Welcome to DocsBarcelona 2021

At a press conference today the DocsBarcelona programme was announced. In Barcelona. The Head of Programming – me – living in Copenhagen – was not there but I had in beforehand sent these welcoming words:

Here we go again… No, here we sit again, at home watching documentaries on our computers or i-pads or phones (!), or maybe some have purchased a small projector and created their own cinema with a bigger image? Whatever, the pandemic is here and DocsBarcelona goes online as in 2020.

Good, as last year showed a huge interest from viewers from all over Spain with one of the best attendance statistics among festivals in Europe. Nailing the fact that there is an audience for the documentary genre. And that many outside the “normal” documentary community were interested and joined the party. Reaching a new audience.

Bad, as documentaries are Films and Films should be seen in cinemas. Nothing compares to being seated in a big room full of people watching and listening: Perfect image, Perfect sound. Cross your fingers: Depending on the evolution of the pandemic several films will also be screened in cinemas in Barcelona.

The program committe has done its best to make a strong selection for you. We have watched hundreds of films. There are documentaries from all over the world and about the world we live in. Social, political, historical, personal. There are documentaries that challenge the mainstream way of telling stories – stories that can give you food for thought and make you share a tear. Of joy or sadness. A sow and its piglets, floating trees, lobster soup in Iceland, demonstrations in Hongkong, several films from the Middle East, colonialism in Mexico and Africa, a cuban dancer, Gorbachev, women’s rights, female volleyball players, artists, a kiosk in Paris… films for all tastes, but not for the bad!

We hope you will find time and energy to check out the list of films and find one or more that appeals to you. It’s up to you to make up your mind, what you want to see, we have done our best to offer you the best of the best.

Enjoy! www.docsbarcelona.com including “Gunda” by master Kossakovsky.

OBS! The programme of the festival films, are available solely for the audience in Spain. BUT for professionals there is a unique chance to get acquainted. Read the news I got from the HQ in Barcelona: This year all the accredited professionals will have access to the catalog of our Festival films and the films will be exclusively available for professionals until the end of this year 2021, so people accredited outside Spain not only have access to the activities of Industry but also to the films. early bird registration has a discount: 50 euros until 29th of April. https://docsbarcelona.com/en/industry/edition-2021-industry/accreditations#

 

An offer you can not refuse !

CPH:DOX – Jon Bang Carlsen

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

”The Banality of Grief”… I watched it on the big screen months ago and last night on my mac. It moves me immensely and again – as for decades – reminds me of how important a poetic filmmaker Jon is. For the Danes his last film is right now available at CPH:DOX and it also works online because of its intensity and beautiful images and words. Here is what Jon writes about his love letter to Madeleine:

“Nothing is. Everything is becoming. Even life already lived. After my wife died I tried to quick start my days again by throwing myself into shooting a new film, but when I looked through the viewfinder I felt the motives I was focusing on with my camera were hiding what I really wanted to see. Everything in the little American town reminded me of your absence. Thus this little stammering love letter came into being.”

CPH:DOX – Artists and Auteurs

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

… this one will not recommend individual titles as such but stress that the festival pays respect to the masters of the documentary genre as it unfolds right now: Fred Wiseman is there with City Hall (classic duration from Wiseman: 275 mins., already mentioned in a previous post is Kossakovsky and his Gunda, Sergey Loznitsa is the master of historical event interpreted through his unique and creative treatment of archive like in State Funeral, Avi Mograbi is back at his best with The First 54 Years. An abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation, not to forget Notturno by Gianfranco Rosi and Ulrike Ottinger’s Paris Calligrammes (Photo).

There are many other auteurs and artists in this section, the ones I mentioned are all established filmmakers who keep the flag high for the documentary. Check it out.

 

Positive News from Ji.hlava IDFF

“After several years of preparations, we started revamping the festival’s competition sections, the jury structure as well as the award categories. The aim is to pay tribute to documentary cinema which has been undergoing enormous changes, at the same time being the real drive behind contemporary filmmaking,” said festival director Marek Hovorka introducing a new festival concept during the opening of Ji.hlava’s Echoes on March 11. As of this year’s 25th edition, Ji.hlava IDFF will feature a main competition section comprising up to 18 feature films screened in world, international and European premieres.

