A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
A film blog by Allan Berg Nielsen & Tue Steen Müller
This is the second – and it will not be the last – time that we bring a photo taken by talented Guevara Namer. The first one was here
http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3349/
from the Damascus where Guevara lived and was part of the team behind the DOXBox festival’s four editions. A couple of weeks ago I met her again. She was pitching a project in Riga together with German Antonia Kilian, very succesful pitch, read
The festival in Leipzig works apparently according to film editing rules: Don’t give all the information up front, give it piece by piece. The official programme is not announced yet but the festival introduces a new section called Late Harvest. Read all about it in the press release:
In anticipation of announcing of the complete Official Selection for DOK Leipzig 2018, we give a little taste of what you can expect at this year’s edition. In introducing the new programme section LATE HARVEST, we aim to draw attention to important films from the current season, works which have managed to capture the cinematic and political spirit of this year – by winning awards at other festivals, serving as catalysts for heated debate, or making echoing contributions to social and cinematographic discourses which complement and enhance DOK Leipzig’s themes and perspectives…
Adina Pintilie’s intimate act of transgression Touch Me Not, Golden Bear winner at this year’s Berlinale, is a prime example of the new section’s mission in action, as well as Barbara Miller’s #Female Pleasure, a film about women struggling to approach sexuality on their own terms, is also right at home here. The inaugural edition of LATE HARVEST also features Victor Kossakovsky’s most recent film Aquarela, fresh from a successful premiere in Venice. The Russian documentarian’s immersive new work is a meditation on the transformative beauty and raw power of water. Rounding off the programme for the new section is Vitaly Mansky’s revealing documentary Putin’s Witnesses that takes a look back at the dawn of the new millennium, as an ascendant Vladimir Putin was first assuming power in Russia.
The filmmakers will all attend the festival in Leipzig to present their works. Victor Kossakovsky, Romanian director Adina Pintilie and renowned Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky will speak about their recent films and their views on filmmaking in the new film talk series Meet the Filmmakers. Finally, Barbara Miller will take part in an extensive Q&A immediately following the screening of her film #Female Pleasure. You’ll find all screening dates and more information on the talks on 10 October on our website when the Official Selection for the 61st edition of DOK Leipzig will be announced.
https://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/dok/presse/pressemitteilungen/2018
A mail arrived from IDFA announcing quite a film historical event as part of the festival: “You are cordially invited to the IDFA 2018 world premiere of Dziga Vertov’s recently found and restored film, The Anniversary of the Revolution. Possibly the first feature-length documentary film ever made, The Anniversary of the Revolution screens November 20th in Tuschinski 1.” And about the film it goes like this:
The Anniversary of the Revolution was made by pioneering filmmaker Dziga Vertov (1896-1954) between early 1917 and 1918. Filming the developments surrounding the Russian Revolutions of February and October 1918, and the following civil war, Vertov documented events and protagonists that would change history. Using his own footage and occasionally the material of a few others, Vertov assembled his chronological account of the historical year into a two-hour film in 1918, making The Anniversary of the Revolution possibly the first feature-length documentary film ever made… to be continued
Consequently, inter-titles were added between scenes, explaining the political context, presenting the portrayed politicians, and manifesting a young Vertov’s revolutionary discourse. In this sense, The Anniversary of the Revolution presents us also with the earliest known use of documentary film as a tool for propaganda.
Initially screened in 1918, the film was shown in various settings, traveled with Vertov on his agit-train trips with Mihail Kalinin around the country, and was screened in train stations until 1921, as per his memoirs. For reasons still unclear and open to interpretation and analysis, the film was lost after that. Scenes from the film were used in other films, by Vertov himself and others, as well as in propaganda reels during the early days of the Soviet era, but The Anniversary of the Revolution was never screened in full to an international audience until this year at IDFA.
The Anniversary of the Revolution was recently restored based on a listing of all scenes in the film, discovered by film scholar Svetlana Ishevskaia in the course of her research in Russian archives. Film historian Nikolai Izvolov spent several months thoroughly investigating film archives to find fragments of Vertov’s film and to demonstrate their authenticity. The virtually complete restoration project of the film was carried out at, and with the support of, the Russian State Documentary Film and Photo Archive at Krasnogorsk.
