nisimazine idfa #8

NISIMAZINE

Thursday 27 November 2008

A Magazine Published By Nisi Masa, European Network Of Young CinemA

amsterdam

Cover: Kassim the Dream, Kief Davidson 2008

#8

Focus On Africa Ellen Kuras Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies

NISIMAZINE AMSTERDAM

Editorial

Thursday 27 November 2008/# 8 A magazine published by the NISI MASA and MeccaPANZA associations in cooperation with IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and with the support of the ‘Youth in Action’ programme of the EU and SNS Reaal Fonds

T

his week, for the first time, I felt snow falling over me. For most, this was no surprise; in fact, they knew that it would happen that day. But I’m still not used to chasing down meteorology reports every day. I come from a tropical country where one can comfortably wear shorts all year long, even when it’s raining. The surprise was a pleasant one though, just one of several surprises occurring during this IDFA season. The first feelings beyond the new, the never seen… it’s something lots of people experience when attending the screenings of this festival.

Awkward situations that we never heard of, people we never dreamt existed, things that if we’d heard them over a beer in a bar would have sounded so lame. We are allowed to see things through other dimensions, reaching new meanings for every topic. When the lights are off for each presentation, an unraveled world appears.

How could you not be surprised by the suspense-documentary Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies? Or being part of the changes in modern Tehran through discovering the dietary habits of its people, as in My City, Pizza? How about listening to the many different stories which act as a driving force for an important race - which probably most of us never heard of, like in Comrades?

I don’t really know if it will snow again, and to be honest I’m not really worried. May it surprise me once more…

Arturo Mestanza

EDITORIAL STAFF Director of Publication Matthieu Darras Editor-in-Chief Jude Lister Itxaso Elosua Ramírez Editorial Secretary Maartje Alders Layout Maartje Alders, Nina Henke Contributors to this issue Maximilien van Aertryck, Massoud Bakhshi Anamaria Chioveanu, Lura Limani Rares Kövesdi, Arturo Mestanza Selma Sevkli Coordinators Nina Henke, Ilona Mulder Alex Tirajoh, Tania Ramón Casas MeccaPANZA Bestevaerstraat 198-4 1055 TS Amsterdam +358 41 5251131 mail@meccapanza.eu www.meccapanza.eu

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PHOTO BY Anamaria Chioveanu

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Nisimazine Amsterdam ~ 27. 11. 2008 # 8

Film of the day Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies © Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (C.C.C.)

Yulene Olaizola (Mexico, 2008)

“

None of them had the talent to make me laugh. And then there was the guitar, and later the painting…”

These words are spoken with melancholy by the grandmother of director Yulene Olaizola, in her debut feature Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies. The anything but camera-shy Rosa is talking about her former lodger - very close friend and eccentric artist Jorge Riossa - whose ghost lies all around the house: in paintings, in words, even in the cushioned sofas.

Twenty years have passed since his sudden and mysterious death, but the story is still crisp in the memories of Rosa and her housekeeper Florencia.

While Rosa was enamored with her former best friend, who was homosexual, Florencia’s more distanced view gives balance to the story.

This well-structured film has many twists, which make Olaizola’s debut artistically inspiring. The lodge house situated at the intersection of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo streets in Mexico City - hence the bombasticsounding title - is the starting point of a story full of dark secrets, hidden lives and relationships that develop on the margins of social conventions.

We gradually discover that the two elderly ladies share a doubt which

casts a shadow over Jorge Riossa – one which only makes the figure of this poet and artist even more fascinating.

Olaizola has crossed all boundaries of documentary filmmaking by transforming a story she knows well into a suspense thriller for the audience. But she also manages to pull off something much bigger.

The film is definitely more than just a narrative – it discusses moral values and how personal relationships can sometimes seem to oppose them.

Most people don’t often get the chance to discuss secrecy, sexuality and the different forms of love with their grandmother.

This film is in every sense a direct result of the relationship between Yulene and Rosa - from the very first scene, Olaizola exploits the trust and familiarity, and we the audience are shamelessly invited to watch it.

