Magnificent7 – a Festival with a Big Heart

I am in Riga for the Baltic Sea Docs. I am with Uldis Cekulis, who has been to Magnificent7 twice. As the producer of “Ramin” by Audrius Stonys and “Bridges of Time”, that Stonys directed together with Kristine Briede.

I asked Uldis to remember and characterize the festival. He kept on saying “Big halls”, “Huge audience” and (!) a festival with Heart. He said HEART with big letters.

Spot on! A festival with a big heart that now celebrates its 20th edition. I have been privileged to be there from the very start. I met Zoran and Svetlana Popovic in Thessaloniki and they asked me to come to Belgrade to show European documentaries and talk about them. I did so for some days and also paid a visit to their private film school. One of the days Zoran asked me if I could help them set up a film festival. Not a big festival in number of films, no it should be carefully selected films and if I, who travelled to many festivals would assist? Yes with pleasure, was the answer. How many films, I asked. What about 7 and we could call it Magnifient7!

Voila!    And a flashback to the first screening at the Sava Centre. I stood next to Svetlana, who thought there would be around 100 for Thomas Riedelsheimer’s “Touch the Sound”. Around 1000 came!

Magnificent7 has a magnificent audience. And a loyal one. I don’t know if there are spectators, who have attended the 19 previous editions but year after year I have said hello to Belgraders, who have said that they come because they are sure that there are films for them – and because the meetings with the directors or producers are always interesting, steered with humour and an extensive film knowledge by Zoran, whose head must be made in a specific manner – he asks questions, translates into Serbian, vice versa when it come to the answers from the filmmakers. Never a sign of him being tired. Apart from helping Zoran to the stage and while walking in the streets, Svetlana is a true film lover and connoisseur. AND both of them, as they said to me the other, love to have guests=film people, they did not have to say so, I have seen and experienced an unbelievable hospitality from their side towards the guests and towards me and my wife Ellen.

Big Heart… and a huge generosity. The filmmakers are treated like kings and queens from they arrive till they leave Belgrade. Films from big names like Heddy Honigmann, Marc Isaacs, Nicolas Philibert, Michael Glawogger, Helena Třeštíková, GermanKral, Arunas Matelis, have been shown on the big screens in the Sava Centre and now in MTS Hall close to the Parliament.

In the beginning of Magnificent7 several young filmmakers were on the stage, having helped Zoran and Svetlana: Andrijana Stojkovic, Mila Turajlic, Sonja Blagojevic, Jelena Stankovic… Now they are making films and have children to take care of. I have been following their careers with pleasure. Jelena, luckily, is still helping out with places to have lunch and dinner. Not to forget Nevena Djonlic, who was head of Film Division at the Sava Centre when it all began, a dedicated Djokovic fan, and lovely young Ema, a filmmaker as well and the one who has been taking us around in wonderful Belgrade.

20 years of visiting Belgrade for the Magnificent7. Pure pleasure. A true friendship has been developed for me and Ellen with Zoran and Svetlana. They have been in Copenhagen and we have made tours with them to the south and north of Serbia, profiting from their enormous historical knowledge – and their view on Serbian politics of today. This friendship will stay!

Enjoy the films of this year, dear audience, they have been picked with HEART.

Tue Steen Müller

Riga

September 1st 2024.

Photo: Touch the Sound by Thomas Riedelsheimer, the first film of the Magnificent7 Festival, in 2005, shown at the Sava Centre Belgrade. I wrote the following words about the film: “From the very first moment you are aware that you look at a Film, you can see what a camera can achieve in the right hands and you meet this fantastic artist (Evelyn Glennie) who introduces you to a magic of sound that you have never before heard. Or seen!

DOK Co-Pro Market 2024 Selects 35 Projects 

Projects explore family stories and various forms of resistance

The 20th edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market welcomes 35 documentary projects from 30 countries that will have the opportunity to find international financing and co-production partners. This year sees a further increase in the number of entries, totalling 366 projects. 

