The Life of Inaki

This film is in production. The filmmakers are from the Basque country and were the ones behind the beautiful music documentary Nomadak reviewed on this site. I know Igor Otxoa who fights for his projects and does it with charm and commitment. He wrote me a letter with a link to the trailer of the film, that I want to share with our readers. But first the story about a film that deals with compassion and solidarity in such a way that the coach of FC Barcelona, Guardiola, used material from the shooting to build up courage and team feeling among his players:

”On the South of Annapurna, at 7.400 metres, a man is dying. His rope companion sounds the alarm. And one of the biggest rescue attempts in the history of the Himalayas gets underway. For four days a dozen men including some of the best mountaineers in the world, from Canada, USA, UK, Switzerland, Russia, Poland, Romanis, Kazakhstan, set out to rescue Inaki Ochoa de Olza. Even beyond his peaks Inaki is an exceptional man. As exceptional as the rescue attempt itself and the men who risked their lives to save him. Exceptional because their one driving rule is to live. To live in the only way possible: with pure intensity and honesty.”

And here is the link to the trailer:

http://www.vimeo.com/12391387  

Dialëktus Festival/1

The director and cinematographer Klara Trencsenyi and her husband, anthropologist Vlada Naumescu made the beautiful documentary Birds Way that was reviewed on this site some months ago. In the review I used the words ”hospitality and openness” and they could very well be used again to characterize how Trencsenyi welcomed her colleagues from Poland, Slovakia and Hungary in the workshop she organised in the framework of the Dialëktus festival, see more about that below.

The workshop was named ”My Deer. Project Development Workshop” and had the very simple aim to have the 9 projects looked at, discussed, rewritten and/or re-edited for the trailers that had been made for presentation at the workshop, where Hungarian director and professor Andras Peterfly and I were the teachers.

Projects included ”Cracow by Polanski” based primarily on the autobiography of the director and presented by the Polish producer Jarek Manka. There was the very promising ”Hungarian Style” (photo) about Hungarian men with impressive moustaches – manhood and patriotism – to be directed by Nora Lakos. ”A Place to Win” by Petra Pelsöczy about old people from Budapest who won a flat in Lotto half a century ago. ”Regina Jonas” by Diana Groó who has a strong filmography of fiction films, animation and documentaries, many of which, like this about the first female rabbi, are Jewish stories. ”Rise of the Snow Leopard” by András Kollmann, a film about a mountain climber who had one leg amputated but wants to go back to climb. The charming ”Roma Rally” by Gabor Hörcher about two young romas who fix cars and want to compete in a race. And another gypsy story by Iraqi director Koutaiba Al-Janabi, himself a foreigner in Hungary, ”7 Days with Gypsies”, it had a great trailer. And ”Young Forever” by Diana Fabianova who will go from menstruation (her first film, ”Moon Inside You”) to questioning the aging.

The film projects were at the end of the week presented to a panel, that included representatives from Hungarian and Czech television, a film critic, an experienced producer, a festival director and a represenative from IDF, Institute of Documentary Film in Prague. One project which is in its editing phase, ”Wonderful Gladiators”, produced by Hungarian HBO, and made by Zsofia Varga-Kabarcz and Panna Boros, was not pitched but I had the privilege to watch a trailer from this film about mentally handicapped actors – looked great, the finished film will travel.  

To read about the projects, go to

www.dialektusfesztival.hu

Dialëktus Festival/2

... is taking place right now in Budapest, last day today for a programme of ”European Documentary and Anthropological Film Festival”. Festival director is Zoltan Füredi, a film director himself, I met him years ago where he was working on a film from Mongolia. He still is, hoping to finish it this year – if he does not initiate new projects for the development and promotion of the documentary in Hungary.

Last time I was in Budapest, Zoltan told me that he would set up a documentary cinema. It is there now, small and cosy art cinema (name DokuArt) with café attached and screening equipment from 35mm to dvd, including an old 16mm machine stading in the corridor as a museum object, but no it still works I was told.

The festival screened, among many others, Cooking History by Peter Kerekes, Moon Inside You by Diana Fabianova, René by Helena Trestikova, Welcome to North Korea by Linda Jablonska and Sevdah (Photo) by Marina Andree – all films that have been reviewed or noticed on this site.

www.dialektusfesztival.hu

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

... takes place July 2-10 and has a fine short trailer with Milos Forman. Take a look at the site below.

The festival has through the last years paid more attention to documentaries and this year 16 titles have made it to the international competition. The on this place constantly mentioned ”Armadillo” is one of them but 4 others reviewed or noticed will be shown in Karlovy Vary:

Katka by Czech Helena Trestikova, The Mouth of the Wolf by Italian Pietro Marcello, The Player by Dutch John Appel and Together (photo) by Russian Pavel Kostomarov.

http://www.kviff.com/en/news/

Janus Metz: Armadillo/9

Ideal 3, Waltz with Bashir: 

"Man kommer ind i universet uden at få en mening stoppet ned i halsen i denne dokumentar. Man får bare lov til at være med og selv bedømme. Og så er der det, at det er en animationsfilm skabt ud fra virkelige optagelser. Animationsformen gør, at man kommer ind i et mere drømmende univers, der ikke bliver så konkret. Den har faktisk samme kvalitet som Stalker , hvor det udefinerbare giver kimen til fantasi. Dokumentarfilm skal ikke nødvendigvis være konkrete, for som filmskabere er vi hele tiden med til at redefinere konventionerne." (Lars Skree, fotograf på Armadillo i interview i Politiken, Film, 3. juli 2010)

Hvem er denne Bashir? Eller rettere, hvem var han? Har jeg vidst det og glemt det? Filmen handler om at glemme. Historiens fortæller, som også er filmen instruktør har glemt alt det med denne Bashir og krigen i Libanon i hans ungdom. Hvor han var deltager. Det er mere end 25 år siden.

Bashir Pierre Gemayel (1947-1982) var libanesisisk politiker, militschef og valgt libanesisk præsident i tre uger. Han var ledende medlem af falangistpartiet og præsidentkandidat ved valget i 1982, da landet var midt i den lange borgerkrig (1975-1990) og besat af både syriske og israelske tropper. Bashir Gemayel samarbejdede med israelerne og især med forsvarsministeren Ariel Sharon. Han var stærkt støttet af den amerikanske regering under Ronald Reagan. Hovedmodstanderen var det palæstinensiske PLO, ledet af Yassir Arafat og endvidere de syriske styrker. Bashir Gemayel blev sammen med 26 ledende falangister samlet til møde dræbt ved at attentat 14. september 1982 af en syrisk orienteret maronit kristen. Falangisternes hævn blev den massakre, som Folman havde søgt at glemme. Sammen med de øvrige israelske tropper så han og vennerne passivt til fra deres stillinger et par hundrede meter derfra.  

