Vinylmania – Support the Campaign

Help, there is only 7 days to go to reach our goal. These are the words from filmmaker Paolo Campana in Turin, Italy. It is all or nothing, he says, as it is with the crowdfunding done through Kickstarter. I have known Paolo and his project for years, I have always followed what Stefilm (Stefano Tealdi, Edoardo Fracchia and Elena Filippini) have done – in this case a fine film about a phenomenon that goes worldwide…

Below you will find more info about the film, trailer, clips and what your donation will be used for, and a link to kickstarter:

A trip into the grooves, Vinylmania is a 75 minute feature length documentary about an object that has never lost its soul: the vinyl record. An epic love story, the film is filled with fascinating characters and internationally recognized artists including PHILIPPE COHEN SOLAL (Gotan Project), WINSTON SMITH (Dead Kennedys, Green Day record sleeve artist), PETER SAVILLE (Joy Division, New Order record sleeve artist) and DJ KENTARO (2002 DMC World DJ Champion).  

Devotion, ecstasy, infatuation, agony – all feelings that the director of the film, Paolo Campana, has experienced from childhood and shares with like-minded record collectors, Djs, musicians and artists (the said vinylmaniacs) in the documentary. Set in 11 different cities and 7 countries worldwide, the director sets out on a global road trip to find out what role vinyl records play in the 21st century.

How will your donations be used? The money you give us will fund: Clearance rights of the music for dvd worldwide release – A voice over artist and studio to mix an English language narration track (currently in Italian by the director himself) – Creation and editing of the bonus materials- Creation of a dvd graphic, case and booklet – A 5.1 surround sound version – Licensing costs

http://www.vinylmaniafilm.com/

link to kickstarter.com

Omar Amiralay: Everyday Life in a Syrian Village

In Danish as this is about getting Danes to come and watch the forbidden masterpiece of Omar Amarilay, Syria’s most important documentary filmmaker, who died this year in February, a month before the Syrian revolution started:

Tabet af den syriske mesterinstruktør Omar Amiralay (1944 – 2011) (foto) tidligere i år var ikke blot et tab for en global klub af cinefiler, men for enhver der tror på at filmmediet har en universel, human rækkevidde. Den umiddelbarhed med hvilken vi forstår landarbejdernes kamp i den syriske landsby, hvor vi er vidner til hverdagens gang, bekræfter i lige så høj grad Amiralays humane empati, som hans talent som en instruktør af subtile allegorier. En flok små børn der graver skelettet af en kamel frem af ørkensandet er et af den slags billeder der endnu i dag kan få jorden til at ryste under en hvilken som helst autoritet. Hans kritik og sans for de vidde landskaber omkring landsbyen placerer Amiralay blandt de fineste af filmskabere, og også derfor er det passende at inkludere den film, hvor han med egne ord fandt sin politiske stemme, i et filmprogram der har ambitioner om at give en historisk dybde til de ‘pludselige’ folkelige opstande i den arabiske verden i 2011. Filmen er forbudt i Syrien den dag i dag – men vi får se hvor længe det varer.

Filmen vil blive indledt af Orwa Nyrabia, som er filmproducent og –instruktør, og sammen med Diana el Jeiroudi initiativtagere til Dox Box festivalen, som I år afviklede sin fjerde udgave I begyndelsen af marts lige før revolutionen startede. Orwa Nyrabia skriver dagligt på Facebook med henvisninger til klip fra det Syrien, som I dag ikke tillader udenlandske pressefolk at rapportere frit fra landet.

OBS! OBS! Dette er et unikt arrangement I cph:dox, som desværre ikke er omtalt i programavisen.

Husets Biograf, 5. November 20.30

http://www.cphdox.dk/d/film.lasso?ser=1734&s=2011118

Bonke & Koefoed: Ballroom Dancer

Cph:dox opened with an entertaining documentary with Russian Slavik Kryklyvyy, Latin American dancer, as the main character, who tries to make his way back to the top, where he was the best in the world – 10 years ago.

