Positive News from Ji.hlava IDFF

“After several years of preparations, we started revamping the festival’s competition sections, the jury structure as well as the award categories. The aim is to pay tribute to documentary cinema which has been undergoing enormous changes, at the same time being the real drive behind contemporary filmmaking,” said festival director Marek Hovorka introducing a new festival concept during the opening of Ji.hlava’s Echoes on March 11. As of this year’s 25th edition, Ji.hlava IDFF will feature a main competition section comprising up to 18 feature films screened in world, international and European premieres.

In addition to the new competition concept, there will also be an innovation with regard to the award giving. Aside from the main award, the jurors will also hand out awards for the best cinematography, editing, and sound design. At the same time, outstanding formats, such as the best film essay, will be highlighted.

The jury will award a prize to the most significant debut film and film from the region of Central and Eastern Europe but Ji.hlava’s traditional sections First Lights and Between the Seas will become a natural part of the main competition. The main jury will be composed of seven members who will ensure a varied reflection on contemporary cinema.

“I’ve always considered it a pity how many talented and exceptional professionals have not been rewarded for their documentary work. Documentary cinematographers, editors, sound engineers and producers are only rarely recognized, even at the level of national film awards. And also with regard to American or European Academy Awards, it seldom happens that these professionals are nominated alongside feature filmmakers. This isn’t fair and we are determined to encourage the change,“ explains Hovorka.

In addition to the main competition section, Ji.hlava will offer three other categories: “Fascinations” for the best experimental films, “Testimonies” for the best films with political, ecological or scientific themes, and the traditional national competition “Czech Joy”.

The festival takes place 26-31.10

CPH:DOX – Captains of Zaatari

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

This is the catalogue text of CPH:DOX:

”Fawzi and Mahmoud are best friends. They are two teenage boys who, like so many others their age, love football and dream of an international career on the pitch. And they live in Zaatari, the world’s largest camp for Syrian refugees. When a scout from a football club in Qatar visits the camp to spot new talents, the boys eye their lives’ opportunity. This becomes a journey that culminates in a finale (literally), which is just as emotional and nerve-wracking as a football match where everything is at stake. And that’s exactly what it is here. The director Ali El Arabi met Fawzi and Mahmoud when they played football in the desert sand with bare feet as young boys, and he has built mutual trust with them over many years. The resulting film was a hit with both reviewers and audiences at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. With its two irresistible protagonists and moments of true friendship, it is also a story that hits you straight in the heart.”

The film was at the Sundance FF, I have not seen it but as one who is a football-idiot and played when a teenager, I am not gonna miss it!

CPH:DOX – Kossakovsky: Gunda

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

And of course the festival offers its Danish audience Kossakovsky’s masterpiece ”Gunda”, which did not make it to the final 5 Oscar nominated documentaries – a mistake I think.

”Every year, human beings slaughter about 70 billion livestock. In his latest film, the Russian master Viktor Kossakovsky lets the camera linger on one of these animals -the sow Gunda – and the other pigs, hens and cows in her company. There are no expert interviews in ‘Gunda’, which is just as far from the conventions of documentary filmmaking as the director’s spectacular climate hit ‘Aquarela’. But by letting us look at the behaviour of animals in dazzlingly beautiful black-and-white images, Kossakovsky lets us understand that there is both intelligence and emotions behind the snouts, beaks and muzzles.”

I was in the jury at the Sofia Intl. FF, we decided on a special award for “Gunda” with this motivation:

„Viktor Kossakovsky again is surprising his audience by making a film, which is beautiful to watch – black & white, and has an quite interesting protagonist. A very dramatic and emotional story about what it means to be a mother… It’s about our environment, it’s about our attitude, our connection to nature and animals. Kossakovsky is a master in cinematography and has again done something, which is extraordinary.“

I hope CPH:DOX will show the film on the big screen as ”we” did in Belgrade at Magnificent7 and will do at the upcoming (end of May) DocsBarcelona.

