Sergei Loznitsa – from Mathematics to Filmmaking

Ukranian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa is being honoured with a big retrospective of his work (11 documentaries) at Doc Fest in Thessaloniki, that runs until March 20. The festival has a fine newsletter (free subscription) from where this press text – in an edited form – has been taken:

Loznitsa talked about his sources of inspiration, the differences between fiction and documentary films and his relationship with audiences during a press conference he gave on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 in the framework of the 13th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.

His career in the documentary genre began during a very fruitful time of his life, even though he was not as yet devoted to art, but to science. He was born in 1964 in Belarus. Shortly after, his family moved to the Ukraine, were he studied applied mathematics and control systems at Kiev’s Polytechnic. The director said that he decided to change profession because of the low-quality training he received in Kiev, but he added that mathematics helped him in his transition to filmmaking. “A film is, in a way, a means to control things, and also a language used by people to communicate. Control systems are not all that different from films. In my view, anyone who wants to work in

film should start from something more abstract, like mathematics or music. From there, you can move to whatever you want and become, say, a politician or manager.

Loznitsa records simple, everyday aspects of life in the form of a historical testimony. He starts from things immediately apparent and then moves on to shed light on sensitive, hidden aspects, leaving nothing to chance. Aesthetics, form, style work latently, without making any noise. Referring to his method of work, he noted: “It is personal and I might say similar to hunting. I look for ideas all around me, like a hunter seeking out his pray. In this process, you have to let go of your mind and operate on feelings alone. Usually, when we are about to start work on a film, two or three of us gather together with a camera, sound equipment and a car. We spend two weeks traveling before shooting, with no specific idea in our minds, just looking around for something that will catch our eye“.

The “secret” of success in this process, according to the director, is this: “you have to cleanse yourself from all signs of life around you; you need to lose contact with the things that hold you back and see things more clearly. It is a mystical process“. 

The major goal of his films is to keep the viewer alert. This purpose is served by the lack of narration – the trademark of his films. “The most important thing is to allow the viewer to understand who he is. To allow him to get something from the film, to be influenced by it and be able to build on that influence”, he noted.

The director had once said that “cinema takes us back to time lost”. What is his relationship with time when making a film? “Sometimes I do realize I have to put an end to it. It is easier when we are using film, because it is bound to run out eventually”, he said jokingly, adding: “Any kind of pressure is welcome. Besides, this is the second law of Thermodynamics”. Illustrating his point, the director told a story from the time he was shooting Northern Light. The crew had to travel thousands of kilometers from Saint Petersburg to reach a remote village. “We had been shooting there for two weeks, when the local KGB came and took us in for a day and a half, in order to ascertain we weren’t spies. I took this as a sign that we should probably wrap it up”. 

Commenting on the differences between feature films and documentaries, he said they only exist “in our mind”. “If I showed you a shot of a suicide scene, it might impress you enough to ask me who this amazing actor is. But if I told you this was a documentary and that the person did actually take his life, you would be shocked. Nothing would have changed in the material per se – the difference is in our minds and reflects our ethics and norms”.

www.filmfestival.gr

The Runner

Here are words about a film project that I have been following for a couple of years. It is in production and will be a good film, I can assure you from what I have seen so far. The producers have introduced the so-called crowd funding and have collected around 3.500$. Here is a text from the site:

The Runner is the latest feature documentary from the award-winning filmmaker Saeed Taji Farouky and the team at Tourist With A Typewriter. It is intended as an 80 minute theatrical release, with a 52 minute television edit, and will premiere in time for the London 2012 Olympics.

The Runner is a film about the limits of our endurance. It tells the story of a champion long-distance runner who – in one dramatic moment – became the symbol of a national liberation movement. Salah Ameidan is a man willing to risk his career, his family, his nationality and his life to run for a country that doesn’t exist: Western Sahara, officially the last colony in Africa. Virtually unknown on the world stage, Western Sahara is an area larger than the United Kingdom and has been under Moroccan occupation since 1975.

