Riga Diary 5

I attended the first handful of projects that were pitched at the Baltic Sea Forum. Before I had to leave back to Copenhagen. Again I heard a sentence that is often expressed at pitching sessions by the commissioning editors present. Those who represent US, the audience. Here it comes, this time passed to a Lithuanian project about the late writer Jurga Ivanauskaitė: The project is too artistic for me. Those were the words.

Too artistic for whom? For the commissioning editor and his/her personal taste or for the viewers? What a patronising attitude! And what is meant by “too artistic”? In this case the trailer that was shown included some reconstructions, some tableaux that should give us the audience some idea of a stylistical approach. Call it a personal handwriting. Nothing unusual, just a bit different from the mainstream but enough to scare some of the television people. Not all of them, fortunately, the representative from Estonian television liked the clip and dared to mention that the film could also be good for festivals.

Which pissed off the representatives from BBC and DR, who expressed their disrespect for “festival films”, i.e.for them are films for the happy few. Two comments to this: Well, this is just another confirmation that public television is run by the journalistic, mainstream approach, that programmes which are a bit different do not stand a chance. And that – with other words – you can forget all documentaries with artistic ambitions. Understandable it is that the audience feels that it is underestimated and choose to go to festivals instead. Which they do in big amounts, in full cinema halls that – added up – very often grap a bigger audience than the one that watches television.

Art and televison? Forget about it, except for some few exceptions.

Photo: Jurga Ivanauskaitė.

Riga Diary 4

The Boy from Riga: Sergei Eisenstein. Born in 1898, son of Mikhail and Julia. Lives in the city until 1915 where he goes to St. Petersburg to study. His father becomes the architect of beautiful Jugendstil buildings that are still to be watched and admired. And to be found are many of the architectural details that became an inspiration for the master.

This is to be studied in the fine exhibition at the Film Museum in the old town of Riga. Photos, drawings, clips from his films, quotes from his writings, anecdotes… the exhibition is open until the beginning of next year. It is situated in the house where also the National Film Centre of Latvia has its premises.

The NFC is the organiser of the Baltic Sea Forum that today opens for the public pitching of 24 film projects, and of documentary film screenings that have been totally sold out and makes it evident that Riga should set up an international documentary film festival. The public interest is there, the organisational skills, the press support. Go for it!

http://www.nfc.lv/news/?id=23  

Riga Diary 3

Salome Jashi is from Georgia. She is here for the Baltic Sea Forum. She has an interesting documentary project called ”Restaurant Bakhmaro and Those Who Work There” that is to be pitched in this coming weekend to television editors and film fund people. In Georgia she has with colleagues set up a company called Sakdoc Film, visit their site, see below.

Or get hold of her 22 mins. long documentary from 2006, ”Their Helicopter”, that has been at several festivals all over and demonstrates a clear talent for People and Life far away from everything. Here is a catalogue description of the film:

”A Chechen military helicopter crashed in Upper Khevsureti, Georgia, ten years ago. Although it seems to be useless, a family occupies the rusty wreck, cows find a shelter, and children set up their private playground in it. In a land without electric cables and modern buildings, the ruined helicopter turned out to be unique and precious. Filmed through the wrecked “eyes” of the helicopter, this observational documentary tells a story of the eldest, middle and youngest Ardoteli being exposed to just one piece of civilization.”

http://www.mediadesk.lv/index.php?d=147

www.sakdoc.ge 

Riga Diary 2

Guard dog or lap dog? Seems to be a very actual and relevant question that journalists in Belarus (and other countries as well) have to ask themselves. In the country of Lukashenko no criticism of the President and his regime will be tolerated, for which reason many journalists have been and are beaten up – or simply disappear.

As a world premiere in a full cinema hall, at the ”Is it Easy to be Different?” festival that runs parallel to the Baltic Sea Forum, this is what is the theme of the film ”Journalists” by Aleh Dashkevich (director) and Volha Nikalaichyk (producer). It follows some journalists, interviews them or their relatives, some of the journalists now live abroad, and brings images from demonstrations where journalists and cameramen are beaten up. Plus some of the well known sequences with the President himself. As a creative documentary ”Journalists” will not be prized but as another strong documentation of the appalling political situation in Belarus, it will travel the world to festivals and hopefully also to tv channels. And thus spread the message.

If anyone wants the film, feel free to contact the director at

adkpradukcyja@gmail.com  

Photo: Mr. Lukashenko.