Presented as part of IDFA on Stage, the special screening of The Anniversary of the Revolution at IDFA will include a unique live music component. For this celebratory event, an outstanding group of Russian musicians is preparing a performance that also respects the silent nature of the film. In addition to the screening on November 20th at Theater Tuschinski 1, an extended program of artistic interventions, debates and discussions on Vertov and his film, and questions on restoration and preservation of documentary film heritage will be one of the highlights of IDFA 2018.
I was meant to arrive in Herrsching at the Haus der bayerischen Landwirtschaft Sunday, the day before the day where I should speak to mentors, who had signed up for the workshop, that dealt with mentoring. But coming from the Zelig film school in Bolzano to Munich, I had hoped, as experienced before, for a stay in the city to visit museums and relax…. I had forgotten about Oktoberfest and there was NO hotel rooms available. None at all. Marion Gompper from Sources saved me, providing a room with a bed at the venue by the Ammersee from Saturday night. Sorry Germans and lovers of Oktoberfest, but great to get away from Lederhosen and liters of beer after having enjoyed wonderful Italian Lagrein wine and grappa in Bolzano.
The training course, described by the organisers as “intensive”, was meant to
“train mentors for European screenwriters and (documentary) filmmakers”, being one element of “a three month process involving three work groups of five participants each. Three Sources 2 advisers guide through work processes, case studies and discussions.”
The early arrival gave me the chance to experience (some of) a workshop that is totally different from the documentary ones I know from my time during “my” EDN (European Documentary Network) time and after, like Ex Oriente, Documentary Campus, Archidoc (that has unfortunately stopped, stupid decision of Media/Creative Europe) and others. Totally different in the way that it is based on lectures and didactically precise group work.
I had the chance to join a group session led by director, producer and pedagogue Arash T. Riahi. Pedagogue…? some will ask, who knows him very well as a filmmaker. Yes, I will answer, having attended his session an afternoon, where he presented a fiction treatment to the group of participants, who were script writers/editors, film consultants, commissioning editors, film school teacher, filmmaker. (Photo: Arash to the far right). He approached each of the participants asking them to respond to the treatment from their own perspective. And he did that with the role of being the young director/producer/script writer, who was proud of what he had done and wanted support from the people around the table: the arrogant applicant, the pleading (please give me money), the “well I know you can´t help me anyway”, the “did you read the text”. It was fun and educational in approach making the mentors think about, what they do in their daily work. And a scoop that the film – as a surprise – was shown in the very same night of the sessions.
For me personally it was fine to re-meet Arash. First time – if I remember right – was in Vienna 10 years ago, when the 10 years younger Iranian filmmaker showed me material from what was to be his “Exile Family Movie” that I loved so much and that won in DokLeipzig and went to Magnificent7 in Belgrade in 2007, where he was for the second time with his “Everyday Rebellion” in 2014, made together with his brother Arman.
Arash is a cool guy, a film lover and connaisseur, a workaholic, who has several projects on his desk, including interesting documentary co-productions, who has a feature film (his second) in post-production at the same time as he is a key person for the Sources training program as not only present at this mentoring workshop but also in workshops, where the headline is developing projects in other Sources workshops.
As for my own participation, talking about mentoring to mentors (at the workshop understood in a broader sense as teachers/tutors/consultants/c.editors) I was happy there were documentarians present – as Arash of course, but also people from Nordic film institutions like Ingrid Dokka from Nordnorsk Filmcenter, Pekka Uotila from the Finnish Film Foundation, film producer Brendan Culleton from Ireland and former arte commissioner Christine Reisen – as most of the talks were targeted to fiction, and it is a different world, I experienced, of storytelling approaches and writing methods, and less about Films and Film directors.
I had fine conversations with Finnish Pekka, who is a true documentarian with an amazing filmography as cameraman, first of all.
At a later point I will bring the whole or some of my speech at the Sources workshop – oh, so well organized it was – where I talked about being helping Russian Tatyana Sopoleva and Lithuanian Giedre Zickyte showing trailers from their work, and in general about watching rough cuts, how to behave with screenings, how – as a mentor – to say yes or no, writing in documentaries.
Thank you Marion Gompper and Julie Metzdorff – would have loved to meet documentarian Rolf Orthel, head of the board of Sources, again, but he had left, when I arrived.
I could not be there – Sunday in Malmø at the Nordisk Panorama, where 8 projects developed at the Dok.Incubator were presented. For that reason I was happy to receive an email from the organisers saying “play the trailers” – the 8 films made by international talents right before release. I played the trailers.
