Ugis Olte & Morten Traavik: Liberation Day
Laibach, Slovenian avant-garde band, cult in ex-Yugoslavia, in North Korea… the film is at IDFA, screenings have taken place and Laibach has made a concert. And film critic Guy Lodge from Variety has delivered an excellent review from where this quote comes:
Billed as a “documentary musical,” this potential crowd-pleaser gets considerable comic mileage out of the friction between two very different brands of cultural eccentricity — but it succeeds as more than a diverting novelty, packed as it is with pointed observations on diplomacy and censorship in a country that’s still a mystery to many…
I have followed this film from the side line due to friendship with
producer Uldis Cekulis, Latvia. It was pitched at Baltic Sea Forum, the reception was lukewarm – “we are already in the film “Under the Sun”” was the reaction – when the panelists see the film, they will change their opinion, it is an excellent piece of work with and excellent music performance, from “Sound of Music” to “Across the Universe”. It gives the audience the chance to be present and you have respect for both the westerners and the North Koreans involved, and not least for Morten Traavik, cultural ambassador/ multi-talented artist, whatever you want to call him.
If you like here is a link to how philosopher Zizek evaluates the meeting between the two cultures. Interesting, provoking of course:
https://vimeo.com/vfs/review/182989111/ec5916dbb9
pass: ZIZEKISZIZEK
– with permission from producer Cekulis.
http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/liberation-day-review-1201923274/
Norway/Latvia, 100 mins., 2016
