Orwa Nyrabia Arrested/ 4

Big names are of course important, the French have commented, here is what Martin Scorsese says: "I was alarmed by the news that the Syrian actor and producer Orwa Nyrabia has been arrested by the Syrian regime, held in an undisclosed location and denied any communication with the outside world, including his own immediate family. The international film community must remain vigilant, and shine a light on every injustice perpetrated against our fellow artists. We need to maintain pressure to ensure the immediate release of Orwa Nyrabia." – Martin Scorsese

Orwa Nyrabia Arrested/ 3

Respect for the French filmmakers, who – initiated by Nicolas Philibert – have launched a petition for Orwa Nyrabia:

De Wes Anderson à Jet Li en passant par Elia Suleiman, la Société des réalisateurs de films (SRF) a lancé une pétition (1) coordonnée par le réalisateur Nicolas Philibert pour dénoncer l’arrestation du cinéaste syrien Orwa Nyrabia, survenue à l’aéroport de Damas le 23 août. Producteur indépendant de films documentaires, Nyrabia est le directeur du festival Dox Box de Damas, fondé en 2008, malgré la désertification du cinéma syrien. Il a obtenu le grand prix spécial de l’EDN (European Documentary Network) et a tenu le rôle principal dans la Porte du soleil, de Yousry Nasrallah en 2004. Comme le rappelle dans une lettre ouverte Ossama Mohammed, un autre cinéaste syrien, il rejoint la liste des intellectuels emprisonnés par Damas : «Le journaliste Mazen Darwich, le militant pour la paix Yehia al-Chorbajji, le comédien Osso, le metteur en scène de théâtre Cordello, l’écrivain Zirai.» La Cinémathèque française, le Festival de Cannes, la SACD (Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques), la Scam (Société civile des auteurs multimédia), et l’ARP (Société civile des auteurs-réalisateurs-producteurs) ont également protesté de leur côté.

www.la-srf.fr

http://next.liberation.fr/cinema/2012/08/29/le-cinema-se-mobilise-pour-orwa-nyrabia_842720

Border Crossing – an Exhibition on Migration

For a documentary person, who normally sits in a cinema or in front of a tv/computer screen, when he watches - it is something special to visit an art exhibition that has its focus on a theme that is regularly dealt with in current documentaries: Migration. An art exhibition that conveys this theme through films and videos. First you enter a totally dark room, look around for a seat, find one which is uncomfortable, sit there but decides to change position and end up on the floor with your back to the wall – to enter a world of images from today. You know these images already, you have seen them again and again on television news, or in a documentary film frame. But here in the art museum the films and videos do not give you any explanations, you do not need them, there is no story as we know it from modern documentary, non-linear it is and you enter the images without knowing if this is the start, the middle or the end. It is not important. Lucky you are – for a moment – to leave the character driven emotional story to be invited just to think about what you see.

This is the case if you visit the fine exhibition at Brandts in Danish city Odense, where six visual artists show their works. With the theme in common but with very different aesthetics. The artists are Alfredo Jaar (Chile/US), Chen Chieh-jen (Taiwan), Aernout Mik (Holland), Isaac Julien (UK), Guido van der Werve (Holland), Ursula Biemann (Switzerland), Jens Haaning has

Vurdering:

Fatima Varhos: Bergmans video 2. afsnit

Så er Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel og Biutiful) igen kommet til Fårö, som for ham er et af filmhistoriens vigtigste valfartssteder, ja, for netop ham, tror jeg, det allervigtigste. Her er han på stranden, location for Persona, og han er grebet af situationen, og da han er en ukunstlet, helt igennem autentisk medvirkende i Bergmanseriens afsnit 2, gribes jeg pludselig også. 

Iñárritu har forsøgt at finde Bergmans hus engang tidligere. Det mislykkedes, for når han spurgte om vej, ledte de lokale ham på vildspor. Med ét var det gået op for ham, at de beskyttede deres nabo, passede på Bergman. Anekdoten er jo smuk, fordi den på én gang fortæller troværdigt om Bergman og hans forhold til de nærmeste og om denne empatisk ekspressive mexikanske filminstruktør, som har krop og intelligens til at fylde rollen som gæst på Bergmans sted, i hans stuer, blandt hans bøger og så denne videosamling. Han har valgt at besøge huset om natten, han går omkring og kigger, men forsigtigere end den forrige gæst. Høfligere. Ærbødig måske. Han tager sit pendul frem, og ja, det begynder at svinge. Bergman er til stede.

Og sådan er det, Iñárritu ved vist nok meget om Bergman, holder fokus (hvis det er filmens fokus?) og taler om Bergman og om døden, som i del 2 er temaet. Forinden har Woody Allen i sit interview talt om Bergman hele tiden. Og det styrker i mine øjne projektet, som har det diskutable udgangspunkt, at når en instruktørs værk er repræsenteret i Bergmans videosamling, er dette værk og dets instruktør interessant for Bergmanforståelsen. Man har vel tænkt på den måde indirekte at skrive et nyt filmhistorisk essay om Bergmans værk. Men de to andre medvirkende Gus van Sant (Elephant, 2003) og Agnieszka Holland (The Wire, 2004-08) taler, så vidt jeg bagefter huske, kun om deres egne film og så om døden, som de skal. Og de er bestemt spændende bekendtskaber, og så er det jeg kommer på den tanke, at Fatima Varhos idé med sin tv-serie er at skildre samtidens filmkunst internationalt i en række enkeltstudier alene holdt sammen af det forhold, at de (måske tilfældigt) står på videoreolen i Fåröhuset? Altså tredobbelt fokus? Jeg er forvirret, for opmærksomheden skifter, uanfægtet ser det ud til, mellem Bergmanstudium, tema (komedie sidst, døden nu) og de medvirkende instruktørers film.

Imidlertid var det i aftes interessante møder med interessante personer, og de bevæger serien mod et ok for mig. Men der er ikke meget nyt føjet til billedet af den store svenske instruktør, som lægger hus til.

Fatima Varhos: Bergmans video, Sverige 2012. Seks tv-programmer i serie. En række interviews ved Jane Magnusson og Hynek Pallas. 2. afsnit set på SVT1 i aftes. Kan ses på http://www.svt.se/bergmans-video/ 3. afsnit sendes 5. september 21:00.

Vurdering:

Dokumania: Senna

Danish Dokumania, the Tuesday creative documentary tv slot of DR, broadcasts Asif Kapadia’s great archive based documentary tomorrow, August 28^th. To be highly recommended. Here is a repeat of one of many previous texts about the film:

In a report from the Moscow International Film Festival the following I wrote the following about the film about legendary Ayrton Senna: (the film) has a classical straight forward narrative, simple it is, and should be, with its focus on the career of the formula 1 driver, Brasilian Ayrton Senna, his fight with French Alain Prost, a love-hate relationship, his importance for his poor nation, his charming appearence. It is all built on archive, not a talking face, all comments come off the image, an excellent solution for a film that appeals to a broad audience.