The film shows him training and competing with the partner Anna Melnikova, also his girl friend, who suffers from the constant change of temperament of Slavik, who corrects her at the same time as he declares his love to her. One-dimensional, the film is, and mid way through the story, the film goes dead, for a long period, coming up again with a beautiful sequence where the two, after having been apart, and after she has met another man, good for her, perform in a rehearsal room to the tunes of ”You were on My Mind”. That dance is great to watch but after the dance, she leaves the room and he sits alone back. A real Film scene, but in this context far too pathetic as the story is not really developed to justify that point of drama.

There are for sure many fine documentary observations in the film, but why is it that you leave the cinema without being touched, is it because your reaction to the main character is ”who cares”, is it because you get no information about his previous life – it seems strange that there are no scenes with Slavik and his former partner Joanna, who wins all the competitions we see in the film – is it because the music score is far too loaded in its attack on making the viewer feel, is it because the filmmakers actually did not have enough material to make this feature duration drama that it is stretched out to be?

Christian Bonke & Andreas Koefoed, Denmark, 2011, 85 mins.

www.cphdox.dk

Mira Jargil fik talentprisen

Mira Jargil har i aften modtaget prisen Reelt Talent. Det skete under åbningsgalla arrangementet på CPH:DOX. I sin begrundelse lagde juryen vægt på ”instruktørens indlevelsesevne og fintfølende tone og så evnen til at skildre intense emotionelle situationer uden at virke anmassende og påtrængende.” Bag talentprisen, der i aften er uddelt for anden gang, står CPH:DOX og Danske Filminstruktører.
Mira Jargil har lavet tre film:

Det sidste døgn, 2005. ”Så meget eksistentielt på færde, så lidt udstyr scenografisk, fotografisk, tekstligt, musikalsk. Mira Jargils film er et studie i, hvor lidt man kan nøjes med. Filmen er en afslutningens koreografi, en skildring af dette uafvendelige, som både dramaet og livet dynamisk, men i faldende takt – tøvende så at sige – peger hen mod…” skrev jeg i DFI’s tidskrift FILM/47.

Mod målet, 2007. ”Undersøgelser viser, at 73 procent af deltagerne får et bedre liv efter at have deltaget i turneringen. Og det er netop, hvad Mira Jargils film med humor og poesi dokumenterer: Fodbold har en fantastisk socialiserende effekt…” skrev Claus Christensen på tidsskriftet Ekkos hjemmeside 23. juli 2007.

Den tid vi har, 2011. Filmen er ”med sin tyste tilstedeværelse i det intime det mest rørende og sikre værk blandt afgangsfilmene…” skrev Katrine Hornstrup Yde i Information 13. juni 2011.

CineDoc in Athens

When noone else does anything to bring good documentaries to Athens, you have to do it yourselves! This is what three film people, all women, decided to do and if you have a look at their programme, you can only be very impressed by the actuality and phantasy that is put into the organisation. This is what they write – to give you the background of the programme that started in 2009 – as a preface to the catalogue:

CineDoc is an innovative public media initiative which screens European and international award-winning documentaries across the year. Hosted at Institut Francaus in Athens, it also travels to cinema clubs, schools and cultural organisations across Greece and Cyprus. Screenings are accompanied by special events, used to inspire community action and bring together documentary professionals. Signed Rea Apostolides, Avra Georgiou, Dimitra Kouzi.

Themes like ”7 Ways to cope with the Crisis”, ”Remembering Japan” and ”Steps and Tunes” include films like Valentin Thum’s ”Taste the Waste”, Robert Cibis and Lillian Franck’s ”Pianomania” (photo), ”El Bulli” (Gereon Wetzel), ”Kinshasa Symphony (Wischmann & Baer), ”Into Eternity” (Michael Madsen) and new Greek films – Karakepelis ”Raw Material”, Abazoglou’s ”Oriental Sweetness” and Dayandas ”Sayome”.

