Cinema Komunisto in Cinema

Mila Turajlic’s Cinema Komunisto closed the Magnificent/ Festival in Belgrade a bit more than a week ago. The reception was overwhelmingly positive and the film is now up for a theatrical release.

The organisers of the festival Svetlana and Zoran Popovic proudly write: The film is quite a hit and it goes to cinemas in two days. That is great and even the producer was surprised with that possibility. It will be in four cinemas in Belgrade and also in the only cinema in Novi Sad. That would be fantastic even for a fiction film. For documentary, this is far beyond anyones expectation.

Photo (taken by documentary colleague Boris Mitic): The domestic premiere of “Cinema Komunisto” was the closing film of the Magnificent 7 Festival, screening in the large auditorium of the Sava Center before a packed audience. The public showed a great interest for the first Serbian documentary ever programmed in the history of the festival. Following the screening the members of the crew were introduced on stage, along with two of the film’s principal characters – production designer Veljko Despotovic and film star Velimir Bata ivojinović.

http://www.cinemakomunisto.com/

van der Valk & Gavan: Geert Wilders – the Movie

Almost 3 years ago we brought a review of a film signed by Geert Wilders, Fitna – the Movie, an anti-islam 16 mins. long visual pamphlet that stirred a lot of debate – it is to be watched online, if you wish.

Last year Dutch directors van der Valk and Mags Gavan set off to make a film about Wilders, who has now positioned himself and his right-wing, racist party as a supporter of the sitting government in the Netherlands. The ambition of the filmmakers were to get close to Wilders to get an interview. They do not succeed. Thus the film is more about them not succeeding going from place to place where Wilders goes, or comes from, small-talking to people who agree or disagree with him. Mixed with a lot of archive from speeches by Wilders in parliament or in London or… whatever, whereever… it stays superficial, there is nothing we did not know in beforehand in this film about a frustrated filmmaker in his sofa or at his computer trying to get access. If he is not out doing some vox-pop. Creative documentary, no. Good Journalism, no.

Seen on Dokumania, DR2, February 8 2011. 

Netherlands, 2010, 79 mins.

Nils Vest: Et raadhus/3

Carsten Olsen fra filminstitutet meddeler at Nils Vests Et raadhus… nu kan ses på Filmstriben. Han skriver om filmen: ”Arkitekten Martin Nyrop var den kreative kraft bag tegningen og opførelen af Københavns Rådhus. Filmen er en rejse ind i Nyrops tanker og den samtid og politiske virkelighed Nyrop levede i. Rådhuset stod færdigt i 1905. Men det skete ikke uden kampe med diverse politikere, der havde deres egne dagsordner. Resultatet blev efter mere end femten års arbejde et arkitektonisk hovedværk.

Ifølge filmens instruktør Nils Vest taler arkitekturen sit helt eget sprog – et sprog, han lader komme til orde i sin film. “Rådhuset har med sin fantastiske detaljerigdom mange kvaliteter, som er blevet glemt af modernisterne. Det står stort set uden ombygninger, og det gør det kun, fordi det er et så velfungerende hus,” fortæller Nils Vest, der mener at bygningen har meget at fortælle os i dag. “Min film kan ses som en nøgle, der gør det nemmere for seeren selv at gå på opdagelse med øjet i rådhuset, der på unik vis kombinerer det nordiske med det italienske.”

Nils Vest blev i 2010 tildelt den ærefulde Europa Nostra bevaringspris for sit arbejde med arkitekturhistoriske film og for sin utrættelige kamp for at bevare gamle bymiljøer. Europa Nostra er den europæiske paraplyorganisation for 250 frivillige og aktive bevaringsorganisationer fra hele Europa.”

Yoav Shamir: Defamation/3

Claus Christensen, redaktør på EKKO skriver i en mailmeddelelse i dag: ”Den kritiske film om fænomenet ”antisemitisme”, som DR2 har tøvet med at vise i snart to år, følger gratis med det nye nummer af Ekko.
Er ”antisemitisme” en reel trussel i dag? Eller er det snarere et skræmmeværktøj for israelske høge? De provokerende spørgsmål tager den israelske instruktør Yoav Shamir rundt i verden for at finde svar på i Defamation (”ærekrænkelse”). Han møder den jødisk-amerikanske lobbyorganisation Anti-Defamation League, men også Norman Finkelstein, der har skrevet bøger om den såkaldte holocaust-industri. ”For jøder er antisemitisme den ultimative hellige ko, og jeg har gerne villet, ikke slagte koen, men ruske den,” siger Yoav Shamir.
 
Filmen er co-produceret af SF Film Production ved Karoline Leth og har flere danskere på produktionsholdet. Det Danske Filminstitut og DR2 har bidraget med tilsammen 600.000 kr. Alligevel har DR2 i snart to år tøvet med at vise den. Mistanken melder sig, at det er filmens sarkastiske tilgang til antisemitisme, som har fået DR2 til at henlægge filmen. DR2’s chef Arne Notkin, der er tidligere formand for Dansk Zionistforbund og medlem af Det Mosaiske Troessamfund, har gennem de sidste to år givet plads til 45 timers dokumentarudsendelser med positivt fokus på Israel og jødisk historie.
 