In addition to the new competition concept, there will also be an innovation with regard to the award giving. Aside from the main award, the jurors will also hand out awards for the best cinematography, editing, and sound design. At the same time, outstanding formats, such as the best film essay, will be highlighted.

The jury will award a prize to the most significant debut film and film from the region of Central and Eastern Europe but Ji.hlava’s traditional sections First Lights and Between the Seas will become a natural part of the main competition. The main jury will be composed of seven members who will ensure a varied reflection on contemporary cinema.

“I’ve always considered it a pity how many talented and exceptional professionals have not been rewarded for their documentary work. Documentary cinematographers, editors, sound engineers and producers are only rarely recognized, even at the level of national film awards. And also with regard to American or European Academy Awards, it seldom happens that these professionals are nominated alongside feature filmmakers. This isn’t fair and we are determined to encourage the change,“ explains Hovorka.

In addition to the main competition section, Ji.hlava will offer three other categories: “Fascinations” for the best experimental films, “Testimonies” for the best films with political, ecological or scientific themes, and the traditional national competition “Czech Joy”.

The festival takes place 26-31.10

CPH:DOX – Captains of Zaatari

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

This is the catalogue text of CPH:DOX:

”Fawzi and Mahmoud are best friends. They are two teenage boys who, like so many others their age, love football and dream of an international career on the pitch. And they live in Zaatari, the world’s largest camp for Syrian refugees. When a scout from a football club in Qatar visits the camp to spot new talents, the boys eye their lives’ opportunity. This becomes a journey that culminates in a finale (literally), which is just as emotional and nerve-wracking as a football match where everything is at stake. And that’s exactly what it is here. The director Ali El Arabi met Fawzi and Mahmoud when they played football in the desert sand with bare feet as young boys, and he has built mutual trust with them over many years. The resulting film was a hit with both reviewers and audiences at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. With its two irresistible protagonists and moments of true friendship, it is also a story that hits you straight in the heart.”

The film was at the Sundance FF, I have not seen it but as one who is a football-idiot and played when a teenager, I am not gonna miss it!

CPH:DOX – Kossakovsky: Gunda

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

And of course the festival offers its Danish audience Kossakovsky’s masterpiece ”Gunda”, which did not make it to the final 5 Oscar nominated documentaries – a mistake I think.

”Every year, human beings slaughter about 70 billion livestock. In his latest film, the Russian master Viktor Kossakovsky lets the camera linger on one of these animals -the sow Gunda – and the other pigs, hens and cows in her company. There are no expert interviews in ‘Gunda’, which is just as far from the conventions of documentary filmmaking as the director’s spectacular climate hit ‘Aquarela’. But by letting us look at the behaviour of animals in dazzlingly beautiful black-and-white images, Kossakovsky lets us understand that there is both intelligence and emotions behind the snouts, beaks and muzzles.”

I was in the jury at the Sofia Intl. FF, we decided on a special award for “Gunda” with this motivation:

„Viktor Kossakovsky again is surprising his audience by making a film, which is beautiful to watch – black & white, and has an quite interesting protagonist. A very dramatic and emotional story about what it means to be a mother… It’s about our environment, it’s about our attitude, our connection to nature and animals. Kossakovsky is a master in cinematography and has again done something, which is extraordinary.“

I hope CPH:DOX will show the film on the big screen as ”we” did in Belgrade at Magnificent7 and will do at the upcoming (end of May) DocsBarcelona.

CPH:DOX Courage Aliaksey Paluyan

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

One of those is the Belarussian film “Courage” that premiered at the Berlinale, will be at Visions du Réel in Nyon in competition and here it is in the category ”Change Makers”. At the Baltic Sea Docs 2020 Aliaksey Paluyan pitched the film and apologised that ”if I am not present tomorrow, it is because I have been arrested while filming the demonstrations”. The film has been praised for its, yes, courage; I can only add that is an original approach to the theme that makes it go far beyond reportage.  

