Festivals 3: Vilnius Documentary Film Festival

I was there two years ago and was impressed of a good programme and had it not clashed with other obligations, I would have enjoyed to go to wonderful Vilnius for some days during the festival, that runs from September 19-29.

The core of the festival is still the competititon programme that consists of films from the Baltic countries. Among the four Estonian films you find Sulev Keedus strong ”The Russians on Crow Island”, in the Latvian section you find ”The Documentarian” by Ivars Zviedris and Inese Kjav, and the superb ”Chronicles of the Last Temple” by Davis Simanis. From the hosting country Lithuania – five films to be presented – two films stand out: Giedre Beinoriute’s ”Conversations on serious Topics” and ”Igruski” by Lina Luzyte.

All in all good films to be watched by a jury that includes Leonard Helmrich, the director who has given us the outstanding trilogy from Indonesia ”In the Eye of the Day” (2001), ”Shape of the Moon” (2004) and ”Position of the Stars” (2010) (photo), all films to be offered the festival audience. New York Times called him “master of impossible camera angles”.

Classics from Lithuanian documentary history have been restored and are presented at the festival with names that have appeared frequently on this blog: Audrius Stonys and Arunas Matelis from the 90’es and Henrikas Sablevicius and Robert Verba from the 60/70’es…. and there is a Panorama of new documentaries in the rich programme.

http://www.vdff.lt/en

Daniel Dencik: Moon Rider

Danish director Daniel Dencik’s exciting documentary “Moon Rider” will have its Danish tv-premiere in Dokumania Tuesday September 17th one year after its cinema release through DoxBio. Here is the review of filmkommentaren.dk written in Danish:

Det er sjældent, at en films synopsis-tekst rammer plet. Som regel er den båret af ønsket om at sælge billetter og forfalder til superlative salgsklichéer. I dette tilfælde (fra DFI (Det danske Filminstitut) hjemmesiden) har jeg kun kunnet nikke genkendende. Ja, det var den film, jeg så, beskrevet præcist og nøgternt med plads til begejstring. Her er den så:

Synopsis: »Moon Rider« er en fortælling om den unge Rasmus Quaade og hans kamp for at blive professionel cykelrytter. Det er en dannelsesrejse, der fører tilskueren med ned i helvede og tilbage. Med personlige Super8-optagelser og rå hjelmkamera-billeder, fortælles historien om et ekstraordinært talent, der befinder sig på et afgørende tidspunkt i sit liv. Det er en historie fortalt fra indersiden af en racerhjelm. Rasmus har en krop skabt til cykling, men et sind, der er skabt til at tænke. Hans fængende overvejelser om liv og død bliver hans største modstander i kampen om at udleve sin drøm: at blive verdensmester i enkeltstart. For at vinde skal han tømme hovedet helt, men hvordan tømmer man hovedet, når alle tanker er et skridt i den forkerte retning? Med hudløs ærlighed lukker Rasmus Quaade os ind i sin verden, hvor vi møder både tvivlen, frygten og dødsdriften, men også euforien ved at være blandt de ypperste i verden. Filmen tegner et hjerteskærende billede af et kæmpe sportstalents ekstreme og ensomme liv.

Filmen: Jo, filmen går tæt på cykelrytteren og mennesket, en ung mand, velformuleret, super-ambitiøs. Og her er der en fortællestil, hvor teksten, cykelrytterens refleksioner, som kommer som akkompagnement til billederne, aldrig i form af interview, undertiden opfattes som en slags stream-of-consciousness – et par steder er den unge mand måske lige lovlig lommefilosofisk og selv-centreret patetisk, men som filmen kværner derudad med den

ensomme cykelrytter, vænner man sig til at iagttage hans ansigt i mange forskellige versioner, men altid uden et smil. Iagttagelserne bringer for mig karisma frem med ligheder til John Malkovich og Kenneth Branagh! At man får den slags tanker, må vel være fordi filmen løfter sig ud over det almindelige reportageniveau til at være noget mere og almengyldigt? I lange sekvenser bringer Quaades stemme en meditativ stemning til filmen hjulpet af en fin musikside.

Quaade: Og hvem er han så, denne Quaade, som lige her i august har vundet guld i EM i enkeltstart for Unge under 23? (Det er nu ikke med i filmen, som slutter med VM i København 2011). Den ensomme ulv, den for uheld angste landevejsrytter, en mand der har haft mange og synes at være på vej til endnu en kollaps efter at have givet alt i sig (”Jeg skal så tæt på at dø som muligt”), en mand der hylder flugt- og jagtinstinktet, og som tvivler på sig selv og tit mener, at nu skal jeg ikke længere være cykelrytter. Han fortæller historien selv med mange udtalelser – også udenfor billedet – fra den danske træner, der tror ubetinget på hans talent (ikke den tyske træner, som han har problemer med) OG så høres hans mors stemme – og begejstrede piften under løbene.

