MODERN TIMES REVIEW

9 euro | FALL 2019

T H E E U R O P E A N D O C U M E N TA R Y M A G A Z I N E

THE FORUM LETH AND GUZMÁN TONI MORRISON ANDREJ TARKOVSKY

Ethical diplomacy? [2] Honoured at IDFA [3] The legendary storyteller [4] His life and work [6–7]

IDFA
[page 3-7, 9, 46]
IHUMAN. UPNORTH FILM

DEEP WATERS FROM VENICE WAR PHOTOGRAPHER SOLIDARITY

Female pleasures [12] The tragic mafia [20–21] From Darfour to Mosul [27–29] In the name of justice [46]
ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN EPOCH

INTO THE FLAMES

[page 16–17]
9 7 7 25 3 5 29 3 0 0 4 >
 MODERN

PATRICIO GUZMÁN. © ATACAMA PRODS/CNC/CINE+/KOBAL/RE

TIMES
REVIEW

JØRGEN LETH, FILMEN I WALK

THE INTERNATIONAL
DOCUMENTARY
MAGAZINE
Editor-in-chief:
Truls Lie
truls@moderntimes.review

Communication director:
Steve Rickinson
steve@moderntimes.review
Translators/proofreading:
Tristen Bakker, Anders
Dunker, Steve Rickinson
All talk: ethical diplomacy or Subscription: 28 euro/year
(2–3 print issues + weekly
online)
A lifetime in film
What can we say about
the 2019 IDFA choice of
Jørgen Leth (82) and Patricio
Guzmán (78) for «Lifetime
Achievement Award»
and «Guest of Honor»
respectively?
Although some of more concerned about these ple are dying when protesting
Leth’s films about social and traumatic issues. against the government.
Haiti touch on the Now, with the premiere of his When I, in Thessaloniki,
political and brutal matters of new film, I Walk at IDFA, we asked Guzmán about his Freud-
society, they mostly are about will learn more about him and ian look into the traumatic
personal, sensual, staged or about aging. past, he answered that the
interpreted situations. Like What then about Guzmán, truth cleanses and purifies by
his The Foreign Correspondent who has been working with sorting out some of the trau-

a bubble of complicity in Davos?

e-mail: subscription@modern- BY TRULS LIE
(1983), actually a fiction film, Chilean traumas his whole life? mas from the unconscious.
times.review which calls on the existential Guzmán told us in Thessaloniki Do we agree? Or how much
www.moderntimes.review/ life of an older journalist who ten years ago, that «a nation’s interpretation and artistic
subscription Both Leth and has seen it all and then lost collective memory forms its treatment is necessary to
CAPITALISM:  With a world at the crossroads, is the annual economic forum of elites a says of the WEF ethos, and his res he gathers annually, must do Guzmán have life’s purpose. The Haitian cha- expectations for the future». grasp truth and reality – to
destination of tangible change or another chance to push a «global agenda»? dream of a global village of de- more, is Greta Thunberg. The Print: Nr1Trykk/Amedia, a whole life be- os is just reflecting the chaos Think of how the winners, like handle such violence as we
cision-makers based on Lud- young climate activist from Swe- Lillestrøm, Norway hind them mak- of the protagonist’s inner dis- Pinochet, write history. Allen- have seen in Haiti and Chile?
BY CARMEN GRAY
wig Erhard’s idea of a socially den attends with her father and ing documen- solving mentality. Maybe his de’s legacy today is mostly
committed market economy. «If is regarded unseriously as a qu- Publisher: tary films – but best film and closest to Leth’s ignored in the Chilean school- Inspiration. Her we find the
The Forum sable when Bolsonaro, who claims impartiality, is a compli- you were a priest in a church, aint novelty by many of the ot- not the regular own experiences? books. But in Chile, as we see essayistic style. Leth’s method,
Film AS
regards conservation efforts cit «sideshow» used by morally you would want to make the her participants until her stark type of docs. Typically both of On Guzmán’s part, the main in Obstinate as he once told me, was this:
Director Marcus Vetter Post Office address:
as a threat to sovereignty, sta- corrupted elites to generate sinners come visit you on a address hits home. «It feels like them employ the more or less subject of more than 10 films Memory (1997), «A film should be akin to a
Germany, Switzerland Dronningensgt 16 They both
tes he values the rainforest positive PR, while they cynical- Sunday,» he says of criticism I’m at a firefighters’ conference, essayistic way of doing film. is the political history and the The Pinochet poem in its creation». Leth fo-
0152 Oslo, Norway follow an
as a «resource». «We are not ly continue business that the forum legit- and no-one is allowed to speak Leth’s films, like The Perfect consequences for Chile after Case (2001) or und his inspiration in Jean-Luc
Suited participants chat and enemies, we just need to talk,» as usual — a «bubble imises the corrupt. about water,» she says of the hy-
Organisation number: Human (1968), Life in Denmark the Pinochet’s coup d’état, existential Chile, a Galaxy Godard and his camerwork.
cast furtive looks around for Bolsonaro tells Gore. «I am al- of mega-groupthink» «It feels He recalls a «crucial pocrisy of a conference that pri- 997460103 MVA (1972) and the two Scenes from when, in 1973, they killed the path of of Problems Although he never met him, he
the most advantageous person ways eager to talk,» he replies. all the more dangero- like I’m at a test» for the forum in zes success stories, but is unwil- America (1982/2002), are made communist president Salvador matters that (2010), people felt he was like a brother – at
to approach, all while one man Words have scarcely felt so us because its rheto- firefighters’ 1973 when, despite ling to admit their terrible price. Modern Times Review has up of short scenes reflecting Allende. The consequences are are critical do not like to least in terms of films from
stands awkwardly amongst futile and hollow. ric is that of making conference, boycott threats from Other voices also speak truth to received support from the on who we are, our identities also examined by Guzmán’s for each of dig into the Godard’s early period. As Guz-
the informal throng, looking the world a better pla- and no-one multi-nationals, he power, including Dutch thinker Norwegian Foundation of and personal fragile situations. daughter Camilla in her The us. past. Neither mán’s films in the last decade
less than thrilled to be there. It Fascinatingly enigmatic. It is ce. She suggests that is allowed to invited a left-wing Rutger Bregman, who caused a Free Expression. Guzmán’s films, like The Battle Sugar Curtain (2006) – one of does Allende’s show, he has learned from his
could be any corporate networ- an eye-opening peek inside of the participants speak about Brazilian theologist, media stir when he brought up of Chile (1975–79) or even her father’s ten selected films widow, Hort- inspiration, collaborator and
king happy hour — except this the WEF, which, in its fifty-year (Nestle, under fire for water» Dom Hélder Pessoa the elephant in the room — the The magazine is also a co- more in his last decade with for the 2019 IDFA. ensia Bussi. She doesn’t want his once friend Chris Marker.
standoffish figure is Brazil’s history has not allowed any in- its water policy, and Câmara, to bring a problem of tax avoidance, and operation with the monthly Nostalgia for the Light (2010), more pain, she says. In one of In a way, Marker introduced
new president Jair Bolsonaro, dependent film teams access Monsanto, slammed message from the the rich not paying their fair newspaper NY TID, Oslo Pearl Bottom (2015) or The Depression and traumas. Leth’s the films Guzmán also shows essayistic filmmaking as a met-
and the venue is the World behind the scenes — until this for its hybrid seeds, designed favelas highlighting inequality. share, as well as the hypocrisy Cordillera of Dreams (2019), close to 50 films have obser- students seeing his old The hod of experimenting, using
Economic Forum (WEF) in the documentary from German di- to be used only once in a bid to But amid panels on sustaina- of the 1,500 private jets that Regular critics: play on the reflections that ved at least as many aspects of Battle of Chile and how they, reflections (with voice-over),
Swiss resort town of Davos, an rector Marcus Vetter. The For- up profits, are both partners), ble consumption, and the plat- flew people in to hear the wre- Nina Trige Andersen, Ber- can be made by topic-driven human lives. Being a long-time after discussions of the history subjectivity and experiences to
annual, invitation-only meeting um is no glossy promotional 99% wish to safeguard an unet- forming of citizen-centric pro- cking of the planet condemned. nard Dichek, Anders Dunker, films, use of indirect scenes, observer of lives, I asked him shown, end up in tears about make topic-driven films. Films
accessible to only the most in- vehicle for the WEF. It steps hical status quo. jects (start-up Zipline’s drone Edited into a choppy, whirlwind Marc and Daniel Glassman, parallel worlds, and myths and in a previous interview – as a the Chilean brutality. that were a crossover of docu-
fluential of global leaders and carefully, avoiding an overtly The film dedicates a lot of solution for delivering medical pace, that jumps back and forth Carmen Gray, Aleksander memories. filmmaker I respected – what Guzmán has been dutifully mentary, art films and fiction.
business elites. Bolsonaro is critical stance, but it does rai- time to the WEF’s founder and supplies in Rwanda is support- from moment to moment over Huser, Ellen Lande, Tue Steen Do both of these long-time the deeper meaning was for working to stop those Chilean And both – now IDFA-hon-
cornered, separately, by Green- se the question of whether the chairman Klaus Schwab, now ed by WEF), the self-promo- the WEF’s history, the film is so Müller, Bianca-Olivia Nita, filmmakers dig into the critical this lifelong vocation. He re- atrocities from being repeated oured directors – have been
peace executive director Jenni- event’s model of civil niceties 81, a fascinatingly enigmatic tion of leaders as they court intent on jamming on significa- Nick Holdsworth, Willemien or intellectual take on reality? plied that he couldn’t answer; by making people remember. inquisitorial or heretic, as we
fer Morgan and US Vice Presi- and polite discussions nudging figure, and careful to not give investment money is just as nt snippets that time to really Sanders, Harriette Yahr, Jo- Yes. But I would say, especially he didn’t view himself as a But this fall, for the first time have seen for years and years.
dent and environmentalist Al at social change have failed, too much away. There is a centre-stage. American pres- process or mull over the sound- Anne Velin, Dieter Wieczorek, after I made a doc about Leth wise man or philosopher. But, since Pinochet’s takeover, the Gratulerer Jørgen! Felicitac-
Gore, who each express con- or are becoming obsolete in a sense of a genuinely heartfelt ident Donald Trump swoops bites is lacking. But that might Neil Young, Melita Zajc, Astra in 2009–12, that he approaches as he said to me in Danish, military is again out in the iones Patricio!
cern for the Amazon. Distrust newly populist era of brazen life project in his dedication in by Marine One helicopter just be Davos to a tee: a frenzy Zoldnere. the world mostly with an aes- he had one thing – «his trump streets. Students and others
bristles, barely veiled, under power. Have global affairs re- to the organisation, which with a narcissistic pomp that of showy diplomacy, with little thetical, personal perspective. card» was his openness and today, unite, protesting in San- Guzman is also screened at
civil exchanges. Gore makes ached a state of urgency that seems to consume all his wak- sets the stage for meetings framework for holding partici- The magazine’ focus is political In contrast, Guzmán approach- honesty about himself towards tiago and other cities against RDIM in Montreal. See www.
a faux pas by name-dropping requires stronger, bolder op- ing hours (his wife, Hilde, his with sycophantic corporation pants to account. Fitting for a and existential, and typically es the world with an ethical, his viewers. He has been the huge social differences as, moderntimes.review/LethG for
a former military enemy of positional confrontation than former secretary, works along- heads driven by the power new climate of the highest sta- covers topics like: military and social one. As Leth told me in subject in much of his works, different from the Allende’s the film The Seduced Human
Bolsonaro’s as a mutual acqu- mere talk? Greenpeace’s Mor- side him). «We need dialogue of the dollar. Schwab names kes — the survival of human ci- peace activism, surveillance, an interview a long time ago, a personal laboratory played days, now water, electricity, (2012, about Leth).
aintance; the subtext is unmis- gan says the forum, which to understand each other,» he egoism as the main threat to vilisation itself — the film gives financial power, state and he was totally uninterested out. But Leth has also told us education, woods and roads
our polarised world, saying the last word to Thunberg. Sch- in saving some souls, making that he has been fighting de- are privatised. Once more, peo- truls@moderntimes.review
bureaucracy, ecology and
it leads to a bunker mentality wab reads from her letter cal- people wiser or telling them pression all his life: As a man
philosophical reflection.
Welcome to Modern Times Review: We find our critical discourse necessary for a society over- and populism — but as a man ling upon him, and others with how to live their lives. But still coming from the Danish liberal
flowing with entertainment, information, audio-visual material, and in desperate need of critical who favours cordial relations the power, to lead and embrace they both follow an existential ‘60s and ‘70s, he found the
nuance. The editorial line is politically radical, social liberal or maybe anarchistic – critical of over confrontation, whether he the future, rather than living in path of matters that are crit- best cure for his inner chaos in See more reviews (iHuman etc) of
the state, capitalism, and the military. is a force for good or ill is not the past. ical for each of us. Political living in an outer chaos – Haiti.
If you would like to support our non-profit network, please subscribe and the next issues will something all agree on. Screened at Dok Leipzig Haiti, where Leth has lived And when the earthquake IDFA-premieres online, on the festival
be sent directly to you. You will also be able to access all our weekly published online articles
A firefighters conference. One at-
documentary film festival, for decades, is more the back-
ground – while Guzmán makes
came in 2010, where he was
nearly killed and surrounded
dates at moderntimes.review
(now more than to 1500). IDFA and other festivals.
Enjoy reading! Truls Lie, editor-in-chief tendee who insists Schwab, not Chile, where he grew up but by dead Haitian people, his de-
to mention the 3,000 global figu- carmengray@gmail.com run into exile, the foreground. pression changed. He became

2 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019 SPRING 2019 N# 5 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 3
 Toni Morrison’s
novels write
the self of America
BIOGRAPHY:  An artful and intimate meditation on the
life and works of the legendary storyteller and Nobel
prize-winner Toni Morrison. BY CARMEN GRAY
Toni Morrison: The
Pieces I Am
Director Timothy Greenfield-
Sanders
USA
Toni Morrison never forgot a
childhood conversation she’d
had with an eleven-year-old fri-
end who said she knew God di-
dn’t exist because her prayers
for blue eyes had gone unans-
wered. Out of this incident,
Morrison developed her first
novel,  The Bluest Eye. Written
in 1970, it’s about a black girl
growing up during the Gre-
at Depression, who longs for
some white facial characteris-
tics to alleviate the debilitating
social perception that she is
«ugly». This is not the racism
of lynchings or murders, but
of internal pain, the famed
African-American novelist says
in  Toni Morrison: The Pieces
I Am; the self-loathing that a
Journalism, a life risking occupation
MEXICO:  The incorruptible journalist, Carmen Aristegui is one of the few voices in
Mexico with the courage to consistently speak the truth BY DIETER WIECZOREK
Radio Silence
Director Juliana Fanjul
Switzerland, Mexico
In the last years, we have lear-
ned to not have too many illu-
sions about the state of Mexico
and its future. Documentaries
like Gianfranco Rossi’s  El Sica-
rio, Room 164 (2010) and, more
recently,  Dark Suns  by Julien
Elie (2018) have informed us on
what happens within a socie-
ty that is deeply infiltrated by
criminal activities on all levels,
including the high government,
judiciary, police, and military.
Of course, we are not simply
speaking about corruption,
but about systematical torture,
murder, and kidnapping, espe-
cially women, activists, and po-
litical opponents. Prostitution,
torture, and murder take place
even in official governmental
buildings, police stations and
4 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
her’s uproar, upon catching
her in the middle of writing a
swear-word she’d just learned
as if lives have no
meaning or depth
in the absence of
er’s decision the family leave
Alabama for Ohio in fear for
their adolescent daughters —
The end of representative democracy(?)
on the pavement, in her first the white gaze. She was long sending a frantic note to her
realisation the act of writing overlooked for major literary sharecropper husband that
had incendiary possibilities. awards, fuelling discussion on «white boys are circling». Mor- DEMOCRACY:  In a 6-hour film essay, Karel Vachek Weaves a collage of collective memory to show the exposure,
It’s a force that stayed close their racist and misogynistic rison’s work also draws on tra- conflict, crisis, and catharsis of the post-communist society. BY ALEKSANDRA BIERNACKA
to her heart. When she recei-
ved a letter from a corrections
board informing her that her
1997 novel  Paradise  had been
bias, at a time when the notion
of the entrenched canon was
just starting to be challenged
for its lack of diverse voices
ces of stories in the collective
memory. A newspaper clipping
about the case of Margaret Gar-
ner, who escaped slavery in the Communism and
banned from Texas prisons for (she finally won the Nobel Prize 1850s only to be recaptured, the Net or The End
fear it might incite riots, she in 1993, a journey to Stockholm and killed her infant daughter of Representative
framed it and hung it on her we see her embrace in her love to prevent her return, inspired Democracy
elaborates on her approach wall. «How powerful is that?» of a celebratory party). her 1987  Beloved. Authorities
to writing and the world of lit- she chuckles. History has al- Morrison expanded room at the time were undecided Director Karel Vachek
child learns from a master nar- erature. Figures close to her ways proved, she reminds us, at the literary table not only over whether to charge Gar- Czech Republic, Slovakia
rative artificially determined and her work, including Ange- that books are the first domain for herself but for other black ner with murder (which would
and imposed by those in power la Davis, Oprah Winfrey, and upon which battles are fought. female writers she brought to mean the acknowledgment Produced for Czech
of what constitutes worth and Fran Liebowitz discuss her mainstream attention in her that black children were hu- TV,  Communism and the Net
beauty. significance, while black-and- Institutionalised prejudice. Af- role as senior editor at Ran- man beings) or destruction of or The End of Representative
Morrison’s body of work white archival photos help set ter working at a library and dom House, including novel- property. It is such detail that Democracy is a bold, authorial
overturns the notion that the wider context of the Afri- devouring everything in it, she ists Gayl Jones and Toni Cade speaks of a near-unfathoma- statement on the philosophical
a person is only defined by can-American experience that attended the historically black Bambara, as well as radical ble denial of an entire people’s nature of current social pheno-
what their oppressor thinks of is at the heart of the history of Howard University in Washing- civil rights activist Angela Da- humanity that underpin Morri- mena observable in Czechia.
them. The white world is pe- the United States. ton D.C. — and was bemused vis, who she wisely persuaded son’s work of remaking selves; Karel Vachek – ex - dean of the
ripheral to her novels, which to confront, not only, the ra- had already done enough at 28 of dignifying those despoiled prestigious Czech Film School,
place black women The first domain. The cially segregated buses and to merit an autobiography. All by horror. America is a melting FAMU – constructs an ambiti-
centre-stage — the Morrison’s power of the written restaurants she encountered of this, while raising her chil- pot, only blacks are the pot, ous narrative encompassing
books that, growing body of work word: it’s inextricable, for the first time, but a line of dren as a single mother and says Morrison, commenting on ages of European culture and
up, she had herself overturns the for Morrison, from the teaching that tried to inculcate getting up at 5 am to write. «I how immigrants were brought history, in an attempt to pre- (Leibnitz, Angelus Silesius, and to be a «tyranny of a populis- multicultural backgrounds, to
so wanted to read. notion that power to inhabit one’s the idea that the closer you got am head of household, just like together through the presence sent the roots of Czechia’s po- Buddha along with Confucius, tically manipulated majority which he responds in Part 2
The documentary authentic self; to find a to whiteness academically, the you,» she declared to her boss of a steady other that everyone litical problems within a post- Socrates, Marx, and Giordano over a minority». Crypto-cur- explaining his artistic method
a person is
leaves many of its language affirming the better off you were (her pro- in demand that her pay raise felt entitled to look down upon. modernist context. Fragments Bruno, amongst many others), rency, robotization and au- as necessitating controversy in
only defined
words to Morrison, truth of one’s reality. posal to write a paper on the be adjusted to be equal to that Racism is a distortion of a be- of his earlier films: meetings literature (from Rabelais and tomatization will change, once order to achieve engagement
by what their
in apt tribute to the She recalls her grand- black characters in Shakespea- granted to the men. reft psyche, that it is whites’ of various intellectual circles, Shakespeare, to Goethe, Brecht again, the political and social of a viewer.
author, who died oppressor father often pronoun- re was rejected). This instituti- responsibility to change, she parts of his lectures, and ar- or Karl May), film (D.W. Griffith, spectrum of democratic or-
in August. Her ra- thinks of cing that he had read onalised prejudice often, later, Someone else is on their kne- insists. After all, how can you chival footage, folk music, Chaplin, Tati, Visconti), and art der. Oligarchs will use killing Bitter disillusionment. Part
diant confidence, them. the Bible five times — a tarnished her work’s reception. es.  The ever-present, physi- become tall, only because so- visual metaphors, animated (Rodin, Warhol, Bacon side by drones for liquidating super- 3 and 4 form continuation
presence, and warm statement of rebellious A New York Times review for cal threat of racist violence meone else is on their knees? inscriptions, and even panto- side with Debussy, Bach, Sa- fluous workers and soldiers, of earlier motives freely in-
humour animate in- pride since that book her novel Sula in 1973 praised against blacks that has existed Screened at idfa mime, form a tissue of loose lieri, and Pavarotti). The news constant surveillance of every terlacing past and present
terview segments in which she was the only one available and her talent but criticised her for from America’s inception co- and other film festivals. individual reflections, mean- snippets on corruption scan- activity can solidify hierarchi- with numerous metaphorical
shares memories illuminating it was illegal for blacks to read. «limiting» it to portraying the mes through in Morrison’s dering from the times of the dals among Czech and Slovak cal consolidation of power, the crosscuts framed within phi-
aspects of race in America and She remembers, too, her mot- black side of provincial life — recounting of her grandmoth- rmengray@gmail.com 1st  Czech Republic, through major political figures that have foregoing systemic political re- losophical questions. These
the trauma of 1968 Prague taken place in recent years are stricting the role and reach of range from the post-moder-
Spring, up to now. Unstru- intercut with journalism and economic dis- nist notion of truth to Leib-
ctured, multi-layered, ba- archival foota- enfranchisement may lead to nitz’s concept of the human
The future looks
lowed the state to follow and sed on deep individual ge, for exam- re-establishment of gulags. In monad. The closing remarks
intimidate all Carmen’s team
members. Even her son, after
she had placed him outside
knowledge of events and grim and full of
ctory accounts makes the is still hope in
ple of Stalinist
people, devoid of introdu- dangers but there processes of
after-the-war
Harrington’s words, dedicated
to Cromwell: «a person whose
own wealth doesn’t sustain
show a bitter disillusionment
with the Czech parliamenta-
ry democracy and hope in a
the county. Such spy software work a rather hermetic young people and d i s s i d e n t s him must remain a servant». net that can replace repre-
is able to localize users, trans- experience for outsiders in the proper use like Milada In a deeply corrupted society, sentative democracy by the
fer complete calls and address who are left with a possibi- of democratizing H o r a v k o v a , in which the 1989 Velvet Rev- people voting every-week
books, besides other function- lity of observing this film- technologies a politician olution brought about wild on particular issues, hence
alities. series as a cultural form executed by capitalism and opened pos- ruling through referendum.
military camps. The victims are kind of criminal testifying to the «effects of hanging in sibilities for stealing state re- The end brings a classical ci-
often buried on private or mili- group and their Miracles.  Fanjul follows Car- ecology – [...] reflections [of] 1950. Biographical notes on sources by small numbers of tation from Plato delineating
tary grounds never to be found. interaction with men in her day-by-day activiti- the external circumstances to father-figures of the 1st  Czech the most vicious individuals, the possible evolution of poli-
Where there is no evidence the- the political, administrative, es. Soon, though, she starts to which actors must accommo- Republic, Masaryk, Beneš, Stur, the embezzled money gives tical systems from democracy
re is no crime is the simple rule. and executing authorities. remark that cars without licen- date themselves» as Frederic Stefanik lead to observations, opportunity of cementing so- through tyranny, monarchy
Even parents, fri- Juliana Fanjul’s  Ra- se plates are following her. At Barth, a renowned anthropolo- repeating many times, of the im- cial structure based on dis- to oligarchy. Vachek opposes
ends, neighbours, dio Silence  is focused a portrait of Carmen Aristegui, of its budget coming from the this moment, for the spectator, gist proposed in 1969. portance of Dubcek, the Prague honourable, unethical actions branding the current state of
who ask many qu- In the last on the role of the press one of the most courageous government. Carmen had just it starts to dawn that it is a mi- Spring and 1968 as an early, ide- – the situation rewards crime. global politics as «represen-
estions, or even years, we and media in this vio- voices of Mexico’s journalism documented an illegal deal racle both are still alive as, just Post WW2. Each of the film es- alistic attempt of reforming the tative advertocracy», which
start to investigate, have learned lently perverse context. as resistance. Her radio pro- between the president and a in the weeks before the new say’s parts begin with shots of communist system, crushed by In its own space. Multi-cultu- – according to him – is always
risk their lives, so- to not have Indeed a kind of «am- gram documented, besides Chinese train company. None elections, 523 politicians and Karel Vachek’s painting  Vache- cruel military intervention of the ralism is not, however, a per- threatened by dictatorship.
metimes even war- too many nesty» for journalism other key subjects, the crimes of her colleagues risked offe- civil servants were murdered. ck – a collage of scenes and co- Soviets and the Warsaw Pact. spective advisable for Karel The future looks grim and
ned by the officials illusions about came to an end around of the most corrupt political ring her another job in public Carmen confesses that op- lours from various points of life Innovativeness and open- Vachek, who opts for every full of dangers but there is still
in charge to stop the state of the year 2008. From Mexican party, the PRI, in pow- media, even if her broadcasts timism in such circumstances and different perspectives put mindedness of early Com- culture developing in its own hope in young people and in
their activities. Mexico and its this date, every year a er from 1929 to 2000, when it were the most successful. is a moral obligation. The only side by side, in an equal man- munist Czech activists led to space, strongly associated the proper use of democratiz-
rising number of disap- was shortly defeated, which 200,000 signatures demanding alternative would be to give up. ner, in one, big picture with no their inescapable clash with with language and philosop- ing technologies giving chance
future.
No illusions. Gian- peared or killed journal- declared war on cartels, yet her return were posted in vain. With that, Fanjul’s impressive distinctive center or hierarchy. the Soviet orthodoxy. Marie hical perspective. He conne- to take back power and materi-
franco Rossi docu- ists could be observed. often taking migrants as their Without hesitation, Carmen documentary ends with the fact, This concept of a simultaneous Švermová and Gustáv Husák cts nationhood with language alize the rule of law according
mented the perfect crime stra- One of the sequences shows a victims. built her own internet station. that three months after the new panorama looks at the multitu- were imprisoned in harsh con- (forgetting about Switzerland, to the old revolutionary ideas:
tegy by a system; working with very quickly proceeded head Some time later, she watches as defeat of the PRI on1 July 2018, de of events and layers of exis- ditions; Dubcek was deeply among many other observable Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite.
different groups, each speciali- shooting in the street, record- Adoration & respect. The film- the intrusion of her offices is re- Carmen’s program is rebroad- tence order the entire narrati- frightened and later died in examples of the different orga-
zed on a special task from kid- ed by a control camera. Her maker’s adoration is expres- corded, evidently by profession- cast in alliance with the coun- ve of the series. Part 1 starts suspicious, unexplained cir- nization toward the concept of Screened at Ji.hlava inter-
napping, torturing, killing, and film starts with the commem- sed in her comments clearly als, who do not hide their faces try’s largest radio station. with a glimpse of Czech pain- cumstances. Their stories find a nation) and prefers sporadic national documentary film
burying the bodies. Julien Elie oration of the just murdered focused on Carmen’s ongoing and look directly into the cam- ters and sculptors after WW2, semblance in nowadays-young exchanges to tight mixture. festival and other festivals.
brought light to the historical influential critical journalist activities, even after she gets era, most probably state agents. Screened at idfa whose work and thoughts are crypto-anarchists claiming the Such statements stir deep disa-
background and the develop- Javier Valdez in May 2017. But thrown out from her radio sta- At a $30 million cost, a Pe- and other film festivals. embedded in references to nu- death of parliamentary democ- greement of his interlocutors,
ment of cartels as a different the leading line of her work is tion, which works with 80% gasus surveillance system al- dieter.wieczorek.press@gmail.com merous philosophical systems racy that for them now proves especially those coming from abbi30@gmail.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 5

