Makedox 2020

I have written several posts about the Sarajevo FF and more will follow. But let me leave it for a while to put a focus on the festival 645 km to the South, in Skopje, North Macedonia, MAKEDOX is the name, a darling for those of us who have been there because of its high quality in selection, its debates ”under the fig tree”, its outdoor screenings and the way you are welcomed by Petra Seliskar, her family and friends, who are the hosts and the organisers.

The festival starts tomorrow, the 19th and continues until the 26th.

As usual there are several competitive categories set up. A Main Program with films like the wonderful “Our Time Machine” by Yang Sun and S.Leo Chiang that with its puppet master Maleonn makes me think about the Quay Brothers. And  the investigative Romanian ”Collective” by Alexander Nanau. Another Romanian (gosh, they make good documentaries in that country these years) by Andrei Dascalescu, « Holy Father », the Swedish « Only the Devil lives Without Hope » by Magnus Gertten, and Dutch John Appel’s « Once the Dust Settles ». Appel makes a masterclass during the festival that has a country focus on Holland. 

Newcomers is another section that includes strong films as Ukrainian award winning « The Earth is Blue as an Orange » by Iryna Tsilyk, Romanian (again !) « Acasa,My Home » by Radu Ciorniciuc, winner at Krakow FF – and Danish Susanne Kovács impressive « It Takes a Family », and Georgian « A Tunnel » by Nino Orjonikidze and Vano Arsenishvili. The latter I promised to watch on a big screen but I have not found one yet! 

There are short films, student films, films for kids and youth – and five juries including one for « moral approach », love that ! 

A Forum has been established, projects to be pitched to regional film funds… there is so much positive energy in this festival.

Docs under the Fig Tree… the famous get-together-to-talk-docs of the festival is also on the agenda… I wonder how Petra Seliskar will handle that online? I have seen the themes to be discussed under the tree, fascinating, you have to register, contact the festival if you want to take part and – if I get it right – you will be given a Zoom link.

Good luck!

http://makedox.mk/mk/en/

Dealing with the Past

…Subtitle: Are there Good People in Terrible Times?

In these unprecedented times, when it seems that the world we used to know will not exist in the future, truth-seeking and fact-checking are more important than ever. But the anxieties of the world we have left behind will trickle into the new order and be triggered again. If we have learnt anything over the past months, I dare say it is that our personal lives can be turned upside-down in a matter of moments. 

The DEALING WITH THE PAST programme has had a clear mission since its start: to conduct honest dialogue about our region’s recent past as a prerequisite to resolving the problems that stem from the Yugoslav Wars, which still strain our societies. Over the last five years, we have shared many gut-wrenching but inspiring stories from around the world. The lives of the protagonists of these stories have been radically altered, while our audiences have at times been rendered speechless or, perhaps more often, hungry for more information. Viewed through the lens of the current pandemic, these topics – the uncovering of personal and national traumas and the examination of reconciliation processes – might seem of secondary importance but in the long run they are essential for healthy and prosperous democratic societies…

Read on…

 

This year’s programme centres on powerful individuals and their struggles, and on episodes in their lives that abruptly and drastically change their living conditions. As we are now questioning human solidarity more than ever, each film poses the same question: Are there good people in terrible times? Moreover, the selection is stylistically unified in that all films are shot in black and white. How can such compelling and troublesome stories be reduced to shades of grey? Does an austere visual aesthetic undermine the difficult and dreadful side of a story? Perhaps it can highlight such aspects all the more? 

The line-up features a polyphony of authorial voices, of the subjects they explore, and of aesthetic approaches. Croatian filmmaker Dana Budisavljević makes her directorial debut with THE DIARY OF DIANA B., a docu-fiction work about a woman who saved the lives of more than 10,000 children who had been sent to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. THE PAINTED BIRD by Václav Marhoul of the Czech Republic is an adaptation of Jerzy Kosiński’s novel of the same name. Magnificently shot, the film describes World War II from the  perspective of a young boy. An atmospheric film noir by Slovakia’s Ivan Ostrochovský, SERVANTS (PHOTO) gives us a glimpse into the lives of young seminarians who are torn between the Catholic Church and the ruling Communist Party in 1980s Czechoslovakia. 

WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE? is a documentary by Italian director Roberto Minervini about a community of African Americans in the American South during the summer of 2017, when a string of brutal, racially motivated killings sent shockwaves throughout the United States. To our great pleasure, Dealing with the Past presents IRRADIATED (PHOTO), the most recent film by Cambodian master Rithy Panh, who will also conduct a career master class. The film focusses on people who have survived physical and psychological irradiation as a result of war – and is recommended to those who believe they are immune to it. 

