Catalogue 2011

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL AMSTERDAM 2011

CATALOGUE

14th-Th GermanFilmsIDFA2011_Layout 1 31.10.11 14:50 Seite 1

at IDFA 2011 BAD WEATHER by Giovanni Giommi (DE/GB) CINEMA JENIN by Marcus Vetter (DE/IL) GOZARAN – TIME PASSING by Frank Scheffer (NL/DE) INTO THE ABYSS by Werner Herzog (DE/GB/US) SIX MILLION AND ONE by David Fisher (IL/DE/AT)

CELEBRATING 15 YEARS APRIL 12 – 15, 2012 D UR HA M / N C / USA

SUBMIT BY NovEMBER 30, 2011 www.fullframefest.org

DAD OR A LIFE by Volker Maria Engel, Sanda van Slooten LAGOS – NOTES OF A CITY by Jens Wenkel NOT IN MY BACKYARD by Matthias Bittner TILMAN IN PARADISE by Julian Vogel PEAK by Hannes Lang (DE/IT) RAISING RESISTANCE by Bettina Borgfeld, David Bernet (DE/CH) MAMA AFRICA by Mika Kaurismäki (DE/FI/ZA) UTOPIA LTD. by Sandra Trostel CITADEL by Diego Mondaca (BO/DE) FRAGMENTS OF PALESTINE by Marie Caspari POETS OF THE PEOPLE by Dirk Manthey SKATEISTAN: FOUR WHEELS AND A BOARD IN KABUL by Kai Sehr (AF/DE/US) THE BOY WHO WAS A KING by Andrey Paounov (BG/DE) THE KINGDOM OF SURVIVAL by Marc Alexander Littler (US/DE) THE SUBSTANCE – ALBERT HOFMANN’S LSD by Martin Witz (CH/DE) CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS by Werner Herzog (US/GB/DE/CA/FR) HEART OF SKY – HEART OF EARTH by Frauke Sandig, Eric Black JOSCHKA AND SIR FISCHER by Pepe Danquart (DE/CH) VIVAN LAS ANTIPODAS! by Victor Kossakovsky (DE/AR/NL/CH) EXCURSIONS IN THE DARK by Kaya Behkalam (EG/DE) TWICE AS WISE by Piet Eekman FAREWELL COMRADES! INTERACTIVE by Lena Thiele (DE/FR)

www.german-films.de

14th-ThessalonikiDOC:Layout 1 04/10/2011 11:35 ΠΜ Page 1

Festival Director: Dimitri Eipides The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival is a leading European Documentary Festival, carried out every March in Thessaloniki since its inception in 1999. Through its tributes and retrospectives, the TDF focuses on filmmakers with unique cinematic voices, internationally renowned for their contribution to the documentary genre. Its main thematic sections are: Recordings of Memory, Portraits-Human Journeys, Stories to Tell, Habitat, Music, Views of the World, Greek Panorama. The TDF has been attended by major documentary personalities of the world, including Monika Treut, Joris Ivens, Johan van der Keuken, Albert Maysles, Pirjo Honkasalo, Stefan Jarl, Kim Longinotto, Barbara Kopple, Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar, Jennifer Fox, Jon Alpert, Arto Halonen, Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky, Sergei Loznitsa, and many others. The Festival’s side events host exhibitions, masterclasses, round table discussions, publications, concerts and parties.

PRE SE NT S

BALLROOM DANCER

IDFA 2011

A FILM BY CHRISTIAN BONKE & ANDREAS KOEFOED The former world champion Slavik Kryklyvyy is making his comeback with his younger partner and girlfriend Anna Melnikova - a comeback that turns out to be much more painful than he expected. When he came on the scene, he was the fastest rising star in the history of ballroom dancing making it to world champion in a little over a year. Unfortunately, Slavik has been unable to maintain long-term partnerships, which has kept him away from the competition floor for a long time. Now, with his new dance partner and girlfriend, Anna, he has his mind set to regain lost ground and once again become the best dancer in the world.

IDFA Competition for Mid‑Length Documentary

FACEBOOK.COM/BALLROOMDANCERMOVIE // TWITTER.COM/BALLROOMMOVIE

PaParazzi

IDFA COMPETITION FOR FIRST APPEARENCE

VioLated Letters dir. macieJ drygas

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

dir. Piotr Bernaś

LOVE ADDICT A FILM BY JORIS IVENS WINNER PERNILLE ROSE GRØNKJÆR

- DIRECTOR OF THE MONASTERY - MR VIG AND THE NUN LOVE ADDICT, Stories of dreams, obsession and longing.

How does it feel to be addicted to love? To rush from zero to velcro at first sight? Through seven personal stories comes a tale of the longing for life’s ultimate aphrodisiac: Love.

Addicts trapped in a fantasy, riding high on the white horse of eternal, passionate love. A film about the all-consuming obsession to obtain and arrest the love of others. The give and take between trust and neglect, dreams and delusions, pleasure and pain, sanity and insanity and the inescapable fact that in the end we all just want to love and be loved in return.

IDFA REFLECTING IMAGES - MASTERS

WWW.LOVEADDICTMOVIE.COM

FREE THE MIND

A NEW FILM BY PHIE AMBO

PREMIERE IN 2012

The number of soldiers committing suicide is greater than the amount killed in battle. One of the world’s leading brainscientists wants to change this. Based on thorough studies of neuro-plasticity, he decides to conduct an unusual experiment: he will teach the troubled veterans yoga and breathing. Will meditation help the soldiers recover from their mental war wounds?

dir. Bartosz kruhLik Reflecting Images: Best of Fests

Phnom Penh LuLLaBy dir. PaweŁ kLoc

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Vakha and magomed dir. marta Prus

Doc Next programme: Brothers | dir. emi mazurkiewicz i’m Looking for someone | dir. Janusz koJro View from my window, 1968 –1979 chronicLes | dir. katarzyna naLewaJka, uLa kLimek, miŁosz hermanowicz, kamiL radziszewski, JakuB Piątek Find POLISH DOCS Programme at Docs for Sale

Join us at GUESTS MEET GUESTS

by POLISH DOCS & WAJDA SCHOOL Saturday, 19 November, 6.00 pm–7.30 pm

w w w.polishdocs.pl

WWW.FREETHEMINDTHEMOVIE.COM // FACEBOOK.COM/FREETHEMIND

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT More info at: www.danishdocumentary.com

POLIS H DOC UM E NTA R Y PRODUC TION

EKKO Magazine, April 2011

the triP

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Contents 6 8 8 9 10 10 14

Foreword Organization Volunteers Thank You! Partners of IDFA Catalogue Credits Jury members IDFA Competitions

Competition Programs 23 IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary 41 IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary 53 IDFA Competition for First Appearance 77 IDFA Competition for Student Documentary 87 IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary 93 IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary 103 IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Special Selections 256 Doc U! 257 Doc Next Offscreen activities 260 The FORUM 261 Docs for Sale 262 Jan Vrijman Fund 266 IDFAcademy 267 IDFA Docschool 268 IDFA-Mediafonds Workshop 269 Kids & Docs Workshop 272 IDFA Media Talks Index 276 279 290 293 297 299

Award Winners 1988-2010 Addresses Print & Sales Premieres Films by Country Directors Films

Non-Competitive Programs 115 Reflecting Images – Best of Fests 133 Reflecting Images – Masters 147 Reflecting Images – Panorama 183 Paradocs 193 IDFA DocLab 209 Kids & Docs 219 Steve James Retrospective 225 Steve James’s Top 10 247 Cinema do Brasil 251 Paradocs do Brasil

5

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

photo: Bert Nienhuis

6

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Foreword

A time of change, a time of documentary “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Those words weren’t written yesterday; they were written in 1853 by the British novelist Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris during the French Revolution. These days, there is a revolutionary spirit in the air as well. From the Maghreb and Arab Spring uprisings to Wall Street and the streets of Barcelona, Chile, Syria and Athens, economies and climates are melting down. The poor keep getting poorer. People are increasingly fed up with the corruption, inaction and fiscal irresponsibility that have led our world closer to the edge of tragedy. There has never been more need for documentary in this time of change, and for change in this time of documentary.

Our own industry has been influenced by the winds of change. Cultural agencies and public service broadcasters are on life support. There is a crisis of confidence, both within and without the institutions.

Documentaries can be sweet confections, with spoonfuls of sugar to help the medicine go down.

In this context, the offerings of the largest documentary film festival in the world might seem inconsequential. Or impossible. But there are signs of hope to be found everywhere in this year’s program. The 342 films that we’re showing this year were chosen from a record 3,244 entries, coming in from almost every nation on earth: from Vietnam to Barbados, from Bolivia to India, from Rwanda to Kyrgyzstan. So, despite the bad news and adversity, somebody, somewhere is still making documentaries. Or everyone is.

This year, IDFA’s films are more diverse in form than ever before.

Popular, populist documentaries have left the rhetoric behind.

Documentaries no longer feel like bad medicine to people, force-fed to audiences by over-assured filmmakers. Instead they can be sweet confections, with their serious intent wrapped in bright packages: spoonfuls of sugar to help the medicine go down. They are providing all the pleasure, drama, entertainment, characters, stories, and yes, even the humor that we used to only get out of fiction. Popular docs are no longer just about causes and problems; the form of the message is as important as the message itself. Documentary filmmakers are becoming better storytellers. The public is now part of the picture.

Some directors, like Morgan Spurlock, have grabbed the people by their funny bones. Others have an ambition to reach the masses, going beyond just preaching to the converted.

Filmmakers are adapting elements from such stylish fiction genres as the thriller for their documentaries. A dozen others in this year’s program are using the metaphor of sports to examine the spirit of our times. They are discovering the small stories in the Big Picture. In this pop-doc motif, we have added a new, seventh competitive documentary section, the IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary, coorganized with PLAY, a new music and film festival taking place in the Melkweg, Amsterdam’s famed musical venue. And to arouse people’s increasing demand for films dealing with complex climate change, the Green Screen Competition is both cinematic and challenging. In ever-increasing numbers, the public is responding to IDFA, seeking new worlds and new stories. And who knows, this year we might just break the mythical barrier of 200,000 seats occupied in the festival’s 14 cinemas. Not to mention one million hits on IDFA’s website around festival time.

IDFA is also about bringing the industry together in times of change – it can serve as a portal for hope. Despite cutbacks, IDFA’s Jan Vrijman Fund, which has co-financed 370 films over 13 years, continues to fund great films, and you’ll find a dozen new ones have made it into this year’s program. Those filmmakers will be here. IDFA also attracts countless organizations and cooperative initiatives, such as the newly formed DNA – Documentary Network Africa, the Association of Human Rights Film Festivals, and the Cinelan organization for short documentaries, all of which will be attending the festival.

Budgets may be diminishing, but idealistic filmmakers have always been able to make the best with what they have. Technological changes are transforming filmmaking. Filmmakers are repurposing SLR cameras, graphics are becoming more imaginative, and editing software more affordable. 3D has entered the picture, and soundtracks and images are reaching the highest levels of quality. Social networks are literally enabling the world to engage with filmmakers anywhere, in any medium, through crowd funding, shared connections, and outreach.

So, good times, bad times, you know we’ve had our share, to paraphrase Led Zeppelin. But there’s no need to sing the blues. There is hope in the air. I think you’ll find much to enjoy at IDFA 2011. Use the films you’ll see and the encounters you’ll have this year as a way to take action in this uncertain world.

Ally Derks Festival Director

7

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Organization IDFA Board Chairman Derk Sauer Treasurer Ruud Esser Members Sonja Barend, Nick Fraser, Jacqueline Gerritsma, Arend Jan Heerma van Voss, Amir Labaki, Iikka Vehkalahti Recommending Committee H.C. Becht, Prof. Ir M. van den Berg, E.I.R.M. de By, G. Frenkel Frank †, M. van Heijningen, Dr M de Keizer, B. Lubberhuizen, Dr Ir J.M.M. Ritzen, F. Rottenberg, Prof. Dr A. de Swaan Advisory Committee Club IDFA Philippe Creijghton, Frans van Hoeken, Inge Ligthart, Hylke van der Meer Jan Vrijman Fund Board Chairman Jannie Langbroek Treasurer Walter Etty Members Arend Jan Heerma van Voss, Jan Hoekema, Eric Keyzer, Lauge Nielsen Organization Director Ally Derks Managing Director Cees van ’t Hullenaar Head of Industry Office Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen Head of Production / IT Dirk Blikkendaal Office Manager Hanneke Heeremans Assistants Heleen Emanuel, Ruby Koster Finance Clarissa Riemersma Program Department Coordinator Martijn te Pas Researchers Joost Daamen, Raul Niño Zambrano Assistants Leonie Hoeboer, Jasper Hokken, Noelle Papaloukas Contributing Programmers Joost Daamen, Jan Pieter Ekker, Jannie Langbroek, Eva Laurillard, Raul Niño Zambrano, Martijn te Pas, Caspar Sonnen, Meike Statema Advisors Kees Brienen, Peter van Bueren, Jan Pieter Ekker, Mariska Graveland, Wessel van der Hammen, Ingrid Harms, Jannie Langbroek, Ot Louw, Andrea Manneke, Rada Sesic, David Teigeler, Frans Westra, Peter Wintonick Guest Programmers Top 10 Steve James Documentary Workshop Albert Elings, Eugenie Jansen IDFA Media Talks Team Maaike Boersma, Daphne Bunskoek, Froukje Jansen, Erna Slotboom, Peter Wintonick Coordinator Josine Vriend Assistent Roos Dickhout Technical Coordinator Gen Huizinga

8

Communication Coordinator Cathalijne de Wilde Assistant Communication Janneke Rijpkema Press & Publicity Laura van Halsema International Publicity Representative Thessa Mooij Press Assistant Maartje Piersma IDFA Online Floor de Bie, Liselotte Brand Catalogue Coordinator Joost Broeren Catalogue/Press Assistant Marjolein den Bakker IDFA Poster TBWA\NEBOKO IDFA Logo Designer Jan Bons, Jeroen Bons IDFA Website 3PO IDFA Daily Niels Bakker, Mark Baker, Joost Broeren, Nick Cunningham, Olga van Ditzhuijzen, KEES Driessen, Melanie Goodfellow, Paul van de Graaf, Sasja Koetsier, Wendy Koops, Geoffrey Macnab, Maricke Nieuwdorp, Nicole Santé Photographers Bram Belloni, Nichon Glerum, Felix Kalkman, Corinne de Korver Design Laurenz van Gaalen, Sjoukje van Gool, Gerald Zevenboom Online Daily Florence van Berckel, Sjaan de Bruijn New Media Coordinator Caspar Sonnen IDFA TV Assistant Hanna Volbeda IDFA Doclab Producer Fleur Welter IDFA Doclab Assistant Ekatarina Yudin Website Doc Lab Upian IT Application Manager Nathalie Scholten Webmaster Tom Timmerman Webmaster Audio-Visual Rutger Bruil Intern Audiovisual Jurgen de Jonge Sponsoring & Fundraising Coordinator Marthe Jongmans Assistants Florine van den Berkmortel, Dunja Colman Education Coordinator Eva Laurillard, Meike Statema Producer Marije Veenstra Secretary Documentary Workshop Maartje Piersma Industry Office Head of Industry Office Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen FORUM Coordinator Yorinde Segal FORUM Producers Malka Jonas, Lauren Murphy, Daan Vermeulen Planner of Meetings Barbara van de Water Docs for Sale Coordinator Laurien ten Houten Docs for Sale Producers Dana Duijn, Rudolf Kats Docs for Sale Executive Producer Fred de Haas Producer Industry Guide Jelmer van der Lucht Consultants Jannie Langbroek, Marijke Rawie

IDFAcademy Coordinator Meike Statema, Barbara van de Water Producer Yorinde Segal Assistant Birte Hendriks Guest Services Coordinator Ellen Krukkert Assistants Pieter-Jan van Damme, Brechje Asselbergs, Annemijn van der Veer, Thomas Huisman Car Service Coordinator Casper Garrels Jan Vrijman Fund Director Ally Derks Fund Manager Isabel Arrate Fernandez Producers Dana Duijn, Melanie de Vocht Intern Ewa Scheifes Selection Committee 2011 Isabel Arrate Fernandez, Carmen Cobos, Ally Derks, Don Edkins, Niek Koppen, Karolina Lidin, Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, Martijn te Pas, Kees Rijninks, Jan Rofenkamp, Rada Sesic, Denis Vaslin, Iikka Vehkalahti, Peter Wintonick Festival Production Head of Production Dirk Blikkendaal Coordinator Annabet Langkamp Producer Nanouche Hukker Location Producer Misja Starink Producer Special Events Veronique ter Wolbeek Producer IDFA Media Talks Jermain Lo Supervisor Pathé Cinema’s Tom van de Loo Supervisor Brakke Grond Lucas van der Heijde A-team Coordinator Matthijs Rietveld Location Dressing Maurice Potemans Volunteers Coordinator Dymme Plomp Intern Marjolein Terstappen Box Office Coordinator Marco Oudewortel, Marie-Louise Calame Festival Tickets Mark Stegweg Active Tickets Bob van der Meer Technical / Screenings Filmtechniek BV Martin van Broekhoven, Dick Moesker Technical Supervisor Rembrandt Boswijk Film Control Coordinators Joop! van Langen, Kathinka Verhoeven Jury Assistants Lidwien van Heun, Laura Fulgori, Rada Sesic, Sara Stork, David Teigeler, Wotienke Vermeer, Randy Vermeulen, Raffaela Wang Coordinator David Teigeler Audience Award Coordinator Marloes Berghege

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Volunteers Afran Groenewoud, Aida Pereira Carvalho, Akkie van der Hooft, Alessandra D’Orlando, Alexander Rodríguez, Alexandra Asperslag, Alexandra Bol, Alkor Zelle, Alvaro Villalobos, Alvin Merks, Amy MacLeod, Andra Barchi, Andrea M. Zaehle, Andrea Mullerova, Andreea Dumitiu, Angelique Ruiter, Anhel Alickovic, Anhela Alickovic, Anita Mizrahi, Anje Wiering, Anke Söentken, Anna Bouwens, Anna Dekker, Anna Hart, Anna Mager, Anna Muller, Anne Thijssen, Anne van Oudheusden Stodel, Anneke Balvert, Anneke Mak, Annelies de Koning, Annemarie Coevert, Annemarie van Waterschoot, Annemarie Voorn, Annemarijn Kauw-A-Tjoe, Annemiek Vlaming, Annemieke Ruijgrok, Ariaan Witteveen, Arianne den Haan, Ariëtte van de Steeg, Arjen Lokhorst, Arlette Lafère, Arnoud van Veen, Arthur van Helvert, Asri Anisa Prasadani, Atie Berkhout, Audrey Glans, Ayla Oostrom, Aylin Romey, Babette Heeren, Babette Pöll, Badr Badi, Barbara Lommen, Bart Slob, Bas van Vliet, Baukje Faber, Beatriz Lopez, Benjamin Snippe, Berry Spanjer, Billy Salezius Beer, Bobby de Graaf, Brigitte Belanger, Carla van Benschop, Carla Wighman, Carlijn Hageraats, Carlijn Ros, Carmen Hermens, Cas van Kleef, Caterina Tzoridou, Catharina Kaagman, Catherine Nael, CD Septiasari, Cecilia Landman, Cees de Smalen, Chaniz Biervliet, Cherella Oord, Cheryl van Heerdt, Chetna Aswal, Chris van Rooijen, Christina Diedrichs, Christina Stuhlberger, Christine Smart, Chun Lai, Ciara Owens, Cigdem Ozcelik, Cindy Dammer, Claud biemans, Claudia Goehnert, Constance Varekamp, Cynthia Mourits, Daniel van den Ham, Danielle Jansen, Danielle Lambinon, Danique Ribberink, Danny van Egmond, Danuta Zoledziewska, David Kertai, David Leenders, David Slotema, Debora Bilard, Debora Vooijs, Deborah Fouche Valbuena, Deeba Sadat Naderi, Dennis de Greef, Dick Muller, Diederick ‘t Hoen, Dimitrios Zapris, Doenja Arsalan, Donny Sandel, Dylan de Boer, Elias Ravenhorst, Elif Siewertsz van Reesema, Elisha Weeber, Eliza de Knoop, Elizabeth Heath, Ellen van Eijk, Elmy Buijs, Elvira Uijlings, Eric Jaspers, Eric Pijpers, Erik Boudesteijn, Erik van ‘t Holt, Erna Corsten, Esther Kamara, Esther Roth, Eva Nobbe, Eva Prakken, Eva Rossen, Eva Sophie Kunkeler, Evangelia (Geli) Mademli, Evert Engwerda, Fatima Azrhari, Felix van Gisbergen, Felix Zijm, Femmie Zuur, Fey Yen van Kolfschoten, Fijkje Oushoorn, Francesco Dragone, Francis Hutjens, Franck Hakkert, Frank Ippel, Frans Reinders, Frans Rodenburg, Frederik Danjo, Friso Schmid, Gemma Nijboer, Gerrit Kort, Gert Mulder, Gertie Ligtermoed, Ghislaine Crasborn, Gloria Aura Bortolini, Golie Talaie, Greg Silberstein, Guus Bruin, Hajnalka Vajay, Hanna Velthoen, Hanneke van Kessel, Hans Barnhoorn, Hans Bos, Hans de Vreede, Hans Knikman, Harrie Moonen, Harro Presser, Heidy Bremmer, Helen Okkerman, Henk van Aartsen, Henri Grotens, Hilde Ruighaver, Hilke Engels, Ianthe Bato, Ilona Roesli, Ingeborg Antheunis, Inger van Beek, Ingmar Sauer, Irene Achterbergh, Irene Bartolome, Iris Grob, Ivar Schout, Ivar Trentelman, Jaco Idema, Jael Fraenkel, Jairzinho Wever, Jakub Wyszkowski, Jan Bergmans, Jan Joost Peskens, Janneke Aronson, Jasper Van Kuijk, Jeanette Gerritsma, Jeanne Ang, Jekaterina Uchanova, Jelle Stavasius, Jente Eenkhoorn, Jeroen Kruis, Jesse Steenkist, Jessie Lynn van Egmond, Jetty van Hulst, Jitske Kuiper, Jo Nieuwenhuizen, Job Rijneveld, Johan Statius Muller, Johannes Olsen, Jolien Merks, Jomar Post, Joram Pach, Jorian van Schagen, Jory Tousijn, Jos Dinkelaar, Josien Arts, Jozien de Ruiter, Kamil Koscielski, Kamila Grzymala, Karin Falkeisen, Karlijn Schipper, Katarzyna Jarosz, Kees Kleywegt, Kees-Lorraine Tutupary, Kid de Winter, Kiek Bigot, Kim Bijvoets, Kim Bosch, Kinga Sieluzycka, Kirstin van Knippenberg Boland, Kitty Kunkeler, Kitty Slagter, Koosje Janssen, Krista Doornbosch, Krista Janssen, Krisztina Csaszar, Larae Malooly, Larissa Quaak, Laura Bartels, Laura Visser, Leehe Skuler, Lenie van der Pols, Lennaert Kohn, Lennie de Jong, Letty Reimerink, Lies Koevoets, Lika Kortmann, Lilian Dool, Lilian van Ooijen, Lindy van Dorst, Lisa de Jong, Lisanne Jansen, Lisanne Kühne, Liv Ollin, Li-yu Shu, Loes van Alphen, Lotte Akkerman, Lotte Grimbergen, Lotte Hamelink, Luana Silbernberg, Luc Leijtens, Lydia de Ruijter, Lydia Unsworth, Lygia Martins, Lynn Nicholas, Maaike Brinkman, Maarten Klene, Maartje de Meij, Malgorzata Michalek, Manja Jordans, Mara Lin Visser, Marco de Geest, Marga de Jong, Margreet van der Lijn, Maria van der Lichte, Marian de Louw, Marianne Philipse, Marielle Prick, Mariëtta Goossens, Mariette Bakker, Marij Hulsenboom, Marije Hopman, Marije Peute, Marije Spek, Marijn Beneder, Marina Meijer, Mario Parera, Marion Kriele, Mariska de Swart, Marjolein Schuman, Marlies Krabbenbos, Marlijn Sonne-Gooren, Marthe Voorn, Martien J. Weber, Mat Verstraete, Mathieu Peulen, Mathijs Hoop, Maureen Barkey, Max Kuijkhoven, Megan Hes, Meike Rijnja, Melahn Parker, Melissa Chollet, Melle Blom, M. Besjes, Mia Laarhoven, Michaela Molenkamp, Michel Behar, Michel de Neef, Michiel van den Berg, Michiel van Dijk, Mieke Gorter, Mieke Hartoch, Mijke Joosten, Milou van Essen, Miranda van Gelder, Mirla Meerschwam, Mitchel Anthony van Bever, Nancy Frederiks, Nancy Segal, Natalia Miszczak, Natalie Langowski, Nazira Hammoud, Neo de Jong, Netty van der Reijden, Nicky van Vliet, Nicole Kroon-Brinson, Niek van der Spek, Nienke Holwerda, Nienke Rispens, Nienke Schellinkhout Diaz, Nikki Habraken, Nina Schmid, Nineke Verhoofstad, Nora Maartense, Olga Nijhoff, Owen Masters, Pamela Koelemans, Panagiota Ioannidou, Paris Carr, Pascalle Chin-Fo-Sieeuw, Pat Shak, Patricia Taylor-Stokkink, Paul van Dijken, Peter Mandara, Peter Schuurmans, Peterina Aboagye, Petra-Wendy Wink, Philippa Elliott, Phylicia Baars, Pieter Koevoets, Pieter Marcus, Pieter Siekerman, Pjotr ten Berge, Polly-Grace Vonsée, Rabia Bulut, Ralf van den Bergen, Reina Germs, Reinier Schat, Renate Roze, René Jager, Rene Rood, Renée Rooijmans, Reuben Hamburger, Rick de Bruyn, Rieke Evegroen, Rina Sjamil, Roel Scheijde, Roel Van Loon, Roeth van Gogh, Rogier Verburg, Ron Noordman, Ronald Baas, Ronald Zwart, Roos Dickhout, Roos Hekkens, Roosmarijn van Balen, Rosa Koenen, Rosalie Vos, Roxanna Booms, Ruben Rijnbeek, Sako Sugata, Sally Samura, Sam Batink, Samantha Robinson, Sander Pasveer, Sanne Dietz, Sanne van Vliet, Sarah Aba Levitt, Sarina Ruiter-Bouwhuis, Saskia Mollen, Saskia van Balderen, Saskia Zijlstra, Shanta-Joy Vogel, Sharis Coppens, Sharon Kwetsie, Sharona Wittenberg, Shirley Forster, Sigrid Lau, Silvia Pietrosanti, Simone Buys, Simone Roest, Siobhan Reynolds, Sjarrel Soebarta, Sofie Roskam, Sonia Bellezza, Sonja Claassen, Sonja Greven, Sophie Boshouwers, Sophie Schrameijer, Steph van Bommel, Stephanie Baars, Stien Weijers, Subani Smit, Susan Brand, Suzanne Staal, T. Oosterhof, Taco Mansens, Tereza Adamkova, Tessa Duzee, Theresia Zeinstra, Thijs Karrenbeld, Thom Ummels, Thomas Spaargaren, Tim Plaggenborg, Tim Wind, Tine Withagen, Tom Waijers, Toon Maassen, Valentina Schreuder, Valérie Rath, Victor van Vliet, Vincent Middleton, Vish Seshadri, Wannessa Guicherit, Wemke Smidt, Wil van Tol, Willem Oskam, Willemien Jacops, Wilma de Beer, Wilma Hartkamp, Wouter de Voogd, Wouter van Milligen, Yassine Belboukhari, Yordi de Vries, Yvonne Dammer, Yvonne Prins, Yvonne Scherf, Yvonne van Mastwijk, Yvonne Wolsink, Ziva Conkas, Zohra Catherine Tarsi, Zsolt Mark Sarkozi, Zulilah Merry

Thank You! Persons

Adam Benzine, Toronto; Adam Chapnick, San Francisco; Albert Elings, Amsterdam; Alessandro Iacoponi, London; Alexander Taat, Amsterdam; Alexandre Brachet, Paris; Amy Westervelt, Amsterdam; Andrea Hock, Vienna; Andrew Mer, New York; Anna Pedroli, Amsterdam; Annie Roney, Sausalito; Antoine Viviani, Paris; Arianne du Clou, Utrecht; Audrius Stonys, Vilnius; Axel Arnö, Stockholm; Ayse Poffet, Zürich; Barbara Truyen, Amsterdam; Bauke Freiburg, Amsterdam; Bjarke Myrthu, Copenhagen; Bob van der Meer, Utrecht; Bojan Bajic, Vlieland; Boris Nieuwenhuijzen, Amsterdam; Brian Chirls, New York; Carmen Cobos, Amsterdam; Casper Thiel, Amsterdam; Catherine Le Clef, Parijs; Cecilie Bolvinkel, Copenhagen; Christiaan Pilling, New York; Christian Beetz, Hamburg; Christilla Huillard-Kann, Paris; Cindy Punt, Amsterdam; Conrad Malkiewicz, Amsterdam; Danfung Dennis, New York; Daniel Cross, Montreal; Daphne Bunskoek, Amsterdam; David Hanemaayer, Amsterdam; Debra Zimmerman, New York; Diana El Jeiroudi, Damascus; Diana Holtzberg, New York; Diane Weyerman, New York; Dick Moesker, Rotterdam; Dominique van Ratingen, Utrecht; Edie Peters, Amsterdam; Erik Diks, Leiden; Erik Pijpers, Amsterdam; Erik Zwennes, Amsterdam; Esther van Messel, Zürich; Eugenie Jansen, Amsterdam; Fabio Caramaschi, Milaan; Fleur Winters, Amsterdam; Fleurie Kloostra, Amsterdam; Frank Boyd, London; Frank van der Wal, Amsterdam; Gideon Levy, Amsterdam; Gitte Hansen, Zürich; Gosse Beerda, IJlst; Greg Sanderson, London; Hanne Skjødt, Copenhagen; Hanneke Hulshof, Utrecht; Hans Bosscher, Amsterdam; Hans Maarten van den Brink, Amsterdam; Heino Deckert, Leipzig; Hjalmar Palmgren, Stockholm; Hugues Sweeney, Montreal; Iikaa Vehkalahti, Helsinki; Ingrid Kopp, New York; Ingrid van Tol, Amsterdam; Jacco Pattist, Amsterdam; Jacob Høgel, Copenhagen; Jan Herman den Hertog, Amsterdam; Jan Röfekamp, Montreal; Janus Metz, Copenhagen; Jenny Smets, Amsterdam; Jeremy Boxer, New York; Jesper Osmund, Copenhagen; Jess Search, London; Jigar Mehta, New York; Joel Ronez, Paris; John van de Werken, Utrecht; Judith Tromp, Amsterdam; Julia Meltzer, Los Angeles; Juul Veenboer, Rotterdam; Karolina Lidin, Copenhagen; Kate Townsend, Londen; Katrine Kiilgaard, Copenhagen; Kees Fopma, Amsterdam; Kevin Allison, New York; Kim Christiansen, Copenhagen; Kyra Kuppens, Amsterdam; Laura Nix, Los Angeles; Loc Doa, Vancouver; Louise Rosen, Brunswick; Maaik Krijgsman, Amsterdam; Madelinde Hageman, Amsterdam; Mads Brügger, Hvidovre; Marga Kroodsma, Amsterdam; Margje De Koning, Hilversum; Marijn van Oosten, New York; Marjo Boeijen, Amsterdam; Marjoleine Boonstra, Amsterdam; Marlies Kool, Utrecht; Marlies Pinksterboer, Amsterdam; Martin van Broekhoven, Delft; Menno Boerema, Amsterdam; Michiel Brongers, Amsterdam; Mikael Opstrup, Copenhagen; Mike Evers; Mirjam Coelho, Amsterdam; Monique Ruinen, Amsterdam; Natalie Beckers, Amsterdam; Nick van Ginkel, Amsterdam; Niek Koppen, Amsterdam; Nienke van der Fange, Amsterdam; Olivier ten Kate, Amsterdam; Onno Hekman, Amsterdam; Ophira Eisenburg, New York; Orly Ravid, Los Angeles; Ove Rishøj Jensen, Copenhagen; Patrick Janssens, Amsterdam; Paul Hunt, Zoetermeer; Pauline Dresscher, Amsterdam; PeÅ Holmquist, Hagersten; Pearl Quick, New York; Peter Denissen, Amsterdam; Peter Goldman, Rotterdam; Peter Jäger, Vienna; Peter Lataster, Amsterdam; Peter Wintonick, Montreal; Petra Lataster-Czisch, Amsterdam; Pieter van Huystee, Amsterdam; Rada Sesic, Utrecht; Ramon Gieling, Amsterdam; Raymond Kappert, Amsterdam; Ryan Harrington, New York; Rob McLaughlin, Toronto; Rob Millis, New York; Robert Mulder, Amsterdam; Rogier van Teeseling, Amsterdam; Roland van Putten, Rotterdam; Ronald Vendelmans, Amsterdam; Rudy Buttignol, Toronto; Sean Farnel, Toronto; Simon Kilmurry, Brooklyn; Stan van Engelen, Baarn; Stefan Kloos, Berlin; Steven Seidenberg, Oxford; Sydney Neter, Amsterdam; Victor Kossakovsky, St. Petersburg; Victoria Belopolskaya, Moscow; VJ Chaometric, Amsterdam; Wendy Bernfeld, Amsterdam; Wendy Mitchell, London; Wessel van der Hammen, Hilversum; Yvette van Kommer, Leiden; Ze Frank, Los Angeles; Zoot Derks, Amsterdam

Organizations

101.TV, Hilversum; 3PO, Rotterdam; Allrent ICT Solutions, Almere; Alvero, Oosterhout; Art Support BV Theaterproductiebureau – Publieksopstelling, Amsterdam; Café de Kroon, Amsterdam; Cape Rock, Hilversum; Captain Video, Amsterdam; Cinema Delicatessen, Amsterdam; CJP, Amsterdam; Coolpolitics, Amsterdam; Cramgo B.V., Utrecht; Culture Vortex, Amsterdam; Cultuurfabriek, Amsterdam; Deadline, Amsterdam; De Filmfreak Distributie, Amsterdam; Diversion, Amsterdam; Driebit, Amsterdam; Dynamo Player, New York; EARTH, Amsterdam; Echt Gebeurd, Amsterdam; Fotomuseum, Rotterdam; Frank Software, Delft; Frisse Blik, Ilpendam; Funx, Amsterdam; Gerda’s bloemen, Amsterdam; Jaccot, Nieuw-Vennep; KPN Event, Utrecht; Kunstbende, Amsterdam; Macbike, Amsterdam; Marlies, Amsterdam; Mausolos, Amsterdam; Nowhere, Amsterdam; Nxs, Amsterdam; Parkking ‘The Bank’, Amsterdam; Podium Mozaïek, Amsterdam; Rights Stuff, Amsterdam; Sieraad, Amsterdam; SXSW, Austin; The Event Engineers, Enschede; Tribeca New Media Fund, New York; Toltech Solutions B.V., Amsterdam; UNIGLOBE Perfect Travel, Amsterdam; Upian, Paris; Video Dock, Amsterdam; Vrachttaxi, Amsterdam; Wisebloom, Amsterdam; XXXS, Amsterdam

Special Thanks to:

All co-operators of Booking.com; Brasserie Schiller, Amsterdam; Compagnietheater; Escape; Hampshire Inn – Prinsengracht; Nederlandse Film & Televisie Academie; NH Hotels; Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam; Pathé de Munt; Pathé Tuschinski; Pathé Tuschinksi Arthouse; Sociëteit Arti and Amicitiae; Vlaams Cultuurhuis De Brakke Grond

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International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Partners of IDFA

Main partners of the 24th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Partners

IDFA is subsidised & funded by

M U N D U S

Catalogue Credits Coordinator Joost Broeren Assistent Coordinator Marjolein den Bakker Editors Andrew Maggiore Nicole Santé

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Film Description Writers Niels Bakker Florence van Berckel Joost Broeren Olga van Ditzhuijzen Kees Driessen Paul van de Graaf Mariska Graveland Vanessa Groenewegen Nienke Huitenga Sasja Koetsier

HGIS Cultuurmiddelen

Auke Kranenborg Wendy Koops Resi Lankester Maricke Nieuwdorp Nicole Santé Marije Sietsma Annelotte Verhaagen Kelli van der Waals Kim van der Werff Karin Wolfs

Contributors Joost Daamen Jan Donkers Steve James Amir Labaki Caspar Sonnen Jaïr Tchong Translators Mark Baker Joost Broeren

Steve Green Andrew Maggiore Dave Roozendaal Kirsty Sharwood Photographers Bram Belloni Nichon Glerem Felix Kalkman Corinne de Korver

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Documentary Workshop/Kids& Docs Workshop/IDFA Media Talks are supported by

IDFAcademy and IDFA DocLab are supported by

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary is supported by

Club IDFA

ABN AMRO Bank NV Accenture Anthos Beeld en Geluid De Breij Evers Boon DTZ Zadelhoff Houthoff Buruma FD Mediagroep Inbo JBR Jean Mineur Mediavision KPMG LeasePlan Nederland MK2 Rental & Staging B.V. M.N. LĂŠons BV PwC Van Doorne N.V.

Donations to IDFA

Ambassade de France aux Pays-Bas, AVRO, EYE Filminstituut, HUMAN, IKON, NCRV, NPO/RNW Sales, VEVAM

the FORUM is supported by

Jan Vrijman Fund is supported by M U N D U S

Photo Coordinators Marjolein den Bakker Joost Daamen

Printing Habo DaCosta, Vianen

Cover Design TBWA\NEBOKO, Publish

Acquisition Daily Productions

Lay-out Sjoukje van Gool, Gerald Zevenboom

International Sales Nick Cunningham

Suppliers

Best of Wines, Exselect/MeneM Systemen, FestivalTickets, iRent, Lichtwerk, MacBike, Rex, SternRent B.V., TechnoZorg, VBVB Cultuurautomatisering

IDFA commercial and leader have been made possible by

TBWA\NEBOKO, 25 FPS, AVP, Earforce, Filmfreak Distributie, Jean Mineur Mediavision, Cineco By courtesy of Armadillo (Janus Metz, Denmark, Sweden, 2010)

IDFA would like to thank all the friends of the festival.

Editorial Adress International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam Frederiksplein 52 1017 XN Amsterdam phone: +31 20 627 33 29 fax: +31 20 638 53 88 email: info@idfa.nl website: www.idfa.nl

This is a publication of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

No part of this publication may be reproduced by print, photo print, microfilm, or by any other means, without the permission of the authors and IDFA. ISBN 978-90-78741-00-8

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International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jury members

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary In addition to being a film director, the Senegalese Moussa Sene Absa is an artist, writer, and musician. He made his debut as an actor, and then moved to directing with the production of his own stage play, La Légende de Ruba. In cinema, he wrote the screenplay for Les Enfants de Dieu, which was honored at the Francophone Film Festival.

His directorial debut, the short film Le Prix du Mensonge, earned him the Silver Tanit at the Carthage Film Festival in 1988, and his film Tableau Ferraille won the award for best photography at FESPACO in 1997. His next work, Madame Brouette, won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2003. Absa has also produced the popular daily comedy sketch Gorgorlu for Senegalese television. His talent as a painter is also well established, and his work has been exhibited in Senegal, Europe and North America.

Sandy Lieberson was president of production for 20th Century Fox, MGM International, and Ladd Co. (Warner Bros.), where he supervised production of such internationally acclaimed films as Blade Runner, Alien, Thelma and Louise, and Once Upon a Time in America.

He is the producer of Performance, Stars and Bars, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Swastika, and 22 other films and documentaries. Lieberson is a founder and Chair of Film London. In 2008, he was responsible for establishing Film London’s groundbreaking Microwave Film Fund for low-budget feature films. At the National Film & Television School, Lieberson established and designed the curriculum for the Production Department. He is the head of the Production Department at the Escuela International de Cine & TV in Havana, Cuba, and one of the founders and organizers of the Berlin Talent Campus at the Berlin International Film Festival.

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Dennis Lim is a critic and programmer in New York. He is the editorial director at the Museum of the Moving Image, where he organizes film programs and edits the Museum’s multimedia magazine Moving Image Source. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and his work has also appeared in Cinema Scope, ArtForum, Slate, and the Village Voice, where he was film editor from 1999-2006. He teaches in the Cultural Reporting and Criticism graduate program at New York University, and has served on juries at the Buenos Aires, Morelia, Tribeca, San Sebastian, and Vancouver Film Festivals. Lim has been a member of the selection committee for the New York Film Festival since 2009, and he was the programmer of the 2010 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar.

Originally from Liep āja, Latvia, Laila Pakalniņa graduated from Moscow University, Department of Television Journalism, in 1986, and continued her studies in the Department of Film Direction at the Moscow Film Institute (VGIK), graduating in 1991. In 1998, her film Jurpe was selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Pakalniņa is the director and scriptwriter of 20 documentaries, five shorts and three features. So altogether, she has 28 films, two children, one husband, one dog, one bicycle, and many ideas for new films.

Suzanne Raes studied Cultural Studies in Amsterdam and worked for Dutch public television before starting working as a documentary filmmaker. As a “fly on the wall,” she filmed in schools, hospitals and institutions, observing human interaction and analyzing social structures. She captures people who are both strong and vulnerable: Greenpeace pioneers looking back on their life, an illegal housecleaner becoming a photographer. For Hold on Tight – De Dijk, Raes followed one of her country’s most famous and long-lasting bands during a crucial year in their career.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jury members

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary Director, producer and mentor to up-and-coming filmmakers David Fisher is one of Israel’s leading documentary filmmakers. Six Million and One (premiere at the 2011 Haifa International Film Festival) completes a family trilogy he started with the critically acclaimed film Love Inventory. The second part of the trilogy, Mostar Round-Trip, was made back-to-back with Six Million and One – both films deal with fatherhood – and was selected for the Jerusalem International Film Festival, followed by an international premiere at the 2011 Montreal World Film Festival and other festivals to come. As Director General of the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema and TV (1999-2008), Fisher initiated and founded the “Greenhouse” program, aimed at developing documentary films by Mediterranean filmmakers, and helped bring Israeli documentaries to international recognition.

Boris Gerrets is an internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker who lives and works between London and Amsterdam. He is also an accomplished visual artist and film editor. Born into a BulgarianGerman family, he grew-up in the Netherlands, Spain, Sierra Leone and Germany. Gerrets’s films are close-ups of local environments, which he describes as “biotopic explorations” exploring the gap between factual events and their fictional and poetic meaning. He sees the camera as a tool that creates a social dynamic between him and his protagonists. Gerrets’s cinematic approach contains a strong performative component and relies heavily on his multidisciplinary background in fine arts, dance and theater. His most recent film, People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am (2010), has garnered critical acclaim worldwide and won multiple awards at international festivals, including the IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary.

Maria Ramos is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. After graduating from the University of Brasilia, she moved to Europe where she studied Musicology and Electroacoustic Music in Paris and in London at City University. In 1990, she moved to the Netherlands,

where she enrolled in the Netherlands Film and Television Academy.

Her first feature documentary Brasilia, a Day in February was awarded the Jury Prize at the It’s All True International Documentary Festival. Her second feature film Desi won the Audience Award at IDFA in 2000. Justice won nine international prizes, among which the Grand Prix at Visions du Réel International Film Festival in Nyon and the Amnesty Award at CPH DOC, Copenhagen. Her awardwinning film Behave opened at the Locarno International Film Festival (Filmmakers of the Present Competition) in 2007. Her latest documentary, Unexpected, premiered in the Netherlands in May 2011.

Ramos is currently working on her new film Hills of Pleasure.

Miranda Siegel is a critic and culture journalist focused on cinema, art, and exploration. As a contributing writer to New York magazine and its associated culture blog, Vulture, Siegel’s work ranges from film criticism to international festival coverage, as well as interviews with filmmakers and artists. Recent subjects include documentarian Joe Berlinger and his film Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Parronaud and their follow-up to Persepolis, and Bobcat Goldthwait’s take on dark comedy. Her feature about contemporary life in Greenland through the lens of a Norwegian photographer was published in the Winter 2011 issue of VQR. The piece is indicative of Siegel’s interest in illuminating perspectives from spaces otherwise unseen by her audience.

Ben Tsiang is the CEO and co-founder of CNEX Foundation Limited.

Established in 2007, CNEX is a social enterprise for innovative documentary making and promotion in Chinese society. Tsiang has produced more than 30 documentary films, including the awardwinning film 1428 (2009), which won the Orizzonti Prize for Best Documentary at 2009 Venice International Film Festival, and box office hit KJ: Music and Life (2008), which was in the Hong Kong cinemas for more than eight months.

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International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jury members

IDFA Competition for First Appearance With over 20 years of experience in documentary filmmaking, Chinese filmmaker Liang Bibo’s films have won many national and international prizes, and were selected by many international film festivals in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Romania and Brazil. In 2001, Bibo conducted research on documentary films in New York City as the Visiting Fellow of the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) of America, an affiliate of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He has served as a jury member for the Shanghai International TV Festival, the “Message to Man” International Documentary Short and Animated Film Festival, the International Short Film Festival in Drama, Greece, the Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival, the Dhaka International Film Festival, and the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival.

Ollie Huddleston is an award-winning editor who has been working on documentaries for over 20 years. His talent and unique observational style has led to collaborations with some of documentary’s leading figures, including Kim Longinotto, Angus Macqueen, Sean McAllister and Adam Curtis. His recent credits include Pink Saris (2010) and Knuckle (2010). The films he has edited have won awards at Cannes, IDFA, and the Sundance Film Festival.

Monster Jiminez is currently the managing director of Arkeofilms, a film and commercial production house based in Manila known for their award-winning independent films. Jimenez has been involved in all of the films produced by Arkeofilms, working as producer, editor or writer. Most notable works include the comedy full-length feature Big Time (Mario Cornejo), which she co-wrote and produced and which won best screenplay in the Cinemalaya Independent Film Awards, and her directorial debut Kano: An American and His Harem, a documentary feature that won the IDFA Award for First Appearance in 2010. Kano also won Best Documentary at the 2010 Cinemanila International Film Festival. Jiminez recently finished the short documentary Are Clouds Blue?, about erroneous textbooks in public schools.

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Margje de Koning completed a graduate degree in Theater Studies at the University of Amsterdam and the Radio, Film, and Television Course at the University of Bristol. After finishing her studies, De Koning made all sorts of documentaries for many different broadcasting companies. In 2004, she became a part-time teacher for the Culture and Media Studies program in the University of Amsterdam’s Film and Television department. In August 2004, she started work as a commissioning editor for Dutch public television. In this function, she produces creative documentaries on contemporary issues with a strong human interest angle. Since January 2005, De Koning has also been responsible for the Television Department at the Dutch public broadcaster IKON. Basil Tsiokos is a documentary programming associate for the Sundance Film Festival and a consultant for filmmakers and film festivals. He holds a Masters degree from New York University in Cinema Studies and completed his undergraduate degrees at Stanford University. He is a regular contributor to indieWIRE, often covering film festivals. Tsiokos also serves as iW’s curator for Hulu’s Documentaries page. He is a visiting professor at the Pratt Institute, teaching a course on film festivals and overseeing students as they organize the Wallabout Student Short Film Festival. He is the Co-Producer of Cameron Yates’s feature documentary The Canal Street Madam (World Premiere, SXSW Competition 2010). Between 1996 and 2008, Tsiokos was the Artistic and Executive Director of NewFest: The NY LGBT Film Festival. He has served on numerous film festival juries and panels, including the Atlanta Film Festival, the Berlinale, DOC NYC, and SXSW. He can be found on Twitter as @1basil1 and on his blog what (not) to doc (http://WhatNotToDoc.com), offering advice and information to filmmakers.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jury members

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary Stella Bruzzi is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick. Her main research areas are documentary film and television, film costume and representations of masculinity. She has just embarked on a two-year Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship to research and write a book on documentary and representations of history. Previous books include New Documentary (2000 and 2006), Seven Up (2007), Undressing Cinema: Clothing and Identity in the Movies (1997), and Bringing Up Daddy: Fatherhood and Masculinity in Post-War Hollywood (2005). Before turning to academia, she spent three years as a documentary researcher for BBC Television.

Poet, novelist, playwright, and essayist Willem-Jan Otten published his first poetry collection in 1973 and his first novel in 1990. In 2000, he received the Constantijn Huyghens Award for his complete body of work. He has published reflections on cinema in the essay collections Het museum van licht (The Museum of Light, 1990) and Onze Lieve Vrouwe van de Schemering (Our Lady of Half-Light, 2010).

Eva Küpper is a documentary filmmaker and producer as well as co-founder of the creative documentary production company Soul Docs, based in Belgium. Soul Docs is dedicated to the international production of creative documentaries of the highest standard. Its trademarks include the author-driven selection of unique, socially relevant, and intimate stories that aim to capture a greater depth and insight into various aspects of the human psyche. Küpper’s first film and Soul Docs’s first production is the award-winning feature documentary What’s in a Name, which won the IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary in 2010. Then came the TV documentary King and Queen of Hearts, which was broadcast in Belgium in December 2010. Küpper is now working on her debut feature documentary entitled The State of the Art, which will be pitched at the IDFA Forum this year.

Photo: Anneleen Louwes

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International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jury members

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary Film club host, journalist and film critic for specialist magazines and newspapers, Luciano Barisone is a founder and the editor-in-chief of the magazine Panoramiques. He has written essays and monographs on such filmmakers as Naomi Kawase and Nicolas Philibert.

Since 1997, he has collaborated as programmer and press conference moderator with numerous international film festivals, including the Locarno International Film Festival and the Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica of Venice. In 2002, he founded the Alba Infinity Festival, where he was artistic director until 2007. From 20082010, he was artistic director at Festival dei Popoli in Florence. He has been the director of Visions du Réel in Nyon since 2011. He has served on juried at several festivals, including the Cannes International Film Festival, DocLisboa, Cinéma du Réel, and Hot Docs.

After his studies in Political Science in Heidelberg, Hans Robert Eisenhauer worked as an assistant to the Minister of Finance in Bonn and to several Members of Parliament, and as a freelance journalist for print media and radio. At the end of 1979 he moved to Berlin to start work as a dramaturge and television producer. He worked as a scriptwriter, producer and editor for press and public relations at various companies, before becoming the Director of the Berlin Film Fund in 1987, where he was responsible for the foundation of the European Film Academy. He became deputy program director of ARTE in 1991 and moved back to ZDF in 2005. Over the course of his career, he has commissioned, produced or coproduced more than 50 feature-length documentaries. In April 2011, Eisenhauer retired from his television job and started work as independent producer for international documentaries in Berlin.

Dutch director Aliona van der Horst has directed four internationally award-winning documentaries. She was born in Moscow, studied Russian literature at the University of Amsterdam and film at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy, and made her film debut in 1997 with the much-acclaimed The Lady with the White Hat. She recently received the Jan Kassies Award from the Dutch Cultural

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Broadcasting Fund for the poetic, lyrical touch in her films. Her latest documentary Boris Ryzhy won the IDFA Award for Mid-Length Documentary in 2008, among others. Her new documentary Water Children had its world premiere at DOK Leipzig. Most of her films are made in close collaboration with cinematographer Maasja Ooms.

Van der Horst is a visiting lecturer at several film schools, advises on documentary filmmaking, and supervised the IDFA documentary writing workshop in 2006.

Anne Marie Kürstein started as international festival manager at the Danish Film Institute Workshop in 1990 and worked as co-organizer of the Copenhagen Film + Video Workshop Festivals from 19901996 and Digital Days in 1998. Since 1998, she has worked as festival manager for shorts and documentaries at the Danish Film Institute, promoting Danish film at international film festivals and markets.

She has served as jury member at a number of international festivals, and was a board member of the Aarhus Film Festival from 19992004. In 1993, she got a Nipkow Program Fellowship in marketing, sales and distribution in Berlin and joined the Vertical Strategies Think Tank. From 1987-1989, she was a member of the secretariat for the Danish youth peace campaign Next Stop Soviet and co-organizer of the “Culture Train” through the Soviet Union.

Orwa Nyrabia graduated from the renowned Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts in Damascus, Syria in 1999. From 1997-2002, he wrote a weekly column for the daily newspaper Assafir. In 2002, he co-founded Proaction Film with Syrian filmmaker Diana El Jeiroudi, a leading production and distribution outfit in the Arab world that specializes in creative documentary film. He also worked as an assistant director on films like Oussama Mohammad’s Sacrifices (Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2002) and played the main character in Yousri Nasrallah’s La porte du soleil (Official Competition, Cannes 2004).

Nyrabia is co-founder of and head of programming at DOX BOX International Documentary Film Festival in Syria, which is considered the Arab world’s leading documentary event.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jury members

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary Two-time Emmy and Peabody winner Joe Berlinger has been a leading voice in nonfiction film and television for two decades. Berlinger’s films include the landmark documentaries Brother´s Keeper, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.

Crude, about oil pollution in the Amazon rainforest, won 22 human rights, environmental and film festival awards and recently triggered a high-profile First Amendment battle with oil-giant Chevron. In addition to his feature documentary work, Berlinger has created many hours of television as both a producer and director, including the Emmywinning History Channel series 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America. His Emmy-winning Paradise Lost series for HBO helped spawn a worldwide movement to free “The West Memphis Three” from wrongful murder convictions. The director recently wrapped up production in South Africa for a documentary about the 25th anniversary of Paul Simon’s landmark Graceland album.

A graduate of the National Film and Television School, Cath Le Couteur is a writer and director. In 2010, she was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Sundance Commissioning Grant for her feature film Bed. In 2004, Le Couteur won a place on the Cinéfondation Cannes Residency. Her previous shorts Starched and Spin had significant awards success on the festival circuit (including Canal Plus Best Short Film, Edinburgh Special Jury Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement at Winterthur, and Best Cinematography in Bristol). Five short documentaries under the title Normski Talking Pictures were commissioned by Channel 4, and were shortlisted for the Four Docs/ Sheffield prize. Le Couteur is a 2010 MacDowell Colony fellow and a 2010 Rockefeller Bellagio fellow. She is also a co-founder of the social entrepreneurship organization Shooting People (shootingpeople.org), an online social network dedicated to the support and promotion of independent filmmaking. Shooting People currently has 35,000 members in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Michael Madsen is a film director and conceptual artist. He is the director of several documentaries, including The Average of the Average (3D doc, world premiere at CPH:DOX 2011), Into Eternity (2010) and To Damascus – A Film on Interpretation (2005). He was a founder and the artistic leader (1996-2001) of the Sound/Gallery, a 900-squaremeter sound diffusion system underneath Town Hall Square in Copenhagen, Denmark. Selected art projects include “Audience (van Gogh#7),” design of SPOR 2007, festival for new music and sound art, and “Public Service (van Gogh#6),” Phase 1: Idea and concept for a new music library in Odense, Denmark. In addition, Madsen guest lectures at the Danish Film School (“The sound of sound – on sound on film”), the Danish School of Design, Idea-development and Art, the Royal Danish Academy of Art, Soundart Rhythmic Music Conservatory, the Architectural Association School of Architecture, the University of California, and the University of Western Sydney. He has also given various workshops and master classes at film festivals, including his “Workshop for Individuals with Absolutely No Idea for a Film.”

Juan Carlos Rulfo is one of Mexico’s most acclaimed documentary filmmakers. After graduating from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana with a B.A. in communication sciences, he studied film directing at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica. He has won numerous international awards, including Best Documentary at Sundance, Bacifi, Biarritz, Miami, Havana, and Karlovi Vary.

Rulfo holds grants from Guggenheim, Sundance, Rockefeller, and MacArthur, and is a member of the National System of Art Creators.

Maartje Somers studied Classical Languages and Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam and worked for Amsterdam’s newspaper Het Parool for 10 years before becoming a freelance journalist. For several years, she covered IDFA for the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad. Since 2007, she has been an editor for contemporary nonfiction for NRC’s literary section, during which time she has written about books on sustainability and the green economy.

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International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jury members

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary Miriam Leah Brenner studied musicology at Utrecht University and combined this with her love of travel to pursue sounds from far-flung destinations. After conducting field research in Southeast Sulawesi (Indonesia) in 2007, Brenner graduated cum laude. She then turned her focus to Central Asia, music evolution and cultural identity, resulting in an MA from the University of Amsterdam. Brenner is an artistic director and producer for the international music festival Music Meeting in Nijmegen and a producer for the music venue RASA in Utrecht. She is also a board member of the Bake Society for Performing Arts Worldwide.

Lotje IJzermans is a radio journalist, director of music documentaries, and screenwriter. Dutch music lovers have known her for over 20 years as a producer and presenter for public broadcaster VPRO. In radio shows such as De Wilde Wereld, Villa 65 and Nozems à gogo, she played alternative music and invited bands such as Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sonic Youth to the studio. In 1997, she made the leap to television, where she made countless music documentaries on artists and groups such as Nick Drake, Bettie Serveert, Sparklehorse, Angie Stone and Jim White for the music anthology Lola da Musica. She wrote various fiction screenplays for television and in 2012, Circe Films will produce a feature film based on her script. At the moment, IJzermans is editor-inchief for De Avonden, a daily radio show on culture in which she discusses documentaries and feature films.

Rodrigo Letier started his career as a producer of music videos and commercials. It didn’t take long for him to start working in cinema, as an assistant to filmmaker Murillo Salles, with whom he worked on the film Seja o que Deus quiser and the TV series És tu Brasil. In 2002, he was invited to create the feature film department at TvZero, which at the time specialized mainly in the production of commercials.

There, he was executive producer of the documentaries Lingua - Life

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in Portuguese (Victor Lopes) and Born to Be Blind (Roberto Berliner).

Later, he produced several cultural projects such as musical DVDs (Paralamas do Sucesso, Leoni, Bezerra da Silva), TV shows and short films such as Stray Bullet (Victor Lopes). However, he never wavered from his original goal: to produce content for the big screen. In 2011, Letier entered the fray of fiction production with the film Bruna Surfistinha (Marcus Baldini). His second fiction film, Lady of the Images (Roberto Berliner), will be shot in January 2012.

James Mottram writes about cinema for a number of publications around the world, including The Independent, Total Film, Sight and Sound, Marie Claire, the South China Morning Post, and The National.

He has published four books, including Faber & Faber titles The Making of Memento and The Sundance Kids, and contributed to several others. He lives in London.

As radio editor, programmer, and music producer for the Belgian public radio station VRT/Radio 1, Zjakki Willems is specialized in Brazilian music, world music, alternative rock, and Frank Zappa. He is founder and former chairman of the World Music Workshop of the European Broadcasting Union. In addition, Zjakki is a Belgian music curator (traditional music, rock and encontros) for the current Europalia Brasil Festival and panel member of the World Music Charts Europe. He made or produced various extensive radio music series for various Belgian and Dutch radio stations, including The Frank Zappa Story, Radio Brasil, Radio Mangue, Sintonize Pernambuco, dEUS ex machina, The Mystery Drake, and Oh La L’Arno. He is a representative for Belgium and the Netherlands of Brasil Música & Artes, winner of several Belgian and European awards, and has recorded hundreds of concerts and produced several CDs. He also makes Brazilian mixtapes for Multicult.fm in Berlin.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jury members

IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling Ingrid Kopp is Editor-in-Chief of Shooting People, an international networking organization for independent filmmakers with over 38,000 members. She is also the New Media Consultant for the TFI New Media Fund at the Tribeca Film Institute. She began her career in the documentaries department at Channel 4 Television in the UK, moving to New York in 2004 to work as a producer for a number of independent production companies before taking her current position at Shooting People. Kopp teaches Digital Bootcamp workshops for filmmakers, focusing on audience engagement and harnessing technology for storytelling. She has led the Bootcamp at the Frontline Club in London, Sheffield Doc/Fest, CPH:DOX, and Silverdocs. She also writes about technology and storytelling for various publications and works as a documentary and interactive technology consultant for film festivals, broadcasters and foundations. http://twitter.com/ fromthehip

Rob McLaughlin, currently Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Publisher at Postmedia Network in Canada, is one of his country’s leading innovators in the field of factual interactive content. His work has been awarded dozens of international honors, including most recently the 2010 and 2011 Webby Awards for Best Online Documentary Programs. Prior to joining Postmedia, McLaughlin was the Director of Digital Content and Strategy at the National Film Board of Canada and Director of Digital Programming at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Martijn de Waal runs an office for media innovation. He researches new forms of digital storytelling and consults with various media organizations and social institutions on their new media strategies.

He has also organized and contributed to numerous workshops and conferences (such as the yearly mediafonds@sandberg masterclass) on new media formats. In 2009, he was a visiting scholar at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media. He is one of the founders of DeNieuweReporter.nl (a Dutch blog on the future of journalism), and also a co-founder of TheMobileCity.nl – a research group on new media and urban culture. He is a member of the board at the Dutch Cultural Media Fund. www.martijndewaal.nl

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Competition programs IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary Seventeen feature-length documentaries are competing for the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary. A five-member international jury will evaluate the films, choose three of them, and select the winner from these. The VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of â‚Ź12,500. In addition, the jury may grant a Special Jury Award.

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Palestine, France, Israel, The Netherlands, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 90 min Director: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi Photography: Emad Burnat Screenplay: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi Editing: Véronique Lagoarde – Ségot, Guy Davidi Sound: Samir Joubran, Wissam Joubran, Adnan Joubran Music: Samir Joubran, Wissam Joubran, Adnan Joubran Narrator: Emad Burnat Production: Guy Davidi for Guy DVD Films,

Serge Gordey for Alegría Productions, Emad Burnat for Burnat Films Palestine Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Guy DVD Films Involved TV Channels: IKON, France 5, YLE, Channel 8, RTS

5 Broken Cameras

WORLD PREMIERE

Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi

Jan Vrijman Fund Palestinian farm laborer Emad has five video cameras, and each of them tells a different part of the story of his village’s resistance to Israeli oppression. Emad lives in Bil’in, just west of the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. Using the first camera, he recorded how the bulldozers came to rip the olive trees out of the ground in 2005. Here, a wall was built directly through his fellow villagers’ land to separate the advancing Jewish settlements from the Palestinians. In the first days of resistance to the Jewish colonists and the ever-present Israeli soldiers, Emad’s son Gibreel was born. Scenes shift from the infant growing into a precocious preschooler to the many peaceful acts of protest, and the steady progress of the construction of the dividing wall. Sympathizers from all over the world, including from Israel, provide help as resistance develops, but when the situation intensifies, people are arrested and villagers are killed. Emad keeps on filming despite pleas from his wife, who fears reprisals. It makes for an intensely powerful personal document about one village’s struggle against violence and oppression.

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Emad Burnat: directing debut Guy Davidi: My Last Novel (fiction,2000) Turtle Time (2002) Les souvenantes (2003) In Working Progress (2006) Enraged (2006) Hamza (2007) A Gift from Heaven (2009) Women Defying Barriers (2009) Journal d’une Orange (2009) Keywords (2010) Interrupted Streams (2010) Cinematographer Pandora’s Box (2011)

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

The Netherlands, 2011 DCP, color, 78 min Director: Ramon Gieling Photography: Goert Giltay Screenplay: Ramon Gieling Editing: Patrick Janssens Sound: Eddy de Cloe Production: Janneke Doolaard for

Eyeworks Film & TV Drama Co-Production: Prime Time

Distribution for the Netherlands: ABC

Theatrical Distribution – Cinemien

Screening Copy: Eyeworks Film & TV Drama Involved TV Channel: BOS

About Canto

WORLD PREMIERE

Over Canto

Ramon Gieling The Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt achieved worldwide renown in 1979, when his work for four pianos Canto Ostinato was first performed. Although some music experts viewed it with disdain – it broke with prevailing notions of serialism and tonality – the piece was a huge hit in the contemporary classical music world. In the years since, numerous musicians have released their recordings of Canto, and it is still being performed around the world. Director Ramon Gieling has already made films about Ten Holt and his work, but chose a different approach this time around. He interviewed a large number of people about the sometimes far-reaching impact this composition has had on their lives. They include pianist Kees Wieringa, music cognition scientist Henkjan Honing, and actress Halina Reijn. One interviewee tells of how Canto was the soundtrack to the birth of her son; another has a section of the score tattooed on his arm. Gieling seeks to unravel the mystery of the universal power of music, and his blend of documentary footage, fiction, essays and archive material produces a multifaceted response to the question of just what it is about this piece that touches people so deeply.

Ramon Gieling: De hand (fiction,1975), De levende stilte (1983), De weg van het vlees (1984), Een bescheiden ontketening (1985), Tussen front en thuisfront, film over Simeon ten Holt (1987), Vaders en zonen (fiction, 1994), Off mineur (fiction, 1995), De toekomst is over een uur (1997), Leven met je ogen (1997), Ongenade (fiction, 1998), De gevangen van Bunuel (2000), Iraanse herfst (2001), Film voor Salvador (2001), Tussen twee heiligen (2001), Cine Ambulante (2001), Welcome to Hadassah Hospital (2002), Johan Cruijff en un momento dado (2004), Slotstuk, kort portret van componist Simeon ten Holt (2004), All for One (2005), Geluk( fiction, 2005), De Tuin van de herinnering (2006), Joaquin Sabina, 19 dias y 500 noches (2008), Linksbuiten (2008), Tramontana (ficion, 2009), a.o.

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Denmark, 2011 HD, color, 94 min Director: Mads Brügger Photography: Johan Stahl Winthereik Editing: Leif Axel Kjeldsen, Carsten Søsted, Kimmo Taavila Production: Peter Engel & Carsten Holst for Zentropa Real World Sales: TrustNordisk Screening Copy: Danish Film Institute Involved TV Channels: SVT, YLE, TV 2, DR

The Ambassador

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Ambassadøren Mads Brügger

“This conversation we’re about to have never happened,” says a dealer of diplomatic passports in the opening sequence of The Ambassador. It is a statement that sets the tone for a substantial part of this secretly shot film, and also proves the value of the method. The Ambassador reveals the dark side of Africa, an underworld that cannot be recorded in any other way. Mads Brügger is a Danish journalist and master satirist who won the 2010 Sundance World Cinema Documentary Award for The Red Chapel, in which he manages to get a Danish-Korean acting duo into North Korea for a performance. This time, dressed as a neo-colonialist, he sets off for the Central African Republic to impersonate the Liberian consul. He sets up a match factory run by pygmies as a cover for his ambitions in diamond trafficking. But Brügger is really there to show how the power in the country is allotted and traded. This mission is most definitely not without its dangers, as borne out by the murder of the chief of the security service, a former foreign legionnaire, some time after the two meet.

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Mads Brügger: Talk with God (2003) Danes for Bush (2004) The Quatraro Mystery (2009) The Red Chapel (2009)

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Germany, UK, 2011 HD, color, 82 min Director: Giovanni Giommi Photography: Giovanni Giommi Editing: Fabio Capalbo Production: Heino Deckert for Ma.Ja.de

Filmproduktion, Brian Hill for Century Films, Carlotta Mastrojanni for Combread Films World Sales: Deckert Distribution GmbH Screening Copy: Deckert Distribution GmbH Involved TV Channels: ZDF/ ARTE, YLE, NRK

Bad Weather

WORLD PREMIERE

Giovanni Giommi

Banishanta is a brothel island. The prostitutes live and work on this tiny sliver of land just 100 meters long and 10 meters wide in the Bay of Bengal, South Bangladesh. Each of the women came here for a different reason, whether through a sister, because of the need for money following the death of a father, or in search of love and affection.

The reality of everyday life is far tougher than they ever could have imagined. The nature of their work denies them even basic rights – though they are trying to secure them through a network of fellow workers. Their children are teased because they live in a brothel. And there is one more major and urgent problem: the modest size of the island means that the women are fighting for survival at the front line of climate change. Rising river levels, soil erosion, and cyclones are steadily destroying what is left of the island. Razia, Khadija, and Shephalie are three of the last 65 women who live here. They are fighting for their houses and the future of their families. And all the while, they are still searching for that one true love.

Giovanni Giommi: Nel Cuore delle Alghe e dei Coralli (1999) Bèisbol (2000) Nice! (2003) Frames. Variazioni per Catena di Montaggio (2004) Les Ninjas du Japon (2007) Parafernalia (2008)

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

USA, 2011 HD, color, 80 min Director: Alix Lambert, David McMahon Photography: Shane Sigler Editing: Hannah Neufeld Sound: Ian Lindl Music: Michael Mattison Production: Alix Lambert for Pink Ghetto Productions

Inc., David McMahon for Swiss Petite Films Screening Copy: Swiss Petite Films Website: www.bayoubluefilm.com

Bayou Blue

WORLD PREMIERE

Alix Lambert, David McMahon

In a poverty-stricken area of southeastern Louisiana, 23 men were murdered between 1997 and 2006. Local police departments had great difficulty finding the perpetrator, at least in part because Hurricane Katrina put great demands on them around 2005. This documentary reconstructs the events and reveals some of the least attractive aspects of this mysterious swamp region: the poverty, the racism, the drug problems, the everpresent environmental pollution, a lack of coordination between the various agencies involved, and the reasons behind this monster remaining at large for so long. The filmmakers follow local police officers to the scenes of the crimes and interview them about their findings. We also see members of the victims’ families discussing the death of their loved ones and the attempts to apprehend the murderer. How is it possible that such a major case was not picked up by the national press? It was dismissed as a “regional question,” explains one local journalist. And it also brought up complex issues such as homosexuality and the homeless – “A segment of society we don’t like to talk about anyways,” he concludes matter-of-factly. Additional footage from local news programs as well as confrontational sound recordings of interrogations of the killer make for a film that offers a grim picture of an often hidden side of Western society.

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Alix Lambert: Platipussy (1997) The Mark of Cain (2000) Impressions of Viggo (2005) Marked Russia (2009) a.o.

David McMahon: directing debut

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Germany, Israel, 2011 DCP, color, 90 min Director: Marcus Vetter Photography: Alex Bakri Editing: Saskia Metten Music: Avi Balleli Production: Uwe Dierks & Thomas Grube for

Boomtownmedia, Philippa Kowarsky for Cinephil World Sales: Cinephil Screening Copy: Cinephil Involved TV Channels: SWR, Yes Docu, BR, ARTE Website: www.cinemajenin.org

Cinema Jenin

WORLD PREMIERE

Marcus Vetter

When director Marcus Vetter goes to Jenin in the Palestinian territories for a story about Ismael, whose son was shot by an Israeli sniper, he discovers that the city once boasted a cinema where people lined up to watch local and international films.

Palestine used to have a well-developed film industry, but it collapsed with the First Intifada in 1987. Vetter, Ismaël, and a few locals come up with the idea of renovating and breathing new life into the old cinema and creating a social and cultural meeting place. It becomes a drawn-out process, as the German director at the center of his own story encounters complex cultural relationships and sentiments. Initially, Vetter doesn’t understand many Palestinian customs and he gets taken to task for it on several occasions. What’s more, the involvement of foreign parties is a delicate issue for many Palestinians – especially when it comes to Israel. Although the new cinema is supposed to welcome everyone, the enterprise prompts reactions that reveal the painful nature of the relationship between Palestine and Israel. The word “peace” becomes extremely charged, and the initiators have to make sure that the social project doesn’t turn into a political project. These and other problems need to be solved with the help of a few big names, lots of volunteers, and even more cigarettes.

Marcus Vetter: Ein Schweinegeld (1999), The Tunnel (1999), Where Money Grows (2000), Wargames (2002), Florida: Streets of the Duped (2003) Marcus Vetter & Dominik Wessely: Broadway Bruchsal (2001), Die Unterzerbrechlichen (2006) Marcus Vetter & Arianne Riecker: My Father the Turk (2006) Marcus Vetter & Stefan Tolz: Traders´ Dreams: The Ebay World (2007) Marcus Vetter & Leon Geller: The Heart of Jenin (2008) Marcus Vetter & Karin Steinberger: Hunger (2009)

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Finland, Sweden, 2011 DCP, color, 91 min Director: Sonja Lindén Photography: Peter Flinckenberg, Pekka Uotila Editing: Samu Heikkilä Sound: Samu Heikkilä, Janne Laine Music: Rebekka Karijord Production: Sonja Lindén for Avanton Productions Oy Co-Production: Mantaray Film Screening Copy: Finnish Film Foundation Involved TV Channels: SVT, YLE

Five Star Existence

WORLD PREMIERE

Sonja Lindén

Even though director Sonja Lindén thoroughly enjoys the enormous freedom and flexibility technology provides for the human race, she also feels trapped by it. In a day in her life played at accelerated speed, we see just how much of it revolves around technology. She wonders whether technology isn’t taking over too much of our lives.

Are we becoming too dependent on it? Is it really such a good thing to be able to work wherever you want, and doesn’t that mean we end up working all the time? Taking her personal questions as her point of departure, Lindén looks at various aspects of our modern information society. She allows proponents and opponents to have their say, without ever drawing conclusions or expressing her own opinion – although she does often use metaphorical imagery to emphasize the words of the interviewees. We see horses, steam rising from their bodies as they race along, while we’re listening to discussions about the overheated modern human, who has to process three to five hundred times as many stimuli as before, with a nervous system that hasn’t changed for millennia. The title refers to Songdo City in South Korea, where they’re working on a “five-star existence.” This will allow you to set the temperature at home while you’re still on the go, and children will be able to play on the streets in complete safety, because of all the cameras keeping a watchful eye on them.

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Sonja Lindén: No Man Is an Island (2006)

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

The Netherlands, Germany, 2011 HD, color, 90 min Director: Frank Scheffer Photography: Melle van Essen Editing: Frank Scheffer, Riekje Ziengs Production: Pieter van Huystee for Pieter van Huystee Film Co-Production: EuroArts Medien AG Screening Copy: Pieter van Huystee Film Involved TV Channel: VPRO

Gozaran – Time Passing

WORLD PREMIERE

Frank Scheffer

In 2005, Iranian composer Nader Mashayekhi was asked to lead the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. He knew the weak position of Western classical and contemporary music in Iran would make this a difficult task. But he took on the challenge, and after having spent several years in Vienna studying, living and working, he returned to his country.

As he puts it, “with only one suitcase containing only one thing: my dream to make music in my hometown.” Less than two years later he returned to Austria, his suitcase filled with the pieces of his broken dream. Filmmaker Frank Scheffer captures the passionate composer during rehearsals with young musicians in Tehran, wandering through a desolate desert landscape and a deserted village, looking for inspiration for new compositions and challenging performances, and then back in Vienna as he reflects upon his time in Iran. Political entanglements are only implicit in the film. The director chose for beautiful shots in a contemplative setting, in which Mashayekhi’s voice sounds like an internal monologue. He reflects on his life and debates the meaning of music and poetry, and his impossible yet unscathed love for his country.

Frank Scheffer: Zoetrope People (1982), Avalokiteshvara (1983), Time Is Music (1987), The Final Chorale (1990), The Nature of Space (1993), Eclat (1993), Five Orchestral Pieces (1994), The Hidden Front (1995), From Zero, The Documentary (1995), Helicopter String Quartet (1996), Conducting Mahler (1996), The Road (1997), Sonic Acts; Attrazione d’amore (1998), Voyage to Cythera (1999), Music for Airports (1999), Frank Zappa: The Present Day Composer Refuses to Die (2000), In the Ocean (2001), From Zero, The Installation (2001), Frank Zappa: Phase II – The Big Note (2002), Mahler: I Have Lost Touch with the World (2004), A Labyrinth of Time (2004), Tea (2005), Varese: The One All Alone (2009), Tiger Eyes (2011), a.o.

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Germany, UK, USA, 2011 DCP, color, 105 min Director: Werner Herzog Photography: Peter Zeitlinger Editing: Joe Bini Music: Mark Degli Antoni Production: Erik Nelson for Creative Differences Executive Production: Amy Briamonte & Dave Harding

for Creative Differences, Sara Kozak & Henry Schleiff for Discovery ID, Andre Singer for Spring Films, Lucki Stipetic for Werner Herzog Filmproduktion Screening Copy: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion Involved TV Channel: Channel 4

Into the Abyss

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Werner Herzog

In the United States, the death sentence is often carried out in the greatest possible anonymity. Far away from the rest of society, in a hermetically sealed room, the condemned sit down in the electric chair or receive a fatal injection. In this way, the human story behind the criminal can be obscured. But this is exactly the story Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World) wants to tell in his compassionate death row documentary. He zooms in on the case of 28-year-old Michael Perry, who has been on death row in Texas for 10 years. As teenagers, he and his friends Jason Burkett murdered three people just to take a joyride in an expensive car. With striking warmth and sympathy, Herzog conducts deep, emotional and at times confrontational conversations with both perpetrators, their families (some of whom are also in jail), the families of the victims, the sheriff who investigated the case, and a former executioner, who has carried out more than 100 death sentences. A detailed picture emerges of a deeply religious but also intensely criminal and violent community. Herzog makes it clear early on that he is against the death penalty, but the film is by no means a political statement. Into the Abyss outlines the human perspective behind a deeply inhumane ritual.

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Werner Herzog: Herakles (1962), The Flying Doctors of East Africa (1969), Fata Morgana (1970), Land of Silence and Darkness (1971), Aguirre, the Wrath of God (fiction,1972), Nosferatu (fiction, 1978), Woyzeck (fiction, 1979), Fitzcarraldo (fiction, 1982), Cobra Verde (fiction, 1987), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Wings of Hope (1999), Wheel of Time (2003), The White Diamond (2004), Grizzly Man (2005), The Wild Blue Yonder (2005), Rescue Dawn (fiction, 2006), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (fiction, 2009), My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (fiction, 2009), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Ode to the Dawn of Man (2011) www.wernerherzog.com

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

France, 2011 video, color, 80 min Director: Manon Loizeau Photography: Gabriele Buti, Guillaume

Comtet, Cyril Thomas, Pascal Vasselin Editing: Bruno Joucla Production: Marc Berdugo for Magneto World Sales: Java Films Screening Copy: Java Films

Letters from Iran

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Manon Loizeau

When a girl named Neda was murdered on the street during the student protests in Iran in 2009, images of her were transmitted all around the world. Since then, Western media access to the country has been very limited. The French filmmaker Manon Loizeau has attempted to reconstruct the protest, and for the last two years she has been following a group of Iranians living outside their homeland. She put together excerpts of archive footage, leaked YouTube clips, and amateur recordings of demonstrations to create an impression of the failed Green Revolution. We see jerky images of emotional protest meetings, harrowing interviews with dissidents who have fled the country after the torture they suffered, and unique material showing the nerve-wracking cat-and-mouse game with the regime. The students’ zeal breeds hope.

Take, for example, the young Majid, who was arrested while dressed as a woman in a headscarf. The government disseminated photos of him to humiliate him, but soon afterwards hundreds of Iranian men placed photos online of themselves in headscarves in a show of solidarity. Another fascinating scene was shot by an Iranian woman in a beauty salon, where the political situation is discussed behind drawn drapes. The secretly filmed footage of violent attempts to suppress the protest is of course low in audiovisual quality, but no less impressive for that.

Manon Loizeau: The Brave Mothers (1997), The Tsar Is Dead, Long Live the Tsar! (1998), The Forgotten Ones of Vorkouta (1998), Grozny Chronicle of a Disappearance (2003), Dramatic turn of events in Moscow (2004), Guantanamo,in the name of war (2004), United States, Conquering the East (2005), The Curse of Being Born Female (2006), In Memory of Anna (2007), A Series of Murders, Following Poutine’s Footsteps (2008), Iran, at the Heart of the Revolt (2009), a.o.

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Austria, 2011 HD, color, 105 min Director: Ed Moschitz Photography: Radu Bostan, Sandra

Merseburger, Michael Schindegger Screenplay: Ed Moschitz Editing: Alexandra Löwy Sound: Gailute Miksyste, Lenka Mikulova, Roberto Serra Music: Zdob si Zdub Production: Arash T. Riahi for Golden Girls Filmproduktion Executive Production: Michael Seeber for Golden Girls Filmproduktion Screening Copy: Golden Girls Filmproduktion Involved TV Channel: ORF

Mama Illegal

WORLD PREMIERE

Ed Moschitz

Inhabitants of poverty-stricken Moldavia sacrifice their savings and risk their lives to become illegal aliens abroad. The film follows three women from this small neighbor of Romania, who work illegally as cleaners in Austria and Italy. Some of these workers have been separated from their children and family for many years. They have no rights to medical assistance and also run the risk of being deported. We also see people who stayed at home in Moldavia, as they demonstrate how to cross the border by hanging beneath a train. We also meet them after perilous journeys out of the country, having slipped into Romania, just out of sight of the watchtowers. Everyone is dreaming of a better home, of parquet floors and televisions that the women will finance upon their return. But the price is high. The women’s stories are distressing: they hardly know their own children, but they have given up everything to provide them with a better future.

And back home in Moldavia, family members wish they had never let their wives and mothers go. Meanwhile, these amputated families try to survive in primitive, rural Moldavia. This is a melancholy portrait of the desperate inhabitants of a little piece of the Third World in Europe.

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Ed Moschitz: Heisse Ware (2006) Nicht mit mir (2007) Bärenjäger (2007) Alinas Traum” (2008) Verlorene Jahre (2008) Frisch aus dem Mistkübel (2008) Oh du mein Nachbar (2009) Am rechten Rand (2010)

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Canada, 2011 35mm, color, 98 min Director: Léa Pool Photography: Sylvaine Dufaux, Daniel

Jobin, Nathalie Moliavko-Visotzky Editing: Oana Suteu Khintinian Production: Ravida Din for National Film Board of Canada World Sales: National Film Board of Canada Screening Copy: National Film Board of Canada

Pink Ribbons, Inc.

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Léa Pool

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. As one of the scientists interviewed puts it, “The most important risk factor in getting breast cancer is being a woman.” Women diagnosed with breast cancer in Western countries inevitably come into contact with Pink Ribbon: a movement that seems at first glance to be a sympathetic source of resistance, hope and action. In cooperation with companies, dedicated fanatics organize marathons and other sponsored activities to collect funds for research into a cure. But in spite of all the billions this brings in, the cure remains elusive. This critical, investigative documentary gives a platform to a range of scientists and opinion makers to talk about the origins and the mechanisms behind Pink Ribbon.

Patients and feminists also cast a light on this pink power movement, which turns out to have powerful marketing potential. Breast cancer, it seems, is a “dream cause” with a huge, homogeneous group of potential customers: all women. Research has shown that in 80% of homes in North America, women determine how the money gets spent – a fact that paints a somewhat less than rosy picture of this combative movement.

Léa Pool: Laurent Lamerre, Portier (1978), Strass Café (1980), A Woman in Transit (fiction, 1984), Anne Trister (fiction, 1986), Straight to the Heart (fiction, 1988), Hotel Chronicles (fiction, 1990), The Savage Woman (fiction, 1991), Desire in Motion (1994), Gabrielle Roy (fiction, 1998), Set Me Free (fiction, 1999), Lost and Delirious (fiction, 2001), The Blue Butterfly (fiction, 2004), The Last Escape (fiction, 2010), a.o.

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

South Korea, 2011 HD, color, 87 min Director: Seung-Jun Yi Photography: Seung-Jun Yi Editing: Simon El Habre, Seung-Jun Yi Music: Min Seongki Production: Gary Kam & Min-Chul Kim for CreativEast Executive Production: Cho Dongsung for CreativEast World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: CAT&Docs Pitched at the Forum 2010

Planet of Snail

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Seung-Jun Yi

Young-Chan has been deaf and blind since childhood. As he puts it himself, “In the beginning there was darkness and silence, and the darkness and silence were with god.

And when ‘I’ arrived, they came to me.” Young-Chan has no idea how to participate in the world until he meets Soon-Ho, who also has a physical handicap. He marries her and learns to communicate with the outside world through her. By softly tapping each other’s finger, they can understand one another; it is sometimes as if they are tenderly playing a piano. This documentary follows the couple in the same gentle tempo as Young-Chan moves through his life. We see them replacing a lightbulb together, receiving friends, working on a theater piece, reading a book, and gliding on a sleigh down a mountain. These everyday scenes are accompanied by a poetic voice-over by Young-Chan, in which he reflects on his existence without sight and hearing. He feels like an astronaut, but that doesn’t mean he is without a sense of beauty in the world.

This becomes palpable when Young-Chan touches the bark of a tree, runs his hand through sand, or brushes raindrops on a window pane with his fingertips.

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Seung-Jun Yi: Invisible War – India Bihar Report (2000) Breathing, In a Wasteland (2002) Like Wildflowers, Two Women’s Story (2007) Children of God (2008)

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Denmark, 2011 HD, color, 85 min Director: Lise Birk Pedersen Photography: Lars Skree Editing: Janus Billeskov Jansen, Steen Johannesen Sound: Peter Albrechtsen Music: Peter Albrechtsen Production: Helle Faber for Monday

Media & Made in Copenhagen Executive Production: Martin Dalgaard for Monday Media World Sales: DR International Sales Screening Copy: Danish Film Institute Involved TV Channels: NRK, ITVS International, YLE, DR

Putin’s Kiss

WORLD PREMIERE

Putins kys

Lise Birk Pedersen Westerners may view Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as an undemocratic tyrant, but to many Russians he embodies all the qualities of a strong and charismatic father figure. An entire new generation has been united in the patriotic youth movement Nashi, which seeks to rid Russia of its “enemies.” And quite naturally, these turn out to be anyone who does not support Putin and President Medvedev. Marsha, an intelligent 19-year-old, is the spokesperson for Nashi. She once kissed Putin on the cheek, and after that she made no secret of her adoration for this “Napoleon of the Kremlin.” Until she came into contact with members of the liberal opposition, that is. One of them is the critical blogger Oleg Kashin, who compares Nashi with the Hitler Youth movement. He even suspects some of the members of carrying out terrorist attacks against people who have different views. Marsha finds herself on the horns of a moral dilemma: does Nashi allow enough scope for her own opinions, or must she give herself completely to the will of “the party”? What follows is a coming-of-age documentary that also paints a grim picture of the Russian political climate. Open political debate is noticably absence, leaving no option but to take sides. Marsha’s kiss gradually transforms into a clenched fist.

Lise Birk Pedersen: Dear God (2006) Nastya in Love (2010)

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Israel, Germany, Austria, 2011 DCP, color, 93 min Director: David Fisher Photography: Ronen Mayo, Ronen

Schechner, Claudio Steinberg Screenplay: David Fisher Editing: Hadas Ayalon Sound: Frank Kubitsky, Amos Zipori Music: Ran Bagno Narration: David Fisher Narrator: David Fisher Production: David Fisher & Irit Shimrat for Fisher Features Screening Copy: Fisher Features Involved TV Channels: ZDF/ ARTE, Yes Docu

Six Million and One

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Shisha million ve’echad David Fisher

After the death of his Jewish father, who survived the Holocaust in Austria, director David Fisher was the only one of his siblings to read his father’s memoirs. For his film, David visits key locations in Austria and speaks with the elderly veterans in the United States who freed his father from the concentration camp. When he gets permission to visit the tunnel in Gusen, where his dad performed forced labor, he takes his two brothers and his sister along. On the way, the four discuss, argue, give each other the silent treatment, and laugh openheartedly about the different ways in which they see each other, their childhood, and the significance of this journey. In voice-over, David reads from his father’s memoirs, often from the very place that is getting described.

Old photographs illustrate the dark past in Gusen, an unfathomable contrast to contemporary life in Austria and the peaceful beauty of the surroundings. During the intimate and often difficult conversations, David’s brothers find communicating difficult. But then there’s the cynical humor and the liberating laugh that brings the four back together again.

David Fisher: It’s a Deal (1993) Landscapes of Memory (1993) Parallel Tracks (1993) The Mediator (1994) Missing (1995) Buried Alive (1996) Lost Days in November (1996) Shining Eyes (1997) A Shepherds Affair (1997) Little Big Sister (1998) Love Inventory (2000) Mostar Round-Trip (2011) www.fisherfeatures.com

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Brazil, 2011 video, color, 90 min Director: Eduardo Coutinho Photography: Jacques Cheuiche Screenplay: Eduardo Coutinho Editing: Jordana Berg Sound: Denilson Campos Production: Eduardo Coutinho for Videofilmes Executive Production: João Moreira Salles for Videofilmes Screening Copy: Videofilmes Awards: Best Documentary & Audience

Award Rio International Film Festival

Songs

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

As canções

Eduardo Coutinho Armed with just one fixed camera and a few telling questions, Brazilian maestro Eduardo Coutinho gives us a lesson in film, and in passion. Seated in a chair on an empty stage, he asks his compatriots for a song that has profoundly influenced, determined or even irrevocably changed their lives. One by one, they tell us what this song is and then sing it themselves, a cappella, as if at an audition. The song in question is often accompanied by a poignant story, unexpected confession or improbable tale of deceit and infidelity. Coutinho himself is never seen, but is all the more present in the form of the – at times testy – questions he asks, in his gravelly voice. No one can escape his charisma, and no one escapes his ability to get people to reveal themselves, in all their imperfection. The commandant directing his own retreat. The man who unexpectedly bursts into tears when he thinks about his mother, cutting out sewing patterns. The polio sufferer who sings the same song with her husband every day. The son who wrote a song for his dead father. Exceptional people and beautiful songs, all of which talk about how love, lust and desire can determine, enrich, and sometimes derail our lives.

Eduardo Coutinho: Cabra marcado para morrer (1964 – 1984), Santa Marta: Duas semanas no morro (1987), Volta Redonda – Memorial da Greve (1989), O Fio da Memória (1991), Boca do Lixo (1992), Os romeiros do Padre Cícero (1994), The Mighty Spirit (1999), Babilônia 2000 (2000), Master, A Copacabana Building (2002), Metal Workers (2004), The End and the Beginning (2005), Playing (2008), Moscou (2009)

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IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

USA, 2011 HD, color, 90 min Director: Robert H. Lieberman Photography: Robert H. Lieberman Editing: David Kossack Narrator: Aung San Suu Kyi Production: Robert H. Lieberman for Ithaca Filmworks Co-Production: Photosynthesis Productions World Sales: Autlook Filmsales Screening Copy: Autlook Filmsales Website: www.theycallitmyanmar.com

WORLD PREMIERE

They Call it Myanmar – Lifting the Curtain Robert H. Lieberman

A rare glimpse behind the scenes in Burma – or Myanmar, as the ruling military junta renamed it in 1989 – one of the most isolated countries in the world. Writer and filmmaker Robert H. Lieberman secretly filmed the everyday lives of ordinary citizens over a period of two years – lives defined by food shortages, power cuts, and a lack of health care and education. This land of countless golden pagodas that not so long ago was renowned as the “rice bowl of Asia” is now a place of terrible poverty, which has led to widespread child labor and trafficking. In a remarkable interview, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi talks about the recent history of Burma and her many years under house arrest for her political activities. Anonymous commentators talk about the character of this regime, which has absolutely no communication with its population, but uses physical repression to hold the country in its iron grip. We also see how Buddhism has influenced the way in which the Burmese deal with the difficult living conditions. This film is a portrait of a land where beauty and decay, and fear and courage, closely coexist.

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Robert H. Lieberman: Faces in a Famine (1984) BoyceBall (1998) Green Lights (2001) Last Stop Kew Gardens (2009)

Competition programs IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary Sixteen documentaries between 45 and 60 minutes in length are competing for the NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary.

A five-member international jury will evaluate the films, choose three of them, and select the winner from these. The NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of â‚Ź10,000, provided by Dutch broadcaster NTR. NTR Television will also buy and broadcast the winning film.

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Latvia, 2011 video, black-and-white, 50 min Director: Laila Pakalnina Photography: Uldis Jancis Screenplay: Laila Pakalnina Editing: Kaspar Kallas Sound: Anrijs Krenbergs Production: Laila Pakalnina for Hargla Company Screening Copy: National Film Center of Latvia

33 Animals of Santa Claus

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

33 zveri ziemassvetku vecitim Laila Pakalnina

This is a film portrait of a Latvian woman named Santa Claus, who shares her apartment with 33 animals: seven dogs, six cats, two rabbits, one crow, one pigeon, one chinchilla, 10 degu rats, and five fish. It’s not the most obvious choice for a way of life, acknowledges the woman in question: “I tell you, it’s like living in a madhouse.” This cheerful menagerie Santa Claus has created keeps her fully occupied. The animals need to be fed, brushed, kept amused and taken out for exercise in groups. Moments of calm alternate with moments of great agitation; the animals are much like humans in the way stories are played out between them. In 33 Animals of Santa Claus, the dark interior of the apartment and the snow-covered streets are two different worlds. But the same does not apply to Santa Claus, who interacts with her neighbors outside in much the same way as she does with her animals. The black-and-white cinematography emphasizes the composition, and there are particularly beautiful shots of the black cats and white cats. The camera work and editing are gently paced, with the director taking time for her subject. This creates the space for countless subtle jokes.

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Laila Pakalnina: And (1988), Choice (1990), The Dome (1991), The Linen (1991), The Pilgrimage (1991), The Church (1993), The Ferry (1994), The Mail (1995), Ubans (1995), The Oak (1997), The Shoe (fiction, 1998), Wake Up (2000), Papa Gena (2001), Martins (2002), The Python (fiction, 2003), It’ll Be Fine (2004), The Bus (2004), Dream Land (2004), The Hostage (fiction, 2006), The Odore (2006), Three Man and a Fish Pond (2008), On Rubiks’ Road (2010)

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Iran, 2011 video, color, 52 min Director: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami Photography: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami Screenplay: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami,

Reza Mohammadi Noori Editing: Farahnaz Sharifi, Shahrooz Tavakol Production: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami Executive Production: Shahrooz Tavakol Screening Copy: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami

Going up the Stairs

WORLD PREMIERE

Mah pishooni

Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami Akram, an illiterate Iranian woman, shows us that true talent will always refuse to be stifled, and that you don’t need an education to understand, to feel, and to paint.

She discovered her talent quite by chance at the age of 50, when she was helping her grandson with his homework. The magic of painting holds an irresistible appeal for this uneducated woman who was married off at the age of nine to the then 28-year-old Heydar, and has had to stand on our own two feet ever since. When her authoritarian spouse is out, Akram paints as if her life depends on it. She then hides the primitive, colorful, and expressive paintings under the carpet. But then her “hobby” is discovered and an exhibition of her work is organized in Paris. The rules dictate that she must ask her husband’s permission to go to the opening, but she puts this off for as long as she can. The camera remains in Akram’s home as she paints and squabbles with the cynical Heydar, who thinks she is wasting too much paint. This, then, is a portrait of a painter who expresses herself as colorfully in words as she does in imagery, but it is also a tragicomic portrait of a traditional Iranian marriage.

Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

France, 2011 video, color, 61 min Director: Eric Brach Photography: Eric Brach, Javier Labrador Deulofeu Editing: Jacqueline Mariani Production: Nicolas Duval Adassovsky

for Quad Productions Co-Production: Profidev World Sales: Wide Management Screening Copy: Quad Productions

Awards: Grand Jury Award For Outstanding Documentary

Feature OutFest 2011, Special Jury Prize NewFest 2011

Habana muda

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Eric Brach

Chino is a deaf Cuban, and he’s having trouble supporting his family. When Jose, a Mexican tourist, falls in love with him, Chino sees the chance for a better life. He discusses the possibility of immigrating to Mexico with his wife. We follow Chino as he moves within the small community of deaf people, where his friends respond frankly to Chino’s plans. While Jose is in Mexico making arrangements for him to immigrate, Chino and his wife talk about their future. Can they already ask Jose for some money for a car? Who will help Chino get a job once he’s in Mexico? Who is going to fix things in the house? Would it be sensible to practice safe sex, now that Chino is also having sex with a man? The family muddles along as they await developments. Meanwhile, Jose finds himself contending with his own questions. Is Chino really in love, or is he after Jose’s money? And is it right to start a family this way? “I can’t buy a family like this,” he concludes. This intimate film provides a unique glimpse of everyday life in the Socialist Republic of Cuba, especially among its deaf community. Even their most heated discussions are silent.

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Eric Brach: directing debut

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Argentina, 2011 HD, color, 60 min Director: Jorge Gaggero Photography: Jorge Gaggero, Daniel Ortega Screenplay: Jorge Gaggero Editing: Alejandro Brodersohn Sound: Julián Catz, Santiago Pafundi Music: Sebastián Escofet Production: Jorge Gaggero for Libido Cine Co-Production: La doble A, Actitud Cine Executive Production: Marina Zeising for Actitud Cine World Sales: Actitud Cine Screening Copy: Actitud Cine

Montenegro

WORLD PREMIERE

Jorge Gaggero

Together with his dogs, 17-year-old Montenegro lives in a big tent on a quiet island in a river delta. He makes fishing nets, which earns him the money to get tobacco and alcohol – the only luxuries he allows himself. On the other side of the island lives César, who keeps bees and herds pigs in the service of a farmer from the civilized world.

César has a boat they use to go fishing. In return, Montenegro cooks for César. Based on mutual dependence, their friendship looks to be a lasting one. But as time goes by, something like envy starts to brew, and a conflict starts between the two men.

Eventually it will place their friendship in a new light. Jorge Gaggero patiently follows his two protagonists as they go about their daily activities: mending the nets, feeding the pigs, chopping wood, frying fish, and smoking a pipe. Appearing throughout the film, the ever-alert dogs transcend their role as extras by announcing plot twists.

Close-ups of the men’s weather-beaten faces and tanned skin add to the scenes of outdoor life.