Art in spite of the state
CINEMA:  Reflecting on the destiny of art and the meaning of existence, Andrey
Tarkovsky tells the story of his life and work. BY CARMEN GRAY
Cinema Prayer, strikes one as to compromise
perennially relevant. It could his personal vi-
easily apply to Russia’s creati- sion. His words
ve scene under Putin’s regime pinpoint the paradox (or sim-
today, which has recently seen ply, great tragedy) of a nation
a crackdown on rappers and that has given rise to geniuses
pop artists viewed by more of the calibre of Fyodor Dosto-
conservative sectors of socie- evsky and Ukraine-born Kazi-
ty as a corrupting influence on mir Malevich, but made them
Andrey Tarkovsky. A youth. But it came, in fact, from pay for their power, stifling the
Cinema Prayer the mouth of Andrey Tarkov- expression of anyone out of
sky, as Brezhnev’s succession step with state ideology.
Director Andrey A. Tarkovsky in 1964 brought Kruschev’s Andrey Tarkovsky. A Cine-
Italy, Russia, Sweden Thaw of relaxed censorship to ma Prayer  was made by Tark-
an end, and hard times back ovsky’s son, Andrei A. Tark-
«I don’t know a country with for artists. Widely considered ovsky. He allows his father to
as many talented people as one of Russia’s greatest film comment on his approach to
Russia. But something is ha- directors — in fact, one of the filmmaking and his conception
ppening that could destroy best cinema has ever known — of the artist entirely in his own
culture — that is, the physi- Tarkovsky produced just seven words, gathering recordings to-
cal possibility to work.» This features over a decades-long gether with archival footage of
observation, heard in docu- career, amid relentless pressu- him on set, and clips from his
mentary  Andrey Tarkovsky. A re from the Soviet authorities masterpieces. As a tribute, it is
clearly a very personal labour
of love, but that does not pre-
vent it from having wider con-
cerns to convey, in the form
of the principles that meant
everything to the director and
were the key to his imagery of
such authenticity.
An Inalienable matter. The na-
ture of freedom is a subject
that has obsessed artists in the
Soviet Union, both during the
communist era and after its col-
lapse (that people gained fre-
edom, but didn’t know what to
do with it is a common refrain
heard in many former republics
and satellite states regarding
their rocky transition to capita-
lism). For Tarkovsky, rights are
something that can be taken
away, but inner freedom is a
personal, inalienable matter. It
is intrinsic to any spiritual being
6 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
Peru’s battle
for water over greed for gold
CAPITALISM:  An incredible story of a Peruvian farmer who stood up to one of the
world’s largest gold-mining companies and triumphed. BY CARMEN GRAY
MÁXIMA
Director Claudia Sparrow
USA, Peru
«You’re an ant. The mining compa-
ny is an elephant,» police in Peru
told farmer Máxima Acuña in 2011
when a corporation tried to phy-
sically intimidate her into giving
up the land she owns. The metap-
hor is not a new one — nor is the
manifestation of economic greed
so corrupt and pervasive that the
human right to dignity and sur- Máxima and her family physically able to be bought.
vival is rendered near-powerless. attacked in an attempt at eviction, They refuse to coun-
The implication of the officer’s their tiny earth-and-grass shack tenance that the
words was clear: acquiesce, as
there is no point fighting, in such
an unequal clash. Wholly rarer,
however, was Acuña’s response.
demolished, their crops routinely
destroyed, their stock stolen, and
their sheepdog killed. Yanacocha
denies responsi-
rights of one human
being (a female farmer, at that)
could be enough to impede vast
corporate profits. The limitless
She stands less than five feet tall
Officers are
bility, though we corruption of greed, then, comes
but has resisted the strong-arm see mobile-pho- up against humble but absolute
tactics of the U.S. mining corpo-
employed as ne footage of commitment to the land and har-
ration Newmont and its relent- security by violations. The monious sustainability.
less efforts to force her from her Yanacocha local police are
property ever since, with stoic on their days ostensibly on Poorer still. The rhetoric that the
courage that holds truth as an off, so they hand to interve- mine is of financial benefit to lo-
absolute, no matter what bruta- have a vested ne, but officers cals has been contradicted by the
lity is invested in contradicting interest in are employed fact the region has actually got
it. American director Claudia siding with as security by poorer since Yamacocha’s foun-
Sparrow’s documentary  Maxi- the miners. Yanacocha on ding. Despite the World Bank, with
ma  embraces a glossy and con- their days off, its professed aim of lifting people
ventional social-issue format. But so they have a out of poverty, having until very
it’s a David and Goliath tale that vested interest in siding with the recently held a stake in the mine,
fully engages, through the formi- miners. those who should have benefited
dable integrity of its namesake, Solidarity does come from mine most from any economic boost
and the stomach-churning topica- opponents in the wider indige- have become its biggest victims.
lity of the gold industry’s offenses nous community. Social unrest And grassroots resistance has not
against the environment, which and protests flared up in 2012, been enough to fully expel corpo-
are echoed by the practices of and five protesters were killed by rate power, as Newmont has used
unethical multi-nationals world- police, prompting a suspension all the institutionalised tricks at
wide, as the only planet we have of the Conga project. Máxima is its disposal in a war of attrition.
is polluted to the point of immi- held up as an inspiration by oth- Lawyer Mirtha Vásquez, despite
nent collapse. ers similarly threatened by the death threats and other aggres-
— and essential for artists. Of- crews, equipment, and — held a film in Italy in 1982 and soul to intuit meaning. Art development, encouraging them sive intimidation tactics directed
ten, truly free individuals are to in dear esteem by Tarkovsky — never returned. This exile, is mysterious like a pray- Yanacocha. Yanacocha, one of the to maintain resolve in resisting. at her, has represented Máxima
be found in the most politically the mass public audience. which we might want to er, not a tool for didactic world’s largest gold mines, is in Locals have not forgotten an acci- through an endless cycle of court
oppressive places, he claims. think of as a happy esca- instruction by example, he Peru’s poorest region, Cajamarca. dent in 2000, when a contractor to cases and appeals, as Newmont
But in trying to safegu- In exile. Tarkovsky’s pe, was, in fact, another believed — the core of any It is running out of its precious Yanacocha spilled a large amount refuse to honour rulings affirming
ard his authentic visi- Often, first feature Ivan’s Child- aspect of his tragedy: he healthy society. metal, and its majority American of pure mercury along a stretch her land ownership, keeping up
on, Tarkovsky came up truly free hood  (1962) had made suffered a painful longing Tarkovsky’s tortured owners Newmont devised the 4.8 of road, adversely affecting the their harassment campaign and
against the strict dicta- individuals him, at thirty, a major for his homeland, not least seriousness and spirit- billion-dollar Conga Expansion health of residents (who were not sabotage of her crops, and con-
tes of the Soviet state, director internationally because his son was still uality are somewhat out Project as a way to tap new re- warned of the risk), and causing trolling the roads of the region as
are to be
which had a monopo- when it won the Golden there, and not initially al- of fashion in today’s hy- sources. They are not interested ongoing neurological ailments. if it were their own country. The
found in
ly on the production Lion at the Venice Film lowed to leave. This stung per-capitalistic terrain of in the land or water there — they Aside from the looming danger fight has now been taken into the
system and oversaw it the most Festival, though the So- all the more from a sense irony and internet memes. just want the gold. But indigeno- of contamination posed by the U.S. legal system, in an effort to
from concept to finished politically viet authorities looked of betrayal. People around But as civilisation hurtles us communities depend on clean expansion, drinking water in the circumvent the corruption in the
film and distribution oppressive askance at its anti-war the world were clambering at ever-greater velocity drinking water from Lake Perol region’s capital, Cajamarca, is al- Peruvian courts, as Máxima seeks
in a highly centralised places overtones. The increas- to watch his films, so how through a state of shal- and subsistence crops grown in ready rationed, with the mine al- to hold those right at the very
process. Their bureau- ingly repressive climate could the Russia he was low, post-truth disorienta- the soil, their very livelihoods lotted four times as much as the top of the neo-colonial command-
crats made his life hell. made his subsequent so deeply attached to in- tion in which dissidence under threat by the massive con- city is allowed to use — despite chain to account. Because if the
They saw his mystical, oblique films a constant struggle.  An- sist he was not wanted or is increasingly difficult tamination of toxic waste that inhabitants saying that all they film has shown us anything, it’s
and poetic cinema as impossi- drei Rublev (1966), for instance, needed? While not overtly to define or position,  An- mining would result in (gold is need is water, not gold. Disregard that global power-players set
bly self-indulgent and too close being about a 15th-century icon political, Tarkovsky (who drey Tarkovsky. A Cinema cheap to produce in Peru, as en- for the monetary value assigned agendas — but individuals with
to religion. For them, anything painter, was hardly earthly or died in exile in 1986) belie- Prayer is a timely reminder vironmental rules are not strin- to gold is a stance the mining big- truth on their side, can upend
that wasn’t heroic propagan- atheistic, while  Mirror  (1975), ved poets (in any medium) of what defying the state gently applied). Máxima’s plot wigs are unable to properly fath- them.
da for the class struggle was being a semi-autobiographical are always national, whet- for art once meant. lies on the pathway to the lake, om; that a farmer living a simple,
deeply suspect. While books mesh of childhood memories, her or not they want to Screened at IDFA within a large tract Yanacocha subsistence life on the land might Screened at IDFA
could circulate underground did not dissolve a sense of self be, connecting with a pu- and other film festivals. claim to have purchased (she be contented with her lot and not and other film festivals.
through samizdat (illegally pro- into the mass cause. Finally, he blic needing no particular says, without her consent). The want to «no longer be poor» in
duced) copies, cinema needed had enough. He went to shoot education, just a receptive carmengray@gmail.com ongoing land dispute has seen their PR-speak, and might not be carmengray@gmail.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 7
 A spectrum of consciousness
SOCIETY:  Simon Beaulieu untraditional film seeks to convey the multitude of anxieties experienced in the modern world. BY ALEKSANDRA BIERNACKA
Le fond de l’air
Director Simon Beaulieu
Canada
Arising out of 21st  century
sensitivity, converging tech-
no-culture and computer ga-
mes’ first-person perspective
with phenomenological explo-
ration of current every-day exis-
tence, Le Fond de l’air creates a
formally innovative, immersive
picture that stirs numerous fun-
damental questions, not only
those directly asked in film,
but also others concerning the
future, borders, and goals of
documentary genre itself. The
film’s dominant black & white
poetics, merging a cascade of
images with symphonic music
and moments of silence, re-
mind us of the early 20th  cen-
tury roots of cinema, like Fritz
Lang’s Metropolis, but re-define
them from our nowadays point
of view in an attempt to arrive
at a new, internally altered di-
mension of the century-old Dzi-
ga Vertov’s Cine-Eye concept.
The cruel century. Initial monta-
ge of images edited to the rhyt-
hm of overwhelming techno
music and punctuated by blin-
ding lights introduces a mental
The craft of documentary filmmaking
FOCUS:  IDFA Programmer Laura van Halsema on «Focus: Re-releasing History». BY BIANCA-OLIVIA NITA
The program Focus: Re-re-
leasing History is IDFA’s new
instalment of its long-running
series about the craft of do-
cumentary filmmaking. It is a
selection of 11 films compri-
sed entirely of pre-existing
footage, like archival materi-
al, home movies and found
footage, all looking into the
filmmakers’ emotional and
political act of re-interpreting
history with a new gaze.
– How did the idea for
this year’s special Focus
come about?
– Each year we approached
a different angle – cinematog-
raphy, sound design, editing.
Last year we had a program
focused on the use of space.
And archive is so much part
of documentary film in many
ways. We could easily find
films using archival footage,
but we decided to look for
films that use archival footage
in different ways. And not just
parts, but films exclusively
made with existing footage
8 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
space in which fragments of
the cruel 20th  century’s poli-
tical history interlace with pe-
ople’s personal memories; mi-
cro and macro views forming
a spectrum of consciousness.
It is rapidly disrupted and en-
ded by the appearance of a
frightening figure in a transpa-
rent mask, which hardens and
blurs his facial features at the
same time. The man reappears
throughout the film as if an om-
inous sign of danger; of being
overpowered by «the man wit-
hout qualities.»
First-person shots follow the
every-day activities of differ-
ent people, from waking up, to
commuting to work, preparing
dinner, going for a walk. Peace-
ful and ordered, big-city neigh-
bourhoods, office and factory
spaces, networked and interac-
tive houses seem to contradict
the repeating snippets of intel-
lectual, expert media discus-
sions on impending doom. In-
tense, heightened accounts on
environmental disasters caused
by man, like excessive carbon
emissions, or massive extinc-
tion of species, lead to pictures
vast amounts of unneeded and
redundant products. The grow-
ing volume of voices calling
for fundamental change to our
system surrounds and accom-
– like [found] footage, home
movies, things that people
find on the web.
Can you tell me a bit more
about the selection criteria?
For example, why Andrei
Ujica’s Out of Present – a
part of a trilogy made of
archival footage?
– Andrei Ujica is an interest-
ing example. Some filmmak-
panies every step of the way,
as well as the new technologies
that change the patterns of our
perception, activity and, hence,
psychology. As ever, we are also
subject to the laws of physics,
with entropy and unpredictabil-
ity of the increasingly complex
systems and processes break-
ing the competence of even the
most sophisticated specialists.
Visions of inter-planetary jour-
neys and colonies bring the
only hope of preserving human
civilisation in a wake of looming
danger.
Screaming. An increasing sense
of urgency toward finding so-
lutions advance a state akin to
Munch’s  The Scream. Pictures
of big wars and humanitarian
disasters entwine with religio-
us symbols (of which Medieval
ers have really
perfected this
genre, like Ujica,
obviously, but
also Sergei Loznitsa and Peter
Forgacs. Our first criteria was
to have films made entirely
of existing footage, and the
second criteria was for it to
be like an alter film, meaning
that the filmmaker used cer-
tain footage and took it out of
its original context to create a
totally new narrative. And Out
of Present takes the original
footage Sergei Krikalev filmed
in the space shuttle to create
an alienating feeling of how
you look at the world.
– What do you think at-
tracts us to images of the
past? Is it nostalgia? A need
to critically look at the
past?
– I think it’s probably both,
but it depends on the type of
material you look at. I think
film has this sense of being a
memory, whether a private
memory, like your own family
icon surprises with a sudden,
paradoxical, ethereal harmony
and peacefulness), landscapes,
and crowds of people moving
slowly in different directions,
passing each other. The para-
lyzing sensation of historical
crisis needs to be crossed over
by an active change in the ba-
sic premises of capitalism that
could bring salvation. Similar
to how an eclipse ends and the
sun shines again. Meanwhile,
however, the reappearing man
finally catches up. As if a rite of
passage for traditional societi-
es, he forcefully puts his trans-
parent mask onto the captured
first-person narrator. The film’s
experiencing subject now be-
comes a full-fledged member of
society that will have to carry
on difficult tasks, every time,
starting from the next morning,
footage, or a collective mem-
ory, when you look at footage
or films from your country.
I think the attraction is both
nostalgia and a reminder of
a part of your own identity.
In our age, with such a high
volume of images being taken
every day, it is interesting to
think about their meaning and
eventually construct our idea
of history and of ourselves?
– Do you think the con-
cept of truthfulness is evolv-
ing or can truth be reinter-
preted?
– I think images can always
be reinterpreted in the frame
between the time something
is shot and the time that
something is looked upon
again. In another historical
context one could look back
at those images and see that
they had changed meaning.
It’s not so much about objec-
tive truth as it is about per-
spective.
OliviaNita@outlook.com
when he leaves the home.
We are indeed living through
times of crisis and the media
have taken a task of educating
us about the true dangers that
silently and unnoticeably imperil
our existence. Le fond de l’air use
of the beginnings of cinema po-
etics approach these themes
in an artistically conscious and
sophisticated way. Its simulta-
neous employment of new me-
dia narrative forms creates an
impression of playful, spirited
dialogue with cinematic roots in
search of redefining their timeli-
ness. Apocalyptical visions and
messages of doom guide human-
ity through ages and cultures,
and are a necessary ingredient
for constructing common social
actions and aims.
Cutting through fog. Throug-
hout the 20th  century, docu-
mentary has played an im-
portant role in describing the
changing world, giving rise
to various styles and formal
approaches. It in itself is at a
point of deep changes fostered
by increasing VR productions
currently in a period of for-
ming their own stylistic speci-
ficity. Le fond de l’air could also
possibly be a VR production
in terms of narrative as it lays
ground for an interactive, dy-
namic, direct cinema. It could
also be an illustration for the
next modern way to cinema-
tically represent the almost
century-old philosophical con-
cepts of the phenomenological
school, whose member Gunt-
her Anders’ quote opens the
film. As such, it fosters mul-
ti-layered reflection not only
on topics it covers but also
on ways of summing up and
conveying our human experi-
ence – it gives us a chance of
diving into our still prevailing
20th  century perspective with
new technological equipment.
Hopefully it could help us in
refreshing our foggy view of
things around.
Screened at RIDM Montreal
International Documentary
festival and other festivals.
abbi30@gmail.com
In limbo, caught between two worlds
Barzaj (Barzakh)
Director Alejandro Salgado
Spain
Sevillian filmmaker Alejandro
Salgado brings his documen-
tary Barzaj (Barzakh) to this
year’s IDFA, vying for the fes-
tival’s award for Best First
Appearance. It is Salgado’s se-
cond documentary film, after
Bolingo. The Forest of Love,
which was shown at IDFA in
2016.
Barzaj is a poetic account of
a group of Moroccan boys who
find shelter in Harbour Melilla,
situated on the north coast of
Africa, as they are bound for a
perilous journey towards con-
tinental Europe. The young-
sters find themselves in limbo,
caught between two worlds –
Morocco that they are fleeing
and «the country of light». The
camera stays with the boys like
a faithful nocturnal compan-
ion – it never leaves the dark-
ness. It is the absence of light
that seems to define the boys’
present lives. As the night
falls, the children speak about
their dreams, eat bream fish
and make some sweet tea to
cheer themselves up «like we
Moroccans do», as one of the
boys remarks. And they always
sing. As they see a boat depart-
ing, the boys pour their pleas
POETIC:  The film silently observes the boys who dream of reaching the European shores,
painting a picture of their ordeal amid the lingering crisis. BY SEVARA PAN
in a song: «Oh, sailor, take me help but wonder No future. The film silently ob- need to. Until we can get out.»
with you! [...] Take me to the if these boys have serves the boys who dream of The teens are adrift, like
country of light. I’m a wander- been robbed of reaching the European shores, unmoored boats in the open
er here. I have no home, nor their childhood. Their lives are painting a picture of their orde- sea. And as the waves break,
town. Oh, sailor, take me with now dominated by al amid the lingering cri- they are joined by a 13-year-
you!» questions like: «What sis. Theirs is the story old boy. A few moments later,
are we going to do? The boys have of thousands of children the 13-year-old is asked if he is
Home. The film is void of nar- When will we cross not hardened, who wait to cross the hungry to which he responds
rative tension, drawing all the this sea? And will they remain sea in hopes of reclai- without hesitation, «Yes». An
attention to the boys’ rumina- we be here forever?» tender ming their rights, of fin- uneasy feeling creeps in, as
tions. The viewer is riveted to Would they leave ding a job and a home in the film concludes with one
the boys’ conversations in the their homes if they an unknown land after of the boys saying to the new-
dark of the night, illuminating had not had «a rough time in this being forced from their homes. comer, «Have some stones
their struggles – which the out- land», as they themselves put it? «Patience is the art of being ho- then».
side world has cast them into. As Somali-British writer Warsan peful», says one of the boys jo-
In his book Sculpting in Time: Shire once wrote, «You only kingly yet shrewdly. «We suffer Screened at idfa
Reflections on the Cinema, An- leave home when home won’t now because we have no futu- and other film festivals.
drei Tarkovsky wrote that the- let you stay – no one leaves re. At least, we fight to have it.
re was no need for a film to be home unless home chases you.» No matter what … Hiding if we sevarapan@googlemail.com
«a canvas crowded with hap-
penings» as man contained «a
universe within himself». Echo-
ing Tarkovsky’s sentiments,
Salgado rid his film of what the
Russian director called «anyt-
hing irrelevant or incidental»
that would stand in the way of
portraying man «in a state of
profound alienation from the
world and himself, unable to
find a balance between reality
and the harmony for which he
longs.»
Despite the friction with
the external world and within
themselves, the boys have not
hardened, they remain tender.
Their nights are filled with viv-
id memories of the lives that lie
behind them. In a state of nos-
talgia, they often recall their
mothers. “It is the story of
the future, I cry and am still a
child», bursts into a song from
one of the boys.
Being only afforded the view
of the boys’ shadows as they
play with a ball, one cannot
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 9