This year’s selection features a number of projects that lens intimate family stories to examine broader themes marking nations, from societal shifts to events of profound socio-political consequence, such as civil wars and military conflicts. Joël Jent’s “Rebellion of Memory” zeroes in on a family of three from different camps of Peru’s last armed conflict. In “Kafka in Belgrade” (WT), Maša Nešković trains her lens on her stepfather and notable filmmaker, Goran Marković, navigating the familial ties against the backdrop of Serbia’s turbulent history. Three projects from Algeria offer layered personal narratives, embedded in the country’s troubled history. In “My Dad’s a Farmer”, filmmaker El Kheyer Zidani returns to Algeria, revisiting his family’s struggles during the country’s 90s civil war. The theme of return to Algeria is also dominant in the two French-Algerian co-productions, Camélia Gadhgadhi’s “Bitter Seed” (Amok Films, “Wake Up On Mars”) and Assia Tamerdjent’s “Hana, Algeria and Me”.

Some projects depict liberation struggles and assorted forms of resistance against oppressive forces. In the vein of exploring new ways to tell a larger story, Esther Vital uses animation as a documentary language in her visually striking animation documentary “If I Die” to reveal the horrors of a clandestine torture centre of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Following former pacifists in Myanmar, including a celebrated poet and human rights activist, Aung Naing Soe’s “When a Poet Goes to War” sheds light on the tragic realities of war as they take up arms to fight the military junta. Delving into the theme of activism, “The Wind’s Thirst” by Alejandro Valbuena chronicles the struggle of Wayuu leaders facing the threat of wind turbine installations on their lands. A tonally different but no less critical story is explored in Manuel Inacker’s “The Land We Breathe” (Restart, which was at the Co-Pro Market 2018 with “Museum of the Revolution”) traces the endeavour of a devoted trio trying to protect Dalmatia on the Croatian coast amid the onslaught of tourists and looming climate collapse.

Several titles in this year’s lineup approach the theme of sports as an element of healing, empowerment, and community-building. In Jacopo De Bertoldi and Petna Ndaliko Katondolo’s “Fists of Peace”, former child soldier Kibomango morphs an abandoned stadium into a boxing gym in the DRC’s Goma for war-scarred youths. Kan Muftic’s “Blackbelts” contemplates the human condition and disability, inserting the viewer into the lives of persons, often sidelined by society, as they turn to taekwondo. Another poignant story featuring sports comes from Nupur Agrawal and Shivajee Biswanath. In their project“Downhill Kargil”, unfolding in a remote Himalayan town in India, two Muslim teenage girls are set on playing ice hockey in the face of the changing environmental and socio-political milieu.

Presenting topically different narratives, a number of projects in the selection embrace the theme of music and singing. Walter Fasano’s “Popol Vuh: A Cosmic Journey” takes us on a sonic voyage with the iconic German band of Popol Vuh, using expansive archival material, while Nona Giunashvili’s “Sacred Songs” crafts a choral portrait of four female singers straddling tradition, religion, and artistic expression in a Georgian village. Emotive testimony is at the heart of another project relating to music, Amine Boukhris’ “Solo”, which tells an incomprehensibly personal story of Solo Akmal, a young rapper in Tunisia who was abandoned by his mother to live among Daesh (IS).

This year’s lineup also showcases three compelling documentary series projects: Daphné Leblond and Lisa Billuart-Monet’s “The Free Speech Rises” (Les Films d’Ici, co-produced by Iota Production), ​​Rafael Valdeavellano and Nicolas Acuña’s true crime series “Letelier File” (La Ventana Cine), and Philipp Diettrich and Sara Woldeslassie’s “From Here”.

The selection includes five promising projects that the DOK Industry team scouted at trusted partner training initiatives and film markets: Andrei Kutsila’s “Letters”, Amílcar Patel’s “Africa AI”, Emmanuelle Mayer’s “Woman in White”, Kan Muftic’s “Blackbelts”, and Yuriy Shylov’s “Entr’actes”.

Some of the directors and producers invited to this year’s Co-Pro Market have previously had their projects presented and/or their films screened at DOK Leipzig. Stefilm (Co-Pro Market 2017 with “Exemplary Behaviour”, a Golden Dove winner at DOK Leipzig 2019) is returning to the festival with their new project “Queerinale, Who Will Take Care of Me? by Matteo Castellino, which follows a group of gay seniors in Rome creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ people in difficulty. Filmmaker from the US Milton Guillén (Co-Pro Market 2019 with “On the Move”) will introduce his new project “My Skin and I”, co-directed with Fiona Guy Hall. German filmmaker Marita Stocker (DOK Leipzig 2019 with “What to Do With All This Love”) will return to the festival with her new project “Sitting the Month” (Eikon Media).

