Joshua Oppenheimer: The Act of Killing

Werner Herzog says of Oppenheimer’s depiction of power and violence: “I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade… unprecedented in the history of cinema.” And Errol Morris praises Oppenheimer’s portrayal of violence and cinematic imagination: “Like all great documentaries, ‘The Act of Killing’ demands another way of looking at reality. It starts as a dreamscape, an attempt to allow the perpetrators to reenact what they did, and then something truly amazing happens. The dream dissolves into nightmare and then into bitter reality. An amazing and impressive film.” (blogs.indiewire.com)

Når Herzog og Morris siger sådan, bliver jeg mere end interesseret. Når jeg ser traileren på Vimeo bliver jeg rystet, helt bogstaveligt rystet, selv om jeg forstår, det er rekonstruktioner, ikke fiktion, nej, omhyggelige genskabelser af erindringsbilleder, ikke fortrængninger, men de mest forfærdende hændelser og gerninger, disse medvirkende lever med som deres liv. Som noget selvfølgeligt, forstår jeg? Jeg SKAL se den film om de indonesiske dødspatrulje-gangstere, som myrdede kommunister for magthaverne midt i 60’erne. Den åbner CPH:DOX 30. oktober.

Filmen havde premiere på festivalen i Toronto tidligere i år, den er produceret af blandt andre Final Cut for Real og klippet af Janus Billeskov Jansen og Niels Pagh Andersen med flere, så den skal vel i dansk distribution efterhånden?

Still: En af scenerne fra traileren, en mere end brutal afhøring.

PS Jamen dansk distribution er altså sikret! Jeg siger selvfølgelig ja til Saras invitation, og her er hendes link til DOX:BIO med liste over alle biograferne, hvor filmen vises simultant 7. november:

http://www.doxbio.dk/dbio/b.lasso?d=2012502&n=1119&e=0 

Astra Film Festival 2012/ 1

“Eighty films produced in twentyfive countries  to be screened in seven days”, this is the way that the Astra Film Festival (October 15-21) in Sibiu, Romania introduces itself. The festival has an international competitive programme of 9 films (see below), a Romanian competition of 9 films, a section called Eco Cinematograff, also competitive as well as a student section. But if you want an insight to new Romanian documentaries, Sibiu seems to be the place to be. This is the (slightly shortened) text from the website in troducing the themes of the films:

In mid-autumn, while Romania’s television screens are snoring accompanied by the noise of political talk-shows, stories of Romanian realities heat up the projection screens of Sibiu’s Astra Film Festival.

A diversified image of today’s Romania is sketched through the Romanian films being screened for a week in Sibiu: from unusual subjects, such as young men’s first days of freedom after years of incarceration (Turn Off the Lights by Ivana Mladenovic), a year in the life of a young Roma beggar in Helsinki (Helping Mihaela by Hanna Maylett), or the troubles of Sumna, a 20 year-old woman from Israel who has been adopted as a baby and is searching for her biological mother in Bucharest (Sumna’s Letter, by Hadar Kleinman-Zadock); to subjects dealing with Romania’s recent history, such as a digest of the events in December 1989  (Empty Hearts and Full Wallets, by Cornel Mihalache) and the recent flawed privatizations of some Romanian factories (Crosses of the secular plants, by director Gabriela Baiardi).

The line-up of Romanian films promises a great cinema experience, as each film has a different cinematographic approach, thus covering the whole range:

author documentaries, docudrama, television documentaries, essays, art documentaries and observational documentaries.

Stories on current topics

The effects of the labor force migration to Spain, from the perspective of two girls from a village in Maramureş County, will be shown in Here… I Mean There directed by Laura Căpăţână-Juller, a world premiere at Astra Film Festival. Common Ground, a Belgian production from 2012, is a window into the lives of Romanians living in apartment buildings, captured by the observational camera of Anne Schiltz and Charlotte Grégoire

Unknown and untold stories about the past

The Truth about the Holocaust, signed by none other than Florin Cioabă, focuses on the holocausts of the Roma and brings forward a number of deeds that are not well-known in Romania. The docudrama Heavenly Run, directed by Stelian Tănase, tells the story of a family’s incredible escape from Socialist Romania to Austria. Vanina Vignal’s After the Silence what Remains Unsaid Does Not Exist? closely examines a personal experience of Ceaușescu’s dictatorial regime.