En nat på en bar sidder Ari Folman sammen med en ven fra dengang. Kammeraten fortæller ham om et tilbagevendende mareridt, hvor han jages af 26 bidske hunde. Altid samme antal hunde. De to mænd finder i samtalen frem til, at der er en forbindelse mellem den onde drøm og deres opgave som soldater i den israelske hær dengang under den krig, hvor de rykkede ind i Sydlibanon og stødte helt frem mod Beirut. Kammeratens opgave var faktisk at skyde de hunde, før de ved deres gøen røbede et natligt angreb på landsbyen. Men Folman må erkende, at han faktisk intet husker fra den periode af sit liv. Fortrængningen er manifest.

Han opsøger nu en række af de andre fra hans afdeling dengang, og rekonstruerer begivenhederne, som førte frem til massakren på de mange palæstinensiske flygtninge i Beirutbydelene Sabra og Shatila.  

Waltz with Bashir vakte opsigt ved sin fremkomst sidste år, den havde succes på festival efter festival omkring i verden, var Israels bidrag til festivalen i Cannes, og den deltog også i den københavnske og århusianske festivaler. Havde også biografvisninger. Nu kan vi der bor vestligere selv se efter, er Ari Folmans Waltz with Bashir vildt flot, men kold og tom? Som det er hævdet. De fleste kritikere var dog begejstret. Ekstrabladet gav seks stjerner, DR2 Premiere og Politiken hver fem.

Min kollega Tue Steen Müller her på siden gik imidlertid frustreret fra visningen i København. Og har den erfarne mand dårlige fornemmelser med det kunstneriske fintmærkende nærvær under det fremragende håndværk distancering - ja, så er der noget at kigge efter, ved jeg. Og tale om.

Skree og Metzs Armadillo er måske midt i den gruvækkende realitet også et "drømmende univers, som ikke bliver konkret". Måske har Lars Skree med sine bemærkelsesværdige enquette svar foræret os nøglen til den uforglemmelige og gådefulde film om krigerne i Armadillo.

Still: Ari Folman: Waltz with Bashir, 2008

Janus Metz: Armadillo/8

Ideal 2, The Three Rooms of Melancholia:

"Nok en af de mest fantastiske dokumentarfilm, jeg har set. Visuelt er den simpelthen så smuk. Den er næsten to timer lang, og man skal virkelig koncentrere sig. Den er megatung og beskæftiger sig med konsekvenserne af den 2. tjetjenske krig for russiske og tjetjenske børn fra tre forskellige steder. Forældreløse børn hjælpes af det russiske militær, hvis de selv går med i hæren. Måden, den er filmet på, giver den så meget empati, og man får lov til at være fluen på væggen uden at få tingene stoppet ned i halsen". (Lars Skree, fotograf på Armadillo i interview i Politiken, Film, 3. juli 2010)

Skree skyr ikke det tanketunge, når det er smukt som Pirjo Honkasalos triptykon Melancholia. Filmen handler om lovens bud du må ikke vidne falsk mod din næste (Honkasalo bruger den engelske formulering: ”Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”) og funderer over fjendebilledets opståen. Den er en skønhedsmættet meditation over mennesket fanget i voldelig konflikt uden ende og uden nåde. ”Et rekviem over de levende og de døde” skrev New York Times. Filmens tre afsnit skildrer først livet blandt 9 til 14-årige drenge på det russiske militærakademi på Kronstadt, dernæst i illegale optagelser fra det sønderskudte Grosnij, en kvindes uselviske arbejde med på helt eget initiativ med at redde så mange børn som muligt og endelig blandt børnene i en af Ingusjiens flygtningelejre, hvor Kronstadt-elevernes kommende fjender dannes i deres anderledes kultur med modsatrettede billeder af fjenden. Der fældes ingen domme i dette værk, hændelserne betragtes med opmærksomhed, undren og vemod.

Lars Skree har som mesteren Honkasalo filmet Armadillo simpelthen smukt og med så megen indlevelse, at man er til stede lige bag hans kamera og selv må tage stilling til billedet og det, billedet viser. Man får intet forklaret, intet bliver udlagt.  

Still: Pirjo Honkasalo: The Three Rooms of Melancholia, 2004

Janus Metz: Armadillo/7

Ideal 1, Stalker:

"Mange har spurgt, hvad vi havde i tankerne, da vi lavede Armadillo. Og en ting, jeg har tænkt meget på, er det med at være isoleret et sted og ikke rigtig vide, hvem der kigger på hvem. Her har Stalker været en stor inspiration. Man er i en zone, hvor der er heftigt omkring en, men alligevel ser man det aldrig, men fornemmer det kun. Det var mange gange den fornemmelse, vi havde, når vi sad i den lille Armadillo-lejr. Det var jo ikke Armadillo, der omringede hele det store område, men området, der omringede os. Og man var hele tiden beluret." (Lars Skree, fotograf på Armadillo i interview i Politiken, Film, 3. juli 2010)

Jeg blev meget optaget af Lars Skrees svar i den lille enquete den dag. Og jeg kom med det samme til at tænke på, at Janus Metz vistnok I Cannes en dag havde sagt, at han opfattede Armadillo som en filosofisk film, og nu så jeg Skree i sin påpegning af konkrete inspirationer holdt sig til de åndelige sider af det filmkunstneriske felt, i sine ambitioner havde han inkluderet poetiske forbilleder. Først nævner han altså Stalker. Og jeg gik til Tarkovskijs poetik og læser igen det Thomas Mann citat fra Der Zauberberg, som Tarkovskij har sat foran sit essay om "det filmiske billede":

"Wir wollen es so stellen: Ein geistiger, das heisst ein bedeutender Gegenstand ist eben dadurcg 'bedeutend', dass er über sich hinausweist, dass er Ausdruck und Exponent eines Geistig-Allgemeinen ist, einer ganzen gefühls- und Gesinnungswelt, welche in ihm ihr mehr oder weniger vollkommenes Sinnbild gefunden hat - wonach sich denn der Grad seiner Bedeutsamkeit bemisst..."

I sin anmeldelse her på Filmkommentaren er Tue Steen Müller på vej mod denne forståelse af "Armadillo", han tager konkret udgangspunkt i netop et sådant sindbillede: Se på dette billede... Og vi ser, at Skree har filmet denne kriger, som netop for første gang har set, hvad der uden for zonen, set det, som hele tiden har set ham. Tarkovskijs videnskabsmand er rygvendt på vej, Skrees kampvognsfører er filmet en face, vi ser øjnene, som har set "det heftige".

