A great work that was premiered at just ended festival in Sarajevo, where it had the honor to open the main competition programme for documentary films and where it was awarded with a special award for its exceptional values that highlight its most important dimension – fight for more humane world!

Intelligent, educated and empathetic people realized a long time ago that the wealth of the world is also in the existence of all beings that surround us. Many care about endangered pandas, Siberian tigers, and griffon vultures in our country. Foundations, states and governments readily participate in this care for all our small and large companions who cannot cope with the world that is becoming more and more cruel. But when it comes to people who cannot do the same as the majority, who are denied the ability to move and speak normally, and above all to live independently, they remain invisible to many. Unfortunately, also for some states and governments whose basic obligation is to take care of every citizen, especially the vulnerable. There is some concern when it comes to children, but when the children grow up, and those who take care of them are getting older and weaker, when help is needed the most, those who make decisions seems that they do not see that there are problems. This incredibly dramatic and exciting film tells about those often invisible wonderful people, who, surprisingly, still bring joy and warmth, about their most selfless protectors and representatives and the collision with the Kafkaesque state system of recklessness and absurdity. With the greatest respect and sincerity, we follow the touching and difficult everyday life, with immense admiration for the noble and dedicated advocates, mothers with stoic character and great human capacity for love and sacrifice, following the example of charismatic ancient heroines.

A film that takes us through numerous trials, enriches us and fills us with the power of love and spirit!

Hungary, Sweden 2024
72 minutes

This text is written by Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, the Magnificent7 festival directors. The film will be screened tonight at MTS in Belgrade. If you also want to read my review of the film, click here https://filmkommentaren.dk/sissel-morell-dargis-balomania-anmeldelse/.

Brazil, favela labyrinths filled with secrets, huge paintings floating in the night sky! An intimate story and a personal fascination grow into a search and at the same time into a stunning defense and praise of an unrecognized art. This exciting, brilliant film became a global hit in a flash and amazed countless world festivals after its world premiere in Copenhagen.

A Danish girl enters favelas of São Paulo to discover real people behind the well-known legend of secret brotherhoods of persecuted and elusive urban heroes – the baloeiros! The film was shot for more than a decade, and the young Danish director undertook an uncertain and lengthy search to reach her protagonists and to gain their trust in the conditions of constant police threats and persecution. From the poor districts of the big Brazilian cities secretly, in specially organized expeditions, large, mysterious packages are taken to the nearby forests, to the hills and before our eyes they turn into huge floating objects lit by the flickering light of the fire, then in an instant they rise into the sky, leaving us breathless. Huge dream-like balloons sail across the vast expanse of the sky, testifying to everyone that baloeiros exist, that once again they defeated repression and the system! Completely mesmerized, without taking their eyes off the sky, another group of devotees chases balloons for kilometers – they are enthusiastic admirers, balloon hunters, who accept their prey as the greatest treasure far from the place where they took off. Many of them are dreaming of becoming baloeiros themselves. The Danish author, thanks to her dedication and openness to understand this phenomenon, allows us to witness an unusual rebellion. Ballons painted in the manner of a naive artistic expression carry icons of popular culture imbued with ancient tradition. They convey messages of the spirit of freedom and beauty of the oppressed souls, trapped by misery, bringing them joy and filling them with pride!

A magnificent cinematic adventure!

Denmark, Spain 2024. 
93 minutes 

This text is written by Magnificent7 Festival founders and organizers Svetlana and Zoran Popovic introducing the opening film of the 20th edition of the festival:

A masterfully created documentary that in one fell swoop won over audiences at festivals in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. From Sundance to Copenhagen and Munich, from Tel Aviv to Bali, this stunning film has captivated so many different audiences alike with its superb music and glorious behind-the-scenes reveal of the world’s biggest music competition.

The legendary “Frederic Chopin” International Piano Competition has been held in Vršava every fifth year for almost a century. Rightly called the pianist’s Olympics, this three-week competition brings together the world’s best young pianists who, through incredibly demanding and exhausting tasks, compete to win the title of the best. That prestigious title brings a reputation that introduces them to the world of brilliant virtuosos, and for some of prominent pianists from Vladimir Ashkenazy and Martha Argerich to Ivo Pogorelich that was the way to have come into the spotlight of the world public. In this unique framework, Jakub Piątek creates an exceptional film composition ranging from a brilliantly playful musical film to a superb drama in which fantastic dreams collide with reality burdened by countless external and internal demands and pressures. While in front of us, two basic streams excitingly intertwine – the skill and beauty of playing and the dramatic anxiety regarding the outcome of the rounds of the competition through which a smaller and smaller number of participants pass, the director almost imperceptibly develops and builds a new surprising essayistic layer that introduces us more and more intensively into a wider dimension of questions about the meaning of competition that tests and exhausts all our strength, and the meaning of victory itself opposes the meaning of art.

