Vilnius Diary 6

I was on a tour today. A magnificent tour. To the place of a film to come, and to the people who are characters in this work under development. It may sound like a kliché film, one of many about poor people, but what cameraman and director Mindaugas Survali has done is completely different and quite unique. For more than a year he has followed people who live in the forest next to a dumping ground, where they picked food and found metal pieces that they could sell on the market. Around 500 people were here and I am writing in past time as the dumping ground was closed March 2008, leaving very few people to stay.

Mindaugas has visited the people regularly since the closing and the 7 men and women, we met on our small excursion to the place outside Vilnius welcomed him warmly and showed generously filmmaker Audrius Stonys and me, how they lived with kitchen, living room, sleeping room, a lot of empty bottles, cats and dogs under the blue sky. With winter heating possibilities.

Earlier today we had – with filmmaker and in this case also producer Giedre  Beinoriute – seen some edited scenes from the material of the film, that has the working title, ”The Field of Magic”. Excellent situations with characters beautifully shot over all seasons, small wonderful and touching stories that show the dignity of the dump people, who have chosen or have been pushed by destiny to choose to live a life outside the so-called normality. It will be a film made with heart and cinematic skills.

www.docuinter.net

http://www.monoklis.lt/

http://www.kinas.gamtoj.com/

Vilnius Diary 5

Screening day of Lithuanian documentaries for eventual recommendation for DOKLeipzig. 5 films to watch since my visit one year ago. Public funding for film is minimal in Lithuania at this moment. So competition is strong among the established filmmakers and there is no real incentive for young people – like the Lithuanians at the Summer Film Academy that I attend – to go for a job in the documentary field.

For 20 years I have followed the documentary scene in this country and have had the great pleasure to get acquainted with a language of originality based more on imagery and less on words. Documentaries in Lithuania by Janina Lapinskaite, Rimantas Gruodis, Diana and Kornelijus Matuzevicius, Giedre Beinoriute, Audrius Stonys, Arunas Matelis and others constitute an important part of the nation’s cultural heritage and memory. To quote the documentarian Patricio Guzman: A country without documentaries is like a family without a photo album.

Even in difficult financial times: Funding action needs to be taken, otherwise something valuable in Lithuanian culture will disappear.

Iranian Documentarians Protest

Statement of Iranian Documentary Filmmakers
In the Name of God
We are documentary filmmakers. Our work is to discover and tell the truth. Truth can only be found when all aspects of reality are told. In the course of recent events in our country, our national media, by deliberately hiding the realities, is making it impossible for the public to access the truth.
We are documentary filmmakers. Our work is through media. The National Iranian Television belongs to the entire Iranian society and should be committed to represent social events truthfully and different points of view in their diversity. It should not be the mouthpiece of a specific faction and ignore a vast part of society.
We are documentary filmmakers. Our work is art and we are committed to the culture, art, and language of our country. The language of journalism should respect the dignity and honor of a society. The National Iranian Television, by distorting and suppressing the news and with the use of degrading rhetoric, makes lying and slander acceptable. It also addresses people with degrading and abusive vocabulary and thus provokes the people into confrontation and uproar.

We warn: Under the present tense circumstances depriving the society of a peaceful and respectful discourse can result in violent reactions; a society whose people up to the Election Day were promoting their diverse views peacefully and respectfully.
We warn: This kind of action means sharing the responsibility for any kind of violence, terror, social disruption, and human tragedies. It divides and antagonizes a society that is able to create unity by justice.
In the last 30 years, each and every citizen of this country has shared happiness and sorrow. They have fought side by side, brought sacrifices and lost loved ones.
We are a people with a history of several thousand years. We all belong together and share this history and this country. Do not tear us apart.