Stremt 89, a documentary by Anda Puşcas and Dragoş Dulea, shows us the personal experiences and current reflections of the revolutionaries from the Stremţ village in Alba County.

The special program “The Dacians in Documentary Film” is made up of three world-premiere documentaries completed in 2012, with different approaches on the Dacian people. The film screenings will be followed by a panel with their producers and with historians that are experienced in interacting with the audience.

The unknown life of Romanian villages

In Blessings, Dite Dinesz’s camera captures the life of remote hamlets that do not appear on any map. Sociologist Alfred Bulai introduces us to the world of the Roma people from Drăguşi, and Botiza by Frédéric Gonseth and Catherine Azad (Switzerland), another premiere at AFF 2012, is a sensitive and deep incursion in the daily life of a village from Maramureş.

In the “Eco Cinematograf” section, we have the premiere of Roşia Montană, Town on the Brink, a Germany-Romania coproduction directed by Fabian Daub, a film that shows the current lifestyle and thoughts of the villagers that remained and of the people who have been already relocated to Alba Iulia, as well as the exploitation plans of the mining corporation. Poisoned by Andrei Sota, another premiere at Astra Film Sibiu 2012, focuses on the food that we eat in Romania and its long-term effects on the population.

The Astra Film Sibiu 2012 audience will also be able to enjoy a series of portrait-documentaries, such as: Digging for Life by Pavel Cuzuioc, The Japanese Quince Tree by Mara Trifu, Noosfera by Artchil Khetagouri and Ileana Stănculescu, Visiting Room by Radu Muntean and Alexandru Baciu. This year’s portrait section is dedicated Laurenţiu Damian, and will showcase for the first time the director’s most recent films: Corpus and Within a Tempest. The Island.

http://www.astrafilm.ro/news.aspx

Astra Film Festival/ 2

As stated above10 films are listed in the international competition of the Astra Film Festival in Sibiu in Romania. Among them are films that have made an impression on this blogger at other festivals like Petr Lom’s ”Back to the Square” from the revolution in Egypt, Dana Budisavljevic’ ”Family Meals”, an intimate look at the director’s family’s lack of communication about subjects ”not to be mentioned”, made in a warm and entertaining way, as well as the strong and intense portrait of a couple in constant trouble in ”Phnom Penh” by the big talent from Poland, Pawel Kloc. How we meet another culture is the theme of ”Solar Eclipse” by Martin Marecek from Czech Republic, funny and thought-provoking.

The festival also hosts the second session of ”DocStories Black Sea”. Apart from tutoring the projects of the workshop, Petr Lom will do a masterclass named ”Profession Documentarist”, American Rick Minnich will show his ”Forgetting Dad”, a personal and investigative film, Serbian Goran Radovanovic will present and talk about his docufiction ”With Fidel Whatever Happens”, and French producer Serge Gordey will do a session on web documentaries and interactive storytelling.

The workshop is run by Romanian Ileana Stanculescu and Georgian Artchil Khetagouri, both directors, their last film being ”Noosfera”, reviewed on this blog. I will be there as well, as a tutor.

http://www.astrafilm.ro/news.aspx

http://www.docstories-blacksea.com/

Kristina Lindström & Maud Nycander:Palme

This is a review of the biographical film about Olof Palme, a theatrical success in the country, where he lived from his birth in 1927 until he was shot down in a street in Stockholm on his way home from the cinema in 1986. The film opens this month in Denmark. I continue in Danish language:

Hvem var han egentlig, spørges der i filmens begyndelse. En kvindestemme er det, der spørger, det er hende, der kommer tilbage her og der undervejs, ikke på forklarende tv-manér, men nænsomt spørgende tager hun os ved hånden og sikrer det flow i fortællingen, som er der hele tiden i denne flot konstruerede dokumentarfilm, der bygger på arkivmateriale fra tv og film, på nye og gamle interviews – spændt ud over årtier i en klassisk form, hvor alle facetter af fænomenet Olof Palme studeres.