The best point of Olaizola’s directing is her playfulness: the story lies between reality and fiction, but then why shouldn’t it?

Lura Limani

Review Comrades

© Simtar Productions

Dagmar Tatarczyk, Poppy Simpson (UK, 2008)

9

0km is the distance that separates the South African towns of Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The ‘Comrades Double Marathon’ is the oldest and largest of its kind in the world, now run by more than 12 000 athletes every year.

Poppy Simpson and Dagmar Tatarczyk have put together an astonishing impression of South Africa’s post-Apartheid identity, through portraits and interviews of the most dedicated runners.

There’s Johnny, 18 Comrades on the counter, and blind. Then Moses, who’s 90 minutes faster than Johnny but chose to guide him to the finish line. Andrew, winner of 9 gold medals and one first place, modestly tells about the phone call he got from Nelson Mandela when he became the first black South-African to win the race after the end of racial segregation.

The personalities of these individuals are tied to the marathon, just like the country’s history. Footage from the past shows black

runners competing unofficially, or wearing degrading signs.

Bruce Fordyce wore a black armband for the republic’s 20th anniversary to protest against the segregation policy, and won.

When being asked why late runners get as much applause as the winner, another former winner says “You are now witnessing the spirit of the Comrades”. A beautiful lesson in respect and humanity.

Maximilien van Aertryck

Nisimazine Amsterdam ~ 27. 11. 2008 # 8

Young Visions My City, Pizza Ala Mohseni (Iran, 2008)

“

Tehran has the best pizza in the world!”

After two decades of serious subjects and grey documentaries from Iran, it seems that the younger generation of filmmakers are choosing to tell their stories using humour and satire. My City, Pizza by Ala Mohseni -selected for the IDFA Silver Cub competition this year- is a good example of this approach.

Part of a series of short documentaries by Maziar Bahari, this humble film reveals the persistent fight between tradition and modernity in the daily life of the Iranian capital. The result is not only about an interesting change in food culture, in which the traditional Iranian KAL-E-PACHEH (sheep’s head and trotters) and AB-GOUSHT (broth) are being rapidly replaced by fast food and pizza, but also about a complex and young society which is thirsty to open up to the world, adopting its new values.

The director’s critical point of view is expressed through a mocking soundtrack, intelligent editing and some funny comments from Tehrani people interviewed for the film. The opposing and controversial ideas from different layers of society mix together: from the old, traditional and conservative opinions of the people who hate pizza, to the youngsters who love it and the culture of fast food.

There are moments which make you laugh even after it’s over: Mohammad -a young man from the countryside experiencing his first pizza, images of sheep’s heads sculpted in Persepolis alongside those of sheep’s heads in restaurants, a traditional sportsman who never tells his wife when he has pizza out of home, and Nino Rota’s soundtrack for The Godfather played over the scenes shot in a pizzeria named after the famous film.

My City, Pizza is an intimate and easy-to-watch film that focuses on a small yet important subject in today’s Iran, and brings attention to a new aspect of what is called the “process of transition”.

Massoud Bakhshi

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Nisimazine Amsterdam ~ 27. 11. 2008 # 8

Interview

Photo by Rares Kövesdi

Andrei Dascalescu - Constantin and Elena

“If the world was made up of people like them, there would be no problems that we couldn’t solve.” This is what Walter Murch had to say about the two main characters in Andrei Dascalescu’s debut film Constantin and Elena.

You’re portraying a subject that many of us would not even notice as being attention worthy. How did you decide to focus on it?

My hope is that those who will notice the film will not regret it. It’s about time, love, old-age and happiness, but also about death, bitterness and lack of time. I’ve come to focus on this subject by learning a lot from Constantin and Elena: to be happy for what you have, instead of regretting what you don’t, or can’t have. They go through everything together. Unfortunately, we don’t get a recipe for their incredible, timeless love.

But we see it exists. I wanted to show people that there’s hope, there’s love, and there’s happiness in this world.