”Art, civil disobedience and political protest are three different sides of the same revolution for the Belarusian democracy activists Maryna, Pavel and Denis. In the eastern nation, which is often called Europe’s last dictatorship, president Alexander Lukashenko has been solidly in power since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But now the people have had enough. Since last year’s elections, the protesters have defied the risk of imprisonment and abduction and have gathered to protest. For several years, Maryna, Pavel and Denis have run the Free Theatre for political performing arts. But when peaceful protests take hold on the streets outside, the stage suddenly becomes much larger.”

CPH:DOX – Virpi Suutari: Aalto

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watched at other festivals around the world.

Finnish director Virpi Suutari is a true auteur. At the Belgrade festival Magnificent7 we had the pleasure to screen “Entrepreneur” and “Garden Lovers” with the presence of the director. Now she presents – for the Danish audience – ”Aalto” that CPH:DOX presents in this way:

”Scandinavian architecture and design are known and loved for their clear lines and consideration for the individual human being. The couple Alvar and Aino Aalto deserve much of the credit. In an exquisite film which – just like their own life works – brilliantly combines aesthetics and humanity, we are not only told the story of how the architect and the designer set new standards in their respective fields. Through the letters they sent each other, we also get an unusual insight into the love life of the two highly gifted people, as well as their work and shared family, and not least their unique personalities, which at times collided in a way that sent sparks flying.”

And I add a couple of words: Suutari’s personal style is one of élegance, the film is simply a pleasure to watch and again composer – although not mentioned on the festival website – Sanna Salmenkallio must be praised for her extraordinary film music.

CPH:DOX – The Other Side of the River

The CPH:DOX programme is launched. The festival runs from April 21 to May 12. The cinemas are scheduled to re-open in the beginning of May so the festival intends to be part of this (cross fingers…) festive celebration of watching (also) documentaries on a big screen. Otherwise the festival’s 177 films will be available (for those who are in Denmark) online as well as an enormous line-up of events. Check the website: https://cphdox.dk/film/

On this site – www.filmkommentaren.dk – we will follow the festival from now on with recommendations of films to be watched. It will be in English as many of the films will show up to be watche at other festivals around the world.

Here is the first one to be strongly recommended, ”The Other Side of the River” the debut film of German Antonia Kilian as director and camerawoman, and with Arash Asadi and Guevara Namer as editor and co-authors. I met Antonia and Guevara at the Baltic Sea Docs in 2018, and I have great memories of meeting Guevara at the DoxBox in Damascus in the four years before the revolution in 2011. Guevara has also been showing her big talent as a photographer on this site. Here comes the description of the film from the CPH:DOX website:

“19-year-old Hala escaped an arranged marriage by crossing the Euphrates River and finding a new home in the Kurdish Women’s Protection Unit, which soon after liberated her hometown from Islamic State. For her female fellow soldiers, the enemy is not just IS, but the patriarchy in general, with marriage as the ultimate oppressive institution. So Hala decides to free her sisters before it is too late, and whatever the cost – even if this means disappearing from her own film to plan nothing less than an armed attack on her parents’ house. The threat of an arranged marriage and the brutal stories of violent husbands have made many young women like Hala cross the river to get trained in combat. Physically, but also intellectually. But is there still space for freedom and love in Hala’s life when her mission is all-consuming? First-time director Antonia Kilian introduces us to her own thoughts on being a cultural outsider in a situation where the term militant feminism should be understood literally.”

The film has moments of great beauty, it dares have long scenes, it shows what it means to gain trust from its protagonist, who is a more-than-brave young woman meeting an equally brave film team. It’s a world premiere here in Copenhagen but it will for sure travel. 

Trailer can be seen on Cineuropa.

DocuDays Ukraine 2021 Online

Yes, online again this year for the 18th International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival that I have visited several times with many memories in and outside the cinema. Yesterday Ileana Stanculescu from CinéDoc Tbilisi reminded me and Lithuanian Audrius Stonys of our common experience in Kiev 8 years ago where the snow was a true challenge for many, including me who was almost carried up the hill to the hotel Rus by the young and fit filmmaker and festival director Roman Bondarchuk…I arrived, many did not, many came late. But we had a great time.

This year I have no idea how the festival weather in Kiev has been as I have been sitting in my armchair in Copenhagen – I attended with my laptop. 