In an interview in the Guardian, Saturday July 9, done by Stuart Feffries, the information is given on a film “that quietly (has) broken box office records to become the surprise hit of the summer. Now the picture is poised for a US release that might well put it in the frame for an Oscar.”

Continued by the following: “The 39-year-old Hackney-born director's film powered away from an unpromising position on the starting grid. It grossed £375,000 on its first weekend, three times more than Kevin Macdonald's 2005 documentary about two British mountaineers' near-death experience in the Andes, Touching the Void. After that impressive start, Kapadia's film looks set to become one of the most successful documentary films ever released in the UK. "At the moment, we're in third and chasing down second," laughs Kapadia. His film has accelerated past Justin Bieber's concert film, Never Say Never. It's now grossed more than £3m and is bearing down on the 2005 nature documentary March of the Penguins. "There's only one documentary we'll never overtake – Fahrenheit 9/11." Michael Moore's 2004 documentary has, like Ayrton Senna in the 1993 Brazilian grand prix, an unassailable lead in this race.”

The interview gives an  excellent background to a film that was also very well received at the festival in Moscow.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/jul/09/asif-kapadia-interview-ayrton-senna

Vurdering:

Orwa Nyrabia Arrested/ 2

While waiting for further news about the detaining of Orwa Nyrabia, and while international media like al jazeera and France24, as well as documentary organisations and festivals like EDN, idfa and DOKLeipzig spread the news and concern – a facebook page has been established, ”free Orwa”, as one friend writes about him, ”the Smile of Cinema”. Link below.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/الحرية-للسينما-السورية-الحرية-لعروة-نيربية/448821121824084

Orwa Nyrabia Arrested

Shocking news! This text came in 5 hours ago from Diana el Jeiroudi, filmmaker, producer, co-founder of the Dox Box Film Festival in Damascus and partner of Orwa Nyrabia:

"Syrian film producer Orwa Nyrabia disappeared this afternoon on on his way heading to Cairo at 5:00 pm, on August 23, 2012. I lost contact with him soon after his arrival at Damascus International Airport. According to Egyptian Airlines, he did not board the plane, which indicates that he was arrested by the Syrian authorities at the airport. Orwa Nyrabia, born in 1977, is a film producer and the director of the DOX BOX Film Festival in Syria."

Orwa Nyrabia is the one, who since March 2011 has collected and spread information about the atrocities and massacres on the civil population in Syria. Readers of filmkommentaren will know his name from the many postings we have done based on his reporting. He is known and well respected in the documentary community all over the world and has - together with Diana el Jeiroudi - been awarded for his work to create awareness for the importance of the documentary film in his country and the Middle East region.

I am sure that friends and film people all over will shout to the Syrian regime: Free Orwa Nyrabia!

Erik Pauser: The Face Of The Enemy

Den lille gruppe unge kvinder sidder i deres deling vietnamesiske soldater under Den amerikanske krig, som den hedder i deres land. Tre af dem overlevede rædslerne, Pauser har besøgt dem, og deres erindringer bliver det bærende element i hans film om krigen, som de og deres generation ser den, for omkring de tre grupperes en række andre vidner, alle dybt rystede stadigvæk, men værdigt afklarede og afdæmpede. De mange år har været nådige. 

Erik Pauser: The Face Of The Enemy, Sverige 2010. Set på DR2 i aftes.

http://www.erikpauser.com/

Vurdering:

Fatima Varhos: Bergmans video

Jeg havde glædet mig meget, nu er jeg lidt skuffet. Ja, tænker, at myten om Bergmans filmsamling, hans videorum var bedre end at have set stedet, set de to lænestole, været i huset igen. Sidst sad Lena Endre og Erland Josephson i den brede vindueskarm i arbejdsværelset ved siden af, med udsigten til havet. Det var i den dejlige Trolösa (2000). Nu sætter Tomas Alfredson sig der. Jeg kan ikke rigtig lide det. Jeg kan ikke rigtig lide måden (i tv-programmets sært akavede stil), han nærmer sig huset på, kommenterer arkitekturen og tømrer / snedkerarbejdet på. Det er da ikke dybt nok? Han tager godt nok skoene af, da han bliver bedt om det. Ja, Fåröhuset er nu museum. Videorum og arbejdsværelse mindestuer, hvor støvet lægger sig. Jeg kan ikke rigtig lide det. 

Tomas Alfredson er første afsnits gæst i huset og temaet er komedien. Bergmans komediearbejder eller komedieformen i al filmæstetisk almindelighed? Det er ikke helt klart. Vist heller ikke for Alfredson. Han går omkring og piller lidt ved tingene, kommer med sine usikre bemærkninger og fortæller om et projekt med Bergman, som aldrig blev til noget, en anekdote om Bergmans uvilje mod mobiltelefoner fæstner sig. Jeg ville vist helst ikke have hørt den. Den er ikke morsom, den fortæller om en gammel mand, siger ikke noget om den gamle mands filmkunst. Vil dette tv-program være en ugebladsartikel eller vil det være et seriøst Bergmanstudium? Jeg tror det sidste, men det ligner det første.

Gæstens besøg i huset og i samlingen er hvert afsnits ramme, ser det ud til. I den ramme er i en tydelig kapitelinddeling anbragt en række interviews. Tomas Alfredson får også sådan et, men kommer ikke tættere på Bergman der heller. De øvrige er Robert De Niro, i sig selv en oplevelse og lidt for mig ny viden om de Niros humor. Men tættere på Bergmans humor kommer han ikke. De øvrige interviewede, filminstruktørerne Alexander Payne (Sideways, 2004), Wes Anderson (Rushmore, 1998) og Agnès Jaoui bidrager så vidt jeg kunne høre heller ikke til vores Bergmanforståelse. Men måske, måske var det heller ikke meningen? Jeg vil prøve trofast at hænge på de kommende afsnit. Det kan sagtens blive meget bedre. Og så vil jeg lytte omhyggeligere ind til Jane Magnussons og Hynek Pallas’ interviews, prøve at finde ud af, hvad det egentlig er de vil og vurdere de svar, de får. Finde ud af om det er Bergmans filmkunst, det drejer sig om, eller hvad det er.

Fatima Varhos: Bergmans video, Sverige 2012. Seks tv-programmer i serie. En række interviews ved Jane Magnusson og Hynek Pallas. 1. afsnit set på SVT1 i aftes. Genudsendes i dag over middag. Kan også ses på http://www.svt.se/bergmans-video/ 2. afsnit følger 29. august.

