Phie Ambo: Så meget godt i vente

For én der trådte sine barnesko i SFC (Statens Filmcentral), er alt omkring Phie Ambos nye film den rene fryd. Debatten søgte vi med filmene, som blev sendt rundt til alle hjørner af Danmark – og de skulle gerne være af høj kunstnerisk kvalitet, sætte gang i tanke og mundtøj. Film skulle bruges til noget i den bedste Griersonske forstand. Og opleves på bedste Jørgen Lethske og Jon Bang Carlsenske vis. Ambos nye film er oplysning og oplevelse. En klassisk dokumentarfilm.

På et højt kunstnerisk niveau befinder ”Så meget godt i vente” sig. Jeg så filmen på stort lærred i Grand Teatret og nød fra første øjeblik Phie Ambos sans for komposition, hendes nærbilleder fra naturen, den rolige klipning og ikke mindst den fine måde, hun følger Niels Stokholm, denne karismatiske 79-årige bonde, mild og stædig fornemmer man, til stede er

han, når han forklarer, viser rundt og taler lavmælt kælent til de vidunderligt smukke røde danske malkekøer, som der nu er så få af i Danmark, fortælles det. Og konen hjælper til og er den, der virker mest påvirket af at øko-kontrollanterne hiver parret i retten, hvor de risikerer at miste tilladelsen til at holde dyr på grund af påstået ringe hygiejneforhold. Tror jeg anklagen gik på.

Ambo komponerer sine naturbilleder fremragende og er ikke bange for at være højtidelig og højstemt omkring sit emne selvom musikken – af Johann Egill Johannsson – måske får en tand for meget. Og uden at overgøre det, evner hun at skabe en stille dramatik omkring “sagen”, hvor de to er i retten og hjemme afventer rettens dom.

At jeg stadig ikke helt forstår principperne og filosofien omkring det biodynamiske, skal filmen ikke lastes for. Den gør, hvad den kan for at oplyse og man kan kun ønske held og lykke med debatterne i mere end 40 biografer landet over, sat i scene af DOXBio (link nedenfor) med sunde vine og øl og brød og… Det er en formidabel formidlingsindsats, intet mindre. Og filmen fortsætter i flere biografer efter premieren den 3. september.

Ren propaganda for Stokholms Thorshøjgaard? Ja, så absolut, instruktøren elsker stedet, filosofien og aktørerne på stedet. Men netop derfor er filmen et perfekt udgangspunkt for en diskussion om vort forhold til naturen og hvordan landbrug kan/skal/bør føres. Ærgerligt er det dog, at gårdens varer skal spises på Noma og andre dyre restauranter. De elitære sekvenser med de dygtige kokke og restaurantejere forstyrrer mit øje noget, når jeg lige har været i marken med Stokholm og har gravet kolort i kvæghorn ned i jorden. Men måske er det stadig sådan, at man kan handle ved stalddøren, som familiemedlemmer der har gået på Steiner-skole, fortalte mig, at de gjorde med deres forældre?

Til gengæld tager jeg gerne til Streetfood på Papirøen, da jeg nu ved at overskuddet går til en fond til bevarelse af Stokholms – hans egne ord – “lille kunstværk”.

Danmark, 2014, 96 mins.

http://www.doxbio.dk

http://www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/film/da/86642.aspx?id=86642

DOKLeipzig 2014 Statistics

Press release from the festival in Leipzig, says a lot about volume of documentaries world wide, plus animation films on top of that!: 2,350 film productions from 119 countries have tossed their hat in the ring for this year’s International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film. The submissions came from all five continents. In addition to major film-producing countries like France, the US and Poland, the selection committee also received productions from Trinidad and Tobago, Benin and the Central African Republic. For the first time a film was submitted from the tiny Caribbean island nation of Dominica.

The submissions consist of 1,931 documentaries, 339 animations and 80 animated documentaries. The selection committee has also screened nearly 500 other films at festivals around the world.

Some 80 films will be selected from all these productions to compete for Golden Doves in five competition sections. For the first time, the winner of the Golden Dove in the International Short Documentary Competition will qualify

for consideration in the Documentary Short Subject category of the Annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

In addition to the competition sections, DOK Leipzig will be showcasing other outstanding films in the International Programme. The festival will be rounded out by a retrospective and numerous Special Programmes, so that a total of about 350 films will be shown in the Leipzig festival week from 27 October to 2 November 2014. One of the special programmes has a focus on films from countries of Ex-Yugoslavia.

