Documental del mes

… means ”Documentary of the Month” and is a strong film-cultural initiative for the distribution of creative documentaries for the audiences in around 40 cities of Catalunya, Comunitat Valenciana, Illes Balears and other Spanish cities. Since May 2009, The Documentary of the Month crossed the Catalan and Spanish borders and started its incursion in Latin America. Thanks to MEDIA’s European Union project support, 3 theatres in Santiago de Chile opened. This is the beginning of a healthy relationship between Europe and Latin America. And this is history as I can witness here from Santiago de Chile

… where I meet the organiser of screenings that now take place in 14 theatres – 4 in Chile, 7 in Argentina and 3 in Uruguay. Her name is Alexandra Galvis and she proudly told me about the success of the screening of the poignant film by Nicolas Entel, “Sins of My Father” (Photo), that features Sebastian Marroquin, son of the gangster Pablo Escobar, in a reconciliation process with the sons of the fathers that were killed by his father. The film sold 2356 tickets in Montevideo in 4 weeks, a huge number for a documentary in the capital of Uruguay. The biggest hit in Chile so far is the film by Peter Greenaway, “Rembrandt’s j’accuse”, that still runs, also in Buenos Aires where more than 2000 has watched the British master’s work.

Documentaries selection is decided by Parallel40 in Barcelona. I work for the company that is also responsible for DOCSBarcelona.

http://www.eldocumentaldelmes.com/en/documentals.html

http://www.pecadosdemipadre.tv/english/publish/preloader.html (excellent site with clips)

http://www.petergreenaway.info/

www.docsbarcelona.com

DOK Leipzig/2

The festival has a fine offer for – taken from the presse release – ”all those who are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. They can now (re)discover outstanding, award-winning filme even before the festival is underway! From 12 to 17 October the winners of the Golden Dove for the best full-length documentary film of the last five years are available for viewing free of charge on our vod-platform”. Address below. A generosity that comes from the high-quality cooperation DocAlliance.

Last year’s winner: ”The Arrivals” by Claudine Bories and Patrice Chagnard, France. PHOTO

www.docalliancefilms.com

DOK Leipzig/1

Breathless is the word that characterises the feeling you get when you browse through the site of the upcoming DOK Leipzig programme that was published a couple of days ago. 12 cinemas, more than 300 films to choose from, lots of so-called industry events (debates, masterclasses (one with Sergey Dvortsevoy!), pitching of projects, a digitalised videotheque), and awards that represent 71.000€!

What can be done on this site is to mention those films that filmkommentaren.dk have already written about and/or reviewed. On the top of quality comes ”48” (PHOTO) by Portuguese Susana de Sousa Dias, that we saw at Cinema du Réel this year (Grand Prix), ”Steam of Life” by Finnish Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen, ”12 Angry Lebanese” by Zeina Daccache from Lebanon (seen at DoxBox in Damascus), Latvian ”Sounds under the Sun” by Davis Simanis and Gints Grube, ”Into Eternity” by Danish Michael Madsen (Best Nordic documentary at Nordisk Panorama a couple of days ago and several other prizes), ”All that Glitters” by Tomas Kudrna, ”Armadillo” by Janus Metz, ”Dream in Copenhagen” by Max Kestner (both Danish), ”Freetime Machos” by Finnish Mika Ronkainen, ”Something about Georgia” by Nino Kirtadze, ”The Player” by Dutch John Appel, ”Themerson & Themerson” by Polish Viktoria Szymanska and ”My Life with Carlos” by German Berger.

So… those of you who visit the festival could start reading what we wrote about these films… The festival runs from October 18-24.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/v2/cms/en/home/page92.html

Peteris Krilovs: Deconstruction of an artist

The great art documentary film about avantgarde pioneer photomontagist and Stalinist propagandagist Gustavs Klucis, mentioned and presented on this site several times during the last couple of years, has received the first prize of the 40 year old International Film Festival of Fine Arts in Tisza, Hungary in the documentary category. The film about the Latvian artist who lived and died in the USSR, is produced by Uldis Cekulis, Vides Film Studio.

http://www.tiszamozi.hu/

Eva Stefani: The Box

Want to see, for free, one of the most charming and creative documentaries from the first decade of 2000? You can do so by very simply making a click on the website of idfa.tv. Here is the description of the film of Eva Stefani, a totally independent filmmaker from Greece:

