Archidoc. Romain Gary, Walter Benjamin and Fedya

Romain Gary (photo, long after Sofia), also known as Emila Ajar, a legendary French writer, right now subject of a photo exhibition in Paris, was in 1946 sent to Sofia in Bulgaria as a member of the French diplomacy delegation. He was there for two years with his wife Lesley Blanch, had several female relations like one with his Bulgarian secretary, who might have been a spy or just wanted to get help to get out of the country. ”The Bookseller” was the pseudonym given to Gary by the Bulgarian secret service which was following Gary’s life in the Bulgarian capital. The film, to be produced and directed by Assen Vladimirov, veteran in Bulgarian cinema, will be based on the files of the Service, on the memories of Gary, who as a writer was characterised as ”mediocre” by the Service! Vladimirov presented the project in a very entertaining way that fits to the ”funny yet serious” story about a meeting between West and East just after WW2.

Before the war another well known writer and philosopher, Walter Benjamin, was forced into exile in 1933 because of the start of the Nazi hunt on Jews. Benjamin goes to Ibiza, where he stays for one year. While hard times pass in Berlin, Benjamin thinks back on his childhood in the metropol, and starts writing about it. His life on Ibiza and his retro-thinking will be the basis of a film by Andreas Strasser, German director, who has been living in Spain, and who seeks to make the film on the basis of Benjamin’s prose, archive material from the island and from Berlin, as well as archive material made by the director to make Benjamin come alive.

Latvian director Kristine Zelve, however, intends to make a film about a totally unknown Finnish director, Teuvo Tulio, who was born in Latvia and had the nickname Fedya, that will also be the name of the film. Tulio’s name is on a stone monument in his native village, where the inhabitants do not know who he was. A master of melodramatic films, Tulio made his last film in 1972, ”Sensuela”, which was censored as being too erotic, for which reason Tulio withdrew from public life, never made any more films or interviews. In these years he is being taken back to have the recognition he, in the view of many film people, deserves.

Here is only space to mention 3 of the nine projects that were pitched in Paris at the final session of Archidoc. A catalogue can be acquired through:

www.lafemis.fr

Jean-Luc Godard og Anne-Marie Miéville: Korte film

I FOF-Randers’ filmklub skal vi i aften se de fire korte film af Jean-Luc Godard og Anne-Marie Miéville, som ECM Records for nogen tid siden udsendte på dvd indlagt i en smuk lille bog. I vores præsentation af filmene tager jeg udgangspunkt i sidste billede i sidste film, en sidevendt skikkelse med ansigtet skjult af et langt hår og bøjet tæt mod et spejl (måske?):

Slutbilledet i den sidste film i serien, den hedder Je vous salue, Sarajevo, er gådefuldt. Hvad er det for en skikkelse, hvad ser denne skikkelse? Fortælleren eller rettere essayisten siger: ”Når det er tid at lukke bogen, vil jeg ikke have flere klager. Jeg har set så mange mennesker leve så ondt, og så mange dø så godt.” Før det billede, før den scene har filmen omhyggeligt undersøgt et enkelt fotografi fra krigen, fra kampen om Sarajevo. To stående soldater (det er vist serbere, men det er lige meget her) mishandler tre liggende personer. De dækker deres hoveder med armene. Omhyggeligt undersøges fotografiet detalje for detalje. En soldat har en cigaret mellem fingrene, mens han samtidigt hæver sin fod for at sparke, sparke kvinden på jorden. Essayisten (Godards stemme) siger: ” I en vis forstand er angsten Guds datter, forløst Langfredag nat. Hun er ikke smuk, hun er spottet, forbandet og fornægtet af alle. Men få ikke galt fat på det. Hun overvåger al dødelig lidelse, hun går i forbøn for menneskeheden. For der er en regel og en undtagelse. Kulturen er reglen, kunsten er undtagelsen. Alle taler reglen: cigaret, computer, t-shirt, tv, turisme, krig. Ingen taler undtagelsen. Den er ikke talt, den er skrevet: Flaubert, Dostojevskij. Den er komponeret: Gershwin, Mozart. Den er malet: Cézanne, Vermeer. Den er filmet: Antonioni, Vigo. Eller den er levet, og så er den livets kunst: Srebrenica, Mostar, Sarajevo. Reglen er at ønske undtagelsen død. Så reglen for Kultureuropa er at organisere døden for den livets kunst, som stadig blomstrer.”