As a talented young athlete, Salah was forced to compete for Morocco, the country occupying his homeland, since the age of 14. During that time, he and his family suffered harassment, detention, arrest and torture at the hands of Moroccan police. One day in 2003, during a race in France, he made a bold

decision that changed his life forever. As he approached the end of an 8km race, he pulled out a Sahrawi flag – illegal in Morocco as a symbol of the independence movement – and waved it across the finish line. Knowing he would never be allowed safely back home, he applied for asylum in France and has been there ever since. He continues to train intensively and competes on an international level under the flag of Western Sahara, an unrecognised country. He has no nationality, having refused offers of citizenship from France and Spain.

Today, Salah is not only one of the highest profile Sahrawi activists in the world, but is seen by his people as a national liberation hero. “Running is part of my resistance. It’s the only weapon I have.”

The Runner follows Salah at a critical point in his life: his success, and the risks associated with it, are about to collide. Morocco is in the middle of a violent crackdown on Sahrawi activists, and two of his family members were recently killed by Moroccan forces. As Salah becomes a more successful athlete and more recognised as a hero, he puts himself and his family in more danger. Under such pressure, what are the limits of his endurance?

(You can read more about the film here.)

http://www.touristwithatypewriter.com/

http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Runner-film-shoot-Mission-Pyrenees-

You can still support the film through

http://www.touristwithatypewriter.com/therunner/runner_synopsis.htm

Yael Hersonski: A Film Unfinished

Fra Tue Steen Müllers private videotek: Arkivmaterialets alvor, en dokumentarisk rekonstruktion som filmisk elegi.

En gammel mand sad for længe siden i en mørk biograf i Berlin og så Berlin, Sinfonie einer Grossstadt. Skribenten, som fortæller historien, sad i nærheden, ja, det var Niels Jensen, og Jensen hørte ham mumle for sig selv: ”Anhalter Bahnhof, Anhalter Bahnhof…” op mod de stumme sort/hvide scener. Det kom fra en dyb smerte, tabet var stort. Udenfor var nu “kun brudstykket af en portal, murbrokker og græs tilbage.”

Jeg så for lidt siden omsider Yael Hersonskis berømte, Sundance-vindende film og kom til at tænke på det citat, denne korte replik, som blev ved med at gentage sig i mig, som en melodilinje, der ikke vil forsvinde. Jeg så nu disse nutidige mennesker, som var børn dengang, sidde i en moderne biograf og 65 år senere se optagelser fra Warszawas jødiske ghetto, hviske og udbryde og direkte sige sådanne ting til boomstangens mikrofon: ”Måske kommer min mor om lidt gående der på gaden…” Det er dyb smerte, tabet er værre end forfærdende, moderen blev vel kort tid efter dræbt i Treblinka som tusinde flere.

Oplevelsen i biografsalen er uafrystelig, at se ansigtet som ser. Som Anna Karinas ansigt, når hun i en mørk biograf i Paris ser Jeanne d’Arcs lidelse og død. Lidelse og død.

Jeg ved godt, at Yael Hersonskis hovedanliggende er en detektivisk kortlægning af den tyske besættelsesmagts manipulering af dokumentarfilmen. Filmen var i sin begyndelse i 1942 tænkt som propaganda. De indespærrede i ghettoen levede iscenesat en times tid som forkælede bedsteborgere. Som nu herren, som sidder og læser ved chatollet. Men så blev der i arkivet fundet en glemt filmrulle med fraklippet. Der blev fundet to dagbøger, som fortalte om optagelserne, om de tyske dokumentarfolks arrangeren alting. Den læsende herre er altså tvunget til at sidde der i ro, og det er, hvad han har tilbage, disse tre møbler, bag kameraet er stuen fyldt med resten af hans familie. I soveværelset bor en anden familie, i de andre værelser andre, én familie i hvert rum. Fraklippene på den nyfundne rulle viste kamerafolk gå ind i hinandens scener, sådant måtte jo ud. Og det måtte den åbenlyse nød, sult, brutalitet, vold og død også. Nu er det hele omhyggeligt på plads i Hersonskis uafviselige og umistelige værk. Omsider sidder jeg foran arkivmaterialets alvor: Warszawa, Warszawa..

