Syria and Me – The Revolution Chronicles

Text taken from the FB page of Orwa Nyrabia, film director and producer and festival Dox Box director:

“If anyone in the world, including Kofi Anan, wants us to prove with documented evidence that the regime ruling Syria is a ruthless savage despotic regime that should not remain in power, is actually searching for a way not to help the Syrian people. If humanity can still claim it doesn’t know a dictator from the size of his pictures, or from the continuous success he, and his junta, keep on receiving in polls and in elections… then the world is playing around, with Syrian blood.. then the world doesn’t want to learn.”

No photo needed.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Syria-and-Me-The-Revolution-Chronicles/318536521531396

Herz Frank in Riga

The exhibition space is limited but the content is excellent. The film museum in Riga, situated in the same building as the National Film Centre of Latvia, in the old town of the Latvian capital, hosts a presentation of the life and work of Herz Frank, a filmmaker so often written about on this site.

Frank himself took part in the construction of the exhibition that includes photos and texts and clips from his work, plus the possibility to see in full duration ”Ten Minutes Older” (1978) and ”Flashback” (2002), just two of the master’s documentaries.

The exhibition, I was told, is running at least until this autumn.

http://www.kinomuzejs.lv/majaslapa/?lng=en

Sokurov in Barcelona

The impressive Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona is a fascinating place to spend some hours. Its collection includes paintings, photographs, and until May 20 also the so-called Military Film Series by Russian master director Aleksander Sokurov, a series that hopefully will be presented in other museums around the world. Here is a small text clip from the museum site:

”In the late nineties, Sokurov made Soldier’s Dream, 1995, Spiritual Voices, 1995, and Confession, 1998, the three films that make up the so-called Military Series. These three titles, which became part of the MACBA Collection in 2004, are shown on this occasion together with Elegy of a Voyage, 2001, conceived as a journey that takes us from Siberia to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. This last title, which in the context of the exhibition is seen as an epilogue to the Military Series, is Sokurov’s first production commissioned by a museum. The four films share a new documentary aesthetic that combines the empirical experience of place with a sombre and spiritual lyricism. Soldier’s Dream (a short 10-minute piece extracted from the third chapter of Spiritual Voices), and the five chapters comprised in Spiritual Voices (lasting five hours and 43 minutes), relate a prolonged stay at a frontier military post between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The omission of factual information, of the type that is common in the media, and the long sequences representing the soldiers’ routines, face the viewer with an enigmatic chain of events. Not even the news on the war in Afghanistan, persistently broadcast, can attenuate the power of these images with which Sokurov tries to create a new event – which is no other than the one that takes place during the contemplation of the film”.


http://www.macba.cat/en/index

15 Young by Young/ Premiere

The Latvian national premiere of the 15 Young by Young documentary series – 15 short films of 15 minutes from the former Soviet republics – young filmmakers making films about young people and their lives in today’s independent countries 20 years after the fall of the empire – took place with a galla screening in Riga saturday, followed by a screening in Sigulda, a town one hour from the capital, very well known for its winter sport but also the town that hosted a seminar two years ago where the shaping of the series started with directors and tutors present. I was invited back to Sigulda to watch the films and enjoy the company of the directors. And it was indeed joyful to sit in the cosy cinema in the culture centre of Sigulda, to see the directors being lined up with flowers from the mayor, having an ice cream, a banana and a glass of red wine in the break of the around 3 hour long screening, that was well attended by locals. It reminded me very much of ten years of film festival in Bornholm, Denmark, great unpretentious atmosphere, warm-hearted.

The premiere(s), organised by the producer Ilona Bicevska and her team, also included an outside internet broadcast of a debate (in Russian, the language all directors spoke) that took place in a park in Riga and that you can find online. “Is it Easy to be Young”, the moderator said with a fine reference to the classic documentary of Juris Podnieks. The answers were different depending on the country, the director lives in. Goes without saying that a young person in a Baltic country have better conditions than someone from Belarus or from Moldova or Kirgisztan or… if you talk in materialistic terms.