A masterful film achievement that enchants us with virtuoso interpretations of music combined with fears, dilemmas, ups and downs of the best young pianists!

Poland, 2023, 89 mins.

Projects explore family stories and various forms of resistance

The 20th edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market welcomes 35 documentary projects from 30 countries that will have the opportunity to find international financing and co-production partners. This year sees a further increase in the number of entries, totalling 366 projects. 

This year’s selection features a number of projects that lens intimate family stories to examine broader themes marking nations, from societal shifts to events of profound socio-political consequence, such as civil wars and military conflicts. Joël Jent’s “Rebellion of Memory” zeroes in on a family of three from different camps of Peru’s last armed conflict. In “Kafka in Belgrade” (WT), Maša Nešković trains her lens on her stepfather and notable filmmaker, Goran Marković, navigating the familial ties against the backdrop of Serbia’s turbulent history. Three projects from Algeria offer layered personal narratives, embedded in the country’s troubled history. In “My Dad’s a Farmer”, filmmaker El Kheyer Zidani returns to Algeria, revisiting his family’s struggles during the country’s 90s civil war. The theme of return to Algeria is also dominant in the two French-Algerian co-productions, Camélia Gadhgadhi’s “Bitter Seed” (Amok Films, “Wake Up On Mars”) and Assia Tamerdjent’s “Hana, Algeria and Me”.

Some projects depict liberation struggles and assorted forms of resistance against oppressive forces. In the vein of exploring new ways to tell a larger story, Esther Vital uses animation as a documentary language in her visually striking animation documentary “If I Die” to reveal the horrors of a clandestine torture centre of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Following former pacifists in Myanmar, including a celebrated poet and human rights activist, Aung Naing Soe’s “When a Poet Goes to War” sheds light on the tragic realities of war as they take up arms to fight the military junta. Delving into the theme of activism, “The Wind’s Thirst” by Alejandro Valbuena chronicles the struggle of Wayuu leaders facing the threat of wind turbine installations on their lands. A tonally different but no less critical story is explored in Manuel Inacker’s “The Land We Breathe” (Restart, which was at the Co-Pro Market 2018 with “Museum of the Revolution”) traces the endeavour of a devoted trio trying to protect Dalmatia on the Croatian coast amid the onslaught of tourists and looming climate collapse.

Several titles in this year’s lineup approach the theme of sports as an element of healing, empowerment, and community-building. In Jacopo De Bertoldi and Petna Ndaliko Katondolo’s “Fists of Peace”, former child soldier Kibomango morphs an abandoned stadium into a boxing gym in the DRC’s Goma for war-scarred youths. Kan Muftic’s “Blackbelts” contemplates the human condition and disability, inserting the viewer into the lives of persons, often sidelined by society, as they turn to taekwondo. Another poignant story featuring sports comes from Nupur Agrawal and Shivajee Biswanath. In their project“Downhill Kargil”, unfolding in a remote Himalayan town in India, two Muslim teenage girls are set on playing ice hockey in the face of the changing environmental and socio-political milieu.

Presenting topically different narratives, a number of projects in the selection embrace the theme of music and singing. Walter Fasano’s “Popol Vuh: A Cosmic Journey” takes us on a sonic voyage with the iconic German band of Popol Vuh, using expansive archival material, while Nona Giunashvili’s “Sacred Songs” crafts a choral portrait of four female singers straddling tradition, religion, and artistic expression in a Georgian village. Emotive testimony is at the heart of another project relating to music, Amine Boukhris’ “Solo”, which tells an incomprehensibly personal story of Solo Akmal, a young rapper in Tunisia who was abandoned by his mother to live among Daesh (IS).

This year’s lineup also showcases three compelling documentary series projects: Daphné Leblond and Lisa Billuart-Monet’s “The Free Speech Rises” (Les Films d’Ici, co-produced by Iota Production), ​​Rafael Valdeavellano and Nicolas Acuña’s true crime series “Letelier File” (La Ventana Cine), and Philipp Diettrich and Sara Woldeslassie’s “From Here”.