Vurdering:

Daniel Dencik: Moon Rider

Det er sjældent, at en films synopsis-tekst rammer plet. Som regel er den båret af ønsket om at sælge billetter og forfalder til superlative salgsklichéer. I dette tilfælde (fra DFI (Det danske Filminstitut) hjemmesiden) har jeg kun kunnet nikke genkendende. Ja, det var den film, jeg så, beskrevet præcist og nøgternt med plads til begejstring. Her er den så:

Synopsis: »Moon Rider« er en fortælling om den unge Rasmus Quaade og hans kamp for at blive professionel cykelrytter. Det er en dannelsesrejse, der fører tilskueren med ned i helvede og tilbage. Med personlige Super8-optagelser og rå hjelmkamera-billeder, fortælles historien om et ekstraordinært talent, der befinder sig på et afgørende tidspunkt i sit liv. Det er en historie fortalt fra indersiden af en racerhjelm. Rasmus har en krop skabt til cykling, men et sind, der er skabt til at tænke. Hans fængende overvejelser om liv og død bliver hans største modstander i kampen om at udleve sin drøm: at blive verdensmester i enkeltstart. For at vinde skal han tømme hovedet helt, men hvordan tømmer man hovedet, når alle tanker er et skridt i den forkerte retning? Med hudløs ærlighed lukker Rasmus Quaade os ind i sin verden, hvor vi møder både tvivlen, frygten og dødsdriften, men også euforien ved at være blandt de ypperste i verden. Filmen tegner et hjerteskærende billede af et kæmpe sportstalents ekstreme og ensomme liv.

Filmen: Jo, filmen går tæt på cykelrytteren og mennesket, en ung mand, velformuleret, super-ambitiøs. Og her er der en fortællestil, hvor teksten, cykelrytterens refleksioner, som kommer som akkompagnement til billederne, aldrig i form af interview, undertiden opfattes som en slags stream-of

Vurdering:

Erika Hníkova: Matchmaking Mayor/ 2

Det er mildest talt ikke hver dag at en tjekkisk/slovakisk dokumentar finder vej til en dansk biograf. Men her er én, takket være de brave folk fra Øst for Paradis og Gloria i Aarhus og København. Den har premiere i morgen, den 23. august. Vi bragte en anmeldelse af filmen i april 2011, her gentages den:

It is not the first time a film about a village with unmarried singles is being made these years. Seems to be a trend! And as the Greek one (”Sugartown”) and the Serbian one (”Village Without Women”) this one from Czech Republic, taking place in Slovakia, is warm and sweet to experience. At the same time as it is describing a provincial community, where daughters often stay with their mums and sons with their mothers as well. The older generation claims that they would love to see their children married, at the same time as they want the grown-up kids to stay at home, simply for their own sake, to avoid loneliness. The mayor, a former general, does what he can, but is not very succesful neither with his attempt to matchmake through a party planned for months, nor with his speeches that reaches the population via loudspeakers on every street corner.  

The director’s voice is heard, when she goes around to make first hand research. She asks questions on our behalf, she enjoys the confidence of the characters and gets good material to bring home. Something happens to the characters during the film, we get closer to them, but real close, no, there are still a natural lot of shyness when it comes to love. And there should be, this blogger thinks. Zemplinske Hamre is the name of the village, probably the one and only time you hear about it!

80 mins., Czech Republic & Slovak Republic.

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

http://www.gloria.dk/Matchmaking%20Mayor

Vurdering:

Punk Syndrome and Other Master-Docs to Riga

The Baltic Sea Forum in Riga – September 5-9 – includes several interesting film projects from the Baltic countries, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine plus some Western producers with themes relating to the East. The 16th edition of this classic forum that took off on the Danish island of Bornholm, organised by the Baltic Media Centre, a parallel event to the Baltic Film & Tv Festival, is now handled by the National Film Centre of Latvia with local support and with money as well from the EU MEDIA Programme.The meeting for the professionals is added by a parallel audience orientated mini-festival of high quality documentaries with a great opening film, the one that goes all over the world, Finnish ”The Punk Syndrome” (photo) directed by Jukka Kärkkäinen and J-P Passi, the team that also stood behind ”Living Room of a Nation”. The directors will be there for the screening. For those who have forgotten about the band, here some lines from the website:

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät (Pertti Kurikka’s Name Day) is a punk band that was formed in 2009 in a culture workshop arranged by Lyhty, a nonprofit organization. Lyhty provides housing and education services as well as workshops for adults with intellectual disabilities. Pertti Kurikka, the band’s guitarist and front man, writes the lyrics with vocalist Kari Aalto and composes the music. The other two members of the band are bassist Sami Helle and drummer Toni Välitalo.

Among the other films to be screened are ”5 Broken Cameras” By Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, Patricio Guzman’s ”Nostalgia for the Light”, a brand new, exciting Latvian film ”The Documentarian” by Ivars Zviedris and Inese Kļava, Danish ”The Ambassador” by Mads Brügger and ”Argentinian Lesson” by Wojciech Stáron.

Superb programme! Read more on links below and join the Baltic Sea Forum facebook group.

http://www.mediadesklatvia.eu/baltic-sea-forum-for-documentaries-2012/

http://kovasikajuttu.fi/en/

Kaspar Astrup Schröder: I Want to Cheer Up Ltd.

The Danish director behind ”The Invention of Dr. Nakamats” and ”My Playground” was praised by filmkommentaren last year through the words:”A multi-artist, an original talent, who also makes films... definitely a refreshing new talent in Danish documentary”.

In his new documentary, the second one he has shot in Japan, he shows – with the help of a Japanese woman behind the camera – we hear her questions to the main character Ryuichi Ichinokawa but we do not see her – huge talent for getting close to the man, whose normal job is to bring out post and parcels, with the addition that he runs a company that offers special service to families, or rather to people who do not have “enough” family members for weddings, receptions etc. So Mr. Ichinokawa steps in as organiser, as a kind of metteur-en-scène, including himself to play a father for a young girl, who wants her boyfriend to meet the father in order to get his permission to live together before eventual marriage.

This is a fine, entertaining and attractive invitation to watch the film that, however, turns out to be much more about Mr. Ichinokawa’s problems with his private life in a family, where love between Mr. Ichinokawa and his wife seems gone long ago, with him working to make the family with two children survive. Mr. Ichinokawa talks about his hell of a life, very few things seem to be good for him, yes he adores the dog of the house! And he says openly to camera that he has often thought of taking his own life.

His family knows nothing about his job as a helper for other people to repair their relationship. Mr. Ichinokawa builds up to tell his wife, which he does at the (far too abrupt) end of the film.

The family situation and the main character’s strong melancholy and small appetite on life fills up – it feels so – a big part of a film that through lack of more layers and a development of the identity theme becomes repetitive and flat in structure accompanied by a strong music score that serves to bring energy to scenes that lack strength. I hate to use this cliché of television commissioners but maybe the film is too long and Mr. Ichinokawa no strong and interesting enough to carry the story.

