Alina Rudnitskaya

At the DoxPro workshop in November 09 in St. Petersburg I met many talented Russian documentary directors, who deserve more attention from Western European broadcasters and festivals. I took several dvd’s back home to watch and comment, and I still have a pile on my desk. I can not write about them all on this site but I would like to share my enthusiasm with you for the films of Alina Rudnitskaya, whose ”Civil Status” was reviewed last year in September in connection with the Baltic Sea Forum in Riga.

Today I saw three other short films directed by the director from St. Petersburg, all three proving her extraordinary sense for situations and for the so called magic moments that no director can mise-en-scène. You can see that Rudnitskaya has the confidence of her characters, who are offering her film emotionally vulnerable moments and she is able to deal with sadness in a way that you don’t feel embarrassed being that close. Humour is very much present in all three short documentaries.

In ”Communal Residence” about the kommunalka (shared appartment) a poor real estate agent meets people, who do not want to move out. In ”Besame Mucho” (Photo) women in a choir dream themselves away from their tough life in a poor, flooded village. By singing and having warmth and solidarity towards each other. Finally it is tragicomical to be with the young women at the ”Bitch Academy” where they learn how to find a man! The camera reports what happens in the room between the male teacher and the women, and between the women themselves. But suddenly the reporting stops and to the film is added layers of existentiial insecurity and despair. The three short films  also demonstrate the emotional density in film language you can achieve with several characters in ONE place without playing according to the mantras of ”development of (few) strong characters” and ”strong story” that glues to the one-hour tv format.

Communal Residence, 2002, 13 mins – Besame Mucho, 2006, 26 mins. – Bitch Academy, 2008, 29 mins.

alinaru@list.ru

http://cinedoc.ru/?division=part&id=38⟨=3

Salome Jashi: The Leader is Always Right

The title of the film indicates where the director stands. As does the building of this observational documentary from one of the patriotic youth camps in Georgia. With a fine eye for details young director Salome Jashi (previously written about on this blog) follows the 10 days of leadership education for Georgian teenagers, who do in the beginning of the film act like all summer camping teenagers do. They are having problems with all the rules and the discipline, they would rather just have fun, it seems. But slowly what at first sight seemed to be a harmless Western-like scout camp turns into a pure propaganda machine where patriotic slogans are taught to make the youngsters proud of their country, their language, their culture, and dislike others: ”Glory to our Country”, ”Kick the Russians Out”, ”the Future is Ours”…

The director has chosen to follow the development of some fine characters. The leader of a squad, pretty relaxed, baggy trousers and a potbelly but constantly trying to make the young ones understand that lack of discipline will be punished. The very young boy, who is not at all happy being at the camp, and wants to go home, but is persuaded by the woman leader of the camp (quite a scary manipulator) to ”sacrifice one more day for me”. And the leader-to-be who takes everything according to what he is told. With a big smile. A scene at the end of the film gives you the creeps. A theatre play is performed that relates to (the province) Abkhazia as a person, who has suffered all atrocities but will overcome. It reminds you of propaganda scenes from the USSR that Georgia broke away from!

A text before the end credits roll informs you that 100.000 youngsters have visited the camps that were initiated by the president Sakhasvili in 2005. The film is to be shown on Georgian tv this coming friday. Hopefully it will create a big necessary debate about a country that does not need to repeat what totalitarian states have done and do. The high quality film of Salome Jashi deserves to be treated like that in and outside Georgia.

Georgia, 2009, 45 mins. Produced with the support of Goethe Institute Tbilisi.

http://www.president.gov.ge/?l=E&m=0&sm=1&st=740&id=89

Lida/Miso Suchy:Pictograph.Portrait of a Village

I got this dvd by Slovak Marek Sulik, the editor of the two original documentaries by Peter Kerekes, ”66 Seasons” and ”Cooking History”. Sulik has obviously enjoyed this new job of making the impressive b/w photos of Lida Suchy into a film under the direction of Misho Suchy. Accompanied by some well chosen sound bites, including a song and an old man’s reflection on getting nearer to death, the film communicates the calmness of Kryvorivuya in the Carphatian Mountains of Ukraine from where the family of Lida Suchy comes, and where she stayed for a year to study and catch Life and People with her camera. She gives this information in the additional series of photographs on the dvd in which she also tells about the old woman, who insisted on having her photos taken wearing a replica of the clothes she wore, when she was imprisoned in a Stalinist camp. A wedding, a funeral, kids swimming, living rooms, sheep-shearing, landscapes – and fine colour drawings by one of the villagers. A pleasure to watch.