Da Ekko for nylig stillede spørgsmål til henlæggelsen, udtalte Arne Notkin, at Ekko ”skriver sig ind i en antisemitisk myte om, at der sidder sådan en mediejøde og bestemmer, hvad folk må se og ikke se”. Ekko ser det som et spørgsmål om ytringsfrihed. I ytringsfrihedens navn kan man kritisere alle tænkelige holdninger, men hvis man kritiserer jødiske/israelske forhold, trækkes det bekvemme antisemitisme-kort. Hvilket ironisk nok netop er en af pointerne i Defamation. Med det nye nummer præsenterer Ekko filmen på dvd i samarbejde med SF Film Production. Vi udgiver filmen i director’s cut – altså præcis som instruktøren har lavet den, uden advarende introskilt eller andre af de foranstaltninger, DR2 nu stiller som betingelse for at vise filmen. Vi vil gerne give vores læsere mulighed for selv at tage stilling.”

Karsten Fledelius anmelder filmen i Information i dag.

DocsBarcelona Step by Step

It was a proud Joan Gonzalez, director of DocsBarcelona, who texted me this morning. In the newspaper Vanguardia, page 2, Gonzalez was given a ”GreenLight”, a tribute that is given to people, who has done something special for their profession – as Gonzalez has done in Catalunya through the building up of a documentary culture in his country: training of young people, distribution through the Documentary of the Month, a pitching forum that has been running for 14 years, a 5 year old documentary film festival, and many other things.

Below – yes below – the photo of Gonzalez there was a photo of a man, who is world wide famous for his coaching, of a football team, the local one, the best team in the world at this moment: Guardiola.

That Gonzalez is also a great coach who can create team spirit is so very much visible when you are at DocsBarcelona and sense the ambiance that surrounds the event. Staff members and volunteers do all they can to make the best possible service for the audience and the guests. And they do it in a professional way!

I have known Joan for 15 years, he can be proud of what he has achieved for the documentary community in Barcelona and elsewhere – including the Latin America that he loves so much. Step by Step as he has said from the very beginning. A pleasure to work with and for you, Senor!

www.docsbarcelona.com

DocsBarcelona Winners

It was the first time that DocsBarcelona included awards. At the fifth edition of the festival statuettes and cash prizes were distributed. €6000 was given to the film “Foreign Parts” (photo) by Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki. The description of the film follows here:

“A hidden enclave in the shadow of the New York Mets’ new stadium, the neighbourhood of Willets Point is an industrial zone fated for demolition. Filled with scrapyards and auto salvage shops, lacking sidewalks or sewage lines, the area seems ripe for urban development. But Foreign Parts discovers a strange community where wrecks, refuse and recycling form a thriving commerce. Cars are stripped, sorted and catalogued by brand and part, then resold to an endless parade of drive-thru customers. Joe, the last original resident, furious, tries to contest his imminent eviction. Two lovers, Sara and Luis, struggle for food and safety through the winter while living in an abandoned van. Julia, the homeless queen of the junkyard, exalts in her beatific visions of daily life among the forgotten. The film observes and captures the struggle of a contested -eminent domain-neighbourhood before its disappearance under the capitalization of New York’s urban ecology.”

The TV3 Award for Human Rights with a cash prize of €4500 was given to the well known big work “Enemies of the People” by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, that includes the ambition of the latter to uncover the truth behind the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.

Four other awards were given – “Teen & Docs Award”, “Kids & Docs Award”, “TV3 New Filmmaker’s Award” and “Audience Award”.

Foreign Parts, 2010, USA, 80mins.

Enemies of the People, 2010, UK & Cambodia, 86 mins.

http://foreignpartsfilm.com/

www.docsbarcelona.com

DocsBarcelona – Films to Come

… hopefully, because there were many talented directors with interesting and intriguing project proposals at the 14th edition of the Pitching Forum in Barcelona, see below. This posting does not allow to mention all the 23 projects which were presented, you will get 3 of them, which I both hope and think will be completed within the next couple of years:

Local director Albert Solé (known for the Goya Prize awarded ”Bucharest, Memory Lost”) presented a film project to be directed by Sebastian Alfie. ”Gabor” is the name of the film, referring to the blind photographer and d.o.p, of Hungarian origin, who lives in Spain and runs a renting company for equipment. The film is about him and the young director, their friendship and their ambition to make a film together. High quality material, a charismatic main protagonist and a chance also to look back to his Hungarian past.

Young producer Dagne Vildziunaite from Lithuania was very convincing in her presentation of a film about ”The Father”, a seventy year old former criminal (in Soviet times), who in his late years has settled down in the countryside to lead a true and honest family life. The production company (”Just a Moment” has shot the film and the producer was in Barcelona to seek interest and look for fresh eyes, an editor who can complete the film. In the audience several editors queued up to help to get the film to a rough cut stage – enabling several of the broadcasters to make a pre-buy.