DOK Leipzig is the largest documentary film festival in Germany and the oldest in the world. Last year’s festival saw a record 41,500 attendees

Photo: The selection committee with (white shirt in the middle) Claas Danielsen for his last year as festival director. It is understandable that a couple of the selectors wear sun glasses after the many hours in the dark.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de

Brian Knappenberger: Internet’s Own Boy /2

Filmen kan stadigvæk ses på Dokumanias side:

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.dr.dk/tv/se/dokumania/dokumania-internettets-vidunderdreng

Jeg har netop set det to timer lange værk igennem én gang mere. Jeg kan stadigvæk ikke forstå detaljerne, mangler forudsætninger, har skrevet en lang liste over ting, jeg skal sætte mig ind i. Men jeg tror, det er en meget vigtig film, en film, som sætter mange uomgængelige overvejelser i gang. Det er en pligtfilm. Skal Filmkommentarens læsere kun se én film i aften, må det absolut være denne.

Her er nogle anmeldelser:

Rogerebert.com: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-internets-own-boy-the-story-of-aaron-swartz-2014

NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/movies/the-internets-own-boy-the-story-of-aaron-swartz.html?_r=0

Variety: http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/sundance-film-review-the-internets-own-boy-the-story-of-aaron-swartz-1201069259/

Indiewire: http://www.indiewire.com/article/sundance-review-the-internets-own-boy-explores-the-tragic-fate-of-a-technology-icon

Festival Director Dancing in the Rain

Well, you might not see it but it was pouring down in Copenhagen sunday, when Magnificent7 festival director Zoran Popovic, caught by his co-director Svetlana behind the camera, was expressing his joy to be close to Hans Christian Andersen in the Royal Garden with the three of us “singing in the rain”. After 10 years of festival visits to Belgrade, my wife and I finally had the pleasure of a week with the Popovic’s in Copenhagen… they adore Hans Christian Andersen about whom his cinematic biographer, legendary Jørgen Roos said that had he lived today, he would have made documentaries.

Mikkel Stolt: The annual “Danish Doc Get-together”

During the closing panel talk Sunday at European Film College, English director Nick Broomfield suggested that all of us in the audience were in fact blessed because we are working in the documentary business of Denmark – the happiest place in the world with probably the best possibilities of getting a film financed. Well, we are also a bunch of cantankerous bitches and blighters who are never just satisfied.

But this weekend we were blessed with the presence of among other said Bloomfield, Russian director Victor Kossakovsky and emerging Ukrainian filmmaker Jurij Rechinsky, whose very moving and empathic “Sickfuckpeople” (2013) was shown on Friday night followed by a Q&A with the sneakingly charming director. About eight hours (and a couple of glasses of red wine and discussions in small groups) later we watched the brand new “The Tales of the Grim Sleeper” by Nick Broomfield. Quite a way to start at 8 in the morning, but it seemed that there was a bit more discrepancy between us all regarding our opinions on that film. Personally, I found it a bit disappointing and obvious considering some of his earlier work, but the talk and discussions afterwards was very enlightening and entertaining.

Entertaining is maybe not quite a satisfying word for the performance of Victor Kossakovsky which followed a screening of his remarkable and extremely cinematic “¡Vivan las Antipodas!”(earlier reviewed on this site). His passion is surpassed which we saw in a clip from behind the scenes on that film and I almost felt guilty with my tame Nordic temper, wanting to make films. He was a powerhouse of good remarks (“I want to make your soul soft”, “We are all guilty in giving TV so much power” and “Don’t tell me you wanted to be a filmmaker because you watched TV; no, you saw Fellini, Tarkovski, von Trier, whatever…”), expressed with his hefty accent which had us all on the edge of our seats – if not for the excitement, then for being able to understand what he said.

During dinner on Saturday night, a prestigious Danish prize, “Roos-prisen”, was most deservedly given to “Act of Killing”-producer Signe Byrge Sørensen but she couldn’t celebrate too heavily since she (together with producer colleague Helle Faber) had been given the ungrateful task of giving a lecture early Sunday morning. Rather rude, come to think of it. It was about the pros and cons of international co-productions and a bit more practical than the rest of the tight program which held much more than I can account for on this limited space.

