Documentarians meet in Riga at the beginning of September. The Baltic Sea Forum includes a meeting for professionals – film projects will be presented to broadcasters, mostly by filmmakers from the region. But the Forum – organised by National Film Centre of Latvia – also invites the Riga audience to see new documentaries at the cinema K.Suns. It starts September 8 with the Dutch film ”The Erectionman” by Michael Schaap and ”Beauty Refugee” by Claudia Lisboa from Sweden. Later that night the mega-success ”Waltz with Bashir” (photo) by Israeli Ari Folman is screened. Check what we wrote on this site.

The festival runs until September 12 and has the theme ”Footprints in the Future”. The audience may thus also enjoy Danish Michael Madsen’s ”Into Eternity” and the American ”Future by Design”. For the politically interested Riga citizens two strong documentaries are offered – ”Bananas” by Fredrik Gertten (many times noticed on this site) and ”Russian Lessons” by Andrei Nekrasov, a film on the Russian-Georgian war.

This minifestival as well as the Forum is always a joyful event with young talent and experienced competence and (this year) an old time master as Ivars Seleckis, who wants to make a follow-up to his two previous works from a street in Riga: ”Crossroad Street” and ”New Times at Crossroad Street”. For Riga citizens and visitors: The films will be shown in their original language with subtitles in English and translation into Latvian.Tickets Ls 2.10. Forum participants, children, students, pensioners and film professionals can view the films free of charge, obtaining free passes at the Cinema K.Suns box office prior to the screening time.

http://www.mediadesklatvia.eu/baltic-sea-forum-for-documentaries-2010/

The tenth edition of the festival “Flahertiana” takes place in Perm, Russia October 14-20. The selection for the competition programme (including of course several “Nanook” prizes) has been announced, and it is a pleasure to see a list of films that communicate quality. At least this is what I conclude from the titles that I know and have written about on this site: Pawel Lozinski’s Chemo (photo), Mika Ronkainen’s “Freetime Machos”, Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home” and “Village Without Women” by Srdan Sarenac from Serbia. A text from the website of the festival:

“The more your work corresponds to real life, the better it seems…” — these words said by Dürer, an artist of the Renaissance, are the most laconic expression of the aesthetic conception of the film festival Flahertiana.Our festival is dedicated to films which show a character that lives on the screen a part of his life, directed by the author according to the laws of dramatic art. The first film of this genre, Nanook from the North, was made by Robert Flaherty in 1922. The film became the aesthetical manifest for the subsequent generations of cinema-makers.

Unlike his colleague from the Soviet Union Dziga Vertov, who at that time experimented a lot with montage, working out the type of screen thinking which we now call clip, Flaherty was focused on a prolonged observation of his characters. The naturalness of a documentary character’s behavior in front of the camera is the main task of the film-director who works in the genre discovered by the American documentary film-maker. Our festival is dedicated to practical and theoretical questions of this genre of the documentary cinema.”

http://flahertiana.perm.ru/eng/

The International Documentary Competition jury at Dokufest in Prizren, Kosovo, composed of Pamela Cohn (USA), Sonja Henrici (Scotland), AJ Schnack (USA), Adriatik Kelmendi (Kosovo) and Doug Block (USA) awarded the Italian film La Bocca Del Lupo (The Mouth of Wolf) by Pietro Marcello (photo, previously reviewed on this site) as Best Int’l Feature Documentary and Albert’s Winter by Danish director Andreas Koefoed as Best Int’l Short Documentary. About “The Mouth of the Wolf” the jury said: Using unique archive footage, Italian documentarist and Genoese native Pietro Marcello has succeeded in brilliantly reviving the unique atmosphere of Genoa’s port quarter, which he then uses as a backdrop to unfold a singular love story between a tough but goodhearted Sicilian named Enzo and transsexual Mary.

And about the Best International Short Documentary, “Albert’s Winter” by Andreas Koefoed, Denmark: Albert is at his window, watching the snow dance through the cold winter. Eight years old and feeling the pressure of the world. His mother is sick and in chemotherapy. Albert would rather not talk about it. Meanwhile his parents want him to start choir school.