I suppose the presentation in Malmø was as in the previous years, professional in an enthusiastic atmosphere: A verbal presentation, a trailer plus one or two scenes from the upcoming film. Especially the latter was for me important for getting an idea of the quality. Where a trailer is a trailer, in most cases a piece of information about the content.
Nevertheless, let me – from the trailer watching – mention three of the films that I definitely MUST see – to review on this site and/or consider to suggest for the festivals, where I am part of the programming team. Take a look and see if you agree:
“Of Friends and Gods” by Reetta Huhtanen. “Searching Eva” by Pia Hellenthal. “The Men’s Room” (PHOTO) by Petter Sommer
The festival in St. Petersburg is over and awards were announced yesterday after a grandiose (experienced through photos on Facebook) closing evening that had Viktor Kossakovsky’s “Aquarela” on the program, of course, this is his home town!
Grand Prix and the Student Jury prize went to Hungarian “A Woman Captured” by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, it must be one of (if not THE) most winning documentaries of the last year. If you want to read what I wrote on this site about the film:
http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4093/
There were 3 awards for the Russian documentary “White Mama” by Evgenia Ostanina and Zosya Rodkevich – Best full length documentary, TV Kultura and Fipresci. Here is the synopsis of the film: “Alina and her family have been put under severe strain. The woman, who has six black-skinned children born out of her relationship with an Ethiopian man, decides to adopt a white boy with mental health problems. Will the characters have enough good will and sufficient child-raising skills to tame – and love – the little tyrant? A film for those who have nerves of steel as it takes viewers to the very centre of the family hell.”
The festival has not yet published the whole list of winners, check it on the website or on FB.
Stedet introduceres i smukt fotografi, Lars Skree og Henrik Bohn Ipsen er fotograferne. Der er myndighed over disse billeder. Et jysk landskab, som er meget, meget mere end et vindblæst hjørne af Danmark. Det er en egn og en befolkning med en særegen livsstil og en stor værdighed og en bevaret integritet, bekræfter fotografiet for mit blik, som er dannet tilbage i romantikken. Og kvinden, det til en begyndelse handler om, introduceres tilsvarende smukt og sikkert. Hun er egentlig fremmed her, men er så integreret, som det har været mulig at blive her, når man ser anderledes ud og er fra den anden side af Jorden…
Sådan skrev jeg i 2008, da jeg havde set de første afsnit af dette store filmværk. Og sådan ser jeg også det afsnit som nu har premiere på onsdag den 19. september, ti år senere, Hjertelandet. For netop sådan begynder denne nye dokumentarfilm, den anvender så smukt og berettiget de første to dele til i en ny sikker klipning at fortælle dette vigtige tilbageblik, præcis som jeg selv forinden havde været nødt til at se filmene fra dengang og finde frem, hvad jeg skrev om dem. Og det fortsætter jeg så med her.
For her, fra dokumentarværkets begyndelse i del 1, Fra Thailand til Thy begynder fortællingen, og det er som det skal være, jeg er tryg. Og jeg skal bestemt nok blive ved den fortælling fra første begyndelse, det mærkede jeg dengang og det mærker jeg nu. For der er jo i den fortælling en ægte historie, en kærlighedshistorie, som fortsætter i del 2, Fra Thy til Thailand og den historie finder nu sin foreløbige afslutning i en del 3, som er den aktuelle film Hjertelandet.
FØLELSERNES FORVANDLING
Kvinden skal formidle et ægteskab. Det har hun gjort før, fundet kvinder hjemme i sin landsby og placeret dem hos mænd her. De holder sammen, og vi lærer to af dem at kende. Hun har nu igen disse tre måneder til det, et turistvisums afmålte tid. Og personen, en søsterdatter, som det nu gælder, ankommer og kastes befippet ud i det. Kontaktannonce, svar, udvælgelse, mødet med manden. Han hedder Kjeld. Han er rar og genert. Hjælperne tager af sted, hun står fortabt i entrédøren til Kjelds hus, den første virkelig gribende scene. Hvordan skal det gå? Med denne unge kvinde, Kae hedder hun.