Langt inde i The Old Place, den anden film i kvartetten, kommer et høstbillede med bønder som led i den uafbrydelige strøm af lån og påmindelser fra museets sale og samlinger, som Godard og Miéville kommenterer i deres fortsatte samtale. ”JLG: Når Jean-Francois Millet maler to bønder som beder på en mark og kalder det ’Angelus’ svarer titlen til realiteten. AMM: Når Francis Picabia tegner en bolt og kalder det ’Portræt af en amerikansk pige i nøgenheden’ svarer titlen ikke længere til realiteten. JLG: ’Det er lige meget for mig’, siger Picabia. Efter Duchamp og før Warhol, fuldstændig som caféejeren, når han rækker dig dessertmenuen. Og det var den afgørende vending i malerkunsten. Den anden. Den første var da malerne besluttede at male jordiske kvinder. Det skete næsten fra begyndelsen, men det gjorde ikke Jomfru Maria noget…” Men senere blev det værre og værre og Godard fortsætter sin bekymrede replik med en overvejelse over kunstens kommercialisering. Som slet ikke er en uskyldig sag. Og filmen er en bestilling fra Museum of Modern Art i New York, som ikke får nogen éntydig analyse endsige en hyldest. Men en tankevækkende, foruroligende og måske sorgfuld omvisning i salene.

Jean-Luc Godard og Anne-Marie Miéville lever og arbejder sammen. Laver den ene film efter den anden. Dybe, personlige, radikale, internationale og særegne. Disse fire små film blev altså i 2006 yderst forbavsende gjort alment tilgængelige af Manfred Eichers ECM Records. Sidste år fulgte på Wild Side Video det store værk Film Socialisme, som Godard signerede alene. Miéville laver selvfølgelig også sine egne ting.

Jean-Luc Godard og Anne-Marie Miéville: De l’origine du XXIe siècle, The Old Place, Liberté et patrie og Je vous salue, Sarajevo, Frankrig / Schweiz 1993-2002. 16+46+21+2 min. Bog med dvd, ECM Records 2006. 

Zelig Student Films Travel

Readers will know that I teach at Zelig Documentary Film School in Bolzano. 3 of the new students, who are in their first year of study, have recently written reviews of films on this blog and I am happy to update you on the success of several of the graduation films of students who were at the school 2007-2010 and now are out in ”real life”.

Benoit Felici’s ”Unfinished Italy” go to Rome Independent Film Festival in March, to the International Short Film Festival in Barcelona in April and to Indie Lisboa in May.

“Laas-Revuca (Jahrein-Jahraus)” has been nominated for the “Women DoP Award” of Dortmund-Köln’s International Women Film Festival (Germany, 12-17 april). Martin Fliri’s documentary has been shot by Nina Högg on Kodak 16mm stock. Here is a short annotation of the film: “The South Tyrolean apple business is highly developed and dependent on foreign workers. Mostly male, middle-aged and from one of the new European Union countries, they work several periods throughout the year in local orchards. A documentary film about guest workers and hosts. About homesickness and wanderlust.” The film is 42 mins. long.

Finally, Georg Boch can see his ”Facebook’s ”Adorno Changed My Life”” (photo) advertised on the site of the strong American distributor Icarus Films – together with other new titles like Nicholas Geyerhalter’s ”Elsewhere”, Patricio Guzman’s ”Nostalgia for the Light”, not to forget the classic masterpiece of Marcelæ Ophüls: ”Hotel Terminus”! Not bad for a beginner!