The jury also gave two special mentions. First mention went to Brit Adam Stafford for his film The Shutdown and the second mention to American filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt for his suicide exposé The Darkness of Day. The jury noted the following for films: “The jury was incredibly impressed with the breadth and quality of the short films in this year’s international competition. We are giving two honorable mentions to films that expand the documentary

form in exciting new ways. The Jury Prize for Short Film goes to a beautiful, emotional and quietly moving portrait of a young boy as he adjusts to his life changing over the course of a single season. The prize goes to Andreas Koefoed’s Albert’s Winter. The feature films in the international competition were also incredibly strong. But there was one film that united the jury, far exceeding our expectations. For its haunting, lyrical and gorgeous depiction of one city and one remarkable love story, the jury is proud to award its prize to Pietro Marcello’s The Mouth of the Wolf.”

The Green Docs Competition jury composed of Nael Marandin (France), Ruben Khachatryan (Armenia) and Jaume Gill (Spain) gave the main award to documentary Garbage Dreams by Mai Iskander from USA and the special mention to the film Into Eternity by Danish director Michael Madsen. The jury noted the following about the winning films: “We have been seduced by this beautiful and touching testimony of the life of 3 teenagers that sheds light on the environmental and social situation of garbage collection and recycling in Cairo, especially because this film stresses the importance of people’s empowerment and local solutions in order to build a society more respectful of the people and our environment. The Jury has also decided to attribute a Special Mention to Into Eternity by Michael Madsen. The film takes the audience on a fascinating journey into the future raising vertiginous questions about mankind and bringing into light the long term impact, danger and costs of nuclear energy.”

The Human Rights jury composed of Katerina Bartoseva (Czech Republic), Ramadan Klisurica (Kosovo) and Kumjana Novakova (Macedonia) awarded Cambodia/UK co-production Enemies of the People by Thet Sambath and Rob Lemkin with Best Human Rights film at DokuFest while at the same time giving the special mention to Macedonian documentary Tobacco Girl by Biljana Garvanlieva. The jury statement reads; “The presence of human rights award within an inspiring and prestigious, yet intimate creative documentary festival as DokuFest in Prizren is, comes as a recognition for the powers of creative documentary cinema to provoke and contribute to social justice as a space for alternative, critical and engaged inquiries, alongside its excellence in artistic and aesthetic terms. Doku Fest 2010 presents its human rights award to Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath’s inspiring, brave and illuminating film Enemies of the People. Through the personal facing the past process and documenting one of the bloodiest regimes humanity has witnessed, the Khmer Rouge, this documentary reflects on both past and present, thus breaking the silence and opening the incontestable “truth” none is allowed to question. The human rights award jury gives a special mention to the poetic confrontation of established social norms and multilayered inequalities of Biljana Garvanlieva, with her Tobacco Girl”

The Audience award, calculated from the votes casted by the audience went to the film Married to the Camera by Doga Kilciogly from Turkey. DokuKids award went to Finnish animation Benigni by Elli Vuorinen and Sorra prize to the short documentary Greetings from Kosovo by Suada Jahirovic.

www.dokufest.com 

The International Documentary and Short Film Festival in Prizren, Kosovo ended two days ago with an award ceremony – The Balkan Documentary Competition Award went to Romanian film The World According to Ion B. (photo) by Alexander Nanau. The jury composed of Emel Celebi (Turkey) Mike Palmieri (USA) and Sissi Korhonen (Finland) noted the following about the competition and awarded films:

“The Balkan Documentary competition films were all connected by their shared examinations of traditional values of family and place vs personal values that break with those traditions. Sometimes the characters in the films illustrated the break, other times by the unique craft of the filmmaking itself. The jury felt strongly about three films that managed to explore these themes in unique and special ways. The jury awards its main prize to a director whose filmmaking skill merges seamlessly with the character he portrays, leaving no opportunity wasted in the telling of his story. It is a deeply intimate portrait told with a grace and humor that won us over unanimously.”