The space she lives in
The Singaporian filmmaker Tan Pin Pin is holding a
masterclass at Dok Leipzig. BY BIANCA-OLIVIA NITA
As Tan Pin Pin tells Modern Ti-
mes Review, she will try to give
the audience a sense of some-
one who is always sensing her
surroundings, who has spent
practically her whole career
making films about the space
she lives in – the difficulties,
the pleasures and also the qu-
estions one has when making
films about one’s own country.
– Do you start making a film
with a purpose in mind?
– I usually start with a ques-
tion. I rarely take on projects
10 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
that doesn’t pique my interest.
The first question for me is
– is this something I want to
find out more about? Learn
more? For example, making
a documentary about John
Woo for Discovery Channel
was for me an opportunity to
learn everything about John
Woo and to watch all his films.
I’m not an action movie fan,
but I was very interested in
his work. Similarly, for Singa-
pore GaGa – there were many
personalities that I wanted
to meet like my
favorite ventril-
oquist, so I used
the documentary
as an opportunity to meet
them and learn about their
work.
– How do you generally
find the people for your
films?
– I find out about them
from the newspaper or from
a book, sometimes even from
Facebook. For example, a few
of the interviewees featured in
From Singapore with Love – I
had read about in a book that
consisted of first-person ac-
counts by Singapore political
exiles. And then I thought it
would be interesting to meet
them to find out about their
experiences living abroad and
what it’s like to not be able to
come back to Singapore.
– What is Singapore like in
your eyes?
– Singapore is a space with
a lot of history, yet so is not
there anymore. Most places
preserve old buildings and
archives. In Singapore we con-
sider a 40 years old building
really old – and tear it down.
For many, identity is linked to
buildings or space. So without
the usual markers, it makes
me question what this coun-
try is about. What does one
feel and what one remembers
when living here their entire
life?
– Why do you think there
is such a lack of awareness
of the limitations of freedom
in Singapore?
– On a spectrum of freedom,
I think on
one end you
«It is very
would have
hard to get North Korea
a permit and at the
to have a opposite
political end you
protest, would have
because they say Sweden.
say it disrupts Singapore
business.» would fall
somewhere
in between. News focus on the
extremes and not the middle.
And because we are known as
a financial and business hub,
the news is mainly business
related.
– People in Singapore know
that there are restrictions.
For example, Chinese dialects
are banned from theaters – to
encourage people to speak
Mandarin. It is very hard to
get a permit to have a politi-
cal protest, because they say
it disrupts business. But we
also have the passport which
allows us to travel to most
countries without a visa. So it
is extremely contradictory.
– What are the films that
influenced you most?
– Parfumed Nightmare
(1978) had a powerful impact
on me. It is a low budget film
about what it felt like to be
colonized. It is humorous and
at the same time it is extreme-
ly sharp and trenchant. For
me that epitomizes what film
can be and can do – asking
the right questions and being
extremely creative and expres-
Elegy
for the
imprisoned
REHABILITATION:  In viewing
Vilnius prisoners serving
life sentences, Exemplary
TO SINGAPORE, WITH LOVE
Behaviour examines the
paradox between justice and
forgiveness.
BY LAUREN WISSOT
Exemplary Behaviour
sive while doing so.
– A second film would be Director Audrius Mickevicius,
City of Sadness (1989). It Nerijus Milerius
had just won in Venice when Lithuania, Slovenia, Bulgaria,
I watched it – but for me it Italy
wasn’t the winning aspect of
it that blew me away. It was Audrius Mickevicius and Ne-
the fact that I heard my own rijus Milerius’s Exemplary Be- on life behind bars, to surveil- school». words of a letter he has written entered the prison so long ago
Chinese dialect, the Fujian haviour is a highly cinematic, lance footage - add up to a kind Another inmate tends to her. And soon the director reta- actually no longer exist. These
dialect, on the cinema screen
for the first time. In Singapore,
that dialect is banned from
surprising look at the Lithua-
nian prison system through a
very complicated lens. With
of inner journey made visible, a
sacred quest.
Indeed, watching Exemplary
bees. The camera pans the fore-
boding prison walls. There’s a
deft cut from a Catholic service
kes the narration with a med-
itation on time - including the
time when a prisoner grows
new men have decided to focus
solely outside of themselves,
be it crafting a sculpture of a
the screen. Moreover, that was powerful images and an evo- Behaviour one gets the sense to surveillance images of the another human inside himself. miniature motorcycle that will
the first time I watched a film cative, often ambient sound that Mickevicius is on a mis- scene from a heaven-like view This, perhaps, is what is bring a smile to a child’s face,
that was so different from all design, the directors manage sion of seeking, of filming to above. Ornaments are ritual- most remarkable - that the film, or ordering those «19 red ros-
the other Hollywood and Hong to create a work that feels qu- find answers, even using the istically hung on a Christmas at its core, is an exploration of es» rather than white because
Kong films that I was brought asi-religious in both spirit and documentary process as a tree in the prison yard. what it means to shed one’s that’s the color his beloved
up with. There was something tone. means to grieve. Mickevicius very identity and be- desires.
so naturalistic about it that I is looking to capture nothing Mediation of time. come something new. Ultimately, Exemplary be-
had a visceral reaction. A sacred quest. The film begins less (and nothing more) than One of the most Exemplary The lifers Mickevicius haviour is not something per-
– One of the exiles from with the Mickevicius himself, moments of humanity; signs arresting sequen- behaviour is follows have no hope formed, but the end result of
To Singapore, with Love says who serves as voiceover nar- of redemption behind those ces involves Mic- not something of freedom so their positive life choices made. It’s
something along the line of rator and on-camera guide, prison walls. The inmate he kevicius’s camera performed but «exemplary behaviour» a lesson even those of us on
– supporting the ones who revealing the personal trage- focuses on nearly exclusively, swiftly trailing the the end result is not performed in the outside would do well to
make a stand could be just dy that brought him to the an older man who will never newlywed inmate, of positive life narcissistic service take to heart.
as expensive as making a topic of incarceration in the again experience life outside a accompanied by choices made. to themselves, so to
stand. Was there a price you first place - the murder of his cell, lovingly strokes a cat he’s a guard, from his speak – not simply an Screened at Dok Leipzig
had to pay? older brother by two men, one adopted. He also reads from a workstation back act to demonstrate documentary film festival
– Actually, making To Singa- of whom ended up taking full list of items he’s ordered for to his cell. In voice- they are no longer a and other festivals.
pore, with Love was possibly responsibility and received a his upcoming wedding - among over, his similarly imprisoned threat to society. On the con-
the best thing that happened decade-long sentence. After a them a touching «19 red roses» wife reads the sweet longing trary, those «evil» people who laurenvile@yahoo.com
to me because for I had to mere five years, however, the for his bride to be.
decide what I stood for as killer was released due to, as Soon Mickevicius’s camera
a Singapore filmmaker. By the doc’s title alludes to, his is following the bride - right
showing it, there was a chance «exemplary behaviour». back to the women’s correc-
that I would never be able Here is where things take a tional facility she calls home.
to apply for a Singapore film turn for the unexpected, start- We learn the names of her five
grant again – amongst other ing with another admission by children, but not of the person
«punishments». I decided that the director/narrator - specifi- she murdered. Later she’ll sing
was a risk I was willing to take. cally that he’s chosen the path along to a tune while knitting
If I couldn’t show something of forgiveness, of «embracing in her tidy cell. The French phi-
I believed in, what then was the pain». The stream-of-con- losopher calls guilt a «poison-
the point in being a filmmaker sciousness scenes that follow ous neurosis» that one must
here? And from then on, I felt - from lifers operating machin- eventually leave behind, and
free from all kinds of con- ery in the prison workshop, warns against younger prison-
siderations and constraints, to a French philosopher (and ers becoming more dangerous
because I knew it didn’t matter former inmate) expounding through incarceration’s «crime
so much anymore. The film
I felt it was so important to
make, was made and shown,
not in Singapore because it
was banned, but everywhere
else.
The Masterclass will be held
at Polisches Insitiut, Friday
November 1st.
olivianita@outlook.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 11
 Water, water everywhere
SEXUALITY:  A phenomenon which remains largely unknown, Deep Waters is an
immersion into the mysterious continent of female pleasure. BY CARMEN GRAY
Deep Waters
Director Alice Heit
France
Female ejaculation: it’s a rat-
her mysterious phenomenon,
and there is no scientific con-
sensus over whether it exists
at all. As with anything to do
with female sexuality — parti-
cularly, acts considered «out-
side the norm» — it has often
been linked in the popular ima-
gination with degenerate fre-
akdom or fetishised through a
male lens as fodder for porn.
French director Alice Heit’s
Deep Waters is a redress to the
skewed perceptions intrinsic
to gender oppression, and a
celebratory break with soci-
al taboo. She mixes first-per-
son voice-over accounts with
grainy, retro-style imagery
that experiments with the
symbolism of the sea and oth-
er archetypal forces that recur
throughout world history’s
myths of origin, to foreground
the ancient relationship bet-
ween women and water. The
film’s sensibility is New Agey,
to be sure, its approach rooted
in ‘70s self-help groups formed
by women intent on exploring
their own bodies. But its argu-
ment — that there is great re-
sistance, indoctrinated in men
and women alike, to the notion
that women’s bodies have any
excess capability beyond faci-
litating childbirth or male ple-
asure — is one that even skep-
tics of western esotericism,
with a low tolerance for hippy-
dippy rituals, should find hard
to deny. It reverberates across
cultures and all the ways in
which female authenticity of
experience is routinely stifled
or denied.
12 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
Knowledge and validation. Ane-
cdotal testimony rather than
clinical trials have formed
the majority of what is known
about female ejaculation, the
expulsion of fluid from the
vagina during or before an or-
gasm. Some medical professi-
onals insist it is simply coital
incontinence, but many whom
it’s happened to say otherwi-
se, linking it to a sense of inner
liberation and release. The in-
cidents we hear recounted by
women have an educational
aspect, their credibility as li-
ved experience a reminder that
there is a great swathe of the
unknown outside science, and
that the medical realm’s sup-
posed objectivity is coloured
by what patriarchal society
deems advantageous to know
or research (the threat to fra-
gile masculine egos posed by
the idea that women might
ejaculate in a manner similar
to men is not hard to imagine).
The film’s gathering of stories
thus functions as a wellspring
of collective knowledge and
validation. Some of those who
speak say they were initially
embarrassed, and ashamed to
discuss female ejaculation with
their friends due to the stigma
(women have even undergone
surgery in the past to «rectify»
the supposed problem, under
their doctor’s advice), and
acceptance has meant learning
to be themselves, outside their
social mask.
Heit is not so interested in de-
tached, evidential assessment
to prove the phenomenon, but
in illuminating the negative el-
ements of cultural discourse
around female ejaculation as
symptomatic of the broader
workings of patriarchy. Ancient
sources of female power have
been repressed from memory
by civilisations built on rape
and the censorship of women’s
desire, as females were made
synonymous with inferiority
in what has been a tragedy for
humanity as a whole, her argu-
ment goes. Most women have
a psychologically locked pel-
vis, having been indoctrinated
Most origin from male violation since the
myths place dawn of time to sit with their
the goddess legs crossed when speaking
mother as the and to bend their knees in-
source of all ward. The film is a call to wom-
being, the film en to open themselves up —
reminds us metaphorically, and it follows,
literally —to reconnect with
sexuality as a way of healing
patriarchal violation, a means
of stepping out of time into a
space of collective memory
and the «absolute feminine».
Several of the women speak of
female ejaculation as entering
into something greater than
oneself, of the body becoming
a temple. Rather than an em-
phasis on manual technique
(though that is also touched
upon), it’s more of an attitude,
the women suggest. «It’s be-
cause I made myself available
to it that it happened,» says
one.
Anatolian tales. One’s pre-exis-
ting mindset, and where they
sit on the sex-is-sacred dial,
will determine how much of
this pseudo-spiritual talk they
can really get behind and hen-
ce how much they can go along
with the film, but its vibrant,
maximalist visual experimenta-
tion — from legs tattooed with
mermaid-like scales to stylised
vulvas sprouting flowers and
a Trio of Taoist gatesa naked
figures walking toward in the
sea — is beguiling enough in
its retro stylings to make this
a pleasantly mesmeric journey.
References to ancient cultures
are thrown in to claim a recog-
nition of female ejaculation
through thousands of years
of world history, from Japa-
nese prints dating back to the
16th Century picturing men
drinking straight from vulvas,
to the Tantric fluid-imbibing
practice of Amaroli. The use
of vases and vessels as the ri-
tualistic objects of choice in
sanctuaries is elaborated on,
as is the convergence of rain-
fall and breastfeeding fluids in
Anatolian tales. This imagery
is conjured somewhat rand-
omly, becoming a more gene-
ralised ode to women and their
ancient life-giving connection
to water. But most origin myt-
hs place the goddess mother
as the source of all being, the
film reminds us. And what fool
could argue with that?
Screened at Dok Leipzig
documentary film festival
and other festivals.
carmengray@gmail.com
The absurdity of humanity
HISTORY:  A new doc based on the much-heralded book EUROPEANA attempts to hold
true to its impassive recounting of the history of the 20th century. BY TRISTEN BAKKER
Wishing You the Same told by alternating voices in stantly dissatisfied and at war portant events in the 20th cen- any light moments permeate
seemingly no particular order, with itself. tury and that we are destined the general bleakness created
Director Arnaud de Mezamat without any inflection of emo- to relive those evils again and by the repeated references to
France tion or visual images of the What, of our past, is real?. The again in the future. For me, re- wars, death, and torture, the
narrators. director uses a square rather turning repeatedly to the topic consequences of war, etc.
The film opens with a series of than widescreen frame for Wis- of war completely overshad-
still black and white photos un- EUROPEANA. This is a film ba- hing You the Same, giving one owed the other topics that did A cacophony of facts. A questi-
derscored by an eerie sounds- sed on the book EUROPEANA: the feeling of looking through come up during the film. And on that puzzled me was why
cape. We see the sky; a single A Brief History of the 20th Cen- a telescope. The music is of the additional facts offer no the construct of the booken-
futuristic building perched tury by Patrik Ourednik. A book varied styles (jazz, classical, additional clarity other than to ding sci-fi theme? It has not-
high atop a mountain, a spaces- that has garnered a devoted experimental) and edited often emphasis the pointlessness of hing to do with the rest of the
hip. Voiceover narration tells a following by arranging itself in in a jarring fashion, just as the it all and the bleakness of hu- film. There is no explanation or
story – humanity has lost any just this way – random facts images are of varying styles manity. People ultimately think a return to this «story» in the
knowledge of the 20th century spelled out in no particular or- (stock footage, animation, «ho- of themselves as better than all full 90-minute body of the film,
due to unnamed world uphe- der of importance or relevan- me-movies») and edited betwe- who are different from them, so why the ruse of the futu-
avals. Now, the way humans ce, no guiding of historical va- en each other helter-skelter. and when given any type of re-storytellers in this fictitious
can regain their knowledge of lue, no judgment on the events Everything jumps around in power, they will use it to bury future or of the lost history?
past events is through the abi- or facts described – with the in- a mirror image of the average the «other». To me, it comes across as if
lity of a few, those who have a tention to illuminate the absur- human being’s monkey-mind – I was sometimes perplexed, the filmmaker was afraid to let
genetic quirk allowing them to dity of historical events and of thoughts come in and fly out, sometimes bored, sometimes the experimental-documentary
peer into the past and relay the humans themselves. images and ideas are jumbled tired, and mostly depressed style be what it is. It needed a
events they see. More photos The film follows this format together, facts are mixed with while watching Wishing You the reason other than itself. Which
of a woman, one of these speci- closely, which is to its benefit memories. Over time one can Same. I felt buried in the sen- is not so absurdist ironically.
al few being taken into a room as it is based on the book. It no longer be sure what of our sation of existential angst and In the end, there is a return
presumably to begin her reco- succeeds in throwing light on past is real and what has been the general futility of human to the woman from the intro.
unting session. It is the absurdity of the hu- constructed within our minds. nature. One notable comment She is closer in the frame, her
all very Le Jetée, and It succeeds man condition. Of how However this is not a human regarding the book is that it eyes are watery – is she sad,
the sci-fi element is in throwing throughout history the mind, this is a film and we are is peppered throughout with affected by all that has been
intriguing. belief that life, things, lead through despite the intent humour. The film, for the most relayed, or merely tired from
light on the
Then, after only and people would be that all historical facts are to part, is not. this cacophony of facts? As I
absurdity of
this brief intro, the «better» in the future – be treated equally. We return Humour does occasionally had forgotten about her after
the human
film shifts into mov- more advanced as tech- to the same topics over and emerge from the film, for ex- the first six minutes, I didn’t re-
ing images, and the condition. nology advanced and a over again, the most disturbing ample in the ending line, «An ally care either way. In the end,
telling of the past person’s day-to-day ba- of which have to do with war American political scientist in- I was happy to see the credits
begins. And that is the rest of sic needs were met more easily; and genocide. Given that the vented a theory … according rolling and to be released from
the film: 90 minutes worth of enriched by the advancement concept of the film is to give an to which history had actual- this relentless doom-filled film.
scattered images, sometimes of art and culture. However, in impassive reading of mixed-up ly come to an end … But lots
random, sometimes literal, laying out events that were oc- facts to create a broad picture of people did not know the Screened at Ji. Hlava Inter-
unfolding under a narration of curring amidst these beliefs, it of the 20th century, I came theory, and continued mak- national documentary film
facts from points in the history turned out this simply was not away with this – that war and ing history as if nothing had festival and other festivals.
of the 20th century. They are the case. Humanity was con- genocide were the most im- happened». But rarely could tristen@fastermilesanhour.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 13
 In My Skin
Director Anna-Sophia Richard
Germany
«Gaslighting»: it’s a word that
has become commonplace in
the media amid the rise of U.S.
president Donald Trump, and
a leadership style detractors
deem geared toward disori-
enting the public through
outright lies. The term comes
from the 1938 stage play Gas-
light (also adapted for cinema),
in which a husband tries to
push his wife over the brink of
insanity with mind games, dim-
ming the lights in their home
and insisting she imagines it
all. It denotes an insidious form
of psychological manipulation
by which targets are tricked
into doubting their own per-
ceptions, creating a state of
confusion abusers take advan-
tage of to assert the dominan-
ce of their own warped version
of reality. The word may be
losing its sting due to overuse
in our fake news era, but docu-
mentary In My Skin shows just
how devastating the weapon of
gaslighting can be when used
to chip away at a victim’s sen-
se of self in cases of domestic
abuse.
Intrinsic to abuse. The film, by
German director Anna-Sophia
Richard, traces the thought
evolution of three women over
the course of their relations-
hips with abusive partners. We
traverse the different stages
(initial hope or idealisation;
escalating control, fear and
devaluation; final resolve, and
reassertion of independence)
from their perspectives. Un-
derstanding is thus conveyed
of why many people do not
immediately leave violent si-
tuations, how brainwashing
14 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
Revising the toxic playbook
ABUSE:  The daily lives of three women of different backgrounds struggling to break
free from violent relationships. BY CARMEN GRAY
is intrinsic to abuse, and why
victims should not be blamed
for staying so long.
Voice-over narrators recount
the stories of the three women,
all of whom live in Germany
yet come from very different
walks of life. They text is taken
from real-life interviews, with
the women choosing to stay
anonymous. Actors in shad-
owy, stylised scenes recreate
a sense of their memories im-
pressionistically. The narra-
tives are intercut. As we cross
back and forth between them,
they merge somewhat, giving
a sense that these stories are
individual and specific, yet
horrifyingly similar in their
modes of control — instances
of abuse of power that is pre-
dictably set in its pathology,
and as old as time.
As old as time. One of the
women is a teacher, whose
psychologist partner seems to
be a «calm anchor» — until his
demands that she «work on»
her behaviour to optimise his
happiness leave her walking
til she recognises the toll it is
taking on her confidence and
the destructive nature of their
co-dependence.
But, there is hope…. In all
three cases, the severity of
the violence escalates, despi-
te the men’s promises to stop
or get help. These toxic rela-
tionships are all perpetuated
by guilt being instilled in the
women; the belief that if only
they could do more to fulfill
their partner’s needs, the ide-
al romance they glimpsed or
imagined at the beginning of
the courtship could flourish.
Instead, they suffer a sense of
shame, convinced they are not
loved, or loveable. It’s typical
gaslighting when one of the
on eggshells. Something as mi- as his violence worsens, and men says he wants to give his
nor as not caressing him when though she finally confides in girlfriend «one more chance,
passing through the house can her parents, they regard it as even though she hurt him so
prompt a meltdown. By the unthinkable she should leave. badly» (despite him being the
time she books a flight to lea- The realisation that her life is one to have hit her). Anoth-
ve, terrified he will somehow in danger gives her the courage er of the women excuses her
get into her email account and to seek out a women’s refuge, boyfriend’s violence, with the
discover her plan, her self-bla- in spite of her family’s claim phrase that «he hasn’t had it
me is such that she chastises it would bring disgrace upon easy, and he wants to change».
herself on her secrecy, even them. The abusers’ wildly fluctuating
while frightened for her life The girlfriend of a jealous, behaviour, from loving idea-
(«It’s the opposite of matu- possessive DJ is the third lisation to threats and back
re behaviour, but woman. His bouts of again, creates irreconcilable
I don’t know if I’ll suspicion, accusations confusion, and such questions
make it out alive if I The abusers’ of flirting and failed as: «How could I be so wrong
tell him,» she says). wildly attempts to have her about him? How can the per-
The second is a fluctuating under supervision son who says he loves me abo-
woman from Came- behaviour, and contactable at all ve all treat me like this?» But
roon who has come from loving times occasion vola- hope abounds, in that all three
to Germany as the idealisation tile and intimidating women get out. Despite the
partner of an engi- to threats outbursts. Hiding her trauma of intrusive memories
neer. He discour- and back bruises, she commits and nagging fears that persist,
ages her moves to again, creates to helping him over- their courage means that the
train as a nurse, irreconcilable come the «aggressive truth and love for their authen-
limiting her person- confusion demons» from his tic selves are able to have the
al allowance to fifty childhood (familial last word.
euros per month histories of violence
and undermining her confi- come up in all three cases, Screened at Ji.Hlava Inter-
dence in her abilities with put- suggesting a cycle that easily national documentary film
downs. With no support sys- catches hold and is difficult to festival and other festivals.
tem in Germany, she has few break). She determines to pro-
options for alternative lodging tect him from criticism — un- carmengray@gmail.com
Excavating one’s house against oblivion
TRAUMA:  Living with an identity disorder as a consequence of Colombia’s lengthy armed conflict,
an ex guerilla soldier must face a past he is desperate to forget. BY CARMEN GRAY
In Ashes
Director Camila Rodriguez
Triana
Colombia, France
In Colombia, the armed con-
flict that has gone on since
1964 has taken a huge human
toll. With the prevalence of de-
ath, internal displacement, and
forced disappearances many
civilians continue to live in
fear. Colombia’s National Cen-
tre for Historical Memory puts
the figure of Colombians who
are direct victims of this long,
low-intensity war at 16.9%.
The fighting arose from
high levels of inequality in the
country as communist gueril-
las organised against the gov-
ernment in a struggle for the
poor’s. Revolutionary armed
group the National Liberation
Army (ELN) was founded by
Colombian rebels trained in
Cuba and headed by Roman
Catholic priests who embraced
the radical ideas of Libera-
tion Theology (a synthesis of
Christianity and Marxism that
sought to better the conditions
of the oppressed). It has been
countered not only by the state
but by U.S. backed right-wing
paramilitaries as part of its
aggressive efforts to sabotage
and snuff out communism. Lev-
els of violence rocketed in the
‘80s as drug trafficking entered
the mix (feeding a massive ap-
petite in the U.S. via organised
crime channels).
Torn apart by trauma. It helps
to know this basic background
going into Camila Rodriguez
Triana’s In Ashes (En Cenizas)
as it is a film that, while wholly
rooted in the local experience
of this conflict, spends no time
setting out contextualising
facts. This is not really an over-
sight, because the business of
this haunting, poetic oddity is
in allowing viewers to inhabit
the profound disorientation of
an identity torn apart by trau-
ma. Cues and anchors indica-
ting «where and when» come in
snippets, disordered but floo-
ded with emotion. Remembe-
red moments, vivid as spectral
visitations, plunge us into an
experimental nether-world of
inner memory and cathartic
theatre – an act of collective
historical reconstitution that
might just reanimate a suspen-
ded present.
Ghostly matters. In Jungian
dream symbolism, it’s said that
a house represents the self. In
Ashes plays out in such a set-
ting. Mournful, and in a state
of collapse, its structural inte-
grity has long since been sa-
vaged by the elements, inside
and outside, merging in the
places where water drips and
seeps, while floors are pulled
up, overgrown. In other spots,
it has the traditional (albeit absence and dislocation result- inhabiting this memory-hou-
austerely decorated) look of ing from going underground in se are posed as if in a family
a family home, but one fallen a society electric with every-
into disuse. A man seated on a day fear of authority and re-
bed holds a torch, flashing on prisals. Another family mem-
portrait, but one very much
awry: Marco is embodied by
no less than three men at the
and off, honed on a childhood ber does not leave the house back (his two alter-egos face
portrait (of him?) on the wall these days, frightened of what the wall, their backs to us, flan-
as if sending it coded signals may happen to him, she con- king his sides), while mother
for help as much fides in the missive. and children sit in front. It’s
as to illuminate it, Remembering Marco remembers, indoors but rain falls on them
seeking a way back has its own also, a girlfriend, and steadily as we hear wood cre-
across fractured beguiling, evenings together on a ak and splinter — destruction
identity lines to his balcony. Heartbroken, by elements of nature or fate
sustaining
roots of selfhood. he «sees her every- that is all-consuming in its po-
beauty
He is one of three where, day and night,» wer, and unstoppable. Within
men that we under- lamenting her death all this, however, remembering
stand as dreamlike manifesta- with the poetry of romantic has its own beguiling, sustai-
tions of the same person. Two obsession: «I loved her like ning beauty, and these visions
will typically be frozen, more she was a god, but God loved conjured bring an undeniable
or less motionless in a room, her more.» On the house’s old force of regeneration in spite
as the other performs some dial phone, calls are made, but of all. A snippet from left-wing
action. The film is based on the nobody answers, the meta- Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s
real-life story of Marco who, at phorical line long cut. Dreams work «Sonata and Destructi-
one time, was a communist gu- recalled are ones peopled by ons» reinforces this sense. It
errilla severed from his family, soldiers pointing weapons and places us «after so much…
having to twice reinvent him- demanding names that cannot confused by domains, uncer-
self via undercover identity. be revealed. tain of territories,» but speaks
He now has a disorder and, as of «the tenacity that survives
he sifts through the house, his Unstoppable fate. Radios in in my eyes». It’s from this poem
loss and devastation are palpa- the house broadcast rousing that the film gets its name. To
ble in his timeless, urgent at- speeches. Priest and ELN head vigilantly look for, and at, pre-
tention to ghostly matters. Camilo Torres Restrepo, who viously hidden truths, and to
«One day your sister told became a martyr when killed connect them back into Colom-
me that she thought she saw in his first combat outing, and bia’s national narrative, is a
you, and you were with strange who is known for declaring way to excavate the wreckage;
men.» It’s a line that recurs, in a «If Jesus were alive today, He to again become whole.
letter cleared from a keepsake would be a guerrillero,» can be
drawer, then again emanating heard wooing crowds. Marco Screened at Doclisboa In-
from a cassette tape. It’s from slumps with head in hands as ternational Film Festival and
Marco’s mother, who doesn’t socialist anthem The Interna- other festivals.
know where he is and fears tionale rings out. In a striking
what he is getting into — the tableau vivant shot, the figures carmengray@gmail.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 15
 Into the Flames
CLIMATE:  By making us witnesses to our consumption
of the Earth, Anthropocene – the Human Epoch is a
planetary portrait that makes room for nuanced irony and
wonder, even while urging moral outcry.
BY ANDERS DUNKER
ANTHROPOCENE: The
Human Epoch
Director Jennifer Baichwahl,
Nicholas de Pencier, Edward
Burtynsky
Canada
Fire, a wall of roaring fire – as
you’ve never seen it. Ecstatic,
hypnotic, ferocious flames - as
if you could stick your head
into a furnace and witness the
ultimate destruction up close,
yourself unscathed, safe. This
is how the film starts, exciting
and sublime. Only gradually
can we fully confirm our dis-
quieting presentiment: that we
are not really spectators this
time, not to this drama, and
that we are not safe – not at all.
The camera hovers over
strata of weathered rocks at
the beginning of the film, while
Alicia Vikander’s phlegmatic
voice explains the term that
gives the film its name: the An-
thropocene, reminding us that
the real meaning of this epoch
is geological. Human changes
to the planet are happening on
such a scale that they could,
in principle, be traced by ge-
ologists millions of years from
now. The first such effect of the
anthropos might be the sudden
extinction of numerous mam-
mal species in the Pleistocene
epoch, possibly because of
all-too-efficient hunting tech-
niques of ice-age humans. That
was even before we entered
the stable Holocene epoch and
the agricultural era and we be-
gan our prosperous, but equal-
ly dangerous, expansion.
A radical rupture. Seen from the
16 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
point of view of geology, the
proposed naming of our cur-
rent epoch, the Anthropocene
– epitomized by anthropogenic
climate change – is not about
moral guilt, but rather that of
establishing the lasting plane-
tary effects of human actions
as a scientific fact. Yet the film
begins with a scene as mor-
ally charged as can be: Tons
upon tons of illegally poached
elephant tusks that have been
confiscated by the Kenyan go-
vernment are laboriously being
heaped up, prepared to be bur-
ned in public. The bonfires of
ivory act like a blazing barri-
cade against an unacceptable
future, and simultaneously as
beacons of distress, signaling
a break with the past and the
over-exploitation of nature
that has been going on since
our stone-age beginnings.
Distance and intimacy. The
trio writing and directing the
film do not fully take on the
task of explaining what the
Anthropocene is, but rather
deploys the concept of «the hu-
man epoch» as a frame, within
which we can see ourselves as
what we really are: consumers.
Not so much of products, but
of that which our products are
essentially made of – the Earth
itself. Consuming basically me-
ans digging, cutting, drilling
and killing. Not always plea-
sant. Something that is done
with a sense of ambivalence,
as when altering a landscape
forever. Something witnessed
with a passing sorrow, as the
felling of a majestic tree. Some-
times it may even be revolting,
as in huge chemical proces-
ses, smelting and churning,
which can be vaguely nausea-
ting, like rivers of lava from a
volcano. It is precisely in this
sensually disquieting way that
humanity’s new status as an
«overwhelming power of natu-
The bonfires
of ivory act
like a blazing
barricade against
an unacceptable
future
re» is presented in the film. ly objective and often beautiful
Through photographer Ed- in its grimness: these patient
ward Burtynsky’s impeccable recordings of industrial man-
images we get a very direct kind, presented as an unnat-
sense of what it means that hu- ural process on a monstrous
mans are now becoming a force scale, aims to perfectly present
of nature. The imagery is cold- our dubious interactions with
nature so that we can contem-
plate with our senses and bear
witness with our hearts and
minds.
Human and hellish. Yet, this
film avoids becoming a mono-
tonous panorama of destructi-
on. The segments are real visu-
al stories, and there is a strong
sense of place, of locality, and
humanity. Sudden, interjected
segments show real humans
– not mankind the monster,
the destroyer of worlds – but
people like you and me. Even
in the inhuman landscapes
and industrial smelting plants
in Siberia, we meet workers
who laughingly acknowledge
the grimness of their surro-
undings, but who still feel at
home, who chat over lunch –
before returning to their omi-
nous machines. A local rapper
performs for the camera in
an open-air garbage dump in
Kenya, a place that is equal-
ly infernal, partly overgrown
mountains of plastic and trash
where huge, pelican-like birds
are rummage for food together
with human scavengers. They
live together in a new, worn-
out, and sick kind of nature,
an image, perhaps, of human
civilization decomposing, no
longer capable of maintaining
the distance to its own consu-
merist debris.
Fact and judgement. In a way
that is ultimately fruitful, the
film allows itself to waver bet-
ween distanced neutrality and
moral condemnation. Some
of the chapters, like the one
about the marble quarries
of Carrera or of tunnels and
mines, are not really moral-
ly upsetting, presented more
as fascinating testimony to
our terraforming, our physical
transformations of the Earth. A
much bleaker chapter portrays
villagers in Germany attemp-
ting to defend their ancient
stone church from the merci-
less expansion of an open-air
coal mine, before machines,
only to be swallowed by the ya-
wning chasm, finally crunch it.
In another scene, an enormo-
us coastal dike is constructed
from huge concrete modules in
preparation for rising oceans –
a new Chinese wall, both hope-
ful and sinister. Even if we su-
cceed in protecting ourselves,
the under-water clips showing
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW
bleached corals remind us that
much more is at stake than our
own survival.
The unsettling duality be-
tween the neutral documenta-
tion of the facts and moral in-
quiry into the destructiveness
of mankind captures the crux
of the Anthropocene. As Ben-
jamin Bratton recently stated
in his provocative book Terr-
aforming (2019), our moral re-
pudiation of humanity’s plan-
etary impact can easily get in
the way of acknowledging how
radically we are changing the
Earth. On the other hand, our
factual acceptance must not
get in the way of our moral re-
jection of destructive changes.
There is a deep sense of iro-
ny in the segment where a Chi-
nese ivory sculptor explains
how he used to carve his lux-
urious creations in material
from African elephants and
claims that, acknowledging the
problem of poaching, he has
now shifted to mammoth ivo-
ry. Even if we should trust him
and his providers, the solution
is not too uplifting: the reason
why ancient ice-age tusks ap-
pear ever more often in the Si-
berian tundra is the melting of
the perma-frost due to climate
change. At the end of the film,
the burning elephant tusks re-
turn, testifying to the limit we
are pushing up against in our
current «terraforming» – that of
species extinction and a plun-
dered Earth.
Screened at Porto/Post/
doc film & media festival and
other festivals.
andersdunker.contact@gmail.com
17
 Land Mine
Director Tirtza Even
USA/Israel/Palestine
When Israel launched its war
on Lebanon in June 1982, Pri-
me Minister Menachem Begin
described it as an act of self-de-
fense. As he put it, he wanted
to avoid another Treblinka for
the Jewish people.
On the second night of bat-
tle, Israeli units conquered
Beaufort, an old crusader cas-
tle in South Lebanon that had
been an enemy stronghold.
During the battle, six Israeli
soldiers were killed. One of
them was Guni, a young man
from Jerusalem. Recently he
had finished his compulsory
military service and was on his
Defense mechanisms
ISRAEL:  An apartment building in Jerusalem exposes the repressive and damaging
manifestations of Israel’s concept of defense. BY HANS HENRIK FAFNER
Middle East. Strange events university. He had a keen in-
took over, and the building terest in the Zionist poet Yosef
became a haunted house filled Haim Brenner, killed by Arabs
with fear and anxiety. On the from Jaffa in 1921.The scholar
surface there was no connec- was worried about the situa-
tion to political events in the tion after 1967. He was sure it
region, but when one man would lead to another disas-
after another suffers death ter if Israel did not withdraw
whose inhabitants fled the
place in 1948. He was born in
1923 in Krakow. His whole fam-
ily perished during the Holo-
caust, while he survived sever-
al concentration camps. Later
in life, he was invited to Poland
a few times, but he refused. At
a short distance from Jerusa-
lem. That is the spot where
two techtonic plates meet and
therefore an earthquake zone.
It is also the border to Jordan,
secured with land mines that
will blow up unexpectedly –
like the deaths occurring in the
Jerusalem building.
Menachem Begin’s words
about Treblinka and about
self-defense echoes while the
secluded life in the apartment
building dissipates and turns
into a picture of a society dev-
astated by its own military ag-
gression, a repression of the
past and resulting loss of inno-
cence.
At one point the building’s
musician plays one of his own
piano compositions. He wrote
the piece in 2004, during the

