A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
Vi havde to ret forskellige opfattelser af Max Kestners film, da vi havde set den sammen, Tue Steeen Müller og jeg, ved en tidlig visning i Grand Teatret i København december sidste år. Vi skrev derfor (22. dec. 09) to anmeldelser lige efter hinanden her på siden.
Nu kan læserne selv se efter, hvis nogen ikke nåede det eller vil et gensyn. Filmen sendes på Dokumania på DR2 i aften 20:30.
Filmen skildrer det særlige miljø, elever og lærere skaber omkring sig på kunstskolen Bifrost i Randers. Skolen er for voksne studerende, og den har undervisning i maleri, grafik og skulptur; på skift arbejder alle 15 elever med alle tre teknikker. Skolen er også værkstedsfællesskab for de 15, som har det til fælles, at de har en fuldstændig ukonventionel kunstopfattelse, vild i sind og fri for almindelige forventninger. Filmen skildrer en dagligdag på skolen, følger enkelte elevers arbejde og beskriver to af lærernes gennemtænkning af skolens didaktiske profil. Katja Herrik er aldeles overbevisende i det hun gør i undervisningssituationerne, og Per Kjærsgaard Jensen er fuldstændig klar og præcis i sine redegørelser i nogle fine, naturlige interview-situationer, instruktøren har arrangeret forbilledeligt, og klipperen sat på plads som hvilepauser i dagsrytmens logik.
Freddy Tornberg har lavet en forbavsende og dejlig film på den berømte kunstskole. Forbavsende, fordi den samtidig med det er klassisk, social reportage også er filmtænkning, et legende let gennemført impressionistisk værk, hvor kameraet helt har overtaget skildringen. Og Freddy Tornbergs kamera er ømheden og empatien selv. Det er en film af frydefuld venlighed som et let kærtegn. En film om at udtrykke omverdenstolkning og livsforståelse i maleri, grafik og skulptur, og samtidig en dybt interessant skildring af en skoles didaktiske principper og konsekvente dagligdag. Principper og metodikker så faste og forbavsende som dem på Schuberts Minde i Ringkøbing, men tilsyneladende stik modsatte. Eller mon de er? Det er eftertanken værd. Resultaterne er tydelige og mange og rige. Og indsigterne i kunstneriske arbejdsmåder alvorlige og dybe som Eliassons, der blev skildret i Jacob Jørgensens film med den store islænding. Tilsyneladende vidt forskellige kunstneriske kvaliteter. Eller mon det er så forskelligt? Det er også eftertanken værd. Eliasson viser sit vandfaldsshow på Hudson i New York, Judith Damgaard Nielsen udstiller sine billeder på Louvre i Paris. Overvejelserne fortsætter i én længe efter filmen. Som i øvrigt holder til det sjældne: at kunne ses igen!
Foto: Heidi Brinch Hansen: maleri uden titel
Freddy Tornberg: Bifrost, Denmark 2010, 39 min. Subtitles: English, German, Japanese. Script: Freddy Tornberg, camera: Freddy Tornberg, editing: Steen Dongo, sound design: Steen Dongo, producer: Freddy Tornberg, company & sales: Venus Film, distribution: Biblioteksmedier.
Bifrost, FOF-Randers, J.V. Martins Plads 1, 8900 Randers C
Italian director Paolo Campana has for years developed a film project on ”vinylmania”, i.e. on people who are addicted to the wonderful old records that many of us still have on shelves in our homes without using them in this digital age. A couple of days ago I read in a Danish newspaper that vinyl is coming back and that many musicians insist to have their music published in this retro manner. And many love to play them. Which only confirms what I was told a couple of weeks ago in Torino by the director and his producer Edoardo Fracchia from Stefilm, who said that NOW, finally, the film is financed. After years of pitching it around, all of a sudden an interest in broader circles appeared… and the film project has matured as a good wine that waits for the moment to be served!
This posting happens because the director and producer sent me the newsletter connected to the film-to-come with a reference to an entertaining interactive site that you – if a vinyl-addicted – might want to take part in. The photo is NOT representing the director but is taken from the site, that includes blogging, clips sent to the director and photos of passionate collectors.