Litt.: Andrej Takowskij: Die versiegelte Zeit, 1984 (tysk oversættelse 2002)

Still: Andrei Tarkovskij: Stalker (da.: Vandringsmanden), 1979

Max Kestner: Drømme i København/4

Vi havde to ret forskellige opfattelser af Max Kestners film, da vi havde set den sammen, Tue Steeen Müller og jeg, ved en tidlig visning i Grand Teatret i København december sidste år. Vi skrev derfor (22. dec. 09) to anmeldelser lige efter hinanden her på siden.

Nu kan læserne selv se efter, hvis nogen ikke nåede det eller vil et gensyn. Filmen sendes på Dokumania på DR2 i aften 20:30.

Freddy Tornberg: Bifrost

Filmen skildrer det særlige miljø, elever og lærere skaber omkring sig på kunstskolen Bifrost i Randers. Skolen er for voksne studerende, og den har undervisning i maleri, grafik og skulptur; på skift arbejder alle 15 elever med alle tre teknikker. Skolen er også værkstedsfællesskab for de 15, som har det til fælles, at de har en fuldstændig ukonventionel kunstopfattelse, vild i sind og fri for almindelige forventninger. Filmen skildrer en dagligdag på skolen, følger enkelte elevers arbejde og beskriver to af lærernes gennemtænkning af skolens didaktiske profil. Katja Herrik er aldeles overbevisende i det hun gør i undervisningssituationerne, og Per Kjærsgaard Jensen er fuldstændig klar og præcis i sine redegørelser i nogle fine, naturlige interview-situationer, instruktøren har arrangeret forbilledeligt, og klipperen sat på plads som hvilepauser i dagsrytmens logik.

Freddy Tornberg har lavet en forbavsende og dejlig film på den berømte kunstskole. Forbavsende, fordi den samtidig med det er klassisk, social reportage også er filmtænkning, et legende let gennemført impressionistisk værk, hvor kameraet helt har overtaget skildringen. Og Freddy Tornbergs kamera er ømheden og empatien selv. Det er en film af frydefuld venlighed som et let kærtegn. En film om at udtrykke omverdenstolkning og livsforståelse i maleri, grafik og skulptur, og samtidig en dybt interessant skildring af en skoles didaktiske principper og konsekvente dagligdag. Principper og metodikker så faste og forbavsende som dem på Schuberts Minde i Ringkøbing, men tilsyneladende stik modsatte. Eller mon de er? Det er eftertanken værd. Resultaterne er tydelige og mange og rige. Og indsigterne i kunstneriske arbejdsmåder alvorlige og dybe som Eliassons, der blev skildret i Jacob Jørgensens film med den store islænding. Tilsyneladende vidt forskellige kunstneriske kvaliteter. Eller mon det er så forskelligt? Det er også eftertanken værd. Eliasson viser sit vandfaldsshow på Hudson i New York, Judith Damgaard Nielsen udstiller sine billeder på Louvre i Paris. Overvejelserne fortsætter i én længe efter filmen. Som i øvrigt holder til det sjældne: at kunne ses igen!  

Foto: Heidi Brinch Hansen: maleri uden titel

Freddy Tornberg: Bifrost, Denmark 2010, 39 min. Subtitles: English, German, Japanese. Script: Freddy Tornberg, camera: Freddy Tornberg, editing: Steen Dongo, sound design: Steen Dongo, producer: Freddy Tornberg, company & sales: Venus Film, distribution: Biblioteksmedier. 

Bifrost, FOF-Randers, J.V. Martins Plads 1, 8900 Randers C

Vurdering:

Vinylmania

Italian director Paolo Campana has for years developed a film project on ”vinylmania”, i.e. on people who are addicted to the wonderful old records that many of us still have on shelves in our homes without using them in this digital age. A couple of days ago I read in a Danish newspaper that vinyl is coming back and that many musicians insist to have their music published in this retro manner. And many love to play them. Which only confirms what I was told a couple of weeks ago in Torino by the director and his producer Edoardo Fracchia from Stefilm, who said that NOW, finally, the film is financed. After years of pitching it around, all of a sudden an interest in broader circles appeared... and the film project has matured as a good wine that waits for the moment to be served!

This posting happens because the director and producer sent me the newsletter connected to the film-to-come with a reference to an entertaining interactive site that you – if a vinyl-addicted – might want to take part in. The photo is NOT representing the director but is taken from the site, that includes blogging, clips sent to the director and photos of passionate collectors.

http://www.vinylmaniafilm.com/

Maziar Bahari on idfa tv

On this site we have written about Mazia Bahari several times. For readers who have not seen his films here is a unique chance to get to know his work. Idfa, the world's biggest documentary festival has published this press release: The filmmaker and journalist Maziar Bahari was arrested on 21 June 2009, nine days after the presidential election in Iran. IDFA TV has compiled a special programme celebrating Maziar Bahari’s work and his vision of Iranian society. Life in Iran through the eyes of Maziar Bahari includes five documentaries by Bahari about Iran, the master class he presented at IDFA 2007, and the interview he gave following his release from prison.
 
Bahari (1967, Teheran) has made more than ten documentaries, both inside and outside Iran. Life in Iran through the eyes of Maziar Bahari includes five of his documentaries that focus on various facets of Iranian society.  Art of Demolition (1998) focuses on a group of artists in Teheran who transform a building scheduled for demolition into an art gallery. One member of that group, Iranian painter Khosrow Hassanzadeh, is also the main character in Paint! No Matter What (1999). This is a self-portrait by the artist, in which he discusses his art with customers in his greengrocery shop and with members of his family.

Football, Iranian Style (2001), currently being screened as part of the IDFA TV Soccer Docs programme, reveals a cross-section of Iranian society through the stories of football fans. In And Along Came a Spider (2002, realised partly with support from the Jan Vrijman Fund) Bahari interviews an

Támas Almási: Puskás Hungary

He was Ulysses and Zorbas, a traveller of the world and a man who enjoyed Life. This is the way, a Greek summarizes the legendary Ferenc Puskas in this entertaining and informative documentary about him. And the Greek loved him because of his years as coach in the club Panathanaikos, as they did love him in Madrid where he played for Real and as they always did love in his native country, at least those connected to football.

For newcomers in football history, who think that the greatest player ever is to be selected among Cruyff, Pélé and Maradona, it is a must to watch this film to get to know a player that this blogger, when a boy, had the pleasure to see in Copenhagen when he came with Alfredo di Stefano, Santamaria and Gento and the rest of the Real Madrid for friendly games. He was as magic as the others with his left foot and loads of goals.

