Docs for Education

Israeli director and editor Erez Laufer gave me a link to his father’s film website, Docs for Education, an amazing initiative, in Nahum Laufer’s own words ”devoted to distributing high quality creative documentaries suitable for educational purposes”. For those of you who doubt that there is a market for documentaries outside television and cinema and home video, take a look at the site that mentions where the (9) films are available – and to which prizes. Quite impressive! Here is the motivation of Nahum Laufer, taken from the site:

“I was born in 1935 in Poland. During WWII, my mother and I escaped from the Nazis in a journey that ended in Bombay, India. It was during research for a documentary film about my personal life that I became familiar with another fascinating and un-familiar story, that of The Darien, which became the subject of my first script.

The film “The Darien Dilemma” was directed by my son, Erez Laufer, and edited by my daughter, Miri Laufer. The three of us continued our collaboration in “Rafting to Bombay“, the film which tells my own personal story.

It was during the creation of these two deeply personal documentary films with my son that I acknowledged the instructive value of this media. Receiving enthusiastic responses from universities, schools, public libraries and other institutions encouraged us to create a small selection of unique, insightful documentary films with educational value.”

Photo from “To See If I’m Smiling”, the strong film by Tamar Yarom about women soldiers in the Israeli army.

http://docsforeducation.com/

Pierre Thoretton: L’Amour Fou

Pierre Bergé, the life long partner of Yves Saint-Laurent (1936-2008), is the one that tells the story about the artist and his troubled life as the fragile and modest designer, who – helped very much by Bergé’s organisational and financial talent – established the world famous fashion house, built up an art collection, and as the years went along, developed deep depressions (Bergé calls it une dépression nerveuse) and took to immense alchohol and drug abuse.

Bergé, often facing the camera, takes the viewer to the different flats and houses of the two, in Paris, in Normandy and in Marrakech with the packing down of the art collection as the backbone of the story. Bergé decided to sell it all after the death of YSL and the film follows that process ending in Grand Palais in Paris at the auction – ”L’amour Fou”, I guess, must refer to both the relationship between the two men, and to their love to the art collection that was of an amazing quality. 

Archive (lots of interviews with YSL, clips from the shows, the amazing ”la collection russe”, and one where Catherine Deneuve sings for the old, shaken designer), photos, his love to the world of Proust (he signed in as Swann when at hotels abroad!), his Mondrian inspiration, the two women who followed him, one his black seducer into narchotics, the other the light and joyful companion. Bergé himself, and his work for rights for homosexuals, is characterised towards the end of the film as a man who lives on memories, a lonely man. (Could, however, have done without the kliché of him standing at a window looking to the sea.) He has been there through the whole film telling his story about YSL. A fascinating insight to a man whose ”fame only brought suffering”.    

Watched the film on DR K, Danish public television (K stands for Kultur), that broadcast several fashion films in connection with a fashion week in Copenhagen. The film is out on dvd.

http://www.ifcfilms.com/

France, 2010, 103 mins.

Theodor Christensen: Det gælder din frihed

Theodor. Han blev aldrig kaldt andet, manden der optræder i enhver dansk filmhistorisk fremstilling som den danske filmiske dokumentarismes store teoretiker, manden bag besættelsestidens mesterlige modstandsfilm ”Det gælder din frihed”. Theodor, som Cinemateket har kredset om ved et par lejligheder og nu gør det igen i denne måned på mærkedagen 29. August. Dette står at læse som introduktion på hjemmesiden:

”’Det gælder din frihed’ er en både poetisk og polemisk beretning om Danmark under krigen – og ikke mindst en hudfletning af samarbejdspolitikken, som magthavere både dengang og siden har prøvet at nedtone.

Filmen brød med skolemester-traditionen. Karl Roos’ titeldigt reciteres med lavmælt intensitet, billeder af tomme statsgemakker bliver brugt metaforisk, og alt i alt er det en af de mest filmiske og langtidsholdbare dokumentarer, der er skabt herhjemme. Den blev søgt omformet af Staten, boykottet af biografer og kaldt propagandistisk af Ekstra Bladet. Men Theodor Christensen kæmpede som besat og stod fast på sit projekt. Det gjaldt hans kunstneriske frihed, som det gjaldt danskernes politiske.