CPH:DOX Courage Aliaksey Paluyan

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

One of those is the Belarussian film “Courage” that premiered at the Berlinale, will be at Visions du Réel in Nyon in competition and here it is in the category ”Change Makers”. At the Baltic Sea Docs 2020 Aliaksey Paluyan pitched the film and apologised that ”if I am not present tomorrow, it is because I have been arrested while filming the demonstrations”. The film has been praised for its, yes, courage; I can only add that is an original approach to the theme that makes it go far beyond reportage.  

”Art, civil disobedience and political protest are three different sides of the same revolution for the Belarusian democracy activists Maryna, Pavel and Denis. In the eastern nation, which is often called Europe’s last dictatorship, president Alexander Lukashenko has been solidly in power since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But now the people have had enough. Since last year’s elections, the protesters have defied the risk of imprisonment and abduction and have gathered to protest. For several years, Maryna, Pavel and Denis have run the Free Theatre for political performing arts. But when peaceful protests take hold on the streets outside, the stage suddenly becomes much larger.”

CPH:DOX – Virpi Suutari: Aalto

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

Finnish director Virpi Suutari is a true auteur. At the Belgrade festival Magnificent7 we had the pleasure to screen “Entrepreneur” and “Garden Lovers” with the presence of the director. Now she presents – for the Danish audience – ”Aalto” that CPH:DOX presents in this way:

”Scandinavian architecture and design are known and loved for their clear lines and consideration for the individual human being. The couple Alvar and Aino Aalto deserve much of the credit. In an exquisite film which – just like their own life works – brilliantly combines aesthetics and humanity, we are not only told the story of how the architect and the designer set new standards in their respective fields. Through the letters they sent each other, we also get an unusual insight into the love life of the two highly gifted people, as well as their work and shared family, and not least their unique personalities, which at times collided in a way that sent sparks flying.”

And I add a couple of words: Suutari’s personal style is one of élegance, the film is simply a pleasure to watch and again composer – although not mentioned on the festival website – Sanna Salmenkallio must be praised for her extraordinary film music.

CPH:DOX – The Other Side of the River

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watche at other festivals around the world.

Here is the first one to be strongly recommended, ”The Other Side of the River” the debut film of German Antonia Kilian as director and camerawoman, and with Arash Asadi and Guevara Namer as editor and co-authors. I met Antonia and Guevara at the Baltic Sea Docs in 2018, and I have great memories of meeting Guevara at the DoxBox in Damascus in the four years before the revolution in 2011. Guevara has also been showing her big talent as a photographer on this site. Here comes the description of the film from the CPH:DOX website:

“19-year-old Hala escaped an arranged marriage by crossing the Euphrates River and finding a new home in the Kurdish Women’s Protection Unit, which soon after liberated her hometown from Islamic State. For her female fellow soldiers, the enemy is not just IS, but the patriarchy in general, with marriage as the ultimate oppressive institution. So Hala decides to free her sisters before it is too late, and whatever the cost – even if this means disappearing from her own film to plan nothing less than an armed attack on her parents’ house. The threat of an arranged marriage and the brutal stories of violent husbands have made many young women like Hala cross the river to get trained in combat. Physically, but also intellectually. But is there still space for freedom and love in Hala’s life when her mission is all-consuming? First-time director Antonia Kilian introduces us to her own thoughts on being a cultural outsider in a situation where the term militant feminism should be understood literally.”

The film has moments of great beauty, it dares have long scenes, it shows what it means to gain trust from its protagonist, who is a more-than-brave young woman meeting an equally brave film team. It’s a world premiere here in Copenhagen but it will for sure travel. 

Trailer can be seen on Cineuropa.

DocuDays Ukraine 2021 Online

Yes, online again this year for the 18th International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival that I have visited several times with many memories in and outside the cinema. Yesterday Ileana Stanculescu from CinéDoc Tbilisi reminded me and Lithuanian Audrius Stonys of our common experience in Kiev 8 years ago where the snow was a true challenge for many, including me who was almost carried up the hill to the hotel Rus by the young and fit filmmaker and festival director Roman Bondarchuk…I arrived, many did not, many came late. But we had a great time.

This year I have no idea how the festival weather in Kiev has been as I have been sitting in my armchair in Copenhagen – I attended with my laptop. 

And I have enjoyed again the imagination performed by the team of DocuDays. Starting with the wonderful cartoons by Anatoliy Surma, who we, the audience, met at the opening through a small report from where he lives – and with his cartoon characters being the continuous figures right until the end, where the awards were handed out. Tonight.

