
Mikael Opstrup & Salomé Jashi and FootballWritten 14-01-2022 15:31:20 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() The other day there was a El Classico football match: Real Madrid against FC Barcelona. Mikael Opstrup sent me a text message expressing that he did not feel fantastic before the match. He felt UNCERTAIN about the result to come, me too, a Barca fan like Mikael. In his fine book “The Uncertainty” that was launched at IDFA November 2021 Mikael has a chapter “What’s football got to do with it” where he argues in an excellent way for the similarities between the not-to-be-foreseen real life dramas in documentaries and football. Let me take it further using Mikael’s definition of ”character”: For me (Mikael) a character is a person with a past, a present and a future. Back to El Classico: For me (Tue) the main character of the match could only be Karim Benzema, a super-star as centre-forward for the Madrid-club. With a past. When you watch him you know of his Algerian background, his friendship with also Algerian Zinedine Zidane and his involvement in a sex-video court case that held him out from the French national team for a long time, whose manager he called “a racist”, when he was left out... he is back again now. The present? He showed his skills by scoring twice and making teammates better than they are. He won the match for his team. And future, i.e. what has not happened yet... the naughty son of immigrants, captain of Real Madrid will lift trophies very much due to his fantastic football skills. Or will it affect him that he has been sentenced for the sex tape case, a fine and a suspended jail verdict, that he has appealed. What will happen? Thanks Mikael for giving me the opportunity to write this small piece about our common passion football. And thanks to you and Salomé Jashi for the IDFA conversation round the book and its themes. It was obvious that you know and like each other, the atmosphere was joyful and engaged, Salomé demonstrated that she is not “only” a great director, who has been given so much admiration for “Taming the Garden”, she is also a great tutor and her questions to Mikael were put in a gentle way so he had time and possibility to develop, what he has written in the book. Also, we learned that Mikael is not a big fan of the kind of “staged documentary” that Danish Jon Bang Carlsen makes if he does not know the rules of the game in beforehand, that a character is a person and can not be a house or a tree, that it is difficult to include “multiple characters” in the definition, that people who have no doubt in life are boring (agree!), that the term “story” always creates confusion when we talk about it. Mikael reflects on this in his essayistic book that I can only recommend you to purchase: Order here: mikaelopstrup@outlook.dk The price is 10 Euro + shipping (approx. 10 more Euro in Europe). And have a good time watching the IDFA presentation: https://www.idfa.nl/en/info/idfa-2021-in-videos Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Mogens Brejnholm Nielsen: FaktatjekWritten 25-09-2021 13:45:04 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Alle var dette mærkelige år, et århundredes sidste, efterhånden enige om, at Randers ikke mere var, hvad byen havde været. Sådan skrev jeg 2004 til Mette Lundens og min bog Randersbiografi. Og jeg selv begyndte dengang tilmed at spekulere på, om byen var en by stadigvæk. Med Calvino i hånden kunne jeg – i det mindste over for mig selv – rejse berettiget tvivl om den by, som i dag hedder Randers, nu også er den samme, som eksisterede tidligere under det navn. Som Calvinos Maurilio kunne den have afløst en anden med det samme navn på dette samme sted, uden der var forbindelse mellem dem. Uden der nogensinde havde været forbindelse. MORGENMØDER Og når Jyllands Posten en søndag tidligt i dette år 1999 kunne skrive ”God¬morgen Randers”, og så bare lade teksten handle om nogle møder, man havde tidligt på dagen mellem de øverste chefer i den kommunale administration, så vidste jeg, men accepterede ikke, at den ironiske hilsen også gjaldt mig. Jeg boede i Randers, holdt af at bo der, ville blive ved med det, men var altså i tvivl om, hvad det var for en realitet, ordet dækkede. Var jeg i en eller anden forstand omsluttet af begrebet Randers og således ansvarlig for, hvad disse mænd talte om og besluttede? Naturligvis ikke, skrev jeg til mig selv den morgen. ”Randers” var her en journalistisk forkortelse… BYENS ANSIGT Som ordet også var det hos Randers Amtsavis’ journalist Jørgen Bollerup Hansen, når han den 14. februar 1999 skrev om Randers’ image, interviewede borgmesteren om hans by, som var det stadigvæk denne overskuelige, middelalderlige købstad, de talte om, og i en spalte efter artiklen listede en række punkter op: Cerberus’ handlinger, det kommunale personalekontors handlinger, Lillebjørnbestyrelsens handlinger, Brusgårdbestyrelsens handlinger, Rytterskoleledelsens handlinger, Randers Jazzfonds handlinger, Jyllands Postens hanlinger med sine artikler om Randers Kommunes ledelse og endelig en bestemt handling på Randers Kunstmuseum. Ja, der var meget de dage at føle sig ansvarlig for. Alt dette skadede Randers’ image stod der. Strukturen Randers klart opfattet som et stort kommercielt firma bærende dette navn, hvor formanden for bestyrelsen netop var blevet interviewet. FOTOBOG Jeg havde næsten glemt disse møder om morgenen mellem de øverste chefer på Laksetorvet og fuldstædig fortrængt de meget voldsomme begivenheder under et ekstraordinært byrådsmøde den 10. marts 1999. Men så kom forleden dag Mogens Brejnholm Nielsens smukke fotobog, Faktatjek, 48 fornemt tykke sider, liggende A3 format, en lille suite sort/hvide helsides fotografier i en uklippet montage direkte fra negativstriben og en større suite fotografier i farve og som alle er omhyggeligt kontrollerede snapshots. Mogens Brejnholm Nielsen skriver i sit forord om sin holdning til sine fotografiers objekt Randers: "Jeg holder af min by, og har hjemve så snart jeg forlader den. Har i det meste af mit voksenliv fulgt med i samfunddsdebatten og via fotografiet kommet i kontakt med mange forskellige miljøer og mennesker. min yngste datter, der bor i Århus, har er indkøbsnet, hvorpå der der står: "Alt, hvad de siger om Randers, passer"..." Read more / Læs mere
Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics, Poetics, Essays 0 comments Israel: The “Loyalty in Culture” billWritten 07-11-2018 20:11:41 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() ... a major threat for freedom, a major threat for cinema Is the headline for at text I received from filmmaker Avi Mograbi, who wants readers/filmmakers outside Israel to know about a proposal put forward by the Minister of Culture in Israel. If you want to sign - like the filmakers above do - a protest, please contact Avi Mograbi (mograbi@netvision.net.il) or French Jean-Michel Frodon (jmfrodon@gmail.com). Photo from Mograbi's film "Between Fences". Here is the text: In the last twenty years, Israeli cinema has been thriving. This boom did not happen by chance. The Film Law (1999), which infused the film funds with unprecedented public funding, was instrumental to this flourishing. Similarly, numerous co-production agreements signed with various European and North American countries injected quite a lot of money into Israeli productions and helped raise the production values of Israeli films. Another important factor in this blossoming is openness. Many Israeli films have dealt openly with sensitive social and political issues from a critical perspective. The openness testifies for a healthy and strong growing cinematic culture. But now, the government of Israel is in the process of amending the Culture and Arts Law (2002) with a “Loyalty in Culture” bill. The Minister of Culture will have the right to cut the budgets of bodies supported by the Ministry of Culture should they in turn support works that: Read more / Læs mere Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics, Directors 0 comments ”Beyond the Fear” in Jerusalem/ 2Written 28-06-2015 16:31:21 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Years ago, when in Israel as a tutor for the documentary CoPro event organised by Orna Yarmut, I visited the Jerusalem Cinematheque. I was there with Herz Frank, whose favourite cinema of his home town it was. Herz was proud that 35mm prints of his films were in the prestigious collection. We met the charismatic founder and leader of the Cinematheque Lia van Leer, who died 90 years old this year, always praised as a true supporter of the art of film. She talked warmly about Herz Frank and his films. Her name has come up in connection with the controversy around the film of Herz Frank and Maria Kravchenko, ”Beyond the Fear”, that has been selected for the upcoming Jerusalem Film Festival, July 9-19. According to i24News (link below) the Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev has threatened to withdraw funding for the festival if the film is screened at the festival, making film critic Gidi Orsher write on his FB page: "Had Lia van Leer still been with us, she'd tell Regev where to go…” and many have suggested that filmmakers with films at the festival withdraw their films. Read more / Læs mere Categories: Festival, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 1 comments DOX 103Written 23-10-2014 16:07:13 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() I read the last article this morning in a plane on my way to Prague. I had browsed through the sport pages of a stupid Danish tabloid newspaper and felt good in my 24C seat on Czech Airlines with DOX in my hands. You concentrate on the reading and if any turbulence occurs you read the same sentences more than once holding quality in your hands! DOX is for these moments up in the air, or in the summer garden, in a train or in the sofa at home. I have never read the entire magazine right away, the same with this issue, you read it piece by piece, pick it up once in a while, also this number 103, where black is the cover and white are the letters that say ”last issue in print”. Filmkommentaren.dk readers might have followed the posts of protest and the many why’s to Paul Pauwels (PP), who on the website of EDN has characterised this debate as a facebook campaign! In this last issue, PP writes, under the headline ”On to Greener Pastures”, that DOX does not fit into the EDN policy in a new challenging media situation. Anyway, the other day I heard that an Executive Committee member of the EDN had suggested to publish/print one fat DOX per year to come out in connection with the idfa festival. That is Read more / Læs mere Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Questions to Festival ProgrammersWritten 03-10-2014 20:44:50 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() It happens quite often. Mails arrive with sad news – ”they” did not take my film, nobody likes it, what should I do? Filmmakers are disappointed, the film that took them a couple of years to make are rejected by festival after festival. Why, is there something wrong with the film. The mail often deals with a film that I have seen and maybe even written positively about on filmkommentaren. I mostly choose the easy answer, which in most cases also is the right one: don't worry, you have made a good film, it will find its festival(s). And there are a lot of festivals and if you are not taken for idfa or DOKLeipzig or cph:dox or Sundance, there are other quite as good for your film. And there are so many good festivals nowadays, in Europe and in other parts of the world. Nevertheless, the question remains whether we know enough about the festival's profiles and if the selection process is open to everyone. How many are involved in the first selection process before you reach those programming, the programmer(s) or curators as they are called today. Do those who screen as the first see the whole film or just the first 10 minutes... Indiewire has made an article (link below) on this issue - ”5 questions you always wanted to ask a documentary festival programmer” - it deals with American festivals and is very informative, but the same questions could be directed to European festival programmers. I have been invited to ask questions to festival people at the upcoming Jihlava International Film Festival (photo) – hope to get wiser on the role and way of working of different festivals. http://www.dokument-festival.com/about.us Categories: Festival, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Merin and Fraser on "The Act of Killing"Written 13-01-2014 17:43:40 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Jennifer Merin, American film journalist and critic, has again and again written against “The Act of Killing”, some days ago when it was awarded 2 big prizes at the Cinema Eye Honors. Merin is not the only one, BBC Storyville editor Nick Fraser agrees (with different arguments) with her opposition. The link below will take you to both Merin’s review and to Fraser’s opinions. A quote from Merin’s blog: “The below published article is a preview of a longer piece that will appear in the next edition of Film Quarterly. In it, noted BBC Commissioning Editor and documentary film authority Nick Fraser comments on The Act of Killing, a film that has attracted supporters, garnered awards and been named to the 2014 Oscars shortlist… … Fraser's opinions are eloquently phrased in this preview, which he so graciously sent to me with his consent that I publish it exclusively at Documentaries.About.com.” http://documentaries.about.com/od/Guest-Commentaries-on-Documentary-Films/fl/WE-LOVE-IMPUNITY.htm Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Adam Schmedes: Kampen for naturen er forudsætningWritten 11-01-2014 16:19:41 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Adam