Thierry Paladino: La Machina

I did not watch the final film yet but followed the film project, when it was developed at the Ex Oriente workshop in Czech Republic and when it was presented at the most important market place for new documentary projects, the idfa Forum in Amsterdam. Now it has won the Audience Prize at Planet Doc Review in Warsaw. Of course it has! The production company is Centrala Film, Poland in coproduction with Balibari Films, France. Thierry Paladino is French/Italian, educated at the Wajda film school in Warsaw. And one of the most talented filmmakers, I have met in the last few years. I have previously written about his short film, At the Datcha, on this site. Here is what his new film (91 mins.) is about, and from what I saw in a very rough cut stage, I would say ” with a flavour of both Renoir and Kiarostami”, and with a classical theme: the old man and the boy… without Michel Simon and Pierre Noiret, but introducing Sergio Dotti. Voilà, and watch out for it, it will go all over!:

Somewhere in the South of France a boy and an older man live: Sergio – a Master puppeteer and Adrien – his disciple. They will begin their journey for the first time this summer. They will meet cheerful and fascinating residents of colourful towns. “La machina” is a story of this travel, a story about the meetings, a story about a relation between the master and the disciple. Sergio Dotti is one of the last Master puppeteers in France. He lives in the South. Here, Nice is called Nissa. Once, after the show Sergio met a nine-year-old boy called Adrien. The boy had been so interested in the performance that he came back the following day to be in this magic world again. This summer, they will begin their journey together for the first time to discover the hospitable and picturesque area of Nice. Travelling from town to town, they will show the world of imagination to children and adults. Adrien, full of admiration and enthusiasm, may prove to be Sergio’s last disciple, the one who will take over his skills, the last one who may become a master one day.

http://www.dokweb.net/cs/

Photo: La Machina, fra optagelserne

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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