Tamara Stepanyan: Village of Women

Tamara Stepanyan films her characters with warmth, asks questions with respect and out of curiosity… words picked from the review of ”Embers” written more than 6 years ago on this site, link below. A true documentarian she is.

Her latest film, premiered at DOK Leipzig 2019, can be characterised by the same words. She has gained the trust of the women in the film… as well as the old men, who live in the village while their sons, the husbands of the women, the fathers of the children we meet in the film, work in Russia to come home only for the winter.

It is so obvious, why she has gained that trust. She has been there (the village is Lichk) for a long time: All seasons are in the film. But time is not enough, you also have to be caring and attentive – and a good filmmaker, to frame in the right way, to make the pauses when needed, and to let us viewers into a world of hard work for the women, in the fields, at home, in the kitchen baking bread.

Yes, there is sadness in the film, when the talk is about the poor living conditions, but there are also joyful moments around tables with food and drinks and songs that reflect the lives they lead. 

Characters, there are many with a focus on… the often crying woman, whose husband has not been home for years, he stays in Russia with their son and grandson. Maybe he will come home to stay? There is the woman – in a wonderful scene – who suggests  that her husband has affairs, while he is in Moscow. There is the woman, who sits there in the sofa with her husband, a shining couple, while he is at home. The husband who is also a boxing trainer when he is at home. All women live in arranged marriages if I got it right.

… and there is dancing, full of grace and elegance, in front of the television set – they all have television, the outside world – do you mind that I dance, she says to Tamara Stepanyan in front of a music program, in the room where two kids are already asleep.

Thank you Tamara for coming here to show the world, how we live, one of the old men say. I can only second that; I am happy to have visited a village through an open-minded and skilled director/cinematographer. And happy to see the director thanking the village women at the end of the film – for their generosity and openness.

Armenia/France, 2019, 92 mins.

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/2510/

Docudays Ukraine 2020/2

A follow-up copy paste from the site of the festival in Kiev:

The RIGHTS NOW! award is given to creative documentary films which explore the contemporary world and make a significant contribution to the discussion of human dignity, freedom and equality. Ten films from all the film programmes of Docudays UA are nominated for it. 

The winners in the RIGHTS NOW! nomination will be determined by the Ukrainian filmmaker and writer Oleh Sentsov; Olena Rozvadovska, a specialist in children’s rights advocacy; and Enver Djuliman, an education activist and writer.

Moreover, the television platform Current Time TV will reward its favourite with a $3,000 prize.

Here is the list of films nominated for RIGHTS NOW! Award:

  • War Note, dir. Roman Liubyi
  • What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?, dir. Roberto Minervini
  • One Child Nation, dir. Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang
  • Overseas, dir. Sung-A Yoon
  • Midnight Traveler, dir. Hassan Fazili
  • Buddha in Africa, dir. Nicole Schafer
  • Angels on Diamond Street, dir. Petr Lom
  • La Causa, dir. Andres Figueredo
  • Eye to Eye, dir. John Webster
  • Collective, dir. Alexander Nanau (Photo)
  • https://docudays.ua/eng/

Docudays Ukraine 2020

I was invited to come back to Kiev to one of the festivals that I have loved to attend – but I can’t make it this year. I will miss the atmosphere created by a team of committed and knowledgeable film lovers. I will miss the opening ceremony that differs from the ones at other festivals, where speech follows speech before an opening film. At the opening of Docudays an unexpected festive show is performed – followed by a speech by a representative from the Swedish Embassy. Chapeau for the Swedish support to a festival that carries ”the subtitle”: International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, a festival with a social and political aim that has screenings all over the country and makes a strong international promotion of Ukrainian documentaries. And I will miss to say hello to the lovely girls of Dar’ya Averchenko and Roman Bondarchuk…

Before getting too sentimental I will give the floor to the proud Programme Director, Viktoria Leshchenko:  

“It won’t be an exaggeration to say that our team has done an enormous amount of work: of the 1,034 films submitted for the DOCU/WORLD programme and the 281 submissions for the DOCU/SHORT programme, we chose 25 incredible films. These documentaries combine professional excellence with a unique director’s perspective. We dare say that this is the strongest part of this year’s programme. Another victory is that DOCU/WORLD includes two Ukrainian films which simultaneously compete in the national competition. These are Iryna Tsilyk’s feature debut The Earth Is Blue as an Orange and Oksana Karpovych’s feature debut Don’t Worry, the Doors Will Open.”