The series has already been broadcast on arte, hopefully many other channels (and festivals) will also take this unique insight to countries that we need to know more about as they are only present in the media when revolutions or catastrophies happen. Unique the series is also because it presents many different ways of making a short film, from pure observation to fictionalisation, and put together there is freshness and talent to experience. The link below invites you to know much more. With clips to enjoy. Do so! 15 countries. 15 directors. 15 stories. (Photo from the Russian short in the series)

http://www.facebook.com/15yby

Anna von Lowzow: P. S. Krøyer/ 2

Birte Overlade spørger i en bemærkning (se højre spalte) til et blogindlæg fra 24. marts 2008 om von Lowzows film om Krøyer og kunstnerkolonien i Skagen hvilken stor kærlighedshistorie jeg refererer til, når jeg skriver, at de to medvirkende Jon Holden Dahl og Jette Thage meget bedre selv og alene kunne have fortalt ”den historie om Krøyer, vi alle sammen kender i alle detaljer, én gang til, på en ny måde og med deres værdige varme og ro.” For sådan er det, ”vi hører jo gerne de store kærlighedshistorier igen og igen…”

Jamen jeg tænker da i første række på kærlighedshistorien med Marie og Søren Krøyer. Og allerførst på hvordan de begge skildrer den i deres billeder. Dernæst – og nu kommer de referencer, som er mine, dem jeg lige havde i tankerne, da jeg skrev så kortfattet irriteret efter at have set filmen: Ole Wivel: Rejsen til Skagen, 1977, Jens Smærup Sørensen og Franz Ernst: Lyset over Skagen, 1986 (filmmanuskript), Marianne Saabye: P. S. Krøyers Fotografi, 1990 (udstilling og bog), Jacob Thage, red.: Portrætter fra et ægteskab, 1997 (udstilling og bog).

Marie og Søren Krøyers kærlighedshistorie er en stor kærlighedshistorie, en af dem ”vi” (altså jeg) gerne hører atter og atter. Som Marguerite Duras’ og kineserens (hendes to romaner), som jeg er så optaget af lige nu, hvor Elskeren fra Nordkina er kommet i dansk oversættelse, som Célines og Lilis (skrevet frem i hans sidste romaner), som Harriet Bosses og August Strindbergs (på den måde Lagercrantz skildrer den i sin biografi) og som Goethes og Ulrike von Levetzows kærlighedshistorie (fuld af fryd og smerte foldet ud i Martin Walsers roman Ein liebender Mann, 2008). 

BCN Sports Film Festival/ 4

The winning film of the festival was a local production by Carlos Sanchez-Libre and Josep Badell, ”From the Streets to the Fields”, 80 minutes long, shot at the World Cup of football in South Africa 2010, a film with many layers, a focus on social conditions in the post-apartheid country, personalised by three kids who got to meet their idols, including a poor, black boy, who meets Barca’s Iniesta before the player becomes the hero of the tournament scoring the decisive goal for Spain. Yes, in the spirit of Mandela, and simple in construction the film is, but it catches you emotionally, and I dare say that the kids show playing quality, when they are in touch with the stars, Luis Suarez from Uruguay is another one. Parallel to the World Cup games, the kids have their own matches which are fascinating to watch clips from. Joy and playfulness.

Another prize-winner, in the category short film, was American ”Aquadettes” by Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper, 10 mins. long, with a wonderful, strong old woman as protagonist. She suffers from MS but has decided not to give up or rather give in to what the normal medical industry offers. She swims with other women, synchronized swimming, and she takes marihuana.

The jury decided to give the Special Jury Prize to ”Hannah” by Sergio Cruz, 5 mins. long, wordless, with a mongol young woman expressing herself through swimming and skiing. The film was awarded for its lyrical tone and fine camerawork.

http://www.bcnsportsfilm.org/en/index.php

BCN Sports Film Festival/ 3

The Barcelona Sports Film festival is part of the FICTS, Fédération Internationale Cinema et Télévision Sporttifs. This organisation includes festivals all over the world, has its office in Milano, and has set up rules for the festivals that operate with a no-criticism of the Olympic idea and its implementation – the Games themselves. From what I saw as a jury member, a strong impact is put on the social power of sports, as activities that can change the life situation of for instance disabled people.