17 June, 2009

The Signatories:
1. Mohammade Reza Aslani 2. Mohammade Tahami Nejad 3. Rakhshan Bani Etemad 4. Pirooz Kalantari 5. Mohsen Abdolvahab 6. Orod Zand 7. Homayoun Emami 8. Naser Safaryan 9.Mojtaba Mirtahmasb 10. Mahboubeh Honarian 11.Hasan Bahramzadeh 12. Bahram Azim Pour 13. Ebrahim Mokhtari 14. Kamran Shirdel 15. Mohammad Reza Moghadassyan 16. Parviz Kimyavi 17. Khosro Sinayi 18. Mahvash Sheykhol Eslami 19.
Farhad Varharam 20. Houshang Azadivar 21. Mahnaz Afzali 22. Reza Haeri 23. Ahmad Mir Ehsan 24. Farhad Mehran Far 25. Mani Potgar 26. Mehrdad Zahedyan 27. Houshang Azadi Var 28. Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami 29. Mahnaz Mohammadi 30. Mohammad Rasoulof 31. Hamid Soheyli Mozafar 32. Mohammad Jafari 33. Azar Mehrabi 34. Gholamreza Katal 35. Nahid Rezayi 36. Majid Movasaghi 37. Soudabeh Mortezayi 38. MOhsen Khan Jahani 39. Hadi Afarideh 40. Mitra Mansouri 41. Banafsheh Khoshnoudi 42. Majed Neysi 43. Iraj Moslehi Milani 44. SAyid Naderi 45. Mahmoud Moghadas Jafari 46. Shahram Derakhshan 47. Nader Khadem Tarighat 48. Lida Moyini 49. Javad Najmeddin 50. Amir Hossein Behbehani 51. Arash RAyisyan 52. Ahmad Zahedi 53. Pouyan Shahrokhi 54. Mostafa Shiri 55. Mohammad Reza Marzoughi 56. Mehdi Bagheri 57. Hamid Bahari 58. Babak Behdad 59. Azadeh Bizar Giti 60. Javad Tavana 61. Mohhamad Razdasht 62. Maryam Hagh Panah 63.
Mohsen Gholam zadeh 64. Kaveh Bahrami Moghadam 65. Esmail Emami Langaroudi 66. Hamd jafari 67. Behzad Khoda Veisi 68. Farnaz Jamshidi Moghadam 69. Reza Bahrami Nejad 70. Mohsen Ostad Ali Makhmalbaf 71. Abbas Amini 72. Hiva Amin Nejad 73. Mehdi Ganji 74. Mehdi Parizad 75. Mohammad Sadegh Jafari 76. Mohammad Shiravai 77. Mohsen Nazari 78. Manouchehr Moshiri 79. Ali Shahryari 80. Ebrahim Haghighi 81. Farahnaz Sharifi 82. Pedram Akbari 83. Ali Arkyan Sharifi 84. Hossein Dalir 85. Sousan Bayani 86. Mohsen
Amir Yousefi 87. Mohammad Khalil Zadeh 88. Ebrahim Asadi 89. Parivash Nazaryeh 90. Mohammad Rasekh far 91. Hamideh Sharif Rad 92. Saiid Vahidi 93. Khaterh Hanachi 94. Seyed Alireza Rasouli Nejad 95. Morteza Shamli 96. Ali Reza Dehghan 97. Milad Bahar 98. Mehdi Ghorbanpour 99. Mehdi Asadi 100. Babak Shirin Sefat 101. Mohhamad hassan Saemi
102. Ahmad Reza Sedghi Vaziri 103. Mohammad Reza Fatah Hosseyni 104. Kourosh Farzanegan 105. Ahmad Gol Naraghi 106. Kourosh Afshar panah 107. Reza Majlesi 108. Reza Zyayi Doustan 109. Abolfazle Haj Saeed 110. Foad Afravi 111. Mazyar Bahari 112. Bahman Kyarostami 113. Houshang Fazli etc…

 

 
Appeal of Documentary Filmmakers Association (IRDFA)