The film premieres in 50 cinemas in Denmark this Wednesday August 22 through the excellent DoxBio initiative that brings documentaries to cinemas.

http://www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/danishfilms/dffilm.aspx?id=24894

http://www.doxbio.dk/dbio/b.lasso?ll=2s

Vurdering:

Kaspar Astrup Schröder: Lej en Familie A/S

Det er det med de skuffede forventninger... Jeg gik til pressevisning af ”Lej en familie A/S” af Kaspar Schröder i højt og positivt humør med erindringen om, hvordan han i april 2011 på en Dok-dag i Cinemateket havde bjergtaget mig med sin præsentation af den metode, som han havde anvendt i sin første originale Japan-film om Dr. Nakamats, som han viste klip fra, suppleret af arkitekturfilmen med parkour for fuld udblæsning. ”A multi-artist, an original talent, who also makes films... definitely a refreshing new talent in Danish documentary”, var de ord som filmkommentaren viderebragte.

Og det er ingen dårlig film, som Schröder nu sender på gaden. Historien om familiefaren Ryuichi Ichinokawa, som uden sin families viden driver et firma, som udlejer personer, som kan agere familie for mennesker, som ingen har, er interessant og attraktivt underholdende I sig selv. Til bryllupper skaffer han stand-ins – eller optræder selv som en far, som kan sige god for, at datteren flytter sammen med sin kæreste før de beslutter sig for at gifte sig – eller  udlejer en kritisk læser til en forfatter før bogen kommer på gaden. Hr. Ichinokawa er forbavsende åben om, hvad han foretager sig, bortset fra at et tv-klip med ham skjuler hans identitet, ligesom de involverede i brylupperne etc. har slørede ansigter. Det er sjældent, at man er kommet så tæt på japanerne som I denne film (bortset fra Sean McAllisters fine film fra 2008), om en hovedperson, der ikke kan forsørge sin familie gennem udlejningsfirmaet, hvorfor han må have et andet job som pakkeudbringer, som han så I øvrigt bliver fyret fra. Det er bemærkelsesværdigt, at det lykkes

Vurdering:

Péter Forgács: El perro negro

"... El perro negro telling personal dramas, faults, faiths, illusions and desperation, the unseen side of an insane war. The workers self-government experiments, the multitude sufferings of civilians, the schism of the divided country, the revolutionary illusions, murders and the systematic massacres orgies of Franco's brutality changed once and for ever the universe of Unamuno, Lorca, Bunuel, Hernandez, Durruti, the royalists, and the Falangists. The rise, and fall of ideas, the final personal losses come near to our eyes. The unseen private films reveal the cruel and beautiful sides of the Spanish times - as a prelude to the World War II." (fra Péter Forgács' synopsis)

Det nervøst skæve still fra filmen forbinder sig i en association til Robert Capas fotografi af en faldende soldat på en bjergside, et fotografi, som for mig altid har rummet erindringen om nederlaget, den tabte krig. Scenen i filmen udvider sig på samme måde, jeg ser den uden eksterne realkommentarer, men med Forgács’ lyddesign og med den kontrapunktiske voice over, som fortæller en biografi, en af de private livshistorier, filmede og skrevne, som filmens konstruktion hviler på. Ethvert billede indeholder en biografi, siger Forgács. Hans film er en ubrudt dokumentation af den indsigt. Og ethvert følsomt valgt billede indeholder som bekendt et system af associationer, personlige og fælles kulturelle. Filmens klip opererer tillige i lange sekvenser modigt tavst med denne erfaring.

Jeg så den forunderlige og aldeles oprørende film på DR K i aftes. Vær opmærksom! DR K gentager ofte udsendelse af film, man har indkøbt. Når det sker det, se den! For eksempel blot for at se filmscener sat fri af enhver illustrativ lænke. Hvorefter du er alene med borgerkrigens lovløse regel: brutalitet uden grænse.

Péter Forgács: El perro negro, Ungarn 2005, 84 min. Set på DR K. Genudsendes 31. august 14:55.

Vurdering:

Learning Through Film: Human Rights in Scotland

The text about Docs for Education (see below) made Scottish filmmaker Nick Higgins draw attention to a Scottish initiative that could inspire filmmakers in other countries to do the same. Here are some text clips from the website:

… This combined book and DVD package is a first of its kind in Scotland, making it possible for schools, community groups and social organisations to deliver a series of 10 workshops, each based on 10 short documentary films dealing with human rights in Scotland. The aim of the multi-media pack is to expand the education and understanding of human rights in a Scottish context.

… Each workshop is based around one of the 10 short documentaries that made up the award winning and BBC screened feature project, The New Ten Commandments, originally co-produced with the Scottish Documentary Institute.

Apart from Higgins himself other internationally known names appear as directors: Doug Aubrey, Douglas Gordon and Mark Cousins, who made his film together with wonderful Tilda Swinton. Read more on:

http://www.learningthroughfilm.co.uk/Learning_Through_Film/Home.html

Jean Rouch Tribute

Icarus Films in New York has a strong, high quality catalogue, including several works by Chris Marker, who died end of July this year. This week the company pulished the good news that it has acquired North American distribution rights to six films by “legendary French filmmaker and ethnographer Jean Rouch”.

The press release, that gives a gives a first intro to the filmmaker goes like this:

A founder of cinéma vérité, Rouch is widely recognized as one of the world’s most significant documentary filmmakers, but much of his filmography has long been unavailable in the United States. The six titles Icarus Films has acquired number among his most highly regarded productions: two shorts, LES MAÎTRES FOUS (1955) and MAMMY WATER (1956), and four features: MOI, UN NOIR (1957), THE LION HUNTERS (LE CHASSE AU LION A L’ARC) (1965), JAGUAR (1967), and LITTLE BY LITTLE (PETIT À PETIT) (1969).

Between 1946, when he made his first film in Niger, and his death in 2004, Rouch produced more than 100 films, most of them on African subjects. From his position as a researcher at France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), he became “one of the most creative forces in ethnographic film and one of its most vigorous challengers.” (Pat Aufderheide, Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction) “No one”, Gilles Deleuze said of Rouch, “has done so much…to break with a cinema of ethnology.”

The period in which Rouch produced the six films Icarus has acquired represents the most sustained flourishing of his practice of “shared anthropology,” a process of collaboration with his subjects that he described as a “type of participatory research,” which he said, “appears to me to be the only morally and scientifically feasible anthropological attitude today.”

Among this group are Rouch’s two best-known films: LES MAÎTRES FOUS,

Lussas 2012

Every year late August the French documentarians go to Ardèche to discuss and to watch, and have a good time. This year (August 19-25) the seminars include themes like ”The Necessity of Criticism?” and how to ”build a Political point of View”. The so-called Professional Encounters offer sessions on ”animated documentary”, ”commissioning policy”, ”RED” (camera), regional funding possibilities etc.