Klassisk på den måde, at modsætninger konstant stilles op. Overklassedrengen Palme der bliver socialdemokratiets leder. Den oratoriske begavelse, verdensmanden Palme som tør gå imod amerikanernes infame Vietnamkrig og konstant forsvarer menneskets rettigheder og værdighed, for samtidig brutalt verbalt at jorde politiske modstandere i den hjemlige andedam. Den netop verbalt suveræne taler, der kunne vende en forsamling til sit synspunkt men ikke nødvendigvis til at kunne lide ham. Han fik aldrig bugt med sin intellektuelle arrogance. Og naturligvis den overordnede sammenstilling af Palme som politisk verdensstjerne i forhold til de mange komplikationer på hjemmebanen. Kirunastrejken, IB-skandalen, skattesagerne, Barsebäck, Clark Olofsson og Stockholmssyndromet osv. Det tjener filmens skabere til ære, at de ikke holder sig tilbage fra at lade flere være temmelig kritiske overfor ikonet. Harry Schein, fhv. filmdirektør, kalder ham et magtmenneske (og det skulle komme fra Schein!/ ed.), Roy Andersson udtaler at sagen omkring IB-skandalen får ham til at tænke, hvor ærlig Palme egentlig var, hvorimod Jörn Donner konstaterer, at Palme var for intelligent til Sverige.

Privatoptagelserne, de kornede stoflige super-8 film, løfter filmen kolossalt i kombination med de fine udsagn, som hans tre sønner kommer med. Der var en privatperson Olof Palme, ihvertfald fire uger om året, som hans hustru

betingede sig, ellers så børnene ikke meget til deres far. Og ferierne blev holdt på Fårø.

Når filmen er så vellykket, skyldes det også, at den skaber stemning med fine, ofte underholdende sekvenser. Kunstneren Carl Johan de Geer siger det jo i et klip omkring 1968, hvor Palme diskuterede med studenterne (en fremragende scene, i øvrigt. Herlig cinema vérité): Men livet fortsatte jo i Sverige som hidtil… hvilket fortælles i arkivklip fra Folkhemmets dagligdags-måde at leve på. Akkurat så velvalgte er flere scener med store runde Tage Erlander, der var akkurat så folkelig som Palme var ufolkelig. Det er om Palme, men det er også om et Sverige og en tid, som vi husker den visuelt.

Det har været vigtigt for filmens skabere i klip, rytme og musik at skabe denne atmosfære i en film, hvor hovedpersonen ikke selv kalder på følelserne. Du har selvfølgelig stor sympati, respekt og beundring filmen igennem for dette fantastiske menneske og hans mod og kompromisløshed, og hans karima stråler ned fra lærredet, men du drages ikke følelsesmæssigt. Det er selvfølgelig derfor, at filmens slutning – det stigende had mod Palme, det meningsløse mord, begravelsen – skal have den patos, som den får med Benny Anderssons musik og det geniale klip fra den ene søn som taler, til den næste, som intet siger men med sit ansigt udtrykker smerte og en uforståenhed, som den tredie søn ligeledes tavst viderefører.

… og du forlader biografen med en klump i halsen, efter at have set en suveræn fortalt fortælling om et stort menneske.

Sverige, 2012, 90 mins.

Premiere i Danmark 12. oktober.

http://www.b-reel.com/featurefilms/films/palme/ 

New Executive Director of Flaherty

This blogger worked with Anita Reher for a decade at EDN (European Documentary Network) in Copenhagen, now she has a quite an important job in the US, carrying the name of one of the founders of the documentary genre, Bravo:

New York, NY (October 2, 2012) Presenter of the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar – the longest-running film exhibition event in the US – The Flaherty has named Anita Reher as Executive Director.    
 