Jorge Gaggero: Only When I Breathe (fiction, 1994) Eyes of Fire (fiction, 1995) Arnold Murphy (fiction, 1999) The Tunnel of Rain (fiction, 2000) A Piece of Earth (fiction, 2001) The Secret Sea (fiction, 2001) Live in Maid (fiction, 2004) Living in a Falcon (2005) Botnia (2007)

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IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Italy, 2011 HD, color, 61 min Director: Raffaele Brunetti Photography: Gianni Maitan Screenplay: Raffaele Brunetti Editing: Ilaria de Laurentiis Sound: Domenico Rotiroti Music: Alfonso D’Amora Production: Raffaele Brunetti for B&B Film Executive Production: Alison Ercolani &

Carmen Gonzales for B&B Film World Sales: B&B Film Screening Copy: B&B Film Involved TV Channels: YLE, OHM, RAI, Al Jazeera Pitched at the Forum 2009

Mother India

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Raffaele Brunetti

Jhuma and Niladri are an Indian couple who’ve been married for eight years, and they still don’t have children. Apart from the sadness that this fact causes them, they also have to cope with difficult questions from family and friends. The subject keeps coming up again and again, and the couple is spared by no one. As a last resort, they visit a fertility clinic in the distant, ultramodern city of Hyderabad. It costs Niladri an arm and a leg, but he wants very badly to see his wife happy. The two are interviewed both together and separately, but they are also observed without even realizing it themselves. It gradually becomes clear how traditional their environment is. Where they’re from, working is unusual for women. A shrill contrast to the female manager of the clinic, who runs multiple branches throughout India and in the Middle East. Though the director doesn’t pass any moral judgment, we also get to hear from surrogate mothers, who carry other people’s babies for $2,000. Together with the results of the tests that Jhuma and Niladri undergo, their various experiences in Hyderabad will change their lives forever.

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Rafaelle Brunetti: The Mediterranean Sea Turtle Project (1998) War Secrets, Italy’s Forgotten Invasion (2002) Mare Nostrum (2003) Mitumba, the Second-hand Road (2005) Che Guevara, the Body and the Legend (2007) Hair India (2008) The Other Revolution, Gorky and Lenin on Capri (2010)

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Australia, 2011 video, color, 55 min Director: David Tucker Photography: David Tucker Editing: Ashleigh Hooker Sound: David Tucker Music: Darren Heskes Production: David Tucker for Showreal Productions Executive Production: Michael Cordell

for Cordell Jigsaw Productions Screening Copy: Showreal Productions

My Thai Bride

WORLD PREMIERE

David Tucker

In Wales, Ted doesn’t exist. This 46-year-old single man feels lonely in a society where only young people count. When he goes to Bangkok on a business trip, he suddenly finds women who are interested in him. He meets Tip, a beautiful but poor Thai woman, and falls in love. Ted returns home to Wales, but keeps in touch with Tip. He decides to help her break free of prostitution and returns to Thailand to live with her in a village in the north of Thailand, where they marry and start a pig farm. He is not one of a kind – hordes of Western men have been lured to the Thai countryside. Ted loses any control he had of the situation when his new wife starts running the finances. Tip becomes increasingly distant and barely allows him to spend any money. Before long, Ted has had enough. He leaves penniless, to live on credit in a cheap hotel in a town nearby. This documentary tells the story from both perspectives. The interviews are accompanied by images of Ted in Bangkok and Tip in her home village. Gradually, we learn what their life together was like. Back in Wales, Ted decides to return once more to Tip’s village and face the painful confrontation with his former lover.

David Tucker: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

USA, 2011 HD, color, 60 min Director: Graham Elliott Photography: Graham Elliott Editing: Graham Elliott, Roswitha Rodriguez Production: Graham Elliott for Eyegasm.tv Co-Production: Roswitha Rodrigues Executive Production: Richard Wilde for School of Visual Arts World Sales: Amazing Studios Screening Copy: Eyegasm.tv

New York in Motion

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Graham Elliott

They have become so ubiquitous, we hardly notice them any more: motion graphics in advertisements, music videos, films, on billboards and Flash websites. The foundations for this technology were laid in the 1950s by Saul Bass with his stylish titles for the Hitchcock films Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho, but the real breakthrough came much later, with the arrival of the personal computer. Suddenly, everyone could play around with animations, dynamic info graphics and other useful visual applications, thanks to software such as After Effects, Apple Motion, and Dutch open source software Blender. These days, the beating heart of the motion design industry is in New York, a Valhalla for creative spirits from all over the world. A city designed down to the tiniest detail, which from above looks like a collection of pixels, and which in Times Square is blessed with probably the most kinetic, colorful and sensational downtown in the world. At a rapid tempo, and illustrated by a wealth of examples, we listen to more than 50 influential designers talk about this city as an inexhaustible source of inspiration. They look for explanations for their success and praise the eternal urge to innovate in the creative sector. After all, motion graphics should be seen as just as revolutionary a breakthrough as the building of cathedrals.

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Graham Elliott: directing debut

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

China, Japan, UK, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 54 min Director: Fan Jian Photography: Fan Jian, Liang Da Editing: Fan Jian, Isabella Zang Sound: Luo Jun Music: Anqing Jiang Production: Richard Liang for Peak &

Galaxy Communications Co-Production: Flora Gregory, Ken-ichi Imamura World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: Films Transit International Inc. Website: www.thenextlifemovie.com

The Next Life

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Huo zhe Fan Jian

On May 12, 2008, the Chinese province of Sichuan was struck by a devastating earthquake that killed almost 70,000 people. Among them were 5,000 school-aged children. The Next Life is about the enormous sorrow of parents who lost their child – often their only child. Ye Hongmei’s eight-year-old daughter, who was in school at the time of the disaster, died in the earthquake. For Ye, it’s virtually impossible to process her grief and get on with her life. She is now dead-set on getting pregnant again, believing that it’s the only way to happiness. A new child – and definitely a daughter – will give her and her husband the feeling that their lost child has returned, and they will once again have direction in life. But getting pregnant isn’t the easiest thing for 40-year-old Ye, especially now that there’s so much pressure to make it happen. The film follows her during repeated in vitro fertilization treatments and in conversation with other unfortunate couples, with the rebuilding of their city as the backdrop.

Fan Jian: Dancing in the City (2006) Taxi (2008)

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IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Romania, 2011 video, color, 55 min Director: Artchil Khetagouri, Ileana Stanculescu Photography: Artchil Khetagouri Screenplay: Artchil Khetagouri, Ileana Stanculescu Editing: Artchil Khetagouri Sound: Nelutu Bain Production: Ileana Stanculescu for Art Doc Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Art Doc

Noosfera

WORLD PREMIERE

Artchil Khetagouri, Ileana Stanculescu Jan Vrijman Fund Sociology professor Nicolae Dumitru believes strongly in true love. So strongly in fact that he has devoted his entire life to expounding his theory, which he calls Noosfera.

His own scientific research, which he has chalked beautifully onto large sheets of paper, forms the foundation for his conviction that now, after four billion years, the spiritual era is about to dawn. From now on, society will develop solely in line with human need – and love will prevail. The fact that he has been largely unsuccessful in putting his theory into practice in his own life leaves him unfazed. Directors Ileana Stanculescu and Artchil Khetagouri accompany Dumitru to the classroom where he speaks to a handful of students, and also to the chaotic apartment he shares with his wife and ex-wife.

The filmmakers bring a great sense of atmosphere to the scenes showing the peculiar situation that Dumitru has created and its consequences for his everyday life, and they are by no means neutral in their approach. They are quite happy to fire off questions at their subject, managing to get to the underlying motives of everyone concerned as well as bringing out the phenomenon that is Dumitru.

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Artchil Khetagouri: Shining Shoes (2002) Akhmeteli 4 (2007) Ileana Stanculescu: Podul peste Tisa (2004) The Village of Socks (2006) Artchil Khetagouri & Ileana Stanculescu: Quarters of Balchik (2009)

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Russia, 2011 video, color, 45 min Director: Julia Panasenko Photography: Julia Panasenko Editing: Julia Panasenko Sound: Alexander Debolskiy Music: Dmitry Pereverten Production: Julia Panasenko World Sales: Julia Panasenko Screening Copy: Julia Panasenko Awards: Grand-Prix ArtDocFest, Best

Documentary Award White Elephant

Outro

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Julia Panasenko

The camera is the silent witness to the last weeks before Svetlana Donskova succumbs to her illness. We follow her slow surrender. Initially cheerful in the taxi, joking about being unmarried at 30, she gradually comes to spend increasing amounts of time lying on her couch in her apartment. It is here that she says her final farewell to her beloved dog. The brief visits from her neighbor are a welcome distraction. The fly-on-the-wall style draws the viewer into a story that is never made explicit, but emerges through fragments of telephone conversations or the arrival of the doctor. The main focus is on the impending visit of her mother, whom Svetlana seems to fear more than her own approaching death. Once the mother has arrived, we understand the daughter’s fear. And we also understand the inevitable conclusion to which this documentary is leading. An outro, the opposite of an intro, is the final part of a song or the last in a series of songs – a valediction. This intimate outro is a tribute to all people suffering from illness and looking death in the face.

Julia Panasenko: Idiot (2007) Immersion (2009)

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IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 55 min Director: Catherine van Campen Photography: Peter Brugman Screenplay: Catherine van Campen Editing: Albert Markus Sound: Mark Wessner Music: Jeroen Goeijers Production: Joost Seelen for Zuidenwind Filmproductions Executive Production: Irene Stenvers World Sales: Zuidenwind Filmproductions Screening Copy: Zuidenwind Filmproductions Involved TV Channel: NTR Website: www.painfulpainting.com

Painful Painting

WORLD PREMIERE

Catherine van Campen

In the work of the successful Dutch artist Ronald Ophuis, extreme violence takes center stage. His paintings of scenes of murder and rape are often of considerable size, which makes the impact on the beholder even greater. “Am I also capable of such acts?” is the reaction of those who keep looking, but they also might ask themselves, “Why does this guy makes this sort of thing?” In Painful Painting, the filmmaker attempts to answer the latter question, by interviewing the artist and following him during the creation of a new work. During a trip to Sierra Leone, he talks with former child soldiers, showing them his work and having them explain what they’ve been through. One of their awful tales, about men who cut a pregnant woman open to see if the baby is a boy or a girl, forms the source of inspiration for a new painting. Back in his studio, Ophuis reenacts the moment just before this heinous act. He takes photos of the reenactment and uses them as a basis for his painting. The painter explains why he believes the styling of violence in the form of art can make a better contribution to audience insight and awareness than a photo in the media.

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Catherine van Campen: Eternal Mash (2008) Drona & Me (2009) Flying Anne (2010)

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Australia, 2011 HD, color, 57 min Director: Celeste Geer Photography: Brian McKenzie Screenplay: Celeste Geer Editing: Tony Stevens Sound: Celeste Geer Music: Greg Walker Narration: Celeste Geer Narrator: Celeste Geer Production: Jeni McMahon for Rebel Films Co-Production: Celeste Geer Screening Copy: Rebel Films Involved TV Channel: ABC Website: www.thenthewindchanged.com

Then the Wind Changed

WORLD PREMIERE

Celeste Geer

On February 7, 2009, an all-consuming forest fire swept through the Australian state of Victoria, killing 173 people. Hardest hit was the tiny village community of Strathewen.

The following day, newspapers dubbed it “The Valley of Death.” Filmmaker Celeste Geer survived the disaster and spent two years recording her family and fellow villagers as they set about rebuilding their lives. The tragic stories neighbors tell about lost family members cut to the core. Geer employs a very personal style to chronicle this community. Little by little, people manage to construct their houses and their lives once more. One person finds meaning in growing crops, another in showing schoolchildren around the disaster area. All of them attempt to regain control over their lives. The villagers support each other in this process, and the community becomes even more closely knit as new initiatives unfold. But time alone doesn’t heal wounds, and they are in need of new shared rituals. Nature, too, heals slowly. Charred trees make way for a new growth that seems even more intensely green than before the fire. It is sometimes beautiful, but as Geer says in the voice-over, “It can feel like a slap in the face.”

Celeste Geer: Mick’s Gift (2000) Veiled Ambition (2006)

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IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Poland, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 56 min Director: Maciej Drygas Photography: Maciej Drygas Editing: Maciej Drygas, Rafal Listopad Production: Maciej Drygas for Drygas Production Screening Copy: Against Gravity

Violated Letters

WORLD PREMIERE

Cudze listy

Maciej Drygas In the days of socialism in Poland, the secret police used to read the letters citizens were sending each other. Between 1945 and 1989, specialized units opened millions of letters, writing reports that would provide insight into the general feeling among the people. Some of those letters are read out loud in Violated Letters, accompanied by archive footage from the era. The film uses subtle ways to combine both sound and image: together, they give an impression of this piece of Polish history as seen through the eyes of the populace. The subject matter varies strongly, from personal affairs to practical matters. The letters are about work, religion, love, longing, or the political situation. Some of the writers are desperate, others are angry, and some cry for help. The images and letters speak for themselves; life in Poland was tough at the time. While we see images of miners, hardworking farmers and long lines at the food banks, we hear stories about illness, hunger and desperation. As time goes by, the personal experiences of socialist Poland change – a fact that the letter-readers also notice.

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Maciej Drygas: False Start (1981) Psychotherapy (1984) Hear My Cry (1991) State of Weightlessness (1994) Voice of Hope (2002) One Day in People’s Poland (2005) Hear Us All (2008)

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

France, 2011 HD, color, 51 min Director: Damien Faure Photography: Damien Faure Screenplay: Damien Faure Editing: Cédric Jouan Sound: Nicolas Bredin Music: Xavier Roux Narration: Damien Faure Narrator: Agnès Tassel Production: Damien Faure World Sales: Damien Faure Screening Copy: Damien Faure

WORLD PREMIERE

When the Girls Were Flirting with the Gods Quand les filles flirtaient avec les dieux Damien Faure

An unusual portrait of young artist Florence Reymond, who bases her paintings on the ambivalent world of childhood, a combination of innocence and cruel indifference in which she makes references to art history. As the artist herself explains in this partly staged documentary that takes a great deal of poetic license, her work looks at how our selective collective memory allows us to forget large sections of our childhood. Painting is a way for Reymond to conjure up the “shadow of our memory.” On the canvas, all the ghosts that haunt us appear. Director Damien Faure has not made a standard portrait of Reymond, but instead one that summons up the paintings through another medium – cinema – and does justice to the primal scenes depicted in these works. On canvas, Reymond captures the field of tension between barbarism and the acquirement of good behavior with an image of a cute little girl with a gun. The film interweaves a fairytale about a little princess and prince who are fleeing from war: a wizard wants to destroy the world and reorganize it according to his own vision. In this way, the paintings and the film shift between angels and demons, and poetry and barbarism.

Damien Faure: Sequence Plan (fiction, 1998) West Papua (2002) Extra Time (fiction, 2004) Ann Hamilton to the Red House (2005) Art Circus (Triennial of Yokohama) (2005) Tadashi Kawamata, Memory in House (2006) Long Live an Independence Texas (2006) Our History (Palaces of Tokyo) (2006) Sampari (2008) Boo the Wolf (fiction, 2009) Colonization in Forgotten West Papua (2010)

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IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Scotland, 2011 HD, color, 59 min Director: Darren Hercher Photography: Darren Hercher Editing: Darren Hercher Music: Donald Shaw Production: Darren Hercher for Brakelight Films Ltd Executive Production: Tracey Gardiner Screening Copy: Brakelight Films Ltd Involved TV Channel: BBC

The Winner Loser

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Darren Hercher

A watch and a detailed list of instructions help 52-year-old Daniel MacNee carry out his morning routine. Despite the fact that his memory has been almost entirely wiped out, this extensive system of notes allows him to live independently. At the age of 30, he was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain, and he has since undergone 13 brain operations. These have transformed him into a man without a past.

As he says himself, he can’t remember his own past, “in the normal way.” In this BBC documentary by the multi-award-winning filmmaker Darren Hercher, we follow Daniel as he visits family and friends, and travels to places where important episodes in his life took place. Accompanied by a plastic bag filled with notebooks – and his knitting, which he uses to calm himself – he touches the contours of his own existence. The puzzle that he puts together piece by piece is a succession of ordeals, which he describes as amounting to an extraordinarily rich life.” For Daniel, getting to grips with his past is key to providing a future for himself.

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Darren Hercher: Send Me Somewhere Special (2005) The Downhill Racer (2006) Sighthill Stories (2009)

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Serbia, 2011 video, color, 47 min Director: Goran Radovanovic Photography: José Manuel Alguacil, Cláudia Alves Screenplay: Goran Radovanovic Editing: Andrija Zafranovic Sound: Aleksandar Protic, Sergio Sergio Fernadez Borras Production: Goran Radovanovic for Nama Film Screening Copy: Nama Film

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

With Fidel Whatever Happens Con Fidel pase lo que pase Goran Radovanovic

An old man is driving around on his decades-old motorcycle with sidecar. He often has to get off to get the engine running again. He seems resigned to the situation, and never gets annoyed. A dentist is on his way to his first patient of the day. The bus isn’t running, so he has to hitch a ride on horseback and wade through a river. The van that does eventually pick him up gets stuck in the middle of the jungle. Yet he goes on without complaining, as if he hasn’t just been to hell and back. A middle-aged couple is sitting quietly at the breakfast table. In the background, someone is talking on the phone. It’s not a family member, but one of the many neighbors using the only “public” phone in the area. These and all the other inhabitants of Sierra Maestra, Cuba are unperturbed by daily inconveniences such as these. The three stories unravel on the day of the 52nd anniversary of the Revolution. The images speak for themselves, and there are no interviews, conversations, or voice-overs. A few fragments from the news on TV showing people celebrating contrast sharply with the adventures of these locals. What will their lives be like tomorrow, when the big party is over?

Goran Radovanovic: The Terrace (fiction, 1991) Columba urbica (1994) Second Circle (1998) My Country for Internal Use Only (2000) Model House (2000) The Fight to Save Serbia (2001) CASTING – A South East Europe Transition Film (2003) Chicken Elections (2005) The Ambulance (fiction, 2009) www.goranradovanovic.com

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Mediafondsprijs Documentaire Op de openingsavond wordt deze prijs van 125.000 euro toegekend aan het beste filmplan uit de IDFA-Mediafonds Documentaireworkshop.

PLAY International Music+Film Festival

IDFA Media Talks Dagelijkse talkshow, debatten en nagesprekken, ondersteund door het Mediafonds.

Op zaterdag 19 november leveren adviseurs van het TAX-videoclipfonds een bijdrage aan het debat over de kwaliteit van videoclips.

Het Mediafonds ondersteunt PLAY.

Don’t Look Back - over de toekomst van de documentaire Debat op donderdag 17 november 15.00 in de Escape Studio. Met onder meer Jos de Putter en Philippe Van Meerbeeck; organisatie i.s.m. IDFA.

Première Kids & Docs Op zaterdag 19 november gaat een lichting nieuwe jeugddocumentaires in première.

Hollandse Meesters in de 21e eeuw

609 - cultuur en media

Kunstenaarsportretten zijn te zien in twee minibioscoopjes in de hal van de OBA en de foyer van Pathé De Munt.

Het blad van het Mediafonds staat in november geheel in het teken van heden en toekomst van de documentaire.

stimuleert Achterland de weg terug naar Cuey Machar Albert Elings HUMAN

Kaffeefahrt ins Krematorium Sergej Kreso IKON

Painful Painting Catherine van Campen NTR

Beer Is Cheaper Than Therapy

Crazy

DeWolff

Heddy Honigmann VPRO

Carin Goeijers Omroep Limburg

Simone de Vries VPRO

Door de oren van Ellen

El sonido del bandoneon

Saskia Gubbels NCRV

Jiska Rickels AVRO

Off the Grid

One Fine Day

Over Canto

Alexander Oey BOS

Klaas Bense BOS

Ramon Gieling BOS

Kyteman.

Now What?

Leven? of theater?

O amor natural

Menna Laura Meijer NTR

Frans Weisz Joodse Omroep

Heddy Honigmann NTR

Paradiso

Retourtje hiernamaals

Water Children

Het wonder van Weebosch

Maasja Ooms, Ingrid Wender IKON

Aliona van der Horst VPRO

Wendelien Voogd Omroep Brabant

Jeroen Berkvens NTR

Hollandse Meesters in de 21 eeuw diverse makers regionale omroepen

Winnaar Mediafondsprijs Documentaire 2009 De 13e man Martijn Blekendaal / VPRO

Uit de KIDS & DOCS workshop: Nadia tikt Laetitia Schoofs BOS

Van Afrika naar Assen Lieza Röben KRO RKK

Voor ‘t echie

In mijn hoofd

Arnold van Bruggen NTR

Erna Slotboom AVRO

De man die alles kan Nadine Kuipers HUMAN

Oma Lien

Raman

Annelies de Wit NCRV

Ivanka Bakker OHM

Uitgekraakt Sanne Rovers EO

Een enkeltje Bussum Renée Wilna Span OHM

Deze producties kwamen tot stand met steun van het Mediafonds. These productions were created with support from the Dutch Cultural Media Fund

www.mediafonds.nl

Competition programs IDFA Competition for First Appearance Sixteen documentaries are competing for the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance. With this competition, IDFA supports talented new filmmakers. A five-member international jury will evaluate the films, choose three of them, and select the winner from these. The IDFA Award for Best First Appearance consists of a cash prize of â‚Ź5,000.

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Denmark, 2011 35mm, color, 85 min Director: Christian Bonke, Andreas Koefoed Photography: Christian Bonke, Andreas Koefoed Screenplay: Christian Bonke, Andreas Koefoed Editing: Åsa Mossberg, Marion Tour Sound: Morten Groth Music: Magnus Jarlbo Production: Jakob Nordenhof Jønck

for Danish Documentary Executive Production: Sigrid Dyekjær for Danish Documentary World Sales: DR International Sales Screening Copy: Danish Film Institute Involved TV Channels: SVT, NTR, NRK, YLE, Yes Docu Pitched at the Forum 2010

Ballroom Dancer

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Christian Bonke, Andreas Koefoed

Archive footage from 2000 shows how Slavik had his ultimate moment of glory with his former dance partner. That was the year this Ukrainian first became the World Latin American Dance Champion. A successful career seemed certain, but now 10 years have gone by, and Slavik stopped dancing a long while ago. His body is showing signs of age, but he is still aiming for a comeback. Together with Anna, his partner in dance and life, he wants one more chance to shine on the dance floor. But can Anna deal with her lover’s temperamental and demanding nature? And will love get in the way? The film follows the duo all over the world as they travel to international dance competitions, rehearsals and hotel rooms. More than through dialogue, this story is told through sharp observation of the couple’s body language. Every glance betrays something of the tenderness, irritations, jealousy, and doubts bubbling under the surface. There were apparently no restrictions to what the filmmaker recorded, and he gets incredibly close to his characters. This makes for a moving and tragic portrait of a man whose hunger for success knows no boundaries. Against his better judgment, he is placing his relationship, his carrier and everything he knows on the line.

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Christian Bonke: Real Estate (2009) Andreas Koefoed: Pig Country (2010)

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

USA, 2011 HD, color, 93 min Director: Shannah Laumeister Photography: Shannah Laumeister Editing: Danny Bresnik, Jeff Werner Music: Jeff Eden Fair, Starr Parodi Production: Shannah Laumeister for

Magic Film Productions Inc., Gregory McClatchy for Motor Entertainment Executive Production: Diana Holtzberg for Films Transit International Inc., Jeff Werner World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: Films Transit International Inc. Website: www.becomingbertstern.com

Becoming Bert Stern

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Shannah Laumeister

Sophia Loren, Liz Taylor, Shirley MacLaine, Barbra Streisand, Madonna, Scarlett Johansson, Marilyn Monroe: the famous American photographer Bert Stern has snapped them all. In his own words, “Making love and making photographs were closely connected in my mind when it came to women.” Stern is particularly famous for his portrait series of Marilyn Monroe and his “Lolita with heart-shaped glasses” for the poster of Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita. What begins as a conventional portrait of a celebrity photographer gradually turns into a playful mirror gag between the 82-year-old and his muse Shannah Laumeister, 40 years his junior, who also directed the film. Organized into chapters and packed with photos, interviews and scenes from Stern’s daily pursuits, Becoming Bert Stern reveals a man who venerated women and raised them to iconic proportions, but could hardly relate to them in everyday life. Underscored by warm, fresh sounding music, Laumeister has made a loving, intimate and vulnerable portrait of a man who appeared to have it all, but who also ended up losing it all.

Shannah Laumeister: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Germany, 2011 video, color, 94 min Director: Sandra Van Slooten, Volker Maria Engel Photography: Sandra Van Slooten, Volker Maria Engel Screenplay: Sandra Van Slooten Editing: Sandra Van Slooten, Volker Maria Engel Sound: Wolfgang Feder Music: Richard Bargel Narration: Sandra Van Slooten Narrator: Sandra Van Slooten, Richard Bargel, Martin Bross Production: Sandra Van Slooten & Volker Maria

Engel for Schnittmenge – Büro für Bewegtbld Screening Copy: Schnittmenge – Büro für Bewegtbld

Dad or a Life

WORLD PREMIERE

Sandra Van Slooten, Volker Maria Engel

A classic road movie that tackles a contemporary problem: how do you make contact with a father who doesn’t want to get involved? The forced pun of the film’s title describes exactly how the main character, Sandra Van Slooten, feels. She is the daughter of a German mother and an American father, and when she receives the first letter from her dad in 17 years, she decides to go and visit him. He lives in a mobile home on an Indian reservation near the Mexican border, but when she finally gets there, it turns out that he has moved on to Seattle. Van Slooten decides to set off on the long trip north, visiting Mormon family members and her father’s friends along the way. In not necessarily chronological, but strict geographical order, we get to know the history and members of this exceptional family. Van Slooten’s journey is interspersed with old home movies and photos, as well as with quotes from the letters her father has sporadically written to her and her mother over the years. Accompanied by her observations on contemporary America, we travel along the West Coast with her, looking for a father who apparently doesn’t want to be found.

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Sandra Van Slooten & Volker Maria Engel: directing debut

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Mexico, 2011 video, color, 90 min Director: Jacaranda Correa Photography: Dariela Ludow Screenplay: Jacaranda Correa Editing: Rodolfo Santa Maria Troncoso Sound: Bernart Fortiana Production: Martha Orozco for Martfilms Co-Production: Mexican Film Institute World Sales: Rise and Shine World Sales Screening Copy: Mexican Film Institute

Die Standing Up

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Morir de pie

Jacaranda Correa The narrative structure of this film confronts the viewer’s preconceptions with its surprising twists and turns, and its combination of archive footage, interviews and observational cinema. This portrait of disabled activist Irina Layevska shows her as she goes about her daily life with her life partner Nelyda. Old photos and film clips provide a glimpse into the past of this now almost 50-year-old woman. In the 1960s, her militant communist parents were involved in campaigns and gave their children a rigid communist upbringing. From her early youth onwards, Irina suffered from a serious disease that confined her to a wheelchair. Now she is also blind, making her even more dependent on her partner Nelyda. It is likely that the misfortune and discrimination that she dealt with as a youth gave rise to her militancy. In the 1980s, Irina became involved in solidarity campaigns for Cuba, in which she developed into a single-minded leader inspired by the ideas of Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Her health is now increasingly fragile, and Che’s ideals of a new socialist human remain unrealized. Nonetheless, Irina’s personal battle against discrimination and prejudice continues unabated.

Jacaranda Correa: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Canada, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 77 min Director: Tony Asimakopoulos Photography: Jennifer Alleyn, Tony

Asimakopoulos, Natalie Karneef Editing: Tony Asimakopoulos Music: Philip Karneef Narration: Tony Asimakopoulos Production: Mila Aung-Thwin & Daniel Cross & Bob Moore for EyeSteelFilm Screening Copy: EyeSteelFilm

Fortunate Son

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Tony Asimakopoulos

Sometimes, the camera can be the eyes through which you look at your own life.

Filmmaker Tony Asimakopoulos uses the lens to examine not only his past and present, but also his parents and friends, and his relationships with them. In this self-assured film, Asimakopoulos gains new and painful insights that transport him to a less illustrious time in his life: when a drug-fuelled depression led him to the edge of total self-destruction. But things are going well for him now. After the introductory collage of old photos that provide a history of his parents’ lives, he asks in voice-over whether he is a good son. What follows is an audiovisual investigation aimed at answering that question. Asimakopoulos creates series of evocative and associative images. Some of them are freestanding stream-of-consciousness sequences, while others underpin the voice-over. The other elements – the student films featuring spiteful reenacted family scenes, the old photos from family albums, and the snapshots in time – all feed into this investigative and experimental presentation on his position in a loving three-member family that is nevertheless wrought by fear, anger, and destructive negativity.

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Tony Asimakopoulos: Horsie’s Retreat (fiction, 2005)

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

UK, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 97 min Director: Ross Ashcroft Photography: Aladin Hassic Editing: Simon Modery Sound: Tom Linsner Music: Andy Carroll, Andrew Hewitt Narration: Ross Ashcroft Narrator: Dominic Frisby Production: Megan Ashcroft & Ross Ashcroft

for Motherlode Productions Screening Copy: Motherlode Productions Website: www.fourhorsemenfilm.com

Four Horsemen

WORLD PREMIERE

Ross Ashcroft

We find ourselves in the era of consequences. The Western empire is showing signs of wear and tear, and the time has come for a thorough and close examination of neo-capitalism. Rather than condemning bankers, politicians, or the media, this film puts the entire system up for discussion. In a little over 90 minutes, 23 of the world’s most important thinkers share their opinions on contemporary capitalism. We encounter a surprisingly large number of puzzling issues along the way. How can it be, for example, that half of the world is suffering from obesity while the other half is dying of hunger? And why are banks allowed to create money out of thin air, while normal citizens performing the same act would be guilty of counterfeiting? Taking the Bible story as his analogy, the filmmaker wonders who the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are. The voice-over makes connections between the thinkers and guides the viewer through subjects such as welfare, inequality, consumerism, and progress, and a wide range of highly effective archive footage and clarifying animations support the case being made. The documentary draws to a close with surprisingly simple solutions for reversing the deplorable state of our world; as the ecologist Satish Kumar says, “What is created by humans, can be changed by humans.”

Ross Ashcroft: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for First Appearance

India, 2011 video, color, 93 min Director: Bishnu Dev Halder Photography: Bishnu Dev Halder Editing: Tamal Chakraborty Production: Bishnu Dev Halder for Bee Pee Motion Pictures World Sales: Bee Pee Motion Pictures Screening Copy: Bee Pee Motion Pictures Involved TV Channel: NHK

I Was Born in Delhi...

WORLD PREMIERE

Bishnu Dev Halder

This documentary follows sisters Josna and Hasina over a period of five years while they try to make a better life for themselves in New Delhi. Josna is the older one, and she feels responsible for their poor family back home in the village, sending a substantial portion of her income to them. The more frivolous Hasina is visibly taking great pleasure in seeking a suitable husband. Ordinarily her family should arrange her marriage, but Hasina prefers to take her fate into her own hands. Before the jerky, close eye of the camera, squashed into their small apartment or out on the hectic streets of New Delhi, they offer an intimate peek into their day-to-day lives. The obvious presence of the filmmaker and camera doesn’t stop them from letting conflicts and emotions run high. What appears exotic and different at first gradually becomes familiar, as if the camera becomes a part of their daily reality. The sisters, particularly Hasina, look into the camera, answer the filmmaker’s questions, and use his presence to think out loud.

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Bishnu Dev Halder: directing debut

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

South Africa, 2011 HD, color, 79 min Director: Tim Wege Photography: Tim Wege Editing: Ronelle Loots Sound: Jabu Msomi Music: Charl-Johan Lingenfelder Narration: Mahlubi Puzi Narrator: Mahlubi Puzi Production: Lauren Groenewald & Miki

Redelinghuys for Plexus Films Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Plexus Films

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

King Naki and the Thundering Hooves Tim Wege

Jan Vrijman Fund Out on the vast expanses of the Transkei region, on South Africa’s Eastern Cape, King Naki is trying to make his dream come true. It is a dream that is embodied by a horse.

King Naki has put every cent he has into the horse – not by betting on it, but by buying it. People from his village think he’s crazy, so he’s named his horse Thula Sibone, or “Wait and See.” As the camera follows King Naki with keen attention to detail, his remarkable personality shines through in his simple manner and singleness of purpose.

He used to be a racehorse jockey himself, and he seemed to be following in his father’s footsteps when he became a groom in the city, until he decided to follow his own dream. This character study of a man, his horse and his environment shows how Thula Sibone is geared up for the legendary annual Amateur Championship, which is held on a wild track with no fences and no markings. As the competition grows near, we learn that King Naki’s greatest opponents are the legendary Cox Brothers, wealthy farmers with a penchant for big cars and fast horses. The camera accompanies King Naki and his entourage as they go about their daily business, and the gorgeous shots are accompanied by music and excerpts from interviews.

Tim Wege: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Germany, 2011 HD, color, 93 min Director: Jens Wenkel Photography: Thomas Plenert, Jens Wenkel Screenplay: Jens Wenkel Editing: Bettina Blickwede, Oli Weiss Sound: Grace Brown, Joe Dlamini Production: Heino Herrenbrück & Andreas Mücke

Niesytka for HerrenbrückMücke Filmproduktion Screening Copy: HerrenbrückMücke Filmproduktion Involved TV Channel: ZDF/3sat

Lagos – Notes of a City

WORLD PREMIERE

Lagos – Notizen einer Stadt Jens Wenkel

With 15 million inhabitants, the Nigerian city of Lagos is one of the largest and fastestgrowing metropolises in the world. It is a city constantly in motion, people swarming everywhere, with business being done on every street corner and traffic creeping in endless rivers along its roads and over bridges. A recurring panoramic image of the city makes it clear at a glance that not everyone is benefitting from this boundless energy, however; we also see a sea of poor shacks, with modern apartment buildings in the background. The film zooms in on the everyday lives of six inhabitants of the city, including a rich businessman and a poor single mother who is HIV-positive. The businessman talks about the growing banking insdustry and a favorable climate for investment; the mother worries about the future of her children. The contrast is great, although a lot of the concerns about the current state and future of the country are shared by both characters. A source of pride and hope for a better future comes from the Afrobeat musician Femi Kuti, the son of Fela Kuti, famous for both his infectious music and as a critic of the Nigerian government.

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Jens Wenkel: directing debut

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Chile, 2011 HD, color, 64 min Director: Maite Alberdi Photography: Pablo Valdés Screenplay: Maite Alberdi, Sebastián Brahm Editing: Alejandro Fernández Sound: Roberto Espinoza, Mario Puerto Production: Paola Castillo for Errante Producciones World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: CAT&Docs

The Lifeguard

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

El salvavidas Maite Alberdi

A new day dawns at the beach. Lifeguard Mauricio starts his daily routine: setting up his observation tower, checking the weather forecast and the tides, and updating his logbook. With his deep tan and dreadlocks, Mauricio looks like a chilled-out surfer dude, but in reality, this serious young man is anything but. Rules are rules, and he strictly enforces the ban on alcohol, unleashed dogs and barbecues on his beach. Also, prevention is better than cure: he keeps a watchful eye on the bathers, reprimanding them when necessary with a shrill blast on his whistle. But the vacationers really don’t appreciate being ordered around. Neither is Mauricio popular among his fellow lifeguards. Mauricio painstakingly reports every instance of absence by his competitor Jean Pierre, who in turn dismisses Mauricio as a “fake lifeguard.” Mauricio is, he concedes, well-suited to finding lost children, but is no use at all in a real emergency: “He blows the whistle and everything, but he doesn’t go in the water.” How will Mauricio cope when his preventive measures are no use any more, and some boys are at risk of drowning? The Chilean filmmaker followed Mauricio for several days, without providing any commentary, revealing the position of his protagonist among both the beachgoers and his colleagues in just a few, highly telling scenes.

Maite Alberdi: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Spain, 2011 HD, color, 66 min Director: Homer Etminani Photography: Beñat Revuelta Screenplay: Antonio Martinez Editing: Raphaella Spencer Sound: Juan Monsalve Production: Homer Etminani Screening Copy: Homer Etminani

Nation

WORLD PREMIERE

Nació

Homer Etminani Jesús Navarro, a 24-year-old from the Catalan town of Amposta, is preparing for a bullfight in the local arena. This portrait is a long sequence of static observational shots, full of symbolism and devoid of the spoken word. The soundtrack consists of sounds of the wind, the sea, birds, insects, a dog, traffic, and humans. In the first part, we see the protagonist at the intensive open-air training sessions. The long opening shot follows Jesús running through a wheat field. A game of pool in a bar is followed by a shot of the man running across the gigantic suspension bridge over the river Ebro. We see him doing somersaults and other gymnastic exercises on a beach, and then he is running up a hill with his dog. The question of why he is doing all this is answered in the second part, which starts with a few young men warming up in an arena. When a bull enters the arena in front of a large crowd of spectators, the game begins. It’s a mild form of bullfighting, with the fighters teasing, challenging and dodging the animal. The crowd cheers as Jesús jumps over the onrushing bull with a somersault. The cycle is completed with the harvesting of the wheat.

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Homer Etminani: directing debut

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

USA, 2011 HD, color, 100 min Director: JD Leete Photography: David Stewart Editing: Jennifer Falk, Chris Peterson Sound: JD Leete Music: Martin Lesch, Tobin Sprout Production: JD Leete Co-Production: Goldenfried Productions Executive Production: Dave Sullivan World Sales: JD Leete Screening Copy: JD Leete Website: www.sealedfatethemovie.com

Sealed Fate

WORLD PREMIERE

JD Leete

Jennifer Evans and Dustin Turner met in a nightclub in the popular resort of Virginia Beach on June 18, 1995. They were seen holding hands at one in the morning, but by two they had disappeared without a trace. A week later, Jennifer’s body was discovered.

The chief suspects were Dustin and his “swim buddy” Billy Brown, who was drunk on the night of the murder. Despite evidence that supported Turner’s version of events, the court also found Dustin guilty of the murder – purely on the basis of Billy’s accusations, after Dustin took police to the body. Both Billy and Dustin were sentenced to life in prison, where Billy converted to Christianity in 2002 and confessed to having strangled Jennifer. But is that enough to get Dustin freed? Because it looks as though a combination of nepotism and financial profit-making have led to a situation where the two Navy SEAL trainees will have to stay in jail at all costs. Sealed Fate is former U.S. Navy Chief JD Leete’s debut as a documentary filmmaker, and it is an exhaustive crime reportage. He reconstructs this 15-year-long judicial travesty with an impressive range of material that includes everything from interviews with Dustin, Billy, family members, friends and independent attorneys to courtroom sketches, reenacted scenes, old news broadcasts, and Navy SEAL training sessions – something to which Leete had exclusive access.

JD Leete: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for First Appearance

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 77 min Director: Daan Veldhuizen Photography: Daan Veldhuizen Screenplay: Daan Veldhuizen Editing: Daan Veldhuizen Sound: Philip Bais Music: Peter Pluer Production: Daan Veldhuizen for Bydesign Co-Production: Viewpoint Productions World Sales: Illumina Films Screening Copy: Viewpoint Productions Website: www.storiesfromlakkabeach.com

Stories from Lakka Beach

WORLD PREMIERE

Daan Veldhuizen

“Ten years after the atrocities of the rebel war, refugees from Sierra Leone still don’t dare to return to their country”, says Aminata from the Sierra Leonean village of Lakka.

This film shows five residents of this small coastal town, surrounded by white sandy beaches, near Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. We follow a fisherman, a woodworker, a beach club owner, an R&B musician, and a local politician as they go about their daily business. They live their lives in the same location, but offer surprisingly different perspectives. As the camera shifts from their activities to local scenes, the subjects candidly tell their stories: stories of the sea and the forest, of war, love, religion, family, traditions – and of foreign tourists. Tourism on the idyllic white beaches still hasn’t fully returned to the levels it reached in the 1980s. The tourists stay away because of the stories about the war – stories that the inhabitants want to shake off, but that the world keeps telling about them.

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Daan Veldhuizen: directing debut

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

USA, 2011 HD, color, 84 min Director: David Paul Meyer Photography: José Asunción, Brent Clegg Editing: Brian Davis Sound: Steven Deichen Production: David Paul Meyer for Day 1 Films, LLC Co-Production: DocRiot Executive Production: Anthony Anderson, Adam Glass Screening Copy: Day 1 Films, LLC Website: www.townshiptothestage.com

Township to the Stage

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

David Paul Meyer

The days of apartheid, when everything people said or did was subject to censorship, are still fresh in the memory of South Africans. Some still haven’t come to the realization that they are now free to say what they think and express themselves as they like, especially if it involves art and culture. As a stand-up comic, young Trevor Noah finds himself in a tradition that was historically nourished by whites. As the child of a white father and a black mother, he doesn’t belong to either of the categories that were always so strictly separated – he’s neither black nor white. In his shows, the history of his country and his youth, a time when interracial marriages were unheard of, play prominent roles. Trevor has only been at it for a couple of years, but he decides that it’s time for a one-man show. His manager thinks it’s a serious gamble, as he’s worried about Trevor’s lack of experience. Dynamically edited, Township to the Stage intersperses interviews with footage of performances and follows Trevor as he visits people and places from his childhood.

David Meyer: directing debut

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IDFA Competition for First Appearance

China, Canada, 2011 HD, color, 112 min Director: Xun Yu Photography: Xun Yu Editing: Tao Gu Sound: Xun Yu Production: Daniel Cross for EyeSteelFilm, Tao Gu World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: EyeSteelFilm

The Vanishing Spring Light

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Xun Yu

West Street is in Dujiangyan City, in teh Sichuan province in the southwest of China.

Its history goes back more than 2,000 years. This film is the first in a series of four documenting the lives of the inhabitants of West Street during the last two years before a major revamping of the neighborhood in 2011. Debuting director Yu Xun shows us the old West Street community, in this first part following the last days of Grandma Jiang. The everyday conversations she has with the filmmaker about her health and children turn out to have a tragic subtext. This matriarch of an ordinary Chinese family has had a stroke following a nasty fall. Sitting in front of her house, she complains about her poverty and the lack of attention paid to her by her four children. As her health deteriorates, suppressed conflicts within the family bubble to the surface. While Grandma Jiang is completely taken up with her medical condition, the family tries to keep everything together. The Vanishing Spring Light is a film about love and loss within a family, about obligations and blood ties, about guilt, change and fate.

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Xun Yu: directing debut

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Ecuador, 2011 DCP, color, 135 min Director: María Fernanda Restrepo Photography: Francois Laso, Cristina Salazar Screenplay: María Fernanda Restrepo Editing: Iván Mora Manzano, Carla Valencia Sound: Estebanoise Brauer, Daniel Pasquel Music: Iván Mora Manzano, Valentina Ramia Narration: María Fernanda Restrepo Narrator: María Fernanda Restrepo Production: Randi Krarup Executive Production: María Fernanda Restrepo Screening Copy: María Fernanda Restrepo Involved TV Channel: ECUAVISA Website: www.conmicorazonenyambo.com Awards: Audience Award Festival Internacional

de cine documental Ecuador

With My Heart in Yambo

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Con mi corazón en Yambo María Fernanda Restrepo

“You know when the struggles begin, but not when they end.” When filmmaker Fernanda Restrepo Arismendi’s father said this to her, he was speaking from experience.

Every Wednesday, he goes to protest on the square of Ecuador’s Presidential Palace.

Until her death in a car accident, Fernanda’s mother wrote letter after letter to the president. In 1988, when Fernanda was just 10 years, old, her brothers Santiago (17) and Andrés (14) mysteriously disappeared. A year later, the family discovered that the police had kidnapped, severely beaten, and then murdered the two boys for no apparent reason at all. The bodies were dumped in the Yambo River, never to be found again.

With My Heart in Yambo is Fernanda’s heartrending contribution to the processing of a devastating family trauma. In a poetic, contemplative voice-over, she makes a brave attempt to arrange the events in an appropriate manner. In the process, the film becomes a self-investigation: how did her brothers’ death determine her own life?

But like her parents, the filmmaker is also looking for rehabilitation. For as long as the Ecuadorean authorities shamelessly continue to cover up the case, it will be difficult to lead a normal life – if not altogether impossible.

Maria Fernanda Restrepo: directing debut

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vk.nl/events IDFA Catalogus 201- 210x210.indd 1

10/12/2011 3:09:51 PM

9:51 PM

Competition programs IDFA Competition for Student Documentary Fifteen international graduation films are competing for the IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary. A three-member international jury will evaluate the films, choose three of them, and select the winner from these.

The IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of â‚Ź2,500.

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

9 Scenes of Violence 9 scener om våld Michael Krotkiewski

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Verbal aggression, abuse, murder: violence is deeply anchored in human nature. But which mechanism ensures that we are usually able to suppress such tendencies?

In other words, which fuse is blown the very moment that we explode? In a short series of portraits, nine apparently average Swedes talk about how they acted on a violent urge. A bodybuilder wanted to teach someone a lesson, but ended up ramming the iron bar against that person’s skull much harder than he intended. A doctor informed a patient with an untreatable form of cancer that he would die a painful, lonely death, just because it gave him a bizarre form of satisfaction. And a girl experienced a sardonic pleasure in testing out her the steel toes of her new Dr. Martens on an unfortunate passerby. Were the actions of these violent individuals motivated by sadism, a feeling of victory, a longing for power? Previously at IDFA with the documentary I Dreamed About Pol Pot, Michael Krotkiewski carefully explores the faces with his camera. His extreme close-ups don’t only achieve a certain level of anonymity, but they also gradually penetrate the peoples’ souls. Is that perhaps where we will find the motive of their violent derailment?

Sweden, 2011 HD, color, 33 min Director: Michael Krotkiewski Photography: Lars Siltberg Editing: Erik Andersson, Ahang Bashi Sound: Michael Krotkiewski Music: Michael Krotkiewski, Lars Siltberg Production: PeÅ Holmquist for Dramatiska Institutet, Michael Krotkiewski for Krotkiewski Film Screening Copy: Swedish Film Institute

Michael Krotkiewski:

I Dreamed about Pol Pot (2009) Civil Disobedience (2004)

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

The Ambassador & Me L’ambassadeur & moi Jan Czarlewski

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Jan Czarlewski’s father is a Polish hero and diplomat who puts his heart into his work and barely pays attention to his son. “He has dedicated his whole life to his country, but he never had any time for me,” says Czarlewski. In an attempt to make up for lost time, he decides to visit his dad in Brussels, where Czarlewski senior works as a diplomat. He films the visit, following him wherever he goes. He follows him during a game of tennis, in his bed, while laying a wreath, and at the office. But his father is unenthusiastic, showing his irritation when his son films him or tries to interview him. They start speaking in Polish instead of French, and the man tries to convince the boy of the urgency of the document he’s reading and the importance of discretion at the Embassy. Czarlewski emphasizes the distance between him and his father with moments of silence and by filming himself on his own when he’s been cordially uninvited. But in spite of this constant confirmation of something he already knew, he does seem to get to know his father a little bit better in the process.

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Switzerland, 2011 video, color, 16 min

Jan Czarlewski:

Director: Jan Czarlewski Photography: Jan Czarlewski Editing: Jan Czarlewski Sound: Jan Czarlewski Music: Ignacy Paderewski Production: Rachel Noel for ECAL – Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne Screening Copy: ECAL – Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne

Awards: Golden Leopard For Best Swiss Short Film Locarno Film Festival

Tomek (fiction, 2011)

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

The Betrayal Karen Winther

WORLD PREMIERE

UK, Norway, 2011 HD, color, 64 min

Karen Winther:

Rock Heart Beijing (2009)

Director: Karen Winther Photography: Kasper Wind Nielsen, Karen Winther Editing: Isabel Bernadette Brammer, Hoping Chen Music: Jonathan Hill Production: Karen Winther for National Film and Television School Screening Copy: National Film and Television School

As a teenager, Karen sought refuge at Blitz, a squatters’ stronghold in Oslo. At the age of 15, she was taking part in demonstrations and hanging around in the building for days on end. In the mid-1990s, a fierce conflict broke out in Norway between various extremist youth groups, with anti-fascists and neo-Nazis battling it out. It was then that Karen made a decision that she has regretted ever since. In the style of a feature film, The Betrayal gradually wends its way towards Karen’s secret and her emotional journey into her rebellious teenage years. As we watch archive footage of riots, Karen reads sections from her diary in voice-over. Trying to discover what possessed her back then, she interviews former friends with whom she is no longer on speaking terms. She has intense and painful conversations with her mother, whose concern about Karen in those days has left its mark. The roles are frequently reversed, with the interviewees posing more questions than the filmmaker. Slowly but surely, a picture emerges of Karen as a lonely adolescent looking for affirmation. Will redemption be possible?

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Comma

Komma Amin Haghighizadeh

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 28 min Director: Amin Haghighizadeh Photography: Amin Haghighizadeh, Thomas Vroege Editing: Matte Mourik Narration: Amin Haghighizadeh, Sara Rajaei Narrator: Amin Haghighizadeh Production: Amin Haghighizadeh for The Motions Co-Production: AKV St. Joost Screening Copy: Amin Haghighizadeh Involved TV Channel: Omroep Brabant Website: www.kommadefilm.nl

Amin Haghighizadeh: directing debut

WORLD PREMIERE

Amin Haghighizadeh was 16 when his father decided that Iran was no longer safe for him, so he sent him from Tehran to the Netherlands. His father stayed behind and was murdered. This subdued documentary has filmmaker Amin telling about his lonely years in a refugee center and reflecting on homesickness and hope. He wonders if it was a good decision to come to the Netherlands, where he wasn’t allowed to study or work, and where he had no friends or family. Now, 10 years, later, Amin has a residence permit and a place to live. He decides to travel to Iran to gain closure on his continuous homesickness and to see what has changed since he was a boy. Or is it only he who has changed? Alternating back and forth between static and handheld shots of daily life in the Iranian capital, Amin reveals an alienated and almost jealous view of his compatriots, who appear to feel at home there – it often seems as if there’s nothing wrong at all.

Meanwhile, family and friends attempt to convince him that his father didn’t send him to the Netherlands for nothing.

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IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Free Improvisation Iltur hofshi Doron Djerassi

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Watching musician Jean Claude Jones play the double bass, you can’t escape the conclusion that this 60-year-old man is physically done in. But his passion for music is so great that his multiple sclerosis fades into the background when he plays.

The French musician, who lives in Jerusalem, has had to cope with the gradual deterioration of his physical constitution since the late 1980s, when he was diagnosed with this progressive disease of the central nervous system. All the examinations, medication and alternative therapies have failed to halt it. In recent years, it has become clearer that not only his life, but also his music – his creative gift – are in jeopardy. We follow the passionate musician over the course of a year, in which he performs, enjoys a rich social life and devotes a great deal of energy to a talented young protégé, who absorbs his knowledge like a sponge. But his life isn’t only characterized by creativity and playing; the progression of the disease and the need to let things go play an ever greater role. The same applies to his supportive wife, forced to watch as the health of her life partner slowly deteriorates: “There are three people involved in living with someone with a chronic disease: me, him, and the MS.”

Israel, 2011 video, color, 50 min Director: Doron Djerassi Photography: Doron Djerassi Screenplay: Doron Djerassi, Adin Weiner Editing: Doron Djerassi, Daniel Mann Sound: Ronen Nagel Production: Adin Weiner for The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School Co-Production: Shushu Productions World Sales: Cinephil Screening Copy: The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School

Doron Djerassi:

Jerusalem Affair (fiction 2008) David Lynch in Israel (2009) The Silent Treatment (fiction, 2010)

Awards: Second Prize Award DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

The Heir

De opvolger Jeremy De Ryckere

WORLD PREMIERE

A 65-year-old man and his son share a burning passion for horses and horseracing. As this father explains in voice-over, horseracing has been in the genes of this Belgian family for a hundred years. Although he has reached retirement age, he is still an active jockey. This very unusual situation wouldn’t have come about if his son, a promising jockey in his own right, hadn’t been left wheelchair-bound after getting injured in a race several years ago. Now, the son spends his days in his chair, throwing a ball for his dog, watching the races on TV, and praying – praying a lot. Besides images of their favorite noble beast, we also see the religious themes filling their quiet home. The family has become exceptionally religious since that fateful accident.

They realize that God must have had his “intentions,” but still they pray every day for a miracle. “I think I’ll live as long as it takes until he walks. Then I’ll be content to leave this world,” says the father. “Everything is possible, if you only believe,” adds the son.

Despite the comfort the family finds in their faith, their daily existence is veiled in grief.

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Belgium, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 18 min Director: Jeremy De Ryckere Photography: Jeremy De Ryckere Screenplay: Jeremy De Ryckere Editing: Kwinten Gernay Sound: Jonathan Dock Music: Jeremy De Lombaerde, Thomas van de Ven Production: Jeremy De Ryckere for Rits Filmschool Brussel Screening Copy: Jeremy De Ryckere

Jeremy De Ryckere:

Perpetuum Mobile (2009) L’écume des jours (2009) 7th floor (2011)

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

If It Weren’t for You Als ik jou niet had Anne-Marieke Graafmans

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 23 min

Anne-Marieke Graafmans:

Director: Anne-Marieke Graafmans Photography: Ernst Herstel Editing: Ruben van der Hammen Sound: Raoul Popma, Richard Wilder Music: Chris Christodoulou Production: Mike de Zwart & Edwin Goldman for Nederlandse Film en Televisie Academie Screening Copy: Mike de Zwart Involved TV Channel: AVRO

www.annemariekegraafmans.nl

City Disrupted (2007) Dear Anne-Marieke (2010)

Awards: VPRO Documentaire Award, Tuschinski Award Nederlands Film Festival, NCP Audience Award Keep an Eye Filmacademie Eindexamen Festival

After working for a while as a nurse, director Anne-Marieke Graafmans decided to attend the Netherlands Film Academy. She graduated earlier this year, and If It Weren’t for You has already earned her the Tuschinsky Award for best graduation film and the 2011 VPRO Documentary Award. The film follows the quintessential Amsterdam couple Riek and Harrie in their house and garage, but also on the road, in their decrepit but beloved camper. Riek and Harrie are both coping with a great loss, but they find comfort, understanding, and most of all joy with one another. Graafmans depicts them lovingly: tinkering with the TomTom, singing songs together in the shower, shuffling along on dance night at the campsite. They share their love for one another effortlessly with the camera, but they also share their sorrow.

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Katya Krenalinova Alexandra Lihacheva

WORLD PREMIERE

Russia, 2011 video, color, 27 min Director: Alexandra Lihacheva Photography: Artem Tarasenkov Editing: Alexandra Lihacheva Sound: Siba Siba Production: Alexandra Lihacheva Co-Production: VGIK Screening Copy: Alexandra Lihacheva

Alexandra Lihacheva: directing debut

The protagonist in this experimental documentary is the homeless young artist and drifter Katya Krenalinova, who burned down the house of her mother and stepfather.

And now she sleeps at her studio, scraping together just enough to survive. Alexandra Lihacheva places Krenalinova center stage in her directorial debut. She is on-screen for almost the entire length of the documentary: in extreme close-up while being crossexamined by the public prosecutor, and muddled but stoical as she reveals her motives.

She has no regrets, and she would be just as happy to set the entire city alight. In the rare moments that Katya is filmed outside, she wanders around in the snow near the burned down house. She poses for the camera like a model in an artistic music video, elusive and mysterious.

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IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

A Letter to Dad Pismo tati Srdan Keca

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

The filmmaker’s father dies unexpectedly in a Serbian hospital. He died alone, having informed no one of his admission. Why not? The son’s mind fills with unanswered questions, and they become even more pressing as he sorts through his father’s belongings: his photos, letters, and videotapes. Questions arise about his youth in former Yugoslavia, about his parents’ relationship, and about the war that impacted his family as it did so many others. Did his father’s relationships influence the life choices he made? In this highly personal film, the filmmaker talks with his mother, his father’s childhood friends, and his alcoholic uncle. The ensuing emotional conversations show how ordinary citizens were not immune from being drawn into the horrors of the Balkan war, and how many of them are still trying to cope with the consequences. He also examines the actions of those same ordinary citizens, including his father. Can the many video recordings the father made of his two sons when they were children provide any definitive answers? Or can the filmmaker perhaps dig up the past with stories his interlocutors would rather not tell? The son uses his voice-over to “update” his father on his discoveries: “Hey Dad, Mom has been protecting you all these years.”

Serbia, Kosovo, UK, 2011 HD, color, 48 min Director: Srdan Keca Photography: Srdan Keca Editing: Katherine Lee Music: Alcyona Mick Production: Srdan Keca Screening Copy: National Film and Television School

Srdan Keca:

After the War (2006) The Secret Life of Objects (2011) Mirage (2011) The Real Social Network (2011)

www.skeca.com

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Not in My Backyard Matthias Bittner

Under a bridge in Miami, a clandestine community has formed of convicted child abusers who have served their sentences. Nowhere in the city are they welcome.

Their ankle bracelets signal when they get too near places where children play, so they are permanently traceable. Their names, along with photos and criminal offences, are available online for everyone to see. When they eventually get evicted from the bridge, they will have to seek refuge elsewhere. We follow two of them as they attempt to build socially acceptable lives for themselves. A white musician who was found guilty of having sex with an underage girl is temporarily placed in a poor neighborhood, but his criminal record means there’s no chance of finding a job. A Latino who abused his niece while on drugs cannot even find a roof over his head.

And so we are witness to one of the greatest taboos in our society, the rehabilitation of pedophiles, from the perspective of these two men. Bittner’s camera follows both of them without commentary through what is for them hostile territory. Bittner is unbending in his determination to put his protagonists through the ringer for their alleged crimes, but there are scenes in which they are interviewed in both confrontational and sensitive ways. And what is their version of what happened?

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Germany, 2011 HD, color, 87 min Director: Matthias Bittner Photography: Julia Schlingmann Editing: Friedemann Schmidt Sound: Ma Finski Music: Chris Bremus Production: Matthias Bittner for Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Paul Zischler for Zischlermann Filmproduktion World Sales: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Screening Copy: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Website: www.nimby-film.com

Matthias Bittner:

Bild für Mama (2005) Am Ball bleiben (2006) Nine horas avec Potkam Seznam (2007) Operation: Terror Tape (fiction, 2007) Willkür (2008) Detours (2008) Divorce Talk (2009) Wie die Raben (fiction, 2009)

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Paparazzi Piotr Bernas

Poland, 2011 HD, color, 33 min Director: Piotr Bernas Photography: Lukasz Zal, Piotr Bernas Screenplay: Piotr Bernas Editing: Piotr Bernas, Marek Skrzecz Sound: Dariusz Wancerz Production: Wajda Studio Sp. z o.o.

Executive Production: Adam Slesicki for Wajda Studio Sp. z o.o.

World Sales: Wajda Studio Sp. z o.o.

Screening Copy: Wajda Studio Sp. z o.o.

Piotr Bernas:

The Commandant (2009) Sun Struck (2009)

Awards: European Film Academy Award Best European Film Krakow Film Festival, Best Documentary International Short Film Competition Film Music & Film Festival Riga

Using stylistic techniques such as time-lapse filming, this documentary charts the nerve-racking daily existence of a Polish paparazzi photographer. Chases, swearing matches, and gum chewing mouths fill the screen, accompanied by a soundtrack of drags on cigarettes, squeals of car tires, and the frenzied clicking of cameras. The days on the street are long; snooping and prowling, waiting for that one shot. These scenes alternate with candid interviews with the photographer in the peace and quiet of a forest, where he explains his motivation. “I sometimes steal people’s privacy. But the public needs it.

They used to put five lions in a cage with one guy.” The photographer is aware that being a member of the paparazzi means you’re on a slippery slope: “Becoming a motherfucker is a process you go through consciously.” Paparazzi shows why photographers are so keen on becoming “motherfuckers.” What would you do if you heard that the convicted director Roman Polanski was holed up in a chalet 1,400 km from Warsaw, and you could earn half a million euros with just a single blurry image of his face?

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Tilman in Paradise Tilman im Paradies Julian Vogel

Germany, 2011 HD, color, 28 min Director: Julian Vogel Photography: Timm Kröger Editing: Anne Goldenbaum Sound: David Rädler, Alex Rubin Music: Milan Loewy Production: Jana Raschke for Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Screening Copy: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg

Julian Vogel:

Yagmur (2009) A Good Guy (2009) Stagnation (fiction, 2009) 6 Years (fiction, 2010)

WORLD PREMIERE

When the German cleaner Tilman Mai walks around the red-light district, he is not so much in search of sex, but affection. When he enters a brothel, his first question to the prostitutes is always: “Do you kiss?” The answer is often no, but not always. In a stylized scene, Tilman reclines in a lavish bubble bath, lapping up the attentions of three voluptuous naked ladies, who kiss him, and more. Is this the affection he is looking for? It is certainly attention, something he can’t find dancing alone in a club. In this second-year student film, the director interviews and observes this lonely john during his everyday routine. But when a Romanian hooker named Roxy drops into his lap like a gift from the gods, things change. Will she be the first woman with whom he can really communicate?

Will he find paradise with her?

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IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

The Trip

Wycieczka Bartosz Kruhlik “I wonder how many of these trips we’ve already taken,” Grandpa Zbigniew says to his 13-year-old granddaughter Asia while they’re watching the sun disappear behind the green Polish hills. “Lots,” she replies. But it’s getting to be less and less, Grandpa knows. The Trip is a small and elegant road movie about a grandfather and grandchild who speak the same language but who are also very different from each other. Asia likes to focus on video games; Grandpa would prefer to climb up a tree – though he has some trouble getting down. “For a moment I thought I was 15 again,” Grandpa apologizes. He feels his strength declining and watches the sun go down, while the girl still has her whole life ahead of her. But Grandpa still has plenty left to teach his grandchild: how to keep a scooter on the road, how to throw a knife in the ground, and how to see the beauty of nature. Seeing an orange peel, Grandpa starts to talk about his own youth, when people used to eat oranges around Christmas and not, like nowadays, in the summer as well. When Asia freezes time with her photo camera, Grandpa poses the question of what the most important thing in life is. His answer?

“Not gold or silver, but time!”

Poland, 2010 video, color, 12 min Director: Bartosz Kruhlik Photography: Daniel Wawrzyniak Screenplay: Bartosz Kruhlik Editing: Grzegorz Szczepaniak Sound: Wojciech Emm Music: Andrzej Strzemzalski Production: Justyna Ziemkiewicz for Polish National Film School Lodz World Sales: Polish National Film School Lodz Screening Copy: Polish National Film School Lodz

Bartosz Kruhlik:

Tomorrow... (2008) http:// (fiction, 2010) Vanishing (fiction, 2011)

Awards: Best of Show West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival, Journalist’s Award Kan Independent Film Festival, Golden Rooster in Young Talents Art&Tur International Tourism Film Festival, Grand Prix Off Cinema International Film Festival, Grand Prix Okiem Mlodych Documentary Film Festival, GrandPrix Goffr Film Festival, 1st Place in Student Category Publicystyka Independent Film Festival, a.o.

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

White Elephant Nzoku ya pembe Kristof Bilsen

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Back in 1960, over 2,000 people, 180 of them Belgian, worked in the Kinshasa Post Office in the former Belgian colony of Congo. Now, however, the political situation has changed and the impressive white colonial building has all but crumbled to the ground. White Elephant is a fascinating and poetic portrait of staff and customers in this decaying government edifice, one of the last bureaucratic relics of a colonial history – and one that cannot be said to be doing a roaring trade. Without a voiceover, the director films staff members, interspersing these scenes with still life shots of various parts of the dilapidated post office. Old mailbags rot away in the corner, post office boxes are more like a paper recycling bin, and the sorting area is littered with unidentified letters and packages. Staff members wonder whether an end will ever come to their way of life and they are determined to save their workplace – and if possible to change it.

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UK, Belgium, 2011 HD, color, 34 min Director: Kristof Bilsen Photography: Kristof Bilsen Screenplay: Kristof Bilsen Editing: Eduardo Serrano Sound: Xan Marques Caneda Music: Jon Wygens Production: Kristof Bilsen for National Film and Television School World Sales: National Film and Television School Screening Copy: Kristof Bilsen Website: www.white-elephant-film.com

Kristof Bilsen:

Three Women (2005) Fez Return-ticket (2008) Once (2010) The Perfect Belgian (2011) Parallel Lives (2011)

www.kristofbilsen.com

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Yuban (Live Earth)

Yuban (tierra viva) Yaasib Alvaro Vazquez Colmenares

Mexico, 2011 video, color, 30 min Director: Yaasib Alvaro Vazquez Colmenares Photography: Yaasib Alvaro Vazquez Colmenares Editing: Miguel Jr. Báez Medina, Adrià Campmany Buisán, Ehecatl Garcia, Edson Ramírez Production: Percival Arguero for Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (C.C.C.) Co-Production: Mamipaga Films Executive Production: Henner Hofmann for Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (C.C.C.) World Sales: Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (C.C.C.) Screening Copy: Mamipaga Films

Yaasib Álvarez Vázquez Colmenares: directing debut

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

A visual essay on the life of the Zapotecan community, who have a very close relationship to the earth, in the village of San Francisco Canojos in the Sierra Juárez, southern Mexico.

Children are taught not to stomp on the ground, spit or otherwise insult the earth, because the earth (or Yuban) is alive. The voice-over speaks in greater detail about the community’s ancient customs, traditions and sayings, which are often characterized by an awareness of everything the earth gives to humans. Images of the impressive environment pass by as in a dream – the mountains bathed in sunlight or shrouded in thick mist – and we also observe life in the village as the inhabitants prepare for their annual carnival celebrations.

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IDFA documentaires Van 16 t /m 27 november op Nederland 2

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Competition programs IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary Fourteen documentaries are competing for the Dioraphte IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary. Four films are also eligible for another IDFA Award: About Canto and Gozaran – Time Passing (IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary), Painful Painting (IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary), and Stories from Lakka Beach (IDFA Competition for First Appearance). A three-member international jury will evalute the films, choose three of them, and select the winner from these. The Dioraphte IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of ₏5,000.

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

900 Days 900 dagen Jessica Gorter

WORLD PREMIERE

At the commemoration of the Great Patriotic War, President Medvedev describes the war generation of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) as “exemplary heroes.” A gray-haired old man sneers at his TV set: “I’d rather watch a blank screen than this farce.” From September 1941 to January 1944, the German army had Leningrad under siege, without ever actually seizing the city. The supply routes were blocked, however, and there was mass famine that took approximately a million lives. In the harrowing 900 Days, some of the survivors look back on those terrible times. Reading excerpts from old letters and diaries, they very matter-of-factly dispel the myth created by Stalin’s propaganda machine and reveal the naked truth. By way of contrast, we watch a school class visiting the Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad, where the students get to hear the official version. Archive footage of a frozen body on a busy bridge shows how degrading the situation really was. Because of the food shortages, people started eating cat meat; a woman named Lenina shows us a painting of the slaughtered cat she got as a birthday meal.

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 74 min Director: Jessica Gorter Photography: Sander Snoep Screenplay: Jessica Gorter, Beatrijs van Agt, Marieke van der Winden Editing: Danniel Danniel Sound: Menno Euwe Production: Frank van den Engel for Zeppers Film & TV Executive Production: Jorinde Soreé for Zeppers Film & TV World Sales: Deckert Distribution GmbH Screening Copy: Zeppers Film & TV Involved TV Channel: IKON

Jessica Gorter:

Gold and Blue (1993) Heilige weg (1994) Ferryman Across the Volga (1998) No Goods Today (2002) Piter (2004) Quarantaine (2006)

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Beer is Cheaper than Therapy Simone de Vries

WORLD PREMIERE A 911 call from a Subway sandwich shop, where a young man has just shot himself in the head in the bathroom. A guy who explains that he had himself committed because he was on the verge of beating people to death on the street. A young woman who’s in tears because she has to help her depressed husband out of bed each morning. The stories in Beer Is Cheaper Than Therapy paint a dreadful picture of veterans of war in psychological distress, something there is little room for in the macho culture of the army. The documentary looks for an answer to the question of why the number of suicides among young American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is so frighteningly high. The filmmakers traveled to Killeen, Texas, home of Fort Hood – the largest Army base in the United States. Last year, 19 soldiers committed suicide there. De Vries’s film consists of interviews with soldiers and family members, sometimes anonymous, who are heard in voice-over while we see close-ups of soldiers in a tattoo shop and shots of nightlife in Killeen. Signs that read “We support our troops” and “Welcome home, heroes” stand in stark contrast to the reality described by the soldiers.

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The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 78 min Director: Simone de Vries Photography: Joost van Herwijnen Screenplay: Simone de Vries Editing: Mario Steenbergen Sound: Eric Leek Production: Frank van den Engel for Zeppers Film & TV Executive Production: Willemijn Cerutti for Zeppers Film & TV World Sales: First Hand Films Screening Copy: Zeppers Film & TV Involved TV Channel: VPRO

Simone de Vries:

Kinky Friedman: Proud to Be an Asshole from El Paso (2001) Planet Kamagurka (2003) High on Jesus (2008) Blond, Blue Eyes (2007) Touch Me Someplace I Can Feel (2007) Kessel’s Eye (2008) Ted Noten: Gold, Sweat & Pearls (2010)

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Hinterland – A Child Soldier’s Road Back to South Sudan

Achterland – de weg terug naar Cuey Machar Albert Elings

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 75 min Director: Albert Elings Photography: Eugenie Jansen, Kon Kelei Screenplay: Albert Elings, Eugenie Jansen Editing: Piet Oomes Sound: Albert Elings, Marc Lizier Production: Suzanne van Voorst for IDTV Docs Executive Production: Ilja Roomans for IDTV Docs Screening Copy: IDTV Docs Involved TV Channel: HUMAN

Albert Elings:

The Threat (1989), The Vision & The Image (1991), The Love, Her Last Days (1991), Through Different Eyes (1992), Living Apart (1993), Direction Hollywood (1993), A Voice on the Krim (1994), Eyes Like Yours (1994), The Last Line (1997), The Monument (1999), Kitty (2000), A Daily Life (2000), A Memorable Day (2001), The Winking Machine (2004), Diary (2005), What Stays Moves (2007)

Albert Elings & Eugenie Jansen:

WORLD PREMIERE

In 2002, the young Sudanese asylum seeker Kon Kelei starred in the Dutch feature film Sleeping Rough, about the friendship between a Sudanese refugee and a grouchy war veteran. At that time, the former child soldier had just been refused asylum in the Netherlands. During the shoot and afterward, documentary filmmaker Albert Elings taught Kon how to use a video camera and how to make a video diary of his life; Kon’s footage is used in the film as well. When the situation in Sudan is considered safe enough, Elings follows Kon on his first trip back. They visit Kon’s family and his place of birth and travel through his war-torn country. This voyage is intercut with footage of Kon’s years in the Netherlands. He eventually obtains a residence permit, goes to law school, and uses collection campaigns and lectures to fight for the fate of the countrymen he left behind, and for whom he feels considerably responsible. His studies allow him to help them, but his stay abroad has also altered his view of his home country.

This leads to some painfully moments, yet Kon is determined to help build the new nation of South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan this summer.

Scary Man (1996); The Comet (1998), The Royal Wedding Tapes (2002), Foreland (2005), Fields of Margraten (2010)

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

I Am a Woman Now Michiel van Erp

WORLD PREMIERE

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 80 min Director: Michiel van Erp Photography: Mark van Aller Editing: Hinne Brouwer Sound: Rob Dul Music: Louis ter Burg Production: Monique Busman & Margreet Ploegmakers & Jessie Verbrugh for De Familie World Sales: CAT&Docs Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: De Familie Involved TV Channel: VPRO Pitched at the Forum 2010

Michiel van Erp:

The Queen on Her Way (2000), Don’t Forget Me (2002), Het Defilé (2004), Lost Heart (2004), Divina Gloria (fiction, 2006), Funfair Behind the Dikes (2006), Sylvia Kristel: nu (2007), Veterans Day (2007), Volle zalen (2007), Thermos, Sex in the Sauna (2008), Stuck (50), Smoeder (fiction, 2008), Fear (2009), Welcome to Holland Season II (2009), Erwin Olaf on Beauty and Fall (2009), Beatrix, Queen (2009), Toen zij uit Rotterdam vertrokken (2010), Erop of eronder (2011), a.o.

Starting in 1956, people who wanted to have a sex change operation could go to gynecologist Georges Burou in Casablanca – without having to undergo any psychological assessment. Filmmaker Michiel van Erp asks some of these pioneers, all old women now, if the choice that they made back then has changed their lives as they had hoped. How did the outside world react to this first generation of transsexuals? A charming Belgian woman is eternally grateful to Burou, who passed away in the late 1980s. She will always keep her operation a secret from any possible partner – for her, that’s part of the deal. A distinguished British woman, who became a star in Paris after her transformation, still encounters rejection – and loneliness: “Once you get white hair, you seem to disappear.” A German woman agrees: “At the time, I never imagined being an old lady. That wasn’t part of the fantasy.” She was a married man when the opportunity for the operation arose. “I found myself looking in a shop window, wondering what I’d look like in that dress. Then I realized: this is never gong to go away.” Van Erp visits significant places and people with these and other ladies, and they reflect on their eventful lives with the help of old photographs and home videos.

89

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Jerome Jerome

Jeroen Jeroen Peter Lataster, Petra Lataster-Czisch

WORLD PREMIERE

“No, Jerome, put that down.” “Leave that table where it is.” “Pick that up, please.” “Be careful.” While they’re waiting for the bus that will take autistic teenager Jerome to the care center, his mother keeps repeating the words as if they are a mantra: don’t, Jerome. Don’t, don’t, don’t. The scene is shot in one long take so the viewer experiences just how long a few minutes can last. Over the course of two days, this film follows Jerome at home and at the center, showing his interaction with his caregivers. It looks as if he is taking almost devilish pleasure in testing the patience of everybody around him. This skinny teenager is constantly disturbing things and people, breaking stuff and tipping things over. Sometimes it’s endearing, such as in the opening sequence when he repeatedly throws a ball up into the air until it gets stuck in a tree. With a big smile on his face, he walks towards the camera: he did it!

His coach Kevin comes running to pluck the ball from the tree again, in the same way he has to pull shoes and clothes out of the bushes and pick up puzzle pieces and sandwiches from the floor. Even Kevin gets desperate sometimes when Jerome shows his most unruly side. What will the future hold for this disturbed youngster who needs fulltime care?

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 73 min Director: Peter Lataster, Petra Lataster-Czisch Photography: Peter Lataster Screenplay: Peter Lataster, Petra Lataster-Czisch Editing: Saskia Kievits Sound: Gertjan Miedema Production: Carolijn Borgdorff for IDTV Docs Screening Copy: IDTV Docs

Petra Lataster-Czisch & Peter Lataster:

De bekoring (1991) Verhalen van een rivier (1994) Noem het slaap (1996) De tijd de stroom (1999) Geluk is als glas (2001) Droomland DDR (2003) Birth-Day (2004) Dit gaat nooit meer weg (2005) Ojuna (2005) Ik wil alles aanraken (2006) Als we het zouden weten (2007) De dingen die weºNot Without You (2010)

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Justice for Sale

Femke van Velzen, Ilse van Velzen WORLD PREMIERE “This justice system has lost its meaning; I wonder what the future will bring for our children.” Congolese lawyer Claudine Tsongo is talking about her search for the truth in a rape case in which suspect Masamba has fallen victim to a miscarriage of justice.

Without any proof, he has been sentenced to a long prison term and Tsongo suspects that corruption is at play. As the protagonist of this documentary, she introduces the suspects in this failing judicial system. But the filmmakers also let the viewer witness Masamba’s court appearance, a surreal scene that is more like a ritual performance than a thorough discussion of the facts. While Masamba’s lawyer walks around animatedly, he complains that “this is truly a scripted Hollywood story.” He might be right. In the meantime, the judge is reminding his clerk to write down the attorney’s words. Justice for Sale is earnest in its efforts to reveal how the present justice system in Congo misses its mark, partly under pressure from local and international NGOs. The film is subtly directed, but it is primarily Tsongo’s elegant interview technique that encourages the prosecutor and her fellow attorneys to be surprisingly open, allowing the documentary to make right what the judge did wrong.

90

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 83 min Director: Femke van Velzen, Ilse van Velzen Photography: Rogier Timmermans Screenplay: Femke van Velzen, Ilse van Velzen Editing: Paul de Heer Sound: Femke van Velzen Music: Jeroen Goeijers Production: Femke van Velzen & Ilse van Velzen for IFProductions World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: IFProductions Website: www.justiceforsale.nl

Femke van Velzen & Ilze van Velzen:

Return to Angola (2004) Fighting the Silence (2007) Weapon of War (2009)

Pitched at the Forum 2010

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Meet the Fokkens Ouwehoeren Gabriëlle Provaas, Rob Schröder

The Netherlands, 2011 video, color, 75 min

Gabriëlle Provaas:

Director: Gabriëlle Provaas, Rob Schröder Photography: Wiro Felix Screenplay: Gabriëlle Provaas, Rob Schröder Editing: Sander Vos Sound: Carla van der Meijs Music: Danny Malando Production: Bruno Felix & Femke Wolting for Submarine Executive Production: Fabie Hulsebos & Lieke van den Ouwelant for Submarine World Sales: Autlook Filmsales Distribution for the Netherlands: A-Film Screening Copy: Submarine Involved TV Channel: VPRO

Rob Schröder:

Het volkomen moment (2000), Tweedracht (2002), Reinier (2005) Something to Die For (1996), Van een andere orde (1997), Links rechts in / uit de maat (1998), Onze man in de straat (2000), Helse vrede (2001), Staat van verlangen (2002), Rotterdam, routes en roots (2003), True Believer (2004), Moral Panic (2004), Voor volk en vaderland (2005), De snuffelstaat (2006), Caracas: The Informal City (2007), Jong in Rotterdam-Zuid (2008), Stayin’ Alive in Jo’burg (2010), a.o.

WORLD PREMIERE

Twin sisters Louise and Martine Fokkens have been working in the red-light district of Amsterdam for 50 years. Despite many setbacks and a great deal of negativity from those outside the world of prostitution, these strong, optimistic and humorous women have managed to survive all those years with verve. In Meet the Fokkens, the viewer gets to visit places in Amsterdam where the sisters’ memories reside. Candid interviews and conversations with the two women, a daughter of Louise, and local residents help to recount Louise and Martine’s life story. The twins tell amusing tales of how they came to be in this line of work, how they eventually went into business for themselves, and how relationships in the world of prostitution have changed over the years. Their stories are full of spicy details about their clientele, some of whom come from unexpected walks of life. One such client was a chaplain: “Don’t you remember, we even had a little confessional!” And they talk about the tricks they used to help satisfy their clients more quickly. While some of the reminiscences are upsetting, the sisters speak with a great sense of compassion and even affection for their clients. Louise stopped two years ago, but Martine is still working – she also wants to quit, but her financial situation won’t allow for it, she claims.

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

One Fine Day Klaas Bense

WORLD PREMIERE

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 75 min Director: Klaas Bense Photography: Jackó van ‘t Hof Screenplay: Klaas Bense Editing: Sander Kuipers, Boris Gerrets Music: Jannos Eolou Production: Janneke Doolaard for Eyeworks Film & TV Drama Co-Production: Prime Time Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: Eyeworks Film & TV Drama Involved TV Channel: BOS

Klaas Bense:

Diary of a Times Square Thief (2009)

Behind the greatest deeds, there’s often an anonymous, “normal” human being. This film features six such people who performed a small nonviolent act and started something that has had a major influence on the world. Journalistic reports and interviews with these unknown heroes are mixed with solemn, poetic images. The interviewees all left a mark, each in their own way. The young Iraqi girl Rania refused to detonate the bomb belt that she was put on her by force; passersby make a wish in her honour by hammering a nail into the ‘Tree of Nails’. John Carlos was one of the American athletes who caused a stir when, during a medal ceremony at the Olympics, he raised one black-gloved fist in the air out of protest against racism. A Chilean student led protests on the education she received and managed to get an educational grant system instated. Churchgoers in East Berlin organized the peaceful protest that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Burmese monk Kovida was outraged by the death of another monk at the hands of the army and organized the huge monk protests. And then there’s the anonymous Chinese internet junkie, a somewhat corpulent, jobless young man, who finds it important to repeatedly place government-censored videos back online. A cinematic tribute to the normal folks who make a difference.

91

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

The Sound of the Bandoneón El sonido del bandoneón Jiska Rickels

WORLD PREMIERE

“Anything of great value returns when the time is ripe,” knows the famous old Argentine composer and bandoneon player Néstor Marconi, remembering the tango prohibition of the former military regime. Together with bandoneon tuner and restorer Oscar Fischer and composer and bandoneon player Daniel Vedia, who comes from an Indian village in the north of Argentina, he is the subject of The Sound of the Bandoneon, a lively, melancholic tribute to this musical instrument. This beating heart of tango is threatened with extinction, because it is hardly being manufactured anymore and tourists are taking them home as souvenirs, making the few that are left impossibly expensive. Poor Indians are forced to play on cardboard replicas made of empty wine boxes. An old man looks enviously at a little boy who got a bandoneon as a family heirloom. Shot with a handheld camera, the film is an intimate voyage leading from a tango venue in Buenos Aires to a rodeo festival in the northwest Andes. Along the way, there’s a sidestep to the German town of Carlsfeld, where the roots of the bandoneon lie in a factory closed down years ago by the East German police. Archive footage shows how the instrument made its way in the 19th century from European churches to Argentine nightclubs.

The Netherlands, 2011 DCP, color, 74 min Director: Jiska Rickels Photography: Martijn van Broekhuizen Screenplay: Jiska Rickels Editing: Srdjan Fink, Michiel Reichwein Sound: Rik Meier Production: Niek Koppen & Jan de Ruiter for Selfmade Films, Marc Nelissen for NTVF Producties World Sales: Selfmade Films Screening Copy: Selfmade Films Involved TV Channel: AVRO

Jiska Rickels:

Götterdämmerung (2002) Untertage (2003) Himmelfilm (2004) Electriek (2004) Memory Maps (2007) Babaji, an Indian Love Story (2009)

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

When I Was Dead Retourtje hiernamaals Maasja Ooms, Ingrid Wender

WORLD PREMIERE

Life flashing by before your eyes, bright light, seeing yourself lying dead, indescribable colors: people who have a near-death experience often return with extraordinary stories. In the words of Koos, who almost died in a traffic accident, “I think I know heaven exists, because I think I’ve been there.” For Koos, his visit to the other side was a warm, positive experience. And after all, he came back. But as we see in this documentary, life is almost never the same again for those who have been there. The filmmakers invite three people to talk about their near-death experience and the impact it has had on their lives. They tell their stories seated in front of a blank wall; nothing can distract the viewer from the emotional impact of their stories. We also observe them as they go about their daily business. These subtle moments show in what ways and to what extent their lives have changed for good. Frankly, plainly, but not without emotion, three Dutch people tell their extraordinary tales.

92

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 60 min

Maasja Ooms & Aliona van der Horst:

Director: Maasja Ooms, Ingrid Wender Photography: Maasja Ooms Screenplay: Ingrid Wender Editing: Maasja Ooms Sound: Ingrid Wender Production: Frank van den Engel for Zeppers Film & TV Executive Production: Willemijn Cerutti for Zeppers Film & TV World Sales: First Hand Films Screening Copy: Zeppers Film & TV Involved TV Channel: IKON

Ingrid Wender:

Voices of Bam (2005) directing debut

Competition programs IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary Fifteen documentaries about the environment, sustainability and biodiversity are competing for the IDFA Award for Best Green Screen Documentary, which is awarded to the film that most creatively elucidates the issue of interaction between people and the environment.

A five-member international jury will evaluate the films, choose three of them, and select a winner from these. The IDFA Award for Best Green Screen Documentary consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of â‚Ź2,500.

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Bhopali

Van Maximilian Carlson INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE The Indian city of Bhopal was the site of the biggest industrial catastrophe in history, the leak at the Union Carbide factory on the night of December 2, 1984. The mixture of toxic gases escaping from the building took the lives of thousands of people and caused grave and chronic health problems for hundreds of thousands more. That’s the history, but this documentary shows that the disaster isn’t over yet. The polluted site has never been properly cleaned up, so about 30,000 people continue to drink contaminated water. Sidesh is one of the many children in Bhopal with congenital defects or diseases. The people at the Chingari Rehabilitation Center are trying to take care of them, but with their limited means this is no easy task. Sanjay Verma, who was six months old at the time of the disaster and lost almost his entire family, has been fighting a relentless battle to force Dow Chemical (the group that took over Union Carbide) to take responsibility for the tragedy. But the Indian government now categorically denies that any chemical contamination exists, while Warren Anderson, former CEO of Union Carbide, is enjoying his retirement. The protest organized by the people of Bhopal on the 25th anniversary of the disaster shows that the problem is still as urgent as ever.

USA, 2011 HD, color, 80 min Director: Van Maximilian Carlson Photography: Van Maximilian Carlson Editing: Van Maximilian Carlson Sound: Van Maximilian Carlson Music: Takeshi Furukawa, Henning Lohner Production: Van Maximilian Carlson & Kirk Palayan for Oddbox Films World Sales: Oddbox Films Screening Copy: Oddbox Films Website: www.bhopalithemovie.com

Maximilliam Carlson:

Barstow (2003) Ninth November Night (2004) Dissociative (2008)

www.maxcarlsonfilms.com Awards: Grand Jury Award Best Documentary & Audience Award Slamdance Film Festival, Best Documentary Award New York Indian Film Festival, Best Documentary Award & Best Director Los Angeles International Film Festival, Best Documentary Special Jury Award Beverly Hills Film Festival, Best Documentary Award San Francisco United Film Festival

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Bitter Seeds Micha X. Peled

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Manjusha Amberwar hopes to get her first article published in the local paper. Taking her first step as a journalist is not easy for the village girl, whose entire family opposes her ambition, and the topic of her article provides even less reason for joy. Her father was one of the many Indian cotton farmers who have committed suicide. She hopes that by drawing attention to their plight, she can bring an end to this epidemic, but it won’t be easy. Many farmers switched to genetically modified seeds produced by the American company Monsanto, and the drawbacks proved to be manifold. In contrast to the supposed benefits, the costs for fertilizer and pesticides turned out to be far higher than before.

What’s more, the seeds require more water, and the farmers are rain-dependent in an arid area, so they rarely grow a large crop. Bitter Seeds is the third part of a trilogy by director Micha Peled about globalization. The first two parts were Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town (2001) and China Blue (2007). In addition to Amberwar, Peled follows a farmer who is battling to keep his few acres of land. As in his previous films, he once again gives a human face to the victims of opportunistic multinationals. His own opinion isn’t difficult to guess, but by simply allowing his subjects to tell their stories and without laying the sentiment on too thick, he leaves the final judgment in the hands of the viewer.

94

USA, India, 2011 HD, color, 87 min Director: Micha X. Peled Photography: Devendra Golatkar Editing: Leonard Feinstein Sound: Kaamod Kharade Music: Frank Illman Production: Micha X. Peled for Teddy Bear Films Executive Production: Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS International World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: Teddy Bear Films Involved TV Channel: PBS

Micha X. Peled:

Will My Mother Go Back to Berlin? (1992) Inside God’s Bunker (1994) Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town (2001) China Blue (2005)

Micha X. Peled & George Khleifi: You, Me, Jerusalem (1996)

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle Robbie Gemmel, John Kirby

USA, 2011 HD, color, 86 min

Robbie Gemmel:

Director: Robbie Gemmel, John Kirby Photography: Daniel Coffin, Robbie Gemmel Editing: Daniel Coffin, John Kirby Music: Bob Klein, Vickie Yang Production: Daniel Coffin for Rebirth Productions, Inc., Libby Handros for The Press and the Public Project, Inc., Josh Levin for Gallant Films Executive Production: Jim Butterworth Screening Copy: The Press and the Public Project, Inc. Website: www.capespin.com

The American Rulling Class (2005)

directing debut

John Kirby:

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

In 2001, the proposal was made for the Cape Wind Project, America’s first large-scale offshore wind farm, in the state of Massachusetts. The intended location is Nantucket Sound, an area where the rich and famous spend their vacations. This green project meets massive resistance and is transformed into a huge case that lobbyists are so heavily involved in that it becomes unclear what the real issues are. John Kirby and Robbie Gemmel show the many supporters and opponents who have involved themselves in the project over the last decade. Using fast-paced cuts, they present a large amount of information. Increasingly, it’s less about the project than the power struggles themselves – although it ultimately proves impossible to get a handle on them. Even interested journalists seem unable to figure out what they’re dealing with.

“It’s about dinner parties, not political parties,” explains one of them. As an aid to the viewer, Kirby and Gemmel use icons to indicate who is for and who is against. Their use of old-fashioned music and black-and-white film give a twist of irony to this serious state of affairs. And although they are careful not to choose sides, they do hint at an interesting alternative.

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist Peter Jay Brown

USA, 2011 video, color, 85 min Director: Peter Jay Brown Photography: Jonathan David Cane, Daniel Fernández, Timothy Gorski, James Joyner Screenplay: Timothy Wade Huntley Editing: Chris Hume, Timothy Wade Huntley Production: Martin Kistler, Ron Moler Co-Production: Kelsey Stevens Executive Production: Leo David, Robert Holden, Lawrence Mortoff World Sales: The Little Film Company Screening Copy: The Little Film Company Website: www.confessionsfilm.com

Peter Jay Brown: directing debut

“People are always asking: do we bluff most of the time, or all of the time? I answer: we win most of the time, and that’s what matters,” says filmmaker Peter Brown, who fought alongside former Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson for over 30 years against whale hunters, seal killers, and fish poachers. In Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist, he offers a humorous glimpse behind the scenes at Watson’s Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the members of which turn out to be expert media manipulators. This is demonstrated by the way Brown put together his ironic film as an action flick full of eccentric figures, with suggestively edited images and thrilling music, sound effects, animations, archive footage from TV, and a smooth voice-over shooting one-liners like “one pissed-off vegan is worth a bunker full of AK47s.” They want to achieve their goal of saving all sea animals – by any means necessary. So they’re on the scene when men are fishing for cod illegally in the Canadian Grand Banks, and at the traditional annual slaughtering of whales on the Danish Faroe Islands. They provoke Indian whale hunters and confront a Norwegian Navy frigate that is firing live ammunition. “While Greenpeace waves signs and yells, we actually stop environmental bad guys right in the act.”

95

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

The Hungry Tide Tom Zubrycki

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE As part of her work for a non-government organization, Maria Tiimon, who lives in Australia, promotes awareness of the consequences of climate change. “People experience the impacts of global warming but they don’t know what causes it,” she explains. It turns that global warming also affects Maria personally: she was born in Kiribati, which scientists believe will be one of the first countries to disappear beneath the waves as a result of global warming. Its population of 105,000 lives six feet above sea level, and scattered over 33 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Kiribati is steadily being swallowed up by the rising sea level; trees, roads, whole villages are disappearing beneath the waves. Mass migration seems to be the only long-term solution. In 2009, while preparing for the climate conference in Copenhagen, Maria receives some bad news from home: her father is gravely ill. Zubrycki follows Maria during a long period in which there is a lot at stake for her, both in personal and professional terms. The filmmaker watches Maria’s transformation from a shy young woman into a powerful lady who doesn’t hesitate to push her urgent cause in front of his camera. Through Maria’s story, Zubrycki tackles a theme that in time will affect many people all over the world.

Australia, 2011 HD, color, 89 min Director: Tom Zubrycki Photography: Nicola Daley, Tom Zubrycki Editing: Ray Thomas Sound: Tom Zubrycki Music: Jan Preston Narration: Tom Zubrycki Narrator: Tom Zubrycki Production: Tom Zubrycki for Jotz Productions World Sales: Jotz Productions Screening Copy: Jotz Productions Website: www.thehungrytide.com.au

Tom Zubrycki:

Waterloo (1981), Kemira – Diary of a Strike (1984), Friends & Enemies (1987), Amongst Equels (1990), Lord of the Bush (1990), Bran Nue Dae (1991), Homelands (1993), Billal (1996), The Diplomat (2000), The Secret Safari (2001), Molly & Mobarak (2003), Vietnam Symphony (2005), Temple of Dreams (2007)

Tom Zubrycki & Gil Scrine: Strangers in Paradise (1989)

www.tomzubrycki.com

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

The Island President Jon Shenk

EUROPEAN PREMIERE Since Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed became the first freely elected president of the Maldives in 2008, following a peaceful revolution, he has made it his goal to get the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions on the global agenda. And the situation is serious, because the nearly 2,000 Maldive islands are being engulfed by the sea at an alarming rate. Nasheed spent 18 months in solitary confinement during his country’s 30-year dictatorship, and he isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty. This documentary follows the amiable and invariably upbeat president in the months leading up to the 2009 UN climate conference in Copenhagen. We watch as Anni pulls off one playful publicity stunt after another, even holding his first cabinet meeting underwater. And he lobbies to the point of exhaustion in efforts to ensure a good deal in Copenhagen.

His aim? To drive back CO2 emissions to 350 parts per million. His greatest opponents?

China and India. With its nerve-racking negotiations, ad hoc compromises, and attempts to placate discontented supporters, the film unfolds like a Hollywood movie, leading us inexorably towards the climax. Nasheed’s mission gains momentum with the aid of inspired camera work and a powerful soundtrack from Stars of the Lid and Radiohead.

96

USA, 2011 HD, color, 100 min Director: Jon Shenk Photography: Jon Shenk Editing: Pedro Kos Sound: Lincoln Else Music: Radiohead Stars of the Lid Production: Richard Berge & Bonni Cohen for Actual Films Executive Production: Jon Else World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: Actual Films Involved TV Channel: PBS International Website: www.theislandpresident.com

Jon Shenk:

The Beginning (1999) Lost Boys of Sudan (2004) The New Heroes (2005)

Jon Shenk & Tamara Gould:

Democracy Afghan Style (2004)

Awards: Peoples Choice Award Toronto International Film Festival

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

LoveMEATender Manu Coeman

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Belgium, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 52 min

Manu Coeman: directing debut

Director: Manu Coeman Photography: David van Berg, Sacha Wiernik Editing: Gert Van Berckelaer Production: Arnauld de Battice & Ives Swennen for AT Productions World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: CAT&Docs Involved TV Channel: RTBF

Meat production increases every year, but many people still have no idea what’s on their plate or what it has taken to get it there. “We eat meat, but killing animals doesn’t really happen,” says philosopher Florence Burgat. She is one of the many experts who have their say in director Manu Coeman’s fierce indictment of the industrialized meat industry.

LoveMEATender is packed with facts and figures, particularly in the first half, presented through clear comparisons and playful animations. The objective is to demonstrate the consequences of our excessive meat consumption: for the animals, for the earth, but also for our own bodies. Even people with very tough skin will have to swallow hard when seeing some of Coeman’s shots. Chicks that are chucked down a funnel with a thud, floundering cows at a slaughterhouse, geese having food violently forced down their throats. Yet at the same time, LoveMEATender isn’t a pessimistic film. Coeman’s approach is hopeful, and he also shows us how things could be done differently.

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Nuclear Savage Adam Jonas Horowitz

WORLD PREMIERE

USA, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 87 min Director: Adam Jonas Horowitz Photography: Adam Jonas Horowitz Screenplay: Adam Jonas Horowitz Editing: Adam Jonas Horowitz Music: Richard Einhorn Production: Adam Jonas Horowitz for Primordial Soup Company Screening Copy: Primordial Soup Company

Adam Jonas Horowitz:

Home on the Range (1989) Art Liberates (2004)

Adam Jonas Horowitz first set foot on the Marshall Islands in 1986 when he made his first film Home on the Range, (shown at IDFA in 1991). Returning to the islands in 1990, as an activist on the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior. He was extremely unsettled by what he found there, in this former American colony in the Pacific Ocean. Radioactive coconuts, leaking nuclear waste repositories and densely populated slums – because many of these islands are now uninhabitable. In the 1950s, the United States government carried out a whole series of nuclear tests here, in preparation for the envisaged long nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union. To this day, American authorities express their gratitude in official statements to the contribution made by the Micronesians to U.S. national security, world peace and democracy, although the reality of the situation is far more cynical.

With an overwhelming commitment that betrays his activist roots Horowitz returned to the Marshall Islands 20 years after his Greenpeace days to tell the full story of nuclear destruction and human experimentation in paradise: the burns caused by the Bravo hydrogen bomb – a thousand times more powerful than Hiroshima – in 1954; the children born on the most polluted island, Rongelap, with horrific birth defects, and the stubborn American denials that they deliberately returned the population to Rongelap in 1957, to see how the human body would cope with massive levels of nuclear radiation.

97

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Off the Grid Alexander Oey

WORLD PREMIERE The United States is struggling with a serious recession and the global financial system has been shaken to its foundations, but it’s not like the Americans to throw in the towel. In this road movie, the filmmaker visits some of the places in the United States where people are experimenting with small-scale projects. The town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts has introduced a new currency. It works well when paying for local products, but the bicycle repair man realizes that he has become very dependent on Chinese imports. In the Texan capital of Austin, an independent radio personality gets inspiration from the spirit of the Wild West. He encourages his audience to oppose the federal government and megalomaniac corporations such as Walmart, which suck tight-knit communities dry and turn them into ghost towns. The people of Colorado Springs traditionally distrust the government, but their aversion to paying taxes turns out to have a negative effect on the collective facilities – who will take care of the parks when the private sector runs out of money? We also witness various symptoms of the recession, such as the removal of asphalt from roads, the destruction of empty buildings, and the encampments for the homeless around the big cities.

The Netherlands, 2011 video, color, 75 min Director: Alexander Oey Photography: Jackó van ‘t Hof Editing: Chris van Oers, Alexander Oey Production: Bruno Felix & Femke Wolting for Submarine Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: Submarine Involved TV Channel: BOS

Alexander Oey:

The Sound of Progress (1988), Einde van de kunst (1994), Snack Art (1997), On the Edge (1997), Jeff Wall (1999), The End of Ego (2000), Eén land twee koersen (2000), Horst Mahler (2000) Brave New World (2001), Het mysterie van het bestaan (2003), Bijlmer: The Rough Guide (2003), Wakker worden (2004), Bruto nationaal geluk I en II (2004), Hans-Joachim Klein: My Life as a Terrorist (2005), There Is No Authority but Yourself, (2006), Onderhandelen met Al-Qaeda?

(2006), Post Secular Society (2008), Advocaat van de duivel (2009), a.o.