The selection includes five promising projects that the DOK Industry team scouted at trusted partner training initiatives and film markets: Andrei Kutsila’s “Letters”, Amílcar Patel’s “Africa AI”, Emmanuelle Mayer’s “Woman in White”, Kan Muftic’s “Blackbelts”, and Yuriy Shylov’s “Entr’actes”.

Some of the directors and producers invited to this year’s Co-Pro Market have previously had their projects presented and/or their films screened at DOK Leipzig. Stefilm (Co-Pro Market 2017 with “Exemplary Behaviour”, a Golden Dove winner at DOK Leipzig 2019) is returning to the festival with their new project “Queerinale, Who Will Take Care of Me? by Matteo Castellino, which follows a group of gay seniors in Rome creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ people in difficulty. Filmmaker from the US Milton Guillén (Co-Pro Market 2019 with “On the Move”) will introduce his new project “My Skin and I”, co-directed with Fiona Guy Hall. German filmmaker Marita Stocker (DOK Leipzig 2019 with “What to Do With All This Love”) will return to the festival with her new project “Sitting the Month” (Eikon Media).

The 20th edition continues to see immense international interest from beyond the European borders, welcoming this October directors and producers from the US, five countries from Central and South America, five Asian countries, and five African countries. 

The DOK Co-Pro Market 2024 is set to take place from 28 October to 29 October in Leipzig, with complementary online meetings on 5 November.

This year’s selection process was carried out by Jia Zhao (Chinese-Dutch film producer, founder of Muyi Film and Silk Road Film Salon), Marcella Jelić (founder of Split Screen), and Ümit Uludağ (producer and CEO of CORSO), with Brigid O’Shea (director of DAE), Guevara Namer (coordinator of the DOK Co-Pro Market), and Nadja Tennstedt (director of DOK Industry).

Overview of Selected 35 Projects:

Africa AI | Director: Amílcar Patel | South Africa | KAMVA Collective
Bitter Seed | Director: Camélia Gadhgadhi | France, Algeria | Amok Films, Libre Image
Blackbelts | Director: Kan Muftic | Switzerland | PANIMAGE
BOOM! | Director: Laura Plancarte | UK | The Republic of Park Royal, LP Films
Chunyu: A Death Foretold | Director: Fan Yang | China, Canada | Walking in the Mountains, Electric Shadow
Downhill Kargil | Directors: Nupur Agrawal, Shivajee Biswanath | India | AutumnWolves Media
Entr’actes | Director: Yuriy Shylov | Ukraine | Alarm Productions
Fists of Peace | Directors: Jacopo De Bertoldi, Petna Ndaliko Katondolo | Italy, DR Congo | AntropicA, Alkebu
The Free Speech Rises | Directors: Daphné Leblond, Lisa Billuart-Monet | France, Belgium | Les Films d’Ici , Iota Production
From Here | Directors: Philipp Diettrich, Sara Woldeslassie | Germany | PINKY SWEAR FILM
From Radvanka | Director: Tomi Hazhlinsky | Ukraine | Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema
The Gary Project | Director: Luchina Fisher | USA | Little Light Productions
The Goldfather | Director: Decio Matos Jr. | Brazil | CAPURI
Hana, Algeria and Me | Director: Assia Tamerdjent | France, Algeria | Making of Films, Urubu Films
Hope is a Word | Director: Maria Galliani Dyrvik | Norway, Nigeria | Smau media 
If I Die | Director: Esther Vital | Brazil, France, Spain | O Par Produções, Marmitafilms, Midralgar 
Kafka in Belgrade (WT) | Director: Maša Nešković | Serbia | Marienbad film
The Land We Breathe | Director: Manuel Inacker | Croatia, Germany | Restart
Left Behind | Director: Nasib Mahamud Farah | Denmark | Emjay Productions
Letelier File | Directors: Rafael Valdeavellano, Nicolas Acuña | Chile | La Ventana Cine
Letters | Director: Andrei Kutsila | Poland, Germany | DocEdu Foundation, DOCDAYS Productions
My Dad’s a Farmer | Director: El Kheyer Zidani | Algeria, Germany | Z§K Production, jip Film & Verleih 
My Skin and I | Directors: Milton Guillén, Fiona Guy Hall | Nicaragua, Germany, USA | Mayana Films, Solaris Film
not-yet-here | Director: Giorgio Bosisio | Italy | Studio x01
Oh, Heart Don’t Be Afraid | Director: Ana Kvichidze | Georgia, Germany | Moonbow Production, parabellum film
Popol Vuh: A Cosmic Journey| Director: Walter Fasano  | USA | Good ‘n Proper
Queerinale, Who Will Take Care of Me? | Director: Matteo Castellino | Italy | Stefilm International 
Rebellion of Memory | Director: Joël Jent | Switzerland, France, Peru | Aaron Film, Les Films d’Ici, Amazona Producciones
Sacred Songs | Director: Nona Giunashvili | Georgia | 17|07 Productions
Sitting the Month | Director: Marita Stocker | Germany | eikon media
Solo | Director: Amine Boukhris | Tunisia, France, Qatar | Donia Films, Dynamo Production
Umbrellas of the Acrobats | Director: Mukesh Subramaniam | India | Elsewhat
When a Poet Goes to War | Director: Aung Naing Soe | Thailand, Hong Kong | Singing Cicadas, 101fps
The Wind’s Thirst | Director: Alejandro Valbuena | Colombia | Curare Films
Woman in White | Director: Emmanuelle Mayer | Israel | Emmanuelle Mayer Films
 