Scars in an unknown soul way to a trip coast-to-coast in

Earth
Director Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Austria
Earth takes us on a journey
to 7 different places around
the world, where enormous
swaths of land are transfor-
med beyond recognition as a
consequence of humanity’s
relentless growth, consumpti-
on, our lifestyle, and affluence.
We see this in the extraction of
minerals for copper (Riotinho,
Spain), coal for energy (Matra,
Hungary), roads for transport
(Brenner, Austria), marble for
kitchens (Carrara, Italy), oil
from tar sands (Ford McKay),
or simply soil and bedrock
transformed to make room for
ever more people in ever-larger
houses. To these ends, unfat-
homable resources and baf-
fling technologies are employ-
ed, but it is also a painful story
of the apparent helplessness of
humans and a glaring absence
of historical conscience.
Human imprints. Aerial shots
of enormous areas being
transformed immediately re-
veal the human imprint on the
earth’s surface – roads, lines,
and fractures like scars in an
ECOLOGY:  Have we lost nature? BY ALEXANDER CARNERA
unknown soul. None of the par-
ticipants leave any doubt with
respect to the impacts of this
extraction on the earth. Yet,
they are all resigned when it co-
mes to imagining alternatives.
North of Sacramento, having
removed hills and slopes in a
valley, a worker explains: «City
development begins with the
removal of the soil. The popu-
lation is growing, they need to
live somewhere, what can we
do?» This human sense of po-
werlessness is a constant the-
me in the film. Even the white
marble mountain of Carrara
is dismantled at breakneck
speed: «Soon there will be no
more, and we’ll have to search
on Mars or on the moon.»
Powerlessness?. More nuan-
ced remarks come from the
worker in the mineral mines
of Riothino, extracting copper
for our increasingly technolo-
gical lives: «The current rate of
extraction is not sustainable.
Either we have to balance our
economy and consumption
with the sustenance of natu-
re, or we keep up our beliefs
in the rational consumer, and
this system won’t exist much
longer.» There is a sense of po-
werlessness because we have
given up our faith that things
can be different. But we have
also given up learning from his-
tory. People don’t learn from
history, the employee says: «It
is not just about the exploitati-
on of the earth, but also of pe-
the US, when he was called up
for reserve duty in a comman-
in strange circumstances, it
seems that all the residents are
confronted with the brutal real-
from the occupied territories,
and there seems to be a clear
connection, when he is mur-
age 60 he went anyway, and
afterwards he explained that
it was too difficult, something
Al Aqsa Intifada with all the
bombings in Jerusalem. It is
haunting, resembling Dante’s
do unit. ities of the outside world. dered by two young Palestini- had exploded. He got brain Inferno. «This whole country is
Guni lived with his parents Meir Harnik is killed in a ans while walking in the Valley cancer. There is a balance be- like a mental asylum», he says
in an apartment building in Je- motorbike accident. Tragedies of the Cross, a serene piece of tween forgetting and allowing with a sad smile.
rusalem, and his story is one like that happen, but when woodland in the middle of Je- yourself to live.
ople exploiting other people.» millions of years old, we must They are just obstacles that of many about its residents, another man from the same rusalem. Screened at RIDM Montreal
When the colonial powers respect it and hope that it co- need to be removed.» But one which filmmaker Tirtza Even building gets murdered shortly All the residents have re- Mental asylum. The testimo- International Documentary
entered Africa in 1949, Camus operates.» Which sounds like a of the workers tells the story portays in her latest documen- after, people started to believe spected professions; one is a nials in the film are bolstered festival and other festivals.
said: «They no longer have any sanguine hope. of a glacier he visited on holi- tary. She herself grew up in that there was a curse on the psychiatrist and director of Ei- by visual experiments. There
faith that they can stop any- day, which has disappeared in the building that housed nine building. The murdered man tanim, a mental asylum housed are pictures from The Great
thing. This is the core of the Something other than oursel- just a hundred years, even if families with more than twenty was a literature scholar at the in a former Palestinian village, Rift Valley and The Dead Sea, fafner4@yahoo.dk
problem.» People of our cur- ves. In northern Hungary, by it has been there for millions. children, but left for the US to
rent era reject the power of the the Matra Mountains, brown The sight left him deeply con- study and got married there.
individual to understand and coal is extracted for energy cerned. Only in the last 30 Many years later she returns
change themselves and others. as, some years ago, a 5 milli- years, enormous changes have to dig into the undercurrents
It is as if we have lost on-year-old forest of occurred, and coal mining is of the building where it turns
our faith in the indi- swamp cypresses was among the causes. out that a significant number
vidual’s sphere of in-
Humanity is discovered with fos- These comments made me of the male residents have died
changing the It turns out that
fluence. sils of tree trunks up think that what we call pow- prematurely and of unnatural
a significant
In Brenner (Aus- conditions of to 6 meters tall. erlessness might have to do reasons.
tria), a hydraulic the planet to a At the national mu- with the fact that we have lost number of the
cutting blade slices much greater seum, we are told that nature. In contrast to other Haunted house. What follows is male residents
through a mountain extent than dinosaurs dominated periods, we no longer have an a fragmented assembly of por- have died
in a literally trailblaz- other species. the planet for a time outside – we no longer live in traits of the men gone, of the prematurely
ing project. Because vastly greater than hu- close relation to the changing women mourning them, and it and of
of the increasing mans. They appeared seasons, cycles, the rites of all becomes a mirror image of unnatural
transport of goods and cars, 200 million years ago and died passage, and death as a ho- a society which is prey to the reasons.
yet another multi-lane high- out 65 million years ago. The rizon for life; the comfort of violence of its own defense me-
way needs to be constructed. difference is that humanity is nature as a higher level of life chanisms, its land mines. Tirt-
Here, the workers are blessed changing the conditions of the and a greater organism – all za Even looks up the last remai-
in a communal prayer for the planet to a much greater extent this is something that we have ning tenant, who still lives in
local saint to guard the immi- than other species. The leader lost. the building. He is a musician
nent tunnel boring! The ex- of the coalmine: «I no longer The film ends with dismal and composer, and he resides
pert proudly explains: «When feel any connection to those images of American Indians in the very same apartment
we drill into nature’s rocks, trees that once were here. driving through the Canadian she grew up in.
landscape around Fort McKay That brings it all back. Her
where oil has been extracted childhood in the early 1960s
for decades from the tar sands. was harmonious. The building
Along the roads and deep into functioned like one big com-
the landscapes of trees and mune, a secluded world where
barren soil, everything is grey everyone cared for each oth-
and dead. er. People never locked their
doors and the kids entered all
Screened at RIDM Montreal apartments without knocking.
International Documentary Then everything was turned
festival and other festivals. upside down, as if an earth-
quake had hit. It happened
around 1967, the year of the
ac.mpp@cbs.dk war that changed the whole

