As some other documentary festivals, DOKLeipzig is an example, Amdocs screens animation films. A good choice I thought after having attended a programme of 8 short ones from Germany, mostly from the film school in Baden-Württemberg. Puppet animation with beautiful handmade characters, dramatic stories, stop motion, ”normal” animation (this is not my genre as you could guess), several of them having this playfulness and wish to try something new and original that you often miss in documentary filmmaking. (Photo from the animation winner, ”Olgastrasse 18”, photo Jörg Rambaum)

Many things have impressed me during this my first time in Palm Springs. One of them is the interest of the filmmakers to attend the screenings. Festival director Teddy Grouya has managed to get many premieres to his festival, whether it is a US or North American or Californian or Palm Springs premiere. That adds to the good atmosphere in the cinema and gives some interesting Q&A’s that in most cases are more content-orientated than dealing with film language.

Palm Springs is indeed also a place for cultural events. Before the documentary festival there was a Jewish Film Festival and the International Palm Springs (feature) film festival and up comes also a short film festival. The citizens are used to go out, we were told by asking several of the volunteers. ”We eat out around 3 times per week”, several said, ”it’s nice and not very expensive”. Must be the reason for all those restaurants you see when being driven around. We tried a couple of them. No complaints on food or films.

www.americandocumentaryfilmfestival.com

Festivals would not be able to function without volunteers. People who help without being paid. The American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs is no exception. In its third edition the help you get from local people who support the festival is second to none. They drive you, show you around, welcome you in the theatre, ”how are you today” – but contrary to most festivals, where youngsters sign up, here they are retired people, who give a hand… or host a reception or a dinner. It is quite remarkable and extremely nice. We are in Palm Springs that many people have chosen to live in in their so-called third age, enjoying the good weather – I am wearing shorts here, they say we are entering spring from winter!

I was asked to introduce the Polish film ”Deep Love” by young Jan Matuszynski, who was present and received quite an applause for his cinematically brilliant interpretation of the love relationship between Janusz, who got paralyzed when diving and Joanna, his girl friend, who worries as he insists to continue diving and break the record by going down to 100 meters, even if his medical status, as the doctors tell him, does not allow him to do so.

This is what I wrote back in November when I saw the film at DOKLeipzig: ”Deep Love” is a multi-layered story. It is about a man, whose life first of all consists of a passion for diving, a passion that had severe consequences for him when his head hit a rock, making him a handicapped man, who understands what the people near him says to him but can not talk himself and has a paralysed arm and leg. Nevertheless, he wants to get into the sea again and go deeper, encouraged by his close friend and co-diver, yet discouraged by his girl friend, who is afraid of what could happen to him if he realises his wish to go 100 meter down. Here lies the core of the film, the relationship between them, the love story with her in the centre, with her constant care and anxiety. A very strong story but for my taste a bit too dramatic and disturbingly set up with music and sound… on the big screen in Palm Springs, my objections were no longer there, I have to say. Reminding me of how important the watching situation is for your evaluation of a film.

Festival director Teddy Grouya, who is constantly moving from venue to venue, energetic and welcoming filmmakers and audience, has also arranged panel meetings in the morning. The first morning I attended a pitch competition as one of four judges, 7 projects were presented, we will announce the winner later. Yesterday morning I was local journalist Bruse Fessier (us two on the photo) talking to filmmakers about how to draw attention to their works – the one hour session turned into an interaction where some of the filmmakers pitched their projects and got reactions from the two of us. My humble contribution from a European point of view was that you start your marketing the moment where you go public with your project, applying for funding, taking part in a pitch etc. In the US, as we saw in the morning pitch, most projects have reached (almost) the rough cut stage before they are asking for funding.

http://www.americandocumentaryfilmfestival.com/

Opening night in Palm Springs: Julie Cohen’s ”I Live to Sing”, or in xhosa language: Ndiphilela Ukucula. A warm film with three black, young upcoming opera stars from South Africa, who tell their stories, which are sad and uplifting at the same time. They came out of the poverty of the townships, their parents experienced the apartheid regime, they got into the Cape Town University opera section, were taught by Kamal Khan, a charismatic and dedicated teacher for them and they have now started what seem to become very succesful careers for all three of them. The film director deserves much credit for having found a tone in the film, where you laugh and enjoy the three wonderful main characters and their background. And see them develop their skills and personalities. Hilarious are the scenes with the bass baryton Thesele and his parents, who the filmmakers take to watch him and the others perform in Tales of Hoffmann – and to the first flight tour ever for them. Linda, the soprano, who do not have her parents any longer – you see her train with Khan in extraordinary, touching scenes, and you see and hear the tenor Makudupanyane, a charming boy, who will make it as a singer and maybe also as a composer.