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Peak

Hannes Lang INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE The Alps are an ancient region of natural beauty that is changing as a result of climate change. Since the turn of the century, one can no longer automatically assume that there will be thick snow cover on every peak at every ski resort. This film shows us how the tourist industry is dealing with the problem. Tens of millions of euros are being invested to create high-altitude water reservoirs to replace the melting glaciers.

Peak switches back and forth from atmospheric, observational shots, breathtaking landscapes, and detached recordings of the work going on to the explanations and speculations of contractors and local residents. The older people have witnessed a shift in the function of the area, with tourism supplanting agriculture, and the exodus of younger people from the picturesque villages where only aging populations remain. A long, continuous shot of a man’s back as he walks around the deserted, off-season ski resort triggers thoughts of a cowboy in a Wild West ghost town. An elderly woman is skeptical about the contemporary assumption that everything is makeable. Human arrogance is leading us into destroying something that can only be rectified with immense ingenuity, and this will destroy something else, and so on. A never-ending story taking place in the Alps, but with paralells worldwide.

98

Germany, Italy, 2011 DCP, color, 91 min

Hannes Lang:

Director: Hannes Lang Photography: Thilo Schmidt, Hajo Schomerus Screenplay: Hannes Lang, Mareike Wegener Editing: Stefan Stabenow Sound: Peter Rösner Production: Titus Kreyenberg for unafilm Co-Production: Movimento Film Screening Copy: unafilm Involved TV Channel: ZDF

Awards: Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize DOK Leipzig

directing debut

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Raising Resistance David Bernet, Bettina Borgfeld

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Germany, Switzerland, 2011 DCP, color, 84 min

Bettina Borgfield:

Director: David Bernet, Bettina Borgfeld Photography: Boerres Weiffenbach, Marcus Winterbauer Screenplay: David Bernet, Bettina Borgfeld Editing: Inge Schneider Sound: Joerg Kidrowski, Maximilian Pellnitz, Mauricio Wells Music: Ali N. Askin Production: Oliver Stoltz for Dreamer Joint Venture Co-Production: Maximage Gmbh, Pandora Film World Sales: Dreamer Joint Venture Screening Copy: Dreamer Joint Venture Involved TV Channels: WDR, ARTE

Shooting Under Fire (2004)

Doctors without Borders (2011)

Bettina Borgfeld & Sacha Mirzoeff: David Bernet:

The Wispherers (2005) Jew by Choice (2007)

Awards: SRG SSR Award Best Swiss Film Visions du Réel in Nyon Pitched at the Forum 2007

The ground in Paraguay is perfect for the cultivation of soy. In recent years, countless acres of forest have been chopped down to make room for the growing of this proteinrich bean. The land of a farmer named Geronimo is now completely surrounded by soy plantations. These are generously sprayed with pesticides – poison that only the genetically modified soy plants are immune to. Unfortunately, the pesticides spread farther than the boundaries of the soy fields. So not only is there less and less land for the campesinos, or local farmers like Geronimo, but it also becomes impossible for them to cultivate healthy crops themselves. In Raising Resistance, Bettina Borgfeld and David Bernet capture the campesinos as they revolt against the enormous soy business in their country. Led by the ever-friendly Geronimo, they squat a section of farmland, try to stop the spraying of pesticides, and make their voices heard in the media. The filmmakers also give the floor to the large landowners.

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Red Forest Hotel Mika Koskinen

WORLD PREMIERE

Finland, 2011 DCP, color, 87 min Director: Mika Koskinen Photography: Mika Mattila Editing: Kauko Lindfors Sound: Janne Laine Narration: Mika Koskinen Narrator: Jason Marshall Production: Mika Koskinen, Risto Rumpunen Co-Production: Luxian Productions Screening Copy: Finnish Film Foundation Involved TV Channels: SVT, NRK, YLE Website: www.redforesthotelthemovie.com

Mike Koskinen:

White Panda (1999) Zhang’s Diner (2004) Facing Changes (2008)

Pitched at the Forum 2010

In rural China, farmers are intimidated into relinquishing their land for tree plantations.

The Finnish-Swedish company Stora Enso is planting water-guzzling eucalyptus trees for a pulp and paper factory that is due to be built. Finnish filmmaker Mika Koskinen travels to the affected region in Southern China to talk with the farmers, only to find himself in an absurd situation where friendly propaganda officers want to provide “impartial and objective information from the government.” One of their pieces of advice for him is to take a vacation at the seaside. Meanwhile, the people with whom he wanted to make contact are arrested or “given a holiday.” The director himself is more or less confined to the Red Forest Hotel, hopelessly waiting for authorization to film in the affected villages.

Some brave and desperate farmers try to make contact with the filmmaker, but the film project is obstructed at every turn. There is nothing to do but give up. A year later, he tries once again to find out what is taking place in the Chinese countryside. The film offers some fascinating insights into China’s “new green politics” in a globalized economy. Can companies co-operate with authoritarian states while respecting local people’s rights, or are these problems inherent in the current economic order? Some thought-provoking answers are provided by the ethnic Pumi people, who have guarded the ancient trees of Southern China for centuries.

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IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Semper Fi: Always Faithful Tony Hardmon, Rachel Libert

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE The motto of the American Marine Corps is “Semper Fi,” or “Always Faithful.” But is this credo being lived up to? Veteran Master Sergeant Jerry Esminger lived for many years on Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. When his small daughter died of leukemia in the 1980s, it first appeared to be a terrible twist of fate. But later, Esminger discovered that chemicals had been seeping into the drinking water at Camp Lejeune for years, and that many other people had lost children or had been stricken with rare forms of cancer. He decides to seek compensation from his former employer, but stumbles upon an unprecedented cover-up. In a style worthy of Erin Brockovich, Esminger puts all his energy into getting to the bottom of one of the biggest water pollution scandals in American history. Over a period of three years, we follow him and others who have suffered, as he attempts to get the military organization that he faithfully served for 25 years to take responsibility. Directors Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon show the resolute determination of Esminger and his small band of comrades, as well as the high price that they pay.

USA, 2011 HD, color, 76 min

Tony Hardmon:

Director: Tony Hardmon, Rachel Libert Photography: Tony Hardmon Editing: Purcell Carson Music: Ivor Guest Production: Tony Hardmon, Rachel Libert for Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc., Jedd Wider, Todd Wider Executive Production: Wendy Ettinger & Judith Helfand & Julie Parker Benello for Chicken & Egg Pictures World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc. Website: www.semperfialwaysfaithful.com

Undertaker (1996) Kool Breeze (1997) Beyond Conviction (2006) Boomtown (2011)

directing debut

Rachel Libert:

Awards: Best Editing Award Tribeca Film Festival, Best Documentary Award & Audience Award Woodstock Film Festival, Special Founders Prize Traverse City Film Festival, Best Documentary Award San Diego Film Festival

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Surviving Progress Harold Crooks, Mathieu Roy

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE What is progress? Does progress by definition mean improvement? Are our brains equipped to keep up with the rapid technological changes in recent centuries? Is it possible to continue growing at the same rate forever? Or will the catchwords of the coming decades be austerity, shrinkage, and non-consumerism? Scientists, philosophers and cultural critics tackle these questions in this elaborate docu-essay based on A Short History of Progress (2004) by the Canadian publicist Ronald Wright. Wright’s central thesis is that we are caught in a “progress trap,” where technological innovations succeed one another so rapidly that our footprint is threatening to become too large.

What’s more, the world population has grown significantly since World War II, and the fall of communism has lifted economic growth to the status of mono-ideology. Wright, who makes a comparison with the catastrophe on Easter Island, believes that this is set to create a cocktail that will poison us if we do not temper our consumption. In this fast-paced and visually appealing account, Wright’s ideas find support among eminent figures such as environmental activist Margaret Atwood, primatologist Jane Goodall, and biologist David Suzuki – whose own web documentary The Test Tube compared our planet with a test tube that could reach capacity at any moment.

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Canada, 2011 DCP, color, 87 min

Harold Crooks:

Director: Harold Crooks, Mathieu Roy Photography: Mario Janelle Editing: Louis Martin Paradis Production: Daniel Louis & Denise Robert for Cinémaginaire, Gerry Flahive for National Film Board of Canada Executive Production: Mark Achbar & Betsy Carson for Big Picture Media Corporation, Silva Basmajian for National Film Board of Canada, Martin Scorsese, Emma Tillinger Koskoff World Sales/Screening Copy: National Film Board of Canada

François Girard’s Three-Act Journey (2005) Mort à Venise: Un voyage musical avec Louis Lortie (2009)

directing debut

Mathieu Roy:

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Sushi: The Global Catch Mark S. Hall

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

USA, 2011 HD, color, 75 min

Mark S. Hall:

Director: Mark S. Hall Photography: Jason Faust, Matt Franklin, Kazu Furuya Editing: Sandra Adair, Catie Cacci Music: Brian Satterwhite Production: Mark S. Hall for Sakana Film Productions World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: CAT&Docs Website: www.sushitheglobalcatch.com

Awards: Special Jury Award Seattle International Film Festival

Mission on Seven (2010)

In Japan, they are surprised by the worldwide popularity of sushi, and in particular the speed with which this popularity has spread around the world. In coming years, for example, 50 million new Chinese sushi eaters will pick up the trend. But countries such as Russia and Brazil are also growth markets for this Japanese specialty, which was once considered simple street food. The popularity has a price: the Chinese demand alone is now a threat to the bluefin tuna species. In just over 50 years, stocks of this species of tuna have sunk to just 10 percent of what they were. How long will we be able to continue this trend? How successful can aquaculture and “sustainable sushi” be? How can we retain the rapidly disappearing traditional techniques for the processing, cutting and preparing of sushi in Japan? Will there still be work in a few years time for the “tuna doctor,” who selects a tuna for purchase at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market every 17 seconds? The consequences of our desire for sushi are made plain with an informative, whirlwind tour of the globe; a camera that is as attracted to sushi as we are shows us exactly what the unintended consequences of our hunger will be. It also leaves us craving even more of the stuff.

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Vrij Nederland is partner van IDFA Kiest u ook voor inhoud?

Lang leve de inhoud is het motto van Vrij Nederland. Een motto dat naadloos aansluit bij het International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Ga nu naar www.vn.nl of bel 0800-0220660 en ontvang 12 weken Vrij Nederland in de bus voor maar 15 euro. En de VN-app voor iPad is gratis voor VN-abonnees

NTR op IDFA Paradiso ode aan een poptempel Painful Painting portret schilder Ronald Ophuis Kyteman - Now What?

Kyteman zoekt nieuwe koers Ballroom Dancer drama op de dansvloer Mama Africa over zangeres Miriam Makeba Hold on Tight - De Dijk muzikale vriendschap overwint

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Competition programs IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary In collaboration with International Music+Film Festival PLAY, the new festival at the Amsterdam cultural center De Melkweg, IDFA is presenting a new competition for international music documentaries.

Seventeen documentaries are competing for the IDFA PLAY Award for Best Music Documentary. A five-member international jury will evaluate the films, choose three of them, and select a winner from these. The IDFA PLAY Award for Best Music Documentary consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of â‚Ź2,500. The competition is supported by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

IDFA Music Documentary IDFAPLAY PLAYCompetition Competitionfor for Music Documentary

Making the musical experience tangible

New competition demonstrates a deep connection between music and film Seventeen recent international films are vying for the award in the IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary, which IDFA is organizing this year for the first time, together with International Music+Film Festival PLAY. The documentary genre perhaps most closely approximates a musical experience. By Jaïr Tchong Anyone who wants to try their hand at the tricky music documentary genre after seeing This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Rob Reiner’s legendary “mockumentary” about the fictional hard-rock band Spinal Tap, had better be pretty sure-footed. How can any innovative filmmaker hope to avoid the deathly clichés associated with the genre? The vacuous radio interview; the fellow musicians congratulating one another; the grumbles about a negative review; the tour-bus squabble (with its flipside, the tour-bus euphoria); the rip-off deal; failure in a half empty hall (with its flipside, success in a packed festival tent!); the mundane booking office that no visual trickery will ever make look spectacular; and, let us not forget, the smashing of guitars onstage.

Reiner kicks where it hurts, but his brilliant parody is of course directed, very rhetorically, at only the worst examples of the music documentary genre. In fact, the medium of film is perhaps far more suited to conveying the musical experience than the prescriptive mold of language. It has been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, and one might add that capturing music

Utopia Ltd.

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on film gets you much closer to its essence. Language is simply not equipped for the job, because it appeals too much to the rational mind. The indecipherability of many works of film theory is at least equaled by garbled CD liner notes and the forced attempts by many (though not all, it must be said) music critics to objectify the live concert experience.

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

Film’s associative power makes it eminently suitable for making the musical experience tangible. The best editing is often itself musical, typically developing along a strong rhythmical line, as witnessed by the superb editing for When We Were Kings (Leon Gast, 1996). Muhammad Ali’s flow is edited to such infectiously powerful effect that the viewer spontaneously starts to dance along with it. It may be a nonfiction film about the legendary boxing match in Zaire (currently the Democratic Republic of the Congo) between Ali and George Foreman, but When We Were Kings could as easily be seen as an extended classic rap. Seldom had there been so much music in non-fiction.

The best films in the competition for best music documentary seem to effortlessly bear witness to this deep connection running between music and film. This competition is something new at IDFA, which is organizing it in collaboration with PLAY, the new festival at the Melkweg cultural center. Seventeen recent international documentaries will be screened, all of which endeavor to capture the musical experience on film. So, the question is, are there genre-specific characteristics that allow us to classify these music documentaries?

Having watched all 17 films in the competition, I’d say there probably are. There’s one particular division that offers itself immediately: if we focus on specific genres, the field immediately splits between two poles: the pop music film and the jazz/world/classical music film. Those falling under the latter category tend to explore social context and historical interpretation. These two elements are far less important to the pop film, which is more likely to be carried along by fascinating anecdotes and recurrent hyperbole. Just like the best pop music itself, pop music films are driven primarily by jolts of energy. Take the example of singer-songwriter Otto Wichers in David Kleywegt’s The Ballad of Lucky Fonz III during the Dutch pop festival Into the Great Wide Open, or the triumph of the young Dutch rock group DeWolff; it’s all but impossible to sit still. And the same goes for 1000 Robota, a young German new wave group brought

IDFAPLAY PLAY Competition Competition for Music Documentary Documentary IDFA

effectively to the screen by Sandra Trostel in Utopia Ltd., which shows their struggle with the eternal dilemma of choosing between staying underground or going mainstream.

The best editing is often itself musical.

In Jeroen Berkvens’s long-awaited documentary on Amsterdam’s Paradiso, the legendary rock venue in a former church, he manages to avoid the anecdotalist trap. Deploying the religious metaphor that no writing journalist would dare use because of the “Paradiso, pop temple” cliché, Berkvens sets the tone from the outset with a masterful opening sequence: this is not a pop venue; this is sacred ground where the audience is seeking a religious experience.

Berkvens made a name for himself with wonderful films about the troubled musical lives of Nick Drake and Jimmy Rosenberg. He affords Paradiso a visual grandeur that bears a resemblance to the Nick Drake film in particular. In so doing, he makes it seem plausible that the uplifting, spiritual musical experience is intrinsically bound up with the building itself.

The world-music film, if such a thing exists, benefits from more context, and it more frequently seeks it out. The viewer learns more about Algeria, Haiti, and South Africa from El Gusto, When the Drum Is Beating, and Mama Africa than from a standard newspaper article.

At first it is difficult to see past the “Buena Vista Social Club frame” into which they initially seem to fit. The way in which Wim Wenders and Sonia Herman Dolz brought the elderly music cultures of Cuba to the screen have clearly left their mark. But to dismiss them on this basis would be an injustice to a carefully researched film such as When the Drum Is Beating. In this portrait of local heroes who’ve been around for six decades, director and producer Whitney Dow succeeds in fluidly connecting the anecdotally inclined band with the historical and sociopolitical context of Haiti – is there another island in the world that has been plagued by so much apocalyptic distress?

At some of the most heartrending moments in this film it feels like there’s a blunt blade scraping across your soul. In a dystopian environment such as this, music and dance have rather different connotations to those encountered here in the West.

And the same applies, more or less, to El Gusto by Safinez Bousbia, who once again recalls Buena Vista Social Club, but now placing it in the Algerian context. Ostensibly by chance, Bousbia crosses paths with a lively music culture known as chaabi. In its acoustic, orchestral form, it underwent serious decline in the years of political repression. In its contemporary, popular form, as played by groups such as Rachid Taha and Watchaclan, one can still detect traces of the authentic original.

But it is the primary version that Bousbia chooses to focus on. He even manages to get one of the original ensembles back together and they

conquer Algiers, Marseille and Paris. The triumphant concert scenes this produces are even more poignant when one is fully aware of the political aggression meted out on chaabi over the course of many years. Culture is the first to perish under a pernicious regime.

Besides the advance of animation, it is easy to detect another trend: the increasing use of the so-called “Ken Burns Effect.” This technique of panning over static photo material to suggest greater movement in the absence of moving images has been used before, but it was only attributed to documentary filmmaker Ken Burns with the release of the eponymous Mac application. In Bob and the Monster, about the rise, fall and resurrection of the front man of the American rock group Thelonious Monster, there is an animation scene that perfectly captures the drug experience, almost making it appealing.

Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah focuses on the flawed existence of the American redneck singer-songwriter Blaze Foley. It contains several animated scenes that serve the film well, and they make an elegant alternative to awkward scenes of a personality going off the rails.

Compare that with Don Argott’s Last Days Here and its in-your-face scenes of the complete and utter deterioration of heavy metal band Pentagram’s lead singer Bobby Liebling. Not a pretty sight.

The world music film, if such a thing exists, benefits from more context.

Ultimately, though, does a good music film say anything about the intrinsic value of the musician it takes as its subject? Yes, absolutely!

Kyteman. Now What? is a close-up portrait of Colin Benders/Kyteman and the founding of his artistic idyll Kytopia. The film contains some gems of statements from this country’s most talked-about musical phenomenon of our time. It’s brilliant to see Colin Benders on the heath land near Apeldoorn at the remote former broadcast station Radio Kootwijk, or in the hollow of a sand dune at the Oerol Festival, ranting: “A line of strings there! And a line of brass over there!” He explains what he needs just one last time to a frowning producer: “A chill-out room, 15 donkeys, and a big stack of canvasses.” That’s all.

“Do we want an esthetic society, or do we want mass psychosis?” asks an impassioned Kyteman a little later in this marvelous film by Menna Laura Meijers. That question still resonated in the mind of this viewer a long time after seeing Kyteman. Now What?

Jaïr Tchong is Project Manager world music at Music Center the Netherlands

Beneficiary IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

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IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Anda Union – From the Steppes to the City Sophie Lascelles, Tim Pearce, Marc Tiley

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

The musicians that make up the Anda Union are from the six-million-strong Mongolian community in China. They decided to go on a search for the roots of the music they make. The result is a touching road movie that has the band members taking a month to travel 10,000 kilometers across the vast steppes of Inner Mongolia.

Along the way, they visit family members whom they have not seen for many years and perform lively concerts for a wildly enthusiastic audience. The camera is there when an instrument builder meticulously carves a flute from wood, when cheese is being made in a nomad tent according to a local recipe, and when the drink flows freely deep into the night. Just before they depart, the mother of one of the band members tells him how proud she is because he is doing so much for the traditions.

This film is hardly a lamentation for lost ancient traditions, because the old and the new blend together perfectly. More than anything, it is a tribute to the musicians and their contemporary interpretations of traditional Mongolian music.

UK, 2011 HD, color, 93 min

Sophie Lascelles:

Director: Sophie Lascelles, Tim Pearce, Marc Tiley Photography: Ula Pontikos Editing: Richard Graham Sound: Tom Williams Music: Anda Union Production: Sophie Lascelles & Tim Pearce for Eye 4 FIlms Executive Production: Suzanne Alizart for EM Media Screening Copy: Eye 4 FIlms Website: www.andafilm.com

directing debut

directing debut

Marc Tiley:

Tim Pearce:

directing debut

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

The Ballad of Lucky Fonz III De ballade van Lucky Fonz III David Kleijwegt

WORLD PREMIERE

Since he was two years old, modern-day troubadour and singer-songwriter Otto Wichers has spent all his summers on the island of Vlieland in the north of the Netherlands. When he was a kid, his parents took them there on vacation, and as a teenager he cleaned toilets at the local campsite. That was also where he performed as Lucky Fonz III for the first time. After winning a slew of awards and having a Top 5-hit with “Ik heb een meisje” (I got a girl), he returns to the island for a performance at the Into the Great Wide Open Pop Festival. “Lucky Fonz, that’s just me without all the boring stuff and with the fun stuff in Technicolor. That’s how I see it.” Wichers reflects on the growth of his career as Lucky Fonz III with documentary filmmaker David Kleijwegt. As the title of this documentary suggests, their somewhat sarcastic conversation is intercut with musical intermezzos of Wichers’s intimate and comically melancholic songs. This contemporary troubadour addresses the joy of singing and what fame means to him: “Sometimes people ask me whether being famous has bothered me. I tell them I’ve actually been suffering from a lack of fame for the past 26 years.”

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The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 46 min Director: David Kleijwegt Photography: Jacques Laureys Screenplay: David Kleijwegt Editing: Govert Janse Sound: Wouter Veldhuis Music: Otto Wichers Production: Nellie Kamer for VPRO Screening Copy: VPRO Involved TV Channel: VPRO

David Kleijwegt:

The Eternal Children (2006) Low – You May Need a Murderer (2008) The Owl in Daylight – Philip K. Dick Is Here (2010) Arnon Grunberg: ‘heb je nog steeds vrienden?’ (2011)

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest Michael Rapaport

USA, 2011 video, color, 98 min

Michael Rapaport:

Director: Michael Rapaport Photography: Roberto Benavides Editing: Lenny Mesina Production: Edward Parks for Rival Pictures World Sales: Autlook Filmsales Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: Autlook Filmsales

Awards: Audience Award Best Documentary Feature Los Angeles Film Festival

directing debut

A Tribe Called Quest is considered to be one of the most influential and innovative bands in hip-hop history. The group was founded in 1985 by four classmates from Queens.

Michael Rapaport started filming the group on their 2008 concert tour, 10 years after the band members had suddenly decided to go their separate ways. Although they have occasionally performed since 2004, there has been no new album since 1998. Behind the scenes, old resentments soon bubble to the surface. The film intercuts conversations with the members, their colleagues and friends about the band’s musical and personal history, with animations, and archive and concert footage – all set to an original soundtrack by Madlib. The fast-paced editing style evokes the atmosphere of the New York hip-hop scene in the 1980s and 1990s, when the Native Tongues collective – which included the Jungle Brothers, Latifa and De La Soul, as well as Tribe” – provided an alternative to the negative stereotypes of gangsta rap. Hip-hop fan Rapaport has made an intimate documentary that will appeal to hip-hop insiders and outsiders alike. It provides a captivating glimpse into the internal workings of a group whose deep personal bonds give it the right to call itself a tribe.

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah Kevin Triplett

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

USA, 2011 video, color, 79 min Director: Kevin Triplett Photography: Mike Nicholson Editing: Claire Huie, Rita Sanders Sound: Kai Mantsch Music: Blaze Foley Narration: June Burnum Narrator: Larry Monroe Production: Kevin Triplett for Mopac Media Co-Production: Mike Nicholson Executive Production: Louis Black Screening Copy: Mopac Media Website: www.blazefoleymovie.com

Kevin Triplett: directing debut

In 1989, singer-songwriter Blaze Foley met an unfortunate end at only 39 years old. He had lived a turbulent life, filled with sufficient amounts of alcohol and drama to provide material for his songs. And Foley did just that, writing and performing songs and even achieving some level of success, but the big break never came. In the 1990s, filmmaker Kevin Triplett got his hands on a demo of Foley’s music. This was the beginning of his fascination with fellow Texan Foley, and he took the next 12 years to make this unique documentary about him. During that time, Triplett didn’t only manage to interview an impressive number of Foley’s friends and family members, but also fellow musicians, music journalists and producers. Their testimony paints a picture of a complex, colorful rebel with a dark beard and a big mouth, a deep-down sweet guy with duct tape on his cowboy boots. Foley’s greatest triumph was that country star Merle Haggard recognized his skill as a lyricist and made a hit out of his song “If I Could Only Fly.” But despite his warm voice and his original, emotional songs, Foley never managed to make the move to larger audiences. Perhaps he was too thirsty for it, or perhaps he was thrown out of bars one too many times – and then he died too soon.

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IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Bob and the Monster Keirda Bahruth

“It’s a strange environment I’m working in,” says Bob Forrest at the start of this documentary about the former front man of the 1980s cult band Thelonious Monster.

The strange environment he’s talking about is the world of drug addiction in Los Angeles, which was a center for all things creative back in the day. It is a world he thoroughly explored. The film contains a wealth of archive material featuring concerts over the years, including disturbing footage of a completely drugged up Forrest rifting around the stage. Together with the numerous interviews, these images paint a picture of Bob Forrest the artist and Bob Forrest the junkie and alcoholic. We learn that Forrest had a tendency towards self-destruction from a young age: “I always wanted to shoot drugs,” he explains. But we also hear that he is a remarkable musical talent, according to musical greats such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis (with whom Forrest sits reminiscing at the kitchen table), Flea, Jane’s Addiction’s Stephen Perkins, and Courtney Love. The latter is one of the people who gained a great deal of support from the now drug-free Forrest in her own struggle with drug addiction.

USA, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 85 min

Keirda Bayruth:

Director: Keirda Bahruth Photography: Keirda Bahruth, Rick Ballard Editing: Josh Altman Music: Josh Klinghoffer Production: Keirda Bahruth & Rick Ballard for Shaker Films Executive Production: John Battsek & Andrew Ruhemann for Passion Pictures, Morgan Langley for Langley Productions, Ricky Beck Mahler Screening Copy: Shaker Films Website: www.bobandthemonster.com

Awards: Best Documentary Feature Chicago International Music & Film Festival, Audience Award Best Documentary Gold Coast International Film Festival, Best Music Documentary Kah-Bang Film Festival

USA, 2011 HD, color, 85 min

Robert G. Bralver:

Director: Robert G. Bralver, David Ferino Photography: David Ferino Editing: Robert G. Bralver, David Ferino Production: Jeff Broadway for Gatling Pictures World Sales: The Gersh Agency Screening Copy: Gatling Pictures

directing debut

directing debut

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story Robert G. Bralver, David Ferino

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Mark Sandman, the charismatic singer, bassist, writer, composer and founder of one of the most original bands of the 1990s, Morphine, died in the summer of 1999. It was a fitting end, during a concert in Italy, and shortly after the band had finished recording a new album. In the middle of the grunge era, a band without a guitar was highly eccentric – to say the least – and Morphine’s sober lineup (drums, two-string slide bass guitar and baritone sax), together with their raw mix of jazz, blues and rock, allowed them to create a totally unique sound that brought them cult status in the United States and Europe from the early 1990s on. In this music documentary, the filmmakers investigate Mark Sandman’s place in the world of American pop music, with the help of former band members Dana Colley, Billy Conway and Jerome Deupree, along with musicians from his previous band Treat Her Right, and other musician friends such as Chris Ballew (The Presidents of the United States of America), Mike Watt (The Stooges), Les Claypool and Ben Harper. The film also probes Sandman’s personal history, a subject he never spoke about in public. The loss of his two brothers is said to have been a decisive moment in his musical development, and is a subject that also sheds new light on the trio that were Morphine.

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Awards: Jury Award Best Music Film Sound Unseen, Best Film Canadian Music Week

directing debut

David Ferino:

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

DeWolff Carin Goeijers

WORLD PREMIERE

The Netherlands, 2011 video, color, 80 min Director: Carin Goeijers Photography: Gregor Meerman Editing: Patrick Janssens Sound: Tim van Peppen Production: Pieter van Huystee for Pieter van Huystee Film Screening Copy: Pieter van Huystee Film Involved TV Channel: L1

Carin Goeijers:

The Newfangled World (2000) Story of Lech (2000) Verdronken land (2001) I Soeni (2003) Valley of Sighs (2004) God Is My DJ (2006) Fathers Isle (2006) Before the Note (2008) Toen was ik al beroemd (2010)

The band members of DeWolff make no effort to conceal their wild enthusiasm as manager Ron Engelen tells them the big news: they have been invited to play at Pinkpop, Holland’s biggest pop festival. The event in May will be the start of an intense year for the young psychedelic blues rockers from Geleen, a town in the south of the Netherlands.

They have audiences all over the country under their thumb, they open for The Black Keys in a sold-out Heineken Music Hall, and they travel to Budapest for their first foreign gig at the Sziget Festival. Director Carin Goeijers follows the band during a tumultuous year.

Pablo and Luka van de Poel and Robin Piso act like any other rock band – they give their all during the shows, drink beer and make fart jokes in the tour bus on the way back home.

The difference is that the trio is disarmingly modest. They have nice girlfriends instead of groupies, and when they do trash a dressing room one drunken night and catch hell from Engelen, they buy the concert hall a new couch in shame. Between the lines, we see how the sudden success of the band influences their relationships and the career choices they make.

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

El gusto

Safinez Bousbia EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Algeria, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 88 min Director: Safinez Bousbia Photography: Nuria Roldos Screenplay: Safinez Bousbia Editing: Françoise Bonnot Sound: Eric Münch Narration: Safinez Bousbia Narrator: Safinez Bousbia Production: Safinez Bousbia & Heidi Egger for Quidam Productions Ltd Co-Production: Eikosi Productions Executive Production: Philippe Maynial for Babylone Productions Screening Copy: Quidam Productions Ltd

Safinez Bousbia: directing debut

Awards: Fipresci & Best Director Award Abu Dhabi Film Festival

A chance encounter puts the Algerian-Irish Safinez Bousbia on the trail of an Algerian popular music form called chaâbi (“of the people”), which flourished in the mid-20th century, but then faded into the background. Emerging out of the Arabian-Andalusian music that was being played in the casbahs of Algiers, it was taken to the level of full-fledged musical genre by the legendary El Hadj Mohamed El Anka, who used it to give expression to the feelings of common folk. In the 1950s, he led a chaâbi orchestra at the Algiers Conservatory, in which Arab and Jewish students played together. This film attempts to bring together the members of this orchestra, men who are now in their seventies. Their personal stories paint a picture of the country’s turbulent history, with the war of independence proving to be a turning point. Some joined the struggle, while others had to flee after independence to France, where there was no warm welcome in store for these pieds noirs. Bousbia managed to track down many of the former musicians and bring them together for a reunion concert in Marseille, which forms the stirring climax to this sentimental journey into Algeria’s cultural history.

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IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Ibiza Occident Günter Schwaiger

The original, local music of Ibiza and the electronic DJ sets that resound around the island these days could hardly be more different. The Spanish party island has gone from being a free-and-easy hippie colony to a place where the international jet set enjoy themselves thanks to a well-oiled entertainment machine. This film goes in search of the soul of this special island, and includes portraits of prominent visitors to Ibiza. What makes Ibiza such a magical place for them? One of the original DJs, a club owner, and an alternative-looking shopkeeper all agree on one thing: it used to be really special here, but the romance has made way for commerce. Fist pumpers – ravers who just jump up and down and spend money – have driven away the hippies, the owner of legendary club Pacha says. “Now, in our consumer society, they need a lot to have fun, because their own energy is not enough.” Nevertheless, pragmatic young artists, DJs, go-go dancers, musicians and locals still feel very at home on the sexy island. Reflecting the island’s different faces, the film also follows various themes: shots of beautiful nature contrast with overflowing clubs, state-of-the-art light shows and smoke machines, and sets by the featured DJs and musicians make up the soundtrack.

Austria, Spain 2011 HD, color, 85 min Director: Günter Schwaiger Photography: Victor Martin, Günter Schwaiger Screenplay: Günter Schwaiger Editing: Martin Eller, Günter Schwaiger Sound: Miguel Rejas Production: Günter Schwaiger for Mosolov-p Screening Copy: Mosolov-p Involved TV Channels: ORF, TVE Website: www.ibizadoc.com

Günter Schwaiger:

The Unusual End of a Breakfast in Eternity (1994) Suppenkasper (1995) Five Feet and One Desire (1997) No Man’s Land (1999) The Excursion (2001) Hafner’s Paradise (2007) Arena (2010)

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Kyteman. Now What?

Menna Laura Meijer

WORLD PREMIERE “I’ve had a strange year,” says Colin Benders, also known as Kyteman, the front man of the eponymous Dutch hip-hop orchestra that became wildly famous in 2009.

Nonetheless, believing in the need to let go, to take risks and longing for change, he decided that same year that Kyteman’s Hip-Hop Orchestra would give its last concert in December. In Kyteman. Now What?, director Menna Laura Meijer films Benders for the year and a half following this artificial end, or new beginning, during which he struggles to rediscover his creative energy. The uncompromising Benders doesn’t shy away from thinking big, but practical issues can get in his way. The young musician is remarkably candid about his doubts and fears. The film shows him during rehearsals and we see him interact with his parents. His mother is Benders’s emotional touchstone, while his father is also his manager. He is the driving force behind the realization of his son’s dream: the creative playground “Kytopia,” a musical laboratory where Benders wants to invite other “creative idiots” to reinvent the rules. Benders lights up because of the freedom offered to him at Oerol, an annual art and theater festival on the Dutch island of Terschelling, while an experimental concert project at the Radio Kootwijk radio station is scrapped because Benders is told that they’ll have to keep the noise down. “No one can restrict my music.”

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The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 90 min Director: Menna Laura Meijer Photography: Jefrim Rothuizen Editing: Albert Markus Sound: David Spaans Production: Gijs Kerbosch for 100% Halal Co-Production: Mint Film Distribution for the Netherlands: Benelux Film Distributors Screening Copy: 100% Halal Involved TV Channel: NTR

Menna Laura Meijer:

Tags (1998) Dag droom (1998) Uit elkaar (1999) Schoolziek (2002) Voor ik doodga (2003) Girls (2003) Echte mannen (2004) Boys (2005) Jonge seks prille liefde (2007) Sexy (2007) Sweety: the Love, Life and Death of Maja Bradaric (2008)

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Last Days Here

Don Argott, Demian Fenton

USA, 2011 HD, color, 90 min Director: Don Argott, Demian Fenton Photography: Don Argott Editing: Demian Fenton Production: Sheena Joyce for 9.14 Pictures Screening Copy: 9.14 Pictures Website: www.914pictures.com

Don Argott:

Rock School (2005) Two Days in April (2007) The Art of the Steal (2009)

Demian Fenton: directing debut

Awards: Best Documentary Independent Film Festival Boston, Best Film Sydney Underground Film Festival, Audience Award Fantasia Fest

Bobby Liebling, front man of the hard rock band Pentagram, is more dead than alive when the camera picks him up in his parents’ basement. In the midst of the mess that he calls home, Liebling smokes his crack pipe and mumbles about the hard rock days of time past. At the end of the 1980s, things looked promising for Liebling and his band. But bad luck and trouble pursued them: record deals gone wrong, internal disagreements, and last but not least, Liebling’s tendency toward self-destruction. Until Sean “Pellet” Pelletier, hard rock enthusiast and passionate record collector, buys a second-hand Pentagram record, experiences a sort of revelation, and makes it his personal mission to resurrect Bobby Liebling. He goes looking for his idol, becomes his friend, and does his utmost to get Liebling back onstage. By means of archive footage and interviews, this portrait reveals how tough it is for Liebling to defeat his demons. At center stage are Pentagram’s diminished existence and Liebling’s destructive addition, but also the unbelievable devotion with which Pellet tries to pep him up. When asked about meeting Liebling, Pellet has this to say: “It’s like… being a devout Christian and walking down the street one day and bumping into Jesus and he knows your name, and shakes your hand and he asks you over for dinner and drinks.”

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Mama Africa Mika Kaurismäki

Finland, Germany, South Africa, 2010 HD, color / black-and-white, 90 min Director: Mika Kaurismäki Photography: Jacques Cheuiche, Wolfgang Held, Frank Lehman, Martina Radwan, Eran Tahor Editing: André Bendocchi-Alves, Uwe Dresch, Karen Harley Music: Andreas Schilling Production: Rainer Kölmel for Starhaus Filmproduktion Co-Production: Millennium Film Oy, Marianna Films World Sales/Screening Copy: Fortissimo Films Involved TV Channel: ARTE/ZDF

Mika Kaurismäki:

The Saimaa Gesture (1981), The Liar (1982) The Worthless Jackpot 2 (1982) The Clan Tale of the Frogs (1984), Night Work (1988), Paper Start (1989), Amazon (1990), The Last Border (1993), Sambolico (1996), Rhythm (1996), Los Angeles Without a Map (1998), Highway Society (1999), Moro No Brasil (2002), Honey Baby (2003), Manha de Domingo (2004), Brasileirinho (2005), Sonic Mirror (2006), Three Wise Men (2008), The House of Branching Love (2009), Malé Debalé (2009), The Sound of Glarus (2009), Vesku from Finland (2010), a.o.

This biopic is an homage to the South African Miriam Makeba, who not only became one of the most acclaimed singers of her time, but was also an outspoken advocate of a free South Africa. She was exiled in 1959 for 30 years, during which she never ceased to emphasize that her fellow countrymen were “living in a prison.” Not long after his release, Nelson Mandela called Makeba and asked her to come home. Makeba learned to live in the spotlight and rarely dodged a question on camera. “I don’t talk politics, I tell the truth.” Makeba’s private life was equally turbulent. She got married five times and her only daughter died at a young age. She lost her country, her daughter, and often love, but the relationship with her two grandchildren remained close. They talk about the past with their grandmother and accompany her to Guinea, where Makeba lived for many years. This documentary is jam-packed with remarkable archive footage and interviews with many renowned people, and Makeba’s performances serve as peaceful pauses.

When Makeba – nicknamed Mama Africa – raises her voice, there is nothing but that unforgettable music.

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IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Michel Petrucciani Michael Radford

A portrait of French jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani (1962-1999), who was born with a genetic disease that causes brittle bones and a short stature. Petrucciani was less than three feet tall and weighed only 70 pounds. Because he couldn’t attend school, he started listening to music at a very young age and revealed himself to be a child prodigy. He began performing at 13 and moved to California and then New York, where he immersed himself in nightlife and was once literally carried by friends from a restaurant to his performance. His love of music was more powerful than his physical pain: his bones broke at the slightest touch, and often he had to keep playing with broken fingers. This moving music documentary intersperses interviews with American and French fellow artists and conversations with the fast-fingered musician himself. Family pictures and archive footage illustrate the life of this very special pianist. We also meet some candid ex-girlfriends – despite his physical limitations, Petrucciani had a turbulent love life and broke many hearts. He died of a lung infection in 1999, at only 36 years old.

France, 2011 35mm, color / black-and-white, 102 min Director: Michael Radford Photography: Sophie Maintigneux Editing: Yves Deschamps Sound: Olivier Le Vacon Production: Serge Lalou & Annick Colomes for Les Films d’Ici, Gunnar Dedio & Martina Haubrich for Looks Film & TV GmbH, Bruce Marks for Liaison Films Co-Production: Noa Noa Film GmbH, Eden Joy Music World Sales: Wild Bunch Distribution for the Netherlands: Lumière Screening Copy: Lumière Involved TV Channel: ARTE

Michael Radford:

Van Morrison in Ireland (1980) Another Time, Another Place (fiction, 1983) Nineteen Eighty-Four (fiction, 1984) White Mischief (fiction, 1987) Il postino (ficiton, 1994) B. Monkey (fiction, 1998) Dancing at the Blue Iguana (fiction, 2000) Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (segment “Addicted to the Stars”) (fiction, 2002) The Merchant of Venice (fiction, 2004) Flawless (fiction, 2006)

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Mrs Carey’s Concert Bob Connolly, Sophie Raymond

Karen Carey is an inspired music teacher, and she is convinced that “Music is a fundamental part of what education should be.” Try telling that to a group of bored teenagers who’d rather do anything than practice the violin. But Mrs. Carey sticks to her dogmatic and single-minded approach to teaching. She has only one goal: to perform a concert with all her students at the Sydney Opera House. Anyone who sees Mrs. Carey at work can see that her life is all about passion, surrender, and openness.

Her demands for that same commitment to the music from her students meet with resistance. Apparently, when you’re 16, it’s quite an effort to make music with classmates you wouldn’t give the time of day to outside of school. We witness her struggles, and her incredulity when faced with people who appear not to love music as much as she does. Nonetheless, she perseveres. We watch as she counts down the weeks with her students. Will she succeed in preparing the talented but shy Emily for her solo violin performance? And will she manage to convince troublemaker Iris to stop ruining it for the entire group?

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Australia, 2011 HD, color, 95 min Director: Bob Connolly, Sophie Raymond Photography: Bob Connolly Editing: Nick Meyers, Sophie Raymond, Ray Thomas Sound: Doron Kipen, Sophie Raymond, Bob Scott Production: Bob Connolly & Helen Panckhurst for Music Films World Sales: Mercury Media International Ltd. Screening Copy: Music Films Involved TV Channel: ABC Website: www.mrscareysconcert.com

Bob Connolly:

First Contact (1983) Joe Leahys Neighbours (1989) Black Harvest (1992) Rats in the Ranks (1996) Facing the Music (2001)

Sophie Raymond:

Essence of Terror (animation, 1998) It’s Like That (2003)

Awards: Best Achievement in Sound for a Documentary or Documentary series Australian Screen Sound Award

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Paradiso, an Amsterdam Stage Affair Jeroen Berkvens

The Netherlands, 2011 DCP, color / black-and-white, 90 min Director: Jeroen Berkvens Photography: Rob Hodselmans, Wiro Felix Screenplay: Jeroen Berkvens Editing: Gys Zevenbergen Sound: Sander den Broeder Music: Mark Lizier Production: Frank van den Engel for Zeppers Film & TV Executive Production: Jorinde Soreé for Zeppers Film & TV Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinéart Screening Copy: Zeppers Film & TV Involved TV Channel: NTR

Jeroen Berkvens:

Mirror of Time – Audrius Stonys (1998) A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake (2000) Blieve Blaoze (2002) A Lawyer’s Story (2004) Jimmy Rosenberg: The Father, the Son & the Talent (2007)

Jeroen Berkvens & Walter Stokman:

Let Me Have it All (1993)

WORLD PREMIERE

A many-voiced declaration of love to the greatest music venue in the Netherlands, and an ode to the magic of pop concerts. Interviews with concertgoers and footage of memorable performances combine in an intuitive collage with commentary and concert excerpts from artists such as Paul Weller, Henry Rollins, Peter te Bos, Martha Wainwright and Daniel Johnston, and bands like Faithless, dEUS and Public Enemy. They talk about what it means for them to play here: over the nervousness beforehand, the fear and euphoria that coalesce the moment they take the stage, and about the contact with the audience that can make or break a show. A process that Tim Knol and his band experience firsthand for the camera, as they prepare for their first performance in the great hall.

Filmmaker Jeroen Berkvens already directed the music documentaries A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake and Jimmy Rosenberg: The Father, the Son & the Talent. Though Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers feels the place has lost its appeal, most have only words of praise, like from Patrick Watson, who calls Paradiso “my favorite club in Europe.”

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Utopia Ltd. Sandra Trostel

Germany, 2011 video, color, 90 min Director: Sandra Trostel Photography: Lilli Thalgott, Sandra Trostel Screenplay: Thies Mynther, Sandra Trostel Editing: Sandra Trostel Production: Sandra Trostel for Tiny Terror Productions Screening Copy: Tiny Terror Productions Website: www.utopialimited-film.de

Sandra Trostel: directing debut

In a world in which fame seems to arrive faster than the speed of light – often only to evaporate even more quickly – the Hamburg-based trio 1000 Robota is a remarkable phenomenon. Despite being still wet behind the ears – they can’t even drive the car that takes them to their concerts yet, and during the week they go to school – the band, made up of 17-year-olds Jonas and Basti and 18-year-old Anton, has become a huge hype in no time at all. Their energetic post-punk music and blatant social criticism have already brought them a record deal with Tapete Records. In her documentary debut, Sandra Trostel follows the trio from the recording of their first album, and ends up being sucked into a crazy vortex of attention, in which the band is interviewed by just about every single music journalist. Observing the band with energy and a great sense of atmosphere, Trostel shows how the three young Hamburgers negotiate the gray areas between art and commerce. The arguments about the track list for their first album are fought out tooth and nail. Lead singer Anton in particular turns out to be an intelligent and persistent speaker. “We want to cause creation, not to be reminiscent of it,” is the leitmotif of this idealistic trio: to initiate instead of to respond, and above all not to succumb to the pressures of the free market.

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IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

When the Drum is Beating Whitney Dow

EUROPEAN PREMIERE Haiti was once a rich, opulent country: the pearl of the Caribbean. Now, it is one of the poorest countries on Earth. For more than 60 years, the band Septentrional – the musical pride of Haiti – has been making life more bearable. Their music, a mix of Cuban Big Band and Haitian Voodoo, is uplifting and swinging, while their texts deal with everyday problems (“My girlfriend won’t straighten her hair.”) Singing and dancing are a way to forget the poverty and unemployment, and put aside the country’s unbelievably tragic and violent past, if only for a moment. Haiti has been fighting for hundreds of years – against occupying forces from foreign countries, dictatorial regimes, and the violence of nature. It was once the first country to successfully throw off the shackles of slavery and become the first independent black nation state. Nowadays, “In Haiti you always expect something bad to happen,” as one member of the band puts it. His words are tellingly illustrated by images of the earthquake of 2010. But the band plays on, and the people of Haiti need them now more than ever. “We were not discouraged before and we are not discouraged now,” one of the musicians says. And the music reverberates on, long after the final credits have rolled.

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USA, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 88 min Director: Whitney Dow Photography: Niels Alpert, Jonathan Furmanski, Tom Hurwitz, Edward Marritz Editing: Nancy Kennedy, Federico Rosenzvit Music: Sasha Gordon Production: Whitney Dow for Two Tone Productions, Jennifer Latham, Daniel Morel, Jane Regan Executive Production: Marco Williams for Two Tone Productions World Sales/Screening Copy: Cinephil Involved TV Channels: TV Ontario, PBS, ARTV Website: www.whenthedrumisbeating.com

Whitney Dow:

Two Towns of Jasper (2002) I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education (2004) Unfinished Country (2005)

Awards: Special Jury Prize Silverdocs, Special Jury Prize Jecheon International Music and Film Festival, Outstanding Cinematography & Editing Traverse City Film Festival

regular programs Reflecting Images – Best of Fests Reflecting Images is IDFA’s largest regular, non-competitive film program, divided into three sections: Masters, Best of Fests, and Panorama. In Best of Fests, the festival is presenting 32 documentaries that have made an impact on the international festival circuit this year.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

66 Months James Bluemel

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Over a period of six years, director James Bluemel and producer Gordon Wilson followed epileptic alcoholic Nigel (37) from Oxford, UK, who managed to slip through the net of the welfare system for 66 months. Self-mutilation, alcohol, and childlike delusions mean Nigel is a vulnerable man. In the words of his social worker, “Nigel has been abused financially, sexually, and emotionally for years.” She’s referring to the days when, while out “in the wild,” a man named Robbie took Nigel under his wings.

He was like a father to Nigel, while at the same time absolutely unfit for the role of caregiver, especially because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. The story is told from the perspective of Nigel, who is now living in an institution. Scenes from his life there are mixed with memories and flashbacks to his time with Robbie. Bluemel filmed everything over the years: we watch as the men injure each other, jerk each other off, and piss each other off, but also how they take care of one another, cook for one another, and can’t be without one another. This extreme fly-on-the wall-way technique produces a devastatingly intimate, sometimes claustrophobic, but always respectful glimpse into the life of this lost soul.

UK, 2011 video, color, 85 min

James Bluemel:

The Ballad of AJ Weberman (2006)

Director: James Bluemel Photography: James Bluemel Screenplay: James Bluemel Editing: Stefan Ronowizc Sound: Gordon Wilson Music: Simon Russell Production: Gordon Wilson for Moving Target Films Executive Production: Christo Hird for Dartmouth Films World Sales: Moving Target Films Screening Copy: Moving Target Films Website: www.66months.com

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

The Big Fix Josh Tickell

In the spring of 2010, a catastrophic environmental disaster took place in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the coast of the United States. After an explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, enormous quantities of oil flowed into the ocean for weeks.

Filmmaker Josh Tickell is originally from Louisiana, where a state of emergency was declared because of the disaster. Together with his wife Rebecca, he decided to go looking for the causes and the solutions, and the result is a lively statement that contains some warnings but concludes with a positive message. The filmmakers remain close to their own experiences and instruct the viewer with historical overviews, fast-paced animations and conversations with people from all sides of the issue, including some prominent Americans. They believe the key problem is our addiction to fossil fuels, which leaves Western Civilization dependent on the oil industry and the shady machinations behind it. The solution is the use of biofuel that can be made from agrarian crops and implemented on a wide scale, but those in political, financial and military power aren’t all that thrilled with the idea. This is why The Big Fix calls upon the viewer to take action, by not wasting energy and relying on biofuel as much as possible.

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USA, 2011 HD, color, 88 min

Josh Tickell:

Director: Josh Tickell Co-director: Rebecca Harrell Tickell Photography: Marc Levy Screenplay: Johnny O’Hara Editing: Sean P. Keenan, Tina Imahara, Derek Boonsta, Brandy Oswald Markovich Music: Ryan Demaree Production: Rebecca Harrell Tickell for Green Planet Productions Executive Production: Peter Fonda, Tim Robbins, Maggie Wachsberger Screening Copy: Green Planet Productions

www.joshtickell.com

Fuel (2008) Freedom (2011)

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Bobby Fischer Against the World Liz Garbus

USA, 2010 video, color, 92 min Director: Liz Garbus Photography: Robert Chappell Screenplay: Liz Garbus Editing: Michael Levine, Karen Schmeer Sound: Bill Marino Music: Philip Sheppard Production: Liz Garbus & Rory Kennedy for Moxie Firecracker, Stanley Buchthal for LM Media, Matthew Justus World Sales: Ealing Metro International Distribution for the Netherlands: Living Colour Entertainment Screening Copy: Living Colour Entertainment

Liz Garbus:

The Farm: Angola, USA (1998) Juvies (2000) The Execution of Wanda Jean (2002) The Nazi Officer’s Wife (2003) Girlhood (2003) Xiara’s Song (2005) Coma (2007) Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech (2009)

Liz Garbus & Rory Kennedy:

The Changing Face of Beauty (2000)

Liz Garbus & Rosie Perez:

Yo soy Boricua, pa’que tu lo sepas!

(2006)

“I don’t believe in psychology, I believe in good moves.” These were the words of 29-yearold chess master Bobby Fischer back in the summer of 1972, shortly before the nerveracking battle for the world championship against defending champion Boris Spassky.

But there was more at stake than just the championship. The duel was a microcosmic version of the Cold War: the United States up against the Soviet chess superpower. This biographical documentary pays particular attention to that legendary duel in Reykjavik.

Recent interviews with people who were there and in the know – from Henry Kissinger to Garry Kasparov – support the portrait of a complicated child prodigy who grew into a national hero, only to descend into infamy. The match in Iceland, which Fischer won, turned out to be the high point of his career – everything went downhill from there.

Because Fischer refused to defend his title, he had to surrender it three years later. The media-shy genius became an enigma, and his obsessive behavior, though not unusual among chess masters, grew increasingly eccentric and even malicious. When Fischer played a rematch against Spassky for cash in Yugoslavia in 1992, defying an international boycott, his American citizenship was revoked. He obtained political asylum in Iceland in 2006, and died there two years later.

Pitched at the Forum 2008

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

The Boy Who Was a King Momcheto, koeto beshe tsar Andrey Paounov

Bulgaria, Germany, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 90 min Director: Andrey Paounov Photography: Georgi Bogdanov, Boris Missirkov Editing: Georgi Bogdanov, René Frölke, Svetla Neykova, Andrey Paounov Production: Martichka Bozhilova for Agitprop Co-Production: Zero One Film GmbH World Sales: Autlook Filmsales Screening Copy: Agitprop Involved TV Channels: Channel 4, YLE, TSR, BR

Andrey Paounov:

Georgi and the Butterflies (2004) The Mosquito Problem and other Stories (2007)

Following the sudden death of his father in 1943, six-year-old Tsar Simeon II had a brief reign in Bulgaria. Shortly after World War II, the communists took over and he and his family went into exile. Half a century later, following the fall of communism, he returned to his fatherland, where in 2001 he was elected Prime Minister. Director Andrey Paounov (who won the IDFA Silver Wolf Award in 2004 for Georgi and the Butterflies) allows Simeon’s amazing story to unfold at a relaxed pace and with flashes of humor. The former tsar and prime minister is only shown in archive material: home movies shot in the old palace and more recent television interviews. New portraits by admirers and opponents paint an allegorical picture of Simeon II. At one point, for example, a life-size chocolate model of him is served up in a restaurant. We also meet a clairvoyant with a glass ball; a man plagued by “socialist nightmares” who sleeps with sensors on his head to record his nocturnal brain activity; a seamstress who made a suit with 77 pockets for Simeon; a group of former communists fighting for the restoration of communism; and someone who – to his regret – had a portrait of Simeon tattooed on his back, between the names of his past girlfriends: “All exes.”

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Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Buck

Cindy Meehl “Rather than helping people with horse problems, I’m helping horses with people problems,” explains Buck Brannaman, who was the inspiration for the hero of The Horse Whisperer (1998), played by Robert Redford. Buck naturally devotes some of its time to the successful feature film, but it focuses mainly on the 50-year-old horse psychologist as he goes about his daily business. For nine months of the year he travels around the United States, training horses and giving clinics for horse lovers.

His stepmother, wife, and daughter are interviewed extensively. From a psychological point of view, Brannaman is well-equipped for his work with traumatized animals, because in his youth he had to deal with a tyrannical and aggressive father: “I was just looking for a peaceful place to be.” We also hear from his former teachers, the horse whisperers Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt, as well as from a number of participants in the horse clinics. After seeing Brannaman in action, even the most diehard skeptics have to admit to being dumbfounded. Brannaman believes that the human and the horse have to make a connection, explaining that “Everything you do with a horse is a dance.” Towards the end of the film, the tension mounts as Brannaman is confronted with an unmanageable horse that is behaving like a dangerous psychopath.

USA, 2010 HD, color, 88 min

Cindy Meehl:

Director: Cindy Meehl Photography: Luke Geissbuhler, Guy Mossman Editing: Toby Shimin Music: David Robbins Production: Julie Goldman for Motto Pictures Executive Production: Cindy Meehl for Cedar Creek Productions World Sales: K5 MEDIA GROUP GmbH Screening Copy: K5 MEDIA GROUP GmbH Website: www.buckthefilm.com

Awards: Audience Award Sundance Film Festival, Audience Award Full Frame Film Festival, Best Documentary Crossroads Film Festival, Golden Eye International Documentary Zurich Film Festival, a.o.

Israel, 2011 HD, color, 71 min

Alexandre Louis Daniel Goetschmann:

directing debut

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Carte Blanche

Alexandre Louis Daniel Goetschmann Dr. Dror Soffer is the sole trauma surgeon in a hospital in Tel Aviv. As the opening credits explain, violent crime is by far the most common cause of death for young people ages 20-35. The camera follows the tireless Dr. Soffer as he hurries along the corridors of a medical center and registers the continual stream of heavily wounded patients, including Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The doctor is always on call, and only the conversations with the filmmakers in his small hospital bedroom provide brief respite. We see the victims of stabbings, car crashes and failed suicide attempts; and we see bloody images of operations where the tiniest slip-up could be fatal. “In my court, I condemn everyone to life,”says the doctor with a rare smile. But when his attempts are unsuccessful, the heartrending wails of loved ones resound through the building. Then the next victim rolls in. And so the doctor remains trapped in this cycle of violence from which he is trying to save other people. And despite his best efforts to hide his emotions, he is exceedingly pessimistic about Israeli society, calling his job “an island of reason in a sea of craziness.”

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Director: Alexandre Louis Daniel Goetschmann Photography: Alexandre Louis Daniel Goetschmann Editing: Yoni Tzruya Music: Daphna Keenan Production: Yael Biron Co-Production: The New Fund for Cinema & TV (NFCT), AMC – Association migrations de culture Screening Copy: Yael Biron Involved TV Channel: Yes docu DBS

In Working Progress (2005) La casa d’argilla (2008) Interrupted Streams (2010)

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Desert Riders Victor Sarin

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Canada, 2011 HD, color, 78 min Director: Victor Sarin Photography: Victor Sarin Screenplay: Noemi Weis Editing: Eugene Weis Music: Orest Hrynewich, Jack Lenz Production: Noemi Weis for Filmblanc Executive Production: Bruce Cowley for CBC World Sales: Java Films Screening Copy: Filmblanc Involved TV Channels: The Documentary Channel, TV5

Victor Sarin:

So Many Miracles (1987) Cold Comfort (1989) The Legend of Gator Face (1996) Left Behind (2000) Love on the Side (2004) Partition (2007) A Shine of Rainbows (2009) a.o.

Suspicious accidents, undernourishment, sleep deprivation, rape, growth-retarding injections; the stories of young veteran jockeys Rafiq, Nasir, Ronnie, Amirul, Lokmon, Mobarak and Hasan are truly appalling. Desert Riders gives us a shocking look behind the scenes of camel racing in the wealthy United Arab Emirates – a sport that grew from local to international prominence in the 1980s. The need for light jockeys led to a trade in very young, illegally imported children from poor countries such as Sudan, Pakistan and Bangladesh – a modern form of slavery. This documentary chronicles the rise and prohibition of the use of child jockeys, using interviews with former jockeys, local and international children’s rights activists, a British photographer, parents, child traffickers and camel farmers. These interviews are intercut with footage showing the atmosphere around camel races, accompanied by an almost omnipresent soundtrack. Unfortunately, the ban has not put an end to their suffering, as children returning to their homes no longer recognize their families, don’t speak the language, or are sick. The director of the Camel Race Association simply dismisses all the stories as lies and propaganda. Although the jockeys have now been replaced by robots, it remains unclear whether children still work on the ranches or not.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Dragonslayer Tristan Patterson

USA, 2011 HD, color, 74 min

Tristan Patterson:

Director: Tristan Patterson Photography: Eric Koretz Editing: Lizzy Calhoun, Jennifer Tiexiera Sound: Tom Paul Music: T Griffin Production: John Baker for Animals of Combat Executive Production: Christine Vachon for Killer Films World Sales: Submarine Entertainment Screening Copy: John Baker Website: www.dragonslayermovie.com

Awards: Best Documentary & Best Cinematography SXSW Film Festival, Best International Feature Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival

directing debut

The economic crisis offers one huge benefit to 23-year-old Josh Sandoval, aka Screech: the number of deserted swimming pools in California for him to skate in is greater than ever. Screech doesn’t let life get the better of him. The film dips in and out of his hectic existence in 11 short chapters. We see him as he shovels swimming pools clean, takes part in a European skate competition with little success, pushes his young son Sid Rocket around in a stroller, enjoys romantic moments with his new girlfriend Leslie, takes drugs with friends, and has long skating sessions in empty swimming pools – all to the accompaniment of an energetic soundtrack. A warm Californian glow and the dynamic but intimate camerawork reveal Screech at vulnerable moments. The director has a keen eye for the toughness of skating life, as well as its more appealing aspects. He casts no judgment on the life Screech leads and makes almost no effort to attribute his occasionally destructive behavior to a troubled youth – although hints are made through a casual phone conversation with his mother. It all makes for a poetic portrait of a loner who is smart enough to recognize that he’s facing a difficult future, and he’s looking for ways to tackle it.

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Family Portrait in Black-and-white Julia Ivanova

In Ukraine, the general feeling about people with dark skin is that there’s no place for them in the country. And it’s not only flag-waving skinheads shouting it out loud, because regular folk on the streets say it, too: if you’re not 100% white, you’re not 100% Ukrainian. In the small town of Sumy, Olga Nenya lives with her big family, which consists of a few kids of her own and 16 black foster children. The film follows the family over a long period of time, alternating scenes from their daily lives and interviews with the family members. Most of the foster children were left at the orphanage as babies, before Olga took them into her home. Olga loves all of them and she fights like a lioness against the oppression and prejudice of the authorities and neighbors, thinking only of her kids’ future and well-being. She stands up to a delegation from the municipal government that declares her house unfit to live in, and she encourages her children to study hard. Sometimes, however, her love is suffocating and the kids feel unable to spread their wings.

Canada, 2011 HD, color, 99 min Director: Julia Ivanova Photography: Julia Ivanova, Stanislav Shakhov Editing: Julia Ivanova Sound: Jamie Mahaffey Music: Boris Sichon Production: Boris Ivanov for Interfilm Productions Inc. Executive Production: Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS World Sales/Screening Copy: The Film Sales Company Involved TV Channels: ITVS, Knowledge Network, DR, EqhD Website: www.familyportraitthefilm.com

Julia Ivanova:

From Russia,for Love (2000) I Want a Woman (2003) Moscow Freestyle (2006) Fatherhood Dreams (2007) Love Translated (2010) True Love or Marriage Fraud? The Price of Heartache (2010)

Awards: Best Canadian Feature Award Hot Docs International Film Festival, Cultural Diversity Award Valladolid International Film Festival

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Fightville

Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker EUROPEAN PREMIERE In the words of a Mixed Martial Arts practitioner, “The energy in the cage is almost spiritual.” When he’s in the ring, he’s “getting in touch with my inner monkey.”

Welcome to the world of the free fight, which has been gaining popularity in recent years. In Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA for short, almost all techniques are fair game.

Fightville follows several ambitious MMA practitioners during their intense training at a Martial Arts Academy, in the months leading up to an important fight. The camera follows them closely, capturing all the blood, sweat and tears that they shed. The various episodes are all introduced by a quotation from a great thinker or poet, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Walt Whitman. These modern gladiators are firm believers that they have the power to make their dreams come true and become wealthy champions. But victory is never certain and every detail counts, so their dedication is tremendous. A balanced diet is also essential. One of the fighters drops out because personal problems are getting him down and he has to be protected from himself.

“The goal is not to win,” one trainer philosophizes. “We build better men.”

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USA, 2011 HD, color, 85 min Director: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker Photography: Michael Tucker Editing: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker Sound: Michael Tucker Music: Alex Kliment Production: Petra Epperlein for Heros Film Executive Production: Dan Cogan, Michael W. Gray, Rachel Schnipper World Sales: Ro*co Films International Screening Copy: Heros Film Website: www.fightville.net

Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker: Gunner Palace (2004) The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair (2006) Bulletproof Salesman (2008) How to Fold a Flag (2009)

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Fordson Rashid Ghazi

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

USA, 2011 DCP, color, 92 min

Rashid Ghazi:

Director: Rashid Ghazi Photography: Michael Shamus Screenplay: Ruth Leitman Editing: Edward Pickart Music: Joel Goodman Production: Basma Babar-Quraishi & Ash-Har Quraishi for Quraishi Productions Executive Production: Rashid Ghazi for North Shore Films World Sales: Mercury Media International Ltd. Screening Copy: Mercury Media International Ltd. Website: www.fordsonthemovie.com

Awards: Special Jury Prize Slamdance Film Festival, Audience & Founder’s Award Politics on Film Festival, Special Grand Jury Award deadCENTER Film Festival, Best Documentary Detroit Windsor International Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize Best U.S. Documentary Feature Traverse City Film Festival, Best Feature Documentary Manhattan Film Festival, a.o.

directing debut

Their names are Hassan, Mohamed, Baquer, Bilal, and Ali, and they were all born and bred in Dearborn, Michigan, a city with a large Arab-American community. They drink Coke, eat pizza, sing the Star-Spangled Banner, and play American football. They are, in short, Americans. And like almost all their compatriots, they have ancestors who came from distant lands. But in this post-9/11 era, attitudes toward Muslims have changed, ranging from poorly formulated fear to rabid xenophobia. In Dearborn, there are two large high schools, Dearborn High and Fordson High. Every year, their football teams play a highly charged game against each other. This film begins with just a week to go before the 2009 game. It is Ramadan time, and despite heavy training schedules the Fordson players are fasting and only eat and drink after sunset. This collage of scenes of football games and daily life, combined with interviews with players, parents, and team staff, reveals a tightknit community with faith in Allah as its bedrock. Aside from this constant in their lives, everyone is dreaming his own American dream. Some of these talented players might just continue on to a professional football career outside Dearborn; others will probably follow in their fathers’ footsteps. Only one thing is important to the coach: winning against archrival Dearborn high.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Forerunners Simon Wood

South Africa, 2011 HD, color, 52 min

Simon Wood:

Director: Simon Wood Photography: Felix Seuffert Editing: Khalid Shamis Sound: Caitlin Robinson Music: Shane Cooper Production: Paul Egan for SaltPeter Productions CC Screening Copy: SaltPeter Productions CC Website: www.forerunners.co.za

Awards: Dikalo Special Jury Prize Cannes Festival Du Film Panafrican

directing debut

As a child, Martin looked up at airplanes and asked his father who flew in them.

Important people, his father explained. People who make decisions. In Martin’s words, “I just knew it: one day I was going to be one of them. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents couldn’t do it, but for me, the sky is actually the limit.” Martin belongs to the first generation of black South Africans who have made it to the middle class. A group that grew up in poverty, but now has prosperous careers, fancy cars and nice houses. But their worries aren’t gone forever; the hardworking Martin, Miranda, Mpumi and Karabo, all subjects of this stylish documentary, are often supporting family members. They also encounter discrepancies between new rules and traditional values. In her managerial position, Mpumi regularly meets resistance from her male subordinates. “I decide, and it’s a huge culture shock for them. I live in a fast paced, deadline driven environment, and the rural work ethic is different.” A single mother, Miranda is also facing problems with her old-fashioned ex-husband. Their stories are interwoven with images of the new Johannesburg and elements that are very much part of their lives: their current homes and luxury goods, but also their former poor neighborhoods, which they still speak lovingly about.

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Girl Model

David Redmon, Ashley Sabin EUROPEAN PREMIERE Who wouldn’t want to fly off to the vibrant city of Tokyo if they’d grown up in the poverty and cold of Siberia? Thirteen-year-old Nadja is skin and bones with big blue peepers, and she’s had the good fortune to be able to get started as a model in the Japanese capital. It seems like the ideal way of fleeing poverty and shaking off her dowdy image, but it turns out to be harder for her to make her way in Tokyo than she had expected. Nadya’s model scout Ashley knows all about it. Resigned to the situation, she observes how the Japanese are obsessed by youth and beauty. She looks back on her career and sees how not every girl in a bikini is really earning her money from photo shoots. Small, personal photo projects give Ashley at least some sense of making a creative contribution to the world. Although she is well aware of the situation that Nadya and her underage colleagues are being pushed into, she is simply unable to turn her back on this world she despises. The filmmakers followed the two women, who speak frankly about their lives and represent two extremes of the tough world of modeling; while Nadya’s determination to make it as a model intensifies, so does Ashley’s ambivalent and pessimistic view of the modeling world.

USA, 2011 video, color, 78 min Director: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin Photography: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin Editing: Alan Canant, Darius Marder, David Redmon, Ashley Sabin Sound: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin Music: Matthew Dougherty, Eric Taxier Production: David Redmon & Ashley Sabin for Carnivalesque Films World Sales: Dogwoof Screening Copy: Carnivalesque Films Involved TV Channels: PBS, CBC

Ashley Sabin & David Redmon: Kamp Katrina (2007) Intimidad (2008) Invisible Girlfriend (2009)

David Redmon:

Mardi Gras: Made in China (2005)

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Give Up Tomorrow Michael Collins

A criminal who didn’t commit the crime, a murder mystery without a body. If it weren’t a true story, you’d never believe it. In the late summer of 1997, the Chiong sisters went missing in Cebu, the Philippines. Shortly thereafter, a body of a girl was found in a valley – she had been raped and then murdered. People assumed it was one of the Chiong sisters, and the police arrested seven local boys. One of them was Paco Larrañaga, from a well-to-do family, son of a Filipino mother and a Spanish father.

Paco was targeted because he had a reputation for trouble, but at the time of the murder, he was hundreds of miles away in Manila, in the company of several fellow students. An open and shut case, one would think. But then Paco and his family were confronted with the corrupt Philippine legal authorities, who weren’t seeking justice, but rather judgement. In a rapid, captivating series of interviews, newspaper clippings, and archive footage, the filmmaker (who was personally involved in the case) describes how the seven random boys fell victim to a judicial error. He also shows how the entire legal system is like a Kafkaesque story, featuring false witnesses, cover-ups and human rights violations.

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USA, 2011 HD, color, 95 min Director: Michael Collins Photography: Joshua Weinstein, Michael Collins Editing: Eric Daniel Metzgar Production: Marty Syjuco for Thoughtful Robot Productions Executive Production: Ramona S. Diaz for CineDiaz, Inc., Eric Daniel Metzgar for Merigold Moving Pictures World Sales: Ro*co Films International Screening Copy: Thoughtful Robot Productions Involved TV Channels: ITVS, BBC, PBS, DR

Michael Collins:

Life Is a Celebration (2006) Gerthy’s Roots (2010)

Awards: Heineken Audience Award Tribeca Film Festival, Audience Award Sheffield Doc/Fest, Activism Jury Award Traverse City Film Festival, Audience Award Antenna International Documentary Film Festival Pitched at the Forum 2009 Website: www.giveuptomorrow.com

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Happiness ... Promised Land Le bonheur ... terre promise Laurent Hasse

France, 2011 video, color, 93 min Director: Laurent Hasse Photography: Laurent Hasse Screenplay: Laurent Hasse Editing: Matthieu Augustin Sound: Xavier Thibault Music: Nicolas Repac Narration: Laurent Hasse Narrator: Laurent Hasse Production: Stéphane Bubel for La Bascule Production Co-Production: Zadig Productions Screening Copy: La Bascule Production

Laurent Hasse:

Propos de voisins (1991) Frigos, état des lieux avant travaux (1992) En route pour la joie (1996) L’âge d’or? (1996) L’heure H (1998) À la poursuite de la fille en rouge (2000) Sur les cendres du vieux monde (2001) Aimé Césaire, un nègre fondamental (2007)

Without preparation, and carrying only a backpack and a camera, the documentary filmmaker Laurent Hasse hiked from the French Pyrenees to the coast of northern France.

“Hiking is a pleasure, and that pleasure is the subject of this film. Every encounter is an encouragement, as if everyone is thinking of me as I travel on.” Happiness ... Promised Land is a road movie at walking pace, with Hasse’s unplanned and openhearted encounters with his compatriots determining the structure. He has one important central question: what’s your definition of happiness? And it turns out to be a tough question to answer.

A wide range of people have a go, though, including a bar owner, a baker, some soldiers, a monk, a couple of housewives, and Santa Claus. This rich palette of perspectives that Hasse collects shows that optimists tend to find happiness close to home – although sometimes you have to have traveled to find out that that’s where it is. The pessimists tend to view happiness as something fragile, or else as pure egocentricity – because how can you be happy when you know that others are suffering? Happiness ... Promised Land balances between common truths about everyday happiness and existential reflection.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

The Kingdom of Survival Marc Alexander Littler

USA, Germany, 2011 video, color, 92 min Director: Marc Alexander Littler Photography: Philip Koepsell, Marc Alexander Littler Screenplay: Marc Alexander Littler Editing: Philip Koepsell, Marc Alexander Littler Sound: Nicolas Drolc Production: Alexander Hebert for Slowboat Films Executive Production: Philip Koepsell & Marc Alexander Littler for Slowboat Films Screening Copy: 7th Art Releasing

Marc Alexander Littler:

Zownir: Radical Man (2006) The Road to Nod (fiction, 2007) The Folk Singer: A Tale of Men, Music & America (fiction, 2008)

In this investigative travel report, M.A. Littler explores possible connections between politics, outlaw culture, alternative media, spirituality, arts, and philosophy. In his search for radical and alternative interpretations of 21st-century life, Littler talks to MIT professor Noam Chomsky, outlaw history specialist Dr. Mark Mirabello, anarchist writer and singer Ramsey Kanaan, folk singer Will “The Bull” Taylor, and author Joe Bageant. All of them articulate the current atmosphere of skepticism in America, and all of them challenge the status quo. The interviewees sow the seeds of doubt about blindly accepted American traditions. Chomsky, for example, explains the self-destructive power of capitalism, and advocates a society that questions all hierarchy; authorities must justify their own existence, and never be taken for granted. The director agrees that “social, economic, and political systems are not written in stone,” and should always be approached with skepticism. Crisscrossing America, M.A. Littler binds together the academia, utopianism, anarchism, globalized capitalism, and radical philosophy. In doing so, this “agnostic about everything” visits people who are attempting to interpret our times, a period in which we are being brainwashed by corporate and political propaganda. He doesn’t expect any easy answers, but does offer alternatives for current society.

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Koran by Heart Greg Barker

EUROPEAN PREMIERE “I like the way the letters look,” says 10-year-old Djamil from Senegal. He has no idea what the Arabic signs in the Koran mean, but he knows how they sound. He knows the whole book by heart – all 600-plus pages of it. Djamil is one of the participants in the oldest Koran recitation competition in Cairo. Children and young adults come here from all over the world to represent their country. Filmmaker Greg Barker follows three of the youngest participants as they go about their preparations. He does this primarily by observing them closely: he records their tiny clenched hands, and the tears of confusion when Djamil doesn’t understand what the Arabic-speaking jury wants of him. And we also hear the wonderful melodies of the recited texts. By allowing a wide variety of the people involved to have their say, Barker manages to create a nuanced picture of the competition. There are strict fathers and teachers, as well as a young imam who explains why a literary perspective on the Koran can counteract extremism. This all feeds into the sense of astonishment: at the power of the memory, and at the blinkered vision of some parents. It begs the question of whether this religious recitation competition is essentially any different from the much-maligned kids’ beauty pageants in the United States.

USA, UK, 2011 video, color, 80 min Director: Greg Barker Photography: Frank Lehman Editing: Langdon Page Production: John Battsek for Passion Pictures Executive Production: Sheila Nevins for HBO Screening Copy: Passion Pictures

Greg Barker:

Ghosts of Rwanda (2004) Sergio (2009)

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Kumaré

Vikram Gandhi Filmmaker Vikram Gandhi is a young East Coast American from an Indian family. He is astonished by the success of Eastern-style gurus in the wealthiest parts of the world.

As an experiment, Gandhi learns the tricks of the yoga trade, dresses himself as a guru, lets his beard grow, adopts a thick accent, and sets off under the name Kumaré to the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona. There, he quickly gathers a group of followers around him, whom he teaches to meditate to catchphrases such as “Be all that you can be.” The tone of Kumaré remains lighthearted throughout. Despite taking his disciples for a ride, much in the style of Sacha Baron Cohen’s character Borat, he always treats them with kindness and sympathy. Gandhi/Kumaré stitches the narrative together with a matter-of-fact commentary recorded after the event, never disclosing to what extent he became wrapped up in his role as wise spiritual Indian leader. In a world Kumaré conceives as pure illusion and a product of our inner eye, the filmmaker raises the question of whether the part he plays means he has become illusion incarnate. And this triggers the question in the viewer’s mind of whether what is apparently a fake documentary actually hides a deeper truth.

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USA, 2011 HD, color, 84 min

Vikram Ghandi:

Director: Vikram Gandhi Photography: Kahlil Hudson, Daniel Leeb Editing: Adam Barton, Nathan Russell Music: Hisham Bharoocha, Sanjay Khanna, Alex Kliment Production: Bryan Carmel, Brendan Colthurst for Future Bliss Films Executive Production: Stephen Feder, Cristian Gil, Nadia Muna, Eli Nhaissi World Sales: Cinetic Media, Ro*co Films International Screening Copy: Future Bliss Films Website: www.kumaremovie.com

Awards: Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary SXSW, Best Documentary Dallas VideoFest

directing debut

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

The Last Dogs of Winter Costa Botes

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

New Zealand, 2011 HD, color, 97 min Director: Costa Botes Photography: Costa Botes, Caleb Ross Editing: Costa Botes Sound: Costa Botes Music: Tom McLeod Production: Costa Botes for Lone Pine Film & TV Productions Ltd, Caleb Ross World Sales: NZ FILM Screening Copy: NZ FILM

Costa Botes:

Original Skin (1996) Saving Grace (1997) The Making of Lord of the Rings (2004) Yes That’s Me (2004) Candyman (2008) Daytime Tiger (2011) a.o.

www.costabotes.com

During polar bear season, visitors to Churchill, Manitoba in Canada are sometimes treated to an exceptional sight: wild bears peacefully sharing a barren strip of coastal land with a large number of chained dogs. These tourists are seeing not just one, but two endangered species. The Canadian Eskimo Dog, or Qimmiq, was once the indispensable companion of nomadic Eskimos, but almost died out because of neglect and active extermination. In 1950, there were some 25,000 dogs, but by 1970 just a few hundred were left. Since 1976, the breed has been kept going by a handful of dedicated people, including the subject of this film, a true phenomenon: Brian Ladoon. This former sailor developed a passion for the only breed of dog that can survive at minus 60. “These dogs have such a pack mentality that you can walk through the valley of the shadows of death and fear no evil; they will protect you like you wouldn’t believe!” he explains. In spite of his great work, his neighbors aren’t all thrilled about Ladoon: he’s not much of a people person. Ladoon’s critics are concerned about the dogs’ primitive living conditions and express fears that they attract cuddly looking but dangerous polar bears. In addition to angry neighbors, shortage of funds is also a problem. The film celebrates an enduring passion between a man and his dogs, and shows the often surprising nature of a unique relationship between wild and domesticated animals.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Music According to Tom Jobim Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Dora Jobim

Brazil, 2011 video, color / b&w, 88 min Director: Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Dora Jobim Screenplay: Miucha Buarque de Hollanda Editing: Luelane Correa Sound: Jorge Saldanha, Yan Saldanha Production: Ivelise Ferreira, Nelson Pereira dos Santos for Regina Films Co-Production: Instituto Antonio Carlos Jobim, Mauricio Andrade Ramos Executive Production: Marcia Pereira dos Santos Screening Copy: Regina Films

Nelson Pereira dos Santos:

Juventude (1949), Rio 100 Degrees F (fiction, 1955), Rio, Northern Zone (fiction, 1957), Barren Lives (fiction, 1963), O Alienista (fiction, 1970), The Amulet of Ogum (fiction, 1974), Tent of Miracles (fiction, 1977), Memoirs in Prison (fiction, 1984), The Third Bank of the River (fiction, 1994), Brasilia 18% (fiction, 2006), a.o.

Dora Jobim:

directing debut

Half a century ago, Brazilian composer and musician Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim (19271994) introduced bossa nova to a worldwide audience with “The Girl from Ipanema.” This relaxed, cool, sensuous music blended jazz and samba. After recording an album of songs by his friend Jobim, Frank Sinatra is reported to have said, “I haven’t sung so quietly since I had laryngitis.” Naturally, “The Girl from Ipanema” and Frank Sinatra are featured in this musical collage of countless seamlessly edited excerpts of concert footage that cover decades of events all over the world: from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon, Paris, Copenhagen, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Montreal, New York and back to Rio. And we see a huge range of artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Jr., Oscar Peterson, Diana Krall, Birgit Brüel, Lio, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Chico Buarque, Lisa Ono, Cynara & Cybele, and the maestro himself Jobim. There is no commentary; the music speaks for itself. Picture postcards, private photos, official documents, posters, album covers, and sheet music complement the concert footage.

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The Night Watchman El Velador Natalia Almada

Somewhere in Mexico, an opulent cemetery full of palatial mausoleums is growing by the day. The speed of expansion parallels the number of liquidations perpetrated by rival drug gangs in the area. A continual stream of notorious drug lords are buried here just as they lived, with pomp and ceremony – in marble buildings hung with chandeliers and portrait photos – and with machine guns and music. Their young widows and small children can be found there every day. Night watchman Martin looks after the site with two trusty dogs at his side. With the coming of each new day, family members arrive to tend to their loved ones’ luxurious mausoleums, and construction workers race to build new ones. In the background, weeping mothers bury their sons who have died violent deaths. In this subdued film, which is entirely bereft of the violence at its core, the camera takes in Martin’s almost serene days and nights in cinema verité style. News about the violent cartel wars on Martin’s television and the coconut drink salesman’s radio provide a clear context for this cemetery under construction. The sense of calm that reigns here contrasts increasingly sharply with the explosive epidemic of violence that can spread so easily in Mexico.

Mexico, USA, 2011 DCP, color, 72 min Director: Natalia Almada Photography: Natalia Almada Editing: Natalia Almada Sound: Alejandro de Icaza Production: Natalia Almada for Altamura Films Co-Production: Tita Productions World Sales: Doc & Film International Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Doc & Film International Involved TV Channel: PBS

Natalia Almada:

All Water Has a Perfect Memory (2002) Al otro lado (2005) El General (2009)

Pitched at the Forum 2010

Jan Vrijman Fund

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Page One: Inside the New York Times Andrew Rossi

It will be news to no one that things aren’t going well in the newspaper world.

One daily after another is folding, merging, or moving onto the Internet. In these inclement times, how are they faring in the editorial room of that queen of all newspapers, the best in the world, the New York Times? American filmmaker Andrew Rossi had a unique opportunity to film in this newspaper’s innermost sanctum for a whole year. Among others, he follows David Carr, the self-made media columnist at the New York Times. He finds himself reporting on how the newspaper landscape is slowly but surely being eroded away, while at the same time his own paper is finding itself in increasingly turbulent weather. The previously incontestable position and authority of the “gray lady” is being brought into doubt with increasing frequency, such as when it printed erroneous reports about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In addition to scenes from the newsroom shot with a handheld camera, we see a great deal of archive footage about the illustrious history of the newspaper, and contemporary TV segments illustrate the changing role of the media in the United States. In interviews, editors and their bosses respond to the increasing importance of blogs and the role of Wikileaks. And many a tear is shed for the layoffs of loyal staff members.

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USA, 2011 video, color, 90 min Director: Andrew Rossi Photography: Andrew Rossi Screenplay: Kate Novack, Andrew Rossi Editing: Chad Beck, Christopher Branca, Sarah Devorkin Sound: Rich Bologna Production: Josh Braun, David Hand, Kate Novack, Alan Oxman, Andrew Rossi World Sales: Ealing Metro International Distribution for the Netherlands / Screening Copy: Living Colour Entertainment Website: www.pageonemovie.com

Andrew Rossi:

Eat This New York (fiction, 2004) Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven (fiction, 2007)

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Phnom Penh Lullaby Pawel Kloc

Poland, 2011 DCP, color, 98 min Director: Pawel Kloc Photography: Przemyslaw Niczyporuk Editing: Jacek Tarasiuk Music: Mark Marder Production: Pawel Kloc for Parallax World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: Krakow Film Foundation

Pawel Kloc:

D.K. (1996) Zosia (1997) Breaking Through (2000) Dos sombras (2005)

Awards: Silver Horn & Silver Hobby Horse Krakow Film Festival

Saran and Ilan Schickman are an unlikely couple in Phnom Penh. She is an alcoholic Cambodian, and he an Israeli who moved to Phnom Penh looking for a better life. It quickly becomes clear that their relationship is extremely problematic. They don’t speak one another’s language, nor do they possess enough money or affection to raise their young daughters Marie and Jasmine properly. During the film, their dysfunctional family falls apart. The two of them argue about the children in front of the camera, and Polish director Pawel Kloc captures it all in this intimate and difficult portrait. Saran’s parents are worried that the children will be sold to a foreigner, and Ilan also begins to be increasingly suspicious of Saran. Meanwhile, they are forced to survive in the margins of society – Ilan tries to earn some money by reading tarot cards to tourists in the city’s red light district. In grainy hidden camera recordings, pimps whisper the price for a 12-yearold child. Kloc uses his debut film to concentrate on the painful moments of this unhappy family, with a heartbreaking climax.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

The Redemption of General Butt Naked Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion

USA, 2011 HD, color, 85 min

Eric Strauss:

Director: Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion Photography: Eric Strauss, Peter Hutchens, Ryan Hill Editing: Jeremy Siefer Music: Justin Melland Production: Daniele Anastasion & Eric Strauss for part2 pictures Executive Production: Greg Henry & David Shadrack Smith for part2 pictures World Sales: The Film Sales Company Screening Copy: part2 pictures Website: www.generalbuttnakedmovie.com

directing debut

directing debut

Daniele Anastasion: Awards: Excellence In Cinematography Award Sundance Film Festival, Best Documentary Award Bermuda International Film Festival

Butt-naked Joshua Blahyi is a living legend in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Over the course of the 14-year civil war, this nude warlord fought a terrifying and bloody battle in which he claims to have been responsible for some 20,000 deaths. He believed that his nakedness gave him spiritual powers and made him invincible. After the war, Blahyi converted to Christianity, started a family, and became an active evangelist. The camera follows this former general as he leads church services and visits victims – who variously respond with stoicism, emotion, and fear. It sometimes leads to absurd scenes, such as when we see this war criminal pushing his wheelchair-bound victim through the streets.

The film also sketches a portrait of daily life following the civil war in Liberia, where citizens come face-to-face with bloodthirsty former warriors on a daily basis. Locals can barely believe their eyes when they see the general preaching on the streets about God and forgiveness. In individual interviews, relatives of victims and others get a chance to speak. Some of them are suspicious of Blahyi’s transformation. Is his remorse and conversion genuine? Does he really want to do something for Liberia by taking care of his former soldiers? And how far does his loyalty really extend?

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Sing Your Song Susanne Rostock

A portrait of singer and actor Harry Belafonte, who used his fame to support the African-American civil rights movement. “I live in a perpetual state of optimism,” says Belafonte, now 84, as he looks back on his life in Sing Your Song, coproduced by his daughter Gina. He does so in interviews and a soft-spoken voice-over, his voice grown gravelly with age but no less characteristic. The story is underscored by unique archive clips and commentary by friends, relatives and colleagues. We see his childhood in Harlem and Jamaica, we hear about his time serving in World War II, and we see his career at a glance. But the leitmotif of the film is Belafonte’s ceaseless commitment to the American civil rights movement. In the 1950s, he was one of Martin Luther King’s confidants; in 1968, there was controversy when the white singer Petula Clark touched Belafonte’s arm during a duet for her television special; and in the 1980s, the singer was one of the driving forces behind the USA for Africa single “We Are the World.” His tireless and unrelenting commitment not only influenced the course of his career, but also his personal life: Belafonte is now happily married to his third wife.

USA, 2010 HD, color / black-and-white, 104 min

Susanne Rostock: directing debut

Director: Susanne Rostock Photography: Bobby Shepherd Editing: Jason L. Pollard, Susanne Rostock Music: Hahn Rowe Production: Gina Belafonte & Karol Martesko-Fenster for S2BN Belafonte Production LLC, Jim Brown for Jim Brown Productions, Michael Cohl & William Eigen for Concert Promotions International Co-Production: Sage Scully World Sales: K5 MEDIA GROUP GmbH Screening Copy: K5 MEDIA GROUP GmbH Website: www.singyoursongthemovie.com

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Skateistan: Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul Kai Sehr

Australian relief workers discover that they can get street kids in Kabul interested in skateboarding, and they find that it’s a great way to make contact with the locals.

They transform the basin of a nonfunctioning fountain into an improvised skate ramp, and a much-loved hangout in Kabul is born. Dusty slippers are replaced with hip skate sneakers. Enthusiastic boys and girls – many of the latter clad in traditional dress and headscarf – glide on their boards through the fountain and over the streets of Kabul. But the initiators of these activities are confronted with new problems time and time again: the children’s violent behavior, the differences between the sexes, the unwillingness of wealthy children to mix with poorer kids, and the tensions between the various ethnic groups. The success of the skate fountain sparks plans to build a big skateboard park with an adjacent skate school: Skateistan, and the search for funding alternates with scenes of daily life on the streets of Kabul. This is a moving, joyful, and hopeful film about idealism and children in wartime getting the chance to be kids again. The skaters even manage to get kids from the street and girls who have been forced to work back into school. “Anybody is cool on a skateboard.”

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Afghanistan, Germany, USA, 2011 HD, color, 95 min

Kai Sehr:

Director: Kai Sehr Photography: Ralf K. Dobrick Screenplay: Nadia Soraya Hennrich Editing: Nadia Soraya Hennrich Music: Rex Faraday Production: Rene Kock for Features while-u-wait LLC Executive Production: Ken Meyer for Defilm Screening Copy: Features while-u-wait LLC Website: www.skateistanthemovie.com

Awards: Best Documentary Of The Year Award Cinema For Peace Gala Berlinale 2011

directing debut

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Splinters Adam Pesce

USA, 2011 HD, color, 94 min

Adam Pesce:

Director: Adam Pesce Photography: Adam Pesce Editing: Kim Roberts Sound: Adam Pesce Music: Jesse Voccia Production: Perrin Chiles for In Effect Films, Adam Pesce Executive Production: Catherine Dávila, Daniel Dávila, Paul Morgan, Danielle Robinson, Alan Siegel World Sales: SnagFilms Screening Copy: In Effect Films Website: www.splintersmovie.com

Awards: Audience Award Action Sports Feature Newport Beach Film Festival, Best Documentary Award London Surf Film Festival, Halekulani Golden Orchid Award Best Documentary Hawai International Film Festival, a.o.

directing debut

At some point during the 1980s, an Australian pilot left his surfboard behind in the small village of Vanimo in Papua New Guinea. Now, 20 years later, surfing has become a way of life in the village, and an important status issue. There are even two rival surf clubs: Vanimo Surf Club and Sunset Surf Club. The film shows surfers from both clubs as they prepare for the very first surf championships in Papua New Guinea. While in the early days the surfers used to make their boards with “splinters” from palm trees, they now ride the waves on second-hand surfboards. And that goes for both men and women. With one eye on the waves, the Vanimo surfers longingly go through their glossy surf magazines, dreaming of doing the ideal maneuver. Boardshorts are mended and competition rules discussed. And in the meantime, village life goes on as usual. The film offers a fascinating glimpse into the society of this poverty-stricken island, where running water and electricity are unavailable and where people have to navigate the problems of the traditional lifestyle, the troubles of modern life, and their dreams of becoming a professional surfer in Australia. There’s only one way to make that dream come true, and that’s by becoming the best surfer on the island.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

The Substance – Albert Hofmann’s LSD Martin Witz

Switzerland, Germany, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 89 min Director: Martin Witz Photography: Pio Corradi Editing: Stefan Kälin Production: Elda Guidinetti & Andres Pfaeffli for Ventura Film Co-Production: Lichtblick Filmproduktion, Spotlight Media Productions World Sales/Screening Copy: Autlook Filmsales Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Involved TV Channels: RSI TSI, Teleclub

Martin Witz:

Malaria (2002) Indische Regen-Ernte (2005) Dutti der Riese (2007)

From wonder drug to problem child, The Substance captures the development of LSD from its discovery by Swiss chemist Alfred Hofmann in 1943 to its ban in California in 1966. We see how it was experimented with in psychology and on the street, where it became the psychedelic symbol of the hippie movement. Centenarian Alfred Hofmann tells us about his first “awful experience” with the drug. There are also interviews with scientists, with a member of the Merry Pranksters, and with the self-taught LSD producer of guru Timothy Leary. Historical footage – including intriguing recordings of experiments – captures the spirit of the times. Associative montage sequences of waves, neon letters, nuclear bombs and military weaponry draw a link between the effect of LSD and the era in which people were using it. By means of conclusion, we see how LSD is now being used to treat terminal cancer patients for depression, one of whom emotionally explains how LSD caused a fundamental shift in his approach to the world: “You’re opening up instead of narrowing down.”

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Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Susya

Yoav Gross, Dani Rosenberg Palestinian father and son Muhammad and Nasser Nawaj’ah visit the archaeological remains of a Roman-era Jewish village. A quarter of a century ago, before the ruin was discovered, Muhammad and Nasser were two of the few hundred Palestinians that lived in the ancient homes. Their memories of their lives here are not shared by the Israeli settler who operates the present site. Muhammad and Nassar are required to buy tickets in order to view their former home, and the son’s specific recollection of an incident involving himself and the settler is dismissed with scorn by the latter. It takes no more than a short visit to this place to make it all too clear how painful the relationship is between past and present in Israel. “This was our home,” says Muhammad as he walks from room to room, “This is our home.” The already distressing situation becomes even more uncomfortable when Israeli soldiers arrive, creating a parallel with another painful past. The Israeli directors Dani Rosenberg and Yoav Gross are very much present in the film, and don’t shy away from their subject – with their camera, they are actually full-fledged characters in the narrative. It is from this position that they record people from completely different worlds unwillingly crossing paths.

Israel, 2011 35mm, color, 15 min

Yoav Gross:

Director: Yoav Gross, Dani Rosenberg Photography: Dani Rosenberg Editing: Yoav Gross, Dani Rosenberg Production: Yoav Gross, Dani Rosenberg World Sales: Cinephil Screening Copy: Dani Rosenberg

Dani Rosenberg:

Moshe Vardi (2006) Gaza – An Inside Look (2009) The Border Project (2003) The Red Toy (2004) Don Quixote in Jerusalem (2005) Face (2006) Homeland (2008)

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Tahrir 2011

Ayten Amin, Tamer Ezzat, Amr Salama A view from the inside of the Egyptian revolution, split into three chapters. The first people to have their say participated in the demonstrations on Tahrir Square. These are ordinary people who suddenly become part of history by making posters, climbing on water cannons, or attending to the wounded in improvised infirmaries. They talk about their experiences, which are supported by personal film footage, much of it shot using cell phone cameras. Next up, members of the much despised secret police, sometimes disguised, also give their account – with a degree of shame and a remarkable ability to put matters into perspective. And then we move on to the cause of the revolution: President Mubarak, who ruled for 30 years. The film explains in 10 steps how Mubarak gained and then maintained power, using a large amount of archive footage that includes excerpts from Mubarak’s speeches and interviews, animations, and comments from a vast number of experts and key players in the events that took place – including writers, journalists, and former government ministers and departments chiefs. With great subtlety, the film demonstrates just how riddled with opportunism the political apparatus is and just how tough the road to a democratic future is going to be.

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Egypt, 2011 DCP, color, 90 min

Tamer Ezzat:

Director: Ayten Amin, Tamer Ezzat, Amr Salama Photography: Hussein Asser, Mohamed El Raouf, Ahmad Gabr, Ahmad Yaaqoob, Salah Yaaqoob Editing: Ayman El Tonsi, Doaa Fadal, Wael Farg, Eric Magriau Production: Mohamed Hefzy for Film Clinic, Frederic Sichler for Amana Creative Co-Production: Ingredients Productions World Sales/Screening Copy: Pacha Pictures Involved TV Channel: WDR

Ayten Amin:

Everything Is Gonna Be Alright! (2005) The Place I Call Home (2009) Her Man (2008)

Amr Salama:

On a Day Like Today (2008) Asmaa (2011)

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

The Tall Man Tony Krawitz

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Australia, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 79 min Director: Tony Krawitz Photography: Germain McMicking Screenplay: Tony Krawitz Editing: Rochelle Oshlack Sound: Ian Grant, Guntis Sics Music: David McCormack, Antony Partos Production: Darren Dale for Blackfella Films Executive Production: Rachel Perkins for Blackfella Films Screening Copy: Blackfella Films Involved TV Channel: SBS Australia

Tony Krawitz:

Zero (1999) Customs (2001) Together in the Middle of Nowhere (2001) Into the Night (2002) Unit #52 (2003) Jewboy (2005)

Early one morning in November 2004, Palm Island, Australia. Young aborigine Cameron Doomadgee was drunkenly tottering down the street, on his way home on this sparsely populated island. Following a brief exchange of words with white police officer Christopher Hurley, he was arrested. A little less than an hour later, Cameron was found dead in his cell, with a perforated liver and four broken ribs. Hurley denied any involvement, but an eyewitness, also an aborigine, saw the tall officer raining blows on Cameron while he lay, defenseless, in the doorway. The aborigine community was shocked, and serious riots broke out: Hurley had to answer charges in court. The trial that followed went on for years. Filmmaker Tony Krawitz based his exhaustive reconstruction on the book of the same name by Chloe Hooper, who attempted to solve the puzzle by presenting an impressive procession of witnesses. Members of Cameron’s family, journalists, legal experts, everyone appears on camera – except for the police. Was it just an unfortunate accident? A single violent incident by the normally “friendly giant” Hurley? Or has the Australian police force still not overcome its racist past, protected by a legal system in a country based on apartheid principles?

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests

Unraveled Marc H. Simon

USA, 2011 HD, color, 80 min Director: Marc H. Simon Photography: Bob Richman Editing: Christina Burchard, Alyse Ardell Spiegel Music: Chris Hajian Production: Miranda Bailey, Steven Cantor, Matthew Makar, Marc H. Simon Executive Production: Tony Tamberelli World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: Films Transit International Inc. Website: www.unraveledthefilm.com

Marc H. Simon:

Nursery University (2008)

The owner of a successful law firm, Marc Dreier was arrested on suspicion of large-scale investment fraud in December 2008. This was just one of a whole series of fraud cases exposed in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the most notorious of which was the billions swindled by Bernard Madoff. The Dreier case involved hundreds of millions of dollars, which he had borrowed in the name of his richest clients without their knowledge. After Dreier admitted his crimes to the judge, he was given permission to await sentencing under house arrest in his penthouse in Manhattan. Filmmaker Marc Simon, who worked for Dreier as a lawyer, was allowed to visit him there. With the possibility of a life sentence looming, Dreier looks at the motives that sent him down such a destructive road, culminating in his downfall. His flashbacks are presented in the style of a dark graphic novel. Villain or victim? It is left to the viewer to decide. The filmmaker doesn’t give Dreier a grilling, but allows him to tell his own story. The result is principally an glimpse into the declining moral sense of someone who liked to identify with his filthy rich clients.