While unearthing an icon of the Holy Madonna in her small apartment, an elderly Greek woman sighs that she is in the inevitable winter of her life. She studies a textbook of the French language, which she used to have a thorough command of, but unfortunately let slide. She hardly reads anymore, either, which she thinks rather stupid of herself. Her window on the world is her television, which she briskly comments on. The bleach-blond anchor woman is very sharp, but her favourite is newsreader Niko. She addresses him as if he were her roommate and cannot keep her hands off the screen. He excites her even more than the fighter jets, volcanic eruptions, protesters, politicians, friendly Turks and black athletes that are the items of Niko’s newscast. THE BOX is a reflection in miniature format about old age and one-way communication in our media-dominated society.

Greece, 2004, 11 mins.

http://www.idfa.nl/industry/Festival/news/latest_news/07-09-10-three-new-films-online-on-idfa-tv.aspx

Jakob Rosenkrands: Jagten på de røde lejesvende/2

Den fælde vores gamle helte, de røde lejesvende falder i, er ikke opstillet af Rosenkrands, men er mere noget i deres person, der i situationen aktiveres, skriver her til morgen en jeg kender i en sms. Vi så jo del 2 i aftes. Og ja, sådan er det nok, tænker jeg. Det er jo det dokumentarfilmen kan. Fordi den interesserer sig for mere i scenen end den medvirkendes udsagn i sætninger. Tv-journalisten plejer ellers at klippe, når sætningen er færdig uanset, hvad der sker i billedet. Filminstruktøren i sin tradition stoler derimod på sit billede og lader det stå til lige før, det mister intensitet og dør af sig selv. Rosenkrands går filmisk til det og de stærkeste momenter i aftes var to sådanne steder.

Bjørn Erichsen har engang i gamle, gamle dage undervist i historie på en højskole i Østtyskland. Danske unge politisk engagerede var elever på sommerkursus i en skole, deres organisation, DKU vistnok, havde lånt. Det var og er formodentlig helt lovligt. Men havde nogen i DDR (en statslig eller poiitisk organisation) betalt Erichsens rejse, ophold og lommepenge? Rosenkrands’ spørgsmål falder nysgerrigt, præcist og venligt. Og Erichsen forbløffes over den lille detalje: “..lommepenge, lommepenge.. jeg kan ærlig talt ikke huske det.” Og det er også lige meget. Det kan han jo ikke dømmes på. Men det dermed længe fastholdte billede skildrer ham som et menneske i denne lille tvivl. Smukt, smukt. Og lader mig ane, at sådan er dette menneske også i større tvivlsspørgsmål. Forvirret først, så undrende, prøvende i et forsøg på at være ærlig.

Tvivlen er mere klædelig end skråsikkerheden. Smilet, latteren, overbærenheden med sig selv dengang mere sund end den rigide fastholden. Ja, personligheden folder sig ud for mig under den lange filmscene, jeg ser den som levende eller som forkrampet. Og det er den eksistentelle erfaring, som hurtigt sætter det med lommepengene i skygge. Det er scenen jeg husker her, ikke oplysningen. Det er billedet som afslører: sådan ser en rød lejesvend ud, når han falder i sin personligheds fælde: ret menneskelig ser han ud. Det er godt nok et spændende teater, Rosenkrands her har iscenesat. Og så var der jo en scene mere i aftes! Den sidste. Kjeld Koplev var i stolen..

Jakob Rosenkrands: Jagten på de røde lejesvende, DR2, 2010.

DOC Meeting Argentina/3

There were 24 film projects to be pitched to the panel of tv representatives, see below. And on top of that the organisers had reserved two mornings, where another 40 projects and their producers/directors could have one-to-one meetings with tv commissioners and buyers as well as sales agents. They made it work, quite a mathematic puzzle, Rodrigo Vila and his staff. Quite impressive – and they want to make DOC Meeting the biggest and most important market meeting place for documentarians in Latin America. I can’t see why they should not succeed with their competence and energy.

