Doc Discussion/ 2

Louise Rosen writes:

Dear Tue and Mikael

It was a pleasure working with you again at Storydoc this year. Wonderful that we had a really diverse representation from all over the southern Mediterranean and could spend a day on the Arab Spring with filmmakers from that region. We are living in exciting and yet strange times.

So, speaking of strange times, I wonder when we among the oldtimers are going to start to speak more publicly about the dire state of the indie feature doc world? We keep training and workshopping emerging filmmakers but to what end? I looked back at my notes from my talk last year in Corfu (Storydoc training session, summer 2010) and it brings me to tears. Back then I wrote that in the face of media consolidation and diminishing resources for traditional journalism, the world urgently needs the vision and insight provided by independently produced single docs. All the more true today. But the conditions today are 3 or 4 times worse than they were a year ago.

What can we do? What is in the best interest of the filmmakers? Is this dreadful climate for feature docs the “new normal”? How do we deal with a sector of the television business that has become almost a monopoly – dominated by a few commissioning editors who wield enormous power and influence? What about the growth of film festivals that attract sponsors and increasing audiences but show films that can’t pay for themselves and will vanish into obscurity before they can reach significant numbers of viewers? The world of online, digital distribution is not paying yet. Does this mean that any project requiring more than a filmmaker with a camera, will be lost? No more alternative forms of history or art or science?

I’m hoping that there will be discussions of these important issues sometime soon. Filmmakers in some territories are hitting a “wall” in terms of funding and outlets and this will be the case everywhere before we know it.

I welcome your thoughts on this.

Photo: A film from the catalogue of Louise Rosen.

Doc Discussion/ 3

Mikael Opstrup writes:

Dear Louise

Thanks for your raising the issue about independent, feature docs.

It’s of course a key issue, as you point out. I see it like this: 15 years ago the establishing of a ‘preproduction TV-market’ with all the pitching forums etc. was THE right thing, it brought together the filmmakers and it brought together the filmmakers and the financiers at a time where TV was a major financing factor. In some of the big western European countries like Germany and France and in the Scandinavian countries there was and is a massive national public funding – but it doesn’t change the overall picture in Europe in general.

Now this has changed radically, the TV money has gone down dramatically and there is absolutely a need for a change.

The big question is what today’s equivalent in terms of financing is. I have a clear feeling that we are in a limbo, the old financing has diminished and no new one has come instead. Cross Media, VOD and other online platforms, crowd funding etc. none of it fills the gap and I’m not sure they will or at least I’m not sure which one will?

So the only source that I see apart from these ones is the public funding, which is of course more cultural and national orientated and less market orientated. There is no doubt that public funding and independent doc has a beautiful history together  – in Europe, not talking about the US – but is it realistic? I’m not sure – and I’m not only thinking of the current financial crisis but also beyond this.

Of course – speaking about strategies and future possibilities – one also has to take into consideration what impact the changing formats have on the financing possibilities. Will we see an explosion in shorter formats for web, mobiles etc? Will the digitalization of cinemas open up this location that has almost only been a temple for fiction and alongside screening sports events, operas etc be a possible financial possibility for docs?

Photo: Steam of Life, Finland, 2010, 82 mins. – chosen by Mikael Opstrup.

MandagsDokumentar Efterår 2011

A text in Danish about the unique Copenhagen based documentary screening initiative ”MandagsDokumentar” where films, new and old, Danish and international, are screened, mostly with directors present and/or subjects to be discussed.

Så er det tid til en ny sæson af MandagsDokumentar, det unikke formidlingsinitiativ som blev taget for 9 år siden af Ebbe Preisler, som stadig er den utrættelige primus motor og kurator, som han selv betegner sig. Programmet er sædvanen tro opfindsomt sammensat, der er herlige gensyn med fine film som Claus Bohms designerfilm ”Den magiske orden”, Jon Bang Carlsens mesterlige gennembrudsfilm ”Jenny”, Frank Piaseckis ”Guerilla Girl”, som har været verden rundt og den herlige tegnefilm ”Hellere rask og rig end syg og fattig” af Jannik Hastrup.

For ikke at tale om Morten Henriksens ”Bag Blixens maske” (foto), som er blevet rost til skyerne af Allan Berg på denne blog – og en række sociale og politiske film fra verden omkring os.