Following the detention of two members of the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association, Maziar Bahari and Hossain Dalir, and also the beating and harming of some of our members and the confiscation of their Cameras and tapes during the recent events, we declare that:
The Iranian Society has the Right to demand Documentary filmmakers, to do their duty in capturing the social events taking place in Iran and portraying the real picture in their films. The issue at hand is as ‘important’ and ‘critical’ as it was, when documentary filmmakers tried to accomplish the same tasks since the early stages of entering Cinema in Iran and in particular during the last 30 years in which the Revolution, the War and other crises took place.
Therefore, Documentary filmmakers, due to their obligation and responsibility, have the Right to be present in these social events and to be able to capture the truth. This is the recognized Right of Documentary Filmmakers across the World.
We also demand the immediate release of our fellow colleagues. As far as we know, they have been arrested and taken into custody because of their roles in capturing and reporting the truth that is taking place in Iran and by fulfilling their professional duties.
We demand respect towards our professional Rights, so we could respond to our society’s undeniable need for unbiased reporting and recording of this period of history.
Documentary Filmmakers Association (IRDFA)
24 June, 2009

www.edn.dk
– under news

Vilnius Diary 4

One of the participants at the workshop, Italian Davide Mastropaolo, asked me for advice on a film that a friend had made with himself involved as co-producer. The film is about to be finished but – have you heard about that before? – the filmmakers has run out of money for a film that they have basically financed themselves.

I saw the approx. 80 minutes long totally professional film about the Gaza Hospital in Beirut that now is a ruin where Palestinian refugees live a tough life. But that is not the story that director Marco Pasquini wants to convey. At least not the main story that is being told by some great foreign women, who worked at this PLO hospital in Lebanon in the beginning of the 80’es and did their surgeries on survivors of the massacre in the refugee camp Sabra and Chatila. In the film the women are brought back to Beirut to what was once the hospital they lived and worked in. To give us their experience with precision and emotion.

The film is thus about past and present, the past brought to us through fantastic archive material from the time of the massacre and later on in the 80’es, where the hospital stopped to work at the moment of the start of the Lebanese civil war. Readers of filmkommentaren.dk may have read my sceptical comments on ”Waltz with Bashir” that takes place at the same time and at the same place, seen from an Israeli soldier’s pov. This Italian film is for me much richer in content, a classical beautifully shot documentary. Please finish it and get it to the audience.

Photo: The barber in the film, another fine character.

Link to Cinema Italiano info&news

Vilnius Diary 3

I showed a clip from ”Citizen Havel” yesterday here at the Summer Film Academy in Lithuania, as an example of how important it is to have access and to have time to follow a character, who is known widely by the public. I compared with ”Primary” by Leacock and Robert Drew, about John F. Kennedy, and ”War Room” by Pennebaker about the campaign to get Clinton to the White House.

And I praised the work of Pavel Koutecky who filmed Havel for 12 years and the work of Mira Janek, who took over when Koutecky died tragically before the film was finished.

Vaclav Havel as a character in the film… amazing… Vaclav Havel as a film director, needs to be seen, have a look at the website below where it is announced that Havel goes for direction of films!

http://cineuropa.org/index.aspx?lang=en
http://www.summermediastudio.com/

Vilnius Diary 2

Audrius Stonys made a lecture this morning. I have heard him doing so many times and have written several praising sentences on filmkommentaren.dk  – about this filmmaker who is for sure to be considered as a national poet in his own country, and from a world perspective as an excellent representative of a different documentary cinema.

The biggest censors are inside yourself, Stonys said, who grew up in a country occupied by the big empire and who did not really see films in general geting better after the independence. He said so after another pleasant view of the 1978 Herz Frank film ”10 Minutes Older”. I truly believe that film is a conversation between equal partners, Stonys continued, the audience takes part in the creative process, this meeting is the most important part of the filmmaking.

I don’t believe in films without mistakes, he said and went on to show a clip from his own ”Flying over Blue Fields”, where a sport aeroplane lands on a field, a man gets out, parks the plane and goes inside while the camera observes chicken and bushes accompanied by music. No words, I don’t trust them, Stonys said, and showed another clip, from his early work, ”Earth of the Blind”, that has no words at all. I want to catch the impossible, he could also have said the invisible and the emotions in a face, like he demonstrated in the film from 2000, ”Alone”, a film in many layers: a girl that visits her mother who is in prison, a film crew that is (the director’s words) ”using” her, and an atmosphere of melancholy, a feeling that is present in most of Stonys films. He did not show films from recent years, he could have done so, and demonstrate that he can also cope with words as he did in ”The Bell” that you can read about on this site.

