Ex Oriente Film
Ex Oriente Elementary Workshop (March 2012)
Ex Oriente Elementary Workshop took place prior to East European Forum as a kind of the preparatory Forum workshop, culminating with public presentations and followed by feedback round tables where the projects receive feedback from commissioning editors and other decision makers.
The East European Forum is the region’s largest meeting of East European documentary filmmakers with Europe's and North America’s leading commissioning editors, distributors, buyers and film fund representatives. Directors and independent producers of Ex Oriente Elementary Workshop participated in five days long workshop with numerous interesting case studies, lectures, group sessions and individual meetings and then within the Forum they offered their projects for co-production, pre-sales or other forms of financial support.
Ex Oriente Elementary Workshop | March 5 – 11, 2012 | Prague
• Workshop | March 5 – 9, 2012
• Public Presentations + Feedback Round Tables | March 10 – 11, 2012
Selected projects:
Escape from Somalia
Director: Čálek David
Producer: Brown Jeffrey, Vácha Pavel
Production company: U.F.O. Pictures, Bratři s.r.o.
Útěk ze Somálska , Czech Republic, 90 min, DCP, HD, Anthropology, Creative, Current Affairs, Environmental, Human Rights, Politics, Social Issues
The Somali Sea, once among the richest fisheries in the world, has been turning into a ”dead” sea in the last 15 years, when a rampant, massive fishing by multinational fishing cartels essentially wiped all living things out of Somali waters. The film reveals the difficult plight of Somali pirates, mostly former fishermen, for whom the sea is no longer the source of livelihood. In the nation caught in political havoc, the poor uneducated fishermen have are left with no alternative then joining the company of pirates operating along the Somali coast from Eyl to Bosaso. Escape from Somalia follows the fate of Ali, a young fisherman who became a pirate for some time. Their boat was blasted into pieces by a military ship during an unsuccessful hijacking attempt. Trying to save his own life he swam in the sea for many hours until he came upon another pirate boat. His older brothers, who were on the boat with him, perished. He was left alone and has been on the run ever since. The perspective of a young, yet very bright guy gives us a better idea about piracy, often a clear-cut issue from our point of view. It provides the perspective of people who, unlike us, do not decide about their life. Western society may benefit thanks to this point of view. The film does not intend to defend any form of violence, it tries to ponder the reasons that result in massive modern-day piracy. It proves that every action brings a reaction and that the irresponsible behavior of the European socie...
Exercise of Life
Director: Szymańska Wiktoria
Producer: Robin-You Estelle
Production company: Les films du balibari, Luna W, Mantaray Film, TVP S.A., AVRO, SVT - Sveriges Television AB
Exercise of Life , France, Sweden, 2012, 52 min, Digi Beta, Arts and Culture
There are stories constantly inspiring our imagination. There are unforgettable people who become legends of our times. We read about them, we admire them and, usually, we recognise their genius only after they are gone… Michael Meschke is not one of them, he is among the greatest living marionette masters in the world. His marionette masterpieces are a pretext allowing to delve into his own life and the stories behind his numerous international collaborations. He created the Marionetteatern and has been the cultural ambassador of Sweden for over 60 years. His theatre introduced the art of puppetry to modern Europe and brought back into the universal dimension characters like Antigone, Don Quixote, Odysseus, Faust, so significant to human nature and, at the same time, symbolising the struggle of virtue against vice in the last hundred years. Through his story, sketched on the canvas of modern history, we can touch on the most important values of humanity, as well as simple, essential human emotions: love, fear of death and unlimited passion, choices and regrets…
The Finalists
Director: Lindaurová Lenka
Producer: Příkaská Bára
Production company: IdeaFilm s.r.o.
Finalisté , Czech Republic, 90 min, DCP, Arts and Culture, Creative, Culture, Current Affairs, Longitudinal, Personal View, Portrait, Society
Why is it that people don't go to galleries, claiming they don't understand art dealing with everyday issues? Why do people believe that art requires craft only? What makes a social project, such as painting somebody's fence without permission, a piece of art? The observational documentary follows the five finalists of the 2010 Jindřich Chalupecký Award from the moment of their presentation in the Dox Centre for Contemporary Art, following them for the next five years. The final shortlist of the prestigious award included three artists and two art duos. Alice Nikitinová, a painter of almost abstract canvases , a street artist Jakub Matuška, a conceptual artist and theorist Václav Magid, a duo of draughtsmen David Böhm and Jiří Franta and a cross-media art duo Vasil Artamonov and Alexej Klyuykov. Not only do the authors vary in the means of expression, they have dofferent origins and mentality. The only thing they have in common is the fact that they studied at Czech art schools. In the form of interviews and scenes, the film captures their rises and falls, personal worries and joys. The film contrasts their diverse means of artistic expression with respect to their varied output, audiences, admirers and critics. In an unbiased and humorous way, the film confronts the controversial environment of the Czech art scene, including the distinctively dull audience, mistaken reactions of the media and the lack of possibilities for a professional art career.
Funeral & Wedding Orchestra
Director: Georgiev Atanas
Producer: Popov Darko
Production company: Trice Films, Nukleus Film
Orkestar za pogrebi i svadbi , Macedonia, 70 min, HD, Creative, Entertainment, Portrait, Religion, Social Issues
This is a story of life and death told through the language of music. Fifteen musicians of the funeral orchestra in Kavadarci now struggle to survive. Once they played at about seventy funerals a year, but since a chapel was built next to the cemetery entrance, almost no one orders music for funerals. The families do not wish to pay for a hundred meters of music, i.e. the distance from the chapel to the graves, since people in town will hardly hear it. So the musicians now try to earn some money by playing at weddings and similar festivities, but very few would hire the funeral orchestra to play at a wedding.
Leninland
Director: Kurov Askold
Producer: Ketkovich Vlad
Production company: Ethnogeographic Research Foundation, Saxonia Entertainment GmbH
ЛЕНИНЛЭНД , Russia, 52 min, HD, Creative, History, Politics
Lenin museum in the Gorky village was built at the end of the Soviet epoch, in the year 1987. And it was the most ambitious “Temple of the God” in the USSR. Twenty years later, when Russia is still in the process of transformation in the new political system, the Museum is still in operation, while it reflects the social situation in the country.
Soviet Bruce Lee
Director: von Schroeder Katharina
Producer: Dewitz Inka
Production company: Perfect Shot Films
Soviet Bruce Lee , Germany, Russia, 90 min, HD, Adventure and Sports, Creative, Politics
The story of a Soviet Bruce Lee and a Martial Arts school that has become a safe haven inside a violent conflict zone. Dagestan, a Russian Caucasus Republic on the lawless verge of economic and political collapse. Once it was Chechnya, today it is the republic of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea that is the most explosive place in Russia - and in Europe. There are bomb attacks almost daily, shootouts between police and militants, tales of torture and of people going missing. An escape from the bleak reality comes in the form of a collective national obsession with wrestling, martial arts and masculine strength that goes way beyond the sphere of sports.