Det er fremragende kompetent, det arbejde som Preisler udfører og det er derfor helt uforståeligt, at DFI (Det danske filminstitut) har beskåret tilskuddet til MandagsDokumentar med 25%. Sæt beløbet op igen, det manglede bare!

www.mandagsdokumentar.dk

The Syrian Revolution/ 5

This story has been brought in some Western media… a quote from storyful.com below, more can be read on the site where also the cartoonist’s regime critical works can be watched:

Famous cartoonist and scathing critic of Syria’s Ba’athist regime, Ali Ferzat, has been plucked off the streets of Damascus and badly beaten in an attack blamed on security forces and militiamen loyal to president Bashar al-Assad. They say that the pen is mightier than the sword, but the attack appears to be an attempt to get the prizewinning satirist to sheath his weapon of choice and to silence this voice. Support for Ferzat has been pouring in via his website, his own Facebook page, a Facebook supporter page, and on Twitter.

http://storyful.com/stories/1000007009

http://www.ali-ferzat.com/ar/home.html

D.A. Pennebaker: Monterey Pop

Well, it was a revisit to one of the best – some say the best – music festival documentary. And you are again totally seduced by the power of music and by the superb camera work performed by a team including Richard Leacock (photo), who was the producer together with Pennebaker and who has been subject to a now finished small mini-retrospective series at the Danish Cinemateket in Copemhagen. Close-up after close-up of the performing artists, of the spectators, images of the ambience at the festival and sometimes almost abstract images, sometimes psychedelic, a play with light and shadow, when Leacock and his colleagues move around with their handheld cameras trying to convey to us ”the sense of being there”, as the old master said. What is to be mentioned… Jimi Hendrix setting fire to his guitar, the Who smashing guitars, Janis Joplin in a fantastic performance crying/shouting/singing her pain out, the well-behaved Simon & Garfunkel ”feeling groovy”, wonderful Grace Slick with her Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding in magnificent silhouette images, Country Joe… and the grande finale with Ravi Shankar that is covered magnificently with shots of him and his two colleagues, mixed with reaction shots from an enthusiastic audience. Wow, a trip down memory lane, and one that still gives you goose bumps.

You can watch a lot of material on YouTube, but you could also buy a dvd of this classic. Do the latter! Google the many places where it can be bought.

USA, 1968, 98 mins.

Igor Mayboroda: Rerberg and Tarkovsky

140 minutes with the subtitle ”The Reverse Side of ”Stalker””. Watched in one shot, you feel exhausted afterwards, and more than happy having experienced the company of Russian artists at their best in a drama put together in a demanding way (lots of subtitles to read for a non-Russian speaking person) with unique archive material, sound interviews, picture interviews, clips from films, film historical comments, intrigues and an insight to the work of the cameraman Gregori Rerberg (1937-1999), the main character of this film, a brilliant speaker about his profession and inspiration sources. Mayboroda’s documentary and documentation of the relationship between Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-86) and Rerberg is unique both in terms of film history and as a story of what actually happened, when Tarkovsky sacked Rerberg as cameraman in ”Stalker” (1979). Until now the primary source was Tarkovsky’s memoirs, Mayboroda brings new knowledge to the sad story.

Here is – taken from the voice-off subtitle texts in the beginning of the film – an edited summary of the conflict: ”The Mirror” (1974) was the peak for both Rerberg and Tarkovsky. Rerberg saved Tarkovsky when he agreed to shoot the film because everybody else refused to do it. Tarkovsky also shot his next film ”Stalker” with Rerberg… during the shooting of ”Stalker” Tarkovsky lost mental and emotional control leading to a collapse of human relations in the film crew. This catastrophe anticipated the collapse of the Soviet Union. The humanist film director Tarkovsky omitted Rerberg from the credits of ”Stalker” in the tradition of Stalin’s era, depriving him of a well-deserved future in the profession. However, it was Rerberg, who guided Tarkovsky back to his proper path during the shooting of ”Stalker”.

Strong words and accusations which are supported by interviews with many colleagues, who – many of them – also were sacked by Tarkovsky, who shot ”Stalker” three times keeping – as it is said by many – the camera style of Rerberg in the final version. The material shot by Rerberg went up in fire so that can not be directly verified.

Many reasons are given for the sacking of Rerberg, and others, from the mouth of Tarkovsky. In a section of the film called ”Italian Dialogues”, Tarkovsky says that Rerberg behaved badly, drank all the time, and delivered material, that was out of focus! The conflict, and Mayboroda’s paying Rerberg justice, takes up a lot of the film’s duration, with many pointing at Larisa, the wife of Tarkovsky, as the intriguing person, who wanted to have big roles in

her husband’s films but were denied so, very much because of Rerberg’s evaluation of her (lacking) talent. But having said so, the film is also a tribute to the art of cinema, and in some sequences itself pure beauty.

Because what Tarkovsky also said about Rerberg was that his images were always “an aspiration for the truth, the truth presupposed by all his previous experience”. Beautiful! And during the whole film, through the archive material with him, Rerberg always praises Tarkovsky. He says that two people have meant most for him, Tarkovsky and the conducter Mravinsky (1903-1988) with whom, Rerberg filmed a documentary. In an excellent montage Mayboroda lets the music from this film and clips from Mravinsky conducting or talking about his métier comment the work and philosophy of Rerberg. It works perfectly and supports the words of Rerberg (about Tarkovsky and himself making ”The Mirror”) – the autobiographical films are those that work best, we reached the subconscious in that film, we succeeded to let ”the inner come out”. Another inspiration for Rerberg was the philosopher Losev (1893-1988) – Viktor Kossakovsky tells how he got Rerberg to do the camera for his student film about Losev, and was so enthusiastic about listening to the philosopher that he forgot to start the camera.