And for the many screenings, of course with many French docs, there is also a focus on recent Portuguese documentaries, and (bravo from this blogger) a broad, qualified historical selection of Baltic country documentaries. There are films by Aivars Freimanis from Latvia, Robertas Verba from Lithuania, Andres Sööt from Estonia, and closer to today several films by Juris Podnieks, Ivars Seleckis, Uldis Brauns and Herz Frank from Latvia, as well as Mark Soosaar (photo) from Estonia, not to forget Audrius Stonys and Arunas Matelis from Lithuania, from where (one critical remark) films by Henrikas Sablevicius are missing.

http://www.lussasdoc.org/etats-generaux,2012.html

Docs for Education

Israeli director and editor Erez Laufer gave me a link to his father’s film website, Docs for Education, an amazing initiative, in Nahum Laufer’s own words ”devoted to distributing high quality creative documentaries suitable for educational purposes”. For those of you who doubt that there is a market for documentaries outside television and cinema and home video, take a look at the site that mentions where the (9) films are available – and to which prizes. Quite impressive! Here is the motivation of Nahum Laufer, taken from the site:

“I was born in 1935 in Poland. During WWII, my mother and I escaped from the Nazis in a journey that ended in Bombay, India. It was during research for a documentary film about my personal life that I became familiar with another fascinating and un-familiar story, that of The Darien, which became the subject of my first script.

The film "The Darien Dilemma" was directed by my son, Erez Laufer, and edited by my daughter, Miri Laufer. The three of us continued our collaboration in "Rafting to Bombay", the film which tells my own personal story.

It was during the creation of these two deeply personal documentary films with my son that I acknowledged the instructive value of this media. Receiving enthusiastic responses from universities, schools, public libraries and other institutions encouraged us to create a small selection of unique, insightful documentary films with educational value.”

Photo from “To See If I’m Smiling”, the strong film by Tamar Yarom about women soldiers in the Israeli army.

http://docsforeducation.com/

Pierre Thoretton: L’Amour Fou

Pierre Bergé, the life long partner of Yves Saint-Laurent (1936-2008), is the one that tells the story about the artist and his troubled life as the fragile and modest designer, who – helped very much by Bergé’s organisational and financial talent – established the world famous fashion house, built up an art collection, and as the years went along, developed deep depressions (Bergé calls it une dépression nerveuse) and took to immense alchohol and drug abuse.

Bergé, often facing the camera, takes the viewer to the different flats and houses of the two, in Paris, in Normandy and in Marrakech with the packing down of the art collection as the backbone of the story. Bergé decided to sell it all after the death of YSL and the film follows that process ending in Grand Palais in Paris at the auction - ”L’amour Fou”, I guess, must refer to both the relationship between the two men, and to their love to the art collection that was of an amazing quality. 

Archive (lots of interviews with YSL, clips from the shows, the amazing ”la collection russe”, and one where Catherine Deneuve sings for the old, shaken designer), photos, his love to the world of Proust (he signed in as Swann when at hotels abroad!), his Mondrian inspiration, the two women who followed him, one his black seducer into narchotics, the other the light and joyful companion. Bergé himself, and his work for rights for homosexuals, is characterised towards the end of the film as a man who lives on memories, a lonely man. (Could, however, have done without the kliché of him standing at a window looking to the sea.) He has been there through the whole film telling his story about YSL. A fascinating insight to a man whose ”fame only brought suffering”.    

Watched the film on DR K, Danish public television (K stands for Kultur), that broadcast several fashion films in connection with a fashion week in Copenhagen. The film is out on dvd.

http://www.ifcfilms.com/

France, 2010, 103 mins.

Vurdering:

Theodor Christensen: Det gælder din frihed

Theodor. Han blev aldrig kaldt andet, manden der optræder i enhver dansk filmhistorisk fremstilling som den danske filmiske dokumentarismes store teoretiker, manden bag besættelsestidens mesterlige modstandsfilm ”Det gælder din frihed”. Theodor, som Cinemateket har kredset om ved et par lejligheder og nu gør det igen i denne måned på mærkedagen 29. August. Dette står at læse som introduktion på hjemmesiden:

”'Det gælder din frihed' er en både poetisk og polemisk beretning om Danmark under krigen – og ikke mindst en hudfletning af samarbejdspolitikken, som magthavere både dengang og siden har prøvet at nedtone.

Filmen brød med skolemester-traditionen. Karl Roos’ titeldigt reciteres med lavmælt intensitet, billeder af tomme statsgemakker bliver brugt metaforisk, og alt i alt er det en af de mest filmiske og langtidsholdbare dokumentarer, der er skabt herhjemme. Den blev søgt omformet af Staten, boykottet af biografer og kaldt propagandistisk af Ekstra Bladet. Men Theodor Christensen kæmpede som besat og stod fast på sit projekt. Det gjaldt hans kunstneriske frihed, som det gjaldt danskernes politiske.

Den 29. august, på årsdagen for "det mest forsinkede nej i danmarkshistorien", nemlig samarbejdspolitikkens officielle ophør, vil filmforsker Lars-Martin Sørensen introducere filmen.”

Og så lige et citat fra Theodor selv, fra 1948, stadig aktuelt, ikke sandt: Ved at nævne navnet dokumentarisk i flæng på 117 forskellige filmformer har man skabt kaotisk forvirring. Ikke mindst for de mange nye i den hastigt voksende dokumentariske filmstab er det desorienterende.

Danmark, 1946, 107 mins.

www.dfi.dk 

MandagsDokumentaren 10 år

Se, hvad turisten ser,
den navnløse by, 
strømmen, som bærer København og dens ry, 
de tusind cykelpi’er,
et brus af nikkelstyr, 
sikke pi’er, 
tag og kys dem alle fra mig!
- Poul Henningsen, Cykelsangen (1935)

Jo, det er den herlige sang fra PH’s Danmarksfilm, som er den oplagte fødselsdagsfilm for det enestående initiativ, som Ebbe Preisler satte i gang for 10 år siden med PH Caféen på Vesterbro i København som den biograf, hvor et væld af vigtige kort- og dokumentarfilm, danske og udenlandske, er blevet vist, altid med tilstedeværelse af instruktør eller anden til film eller emne knyttet person.

Danmarksfilmen, fra 1935, ofte omtalt som den første egentlige danske dokumentarfilm, bliver vist mandag den 3. September med et indledende fødselsdagsprogram, der også omfatter biografdirektør Preisler, der fylder 70.