The 20th edition continues to see immense international interest from beyond the European borders, welcoming this October directors and producers from the US, five countries from Central and South America, five Asian countries, and five African countries. 

The DOK Co-Pro Market 2024 is set to take place from 28 October to 29 October in Leipzig, with complementary online meetings on 5 November.

This year’s selection process was carried out by Jia Zhao (Chinese-Dutch film producer, founder of Muyi Film and Silk Road Film Salon), Marcella Jelić (founder of Split Screen), and Ümit Uludağ (producer and CEO of CORSO), with Brigid O’Shea (director of DAE), Guevara Namer (coordinator of the DOK Co-Pro Market), and Nadja Tennstedt (director of DOK Industry).

Overview of Selected 35 Projects:


Africa AI | Director: Amílcar Patel | South Africa | KAMVA Collective
Bitter Seed | Director: Camélia Gadhgadhi | France, Algeria | Amok Films, Libre Image
Blackbelts | Director: Kan Muftic | Switzerland | PANIMAGE
BOOM! | Director: Laura Plancarte | UK | The Republic of Park Royal, LP Films
Chunyu: A Death Foretold | Director: Fan Yang | China, Canada | Walking in the Mountains, Electric Shadow
Downhill Kargil | Directors: Nupur Agrawal, Shivajee Biswanath | India | AutumnWolves Media
Entr’actes | Director: Yuriy Shylov | Ukraine | Alarm Productions
Fists of Peace | Directors: Jacopo De Bertoldi, Petna Ndaliko Katondolo | Italy, DR Congo | AntropicA, Alkebu
The Free Speech Rises | Directors: Daphné Leblond, Lisa Billuart-Monet | France, Belgium | Les Films d’Ici , Iota Production
From Here | Directors: Philipp Diettrich, Sara Woldeslassie | Germany | PINKY SWEAR FILM
From Radvanka | Director: Tomi Hazhlinsky | Ukraine | Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema
The Gary Project | Director: Luchina Fisher | USA | Little Light Productions
The Goldfather | Director: Decio Matos Jr. | Brazil | CAPURI
Hana, Algeria and Me | Director: Assia Tamerdjent | France, Algeria | Making of Films, Urubu Films
Hope is a Word | Director: Maria Galliani Dyrvik | Norway, Nigeria | Smau media 
If I Die | Director: Esther Vital | Brazil, France, Spain | O Par Produções, Marmitafilms, Midralgar 
Kafka in Belgrade (WT) | Director: Maša Nešković | Serbia | Marienbad film
The Land We Breathe | Director: Manuel Inacker | Croatia, Germany | Restart
Left Behind | Director: Nasib Mahamud Farah | Denmark | Emjay Productions
Letelier File | Directors: Rafael Valdeavellano, Nicolas Acuña | Chile | La Ventana Cine
Letters | Director: Andrei Kutsila | Poland, Germany | DocEdu Foundation, DOCDAYS Productions
My Dad’s a Farmer | Director: El Kheyer Zidani | Algeria, Germany | Z§K Production, jip Film & Verleih 
My Skin and I | Directors: Milton Guillén, Fiona Guy Hall | Nicaragua, Germany, USA | Mayana Films, Solaris Film
not-yet-here | Director: Giorgio Bosisio | Italy | Studio x01
Oh, Heart Don’t Be Afraid | Director: Ana Kvichidze | Georgia, Germany | Moonbow Production, parabellum film
Popol Vuh: A Cosmic Journey| Director: Walter Fasano  | USA | Good ‘n Proper
Queerinale, Who Will Take Care of Me? | Director: Matteo Castellino | Italy | Stefilm International 
Rebellion of Memory | Director: Joël Jent | Switzerland, France, Peru | Aaron Film, Les Films d’Ici, Amazona Producciones
Sacred Songs | Director: Nona Giunashvili | Georgia | 17|07 Productions
Sitting the Month | Director: Marita Stocker | Germany | eikon media
Solo | Director: Amine Boukhris | Tunisia, France, Qatar | Donia Films, Dynamo Production
Umbrellas of the Acrobats | Director: Mukesh Subramaniam | India | Elsewhat
When a Poet Goes to War | Director: Aung Naing Soe | Thailand, Hong Kong | Singing Cicadas, 101fps
The Wind’s Thirst | Director: Alejandro Valbuena | Colombia | Curare Films
Woman in White | Director: Emmanuelle Mayer | Israel | Emmanuelle Mayer Films
 

The complete schedule for DOK Industry, including all dates, will be published on 26 September. 
 