Den 29. august, på årsdagen for “det mest forsinkede nej i danmarkshistorien”, nemlig samarbejdspolitikkens officielle ophør, vil filmforsker Lars-Martin Sørensen introducere filmen.”

Og så lige et citat fra Theodor selv, fra 1948, stadig aktuelt, ikke sandt: Ved at nævne navnet dokumentarisk i flæng på 117 forskellige filmformer har man skabt kaotisk forvirring. Ikke mindst for de mange nye i den hastigt voksende dokumentariske filmstab er det desorienterende.

Danmark, 1946, 107 mins.

www.dfi.dk 

MandagsDokumentaren 10 år

Se, hvad turisten ser,
den navnløse by, 
strømmen, som bærer København og dens ry, 
de tusind cykelpi’er,
et brus af nikkelstyr, 
sikke pi’er, 
tag og kys dem alle fra mig!
– Poul Henningsen, Cykelsangen (1935)

Jo, det er den herlige sang fra PH’s Danmarksfilm, som er den oplagte fødselsdagsfilm for det enestående initiativ, som Ebbe Preisler satte i gang for 10 år siden med PH Caféen på Vesterbro i København som den biograf, hvor et væld af vigtige kort- og dokumentarfilm, danske og udenlandske, er blevet vist, altid med tilstedeværelse af instruktør eller anden til film eller emne knyttet person.

Danmarksfilmen, fra 1935, ofte omtalt som den første egentlige danske dokumentarfilm, bliver vist mandag den 3. September med et indledende fødselsdagsprogram, der også omfatter biografdirektør Preisler, der fylder 70.

Tillykke!

www.mandagsdokumentar.dk

Michel Wenzer: At Night I Fly /2

Jeg tror, jeg kunne lytte til ham i timevis, i dagevis. Han er indsat i Folsom fængslet i Californien. Har været der længe. Skal formodentlig være der al tid. I begyndelsen var hans velkomstgave til en ny indsat et våben lavet der af materiale for hånden, et våben at true med, at slå ihjel med. Sådan fastholdes de nye i voldskulturen det nye sted. Han er barsk nok til nu at holde sig fri af det, han slår hårdere end de andre, må jeg tro. Og nu er hans gave til de nye måske en kuglepen og et stykke papir. Poesi gør fri, det gør et barberblad monteret på skaftet til en tandbørste ikke.  

Her er han i sin celle, forvandlet til digter. En del af de indsatte mødes i en litterær café i fængslet og læser op for hinanden. Det er formidabelt, utroligt, forbavsende: “… and there are great scenes from this room where (some) inmates meet with people from other races, as they say, in a world where the white normally do not meet with the black, or the black with the latinos… music, poem reading, writing, religious meetings, they are well articulated…” som Tue Steen Müller skrev i sin imponerede anmeldelse fra april i år her på siden, og han beskev formen: “The film has a sketchy, fragmentaric structure, but the impressionistic approach slowly adds up sequence by sequence, and you get some characters, who are reflective when it comes to their own situation and to the actions they take to fill their days to make it all bearable, or you could say to make sense of it all…”  

Jeg er fuldstændig opslugt, ser i dag filmen på Filmstriben.dk i mindre bidder. Kan faktisk ikke klare mere, kan slet ikke slippe denne særegne skønhed Michel Wenzer og fotograferne Camilla Hjelm Knudsen og Eric Börjesen har bygget op i en behersket sikker ro, scene for scene.

Anders Gustafsson: Succesjægerne

Drengene øver sig i at kontakte pigerne. Det gælder om at turde, at få sagt noget, at holde en samtale med den valgte pige så mange sekunder som muligt. Det er en øvelse. De er på kursus på Speed Up Life Academy. De skal til eksamen i mod og andet om knapt fire måneder. De er lige i begyndelsen af kurset, på ryste sammen rejse til et sted i Spanien. Kameraet ser drengene. Med pigernes blik – og de er søde, ser jeg tydeligt, de ser, pigerne.

