One World Festival Prague 2

The opening film of the 12th annual One World festival (March 10-18) will be the Iranian documentary Green Days. This extremely relevant film documents one the worst examples of the suppression of democratic principles in recent years. Since the violent crackdown of post-election demonstrations last summer, People in Need has helped organise discussions, screenings and happenings in support of the Iranian opposition. During this year’s festival, People in Need would also like to emphasise the longstanding role played by student activists in the pro-democracy movement in that country.

The protagonist of Green Days is a young Iranian theatre director called Ava, who finds herself caught up in the euphoric pre-election demonstrations being held by the supporters of the presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Through spontaneous interviews with Mousavi’s followers, the film takes a very open look at an opposition movement imbued with optimism. Just a few days after the rigged elections, however, these pictures are replaced by shocking footage from small handheld cameras and mobile phones recording the brutality of the Iranian police, which had already claimed hundreds of victims. This film by the 21-year-old Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf (who had to leave her country for fear of arrest) won the Bravery Award at last year’s Venice International Film Festival.

http://www.oneworld.cz/2010/#

Bridging the Gap

I was in Edinburgh this weekend to meet the 12 candidates for the 2010 Bridging the Gap production scheme, headed by SDI, Scottish Documentary Institute. Pure pleasure it was to listen to and comment on the presentation of the 12, from which 7 will be picked and supported financially. That will happen mid March. Here is a descriptive text quote from the site where you also can find films to be watched for free, from previous seasons of a great documentary short film initiative. That ought to be exported to other countries!:

“Since 2003 Bridging the Gap is the only documentary new talent initiative for cinema in the UK offering training linked to production. It is funded by Scottish Screen National Lottery fund, Skillset Film Skills Fund and supported by Edinburgh College of Art and is open to all UK-based filmmakers. Since 2008 BBC Scotland & Highlands & Islands Enterprise are also supporters of Bridging the Gap. We have an annual themed call for entries from which we select 12 project ideas for a development period in which filmmakers attend a series of training workshops and masterclasses based in Edinburgh. 7 ten-minute documentaries are then commissioned at a pitching session with a budget of 16K (8K cash, 8K in kind), intended for distribution in cinemas and international festivals.”

Bridging the Gap hosts also several masterclassses – therefore a photo of a master, Nicolas Philibert, who was in Edinburgh for Bridging the Gap.

http://www.docscene.org/

ZagrebDox

From February 28 March 7 the sixth edition of ZagrebDox will take place in the capital of Croatia. I have attended previous editions – but have other obligations this year. But this should not refrain me from making publicity for a festival that was started by and is produced by Nenad Puhovski and his strong team. Here is a text clip from the website of a festival where you will be able to watch many films that have been reviewed or mentioned on filmkommentaren.dk

… some 140 documentaries will find their way to Zagreb audience! The major thing about this year’s edition of the festival is its new location – for the first time, it will take place in Movieplex in Kaptol Center. The new venue has been selected in order to provide even better conditions for the audience because it has five theaters with top-notch equipment.

The official international and regional competition programs include 65 films that will compete for the main prize, Big Stamp. Besides three existing programs – Musical Globe, Controversial Dox and Happy Dox – a new addition to the official program is The State of Things program, giving us an unusual insight into the world we live in through documentary stories about the problems from various social spheres. Nenad Puhovski: “In addition to the acclaim of more than 20,000 viewers who came to see the world’s best documentaries, ZagrebDox and I received two more recognitions in 2009: one from the documentary professionals and one from the community we work in. European Documentary Network (EDN) presented us with its annual award for ‘outstanding contribution to the development of European documentarist culture’, and the Mayor of Zagreb awarded us the Medal of the City of Zagreb for ‘a success beyond all expectations that the festival has made’. However, even greater recognition for us was the requests we received from numerous Croatian and regional authors during preparations for this year’s festival: they want their latest films to have their world premiere right here, at ZagrebDox. Accepting this honor, which is an obligation at the same time, we have introduced Dox Events program in which we will show the latest Croatian and regional documentaries, introduce their authors and enable them (due to the more spacious venue) to talk to the audience. This is yet another way for ZagrebDox to pay its debt to authors and viewers without whom the festival would not be possible,”

Words from a man who has all reason to be proud! (Photo from Pawel Lozinski: Chemo, in international competition programme)

http://www.zagrebdox.net/2010/en/

Katrin Ottarsdóttir: Ingen kan lave det perfekte

Mens Katrin Ottarsdóttir turnerer til et par byer mere med sin nye film, som er afslutningen på trilogien om kunstnerisk arbejde, kan vi som bor i andre byer end de fire udvalgte, låne hendes tilgængelige film på biblioteket og vente på dvd-en med Jóanis Nielsen til det bliver marts. Disse titler findes i udlån: Atlantic Rhapsody, 1989, vhs, Regin Smidur, 2003, vhs, Ingen kan lave det perfekte, 2008, dvd og En linje om dagen er nok! 2008, dvd.