Alongside the film programme of Dealing with the Past, the TRUE STORIES MARKET has allowed us to present many stories that have great potential to be realised as thought-provoking films. and that have served as inspiration to many filmmakers. Current social-distancing regulations unfortunately interrupt our ability to conduct the market as we have in the past; nevertheless, we wish to continue this important conversation and keep working to expose stories that urgently need to be told. This year’s True Stories Market programme features inspiring talks by Bosnian and Herzegovinian artists and authors who have been exploring the culture of memory in their work.

Maša Marković, Dealing with the Past Programme Manager and Curator

DEALING WITH THE PAST is a project of the Sarajevo Film Festival supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation

Baltic Sea Docs – Film Programme

Baltic Sea Docs (BSD) takes place from the end of August and one week into September. The industry programme involves a tutor-based workshop where the 24 selected projects are being discussed and the trailers shown and equally commented on. At the end there will be a pitching forum with invited experts from the international documentary community to give feedback. BUT parallel to this there is a film programme for the audience in and outside Riga the home of BSD.This is the content of this post:

 

I got an email from project manager Zane Balcus yesterday, where she wrote about the film program. Here is a quote: The opening film will be Acasa, My Home, which will play simultaneously in cinema (our only cinema screening this year at K.Suns) and online. It will be followed by recorded interview with the director Radu Ciorniciuc. We have also scheduled an interview with the director of Overseas, Sung-A Yoon (and her film will be screened at an outdoor screening, in addition to the online ones). And another activity around the film programme will be a discussion after the film Self Portrait  – moderated by a psychotherapist and focusing on eating disorders…

I went back to Zane Balcus and asked her for further comments: Zane is a film historian and critic, and she came up with these comments to the selection of 8 films to be screened during the 2020 edition of Baltic Sea Docs: 

“To make a selection of a small number of films is very challenging. If there were no deadline for completing the programme, it could last for very long time – there is always one more title to be checked out and tested against others to find the perfect match. We’ve tried to compose the programme with films that would appeal to different audiences, varied tastes for documentary. Among the films will be “Acasa, My Home”, which has turned out to be one of the festivals’ favourites this year (an interview with the director Radu Ciorniciuc will be part of the screening), and it will be our opening film. We’ll screen Scheme Birds (Ellen Fiske & Ellinor Hallin), Love Child (Eva Mulvad), Overseas (Sung-A Yoon), Self Portrait (Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin) – films with powerful stories and lasting effect on the spectators. In beautiful black and white image, and engaging narrative style will be Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (Barbara Paz). With no specific characters, but a natural phenomenon at its centre – The Wind  A Documentary Thriller (PHOTO) (Michael Bielawski). It is difficult task to find a more light-hearted film, the one for the spot this year has been The Lessons of Love (Kasia Mateja and Malgorzata Goliszewska). The choice of going online has also influenced the selection, and there are already a couple of titles that we’d love to show in cinemas next year that were not available for online screenings.”

No objections to this selection, high quality, I am sure the – primarily – online audience will appreciate this slate of films, which are brought to their homes – again primarily. Even if the scale is small the selection gives a good positive status of the artistic level of the genre in these years. Most of the films have been reviewed or noted on this site.

http://balticseadocs.lv/

Sarajevo FF Talks

More about what happens in Sarajevo, or rather organised online by the festival, in this case by the Cinelink, that presents the Cinelink Talks 2020 from August 15-20. In collaboration with the training programme Documentary Campus and the trade magazine Screen International. 

“The eleven 60-minute CineLink Talks will run from August 15-20, and focus on the opportunities and challenges facing both the region and the wider international film sector. All of the webinars will run via Zoom, and feature a live Q&A in which audience members will be able to ask questions of the panellists.”

Register for the free talks with the form below. You will receive a confirmation email for each panel you register for within 24 hours.”

Link below.

