The biggest and the most prestigious documentary film festival in Europe IDFA 2006 offered 280 films and only 12 of them come originaly from the post-comunistic countries ... Nevertheless, the First Appearence Award was given to the documentary The Angelmakers made in Hungarian co-production all the three films nominated for the Silver Wolf Award were shot by East European filmmakers.
SILVER WOLF AWARD 2005
BEFORE FLYING BACK TO THE EARTH
(pries parskrendant i zeme)
Director: Arunas Matelis
After his daughter survived eight months of treatment for leukaemia, the Lithuanian filmmaker Arunas Matelis did not turn his back on the hospital. He filmed the kids in the leukaemia ward in Vilnius during their day-to-day routine, without becoming sentimental. For the parents, their worst nightmare has come true, but what do the children themselves think? A life among medicine, IVs and tubes does not prevent them from just carrying on. Their adaptability is incredible. One of the mothers says her son has not grown dejected in hospital, because he has gotten used to it and does not know any better. The children practise karate or dream of getting hamburgers and Coke instead of the old cabbage soup. The future is often brought up, as if it were not finite: they hope they will not turn blond when their hair grows back, or they want to become a doctor, "but not in the leukaemia ward." Before Flying Back to the Earth is interlaced with black-and-white pictures showing the children in the middle of a smile, yawn or gesture, momentarily freezing time in this thorough documentary that does not deal with death, but with life.
Lithuania, Germany, 2005, colour, video, 52 min, Director: Arunas Matelis, Production: Tag/Traum - Gerd Haag, Studio Nominum - Arunas Matelis, Screenplay: Arunas Matelis, Photography: Audrius Kemezys, Editing: Katharina Schmidt, Sound: Viktoras Juzonis, Music: Kipras Masanauskas, Involved TV Channel: ZDF, ARTE G.E.I.E., World Sales: First Hand Films, Screening copy: Studio Nominum
Other two nominees for Silver Wolf Award:
SVYATO
Director: Victor Kossakovsky
Svyato is the first film in a planned trilogy (working title Palindrome) by director Victor Kossakovsky, who won the Joris Ivens Award (and the Audience Award) for Belovy at IDFA in 1993 and was nominated for the same award for Tishe! in 2002. In Russian, "Svyato" means both "happy, clear, joyful," as well as "considered holy." But Svyato is also the short form of Svyatoslav - the nickname of the two-year-old subject of this film. For the first time in his life, Svyato looks in the mirror. Simultaneously, his reflection is recorded by three HD cameras. Kossakovsky calls Svyato a film about "self-cognition and loneliness." "A baby can be surrounded by love; parents can play with him and teach him things, but no one can help him with the most important questions. Who am I? With a question like that, you are on your own. You can read a lot of books about love or God, but in the end, you are the only one who can answer the question as to whether they exist or not."
Russia, 2005, colour, video, 45 min, Director: Victor Kossakovsky, Production: Kossakovsky, Film Production - Victor Kossakovsky, Screenplay: Victor Kossakovsky, Tatiana Stepanova, Photography: Victor Kossakovsky, Juryi Shvedov, Editing: Victor Kossakovsky, Sound: Alexander Dudarev, Music: Alexandr Popov, World Sales: Kossakovsky Film Production, Screening copy: Kossakovsky Film Production, distribution benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund
CHICKEN ELECTIONS (pileci izbori)
Director: Goran Radovanovic
Set to cheerful music, black-and-white images show the official launch of the first mobile phone network. Smiling men (and a few women) in suits congratulate each other with the result, while the newsreader's voiceover praises Serbia's progress. Then, "nine years later" appears on the screen and the film changes to colour. The local traffic cop, who diligently hands out fines to motorists, pays a visit to his grandmother, Milena Milic, who lives by herself on a remote farm. He gives her a mobile phone and impatiently tries to explain to her how it works. Meanwhile, she complains about theft and ailments. As far as theft is concerned, the orthodox priest visiting her says "What can you do? That's what we Serbs are like." For her ailments, she goes to see a doctor, who cheers her up by singing a song. Everything is set against the backdrop of snap elections, for which a man delivers ballots by moped and about which fuddled men in a pub complain. Without explanation or comment, director Radovanovic also depicts a farming community that has to learn how to deal with the changing times. The events are accompanied by music and mirrored in archival images from the "good old days" - folk-dancing, driving a horse and buggy and cheerfully chopping wood.
Serbia, Montenegro, 2005, colour / black and white, video, 48 min, Director: Goran Radovanovic, Production: Nama Film - Goran Radovanovic, Co-production: , Screenplay: Goran Radovanovic, Photography: Radoslav Vladic, Editing: Stevan Maric, Sound: Milan Stojanovic, Music: Nemanja Mosurovic, World Sales: Nama Film, Screening copy: Nama Film
FIRST APPEARENCE AWARD:
THE ANGELMAKERS
Director: Astrid Bussink
A small village in the Hungarian countryside appears to have a dubious past: in 1929, a series of arsenic murders was exposed here, and 51 women were arrested on suspicion of poisoning their husbands and relatives. The arsenic they used had apparently been taken from flypaper. In total, there were 140 cases of murder, for which many women went to prison. Besides a reconstruction of the killings, this film is a portrait of the present inhabitants of Nagyrev, who all remember something different about the murders. They also muse about the current exodus from the village, are worried about a melon theft and complain about the fact that life in the village is boring: there is no cinema or aerobics club. The desolation and isolation of the village is captured quietly and carefully: a stooped man shuffles past, a house stands empty on the edge of the village. The director filmed at the kitchen table, on the ferry and on a bench in front of a house, where an elderly couple recalls how they got married within two months of meeting one another: "He needed someone to mend the fishing nets."
