DOCUMENTARIES
CENSORED WITHOUT CENSORSHIP (Das Kabinett - Lecture with Mr. Vanja Valtrovic)) 8th November 19:00 LHC Das Kabinett
Original title: Zabranjeni bez zabrane
Country: Serbia
Year: 2007
Genre: Documentary
Format: DVD
Language: Serbian with English subs
Run time: 52’
Director: Dinko Tucakovic and Milan Nikodijevic
Writer: Milan Nikodijevic
Producer: Miroslav Mogorovic
Production: Art&Popcorn
Supported by: Ministry of culture of the Republic of Serbia, Secretariat for Culture - City of Belgrade
Plot: Through the conversation with Yugoslav film authors and excerpts from their films, this documentary tells a story of a film phenomenon and censorship, and its focus is, in fact, a painful epoch of Yugoslav film called "a Black Wave", which was the most important and artistically strongest period of Yugoslav cinematography, created in the sixties and buried in the early seventies by means of ideological and political decisions.
Appearances: Dušan Makavejev, Želimir Žilnik, Gordan Mihić, Lazar Stojanović, Branko Vučićević, Tomislav Tom Gotovac, Dragoljub Vojnov, Dimitrije Vojnov, Borislav Anđelić, Radoslav Zelenović, Mladomir Puriša Đorđević
Screeening in DAS Kabinett, with the presence of Vanja Valtrovic, expert on Black Wave cinema movement in Ex-Yugoslavia with Q&A.
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TITO’S GHOST 7th November 16:00 LHC 3
Original title: Tito’s Ghost
Country: UK
Year: 2008
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 60’
Format: DVD
Language: BCS with English subtitles
Directed by: Mira Erdevicki
Screenplay: Mira Erdevicki
Editor: David Charap
Most of Eastern Europe’s Communist rulers have been quietly forgotten but Tito is different.
Outside his country, he is credited for holding Yugoslavia together and guiding it to prosperity.
At home his victory in WW2 once gave him the status of a living saint, but now Tito is widely despised.
Mira Erdevicki’s film explores the career of this President-for -life of a country that no longer exists.
She uses living witnesses to explore each phase of his rule but always seeks to understand their impact on life today. She reveals a disturbing history of myth and half truth that suggests his legacy may be the key to understanding the region.
Filmography:
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HOW TO BECOME A HERO 8th November 13:00 LHC 3
Original title: Kako postati heroj
Country: Serbia
Year: 2007
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 79’
Format: DVD
Language: Serbian with English subtitles
Director: Mladen Maticevic
Cinematographer: Zoran Petrovic
Screenplay: Mladen Maticevic
Editing: Suzana Stevanovic
Sound: Novica Jankov
Music: Vladimir Ilic, Boris Mladenovic, Dejan Vucetic
Narrator: Mladen Maticevic
Production: Mladen Maticevic for Starhill, Dragan Petrovic for Visionary Thinking
Synopsis: In the summer of 2005, the 40-year-old Serbian filmmaker Maticevic finds himself in a typical midlife crisis. He felt he was a failure, especially as a filmmaker. With the necessary self-mockery, he concluded that none of his dreams to work with the likes of Clint Eastwood or Mel Gibson will ever come true. He is overweight and out of shape, and doesn't know how to change his situation. That is, until he sees a report on TV about the Rotterdam Marathon and becomes inspired. He makes a bet with a friend, saying he will finish the Belgrade Marathon the following year, and documents his struggle to achieve this goal with a camera. In this film, he consults a personal trainer, goes on a diet, and starts exercising, much to the amusement of his family and friends. Despite a setback and the sarcasm of those around him, he keeps at it. Slowly, his condition improves, he loses weight, and his outlook on life becomes brighter. The chances he will complete the 26-mile race are increasing. Gradually, running the marathon becomes a metaphor for daily life in post-war Serbia.