It is impossible to give you the life of Puskas in this short text, and the film does it from birth to death, but the main thread of the biographical film is of course the link to history and the fate of the Hungarian nation in 1956. After having been the captain of the Hungarian national team, and after having won at the Olympics in Helsinki in 1952, and after the triumph of beating England 6-3 on Wembley in London, Puskas was, as all players at that level, a high-ranked major in the army. He was, contrary to some colleagues, not political active but on a trip with Honved Budapest, the club he played for, he decided to stay abroad and not go home to a country that was suppressed, or to a regime that accused him being a traitor of his country. He ends up in Madrid and becomes a superstar in Real, gets Spanish citizenship, plays a few matches for the country before he retires and starts a career as coach in multiple countries, paradoxically all of them run by the military – Spain, Chile, Greece...

The film narrative is constructed within a classical format: archive, interviews with his team mates of the Golden team, voice-off, interviews with his wife, clips from games, clips (not many) with himself being interviewed, text from his autobiography. It is all very well crafted and superbly researched, feels a bit too long sometimes (I could have done without Beckenbauer, Platini, Pélé, who dont really say anything important, and of course there must be other sides and stories about Puskas that we don't get) yet it has magnificent emotionally strong scenes as when he comes back to Budapest in 1981, after 25 years, and are greeted as the fine man, he was. Generous, warm-hearted, a character who will be remembered for his skills and for his impressive belly that he showed until 2000 in friendly games where he got alzheimer, dying in 2006.

Hungary, 2009, 116 mins.

http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no194/22.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Puskás

Vurdering:

Attila Kékesi: The Face of the Revolution

Subtitle: In Search of a Budapest Girl... Take a look at the photo and read this text presentation of the film taken from the IDF website, address below:

“The November 10th, issue of Paris Match in 1956 featured a report on the Hungarian revolution. The special coverage opened with a photograph taken on October 30, on Budapest Múzeum Boulevard. Forty-five years later, Hungarian historian Eszter Balázs and French journalist Phil Casoar decided to trace down the young couple seen in the picture. Who are they? Have they survived the revolution? If yes, is it possible to find them after all these years? The film follows their search for answers.”

And what a life, she had the Budapest girl, who fled Hungary, went to Switzerland and Germany to end up in Melbourne, Australia – as it is unfolded by the two researchers, who are in the picture and travel the world to find and talk to photographers and people who met Yutka, (real name Julianna Sponga), and who also found out that the young man, Gyuri, died even before the photo first appeared.

A reconstruction of a Life, that is what the film is, based upon one photo with several side stories built on basically the photographers who were in Budapest in 1956. Maybe the film does not give an overall perspective on what happened – but the filmmaker makes it important because of his stubborn insisting on finding out through the two researchers, and his characters. Yutka‘s husband in Australia talks, her son talks and gets to know something he did not know about his mother, who died in 1990 and whose ashes were thrown to the ocean. She did not want to be connected to one country, she was a citizen of the world, who fought for justice, a survivor, such a fun person, says her husband to the camera.

Hungary, 2001-2006, 71 mins.

http://www.dokweb.net/en/

Vurdering:

Moscow IFF Free Thoughts

They launch it as “From Yamagata through IDFA to Oscar”, the documentary section of the 32th Moscow International Film. They are Russian documentary director Sergey Miroshnichenko and producer Grigory Libergal. The two competent people make the selection for the fifth time with the aim “a selection of outstanding documentaries from the last year - winners of prestigious film festivals along with films with good box-office revenue”.

This year 23 documentaries will be screened in the program. The section is called “Free Thoughts”. The ones in bold have been reviewed and/or written about on this site:

THE COVE, dir. Louie Psihoyos, USA. THE YESMEN FIX THE WORLD, dir. Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Kurt Engfehr, USA. PIANOMANIA (PHOTO), dir. Lilian Frank,  Robert Gibis, GERMANY, AUSTRIA. POSTE RESTANTE, dir. Marcel Lozinsky, POLAND. CHEMO, dir. Pawel Lozinsky, POLAND. THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA, dir. Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith, USA.

THE PLAYER, dir. John Appel, THE NETHERLANDS. WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, dir. Ondi Timoner, USA. ANOTHER PERFECT WORLD, dir.  Femke Wolting, Jorien van Nes, THE NETHERLANDS. RESTREPO, dir. Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington, USA. LA VIDA LOCA, dir. Christian Poveda, FRANCE, MEXICO, SPAIN. A FILM UNFINISHED, dir. Yael Hersonski , ISRAEL, GERMANY. THE WOMAN WITH THE FIVE ELEPHANTS, dir. Vadim Jendreyko, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY. LA DANSE - THE PARIS OPERA BALLET, dir. Frederick Wiseman, FRANCE, USA. OCEANS, dir. Jacques Perrin, FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, SPAIN, MONACO, USA. THE LAST SCREENPLAY, dir. Javier Espada, Gaizka Urresti, SPAIN. IRON CROWS, dir. Bong-Nam Park, SOUTH KOREA. LUMIKKO, dir. Miia Tervo, FINLAND WASTE LAND, dir. Lucy Walker, UK, BRASIL. LAST TRAIN HOME, dir. Lixin Fan, CANADA, CHINA. THE FORTRESS, dir. Fernand Melgar, SWITZERLAND. BANANAS!*, dir. Fredrik Gertten, SWEDEN, AUSTRIA, USA, SWITZERLAND. FROM ARARAT TO ZION, dir. Edgar Baghdasaryan, ARMENIA

Moscow International Film Festival takes place on June 17-26,

http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/eng

The Edinburgh Pitch Projects

The DocWeek 2010, see below, organised by the Scottish Documentary Institute, hosted a one day pitch event that included 11 documentary projects, presented by American, UK, Chinese, Irish and Spanish filmmakers. In the panel to react to the pitches were the channels POV (US), BBC Storyville, BBC Scotland, DR Denmark, ZDF/arte, CBC Canada plus sales agent Autlook Austria and the local public funding mechanism Scottish Screen.

