Christoffer Guldbrandsen: Dagbog fra midten

Nedturen fra høje forventninger er i sig selv forstærkende på skuffelsen. Og jeg skal tage mig sammen, jo.. det er.. det ER da en fin film. På mange måder. Og i hvert fald er den en vigtig landvinding i Christoffer Guldbrandsens samlede værk. Han har tidligere været på vej ind i sine film, derind, hvor jeg har savnet ham. Her tager han ordet fra begyndelsen: “Naser Khader som jeg har kendt i syv år har bedt mig lave den her film”. Sådan, her er den så. Jeg er ikke i tvivl om, hvem, der fortæller, hvem, det er, der skriver dagbog fra sit besøg i midten af dansk Christiansborgliv.

Og hvad er det ikke for mærkelige mennesker, han møder! En hovedperson, som får alle de andre til at holde vejret, hver gang han siger noget, og seerne med. Flere af scenerne kender vi jo fra tv-reportagerne – og vi krummer tæerne på forhånd, har lyst til at gå ud i køkkenet. Så pinligt er det. Og de andre er ikke stort bedre. Filmens hovedproblem er således valget af medvirkende, ikke én har en karakters udstråling. Og valget af medvirkende var jo ligesom givet på forhånd, de fandtes ikke bedre. Og hvad gør man så ved det? Til en oplevelse i sig selv, naturligvis. Og det gør den sørme, denne ferme film. Fotografiet og Steen Johannesens sikre klip fører os igennem løjerne frem til en summarisk, kaotisk slutning, som i nogen grad mister prægnans. I mine øjne filmens andet hovedproblem. Hvad er dens summa summarum?

Tilbage til dagbogsskriveren. Min helt, som jeg holder med, nu, da ingen af de gennemgående uheldige helte forfører mig. Fortællerens stemme er rolig og besindig, han er min mand i dette. Men stemmen er også mærkeligt umeddelsom. Dagbogens tekst forbliver på det forsigtige begivenhedsrefererende plan. Hvor er forfatterens, instruktørens, auteurens refleksioner og analyser? Ikke i skriften, ikke endnu, og altså ikke i denne film. Selv om Guldbrandsen er på spring til at skrive sin mening. Desværre. Jeg ved, han vil sige, jamen refleksion og analyse er der i fotografering, klip og lydmontage, det er jo film, mand! Og jeg svarer, jeg synes ikke helt, det er tydeligt nok. Jeg mangler den klogskab, den visdom, din stemme røber. Venter tålmodigt på din næste film, som jeg så håber, du går helt ind i.

Dette er en overmåde dygtigt lavet film om en række i og for sig uinteressante politikere, som svigter hinanden og deres projekt så markant, at det udgør en ret underholdende historie, som dagbogsstemmens eftertanke desværre lader uberørt, men fotografi og klip elegant følger næsten til dørs, men kun næsten: er det politiske håndværk så lavtstående i vor tids mainstream? Jeg kommer til at tro det, indtil Christoffer Guldbrandsen næste gang eftertænksomt uddyber svaret.

Christoffer Guldbrandsen: Dagbog fra midten kan frem til 10. marts ses på Dokumanias hjemmeside. Den genudsenders på søndag kl. 21:50 på DR1.

Tereza Nvotová: Take it Jeasy!

Total respect for the 20 year old Czech director, who has completed her first feature length documentary and got it into cinemas where it still runs after a month. And even more respect for her choice of own childhood experience as the starting point for a film about – with her own words – faith, education and manipulation in a Christian controversial movement, the Triumphal Center of Faith, that comes out of the American ”Word of Faith”. Which stood ideologically behind the childhood school Tereza Nvotová attended.