Schmedes har efter anmeldelsen af "Ishavets kæmpe" sendt Filmkommentaren dette brev: "Kære Allan Berg. Efter i 6 år at have kæmpet med en meget vanskelig filmopgave, Danmarks hidtil største satsning på naturfilmområdet. En pioneropgave, idet Grønlandshvalen var nærmest umulig at filme (BBC opgav) og samtidig et koncept med historiske rekonstruktioner til søs i det arktiske. Efter den præstation, som fik rekordstor seermodtagelse på omkring 900.000 på DR1, en god lancering og nogen presseomtale forblev filmintelligentsiaen tavs. Ingen omtale i EKKO eller andetsteds og ingen finaleplads i Robert sammenhæng for nylig. Genren naturfilm, og det skønt jeg har skubbet kraftigt til genreopfattelsen, er åbenbart ikke noget den intellektuelle del af filmkritikken, eller filmkritikken i det hele taget, vil beskæftige sig med. I mine fordomsfulde øjeblikke havde jeg lyst til at karakterisere disse filmkritikere enten som begrænsede af faglige vanemæssige barrierer og interesser; det er ikke film, det er fakta og vi kender intet til natur, altså en manifesteret dovenskab overfor at beskæftige sig med det universelt naturvidenskabelige indhold og dertil knyttede filmiske debat. Read more / Læs mere Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Impressions from Sheffield Doc FestWritten 05-07-2013 17:30:30 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė is the producer behind the Lithuanian production company Just a Moment. She has for years had an international focus, and her films have had both national and international success. “Father” by Marat Sargsyan were this year awarded in the festivals in Nyon and Krakow, “How the Revolution Played” by Giedrė Žickytė got the award as the best film at the 9th Vilnius International Documentary of 2012, whereas ”Igrushki” by Lina Luzyte still waits for the international breakthrough, it deserves. Wake up festival people, here is a creative documentary film shot in Belarus that does NOT take the usual ”easy” path with Lukashenko in picture in every other moment! Dagne sent me a mail a couple of days ago after travels to Moscow and Sheffield. It is always a pleasure to read what she has to tell, she has opinions that go way beyond, what more mainstream producers come up with in the numerous workshops of marketplaces for documentaires around the year. She gave me an ok to post her impressions from the visit to the Sheffield Doc Fest: … and, yes, before that I was in Sheffield. I thought a lot about what made me feel so "not in place" there. And I made certain conclusions. Almost the entire festival program is consisting of the films talking about our "bad and unfair our world is, full of social problems and heroes who give their lives to change it". I'm totally ok with it and I like many human rights documentaries. But just next door they are organizing the market that has a strong focus on cross-media, online platforms, teaching that the audience has to be able to choose the content that they want and even influence the story of the film... and of course we also have to make our documentaries shorter and easier for the audience to "swallow", while they are googling the entire world on their computers. And then my question comes - isn't it our job to try to capture the audience that has less and less interest in the world around them? And isn't it that audience that we are making our films about/for in the end? So why not challenge them and bring them back to cinemas to watch films that make them think. Instead of teaching them to push button "stop", when they are not comfortable with the image they see? But I'm so happy that I have attended one the best lectures in recent years – the masterclass by Walter Murch (it made my trip worth it). After it I suddenly realized one simple thing. There has always been a real interaction between audience and filmmakers. But it was on an intellectual level where the filmmaker raises the question, and an audience leaves the cinema with a gift - a new question, a new understanding, a new inspiration... Now it seems they talk about interactive elements in a purely physical way - audience pushes the button and feels satisfaction of being part of a creative process. We support a lazy audience locked in their rooms by their own choice, not willing to know smth more. And after that we talk with serious faces how bad it is that people end up living in the streets and vote for populists to become their presidents?... I left Sheffield really scared. The town itself is full of people living in supermarkets and people living on social security payments (or what you call it). So the market and festival in this surrounding was even more symbolic.. But maybe I'm digging too deep? Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics, Web 0 comments Florin Iepan: OdessaWritten 16-04-2013 23:49:59 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Romanian director Florin Iepan has – according to his Facebook page with a lot of links from the press coverage – shown a rough cut version of the film ”Odessa” in Bucharest on the 8th of April. I have known the director for many years, as a fighter for better conditions for the documentary in his home country, and for his films, first of all ”Children of the Decree” from 2005. With the Odessa film (cited from an interview with Iepan at the IDF webpage, link below) the director “would like to nudge Romanians to engage in a long-overdue public debate about the Odessa massacre and Romania's involvement in the atrocities of WWII. In Mr Iepan's Odessa, the Odessa massacre refers to the events of October 1941 when over 20,000 Jewish residents were murdered by Romanian and German troops in the occupied Ukrainian town of Odessa. Close to 300,000 Jews and Roma were killed in the territories controlled by Romania's Antonescu regime during the war. Yet disapproving public reactions which the filmmaker has received suggest that some Romanians may not yet be willing to acknowledge the past, and that losing face might seem intolerable to the country's fragile psyche. Mr Iepan doesn't mince words about the dangers of such reactions, and about the difficulties that, for entirely different reasons, come up when he tries to win support from abroad.” Continuing like this (from the film’s facebook page): "What happens when a documentary film breaks out of its comfort zone and openly provokes the society? To what extent my compatriots are willing to reflect on one particular episode, the reprisals in Odessa from October 1941?" And a gentle kick to us West Europeans, who love films from Eastern Europe, what do we want to come from this part of Europe, according to Iepan the following, and there is some truth in it, for sure: “East Europeans should only make observational films about their communities in remote or desolate areas, with a thick fog, long shots, hours of uneventful suspense, following an old person who keeps a cow, a horse or chickens. Just looking and waiting for something. So obviously when you’re trying to do something else, you are a traitor to the good documentary.” http://www.dokweb.net/en/documentary-network/articles/traitor-to-the-dying-genre-1968/ Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Poesi, eneste gyldige metodeWritten 27-09-2012 10:03:12 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Han er jo fordingsfuld og uforsonlig den Tarkovskij. Til FILMKLUB FOF's møde i aftes, hvor vi diskuterede Ada Bligaard Søbys film, havde jeg taget et lille stykke med, som jeg havde oversat (lidt frit) fra Andrej Tarkovskijs bog Die versiegelte Zeit, hvor han stiller den poetiske film op over for den kommercielle filmproduktion: "… Når der tales om filmiske retninger, om forskellige slags film, så handler det som regel om den kommercielle filmproduktion, det handler om komedier, westerns, psykologiske dramaer, krimier, musicals, horror, katastrofefilm osv. Det drejer sig om massemedier, forbrugsvarer, konsum om man vil. Filmkunsten bliver imidlertid desværre påtvunget disse allestedsnærværende former udefra, af kommercielle interesser. " Men filmen, cinematografien, som det hed tidligere, konkluderer han, "... kender i sit egentlige væsen kun en eneste form for tænken – det er den poetiske, som forener det ’uforenbare’ (jeg har ikke lyst til at oversætte ved ’modsætningerne’…) og paradokserne, den poetiske tænken, som gør filmkunst til en adækvat udtryksform for sin autors tanke og følelse…” Måske kan det også fungere som en kommentar til Tue Steen Müllers dybt foruroligende overvejelser nedenfor? Categories: Polemics, Poetics 0 comments Film og fodbold og en tur ud på bænkenWritten 05-09-2012 17:25:57 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() About a specific Danish matter re. support or no support from Danish Film Institute: Mikkel Stolt skriver på sin hjemmeside en kommentar til en verserende historie i Ekko: ”Filminstituttets konsulentsystem er vel kun godt så længe det administreres forsvarligt – af mennesker, der forstår filmsprogets mangfoldighed og som ikke kolporterer deres personlige smag og holdninger via støtteansøgerens mulige filmprojekt. Jørgen Leth og Jytte Rex har begge luftet utilfredshed med nylige afslag fra navngivne konsulenter, og EKKO videregiver deres oplevelser. Er det ikke lidt med DFI-støtte som at blive udtaget til landsholdet? At det skal tilkomme nationens fremmeste aktører? Eller er det dem med de frækkeste driblinger? Og skal de på en eller anden måde ikke også passe ind i systemet? Bortset fra at folk i offentlige stillinger skal kunne passe deres job uden at blive direkte generet eller risikere, at der ustandseligt klages til deres chef i DBU eller på DFI, så skal der være plads til en faglig snak om det…” Læs videre på Stolts side. Foto: Mikkel Stolt Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Charles Ferguson: Inside Job/ 2Written 11-01-2012 08:35:45 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Anmeldelsen af Fergusons film førte en diskussion med sig. Først en kommentar her på filmkommentaren.dk af Mikkel Stolt, hvorefter diskussionen sidste weekend fortsatte på Katrine Kiilgaards Facebookside. Mikkel Stolt: Den film har vi diskuteret meget her på kontoret, og jeg hælder til at være lidt uenig med dig. Personligt finder jeg den mere intellektuelt imponerende end engagerende. Jeg tror ikke, at endeløse billeder af ansigter, grafer og bygninger parret med manglende tid til refleksion og følelsesmæssig involvering er den rette metode til at fortælle den her frygtelige og vigtige historie på film. Filmen har sine øjeblikke (især mod slutningen) men som film eller værk betragtet stiller jeg mig skeptisk. Det svarer næsten til at sige, at en finansrapport er god litteratur. Desuden er den på kanten af at være selvretfærdig og postulerende (og det her siges af en ræverød anti-kapitalist, som meget gerne ville forstå), og jeg ville selv foretrække en vinkel, der gjorde begivenhederne mere menneskeligt begribelige eller vendte ting om eller stillede ting på hovedet. Jeg ved ikke hvordan præcis, men jeg tænkte bl.a. følgende undervejs: Hvorfor fik bestyrelsesmedlemmerne så store bonusser, når nu de var så dårlige til deres job? Fordi de var GODE til deres job – de skaffede sig selv og deres venner kæmpe afkast. Og er vi selv ikke alle forblændet af udsigten til at tjene kassen uden at løfte en finger? En film skal efter min mening bringe sig selv eller sit publikum i spil, når det handler om noget så vigtigt for os alle. Men jeg kan se på Mette Hoffmanns Facebook-væg, at DR er tilfreds med seertal og debat, så måske er det bare mig. Katrine Kiilgaard: Jeg forstår dine indvendinger, Mikkel. Det er en meget intellektuel film, og den udnytter måske således ikke de oplagte filmiske virkemidler, men det er at gå for langt at ligne den med en økonomisk rapport. Således er jeg enig med Allan i, at den fuldstændigt uforlignelige, tørre interviewteknik og denne række af ansigters reaktion herpå jo giver os noget, vi ikke kunne have læst i en rapport. Mikkel Stolt: Måske gik jeg for langt i min utilfredshed, for jeg nød også flere aspekter af filmen. Ikke desto mindre ser jeg nogle skismaer, som netop er udtryk for dokumentarfilmens svøbe: Er emnet altid vigtigere end formen? Var frugtskålen vigtigere end penselstrøgene for van Gogh? Vi skal huske, at vi taler toppen af poppen af dokumentarfilm her; en fuckin' Oscar-vinder! Så for mig er det her en helt essentiel diskussion vedr. dokumentarfilmen som kunstart: Er denne film information eller kunst? Foto: Charles Ferguson under optagelserne af "Inside Job". Read more / Læs mere Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Doc Discussion Translated into RussianWritten 12-10-2011 23:51:53 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Ludmila Nazaruk, who runs the Russian documentary website www.miradox.ru informs filmkommentaren that text entries from our Doc Discussion have been translated into Russian. She writes: Nice and initiative filmmakers from Moscow - here is their blog in the live journal http://albatrossdoc.livejournal.com/78661.html translated the discussion from filmkommentaren into Russian. If you go to the website, you will be welcomed by the following text: Film studio Albatross is a group of young documentary-makers. We want to bring together people who like documentary films. Our goal is to show our work to everyone who is interested, be it in a cinema, on TV, or over the Internet. We thank Vimeo for the possibility to present our films online! New friends, ideas and opinions are always welcome! Watch and enjoy Russian documentary films! The creator of the website is Irina Shatalova. A text from her about her view on the Russian documentary situation will be brought later. http://www.miradox.ru/news/finansirovanie-dokumentalnogo-kino-perevod-obsuzhdeniya Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments The End of Pitching Sessions/ 2Written 17-09-2011 16:15:36 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Lithuanian producer Dagne Vildziunaite writes after the Baltic Sea Forum in Riga – a perfect follow-up to the doc-discussion on this site: I usually say it was nice to meet you again. But this time I want to say a bit more. During five hours trip home (from Riga to Vilnius, ed.) I got into melancholic mood and realized it is exactly 4 years after the first time I "came on the international documentary stage". It was also in Riga I was pitching ANTIS by Giedre Z, the project I sometimes thought we would never be able to finish... All I remember from that time was me shaking in front of Nick Fraser from BBC. This year I came back with an almost finished film, with two beautiful new projects (“Toys” and “Father”, ed.), with more hopes than fears and with much better understanding what documentary filmmaking means to me. I think I have found the way and I am 100% sure I would never had done it without the support by the wonderful tutors I have. Let me be a bit emotional and confess how happy I was to see your proud faces while us making confident speeches. I felt like delivering final words after getting university diploma and feeling inspiring smiling eyes of my two professors (hmmm, Mikael Opstrup and Tue Steen Müller, ed.). I feel a constant deep need to make you feel proud of us, to feel how worthy your work and support for me and for many others is. I may sound like a small girl waiting for confirmation that she is nice and good. But the reality is I'm travelling, pitching for quite a long time, still have not received any CEs' support but every day I wake up with a stronger and stronger believe about what I'm doing. And even more - this time after the meetings with all the CEs, after talking and looking in their eyes, I really understood they are not simple " free travellers". They are people who do care (no matter if they have money or not) and I think this is something exceptional that makes our documentary community alive under any conditions. We are like a small country that suffers the most during any crisis but at the same time is the most united and resistant. We have our strong inside discussions, arguments and disappointments about each other, but we all together are searching for the way how to survive. I guess it is because we all - filmmakers, funders, CEs - all are in love with our babies "documentaries" and we simple can not imagine we could live without them. I am sure we'll meet very soon again! http://www.dokweb.net/en/ex-oriente-film/upcoming-films/-toys-4905/?off=45 http://www.mediadesklatvia.eu/baltic-sea-forum-for-documentaries-2011/ Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Doc Discussion/ 11Written 09-09-2011 08:10:59 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Mikael Opstrup writes: Dear Louise, Thanks a lot for your thoughts on the future for documentary. I think you are pointing out the right issues, I will try to address a few of them. For me this debate started with the question about independent feature film docs and the decreasing TV financing that the filmmakers meet when pitching at the many sessions around Europe and abroad. It’s been easy to see that over the last 5 years it has become much more difficult and this of course causes frustration. Frustration can be very negative but it can also be the starting point of new ideas and necessary changes. I think this is key issue. Think back, the technical changes have always changed art and the production conditions. And that’s where we are, digitalization and the web is changing almost everything: TV, production, distribution etc. What is hasn’t changed is storytelling, the need for strong stories is eternal. So – still focusing on documentary and TV – I think we need to see it like this: Storytelling, no problem. The technical development offers a variety of newshooting and distribution formats, in fact it’s much richer than the existing slot-length tyranny. TV programming, where the film is available online, needs no length limitations. The web, mobiles, VOD etc. opens to all kinds of formats. Where it will take us is extremely difficult to predict and I think we will have to live with the financing-limbo for some years but at a longer perspective I think the development offers more opportunities than restrictions. Feature length ‘creative documentary’, the format we know today, will have a smaller place in the television of tomorrow. So in terms of financing I think we need to think differently. Of course the national or regional funding will have to Read more / Læs mere Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Doc Discussion/ 10Written 08-09-2011 10:14:27 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Louise Rosen, who started this Doc Discussion writes: Dear Mikael (Opstrup), Reading the posts is uncomfortable - the humiliation and frustration of the filmmakers, the sense from the CEs/funders of being overwhelmed and likewise frustrated. I feel both sets of experiences - as a consequence of representing filmmakers and being approached by filmmakers to represent them. Everyone's trying to find their way in a profoundly changed and changing world. Right now it's futile to speculate on the financial potential, or lack thereof, in digital distribution. In any event, there's nothing to suggest thus far that the digital world will be a robust source of widespread production funding. What can be done to improve matters - in the near and long term? We share a framework for considering the issues as the documentary form encompasses a broad range of formats and styles. Doc series, and single docs that fit into existing formatted series on TV are doing quite well these days. But for the sake of discussion here, let's assume we are focused on single, longform films of an hour or feature length and filmmakers whose goal is to reach as wide an audience as possible. So, what can filmmakers do? What can funders and CEs do? How can we collectively make a more effective case for the value of documentaries? Demonstrating the power of docs Are there data and metrics that can be compiled to make a more compelling case for feature docs - to networks, funders and investors? How can making an anthology strand/home for single docs on a network prove or improve their ratings potential? What can be learned about marketing, promotion and branding by all parties? Making docs more cost effective/designing new business structures Are there ways of making production and post-production more cost efficient, Read more / Læs mere Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Doc Discussion/ 9Written 07-09-2011 11:03:59 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Charlie Phillips writes: Tue has kindly given us an opportunity to respond to some critical comments about Sheffield Doc/Fest in the last few months on his blog. We think this blog is brilliant, especially with the recent discussions over the direction of documentary, so we’re certainly not using this opportunity to complain about anyone’s right to express their opinions here. We love documentary for its democracy and its diversity of views – if anyone doesn’t feel we’re serving their needs as doc professionals, then that’s their welcome right. We’re just using our right to reply. First, we want to respond to Tue’s comments on 7th June that we were looking a bit provincial at the 2011 festival. There were 21 different countries represented in the film programme, of which the UK and US were just two, and the diversity of delegates attending numbers about 50 different countries. We think we’re truly international, but regardless, festivals aren’t a numbers game. It’s about showing the best work, and though the process of reducing 2000 submissions to under 200 screened films probably does miss some treats and involves hard decisions, the greater evil would be a tokenistic geographical spread. Public funding for festivals especially involves a need for diversity and spread that doesn’t implicitly reflect quality. We’d be criticised for implementing a quota system – isn’t that the greater evil than a system that puts quality first ? Albeit of course subject to the idiosyncrasies of human programmers. The other blog we’d like to respond to is Doug Aubrey’s of last week. Many of his criticisms of commissioning and the current risk-averse culture of some Read more / Læs mere Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments DOC Discussion/ 8Written 04-09-2011 14:30:54 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Comments on the Doc Discussion have been posted on facebook as well. They take different directions. Producers Marie Olesen, Scotland and Sinisa Juricic, Croatia characterise the pitching as “a fool’s game” and “a showcase of big ego’s from the other side of the table… not a useful tool for film financing”, wheras several acknowledge the contribution of Philippe van Meerbeeck. Mark Daems, producer from Belgium writes: “I'd like to click the 'like'-button, but in fact I don't like that Philippe is so close to the truth”. The debate can, and should, go on but in this round the idea is now to ask Louise Rosen and Mikael Opstrup to make some closing remarks that could very well deal with: What can be done, what’s next? Their texts will be brought asap, before that you may want to read what others have to say: Simon Kilmurry, very active commissioning editor for POV in the US writes: Hi Tue, This is a fascinating discussion, and Louise (Rosen) and Mikael (Opstrup) make some interesting and troubling observations. Another part of the problem, I think, is the sheer volume of work being produced. We are seeing twice as many films as we did 10 years ago. But resources and slots have not increased commensurately. While we have a few more slots at POV, overall broadcast space has diminished. Thanks for sharing this. Kilmurry kindly refers to two articles about “The Fate of Documentary”, the first one, with that title, to be found in New York, August 16, written by Leslie Stonebraker – to be responded by guest blogger at POV, Heather McIntosh. I quote the end words of her article, but read both articles in full length, through sites below: “... Documentary is an amazingly flexible, versatile and innovative form, and its makers and believers have been remarkably creative in applying it and bringing it to audiences. The mainstream presence is new, and it will become part of the documentary history as we move through the changes over time. The mainstream presence certainly expands the documentary conversation, but it is such a small part of the rich form with an even deeper and more nuanced history. Not to mention, an even deeper and more nuanced present.” Photo: Armadillo, Janus Metz, recently broadcast on POV. http://www.nypress.com/article-22735-the-fate-of-documentary-film.html http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/2011/08/the_fate_of_documentary.php Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments DOC Discussion/ 7Written 02-09-2011 00:46:39 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Iikka Vehkalahti writes: Dear Tue and others. I am delighted, that Louise and Mikael took the cat on the table (or how do you say in it real English?). Anyway, now after one month out from the position of a commissioning editor (who very often has a quite weak position in his or her own organization) and when writing from Finland, the former “heaven of documentaries” here are some few sentences. I have written during the last months so much about melancholy and the situation in Finland and in the world, that I don´t want to repeat what has already been written – and maybe the situation was very much worse some 20 years ago: There are more documentaries produced in the world than ever? But what kind of future and possibilities do we have for that kind of films Louise, Mikael and Tue have in their minds? Feature length documentaries. When aimed for the big screen they should also get the financing from the same sources as any film aimed for big screens. It means public funding ( Art Councils, Film Funds etc…) and cinema distribution in co-operation with tv-stations, who will also in the future have interest in having well known, brand products for transmission. The budget for these projects is and will not be huge compared to the fiction films, but big compared to the so called normal docs. But their surviving strategy can not depend on the television. TV-docs. Television is another platform than festival and cinema distribution. It has to be accepted and seriously considered what kind of docs are best for television (not at festivals or in cinemas). Documentaries were very strongly tied with the television distribution some 10-15 years ago. It has changed when festivals and cinema have become players in that field. We need to go back to television and to make docs, which will conquer the television of today. Instead of using the television as a funding source for films that aim foremost to big screen or festivals. Personally I would love to see the life and development of the challenging, demanding real documentary films – very often seen only at festivals. The question is; how to arrange the financing of those? Rich patrons, public funding? Or different kind of production process: “returning to the origins”: man and camera? But in every case we need new steps in the area of the distribution. So many net platforms have been created for the distribution of documentaries. I don´t know any that functions really well. Why? For two years we have developed and tried different concepts and one of the solutions is to build a co-operation with broadcasters the same way as has been done with the co-production of individual documentaries. Co-operation would make possible to charge the fee when downloading the films (what is difficult or impossible to the public broadcasters in most of the cases) even if the sum would be quite small (my guess is somewhere between 1, 99 -2, 99 euros). If and when by a real co-operation of different partners a global reach of the platform can be build, can also these docs reach a substantial amount of audience. Iikka Vehkalahti, filmmaker and for many years commissioning editor at YLE, Finland. Famous for his international orientation and pioneer work with for instance Steps for the Future”. Now visiting professor at School of Communication, Media and Theatre at the University in Tampere, Finland. Photo of Viktor Kossakovsky, director of "Belovs", documentary film favourite of Vehkalahti. Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments DOC Discussion/ 6Written 01-09-2011 08:51:03 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Doug Aubrey writes: Hi Tue, here are some personal comments that I would like to share with you... I'm glad to see that some of the more - shall we call them - mature protagonists are addressing the issue of the 'State of the Docs' across the generation gap at last. However I have to say that what's happened is also as a result of the old pitching forum system being hijacked to become a 'Dragon's Den' or 'Apprentice' style reality TV show where it's simply all about money, greed and exploitation - rather than a rigorous platform for a filmmaker's creative, cultural and political issues to be tested. Indeed one Doc-maker I spoke with compared pitching at IDFA now to being like a performer in a pole dancing bar full of businessmen - only without the dignity! Still perhaps the worse example of this, is what's happening at the SIDF (Sheffield, ed.) with its speed pitching, its 1 minute trailer et al culture that favours celebrity filmmakers, shallow ideas and geek/nerd film-making; More to the point it - like many festivals - is rapidly ceasing to be the place where you see difficult, challenging and even experimental works. Instead you can witness 100's of new film students/ emerging filmmakers (some with a lot of talent) sidling up to TV executives, who mostly are interested in hanging around bars - understandably, far from the maddening crowd - with their pals from the 'travelling circus', or hiding in the toilets. They have 12-50 strands to fill a year - with est 2000 films on offer - so somehow sympathise... SIDF's trade event calls itself the Meet market for a very ironic reason that's probably lost in translation (and which the Americans will never understand anyway! - it being a Canadian invention and aw). Another example of what's happening, is the evident demise of EIFF (Edinburgh, Read more / Læs mere Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Doc Discussion/ 4Written 31-08-2011 10:14:10 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Jorge Yetano writes: I was reading the posts from Louise Rosen and Mikael Opstrup, and I must say, I have been reflecting on the subject myself for some time now, like most of us, just trying to guess which way things are going to develop, so I can't help myself commenting. Many problems have been pointed out, the most decisive are: the drastic reduction of TV funding and the saturation of the market, yes, but I also sense other signs. This is more or less how I see it: talent is now everywhere, where somebody can buy a cheap, tiny, high-performance camera. Cheap tiny high-performance cameras do not make good documentaries, but in talented hands, these cameras will become story-telling devices, and these devices are now in the hands of thousands. That is a fact, and it means there is no longer a centre or a direction that stories from all over the world will take. They just apperar, it is the urge to tell the story going on around you, if you live in a country with poverty, armed conflict or other kinds of trouble, including everyday life. People are telling their own stories, you can see it on the internet: there is no need anymore to go to, say, Venezuela for a documentary if there are cameras in talented hands telling the story in Venezuela. If you want stories you just need the right venues to find them (Storydoc (www.storydoc.gr) was an example). So all of this gives me a feeling (only a feeling) that we are heading towards an "ecology" of documentary. Cameras in talented hands will tell the stories that are around them: local or very local issues, low budgets and deep knowledge of the reality to be filmed (specialization), will be the normal conditions. These stories, if well made, will have a universal sense. Surely talent and storytelling will remain the keys to successful films but the art will become somewhat more like a handicraft if you wish. It actually does sound a little like going back to the origins, but hopefully there will always be a place for bigger documentary productions. Jorge Yetano is an independent film-maker and producer, based in Zaragoza, Spain, who is currently working, along with his brother Miguel, on the feature-length documentary ON THE SHORE, a visual essay on the origin of summer holidays on the spanish mediterranean coast and it's consequences in present time. Photo from the production. Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Doc Discussion/ 1Written 30-08-2011 13:58:36 by Tue Steen Müller If you surf around on websites announcing workshops and pitching fora you might very easily get the impression that everything is fine with documentary financing and coproductions between the countries. It is not, and it should be discussed. This is what Louise Rosen wrote to Mikael Opstrup from EDN and me, who thought that her precisely written worries should be shared by others – and eventually commented by other players in the international documentary sector. You are very welcome to join the discussion. We bring the letters below in Doc Discussion 2 & 3. Louise Rosen is a media executive with over 25 years experience in all areas of the international television and film business. She runs an agency specializing in the financing and distribution of documentaries with particular focus on pre-sales and co-productions, and she has been invited to tutor and lecture all over the world. Mikael Opstrup was a producer of international documentaries since the 90’s. He worked as production Adviser at The Danish Film Institute 1998-2002 and was from 2002 - 2008 co-owner of Final Cut Productions in Copenhagen. He is now Head of Studies at EDN. http://www.louiserosenltd.com/ Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Doc Discussion/ 2Written 30-08-2011 13:53:02 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Louise Rosen writes: Dear Tue and Mikael It was a pleasure working with you again at Storydoc this year. Wonderful that we had a really diverse representation from all over the southern Mediterranean and could spend a day on the Arab Spring with filmmakers from that region. We are living in exciting and yet strange times. So, speaking of strange times, I wonder when we among the oldtimers are going to start to speak more publicly about the dire state of the indie feature doc world? We keep training and workshopping emerging filmmakers but to what end? I looked back at my notes from my talk last year in Corfu (Storydoc training session, summer 2010) and it brings me to tears. Back then I wrote that in the face of media consolidation and diminishing resources for traditional journalism, the world urgently needs the vision and insight provided by independently produced single docs. All the more true today. But the conditions today are 3 or 4 times worse than they were a year ago. What can we do? What is in the best interest of the filmmakers? Is this dreadful climate for feature docs the "new normal"? How do we deal with a sector of the television business that has become almost a monopoly - dominated by a few commissioning editors who wield enormous power and influence? What about the growth of film festivals that attract sponsors and increasing audiences but show films that can't pay for themselves and will vanish into obscurity before they can reach significant numbers of viewers? The world of online, digital distribution is not paying yet. Does this mean that any project requiring more than a filmmaker with a camera, will be lost? No more alternative forms of history or art or science? I'm hoping that there will be discussions of these important issues sometime soon. Filmmakers in some territories are hitting a "wall" in terms of funding and outlets and this will be the case everywhere before we know it. I welcome your thoughts on this. Photo: A film from the catalogue of Louise Rosen. Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Doc Discussion/ 3Written 30-08-2011 13:49:29 by Mikael Opstrup ![]() Mikael Opstrup writes: Dear Louise Thanks for your raising the issue about independent, feature docs. It’s of course a key issue, as you point out. I see it like this: 15 years ago the establishing of a ‘preproduction TV-market’ with all the pitching forums etc. was THE right thing, it brought together the filmmakers and it brought together the filmmakers and the financiers at a time where TV was a major financing factor. In some of the big western European countries like Germany and France and in the Scandinavian countries there was and is a massive national public funding – but it doesn’t change the overall picture in Europe in general. Now this has changed radically, the TV money has gone down dramatically and there is absolutely a need for a change. The big question is what today’s equivalent in terms of financing is. I have a clear feeling that we are in a limbo, the old financing has diminished and no new one has come instead. Cross Media, VOD and other online platforms, crowd funding etc. none of it fills the gap and I’m not sure they will or at least I’m not sure which one will? So the only source that I see apart from these ones is the public funding, which is of course more cultural and national orientated and less market orientated. There is no doubt that public funding and independent doc has a beautiful history together – in Europe, not talking about the US – but is it realistic? I’m not sure – and I’m not only thinking of the current financial crisis but also beyond this. Of course – speaking about strategies and future possibilities – one also has to take into consideration what impact the changing formats have on the financing possibilities. Will we see an explosion in shorter formats for web, mobiles etc? Will the digitalization of cinemas open up this location that has almost only been a temple for fiction and alongside screening sports events, operas etc be a possible financial possibility for docs? Photo: Steam of Life, Finland, 2010, 82 mins. – chosen by Mikael Opstrup. Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Danish DocuTurbulenceWritten 19-02-2011 11:28:41 by Tue Steen Müller For our non-Danish readers: The two postings below in Danish language deal with a current scandal in Danish film administration. At least this is what it has been called. In brief: Danish film magazine EKKO publishes an article by journalist René Fredensborg. In this article Fredensborg refers, among other things, to his new carreer as applicant for support for a documentary at DFI (The Danish Film Institute). In gonzo journalistic style he describes his meeting with film consultant Jesper Jack at a project development seminar. After dinner the film consultant offers the applicant cocain which they enjoy together the whole night through. Ten months later the applicant goes public with that information, after he has received 200.000 Dkr (around €27000) for the development of the project. The film consultant is sacked and hell breaks loose over the insinuations in the article that film support is only given to and by people who have gone to the Danish Film School and are close pals. Front page of the cultural section of the most important Danish newspaper, lots of discussion in the tabloid – and on filmkommentaren.dk below an article by former independent producer and production responsible at DFI, Mikael Opstrup, who, having been on both sides of the desk, rejects having experienced any kind of cronyism and nepotism. Plus a small PS by this blogger on the editorial line of a magazine, EKKO. Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments EKKO - hvor er redaktionen?Written 18-02-2011 15:45:40 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Et lille PS til Opstrups mail: Den tarvelige smudskastende artikel i EKKO af René Fredensborg, forsmået ansøger hos Det danske Filminstitut, fik den konsekvens at en filmkonsulent blev fyret. Og Peter Ålbæk kunne så more sig i Berlin med sange, der refererede til den fyrede konsulents navn og stofbrug. Hit the Road Jack... morsomt eller bare gængs dansk morsom ondskabsfuldhed? Et nærmere kig på bladet, hvori artiklen er bragt, kan kun få hovedet til at ryste og munden til at sige: Jamen, kære redaktion, det hænger jo slet ikke sammen? Er det et filmblad I vil lave? Eller er det sådan lidt-af-hvert, stort og småt, som man kan tillade sig på en con-amore gratis tilgængelig blog som denne, men ikke med en fire-farve-smukt-layout'et trykt ambitiøs publikation, som udkommer med kraftig støtte fra det offentlige. EKKO har fulgt sagen om "Defamation", som udgives på dvd til gang for læserne. Fint. EKKO har interviews med Jesper Christensen og Anthony Dod Mantle. De er gode. Og der er mange andre læsværdige artikler og anmeldelser, men så kommer nogle totalt ligegyldige sider om Oscar'en, nærmest sådan lidt gossip i stil med Fredensborgs udfald. Hvor er linien, hvor er det redaktionelle fokus? Tag jer dog tid til diskussion efter den gigantiske redaktionelle fejldisposition med Fredensborgs artikel. Drop det lette stof, læg det eventuelt ud på jeres nyhedsbrev, det kan man jo bare lade være at få tilsendt. Og drop Categories: Film History, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments René Fredensborgs indsnævrende EKKO artikelWritten 17-02-2011 18:48:10 by Allan Berg Nielsen Mikael Opstrup har overladt os denne mail til EKKOs redaktør Claus Christensen. Opstrup venter stadigvæk på svar. I mellemtiden har vi på Filmkommentaren valgt at bringe den som en slags åben mail: Kære Claus. Da jeg i dag (11. februar) hørte om afskedigelsessagen mod Jesper Jack blev jeg ked af det, det er dumt og deprimerende hvis en filmkonsulent blander sit private brug af stoffer sammen med sit møde med ansøgere. Det er utilgiveligt og til stor skade for hele støttesystemet. Så nu var det tid at få læst EKKO, som havde ligget ulæst i op til et døgn hjemme i stuen. Så blev jeg endnu mere deprimeret. Jo det er velskrevet og hvis det ikke var for den alvorlige baggrund, også morsomt. Men hvor var det dog indsnævret og reaktionært. Det hviler på 2 helt afgørende præmisser: - ’System A’ er et godt projekt, manden har talent - Filmkonsulenter, redaktører, producere m.m. er en indspist masse, der er fuldstændig ligeglade med film og kvalitet. Når man ser bort fra underholdningsværdien, kan artiklen ikke ses som andet end den underkendte uden-for-eliten’s møde med en indforstået elites arrogante nedladenhed. Folkets møde med parnasset. Vi sidder på magten og hvor er vi dog ligeglade med dem, der skaber kunsten. Det var som at læse Fremskridtspartiets partiprogram omsat til dagsaktuel reportage. Det kan man jo heller ikke udelukke kan finde sted. Men nu kender jeg tilfældigvis de fleste af dem, som Fredensborg omtaler i artiklen. Og jeg kan ikke få det til at stemme. Er det niveauet, er det sådan beslutningerne tages? Har jeg helt misforstået de seneste par årtier? Jeg kender begge positioner. Jeg har i mange år, som du ved, været producer og dermed ansøger på filminstituttet. Og jeg har været ansat på DFI i 4 år. Jeg kender begge sider af skrivebordet og det har været meget lærerigt. De sidste 2 år har jeg været hverken-eller. Jeg har med andre ord ikke noget i klemme. En diskussion om støttesystemer og konsulenter er altafgørende vigtig, men denne artikel er vel det mest indsnævrede udgangspunkt, man kan forestille sig. For ét er den konkrete ageren af Jesper Jack, noget andet er artiklens indforståede kontekst, som er det der står tilbage, nu hvor der er indledt afskedigelsessag mod manden. Det synes jeg ikke skal stå uimodsagt. Jeg stiller gerne op. Kærlig hilsen Mikael. SENERE: Jeg har i dag 18. juni 2011 modtaget denne mail fra Claus Christensen med anmodning om, at den bliver bragt her på siden: "Årsagen til, at jeg aldrig har besvaret Mikael Opstrups henvendelse, er den banale, at Ekkos server var nede i det døgn, hvor mailen blev sendt. Jeg har derfor aldrig modtaget mailen, men kan forsikre jer om, at Opstrups udmærkede indlæg ville være blevet bragt sammen med de mange andre kritiske indlæg, som Ekko fik tilsendt om konsulentsagen og straks bragte på hjemmesiden www.ekkofilm.dk. I Ekko er debatten fri, og der er højt til loftet, også når det er magasinet, som bliver kritiseret. Hvad Opstrups spørgsmål angår, vil jeg henvise til lederen i Ekko #53, hvor vi kommenterer debatten, takker for de mange indlæg og for vores del afrunder sagen. Mikael Opstrup skrev med det samme i dag, da Claus Christensen sendte ham og mig besked om, at han aldrig havde fået hans mail, sådan: "Kære Claus Tak for din mail. Da du jo udelukkende forholder dig til den redaktionelle indledning og ikke substansen i mit indlæg, har jeg sådan set ikke mere at tilføje. Andet end, at mailen ligger i min ’Sendt’ boks, afsendt d. 11.2.2011 kl. 20:02 til Claus Christensen. Bare til din information. Venlig hilsen Mikael Opstrup" Og det er altså hvad Christensen svarer på og forklarer. Jamen, så er sagen jo opklaret. Jeg (ABN) kan kun konkludere, at nu kan Claus Christensen jo bringe Opstrups indlæg i Ekko og måske kommentere det. Men hvis han forståeligt vurderer, diskussionen om støttesystemer og konsulenter nu er forældet i Ekko, kan han af hensyn til Historien kommentere den her, og måske revitalisere den, så den kan flyttes til forsiden, hvad det principielle indhold i Opstrups tekst kunne indbyde til. Jeg skrev dengang, at Filmkommentaren i ventetiden bragte Opstrups indlæg. Jeg tænkte ikke på, at Ekko ville droppe det, glemme det eller noget. Blot, at de nok havde meget travlt der på bladet. Nu ved jeg så, at de også havde maskinskade. Det hele er opklaret, og alt er i orden. Categories: Polemics 0 comments StoryDoc – the Creative Documentary?Written 07-12-2010 13:55:46 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Emma Davie, Scottish filmmaker and film teacher at the Edinburgh College of Arts did a brilliant lecture on what a creative documentary can be. She was adressing her colleagues with advice and reflections that came from the clips from the films she had chosen. She started with ”My Body” (2002) by Norwegian Margreth Olin, a personal film with a wonderful grainy texture – Olin had found her form, Emma Davie said, do the same, do not think about a big audience, make films that talk to your best friend. ”Do not make documentaries if you don’t have to”, is one of the Ten Points made by Russian director Viktor Kossakovski, who also said that you should not think during the filming but before and after. The clip from ”Belovs” (1993), the masterpiece of the Russian auteur, made Emma Davie say that it is so giving to see the ordinary changed. The joy of looking and be looked at were introductory words to Marc Isaacs ”The Lift” (2002), yes, filmed in a lift, people going in and out, a film that has its limitations in time and space. But what if you have a person, who actually do not want to be filmed. Like the father in Alan Berliner’s original ”Nobody’s Business” (1996), a neo-classic, full of humour and visual ideas, perfect in rythm. The creative documentary does not pretend that it knows all, the simpler the more fascinating, Emma Davie said, and use suspense if you can. She referred to Berliner’s film, will the father give in and actually reveal anything from his past? Davie ended with Marcel Lozinski’s ”Anything Can Happen” (1995) (PHOTO), a unique film, one of the absolute favourites of this blogger. The little boy in the park going to old people on the benches, having dialogues with them about life and death, about being old, about religion. Pure pleasure. As was the lecture of Emma Davie. Categories: Festival, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Ken Loach on TelevisionWritten 18-10-2010 13:44:41 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Ken Loach, no introduction needed, gave a strong speech the other day at the opening of the London Film Festival. According to the Guardian, that brought an excerpt of the speech (Saturday 16 October) the veteran director, who has made several films and tv plays for the BBC, Loach launched a quite tough attack on television and BBC in particular... "Television has now become the enemy of creativity. Television kills creativity. Work is produced beneath a pyramid of producers, executive producers, commissioning editors, heads of department, assistant heads of department and so on that sit on top of the group of people doing the work and stifle the life out of them...if you´ve got 10 people sitting on your shoulder... you can´t be creative. All you can be is a mess...", Loach said, and continued, "those of us who work in television and film have a role to be critical, to be challenging, to be rude, to be disturbing, not to be part of the establishment. We need to keep our independence. We need to be mischievous. We need to be challenging. We shouldn´t take no for an answer. If we aren´t there as the court jester or as the people with the questions they don´t want to be asked who will be?" Categories: TV, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Kasper Torsting: Åbent brev til MedusaWritten 27-03-2010 09:53:00 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() En forfattergruppe, som kalder sig Medusa står for kronikken Birthe fra Vejle lægger niveauet for tv, der blev bragt i Politiken i søndags. En bredside af en kritik af TV´s personfiksering og føleri. Kasper Torstings film Søren Gade - de sidste 48 timer blev konkret prügelknabe: http://politiken.dk/debat/kroniker/article928450.ece Torsting har sendt os dette åbne brev om journalistik og dokumentarfilm: Når jeg læser jeres kronik, bliver jeg forvirret. Forvirret over at være enig i mange af jeres synspunkter samtidig med, at I vælger at bruge en film, jeg har lavet som eksempel på det, I kritiserer. Godt og vel 600.000 mennesker så filmen, og ifølge Gallups TV-meter måling var seernes karakter fire ud af fem mulige. I al beskedenhed et udmærket resultat. Desværre vil det høje seertal være negativt i jeres optik. Alle er naturligvis velkomne til at mene, hvad de vil om min film, men når I (“Tænketanken” Medusa) skyder til højre og venstre med jeres generelle anklager mod TV branchen - samtidig med at I selv forlanger dybde og saglighed - så er det måske på sin plads, at eksemplerne ikke er så upræcise. Og vi er rørende enige om, at der er nok at tage af - altså eksempler på dårligt TV. Og hvorfor mener jeg så, at min film ikke er et specielt velvalgt eksempel på dårlig journalistik?
Read more / Læs mere Categories: TV, Polemics 0 comments Kasper Torsting: Krigsministeren 2Written 21-03-2010 17:39:25 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Filmen og dens opfølgende arbejde er voldsomt debatteret. Højdepunktet i troløse udtryk er Ekko-anmeldelsens bemærkning om instruktøren som "en nyttig idiot". Kasper Torsting har forleden dag svaret med en kronik i Berlingske Tidende, hvor han skviver om den observerende dokumentarfilm som en stolt tradition med æstetisk - og etisk måske også - front mod en del journalistik. Her er et link til kronikken og et link til Ekkos anmeldelse: http://www.berlingske.dk/kronikker/en-nyttig-idiots-bekendelser http://www.ekkofilm.dk/?id=865&allowbreak=Nej De to film er emnet for en filmaften i FOF-Randers' filmklub onsdag 24.marts 19:00: http://www.infof.dk/alt/default.asp?enhed_id=13&rekl=1 Categories: TV, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Dola Bonfils om at forsinke virkelighedenWritten 26-12-2009 13:03:12 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Jeg ser på det her still, og jeg ser straks, at det er Vilby i baggrunden. Pålideligheden og engagementet og videnmængden personificeret. Dola Bonfils og Lise Lense Møller har sendt ham til New Delhi for at møde en berømt miljøforsker. Det er i 1996 vil jeg tro. Og i scenen her er de ude at kigge på tingene. Bonfils laver filmoptagelser af det, som sker. Men det vill vare længe, inden jeg får lov til at se, hvad det er, som sker. For hun tøver, filminstruktøren, hun tøver med vilje. Hun har et par år tidligere skrevet hvorfor, principielt og i en æstetisk bemærkning i forordet til et katalog på Nationalmuseet: "...´Direkte´står der af og til i fjernsynsbilledet (Dola Bonfils skriver i 1993..), sådan at vi kan bide mærke i følelsen af, at vi er midt i en transmission til hinanden. Foran kameraet ved de, at deres statistikker og kurser, svedperler på overlæben, hypoteser om fremtiden og katastroferapporteringer er udnævnt til at være verdensbegivenheder før de har fundet sted - har fået plads i historien så at sige før den er skrevet. Foran skærmen i stuerne får vi et kick af at se bolden sejle ind i målet det øjeblik, det sker, og vi nyder endnu engang, at virkeligheden kan reduceres til, hvad man kan se og høre, når man er til stede selv og sammen med andre. Det er typisk for en tendens i medierne at fokusere vores opmærksomhed omkring denne opfattelse af tiden, snarere end omkring vores mening. Det direkte billede lader kun nutiden slippe igennem, og overlader til den enkelte at bearbejde modstridende, komplicerede, vidtrækkendeeller dramatiske informationsmængder. Read more / Læs mere Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics, Poetics 0 comments Mogens Rukov om sandheden bagved det tilgængeligeWritten 25-12-2009 21:16:47 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Jeg er dokumentarist, understregede Ulla Boje Rasmussen forleden, vi talte om hendes nye film, og der var noget der, som er vigtigt for hende. Hun er i den anstrengende slutfase af arbejdet med en stor film om en berømt (og nu vist også berygtet) islandsk slægt. Hun forsvarede sin detailinteresse for alt det faktuelle derude, hvor virkeligheden er, forsvarede den over for en interesse, måske hos klipperen, måske hos forfatteren, for filmens konstruktion, over for den virkelighed, som findes derinde, derinde i filmen. Jeg tror Ulla B R bekymrede sig for sandheden i den sidste virkelighed og mistænkte filmkonstruktionen for at forråde den til fordel for sin egen, som var fiktion. Hun tøvede så gribende med at forlade én virkelighed for at ankomme til en anden. For hvad med sandheden? I 1990 instruerede hun den vidunderlige film 1700 meter fra fremtiden om dagliglivet på det færøske sted, Gásadalur. Og i filmens katalog beskæftiger Mogens Rukov sig med denne sandhedens forvandling, som han ser det er. Som filmen og ikke den journalistiske tv-reportage kan. ”Vi er i en lille bygd på en stor ø i Færøerne, nogle kilometer fra en større by (indkøbsstedet), adskilt fra den af et højt fjeld, en flere timer lang vej, en bygd med kun 16 indbyggere i en klynge huse, deres får og kvæg, græsgangene, klipperne, havet. Det kan ligne en almindelig dokumentarfilm. Men det er det ikke. Den er sær, skæv, uden at gøre opmærksom på det, uden at blive påtrængende som form, alligevel anderledes struktureret. Det kunne have været en reportage. De 1700 meter fra