Filmography:
DIVORCE ALBANIAN STYLE 8th November 13:30 LHC 4
Original title: Razvod po Albanski
Country: Bulgaria
Year: 2007
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 66’
Format: BETA SP
Language: Bulgarian, Albanian with English subtitles
Director: Adela Peeva
Cinematographer: Joro Nedelkov
Screenplay: Adela Peeva
Editing: Jelio Jelev, Diana Zaharieva
Sound: Yuri Colov, Michal Pruski, Ivaylo Yanev
Music: Fatos Qerimaj
Narration: Adela Peeva
Narrator: Ben Cross
Production: Adela Peeva voor Adela Media Film & TV Productions Company
Executive Producer: Slobodan Milovanovic voor Adela Media Film & TV Productions Company
Co-production: Studio Filmowe Kalejdoskop, WDR
Synopsis: This story of love and separation takes place in the surreal world of 1960s communist Albania. As told by survivors of this extraordinary period, Divorce Albanian Style reveals the experience of the many thousands of families that were forcibly separated by the totalitarian regime of Enver Hodja, the longest-serving European dictator of the 20th century.
Near the height of his mania, in 1961 Enver Hodja broke off Albania’s relations with the Soviet Union. Albanian men married to foreign women were forced by the state to split from their wives – women from all over Eastern Europe - who were subsequently expelled. The official reason was alleged espionage. Hojda quickly created a mechanism to deal with those who refused to leave. KGB-trained secret police collected “evidence”, minor clerks became “investigators”, and carpenters were made into prosecutors and labor camps expanded.
The women who stayed – and their husbands - spent years in prisons, the last released in 1987. Divorce Albanian Style tells the stories of three of these couples, and of the apparatchiks and officers of the secret police who changed their lives forever.
Director: Adela Peeva holds a degree from the Academy for Film, Theatre and TV in Belgrade. From 1973 till 1990 she worked at the Documentary Film Studio in Sofia. The films of Adela Peeva are always dealing with controversial subjects. Some of her films (“In the name of sport“, “Mothers”) were prohibited by the communist regime. Later on, after the democratic changes the films were screened both in Bulgaria and abroad and awarded. In 1991 she established her own production company „ADELA MEDIA”. From that time dated also her interest about the Balkans. She made the following award winning films on Balkan subjects “Born from the Ashes”, “Right to choose““The Unwanted”, “Whose is this Song?” - Nominated for European Film Academy “Best Documentary - Prix ARTE” 2003 award, participated at over 50 International film festivals all over the World and was awarded 16 prizes, ”Divorce Albanian style” - Nominated for European Film Academy Best Documentary - Prix “ARTE” 2007
Other activities:
- Member of the European Film Academy,
- Member of the Board of European Documentary Network (till the end of 2004),
- Member of the Unions of the Bulgarian film makers and Bulgarian Producers
- National Coordinator of INPUT for Bulgaria
- Expert at the EAVE Workshops in Oulu, Finland -2004
- Expert at the EAVE forum "West meets East" in Utrecht, The Netherlands - 2004
- Guest-panelist at the World Congress of History Producers, Toronto - 2004
- Guest-panelist at the INPUT 2005 Conference, San Francisco -2005
- Member of the Jury of the European Film Academy for best documentary 2006
- Tutor at the “Training course for filmmakers“ Dublin, Ireland - 2007
- President of the Jury for documentary films at Sarajevo International Film Festival - 2007
Awards:
- Nomination of the European Film Academy for “The Best Documentary 2007 - Prix Arte”
- Special award of the Jury National Non - Fiction Film Festival "Golden Rython" 2007
- Grand Prix “Golden Chest” for the Best Documentary International TV Festival "Golden Chest" 2007 - “Best Bulgarian Documentary 2007” Award
- SRG SSR Idée Suisse Prize of the Swiss Broadcast Corporation Basel-Karlsruhe Forum 2008
- Apolonia Art Fest, Bulgaria - 2007
- International Film Festival “Astra”, Rumania - 2007
- International Film Festival “Kinomania”, Bulgaria - 2007
- IDFA Film Festival, The Netherlands - 2007
- 21st FIPA Film Festival - Biarritz, France - 2008
- Miami International Film Festival, USA - 2008
- Mumbai International Film Festival, India - 2008
- ONE WORLD International Human Rights Film Festival, Prague - 2008
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival TIDF ’08, Greece - 2008
- Bucharest Film Festival - 2008
- EURORAMA International Film Festival Trento, Italy – 2008
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CORRIDOR #8 9th November 13:30 LHC 4
Original title: Koridor #8
Country: Bulgaria
Year: 2008
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 74’
Format: BETA SP
Language: diverse with English subtitles
Director: Boris Despodov
Cinematographer: Boris Missirkov, Georgi Bogdanov
Screenplay: Boris Despodov
Editing: Boris Despodov, Gergana Zlatanova
Music: Petar Dundakov
Produced by: Martichka Bozhilova
Production: AGITPROP, Bulgaria with the support of the National Film Center – Bulgaria, the MEDIA Programme of the European Community, the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) in association with YLE Co-productions, with the participation of Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR)
Corridor #8 is a mosaic film combining fragments from the everyday lives of the characters who live along a non-existent Balkan road. The road passes through the countries of Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania. In the same time Corridor #8 is a huge EU infrastructural project meant to link the Black and the Adriatic Seas, already a decade in the planning.