You’re a very young director; you just graduated from the editing class of the National Film University in Bucharest. What made you decide to make the step towards directing and what was it like to play so many parts in the film’s production? How did you manage, for instance, to pitch the project to a foreign producer and actually convince him to finance you?

It was challenging. I never decided to become a director, definitely didn’t think of being a producer, and the camera was always just a hobby. I just made the film. I couldn’t have had any crew at the shootings, as this would’ve ruined the relationship with the characters. As far as the financing is concerned I remember what one of my idols, with whom I’ve had the chance to work, Walter Murch, said that to be a brilliant filmmaker you need any two of these three: hard work, talent and luck. I think I have luck, I am not sure about which of the other two. I went to a pitching workshop at Lisbon Docs, followed by a pitch. I’d already been shooting for more than a year back then, so I showed a trailer and I talked about the project. It seems that the 7 minutes I had for my pitch were enough for some of the commissioning editors to fall in love with my characters, and consider my project.

Why did you decide to shoot the film the way you did? Wasn’t it difficult to make the entire film out of very long and still shots, with no camera movement whatsoever?

What amazes me now is that from the first tape I shot, two and a half years ago, I found my style. The fixed camera is my way of observing. I let the viewer choose his place of interest, I don’t zoom or pan. I let everything happen. I think this style also gives dignity to my characters. It was difficult, and I’ve lost a lot of good moments, because I didn’t want to move the camera. But I think it’s worth it.

What was the interaction with the two main characters like, considering you are their grandson? What about the other characters from the village? How come everybody acted so naturally without noticing your camera?

Constantin and Elena, my grandparents, got used to the camera very quickly. It became a part of their home. Sometimes I left it in their room, even when I wasn’t there. And I don’t think they ever took me too seriously, which was vital for the film. In two years of shooting, the neighbors got used to me as well, after the first “take a photo of me” reactions.

How did the fact that you worked as Walter Murch’s assistant editor influenced your career and your views on filmmaking?

Did he help you in the process of making this film in any way?

After I worked with Walter Murch, I got a lot of offers for editing jobs, which I refused because I had stubbornly decided to make this film. Walter Murch was the first ever to see Constantin and Elena, in a short edit I actually made for him, as part of a present (a little handmade carpet from Elena). He was the one who advised me to make a film about my grandparents, so this was the start of everything. Later, he watched rough-cuts of my film, and advised me on the structure and the cuts. This was absolutely amazing, to have my idol as my advisor.

Anamaria Chioveanu & Rareş Kövesdi

Films uiT alle windsTreKen! TsoTsi Di 9 dec. & Wo 10 dec. 2008 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal oscarwinnende boekverfilming uit Zuid-Afrika Regie: Gavin Hood | Zuid-Afrika | 2005 94 min | Nederlands ondertiteld Met: Presley Chweneyagae, Mothusi Magano, Terry Pheto

De GouDen VoeTbAl Zo 11 jan. 2009 - 14:00 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal Jeugdfilm over Guinees voetbaltalent.

Adviesleeftijd: 8+

De VlieGerAAr Di. 10 feb. 2009 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal Verfilming van wereldwijde bestseller uit Afghanistan Regie: Marc Forster | VS | 2007 | 128 min Nederlands ondertiteld Met: Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni, Donn Andrew Simmons

osAmA Wo. 11 feb. 2009 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal ontroerende film over een Afghaans meisje

Regie: Cheik Doukouré | Guinee/Frankrijk 1993 | 90 min | Nederlands ondertiteld

Regie: Siddig Barmak | Afghanistan 2003 84 min | Nederlands ondertiteld Met: Marina Golbahari, Khwaja Nader, Arif Herati

Turkse Film nu: HAkkAriDe bir meVsim Wo. 21 jan. 2009 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal Communicatieproblemen in een bergdorp

muZiek in beelD: brAsileirinHo Wo. 11 mrt 2009 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal muziekdocumentaire brengt ode aan de choro

