read the whole interview on:

http://www.dokweb.net/en/?

ALINA RUDNITSKAYA ON FILMKOMMENTAREN:

Blood (2014), Victory Day (2015), I will forget this day (2011) , Bitch Academy (2008), Besame mucho (2006), Civil Status (2005), Communal Residence (2002)

Torben Skjødt Jensen: It’s a Blue World

Når jeg skal nærme mig en forståelse af den her smukke film hjælper, det mig at notere for mig selv, at den ikke er en biografi over maleren Hans Henrik Lerfeldt, at den ikke er et portræt af Lerfeldt, men  at den er et biografisk essay med udgangspunkt i Lerfeldts værk og liv. Så får jeg lidt styr på de voldsomme og mærkværdige ting, jeg udsættes for.

Jeg får grundlæggende en beretning om Lerfeldts to liv, som aktiv maler og med kunstnervenner som Christian Kampmann og Wilhelm Freddie og så det sene liv som ensom misbruger i lejligheden, hvorfra han ikke kan flytte sig. Det sidste udgør det meste af filmens tid, filmens centrale nu, og det vil vist nærmest sige hans sidste år ved arbejdsbordet foran pladesamlingen. Og jeg får i erindringen to tidligere liv, et som vanartet barn og et som rejsende. Endelig får jeg en skildring af to indre liv, et i malerierne og et i Chet Bakers musik, det første som store udstillingsbilleder, det sidste som præcise, men lige så gribende skitser. Det er det biografiske stof.

Så er der essayet: Torben Skjødt Jensens besøg hos Lerfeldt, hans venskab med og kollegiale forhold til maleren i kunstens erkendelse. Det begynder med arbejdet med en storslået genskabelse af en række af Lerfeldts malerier som filmtableauer. Det er Skjødt Jensens optagethed og udforskning af det erotiske, det er ikke Lerfeldts, for han er færdig med det, afklaret, han har afleveret. Torben Skjødt Jensens ærinde er egentlig ikke fomidling af Lerfeldts værk, han både vil og gennemfører i stedet aldeles målrettet som i mange tidligere film sit eget essays undersøgelse.

I denne filmiske tekst har han med observerende kamera indbygget en rolig skildring af sit årelange samvær og venskab med og kollegiale forhold til Lerfeldt i det fælles arbejde. De mange lange optagelser med med maleren i sin stol er vigtige, de er klippet til langvarige blokke af tilstedeværelse og samtale, for jeg skal lære at lytte til ham, værdsætte ham, og det er lærerigt, og det er Skjøt Jensens dokumentariske metode. Jeg tror det er inde i dette kammerspil med dets replikker, gestikker og skanderinger, jeg har chancen for at finde filmværkets kerne af ny indsigt i og ny forståelse for det udsatte livs kunstneriske formulering, i Lerfeldts billeder først, i Skjødt Jensens filmiske gendigtninger næst efter, endelig ved det biografiske lag af arkivstof, erindringer og reportage. Dette komplicerede værk er som altid for mig at se, i sådanne forehavender som lykkes, tekst ved tekst, værk ved værk. Kongeniale. Jeg tror jeg med denne nye version af It’s a Blue World nærmer mig en forståelse af Torben Skjødt Jensens samlede filmværk, af hans mange film. De er ofte fine biografier, fascinerende reportager, elegante montager, men der er mere end det…

Danmark 1990, 69 min. / 2015, 110 min. (Den nye version blev sendt på DR K for nogen tid siden. Skjødt Jensen gør i en smuk prolog rede for projektets lange historie. Den nye version indeholder revisioner på grundlag af  arkivmateriale købt af Lerfeldts arvinger herunder først og fremmest båndene fra samtalerne med Christian Kampmann. Det var der jeg så den. Jeg ved ikke, om den er i en distribution nu. Versionen fra 1990 kan streames på filmstriben.dk)