http://www.zeligfilm.it/

http://icarusfilms.com

http://www.unfinished-italy.com/

Good Docu News from Czech Republic

On this blog you have often met the sentence ”East Beats West” referring to this blogger´s enthusiasm for original documentaries from Eastern Europe. The central point for spreading knowledge about the situation, and for stimulating the sector through festivals, workshops, training sessions and brilliant website is the IDF (Institute of Documentary Film) in Prague. IDF has released this press release about ”Czech Documentary Film in 2010. It includes an overview of viewer numbers for Czech Television, cinema attendance, festival awards, funding suppport from the State Fund for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography, and Czech TV. But also some well argumented worries for the future. I think documentarians in many other countries will nod affirmingly when you read the pro’s and con’s:

Czech documentary film in 2010:

  • 16 Czech documentaries released in cinemas
  • Highest cinema attendance for documentary film: Katka – 117,000 filmgoers
  • Documentary funding from the State Fund for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography: CZK 33 million granted to 39 projects
  • Czech Television allocated CZK 157 million in external and internal costs to 786 projects
  • Highest viewer numbers for documentary programme on Czech Television’s channel 1, ČT1: 13. komnata Kateřiny Kornové – 1,250,000 viewers
  • Highest viewer numbers for documentary programme on Czech Television’s channel 2, ČT2: Marital Etudes 20 Years Later – Mirka and Antonín – 504,000 viewers

Prague, February 9, 2011 – Czech documentary film did fairly well in 2010. As in the previous year, sixteen documentaries were released in cinemas, yet according to the Association of Film Distributors, documentary films attracted over 160,000 filmgoers, i.e., nearly three times as many compared to 2009.

With 117,000 filmgoers, Katka (photo) by Helena Třeštíková was by far the most successful documentary film, miles ahead of Olga Špátová’s The Eye Over Prague (21,000) and Filip Remunda and Vít Klusák’s Czech Peace (7,000). “Along with the success of Czech documentaries abroad, this positive trend is a cause for optimism for the coming years,” says Hana Rezková of the Institute of Documentary Film, a training and resource centre that has since 2001 been closely following documentary developments in Central and Eastern Europe.

Helena Třeštíková’s documentary feature Katka posted exceptional results in cinemas (117,000 filmgoers), which would be considered high even for a feature film. “People knew the first part of Katka’s story from my documentary film that ran on Czech Tv several years ago and they wanted to find out more. Drugs still are a very current topic. Katka and both men in her life were able to be very open about it and the film generates a lot of debate,” suggests filmmaker Helena Třeštíková who already had a great audience success with her 2008 film René. Last month, Katka also received the Czech Film Critics Award for Best Documentary Film of 2010. 

Czech Documentary Films at International Festivals

In addition to its local success, Helena Třeštíková’s Katka was awarded at the 2010 RIDM, Montreal International Documentary Festival. Czech Peace received an award at DMZ-DOCS in South Korea; The Eye Over Prague was recognized at the Warsaw Film Festival, and All That Glitters at DOK Leipzig. Czech documentaries were also screened at other international festivals. “Czech documentary tradition is very diverse, and it includes a lot of interesting people with very different styles and approaches in both form and content. That’s what I really like about documentary film. I feel that all doors are still wide open,” adds Helena Třeštíková who remains optimistic about the future. “I believe that the golden era of documentary film still lies ahead. Interest in documentaries is on the rise around the world, which makes them all the more interesting for producers and distributors.”

State Fund for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography
Funding provided by the State Fund confirms the growing quality of Czech documentaries. Although the total amount of money available in the Fund decreased in 2010, documentary films received CZK 6 million more than in 2009. Documentaries were granted a total of CZK 33 million, i.e., 15% of the total grant budget. “Out of 63 documentary applications, the Board of the State Fund approved funding for 39 projects, while only one half of feature projects received support. These figures suggest that the quality of documentary films is high and it should also be emphasized that the Board gives preference to creative projects over made-for-TV programmes,” explains Kateřina Ondřejková, the Board’s spokeswoman.