Det er godt nok tv-dokumentar, men det ser ikke ud som journalistik. Det er en elementær fortælling, som jeg vil kende fortsættelsen af og den foreløbige slutning på, bliver den lykkelig? Dog der er en slags pligtstof, noget jeg skal forstå, og fortællingen foregår ligesom inde i en socialantropologisk undersøgelse. Men det er et studium af et særligt og varmt miljø og i et storslået landskab. En anden mand valgte sin kæreste på samme måde, og nøgternt fortæller han, det var “ikke kærlighed, men jeg syntes, hun var pæn…” ”Pæn” siger han! Så præcist kan det siges på vores sprog. Det folkelige dansk, som dokumentaren i et særligt sprogplot også skildrer. Egnens dialekt er intakt, og de fremmede kvinder taler den på deres egen tydelige måde, som en understregning af dens egenart.
Hen mod første films slutning forstod jeg, at det på det formelle plan er et etnografisk projekt, et case study om dette udsøgt særligt arrangerede ægteskab. Men fortællingen inden i dette stykke videnskabelige feltarbejde hentes omhyggeligt frem af klipperen Marion Tour, og den vokser i intensitet i overensstemt takt med følelsernes forvandling hos de to. Det bliver bare smukkere og smukkere. Og selvfølgelig rives jeg med… Titlen på dokumentarfilmen er da også inde i mit hoved Historien om da Kae fik Kjeld…
MAN KAN IKKE VIDE ALT
Den histories foreløbige højdepunkt indtræffer i åbningen af film 2 Fra Thy til Thailand. Det sker så filmisk beslutsomt, at afsnittet må finde plads blandt filmhistoriens mange berømte bryllupper, en plads blandt de mærkværdigste. Men smukt er det i sin stiliserede distance og præcise forkortning. Her forener dette afsnits klipper, Marion Tour umærkeligt de to films parallelle ambitioner, socialantropologens og filminstruktørens, den rationelle forklaring og den sentimentale bevægelse. Filminstruktøren Janus Metz har som jeg ved nu hele vejen igennem det tredelte projekt arbejdet sammen med etnografen Sine Plambech, og det er interessant at mærke graden af sammensmeltning af videnskabelig og filmisk metode og evne til forståelse.
Brylluppet afløstes af adskillelse, visumperioden var løbet ud, Kae måtte rejse. Og jeg fornemmede, at dette ikke ville gå godt. Det fortælles af Kjeld, som i en verbumbøjning i et elegant indklip røbede et flash-forward, hvor han vurderede de få dage efter brylluppet som de rigeste i sit liv. Det vil altså snart gå galt, tænkte jeg. Dengang. Scenerne står der stadig, længe, det er mest scenerne, der fortæller, også det, ofte er de uden dialog, tonen er overalt stilfærdig, de indre monologer ligeså.
Men da de alle sammen så med hver deres alvorlige opgave tager ud til Kae i kvindernes fjerne landsby, tager det videnskabelige projekt over. Vi ankommer til landet og til den lille by. Vi er nu på feltarbejde og deltager i en række arrangerede og instruerede samvær, som emne for emne afdækker dette samfunds økonomiske og moralske situation. Og nu kan jeg godt glemme det romantisk dannede blik og det der med kærligheden. Her er det faktualiteterne, det gælder. Lars Skrees fotografiske linje fortsætter imidlertid ubrudt, Marion Tour beretter fortsat i hele scener, og da den nødvendige journalistik må underordnes disse greb (med korte reportage-ekskurser, en til storbyen og barerne og kulturen der og en med en pinagtig forhandling med en barnefader og eksmand, et dramahøjdepunkt..) bliver jeg med voksende uro (hvad med Kae og Kjeld i alle disse sidehistorier?) underlagt klipperytmens ubønhørlige skrue af ro, dens hvilen i scenen til sekundet før den dør, vemodet bag de sjældne smil. (Hvad tænkte mon Kjeld på under denne bryllupsrejse?)
Filmen forklarer en mængde forhold, de omhyggeligt skildrede scener viser endnu mere, og neddæmpetheden og rytmens tøven fortæller mig, at filmene godt ved, at vi ikke får alt at vide. Man kan nemlig ikke vide alt. Hvad siges der også i disse kvinders korte sætninger med lange tavsheder, hvad foregik der egentlig bag Kaes bedrøvede blik? Kjeld var ved at finde ud af det.