Slovakia, 21 mins., 2008

+ photography series with written text by Lida Suchy

Distribution: msuchy@syr.edu

Vod: http://docalliancefilms.com/film/2169/?query=pictograph

Cayan Demirel: Prison Nr. 5 1980-84

The director of the banned film ”38” (see below) touches upon another black spot in newer Turkish history with this enormously touching documentation of the horrible atrocities that took place in the Diyarbakir prison in the military coup period 1980-84. In this case he constructs his story by letting witnesses tell what they experienced as inmates who were subject to torture and all kind of humiliations. Men and women. Kurdish people but also socialists oppposed to the regime. It is actually talking faces from beginning till end, with time-for-reflection nature images and elegic music, or tableaux of shadows of prisoners on a wall or drawings made by one of the survivors. Some lawyers comment as well on the absurd prosecutions, and again pathos is the word to characterize the director’s ambition to document and interpret the emotions of the witnesses, and honour the many who were killed due to the torture, or by own hands through death fasts or burning. Let me end this strong recommendation of a film document by quoting one of the survivors (via the English subtitles):

”I was asked… did you like our guest house? At that moment you might think to say, ”yes it was great, Sir! Thank you!” And then just go away. However your honour doesn’t let you do that. I said: We were brought up in this country, we studied in this country. Before I came to this prison I was saying my country, but I could not ever think that I would live such horror in my own country. You are calling this ”a guest house”, you put us through such horrible situations that even animals should not be put in! Forget you identity, you destroyed our personalities… I have become an enemy to this state as I am leaving this place now.”

Many (this is not in the film) think that what happened in the Diyarbakır prison in 1980-84 gave the fundament to PKK. The government plans to close the prison, many think it should be kept as a museum. The torturers and their superiors have not been prosecuted. 

Turkey, 2009, 97 mins.

Cayan Demirel: 38

The old man asks for the camera to be turned off. He has a lot to say but he is worried. No broadcasting, he almost shouts loudly… no broadcasting, the voice behind the camera assures him, but turn it off, the old man repeats. Faces of old women, who say nothing, pass by, also in the beginning of this film which is banned in Turkey, will never be shown on the state controlled television but circulates through other channels. The topic of the film, says one of the interviewed historians, ”can be characterized as a genocide. But neither the Kurds living in Dersim, the Alevi Kurds, nor the written press, nor even the universities in Turkey, are conscious of the issue”. In 2008 this tabooed topic was raised at a conference in the European Parliament together with the Armenian genocide performed by Turkey.

The Turkification, by Atatürk and his government called the civilisation programme, of the Dersim (today renamed Turceli) province took place through force, deportations and massacres of rebels under the leadership of Seyit Riza. His story (and heroic death) is part of what is being told in this elegy that is built up around interviews with historians and sociologists combined with a few survivors, who are able to tell what they experienced themselves or convey what was told them by relatives. The film is extremely wordy with documents being shown on the screen, at the same time as the director through music and editing appeal to the audience’s emotions. As pretty ignorant in Turkish modern history, and as you have to read subtitles all the time, you do sense the information bombardment as too much, at the same time as you can only admire the courage of the film team and hope they reach a substantial national audience.

Turkey, 2006, 67 mins.

The 10 Best Documentaries 2009

Here follows what were the best 10 documentaries in the world according to what I saw and reviewed in 2009. In alphabetical order. All reviews can be found by writing the titles in ”search”. Happy New Year!

Cash and Marry, Atanas Georgiev, Macedonia/Croatia/Austria

Chemo, Pavel Lozinski, Poland

Cooking History, Peter Kerekes, Slovakia/Hungary/Austria

Forgotten Transports, Lukas Pribyl, Czech Republic

Material, Thomas Heise, Germany

National Garden, Apostolos Karakasis, Greece

Rabbit à lá Berlin, Bartek Konopka, Poland

Sleep Furiously, Gideon Koppel, UK/France (PHOTO)

The Living Room of a Nation, Jukka Kärkkäinen, Finland

Together, Pavel Kostomarov, Russia

Original point of view, excellent cinematography, unpredictable storytelling, comments to our times and lives, important topic… some of them have it all, others have some of the elements mentioned.