Med andre ord, en helt der som få cykelryttere er i stand til at sætte ord på sine kompromisløse ambitioner. En helt der nemt kan indlemmes i det Jørgen Lethske cykel-persongalleri, hvis og når Quaade vælger den professionelle karriere, ligesom Dencik med denne film giver publikum et bevis på sit visuelle talent og sans for den store historie om manden, der vil vinde for enhver pris. Eller… hun kommer ind i fortællingen mod slutningen, men før VM’et i København i 2011… vil Quaades kæreste, der bringer smilet frem i det melankolske ansigt, få ham til at tænke på andre værdier i tilværelsen. Som han i øvrigt gør det i filmens smukkest klippede sekvens, hvor han alene på landevejen, sat af feltet, pludselig oplever naturens skønhed omkring sig. Ren poesi.

Danmark, 2012, 82 mins.

http://www.moonriderthemovie.com/

Tom Heinemann: Varm luft for milliarder

Jeg mangler ord! Jeg så omsider i aftes Heinemanns film og var med ét ligesom tilbage i Dokumentargruppens arbejder i gamle dage, men alligevel lige foran noget så nyt og på en helt ny måde fornemt lavet og forfærdende spændende fortalt med det ene overbevisende vidne roligt, roligt efter det andet, så jeg var låst fast – åndeløs, som det hedder – til den utrolige historie. Jeg var efterhånden meget vred, men manglede ord, og jeg mangler dem stadigvæk. Kan blot skrive: det her er fremragende tv!

Jeg kan ikke kontrollere oplysningerne i filmen, men det gør ikke noget. Heinemann har gjort det for mig. Sådan et værk stoler jeg bare på. Jeg har heller ikke økonomisk og politisk videnbaggrund til at skrive min egen analyse af dokumentaren. Jeg vil blot henvise til Henrik Palles anmeldelse i Politiken. Han har en del af ordene, jeg lige nu savner:

http://politiken.dk/kultur/film/ECE2071128/tv-i-aften-klimadokumentar-er-fornemt-journalistisk-haandvaerk/  

Danmark, 2013, 59 min., Larm Film for DR1

http://larmfilm.dk/production/varm-luft-for-milliarder/

 

Message to Man Saint-Petersburg

It is festival time – September, October and November – all over the world and it is a good time for the documentary genre. Gianfranco Rosi won the main award in Venice with his ”Sacro Gra” in competition with feature films, from a jury headed by Bernardo Bertolucci, who said he wanted to be surprised and found Rosi’s film to live up to that criteria with its poetry and characters… words to that effect.

In Saint-Petersburg there is also good chances for surprising experiences when you look into the big programme of Message to Man presented from September 21-28, alone in the competitive programme there is 103 films from 37 countries… should be noticed that the festival shows long and short documentaries, short fiction films, short animation films, experimental films – and have well edited special screenings and programmes.

Difficult to highlight titles from the many sections, but ”The Act of Killing” (director Joshua Oppenheimer’s cut) is there, Chilean ”The Last Station” by Cristian Soto and Catalina Vergara competes as does ”Matthews Laws” by Marc Schmidt and ”Cantos” by Charlie Petersmann.

An intelligent side programme called ”Close. Family Films” include Alan Berliner’s classic ”Nobody’s Business”, Pawel Lozinski’s ”Father and Son”, Polley’s ”Stories We Tell” and ”Svyato” by Victor Kossakovsky – among others.

Under another caption – less descriptive, entitled ”Gala Premieres” – you find titles like ”First Cousin Once Removed” (Alan Berliner), ”La Maison de le Radio” (Nicolas Philibert) (photo), ”My Afghanistan-Life in the Forbidden Zone” (Nagieb Khaja) and ”Life With Jester” (Helena Trestikova), not to forget ”L’Image Manquante” (Rithy Panh).

A feast it will be!

http://message2man.com/eng/news/id/599/

 

Awards and Catalan Screenings of Infiltrators

Palestinian artist and documentary filmmaker Khaled Jarrar received the Jury Documentary Award at the Malmö Arab Film Festival that ended a couple of days ago.

More important, in terms of audience, is it maybe that the film has been chosen as ”documentary of the Month” of the unique distribution initiative in Catalunya, Chile and Colombia, organised by the Barcelona based company Parallel40, whose staff probably not will have time to read this as Catalans today, their National Day, are forming a human chain to mark the wish for a break with Spain to have their own independent state.

As is of course the constant message of Khaled Jarrar, a free Palestine, with his artistic work be it a film or art works or happenings.