Let me just highlight one session, the one on the 20th of August dealing with the wonderful film “Honeyland” by Tamara Kotevska (by the way, it’s her birthday today! and Ljubomir Stefanov) – it’s a one hour case story on a film that took the world with its excellence and warmth. The producer and editor Atanas Georgiev will be in conversation with producer and Rough Cut co-organiser (with Rada Sesic) Martichka Bozhilova.

https://www.screendaily.com/CineLinkTalks

Doker 2020

I was in Moscow last year as member of the short film jury and I have followed the festival since 2015, when I was in the online feature jury – together with – among others – Viktor Kossakovsky. I have great admiration for the work of the team behind the Doker  – The Moscow International Documentary Film Festival. They have now announced their program for 2020, which is to go theatrical, unless the corona situation dictates something else before the dates August 21 – 30. With mask and distance regulations according to the Ministry for All Theatres.

Some words about the main competition that includes 12 titles. I have seen Romanian success « Acasa My Home » by Radu Ciorniciuc (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4775/) as well as Danish Eva Mulvad’s « Love Child » (PHOTO) that my colleague at filmkommentaren.dk Allan Berg praised in this Danish language review (http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4669/) and the Polish « Lessons of Love » by Kasia Mateja and Malgorzata Goliszewska. They are Russian premieres but among the 12 are also world premieres the selected documentaries.

And two quotes from the website of Doker: “Annually DOKer receives more than 2,000 applications from around the world. We have participants not just from Europe and North America, but many filmmakers from lesser-known Asian, African, South American and Oceanian also take part in the festival… « DOKer is the only Documentary Film Festival in Russia where the professional jury evaluates separately the work of the director, the cinematographer, the sound director and the film editor. »

Check the whole program, link below. 

I wish the festival all the best and cross fingers for a situation where the films will be screened in the cinema October as planned.

https://www.midff.com/post/main-2020

Sarajevo FF online via ondemand.sff.ba

Due to greatly increased concern regarding the epidemiological situation in Sarajevo, and record cases of COVID-19 infection in the city in the past several days, we at the Sarajevo Film Festival have made the decision to conduct the 2020 edition of all festival events entirely online  from 14 to 21 August. This confirms the Sarajevo Film Festival’s responsibility and commitment to its community. 

The world premiere of FOCUS, GRANDMA, the most recent film by Bosnian director Pjer alica, opens the programme of the Sarajevo Film Festival. The film will be available for viewing worldwide, at ondemand.sff.ba – the Sarajevo Film Festival’s online platform.

Ondemand.sff.ba is the central hub for all the film screenings, programmes and events of this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival – not just for local audiences but also for film lovers across the region and around the world. Ondemand.sff.ba is a VOD platform that allows users to subscribe to the entire festival programme for seven days, or select individual titles and content. Ondemand.sff.ba was developed in cooperation with Festival Scope and Shift72 Streaming Services, a leading on-demand content streaming company from New Zealand.

Ondemand.sff.ba will feature recent regional and world cinema titles including world and international premieres. By registering on ondemand.sff.ba, viewers will access films according to regional and territorial availability.

Users of ondemand.sff.ba may also access other festival content, including exclusive masterclasses with renowned filmmakers across the world. The Sarajevo Film Festival Masterclass Programme is organised in cooperation with Variety and will be available worldwide via the Variety Streaming Room. 

As previously announced, CineLink Industry Days will be held online from 15 to 20 August 2020. As with the rest of the festival events, there will be no onsite CineLink elements. Detailed information about this year’s industry programme will be available at cinelinkindustrydays.com. Talks on the latest industry trends with more than 40 film professionals from around the globe will be available on ondemand.sff.ba under CineLink Talks. The 10 hot topics of discussion will be debated online, in cooperation with the Documentary Campus and Screen International.

Jørgen Roos: Johannes Larsen

For those who can travel in Denmark: I Kerteminde ligger et dejligt museum, Johannes Larsen Museet med værker af Larsen selv og Fritz Syberg og andre af Fynboerne. Dejligt sted med en have, adgang til malerens hjem hvor han boede med sin kone Alhed, som også var kunstner. I 1957 lavede vor største dokumentarist Jørgen Roos en 12 minutter lang film om Larsen og Møllebakken, i anledning af maleren og bogillustratorens 90-års fødselsdag. Filmen kan ses på filmcentralen.dk, gratis og tilgængelig for alle. Jørgen Roos, døde i 1998 – som jeg skylder meget af min viden og begejstring for dokumentarfilmgenren – tog fotografier af Johannes Larsen. Dem har jeg hugget til denne lejlighed. Jeg er sikker på at Jørgen Roos ville have sagt ok til det!