Project content? A film about Chinese muslims. One about an American fashion designer who wants to help Sierra Leone by ”turning Western cast-offs into haute couture”. An investigation into the life of a man who led ”a dual life as revolutionary activist and informant for FBI”. A human life story from Liberia on the ”extreme challenges Liberian Firestone Rubber Plantation workers face today”. ”Orion: The Man Who Would be King” = Jimmy Ellis, an unknown singer who was given a new identity behind a mask, as ”Elvis back from the grave”. A garbage island next to the Maldives. A mother and her two sons in a fascinating and moving story with the working title ”Trailer Park Love”. An original musician and composer, Moondog, who stood as a ”Viking of Sixth Avenue” in New York, everybody knew him and he was an artistic inspiration for people like Philip Glass. A film about the cultural dilemmas the population of the Easter Island faces. And a local (Scottish), and yet universal project called ”You’ve ben Trumped” from a place North of Aberdeen where American tycoon Donald Trump wants to build a holiday resort for the filthy rich, wanting to get rid of the local residents. Finally, the best presentation to my mind, ”The Runner” (Photo), by Saeed Taji Faroucky, a Palestinian who wants to make a film about the champion long-distance runner Salah Ameidan, who dreams of running for his country, Western Sahara, under Moroccan occupation since 1975. (You can see the trailer on vimeo, google "Salah Ameidan the runner vimeo")

They all showed trailers, they all got got response, most of them got the answer ”come back to me when you have more to show”, which is the normal sentence in pitching sessions nowadays. Nobody dares take risks... and competition is pretty tough.

http://www.touristwithatypewriter.com/

www.docscene.org

Ada Bligaard Søby: De nøgne fra Skt. Petersborg

Titlen siger Skt. Petersborg, så jeg er forberedt. Tavse, højtidelige kadetter i legetøjsuniformer fra fortiden på en fornem plads. Floden, jeg fornemmer, må være Neva. De er alvorlige, tager det alvorligt. Det er én scene. Der står et barn  let ophøjet i et dagligt rum og fremsiger et digt. Et gammeldags digt med versefødder og rim og en tilværelsesforståelse, skulle jeg tro, milevidt fra barnets.  Det er en anden scene. Og i et sted i mig selv forstår jeg spontant noget ordløst om patosens væsen.

Og netop det må være filmens indhold og anliggende. Denne nøgne alvor. Denne fremmedartede vilje til den store gestus, som jeg til min forbavselse genfinder hos mig selv, efterhånden som scene, omhyggeligt overvejet mærker jeg, føjes til scene i en juxtapositions strategi som hos Marker og Godard. Mere end en forælling af billeder er det en udfordring af billeder. På filmselskabets hjemmeside beskriver Ada Bligaard Søby i en lille elegant tekst sine overvejelser i et fuldkomment manifest over den tavst forsigtige og antydede antropologi, hun udfolder i filmen, ja, i alle sine film. Mere end en forklaring og fortolkning læser jeg teksten som instruktørens egen forbavsede opdagelse af sin russiske film.

Scene efter scene stilles i kø i disciplineret række og forbindes kontrapunktisk med interview- og dialogmateriale, dokumentariske beretninger i løsreven fastholdelse. Det er meningsfuldt i en ganske anden narration end den normale danske tradition; og det er befriende, så befriende. Og glædeligt. Ada Bligaard Søby er efter udflugten med de klagende kor vendt tilbage til sin helt egen metode og tilbage til den overraskende ligefremhed i American Losers, til den udvidende billedskønhed og kontrollerede smerte i Black Heart og til brevvægtens milligrams balancekunst i Meet me in Berlin.

De nøgne fra Skt. Petersborg er på kun 23 minutter. De mærkes som en vidunderlig begyndelse til en meget lang og rig film. Mere, mere mumler jeg ved slutteksternes opdukken. Det er en meget sjælden oplevelse.

Ada Bligaard Søby: The Naked of Saint Petersburg (De nøgne fra Skt. Petersborg), Denmark 2010, 23 min. Synopsis:” It is winter in Saint Petersburg and the streets of the former capital are teeming. Half naked sunbathers stand in the snow; fledgeling dancers watched by throngs of teens are an explosion of underground fashion; a therapist who cannot afford an office sees clients in his car; immigrant street cleaners wander estates in orange vests, hoping they won’t be mistaken for terrorists. Saint Petersburg makes do with what it has.” (DVD-cover text) Script: Ada Bligaard Søby, camera: Max Efros og Ada Bligaard Søby, editing: Nanna Frank Møller, sound design: Roar Skau Olsen, producer: Lise Saxtrup, company & sales: Klassefilm www.klassefilm.dk  Filmografi, Ada Bligaard Søby: Rome, NY (2004), American Losers (2006), Meet Me in Berlin (2007), She’s Lost Control (2008), Black Heart (2008), Complaints Choir (2009).

Vurdering:

Nils Vest: Et rådhus/2

Det begynder allerede ved indgangen. Det med Nyrops detaljer. Hver indgang har sine særlige figurer. Her er det vejvæsenets gamle indgang ud mod H. C. Andersens Boulevard. To brolæggerjomfruer i granit flankerer porten. Rådhuset skulle have den danske stenhuggertradition fra middelalderkirkerne indarbejdet. Men det håndværk var glemt, så billedhuggeren Anders Bundgaard måtte lære sig det forfra, da han fik opgaven. Et sted i Nils Vests film kommer vi ind i et kælderrum med Bundgårds skitser til de mange ansigter, han huggede i granit, og Vest fortæller i sin nøgternt personlige speak, at billedhuggeren fandt sine modeller i de nærmeste omgivelser, blandt byggeriets håndværkere og rådhusets medarbejdere.   

Og Vest tager denne demokratiske idé op. Det er jo et hus for alle borgere i byen, og han åbner sin film og sin omvisning ved at lade en almindelig rådhusbetjent tage imod og føre os ind i huset og dets idé. Vest er vedholdende (eller stædig) som sine hovedpersoner, nu altså Martin Nyrop, hans motiver og greb går igen fra film til film. Også dette, at det ophøjede monument ikke kun ses i arkitekturhistoriens lærde og følsomme blik i kunstnerisk øjenhøjde, men også ses nedefra, i fejemandens jordnære og håndfaste perspektiv. Vest mestrer begge vinkler.

Og det bliver til ét af de gennemgående lag. Denne omviser-fortælling tages op i Jens Bidstrups velordnede klipning, og en række mennesker, som arbejder i husets funktioner eller med husets historie eller med dets arkitekts biografi, får stafetten og fortæller hver deres brik i mosaikken, som bliver filmens handling af dagligdag, arkitektur og menneskeliv.

Der er premiere i morgen kl. 12 i Grand Teatret.  Et rådhus til hverdag og fest kører derefter i den biograf, forhåbentlig et stykke tid, for det er selvfølgelig en simpel pligt for enhver københavner med kærlighed til sin bys smukke huse at gå ind og se filmen om byens italienske renæssance rådhus og dets mylder af historier og detaljer og betydninger.

