Still in Motion

KINO SATELLITE: Convergence

Warning:  This blog post contains inordinate amounts of shameless self-promotion.

Next Tuesday, November 2, a new screening series will launch at Berlin's Direktorenhaus in the Mitte district.  Film critic and co-director of Benten Films, Andrew Grant, and I will début our weekly series.  We've dubbed it KINO SATELLITE.  Our lovely logo was created--in record time--by filmmaker and designer, Eliane Lazzaris.  We'll be hosting shows in a newly-built micro-cinema every Tuesday evening, curating programs of new, innovative and groundbreaking work from some of today's most talented filmmakers, animators and multi-media artists.  Material will consist of original programming, as well as co-presentations, with an emphasis on the illustrative arts.

Direktorenhaus is a newly-renovated art and performance space "where a simulation of a temporary Gesamtkunstwerk, the total artwork, is explored.  Traditional methods are coupled with analogue technology and digital media, presenting an experimental directive with social resonances, breaking down the boundaries between art and design."  It also happens to be located in a super sexy spot, housed in a big mansion that sits directly on the riverbank of the Spree.

The owners of the gallery, Pascal Johanssen and Katja Kleiss, were looking to host a weekly screening series in their new space, a renovated two-floor gallery (with studio space for visiting artists).  The house was the dwelling of the director of the State Mint (thus, Das Direktorenhaus).  Clare Molloy, the invincible programs coordinator, and I had conversations about this in late summer.  A bit daunted by taking something like this on all on my own, I found the perfect producing and curating partner in Andrew Grant.  He moved here about a month after I did, and when I took him to see the space and asked him if he'd be interested in collaborating with me, he jumped out of his skin with excitment at the opportunity.  He and I believe strongly that the only way underrepresented work gets seen is through this bespoke way of creating a community of like-minded individuals--the people that make the work and the people that want to access it for a regular dose of inspiration.  The gallery's dedication and commitment to support such work makes them an ideal partner.

Opening the series on Tuesday will be Alison S.M. Kobayashi, a Japanese / Canadian multi-disciplinary artist.  She was one of the guest artists at the Flaherty Seminar in 2008 when I was there as a Fellow.  Kobayahsi will be presenting four of her distinctive video pieces.  Joining us for the second half will be Christopher Allen, creative director and founder of Brooklyn's UnionDocs documentary collaborative.  Both of them will be there in person.  In fact, Kobayashi and Allen happen to be on their European honeymoon.  Lucky for us Berlin was on their itinerary.  We're thrilled that they'll be here with us.  As well, all of the work they will be showing will be Berlin premieres.  (Pictured, Kobayashi in Dan Carter.)

Shows to come include an evening dedicated to the films of avant-garde filmmaker, Ken Jacobs; a screening of Berlin-based producer and director Zoran Solomun's wonderful feature-length doc, Super Art Market (with the director and special guests in attendance for a post-screening discussion); a co-presentation with the Warsaw-based animation and special effects production house, Platige Image, with brand-new works by some of Poland's most incredible animation artists; a co-presentation with Portland, Oregon-based distributor, A Million Movies a Minute, run by Steady Diet of Film's Erin Donovan; a show of new German animation and an AnimaDoc show fresh from the Leipzig fest; a co-presentation with Rotterdam-based film collective, WORM.kino; an evening of music, food and multiple projections of London-based artist Max Hattler's work; and more.

Right now, we are a "satellite" on Direktorenhaus' website and on their Facebook page.  That's where you can look for info on upcoming shows.  Andrew and I are also very open to receiving submissions and ideas for collaborations, particularly from Berlin-based artists.  We look forward to meeting our audiences.  (Pictured, still from Michal Socha's Chick, Poland, 2008.)

Next week, I'm off on a European tour of my own as I make my way to Sheffield in the UK, CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, a few days back in Berlin to host a show, and then off again to Amsterdam for IDFA.  It's bound to be an invigorating, sleepless, alcohol-infused joyride--pitching projects, screening films, meeting filmmakers, partying.  Rinse, repeat.  And I'm so looking foward to seeing friends I haven't seen in a while.  Wir sehen uns im Kino, meine Schätze.