Rerberg himself refers constantly to the influence he got from paintings – he liked them all, from renaissance to Russian avant-garde, except for expressionism, ”I’ve learned from painting my whole life”. His family background was one of music and literature, which the film also describes in a fine way.

A Shakespearean story. Film history. A tribute to film art. Amazing, and of course it makes you want to go back to Tarkovsky again!

Photo: Rerberg (left) and Tarkovsky.

Russia, 2009, 140 mins.

http://www.kinoglaz.fr/u_fiche_film.php?num=4246

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/nov/06/tarkovsky-sheffield-docfest

Contact about the film: mdproject@mail.ru

Ulla Boje Rasmussen: Thors saga /2

I Bio Carl i Filmhuset, København er der før premieren på ”Thors saga” indbudt til en konference. Det er samme dag, 7. september 15:00. Konferencens overskrift er ”Thors saga – hvordan kommer Island videre?” Konferencen er arrangeret af Norden i fokus under Nordisk Ministerråd, som i deres pressemeddelelse skriver:

”Mød forretningsmand, entreprenør og en af Islands mest udskældte personer. Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, en central aktør i den kollapsede islandske finanssektor. I 2007 var Björgólfsson nummer 249 på Forbes’ liste over verdens rigeste personer, i dag har han indgået aftale om at afdrage en gæld på mere end 50 milliarder kroner.

Dokumentarfilmen Thors Saga handler om Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson og hans forfader, danskeren Thor Jensen. Begge ekstraordinære forretningsmænd med initiativer, der er nært forbundet til Islands op- og nedture. Thors Saga af den danske instruktør Ulla Boje Rasmussen har premiere den 7. sept. I den forbindelse kommer Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson til et debatarrangement i Danmark, som Norden i Fokus arrangerer i samarbejde med Børsen Executive Club. Her ser vi klip fra filmen og hører hovedpersonen fortælle, hvordan han oplevede Islands økonomiske krise indefra. Panelet, som udover Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson består af Lars Christensen, Danske Bank og Helgi Hjörvar (S) medlem af Islands Alting og Nordisk Råd, vil diskutere, hvad vi kan lære af krisen i Island, og hvordan vi sikrer vores bank- og finanssektor mod tilsvarende kriser i fremtiden. Børsens chefredaktør Anders Krab-Johansen er ordstyrer på mødet.”

Der er offentlig adgang til konferencen, oplysninger fås hos Louise Hagemann (33960331) Tilmelding til loha@norden.org

Foto: Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson (Fra upfrontfilms.dk)

Ulla Boje Rasmussen: Thors Saga

Filmen om den markante islandske familie Thor og dens rejse i fire generationer gennem landets økonomiske op- og nedgange har været længe undervejs. I årevis har den omhyggelige dokumentarist Ulla Boje Rasmussen på rejse efter rejse samlet stof sideløbende med, at den seje producent Henrik Veileborg har finansieret, holdt et kompliceret klippearbejde i gang og reddet færdiggørelsen igennem verdenskrisen, som afgørende må have grebet ind i selve kernen i fortællingen, da hovedpersonen fortsat har været omtumlet og omstridt hovedperson derude i virkeligheden. Vi, som har haft lidt viden om denne produktionshistorie, venter mere end spændte på det endelige indhold, som fylder 90 minutter med en moderne islandsk saga, som Upfront Films på sin hjemmeside beskriver således:

“The family´s founder, Danish orphan Thor Jensen, was only 14 years of age when he was offered an apprenticeship in Iceland. The remote Danish colony was impoverished at this time, but Thor Jensen saw potential for growth. With innovative business ideas, he worked his way up from nothing to become an extremely wealthy and respected man. Thor Jensen was behind a number of pioneering projects that helped Iceland’s business community to florish. The Icelandic economy strengthened, an important step for Iceland’s liberation from Denmark to an independent republic in 1944.   

The great-grandchild of Thor Jensen is businessman Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson. Thor Björgólfsson found inspiration in his forefather’s initiatives and inherited his ability to see opportunities in uncultivated markets. With sensational ventures, Björgólfsson looked beyond Iceland’s borders and gained success. Brewery, pharmaceutical and telecommunication industries in the former Eastern Bloc countries had his interest. Björgólfsson then defied his own business strategy, turned focus toward Iceland, and invested in the Icelandic banking system. Here he made his greatest failure. The global financial crisis reached Iceland and threatened with state bankruptcy. Today, Björgólfsson is thought to be one of the key figures to send Iceland into economic pillory…”

Filmen har premiere på Det Kongelige Bibliotek, København 7. september 19:30.

www.upfrontfilms.dk

info@upfrontfilms.dk