Here is what I wrote here on filmkommentaren.dk in connection with the DocsBarcelona screening of the film in June:

”Palestinian Khaled Jarrar’s ”Infiltrators” – without the presence of the director here in Barcelona – a film that I have followed from the sidelines, in workshops in Greece and in Ramallah, I can only say that this film about apartheid in Israel again made me shake my head in anger and sorrow, this is the world of today, how can we allow that human beings are being treated like this having to climb a wall or going through a tunnel of dirt or caressing the hand of your mother through a hole in the so-called separation wall. It is a film which in content and intensity is painful to watch, simply!”

http://admin.getanewsletter.com/t/pm/435051811835/

https://www.facebook.com/documentaldelmes

http://www.eldocumentaldelmes.com/en/documentals/salas.html

Michael Kloft: Heinrich Himmler

Kvinden her hedder Katrin Himmler, hun er barnebarn af Heinrich Himmlers bror, og hun arbejder med slægtsforskning. Men hun har ikke ordningen af stamtræet som mål, det er redskabet til at fatte den forfærdende, men undertrykte sandhed i familien: ja, Heinrich Himmler, chefen for SS og nummer to efter Hitler er vi i slægt med! Katrin Himmler er et af de tre medvirkende vidner i filmen og trods sin udtrykkelige titel handler filmen for mig om hende. Det er hendes vidnesbyrd, som har brændt sig fast. Det er klogt og smukt og usædvanligt. Det sidste er det vigtige, det er en ny generations syn på det stof. De andre medvirkende, en mand og en kvinde, begge overlevende fra Himmlers lejre er rystende, de er afklarede og præcise med detaljerne. De er nødvendige for filmen, og de er set før, ikke netop disse to, men utallige som dem. Det er forfærdende: de er almindelige, vi har hørt deres historie igen og igen, og vi SKAL høre den igen og igen.

Historien om Heinrich Himmler er velkendt og fortsat oprørende, og det er bestemt dybt interessant at få den nøgternt biografisk og kronologisk rullet ud: Introduktion, tidlige år, antisemitisme, familielinjer, udryddelseskrigen, den endelige løsning, privatliv. Det er forfærdende, men jeg har jo for længst lært at lægge afstand til dette arkivstof, denne historiske fortælling, som aldrig ændres. Men jeg ser det, synes jeg skal, det er næsten en pligt. Og jeg respekterer en tv-journalist som Kloft, som er meget erfaren, han har en omfattende produktion bag sig, derimellem en række med emner fra Tysklands historie op til, under og efter 2. verdenskrig.

Men det er ikke historiefortællingen som optager mig. Det er de tre medvirkende. De medvirkende kan for mig sagtens overtage en dokumentar, så jeg ser bort fra alt det andet. Det sker her, og altså især Katrin Himmler. Hun overtager filmen, mens jeg ser den, erobrer den for mig lidt efter lidt, nu bagefter i erindringen fuldstændigt.

Tyskland, 2008, 52 min., Spiegel TV. (Jeg har på fornemmelsen, det var en nyere bearbejdelse, denne svenske version, jeg så forleden aften på SVT2 )

Baltic Sea Docs/ 4

The Baltic Sea Pitching Forum ended Sunday afternoon. On the second day the hall on the 11th floor of Hotel Albert in Riga was again full of filmmakers, observers and a panel of tv editors, fund people and sales agents/distributors.

After the session I met some Estonian film students, who had attended and enjoyed the two days. I asked them for their favourite projects and they mentioned two: ”Biblioteka” by Ana Tsimintia from Georgia and ”Five” (photo) by Italian director Maximilien de Joie, a project presented by Lithuanian producer Dagne Vildziunaite.

These youngsters represent a coming audience and I thought that Heino Deckert, veteran German producer and director, again had demonstrated a good nose for what might work internationally by showing interest to help precisely these two projects. Deckert had fine helping colleagues around the table, let me just mention some of them – Shanida Scotland from BBC’s Storyville, who always analysed in a precise and constructive way, Anaïs Clanet from Wide House in Paris and the French/Belgian sales agent and promoter Thierry Detaille, who both left with projects to help out, not to forget Russian Grigory Libergal, who, if anyone, knows the possibilities in the big neighbouring country.

Let me give you the description of the film project ”Five”: 

“In the central avenue of Vilnius there is a palace, and behind the neo classical style facade, there used to be the Lithuanian KGB headquarters and it’s prison. Today, that building is the museum of LIthuanian Genocide Victims. Tourists from all over the world walk trough the entrance with a smile and curiosity, and leaves with shocked and stunned faces. Just like one of those tourists, an Italian filmmaker decided to make a documentary on this topic. After a tour in the basement of the museum, where the prison used to be, he decided to meet the people whose lives were bound by KGB during the last decade of Soviet Union. This film is a collage of five characters that were taking clashing positions, a collage of their reminiscenses and experiences. Its a provocative invitation to infiltrate theirs consciences and to perceive their attitute, an experience that can be inspiring with its positivity, but frightening by it’s own truth, that might be misbecoming for someone.”