(tsm)

Jeg holder meget af dit blogindlæg Tue, af tonen, af historien, af henvisninngen til Jørgen Roos’ film på det umistelige streamingsite filmcentralen.dk: 

https://filmcentralen.dk/museum/danmark-paa-film/film/johannes-larsen 

(abn)

Nordisk Panorama Forum 2020

First a copy paste from the press release that came to the inbox yesterday:

”We are thrilled to announce the projects selected for Nordisk Panorama Forum and wish to congratulate all who made the cut!

100 new documentary projects were submitted to the 27th edition of Nordisk Panorama Forum for Co-financing of Documentaries by some of the very best producers and directors the Nordic region has to offer.

Nordisk Panorama Forum is the main funding event for the Nordic documentary community. This year we are going online and adding more dates: the forum will be 18-23 September. At Nordisk Panorama Forum a selection of 20 brand new documentary projects will be pitched to around 70 attending decision-makers and 20 observer+ projects have been selected for special access to meetings with decision-makers. Projects will be pitched Mon-Tues 21-22 September…”

Let me mention a few of the projects to be presented at the online event: 

Talented Danish director Andreas Koefoed presents a film project with the title ”Bendtner” and then we football fans know that the protagonist is the once talented Danish football player, now celebrity, 32 year old Nicklas Bendtner, who has played 81 matches for Denmark.

In the list announced by Nordisk Panorama, taking place September 18-23, there is still no description of the films so curious to know from what non-tabloid (my guess) angle Koefoed will attack the subject Bendtner.

The same goes for ”Corona Film Club – My Life as a Film with Stig Björkman”, the excellent Swedish film critic and director of several films on Ingmar Bergman. Stine Gardell, experienced producer, is the director.

As is Finnish John Webster who is listed to make a film on legendary Jörn Donner, it has the subtitle ”Epilogue”.

The Forum has invited a delegation of Baltic filmmakers to take part – and three well known directors will pitch or observe: Latvian Una Celma, Estonian Marianna Kaat and Lithuanian Giedre Zickyté.

Photo from the Swedish ”Calendar Girls”. 

https://nordiskpanorama.com/en/festival/

Finn Larsen: Dumpen

Fotografen Finn Larsen rejser, ser og tænker sit og fotograferer eller er hjemme i Malmø, ser og tænker sit og fotograferer og han laver udstillinger og bøger med materialet. Hans seneste arbejde er Dumpen en udstilling som vises på Ilulissat Kunstmuseum denne sommer. Den handler om byernes håndtering af affald. Her er der skildret i Grønland, men i eftertanken mange steder i nordiske lande. Finn Larsen har imidlertid arbejdet med grønlandske emner siden 1991 og han har besøgt landet mere end 30 gange og han skriver i sin indbydelse:

“… Jeg har mest opholdt mig i Sydgrønland, men i 2001, 2011 og 2019 har jeg besøgt ni byer på Grønlands vestkyst på månedslange rejser – fra Ilulissat i nord til Nanortalik i syd. Jeg har således besøgt og genbesøgt ni af de største dumpe mindst tre gange på knap tyve år. Et par af dem har jeg besøgt så mange gange, at jeg ikke har tal på det. ” Og Finn Larsen skriver en omhyggelig og interessant introduktion til udstillingen hvor han fortæller om sin metode i det hele taget:

”Jeg interesserer mig for, hvordan tillærte forestillinger stiller sig i vejen for, at vi kan se det, der faktisk er at se.

 Derfor er hele mit arbejde en bestræbelse på at se udenom gængse billeder af et givet sted for at kunne få øje på det, der også er at se…

Min metode er blevet at genbesøge bestemte steder gang på gang for at se, hvordan de ændrer sig over tid. Og i øvrigt forsøge at skaffe mig mest mulig viden.

 Urbanisering, boligblokke, haver og træer var nogle af de ting, jeg så, da jeg forsøgte at se uden om det gængse Grønlandsbillede.

Og så Dumpen, som er temaet for min udstilling på Ilulissat Kunstmuseum denne sommer.

 Jeg har arbejdet med Grønland siden 1991, og har besøgt landet mere end 30 gange.

Jeg har mest opholdt mig i Sydgrønland, men i 2001, 2011 og 2019 har jeg besøgt ni byer på Grønlands vestkyst på månedslange rejser – fra Ilulissat i nord til Nanortalik i syd.

Jeg har således besøgt og genbesøgt ni af de største dumpe mindst tre gange på knap tyve år. Et par af dem har jeg besøgt så mange gange, at jeg ikke har tal på det.

