On Being There with Richard Leacock

Richard Leacock, 90 years old in 2011, a master of cinema vérité, always energetic and inspirational… finally gets a filmic homage. It happens now at the Telluride Film Festival and it takes place in association with the first public screening of Monica Flaherty’s 1980 sound version of the 1925 film, Moana by Robert Flaherty (Leacock worked with Flaherty in 1946 on Louisiana Story). Wow, film history!

Jane Weiner is the director of the film ”On Being There” on Leacock. Here is an edited clip from the press release that came in this morning:

In the summer of 1972, Jane Weiner started filming with a prototype camera of the experimental Super 8 Sync-Sound-System that Leacock was then developing with Jon Rosenfeld and Al Mecklenberg at M.I.T. Shooting over 4 decades on a variety of ever-changing film and video technologies, Weiner doesn’t hide the image artifacts, film flutter and glitches, which were part and parcel of experimenting in small-format. She follows Leacock to his boyhood home in the Canary Islands – the location of his first oeuvre, Canary Island Bananas; she recounts his relationship with his mentor, Flaherty, and details his involvement and passion for a particular documentary aesthetic developed by Leacock, Pennebaker, and Robert Drew in the early 60’es. The title refers to the ”feel of the place” that Leacock tries to capture in the non-interventional, observational shooting style of cinema vérité… However, in On Being There with Richard Leacock, Weiner often breaks her mentor’s own rule of ”never asking questions”. Constructed as conversation that covers 70 years of his involvement in filmmaking history, the documentary lets Leacock tell his own story in his own words with few comments and/or commentary from his former protégée.

The feature-length film that is being screened in Telluride to honor Leacock, a work-in-progress it is, will be out in 2011 for theatrical and dvd release – and there will be retrospectives and other festival tributes to the master. Can’t wait to see the film! Photo: Leacock, 2009.

http://www.richardleacock.com/32943/About-RichardLeacock-com

Archidoc – Creative Archive Documentaries

Deadline on Monday, September 6, for applications for the unique European training programme Archidoc for filmmakers with archive based documentaries. I have been working with this training programme for many years and have with great pleasure seen fine films come out of it. The organisers, the French film school la fémis, tell me that they are short of sufficient applications, so this is why I want to give this small pep talk to filmmaking readers of this blog:

The workshop, in three sessions and in English language, offers you to develop your archive based documentary creatively under the supervision of the experienced international filmmaker, director and editor, Erez Laufer, and his team. You will get all the necessary market information and you will pitch the project to tv commissioning editors, but the most important is that you will get input to the creative part of the development. It is done in Paris at the film school at the second session (first session is in Leipzig during the DOKLeipzig in October) with the help of excellent editors, who help you shape your story so it passes far beyond the boring history tv documentary that we know so well. Let me mention three fine films that have profited from Archidoc:

Wiktoria Szymanska’s great tribute to the avantgarde artists ”The Themersons” (photo), Peteris Krilovs wonderful ”Klucis. The Deconstruction of an Artist” (several times written on this site) and Edmond Roch’s ”Garbo – the Man who Saved the World”, a true spy story.

http://www.edn.dk/

http://www.lafemis.fr/

Jacob Thuesen om filmmusik

Jeg er stadigvæk høj efter to timer søndag formiddag med Jacob Thuesen, der i en tøvende beslutsom og præcis samtale med Michael Bertelsen simpelthen lukkede op for posen af viden, erfaring og researchresultater fra sit arbejde med filmmusik, siden han som 12 årig sad foran Carltons tæppe sammen med sin onkel og lyttede til ouverturen til Rumrejsen år 2001.

De begyndte med at tale om Pasolinis Mattæusevangeliet. Og hvad vidste jeg om musikken i den film? Intet, viste det sig. Jeg havde troet, at det naturligvis var Bachs Mattæusevangeliet. Men nej, det er H-moll messen. Musikken bruges, hver gang Jesus underviser disciplene. De spillede musikken (det er jo meningen med det program), og rigtigt, jeg huskede med det Pasolinis billeder, de dukkede op. De tre hellige kongers møde med det nyfødte barn underlægges med Odetta som synger Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child. Det samme skete med mig. Og Thuesen fortalte, at denne Odetta sang, bruger han selv i Under New York i en scene med tætte optagelser af trætte ansigter i en kupe i Subway. Forklarede stilfærdigt, hvad han ville med det, og netop sådan huskede jeg med det samme scenen. Jeg erindrede ikke den røde hærs kor i Pasolinis film, men jo, de er med. Og da stykket blev spillet, måtte jeg nikke for mig selv. Det store ved musikken på dette niveau, forklarede Thuesen, er at sangerne ligesom ikke ved, hvad de synger, de bærer blot den store følelse. Er de bevidste om musikkens storhed, dur det ikke. Og han fortsatte med dette religiøse aspekt: Jesus helbreder en spedalsk, mens Kenyas Nationalteaters kor synger kyrie fra en afrikansk messe, Missa Lucca.