Along the way you’ll meet a cowboy train, a railway tunnel used for growing mushrooms, an international businessman building an oil pipeline, a local politician dreaming of becoming the next American president, a pimp working for KFOR soldiers and even a song dedicated to Corridor #8, which seems to be the only real thing in a surreal world...“Corridor, Corridor, Corridor #8…”
Following the road’s thread the "non-road” film Corridor #8 captures the moods, the prejudices and the hope of the people from the three Balkan countries, who paradoxically are “far away, so close” to each other.
Director: Boris Despodov was born in 1973 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. He started his career as a painter. He is the author and publisher of Kamikaze gazette, a cultural magazine. He makes the posters for his films including the poster of Corridor #8. He is also an award winning animator. Corridor #8 is his first feature-length film.
Filmography:
2008 - Corridor #8, doc. Feature
2008 - Three Sisters and Andrey, animated;
2004 - Tick Tack, animated short;
2004 - Schindler's Lift, short mockumentary;
2002 – Mythology, animated short
Awards:
Corridor #8 won The Heart of Sarajevo for best documentary at the Sarajevo Film Festival. The award - a sculpture in the form of a stylized heart designed by the French fashion creator Agnes B - is the most prestigious for the region.
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KALINOVSKI SQUARE 7th November 19:15 LHC 4
Original title: Ploshcha
Country: Byelorussia
Year: 2007
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 58’
Format: BETA SP
Language: Byelorussian, Russian with English subtitles
Director: Yury Khashchavatski
Production: Baltic Film Production
Three months before elections the president of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko claimed: "You have no other choice, you will vote for me!" This is exactly how it happened in March 2006. We started to film in January 2006, two months before elections, and continued through the whole year. We were trying to figure out how did it happen that 83% of population voted for Lukashenko? The film tracks the opposition struggle during few post-election days. Using a lot of archive material imprinted in the course of Lukashenko's governing author draws a parallel between history and recent days. The movie shows the falsehood of the official propaganda and the ambiguous, sometimes polar, attitude of simple people. Assembling together all the debris of the opinions, comparing different historical events, jeering at dictator's arrogance and manners, admiring courage and dedication of the young generation, the feature approaches the understanding of what is really going on in the center of Europe.
And one more thing - the director's sarcastic comment throughout the film does not make you bored!
Authorities persecuted director Yury Khashchavatski, already since his first movie on A. Lukashenko - "An Ordinary President" (1996). They still watch him. All production was done underground
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INTEROGGATION 7th November 16:00 LHC 3
Original title: Informativni Razgovori
Country: Bosnia and Hercegovina
Year: 2007
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 42’
Format: BETA SP
Language: Bosnian with English subtitles
Director: Namik Kabil
Cinematographer: Almir Djikoli, Boris Jugo
Screenplay: Namik Kabil
Editing: Timur Makarević
Produced by: Amra Bakšić Čamo
Production: SCCA/pro.ba
Synopsis: How much do we remember from the war? Is it hard to talk about it? Do we suddenly start remembering when we talk? The Interrogation razes through the trauma without having human pain as an objective. It rather tries to open up the abysses of the war denials, which are becoming blatantly dominant, yet unspoken dimensions of everyday life in post-war Bosnia.