The complete schedule for DOK Industry, including all dates, will be published on 26 September. 
 

You must have been at least 50 times to Riga, the driver next to me said. Uldis Cekulis is his name, a key person in Latvian documentary, producer and cameraman, a man who cannot sit still, always in action, and whose hospitality has no limits as we (Phil Jandaly, Mikael Opstrup and Zane Balcus) experienced, when we on the last day of August left for his summerhouse a couple of hours out of Riga to experience a long drive with forest on both sides of the road, a fish restaurant and a fine evening with wonderful Georgian chacha. Beautiful place, fantastic house, so well arranged.

Back in Riga September 1st, the 28th edition started with a screening of “Silence of Reason” by Kumjana Novakova from Skopje, North Macedonia. A quote of a quote from what was written on this site in April this year https://filmkommentaren.dk/kumjana-novakova-silence-of-reason/: “In this forensic video essay, filmmaker Kumjana Novakova uses mostly written testimonies by the women to explore the collective memory of the rape camps. In grainy video footage, the camera explores the places where these inhuman crimes took place, while the women speak about the unspeakable. (IDFA Catalogue 2023)”. Magnificent documentary, fine discussion the morning after moderated by the boss of Baltic Sea Docs (BSD), Zane Balcus.

I think Cekulis exaggerated but indeed I have been many many times to the capital of Latvia due to the BSD and it is always wonderful to see how the organizers find new locations. This year the film screenings have been moved to the Splendid Palace and the workshop venue to what used to be an apartment. A place full of atmosphere as the pitch venue is, where we were today for the first round or project presentation, K.K. fon Stricka villa. The screening of “Silence of Reason” took place in a cinema Kino Bize, that reminded me of the café cinemas we used to have in Copenhagen in the 80’es.

Back to the film screenings that I have written about before on this site, https://filmkommentaren.dk/baltic-sea-docs-film-program/. After one of the many receptions, I went to listen to the Q&A with Sissel Morell Dargis after the screening of her Balomania, https://filmkommentaren.dk/sissel-morell-dargis-balomania-anmeldelse/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEx3NlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaEDk13FpeKhnYzmvPK8DXiKuZ_hOxfiyBtxFod1iE4DY96K8Ok3dEOCBQ_aem_SFGRNnX8RXJIHprRylmO2Q. Danish Sissel, had never met her before, told with humor and passion about her impressive first film and answered the many questions from the audience and from the moderator Stanislavs Tokalov, who made “Everything will be Allright”, https://filmkommentaren.dk/stanislavs-tokalov-everything-will-be-alright/.

Everything IS actually alright at this event that is close to my heart. My tutor and moderator colleague Mikael Opstrup often look at each other to repeat that the organization is brilliant, led by Zane Balcus, Margarita Rimkus, Lelda Ozola et al., not to forget the technicians, who simply don’t make any mistakes. Every little detail is thought of. At the pitch sessions – new this year – there is a panel of 8 decision makers, that shifts from session to session plus a good handful of broadcasters, sales agents and producers. It works very well and while I am writing this, meetings are being held at the venue inside or outside in the sun. Voila!

For most of the filmmakers BSD is the first step to go to other markets and festivals. The first test, what´s to be changed, inspiration and encouragement.

BSD ends tomorrow with the second day of pitchings and film screenings including the charming “Agent of Happiness”, https://filmkommentaren.dk/arun-bhattarai-and-dorottya-zurbo-agent-of-happiness/. Join the party.