SYNOPSIS

The film »It’s a Blue World« is the result of more than two years of work. It is not a portrait of the Danish painter Hans Henrik Lerfeldt, but a film about his artistic universe. Hans Henrik Lerfeldt who died in July 1989 when the production of IT’S A BLUE WORLD was almost completed, reached international fame by the late seventies. At this point of his life he had refined his style to an almost photographic accuracy combined with a choice of motifs that were often of a pornographic nature. This made his art – as well as his person – rather controversial. Director Torben Skjødt Jensen worked intimately with Hans Henrik Lerfeldt to make the film and in accordance with Lerfeldt’s wishes. The controversial nature of his work has not been toned down or made respectable. Their collaboration resulted in hours of recorded conversations and glimpses of Lerfeldt’s daily life, some of which have been integrated into the film. Others have been the basis for fictional sequences. Together with adaptations of Lerfeldt’s paintings they form a picture of Hans Henrik Lerfeldt’s blue world. (dfi.dk)

Danmark 1990, 69 min. / 2015, 110 min. 

CREDITS

Se den komplette liste på dfi.dk/faktaomfilm

FILMOGRAFI

Til nu har vi her på siden kun skrevet om disse Torben Skjødt Jensen film: City Slang Redux (2011), Manifest 2083 (2013), Krøyers yderste nat (2014), All my Dreams Come True (2014), Heidi (2014) Eksil (2014). Men der er jo mange flere, se for eksempel DFI’s liste på faktasiden om instruktøren. 

LITTERATUR / LINKS

Maria Marcus: Drømmen og destruktionen (Der Traum und die Destruktion) i katalog til udstillingen Hans Henrik Lerfeldt-erotisk symbolisme i Danmark (- erotischer Symbolismus in Dänemark, Sønderjyllands Kunstmuseum, Tønder 1985.

http://dk.timefor.tv/i/101541429839000-dokland-its-a-blue-world-henrik-lerfeldt (DR K program)

http://www.filmstriben.dk/fjernleje/film/details.aspx?filmid=9000000431 (Streaming af 1990 versionenpå filmstriben.dk)

Laurits Munch-Petersen: Skyggen af en helt

Historien om digteren og maleren Gustaf Munch-Petersen (GM-P) er velkendt, i hvert fald blandt læsende mennesker i min generation. 26 år gammel forlod han sit hjem og sin gravide kone i Gudhjem for at drage til Spanien, som frivillig i kampen mod Franco. Han kom aldrig tilbage.

Barnebarnet Laurits har nu lavet en film, hvor han rejser til Spanien for at finde ud, hvor morfaren kæmpede og faldt. Og til Bornholm for at finde ud af, hvem han var. Hverken han – Laurits – eller Ursula – GM-P’s datter som han aldrig så – har haft kontakt med enken Lisbeth, som stadig bor i Gudhjem i huset, som hendes mand forlod en morgen i slutningen af 1930’erne.

Laurits Munch-Petersen opsøger Lisbeth, som tøvende lukker ham ind og tilsvarende tøvende til sidst giver barnebarnet svar på nogle af hans spørgsmål om GM-P.

Parallelt dermed, og som ramme om hele historien, ses Laurits Munch-Petersen i samtale med en englænder på en bar i Spanien. Englænderen lever af at hjælpe familier med at finde ud af, hvor deres kære kæmpede og faldt.

Det lyder på papir som en spændende historie… men øv øv, trods store forventninger og sympati for filmens ærinde: Det er en kikser, som hopper ind og ud af alle tangenter, med scener som ikke får lov at stå så de får en følelsesmæssig effekt, det hele er smurt ind i musik fra ende til anden, klip fra surrealistiske film virker påklistrede, hvor de kunne have bragt mystik og poesi ind i fortællingen, og kunne der ikke have været en bedre måde at få Ole Sohn og andre til at placere GM-P som den fremragende kunstner han nåede at blive?

Oveni den allerede komplicerede fortællestruktur lægges at Laurits Munch-Petersen forlader sin gravide kone – som morfaren gjorde det – for at møde sin mormor – senere er han hjemme og til stede ved fødslen. OMG!

De bedste (iscenesatte) scener falder mod slutningen af filmen, optaget i Gudhjem nede ved klipperne, hvor mormor Lisbeth bader hver morgen, og i fuld fart i bil op ad hovedgadens bakke til købmanden… og i værelset hvor Laurits får mormor til at tage en lille æske frem med få af Gustafs ting, bl.a. hans fyldepen. Men mange af disse sceners intensitet bliver ødelagt af det ufølsomme klip.