Let me stay a moment with the selection for the Docu/World, where you also find Romanian Alexander Nanau’s masterpiece “Collective”, Alison Klayman’s “The Brink” with Steve Bannon – like “The Earth is Blue as an Orange” these two films are reviewed on this site, as well as Petr Lom’s beautiful American epos “Angels on Diamond Street”, shot in Philadelphia with three wonderful women “fighting for social justice”. And a new film by Finnish veteran John Webster, “Eye to Eye” and Georgian “A Tunnel” by Nino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili that I will watch in Tbilisi end of April. The jury includes prominent French director Claire Simon, of course accompanied by a retrospective of her films.  

And there is so much more to say about Docudays that also has developed a strong Industry Section – headed by Darya Bassel and Viktoria Khomenko – click below and get much more information.

The photo is from the French film „Black Hole“, in the competition programme.

https://docudays.ua/eng/

ZagrebDox 2020

It’s become a nice tradition that I praise the ZagrebDox for its programme put together, as always, with Nenad Puhovski as director. Having seen the selection for the 16th edition, 112 films to be shown between the 15th and 22nd of March, announced a couple of days ago, I can only say that the documentary lovers and professionals in Croatia also this year have the chance to see the best of the best. ZagrebDox does not work with rules of exclusivity – world or international premieres – meaning that award winning films and gems like Finnish Reetta Huhtanen’s ”God of Molenbeek”, Rachel Leah Jones and Phillipe Bellaiche’s ”Advocate”, Ksenia Okhapina’s ”Immortal”, Feras Fayyad’s ”The Cave”, Mehrdad Oskouei’s ”Sunless Shadows”, Waad Al-Khateab and Edward Watts ”For Sama”, Michael Bielawski’s ”The Wind”, Audrius Mickevicius and Nerijus Milerius ”Exemplary Behaviour”, Susanne Kovacs’ ”It takes a Family” are in the international competition section. 9 out of 17 films, all seen and written about on this site – to compete with 8 films, also coming from all over the world. Won’t be an easy choice for the jury…

In the Regional competition I see new films by Srdan Sarenac, Jasmila Zbanic and Damir Cucic to compete with the masterpiece of Alexander Nanau, ”Collective”.

… and if you don’t find what you want in the competition programme, there are Biographies, Music documentaries, Masters (our Danish hero Jørgen Leth is there with ”I Walk”), Eco docs and a section called ”State of Affairs”, where Swedish Fredrik Gertten is with his important ”Push”… and more.

Click link below and you will also be able to read good descriptions and trailers for the films.

Not to forget the ZagrebDoxPro that involves 12 projects, new talents and experienced directors. Link below.

http://zagrebdox.net/en/2020/home

http://zagrebdox.net/en/2020/zagrebdox_pro/zagrebdox_pro_news

Dragon of Dragons Award to Péter Forgács

Absolutely no objctions to this choice of the Krakow Film Festival that will take place on May 31 – June 7, 2020:

“Every year, the Krakow Film Foundation Programme Council grants the Dragon of Dragons award for the exceptional contribution to the development of the international cinema. During the anniversary 60th Krakow Film Festival, the award will go to Péter Forgács – the outstanding Hungarian documentary filmmaker and a world-famous multimedia artist.

The extraordinary works of Forgács are based on the original technique of making films from ready-made materials, shot by other authors. The artist devoted many years to collecting, archiving, reconstructing and editing old, damaged, amateur film tapes, giving them new meanings. The images set in the realities of the dramatic fates of Hungary and Europe of the 20th century, seem to remind that the history of the world is a collection of ordinary people’s personal stories.

The official award ceremony of the Dragon of Dragons is held on the 2nd of June, 2020, at the 60th Krakow Film Festival. In the programme of the Festival, within the frames of the retrospective, there will be many special works by the artist, among others, “The Danube Exodus,” (PHOTO), “Hunky Blues. The American Dream,” and “Miss Universe 1929 – Lisl Goldarbeiter. A Queen in Wien.” The viewers will also have the unusual opportunity to watch fragments of the audiovisual installation “Letters to Afar,” which Forgács prepared specially for the opening of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN in Warsaw in 2013. Traditionally, the award-winner of the Dragon of Dragons will also give a master class open to filmmakers, but also to all fans of documentary cinema.“

https://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/

One World Festival Prague

Some of the best new documentaries are in competition at the big One World Festival in Prague, that has this subtitle “international human rights film festival” and takes place March 5-14.

