Truls Lie: The Seduced Human, a moral enquiry

For nylig forlangte Tue Steen Müller her på siden at nye film skal indeholde noget nyt: ”Please surprise me, give me time for reflections, to smile, laugh, cry, tell me something I did not know in beforehand – or show me something that I have not seen before, or make some unpredictable montage of location connections with places, with sound and image. Surprises, please.”

Nå, det er selvfølgelig skrevet noget senere, end Lie var færdig med sin journalistiske dokumentar om Jørgen Leths liv og værk, så han kunne ikke ad den vej vide, at han let med sit emne og sit arbejde kunne ramle ind i netop sådan en træthed. Müllers advarsel var kommet for sent. Lie styrer fra først til sidst lige en gang til gennem alt det stof, vi kender så godt fra andre biografiske film og især fra Jørgen Leths egen produktion af film og bøger og fra utallige interviews, han har givet.

Filmens undertitel lover et essay, bilder jeg mig ind. Og det glæder jeg mig til og skuffes. Jeg får en feature, som formidlende holder stoffet ude fra fra kroppen, autors krop og lader den medvirkende gøre arbejdet. Men jeg er i og for sig ikke interesseret i en repetition af Jørgen Leths liv og værk, jeg vil se Truls Lies grundige læsning af biografien og filmene. Lie er filosof og journalist, og Kierkegaard bringes i spil, men ikke for alvor, den undersøgende journalistik sendes på vej ned i uopdagede lag: nysgerrigheden (et kort afsnit er viet den, se still!) og angsten for at svømme i dybt vand. Men Lie forfølger ikke sporene, taber ligesom interessen, lige netop når min er vakt, for det her er da vist nyt? I hvert fald for mig.

Lie har lavet en sympatisk film, og en pædagogisk film, måske også en lidt kedelig film. Leth medvirker som altid loyalt, yder sit bedste, holder sig ikke for fin til nogen eller noget. Et menneske uden arrogance. Desværre er Lie trods sin karrieres pondus for ydmyg og høflig og vist også for lidt energisk. Det er ærgerligt, synes jeg. Men uøvede kan nok her finde en tilgængelig første introduktion til en stor kunstner og et stort værk.

Truls Lie: The Seduced Human, a moral enquiry, Norge 2010, 51 min. Medvirkende: Jørgen Leth, manuskript: Truls Lie, fotografi: Truls Lie og seks fotografer yderligere, klip: Marius Smit, producer: Dag Hoel, produceret af Faction Film. Filmen er på CPH:DOX lige nu og en DVD skulle meget snart være til salg på filmens hjemmeside.  

Tue Steen Müller har også her på siden skrevet om Truls Lies journalistiske arbejde med DOX magazine.

Boycott Iranian Cinema Vérité Festival

IDFA (the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) put a text on its website the other day with an appeal to ilmmakers with a film selected for the Cinema Verité Festival to seriously consider withdrawing their film and decline any invitation from the festival as Cinema Verité Festival is a government-organised festival, run by the same government that intimidates and arrests filmmakers.”

I know that many do follow this appeal, the Zelig film school in Bolzano being one of them. On Facebook I found the following exemplary letter from Polish filmmakers with a reaction from an Iranian filmmaker:

Dear Documentary and Experimental Film Centre. After hearing the stunning news that filmmakers Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Mehran Zinatbakhsh and film distributor Katayoon Shahabi were not released from the unjust detention we decided to take a stand on this overwhelming circumstance.

This information shocked us just as it did many of our friends working for festivals all over the world. After receiving so many e-mails asking for support we cannot stay aside. Yet there is only one way in which we can raise our strong objection!

As a solidarity to the filmmakers that are being kept imprisoned and a strong disagreement with the human rights policy undertaken by the Iranian government we request to withdraw our films from the participation in Cinema Verité Iran International Documentary Film Festival.

The titles are as follows:

Takie życie/ That’s life by Daniel Zielińskii. 

La Machina (PHOTO) by Thierry Paladino. 

Smolarze/ Charcoal burners by Piotr Złotorowicz. 

38,5 by Grzegorz Dębowski

. Komeda, muzyczne ścieżki życia/ Komeda a soundtrack for a life by Claudia Buthenhoff-Duffy

. Planeta Kirsan by Magdalena Pięta

. This decision was made unanimously with all the producers and filmmakers and expresses our clear standpoint to this unjust violation of human rights. 


On behalf of Krakow Film Foundation, 

Katarzyna Wilk and Zofia Ścisłowska.

Thank you so much for your support! I would like to thank Polish filmmakers’ expression of solidarity on behalf of dozens of intimidated Iranian filmmakers. Warm regards 

Maziar

http://www.idfa.nl/industry.aspx

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/?