En familiehistorie som aldrig får lov at folde sig ud, som mangler ro og flow og et fortællemæssigt fokus. Ærgerligt.

Danmark, 2015, 90 mins.

Filmen får premiere den 3. Juni i biografer landet over via DoxBio.

DocsBarcelona 2015 The Winners

It was a proud festival director Joan Gonzalez, who welcomed the audience to the final evening of the DocsBarcelona 2015 with the screening of Ivan Gergolet’s fine film about the 93 year old Maria Fux, ”Dancing With Maria”, followed by the award ceremony. He could mention that the audience attendance had grown with 17% from last year – ”more than 6000 viewers have enjoyed more than 40 documentaries…” – that the industry section had more than 600 guests introducing a speed meeting pitch format, where 40 projects had an average of 15 meetings scheduled. 15 minutes per meeting. Plus information meetings like ”what am I looking for” and Latin Pitch and rough cut screenings. I am sure I have forgotten something.

Anyway ”Tea Time” by Chilean Maite Alberdi got the TV3 Award for the best documentary while Joshua Oppenheimer’s ”The Look of Silence” took a speciel mention AND the Audience Award AND the Amnesty International Award! Again Signe Byrge Sørensen from Danish company Final Cut for Real played a main role at the Catalan festival, as she did two years ago with ”The Act of Killing”. By the way – the Spanish title of the film is beautiful, ”La Mirada del Silencio”.

The new talent Award went to local ”Game Over” by Alba Sotorra and the Docs & Teens Award to ”Mirant Amunt” (Glance Up) by Oriol Martinez and Enric Ribes.

The whole list, please consult:  

http://stat3.infoserv.dk/cgi-bin/awstats.pl?config=www.filmkommentaren.dk

DocsBarcelona Books Wine Alentejo Messi

A very special day at the festival! First step was a visit to the fabulous Libreria Altaïr where ”el vermut de los sábados” this weekend was dedicated to a conversation with the DocsBarcelona directors of ”The Final Stretch” (Oscar Perez), ”Bikes vs. Cars” (Fredrik Gertten), ”Beaverland” (Nicolas Molina & Antonio Luco) and ”Alentejo, Alentejo” (Sergio Tréfaut), followed by an informal drink at a place full of books with a nice small café connected. Altaïr is also an online travel magazine published six times per year.

Next stop was another one of festival director Joan Gonzalez (photo) crazy ideas: Why not combine ”Docs & Wine”, the title of a rendez-vous in a restaurant, where clips from five films were shown to be matched with the tasting of five different wines – what wine would be the best for that wine etc. Joyful event, indeed. The warm and sweet film ”Tea Time” goes with a Moscatell from Catalunya del Nord, right?

And then the most moving moment so far in a festival that has several full houses – this time for the film of Sergio Tréfaut ”Alentejo, Alentejo” that I wrote about in August 2014, a quote: …wonderful emotional journey into the history of ”cante”, its roots, its connection to the farming and cooking culture (you see how a bread soup is made, and how bread is baked and red wine is enjoyed) you are invited to enjoy the ”cante” singing by primarily male choirs constituted by Men with furrowed faces and well-fed stomachs, who make the most beautiful performances…

When the end credits of the film were running a local Catalan choir in white shirts went down to sing in front of the screen and director Tréfaut, who knew nothing. Several people in the audience stood up and joined the singing of revolutionary songs including the word ”companeros”. Yes, an initiative like this belongs to the celebration of documentary Cinema and in this case Sergio Tréfaut and his marvellous work!

Final step of an eventful day in a Barcelona city that was full of Basque football fans with red and white shirts and berets. It was said that 60.000 came to support the Athletic Bilbao playing against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou. I watched the match at the home of Jordi Ambros, commissioning editor of TV3 Catalanya and a football connaisseur – and up we got three times to hug and celebrate the 3-1 to Barca with a goal from Messi to 1-0 that will go into football history. The match between the two clubs from Catalunya and the Basque country was equally a political manifestion. With the king Felipe at the stadium – the match was the final of Copa del Rey (The King’s Cup) – the supporters booed when the Spanish anthem was played with all the players lined up stone-faced and – as always on Camp Nou – you could hear the shouting of ”independencia” at the 17th minute of the match. The Spanish government in Madrid has already formulated a formal complaint letter to the Catalan government for the disrespect demonstrated. ”We will get our independance”, said Jordi Ambros to me on the way down to get a taxi after a memorable evening with him and his wife in the Gracia district.