Baltic Sea Docs Riga 2024/ 2

One afternoon – a tradition – I left the pitching venue at the Baltic Sea Docs to have a couple of hours with Davis Simanis Jr, documentary and fiction director, and now also rector of Latvian Academy of Culture. We went to “Little Moscow” as he told me the area around all the magnificent art deco buildings, including those with Eisenstein’s father as the architect, is now called as many Russians have left their country after the full scale war in Ukraine that began in February 2022; to take up and renovate apartments and shops; also the wine shop where we settled for a bottle and some bruschettas.

Anyway, the conversation was about films. The situation in documentary film in Latvia made Davis a bit worried, when it comes to the classical observation of Life as it performs in front of us. Ivars Seleckis, Davis said, is the last one of a great generation – Uldis Brauns, Herz Frank, Freimanis… – the director and cinematographer of so many important works, who turns 90 on the 22nd of September with a premiere of “To be Continued.Teenhood”, a sequel to “To Be Continued” from 2015, co-directed by Armands Zacs, who has been editor of a lot of awarded Latvian films, in both genres. The generation of filmmakers whose ability to catch moments of Life was unique. My own favourite among these documentarians as always been Uldis Brauns, honoured in the film “Bridges of Time” by Kristine Briede and Audrius Stonys. Davis and I talked about Brauns and Herz Frank, the latter I met a couple of times in Tel Aviv, where he lived his last years. Brauns I only met once, when Uldis Cekulis and Kristine Briede brought me along for a research trip for “Bridges of Time”. Brauns and Frank, the poet and the intellectual. Frank answered me once, when I asked him about his principal inspiration: Uldis Brauns. Davis had met him once and he was proud that Brauns liked his “Chronicles of the Last Temple” (2012) about Love and Life with the new National Library, fantastic architecture, as the starting point. “But I am probably more in the line of Herz Frank”, Davis said. For sure, I said, you think a lot… maybe too much?

For this post I have chosen a photo with a grafitti “Life is a Present” that I saw on the wall next to the Kino Bize, also in “Little Moscow”; I could also have chosen to quote Lithuanian born Jonas Mekas (1922-2019): … I am only a filmer. I film real life. I never know what will come next. The shape of my films emerges from the accumulation of the material itself. I go through my life with my Bolex camera.” And on another occasion he has said, “when I film I celebrate Life”.

A flashback to the Baltic Sea Docs, where so many fine, also observational, projects were presented, I am thinking about a couple of the presented films-to-be. First of all “Odyssey MD” by Moldovan Pavel Braila, an homage to his country through sequences full of fun and love. I do hope that this film will come to festivals to be appreciated for its “documentary eye”. Braila mentioned Uldis Brauns and his “235.000.000” as an inspiration.

The same goes for “Serozhik” by Armenian Lusine Papoyan, a film where she over all four seasons intends to follow a village boy (the title). The trailer shown was pure Cinema, great shots from nature reminding me and a couple of other film buffs in the pitching panel of Artavadz Pelechian and his amazing films – one of them called “Seasons”…

Davis Simanis Jr. and I also talked about football and love and life and children…


Baltic Sea Docs Riga 2024

You must have been at least 50 times to Riga, the driver next to me said. Uldis Cekulis is his name, a key person in Latvian documentary, producer and cameraman, a man who cannot sit still, always in action, and whose hospitality has no limits as we (Phil Jandaly, Mikael Opstrup and Zane Balcus) experienced, when we on the last day of August left for his summerhouse a couple of hours out of Riga to experience a long drive with forest on both sides of the road, a fish restaurant and a fine evening with wonderful Georgian chacha. Beautiful place, fantastic house, so well arranged.

Back in Riga September 1st, the 28th edition started with a screening of “Silence of Reason” by Kumjana Novakova from Skopje, North Macedonia. A quote of a quote from what was written on this site in April this year https://filmkommentaren.dk/kumjana-novakova-silence-of-reason/: “In this forensic video essay, filmmaker Kumjana Novakova uses mostly written testimonies by the women to explore the collective memory of the rape camps. In grainy video footage, the camera explores the places where these inhuman crimes took place, while the women speak about the unspeakable. (IDFA Catalogue 2023)”. Magnificent documentary, fine discussion the morning after moderated by the boss of Baltic Sea Docs (BSD), Zane Balcus.