Documentary Films and Czech Television in 2010
Czech Television remains a key institution for local documentaries. In 2010, Czech TV spent more than CZK 107 million in external and over CZK 50 million in internal costs on 786 documentary projects – acquisitions, production, co-production and commissions. Moreover, Czech TV introduced a new programming and organizational structure this year: “Czech TV’s channel 2 also plans to establish a platform for communication with filmmakers at meetings, seminars and programming debates, as well as for inspiration over creative proposals. The results of these changes will be really apparent in our programming sometime at the end of 2011 and in 2012,” commissioning editors Jana Kopecká and Zdeněk A. Tichý outline the plans.

What changes have already taken effect? The commissioning editors add that “compelling society subjects returned to prime time, there will be one-hour culture programmes, and a number of short documentary series on history and culture subjects.” Czech documentary films that are broadcast on Thursday evenings will now be part of theme nights.

As in 2009, Czech TV’s viewer figures overwhelmingly favour documentary programmes dedicated to celebrities – 13. komnata (The 13th Chamber); Příběhy slavných (Lives of the Famous). Their dominance was broken only by Helena Třeštíková’s Marital Etudes 20 Years Later on Czech TV’s channel 2. Kopecká and Tichý list a few factors that influence viewership: “It is about the subject, approach, credit of the filmmakers but also a few other things. Strong Czech documentaries that meet most of these conditions and generate good word of mouth post very good numbers.”

Czech Documentary Film in 2011
According to Hana Rezková of the Institute of Documentary Film, despite the good news, 2011 will not be all smooth sailing. “An entirely new mode of communication between filmmakers and television will be required for the new commissioning system introduced by Czech TV. Any soft spots that might appear will have to resolved on the go.” And despite the benefits of digital theatrical distribution, another challenge will be to find more space for documentaries in cinema programming. “Given the current economic situation, we cannot possibly expect any increase in public funding. We still believe, though, that Czech documentaries will continue to draw viewers at home and abroad as the most inspiring and engaging films Czech cinema has to offer,” concludes Hana Rezková.

http://www.dokweb.net/en/

MoMA Doc Festival

It is not new that the NY Museum of Modern Art has a very active film department and a very high quality in selection. Neither is it new that the Museum shows a lot of documentaries. But it is maybe new for many that the programming is as interesting as the one included in the ”Documentary Fortnight 2011: MoMA’s International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media”, that runs until February 28. Here is the intro from the site:

Established in 2001, MoMA’s annual two-week showcase of recent nonfiction film and media takes place each February. This international selection of films presents a wide range of creative categories that extend the idea of the documentary form, examines the relationship between contemporary art and nonfiction practices, and reflects on new areas of nonfiction practice. This year’s program includes an international selection of 20 feature films; independent films from China; a look at the legacy of New Day Films, one of the first do-it-yourself film cooperatives; and two documentary performance programs.

The International Film Selection includes films from 14 countries. The opening and closing films are both debut features by British artists—Gillian Wearing’s Self Made and Clio Barnard’s The Arbor. These exciting new works incorporate acting and drama into examinations of reality. Also featured is renowned Chilean director (photo) Patricio Guzman’s Nostalgia for the Light, a hauntingly beautiful philosophical rumination on the secrets of the heavens

and Earth 10,000 feet above sea level, in Latin America’s Atacama Desert. Documentary Fortnight has also partnered with Cinema Tropical and Ambulante, the celebrated traveling documentary film festival created by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Pablo Cruz, to present exciting films from Argentina and Mexico that are part of a recent surge of powerful new work from Latin America.

Chinese Independent Cinema is flourishing as well, with many stories to tell beyond the strictures of the government censorship. These works are shown outside China, or in small showcases and under-the-radar festivals within the country. The films are often long, as many directors have been inspired by Fred Wiseman’s prolific output and his style of observational cinema. Xu Xin’s Karamay, for example, is a six-hour film about a fire that devastated the families of Urumqi. The director’s attention to the details of these families’ stories is poetic and captivating. By contrast, Huang Weikai’s hourlong Disorder, a dense look at life in the city of Guangzhou, captures modern urban China by compiling footage shot by amateur photographers.