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VOOR GROTE MERKEN EN MERKEN DIE GROOT WILLEN WORDEN

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regular programs Reflecting Images – Masters Reflecting Images is IDFA’s largest regular, non-competitive film program, divided into three sections: Masters, Best of Fests, and Panorama. In Masters, the festival keeps track of its favorite documentary filmmakers and is presenting 26 new works from renowned auteurs like Frederick Wiseman (Crazy Horse), Werner Herzorg (Cave of Forgotten Dreams), Barbara Kopple (Gun Fight), Michael Glawogger (Whore’s Glory), and Top 10 compiler Steve James (The Interrupters).

Reflecting Images – Masters

Big Boys Gone Bananas!* Fredrik Gertten

WORLD PREMIERE How far will a big corporation go to protect its brand? Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten’s experienced this recently. His previous film BaNaNaS!* (IDFA 2009) recounts the lawsuit that 12 Nicaraguan plantation workers brought against the fruit giant Dole Food Company. The film was selected for competition by the Los Angeles Film Festival. Nothing wrong so far, right? But then Gertten gets a strange message: the festival removes BaNaNaS!* from competition. Then a scathing article appears in the Los angeles Business Journal about the film, and Gertten subsequently receives a letter from Dole’s attorney threatening him with legal action. What follows is an unparalleled thriller that has Gertten capturing the entire process – from Dole attacking the producers with a defamation lawsuit and bullying scaretactics, to media control and PR spin. This personal film reveals precisely how a multinational will stop at nothing to get its way – freedom of speech is at stake. As Dole’s PR company puts it, “It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than a bad reputation”.

Sweden, 2011 HD, color, 87 min Director: Fredrik Gertten Photography: Joseph Aguirre, Kiki Allgeier, Stefan Berg, Malin Korkeasalo, Jose Gabriel Noguez Screenplay: Fredrik Gertten Editing: Benjamin Binderup, Jesper Osmund Sound: Alexander Thörnqvist Narration: Fredrik Gertten Narrator: Fredrik Gertten Production: Margarete Jangård for WG Film Screening Copy: WG Film Involved TV Channels: VPRO, SVT, YLE

Fredrik Gertten:

The Death of a Working Man’s Newspaper (2001) Bye Bye Malmö / Just a Piece of Steel (2003) An Ordinary Family (2005) The Socialist, the Architect and the Twisted Tower (2005) BANANAS!* (2009)

Fredrik Gertten, Magnus Gertten & Stefan Berg:

The Way Back – True Blue 2 (2002)

Fredrik Gertten & Lars Westman: Walking on Water (2000).

Reflecting Images – Masters

A Bitter Taste of Freedom Marina Goldovskaya

The Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya dedicated her life to denouncing atrocities in her country. Her personal reporting on the wars in Chechnya and the fate of Chechen refugees garnered her international fame and numerous awards, but also staunch opposition. On October 7, 2006, she was murdered in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building, and the perpetrator is at large to this day. Director and close friend Marina Goldovskaya filmed Politkovskaya, who was known by colleagues as “Russia’s conscience,” over a period of 15 years.

Starting in the early 1990s, when she still lived with her former husband, the popular TV journalist Alexander Politkovsky, but also later as she came into the limelight and made her views on the Chechen conflict known, using her investigative journalism to bring attention to war crimes. Goldovskaya also shows her role as a mediator in the Dubrovka Theater and Beslan school hostage crises. The documentary offers a portrait of a passionate and pugnacious woman who despite it all continued to dream of a greater country, but it also shows how the hope for democracy in post-communist Russia is gradually disappearing for an entire generation of people.

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Sweden, USA, 2010 video, color, 85 min Director: Marina Goldovskaya Photography: Marina Goldovskaya Editing: Dmitry Sushchev Production: Malcolm Dixelius for Dixit International AB Co-Production: Goldfilms World Sales: Swedish Film Institute Screening Copy: Swedish Film Institute

Marina Goldovskaya:

Valentina Tereshkova (1972), This Is Our Possesion (1973), The Experiment (1978), Pouskin and Pouschin (1980), After the Harvest (1981), For the Theatre to Be (1987), Tumbalalaika in America (1988), More Than Love (1991), A Taste of Freedom (1991), The Shattered Mirror (1992), The Children of Ivan Kuzmich (1997), The Prince Is Back (1999), Anatoly Rybakov: The Russian Story (2006), a.o.

Marina Goldovskaya & Peter Sellars:

A Potrait (1998), Art and Life: Finding the Thread. LA Diary (2004)

Reflecting Images – Masters

Carrière: 250 Meters Carrière: 250 metros Juan Carlos Rulfo

Mexico, 2011 HD, color, 90 min Director: Juan Carlos Rulfo Photography: Juan Carlos Rulfo Screenplay: Jean-Claude Carriere Editing: Valentina Leduc Production: Marco Polo Constandse for Filmadora Nacional World Sales: B&W Films Ltd Screening Copy: Filmadora Nacional Website: www.carriere250mts-film.com

Juan Carlos Rulfo:

Grandfather Cheno... and Other Stories (1994) Las despedidas (1998) Del Olvido al no me acuerdo (1999) 10 Minutes (fiction, 2000) El alma Mexicana (2000) In the Pit (2006) El Crucero (2007)

Juan Carlos Rulfo & Carlos Hagerman:

Those Who Remain (2008)

The French screenwriter Jean Claude Carrière is the star of this cinematic biography and journey into memory. The camera follows him as he travels from Paris to New York, Iran, India, and Mexico, sometimes with family, wife and children, and sometimes with friends and celebrated colleagues and ex-colleagues. Esthetically shot scenes alternate with handheld street interviews. This film places Carrière himself center stage, whether in his voice-over or in on-camera reflections on his career and life. Now in his 80s, he collaborated with the master filmmaker Luis Buñuel, co-writing such classics as Belle de Jour (1967) and Cet obscur objet du désir (1977). He recently worked on the script for Michael Haneke’s 2009 film Das weisse Band. Carrière is generally held to be a key figure in contemporary cinema. He is fascinated by human nature. “What happened between Hair and 9/11?” he wonders out loud in New York, for example. He discusses his love for stories, and he muses on world events and on places that hold particular significance for him. The old screenplay writer grew up in a rural winemaking community, and he hopes to die there, too – the house where he was born is only 250 yards from the cemetery where he plans to be buried.

Reflecting Images – Masters

Cave of Forgotten Dreams Werner Herzog

USA, 2010 DCP, color, 90 min Director: Werner Herzog Photography: Peter Zeitlinger Editing: John Bini, Maya Hawke Music: Ernst Reijseger Production: Adrienne Ciuffo & Erik Nelson for Creative Differences Executive Production: Dave Harding for Creative Differences, Julian P. Hobbs & David McKillop & Molly Thompson for History Films World Sales: Visit Films Screening Copy: Visit Films

Werner Herzog:

Herakles (1962), Fata Morgana (1970), Land of Silence and Darkness (1971), Aguirre, the Wrath of God (fiction,1972), Fitzcarraldo (fiction, 1982), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), The White Diamond (2004), Grizzly Man (2005), The Wild Blue Yonder (2005), Rescue Dawn (fiction, 2006), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Ode to the Dawn of Man (2011), Into the Abyss (2011)

www.wernerherzog.com

The German Werner Herzog was the very first filmmaker to get permission to film in the Chauvet Cave in the south of France. After being closed off for 20,000 years, the oldest known paintings were discovered there in 1994. Breathtaking drawings of animals from 32,000 years ago, twice as old as the ones in the famous Lascaux Cave. With the very newest equipment, including special 3D cameras adapted for the circumstances, Herzog enters the Chauvet. The 3D effect doesn’t only help capture the spatiality of the caves, but it also shows how prehistoric artists incorporated the curves of the rock face into their drawings. In the special atmosphere of the caves, where people are only allowed in for a few hours at a time, the drawings have remained unbelievably fresh and clear, with strong black and subtle gray tints. The caves provide a new challenge for Herzog, a filmmaker with a predilection for inhospitable and uneasily accessible shooting locations, from the desert to the South Pole. As always, Herzog zooms in on humanity. He philosophizes about how the drawings might have been a “form of proto-cinema” for the cave dwellers, thanks to the flickering light of flares and the stripes found in several of the drawings that would seem to suggest motion, and he gets absorbed in the stories of speleologists and a few remarkable local residents.

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Reflecting Images – Masters

Crazy Horse Frederick Wiseman

Frederick Wiseman is still recording in minute detail the goings-on in social institutions, from the insane asylum of Titicut Follies to Boxing Gym (2010). But this virtuoso documentary filmmaker is increasingly shifting his attention from social tension to rhythmic physical movement. Like his two earlier dance films situated in France, La Comédie-Française ou l’amour joué and La Danse – The Paris Opera Ballet, his new work Crazy Horse consists primarily of female dancers and their graceful, flowing, and harmoniously intertwined movements. The major difference is that the subjects are more naked than ever before. This time, Wiseman directs his camera at Le Crazy Horse, an erotic theater in Paris that claims to offer “the best nude dance show in the world.” Artistic standards here are far higher than in an average strip club. Here we find stylish choreography, atmospheric lighting, and varied selections of music. But the passionate choreographer Philippe Decouflé is constantly at odds with shareholders, who try to boost profits by placing his troupe under intense pressure to work long hours – he is convinced that this has detrimental effects on the quality. A loyal user of 16mm for four decades, Wiseman shot this film using a digital camera for the first time. Be that as it may, his unadorned, observational style lives on.

USA, France, 2011 DCP, color, 134 min Director: Frederick Wiseman Photography: John Davey Editing: Frederick Wiseman Sound: Frederick Wiseman Production: Pierre-Olivier Bardet for Idéale Audience International Co-Production: Zipporah Films World Sales: Celluloid Dreams Screening Copy: Idéale Audience International

Frederick Wiseman:

Titicut Follies (1967), High School (1968), Hospital (1969), Basic Training (1971), Welfare (1975), Model (1980) Missile (1987), Central Park (1989), Near Death (1989), Aspen (1991), Zoo (1993), High School II (1994), Ballet (1995), La comédie-Française ou l’amour joué (1996), Public Housing (1997), Belfast, Maine (1999), Domestic Violence (2001), Domestic Violence 2 (2002), La dernière lettre (fiction, 2002), The Garden (2004), State Legislature (2006), La danse – Le ballet de l’Opera de Paris (2009), Boxing Gym (2010), a.o.

Reflecting Images – Masters

The Fabric of Home Stoff der Heimat Othmar Schmiderer

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

The Fabric of Home takes stock of traditional Alpine clothing in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The filmmakers attend a great number of feasts and festivals, including the 200th anniversary of Andreas Hofer’s rebellion in Innsbruck, the 60th anniversary of the Carinthian Hunters’ Association, and Oktoberfest in Munich. Everyone who appears in the film has his or her own reason to be wearing a dirndl (a traditional dress), lederhosen, or a janker (a traditional jacket for men): for some it’s a political statement or a symbol of equality, while for others it might just be cool to wear. We see all sorts of people sporting these historical threads: farmers on the mountain slopes, but even Muslims and goths in the cities. Gay dance groups seem especially attracted to lederhosen, and a Jewish actor from Salzburg recounts the history of traditional Jewish dress during the Nazi period, explaining why this particular kind of pants represents his freedom. We also see how a long line of fashion designers, Vivienne Westwood included, have been inspired by this regional dress. As the memories of Nazi Germany fade, traditional clothing seems to be finding both its old and new meanings. As for the soundtrack, we get both old and new as well – from classical and traditional tunes to house.

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Austria, 2011 DCP, color, 94 min Director: Othmar Schmiderer Photography: Othmar Schmiderer Screenplay: Othmar Schmiderer, Elsbeth Wallnöfer Editing: Daniel Pöhacker Sound: Nils Kirchhoff, Georg Misch Music: Wolfgang Mitterer Production: Othmar Schmiderer for O.Schmiderer Film-production Screening Copy: O.Schmiderer Film-production Involved TV Channel: ORF

Othmar Schmiderer:

Josef Hauser-Sound and Space (1989), Collision (1993), Pillar of Sound (1996), Am Stein (1997), An Echo from Europe (1998), Blind Spot – Hitlers Secretary (2003), Back to Africa (2008), Repeatedly – Christoph Feichtinger (2009), a.o.

Othmar Schmiderer & André Heller:

Jessye Norman (2005) André Heller (2006)

www.othmarschmiderer.com

Reflecting Images – Masters

A Good Man

Bob Hercules, Gordon Quinn EUROPEAN PREMIERE

USA, 2011 HD, color, 85 min

Gordon Quinn:

Director: Bob Hercules, Gordon Quinn Photography: Keith Walker Editing: David E. Simpson Music: Jerome Begin, Christopher Antonio William Lancaster, George Lewis, Jr. Production: Joanna Rudnick for Kartemquin Films Co-Production: Media Process Group Executive Production: Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS, Susan Lacy for American Masters, Gordon Quinn for Kartemquin Films World Sales: Ro*co Films International Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films Involved TV Channel: Thirteen/WNET Website: www.agoodmanfilm.com

Home for Life (1966), Inquiring Nuns (1968)

Prisoner of Her Past (2010)

Gordon Quinn & Gerald Temaner: Gordon Quinn & Jerry Blumenthal: Taylor Chain I: A Story in a Union Local (1980), Taylor Chain II: A Story of Collective Bargaining (1984), The Last Pullman Car (1983), Golub (1988), Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes (2004)

Gordon Quinn & Jerry Blumenthal & Fenell Doremus:

The controversial American choreographer Bill T. Jones was invited by the Ravinia Festival near Chicago to put together a piece to mark the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

Lincoln, who was the 16th president of the United States and the first to be assassinated, means a lot to Jones. He was a young black boy in the 1950s who grew up in rural Florida before moving to upstate New York, and he describes Lincoln as “the only white man I was allowed to love unconditionally.” This was largely due to to the role Lincoln played in the abolition of slavery. Nevertheless, Jones is struggling with this historical figure’s significance in the Obama era and is uncertain of what form this production about Lincoln’s life story should take. At rehearsals for the piece, in which music and theater will play an important role together with dance, he struggles to communicate his vision to his dancers and collaborators. The film follows Jones and his company as they go through the intensely creative process, interweaving these scenes with archive material and interviews with Jones, dancers from the company, and other close colleagues. It turns out that Bill T. Jones is a man who demands the utmost from his people – and from himself.

The New Americans: Palestinian Story (2004)

Reflecting Images – Masters

Grandma’s Tattoos Farmors tatueringar Suzanne Khardalian

Sweden, 2011 HD, color, 58 min Director: Suzanne Khardalian Photography: PeÅ Holmquist Editing: Toby Trotter Production: PeÅ Holmquist for HB PeÅ Holmquist Film Screening Copy: Swedish Film Institute Involved TV Channels: SVT, NRK Pitched at the Forum 2009

Suzanne Khardalian & PeÅ Holmquist:

Back to Ararat (1988) Guldbagge (1993) Her Armenian Prince (1997) From Opium to Chrysanthemums (2000) Words and Stones – Gaza (2000)

WORLD PREMIERE

The Armenian Suzanne Khardalian grew up with her sisters in Beirut, Lebanon. Her grandmother Khanoum lived upstairs from them. The filmmaker remembers that her grandmother had frightening blue tattoos on her hands and face, and never was one to dispense hugs or compliments. In the voice-over, she explains that “We all felt ill with her suffocating presence.” No one knew how Grandma had gotten to be this way, and the past was never discussed. Years later, Khardalian immigrated to Sweden and made various documentaries about the genocide in Armenia. During World War I, Armenians were driven out of their country and into the deserts of Syria and Iraq. Many were murdered, and women and children were kidnapped and put to work as concubines for Turks, Kurds and Arabs. While doing her research, Khardalian found old photographs of Armenian women with the same tattoos her grandmother had. The shock was enormous: was Grandma one of the unfortunate ones? In this extremely personal film, the director sets out to tell Khanoum’s as yet untold life story. It brings her to Beirut, the United States, and deserts that are now known to be mass graves. Inevitably, her journey into her family history opens old wounds.

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Reflecting Images – Masters

Gun Fight Barbara Kopple

Almost eight years after the drama at Columbine High School, history repeated itself in the United States. Thirty-three people were killed in a shooting incident at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. This prompted two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple to look at the role of the gun in American society. This documentary gives a nuanced representation of the arms debate. The terrific impact of lax firearm legislation is demonstrated using archive news footage of dramatic shootings. Footage from old films featuring the likes of John Wayne shows how deeply rooted gun culture is in American society. The filmmaker interviews various supporters and opponents of stricter laws. The National Rifle Association (NRA) lobby is as strong as ever. Collin Goddard, who survived Virginia Tech and still has bullets in his body, takes on the NRA. His story forms a leitmotif throughout the film. He is campaigning for a ban on the “gun show loophole,” which makes it possible for private citizens to sell guns without performing background checks on the purchaser. Gun Fight is a lively film on gun culture in America.

USA, 2011 HD, color, 88 min Director: Barbara Kopple Photography: Christine Burrill, Gary Keith Griffin Editing: Bob Eisenhardt Sound: Daniel Brooks, Giovanni Di Simone, Robert Silverthorne Production: Williams Cole & Barbara Kopple & Marc N. Weiss for AIN World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: Cabin Creek Films

Barbara Kopple:

Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), American Dream (1990). Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson (1993), Woodstock ‘94 (1998), Friends for Life: Living with Aids (1998), Defending Our Daughters (1998), My Generation (2000), The Hamptons (2002), Bearing Witness (2005), Havoc (fiction, 2005), Shut Up & Sing (2006), Addiction: Steamfitters Local Union 638 (2007), High School Musical: The Music in You (2007), The DC Sniper’s Wife (2008), Woodstock: Now and Then (2009), The House of Steinbrenner (2010), A Force of Nature (2011)

Reflecting Images – Masters

Heart of Sky – Heart of Earth Herz des Himmels – Herz der Erde Eric Black, Frauke Sandig

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Clouds pass before the sun and away again while a gentle voice speaking in the splendid tones of the Mayan language explains how the Earth came to be. There were no humans or animals; there was only sky. According to the ancient Maya, this great cycle of their calendar will end in 2012. But for the source of the world’s demise, there is no need to look to the esoteric. The remote homelands of some nine million present-day Maya in Chiapas and Guatemala present a perfect microcosm for witnessing how greed is already ravaging the earth and indigenous cultures. With stunning imagery, six young Maya present their daily and ceremonial life, revealing their determination to resist the destruction of their environment, their rainforests and their native corn. One salient example is the huge open pit in Guatemala, where the largest gold mine in Central America has recently been dug. The earth has been stripped and laid bare for the grabbing hands of a Canadian multinational. The Maya suspect the red lumps on their children’s skin are caused by cyanide from the mine. They are now in such dire straits that, while some keep silent out of fear for their lives, others are mobilizing. Their cosmo-vision, in which all life is sacred and interconnected, presents a deeply compelling alternative to the prevailing world view.

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Germany, USA, 2011 HD, color, 98 min

Frauke Sandig:

Director: Eric Black, Frauke Sandig Photography: Eric Black Editing: Grete Jentzen Sound: Dirk Jacob Production: Eric Black & Frauke Sandig for Umbrella Films World Sales: Umbrella Films Screening Copy: Umbrella Films Involved TV Channels: ITVSIndependent Television Service, Inc, ZDF/3sat

After the Fall (2000) Frozen Angels (2005)

Oskar & Jack (1996)

Frauke Sandig & Eric Black:

Reflecting Images – Masters

I’m Carolyn Parker: the Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful Jonathan Demme

USA, 2011 video, color, 90 min Director: Jonathan Demme Photography: Jonathan Demme Editing: Ido Haar Music: Zafer Tawil Production: Stephen Apkon for Jacob Burns Film Center, Jonathan Demme & Lindsay Jaeger for Clinica Estetico Production, Daniel Wolff Co-Production: Jacob Burns Film Center Executive Production: Rocco Caruso Screening Copy: Clinica Estetico Production Website: www.imcarolynparker.com

Jonathan Demme:

Caged Heat (fiction, 1974), Crazy Mama (fiction, 1975), Last Embrace (fiction, 1979), Stop Making Sense (1984), Something Wild (fiction, 1986), Swimming to Cambodia (1987), Married to the Mob (fiction, 1988), Haiti: Dreams of Democracy (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (fiction, 1991), The Agronomist (fiction, 2003), The Manchurian Candidate (fiction, 2004), Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006), Jimmy Carter Man from Plains (2007), Rachel Getting Married (fiction, 2008), Neil Young Trunk Show (2009), a.o.

A couple of months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, Jonathan Demme met the pugnacious Carolyn Parker in front of her damaged home in the Lower Ninth Ward. He ended up following her over the course of five years, as she worked to reconstruct her house and the local church, and to get the community back together. Carolyn Parker is a retired hotel cook who dedicates herself with humor and inexhaustible energy to the rebuilding of her neighborhood. She was one of the first residents to return home after the hurricane. During a meeting about the recovery plan, she gave an angry and powerful speech. In response to the suggestion that residents get bought out and the neighborhood be demolished, she exploded. “I don’t think it’s right that you try to take my property. Over my dead body. I didn’t die with Katrina.” Before the storm, most people had never even heard of the Lower Ninth Ward. TV stations eager for sensation came for the disaster, but then they left and never returned. Demme takes a different approach, a far more personal one, by carrying on calm conversation with Carolyn from behind his camera, and by filming without any hurry whatsoever.

Reflecting Images – Masters, Steve James Retrospective

The Interrupters Steve James

UK, USA, 2011 HD, color, 127 min Director: Steve James Photography: Steve James Editing: Steve James, Aaron Wickenden Sound: Zak Piper Music: Joshua Abrams Production: Steve James & Adam Kotlowitz for Kartemquin Films Executive Production: Teddy Leifer & Paul Taylor for Rise Films, Justine Nagan & Gordon Quinn for Kartemquin Films Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films Involved TV Channels: SVT, NRK, ITVS, YLE, Canal+ Website: www.theinterrupters.com

Steve James:

Hoop Dreams (1994), Stevie (2002), The New Americans (Nigerian Episode) (2004), Reel Paradise (2005), No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2009), a.o.

Steve James & Peter Gilbert:

At the Death House Door (2008)

Awards: Special Jury Award Full Frame Documentary Festival, Special Jury Award Sheffield Doc/Fest, Best Documentary Award Miami International Film Festival, a.o.

Pitched at the Forum 2008

In September 2009, bystanders filmed 16-year-old Derrion Albert being beaten to death close to his school in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood. Steve James happened to be in Chicago at the time filming The Interrupters, set partly in the same neighborhoods as his acclaimed documentary Hoop Dreams. In these areas, the predominately black population lives in poverty and must cope with rampant crime and ever-increasing violence. Over a period of 14 months, James and his small crew followed three members of the Ceasefire organization, which takes to the streets to defuse explosive situations before people get hurt. These “violence interrupters” know exactly what they are dealing with: they know the culture of the local gangs inside out, speak the language of the “hood,” and above all have considerable powers of persuasion. The fact that James was able to film extremely threatening or precarious situations so close up is thanks to his painstaking way of working, taking the time to win the trust of his subjects. The dramas of a society in which violence is the tragic outcome of many complex factors, and in which even young children shoot at one another, play out right in front of his camera. It is in this grim environment that the members of Ceasefire operate, with incredible persistence and pragmatism, trying to offer a different life to disaffected youth.

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Reflecting Images – Masters

Joschka and Sir Fischer Joschka und Herr Fischer Pepe Danquart

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

“I doubt if my mother voted for me back then.” Former German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joschka Fischer comes from a conservative, Christian Democratic background.

In Joschka and Sir Fischer, the liberal politician tells of his life, which has been filled with extremes and contradictions: from his youth shortly after the war through his rebellious years as a politically active student, to his career as the government minister of a peaceful party that ultimately opted for intervening in Bosnia. He recounts his personal story literally against the backdrop of 60 years of turbulent German history: in the film, he is standing in an old factory between film screens on which historical footage is projected. In the editing, these help to explain his story, accompanied of course by music that fits the era in question. The film also makes 10 excursions to the stories of people who talk about their lives in a given period. From the mendacious 1950s, the revolutionary 1960s, terrorist groups in the 1970s and the peaceful anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s, through to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the election of the red-green government coalition under Gerhard Schröder.

Directed by Pepe Danquart, who won an Oscar for his fiction short Schwarzfahrer in 1994.

Germany, Switzerland, 2011 35mm, color / black-and-white, 140 min Director: Pepe Danquart Photography: Kolja Brandt, Christopher Häring Screenplay: Pepe Danquart, Werner Schweizer Editing: Toni Froschhammer Sound: Jacob Ilgner Music: Thom Hanreich, Sebastian Padotzke Production: Mirjam Quinte for Quinte Film Co-Production/ World Sales: Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion Screening Copy: Quinte Film Involved TV Channels: RBB, SWR, ARTE, SRF Website: www.joschka-und-herr-fischer.ch

Pepe Danquart:

Daedalus (1991), Schwarzfahrer (1993), Old Idians Never Die (1995), Off Season (1997), Playboys (1998), Homegame (2000), Primadonnen (2002), Semana Santa (2004), Hoellentour (2004), C(r)ook (2005), Am Limit (2007), a.o.

www.danquart.de

Reflecting Images – Masters

Life? or Theatre?

Leven? of theater?

Frans Weisz

WORLD PREMIERE

German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon created a 700-page painted life story that she called Life? or Theatre? a play with music. She left it for safekeeping shortly before being deported in 1943, saying, “Take good care of this, it’s my whole life!” Prior to that, after Kristallnacht, her father and stepmother had sent Charlotte to her grandparents in the south of France. Here, she witnessed the suicide of her grandmother and was told that her mother had ended her life in a similar way, in 1926. In order not to go mad Charlotte decides to undertake “something really extravagantly crazy” and created Life? or Theatre? in eighteen months. Not long after that, she was deported to Auschwitz, where she was killed. Dutch director Frans Weisz made a feature film about her life and work in 1980. At the time, Weisz got hold of a previously unpublished letter, which forms the leitmotif in this documentary about Salomon’s life. The leading actress who played Charlotte in Weisz’s film visits the places where Salomon made her paintings. Excerpts from the feature film are mixed with blackand-white family photos, images of the paintings, and interviews with the people involved. They read the letter for the first time and give their views on a shocking revelation.

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The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 85 min Director: Frans Weisz Photography: Paul Staartjes Screenplay: Frans Weisz, Batya Wolff Editing: Erik Disselhoff Sound: Gregoor van de Kamp Production: Frits Harkema for Quintus Films Distribution for the Netherlands: ABC Theatrical Distribution – Cinemien Screening Copy: Quintus Films Involved TV Channel: Joodse Omroep

Frans Weisz:

Ping Pong e poi…(fiction, 1962), Illusion Is a Gangster Girl (fiction, 1967), Same Player Shoots Again (fiction, 1973), Charlotte (fiction, 1980), Granite (fiction, 1983), Havinck (fiction, 1987), Polonaise (fiction, 1989), Last Call (fiction, 1994), A Woman of the North (fiction, 1999), The Rest Is Silence (fiction, 1999), Qui Vive (fiction, 2001), Boy Ecury (fiction, 2003), The Table (fiction, 2004), Meet the Family Hollander, Hopsi Topsi Land (2006), Fam. Hollander (continued) (fiction, 2008), Happy End (fiction, 2009), a.o.

Reflecting Images – Masters

Love Addict

Pernille Rose Grønkjær INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Denmark, 2011 HD, color, 81 min Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær Photography: Michael Pessah, Pernille Rose Grønkjær Editing: Pernille Bech Christensen Production: Sigrid Dyekjær for Danish Documentary Screening Copy: Danish Film Institute

Pernille Rose Grønkjær:

Those Were the Days (1998) The Models (1999) Repeating Grandpa (2001) Mad About TV (2003) A Complicated Family Life (2003) Fashion Patrol (2004) The Family (2005) The Monastery – Mr Vig and the Nun (2006)

When does love become an obsession? And when are you not in love, but in love with being in love? Danish filmmaker Pernille Rose Grønkjær, who won the 2006 VPRO Joris Ivens Award at IDFA for The Monastery: Mr Vig and the Nun, depicts several people who lose themselves in life’s ultimate aphrodisiac. There’s Tracey, an over-analytical, upper-class New Yorker who typifies her own actions as “too Fatal attraction-ish.” And then there’s the other Tracy, decidedly lower class, who begins relationships with losers who are 20 years her junior as a distraction from her own dissatisfying life. “I have the tendency to think I love people,” she intimates. Christian is a 40-year-old guitarist who was so dependent in the past that he is now attempting to maintain a long-distance relationship as a healthy alternative. But how well does his theory work in practice?

Grønkjær films her subjects primarily in their own homes, where they discuss their problems candidly while performing daily activities or lying on the couch like in an official therapy session. Some of the love addicts have reenacted their painful histories and provide us with an alternative look into their obsessive behavior. A film about the give and take between trust and neglect, dreams and delusions, pleasure and pain, sanity and insanity, and the inescapable fact that in the end we all just want to love and be loved in return.

Reflecting Images – Masters

The Love We Make Bradley Kaplan, Albert Maysles

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

USA, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 94 min

Albert Maysles:

Director: Bradley Kaplan, Albert Maysles Photography: Albert Maysles Editing: Ian Markiewicz Sound: Peter Miller Production: Laura Coxson & Susan Froemke & Bradley Kaplan & Ian Markiewicz & Katie Sorohan for Maysles Films Inc. Executive Production: Paul McCartney World Sales: Eagle Rock Entertainment Plc. Screening Copy: Eagle Rock Entertainment Plc.

Albert Maysles & David Maysles:

Psychiatry in Russia (1955), Russian Close Up (1957), Safari Ya Gari (1961)

Anastasia (1962), Showman (1963), Orson Welles in Spain (1963), What’s Happening (1964), IBM – A Self Portrait (1964), Cut Piece (1965), Muhammed and Larry (1980), The Beales of Grey Gardens(2006)

Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin:

Meet Marlon Brando (1966), With Love from Truman (1966), Salesman (1968), Gimme Shelter (1970), Running Fence (1978), Islands (1986)

On September 11, 2001, Paul McCartney was in New York, sitting in an airplane waiting for departure. Due to the attacks on the WTC, the pilot turned around; the passengers could see the burning towers from the plane’s windows. The former Beatle describes his reaction in an interview: “Like everyone else, I thought I want to do something. But I’m not a fireman, I’m not a rescue worker, so there’s no point in me going down there.

I’ve got to think of something else.” That impulse led to the Concert for New York, held in October 2001: a monumental benefit concert for the rescue workers who were still working through the rubble and an homage to their fallen brothers. Legendary documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, who already made a film about The Beatles in 1964 when they first came to America, follows McCartney during the weeks leading up to the concert. In his customary unobtrusive style, he shows McCartney practicing with his band, giving interviews to promote the event, and backstage during the concert, where celebrities like Jim Carrey and Bill Clinton drop into his dressing room. Maysles’s grainy black-and-white images are intercut with color footage of the concert. While it’s unclear why the material was shelved for 10 years, its release on the 10th anniversary of the attacks is fitting: it’s a testament to the hope that existed side by side with fear and anger in those first weeks after the attacks.

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Motherland or Death Patria o muerte Vitaly Manskiy

They’re devoted to their motherland with heart and soul, but they curse the circumstances in which they live. They’re Cubans, and they have trouble making ends meet in their declining socialist state. Various families and individuals are followed in their daily struggle to survive: a mother preparing for her daughter’s 15th birthday, who philosophizes that 15 really is too young to start working as a prostitute. Two older women who barely manage not to go hungry with their food stamps and what they earn as street vendors. A cleaner and dance teacher who proudly shows off pictures of his foreign one-night-stands. A one-legged dancer, who sees himself as an example for everyone who feels limited and wants to achieve something just the same. A musician from the orchestra that plays at dances where older, Western ladies feel young and beautiful in the arms of young dancers. We hear the story of these average Cubans in voice-over while the camera captures life on the streets of Havana, where lovers embrace, a fight breaks out, rain drenches clothing hung on lines, and a lone jogger gets soaked by a wave that breaks over the boulevard. And of course there’s music everywhere.

Russia, 2011 HD, color, 99 min Director: Vitaly Manskiy Photography: Leonid Konovalov Screenplay: Vitaly Manskiy Editing: Maksim Karamishev Sound: Sergey Ovcharenko, Maria Ushenina Production: Gennady Kostrov for Genfilm Executive Production: Natalia Manskaya for Vertov. Real cinema World Sales: Deckert Distribution GmbH Screening Copy: Vertov. Real cinema

Vitaly Manskiy:

Bumerang (1988), Post (1990), Etudes About Love (1990 – 1995), Lenin’s Body (1991), Cuts of Another War (1993), Bliss (1995), Private Chronicles: Monologue (1999), Gorbachev: After the Empire (2000), Elcin: Another Life (2001), Putin: The Leap Year (2001), Broadway: The Black Sea (2002), t.A.T.u.’s Anatomy (2003), Our Homeland (2006), Virginity (2008), Dawn/Sunset: Dalai Lama 14 (2008), Beginning (2009) Nikolina Gora: Epilogue (2009)

Reflecting Images – Masters

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky

EUROPEAN PREMIERE “It’s not about opinion anymore, it’s not about debate, it’s about science,” says Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines at a demonstration featured in Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.

This neatly sums up events that have taken place since the first Emmy Award-winning installment of the sensational Paradise Lost series, which seeks to spark debate about the shaky evidence against the West Memphis 3. Now in their thirties, these three men were wrongfully convicted 18 years ago of the murder of three eight-year-old boys, purely because they were heavy metal fans. DNA tests in 2007 exonerated them and indicated that the stepfather of one of the victims was the possible perpetrator.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t until mid-August of this year that the “WM3” were released.

As a result, celebrated directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky have had to make changes to the conclusion of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory since its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. It is fascinating to compare the current analysis of the case presented by renowned forensic experts, some from the FBI, with the analysis of key players recalling the earlier witch hunt. Archive footage shows the painful passing of time while injustice was allowed to prevail.

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USA, 2011 HD, color, 121 min Director: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky Photography: Bob Richman Editing: Alyse Ardell Spiefel Sound: Eddie O’Connor Music: Wendy Blackstone Production: Joe Berlinger for Radical Media Executive Production: Sheila Nevins for HBO World Sales: HBO Screening Copy: Radical Media Involved TV Channel: HBO

Joe Berlinger:

Outrageous Taxi Stories (1989), Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (fiction, 2000), Gray Matter (2004), Crude (2009)

Joe Berlinger & Jon Alpert: Addiction: South Boston Drug Court (2007)

Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky:

Brother’s Keeper (1992), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996), Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)

Reflecting Images – Masters

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Morgan Spurlock

USA, 2011 video, color, 90 min Director: Morgan Spurlock Photography: Daniel Marracino Screenplay: Jeremy Chilnick Editing: Thomas M. Vogt Music: Jon Spurney Production: Keith Calder & Jessica Wu for Snoot Entertainment, Jeremy Chilnick, Abbie Hurewitz &Morgan Spurlock for Warrior Poets World Sales: Content Media Corporation Screening Copy: Content Media Corporation

Morgan Spurlock:

Super Size Me (2004) Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) Freakonomics (2010) Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan’s Hope (2011)

Are you selling out or buying in? In this film about brands, advertising, and product placement – which was most emphatically made possible by brands, advertising, and product placement – Spurlock examines the phenomenon of branding. As he did in Super Size Me, the director casts an ironic eye over our all-embracing consumption society, using himself as the subject for study. Inspired by the concept of co-promotion, which involves promotional collaboration between films and brands, Spurlock goes hunting for brand partners to make the first-ever “docbuster.” Along the way, he visits a wide range of people and organizations, including marketing agencies, government offices, lawyers, well-known directors, Donald Trump, potential clients, and unexpected media partners.

Between pitches and his ongoing search for a “brand personality,” Spurlock points out the immense volumes of advertising around us, and engagingly paints a detailed picture of what goes on behind the scenes. As one of the interviewees says at the start of this film, “This movie is documentary evidence of how fucked up marketing is.” Spurlock does indeed inevitably encounter the pros and cons of the industry. The question is whether he’ll get his documentary made.

Reflecting Images – Masters

Sarah Palin – You Betcha!

Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

UK, 2011 HD, color, 89 min Director: Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill Photography: Joan Churchill Editing: Michael Flores Sound: Nick Broomfield Music: Jamie Muhoberac Narration: Nick Broomfield Narrator: Nick Broomfield Production: Marc Hoeferlin for Lafayette Film World Sales: Content Media Corporation Screening Copy: Lafayette Film Involved TV Channel: Channel 4

Nick Broomfield:

Who Cares (1970), Proud to be British (1972), Behind the Rent Strike (1973), Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1993), Tracking Down Maggie: The Unofficial Biography of Margaret Thatcher (1994), Heidi Fleiss – Hollywood Madam (1995), Biggie & Tupac (2002), His Big White Self (2006), Ghosts (fiction, 2006), Battle for Haditha (2008), a.o.

Nick Broomfield & Joan Churchill:

Juvenile Liaisons (1975), Soldier Girls (1980), Lily Tomlin (1986), Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003), a.o.

www.nickbroomfield.com

British documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield bites his teeth into the image of Sarah Palin, the popular conservative hockey mom from Alaska who almost became Vice President of the United States. Broomfield, the uncrowned king of tough subject matter, has made award-winning portraits of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement leader Eugène Terre’Blanche (The Leader, His Driver and the Driver’s Wife) Margaret Thatcher (Tracking Down Maggie) and Courtney Love (Kurt & Courtney) Sliding along the slippery ice of Alaska, Broomfield follows his familiar recipe and interviews everyone in the direct vicinity of his subject, waiting all the while to get a meeting with Palin herself. A long list of former friends and close employees get to have their say. Starting with the charismatic strength of Palin as captain of the basketball team, mayor, governor and candidate for the vice presidency, these people sketch a tarnished picture of a shortsighted, narrowminded, Christian fundamentalist who followed a path of intimidation, abuse of power, lies and unjustified firings. Brookfield concludes with the question of what could happen if Palin were to become President of the United States. The answers are pretty clear. Palin, now a member of the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement, has never ruled out a run for the presidency in 2012.

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Things that Matter Alles van waarde Frans Bromet

WORLD PREMIERE

Frans Bromet has been living in the Dutch town of Ilpendam for more than 40 years, and in those years he has seen the world change dramatically – and not always in a good way, he believes. While his daughter Laura gets involved in politics as a local councilwoman and national member of the left-wing Green Party, Frans searches out social wrongs. He encounters them mostly in the omnipresent management culture.

As far as he’s concerned, managers are only interested in growth and dehumanizing society, and in so many fields: health care and elderly care, housing, education, telecommunication, energy, the financial sector, and the public broadcasting system.

The most basic things are now being sold as products. Supposedly it’s intended to improve efficiency and streamline things, but really it’s just helping to line the pockets of the ever-growing legions of managers. Father and daughter don’t always agree, as we can see from their heated conversations. To emphasize their viewpoints, they confront each other with a filmmaker, a historian, and a pastor. Meanwhile, Laura moves to a house with a better view. Bromet lovers won’t be surprised to see that this family investigation of the modern-day zeitgeist is rendered with a generous dose of humor, which helps to keep it all in perspective.

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 85 min Director: Frans Bromet Photography: Frans Bromet Screenplay: Frans Bromet, Silvia Bromet, Julie van Traa Editing: Silvia Bromet Music: Mark Tuinstra Narration: Frans Bromet Narrator: Frans Bromet Production: Pieter van Huystee for Pieter van Huystee Film Screening Copy: Pieter van Huystee Film Involved TV Channel: HUMAN

Frans Bromet:

Het gaat om het spel, maar de knikkers zijn ook niet onbelangrijk (1963), De 1, 2, 3 Rhapsodie (1964), Dierentuinen (1968), Pedagogische Academie bezet (1969), Het drielandenpunt (1974), Een tip van de sluier (1979), Buren (1991 – 1999), Vogelpoepjes (1996), Veldpost (1996), Beroertes (1997), De wereld volgens Dummer (1997), Opvoeden (1997), Victoria (1997), Dilemma (2001), Meeste stemmen gelden (2002-2003), Steuntje in de rug (2007), Liefdewerk oud papier (2007), Eerwraak (2007), Spookhuis (2009), a.o.

www.bromet.nl

Reflecting Images – Masters

This Is Not a Film

In film nist Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Jafar Panahi “Now how can I really express myself inside that boundary with the lines I drew? How can I tell the sense and feeling in this kind of film? Not possible.” These are the words of the celebrated Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose films include The Circle and The White Balloon. He is frustrated as he watches scenes from earlier work, while, knowing the odds are stacked against him, he attempts to visualize his new film on the carpet at home. He looks after his daughter’s iguana, goes to the door to get the food he ordered, and hands off the garbage to be thrown away. He follows the news and looks from his balcony at the world in which he is not permitted to participate.

This Is Not a Film shows a day in the life of this isolated filmmaker, and it is dedicated to Iranian filmmakers whose work is being made impossible by the regime. Panahi has appealed to a higher court against a prison sentence of six years and a ban prohibiting him from carrying out his profession. Other internationally recognized directors, such as Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Bahman Ghobadi, have already left Iran. This documentary was smuggled out of the country to the Cannes Film Festival on a USB stick, hidden in a cake. Director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, who made the film together with Panahi, was arrested on September 17 of this year, together with five other Iranian filmmakers. He is still being held.

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Iran, 2011 HD, color, 75 min Director: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Jafar Panahi Photography: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Jafar Panahi Editing: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Jafar Panahi Production: Wide Management World Sales: Wide Management Screening Copy: Wide Management

Jafar Panahi:

The Wounded Heads (1988) Kish (1991) The Friend (fiction, 1992) The Last Exam (fiction, 1992) The White Balloon (fiction, 1995) Ardekoul (1997) The Mirror (fiction, 1997) The Circle (fiction, 2000) Crimson Gold (fiction, 2003) Offside (fiction, 2006) Untying the Knot (fiction, 2007) The Accordion (2010)

Mojtaba Mirtahmasb:

Lady of the Roses (2008)

Reflecting Images – Masters

To Be Heard

Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan

USA, 2011 HD, color, 87 min

Roland Legiardi-Laura:

Director: Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan Photography: Michael Julian Berz, Adrian Martinez, Edwin Martinez Editing: Edwin Martinez Production: Roland Legiardi-Laura for To Be Heard Productionsc/o The Odysseus Group, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan Executive Production: Jim & Jill Angelo for Dialogue Pictures, Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS Screening Copy: Roland Legiardi-Laura Involved TV Channel: ITVS Website: www.tobeheard.org

directing debut

Azul (1987)

Edwin Martinez: Deborah Shaffer:

The Wobblies (1979), Nicaragua: Report from the Front (1983), Witness to War (1984), Fire from the Mountain (1987), Dance of Hope (1989)

www.deborahshaffer.com Amy Sultan: directing debut

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Teenagers Anthony, Karina, and Paul are growing up in the Bronx, a place where opportunity is scarce and children grow up fast. Anthony puts it this way: “What are you supposed to do when your five o’clock shadow arrives at two?” Karina is the oldest of six children. She has to take care of the others most of the time, especially now that her mother is pregnant again. Pearl has a list at home with things she is proud of and things she feels work against her. She is in constant fear that she won’t make it in life.

Ever since they started taking an intense poetry course led by some inspiring teachers, they have discovered they all have a very special talent with words. They learn how to tell their stories, express their emotions, and dream about a life where anything is possible.

The filmmakers follow the students during the course and in their daily lives. In the words of Pearl, “I am not going to settle with normal, I gotta be extraordinary.” Despite their sometimes tragic stories, they become more self-confident – and their energetic, intelligent lyrics prove to be remarkably strong and catchy.

Awards: Audience Award & Special Jury Prize Seattle Film Festival, Audience Award New York Documentary Film Festival, a.o.

Reflecting Images – Masters

¡Vivan las antipodas!

Victor Kossakovsky

Germany, The Netherlands, Argentina, Chile, 2011, DCP, color, 104 min Director: Victor Kossakovsky Photography/Editing: Victor Kossakovsky Sound: Guido Beremblum Music: Alexander Popov Production: Heino Deckert for ma.ja. de. filmproduktions GmbH Co-Production: Lemming Film, Producciones Aplaplac, Gema Films World Sales/Screening Copy: Deckert Distribution GmbH Involved TV Channels: VPRO, ZDF/ ARTE, WDR, NHK

Victor Kossakovsky:

Losev (1989) Belovy (1992) Wednesday 19.7.1961 (1997) Pavel and Lyalya (1998) I Loved You (2000) Tishe! (2003) Svyato (2006)

Pitched at the Forum 2007

Jan Vrijman Fund

Where would you end up if you were to dig a straight tunnel from one side of the world to the other? This question has aroused the fantasy of many writers, children, and now documentary filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky. He didn’t just fantasize about it, but really went on a journey (albeit not through the earth) and filmed four pairs of antipodes: Argentina and China, Spain and New Zealand, Hawaii and Botswana, and Russia and Chile. There is no narrative to provide direction – instead, Kossakovsky lets us wander around the world while the music tells us where we are. In contrast to his earlier work, ¡Vivan las Antipodas! is a grander cinematic portrait in which the landscape plays a more important role than the people in it. But the director’s signature style is recognizable in the details. We meet two bridge keepers in Argentina who devotedly go about their business. They enjoy the sun and discuss what the weather will be like next week, on the basis of how a frog is croaking. Kossakovsky is playful with both his camera work and the editing. Sometimes, he quite literally films the world upside down, or zooms out until the curvature of the earth bends the frame.

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Whores’ Glory Michael Glawogger

The Austrian master filmmaker Michael Glawogger was awarded the Special Orrizzonti Jury Prize in Venice for this trilogy shot in warm colors focusing on the uncertain lives of prostitutes in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico. The jury praised its “stunning visual eloquence and precision,” which produces imagery whose beauty and emotional engagement almost match that of fiction cinema. Whore’s Glory is the third part of Glawogger’s trilogy on globalization; it was preceded by Megacities (1998) and Workingman’s Death (2005). In Bangkok, we see how numbers are pinned onto dolled-up girls as if for a Miss World competition. In Faridpur, very young girls literally drag clients into their room – because no clients means no life. In Reynesa, a retired hooker giggles as she divulges the tricks of her trade. We see prostitutes speaking freely about all aspects of their work, including aging and the role of religion as a form of support. Several customers also have their say about why they visit prostitutes. In his engaging and colorful portraits, Glawogger avoids clichés and easy judgments, and he reminds us about the impact of commerce and globalization. The melancholy soundtrack featuring PJ Harvey and CocoRosie help set a contemplative mood.

Austria, 2011 DCP, color, 119 min Director: Michael Glawogger Photography: Wolfgang Thaler Screenplay: Michael Glawogger Editing: Monika Willi Sound: Ekkehard Baumung, Paul Oberle Production: Erich Lackner for Lotus Film GmbH Co-Production: Quinte Film World Sales: The Match Factory Screening Copy: The Match Factory

Michael Glawogger:

Die Ameisenstrasse (fiction, 1995) Movies in the Mind (1996) Megacities (1999) France, Here We Come! (1999) State of the Nation (2002) Slugs (fiction, 2004) Workingman’s Death (2005) Slumming (fiction, 2006) Kill Daddy Good Night (fiction, 2009) Contact High (fiction, 2009) a.o.

Reflecting Images – Masters

Yoole, The Sacrifice Moussa Sene Absa

In April 2006, a small boat was found drifting aimlessly along the eastern coast of Barbados. Local fishermen left the boat alone for many weeks, assuming it had something to do with drug smuggling. It later emerged that the boat contained the bodies of 11 Senegalese people who had set out to Europe four months earlier.

In Senegal, it is not unusual for young people to embark in a rickety vessel in search of money and happiness in Europe or North America. Director Moussa Sene Absa is himself Senegalese, and was in Barbados when the boat was discovered. He returns to his homeland to explore the stories of the young men who risk the voyage.

Surrounded by the slum dwellings and other dilapidated buildings in the ghetto, the young adults talk about poverty, hunger, politics and corruption, Western Union, and Western paradise. Archive footage of a party conference with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who represents the political elite, is interspersed with scenes featuring local songs, rap and poetry. Using a variety of rhythms and styles, Absa applies his own narrative method and succeeds in connecting individual stories to the sociopolitical situation. This yields a portrait of Senegalese youth and an impression of the consequences of the distance between themselves and the political elite.

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Senegal, 2010 video, color, 75 min Director: Moussa Sene Absa Photography: Moussa Sene Absa Screenplay: Moussa Sene Absa Editing: France Langlois Sound: Moussa Sene Absa Production: Moussa Sene Absa for Absa Films Screening Copy: Absa Films

Moussa Sene Absa:

Yalla yaana (fiction, 1994) Rocking Poponguine (fiction, 1994) Tableau ferraille (fiction, 1997) Jëf Jël (1998) Blues pour une diva (1999) Ainsi meurent les anges (2001) Madame Brouette (2002) Ngoyaan, le chant de la séduction (2004) Teranga Blues (fiction, 2007)

regular programs Reflecting Images – Panorama Reflecting Images is IDFA’s largest regular, non-competitive film program, divided into three sections: Masters, Best of Fests, and Panorama. In Panorama, the festival is presenting 68 films that are thought-provoking in their form and choice of theme.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Agnes & Nancy Anne Milne

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Agnes and Nancy were both confronted with a diagnosis of dementia before they reached the age of 60. For Agnes, this was five years ago, and she still struggles every day with the changes taking place in her body and mind – changes of which she is all too painfully aware. She must accept that she is no longer the scientifically minded, active woman she once was. Nancy also finds the loss of independence difficult to deal with. Agnes & Nancy shows Agnes visiting Nancy, whom she met and befriended at a support group. They work together in the garden, practice yoga, and speak openly about their illness. The film strikes a surprisingly optimistic tone; although these women are struggling with a new identity, they most definitely have not thrown in the towel. They very much enjoy being together, and gain a lot of support from one another in this new phase of life with its unexpected twists and turns.

Scotland, 2011 HD, color, 24 min Director: Anne Milne Photography: Anne Milne Editing: Anne Milne Sound: Sabine Hellmann Music: David Borras Production: Anne Milne for Wee Red Films Executive Production: Ruth Bartlett for University of Southampton, Caroline Hick for University of Bradford World Sales: Wee Red Films Screening Copy: Wee Red Films

Anne Milne:

Maria’s Way (2009) A Sense of Reality (2010) Himalayan Sisters (2011)

www.annemilne.com

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Another Life Une autre vie Alexandre Dereims

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

“Fortune seekers” are what they call the many Africans who go off in search of a different, better life. Traveling from countries such as Libya, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria, they risk their lives on the dangerous sea crossing to Italy, portal to the prosperous West. The film begins with a meeting between Muammar Gaddafi and Silvio Berlusconi, where the two heads of state agree on how to contain the flow of migrants from Libya. In exchange for a large sum of money, Gaddafi promises to improve his border control and build more detention centers. Next we see a gorgeous shot of the Sahara, a trail of heavily laden trucks driving through it. On board are mostly young men on their way to Italy. Documentary filmmaker Alexandre Dereims is accompanying them on this perilous adventure. They have enough food and water for many days, but they explain with fear in their eyes that a breakdown in the desert could prove fatal. Dereims’s interviews yield harrowing tales of many years of suffering along the way, interrupted only by profiteers and swindlers who maintain their own economy with promises of a better life. Libya, the gateway to the promised land, proves for many people to be a hell where Gaddafi denies them even the most basic human rights. Until spring arrives, that is…

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France, 2011 video, color, 80 min Director: Alexandre Dereims Photography: Sadel Ketab Screenplay: Alexandre Dereims Editing: Alexandre Dereims Narration: Alexandre Dereims Narrator: Peter Humi Production: Matthieu Belghiti for Maha Productions World Sales: Java Films Screening Copy: Java Films Involved TV Channel: France 5

Alexandre Dereims:

Outcast Life, Calcutta’s Rikshawalas (2002), Face to Death (2003), Christmas in Manchester (2004), The Khmer Rouge, A Trial Against Oblivion (2005), A Secret Genocide (2006), Private Deprived (2008), Han: The Price of Freedom (2008), Escaping North Korea (2009), Burma: A Country Under Control (2009), Life Keepers (2010)

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Antonio + Silvana = 2

Simone Aleandri, Vanni Gandolfo, Luca Onorati INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Italy, 2011 HD, color, 71 min

Simone Aleandri:

Director: Simone Aleandri, Vanni Gandolfo, Luca Onorati Photography: Vanni Gandolfo Screenplay: Simone Aleandri, Vanni Gandolfo, Luca Onorati Editing: Luca Onorati Music: Sebastián Escofet Production: Vanni Gandolfo for Millanta Film S.R.L., Ilaria Sbarigia Screening Copy: Millanta Film S.R.L. Involved TV Channel: Rai

A Summer at the Seaside (2008) Plastic Age (2009) The Devil’s Footprints (2010) Numbers Stations(2011) The Words That Changed the World (2011)

It Does Not Take Much (2010)

Vanni Gandolfo:

Luca Onorati:

directing debut

They were once a couple, but good-natured Antonio was frightened off by Silvana’s tempestuous and flamboyant character. And now, at the age of 77, Antonio is in a rest home and 60-year-old Silvana is trying to catch a glimpse of him. By turns angry and excited, Silvana talks to the documentary filmmakers who are following at her heels about her great love who is hiding from her. Silvana’s peroxide hair and missing teeth make for a striking appearance that betrays her life of prostitution, drugs and reckless behavior. She deliberates loudly about Antonio’s rejection of her and chalks messages to him on her walls – ranging from the obscene and offensive to the poetic and lovedrenched. The inhabitants of Trastevere, an old neighborhood in the heart of Rome, look on with a mixture of irritation and amusement; there are those who fully support Silvana’s quest, while others view her solely as a troublemaker. No one, however, can ignore her presence, and everyone who passes glances up at Silvana’s ever-expanding message wall, which also features pictures of scantily clad ladies. Meanwhile, the object of her desire is playing a nice quiet game of cards, thinking his own thoughts.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Askoo

Mohammad Ali Hashemzehi

Iran, 2011 HD, color, 25 min Director: Mohammad Ali Hashemzehi Co-director: Molabakhsh Raeisi Photography: Mohammad Mojalel Editing: Arash Zahedi Asl Sound: Mehdi Karimi Production: Ehsan Mohammad Hassani Co-Production: Ashour Cultural Institute World Sales: Setak Films Sanandaj Screening Copy: Setak Films Sanandaj

Mohammad Ali Hashemzehi: Sovas (2006) Mahtab (2007) Sechkan (2009) Tiss (2011) Bahargah (2011)

Awards: Best Short Film The Shaken Stars Film Festival, Special Jury Award Kish International Film Festival

On the breathtaking horizon of a hot, dusty lowland, dromedaries trudge from east to west. In voice-over, the weathered dromedary shepherd Kannar tells of how he received one of these Arabian camels from his father as boy – his dromedary and he were practically born at the same time. Kannar’s dromedary is named Askoo, which means gazelle, while Kannar means strong and clever. The pair are stuck with one another like Cain and Abel. Kannar herds his flock in the desert of Balochistan, near the border between Iran and Pakistan, where only the wind drowns out the sluggish roaring of the dromedaries. During the long, dreary days and nights, Askoo is the only one for him to talk to. The few occasions that Kannar got lost, she brought him back. But while Askoo calmly chews her food, Kannar grumbles about the imperturbable animal, which has been keeping him faithful company for so many years under the shelter of his tent-cloth.

As Kannar’s story progresses, we gradually get the uncomfortable feeling that Askoo might not be as stupid as her master would like us to believe.

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Reflecting Images – Panorama

A Balloon for Allah En ballong til Allah Nefise Özkal Lorentzen

The Norwegian-Turkish filmmaker Nefise Özkal Lorentzen decides to send a green balloon to Allah with the message that the role of women in Muslim cultures has to change. As a Muslim, she feels caught between two cultures. The balloon brings her to Cairo for a visit with 90-year-old writer and activist Gamal al-Banna, who has received several death threats for his free interpretation of Islam. She also meets a fundamentalist Muslim whose wife has never been alone outside during their six years of marriage. With his tough questions, Al-Banna identifies the problem for the filmmaker, and Asma Barlas, the most important contemporary female interpreter of Islam, informs her about the connection between the three Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam). The penetrating conversations are interspersed with creative dream imagery in which Lorentzen fantasizes about men’s subjugation of women. By showcasing her own emotions and background, her journey becomes a very personal one. She illustrates this all the more by filming herself, while the camera asks: Why cover up what everyone can see?

Norway, 2011 HD, color, 58 min Director: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen Photography: Nils Petter Lotherington Screenplay: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen Editing: Inge-Lise Langfeldt Sound: Håkon Lammetun Music: Morten Haslerud Narration: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen Narrator: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen Animation: Simon M. Valentine Production: Jørgen Lorentzen for Integral Film AS World Sales: DR International Sales Screening Copy: DR International Sales Involved TV Channel: NRK

Nefise Özkal Lorentzen:

Traveling to the East (1994) Photographing (1997) Go Beyond Limits (2001) It Happened Yesterday, It Happens Today (2002) Smart Home (2004) I Have Two Countries (2005) Gender Me (2008) The Young Detectives (fiction, 2008)

Awards: International Ambassador Award Rhode Island Film Festival, Best Documentary Award Chrystal Palace International Film Festival

Reflecting Images – Panorama

BOM

Amlan Datta EUROPEAN PREMIERE In BOM, director Amlan Datta makes a number of visits to his adoptive family in Malana, a remote mountain village near the border with Tibet. In the past, things were just fine there, thanks to divine jurisprudence and a village council that could only make decisions unanimously. As a result, no one ever suffered at the hands of a majority or the law of the strongest. According to one resident, “Our system was good enough. It was perfect.” But ever since the Republic of India established democracy throughout the country, things are changing, and many feel not for the better. The traditional cultivation of cannabis is now illegal, and the goat pastures must make way for a dam. Outsiders suggest tourism and pea farming as alternative sources of income, but given the village’s location and the potential profit, this doesn’t seem all that realistic. In the words of another villager, “Now we’ve become slaves to India.”

Datta takes one of his brothers to the capital to see the parliament building, the heart of the democratic system that is destroying the harmony in his village. Meanwhile, daily life goes on in Malana, with covert cannabis cultivation, a wedding, elections, feasts for the gods, a fire, a strike, but most of all an infectious sense of humor.

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India, Japan, 2011 video, color, 117 min Director: Amlan Datta Photography: Amlan Datta Editing: Amlan Datta Sound: Richard Kondal, Subhadeep Sengupta Production: Amlan Datta & Anirban Datta for Animagineer Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Animagineer Involved TV Channel: NHK Website: www.aheadofdemocracy.com

Amlan Datta:

Everything Remains – A film on Chitpur Road (1997) Song of the Mountains (2005) Cockadoodle-do (2007)

Pitched at the Forum 2008

Jan Vrijman Fund

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Bosnian Rhapsody: At the Margins of Science Bosanska rapsodija: Na rubu znanosti Vesna Ljubic

Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2011 video, color, 50 min Director: Vesna Ljubic Photography: Adnan Sahbaz Screenplay: Vesna Ljubic Editing: Blanka Jelic Sound: Adnan Sahbaz Production: Vesna Ljubic for Ton Light Film Sarajevo Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Ton Light Film Sarajevo

Vesna Ljubic:

Death Is Paid Off Through Living (1971) Halil Tikvesa (1971) Simha (1980) The Defiant Delta (1987) The Last Switchman of the Narrow Gauge Railway (1988) Illusionists (1991) Ecce Homo (1994) Holy Ashes of India (1999) Lotus Flower (1999) Tirupatti (1999) Palani (1999) Adio Kerida (2001)

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Among the various ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina, mysticism, magic and religion have always been important. Influenced by the Middle-East and Turkey, Bosnians pay a great deal of attention to medicine men. They also believe that peoples’ illnesses have a lot to say about the condition of society as a whole. In the aftermath of the war, the country is attempting to cure itself of a nationwide trauma. People were driven from their homes, lost their families, are depressed, desperate and uprooted. What’s more, contemporary politics often leads to alienation and the loss of familiar values. People turn to the tried and tested methods of the past, which include the Russian Orthodox faith as well as the various pagan belief systems. In organized exorcisms, Bosnians try to drive out their own demons. Moroccan healers “infuse” spring water for 15,000 people at once, while monks share their recipes. Who would ever have thought that a cup of horseradish tea can help pass a kidney stone, or that the juice of a radish can bring relief for a painful scrotum? In this documentary, we meet shamans, healers, prophets, priests and scientists who discuss the tradition of quackery in Bosnia. Religious music and Gregorian chanting adorn the film with a mystical atmosphere.

Jan Vrijman Fund

Reflecting Images – Panorama

The Boxing Girls of Kabul Ariel Nasr

WORLD PREMIERE

Canada, 2011 HD, color, 52 min Director: Ariel Nasr Photography: Ariel Nasr Editing: Hannele Halm Sound: Christopher Yapp Production: Annette Clarke for National Film Board of Canada World Sales: National Film Board of Canada Screening Copy: National Film Board of Canada

Ariel Nasr:

My Fathers Are a Foreign Country (2006) Good Morning Kandahar (2008) Dog Fight (2010)

In the stadium in Kabul where women were once stoned to death during the Taliban regime, kids are learning to box. The girls training here are determined to prove that they are free and modern women. They are literally fighting for respect, for themselves, and for their nation. The filmmakers do talk with their families, but the main focus is on the girls as they train. Their coach Sabir Sharifi is doing everything he can to prepare “his” girls for the 2012 Olympic Games. They have a great deal to thank their freethinking parents for, because they taught them that women are worth the same as men. And the children have also learned that there is more to life than marriage, because if no man comes along, then “Boxing will be their husbands.” But many of the families aren’t united in their support. For many brothers, a boxing sister is nothing to be proud of. This discord is reflected in the country at large; women may be allowed to box in Kabul, but stoning still takes place in other parts of the country. Is Afghanistan ready to show the world that it can produce top-level female boxers? The moment of truth arrives when the girls travel abroad to fight in the ring for the first time.

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Boy Cheerleaders James Newton

Director James Newton follows England’s first all-boy cheerleading team in the run-up to the national championships. It’s not all smooth sailing for them: as one of the mothers of the young boys says, the boys either really go for it or they mess it up. And that means life isn’t always easy for them. Newton zooms in on three team members. Between training sessions, they talk about the role sports have in their lives, about their mothers, and about their fathers’ absence. The team is a rock in the lives of the children and their mothers. It even plays a parenting role, with the boys learning to take criticism, cooperate with one another, persevere, and excel. Many of the mothers have troubled pasts to contend with, but it gives the boys a chance to dream. Nine-year-old Harvey sees himself as a kind of Billy Elliot – from the film about a boy from a mining family who becomes a famous ballet dancer. Harvey’s coaches manage to get him an audition at the prestigious Northern Ballet Academy.

UK, 2010 video, color, 60 min Director: James Newton Photography: Edward Edwards, James Newton Editing: Steve Barclay Music: Chris White Production: Anna Higgs, Gavin Humphries for Quark Films Screening Copy: Quark Films

James Newton:

The Goal (2008) 3MW: Rivers of Blood (2008) On the Run with Abdul (2009) 3MW: Missing You (2009) The Space You Leave (2009)

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Brother Number One Annie Goldson

EUROPEAN PREMIERE In 1978, the New Zealander yachtsman Kerry Hamill and two friends disappeared without a trace while sailing from Australia to Southeast Asia. It turned out that his boat was attacked by a cell of the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian ultra-Maoist regime that ruled viciously from 1975 to 1979. One sailor, the Canadian Stuart Glass, was shot immediately, but Kerry and Englishman John Dewhirst were taken to the notorious Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh, held for several months, tortured, and then killed.

In 2010, Kerry’s youngest brother Rob, an Olympic and transatlantic rower, was given a rare opportunity to take the stand as a witness at the Cambodia War Crimes Tribunal. Thirty-one years after the fact, five senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge, who perpetrated the greatest forgotten genocide of the 20th century, are finally on trial.

First up is former prison commander Comrade Duch (Kaing Guek Eav), who gave the order to kill Kerry and John – and approximately 14,000 other victims in Tuol Sleng.

Rob travels to Cambodia for the first time, preparing himself for the tribunal by retracing Kerry’s footsteps and meeting those involved in Pol Pot’s four-year reign of terror, which killed almost two million Cambodians. Interwoven with Rob’s emotional and personal investigation, photographs and testimonies capture a national trauma in which everyone lost family members.

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New Zealand, 2011 video, color, 99 min Director: Annie Goldson Co-director: Peter Gilbert Photography: Jake Bryant, Peter Gilbert Screenplay: Annie Goldson Editing: James Brown, Annie Goldson Sound: Grant Lawrey Production: James Bellamy & Annie Goldson & Rob Hamill for BNO Productions Co-Production: Pan Pacific Films World Sales/Screening Copy: BNO Productions Involved TV Channel: TV3 Website: www.brothernumberone.co.nz

Annie Goldson:

Wake (1994), Seeing Red (1995), Elgar’s Enigma: Biography of Concerto (2006), Bogey, Bacall and Brian (2008), An Island Calling (2008), a.o.

Annie Goldson & Chris Bratton:

Counterterror: The North of Ireland (1990), Framing the Panthers (in Black-and-white) (1991)

Reflecting Images – Panorama

The Bully Project Lee Hirsch

USA, 2011 HD, color, 98 min Director: Lee Hirsch Photography: Lee Hirsch Editing: Jenny Golden, Lindsay Utz Music: Bishop Allen, Ionic Furjanic Production: Lee Hirsch for Where We Live Films Executive Production: Cindy Waitt World Sales: The Weinstein Company Screening Copy: The Weinstein Company Website: www.thebullyproject.com

Lee Hirsch:

Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony (2002)

A day when 12-year-old Alex is merely ignored is a good day for him. His classmates often call him names like “fish face” and beat him viciously. His daily hell begins on the school bus, where ghastly threats are directed at him. He’d rather bite off his tongue than tell his father what is going on. Director Lee Hirsch films five bullied children and their parents. Two families lost their children to suicide as a consequence of bullying.

This documentary is intended to raise awareness among fellow students, teachers, and school administrators about the seriousness of this problem. It allows courageous teenagers who are being subjected to this misery to have their say. A 16-year-old lesbian explains how she has been excluded and abused, and even hit by a car. And a 14-year-old girl is placed in a youth detention center after going berserk and waving a pistol around as a result of endless tormenting. Combined with shocking scenes of physical abuse and victims walking through school corridors with hunched shoulders, these harrowing stories spark clear questions. Who bears the blame for all this misery? The bullies? The parents who allow their children to bully without fear of punishment? The schools? And, more importantly, what are we going to do about it?

Reflecting Images – Panorama

The Camera That Changed the World Mandy Chang

UK, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 62 min Director: Mandy Chang Photography: Stephen Standen Editing: Gregor Lyon Production: Lambent Productions Executive Production: Chris Durlacher for Lambent Productions World Sales: Lambent Productions Screening Copy: Lambent Productions Involved TV Channel: BBC

Mandy Chang:

Jacqueline Dupre: Playing with Fire (1999), La Boheme (2000), Visions of Space (2002), Superhomes New York (2003), The State of Texas (2004), Remembering Rain (2005), Cosi fan tutte (fiction, 2006), Songs of Cuba (fiction, 2007), The Mona Lisa Curse (2008), A Thousand Encores: The Ballets Russes in Australia (2009), The Emperor’s Secret Garden (2010), a.o.

www.mandychang.com

It’s hard to imagine these days, but once upon a time the documentary genre was enormously restricted by the simple fact that cameras were way too heavy to carry around. Then, over the course of a few months in 1960, that all changed. Two groups of American and French filmmakers developed the first portable cameras, and suddenly they were able to film events from everyday life. The Camera That Changed the World is a portrait of these ambitious, innovative filmmakers. The film shows why a portable, silent camera with synchronized sound was so important to them, and how that camera changed the way we look at the world forever – in a factual, cinematic, and poetic sense.

While in the United States Robert Drew, Richard Leacock, and D. A. Pennebaker were converting an existing Auricon camera into a lighter, portable version, in France Jean Rouch and Michel Brault were the first to start working with a prototype of a portable, silent camera made by Eclair. Both made instant history with their first results: Primary (1960), about young presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in the state of Wisconsin, and Chronique d’un été (1960), about everyday life in Paris. In the documentary, the legends of cinema verité and direct cinema are interviewed, such as D. A. Pennebaker, Robert Drew, Michel Brault, and the recently deceased Richard Leacock.

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Citadel

Ciudadela Diego Mondaca

WORLD PREMIERE

Situated high up in the Bolivian capital of La Paz, the San Pedro Prison is a bustling city within a city. It has its own church, soccer field, dental practice, shops, workshops, and carnival parades. Around 2,500 people are packed into San Pedro, but by no means are all of them prisoners: the spirited Mechita and her son keep their husband and father company – and they are not the only ones. Director Diego Mondaca received support for this film from the Jan Vrijman Fund, and he also participated in the IDFAcademy Summer School. Mondaca focuses exclusively on recording everyday goings-on in the colorful, narrow alleyways. He uses bold and counterintuitive shots from the most improbable positions and angles to record Mechita preparing the evening meal, her husband getting a false tooth, and the priest providing a daily ration of hope. There would appear to be neither bars nor guards in this prison. The people of San Pedro give all the appearance of self-sufficiency, but the outside world beyond the high prison walls is a constant temptation. Their lives could have been far more wretched than this, but there is still a glimmer of hope and the lure of freedom.

Bolivia, Germany, 2011 HD, color, 48 min

Diego Mondaca: directing debut

Director: Diego Mondaca Photography: Andrés Boero Madrid Screenplay: Diego Mondaca Editing: Aldo Alvarez Sound: Ruben Valdés Music: Canela Palacios Production: Paola Gosalvez for Pucara Films Co-Production: Blinker Filmproduktion GmbH Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Pucara Films

Jan Vrijman Fund

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Coffee, Cake & Crematorium Kaffeefahrt ins Krematorium Sergej Kreso

People who choose to be cremated because they don’t want to be eaten up by worms haven’t done their homework – worms don’t live six feet under. And aversion to burning because of the heat is baloney, of course. The German funeral director Karl Schumacher knows that only the Bible is right: It’s “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” and nothing else. The well-spoken Schumacher is the key figure in this film. He has built up the family company that was founded by his grandfather into a successful business that handles 3,500 bodies a year. Nowadays, simple cremation or burial is passé. His company’s website has a section for “mourning chats,” and visitors can sign up for a “Kaffeefarht,” a trip to a relatively cheap crematorium over the border in the Netherlands, where they can find out more about their future interment.

We accompany them on their day out. Scenes from the trip are interspersed with interviews at the homes of people taking part, in which they talk (or argue) about their thoughts on death. But it is Schumacher who steals the show with his detached attitude to death and the unresolved trauma of his own father’s demise: “An undertaker who commits suicide isn’t good publicity.”

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The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 55 min Director: Sergej Kreso Photography: Wiro Felix Editing: Menno Boerema Sound: Mark Wessner Music: Jeroen Goeijers Production: Joost Seelen for Zuidenwind Filmproductions Executive Production: Rosan Boersma for Rosan productions Screening Copy: Zuidenwind Filmproductions Involved TV Channel: IKON Website: www.kaffeefahrt.nl

Sergej Kreso:

Symfonie voor een straatmuzikant (2004) Graffiti Street (2007) Jack, the Balkans and I (2008)

www.sergejkreso.com

IDFAcademy Results

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Crazy

Heddy Honigmann

The Netherlands, 1999 video, color, 100 min Director: Heddy Honigmann Photography: Gregor Meerman Screenplay: Ester Gould, Heddy Honigmann Editing: Mario Steenbergen Sound: Piotr van Dijk, Rik Meier Production: Pieter van Huystee for Pieter van Huystee Film Screening Copy: Pieter van Huystee Film Involved TV Channel: VPRO

Heddy Honigmann:

L’Israeli dei beduini (1979), Het vuur (fiction, 1980), Metaal en melancholie (1992), In de schaduw (1994), Au revoir (fiction, 1995), O amor natural (1996), Het ondergronds orkest (1997), 2 minuten stilte, a.u.b. (1998), P®ivé (2000), Goede man, lieve zoon (2001), Dame la mano (2003), 26.000 gezichten (2004), Liefde gaat door de maag – Saudade (2004), Ingelijst huwelijk (2005), Forever (2006), Oblivion (2008), a.o.

www.heddy-honigmann.nl

Crazy is a film about violence in which the violence itself is not explicitly shown. The film focuses on the experiences of a number of Dutch UN soldiers in various hotbeds of violence around the world, and the horrors in Korea, Cambodia, Lebanon, and Bosnia are brought to life mainly by their personal accounts. Heddy Honigmann spoke with the Blue Beret in their native Holland, and the footage of the regions involved consists of photographs and home movies that were shot by the soldiers themselves. The vehicle of their recollections is the music they played at the time, which they will forever associate with their war memories. One of them used his music to literally drown out his fear, while another created a musical space with “Stabat Mater,” where she could be alone with her thoughts. With a mixture of bravura and emotion, a young man tells about the perilous rides he made through “bomb alley” in Bosnia, invariably playing music by Guns N’ Roses at full blast. Crazy demonstrates that Holland also has its Vietnam veterans – men who took their war experiences back home and are struggling to cope with them.

It is a film that makes us realize the madness of war, creates doubt about the usefulness of so-called peace missions, and shows the power of music as a means to survive in extremely difficult situations.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Dead Men Talking Robin Newell

China, 2011 HD, color, 52 min Director: Robin Newell Photography: Junsheng Liang, Robin Newell Editing: Cheng Xu Music: Yuxiang Wang Production: Peter Du Cane & Peijun Lu for LIC China Executive Production: Steven Seidenberg for LIC China World Sales: PBS International Distribution for the Netherlands: PBS International Screening Copy: LIC China Involved TV Channel: Henan Legal Television

Robin Newell:

Elegant Solution (1998) Spirit of the Railway (1999) African Solution (2003) Ingenious Africa (2006) The Quiet Lions (2008) Wild Africa Goes High Tech (2010)

Every year in China, around a thousand condemned prisoners are executed, a fact that the Chinese government does very little to hide. The theory is that if people know what the consequences will be of their actions, they will be less likely to turn to crime. Journalist Ding Yu’s idea of talking to condemned prisoners shortly before their execution turned out to be a brilliant one – in Henan province, four million people tune in to her TV series each week. Her show has now featured 225 such interviews, and we get to watch some of them in this documentary. In the process, we witness Ding Yu’s manner of working and learn something about how the Chinese legal system functions. We also see how Chinese society deals with the complex issues surrounding murder and the death penalty. For the first time, Ding Yu herself is interviewed about how she processes the conversations, both as a professional and as a human being. Despite the many tales of violence – all of which she can still recall – she is sometimes hit hard in her role as observer. “I witness their thoughts before death,” she explains. We see her interviewing, in the editing suite, and at editorial meetings where technical matters such as lighting alternate with the personal lives and the intense emotions of the various parties involved. A stark look at perhaps the most bizarre reality show anywhere in the world.

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Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel Lisa Immordino Vreeland

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

In the words of Diana Vreeland, “To take little bites out of the fashion world is like a starvation diet.” The “Empress of Fashion” was in power for close to 50 years in the middle of the 20th century, as a columnist and editor for the leading fashion magazines Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. Through her work for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she ensured that fashion came to be looked at as an art form. In Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, Vreeland (who died in 1989) looks back on her eventful life herself, through archive interviews (mostly recorded in her flowery living room) and the reenacted dialogue between Vreeland and writer George Plimpton, who co-wrote her memoirs in 1988. In addition, the crème de la crème of the fashion world speaks about the icon that so inspired them. The film is richly illustrated with pages from Vreeland’s magazines as well as archive footage. “I loathe nostalgia!” she exclaims at the beginning of her conversation with Plimpton, who promptly asks her how she would like to tell her life story. Her answer is characteristic for her writing, her life, and the film Lisa Immordino Vreeland (married to Vreeland’s grandson) made about it: “It’s got to have some bite!”

USA, France, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 86 min

Lisa Immordino Vreeland:

Director: Lisa Immordino Vreeland Co-director: Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Frederic Tcheng Photography: Cristobal Zanartu Editing: Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Frederic Tcheng Sound: Cristobal Zanartu Music: Susan Jacobs Production: Lisa Immordino Vreeland for Mago Media World Sales: HanWay Films Distribution for the Netherlands: ABC Theatrical Distribution – Cinemien Screening Copy: Mago Media Website: www.dianavreeland.com

Awards: Silver Hugo Award Chicago Film Festival

Mexico, 2011 35mm, color, 90 min

Everardo González:

directing debut

Pitched at the Forum 2010

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Drought

Everardo González WORLD PREMIERE Survival is no easy matter on the vast, dry plains of northeastern Mexico. That’s something the desert cowboys who live and work on a communal ranch there know better than anyone. Every year they face death, avoiding the drought that threatens the ranch. “In order to have a piece of land, you must suffer,” sighs an elderly man. In cinema verité style, the director follows the ranch residents’ daily lives, dominated as they are by the lack of water. We see the seasons pass over the dry, awe-inspiring prairie while the workers tend to the cattle and the land. And we see scenes from this close-knit community: at the dinner table, children going off to school, village parties and baptisms, horse races, and the occasional disagreement. First and foremost, however, time is spent waiting for that one cloudburst. As the land grows ever more parched, the last water source dries up, and the cattle become increasingly weak, an exodus seems inevitable.

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Director: Everardo González Photography: Everardo González Editing: Felipe Gomez, Clementina Mantellini Production: Martha Orozco for Cienega Docs Sa De Cv Co-Production: Mexican Film Institute, Foprocine World Sales:Mexican Film Institute Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Cienega Docs Sa De Cv

The Song of Pulque (2003) The Old Thieves (2007) The Open Sky (2011)

Jan Vrijman Fund

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Dutch Masters in the 21st Century Hollandse Meesters in de 21ste eeuw Various directors Dutch Masters in the 21st Century features the preeminent Dutch artists of the moment in their workspaces, seen through the eyes of renowned filmmakers. Robert Oey captures photographer Hans Aarsman, John Appel visits Jan van Munster, and Ditteke Mensink focuses on Tjebbe Beekman. Each filmmaker chooses his or her own point of view for a portrait of about 15 minutes. The behind-the-scenes reports provide insight into the spirit of the times, but focus mainly on these artists: the ways in which they work, their choice of materials, their ideas on art and being an artist. Twenty of these films will be shown in small movie theaters in the main hall of the Amsterdam Public Library and the foyer of Pathé De Munt.

The Netherlands, 2011 installation, color, 15 min Director: various directors Production: René Mendel for Interakt Website: www.hollandsemeesters.info

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Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters Adam Cornelius

USA, 2011 HD, color, 92 min Director: Adam Cornelius Photography: Daniel Billups Editing: Adam Cornelius Sound: Daniel Rodriguez Narrator: Adam Cornelius Production: Vince Clemente & Adam Cornelius & Robin Mihara for Reclusion Films Executive Production: Dain Anderson Screening Copy: Reclusion Films Website: www.ecstasyoforder.com

Adam Cornelius:

People Who Do Noise (2008)

www.acornelius.com

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

A simple task: arranging seven different shaped blocks (“Tetrominos”) to form and clear horizontal bars, at an ever more frantic pace. This, in essence, is the classic computer game Tetris. Like Pac-Man and Super Mario Brothers, almost everyone has played it at one time or another. But most of us can only dream of the world record scores that the real top players achieve. The highest score of all time for the most bars – 296 – was set by Ben Mullen, while Harry Hong shares the world record for points with a very select group of elite players, as the Tetris score counter stops at 999,999. One feat above all speaks to the imagination: Thor Aackerlund is said to be the only player to have ever reached the feared level 30, past the “kill zone” in which the shapes fall almost too quickly for the human eye to follow. The legend of his great achievement, the doubts surrounding it, and his purported ability to vibrate his thumbs casts a large shadow over the proceedings as we follow these computer heroes in their preparations for the Tetris World Championship in 2010. They explain their highly diverse game plans, wistfully reminisce about their playing careers (which have often spanned decades), and freely admit that after intensive Tetris sessions, they sometimes even dream of the falling, rotating shapes. The key question is if Thor will turn up to demonstrate his almost superhuman performance.

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Empire of Dust Bram van Paesschen

The Chinese Railway Engineering Company has descended upon the Democratic Republic of the Congo to restore the road between Kolwezi and Lubumbashi. As Head of Logistics, Loa Yan is responsible for the building materials. His interpreter is a Congolese named Eddy. The government is supposed to provide the materials, but it is not coming through on its promises. This means that the Chinese are forced to deal with local companies, all of which have their own agendas and ways of working. The film follows this illustrious duo through the never-ending process of absurd negotiations. It is not only the language barrier that complicates things; the cultural differences in particular make any kind of cooperation almost impossible.

The Chinese, who have flown in just for the project, often talk about the Congolese in blatantly racist terms, and the Congolese in turn seem reluctant to lift a finger for their Chinese bosses. All of which drives Loa Yan to distraction. The big boss is due to visit, and the road is nowhere near finished. Recurring excerpts from a local radio show give a crystal clear commentary on the developments. In the beginning, the DJ still refers to “our Chinese friends,” but as time goes on his view of the Asian visitors sours markedly. This occasionally hilarious report of a less than stable working relationship also reflects the unstoppable rise of China.

Belgium, 2011 HD, color, 77 min Director: Bram van Paesschen Photography: Emmanuel Gras Editing: Dieter Diependaele, Bram van Paesschen Sound: Yves De Mey, Pieter Deweirdt, Jeroen Van der Stock Production: Bart van Langendonck for Savage Film World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: Savage Film Involved TV Channel: RTBF

Bram van Paesschen:

World of Blue, Land of O (2005) Here (Letter to Chantal Akkerman) (2007) Pale Peko Bantu Mambo Ayikosake (2008)

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The Four Year Plan Mat Hodgson

In 2007, the destitute London soccer team Queens Park Rangers (QPR) was bought up by billionaires, who in turn became the richest owners of such a team in the world.

For four years, Mat Hodgson followed the team and its bosses in their quest for the most lucrative promotion in competitive soccer: from the Championship competition to the Premier League. Hodgson is on the heels of everything that happens, but without playing a role in his film. He observes and listens in – eavesdrops, even. The camera records meetings, telephone conversations, matches and private chats that are skillfully edited and reveal the turbulent and dramatic developments in four seasons of QPR. Occasionally the team shows signs of improvement, but not often enough. Managers come and go, and the fans, who were at first very grateful to the new owners for saving their team, lose faith and stop attending matches. “We want our Rangers back!” shout the fans who do show up. Players lose their fighting spirit, and whereas the team once spent millions on just about everything, now they even have to economize on flowers. But when Neil Warnock becomes manager of the team in 2010, the fifth one that season, it looks like the tide might be turning.

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UK, 2011 HD, color, 96 min

Mat Hodgson:

Director: Mat Hodgson Photography: Jamie Broome, Mat Hodgson Editing: Wes Lipman Production: Dan Glynn for Ad Hoc Films Ltd Screening Copy: Ad Hoc Films Ltd

Awards: Best Documentary Award Marbella Film Festival

directing debut

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Fragments of Palestine Marie Caspari

WORLD PREMIERE

Germany, 2011 HD, color, 88 min

Marie Caspari:

Border Land (2006)

Director: Marie Caspari Photography: Fabian Klein Editing: Jamin Benazzouz Sound: Daniel Alexander, Julius Middendorff Music: Julian Ueding Production: Marie Caspari Executive Production: Mohamed Jaradat Screening Copy: Rommel Film e.K. Website: www.fragmentsofpalestine.com

Three young people protest against Israeli presence in Palestinian territory, each in his or her own peaceful way. The Israeli Maja refused to do her military service and became a tour guide. She tries to counterbalance the inaccuracies propagated by the Israeli PR machine by leading busloads of tourists through areas of Jerusalem that are key in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rabea is a Palestinian whose sister was killed by Israeli soldiers, and he offers resistance with art, opting to capture the conflict in a theater production.

Unfortunately, he can’t always count on support from those around him. Jody is British, and he has traveled to Bil’in, a village in the West Bank, to support Palestinians in their peaceful protest. Every Friday, he goes to the wall in his wheelchair to demonstrate. This is not always without a level of risk, as the protests are often quashed. Filmed in their own surroundings, these youngsters talk about how they struggle with the conflict.

The director doesn’t offer any comment, but rather captures the three of them with her observational style as they struggle each day for a brighter future.

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Frayland

Fraylandia Sebastián Mayayo, Ramiro Ozer Ami

Uruguay, 2011 HD, color, 74 min

Sebástian Mayayo:

Director: Sebastián Mayayo, Ramiro Ozer Ami Photography: Sebastián Mayayo Editing: Damian Plandolit Sound: Nicolás Almada Music: Nicolás Almada, Gabo Ferro Production: Ramiro Ozer Ami for Calderita Pictures Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Calderita Pictures

directing debut

directing debut

Ramiro Ozer Ami:

Jan Vrijman Fund

WORLD PREMIERE

“Fray-Landia” is written on a sign hanging above the entrance to a simple playground in Fray Bentos, a small town in Uruguay close to the border with Argentina. Archive footage reveals that this was the home of a large meat processing plant until 1984, when the Arabs who were supposed to take it over suddenly through in the towel. Twenty-five years later, the Finnish company Botnia has established an ultramodern wood pulp factory in Fray Bentos, the largest in the world. But while most residents welcome the arrival of a new employer, the inhabitants of Gualeguaychú, just over the border in Argentina, organize a sustained protest. They are afraid of environmental pollution for one thing, and of course they don’t trust multinationals, either. They’ve been blocking the bridge that serves as the border between the two countries for three years now. The filmmakers observe the situation on both sides of the border, following several of the individuals involved: passionate demonstrators, Finnish expats who enjoy the beautiful weather, and a local woman who reads the love letters she received from a factory employee who went home to Europe. The two countries have brought their conflict before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and the film works its way toward the ultimate verdict.

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G Spotting: A Story of Pleasure and Promise Gilles Boyon, Segolene Hanotaux Decades have passed since the sexual revolution, but female sexuality is still being mythologized. When a scientist claimed in 2009 that the mysterious G-spot probably doesn’t exist, it made newspaper headlines all over the world. Did this mean that the holy grail of female sexuality was a fiction after all? The filmmaker wondered why it is that news about female sexuality is still so controversial. And how come other research suggests that the much-discussed G-spot does indeed exist – and many ordinary women claim to have discovered it? So why can’t everyone find it? The director immersed herself in the history of research on female sexuality, talked with various international scientists about their findings, and visited authors who have written about feminism and female sexuality. She also interviewed ordinary couples about that special place that every woman wants to find – the spot that one happy woman who has located it says provides an “out of body experience.” In voice-over, the director poses questions and informs the viewer of each discovery. Amusing onscreen texts and her own personal interest in the subject ensures that this investigative documentary is more than just a journey into history and laboratories.

Canada, France, 2011 HD, color, 52 min Director: Gilles Boyon, Segolene Hanotaux Photography: Marc Gadoury, Pierre Maillis-Laval Editing: Howard Goldberg Sound: André Boisvert, Frédéric Heinrich, Richard Lavoie, Alain Vernois Production: Josette Normandeau & Amy Webb for Ideacom Executive Production: Eric Michel & Jacques Nadeau for Ideacom, Felicie Roblin for Zadig Productions World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: Digital Cut Post-Production Involved TV Channels: CBC, France, Planète, SRC

Gilles Boyon:

Vache folle: guerre des tests et insécurité alimentaire (2001) Kosovo: Comment on vous a vendu la guerre (2001) Zoloft: l’histoire secrète d’un médicament (2002)

Segolene Hanotaux:

Pollution: L’homme contaminé (2008)

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Gentlemen De Caballeros Adrián Orr

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

Adrián Orr’s film is a peek into a small male universe. Men visit the barbershop run by the Spaniard Jose for a haircut and a good chat. In this cramped shop, they discuss their neighbors, and of course sports and women are also favorite topics of conversation. The customers are men of few words. Orr maintains their anonymity by filming only the backs of their heads, and observing them in short scenes shot from a static camera position while Jose calmly goes about his business. He offers his customers a willing ear as they chat about their everyday lives, and sometimes even has a chance to say something himself. The shop’s large window provides a view of the world outside.

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Spain, 2011 35mm, color, 17 min

Adrián Orr:

Director: Adrián Orr Photography: Adrián Orr Screenplay: Adrián Orr Editing: Ana Pfaff Sound: Jaime Fernández, Nacho R. Arenas Production: Mario Madueño & Samuel Martinez for Pantalla Partida World Sales: Freak Short Film Agency Screening Copy: Pantalla Partida

Awards: Best Short Film Award Medina del Campo Film Festival, Best Short Film Telemadrid

The Ants (2007)

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The Great Liberty Den stora friheten Åsa Blanck, Klas Ehnemark

Sweden, 2011 video, color, 80 min Director: Åsa Blanck, Klas Ehnemark Photography: Åsa Blanck, Johan Palmgren, Camilla Skagerström Screenplay: Åsa Blanck Editing: Petter Brundell Music: Klas Ehnemark Production: Åsa Blanck for Strix Television Screening Copy: Swedish Film Institute Involved TV Channels: SVT, NRK

Åsa Blanck & Johan Palmgren:

Ebba & Torgny and Love´s Wondrous Ways (2003) The Substitute (2006) Sverker Åström – At His Age (2007) Anders & Harri (2008) The Swindler (2008) Sisters Persson in a Strange Land (2009) Endless Love (2010)

Klas Ehnemark& Jonas Vesanto: Ängel (2008)

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

It is almost too sick to be true: Jan Settfurs was killed by his young lover Florian in his own home, while his mother sat watching. Shocked by this bizarre, tragic news, Jan’s son Klas Ehnemark traveled to Germany, where his father had spent most of his life. Jan had emigrated out of restlessness: he had always had problems with settled, middle-class life.

He preferred to stay forever young – partying, drinking and practicing free love. Based in his father’s house, Klas tries to arrange the pieces of the puzzle of Jan’s life into some kind of order. How did his life come to end so tragically? Was he too much of an optimistic bon vivant to recognize threats? And what about his sexual preferences? Klas recorded his reconstruction with Swedish documentary filmmaker Åsa Blanck, although in terms of style the film feels like a hard-living, empathetic personal documentary. Filmed entirely from Klas’s point of view, supported by nostalgic home videos, footage of his father’s lonely travels, excerpts read out loud from his diary and the police report. The Great Liberty is a loving and critical confrontation between a son and his dead father. In spite of not having had a lot of contact with him, Klas felt a strong bond with Jan, although he subtly questions his father’s dissolute lifestyle.

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Gretchen, Road Movie Gretchen, Filme Estrada Eliane Brum, Paschoal Samora

Brazil, 2010 HD, color, 90 min Director: Eliane Brum, Paschoal Samora Photography: Pablo Nobrega, Jay Yamashita Screenplay: Eliane Brum, Paschoal Samora Editing: Adriana Schwarz Sound: Phelipe Cabeça, Guga Rocha Music: Mr Sam Narration: Eliane Brum, Paschoal Samora Narrator: Paschoal Samora Production: Gil Ribeiro for Mixer Executive Production: Márcia Vinci for Mixer Screening Copy: Mixer

Paschoal Samora:

Dueto (1993), Let the Sun Shine (1997), Confidences of the River of Death (1999), The Landscape and the Sacred Land (2000), To the South of the Landscapes – Landscape and Memory (2000), To the South of the Landscapes – Invisible Landscapes (2001), Choices (2002), February’s River (2003) , Sea Inside (2005), Nana’s Diary’s (2006), Home Key (2009), a.o.

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

“I’m not a politician. I’m a regular woman, just like you,” Gretchen exhorts her listeners.

After 30 years as the Brazilian queen of the hip swingers, this nationally famous singer has decided it’s time for a career switch, and she’s making a bid for mayor of the island of Itamaraca. Her career as a performing artist is on its last legs, and nowadays she only performs in small circus tents to sometimes less than enthusiastic audiences. As a budding politician, however, she is very ambitious. Time and time again, we hear her sacred mantra: “I’m not a politician, I speak the same language you do.” And the more often we hear it, the less convincing it sounds. The dynamic, but sometimes slowed down shots of the election campaign and her final series of performances are interspersed with scenes of passing landscapes accompanied by voice-overs from the filmmakers, who share their thoughts about 30 years of Gretchen. And it suits her just fine that a documentary is being made about her – just think of the free publicity the camera crew is providing to her campaign. Or is it the crew that is taking advantage of Gretchen?

Eliane Brum & Debora Diniz: Severina’s Story (2005)

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Guerrillera Elle Sillanpaa

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE We see a cleaner working at night in a dimly lit apartment block. Atmospheric shots show her, unidentifiable and anonymous, as she goes about her dusting and mopping. Meanwhile, she tells us in voice-over about her secret past as a guerrilla fighter in Colombia. Sharing her intimate memories one by one, we are taken through a landscape far away from that of the cold, harsh city that now surrounds her. It began years ago at university, when she met a young man named Carlos, a passionate revolutionary. They started a relationship, and he soon won her over to his left-wing ideology. Working together, they educated the poor and helped farmers, teaching them about the repugnant aspects of capitalism and corruption. They were criminals in the eyes of the law, but they continued to try to live as a family, even though they spent years on the run. The cleaner speaks proudly of her husband and their shared ideals, but the pain is evident when she recalls the price her children paid.

UK, 2011 HD, color, 20 min Director: Elle Sillanpaa Photography: Elle Sillanpaa Editing: Cynthia Hamilton, Elle Sillanpaa Production: Cynthia Hamilton Screening Copy: Cynthia Hamilton Website: www.guerrillerafilm.com

Elle Sillanpaa:

directing debut

www.elleonline.tv

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Hitler’s Children Yaldey Hitler Chanoch Ze’evi

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

The Hoess family did everything they could to ignore the horror. The windows were boarded up so that they couldn’t see the chimneys and the gas chambers from their mansion. Family photos show children playing outside and other idyllic scenes that don’t betray the presence of the camp. The only things they couldn’t ignore, explains Rainer Hoess almost 70 years later, was the stench of burned bodies and the thick layer of ash that covered the garden. His grandfather was the commander at Auschwitz, and his father grew up there. After a long time, Rainer finally managed to summon up the courage to visit the former concentration camp together with a Jewish friend. Hitler’s Children introduces us to close family members of prominent figures from the Nazi regime. They explain what it is like to have to live with the weight of their family history. Himmler’s great-niece married an Israeli Jew, Göering’s great-niece had herself sterilized, and the son of the camp’s executioner attempts to process his family’s past through writing. We watch Hitler’s traumatized children filmed in a suitably austere style – there are no eye-catching camera movements, no fast edits, and no dramatic musical flourishes. This style underscores the utterly earnest tone of the film and the fact that the German soul still bears deep scars two generations after the events.

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Israel, 2011 video, color, 60 min Director: Chanoch Ze’evi Photography: Yoram Millo Screenplay: Chanoch Ze’evi Editing: Arik Lahav-Leibovitz Sound: Tully Chen Music: Ophir Leibovitch Production: Chanoch Ze’evi for Maya Productions Co-Production: Saxonia Entertainment GmbH World Sales/Screening Copy: Cinephil Involved TV Channels: TSR, WDR, SWR, MDR Website: www.hitlerschildren.com

Chanoch Ze’evi:

The Disappearance of Martin Bormann (1998) On the Frontline (2001) Holocaust: The Next Generation (2003) Nadia’s Friends (2006)

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Hold on Tight – De Dijk Hou me vast – De Dijk Suzanne Raes

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 83 min Director: Suzanne Raes Photography: Mark Bakker Editing: Elja de Lange Sound: Alex Booy, Kees de Groot Production: Suzanne van Voorst for IDTV Docs Executive Production: Ilja Roomans for IDTV Docs World Sales: IDTV Docs Distribution for the Netherlands: A-Film Screening Copy: IDTV Docs Involved TV Channel: NTR Website: www.dedijkdefilm.nl

Suzanne Raes:

Haagse klasse (1997-1999) Gouden tijden (2000) Sterren van Europa (2001) Haagse klasse, 5 jaar later (2002) Ruis (2003) Pijn (2005) Erfgenaam van Elsschot (2006) De huizen van Hristina (2007) Weekendschool (2008) De wereld van Charlotte Mutsaers (2009) The Rainbow Warriors of Waiheke Island (2009) Stand by Me(2010)

The Dutch band De Dijk has been playing live almost continuously for 30 years. Their unique blend of blues and soul – sung in Dutch – has brought them popularity, success, recognition (including the Edison Award for their entire body of work in 2005), and a fixed spot at the top of Dutch pop music. Suzanne Raes (The Houses of Hristina and The Rainbow Warriors of Waiheke Island) followed the band during an eventful 2010, the year they took a new path and recorded their first international CD with Solomon Burke, the last living soul legend – and self-proclaimed De Dijk fan. But it was also a year of loss, with the dream of a joint American tour going up in smoke when their soul mate unexpectedly passed away. Burke had come to Amsterdam to play a concert with the band, and he had big plans for them: “America needs to see you!” As well as these highs and lows, the film reveals the day-to-day functioning of a group of musicians who are perfectly in sync with one another. We see them preparing for another gig, in the van or in the dressing room, and putting new songs together in a healthy spirit of collective competition. And despite their doubts about the future, we also see how the deep connection between the band members rises to the surface.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

In My Mother’s Arms Atia Al-Daradji, Mohamed Al-Daradji

Iraq, The Netherlands, UK, 2011 HD, color, 85 min Director: Atia Al-Daradji, Mohamed Al-Daradji Photography: Atia Al-Daradji Screenplay: Atia Al-Daradji, Mohamed Al-Daradji Editing: Mohamed Al-Daradji, Ian Watson Sound: Glenn Freemantle Production: Isabelle Stead for Human Film Co-Production: Iraq Al-Rafidain Screening Copy: Human Film Involved TV Channel: Al Jazeera

Mohamed Al-daradji:

Ahlaam (2006) Son of Babylon (Fiction, 2009) Iraq: War, Love, God and Madness (2010)

Atia Al-Daradji: directing debut

In a dangerous suburb of Baghdad, an idealistic social worker named Husham is looking for orphaned street children, most of whom are boys. They live under viaducts and survive by begging. He provides them with refuge in a small house, where several children sleep in one bed and eat on the ground. When the landlord gives them their notice and demands that the 32 orphans vacate the premises within two weeks, a panicked search for new shelter ensues. Tirelessly, Husham knocks on the doors of uncooperative agencies, and even his wife thinks he cares more about the orphaned children than his own family.