Magnificent7 Prologue 2

A quote from my welcoming words for the Magnificent7 Festival:

What is a good film festival? You will not be surprised when I answer that question by saying: Come to the 6th edition of Magnificent7! Again we – Svetlana and Zoran Popovic and I – have done our best to compose a programme that we are sure will apppeal to you. You will learn about the troublesome, yet fascinating work of a piano tuner in ”Pianomania”. You will – for the first time, I guess – get an insight to the even more troublesome profession of being the man in black in the football film ”Kill the Referee”. You will laugh and cry with the charismatic Finnish characters in ”Living Rooom of a Nation”. And maybe shake your head in despair when you see how we deal with immigration in Europe, in ”The Arrivals”. And enjoy the beauty and life simplicity up in the North of Sweden in ”Way of Nature”. Precisely the same you might feel being in the company of wonderful people who have chosen to live far away from the urban landscape, in ”Below Sea Level”. Last but not least you will be touched by the honest and intimate search for his father that the director performs in ”My Life With Carlos”.

Three of the films have been reviewed on this site – type the titles under “search”: The Living Room of a Nation, Kill the Referee, Below the Sea Level.

http://www.magnificent7festival.org/index_eng.htm

Magnificent 7 Programme Published

January 21-25 2010 are the dates for the 6th edition of Magnificent 7, the European Feature Documentary Film Festival. A unique festival with a selection of only 7 films that are shown once in the Sava Center in Belgrade, Serbia. The directors or other representatives from the creation of the films are present to meet the audience that is huge in numbers, some times 500, some times around 1500. Per (evening) screening. All visiting filmmakers do a seminar for film students and professionals during day time.

I have written about the couple behind this festival before on this site and I will do it again, as their modesty prevents them to introduce themselves properly on the website of the festival where you can find info on the selected films with comments from them and me – the trio that selected the films. Here are some words that I wrote about them at the beginning of last year’s festival:

Look at the picture. This couple, Svetlana and Zoran Popovic, stands behind the Magnificent7 festival in Belgrade. I have known them for years and have had the privilege to work with them for five years on the selection for the festival.

They look so serious. And they are, when it comes to bring dedication and generosity and hospitality to their festival. They run it with warmth and humour and respect for the audience. And respect for the filmmakers and for quality. They have built up a large audience that comes back year after year to look at films that will stay in their minds. And who come to meet the makers and talk to them, or hear what they have to say in q & a’s that are masterly moderated by Zoran Popovic.

http://www.magnificent7festival.org/index_eng.htm

Erik Norsker: Vin og Vrøvl

På dette sted anmeldes der som regel film ud fra filmiske kvalitetskriterier. Det er ikke muligt med Erik Norskers produktion, der har en undertitel ”The Movie – Filmen bag bogen”, som henviser til at Roald Als og Carlo Merolli for 6 år siden skrev og tegnede en bog med samme titel. Altså ”Vin og Vrøvl”. Hvilket er en præcis karakteristik  af en dvd-udgivelse, der er godt fotograferet og balancerer mellem at være en hyggelig hjemmevideo fuld af mere eller mindre morsomme anekdoter – og så en professionel brugervejledning!

Jeg er vel sådan set også lidt inhabil i denne sag. Jeg bor i samme opgang som Roald, som i årevis har hånet mig for min interesse for sort-hvide franske film og har nægtet at tro på at jeg var en glimrende tekniker på AB´s drengefodboldhold i begyndelsen af tressserne. Jeg har ved flere lejligheder smagt på Carlos baroloer og jeg har altid sat stor pris på Erik Norsker, som er en af vore bedste dokumentarfotografer med et fint og kærligt blik for steder og mennesker. Og jeg tror gerne (det har Roald fortalt mig), at Erik er en glimrende fodboldspiller med mange mål i støvlerne. Derfor har han selvfølgelig al mulig ret til at udnævne filmens to hovedpersoner, tegneren og vinsælgeren, til at være uheldige helte på fodboldbanen. Det gør han i en prolog, bl.a. med et pletskud af en optagelse af Roald, der på grund af fatal mangel på teknisk kunnen taber bolden på midten af banen. Denne scene bliver vist to gange i filmen. Samme ydmygelse overgår ikke vinsælgeren og –smageren Carlo, der bliver fotograferet stående udenfor sidelinien.

