Anna Katrin Nørgaard: Alt for Martin

Jeg er forsigtig med journalistiske cases. Åbner normalt ikke, eller står hurtigt af. Men dette arbejde holdt mig fast, det aftvinger dyb respekt. En kvinde passer på fuld tid sin hjerneskadede og hjælpeløse søn gennem 17 år, lever med ham dag ud og ind alle døgnets timer. Og hun vælger alt andet fra i en voldsom eksistentiel koncentration, som må være livskunst. Og det lykkes dokumentaren at gennemføre fortællingen og argumentationen, så jeg accepterer kvindens afgørende replik, da sønnen er død, og hun står med et livsafsnit bag sig: “Jeg har da levet disse 17 år.”

Sådan en replik afhænger af styrken hos den, som siger den. Og kvinden, Anette Schütze er en stærk person og en rigtig god karakter (og de er sjældne i tv-dokumentarer..). Hendes ikke et øjeblik vaklende fortælling ER dokumentaren. Den er selvfølgelig klippet, men ellers er det ikke konstruktionen, som her er værket. Det er hendes liv og hendes så fint skanderede fortælling om det.

Dertil holdes dokumentaren oppe af en række gode scener, ja, rigtige scener, faktisk: en samtale med frisøren, et kort bevægende øjeblik i kirken under konfirmationen, en gennemgående samtale med lægen, den gode læge, som fulgte med gennem de mange år. “Jeg har lænet mig op ad dig al den tid” siger hun til ham. Og der kan nævnes flere steder fyldt med denne autenticitet, denne filmiske vibreren, som skaber en scene.

Plottet med lægefejlen under fødslen og konfrontationen med den uheldige læge lykkes, fordi det tones ned, emotionelt og dramaturgisk. Men historien om ægteskabet, som går i stykker får alt, alt for lidt plads og uddybning. Det er dokumentarens største problem. Som det er blevet, burde det være klippet ud. Som jobhistorien er det, som historien med vennerne er det. Dokumentarens præcise titel angiver fokus, som – næsten altså – er holdt.

Anna Katrin Nørgaard: Alt for Martin, 2008. DR1 i aftes. Genudsendes på DR1 21. februar 09:00.

filmstriben.dk

Helt så let som med interdocnet.com er det vist ikke på filmstriben.dk! Det vil jeg prøve at finde ud af. Skolen, jeg arbejder for, har fået systemet installeret. Og det virker skam. Men, men.. man skal være en skole eller et bibliotek. Og nu i morgen, jeg skal rykke ud eksternt med Suvi Andrea Helminens vidunderligt smukke “På vej til Paradis” kan jeg ikke tage striben med. Så vidt jeg har kunnet finde ud af. Heldigvis havde Magic Hour Films en kopi tilbage – nu da DBC ikke ville sælge, bare henvise til striben. Hvad nu, hvis jeg ikke arbejdede for en skole? Biblioteket. Men de har den nok også kun på striben. Og så SKAL jeg vist sidde på derhenne et eller andet sted, som jeg ikke har fundet ud af.

MEN det gør jeg!!

Indtil videre stor tak til det voksende antal producenter, som sælger DVD-kopier af deres film til private. For det er blevet meget, meget svært at komme til at se dokumentarfilm i Danmark. Bortset fra de ganske uundværlige tv-visninger. Men for de smalle film som regel bare én, sen gang. I en biograf i de forkælede byer får man flere chancer. For mig og os andre er DVD pt. lykken, men altså en lykke under afvikling.

Nu glæder jeg mig til Helminens film i morgen, som eleverne på højskoledagene elsker. Og taler om, uger efter visningen. I morgen gælder det beboerne i Randers Kloster. Det er der, jeg rykker ud til med den bærbare, højttalere og projektor. Og kopien af “På vej til Paradis”.

www.filmstriben.dk Suvi Andrea Helminen: På vej til Paradis, 2007.

Interdocnet

In connection with the Docsbarcelona Festival I met Pablo Morales Canedo, who is general manager of IDN, that stands for interdocnet.

– a new initiative where documentaries and shorts can be watched online or be downloaded. A handful of films is so far offered, among them the masterpiece “My Grandmothers House” by Adian Aliaga. Price for viewing 3€. Trailer available.

Here are the words that present the www.interdocnet.com

“On Interdocnet you can watch and download quality documentary films simply by paying a small fee for each film you watch or download. Easy, fast and secure, Interdocnet gives you access to an ever expanding catalogue. The small fee paid by the spectators is almost an ethical question, a question of support to a certain type of cinema and of visions of reality.”