The young director gathers her former school mates, also very young but adult enough to be able to comment and look back at 1995 where they attended the Word of Faith school. They sit in a studio, pass the ball to each other and have a rather loose talk. There is much more action, of course, when the camera attends the religious meetings, one of them called the ”Conference of Faith and Fire”. Here you find verbally screaming, aggressive preachers accompanied by an orchestra. In sessions where there is healing and ”touching” by Him and the Holy Spirit. Close-ups of people in a kind of ecstasy totally taken by being ”children of God and God is our Father”. And with Halleluja in every other second. In longer parts there is a cross-cut between ceremonies for the adults and ceremonies for the children. Including  the shooting of a small boy, who collapses in front of the camera in total despair and afterwards talks about that he met Jesus. Crosses my borders, should not have been in the film.

The film has the problem that the director obviously wants to observe and show to us what happens in these brainwashing (my word, not the filmmaker´s) sessions and let us judge, as I just did. At the same time as the director wants to include her own school experience that of course has influenced her view on the sessions she has filmed. It is an illusion to think you can make an open film by just observing and then have a couple of interviews. I would have preferred a clear and not a vague standpoint on this mass hysteria.

Czech Republic, 2008, 66 mins.

http://www.jezisjenormalni.cz

ZagrebDOX

There he is, festival director, producer and teacher Nenad Puhovski, who now for the 5th time launches a documentary festival in Croatia, and thus welcomes the world of documentaries in the heart of Zagreb.

A clip from the welcome text on the site: ZagrebDox, the largest international documentary film festival in the region, is marking its 5th anniversary this year! As the Festival will celebrate its birthday very actively, you will have a chance to see 120 most interesting new documentaries from all over the world from 23 February – 1 March, 2009.

An enormous programme with a generous choice made for the visitors: 30 films are in the international competition, among them ”Burma Vj” by Anders Østergaard, ”Rough Aunties” by Kim Longinotto, ”The Mother” by Cattin and Kostomarov, Geoffrey Smith’s ”The English Surgeon”, ”Three Men and a Fish Pond” by Pakalnina and Maskalana, ”René” by Helena Trestikova. To be followed by an always interesting regional competition of 24 films including ”The 21st Second” by Serbian Zeljko Mirkovic, ”Lost World” by Hungarian Guyla Nemes, ”The Flower Bridge” by Thomas Ciulei and ”Testimony” by Razvan Georgescu, both of them from Romania. Not to forget a handful of very strong films that were pitched at earlier editions of the ZagrebDOX, see below.

Also there is a selection of music documentaries like ”Patti Smith – Dream of Life” by Steven Sebring and ”Roskilde” by Uilrik Wivel and a section dedicated to Happy Dox! And retrospectives with Israeli  documentaries, films by the director Jon Alpert and a variety of new and older Croatian short and long documentaries. Congratulations with this continuation of a succesful cultural effort.

http://www.zagrebdox.net/

ZagrebDOXPro

Within the festival ZagrebDOX, see above, a project development and pitching session has taken place for several years and will take place again in 2009, where 13 projects have been chosen. Cecilia Lidin from EDN and I have the privilige to run this session together with Tiha Gudac, responsible for the organisation.

Results of projects presented in previous years can be watched at the festival. 3 excellent documentaries started their international career at the ZagrebDox before going to bigger marketplaces around the world. All of them carry an artistic originality in form and content, a personal voice and ambition that I have so often highlighted on filmkommentaren.dk under the headline ”East Beats West”. All three got their first push and positive reaction in Zagreb.

Bulgarian Boris Despodov’s ”Corridor 8” has already been to several festivals and has taken awards, Serbian Dragan Nikolic is about to get his international breakthrough with ”The Caviar Connection” and ”Cash and Marry” by Atanas Georgiev (photo) will do the same, I am sure. It will, as the others, be shown at ZagrebDOX, and thereafter go to Visions du Réel in Nyon.

http://www.zagrebdox.net/

Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle

Prestigious BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) ceremony in London had Slumdog Millionaire nominated in 11 categories. It won in seven, including Best Cinematography, which gives us another chance to say bravo to Anthony Dod Mantle, about whom I wrote the following in connection with the megasuccess film:

”What makes it watchable is the stunning cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle, a cameraman with the ability to make every scene full of atmosphere and authenticity in terms of light and angle and framing. Composition in other words. And movement. And what I would call documentary presence.”