Yael Hersonski: A Film Unfinished, Israel 2008. Tue Steen Müller har tidligere kort omtalt filmen set på Memorimage festivalen i Reus.

Eyal Sivan: Jaffa, The Orange´s Clockwork

Fra Tue Steen Müllers private videotek: et topografisk og historisk essay. Min blogkollega har generøst og givet mig eksklusivt indblik i sin blandt kendere så berømte private dvd-samling. Jeg må kvittere med et par bemærkninger om mine oplevelser af disse film, som er at se på festivaler for tiden. Så vidt jeg kan finde ud af det, vil jeg skrive, hvor filmene kan  erhverves.

Jeg ved godt, at Sivans film handler om den israelsk-palæstinensiske konflikt, at filmen delvist allegorisk er en politisk analyse. Det lod jeg ligge, da jeg så den. Jeg var med det samme og hele vejen igennem kun optaget af et overdådigt topografisk arkivmateriale, som i de smukkeste billeder skildrer en vidunderlig middelhavsby og dens opland af appelsinlunde helt tilbage fra fotografiets opfindelse i midten af 1800-tallet, fra begyndelsen af 1900-tallet selvfølgelig suppleret med filmoptagelser af samme intense skønhed. Jeg så dette lag af Sivans film som ét langt stilleben eller måske snarere et nature morte koncentreret om et vemod, som to andre lag forholder sig nutidigt levende til. Et med medvirkende intellektuelle, som besøges i deres arbejdsværelser, hvor billederne projiceres og disse udsøgt forstandige mennesker kommenterer, hvad de ser. Blot dette at være hos dem i deres rum af bogreolers, maleriers og skulpturers trygge uforgængelighed af indsigt. Og endelig et dokumentarisk lag af nye optagelser i varme farver hos kloge, besindige bønder ude blandt de tusinder appelsintræer omkring Jaffa.

Eyal Sivan: Jaffa, The Orange´s Clockwork, Israel 2009, 86 min. Tue Steen Müller har tidligere kort omtalt filmen set på Memorimage festivalen i Reus. DVD-kopi kan købes hos Eyal Sivan selv. Producent er Alma Films.  

Tribeca Film Festival

Could not resist, had to bring that photo, even if I have now idea about the film – it has its premiere at the festival. Here is what is written about it on the site:

The first big piece of news about the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival has broken, and it’s a doozy. To open the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express®, we’ve assembled some serious talent: award-winning director Cameron Crowe, seminal rock keyboardist Leon Russell, and Elton John (photo), with the latter performing live on April 20!

What do these three men have in common? Well, in 2009, Elton John teamed up with his longtime idol Russell to make an album called The Union, produced by the legendary T-Bone Burnett. Director Crowe—himself an avid music fan, having explored the musician’s life in such classics as Almost Famous and Singles—decided to film their collaborative process, from writing through recording. The result is a documentary of the same name, the world premiere of which will be shown as the opening night film on Wednesday, April 20, 2011.

The festival continues until May 1st and has a strong documentary programme with 12 films competing in the so-called World Documentary Feature Competition (WDFC), plus another 9 docs to be found in a new section called Viewpoints. Films from USA and the UK dominate the selection for the WDFC, but what a pleasure to see that “Cinema Komunisto” by Serbian Mila Turajilic has been taken as an outsider, well done selection committee! As well as Swedish Gabriella Bier’s “Love During Wartime” – love between an Israeli and a Palestinian. Look forward to see that film as well as “Marathon Boy”, which will have its Danish premiere on “Dokumania” this coming Tuesday.

