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/

www.idfa.nl

Norway/Latvia, 100 mins., 2016

 

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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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