In 1971, dismayed that their feminist films were being dismissed by mainstream educational distributors, a group of American filmmakers joined together to form New Day Films, an independent documentary distribution cooperative. 40 years later, New Day Films is thriving as a leading educational distributor in the U.S., and its members’ award-winning films are in public demand. Five programs of films show the wide range of topics they have examined, and founding members Liane Brandon, Jim Klein, Julia Reichert, and Amalie R. Rothschild will be present to talk about their experiences.

Performances by Sam Green and Dave Cerf and Nao Bustamante will take place on the final two nights of the festival. Many of the filmmakers will be present throughout the festival, and discussions follow most films.

PS. There are several trailers to be watched on this site:

http://www.moma.org/explore/films

Forgotten Transports in Copenhagen/Again

The Czech Embassy to Denmark has asked us to recommend the documentary film series written, researched and directed by Lukáš Přibyl. One part was shown in Copenhagen in January, with such a success that the remaining three now are to be presented. The series is unique – take a look at our review of the series from 2009. Here is what the Embassy’s press release says:

When the Holocaust is mentioned, people recall images of tattooed numbers on forearms, children in striped uniforms in Auschwitz or Hitler’s speeches. Forgotten Transports have none of that. “You won’t see Hitler in my films,” says Lukáš Přibyl. “What I’m interested in is when you take a person from a relatively normal life and suddenly throw them into completely apocalyptic conditions – how does that person react?”

Each of the four films focuses on one unique “mode of survival” in the extreme conditions of the camps in Latvia, Belarus, Estonia and Poland. The films employ no present-day footage, only authentic, meticulously researched time-and-place precise materials and the words of witnesses. Out of tens of thousands of Czech Jews deported to the forgotten places in the east, fewer than 300 survived. Lukáš Přibyl managed to find over 70 of them and most of them told their stories for the first time… Based on 400 hours of interviews recorded in 20 countries and 10 years of work, the series offers a surprising picture of survival “as we don’t know it”.

Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 19:00: Forgotten Transports to Belarus: Men Who Fought

Tuesday 1 March 2011 at 19:00: Forgotten Transports to Latvia: Family Strength

Tuesday 8 March 2011 at 19:00: Forgotten Transports to Poland: The Human Spirit

… in Husets Biograf, Copenhagen

www.forgottentransports.com

Danish DocuTurbulence

For our non-Danish readers: The two postings below in Danish language deal with a current scandal in Danish film administration. At least this is what it has been called. In brief: Danish film magazine EKKO publishes an article by journalist René Fredensborg. In this article Fredensborg refers, among other things, to his new carreer as applicant for support for a documentary at DFI (The Danish Film Institute). In gonzo journalistic style he describes his meeting with film consultant Jesper Jack at a project development seminar. After dinner the film consultant offers the applicant cocain which they enjoy together the whole night through. Ten months later the applicant goes public with that information, after he has received 200.000 Dkr (around €27000) for the development of the project. The film consultant is sacked and hell breaks loose over the insinuations in the article that film support is only given to and by people who have gone to the Danish Film School and are close pals.

Front page of the cultural section of the most important Danish newspaper, lots of discussion in the tabloid – and on filmkommentaren.dk below an article by former independent producer and production responsible at DFI, Mikael Opstrup, who, having been on both sides of the desk, rejects having experienced any kind of cronyism and nepotism. Plus a small PS by this blogger on the editorial line of a magazine, EKKO.

EKKO – hvor er redaktionen?

Et lille PS til Opstrups mail: Den tarvelige smudskastende artikel i EKKO af René Fredensborg, forsmået ansøger hos Det danske Filminstitut, fik den konsekvens at en filmkonsulent blev fyret. Og Peter Ålbæk kunne så more sig i Berlin med sange, der refererede til den fyrede konsulents navn og stofbrug. Hit the Road Jack… morsomt eller bare gængs dansk morsom ondskabsfuldhed?