Meanwhile, we see how the boys help each other with homework and practice singing an emotional song that recalls their mothers, and many of them shed tears. The film follows several of these orphans, many of whom have been traumatized by the loss of their families and by events in war-torn Iraq. Without commentary, and in a raw, almost homevideo style, this film gives the viewer a real sense of being in the orphanage – especially when a bomb explodes.

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Into Eternity Michael Madsen

This film is a futuristic myth about nuclear waste. In the few decades since the building of the first nuclear reactors, more than 250,000 tons of radioactive refuse has been produced, which will remain hazardous to human life for at least 100,000 years. Into Eternity focuses on one possible solution to this growing problem. Deep beneath the rocky surface of Finland, work is being done on the construction of Onkalo, literally “cavern,” a gigantic and impenetrable repository where Finnish nuclear material is going to be stored in the coming millennia. It is a project of unprecedented proportions. Building began in the 20th century and will only be completed in the 22nd. Director Michael Madsen structures his film as a letter to future generations, focusing primarily on the philosophical and existential questions Onkalo calls up. Because how can a civilization that has only existed for a few thousand years have any hope of knowing what the world will be like in 100,000 years? How are we to prevent future generations – when current languages, societies and perhaps even life forms have disappeared – from attempting to open up the bunker? Madsen makes a modest attempt by transforming the story into a mythic tale told in a series of interludes.

Denmark, Sweden, Finland, 2010 video, color, 75 min Director: Michael Madsen Photography: Heikki Färm Editing: Daniel Dencik, Stefan Sundlöf Sound: Tuomas Klaavo Production: Lise Lense-Møller for Magic Hour Films Co-Production: ATMO, Mouka Filmi World Sales: Autlook Filmsales Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: Danish Film Institute Involved TV Channels: SVT, YLE

Michael Madsen:

Celestial Night (2003) To Damascus (2005)

Pitched at the Forum 2007 Awards: IDFA Award for Best Green Screen Documentary International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

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The Invisible Policeman Laith Al-Juneidi

WORLD PREMIERE Also known as Abu Sa’ed, 41-year-old Nidal is a Palestinian police officer. While on the job, he wears a uniform and has a certain level of power and status. But as soon as he returns home to the center of Hebron, which is controlled by Israeli forces, he is required to remove his cap and his epaulettes, for there he has no power at all. In the small house where he, his wife, and their nine children have resided since 1997, Nidal is a completely different man. The family is poor and under incessant pressure from Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers all around them. The film follows Nidal in his daily life, and his various family members talk about what they’ve been through.

His wife tells us how soldiers set the largest room in the house on fire a couple of years back – many household goods were destroyed, and the family barely managed to save themselves. They’ve all lived in one room ever since, as this is the only way they can feel safe. Nidal looks on powerlessly as his family suffers, and struggles with the question of whether it would be better to give in to the pressure and go live somewhere else.

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Palestine, United Arab Emirates, 2011 video, color, 59 min

Laith Al-Juneidi:

Director: Laith Al-Juneidi Photography: Laith Al-Juneidi, Chris Weaver Editing: Samer Tahboub Sound: Yazan Abu Eid Music: Najati Al Suloh, Aziz Maraka Production: Laith Al-Juneidi for Ishtar Creative Productions Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Ishtar Creative Productions Website: www.theinvisiblepoliceman.com

Jan Vrijman Fund

directing debut

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Invoking Justice Deepa Dhanraj

WORLD PREMIERE

India, USA, Japan, 2011 video, color, 86 min Director: Deepa Dhanraj Photography: Navroz Contractor Editing: Jabeen Merchant Sound: S. Kalaichelvan Music: Konarak Reddy Narration: Lata Mani Narrator: Tuhinaa Vohra Production: Deepa Dhanraj for SAMA Executive Production: Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS International, Ryota Kotani for NHK Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: SAMA Involved TV Channel: YLE

Deepa Dhanraj:

Sudesha (1983) What Has Happened to This City? (1986) Something Like a War (1991) The Legacy of Malthus (1994) Nari Adalat (2000) The Advocate (2007)

Jan Vrijman Fund

In southern India, family disputes are dealt with by the local Jamaat, an Islamic advisory panel consisting exclusively of men that investigates and negotiates with families, the police, and the judiciary. At no point are women part of the process. Even when a woman is a central figure in the case, she will be represented by men, and judgments frequently disfavor women. In 2004, a group of courageous women set up their own Jamaat group to act for women. The filmmaker follows them as they tackle a number of complex family conflicts, varying from a request for divorce to murder cases. When translating at a women’s conference in 1988, the panel’s founder Sharifa Khanam was astonished when she heard the discussions about women’s rights. “I had thought fathers and brothers had the right to hit us. And that we had to obey them. Then I understood: I can think for myself.” Nowadays, Sharifa and her members head their meetings with confidence. Filmmaker Deepa Dhanraj visits families at home together with the women from the Jamaat. Her camera records how they use their understanding of the issues and the Koran and their sense of humanity to attempt to work with families, male Jamaat members, and police – despite prejudice, opposition, and rampant corruption.

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Kano: An American and His Harem Monster Jimenez

Philippines, 2010 video, color, 80 min

Monster Jimenez:

Director: Monster Jimenez Photography: Jay Abello, Ike Avellana, Corinne de San Jose Editing: Lawrence Ang, Mario Cornejo, Monster Jimenez Sound: Corinne de San Jose Music: Allan Feliciano Production: Mario Cornejo & Inc., Monster Jimenez & Inc., Margie Templo & Inc. Screening Copy: Arkeofilms, Inc.

Awards: IDFA Award for Best First Appearance International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

directing debut

In 1969, an American hero from the Vietnam War relocated to the Philippines, invited hundreds of women to move in with him, and set up a harem in a poor, remote village.

In 2001, Victor Pearson was charged with over 80 counts of rape. The following year, he was found guilty on two counts. Although Pearson is now serving two life sentences in Manila, many of his women stand by him, even those who testified against him in court. This convicted rapist and his harem form a dysfunctional family replete with codependency and power issues. Some women even sport tattoos of Pearson’s name.

He has gotten married a couple times in prison and has even rented apartments in the neighborhood so he can keep the women near him. How far he went in making his own sexual laws becomes increasingly clear as we listen to the women’s stories: some of them even brought their children to Pearson in exchange for money. Nonetheless, he did pay for the education of a number of women. In this debut film, we hear Pearson’s side of things as well. He sees himself as a father figure who needs the women, but who also must “discipline” them every now and then. As far as any guilt is concerned, he claims not to have raped anyone.

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Karen Blixen – Behind Her Mask Bag Blixens maske Morten Henriksen

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

In 1952, the young literature professor Aage Hendrixen met the 66-year-old writer Karen Blixen. At that moment, a complicated friendship began, one that took on bizarre forms over the years and had an enormous impact on Aage’s life. Blixen, who became particularly famous when her novel Out of Africa was turned into a film, refers to herself as a storyteller in public. For more intimate friends, however, she’s the “devil’s mistress.” Her life is packed with sinister aspects, and they fascinate Aage to such a degree that he also gets absorbed in the supernatural world. While taking walks together, he told his 10-year-old son Morten all about Blixen, including the occult details. Morten didn’t understand everything, but the stories left a deep impression on him. After years of estrangement, he goes back to his now elderly father to get information. What possessed him to saddle his son with this intense history, and what of it is actually true? The film doesn’t only shed light on the eccentric personality of Blixen, but it’s also a crucial self-investigation. Morten has to know who his father is so he can know who he is himself.

Denmark, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 54 min Director: Morten Henriksen Photography: Jon Bang Carlsen, Dan Laustsen, Morten Søborg, Jan Weincke Editing: Klaus Heinecke, Anne Østerud, Henrik Thiesen Sound: Jan Juhler Music: Søren Siegumfeldt Narration/Narrator: Morten Henriksen Production: Karen Baumbach Executive Production: Morten Henriksen for No Exit Production World Sales: No Exit Production Screening Copy: Danish Film Institute Involved TV Channel: Danmarks Radio

Morten Henriksen:

Den skjulte virkelighed (1988) Naked Trees (fiction) (1991) Arne Treholt: A Man and His Destiny (1993) Hands Up! (fiction, 1997) The Magnetist’s Fifth Winter (fiction, 1999)

Morten Henriksen & Peter Øvig Knudsen:

With a Right to Kill (2003)

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The Kid and the Clown Klovn for livet Ida Grøn

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Angus works two days a week in the children’s oncology department of Skejby Sygehus, one of the largest academic hospitals in Denmark. He is neither a nurse nor a doctor, but a clown. He tries to get the children laughing, immersed as they are in a world of injections, drips and chemo treatments. One of these children is six-year-old Tobias. This powerfully personal documentary brings to the screen a year and a half in the hospital lives of Tobias and Angus. Their experiences provide a glimpse into the daily goings-on in this remarkable hospital department, where high points and low points sometimes alternate in very rapid succession. While Tobias struggles with his cancer, Angus battles against the fear and despair that strikes many children and their parents over the course of the intensive treatments. Angus is convinced that humor increases the chance of the treatment’s success, but he also acknowledges that these young patients are absolutely alone in their confrontation with their life-threatening disease. For Tobias, in any case, Angus’s presence seems to be very meaningful, and the relationship that grows between them produces touching moments.

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Denmark, 2011 video, color, 53 min Director: Ida Grøn Photography: Ida Grøn Editing: Niels Pagh Andersen Sound: Peter Albrechtsen Music: Roger Goula Production: Signe Byrge Sørensen & Anne Köhncke for Final Cut for Real World Sales: Final Cut for Real Screening Copy: Final Cut for Real Involved TV Channels: TV2

Ida Grøn:

Little Thing (2002) René (2003) Klara – Thoughts from the Tajga (2004) I Am Not I (2007) The Porcelain Dog (2008) The Silent Chamber (2009)

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The Last Days of Winter Akharin rozhaye zemestan Mehrdad Oskouei

Iran, 2011 HD, color, 52 min Director: Mehrdad Oskouei Photography: Ashkan Ashkani Screenplay: Mehrdad Oskouei Editing: Farid Dagheghaleh Sound: Hadi Saed Mohkam Music: Ali Samadpour Production: Mehrdad Oskouei for Oskouei Film Production Executive Production: Masoud Astandari World Sales: DreamLab Films Screening Copy: DreamLab Films

Mehrdad Oskouei:

The New Year for Tribe (1997), My Mother’s Home (2000), Lagoon Look at Me (2001), Fondler of Light (2001), I Can’t Remember Anything About Afghanistan (2002), The Widower (2002), The Other Side of Burka (2004), Maryam of Hengam Island (2005), Thin Ray of Light (2005), Nose, Iranian Style (2005), It’s Always Late for Freedom (2007), The Taste of Iran (episode 1&4) (2009)

WORLD PREMIERE

Seven Iranian boys are in a youth detention center in Tehran, in a special wing for detainees younger than 15 years old. They are there for various crimes, from drug possession to motorcycle or sheep theft. The living conditions are decent and the boys get along fine. They share bedrooms, play and eat together, and mediate when there’s trouble in the group. They are isolated from their families and depend on each other, which is perhaps the reason that they seem to so readily accept the presence of the director. The camera is part of the group and the boys are very frank during the interviews. They talk about weighty subjects such as love, God, fears, and dreams. Young as they are, they already have complicated lives: most were either abandoned by their parents or addicted to drugs. They are all lonely. One of them says he doesn’t always feel like joining in the activities; he has already suffered so much in his life and he’s simply worn out. All the boys feel the need to behave in a mature way, even when they’re still dealing with the emotions of the children that they are.

Mehrdad Oskouei & Reza Yazdani: Saochi (1996)

Mehrdad Oskouei & Ebrahim Saeedi: The Eclipse (2001)

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The Light in Her Eyes Julia Meltzer, Laura Nix

WORLD PREMIERE

USA, Syria, 2011 HD, color, 87 min

Julia Meltzer:

Director: Julia Meltzer, Laura Nix Photography: Julia Meltzer, Anne Etheridge, Editing: Nathaniel Fregoso, Monique Zavistovski Production: Julia Meltzer for Clockshop, Laura Nix for Felt Films Screening Copy: Clockshop Website: www.thelightinhereyesmovie.com

Julia Meltzer & David Thorne:

State of Emergency: Inside the L.A.P.D. (1993)

It’s Not My Memory of It (2003) Not a Matter of If but When (2006) We Will Live to See These Things (2007) a.o.

www.meltzerhorne.com Laura Nix:

Semper Fi (2005) The Politics of Fur (fiction, 2002) Whether You Like it or Not (2001) a.o.

In Damascus, the capital of Syria, the mosque is a place for men; women practice their faith at home. On TV, conservative clerics stress that women belong at home – reproducing and taking care of their families. Are these religious rules or simply a cultural tradition? Under the direction of Houda al-Habash, the inspiring and contradictory female principal of the Al-Zahra Koran School, women are trying to find the answer to that question. As a spiritual leader in this Islamic women’s movement, Al-Habash advocates a thorough knowledge of the Koran, a good education, and women thinking and being responsible for themselves. She drives a car, supervises other mosques, and counsels women in domestic conflicts. By teaching her students to interpret the Koran, she gives them strength and self-respect. In small groups, women and girls debate their place in society. They include Al-Habash’s daughter, who says, “You can’t just tell us it’s a religious rule. Let us interpret it!” We follow Houda Al-Habash and her students over the three-month summer course, as she guides her girls with a firm hand, tells them the difference between religion and extremism, and shows how she can balance family life with the pressure of running a busy school. A rare look into why women are choosing Islam in today’s modern world.

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Little Heaven Lieven Corthouts

WORLD PREMIERE When they turn 13, the children in the Little Heaven orphanage in Ethiopia are told they are HIV-positive. But this doesn’t mean they should give up on life. At times, they seem just like any normal class, fooling around on the playground or their bunk beds.

Yet these children are anything but carefree. This occasionally cheerful and subdued documentary centers around Lydia’s story. The filmmaker follows her as she prepares for important school exams. Will Lydia do well enough to get into a better school?

She shares her daily worries with us through excerpts from her diary: “Sometimes I feel like a pharmacy, taking all those medicines,” she sighs. Because of her illness, Lydia can’t dance, although she likes nothing better. Therefore, the filmmaker uses all the cinematic means at his disposal to allow Lydia to dance. A cleaning mop moves rhythmically to the Ethiopian jazz soundtrack, as do her head and shoulders during her daily physical exercises. Little Heaven is a hard, confrontational story that, thanks to the energy and vitality of its subjects and their supervisors, never becomes hopeless.

Belgium, 2011 HD, color, 70 min

Lieven Corthouts: My Future (2009)

Director: Lieven Corthouts Photography: Lieven Corthouts Screenplay: Lieven Corthouts Editing: Jan de Coster Music: Bert Joris Production: Eric Goossens & Frederik Nicolai for Off World World Sales: Off World Screening Copy: Off World Involved TV Channel: Lichtpunt

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Lone Twin Anna van der Wee

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE At the age of 20, director Anna Van der Wee lost her twin brother, an event that had a great impact on her life. By investigating the bond between twins, she hopes to understand what it means to be a twin, and what one looses when one of them dies.

Is she still a twin? One of the storylines focuses on the conversations she has with important people in her life. How has the death of her twin brother influenced the relationship they have with her? “Couples often refer to their partners as their other half. But you already had an other half,” an old boyfriend tells her. The bond between twins has fascinated people over the centuries. They share something that goes beyond any ordinary relationship: it has the unconditional factor you don’t often find in a partner. Van der Wee traveled the world and talked to many twins and experts.

The result is a very intimate pilgrimage during which she finally finds the answer to her question. Once a twin, always a twin. Even if you’ve been left behind.

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Belgium, Canada, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 71 min Director: Anna van der Wee Photography: John Price Editing: David Kazala Music: Tuur Florizoone Production: Ed Barreveld for Storyline Entertainment, Anna van der Wee for Wild Heart Productions World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: CAT&Docs Website: www.lonetwinfilm.com

Anna van der Wee: directing debut

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Lupe of the Cow Lupe el de la vaca Blanca X. Aguerre

Mexico, 2011 HD, color, 79 min

Blanca X. Aguerre:

Director: Blanca X. Aguerre Photography: Carlos Davis Colin C. Screenplay: Blanca X. Aguerre, Nicolenka Beltran Editing: Nicolenka Beltran Sound: Saul Centeno, Miguel Angel Molina, Talia Ruiz Production: Blanca X. Aguerre, Alejandra Guevara C. Co-Production: IMCINE, The Guadalajara Academy of Film, The Jalisco State Cultural Secretariat, Filmoteca de la UNAM World Sales/Screening Copy: IMCINE Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund

Jan Vrijman Fund

directing debut

WORLD PREMIERE

Everyone in this small Mexican village knows the “Lupe of the Cow” story. Lupe is about 100 years old, rides around on a saddled cow, looks like an “Apache right out of a film,” and has only one good eye. All the farmers know about him, but no one actually knows him – or has even seen him. Superstitious tales abound in this rural landscape, but traditional mysticism is deeply interwoven with the harsh realities of modern life. The filmmaker follows several small-scale farmers – men and women – who keep cattle, make cheese and milk, and sell crops. The prices they get are a fraction of the amount the end product will be sold for. Poverty is pervasive in this agrarian community, but the abundant stories provide warmth. This film brings out the richness of the characters of the people behind the products. They are devoted ranchers who take care of a sick animal as they would a sick family member. They are deeply concerned about the future. How long can their lives continue as they are? Their imaginative tales are interspersed with lighthearted animations depicting stories that are probably invented but nonetheless are very real to the members of this community.

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The Man in Black De 13e man Martijn Blekendaal

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 51 min

Martijn Blekendaal:

Director: Martijn Blekendaal Photography: Pim Hawinkels Screenplay: Martijn Blekendaal Editing: Axel Skovdal Roelofs Sound: Benny Jansen Music: Wolfert Brederode Production: Frank van den Engel for Zeppers Film & TV Executive Production: Julia van Schieveen for Zeppers Film & TV Screening Copy: Zeppers Film & TV Involved TV Channel: VPRO

IDFAcademy Results

directing debut

WORLD PREMIERE

Three men are filmed as they referee amateur soccer games. We hear what they say to the players and get an impression of the work that is normally kept off-camera, which is revealing to say the least. These men put their heart and soul into the job, remain polite, and try to find a balance between power and a sense of fellowship, despite getting little gratitude for their work most of the time. They need to be especially resilient when dealing with the players’ and coaches’ aggression against “the thirteenth man.” All three of them have to examine how they deal with issues like responsibility, authority, and respect. They do so in their daily lives, for example as a clergyman or a professional soldier, but also at the meetings with monitors from the Dutch Football Association or other referees. The men talk candidly about their experiences on the soccer field. The mixture of images from their safe home environment and the yelling in the stadium is exemplary for the crossroads on which these men find themselves standing increasingly frequently. Do their decisions come from a desire to save their own hides, or only because it’s the right thing to do?

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The Miracle of Weebosch Het wonder van Weebosch Wendelien Voogd

The parish priest of the Saint Gerard Majella Church in Weebosch is so enthusiastic in his use of the aspergillum that some of the horses are frightened. The blessing of the horses is the highlight of the still very popular annual Gerard Procession. The priest who was responsible for the building of the church in this village in the south of Holland at the start of the 20th century recently witnessed Gerard’s canonization in Rome. He believes he was saved from a potentially fatal tram accident by the very same saint during his subsequent visit to Cairo. The Miracle of Weebosch follows three almost adult “pony girls” in the lead-up to the procession. Their expectations, insecurities, and love of horses are rendered with tenderness. The Catholic celebration lives on in the village, but it’s not easy for everyone to uphold the tradition in these modern times. Some people are struggling with the question of whether it makes sense to pray, burn a candle, or receive a blessing. Others don’t understand why God saves one child but not another. “Pay a visit to Gerard, for the hopeless cases,” says the priest to an elderly lady who is at her wits’ end because of her physical condition. “You can at least ask him.”

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 50 min

Wendelien Voogd: directing debut

Director: Wendelien Voogd Photography: Hans Bouma Screenplay: Wendelien Voogd Editing: Hinne Brouwer Sound: Mark Witte Music: Truus Melissen Production: Els Tau for Razmatazz Screening Copy: Razmatazz Involved TV Channel: Omroep Brabant

IDFAcademy Results

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My Joan of Arc Ma Jeanne d’Arc Dany Chiasson

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

French-Canadian director Dany Chiasson goes in search – on horseback – of her own interpretation of heroine Joan of Arc, the 15th-century peasant’s daughter who commanded the French army against the English. Chiasson wants to get to know who Joan was before she performed her heroic deeds. To do this, she completes the same 11-day journey taken by Joan of Arc in 1429 through enemy territory (parts of France were occupied by the English) to convince Charles VII to be crowned rightful king of France. The journey starts in the village of Joan of Arc’s birth, Domremy-la-Pucelle, and ends in Chinon. On the way, Chiasson talks to local people about the myth of the pious young woman who followed her visions at the age of 17, only to be burned at the stake two years later. The story of Joan of Arc is outlined in short scenes as the filmmaker’s quest gradually unfolds. “The slow pace of the journey makes it mentally tough”, the filmmaker reveals. As the journey progresses, Chiasson uncovers the more mundane truth that underlies Joan’s myth, and that animates her own mission.

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Canada, 2011 HD, color, 78 min Director: Dany Chiasson Photography: Steve Cosens Screenplay: Dany Chiasson Editing: Roland Schlimme Sound: Matthew Chan Music: Hugh Marsh Narration: Dany Chiasson Narrator: Dany Chiasson Production: Dany Chiasson for Shadow Shows Inc. World Sales: Shadow Shows Inc. Screening Copy: Shadow Shows Inc. Website: www.myjoanofarc.com

Dany Chiasson:

29 Mai 1431...Le Matin (fiction, 1999) Pantomime (fiction, 2002)

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My Mate Manchester United Stefan Valdobrev

Bulgaria, 2011 video, color, 57 min

Stefan Valdobrev: directing debut

Director: Stefan Valdobrev Photography: Krum Rodriguez Editing: Kristian Budev Production: Dragomir Keranov for Across Works Entertainment Ltd. Co-Production: Vreme Film Studio Executive Production: Steven Seidenberg Screening Copy: Across Works Entertainment Ltd. Website: www.mymatemanchesterunited.com

Bulgarian construction worker Zdravkov Levidzhov once dreamed of becoming a great soccer player. It was not to be, so he tried to become an outstanding referee. That didn’t work out either, so then he turned his ambitions to coaching children’s teams. Alas, his future once again lay elsewhere. Now, many years later, Levidzhov has discovered something in which he does excel: being a fan. His business card even states that his occupation is “fan,” alongside his newly adopted name: Manchester United. The soccer team is everything to him, as demonstrated by his clothing and home decor.

He remains modest on the subject: “Manchester United chose me to be their fan.” His cat is called Beckham. The Bulgarian wants the successful team to compensate him for his despondent existence. His crushed ambitions parallel the dreams of his postcommunist homeland, where there is little evidence of “economic freedom.” Particularly his conversations with friends paint the picture of a contemporary Bulgaria that is still dealing with its communist past and facing an uncertain future. This disappointment is pervasive, leading to beautiful scenes such as when he and his friends drift down the river on a pontoon, smoking and drinking; disillusionment forces them to their replacement reality.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

El Niño Miguel Nacho Martín

Spain, 2011 video, color, 26 min Director: Nacho Martín Photography: Ricardo Iscar, Adan López Screenplay: Nacho Martín Editing: Sergi Dies Music: El Niño Miguel Production: Gerard Ferré World Sales: Gerard Ferré Screening Copy: Gerard Ferré

Nacho Martín & Ricardo Íscar: The Fence (2006)

The first few minutes of this film would have you believe that it’s a portrait of a “typical” homeless man. A man with a furrowed face, an unruly beard and long, uncombed hair struggles out of bed and bundles himself into a suit that has seen better days.

The camera follows him as he tries to patch up a broken old guitar, somewhere on the outskirts of a town. It is only when he starts to play – conjuring incredibly beautiful sounds from the battered instrument with his rough hands – that we realize that this is no ordinary guitarist. Miguel Vega de la Cruz, aka El Niño Miguel, is one of the best flamenco guitarists in the world. In his younger days, he played with big names like Paco de Lucia, made records and performed in big concert venues at home and abroad. In this film, he tells us in a rather confused fashion about his youth, which was characterized by poverty, and how he used to perform with his father, who was also a guitarist. Miguel is now back where he started, scarred by life. But when he plays, the old fire is rekindled, however briefly.

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No Look Pass Melissa Johnson

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Harvard student Emily “Etay” Tay wants a career as a professional basketball player.

But her Burmese parents, who fled to the United States with just $65 to their name, would rather see her as a devoted housewife. Basketball is Etay’s ticket to a different future. But there’s more: she also happens to be a lesbian. This is no problem within her team – in fact, perhaps somewhat predictably, her girlfriend is a cheerleader – but how can she explain this at home? “When my mother finds out, she is going to destroy me,” Etay says. This documentary covers her senior year at Harvard, as she wrestles with her identity as an Asian lesbian and copes with the pressure to succeed.

In the meantime, she and her best friend Katie dream of an athletic career in Europe.

The camera stays close to Etay as she humorously shares her doubts and fears, and when she takes part in a series of thrilling basketball games intended to seal her future. The coming-of-age story that emerges draws the audience into Etay’s quest for acceptance. In no small part thanks to the colorful personalities surrounding her, such as Kathy, her explosive and extremely direct coach: “They are rebounding you, ‘cause you’re horrible!”

USA, 2011 HD, color, 87 min

Melissa Johnson:

Director: Melissa Johnson Photography: Stefan Glidden Editing: Amanda Hughes Music: Elliott Goldkind Production: Melissa Johnson for High Hip Productions Executive Production: Sara Sackner Screening Copy: CAT&Docs Website: www.nolookpassthemovie.com

Awards: Special Programming Award For Freedom Los Angeles Outfest Film Festival

Kyrgyzstan, 2011 video, color, 26 min

Artykpay Suyundukov:

directing debut

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Nomadic

Koch Artykpay Suyundukov In Kyrgyzstan, 10,000 feet above sea level, nomadic yak herders live in a snow-covered mountain range. It’s an icy-cold, deserted and incredibly photogenic place. Barely anything grows here, and the silence is only broken by dogs barking, the sound of horses walking through the deep snow, and the soaring wind. The herders live primitively. They cook on a little tin heater and their most important outdoor tools are ropes and guns. Their lives are physically tough, but they are used to it. When the threat of an avalanche arises, another herder tells them to relocate. Possessions, children, horses, dogs, mules, a camel and a big herd of yaks must all be moved. The tough journey is a trial for the animals, too. They suffer from the extreme cold and have to climb steep hills and slippery ice on which their hooves have no grip. The directors are right on top of this suffering, but pull away from time to time to film the inhospitable, beautiful landscape. And in addition to all this natural ferocity, the real threat comes when the group crosses paths with another group that doesn’t belong in this area.

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Director: Artykpay Suyundukov Co-director: Moldoseyit Mambetakunov Photography: Stambulbek Mambetaliyev Editing: Marat Ergeshov Production: Artykpay Suyundukov for KTMU Screening Copy: KTMU

Zone of the Rest (1981) Memory About Future (1981) The Roads Met (1987) Mourner ( 1992)

Artykpay Suyundukov & B. Shamshiev:

Among People (fiction, 1978) a.o.

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O amor natural Heddy Honigmann

The Netherlands, 1996 35mm, color, 76 min Director: Heddy Honigmann Photography: José Guerra Screenplay: Heddy Honigmann Editing: Marc Nolens Sound: Noshka van der Lely Production: Pieter van Huystee for Pieter van Huystee Film Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: Pieter van Huystee Film

Heddy Honigmann:

L’Israeli dei beduini (1979), Het vuur (fiction, 1980), Uw mening graag (fiction, 1988-1989), Metaal en melancholie (1992), In de schaduw (1994), Au revoir (fiction, 1995), Het ondergronds orkest (1997), 2 minuten stilte, a.u.b. (1998), Crazy (1999), P®ivé (2000), Goede man, lieve zoon (2001), Dame la mano (2003), 26.000 gezichten (2004), Liefde gaat door de maag – Saudade (2004), Ingelijst huwelijk (2005), Forever (2006), Oblivion (2008), a.o.

www.heddy-honigmann.nl

In 1993, Heddy Honigmann interviewed a large number of taxi drivers in Lima for her film Metal and Melancholy. The result was a beautiful sketch of the bittersweet life in Peru.

In O Amor Natural, Honigmann captures Brazilian society, her angle in this case being the erotic poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987), who is considered to be one of the greatest Latin American poets of the last century. Drummond made his debut in 1930 and published his last collection of poems in 1985. Between 1965 and 1985, he also wrote erotic poems that sing the praises of sexual love: “Love – being an essential word – / begin this song, envelop it all / Love guide my verse, and as it guides / wed soul, desire, member and vulva.” Honigmann took these poems, which were published under the title O amor natural, as the point of departure for her film. In Rio de Janeiro, she talks with people about sex, love and their memories of it. (“Without sex there is no love, and without love there is no sex.”) As with Metal and Melancholy, the result is a film that transcends the anecdotal and personal and that offers a penetrating image of sensual Brazilian culture. Honigmann initially called her film Love and Melancholy, a film “that glorifies the physical side of love, through sobriety and humor, through bluntness and tenderness, through melancholy”.

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Paul Williams Still Alive Stephen Kessler

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

USA, 2011 HD, color, 84 min Director: Stephen Kessler Photography: Vern Nobles Screenplay: Stephen Kessler Editing: David Zieff Sound: Marcos Contreras Production: Jim Czarnecki, Stephen Kessler for 3W Films, Mike Wilkins for 3W Films, David Zieff Executive Production: Rob Cohen, Lesa Lakin World Sales: 3W Films Screening Copy: 3W Films

Stephen Kessler:

Birch Street Gym (1991) Vegas Vacation (1997) The Independent (2000)

Nobody remembers Paul Williams, but everyone remembers the songs Paul Williams wrote. Williams was one of the biggest stars of the 1970s, he won an Oscar and several Grammys, and wrote compositions for Barbra Streisand and the Carpenters. But then he got addicted to alcohol and drugs and vanished from the public eye. Stephen Kessler, for whom Williams was always a “television friend,” discovers that the songwriter is still alive and decides to make a documentary about him. Kessler presents himself as a comedic character, both in his film and in Williams’s life. Sometimes to the annoyance of Williams and his family, who don’t hesitate to let this intruder have it. This leads to hilarious moments during interviews in which Kessler and Williams harshly correct each other. Sometimes the film seems to be as much about Kessler as it is about Williams: the director showcases his filmography, relates his preference for squid and his fear of the Philippines. Nevertheless, in the end he seems to get to the core of the man who wanted so badly to be “less different” and “more special.”

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People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am Boris Gerrets

What would it be like to enter into the life of a complete stranger? That’s the premise of this docu-fiction, which was shot entirely on a cell phone. In order to break through the wall of urban anonymity, the filmmaker talks to various people on the streets of London, out of whom three main characters materialize: a Brazilian beauty named Sandrine, who’s looking for a husband, a drug addict named Steve, and Precious, a singer and poetess. There is no script: what begins as a vague idea gradually metamorphoses into a confusing project, and filmmaker Boris Gerrets begins to have grave doubts about his own role in all of this. When he ends up in bed with Sandrine, he goes from observer to participant in his own film. The camera would seem to be an aphrodisiac, but the closer he gets to his subject, the more the camera gets in his way. At the same time, things happen that would never have been possible without the camera. Filming creates one moment while simultaneously destroying another.

According to Gerrets, that is the paradox that defines cinema’s relationship to reality.

Meanwhile, Steve drinks to numb the pain of loneliness. He wants life so badly that he botches it all up.

The Netherlands, 2010 video, color, 53 min Director: Boris Gerrets Photography: Boris Gerrets Screenplay: Boris Gerrets Editing: Boris Gerrets Sound: Boris Gerrets Production: Pieter van Huystee for Pieter van Huystee Film Co-Production: Pippacine World Sales: Taskovski Films Ltd. Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: Pieter van Huystee Film

Boris Gerrets:

Pompeii (animation, 1987) Here, Now or Never (1990) Invisible (1997) Critical Utopians (2002) Go No Go (2203) Garden Stories (2004) Treatened! A Moment in Time (2005) Driven Dreams (2006) a.o.

www.borisgerrets.org

Awards: NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Best Direction for Mid-Length Documentary Visions Du Reel, a.o.

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Poets of the People Volkspoeten Dirk Manthey

WORLD PREMIERE

For centuries, poets have wandered the Brazilian hinterland, bringing tales of real and imaginary events, as well as gossip and news, to the most remote corners of the region. Their language is poetry. The German makers of this film follow the itinerant poets on their journey through the Sertão, one of the most impoverished parts of the world. They carry with them poetry and songs that tell of love and politics, murder and miracles. At celebrations on city squares and at funerals, they mourn the street kids and sing the praises of Michael Jackson, they voice their concern about violence and corruption, and they celebrate love. Someone in the audience explains that the poems comfort them and chase away bad thoughts. In a region where orphan children have to beg on the streets, poets such as Gato Novo and Chico Pedrosa provide more than simple entertainment. Their rousing, melancholy songs and poems bring strength and understanding. They are truly poets of the people.

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Germany, 2011 35mm, color, 24 min Director: Dirk Manthey Photography: Hajo Schomerus Screenplay: Dirk Manthey Editing: Andrew Bird Sound: Stephan Konken, Peter Stein Production: Dirk Manthey for Dirk Manthey Film Co-Production: Bavaria Film International World Sales: Dirk Manthey Film Screening Copy: Dirk Manthey Film

Dirk Manthey:

The Time Jumps (1996) Candomble, The Other World of The Black Gods of Bahia (2002) 3T (2003) Immigrants (2008)

Dirk Manthey & Rosa Baches: Jewelery Street (2010)

Dirk Manthey & Ansgar Ahlers: Taxi to Daydream (2007)

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The Rat Race

Miriam Chandy Menacherry WORLD PREMIERE

India, 2011 HD, color, 52 min Director: Miriam Chandy Menacherry Photography: Sameer Mahajan Editing: Monisha Baldawa Sound: Sunil Da Cunha, Gissy Michael Music: Joseph De Souza Production: Aruna Balkrishna Singh & Miriam Chandy Menacherry & Paul Vincent Menacherry for Filament Pictures World Sales: Filament Pictures Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Filament Pictures Involved TV Channel: DR Website: www.theratrace.co.in

Miriam Chandy Menacherry: Circles in the Sand (2003) Back to the Floor (2004) Stuntmen of Bollywood (2005) Mee Koli (2005) Robot Jockey (2008) A Light Burns (2009)

Jan Vrijman Fund

For every person living in Mumbai, a city of 14 million, there are approximately six rats. In 1967, the local authorities set up a special department to tackle this problem. Every night, armed with a stick and trash bags, the men of the NRK (Night Rat Killers) take to the streets to free the city of these undesirable hairy little inhabitants. The rats do not only increase the risk of infectious diseases, but they also cause a great deal of damage by, for example, destroying or eating market produce. It’s not easy to become a Night Rat Killer.

Because this job is so desirable – it pays well – applicants have to pass through a rigorous selection process. Men come from all over, all with their own reasons for wanting to join the team. The boss of the NRK’s B-Ward, whose first ambition was a film career, sees his work as a military operation and compares himself to James Bond. Other rat killers are trying to pay for their studies or feed their families in the countryside. The film not only gives an impression of this unusual vocation, but also exposes the harsh reality of everyday life for many inhabitants of Mumbai.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Red Fairy n the Holy Ghost Balaka Ghosh

WORLD PREMIERE

India, 2011 video, color, 53 min Director: Balaka Ghosh Photography: Kumud Ranjan Screenplay: Balaka Ghosh Editing: Rana Banerjee Sound: Chinmoy Nath Production: Balaka Ghosh for Next Story Executive Production: Kumud Ranjan for Next Story Distribution for the Benelux: Jan Vrijman Fund Screening Copy: Next Story

Balaka Ghosh:

Anukampan (1993) Silence Speaks (1994) Roman Connection (1995) Nirabata Theke Shanti (1997) The Vehicle with the Soul of a Man (1999) Notun Bhorer Dike (2002) Looking Back (2004) Mother, Media and Landmines (2009) In Search of Alha (2010) Appan Samachar (2011)

Jan Vrijman Fund

In the opening scene of Red Fairy n the Holy Ghost, the man is matter-of-fact. “I believe she is a witch, so I cut off her head.” He has a machete in one hand, and in the other a tuft of hair from the severed head that’s hanging from his back. This shocking image reveals how dangerous an accusation of witchcraft is for women in rural India. The first woman who publicly fought back against this humiliation and the accompanying human rights violations is Chhutni Mahtain, the subject of this documentary. In the district where she lives, more than 300 women were said to be witches and murdered between 1991 and 1995. This superstitious practice often affects women who are widows or whose husbands are away. Potential victims might be accused of having taken land or property, or perhaps they refused a sexual advance. Local leaders and police deny the allegations and allow perpetrators to go unpunished. The filmmakers are there to capture a woman as she confronts a village chief and a witch doctor about their immoral behavior. All the men in the village stand up and shout, “Let’s kill her! Now!” The intimidation and tension is made palpable by the close-up handheld camera work, without any musical accompaniment.

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Robert Mugabe...

What Happened?

Simon Bright

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

The title sets the tone: how could this man degenerate into the infamous despot that he currently is? This political portrait of Robert Mugabe is constructed of archive footage and interviews with eyewitnesses and experts. Mugabe was born in 1924, in the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He grew up in a poor Catholic family and was taught by Jesuits. A political career seemed the obvious choice for him, but Mugabe first got an education, traveling to Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana to study. Mugabe entered politics in the early 1960s, originally on the side of his future rival Joshua Nkomo. When Ian Smith and his white minority declared independence, a long period of uncertainty and tactical maneuvering began, ending in 1980 with the internationally recognized independence of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.

From that moment on, Mugabe was the most powerful man in the country, first as prime minister and later as president. Simon Bright reveals how Mugabe, who was once viewed as a Western-oriented, sophisticated gentleman, gradually metamorphosed into a violent, unscrupulous, power-hungry dictator.

South Africa, Zimbabwe, UK, 2011 video, color, 84 min Director: Simon Bright Photography: Nicolaas Hofmeyr Editing: Ronelle Loots Sound: Barry Donnelly Narration: Ingrid Sinclair Narrator: Guy de Lancey Production: Michael Auret for Spier Films Co-Production: Uhuru Productions Executive Production: Garry Edwardes, Jerry Rothwell for Met Film Production World Sales: Spier Films Screening Copy: Spier Films Involved TV Channel: ZDF/ ARTE Website: www.mugabemovie.com

Simon Bright:

Corridors of Freedom (1987) Limpopo Line (1989) Mbira Music, Spirit of the People (1990) Tides of Gold (1998) Shade to Sun (2004) Inner City Tales (2006) The Loud Silence of HIV (2006) Okavango: Substainable Planning for the Delta (2007) a.o.

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Salaam Dunk David Fine

EUROPEAN PREMIERE To the Iraqi students making up the female basketball team featured in this documentary, playing the game is about much more than just sports: it means freedom and the opportunity to start a new life after the horrors of war. For the first time in their young lives, they are competing together with teammates from other religions and ethic groups. Safa, the Arab manager and team “mother,” admits to having focused primarily on her Arab players at first. But that soon changed: “I had to think as a manager, not as an Arab.” The team’s enthusiastic American trainer Ryan emphasizes what they have in common, not their differences. His main aim is to gear the young women up for new games. The team has lost every game so far – females have only recently been permitted to participate in sports even to a limited extent, meaning they lack both stamina and skill. But it’s clear that they have no lack of ambition. We watch them as they progress through a season of training and competition. The girls speak openheartedly about their backgrounds, their dreams for the future, coping with the war, what it’s like to be a woman in a man’s world, and how basketball has given them a sense of freedom.

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USA, Iraq, 2011 HD, color, 82 min

David Fine:

Director: David Fine Photography: San Saravan Screenplay: Beau Lewis Editing: David Fine Sound: San Saravan Production: Beau Lewis for Seedwell Films, San Saravan Screening Copy: Seedwell Films Website: www.salaamdunkfilm.com

Awards: Gold Plaque Chicago International Film Festival

directing debut

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Signs & Vibrations Nalia Giovanoli

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Switzerland, 2011 video, color, 8 min

Nalia Giovanoli: directing debut

Director: Nalia Giovanoli Photography: Morena Henke Screenplay: Tristan Giovanoli Editing: Nalia Giovanoli Sound: Gérard Bochaton, Dominique Fabre Music: Djazafaz Combo Production: Jean Perret for Head-Genève Département Cinéma / cinéma du réel World Sales: Head-Genève Département Cinéma / cinéma du réel Screening Copy: Head-Genève Département Cinéma / cinéma du réel

We hear loud music at a pop venue, dominated by a steady beat. The lighting is scarce, a strobe light erratically revealing the outline of the audience. It’s packed, but this is not the usual crowd that you find at clubs or concert halls. Most of the people here are deaf or hard of hearing. The film gives a short impression of the night, including interviews with deaf concertgoers that illustrate how they experience the music. The visual signs and physically felt vibrations are the most important elements in their musical enjoyment.

“Music is sound, but from a visual point of view, music can be replaced by movement and speed. Just like traffic, or wind blowing in the trees,” one man says. In the words of another, “Thanks to the vibrations, I can feel the music touching my body.” People dance, and their graceful, rapid hand movements in particular are fascinating.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Silvio, One of Us

Einer von uns Antonio Bellia, Elisa Bolognini, Marzia Mete, Valentina Monti, Gianfranco Pannone, Andreas Pichler

Italy, 2011 video, color, 52 min

Antonio Bellia:

Director: Antonio Bellia, Elisa Bolognini, Marzia Mete, Valentina Monti, Gianfranco Pannone, Andreas Pichler Photography: Tarek Ben Abdallah, Bastian Esser, Maria Pina Mastropietro, Martin Rattini, Alessio Valori Editing: Marzia Mete, Francesca Scalisi Music: Franco D’Andrea, Stefano Lentini Production: Andreas Pichler for Miramonte Film World Sales: Deckert Distribution GmbH Screening Copy: Deckert Distribution GmbH Involved TV Channel: ARTE/ZDF

The Awakening of Love (2009)

Bicycles (2008)

Elisa Bolognini: Marzia Mete:

directing debut

Valentina Monti:

Girls on the Air (2009), a.o.

Gianfranco Pannone:

Little America (1991), But History (2010), a.o.

Andreas Pichler:

Call me Babylon, Grimme Prize (2004), The Path of the Warrior (2008), a.o.

How can it be that after nearly two decades and countless scandals, blunders, accusations of corruption, and abuses of power, Silvio Berlusconi is still in control of Italian politics and as popular as ever with the Italian people? It is a question that is not only being asked outside of Italy. This Italian documentary assesses the mood of the country in the months leading up to the regional elections in March 2010. We hear from supporters of Berlusconi and his coalition partner Lega Nord, as well as from members and sympathizers of Il Popolo Viola – purple being the color the demonstrators adorn themselves with. This movement, which rose out of Internet activism, distances itself from existing political parties and is struggling for the restoration of democracy, which is a sad state of affairs in Italy. We see how local politics is riddled with nepotism, how a newspaper allied to Berlusconi deploys dubious journalistic tactics, and how the electorate has collapsed into a state of political nihilism. And the old days of fascism are never far away: we hear it in the language politicians use, and we see it in the adoration Berlusconi’s followers feel for their leader, and the cowardly indifference of the subdued opposition. A Roman taxi driver and his passengers provide the occasional vox populi.

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Smokin’ Fish Luke Griswold-Tergis

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE After the death of his grandmother, Cory Mann, who has Tlingit Indian blood from his mother’s side, goes searching for his roots in southeastern Alaska. He settles in the region of Juneau and goes into the fishing trade. He doesn’t just cook salmon and other fish, he catches, cleans, smokes, cuts, sells and eats fish. This brings out the salesman in Mann, so he expands into selling authentic Indian rugs and clothing.

Cory Mann and the viewer face the confrontation between the modern American lifestyle and the traditional values of the Tlingit people. His family radiates simplicity and joie de vivre, and his aunt doesn’t believe that modern technology makes people happier. “You can’t eat your computer. It tastes horrible.” Alongside the tales of Mann and his family runs the story of how Alaska was once brutally colonized by Russia and then sold to the United States. The casually filmed pristine beauty of Alaska, where roaming bears are never far and canoes risk capsizing on the wild river, renders mankind fragile. Indiana Jones-like maps indicating travel from one place to another underline the boyish, adventurous nature of the film.

USA, 2011 HD, color, 80 min

Luke Griswold-Tergis: directing debut

Director: Luke Griswold-Tergis Co-director: Holly Grey, Cory Mann, Manolo Turri Photography: Holly Grey, Luke Griswold-Tergis, Manolo Turri Screenplay: Luke Griswold-Tergis Editing: Maureen Gosling, Manolo Turri Sound: Luke Griswold-Tergis Production: Luke Griswold-Tergis for Kaudli nutz productions Executive Production: N. Jed Riffe Screening Copy: Luke Griswold-Tergis Involved TV Channel: Native American Public Telecommunications

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TT3D: Closer to the Edge Richard De Aragues

For motorcycle racer Guy Martin, there is only one option: “to win the race.” The race he means is The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, or the TT, which has been raced since 1907 and is the best known and most dangerous road race in the world. In everyday life, the charismatic, unruly Martin works in a garage. But his great passion is motorcycles.

He is one of the men followed in the run-up to the most important road race of the year. The terrific speeds achieved, of up to 200 miles an hour, are made palpable thanks in part to the use of 3D. What drives these riders to put their lives on the line?

Is it necessary to look death in the eye in order to really live? Martin has lost several friends and colleagues on the circuit, but this doesn’t stop him from taking the risks.

Or, as the wife of a man killed in the race puts it, “You can’t love the death, you can’t love the loss, but you can’t love the excitement and the thrill without knowing that that’s part of it.” Archive footage, scenes from Martin’s life, and interviews with people involved in the sport all build toward the big climax: the five races at the 2010 TT. It is madness, but very attractive madness.

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UK, 2011 DCP, color, 104 min Director: Richard De Aragues Photography: Thomas Kuerzlacc Editing: Beverley Mills Music: Andy Gray Narrator: Jared Leto Production: Steve Christian & Marc Samuelson for CinemaNX World Sales: HanWay Films Screening Copy: HanWay Films Website: www.tt3dmovie.com

Richard de Aragues: directing debut

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Vakha and Magomed Vakha i Magomed Marta Prus

Poland, 2010 video, color, 12 min

Marta Prus:

Director: Marta Prus Photography: Mateusz Wajda Editing: Cecylia Pacura Production: Marcin Malatynski for Polish National Film School Lodz World Sales: Krakow Film Foundation Screening Copy: Krakow Film Foundation

Awards: The Young and Cinema Jantar Best Short Documentary International Film Festival Watch Docs

directing debut

A father teaches his son to box. He encourages him to hit harder and be more steady on his feet, while the 10-year-old sits listlessly on a chair catching his breath. We are then treated to scenes of the father and son in everyday situations. The father sees to it that the boy eats well, makes sure he brushes his teeth, and provides commentary to a shooter video game. The father takes his son to a shop, where the boy takes a test ride on a bike. Father and son give off a troubled air, and the surroundings in which they move are austere to the point of miserable. There is no voice-over; the film simply observes.

Only at the end does the viewer find out who these two people are, and this is when much of what we have seen falls into place. Vakha and Magomed are Chechens living in a refugee center in Warsaw. Vakha has already lost his older son. Past experiences and future concerns cast a shadow on his days.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

Violence Stories Caravan Geweld Verhalen Karavaan Adelheid Roosen

The Netherlands, 2011 installation, color, 5 min Director: Adelheid Roosen Photography: Bart Majoor Editing: Bart Majoor Sound: Bart Majoor

Adelheid Roosen: Mum (2009)

Violence Stories Caravan is an audiovisual installation consisting of 11 authentic portraits of domestic violence. Each portrait is a composition of one monologue by either perpetrator or victim, and three short fragments by sons, daughters, neighbors, family members, policemen on the beat and community workers, who give their account of what happened. All texts are renderings of interviews with men and women who either still find themselves in domestic violence positions, live in shelters, or have now been referred for psychiatric assessment. In all portraits, we hear the voices of the authentic people involved. The installation consists of 11 telephone booths in which the viewer can call in. The intimacy of the cabin causes a shift of characters: the listener is not only the audience, but also a witness. As an accidental bystander of violence, it is very important to realize that just your can be of help. For all interviewees, this has proven to be the first step in solving the downward spiral of abuse.

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War Is Not a Game A la guerre comme a la guerre Lode Desmet

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

In 1864, 12 European countries signed an international treaty for the first time that established rules regarding armed conflict. The Geneva Conventions regulate how wars are waged. They grant rights to wounded soldiers, to prisoners of war, and since the fourth and final version, which was completed shortly after World War II, also to civilians. But what bearing do these “paper laws” have on the tough reality of the battlefield? This is the question filmmaker Lode Desmet seeks to answer in conversations with soldiers and veterans, guerillas and rebels, legal experts and pacifists. The film is also equipped with an enthusiastic voice-over in which the director offers the historical context and the steady development of the Geneva Conventions, with considerable support from black-and-white archive footage. When soldiers are being trained, do they get sufficient information about the existence of the treaty? Do the Conventions fail to provide enough room for interpretation to nations at war? Can war really ever be reconciled with rules and regulations, and universal human rights? War Is Not a Game would seem to suggest that we’re on the right track, but that there’s still a long road ahead of us. That is certainly the case when we consider the fact that 81 countries, including the United States, Russia and China, refuse to recognize the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Canada, Belgium, France, Switzerland, 2010, video, color / b&w, 87 min Director: Lode Desmet Photography: Hans De Bauw, Philippe Lavalette Editing: Anne-Laure Guégan, Linda Ibbari Music: Serge Laforest, Martin Roullard Production: Francois Le Bayon for Lieurac Productions, Kathleen de Béthune for Simple Production, Line Richard for National Film Board of Canada, David Rihs for Point Productions SA Co-Production: Lieurac Productions World Sales: National Film Board of Canada Screening Copy: Lode Desmet Involved TV Channels: ARTE, RTBF, Radio Canada, Lichtpunt

Lode Desmet:

Hamburgers in Harare (1998) Exodus or Vina’s World (1999) Boys Will Be Boys (2002) Mother’s Crossing (2003) Heysel 1985, Requiem for a Cup Final (2005) Does Anyone Have a Plan? (2006) Nerma’s Question (2008)

www.lodedesmet.com

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Water Children Aliona van der Horst

In Japan, dead babies are commemorated in a mythological ritual and known as water children. Because they never had an opportunity to carry out good deeds, they are unable to cross the underworld river and are trapped in stone figurines on a riverbank.

Filmmaker Aliona van der Horst followed the unconventional Japanese-Dutch pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama. There came a moment in the pianist’s life when she recognized that an end will come to her capacity to have children. Mukaiyama created a multimedia art project on the subject in a village in Japan. She made what she calls a cathedral, constructed out of 12,000 white silk dresses. She invites women to take a dress, wear it, stain it with menstrual blood (or, as she so poetically puts it, “moon blood”) and hang it back up. Female visitors to this fabric cathedral meet here to talk about issues surrounding fertility and infertility. Van der Horst tells the story from her own perspective. We also hear from other women who talk about their experiences with miscarriages, children, or thoughts about fertility and sexuality. Ultimately, it turns out that the filmmaker herself had a powerful personal reason for making this dreamlike, poetic film.

180

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 75 min Director: Aliona van der Horst Photography/Editing: Aliona van der Horst, Maasja Ooms Music: Tomoko Mukaiyama Production: Frank van den Engel for Zeppers Film & TV Executive Production: Jorinde Soreé for Zeppers Film & TV World Sales: Doc & Film International Distribution for the Netherlands: Cinema Delicatessen Screening Copy: Zeppers Film & TV Involved TV Channel: VPRO

Aliona van der Horst:

The Lady with the White Hat (1997) After the Spring of ‘68 (2001) The Hermitage Dwellers (2004) Boris Ryzhy (2008)

Aliona van der Horst & Maasja Ooms: Voices of Bam (2006)

Website: www.waterchildren.nl

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What’s in a Name Eva Küpper

Belgium, 2010 video, color, 70 min

Eva Küpper:

Director: Eva Küpper Photography: Eva Küpper Screenplay: Eva Küpper Editing: Eva Küpper, Nico Leunen Sound: Sarah D’Hanens Production: Dimke Haeghen & Eva Küpper for Soul Docs World Sales: Soul Docs Screening Copy: Soul Docs Website: www.whatsinaname-movie.com

Awards: Jury Prize for Best Film Royal Academy of Fine Arts International Film Festival Gent, IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

directing debut

Jon Cory, a body art performer from New York, stops at nothing when preparing for his bare-all performances. His 53-year-old body is an experiment that can be stretched a long way. On the street, few heads turn when he walks by with a huge pink penis under his arm, but he goes much further onstage. “Gender terrorism” is what he calls his sexually ambivalent, explicit performances. He aims to ambush the audience: the quicker you hit them, the friendly-sounding Cory explains, the more their brains get overstimulated and go into shock. The audience always wants more: spitting and pretending to urinate on the audience just draws more applause. Since deciding to have breast implants to boost his image as a gender terrorist, Jon has had to get used to a new identity. His mother has no problem with his new breasts, but he himself is troubled by the question of whether to call himself Rose or Jon. Documentary filmmaker Eva Küpper follows him both before and after the operation, throughout his painstaking preparation for his performances, and during the performances themselves, capturing him as he seeks out the limits of intimacy.

Reflecting Images – Panorama

The Will

Testamentet Christian Sønderby Jespen

Denmark, 2011 HD, color, 88 min Director: Christian Sønderby Jespen Photography: Christian Sønderby Jespen Screenplay: Ramus Heisterberg Editing: Rasmus Stensgaard Madsen Sound: Peter Schultz Production: Julie Pedersen for Copenhagen Bombay Executive Production: Sarita Christensen for Copenhagen Bombay World Sales: Copenhagen Bombay Screening Copy: Copenhagen Bombay Involved TV Channel: DR TV

Christian Sønderby Jespen: Side by Side (2008) Doxwise (2009) My Cousin the Pirate (2010)

Christian Sønderby Jespen & Joakim Ladefoged: Mirror (2009)

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

As his grandfather lies dying, thirty-something Henrik looks forward to receiving an inheritance from the successful family hotel business. And he really could use the money: Henrik and his eldest brother are both struggling with drug and alcohol problems; they are also completely broke, and Henrik’s wife has left him. The inheritance will change everything, or so the pair believe. The film follows Henrik’s every move from the moment the wealthy old man finally dies. But getting his hands on the loot turns out to be much more complicated than Henrik thought. The disappointments soon start stacking up. “If I had known I wouldn’t inherit, I’d have done something with my life,” he admits. As he descends in a turbulent, downward spiral, Henrik reveals more and more details of his at times shocking youth to the ever-present handheld camera. It soon becomes clear that nothing is for certain in this Danish family. While struggling to get their hands on the millions, the brothers keep themselves busy growing weed, playing with their many cats, and making calls to anyone and everyone. The director captures it all – even the drunken car races, complete with highly appropriate death metal music by Rammstein playing in the background.

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Cultuur verbindt.

Al voor E 4 sluit u zich aan.

eur t a don u! d r Wo juist n

Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds steunt IDFA 2011.

Beeldende kunst, geschiedenis & letteren, monumentenzorg, muziek & theater en natuurbehoud. Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds zet zich in voor cultuur die u raakt.

Al vanaf e 4 per maand sluit u zich aan. Ga naar www.cultuurfonds.nl.

Donateuradv 210-210 fc.indd 1

26-10-11 00:37

regular programs Paradocs Paradocs is a program in which the “periphery� of the documentary genre takes center stage. It showcases what is going on beyond the frame of traditional documentary filmmaking, on the borders between film and art, truth and fiction, and narrative and design. This year, Paradocs is featuring 17 films.

Paradocs

Antwerp

Peter Van Goethem WORLD PREMIERE Digging for memories from a long distant past, an elderly Russian man sets out on his final journey in an effort to piece together events from his youth. In a poetic voiceover, he describes how he arrived in Antwerp, Belgium as a boy, in an overcrowded train from Russia. Thousands of Russians left everything behind in their bid for a better life. Fragments of his first views of this harbor city come into view: the seagulls, the mist, the ships, and the dockside. We see the dejected, worn out faces of people in a strange city, sacks slung over their shoulders, their feet frozen. For the first time, he realized what freedom was – and he was scared. His desire to dredge up memories vanishes when reality turns out to be more distressing and estranging then he had anticipated. But hope returns when he walks through a room filled with forgotten memories. The filmmaker was inspired by the book Antwerp and Its “Russians” (18141914) by the Russian historian Vladimir Rodin, who also recorded the voice-over.

Belgium, 2011 video, color, 22 min

Peter Van Goethem: directing debut

Director: Peter Van Goethem Photography: Piet Deyaert, Peter Van Goethem Screenplay: Peter Van Goethem Editing: Piet Deyaert, Peter Van Goethem Sound: Joris Van Damme Narration: Peter Van Goethem Production: Peter Van Goethem for Freshwater Films Co-Production: Platform+ Screening Copy: Freshwater Films

Paradocs

Asleep

Clarissa Campolina The city at night. Headlights illuminate the tall buildings and their gigantic billboards, transforming them into the only living beings in the otherwise empty streets. Shot at an oblique angle, flashing lights strike these images of the living dead, with their pale faces and huge, wide-open eyes. The otherworldly electronic soundscape that percolates through this unconventional, wordless portrait of a city alternates with ambient sounds of crunching gravel and a single lonely moped. This is also a city of flowing water and barbed wire, the place where strangers can meet. Director Clarissa Campolina lives and works in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and it is here that she filmed Asleep. She makes a detailed study of the everyday at randomly selected locations in Belo Horizonte – and gets to know another city in the process.

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Brazil, 2011 HD, color, 7 min Director: Clarissa Campolina Photography: Clarissa Campolina Editing: Luiz Pretti Production: Luana Melgaço for Teia Filmes World Sales: Teia Filmes Screening Copy: Teia Filmes

Clarissa Campolina:

Note (2002) Net (2002) Orient-ate (2003) Where Are You? (2007) Wandering Notes (2009)

Clarissa Campolina & Helvecio Marins Jr.: Passage (2006) Swirl (fiction, 2011)

Paradocs

The Beautiful Language Mounir Fatmi

France, 2010 video, black-and-white, 17 min Director: Mounir Fatmi Editing: Mounir Fatmi Sound: Mounir Fatmi, Benoît Hénon, Mick Texier Production: StudioFatmi World Sales: Heure Exquise!

Screening Copy: Heure Exquise!

Mounir Fatmi:

Fragile (1997), Fragments and Solitude (1999), The Others Are the Others (1999), The Scissors (2003), May God Forgive Me (2004), History of History (2006), Suprematism for Self-Defense (2006-2009), Save Manhattan (20082009), Muhammad Ali, The Labyrinth (2010), Mixology (2010), Architecture Now! Etat des lieux #1 (2010), City of urgency (2010), Technologia (2010), Speed City (2010), The VF Project (2010), Archi Sickness (2011), The Silence of Saint Peter Martyr (2011), The Angel’s Black Leg (2011), a.o.

Excerpts from François Truffaut’s L’enfant sauvage (1970) form the basis of this highly topical reflection on barbarism and authoritarian colonial systems. Truffaut’s film is based on the true story of the feral child, brought up by a doctor in accordance with the dictates of society at the end of the 18th century. The boy, who initially ran naked on all fours through the woods, was forced to wear shoes and eat with a spoon. While the boy, writhing on the ground, attempted to escape from this civilizing process, the reedit by filmmaker Mounir Fatmi poses questions about where the real cruelty lies: in the wild, or in the tightly controlled environment of modern society? The cries of the resisting boy are muffled, to be replaced by an ominous, new sound design by Fatmi. Quotes in Arabic are interspersed with quotes from philosopher Hannah Arendt from her work Imperialism: “Deadly danger to any civilization is no longer likely to come from without. The danger is that a global universally interrelated civilization may produce barbarians from its own midst by forcing millions of people into conditions which, despite all appearances, are the condition of savages.”

Paradocs

C.A.P.E CREW

Belgium, 2010 installatie, color, 20 min Director: Eric Joris Production: Hilde Teuchies & Vicky Vermoezen for CREW Screening Copy: CREW

CREW:

Kaufhaus Inferno (1999), Kammerspiel 1&2 (1999), N.M. (2001), Icarus / Man-O-War (2001), Philoctetes / Man-O-War (2002), Duister woud (2004), Crash (2004), U Raging Standstill (2004), O_Rex 1.3 (2008), W (Double U)(2008), Eux (2008), Line-Up (2009), Bolscan (2010), Terra Nova (2011)

CREW is a company that operates on the border between art and science, between performance art and new technology. Artist Eric Joris develops his live-art projects, hybrid performances with electronic and digital media at their core, in close collaboration with a collective of artists and scientists. Their project C.A.P.E. (Cave Automatic Personal Environment) shifts the user’s presence from one place to another in no time. Users are hoisted into individual, state-of-the-art immersive tech-suits, combining headphones, video glasses, a light shielding mask, tracker, camera, backpack, and laptop. Helped along by a virtual guide, they step into another body and walk around in a faraway city or a faraway time. The C.A.P.E. that is being showcased at De Brakke Grond during IDFA was first presented at the World Expo in Shanghai in September 2010, and will transport users to a fictitious city, a mix between Shanghai and CREW’s hometown of Brussels. In this way, they can experience for themselves what the future of cinema might be like.

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Chanel Aubazine – Paris Jérôme Schlomoff

EUROPEAN PREMIERE Made using a pinhole camera, these images were created specially for the Chanel Culture exhibition in the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art in early 2011.

Chanel Aubazine – Paris is a journey of initiation from the convent in Aubazine – the orphanage where Coco Chanel lived between the ages of 11 and 21 – to her apartment on Paris’s Rue Cambon, where she worked. The film reveals striking resemblances between these two places in relation to five themes: Origin, Abstraction, Invisibility, Imaginary, Liberty. The origins of the symbols of the universe, for example, are revealed by French fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel. This is not Jérôme Schlomoff’s first film using the pinhole technique. For Chanel Aubazine – Paris, he has slowed down and combined images of the stairs and corridors of the convent, the famous stained-glass window with the CC logo, church pews, and Chanel’s Paris office chair, culminating in a pinhole view of the sea.

France, 2011 video, black-and-white, 4 min Director: Jérôme Schlomoff Photography: Jérôme Schlomoff Screenplay: Jérôme Schlomoff Editing: Jérôme Schlomoff Production: Valérie Duport for CHANEL Co-Production: Films de l’impatience Executive Production: Renaud Sabari for AIA Productions Screening Copy: Films de l’impatience

Jérome Schlomoff:

La douceur dans l’abîme (2000), Moi-même dans un monde parallèle des autres (2000), Babil-Babel (2001), La bibiliothèque Carnegie (2001), La palombière (2002), Fragiles effondrements (2002), Visions #1 (2002), Camera dei sogni (2002), Trafic-City (2003), La conserverie (2003), Agostino Malco (2003), Usine fleuve (2003), Villa Noailles MalletStevens (2005), New York Zéro Zéro (2005), Amsterdam Reconstruction (2007), La Villa K (2008), Blonde Redhead Meets Gainsbourg (2009), Henri Plaat (2010), Marbre (2010), Floating Orange (2010)

www.schlomoff.com

Paradocs

The City

Al-madina Gonzalo Ballester

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

This film is composed of revealing snippets from the life of a Moroccan immigrant whom the director filmed over a period of many years in his new homeland of Spain.

The immigrant traveled to another land, another sea, certain that he had found a better place to live. But what he didn’t know ahead of time was that he would be accompanied by his homeland, that it would always be within him. At first he is lively and optimistic, but later on this increasingly bedraggled man’s wild eyes betray an entirely different frame of mind. He very much wants to take part in Spanish society, but it is all he can do to survive. The greatest struggle, however, is an internal one.

We can see in his intense expression that a sense of loss and desperation has taken control. Gonzalo Ballaster, who occasionally interviews the man to find out how he is doing, has made other films about illegal immigration, including Mimoune (2006).

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Spain, 2011 video, color, 14 min Director: Gonzalo Ballester Photography: Gonzalo Ballester, Juan Ballester Screenplay: Gonzalo Ballester Editing: Gonzalo Ballester Sound: Federico Pájaro Music: Coke Riobóo Production: Gonzalo Ballester World Sales: Gonzalo Ballester Screening Copy: Gonzalo Ballester

Gonzalo Ballester:

Mimoune (2006) La Serenissima (2006) The Last Landscape Painter (2007) The Molky Way (2009) At the Other Side of the Sea (2011)

www.gonzaloballester.com

Paradocs

Excursions in the Dark Kaya Behkalam

WORLD PREMIERE

Egypt, Germany, 2011 HD, black-and-white, 20 min

Kaya Behkalam:

Director: Kaya Behkalam Photography: Kaya Behkalam Editing: Kaya Behkalam Production: Kaya Behkalam Screening Copy: Kaya Behkalam

Kaya Behkalam & Jeannette Gaussi:

Tehran Reflections (2005) The Beautiful Land (2006) Three Notes (2007)

Kaya Behkalam & Azin Feizabadi: The Negotiation (2010)

www.kayabehkalam.net

Cairo, February 2011. The dictator Hosni Mubarak has been deposed, and calm has returned to the streets. Gone are the young men shouting their demands for freedom and bread, the huge and sometimes violent demonstrations, and the self-immolations.

But the dark streets, alleyways and city squares seem strangely empty, even for nighttime. It is as if the life has been sucked out of them, as if the Apocalypse has been raging. Filmed in stylish, moody black-and-white, the static, angular street scenes are accompanied by fragments of conversations with Egyptians recalling their dreams in the period when they rose up against the regime. Their memories are very personal. We hear about a stranger suddenly appearing in the speaker’s home, about snakes crawling through the walls, and about people cheering on the streets. The events being recalled take place once more, before the rebels’ closed eyes, transforming the Arab Spring into a Freudian dream, a projection of the unconscious. Director Kaya Behkalam balances his film at the cusp of reality and dream, of historical account and mythology, and of documentary and fiction. In the words of the social philosopher Walter Benjamin that open the film, Behkalam is seeking the “moment that the historian takes upon himself the task of dream interpretation.”

Paradocs

I Will Forget this Day Ya zabudu etot den Alina Rudnitskaya

Russia, 2011 video, black-and-white, 25 min Director: Alina Rudnitskaya Photography: Alexander Filippov Editing: Alina Rudnitskaya Production: Alexey Telnov for St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studio Screening Copy: St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studio

Alina Rudnitskaya:

Seagull (1999) I Must Be Happy! (1999) Monument (2000) Letter (2001) Introduction Club (2002) Driving Mad (2002) Communal Residence (2002) Amazons (2003) Rural Lessons (2004) Civil Status (2005) Besame Mucho (2006) Bitch Academy (2008)

Director Alina Rudnitskaya creates an oppressive sense of foreboding in observational shots of young women waiting in a Russian clinic. Filmed in grisaille colors, this documentary is not quick to reveal what the women dressed in bathrobes are waiting for, what happens behind the swinging doors, or why the women are so downcast.

Rudnitskaya appears to have filmed them from a distance, but this has allowed her to penetrate even more deeply into the minds of these inwardly focused women.

The camera films the bleak waiting room whose only decoration is a hat stand. In the background, all we hear is the ominous sound of stretchers being wheeled around. The camera observes the behavior of these women, all of whom have had to make a most difficult decision, chiefly because of a lack of money. The women’s faces reflect their desperate situation; it might not be the last time that they will be sitting here in this cold waiting room. Just occasionally, the camera takes a break outside, to a wintry bridge. The cold is lurking there as well.

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The Miners’ Hymns Bill Morrison

For this elegy in both film and music about the history of coal mining around Durham, UK, renowned filmmaker Bill Morrison (Decasia) worked with famous Icelandic musician and composer Jóhann Jóhannson. The soundtrack is based on the brass music culture from this northeastern region of the country. Bill Morrison specializes in found footage documentaries and has often used the chemical decay of photographs in his works, which can be viewed as meditations on the brittleness of human existence. For The Miners’ Hymns, Morrison doesn’t use any weathered material, but rather beautiful black-and-white footage of mineworkers that was preserved in the BFI National Film Archive and is shown here in hypnotizing slow motion. Morrison intercuts this material with color footage he filmed himself. These are recent aerial shots of landscapes packed to the brim with indeterminate parking lots, malls and empty fields, once the sites of coalmines such as Ryhope Colliery (18571966) and Silksworth Colliery (1869-1971). Back in the day, there was a lively, tight-knit community of miners aboveground as well, and the annual celebration of the Miners’ Association used to be all pomp and circumstance. The closing of the mines was met with fierce protest, even if the working conditions were miserable – a fact that is apparent in archive footage of dark, dank spaces filled with falling chunks of rock.

USA, UK, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 52 min Director: Bill Morrison Photography: Steve Desbrow Screenplay: Johann Johannsson, David Metcalfe, Bill Morrison Editing: Bill Morrison Music: Johann Johannsson Production: David Metcalfe for Forma World Sales: Hypnotic Pictures Screening Copy: Hypnotic Pictures

Bill Morrison:

The Night Highway (1990), Lost Avenues (1991), The World Is Round (1994), Nemo (1995), The Film of Her (1996), Another Sky (1997), City Walk (1999), Ghost Trip (2000), Trinity (2000), Decasia (2002), East River (2003), The Mesmerist (2003), Light Is Calling (2004), Gotham (2004), Outerborough (2005), How To Pray (2006), The Highwater Trilogy (2006), Who by Water (2007), Fuel (2007), Every Stop On The F Train (2008), Dystopis (2008), Release (2010), Spark of Being (2010), Tributes – Pulse (2011), a.o.

Paradocs

Mont Age Zoot Derks

WORLD PREMIERE The final installment of the trilogy Archival Fields, in which experimental filmmaker and researcher Zoot Derks questions the use of technological timelines in a philosophical and artistic way. What kind of consequences does the use of such programmed timelines have, which place video images in a historical context and in doing so create an instant past, or “pastness”? Derks invites the audience to participate in his performative video installation, which will stretch out through the staircases, hallways and side rooms of the Flemish art center De Brakke Grond, questioning the editing of video images. The filmmaker will use the material he shot for the first two parts of the trilogy, PolderPiece and Timeline Criticism, as well as new material shot during IDFA. He will discuss his subjects with specially invited guests and random passersby. Central to the discussions will be the concept of “suture,” which can mean the same thing as “editing” but can also be translated more literally as “sewing,” or more theoretically as “a break in the prevailing discourse.” Together with the audience, Derks will walk the tightrope between these various meanings and the dividing line between word and image.

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The Netherlands, 2011 installation, color, 20 min Director: Zoot Derks Photography: Zoot Derks, Jeanette Groenendaal Editing: Zoot Derks, Jeanette Groenendaal Production: Zoot Derks, Jeanette Groenendaal for G-netwerk Screening Copy: Zoot Derks

Zoot Derks:

PolderPiece (2009) Timeline Criticism (2011)

Paradocs

My Name is Peng

Me Llamo Peng Jahel Guerra, Victoria Molina de Carranza

Spain, 2010 video, color, 29 min

Jahel Guerra:

Director: Jahel Guerra, Victoria Molina de Carranza Screenplay: Consuelo Ábalos Editing: Ian Ramos Production: Jahel Guerra, Victoria Molina de Carranza, Ian Ramos Screening Copy: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona Involved TV Channel: Televisió de Catalunya Website: www.mellamopeng.com

directing debut

directing debut

Victoria Molina de Carranza:

Peng Ruan filmed himself obsessively from the moment he arrived in Europe from China.

The camera became his best friend. He shot a total of 60 hours of amateur footage that captures his life over a period of six years. Film students in Barcelona edited this raw material to create a candid portrait of a man who doesn’t act as if his situation is better than it is. He chooses to film himself precisely at those moments that are most difficult or uncertain, such as when he finishes his work at the restaurant at midnight and still hasn’t eaten, and when he gets fired for the third time in Spain. He picks at the hand he spilled hot oil on, but is more upset about getting the oil on his new leather shoes: “My skin will recover, but not the leather.” Nothing is spared the camera’s eye, whether it’s the blisters on his hand or the scars on his legs. “The first year you spend outside of China, you always talk to everybody optimistically. The second one you just talk to yourself, and the third one you don’t have the words anymore. Maybe year I’ll stop talking altogether.”

Paradocs

Printed Matter

Eitan Efrat, Sirah Foighel Brutmann

Belgium, 2011 16mm, color, 28 min Director: Eitan Efrat, Sirah Foighel Brutmann Photography: Sebastien Koeppel Editing: Eitan Efrat, Sirah Foighel Brutmann Narrator: Hanne Foighel Production: Marie Logie for Auguste Orts World Sales: Auguste Orts Screening Copy: Auguste Orts

Eitan Efrat & Sirah Foighel Brutmann: Prrrride (2009) Tri-ger (2009)

Eitan Efrat & Sirah Foighel Brutmann & Daniel Mann: Complex (2008)

www.tilfar.com

Printed Matter consists entirely of images of contact prints and photographic negatives made by the father of the filmmaker. André Brutmann was a freelance press photographer who closely tracked the news in the Middle East over a period of two decades for local and European newspapers. His extensive collection has become a visual chronicle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Brutmann’s photos give a new twist on the familiar images of social protest, armed violence, mourning, and politicians from Israel and the occupied territories: here, private lives and geopolitics are brought together on a single roll of film. After Brutmann became a father in 1983, he often returned home after a hard day’s work and finished off the roll by taking pictures of his family. So, everyday scenes alternate with historic events on these contact prints. The first and second intifada and the murder of Yitzhak Rabin are followed by images of family members reading, or the birth of his daughter. In voice-over we hear Hanne Foighel, the filmmaker’s mother and a freelance journalist, recollecting and taking a journey back in time – into political history as well as the intimacy of family life. Produced by Auguste Orts, a small production and distribution company for audiovisual art projects.

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Reformation Reformeren Jeanette Groenendaal

WORLD PREMIERE

At the age of seven, director Jeanette Groenendaal moved to a deeply religious village.

It was the 1970s, and the girl’s arrival from the big city of Utrecht provoked fear in the hearts of the inhabitants of the small hamlet in the Dutch Bible Belt. They saw her as an “alien” and a “city whore,” and treated her accordingly. The teacher at her strict Calvinist school called her the “Devil’s daughter” and the whole class repeated his words. Thirty-eight years later, Groenendaal (Dutch Cocaine Factory, 2007) returns to the village to film a personal study of the scapegoat mechanism. She sets up a complex performance/film project in the village, staging tableaux performances based on the frozen images from her memories of this emotionally charged location.

This stylized autobiography is more than a personal therapy session or a documentary about a fundamentalist community. It returns to the past, not out of revenge or a need to judge, but to investigate the roots of a past that is returning to the present, with the contemporary outpouring of religion, conservatism, xenophobia, and judgmental moral standards. Workshopped at IDFA 2009, Groenendaal had the public contribute their thoughts and feelings to the creation of the film.

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color / black-and-white, 82 min Director: Jeanette Groenendaal Photography: Jeanette Groenendaal Screenplay: Jeanette Groenendaal Editing: Zoot Derks, Jeanette Groenendaal Sound: Jeanette Groenendaal Music: Stellios Manousakis, Stephanie Pan Production: Jeanette Groenendaal for G-netwerk World Sales: G-netwerk Screening Copy: G-netwerk

Jeanette Groenendaal:

Dutch Cocaine Factory (2007)

www.g-netwerk.nl

Paradocs

Soul Catcher Sielunsieppaaja PV Lehtinen

Photography is a form of theft. Just one click and you take an impression of someone – and with that impression, a part of his or her identity. Is it any wonder, then, that members of some aboriginal tribes believed that they would lose their souls if they were photographed, meaning that they would not reincarnate in a new body? This belief forms the point of departure for a meditative reflection on how photography affects our innermost being. In this film, Finnish director P. V. Lehtinen shifts from one cinematic extreme to another: from total standstill to maximized movement. It starts off with portraits of white sunbathers on the beach taking on well-considered poses to be frozen in time by the camera. And then, as if plunging into a black hole, we pass through to the other side of the lens. There, we come face to face with threateninglooking aborigines. Has the camera already taken their souls? Back on the beach, the sunbathers face a similar fate, and their souls evaporate with the clouds in fast motion. Or so it seems, at least, because this extended video clip – with metaphysical soundscapes by the veteran ambient group Biosphere – leaves plenty of room for personal interpretation and imagination. And just as in a photograph that never fully captures our essence, mysteries remain.

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Finland, 2011 35mm, color, 13 min Director: PV Lehtinen Photography: Matti Helariutta, Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen Editing: PV Lehtinen Production: PV Lehtinen for CineParadiso Screening Copy: Finnish Film Foundation

PV Lehtinen:

The Diver (2000) Sirkka (2001) Airo (2003) The Crawl (2004) Keidas (2007) My Superhero (2010)

Paradocs

The Strawberry Tree El árbol de las fresas Simone Rapisarda Casanova

Canada, 2011 HD, color, 71 min Director: Simone Rapisarda Casanova Photography: Simone Rapisarda Casanova Screenplay: Simone Rapisarda Casanova Editing: Simone Rapisarda Casanova Sound: Simone Rapisarda Casanova Production: Simone Rapisarda Casanova for Ibidem Films Screening Copy: Ibidem Films

Simone Rapisarda Casanova: Ti con zero (2002) Through the Gate (2003) Days of Shrub (2004) Open Sea (2005)

Filmmaker Simone Rapisarda Casanova visited Juan Antonio, one of the last Cuban fishing villages, just weeks before a hurricane swept it off the face of the earth. He filmed everyday life in this remote hamlet during the preparations for Children’s Day and for the fishing expedition that will follow. The filmmaker explores the boundaries between ethnography, documentary and reverie in a cinematic poem on the last days of the village, which also happens to be where Columbus first dropped anchor in 1492. The customs of the native Taino population have since merged with those of the Spanish colonizers. The inhabitants show great inventiveness and resilience: milking the goats, grinding coffee with a mortar and pestle, repairing the fishing nets and reinforcing their roofs, unaware of the impending fatal hurricane. The playful and natural relationship between the villagers and the filmmaker is a prominent feature of the documentary.

Members of the fishermen’s families often respond to the presence of the filmmaker on camera, making The Strawberry Tree a reflection on the documentary genre.

Paradocs

Viva Paradis Isabelle Tollenaere

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

Belgium, 2011 HD, color, 17 min Director: Isabelle Tollenaere Photography: Isabelle Tollenaere Editing: Tom Denoyette, Isabelle Tollenaere Sound: Kwinten Van Laethem Production: Isabelle Tollenaere Screening Copy: Courtisane VZW

Isabelle Tollenaere: Trickland (2010)

A week in the slow decline of a luxury hotel in Tunisia, a country undergoing transformation. The almost deserted hotel is surrounded not only by the ruins of Carthage, but the signs of the recent revolution are also plain to see. The fighting is over, but what now? From March 10-16, 2011, Belgian documentary filmmaker Isabelle Tollenaere recorded the peace following the transformation, using images of the tourism industry that speak volumes. In the enormous hotel, the few remaining guests continue to enjoy this artificial paradise. A group of dancers in military costumes go through their repertoire in an empty nightclub. The chic patio and billiard room are deserted. Outside, the void left after the revolution is also omnipresent in the “new,” independent Tunisia.

On a damaged wall, we can read the words “Thank you Facebook.” The banks have been burned to the ground. Everything seems to be motionless. The static tableaux of the becalmed hotel world and the storm that has died down outside need no dialogue or explanation – they speak for themselves. Banal entertainment and revolution seem to become one.

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Yellow Limbo Uriel Orlow

In 1967, 14 cargo ships from various countries were stranded in the Suez Canal following an incident during the outbreak of the Six-Day War between Israel on the one hand and Egypt, Jordan and Syria on the other. The cargo ships lay at anchor in the Great Bitter Lake in the middle of the canal, usually used as a passing point for shipping. These 14 cargo ships were not able to raise anchor again until 1975, when the Suez Canal was reopened. During their eight-year stay, the international crews forgot about the Cold War and looked for ways to help one another get by. The social system that arose in this isolated microcosm is essentially a history of evolution in a nutshell. In 1968, they even held their own Olympic Games on board – a sign of playful solidarity. The documentary is a reedit of old photos and Super-8 films, shot by forgotten crew members, combined with recent footage shot on location by Swiss artist Uriel Orlow. The big historical events taking place, of which the crews were oblivious, pass by in a series of subtitles. Events both big and small merge onboard the ships in this reordering of images, giving a sensation of time passing in waves, like the ones passing by on the salt water of the Great Bitter Lake.

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UK, 2011 video, color, 15 min Director: Uriel Orlow Photography: Ayman Hussein, Uriel Orlow Editing: Uriel Orlow Sound: Mikhail Karikis, Uriel Orlow Production: Uriel Orlow World Sales: Lux Screening Copy: Lux

Uriel Orlow:

1942 (Poznan) (2002) Housed Memory (2000-5) The Visitor (2007) The Transgenerational Memory of Monkeys (2007) The Naked Palace (2008) Old Haunt (2009) Remnants of the Future (2010) Holy Precursor (2011) a.o.

regular programs IDFA DocLab IDFA’s new media program DocLab (supported by the SNS Reaal Fonds) presents emergent forms of documentary, including interactive web documentaries, live cinema events, multimedia installations, virtual reality performances, and mobile applications. The IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Documentary Storytelling will be awarded to the DocLab project that employs digital technology in the most creative and effective way to tell a documentary story. A three-member international jury will evaluate the 15 ßprojects, choose three of them, and select a winner from these. The IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Documentary Storytelling consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of €2,500.

IDFADocLab DocLab IDFA

The Soft Atlas of Digital Documentary Storytelling Since 2008, IDFA’s DocLab program has been offering a platform to new documentary forms that are emerging on the Internet and in digital media. How do these pioneers of “digital documentary storytelling” map reality? By Caspar Sonnen Earlier this year, the last 35mm projector was produced, seemingly without anyone noticing. Video rental stores are gradually disappear-

ing as well. Meanwhile, films, books and music are widely available in digital formats, both of the legal and illegal variety. Before long, more people will be accessing the Internet with mobile devices than with their PCs. But the digital revolution has brought us more than gadgets, piracy, smaller-sized newspapers and information overload.

This is especially true for documentaries. The chaos and freedom of the Internet has created new tools for distribution and crowd funding, as well as novel ways to capture and represent reality.

Innovations in data visualization, interactive video, GPS, smartphones, touch screens, and the mobile web have awakened in documentary storytellers an urge to experiment. As pioneers like Dziga Vertov and Robert Drew did in the previous century, these creators are experimenting with new forms, new stories and new boundaries in the documentary genre.

Unbridled experimentation The Internet has offered an ideal canvas for these experiments. Freed from limitations such as broadcast schedules and 50-minute slots, both new and established storytellers – filmmakers, photographers, radio producers, media artists -have embraced the new possibilities the digital world is offering them.

This variety of backgrounds is reflected in the variety of forms in this year’s DocLab selection. Some projects feel like computer games, such as the iPad app Condition One. Through its immersive panoramic video image, it offers users the chance to navigate freely through the Libyan Desert or the backstreets of New Orleans. Other projects invite the audience to contribute to the stories they tell. Users of Insitu, for instance, use a simple smartphone app to create an international encyclopedia of street art, while The Burning House asks people what they would rescue if their house was burning down.

Remarkably often, the answer is their digital gadgets.

The Burning House

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Some projects appeal directly to our endless need for new experiences. Barcode.tv delivers a personalized story when you scan the barcode of any household item; the virtual reality performance C.A.P.E. lets you take a bizarre stroll through another city; and the interactive installation What Is it Like to Be a Bird? uses a scientific procedure to “birdize” the human voice. Some projects exist in print form only, like the work of documentary artist Jan Rothuizen, whose new book The Soft Atlas of the Netherlands will be presented at one of this year’s DocLab Live Cinema Events. But most are online and interactive.

IDFA DocLab IDFA DocLab

The Prism: Krisis Greece 2011

No clear definitions yet While some sub-genres are emerging (the interactive web documentary and the docu-game, for instance), the boundaries of digital documentary storytelling remain hard to define. No wonder, since the definition of the Internet itself, and even those of older media, are constantly shifting as well. Once relegated to static computers, Internet access has become ubiquitous. Newspapers have changed from daily printed broadsheets to publications that can be paperless and interactive, such as le Monde’s The Zone or Time magazine’s Beyond 9/11.

Authorship and interfaces When all is said and done, all these digital bells and whistles don’t change the underlying rules of storytelling, which are as old as the campfire. The requirements for a good documentary are still the same: a well-told story with a bold artistic vision that shows you reality as you’ve never seen it before.

But these requirements can be harder to meet in interactive stories with multiple storylines. Every possible narrative route has to be interesting in its own right; the audience shouldn’t have to look for the part of the story that works, just as people don’t want to choose their own punch line when you tell them a joke. The same goes for user-generated content: it can deliver fantastic new stories, but if there’s no clear guidance, urgency and context, who needs it? And that’s if people send in their content at all, as 99% of any audience is still passive.

Not just another TV pipe Despite these many pitfalls, digital storytellers are bringing together the opposing forces of interaction and narrative more and more often. The success is mostly due to better interface design and simpler projects: whereas in the past creators could get bogged down in a multitude of sections and ill-thought-out features, nowadays they seem to have gotten the hang of simplifying their projects.

It took a while before people realized that cinema could be more than just a play on the big screen, and that TV could be more than watching radio. At this point in time, documentary makers are starting to understand that the Internet isn’t just another TV pipe, as new media strategist Ben Decker recently wrote on the popular blog Techcrunch.

The DocLab program doesn’t focus on any specific digital development or technology. Instead, it highlights artistic quality and innovation in any crossover between documentary and new media. Our hope is that the program can contribute to a “soft atlas” of digital storytelling, offering a survey of the best, most surprising and most imaginative projects out there.

Caspar Sonnen is IDFA’s New Media Coordinator and Curator of IDFA DocLab. Beneficiary IDFA DocLab

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IDFA DocLab

Barcode.tv

Philippe Archontakis, Pascal Brouard WORLD PREMIERE A fortune teller predicts the future based on the lines on people’s hands. The hand conjures up the story, as it were. The cinematic story machine Barcode.tv, a collaboration between ARTE and the National Film Board of Canada, works in a similar way. Insert a word and a one-minute-long film pops out. The word should describe an object that you hold dear, because “objects are like mirrors.” That is the intention behind the 100 short films in the database: to have our possessions look at us for a change, and show us who we are in the process. Type in “google” and you end up on a market for second-hand wares, where a salesman tries to pawn off his erotic videos and Jackie Chan films: you are a stuffy collector. Scan the barcode on your iPad and attractive people will softly whisper “singular, plural, female, male”: a walking encyclopedia. Desperados (the Mexican beer) and Starbucks give the same result: a tough guy sitting on a skyscraper swings his lasso, to which a can is attached: the independent drinker. The associations are funny, surprising, mind-blowing, or simply absurd. They all make us think of our personal belongings in a new way, and with that also the image we thought we had of ourselves. Barcode.tv will be presented as installation and during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Reality vs. Technology.

Canada, France, 2011 cross-platform, color, interactive & installation

Philippe Archontakis & Pascal Brouard: directing debut

Director: Philippe Archontakis, Pascal Brouard Webdesign: Philippe Archontakis Production: Hugues Sweeney for National Film Board of Canada World Sales: National Film Board of Canada Screening Copy: National Film Board of Canada Involved TV Channel: ARTE France Website: www.codebarre.tv

DocLab

Beyond 9/11 Kira Pollack

WORLD PREMIERE Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, Time magazine looks back on the dramatic events in a momentous multimedial project. They sought out the voices of the past decade: the first responders, the survivors, the men who took us to war, and the troops who are still fighting it. Forty men and women in all, including former President George W. Bush, anchorman Tom Brokaw, General David Petraeus, and several of the heroic first responders at Ground Zero. Each person was interviewed separately, but they were all asked the same first question: Where were you on September 11, 2001? The interviews were published in a special commemorative issue of Time, compiled into an hour-long documentary shown on HBO, and can be referenced in full on the project’s website.

From an introductory mosaic showing all 40 interviewees in Marco Grob’s stunning black-and-white portraits, users can select each person to watch his or her interview in video or read a transcript. From there, one can return to the main overview or click through to related persons – from Bush to firefighter Bob Beckwith, with whom the president was photographed atop a crushed fire truck during his first visit to Ground Zero three days after the attacks. Beyond 9/11 will be presented by Kira Pollack during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Living Monuments.

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USA, 2011 cross-platform, color / black-andwhite, interactive & film Director: Kira Pollack Photography: Marco Grob Editing: Radhika Jones, Richard Stengel Sound: Amy Buckley Production: Kira Pollack for Time Magazine Executive Production: Paul Moackley for Time Magazine Screening Copy: Time Magazine Website: www.time.com/time/beyond911

Kira Pollack:

directing debut

IDFA DocLab

The Burning House Foster Huntington

WORLD PREMIERE

USA, 2011 cross-platform, color / black-andwhite, interactive

Foster Huntington: directing debut

Director: Foster Huntington Production: Foster Huntington Screening Copy: Foster Huntington Website: www.theburninghouse.com

It’s a question everyone gets asked at some point: what would you rescue if your house was on fire? The Burning House is a website that lets a different person answer this question every day. The voluntary participants post their reaction in the form of a picture of the things they would save, and a factual summary to explain their choice. “What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question.” Indeed, the choices are often highly personal. Sometimes they are easily understood: your baby, your cat, your wedding ring. But more often the choices stimulate your imagination. A copy of Peter Pan your dad gave you when you were seven years old? An old button that used to belong to your grandmother? A poem your sister wrote? Supplemented with sparse personal details such as age, place of residence and profession, the brief summaries keep the visitors guessing about the underlying motivations. Why these objects in particular? Where does pragmatism shift into sentimentality? And to what extent are these choices bound to a certain moment in time? For instance, would the girl who submits her iPod have wanted to drag along her complete CD collection 10 years ago?

DocLab

Condition One

Danfung Dennis, Patrick Chauvel

USA, 2011 cross-platform, color, interactive Director: Danfung Dennis, Patrick Chauvel Photography: Patrick Chauvel Editing: Kristin Rodriguez Narrator: Patrick Chauvel Webdesign: Takaaki Okada Production: Karol Martesko-Fenster Screening Copy: Christian Pilling Website: www.conditionone.com

Danfung Dennis:

Hell and Back Again (2011)

The iPad app Condition One was developed by photojournalist Danfung Dennis to reengage the audience with the realities that he and his colleagues were revealing.

Instead of capturing the world in flat photographic images, the Condition One team uses a custom camera system, fusing the ethics, method and esthetics of photojournalism with the tradition of filmmaking and virtual reality. The entire human field of vision is captured on these camera systems, and the stories are edited specifically for the tablet application to create a truly immersive experience. These experiences can be viewed as stand-alone items or as a series of clips, accessed by theme or by author. Holding the tablet, the user is put at the center of the action – whether it’s at a bloody conflict in pre-revolutionary Libya or during a chaotic police arrest on the streets of New Orleans.

Tilting the tablet tilts the camera accordingly, allowing users to choose which area of the 180-degree image they want to look at. Condition One will be presented by Danfung Dennis during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Reality vs. Technology.

Awards: Moscow International Film Festival, SilverDocs, Edinburgh FIlm Fest, Sheffield

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IDFA DocLab

Farewell Comrades! Interactive Lebt wohl, Genossen!

Lena Thiele

WORLD PREMIERE

In 1975, almost half the world’s population lived in a communist state. Only 16 years later, Gorbachev announced his resignation. How could the fall of the Soviet Empire happen so fast? Which forces caused this shift? And why did no one foresee the decline? This transmedial documentary production answers these questions by allowing not only those responsible within the system, but also “regular” people to speak their minds. The postcards they sent between 1975 and 1991 are the connecting tissue between the various platforms: a chronological TV series in six episodes, a historical non-fiction book, an exhibition, a website, and a mobile app. In the online media, the starting point is always a postcard that you can select on a timeline, a map of Europe or through themes like the Cold War, secret services, love, and youth.

In video messages, the original senders then reveal the how, the what, and the why of the card. Twenty years after the fact, they give a whole new meaning to the old socialist slogan: “Ever forwards, never backwards!”

Germany, France, 2011 cross-platform, color, interactive

Lena Thiele:

directing debut

Director: Lena Thiele Co-director: Pierre-Olivier Francois Production: Lena Thiele for Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion GmbH Executive Production: Christian Beetz for Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion GmbH, Olivier Mille for Artline Films Screening Copy: Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion GmbH Involved TV Channel: ZDF/ ARTE Website: www.farewellcomrades.tv

DocLab

Goa Hippy Tribe Darius Devas

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Along with throngs of other Western baby boomers’ offspring, Australian filmmaker Darius Devas travelled to Anjuna Beach in 2010. The boomers themselves had been there in the late 1960s, when the infamous Goa hippie movement was founded in the Indian beach paradise. A milestone in their self-development, with a lot of rock ‘n’ roll, alcohol, drugs and free love. Forty years later – and half a life older – they meet again, thanks to the Goa community on Facebook. How do they look back on their hippie parties? What has become of their dreams? Why did they want to be reunited with the Goa family one last time? Georgette (57) and Raymond (65) seem to have hung on to their hedonistic ways, but Monica (56) left Goa a drug addict and Steve (60) claims that the rise of techno music killed the true hippie feeling. Initially, Devas posted his video portraits on Facebook, but encouraged by the large demand he decided to create a stand-alone web documentary, supplemented with all sorts of goodies, like factsheets, photo galleries and background videos on such typical Goa subjects as drugs and spirituality. And while most of the former hippies claim to want little to do with Facebook, the physical reunion would never have happened without the virtual one. Goa Hippy Tribe will be presented

by Darius Devas during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Sex, Data & Goa.

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Australia, 2011 cross-platform, color, interactive Director: Darius Devas Editing: Darius Devas Webdesign: Matt Smith Production: John-Paul Marin for SBS Australia Executive Production: Paul Rudd for Freehand TV Screening Copy: SBS Australia Involved TV Channel: SBS Australia Website: www.sbs.com.au/goahippytribe

Darius Devas:

directing debut

IDFA DocLab

HIGHRISE: One Millionth Tower Katerina Cizek

Canada, 2011 cross-platform, color / black-andwhite, interactive Director: Katerina Cizek Photography: Lillian Chan, Jaime Hogge Screenplay: Katerina Cizek Music: Jim Guthrie Webdesign: Helios Design Labs Production: Gerry Flahive for National Film Board of Canada Executive Production: Silva Basmajian for National Film Board of Canada World Sales: National Film Board of Canada Screening Copy: National Film Board of Canada Website: www.highrise.nfb. ca/onemillionthtower

Katerina Cizek:

The Interventionists (2006) Drawing from Life (2008) Filmmaker in Residence (2008) HIGHRISE: Out My Window (2010)

Katerina Cizek & Peter Wintonick: Seeing Is Believing (2002)

This is the third chapter in the interactive documentary HIGHRISE, in which Katerina Cizek investigates what it means to live in a city in the 21st century. The 1000th Tower featured the residents of a slightly run-down skyscraper on the outskirts of Toronto.

Out My Window, winner of the first IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling in 2010, applied the same concept to 13 city dwellers from around the world, including São Paolo, Amsterdam and Bangalore. One Millionth Tower interweaves the local and global approaches of the first two projects. “Hyperglocal” is the word the developers use for their approach. We meet the Torontonians from The 1000th Tower again, brainstorming with their architect on how they can breathe new life into their tower block. Their ideas come to life thanks to computer programmers and animators, and both the process and the result are shown online in a virtual 3D-environment. Even though the project is limited to this one apartment building in just one city, the story resonates on a global scale: a large proportion of the high-rises that are home to over a billion people worldwide could use a new coat of paint. Cizek wants to be a driving force behind social change, instead of simply capturing it as most traditional documentary filmmakers do.

On the road to a “more human-friendly urban planet.”

DocLab

Insitu

Antoine Viviani WORLD PREMIERE

France, 2011 cross-platform, color, interactive Director: Antoine Viviani Screenplay: Antoine Viviani Editing: Lucas Archambault, Cécile Frey, Antoine Viviani Sound: François Clos Music: Gaspar Claus, Pamelia Kurstin Webdesign: Adrian Gandour, Maxime Gravouil, Jérôme Pidoux Production: Antoine Viviani for Providences Screening Copy: Providences Involved TV Channel: ARTE Website: www.insitu.arte.tv

Antoine Viviani & Vincent Moon: Little Blue Nothing (2009)

Apart from the northernmost parts of Scandinavia, the European continent is completely thought through, drawn in, precooked, planned out, arranged. Very little room for nature, and a lot for cultivation: residential apartments, office buildings, highways, hangouts, public pieces of art. And it’s only getting worse, because like the rest of the world, Europe is still urbanizing at a quick pace. In this Arte production, city planners, architects, philosophers and artists look for creative and artistic ways to intervene in public space. An architect with Noyo Voyages is constantly working on improving the traffic circulation at a Parisian business park. An educational philosopher analyzes the tensions between the architectural heritage and the urban future of modern-day Berlin. But we also see the German street artist Johan Lorbeer, who can hang onto buildings with only his thumb to the wall. Whispered poems encourage street workers to dream of faraway palm beaches, and theremin player Pamelia Thurstin lets her sweet, weeping tones float through the city. Insitu can be watched linearly as a 90-minute documentary, but the chapters are also accessible individually through various themes and a map of Europe. Through these routes you can also find materials uploaded by other users, because the audience contributes in devising original, artistic interventions in our highly urbanized surroundings as well. Insitu will be presented by Antoine Viviani during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Out on the Streets.