And I have enjoyed again the imagination performed by the team of DocuDays. Starting with the wonderful cartoons by Anatoliy Surma, who we, the audience, met at the opening through a small report from where he lives – and with his cartoon characters being the continuous figures right until the end, where the awards were handed out. Tonight.

I was there tonight for the ceremony but before that I spent a couple of hours in the afternoon watching documentaries by Krzysztof Kieślowski. Under the headline ” Krzysztof Kieślowski. A Documentary Biography”, the festival offered its audience to watch 9 documentaries from the master, with a small introduction by Agnieszka Holland. She talked about his sensitivity and how curious he was to depict the human destiny – and his wish to find out what space the society gives to the citizen. I guess all documentary lovers know ”Talking Faces” from 1980, one of the nine, all of them interesting dynamic portraits of people and places. ”From the City of Lodz” from 1969 was new for me, lovely it is, I copy the precise description from the DocuDays website:

”This documentary, filled with interesting observations and a fair share of humour, is a multifaceted portrait of Łódź, where Kieślowski studied at the film school from 1964 to 1969. Careworn women, the textile workers of Łódź, appear on the screen, as do Sunday-afternoon strollers, Edward Ciuksza’s well-known mandolin orchestra, a folk fête, old apartment buildings and new, high-rise estates. Images of work, rest and boredom intertwine.” 19 minutes of poetry.

The awards tonight: There were a lot – check https://docudays.ua/eng/2021/news/kino/the-winners-of-docudays-ua-2021/ – I did not manage to watch so many but I did know and adore Salomé Jashi’s “Taming the Garden” that won the main award in Docu/World, the motivation of the jury was read by Scottish Emma Davie: 

Elegant and impressive, this film talks about those who disturb the spirit of the forest and its ancient creatures with all its roots, stories, silent cries and whispers. With imagery which will burn in the mind long after viewing, the film follows the effects of the absurdist megalomania of one man’s desire to conquer nature. The prize for the best documentary film in DOCU/WORLD competition goes to Taming the Garden and its Princess Mononoke, the director Salomé Jashi, who stands on guard for both trees and human beings… the other jurors were Jihlava FF’s director Marek Hovorka and last year’s successful Ukrainian director of “The Earth is Blue as an Orange”, Iryna Tsilyk. This is not the last award that will be given to Salomé Jashi for this exceptional film.

And I saw the winner in the Docu/Ukraine catagory „Ivan’s Land“ by Andrii Lysetskyi about folk art painter Ivan Prykhodko, a charismatic man who lives in the countryside, talks to his dogs and cat, a man of nature – and for me a great artist who reminds me so much of a late Danish artist Heerup. A life always in creation, sharing – portrayed through exceptional camerawork, where the film is co-poetic letting the artist perform like a shaman. Great film.

Good choice, even I would have loved to see an award go to “Roses.Film-Cabaret” by Irena Stetsenko. I have followed that film since it was pitched at the Baltic Sea Docs (BSD), it’s wonderfully messy, it has unique moments, the women performing in this band are powerful, to say the least. After BSD I wrote on this site ” dynamic, energetic, feminist approach, 7 women „from the freak cabaret Dakh Daughters Band“, poetry, music, provocative and enjoyable from start till end. It’s gonna be a hit!” Hoping for an international carreer for this film. Bertolt Brecht in memoriam!

The award from Current Time TV, the broadcaster that supports the festival so well, went to «This Rain Will Never Stop» by Alina Gorlova with this motivation: For the monumental artistic work immersing the viewer into the black and whites of eternal living in between, for the archetypal depiction of war in its constant presence and for subtle portrayal of the fragility of the human being… I love when a broadcaster uses the word «artistic». It is a film that I have seen pitched several times, a film that has developed to the high quality it shows now -and I have to watch it again and write about it.

And I love to see how the creative people of DocuDays cope with the isolation situation we all are in and find a way to reach an audience in Ukraine to offer 105 films and a lot, really a lot of industry activities, lectures, debates, all kind of angles, commercial or artistic. Tomorrow I have signed up to hear about music in documentaries… Thank you! You can still visit the festival until April 4 midnight.