Back to the projects (sorry can only mention a handful of them, check the website) which were indeed quite as diverse as the many kind of subjects for documentaries which exist. It was joyful to hear about and watch a clip with ”Violeiros du Grotoes” by Brasilian couple Mario de Aratanha and Jeanne Duarte about the 10-string guitar and its arrival to Brasil with the Portuguese, a film that first of all will be about the legends and stories linked to the instrument. Also about music, but from a social angle is the Argentinian ”The Other Colon Theatre Art and Social Transformation” by Adolfo Cabanchik, who has shot 90% of his film that gives you emotional strong portraits of children from poor areas, who got an identity and a better life because of music. The best pitch award, however, a nice bottle of champagne, was deservedly given to Eliza Capai from Brasil. For six months she had been travelling Africa, on her own, bringing back stunning moving images to make into two versions (54 and 70 mins.) for the film ”African Women”.

Original in approach is the film proposal of Agustina Macri, ”Carnacalypse”, in which she wants to investigate, in a fake-documentary style, what could happen if there was no more meat in Argentina! The director goes for a feature length documentary to be produced by Fly Films in Buenos Aires. One of the most praised proposals was the ballet film by Juan Alvarez, presented by himself and the producer Virginia Bogliolo, both from Montevideo in Uruguay. The film is about Julio Bocca, world famous dancer, who has retired and dedicates his working life to the renaissance of ”an old forgotten National Ballet theatre”. The clip that was shown demonstrated an unusual director talent. Finally time to mention the presence of Finnish Kimmo Koskela about the artist Kimmo Pohjonen and his ”Ice Bellows”. Contrary to what many thought, including this blogger, the cinematic quality and the origiality of the artist convinced several panelists that they had to get involved even if the project is as far away from main stream television as it can be.

http://www.cineviola.com.br/

http://elizacapai.com/about/mais-dela/

www.flyfilms.com.ar

http://www.koskela.tv/home_koskela_art_media_ house_production_production_service.html

http://www.docmeeting.com.ar/english.php

DOC Meeting Argentina/2

”The first step for your doc” was the slogan for the very succesful pitching forum and conference held in Buenos Aires during the last three days. And for many of the film projects that was presented it was a very fine first step according to the reactions from a panel of tv representatives, which for me – an experienced forum participant – was refreshingly new. The Argentinian television Encuentro was there, two Brasilian channels (GNT-Globo and TV Cultura) took part, Colombian (RTVC), Venezuelan (Telesur) and Mexican (Canal22) made their voices hear as well as Turner LatAm and NatGeo LatAm. Of course it was obvious to have these channels for a meeting of filmmakers from Latin America, more surprising and impressive was it to see Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, Press TV from Iran, a sales agent from Magus Entertainment in India and from China, LIC. Of the ”usual suspects” in professional meetings like this the two American PBS representatives Tom Koch from WGBH and Simon Kilmurry from P.O.V. contributed as well as Lorenzo Hendel from RAI in Italy.

The pitching session included 24 film projects and both days had a full house of filmmakers (more than a hundred), who wanted to experience the dialogue between those who have the creative ideas and those who look for docs for their tv slots. The general reactions from the panelists were positive and sentences like ”let me see a rough cut” and ”we will buy it when it is finished” were often heard, but from what I heard from the individual business meetings on the third day, a handful of coproductions were also planned to happen.

I had the privilige to moderate the pitching session together with colleague Mikael Opstrup. Photo fom the PBS/POV supported documentary “Presumed Guilty” (Hernandez, Negrete and Smith) that was shown at DOC Meeting.

http://www.docmeeting.com.ar/english.php

Janus Metzs forbilleder

Vi skal diskutere Armadillo i min FOF filmklub på onsdag. Og vi vil se på de mulige filmiske forbilleder, fotografens og instruktørens, som så forbavsende udtrykkeligt er offentliggjort, 2 x 3 titler på film, hvoraf fem tidligere har været på filmklubbens program, og de har da også været anmeldt her på Filmkommentaren. Så jeg vil kalde det interessante oplysninger. Lars Skree røbede sine i Politiken 3. juli, og det skrev jeg om dengang. De tre film han nævnte var Tarkovskijs Stalker (vi har i filmklubben i stedet set Spejlet), Pirjo Honkasalos The three Rooms of Melancholia og Ari Folmans Waltz of Bashir. Og nu har Janus Metz i dagbladet 24Timer den 16. september givet tre bud på en god dokumentarfilm (som jeg tillader mig at opfatte som hans forbilleder sideordnet Skrees tre). Han peger i et lille interview på Man on Wire af James Marsh, Grizzly Man af Werner Herzog og Nede på jorden af Max Kestner. Han karakteriserer de tre film sådan:

”Forrige års oscar-vinder er en enestående og super spændende film om Philippe Petit, der kupper de to Twin Towers for at gå på line mellem dem. Filmen indeholder på mange måder essensen af kunst, da den tilbyder sublime øjeblikke af uforklarlig skønhed, en nærhed til døden og måske endda vanviddet. Og så er man skidegodt underholdt.”

