ZagrebDox 2012

The 8th edition of a festival that has a strong programme with an international competition programme, a regional one, a retrospective with star director Jay Rosenblatt, a section with controversial documentaries like Mads Brügger’s ”The Ambassador” (photo) and Fredrik Gertten’s ”Big Boys Gone Bananas!”, music documentaries, a selection of 14 films from the Danish Film School, a retrospective of Baltic documentaries from the last ten years selected by this blogger. And several other good offers to documentary people in the Croatian Capital. A small pitching session is also organised, as before, where regional projects are presented to a panel of potential investors.

The international competition programme of 29 long and short films includes among others ”5 Broken Cameras” by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, ”Bakhmaro” by Salomé Jashi from Georgia, ”I will forget this Day” by Russian Alina Rudnitskaya, ”Phnom Penh Lullaby” by Polish Pawel Kloc, ”Ramin” by Lithuanian Audrius Stonys and ”The Will” by Christian Sønderby Jepsen from Denmark.

The regional competition of 20 films presents fine films like Romanian ”Noosfera” by Ileana Stanculescu and Artchil Khetagouri, Stefan Valdobrev’s portrait of a football fanatic ”My Mate Manchester United” and Nikolas Geyerhalter’s ”Abendland”. Plus a lot of films that I am in the lucky position not to have seen, yet, including ”Family Meals” by Dana Budisavljevic.

Reports will be posted from ZagrebDox, a festival created and run by the tireless Nenad Puhovski. And a PS. The website of ZagrebDox is clear, beautiful to look at, competent in text and full of trailers to watch. Bravo!

http://zagrebdox.net/en/2012/home

Tempo Dokumentärfestival Stockholm

It is a good programme that the organisers of the Swedish documentary film festival has put together for ”a six-day-long documentary party” in Stockholm March 6-11.

New Swedish documentaries in competition, among them Fredrik Gertten’s ”Big Boys Gone Bananas” and Michel Wenzer’s ”At Night I Fly”, which recently got the national award Guldbaggan as best documentary. A retrospective and masterclass with Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill. Music documentaies. A selection by local alternative orgnisation Filmcentrum.

AND, very interesting, a new award that carries the name of local icon Stefan Jarl. Six films compete for the ”Stefan Jarl International Documentary Award”: The magnificent ”5 Broken Cameras” by Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi, a film that deservedly travels all over with its both alarming and touching story from the occupied territories in apartheid Israel. ”Bombay Beach” by Alma Har’el, ”Inside Lara Roxx” by Mia Donovan, fascinating ”Phnom Penh Lullaby” by Polish Pawel Kluc, impressive ”Cinema Komunisto” by Mila Turajlic and Idfa winner 2011 ”Planet of Snail” by South Korean Seungjun Yi. Happy that I am not a juror with such a line-up of strong films! 

http://www.tempofestival.se/english/

Nick Fraser: Bob, Robert or Mr. Redford?

Nick Fraser, commissioning editor at BBC’s Storyville, wrote an article for The Observer (February 5), constructed as a diary from and about the Sundance Film Festival, where ” I have two films in the American competition. I am also judging films for the world documentary jury.”

Among many observations about being a juror, and about the worry of whether ”his” film ”The House I live in” (photo) by Eugene Jarecki – read the whole article – would get an award or not, it did win,  Fraser, in a for him very unusual situation, writes about being nervous before sitting in a panel with the founder of Sundance:

”There are lots of ways of celebrating one’s birthday. This year I’m spending mine with Robert Redford – on a panel to discuss documentaries – and I am distinctly nervous. But I notice similar symptoms in the other guest – the redoubtable Sheila Nevins , head of documentaries at HBO and acknowledged queen of the genre in the US. We exchange anxieties. How will we behave in the presence of cinema royalty? Do we call him Bob, Robert or Mr Redford? We cannot decide. Stuck in ski resort traffic, he arrives late, and it is reassuring to find that near-deities are subject to the same vicissitudes as the rest of us.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/feb/05/sundance-diary-nick-fraser-storyville

The Syrian Revolution/10

One more text from Dox Box festival Orwa Nyrabia, who has turned war correspondent and frequently writes in English on Syria and Me – The Revolution Chronicles:

Damascus: The regime’s security forces, backed by armed operatives, raided the office of activist and journalist Mazen Darwish, the director of the Syrian Center for Media and Free Expression, in central Damascus after sealing the area. Security forces arrested Mr. Darwish and a number of other professionals in the office. The LCC is verifying the names of those arrested.