Tillykke!

www.mandagsdokumentar.dk

Michel Wenzer: At Night I Fly /2

Jeg tror, jeg kunne lytte til ham i timevis, i dagevis. Han er indsat i Folsom fængslet i Californien. Har været der længe. Skal formodentlig være der al tid. I begyndelsen var hans velkomstgave til en ny indsat et våben lavet der af materiale for hånden, et våben at true med, at slå ihjel med. Sådan fastholdes de nye i voldskulturen det nye sted. Han er barsk nok til nu at holde sig fri af det, han slår hårdere end de andre, må jeg tro. Og nu er hans gave til de nye måske en kuglepen og et stykke papir. Poesi gør fri, det gør et barberblad monteret på skaftet til en tandbørste ikke.  

Her er han i sin celle, forvandlet til digter. En del af de indsatte mødes i en litterær café i fængslet og læser op for hinanden. Det er formidabelt, utroligt, forbavsende: "... and there are great scenes from this room where (some) inmates meet with people from other races, as they say, in a world where the white normally do not meet with the black, or the black with the latinos... music, poem reading, writing, religious meetings, they are well articulated..." som Tue Steen Müller skrev i sin imponerede anmeldelse fra april i år her på siden, og han beskev formen: "The film has a sketchy, fragmentaric structure, but the impressionistic approach slowly adds up sequence by sequence, and you get some characters, who are reflective when it comes to their own situation and to the actions they take to fill their days to make it all bearable, or you could say to make sense of it all..."  

Jeg er fuldstændig opslugt, ser i dag filmen på Filmstriben.dk i mindre bidder. Kan faktisk ikke klare mere, kan slet ikke slippe denne særegne skønhed Michel Wenzer og fotograferne Camilla Hjelm Knudsen og Eric Börjesen har bygget op i en behersket sikker ro, scene for scene.

Anders Gustafsson: Succesjægerne

Drengene øver sig i at kontakte pigerne. Det gælder om at turde, at få sagt noget, at holde en samtale med den valgte pige så mange sekunder som muligt. Det er en øvelse. De er på kursus på Speed Up Life Academy. De skal til eksamen i mod og andet om knapt fire måneder. De er lige i begyndelsen af kurset, på ryste sammen rejse til et sted i Spanien. Kameraet ser drengene. Med pigernes blik - og de er søde, ser jeg tydeligt, de ser, pigerne.

Problemet er, at drengene ikke ved at de er søde. De er usikre, skuffede, sårede, hæmmede. Det er derfor, de er på psykologikursus. Og der får de at vide, at det kan de gøre noget ved. Som kærlighedslivets kampsoldater træner de sådan tilskyndet med mange mange mavebøjninger, og de lærer at skrige sammen før slaget: Jeg er komplet ligeglad med, hvad andre tænker om mig. Og: Agressivitet er bedre end passivitet.

Gustafssons elegante tv-dokumentar er lige ved, men kun lige ved at blive en rigtig, rigtig klog film. Men den fortaber sig i sine registreringer, sine fine, fine lytninger og iagttagelser, kontrolleret nervøst filmet og flot, flot klippet i en pulserende urolighed, som aldrig bliver rod, som trods jeg hele tiden synes, jeg keder mig, holder mig fast hen over krisepunktet i nærheden af 30 minutter. Igen en film, som vokser og vokser. Imidlertid når den ikke frem til analysens sammenfatning, den siger vist nok, for mig skuffende, at den vil overlade læsningen til mig. Men jeg er ikke interesseret i drengene, jeg er interesseret i Gustavssons anliggende i feltet mellem journalistik og filmkunst, men han giver ikke noget fra sig at læse. I stedet får den charmerende direktør for akademiet det sidste ord. Hos tatovøren ligger han og får sit (og filmens?) credo printet med temmelig vandfast blæk i sin arm: "Med disciplin, målbevidsthed, ærlighed, mod og kærlighed kan du opnå alt det, du sætter dig for. Den rigtige indstilling betyder alt, og ingen vil se mig give op. Fordi jeg vil simpelthen ikke."

Anders Gustafsson: Succesjægerne, Danmark 2011, 40 min. Manuskript: Anders Gustafsson, fotografi: Anders Gustafsson og Niels Thastum, klip: Anja Farsig og Rasmus Steensgaard Madsen, produktion: Plus Pictures, producer: Mette Heide. Sendt på TV2 maj, 2012. Set på Filmstriben.dk

Vurdering:

Glawogger Visits Copenhagen

NY Times brought the most precise headline to an article about the films of Austrian filmmaker Michael Glawogger’s impressive work: A World of Troubled Beauty – referring to his trilogy ”Megacities”, ”Workingman’s Death” and ”Whore’s Glory”.

The latter, ”Whore’s Glory” – in the presence of the director – having met him on similar occasions I can guarantee an interesting debate and a clever insight to what filmmaking is – is screened in Copenhagen in Cinemateket August 24.

I can only say, buy yourself a ticket and if you want to know more, use the links below.

http://www.whoresglory.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/movies/a-look-inside-the-films-of-michael-glawogger.html

http://www.dfi.dk/Filmhuset/Arrangementer/Arrangementer-i-Filmhuset/2012/August-2012/Moed-Michael-Glawogger.aspx

Georges Franju

A great director, not very well known today, but for this film blogger his “Le Sang des betes” (1949, 22 mins.) from a slaughterhouse in the Parisian suburb, is a unique  masterpiece in the history of documentary films. The film can be bought through Aamazon or watched in different language version on YouTube. If you happen to be in Donostia late September, you will able to see more of Franju’s oeuvre. This is taken from the site of the festival in San Sebastian:

French filmmaker Georges Franju is to be the subject of one the retrospectives programmed for the 60th San Sebastian Festival to take place from 21-29 September 2012.

Georges Franju (12-4-1912 / 5-11-1987) was an enormously influential figure in French film culture. In 1936 he founded the Cinémathèque Française with Henri Langlois. His career as a director began in 1949 with documentaries, a field to which he contributed some of the greatest titles ever in the genre. His early works - Le Sang des bêtes, Hôtel des Invalides and En passant par la Lorraine – already demonstrated his particular talent for filming reality from unexpected angles, a trait leading in these testimonial films to a sensitivity akin to surrealism and expressionism.