18 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019 FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 19
 WASP NETWORK THE NEW POPE

A HERDADE (THE DOMAIN)

resorting to one of the local
clans.
Sorrentino. Corruption is a
topic in several of the films
at the festival, like Steven So-
derbergh’s The Laundromat
– about the Panama Papers,
ZERO ZERO ZERO
where Meryl Streep & co. close
in on this corrupt, tax-evading
business (based on Jake Bern-
stein’s book Secrecy World).
There is also the well-wrought
An Officer and a Spy (J’Accuse)
through drug trafficking from love them enough. Even wives
Columbia and other places. and mothers are prone to claim
But Castro’s own spies were of «you don’t love me” if you
snitched on in Miami, where don’t provide for them. The old
the FBI arrested them all, sen- Italian from Calabria is about
tencing them to long incarcer- to be killed off by competing
ations to stop terrorism. As clans, only to promise the diz-
Castro himself comments at zying sum of nine hundred mil-
the end of the film, the reaction lion euros to their competitors,
from the US was ridiculous, just to keep them in check.
as the US also has CIA agents The series, based on Savia-
stationed all over the world – no’s own travels, takes place
in order to stop ter- between Italians, cor-
rorism and to secure when power rupt Mexican military

mafia
by Roman Polanski, about the American interests. officials, and American
corrupts,

On the tragic
power at the top during the shipping moguls. In-
personal
Dreyfus affair? And the satirical ‘Ndrangheta. Back to terestingly, the series
docu-fiction Mafia is Not What Italy and the Italian tv- tragedy makes several leaps in
it Used to Be by Franco Mares- series Zero, Zero, Zero ensues time, distinguishing it
co. Corruption and power also from 2015, based on from all the aforemen-
lie behind the documentary Ci- the cocaine themed tioned films and series
tizen K by the skillful Alex Gib- book by Saviano of the same that are strictly chronological.
ney: Yes, what stories do you name, directed by Stefano Sol- Italian, English, Spanish and
think Russian oligarch Mikhail lima and Janus Metz. Saviano Calabrian are all spoken in the
Khodorkovskij can tell from his also helped write the series – film!
Swiss exile? about this «white gold,» trans- And again, when power
Also, there is the Italian Pao- ported from South-America to corrupts, personal tragedy
lo Sorrentino and his luscious Mexico and Italy. ensues: The shipowner in the
tv-series The New Pope, where The series begins in Cal- film, Edward Lynwood (David
per class tries to force the new His young son remembers the of the Italian society, presen- about corrupt developers and two episodes from the coming abria, where an aging mafioso Byrne), has a daughter and a
VENICE:  The mafia and head of the family, a grown-up cold baths he was given as a ted through casual remarks conditions that are still grave season were aired (following of the so-called ‘Ndrangheta son – like the siblings in the
corruption have been the João (played by Albano Jeróni- child, which were supposed as father and daughter sit on concerns in contemporary Ita- The Young Pope). In the high- covertly rules from his hole Portuguese A herdade – the
mo) to support them – but he to make him stronger. Yet, in the sofa, rewatching his films ly. At the Berlinale earlier this est Vatican circles of power, in the ground. The element of young woman is strong and
topics of several films at resists even though related. He a fight, he tells his father that – about power constellations, year, Saviano explained that the ultra-conservative Pope tragedy is striking, as his voice bold, while her brother is clum-
the 2019 Venice Film is not corrupt. his emotions have stayed just corruption, and the mafia. he still fights the ingrained Pius XIII (Jude Law) falls ill, to affirms the mentality that gov- sy and introverted. Are the
Festival, but why are so As the Portuguese Car- as ice-cold as he walks out the Rosi has repeatedly been and barbaric presence of the be followed by the liberal and erns all life is: people will turn children, yet again, suffering
nation Revolution door. Abandoned by everyone, screened retro- mafia – a fight that compromising John Paul (John their back on you unless you due to their parent’s conduct?
many people overthrows the au- João gallops on his beloved spectively in Ven- has required him to Malkovich at his very best). give them something. Or, they You will find out when the rest
attracted to Too much thoritarian regime black stallion in a desperate ice, like a couple of Can a handful stay under constant Sorrentino builds his story, set turn on you when they don’t of the series premieres on Am-
power, even if it power tends to, of Estados Novos in craze, until the horse finally years ago, when we of films police protection for in Rome and Venezuela in a hu- need you anymore. If your azon Prime next year…
yet again, end 1974, the rich fas- plunges and has to be shot. An- saw the feature film screened at the the past twelve years. morous and estheticized man- kids don’t get enough money,
is so notoriously with tragedy cists are forced to other casualty. With that, the Le mani sulla città annual Venice Even if the mafia is ner telling a story of nepotism they’ll tell you that you don’t truls@moderntimes.review
corrupting? and corruption. flee to Brazil. João, film ends where it began, with (Hands over the Film Festival less evidently murder- with great wit and sensuality.
BY TRULS LIE on the other hand, an aging João seeking refuge City, 1963) about a enlighten us on ous today than they Are the tragedies of life, of
has remained an in- in the little ruin where he used mafia-infested and the workings were in Palermo in mafia and corruption, really
Can a handful of films screened dependent landowner – and to play in his childhood. Still corrupt construc- of power in the ‘70s and ‘80s, they just typical of Italy and the fes-
at the annual Venice Film Fes- stays. He is challenged by the alone. tion business. Ro- contemporary now reside in the hid- tival in Venice?
tival enlighten us on the wor- adversities of the age, but re- Too much power tends to, si’s breakthrough den depths of politics Olivier Assays feature film
society?
kings of power in contempora- mains a wealthy plutocrat, yet again, end with tragedy and was possibly the and commerce. As my Wasp Network is closely based
ry society? Let’s have a look at just like how his father raised corruption. mafia-film La Sfida friend, the taxi driver on Fernando Morai’s book The
how they depict power’s more him. He likes to have some fun (The Challenge, 1958), which told me in Sicily: If you have Last Soldiers of the Cold War:
tragic aspects. with the women in the work- Francesco Rosi. In Venice, we stirred up controversy as it in- a bothersome competitor, you The Story of the Cuban Five
A herdade. The Portuguese force – and, slowly but surely, also saw the Italian director sinuated the mafia controlled wouldn’t get him killed, but (2015). Since a host of exiled
film A herdade (The Domain) decadence sets in. 1991 – the Francesco Rosi (1922-2015) the government, or Salvatore rather get a corrupt judge to Cubans in the US wanted to
by Tiago Guedes resembles the estate, with its enormous grain in the documentary-style bio- Giuliano (1962), about Sicilia, imprison him to get him out take down Fidel Castro in the
Italian Bertolucci’s epos 1900 and rice fields, which had sup- pic Citizen Rosi, made by his the police, and the mafia. And of the way. Or, like one of our ‘90s, scores of Cuban spies
(1976) – where we follow the plied Portugal for years are daughter Carolina. He was even as late as The Palermo staff-writers, Francesca Bor- were sent out to infiltrate
powerful and their subjects sold off. Piecemeal and riches among the more political neo- Connection (1990), the topic of ri has said about her Italian them in order to stop terror-
through several generations. have dwindled. Now, the same realists of the ‘60s and ‘70s, to- the mafia comes up again. hometown Bari: they control ist assaults on Cuba. As is
A herdade follows the wealthy thing happens to the fami- gether with Paolo Pasolini, The On the same sofa, we also the whole shopping street well known, they would attack

CITIZEN ROSI
Fernandes family: 1946 – The ly, who starts to desert him. Taviani brothers, and Ettore see Roberto Saviano (Gomor- where she spends her days tourist beaches and hotels so
father raises his son, João, with Too many lies have been told. Scola. As we watch the docu- rah, and more) who, in his writing. If a car were stolen, to stop or paralyze the tourist
brutal discipline; 1973 – Portu- João‘s destiny has caught up mentary, it dawns on us that mafia-stories, is obviously in- you wouldn’t go to the police, economy. They financed their
gal’s nepotistic and fascist up- with him. His wife has left him. it is actually a critical portrait fluenced by Rosi. They talk but rather try to solve it by own anti-Castro enterprise

20 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019 FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 21

Breton meets Trotsky
PHILOSOPHY:  Crossing the space-time threshold, two actors inhabit the characters of
Leon Trotsky and André Breton. BY ASTRA ZOLDNERE
Manifest Alejandro Rath’s Manifest is an
ironic and witty re-enactment
Director Alejandro Rath of the historic meeting betwe-
Argentina en French writer, poet, and the
father of surrealism, André Bre-
ton and Russian revolutionary,
Bolshevik leader, and Marxist
theorist Leon Trotsky. During
their intensive collaboration,
a new manifesto is born. The
text Towards a Free Revoluti-
onary Art (1938) was written
fourteen years after Breton’s
legendary Manifesto of Surrea-
lism and two years before Trot-
sky was assassinated by a Spa-
nish communist while in exile
in Mexico. The time is shortly
before World War II when Stalin
was ruling Russia and Hitler in
Germany.
Speaking to dead intellectuals.
The film is more than a docu-
mentary. It is the director’s and
actors’ Iván Moschner’s and
Pompeyo Audivert’s conversa-
tion with dead intellectuals. It’s
a love song to both Trotsky’s
and Breton’s ideas and, at the
same time, an irony about the
obsession with Marxist and
Freudian concepts.
The film is not black and
white, it’s not shot in an old vil-
la, Trotsky’s character doesn’t
speak with a Russian accent.
On the contrary – Manifest is
coloured and staged in a con-
temporary setting, it is shot in
Argentina (not Mexico), and
the Russian and French intel-
lectuals speak Spanish. Howev-
er, the minimalist framing and
carefully chosen compositions
allow it to be perceived as an
abstraction. Everything be-
22 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
comes a stage, an imaginary
world, where time and places
intertwine and overlap. It is a
conversation that could take
place in the head of someone
busy with the ideas of two ge-
niuses from the bygone centu-
ry, or in a smoky bar where two
people argue using Marxist and
Freudian concepts. The mo-
ment and interaction are what
matter. It is not about Trotsky’s
bloody past or Breton’s life in
bohemian Paris.
A filmmaker’s wish to inter-
act with admired legendary
intellectuals is nothing new.
One of the most interesting but
relatively unknown examples
is Escaping Riga (2014), a do-
cu-drama by Latvian director
Davis Simanis. Although taking
a slightly different aesthetic
approach, this documentary
is also composed of witty and
ironic re-enacted scenes. The
Latvian film juxtaposes the
lives of two Riga-born legends
– the genius film director Ser-
gei Eisenstein and the influ-
ential political theorist Isaiah
Berlin. Simanis argues that, al-
though both men ended up in
two different worlds – one em-
igrated to the totalitarian So-
viet Union, the other to liberal
Great Britain, there are a lot of
parallels in their life-courses.
The director constructs the
film around themes of dreams,
sex, success, and the uneasy
relationship with the totalitari-
an regimes of the 20th century.
Dog Analogy. Back to Rath’s
Manifest. The film is filled with
visual masquerades, puppet
«The rhythm of documentary is
– What was a seminal
FIPADOC:  President documentary for you? Was
of FIPADOC Anne there one that you consider
to be integral in your own
close to the pace of real life»
Georget offers insight relationship with the genre?
into her favorite non-fiction – That’s a tough one! If re-
films, the festival’s 2020 ally I have to pick one, I will
cheat a bit and say Patricio
goal, and more. BY STEVE
(producers, funds, festivals…). This is why the public is so curating a festival bears a Guzman’s trilogy about Chili
RICKINSON – What do you see as at- eager to watch docs, it really great responsibility. It can’t – Nostalgia for the Light, The
tributing to documentary’s makes you feel your own life, just be about good taste. If this Pearl Button (I haven’t seen
FIPADOC Inter- stark increase in popular- in connection to others. is where people can recoup, The Cordillera of Dreams yet).
national Docu- ity? –What would you say is grow and feel, as I believe they I think the films achieve this
mentary Festival –I think the rhythm of the future of the documen- can while watching docs, then portrayal of what we, humans,
meets across 6 days each year documentary is close to the tary genre? How does this we have to make the right share: although we come from
in Biarritz, where industry and pace of real life. It bears the affect the way film festivals choices that offer the material two opposite end of the world,
shows, film tricks, bizarre century and all throughout the audiences convene over excep- complexity of feelings and will be curated? to do so. It goes beyond the with very, very different re-
references, clever citations, 20th century – the Realist Ma- tional non-fiction work. With emotions, the silence, the – It’s a bright future! Be- film we love, it’s a necessary alities and landscapes, our
and intellectual jokes. In all of nifesto by Gustave Courbet, its 2020 edition occurring 21-26 depth of memories that make cause documentaries offer a but not a sufficient condition! hearts beat at the same rele-
them, Trotsky keeps emphasi- the Symbolist Manifesto by January 2020, Modern Times the fabric of our existence. By pause in the fury of facts and I think openness and a certain vance of needs for love, awe,
zing Marxist ideas and plays Jean Moréas, and then later Review spoke with the festi- sharing the fate of neighbours, images, whether stemming degree of kindness in this very truth, nature… It is so hard to
out his obsession with the Futurist, Cubist, Vorticist, Da- val’s President, Anne Georget. as well as those of faraway from news or entertainment, competitive world are re- convey and so powerful when
revolution. Meanwhile Breton daist, and Surrealist manifesto- – Can you explain the fellow humans, documentary which threatens to overwhelm quired. It’s a fine line to draw it is achieved!
stays busy with his dreams es? Like the manifesto written overall theme of FIPADOC brings a grid to both comfort us. in an immense pool of films,
and the psychoanalytical con- by Breton and Trotsky, they are 2020? Why is this theme rele- and shake our sense of being. – As a consequence, I think but so much worth the effort! steve@moderntimes.review
cepts of Sigmund Freud. One all calling for radical changes, vant now?
n t a r
of the wittiest analogies is proposing larger of smaller re- – I would speak of goal rath-
e yC
played out by the dog Maya, volutions. One of the more re- er than theme...and that would
m
which belongs to the cent manifestoes be to showcase films with the Dora García - Second
Tim e Around - Becoming An
imal
Peter Mettler
actor Iván Moschn- that has gained greatest variety in narratives, Emma Davie,
u i
er (picturing André Everything a huge influen- formats (we have a shorts
Breton). This scene becomes a stage, ce, followers and competition for the first time),
is another proof that an imaginary media attention screens of destination (and
I think curating
dogs do not speak, world, where was the «Dogme a new digital documentary
a festival
c
only in films made time and places 95» written by Da- experience competition). That
bears a great
ne
for children. In the intertwine and nish film directors being said, besides the classic
o
dark documentary overlap Lars von Trier and international and national responsibility.
Animal Love (dir. Ul- Thomas Vinter- competition, we present a It can’t just be Subscribe for only €6 a month
D
rich Seidel, 1995) do- berg. But what are competition of musical films about good taste.
ma
mesticated animals sublimate the revolutions of today? Cer- and we have a major empha-
the unfulfilled emotional and tainly, the climate activists are sis on Impact, a competition
e
Jørgen Leth - The Per
fect Human
even sexual needs of their ow- among the more visible ones of films dealing with human
ners. In the stop-motion Isle demanding radical changes rights, the defense of the envi-
n
of Dogs (dir. Wes Anderson, now. Perhaps we need a new, ronment and social justice.
2018), dogs reveal a major intellectually-charged climate – As it’s never too early to
i
conspiracy theory. In Mani- manifesto that would add ano- enjoy documentary, we also
l
fest the four-legged animal ther dimension to the almost devised a selection for the 8+,
n
Maya escapes because she is religious movement started citizens of tomorrow and their
inspired by Trotsky’s ideas. by Greta Thunberg? And we family.
O
The dog wants to realize the do not even need to start from – For the first year, our In-
revolution. She is determined nowhere. Some ideas could be dustry days comprise of two
to find other dogs and tries copied from the text by Breton labs: Impact Lab to learn about
r
to convince them to get rid of and Trotsky. The truth, both Impact producing, which is
their masters and build a so- then and now, is this: «Even in poorly known in Southern Eu-
u
Joris Iven
ciety of equals. times of «peace», the position rope, and a Smart Lab to help s - A Valpar
aíso
of art and science has become bridge linear and non-linear
o
The Revolutions of Today. absolutely intolerable.» production (VR, 360, etc.). FINANCIAL PARTNERS
Rath’s creative documentary – After Germany last year,
perfectly shows that the pre-
sent is magically connected
to the past. What can we learn
Screened at Doclisboa
International Film Festival
and other festivals.
Sweden is our guest country in
2020 with a selection of the best
Swedish films from the last two
Y
from the influential manifesto- years and a focus on the Swed-
es written in the end of the 19th astra.zoldnere@gmail.com ish documentary professionals
MTR_dafilms_150x105_en.indd 1 18.10.19 10:07
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 23