Award Winners at DOK-Leipzig

First of all, apologies for all the different font sizes and styles going on for the last few posts.  Typepad has a habit of occasionally re-jiggering their templates (with no notice), so I have to settle into finding a new look and size that I like.  Helvetica never disappoints.

So I'm just back from Leipzig where I jammed my eyes and brain full of animation--it was lovely.  It was, without a doubt, one of the most superbly organized events I've ever attended and downright relaxing.  I don't experience that at too many fests.  I did manage to see a few "live-action" docs, as well, and am pleased to see that the juries picked some really outstanding films from the program on which to bestow awards, with generous award winnings totalling 71,000 euros.

The winner of the inaugural Leipziger Ring Film Award, presented by the Peaceful Revolution Foundation, went to New Zealand filmmaker, Briar March, for her film There Once Was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho.  The jury awarded March with a 5000 euro prize for her film which tells the story of the struggle for survivial of the 400 residents that inhabit the small South Pacific island of Nukuta, a place that is disappearing due to climate change.  This prize will go a long way in helping the filmmaker with her primary goal: raising global awareness about this very specific environmental issue and highlighting the spirit of solidarity that needs to be created with the inhabitants of Nukuta to save their homeland from perishing.  (Still from film pictured.)

Here is an overview of most of the award winners:  the International Jury for Documentary Film gave the Golden Dove to Jerzey Sladkowski's Vodka Factory from Sweden (still from film, pictured); the Silver Dove went to Miesten vuoro (Steam of Life) by Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen (Finland, Sweden).  The jury also gave honorable mentions to Goodnight Nobody by Jacqueline Zünd (Switzerland, Germany), and Samir Abdallah's Gaza crève l'écran / Gaza on Air (Egypt, Palestine, France).

The German Jury for Documentary Film gave the top prize to Gereon Wetzel and Jörg Adolph for their How to Make a Book with Steidl.  Chris Wright and Stefan Kolbe received an honorary mention for their beautiful and deeply moving film, The Home / Kleinstheim, about adolescents growing up together in a group home.  (Still from The Home, pictured.)

The International Jury for the Young Talent Competition gave a prize to Brazilian filmmaker, Rodrigo Siqueira, for Terra deu, terra come / The Earth Giveth, the Earth Taketh.  The prize of 10,000 euros will go towards initial funding for his next documentary.  Prizes from this jury also went to Macarena Aguiló for El edificio los chilenos / The Chilean Building (honorable mention); Polish filmmaker, Marta Minorowicz, for Kawalek lata / A Piece of Summer (Golden Dove for mid-length); and, Anja Strelets for Natascha (honorary mention for mid-length).

The International Jury for Animated Film awarded the Golden Dove to François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain (France) for their brilliant film, Logorama.  The Silver Dove went to Matray (France) for the delightful (and way too short!) Babioles.  The best German animated film went to Felix Gönnert for his wonderful film, Apollo, definitely one of my favorites out of the 75 animated films I saw at the fest.  (Did I mention that I left Leipzig with an eye infection?  Too many cartoons?  Who knows.)  Honorary mentions for animation went to Anita Killi (Norway) for Sinna mann (Angry Man) and Vessela Dantcheva (Germany, Bulgaria) for Anna Blume.  The coveted audience award also went to an animated film.  Called "the mephisto 97.6 Publikumspreis," the award went to Bastien Dubois' Madagascar, carnet de voyage / Madagascar, A Journey Diary (another brilliant and stunningly beautiful piece that was way too short--still from film, pictured). 

Read about these films and other award winners on the festival's website here.  There are also podcasts available for downloading off the site including the master class with Sergey Dvortsevoy, the Animadoc Podium, and the DOK Podium on Crowdfunding--all well worth a listen.

For my new screening series in Berlin called Kino Satellite, co-produced and co-curated with Andrew Grant, we will be collaborating with the new head of the animation program at Leipzig, Annegret Richter, to bring our audience in Berlin some selections from the animated documentary and new German animation programs.  Look for that soon.