Begge hovedpersoner er store krukker, der har mere forstand på at tegne og smage på vin, end på at være med i en film og forstå at nogle anekdoter gør sig bedre på tryk end på film. Men det hjælper gevaldigt på scenerne, når andet kan optage øje og øre. Som besøgene på vingårdene i Italien, med de smukke landskaber, og samtalerne med vinbønderne. Ret skal være ret, Carlo er faktisk en god formidler, når han sidder ved bordet og taler om vin, og at Roald er den bedste tegner i dette land, ved både han selv og alle os Politiken-læsere. Så alt i alt er den gode time, dvd’en byder på, en god, harmløs oplevelse. Og det ville være lyv, hvis ikke jeg indrømmede at jeg inspireret glædede mig til et godt glas vin og lidt ost og pølse efter gennemsynet.

Pris og leverering, se:

http://www.carlomerolli.dk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=582&Itemid=93

Dola Bonfils om at forsinke virkeligheden

Jeg ser på det her still, og jeg ser straks, at det er Vilby i baggrunden. Pålideligheden og engagementet og videnmængden personificeret. Dola Bonfils og Lise Lense Møller har sendt ham til New Delhi for at møde en berømt miljøforsker. Det er i 1996 vil jeg tro. Og i scenen her er de ude at kigge på tingene. Bonfils laver filmoptagelser af det, som sker. Men det vill vare længe, inden jeg får lov til at se, hvad det er, som sker. For hun tøver, filminstruktøren, hun tøver med vilje. Hun har et par år tidligere skrevet hvorfor, principielt og i en æstetisk bemærkning i forordet til et katalog på Nationalmuseet: 

“…´Direkte´står der af og til i fjernsynsbilledet (Dola Bonfils skriver i 1993..), sådan at vi kan bide mærke i følelsen af, at vi er midt i en transmission til hinanden. Foran kameraet ved de, at deres statistikker og kurser, svedperler på overlæben, hypoteser om fremtiden og katastroferapporteringer er udnævnt til at være verdensbegivenheder før de har fundet sted – har fået plads i historien så at sige før den er skrevet. Foran skærmen i stuerne får vi et kick af at se bolden sejle ind i målet det øjeblik, det sker, og vi nyder endnu engang, at virkeligheden kan reduceres til, hvad man kan se og høre, når man er til stede selv og sammen med andre. 

Det er typisk for en tendens i medierne at fokusere vores opmærksomhed omkring denne opfattelse af tiden, snarere end omkring vores mening. Det direkte billede lader kun nutiden slippe igennem, og overlader til den enkelte at bearbejde modstridende, komplicerede, vidtrækkendeeller dramatiske informationsmængder.

Men da det jo er virkeligheden, er det med dårlig samvittighed, man begynder at sortere for at overleve, eller zapper væk til Peter Plys og Co. Der er en andagt og stereotypi omkring dette globale teknologi-fix, der gir billederne en officiel autoritet og informationerne en offensiv sandhedsværdi. Det er nu’et der tæller… og man forventes ikke at have en mening.

Dokumentarfilmene repræsenterer en nødvendig forsinkelse, både i og uden for tv’s programflader. Filmene ser også realiteterne i øjnene eller forholder sig til aktuelle kriser, men de insisterer på at indføre den kreative, bearbejdende omtanke – at forsinke for at reflektere og dokumentere synspunkter… – at tilbyde sig som synlige partnere i en dialog med tilskuerne eller sociologerne eller historikerne…”

Det har Dola Bonfils altid villet, have kloge helte i sine film. Arbejder, som hun omhyggeligt researchede, så det kunne blive kloge film. Og det er derfor Knud Vilby er med, han er sådan en dygtighed og høj begavelse, hvis indsigt kan blive filmen, hvis den lykkes. Så han fra at være en person i samfundsforskningen og miljødebatten bliver en karakter i filmen. Det er til denne sortering og vægtning og organisering og dermed flytning af materialet, den nødvendige forsinkelse skal bruges. Så filmens autonome virkelighed kan opstå i en fuldstændig uafhængighed af virkeligheden derude. En af Dola Bonfils tidligste film hedder karakteristisk Politiet i virkeligheden. Hun har hele tiden været opmærksom på virkelighedsbegrebets flertydighed. Det er ikke det almindelige i faget.

Dola Bonfils: Det signerende blik i Museum Europa, film, video, Nationalmuseet 1993, et programhæfte, hun redigerede til en filmserie, hun tilrettelagde til museets biograf.

Dola Bonfils: Levende ord 2 – miljø og udvikling, DK 1997, 32 min. Produceret af Magic Hour Films ved Lise Lense-Møller. En VHS kopi kan lånes på biblioteket.