Time for banalities. My own ones and examples from the films I have seen. Word banalities.

My own first: Wow, how much the viewing situation means for your evaluation of a film. Being in a jury you will always watch a lot of s… and therefore some good films may become better than they are, when they get to you. An oasis in a desert.

That is one thing, another is that some films you watch differently the second time, when your head is fresh and you concentrate as you are supposed to do as a member of a jury. Second time I watched the idfa winner ”Stranded”, I could see its qualities of filmmaking, especially of the reconstructions. The same goes for the Dutch ”4 Elements”, that I had watched on my computer. Now it was on the big screen and that demonstrated fully its cinematic brilliance.

And banalities from mountain films: The more commercial of them pour out one-liners expressed by their protagonists. Read for yourself:

”Extreme sport is a way of life. It was my way to become a man”. ”You are discovering yourself”. ”There is a thin line between success and disaster, between life and death”. ”On vit comme un mouton ou on vit comme un lion”. ”This is the biggest thing I have done in my life”. ”You have to know what the mountains are saying to you. You have to read them”.

Awards have been decided. Will inform you in some days accompanied by some short reviews.

http://www.trentofestival.it/en/ Still: 4 Elements.

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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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