FOTOSESSION OG FILMOPTAGELSE
Lad mig fra nu del 3, Hjertelandet som umærkeligt tager fortællingen op (dog, der er gået ti år, det ses og mærkes på de medvirkende så smukt) nævne blot én scene ud af de mange, måske dem alle, som er lykkedes, i den grad lykkedes. For mig blot pludselig som ung mand at være til stede blandt unge mennesker i en hændelse med den unge kvinde (en slægtning til Kae) som vil fotograferes, fordi hun vil bruge det til en kontaktannonce som den erfarne slægtning fra Thy på besøg hos familien i landsbyen i Thailand skal lave der i lokalavisen i den danske by selv om hun har fået at vide, at hun er for ung, mindst et år for ung til at få opholdstilladelse der. Hun kan ikke vente, hun stiger bagpå en af vennernes scooter og de kører til nogle andre venner som har kamera og atelier og setup udstyr og hun forstår at posere på denne helt særlige internatonalt unge måde selvfølgelig fuldstændig bevidst om at hun både er model i en fotosession og skuespiller i en film og alt er iscenesat og autentisk dokumentar og Marion Tour klipper scenen præcist så veloplagt som den unge kvinde og så langsomt hurtigt, at det tager længere tid end scenen at læse, hvad jeg her har prøver at skrive om min erindring af den.
Reportagen og iscenesættelsen og interviewene er således så diskret og præcist og elegant fotograferet og optagelserne så indforstået og følsomt klippet, at min opmærksomhed helt fjernes fra det tekniske. Der sker nemlig det vidunderlige at jeg umærkeligt kommer til stede i samværet som skildres, faktisk, ved kameraet vel, er på besøg hos disse familier, til stede i filmens verden, ikke observerende, men seende og forstående alt. Ikke som antropolog, distanceret, men som gæst mere og mere, uden at rationalisere, men glad og fortvivlet. Aldrig vred, men ofte bekymret.
MENNESKER I GANG MED AT LAVE FILM
Det store, mere og mere insisterende og dermed gribende filmværk er ikke med dagens premierefilm Hjertelandet afsluttet. Det vil hvad enten det filmes og produceres som film eller ej fortsætte. For godt nok er det som jeg oplever iscenesatte og konstruerede dokumentarfilm, men de er så indgroede i den virkelige virkelighed foran kameraerne, disse menneskers, familiers, samfunds liv, at det er umuligt at skille ad. Det viser de allerede mange foromtaler og kommentarer også så tydeligt. Meget tydeligt. Det er altså autentisk dokumentarfilm jeg ser og hører og fornemmer. En skildring af en gruppe mennesker i gang med at lave film, i intenst arbejde med at skildre deres liv, tilværelse, handlinger og tanker om dette i en konsekvent usynlig iscenesættelse. Det er det bedste jeg kan sige om Janus Metz og Sine Plambechs ustandseligt farverigt tankevækkende dokumentarfilmpræstation. Og jeg kan ikke opleve de tre film som andet end ét værk, og det må det fortsætte med at være, fortsættelse efter fortsættelse på den ene eller anden eller anden eller begge måder, sammen eller hver for sig. Metz og Plambech kunne måske, men kan nok ikke, lægge det fra sig nu. Men da de har sørget for, at fortællingen Hjertelandet / Heartbound egentlig ikke er deres alene – ja, så vil den under alle omstændigheder fortsætte…
IKONISK STILL
Christian Vium: The cast together, plakatfoto til Metz’ og Plambechs Hjertelandet, 2018. Filmens familie går med livet foran tur i klitten.
Gunnar Fischer, foto: Slutscenen i Bergmans Det syvende segl, 1956. Ridderen , hans væbner og hele hans husstand, altså filmfamilien danser med døden i bakkerne.
LINKS
http://www.magichourfilms.dk/heartbound (Production company, English synopsis Heartbound / Hjertelandet, 2018)
https://filmcentralen.dk/grundskolen/film/fra-thy-til-thailand (Streaming af Fra Thy til Thailand, 2008)
http://biblioteket.filmstriben.dk/film/9000000070/fra-thailand-til-thy (Streaming af Fra Thailand til Thy, 2007)
To meet the audience with a positive attitude is of course the best festival invitation you can make. I thought about it this morning, when receiving a newsletter from Leipzig: They have a good press office in DOK Leipzig that in tone is able to convey what the programmers want to achieve:
We finally have the first film titles for our DOK Leipzig edition 2018. Our Special
Programmes are complete! From Werner Herzog to Ruth Beckermann, from animated films to personal essays. The around 150 films in our nine Special Programmes, shown alongside the Official Selection, look to the past and to the future in equal measure. In keeping with this year’s festival motto Demand the Impossible!, they each revolve around films which seek to bring about change or depict processes of transformation. We are very happy to welcome numerous filmmakers from the Special Programmes in Leipzig in person. Check out below what they have to offer!