Immortal
Director Ksenia Okhapkina
Estonia, Latvia
The world premiere of Ksenia
Okhapkina’s film shot during
a harsh winter in the remote
town of Apatity, 185km south
of Russia’s northern seaport,
Murmansk, was screened at
the 54th edition of the Karlovy
Vary International Film Festival
at the height of Europe’s bliste-
ring July heat wave.
The contrast between the az-
ure skies and stifling heat out-
side and the grey-toned bleak
wintry scenes in the screen-
ing room could not have been
more acute. One could only
yearn for a little of Apatity’s
freezing air to cool the blood.
This is a strangely hypnot-
ic film, light on dialogue and
heavy on beautifully shot and
colour-graded scenes that are
painterly in their composition.
Hacked out of wilderness
Okhapkina allows the harsh
contours of a town hacked out
of the wilderness in Stalinist
times to speak for themselves
- and the activities of the town-
folk likewise.
Brief introductory state-
ments sketch out the sparse
history of the place: the Gulag
towns that were built to house
prisoners during the deepest,
darkest Soviet times and how,
when the camps closed, the
people stayed behind.
There is not much colour in
the winter landscape here and
the monotonous grey tones
of dirty snow and rock-laden
24 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
Death and duty
RUSSIA:  The dreamlike beauty of Ksenia Okhapkina›s concise film connects the subtle
mechanisms of control in a former Gulag town. BY NICK HOLDSWORTH
freight trains that bisect the
freezing landscape is reflected
in the constrained lives the
director chooses to put under
her lens.
Young girls are schooled in
a ballet class, the barked com-
mands of the instructor insist-
ing that their legs are raised
HIGHER as they practice a mili-
tary-style dance number.
Life for the teenage boys at a
military-style academy - mem-
bers of a new Kremlin-backed
Youth Army movement - is one
long round of war games in
abandoned buildings, bullying
by instructors forcing disas-
sembly of Kalashnikov auto-
matic rifles in the dark, and
patriotic pep talks at a muse-
um that boasts a Soviet helmet
from the 1939 war with Finland
- complete with a bullet hole
through the front.
To alarm and soothe
There is surely more to life in
Apatity than the lives Okhap-
kina chooses for her focus, but
for many towns like this - most
of which are heavily dependant
In today’s Russia on a single extractive industry
your life belongs and the military for their exis-
to the state, from tence - the social nexus re-
the cradle to the mains remarkably Soviet in its
grave. outlook.
The lone dog, its pelt becom-
ing heavier with snow by the
minute as it lingers around a
deserted railway line at dusk,
is contrasted with a line of the
young soldiers of tomorrow
traipsing into a forest like a line
of Young Pioneers form Soviet
The social times. 1937 or 2019? What dif-
nexus remains ference does it make in today’s
remarkably Russia?
Soviet in its This is a film that seems
outlook. designed to both alarm and
soothe; perhaps the assem-
blage of grey and white im-
ages - occasionally enlivened
by a splash of colour from a
blowtorch used to melt ice or
a single tree decorated in New
Year lights - is a reminder of
the insidious way in which in
Putin’s Russia, as in the title
of Peter Pomerantsev seminal
book, «Nothing is True and
Everything is Possible.»
That today’s surreal political
order in Russia is replicated at
the microcosmic level of small-
town Russia is hardly surpris-
ing. But it is rarely so poetical-
ly and economically sketched
out as in Immortal.
From the cradle to the grave
Death and duty are constants
in the universe Okhapikina
constructs: from the gravesto-
nes of the cemetery stretched
out along the railway line to
the ubiquitous military bases
and armed exercises.
The relentless, subtle con-
trol of the state in the lives
of Russians beyond the cosy
fictions of the megacities of
Moscow and St. Petersburg is
the lasting message of this film.
And with closing shots from
a children’s home - where a
large room crammed with beds
sleeps dozens within sight of
the ever-present freight trains,
the message is that in today’s
Russia your life belongs to the
state, from the cradle to the
grave.
Screened at Porto/Post/Doc
film & media festival and
other festivals.
holdsworth.nick@gmail.com
Never Whistle Alone
Director Marco Ferrari
Italy
What if you discover that your
boss is corrupt? You report
him, of course. This is proba-
bly what most people would
say. You are presented with
a moral problem and you act,
end of story.
But laudable ideals and re-
ality are two different things,
and such a situation can turn
nasty in no time. Where there
seems to be no moral dilemma
at all, because all righteous
people would think the same,
most cases represent a serious
personal dilemma as reporting
on corruption at the workplace
certainly carries a heavy price.
This is what Italian filmmaker
Marco Ferrari wants to tell us
in his new documentary. He
has rich material to draw upon
in his home country, where
corruption is almost a daily oc-
currence. We get to know that,
in Italy, the damage of corrup-
tion amounts to a staggering
100 billion euro per year. In the
last three years, 723 persons
have reported acts of corrup-
tion and misuse of power and
Ferrari has chosen to tell the
story of a number of these cou-
rageous people.
These are not celebrity whis-
tleblowers like Julian Assange
and his Wikileaks. Their cases
are local and their acts much
more modest in scope, which
MODERN TIMES REVIEW
 www.moderntimes.review
Point of no return
CORRUPTION:  In his new film, Marco Ferrari focuses on the heavy personal
consequences when you turn into a whistleblower at your own workplace. 
BY HANS HENRIK FAFNER
a red light. One car has cut him
off in front, and another stops
right behind him. He is sure,
someone will come a beat him
up. Frantically he grabs his cell
phone and has a blackout: He
can’t remember if an emergen-
cy call is 113 or 118, and in the
meantime, both cars drift off.
What looked like a close call
turns out to be a false alarm.
Would do it again. The story un-
folds at its own pace, and there
is no hint of sensationalism.
The offices are clean and large,
everything is absolutely functi-
onal for the job, as is both the
narrative and images of the
film. Close to being minimalis-
tic and thus the contrast to the
unseen yet messy drama – the
only underscores the impor- to a discreet meeting with his are among the many thoughts corruption and misconduct –
tance of the story Marco Ferra- boss and the city accountant that turn your personal life becomes highly symbolic.
ri has to tell. And he is a true at a fancy restaurant. The em- upside down when you are All of the whistleblowers
master of storytelling. ployee wonders a bit but turns confronted with this decision. come out the other end with
up. The city is about to buy Why do they offer you money? a feeling of great satisfaction.
Temptations. He has chosen se- some new equipment and he You are in doubt. It’s a A few are still in their
ven whistleblowers. But early is asked to approve the acqui- bit like the victim that old jobs, but with new
on he arrived at the conclusion sition without issuing a tender. feels guilty for being Laudable bosses. Others have
that their stories are so similar, As a bonus, he is offered 50,000 robbed or stabbed. ideals and found new fields for
he made them into one colle- euros. You get yourself in an reality their talent, and have
ctive story. We do not need the Welcome to the system, is absurd situation. are two become successful. All
fine details of each the title of the film’s After reporting the different cases have ended with
and every case, be- chapter 1. The employ- case with the police things convictions, and only
cause they more or In Italy, the ee is tempted. He likes you are under an oath one whistleblower is
less follow the same damage of things to run smoothly, of silence. You are not unemployed. His name
line, which makes corruption like a marble on velvet, allowed to discuss the matter is Giambattista Scire, and he
the whole pheno- amounts to a he puts it. But he smells with anyone, and you are ba- reported fixed hiring at a lead-
menon all the more staggering 100 the danger as well. sically alone against a group ing Italian university. His case
troubling and Ferra- billion euro After lots of consider- of powerful people. In one ended in 3 convictions, and he
ri’s story stronger. per year. ations, he turns to the case, the boss presents a com- looks content. Would he do it
The surroundings police whose first reac- plainant with a list of accusa- again, he is asked in the end.
are neat and mod- tion is disbelief. They tions – from sexual harassment Yes, absolutely!
ern offices, popu- seem to be part of the of co-workers to selling stolen
lated with true professionals. system as well but, little by lit- goods and illegal weapons. Screened at Dok Leipzig docu-
But the corruption thrives tle, the case starts rolling. The There are no limits, and the mentary film festival and
under the sleek surface. One employee has clearly passed a whistleblower lives in constant other festivals.
municipal employee – he is a point of no return. anxiety.
garbage disposal consultant in You could report them or you At some point, one of the
an unidentified city – is invited could keep your mouth shut whistleblowers sits in his car at fafner4@yahoo.dk
2 weekly online doc reviews and
2 or more printed editions every year.
28 euro (both online and by mail)
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 25

Another one bites the dust
CAPITALISM:  As he tries to keep his own afloat, competition from big companies, cheap labour from the
East, and smart machinery all make life increasingly difficult for one Dutch shepherd. BY EMMA BAKKEVIK
Sheep Hero
Director Ton van Zantvoort
the Netherlands
When I imagine a shepherd, I
imagine a peaceful, nomadic
existence somewhere in the
mountains – a lonesome cha-
racter surrounded by green
hills and sheep. This ancient
occupation, dating back tho-
usands of years, is something
I would have thought survi-
ved only in the most rural of
places, until I watched  Sheep
Hero, a documentary about
modern-day shepherd Stijn
from the Netherlands. As a re-
sult of the film, the hardships
shepherds face in current so-
ciety soon contrasted my ro-
mantic vision of sheep herding.
Keeping tradition alive. Stijn
became a shepherd because
he wanted to keep the traditi-
on alive, and in spite of everyt-
26 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
hing, he still holds on to this
ideal. When I talked to the film-
maker, Ton van Zantvoort, after
the screening at Kosovo’s Do-
kufest, he explains his reasons
for making  Sheep Hero. «It’s
not really about the sheep», he
says, with a wry smile. «People
laughed at me in the beginning,
for making a film about a shep-
herd, but it’s a universal story.
Stijn, like everyone else, has
to provide for his family, so
he worries about his financial
situation». Apparently, making
an honest living is not enough
if you want to survive in this
dog-eat-dog world. «My purpo-
se is always to criticize society.
I want to make people think
about which way we’re going,»
says van Zantvoort.
Does everything today have
to be cost-efficient? In  Sheep
Hero, Stijn deals with countless
challenges that have nothing
to do with his profession; he
is forced to become an entre-
HAITI. FOTO: JAN GRARUP, WWW.MADEBYGRARUP.COM
preneur, promoting his work at tical activist; he just wants to plained how the sheep keep
fairs and lobbying at political be a self-sufficient shepherd the heathland healthy, while
hearings. Due to the free mar- – but by merely being who he the machines brought in by
And then there was silence
ket, companies can hire some- is, he poses a threat to the sys- competing companies destroy
one cheaper to graze where Sti- tem. With this documentary, the soil and the biodiversity of
jn lives, resulting in him driving van Zantvoort invites us to see the area. The traditional meth-
for hours looking for land for what he sees. «The question is, od is obviously better for the
his own sheep. He how to live in a world environment; the question is,
has several such
Due to the
that conflicts with your if our cost efficiency-obsessed WAR REPORTER:  Living a life in a state of emergency, renowned war photographer Jan
confrontations with ideals? And the conclu- society is willing to choose Grarup work has taken him to conflict zones around the world, from Darfur to Mosul. 
«civilization»; at one free market, sion is it’s really hard. quality over profit. What will
point he is herding companies can You have to follow the it take to shift the focus from BY FRANCESCA BORRI
the sheep through hire someone rules; only as long as profit to what is actually bene-
town, in the middle cheaper to you work, pay your rent ficial for the natural world, and
of traffic, and people graze the land and your insurance, thus for us?
get annoyed. Then, where Stijn and lead a 9-5 life, will
the police give lives. you fit in». By always Failure is not…. It’s not over
him a 300-euro fine seeking more growth, ’till it’s over, though, and so-
for not picking up our society model is mehow, Stijn’s story inspires
some droppings in the street. limiting our possibilities. We me. Failure is not failing to win
Things get more absurd when are trapped in a rigid structu- against the system – failure is
Stijn’s own parents go to meet re where there’s no room for a giving in to the system. «As a
the police and clean up the sustainable lifestyle – because documentarist, I feel a bit obli-
poo. «Back in the day people it’s not profitable enough. ged; I need to tell these stories.
would have fought over those «The fact is, that even the And the film should speak for
droppings – it makes for great shepherd today needs to itself. Hopefully, it will make
fertilizer,» van Zantvoort com- function within a neoliberal people think, and act. Becau-
ments. I guess times are chang- system. People say, oh, he’s se now it’s up to you; I did
ing. not an entrepreneur – well ex- my part.» van Zantvoort uses
actly, that’s why he became a Stijn’s story to say something
A threat to the system. Our she- shepherd,» says van Zantvoort. universal, and his documenta-
ep hero is a kind of anti-hero. The filmmaker admits to being ry is an invitation to take acti- «Because it's all about love.»
In vain, Stijn tries to find more quite pessimistic. «We’re stuck on. We should not be swayed Jan Grarup
ways to earn money, by orga- in this system. Stijn tried, and into thinking like the economic
nizing barbecues and cutting it didn’t work. I’m hoping peo- system that represses us. After
the sheep’s wool in public. He ple will wake up, but if we don’t all, it’s our life, and it’s our re-
stresses over his financial si- change our economic system, sponsibility not to sit idly by
tuation and bickers with his we need to produce more and while our ideals get trampled.
family. I share his frustration – more, which is not sustaina-
the pressure to make profit is ble – I mean, even a child can Screened at Porto/post/
forcing him out of his comfort see that. But people prefer to doc film & media festival and
zone. Does it have to be like put their heads in the sand.» other film festivals.
this? Do we have to play by I remember Stein’s words
these rules? Stijn is not a poli- early in the film, where he ex- emmabakkevik@gmail.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 27
 PHOTOS: ©JAN GRARUP / GOOD COMPANY PICTURES. (TOP MIDDLE: JAN PHOTOGRAPHING BERNARD-HENRI LEVY. )

Photographer of War
Director Boris B Bertram
Denmark
He is asked which picture he ca-
res for the most. That explains
his work the most. And, after
25 years of wars, and famines,
earthquakes, hells of all sorts,
Jan Grarup shows a black and
white shot of a couple hand in
hand in the rubble, the woman
in high heels against a backgro-
und of smoke. Haiti. «Because
it’s all about love».
Bare essentials. More than
the images of blood and vio-
lence, and there are plenty of
them since he witnessed the
Rwandan genocide, marking
him forever; more than the
images of knives at throats,
guns to heads, a corpse on a
windscreen, his most famous
photos are of ruins. Ruins from
all over the world: a child who
makes a swing from an electric
cable in Mosul, behind him
fighting rages on; a woman in
Mogadishu who looks at the
sea from a bombed-out hotel;
or Kashmir, with a barber who
shaves a man. For a mirror, a
glass splinter, because, in fact,
we all come back with more
beauty than when we left. And
except for the adventurers, for
the adrenaline junkies who be-
come war correspondents for
money and fame, that’s what
we are captured by, like moths
flying into the danger and the
light, as Stanley Greene said -
the beauty of naked life. Of life
reduced to its bare essentials.
With no frills and furbelows,
nothing needless. No fictions
anymore. A life of brutally ho-
nest feelings, including hate,
greed, envy, yearning. Everyt-
hing. Including its opposite.
And boundless altruism and
idealism.
Parallel stories. Parallel li-
ves. But there’s no point in try-
ing to explain all that. Trying
to explain war to those who
have never experienced it. And
that’s why this documentary
on Danish photographer Jan
Grarup, one of the best aro-
und – winner of the Eugene
Smith Prize, the World Press
Photo four times, and the 2005 shabby hotel telling your ed- ing you, he is saying: we are So that no one someday will talk of Syria. Of Afghanistan. will your pictures bring any his story? To him, and who
Visa D’Or for Darfur – speaks itor that all your equipment here to work, not to die, but be able to say: I didn’t know. Sudan. And no way. Words change. knows to how many other re-
through its plot but also, above was confiscated, in this other, you know very well that it And so one moment you sound empty. Because it’s And that’s why, honestly, I porters after him. «Tell him
all, through its structure. It is second life where we get used isn’t true. You know very well walk, calmly, you chat of lens- about two parallel worlds that detest talking of war. When I I›m sorry, » he repeats. And
about two parallel stories. Two to trouble with the police. To that now he is a fixer, yes, es with a fellow photogra- never cross. And that’s why am back home, when I am in that’s all he can say before
parallel lives that interchange be suspected, spied, arrested, and is taking reporters to the pher: the next you run under you never return from war. Europe, I am always the spe- moving on and looking for
without ever crossing – about to deal with killers, and jihad- front lines, but yesterday he fire. And when you end up in That’s why war marks you cial guest: the one that spices another grieving father. Ano-
a man who watches the latest ists and smugglers, corruption was just a student, a cook, a the heat of battle, and you forever. It’s not because you up dinner parties with her sto- ther war.
news from the Middle East on of all kinds. And to corrupt. plumber - like you: someone are told that the way out is feel powerless, as Jan Grarup ries off the beaten track. And
a rooftop, away from his kids. Because what matters, is only who at some point, you don’t blocked by three snipers, you explains while discussing his makes you feel like such a good
With them, at dinner, to go through. To get know when, and why, was know now that fixing it will book, «And then there was si- soul. Such a gentle spirit. But
he watches just foot- in. To be there, where called: a veteran, someone to take at least an hour. So you lence», a collection of pictures it’s just for two hours. Just for
ball. the truth is things happen, in this ask advice to, even though the take off your helmet and take across over 500 pages and five the evening. Then, I know: You
One moment you that in war life where photography only advice, the only truth, is a nap. kilos, so to be physically – and want me to stay on the rooftop. Francesca Borri comes from an
are in Copenhagen. you die, is responsibility. And that it’s not a matter of expe- psychologically – hard to dis- You don’t want me to darken international relations background.
In a Jaguar or in a and that’s it you find yourself saying rience, and caution, but in the Another war. But you try to regard: the problem, he says, your days. She worked in the Balkans and
stylish studio, taking to a stranger you’ve just end, of fortune, because the talk of all that: and it makes no is the opposite. The problem the Middle East, specifically Israel
powerful portraits, met: you are in charge, truth is that in war you die, sense. Even with politicians, is, that when you are there, «Tell him I’m sorry». «Tell him and Palestine, as a human rights
as soulful as paintings, with you find yourself entrusting and that’s it. And you die bad- perhaps even left-wing politi- you realize that, more often I›m sorry,» Grarup tells his officer. Since 2012, Francesca has
an old wooden camera, print- to him your life, saying: I will ly. But you get used to it: it’s cians. Even with Bernard-Hen- than not, stopping a conflict translator to tell a father who covered the war in Syria
as a freelance reporter.
ing them in a water basin. The follow you, to someone who your world. And what matters, ry Lévy, who comes to your takes nothing. And yet, no one has just lost his two sons in
francescaborri@gmail.com
next, you are in the aisle of a is a fixer now and is reassur- is to be there. To get the story. studio for a portrait. You acts. No one cares. And nor Mosul. And who is telling him

28 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019 FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 29
 Excavating war in the South Caucasus
CONFLICT:  5 female de-miners look to clear the land of danger in the still disputed territory after
the war in Nagorno-Karabakh BY CARMEN GRAY
Nothing To Be Afraid Of
Director Silva Khnkanosian
Armenia/France
The mountains and sloping
woodlands of Nagorno-Kara-
bakh make this landlocked
region in the South Caucasus
a place of undeniable natural
beauty. But its idyllic surface is
deceptive: the deadly territo-
rialism of humans remains im-
bedded in its very soil, in the
form of unexploded landmines
left from conflict in the ‘90s.
Fighting erupted in the enclave
as the Soviet Union dissolved,
and old disputes over identity
and sovereignty were reigni-
ted. Its ethnic Armenian ma-
jority pushed to break away
and unify with the Republic of
Armenia. After their request
was rejected by Moscow, the
tensions escalated into war
with Azerbaijan. Since the ce-
asefire, the disputed territory
is officially recognised as part
of Azerbaijan, but most of it
is governed by the Republic
of Artsakh, a de facto Armeni-
an-majority independent state.
Silva Khnkanosian’s beautifully
understated and quietly potent
documentary  Nothing To Be
Afraid Of  relies not on a delu-
ge of facts or partisan rheto-
ric. Sparse in dialogue, it rests
instead on the dignity of calm
commitment to a perilous but
essential physical routine, as
deminers work to reclaim the
land to a safe condition, as it
was before violence corrupted
it.
Simply there. According to the
2018 count, 73,268 mines have
30 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
In service to performance
CONFLICT:  Following one recruits journey of mandatory service, reveals how an
individual is shaped into being part of a collective identity. BY LAUREN WISSOT
been neutralised in Nagor- tumn leaves lie golden on the sheer abruptness. Stories and
no-Karabakh so far. During this ground, the landscape contin- rituals — indeed, the whole
process, 300 people were inju- uing with its eternal seasons, fabric of culture, and life itself From its arresting opening se- ned to many soldiers, most
red, and 80 died. These figures as the women go about their — become cheap, when death quence of military exercises when nearing the time of their
are some of the little contextu- precise manipulations: detect- stalks the land in such a fickle performed before a riveted discharge.
alising information handed to ing a buried object, marking manner. But in the kitchen, cof- crowd celebrating South Kor-
us in a stripped-back film that its parameters, digging up the fee in hand, the warm appreci- ean heroism during the war Rehearsal. A trio of bubbly yo-
shows little interest in politi- dirt and any obstructing rocks ation of human connection and that tore the Korean Penin- ung ladies performs a Christi-
cal point-scoring or attributing with a spade, and cutting away continued survival become sula in two, Kelvin Kyung Kun an rock song during a church
historical blame, becoming all plant roots to expose the mine palpable, and moving, in their Park’s  Army  places its central service for the all-male troops.
the more subtly devastating ready for a controlled explo- proximity to mortality. Army theme of «performance» front From his bird’s-eye view, Park
as a result. Now, the mines are sion. It is tense work of relent- and center. Mandatory military captures the exquisite image
simply there, their presence as less concentration. Antithesis of culture. Nothing Director Kelvin Kyung Kun Park service is a rite of passage in of a sea of identically dressed
materially absolute as the core To Be Afraid Of, then, is li- South Korea South Korea, the director/nar- bodies, arms flailing as if in
of a mountain, and no amount Laughter and communion. The fe-affirming — but a nagging rator explains, reflecting on his a sports arena. Our narrator to forever balance on a dou- can’t help but loom equally
of righteous fury or diplomatic mood markedly changes as unease remains. The west’s time (nearly two years requi- disturbingly admits that, upon ble-edged sword. Undoubt- large.
vindication will remove them evening comes, bringing relief Halo Trust seems to have pro- red) performing his duty, And finally being put in charge of edly, millions of citizens giv- It is this tension that is
— the solid work of human from the tension of the day, vided the best equipment, and how his point-of-view changed a unit, he became the type ing themselves over to their made cinematically apparent
hands is all that can. in the form of laughter and methods for mine clearance, as he returns to boot camp a of person he hated so much. homeland creates a certain so- when Park’s young subject,
It is this labour, painstak- communion. The instruments just as foreign powers are the decade later, camera in hand, Does power corrupt so swiftly cial cohesion but also a group- the new recruit Woochul,
ingly fragile and slow, that we of demining sit closed up in usual sources of the deadliest to follow a fresh-faced recruit - or is it a process more slowly think mindset that can destroy sinks into depression, soon
watch repeated by five wom- cases, as the more univers- of military weaponry. But it named Woochul. insidious? After all, in the mi- the individual. becoming suicidal.
en as they clear mines from al tools of life and sustenan- is the local civilians who are litary, «education happens As Woochul’s mental
a mountain pass, the Lachin ce are animated into action. tasked with the danger, their UFO/DMZ.  Through elegantly through the body,» like «practi- Traumatic iden- «an individual’s state declines Park is
Corridor. They are Dinner simmers on bodies on the line during the composed shots and a delica- cing with an instrument,» Park tity.  In this sense, subconscious ordered to stop film-
local women, but a stovetop; close-up clean-up. Perhaps it is simply te score (Kabuki-like to these notes. Training, of course, felt Park’s film addres- mind and ing. The determined
their blue vests War’s status shots hone in on ste- because it is their conflict. western ears), Park dramatizes like «rehearsing for a perfor- ses a sociological mystical values director, aware that
bear the logo of as the very aming coffee cups. In But the issue of who controls daily basic training activities mance». element rarely produce a mass Woochul enjoys being
The Halo Trust, a antithesis of this documentary of access to war-related techn- while simultaneously commen- Another overhead shot - of portrayed onscre- projection of on camera, surpris-
British charity and culture and few words, a joke told ology, whether to kill more ting on the distance between recruits struggling through ex- en. South Korea lights in the ingly convinces the
American non-gov- the flourishing by one of the workers effectively, or demilitarise his own memories and the ercises in the sand - is equally (along with Israel, sky» higher-up to let him
ernmental organ- of collective gathered around the spaces, the film plants as a action in front of the lens. The sublime. Through the beauty also Singapore), continue, though. Col-
isation formed to memory, has table stands out all the seed in our minds. Along with exercises nowadays seem al- of his highly specific images, with its 18+ month lective memory - be
remove the debris never been more: A dragon goes another: How can digging that most cushy, Park observes. Park’s engrossing doc almost service requirement, is in the it of the Korean War or the
that is left behind clearer to Moscow, the joke so resembles archaeological (Are the lack of beatings of re- imperceptibly transforms into company of nations who are Holocaust - too often morphs
by war, in particu- goes, demanding its excavation have become, for cruits due to his filming?) He an abstract, philosophical not exactly known for valuing into a traumatic identity, inev-
lar, landmines. residents cook their a people, an act that simply recollects once seeing UFOs meditation on the seemingly their citizen’s rights much. itably permeating the psyche
Their gear — welding-type best dishes. He doesn’t like neutralises death and wards while returning from the DMZ permanent preparation for When it comes to conscrip- of every youngster fated to
visors, blue vests, and heavy the food, so he eats them. In off their own oblivion? War’s all those years ago - then pon- war. «A great musician moves tion, South Korea has much take up arms for their coun-
gloves — looks high-quality Yerevan, the same. The dra- status as the very antithesis of ders the theory that UFOs are an audience when he forgets more in common with the su- try. Even if those arms are
and protective but as a form of gon arrives in Karabakh — and culture and the flourishing of actually «subconscious men- that he is performing and com- ffocating dictatorships of An- only ever used in service to
armour, impossibly flimsy, only blows up on a landmine. The collective memory, has never tal projections of the masses.» pletely loses himself in the gola, Turkmenistan, Iran, or performance.
increasing our sense of trep- absurdity of a pervasive, eve- been clearer. («That an individual’s subcons- work,» he profoundly points even its sworn enemy, North
idation as they perform their ryday threat turned upside cious mind and mystical values out. Which makes the viewer Korea, than it does with any Screened at Dok Leipzig
delicate operations on the down as a saving grace beco- Screened at Dok Leipzig produce a mass projection of acutely aware that countries other first-world land. The co- documentary film festival
earth. The finality of a forceful mes, then, a punchline, in the documentary film festival lights in the sky,» he further with lengthy military service untry may be defined by K-pop and other festivals.
explosion hangs over them as kind of dark-humoured joke and other festivals. explains). Adding to the mys- requirements - yes, Korea, and kimchi here in the bougie
a possibility at every minute. that thrives in adversity. The tery, he later learned that this but also similarly nervous na- west, but on every part of the
The wind gently blows and au- joke’s ending is telling in its carmengray@gmail.com UFO experience had happe- tions such as Israel - are fated Peninsula, the Kim dynasty laurenvile@yahoo.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 31