Regie: Erden Kiral | Turkije | 1983 111 min | Engels ondertiteld Met: Genco Erkal, Erkan Yücel, Rana Cabbar

Yer Demir, Gok bAkir Di. 27 jan. 2009 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal Turkse film vol intriges, mythes en dromen Regie: Zülfü Livaneli (foto) | Turkije | 1987 79 min | Turks gesproken, Engels ondertiteld Met: Rutkay Aziz, Yavuzer Cetinkaya, Gürel Yontan

Fikrimin inCe Gulu Wo. 28 jan. 2009 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal Turkse komedie over een gastarbeider en zijn droomauto Regie: Tunç Okan | Turkije | 1992 95 min | Turks gesproken, Engels ondertiteld Met: Valérie Lemoine, Ilyas Salman, Micky Sébastian

Na afloop interviewt Stan Rijven Yamandú Costa. Deze gitarist is in de documentaire te zien en twee dagen later live in het Tropentheater te bewonderen.

loVe in THe Time oF CHolerA Di. 17 mrt & Wo. 18 mrt. 2009 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal Amerikaanse verfilming van de bestseller van márquez Regie: Mike Newell | VS | 2007 138 min | Nederlands ondertiteld Met: Javier Bardem, John Leguizamo, Laura Harring

PersePolis Di. 14 apr. & Wo 15 apr. 2009 - 20:30 uur Tropentheater Kleine Zaal Prachtige animatiefilm naar het veelgeprezen stripboek Regie: Marjane Satrapi en Vincent Paronnaud | VS / Frankrijk | 2007 | 95 min Nederlands ondertiteld Met stemmen van: Sean Penn, Cathérine Deneuve, Iggy Pop

Tropentheater | Linnaeusstraat 2 | Amsterdam | Kassa: 020 5688500 | www.tropentheater.nl

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Nisimazine Amsterdam ~ 27. 11. 2008 # 8

from Togo by Pierre Morath and Nicholas Peart 2008

In focus Africa: Have It Your Way

merican documentaries tell us about their concerns A over different issues; global warming, terrorism, health issues, successful biographies. Europeans deal

a lot with immigration and individual stories on more personal subjects. We hear some about conflicts from the Middle East, some by insiders - local filmmakers - and others by outsiders (usually ‘Westerners’). When it comes to Africa however, we face a striking reality: there are not many African documentaries actually made by Africans.

Even though documentary seems like more of an objective form of reality compared to fiction, the director’s point of view still frames the reality. Because we see so many films from a Western point of view, our knowledge about this part of the world is very limited. We never see things the way an insider sees them.

When you are not an active participant of the community you are filming, you are likely to get stuck with stereotypes.

Not having the full experience with the historical, political or cultural dimensions of the subject as a native would, your analysis may seem irrelevant or incomplete. Here we face a problem: What are the challenges of making documentaries in countries which are not your own? How does an outsider or insider perspective change a film’s direction?

“I am fighting for Uganda” Kassim says before a boxing match. Kassim the Dream follows his personal story.

He was kidnapped at the age of 6 and trained as a child soldier, involved in rebel forces under the Yaweri Mousevini administration. After spending long years as an active soldier, one day he escaped to the US and became a successful boxer. Even though he doesn’t have any further dreams than being more successful, he refers to his country when he needs emotional motivation for strength. He and his American dream don’t tell us all that much about Uganda. Director Kief Davidson cooks up a story and serves it with an African dressing.

Back to Africa explores the trials and tribulations of young African artists who live in Europe. Othmar Schmiderer proves that you can make your dreams come true if you work hard enough, even if you’re from the ‘Third World’.

Again, we see individual success stories, but the film lacks an adequate portrayal of their difficult circumstances.

In Togo, Pierre Morath and Nicholas Peart have a different position when portraying this West African country.

Instead of choosing characters, they chose a subject and analyzed it from different angles. We see their journey towards understanding what soccer means to people in Togo; how it is related to politics, feelings, and beliefs, and how it can feed nationalism by giving people the sense of being in the game. They have no resources to fight with, and many people don’t even know their country’s name.