Franju’s obsession with putting his finger on the inexpressible poetry of things through his lens stayed with him as he moved on to feature films with La Tête contre les murs (Head Against the Wall,1958), followed by Les Yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face,1959), considered to be a masterpiece of fantasy film. His fascination with popular culture, with the feuilleton soap-operas and silent film serials, is clearly visible in movies like Pleins feux sur l’assassin (1960), Judex (1963) and Nuits rouges (1974), true exercises in style striving to recover the innocence of those old narrations of intrigue and mystery in an obvious vindication of film as visual, narrative pleasure. But Franju was also known for his skilful adaptations of classic literary works on which he unfailingly left his personal stamp: François Mauriac (Thérèse Desqueyroux / Therese, 1962), Émile Zola (La faute de l’Abbé Mouret / The Demise of Father Mouret, 1970), Joseph Conrad (La Ligne d’ombre, 1973) and Jean Cocteau (Thomas l’imposteur / Thomas the Imposter, 1964). Today unjustly forgotten, Franju’s work enjoyed great critical acclaim in its time and earned him the admiration of the young filmmakers of the nouvelle vague.

http://www.sansebastianfestival.com/in/

The Ambassador / Legal Actions from Liberia

It already created problems at the premiere at the idfa (Amsterdam) festival in November last year, and now Danish newspapers reveal a new controversy around the Danish documentary "The Ambassador" by Mads Brügger, who appears in his film as the diplomat, Mr. Cortzen. The website of EDN (European Documentary Network), in general a must-read site for documentary professionals, has made an excellent summary of the current case. Read it all, here is a quote:

… In his documentary The Ambassador, Mads Brügger dresses up as a neo-colonialist and sets off for the Central African Republic to impersonate the Liberian consul, a tittle he has bought himself into. Brügger sets up a match factory run by pygmies as a cover for his ambitions in diamond trafficking. But Brügger is really there to document how the power in the country is allotted and traded… The Liberian Government issued a press release on July 30, 2012 where the Government threatens to take legal actions against Mads Brügger. In the press release it is stated that:

“The Government of Liberia finds this action by Mr. Cortzen to not only be immoral but criminal and offensive to the government and people of Liberia. 

http://www.edn.dk/

Filmkommentaren First Five Years

Five years ago Allan Berg called me to pitch an idea he had: Should we make a film blog where we could express opinions and spread information on our common passion: Films. Allan (who lives in Randers in Denmark, whereas I live in Copenhagen, the two cities being 4 hours train distance from each other) organised what became filmkommentaren.dk with a local webbureau Infoserv that has the motto ”keep IT simple”. Which we have done, kept it simple: text + photo + links where our readers can find more info and clips and trailers. Ambition: an average of one text per day. All year round.

We decided that Allan should stay with Danish as his language for posted texts – I went for English, the language I use when teaching and tutoring around the world. For four years we got a generous 50-50 start and IT maintenance support from the local FOF (Denmark’s largest provider of adult liberal education) but no financial support from anyone. Well, once we applied to the DFI (Danish Film Institute) for a small help to cover the basic costs but got a no because ”there are so many film websites so that would make a precedent to support you”, words to that effect. So filmkommentaren.dk is totally con amore, and we have been happy to invite other Aficionados to post texts.

Here we are five years later, this text being blogpost/text number 2082. We have never really discussed editorial lines, we have written about what we wanted to write about: reviews, festival reports, notes, quotes from other media, comments, we have created smaller and bigger discussions. The focus has been the documentary film.

The first two texts were reviews of ”Forever” by Heddy Honigmann and ”Ghosts of Cité Soleil” by Asger Leth, that was back in August 2007, where we also wrote about Bergman and Antonioni, who died late July that year, and where we visited and covered the yearly documentary gathering of the DFI at the European Film College.

Statistics – We have had 96.521 visits in 2012 until this day, 39.351 so-called unique visitors. We are very happy for the interest. Thank you, readers!

Christian Braad Thomsen: Blues for Montmartre

Det er en rent ud bevægende film om et smultronställe, et sted at høre til. Det er en film om en personlig erindring om et sted i fortiden, som ikke er mere, men som så er her igen. Her i filmen. Redux. Og det mest bevægende er filmens bekendelse af en fejltagelse: musikeren på fotografiet, Ben Webster var dengang overvurderet af de andre, fordi han holdt fast i det fortidige, mens han, filmens fortæller, var interesseret i avant garden. Nu indser fortælleren / instruktøren, at Webster måske var den største, den vigtigste, selve indbegrebet af Copenheaven, det gamle Montmartre, det klassiske Montmartre. Og den dejlige film topper følgelig med afstnittet om ham, om Ben Webster, som spiller balladen og lige netop dette afgørende sted retter intensitetskurven op på denne blues. Tak for musikaliteten. Tak til klipperen. Tak til Grete Møldrup.  

Filmens fortæller er naturligvis Braad Thomsen selv, og han har, igen naturligvis, selv lagt stemme til. Christian Braad Thomsen skriver og læser nok en af de smukkeste fortællerstemmer i dansk film, en af de fire-fem, jeg kan tænke på i en sådan sammenligning. Jeg er så tryg, hver gang han åbner en af sine film med endnu en af sine fine fortællestemmer. Der sker undervejs somme tider det, at teksten svækkes, slår over i simpel humor, causerende afslapning eller anekdoter. Ja, det sker da også her, men det tilgiver jeg her, det gør jeg ikke andre steder. Det uforglemmelige afsnit med Webster retter også det op. Filmen får atter storhed.

For der er mange afsnit som det med den store musiker, der er dertil det ene fremragende interview efter det andet, monolitiske filminterviews som i Karen Blixen filmen, i Morten Korch filmen. De er en insisterende Braad Thomsen specialitet. Hvor er det godt, at han insisterer. Og fortsætter, fortsætter.

Christian Braad Thomsen: Blues for Montmartre, DK 2011, 83 min. Manuskript: Christian Braad Thomsen, fotografi: Steen Møller Rasmussen, klip: Grete Møldrup, produktion: Kollektiv Film, producer: Charlotte Vinter. Kan ses på Filmstriben.dk

Vurdering:

DocsBarcelona 2013

Info to our film professional readers:

The 16^th edition of DocsBarcelona will take place May 28 – June 2.

In other words, the event will be moved away from the freezingly cold weather in Barcelona in February 2012, where the 15^th edition of DocsBarcelona took place, to a place in the calendar where films and film projects can be discussed in outdoor cafés – well there could even be outdoor screenings!? (And as I know from experience that many documentarians are football fans – Barca plays its last home game on Camp Nou, June 1^st).

For the pitching part of DocsBarcelona the registration process will start on December 2012. The deadline to submit a project is April 4th 2013.

For the film festival part of DocsBarcelona it is important to mention that the festival does not hold an open call for entries. Each section has a programmer that makes his/her own selection. This film blogger is one of them, keep me informed!

Photo: Last year’s festival winner, ”At Night they Dance” by Canadian Isabelle Lavigne and 
Stéphane Thibault.

http://www.docsbarcelona.com/

DocLisboa 2012

The fine documentary festival in the capital of Portugal celebrates its 10^th edition this year, October 18-28. There are changes in the direction, which is now a collective, and there are exciting novelties in the programme. Here is the press release from the festival sent out today:

Cinema of Urgency and Green Years are two new festival sections : Cinema of Urgency brings together films that document and witness events that challenge filmmakers to rethink cinema in terms of direct action and concrete exercise of citizenship. Green Years embraces a selection of films produced in the context of schools for video, film and audio-visual communication, as well as in post-graduate courses related to cinema and in particular to documentary film.

