I had seen ”Mapa” pitched in DocsBarcelona and at idfa. With verbal passion and with a teaser that was totally out-of-the-box for how trailers should be according to us ”pitch doctors”.

A Film-Film teaser, a brilliant piece of montage with a very low level of information about What and How. BUT it was a teaser that seduced selectors (including me) to invite the director to come and present his film project that was to be a totally personal documentary about a man, whose girlfriend had left him and who needed to find himself, and wanted try to do so by leaving his normal safe life in Madrid to go to India. Pretty banal, and the first thought is of course – will he be able to make it into the planned feature length creative documentary?

He made it! The result is a Film full of surprises, a ”romantic documentary” he calls it, fresh in tone and cut, with a big love to film language and history, to montage, to the play with sound and image, and with his voice all the way through, wall to wall, excellent in tone, catching your attention and interest in how it will go for director Elias in big India.

He introduces another level, a ”the other”, a part of himself, who always objects. When he is emotional, the rational side complains and makes him film architecture in India, when he films too much rational stuff, the emotional side urges him to connect to people, death and poverty. He makes a parallel to the voyage to India made by the emotional Pasolini and the rational Moravia in 1960. But a woman travelled with them, Elsa Morante, and here he is, Elias, without any companion, most of the time with no woman on his side.. He longs for love, he is actually longing for the one who dropped him, Luna, and he sees images of a child in India, who looks like her. Later on he has to erase those memories, but how? El Rito del Olvido?

Content is King, we are often taught, the issue/theme is the most important, the form is only the carrier, but what a pleasure with ”Mapa” to watch a playful and joyful film that has a cinéphile approach that brings memories of Godard and Truffaut, an essayistic reflection on love, lost love, longing, that goes elegantly from past to present and uses a wonderful Matthew Sweet song to glue some of the sequences. Not to forget fine observations from India accompanied by ethical questions.

Spain, 2012, 85 mins.

More Sugar Man (this is what they call the film in France), where  a twitter on Le Blog Documentaire calls it a ”véritable scandale du cinema” that the film is released in only 3 ”salles”!

On the same Blog there is a fine, long analysis of the narrative structure chosen by its director Malik Bendjelloul, written by Benjamin Genissel. You should read it all, but here are two quotes for our French readers:

…Pendant 45 minutes donc, on entend parler de cet homme et on finit par se demander : Mais existe t-il vraiment ? Quand vais-je moi aussi le rencontrer ? Faire sa connaissance ? La curiosité monte, monte, ne cesse de monter. Comme le suspense selon Hitchcock. Le spectateur salive d’envie, de désir : Mais qui est donc cet homme?…

… Et ce qui est vraiment réussi dans Sugar man, c’est que notre attente de spectateur ne s’avère nullement déçue. 45 minutes environ à faire grimper en nous le thermomètre de la curiosité et du désir, toute une construction qui offre une stature incroyable à cet excellent chanteur injustement méconnu, à nous faire sentir à quel point son parcours est hors du commun pour un artiste d’un aussi grand talent, avec le risque que ça finisse en dégringolade… Et non…

Le Blog Documentaire is an excellent web-magazine on documentaries, check it out, if you can read French.

http://cinemadocumentaire.wordpress.com/

The last couple of days the nominations for the Danish Bodil (named after the legendary actresses Ipsen and Kjer) and the Swedish Guldbaggen (the Golden Beetle) have been announced. Documentaries are very much present.

The international best known of the Danish documentaries on the list is ”Putins Kys” (Putin’s Kiss) but also Kaspar Astrup Schrøder’s ”Lej en familie” (Rent a Family) and Camilla Magid ”White Black Boy” have been on festivals abroad. The latter is on the 2012 Talent list of this site.

The two remaining films on the list are Andreas Johnsen’s Kidd Life and Ballerina by Maja Friis.

For Guldbaggen two documentaries stand out: Palme by Kristina Lindström and Maud Nycander and Searching for Sugarman by Malik Bendjelloul. Palme is nominated in 3 categories, Best Documentary/ Best Editing/ Best Music (composed by ABBA’s Benny Andersson), whereas the film about Rodriguez has 6 nominations, including Best Film and – of course – Best Music. ”Hej, vad vi dokudominerar” was one of the Swedish comments to the 2013 Guldbaggen – meaning that this is a Documentary Year in Swedish film.

PS. Breaking News – the two Swedish films are both selected for the Belgrade based Magnificent7 (only 7 films but ”magnificent” they have to be) festival that starts January 30 with ”Searching for Sugarman” (photo) as the opening film to be screened for an estimated audience of around 1500!

PPS. Some of the links refer to Danish or Swedish language texts.