Nils Vest: Et rådhus til hverdag og fest, Danmark 2010, 52 min. Manuskript: Nils Vest, fotografi: Erik Norsker, Casper Høyberg, Steen Dalin og Nils Vest, klip: Jens Bidstrup, musik: Anders Koppel, lyd: Iben Haahr Andersen, produktion: Nils Vest. Produceret og distribueret af Nils Vest Film www.vestfilm.dk her også direkte dvd-salg.

Vurdering:

Edinburgh DocWeek

It takes place at the same time as the Edinburgh International Film Festival. It is organised by the Scottish Documentary Institute that ”run annual programmes which develop filmmakers and producers such as Bridging the Gap (previously written about on this site) and Interdoc (feature documentary)”. (The many activities of the Institute can be read about on the site below.) And it does indeed have all the elements of a well developed international documentary event: pitching training, pitching to a panel of financiers, rough cut screenings, masterclasses, debates with the filmmakers whose films have been taken for screening at the festival etc.

Among those are films that have been praised on this site, first of all the beautiful personal essay of local Amy Hardie, ”The Edge of Dreaming” (photo). It was already screened at idfa Amsterdam 2009 and at DOCSBarcelona, where also Mika Ronkainen’s ”Freetime Machos” about a rugby team in Oulu, Finland met its audiences. Bravo also for programming Nicolas Philibert film about 40 year old ”Nénette”, the orangutang in the Zoo in Paris. All three have been noticed on this site whereas I hope to get to watch ”Two in the Wave”, a film for film lovers of la Nouvelle Vague, about the difficult love-hate relationship between Truffaut and Godard. And ”Out of the Ashes” about a cricket team from Afghanistan and its making it to a World Cup tournament. Again it is nice to observe documentaries to be part of a bigger film festival although the programme  selection seen as a whole does not communicate a clear artistic profile but more a wish to reach a wide audience. Respect for that, of course.

www.docscene.org

www.edfilmfest.org.uk

Soccer Fever

This photo was sent to me two hours before World Cup in football kick-off in South Africa. By Don Edkins, producer and distributor and promoter of documentary films in Southern Africa, and a dear guest of all important film events.

He was one of the key persons behind the Steps for the Future initiative as well as the pre-world cup soccer cinema. Both have been written about on filmkommentaren.dk

Good luck South Africa, may it all happen in a peaceful, non-violent way and may the best team win!

Don Edkins is not on the photo, he probably was behind the camera catching his smiling, colourful staff.

http://steps.co.za/index.php

http://soccercinema.co.za/

Nils Vest: Et rådhus

Den koncentreret vedholdende og omhyggeligt researchende Niels Vest er klar med en ny arkitekturfilm. 17. juni er der i Grand Teatret, København premiere på hans seneste værk i rækken af bygningshistorier vævet sammen med arkitektbiografier, filmen om tilblivelsen af Københavns Rådhus fra 1905 og om husets arkitekt, Martin Nyrop. Den har fået titlen Et rådhus til alvor og fest. Den handler om intrigerne i byggeudvalget, hvor Nyrops modstandere havde indflydelse, om arkitektkonkurrencerne, om Nyrops vældige forarbejder med studier, især i italiensk renæssancearkitektur, om hans frodige detaljeglæde og især om den snedige stædighed, hvormed han sikrede sig, at hans oprindelige idé og plan ad omveje blev gennemført. Et tema om den suveræne arkitektpersonlighed som er centralt i hele Vests række af skildringer af hovedpersoner og monumenter fra den danske bygningskulturelle arv: Laurits Thura og Vor Frelsers Kirke, Nicolai Eigtved og Frederiksstaden, C.F. Hansen og Vor Frue Kirke, Christian 4. og Rosenborg. 

Niels Vest modtager en af dagene Europa Nostra Prisen 2010 for sit arbejde med at organisere bevarelsen af visse bymiljøer som især Christiania og senest for eksempel modstanden mod en nutidig tilbygning ved Holmens Kirke.

Still: Niels Vests film boltrer sig i detaljer: ”Den store indgang fra Vester Voldgade, hvor der engang løb en å, har både to krabber, en havmand, en havfrue og et søpindsvin placeret rundt om portåbningen foruden kalkmalerier med tang og en søstjerne oppe under loftet inde i porten.” Men filmen fortaber sig ikke et øjeblik, overblikket mærkes som en sikkerhed, ikke som en stramhed.

Nils Vest: Et rådhus til hverdag og fest, Danmark 2010, 52 min. Manuskript: Nils Vest, fotografi: Erik Norsker, Casper Høyberg, Steen Dalin og Nils Vest, klip: Jens Bidstrup, musik: Anders Koppel, lyd: Iben Haahr Andersen, produktion: Nils Vest. Produceret og distribueret af Nils Vest Film www.vestfilm.dk her også direkte dvd-salg.

Piemonte Doc Film Fund

There are many reasons why a documentary tradition grows or is being established. In the posting below you can read about some interesting people and companies. The one that produced the City Veins film is called BabyDoc and that characterises probably the situation in Piemonte – the documentary is still a baby with some grown up fathers like the companies Stefilm and Zenith, and with some good directors at hand. Anyway, the establishing of a doc film fund in 2007 has certainly helped the development as has the Torino Film festival and several training initiatives.

The Doc Film Fund had in 2009 542.000€ that resulted in 47 grants for development (22) and production (25). Not a lot of money but a starting point for trying to get more nationally and in the rest of Europe. The emphasis on development is naturally important. The CinePorto where the fund is situated in what used to be a wool factory is a great place for the fund to be and for training sessions like DocuRegio that was hosted generously by the fund leader Paolo Manera.

Photo: The Pink Gang by Enrico Bisi.

http://www.fctp.it/piemontedocfilmfund

Il futuro del mondo passa da qui

… is the beautiful Italian title of a film that is about to be completed. I saw it in Turin in connection with the first session of the DocuRegio training session and it is as beautiful visually as the title is verbally. The director is Andrea Deaglio, the English – more prosaic – subtitle is “City Veins” and this is a short promotion of a film that will be reviewed on filmkommentaren.dk when it is finished. The film is according to the director under consideration for the Locarno Film Festival, they should take it for sure, as should other festivals for creative documentaries. Short description: A river in the outskirt of an European metropolis (Torino), a no man's land where a handful of people try to survive facing a strong urban transformation. Here flows the future, bringing the worry of the unknown together with the hope for a better chance… yes it is about people, who have decided to, or have been forced to establish a life outside our so-called urban civilisation. In a very gentle and respectful way, the director, with an original storytelling and unusual image framing, takes us on a poetic journey to everyday life of citizens of the world in the 21. century. (Photo: Reno, an artist in Life)

The DocuRegio session gave the participants an interesting insight to “producing in Piemonte”. Veteran producer Edoardo Fracchia outlined the international career of Stefilm, that is run by him, Elena Filippini and Stefano Tealdi. Based at a new venue, that also houses the office of the July event “Documentary in Europe” in Bardonecchia, the company is right now doing international, informational tv series (for instance on “coffee” and ”tea”) as well as going into edit of a long time developed, fascinating retro-project, “Vinylmania”. It has a website, visit it, great fun!