Anita Reher was formerly the co-founder of the European Documentary Network (EDN), a membership-based association created in 1996 with more than 1000 members from 60 different countries. Reher helped build this non-profit service organization into the premiere resource for documentary filmmakers in Europe. As Head of International Relations for EDN, she developed strategies, set priorities, and created more than 50 workshop programs around the world.

“My experiences stem from two decades of working across borders, cultures and languages. Film is, in my opinion, a language that connects people and connecting film 

people has always been my passion and line of work,” Reher said.
 
Reher, who is preceded by Mary Kerr, who served as Executive Director for the Flaherty for six years. Kerr chose to move on from the position in order to pursue producing opportunities.
 
“Mary has been absolutely brilliant. She has carried the Flaherty forward in so many ways, creating the programs Flaherty NYC and Flaherty On The Road, and being a truly effervescent ambassador for us in the community. Mary will remain a close collaborator of the Flaherty,” said Ann Michel, President of the Board of Trustees.
 
Founded in 1955, the Flaherty is 18 months away from celebrating its 60th anniversary. Distinct from films festivals, the Flaherty’s impact and reputation are forged by a unique immersive experience where annually, a guest curator presents a thematically organized program and 10-12 internationally recognized filmmakers discuss their films with attendees. The Flaherty fosters meaningful connections among participants within a setting unencumbered by distractions and carefully designed for the exchange of ideas. Past filmmakers include: Pedro Costa, Lourdes Portillo, DA Pennebaker, Agnes Varda, Satyajit Ray, Natalia Almada, Paul Chan, Charles Burnett and Lisandro Alonso.
 
“It’s not an exaggeration, or uncommon, when past Flaherty participants make the claim that having attended the Seminar changed their careers, or… lives, even,” said Ann Michel.
 
“One thing I have learned over the years of working with the international film community is that filmmakers need to connect with one another, as well as with the many people involved in the wider aspect of media arts, in order to discuss, exchange experiences, share their passion and be inspired. It has been my pleasure to always be that facilitator – a privilege I am very excited to continue within the fine tradition of the Flaherty,” said Reher.
 
In addition to the yearly Seminar, the Flaherty operates throughout the year with programs such as Flaherty NYC, and Flaherty On The Road, as well as collaborating on special events with a number of organizations such as the Museum of Modern Art, The American Museum of Natural History, or The Margaret Meade Film Festival,Union Docs in Brooklyn, among others.  Most recently, the Flaherty has traveled to China, and will be participating in the Yixian Festival there this November. 

“We’ve been experimenting with and perfecting the Seminar for nearly 60 years now… and it’s a powerful experience. The Flaherty also recognizes that our 21st century media landscape is a radically different frontier, and in the spirit of exploration – in keeping with the sense of adventure and fearlessness of Robert and Frances Flaherty, we’re excited to evolve the organization while we also keep doing what we already do really well. Anita Reher serving as our new Executive Director will be a great asset for these efforts,” said Chi-hui Yang, Vice-President of the Board of Trustees.

“It’s an exciting time in the media arts. The Flaherty plays an important role in nurturing the ways in which storytelling that uses the moving image can contribute to furthering humanity. Anita understands this, and also brings with her a global perspective. And she likes to dance. If you know anything about the Flaherty, you know how important that is,” added John Bruce, a newly elected member of the Board of Trustees.
 
About The Flaherty

The Flaherty is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the proposition that independent media can illuminate the human spirit. Its mission is to foster exploration, dialogue, and introspection about the art and craft of all forms of the moving image. The Flaherty was chartered (as International Film Seminars, Inc.) in the state of Vermont but is based in New York City. It was established in 1960 to present the annual Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, which was started in 1955 by the Robert Flaherty Foundation. The Seminar remains the central and defining activity of The Flaherty.
 
Through its unique annual Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, The Flaherty provides media makers, users, teachers and students an unparalleled opportunity to confront the core of the creative process, reaffirm the freedom of the independent artist to explore beyond known limits and renew the challenge to discover, reveal and illuminate the ways of life of peoples and cultures throughout the world.