fremtiden er et reportageemne. Det drejer sig om en tunnel, der måske/måske ikke bliver anlagt som forbindelse til den større by. Men det er kun en maske, noget, der foregives, der spilles med. Formen er dybere. Reportagen går i stykker, gennemhulles af den virkelighed, hvori den finder sted. Man kunne tale om en ustandselig distraktion mod det virkelige, menneskene og deres historier. Read more / Læs mere Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics, Poetics 0 comments Marguerite Duras about New Narrative RegionsWritten 23-12-2009 22:38:37 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Niels Pagh Andersen vil have ballade. Den er jeg med på. Så jeg fortsætter med mit højtravende intellektuelle snak, som det er blevet kaldt. Jeg finder lige et citat igen, jeg faktisk fandt for nogle uger siden. Og nu nægter jeg at aflevere bogen på biblioteket. Det er fra indledningens ”General Remarks”: ”The names of Indian towns, rivers, states, and seas are used here primarily in a musical sense. All references to physical, human, or political geography are incorrect: You can’t drive from Calcutta to the estuary of the Ganges in an afternoon. Nor to Nepal. The ‘Prince of Wales’ hotel is not on an island in the Delta, but in Colombo. And New Delhi, not Calcutta, is the administrative capital of India. And so on. The characters in the story have been taken out of a book called The vice-consul and projected into new narrative regions. So it is not possible to relate them back to the book and se India Song as a film or theatre adaption of The Vice-consul. Even where a whole episode is taken over from the book, its insertion into the new narrative means that it has to be read, seen, differently. In fact, India Song follows on from The Woman of the Ganges. If The Woman of the Ganges hadn’t been written, neither would India Song. The fact that it goes into and reveals an unexplored area of The vice-consul wouldn’t have been a sufficient reason. What was a sufficient reason was the discovery, in The Woman of the Ganges of the means of exploration, revelation: the voices external to the narrative. This discovery made it possible to let the narrative be forgotten and put at the disposal of memories other than that of the author: memories which might remember, in the same way, any other love story. Memories that distort. That create. Some voices from The Woman of the Ganges have been used here. And even some of their words. That is about all that can be said.” (Marguerite Duras: India Song, 1973, English translation 1976) Jeg skriver selvfølgelig det her lange citat af, fordi jeg lige nu tror, at hvis vi skal begynde eller gå videre med en diskussion om dokumentarfilm og dens religion, dokumentarismen, kunne det være skægt at veksle sætninger om virkelighederne, filmens virkelighed og den såkaldte virkeligheds virkelighed. Altså den uden for filmen, som man hævder findes. Glædelig jul til Niels P A og alle I andre… Categories: Film History, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics, Poetics 0 comments Geyerhalter: Too Many Cheap tv DocumentariesWritten 04-11-2008 22:59:57 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() This year’s Top 10 at the coming IDFA festival in Amsterdam is put together by Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter. He has chosen films that have impressed him and that have played a role in his own development. Here is a clip from his motivation, where he praises Pirjo Honkasalo and her last big documentary: Still: The 3 Rooms of Melancholia Categories: TV, Film History, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Riga Diary...tv and Artistic Docs 2Written 15-09-2008 08:17:00 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() I (Tue) wrote from Riga about the theme in the headline after a pitch at the Baltic Sea Forum. I made Iikka Vehkalahti comment on it and now there is a contribution from Marje Jurtshenko at Estonian Television, who was present and argued against the use of the expression "too artistic": I see that I have raised a hot topic! I really got pissed of talking about "too artistic for tv" - especially when I didn't see anything that artistic in the trailer. Anyway, here is a short comment to Iikka: I agree with many things what Iikka says about television and the way filmmakers sometimes try to hide weak stories behind the shaping but I also think that film is the combination of good story AND the visual, so if the content asks for the creative visual thinking I think we should encourage that. Tv has changed, of course, now it is mainly a fast food place but to be honest I know that there are also lot of people out there, who would like to have some gourmet dishes once in awhile. Even if those are more difficult to digest, even if it takes more money and time to prepare it. I think that lot of the commissioning editors (not only) underestimate their audience as well. Of course if your slot has to make rating then you have to go for fast food but if people have chance to show creative docs, I think they should make effort also to support this kind of filmmaking (or thinking in general). Because if those people say that films are too creative and nobody will need those, of course soon this kind of filmmaking will disappear. And then I will better turn on the radio. Marje Jurtshenko. Categories: TV, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Riga Diary... tv and Artistic DocsWritten 10-09-2008 18:47:37 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Iikka Vehkalahti, YLE Finland had this comment to Riga Diary 5: "Dear Tue. I have to admit, that we (YLE TV 2 Documentaries) have a slogan: " don´t look at tv, look at TV 2 Documentaries". It´s implement is actually the fact, that the nature of the television has changed. In the minds and in the decisionmaking. Because of several reasons of course. Starting from the competition of viewers, the slot programming, the new entertainment programmes, the nature of societies and cultural atmosphere etc.. etc.. etc.. The fact is that for a demanding, complex, creative, different documentary film there is not very much of space in television. And commisioning editors, they know that. But another thing is of course if they have given up, if they don´t fight for the best films with all possible tools starting from festival awards and ending at the marketing tools from YouTube to blogs and like art museums, the circle of friends. Ok, we can say, that in mainstream television art fight is doomed, that only special channels like.. documentary channels... but.. at the same time I have to copy my own words that I planned to write into Steps by Steps book, but left out (because it can be misunderstood). Good to read also I think: TO BE IN BETWEEN Too often directors consider themselves more fascinating, than the stories they tell. And that means they place themselves between the audience and the story - usually in the name of Art. And sure it's great if the director really is an artist and is able to create new dimensions and interpretations of a story. But if the director is just trying to make a weak story more interesting by decorating it - the only audience that'll be satisfied are the lousy juries at little tinhorn film festivals." Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments Riga Diary 5Written 07-09-2008 00:50:43 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Too artistic for whom? For the commissioning editor and his/her personal taste or for the viewers? What a patronising attitude! And what is meant by "too artistic"? In this case the trailer that was shown included some reconstructions, some tableaux that should give us the audience some idea of a stylistical approach. Call it a personal handwriting. Nothing unusual, just a bit different from the mainstream but enough to scare some of the television people. Not all of them, fortunately, the representative from Estonian television liked the clip and dared to mention that the film could also be good for festivals. Which pissed off the representatives from BBC and DR, who expressed their disrespect for "festival films", i.e.for them are films for the happy few. Two comments to this: Well, this is just another confirmation that public television is run by the journalistic, mainstream approach, that programmes which are a bit different do not stand a chance. And that - with other words - you can forget all documentaries with artistic ambitions. Understandable it is that the audience feels that it is underestimated and choose to go to festivals instead. Which they do in big amounts, in full cinema halls that - added up - very often grap a bigger audience than the one that watches television. Art and televison? Forget about it, except for some few exceptions. Photo: Jurga Ivanauskaitė. Categories: TV, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 1 comments Filminstituttet under kraftig privatiseringWritten 13-08-2008 19:31:14 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Ebbe Preislers indsats for dokumentarfilmen i Danmark er omtalt under Mandagsdokumentaren. At han ikke er bange for at tage bladet fra munden viser følgende klip fra hans forord til programmet. Vi tilslutter os helt hans nødråb vedr. udenlandske kort- og dokumentarfilm: Still: Hvor er kopierne til publikum af Audrius Stonys mesterværk - ordets betydning erindret - ALENE ? Hvor han som filmlærer til eleverne må man tro i en overstadig generøs sammenhæng anbringer en mangfoldigh ed af filmiske greb i én bevægelse. Jacob Høgel støttede i sin tid som konsulent produktionen.Men hvor er vores produkt? De tilgængelige kopier? (ABN) Categories: Film History, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Cine-essays i CinemateketWritten 12-08-2008 16:28:21 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Tak for det. Glæder mig og håber mange vil tage imod tilbuddet. Til gengæld må jeg brokke mig over den slatne præsentation, som Cinemateket giver denne – og andre serier. Én ting er, at det trykte program af sparegrunde er skåret ned til næsten ingenting, men når der så henvises til nedenstående hjemmeside, forventer man at møde gode, lange tekster eller henvisninger/links til hvor man kan få mere at vide. Helt i et filmmuseums ånd... Det har hjemmesiden bare ikke, det er helt den samme tynde tekst som i programmet, om den enkelte film + credits. Tag nu ”Nat og tåge” som Filmmuseet for årtier siden udgav et hæfte til, hvorfra der f.eks. kunne have været citeret. Dette hovedværk i dokumentarfilmens historie, som var på Statens Filmcentrals hitliste i årevis, og nu er taget ud af kataloget, det skal Cinemateket nu ikke klandres for, spises af med: "I ’Nat og tåge’, Alain Resnais’ fineste cine-essay, er tonen tyst og afmægtig. Hvordan, spørger Resnais, kan vi glemme KZ-lejrenes rædsler? Hvordan huske dem?" http://www.dfi.dk/cinemateket/Cinemateket.htm Categories: Film History, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Baltic Tour: LithuaniaWritten 29-07-2008 09:17:34 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Anyway, I can report to you that the Lithuanians keep their artistic quality. I have several times on this blog (use search on the site) mentioned the names of Arunas Matelis and Audrius Stonys, manyfold awarded in their own country and filmmakers who are very much esteemed internationally. IF Lithuania still lacks a healthy and internationally open structure for funding of documentaries, and IF Lithuania has much less money available for production than the two other Baltic countries, the fact that I have recommended the selection committee at DOK Leipzig to watch 6 out of the 9 films that I saw, talks for itself. It is a country that salutes the auteur, the originality, the trust in images to tell the stories and the many layered documentaries that is what makes a creative documentary. My host in Lithuania, a name I mention with much respect and admiration is Audrius Stonys, who makes one film per year, always related to the culture and traditions of his native country, always challenging to watch, born out of humanistic thinking. This time the title is "Four Steps", made out of a deep fascination of super-8 mm wedding films, shot in 1961, 1972, 1983 and 2007. And of course it is not "only" about wedding traditions, it is also philosophy and literature and songs and music. I look forward to see this film for the third time! Now I break the rule of one name per country and salute Arunas Matelis as well. He is not only the master behind "Before the flight Back to the Earth" and a series of films that we saw at the Balticum Film & TV Festival in the 90'es, but has also taken the responsability to help the completion of Audrius Mickevicius long awaited and internationally supported (YLE, Finland and MDR, Germany) film about a man and his horse, "The Year of the Horse". A real Baltic documentary. Slooow, image born, no commentary, humour, a hymn to a life far away from the noisy metropoles. And far away from mainstream journalistic docs. Do you read this, consultants at the Danish Film Institute? http://www.shakespeare.lt/ http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/default.asp?page_id=2 http://www.stonys.lt/index.asp?DL=E Photo: Audrius Stonys Categories: Festival, Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments DOKS 100Written 11-07-2008 19:59:23 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() De hundrede mest bevaringsværdige danske dokumentarfilm... den opgave blev stillet undertegnede og Niels Jensen for nogle år tilbage. Og den liste kan diskuteres, naturligvis, og I skal vide, hvis I kigger os nærmere i kortene, at når Jørgen Roos, Jørgen Leth og Jon Bang Carlsen ikke er med på listen, så er det fordi deres film allerede er sikret bevaring på bedst mulige måde. Husker I det, filmmuseum? Her er teksten fra hjemmesiden, som I kan klikke jer ind på: http://www.dfi.dk/bibliotekogarkiver/billedarkiv/billederonline/doks100/doks100.htm "Det Danske Filminstituts Filmarkiv bad i begyndelsen af 2006 to inkarnerede dokumentarfilmkendere, Tue Steen-Møller og Niels Jensen, om at udpege de 100 væsentligste og mest signifikante danske dokumentarfilm. Denne liste, der fik navnet "Doks 100", anvendes som rettesnor for bevaringsindsatsten i forhold til dokumentarfilm i filmarkivets samling (en lignende er tidligere blevet udformet for danske spillefilm). I forbindelse med det filmografiske arbejde blev listen udvidet med yderligere 39 titler, tilskyndet af Filminstituttets ph.d.