Pasolini har bare valgt i alverdens musik. Suverænt. Og Jacob Thuesen har lært af det. Han fortalte videre om sit arbejde med en scene i Jørgen Leths Haiti uden titel.. nej, hør det radioprogram selv:

http://www.dr.dk/drnetradio/index.dr?evt=p&tab=pr&k=p2

Klik på Michael Bertelsen: Helt Klassisk og derefter på udsendelsen 29.08.2010 (Fejlen der har været med linket er nu rettet..)

Hør selv: det var værd at vente på..

Phie Ambo: Hjemmefronten

Titlens talemåde er for hyggelig. Men filmen har som undertitel Fjenden bag hækken. Den kan jeg bedre lide, den kan jeg tyde som minisynopsis. Den bringer for mig orden i sagerne. Og den fortæller også, at foretagendet er alvorligere, end den valgte komedie-tone først antyder. Det bliver nemlig i den film værre og værre. Og værre endnu i min eftertanke.

Filmen følger en hegnsynsmand på arbejde. Og det bliver så scene efter scene med hegnsynsforretning efter hegnsynsforretning i nabostridighedernes virkelighed. Skænderi efter skænderi mellem mennesker, som måske ellers er så almindelige som nogen. Mennesker, som ikke vil give sig, men hellere forpeste deres eget liv år efter år. ”Jeg har skåret de træer (inde på naboens grund) ned jævnligt, og jeg regner med at blive ved med at skære ned hvert fjerde år”, siger en med et smil, som pludselig forekommer ubehageligt. Phie Ambo har før og efter konfrontationerne ved hegnsynsforetningerne ved hækkene og plankeværkerne opsøgt de involverede i deres hjem og talt med dem fra bag sit kamera. ”Vi er bare blevet sure, men vi har ikke gjort noget galt”, siger et ægtepar som konklusion på årtiers krig med naboen om.. ja, jeg har glemt hvad.

Det tunge emne er imponerende klippet til en lethed hen over den alvorlige tyngde. Det danser af sted til en slags cirkusmusik, men tempoet falder og stemningen mørknes, da vi kommer til hegnssynet, hvor den ene vil have plankeværk, den anden hæk, som det ses på fotografiet, og filmen slutter i en grusom resignation.     

Filmens moralfilosofiske overvejelse ligger i dens konstruktion. Efter mit behov er den ikke dyb nok, eller den er i min læsning ikke tydelig nok. For mig at se, altså. Jeg, som er vant til eller vænnet til at finde et alter ego for instruktøren blandt de medvirkende, en person at identificere mig med, en at holde med, som vi sagde nede på cowboyrækkerne dengang for meget længe siden. Jeg prøvede da jeg så den i mandags at fæstne min sympati ved hegnsynsmanden Mogens Peuliche, men det ville ikke lykkes, det udvikledes hans karakter ikke tilstrækkeligt til, og det var nok heller ikke Phie Ambos hensigt. Hun vil andre ting med sin film.

Det ser ud til, at hun vil se filmens serie af komedier, som udvikler sig til dramaer og omvendt, som antropologisk iagttagelse, se den med en kølig distance, egentlig. Hendes feltrapport bliver et elegant skrevet misantropisk essay, der ikke giver meget håb for det gode liv, alle medvirkende har overgivet sig til hadets spiral af destruktion. Heller ikke den afdæmpede unge kvinde kommer fri af bitterheden, som vokser. Vi hører, at hendes mål er klart. Hun vil genplante de træer, naboen har fældet og stjålet, for om tre til fire år vil de være oppe og dække udsigten til hans hus. Men, ved hun og vi, fjenden er bag hækken venter med et lumsk smil.