Also, look for more of my extensive coverage on the animation program in the next issue of DOX.  For those of you that don't subscribe (but you should), once the issue is published, I will re-print the article here on SIM.

Congrats to all the winners from Leipzig!

 

DOK Leipzig 2010

From the 18th to the 24th of this month, DOK Leipzig will be presenting its 53rd edition.  As one of the world's most established and important documentary and animation festivals and markets, this year they will present close to 350 films from 58 countries, 223 of them docs.  The festival reports that it received about 2,800 submissions (!!!) from 97 different countries.  The festival will kick off its amazing program with Patricio Guzmán's Nostalgia de la luz.

In addition to the international documentary and international animated film competitions, the German documentary competition and the International Young Talent Competition (aka, Generation DOK), for the first time there will be a competition for best short documentary film.  Also new this year, an award presented by the Peaceful Revolution Foundation, which includes a cash prize of 5,000 euro, will go to the film that artistically demonstrates "a commitment to democracy and human rights in an exemplary manner, or that was created in the face of resistance and limitations to freedom of the press and opinion due to great personal dedication and courage on the part of the director."  The award will be presented in a special ceremony at the Nikolai Church (pictured), the spot from which the Monday demonstrations were launched.  RealScreen has a list of the nominated films for the prize here.

Special programs will include:  a focus on the still roiling region of the Caucasus called "Caucasian Lessons," curated by Barbara Wurm.  As part of this special strand, there will be an appearance by filmmaker, Andrei Nekrasov (Russian Lessons, 2010).  Wurm states that Nekrasov "is not only one of the most controversial Russian documentary filmmakers, human rights activists and partisan denouncers, but also a man who will question the flippant associations of press and media images."  (Pictured, still from The Last Tightrope Dancer in Armenia by Inna Sahakyan and Arman Yeritsyan)

"Money Matters" will consist of six programs featuring 23 short and feature-length nonfiction, animated and experimental films with money as their core subject.  The section was curated by Luc-Carolin Ziemann, who states, "Hardly anyone out there understands what is now happening with money in the global network of stock exchanges and banks.  The economy appears to have become a kind of natural phenomenon over which humans exercise no influence.  Economic crises break like storms or floods over the world and tear our lives apart."  (Pictured, still from The Anarchist Banker by Jan Peter Hammer)

There will also be a significant spotlight on the brilliant work of New York-based animator, Signe Baumane ("Love, Sex & Signe Baumane").  Baumane's work will be celebrated with a comprehensive retrospective.  In her work, the artist focuses on  alternative versions of conventional images of the female.  Curator, Annegret Richter:  "Signe Baumane's animations are definitely no child's play.  Cheeky, fresh and always unconventional, the Latvian-born New Yorker focuses on the issue of sex in her cartoons.  . . . They are provocatively erotic yet don't send the audience forth blushing, as the subtle satirical elements of the stories also provide much humor."  Baumane moved to New York from Riga in 1995 where she met film director, Bill Plympton (who will be doing a masterclass at the fest), whom she worked for until 2002.  Baumane will also be presenting  "Signe's Favourites," a series of animated films that influenced her own work.  As well, she and Plympton will also be re-presenting a program they did at the IFC Center in New York (read about it here) called Battle of the Sexes: Animated!  As the New York audience had a chance to do, the audience in Leipzig will get to decide who makes animated films better--men or women.