But through football, the world acknowledges them.

One character can represent many things about a society but at the same time it can be very tricky to put all emphasis on one individual story and expect to gain a general idea about a specific country. It seems more likely for an insider filmmaker to get over this controversy as he/she is more familiar with the sensitivities of their specific culture.

Africa is a big puzzle that we know very little about.

Success stories actually leave very little room for hope by only showing specific examples. We need more critical documentaries which make us question ourselves about the tragedy of the continent: Where do we stand in the African question?

Starting the African story with a self-critical perspective could give us new keys to comprehending the great unknown. Trying to portray a country through just one character would only keep entertaining people with superficial emotions.

Selma Şevkli

“

Photo by Anamaria Chioveanu

Ellen Kuras

Portrait

Images are so powerful. And all films are propaganda”, says Kuras in a husky voice in one of Amsterdam’s many lobbies, while explaining what drew her into filmmaking.

She is certainly opinionated and knows the line of work she’s in. “All films are propaganda because the filmmakers want to make you believe in their story”.

ces of images which have been described as “phantasmagoric”. Kuras is known for her lyrical film language; her style can easily be detected in Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind, or in Spike Lee’s 4 Little Girls, for which she was awarded at Sundance.

With her unique style in bringing images to life, if she is making propaganda then it’s done very subtly. This is also the case with her directorial debut The Betrayal- Nerakhoon, which she’s promoting at IDFA. The film, a personal story of a Laotian family torn asunder, is a metaphor on a grander scale for Kuras – especially in the current context of the war in Iraq, which she says warily “might not be the best thing for Iraqi people”.

When I ask her about her involvement in music documentaries she responds with an honest laugh, and says “I love music!” This might seem an obvious statement, but one must remember the kind of music Kuras is talking about.

“Bob Dylan requested me to shoot his interview. That’s huge.

Huge!” she tells me with excitement about her experience with Martin Scorcese’s No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. Musicians as well as directors have come to respect her work, and maybe that’s exactly why she has the freedom to do only projects she absolutely believes in.

Kuras might be a rookie in directing, but her experience as a cinematographer is awe-inspiring. The Indie Queen of cinematography (two time winner of the Sundance Best Cinematography award) continues to mix documentary filmmaking with working on fiction features and has worked on a few studio films. She juggles a lot; this year, in order to finish The Betrayal, which she started filming 23 years ago when she was still an aspiring filmmaker, she had to hire a producer to sort out her busy schedule. In the end, it was worth it: The Betrayal opened in New York this weekend and is currently screened at IDFA. “I wanted to find a place where the narrative film, poetry and documentary merge”, says Kuras. Her multi-layered piece shows betrayals of various dimensions; the betrayal of one country by another - such as the USA forsaking Laos, the personal betrayal when mother of the protagonist and codirector Thavisouk Phrasavath leaves her daughters, escaping from Laos, and when the father - who was thought to be dead, finds the family again in the US. Kuras has shot herself a lot of the “memory footage” –as she calls it, which makes the film poetic. There are sequen-

Amongst those who believe in her and the supreme quality of her camera work, she recalls how supportive Neil Young was during the filming of Neil Young: Heart of Gold. He told her that if he took care of the sound and she took care of the images, everything would be more than fine. Not a lot of people can say that.

“Music and film is analogous, we go in a different place with it”, says Kuras, who has blended these two things perfectly in her own film The Betrayal. The film is complete only when seen on the big screen, when you can get the full effect of the music and the dreamy sequences of the protagonist swimming across the river.

Ellen Kuras hopes that her film will take people into a notso-long-ago history that we, and especially the Americans, have brushed aside. For her it is really important to deliver a message; she feels obliged to comment on current events in the world that have made humanity diverge from its roots. A lover of poetry, Kuras has left many metaphors in this film. All we must do now is find them.

Lura Limani