On this site we have written about Mazia Bahari several times. For readers who have not seen his films here is a unique chance to get to know his work. Idfa, the world’s biggest documentary festival has published this press release: The filmmaker and journalist Maziar Bahari was arrested on 21 June 2009, nine days after the presidential election in Iran. IDFA TV has compiled a special programme celebrating Maziar Bahari’s work and his vision of Iranian society. Life in Iran through the eyes of Maziar Bahari includes five documentaries by Bahari about Iran, the master class he presented at IDFA 2007, and the interview he gave following his release from prison.
Bahari (1967, Teheran) has made more than ten documentaries, both inside and outside Iran. Life in Iran through the eyes of Maziar Bahari includes five of his documentaries that focus on various facets of Iranian society. Art of Demolition (1998) focuses on a group of artists in Teheran who transform a building scheduled for demolition into an art gallery. One member of that group, Iranian painter Khosrow Hassanzadeh, is also the main character in Paint! No Matter What (1999). This is a self-portrait by the artist, in which he discusses his art with customers in his greengrocery shop and with members of his family.
Football, Iranian Style (2001), currently being screened as part of the IDFA TV Soccer Docs programme, reveals a cross-section of Iranian society through the stories of football fans. In And Along Came a Spider (2002, realised partly with support from the Jan Vrijman Fund) Bahari interviews an
Iranian serial murderer who preyed on prostitutes, and used Islam to justify his actions. He also talks to members of the serial murderer’s family, the judge who presided over the trial and the victims’ relatives.
The programme also includes Bahari’s latest film The Fall of a Shah (2009), which IDFA has not screened before. In this documentary made for the BBC, Bahari examines the events that led to the downfall of the Iranian monarchy.
At IDFA 2007, Bahari compiled the Top 10 and presented a master class in which he extensively discussed his work and censorship in Iran. Life in Iran through the eyes of Maziar Bahari also includes the recording of this master class, which was led by journalist Eefje Blankevoort, an authority on Iran.
Bahari was one of dozens of journalists who were rounded up after the elections in Iran on 12 June 2009. He reported on the elections and the ensuing demonstrations for the Canadian Newsweek magazine. Bahari was confined for almost four months in the infamous Evin prison in Teheran, and he was allowed only occasional and brief telephone contact with his family. During his incarceration pressure was exerted from all corners of the world to secure the release of Bahari, who has dual Iranian and Canadian citizenship. IDFA collected signatures from documentary makers for a petition that was sent to the Iranian authorities in early August 2009. After release on bail on 17 October 2009, Bahari went to England, arriving just in time for the birth of his first child.
At IDFA 2009, Bahari spoke openly for the first time about his experiences in the prison in a conversation with IDFA director Ally Derks. This conversation and the interview that he gave a day later in the programme Doen Docs on the television channel Het Gesprek can be viewed on IDFA TV.
Since his release, Bahari has been campaigning on behalf of all the other journalists and filmmakers still incarcerated in Iran. On 11 May this year, Bahari was himself sentenced in absentia to 13 years in prison and 74 lashes.
IDFA TV’s Life in Iran through the eyes of Maziar Bahari programme will remain available for viewing for the forthcoming year, at
He was Ulysses and Zorbas, a traveller of the world and a man who enjoyed Life. This is the way, a Greek summarizes the legendary Ferenc Puskas in this entertaining and informative documentary about him. And the Greek loved him because of his years as coach in the club Panathanaikos, as they did love him in Madrid where he played for Real and as they always did love in his native country, at least those connected to football.
For newcomers in football history, who think that the greatest player ever is to be selected among Cruyff, Pélé and Maradona, it is a must to watch this film to get to know a player that this blogger, when a boy, had the pleasure to see in Copenhagen when he came with Alfredo di Stefano, Santamaria and Gento and the rest of the Real Madrid for friendly games. He was as magic as the others with his left foot and loads of goals.