-stipendiat Palle Bøgelund Petterson." Still fra Anne Wivels Giselle, som er med på listen "Doks100" (+39). At filmen også er med på spillefilmlisten er selvfølgelig og dog tankevækkende. (ABN red.) Categories: Film History, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments OprigtighedWritten 15-06-2008 08:58:22 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Jeg læser så lige det, som Kohl opfordrer til. Og så godt! Det er endnu en alvorlig og præcis og klog artikel af Peter Laugesen. En vigtig kommentar til Jacob Kjær Pedersens Agenten der sladrede om Frank Grevil. Laugesen peger på, at filmen beskriver den hverdag, som er blevet Grevils. Og kun vil det: "Filmen er en egentlig dokumentarfilm, uden spillefilmsindslag - kun lidt indklip af den skæggede statsmand, der rutinemæssigt hævder, at der ikke er noget at komme efter, bryder den triste rutine, der er blevet Frank Grevils dagligdag." Og den dagligdag beskriver Laugesen så indlevet, at jeg bestemt må se efter igen i Kjær Pedersens film, er det der virkelig altsammen? Netop så gribende fortalt som Laugesen skriver? Det kan jo være. Læs artiklen og se filmen! Peter Laugesen: Den oprigtige, Information 13. juni 2008. http://www.information.dk/160729 Jacob Kjær Pedersen: Agenten der sladrede, DR1 http://www.dr.dk/Dokumentar/tv/DR1/2008/0526143634.htm Categories: TV, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Journalistik eller hvad?Written 10-06-2008 21:22:21 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Så har jeg fat i Line Holm Nielsens artikel. Og jeg ser ikke helt filmen som hun. Jeg har i det, jeg så, ikke belæg for, at datteren ikke får knus nok, jeg opfatter bemærkningen om moderens fravær ved studenterhøjtideligheden som en almindelig følelsesunderdrivelse hos en Grevil, der jo netop som agent og som mand skal glemme følelser og derfor har et sprogligt klodset forhold til dem. Jeg tror modsat Holm Nielsen ikke Grevil er så sølle, som han ser ud i filmen. Han fremtræder sådan, fordi han i filmarbejdet svigtes af en uerfaren instruktør og uopmærksomme klippere og i sidste ende af en redaktør, som sært nok må være tilfreds med resultatet. Jeg synes jo netop som venindens mor, at han er sej. Hvis man ikke må iscenesætte de medvirkende og arrangere foran kameraet i øvrigt og i hvert fald fjerne et ternet forklæde fra agentens mave og røde pølser i en gryde på bordet, så må man vel selv som benhård journalist klippe engang imellem og klippe det væk, som forstyrrer ens billede af det man vil. Så hele linjen fra instruktør til redaktør har svigtet manden, udleveret ham til en følelsestyk forståelse, som Lotte Holm Nielsen kalder det, og til afstandtagende medlidenhed føjer jeg til. Og herfra er jeg fuldstændig enig med hende i den todelte analyse og konklusion. Som hun gør det, hælder jeg til, at filmen ikke ved således at udstille Grevild som forvirret og alkoholiseret eller - som jeg opfatter det - som enlig far med et ret almindeligt privatliv (som i sig selv ikke gør stof til en film), at filmen ikke ved det tilfører Grevildsagen som offentligt anliggende noget som helst relevant nyt. Jeg tror ikke det her er et spørgsmål om ren dokumentar eller dramatiseret rekonstruktion, ikke et spørgsmål om journalistik eller kunst. Det er vist bare en film, som ikke rigtig er lykkedes. Jacob Kjær Pedersen: Agenten der sladrede, DR1 i dag 10:00, genudsendelse. Litt.: Line Holm Nielsen: TVflimmer, Berlingske Tidende, Kultur, 10. juni 2008. Charlotte Aagaard: I nationens tjeneste - Frank Grevil, majoren, der fik nok, 2005. Leif Davidsen: Livet i de hemmelige korridorer, anmeldelse af Aagaards bog, Information 9. september 2005. Artiklen i Berlingske kan ses på http://www.berlingske.dk/article/20080609/kultur/706090009/ Categories: TV, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Ulrik Wivel: RoskildeWritten 29-05-2008 15:55:51 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Jeg har aldrig været på Roskilde festivalen. Jeg kan derfor ikke skrive ud fra genkendelsens glæde, som Politikens Dorte Hygum og Weekendavisens Bo Green Jensen. Og - hovedet på bloggen – jeg kender ikke de optrædende, bortset fra Peter Belli! Så jeg kan ikke hoppe så let ind i det filmiske rum, som jeg kunne med fodboldfilmen. Men jeg ved selvfølgelig om Roskilde og jeg har set forventningen i øjnene på bonussøn og nevøer før de drog afsted. Men der er altså også lange kedsommelige sekvenser, hvor filmen står stille. Hvor jeg føler en repetition og en rytme, som er alt for ens, forudsigelig og udynamisk – det bliver dog bedre mod slutningen, hvor der forsøges mere. http://www.roskilde-festival.dk/2008/forside/roskildefilm/
Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Journalistik eller Filmkunst - Forførerens FaldWritten 28-05-2008 17:27:49 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() En lille opfølgning på Piasecki og Munch-Petersens film, og på Dola Bonfils ønske om "at bruge" de fælles DFI/TV midler til at udfordre de alt for optrukne grænser mellem journalistikken og filmkunsten. I dette tilfælde med en film i serien "Follow the Money". Debatten i Information viser med al mulig tydelighed, at der stadig er nogle kolossale barrierer, der skal nedbrydes. Journalisterne Mads Brügger og Nikolaj Thomassen - ud over deres smiden med verbal lort efter Frank Piasecki, som så returnerer det tilbage i hovedet på dem, lad denne interne debat ligge - forstår simpelthen ikke præmissen for dokumentaren: Her er en mand, som er interessant, vi ved alle sammen at han kørte et blad ned og at han er blevet kaldt for psykopat spalte op og spalte ned, men lad os give ham ordet, lade ham præsentere sit eget liv for fuld skrue. Det er så det, de to FILMinstruktører gør, og så er det op til os seere at mene om det, hvad vi vil. De er drevet af fascination og nysgerrighed overfor et menneske, det er den, de vil give videre til os. Akkurat den samme metode brugte Jon Bang Carlsen i "En rig mand", men også dengang blev instruktøren (af journalister) beskyldt for at være mikrofonholder og lave reklame for en led kapitalist. Som de to instruktører her beskyldes for at være totalt ukritiske overfor deres hovedperson. Hvad de ikke er, de filmiske virkemidler, kameravinklerne, lyset, lyden - alt skaber en stemning omkring og en holdning til en mand, som de har valgt at være fascinerede af uden at ville skilte med den såkaldte "tilstræbte objektivitet" og grundige research, journalistikkens adelsmærker. Og der er intet, der tyder på, at de to har lavet mindre research end en journalist ville have gjort. Det er formen, der støder på modstand, dramatiseringen, hvorfor der opstår ligegyldige diskussioner om hvorvidt en fotograf har taget Peter Lick i kraven eller ej... Hurra for forsøget på at ville prøve noget nyt, jeg håber ikke, men frygter at de kritiske røster vil betyde at TV ikke tør mere, men vil vende tilbage til det kendte klassiske interview format, som er hamrende kedsommeligt og som ingen seere kan være tjent med, når nu det kan gøres meget sjovere og fantasifuldt. Journalisterne styrer tv, kunstnerne nåede aldrig at få overtaget. Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments L.Munch-Petersen/Frank Piasecki: Forførerens faldWritten 27-05-2008 23:35:49 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() På denne blog klagede undertegnede over DFI’s støttepolitik (se under Filmkunst eller Journalistik, eller søg dene titel under ”polemics”) og fik svar fra filmkonsulent Dola Bonfils, her er et citat:
Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Nils Thorsen: Til skideballe hos mesterenWritten 18-05-2008 12:00:12 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Thorsen er en ægte dokumentarist. Han bringer sit publikum ind i et rum, som fyldes helt af hans hovedperson, skuespilleren over alle danske mandlige skuespillere, Jørgen Reenberg. 60 år ved teatret, over 80 år på livets scene. Vi er til stede, vi ler og berøres af hvad vi oplever ved mødet med den gamle mester, som Thorsen er sendt i byen for at interviewe. Ligesom mange dagbladsjournalister kan konstatere, at der er folk iblandt dem, som kan give et interview en kunstnerisk dimension. Tak!
Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Distribution: Jon Bang CarlsenWritten 03-05-2008 20:47:42 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Jeg gik så på bibliotek.dk i går og bestilte løs af Bang Carlsens værk. Og allerede i dag kunne mit dejlige bibliotek her i byen meddele, at jeg kan hente kopier af Zuma the Puma og Min afrikanske dagbog. Men Næste stop paradis og Time out er der ikke noget bibliotek der har, skønt de altså er opført i bibliotek.dk. Imidlertid er der også fra mit dejlige bibliotek kommet besked om, at disse titler nu er reserveret til mig: En fisker i Hanstholm, Fugl Fønix, Jeg ville først finde sandheden, Livet vil leves, Min afrikanske dagbog, Min irske dagbog, Smalfilmerens søn!! Så filminstituttet har ikke fået biblioteksudlånet til private helt destrueret. Endnu.. Og der var flere Bang Carlsen film på lsten i bibliotek.dk. Så det kan være kopierne bliver der, til box serien er ude - og bibliotekerne selvfølgelig køber dem. Allesammen, allesammen. Nu venter jeg spændt på, om reserveringerne fører til, at jeg kan hente kopierne. Det er ikke sikkert, ved jeg. Swedenborgs Om kloderne i vort solsystem som kaldes planeter.. har jeg haft reserveret siden 7. juli sidste år. Men jeg er en tålmodig mand, og det ER et dejligt bibliotek. Foto: Jon Bang Carlsen: En fisker i Hanstholm. Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments At begynde forfra, hver gangWritten 24-04-2008 11:21:38 by Mikkel Stolt ![]() For ja, vi er tvunget til at arbejde med tv, selvom man ofte har lyst til helt Villy'sk at bede dem om at skride af helvede til. Jeg mindes, da jeg lavede mit første dokumentarprogram på DR for år tilbage, hvor redaktøren gerne ville ha' de bedste scener op i starten (altså den avis-journalistiske idé med, at man kan skære fra bunden, hvis nødvendigt), og hvor jeg indvendte, at jeg ikke var indstillet på, at mit program skulle blive dårligere og dårligere, som minutterne skred frem. Nu er trenden den, at en dokumentar skal have "en historie" og opfylde de klassiske dramaturgiske regler, hvilket sådan set bare øger risikoen for, at det hele bliver mere skematisk og forudsigeligt. Det virker nogle gange som om, at man ude i branchen blandt redaktører og film-lærere m.fl. tilsyneladende mener, at nu har man fundet frem til, hvordan film skal laves, og det anser jeg for direkte absurd. De mest interessante film (og det uanset, om udgangspunktet er journalistisk eller kunstnerisk) er efter min mening dem, der tør starte forfra og se på, hvordan nu det her stof kan skæres - og ikke først og fremmest ser det som fortælling, og derefter finder de "rigtige" virkemidler, men hvor man kan mærke, at farverne, de flyvske tanker, lydene, følelserne og sågar de indbyggede idiosynkrasier har været vigtige i frembringelsen. Er det ikke Werner Herzog, der har sagt noget i retning af, at han påbegynder hver ny film, som om han aldrig har set en film før. Dét er en tiltalende tanke, og jeg håber for dokumentarfilmens fremtid, at NDS får held med sine ideer, og at tv faktisk bliver glade for at vise de film, der kommer ud af det. Og hermed stiller jeg tilbage til jorden - haha. Hele diskussionen om tv-stationerne og Det Danske Filminstitut, om journalistik og filmkunst findes i kategorien polemics, som klikkes frem fra forsidens venstre spalte. Categories: TV, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Jon Bang Carlsens samlede værkerWritten 21-04-2008 19:40:15 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Det ser ud til at være helt rigtigt! Her i foråret udgives en dvd-box med Jon Bang Carlsens Sydafrikatrilogi, Addicted To Solitude, 1999, Portræt af Gud, 2001 og Blinde Engle, 2006. Det er første del af en planlagt udgivelse af alle Bang Carlsens film. Forhåbentlig er også de - hvad skal jeg skrive, når det nu er hans film, der er tale om ?? - de egentlige spillefilm (sådan i bureaukratisk forstand), forhåbentlig er de også med i boxsættet? Jeg glæder mig.. De kan stå ved siden af Jørgen Leth og det er en begyndelse til noget stort. Hvem bliver den næste? Jon Bang Carlsen: Den sydafrikanske trilogi, 1999-2006. Dvd-Box, distrbution: Art People http://www.artpeople.dk/Nyheder.54.0.html Her boxen dog endnu ikke nævnt, men den kan fås i hvert fald i Filmhusets boghandel, vil jeg tro http://www.dfi.dk/boghandel/videoshop.htm Og snart vel også på bibliotekerne. De tre film vises i Cinemateket 4., 6. og 7. maj. Categories: DVD, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Gensyn: Baby DollWritten 19-04-2008 08:30:07 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() På DOK2008 forleden bebudede Morten Udsen, efter han havde fortalt om dvd'ernes dramatiske skæbne og mulige fremtid, at der ville komme en box med fire eller var det fem Jon Bang Carlsen film. I forbindelse med premieren på Purity Beats Everything 23. april i filmhuset vistnok.. Til salg i boghandlen i huset vistnok.. I hvert fald et godt valg. Art People står for distributionen http://www.artpeople.dk/ Men der er god grund til at fortsætte eftersøgningen af instruktørens