Let me mention Alexander Nanau’s ”Collective » (PHOTO) and « The Earth is Blue as an Orange » by Iryna Tsylik, both reviewed on this site:

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4662/

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4702/

The main competition includes 13 films. From the North of Europe you find works by veterans like Finnish John Webster (“Eye to Eye») and Swedish Peter Tornbjörnsson (“Ninosca”), who has returned to Nicaragua – “For forty years, Peter Torbjörnsson has  been filming life in the village of San Fernando/ Nicaragua. What began as a portrait of a village became the story 

 

of Ninosca. Her struggle for independence requires her to face her past in the machismo culture of  Central America.” The director presented the film project at DocsBarcelona 2019 together with the producer Stina Gardell.

Also interesting – from looking at the trailer – looks Norwegian “The Painter and the Thief” by Benjamin Ree and “The Self Portrait” with experienced Margreth Olin as one of the directors. “The Self Portrait is a film about choice – choosing life. This is a choice no one can make for you, you will have to make it yourself. The Norwegian artist Lene Marie Fossen (32) is an up and coming, unique talent in the world of photography, facing an international breakthrough. Critics claim she is among the best still photographers in our present time. At the same time she appears to be dying from anorexia. Lene Marie stopped eating when she was ten years old…”. Heartbreaking trailer.

Heartbreaking are also many of the photos by Danish Jan Grarup, who will be in Prague with an exhibition and to discuss with the audience after Boris Benjamin Bertram’s film with and on him, “War Photographer” – http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4618/

Apart from the competition program the audience is offered « The Best of the Best”, films like “The Cave”, “For Sama”, “When Tomatoes Met Wagner”…

The One World shows films in 35 cities around Czech Republic, organised by People in Need, some words about this organisation: “People in Need was established in 1992 by a group of war correspondents and foreign correspondents who were no longer satisfied with simply bringing back information to the Czech Republic and therefore began sending out aid. People in Need has gradually established itself as a humanitarian organisation that aims to help in troubled regions and to support the observance of human rights around the world.

In the 28 years it has been in existence, it has become one of the biggest non-profit organisations in Central Europe. It also began devoting itself to education and helping people living in social exclusion.

If you don’t want to see finished films… you could visit the EDP, East Doc Platform, which is for “industry professionals and documentary film lovers with discussions, masterclasses, screenings, presentations”. Pitching of course. 120 filmmakers and more than 100  key decision makers attend, the organisers say. IDF stands behind the event, Institute for Documentary Films, which has been written about  and praised numerous times.

https://www.oneworld.cz/2020/

https://dokweb.net/activities/east-doc-platform/2019/about

CPH:DOX – Movements

March 18-29 – are the dates for the CPH:DOX festival programme, that was announced today. I am copy-pasting from the newsletter I received. It is amazing. I will ”dig in” as the organisers write and come back with comments. Website, see link below. A film festival that is committed to show and support social and political movements in the world we live in:

”The full programme for CPH:DOX is ready and online, including the entire line-up of competition titles. Please dig in!

The festival enters its 17th year with a new record; of the 65 films in the five competitions, a total of 43 films will have a world premiere. Additionally, this year’s competition programme includes 16 international premieres and 6 European premieres.

Following up on the festival’s 50/50 by 2020 gender commitment, no less than 52% of the 65 titles in the competition programme are directed by one or more female directors. But the gender equality representation doesn’t stop here – of the 409 experts and panel debate participants, CPH:DOX has invited for it’s no less than 160 debates and film events, 207 are female…

« Micropolitical and activist movements are at the core of CPH:DOX 2020 from Hong Kong to Greenland people are uniting in social movements demanding political actions to declare independence, limit global warming or fight for their data. Many movements are on the rise, and this year we dedicate a whole section to the competition titles that and explore the multiple  ways social or political movements are shaping the world of tomorrow.

The section, called Movements, features titles such as ‘Now’ by Jim Rakete following young climate activists from Greta Thunberg to Extinction Rebellion; ‘Feels Good Man’ by Arthur Jones, featuring a cartoon frog hijacked by the alt-right movements; and Lech Kowalski’s ‘Blow It to Bits’, where French factory workers stand up against globalisation.

Movements are all over the sections. You can’t miss them, but you sure can join them! »

https://en.cphdox.dk

Roy Andersson at CPH:DOX

A new film is on its way by Swedish master director Roy Andersson. ”About Endlessness” will be premiered this year, maybe at Cannes? The director has said that this will be his last film. Alas.

Until then there is a chance to watch a film about Roy Andersson at CPH:DOX.

The director is English. Fred Scott is his name, I found information on him here: https://archersmark.co.uk/director/fred-scott/

The title is ”Being a Human Person”, the duration is not mentioned on the site of the festival, does’nt matter, I will be there at one of the four screenings. 