Media Contact:        
Ann Michel
President, Board of Trustees, the Flaherty
amichel@electronranch.com
Email: ifs@flahertyseminar.org
Web: http://www.flahertyseminar.org    

Zeljko Mirkovic: The Second Meeting

This is what I wrote less than four months ago about Zeljko Mirkovic: “Two of his films have been reviewed on this site (”I will Marry the Whole Village” and ”The Long Road Through Balkan History”). I have known him for a decade, admired his commitment and seen his strong development as a filmmaker. He is a good friend, who (with his family) I appreciate very much to see at least once per year, when I am in Belgrade. Of course his company is called Optimistic Film, of course he uses facebook (2824 friends!), twitter, youtube etc. to draw people’s attention to what he is doing… ” Some days ago Zeljko sent me news about the film he has now finished, ”The Second Meeting”. He asked me to communicate that there is a pre-premiere screening of his new film in New York. Here it comes:

The advanced screening of a new documentary by Optimistic Film, The Second Meeting, will debut in New York City on Saturday, October 13, 2012, at 7pm at West Park Presbyterian Church. Immediately following, there will be a panel discussion featuring the subjects of the film, U.S. Air Force pilot Lt. Colonel Dale Zelko and Yugoslav missile officer Colonel Zoltan Dani.

The Second Meeting follows Lt. Col Zelko’s journey back to Serbia to meet Col. Dani, 12 years after the first meeting of the pilot and missile officer who commanded the Yugoslav missile battery that shot down Zelko’s F117A Stealth fighter in 1999. “I had the remarkable opportunity to have a second chance at experiencing Serbia and her people and I will forever be deeply grateful, enriched, and blessed by it,” said Lt. Col Zelko of the experience.

http://www.optimisticfilm.com/second-meeting.html

Documentary Pearls at Copenhagen Cinematheque

From the site: “The Cinematheque in the heart of Copenhagen offers a rich programme of more than 60 films every month, many of which are in English or with English subtitles. In October, we present roadmovies, East by Southeast, women’s lives in the Middle East, MIX Copenhagen Film Festival, Hollywood shorts, and much more.”

… and documentaries of high quality, indeed, which is the reason for this promotional text that also offers our readers to see what we previously have written about a couple of the films:

In the series “East by Southeast” you find Andrey Paounov’s “The Boy Who Was a King” about King Simeon, who in 2001 came back to Bulgaria to be elected prime minister. Paounov is an original film talent, which he has shown several times, among others with the wonderful “Mosquito Problems and other Stories”. Equally to be seen is Lithuanian “Barzakh” (photo) by Mantas Kvedaravicius about whom a colleague said to me: ”He is not a film director, he is a thinker”, who made the film over a period of years, now completing his PhD (and a book) on the affects of pain. And the film is about pain, about people in Chechnya, families whose members disappear or have undergone torture.

As the monthly documentary, the Cinematheque presents a gift to its audience. Seven screenings are set up of Viktor Kossakovsky’s “Vivan las Antipodas”, for this blogger maybe the most important and visionary documentary being published for years.

Finally, the “SønDok” (documentary on a Sunday including a debate with the

director, organised by EDN/European Documentary Network), the Dutch documentary “Gozaran – Time Passing”, which was described in the following way at idfa festival last year:

“In 2005, Iranian composer Nader Mashayekhi was asked to lead the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. He knew the weak position of Western classical and contemporary music in Iran would make this a difficult task. But he took on the challenge, and after having spent several years in Vienna studying, living and working, he returned to his country. As he puts it, “with only one suitcase containing only one thing: my dream to make music in my hometown.” Less than two years later he returned to Austria, his suitcase filled with the pieces of his broken dream. Filmmaker Frank Scheffer captures the passionate composer during rehearsals with young musicians in Tehran, wandering through a desolate desert landscape and a deserted village, looking for inspiration for new compositions and challenging performances, and then back in Vienna as he reflects upon his time in Iran. Political entanglements are only implicit in the film. The director chose for beautiful shots in a contemplative setting, in which Mashayekhi’s voice sounds like an internal monologue. He reflects on his life and debates the meaning of music and poetry, and his impossible yet unscathed love for his country.”