And below is what you can find on
https://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/festival/festival-news
With all respect – already mentioned on this site – towards the tributes to Herzog and Beckermann, and with upcoming enthusiastic words on the impressive Lithuanian retrtospective, I want to draw your attention to the “Retrospective: 68. An Open Score” that is absolutely superbly curated (hate that word) by the head of the Leipzig Selection Committee Ralph Eue who says: “
“With our programme, we would like to show that ‘around 1968’ a great number of documentary and animated films were made which serve as seismographs. They pointed to radical changes in our social, cultural and intellectual histories, and, last but not least, our media history too, they traced these changes and even provoked them as well at times.” Instead of focusing on the hotbeds of revolt – Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris – DOK Leipzig would like to explore the outlying areas of “’68” with this Retrospective: What was happening out in the sticks? How did the echoes of unrest resonate out on the periphery?”
The retrospective – 7 programs – includes films by, just to mention the well known names: Jan Némec, Reijo Nikkilä, Zelimir Zilnik, Chantal Akerman, Gitta Nickel, Pasolini, Klaus Wildenhahn, Chris Marker, Santiago Alvaréz (Photo:LBJ) … history and FILM history, bravo!
https://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/festival/sonderreihen/retrospektive/retrospektive-filme
”El Pepe, a Supreme Life” is a new documentary by Emir Kusturica about the former Uruguayen president José “Pepe” Mujica, loved by his nation, being President 2010-2015 after having spent 13 years in captivity. (Photo of the two in Venice).
In an interview with Cineuropa, in connection with the Venice festival, Kusturica says “Many years ago, I was in France, and someone told me there was a president who drove a tractor. I saw the pictures and said: “This is my next movie.” He is probably the only one in the whole world who is not corrupt. He gives his salary away to lower the poverty line. In the film, he says that when you are chosen by the majority, you have to live like the majority – not the elite. He accepts all that’s needed to improve society…
Throughout his life, “Pepe” was a former guerrilla: he was kidnapping people, robbing banks, fighting fascists, and then he studied in prison, ultimately becoming the Minister of Agriculture…
Also Victor Kossakovsky was at the festival with his new film “Aquarela” and talked to Cineuropa, a quote, the question was why water:
… If you are a fiction film director, you search for an actor and hope to find one with a great range of faces who can portray many emotions – who can be evil one moment and good in the next. For example, Meryl Streep – she can be everything. I thought: “If I’m a documentary filmmaker, what would be a good subject, showing this same variety of emotions?” And I realised that water is perfect – the sea can be peaceful one moment and kill you in the next.
At the third edition of a mountain film festival in South Korea, Lithuanian Arunas Matelis received the award for the best adventure and exploration film. Here are some words about the festival, followed by the clever jury motivation for the award:
The festival: As the only mountain film festival in Korea, the Ulju Mountain Film Festival aims to collect and introduce today’s important mountain films from around the world, as a platform to investigate the trends and flow of current mountain culture.
Another goal is to portray people as we live along with nature. There will be trials and conquests, cravings and adventures, challenges and failures – and also successes, conflict and coexistence. Amid it all, we will think about the never ending, nay (?), soaring life.
Jury statement: We are so used to focusing only on the winners. But there are also those who stand behind winners like shadows and help them shine. And there are many more losers than there are winners. So the way we see them becomes more important. The depth and level of skill demonstrated in this film that deals with the aspirations and reality of human beings is truly surprising and outstanding. Taking a dry, composed, observation point of view strikes a stark contrast against a setting bursting with various incidents and noises to complete a fantastic story. Whether it is an athlete in the spotlight or a gregario who stands in their shadow supporting them, they all have aspirations and live in time where despair and success coexist. We do not know if their life is a blessing or a curse but this film is truly a blessing for us. Because we are able to live and breathe with them. We wish to share this blessing with those who do their role in supporting winners and the ‘Wonderful Losers’ who receive this award. Written by jury member Lee Jae-Kyoo.