Belfast Film Festival

It is one of those ideas that is so obvious that normally noone takes it! However, Cian Smyth did and put it into practice. To make a documentary film award, and a festival, in the name of The Maysles Brothers – and in their spirit making a focus on the observational documentary style that Albert and his late brother David have performed so well. “Primary”, “Salesman” and so on.

It takes place, the festival, in Belfast, it is the 3rd edition with a documentary award attached. I was there for the first one, where it was so easy and right to give the prize to Kim Longinotto for her “Sisters in Law”. Last year the Basque film (se previous note on this under Magnificent7) “Nomadak tx” by Raul de la Fuente won and the choice this year will be difficult when thew festival takes place from 10-19 April 2008.

The festival also presents an out-of-competition Documentary Panorama strand screening the best documentaries submitted to the festival but not necessarily meeting the observational documentary criteria of the competition. The festival will now, for the first time, also offer a Best Documentary Short award. Read the list below:

Maysles Brothers Award – Competitive Programme 2008
END OF THE RAINBOW by Robert Nugent (Australia) UK and Irish Premiere
BEYOND THE FOREST by Gerald Hauzenberger (Austria) Irish Premiere
THE ENGLISH SURGEON by Geoffrey Smith (UK) Irish Premiere
THE LAST BUS STOP by Kai Salminen and Zsuzsa Boszormenyi (Finland) UK and Irish Premiere
BILLY THE KID by Jennifer Venditti (USA) Irish Premiere
HOLD ME TIGHT LET ME GO by Kim Longinotto (UK)
COMBALIMON by Raphael Matthie (France) UK and Irish Premiere
ALL WHITE IN BARKING by Marc Isaacs (UK) Irish Premiere
CALLE SANTA FE by Carmen Castillo (France/Chile) Irish Premiere
EVERY SEVENTH PERSON by Elke Groen and Ina Ivanceanu (Austria/Luxembourg) UK and Irish Premiere
RUBYOVKA: THE ROAD TO BLISS by Irene Langemann (Germany) UK and Irish Premiere
DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD by Mike Mills (USA) Irish Premiere
THE FIRST DAY by Marcin Sauter (Poland/Russia) (Short Category) Irish Premiere
52 PER CENT by Rafal Skalski (Poland/Russia) (Short Category) UK and Irish Premiere
A SON’S SACRIFICE by Yoni Brook (USA) (Short Category) UK and Irish Premiere
CITY OF CRANES by Eva Weber (UK) (Short Category) Irish Premiere
THE TAILOR by Oscar Perez (Spain) (Short Category) UK and Irish Premiere

Documentary Panorama – Out of Competition Programme 2008
Programme as of 05/02/08 – further titles may be added.
TERROR’S ADVOCATE by Barbet Schroeder (France) Irish Premiere
A TRIP TO ASIA by Thomas Grube (Germany) UK and Irish premiere
NANKING by Bill Gutentag and Dan Sturman (USA) UK and Irish Premiere
WAR/DANCE by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix (USA) UK and Irish Premiere
WILD BLUE YONDER by Celia Maysles (USA) UK and Irish Premiere
WAVERIDERS by Joel Conroy (Northern Ireland) UK Premiere
UP THE YANGTZE by Yung Chang (Canada) UK and Irish Premiere
SALLY GROSS: THE PLEASURE OF STILLNESS by Albert Maysles and Kristen Nutile (USA) UK and Irish Premiere
IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA by Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott Johnson (USA) UK and Irish Premiere

Mechanical Love

The new film by Phie Ambo, another strong talent in new Danish doumentary, premieres this weekend in the cinemas in her own country after having travelled already to several festivals.

We contributed on the weblog with a review, write the title and click “søg”, and you will find it.

… and again, let’s make promotion for the initiative of the three female directors – Phie Ambo, Pernille Rose Grønkjær and Eva Mulvad – who have joined forces to be able to sell their work on dvd, all with English subtitles and bonus material.

Have a look at www.danishdocumentary.com

Documentaries at the Berlinale

The prestigious Berlin film festival, the Berlinale, offers a good selection of documentaries this year. 30 it is according to

http://web.docuinter.net/en/index.php

which is the excellent site of IDF (Institute of Documentary Film), that is based in Prague. The Berlinale takes place February 7-17 and among the films screened are two that have been writen about on this blog: “Citizen Havel” by Pavel Koutecky and Miroslav Janek, and “My Name is Sabine” by Sandrine Bonnaire. 