Same jury also gave the Best Newcomer Award to two films from Balkan Documentary Competition. The winning films were 1717 Kilometers of Summer 2009 by Slovenian filmmaker Jurij Meden and Tobacco Girl by Macedonian Biljana Garvanlieva. Balkan Documentary Centre from Sofia, Bulgaria sponsored the award.

“The emerging Balkan filmmaker prize is shared between two filmmakers whose approach to their subjects could not be more different from one another, but whose films conveyed a powerful sense of character and place that left a lasting impression on us” the jury noted. 

http://www.dokufest.com/2010/

The Toronto International Film Festival (September 9-19) is first of all known for its high quality feature film programme focusing on originality and innovation but due to the renaissance of the creative documentary, the festival now also treats that genre with respect and big names, as you can see in the list below of films. This is how they present it, and for our Danish readers who read Allan Berg’s praise of today of Errol Morris, and share his point of view, it all starts with the announcement of a new film by the director. From a Danish point of view it is very much worth mentioning that the long awaited “Erotic Man” (photo) by Jørgen Leth will have its world Premiere in Toronto. The press release runs like this, wow there is much to expect in other festivals, it is worldwide, it has a lof of well known names and alas, of course again with the unfair and incompetent exclusion of documentaries from Eastern Europe…:

TIFF proudly presents a veritable who’s who of documentary filmmaking as Errol Morris explores a woman’s bizarre search for one true love in Tabloid, Thom Zimny reveals Bruce Springsteen’s creative process in The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, Kim Longinotto tracks an Indian feminist group in Pink Saris, and Werner Herzog films humankind’s earliest known images in 3-D in Cave of Forgotten Dreams. These are a few of the high-profile world premieres among the documentaries screening at this year’s Festival… the list goes on

Gala

The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town Thom Zimny, USA
World Premiere
The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town takes us into the studio with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for the recording of their fourth album. Grammy and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny has collaborated with Springsteen on this documentary, gaining access to never before seen footage shot between 1976-1978, capturing home rehearsals and recording sessions that allow us to see Springsteen’s creative process at work.

Masters

Erotic Man Jørgen Leth, Denmark
World Premiere
Danish master Jørgen Leth travels the globe in this sensual, provocative and sometimes autobiographical essay film about a man searching … searching the world for the nature of the erotic.

Nostalgia for the Light Patricio Guzmán, France/Germany/Chile
North American Premiere
In Chile’s Atacama Desert, astronomers peer deep into the cosmos in search

for answers concerning the origins of life. Nearby, a group of women sift through the sand searching for body parts of loved ones, dumped unceremoniously by Pinochet’s regime. Master filmmaker Patricio Guzmán contemplates the paradox of their quests.

Real to Reel

ANPO Linda Hoaglund, Japan/USA
World Premiere
ANPO depicts resistance to U.S. military bases in Japan through an electrifying collage of paintings and photographs, as well as animated, narrative and documentary films by Japan’s foremost contemporary artists.

Armadillo Janus Metz, Denmark
North American Premiere
Winner of Cannes Critics Week, Armadillo is a harrowing portrayal of the current conflict in Afghanistan. The film follows a contingent of Danish troops into the chaos of combat in a way that stirs debate over the rules of engagement.

Boxing Gym Frederick Wiseman, USA
North American Premiere
Documentary master Frederick Wiseman explores the world of a boxing gym in Austin, Texas, dwelling on the discipline of training as people from all walks of life aspire to reach their personal best.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams Werner Herzog, USA
World Premiere
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting. He puts 3-D technology to a profound use, taking us back in time over 30,000 years.

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer Alex Gibney, USA
World Premiere
Investigating the sex scandal that forced New York’s Governor to resign, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney gains revelatory interviews from Spitzer, his most frequent escort and his Wall Street enemies that bring new perspective on his downfall.

Cool It Ondi Timoner, USA
World Premiere
Award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner trains her camera on Bjorn Lomborg, the controversial author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” who takes on the issue of climate change, challenging the status quo, and pointing toward new science and technology that might hold the solutions for our future.