Director: Namik Kabil was born in Tuzla, B&H, in 1968. He completed his film studies at the Santa Monica College and the Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles, USA. He currently lives in Sarajevo and works as writer, scriptwriter and film director. He has written several TV scripts, as well as the script for DAYS AND HOURS, the feature directed by Pjer Zalica. He is currently preparing to direct his first fiction feature THE NIGHTGUARDS.
Festivals and Awards:
Sarajevo Film Festival
Cinema Verite Teheran
IDFA
Goteborg Film Festival
ZagrebDox
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WEDDINGS and DIAPERS 8th November 13:30 LHC 4
Original title: Darsmat dhe pampersat
Country: Kosovo
Year: 2007
Genre: Documentary Film
Length: 49’
Format: BETA SP
Language: Albanian with English subtitles
Directed by: Antoneta and Casey Kastrati Cooper Johnson
Cinematographer: Sevdije Kastrati and Casey Cooper Johnson
Edited by: Besnik Mehmeti
Produced by: Crossing Bridges Productions
Synopsis: Marriage, once dictated by strict and uniform rules, now takes on many shapes and forms in this era of rapid social change in Kosova. Weddings and Diapers brings four couples of different regions and generations to share how they deal with chores, child raising, freedoms and infidelity. Inviting the camera into their homes, they reveal the subtleties of their relationships with honesty and humor. How have roles changed and what are the limits to modernity in the sacred union of marriage? From milking the cow to a lesson in diaper changing, watching home wedding videos to the birth of a new baby, and a unique look at the disappearing tradition of polygamy. It’s all a part of the intimate ride we call love (and everything that comes with it) in Weddings and Diapers.
Filmmakers’ Bio: Antoneta and Casey have been collaborating on documentary films in Kosova since 2000. Together with camerawoman, Sevdije Kastrati, they are co-founders of Crossing Bridges Productions in Prishtina, where they have produced several documentaries as well as contributing to the weekly current affairs program, Life in Kosovo, on Radio Television Kosova. Weddings and Diapers is the second co-directing venture for Antoneta and Casey, a fitting subject of interest for this married couple with two children.
Filmmakers’ Filmography:
Unspoken, 2002, Director (Antoneta Kastrati)
In the Hands of the Youth, 2002, Director (Casey Cooper Johnson)
Element Fem, 2004, Director (Antoneta Kastrati)
Mirror, mirror…, 2005, Producer/Editor (Antoneta Kastrati)
Under Construction Balkan Documentary Series, 2006, Producer (Casey Cooper Johnson)
Who’s Security?, 2006, Co-directors (Antoneta and Casey)
Beyond the Rainbow, 2007, Producer (Antoneta Kastrati)
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BALKAN ROCK STORY (7th November 17:30 LHC Das Kabinett - off program)
Original title: Balkanska Rock Prica
Country: Netherlands
Year: 2006
Genre: Documentary Film
Length: 49’
Format: BETA SP
Language: BCS with English subtitles
Directed by: Mladen Vekić
Cinematography: Mladen Vekić
Editing: Moek de Groot
Producer: Mladen Vekić
Production:
Videorevolt
Synopsis: 'Balkanska rock priča' is a biographical note from the life of Vladimir Doknić (alias Vlado Morrison), the singer of the cover-band 'Balkan Rock Legends' who made true his dream to play on the Amsterdam cult stage Paradiso Palace, where almost all big names of the world music industry played. In rock'n'roll story of Vlado Morrison the stage becomes 'paradise' where the life of the dead Yugoslav meta-narration is extended. This intimate homage, told from the perspective of Vlado Morrison, exists on the memories of urban crowd raised on the territory and at the time of independent and proud ‘space and time’ whose sound and fury “invaded” the soul and the vocal cords of the central figure in the film. Simultaneously, the film talks about renewal of the spirit of a generation dispersed all over Europe and the world, the generation that attempts in various ways two put together the fragments of its own cultural memory and redeem the sense of belonging.