20 films in the season 2011-2012. Very well done, indeed.

http://www.cinedoc.gr/

Danfung Dennis: Hell and Back Again

Dokumania, DR’s flagskib for dokumentarfilm, hver tirsdag på DR2, i morgen kl. 21, viser den prisbelønnede amerikanske dokumentarfilm “Helvede tur-retur”, som har vundet flere første-priser og er med i køen til at blive Oscar-nomineret. Helt fortjent. Jeg var i juryen i Moskva i sommer på Moscow International Film Festival, hvor vi (de andre medlemmer var engelske Michael Apted (sevenUp-serien) og russeren Aleksander Gutman) gav filmen første-prisen. Her er en gentagelse af anmeldelsen, der fulgte:

”I love my pistol”, says Sergeant Nathan Harris, the protagonist of the film about an American soldier, who gets seriously wounded in combat in Afghanistan, is taken back to the US and to his wife Ashley, who helps him recover; at least she helps him getting through the day, the trauma he has from his time in Afghanistan, he does not seem to be able to fight on his own as the film tells the audience.

Many films have come out and is coming out from and about the war in Afghanistan and its consequences on heart and mind, especially on those going there as soldiers to secure changes in the country. This one is one of the best so far in its superb camera work from the battlefield, in its description, with a lot of dignity, of the Afghans who are victims of the constant search for Talibans by the Americans. They are told to leave their houses, their houses are searched, they are searched and controlled. The desperation comes from the Afghans, who don’t want to be ruled by the Talibans, but you soldiers do not really make the situation easier!

The emotional side of the film, however, lies where Nathan Harris is back home, suffering enormously from his pain, constantly taking strong medicin and – this is how the film is built – thinks back on Afghanistan where he definitely wants to be again as a killer, the word used by the doctor who examines him. As a spectator you look, with empathy, thanks to the approach of the director, at a man brought up in a society of violence, a young man sitting in a sofa at the end of the film playing with his guns… ”I love my pistol”.

US/UK, 2011, 88 mins.

Winner of 1st Documentary Competition at Moscow International Film festival 2011.

http://hellandbackagain.com/

http://www.dr.dk/dr2/dokumania#/21356

Awards at Jihlava 2011

… at the International Documentary Film Festival was given out last night. Twelve awards. The best World Documentary, Opus Bonum, given by a one person jury, James T. Hong, was ”Lost Land” by Belgian director Pierre.Yves Vandeweerd, whereas ”Bakhmaro” by Georgian Salome Jashi was the winner of the category ”Between the Seas”, the best Central and East European Documentary.

The jury motivation for ”Bakhmaro” goes like this: “With an attentive and personal approach the filmmaker transforms an ordinary microcosm into a unique narrative and playful visual experience. Through an effective and assured cinematic language this film reveals the mood and the spirit of a society struggling with its internal hopes and contradictions. For its respect, artistry and quest for surprise the award for the Best film of “The Between the Seas” Competition goes to Bakhmaro by Salome Jashi.”

Respect for characters, artistry and quest for surprise – I can only eccho that characterization of what will be Salome Jashi’s international breakthrough documentary.

http://www.dokument-festival.com/news-detail/6441|1029-awarded-films

East Silver Awards 2011

Alina Rudnitskaya is a very talented filmmaker from Saint Petersburg. Her newest 25 minutes long documentary from this year, ”I will forget this Day” (photo) has already been awarded at several festivals for its stylistically strong vision of women and their emotions when waiting to have an abortion. Rudnitskaya thinks, in the best Russian tradition, in images and it is no surprise that she now can add one more prize to her collection:

”The annual Silver Eye Award for the best documentary film of the market, which was awarded for its third time. The winners of Silver Eye Award 2011 are: Category Short documentary: I Will Forget This Day, Alina Rudnitskaya, Russia, 2011; Category Mid-length documentary: Crulic – The Path to Beyond, Anca Damian, Rumunsko, 2011; Category Feature documentary: Solar Eclipse, Martin Mareček, Česká republika, 2011.”