Magnificent

My Danish writing blog colleague writes above, under the caption “Oscar kritik”, linking to a group of festival people, who object to the selection of films nominated for this years documentary Oscar. He proudly mentions that two Danish films are mentioned in the alternative list that the festival people have set up: Asger Leth’s “Ghosts of Cité Soleil” and Pernille Rose Grønkjær´s “The Monastery”.

This gives me the chance to round up the festival “Magnificent7” in Belgrade that ended with the screening of “The Monastery” at the Sava Centre in Belgrade.

1500 people saw the film, Pernille was there, and this old doc-blogger got tears in his eyes experiencing that a film about an old man and his dream, Mr. Vig, captures the hearts of everyone.

“The Monastery” is the best that has happened to Danish documentary for years.

… and the “Magnificent7 Festival” is unique and Magnificent! Organised and spirited by Svetlana and Zoran Popovic. 

Photo: Pernille Rose Grønkjær (Erik Molberg Hansen)

Thierry Garrel & Alain Cavalier

If you happen to be in Barcelona tomorrow, 1st of February, you could visit Institut Francais at 17.30 to meet two French masters in documentaries – at a masterclass open to the audience. Thierry Garrel is Head of the Documentary Unit of Arte France and Alain Cavalier is the director who after a long and strong fiction filmography (among other the masterpiece “Thérèse”) now makes his own “Portraits”.

Garrel, in Barcelona for the DOCSBarcelona festival, has chosen four favourite films for his section in the festival, called “Le Dernier Repas”. About Cavalier he writes:

Alain Cavalier is a pedestrian in Paris. He loves the city. Unexpectedly on his walks, with his eyes and his ears always wide open, he has come across a woman who makes mattresses, a woman who works in a dry-cleaner’s, the owner of a bistro, a woman who makes thread… and decided to film these women.

For more about Arte, go to http://www.artefrance.fr/

Asger Leths Haiti-film

Vi så Ghosts of Cité Soleil i FOF-filmklubben i aftes. En lille bevæget, imponeret og også noget trykket flok. Hvilken film! Og vi noterede, at Leth og filmen for et par dage siden havde modtaget de nordamerikanske filminstruktørers pris, DGA-Award, som vi fornemmer, han sætter mere pris på end en Oscar. Det er jo mine læremestres og forbilleders anerkendelse, som han fortalte Ritzau. Prisen gives for “outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary”.

Ja, den er fremragende. Den er den mest sete dokumentarfilm i danske biografer det seneste års tid. Men den er vist ikke på programmet noget sted mere. Nu venter vi spændt på DVD-distributionen her i landet.

I aftes så vi som forfilm de første 15 minutter af Jørgen Leths Haitifilm, som er præcist 10 år ældre. Det viste sig at være storslået. En række sammenligninger mulige: generationsmæssige, historiske, æstetiske, moralske. Og de to film omspænder dertil ti afgørende år i Haitis politiske udvikling, Aristides æra. Men først og sidst, to filmmonumenter, det ene ikke større end det andet. Så forskellige og dog så ens.. Et fyrtårn i hvert sit årti.

Asger Leth: Ghosts of Cité Soleil, 2006. Nordisk Film, i biografdistribution. en amerikansk DVD kan købes i “Laserdisken”. Jørgen Leth: Haiti-uden titel, 1996. DFI/DBC distribution. Kan lånes på biblioteket.    

DOCSBarcelona

For four days Barcelona hosts the documentary film festival DOCSBarcelona. This second edition takes place in the Alexandra cinema situated in one of the ramblas of the beautiful city. I am writing this from my hotel room preparing for the screenings tonight. The festival has asked me to put together the Panorama section, which is 8 feature length films and 3 short films. Here they come, you can find more info on the films on http://www.docsbarcelona.com/

“Hoy el dia se repite diferente”, Spain, 2007 – www.hoyeldiaserepitediferente.com

“Kalinovski Square”, Estonia, 2007

“La isla de la Juventud”, Mexico, 2007

“Oltre la paura: Bruno contro la Mafia”, Italy, 2007 (plus short film)

“Ser Isla”, Mexico, 2007

“Someone Like You”, Denmark, 2007 – www.barokfilm.dk  (plus short film)

“Stone Silence”, Poland, 2007 – www.eurekamedia.info  (plus short film)

“The Way of a Warrior”, Germany/Switzerland/Italy, 2007 – www.filmtank.de