From the classic production company approach to the new and modern, represented by Alessandro Borrelli and his laSarraz. He talked about his decicison to make films for theatrical release and showed a clip from the succesful documentary of Sergio Basso Giallo a Milano (reviewed on this site). At DocuRegio 2009 Borelli’s company presented “Pink Gang” by Enrico Bisi. The story about Indian Sampat Pal, political activist for women’s rights, is now going to cinemas and a one hour version has also been made that Borrelli will take to the market “Sunny Side of the Doc”.

www.docineurope.org

www.docuregio.com

www.stefilm.it

www.lasarraz.com

www.cityveins.blogspot.com

Museo Nazionale del Cinema Torino

More than a museum. Indeed it is. It can only be described as magnificent the National Film Museum of Torino. I was there for hours and want to go back as soon as possible. To visit the fine collection of Lanterna Magica, take a look at Edison and Lumiere or the light and shadow shows in the ”Archaeology of Cinema” section, or stroll around and look at the posters of all the wonderful films one remembers from a long life in the dark. Or lie down in comfortable fauteuils and watch the Gianni Amelio (”l’America”) compilations of clips from Italian films: Olmi, Fellini, Bertolucci, Visconti, Amelio himself etc. New exhibitions all the time, the cinema theatre Massimo next door. What a feast! Here is a text clip from the website of the museum that was placed at the mole in 2000 and is run by the foundation that carries the name of the woman, who initiated the museum, Maria Adriana Prolo:

”The museum is located inside the Mole Antonelliana, a bizarre and fascinating monument which is the symbol of the City of Torino. And the various areas inside the Mole Antonelliana were the starting point for the Swiss set designer François Confino who, with talent and imagination, multiplied the museum’s itineraries. He created a spectacular presentation that offers visitors continuous and unexpected visual and acoustic stimuli, just like when we watch a film that involves and moves us.” (Poster - an exhibition of photos of the two mega-stars open this month).

http://www.museonazionaledelcinema.org/museo.php

Vurdering:

Ole Bendtzen: Football is God

In the name of the Father, the Son and Diego Maradona. Amen... is the subtitle of this new Danish film that for a football addict, who will spend hours watching the coming World Cup, was a gift to watch at the premiere in Copenhagen. On a big screen. The film takes its audience to Buenos Aires,  the hometown of the legendary club Boca Juniors. It conveys – through three characters – what addiction in its most extreme version looks like, and it does it well. Hernan, the sportsjournalist, is a character you will not forget. You see him losing control when Boca wins, on the edge of breaking down, you see him at the shrink, who discusses his addiction and you hear him explain his addiction. Clear and understandable. La Tia (means The aunt) is a wonderful old lady who looks upon the players as her sons, byuing underpants for her favourite no. 9 on the team! And Pablo is the one who looks a bit like Maradona, comes from the bottom of the society and goes to the Maradona church where fan couple can be married.

The three characters are presented in an entertaining (although a bit schematically structured way) one hour documentary perfect for television and probably also fine for some festivals around.

So far the following broadcasters will show the film: DR (at the Dokumania slot tuesday evening June 8 9.25pm), SVT Sweden, YLE Finland, VPRO Holland, SBS Australia, Ceska TV. More will follow for sure....

And cross fingers for Argentina and their coach Diego in the coming weeks. Come on Messi, Milito, Higuain! 

Denmark, 2010, 52 mins.

http://www.final-cut.dk/home

http://www.footballisgod.dk/

Vurdering:

Jan Tenhaven: Autumn Gold

Good subject: Old (some of them veeery old) people who are still fit for life and take part in an athletic World Champions competition in Lahti, Finland. But what about the treatment of the subject, can this sustain a feature length format?

That scepticism was taken away very early in the film. The director proved to know his five athletes very well, and was able to get much more out of them than ”just” their preparation for the tournament. We get their lives, their joys and sorrows, how to live alone as the life partner, or the live partners, have passed away – and we see how and where they live and cope with the daily things that one has to take care of. Like you and me.

But what about the narrative structure – how can 5 stories be told so you are not bored or lose concentration. Also that scepticism disappeared leaving nothing but a bravo to the editing. And to  Alfred (100!), Herbert (93) (photo), Ilse (82), Jiri (82), Gabre (93) for being so open to a film team that was able to convey the charm and visdom of being old!

The film will be released in German theatres by July 8. The following television channels are credited to broadcast the film, if it does not reach your festival and the big screen: arte, RTE (Ireland), TSR (Switzerland), ERT (Greece), YLE (Finland) and MAX (India!).

Germany, 94 mins., 2010

http://www.autumngold-movie.com/

http://www.gebrueder-beetz.de/

Vurdering:

Docs Online: China, Soccer, Giro d’Italia

For viewers worldwide and for free – IDFA, the biggest documentary film festival in the world, based in Amsterdam, invites you to go online with IDFA TV, where there is an excellent selection of excellent documentaries.

IDFA staff is at the World Expo in China and for that reason you can watch films from and about China. World Cup in South Africa starts this coming friday and for that reason IDFA offers films about football, like Maziar Bahari’s ”Football, Iranian Style” from 2001. Giro d’Italia is over but you can still watch the classic of Jørgen Leth, ”Stars and Water Carriers” abour the bicycling race year 1973, premiered in 1974. As written on the site: ” These were the glory days of Eddie 'The Cannibal' Merckx (photo) who showed the entire field a clean pair of heels whether it was on the flats or up in the highest of mountain passes.”

The online service has several other neo-classics available like Florin Iepan’s Romanian masterpiece, ”Children of the Decree”. Starting point for the film: “Procreation is the social duty of all fertile women,” was the political thinking during the 1960s and 1970s in Romania. In 1966, Ceaucescu issued Decree 770, in which he forbade abortion for all women unless they were over forty or were already taking care of four children...”

http://www.idfa.nl/industry/idfa-tv.aspx

MakeDox 1/Words of Documentary Enthusiasm

MakeDox is inspired and financed by people who love documentary film. People with a great desire to make their own festival, the kind of festival that I would like to visit myself. Petra Seliškar, Programme Selector..