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IDFA DocLab

The Next Day Jason Gilmore

WORLD PREMIERE “If you’re feeling these emotions, you can’t just wait until the next day.” Nevertheless, this is exactly the idea behind this austerely animated web documentary. About a million people kill themselves every year, and there are no fewer than 19 million failed suicide attempts. What if these people had waited 24 hours to let their decision sink in? Perhaps they would have changed their minds. The Next Day is a transmedial project consisting of a graphic novel and a website. The basic, almost childlike drawings are made by comic book maestro John Porcellino, who struggled with severe depression for years. While his lines in black felt-tip pen unfurl on a beige background, four survivors tell their life stories, full of broken homes, bipolar disorder, and problems with addiction. After every audio fragment, a number of options appear, marked by keywords such as “accident,” “family” or “molested”; depending on your choice, you will either continue with the same story or switch to a different protagonist. These distinct puzzle pieces combine into an increasingly complete portrait of what brought these people to the point where they felt they had no choice.

Meanwhile, the animations get more and more ominous: dark clouds gather around the house with its connotations of safety. The suicide attempt is getting near. The sun can return only after it has been performed, when the protagonists explain how they got their lives back on track.

Canada, 2011 cross-platform, black-and-white, interactive

Jason Gilmore: directing debut

Director: Jason Gilmore Production: Loc Dao for National Film Board of Canada, Alex Jansen for Pop Sandbox Production & Publishing Executive Production: Silva Basmajian for National Film Board of Canada Screening Copy: National Film Board of Canada Involved TV Channel: TVO Website: www.thenextday.nfb.ca

DocLab

Powering a Nation: Coal – A Love Story Laura Ruel

WORLD PREMIERE

“We’re in a love affair with coal right now because of the way we live. It’s a twisted love affair: we depend on it for everything that we do, but at the same time it’s killing us.” One of the interviewees expresses precisely the central point of the multimedia report Coal – A Love Story, made as part of the “Powering a Nation” project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Within the context of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education, the students here are looking for a shift away from traditional journalism. Coal – A Love Story is an extensively researched investigation of the ways in which coal, responsible for more than 45% of U.S. energy production, affects the daily lives of various people. A miner talks about the explosion that he narrowly escaped but that killed several of his co-workers. A young blond who won the “Miss Coal” pageant defends the energy source at all costs. And a teenager named Luis protests against the coal plant that borders his neighborhood: “If teens can do it, then the adults can do it.” The collection of videos, infographics and interactive elements form a running story, but the various elements can also be watched separately.

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USA, 2011 cross-platform, color / black-andwhite, interactive Director: Laura Ruel Production: Terence Oliver Executive Production: Laura Ruel Screening Copy: Laura Ruel Website: www.poweringanation.org/coal

Laura Ruel:

directing debut

IDFA DocLab

The Prism: Krisis Greece 2011 Nikos Katsaounis, Nina Maria Paschalidou

WORLD PREMIERE

Greece, 2011 cross-platform, color / black-andwhite, interactive & film Director: Nikos Katsaounis, Nina Maria Paschalidou Photography: Pavlos Fysakis, Christoforos Loupas, Dimitris Michalakis, Olga Stefatou Editing: Theodor Armaos, Yannis Billiris, Dimitris Maniatis, Konstantinos Tsichritzis Webdesign: Evangellos Kaimakis, Nikos Katsaounis, Dimitris Perlepos Production: Nikos Katsaounis for N-Coded, Nina Maria Paschalidou for Forest Troop Screening Copy: Nikos Katsaounis Website: www.theprism.tv

Nikos Katsaounis:

Entheogenesis: Awakening the Divine Within (2009)

The Prism: Krisis Greece 2011 is an online platform containing 27 multimedial films, which gauge the mood in Greece during the winter of 2010-2011. Starting from stormy Athens, 14 journalists went around the country, from the border with Turkey to the highest mountain in central Greece to the inhospitable mountains of southern Crete. The result is a colorful mosaic of mini-documentaries that can be clicked on by theme, filmmaker or geographic location on the simple, accessible site. The somewhat inconsistent quality of the films can be explained by the fact that the initiators and financiers, Nikos Katsaounis and Nina Paschalidou, chose to retrain photojournalists as “multimedial storytellers.” Experienced or not, their films reveal everything traditional media ignore.

For instance, Riders on the Storm follows a group that ventures around Athens on a sophisticated bicycle and offers an alternative for the future in the process. And Radical Youth documents the rise of radical left-wing youngsters who take the law into their own hands with Molotov cocktails. Strikingly enough, this last film wasn’t made by a Greek, but rather a young Spaniard who joined in on the project shortly after his arrival.

The Prism: Krisis Greece 2011 will be presented by Nikos Katsaounis during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Out on the Streets.

DocLab

The Sexperience 1000 Mint Digital, lingoBee

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

UK, 2011 cross-platform, color, interactive Director: Mint Digital, lingoBee Production: Adam Gee for Channel 4 Executive Production: Andy Bell for Mint Digital Screening Copy: Channel 4 Involved TV Channel: Channel 4 Website: www.channel4. com/sexperienceuk

Great Britain has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Europe. In the past decade, sexually transmitted diseases doubled among people over 45 years old, but talking about sex is still a taboo. With the television programs The Sex Education Show and Joy of Teen Sex, Channel 4 launched a national campaign to help us talk more openly and honestly about our sex lives. The conversation is continued on the social website Sexperience, where professionals answer questions and sexually active users exchange experiences, on discussion forums and through video messages. The website’s motto is “Sex is not simple. There aren’t always easy answers.” But there are complex questions, it seems.

For instance, what exactly is the right time for your first time? How important is the orgasm for a woman? How do you tell your boyfriend he should invest more energy in foreplay? Those who are looking for concrete statistics find them in The Sexperience 1000: attractively designed infographics about the sexual experiences and preferences of the British populace. The differences between men and women are especially noticeable: he prefers her to be on top, while she prefers missionary. He masturbates more often, but they cheat just about as frequently as one another. The Sexperience 1000 will be presented during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Sex, Data & Goa.

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IDFA DocLab

Soldier Brother

Kaitlin Ann Jones, Alicia Smith WORLD PREMIERE “You know all about first loves, broken bones, chipped teeth. You can call each other up, without hesitation. You love each other deeply.” That’s how Canadian artist Kaitlin Jones describes the special bond between siblings. Until her 22-year-old brother, a soldier in the Canadian Army, is deployed to Aghanistan. This changes everything, and Jones is left behind with the things that remind her of him – things that call up emotions, anecdotes, and characteristics. While these paraphernalia are spread out across the screen, Jones tells the stories they evoke for her on the audio track. A Guns N’ Roses wig makes her think of her brother’s worship of these rock heroes of the 1980s and 1990s. A collection of whisky bottles recalls his taste for the quality brands.

A box of foreign currency reminds her of his adventurous spirit: he had traveled to Cuba, Thailand and the Mexican-American border before departing for Afghanistan.

The objects represent the sugary, romanticized past, but the bitter, torn-up present is felt constantly as well, in an instant messaging ticker running across the screen. This form of communication is all Jones and her brother have left. And although it’s not always smooth sailing, she never hesitates to contact him.

Canada, 2011 cross-platform, color / black-andwhite, interactive Director: Kaitlin Ann Jones, Alicia Smith Production: Loc Dao for National Film Board of Canada Screening Copy: National Film Board of Canada Website: www.soldierbrother.nfb.ca

DocLab

Via PanAm Via PanAm Kadir van Lohuizen

In March 2011, the acclaimed Dutch documentary photographer Kadir van Lohuizen embarked on one of his most ambitious adventures to date: the multimedia documentary project Via PanAm. For 40 weeks, traveling from the southern tip of Chile to the very north of Alaska, Van Lohuizen is investigating the roots of migration in the Americas, a phenomenon that is almost as old as humanity but is increasingly portrayed as a new threat to the Western world. Van Lohuizen is expected to finish his journey in Alaska in February 2012, having traveled 28,000 kilometers (17,000 miles) along the Pan-American Highway and crossing through 15 countries. Along the way, Van Lohuizen shoots photographs, videos and interviews, and edits them into multimedial photo stories. Alongside a website, traditional print media and broadcast radio, the primary platform for the project is the Via PanAm iPad app.

The audience is invited to follow in Van Lohuizen’s footsteps, while he visualizes the stories of the communities, regions and societies he encounters. Via PanAm reflects the diverse range of migration experiences, both historic and contemporary. It reflects the sociopolitical contexts, as well as the intimate and personal stories of the people involved.

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The Netherlands, 2011 cross-platform, color / black-andwhite, interactive Director: Kadir van Lohuizen Co-director: Paradox Photography: Kadir van Lohuizen Screenplay: Erwin Koopman Editing: Laura Verduijn Production: Laura Verduijn & Bas Vroege for Paradox Screening Copy: Paradox Website: www.viapanam.org

IDFA DocLab

The Zone

La zone Guillaume Herbaut, Bruno Masi

France, 2011 cross-platform, color / black-andwhite, interactive Director: Guillaume Herbaut, Bruno Masi Photography: Guillaume Herbaut Editing: Léa Masson Sound: Romain Lebras Music: José Bautista Narrator: Viktoria Kozlova Webdesign: Bernard Monasterolo Production: Nicolas Blanc for Agat Films & Cie Co-Production: Le Monde Executive Production: Arnaud Colinart & David Coujard for Agat Films & Cie Screening Copy: Agat Films & Cie Website: www.lemonde.fr/lazone

Guillaume Herbaut & Bruno Masi: directing debut

Awards: RFI Web documentary Award Festival International Du Nouveau Cinéma Et Des Nouveaux Médias Montreal

EUROPEAN PREMIERE

April 26, 2011 marked the 25th anniversary of the nuclear explosion in Chernobyl.

The anniversary was cause for the news media to look back on one of the biggest nuclear disasters in history, but few took it as seriously as French newspaper Le Monde. Photojournalists Guillaume Herbaut and Bruno Masi, who won the 24-RFI Web Documentary Award with their multimedial presentation, returned to “the zone,” the area within a 20-mile radius from the reactor. They capture life in the area, closed off to this day, from every possible perspective. First and foremost the reactor itself, which has been inactive since 2000 but still employs 2,500 people – including a research team charting the nuclear radiation. But they also follow an old woman who has to cross the zone to visit her son, the ghost town of Pripiat located a couple miles from Chernobyl, and the “red forest,” where radiation levels are still over 200 times higher than what is considered safe. La Zone illustrates the ways in which newspapers can renew themselves online, because they can utilize a wider range of storytelling forms. We descend into the “black box” of Chernobyl in esthetically balanced photo and video reports, clickable from photo collages that are projected onto a map of the area. The Zone will be presented by Bruno Masi during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Living Monuments.

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regular programs IDFA DocLab Installations IDFA’s new media program DocLab (supported by the SNS Reaal Fonds) presents emergent forms of digital documentary storytelling, including interactive web documentaries, live cinema events, multimedia installations, virtual reality performances and mobile applications. All projects are showcased at the Brakke Grond cultural center (as part of IDFA’s Expanding Documentary Exhibition), in cinemas during DocLab live screenings, and throughout the year at www.idfa.nl/doclab.

IDFA DocLab Installations

Barcode Installation Philippe Archontakis, Pascal Brouard

WORLD PREMIERE A fortune teller predicts the future based on the lines on people’s hands. The hand conjures up the story, as it were. The cinematic Barcode installation, a collaboration between the National Film Board of Canada and ARTE, works in a similar way. Choose an object and a one-minute-long film is projected on a giant barcode. The installation reveals how “objects are like mirrors.” That is the intention behind the 100 short films in the database: to have our possessions look at us for a change, and show us who we are in the process. The associations are funny, surprising, mind-blowing, or simply absurd. They all make us think of our personal belongings in a new way, and with that also the image we thought we had of ourselves. The Barcode Installation was developed especially for IDFA. It is part of a multi-platform project, wich also includes the Barcode.tv web documentary and app. The project will be presented during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Reality vs. Technology.

Canada, France, 2011 cross-platform, color, installation Director: Philippe Archontakis, Pascal Brouard Webdesign: Philippe Archontakis Production: Hugues Sweeney for National Film Board of Canada World Sales: National Film Board of Canada Screening Copy: National Film Board of Canada Involved TV Channel: ARTE France

DDocLab Installations

C.A.P.E CREW

CREW is a company that operates on the border between art and science, between performance art and new technology. Artist Eric Joris develops his live-art projects, hybrid performances with electronic and digital media at their core, in close collaboration with a collective of artists and scientists. Their project C.A.P.E. (Cave Automatic Personal Environment) shifts the user’s presence from one place to another in no time. Users are hoisted into individual, state-of-the-art immersive tech-suits, combining headphones, video glasses, a light shielding mask, tracker, camera, backpack, and laptop. Helped along by a virtual guide, they step into another body and walk around in a faraway city or a faraway time. The C.A.P.E. that is being showcased at De Brakke Grond during IDFA was first presented at the World Expo in Shanghai in September 2010, and will transport users to a fictitious city, a mix between Shanghai and CREW’s hometown of Brussels. In this way, they can experience for themselves what the future of cinema might be like.

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Belgium, 2010 installation, color, 20 min Director: Eric Joris Production: Hilde Teuchies & Vicky Vermoezen for CREW Screening Copy: CREW Let op!: Deze film heeft meer dan 10 vertoningen

CREW:

Kaufhaus Inferno (1999), Kammerspiel 1&2 (1999), N.M. (2001), Icarus / Man-O-War (2001), Philoctetes / Man-O-War (2002), Duister woud (2004), Crash (2004), U Raging Standstill (2004), O_Rex 1.3 (2008), W (Double U)(2008), Eux (2008), Line-Up (2009), Bolscan (2010), Terra Nova (2011)

IDFA DocLab Installations

Hospitality Bogomir Doringer

WORLD PREMIERE

The Netherlands, 2011 cross-platform, color, installation Director: Bogomir Doringer Photography: Ben Geraerts Screenplay: Bogomir Doringer, Irene ter Stege Editing: Jelena Rosic Sound: Bogomir Doringer, Slobodan Bajic Production: Bogomir Doringer, Aneta Lesnikovska, Irene ter Stege Screening Copy: Bogomir Doringer Website: www.bogomirdoringer.com

Bogomir Doringer: directing debut

The psychological and physical state of military personnel changes drastically after returning from overseas missions, such as those in the Gulf, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. The symptoms that they “host” are recognizable to medical experts as various forms of cancer. In the media, the “horrors” they experience are known by names such as Balkan Syndrome or Gulf War Syndrome, and their health problems are linked to the use of weapons containing depleted uranium (DU), as well as to the presence of invisible nanoparticles in the atmosphere that penetrate the victims’ bodies.

Nonetheless, sudden increases in incidences and mutations are causing doubts as to the nature of these illnesses. Sufferers sink into a state of limbo similar to that experienced by those living in the war zones the soldiers just left. In this state they wander alone in silence, waiting for a cure or perhaps just death. For this monumental and touching installation by the Serbian documentary artist Bogomir Doringer, a unique collection of biopsy samples is “hosted” by a ferrofluid sculpture that transforms its shape before our eyes. Examining the relationship between fiction and reality, the project questions the intention of “hospitality” and the responsibility of those who offer it. We are uninformed “hosts,” exposing our bodies and minds to an aggressive transformation.

DDocLab Installations

What Is It Like to Be a Bird?

Thijs van Vuure

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

The Netherlands, 2011 cross-platform, color, installation Director: Thijs van Vuure Production: Thijs van Vuure Screening Copy: Thijs van Vuure Website: www.thijsvanvuure.nl

Ever since he was a child, artitst Thijs van Vuure has been fascinated by birds. For a long time now, he has been wandering what it would be like to be a bird. His installation What Is It Like to Be a Bird? tries to give a concrete answer to this question, at least for one aspect of being a bird: singing. The project is an attempt to blur the boundaries between human-being and bird-being, and a study of the consciousness of birds from a human perspective. The fundamental idea is that birds perceive time in a different way: their life cycle is shorter, their movements are faster, and their heartbeat has a higher frequency.

Birds live faster, one could say. That’s why the songs of various songbirds are slowed down and played back. In a small birdhouse, the audience can mimic these slowed-down recordings, after which their singing is sped up, back to the original “bird speed.” The resulting “human bird speech” is filmed and shown on a screen next to the birdhouse.

What Is It Like to Be a Bird? will be presented during the DocLab Live Cinema Event Reality vs. Technology.

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IDFA IDFADocLab DocLab

DocLab Live Cinema Events Live cinema events featuring the latest trends in documentary and digital media, with live performances and “director’s navigations” through their interactive documentaries.

Thursday, November 17: The Soft Atlas with Jan Rothuizen

Jan Rothuizen maps the world in documentary drawings that reveal everything a photograph can’t. This live cinema event, where his new book The Soft Atlas of the Netherlands will be presented, features performances by Hans Aarsman, Dirk van Weelden, and Rothuizen himself.

Friday, November 18: Out on the Streets

Antoine Viviani and Nikos Katsaounis present their interactive documentaries Insitu – Urban Artists and The Prism: Krisis Greece 2011, which deal with the unreal beauty of live street performances and the Greek crisis on at street level respectively.

Saturday, November 19: Interactive Monuments

Live presentations of two monumental web documentaries, made to commemorate the anniversaries of the Chernobyl disaster and the attacks on the World Trade Center: Le Monde’s The Zone (with director Bruno Masi) and Beyond 9/11 (with Time magazine’s director of photography Kira Pollack).

Sunday, November 20: Sex, Data & Goa

How do modern-day attitudes towards sexuality, in a society dominated by mobile phones and social media, compare to the free-love hippies of the 1960s? Find out at this live screening of The Sexperience 1000 (with Channel 4 commissioning editor Adam Gee) and Goa Hippy Tribe (with director Darius Devas).

Tuesday, November 22: Reality vs. Technology

The installation, app and web documentary Barcode, the interactive installation What Is it Like to Be a Bird?, and the immersive iPad app Condition One require a tactile experience. Therefore, presentations of the projects by their creators are followed by a guided tour through the Expanded Documentary exhibition.

Wednesday, November 23: Stories We Love to Forget

True stories told live on the stage, featuring Micha Wertheim and Paulien Cornelisse (Echt Gebeurd) and The Risk Show’s Kevin Allison.

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And More...

IDFA DocLab Competition Showcase All 15 projects eligible for the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Documentary Storytelling will be on display at the Expanding Documentary exhibition in De Brakke Grond, each on a separate computer or tablet.

Industry Panels

The Doc Next Industry Panel “Is the Documentary Industry over the Hill?” (see page 260) and the IDFAcademy Panel “From Cinema to Digital Documentary Storytelling” (see page 267) feature several DocLab projects. www.idfa.nl/doclab

Over 100 digital and interactive documentary projects curated

by IDFA DocLab since 2008 can be accessed through the IDFA DocLab online database. Follow us throughout the year for new projects and updates about other DocLab events.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

regular programs Kids & Docs Kids & Docs is presenting 18 of the best new international youth documentaries. Nine of the selected titles are a result of the annual Kids & Docs Workshop, which offers directors the opportunity to develop a documentary for young people.

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Kids & Docs

Ahmed – Almost 13 Ahmed – snart 13 Ritchie Cavander-Cole

WORLD PREMIERE

Ahmed lives with his Chechen parents and younger brothers on the outskirts of Oslo. The family fled to Norway because of the war between the Chechens and the Russians, but his parents want to return to their country as soon as possible. In Ahmed’s home, his dad is the boss, the one you respect without questioning. As the oldest son, Ahmed is responsible for his brothers, the shopping, and all kinds of odd jobs. Ahmed explains that he’s being told he’ll be an adult soon, and that he needs to act like one. Now that he’s almost 13, he’s starting to think about his future and his role in the family. The film captures Ahmed during these formative months. The family often watches old home movies from Russia, while Ahmed’s father talks proudly about his plans for the family. In the home movies, the boys see a seemingly happy, hardworking man who looks very different from their now unemployed, depressed dad. Ahmed asks him directly why he’s not the man he used to be. The youngster starts to rebel against his dad more and more, while his doubts grow about a future in Russia.

Norway, 2011 HD, color, 38 min

Ritchie Cavander-Cole: directing debut

Director: Ritchie Cavander-Cole Photography: Linn Therese Amundsen, Nils Petter Lotherington Editing: Lisa Ekberg Music: Erik Nilsson, Joakim Schager Production: Tone Grøttjord & Kari Anne Moe for Sant & Usant AS World Sales: Sant & Usant AS Screening Copy: Sant & Usant AS

Kids & Docs

From Africa to Assen Van Afrika naar Assen Lieza Röben

WORLD PREMIERE

Fifteen-year-old Inge returns to the Netherlands after six years in Mozambique. She has had to say goodbye to her life in Africa: her home, the neighbors, and the dogs and cats. But she is also looking forward to her new life in Holland. She takes on the adventure in good spirits, with a new school, new friends, and the freedom of being able to ride a bike. Yet before long, Inge starts noticing she’s a different person in Holland than she was in Mozambique. She’s looking for a way to adjust to her new surroundings the best way she can, but she still misses Mozambique. What do you lose with a major change such as this, and what do you gain? From Africa to Assen is about finding the balance between adjusting to your new environment and keeping your own identity; about saying goodbye to an era in order to embrace a new adventure.

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The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 15 min Director: Lieza Röben Photography: Aage Hollander Editing: Denise Janzée Sound: Bram Meindersma Production: Jan-Willem Bult & Kitty Willems for KRO Screening Copy: KRO Involved TV Channel: KRO

Lieza Röben:

Good Grace (2009)

IDFAcademy Results

Kids & Docs

If You Eat Garlic, You Get Full Tamim Abdullah

WORLD PREMIERE

Afghanistan, 2011 HD, color, 10 min

Tamim Abdullah: directing debut

Director: Tamim Abdullah Photography: Tamim Abdullah Editing: Tamim Abdullah Sound: Tamim Abdullah Production: Najib Sharifi for Afghan Voices Executive Production: Nina Alvarez for Zocalo Cultural Development Screening Copy: Zocalo Cultural Development

Three boys wander around a large town in Afghanistan. They hang around and look for empty bottles and cans to recycle, which they carry in a big bag slung over their back. It might get them some money for food. During their walk through town, they talk about what’s on their minds, like for instance the new school that might be built. Who knows, they might even get lunch there. Although their situation is pretty dire, the film is mainly a profile of three good friends – real boys. A bit camera-shy when filmed up-close, full of bravado when the director takes some distance, and endearing as they discuss whether or not to eat a few garlic cloves. It’s all they have to eat, but it gives you such bad breath.

Every now and then, the director asks his protagonists for an explanation, such as why they share a loaf of bread they just got with a boy they don’t know. One of them answers very matter-of-factly: “As God gives to us, we must give to his people.”

Kids & Docs

Inside My Head In mijn hoofd Erna Slotboom

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 17 min Director: Erna Slotboom Photography: Nicole Batteké, Erna Slotboom Screenplay: Erna Slotboom Editing: Igor de Keijzer Sound: Pepijn Groenenwegen, Anneloes Pabbrúwé, Ruben van den Bedem Music: Maarten van Essen Production: Diane Driessen & Carlijn Kamps for AVRO World Sales: AVRO Screening Copy: AVRO Involved TV Channel: AVRO

Erna Slotboom:

Slinke Moker (2006) What’s in a Name (2010)

IDFAcademy Results

Thirteen-year-old Britt is great at tennis. She’s training hard, with both a strict coach and an involved mother. But she is also distracted, because her mother has been diagnosed with a hereditary brain disorder, a condition that proved fatal for her grandmother. The girl is confronted with some big questions that constantly occupy her thoughts. “I think about it every day, really... The thought of her not being around anymore,” we hear her say, off-camera. And then there’s the possibility that she will get it herself. There’s a 10% chance, explains her doctor dryly, almost coldly. The title applies to various aspects of the film: to the hereditary disorder itself, which might literally be in Britt’s head, and to the emphasis on emotional perception taking place in her mind. “I’ve done my best to get things right in your head,” says her coach after she plays a disappointing match. The audio interviews played over images of Britt working in silence give the impression that we are hearing what’s going on in her head.

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Kids & Docs

Kids Rights: Boglárka Mensjesrechten: Boglárka Nora Ruszkai

The documentary series Kids Rights concentrates on children’s rights issues. Boglárka, a blind girl, lives in the countryside of Hungary. Four times a year she has to travel all the way to Budapest to prove that she’s still blind. More information on the series is available on www.mensjesrechten.nl.

Hungary, 2011 HD, color, 3 min Director: Nora Ruszkai Co-director: Istvan Nagy Photography: Mark Kovacs Editing: Istvan Nagy Sound: Istvan Nagy Production: Erno Kunt Visual Atelier, Margie Monfils for IKON Co-Production: Amnesty International World Sales: HUMAN Screening Copy: HUMAN Involved TV Channels: IKON, HUMAN

Nora Ruszkai:

At The Feet of Castle Regec (2001) Bahama (2003) Untied Sheaf (2004) Here and Beyond (2004) Worthlessly Told (2006) Hard Lines (2009)

Kids & Docs

The Man Who Can De man die alles kan Nadine Kuipers

Eleven-year-old Malik is a special boy with Down syndrome. At the beginning of The Man Who Can, he’s jumping around and dancing with his cousins and sister. In voice-over, he introduces everyone, including himself, and then he proceeds to tell us, “Daddy can’t come to Holland anymore. We’re going to Senegal.” We never get any more details than this, and the film becomes contemplative from this point on. It’s clear that Malik will have to find his way in Senegal. Everything is new and different, there’s no one to play with, and everything he learned back in Holland seems different here. Losing power in Senegal can’t be resolved by screwing in a new fuse, as the clever boy suggests. One night, when his father tells him a story about an African king, Malik rediscovers his self-confidence: in the end, he is the man who can do anything. In 2003, director Nadine Kuipers was accepted to the Netherlands Film and Television Academy with a film about Malik, his mother, and the book she made for her son to help him through life. Kuipers has continued to follow this special mother-son relationship, with Michael Apted’s Up series in the back of her mind.

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The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 17 min Director: Nadine Kuipers Photography: Gregg Telussa Screenplay: Nadine Kuipers Editing: Annelies van Woerden Sound: Tim van Peppen Music: Vicente Pino, Mickey Smid, Yvo Sprey Production: Philipe Wentrup for HUMAN Screening Copy: HUMAN Involved TV Channel: HUMAN

Nadine Kuipers:

Kiev-Paris, the Next Topmodel (2009) Ex-Mother (2010)

IDFAcademy Results

Kids & Docs

Migropolis Migrópolis Karolina Villarraga

Spain, 2011 video, color, 8 min

Karolina Villarraga: directing debut

Director: Karolina Villarraga Photography: Karolina Villarraga Screenplay: Carlos Azcuaga, Karolina Villarraga Editing: Karolina Villarraga Sound: Anna Rovira Production: Carlos Azcuaga Screening Copy: Carlos Azcuaga Website: www.proyectomigropolis.com

Mancel, Tatiana, Mohamed and Amin live in Barcelona, but they weren’t born in Spain.

Nine-year-old Mancel is from Colombia. He still misses his country, and the cat he had to leave behind. It turns out to be pretty hard to make new friends in Spain, as sometimes the Spanish kids didn’t understand what he was saying. Also nine, Tatiana is from Ecuador, and she’s quite aware of the problem. She explains that some of the kids say that she talks funny. Mohamed was five when he moved from Iran to Barcelona. He didn’t understand the other children at all at first, which sometimes led to misunderstandings: “The other boys told me things and I mistook them for bad things. So I punched one of them.” His victim had only said “Hi,” he found out later. Talking candidly about their old and new lives, these little cosmopolites have a clear idea of what their ideal world would look like. For Mancel, “It would be an open place without borders, so everyone would know how other people think about things.” The four children present their highly imaginative life philosophies in a happy, animated world and in their own words. They are all shown as joyful animals in an explosion of colors.

Kids & Docs

My Granny Lien Oma Lien Annelies de Wit

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 15 min

Annelies de Wit:

Director: Annelies de Wit Photography: Aage Hollander Screenplay: Annelies de Wit Editing: Theo Raben Sound: Marc Schmidt Production: Anja Cloosterman for Selfmade Films World Sales: Selfmade Films Screening Copy: Selfmade Films Involved TV Channel: NCRV

IDFAcademy Results

directing debut

Before 84-year-old Granny Lien appears on-screen, we hear her voice. She snarls a little, a sound that is coming from deep inside. As her teenage granddaughter Christel patiently explains to her who’s who in some photos, it becomes clear to us that Lien is getting senile. Once in a while, we get a glimpse of the woman she once was, like when Christel reads some verses aloud that she wrote for her years ago. Christel visits her twice a week.

She has no idea if that’s something other kids do too, but she thinks it’s only natural; after all, her grandmother took care of her for years. When Christel tells of the path behind her house that led to her grandmother’s, we suddenly go back in time and see her as a toddler, waddling down that same path. The director includes various recordings from the past, and these highlight the very special relationship between Lien and Christel. The film shifts back and forth between loving meetings and interviews, in which this special teenager talks openheartedly about how she sees her grandmother’s life. She misses their close bond and wonders how it will be once Lien no longer knows her. Will she keep coming to visit so often?

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Kids & Docs

Nadia Ticks Nadia tikt Laetitia Schoofs

WORLD PREMIERE

The first day of high school is very stressful for 12-year-old Nadia. That may be true for any any seventh grader starting at a new school, but Nadia has been worrying for weeks. So much so that she is feeling physically ill. She is a bright and openhearted young lady, but as her teacher says, there’s something special about her. In the short documentary Nadia Ticks, she tells us about the days leading up to her first day of school. She candidly explains how she struggles with her obsessive-compulsive neuroses and anxieties, aided by the motto: to think + to do = to dare. School isn’t the only thing making Nadia uneasy; daily life has plenty of surprises that make her feel anxious as well. With this film, director Laetitia Schoofs has created a personal and sometimes dreamlike portrait of a brave adolescent.

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 18 min Director: Laetitia Schoofs Photography: Jorrit Garretsen Screenplay: Laetitia Schoofs Editing: Daan Wierda Sound: Bert van den Dungen, Anneloes Pabbruwee Production: Janneke Doolaard for KeyDocs World Sales: KeyDocs Screening Copy: KeyDocs Involved TV Channel: BOS

Laetitia Schoofs:

Ik lach om niet te huilen.

Het verborgen gezicht van Max Tailleur (2005) Draai die plaat (2007)

IDFAcademy Results

Kids & Docs

One Way Ticket to Bussum Een enkeltje Bussum Renée Wilna Span

WORLD PREMIERE

“My name is Rajeev. I live in Bussum, the Netherlands. My parents are Rezia and Neill.

I’m from India, from Mount Abu.” Those are the first lines in the voice-over by 12-yearold Rajeev in One Way Ticket to Bussum. He was adopted when he was two years old and can remember very little about India. He’s from a Dutch family, just like his blond sister: “On the outside I’m an Indian person, but the rest is Dutch.” Rajeev’s scant knowledge of Indian culture is largely drawn from his visits to an Indian restaurant, where he explores Indian cuisine, and learns some Hindi words from the chef. Because he has so few memories of his native country, he’d really like to visit, but first he’ll have to convince his parents he’s ready. Director Renée Wilna Span takes some artistic liberties in her editing to express Rajeev’s Indian heritage. Scenes of his Dutch life are intercut with slow shots of the Indian paraphernalia Rajeev has collected in his room, while Indian music plays in the background. It’s a dreamlike picture that seems to correspond to Rajeev’s own conception of India.

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The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 16 min Director: Renée Wilna Span Photography: Martijn Cousijn, Jorrit Garretsen Editing: Marcel Vendrig Sound: Frank Bunnik, Dennis Kersten, Nick Pursehouse Production: Sanne Cousijn for Blackframe Executive Production: Camiel Zwart for Blackframe World Sales: Blackframe Screening Copy: Blackframe Involved TV Channel: OHM

Renée Wilna Span:

Niet voor dovemans oren (1991) 32 graden (1996) Pauline (2000) Sedam Puta Sedam Puta Sedam (fiction, 2001) Mercer St. Between Prince and Houston (fiction, 2002) Mal a son ame (fiction, 2002) An Armenian Heart (2006) Over-leven (animation, 2008) Phia Berghout, a Visual Poem (2008)

IDFAcademy Results

Kids & Docs

The Passenger Matkustaja Pia Andell

Finland, 2011 video, color / black-and-white, 25 min Director: Pia Andell Photography: Pekka Uotila Screenplay: Pia Andell Editing: Antony Bentley Sound: Kirsi Korhonen Narration: Pia Andell Narrator: Maissi Heikkilä Production: Pia Andell for Of Course My Films Screening Copy: Finnish Film Foundation Involved TV Channel: YLE

Pia Andell:

A Life as a Twin (1994), Cinema Paris 1937 (1995), Pére Lachaise – Necropolis (1996), Grandpa Durov’s Wonderland (1997), The Cruise – Rules and Rituals (1999), A Small Film on Sibling Relations (2001), Kane and Allu (2003), In the World (2004), 8mm Gaze (2004), Y in Vyborg (2005), Playing Adults (2008), Göring’s Baton (2010), Awakening – The Dreamed and Invented World of Otto Mäkilä (2011)

WORLD PREMIERE

Each day, an 11-year-old Finnish girl takes the tram. She often sees the same passengers, and one day, she starts chatting with an old man. He’s not originally from Finland, but from a city called Lodz, the girl explains in voice-over. The filmmaker intercuts shots of their peaceful tram trip with footage of an interview with the old man, but the girl tells us his whole story. As a Jew in Poland during World War II, he ended up in the ghetto with his family, where they were crammed in and treated like dirt. He then got deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the true hell began. A large selection of shocking photos from the war interlaces the story of the old man and the girl. Sounds of barking dogs, a passing train and screaming people can be heard in the background. Even if you’re in a place where there’s no war and you’ve never been through one, a compelling story can hit you like a bomb. The sunlight, people walking down the street, and typical daily traffic whiz by the girl’s tram window. How would it feel to experience your childhood in such a terrible way?

Kids & Docs

Play for Keeps Voor ‘t echie Arnold van Bruggen

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 18 min

Arnold van bruggen:

Director: Arnold van Bruggen Photography: Peter Brugman, Rogier Timmermans Editing: Eefje Blankevoort, Sarah Mathilde Domogala Sound: Gideon Bijlsma, Willem De Wijs Production: Hedda Bruessing & Loes Wormmeester for NTR Co-Production: Prospektor World Sales: NTR Screening Copy: NTR Involved TV Channel: NTR

IDFAcademy Results

The Russian War (2009)

WORLD PREMIERE

Every year when summer is approaching, marble season starts. The short documentary Play for Keeps features Sieme and Bence, two star marble players. They are in the third grade at the Thijsse School, on the Dutch island of Texel. Within the framework of a riveting duel of marbles, filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen highlights how the characters of these two boys influence their game. Sieme, for instance, is a more agile player with more bravura than Bence. Bence is a more serious marble player because he has fewer marbles.

Together with their classmates, these boys are under the spell of the game. That is why the teacher has to be strict at times: any stray marble on the classroom floor will become new additions to her own marble collection. As Bence puts it, “At the start of the season, everybody has forgotten the rules a little bit.” In Play for Keeps, the children discuss the seduction of the game and their emotions. Not everybody wants to “play for keeps.” Most of them would rather “play for pretend,” because the marbles are too pretty to lose.

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Kids & Docs

The Quiet One

Ina Holmqvist, Emelie Wallgren WORLD PREMIERE Six-year-old Maryam escaped from Iran with her mother. The Quiet One follows her during her first months at a special school on the outskirts of Stockholm, where foreign children are prepared for normal public school. Because Maryam was the last to join the class, she has the least knowledge of the Swedish language and culture.

This can lead to painful moments, for instance when the children tell each other what they did over Christmas vacation. While Maryam may not completely get what is being said, she understands that the other kids got Christmas presents and she didn’t. An added frustration is that the language barrier keeps her from explaining that she is sad. In the meantime, she has to fight for her place among her occasionally conniving classmates. Exclusion and bullying are rampant, and Maryam is not spared – not even when the camera is rolling. The world outside the school is completely absent from the film, and what Maryam has experienced or why she came to Sweden with only her mother remain unclear. What we de see is a brave girl taking her first steps in a new life in a new country.

Sweden, 2011 HD, color, 29 min

Ina Holmqvist & Emelie Wallgren: Kiss Bill (2010)

Director: Ina Holmqvist, Emelie Wallgren Photography: Ina Holmqvist, Camilla Skagerström Editing: Alice Ilmenska, Jesper Svedin Production: Ina Holmqvist for Dramatiska Institutet Screening Copy: Swedish Film Institute

Kids & Docs

Radio Amina Orlando von Einsiedel

WORLD PREMIERE Director Orlando von Einsiedel allows 12-year-old Amina Dibir to talk about her dreams and the low status of girls in Nigeria, but not by interviewing her. Instead, he literally gives her a voice on the fictitious radio station Radio Amina, where she can broadcast all her ideas and opinions. “Girls can be presidents, run companies, or even fly to space!” The film alternates back and forth between the gray reality of Amina, one of the many young street peddlers in the country, and a much brighter, more colorful world. The image blurs, the buttons of the sound studio come into focus, and the “On Air” light goes on. Von Einsiedel films a cross-section of the Nigerian population as they listen to Radio Amina. From a farmer and his camels to a group of young girls in headscarves, they listen to Amina’s radio show and react to it. When Amina says that her country is run by a bunch of fat men in ties, she generates some serious laughter. Despite the many lighter notes, her story is also about why she can’t go to school and has no hope for a better future. Is it only because she’s a girl?

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UK, 2011 HD, color, 8 min Director: Orlando von Einsiedel Photography: Franklin Dow Editing: Katie Bryer Music: Patrick Jonsson Production: Orlando von Einsiedel Screening Copy: Grain Media

Orlando von Einsiedel:

Skateistan: To Live and Skate in Kabul (2010) The Forced Marriage Unit (2011) The Nigerian Connection (2011) Little Voice, Big Mountain (2011) Aisha’s Song (2011) My Name Is Feker (2011)

Kids & Docs

Raman

Ivanka Bakker

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 17 min Director: Ivanka Bakker Photography: Reinout Steenhuizen Screenplay: Ivanka Bakker Editing: Katarina Türler Sound: Tim van Peppen Production: Anja Cloosterman for Selfmade Films World Sales: Selfmade Films Screening Copy: Selfmade Films Involved TV Channel: OHM

Ivanka Bakker:

Chunking House de Luxe Hotel (2003) The Night Pharmacist (2004) The Bell (2004) In My Dream I Walk (2006) Stolen Children (2008)

IDFAcademy Results

Raman has two stories. The first is that he sees ghosts. Usually inside, sometimes outside as well. Often they are people he has known, like his grandfather. He was the first ghost Raman saw, at New Year. Raman was scared but happy, and his grandfather wished him a happy new year in Punjabi. The friends Raman hangs out with in their multicultural high-rise neighborhood believe him and willingly go along with how the boy deals with the ghosts, like by taking pictures with a disposable camera. Raman’s second story is that his parents are getting a divorce. His mother has packed her suitcases and is moving out.

It’s not an easy situation for Raman, but he remains empowered: “I have to get used to it.” With few exceptions, all his friends are from broken homes. They don’t talk about it, Raman says, but they do comfort each other. Director Ivanka Bakker connects these two stories in a subtle way. She wonders if the ghosts help Raman, which seems to be the case. They give him advice, he says. They take away his sadness, or make him laugh by tickling him. Will the ghosts visit his mother’s new house as well?

Kids & Docs

Through Ellen’s Ears Door de oren van Ellen Saskia Gubbels

The Netherlands, 2011 HD, color, 17 min Director: Saskia Gubbels Photography: Maasja Ooms, Reinout Steenhuizen Editing: Maasja Ooms Sound: Bouwe Mulder, Anneloes Pabruwwee, Fokke van Saane Production: Albert Klein Haneveld for Hollandse Helden World Sales: Hollandse Helden Screening Copy: Hollandse Helden Involved TV Channel: NCRV Website: www.throughellensears.com

Saskia Gubbels:

Rouw op je dak (2004) Alex (2004) Het gelijk van mijn tante (2007) De zee lacht me toe (2009) Scènes uit het omgangshuis (2010) Azza (2010)

Eleven-year-old Ellen is deaf, just like her parents and most of her family, and only communicates through sign language. She’s in the final year of primary school and has to choose which high school she will attend. An important choice, since Ellen is not only making the transition to a more adult world, but perhaps also to a hearing world.

She doesn’t like the idea of going to a boarding school for deaf children; she’d much rather attend a school for the hard of hearing with her friend Myrthe. The two girls are inseparable and even wear matching outfits. Her father has some reservations about Ellen’s choice, but when it comes right down to it, the deaf girl knows what she wants.

“I know the deaf world,” she says determinedly. “I want to learn to speak for the future.”

Still, there is a big difference between the two worlds, as Ellen finds out when she has to place an order in a fast food restaurant, and as her hearing grandfather emphasizes on Skype. Hearing viewers feels it too, as the film brings them into the deaf world, where communication works differently and the senses need to be used in unusual ways.

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Kids & Docs

Twice as Wise 2 x Klüger Piet Eekman

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

While Serge introduces his best friend Filip, the latter stares into the camera with eyes wide open, doing his utmost not to blink. These are the games the two 11-year-old “new Germans” like to play together. Filip and his family came from Poland three years ago; Serge and his mother fled from Rwanda four years ago. Both mothers feel that their boys should be smart and shouldn’t let themselves be lured into a fight, not even when the are called “Polack” or “nigger.” When the women attempt to communicate their life lessons in somewhat shaky German, we see how complicated the parent-child relationship can become when the parents don’t speak the language of the country they live in. For the pint-sized Filip, a quick sprint home is sometimes the only way to avoid getting bullied. The burly Serge keeps his hands to himself, no matter how much he is provoked, as he is afraid to disappoint his mother or get her into trouble. Along the way, we find out that the director has bent reality ever so slightly, in an effort to test these two friends’ self-control.

Germany, 2010 video, color, 18 min Director: Piet Eekman Photography: Bernard Verstraete Screenplay: Piet Eekman Editing: Cesar Diaz Sound: Laurence Maurel Production: Meike Martens for Blinker Filmproduktion GmbH World Sales: Blinker Filmproduktion GmbH Screening Copy: Blinker Filmproduktion GmbH Involved TV Channel: WDR

Piet Eekman:

Culm (1987), Amaria Marchoun (fiction, 1988), Fly Junebug (1994), Dancing in Wittstock (1994), Nothing Up (1994), A Whole Lifetime… B. Bartok (1996), My Grandma’s Men (1997), Nothing Is, As it Appears (1998), Blown by the Wind (2000), The Trail of the Pedophiles (2001), The Diva and the Pig (2001), The Cook, the Dog & Dali (2002), The Goose, 4 Chefs & My Mother (2003), Rich People Don’t Eat Hamburgers (2004), Champaign-moods (2005), Vietnam: The Lost Sleep (2006), A Horse’s Life (2007), PTSS Invisible Wounds (2008)

Kids & Docs

Wild Lilly Uitgekraakt Sanne Rovers

“My name is Lilly and I’m nine years old. I was born in the middle of the forest and I’ve lived there my whole life.” That’s how Lilly opens the poetic film that director Sanne Rovers made about her. With her mother and brothers Robbin and Melvin, Lilly lives in a squatter community deep in the woods, with boundless freedom to roam around the bushes and build fires in the backyard. When the squat is closed down, Lilly has to say goodbye to her native ground. Their house is torn down and after a final exuberant party Lilly’s family moves to a dime-a-dozen row house. It’s quite a change for Lilly: “It’s pretty weird to live in a street and always watch out for; we didn’t have to do that before.” After such a dramatic change, will Lilly rediscover her freedom in her new neighborhood?

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The Netherlands, 2011 video, color, 15 min Director: Sanne Rovers Photography: Jefrim Rothuizen Editing: Tim Roza Sound: Bouwe Mulder Production: Roel Oude Nijhuis for 100% Halal Screening Copy: 100% Halal Involved TV Channel: EO

Sanne Rovers:

Servicio2 (2009) Nelly (2009)

IDFAcademy Results

regular programs Steve James Retrospective The American director Steve James is known for his personal style, investing himself in the lives of protagonists who are often trying to improve their lives on the bottom tier of society. In honor of his outstanding work, IDFA is presenting a retrospective that includes the well-known masterpieces Hoop Dreams, Stevie (winner of the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary in 2002), and No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson. His most recent film, The Interrupters, is screening in the Reflecting Images: Masters section. In addition to the retrospective, IDFA is screening James’s Top 10 favorite documentaries.

Steve SteveJames JamesRetrospective Retrospective

Passionate, patient, vulnerable, socially conscious The films of Steve James

The American filmmaker Steve James selected his 10 favorite documentaries for this year’s IDFA Top 10. His own films, of which a selection is screening at the festival, show a very personal image of modern-day America. By Jan Donkers Once again, times are tough for those of us who draw their inspiration from America and hope to look upon the country with admiration. If the dissatisfaction with Obama’s perceived indecision is as widespread as it seems, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the country being run by one of the Republican presidential candidates starting in 2013. Without exception, they are half-wits – they believe in a Biblical end of times, they want to roll back the recently instated health care legislation, they see concerns about global warming as a sinister conspiracy concocted by scientists, and they view the hurricanes that sweep the nation as acts of God. It may be slightly far-fetched to see Steve James as a counterpoint to this somber perspective. But watching the films from his body of work that are screening at IDFA this year, I at least found a new faith in the existence of another America, a creative America, an America populated by people who tend to think before they wish hell and damnation on their fellow human beings just because they are different, or think differently. An America that isn’t afraid to doubt, to be genuinely touched, to feel compassion and empathy.

Steve James (with camera) making The Interrupters

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Steve James rose to fame with Hoop Dreams (1994), by now a renowned classic of the genre. For this painfully precise registration of the budding career of two talented basketball players, James followed his protagonists for years on end as they attempted to make their dreams come true. The film is remarkably relevant even after all these years, and became a model for James’s long-term approach. James often follows his subjects for a number of years; the viewer is left wondering how much material has been thrown away to pare the stories down to his final products, which are of a daring length as it is.

Steve James paints his subjects in shades of gray.

That’s not the only reason why James is a very different filmmaker than someone like Michael Moore. He has the same social consciousness, but he is not guided by any bias. Instead, he paints his subjects in shades of gray. He is not looking to accuse anyone, and while his films can be extremely moving, he makes no attempt to overwhelm his audience with feel-good sentimentality. Often, his doubts about his own motivations and method are part of the fabric of the films.

Remarkably, the more James moves away from the position of an objective observer and places himself at the center of the action, the more interesting his films often become. He becomes the personification of that doubt, that question why. This tendency has grown more prominent in his most recent works, where it results in surprising, unprompted scenes.

Take for instance No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010), one of the director’s most impressive films. In it, James returns to his hometown of Hampton, Virginia to look into a local incident that had revealed Hampton as a microcosm of racial issues in America.

The film starts out telling the story of Allen Iverson, a young black athlete, the country’s top high school basketball player who gets involved in an incident at a bowling alley. Blacks fought against whites, chairs were thrown, and a white girl got hurt. While some white witnesses pointed to Iverson as the main suspect, other black witnesses confirmed the boy’s own story: he got out when the fighting began. While there’s no way anyone could be recognized from the distorted, grainy security footage, Iverson is still locked up.

A brilliant career seems to be finished before it had even started, until a new, black governor releases him. Iverson immediately gets picked up by the pros and a tumultuous career follows, while the gap that was caused by the incident only grows wider.

SteveJames James Retrospective Retrospective Steve

Steve James interviews his own mother, speaking about his own past as a basketball player in Hampton, and recorded the voice-over for the film himself. In a moment of peace, his black cameraman Keith Walker asks him whether he ever wished he was black. Uhm, no, says James, visibly surprised by the question. He follows up with the obvious retort: have you ever wished you where white? Oh yeah, Walker responds, absolutely. James recalls one of his parents’ employees who littered his speech with the n-word. Did you ever call him on it, Walker asks. Uhm, no, says James. End of conversation, but their exchange resonates.

The viewer is confronted with his or her own preconceptions and prejudice. Will you nod in recognition when Iverson’s background is sketched – an absent father, a mother who is mostly out of sight as well, a stepdad who deals cocaine? Will you be as repulsed as I was when you see Iverson as he is now, covered in tattoos, or in hearing his refusal to act as a role model, to be grateful to the black community, his refusal to cooperate in the making of this film as well? On the other hand: what moral right do we have to demand, or even ask, that a talented athlete should be an exemplary human being as well?

The film doesn’t answer any of these questions; it doesn’t want to and would never be able to. But in asking the questions, James gets to the core of an issue that still divides America half a century after the civil rights movement.

Racial issues are at the forefront of James’s most recent documentary as well. In The Interrupters (2011), he returns to the black neighborhood in Chicago where he made Hoop Dreams. These days, the neighborhood is ravaged by a wave of violence. A group of black ex-offenders established the Violence Interrupters program. James follows several of their cases for a year. They have street credibility because of their backgrounds and try to remain authentic in their volunteer work by avoiding any dealings with the predominantly white police. At the end of the film, the only sign of hope is found in a few young offenders who take their tentative first steps in a new job. But James refrains from any celebration, because the situation in the neighborhood has hardly changed. When the governor of Illinois threatens to send in the National Guard after an excessively violent weekend, James shows a neighborhood meeting where the prevailing opinion seems to be that they can solve their own problems. But can they, you immediately wonder? And why, or why not?

His most personal film is Stevie (2002), in which he returns to the boy to whom he was a “big brother” 20 years before: an adult volunteer serving as a mentor for a problem child. He feels guilty for how he

neglected Steve Fielding back then, but consciously keeps the viewer at a distance from that emotion. In the intervening years, everything has gone wrong for Stevie, and during the making of the film he even ends up behind bars. Still, of all the people populating James’s films, this maltreated boy is perhaps the one who affects the viewer the most. However unbearable he may be, James allows him to get close to you – so close that after seeing the film, I had to keep myself from getting in touch with James and asking him how Stevie is doing now. As the ending of the film implies, the answer will most likely be not too well. But in the end, the film is about Steve James himself, who wonders if he didn’t abandon Stevie all over again by making the film, perhaps even betrayed him, “by putting his tortured life on display.” Once again: a question to end his film, an uncomfortable question at that, not least for the filmmaker himself.

His work is permeated by the realization that there are many questions and few cut-and-dry answers.

Steve James is as passionate as he is patient, as vulnerable as he is socially conscious – as is evidenced as well by his Top 10 selection.

His body of work is permeated by the sometimes painful realization that there are many questions and very few cut-and-dry answers.

Many people have trouble living with this realization, but reality is not as simple as American TV evangelists and talk show hosts would have us believe. This America is a much more nuanced, more varied and, yes, more tolerant and caring society than many a Republican politician would have us think. Thank God there are people like Steve James to remind us of this.

Jan Donkers is a journalist and an expert on American society.

Filmography Steve James

Steve James Hoop Dreams (1994), Prefontaine (fiction, 1997), Passing Glory (fiction, 1999), Joe and Max (fiction, 2001), Stevie (2002), The New Americans (Nigerian Episode) (2004), Reel Paradise (2005), No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2009), The Interrupters (2011) Steve James & Peter Gilbert At the Death House Door (2008)

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Steve James Retrospective

At the Death House Door Steve James, Peter Gilbert

Chaplain Carroll J. Pickett is still surprised by the change of direction his life took.

From 1982 to 1995, he stood by almost 100 death row inmates during their executions.

When he first started preaching in prison, he didn’t know that counselling people who were sentenced to die fell under his job description. All the same, he was quickly summoned to lead a convict to the death chamber. Pickett was scared to death as well: “I don’t know anyone who volunteers to die.” This caretaker of souls struggled with his assignment. After all, was he there to serve God or the state? After every execution, he made tapes of his experiences. “Some criminals confessed, others didn’t.

And some were sentenced to death even though they were innocent.” Now that Pickett is retired, he spends a lot of time looking back on those complicated years, and the case of the possibly innocent Carlos De Luna keeps him especially occupied.

De Luna’s case is also being investigated by the editorial office of the Chicago Tribune, and De Luna’s sister is at it as well, hoping to clear the name of her brother who died by lethal injection. By means of interviews, mug shots and old news footage, the filmmakers paint a portrait of Picket and denounce capital punishment in the process.

USA, 2008 HD, color, 96 min Director: Steve James, Peter Gilbert Photography: Peter Gilbert, Steve James, Dana Kupper Editing: Steve James, Aaron Wickenden Sound: Zak Piper, Adam Singer Music: Leo Sidran Production: Peter Gilbert & Steve James for Kartemquin Films Executive Production: Alison Bourke for IFC Productions, Debbie Demontreux for IFC Productions, Christine Lubrano for IFC Productions, Gordon Quinn for Kartemquin Films, Evan Shapiro for IFC Productions Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films Involved TV Channel: IFC Productions

Awards: Inspiration Award Full Frame Documentary Festival, Best Documentary Feature Award Atlanta Film Festival, Best Documentary International Competition Documentary Edge Festival New Zealand, a.o.

Steve James Retrospective

Hoop Dreams Steve James

There’s nothing more beautiful than basketball, at least not in the eyes of 14-yearolds William Gates and Arthur Agee. These two adolescents dream of becoming professional players in the NBA, where the athletes are seen as gods, eternal fame can be achieved and huge sums of money can be made. The two boys stand a more than average chance of making it into the happy few, owing to their education at the prestigious St. John’s College, where both stand out as stellar players. Steve James and his team followed them from 1987 to 1991, and it took another three years to turn the plethora of footage into a film. The myth surrounding basketball is soon put into perspective by reality: the boys do not have any money, their fathers are unemployed, and a knee injury might mean the end of the dream for William. The award-winning Hoop Dreams reveals how important basketball is in the United States, but also shows how sports and education are inextricably linked in this country. In many cases, sports are the only way out of a hopeless existence, and many want out so badly that they chase their dreams relentlessly. In the words of Arthur Agee, “Ain’t nobody going to take my dream away from me.”

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USA, 1994 35mm, color, 175 min Director: Steve James Photography: Peter Gilbert Editing: Bill Haugse, Steve James, Frederick Marx Sound: Adam Singer, Tom Yore Music: Ben Sidran Narration: Steve James Narrator: Steve James Production: Peter Gilbert & Steve James & Fredrick Marx for Kartemquin Films Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films

Awards: Audience Award Sundance Film Festival, Best Documentary National Society of Film Critics Awards, Best New Filmmaker MTV Movie Awards, Best Documentary New York Film Critics Awards, Best Documentary National Board of Review, a.o.

Steve James Retrospective

The New Americans

Steve James, Susana Aikin, Carlos Aparicio, Jerry Blumenthal, Indu Krishnan, Gordon Quinn, Renee Tajima-Peña

USA, 2003 video, color, 343 min Director: Steve James, Susana Aikin, Carlos Aparicio, Jerry Blumenthal, Indu Krishnan, Gordon Quinn, Renee Tajima-Peña Photography: Carlos Aparicio, Peter Gilbert, Steve James, Dana Kupper, Gordon Quinn Editing: Steve James, Leslie Simmer, David E. Simpson Sound: Jerry Blumenthal, Fenell Doremus, Bruno Patara, Gita Saedi, Adam Singer Production: Gita Saedi for Kartemquin Films Executive Production: Steve James & Gordon Quinn for Kartemquin Films Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films Involved TV Channels: VPRO, PBS, ITVS, BBC, SBS

Pitched at the Forum 1999

Between 1998 and 2002, different film crews followed the lives of non-European immigrants to the United States. They started filming in the countries of origin – Palestine, the Dominican Republic, India, Mexico and a Nigerian refugee camp in Benin – thus showing the great individual differences between immigrants: a modern Palestinian woman who wants freedom and a career, a computer programmer looking to get ahead, two Dominican baseball talents who have been discovered, a refugee who cannot return home, and a family trying to finally make a life together. But despite all the differences, the similarities abound: the tears shed upon departure, the often naive dreams of freedom, wealth and happiness, the pressure from relatives to send money home, and the disappointing reality post-arrival. Above all, the documentary gives all these aspects of immigration a human face. In interviews, the immigrants talk about their expectations, their relationships, and their families, and the crew does its best to keep a low profile at events both small and large. A birth, a baptism, moving house, looking for a job – but also on Black Monday, when the stock exchange crashes, and during the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Steve James Retrospective

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson Steve James

USA, 2009 HD, color, 80 min Director: Steve James Photography: Keith Walker Editing: Steve James Music: Leo Sidran Production: Emily Hart & Steve James & Adam Singer for Kartemquin Films Executive Production: Gordon Quinn for Kartemquin Films Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films Involved TV Channel: ESPN

Feared and revered for his speed, lay-ups and crossovers, the 35-year-old Allen Iverson can look back on a great career as a professional basketball player. In 2001 and 2005, he was voted MVP (most valuable player) in the NBA. But back when Iverson was still playing for Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia, his life and future career were almost ruined. Out bowling one evening (Valentine’s Day, 1993), the black Iverson and his friends got in a fight with a group of white bowlers. Chairs were flung and seven people were wounded, one of them briefly losing consciousness. Ultimately, Iverson and company were the only ones to be arrested, put on trial and found guilty – and although he was only 17 at the time, Iverson was tried as an adult. The case had a great impact on Hampton, polarizing the city along racial lines. Steve James is from Hampton and played high school basketball as well, so he decided to investigate the Iverson case from a personal perspective. He scoured all kinds of archives and talked to many of those involved, including his own mother, the school nurse at the time. Hypothesizing and reconstructing, switching between the various perspectives, he attempts to unravel exactly what took place back then.

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Steve James Retrospective

Reel Paradise Steve James

Located on one of the smaller islands of Fiji, the 180 Meridian Theater is possibly the most remote movie theater on earth. For years, going to the movies had been too expensive for a local population that consists mostly of farmers and fishermen. Until the day John Pierson arrives on the island, that is. This American independent cinema guru is responsible for the breakthrough of directors like Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Michael Moore and Kevin Smith, and now he is up for a new challenge. Aiming to screen movies for free at the 180 Meridian Theater, he takes his wife, adolescent daughter and quick-witted son along to Fiji. Filmmaker Steve James follows the affluent New York family from up close during the last month of their yearlong stay on the beautiful but destitute island. Despite squabbles with each other and the local population, the Piersons eventually discover a rich aboriginal culture on the island. The free screenings are a resounding success, especially with the children, who are chomping at the bit to get inside and get a seat. The inexperienced audience’s delighted expressions, amazement and boisterous enjoyment make Fiji a paradise for any film lover.

USA, 2005 HD, color, 114 min Director: Steve James Photography: P.H. O’Brien Editing: Steve James Sound: Richard K. Pooler Music: Norman Arnold Production: Steve James & Scott Mosier for View Askew Productions Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films

Steve James Retrospective

Stevie

Steve James In his college days in the early 1980s, director Steve James was a Big Brother for Stevie Fielding, a traumatized, hyperactive kid from a dysfunctional family. In 1995, after the success of Hoop Dreams, James decides to return to Illinois and pay a visit to Stevie.

He does so because he is still worried about the boy, but he is also entertaining the idea of making a film about Stevie’s life – a fact that he admits quite frankly. Stevie turns out to be living in a trailer with his step-grandmother, a stone’s throw away from his mother with whom he rarely speaks anymore. After a failed marriage, he now has a mentally disabled girlfriend and is almost permanently unemployed. Two years into filming, Stevie is charged with a horrifying crime whose legal outcome takes nearly three years to resolve. James’s film is an attempt to understand Stevie and his complex past, a childhood fraught with violence and abuse. In the process, this same attempt puts the filmmaker face to face with his own actions. The result is a discerning, sometimes shocking and often touching portrait of the world of the American subclass derisively known as “white trailer trash” – including their humor, their resilience, and their unremitting aspiration to lead normal lives.

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USA, 2002 video, color, 140 min Director: Steve James Photography: Peter Gilbert, Dana Kupper, Gordon Quinn Editing: William Haugse, Steve James Sound: Adam Singer Music: Dirk Powell Narration: Steve James Narrator: Steve James Production: Steve James & Adam Singer for Kartemquin Films Executive Production: Robert May for SenArt Films, Gordon Quinn for Kartemquin Films Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films

Awards: Excellence in Cinematography Award Sundance Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature Philadelphia International Film Festival, Mayor’s Prize Yamagata Film Festival, Joris Ivens Award International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

regular programs Steve James’s Top 10 The American director Steve James, known for investing himself in the lives of his protagonists, has carefully chosen his Top 10 favorite documentaries, including the classics Le joli mai (Chris Marker), Grey Gardens (Albert and David Maysles), and The Times of Harvey Milk (Robert Epstein).

Steve SteveJames’s James’sTop Top1010

Making the Viewer Uncomfortable Steve James’s Top 10

Steve James discusses the motivations behind his selection for this year’s IDFA Top 10. In one way or another, each of these films profoundly changed his outlook on the documentary genre.

It must be said that compiling any top ten list of documentaries is an impossible task. How could I limit it to just ten? So what I’ve chosen to do here is select ten films that I not only greatly admire but that also had a strong impact on me as a filmmaker. Each film in some way challenged my notions of the world and documentary filmmaking, or inspired me towards making the kinds of films I’ve gone on to make. It’s an eclectic group whose only unifying thread for me is their utter originality. Simply put, these are films that when I saw them, expanded my notion of what a documentary could be.

These are films that when I saw them, expanded my notion of what a documentary could be.

I first saw Chris Marker’s seminal work Le joli mai over 20 years ago while a graduate film student at Southern Illinois University. Along with Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County U.S.A., the film was greatly influential in steering me towards working in the documentary form. The film has been rightly praised for being an early example of cinema verité, but really is much more than that. Marker seems uninterested in binding himself esthetically. Le joli mai is an essay, a visual poem, a documentary exploration, and a series of entertaining and poignant interviews all rolled together. He wants nothing less than to find the soul of Paris and of a country, its folly and passions, its sense of duty and character. For me, as a young budding filmmaker, Le joli mai imbued in me a sense of creative freedom – that a documentary can be many things and traverse many styles even within the same work.

I wanted to include at least one film by Barbara Kopple because of her influence on me when I was falling in love with documentaries.

I’ve opted not for one of those twin cinema verité classics, Harlan County U.S.A. and American Dream, since they will be more familiar to audiences. Instead, I’ve chosen Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson, one of her more underrated films and one I saw deep into the throes of making my own sports documentary. This still riveting film has much to say about the allure of boxing for a poor young kid – its violent fascination, the ruthlessness of the business – as well as about sex, race and class. Looking at the film today, it’s hard to believe that Fallen Champ played on network television in

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prime time as an NBC Movie of the Week. It had never happened before. Nothing like this has happened since.

The outlier in my Top Ten list must certainly be Austrian filmmaker Peter Kubelka’s experimental masterpiece Our Trip to Africa (1966).

This 12-minute film took Kubelka five years to complete and was made from 18 hours of audiotape and a mere three hours of film that he shot while accompanying a group of Europeans on an African safari. Kubelka has said that for him, the film is a projection of still frames. “My economy is one single frame and every part of the screen... I have 24 communication possibilities per second and don’t want to waste one.” And this applies to his use of sound as well. The film is among the most dense auditory and visual experiences I’ve had in the cinema and it opened my mind to the power of editing.

I first met Chris Smith through a mutual friend, the former indie film guru John Pierson, while Chris was filming American Movie (1999). At the time, he gave me a copy of his first film, the amazing American Job, a painfully real fiction about a sad sack of a guy who goes from one awful job to another. It was so well observed that Chris told me when it was accepted at Sundance in 1996, a programmer called him up to make sure it wasn’t a documentary. Chris was quite excited about his new film, but it wasn’t until he sent me a rough cut over a year later that I realized what an extraordinary film he’d made.

It was – and still is – the funniest documentary I’ve ever seen, and delicately walks that difficult line between allowing us to both laugh at and feel for its protagonists. In most of my films, I try to find some humor amidst the drama and misfortune. American Movie was so unbelievably entertaining, that when it was accepted at Sundance in 1999, the same programmer called him up again – this time to make sure the film wasn’t fiction.

I started film school with dreams of being a capital M “Movie Director.”

Grey Gardens (1976) is both one of the most revered and odd and idiosyncratic of the Maysles brothers’ films. The film shows a special kind of access in which the filmmakers act as Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Little Edie’s confessors, as well as a source of their affection and importuning. It’s not fly-on-the-wall cinema verité, but in a sense, a more honest and truthful capturing of a reality that

Steve James’s Top Steve James’s Top 1010

makes no attempt at false distance between filmmakers and subjects. It’s the kind of non-narrative, incredibly detailed observation that, frankly, would be hard to pull off today in a world that places such a premium on fast-moving, entertaining documentaries. And for me, the candid and complicated relationship between subjects and filmmakers anticipated some of the creative challenges I would face much later in my film Stevie. Were the Maysles exploiting these women? Making fun of them? Holding them up for ridicule? I don’t believe so. But it’s certainly a line the film walks and encourages the audience to grapple with.

Jean-Xavier de Lestrade first came to my attention with his Academy Award winning film, Murder on a Sunday Morning. It’s a very fine documentary – moving, insightful, and sensitive – but also the kind of documentary I’d seen before, taking on as it does the judicial system over a miscarriage of justice. Not so, The Staircase (2004).

Ostensibly a “trial documentary” like Murder on a Sunday Morning, this sprawling original novel of a film takes us inside a murder trial to an unprecedented degree for any film – fiction or nonfiction. I remember being struck by how false all those endless legal dramas suddenly seemed compared to this miniseries. If the coin of the realm for cinema verité filmmaking is access, then The Staircase is like discovering King Tut’s Tomb. We watch the defendant as if under a microscope: we are jurors as viewers, scrutinizing his every answer and reaction to his defense team and the twists and turns of this bizarre murder trial.

it up as Exhibit A for why the federal government shouldn’t be funding the arts. Watching it today, it’s hard to imagine a film so strikingly honest and candid ever playing on public television – one that refuses to shrink from profane language and graphic descriptions (if not depictions) of black gay sexuality. This says a lot about the timid climate of most of public television in the United States today, as well as about how urgent and relevant this film remains. For me, it was a revelation both in content and form. One could argue that it is much more performance piece than documentary, as virtually everything in it has been written or choreographed. But the powerful, painful honesty of the poetry and prose (including autobiographical pieces by director Marlon Riggs himself, who died of AIDS in 1994) and the creative use of layering voices and music create a complex mosaic of what it means to be gay and black.

In most of my films, I try to find some humor amidst the drama and misfortune.

Academy Award winner The Times of Harvey Milk (1985) also addresses itself to being gay in America. Like other films in this program, I first saw it during my school days. Not until this film did I grasp the great emotional power that a documentary could possess. Rob Epstein had

I saw Michael Apted’s 28 Up (1985) when I was finishing my graduate school studies in film and about to make the move to Chicago to begin a career. I may have started film school with dreams of being a capital M “Movie director,” inspired by filmmakers I greatly admired like Arthur Penn, Terrance Malick and Jean Renoir, but by the time I was to graduate I realized that I had a greater affinity for documentaries. No film convinced me of this more than 28 Up, which manages to be both intimate in its portraiture and sweeping in its ambition to document lives unfolding over the decades. I have no doubt that literally watching people grow up over the span of a single film planted the seeds in me that would later sprout into a decision on Hoop Dreams to follow our young aspiring ballers over nearly five years.

One would be hard-pressed to find a film that sheds a more complicated light on what it means to be gay than Marlon Rigg’s Tongues Untied (1988). When it first aired on public television, it created a firestorm of controversy. Conservatives wanted it banned and held

Grey Gardens

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Steve Top 10 SteveJames’s James Top

Golub – Late Works Are the Catastrophes

started out to cover, cinema verité style, the political transformation led by Harvey Milk – an openly gay activist who won the post of San Francisco Supervisor before being shot to death (along with liberal Mayor George Moscone) by the former Supervisor, Dan White. But with the murders, he realized that the stage needed to be larger to fully account for the significance of what had happened. And so the film mixes verité and news stories, incredibly candid and emotional interviews, and beautifully edited passages evocatively scored by Mark Isham, all in concert towards creating a fully realized biography of not just a man, but of a time and place: San Francisco in the 1970s.

The candlelight march after Milk’s murder is among the most moving scenes I can ever recall seeing. There is no more fitting testament to the power of great documentary filmmaking.

When I first arrived in Chicago, I made a beeline for Kartemquin Films.

When I first arrived in Chicago, I made a beeline for Kartemquin Films. I’d first discovered some of their films while in school in southern Illinois. They’d made a reputation for doing labor documentaries

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and other films that tackled a host of social issues. I’d had an idea for a street basketball film (that would eventually morph into Hoop Dreams), and Kartemquin founder Gordon Quinn was sufficiently intrigued that he took a filmmaker with no track record or money under his wing to help make the film. At that time, Gordon and his filmmaking partner Jerry Blumenthal were deep into making Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes, a documentary on the artist Leon Golub, a large canvas painter whose work had evolved over the years from early existential concerns to highly-charged and disturbing political subjects. The film would go on to be one of their best and is in every respect a signature film for this now 45-year-old institution. There’s no one model for what a Kartemquin film needs to be in terms of subject matter and approach. What connects the body of work, regardless of filmmaker, is a devotion to critical inquiry into social issues through pushing people and their stories front and center.

“I hope it makes people uncomfortable,” Golub says about his art.

That line aptly sums up one of Kartemquin’s guiding principles: to make the viewer uncomfortable with the world around them, and push them to see it in a complicated, different light. Indeed, for me, all the films in this Top Ten Program meet that standard. I feel lucky and honored to share them with audiences at IDFA.

Steve James’s Top 10 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

28 Up

Michael Apted

UK, 1984 video, color / black-and-white, 136 min Director: Michael Apted Photography: George Turner Editing: Kim Horton, Oral Norrie Ottey Production: Michael Apted Executive Production: Steve Morrison World Sales: Park Circus Limited Screening Copy: Park Circus Limited

Michael Apted:

The Squeeze (fiction, 1977), Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (fiction, 1988), 35 Up (1991), Thunderheart (fiction, 1992), Incident at Oglala (1992), Nell (fiction, 1994), Extreme Meassures (fiction, 1996), Inspirations (1997), The World Is Not Enough (fiction, 1999), Enigma (fiction, 2001), Married in America (2003), 49 Up (2005), Amazing Grace (fiction, 2006), Married in America 2 (2006), The Power of the Game (2007), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (fiction, 2010)

In 1964, taking his cue from the motto “Give me the boy until the age of seven and I will give you the man,” filmmaker Michael Apted interviewed 14 children about their hopes, disappointments and ideas about the future for the documentary Seven Up! This initial program became an internationally successful series, catching up with its subjects’ lives every seven years, and allowing us to follow the development of Bruce, Jackie, Symon, Andrew, John, Peter, Susan, Charles, Nicholas, Neil, Lynn, Paul, Suzanne and Tony. For each episode, the protagonists are followed and subjected to intensive interviews over a period of several days. Their present-day lives and viewpoints are juxtaposed with footage from previous episodes. In 28 Up, it becomes clear that their hopes have not been fulfilled in all cases. The children of 1964 are now adults, wrestling with the big decisions adult life entails: marriage, career, children. As in every episode, class distinctions are central, although the protagonists are now self-assured and aware enough to question these. As the working-class Jackie puts it, “I don’t even think, to be honest, we consciously think about it until this program comes up every seven years!”

Steve James’s Top 10

American Movie Chris Smith

USA, 1999 35mm, color, 107 min Director: Chris Smith Photography: Chris Smith Screenplay: Chris Smith Editing: Jun Diaz, Barry Poltermann, Chris Smith Sound: Alexander Markowski Music: Mike Schank Production: Sarah Price & Chris Smith for Bluemark Productions Co-Production: Jim McKay, Michael Stipe Distribution for the Netherlands: Sony Pictures Releasing (Holland) Screening Copy: Bluemark Productions

Chris Smith:

American Job (fiction, 1996) Home Movie (2001) The Yes Men (2003) The Pool (fiction, 2007) Collapse (2009)

Standing on the barren expanse of a car graveyard on a fall day in Wisconsin, Mark Borchardt, the main protagonist in American Movie, explains what the horror film he made about his life is all about: “Rust and decay. But then within that is the warmth of the soul and stuff like that.” In an uphill battle against his drinking and money problems, Mark is working hard to live the American dream. He wants to make it as a director with his feature film debut Northwestern. When this proves to be a financial impossibility, he decides to get back to filming his short horror movie Coven. With the support of his lethargic bosom buddy Mike Shank and his jaded, skeptical Uncle Bill, Mark struggles like a modern-day Don Quixote against an inglorious trailer-trash life. He manages to draw everyone around him into his ambitious projects, transforming close family members as well as vague acquaintances into extras or executive producers. This results in a seemingly endless sequence of tragicomic situations that are equal parts hilarious and emotionally moving. American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1999, the same year The Blair Witch Project premiered at the festival. Since then it has gained cult status – as has Mark Borchardt himself. Northwestern is still unfinished.

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Steve James’s Top 10

Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson Barbara Kopple

A provocative biography of former heavyweight champion of the world Mike Tyson, one of the most controversial figures in boxing at the time this film was made.

Plucked from a juvenile detention center at the age of 12, he was placed in the hands of legendary boxing trainer Cus D’Amato; by 20 he had reached the pinnacle of his career, and by the time he was 25 he had been sentenced to six years in prison for rape. The film combines archive footage of Tyson’s fights with news reports on his life and exclusive interviews with people who knew him and those who have followed his career. These include trainer Teddy Atlas, former wife Robin Givens and bodyguard Ken Simmons; we also see Desiree Washington, the woman Tyson raped, confront the boxer in an archive interview. Tyson’s life is subjected to a probing 90-minute examination, from his early youth in the projects to his greatest athletic feats. Slowly but surely, a picture emerges of a young, wealthy man who has never learned to tell right from wrong.

USA, 1993 video, color, 93 min Director: Barbara Kopple Photography: Kevin Keating Editing: Bill Davis, Leon Gast, Larry Silk Sound: Paul Cote, Tommy Lockett, Brenda Ray, Peter Tooke Music: Michael Bacon Production: Barbara Kopple for Cabin Creek Films Executive Production: Diane Sokolow World Sales: Cabin Creek Films Screening Copy: Cabin Creek Films

Barbara Kopple:

Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), Wild Man Blues (1997), Woodstock ‘94 (1998), Friends for Life: Living with Aids (1998), Defending Our Daughters (1998), A Conversation with Gregory Peck (1999), My Generation (2000), The Hamptons (2002), Bearing Witness (2005), Havoc (fiction, 2005), Shut Up & Sing (2006), Addiction: Steamfitters Local Union 638 (2007), High School Musical: The Music in You (2007), The DC Sniper’s Wife (2008), Woodstock: Now and Then (2009), The House of Steinbrenner (2010), A Force of Nature (2011), Gun Fight (2011), a.o.

Steve James’s Top 10

Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes Jerry Blumenthal, Gordon Quinn

The American painter Leon Golub was born in 1922 in Chicago, Illinois. Seeing Picasso’s “Guernica” induced him to study art history at the University of Chicago. In the 1950s, when abstract expressionism was the prevailing style, Leon Golub caused a stir with his figurative paintings of wrestling nudes, based on Greek and Roman sculptures. In those years, topical subjects began to enter his work. For his paintings, Golub typically used press photos, taking the atrocities of the Vietnam War to the gallery and the museum. In 1969, he started his Napalm series, for which he used press photos of naked people with napalm wounds. In the 1970s and 1980s, he produced series with politicians, mercenaries and war victims. With his last exhibition in Ronald Feldman’s gallery, Golub proved to be back at the starting point: erotica. The 2004 film Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes shows the artist at work and with his wife, the prominent peace activist and feminist artist Nancy Spero. Until the end of his life, Golub continued to comment on the world through his paintings. And considering the pictures that came out of the Abu Ghraib prison, it is clear how disturbingly prophetic his work was.

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USA, 2004 video, color, 82 min

Gordon Quinn:

Director: Jerry Blumenthal, Gordon Quinn Photography: Eric Breitbart, Gordon Quinn Editing: Jerry Blumenthal Sound: Jerry Blumenthal Music: Tom Sivak Production: Jerry Blumenthal & Gordon Quinn for Kartemquin Films World Sales: Kartemquin Films Screening Copy: Kartemquin Films

Taylor Chain I: A Story in a Union Local (1980), Golub (1988), a.o.

Prisoner of Her Past (2010)

Gordon Quinn & Jerry Blumenthal: Gordon Quinn, Jerry Blumenthal & Fenell Doremus: The New Americans (Palestinian Episode) (2004)

Gordon Quinn & Gerald Temaner: Home for Life (1966), Inquiring Nuns (1968)

Gordon Quinn & Bob Hercules: A Good Man (2011)

Steve James’s Top 10

Grey Gardens

Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer

USA, 1976 video, color, 95 min Director: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer Photography: Albert Maysles, David Maysles Editing: Susan Froemke, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer Sound: David Maysles Production: Albert Maysles & David Maysles for Maysles Films Inc. World Sales: Maysles Films Inc. Screening Copy: Maysles Films Inc.

Albert Maysles:

Psychiatry in Russia (1955), Russian Close Up (1957), Safari Ya Gari (1961), a.o.

Albert Maysles & David Maysles:

Anastasia (1962), Showman (1963), Orson Welles in Spain (1963), What’s Happening (1964), IBM – A Self Portrait (1964), Cut Piece (1965), Muhammed and Larry (1980), The Beales of Grey Gardens (2006), a.o.

Seeing the way they live now, you wouldn’t say so, but Edith Bouvier Beale and her 56-year-old daughter Edie are upper-crust ladies. After all, they are related to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Edith used to be a well-known singer. In their dilapidated country house called Grey Gardens, only a few old photographs and a painted portrait recall that bygone era full of beauty and promise. Today, mother and daughter live as eccentrics amidst a terrible mess, secluded from the rest of the world. They spend a lot of time arguing, but they are devoted to each other in spite of it all. Both still dream of fame and attention – two things that the Maysles Brothers have granted them by making Grey Gardens. Shot in direct cinema style, this critically acclaimed documentary raises quite a few questions: do the directors shamelessly encroach on the women’s lives like voyeurs?

To what extent are they manipulated by the Beales, and does their film preserve the myth? Or have they made an unusual, truthful portrait of two lost souls who have known better times, but are still craving romance and their big break?

Steve James’s Top 10

Le joli mai

Chris Marker, Pierre Lhomme

France, 1963 35mm, black-and-white, 146 min Director: Chris Marker, Pierre Lhomme Photography: Pierre Lhomme, Étienne Becker, Denys Clerval, Pierre Villemain Screenplay: Catherine Varlin Editing: Madeleine Lecompere, Anne Meunier, Eva Zora Music: Michel Legrand, B. Mokkousov Narration: Chris Marker, Yves Montand Production: Sofracima World Sales: Sofracima Screening Copy: Archives françaises du film

Chris Marker:

Olympia 52 (1952), Lettre de Sibérie (1957), ¡Cuba Sí! (1961), Description d’un combat (1961), La bataille des dix millions (1971), Puisqu’on vous dit que c’est possible (1973), La solitude du chanteur de fond (1974), Le fond de l’air est rouge (1977), Sans soleil (1983), A.K. (1985), Mémoires pour Simone (1986), Le tombeau d’Alexandre (1993), Casque bleu (1995), Level Five (1997), a.o.

Le joli mai refers to May 1962, and the end of the Algerian war of independence. With this film – the first of a series in which he turned his unique gaze on his home country of France – Chris Marker achieved a remarkable piece of cinema verité. Inspired by Jean Rouch’s pioneer Chronicle of a Summer Marker filmed Parisians and their surroundings. He approached people on the street and asked them their opinions on life, happiness, money and love – and of course also recent French/Algerian history – in an artistic precursor to the now obligatory vox pop. Recorded by Marker at a later date, the spoken commentary lends the film an extra dimension without forcing an interpretation on the viewer or depriving the interviewees of their dignity. It’s clear why the film is dedicated to “the happy many”: it is a kind of meaningful sociological mosaic, formed by the opinions of Parisians from all walks of life.

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Steve James’s Top 10

Our Trip to Africa Unsere Afrikareise Peter Kubelka

This avant-garde classic about an African safari in the 1960s is striking thanks to the rhythmic editing of sound and images, for which Peter Kubelka would become famous. In 1961, Kubelka was asked to make a documentary about a group of Europeans on safari in Africa. He then spent five years editing the huge amount of material he had accumulated. The result, Our Trip to Africa, makes exceptional use of the possibilities of sound. Kubelka based his sound edit on the idea that appropriate sound adds little to the image. Kubelka preferred to match the image to a completely different sound, preferably one recorded on location somewhere else. The resulting combinations of sound and image – referred to by Kubelka as “sync events” – are often exactly matched in terms of timing and rhythm. For example, images of zebras and giraffes that have been shot contrast with the chatter of the European tourists. A white man shaking hands with an African is accompanied by the sound of thunder.

The leg of a freshly killed zebra shakes the same way as the hand of the amicable tourist. In the final analysis, Kubelka does not show a literal connection between the hunter and the hunted, but reveals a deeper causal relationship.

Austria, 1967 16mm, color, 13 min Director: Peter Kubelka Photography: Peter Kubelka Screenplay: Peter Kubelka Editing: Peter Kubelka Sound: Peter Kubelka Production: Peter Kubelka World Sales: Sixpackfilm Screening Copy: Sixpackfilm

Peter Kubelka:

Mosaic in Confidence (1954) Adebar (1957) Schwechater (1958) Arnulf Rainer (1960) Dichtung und Wahrheit (2003)

Steve James’s Top 10

The Staircase Jean-Xavier de Lestrade

In the early hours of December 9, 2001 in the city of Durham, North Carolina, a 911 call came in from a man who had a hard time explaining that his wife had fallen down a flight of stairs. “She is bleeding profusely, but she’s still breathing,” he said.

When the medical team arrived five minutes later, it was too late and the victim had already died. They were alarmed by the quantity of blood around the corpse of Kathleen Peterson, which lay at the bottom of a narrow stairway. Her husband also had traces of blood on his hands and face. For the investigator in charge of the case, the facts spoke for themselves: it was not an accident, but murder. A week later, Michael Peterson was arrested. Thus starts the unique voyage of 360 minutes into the cause of Kathleen Peterson’s death, the ensuing trial, and how the media covered it all. Academy Award winner Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Murder on a Sunday Morning) was able to film all aspects of the story and interview family members; because of the dramatic events, the experience of watching The Staircase comes close to a documentary thriller full of twists and turns. In its scope, it provides a unique view of American society and its justice system, leaving your spine tingling all the while.

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France, 2004 video, color, 360 min Director: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade Photography: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Pierre Milon, Isabelle Razavet Editing: Jean-Pierre Bloc, Sophie Brunet, Adam Lichtenstein, Scott Stevenson Music: Joel Goodman, Jocelyn Pook Production: Allyson Luchak Executive Production: Denis Poncet for Maha Productions World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: CAT&Docs

Jean-Xavier de Lestrade:

La cavale des innocents (fiction, 1995) Une Australie blanche et pure (1998) La vie jusqu’au bout (1998) Des enfants plein d’espoir (1998) D’un amour à l’autre (1999) La justice des hommes (2001) Un coupable idéal (2001) Sur ta joue ennemie (fiction, 2008) Parcours meurtrier d’une mère ordinaire: L’affaire Courjault (fiction, 2009)

Steve James’s Top 10

The Times of Harvey Milk Robert Epstein

USA, 1984 video, color / black-and-white, 87 min Director: Robert Epstein Photography: Frances Reid Screenplay: Judith Coburn, Carter Wilson Editing: Robert Epstein, Karl Hoffmann Sound: Dan Gleich Music: Mark Isham Narration: Judith Coburn, Carter Wilson Narrator: Harvey Fierstein Production: Robert Epstein, Richard Schmiechen World Sales: Films Transit International Inc. Screening Copy: Films Transit International Inc.

Robert Epstein:

Word I Out (1977), The AIDS Show (1986), Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989), Where Are We? Our Trip Through America (1993), The Celluloid Closet (1995), Paragraph 175 (2000), Howl (fiction, 2010)

Awards: Best Documentary Film Critics Circle New York, Best Documentary International Documentary Association, Best Documentary Society of Film Critics Boston, Best Documentary International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival San Francisco, Best Documentary Academy Awards USA

A sober portrait of flamboyant politician Harvey Milk, who successfully tried to give a political voice to the homosexual community of San Francisco: a success he paid for with his life. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone, at the time members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, were murdered by Dan White. Using historical material and commentary from those who were there, the film aims to reconstruct the events leading up to, and following on from, Milk’s death. From his first political steps in the alternative Castro neighborhood, a center of the burgeoning gay rights movement, through his election to the Board of Supervisors – making him the first openly homosexual politician in the United States – to the murder and reactions to his death.

Although Milk served on the Board of Supervisors for just 11 months, he nevertheless managed to take a number of significant steps forward for the gay rights movement.

The response of the residents of San Francisco to the murders is striking: a mass silent procession was organized to express the genuine and widespread feeling of grief. The relatively light sentence imposed on White provoked more heated reactions.

Steve James’s Top 10

Tongues Untied Marlon Riggs

USA, 1989 video, color / black-and-white, 55 min Director: Marlon Riggs Photography: Marlon Riggs Editing: Marlon Riggs Production: Brian Freeman, Marlon Riggs World Sales: Vivian Kleiman Screening Copy: Frameline Distribution

Marlon Riggs:

Ethnic Notions (1986), Color Adjustment (1992), No Regret (fiction, 1993), Anthem (fiction, 1993), Boys’ Shorts: The New Queer Cinema (fiction, 1993), Black Is... Black Ain’t (1994), Affirmations (fiction, 1994)

Awards: Teddy Award Best Documentary Film Berlin International Film Festival, Independent/Experimental Film And Video Award Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, a.o.

“Faggots aren’t allowed to look at my ass while I’m on stage,” Eddy Murphy jokes, and his audience falls over in laughter. But not director Marlon Riggs. This “joke” by the popular black comedian is one of the attitudes Riggs indicts in his documentary Tongues Untied, in which the director asks why no one is standing up for Afro-American homosexuals – not even themselves. Their pain, frustration and anger are given a face in this film, which uses rap, poetry, personal stories, close-ups of cursing mouths, music, slow-motion images that seem to come from a parallel world, and a lesson in “diva” finger-clicking.

The beating heart of the film is a banging drum: or a ticking time bomb. Tongues Untied is a powerful statement overflowing with fury and humor, calling on the “brothers” to break the silence and bring about a loving revolution. It also includes a sex scene, hot gay poetry (“Let the beans burn all night long”), catchy footage of young men striking a pose, and tips on how to button the lips of bullies: “Yes, I’m a sissy. Why do you care?” There’s also a lead role for American poet and gay rights activist Essex Hemphill, who died of AIDS.

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regular programs Cinema do Brasil Retrospective As part of Amsterdam’s Brazil Festival, IDFA highlights the development of the Brazilian documentary in the last decade with a selection of films by established masters such as Jose Padilha, João Moreira Salles, and Eduardo Coutinho, as well as works by promising young talents. This program is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund – Central de Cultura and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

Cinema Cinemado doBrasil Brasil

Leaving behind the age of innocence

Retrospective shows a decade of growth in Brazilian documentary production The 21st century has seen a growing, more varied and more complex Brazilian documentary production, with a broadened presence in movie theaters. The special program Cinema do Brasil presents a representative selection of the most outstanding titles of this period. By Amir Labaki Documentaries permeate the history of Brazilian cinema with rare regularity. In several moments, like during Cinema Novo of the 1960s and the so-called Recovery period starting in the mid-1990s, it fulfilled the same role of esthetic locomotive that blazed unknown paths and pulled the train cars. Most of the leading Brazilian filmmakers have directed documentaries, from pioneers like Alberto Cavalcanti and Humberto Mauro to cineastes more recently consecrated on an international level, like Fernando Meirelles, José Padilha and Walter Salles.

Today, annual Brazilian feature-length documentary production reaches the astounding number of close to 70 titles, achieved principally with the support of public subsidies and financing as well as the voluntarism of producers and filmmakers. Partnerships with television, essential in large production centers of the world, are almost non-existent.

Drifter

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The genre’s presence in movie theaters has broadened in this century. From the two titles that were released in the country in 1998, a new annual average of close to 35 feature-length documentaries with commercial distribution has been reached, representing a third of Brazilian releases. The Achilles heel, however, is each film’s performance at the box office, rarely passing 10,000 tickets sold. The best recent result (70,000 tickets sold last year) is the musical historical documentary A Night in 67 by Renato Terra and Ricardo Calil, which is featured in this program.

The revitalization of the Brazilian documentary was motivated in part by the impact of the digital revolution.

One of the first marks of the revitalization of the Brazilian documentary, motivated among other factors by the impact of the digital revolution, was Here We Are Waiting for You (1999) by Marcelo Masagão, who presented the film at IDFA that same year.

In his feature debut, Masagão renewed archival cinema through

Cinema do Brasil

a radical recontextualization of “found footage” in a fragmentary historical narrative with fictional touches, summarizing “the brief 20th century” according to the British historian Eric Hobsbawm’s celebrated formula.

Subjecting archival cinema to the dramatic rules of “documentary thrillers” in the style of One Day in September (1998) by Kevin Macdonald, José Padilha’s debut, Bus 174 (2002), coincided with the awakening of international interest in new Brazilian documentaries.

Edited and co-directed by Felipe Lacerda, Padilha reconstructs a tragic bus hijacking in Rio, principally through the images and sounds of the siege captured by countless cameras, including those of the police. Here, Padilha’s cinema already displayed one of its greatest qualities: it is in tune with great national issues, like the enormous social divide and urban violence. Tropa de Elite, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival in 2007, soon followed.

The most popular sub-genre to consolidate itself at movie theaters is the musical documentary. Roberto Berliner’s Born to Be Blind (2003, made with support from the Jan Vrijman Fund) is one of his most formally original works and shows a rare reflexivity. Berliner documents the day-to-day lives of three blind sisters who struggle to survive as “coconut singers”, a traditional musical genre in the Brazilian northeast.

The most popular sub-genre to consolidate itself at movie theaters is the musical documentary.

Born to Be Blind goes far beyond portraying the sisters in their deprived existences and touching family dramas. Radicalizing the lessons of Jean Rouch’s cinema verité, Berliner makes the intervention of the cinematic apparatus in their lives explicit and discusses the impact of the Brazilian cultural industry’s absorption of their art and their stories.

The revival of the first artistic steps of some of the big names in current Brazilian music (such as Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Edu Lobo, and Gilberto Gil) is one of the main reasons for the great success achieved by A Night in 67 in 2010. For the first time on the big screen, debut filmmakers Renato Terra and Ricardo Calil present the story of the awards ceremony of an extremely popular television music festival, which was a tastemaker in contemporary Brazilian

culture – one of the birthplaces of Tropicalism, for example.

There are also a number of more cosmopolitan films in the recent production. Winner of the 2006 It’s All True Documentary Film Festival, Citizen Boilesen by Chaim Litewski researched the personal roots of a Danish immigrant to Brazil who, as a businessman, got involved in the repressive machine of the military dictatorship that began in 1964. On the other hand, Vicente Ferraz went to Cuba to study, and managed to retrieve the behind-the-scenes footage of the production of an underestimated masterpiece from the first years of the revolution: I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth (1964) by Mikhail Kalatozov.

One fine day, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese discovered it, restored it, and rereleased it.

Due to the formalism of unimaginable long takes and photographic and audio distortions, the film was treated as an unforgivable stumble for over three decades. One fine day, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese discovered it, restored it, and rereleased it in 1995.

The critic J. Hoberman of the Village Voice compared it to a “Siberian mammoth,” which explains the origin of Ferraz’s title.

José Padilha also went beyond national borders to complete his most recent documentary, Secrets of the Tribe (2010), a BBC/HBO co-production. It goes behind the scenes of an anthropological mission to the Yanomani tribe in the 1960s. Accusations of abuse place researchers and their subjects in opposition, putting the relation between ethics and science into check.

The most important project of renovation of ethnographic Brazilian cinema, Video nas Aldeias, founded by Vincent Carelli, meets its autobiographical synthesis in Corumbiara (2009). For Carelli, a quarter-century of audiovisual militancy for respect for the national indigenous population coincided with his becoming a documentary filmmaker. In his film, the history of the project itself is summarized simultaneously with Carelli’s search for clarification of a massacre in the past that took place on the front lines of the occupation of the Amazon.

In search of new non-fiction discourses, three filmmakers have consolidated themselves in the last decade: Cao Guimarães, Kiko Goifman, and Maria Ramos. In Andarilho (2006), Guimarães

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radicalizes the inflection of his work towards the visual arts. The emphasis is on recording a situation in the world – in this case, the wandering of men – and not its explanation. It is plasticity overlapping with narrative commitments.

Trained by the video art school, Kiko Goifman articulates an original device in 33 (2002). An entire multimedia project centered on an online diary, Goifman followed the recording for a pre-established time of 33 days (he was 33 at the time) in his search of his biological mother, who gave him up for adoption when he was a baby. The resulting film about his search tints the consecrated style of the video-diary with dyes that are borrowed from the classic police noir.

On the other hand, in her Brazilian career, Maria Augusta Ramos has given continuity to the exploration of the borders between documentary and fiction that marked the first phase of her formative activity in the Netherlands (Desi, shown at IDFA 2000). Because of a legal restriction on showing adolescents who are placed under the jurisdiction of the law, Justice reenacts true cases of court hearings using young people who live in the same circumstances of social risk.

Acting with them, the other participants play their true roles: family members, judges, lawyers, workers from a reform institution.

Perhaps no trajectory mirrors with greater sharpness the growing sophistication of the Brazilian documentary in the digital age than that of João Moreira Salles, who together with his brother Walter Salles was celebrated by IDFA as curator of the Top Ten in 2002. The screening of Intermissions (2004) and Santiago (2006) in the program makes explicit that development, from full mastery of classic direct cinema to the autobiographical documentary essay.

Perhaps no trajectory mirrors with greater sharpness the growing sophistication of the Brazilian documentary in the digital age than that of João Moreira Salles.

Made at the same time as Metal Workers by Eduardo Coutinho (also part of the program), Intermissions follows the first victorious presidential campaign of former union leader Luis Inácio Lula da Silva in 2002. In contrast to classics of the genre like Primary (1960) by Robert Drew and The War Room (1993) by D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, no public campaign obligations are registered. Instead, the film shows the private intervals in candidate Lula’s day-to-day life.

Thus, Intermissions develops between the epic and the intimate.

On the other hand, Santiago (2006) is a reflexive and autobiographical documentary, developed through the testimony of the idiosyncratic Argentine butler of the family mansion where Salles grew up in Rio de Janeiro. The inability of transforming those interviews (shot a decade earlier) into a film is the motor of the filmic essay.

Involuntarily, Santiago dialogues with The Sea that Thinks (2000), the Dutch documentary essay by Gert de Graaf about the making of documentaries that won IDFA’s top award in 2000. While that film discusses the process in an external way, creating a scenario that exemplifies the stages and decisions of making a documentary, the Brazilian film does this in a self-critical way through already existing material shot by the filmmaker himself. With Santiago, the Brazilian documentary seems to have definitively left behind its age of innocence.

Amir Labaki is the founder and director of South America’s leading non-fiction film festival It’s All True and a member of the board at IDFA.

Secrets of the Tribe

Beneficiaries Cinema do Brasil Central de Cultura

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Cinema do Brasil International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

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Kiko Goifman

Brazil, 2003 video, black-and-white, 75 min Director: Kiko Goifman Photography: Kiko Goifman Editing: Diego Gozze Narration: Kiko Goifman Narrator: Kiko Goifman Production: Jurandir Müller for PaleoTV World Sales: PaleoTV Screening Copy: PaleoTV

Kiko Goifman:

Tereza (1992) Dense Death (2003) Território Vermelho (2004) Acts of Men (2006) FilmeFobia (fiction, 2008)

The Brazilian director Kiko Goifman is adopted. One day, he realized that it was 33 years ago that his adoptive mother Berta, born in 1933, took him in. This number struck a chord with him, and he decided to give himself 33 days in which to complete a public search for his birth mother. He consulted private detectives, who gave him sometimes dubious and contradictory advice based on their extensive experience of the gray area between legality and crime. At the same time, these romantic figures provided inspiration for the resulting documentary, shot in black-and-white and swathed in mystery and melancholy, at times reminiscent of old-fashioned crime movies. Interviews with members of his family, detectives and other interested parties are interspersed with rapidly edited clips of TV appearances by the director, in which he shamelessly bares his soul. As his search progresses, his suspicions mount. Is his adoptive mother telling the whole truth? Are documents being withheld from him? The editing, atmospheric shots of places where he believes he may find answers to his questions, the suggestive voice-over, and the selfimposed deadline all heighten the tension in this dramatic, cinematic quest.