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/1866/

http://guldbaggen.se/nominerade/

Yes, it was again a good year for the documentaries. New forms, hybrid, personal, came up with the classical engaged and committed Film still going strong in times of crisis. Yes, Film with a capital F. Yes, most of the festivals reported about an increase of audience, who went to watch the films on the big screen. Yes, there were more documentaries released in the cinemas than before, at least in many countries that I know about. Yes, it is generally easier to get to watch good documentaries online via vod’s like the DOCAlliance. The eternal question ”but where can I see these documentaries” is easier to answer, again at least in many countries I know about. Where good people do a great job to promote and arrange screenings and debates. Of course the festivals do so but ”outside” festival time there are (often weekly or monthly) initiatives to be noticed, like in Catalunuya, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark… 

No, the public broadcasters did not increase their budgets for the creative documentaries. It is much more difficult to obtain finances from them than before but television is still the most important ”window” for documentaries, in many countries. No, there is not yet a European or World Fund for the Creative Documentary – but there are many smaller funds, bravo for that, and for the consistent support from the EUMedia Programme, and on a smaller scale wonderful that Jan Vrijman Fund continues with a new name, IDFA Bertha Fund, not the most poetic one by the way! No, as far as I know, it is still not possible to make a living as a documentary director unless you are one of the few, but important names, who make contracts with the anglo-saxon broadcasters. I have earned my money on teaching, not on making films, said legendary Richard Leacock, whose memoirs ”The Feeling of Being There” is the best film book that has come out for years.

Below, you find what I found to be the best documentaries of 2012, in alphabetical order, followed by a list of talented, upcoming directors works, which have impressed me greatly, and from whom you hope for more to come. For both categories,these are films that I have seen at festivals or online – thank you to IDFA Docs for Sale, Filmkontakt Nord, DOCAlliance and East Silver. Several of the films I have known since they existed as projects.

Happy New Year!

Photo: El Huaso, by Carlo Guillermo Proto

Alan Berliner: First Cousin First Removed (USA)

Catalina Vergara: Last Station (Chile) (Photo)

Emma Davie & Morag McKinnon: Breathing (Scotland)

Helena Trestikova: Private Universe (Czech Republic)

Ilian Metev: Sofia’s Last Ambulance (Bulgaria, Croatia)

Joshua Oppenheimer: Act of Killing (USA, Denmark)

Jukka Kärkkäinen and J-P Passi: The Punk Syndrome (Finland)

Kimmo Koskela: Soundbreaker (Finland)

Phie Ambo: Free the Mind (Denmark)

Sarah Polley: Stories We Tell (Canada)

Shlomi Elkabetz: Edut (Israel)

Camilla Magid: White Black Boy (Denmark)

Carlo Guillermo Proto: El Huaso (Canada/Chile)

Chico Pereira: Pablo’s Winter (Scotland)

Dana Budisavljević: Family Meals (Croatia)

Khaled Jarrar: Infiltrators (Palestine)

Nahed Awwad: Gaza Calling (Palestine)

Namir Abdel Messeeh:The Virgin, the Copts and Me (France)

Petra Costa: Elena (Brazil) (Photo)

Timo Novotny: Trains of Thoughts (Austria)

Tinatin Gurchiani: The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear (Georgia)

You have the feeling of being in a theatre behind the curtain. You are very close to the players with their elegant quick and professional use of their tools. In their white dresses and with their Japanese smiling politeness they cut, massage and arrange in a highly artistic manner.

Yesterday the show/play had seven chapters with a small intermezzo after the first four. The dramaturgy was clear: a strong colourful start to catch the attention of the audience, like a tableau, followed by some issue presentations leading to a first beauty contest between the elements. Close-up of oyster and foie gras. To be continued later on, earth and water, lobster and thin cut meat.

The professionals were busy in their open working place, gentle movements, the tone of the play was inviting, yet the music was not really fitting, too loud, too much pop, why not a composition from the country of origin?

Otherwise a perfect narrative, playful and clever and aesthetic. With a happy, sweet ending, colourful, sunshine, a taste of summer.

There are several versions available from the hands and mind of Morimoto, the one I chose is for most of us a once-in-a-year experience. Or less.

http://www.morimotonyc.com/

Super-active young Russian director Georgy Molodtsov has before provided information to filmkommentaren. This time he informs us about a new activity that he is involved in as one of the newly elected members of Russian Guild of Documentary Film and Television that presents rating of the most popular Russian documentary films at the specialized documentary festivals in Russia and in the world in 2012. Here is the press release of the Guild with visions and concrete work:

It is well known that non-fiction films path to the big screen is not easy: there is almost no system of commercial release, shows at festivals and cinema clubs are irregular and accessible to a limited number of people. Besides, it is not always possible to find the film’s complete description in open sources.

It is necessary to make the path to viewers easier for the truly creative, socially important professional projects. This is why the new administration of the Guild of Documentary Film and Television has chosen the creation of a unified coordinated channel, a large Internet website of the Russian documentary films, as its foremost goal.

This Internet resource is being developed now and will start its work at the Guild’s new portal http://rgdoc.ru

The Guild’s first project is monitoring existing places of non-fiction film shows and rating the most popular Russian documentary films at the specialized documentary festivals in Russia and in the world in 2012.