It is impossible to give you the life of Puskas in this short text, and the film does it from birth to death, but the main thread of the biographical film is of course the link to history and the fate of the Hungarian nation in 1956. After having been the captain of the Hungarian national team, and after having won at the Olympics in Helsinki in 1952, and after the triumph of beating England 6-3 on Wembley in London, Puskas was, as all players at that level, a high-ranked major in the army. He was, contrary to some colleagues, not political active but on a trip with Honved Budapest, the club he played for, he decided to stay abroad and not go home to a country that was suppressed, or to a regime that accused him being a traitor of his country. He ends up in Madrid and becomes a superstar in Real, gets Spanish citizenship, plays a few matches for the country before he retires and starts a career as coach in multiple countries, paradoxically all of them run by the military – Spain, Chile, Greece…
The film narrative is constructed within a classical format: archive, interviews with his team mates of the Golden team, voice-off, interviews with his wife, clips from games, clips (not many) with himself being interviewed, text from his autobiography. It is all very well crafted and superbly researched, feels a bit too long sometimes (I could have done without Beckenbauer, Platini, Pélé, who dont really say anything important, and of course there must be other sides and stories about Puskas that we don’t get) yet it has magnificent emotionally strong scenes as when he comes back to Budapest in 1981, after 25 years, and are greeted as the fine man, he was. Generous, warm-hearted, a character who will be remembered for his skills and for his impressive belly that he showed until 2000 in friendly games where he got alzheimer, dying in 2006.
Hungary, 2009, 116 mins.
Subtitle: In Search of a Budapest Girl… Take a look at the photo and read this text presentation of the film taken from the IDF website, address below:
“The November 10th, issue of Paris Match in 1956 featured a report on the Hungarian revolution. The special coverage opened with a photograph taken on October 30, on Budapest Múzeum Boulevard. Forty-five years later, Hungarian historian Eszter Balázs and French journalist Phil Casoar decided to trace down the young couple seen in the picture. Who are they? Have they survived the revolution? If yes, is it possible to find them after all these years? The film follows their search for answers.”
And what a life, she had the Budapest girl, who fled Hungary, went to Switzerland and Germany to end up in Melbourne, Australia – as it is unfolded by the two researchers, who are in the picture and travel the world to find and talk to photographers and people who met Yutka, (real name Julianna Sponga), and who also found out that the young man, Gyuri, died even before the photo first appeared.
A reconstruction of a Life, that is what the film is, based upon one photo with several side stories built on basically the photographers who were in Budapest in 1956. Maybe the film does not give an overall perspective on what happened – but the filmmaker makes it important because of his stubborn insisting on finding out through the two researchers, and his characters. Yutka‘s husband in Australia talks, her son talks and gets to know something he did not know about his mother, who died in 1990 and whose ashes were thrown to the ocean. She did not want to be connected to one country, she was a citizen of the world, who fought for justice, a survivor, such a fun person, says her husband to the camera.
Hungary, 2001-2006, 71 mins.
They launch it as “From Yamagata through IDFA to Oscar”, the documentary section of the 32th Moscow International Film. They are Russian documentary director Sergey Miroshnichenko and producer Grigory Libergal. The two competent people make the selection for the fifth time with the aim “a selection of outstanding documentaries from the last year – winners of prestigious film festivals along with films with good box-office revenue”.
This year 23 documentaries will be screened in the program. The section is called “Free Thoughts”. The ones in bold have been reviewed and/or written about on this site:
THE COVE, dir. Louie Psihoyos, USA. THE YESMEN FIX THE WORLD, dir. Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Kurt Engfehr, USA. PIANOMANIA (PHOTO), dir. Lilian Frank, Robert Gibis, GERMANY, AUSTRIA. POSTE RESTANTE, dir. Marcel Lozinsky, POLAND. CHEMO, dir. Pawel Lozinsky, POLAND. THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA, dir. Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith, USA.