Et nærmere kig på bladet, hvori artiklen er bragt, kan kun få hovedet til at ryste og munden til at sige: Jamen, kære redaktion, det hænger jo slet ikke sammen? Er det et filmblad I vil lave? Eller er det sådan lidt-af-hvert, stort og småt, som man kan tillade sig på en con-amore gratis tilgængelig blog som denne, men ikke med en fire-farve-smukt-layout’et trykt ambitiøs publikation, som udkommer med kraftig støtte fra det offentlige. EKKO har fulgt sagen om “Defamation”, som udgives på dvd til gang for læserne. Fint. EKKO har interviews med Jesper Christensen og Anthony Dod Mantle. De er gode. Og der er mange andre læsværdige artikler og anmeldelser, men så kommer nogle totalt ligegyldige sider om Oscar’en, nærmest sådan lidt gossip i stil med Fredensborgs udfald. Hvor er linien, hvor er det redaktionelle fokus? Tag jer dog tid til diskussion efter den gigantiske redaktionelle fejldisposition med Fredensborgs artikel. Drop det lette stof, læg det eventuelt ud på jeres nyhedsbrev, det kan man jo bare lade være at få tilsendt. Og drop

http://www.ekkofilm.dk

René Fredensborgs indsnævrende EKKO artikel

Mikael Opstrup har overladt os denne mail til EKKOs redaktør Claus Christensen. Opstrup venter stadigvæk på svar. I mellemtiden har vi på Filmkommentaren valgt at bringe den som en slags åben mail: 

Kære Claus. Da jeg i dag (11. februar) hørte om afskedigelsessagen mod Jesper Jack blev jeg ked af det, det er dumt og deprimerende hvis en filmkonsulent blander sit private brug af stoffer sammen med sit møde med ansøgere. Det er utilgiveligt og til stor skade for hele støttesystemet.

Så nu var det tid at få læst EKKO, som havde ligget ulæst i op til et døgn hjemme i stuen.

Så blev jeg endnu mere deprimeret.

Jo det er velskrevet og hvis det ikke var for den alvorlige baggrund, også morsomt.

Men hvor var det dog indsnævret og reaktionært. Det hviler på 2 helt afgørende præmisser:

– ’System A’ er et godt projekt, manden har talent

– Filmkonsulenter, redaktører, producere m.m. er en indspist masse, der er fuldstændig ligeglade med film og kvalitet.

Når man ser bort fra underholdningsværdien, kan artiklen ikke ses som andet end den underkendte uden-for-eliten’s møde med en indforstået elites arrogante nedladenhed. Folkets møde med parnasset. Vi sidder på magten og hvor er vi dog ligeglade med dem, der skaber kunsten. Det var som at læse Fremskridtspartiets partiprogram omsat til dagsaktuel reportage.

Det kan man jo heller ikke udelukke kan finde sted. Men nu kender jeg tilfældigvis de fleste af dem, som Fredensborg omtaler i artiklen. Og jeg kan ikke få det til at stemme. Er det niveauet, er det sådan beslutningerne tages? Har jeg helt misforstået de seneste par årtier?

Jeg kender begge positioner. Jeg har i mange år, som du ved, været producer og dermed ansøger på filminstituttet. Og jeg har været ansat på DFI i 4 år. Jeg kender begge sider af skrivebordet og det har været meget lærerigt. De sidste 2 år har jeg været hverken-eller. Jeg har med andre ord ikke noget i klemme.

En diskussion om støttesystemer og konsulenter er altafgørende vigtig, men denne artikel er vel det mest indsnævrede udgangspunkt, man kan forestille sig. For ét er den konkrete ageren af Jesper Jack, noget andet er artiklens indforståede kontekst, som er det der står tilbage, nu hvor der er indledt afskedigelsessag mod manden. Det synes jeg ikke skal stå uimodsagt. Jeg stiller gerne op. Kærlig hilsen Mikael.

SENERE:

Jeg har i dag 18. juni 2011 modtaget denne mail fra Claus Christensen med anmodning om, at den bliver bragt her på siden:

“Årsagen til, at jeg aldrig har besvaret Mikael Opstrups henvendelse, er den banale, at Ekkos server var nede i det døgn, hvor mailen blev sendt. Jeg har derfor aldrig modtaget mailen, men kan forsikre jer om, at Opstrups udmærkede indlæg ville være blevet bragt sammen med de mange andre kritiske indlæg, som Ekko fik tilsendt om konsulentsagen og straks bragte på hjemmesiden www.ekkofilm.dk. I Ekko er debatten fri, og der er højt til loftet, også når det er magasinet, som bliver kritiseret. Hvad Opstrups spørgsmål angår, vil jeg henvise til lederen i Ekko #53, hvor vi kommenterer debatten, takker for de mange indlæg og for vores del afrunder sagen.

