Ehrlich/Goldsmith: The Most Dangerous Man..

It is difficult to dislike Daniel Ellsberg, and why should you? An important name in new American history, a whistleblower, a man who was among those whose job it was to provide Robert McNamara with plans for an efficient war in Vietnam, and a man who saw how his superior lie to the American public, as did Lyndon Johnson. He changed his mind, and his life completely, by publishing the so-called Pentagon Papers – and became an example, some would say the example of non-violent civil disobedience. And he still is around when it comes to demonstrations against US in Iraq and Afghanistan – take a look at his website.

The film tells the story about a conscientiuos objector in a classical way, as the filmmakers have said it themselves: a three act character-driven drama, that uses interviews, archive material and the voice of Ellsberg to take us through his own story. He makes references back to his childhood and the tragic death of his mother and sister because the father fell asleep while they were out driving. And there is a constant love story running in the foreground through interviews with his wife Patricia, who is at his side in the numerous archive interviews with him back in 70’es. It is all very efficiently told with music and small reconstructions that help give the film a drive.

The film goes out theatrically in the US, is nominated for an Oscar 2010 (got a Special Jury Award at idfa 2009), let’s see if it will win as did Errol Morris in 2004 with his film on McNamara, ”Fog Of War”, a much more authored film than the one on Ellsberg…  interesting now to have a film on the war criminal and one on the activist and whistleblower, a very charming and charismatic character in a well crafted documentary. 

USA, 2009, 96 mins.

http://www.ellsberg.net/

http://www.mostdangerousman.org/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/feb/16/most-dangerous-man-in-america

Marathon DOK 2010

This yearly initiative of EDN (European Documentary Network) takes place March 6 from 2pm to 10 pm with breaks for coffee, talks and a a sandwich. The Danish Film School in Copenhagen rooms this mini festival that has proved to have a succesful format could easily be exported to other countries. The Danish Film Institute supports the Marathon Dok, that is open for participation to students and professionals from the film and TV industry only. The programme is still in its completion phase but this is what is confirmed so far. Chapeau for the emphasis on actuality and the short documentary. Click the titles and you can read – and in some cases watch – the titles online:

1st Screening Block – Starting at 14.00: Poste Restante (Poland, 2009, 14 min, DigiBeta) by Marcel Łoziński. Drona & Me (The Netherlands, 2009, 20 min, DigiBeta) by Catherine van Camp. Portrait of a Reluctant Gentleman (Sweden, 2008, 13 min, HD) by Gustav Danielsson. Civil Servant P327JUM (Sweden, 2008, 14 min, DVD) by Johan Bjerkner.

2nd Screening Block – starting at 16:00: Hanasaari A (Finland, 2009, 15 min, DigiBeta) by Hannes Vartiainen. What Remains (Austria, 2009, 33 min, DigiBeta) by Clarissa Thieme. I love my boring Life (Czech Republic, 2009, 27 min, 35mm) by Jan Gogola

3rd Screening Block – Starting at 18:00 TBA

4th Screening Block – Starting 20:00

Last Train Home (China, 2009) (PHOTO) by Lixin Fan. Idfa winner 2009

www.edn.dk

John Appel: The Player

3 stronger characters and some accompanying. Not unusual.  And three characters with the same in common: the desire to gamble; driven by an addiction that has heavily influenced their lives. One is no longer alive, the father of the filmmaker, the two others still practise in different ways, on different levels and in different areas of operation. One is in prison and talks with a low voice about what he has been doing, waiting to get out very soon. This does not happen, he has his imprisonment prolonged because he can not refrain from gambling (= swindling) from his cell via his mobile (cell!) phone. The other is a festive man full of stories and fun and lust for life. A showman, who offers the viewers a guided photo tour picturing the women with whom he has enjoyed life – for a certain period, as long as they could compete with the real love and passion of his life: Gambling. We see him as the charming bookmaker, he is, and we sense the back side of the coin, the loneliness, as he speaks.

The main character, however, is the father of the John Appel, as he is seen and described by the son. Appel approaches the character of his father in a very fine and balanced manner, where he leaves a lot of reflection to the viewer. He intertwines the story of his father with the two other addicts and maybe he was a mix of the two – the low voice prisoner and the outspoken party seeker and show man. That Appel is an experienced filmmaker and knows the rules of storytelling is evident, and again it is a pleasure to hear a well written and spoken personal commentary. Towards  the end of the film, Appel tells us that he after the death of the father often drove with his mother to the place of the horse races. This is where the father had his seat every sunday. They sit there in the big car, all is silence – one of many beautifully composed images full of the melancholy that suits this film so well.

Holland, 80 mins., 2009

http://www.cobosfilms.nl/

One World Festival Prague

A text quote from the site of an amazing film festival that has it all – a thematical focus, a distribution strategy, debates, and a catalogue full of strong films:

“Over 100 films, dozens of foreign guests – primarily film directors, screenings for schools, streamed films online, a range of accompanying events and more – these are the things that you can look forward to at the 12th edition of One World. The main festival will be held in Prague between March 10 – 18, 2010 followed by the Regional One World festivals in 29 towns and cities of the Czech Republic through the end of March into early April. In addition, a select number of films screened at One World, the biggest human rights documentary film festival in Europe, will be presented in Brussels in mid April.

This year’s festival will feature 101 documentary films from over 30 countries within both competition and thematic categories. These have been selected from more than 1600 submitted films. This year’s festival will open with the Iranian documentary Green Days, which portrays a current and striking example of human rights being repressed (see below).”

The following films, that have all been written about on this site, will be screened in Prague: Salome Jashi: The Leader is Always Right (photo), Pawel Lozinski: Chemo, Bories & Chagnard: The Arrivals, Fredrik Gertten: Bananas!, Andreas Apostolides: A Place Without People, Neta Efrony: Kalandia-A Checkpoint Story, Gianfranco Rosi: Below Sea Level, Anders Østergaard: Burma VJ, Linda Jablonska: Welcome to North Korea!

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

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