Problemet er, at drengene ikke ved at de er søde. De er usikre, skuffede, sårede, hæmmede. Det er derfor, de er på psykologikursus. Og der får de at vide, at det kan de gøre noget ved. Som kærlighedslivets kampsoldater træner de sådan tilskyndet med mange mange mavebøjninger, og de lærer at skrige sammen før slaget: Jeg er komplet ligeglad med, hvad andre tænker om mig. Og: Agressivitet er bedre end passivitet.

Gustafssons elegante tv-dokumentar er lige ved, men kun lige ved at blive en rigtig, rigtig klog film. Men den fortaber sig i sine registreringer, sine fine, fine lytninger og iagttagelser, kontrolleret nervøst filmet og flot, flot klippet i en pulserende urolighed, som aldrig bliver rod, som trods jeg hele tiden synes, jeg keder mig, holder mig fast hen over krisepunktet i nærheden af 30 minutter. Igen en film, som vokser og vokser. Imidlertid når den ikke frem til analysens sammenfatning, den siger vist nok, for mig skuffende, at den vil overlade læsningen til mig. Men jeg er ikke interesseret i drengene, jeg er interesseret i Gustavssons anliggende i feltet mellem journalistik og filmkunst, men han giver ikke noget fra sig at læse. I stedet får den charmerende direktør for akademiet det sidste ord. Hos tatovøren ligger han og får sit (og filmens?) credo printet med temmelig vandfast blæk i sin arm: “Med disciplin, målbevidsthed, ærlighed, mod og kærlighed kan du opnå alt det, du sætter dig for. Den rigtige indstilling betyder alt, og ingen vil se mig give op. Fordi jeg vil simpelthen ikke.”

Anders Gustafsson: Succesjægerne, Danmark 2011, 40 min. Manuskript: Anders Gustafsson, fotografi: Anders Gustafsson og Niels Thastum, klip: Anja Farsig og Rasmus Steensgaard Madsen, produktion: Plus Pictures, producer: Mette Heide. Sendt på TV2 maj, 2012. Set på Filmstriben.dk

Glawogger Visits Copenhagen

NY Times brought the most precise headline to an article about the films of Austrian filmmaker Michael Glawogger’s impressive work: A World of Troubled Beauty – referring to his trilogy ”Megacities”, ”Workingman’s Death” and ”Whore’s Glory”.

The latter, ”Whore’s Glory” – in the presence of the director – having met him on similar occasions I can guarantee an interesting debate and a clever insight to what filmmaking is – is screened in Copenhagen in Cinemateket August 24.

I can only say, buy yourself a ticket and if you want to know more, use the links below.

http://www.whoresglory.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/movies/a-look-inside-the-films-of-michael-glawogger.html

http://www.dfi.dk/Filmhuset/Arrangementer/Arrangementer-i-Filmhuset/2012/August-2012/Moed-Michael-Glawogger.aspx

Georges Franju

A great director, not very well known today, but for this film blogger his “Le Sang des betes” (1949, 22 mins.) from a slaughterhouse in the Parisian suburb, is a unique  masterpiece in the history of documentary films. The film can be bought through Aamazon or watched in different language version on YouTube. If you happen to be in Donostia late September, you will able to see more of Franju’s oeuvre. This is taken from the site of the festival in San Sebastian:

French filmmaker Georges Franju is to be the subject of one the retrospectives programmed for the 60th San Sebastian Festival to take place from 21-29 September 2012.

Georges Franju (12-4-1912 / 5-11-1987) was an enormously influential figure in French film culture. In 1936 he founded the Cinémathèque Française with Henri Langlois. His career as a director began in 1949 with documentaries, a field to which he contributed some of the greatest titles ever in the genre. His early works – Le Sang des bêtes, Hôtel des Invalides and En passant par la Lorraine – already demonstrated his particular talent for filming reality from unexpected angles, a trait leading in these testimonial films to a sensitivity akin to surrealism and expressionism.