Cinema do Brasil

Behave Juízo Maria Ramos

Brazil, 2007 35mm, color, 90 min Director: Maria Ramos Photography: Guy Gonçalves Editing: Joana Collier, Maria Ramos Sound: José Louzeiro, Pedro Sá Earp Production: Maria Ramos for Nofoco Filmes, Diler Trindade for Diler & Associados Screening Copy: Diler & Associados Website: www.juizoofilme.com.br

Maria Ramos:

“Eu acho que eu quero dizer é...” (1993) Boy e Aleid (1994) Two Times at Home (1996) Butterflies in Your Stomach (1998) The Secret of the Vibrato (1999) Desi (2000) Rio, um dia em agosto (2002) Justice (2004)

Behave follows several minors who have fallen into the hands of the Brazilian legal system. Boys and girls from underprivileged backgrounds are charged with serious crimes, and receive sentences for theft, drug trafficking, and even murder. Because Brazilian law forbids making the identities of these minors public, the accused adolescents are played by young people who have endured similar social conditions, although innocent of any actual crime. All the other characters in the film – judges, prosecutors, public defenders, correctional officers, family members – are real people filmed during hearings in the Juvenile Court in Rio de Janeiro and visits to the Padre Severino Institute, the correctional facility that the minors are sent to. Behave walks the same dead-end corridors and encounters the sheer volume of cases within the system as seen in Justice, Maria Ramos’s award-winning previous film. It explores the judicial process and how easily we are swayed over questions involving minors breaking the law, revealing the consequences of a society that expects its children to behave, but fails to set a good example for them.

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Cinema do Brasil

Born to Be Blind A pessoa é para o que nasce Roberto Berliner

Three blind sisters from Campina Grande in Brazil have been making a living for years by singing in the street. They have beautiful, endearing voices. They manage to get by with other people’s help, although their stories reveal that they have often been treated badly. This started with their mother, who gave the money that they earned to her boyfriends. The sisters bask in the attention they get from director Roberto Berliner, who follows them for a couple of years. Maria, the sister who has been married twice and has a teenage daughter, sees it likes this: If a film is made about you, you’re worth something. Radio and TV crews visit them, and they even get the chance to perform for a few thousand people. Using metaphoric images of a roller coaster, Berliner visualises what is happening to the women at this stage, as he does throughout the film. These artistic interludes evoke the director’s past as a music video maker. The blind sisters are occasionally alone with the camera, which yields striking sequences, such as when they awake in the morning and grope for their slippers and clothes.

Brazil, 2003 35mm, color, 97 min Director: Roberto Berliner Photography: Jacques Cheuiche Screenplay: Mauricio Lissovsky, Liana Vital Brasil Editing: Leonardo Domingues, Pui Gomes Sound: Leandro Lima, Paulo Ricardo Nunes Music: Fabio Pascoal, Hermeto Pascoal Production: Rodrigo Letier for TV Zero World Sales: TvZERO Screening Copy: TvZERO Website: www.apessoa.com.br

Roberto Berliner:

Tunning the Inner Inside (2001) You Are What You Are Born For (2001) Street Sounds (2005) Herbert Up Close (2007) a.o.

Jan Vrijman Fund

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Bus 174 Onibus 174 José Padilha

José Padilha’s award-winning directorial debut deals with the same themes as his later feature films Tropa de Elite and Tropa de Elite 2: violence, class struggle and the workings of police, media and politics in Brazil. On June 12, 2000, high on cocaine and armed, 22-year-old Sandro do Nascimento boarded a city bus in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. The bus driver managed to escape and the police surrounded the bus, so Sandro decided to take the 10 passengers hostage. With camera crews flocking to the scene, the hijacking quickly turned into a live media event watched by millions of viewers in Brazil and abroad. Using footage recorded by TV crews and bystanders as well as interviews with police, hostages and acquaintances of the hijacker, Padilha reconstructs the chaotic hijacking as it unfolded. But there’s more to this than just the event itself, as Bus 174 is also an analysis of society in Rio, the city where Sandro belonged to the invisible class of street children, and where a poorly trained police force will stop at nothing to terminate vermin like him. A divided city in which violence both divides the classes and ties them together.

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Brazil, 2002 35mm, color, 120 min Director: José Padilha Co-director: Felipe Lacerda Photography: Marcelo Guru, Cesar Moraes Screenplay: José Padilha Editing: Felipe Lacerda Sound: Aloysio Compasso, Yan Saldanha Music: Sasha Ambak, Joaõ Nabuco Production: José Padilha & Marcos Prado for Zazen Produções World Sales: Zazen Produções Screening Copy: Zazen Produções

José Padilha:

Pantanal Cowboys (2003), Elite Squad (fiction, 2007), Garapa (2009), Secrets of the Tribe (2010), Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (fiction, 2010)

Awards: Best Documentary & Publics Choice & Best Brazilian Film Rio International Film Festival, Best Documentary São Paulo International Film Festival, Amnesty Award CPH: Dox, Amnesty International Doen Award Rotterdam International Film Festival, Best Documentary Miami International Film Festival, a.o.

Cinema do Brasil

Citizen Boilesen Cidadão Boilesen Chaim Litewski

Brazil, 2009 video, color / black-and-white, 93 min

Chaim Litewski: directing debut

Director: Chaim Litewski Photography: Fernando Carvalho, Paulo Jacinto dos Reis, Jorge Mansur, Cleisson Vidal, Brian Walshe Editing: Pedro Asbeg Sound: Rodrigo Marçal Music: Lucas Marcier Production: Jose Carlos Asbeg & Pedro Asbeg & Chaim Litewski for Palmares Produçao e Jornalismo World Sales: Palmares Produçao e Jornalismo Screening Copy: Palmares Produçao e Jornalismo

“Henning Boilesen” would seem to be somewhat of a random street name in the exotic city of São Paolo. Who is Mr. Boilesen? The residents aren’t exactly sure, which serves as reason enough for the filmmakers to start an investigation. They quickly learn that the street was named for a Danish businessman who was killed by soldiers in São Paolo in 1971. But why? Using black-and-white archive footage and interviews with writers, psychologists, leftist demonstrators and former soldiers, Citizen Boilesen reconstructs the Dane’s illustrious past. Was this Kirk Douglas lookalike (as one person typifies him) indeed a charismatic, popular man? Is there any truth to the stories about his friendship with the ultraviolent politician Sergió Fleury? To give the viewer an impression of the political struggle between left and right and the culture of fear and terror of the 1960s and 1970s, director Chaim Litewski intersperses the interviews with excerpts from feature films. Nationalistic music about the Brazilian fatherland accompanies archive footage of demonstrations, funeral processions and riots. In the process, we learn more and more about Boilesen and his controversial role in one of the most violent eras in Brazilian history.

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Corumbiara: They Shoot Indians, Don´t They?

Vincent Carelli

Brazil, 2009 video, color / black-and-white, 117 min Director: Vincent Carelli Photography: Vincent Carelli, Altair Paixão Editing: Mari Corrêa Narration: Vincent Carelli Narrator: Vincent Carelli Production: Vincent Carelli for Video nas Aldeias Executive Production: Vincent Carelli & Olivia Sabino for Video nas Aldeias Screening Copy: Video nas Aldeias

Vincent Carelli:

The Girl’s Celebration (1987), Pemp (1988), No One Eats Charcoal (1991, Free-for-all in Sararé (1992), Meeting Ancestors (1993), We Gather as a Family (1993), Visual Cannibalism (1995), Video in the Villages Presents Itself (2002), Agenda 31 (2003), Back to the Good Land (2008), Peixe Pequeno (2010), a.o.

Awards: Best Film Festival Internacional De Cinema E Vídeo Ambiental, Best Film & Best Director & Best Editing & Audience Award Gramado Film Festival, a.o.

A personal account of 20 years of video activism in Corumbiara, a municipality in western Brazil. In order to stop the destruction of the habitat of isolated Native Americans, their existence will have to be proven in court. Back in 1986, filmmaker Vincent Carrelli first got involved in a hunt for the remains of an Indian village, which had been wiped off the map by a landowner. Unfortunately, the tools that they found were insufficient to stand up in court. In the years that followed, Carrelli returned to the region on several occasions, convinced that the Native Americans lived there and determined to record this fact with his camera. The film documents the heartwarming contact between the researchers and a family of Canoé Indians, and contains unique footage of one of the last survivors of an unknown tribe. But the activists also must deal with disappointing defeats in the face of landowners, lumber merchants and farmers, and even instances of gruesome violence.

Ultimately, the film also asks questions about the legitimacy of the hunt for footage.

To what extent is it justified to invade the habitat of people who shun any attempt at contact – even if that invasion occurs with the intent to protect them from greater external aggression?

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Drifter

Andarilho Cao Guimarães This impressionistic documentary makes a connection between walking and thinking.

In the countryside of the Minas Gerais province in northeastern Brazil, the film follows the individual paths of three drifters in the true sense of the word: homeless and always on the road. As they walk along asphalt roads vibrating with heat, the cars, buses and trucks fly by them, distant messengers of a world with which they have lost all contact, whether they wanted to or not. There’s no destination, no purpose for their travels, but the constant movement from one place to another is the purpose unto itself. Filmmaker and artist Cao Guimarães takes the time to not only show the emptiness, the isolation, the heat and the night, but also to make it all palpable. He’s not a storyteller, but a painter with images. In long, static shots, he studies all three men as phenomena; he doesn’t pose any questions about their personal histories, but captures the manner in which they create a relationship with a physical environment that keeps changing. Landscapes, objects, animals and people often assume picturesque forms in this subdued documentary.

Brazil, 2007 video, color, 80 min Director: Cao Guimarães Photography: Cao Guimarães Editing: Cao Guimarães Sound: Marcos Moreira, Nelson Soares Music: Marcos Moreira, Nelson Soares Production: Beto Magalhães for Cinco em Ponto Co-Production: 88 Filmes World Sales: Cinco em Ponto Screening Copy: Cinco em Ponto

Cao Guimarães:

The End of the Endless (2001) Two-Way Street (2002) Hypnosis (2003) The Soul of the Bone (2004) Accident (2004) Ex It (2010) a.o.

www.caoguimaraes.com

Awards: Best Direction Rio De Janeiro International Film Festival, Best Film Las Palmas De Gran Canaria International Film Festival

Cinema do Brasil

Here We Are, Waiting For You Nós que aqui estamos, por vós esperamos Marcelo Masagão

According to director Marcelo Masagão, his film is a “documentary memory” of the 20th century. It consists largely of archive footage: excerpts from classic films, news reports and photographs, complemented by photos and footage that Masagão made especially for the film. Great themes that have shaped the 20th century come up: wars, industrial development and modern art. The film consists of short chapters that center around the lives of all kinds of people, both great and unknown. The general framework of the film is formed by images of a cemetery somewhere in Brazil. We see photos of tombstones with portraits of the deceased, to which the filmmaker adds fictitious names and years of birth and death. Masagão builds his scenes around these images, linking the lives of all these individuals to the history of the century they lived in. These stories are not presented as a chronological enumeration of facts. Instead, the film has the capricious structure of a dream or a memory, with unexpected leaps in time, associative editing, and suggestive music by Wim Mertens.

There is no voice-over, but words nevertheless play an important role through text that appears in various places in the frame.

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Brazil, 1999 video, color / black-and-white, 73 min Director: Marcelo Masagão Screenplay: Marcelo Masagão Editing: Marcelo Masagão Music: André Abujandra, Wim Mertens Production: Marcelo Masagão for Agência Observatório World Sales: Agência Observatório Screening Copy: Agência Observatório

Marcelo Masagão:

Nem Nem Honra (2001) 1.99 – Um supermarcado que vende palavras (2004) O Zero não é Vazio (2005)

www.filmesdomasagao.com.br

Cinema do Brasil

I am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth Soy Cuba, o Mamute Siberiano Vicente Ferraz

Brazil, 2004 35mm, color / black-and-white, 90 min Director: Vicente Ferraz Photography: Tareq Daoud, Vicente Ferraz Screenplay: Vicente Ferraz Editing: Dull Janiel, Mair Tavares Sound: Cesar Fernández Music: Jenny Padrón Narration: Vicente Ferraz Narrator: Vicente Ferraz Production: Isabel Martinez Artavia for Três Mundos Produções World Sales: Três Mundos Produções Screening Copy: Três Mundos Produções

Vicente Ferraz:

State of the World (fiction, 2007) The Last Commandant (fiction, 2010)

Jan Vrijman Fund

In Cuba, director Vicente Ferraz speaks with surviving cast and crew members of I Am Cuba, a black-and-white film from 1964 by Russian director Mikhail Kalatozov (19031973). In 1958, Kalatozov won the Golden Palm in Cannes with The Cranes Are Flying.

This gave him carte blanche for I Am Cuba, which resulted in a shoot that lasted over a year, as the interviewees distinctly remember. Using archive footage, Ferraz places the Cuban-Russian alliance within the historical perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but he primarily pays attention to the experiences of cast and crew. He talks with actors and with Alfredo Guevarra, the founder of the Cuban Film Association. Everyone still speaks highly of Kalatozov and his cameraman Sergei Urusevsky, but they criticize the slow, stylized end result. Ferraz shows two of the exceptionally long shots for which the camera covers an improbable distance, up and down along buildings. The film flopped in Cuban and Russian theaters and was only rediscovered in 1995 as a masterpiece and rereleased by American directors Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Ferraz’s interviewees apparently did not know this yet; amazed, they read the praise on the box of the videocassette.

Cinema do Brasil

Intermissions Entreatos João Moreira Salles

Brazil, 2004 video, color, 117 min Director: João Moreira Salles Photography: Walter Cavalho Editing: Felipe Lacerda Sound: Heron Alencar, Aloysio Compasso Production: Mauricio Andrade Ramos for Videofilmes World Sales: Videofilmes Screening Copy: Videofilmes

João Moreira Salles:

Blues (1990) Futebol (1998) News from a Particular War (1999) Nelson Freire (2003) Santiago (2006)

The future President of Brazil is particularly outspoken while in the air. Lula explains to his fellow passengers what the difference is between his labor party and social democratic parties elsewhere in the world. His party was founded by workers, while the others were established by intellectuals who pretend to come from the proletariat.

His message: stay close to who you are – in Lula’s eyes, authenticity is a prerequisite for political success. This serves as a leitmotif throughout Intermissions, which follows Lula during the hectic election campaign for the presidency in 2002. Lula gave filmmaker João Moreira Salles and his crew complete access, and the result is an intimate documentary of what went on behind the scenes: Lula debating with his campaign team, Lula at the barber, Lula in his apartment, Lula on a cramped airplane. Aboard that plane, he experiences moments of peace and quiet and has a bit of time for reflection. Sometimes, Lula is afraid that he will lose his freedom as president. The film crew circles around him virtually unnoticed, and the president-to-be made no demands about seeing a final cut.

Combined with Lula’s candor, the film’s observational style provides some very special insight into one of Brazil’s most popular leaders.

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Cinema do Brasil

A Night in 67

Uma noite em 67 Ricardo Calil, Renato Terra If you thought TV shows in which audiences and juries judge musical acts were a relatively new phenomenon, you’d better think again. In the 1970s, such “festivals” were incredibly popular in Brazil. They were recorded before a live studio audience, and usually featured a number of elimination rounds. They also formed the springboard for the career of many a big-name star, such as Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Roberto Carlos and Gilberto Gil. Appearing on such a program was no cakewalk, however: audiences could be as wild in their condemnation as in their appreciation of an artist. Like Sérgio Ricardo, for example, who in one of the many long archive segments in the film attempts to pacify a booing audience until, in an ultimate display of frustration, he ends up hurling his guitar at them – an act that disqualifies him from the competition. Extensive archive footage (including performances and behind-the-scenes interviews) from a turbulent final of the Festival of Brazilian Popular Music one evening in 1967 paints a fascinating picture, not only of the transformation of Brazilian music into real “festival” music, but also of a society starting to buck against the yoke of military rule.

Brazil, 2010 video, color / black-and-white, 85 min Director: Ricardo Calil, Renato Terra Photography: Jacques Cheuiche Editing: Jordana Berg Sound: Valéria Ferro Production: Mauricio Andrade Ramos & João Moreira Salles for Videofilmes World Sales: Videofilmes Screening Copy: Videofilmes Involved TV Channel: Record Entretenimento Website: www.umanoiteem67.com.br

Ricardo Calil:

directing debut

Renato Terra:

directing debut

Cinema do Brasil

Santiago

João Moreira Salles In 1992, João Moreira Salles started making a film about Santiago, the butler who had been working for his parents since his childhood. 13 years later, Salles looked back at the unused material on the flamboyant servant, who by that time had passed away. From these images, Salles made a documentary about an extraordinary man who, in addition to his demanding work for the prosperous family, was equally conscientious in dealing with his personal labor: collecting, arranging, interpreting and documenting information about the history of all great and wealthy families in the world. Through Santiago’s detailed memories and erudite contemplations and the director’s voice-over, the film reflects on identity, memory and the nature of documentaries. The old footage – often repeated takes, provided with stage directions, of scenes that were shot in Santiago’s kitchen, or in front of the bookcase where he kept his life’s work, bound together with a special ribbon – is in black-andwhite, which enhances the nostalgic character of the film. During the course of the documentary, Salles gradually finds out why this is his only unfinished film.

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Brazil, 2006 video, black-and-white, 80 min Director: João Moreira Salles Photography: Alberto Bellezia, Walter Carvalho Screenplay: João Moreira Salles Editing: Eduardo Escorel, Livia Serpa Sound: Jorge Saldanha Narration: João Moreira Salles Narrator: Fernando Pinto Production: Mauricio Ramos & Raquel Zangrandi for Videofilmes World Sales: Videofilmes Screening Copy: Videofilmes

João Moreira Salles:

Blues (1990) Futebol (1998) News from a Particular War (1999) Nelson Freire (2003) Intermissions (2004)

Cinema do Brasil

Secrets of the Tribe José Padilha

Brazil, UK, 2010 HD, color, 96 min Director: José Padilha Photography: Lula Carvalho Editing: Felipe Lacerda Music: Joaõ Nabuco Production: Mike Chamberlain for Stampede Limited, José Padilha for Zazen Produções Co-Production: Avenue B Productions World Sales: Stampede Limited Screening Copy: Stampede Limited Involved TV Channels: YLE, HBO, SBS Australia, DR2, BBC

José Padilha:

Bus 174 (2002) Pantanal Cowboys (2003) Elite Squad (fiction, 2007) Garapa (2009) Secrets of the Tribe (2010) Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (fiction, 2010)

Director José Padilha starts his film with a Yanomami Indian who has had his fill of white people, anthropologists, and cameras. “You should be ignorant of us, but here you are taking my picture yet again,” he snarls at the director. And this perfectly encapsulates an unparalleled scandal. The evil that has been done is rooted in the 1960s and 1970s, when a couple of anthropologists in the Venezuelan Amazon region discovered the Yanomami Indians. Their way of life had not changed for thousands of years. For anthropologists, this discovery was of immeasurable value, and at the time it gained a prominent position in scientific literature. But 40 years later, little remains of that triumph. What went wrong? Everything. And Padilha has the witnesses, victims, evidence, and images to prove it. Using the same approach as in his successful Tropa de Elite films, Padilha coolly reconstructs how the academic fairy tale deteriorated into unethical, vulgar mudslinging, with anthropologists accusing one another of genocide. But Padilha lets everyone have their say, including the ambitious scientists who have since been discredited.

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regular programs Eduardo Coutinho Retrospective As part of Amsterdam’s Brazil Festival, IDFA highlights the development of the Brazilian documentary in the last decade in the Cinema do Brasil program. Part of this program is a retrospective of four films by Brazilian master Eduardo Coutinho, whose new film Songs was selected for this year’s IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary. The Cinema do Brasil program is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund – Central de Cultura and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

Eduardo Retrospective Cinema do Coutinho Brasil

Conversational cinema The films of Eduardo Coutinho

As part of the Cinema do Brasil program, there is a special focus on the distinctive “conversational cinema” of Brazil’s leading filmmaker, Eduardo Coutinho. By Amir Labaki The Eduardo Coutinho retrospective brings to IDFA for the first time a larger vision of the extremely original work of the greatest Brazilian documentary filmmaker. Coutinho took his first cinematic steps in fiction, at the time of Cinema Novo. Before consolidating a productive stability in the period focused on by this program, his career was marked by enormous difficulties, even after completing his first masterpiece, Twenty Years Later (1984), in which he reworks a fictional project interrupted by the military coup of 1964 into a reflexive documentary.

The art of Eduardo Coutinho is making cinema out of something that in the hands of others would be mere audiovisual journalism.

There is a Coutinho device in the same way that there exists a Wiseman device. In a broad sense, Coutinho is the anti-Wiseman.

The American master hates interviews, privileges long shoots and embraces the fly-on-the-wall strategy, patiently sculpting his social mosaics of contemporary America from the scenes that offer themselves to his camera. Coutinho’s documentaries are film-interviews – which are different from films “of” or “with” interviews. He immediately reveals the universe he approaches, making explicit the cinematic apparatus involved and revealing the rules: testimonies may be paid for, no “take” is repeated, no extra-diegetic element will be added to the strictly filmed. The essential aspect of the film comes from the articulation of parts of dialogue between the filmmaker and the interviewed.

Three of the five titles of the retrospective are legitimate representatives of what the filmmaker himself calls “conversational cinema.”

The Mighty Spirit (1999) registers testimonies about manifestations of religiousness in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. The inhabitants of a decaying middle-class building on Copacabana Beach in the same city are the protagonists of Master, a Copacabana Building (2002). His most recent work, Songs, which makes its international premiere in the IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary, is structured through interviews with common people whose lives have been dramatically affected by musical works.

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Produced as a parallel project to Intermissions, Metal Workers (2004) breaks the traditional device by putting together testimonies and archive material to recount the beginnings of Lula’s union leadership in a Brazil that was still authoritarian between the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. Coutinho researches the rise of the mythical Lula through the memories of his union peers and the films that eternalized that moment.

But the instant of essential rupture in Coutinho’s contemporary work is Playing (2007). It all begins with a newspaper advertisement inviting women who would like to tell their stories to “a documentary film.” But the traditional device of “conversational cinema” is shortcircuited when the filmmaker shuffles anonymous respondents with actresses (some of whom are celebrities), who interpret transcriptions of some of those interviews. The great feat of Playing is that this new reflexive accent does not suffocate the general drama and the drama of each history. If the fiction/documentary debate had monopolized the film, the essence of Coutinho’s cinema would have been betrayed.

The art of Eduardo Coutinho is making cinema out of something that in the hands of others would be mere audiovisual journalism. The spoken word is essential to this process. I know no better interviewer among his fellow documentary filmmakers. This investment in the spoken word, by a filmmaker who works in the Portuguese language, has extraordinarily limited the deserved recognition of the complexity of Coutinho’s work. With this opportune retrospective, IDFA helps ensure that Coutinho gets the place he deserves among the true masters of non-fiction cinema.

Amir Labaki is the founder and director of South America’s leading non-fiction film festival It’s All True and a member of the board at IDFA.

Filmography Eduardo Coutinho Cabra marcado para morrer (1964 – 1984), Santa Marta: Duas semanas no morro (1987), Volta Redonda – Memorial da Greve (1989), O Fio da Memória (1991), Boca do Lixo (1992), Os romeiros do Padre Cícero (1994), The Mighty Spirit (1999), Babilônia 2000 (2000), Master, a Copacabana Building (2002), Metal Workers (2004), The End and the Beginning (2005), Playing (2008), Moscou (2009), Songs (2011)

Eduardo Coutinho Retrospective International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Master, a Copacabana Building Edifício Master Eduardo Coutinho

Brazil, 2002 35mm, color, 110 min Director: Eduardo Coutinho Photography: Jacques Cheuiche Editing: Jordana Berg Sound: Valéria Ferro Production: Mauricio Andrade Ramos & João Moreira Salles for Videofilmes Screening Copy: Videofilmes

Awards: Best Documentary Film Gramado Film Festival, Best Documentary Film & Jury Award São Paulo International Film Festival, Best Documentary Film Critics of Art Associaiton of São Paulo

“Master” is the name of a 12-story apartment building in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro’s neighborhood for nightlife. Over the course of four weeks in 2001, Eduardo Coutinho’s film crew rented one of the 276 apartments and used it as home base to make a film about the building’s residents. We get to know the building manager, who succeeded in turning the troubled residence into a family complex within just a few years. Using interviews and a few stolen moments in the corridors of the building, Coutinho explores this world. Most of the building’s residents come from the lower middle class and are just getting by, but that’s just about the only thing they have in common – so many people, so many stories, sometimes told in a self-confident tone, sometimes with averted eyes.

An amorous couple talk about how they met each other late in life, and a man recalls the time he met Frank Sinatra. A student is living on her own for the first time and misses her grandma’s potato pancakes, while another girl is struggling with her job as a call girl.

The fact that a film crew is interested in their stories puzzles some of them. Hope, fear, dreams, memories, love and loneliness all appear from behind the doors of this average apartment building.

Eduardo Coutinho Retrospective

Metal Workers Peões Eduardo Coutinho

Brazil, 2004 video, color, 84 min Director: Eduardo Coutinho Photography: Jacques Cheuiche Editing: Jordana Berg Sound: Denilson Campos Production: Mauricio Andrade Ramos & João Moreira Salles for Videofilmes Screening Copy: Videofilmes

Awards: Best Film São Paulo’s Art Critics Association, Best Film & Critic’s Choice Brasilia Film Festival

2002 was an important year for many Brazilians, as it was when the left-wing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidency. What led up to the victory of his labor party? Metal workers discuss the turbulent 1970s and 1980s, a time when they were exploited and suppressed. “Nothing but suffering” is how one former Volkswagen employee describes his time working for that company. Together, thousands of workers tried to change the world. The massive strikes of 1980 are still etched into the minds of many: “That was like a war, man!” Lula is the great uniting factor. Born into a poor family, the charismatic party leader embodies the dream that there’s a way out of all the misery. The photogenic man does wonderfully in the black-and-white archive footage in which he speaks to thousands of frenzied workers, his expression pained, angrily dragging on his cigarette.

Like an actor who immerses himself in a difficult character part, Lula takes the time to prepare himself. Full of pride and melancholy, the workers watch the archive footage from the 1980s. They were carried away by Lula – and now, some 20 years later, it seems to be happening all over again.

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Eduardo Coutinho Retrospective

The Mighty Spirit Santo forte Eduardo Coutinho

Spirits that temporarily possess your spouse so they can tell you something, reincarnations, visions: it’s all part of life in Brazil. That said, Brazilians are hardly dogmatic about this “Spiritism,” as Catholicism is equally important for most of them. The word for this mix of faiths is Umbanda, and in Brazil, crises of conscience are few and far between. Brazilians are both open and relaxed about how they experience this combination of religions. Because director Eduardo Coutinho makes no attempt to remain unseen, the interviewees warm right up to the crew and almost spontaneously grab a seat and begin telling their very special stories. Like Theresa, who misbehaved in her former life as the Queen of Egypt and must now live in poverty as punishment. Or Elizabeth, who declares quite certainly that she’s an atheist (“I believe in life and what I can see”), but is quick to add that she does believe in spirits. The fact that many people are getting baptized in the Umbanda faith is worrisome for the local priest, as they were already baptized as Catholics when they were children. As one woman puts it, “I’m a Catholic but I also believe in the spirits.”

And The Mighty Spirit would suggest that it is this simple.

Brazil, 1999 video, color, 81 min Director: Eduardo Coutinho Photography: Luis Filipe de Sá, Fabián Silbert Editing: Jordana Berg Sound: Valéria Ferro, Paulo Ricardo Nunes Production: Claudius Ceccon & Dinah Frotté & Elcimar de Oliveira for CECIP – Centro de Criação de Imagem Popular Screening Copy: Videofilmes

Awards: Special Jury Award Gramado Film Festival, Best Documentary São Paulo’s Art Critics Association

Eduardo Coutinho Retrospective

Playing

Jogo de cena Eduardo Coutinho It was a strange ad in a Brazilian newspaper: an audition for a documentary. And yet a total of 83 women responded, though only a few of them ended up in the documentary itself. While being filmed, they tell their painful life stories, about unsuccessful relationships, the loss of a child, or their complicated rapport with their parents. But Playing isn’t about the tragic stories themselves. Documentary filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho examines how the way a story is told can begin to overshadow actual events. All the women are driven by the burning desire to express themselves about past traumas or by the ambition to become an actress – otherwise, they wouldn’t have auditioned. To make the line between reality and acting even thinner, Coutinho films all conversations on a stage and five well-known actresses, including Marília Pêra, Fernanda Torres and Mary Sheyla, act out the life stories of a number of women. In this way, Playing is also about acting. Coutinho discusses the choices the actresses make, such as breaking into tears on account of a son’s death, while the “real” mother, shown shortly before, did not.

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Brazil, 2007 35mm, color, 104 min Director: Eduardo Coutinho Photography: Jacques Cheuiche Screenplay: Eduardo Coutinho Editing: Jordana Berg Sound: Valéria Ferro Production: Guilherme Coelho for Matizar, Mauricio Ramos for Videofilmes, João Moreira Salles for Videofilmes, Raquel Zangrandi for Videofilmes Screening Copy: Videofilmes

Awards: Best Film Campo Grande Film Festival, Best Documentary Punta del Este International Film Festival, Best Film São Paulo’s Art Critics Association, Best Film Granada Film Festival, Audience Award São Paulo’s Latin American Festival, Best Documentary Contigo! Festival

regular programs Paradocs do Brasil As part of Amsterdam’s Brazil Festival, IDFA highlights the development of the Brazilian documentary in the last decade in the Cinema do Brasil program. Part of this program is a special section of Paradocs, the IDFA program in which the “periphery” of the documentary genre takes center stage. The Cinema do Brasil program is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund – Central de Cultura and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

Paradocs do Brasil

Carlos Nader Carlos Nader

Carlos Nader is a non-autobiography about the eponymous director, about everybody and about nobody. This Brazilian multimedia and video artist interviews the poet Waly Salomão, who believes that life is a fictional film. Nader also speaks to the philosopher Antonio Cicero, the “party raver” Chumbinho, and the transvestite Jaqueline [sic] Kennedy Onassis. He turns the genre of autobiography inside out by focusing on the moment that a person’s identity becomes blurred – always returning, however, to Nader himself, whom he places under the microscope of the camera by silently sharing a great secret with the viewer. In many of his videos, Nader seeks identity through skin color, nationality and political preference. People shift identity with ease in this wayward cinematic essay from 1998. One man has only to put on a mask to become Herod, the faces of twins blend into one, and a novice in a monastery embarks on a new life, seemingly without a second thought. Antonio Cicero asks himself, “What if suddenly I discover that I am not Brazilian? Would I stop being me?”

Brazil, 1998 video, color / black-and-white, 15 min Director: Carlos Nader Photography: Carlos Nader Editing: Carlos Nader Sound: Victor Civita, Kito Siqueira Music: Chelpa Ferro Production: Carlos Nader for Já Filmes World Sales: Já Filmes Screening Copy: Já Filmes Awards: Best Experimental Video Rio Cine Festival, Best Video Grande Prêmio Cinema Brasil

Carlos Nader:

Portrait of a Serial Kisser (1992) Site of the Unseen (1994) Trovoada (1995) The End of the Journey (1996) São Gabriel da Cachoeira (1999) Concepção (2000) Girl from Ipanema (2001) Flor da Pele (2002) Black-and-white (2004) Pan-Cinema Permanent (2008) Chelpa Ferro (2009) Soberano Six Times São Paulo (2010) Screen (2010)

Paradocs do Brasil

Cruzada

Cinthia Marcelle At the geometric intersection of two sand roads in a barren landscape, 16 musicians perform an equally geometric choreography. They are divided up into four groups according to their instruments, each with its own color – yellow, red, blue and green.

New relationships form again and again between the musicians. As a result, like a kaleidoscope, new patterns continuously come into being. A childlike yet serious game with form, color, rhythm and movement. Cruzada appeared as an installation at the Venice Biennale in the framework of the 2010 Future Generation Art Prize offered by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Ukraine. It won first place in this competition.

Brazil, 2011 video, color, 9 min Director: Cinthia Marcelle Photography: Maurício Rezende Sound: Daniel Quintela Production: Clarice Lacerda for Katásia Filmes Screening Copy: Vermelho

Cinthia Marcelle:

Padedê (2004) Volta ao mundo (2004) Confronto (2005) Gym Politics (2006) Fonte 193 (2007) Buraco negro (2008) 475 Volver (2009) Ao Plano (2011)

Cinthia Marcelle & Tiago Mata Machado: Platform (2010)

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Paradocs do Brasil

Hypnosis Cao Guimarães

Brazil, 2001 video, color, 7 min Director: Cao Guimarães Photography: Cao Guimarães Editing: Cao Guimarães Music: Marcos Moreira, Nelson Soares Production: Cao Guimarães for Studio Cao Guimarães Screening Copy: Studio Cao Guimarães

Cao Guimarães:

The End of the Endless (2001) Two-Way Street (2002) The Soul of the Bone (2004) Accident (2004) Drifter (2007) Ex It (2010) a.o.

www.caoguimaraes.com

Shot on Super8 and shown as a loop, this is a recording of a Ferris wheel by night that disintegrates into red and yellow flashes of light. With this film, director Cao Guimarães deciphers a pulsating series of geometrical forms, summoning up a hypnotizing effect in the process. The “events” in this geometric mini-drama consist of moving colors and the repetitive lethargy of pounding piano music. Because of the almost abstract play with overlapping flashes of light, the film also falls under the visual art tradition, just like most of the director’s work. Guimarães was a photographer before he began making experimental films and documentaries in the 1990s. His films have won awards at the Locarno International Film Festival (Two-Way Street, 2002) and at IDFA (The Soul of the Bone, 2004), the latter of which is about a hermit who turns out to be a tourist attraction.

Other short films by Guimarães are often contemplative observations of places in the city that would otherwise remain unseen.

Paradocs do Brasil

Passage

Trecho Clarissa Campolina, Helvécio Marins Jr.

Brazil, 2006 35mm, color, 16 min Director: Clarissa Campolina, Helvécio Marins Jr. Photography: Pablo Lobato Editing: Clarissa Campolina, Karen Harley Production: Luana Melgaço for Teia Filmes Executive Production: Clarissa Campolina for Teia Filmes, Camila Fernanda Groch for Teia Filmes, Helvécio Marins Jr. for Teia Filmes Screening Copy: Teia Filmes

Clarissa Campolina:

Note (2002), Net (2002), Orient-ate (2003), Where Are You? (2007), Wandering Notes (2009)

Helvecio Marins Jr.:

Nascente (fiction, 2005), Not a Trot or a Canter (2009)

Clarissa Campolina & Helvecio Marins Jr.: Swirl (fiction, 2011)

Awards: Best Short Award & Best Photography Award & Best Editor Award Brazilian Film Festival, Best Experimental Short Award Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, a.o.

Directors Clarissa Campolina and Helvecio Marins, Jr. follow in the footsteps of Libério José da Silva, a man who left the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco in 1996 to take an endless, aimless walk along the Brazilian highway between the cities of Belo Horizonte and Recife. This pensive audiovisual diary consists of the life questions and memories of Libério, all of which are affected by time, the landscape and the making of the film. The end of the road is nowhere in sight – it just goes on and on, bound for agelessness or eternity. When Libério meets a beautiful woman, he finds himself torn: should he choose for her or for the highway? A dreamy, grainy portrait of a man who is looking for everything and nothing, who is balancing between peace and restlessness. In 2002, Campolina and Marins established an independent Brazilian film group called Teia and have made countless films for it – films that often offer an alternative glance at her hometown of Belo Horizonte.

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Paradocs do Brasil

Public Solitude Solidão pública Daniel Aragão

“I never liked the idea of making a documentary,” declares director Daniel Aragão at the start of this short film. He is a man who prefers action, and three minutes of waiting is his maximum. In Public Solitude, he explores this limit, asking people on the street to take a seat in front of his camera in a big white tent. He offers them three real (about one euro) for three minutes of their solitude. The tent is located on a square in Recife, a large Brazilian city known for its beaches, but also for its homicides, child abuse and shark attacks. Here, the crowd relentlessly roars at the enormous outdoor projection of the silent portraits shot inside. The camera infallibly captures the discomfort and vulnerability of the poor wretches who sell their soul for a song.

They smile stiffly, wave, make the sign of the horns, defiantly lick their lips, or shed their tears.

Brazil, 2008 video, color / black-and-white, 16 min Director: Daniel Aragão Photography: Daniel Aragão, Gabriel Mascaro Screenplay: Daniel Aragão Editing: Daniel Aragão Production: Daniel Aragão for REC Produtores Associados Executive Production: Nara Aragão for REC Produtores Associados Screening Copy: REC Produtores Associados

Daniel Aragão:

Drop-counting (fiction, 2006) One Life and Another (fiction, 2007) Não me deixe em casa (fiction, 2009)

Paradocs do Brasil

Saba

Gregorio Graziosi, Thereza Menezes The world of two Brazilian hundred-year-olds would appear to consist only of fragments, of little peeks and close-ups. The bigger picture is nowhere to be found, and every day is the same. A housekeeper attends to the chores and washes and shaves the old folks. They in turn do nothing except sit there silently, almost drugged, perhaps just waiting for the end. Their eyes are mostly kept off-screen, which makes it difficult to perceive some sign of their own will or personality. Their life is accompanied by the constant, soft hum of the highway that passes by their house.

This beautifully shot, poetic film focuses on the details of two lives: their home, their bodies, and how they are waiting.

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Brazil, 2006 video, color, 15 min Director: Gregorio Graziosi, Thereza Menezes Photography: Gregorio Graziosi Screenplay: Gregorio Graziosi, Thereza Menezes Editing: Thereza Menezes, Noelle Rodrigues Sound: Raphael Lupo Music: Igor Arthuzo Production: Gregorio Graziosi, Thereza Menezes Co-Production: FAAP University Screening Copy: Gregorio Graziosi

Gregorio Graziosi:

Saltos (fiction, 2008) Phiro (2008) Mira (fiction, 2009)

Thereza Menezes: directing debut

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

speCial seleCtions Special Selections In addition to screening in IDFA’s main program, some of this year’s 342 films will be presented in Special Selections. DOC U is a competition aimed at introducing young audiences to documentary cinema. Doc Next presents 10 short documentaries by a new generation of European filmmakers.

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Special Selections

DOC U DOC U introduces a young audience to documentary cinema. The 11 selected films are chosen from the entire IDFA 2011 program, in cooperation with young people aged 15 to 18. During the festival, a jury consisting of five youngsters in this age group will watch and evaluate the 11 selected films. At the awards ceremony on November 25, they will present the winner with the Blackberry IDFA DOC U award, which consists of a sculpture and a cash prize of €1,500.

2011 DOC U Selection

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary The Betrayal (Karen Winther, England) As a teenage member of the Norwegian squatting community, Karen made a terrible mistake. Now she is looking for an explanation and hoping for forgiveness.

IDFA Competition for Music Documentary DeWolff (Carin Goeijers, the Netherlands) The young psychedelic blues rockers of DeWolff tackle a blistering tour and the sudden success of their band with disarming modesty.

Reflecting Images – Masters To Be Heard (Edwin Martinez, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan, USA) Three teenagers from the Bronx take a poetry course and learn how to put their stories into words, while dreaming of a life where anything is possible.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests Girl Model (Ashley Sabin, David Redmon, USA) A subtle indictment of the modeling industry, which recruits very young girls from Russia to work overseas.

Koran by Heart (Greg Barker, USA/England) A nuanced report on three 10-year-old participants in various stages of a worldwide Koran recitation competition – in Arabic, of course.

Reflecting Images – Panorama Boy Cheerleaders (James Newton, England) It’s not always easy for England’s first all-boy cheerleading team in the run-up to the national championships.

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The Bully Project

The Bully Project (Lee Hirsch, USA) A shocking documentary about serious bullying and its effects on teenagers. Five victims of bullying and their parents get the chance to talk openly.

The Last Days of Winter (Mehrdad Oskouei, Iran) A touching portrait of seven Iranian boys in a youth detention center, talking candidly about their lives.

Citadel (Diego Mondaca, Bolivia, Germany) This bold, counterintuitively shot documentary depicts life in the San Pedro Prison in Bolivia, where most of the women and children stay voluntarily. Made with support from the Jan Vrijman Fund.

The Boxing Girls of Kabul (Ariel Nasr, Canada) After the Taliban’s reign of terror, three young female boxers from Afghanistan try to put themselves on the global map.

No Look Pass (Melissa Johnson, USA) A compelling coming-of-age story about “Etay,” a Harvard student who has to tell her parents that she wants to play professional basketball – and that she’s also a lesbian.

DOC U Afternoon

On Sunday, November 20, a selection of DOC U films will be screened and there will be discussions, music and films made by young filmmakers. The DOC U Afternoon is organized in collaboration with Coolpolitics and Wisebloom, and will hosted by Mirelva Berghout.

DOC U Afternoon: Sunday, November 20, 1:00 p.m. Please check the website for the most up-to-date program.

DOC U and the DOC U Afternoon are supported by Blackberry.

Special Selections

Doc Next

D-I-Y documentary filmmakers zoom in on Europe Under the name Doc Next, IDFA presents short documentaries made by the next generation of makers. These do-it-yourself media makers are ready to represent Europe with fresh ideas, new forms of documentary, and unexpected local heroes.

Doc Next films are personal reflections that portray another Europe.

What does crisis mean to young Greeks; late-night cutomers of a London launderette; a Turkish girl’s immigration story; the neighbor who knows everything about everyone in Warsaw. How do they deal with daily life? Which images of Europe do they reveal?

Doc Next is a partnership between IDFA and the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), one that is based on a mutual concern for the inclusion of young D-I-Y media talent in public discussion. IDFA scouts for new talents by visiting film schools, writing to broadcasters, and through an intricate network of international scouts. Many young filmmakers also know where to find IDFA and send their work directly to the festival. Through its Doc Next Network in several European countries, the ECF aims to give a voice to young people who are often excluded from sharing their views and stories with a broad public in mainstream media.

Doc Next is a program of screenings, meetings, and debate. Doc Next films are screened prior to feature-length documentaries in the main program. More D-I-Y films can be seen in the Doc Next Mini Cinema on the Rembrandtsplein. As part of the Doc Next program, 10 young filmmakers are invited to take part in the IDFAcademy.

On Sunday, November 20, a Doc Next Industry Panel will tackle the question: “Is the documentary industry over the hill?” Against the backdrop of an aging TV audience, there is a new generation of media consumers, who in many cases are also media makers. Should the documentary industry try to adapt to these “prosumers”? And if so, how should it go about doing so?

See all Doc Next activities at www.idfa.nl/docnext.

More information about the Doc Next Network can be found at www.docnextnetwork.org. The Doc Next program guide can be found at all IDFA locations.

Brothers

Emi Mazurkiewicz (age 19), Poland

A short film capturing the love, life and imagination of two young brothers. 6’14”

Draw Me a Crisis

Alketa Ramaj (age 21), Albania/Greece

What does crisis mean in the eyes of young Greeks. 2’27”

Ebb and Tide

Akile Nazli Kaya (age 31), Turkey

A personal immigration story challenging the existing imagery of Turks in Europe. 11’01”

Epidermis

Alfonso Alcalá Olmo (age 27), Spain

A video dedicated to all the happy owners of a multiple, alternative and fragmented beauty that is different from the one dictating our markets. 2’00”

I’m Looking for Someone

Janusz Kojro (age 26), Poland

Polish Internet portals: statistically, in a city the size of Warsaw a reunion of two bystanders happens only once in 17 years. 3’27”

View from My window,

Katarzyna Nalewajka, Ula Klimek, Milosz Hermanowicz, Kamil Radziszewski and Jakub Piątek, Poland

A remix of 40 pictures by the late Polish photographer Mariusz Hermanowicz, taken from an apartment at 23 People’s Army Street. 1’52”

Media Deception

Zarah Kanwal, Fatima Patel, Tayyaba Malik, Rumana All, Nasaybah Hussain and Khadeejah Bepari (ages 13-18), United Kingdom

What do young Muslims think of the media? 2’45”

Political Brands, Empty Words Rocío Trejo Zamorano (age 21), Spain

A political video-remix about brands and politics. 1’10”

Launderette

Alex Neville (age 21), United Kingdom

A short contemplative documentary revolving around the late-night inhabitants of a launderette.

Best Documentary, 2011 BFI Futures Film Festival, Official Selection, 2010 Edinburgh International Film Festival, Official Selection, 2011 London International Documentary Festival, and Grand Jury Prize, 2010 SoFi Film Festival. 9’33”

Wires

Jacob Dwyer (age 23), United Kingdom

A man is trying to collect his memory on a rooftop via a wire full of photographs of different places. Did the photographs prompt his memory or become his memory? 7’57”

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Markets & Funding

The FORUM

for international co-financing of documentaries The FORUM is the world’s largest meeting place for professionals working in the documentary sector. Proposals for new documentary projects are pitched to commissioning editors, the representatives of broadcasting companies who are responsible for purchasing films, as well as other potentially interested financiers. For documentary professionals who are looking to gain insight into the latest market developments and the financing of documentary films, the FORUM is the place to be.

The FORUM is an important step on the path to obtaining full financing for projects. Nine out of 10 projects selected for a pitch find additional financing at the FORUM, and almost all of the projects presented at the FORUM end up getting made. For commissioning editors, sales agents and other financiers, the FORUM is a great place to find new documentaries. For producers with little international experience, it is an invaluable introduction to the international documentary market. By paying attention to alternative financing models, such as collaboration with non-governmental organizations, human rights organizations and crowd funding, the FORUM stays in touch with the latest market developments. After last year’s successful introduction of genre-specific programming, the FORUM will continue to program Arts & Culture and Crossmedia projects in specially intended Round Table sessions.

The total number of submissions was almost the same as last year: 475 in 2011 against 483 in 2010. Of these, the FORUM selected 57 projects. These projects will be pitched in different pitch categories, depending on their current stage of development, genre and financing.

In the Round Table setup, projects in different production stages are pitched in an intimate setting to a small group of commissioning editors and other financiers who have indicated their specific interest in the project. In the traditional Central Pitch setup, the producers take turns pitching their newest projects to broadcasters from around the world. Over the course of two mornings, around 20 projects will be presented. Observers are invited to attend both pitch setups.

During these pitching sessions, filmmakers and producers explain their intentions to commissioning editors and other financiers. The pitch covers all aspects of the film, in terms of style, content and production.

A moderated question-and-answer session gives the commissioning editors the opportunity to get more information from the pitch team as well as to express their opinion on the project. A small number of the project teams will not pitch in public. Instead, they are invited to meet with potential financiers during prearranged individual meetings.

The FORUM selected 8 of these individual meeting projects.

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All public pitches will be followed by prearranged one-on-one meetings, which gives the producer/filmmaker teams time to discuss the project more in depth with potential financiers. The FORUM staff organizes around 600 prearranged, one-on-one meetings that take place in the afternoons of the FORUM days. The combination of public pitches in various forms and the prearranged individual meetings ensure an optimal effect for producers and filmmakers.

In order to enhance the exchange of ideas and up-to-date market know-how, the FORUM program offers industry panels on various topics such as alternative financing and digital distribution. Two panels on co-producing will offer information on partnership opportunities with the Scandinavian counties and some Latin American countries. By participating in the FORUM, participants can find out which subjects and themes are currently popular and learn about the latest documentary developments and trends, becoming more market savvy in the process. The fact that the FORUM takes place during IDFA means that commissioning editors, financiers, and sales agents from all over the world are on the scene in Amsterdam.

Contacts made here often lead to some of the most successful documentary collaborations.

The 19th edition of the FORUM is being held November 21-23 at the Compagnietheater (Kloveniersburgwal 50). In order to attend, a valid FORUM accreditation is required.

Beneficiaries the FORUM

IDFA Industry Panels For all guests who wish to sharpen their awareness of the documentary industry and want to get up to speed with its latest developments, IDFA has organized three Industry Panels.

Doc Next Industry Panel: Is the Documentary Industry over the Hill?

Against the backdrop of an aging television audience, there is a new generation of media consumers who in many cases are also media producers. Should the documentary industry try to adapt to these “prosumers,” and how should it go about doing so?

In collaboration with the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) Sunday, November 20, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Markets & Funding

Docs for Sale The distribution market for the creative documentary is small and specialized. Buyers are scattered all over the world. They vary from large public broadcasters to small TV stations and from film theater distributors to documentary film festival programmers. Over the past few years, new web-based distribution platforms have made the market even less clear-cut.

Docs for Sale brings the players in the ever-changing creative documentary sector together in Amsterdam. Filmmakers, producers, and sales agents have the unique opportunity to bring their documentaries to the attention of potential TV buyers, festival programmers, and distributors.

Docs for Sale during IDFA

A fully digitized viewing system for finished documentaries makes Docs for Sale very useful and efficient for buyers and distributors alike. Producers and sales agents get immediate access to accurate and up-to-date reports of the buyers’ reactions to their films.

The catalogue numbers approximately 550 titles each year, categorized by theme. The selection process for Docs for Sale is a strict one: the films may not be more than one year old, and must be creative, highquality documentaries for both theatrical release and TV broadcast.

Apart from the screening facilities, Docs for Sale offers a range of panels and meetings for filmmakers to increase their knowledge and network. Filmmakers get to know TV buyers, sales agents, and festival programmers, and acquisition people get the chance to meet new talent.

Industry Panel: Digital Distribution If content and selection are the king and queen of the Internet, where should documentary filmmakers upload their crown jewels?

Moderated by Wendy Bernfeld (Rights Stuff) Monday, November 21, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Industry Panel: The Future of Documentary Financing Documentary budgets continue to shrink. What are the alternatives for documentary filmmakers to tell their stories?

Moderated by Wendy Mitchell (Screen International) Wednesday, November 23, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Docs for Sale Online

The catalogue has been available online since 2008. Here, sales agents and producers show their quality documentaries to potential buyers online throughout the year. The online catalogue currently features over 600 documentaries that can be streamed by its subscribers – predominantly TV buyers and festival programmers. It contains titles selected for this year’s Docs for Sale as well as older documentaries that should not be forgotten. The catalogue is continuously updated by sales agents and independent producers. Viewers can browse through the catalogue or perform a goal-oriented search – by subject, genre, length, producer, director, sales agent, etc.

The majority of the 550 films selected for this year’s Docs for Sale were made available through the online viewing system two weeks before the start of the festival. This enables buyers to do much of their viewing in the run-up to the festival, leaving them more time for networking and closing deals with producers and sales agents during the festival itself.

World Documentary Exchange

In 2009, Docs for Sale, the Jan Vrijman Fund (JVF), and the Doc Shop (documentary film festival Hot Docs) launched a unique transatlantic collaboration called World Documentary Exchange (WDE). This year, the collaboration was extended by including the Busan International Film Festival in Korea. At WDE, fledgling directors and producers attend panel discussions on various documentary markets, including the European, North American, Asian, and Middle Eastern markets.

They also receive advice from sales agents and television buyers in one-on-one meetings. WDE aims to support new documentary filmmakers in their search for distribution channels for their film, as well as deepen their knowledge of the documentary market. The participants either originate from North America, Asia or receive financial support from the Jan Vrijman Fund. Their films are being screened at this year’s IDFA and are included in Docs for Sale.

WDE is supported by MEDIA Mundus

M U N D U S

The 16th annual Docs for Sale is taking place November 18-25 in the art society Arti et Amicitiae (Rokin 112), offering buyers and sellers a stylish meeting place to network and do business.

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Jan Vrijman Fund IDFA’s Jan Vrijman Fund has been supporting independent documentary filmmaking in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe since 1998. In addition to granting contributions to individual film projects, the Fund also supports projects that promote local documentary production and distribution in general, such as workshops and documentary film festivals.

With a selection of 42 new projects that received a total of €459,600 in support, 2011 has been a year full of new filmmakers, stories, festivals and countries for the Fund. A selection that promises a rich harvest of new documentaries with powerful and urgent stories from countries like Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Kenya, and a poetic and stylized look at daily life in Serbia, Chile and India. In addition to the support given to the development and production of documentary films, this year’s project selection paid special attention to documentary festivals in war-torn areas. New initiatives in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone received a contribution to set up a festival.

In 2010, the Fund pooled efforts with the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund to bolster screenings of the documentaries that it supports. The first Cinema Mondial Tour traveled to 11 festivals across Africa and reached more then 33,000 spectators. In

The Night Watchman

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2011, the second edition of the tour began in Cameroon, and it will wrap up in Benin in January 2012. Again sponsored by both Funds, this film program consists of 14 films. 2012 will be the year to expand the Cinema Mondial Tour to new regions.

2011 Film Selection

IDFA 2011 is presenting 15 new Jan Vrijman Fund documentaries. This year’s harvest shows the diversity of filmmakers, regions, styles, and subjects that the Fund supports. The films are found in the different competition programs as well as in Reflecting Images: Masters, Best of Fests and Panorama.

The Fund’s involvement differs from film to film. It can be a small contribution to get a project started, such as in the case of Noosfera, a captivating portrait of sociologist Nicoalae Dumitru who preaches a theory about true love, and ¡Vivan las Antipodas!, Victor Kossakovsky’s breathtaking new work. But most of the time, the Fund has financed the production. In some cases, it was involved in both development and production, for instance with the critically acclaimed The Night Watchman, in which a graveyard is the setting for a serene look at Mexico’s excessive violence.

Markets & Funding

Six filmmakers are presenting their directorial debuts, including Citadel, an idiosyncratically filmed portrait of a Bolivian prison were inmates live with their families, and King Naki and the Thundering Hooves, which tells the story of a man’s persistence in pursuing a dream of wealth and victory to escape the treadmill of poverty.

2011 Film Selection

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary 5 Broken Cameras, Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi, Israel/Palestine/ France/The Netherlands, WP

In addition to the 15 new films, the program also includes two films from past years – Born to Be Blind (Roberto Berliner, Brazil, 2003) and I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth (Vicente Ferraz, Brazil, 2004) – as part of the Cinema do Brasil program that IDFA is presenting this year.

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary Noosfera, Artchil Khetagouri, Ileana Stanculescu, Romania, WP

At the FORUM for the co-financing of documentaries, two Jan Vrijman projects will be presented: Tea Time by new talent Maite Alberdi from Chile, whose debut film The Lifeguard is competing in this year’s First Appearance Competition, and Whose Country? by Egyptian filmmaker Mohamad Siam, which looks at the Egyptian Revolution through the lens of a family drama.

Reflecting Images – Best of Fests The Night Watchman, Natalia Almada, Mexico/USA

Partners

Reflecting Images – Panorama BOM, Amlan Datta, India/Japan, EP Bosnian Rhapsody: At the Margins of Science, Vesna Ljubic, Bosnia-Herzegovina, WP Citadel, Diego Mondaca, Bolivia/Germany, WP Drought, Everardo Gonzalez Reyes, Mexico, WP Frayland, Ramiro Ozer Ami, Sebastián Mayayo, Uruguay, WP The Invisible Policeman, Laith Al-Juneidi, Palestine/United Arab Emirates, WP Invoking Justice, Deepa Dhanraj, India/USA, WP Lupe of the Cow, Blanca X. Aguerre, Mexico, WP The Rat Race, Miriam Menacherry, India, WP Red Fairy n the Holy Ghost, Balaka Ghosh, India, WP

The Jan Vrijman Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the DOEN Foundation, Hivos Culture Fund, Media Mundus, and the Culture of Resistance Network.

DOEN Foundation’s ambition is to help build a world in which everyone can make a contribution. DOEN promotes sustainable, cultural and social pioneers. DOEN has supported the Jan Vrijman Fund since 2000. This is because the Fund aims to empower local, independent film culture in countries in transition and offers a platform for discussion and exchange of ideas, which in turn contributes to the development of multiform societies. www.doen.nl Hivos Culture Fund supports the Jan Vrijman Fund because it finances the production and distribution of high-quality documentaries made by filmmakers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Through their films and documentaries, filmmakers from these regions present their views on society and their hopes for improving it. For development organization Hivos, art and culture are essential for fostering development and emancipation processes as they provide space for creative expression and critical reflection. www.hivos.nl

IDFA Competition for First Appearance King Naki and the Thundering Hooves, Tim Wege, South Africa, IP

Reflecting Images – Masters ¡Vivan las Antipodas!, Victor Kossakovsky, Germany/The Netherlands/Chile/Argentina

Cinema do Brasil Born to Be Blind, Roberto Berliner, Brazil I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth, Vicente Ferraz, Brazil/Costa Rica

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Training & Education

IDFAcademy IDFA offers talented international documentary filmmakers a training program that functions as a bridge between film school and practice. IDFAcademy takes place both during the festival and throughout the year, with the international training program IDFAcademy Summer School in July.

IDFAcademy program The IDFAcademy program includes both plenary sessions as well as several smaller sessions. The smaller sessions run parallel to one another, so the participants have to choose which session they attend, according to their interests.

During the festival, IDFAcademy offers an annual three-day training program for emerging filmmakers, producers, and film students.

The program gives them the opportunity to meet highly esteemed documentary professionals who are willing to share their knowledge of the industry.

During both the plenary and smaller sessions, participants can find out about the latest developments and sharpen their industry awareness. The meetings and workshops cover themes from production processes to financing and distribution. There will also be time for discussion and questions.

This year’s IDFAcademy is presenting a broad variety of inspirational tutors and masters of the genre, from filmmakers to distributors. The curriculum contains master classes, case studies, lectures, panels, small-scale workshops, and roundtable sessions with international professionals. The IDFAcademy program takes place November 18-20 in the Compagnietheater.

Plenary sessions

New this year is the Meet the Participants program on Thursday, November 17. Before IDFAcademy officially starts on Friday, November 18, participants get the chance to meet each other during an afternoon session hosted by the Netherlands Film and Television Academy (NFTA). Meet the Participants includes a film screening of ¡Vivan las Antipodas!, the new film by Victor Kossakovsky, followed by a Q&A.

International Industry

The Ambassador

Mads Brügger, the director of The Ambassador (IDFA’s opening film this year) gives a master class on his modus operandi, focusing especially on The Ambassador, a genre-breaking and tragic comedy about the bizarre world of African diplomacy.

An introduction to the world of international co-financing and coproducing, during which professionals share their knowledge of how to find partners in producing and financing. This session is followed by an introduction of the most important players in the field. Who do you need for your specific genre and what can they offer?

Selling Your Film

There are many ways of getting your documentary out there. Orly Ravid, founder and co-executive director of The Film Collaborative, and Peter Jäger from Autlook Filmsales discuss both traditional ways of getting documentaries into the world, like selling them to television stations, and new, do-it-yourself distribution techniques, using excerpts and examples from several films as a means of illustration.

Doc Next Industry Panel: Is the Documentary Industry over the Hill?

The Ambassador

Against the backdrop of an aging television audience, a new generation of media consumers is emerging who in many cases are also media producers. Should the documentary industry try to adapt to these “prosumers,” and how should it go about doing so?

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This plenary session is one of the three IDFA Industry Panels, hosted in collaboration with the European Cultural Foundation (ECF).

Beneficiary IDFAcademy

Training & Education

IDFA Docschool Small sessions The small sessions deal with a variety of topics. Filmmaker PeÅ Holmquist gives a lecture on “The Holy Story,” dealing with mainstream storytelling in television documentaries and the fascinating alternatives. Ove Rishøj Jensen, Jan Rofekamp and Stefan Kloos discuss the secrets behind and the importance of an enticing opening to a film. There’s a pitch and trailer training hosted by Mikael Opstrup from the European Documentary Network (EDN). A session on digital storytelling deals with new innovative formats illustrated by three case studies: Condition One, Barcode.tv, and Insitu. Adam Chapnick of IndieGoGo elaborates on the dos en don’ts when using the crowd funding platform, and filmmakers Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix talk about how they used Kickstarter to find the missing financing for their film.

Meet the Professionals Every IDFAcademy day is concluded with round table sessions with professionals attending IDFA. All participants get the opportunity to ask questions, get advice, and listen to experts from different documentary disciplines. Participants who would like to get advice on their project have the opportunity to arrange a one-on-one meeting with a professional.

IDFAcademy Summer School From July 4-9, 2011, cultural center De Brakke Grond in the heart of Amsterdam was host to the 4th annual IDFAcademy Summer School.

Twenty-seven enthusiastic, ambitious young filmmakers gathered in this cultural hub to exchange ideas, work on their projects, make new contacts, and learn more about their craft. Together with eight tutors, these talented filmmakers worked on developing and fine-tuning their film plans. The participants were divided into a script group and an editing group. The program included a mix of individual sessions involving filmmakers and their tutors, as well as group seminars in which participants could offer advice and critique one another’s work. The program also hosted a series of lectures with Janus Metz talking about structuring the story and Marjoleine Boonstra on the visual aspects of storytelling.

Three films in this year’s IDFA program were developed in the Summer Schools of 2008-2010: Citadel (Diego Mondaca, Bolivia/ Germany), King Naki and the Thundering Hooves (Tim Wege, South Africa), and 5 Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi, Israel/ Palestine/France/The Netherlands).

The IDFA educational program consists of special film screenings for youngsters during the festival and teaching tools that can be accessed on the website throughout the year.

About 5,000 Dutch students are coming to IDFA to attend early-morning screenings. Films have been selected for three different age groups.

For primary schools (children ages 9-12), four short documentaries have been selected and are screening in pairs of two: 2Brothers (Hilt Lochten) and Flying Anne (Catherine van Campen); I Am a Girl! (Susan Koenen), and I’m Never Afraid! (Willem Baptist). For high school underclassmen (children ages 12-14), the selection includes One Way, a Tuareg Journey (Fabio Caramaschi), I Am a Girl! (Susan Koenen), and Solo, the Law of the Favela (Jos de Putter). High school upperclassmen (ages 15-18) are watching Autumn Gold (Jan Tenhaven) and Blood in the Mobile (Frank Piasecki Poulsen).

In cooperation with distributors, IDFA has set up a video and DVD label for educational purposes, offering a wide range of documentaries for screening in classrooms. A special website (www.docschool.nl) introduces students to the documentary genre in a playful, interactive way. This website is the documentary platform for schools, where teachers can find excerpts and interviews focusing on five documentary films. Teachers can find background information and useful links on the site that help them work with documentaries in the classroom, and an online gallery contains short documentaries produced by young people.

In addition to screenings and teaching aids, IDFA organizes in-school master classes and workshops, introducing students to filmmakers who discuss their practical experiences.

Docschool Debate This year, IDFA is presenting a new educational initiative during the festival. Docschool Debate includes the screening of a documentary about a subject high school students can relate to and a discussion between the kids and their teachers. Educators and professionals provide their opinions and discuss the issue with the audience.

Docschool Debate kicks off with a screening of The Bully Project (Lee Hirsch), a film about bullying in American high schools. Following the screening, the debate focuses on bullying in the Netherlands and is hosted by peer educators from Diversion, an Amsterdam-based agency for social innovation.

Beneficiary Docschool Debate

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Training & Education

IDFA-Mediafonds Workshop This seven-month course, which takes place from May to November, teaches aspiring documentary filmmakers to turn an original idea into a practical, ready-to-make documentary film plan. The 21st IDFA-Mediafonds Workshop is organized in cooperation with the Dutch Cultural Media Fund. Established with the aim of discovering and fostering new documentary talent, it now delivers on average of eight projects each year, of which approximately 40% are realized as documentaries for Dutch public broadcasters.

For this year’s workshop, seven projects were selected from almost 60 submissions. The group of talented filmmakers was mentored by filmmakers Eugenie Jansen and Albert Elings. Jansen and Elings have been working together since 1994, and their first joint project was the award-winning film Scary Man (1996). Other collaborations include Nonnevotte (1998), A Daily Life (2000), The Royal Wedding Tapes (2002), and the feature-length documentary Foreland (2005). Aside from their work on their own films, they love to get involved in projects by other filmmakers. They received a Golden Calf for their editing in Rob Smits’s documentary Jungle Rudy. They also edited the Pakistani documentary Dinner with the President (Saniha Sumar, 2008), which has screened at IDFA, Sundance, and many other film festivals around the world.

In addition to Jansen and Elings, various guest lecturers have evaluated the projects, including John Appel (André Hazes – The Film), Digna Sinke (Noting Lasts Forever, Tiengemeten), and Aliona van der Horst (Boris Ryzhy, Voices of Bam).

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During the festival, the participants get the opportunity to present their film plans to broadcasters and producers. Kaie Klaassen, producer at Moving Image Production, has been coaching the participants prior to these pitch presentations.

Furthermore, a jury of filmmakers and representatives of the Dutch broadcasters assesses the final versions of the film plans. During IDFA’s opening night on November 16, the Dutch Cultural Media Fund present the winner with €125,000 to realize his or her film. This year’s participants are Hans Busstra, Jesse de Jong, Nelleke Koop, Nirit Peled, Eva van Pelt, Janina Pigaht, and Camiel Zwart.

The following films were made as a result of previous editions of the IDFA-Mediafonds Workshop and are screening at this year’s festival: Coffee, Cake & Crematorium (Sergej Kreso, The Netherlands) The Man in Black (Martijn Blekendaal, The Netherlands) The Miracle of Weebosch (Wendelien Voogd, The Netherlands)

Training & Education

Kids & Docs Workshop A select group of aspiring filmmakers gets the chance to participate in this six-month course, which started in September 2011 and will continue until February 2012. Participants develop a film plan for a 15-minute documentary that focuses on children. Each of the 10 filmmakers who complete the course receive support from one of the participating broadcasters. Children are the driving force behind the documentaries, which address an event or situation that is important to them in some way.

Since the start of the workshop in 1999, it has produced over 60 children’s documentaries. The educational process, the six-month workshop, and the growing involvement of a large number of public broadcasters now make a sizable contribution to the creation and continuing existence of this genre.

The following films were made as a result of previous editions of the Kids & Docs Workshop and are screening at this year’s festival: Inside My Head (Erna Slotboom, The Netherlands) Nadia Ticks (Laetitia Schoofs, The Netherlands) Wild Lilly (Sanne Rovers, The Netherlands) The Man Who Can (Nadine Kuipers, The Netherlands) Grandma Lien (Annelies de Wit, The Netherlands) Play for Keeps (Arnold van Bruggen, The Netherlands) Raman (Ivanka Bakker, The Netherlands) One Way Ticket to Bussum (Renee Wilna Span, The Netherlands) From Africa to Assen (Lieza Roben, The Netherlands)

This year’s Kids & Docs Workshop is being supervised by filmmakers Mischa Kamp (Winky’s Horse, Naked) and Maaik Krijgsman (Looking for an Icon, Dutch Weed).

At the end of the workshop, all projects are eligible for funding from the Dutch Cultural Media Fund. In April 2011, Erna Slotboom’s project Inside My Head was selected as the winner of last year’s participants.

In addition to the winning project, other workshop projects also get produced and broadcast. The Kids & Docs workshop is a joint venture of IDFA, Cinekid, the Dutch Cultural Media Fund, and is supported by the children’s television network Z@pp.

Beneficiary Documentary Workshop/Kids& Docs Workshop

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The most complete digital facility house

CINECO B.V. Willem Fenengastraat 39, Postbus 94764 1090 GT Amsterdam Telefoon 020 - 568 54 11 Fax 020 - 568 54 00 E-mail: info@cineco.nl www.cineco.nl

CIN0517 ADV IDFA 210x210.indd 1

28-10-09 12:52

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

offsCreen aCtivities IDFA Media Talks IDFA is a film festival, but it is also a meeting place where filmmakers, experts and audiences exchange ideas in debates, master classes, presentations and daily talkshows.

IDFA Media Talks is supported by Mediafonds (Dutch Cultural Media Fund).

271 12:52

IDFA Media Talks

IDFA Media Talks Daily events at the Escape club and Tuschinski cinema: Meet the Makers (11:00 a.m., Escape), Extended Q&As (around noon, Tuschinski 2), Hi Tea (4:00 p.m., Tuschinski VIP Room), and Talk Shows (8:00 p.m., Escape).

Meet the makers

Saturday, November 19: Steve James

The acclaimed American filmmaker Steve James discusses his life’s work in relation to his choices for this year’s Top 10: what did he learn from those classics, and how did he incorporate these lessons into the making of his own films?

Monday, November 21: Brasil’s Cinema Carnaval

A big group of filmmakers from IDFA’s special national focus section Cinema do Brasil dance up a storm of images and ideas in a lively discussion about what moves filmmaking in South America’s largest nation.

Tuesday, November 22: Music for the Eyes

Featuring major music makers and key filmmakers from the new IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary, a collaboration with Amsterdam’s famous concert hall Melkweg. A sampling of the musical documentary will be both seen and heard.

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Wednesday, November 23: PopDocs

More and more, documentary filmmakers are looking for new, more entertaining, and more populist strategies. These popdoc creators use techniques from fiction storytelling (from thrillers to comedies) to get behind the scenes of reality.

Extended Q&As Every day around noon: an extended, in-depth conversation after a film from IDFA’s program, in which experts on the subject will strike up a conversation with the filmmakers.

Thursday, November 17: Sarah Palin

In his new film, Nick Broomfield examines “hockey mom” and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Former United States correspondent Twan Huys will interview him about the film.

Friday, November 18: Pink Ribbons Inc.

Representatives of Pink Ribbon, the international organization that fights breast cancer, react to the critical documentary Léa Pool made about their organization.

IDFA Media Talks

Monday, November 21: Surviving Progress

Hi Tea with Ally and Peter From Friday November 18 to Thursday November 24, IDFA Director Ally Derks and the ubiquitous IDFAcolyte Peter Wintonick host extended daily discussions with special or secret guests, marking significant issues flowing out of the IDFA program in an informal context.

Tuesday, November 22: Letters from Iran

Talk Show Dutch TV personality Daphne Bunskoek discusses the stories behind the documentaries with directors, protagonists, and experts. Guests include up-and-coming talents as well as experienced filmmakers, including Mads Brüger (director of IDFA’s opening film The Ambassador), João Moreira Salles (Intermissions, A Night in 67), and guest of honor and compiler of the Top 10 Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters). Sidekick Peter Wintonick will provide his personal film recommendations, and there is musical support from DJ Suna, IDFA’s musical moderator. Suna will also reveal her personal favorites from the films in the IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary. Entrance is free! Check the announcements in the IDFA Daily for a day-to-day schedule of guests.

Is progress always an improvement? Can man and earth still keep up with the rapid changes in our society? These are the questions asked

by Surviving Progress. Climate ambassador and optimist Aart van Veller discusses the issues with directors Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks.

Inside a Closed Iran shows post-Green Revolution Iran from the inside.

Journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari, born in Iran but now living and working in London, interviews the filmmakers about their closed country.

Wednesday November 23: Putin’s Kiss

Director Lise Birk Pedersen discusses her film Putin’s Kiss with an expert on Russian society. The film captures the political awakening of 19-year-old Marsha, spokesperson for the patriotic Russian youth movement Nashi.

Thursday, November 24: Cinema Jenin

Director Marcus Vetter discusses his Cinema Jenin with Sabine Lubbe Bakker and brings along its protagonist Fahkri. His film revolves around the renovation of an old movie theater in the Palestinian city of Jenin.

Beneficiary IDFA Media Talks

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PRE SE NT S

BALLROOM DANCER

De kunst van het selecteren

A FILM BY CHRISTIAN BONKE & ANDREAS KOEFOED The former world champion Slavik Kryklyvyy is making his comeback with his younger partner and girlfriend Anna Melnikova - a comeback that turns out to be much more painful than he expected. When he came on the scene, he was the fastest rising star in the history of ballroom dancing making it to world champion in a little over a year. Unfortunately, Slavik has been unable to maintain long-term partnerships, which has kept him away from the competition floor for a long time. Now, with his new dance partner and girlfriend, Anna, he has his mind set to regain lost ground and once again become the best dancer in the world.

IDFA COMPETITION FOR FIRST APPEARENCE

FACEBOOK.COM/BALLROOMDANCERMOVIE // TWITTER.COM/BALLROOMMOVIE

EKKO Magazine, April 2011

LOVE ADDICT A FILM BY JORIS IVENS WINNER PERNILLE ROSE GRØNKJÆR

- DIRECTOR OF THE MONASTERY - MR VIG AND THE NUN LOVE ADDICT, Stories of dreams, obsession and longing.

How does it feel to be addicted to love? To rush from zero to velcro at first sight? Through seven personal stories comes a tale of the longing for life’s ultimate aphrodisiac: Love.

Addicts trapped in a fantasy, riding high on the white horse of eternal, passionate love. A film about the all-consuming obsession to obtain and arrest the love of others. The give and take between trust and neglect, dreams and delusions, pleasure and pain, sanity and insanity and the inescapable fact that in the end we all just want to love and be loved in return.

IDFA REFLECTING IMAGES - MASTERS

WWW.LOVEADDICTMOVIE.COM

FREE THE MIND

A NEW FILM BY PHIE AMBO

PREMIERE IN 2012

The number of soldiers committing suicide is greater than the amount killed in battle. One of the world’s leading brainscientists wants to change this. Based on thorough studies of neuro-plasticity, he decides to conduct an unusual experiment: he will teach the troubled veterans yoga and breathing. Will meditation help the soldiers recover from their mental war wounds?

Bij Insinger de Beaufort selecteren wij voor onze cliënten onder meer de beste fondsen ter wereld. Maar bij private banking gaat het om meer dan beleggen alleen. Advies bij vermogensoverdracht, een bijzondere hypotheekconstructie of het faciliteren van besloten netwerken. Zo organiseren wij kleinschalige diners en concerten in onze bank tot sneak previews in Tuschinski. Ook zijn wij, als trotse sponsor van IDFA, initiatiefnemer van de IdB-IDFA Filmdag. Een dag waarop IDFA op haar beurt voor onze relaties de beste documentaires ter wereld selecteert.

Zo hebben een documentairefestival en een private bank meer met elkaar gemeen dan je op het eerste gezicht zou denken. Meer weten over de bank die het ongewone gewoon maakt? Kijk voor een sneak preview op onze website.

WWW.FREETHEMINDTHEMOVIE.COM // FACEBOOK.COM/FREETHEMIND Foto: atrium Insinger de Beaufort

More info at: www.danishdocumentary.com

www.insinger.com

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

index

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Indexes | Award Winners

Award Winners 1988 – 2010 VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary 2010 Position Among the Stars, Leonard Retel Helmrich, The Netherlands, 2010 2009 Last Train Home, Lixin Fan, China/Canada, 2009 2008 Burma VJ – Reporting from a Closed Country, Anders Østergaard, Denmark/ Sweden/United Kingdom/Norway, 2008 2007 Stranded, Gonzalo Arijon, France, 2007 2006 The Monastery – Mr. Vig & the Nun, Pernille Rose Grønkjær, Denmark, 2006 2005 My Grandmother’s House, Adán Aliaga, Spain, 2005 2004 Stand van de maan, Leonard Retel Helmrich, The Netherlands, 2004 2003 Checkpoint, Yoav Shamir, Israel, 2003 2002 Stevie, Steve James, United States, 2002 2001 Family, Phie Ambo & Sami Saif, Denmark, 2001 2000 The Sea that Thinks, Gert de Graaff, The Netherlands, 2000 1999 André Hazes – She Believes In Me, John Appel, The Netherlands, 1999 1998 Photographer, Dariusz Jablonski, Poland, 1998 1997 Wasteland, Andrei Schwartz, Germany, 1997 1996 Atman, Pirjo Honkasalo, Finland/Germany, 1996 1995 Délits flagrants, Raymond Depardon, France, 1994 1994 Solo, the Law of the Favela, Jos de Putter, The Netherlands, 1994 1993 The Belovs, Victor Kossakovsky, Russia, 1993 1992 La memoria del agua, Héctor Fáver, Spain, 1992 1991 Dreams and Silence, Omar Al-Qattan, Belgium, 1991 1990 Christo in Paris, David Maysles, United States, 1990 1989 The Crossroad, Ivars Seleckis, Latvia, 1988 1988 Birthplace Unknown, Karin Junger, The Netherlands, 1988 en Island, Ruben Gevorksjanz, USSR, 1988 Special Jury Award 2010 You Don’t Like the Truth – 4 Days Inside Guantánamo, Luc Coté & Patricio Henriquez, Canada, 2010 2009 The Most Dangerous Man in America, Judith Ehrlich & Rick Goldsmith, United States, 2009 2008 Forgetting Dad, Rick Minnich & Matthew Sweetwood, Germany, 2008 2007 Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, Kim Longinotto, United Kingdom, 2007 2006 Tender’s Heat. Wild Wild Beach, Alexander Rastorguev, Russia, 2006 2005 Our Daily Bread, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Austria, 2005 2004 Liberia: An Uncivil War, Jonathan Stack & James Brabazon, United States, 2004 2003 The Corporation, Mark Achbar & Jennifer Abbott, Canada, 2003 2002 On Hitler’s Highway, Lech Kowalski, France, 2002 2001 Elsewhere, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Austria, 2001 2000 Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale, Laurie Gwen Shapiro & David Shapiro, United States, 2000 1999 A Cry from the Grave, Leslie Woodhead, United Kingdom, 1999 1998 Pavel and Lyalya – A Jerusalem Romance, Victor Kossakovsky, Russia, 1998 1997 Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Werner Herzog, Germany, 1997 1996 The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera, Adam Simon, United Kingdom, 1996 1995 Picasso Would Have Made a Glorious Waiter, Jonathan Schell, United States, 1994 1994 Choice and Destiny, Tsipi Reibenbach, Israel, 1993 1993 Losses to Be Expected, Ulrich Seidl, Austria, 1992 1992 Black Harvest, Robin Anderson & Bob Connolly, Australia, 1992 1991 Djembéfola, Laurent Chevallier, France, 1991 1990 The Collector, Erik Strömdahl, Sweden, 1989 1989 The Power of Solovki, Marina Goldovskaya, USSR, 1988 1988 Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie, Marcel Ophüls, France/United States, 1988

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Members of the Jury 2010 Lixin Fan (Canada), Orlando Bagwell (United States), Monique van de Ven (The Netherlands), Frederic Boyer (France), Vibeke Bryld (Denmark) 2009 Geoffrey Gilmore (United States), Anders Østergaard (Denmark), JeanMarie Téno (Cameroon/France), Jenny Westergård (Finland), Willeke van Ammelrooy (The Netherlands) 2008 Christoph Jörg (Germany), Wouter Barendrecht (The Netherlands), Deepa Dhanraj (India), Bianca Stigter (The Netherlands), Sandra Ruch (United States) 2007 Diane Weyermann (United States), Jos Stelling (The Netherlands), Ilan de-Vries (Israel), Roberto Berliner (Brazil), Vidyarthy Chartterjee (India) 2006 Claire Aguilar (United States), Igor Blažević (Czech Republic), Jasmine Dellal (United Kingdom), Niek Koppen (The Netherlands), Gerald Peary (United States) 2005 Luke Holland (United Kingdom), Jehane Noujaim (United States), Leonard Retel Helmrich (The Netherlands), Carmen Cobos (The Netherlands), Tamara Trampe (Germany) 2004 John Anderson (United States), Karen Cooper (United States), Pieter van Huystee (The Netherlands), Pirjo Honkasalo (Finland), Yoav Shamir (Israel) 2003 Roberto Berliner (Brazil), Bob Connolly (Australia), Peter Mettler (Switzerland), Joyce Roodnat (The Netherlands), Monika Treut (Germany) 2002 Phie Ambo (Denmark), Maziar Bahari (Iran), Pieter van Huystee (The Netherlands), Dennis O’Rourke (Australia), Jonathan Stack (United States) 2001 Jane Balfour (United Kingdom), Amit Breuer (Israel), Peter Brosens (Belgium), Gert de Graaff (The Netherlands), Peter Wintonick (Canada) 2000 John Appel (The Netherlands), Les Blank (United States), Zita Carvalhosa (Brazil), Victor Kossakovsky (Russia), Rada Sesic (The Netherlands) 1999 Dariusz Jablonski (Poland), Mandy Jacobson (South Africa), Emiko Omori (United States), Pieter Verhoeff (The Netherlands), Paul Yule (United Kingdom) 1998 Erika de Hadeln (Germany), Ot Louw (The Netherlands), Tue Steen Müller (Denmark), Toni Venturi (Brazil), Diane Weyermann (United States) 1997 Arthur Dong (United States), Kerstin Hagrup (Denmark), Jørgen Leth (Denmark), Robby Müller (The Netherlands), Katsue Tomiyama (Japan) 1996 Nicholas Fraser (United Kingdom), Marina Goldovskaja (Russia/United States), Torben Skjodt Jensen (Denmark), Amir Labaki (Brazil), Anne Lordon (The Netherlands/France) 1995 Elaine Charnov (United States), Chris Haws (United Kingdom), Irina Knochenhauer (Russia/Germany), Jos de Putter (The Netherlands), Sibylle Schönemann (Germany) 1994 Erik Barnouw (United States), Andrzej Kolodinski (Poland), Sonja de Leeuw (The Netherlands), Norma Marcos (Palestine), Lionel N’Gakane (South Africa) 1993 Karl Gass (Germany), Heddy Honigmann (The Netherlands), Stephen Peet (United Kingdom) Dea Sudarman (Indonesia), William Uricchio (United States/The Netherlands) 1992 Santiago Alvarez (Cuba), Rinki Bhattacharya (India), Lise Roos (Denmark), Jos Stelling (The Netherlands), Ilan de-Vries (Israel) 1991 Nouchka van Brakel (The Netherlands), Rafi Bukaee (Israel), Marion Mitchell (France), Helke Misselwitz (Germany), Jerzy Toeplitz (Poland) 1990 Ireen van Ditshuyzen (The Netherlands), Chris Hegedus (United States), K. Michel (The Netherlands), Juris Podniek (Latvia), Mick Hart Williams (United Kingdom) 1989 Johan Anthierens (Belgium), Robert Daudelin (Canada), Richard Kaplan (United States), Ellen Waller (The Netherlands), Marceline Loridan (France) 1988 Judy Irola (United States), Hedda van Gennep (The Netherlands), MarkToomas Soosaar (Estonia), Jan de Vaal (The Netherlands), Frederick Wiseman (United States)

Indexes | Award Winners

NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary 2010 People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am, Boris Gerrets, The Netherlands, 2010 2009 Iron Crows, Bong-Nam Park, South Korea, 2009 2008 Boris Ryzhy, Aliona van der Horst, The Netherlands, 2008 2007 To See If I’m Smiling, Tamar Yarom, Israel, 2007 2006 Enemies of Happiness, Eva Mulvad, Denmark, 2006 2005 Before Flying Back to the Earth, Arûnas Matelis, Lithuania/Germany, 2005 2004 Georgi and the Butterflies, Andrey Paounov, Bulgaria, 2004 2003 Surplus – Terrorized into Being Consumers, Erik Gandini, Sweden, 2003 2002 Interesting Times – The Secret of My Success, Jinchuan Duan, China, 2002 2001 Haj-Abbas’ Wives, Mohsen Abdolvahab, Iran, 2001 2000 Jung (War) in the Land of the Mujaheddin, Fabrizio Lazzaretti & Alberto Vendemmiati, Afghanistan/Italy, 2000 1999 Kids from the Coal Land – A Lettre to Henri Storck, Patric Jean, Belgium, 1999 1998 Hephzibah, Curtis Levy, Australia, 1998 1997 Gigi, Monica... & Bianca, Yasmina Abdellaoui & Benoît Dervaux, Belgium, 1996 1996 Mr. Behrmann – Life Dream Death, Andreas Voigt, Germany, 1995 1995 6 Open, 21 Closed, Amit Goren, Israel, 1994 Special Jury Award 2008 Lady Kul el Arab, Ibtisam Mara’ana, Israel, 2008 IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary 2009 Six Weeks, Marcin Janos Krawczyk, Polen, 2009 2008 Slaves – An Animated Documentary, Hanna Heilborn & David Aronowitsch, Sweden/Norway/Denmark, 2008 2007 The Tailor, Oscar Pérez, Spain, 2007 2006 My Eyes, Erlend E. Mo, Denmark, 2006 2005 Butterfly Man, Samantha Rebillet, Australia, 2004 Members of the Jury 2010 Bong-Nam Park (South Korea), Greg Sanderson (United Kingdom), Jennifer Fox (United States), Henk Camping (The Netherlands), Ilana Tsur (Israel) 2009 Lorenzo Hendel (Italy), Ibtisam Mara’ana (Israel), Zola Maseko (Mozambique), Jennifer Merin (United States), Mercedes Stalenhoef (The Netherlands) 2008 Nishtha Jain (India), Rik Stallaerts (Belgium), Jeanne Wikler (United States), Thomas White (United States), Jess Search (United Kingdom) 2007 Cees van Ede (The Netherlands), Kerstin Hagrup (Sweden) , Rudy Buttignol (Italy), Anna Glogowski (Brazil), Goran Radovanovic (Serbia) 2006 Heather Croall (Australia), Arunas Matelis (Lithuania), Mercedes Moncada Rodriguez (Nicaragua), Tomohide Terai (Japan), Silvia Hallensleben (Germany) 2005 Bert Janssens (The Netherlands), Marie Nathanson (Canada), Cyril Neyrat (France), Andrey Paounov (Bulgaria), Vera Vlajic (Serbia) 2004 Erik Gandini (Sweden), Wessel van de Hammen (The Netherlands), Irina Kanousheva (Bulgaria), Björn Koll (Germany), André Pâquet (Canada) 2003 Rudy Buttignol (Canada), Peter Forgacs (Hungary), Carel Kuyl (The Netherlands), Luciano Rignolini (France), Jay Rosenblatt (United States) 2002 Fransico Cesar-Filho (Brazil), Anna Glogowski (Brazil), Aliona van de Horst (The Netherlands), Catherine Olsen (Canada), Eila Werning (Finland) 2001 Julie Anderson (United States), John Hughes (Australia), Noshka van der Lely (The Netherlands), Marguerite Seguy (France), Juan Fransisco Urrusti (Mexico) 2000 Willemien van Aalst (The Netherlands), Madeleine Avramoussis (France), Thomas Balmès (France), Patric Jean (Belgium), Iikka Vehkalahti (Finland)

1999 Catherine le Clef (Belgium), Werner Dütch (Germany), Cees van Ede (The Netherlands), Sigve Endresen (Norway), Paul Pauwels (Belgium) 1998 Cees van Ede (The Netherlands), Jeremy Gibson (United Kingdom), Peter Friedman (France), Karolina Lidin (Denmark), Kim Longinotto (United Kingdom) 1997 Cees van Ede (The Netherlands), Hans Beerekamp (The Netherlands), Chris Haws (United Kingdom), Mette Hoffman Meyer (Denmark), Andreas Voigt (Germany) 1996 Cees van Ede (The Netherlands), Hans Beerekamp (The Netherlands), Carel Kuyl (The Netherlands) 1995 Cees van Ede (The Netherlands), Hans Beerekamp (The Netherlands), Carel Kuyl (The Netherlands), Andree van Es (The Netherlands), Jeanne Wikler (The Netherlands/United States) IDFA Award for Best First Appearance 2010 Kano: An American and His Harem, Monster Jimenez, Philippines, 2010 2009 Colony, Ross McDonnell & Carter Gunn, Ireland/United States, 2009 2008 Constantin and Elena, Andrei Dascalescu, Romania, 2008 2007 End of the Rainbow, Robert Nugent, Australia/France, 2007 2006 We Are Together, Paul Taylor, United Kingdom, 2006 2005 The Angelmakers, Astrid Bussink, Hungary/The Netherlands/Scotland, 2005 2004 The Bridge, Ileana Stanculescu, Romania, 2004 2003 My Flesh and Blood, Jonathan Karsh, United States, 2003 & The Very Best Day, Pavel Medvedev, Russia, 2002 2002 Barbeiros, Mervi Junkkonen, Finland, 2001 2001 Bitch, Igor Voloshin, Russia, 2001 2000 Hybrid, Monteith McCollum, United States, 2000 1999 Between 2 Worlds, Bettina Haasen, Germany, 1999 1998 Howling for God, Dan Alexe, Belgium, 1998 1997 Anthem, an American Road Story, Shainee Gabel & Kristin Hahn, United States, 1997 Members of the Jury 2010 Jawed Taiman (United Kingdom), Bill Nichols (United States), Outi Saarikoski-Schimberg (Finland), Walter Stokman (The Netherlands), Omar Amiralay (Syria) 2009 Cameron Bailey (Canada), Andrei Dascalescu (Romania), Joan Legalamitlwa (South Africa), Brian Winston (United Kingdom), Herman de Wit (The Netherlands) 2008 André Bennett (Canada), Diana Nenadi (Croatia), Marrie Bot (The Netherlands), Oscar Pérez (Spain), Sally Berger (United States) 2007 Jonathan Stack (United States), Jane Balfour (United Kingdom), Amir Labaki (Brazil), Arik Bernstein (Israel), Pieter van Lierop (The Netherlands) 2006 Astrid Bussink (The Netherlands), Doug Block (United States), Dimitri Eipides (Greece), Cecilia Lidin (Denmark), Andrei Plakhov (Ukraine) 2005 Asano Fuijko (Japan), Bert Hogenkamp (The Netherlands), Ulla Jacobsen (Denmark), Nenad Puhovski (Croatia), Ileana Stanculescu (Romania) 2004 Eugene Hernandez (United States), Ditsi Carolino (Philippines), Jean-Pierre Rehm (France), Nodu Murphy (South Africa), Ineke Smits (The Netherlands) 2003 Michel Euvrard (Canada), Leslie Felperin (United Kingdom), Flavia de la Fuente (Argentina), Annette Willis (Australia), Karin Wolfs (The Netherlands) 2002 Leo Bankersen (The Netherlands), Marina Drozdova (Russia), Mathias Heybrock (Germany), Peter Keough (United States), Jorge Yglesias (Cuba) 2001 Ronald Bergan (United Kingdom), Peter van Bueren (The Netherlands), Ingrid Dokka (Norway), Ludmila Hristova-Diakova (Bulgaria), Gustavo Noriega (Argentina)

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Indexes | Award Winners

2000 Göran Bjelkendal (Sweden), Caroline Buck (Germany), Koen van Daele (Slovenia), Nelson Hoineff (Brazil), Annelotte Verhaagen (The Netherlands) 1999 Victoria Belopolskia (Russia), Jos van der Burg (The Netherlands), Eva af Geijerstam (Sweden), Marc Glassman (Canada), Sasa Radojevic (Yugoslavia) 1998 Heikki Jokinen (Finland), Jeroen Lok (The Netherlands), Irit Shamgar (Israel), Carlos Alberto Mattos (Brazil), Alexander Yankiev (Bulgaria) 1997 Andrzej Kolodynski (Poland), Angela Baldassarre (Canada), Hans-Günter Dicks (Germany), Mieke Bernink (The Netherlands), Altaf Mazid (India) 1996 Eduardo Antin (Argentina), Huib Stam (The Netherlands), Espen Mineur Saetre (Norway), Peter Cargin (United Kingdom), Monica Haïm (Romania) IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary 2010 What’s in a Name, Eva Küpper, Belgium, 2010 2009 Redemption, Sabrina Wulff, Germany, 2009 2008 Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies, Yulene Olaizola, Mexico, 2008 2007 Paradise – Three Journeys in this World, Elina Hirvonen, Finland, 2007 Members of the Jury 2010 Sabrina Wulff (Germany), Jelle van Doornik (The Netherlands), Andreas Koefoed (Denmark) 2009 Matthijs Wouter Knol (The Netherlands), Yulene Olaizola (Mexico), Jonathan Stack (United States) 2008 Ellen Kuras (United States), Nenad Puhovski (Croatia), Elina Hirvonen (Finland) 2007 Heddy Honigmann (The Netherlands), Ot Louw (The Netherlands), Helena Zajícová (Czech Republic) Dioraphte IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary 2010 Position Among the Stars, Leonard Retel Helmrich, The Netherlands, 2010 2009 The Player, John Appel, The Netherlands, 2009 Members of the Jury 2010 Daniela Michel (Mexico), Alissa Simon (United States), Pieter Verhoeff (The Netherlands) 2009 Sean Farnel (Canada), Sandra den Hamer (The Netherlands), Leena Pasanen (Finland) IDFA Award for Best Green Screen Documentary 2010 Into Eternity, Michael Madsen, Denmark/Sweden/Finland, 2010 Honourable Mention 2010 The Pipe, Risteard Ó Domhnaill, Ierland, 2010 Members of the Jury 2010 Appy Sluijs (The Netherlands), Nikolaus Geyrhalter (Austria), Nino Kirtadze (France) IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling 2010 HIGHRISE/Out My Window, Katerina Cizek, Canada, 2010 Members of the Jury 2010 Alexandre Brachet (France), Antoinette Hoes (The Netherlands), Zach Wise (United States)

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BlackBerry IDFA Doc U Award 2010 Autumn Gold, Jan Tenhaven, Germany/Austria, 2010 2009 The Yes Men Fix the World, Andy Bichlbaum & Mike Bonanno, France/ United States, 2009 2008 Kassim the Dream, Kief Davidson, United States/Germany, 2008 2007 Planet B-Boy, Benson Lee, United States, 2007 2006 A Lesson of Belarussian, Miroslaw Dembinski, Poland, 2006 2005 Shadya, Roy Westler, Israel, 2005 2004 Nabila, Håkan Berthas, Sweden, 2003 Publieke Omroep IDFA Audience Award 2010 Waste Land, Lucy Walker, United Kingdom/Brazil, 2010 2009 The Cove, Louie Psihoyos, United States, 2009 2008 RiP – A Remix Manifesto, Brett Gaylor, Canada, 2008 2007 To See If I’m Smiling, Tamar Yarom, Israel, 2007 2006 We Are Together, Paul Taylor, United Kingdom, 2006 2005 Sisters in Law, Kim Longinotto & Florence Ayisi, United Kingdom, 2005 2004 The Yes Men, Dan Ollman, Sarah Price & Chris Smith, United States, 2003 2003 My Flesh and Blood, Jonathan Karsh, United States, 2003 2002 Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore, United States, 2002 2001 Offspring, Barry Stevens, Canada, 2001 2000 Desi, Maria Ramos, The Netherlands, 2000 1999 Crazy, Heddy Honigmann, The Netherlands, 1999 1998 Two Dads, Ko van Reenen, The Netherlands, 1998 1997 Vision Man, William Long, Sweden, 1997 1996 Blue Eyed, Bertram Verhaag, Germany, 1996 1995 Anne Frank Remembered, Jon Blair, United Kingdom, 1995 1994 Choice and Destiny, Tsipi Reibenbach, Israel, 1993 1993 The Belovs, Victor Kossakovsky, Russia, 1993 1992 Black Harvest, Robin Anderson & Bob Connolly, Australia, 1992 1991 Djembéfola, Laurent Chevallier, France, 1991 1990 In Memory of the Day Passed By, Sharunas Bartas, USSR, 1989 1989 Skierskala, Ivars Seleckis, Latvia, 1988 1988 The Last Judgement, Herz Frank, Lithuania/USSR, 1987 Zapper Award 1996 Love Beyond Boundaries – Made in Japan, Puck de Leeuw, The Netherlands, 1996 1995 My Vote Is My Secret – Chroniques Sud-Africaines 1994, Julie Henderson, Thulani Mokoena & Donne Rundle, France, 1994 1994 Death of a Nation – The Timor Conspiracy, David Munro, United Kingdom, 1994

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Addresses 100% Halal Herenmarkt 10 1013 ED Amsterdam +31 20 6391402 +31 20 6265258 The Netherlands

contact@100procenthalal.nl www.100procenthalal.nl

3W Films P.O. Box 36745 90036 Los Angeles USA +1 213 4797144 llakin@me.com

7th Art Releasing 6579 Pickwick Street 90042 Los Angeles USA +1 323 2598259 +1 323 4746371 info@7thart.com www.7thart.com

9.14 Pictures 1804 Chestnut Street Suite 2 19103 Philadelphia USA +1 215 2380707 +1 215 2380663 info@914pictures.com www.914pictures.com

ABC Theatrical Distribution – Cinemien Amsteldijk 10 1074 HP Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 5776010 +31 20 5776029 info@cinemien.nl www.cinemien.nl

Absa Films Baie de Thioupam BP:01 Poponguine Senegal +221 33 9577162 +221 33 9577162

Actual Films 39 Mesa Street Suite 206 94129 San Francisco USA +1 415 5759999 +1 415 5750826 actualfilms@actualfilms.net www.actualfilms.net

Ad Hoc Films Ltd 126 Bolingbroke Grove SW11 1DA London England +44 208 7614323 info@adhocfilms.com www.adhocfilms.com

A-Film Meeuwenlaan 98-100 1021 JL Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 3445144 +31 20 3445145 info@a-film.nl www.a-film.nl

info@amanacreative.com www.amanacreative.com

Amazing Studios 74 rue du Fabourg St. Antoine 75012 Paris France +33 622 248649 lallwood@amazing.fr

Agat Films & Cie 52, rue Jean Pierre Timbaud 75011 Paris France +33 1 53363232 +33 1 43570022

Archives francaises du film 7bis, rue Alexandre Turpault 78390 Bois d’Arcy France

kuba@docreview.pl

internet@agatfilms.com www.agatfilms.com

Agencia Observatorio Estrada do Layer 440, Cotia 06700-000 São Paulo Brazil +55 11 46124886 +55 11 79220271

Across Works Entertainment Ltd. Chernorizets Hrabar Str. 2, Apt. 9, Lozenets 1164 Sofia Bulgaria +359 887874014

Agitprop 68 Budapesta st., app. 1 1202 Sofia Bulgaria +359 2 9831411 +359 2 9870417

marina@actitudcine.com www.actitudcine.com

Amana Creative 101, Blvd. Victor Hugo 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt France +33 1 55380101 +33 1 79416002

Animagineer 3/3 Girish Ghosh Street 700108 Kolkata India +91 33 25775575

seneabsa@gmail.com

Actitud Cine 3 de Febrero 2901 – 1C C1429BFC Buenos Aires Argentina +5411 478 29445

natalia@altamurafilms.com www.altamurafilms.com

Against Gravity Widok 5/7/9 pok 410 00-023 Warsaw Poland +48 22 828 1079 +48 22 8276654

marcelomasagao@uol.com.br www.uol.com.br/cemiterio

office@acrossworks.com

Altamura Films Plaza Luis Cabrera 5, Int. 501, Colonia Roma 06700 Mexico DF Mexico +1 347 2288368 +52 55 52074401

agitprop@agitprop.bg www.agitprop.bg

Alegria Productions 9, passage de la Boule Blanche 75012 Paris France +33 1 82284021 +33 1 44740759 info@alegria-productions.com www.alegria-productions.com

animagineer@gmail.com www.animagineer.com

aff@cnc.fr www.cnc-aff.fr

Arkeofilms, Inc. 8466 Trabajo St. Olympia Village 1207 Makati Filipijnen +63 917 8413600 monster@arkeofilms.com

Art Doc Macedonski 8 010591 Bucharest Romania +40 21 2115756 ile-stancu@gmx.de

AT Productions 51, Rue des Bégonias 1170 Brussels Belgium +32 2 663 50 90 +32 2 6736955 info@at-production.com www.at-production.com

Atzmor, Liran 86 Sokolov St. 62284 Tel Aviv Israel +972 52 8003362

Auguste Orts Aalststraat 7-11 1000 Brussels Belgium +32 2 8808560 +32 2 2133637

info@augusteorts.be www.augusteorts.be

Autlook Filmsales Trappelgasse 4/17 1040 Vienna Austria +43 720 346934 +43 720 553572

welcome@autlookfilms.com www.autlookfilms.com

Avanton Productions Oy Harjuviita 16 A 21 02110 Espoo Finland +358 50 5671895 info@avanton.fi www.avanton.fi

AVRO Postbus 2 1200 JA Hilversum The Netherlands +31 035 6717911 +31 35 6717517 The Netherlands sander.sas@avro.nl www.avro.nl

Azcuaga, Carlos Sicilia 178, átic-1era.