I think Cekulis exaggerated but indeed I have been many many times to the capital of Latvia due to the BSD and it is always wonderful to see how the organizers find new locations. This year the film screenings have been moved to the Splendid Palace and the workshop venue to what used to be an apartment. A place full of atmosphere as the pitch venue is, where we were today for the first round or project presentation, K.K. fon Stricka villa. The screening of “Silence of Reason” took place in a cinema Kino Bize, that reminded me of the café cinemas we used to have in Copenhagen in the 80’es.

Back to the film screenings that I have written about before on this site, https://filmkommentaren.dk/baltic-sea-docs-film-program/. After one of the many receptions, I went to listen to the Q&A with Sissel Morell Dargis after the screening of her Balomania, https://filmkommentaren.dk/sissel-morell-dargis-balomania-anmeldelse/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEx3NlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaEDk13FpeKhnYzmvPK8DXiKuZ_hOxfiyBtxFod1iE4DY96K8Ok3dEOCBQ_aem_SFGRNnX8RXJIHprRylmO2Q. Danish Sissel, had never met her before, told with humor and passion about her impressive first film and answered the many questions from the audience and from the moderator Stanislavs Tokalov, who made “Everything will be Allright”, https://filmkommentaren.dk/stanislavs-tokalov-everything-will-be-alright/.

Everything IS actually alright at this event that is close to my heart. My tutor and moderator colleague Mikael Opstrup often look at each other to repeat that the organization is brilliant, led by Zane Balcus, Margarita Rimkus, Lelda Ozola et al., not to forget the technicians, who simply don’t make any mistakes. Every little detail is thought of. At the pitch sessions – new this year – there is a panel of 8 decision makers, that shifts from session to session plus a good handful of broadcasters, sales agents and producers. It works very well and while I am writing this, meetings are being held at the venue inside or outside in the sun. Voila!

For most of the filmmakers BSD is the first step to go to other markets and festivals. The first test, what´s to be changed, inspiration and encouragement.

BSD ends tomorrow with the second day of pitchings and film screenings including the charming “Agent of Happiness”, https://filmkommentaren.dk/arun-bhattarai-and-dorottya-zurbo-agent-of-happiness/. Join the party.

On the photo (Agnese Zeltina) you see Maka Gogaladze and her mother Nino after the screening of Maka’s “Ever Since I knew Myself”, the opening film in Splendid Palace, and it is Uldis Cekulis, who speaks to them.

Dāvis Sīmanis Jr.: Death of Death

I take the opportunity to copy paste – again – a text from FilmNewEurope of yesterday, written by Alexander Gabelia about a Latvian director, whose documentary carreer I have been following for decades: Dāvis Sīmanis. here iot goes:

RIGA: The acclaimed Latvian director Dāvis Sīmanis is currently in post production with the Latvian/Czech documentary Death of Death. Balancing an existential road film with a humorous science fiction, the doc is expected to be released in the autumn of 2024.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the gradual alienation from fellow human beings and the growing fear of his own death make the author go on a research trip to see if there is an opportunity to prolong his life scientifically. This is the starting point of an existential yet hysterical journey to uncover the business of eternal life in the world of today. While meeting characters who range from crazy futurologists to crafty “death” businessmen, the director realises that his role as an investigator becomes a personal obsession.

“It would not be an exaggeration to say that most people feel a physiological fear of ageing, disease and death. A special interest attracts scientists and more or less sane enthusiasts to distance or even cancel the inevitable end of our physical existence. Our film will examine these natural yet unrealistic human thrives. We can definitely say that a film about the search for the transfer of consciousness and immortality will attract a lot of interest from the audience”, producer Guntis Trekteris told FNE.

He is producing through Latvian Ego Media in coproduction with Radim Prochazka through the Czech company Kuli Film, with a total budget of 261,426 EUR.

The project was co-financed by the National Film Centre of Latvia and the Czech Film Fund.

Death of Death was shot in 2022/2023 in several countries including Latvia, Russia, the USA, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria and the UK.

In February 2024, Maria’s Silence / Marijas klusums by Dāvis Sīmanis, which had its world premiere in the Forum section, received the Ecumenical Jury Award at the 74th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. The film was produced by Mistrus Media and coproduced by Lithuania’s Broom Films.