The Rating is fully accessible here: http://rgdoc.ru/projects/reyting-festivalnogo-prokata/top-50/

The rating’s based on the results of nine specialized Russian festivals (featuring documentary films or featuring a competition of such films): Message To Man, Flahertiana, ArtDocFest, Rossia, Okno to

Europe Film Festival, Stalker Human Rights International Film festival, Moscow International Film Festival, Saratovskie Stradaniya, INPUT Conference.

Additionally the rating considers nominees’ participation in Russian film awards (LAVR, Bely Slon, TEFI, NIKA, The Golden Eagle), documentary film programs of non-specialized Russian festivals (Kinotavr, Golden Knight, Moscow Premier Okkupai.Doc, Sol Zemli, Texture, 2morrow), and CIS festivals (Listapad, Molodist, Tbilisi Film Festival, Golden Apricot Yerevan, DOCUDAYS UA), and in all international film festivals that feature documentary film shows.
 
Scoring was based both on the victories and awards a film received and film’s participation in competition and non-competition programs. Detailed information on the system of rating scores can be found at the Guild’s website here: http://rgdoc.ru/projects/reyting-festivalnogo-prokata/.

Over 200 Russian documentary films were shown at the festivals in 2012, rating experts discovered. It means that the films of Russian documentary filmmakers are in demand at festival shows and possess the potential to draw wider audience if shown in a network of Russian cinema clubs, and partly, on the federal and regional TV channels.

Top 20 films of 2012 Rating List are:

1.    ДА ЗДРАВСТВУЮТ АНТИПОДЫ! (Vivan Las Antipodas!), directed by Victor Kosakovsky (PHOTO)
2.    ЗАВТРА (Tomorrow), directed by Andrey Gryazev
3.    КНИГА ТУНДРЫ. ПОВЕСТЬ О ВУКВУКАЕ – МАЛЕНЬКОМ КАМНЕ (The Tundra Book. A Tale of Vukvukai, the Little Rock), directed by Aleksey Vakhrushev
4.    ЗИМА, УХОДИ! (Winter, Go Away!), by Marina Razbezhkina Studio
5.    АНТОН ТУТ РЯДОМ (Anton’s Right Here), directed by Lyubov Arkus
6.    ПЛЭЙБЭК (Playback/ Dur d’être Dieu), directed by Antoine Cattin, Pavel Kostomarov
7.    ВНУТРИ КВАДРАТНОГО КРУГА (Inside a Squire Circle), directed by Valery Shevchenko
8.    OUTRO, directed by Yulia Panasenko
9.    РОЖДЕННЫЕ В СССР: 28 ЛЕТ (Born in the USSR: 28 up, part 1 and part 2), directed by Sergei Miroshnichenko
10.    ПО ДОРОГЕ ДОМОЙ (On The Way Home), directed by Sergey Kachkin (Russia/Germany)
11.    Я ТЕБЯ НЕ ЛЮБЛЮ (I Do Not Love You),  directed by Pavel Kostomarov, Alexander Rastorguev
12.    МИЛАНА (Milana), by Madina Mustafina
13.    СОБАЧИЙ КАЙФ (Space Dog), directed by Ivan I. Tverdovsky
14.    КАТЯ КРЕНАЛИНОВА (Katya Krenalinova), directed by Alexandra Likhacheva
15.    ЧУВСТВЕННАЯ МАТЕМАТИКА (Colors of Math), directed by Ekaterina Eremenko
16.    ШИРОКИЕ ОБЪЯТИЯ (Wide Embrace), directed by Yulia Kiseleva
17.    ПИАНИЗМ (Pianism),  directed by Ivan I. Tverdovsky
18.    МАРШ, МАРШ, ЛЕВОЙ! (March, March with your Left!), directed by Evgenia Montaña Ibañez
19.    ЛЕША (Lyosha), directed by Elena Demidova
20.    ДОБРОЕ УТРО, МИТРОВИЦА (Good Morning, Mitrovitsa), directed by Irina Uraslkaya

The Top 20 List includes films by both recognized masters and debut diploma works of the young filmmakers. The films content varies a lot: from the vital political and social issues to all time poetic themes, which stands as an indirect proof that festivals’ jury and film selectors are unbiased.

The Guild’s research also aimed to see how many films were produced using financial support of the Russian Ministry of Culture. Only 50 films out of 200 had governmental support. It speaks of the low effectiveness of the system of governmental money distribution: most of the films sponsored by the Ministry of Culture never reach the viewers; on the contrary, the films that did not get any governmental subsidies became popular.

This kind of documentary film analysis has been accomplished for the first time. The Rating is due to possible changes because information from the filmmakers and film studios about the fate of their films is still coming in.

Conducting this kind of film effectiveness analysis annually and cooperating with the Ministry of Culture at the stage of applications for subsidies selection, the Guild of Documentary Film and Television hopes to enhance the quality of the system of financial resources distribution and facilitate the development of the effective system documentary films release and promotion.