In a workshop arranged by the Nikita Distribution, the leading force behind the festival, the filmmaker Sergi Agusti told about his experience making the film ”One Goal” about one-legged football players in Sierra Leone. He made a one-hour version for Catalan TV3, and after that a 24 mins. film that has travelled the world, winning several awards. He is now in the process of enlarging his filming to other parts of Africa raising funding for this campaign outside the traditional sources of public television.

Sport festivals… Bruno Delaye, French, one of the speakers at the workshop, organises two of them in Biarritz. One in December devoted to films about skiing, and one in July for surfing. The latter, with outdoor screenings, ”sur grand écran”, could gather from 300 to 8/10.000 spectators (!), with a general audience that loves to watch talented people ”faire des images”, as Delaye said. 15 films are selected for each festival, 50 are submitted for selection.

But, films about sport are as films not different from films about nature, historical films, personal films etc. They have to be made from a strong motivation and a commitment, the filmmakers must know and show their storytelling skills, they have to inform and surprise and be emotional, was the banal content of my intervention t the workshop.

http://www.bcnsportsfilm.org/en/index.php

www.sergiagusti.com

 

BCN Sports Film Festival/ 2

It is new, it is not easy to get an audience, but it is there, said Barbara Destefanis, the driving force behind the festival and the enthusiastic and committed director of the Nikita Distribution company, that manages a sportsfilm online platform that offers 30 films, some in a section that are for free, some sectioned on a cheap vod basis, and one section for professionals who want to acquire films for broadcast or festivals.

 

To make a sport film festival in Barcelona, the city that hosts the world’s best football team, is not easy either. And to make it in the three days that for the citizens were the first days of summer, another challenge. But it was made with screenings at the projection hall of the Olympic Museum at Montjuic, next to the Olympic Stadium, and in the warehouse El Corte Inglès that includes cultural events. The opening and closing sessions that I attended at the Museum (the jury members had seen the films before arriving to the festival) were well attended with a strong support to the festival team and its achievement.

 

Destefanis also told me that the festival has visited prisons in Catalunya to screen some of the festival films, with good success.

 

www.sportsfilm.tv

 

www.nikita-distribution.com

BCN Sports Film

The third edition of a Barcelona sports film festival runs the coming three days. Around 70 films dealing with sport will be presented, 25 of them in competititon, divided into different catagories, from animation films to short fiction to documentaries to ”sport and solidarity” etc. Approximately 30 countries are represented.

The opening took place yesterday at the Olympic Museum next to the Olympic Stadium where Barcelona hosted the games 20 years ago. It was therefore very natural that ”Barcelona`92. Donde Todo Empezó” was one of three opening films, directed by Michael Robinson for Canal+.

I am in the jury and will report further on the films and awards saturday after the closing ceremony saturday night. Needless to say, however, that for a football freak, member of FC Barcelona, it is the right place to be right now!

Photo: Thomas Olivarius Fausto, Danish upcoming football talent. Photo by courtesy of his parents.

http://www.bcnsportsfilm.org/en/index.php

Viktor Kossakovsky: Vivan las Antipodas!

Finally! It has been and is being shown all over the world, the unique work of Viktor Kossakovsky, a generous and overwhelmingly beautiful film that also witnesses a new direction thematically, a new tone for a director whose filmography includes films that you want to see again and again, from ”Belovs” to ”Svyato” and ”Tishe”.

Finally, the film gets the first prize at an international festival. Not in Leipzig, where it was in competition, not in Barcelona where it was in competition – both places I had the impression that the juries thought that ”Kossakovsky has already been awarded so many times” – but in Trento, at the 60th edition of a festival that deals with films about nature, especially mountains. The jury phrased their motivation precisely:

The international jury had no doubts in assigning the Golden Gentian – City of Trento Grand Prize to this film, which is an unforgettable homage to the diversity, magnificence and antiquity of Mother Nature. The jury appreciated above all the ingenuity of the idea, the artistic quality and the technical brilliance of the film.

http://www.trentofestival.it/en/news/news25966.htm