The festival will also pay homage to 80-year-old documentary flmmaker, Klaus Wildenhahn (The Quiet Moment of Improvisation).  Festival director, Claas Danielsen:  "Wildenhahn's work is the polar opposite of Formalism, as it is the documentary content that seeks and defines the form.  In the patient observation of the unspectacular and the gestures and details of everyday life, an instinctive search for peaceful moments emerges, in which humans find themselves in front of the camera.  The 'moment of improvisation' in which the existence of a human unfolds and its inner magic becomes manifest, creates a feeling of joy--and this is the sensation that Wildenhahn's films leave behind."  (Pictured, still from What Do Pina Bausch and Her Dancers Do in Wuppertal? / Was tun Pina Bausch und ihre Tänzer in Wuppertal? by Wildenhahn)

To see the full listings for the entire film program, master classes, talks, and other special events, visit DOK Leipzig's website here.  As a budding animation curator, I will be focusing almost exclusively on the animation program since there is a wealth of riches here.  But never fear, I will be doing the Sheffield, Copenhagen, Amsterdam trifecta next month, so will have plenty of new discoveries to write about.  More from Leipzig soon.

TAFASEEL--A New Online Documentary Magazine Débuts

The first issue of TAFASEEL, a new quarterly magazine on the art and industry of documentary is now online.  The online version will be published four times a year and a free (condensed) printed version will be distributed at major film festivals around the world.  As one of the first subscribers, you can register for free on the site for a limited time.

The Damascus Syria-based publishers say that they "will provide a window to the world of documentary in Arabic, its makers, markets, opportunities, schools and culture, and a window in English for finding out more and more about the documentary in the Arab world, its makers, their films, the market, the players and the history."  I am honored to be a contributing writer to this site.  Pay a visit!

DOX BOX 2011 Call for Entries

DOX BOX has announced its call for film entries for its fourth edition, March 2 - 10, 2011 in Damascus, Homs and Tartous, Syria.  The festival is the only one in its region to showcase an international selection of documentary film.  It's mostly a non-competitive festival, however, there is an audience award. 

In addition to the official selection and sidebar programs, DOX BOX chooses two themes every year and presents what's new on the local scene in the only competitive section, Voices from Syria.  There will also be a guest master filmmaker who will be announced early next year.

Concurrent to the festival, there are opportunities for regional filmmakers to participate in programs such as CAMPUS, for filmmakers with developed projects, TAKWEEN for up-and-coming filmmakers and/or makers with projects in very early development, and TABADOL, a professional networking platform.  Keep checking the festival's website for more details and submission deadlines.

DOX BOX is a non-profit festival organized by Proaction Film, the only independent documentary production company in Syria.  They are able to put on the fest under the patronage of the National Film Organization.  Tickets to all screenings are free to spectators, and every film is subtitled into both Arabic and English.

The deadline for receiving 2010 production films is November 10th.  The deadline for receiving 2010/2011 production films is December 10th.

Herbst, Meine liebste Jahreszeit

The reason why you're seeing pink, is that every year at this time, I write a blog post in this color to focus on breast cancer awareness, adding my voice to the effort of encouraging everyone (both men and women) to pay attention and respect to their bodies before something catastrophic happens. 

Autumn is my favorite season (so says the title of this post).  I am one of the few people I know who actually looks forward to winter.  I love this time of year when one can feel a profound energy shift in the air, knowing it's time to hunker down, find a cozy spot and commune with your inner muse in a quiet but invigorating way, reflect on the past (frenetic) year, and plan what will be necessary to the soul and spirit when a new lighter season rolls around again.  (Berlin street photo courtesy Nizhal Nijamagiradhu's photostream.) 

I can't say I'm surprised to still find myself in this city since I had a feeling a more permanent stay than the month of July was in the works.  As has been my habit in the past few years, I travel extremely lightly, realizing that in my maturing years (ahem) the burden of possessions (and sometimes the burden of places and certain people) can be easily discarded, when once upon a time they meant way too much.  To most of those people, in fact, I'm sure it's as if I was never there. 

So it was with just one lousy suitcase that I landed here and felt embraced according to my expectations--which were nil.  Unlike my expectations when I moved to NYC--goodness, what a load, what a burden, of expectations!  But I realize, as well, that I wouldn't be here where I am now, doing the things I'm doing and getting the opportunities that are coming my way, if I hadn't settled there (and I use that term very loosely) for a while.  So I will continue my quest to become a "new European" in a more legitimate way, since I've found a place that feels like it could be a true home.  I would not be the first artist, and won't be the last, to experience that in this "poor but sexy" city.  As most of us know, there are very few places where poor but sexy people can survive these days with our dignity intact.