08013 Barcelona Spain +34 610126105 chazcuaga@gmail.com

B&B Film Via Ottaviano 9 00192 Rome Italia +39 06 39729989 +39 06 39726129 contact@bbfilm.tv www.bbfilm.tv

B&W Films Ltd 53 Greek Street W1D 3DR London England +44 207 2874223

rmbosch@gmail.com

Basma Babar-Quraishi 7 Baseline Business Studios W11 4AT London England +44 20 72217221 basma@fordsonthemovie.com

liranatzmor@hotmail.com

279

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

John Baker 1917 Baxter St. 90039 Los Angeles USA +1 917 7481519 jcbaker@gmail.com

Gonzalo Ballester C/ Donoso Cortés, 80 C. Apto. 1º 1 28015 Madrid Spain +34 91 1662252 gonzaloballester@gmail.com www.gonzaloballester.com

Bee Pee Motion Pictures Flat # 310, Block-A2, Merujeen Housing Complex, Narendrapur 700103 Kolkata India +91 33 24272646 bishnudevh@gmail.com

Kaya Behkalam Pfuelstrasse 1 10997 Berlin Germany +49 177 3147298

behkalam@gmail.com www.kayabehkalam.net

Jamin Benazzouz Niemetzstrasse 20 12055 Berlin Germany +49 176 22713543

jamin.benazzouz@gmail.com

Benelux Film Distributors De Poort 40 3991 DV Houten The Netherlands +31 30 6340660 +31 30 6381312 nederland@bfdfilm.com www.bfdfilm.com

Kristof Bilsen 96 Belgrade Road N16 8DJ London England +32 32358893

info@kristofbilsen.com www.kristofbilsen.com

Yael Biron 4 manara st 53211 Givataim Israel +972 5 44605196

yael.biron@gmail.com

Blackfella Films 10 Cecil Street 2021 Paddington Australia +61 2 93804000 +61 2 92529577

info@blackfellafilms.com.au www.blackfellafilms.com.au

280

Blackframe Kraijenhoffstraat 34-7 1018 RL Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 6 20654365 info@blackframe.nl www.blackframe.nl

Blinker Filmproduktion GmbH Venloer Str. 241-245 50823 Köln Germany +49 221 5397460 +49 221 9543356 mm@blinkerfilm.de www.blinkerfilm.de

Bluemark Productions 220 East Buffalo Street 4th floor 53202 Milwaukee USA +1 414 2910345 +1 414 2910345 office@bluemarkfilms.com www.bluemarkfilms.com

BNO Productions PO Box 68-232 1145 Auckland New Zealand +64 21 859 555 +64 9 3601305

contact@brothernumberone.co.nz

Boomtownmedia Fuggerstrasse 33 10777 Berlin Germany +49 30 81452950 +49 30 81452955

info@boomtownmedia.de www.boomtownmedia.de

Brakelight Films Ltd Glasgow G12 0PB Glasgow Scotland +44 7980698097

d.hercher@btinternet.com

BRAVO Films 195 Claremont Ave. #36 10027 New York USA +1 917 6018060 +1 212 7494014 ebravo808@yahoo.com www.firstrunfeatures.com

Burnat Films Palestine West Bank – Bilin 972 Ramallah Palestine +972 2 2489120 emadbornat@yahoo.com

Bydesign Vrolikstraat 224/1 1092 TV Amsterdam +31 6 24902480 info@madebydesign.nl www.madebydesign.nl

Cabin Creek Films 155 6th Avenue, 10th Floor 10013-1507 New York USA +1 212 3432545 +1 212 3432585 cabincreekfilms@aol.com www.cabincreekfilms.com

Calderita Pictures Acevedo Diaz 1388 11200 Montevideo Uruguay +598 2 4091011

ramiroozerami@gmail.com

Carnivalesque Films PO Box 118 04624 Corea USA +1 347 2826132

carnivalesquefilm@gmail.com www.carnivalesquefilms.com

Marie Caspari Tauroggener Str. 41 10589 Berlin Germany +49 176 99255512 mariecaspari@gmx.de

CAT&Docs 18, Rue Quincampoix 75004 Paris France +33 1 44596353 info@catndocs.com www.catndocs.com

CECIP – Centro de Criacao de Imagem Popular, Ceccon, Claudius Largo de São Francisco de Paula, 34/ 4o. andar 20.051-070 Rio de Janeiro Brazil +55 21 25093812 +55 21 22528604 cecip@cecip.com.br

Celluloid Dreams 2, rue Turgot 75009 Paris France +33 1 49700370 +33 1 49700371

info@celluloid-dreams.com www.celluloid-dreams.com

Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica (C.C.C.) Calzada de Tlalpan 1670, Col. Country Club 04220 Mexico City Mexico +52 55 54204490 +52 55 41550090 mariana@elccc.com.mx www.elccc.com.mx

Cienega Docs Sa De Cv Atletas 2 04220 Mexico City Mexico +52 55 55496928 martfilms@gmail.com www.cienegadocs.com

Cinco em Ponto Rua Paul Bouthilier 423 30315-010 Belo Horizonte Brazil +55 31 25141366 +55 31 32252335 betomaga@uol.com.br

Cineart Herengracht 328-III 1016 CE Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 5308848 +31 20 5308849 info@cineart.nl www.cineart.nl

Cinema Delicatessen Jan Luykenstraat 2 1071 CM Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 4207123 +31 20 4207124

info@cinemadelicatessen.nl www.cinemadelicatessen.nl

Cinemaginaire 5144 Saint-Laurent Blvd H2T 1R8 Montreal Canada +1 514 2725505 +1 514 2729841 info@cinemaginaire.com www.cinemaginaire.com

CinemaNX Murdoch Chambers – South Quay LM1 5PA Douglas England +44 162 4662666 +44 162 4678680 films@cinemanx.com

CineParadiso Frederikinkatu 36 B 32 00100 Helsinki Finland +358 50 5828634

pvlehtinen@kolumbus.fi www.kolumbus.fi/cineparadiso

Cinephil 18 Levontin Street 65112 Tel Aviv Israel +972 3 5664129 +972 3 5601436 info@cinephil.co.il www.cinephil.co.il

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Cinetic Media 555 West 25th st, 4th Floor 10001 New York USA +1 212 2047979 +1 212 2047980 info@cineticmedia.com www.cineticmedia.com

Clinica Estetico Production 319 Lafayette St 10012 New York USA +1 212 6740502 clinicaoffice@gmail.com

Clockshop 2806 Clearwater Street 90039 Los Angeles USA +1 323 6339689 info@clockshop.org www.clockshop.org

Content Media Corporation 19 Heddon Street W1B 4BG London England +44 20 78516500 +44 20 78516506 london@contentfilm.com www.contentmediacorp.com

Copenhagen Bombay Refshalevej 147 1432 Copenhagen Denmark +45 72 420800 +45 3296 1040

info@copenhagenbombay.com www.copenhagenbombay.com

Cordell Jigsaw Productions 129 Cathedral Street 2011 Woolloolooloo, Sydney Australia +61 2 9387 6632 michael@cordelljigsaw.com www.cordelljigsaw.com

Courtisane VZW Scheldestraat 169 9040 St. Amandsberg Belgium +32 474 278121 info@courtisane.be www.courtisane.be

CreativEast #405 Jinmi Paragon, Yoido-Dong 13, Youngdeungpo-Gu 150 870 Seoul Zuid-Korea +82 70 77818212 +82 782 8216 negathink@creativeast.com www.creativeast.com

Danish Documentary Kompagnistræde 20B, 2. sal 1208 Copenhagen K Denmark +45 2 6162535 info@danishdocumentary.com www.danishdocumentary.com

Danish Film Institute Gothersgade 55 1123 Copenhagen Denmark +45 33 743400 +45 33 733445 dfi@dfi.dk www.dfi.dk

De Familie Schollenbrugstraat 4 huis 1091 EX Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6633303 +31 20 4688008 info@defamilie.net www.defamilie.net

Jeremy De Ryckere F. Vanderelststraat, 36 1950 Kraainem Belgium +32 0 476365731

jeremyderyckere@gmail.com

Mike de Zwart Warmondstraat 119-2 1058 KT Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 6 20847604 mike@unidmedia.nl

Deckert Distribution GmbH Marienplatz 1 04103 Leipzig Germany +49 341 2156638 +49 341 2156639 info@deckert-distribution.com www.deckert-distribution.com

Deep Sea Productions Rydboholms gård 184 94 Åkersberga Sweden +46 08 6129697 +46 08 6127330 malcolm@dixit.se www.deepsea.se

Zoot Derks Kloveniersburgwal 108 1012 CZ Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 4226465 zootderks@hotmail.com

Digital Cut Post-Production 640 Rue Saint-Paul Ouest H3C 1L9 Montréal Canada +1 514 2841344

Diler & Associados Rua Luís Sérgio Person, 169 22775-043 Rio de Janeiro Brazil +55 21 33114500 +55 21 33114515

Dreamer Joint Venture Regensburger Str. 25 10777 Berlin Germany +49 30 30024440 +49 30 3002444 18

Dirk Manthey Film Hein-Köllisch-Platz 9 20359 Hamburg Germany +49 40 22629578 +49 40 22629580

DreamLab Films 14 Chemin des Chichourliers 06110 Le Cannet France +33 493 387561

juizo@diler.com.br www.diler.com.br

mail@dirkmanthey.de www.dirkmanthey.de

Dixit International AB Box 24 139 03 Stavsnäs Sweden +46 86 451212 +46 86 420690 malcolm@dixit.se www.dixit.se

Doc & Film International 13 rue du Portefoin 75003 Paris France +33 1 42775687 +33 1 42773656 doc@docandfilm.com www.docandfilm.com

Dogwoof 16 Baldwins Gradens, Unit 211 EC1N 7RJ London England +44 207 8333599 info@dogwoof.com www.dogwoof.com

Bogomir Doringer Marnixstraat 219 C 1015 WB Amsterdam +31 6 15908113

bogomirdoringer@yahoo.co.uk

DR International Sales Emil Holms Kanal 20 0999 Copenhagen Denmark +45 352 03040 +45 352 03969 drsales@dr.dk www.drsales.dk

Dramatiska Institutet P.O. Box 27095 10251 Stockholm Sweden +46 8 12053100 +46 8 12053105 info@stdh.se www.stdh.se

info@dreamerjointventure.de www.dreamerjointventure.de

info@dreamlabfilms.com www.dreamlabfilms.com

Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion Molkenstrasse 21 8004 Zürich Switzerland +41 1 4563020 +41 1 4563025 office@dschointventschr.ch www.dschointventschr.ch

Eagle Rock Entertainment Plc. Eagle House, 22 Armoury Way SW18 1EZ London England +44 20 88705670 +44 20 88742333 mail@eagle-rock.com www.eagle-rock.com

Ealing Metro International Ealing Studios, Ealing Green W5 5EP London England +44 20 85846708 +44 20 87588658 sales@ealingmetro.com www.ealingmetro.com

ECAL – Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne 5 Avenue du Temple, Renens VD 1020 Lausanne Switzerland +41 21 3169933 +41 21 3169266 ecal@ecal.ch www.ecal.ch

Paul Egan 210 Long Street 8001 Cape Town South-Africa +27 481 1837

info@saltpeter.co.za

Errante Producciones Holanda 3634 Santiago Chile +562 2092494 +562 2092494 errante@errante.cl www.errante.cl

montage@digitalcut.tv www.digitalcut.tv

281

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Etminani, Homer Aurora 19. 2º 3ª 08001 Barcelona Spain +34 93 4530953

hetminani@gmail.com

Eye 4 FIlms 2 Orme Square W2 4R London England +44 207 1001947 +44 207 1006320 info@eye4films.com www.eye4films.com

Eyegasm.tv 25 Washington Street, suite 604 11201 Brooklyn USA +1 646 3455485 grahamelliott747@hotmail.com www.eyegasm.tv

EyeSteelFilm 7095 rue Marconi, suite 201 H2S 3K4 Montreal Canada +1 514 9374893 +1 514 3137383 distribution@eyesteelfilm.com www.eyesteelfilm.com

Eyeworks Film & TV Drama Anthony Fokkerweg 61 1059 CP Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 4222607 janneke.doolaard@eyeworks.tv www.eyeworks.tv

Damien Faure 2 Place Pierre Mac Orlan 75018 Paris France +33 6 106 70069

dmfaure@club-internet.fr www.damienfaure-cineaste.fr

Features while-u-wait LLC 218 Grand Avenue 90291 Venice USA +1 310 3993456 rene@cwuw.com

Felt Films 3962 Franklin Ave 90027 Los Angeles USA +1 323 3099529 laura@feltfilms.com www.feltfilms.com

Gerard Ferre Bertrellans 4 prl 2 08002 Barcelona Spain +34 6 96463901

gerard.work@gmail.com

Filament Pictures 1021 E wing, Maple leaf, Raheja Vihar 400072 Mumbai India +91 98 92644163 +91 022 28591195

First Hand Films Fritz Heeb Weg 5 8050 Zürich Switzerland +41 44 3122060 +41 44 3122080

Film Clinic 141 (A) Cornishe El Nile Maadi Cairo Egypt +20 2 25268050 +20 2 25268014

Fisher Features 7 Petachya Street 69549 Tel Aviv Israel +972 3 6493574 +972 3 6484787

Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg Akademiehof 10 71638 Ludwigsburg Germany +49 714 19690 +49 714 1969299

Forma 2-8 Scrutton Street EC2A 4RT London England +44 20 74567820 +44 20 74567821

Filmblanc 1901 – 1121 Bay Street M5S 3L9 Toronto Canada +1 416 2140300

Fortissimo Films Van Diemenstraat 200 1013 CP Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6273215 +31 20 6261155

miriamchandy@yahoo.com www.filamentpictures.co.in

info@film-clinic.com www.film-clinic.com

info@filmakademie.de www.filmakademie.de

info@filmblanc.com www.filmblanc.com

Films de l’impatience Korsjespoortsteeg 7 1015 AP Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6241228 schlomoff@gmail.com www.schlomoff.com

Films Transit International Inc. 252 Gouin Boulevard East H3L 1A8 Montreal Canada +1 514 8443358 +1 514 8447298 office@filmstransit.com www.filmstransit.com

Final Cut for Real Forbindelsesvej 7 2100 Copenhagen Denmark +45 3543 6043 byrge@final-cut.dk www.final-cut.dk

Finnish Film Foundation Kanavakatu 12 00160 Helsinki Finland +358 9 6220300 +358 9 62203050 ses@ses.fi www.ses.fi

info@firsthandfilms.com www.firsthandfilms.com

info@fisherfeatures.com www.fisherfeatures.com

info@forma.org.uk www.forma.org.uk

info@fortissimo.nl www.fortissimo.nl

Frameline Distribution 145 Ninth Street Suite 300 97103 San Francisco USA +1 415 703-8650 +1 415 861-1404

distribution@frameline.org www.frameline.org/distribution

Freak Short Film Agency Gil Cordero 17 10001 Cáceres Spain +34 92 7248248 freak@shortfilmagency.com www.agenciafreak.com

Freshwater Films Borstelsstraat 23 3010 Kessel-Lo Belgium +32 32 906741

info@freshwaterfilms.be www.freshwaterfilms.be

Future Bliss Films 611 Broadway, Suite 605 10012 New York USA +1 646 8203449 info@futureblissfilms.com www.futureblissfilms.com

Gallant Films 459 Columbus Ave. Suite #323 10024 New York USA +1 202 419 3456 josh@gallantfilms.com www.gallantfilms.com

Gatling Pictures 2404 San Marco Dr. 90068 Los Angeles USA +1 213 4477294

info@gatlingpictures.com www.gatlingpictures.com

Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion GmbH Im Mediapark 6a 50670 Köln Germany +49 221 3979696 +49 30 69566915 info@gebrueder-beetz.de www.gebrueder-beetz.de

Genfilm 33, Povarskaya Street 121069 Moscow Russia +7 495 2311221 info@genfilm.ru www.genfilm.ru

Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami 4rth entrance, Block 35 1318875193 Tehran Iran +98 9127033077 roxareh@gmail.com

G-netwerk Prinseneiland 321 1013 LP Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6207663 g-net@chello.nl www.g-netwerk.nl

Golden Girls Filmproduktion Seidengasse 15/3/20 1120 Vienna Austria +43 1 8105636 +43 1 8105949 office@goldengirls.at www.goldengirls.at

Grain Media Gladiator Works, Gladiator Street SE23 1NS London England +44 208 690 1010 info@grainmedia.co.uk www.grainmedia.co.uk

Green Planet Productions 2941 Main Street 90405 Santa Monica USA +1 310 4520708 mail@greenplanet3d.com www.greenplanet3d.com

282

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Luke Griswold-Tergis 70 laidley st 94131 San Francisco USA +1 707 489 8909 wurzzell@gmail.com

Yoav Gross 8 Ha’Taasiya st 91531 Jerusalem Israel +972 5 23616968 yoav24@gmail.com

Tao Gu 2175 Av. Charlemagne, apt 3 H1W 0A7 Montreal Canada +86 135 2930 1015 yysjgt@hotmail.com

Guy DVD Films 8 Harav Kook 68011 Tel Aviv Israel +972 544 949831 guydvd@gmail.com

Amin Haghighizadeh Sterrebos 234 4817 SM Breda The Netherlands +31 76 7518757

post@aminhaghighizadeh.nl www.aminhaghighizadeh.nl

Cynthia Hamilton 6a Kew Green TW9 3BH Richmond England +44 79 12036906 hello@cynth.tv

HanWay Films 24 Hanway Street W1T 1UH London England +44 20 72900750 +44 20 72900751

info@hanwayfilms.com www.hanwayfilms.com

Hargla Company Valtaiku 19 LV-1029 Riga Latvia +371 29 235618

laila.pakalnina@inbox.lv

HB PeA Holmquist Film Prylvägen 7 12637 Stockholm Sweden +46 8 6456592 +46 8 55572005 pea.holmquist@comhem.se www.peaholmquist.com

HBO 1100 Avenue of the Americas 10036 New York USA +1 212 5121000 +1 212 5125102

Hypnotic Pictures 400 E 10th St 10009 New York USA +1 212 2545009 +1 212 4738268

Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia Insurgentes Sur 674 03100 Mexico City Mexico +52 55 54485345 +52 55 6887611

Head-Geneve Departement Cinema / cinema du reel Boulevard James-Frazy 15 1201 Genève Switzerland +41 22 3885100 +41 22 3885159

Ibidem Films 5328-2 rue de Mentana H2J 3C5 Montreal Canada +1 312 2911763 +1 360 3688634

Integral Film AS Bleibtreustraße 10/11 10623 Berlin Germany +47 66 960028 +49 30 88552846

Heros Film 608 River Road 12572 Rhinebeck USA +1 845 8766440

Ideacom 1000 rue Amherst , Bureau 300 H2L 3K5 Montréal Canada +1 514 8496966 +1 514 8490776

Interakt Bakkersstraat 10 1017 CW Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6237982 +31 20 6230738

nancy.abraham@hbo.com www.hbo.com

guillaume.favre@hesge.ch www.hesge.ch

pepper66@mac.com

HerrenbruckMucke Filmproduktion Gubenerstr. 24 12043 Berlin Germany +49 30 81857366 mueckeniesytka@gmx.net

bimo@nyc.rr.com www.hypnoticpictures.com

simone@ibidemfilms.org www.ibidemfilms.org

info@ideacom.tv

Ideale Audience International 6, rue de l’Agent-Bailly, 75009 Paris France +33 1 48019590 +33 1 48016536

Heure Exquise!

B.P. 113 Le Fort, avenue de Normandie 59370 Mons-en-Baroeul France +33 320 432432 +33 320 432433

distribution@ideale-audience.fr www.ideale-audience.com

High Hip Productions 234 East 82nd Street New York USA +1 347 8044405

docs@idtv.nl www.idtvdocs.nl

contact@exquise.org www.exquise.org

melissa.johnson@mac.com

Hollandse Helden De Noord 10 1452 PS Ilpendam The Netherlands +31 20 4363445

albert@hollandsehelden.tv www.hollandsehelden.tv

HUMAN PO Box 135 1200 AC Hilversum The Netherlands +31 35 6722020 human@omroep.nl

Human Film ADP House, 35 Hanover Square LS3 1BQ Leeds England +44 11 32438880

IDTV Docs Kraanspoor 50 1033 SE Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 3143314 +31 20 6908528 IFProductions Vondelstraat 42-H 1054 GE Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 6 42274665 info@ifproductions.nl www.ifproductions.nl

Illumina Films Leidsestraat 106-3 1017 PG Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6248395 +31 20 3308155 robin@illuminafilms.nl www.illuminafilms.nl

In Effect Films 434 N. Beachwood Drive 90004 Los Angeles USA +1 310 4333352 perrin@ineffectfilms.com www.ineffectfilms.com

marines@imcine.gob.mx www.imcine.gob.mx

integralfilm@gmail.com www.integralfilm.no

interakt@interakt.nl www.interakt.nl

Interfilm Productions Inc. #304-1515 West Hastings St. V6G 3G6 Vancouver Canada +1 604 2903002 +1 604 8994353 info@interfilm.ca www.interfilm.ca

Ishtar Creative Productions 101 Al-Salam Street P.O. Box 274 Hebron Palestina +962 79 6018217 l_juneidi@hotmail.com

ITVS International 651 Brannan Street, Suite 410 94107 San Francisco USA +1 415 3568383 +1 415 3568391 info@itvs.org www.itvs.org

Ja Filmes Rua Carlos Milan 22 apt 112 01456-030 São Paulo Brazil +55 11 38199697 carlosnader@gmail.com

Jacob Burns Film Center 364 Manville Road NY 10570 Pleasantville USA +1 914 7475555

inquiries@burnsfilmcenter.org www.burnsfilmcenter.org

info@humanfilm.co.uk www.humanfilm.co.uk

283

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Jan Vrijman Fund Frederiksplein 52 1017 XN Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6273329 +31 20 6385388 janvrijmanfund@idfa.nl www.idfa.nl

Java Films 4-6 Villa Thoreton 75015 Parijs France +33 1 40602624 +33 1 40602649 contact@javafilms.fr www.javafilms.fr

Jim Brown Productions 3 Washington Square Village, # 8B 10012 New York USA +1 212 5050138 +1 212 5055594 jimbrownproductions@gmail.com www.jimbrownfilms.com

Jotz Productions 171 Elswick St 2040 Leichhardt Australia +61 2 95699653 +61 2 95602947 tzub@ozemail.au

K5 Media Group GmbH Konradinstrasse 5 81543 München Germany +49 89 37505590 +49 89 37505590-5 info@k5mediagroup.com www.k5mediagroup.com

Nikos Katsaounis 227 Mulberry 10012 New York USA +1 917 6856911 nikos@theprism.tv www.theprism.tv

Kaudli nutz productions 70 Laidley street 94131 San Francisco USA +1 707 489 8909 wurzzell@yahoo.com

Srdan Keca 115a Kilburn Park Road NW6 5LB London England +44 75 06386522 sk@skeca.com www.skeca.com

KeyDocs Van Diemenstraat 332 1013 CR Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 020 4222607 info@keyfilm.nl www.keydocs.nl

284

Vivian Kleiman 1084A Capp St. 94110 San Francisco USA +1 510 6528185

viviankleiman@gmail.com www.viviankleiman.com

Kossakovsky Film Production P.O. Box #144 190008 St. Petersburg Russia +7 812 7140230 +7 812 7140230 victor@kossakovsky.spb.ru

Krakow Film Foundation ul. Basztowa 15/8a 31-143 Krakow Poland +48 12 2946945 +48 12 2946945 info@kff.com.pl www.kff.com.pl

Randi Krarup Jonas Guerrero N 27-46 Quito Ecuador +593 9 739238

rakrarup@hotmail.com

KRO ‘s-Gravelandseweg 80 1217 EW Hilversum +31 35 6713375 +31 35 6237345 kitty.willems@kro.nl www.kro.nl

Krotkiewski Film Heleneborgsgatan 8b 11732 Stockholm Sweden +46 7 09152702

michael.krotkiewski@gmail.com www.krotkiewskifilm.com

KTMU Mira Avenue, 56 720044 Bishkek Kirgizië +996 312 541941 +996 312 541935

webmaster@manas.kg www.manas.kg

La Bascule Production 23 rue Louis Blériot 54420 Saulxures-lès-Nancy France +33 0 981613206 productions@labascule.tv www.labascule.tv

Lafayette Film Deans Watermill RH16 2QY Lindfield England +44 1444 484510 +44 1444 484760

info@nickbroomfield.com www.nickbroomfield.com

Lambent Productions Old Steinen 21-22 BN1 1EL Brighton England +44 1273 648380 +44 1273 648385

info@lambentproductions.co.uk www.lambentproductions.co.uk

Lascelles, Sophie 2 Orme Square W2 4RS London England +442071001947

mail@sophielascelles.co.uk

JD Leete 117 Henry Clay Rd 23005 Ashland USA +1 323 5286099

neargeniusfilms@gmail.com

Roland Legiardi-Laura 295 East 8th St. 10009 New York USA +1 212 5299327 info@tobeheard.org

Les Films d’Ici 62 Bd. Davout 75020 Paris France +33 1 44522323 +33 1 44529670

courrier@lesfilmsdici.fr www.lesfilmsdici.fr

Libido Cine Cabello 3644 C1425APN Argentina +54 11 48024218

jorge.gaggero@gmail.com

LIC China Olympic Sports Ctr, 1 An’ding Road 100029 Beijing China +86 108 2023589 kiki@lic-bcbc.com www.licchina.net

Alexandra Lihacheva Novorogojskaya 20, ap.90 109544 Moscow +8 495 6782625 al_lihacheva@mail.ru

Living Colour Entertainment Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 334-1 1012 RW Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 3031110 +31 20 3031111 info@livingcolour.nl www.livingcolour.nl

Lone Pine Film & TV Productions Ltd 80 Hataitai Road 6021 Wellington New Zealand +64 4 9764397 lone.pine@paradise.net.nz www.costabotes.com

Looks Film & TV GmbH Marienplatz 1 D-04103 Leipzig Germany +49 341 2617711 +49 341 2617729 info@looksfilm.tv www.looksfilm.tv

Lotus Film GmbH Johnstraße 83 1150 Vienna Austria +43 1 7863387 +43 1 786338711

office@lotus-film.co.at www.lotus-film.co.at

Lumiere KNSM-Laan 171 1019 LC Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 3031280 +32 9 2354029 info@lumiere.be www.lumiere.be

Lux 18 Shacklewell Lane, 3rd Floor E8 2EZ London England +44 20 75033980 +44 20 75031606 info@lux.org.uk www.lux.org.uk

Luxian Productions Kaitaankulma 5C 02360 Espoo Finland +358 40 5065403

mikakoskinen@hotmail.com

Ma.Ja.de Filmproduktion Marienplatz 1 04103 Leipzig Germany +49 341 9839696 +49 341 2156639 leipzig@majade.de www.majade.de

Made in Copenhagen Øster Farimagsgade 6, 1. sal 2100 Copenhagen Denmark +45 26 236351 faber@madeincopenhagen.net www.madeincopenhagen.net

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Magic Film Productions Inc. 7915 Norton Ave. Unit 1-8 90046 West Hollywood USA +1 323 7985634 star100@mac.com

Magic Hour Films Baldersgade 6 2200 Copenhagen Denmark +45 39 642284 +45 45 872705

post@magichourfilms.dk www.magichourfilms.dk

Mago Media 367 Bleecker Street 10014 New York USA +1 646 9616613

lisaimmordinovreeland@gmail.com

Maha Productions 107 avenue Parmentier 75011 Paris France +33 1 48075790 +33 1 48070052 mahaprod@maha.fr www.mahaprod.com

Mambo Entertainment P.O. Box 36745 90036 Los Angeles USA +1 213 4797144 llakin@me.com

Mamipaga Films Reforma 60, Col. Atlantida, Del. Coyoacan 04370 Mexico DF Mexico +52 55 55495252 yaasib@gmail.com

Martfilms Parras 7, Barrio de Santa Catarina 04010 Mexico City Mexico +52 55 54485345 martfilms@gmail.com

Maya Productions PO Box 559 43107 Ra’anana Israel +972 9 7432372

mayapro@netvision.net.il

Maysles Films Inc. 343 Lenox Avenue 10027 New York USA +1 212 5826050 +1 212 5862057

info@mayslesfilms.com www.mayslesfilms.com

Mercurio Cinematografica Piazzale Aquileia 20144 Milan Italia +39.02.480.901

carlotta.mastrojanni@gmail.com www.mercuriofilm.com

Mercury Media International Ltd. 6 Baseline Studios W11 4AT London England +44 20 72217221 +44 20 72217228 info@mercurymedia.org www.mercurymedia.org

Mexican Film Institute Insurgentes sur 674, Col. Del Valle 03100 Mexico City Mexico +52 55 54485345 +52 55 5448 5380 difuinte@imcine.gob.mx www.imcine.gob.mx

David Meyer 350 S Madison Ave Apt 206 91101 Pasadena USA +1 213 905 8887 dave@davidpaulmeyer.com

Millanta Film S.R.L. via Dei Vascellari, 47 00153 Rome Italia +393 47 6873564 +39 49 2104331

vanni.gandolfo@gmail.com www.millanta.it

Millanta Film S.R.L. Via dei Vascellari 47 00153 Roma Italia +39 3 476873564 +39 49 2104331

vanni.gandolfo@millanta.it www.millanta.it

Miramonte Film Rafensteinweg 12 39100 Bolzano Italia +39 0471 323902 +39 0471 053638

office@miramontefilm.com www.miramontefilm.com

Mixer Av. Chedid Jafet 222, Villa Olimpia 04551-065 Sao Paulo Brazil +55 11 30468040 +55 11 30467913 hahn@mixer.com.br www. mixer.com.br

Mohammad Hassani, Ehsan No 8 – Kamkaralley – Chaharbagh Str. 6615656573 Sanandaj Iran +98 91 21190631

Music Films PO Box 574 2037 Glebe Australia +61 2 96608306

Ron Moler 12930 Ventura blvd. #822 91604 Studio City USA +1310 3156300

Nama Film Aleksinackih rudara 39A 11070 Belgrade Serbia +381 11 2603762 +381 11 2603762

info@setakfilm.com

ronm@ignitionla.com

Mopac Media 1812 Walnut Avenue 78702 Austin USA +1 512 4781812

kevin@mopacmedia.com www.mopacmedia.com

Mosolov-p C/ Benito Castro Nº 3 28028 Madrid Spain +34 605 487711 mosolopv1@gmail.com www.mosolov-p.com

Motherlode Productions Studio 5, St Oswald’s Studios SW6 1RH London +44 207 3865277 enquiries@motherlode.org.uk www.motherlode.org.uk

Motor Entertainment 812 N. Highland Ave. 90038 Los Angeles USA +1 2137099498

gregmc@motorentertain.com

Motto Pictures 1234 A Street 11215 Brooklyn USA +1 718 9231950

info@mottopictures.com www.mottopictures.com

Moving Target Films 68 Stratford Street OX4 1SW Oxford England +44 77 79495596

info@movingtargetfilms.com www.movingtargetfilms.com

Moxie Firecracker 232 3rd St, B403 11215 Brooklyn USA +1 718 2305111 +1 718 2305999

info@moxiefirecracker.com www.moxiefirecracker.com

aprods@ozemail.com.au

princip@eunet.yu

National Film and Television School Station Road HP9 1LG Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire England +44 14 94731452 +44 14 94674042 info@nfts.co.uk www.nfts.co.uk

National Film Board of Canada 3155 Côte de Liesse H4N 2N4 Montréal Canada +1 514 2839000 +1 514 4964372 festivals@nfb.ca www.nfb.ca

National Film Center of Latvia Peitavas10/12 1050 Riga Latvia +371 67358878 +371 7358877 nfc@nfc.gov.lv www.latfilma.lv/nfc

NCRV ‘s-Gravelandseweg 80 1217 EW Hilversum The Netherlands +31 35 6719911 +31 35 6719285 ruud.moll@ncrv.nl www.ncrv.nl

Nederlandse Film en Televisie Academie Markenplein 1 1011 MV Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 5277333 +31 20 5277344 info@nfta.ahk.nl www.filmacademie.nl

Next Story P-55CIT Road, Scheme VI M 700054 Kolkata India +91 33 23206239 balakaghosh@yahoo.com

No Exit Production Carl Johans Gade 3 2100 Kopenhagen Denmark +45 35 261900

mortenhenriksen@privat.dk

285

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

NTR Postbus 29000 1202 MA Hilversum The Netherlands +31 35 6779333 +31 35 6774959 publiek@nps.nl www.omroep.nl/nps

NTVF Producties Nieuwe Weteringstraat 11a 1017 ZX Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6797070 +31 20 6759540 info@ntvf.nl www.ntvf.nl

NZ FILM 119 Ghuznee Street, Level 13 6001 Wellington New Zealand +64 4 3827680 +64 4 3849719 info@nzfilm.co.nz www.nzfilm.co.nz

O.Schmiderer Film-production Kellerhausgasse 1 3484 Grafenwörth Austria +43 2738 8048 +43 2738 8048 o.schmiderer@aon.at www.othmarschmiderer.at

Oddbox Films 4102 Tracy St. 90027 Los Angeles, CA USA +1 323 8042598 oddboxfilms@gmail.com www.oddboxfilms.com

Of Course My Films Nordenskiöldinkatu 3b A 11 002500 Helsinki Finland +358 40 5441213 ofcoursemyfilms@luukku.com

Off World Deschampeleerstraat 24-26 1081 Brussel Belgium +32 2 4124040 +32 2 4124049 frederik@offworld.be www.offworld.be

Oktober Oy Uutiskatu 3 00240 Helsinki Finland +358 40 7093331 info@oktober.fi www.oktober.fi

Oskouei Film Production C/O DreamLab Films 14 chemin des Chichourliers 06110 Le Cannet France +98 21 22216109

part2 pictures 287 Court Street 11231 New York USA +1 718 7970581

Pacha Pictures 34 rue du Louvre 75001 Paris France +33 1 47005566

Partner Media Investment Via di San Godenzo, 174 00189 Rome Italia +39 06 64760142 +39 06 64720273

mehrdad.oskouei@gmail.com

info@pachapictures.com www.pachapictures.com

PaleoTV Rua Dr. Alberto Seabra, 1010 / 31 01418-100 São Paulo Brazil +55 11 30324085 +55 11 30217871 kiko@paleotv.com.br www.paleotv.com.br

Palmares Producao e Jornalismo Avenida Ataulfo de Paiva, 1453 / 803 leblon 22440-034 Rio de Janeiro Brazil +55 21 22867462 bia.cavideo@gmail.com

Panasenko, Julia 4th Voykovskiy proezd 5/10-56 125171 Moscow Russia +7 90 39752538 vedacinema@gmail.com

Pantalla Partida c/ Mochuelo 7 28019 Madrid Spain +34 91 1429772 +34 91 1403509

info@pantallapartida.es www.pantallapartida.es

Paradox Postbus 113 1135 ZK Edam The Netherlands +31 299 315083 +31 299 315082 info@paradox.nl www.paradox.nl

Parallax Mokotowska 51/53 m.53 00-542 Warszawa Poland +48 50 2100471 klocpawel@yahoo.co.uk

Park Circus Limited 1 Park Terrace G3 6BY Glasgow Scotland +44 141 3322175 +44 870 8362391 info@parkcircus.com www.parkcircus.com

286

info@part2pictures.com www.part2pictures.com

info@pmisrl.eu www.pmisrl.eu

Passion Pictures 33-34 Rathbone Place W1T 1JN London England +44 20 73239933 +44 20 73239030

info@passion-pictures.com www.passion-pictures.com

PBS International 10 Guest Street 02153 Boston, MA USA +1 617 3002680 rrzhao@pbs.org www.pbs.org

Peak & Galaxy Communications 1-2604, Ba Li Qiao Nan Jie 16 Tongzhou 101100 Beijing China +86 13910406900 lp300@yahoo.com

Pieter van Huystee Film Noordermarkt 37-39 1015 NA Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 4210606 +31 20 6386255 info@pvhfilm.nl www.pvhfilm.nl

Pilling, Christian 23 Meadow St, Suite 1 11206 Brooklyn USA +1 215 8960511 cp@conditionone.com

Plexus Films 6 Vine Street, Gardens 8001 Cape Town South-Africa +27 21 4262070 +27 21 4262058 info@plexusfilms.co.za www.plexusfilms.co.za

Polish National Film School Lodz ul. Radwanska 22, m.6 90-541 Lodz Poland +48 60 4487848 +48 42 6748139 swzfilm@filmschool.lodz.pl www.filmschool.lodz.pl

Preferred Content 6363 Wilshire Boulevard 90048 Los Angeles USA +1 310 3930707 info@preferredcontent.net www.preferredcontent.net

Primordial Soup Company 369 Montezuma Ave. #168 87501 Sante Fe USA +1 505 6993505 primordialsp@earthlink.net

Pucara Films Calle Pioneros 10 Achumani 5912 La Paz Bolivia +591 2 2714836 produccion@pucarafilms.com

Quad Productions 31-33 rue Madame de Sanzillon 92110 Clichy France +33 1 42670505 helenekarson@quad.fr www.quad.fr

Quark Films 10 Denmark Street WC2H 8LS London England +44 207 7344501 info@quarkfilms.com www.quarkfilms.com

Quidam Productions Ltd 13 Upper Baggot Street 4 Dublin Ireland +353 1 4429696 manager@quidam.ie www.quidam.ie

Quinte Film Mühleweg 9 79249 Merzhausen Germany +49 761 702563 +49 761 701796 quintefilm@aol.com www.quintefilm.de

Quintus Films Sumatrakade 1249-1251 1019 RK Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 5095095 +31 20 5095096 info@quintusfilms.com www.quintusfilms.com

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Radical Media 435 Hudson Street, 6th floor 10014 New York USA +1 212 4621500 +1 212 4621600

Rommel Film e.K. Fidicinstrasse 40 10965 Berlin Germany +49 30 6937078 +49 30 6929575

Schnittmenge – Buro fur Bewegtbld, Slooten, Sandra Van Prinz-Albert-Str. 20 53113 Bonn Germany +49 228 6088583

Razmatazz Frans Halsstraat 5 1072 BJ Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6708798

Dani Rosenberg 38 Sheshet Hayamim st 47247 Ramat Hasharon Israel +972 5 47445466

Seedwell Films 1663 Mission Street 94103 San Francisco USA +1 415 6714632 +1 415 3733797

Rebel Films 31 Weston Street 3056 Brunswick Australia +61 3 9388 2788

S2BN Belafonte Production LLC 1140 Broadway 10001 New York USA +1 212 7761900 +1 646 5454424

REC Produtores Associados Rua Joao Ivo da Silva, 249, Madalena 50720-100 Receife Brazil +55 81 35731650 +55 81 35731651

Sakana Film Productions 3005 S.Lamar Blvd.

78704 Austin USA +1 512 7918948

infoNY@radicalmedia.com www.radicalmedia.com

productie@razmatazz.nl www.razmatazz.nl

info@rebelfilms.com.au www.rebelfilms.com.au

rec@recprodutores.com.br www.recprodutores.com.br

Reclusion Films 44 NE Holland St. 97211 Portland USA +1 503 8674629

acorneli78@yahoo.com

Maria Fernanda Restrepo Diego de Almagro 1550 y Pradera 17116030 Quito Ecuador +593 2 2543110 fresilli@hotmail.com

Rits Filmschool Brussel Antoine Dansaertstraat 70 1000 Brussel Belgium +32 2 5071411 +32 2 5071456 rits@ehb.be www.ehb.be/rits

Rival Pictures 2121 Cloverfield Blvd. Suite 116 90404 Santa Monica USA +1 310 6641954 edparks@rivalpictures.net www.rivalpictures.net

Ro*co Films International 80 Liberty Ship Way, Suite 5 94965 Sausalito USA +1 415 3326471 +1 415 3326798 info@rocofilms.com www.rocofilms.com

info@rommelfilm.com www.rommelfilm.com

dani.rosenberg@gmail.com

singyoursong@s2bnent.com www.s2bnent.com

sakanafilm@me.com

SAMA 268, 5th Cross, 3rd Main, 1st Block, Koramangala 560034 Bangalore India +91 80 25534964 samastories@gmail.com

Sant & Usant AS Damstredet 8 0177 Oslo Norway +47 950 33305

anita@santogusant.no www.santogusant.no

Saravan, San 1663 Mission Street, suite 300 94103 San Francisco USA +1 415 2361152 san.saravan@yahoo.co.uk

Savage Film Ribaucourtstraat 139 0/D 1080 Brussels Belgium +32 2 27114279 bart@savagefilm.be www.savagefilm.be

Schnittmenge – Buro fur Bewegtbld Prinz-Albert-Strasse 20 53113 Bonn Germany +49 228 6088583 schnittmenge@buero-fuer-bewegtbild.de

schnittmenge@buero-fuer-bewegtbild.de

info@seedwell.com www.seedwell.com

Selfmade Films Nieuwpoortkade 2a 1055 RX Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6060789 +31 20 6885899 mail@selfmadefilms.nl www.selfmadefilms.nl

Setak Films Sanandaj no 8 , Kamkar Alley, Chaharbagh street 6615656573 Sanandaj Iran +98 91 88709237 info@setakfilm.com www.setakfilm.com

Shadow Shows Inc. 632 College Street M6G 1B4 Toronto Canada +1 416 972 9542 +1 416 925 5337

dany@shadowshows.com www.shadowshows.com

Shaker Films 344 W Ave 45 90065 Los Angeles USA +1 323 2768585 info@shakerfilms.com

Showreal Productions 21 Gilles Cres Beacon Hill 2100 NSW Australia +66 800 893903 david@showreal.com.au

Elle Sillanpaa 6a Kew Green TW9 3BH London England +44 79 71442053 elle@elleonline.tv www.elleonline.tv

Simple Production 29, Rue de la Sabonnière 1000 Brussels Belgium +32 2 2174730 +32 2 2170930

Sixpackfilm Neubaugasse 45/13 1070 Vienna Austria +43 1 5260990 +43 1 5260992

office@sixpackfilm.com www.sixpackfilm.com

Slowboat Films Maistrasse 26 63110 Rodgau Germany +49 610 66396575 +49 178 8772277

contact@slowboatfilms.com www.slowboatfilms.com

SnagFilms 1717 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. 20036-3023 Washington D.C. USA +1 202 7761590 +1 202 7761599 feedback@snagfilms.com www.snagfilms.com

Snoot Entertainment 5225 Wilshire Blvd 90036 Los Angeles USA +1 323 9370808 +1 323 9370550 contact@snoot.com

Sofracima 65 rue Montmartre 75002 Paris France +33 1 44882929 +33 1 43149951 lasofra@gmail.com

Sony Pictures Releasing (Holland) Overschiestraat 186-II 1062 XK Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 3462070 +31 20 3462061 info_nl@spe.sony.com www.sonypictures.nl

Soul Docs Lusthoflaan 133 9030 Gent Belgium +32 497547332

info@souldocs.org www.souldocs.org

Spier Films 160 Osborne Road E7 0PN London England +44 208 5224296

heather@spierfilms.com www.spierfilms.com

simple.production@skynet.be

287

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studio 12 Krukov Canal 190068 St Petersburg Russia +7 812 1145312 +7 812 1143304 cinedoc@peterstar.ru www.cinedoc.ru

Stampede Limited The Hat Factory LU1 2EY Luton England +44 1582 727330 +44 1582 726910 stampede@inbox.com www.stampede.co.uk

Starhaus Filmproduktion Siegesstraße 15 80802 München Germany +49 89 550574 0 +49 89 55057444 film@starhaus.de www.starhaus.de

Strix Television Lumaparksvägen 11 12087 Stockholm Sweden +46 8 52259500 +46 8 52259505

johanpalmgren@gmail.com www.strix.se

Studio Cao Guimaraes Rua Piauí, 872 30150-20 Belo Horizonte Brazil +55 31 25557870 studio@caoguimaraes.com www.caoguimaraes.com

Submarine Rapenburgerstraat 109 1011 VL Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 3301226 +31 20 3301227 yaniv@submarine.nl www.submarine.nl

Submarine Entertainment 525 Broadway 10012 New York USA +1 212 6251410 +1 212 6259931 info@submarine.com

www.submarine.com

Swedish Film Institute Box 27126 102 52 Stockholm Sweden +46 8 6651100 +46 8 6611820 info@sfi.se www.sfi.se

Taskovski Films Ltd. 463 Russell Court, Woburn Place WC1H 0NL London England +44 79 77051577

The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School Tagrowa 61/63 90-323 Lodz Poland +48 42 6345820

Ton Light Film Sarajevo Milana Preloga no. 2 71000 Sarajevo Bosnia-Herzegovina +387 33 653651 +387 33 520 897

The Press and the Public Project, Inc. 100 UN Plaza, Suite 10c 10017 New York USA +1 718 2462744 +1 718 2467190

Tres Mundos Producoes Margues de Abrantes 199. Cob01 Flamengo 22.230-060 Brazil +55 21 25545653 +55 21 25545653

Teia Filmes Rua Rio Negro, 855, Alto Barroca 30431-058 Belo Horizonte Brazil +55 31 21274979 +55 31 21274979

The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School 4 Yad-Harutzim St. 91103 Jerusalem Israel +972 2 6731950 +972 2 6731949

TrustNordisk Filmbyen 12 2650 Hvidovre Denmark +45 36 868788 +45 36 774448

The Film Sales Company 165 Madison Avenue, 601 10016 New York USA +1 212 4815020 +1 212 4815021

The Weinstein Company 345 Hudson Street, 13th Floor 10011 New York USA +1 646 8623400 +1 917 6778451

The Gersh Agency 9465 Wilshire Blvd.

90212 Beverly Hills USA +1 310 2746611

Thoughtful Robot Productions PO Box 909 10002 New York USA +1 917 334 6395

info@taskovskifilms.com www.taskovskifilms.com

Teddy Bear Films 690 Fifth Street, Suite 102 94107 San Francisco USA +1 415 3481796 +1 415 3480769 teddybearfilms@earthlink.net www.teddybearfilms.com

contato@teia.art.br www.teia.art.br

contact@filmsalescorp.com www.filmsalescorp.com

info@gershla.com www.gershagency.com

The Little Film Company 12930 Ventura Boulevard 91604 Studio City USA +1 818 7626999 +1 818 3012186

info@thelittlefilmcompany.com www.thelittlefilmcompany.com

The Match Factory Balthasarstrasse 79-81 50670 Cologne Germany +49 221 5397090 +49 221 53970910

info@matchfactory.de www.the-match-factory.com

The Motions Sterrebos 234 4817 SM Breda The Netherlands +31 76 7518757

post@aminhaghighizadeh.nl www.aminhaghighizadeh.nl

swzfilm@filmschool.lodz.pl www.filmschool.lodz.pl

lhandros@aol.com

mail@jsfs.co.il www.jsfs.co.il

international@weinsteinco.com www.weinsteinco.com

info@thoughtfulrobot.com

Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc. 320 7th Avenue #270 11215 Brooklyn USA +1 718 3694134 info@tiedtothetracks.org www.tiedtothetracks.org

Tiny Terror Productions Billstr.139 20539 Hamburg Germany +49 163 5964444 +49 3212 5964444

info@tinyterrorproductions.de www.tinyterrorproductions.de

To Be Heard Productions, c/o The Odysseus Group 295 E bth Street Apartment 3w 10009-5265 New York USA +1 212 5299327 info@tobeheard.org

Isabelle Tollenaere Haantjeslei 144 2018 Antwerpen Belgium +32 48 5621648

isabelletollenaere@hotmail.com

288

dolina11@yahoo.com

vicente3mundos@yahoo.com

info@trustnordisk.com www.trustnordisk.com

TvZERO Rua Profesor Alfredo Gomes, 22 22251-080 Rio de Janeiro Brazil +55 21 22668900 +55 21 22668946 tvzero@tvzero.com.br www.tvzero.com.br

Two Tone Productions 426, Broome Street NY 10013 New York USA +1 212 625 9118 +1 212 625 9120

postmaster@two-toneproductions.com www.two-toneproductions.com

Umbrella Films Pappelallee 22 10437 Berlin Germany +49 30 44738624 +49 30 44738624

umbrellafilms@sandig.com

unafilm Alteburger Str. 2 50678 Köln Germany +49 221 3480280 +49 221 3480281 office@unafilm.de www.unafilm.de

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona Edificio I. Campus de Bellaterra 08193 Barcelona Spain +34 93 5813585 +34 692 462897 m.documental.creativo@uab.es www.documentalcreativo.edu.es

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Ventura Film Casella Postale 10 6866 Meride Switzerland +41 91 6462021 +41 91 6460386

ventura@venturafilm.ch www.venturafilm.ch

ÛΩ Vermelho Rua Minas Gerais 350 01244-010 Sao Paulo Brazil +55 11 31381520

info@galeriavermelho.com.br www.galeriavermelho.com.br

Vertov. Real cinema 12, Tverskaya Street bld.8 125009 Moscow Russia +8 915 2738625 vertov@list.ru www.vertov.ru

Video nas Aldeias Rua de San Francisco 162 53120-70 Olinda Brazil +55 81 34933063 55 81 34933063

videonasaldeias@videonasaldeias.org.br www.videonasaldeias.org.br

Videofilmes Rua do Russel 270 22210-010 Rio de Janeiro Brazil +55 21 30940810 +55 21 22853865

videofilmes@videofilmes.com.br www.videofilmes.com.br

Viewpoint Productions Cruquiusweg 111 C1 1019 AG Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 6363678 +31 20 6367716 docs@viewpointdocs.com www.viewpointdocs.com

Visit Films 89 Fifth Avenue, Suite 806 10003 New York USA +1 718 3128210 +1 718 3624865 info@visitfilms.com www.visitfilms.com

VPRO Sumatralaan 49 1217 GP Hilversum The Netherlands +31 35 6712911 +31 35 6712100 info@nposales.com www.vpro.nl

Thijs van Vuure Haarlemmerdijk 78c 1013 JE Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 6 44270697 thijs@thijsvanvuure.nl www.thijsvanvuure.nl

Wajda Studio Sp. z o.o. ul. Chelmska 21 bud. 24 00-724 Warsaw Poland +48 22 8511056 info@wajdaschool.pl www.wajdaschool.pl

Warrior Poets 407 Broome Street, Ste. 7B 10013 New York USA +1 212 2197617 eah@warrior-poets.com

Web Lab 174 Fifth Avenue, Suite 401 10010 New York USA +1 212 3530080 mweiss@weblab.org www.weblab.org

Wee Red Films 52/2 Marchmont Crescent EH9 1HE Edinburgh Scotland +44 7794 709802 anne@annemilne.com www.weeredfilms.com

Wild Bunch 99 Rue de la Verrerie 75004 Paris France +33 1 53015020 +33 1 53015049

distribution@wildbunch.eu www.wildbunch.biz

anna@wildheart.be www.wildheart.be

Simon Wood 210 Long Street 8001 Cape Town South-Africa +27 21 4811837

simon@saltpeter.co.za www.saltpeter.co.za

Xun Yu 1202 6080 Minuro Blvd.

V6Y 4A7 Richmond Canada +1 514 836 99 98 filmalchemist@gmail.com

Zazen Producoes Praça Pio XI, 6 sala 102 22461-080 Rio de Janeiro Brazil +55 21 25355406/7 +55 21 25355406 zazen@zazen.com.br www.zazen.com.br

WG Film Västergatan 23 21121 Malmö Sweden +46 40 78150 +46 40 233510

zentropa.real@filmbyen.com www.zentropa.dk

Where We Live Films 139 West 69th Street 7 10023 New York USA +1 917 6553514

kontakt@zischlermann.com www.zischlermann.com

film@wgfilm.com www.wgfilm.com

lee.hirsch@verizon.net

Wide Management 40 rue Sainte Anne 75002 Paris France +33 1 53950464 +33 1 53950465

info@zuidenwind.nl www.zuidenwind.nl

Wild Heart Productions Rue Notre Dame du Sommeil 24 1000 Brussels Belgium +1 514 9481714

Werner Herzog Filmproduktion Spiegelgasse 9 1010 Vienna Austria +43 1 5129444 +43 1 5129398 office@wernerherzog.com www.wernerherzog.com

Zuidenwind Filmproductions P.O. Box 4673 4803 ER Breda The Netherlands +31 76 5140871 +31 76 5201910

Zentropa Real Filmbyen 22 2650 Hvidovre Denmark +45 36868767 +45 36 780077

Zischlermann Filmproduktion Alexandrinenstr. 4 10969 Berlin Germany +49 30 577097520 +49 30 577097529 Zocalo Cultural Development 2214 Frederick Douglas Blvd 245 10026 New York USA +1 852 90837443 zocalodocs@gmail.com www.zocalocd.com

info@widemanagement.com www.widemanagement.com

289

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Premieres World Premieres

5 Broken Cameras Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi

24

900 Days Jessica Gorter

88

About Canto Ramon Gieling

25

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary, IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Ahmed – Almost 13 Ritchie Cavander-Cole

210

Antwerp Peter Van Goethem

184

Kids & Docs Paradocs

Bad Weather Giovanni Giommi

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

27

DeWolff Carin Goeijers

109

Drought Everardo González

156

Excursions in the Dark Kaya Behkalam

Farewell Comrades! Interactive Lena Thiele

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

165

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Jerome Jerome Peter Lataster, Petra Lataster-Czisch

90

187

Justice for Sale Femke van Velzen, Ilse van Velzen

90

198

Katya Krenalinova Alexandra Lihacheva

81

Five Star Existence Sonja Lindén

30

Kyteman. Now What?

Menna Laura Meijer

110

Four Horsemen Ross Ashcroft

65

Lagos – Notes of a City Jens Wenkel

68

The Last Days of Winter Mehrdad Oskouei

167

Reflecting Images: Panorama Paradocs DocLab

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Fragments of Palestine Marie Caspari

159

Reflecting Images: Panorama

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary IDFA Competition for First Appearance Reflecting Images: Panorama

The Ballad of Lucky Fonz III David Kleijwegt

106

Frayland Sebastián Mayayo, Ramiro Ozer Ami

159

Life? or Theatre?

Frans Weisz

140

Barcode.tv Philippe Archontakis, Pascal Brouard

196

From Africa to Assen Lieza Röben

210

The Light in Her Eyes Julia Meltzer, Laura Nix

167

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary DocLab

Reflecting Images: Panorama Kids & Docs

Reflecting Images: Masters

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Bayou Blue Alix Lambert, David McMahon

28

Going up the Stairs Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami

43

Little Heaven Lieven Corthouts

168

Beer is Cheaper than Therapy Simone de Vries

88

Gozaran – Time Passing Frank Scheffer

31

Lupe of the Cow Blanca X. Aguerre

169

The Betrayal Karen Winther

79

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary, IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Grandma’s Tattoos Suzanne Khardalian

137

Mama Illegal Ed Moschitz

The Heir Jeremy De Ryckere

80

The Man in Black Martijn Blekendaal

196

Big Boys Gone Bananas!* Fredrik Gertten

134

The Boxing Girls of Kabul Ariel Nasr

151

Hinterland – A Child Soldier’s Road Back to South Sudan 89 Albert Elings

The Burning House Foster Huntington

197

Hospitality Bogomir Doringer

207

29

I Am a Woman Now Michiel van Erp

89

154

I Was Born in Delhi...

Bishnu Dev Halder

66 211

Reflecting Images: Masters

Reflecting Images: Panorama DocLab

Cinema Jenin Marcus Vetter

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Citadel Diego Mondaca

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Reflecting Images: Masters IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary IDFA DocLab Installations IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Comma Amin Haghighizadeh

79

If You Eat Garlic, You Get Full Tamim Abdullah

Dad or a Life Volker Maria Engel, Sandra Van Slooten

62

Insitu Antoine Viviani

199

The Invisible Policeman Laith Al-Juneidi

164

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Panorama

Beyond 9/11 Kira Pollack DocLab

Kids & Docs DocLab

Reflecting Images: Panorama

290

Invoking Justice Deepa Dhanraj

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary Reflecting Images: Panorama

Meet the Fokkens Gabriëlle Provaas, Rob Schröder

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

Mont Age Zoot Derks Paradocs

34 169 91 188

Montenegro Jorge Gaggero

45

My Thai Bride David Tucker

47

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Nadia Ticks Laetitia Schoofs

214

Nation Homer Etminani

70

Noosfera Artchil Khetagouri, Ileana Stanculescu

50

Kids & Docs

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Premieres Nuclear Savage Adam Jonas Horowitz

97

The Sound of the Bandoneón Jiska Rickels

92

Ballroom Dancer Christian Bonke, Andreas Koefoed

60

Off the Grid Alexander Oey

98

Stories from Lakka Beach Daan Veldhuizen

72

Becoming Bert Stern Shannah Laumeister

61

One Fine Day Klaas Bense

91

Then the Wind Changed Celeste Geer

53

Bhopali Van Maximilian Carlson

94

They Call it Myanmar – Lifting the Curtain Robert H. Lieberman

40

Bitter Seeds Micha X. Peled

94

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

One Way Ticket to Bussum Renée Wilna Span Kids & Docs

Painful Painting Catherine van Campen

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary, IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

214 52

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary IDFA Competition for First Appearance, IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

IDFA Competition for First Appearance IDFA Competition for First Appearance

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Things that Matter Frans Bromet

144

Bosnian Rhapsody: At the Margins of Science Vesna Ljubic

151

Through Ellen’s Ears Saskia Gubbels

217

Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle Robbie Gemmel, John Kirby

95 119

Reflecting Images: Masters

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Paradiso, an Amsterdam Stage Affair Jeroen Berkvens

113

The Passenger Pia Andell

215

Tilman in Paradise Julian Vogel

83

Desert Riders Victor Sarin

Play for Keeps Arnold van Bruggen

215

Violated Letters Maciej Drygas

54

Die Standing Up Jacaranda Correa

63

Poets of the People Dirk Manthey

174

When I Was Dead Maasja Ooms, Ingrid Wender

92

Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters Adam Cornelius

157

When the Girls Were Flirting with the Gods Damien Faure

55

The Fabric of Home Othmar Schmiderer

136

Fortunate Son Tony Asimakopoulos

64

Free Improvisation Doron Djerassi

80

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary Kids & Docs Kids & Docs

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Powering a Nation: Coal – A Love Story Laura Ruel

200

The Prism: Krisis Greece 2011 Nikos Katsaounis, Nina Maria Paschalidou

201

DocLab DocLab

Putin’s Kiss Lise Birk Pedersen

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

37

Kids & Docs

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

International Premieres

The Quiet One Ina Holmqvist, Emelie Wallgren

216

33 Animals of Santa Claus Laila Pakalnina

42

Radio Amina Orlando von Einsiedel

216

66 Months James Bluemel

116

The Rat Race Miriam Chandy Menacherry

175

9 Scenes of Violence Michael Krotkiewski

78

Red Fairy n the Holy Ghost Balaka Ghosh

175

Agnes & Nancy Anne Milne

Red Forest Hotel Mika Koskinen

99

The Ambassador & Me Jan Czarlewski The Ambassador Mads Brügger

Kids & Docs Kids & Docs

Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Panorama

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Reformation Jeanette Groenendaal Paradocs

Sealed Fate JD Leete

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Soldier Brother Kaitlin Ann Jones, Alicia Smith DocLab

190 71 202

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary Reflecting Images: Best of Fests IDFA Competition for Student Documentary Reflecting Images: Panorama IDFA Competition for Student Documentary IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Masters

IDFA Competition for First Appearance IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

The Great Liberty Åsa Blanck, Klas Ehnemark

161

Gretchen, Road Movie Eliane Brum, Paschoal Samora

161

Guerrillera Elle Sillanpaa

162

78

Heart of Sky – Heart of Earth Eric Black, Frauke Sandig

138

26

Hitler’s Children Chanoch Ze’evi

162

The Hungry Tide Tom Zubrycki

96

148

Another Life Alexandre Dereims

148

Antonio + Silvana = 2 149 Simone Aleandri, Vanni Gandolfo, Luca Onorati Reflecting Images: Panorama

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

198

106

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Reflecting Images: Best of Fests

Goa Hippy Tribe Darius Devas

Anda Union – From the Steppes to the City Sophie Lascelles, Tim Pearce, Marc Tiley IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

DocLab

Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Masters

Reflecting Images: Panorama IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Joschka and Sir Fischer Pepe Danquart

140

Karen Blixen – Behind Her Mask Morten Henriksen

166

Reflecting Images: Masters

Reflecting Images: Panorama

291

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The Kid and the Clown Ida Grøn

Reflecting Images: Panorama

King Naki and the Thundering Hooves Tim Wege

67

A Letter to Dad Srdan Keca

82

Letters from Iran Manon Loizeau

33

The Lifeguard Maite Alberdi

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Surviving Progress Harold Crooks, Mathieu Roy

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary

Township to the Stage David Paul Meyer

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

100 73

El gusto Safinez Bousbia

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

109

Habana muda Eric Brach

44

Into the Abyss Werner Herzog

32

The Island President Jon Shenk

96

Koran by Heart Greg Barker

124

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

Twice as Wise Piet Eekman

218

Viva Paradis Isabelle Tollenaere

191

69

What Is It Like to Be a Bird?

Thijs van Vuure

207

Lone Twin Anna van der Wee

168

The Will Christian Sønderby Jespen

181

Kumaré Vikram Gandhi

124

Love Addict Pernille Rose Grønkjær

141

The Winner Loser Darren Hercher

56

The Last Dogs of Winter Costa Botes

125

LoveMEATender Manu Coeman

97

With Fidel Whatever Happens Goran Radovanovic

57

The Love We Make Bradley Kaplan, Albert Maysles

141

Mother India Raffaele Brunetti

46

With My Heart in Yambo María Fernanda Restrepo

75

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky

142

My Joan of Arc Dany Chiasson

170

Yuban (Live Earth) Yaasib Alvaro Vazquez Colmenares

85

Paul Williams Still Alive Stephen Kessler

173

New York in Motion Graham Elliott

48

Robert Mugabe... What Happened?

Simon Bright

176

The Next Life Fan Jian

49

Salaam Dunk David Fine

176

No Look Pass Melissa Johnson

172

Sarah Palin – You Betcha!

Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill

143

Outro Julia Panasenko

51

The Sexperience 1000 Mint Digital, lingoBee

201

Sushi: The Global Catch Mark S. Hall

101

The Tall Man Tony Krawitz

131 145

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for First Appearance Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Masters IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary Reflecting Images: Panorama IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary Reflecting Images: Panorama

Kids & Docs Paradocs

IDFA DocLab Installations

Reflecting Images: Panorama

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for First Appearance

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah Kevin Triplett

107

BOM Amlan Datta

150 152

Reflecting Images: Panorama

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary Reflecting Images: Best of Fests Reflecting Images: Best of Fests Reflecting Images: Best of Fests Reflecting Images: Masters Reflecting Images: Masters

Reflecting Images: Panorama

European Premieres IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Masters

Peak Hannes Lang

98

Brother Number One Annie Goldson

Pink Ribbons, Inc. Léa Pool

35

Chanel Aubazine – Paris Jérôme Schlomoff

186

Planet of Snail Seung-Jun Yi

36

The City Gonzalo Ballester

186

Raising Resistance David Bernet, Bettina Borgfeld

99

Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story Robert G. Bralver, David Ferino

108

To Be Heard Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan

156

The Vanishing Spring Light Xun Yu

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Reflecting Images: Panorama Paradocs Paradocs

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

DocLab

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary Reflecting Images: Best of Fests

Reflecting Images: Masters

74

Semper Fi: Always Faithful Tony Hardmon, Rachel Libert

100

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel Lisa Immordino Vreeland

177

120

War Is Not a Game Lode Desmet

180

Signs & Vibrations Nalia Giovanoli

Fightville Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker

38

121

114

Six Million and One David Fisher

Fordson Rashid Ghazi

When the Drum is Beating Whitney Dow

84

IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary IDFA Competition for Green Screen Documentary Reflecting Images: Panorama IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Smokin’ Fish Luke Griswold-Tergis

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Songs Eduardo Coutinho

292

166

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

178 39

Reflecting Images: Panorama

Reflecting Images: Best of Fests Reflecting Images: Best of Fests

IDFA Competition for First Appearance Reflecting Images: Panorama

IDFA PLAY Competition for Music Documentary

Gentlemen Adrián Orr

160

White Elephant Kristof Bilsen

A Good Man Bob Hercules, Gordon Quinn

137

The Zone Guillaume Herbaut, Bruno Masi

Reflecting Images: Panorama Reflecting Images: Masters

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary DocLab

203

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Countries Afghanistan If You Eat Garlic, You Get Full Skateistan: Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul

211 128

Algeria El gusto

109

Argentina Montenegro ¡Vivan las antipodas!

45 145

Australia Goa Hippy Tribe The Hungry Tide Mrs Carey’s Concert My Thai Bride The Tall Man Then the Wind Changed

198 96 112 47 131 53

Austria The Fabric of Home Ibiza Occident Mama Illegal Our Trip to Africa Six Million and One Whores’ Glory

136 110 34 232 38 146

Belgium Antwerp C.A.P.E Empire of Dust The Heir Little Heaven Lone Twin LoveMEATender Printed Matter Viva Paradis War Is Not a Game What’s in a Name White Elephant

184 185, 206 158 80 168 168 97 189 191 180 181 84

Bolivia Citadel

154

Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnian Rhapsody: At the Margins of Science

151

Brazil 33 Asleep Behave Born to Be Blind Bus 174 Carlos Nader Citizen Boilesen Corumbiara: They Shoot Indians, Don´t They?

Cruzada Drifter Gretchen, Road Movie Here We Are, Waiting For You Hypnosis I am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth Intermissions

239 184 239 240 240 252 241 241 252 242 161 242 253 243 243

Master, a Copacabana Building Metal Workers The Mighty Spirit Music According to Tom Jobim A Night in 67 Passage Playing Public Solitude Saba Santiago Secrets of the Tribe Songs

Bulgaria The Boy Who Was a King My Mate Manchester United Canada Barcode Installation Barcode.tv The Boxing Girls of Kabul Desert Riders Family Portrait in Black and White Fortunate Son G Spotting: A Story of Pleasure and Promise HIGHRISE: One Millionth Tower Lone Twin My Joan of Arc The Next Day Pink Ribbons, Inc. Soldier Brother The Strawberry Tree Surviving Progress The Vanishing Spring Light War Is Not a Game

249 249 250 125 244 253 250 254 254 244 245 39 117 171 206 196 151 119 120 64 160 199 168 170 200 35 202 191 100 74 180

Chile The Lifeguard ¡Vivan las antipodas!

69 145

China Dead Men Talking The Next Life The Vanishing Spring Light

155 49 74

Denmark The Ambassador Ballroom Dancer Into Eternity Karen Blixen – Behind Her Mask The Kid and the Clown Love Addict Putin’s Kiss The Will

26 60 164 166 166 141 37 181

Ecuador With My Heart in Yambo Egypt Excursions in the Dark Tahrir 2011

75

England 28 Up 66 Months Anda Union – From the Steppes to the City Bad Weather The Betrayal Boy Cheerleaders The Camera That Changed the World Four Horsemen The Four Year Plan Guerrillera In My Mother’s Arms The Interrupters Into the Abyss Koran by Heart A Letter to Dad The Miners’ Hymns The Next Life Radio Amina Robert Mugabe... What Happened?

Sarah Palin – You Betcha!

Secrets of the Tribe The Sexperience 1000 TT3D: Closer to the Edge White Elephant Yellow Limbo

229 116 106 27 79 152 153 65 158 162 163 139 32 124 82 188 49 216 176 143 245 201 178 84 192

Finland Five Star Existence Into Eternity Mama Africa The Passenger Red Forest Hotel Soul Catcher

30 164 111 215 99 190

France 5 Broken Cameras Another Life Barcode Installation Barcode.tv The Beautiful Language Chanel Aubazine – Paris Crazy Horse Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel Farewell Comrades! Interactive G Spotting: A Story of Pleasure and Promise Habana muda Happiness ... Promised Land Insitu Le joli mai Letters from Iran Michel Petrucciani The Staircase War Is Not a Game When the Girls Were Flirting with the Gods The Zone

24 148 206 196 185 186 136 156 198 160 44 123 199 231 33 112 232 180 55 203

187 130

293

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Countries

294

Germany Bad Weather The Boy Who Was a King Cinema Jenin Citadel Dad or a Life Excursions in the Dark Farewell Comrades! Interactive Fragments of Palestine Gozaran – Time Passing Heart of Sky – Heart of Earth Into the Abyss Joschka and Sir Fischer The Kingdom of Survival Lagos – Notes of a City Mama Africa Not in My Backyard Peak Poets of the People Raising Resistance Six Million and One Skateistan: Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul The Substance – Albert Hofmann’s LSD Tilman in Paradise Twice as Wise Utopia Ltd. ¡Vivan las antipodas!

27 117 29 154 62 187 198 159 31 138 32 140 123 68 111 82 98 174 99 38 128 129 83 218 113 145

Greece The Prism: Krisis Greece 2011

201

Hungary Kids Rights: Boglárka

212

India Bitter Seeds BOM I Was Born in Delhi...

Invoking Justice The Rat Race Red Fairy n the Holy Ghost

94 150 66 165 175 175

Iran Askoo Going up the Stairs The Last Days of Winter This Is Not a Film

149 43 167 144

Iraq In My Mother’s Arms Salaam Dunk

163 176

Ireland El gusto

109

Israel 5 Broken Cameras Carte Blanche Cinema Jenin Free Improvisation Hitler’s Children Six Million and One Susya

24 118 29 80 162 38 130

Italy Antonio + Silvana = 2 Mother India Peak Silvio, One of Us

149 46 98 177

Japan BOM Invoking Justice The Next Life

150 165 49

Kosovo A Letter to Dad

82

Kyrgyzstan Nomadic

172

Latvia 33 Animals of Santa Claus

42

Mexico Carrière: 250 Meters Die Standing Up Drought Lupe of the Cow The Night Watchman Yuban (Live Earth) The Netherlands 5 Broken Cameras 900 Days About Canto The Ballad of Lucky Fonz III Beer is Cheaper than Therapy Coffee, Cake & Crematorium Comma Crazy DeWolff From Africa to Assen Geweld Verhalen Karavaan Gozaran – Time Passing Hinterland – A Child Soldier’s Road Back to South Sudan Hold on Tight – De Dijk Hollandse Meesters in de 21ste eeuw Hospitality I Am a Woman Now If It Weren’t for You In My Mother’s Arms Inside My Head Jerome Jerome Justice for Sale Kyteman. Now What?

Life? or Theatre?

The Man in Black The Man Who Can Meet the Fokkens The Miracle of Weebosch Mont Age My Granny Lien Nadia Ticks O amor natural Off the Grid One Fine Day

One Way Ticket to Bussum Painful Painting Paradiso, an Amsterdam Stage Affair People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am Play for Keeps Raman Reformation The Soft Atlas of the Netherlands The Sound of the Bandoneón Stories from Lakka Beach Things that Matter Through Ellen’s Ears Via PanAm ¡Vivan las antipodas!

Water Children What Is It Like to Be a Bird?

When I Was Dead Wild Lilly

214 52 113 174 215 217 190 208 92 72 144 217 202 145 180 207 92 218

135 63 156 169 126 85

New Zealand Brother Number One The Last Dogs of Winter

152 125

Norway Ahmed – Almost 13 A Balloon for Allah The Betrayal

210 150 79

24 88 25 106 88 154 79 155 109 210 179 31

Palestine 5 Broken Cameras The Invisible Policeman

24 164

Philippines Kano: An American and His Harem

165

Poland Paparazzi Phnom Penh Lullaby The Trip Vakha and Magomed Violated Letters

83 127 84 179 54

89 163 157 207 89 81 163 211 90 90 110 140 169 212 91 170 188 213 214 173 98 91

Romania Noosfera

50

Russia I Will Forget this Day Katya Krenalinova Motherland or Death Outro

187 81 142 51

Scotland Agnes & Nancy The Winner Loser

148 56

Senegal Yoole, The Sacrifice

146

Serbia A Letter to Dad With Fidel Whatever Happens

82 57

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Countries South Africa Forerunners King Naki and the Thundering Hooves Mama Africa Robert Mugabe... What Happened?

South Korea Planet of Snail

121 67 111 176 36

Spain The City El Niño Miguel Gentlemen Ibiza Occident Migropolis My Name is Peng Nation

186 171 160 110 213 189 70

Sweden 9 Scenes of Violence Big Boys Gone Bananas!* A Bitter Taste of Freedom Five Star Existence Grandma’s Tattoos The Great Liberty Into Eternity The Quiet One

78 134 134 30 137 161 164 216

Switzerland The Ambassador & Me Joschka and Sir Fischer Raising Resistance Signs & Vibrations The Substance – Albert Hofmann’s LSD War Is Not a Game

78 140 99 177 129 180

Syria The Light in Her Eyes

167

United Arab Emirates El gusto The Invisible Policeman

109 164

Uruguay Frayland

159

USA American Movie At the Death House Door Bayou Blue Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest Becoming Bert Stern Beyond 9/11 Bhopali The Big Fix Bitter Seeds A Bitter Taste of Freedom Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah Bob and The Monster Bobby Fischer Against the World Buck The Bully Project The Burning House

229 222 28 107 61 196 94 116 94 134 107 108 117 118 153 197

Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle Cave of Forgotten Dreams Condition One Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist Crazy Horse Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel Dragonslayer Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson Fightville Fordson Girl Model Give Up Tomorrow Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes A Good Man Grey Gardens Gun Fight Heart of Sky – Heart of Earth Hoop Dreams I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful The Interrupters Into the Abyss Invoking Justice The Island President The Kingdom of Survival Koran by Heart Kumaré Last Days Here The Light in Her Eyes The Love We Make The Miners’ Hymns The New Americans New York in Motion The Night Watchman No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson No Look Pass Nuclear Savage Page One: Inside the New York Times Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Paul Williams Still Alive POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Powering a Nation: Coal – A Love Story The Redemption of General Butt Naked Reel Paradise Salaam Dunk Sealed Fate Semper Fi: Always Faithful Sing Your Song Skateistan: Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul Smokin’ Fish Splinters Stevie Sushi: The Global Catch They Call it Myanmar – Lifting the Curtain The Times of Harvey Milk To Be Heard Tongues Untied Township to the Stage

95 135 197 95 136 108 156 119 157 230 120 121 122 122 230 137 231 138 138 222

Unraveled When the Drum is Beating

131 114

Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe... What Happened?

176

139 139 32 165 96 123 124 124 111 167 141 188 223 48 126 223 172 97 126 142 173 143 200 127 224 176 71 100 128 128 178 129 224 101 40 233 145 233 73

295

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Directors A

B

C

296

Tamim Abdullah Blanca X. Aguerre Susana Aikin Atia Al-Daradji Mohamed Al-Daradji Laith Al-Juneidi Maite Alberdi Simone Aleandri Natalia Almada Ayten Amin Daniele Anastasion Pia Andell Carlos Aparicio Michael Apted Daniel Aragão Richard De Aragues Philippe Archontakis Don Argott Ross Ashcroft Tony Asimakopoulos

211 169 223 163 163 164 69 149 126 130 127 215 223 229 254 178 196, 206 111 65 64

Keirda Bahruth Ivanka Bakker Gonzalo Ballester Greg Barker Kaya Behkalam Antonio Bellia Klaas Bense Jeroen Berkvens Roberto Berliner Joe Berlinger Piotr Bernas David Bernet Kristof Bilsen Lise Birk Pedersen Matthias Bittner Eric Black Åsa Blanck Martijn Blekendaal James Bluemel Jerry Blumenthal Elisa Bolognini Christian Bonke Bettina Borgfeld Costa Botes Safinez Bousbia Gilles Boyon Eric Brach Robert G. Bralver Simon Bright Frans Bromet Nick Broomfield Pascal Brouard Peter Jay Brown Arnold van Bruggen Mads Brügger Eliane Brum Raffaele Brunetti Emad Burnat

108 217 186 124 187 177 91 113 240 142 83 99 84 37 82 138 161 169 116 223, 230 177 60 99 125 109 160 44 108 176 144 143 196, 206 95 215 26 161 46 24

Ricardo Calil Catherine van Campen Clarissa Campolina Vincent Carelli Van Maximilian Carlson Marie Caspari Ritchie Cavander-Cole Mandy Chang

244 52 184, 253 241 94 159 210 153

Patrick Chauvel Dany Chiasson Joan Churchill Katerina Cizek Manu Coeman Michael Collins Bob Connolly Adam Cornelius Jacaranda Correa Lieven Corthouts Eduardo Coutinho CREW Harold Crooks Jan Czarlewski

D

E

F

G

197 170 143 199 97 122 112 157 63 168 39, 247-250 185, 206 100 78

Pepe Danquart Amlan Datta Guy Davidi Jeremy De Ryckere Jonathan Demme Danfung Dennis Alexandre Dereims Zoot Derks Lode Desmet Darius Devas Deepa Dhanraj Doron Djerassi Bogomir Doringer Whitney Dow Maciej Drygas

140 150 24 80 139 197 148 188 180 198 165 80 207 114 54

Piet Eekman Eitan Efrat Klas Ehnemark Orlando von Einsiedel Albert Elings Graham Elliott Volker Maria Engel Petra Epperlein Robert Epstein Michiel van Erp Homer Etminani Tamer Ezzat

218 189 161 216 89 48 62 120 233 89 70 130

Mounir Fatmi Damien Faure Demian Fenton David Ferino Vicente Ferraz David Fine David Fisher Sirah Foighel Brutmann

185 55 111 108 243 176 38 189

Jorge Gaggero Vikram Gandhi Vanni Gandolfo Liz Garbus Celeste Geer Robbie Gemmel Boris Gerrets Fredrik Gertten Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami Rashid Ghazi Balaka Ghosh Ramon Gieling Peter Gilbert Jason Gilmore

45 124 149 117 53 95 174 134 43 121 175 25 222 200

Giovanni Giommi Nalia Giovanoli Michael Glawogger Carin Goeijers Peter Van Goethem Alexandre Louis Daniel Goetschmann Kiko Goifman Marina Goldovskaya Annie Goldson Everardo González Jessica Gorter Anne-Marieke Graafmans Gregorio Graziosi Luke Griswold-Tergis Jeanette Groenendaal Yoav Gross Ida Grøn Saskia Gubbels Jahel Guerra Cao Guimarães

H

I J

K

Amin Haghighizadeh Bishnu Dev Halder Mark S. Hall Segolene Hanotaux Tony Hardmon Mohammad Ali Hashemzehi Laurent Hasse Morten Henriksen Guillaume Herbaut Darren Hercher Bob Hercules Werner Herzog Lee Hirsch Mat Hodgson Ina Holmqvist Heddy Honigmann Adam Jonas Horowitz Aliona van der Horst Ellen Hovde Foster Huntington Lisa Immordino Vreeland Julia Ivanova Steve James Fan Jian Monster Jimenez Dora Jobim Melissa Johnson Kaitlin Ann Jones Eric Joris Bradley Kaplan Nikos Katsaounis Mika Kaurismäki Srdan Keca Stephen Kessler Suzanne Khardalian Artchil Khetagouri John Kirby David Kleijwegt Pawel Kloc Andreas Koefoed Barbara Kopple Mika Koskinen Victor Kossakovsky

27 177 146 109 184 118 239 134 152 156 88 81 254 178 190 130 166 217 189 242, 253 79 66 101 160 100 149 123 166 203 56 137 32, 135 153 158 216 155, 173 97 180 231 197 156 120 139, 219-224 49 165 125 172 202 185, 206 141 201 111 82 173 137 50 95 106 127 60 138, 230 99 145

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Directors

L

Tony Krawitz Sergej Kreso Indu Krishnan Michael Krotkiewski Bartosz Kruhlik Peter Kubelka Nadine Kuipers Eva Küpper

131 154 223 78 84 232 212 181

O

Alix Lambert Hannes Lang Sophie Lascelles Peter Lataster Petra Lataster-Czisch Shannah Laumeister JD Leete Roland Legiardi-Laura PV Lehtinen Jean-Xavier de Lestrade Pierre Lhomme Rachel Libert Robert H. Lieberman Alexandra Lihacheva Sonja Lindén lingoBee Chaim Litewski Marc Alexander Littler Vesna Ljubic Kadir van Lohuizen Manon Loizeau Nefise Özkal Lorentzen

28 98 106 90 90 61 71 145 190 232 231 100 40 81 30 201 241 123 151 202 33 150

P

M

Michael Madsen Vitaly Manskiy Dirk Manthey Cinthia Marcelle Helvécio Marins Jr. Chris Marker Nacho Martín Edwin Martinez Marcelo Masagão Bruno Masi Sebastián Mayayo Albert Maysles David Maysles David McMahon Cindy Meehl Menna Laura Meijer Julia Meltzer Miriam Chandy Menacherry Thereza Menezes Marzia Mete David Paul Meyer Muffie Meyer Anne Milne Mint Digital Mojtaba Mirtahmasb Victoria Molina de Carranza Diego Mondaca Valentina Monti Bill Morrison Ed Moschitz

N

Carlos Nader Ariel Nasr Robin Newell James Newton Laura Nix

164 142 174 252 253 231 171 145 242 203 159 141, 231 231 28 118 110 167 175 254 177 73 231 148 201 144 189 154 177 188 34 252 151 155 152 167

Q R

S

Alexander Oey Luca Onorati Maasja Ooms Uriel Orlow Adrián Orr Mehrdad Oskouei Ramiro Ozer Ami Nefise Özkal Lorentzen

98 149 92 192 160 167 159 150

José Padilha Bram van Paesschen Laila Pakalnina Jafar Panahi Julia Panasenko Gianfranco Pannone Andrey Paounov Nina Maria Paschalidou Tristan Patterson Tim Pearce Micha X. Peled Adam Pesce Andreas Pichler Kira Pollack Léa Pool Gabriëlle Provaas Marta Prus

240, 245 158 42 144 51 177 117 201 119 106 94 129 177 196 35 91 179

Gordon Quinn Michael Radford Goran Radovanovic Suzanne Raes Maria Ramos Michael Rapaport Simone Rapisarda Casanova Sophie Raymond David Redmon María Fernanda Restrepo Jiska Rickels Marlon Riggs Lieza Röben Adelheid Roosen Pernille Rose Grønkjær Dani Rosenberg Andrew Rossi Susanne Rostock Sanne Rovers Mathieu Roy Alina Rudnitskaya Laura Ruel Juan Carlos Rulfo Nora Ruszkai Ashley Sabin Amr Salama João Moreira Salles Paschoal Samora Frauke Sandig Nelson Pereira dos Santos Victor Sarin Frank Scheffer Jérôme Schlomoff Othmar Schmiderer Laetitia Schoofs Rob Schröder Günter Schwaiger

137, 223, 230 112 57 163 239 107 191 112 122 75 92 233 210 179 141 130 126 128 218 100 187 200 135 212 122 130 243, 244 161 138 125 119 31 186 136 214 91 110

T

V

Kai Sehr Moussa Sene Absa Deborah Shaffer Jon Shenk Elle Sillanpaa Marc H. Simon Bruce Sinofsky Sandra Van Slooten Erna Slotboom Alicia Smith Chris Smith Christian Sønderby Jespen Morgan Spurlock Ileana Stanculescu Eric Strauss Amy Sultan Artykpay Suyundukov

128 146 145 96 162 131 142 62 211 202 229 181 143 50 127 145 172

Renee Tajima-Peña Renato Terra Lena Thiele Josh Tickell Marc Tiley Isabelle Tollenaere Kevin Triplett Sandra Trostel David Tucker Michael Tucker

223 244 198 116 106 191 107 113 47 120

Stefan Valdobrev Yaasib Alvaro Vazquez Colmenares Daan Veldhuizen Femke van Velzen Ilse van Velzen Marcus Vetter Karolina Villarraga Antoine Viviani Julian Vogel Wendelien Voogd Simone de Vries Thijs van Vuure

171 85 72 90 90 29 213 199 83 170 88 207

W

Emelie Wallgren Anna van der Wee Tim Wege Frans Weisz Ingrid Wender Jens Wenkel Renée Wilna Span Karen Winther Frederick Wiseman Annelies de Wit Martin Witz Simon Wood

Y Z

Seung-Jun Yi Xun Yu Chanoch Ze’evi Tom Zubrycki

216 168 67 140 92 68 214 79 136 213 129 121 36 74 162 96

297

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Films 0-9 2 x Klüger 5 Broken Cameras 9 scener om våld 9 Scenes of Violence De 13e man 28 Up 33 33 Animals of Santa Claus 33 zveri ziemassvetku vecitim 66 Months 900 dagen 900 Days

218 24 78 78 169 229 239 42 42 116 88 88

A A la guerre comme a la guerre About Canto Achterland – de weg terug naar Cuey Machar Agnes & Nancy Ahmed – Almost 13 Ahmed – snart 13 Akharin rozhaye zemestan Al-madina Alles van waarde Als ik jou niet had L’ambassadeur & moi The Ambassador & Me The Ambassador Ambassadøren American Movie Anda Union – From the Steppes to the City Andarilho Another Life Antonio + Silvana = 2 Antwerp El árbol de las fresas Askoo Asleep At the Death House Door Une autre vie

180 25 89 148 210 210 167 186 144 81 78 78 26 26 229 106 242 148 149 184 191 149 184 222 148

B Bad Weather Bag Blixens maske The Ballad of Lucky Fonz III De ballade van Lucky Fonz III En ballong til Allah A Balloon for Allah Ballroom Dancer Barcode Installation Barcode.tv Bayou Blue Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest The Beautiful Language Becoming Bert Stern Beer is Cheaper than Therapy Behave The Betrayal Beyond 9/11 Bhopali Big Boys Gone Bananas!* The Big Fix

298

27 166 106 106 150 150 60 206 196 28 107 185 61 88 239 79 196 94 134 116

Bitter Seeds A Bitter Taste of Freedom Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah Bob and The Monster Bobby Fischer Against the World BOM Le bonheur ... terre promise Born to Be Blind Bosanska rapsodija: Na rubu znanosti Bosnian Rhapsody: At the Margins of Science The Boxing Girls of Kabul Boy Cheerleaders The Boy Who Was a King Brother Number One Buck The Bully Project The Burning House Bus 174

94 134 107 108 117 150 123 240 151 151 151 152 117 152 118 153 197 240

C C.A.P.E 185, 206 The Camera That Changed the World 153 As canções 39 Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle 95 Carlos Nader 252 Carrière: 250 Meters 135 Carrière: 250 metros 135 Carte Blanche 118 Cave of Forgotten Dreams 135 Chanel Aubazine – Paris 186 Cidadão Boilesen 241 Cinema Jenin 29 Citadel 154 Citizen Boilesen 241 The City 186 Ciudadela 154 Coffee, Cake & Crematorium 154 Comma 79 Con Fidel pase lo que pase 57 Con mi corazón en Yambo 75 Condition One 197 Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist 95 Corumbiara: They Shoot Indians, Don´t They?

241 Crazy 155 Crazy Horse 136 Cruzada 252 Cudze listy 54 Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story 108 D Dad or a Life De Caballeros Dead Men Talking Desert Riders DeWolff Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel Die Standing Up Door de oren van Ellen Dragonslayer Drifter Drought Dutch Masters in the 21st Century

62 160 155 119 109 156 63 217 119 242 156 157

E Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters Edifício Master Einer von uns Empire of Dust Een enkeltje Bussum Entreatos Excursions in the Dark

157 249 177 158 214 243 187

F The Fabric of Home Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson Family Portrait in Black and White Farewell Comrades! Interactive Farmors tatueringar Fightville Five Star Existence Fordson Forerunners Fortunate Son Four Horsemen The Four Year Plan Fragments of Palestine Frayland Fraylandia Free Improvisation From Africa to Assen

136 230 120 198 137 120 30 121 121 64 65 158 159 159 159 80 210

G G Spotting: A Story of Pleasure and Promise Gentlemen Geweld Verhalen Karavaan Girl Model Give Up Tomorrow Goa Hippy Tribe Going up the Stairs Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes A Good Man Gozaran – Time Passing Grandma’s Tattoos The Great Liberty Gretchen, Filme Estrada Gretchen, Road Movie Grey Gardens Guerrillera Gun Fight El gusto

160 160 179 122 122 198 43 230 137 31 137 161 161 161 231 162 138 109

H Habana muda Happiness ... Promised Land Heart of Sky – Heart of Earth The Heir Here We Are, Waiting For You Herz des Himmels – Herz der Erde HIGHRISE: One Millionth Tower Hinterland – A Child Soldier’s Road Back to South Sudan Hitler’s Children Hold on Tight – De Dijk Hollandse Meesters in de 21ste eeuw Hoop Dreams Hospitality

44 123 138 80 242 138 199 89 162 163 157 222 207

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Films Hou me vast – De Dijk The Hungry Tide Huo zhe Hypnosis

163 96 49 253

I I Am a Woman Now I am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth I Was Born in Delhi...

I Will Forget this Day I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful Ibiza Occident If It Weren’t for You If You Eat Garlic, You Get Full Iltur hofshi In film nist In mijn hoofd In My Mother’s Arms Inside My Head Insitu Intermissions The Interrupters Into Eternity Into the Abyss The Invisible Policeman Invoking Justice The Island President

139 110 81 211 80 144 211 163 211 199 243 139 164 32 164 165 96

J Jeroen Jeroen Jerome Jerome Jogo de cena Le joli mai Joschka and Sir Fischer Joschka und Herr Fischer Juízo Justice for Sale

90 90 250 231 140 140 239 90

K Kaffeefahrt ins Krematorium Kano: An American and His Harem Karen Blixen – Behind Her Mask Katya Krenalinova The Kid and the Clown Kids Rights: Boglárka King Naki and the Thundering Hooves The Kingdom of Survival Klovn for livet Koch Komma Koran by Heart Kumaré Kyteman. Now What?

154 165 166 81 166 212 67 123 166 172 79 124 124 110

L Lagos – Notes of a City Lagos – Notizen einer Stadt Last Days Here The Last Days of Winter The Last Dogs of Winter Lebt wohl, Genossen!

A Letter to Dad

68 68 111 167 125 198 82

89 243 66 187

Letters from Iran Leven? of theater?

Life? or Theatre?

The Lifeguard The Light in Her Eyes Little Heaven Lone Twin Love Addict The Love We Make LoveMEATender Lupe el de la vaca Lupe of the Cow

33 140 140 69 167 168 168 141 141 97 169 169

M Ma Jeanne d’Arc Mah pishooni Mama Africa Mama Illegal De man die alles kan The Man in Black The Man Who Can Master, a Copacabana Building Matkustaja Me Llamo Peng Meet the Fokkens Mensjesrechten: Boglárka Metal Workers Michel Petrucciani The Mighty Spirit Migropolis Migrópolis The Miners’ Hymns The Miracle of Weebosch Momcheto, koeto beshe tsar Mont Age Montenegro Morir de pie Mother India Motherland or Death Mrs Carey’s Concert Music According to Tom Jobim My Granny Lien My Joan of Arc My Mate Manchester United My Name is Peng My Thai Bride

170 43 111 34 212 169 212 249 215 189 91 212 249 112 250 213 213 188 170 117 188 45 63 46 142 112 125 213 170 171 189 47

N Nació Nadia Ticks Nadia tikt Nation The New Americans New York in Motion The Next Day The Next Life A Night in 67 The Night Watchman El Niño Miguel No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson No Look Pass Uma noite em 67

70 214 214 70 223 48 200 49 244 126 171 223 172 244

Nomadic Noosfera Nós que aqui estamos, por vós esperamos Not in My Backyard Nuclear Savage Nzoku ya pembe

172 50 242 82 97 84

O O amor natural Off the Grid Oma Lien One Fine Day One Way Ticket to Bussum Onibus 174 De opvolger Our Trip to Africa Outro Ouwehoeren Over Canto

173 98 213 91 214 240 80 232 51 91 25

P Page One: Inside the New York Times Painful Painting Paparazzi Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Paradiso, an Amsterdam Stage Affair Passage The Passenger Patria o muerte Paul Williams Still Alive Peak Peões People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am A pessoa é para o que nasce Phnom Penh Lullaby Pink Ribbons, Inc. Pismo tati Planet of Snail Play for Keeps Playing Poets of the People POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Powering a Nation: Coal – A Love Story Printed Matter The Prism: Krisis Greece 2011 Public Solitude Putin’s Kiss Putins kys

126 52 83 142 113 253 215 142 173 98 249 174 240 127 35 82 36 215 250 174 143 200 189 201 254 37 37

Q Quand les filles flirtaient avec les dieux The Quiet One

55 216

R Radio Amina Raising Resistance Raman The Rat Race Red Fairy n the Holy Ghost Red Forest Hotel The Redemption of General Butt Naked Reel Paradise

216 99 217 175 175 99 127 224

299

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

Index | Films

300

Reformation Reformeren Retourtje hiernamaals Robert Mugabe... What Happened?

190 190 92 176

S Saba Salaam Dunk El salvavidas Santiago Santo forte Sarah Palin – You Betcha!

Sealed Fate Secrets of the Tribe Semper Fi: Always Faithful The Sexperience 1000 Shisha million ve’echad Sielunsieppaaja Signs & Vibrations Silvio, One of Us Sing Your Song Six Million and One Skateistan: Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul Smokin’ Fish Soldier Brother Solidão pública Songs El sonido del bandoneón Soul Catcher The Sound of the Bandoneón Soy Cuba, o Mamute Siberiano Splinters The Staircase Stevie Stoff der Heimat Den stora friheten Stories from Lakka Beach The Strawberry Tree The Substance – Albert Hofmann’s LSD Surviving Progress Sushi: The Global Catch Susya

U Uitgekraakt Unraveled Unsere Afrikareise Utopia Ltd.

218 131 232 113

254 176 69 244 250 143 71 245 100 201 38 190 177 177 128 38 128 178 202 254 39 92 190 92 243 129 232 224 136 161 72 191 129 100 101 130

V Vakha and Magomed Vakha i Magomed Van Afrika naar Assen The Vanishing Spring Light El Velador Via PanAm Violated Letters Violence Stories Caravan Viva Paradis ¡Vivan las antipodas!

Volkspoeten Voor ‘t echie

179 179 210 74 126 202 54 179 191 145 174 215

W War Is Not a Game Water Children What Is It Like to Be a Bird?

What’s in a Name When I Was Dead When the Drum is Beating When the Girls Were Flirting with the Gods White Elephant Whores’ Glory Wild Lilly The Will The Winner Loser With Fidel Whatever Happens With My Heart in Yambo Het wonder van Weebosch Wycieczka

180 180 207 181 92 114 55 84 146 218 181 56 57 75 170 84

T Tahrir 2011 The Tall Man Testamentet Then the Wind Changed They Call it Myanmar – Lifting the Curtain Things that Matter This Is Not a Film Through Ellen’s Ears Tilman im Paradies Tilman in Paradise The Times of Harvey Milk To Be Heard Tongues Untied Township to the Stage Trecho The Trip TT3D: Closer to the Edge Twice as Wise

130 131 181 53 40 144 144 217 83 83 233 145 233 73 253 84 178 218

Y Ya zabudu etot den Yaldey Hitler Yellow Limbo Yoole, The Sacrifice Yuban (Live Earth) Yuban (tierra viva)

187 162 192 146 85 85

Z La zone The Zone

203 203

meer meer documentaires

adv VPRO IDFA-catalogus2011.indd 1

02-11-11 12:58

Doc Next is a programme of screenin documentaries in the main program media makers participate in the IDF the Doc Next Industry Panel will tac www.docnextnetwork.org/idfa

From the video: I’m looking for Someone

by Janusz Kojro (26) from Poland

D-I-Y documentary makers zoom in on Europe A new generation of young do-it-yourself documentary makers is ready to represent Europe with fresh ideas, new forms of documentary and unexpected local heroes. These makers make full use of accessible media to share personal reflections that portray another Europe.

Doc Next is a programme of screenings, meetings and debate. Doc Next films are screened prior to long documentaries in the main programme and in the Doc Next Mini Cinema (Rembrandtplein). Ten young D-I-Y media makers participate in the IDFAcademy’s special workshops. On Sunday 20 November the Doc Next Industry Panel will tackle the question “Is the documentary industry over the hill?” www.docnextnetwork.org/idfa

D-I-Y documentary makers zoom in o

A new generation of young do-it-you ideas, new forms of documentary an media to share personal reflections