Also with Danish eyes – Eva Mulvad’s “The Good Life”, that has been running in cinemas in Copenhagen for weeks, is in the Viewpoint category that is characterised like this by the festival programmer: In our new Viewpoints section, we celebrate films that have unique, personal perspectives in their approach to their subjects, and which connect a wide range of global stories.

http://www.tribecafilm.com/

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

http://www.cinemakomunisto.com/news/

Jørgen Leth og Per Kirkeby: Dyrehaven…

Vi fortsætter næste uge samtalen om Per Kirkeby, nu i Mandagshøjskolen i FOF-Randers. Vi skal naturligvis igen se Pernille Bech Christensens Pers Metode (2008), men lige netop med den medvirkende vil det være naturligt og vigtigt at huske på hans næsten glemte betydning for filmkunsten. I 1970 instruerede han sammen med Jørgen Leth Dyrehaven, den romantiske skov. Det er et udgangspunkt, dels fordi filmen nu er tilgængelig på dvd i Jørgen Leths bokssæt, dels på grund af en bemærkning fra dengang af Hans-Jørgen Nielsen i hans anmeldelse i Information, 18. juni 1970 under overskriften “En meget mærkelig film”: “…Fotografen Henning Camre fejrer triumfer i disse dvælende farveorgier i harmonisk naturskønhed. Farvefilm har aldrig før været anvendt med en sådan artistisk følsomhed og teknisk overlegenhed i dansk filmproduktion. Men inden i og samtidig med disse banalt smukke og konventionelt romantiske  billeder er der endnu en film. En metafilm om den umiddelbare naturfilm, der holder denne frem som en ren og skær historisk skrift. Den egentlige bedrift i så henseende er Per Kirkebys. Alle filmens billeder er totalt behersket af hans særlige måde at se på. Den er et af maleren Per Kirkebys hovedværker…” Citatet er fra Anne Hejlskov Larsens Per Kirkebys malerier 1957-1977 (2002), hvor hun blandt alt det meget andet har skrevet en komplet oversigt  over Kirkebys film. Kun få af dem er umiddelbart tilgængelige, men Da myndighederne sagde stop (1972), som han instruerede sammen med Arkaluk Lynge og Asger Jorn, en film (1977) kan dog lånes på biblioteket i VHS kopi.

Pernille Bech Christensen: Pers Metode/2

Jeg tror, de var begejstrede, de entusiastiske elever på FOF’s Onsdagshøjskole, hvor vi i dag så Bech Christensens film efter jeg en halv times tid havde introduceret den. Der var faktisk applaus bagefter. Klapsalven gjaldt Pernille Bech Christensen elegante klippearbejde, denne usynlige kunst, som vi som indledning havde talt om. Om omhyggeligt at afbalancere de to medvirkende med et fintmærkende instrument inde i sit nervesystem, om at følge den samme sætning, som er konstrueret af måske en begyndelse i Tøjners Louisianakontor, en fortsættelse foran billedet inde i udstillingssalen, hvor det er under ophængning og en slutning på samme sætning helt ovre i Kirkebys hus i Gentofte. En fra højskoleholdet havde mistet to busser og derefter oplægget til filmen, men den nåede hun dog, glad fra begyndelsen. Hun kunne bagefter smilende notere, at Kirkeby sandelig var hurtig til at skifte skjorte. Flere gange i samme udredning af et kompliceret forhold i et maleri…  

Dox Box Damascus 2011

The festival in Damascus still runs today and tomorrow. I left this morning and the few times I was in the cinema, it was full. Beyond any doubt, this festival – that has been running for four years – has found its place in the cultural life in Damascus. There is a hunger for films, from Syria, from other countries in the Arab world, well from all over the world. For films that never reaches Syria if not for Dox Box. The festival leaders told me, as just one example, about the atmosphere in the hall when naked Finnish men opened their hearts on camera in ”Steam of Life”, dividing the audience into those who found that the film crossed the line of what you can show, contrary to those who loved the film – and those who giggled whenever a new sequence introduced nudity! I have previously praised the selection of international films, good to hear and see that they are also watched with good audience numbers and that they are appreciated, as are the films of Kim Longinotto, guest of honour at the festival this year.