Riga Diary 1

I am writing this in my room on the 8th floor at Hotel Albert (Einstein) in Riga, where the Baltic Sea Forum and the ”Is it Easy to be Different” mini festival starts today. Yesterday I had time to take a walk in this beautiful capital of Latvia and made my way to the park where two filmmakers were killed back in 1991 while filming a follow-up to “Homeland” by Juris Podnieks. The crew came under sniper fire during a Soviet coup in Riga. Andris Slapins and his crew-mate Gvido Zvaigzne got killed. Podnieks himself died in a diving accident in 1992.

The company, however, is still in existence thanks to Antra Cilinska, the editor of Juris Podnieks for masterpieces as ”Homeland” and ”End of Empire”, and now director and producer in the studio. Two years ago she directed ”Us and Them”, a 64 minutes long documentary on – quoted from the catalogue of the National Film Centre of Latvia – ”present day Latvia” and ”the existence of two parallel communities – one Latvian, the other Russian”.

http://www.mediadesk.lv/index.php?&s=150

Photo: Andris Slapins.

Jørgen Leth: Traberg

Jeg holder med, når jeg ser film. En af dem. Sådan har det altid været. Og nu holder jeg med Traberg. Ikke med stemmen. Erik Mørks, som fortæller om sin ven på fotografiet i det første filmbillede. Jeg holder med ‘Traberg som Traberg’ som der står på forteksten. Næste billede: en ung sort mand synger for. Nærbillede. Afrikansk musik, vi er i Haiti, uden tvivl. Og så er vi i Spanien, i en sportshal, hvor mænd på gulvet spiller op ad væggen. Mænd på stolerækker spiller. Om penge. Stemmen fortæller mig nødtørftigt om Traberg, som jeg nu ser der på stolen i hallen. Nær, energisk, til stede. Han er en mand, som bevæger sig fra sted til sted, fortæller stemmen, og den vil følge hans spor, for han må være forsvundet.

Sporet går til en lille spansk by, kameraet over de vidunderlige tegltage. Lyden er en skrivemaskine. Så ser jeg værelset, han er der ikke, men hans ting er der: skrivemaskinen, bøger og avisudklip. Stof om Haiti, et land i indbyrdes krig. Jeg ser tagene ud af vinduet. Det bliver sort, Trabergs hænder trækker skodderne for. I sin støvede 2 CV er han atter på rejse ad en ensom landevej i det vældige landskab. Alle elementer i filmen er på plads, nu følger jeg Traberg. Ham holder jeg med. Det er elementært.

Det er en stor film. Den samler flere af Filmens traditioner. Det er en surrealistisk film. Man kommer til at tænke på Buñuels ‘l’Age d’Or’ fra 1930, som handler om Roms grundlæggelse, statsmagten, banditter, borgerskab og et seksuelt-sadistisk præsteskabs kristendom. Alt kan ske i denne film, fordi alt kan ske i virkeligheden. Der er så mange logikker, der insisterer på at være reelle. Der er mange logikker, der er faktiske, og som mennesket får gennemført. Det er sjældent, at en film giver plads til dem alle. L’Age d’Or gjorde. Traberg gør. (Mogens Rukov i Information 19.12.1992).

Danmark, 1992. Plakat: Per Kirkeby

DVD-boksen “Fiktioner”, hvor Traberg er med, skulle udkomme i overmorgen. Den er blevet forsinket nogle dage, siger min boghandel. Jeg glæder mig vildt til at se Traberg igen, og Udenrigskorrespondenten igen.

http://www.filmupdate.dk/?p=1345 

Doc Air Impressive Online Catalogue

If you want to make your own festival, faced in front of your computer, Doc Air offers you quality. Check it yourself, and be aware that here you find an excellent selection of Czech directors to be carefully studied – like Karel Vachek, the late Pavel Koutecky, Jan Gogola, Miroslav Janek. But also films by international “stars” like Chris Marker, Jørgen Leth, Michael Glawogger and Ulrich Seidl. Around 250 short and long films, good annotations for each films and a well written newsletter to subscribe to. And cheap it is. End of my promotion. Here is a clip from the site´s own presentation:

Doc Air is the first and only portal for the online distribution of documentary film in Central and Eastern Europe. It does not matter whether you are a film professional or not. Doc Air is a documentary heaven for anyone who has a great interest and at least a little money… Doc Air offers a selection of important contemporary documentary films from all over the world. Doc Air films are presented in cooperation with various European documentary film festivals

Legally and for a minimum fee, you too can watch or buy a film by mere playing or downloading it in one of the three offered formats. The majority of the films are charged as follows: you will pay 1 Euro for a stream, DivX format download will cost you 2.5 Euro, DVD quality 5 Euro.