Best British film was the James Marsh documentary ”Man on Wire”, also reviewed on filmkommentaren.dk – Danish audience can watch it in the cinemas right now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7830076.stm

Jean-Luc Godard

Jeg har siden jeg så, at bokssættet var kommet, planlagt min genopdagelse af Jean-Luc Godards film. Jeg har siden 1970-erne kun set et par sjældenheder engang på museet i Bilbao i forbindelse med festivalen der. Og jeg besluttede også dengang at finde ud af at se alle filmene, den ene efter den anden. Men hvordan? Det kunne man jo til for et par år siden ikke bare beslutte, det var jo før dvd-erne.. Og så for nylig mistede jeg oven i købet Godard filmen på CPH:DOX i november, “Fragments of Conversations with Jean-Luc Godard” – det var jeg ked af – og mine gensyn blev igen udsat lidt – men til februar skulle Godard være månedens navn i filmklubben, bestemte jeg..

Anledningen var, at jeg kom i tanker om Christoffers Boes anmeldelse af det dobbelte bokssæt i “Ekko”: “For fans er Godard ursuppen…”, herfra får moderne instruktører deres råmælk, skriver han. Og jeg tænkte, at det gør et moderne publikum som mig og de andre i klubben nok også. For ” Godard er rastløs. Hans blik er altid søgende, altid på vej til noget nyt. Han hiver os med i sin jagt efter at forstå. Lader os komme så tæt på det levede liv, som filmlinsen vil tillade. Hans blik på verden er romantisk, men afviklet med en morders kølighed, og det er denne sitren mellem distance og nærvær, som giver filmene deres glød og varme. Bilerne, lejlighederne, caféerne, gaderne og kvinderne – alt manes til live.”

I min erindring var altid “En gift kvinde” den tydeligste, den vigtigste. Kammerspil som hos Rohmer. Og som det første i det her lille studium klikkede jeg ind på en stump fra netop den film. På You Tube. Og fandt netop det, jeg huskede, erotikken anbragt i en stemning af integreret litterær dialog og af afgørende vigtig lyd af strygekvartet, bare dette lille stykke Beethoven, tilsyneladende henkastet i dialogen, men fuldstændig integreret i den samlede konstruktion. Det med Godard var begyndt igen..

Alain Fleischer: Morceaux de conversations avec Jean-Luc Godard, Frankrig 2007, 125 min. Distribution: Les Films d’Ici. Christoffer Boe: The Jean-Luc Godard Collection i Ekko, #38, 2007. Bokssættet med ni Godard film fra 1959 til 1985 distribueres af Optimum Releasing. Franske versioner med engelske undertekster.

Festivals collaborate on vod

Good access news. Festivals help each other, we are not used to that, and establish a vod. Says the IDF site docuinter.net:

On February 10, 2009 Berlinale hosts a special presentation. Doc Alliance, an association of Europe’s five key documentary festivals – CPH: Dox Copenhagen, DOK Leipzig, IDFF Jihlava, Planete Doc Review Warsaw and Visions du Réel Nyon – is preparing to launch a new initiative for feature documentary films. In addition to Doc Alliance Selection under which five high-quality documentaries handpicked by the members compete for the annual Doc Alliance Award, the new online portal docalliancefilms.com will be up and running from March 1, 2009 will allow VOD access to some 250 documentary films.

von Platen et al.: Long Bien Bridge

Hanoi, Vietnam. A legendary bridge. People, people, people. Working, walking, exercising, motorbiking, repairing, waiting, cleaning, haircutting, cell phoning, water, steel, construction, trains from inside and outside. No dialogue, no interviews, pure observation, no arrangement, small sequences, small human interactions, small stories.

For what is a story? A story can be a raindrop on a chin. Or a mother counting with her small son. Finger by finger. Or woman in white crossing the square where everyone seems to cross on their motorbike. Or a hairdresser performing his profession under the dress. Or trading at a market. Like pearls on a string, the filmmakers bring us stories, one after the other with what seems to be an authentic sound design.