The Game of Death Christophe Nick & Thomas Bornot, France
North American Premiere
This documentary examines the idea of the limits of obedience and punishment. Based on an experiment conducted in the sixties, the setting is a modern television game show where we see how far people will go to inflict pain on a contestant who stands to win one million dollars.

Genpin Naomi Kawase, Japan
World Premiere
A serene observation of women giving birth at the clinic of Dr. Tadashi Yoshimura who has spent 40 years on the path of natural childbirth, Genpin is Naomi Kawase’s special meditation on life and on the unshakable bond between mother and child.

Guest Jose Luis Guerin, Spain
North American Premiere
­­­­Filmmaker Jose Luis Guerin documents his experience during a year of travelling as a guest of film festivals to present his previous film. What emerges is a wonderfully humane and sincere portrayal of the people that he meets when he goes off the beaten track in some of the world’s major cities.

Inside Job Charles Ferguson, USA
North American Premiere
An in-depth exploration of what caused the financial crisis from the Oscar-nominated director of No End in Sight, highlighting failures in business, government and academia.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! Mark Hartley, Australia
International Premiere
From cult cinema documentary director Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood) comes this account of the wild and unruly world of genre filmmaking in the Philippines when the country was a back-lot for a bevy of B-movie mavericks and cinema visionaries.

Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxon Paul Clarke, Australia
International Premiere
Witness to New York’s infamous punk scene, Lillian Roxon chronicled the movement during the 1960s and 70s. Roxon mingled with the likes of John and Yoko, the Velvet Underground and Janis Joplin and was one of the first on the scene to champion the work of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors.

Pink Saris Kim Longinotto, UK
World Premiere
Acclaimed director Kim Longinotto is often drawn to tough women. Now she follows Sampat Pal Devi, the leader of the “Pink Gang,” who brings her own brand of justice to the streets of Uttar Pradesh, India, combating violence against women.

The Pipe Risteard Ó Domhnaill, Ireland
International Premiere
Irish farmers and fisherman rise up in protest when Shell tries to build a pipeline for natural gas through their county. The local confrontation reflects an international concern for how energy companies affect the environment and communities.

Precious Life Shlomi Eldar, Israel
International Premiere
With the help of a prominent Israeli journalist, Precious Life chronicles the struggle of an Israeli pediatrician and a Palestinian mother to get treatment for her baby, who suffers from an incurable genetic disease. Each must face their most profound biases as they inch towards a possible friendship in an impossible reality.

The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical Sarah McCarthy, United Kingdom
North American Premiere
For one emotional night, a group of children living in a slum in Mumbai, India, get a chance to experience a different world as they perform The Sound of Music with a classical orchestra, fostering hopes that it could change their lives.

Tabloid Errol Morris, USA
World Premiere
The director of The Thin Blue Line and the Academy Award®-winning The Fog of War tells the story of a former Miss Wyoming whose quest for one true love led her across the globe and onto the pages of tabloid newspapers.  

Tears of Gaza Vibeke Løkkeberg, Norway          
World Premiere
A powerful and emotionally devastating record of the impact the 2008-2009 bombings of Gaza had on the civilian population.

When My Child is Born Guo Jing & Ke Dingding, China
World Premiere 
When a child is born, nothing is ever going to be the same. A journey into the everyday life of young university teachers and researchers up against an unexpected pregnancy, as well as a brilliant document on the challenges of being an academic suspended between modernization and tradition, love, career and family ties in ever-mutating contemporary China.

Windfall Laura Israel, USA
International Premiere
After wind turbines are proposed for installation in upstate New York, the community’s excitement turns to suspicion over what the project entails. This eye-opening story exposes the dark side of wind energy development and the potential for financial scams.

!Women Art Revolution – A Secret History Lynn Hershman Leeson, USA
World Premiere

Filmed over four decades, this inspiring cultural history tracks the struggles and breakthroughs of women artists from Judy Chicago to Guerilla Girls to Miranda July and more, packed with rare archival footage and overflowing with bold art

http://www.tiff.net

http://www.dfi.dk/English.aspx

http://www.realscreen.com/articles/news/20100804/tiffdocs.html