On the photo (Agnese Zeltina) you see Maka Gogaladze and her mother Nino after the screening of Maka’s “Ever Since I knew Myself”, the opening film in Splendid Palace, and it is Uldis Cekulis, who speaks to them.

28th Edition of Baltic Sea Docs set to showcase 26 film projects…

The 28th edition of Baltic Sea Docs documentary pitching forum is set to take place in Riga, 1-8 September. This year, the forum will feature the presentation of 26 film projects, alongside screenings for local audiences in Riga and various regional towns across Latvia.

Baltic Sea Docs is dedicated to showcasing feature-length creative documentary projects that originate from or focus on the wider Baltic Sea region, Eastern Europe and Caucasus. 22 new projects at various stages of development and production will be presented at the forum, with an additional four projects in post-production returning to the Baltic Sea Docs as they seek festival partnerships and sales agents.

This year, half of the projects are represented by production companies from Baltic countries – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia – while others are produced in Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and beyond. The topics covered are as diverse as they are timely, ranging from films addressing urgent geopolitical events and pressing environmental issues to poetic explorations of societal shifts and popular culture.

The new project teams will refine their pitch presentations in a training workshop preceding the pitching sessions led by renowned documentary film consultants Tue Steen Müller and Mikael Opstrup from Denmark. The workshop will be facilitated by a team of international industry experts: film editor Phil Jandaly (Sweden), directors Giedrė Beinoriūtė (Lithuania) and Kumjana Novakova (North Macedonia / Bosnia & Herzegovina), marketing strategist Paul Rieth (Germany), and producer Simon Kilmurry (USA).

The pitching sessions will take place on 5-6 September with the projects being presented to an international panel of decision makers: representatives of sales and distribution companies (e.g. Lightdox, filmdelights, CAT&docs, Rise and Shine), production companies, TV channels (NHK, YLE, Current Time TV), and film festivals (Tallinn Black Nights, FIPADOC, Sheffield DocFest, Thessaloniki IDFF), among others, followed by one-to-one meetings.

The forum will continue collaboration with several industry partners presenting a number of prizes for the participants. East Doc Platform Award will grant accreditation and access to one-on-one meetings for one team at the next edition of the East Doc Platform in Prague, while IDFA and Baltic Sea Docs Collaboration Award for Baltic filmmakers will provide accreditation and guidance for a director and a producer at the next edition of IDFA in Amsterdam. BBposthouse, an end to end digital post production company that provides personalised services across the entire film post production process, will offer an award of post-production services in the value of 3,000 Euro. This year Baltic Sea Docs has also initiated collaboration with Movies That Matter and Sheffield DocFest that will contribute awards including accreditation and access to the respective industry events. Finally, the Baltic Sea Docs will offer an award consisting of a consultancy session with an industry expert in the field of the project’s choice.

Alongside pitching sessions, on 4 September, the Creative Europe MEDIA Desks of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania will host two seminars: the first will feature audience developer Paul Rieth (Germany) in conversation with marketing specialist Sergejs Timoņins (Latvia) on ‘Tools for Documentary Audience Reach: AI and Beyond,’ offering insights into better connecting with audiences. The second seminar will feature Basil Tsiokos, a senior non-fiction programmer at the Sundance Film Institute, in conversation with film producer Uldis Cekulis (VFS Films, Latvia) sharing tips on how to maximize documentary’s chances at the Sundance Film Festival.

In parallel with the industry events, the Baltic Sea Docs film programme will kick off on 3 September at Splendid Palace cinema with Maka Gogaladze’s Ever Since I Knew Myself (2024), which was originally pitched at the 2019 edition of Baltic Sea Docs. The film programme will also include screenings of Agent of Happiness (dir. Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó), Life is Beautiful (dir. Mohamed Jabaly), Hollywoodgate (dir. Ibrahim Nash’at), Balomania (dir. Sissel Morell Dargis), among other notable titles, and have filmmakers present meeting with the audiences.

More information about the participating film projects and the full programme is available on the Baltic Sea Docs website: http://balticseadocs.lv/.

Baltic Sea Docs is organized by the National Film Centre of Latvia, with support from the Creative Europe MEDIA programme, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, and Cēsis municipality.

27.08.2024.

Information prepared by

Ieva Lange

Baltic Sea Docs media coordinator

+371 22189061

ieva.lange@nkc.gov.lv