I was there tonight for the ceremony but before that I spent a couple of hours in the afternoon watching documentaries by Krzysztof Kieślowski. Under the headline ” Krzysztof Kieślowski. A Documentary Biography”, the festival offered its audience to watch 9 documentaries from the master, with a small introduction by Agnieszka Holland. She talked about his sensitivity and how curious he was to depict the human destiny – and his wish to find out what space the society gives to the citizen. I guess all documentary lovers know ”Talking Faces” from 1980, one of the nine, all of them interesting dynamic portraits of people and places. ”From the City of Lodz” from 1969 was new for me, lovely it is, I copy the precise description from the DocuDays website:

”This documentary, filled with interesting observations and a fair share of humour, is a multifaceted portrait of Łódź, where Kieślowski studied at the film school from 1964 to 1969. Careworn women, the textile workers of Łódź, appear on the screen, as do Sunday-afternoon strollers, Edward Ciuksza’s well-known mandolin orchestra, a folk fête, old apartment buildings and new, high-rise estates. Images of work, rest and boredom intertwine.” 19 minutes of poetry.

The awards tonight: There were a lot – check https://docudays.ua/eng/2021/news/kino/the-winners-of-docudays-ua-2021/ – I did not manage to watch so many but I did know and adore Salomé Jashi’s “Taming the Garden” that won the main award in Docu/World, the motivation of the jury was read by Scottish Emma Davie: 

Elegant and impressive, this film talks about those who disturb the spirit of the forest and its ancient creatures with all its roots, stories, silent cries and whispers. With imagery which will burn in the mind long after viewing, the film follows the effects of the absurdist megalomania of one man’s desire to conquer nature. The prize for the best documentary film in DOCU/WORLD competition goes to Taming the Garden and its Princess Mononoke, the director Salomé Jashi, who stands on guard for both trees and human beings… the other jurors were Jihlava FF’s director Marek Hovorka and last year’s successful Ukrainian director of “The Earth is Blue as an Orange”, Iryna Tsilyk. This is not the last award that will be given to Salomé Jashi for this exceptional film.

And I saw the winner in the Docu/Ukraine catagory „Ivan’s Land“ by Andrii Lysetskyi about folk art painter Ivan Prykhodko, a charismatic man who lives in the countryside, talks to his dogs and cat, a man of nature – and for me a great artist who reminds me so much of a late Danish artist Heerup. A life always in creation, sharing – portrayed through exceptional camerawork, where the film is co-poetic letting the artist perform like a shaman. Great film.

Good choice, even I would have loved to see an award go to “Roses.Film-Cabaret” by Irena Stetsenko. I have followed that film since it was pitched at the Baltic Sea Docs (BSD), it’s wonderfully messy, it has unique moments, the women performing in this band are powerful, to say the least. After BSD I wrote on this site ” dynamic, energetic, feminist approach, 7 women „from the freak cabaret Dakh Daughters Band“, poetry, music, provocative and enjoyable from start till end. It’s gonna be a hit!” Hoping for an international carreer for this film. Bertolt Brecht in memoriam!

The award from Current Time TV, the broadcaster that supports the festival so well, went to «This Rain Will Never Stop» by Alina Gorlova with this motivation: For the monumental artistic work immersing the viewer into the black and whites of eternal living in between, for the archetypal depiction of war in its constant presence and for subtle portrayal of the fragility of the human being… I love when a broadcaster uses the word «artistic». It is a film that I have seen pitched several times, a film that has developed to the high quality it shows now -and I have to watch it again and write about it.

And I love to see how the creative people of DocuDays cope with the isolation situation we all are in and find a way to reach an audience in Ukraine to offer 105 films and a lot, really a lot of industry activities, lectures, debates, all kind of angles, commercial or artistic. Tomorrow I have signed up to hear about music in documentaries… Thank you! You can still visit the festival until April 4 midnight.