Selv lånte jeg lige en kopi af filmen med Hans Pauli Olsen på mit uundværlige bibliotek. Jeg har ikke set den før – så, hvordan er så den? Denne begyndelse til Ottarsdóttirs projekt? 

Billedhuggeren danser tango. I filmens første scene med hustruen i den hjemlige stues varme stearinlys. I filmens sidste scene med modellen i det rå ateliers kolde neon. Jo, det er skam et jalousiforhold. Et sted gør hustruen rede for det, tidligere var hun hans model, men nu er hun erstattet af den anden. Sådan må det være, hun resignerer.

Og filmen drejer sig efterhånden mere og mere om den model. Ikke som person, men netop som model. Det afgørende er forskellen på en portrætteret og en model. Og mod slutningen af filmen er det tydeligt den forskel, modellen grunder over, da hun kommer til udstillingsåbningen og står foran det værdige værk. Er det mig? Ligner det mig? Nej, det er et værk om optagetheden af kvinden som sådan. Hans Pauli Olsen har tidligere i filmen fortalt om den optagethed – og demonstreret den under arbejdet med modellen og værket, som filmen følger fra trin til trin.

Katrin Ottarsdóttir har søgt sig og fundet tre smukke og velskabte modeller til sit trefløjede værk om kunstnerisk liv – og hvordan hun har det med sådan en, en model, ja, det er det hun udvikler som et af lagene i den første film. 

http://www.bluebirdfilm.dk/hpo.html (filmens hjemmeside)  www.tutl.com (dvd-salg)

Katrin Ottarsdóttir: Sporene gror ud af ord 2

Så er den trefløjede tavle færdig. Tre film med først Hans Pauli Olsen dernæst Tóroddur Poulsen, som begge blev færdige i 2008 og nu den tredje med Jóanes Nielsen, Sporene gror ud af ord, som har været vist i København to gange på Nordatlantens Brygge i onsdags. I dag vises den i Øst for Paradis i Århus.

Ebbe Iversen anmeldte den i torsdags, og han er temmelig glad, for Katrin Ottarsdóttir har i sine tre film med billedhuggeren og de to digtere ”en fornem evne til at få kunstnerne til at slappe af og tale frit foran kameraet, og hun lader loyalt bemeldte kamera underordne sig emnet og distraherer ikke med alskens stilistiske krummelurer… når man ser denne kloge og sympatiske film, får man virkelig lyst til selv at læse mandens digte. Hvad der givetvis præcis er meningen.” Iversen konkluderer med fem stjerner ud af seks.

Og Jóanes Nielsens nye samling Broer af sultne ord udkom også i dansk oversættelse i onsdags. I en lomme ligger en dvd med nogle af hans oplæsninger. Vel klip fra filmen.

Sporene gror ud af ord bliver vist i Biffen Aalborg 3. marts 17:00 og i Nicolay Biograf Kolding 9. marts 19:00. Engang næste måned kommer den på dvd, formodentlig på www.tutl.com Her kan man i forvejen købe Ingen kan lave det perfekte og En linje om dagen må være nok!   

http://www.bluebirdfilm.dk/

Klara Trencsenyi & Vlad Naumescu: Birds Way

First the annotation as it appears on the cover of the dvd and on the site of the production company, Libra Film in Romania: “Birds Road is a creative documentary that follows the daily routine of a Russian Lipovan community struggling to survive and maintain their traditions in spite of the overwhelming intrusion of modernity. The testimonies of these Old Believers about recent transformations, dying religion and their struggle to preserve archaic traditions reveal the vulnerability and secretiveness of a traditional community.”

And then my congratulations to the directors for making a theme so far away from my urban jungle up in the Northern Europe – interesting, fascinating, warm and human. Why? Because of their obvious long stay down there close to the Danube where mostly – according to the film – old people live, close to their religion and language and rituals. The people in the film have found the filmmakers trustworthy and invited them into their houses. Here you are, this is our life.

The generous answer given to this hospitality and openness comes out in an amazing cinematography by Trencsenyi, who catches the simple life and its beauty with respect and love. Story? Not in a classical sense – one storyline, from a to z – but with many smaller stories being unfolded in a nice and quite way: About the prison for political prisoners at the the river, about tourism, about the lack of a priest chosen by the Believers themselves, about the young man they want as a priest but he has no wife (!), about funerals, and the Slavonic language that only two can read now. Empty village roads, children playing. A pleasure to watch and learn from this fine observational documentary.

Romania, 2009, 56 mins.

http://www.astrafilm.ro/en/astra-film-festival-2009-birds-way-2

http://www.esodoc.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=73&Itemid=91

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzmUAmnuCOI

Lars Becker-Larsen: Den bevægede jord 3

Lars Becker-Larsens dokumentarfilm om den moderne naturvidenskabs tilblivelse modtog søndag den 14. februar hovedprisen som bedste dokumentarfilm i Torino på kulturarvsfestivalen AVICOM.