There has been some grumbling in (the younger end of) the business towards the costs of participating. We may be blessed but we are not rich. Still, somewhat of a bargain for a brilliant seminar among the best and I think this one was my 15th in a row. However, being a cantankerous bitch I still have ideas for improvements and things we could do without but that will only be in my evaluation form provided by the arrangers. I hope it will be anonymous!

In the end, I can only advice you to become a famous documentary filmmaker and get invited or become a member of the Danish society to get a chance to join this seminar – but that’s equally hard these days.

Foto: Lars Bo Kimergaard: Kossakovsky forklarer i Ebeltoft “Antipodas” med en ledning. 

Brian Knappenberger: Internet’s Own Boy

Det er tirsdag i dag, det er Dokumaniadag. Filmen i aften, Brian Knappenbergers ”Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz” er på én gang enkel som udsagnet på dette still (ikke fra filmen, men fra et blogindlæg om filmen) og yderst kompliceret, når jeg vil forstå, hvad historien egentlig går ud på, for ikke at tale om, hvad det rent teknisk var, det geniet Aaron Swartz foretog sig. Så jeg har problemer med den film, men jeg kan netop derfor bestemt anbefale Filmkommentarens læsere selv at se efter i  aften. Det kl. 20.45 på DR2. Dokumania redaktionen skriver i sin pressemeddelelse blandt andet:

” ’Internettets vidunderdreng’ (den danske titel) fortæller den fascinerende og fængende historie om en ung internet-pioner, der i kampen for fri vidensdeling på nettet kommer i klemme hos myndighederne og det pumpede amerikanske retssystem. Internet-pioneren Aaron Swartz startede bølgen om fri vidensdeling, og filmen følger ham gennem en kompleks kæde af begivenheder, der efterlod internet-miljøet måbende. Han er aktivist og opfinder, og allerede som 14-årig involverer han sig i udviklingen af den populære internetstandard RSS og opfinder sit eget ”Wikipedia” fem år før Wikipedia opfandt sig selv.

I studieårene på MIT tager hans liv en politisk drejning, som kulminerer, da han downloader 4 millioner videnskabelige artikler – en handling som får store konsekvenser, da også FBI indblandes. I 2011 og 2012 bliver han retsforfulgt for flere alvorlige dataforbrydelser og hængt ud som ondsindet hacker i et juridisk mareridt. Kort efter, som kun 26-årig, bliver Swartz fundet død i sin lejlighed.

Filmen bygger på arkivmateriale, blandt andet private videoer og nye interviews med hans nærmeste, som Knappenberger former til sin egen personlige historie og overvejelse af de nye teknologier og hvad de betyder for vores civile rettigheder. Brian Knappenberger skrev og instruerede ”We Are Legon” (2012) en film om hacktivist kollektivet Anonymous, så det ser ud til, at han har gang i noget omfattende.

USA 2014, 105 min.

Foto: Fra Alex Steeds blog steed.bangordailynews.com 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jun/02/aaron-swartz-hacker-genius-martyr-girlfriend-interview

Ashraf Mashharawi and Ken Loach in Sarajevo

I have copy-pasted from Guardian of today, where Simon McBurney interviews Gaza documentarian Ashraf Mashharawi (photo), “joint winner of the Katrin Cartlidge award” that was given out at the Sarajevo Film Festival, that the director travelled to in spite of all the complications involved in, going in and out of Gaza. Read the touching interview and about Ken Loach:

“Ken Loach has called for a boycott of all cultural and sporting events supported by the Israeli state, and condemned the support offered to Israel by the US and UK. Speaking at the Sarajevo film festival, Loach was presenting the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation award to two documentary-makers from Gaza, Abdel Salam Shehadeh and Ashraf Mashharawi. The former was unable to attend due to the airstrikes, while the latter, who was at the festival, told Reuters he would be unable to return.”

“He was holding his twins,” says Ashraf Mashharawi, leaning forward. “All his family around him. They had been able to shelter in their basement. But it was a direct hit and their house collapsed. It took two days to reach them. When we did, I helped to move the rubble from above them. He was sitting in the corner, holding his girls, one under each arm. They were all only slightly injured, so they must have died slowly.”