Baltic Sea Docs 2024

28th Edition of Baltic Sea Docs set to showcase 26 film projects…

The 28th edition of Baltic Sea Docs documentary pitching forum is set to take place in Riga, 1-8 September. This year, the forum will feature the presentation of 26 film projects, alongside screenings for local audiences in Riga and various regional towns across Latvia.

Baltic Sea Docs is dedicated to showcasing feature-length creative documentary projects that originate from or focus on the wider Baltic Sea region, Eastern Europe and Caucasus. 22 new projects at various stages of development and production will be presented at the forum, with an additional four projects in post-production returning to the Baltic Sea Docs as they seek festival partnerships and sales agents.

This year, half of the projects are represented by production companies from Baltic countries – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia – while others are produced in Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and beyond. The topics covered are as diverse as they are timely, ranging from films addressing urgent geopolitical events and pressing environmental issues to poetic explorations of societal shifts and popular culture.

The new project teams will refine their pitch presentations in a training workshop preceding the pitching sessions led by renowned documentary film consultants Tue Steen Müller and Mikael Opstrup from Denmark. The workshop will be facilitated by a team of international industry experts: film editor Phil Jandaly (Sweden), directors Giedrė Beinoriūtė (Lithuania) and Kumjana Novakova (North Macedonia / Bosnia & Herzegovina), marketing strategist Paul Rieth (Germany), and producer Simon Kilmurry (USA).

The pitching sessions will take place on 5-6 September with the projects being presented to an international panel of decision makers: representatives of sales and distribution companies (e.g. Lightdox, filmdelights, CAT&docs, Rise and Shine), production companies, TV channels (NHK, YLE, Current Time TV), and film festivals (Tallinn Black Nights, FIPADOC, Sheffield DocFest, Thessaloniki IDFF), among others, followed by one-to-one meetings.

The forum will continue collaboration with several industry partners presenting a number of prizes for the participants. East Doc Platform Award will grant accreditation and access to one-on-one meetings for one team at the next edition of the East Doc Platform in Prague, while IDFA and Baltic Sea Docs Collaboration Award for Baltic filmmakers will provide accreditation and guidance for a director and a producer at the next edition of IDFA in Amsterdam. BBposthouse, an end to end digital post production company that provides personalised services across the entire film post production process, will offer an award of post-production services in the value of 3,000 Euro. This year Baltic Sea Docs has also initiated collaboration with Movies That Matter and Sheffield DocFest that will contribute awards including accreditation and access to the respective industry events. Finally, the Baltic Sea Docs will offer an award consisting of a consultancy session with an industry expert in the field of the project’s choice.

Alongside pitching sessions, on 4 September, the Creative Europe MEDIA Desks of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania will host two seminars: the first will feature audience developer Paul Rieth (Germany) in conversation with marketing specialist Sergejs Timoņins (Latvia) on ‘Tools for Documentary Audience Reach: AI and Beyond,’ offering insights into better connecting with audiences. The second seminar will feature Basil Tsiokos, a senior non-fiction programmer at the Sundance Film Institute, in conversation with film producer Uldis Cekulis (VFS Films, Latvia) sharing tips on how to maximize documentary’s chances at the Sundance Film Festival.

In parallel with the industry events, the Baltic Sea Docs film programme will kick off on 3 September at Splendid Palace cinema with Maka Gogaladze’s Ever Since I Knew Myself (2024), which was originally pitched at the 2019 edition of Baltic Sea Docs. The film programme will also include screenings of Agent of Happiness (dir. Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó), Life is Beautiful (dir. Mohamed Jabaly), Hollywoodgate (dir. Ibrahim Nash’at), Balomania (dir. Sissel Morell Dargis), among other notable titles, and have filmmakers present meeting with the audiences.

More information about the participating film projects and the full programme is available on the Baltic Sea Docs website: http://balticseadocs.lv/.

Baltic Sea Docs is organized by the National Film Centre of Latvia, with support from the Creative Europe MEDIA programme, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, and Cēsis municipality.

27.08.2024.

Information prepared by

Ieva Lange

Baltic Sea Docs media coordinator

+371 22189061

ieva.lange@nkc.gov.lv

Nils Vest 1943-2024

Såvel min kollega Allan Berg som døde i marts i år og jeg har altid sat Nils Vest og hans dokumentariske virke højt, ligesom møderne med ham altid var præget af gensidig respekt. Vii har som filmkonsulenter støttet hans altid fine kunstneriske arbejde og skrevet derom.