Big little
secrets
CONTROL:  In his memoir,
Edward Snowden reveals
how he helped build the mass
surveillance system and what
his motivations were to bring
it down BY FRANCESCA BORRI
Author Edward Snowden
Permanent Record
What’s the po-
int of a smart
fridge? Of a
fridge conne-
cted to WiFi,
and thus to
your entire
home – your
oven, your
hoover, your
doorbell. It
can be a music player too or a
phone. Is it really just to warn that
your milk is about to expire?
We feel more and more in com-
mand by the day, and yet that
smart fridge doesn’t communicate
to us. Rather, it communicates
about us. We are not in control. We
are under control.
The world’s most wanted. When he
fully grasped this, Edward Snow-
den (36), a software developer for
the US’ National Security Agency
(NSA), a mastermind of its mass
surveillance programs, told all of
it to the Guardian: turning into the
world’s most wanted man.
Snowden is now at large.
Charged with espionage. He
might, even, serve a life sen-
tence, and yet, he didn’t break
the law. Quite the opposite.
He’s been abiding by it more
than most: the Constitution
upon which, on the first day of
his new job, he swore to defend
from all its enemies, external
and internal. As working for the
government doesn’t mean work-
ing for the public, Snowden now
acknowledges this in is his new
memoir: «And so today I spend
my time trying to protect people
from what I once was».
Maps of our lives. It wasn’t a new
story, actually. A senior CIA ana-
32 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
Retrospective!
BY TUE STEEN MÜLLER
At Dok Leipzig there are films by
Andrew Thorndike, Harun Farocki,
Heynowski/Scheumann, Eduard
VINCENT SILVESTRO. SEE LIBREX.EU
Schreiber, Alexander Kluge, Thomas
Heise, Thomas Harlan… among
others.
The focus of the 10 programme
retrospective is explained in this fine text from the
festival: «There’s nothing still standing and no one
still alive.»
The roof of Hitler’s bunker is detonated in August
1988. There’s no longer even a single stone in front of
the Theatre of the Jewish Cultural Association either.
Eduard Schreiber’s TRACES (1989) explores what re-
lyst had already revealed that Like many other Americans, Ed- mains of the Second World War, but first and foremost
the United States could track any ward Snowden enlisted for the mil- what no longer does.
communication, not only of speci- itary after 9/11. But the day of bin With this year’s Retrospective, DOK Leipzig turns
fic subjects, and for specific con- Laden’s death, ten years later, he its attention to the four decades between the National
cerns, but of all, indefinitely. Ed- watched his country celebrating Socialist dictatorship and the Fall of the Berlin Wall,
ward Snowden, indeed, had made victory: wondering what it was all during which two German states existed: an era per-
this all possible by finding a way about. There had been ten years of vaded by enthusiasm for the future and repression
to decrease data size, in turn in- erosion of civil liberties. The same of the past, by economic reconstruction and political
creasing storage space for where civil liberties the United States reform as well as a neck and neck race of opposing
to index. pretended to be fighting for. Ter-
Still, no one had really realized rorism had turned into an excuse;
what this meant: «because we a vague threat, that required total
ideologies.
While autumn 2019 will be characterised by the anni-
versary of the Peaceful Revolution, DOK Leipzig takes
Self-irony and its failures of seduction
think of mass surveillance in terms surveillance - and so, he says, «not on a slightly different perspective on the events: «We CREATIVITY:  An Estonian enfant terrible of literature flights writer›s block with absurd experiments. 
of contents. While it is about meta- only we didn’t win, but we lost: we made a conscious choice not to place the date 1989 at BY CARMEN GRAY
data, rather than data», Snowden lost the difference between us and the centre of our focus. We’re more interested in what
says. That is, information derived them». happened before and after», comments Ralph Eue,
from other information. «In a programmer at DOK Leipzig, who curated the Special
phone call, for example, metada- CitizenFour.  The Internet of his Programme together with film scholar Olaf Möller. In Bed With A Writer voice indistinguishable from a limit to how foolish I want baby and considering him unfit It’s an often-heard sentiment
ta include the call’s day and time, childhood, the free Internet, a his espousal of amoral inaction to be,» he says. «I want to be father material, says she will among those who feel today’s
its length, the number you called space for debate and exchange, Reciprocal relationship: the enemy brothers FRG and Director Manfred Vainokivi as art. myself». Even his depression is leave with the first snow, and outrage culture, underpinned
and the number you called from. is now more a space for profit GDR. What anchors the film selection is the idea that Estonia not up to the mark, he suggests duly does). by vigilantly sanctimonious
And their localization. And they and power. «Technology isn’t the former West and East Germany could not have A dog from hell. Charles — while Bukowski had a stint Sauter turns his self-de- social media, has gone too far.
tell much more than your used anymore to defend existed without one another: «The provisional state If you’ve spent much time in Bukowski has, by now, been of not writing for seven years, clared unattractiveness and But in its bigotry, the tableau
actual conversation. Be- the country», he says, «but of West Germany and the provisional state of East Tallinn, Estonia’s capital on the immortalised as the quintes- Sauter, manageably despon- slovenly ennui into quasi-per- vivant they set up — a young
cause together with all We are not to control it». So, Snowden Germany behaved like two enemy brothers towards Baltic Sea, you would have no- sential hard-living poet. Intent dent, has only made it to one. formance art, in teasing af- white woman blacked up with
others», our credit cards, in control. reached out the Guardian, one another, each of whom urgently needed the other ticed a few things about its cre- on wringing as much hedonis- firmation of doing nothing, paint («to allow equality in the
Facebook pages, smart We are at last. Signing his message: in order to understand themselves,» explains Eue. ative scene. Everyone knows tic pleasure from the social The first snow. In today’s era, and being nothing, that is an- house») posed to dominate a
fridges, «in the end they under CitizenFour. Before the backdrop of this reciprocal relationship, everyone, and who is sleeping margins as he could, he scra- in which time has been called ti-ideology, and a provocation naked Sauter with a rifle besi-
outline a map of our life». control. This name actually re- the selected films also enter into dialogue with each with who. As with any tiny ped enough dimes together on a status quo of famous men against glossy marketing, and de a Swedish bicycle frame in a
To too many, he says, this ferred to his three most re- another. The ten programmes that make up the Ret- city, gossip spreads like wild- through sporadic menial work indulging their power without societal expectations. Is this parodic comment on the refu-
sounds like a minor issue. nowned forerunners, who rospective forge different thematic paths to this end, fire — especially if it’s about in Los Angeles just to get his consequence, the bohemian radically non-judgmental, or gee crisis — is brazenly extre-
A privacy issue. They reply that had exposed the Vietnam crimes. which enable events in both former German states to one of their actors, or writers, next drink in. His view on wo- glamour attached by fans to grotesquely self-indulgent, me. If the film is meant to be an
they have nothing to hide: «It’s like But his nickname has been widely be juxtaposed. The Volkswagen city thus meets the who are esteemed locally like men might best be summed up the sexual conquests of sco- even nihilistic? He reclines on ironic take on Sauter’s ironic
saying that you don’t care about viewed as a tribute to the Fourth «Stalin city» and the economic miracle is contrasted rock stars, despite most being by the title of one of his poetry undrels such as Bukowski a divan, pale and naked except participation in what is itself
freedom of expression because Estate: the media, and their role with anti-fascism. And while the West engages with largely unknown outside the collections, Love Is A Dog From has been under for some grimy box- an ironic caricature of political
as watchdogs of democracy. A the «brothers and sisters in the East» (Aus dem Alltag country. Since Estonia’s inde- Hell, but his work is of such a reappraisal in «Party, drink and er-shorts, with a sign correctness, the rabbit hole is
you have nothing to say» role reshaped by Wikileaks now in der DDR: Dritter Versuch einer Rekonstruktion), East pendence was restored after rawly naked, wretchedly ho- many quarters. find lovers among that reads «Begging pointlessly, obtusely deep, but
Now, not only, can you collect played diffusely. As this book Germany also eyes its enemy brother and draws on decades of Soviet oppression, nest humanity, it’s impossible Basking in an air liberals, but vote for Love». He chats it’s doubtful that critical dis-
information about everybody, it is looks like one on computers its anti-Communist initiatives for its own propaganda its people have been set on not to feel something rare and of mischievous for conservatives with a dominatrix tance is even there. Õun con-
recorded forever. The files we de- and technology, it is also the op- (KGU – the Combat Group of Inhumanity, 1955). reasserting their own language elemental in it, and that he is depravity, Sauter — this is fucking about her lifestyle, demns refugees as deceitful
lete can always be recovered, as is posite, a book on humans and The Retrospective offers a colourful compilation and culture — and any whiff of wryly mocking his own boo- is hardly the kind sustainable» while wearing a tourists and compares them to
the case with our emails and text our oldest dilemma: the choice of formats, ranging from an VW advertising film (Aus visionary genius is venerated. rishness. Sauter accurately po- of figure to worry gimp mask, in a seg- cockroaches in a barrage of the
messages. Everything. «Imagine. between legal and moral rules. Eigner Kraft, 1954) via a CDU party political broadcast But there’s a counter-tendency ints out: «He seems rough and over whether he ment that feels less laziest far-right tropes around,
All the big, little secrets that might Since, sometimes, loyalty is a (The Economic Miracle, 1957) all the way to an animat- at work there: a penchant for simple, but he’s quite fine and has sensitively «read the room» like a genuine exploration of before whining about losing
ruin your marriage, or your career. form of betrayal, and betrayal a ed film that extolls the virtues of the Deutschmark (… darkly sardonic, self-ironising multi-layered. There is a lot of in terms of the current cultural sexual difference, than adoles- his right to offend. The moral
Your closest relationships. That form of loyalty, that’s why this Sie Bewegt Uns Alle, 1950). humour, and a circumspection self-irony». Sauter has trans- discourse around institutiona- cent-style appropriation of the bankruptcy of going along with
only line of coke that you snort- is the story of all of us. Not just It goes without saying that the reunification era is that does not suffer fools or lated both Bukowski and Jack lised misogyny. Besides, his underground’s cache (whereas anything, and in so doing nor-
ed when you were a student. That because we are all monitored, not left out. The Retrospective programme examines blowhards. What then, can we Kerouac into Estonian, and unrelenting self-irony means Bukowski hung out with pimps malising and legitimising it, is
night when you were drunk, and but also because, like Snowden, it in bottom-up fashion: In Snack-Special, Thomas expect of a documentary cal- clearly feels an affinity with that far from glorifying his own and prostitutes as equals, this here exposed, particularly in
you slept with your best friend’s we are all gears of injustice. Inad- Heise turns his attention to the everyday experiences led In Bed With A Writer, which their freewheeling, womani- lifestyle, he’s the butt of his feels out of place and staged). a nation that’s undergone a
girlfriend, who is now his wife, a vertently, perhaps, while we sim- and worries of people at a Berlin fast food stand dur- promises to introduce us to sing, and liquor-swilling ways; own jokes, lampooning him- There is little human insight to surge of far-right populism at
night you both promised never to ply work on software to decrease ing the period of upheaval. Peeter Sauter, «the Estonian their iconoclastic disregard self as too old, alcohol-sodden, make segments like this inter- recent polls. «Party, drink and
talk of. Or the abortion you under- the size of data. And ultimately, the hypothesis comes up again and Bukowski», a national literary for social respectability and and boring to be anything but esting, but so far, so okay.  find lovers among liberals, but
went when you were a teenager. Or We are essential because com- again that reunification didn’t just mean the end of treasure and dedicated boozer mad willingness to transgress unsuccessful in love. He reco- vote for conservatives — this
perhaps it is just about a petition puters are machines led by us. We East Germany but also that of West Germany in its who embraces the low life, wri- (literary bad boys William Bur- unts in dreary, bare-bones but Party, drink, and find lo- is fucking sustainable,» says
you signed, a protest you joined», can change them, as tanks need previous form. In Es Werde Stadt! by Dominik Graf and ting about his chequered track roughs and Michel Houellebe- vague terms, the trajectories vers.  Things take a shocking Õun. Less Bukowski, then, and
he says. «We all have something to drivers and jets need pilots. As Martin Farkas, this exact hypothesis is examined in record with women? Indulgent, cq are also on his bookshelf). of several relationships with turn, however, when Sauter more Ezra Pound?
hide. We all have compromising Bertolt Brecht said, man can do detail by way of the history of television, taking in yet rigorously anti-romantic, But, in typical Estonian style, women initially attracted by models for a mind-bogglingly
information buried somewhere anything, can fly, can kill, but he numerous different facts and ideas. the film plays as a running joke he gently derides himself even his reputation, who lost inte- racist shoot. «Today’s politi- Screened at Dok Leipzig
out there among the bytes». And has a flaw. He can think. See www.dok-leipzig.de/en/festival/sonderreihen/ on the concept of celebrity as he does, saying that he has rest as the banal reality sank cal correctness has killed hu- documentary film festival
now, in the US archives. And also retrospektive/retrospektive-filme even as it functions as an un- no pretensions to actually be in. There is an air of cynically mour, you cannot make fun of and other festivals.
in the archives of whoever buys it. critical vehicle for Sauter’s some kind of Bukowski: «I can fatalistic inevitability to all this anything anymore,» laments
Or steals it. francescaborri@gmail.com Müller runs the blog www.filmkommentaren.dk. mail@tuesday.dk brand of playful emptiness, its be a fool of fame, but there is (one woman, wanting to have a the photographer, Mats Õun. carmengray@gmail.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 33
 Learning about the
world of multiple cinemas
MEDIA:  Feeding the imagination, desires, and emotions of increasingly mobile and
displaced lives, transnational media landscapes take shape. BY MELITA ZAJC
Author Ivan Bargna:
Mediascapes. Pratiche
dell’immagine e
antropologia culturale
Italy
34 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
For more than one hundred foreign. Thus, claims Bargna experience», compares the pro-
years, the cinema of the glo- in his introduction, understan- duction of the film The Land of
bal north was considered the ding cultural diversity requires the Red Men by Marco Bechis,
norm with all other uses tre- that we pay attention to the one that describes the fight for
ated as particular cases of processes by which different the land of Guarani Kaiowa in
«ethnographic» film. This view social formations produce and Matto Grosso do Sul in Brazil,
changed gradually within the reproduce themselves, crea- and the local uses of the film
context of a broader shift asso- ting a proper media landscape three years after its premiere
ciated with the «mediascape» and participating in the global at the 2008 Venice Film Festival
context – a word coined by mediascape. The contributions – in particular, the role of the
Arjun Appadurai in order to si- in the book investigate how the film within the political claims
multaneously denote media, as daily planetary flow of image, of the Kaiowa. Sara Mramani
well as the world created from video, film, and television ficti- Cultural creativity is in «Artistic expression, rep-
it. The idea of «mediascape» ons are locally remodeled and exercised not only in resentational practices and
indicated the importance of re-mediated with political, so- production but also migrant spaces. The Milanese
our visual environments, and cial and personal strategies.
simultaneously highlighted the
fluid and fragmented nature of Active production. The book
in circulation and
consumption.
case of via Padova», shows
the potentials and limits of
visual anthropology, starting
Re-foresting the desert humans made
cultures as a result of intensify- documents the multi-centric with the knowledge that every
ing global flows. Today, the cli- contemporary world and invi- representation is not only a CLIMATE CHANGE:  Malian musician Inna Modja takes an epic journey down Africa›s ambitious
mate crisis made us aware that tes the reader to re-think the social and cultural construc- Great Green Wall project where 8,000km wall of trees is to stretch across the entire continent. BY CARMEN GRAY
the world is one and «we are differences between north and tion but also an instrument in
all on the same boat». But the south, between centre and pe- nese filmmakers. Her research the fight for acknowledgment
rising hostility towards those riphery. It makes visible how discloses social and cultural and self-determination of the The Great Green Wall Wall, but the real face of the and his own agenda of replan- cate of the Great Green Wall
coming to Europe to save their diverse «souths» of the world reality in which those films are individual and group. Finally, film is Mali-born musician and ting more than ten million trees The real face of the film mentions, in passing, a quo-
lives on real – not figural boats are not limited to passively produced. The infrastructure Ivan Bargna in «Spectacle of Director Jared P Scott activist Inna Modja. We join to combat the Sahel’s desertifi- is Mali-born musician and te he once heard: «The forest
– indicates that even in Euro- consume what has been pro- of the pirate market before pain and aesthetics of poverty. UK her as she takes the 8,000-ki- cation. «We will dare to invent precedes man, and desert fol-
activist Inna Modja
pe, the once proverbial bastion duced elsewhere, but actively and after the web has made About Enjoy Poverty by Renzo lometre journey across the the future,» he said — a quote lows.» He doesn’t say it, but it’s
of multiculturalism, respect produce audiovisual cultures an alternative space possible Martens» focuses on the video «All our hope is in the rain,» region from Senegal to Ethio- that opens the film. from Chateaubriand, a ninete-
for cultural diversity is at risk that remediate tradition and for the circulation, consump- made by the Dutch artist in DR says a farmer in The Great Gre- pia. Her aim is to collaborate The film’s idealistic rhetoric enth-century French aristocrat
of being forgotten. Thus, it is modernity. This is particularly tion, and production of infor- Congo in 2009 to analyze the en Wall. For 27 years, he has with musicians along the way, is geared to inspire in a man- and Romantic who liked to pen
important to understand that important and innovative be- mation, images and signifiers, relationship between humani- been working the land in Sen- creating an album that incor- ner that assumes self-help by exotic novels and gorge him-
our one global world is compo- cause it shows how cultural stimulating self-reflection of a tarianism and the production egal, but because of increasing porates the region’s cultural the peoples of the Sahel can self on steak. Perhaps it’s easy
sed of a plentitude of cultures, creativity is exercised not only generation that does not aim of images contributing to the droughts and desertification, traditions, which will raise triumph over corporate and to offer up eloquent phrases of
fluid, fragmented and diver- in production, but also in cir- to change society, but never- construction of the other as a yields are dwindling. Africa’s funds for Great Green Wall colonial exploitation by a glob- pithy cynicism, and no soluti-
se, and that cinema is part of culation and consumption not theless represents and inter- «victim». In the video, artistic semi-arid Sahel region, a belt projects. The United Nations al elite with conveniently se- ons, when not faced with only
this plentitude. This is the goal limited to redistribute what prets its fractures (p. 100). activism takes the form of an below the Sahara stretching Convention to Combat Desert- lective attention. But it is not sand to eat.
of  Mediascapes, a book edited was produced, but poetically Fiammetta Martegani in «Did almost ethnographic docu-fic- across the continent, is on the ification is a backer, and City of a film that glosses over grave Arriving in Ethiopia, Modja
by Ivan Bargna, an Italian an- re-contextualize and reinvent David Betray His Soldiers? An tion and remains ambiguous: frontlines of climate change, its God director Fernando Meire- challenges internal to the re- finds the horrors of the ‘80s
thropologist, specialized in what has been generated el- ethnographic reading of the the objective of artist-ethnog- degradation driving resource lles is on board as Executive gion that stall the implementa- famine the world knows from
media and the arts, professor sewhere. representation of the soldier in rapher is not to reach a rep- scarcity, mass migration, and Producer. It’s a slickly pack- tion of the expansive tree wall television are still fresh, and
at the prestigious In her article «Po- art and in Israeli cinema», anal- resentation that is most ade- conflict. The young are turning aged multi-media push to spot- — a plan dismissed by many as nobody wants to talk about it.
Italian Universi- litical spectacle, im- yses iconographic representa- quate or most participating in to a new mantra: «Go to Euro- light the issue, in other words, over-ambitious — even as it in- to regain their lives. In Niger, But more than three decades
ties Bicocca and Diverse “souths” agined landscapes tions rooted in visual arts the pain of the other, but to pe, or die trying.» with big-name clout. sists that a change of mindset which has the highest birth on, the land is transformed. A
Bocconi in Milan, of the world and monarchic and animated cinema, applied demonstrate the limits of rep- Many prefer to risk the huge- is imperative for it to be possi- rate on the planet, with women farmer in Tigray recounts how
art curator, and are not limited eco-propaganda on within the Arab-Israeli conflict. resentation, including the im- ly dangerous journey via Libya An African dream. «How can ble. averaging seven children, we with hard work they replant-
ethnographer who to passively the north of Thai- Giovana Santanera in «Afro-mo- possibility to remain outside over the prospect of a future we create an African dream?» In each nation where she encounter mothers with new- ed the greenery. Modja grasps
conducts research consume what land», Amalia Rossi dernity in powder: video expe- (p. 17) with nothing to eat for their Modja asks early on, determi- stops, Modja speaks with lo- borns in a maternity ward, dis- onto this as «a perfect exam-
in the Cameroon has been reports about the riences from Lagos to Duala» This precious book im- families. The documentary, ned to lend her voice to a more cals hard-hit by the region’s cussing their hopes to release ple for the rest of the Sahel»
Grassfields. produced research performed reports on her research on portantly contributes to the which has its World Premiere upbeat vision of the continent, instability. The shrinking of their children from poverty. — proof that if only resources
elsewhere but in 2008-2009 in the video production in Lagos, Ni- knowledge about contempo- at Venice Film Festival, outlines and better prospects to stem Lake Chad has had massive At a migrant crossing point, were mobilised, reality would
A net of interacti-
actively produce northern Thai prov- geria and Douala, Cameroon, rary mediascapes, in particu- a third option to starvation or the exodus, in a region whe- humanitarian repercussions, men have returned after being respond. It’s projected that 60
ons.  Mediation is ince of Nan, where confirming the democratic na- lar on various uses of cinema exile, one that depends on col- re over 80% of the population including heightened vulner- imprisoned in Libya, or their million Africans south of the
audiovisual
not marginal or se- particular pressures ture of low cost, easy to use around the globe. It will be an lective action. The Great Green subsist on some form of agri- ability to radicalisation. Teen- boats capsizing, a better life Sahara could migrate by 2045 if
cultures.
condary in relation for control of strate- digital technologies, while also interesting read not only for Wall is an initiative of the culture. Thomas Sankara, the age girls abducted by Boko still elusive («We only found nothing drastic is done to halt
to a reality acces- gic natural resources detecting pluralities of experi- experts but also for non-expert pan-national African Union to revolutionary who became Haram in Nigeria, forced into the sea,» says one). Some have desertification. Whether or not
sible in its immediacy - the are accompanied by one true ence in what people say and audiences curious about cine- replant trees, creating a mosa- president of Burkina Faso in marriage and trained to carry horror stories at the hands of we embrace the film’s opti-
reality is always already me- «war of images». Sara Beretta, do with the media, confirming ma and the world beyond their ic of restored lands to combat the ‘80s, before his untimely out suicide bombings, share corrupt traffickers. They are mism that its call to action will
diated. What we consider real in «Dgeneration: video and the heterogeneity of «African own. It’s a pity it only exists in the effects of environmental death by assassination, is held their stories, as do young men in limbo, ashamed to return be answered, it makes crystal
is constructed in a net of inte- subjects of contemporary modernity». Virginia Evi in Italian. For now. crisis. up as the guiding spirit of the educated by armed groups to home penniless. clear what is at stake.
ractions between various me- China», presents the latest, «The land of the Red Men. Eth- Jared P. Scott is attached as Great Green Wall, in his vision kill who are now battling stig-
dia, old and new, familiar and digital or Dgeneration of Chi- nography of a cinematographic melita.zajc@gmail.com director to The Great Green of pan-African self-reliance, matisation as they endeavour The desert follows. One advo- carmengray@gmail.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 35