Scotland, Hungary, The Netherlands, 2005, colour, video, 33 min, Director: Astrid Bussink, Production: Astrid Bussink, Co-production: ECA Edinburgh, SZFE Budapest, Screenplay: Astrid Bussink, Photography: Klara Trenscenyi, Editing: Astrid Bussink, Brigita Peszler, Sound: Tamas Faix, www.angelmakers.nl
OTHER EAST EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY FILMS that took part in the IDFA 2005 programme:
BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT
izvan razumne sumnje
Mina Vidakovic
The Netherlands, Croatia, Serbia, 2005, colour, video, 52 min, Director: Mina Vidakovic
Production: SENSE News Agency - Mirko Klarin, SENSE News Agency - Vanja Valtrovic
Screenplay: Mina Vidakovic, Photography: Miodrag Trajkovic, Editing: Mirko Bojovic, Sound: Nenad Spasojevic, Screening copy: SENSE News Agency
THE FIRST ON THE MOON
pervye na lune
Alexey Fedorchenko
Russia, 2005, colour / black and white, 35mm, 75 min, Director: Alexey Fedorchenko
Production: Studio "Deya Toris" of the Sverdlovsk Film Studio - Alexey Fedorchenko, Studio "Deya Toris" of the Sverdlovsk Film Studio - Dmitry Vorob'yov, Screenplay: Alexaner Gonorovsky, Ramil Yamaleev, Photography: Anatoly Lesnikov, Editing: Alexey Fedorchenko, Ludmila Zalozhneva, Sound: Margarita Tomilova, Music: Sergei Sidelnikov, World Sales: Sverdlovsk Film Studio, Screening copy: Sverdlovsk Film Studio
LORA - TESTIMONIES
Nenad Puhovski
Croatia, 2004, colour, video, 65 min, Director: Nenad Puhovski, Production: Veran Matic, Factum/CDU - Nenad Puhovski, Co-production: B92, Screenplay: Nenad Puhovski, Photography: Silvestar Kolbas, Editing: Zarko Korac, Sound: Tomislav Hleb, Mladen Skalec, Music: Pere Istvancic, World Sales: Factum/CDU, Screening copy: Factum/CDU
ONE DAY IN PEOPLE'S POLAND
jeden dzien w prl
Maciej Drygas
Poland, France, Germany, 2005, black and white, video, 59 min, Director: Maciej Drygas, Production: ADR Productions - Jacques Debs, Drygas Production - Maciej Drygas, TVP - Telewizja Polska S.A. Channel 1 - Krzysztof Talczewski, Editing: Katarzyna Maciejko-Kowalczyk, Sound: Iwo Klimek, Music: Pawel Szymanski, Involved TV Channel: TVP - Telewizja Polska S.A. Channel 1, , ARTE G.E.I.E., World Sales: TVP SA, Screening copy: TVP SA
REPETITION
Artur Zmijewski
Poland, 2005, colour, video, 39 min, Regie: Artur Zmijewski, Produktie: Artur Zmijewski, Photography: Bartek Ciesielski, Kuba Kowalczyk, Jacek Malinowski, Robert, Mleczko, Magda Mosiewicz, Tomasz Szoltys, Jurand Wegrzyn, Rafal Zwirek, Editing: Leszek Molski, Sound: Marcin Bocinski, Krzysztof Boguszewski, Lukasz Kalbarczyk, Jacek, Przekazinski, Jacek Zlotkowski, Screening copy: Foksal Gallery Foundation
SOURCE
zdroj
Martin Marecek
Czech Republic, 2005, colour, video, 75 min, Director: Martin Marecek, Production: Bionaut Films - Barbora Fabianova, Bionaut Films - Vratislav Slajer, Co-production: Bankwatch, Screenplay: Martin Marecek, Martin Skalsky, Photography: Jiri Malek, Editing: Martin Marecek, Sound: Ondrej Jezek, Martin Marecek, World Sales: Taskovski Films Ltd., Screening copy: Bionaut Films, http://www.automatfilm.cz
VIERKA, OR THE MYSTERY OF FAMILY B'S DISAPPEARANCE
vierka
Miroslav Janek
Czech Republic, 2005, colour / black and white, video, 76 min, Director: Miroslav Janek, Production: Verbascum - Richard Nemec, Screenplay: Miroslav Janek
Photography: Miroslav Janek, Editing: Tonicka Jankova, Sound: Michael Micek, Daniel Nemec, Involved TV Channel: Czech Television, World Sales: Verbascum, Screening copy: Verbascum
SAN DONATO
Anatoly Baluyev
Russia, 2005, colour, video, 45 min, Director: Anatoly Baluyev, Production: SNEGA - Irina Snezhinskaya, Screenplay: Anatoly Baluyev, Photography: Irina Uralskaya, Editing: Arseniy Guschin, Sound: Alexander Kalashnikov, World Sales: ZAO, Screening copy: SNEGA
For more information about Non - East European documentary Films on IDFA 2005, go directly to the official festival homepage: www.idfa.nl
IDFA’s SILVER WOLF PRIZE FOR SHORT DOCUMENTARY GOES TO THE LITHUANIAN FILM BEFORE FLYING BACK TO THE EARTH
Even though the East European documentary film is based on a very strong cinematic tradition and authorial and often innovative approach, the presence of documentaries from this region on the international documentary festivals doesn’t equate the scale of the actual production. Viktor Kossakovsky, Goran Radovanovic or Arunas Matelis however prove, that the East European documentary film addresses the audience and film professionals with a specific and inimitable strenght. (photo: San Donato)