Venlig hilsen
Claus Christensen, chefredaktør”

Mikael Opstrup skrev med det samme i dag, da Claus Christensen sendte ham og mig besked om, at han aldrig havde fået hans mail, sådan:

“Kære Claus

Tak for din mail. Da du jo udelukkende forholder dig til den redaktionelle indledning og ikke substansen i mit indlæg, har jeg sådan set ikke mere at tilføje. Andet end,  at mailen ligger i min ’Sendt’ boks, afsendt d. 11.2.2011 kl. 20:02 til Claus Christensen. Bare til din information.

Venlig hilsen

Mikael Opstrup”

Og det er altså hvad Christensen svarer på og forklarer. Jamen, så er sagen jo opklaret. Jeg (ABN) kan kun konkludere, at nu kan Claus Christensen jo bringe Opstrups indlæg i Ekko og måske kommentere det. Men hvis han forståeligt vurderer, diskussionen om støttesystemer og konsulenter nu er forældet i Ekko, kan han af hensyn til Historien kommentere den her, og måske revitalisere den, så den kan flyttes til forsiden, hvad det principielle indhold i Opstrups tekst kunne indbyde til.

Jeg skrev dengang, at Filmkommentaren i ventetiden bragte Opstrups indlæg. Jeg tænkte ikke på, at Ekko ville droppe det, glemme det eller noget. Blot, at de nok havde meget travlt der på bladet. Nu ved jeg så, at de også havde maskinskade. Det hele er opklaret, og alt er i orden.

Pernille R. Grønkjær: The Monastery

First year student at Zelig Documentary film school, Anke Riester, watched this neo-classic for the first time. Here is the review:

For 40 years, Mr. Vig, a 82-year old bachelor from Denmark had a dream: to transform his run-down castle in the heart of the Danish countryside into a Orthodox Russian monastery. Finally his dream seems to come true as the Moscow Patriarchate sends 3 nuns, headed by Sister Ambrosija, to Denmark to get the castle into shape for the final goal. After a lot of renovation works they move in and the castle is approved by the Patriarchate. From now on the nuns share the life of the old man who used to live alone for decades.

The filmmaker follows Mr. Vig in a very intimate way through all the ups and downs that are caused by these new arrangements. The well-educated elderly man is a character every filmmaker is after. He carries the whole film so intensely that as soon as he leaves the frame it becomes hard for the viewer to stay focused. These pauses are filled with images of landscapes which are all mostly similar and too long for “taking a breath”.

The close relationship between Mr. Vig and the filmmaker makes the viewer feel as if he lives next door and this makes it easy to sympathize with this very special old man and his century-old dream. Mr. Vig often forgets the camera and just sees and talks to the person behind it. This gives the movie a very authentic and natural feel as well as a deep insight into the world of his protagonist.

The editing style is very obvious. The cuts are clearly visible, jumping bravely from one situation to another within the interviews with Mr. Vig, combining different parts of his sentences. This technique gives the viewer a feeling of honesty instead of interrupting the flow of the film.

The only problem is that the theme of realising a dream didn´t seem to be enough for the director. She is very determined to try to create a forced love story between Mr. Vig and Sister Ambrosija. This would not would have been necessary because the main story works well enough.The film is even ending with Vig´s death and a citation of a letter that Sister Ambrosija wrote to him after his passing away. In my opinion it would have been a perfect ending to see which dimension Vig´s dream of monastery had finally reached. The end leaves the viewer alone with this unfulfilled expectation. Still it´s a unique story and definitely worth watching.

Denmark, 2006, 84 mins.

PS. “The Monastery” has been reviewed and reported upon several times on this blog.