Which gives me the opportunity, again, to praise the work done by East Silver in the framework of the IDF (Institute of Documentary Film) in Prague. Here is some more text from their site: The aim of the prize is to support creative and exceptional documentary films from the region of the Central and Eastern Europe. The awarded films were selected by the international jury from the three main categories (short, mid-length, and feature documentary film). Not only that the films received the traditional trophy and prize money of 1 500 EUR, but will also profit from the one-year round festival service of East Silver Caravan, which will support their international distribution on film festivals and markets. For the first time this year, the winning films will be included in the online database of the unique industry VoD portal Festival Scope, which is designed directly for the festival selectors only, in order to increase their potential for the international distribution.

http://www.eastsilver.net/en/east-silver/news/silver-eye-2011-award-winners-1798/?

Shatz & Barash: The Collaborator and his Family

It is quite an achievement by the filmmakers to establish and keep a tension the whole way through a feature length film, where actually nothing happens in a classical action sense. And yet a lot happens, small banal events and problems with the law in a family cursed by the fact that the father was an informer for the Israelis in the occupied Palestinian territory, and had to flee to Israel, to the country he had helped, a country that couldn’t care less now that he is in Tel Aviv with his wife, his children, with a strong focus on the 3 sons, Mahmoud (12), Suffian (16) and Muhammad (17).

The reason that this film is so strong, is that the filmmakers – by staying with the family for a very long time – have obtained the confidence of the characters and are able to make them come out as human beings like you and me, but trapped in the hopeless, apparently unsolvable Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

They live without permit in a shabby area of Tel Aviv. Ibrahim, the father, gets arrested for violence against his wife, who has been home to Hebron endangering herself and her daughter, as they are part of a traitor’s family. He gets 8 months of house arrest, lives in a kind of tent on a roof top, sees his family occasionally, at the same time as he is a kind of caretaker, who sends his sons to collect money from the renters. The sons are in conflict with the law, they are sent to reformatory schools, they suffer from the situation of their father, their attitude towards the Israelis is clear – one talks about getting a swastika tattooed on his arm! At the same time as the Israelis try to hire them as collaborators.

It sounds very dark, and indeed it is, but the film has also a lot of fine human situations from a family life full of compassion and love. The music score, the montage and the care for details of the everyday life… this reviewer has no objections to a small drama of obvious universality.

Israel, France, USA, 84 mins., 2011

http://www.yularifilms.com/

Magnus Gertten: Harbour of Hope

One thing is that the launch of this Swedish film has been more than noticeable with constant updates on screenings and screening events, links to history, funding campaigns and much more – look at the Facebook link below –  but the film as a film how is it?

It is brilliant. With a classical approach and with a fine balance between conveying information and creating emotions, the film lets three holocaust survivors tell their story, starting from the time point where they arrive with the Red Cross buses from the camps to Malmö – going, in a fine montage, back in time to what happened before and afterwards. The three are the ones followed in the story, but overall info is given that some stayed in Sweden, got married, had children, and others left for far away countries or went back to their country of origin. 

Ewa, Irene and Joe – vivid and strong storytellers, or made-to-be excellent storytellers by the filmmakers, who have had amazing archive material as the basis for their building the drama. Beautiful black and white images from the arrival in 1945 (sometimes I thought that some of the material were Spielbergian ”made archive”!) mixed with private (colour) footage from the life after the arrival to Malmö, and (gently put, thanks for that) images from the concentration camps. And of course conversations and images of the three of today. And radio archive comes in to add to the ”flavour” of time. All stories are intriguing to listen to, and the film is simply nice to watch. (Photo: Ewa was born in the camp, here she arrives to Malmö)

We often call for something new, when writing and talking about documentaries. There is basically, on a universal level, nothing new here, but the film is so well mastered and captures your interest from start till end, a story, that must have an appeal to all grown-up history interested people. A small critical PS, yet, why a pop tune to accompany the end titles. Wrong sentimental decision, absolutely not needed!

http://www.facebook.com/HarbourOfHope?sk=events