www.docsbarcelona.com

 

 

DOKer Moscow Int. Documentary Film Festival/ 3

It was a happy producer, Signe Byrge Sørensen, who checked messages on her i-phone here in Barcelona to find out that Chilean/German Estephan Wagner’s beautiful documentary ”Last Dreams”, produced by Final Cut for Real, had got the Audience Award at the new DOKer festival in Moscow, a festival that attracted a big audience. This will hopefully mean that the film will travel to many other festivals and be picked up by tv stations. Here is the content description of ”Last Dreams”:

Last Dreams confronts us with the probably most engrained taboo in our society: dying. An intimate and delicate exploration of the last months of the lives, loves and regrets of three women, from the moment they arrive at a hospice until they draw their last breath.

The film intimately follows 3 women during their last month of life, from the moment they arrive at their hospice until they are gone. Through them we explore what it really means to get to the end of life in our culture; we are with them when they deal with the most important remaining issues in their life; we are present when they find words to say ‘Sorry’ or ‘I love you’.

http://www.midff.com/#!last-dreams/c2yd  

DocsBarcelona Danish Dynamite…

All right, a Dane writes about Danes, forgive me please – the photo is taken inside La Pedrera, one of Gaudi’s masterpieces in Barcelona where Signe Byrge Sørensen friday night held her masterclass giving around 40 people a personal insight to how she came to film from a strong political engagement and studies of life conditions in the developing countries. She showed clips from films shot in Africa, from the huge impressive work she co-directed with Danish master editor Janus Billeskov Jansen about disappearing languages of the world and from the two masterpieces “The Act of Killing” and “The Look of Silence”, that later the same evening was shown at the festival with a Q&A session that ended after midnight. Only natural that one of the filmmakers present called Signe Byrge Sørensen a super-woman!

… and the two gentlemen on the photo, producer Mikkel Stolt to the left and director Jens Loftager were at the speed pitch meetings with what is going to be the third film in a trilogy that started with “Words” followed by “War” – and now “Faith”. The film project was chosen to be presented at the prestigious East European Forum in Prague next year in March.

To the right Martina Rogers, the young woman who stood behind all the industry activities at DocsBarcelona, indeed one more superwoman!

http://www.fenrisfilm.dk/news.html

www.docsbarcelona.com

 

DocsBarcelona Presents a Hero

He came into the cinema after the screening, the audience stood up and gave him a standing ovation after they had seen German Marcus Vetter’s portrait of him, ”The Forecaster”, alias Martin Armstrong or Marty as they call him in the film and as the audience called him at the 35 minutes long Question and Answer session in the Aribau Club cinema thursday night at DocsBarcelona.

”I am happy you are alive” was the first remark from a spectator among the around 100 people attending the screening, the first of two for a film that demonstrates a very fine cinematography and skills to tell the story about a man, who sat in jail for 12 years because of his fight against the bankers, to put it in a simple way. Another comment from a spectator: ”You are a hero, and I mean it!”. Marty did not act as a hero in the cinema, his appearance was that of a modest man, a fighter and now a man wanted by everyone to talk and advice. A couple of spectators brought up private economical questions – and got answers from Marty, who – according to his website – sees himself as one who offers public service to all of us, who have difficulties in understanding economy. After the screening people queued with their smartphones to have photos taken with ”el visionari”. 

Let me quote what the film is about through the precise text of the distributor Autlook Films: The story of finance whiz Martin Armstrong reads like a movie script: a man designs a model that can predict the future. He calculates developments in the world economy with eerie accuracy and even the outbreak of wars. Until the FBI is on his doorstep and he is sent to prison. A free man again, he shares his views on the financial crisis and offers his solutions to governments.

www.docsbarcelona.com

Rough Cuts at DocsBarcelona 2015/ 2

It’s wonderful when the ever perfect DocsBarcelona team makes a small mistake like the one on the photo announcing that the panelists of the Rough Cut Screenings that took place tuesday and wednesday were… yes, read for yourself. No, your moderator can assure you that a civilised and polite and constructive and critical tone was there all the time!