Screening in DAS Kabinett with the presence of author Mladen Vekić, proceeded with some of the best music video clips from Ex-Yugoslavia
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GYPSY BIRTH (IN FOCUS MACEDONIA) 8th November 13:00 LHC 3
Original title: DAE
Country: SFR Yugoslavia/Macedonia
Year: 1979
Genre: Documentary/Short
Format: 35mm
Run time: 16’
Language: Macedonian with English subtitles
Director: Popov Stole
Screenplay: Popovski Ante
Camerman: Samoilovski Misho
Editor: Grbevski Dimitar
Sound: Pakovski Gligor
Sound Editor: Pakovski Gligor
Ass. Camerman: Samoilovski Vladimir
Unit Manager: Teofilovski Risto - Ridgeway
Music Selection: Popov Stole
Producer: Risto Teofilovski
Production: VARDAR FILM
Plot: This 16-minute film is an extract from the Gypsies' way of life, dedicated to the celebration of the "St. George's Day" holiday. The theme of the film deals with the contrasts of the contemporary urban processes. Also, the film expresses a many-sided iconography as a source for incarnation of the romantic comprehension of life with no obstacles. The balladic atmosphere conjures up the reminiscences of the distant myths. This poetic vision on the life of the last nomads is shot in the authentic milieu of Gypsies' camp shortly before the celebration of their greatest holiday. Aatavistic characteristics of their beliefs are: the ritual bathing, as a symbol of body and soul purifying; then, the mystery of childbirth and the desire for life without restraints. All these attack the audience's senses, never leaving them indifferent.
Awards/Nominations:
1979: FYDSF, Belgrade, "Golden Medal Belgrade", for direction / Stole Popov
1979: FYDSF, Belgrade, "Golden Medal Belgrade" for best camera / Misho Samoilovski
1979: IFF, Oberhausen, Grand Prix
1979: IFF, Melbourne, Special Jury Award
1979: IFF, Leipzig, Special Jury Award
1979: FF, Ljubljana, Grand Prix
1980: IFF, London, Special Diploma
1980: Los Angeles, Nomination for "Oscar" Academy Award, among the five best documentary films
Director: Skopje, 20.8.1950. In 1973 he graduated in directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in the class of Professor Radosh Novakovic. During his studies he made 10 short feature films. In the period from 1974 to 1978 he had the status of a free-lance film worker. From 1978 to 1988 he worked as a director in "Vardar Film" and from 1985 to 1986 he was its director. From 1989 he worked as a professor of film directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje. The same year together with the actor Dancho Chevreski and the director Stevo Crvenkovski, he founded the private film production company "Triangle". In 1999 he became a member of the European Film Academy.
He began his career with the documentary "Fire" and was awarded the first prize at the Festival of Documentary and Short Films in Belgrade (1974). The documentary films "Australia, Australia" (1976) and "Dae" (1979) were awarded prizes at the same festival in Belgrade, while for the latter "Dae" he won prizes at the festivals in Oberhausen, Melbourne and an Oscar nomination as well.
Filmography:
1970: Sharplanina Dog's Wedding (Music Selection)
1973: 99 (Director, Screenplay)
1974: Fire (Director, Music Selection, Screenplay)
1975: Kocho Solev Racin (Ass. Director)
1975: Reunions (Screenplay)
1976: Australia, Australia (Director)
1977: Construction Factory "Mavrovo" (Director, Screenplay)
1977: The Verdict (Second Ass. Director)
1979: Dae (Director, Music Selection)
1979: Welcome (Director)
1981: The Red Horse (Director)
1984: Popova Shapka (Director, Screenplay)
1986: Happy New Year (Director)
1991: Tatoo (Director)
1997: Gipsy Magic (Director, Producer)
Other movies:
1973 FACTORY TRESKA, screenwriter, director, documentary, Filmske novosti Belgrade
1974 RACIN, text, documentary, Vardar Film
1974 ALKALOID, screenwriter, director, documentary, Filmske Novost Belgrade
1993 LIGHT GRAY, mentor, feature, TFRZ Pegasus Skopje, FDU Skopje, Vardar Film