With Longinotto and Syrian artist Ahmad Moulla, I was in the jury of ”Voices of Syria” section of the festival. We saw 6 films and they were not on a very high general level, to be honest. The filmmakers tend to forget the visual side, they go for the words and very often with one political correct interview after interview to constitute the structure. The reportage genre is the inspiration, the journallistic tradition. The selection of the 6 was done from 17 films. We found a winner, one stood out for its story and commitment and main character, the result will be revealed at the closing ceremony tonight.

There is hope that this situation can change if you look at the parallelly running Campus training session that thematically is described below. There was talent to find among the 14 projects coming from 9 countries. Especially among the female directors, who dared to pick up controversial subjects for discussion, with a lot of energy and passion, even if there still is a long way to go for many of them before they acquire filmic skills and find their own voice. But for them the documentary film is to be made to change something or at least to point at something that needs to be changed. Combined with the many different funds and their connected training and development initiatives, there is reason for optimism that more creative documentaries will come forward. Seen in the light of the revolution in Egypt and its inspirational spread, the only thing EUropean filmmakers can do is to help training. The many European training programmes should be open, also for Arab filmmakers. In times of democracy building.

www.dox-box.org

Dox Box Impressions/4

So there we were at the beautiful Danish Institute in Damascus on a rainy tuesday, March 8. The small shops at the soukh were closed, not because of the International Women’s Day but to celebrate the constitution of the governing Baath Party on this very day in 1963. The sun came out later in the morning, and the shops opened for afternoon customers.

Inside the Institute a presentation of the 14 projects of the 2011 Dox Box Campus were taking place for a handful of hours. In a relaxed atmosphere where representatives from different regional and international funds were present to comment on the filmmakers projects, encouragement and constructive critique: Cara Mertes from the Sundance Institute, Lucan Rosan from Dubai Film Connection, Marie-Pierre Macia from Abu Dhabi film festival fund, Usama Rifae from AFAC (Arab Culture Fund), Melanie de Vocht from Jan Vrijman Fund – Paul Baboudjian from Screen Institute Beirut had been there days before to on-to-one meetings with the project owners. Producer Orwa Nyrabia and directors Kim Longinotto and Raed Andoni joined the panel to come up with collegial remarks… no television channels present and maybe again a sign of the future of documentary financing, also in this part of the world: public or private funding will make the creative documentary genre not only survive but hopefully also blossom. There is indeed a long way to go for the filmmakers at the Campus but they have stories and passion, and they want to tell them  NOW in times where big (and smaller) changes take place in many of the Arabic and Middle Eastern countries. At this Campus session the main theme was the role of women in muslim societies. It was approached from many different angles. There was a story about women riding bikes in Damascus, very few do so, fathers and husbands forbid it. There was a very courageous, personal project about women and their sexuality in Syria, told through three open-minded women. There was a beautiful story about an orphanage girl from Jordan. And a short one about cats – by the director to be accompanied by fragments of women monologues… and many other strong stories. And there was (photo) “Let me entertain You” by Dania Alhamrani (in the middle of this photo taken at the Toronto Documentary Forum) about three performers in Saudi Arabia. She comes from the only women run production company in the country.

Three project prizes were given, see below.

www.idfa.nl

www.screeninstitute.org

www.arabculturefund.org

www.sundance.org

http://www.abudhabifilmfestival.ae/en/sanad/about-sanad

www.dox-box.org

Dox Box Impressions/3

Three projects were given a financial support at the end of the presentation day at Dox Box Campus 2011:

”Brakes” by Bassel Shehade received the ”Best Syrian Project Grant” of 6000$ (previous title: Female Wheels).

”My Uncle. ”The Terrorist”” by Elias Moubarak from Lebanon received the ”Dubai Film Market Development Grant” of 5000$.

”Woman With a Camera” by Karima Zoubir (photo) from Morocco received ”Best Arab Project Grant” of 3000$.

More information on the winning projects can be achieved by contacting the Dox Box festival and Campus staff. Or me!

www.dox-box.org