 Jeg har gravet mig ned i de sidste 20-30 års tilstandsrapporter og handlingsplaner for affaldet, og jeg har fulgt med i den offentlige diskussion. Jeg ved i dag mere om Grønlands affaldssituation som helhed end de fleste, og trods handlingsplanerne har jeg ikke kunnet se nogen forskel fra 2001 til 2019 – ud over at bjergene af blandet affald er vokset. Med koncentrerede bunker af flasker, batterier, træflis og baller af presset pap hist og pist mellem virvaret af madrester, olietønder, jernskrot, glasfiberbåde, asbest, fiskegarn, elektronik og så videre.

 Ifølge loven skal forureneren betale – men i praksis er det stadig gratis at dumpe hvad som helst hvor som helst på Dumpen.

 Hvorfor er det kommet til at se sådan ud og hvad betyder det?

 Den grønlandske affaldssituation er næppe principielt anderledes end affaldssituationen i de øvrige nordiske lande. Den er bare værre og især mere synlig.

Den måde, vi har indrettet vore moderne forbrugersamfund på, betyder, at vi hele tiden utilsigtet efterlader noget, som skader grundlaget for vores og andre organismers eksistens – klimagasser, som forurener atmosfæren og alle mulige kemiske og fysiske forureninger på jorden.

 Det hænger på mange niveauer sammen med udvikling af økonomi og samfund. Det er vor tids brændende aktuelle spørgsmål, som kræver vores engagement, og at vi kan holde mere end én tanke og mere ét billede i hovedet ad gangen.

 Min ambition er at give verden andre billeder og stof til at tænke andre tanker med.”

Udstillingen kan ses på Ilulissat Kunstmuseum indtil 14. auguat 2020.

VIDEO

Der indgår en ældre video i udstillingen: Dumpen – voksende bjerge af affald i Grønland, 2012, 26 minutter. Foto: Finn Larsen. Redigering: Jeanette Land Schou. Musik: Jens Hendriksen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cta1-rrX6Xs&feature=youtu.be

Filmen viser hvordan det ser ud på 18 lossepladser i Grønland. “Dump” er det danske ord som i Grønland bruges for ”losseplads”. 

FOTO

Finn Larsen: Dumpen og landskabet.

LINKS

www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3775/ (Finn Larsen: The Dump)

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3605/ (Om Finn Larsens fotografier og udstillinger)

Michael Jordan: The Last Dance

I knew nothing about basketball before watching ”The Last Dance”. I had never heard the name Michael Jordan before, or NBA, or Chicago Bulls. Football – and Barca – is my passion.

Now I ask myself, why I – in three days – watched the documentary series of 10 episodes. The answer is easy: It is sooo entertaining. It caught and kept my attention the whole way through. Because of the personality of Michael Jordan, the charismatic best player in the world, according to the film and himself, the many dramas and conflicts that the film unfolds, the side-characters – and of course the constant bombardment of clips from the games, all of them played in the 1990’es. The dunks, the scoring when there were few seconds left, the atmosphere in the halls with Madison Square Garden as the place Jordan loved to play. With Mike, Michael, number 23, the black cat… he had/has many nicknames, the man in focus, the man who was, before and after the games,  always well dressed in suits and tie, very often with a long cohiba in his mouth. Lots of footage from the changing rooms, lots of material from press conferences, television presenters, interviews of today with equally charismatic teammates and the coach Phil Jackson. The latter comes out as a very sympathetic character, who understood the players, especially the wild Dennis Rodman, who sometimes dropped the training after nights with booze and women but always turned up to deliver perfectly during the games.

And Scottie Pippen, Jordan’s closest, who sits there with a smile and a dark voice remembering the 6 championships of Chicago Bulls, and all the small and bigger stories connected. Including the conflicts with the management.

As a film? Very well crafted. Games, interviews around the games, year after year, with many comparisons between the first three wins (91/92/93) and the last three wins (96/97/98), with the break where Jordan turned to baseball as he had lost the energy after the tragic death of his father, who was always with him. There’s a fine build up to his return to basketball. In a scene his press man tells the story of how he drafted several press releases on the return, all of them rejected by Jordan, who writes it himself: “I’m Back”. Nothing more.

I have read that Jordan owns a lot of the material in the film – it is obvious that the film is seen from his perspective, and that there probably are many stories that could have put another light on the “larger than life” athlete. Who cares? 

Will I watch basketball on tv after this film. Probably not but I understand, why many find football/soccer boring compared to the dramatic and per se entertaining basketball.

Netflix, 2020, 10 episodes.