At least that was what he told us in the audience after the screening, where the three of them with Khan came to the stage for a Q&A after each of them had performed for a full hall in Camelot Theatres. The audience, we, enjoyed this grand night full of applause from start till end. A feel-good film in the best sense of the word, well put into a historical frame: Robben Island, Mandela, Verwoerd (OMG, what a quote from this man!), and the three of them actually not interested in politics. From the stage, with a smile. Thesele said that having seen the film again, he realised that he has to follow his father’s political engagement…

I am here as a guest to take part in the festival as a juror and panelist in an atmosphere of superb hospitality in the desert where Palm Springs is situated and where the sun seems to shine all the time!

http://www.americandocumentaryfilmfestival.com/

I have just returned from Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival after a (far too) quick visit for the following reason – thank you so much! – this is the press release of the festival:

The European Documentary Network (EDN) award, which is given to individuals and organizations from Europe that have made a great contribution to the field of documentary, went this year to Tue Steen Mϋller, a prominent figure in the documentary world with a great body of work to his credit. The awards ceremony was held on Friday, March 21st at the Electra Palace hotel, as part of the 16th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, in the presence of TDF Director, Dimitri Eipides.
 

The award was presented on behalf of the European Documentary Network by Ove Rishøj Jensen, Web Editor and Film Consultant of the EDN, who addressed the audience and Mr. Eipides by noting: “It is a pleasure to work and jointly host the Docs in Thessaloniki Pitching Forum 2014 for the 16th year in Thessaloniki, as part of the Documentary Festival. It is also a great pleasure to be here and to work with you, Dimitri. “Before awarding the EDN prize to Tue Steen Mϋller, Mr. Jensen noted: “It has become a tradition at this festival to honor with our award any person or organization that has made an excellent contribution to the documentary genre. This year we grant this award for the tenth year and I felt that it should be something more special. In the past, for the most part we have honored people, groups or organizations for a specific initiative or event. This year we would like to honor a man who works beyond particular initiatives, organizations and events. We give the EDN award to this man for his great devotion to documentaries. We grant him this prize simply because he is who he is. Looking at previous years’ winners,

we find that many initiatives have been recognized. For our tenth award, therefore, we must recognize a ”beacon” that shines a little brighter than others on the coast of the documentary. We are honoring a man who has contributed to a long list of films, who always has an opinion he does not hesitate to express in public debates, panels, and his blog. His dedication to encouraging and helping young artists and professionals is remarkable. His contribution has shaped the landscape of documentaries in Europe and beyond. Although we feel as if the prize is somehow returning ”home”, it would be very strange for us in the EDN to not recognize his outstanding contributions to the documentary genre and his lifelong dedication to it. For me it’s a personal and professional pleasure to present the award to Tue Steen Mϋller.”

Amid warm applause Tue Steen Mϋller accepted the award saying: “Thank you very much. I feel a little strange because ten years ago I was in the position of the person that awarded the prize. Dimitri Eipides, it is so nice to be back here. I remember when sixteen years ago along with my colleague Anita Reher, I visited Thessaloniki for the first time and came in contact with the Festival. We had the foresight to ask for funding from Media to organize workshops in Southern Europe and I think this is one of the best things we have done in the EDN. We organized workshops in Thessaloniki, Italy, Barcelona, Lisbon and the story continues, they still exist… I am very happy to be here. Coming to Thessaloniki and flicking through the catalogue of the 16th Festival, I was impressed with the number of films and the tributes to our beloved Peter Wintonick and also our well loved film maker Nicolas Philibert. It seems that with Dimitri we have the same taste. I am also glad to hear that the attendance of the public is great and that so many films are getting made in Greece in times of crisis. As a Greek filmmaker told me, the crisis stimulates creativity. “In closing, Tue Steen Mϋller made a comment: “In 2005 in Thessaloniki I interviewed Pirjo Honkasalo, and recently, thanks to the Festival’s excellent website I reread the whole thing. She was referring to her film Three Rooms Of Melancholia, to Russia and nationalism. Reading this text now and thinking of today and having good friends in Kiev, I am very pleased that their festival DocuDays has tonight its opening night. They are beginning in an unconventional way, with raw material from what was happening in the square of Kiev. Please let us send our greetings to them”. 
 

www.edn.dk