Franju’s obsession with putting his finger on the inexpressible poetry of things through his lens stayed with him as he moved on to feature films with La Tête contre les murs (Head Against the Wall,1958), followed by Les Yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face,1959), considered to be a masterpiece of fantasy film. His fascination with popular culture, with the feuilleton soap-operas and silent film serials, is clearly visible in movies like Pleins feux sur l’assassin (1960), Judex (1963) and Nuits rouges (1974), true exercises in style striving to recover the innocence of those old narrations of intrigue and mystery in an obvious vindication of film as visual, narrative pleasure. But Franju was also known for his skilful adaptations of classic literary works on which he unfailingly left his personal stamp: François Mauriac (Thérèse Desqueyroux / Therese, 1962), Émile Zola (La faute de l’Abbé Mouret / The Demise of Father Mouret, 1970), Joseph Conrad (La Ligne d’ombre, 1973) and Jean Cocteau (Thomas l’imposteur / Thomas the Imposter, 1964). Today unjustly forgotten, Franju’s work enjoyed great critical acclaim in its time and earned him the admiration of the young filmmakers of the nouvelle vague.

http://www.sansebastianfestival.com/in/

The Ambassador / Legal Actions from Liberia

It already created problems at the premiere at the idfa (Amsterdam) festival in November last year, and now Danish newspapers reveal a new controversy around the Danish documentary “The Ambassador” by Mads Brügger, who appears in his film as the diplomat, Mr. Cortzen. The website of EDN (European Documentary Network), in general a must-read site for documentary professionals, has made an excellent summary of the current case. Read it all, here is a quote:

… In his documentary The Ambassador, Mads Brügger dresses up as a neo-colonialist and sets off for the Central African Republic to impersonate the Liberian consul, a tittle he has bought himself into. Brügger sets up a match factory run by pygmies as a cover for his ambitions in diamond trafficking. But Brügger is really there to document how the power in the country is allotted and traded… The Liberian Government issued a press release on July 30, 2012 where the Government threatens to take legal actions against Mads Brügger. In the press release it is stated that:

“The Government of Liberia finds this action by Mr. Cortzen to not only be immoral but criminal and offensive to the government and people of Liberia. 

http://www.edn.dk/

Filmkommentaren First Five Years

Five years ago Allan Berg called me to pitch an idea he had: Should we make a film blog where we could express opinions and spread information on our common passion: Films. Allan (who lives in Randers in Denmark, whereas I live in Copenhagen, the two cities being 4 hours train distance from each other) organised what became filmkommentaren.dk with a local webbureau Infoserv that has the motto ”keep IT simple”. Which we have done, kept it simple: text + photo + links where our readers can find more info and clips and trailers. Ambition: an average of one text per day. All year round.

We decided that Allan should stay with Danish as his language for posted texts – I went for English, the language I use when teaching and tutoring around the world. For four years we got a generous 50-50 start and IT maintenance support from the local FOF (Denmark’s largest provider of adult liberal education) but no financial support from anyone. Well, once we applied to the DFI (Danish Film Institute) for a small help to cover the basic costs but got a no because ”there are so many film websites so that would make a precedent to support you”, words to that effect. So filmkommentaren.dk is totally con amore, and we have been happy to invite other Aficionados to post texts.

Here we are five years later, this text being blogpost/text number 2082. We have never really discussed editorial lines, we have written about what we wanted to write about: reviews, festival reports, notes, quotes from other media, comments, we have created smaller and bigger discussions. The focus has been the documentary film.

The first two texts were reviews of ”Forever” by Heddy Honigmann and ”Ghosts of Cité Soleil” by Asger Leth, that was back in August 2007, where we also wrote about Bergman and Antonioni, who died late July that year, and where we visited and covered the yearly documentary gathering of the DFI at the European Film College.

Statistics – We have had 96.521 visits in 2012 until this day, 39.351 so-called unique visitors. We are very happy for the interest. Thank you, readers!