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/25/ken-loach-calls-for-cultural-boycottof-israel

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/25/ashraf-mashharawi-sarajevo-film-festival-gaza-simon-mcburney?CMP=ema_861

http://www.sff.ba/en/news/9996/ken-loach-curator-of-katrin-cartlidge-foundation-2014

Signe Byrge Sørensen

Signe Byrge Sørensen modtog i aftes på Filmhøjskolen i Ebeltoft under det årlige branchetræf for dokumentarfilmfolk ROOS PRISEN. Det Danske Filminstitut skriver i den anledning:

“Producer Signe Byrge Sørensen er på vej til internationale festivaler i Venedig og Toronto med sin nye dokumentarfilm “The Look of Silence”, Joshua Oppenheimers opfølger til “The Act of Killing”, der denne gang giver stemme til ofrene for det indonesiske folkemord i 1965-66.

Signe Byrge Sørensen grundlagde Final Cut for real i 2009. At hun kun fem år senere skulle optræde på den mest glamourøse af Hollywoods røde løbere, oscarnomineret for den kontroversielle “The Act of Killing”, havde den beskedne producer nok ikke forestillet sig. Men udsynet og lysten til at formidle globale problematikker på film har været en drivkraft i hele Signe Byrge Sørensens professionelle liv. Det samfundsmæssige engagement kombineret med en enorm arbejdsomhed, analytisk skarphed og stort mod har gjort hende til en dybt respekteret producer blandt kolleger i både Danmark og udlandet.

VISIONÆR PRODUCER I VERDENSKLASSE

Roos Prisen gives for en bemærkelsesværdig indsats for dansk dokumentarfilm, og priskomiteen uddyber valget af den 44-årige producer således:

En filmproducer kan være – men er ikke nødvendigvis – en kreativt drivende kraft. Signe Byrge Sørensen er meget mere end en kreativ producer. Hun har med “The Act of Killing” vist sig som visionær producer i verdensklasse. Hun så potentialet i Joshua Oppenheimers materiale, der bestod af mere end 1000 timers optagelser. Hun etablerede et professionelt, kreativt rum omkring ham, som gjorde, at det monstrøse materiale kunne forløses til en film, der på alle måder er nyskabende og bemærkelsesværdig. Hun skabte det økonomiske rum, og hun sørgede med en vedholdende strategisk indsats for, at filmen kom ud i verden og fik den fortjente opmærksomhed fra både kritikere, publikum og politikere.

Blandt kolleger i filmbranchen bliver Signe Byrge Sørensen fremhævet for sit intellekt, sin seriøsitet, sin fordomsfrihed og enorme vedholdenhed. Hvis Signe har påtaget sig en opgave, tager hun det fulde ansvar: det produktionsmæssige, det kreative, det etiske, det politiske osv. Og man skal absolut ikke lade sig narre af den ydmyge fremtoning. Signe Byrge Sørensen ved, hvad hun vil opnå, og går venligt, men bestemt efter det.

For os alle er det en gave, at det, som Signe Byrge Sørensen overordnet går efter, er at bidrage til en bedre verden med større lighed og social retfærdighed. Med film, der indimellem slår benene væk under publikum. Produceren selv står fast, hvad enten det er på den røde løber eller blandt syriske flygtninge, som er tema for et af Signes kommende filmprojekter.

OM SIGNE BYRGE SØRENSEN

Signe Byrge Sørensen er født i 1970. Opvokset i Maribo, cand.comm. i internationale udviklingsstudier og kommunikation fra RUC i 1998. Hun har produceret film siden 1998. Hun begyndte hos SPOR Media, rykkede senere til Final Cut Productions og grundlagde Final Cut for Real i 2009. Hun har produceret dokumentarfilm over hele verden og modtog i 2014 Timbuktu-prisen for sin formidling af stof fra udviklingslande.

Blandt de film, som Signe Byrge Sørensen har produceret, er “The Look of Silence” (instr. Joshua Oppenheimer, 2014), “Kulturkatedraler: Halden fængsel” (instr. Michael Madsen, 2014), “The Act of Killing” (instr. Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012), “Klovn for livet” (instr. Ida Grøn, 2011), “Hjemvendt” (instr. Marianne Hougen-Moraga, 2011) og “Fodbold er Gud” (instr. Ole Bendtzen, 2010). Hun har også produceret og med-instrueret (med Janus Billeskov Jansen) “I sproget er jeg” (2005) og “Kunsten at være Mlabri” (2007).