DocsBarcelona Offers Creative Feedback

… on creative documentaries under the headline “Artistic Consultancies for Rough Cut Projects”. Prominent documentarians have agreed to take sessions – let me do the name-dropping: Salomé Jashi, Gitte Hansen, Noemy Schory, Elena Fortes, Marc Isaacs (PHOTO), Carles Bosch, Pawel Lozinski, Cecilia Lidin, Martijn te Pajs. It’s my privilege to pick the projects and find the right conversation partner for you. Here comes what DocsBarcelona writes on the website:

In this new edition, DocsBarcelona offers the opportunity to carry out creative consultations online for projects at rough cut stage. The aim is for the projects to be shown to international experts with a proven track record, who will help them improve the film’s final result.

Tue Steen Müller, will be the moderator of the sessions and will link each project with an international expert. Up to 3 members of the film crew may attend the sessions.

Each selected project will be eligible for a private consultation lasting 45 minutes. These will be scheduled between May 18th and 28th.

How to submit a project

Register on the DocsBarcelona&Me platform. Once registered, fill out the activity form and please remember to include a link to the rough cut and its password.

If the project is selected, once the information has been reviewed you will receive an email to make the payment and we will contact you regarding the date of the consultation.

Tal Amiran: Dafa Metti (Difficult)

3 years ago I posted a positive review of the short film «Sand Men” by Tal Amiran. (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4284/)

Now the director is back with another social engaged, well crafted short film that likewise deserves to be highlighted.

It takes place in Paris, the location is around the Eiffel Tower, a symbol for France, a place where millions of tourists come to take selfies or have photos taken of themselves. They – we – are not the only ones. Illegal Africans are there to sell miniature, glittering Eiffel towers, living a life in humiliation, chased by the police, sleeping in small rooms together with many others, all this to be able to send money back to their families. You don’t see the faces of those (Senegalese), who sell but you hear their voices expressing their life situation. There is nothing new in this documentation but there is a filmmaker behind the camera, who knows how to create an atmosphere of tough sadness.

You can find this and other films by Tal Amiran here: https://vimeo.com/talamiran

UK, 2020, 15 mins.

Grand Hjemmebio / Gensyn

GRAND HJEMMEBIO

Kim Foss meddelte for noget tid siden at biografen han leder, Grand Teatret i København ”udvider paletten og nu også tilbyder ’udbringning’ af film til din egen skærm.

På Grand Hjemmebio kan du fange nogle af de gode titler, du ikke nåede at se i biografen. Eller gense de bedste. Udbuddet er – som i biografen – nøje udvalgt efter, hvad vi synes, er det absolut bedste på filmfronten.

Vi tilbyder adgang til et filmkatalog med vokseværk. Vi vil løbende føje nye og spændende film til siden – med ambitionen om at blive dit foretrukne tilflugtssted, når du skal belønne dig selv med en filmoplevelse ud over det sædvanlige.

Der er flydt meget vand i åen siden Grand Teatret åbnede anden juledag 1913. Med over 100 års erfaring med kvalitetsfilm mener vi at ligge inde med nok viden og filmkærlighed til også at favne filmkigningen derhjemme.

Så derfor: Stort velkommen til Grand Hjemmebio! ”, slutter Kim Foss sin indbydelse.

EKSKLUSIVE TITLER

Disse dage Danmarkspremiere på nye eksklusive titler, stort bagkatalog af ældre udvalgte titler som nogle af os ikke fik ser i Grand Teatret dengang kan nu nås i Grand Hjemmebio:

https://www.grandhjemmebio.dk/ 

 

GENSYN

fælles essay af Sara Thelle, Tue Steen Müller og Allan Berg Nielsen

  Sydjysk landskab med stående kvinde og siddende mand…

Frelle Petersen: Onkel / Onkel (grandhjemmebio.dk)

7. 11. 2019: Med ét i filmens lange dybt tilfredsstillende forløb af forunderlige scener, diskrete flytninger og tankesamlende vignetter står der uventet Onkel på lærredet! Og så kommer slutteksterne, de vigtigste først i skilte og derefter alle de andre rullende. Jeg bliver siddende i stolen. Forbløffet. Er det allerede forbi? Er hun gået? Denne vidunderlige fortælling, denne dejlige kvinde.