Some interesting things (at least to me) of note in NYC this month, a place that will have to serve merely as another spiritual home instead of a physical one:  Just in time for Halloween, Carnivalesque Films will release the DVD for Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher's October Country on the 19th of this month.  It's no secret to readers of this blog that I adore this film and the filmmakers (pictured right) have become precious friends.  I will be conducting an interview with them that will be published soon somewhere--we're hoping for Senses of Cinema!  However, to legitimize the proceedings, some other critics love it, too, and here's what they've written about OC:  AO Scott of the New York Times says, "Like a Joyce Carol Oates novel rendered as a documentary.  The filmmakers are as sensitive to visual nuances as they are to details of behavior."  Andrew Barker at Variety calls it "breathtaking."  And S. James Snyder of ARTFORUM calls it, "An hypnotic, impressionistic spectacle."  I just showed it here in Berlin to an extremely appreciative audience.

Filmmaker, James T. Hong, was one of the guest artists when I attended the Flaherty Film Seminar as a Fellow in 2008.  During that week, guest curator, Chi-hui Yang, showed us selections of Hong's work, all of his pieces shocking, haunting and incendiary.  He is a filmmaker who breathes fire into some of the most heinous instances of historical and modern-day revisionism and propaganda, searing away the encrusted detritus of deeply-embedded public lies to expose the truth behind carefully constructed ideologies.  It's powerful stuff.

The October Flaherty screening on the 11th at the Anthology Archives will feature Hong's and Yin-Ju Chen's Lessons of the Blood with a post-screening discussion with Hong and Yang.  In 2008, the participants of that year's Flaherty only got to see a small portion of this 106-minute film, as it was a work-in-progress then.  "Stylistically aggressive and often controversial, the films of James T. Hong tackle the things of which we'd rather not speak, in ways designed to provoke us to respond.  Focusing on the history and victims of Japanese biological warfare, Lessons of the Blood is a meditation on propaganda, historical revisionism, and the legacy of World War II in China.  This arresting film highlights how nationalism and the United States have influenced the Sino-Japanese conflict, and how governments, ideology, and propaganda affect the reception and perception of 'historical truth.'"  (You can watch the riveting trailer here.)  Hong and Yang will also be appearing at UnionDocs in Brooklyn this weekend.  Don't miss seeing this film.  I hope to show it here in Berlin soon with the cooperation of the filmmakers.

Julia Bacha's award-winning documentary, Budrus, will open in theaters this month in the US.  The Quad Cinemas in NYC will open the film on the 8th; the Music Hall in Los Angeles will open the film on the 22nd; and, on the 29th, the film will open at the West End Cinema in Washington, DC.  I saw this extraordinary film at the Berlinale this past February where the audience was treated to a wonderful post-screening discussion with the filmmakers and the amazing main protagonist, Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar.  I cried from the first frame to the last--and also through the entire Q&A.  (Look for my review coming soon on Hammer to Nail.)

The International Documentary Association will host a Doc U session with Bacha at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City this Tuesday, the 5th.  IDA Board President, Eddie Schmidt, will be in discussion with the producer, writer, director, editor of Budrus.  You can register and buy a ticket for the event here.  (Pictured, film still of Morrar's 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, who joins her father in the fight to save their village.)

Okay, Berlin stuff:  I just posted my interview with Philippine filmmaker, writer and musician, Khavn de al Cruz on the BOMBLOG.  Please read our great conversation here!  de la Cruz will also be touring Denmark with his band, Vigo, this month.  I met de la Cruz at Dokufest in Prizren, Kosova in August where we both served on various competition juries; the festival featured a program of eight of his short film works.

Coming soon on SIM:  the third in my series, Projects on the Brink, essays featuring long-form documentary projects about to launch into the world.  I will be talking to Marie Losier about her new feature film, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye.  Frenchwoman, Losier, has made intimate film portraits of Guy Maddin and The Kuchar Brothers, theater director, Richard Foreman and composer, Tony Conrad.  Her work has been presented regularly at museums and festivals around the world, such as the Tate Modern, the Whitney Bienniel, PS1, MoMA, Centre Georges Pompidou, the Berlin Film Festival and Rotterdam.  The New York-based artist is currently the film curator at the French Institute Alliance Française.