I juni 2010 skrev Allan en anmeldelse af Nils film om Københavns Rådhus:

“Den koncentreret vedholdende og omhyggeligt researchende Niels Vest er klar med en ny arkitekturfilm. 17. juni er der i Grand Teatret, København premiere på hans seneste værk i rækken af bygningshistorier vævet sammen med arkitektbiografier, filmen om tilblivelsen af Københavns Rådhus fra 1905 og om husets arkitekt, Martin Nyrop. Den har fået titlen Et rådhus til alvor og fest. Den handler om intrigerne i byggeudvalget, hvor Nyrops modstandere havde indflydelse, om arkitektkonkurrencerne, om Nyrops vældige forarbejder med studier, især i italiensk renæssancearkitektur, om hans frodige detaljeglæde og især om den snedige stædighed, hvormed han sikrede sig, at hans oprindelige idé og plan ad omveje blev gennemført. Et tema om den suveræne arkitektpersonlighed som er centralt i hele Vests række af skildringer af hovedpersoner og monumenter fra den danske bygningskulturelle arv: Laurits Thura og Vor Frelsers Kirke, Nicolai Eigtved og Frederiksstaden, C.F. Hansen og Vor Frue Kirke, Christian 4. og Rosenborg. 

Niels Vest modtager en af dagene Europa Nostra Prisen 2010 for sit arbejde med at organisere bevarelsen af visse bymiljøer som især Christiania og senest for eksempel modstanden mod en nutidig tilbygning ved Holmens Kirke.

Still: Niels Vests film boltrer sig i detaljer: ”Den store indgang fra Vester Voldgade, hvor der engang løb en å, har både to krabber, en havmand, en havfrue og et søpindsvin placeret rundt om portåbningen foruden kalkmalerier med tang og en søstjerne oppe under loftet inde i porten.” Men filmen fortaber sig ikke et øjeblik, overblikket mærkes som en sikkerhed, ikke som en stramhed.”

Arkitekturfilmene er en vigtig del af Nils Vest filmiske eftermæle. Men han spændte vidt. Fra min tid i Statens Filmcentral husker jeg og glædes over stavnsbåndsfilmen “Fejemanden og Friheden” og “Af Jord er du kommet” og selvfølgelig hans Christiania-film og det politiske hovedværk “Et undertrykt folk har altid ret”, hvorom jeg skrev i 2007: “den nåede folketingets talerstol, blev voldsomt kritiseret og trukket tilbage af Statens Filmcentral for at blive genindlemmet i distributionen i en meget lidt redigeret version. Den pro-palæstinensiske film, der i 1975 var kontroversiel pga sin kritik af Israel, blev et hit i SFC’s distribution.” I tilbageblik er det rystende at huske hvordan Nils og filmen blev angrebet af ledende danske jøder, bortset fra overrabiner Melchior.

Med Nils Vest har vi mistet en stor dansk dokumentarist. I 2022 skrev han til mig at han samlede materiale til en bog om sine film, ligger der måske et utrykt manuskript i hans gemmer? RIP

Audrius Stonys on The Baltic Way

The Baltic Way for me and for my whole generation, those who survived this event, will remain as a genetic code that is deeply and substantially engrained in the consciousness. As a believer, I see this event from a theological perspective. It seems to me that, for a very brief moment, God opened the gates of history to us and showed us what we could be—brave, tolerant, loving, altruistic and noble. Allowed a glimpse into the preserved heart of the soul of the nation. Souls that have been raped, strangled, tortured and paralyzed for so many years, yet remained and unbroken.

It seems to me that this moment of truth and love was essential for that, later, when everything is covered by the dust of everyday life, when the burden of injustice and hurt will no longer allow you to see the real person in a person, when selfish politicians are all over the place, the person will lose hope and the way, and when it will seem that there is no other way and it can’t be, we could stop and tell ourselves that we could be different.

And it’s not the numbers that count. We can leave the numbers to the composers of the Guinness Book. The important thing is that we were able to reach out to a stranger who was sitting next to him. Holding hands is a very intimate act that requires mutual trust. We did not ask the person standing next to him what his religion, what his orientation, or even what his nationality was.

Later, the Baltic Way repeated, but not in an occasion handshake on some anniversary years of the Baltic Way, when the shape was repeated, but the contents remained empty, and on the night of January 13. Back then people defended Lithuanian freedom by joining hands. Loreta Asanavičiute died under a tank of caterpillars, but didn’t let go of the hand of her friend who was standing next to her until the last moment. I think this contains the greatest meaning of the Baltic Way.