I instruktørens forrige film og fortælling Hundeliv (2016) havde både de to piger og den sårede soldat i filmen og jeg i biografen fæstnet os særligt ved kassedamen i supermarkedet. Hun var bare så sød, og både i sin rolle og i virkeligheden, så ægte livligt venligt snakkende med kunderne hun jo kendte. Her var det gode menneske.

Nu er hun så landmand, sød og ægte. Men nu fåmælt som onklen. Hun er forældreløs forstår jeg, han er alene og hendes nærmeste. Hun har  gennem skoletiden boet hos ham på hans gård med køer og græsmarker og kornmarker, og nu som ung kvinde passer hun hans hus og driver hans landbrug sammen med ham. Begge er de tavse i dagenes arbejde og i aftenernes sagte tv-lyd fra det lille apparat oppe på skabet og aviser i stak på stolen: han. Og bøjet i den tykke krydsordsbog: hun. Han let studs, hun let indadvendt begge i en ægte jysk tavshed. Tryg og smuk. Og skildret af Frelle Petersen med kompetent indsigt…

… et drama af dage og nætter, af årstidernes gang (Flaherty / Grierson)

10.11.2019: Filmen vil ikke slippe mig, jeg noterer at den tegner døgnets tid, årets tid, kredsløbets tid med dagsrytmevignetter med solnedgange som i Hundeliv. Det er helt tydeligt. Mindre tydeligt tegnet, men ikke mindre vigtig, er den lineære tid, fortællelinjen, som manuskriptet håndfast, men personinstruktionen diskret, næsten umærkeligt tegner, udviklingen hos de medvirkende, især hos den unge kvinde som lader sig kalde Kris, som klipningen selvfølgeligt sikkert fuldfører i en dramatisk kurve af overvejelser og afprøvninger filmen igennem tilbage til den ufravigelige oprindelige situation. Og Frelle Petersen lader med hende kredsløbets tid vinde over den lineære tid, alt kommer igen, intet forsvinder, det bliver ikke væk, det er stadigvvæk et vækkeur på natbordet i Kris’ værelse som sætter dagene i gang, Kris ejer endnu ikke en mobiltelefon. Til side med dynen, blå arbejdsbukser og hvid bh på, hun ruller gardinet op ser ud i den tidlige morgen. Så arbejdsdagens storternede skjorte.

 Efter lang tid kommer musikken og streger ind og streger under. Det er høst og det er sensommer. Og som i alle rutiner er jeg bundet i årets stadig gentagne tid. Og i årenes, Kris har blidt overtaget onklens plads i førerhuset, hun ser hans kræfter svigte, glad kører hun videre, det er høstarbejdets tid.

Blikket over det storladne landskab i lavt aftenlys afslutter dagene, Kris’ blik forstår jeg…

 

Amy Berg: Janis: Little Girl Blue 2015 / Janis: Little Girl Blue (grandhjemmebio.dk)

…Just as with Scorsese’s Dylan portrait No Direction Home, Amy Berg owes some of Janis’ finest moments to D. A. Pennebaker. Not only with the strong scenes from his legendary concert film Monterey Pop (1968, filmed by Pennebaker, Leacock and Maysles, probably the most musical trio in film history), the film that sparked off Joplin’s route to stardom… 

  Nearly two hours in company of Janis Joplin, what’s not to like! I was so ready to just lean back and enjoy and I was… disappointed.

 Whoa, slow down, hold your horses! I’m being bombarded with talking heads at a speed so I can’t follow. Too fast a pace when all I want to do is to take my time, hear the music, feel the music and the person I’m about to discover.

 I’m disappointed because I’m sitting in the dark theatre all alert and ready to take in impressions, emotions, sound, images and Music and I’m not getting the cinematic experience I thought I would. And I’m annoyed because I think a big part of my disappointment is a question of the editing. I don’t mind a conventional portrait film, I don’t mind seeing a TV-documentary in a theatre, but I do mind the rushing.

 All the information, all the anecdotes and the archive footage lose sense if I don’t get the time it takes to “meet” the performer and her music. If there is not a moment where I hear something I haven’t heard before, suddenly discover the lyrics of a well-known song or just get to linger on a live performance…

 Having said that, award-winning American filmmaker Amy Berg (the Oscar-nominated Deliver Us from Evil, 2006, about child molestation within the Catholic Church) has made an impressively well-documented portrait of Janis Joplin. It has been a long-term project initiated by the Joplin estate who approached the director back in 2007 and behind the film lays a huge amount of work with archive research, funding and clearing rights.