The 3 Danes were there in the spring 2007, I was there with 3 other Danes in December 2007. And can say that this is how it is. This is how I felt it. There is no such thing as an objective picture of a country, ans the filmmakers do not at all pretend to cover or prove anything, they were there, as we were, and the atmosphere they construct, the feeling of being there, is as it is. Watching, observing, being curious, there is a truthfulness in this documentary that is a much better invitation to go to Vietnam than hundreds of tourist clips and brochures.

The names of the filmmakers are Cai-Ulrich von Platen, Steen Møller Rasmussen and Peter Schultz Jørgensen. The film is 34:22 minutes long and was released in 2008.

Purchase:

Cai Ulrich von Platen
Værksted:
Værkstedsvej 40
2500 Valby
t: +4526716280
e: caiulrich@vonplaten.dk

Price: 100DKr. That goes to “Agent Orange Children”, Vietnam.

Avi Mograbi

At DOCSBarcelona Israeli director Avi Mograbi had two screenings of his latest film, ”Z 32”, a film that I have praised several times on filmkommentaren.dk

On top of that the director performed a three hour masterclass for 180 people according to this concept: a director chooses 7 clips from his films, clips that he has something special to say about. Mograbi went through a substantial part of his work, and made comments that were all an investigation into the position of the filmmaker towards his character(s). From humourous situations like the one where he has eye contact with Sharon in ”How I learned to overcome my fear and love Ariel Sharon” to his confrontation with the Israeli soldiers, who will not allow Palestinian children to pass a fence and go home from school, in ”Avenge but one of my two Eyes”, to his Brechtian choice of singing his reflections in ”Z 32”: ”Am I housing a murderer in my film”?

A masterclass, a master’s class, Mograbi is exactly as his films are: tense, sometimes comic, but always dealing with the embarrassing reality of the country he lives in. A frustrated artist, as he says himself, who wants to move something, raise a debate in Israel, but does not succeed, he is met with total silence, no reactions, whereas he now is an estimated artist in Western Europe! In the next issue of Cahiers du Cinema, the headline is characterising him as ”Le Grand sculpteur de notre temps”. ”Z32” will be released in French cinemas in this month.

www.docsbarcelona.com

Nils Vest: An Oppressed People is Always Right

Danish director Nils Vest offers his controversial Palestine film, shot in a refugee camp in Southern Lebaning in 1974, to be watched online for free, or to be bought at his company. His contact details are mentioned below.

Utrættelige Nils Vest har lagt sin Palæstinafilm fra 1974 på nettet til frit gennemsyn. Han skriver:

Så er der nu mulighed for at se den snart godt brugte, men desværre ikke forældede film om de palæstinensiske flygtninge og Palæstina/Israel-konflikten  –  ET UNDERTRYKT FOLK HAR ALTID RET  –  som streamet video på nettet. I både dansk og engelsk version.
http://www.vestfilm.dk/etundertryktfolk/filmen.html

Filmen blev optaget i 1974 i Libanon, havde premiere i 1975, modtog Guldmedalje på Palestine Film Festival i 1976 og måtte i 1977, hvor den også modtog PH-Prisen, trækkes tilbage i nogle måneder for mindre justeringer i speakerteksten, efter pres fra Israel-lobbyen.
At denne lobby så senere fik indgået en aftale med først Statens Filmcentral, siden Filminstituttet, om at filmen aldrig skulle over på video (den lå de første år udelukkende som 16-mm kopier), det kom frem under Operation Dagsværk i 1998. Og SÅ kom den i videodistribution!

Hvis man ikke er tilfreds med at se den på nettet  –  hvorfra den både kan ses direkte og downloades, gratis!  –  kan man købe en DVD-kopi med begge sprogversioner, i højere billedkvalitet for 125 kr. + forsendelse. Se http://www.vestfilm.dk/filmsalg.html