Vilnius Diary 1

I am in Vilnius for a summer film school where students from countries all over Europe have gathered to make short documentary films about or rather from the 2009 European cultural capital. 10 films are to be made, research is going on, lectures have been performed as well pitching of the projects. Tutors are Belgian director Anne Levy-Morelle (”Gabriels Dream”), Polish Bartek Konopka (photo from his ”Rabbit à la Berlin”), Polish-English Witold Starecki, Finnish Heikki Ahola, local superstar Audrius Stonys and me as the only non-filmmaker.

Films to be made? Among others one that takes it starting point in the fact that there is a Frank Zappa monument in Vilnius, another takes a look at the ”independent republic” in the middle of the city, Uzupis, a third intends to bring in a story from the KGB Museum, a fourth wants to convey the spirituality of this pearl of a city….

http://www.summermediastudio.com/

Hubert Sauper: Darwin’s Nightmare

This brief intro comes because a documentary neo-classic is broadcast on Danish television tonight, on DR2 in prime time (8.40pm). It has been in Danish cinemas, it is available from the DFI, and if you have already seen it, take another look. The film is avaiIable on dvd from several sources. I shift to Danish and quote the Danish newspaper Weekendavisen:

“DET var for film som Darwin’s Nightmare, at Vorherre skabt dokumentargenren. Hubert Saupers billedessay er en forfærdende, intenst ubehagelig og på godt og ondt uforglemmelig rapport fra et sted, Lake Victoria i Tanzania, hvor evolutionen har frembragt et regulært mareridt. Overordnet er området hærget af krige og etniske konflikter, som har varet så længe og er blevet så uoverskuelige, at man fra mediernes side har opgivet at følge ordentligt med. Som Sauper påpeger: »Alene i det østlige Congo er antallet af krigsofre på en enkelt dag lige så stort som den 11. september i New York.«”
“Det er en skelsættende og uafrystelig film, som demonstrerer at dokumentargenren for længst har givet fiktionen baghjul, når det gælder om at flytte holdninger og skabe opinion om en sag.”

www.dfi.dk

www.dr.dk/dokumania

Maziar Bahari arrested in Tehran

Well known and respected documentary filmmaker and journalist Maziar Bahari was arrested yesterday morning in Tehran according to Newsweek, that he works for. This is the start of the article of Newsweek:

Among the dozens of people arrested overnight in Tehran was NEWSWEEK reporter Maziar Bahari, who has covered Iran for the magazine for over a decade. Bahari was home asleep at 7 a.m. when several security officers showed up at his Tehran apartment. According to his mother, who lives with the 41-year-old reporter and documentary filmmaker, the men did not identify themselves. They seized Bahari’s laptop and several videotapes. Assuring her that he would be their guest, they then left with Bahari. He has not been heard from since…

http://www.newsweek.com/id/203036

Bul(garian)doc Films and Humour

… will be very much present at this year’s edition (number 20!) of the Sunny Side of the Doc. A so-called Bulgarian umbrella has been established to promote the films and projects that come from a country with several fine films from recent years. Initiator is the production company Agitprop represented by Martichka Bozhilova and Anna Stoeva, who are there to serve customers with Buldoc, ”a non-fiction kitchen”, together with other producers, the local MEDIA Desk and the national television. A presentation will be made of the new Balkan Documentary Center with this logline:

Is the Balkan documentary sector heading for roofless cars or roofless houses?

Photo from one of Agitprop’s masterpieces, ”Mosquito Problems and Other Stories” by Andrey Paounov.

http://www.sunnysideofthedoc.com/fr/

http://www.bdcwebsite.com/

http://www.themosquitoproblem.com