 Part of Berg’s take on telling the story is a voice-over (the voice of another southern singer/musician Chan Marshall, known as Cat Power) reading Janis’ letters to her family and lovers. Dear family, she wrote continuously throughout the years, giving news to the Texan middle-class nuclear family she came from (the family letters was originally used by Joplins sister Laura in her book Love, Janis from 1992, later turned into a theatre play and a Broadway show). Joplins two younger siblings (Laura and Michael Joplin who manage their sisters estate), old friends, band mates and fellow musicians are looking back. The portrait seems less depressive and dramatic than I thought it would be, and I like that. Lots of life, fun, love and friendships, the story of a strong young woman who at 17, to her own big surprise, discovers she can sing and from then on the rise to fame, but also the beginning of a heroin and alcohol addiction that ends up causing her sudden death.

 Just as with Scorsese’s Dylan portrait No Direction Home, Berg owes some of Janis’ finest moments to D. A. Pennebaker. Not only with the strong scenes from his legendary concert film Monterey Pop (1968, filmed by Pennebaker, Leacock and Maysles, probably the most musical trio in film history), the film that sparked off Joplin’s route to stardom (Pennebaker is there himself to reveal how close Joplin was to not be in his movie!), but also with his footage of Joplin and the band Big Brother and the Holding Company in the recording studio and at concerts (material that Pennebaker and Hegedus have used in their short Joplin-film Comin’ Home from 1991, I now find out from the credits). The recently released Festival Express (2003) by Frank Cvitanovich and Bob Smeaton, documenting the 1970 tour by train through Canada gathering Joplin, Grateful Dead and The Band, is another invaluable source.

 The press material states that no one had ever explored Janis Joplin’s story on film. A quick search and I discover that Howard Alk (The Black Panther film The Murder of Fred Hampton, 1971, and editor on Dylan’s Renaldo and Clara) made the portraitJanis: The Way She was in 1974. I have to see that! I assume that old time conflicts between the estate and Alk must be the reason that the film is not quoted even though important and mostly unique scenes from it are reused in Berg’s portrait. I have promptly ordered the Howard Alk DVD, maybe a second Janis Joplin portrait film review will be coming up soon…

 I found Janis: Little Girl Blue to be out of rhythm, which is no good when we’re talking about Joplin. But please do go see for yourself, you might not agree with me…

 

 

Bridgend 2015 / Bridgend (grandhjemmebio.dk)

Vi var i biografen og så Jeppe Røndes ”Bridgend” – redaktørerne af dette site, Allan Berg og Tue Steen Müller ledsaget af sidstnævntes kone Ellen Fonnesbech-Sandberg. Hjemme i kolonihaven talte vi om filmen i timevis, læste Kim Skottes Politiken-anmeldelse og Ralf Christensens fra Information, begge meget rosende. Men noget mangler i deres vurderinger, blev vi enige om. Det kommer her fra Allan Berg:

 ”Jeg drukner i disse voldsomme store drenges uartikulerede støj, men jeg rammes til gengæld præcist af den unge kvindes gennemspillede bevægelse fra distant nysgerrighed over undrende analyse til beslutsom involvering. Jeg ser uundgåeligt, at den unge kvinde er i slægt med den unge kvinde i von Triers ”Breaking the Waves” og med den unge kvinde i hans ”Dancer in the Dark”, i slægt med Tarkovskijs unge kvinder i ”Solaris” og i ”Andrej Rubljov”. Disse kvinder griber alle ind i tilværelsen og trodser den samfundsbestemte skæbne ved at ofre sig selv. Filmene bliver således for mig elegier over denne kvindelige lidelse og offertemaet i Jeppe Røndes film samler sig om denne ene skuespiller, som også er den eneste, der skildres som helt menneske, som når hun låner sin elskede af sit liv og han styrket af dette forlader sin éndimensionelle rolle (i hans tilfælde som fardomineret kordreng), den afgrænsede rolle han og alle andre personer omhyggeligt er tildelt i Røndes overdådigt udstyrede og strengt stiliserede marionetspil…