Photo from Glawogger: Megacities.

http://www.doc-air.com

Documentaries in Riga

Riga hosts two important documentary events this coming week. On wednesday, September 3rd, a small festival opens for everyone under the title: “Is it Easy to be Different”, a reference to the Juris Podnieks perestroika classic, “Is it Easy to be Young”. Readers of this blog will know how often I have claimed that “East Beats West” when it comes to creativity, originality and actuality in current documentaries. The festival demonstrates this point perfectly, showing films like “Blind Loves”, “Klucis – The Deconstruction of an Artist”, “Stone Silence”, “Music Partisans” and “Little Bird´s Diary”. You can read about these films on this blog. International premiere is given to a film from Belarus, “Journalists”, and there are also a couple of films from outside the East of Europe.

At the same time the Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries take place with more than 20 film projects to be pitched to a 15 persons strong panel of commissioners from channels like arte, BBC, YLE, svt, DR. Together with five colleagues I will be there to train the producers and directors to pitch in the weekend of September 6-7.

The organiser, the National Film Centre of Latvia, has, as in the previous years, made a beautiful catalogue that for me stands as an example on how to promote quality documentaries. The cover, and the picture that you look at, is from the film “Art Star and the Sudanese Twins” by Pietra Brettkelly, New Zealand.

http://www.mediadesk.lv/index.php?d=147

http://www.theartstarandthesudanesetwins.com/  

De hjemvendte 3

Den tredje soldat, som kommer hjem, Michael Ulrich, er den tilsyneladende mest upåvirkede. Han er befalingsmand, og det har han været god til derude. Han er rask, trænet, solbrændt, ser godt ud som han hurtigt skridter gennem ankomsten i lufthavnen og styrer mod sin kæreste, sin hustru, sit kærlighedsliv. “Oppe på slottet i vinduet sad prinsessen”. Og det bliver vist ikke helt så enkelt, som det fremstilles.

Ulrich tager det på sig, for ting kan ordnes, refleksion erstattes af synspunkter, besværlige minder glemmes og afskedsbrevet, der ikke blev brug for, brændes demonstrativt for øjnene af mig. Han kan sagtens ved siden af livet med hende fortsætte som anfører for gruppen, han kommanderede i Afghanistan, forsvare dem på værtshuset, når de kommer i klammeri med politiet. Men han oplever, at hans autoritet her er ingenting. Det er det, han har det svært med. For han har det i det hele taget svært svært ved at komme til bunds i tingene. Empatien er svækket. Og hun tager over, for det er hendes felt. Hendes medvirken er det i dokumentaren, som er gribende. Resten i filmen er oversigtig case- ikke studium, overhovedet ikke studium, nærmest case-demonstration. Postulerende.

“De hjemvendte” 1-3 er et traditionelt tv-program. Indholdet er reportage og metoden interviews i en journalistisk atttude. Det er tre tydelige historier, som bare ikke er researchet i bund, tror jeg, castingen er god for hovedpersonernes vedkommende, men der burde være ryddet op blandt bipersonerne. Manuskriptet er svært at få øje på, set-designet tilfældigt vekslende med noget overarrangeret fyld, kameraarbejdet ubeslutsomt, bortset fra grund-interviewene, som er smukke. Lyd, musik og produktion er jo ok, men, men historiebygningen i klippet er erstattet af debatoplægget. Og det er nok det som er afgørende galt. For der er ikke noget at debattere bagefter. Dokumentaren har uddebatteret sig selv. Den savner tvivlen. 

Helle Lyster: De hjemvendte 3, DR2, onsdag aften. Genudsendes 14. september 19:20.

Cinemateket September 2008

Nick Broomfield besøger Cinemateket den 12. og 13. September i forbindelse med at 10 af hans film vises i Filmhuset i København. Flot.

Jeg skrev her på bloggen en kritik af Cinematekets trykte program. De svage tekster og det falske løfte om mere fyldige sådanne på hjemmesiden. Jeg fik en mail fra Rasmus Brendstrup, som undskyldte. Der var ferie- og sygdomsfravær på redaktionen. Fair nok og derfor skal det nævnes at der denne gang er meget mere styr på det hele. Jesper Andersen introducerer f.eks. Broomfield glimrende med fyldige beskrivelser på hjemmesiden.

Der er meget guf for dokumentarinteresserede, der er holdt op med at se tv: “Nico Icon”, f.eks., fra 1995, af Susanne Ofteringer, i en serie kaldt “Warhol Factory”. En portugisisk serie med bl.a. flm af den snart 100-årige de Oliveira og af den fremragende Pedro Costa. Og den græske instruktør og stjernejournalist Stelios Kouloglou kommer til SØNDOK med sin kontroversielle “Apology of and Econimic Hitman” fra 2008. Og så kommer Jørgen Leth et par gange, men det er der jo intet nyt i.

http://www.cinemateket.dk/