tidlige film, lige nu opleve værkets fulde udstrækning, for utålmodige jeg ved godt, at det kan have lange udsigter med finansieringen af den planlagte fortsættelse, hele Jon Bang Carlsens værk på dvd-boxe. Og jeg er i hvert fald bange for, at det ikke lykkes at få spillefilmene med. I 1988 blev Ofelia kommer til byen (repriseanmeldt her på filmkommentaren.dk) efterfulgt af Baby Doll, hvor alt samles i et kammerspil, i køkkenet mest, på en vestjysk gård. En kvinde alene med sit nyfødte barn møder helt alene de dæmoniske kræfter, vi rummer i vores fortrængte erindring, og overgiver sig lettet efter sej kamp til dem og går som Ofelia ud i vandet. Mette Munk Plum gennemfører alene, stort set, denne timelange tour de force. Grethe Møldrup har roligt klippet thriller-kurven i smukke afsluttede scener, som man ikke kan ryste af.. Munk Plum spiller dem igennem lyrisk, men med dramatiske udbrud, med kortere og kortere intervaller fornemmes det, udbrud af vrede først, derefter apati, så angst og endelig overgivelse og hengivelse. En kurve som Deneuves i Polanskis Repulsion, men genkendelig og således farligere. For i modsætning til Alexander Gruszynskis mytologiske Bovbjerg, som Ofelia og hendes Hamlet færdes i, har Björn Blixt fotograferet moderen Eva og hendes barn i et dokumentarisk skildret landskab, klitten og stranden er lys lys, og i interiører, som er er nøgternt præcise billeder i en scenografi, der som kunstgreb har gjort sig usynlig i en genkendelig realisme. Dørkarmenes farve, gulvenes fernis, hændernes og de nøgne fødders berøringer så taktilt virkelige.. Og alt er også genkendelige Jon Bang Carlsen billeder. Portrætterne på væggen, penduluret, tørresnoren, et blåt klæde, som pludselig dækker scenen af. Og ude gårdsplads og indgang og trappesten som disse huskes. Grusvejens slyng i landskabet. Både Mols og Vestjylland. Det lange filmværks sammenhæng. Jeg har en indvending til lyddesignet, en bestemt overdrivelse, som rammer min ideosynkrasi, men det er fuldstændig ligemeget nu efter de mange år. Alt det vigtige er så lykkeligt bevaret. Jon Bang Carlsen: Baby Doll, 1988. Crone Film Produktion. DVD: www.on-air-video.dk Lånt på Randers Bibliotek, fjernlån. Køb (VHS): DVDCITY http://dvdcity.dk/?52X31X3531XA735353
Categories: Film History, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Journalistik og filmkunstWritten 15-04-2008 17:02:07 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Kommentarer om filmfolk og journalister og deres forskelligheder, om samarbejde mellem filminstituttet og tv-stationerne, om støttepolitik og tv-indflydelse. Ved Dola Bonfils, Jakob Høgel, Niels Pagh Andersen, Tue Steen Müller. Se hele diskussionen ved klik på kategorien Polemics. Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments DFI distribution 2008Written 15-04-2008 12:30:22 by Allan Berg Nielsen ![]() Så fik vi klar besked. Det Danske Filminstitut har stoppet distributionen af nye film på dvd. Fra nu vil instituttet udelukkende distribuere over nettet, og alle nye film overføres til Filmstriben, en ordning, som retter sig mod skoler og biblioteker. Jeg forstod på det hele, at den ældre og vist nok også den gamle filmsamling efterhånden ville blive overført, men at det havde længere udsigter, for den gamle samlings vedkommende, endog meget lange udsigter. Så den berømte danske samling af dokumentarfilm og kortfilm, skabt i SFC-tiden, videreført til for nogen tid siden af DFI, ligger herefter død. Filminstituttet overlader nu retten til at fremstille dvd-er til biblioteker og skoler, det institutionelle marked, til producenterne, eller rettere deler den ret med dem. Producenterne har hele tiden haft eneretten til dvd-salg til det private marked. Da det imidlertid i praksis nærmere er en moralsk kulturel forpligtelse end en ret, bliver det nok ikke så spændende for os herude, hvad der kommer ud af det. Det afhænger dog lidt af den støtteordning til fremstilling af dvd-kopier, som samtidig er oprettet. For mig rejser det her to spørgsmål: 1) Hvem tager herefter fysisk hånd om den enestående samling (basismateriale og førstekopier) og de få eksisterende komplette kopisamlinger, som der engang var tale om at udstationere hos en række organisationer som producenternes, filminstruktørernes og MandagsDokumentaren? Bliver det instituttets filmarkiv? 2) Hvordan bliver herefter adgangen for almenheden i praksis? Hvor går det privatmenneske herude hen, som de senere år så lykkeligt i stadig mere og mere smidigt omfang på biblioteket har kunnet låne film fra denne samling? Filmstriben: www.filmstriben.dk Om distribution af dvd'er, vejledning: http://www.dfi.dk/filmstoette/Nyhedertilfilmbranchen/kdlancering.htm Still: Audrius Stonys: Alene, 2001. Nu klassiker og anerkendt mesterværk med produktionsstøtte fra Det Danske Filminstitut, nåede aldrig frem til distribution. Får den film nu en chance på Filmstriben? Og hvad med os herude?? Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments New Danish Screen og filmkunst og journalistikWritten 10-04-2008 17:13:45 by Jakob Høgel ![]() Jeg springer ind på banen: Jo vi gør noget for filmkunsten i New Danish Screen. Der er mange spændende eksperimenter undervejs. Projekter, der har lyst til at ændre virkeligheden før den skal filmes (ofte i en blanding af dokumentarfilm og aktivistisk kunst). Der er filmprojekter bygget om grafiske og rytmiske kvaliteter i billederne. Der er DIY film, der gør en dyd ud af at klistre alskens materialer (animation, live-action, arkivbilleder osv) sammen. Og så er der også eksperimenter med tv-formater. Vi kigger bl.a på projekter, der vil udvikle og omformatere historie-programmet, reality, bekendelses tv og børne-naturprogrammer. TV er en vigtig og uomgængelig spiller på dokumentarbanen finansielt og distributionsmæssigt (faktisk den vigtigste i sidste henseende). TV er til gengæld ikke engang at finde oppe på tribunerne, hvis det er kunst, der er på programmet. Det forhindrer ikke at tv ofte viser filmkunst. Men det gør at vi i DFI sammenhæng skal samarbejde så meget vi kan med tv, men samtidig sørge for at der er en autonom dokumentarfilmskunst-vurdering og debat. Nu insisterer Tue på at tale navne og lad mig slå et slag for at Christoffer Guldbrandsen er en vigtig kunstner med vægtige værker bag sig. Se hele diskussionen ved klik på kategorien Polemics. Foto: EKKO. Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 1 comments Journalistik eller Filmkunst: Bolden Ruller...Written 10-04-2008 11:18:42 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Åh, Niels, ikke så puritansk... det er ikke muligt at have denne meningsudveksling uden at være direkte og konkret og nævne navne. Og Dola giver da også svar på tiltale ved at understrege at hendes ambition er at udfordre Guldbrandsen og Anders Riis til at give journalistikken en - så lad os da kalde det noget andet end kunstnerisk - kreativ dimension. Det er klart, at TV's indflydelse på filminstitutets støttepolitik vrider skævt og at det betyder at DFI føler sig mere eller mindre forpligtet til at investere i film om Ny Alliance og Blekingegade... nok en gang. Det er da ikke specielt originalt? Skulle vi spille bolden over til Jakob Høgel på New Danish Screen og spørge om han gør noget for at udvikle den danske dokumentarfilmKUNST? Jeg sidder her i Wien, så Allan gider du tage kontakt til Jakob. Se hele diskussionen ved at klikke kategorien Polemics. Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Bolden ikke manden!Written 10-04-2008 09:19:55 by Niels Pagh Andersen ![]() Kære Tue, jeg ved hvor meget du holder af fodbold og at du ved at godt fodboldspil handler om at gå efter bolden og ikke manden der har bolden. Dette gælder selvfølgelig også i debatter. Jeg vil ikke forsvare Dola, det gør hun nok godt nok selv, men DFI's konsulenter. Jeg synes de gennem de senere år har haft en høj standard og har været med til at skabe den internationale succes, som dansk dokumentarfilm har for tiden. Du nævner en lang række instruktører ved navn, som alle har det til fælles at de er udannede jounalister, men derudover laver meget forskellige film. Hvis jeg skulle nævne et fællestræk, er det at de alle har skabt film som har skabt stor debat og forholdt sig til emner i det danske samfund. Det har for mig altid været et vigtigt element i dokumentarfillm. At skabe debat og engagere sit publikum. Jeg bryder mig ikke om, at du gør dig til overdommer for, hvad der er kunst og ikke mindst hvem der er kunstnere. Men jeg vil ikke fortabe mig i den debat, som jeg mener har det forkerte fokus. Der hvor jeg mener du har fat i bolden, er at TV har for meget at skulle have sagt i dansk dokumentarfilm. Ved sidste filmforlig blev en stor del af konsulenternes penge flyttet over i New Danish Screen og erstattet af TV-penge. Det betyder at filmkonsulenterne nu skal blive enige med TV-redaktørerne om langt flere projekter. Dette er foruroligende når man ser hvordan selv Public-servicekanalerne mere og mere bliver styret af kommercielle parametre og mainstream. Det er det, der er en trussel for filmkunsten. Opgaven må være at få fravristet TV den magt (pengene) og få givet den tilbage til konsulenterne, gerne ved næste filmforlig. Det kræver sikkert både hård træning og godt sammenspil, men det er det, jeg ser som målet. Se hele diskussionen ved at klikke kategorien Polemics. Foto: Niels Pagh Andersen in Damascus for DoxBox Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments Filmkunst eller journalistik? Dola Bonfils svarerWritten 07-04-2008 12:37:30 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() DFI's filmkonsulent Dola Bonfils svarer på mit indlæg "Filmkunst eller Journalistik" (link nedenfor). Det gør hun grundigt og klart, samtidig med at hun gør opmærkom på, at hendes tid pt forhindrer hende i at gå ind i skriftlige diskussioner om det vigtige emne. Men det skal ikke forhindre andre i at tage ordet. Her er Dola Bonfils svar: Der er ingen henvendelser til DFI's konsulenter og vores støttesystem, der ikke er sig uhyre bevidst, at det vi repræsenterer er krav om kunstnerisk tilgang og fortælling i filmisk forstand, også når vore ansøgere er journalister og kommer fra vore største (i økonomisk forstand) samarbejdspartnere i det nuværende filmforlig, DR og TV2. Se hele debatten ved klikke kategorien Polemics. Foto: DFI, aktuelt, pressroom. Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments DFI: Film Art or Journalism?Written 01-04-2008 13:31:58 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() The letter below, written to film consultant Dola Bonfils from DFI (Danish Film Institute) reacts to the fact that more and more of the support from the DFI is allocated to journalists with current affairs issued to be made into films. And not to further the Danish documentary film as an art form. I suppose this is a discussion that could be taken in many other countries as well? Is this a trend, and will it damage the innovation of the creative documentary? Is the public funding supposed to take over the role of good journalistic tv documentary? Still: Profession Reporter. Categories: Articles/Reviews ENGLISH, Polemics 0 comments DFI: Filmkunst eller Journalistik?Written 01-04-2008 13:12:11 by Tue Steen Müller ![]() Kære Dola (Bonfils). Jeg skriver til dig, fordi jeg i lang tid har undret mig over DFI’s støttepolitik. Jeg ser det ene gode journalistiske navn efter det andet dukke op på jeres lister: Anders Riis-Hansen med Blekingegadebanden, Jakob Gottschau med terrorismens historie, Jørgen Flindt Petersen om tortur... og nu i går meddeles det, at Christoffer Guldbrandsen skal have 1,3 millioner kroner til en film med titlen ”Dagbog fra Midten” om Ny Alliance. Guldbrandsen er en fin journalist, men er han filmkunstner? Det er der ingen af hans hidtidige film, der vidner om. Han kan rydde forsiden med ”Den hemmelige Krig”, som vakler mellem at være journalistik og personlig fortælling – og så er der filmene om Fogh og Lykketoft. Pænt tv-arbejde, men filmkunst er det ikke, det flytter intet i dansk dokumentarfilm, som andre af de instruktører, du har støttet: Pernille Rose, Asger Leth, Eva Mulvad. Still: Den hemmelige krig. Categories: Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments filmstriben.dkWritten 06-02-2008 19:50:09 by Allan Berg Nielsen Helt så let som med interdocnet.com er det vist ikke på filmstriben.dk! Det vil jeg prøve at finde ud af. Skolen, jeg arbejder for, har fået systemet installeret. Og det virker skam. Men, men.. man skal være en skole eller et bibliotek. Og nu i morgen, jeg skal rykke ud eksternt med Suvi Andrea Helminens vidunderligt smukke "På vej til Paradis" kan jeg ikke tage striben med. Så vidt jeg har kunnet finde ud af. Heldigvis havde Magic Hour Films en kopi tilbage - nu da DBC ikke ville sælge, bare henvise til striben. Hvad nu, hvis jeg ikke arbejdede for en skole? Biblioteket. Men de har den nok også kun på striben. Og så SKAL jeg vist sidde på derhenne et eller andet sted, som jeg ikke har fundet ud af. MEN det gør jeg!! Indtil videre stor tak til det voksende antal producenter, som sælger DVD-kopier af deres film til private. For det er blevet meget, meget svært at komme til at se dokumentarfilm i Danmark. Bortset fra de ganske uundværlige tv-visninger. Men for de smalle film som regel bare én, sen gang. I en biograf i de forkælede byer får man flere chancer. For mig og os andre er DVD pt. lykken, men altså en lykke under afvikling. Nu glæder jeg mig til Helminens film i morgen, som eleverne på højskoledagene elsker. Og taler om, uger efter visningen. I morgen gælder det beboerne i Randers Kloster. Det er der, jeg rykker ud til med den bærbare, højttalere og projektor. Og kopien af "På vej til Paradis". www.filmstriben.dk Suvi Andrea Helminen: På vej til Paradis, 2007. Categories: DVD, Artikler/anmeldelser DANSK, Polemics 0 comments |
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