This month, I will introduce twice-monthly film nights at my friend Giampiero's warm and intimate wine and antipasti bar, Speziale!, in my neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg.  On Thursday the 7th, we will be showing an incredible documentary from 2007 directed by Raúl de al Fuente called Nomadak TX.  Click here for more info.  Then on the 14th, courtesy of Benten Films, I will be showing Azazel Jacobs' brand new film, The GoodTimesKid.  Films will start at 8:30 but it's a good idea to come early to grab a seat since space is limited.  There will be a lovely selection of wines, beers and yummy snacks.  Join Speziale!'s Facebook page for more upcoming events, including poker nights and film screenings.  It's a great, cozy place to eat, drink and commune with international friends on chilly winter evenings. 

Benten Films' Andrew Grant (also a new Berliner) and I will launch our new weekly screening series at Das Direktorenhaus Tuesday, October 26.  Our first show will be devoted to the recent work of Ken Jacobs; most pieces will be German premieres.  Jacobs (Azazel's pop) is one of the founding fathers of the New York cinematic underground and a major figure in the world of avant-garde cinema.  So far, the program is shaping up to show the following pieces:  Nymph (2007, 2 min, silent); Sky Socialist (2007, 18 min, color, sound); Capitalism: Slavery (2006, 3 min, silent); Capitalism: Child Labor (2006, 14 min, sound); Pushcarts of Eternity Street (2006, 11 min, silent); Ron Gonzales, Sculptor (2009, 20 min, sound); The Pushcarts Leave Eternity Street (2010, 13 min, silent); and, a loft (2010 16 min, silent, 3D).  More information coming very soon on our fall/winter program! 

Another Benten acquisition, Modern Love is Automatic, will open the 5th Porn Film Festival Berlin (October 28 - 31), new friend Jürgen Brüning's celebration of all things porno.  Ambitiously, Brüning has put together a program of 134 films to exhibit over the course of four days.  He's also planning a naked smoking lounge, topless arm wrestling, and "hands-on" workshops such as "A Whore's Guide to Safer Sex for Queers" with Berlin/San Francisco-based sex worker, Sadie Lune; an introduction to Japanese bondage "including basic knots, bondage of upper and lower body, securing a suspension rope, health and safety," with Hamburg-based Matthias T.J. Grimme; and, "Porn and Feminism" with Amsterdam-based erotic film director, Jennifer Lyon.  All workshops are limited to 20 people and include a buffet.  :)  This fest I will not miss.  However, about five kilos will have to come off my body between now and then if I'm to enter the smoking lounge sans culotte. 

As for other upcoming festivals (not in Berlin):  Because I've enrolled myself in German classes full-time, like the good school kid I am, I have to wait for proper vacations to go anywhere.  However, I will be playing a bit of hooky since this is the season of many important European documentary film festivals, and I do tend to brake for documentary.  Instead of sitting here on a calm Saturday afternoon blogging, I was supposed to be at the International Hamburg Film Festival; however, one week ago I ended up at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin hospital undergoing emergency surgery.  I am recovering fine, but damn, I really was looking forward to going to Hamburg!

On a happier note, I do have a school break coming up mid-October and am deciding to go to one of three fests:  the 8th Zagreb Film Festival in Croatia (October 17 - 23), a festival that features only first and second directorial efforts; DOK Leipzig in Germany (October 18 - 24), one of the oldest and most important documentary exhibition and market events; or, the Viennale (October 21 - November 3) in Austria.  I'll keep you posted on where I end up as soon as I know--a wealth of riches, to be sure.  November will bring Sheffield in the UK, CPH:DOX in Denmark and the IDFA in the Netherlands.  And, of course, more news from sexy Berlin.  Haben Sie einen schönen Herbst!