And still, above all this transparent and festive Baltic Way, there was some unnamed sadness prevailing at that time. Maybe it was a painful realization that entire generations of people who were waiting with their lives and sacrifice approaching our Freedom Day, did not get it. Maybe it was a historical feeling that everything is just beginning, that Freedom is not an event, but a long and sometimes very difficult process. We tried to record that unexplainable feeling in the fabric of the movie “Baltic Way”. Many were surprised at that time and some were even outraged by Handel’s music minor, which played in the movie and Vytautas Machernys verses read by his sister, about people walking through the storm and the blazing rain, falling a thousand times, rising and walking away. Now we can remember and name all the political, moral, valuable storms and rains that we had to pass in those 35 years since the Baltic Way. A strange paradox—the movie sent a message that even the filmmakers themselves understood only after many years.

The movie “Baltic Way” itself traveled the whole world, from Seoul to Montevideo and continues. The nearest movie stop – Paris Pompidou Center in November this year.

The Baltic Way continues. Not in external, artificial repetitions of forms, occasional hugging, but in real acts of love and brotherhood. When Lithuania collected millions of support for Ukraine fighting for its and our freedom in a few days, I felt like we were standing on the Baltic Way again.

***

Jãnis Abele: The Last Will

A copy-paste from FNE (FilmNewEurope) about a film that I have seen close to final cut thanks to the producer Guntis Trekteris, loved it:

RIGA: Latvian director/writer Jānis Ābele is currently in postproduction with his documentary The Last Will, which is expected to be released in the autumn of 2024.

Anatols Imermanis, a poet, founder of the Latvian detective genre and a famous bohemian, draws us in his last detective story 20 years after his death. He could call himself a successful, financially stable Soviet writer. But he wanted more. Being free in the West, especially in Paris, was a life-long dream for Imermanis. As he was never allowed to leave the Soviet Union, he created his own personal Paris: bohemian lifestyle, sexual freedom, ignoring all the puritan norms of the Soviet world. He died alone without fulfilling his dream about Paris.

“Anatols Imermanis was one of the most genuine dissidents in the Baltics. His unique life gave rise to the desire to study it more profoundly, because such stories about unusual personalities who, despite the pressure of the regime, dared not to fit into the normality, are of great importance. The personality of Imermanis clarified the intention of the authors to create an unusual film in form and content, evidenced by the applied detective story genre and shameless game elements. In our perspective, this is a great way to appeal to the audience of today”, producer Guntis Trekteris told FNE.

Guntis Trekteris and Dita Birkenšteine are producing through Latvian company Ego Media with the support of the National Film Centre of Latvia.

The article is signed by Alexander Gabelis, photo-credit: Toms Šķēle.

The total budget is 181,447 EUR.

The film was shot in Latvia and France in 2023.

Baltic Sea Docs Film Program

As usual the Baltic Sea Forum launches a strong film program parallel to the Industry section with its development workshop and pitching. Let me mention the wonderful “Agent of Happiness” by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, reviewed on this site, as is “Balomania” by Danish Sissel Morell Dargis, the poetic “Ever Since I Knew Myself” by Georgian Maka Gogaladze is there as the journalistic “Hollywoodgate” by Ibrahim Nash’at.

And bravo, that the selectors are bringing two Ukrainian masterpiece to Riga in the period 3-8. September: “Intercepted” by Oksana Karpovych and “A Poem for little People” by Ivan Sautkin.

Five more films will be on the screen – check it out here: https://dokforums.gov.lv/blog/portfolio_category/films-2024/

A quote from the review of “Intercepted” (PHOTO) on this site:

“The film (also) includes a sequence with Russia war prisoners lining up to get some food. No comments here. And observations from an underground cellar with two old women, cut to a younger woman who is preparing soup for them. Compassion. And people queuing for food, Ukrainians helping each other. Not to forget a beautiful scene, where a husband is caressing a cow, while his wife is milking it. When the bucket is full, they leave on a scooter. Life goes on… makes me think of Humphrey Jennings and his propaganda films during WW2.A clever thought film, so well built, shocking sound pieces to images of devastation but like in Alain Resnais “Night and Fog” no corpses. The right choice. The director is a true “auteur”.