”Filmen er et portræt af en mand, der vil være bjørn, og om grænsen mellem kultur og natur. Herzog er en af de få med en god fortællerstemme, der vækker undren frem for at påtvinge tilskueren en konklusion. Han udvider billederne og tilbyder en ny læsning af det, der umiddelbart foregår.”

”Denne her film fik mig til at ville lave dokumentarfilm. Den handler om en redningsbådsfabrik i Esbjerg, som skal flytte dele af produktionen til Thailand. Filmen indeholder en art poetisk socialrealisme, hvor magiske fiktive greb blander sig med virkeligheden. Det er en enorm smuk og virkelig sjov film, hvor man møder fabriksarbejderne i øjenhøjde.”

Disse tre valg kaster i lighed med Skrees tidligere naturligvis lys over den filmiske baggrund for Armadillo, Metz peger på ”skønhed, dødsnærhed og vanvid” (Man on Wire), ”undren uden konklusion” (Grizzly Man) og ”en art poetisk socialrealisme” (Nede på jorden). Det uddyber, det han mente, da han i Cannes vist nok kaldte filmen et filosofisk værk. Alvorlig meditation og ansvarlig journalistik.

Greg Barker: Sergio

Jeg går selvfølgelig til en film, som den kloge Nick Fraser har medproduceret til sit BBC Storyville, som det virkeligt vigtige DR2 Dokumania sender, som blev nomineret til Academy Award tidligere i år, som, så vidt jeg kan google mig frem til, er vel modtaget af en erfaren kritik, en biografisk film om den legendarisk sympatiske FN diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello (tidligere blandt meget, meget andet højkommisær for menneskerettigheder og senest, i 2003, generalsekretærens særlige repræsentant i Irak) – jeg går til den film med temmelig store forventninger.

Og ok, jeg var limet til skærmen alle filmens hundrede minutter. Det er en spændende film, helt elementært, medrivende, overlegent gennemført efter den vestlige (britisk-nordamerikanske) fortællemodel med interviewede vidners erindringer og bedømmelser illustreret med et stort, stort arvivmateriale. Her tillige forsynet med en omfattende rekonstruktion, som dominerer fremstillingen totalt. Og det er i mine øjne netop filmens problem.

Den skaffer sig fortællemæssig fremdrift i den biografiske skildring ved at opdele redningsaktionen efter bombeattentatet mod FN hovedkvarteret i Bagdad, hvor blandt mange de Mello blev dræbt, i en dramatisk række episoder med især to redningsfolks beretning om det forgæves forsøg på at få ham ud levende. Store dele af billedsiden til dette lag er rekonstruerede scener. Det finder jeg i sig selv ikke problematisk. Det er hele elementets størrelse, som jeg oplever vælte filmen. Men måske vil den ikke være biografi?

Tilsyneladende vil den i virkeligheden være en heltehistorie om en hybrid af Bond og Kennedy, som det udtrykkes i et af interviewene. Og helten er flot og dygtig og handlekraftig, tror vi, ja tror, for det bliver på overfladen som i en underholdnings love story. Måske fordi det skal være netop en sådan kærlighedshistorie med en udvikling i en actionlinje. Og det er da ok, det holder jeg fint til.. Men jeg bliver jo skuffet af de forventninger, jeg kunne af af kombinationen Nick Fraser, Dokumania og Sergio de Mellos politiske sværvægt. Skuffet når jeg får underholdningens politiske moralisering, fortællemæssige manipulering samt intellektuelle nivellering og sentimentalisering i stedet for den håndfaste kerne af samfundsmæssig viden, kunstnerisk nøgternhed og udfordrende tænkning, som jeg egentlig synes Sergio de Mello har fortjent i en egentlig filmbiografi.

Greg Barker: Sergio, UK og USA 2009. 100 min. Baseret på Samantha Powers de Mello-biografi Chasing the Flame, 2008. DR2 Dokumania i aftes. Den i høj grad seværdige film kan pt. fanges på DR2