Danmark, 2010, 50 min. Manuskript, kamera og instruktion: Phie Ambo. Produceret af Danish Documentary Production http://www.danishdocumentary.com/ Producer: Sigrid Dyekjær. Sendt på TV2 23. august 20:00. Genudsendes 12. september 12:15. Vil om kort tid kunne findes på www.filmstriben.dk

Roos Award to Armadillo Cinematographer Lars Skree

In 1995 a special Danish documentary award in the name of documentary pioneer Jørgen Roos was initiated. For 2010 the award (as of tonite) was given to the cameraman Lars Skree, who together with director Janus Metz created the mega-success Armadillo (see photo). The Danish language (edited) motivation runs like this:

Det Danske Filminstituts dokumentarpris på 25.000 kr. blev lørdag den 28. august tildelt filmfotograf Lars Skree, der satte livet på spil under optagelserne til krigsdramaet “Armadillo”. Prisoverrækkelsen foregik på Filmhøjskolen i Ebeltoft under det årlige branchetræf for dokumentarfilmfolk. Kollegerne i filmbranchen beskriver Lars Skree som en sammensat person med et enormt kunstnerisk overblik. Prisudvalget begrunder tildelingen med hans enorme dygtighed, venlighed og mod: Lars Skree har en enestående evne til at være 100 % til stede i nuet – som intens lytter og seer. Det ene øje er indstillet på nær – det, der sker i billedet – og det andet på det store perspektiv, det uden for billedet. Han har en 7. sans for at fornemme det, der kommer til at ske lige om lidt… og for at huske at tænde for kameraet. Lars Skree har et skarpt æstetisk blik og en vidtfavnende faglig dygtighed. Han behersker ubesværet det iscenesatte og det dokumentariske, den poetiske refleksion og det rå drama. Han er villig til at gå meget langt for at få sine billeder med hjem; han engagerer sig med livet som indsats. Lars Skree er en generøs og kreativ samarbejdspartner. Han har forståelse for filmens behov og instruktørens vision; en begavet medspiller – og modspiller. Selvom det måske ikke huer instruktøren i den konkrete situation, er der kommet bedre film ud af den insisteren. Lars Skree har en høj moral og en stor medmenneskelighed. Han får folk omkring sig til at føle sig godt tilpas og er altid kritisk bevidst om, hvad han filmer og ikke mindst hvorfor. Lars Skree er som yin og yang; hård hund og poet, kampsoldat og graciøs linjedanser.

ww.dfi.dk

DOKLeipzig 2010

Autumn is coming and the documentary festival season opens. The festivals start to announce their programmes. DOKLeipzig is one of the bigger – this blogger will be there to report and be in a jury – that at this time is finishing the selection process, to be published later. This is an edit of their press release of today, impressive it looks, also the amount of money waiting to be passed on to awarded filmmakers on the October 23rd when the festival is over:

The 53rd International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film takes place from 18 to 24 October 2010 in Leipzig. Cash prizes totalling 71,000 euros (!) will be awarded in various competition categories. Special highlights include a special programme of films from the Caucasus, a selection of films on the subject of money (Money Matters), a retrospective from the German Federal Film Archive on the military in German society (Regime and Regiment), a series dedicated to the animated film-maker from New York Signe Baumane and an hommage to German director Klaus Wildenhahn.

DOK Leipzig is also a marketplace. It offers international industry professionals master classes and DOK podium discussions on such subjects as cross media, sales, marketing, film criticism and the future of film subsidies and grants in Germany. It has an impressive (my comment after the two last years) digital DOK market, a co-production encounter, screenings of new German documentary films, DOK Summits and a Forum for Innovative television, which focuses on strategies for international broadcast stations in the age of cross media. On 23 and 24 October the final presentation of the Documentary Campus Master School will take place under the auspices of the festival. Photo: 2009 winner at DOKLeipzig, “The Arrivals”, reviewed on this site.

www.dok-leipzig.de

Neuvonen: Reindeerspotting. Escape from Santaland

As of August 13 2010 this Finnish documentary had sold around 63.000 tickets in national cinemas. An amazing number for a documentary film about a drug addict, I thought, before watching it. How do you pitch that to friends… want to come along and see a film about Jani (the name of the protagonist), who is slowly killing himself!? And the number is still amazing, having watched it, for a film about a young guy, who is charming when he is clean, semi-charming when he has just made a shoot up, unbearable when he is stoned. Well, maybe not unbearable, but it makes him a bright guy with a limited view: when can I have the next fix is the only thought he has. I have never seen so many scenes with a needle to be stuck into a vein.

No, it is not a sensation-hunting film first time director Joonas Neuvonen has made. According to the site of the film he started to film the addicts when he came back to Rovaniemi (Northern Finland, ed.) in 2003 after living abroad for a couple of years. Some of them were his childhood friends, and at first he just wanted to document their present life without any particular plan or goal. Soon Jani became the main character that Joonas followed closely and intensively for several months. After Jani was imprisoned, the director moved abroad again taking distance to the material. In 2004 he started to go through the footage, and later that year editor Sadri Centincaya started the editing with him…

One man behind the camera, a friend, himself on drugs, this is what makes the film attractive contrary to hundreds of well meaning ”don’t do it” drug addict films. There is an intimacy in the relationship between the one who films and the one, who is being filmed. It is a relief when Jani is ready to leave fucking Finland to go abroad. This is where the film invites the viewer to experience tha classical journey of a young man, who wants to see and learn about the world. Free subutex drug in Paris, they are having a great time but when money is over, they have to go back and Jani ends up in prison, or as written, he ”is in and out” of prisons.