Let me add what I always remember when passing the building, told to me by Lithuanian director Audrius Stonys: Next door to the prison building was/is a music conservatory, so when the prisoners were sitting in their cell, music came to their comfort.

Baltic Sea Docs/ 3

Training days for the pitching part of Baltic Sea Docs are over, Saturday and Sunday are the days for the projects to be presented at the Hotel Albert in Riga. And it is quite a range of projects that will be brought to the panelists, who are representatives from tv stations, sales agents and distributors, and film fund people. The hall on the 11th floor will be full, the curtains will be blocked for the view of the wonderful city of Riga, and the project holders, the directors and the producers, will have their magic 15 minutes for presentation and Q& A from the 15 man/woman panel.

It is same procedure as every year but with new people on both sides. There will be projects from Georgia, the three Baltic countries, Russia, Norway, Germany, Finland and Sweden. From the latter comes veteran Maj Wechselmann, a director with more than 60 films on her filmography, most of them dealing with political and social issues in the world we are living in, from a humanistic and often controversial point of view, this one however is a film that is closer to Wechselmann herself, entitled ”Mother” (photo), quite a story, already supported by Swedish Film Institute and Swedish Television (SVT). From the veteran to young Georgian Ana Tsimiatia, who presents a personally experienced documentary from a provinsial library in her country. The director is close to a rough cut with her film, and it looks more than promising.

As does local production company Mistrus’s big project to celebrate Riga next year when the capital of Latvia will be a European Cultural Capital – five renowned directors will make each their film in different areas of Riga: Ivars Seleckis, local documentary icon, German Raimer Komers, Sergey Lotzniza, Danish Jon Bang Carlsen, German Bettina Henkel, Estonian Jaak Kiilmi. Quite a strong team with Davis Simanis as the one responsible for binding the individual films together.

Yesterday I blogged about the Q&A with producer of ”The Act of Killing”, Signe Byrge – her comments to the film (50 mins.) can now be seen on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-6xWVkgjXI&feature=youtu.be

what a generosity from the side of the organisers.

http://www.wechselmann.se/en/2013/06/05/new-project-my-mother/

Baltic Sea Docs/ 2

Full house for the opening film of 2013 Baltic Sea Docs, “The Act of Killing”, director’s (Joshua Oppenheimer) cut (editor Niels Pagh Andersen), 158 mins. The film was screened not only in Riga but also in three other Latvian cities/towns: Liepaja, Valmiera and Jekabpils, where the audience also had the chance to follow the 50 mins. long Q&A session with the Danish producer of the film, Signe Byrge Sørensen.

It was not the first time that I attended a session with the producer of this all-over-world-going film. And it was not the first time that I left the cinema full of admiration for the professional and personal way Signe Byrge addressed the audience giving it precise, inside and interesting background information on the making of a film that was 7 years on its way with her on board five years.

Signe Byrge is CEO and producer of the company Final Cut for Real, here is its profile taken from the website: Final Cut for Real is dedicated to high-end creative documentaries for the international market. Our policy is to be curious, daring and seek out directors with serious artistic ambitions. We do not from the outset set any limits on subjects or locations. We look for interesting stories, great characters and in-depth social analysis – and we also try to give the films a twist of humour.

Our method is for our producers to work closely with “their” directors from the first idea to the final film, and keep on exchanging ideas and feedback. Together we cover a wide range of development and production expertise – and work with younger talent as well as established filmmakers to create a productive mixture of experience and new approaches to documentary filmmaking.

http://www.final-cut.dk/

Baltic Sea Docs/ 1

Sunshine. Wonderful view from the 11th floor of Riga’s Hotel Albert, named after a certain Einstein. ”If you don’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”, is one the sentences that are presented in the hotel that is over-decorated with phrases of Albert Einstein, this one being quite relevant for the 17th edition of the pitching of the Baltic Sea Forum, that is now called Baltic Sea Docs.

The workshop has started and the filmmakers who have come to Riga are being trained to do a good job with their film project during the weekend, where they are pitching to a panel of tv- , sales- and distribution-people.

It is the 8th time that the event takes place in the hotel Albert with the great view to the churches of the Latvian capital, and to the art nouveau architecture of Mikhail Eisenstein in Albert and Elizabet Streets in the city, where his son Sergei (photo) was born in 1898.

Tonight the opening screening of Baltic Sea Docs takes place at the K-Suns cinema. ”The Act of Killing” is the film that is waiting for its audience – the long (158 mins) version will be screened and producer Signe Byrge is present for the Q&A. Yes, it is all very professional here in Riga due to the staff of the National Film Centre.

Back to pitching training and Einstein:  ”If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”. Voilà!

https://www.facebook.com/BALTICSEADOCS?fref=ts