Festivalen i Torino arrangeres af ICOM (International Council of Museums), UNESCO’s museumsorganisation.

Filmen har tidligere vundet Best Documentary ved Vedere la Scienza Festival – International Scientific Film Festival i Milano, samt den prestigefulde Grand Prix på den 46. Internationale Festival TECHFILM i Prag.

Den bevægede jord er en omhyggelig fremstilling af, hvordan og under hvilke forhold videnskabsmænd som Kopernikus, Brahe, Kepler og Galilei i renæssancen skabte et nyt verdensbillede og dermed grundlaget for den moderne tanke.

I festivaljuryens motivation hed det: “De visuelle nyskabelser, rekonstruktionerne og den gribende fortælleteknik gør kompleksiteten i det behandlede emne tilgængeligt for et bredt publikum på en fascinerende og let tilgængelig måde. En sand revolution!”

http://www.danishdoc.dk/jord_dk.html

Marc Eberle: The Most Secret Place on Earth

… which was praised on this site, see below, is being screened on arte this coming wednesday 17th of February at 20.35 with a re-run on the 23rd of February at 10.25am. arte shows the 52 mins.version titled CIA-Operation Laos. Here is the review re-posted:

A brilliant piece of journalistic research combined with a very effective documentary tv language in the best sense of the word: strong characters interviewed, a precise commentary, characterizing tone-setting music, wonderful archive, and a beginning, middle and an end. In that order.

There is reason for huge respect for the work of Marc Eberle, he gets very close to his witnesses and makes them open up, and contrary to a BBC approach he does not take the official line and make politicians speak and make statements. On the contrary he goes for emotions among the so-called ordinary people, who became the victims.

It is all about another blood filled action or series of actions performed by the Americans to make Laos the place from where the Vietnam war could be led through air raids and illegal bombardements. Long Chen is the name of the air base in Laos. It had a whole community of heroin addicts among the soldiers, and it dragged hmong people in to beat the Pathet Lao, into brutality and prostitution. If today, this would have been the perfect research material for Coppola and his ”Apocalypse Now”. It is an exciting piece of modern unrevealed history from beginning till end. And it includes material never seen before.

Germany, 2008, 52 mins. and 72 mins.

www.beetz-brothers.de

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JH26Ae01.html

http://www.arte.tv/fr/programmes/242,date=17/2/2010.html

Mumbai Festival awards Alexander Gutman

The documentary by Russian Alexander Gutman, ”17 of August”, was chosen as the best documentary at the Mumbai International Film Festival (for docs, shorts and animation).

http://www.miffindia.in/Awards2010.aspx

Here is a clip from the review that was written on filmkommentaren.dk:

This fine Russian director has, apart from the masterpiece ”Frescoes” from Georgia, made a couple of very strong documentaries shot in prisons, ”Three Days and Never Again” and ”Blatnoi Mir” (directed by Finnish Jouni Hiltunen, Gutman was production manager), and here comes another that I do not hesitate to call masterly done as well.

One day in the life of a prisoner, sentenced to lifetime for murders, a man in a small cell, watched through the small window in the dark cell door, walking from one end to the other, exercising, making a cup of tea, praying with his head towards an icon of the bleading Jesus hanging on the wall, getting some food… and a small walk to a strongly fenced and guarded courtyard, filmed from above to achieve the impression of a man in a cage, A close-up study that works because of the brilliant combination of pictures with the monologue of the prisoner. On Life, on the conditions in the isolated prison, on being alone and away from it all, on being close to guards who are there all the time and in a way sharing his destiny…

Sergio Basso: Giallo a Milano

Made in Chinatown is the subtitle of this stylistically different but very fresh and well made, kaleidoskopic look at Chinese in Milano. Several – mostly young – Chinese, first or second generation, take part in a documentary that does not refrain from using cut-out animation, split-screen, a chaptered structure, small intimate situations with couples lying in bed talking about their lives in an Italian and in a Chinese culture, in one case the couple has not seen their child in China for years. The film does not – luckily, because we know it so well from everywhere – go (too) much into the prejudices that exist towards foreigners, instead it puts focus on the characters as human beings accompanied by a historical perspective as the Chinese have been in Milano for decades, of course.

The film starts with images of streets being blocked by the police as a killing apparently has taken place. These well known riots in the Chinese community in Italy (one of the biggest in the country) form the starting point of the film but the director did not want a journalistic angle, he went for the ordinary people, with all their extraordinary stories, the generation conflicts, the identity questions. A good choice and an both moving and entertaining insight to something I had not heard about before.

Italy, 2009, 75 mins.

http://www.lasarraz.com/

http://www.latestuggine.it/