In its 10th edition, the doclisboa will present two retrospectives : United We Stand, Divided We Fall and Chantal Akerman.

United We Stand United We Fall, a retrospective programmed by Italian film curator Federico Rossin, will present collective films that emerged during the 1960s to 1980s and focuses on the moments in which the political and social struggle forced the reinvention of cinematic practice and the status of the author.

In partnership with the Portuguese Cinematheque - Film Museum, the doclisboa will host a full retrospective of Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, questioning documentary film and its relationship to other

Torben Skjødt Jensen: City Slang Redux

”… mørkladne firser-vibes og grynet sort-hvide film, der hiver publikum tilbage til et af de få rigtigt stolte øjeblikke i 1980’ernes danske musiklandskab,” skrev Grand Teater i København ved filmens premiere tilbage i marts i år. Den er derefter kommet på DVD og kan nu også ses på Filmstriben. Den stolte begivenhed fandt sted i 1984, det var udgivelsen af Lars H.U.G.’s plade på grundlag af Søren Ulrik Thomsens bog City Slang , som fulgtes af en turné og to teaterkoncerter. Disse koncerter optog Skjødt Jensen. Og så gemte han videobåndene i sit arkiv, som man må tro er temmelig stort og ret interessant. Skjødt Jensen er dokumentarist i alle betydninger af ordet.

Og han vælger så til titlen ordet redux = latin for at bringe tilbage, og som det i dag ofte bruges, om værker, for eksempel filmværker, som genskabes i restaureret og udvidet skikkelse. Her altså pladeudgivelsen City Slang og teaterkoncerterne, genskabt flot restaureret i en film og udvidet med nye, store interviews med Lars H.U.G. og Søren Ulrik Thomsen og med to af musikerne, som var med dengang, Finn Verwohlt og Kim Jansson, og det hele er med sikker hånd omgivet af filmisk vignetstof, af den drømmende slags, vi forbinder med Skjødt-Jensens film, så ikke kun pladen og forestillingerne, men selve den svundne tid og tidsånden midt i 80’er årtiet skildres og tilbageholdende klogt blandt meget andet diskuteres af Søren Ulrik Thomsen, som så tilfredsstillende i lighed med de tre andre medvirkende har rigtig god plads, ligesom musikstykkerne er lagt ind i deres fulde længde. Forbilledligt.

Dokumentaristen Torben Skjødt Jensen registrerer og gemmer, som en dokumentarist selvfølgelig skal, men han gør hver gang noget mere: han revitaliserer arkiverne. I hans flittige produktion falder en stor del af værkerne i tre store blogge: 1) byessays, alle med tekst af en brømt forfatter: Flâneur 1-3 (Firenze / Calvino, i nummer to Clermont-Ferrand / Baudelaire og i den tredje Paris / Benjamin) samt i Wayfarer Randers / Seeberg), 1993-1998, 2) biografiske skildringer som It’s A Blue World / Lerfeldt, 1990, Carl Th. Dreyer, 1995, Den grimme dreng / Ole Ege, 1996, Simons film / Simon Spies, 1999, Den talende muse / Asta Nielsen, 2003, Afgrunden / Asta Nielsen og 3) kulturhistoriske undersøgelser, især tv-dokumentarer, blandt andre Som et strejf  / dansk rockmusik gennem år, 1993 og sammen med Ghita Beckendorff Tugt og utugt 1-2, 2001.

City Slang Redux er således på plads i den tredje gruppe som en kulturhistorisk undersøgelse og en æstetisk refeksion over et ”øjeblik i 80’ernes musiklandskab”, som havde stor betydning i sin tid og som kaster betydning af sig frem til nu, bare forløbigt.

Torben Skjødt Jensen: City Slang Redux, DK 2011, 80 min. Manuskript og fotografi: Torben Skjødt Jensen, medvirkende: Lars H.U.G., Søren Ulrik Thomsen, Finn Verwohlt og Kim Jansson. Filmen kan ses på Filmstriben.dk Disse af de nævnte film kan også ses på Filmstriben: Tugt og utugt 1, Tugt og utugt 2, Den talende muse og Afgrunden. Og disse film blandt de nævnte kan bestilles på Bibliotek.dk (på VHS eller DVD): Som et strejf, It's a blue world, Den grimme dreng, Simons film, Tugt og utugt 1+2, Afgrunden, Den talende muse, Carl Th. Dreyer, Flâneur 1-3.

Vurdering:

FIFIG

… yes, what does that stand for? The answer is Festival International du Film Insulaire, taking place on the island of Groix that lies in France in Brittany. From August 22 to 26 the 12^th edition of this festival takes place with, as the name indicates, a focus on films on and from islands, all film genres included as well as concerts, exhibitions and debates. Regret to say that I had never heard about the festival before I – due to Marie-Clémence and César Paës – ran into two of the organisers last December in Paris. The catalogue is out now – you can download it via the website – and it is not only very beautiful to look at, the cinematic content is impressive, including the premiere of the new film of above mentioned couple Paës behind Laterit Productions (“Mahaleo” and “Saudade du Futuro”), “L’Opéra du bout du monde”. Here is the introduction of the organisers to this pearl of a festival:

À chaque édition une nouvelle destination. Nous avons ainsi abordé par le passé des îles des quatre coins du monde, de Madagascar à l’Islande, de Cuba à la Nouvelle Calédonie en passant par les Marquises, le Sri Lanka, le Cap Vert et bien d’autres encore.

Cette année nous avons choisi de partir dans l’Arctique, à la rencontre des Inuit du Nunavut et du Groenland. Nous avons choisi ces destinations pour leur Histoire commune, celle des Inuit, de la sédentarisation, des effets du réchauffement climatique, du choc des générations et de la difficulté d’allier tradition et modernité. L’Arctique en a fasciné plus d’un, des chercheurs, des aventuriers, des réalisateurs, et aujourd’hui c’est notre festival qui s’y intéresse avec l’envie de partager, ici à Port Lay, leur culture et leur Histoire.

Si nous consacrons une large partie de notre programmation à nos invités de l’Arctique, nous n’oublions pas pour autant les îles du monde entier qui sont au cœur de notre thématique depuis les débuts de notre festival.

PS. The other day one of the organisers - like so many rightfully did - Chris Marker, whose "Sans Soleil" was screened at the festival in 2005.

http://www.filminsulaire.com

http://www.laterit.fr/index.php?lg=en&page=catalogue

The Syrian Revolution/ 17

From a Syrian FB page accompanied by this text:

Al Atareb Olympic Games 2012
Al Atrareb, Aleppo, Syria.