I graduated in social work… I work in the film industry… I feel the need to exchange creative energy… I feel inspired to influence my everyday surroundings… I have a goal to share documentary creations with you… films that engage, inspire, enrich… Films that speak through their relevance, idea, message, thought, inner cry… that stratify, but do not insist on change, that dig up the roots and penetrate daringly without worrying about the soil and the dirt… that do not tend to wash it out or sort things through so that they would look better… And they do it in their own, powerful, unique way… they intrigue you, make you think, give you the shudders… they’ll maybe even change you against your will. That’s the kind of documentary films we focus on. Kirijana A. Nikoloska, Festival Director.

http://www.makedox.mk/indexen.html

MakeDox 2/ Words of Documentary Enthusiasm

More than 35 years ago, I broke my cousin’s Contaflex. Why? I wanted to see how that fascinating “eye” worked. I fixed it and ever since then I have been seeing with only one eye.

I lived to be fascinated again 30 years ago in the house of my favourite childhood dog Calvick. In the room where it slept, Victor kept different kinds of 8mm and 16mm cameras. I didn’t stop looking with one eye, but the photographs started to move. Shots of passers-by, insects, trees, animals, passengers… Unrelated images of the reality documented a moment, a particular space. After that I spent some time with the cinema amateurs, a period of exploration, and my love turned into a passion for documenting reality.

The next 15 years of professional engagement provoked my “eye” to return to its first love – creative documentary. For the last 10 years or so, I have dreamt about documentary films, I work on documentary films, and I find pleasure in every new film product. I am truly happy about the first edition of “MakeDox”, I am happy about the travelling cinema, I am happy that documentary film will reach every home in Macedonia, I am happy to see that the documentary dream has become a reality. (From the site of the new festival).

Brand Ferro, Producer

http://www.makedox.mk/indexen.html

MakeDox in Macedonia/3

Wonderful. Well done and good luck are the best words to congratulate the organisers of a new documentary festival in Macedonia. It starts tomorrow. My text –The following is taken from the IDF site: As nutritious and beneficial as the freshly pulled onion on its poster, the first edition of MakeDox - Creative Documentary Film Festival takes place June 5 - 11, 2010 in Skopje, Macedonia. The programme includes 62 films (official selection, Macedonian short documentaries, films by newcomers, etc.), as well as several lectures.

In its Official Selection, the festival will present The English Surgeon (dir. Geoffrey Smith, UK 2007); Burma VJ (dir. Anders Østergaard, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom 2008); Border (dir. Harutyun Khachatryan, Armenia 2009); Goodbye, How Are You? (dir. Boris Mitić, Serbia 2009); Cooking History (dir. Peter Kerekes, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic 2008); The Player (dir. John Appel, Netherlands 2009); Mostar United (dir. Claudia Tosi, Italy, Slovenia 2009); The Edge of Dreaming (dir. Amy Hardie, Scotland 2009); The One Man Village (dir. Simon El Habre, Lebanon 2008).

All of them (except “Border” and “Mostar United” have been reviewed and/or noted on filmkommentaren.dk)

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

http://www.makedox.mk/indexen.html

News from Paris: Tarkovsky for children

In France kids have Wednesdays off from school. For those who have the possibility, it is a day to discover the multiple activities Paris has to offer children. Le centre Pompidou, Beaubourg to Parisians, holds every Wednesday of the school year the program L’Écran des enfants, an initiation to cinema for children under 13.

I went with my daughter Asta, 8 ½, to see Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Steamroller and the Violin (1960, 43 min.). This is Tarkovsky’s first longer short film and it was his graduating film from the film school in Moscow. The film tells the story of a friendship between a little boy, Sasha, who plays the violin and the worker Sergei and his (incredibly beautiful) red steamroller. The influence of Albert Lamorisse’s The Red Balloon (Le ballon rouge 1956) is very clear. The images of the film are sheer beauty, the mirrors, the reflections; the dreams are already there. Asta could not follow the story, I think because she was just taken by the visual impression. Here’s a more detailed description:

 http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2009/cteq/the-steamroller-and-the-violin/#2

A DVD is available from Facets Video (region 1) and bits can of course be seen on Youtube, but get it for your children’s film program if you have one, it has to be viewed on the big screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRaqcxk1YtM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SNPhp6mT6I

What we particularly appreciate about Beaubourg’s program is that the curators are there themselves to present the days film. They make a small introduction and offer to read aloud the subtitles on non-French films, should the children wish so. And they also leave time for comments and questions afterwards. Asta’s comment was “the film was very good”!

Link to Centre Pompidou

Paris has many other cinematographic offers for children, I can get back to that another time, and nothing beats the event of taking an actual trip to a movie theatre and sit down in the dark. It is important and a pleasure to be able to let your child grow up with a larger view of cinematography, than what is offered by mainstream cinema today.

I quote Chris Marker, from an interview Tue Steen Müller has linked to in an earlier comment, but can easily be repeated and counts for kids as well: “Godard nailed it once and for all: at the cinema, you raise your eyes to the screen; in front of the television, you lower them. Then there is the role of the shutter. Out of the two hours you spend in a movie theater, you spend one of them in the dark. It's this nocturnal portion that stays with us, that fixes our memory of a film in a different way than the same film seen on television or on a monitor” (Chris Marker, interview Libération March 5. 2003 translated in Film Comment:

http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/5-6-2003/markerint.htm).

The film made me plunge in to Tarkovsky’s own writing, though he hardly mentions The Steamroller and the Violin. I highly recommend his reflections on the art of cinema:

Andrei Tarkovski: Le temps scellé (Petite bibliothèque des Cahiers du Cinéma 2004). English edition: Sculpting in Time (University of Texas Press 1989).

Janus Metz: Armadillo/6

The Danish documentary "Armadillo" which premiered in cinemas last friday is a huge audience success. 22.282 tickets have been sold in three days, which is absolutely unusual for a documentary in Danish theatres. Earlier this month "Armadillo" by Janus Metz was awarded the Semaine de la Critique Prize in Cannes. 

I weekenden strømmede publikum i stort tal ind i biografens mørke for at se Janus Metzs meget anmelderroste og omtalte film. Alene torsdag, fredag, lørdag og søndag solgte filmen 22.882 billetter og gik direkte ind på førstepladsen på filmhitlisten, hvor den slog Prince of Persia af pinden.

"Jeg tror, Janus Metz har ramt den gyldne mellemvej mellem debatskabende og stærkt rørende film med en masse action og følelser. Det er derfor, den får så stor succes. Men vigtigst af alt skaber filmen en debat hos alle unge som gamle uanset baggrund. Den debat har fra starten været vores drøm, så jeg er rigtigt glad for, at så mange går i biografen og ser den", udtaler producenten Ronnie Fridthjof.