http://www.dfi.dk/Service/English/Filmhouse-activities/October-in-the-Cinemateque.aspx

Message to Man 2012 Winners

The St. Petersburg festival ended with several awards as the tradition goes at the festival that covers documentaries, long and short, animation, short fiction and experimental films. Headed by Austrian director Michael Glawogger the international jury gave the main prize, the Golden Centaur, to the 15 minutes long Slovakian film ”The Last Bus” by Martin Snopek, a mix in style between animation and live action. Best long documentary award was given to the beautiful Italian ”Summer of Giacomo” by Alessandro Comodin and best short to Spanish David Munoz for ”Another Night on Earth”.

In the national competition “Centaur” for the best full length documentary film goes to ”Born in the USSR: 28Up” (Part 1) by director Sergey Miroshnichenko, for the best short documentary Valery Shevchenko was awarded for ”Inside a Square Circle”.

The Russian film critics prize as well as the Pavel Kogan Prize was given to Antoine Cattin and Pavel Kostomarov for ”Playback”

http://message2man.com/eng/

St. Petersburg Syndrome

The famous Stendhal syndrome is normally (due to the French author, of course) connected to Florence. For me it happened (again) in St. Petersburg. Several days of intensive driving around in the city with the consequent beauty bombardement of the eyes (the architecture, the open space, the canals etc.) on the islands, along the embarkments, on Kronstadt, in the museums, made me ask the one and only to help me sit down in the airport just before departure. The symptom: dizziness.

Oh, to visit the Russian Museum and discover Ilya Mashkov and Valentin Serov (painting: Children, 1899) in addition to the well known Malevich and Repin – and do go to the two year old museum Erarta on Vasilyevsky Island, the biggest non-governmental museum with contemporary Russian art. A very pleasant museum it is, wonderful work it has, take a look at the work of Elena Figurina’s children motives, just one artist to study, link below.

Poetic images as the ones Tarkovski talks about or as Kossakovsky gives us in his Vivan las Antipodas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Mashkov

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_Serov

http://www.erarta.com/eng/about/

http://artist84.erarta.com/eng/

Collective Work: Winter, Go Away

This is how the film was described at its international premiere in Locarno a couple of months ago: “Ten director graduates from Marina Razbezhkina’s School of Documentary Film and Documentary Theatre lived with a camera for two months in order to chronicle the last “Russian winter” and its popular uprising against Vladimir Putin’s presidential run. People, faces, conversations, protests, failures and triumphs come together to chronicle the campaign.”

And as such one can only state that the students have graduated with bravour. What they give the viewer is a tense insight to all the activities run by the opposition against the fraud comedy around the re-election of Putin in March this year. Most of it happens in the streets, the demonstrations, the slogans, the confrontations with the police, the brutality – but when inside you also, as an example, experience a mother asking her son, who is about to make stilts for a street happening: Would you like to have a cup of tea before saving Russia?! Yes, there is a lot of fun in the film, there has to be as everyone knows that the result of the election was decided in beforehand, there is a lot of freshness, you get the Leacock “feeling of being there”, you get an interview with members of Pussy Riot and footage from the performance in the cathedral, and on the election day you witness what is quite evident a manipulation of votes. Only a few times I felt that I should know more to understand what I see, mostly with who-is-who matters, otherwise I left the film breathless because of tension that had been documented and informed from an anti-Putin point of view – with some fine scenes where Putin supporters discuss with the opposition activists.

Russia, 2012, 90 mins. / Directors: Aleksey Zhiryakov, Denis Klebleev, Dmitriy Kubasov, Askold Kurov, Nadezhda Leontieva, Anna Moiseenko, Madina Mustafina, Zosya Rodkevich, Anton Seregin, Elena Khoreva

Seen at Message to Man Festival, St. Petersburg 2012

http://www.pardolive.ch/catalogue/film.html?fid=629902