Click below and you will see three stills from the film. At one of them Andersson sits at a museum watching paintings. A reminder of the constant inspiration he gets from art history.

https://www.cphdox.dk/program/being-a-human-person

Iryna Tsilyk: The Earth is Blue Like an Orange

It is an emotional journey that director and writer Iryna Tsilyk takes the viewer on. For 74 minutes. One full of beauty. Very much because of the mother in the film, Anna, the protagonist, whose face expresses, what it means to live in the war zone in Eastern Ukraine with four children, and her mother. You see her alone in the kitchen, worried, in a melancholic mood, that is understandable on the background of the war – she decided to stay with the family; they could have moved. You see her smilingly telling one of her small boys how to pull out a rock tooth! You see her fighting with the stove to make the house warm. You see her taking the train with one of her daughters, Myroslava, who wishes to study cinematography. They come to an eximanation – in Kiev it must be – the girl thinks she failed. They get a phone call, she did not fail, daughter and mother cries of happiness. So did this viewer!

The house of the family is full of life with stairs to the cellar, where they go 

 

down, when the bombing is close. Cats are all over, a turtle is occupying the sink, a house that is also the location for a film to be shot, realised by Anna and her two daughters Myroslava and Nastia with the smaller boys, the grandmother and an aunt to be among the characters. A film in the film. The narrative. You see the preparations for the shoot, hard discussions at the table on scenes, the theme is like “how to live in a war zone”, and we are invited to the premiere, where Iryna Tsilyk with her cameraperson puts the focus on the faces of the viewers, emotions again. “It’s a film about our family and our city”, says the mother to the audience at the premiere. And thus also to us, who through the yes of Iryna Tsilyk have seen a film about a family and a city. It’s all there. The devastated buildings with holes from rockets, the lack of… well everything that we take for granted. Observed with respect and love for Life. And a feeling for details like when Myroslava graduates from school, dressed wonderfully for the occasion. Like when one of the boys plays the accordion accompanied by his singing KukKuk, or the other boy in the beginning of the film in the ”talking to the camera” sequence does not know what to say… Like when, I could go on. Lovely.

Irina Tsilyk has published books with her poems, translated to several languages. And she knows Paul Eluard, from him comes the title. Poetic title for a poetic film.

The film won an award at the Sundance Festival for directing. It goes now to the Berlinale and a lot of other festivals, I am sure.

Below, please find a link to an interview with the director made by one of the supporters of the film, Current Time TV. 

https://en.currenttime.tv/a/30420227.html

Ukraine/ Lithuania, 2020, 74 mins.

D Like Documentary, D like Denmark

A quick copy-paste (almost) note on the fact that the wonderful Krakow Film Festival, in its celebration of its 60th edition (!), dedicates its special section to documentaries from Denmark. The programme director of the festival, Barbara Orlicz-Szczypula, has this comment in the press release:

 

Denmark is another country of the Baltic Sea region, which we will take a closer look at. This year’s selection proves, however, that the Danish filmmakers, just like the Polish ones, are more eager to go abroad with their cameras. The variety of topics they deal with is surprising and engaging. In the programme, we will watch both several psychological portraits of the contemporary human, as well as fascinating stories about distant cultures.

I nodded when I read the words about ”going abroad” remembering my time as film consultant at the Danish Film Board (now part of Danish Film Institute). I often asked the makers: Why not a film that has its theme here in Denmark? „Too boring”, some said openly. And yet, not to be forgotten, Danish documentary heroes like Jørgen Roos, Jon Bang Carlsen, Jørgen Leth and Anne Wivel have made great documentaries about Denmark and Danes.

The selection made by the Polish festival looks like below – we have reviewed and praised all of them, except for the new film by Anders Østergaard and the one by Jannik Splidsboel. We will catch up on that.

“Dziecko miłości” / “Love Child,” dir. Eva Mulvad, 112’, 2019

“Fotograf wojny” / “Photographer of War,” dir. Boris Benjamin Bertram, 78’, 2019

“Front grubych” / “Fat Front,” dir. Louise Detlefsen, Louise Unmack Kjeldsen, 87’, 2019

“Podróż zimowa” / “Winter Journey,” dir. Anders Østergaard, 87’, 2019

“U barbera” / “Q’s Barbershop,” dir. Emil Langballe, 60’, 2019

“Współczesny mężczyzna” / “A Modern Man,” dir. Eva Mulvad, 84’, 2017

“Z głębi lądu” / “Dreams from The Outback,” dir. Jannik Splidsboel, 84’, 2019

https://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/d-like-documentary-d-like-denmark/