In terms of image, it looks (to use a Lars von Trier word about his new film) like shit and yet you take it all in, because it is a drama, well told in a persona and honestl way. That is why people go to watch it, that must be the answer.

Finland, 2010, 84 mins.

http://reindeerspotting.com/

Gasnier & Nezan: Zanzibar Musical Club

This film insists on being a Film. From the very start. This is a story to be watched – it follows  the old mantra: don’t talk about it, show it. No commentary. No formatted tv. And oh yes, they succeed with this moderne and yet old-fashioned Film sentence. In other words it is pure seduction if you agree on the premise, that they, the filmmakers, will not give you a lot of background information to understand a context (you can search/google for that afterwards to read about Zanzibar and the taraab music tradition), they invite you to open your eyes, watch what we the filmmakers saw and heard of wonderful music. If you accept that game, basically if you want a Film like this, you will have a joyful trip, where you meet great characters and artists, who perform in an environment full of frivolity and religion (it is a muslim society) at the same time.

Fishermen, music, the following of a man to his home, a violin player he is, a brick game in the street, street shots, no story but plenty of ambiance, and yet, there are many stories and impressions given through a fabulous camera work, sometimes in tableau-like images, sometimes with a dancing camera to accompany the songs, that are being song by young and old in clubs or in the streets or at more official events. The texts of the songs most often refer to Love, impossible or difficult or just possible love, there is a lot of melancholy expressed, but also more naughty hints are in the texts. It is obvious that the listeners in the film know about the songs and it is wonderful to see the women, who get up to dance. Seduction, music unites, this is an old culture and there are stories connected that need to be remembered.

One who remembers, and who still performs is the almost 100 year old Bi Kidude, who with not many teeth in her mouth is a storyteller who knows so much and wants to convey it. She is filmed at rehearsals and at concerts. Magnificent! My overall impression – To rephrase one of the texts in a song: I am drunk with tenderness.

France & Germany, 2010, 85 & 52 mins. (I saw the long version, in the tv version there is a voice-off)

www.lesfilmsdupresent.fr

Tomas Kudrna: All That Glitters

Good news for a good film reviewed on this site a couple of days ago, edited from the press release of the festival DOK Leipzig:

“All That Glitters” by Tomáš Kudrna, developed at the Documentary Campus Masterschool 2007, has been selected for the official programme of DOK Leipzig. It will run in the section non-competitive International Programme. DOK Leipzig is the largest and most traditional German festival as well as one of the leading international events for artistic documentary and animated films.

Amy Hardie: The Edge of Dreaming

Our American readers can watch (on PBS, 10pmEST) Amy Hardie’s great film tonite. If you live outside the U.S. you can watch it online for free from tomorrow and for the next three months. On the site mentioned below. I post the review that I wrote after the premiere at idfa 2009:

There you go, a real camera stylo personal essay film with an original, personal style. I was completely taken in by the beauty of the film, “The Edge of Dreaming”, of Scottish filmmaker Amy Hardie. It touched me, made me reflect on my own life, my family life, my growing up, at the same time as the intensity of storytelling makes you stay in an atmosphere of listening and watching and reflecting. For me this is what a good documentary can be with many layers, a mature commentary, about Life and Death, and told in numerous stylistical lines. You can´t help fall in love with the family of Amy Hardie. They live in (Scottish) nature surroundings that a camera can only adore. And you can´t help admire the manner Hardie, using rough home video material, goes visually elegantly back in time and forward again. We get her story about her first husband, who died years ago, but who comes back to her in a dream to ”announce” that she will die when she is 48 years of age. There are dream sequences, and there are stunning images that make me think of classic Dutch paintings. It is all mixed brilliantly and without any predictability. I better stop my praise and give you the prose of the producers from the idfa catalogue:

This is the story of a rational, sceptical woman, a mother and wife, who does not remember her dreams. Except once, when she dreamt her horse was dying. She woke so scared she went outside in the night. She found him dead. The next dream told her she would die herself, when she was 48. The film explores life, dreams and death in the context of a warm, loving family whose happiness is increasingly threatened as the dream seems to be proving true. The final confrontation, returning inside the dream with a shaman, reveals a surprising twist to the tale.

Scotland, 2009, 73 mins. – and (bravo) with the support of ZDF/arte, More4 and VPRO plus of course Scottish Screen.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/edgeofdreaming