THE PLAYER, dir. John Appel, THE NETHERLANDS. WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, dir. Ondi Timoner, USA. ANOTHER PERFECT WORLD, dir. Femke Wolting, Jorien van Nes, THE NETHERLANDS. RESTREPO, dir. Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington, USA. LA VIDA LOCA, dir. Christian Poveda, FRANCE, MEXICO, SPAIN. A FILM UNFINISHED, dir. Yael Hersonski , ISRAEL, GERMANY. THE WOMAN WITH THE FIVE ELEPHANTS, dir. Vadim Jendreyko, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY. LA DANSE – THE PARIS OPERA BALLET, dir. Frederick Wiseman, FRANCE, USA. OCEANS, dir. Jacques Perrin, FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, SPAIN, MONACO, USA. THE LAST SCREENPLAY, dir. Javier Espada, Gaizka Urresti, SPAIN. IRON CROWS, dir. Bong-Nam Park, SOUTH KOREA. LUMIKKO, dir. Miia Tervo, FINLAND WASTE LAND, dir. Lucy Walker, UK, BRASIL. LAST TRAIN HOME, dir. Lixin Fan, CANADA, CHINA. THE FORTRESS, dir. Fernand Melgar, SWITZERLAND. BANANAS!*, dir. Fredrik Gertten, SWEDEN, AUSTRIA, USA, SWITZERLAND. FROM ARARAT TO ZION, dir. Edgar Baghdasaryan, ARMENIA
Moscow International Film Festival takes place on June 17-26,
The DocWeek 2010, see below, organised by the Scottish Documentary Institute, hosted a one day pitch event that included 11 documentary projects, presented by American, UK, Chinese, Irish and Spanish filmmakers. In the panel to react to the pitches were the channels POV (US), BBC Storyville, BBC Scotland, DR Denmark, ZDF/arte, CBC Canada plus sales agent Autlook Austria and the local public funding mechanism Scottish Screen.
Project content? A film about Chinese muslims. One about an American fashion designer who wants to help Sierra Leone by ”turning Western cast-offs into haute couture”. An investigation into the life of a man who led ”a dual life as revolutionary activist and informant for FBI”. A human life story from Liberia on the ”extreme challenges Liberian Firestone Rubber Plantation workers face today”. ”Orion: The Man Who Would be King” = Jimmy Ellis, an unknown singer who was given a new identity behind a mask, as ”Elvis back from the grave”. A garbage island next to the Maldives. A mother and her two sons in a fascinating and moving story with the working title ”Trailer Park Love”. An original musician and composer, Moondog, who stood as a ”Viking of Sixth Avenue” in New York, everybody knew him and he was an artistic inspiration for people like Philip Glass. A film about the cultural dilemmas the population of the Easter Island faces. And a local (Scottish), and yet universal project called ”You’ve ben Trumped” from a place North of Aberdeen where American tycoon Donald Trump wants to build a holiday resort for the filthy rich, wanting to get rid of the local residents. Finally, the best presentation to my mind, ”The Runner” (Photo), by Saeed Taji Faroucky, a Palestinian who wants to make a film about the champion long-distance runner Salah Ameidan, who dreams of running for his country, Western Sahara, under Moroccan occupation since 1975. (You can see the trailer on vimeo, google “Salah Ameidan the runner vimeo“)
They all showed trailers, they all got got response, most of them got the answer ”come back to me when you have more to show”, which is the normal sentence in pitching sessions nowadays. Nobody dares take risks… and competition is pretty tough.
Titlen siger Skt. Petersborg, så jeg er forberedt. Tavse, højtidelige kadetter i legetøjsuniformer fra fortiden på en fornem plads. Floden, jeg fornemmer, må være Neva. De er alvorlige, tager det alvorligt. Det er én scene. Der står et barn let ophøjet i et dagligt rum og fremsiger et digt. Et gammeldags digt med versefødder og rim og en tilværelsesforståelse, skulle jeg tro, milevidt fra barnets. Det er en anden scene. Og i et sted i mig selv forstår jeg spontant noget ordløst om patosens væsen.
Og netop det må være filmens indhold og anliggende. Denne nøgne alvor. Denne fremmedartede vilje til den store gestus, som jeg til min forbavselse genfinder hos mig selv, efterhånden som scene, omhyggeligt overvejet mærker jeg, føjes til scene i en juxtapositions strategi som hos Marker og Godard. Mere end en forælling af billeder er det en udfordring af billeder. På filmselskabets hjemmeside beskriver Ada Bligaard Søby i en lille elegant tekst sine overvejelser i et fuldkomment manifest over den tavst forsigtige og antydede antropologi, hun udfolder i filmen, ja, i alle sine film. Mere end en forklaring og fortolkning læser jeg teksten som instruktørens egen forbavsede opdagelse af sin russiske film.