Den unge kvinde bryder imidlertid ud af dette snoresystem, bryder alle regler og gennemfører suverænt sin rolle i det drama om en frihedskamp, som hedder kvinden og mændene, river sin mand ud af flokken, han er blevet udvalgt fordi han har sunget for hende, han er kunstner og således ægte og sanddru, og som Tarkovskijs nøgne kvinde fra det frie samfund i skoven forfulgt af massakrerende krigere går hun ud i vandet beslutsom, rank og sejrende som en Paionios’ Nike, jeg ser rygvendt. Hun vil hellere tage sit liv end underkaste sig og overgive sig til voldtægten. Hendes elskede og resten af den unge menighed følger hende. ’Hun er stærkere end alle os andre’, havde de sagt om hende.”

  

I Walk, 2019 / I Walk (grandhjemmebio.dk) 

Når det gælder Jørgen Leth, 2019 er det altid, og i høj grad i denne meget store og aldeles vigtige film, umuligt at skille manden fra værket. Og jeg, som i min ungdom var opdraget i det autonome værks ånd, jeg som dog trods dette har læst biografier og selvbiografier med begejstring, men vist som underholdning, ikke som nøgler til værkerne, jeg anbringer nu tryg I Walk på hylden med verdenslitteratur, de uomgængelige film og bøger: Godards framinger (Asger Leths bemærkning et sted), Herzogs vilde bjergbestigning (synopsens association et sted), Rilkes elegier og Inger Christensens sonetter (mine private tanker undervejs i mit møde med Jørgen Leths nye storværk.

Kære Jørgen, hele tiden mens jeg ser din film og hører din ustandselige, smukke og kloge stemme tænker jeg på Rembrandts tror jeg nok sene selvportrætter, hensynsløst fortvivlede, og skridt for skridt dybere erkendende det som ikke bliver væk, dette vigtige, du skriver til sidst i din seneste bog:

Det bliver ikke væk jeg har skrevet det ned det bliver / ikke væk Jeg skriver det ned så det er der / Så står det der Det behøver ikke være en blank side / Det forsvinder hele tiden / Det skal bare puttes på plads / Det må ikke blive væk / Og det er vigtigt at huske / Tankerne er gode men de forsvinder / De skal indfanges under glas, ligesom insekter / Pilles fra hinanden ligesom insekter

Nej, Jørgen. Du har ret, det bliver ikke væk, for det ligger længere fremme og venter. Din digterkollega Lea Marie Løppenthin kommer dig nemlig til undsætning: “Det var først for nylig, at jeg undersøgte etymologien for det korte, skrappe ord ”væk”: Fra middelaldertysk wech, afledt af weg ’vej’, jævnfør norrønt á veg ’på vej, bort, væk’ beslægtet med vej.

Det lykkelige ved opdagelsen sidder stadig i mig – / Det der er væk, er altså bare nede ad vejen. / Det, der er væk, er bare et andet sted end her.”

Løft højre fod og tag med din vilje et skridt frem og løft venstre fod og tag med vilje et skridt frem. Du Går…

 

 NOTER

 JANIS

 Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015, 103 min.) Production: Disarming Films and Jigsaw Productions. Danish distribution: Camera Film in collaboration with CPH:DOX Premiering in Danish theatres all over the country October 22nd. 2015. DR2 DOKUMANIA I MORGEN AFTEN tirsdag 18. oktober 20.45 og efterfølgende på DR TV. Filmkommentaren.dk review: 4/6 pens.

 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYizdG42THg

BRIDGEND

Danmark 2015, 99 min.

 Still: Hannah Murray som den unge kvinde

 SYNOPSIS

 A Bridgend Story (working title) is a film about a teenage girl, SARA, who arrives with her father to a small village in the welsh valleys of Bridgend County that is haunted by suicides amongst its young inhabitants. She falls dangerously in love with one of the youngsters while her dad as the new town policeman tries to solve the mystery. The film is based on true events. (IMDb)

 Kim Skottes anmeldelse: politiken.dk/filmanmeldelser

 Ralf Christensens anmeldelse: http://www.information.dk/537714