Greek director Marianna Economou launched her ”Flying Food” (previously presented and written about on this site) – a film about Greek mothers who make sure that their sons get good and healthy food wherever they live outside Greece. To be taken by plane to foreign destinations. The interest was big and the panel at DocsBarcelona was discussing whether the sons, who get the food should be in the film as well, and what about the girl friends of the sons, and the daughters of the mothers…

www.docsbarcelona.com

DocsBarcelona Pitching Forum

… edition number 14 it was on February 3 and 4. For those readers who are not familiar with the terminology – pitching in the film world is about filmmakers throwing film ideas and proposals to broadcasters, film funds, sales agents and distributors. There were 23 of the makers at the DocsBarcelona and 29 of the film proposal receivers at the table. All was professionally organised at this public pitch where a lot of people had signed up to observe. I had the pleasure – together with Mikael Opstrup from EDN (European Documentary Network) – to moderate the two day session.

The Forum is a very good moment to check the status of the market, when it comes to television and the so-called creative documentary. Although the panelists (15 out of the 29 mentioned) were extremely supportive, and encouraging in their constructive criticism, it was obvious that they were no longer able to take risks on an international level. They have to play safe and ask for more material to watch, in many cases at a rough cut stage and in others, the comment was ”this will be a possibility for acquisition” when it has been done. For that reason DocsBarcelona could be considered the promotional step for many talents to have their proposal given a first check by competent people. Like Jenny Westergaard from YLE, who told the audience that the Finnish broadcaster is undergoing a restructuring process with a new management where things will be changed at the most internationally orientated broadcaster in Europe. Like Ali Delici, first time at the DocsBarcelona, commissioning editor from Arte France, dealing with arts and culture, a man with a good sense for the young filmmakers, as has Reinhart Lohmann from ZDF/arte who is working with thematical evenings for the European cultural channel. On the Spanish side Andrés Luque from the public broadcaster TVE was there for the first time to give us all the impression of a classical broadcaster that goes for strong content, whereas veteran Jordi Ambros from the local TV3 has a slot for more artistic documentaries that he coproduces when there is a Catalan producer involved, and buys from all over the world. Roberto Blatt, however, runs Chello Multicanal that includes a lot of thematic channels, and also he is a committed and enthusiastic film lover, who often said that he would help the filmmakers to have their works financed.

The distributors around the table were Peter Jäger from Autlook in Austria and Gitte Hansen from First Hand Films in Switzerland. They both have strong titles in their catalogue and I am sure they will pick up projects from this DocsBarcelona when they are further developed. Market-wise, these two companies think of both broadcasters, festivals and cinema releases, the audience is to be found not only in television but also at other – to use a modern term – platforms.

www.docsbarcelona.com

Peter Greenaway in Barcelona

Greenaway needs no big introduction and no need to stress his importance for European cinema as a master constantly searching for new possibilities for expression. I was not able to attend (with 300 others) his masterclass, that he – taken from the website of the festival – introduced in the following way:

“We are all aware that great changes are happening in the world of cinema and film – the old verities are no longer with us. The superstructures, infrastructures, audience participations, distribution patterns, audience
characteristics – as well as certainly the technologies are changing very fast . Each new technological gizmo or gimmick or toy or machine erodes the old edifice. The Old Cinema is dead.

This lecture-talk of NEW POSSIBILITIES is full of examples – multiple-screening, environmental screening, “immersion” screening, combinations of genre-manipulation, VJ-ing, presenting non-narrative-multi-image-cinema ventures, cinema deconstructions, cinema reconstructed deconstructions – all indicating a toe in the ocean of new possibilities that are rising up over all the horizons”.

For newcomers in the world of Peter Greenaway, take a look at his website. Impressive filmography, indeed.

http://www.petergreenawayevents.com/petergreenaway.html

www.docsbarcelona.com

Latin America Documentaries are Coming

… indeed they are, as it was proved at the 14th edition of the DOCSBarcelona pitching forum section. With the help of Ibermedia, a financial support mechanism that links the Iberian countries Spain and Portugal with countries in Latin America, a Latin Forum for the presentation of projects were launched. 6 projects had been selected – the Brasilian Elisa Capai’s visually energetic, powerful ”African Women”, Agustina Macri’s ”Carnacalypse”, a fake documentary that treats the subject ”what if there was no more meat in Argentina” in a global food production frame, Sergio Lopez visually exciting proposal about miners, ”Con la noche dentro”, Lorena Torréns exciting and well developed homo-sexual docucomedy ”Timoteo´s Fabulous Ragged Circus”, Colombian Jorge Caballero’s Wiseman-inspired ”Birth” and finally the charming and sensual clip presentation of ”Reynecita” by Paula Schargorodsky, who presented her personal love failure in comparison with that of her grandmother.

There was so much energy and creativity in the 6 presenting persons as well as in ”Avant” by the team from Uruguay, Julio Alvarez and Virginia Bogliolo. The film will deal with the action taken by world class ballet dancer Julio Bocca (photo), who moves to Uruguay to make his Sodre National Ballet internationally relevant.

… will come to a festival, and maybe a television channel, near you.

www.docsbarcelona.com

www.tarkiofilm.com