Scene efter scene stilles i kø i disciplineret række og forbindes kontrapunktisk med interview- og dialogmateriale, dokumentariske beretninger i løsreven fastholdelse. Det er meningsfuldt i en ganske anden narration end den normale danske tradition; og det er befriende, så befriende. Og glædeligt. Ada Bligaard Søby er efter udflugten med de klagende kor vendt tilbage til sin helt egen metode og tilbage til den overraskende ligefremhed i American Losers, til den udvidende billedskønhed og kontrollerede smerte i Black Heart og til brevvægtens milligrams balancekunst i Meet me in Berlin.
De nøgne fra Skt. Petersborg er på kun 23 minutter. De mærkes som en vidunderlig begyndelse til en meget lang og rig film. Mere, mere mumler jeg ved slutteksternes opdukken. Det er en meget sjælden oplevelse.
Ada Bligaard Søby: The Naked of Saint Petersburg (De nøgne fra Skt. Petersborg), Denmark 2010, 23 min. Synopsis:” It is winter in Saint Petersburg and the streets of the former capital are teeming. Half naked sunbathers stand in the snow; fledgeling dancers watched by throngs of teens are an explosion of underground fashion; a therapist who cannot afford an office sees clients in his car; immigrant street cleaners wander estates in orange vests, hoping they won’t be mistaken for terrorists. Saint Petersburg makes do with what it has.” (DVD-cover text) Script: Ada Bligaard Søby, camera: Max Efros og Ada Bligaard Søby, editing: Nanna Frank Møller, sound design: Roar Skau Olsen, producer: Lise Saxtrup, company & sales: Klassefilm www.klassefilm.dk Filmografi, Ada Bligaard Søby: Rome, NY (2004), American Losers (2006), Meet Me in Berlin (2007), She’s Lost Control (2008), Black Heart (2008), Complaints Choir (2009).
Det begynder allerede ved indgangen. Det med Nyrops detaljer. Hver indgang har sine særlige figurer. Her er det vejvæsenets gamle indgang ud mod H. C. Andersens Boulevard. To brolæggerjomfruer i granit flankerer porten. Rådhuset skulle have den danske stenhuggertradition fra middelalderkirkerne indarbejdet. Men det håndværk var glemt, så billedhuggeren Anders Bundgaard måtte lære sig det forfra, da han fik opgaven. Et sted i Nils Vests film kommer vi ind i et kælderrum med Bundgårds skitser til de mange ansigter, han huggede i granit, og Vest fortæller i sin nøgternt personlige speak, at billedhuggeren fandt sine modeller i de nærmeste omgivelser, blandt byggeriets håndværkere og rådhusets medarbejdere.
Og Vest tager denne demokratiske idé op. Det er jo et hus for alle borgere i byen, og han åbner sin film og sin omvisning ved at lade en almindelig rådhusbetjent tage imod og føre os ind i huset og dets idé. Vest er vedholdende (eller stædig) som sine hovedpersoner, nu altså Martin Nyrop, hans motiver og greb går igen fra film til film. Også dette, at det ophøjede monument ikke kun ses i arkitekturhistoriens lærde og følsomme blik i kunstnerisk øjenhøjde, men også ses nedefra, i fejemandens jordnære og håndfaste perspektiv. Vest mestrer begge vinkler.
Og det bliver til ét af de gennemgående lag. Denne omviser-fortælling tages op i Jens Bidstrups velordnede klipning, og en række mennesker, som arbejder i husets funktioner eller med husets historie eller med dets arkitekts biografi, får stafetten og fortæller hver deres brik i mosaikken, som bliver filmens handling af dagligdag, arkitektur og menneskeliv.
Der er premiere i morgen kl. 12 i Grand Teatret. Et rådhus til hverdag og fest kører derefter i den biograf, forhåbentlig et stykke tid, for det er selvfølgelig en simpel pligt for enhver københavner med kærlighed til sin bys smukke huse at gå ind og se filmen om byens italienske renæssance rådhus og dets mylder af historier og detaljer og betydninger.
Nils Vest: Et rådhus til hverdag og fest, Danmark 2010, 52 min. Manuskript: Nils Vest, fotografi: Erik Norsker, Casper Høyberg, Steen Dalin og Nils Vest, klip: Jens Bidstrup, musik: Anders Koppel, lyd: Iben Haahr Andersen, produktion: Nils Vest. Produceret og distribueret af Nils Vest Film www.vestfilm.dk her også direkte dvd-salg.