(LCC is a resistance group, described like this: Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, an umbrella organization with members from most cities and many smaller towns across Syria. Ed.)

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

Steve James on Documentaries

One of the best documentaries recently is ”The Interrupters” (photo) by Steve James, who was also the man behind masterpieces as ”Hoop Dreams” and ”Stevie”. Film journalist Jennifer Merlin has interviewed James, site address below, and out of that comes many interesting comments from a modest true documentarian.

Here is a clip from the long and good interview:

There are all kinds of different films and all kinds of hybrids. I like all kinds of films and all kinds of documentaries, but I see a lot of films and thing, gee, I could never make that — not from a judgmental standpoint, but just because I don’t think that way. I’m just not that kind of storyteller. So, you know, I’m old fashioned. I like cinéma vérité.

The films that had the biggest impact on me when I was getting interested in film were the verite classics, on the one hand, like Barbara Kopple’s work or the Maysles.

The other films that interested me, and I think my films are a kind of hybrid with these, are Michael Apted‘s UP Series and especially The Times of Harvey Milk, which I saw at a particular moment of time when I was starting to love documentaries and I was just struck by how powerful, and insightful and emotional that film was without being sappy or anything like that. And those are both films that are interview driven films. They’re not verite films. So I think my style is a kind of a hybrid.

http://documentaries.about.com/od/documentarydirectors/a/A-Conversation-With-Steve-James-Part-One.htm

Cinéma du Réel 2012

The Cinéma du Réel has chosen its competition films for the 34th edition of the festival that takes place in the Centre Pompidou in Paris March 22 to April 3.

15 films have been taken for the International Competition and the International First Films Competition. Many are world premieres, some international premeieres and some French premieres. Among the latter you find the success ”Five Broken Cameras” (photo) by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi and ”Two Years at Sea” by Ben Rivers. There is a competition of short documentaries, very much welcomed of course, a French section of course – more than 200 films are screened and there are workshops and tributes with/to John Gianvito, Dick Fontaine, Susana de Sousa Dias, Mario Ruspoli and Raúl Ruiz.

“Arrested Cinema” is a section where “From Iran to China, from Syria to Tibet, many filmmakers, documentarists, artists or ordinary demonstrators have been arrested, imprisoned, confined to their residence or killed. With its new “Arrested cinema” section the festival aims to create a space each year and give regular news updates for a cinema confined to resistance.

And to stay on the political track there is, again. A section called “Exploring Documentary: Combatants” which is “A tribute to the filmmakers who have fought and continue to fight on liberation fronts, using deadly weapons (rifles, machine guns), non-deadly weapons (cameras, tracts…) or the two together. With films by Tobias Engel, Margaret Dickinson, Jocelyne Saab, Clarisse Hahn, Deborah Shaffer, Jean-Michel Humeau, Dick Fontaine and some films of the Slon-Iskra audiovisual collection.”

www.cinemadureel.org

Haus des Dokumentarfilms

Our German language readers should know about the fine work done by the Stuttgart based Haus des Dokumentarfilms. Yesterday I received a ”Dokumentarfilm Newsletter” from the Haus with a link to a website – in German – that provides you with a lot of information, on new docs in German cinemas, support that thas been given, documentaries on television, new dvd releases and so on.

The mission of the Haus: ”Unser Haus dient der Förderung, Forschung und der Sammlung des Dokumentarfilms. Wir wollen Filmemacher, Redakteure, Produzenten und am Dokumentarfilm Interessierte zusammenbringen.”

Long and good articles about films are to be found on the website, and of course there is information about the ongoing Berlinale, as well as info on the work of the German ag-dok, the strong association for documentarians.

The photo is from Cyril Tuschi impressive documentary about Khodorkovsky. It runs in German cinemas.

http://www.dokumentarfilm.info/

Bahraa Hijazi Syrian Filmmaker

.. detained by security forces since February 2nd. The following text is taken from Facebook:

Bahraa Hijazi, was born in 1986 in Damascus, Syria. Her family is originally from Jeiroud, a city 50 kilometres from the capital. Bahraa’s father Abdul Nabi Hijazi is a well-known Syrian novelist and TV writer. Bahraa is a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, majoring in the Department of Visual Communication. She works in visual design and animation, and has been creating children training workshops in this field. Bahraa has directed a short animated film entitled “Heart Torments ” which was produced by Tawasol network in collaboration with the United Nation Development Program and the International Centre for Journalists. Most recently she was preparing her first feature documentary, depicting the life of women in Syria. The project represents one of 10 projects that was chosen by DOCMED 2011 International Program for young producer and filmmaker ————————————————————– Née en 1986, Bahraa Hijazi est étudiante en 4ème année au département de Communication à la Faculté des Beaux-Arts de Damas, et fille du grand auteur et scénariste Abdul Nabi Hijazi. Graphiste, réalisatrice de films d’animation et chargée de projets et d’ateliers de formation pour les jeunes dans les domaines de la conception et de la réalisation. Son court métrage d’animation “Tourments de coeur” a été produit par l’atelier Tawasol (communiquer) organisé en coopération avec l’atelier du Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement et le Centre international pour les journalistes. Elle prépare actuellement son premier documentaire sur les femmes en Syrie. Celui-ci a obtenu le soutien du programme “Doc Med”, et a été sélectionné récemment dans le cadre du programme de production du Festival International du Film de Rotterdam.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/الحرية-لــ-بهراء-حجازي-Freedom-for-Bahraa-Hijazi/128328827289752

Carlo Guillermo Proto: El Huaso

It is quite a challenge to choose one’s own family as the theme of one’s first feature documentary. Nevertheless this is what Carlo Guillermo Proto (1979) did with ”El Huaso”, a film that demonstrates a strong visual competence to convey the story of a father, who has decided to commit suicide if he, like his own father, gets alzheimer. He does not want to be a burden to his family.

Carlo, the son, the filmmaker, follows his father on his journey to the doctor, to the psychologist, and back to Chile, his home country, where his horse riding apparently makes him a free and happy man away from the depression that makes him suffer in Toronto… where he also is a happy grandfather when he plays and talks with his lovely grandson.

It is tense, it has a fiction feel in many staged scenes, and especially one brings memory of Ingmar Bergman: The whole family placed in a couch, including the protagonist, the father, discussing the good and bad sides, the right and wrong, about his eventual decision to take his life! There the director, also in the couch, reaches the point where you as a viewer feel uncomfortable to watch. Gives you a painful impression. Like when you watch the Swedish master.

Talent is needed to make a private story personal and universal. Here it is done beautifully.

http://www.facebook.com/elhuasothefilm?sk=info

Canada/Chile, 2011, 80 mins.

Seen at DOCSBarcelona 2012

Film History for Free

”Your online documentary cinema”. This is how the excellent vod Doc Alliance Films characterises itself. Based in Czech Republic at the address of IDF (Institute of Documentary Film), they are doing great work. The selection of films available is indeed a feast for the documentary lover. Newly added titles are ”Cave of Forgotten Dreams” by Werner Herzog, ”Avenge, but one of my Two Eyes” by Avi Mograbi and ”The Arrivals” by Claudine Bories and Patrice Chagnard.

However, this week, Doc Alliance goes royal to celebrate the sixty year rule of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (!) by offering classic British documentaries for free. So here you go, take a lesson in film history, start by reading this very fine introduction from the Doc Alliance site:

The two most significant periods of British documentary film to enter the world’s history of cinematography are the British Documentary Movement and the Free Cinema movement. Financed by state institutions as well as big private corporations, the filmmakers of the British Documentary Movement conceived their work as public service. They were choosing among the wide range of themes resonating inthe British society, focusing primarily on the changes the society and its various strata were undergoing at that time. The film methods they employed varied greatly. Although their works are associated with the term of documentary film, today they would rather fit the docudrama genre (a documentary genre making use of stage-managed situations, reconstructions of real events). However, their works primarily shared the immense interest in the depicted subject accompanied by an attractive and intelligent film form. That is what secured them a constant attention of their spectatorship.The DAFilms portal introduces the following famous films of the British documentary school: Night Mail with the score by Benjamin Britten and verses by W.H. Auden; Drifters by ideologist of the British school John Grierson; Industrial Britain by legend of the documentary genre Robert Flaherty; and Fires Were Started filmed in the heavily bombed London in the middle of the war by Humphrey Jennings. In the Docalliance selection, the Free Cinema movement is represented by the “swinging” Mama Don’t Allow by Tony Richardson and Czech-born “Winton’s child” Karel Reisz. Richardson as well as Reisz are significant representatives of the movement who later became famous for their fiction films, some of them further developing the Free Cinema principles. From the works by Karel Reisz, we further present We Are Lambeth Boys, a portrait of everyday life of youth from London’s working class Lambeth borough situated on the Southern bank of the Thames. Both films belong among the significant short documentaries made at the very beginning of the movement.

http://dafilms.com/