OM ROOS PRISEN

Roos Prisen, der er opkaldt efter dokumentarfilmpioneren Jørgen Roos, blev etableret i 1995 med det formål at “påskønne en særlig bemærkelsesværdig indsats for dokumentarismen i Danmark.”

Tidligere prismodtagere er: Jørgen Roos, Jørgen Leth, Sami Saif, Phie Ambo, Janus Billeskov Jansen, Jon Bang Carlsen, Jesper Jargil, Anne Wivel, Tue Steen Müller, Niels Pagh Andersen, Arne Bro, Steen Møller Rasmussen, Tine Fischer, duoen Lise Lense-Møller og Anders Østergaard, Lars Skree, Eva Mulvad, Michael Noer og Adam Nielsen.

Priskomiteen består af sidste års modtager, Adam Nielsen, samt direktør Henrik Bo Nielsen og udviklingschef Ane Mandrup fra Det Danske Filminstitut.”

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/2163/

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/2729/  

New York Film Festival

The photo refers to the film ”Red Army” by Gabe Polsky that at indiewire.com (link below) is described like this:

Soviet hockey players? As in the ones that were defeated by a young, inexperienced American team at the 1980 Olympics? In fact, the “Miracle on Ice” is just a blip in the story of Soviet hockey, as demonstrated by Gabe Polsky’s exhilarating documentary, in which the Cold War is fought on the ice. The Soviet Union’s Red Army team was the most successful dynasty in sports history. Players, trained from a young age, were stronger and more skillful than any others in the world and were meant to show up the West at every opportunity. Polsky, a child of Soviet immigrants who grew up playing hockey in the United States, finds a prime example of artistry on ice in Red Army team captain (and one-time NHL star) Slava Fetisov, who went from national hero to political enemy to American star to post-Communist Russian Minister of Sport. Polsky’s wildly entertaining film examines the many ways that sport both embodies and reflects social, political, and cultural realities…

Indiewire.com “lines up” the “auteur-packed Doc Lineup” at the coming New York Film Festival, the 52nd version that takes place September 26 – October 12. And it is indeed a great selection including at least four films that I so much look forward to watch:

Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Look of Silence”, Martin Scorcese’s “The 50-Year Argument” about the New York Review of Books, interview based (James Baldwin is there, Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer…), Albert Maysles (83 years old) with “Iris”, last name Apfel, “about fashion- and interior-design maven Iris Apfel, who is herself just south of 92…”, Wiseman’s “National Gallery” (in London) and what I think is probably the most important: “Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait” by Ossama Mohammed and Wiam Simav Bedirxan.

A quote from Real Screen: “This section of the festival has become increasingly important to us, and to me personally,” said Kent Jones, the NYFF’s director of programming and selection committee chair, in a statement. “It’s kind of a commonplace to think of documentary as an add-on to fiction, something extra, and of course nothing could be further from the truth: cinema started with documentary, and it will always be at the core of the art form.”

http://realscreen.com/2014/08/20/al-maysles-iris-set-for-new-york-premiere/#ixzz3B0cCsSpS

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/new-york-film-festival-unveils-auteur-packed-doc-lineup-20140819?page=2#blogPostHeaderPanel

 

Message to Man 2014

St. Petersburg, end of September (20-27), programme has been announced for the 24th edition of Message to Man. On top of the list, very much appropriate, is local master Alina Rudnitskaya with her latest fine b/w work ”Blood” (photo), one of 9 feature documentaries in competition, where you also find Ventura Durall’s ”Bugarach” and ”My Name is Salt” by Farida Pacha.

Message to Man has a competition for short-length documentaries, for short fiction and for animation. AND, what is special for the festival, there is a ”in silico” category with experimental works. For the fourth time and here is a repeat of what Mikhail Zheleznikov told me about this section last year:

“In this contest we present some purely experimental works, as well as more or less narrative documentary, animation or fiction shorts, which were too “avant-garde” for a more conventional international competition. 

Experimental short film competition In Silico works well in the context of the whole festival program, and draws the audience. Besides, it really expands our options – now we can show almost all the crazy shorts that we like and easily get away with it.”

More than 20 crazy works are listed.

Later on I will write about the special retrospective of new Danish documentaries to be shown in St. Petersburg this year. Message to Man is a festival rich in programme.

http://message2man.com/eng/