Scottish reels, global results
SDI:  Executing contrasting styles, two films from the 2019 Scottish Documentary Institute «Bridging the Gap» program
showcase SDI's admirable geographical balancing-act. BY NEIL YOUNG
Hydebank/Altasu
Director Ross McClean, Eoin
Wilson
UK
«Co-là-breith math» is how they
say «Happy birthday» in Scot-
tish Gaelic, a greeting which
the non-fiction community
in the UK, Europe, and furth-
er afield should be directing
towards Edinburgh this year
as the Scottish Documentary
Institute (SDI) celebrates its
15th anniversary. Founded at
the Scottish capital›s College
of Art in 2004 by Noé Mendelle,
whose own film and TV credits
stretch back to the early 1980s,
the SDI is now firmly establis-
hed as one of the most vital,
enterprising, inclusive and pro-
ductive such organisations in
the world.
It has been responsible for
over 100 films to date, the bulk
of them of short or medium
length, and has struck up a
particularly harmonious pro-
fessional relationship with Ed-
inburgh’s long-running interna-
tional film festival (EIFF) which
has taken place without a
break each summer since 1947.
Under the banner «Bridging the
Gap», SDI presents around half
a dozen new projects every
year, showcasing its impres-
sive international sweep: like
many Scottish institutions, the
SDI is determinedly non-paro-
chial, welcoming filmmakers
and subjects from other coun-
tries and continents while also
finding room for outstanding
stories from closer to home.
This year two «Bridging the
36 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
Gap» titles, both by newcom-
ers, exemplified SDI’s admira-
ble geographical balancing-act:
Ross McClean’s  Hydebank, a
very particular glimpse into
the Northern Irish penal sys-
tem, and Eoin Wilson’s Altsasu,
which provides a snapshot of
a miscarriage of justice in the
Basque Country. Both films
clock in at around 15 minutes;
executed in distinctly contrast-
ing styles, they both herald
just the type of promising new
talent the SDI has long sought
to nurture and promote.
Hydebank.  Impressionistic,
spare and arresting both visu-
ally and aurally,  Hydebank  is
the more poetic and ambitious
of the two films. It›s essentially
a character study of an indivi-
dual, identified only as «Ryan»
in the closing credits, an inma-
te at the eponymous facility
– full title:  HM Prison Hyde-
bank Wood. Located in South
Belfast, and better known for
the adult women’s prison on
the same site, Hydebank is (in
British terminology) a «young
offenders’ centre», the kind of
jail for minors which for cen-
turies was colloquially termed
a «borstal».
In cinematic terms, the
most famous representations
of such establishments are
hard-hitting. Two controver-
sial films which can be broadly
positioned within the «angry
young man» sub-genre of UK
social-realism: Tony Richard-
son’s  The Loneliness of the
Long Distance Runner  (1962),
an adaptation of Alan Sillitoe›s
novel starring Tom Courtenay,
HYDEBANK
and Alan Clarke›s Scum (1979),
the big-screen version of the
same director›s banned BBC
«Play For Today» from 1977.
While both the Richardson
The SDI is now and Clarke films concentrate
firmly established on a surly, snarling individ-
as one of the most ual very much at odds with
vital, enterprising, the «system», as represented
inclusive and by brutal and/or patronising
productive such borstal personnel,  Hydebank’s
organisations in ruminative protagonist shows
the world. evident remorse for his crime,
the details of which remain un-
spoken. Ryan merely remarks
about its extreme seriousness:
«grim, grim», in terms which
leave no doubt about the
guilt-trauma scars which this
incident left upon his psyche.
Seldom depicted with his
fellow inmates, Ryan instead
seems to spend most of his
(spare) time looking after the
facility’s four-legged residents:
Hydebank is home to a flock of
sheep, their fluffy presence an
That such
incongruously bucolic element
legislation can
among the stern prison infra-
even be on structure of high walls, fencing,
the books of a and harsh security lighting.
European Union Like Matt Damon’s title char-
country in the acter in Gus Van Sant’s  Good
second decade of Will Hunting, who during a
the 21st century psychologist session spoke fa-
may perhaps cetiously of his dream to raise
come as a sheep in New Hampshire, Ryan
surprise to many. has pastoral ambitions – ex-
cept his are of the deadly seri-
ous variety.
The young man seems to
display a knack with the ani-
mals, much to the derision of
his (unseen) peers who are
heard raining down vitupera-
tive, ovine-related insults. In
a film of quietly nightmarish
contrasts, McClean superbly
contrasts the raucous fury of
the immature louts with the
tranquil simplicity of Ryan’s
careful animal husbandry.
At several key junctures, he
shows shots of institutional
corridors, painterly composi-
tions of shadow and light, with
percussive cacophonies ech-
oing around the bare surfaces
– just as, we deduce, jeering
voices (external taunts and in-
ternal self-recriminations) ric-
ochet through Ryan’s waking
and sleeping brain.
McClean makes no judgment
about Ryan, his offense, or the
appropriateness of his sen-
tence – in fact, he withholds
much crucial information that
would likely be provided in a
more conventional treatment
of this material. The unspoken
impression is of a filmmaker
keen to understand and depict,
but not to judge or condemn:
the beneficial aspects of Hyde-
bank’s livestock are quietly en-
dorsed, in a film which speaks
subtly but clearly in favour of
the humane treatment of of-
fenders, regardless of their age
or culpability.
Altsasu.  Altsasu  likewise deals
with issues of crime and punis-
hment, but here the director is
unashamed and unapologetic
about having crafted a polemic
that comes out strongly on the
side of those languishing be-
hind bars: seven young Basqu-
es who were handed sentences
ranging from 2 to 13 years fol-
lowing a bar-room altercation
with two members of Spain›s
Guardia Civil.
The prisoners themselves
Impressionistic,
spare and
arresting
both visually
are only seen via
and aurally,
photographs and
drawings; instead, Hydebank is the
more poetic and
the main focus is
ambitious of the
domestic, upon
the mother of one two films.
of the incarcerated
and her immediate
home surroundings. Two years
after the incident, which took
place in October 2018, mid-
dle-aged Igone seems to have
devoted her life to establish-
ing the innocence of her son
Jokin and the half-dozen of his
friends who ended up in pris-
on.
The social implications of
this case are spelled out in
the closing credits: «For many,
the Altsasu Case has come to
symbolise Spain’s repressive
policies in the Basque Coun-
try. The convictions have been
widely condemned as a politi-
cised miscarriage of justice.»
Goings-on in this beautiful,
contentious corner of Europe
has dropped sharply down the
international news radar since
the much-chronicled «Basque
separatist group» ETA (Euska-
di Ta Askatasuna, i.e. Basque
Homeland and Liberty) an-
nounced the end of its military
activities in 2011. But rancor
still evidently runs deep on
both sides of the political di-
vide as Spain struggles to find
social and economic equilibri-
um in the wake of the post-2008
global financial crisis, such
enmities kept fresh by conten-
tious developments such as
the Altsasu case and the sub-
sequent sentencing.
Wilson, like McClean, es-
chews much in the way of in-
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his brief running-time, Grand Angle
he instead concen-
Latitudes
trates on Igone, on her
Opening Scenes
town (during the days
of colourful fiesta, Deadline: 3 January 2020
also the backdrop for for films finished by 1 April 2020
the 2016 flare-up) and The films in competition
its spectacular surroundings. are screened in world,
He sparingly deploys slow-mo- international or European
tion, sometimes in conjunction Premiere.
with a mournful choral rendi-
tion by the folkloric group Kan-
tuz which underlines the deep
sadness felt not only by those
directly affected by the sen-
tencing, but also its inescapa-
ble ripples through the wider
community. Igone speaks of
«two years of pain, of suffer-
ing», her doughty resilience an
Call For Projects
inspiring example of indomi-
table maternal persistence in
the face of difficult odds: the Pitching du Reel
Guardia Civil have «total im- Rough Cut Lab
punity» enshrined in law, their Docs in Progress
word to be taken over and Deadline No. 1: 15 November 2019
above any opposing testimony Deadline No. 2: 15 December 2019
from the general population. We are looking for projects
That such legislation can that are presented for the first time
even be on the books of a Eu- at their current stage.
ropean Union country in the
second decade of the 21st cen-
tury may perhaps come as a
surprise to many. This is just
one eye-opener in a miniature
polemic which, by dint of its
likely international exposure
post-EFF, might hopefully make
a small difference to Igone’s
campaign and those of others
in Spain and elsewhere – thus
amply fulfilling SDI’s own mis- Main Partner Media Partner Institutional Partner
sion statement to produce
films «driven by content and
emotional experience».
neilyounggb@gmail.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 37
 When
cinema is
politics
Totalitarian regimes SUDAN:  Exploring the
Stalin:  Loznitsa's new film has several levels of gazes that organizes what importance of cinema for
the audience sees. A timely warning. BY MELITA ZAJC democracy. BY MELITA ZAJC
village, we see the villagers, with the idea that cinema is coup happened and the project awaiting those who walk free-
immediate successor Georgy various groups expressing gathered in the square, laugh- essential for democracy this was halted. «It all ended there», ly in Africa, Jungle, Drums and
Malenkov promise that not- their grief through the micro- ing at Charlie Chaplin in  Mod- documentary provides a novel says one of the men. It was July Revolution (1974) by Suleiman
hing will change, and we hear phone. We hear phrases such ern Times. It took one hundred view, at least for Europe and 1st, 1989. El Nour, we encounter an iron-
the notoriously feared chief of as «he is dead, but his ideas ing them see what they want to and sounds are often not syn- years and five African film di- the Global North. ic criticism of the present con-
intelligence Lvrenty Beria thre- are immortal», or that gone is show. But before them, there chronized. For example, neu- rectors to finally show that, The four protagonists of Victims of the regime. After the dition.
atening the enemies. There is «the greatest genius in the his- was the gaze of the producers tral or even high angle shots most probably, Benjamin was this film left their homeland in military coup, cinema-going ce-
a nice twist though. At this pu- tory of humankind», or simply, of this archive material, who are accompanied by sounds of right. But, does it matter? the ‘60s and ‘70s to study cin- ased to exist. The four protago- With no end. Through the
blic meeting at which, during «we shall hail Stalins’ name». organized the camera opera- people’s steps, which is com- Talking About Trees ema abroad. Al-Tayeb Mahdi nists, who were all in different efforts of the Sudan Film
State Funeral the burial ceremonies, the su- But these phrases, too, don’t tors, selected their locations to pletely «unnatural» (in the Political Media. Different cul- and Manar Al Hilo graduated ways victims of the regime, Group, we can observe subt-
ccessor of the dead dictator is say much by themselves, they obtain a perfect view without sense that one can never hear Director Suhaib Gasmelbari tures use media in different from the Cairo Higher Insti- founded the Sudan Film Group le mechanisms of power that
Director Sergei Loznitsa being introduced, the person are parts of a larger puzzle. obstructing the smooth move- so precisely individual sounds France, Germany, Chad, Qatar, ways. The main theses of this tute of Cinema in to revive cinema the- are at work in contemporary
Netherlands, Lituania announcing the speakers is ne- ment of people, gave instruc- from afar) and this creates a Sudan documentary by Sudanese di- 1977. Suleiman Mo- atres and reintroduce Sudan. Their request for per-
Through the
ver identified by the name. Yet The Machine. Watching docu- tions on what to take and what sinister atmosphere and fur- rector Suhaib Gasmelbari, that hamed Ibrahim El cinema-going into the mission to open the cinema
efforts of the
The film has no voice over, it is he, the master of this ce- mentaries, I often remember leave out of the frame. And ther underlines the grip of the Talking About Trees  portrays film is political media, is new Nour studied docu- country. Gasmelbari’s is not simply rejected. It just
no instructions whatsoever remony, who eventually succe- an anecdote about a TV dire- then, there is the first gaze, the machinery on people. four senior film directors in to European audiences, but it mentary at the Ger-
Sudan Film film documents their has to pass one verification
about how to read it. It offers eded the dictator, winning the ctor, who later became one of gaze of those who organized their struggle to revive tradi- should be of no surprise that it asimov Institute of Group we can efforts by applying after another, with no end.
spectacularly beautiful images power struggle triggered by the best directors of live sports all these flows of people, who The Monster. People featu- tional cinema in Sudan and, comes from Africa, where cel- Cinematography in observe subtle classical filmmaking te- Hearing that one of the verify-
of people in motion. They are his death, becoming the first broadcasts. He was directing a decided who had the privilege red in State Funeral are not at the same time, presents an luloid film was political from Moscow and Ibra- mechanisms chniques, starting with ing instances confirmed that
people of all ages and races, secretary of the communist live broadcast of the visit of a to participate, and told them common people of the Soviet interesting question about the the start. Today, video films him Shaddad stud- of power that the motive of four male cinema closure in Sudan was
professions and social ranks, party after Stalin and introdu- president of a European coun- where to be at what time, how Union, they were selected to importance of cinema for de- are making public the fears, ied filmmaking in are at work in heroes determined to a political decision seems to
huge masses of people, mo- cing first democratic reforms. try. The president was expec- to enter, how to exit the stage. represent common people of mocracy. sufferings, and aspirations of the 1960s at the Film contemporary achieve their goal at all end their hopes for good. Yet,
ving harmoniously, at the same Who would not recognize the ted to arrive in a convoy by the It is simply breathtaking just the Soviet Union in a historical Walter Benjamin embraced urban masses all over the con- University Babels- Sudan. costs: be it when they even if they failed, they seem
pace, in the same direction. smiling face of the man who la- road and long before the sche- to think how powerful must moment. As they walk by the cinema at its very beginning as tinent, so these are the most berg Konrad Wolf in decide to clean up the content. This confirmation in-
Like a calm flow. ter gained world fame duled arrival, all the cameras have been this machinery that piles of magnificent wreaths the most democratic form of important media of postcoloni- East Germany. They huge white wall to be directly proved their belief in
Quietly. No voice is Recordings for banging the table with the operators were in pla- managed to control such huge on display after the funeral, art. In his essay The Work of Art al Africa. But it was not always were all active filmmakers and the screen in their new cine- cinema’s democratic potenti-
heard apart from made during with his shoe at a 1960 ce and the director performed numbers of people during accompanied by a lullaby sin- in the Age of Mechan- like this. If at first, these the first great achievement ma, be it when they have to als. And this, of course, is not
the sounds of shoes the ceremonies UN conference, Nikita the last checkup. Everything these whole five days. ging to a kid who will wake up ical Reproduction,  he videos were rejected as of this documentary is that it push their rusty van in which just a belief. Similar to Benja-
It took one
creaking as they tou- Khrushchev? seemed fine but the flags were This is also the subject of in the morning, the fairytales claimed that only ed- «trash», it was because makes audiences of the Global they travel around villages and min, the pioneers of African
that followed hundred
ch the ground, mo- With the precision too still and, without thinking, State Funeral: the invisible, but about sleeping kings come to ucated elite can enjoy they appeared inferior North aware of the rich African show films on cloth attached cinema considered the film
the death of years and
notonous tramping, of a mathematician, he ordered his colleagues, constantly present mechanism mind. Only that this time, the traditional art, while to celluloid film which film legacy. to a wall. When the van starts, language, based on images, as
Joseph Stalin.
making the silence Loznitsa reconstructs «Make the flags flutter!» This that controls people. More hope that the sleeping king wa- anyone can enjoy the five African started in Africa as po- As the film takes its viewers the man behind shouts to the more democratic than any ot-
even more tangible. «The greatest the funeral proce- anecdote is about how one than the personality cult, I be- kes up is replaced by the fear films of Charlie Chaplin. film litically engaged «film to the precious private archive driver, «Come on, drive! If so- her language. Therefore they
These human bodi- genius in the dures. Starting with can’t control everything (not lieve the Funeral is displaying that the beast might wake up. His idea was quickly for- directors d’auteur». Political en- of Ibrahim Shaddad, the room meone’s in the way, drive him embraced the film as the most
es and faces have history of the arrival of the coffin the wind). But it also shows the machinery: The power of This is a clear political mes- gotten, at first because to finally gagement was much is dark and illuminated only by down.» convenient way to reach peo-
no name, apart from humankind.» and the identification how very controlled such reco- the beast. sage. As the totalitarian re- cinema was considered show that more important for Afri- the torch attached to the man’s Carefully arranged shots ple, to mobilise them and get
those who are invi- of the dead body with rdings are. And this, I believe, If we compare it to a similar gimes are blossoming all over too populist to be rele- Walter can than for the French, forehead, as if he were about of the present are skillfully them involved in politics.
ted to speak. the only two close-ups is the point of the State Funeral. filmic endeavor, the Triumph the world today, the warning vant for democracy, T. Benjamin or European «film d’aut- to go digging underground. interwoven with the archive This documentary brings
in the whole film – one of the Told in more cinematic of the Will (1935) in which that the monster can wake up W. Adorno even consid- was right. eur». It was also much Indeed, following his torch of material. Thus, the four di- about a very important insight
The director. Like everything in face and one of the hand of terms, there is a series of gazes Leni Riefenstahl documented close to home, comes just at ered it dangerous for more important than in light, we discover a true cine- rectors are not only the films’ that to appreciate differences,
State Funeral by Sergei Loznitsa the dead man. «Moscow Call- that organized what the audi- the Congress of the German the right moment. democracy. Nowadays, the US, where cinema philes’ treasure trove: Arriflex protagonists, but their films one should, first of all, know
and composed out of the recor- ing», the radio announcement ence sees in this film. There are Nazi party, one can clearly celluloid film is considered was part of the entertainment lenses, tapes of film classics also frame the  Talking About them. It provides an insight
dings made during the ceremo- of the death broadcasted all the director, Loznitsa, and his see this point: while the Tri- elitist. The four heroes of Talk- industry and «film d’auteur» such as La Peau Douce by Tru- Trees  narration. In the begin- into the richness of Africa cin-
nies that followed the death of over the vast country, followed editor Danielius Kokanauskis umph features well organized Screened at Dok Leipzig docu- ing About Trees  are struggling never existed, while its’ coun- fault, 16mm camera, a suitcase ning, in clips from  Hunting emas, films and filmmakers in
Joseph Stalin in 1953, the sele- by a thorough medical report. who did a magnificent work of movement of people indicating mentary film festival and to revive traditional cinema terpart - the independent ci- full of notes – amongst them, Party  (1964) by Shaddad, we an innovative way, as a direct
ction of those who are presen- Foreign politicians arriving at selecting and organizing the the superiority of its subject by other festivals. in Sudan but this is obviously nema, with its major producer a script for a film, with props, see a stern critique of coloni- source of knowledge.
ted with their names and who the airport. A continuous flow archive material in fluid and simulating «natural» view even also a struggle for democracy. Miramax deeply involved in sets, costumes, actors. The al representation. At the clo-
get to speak, was made with of people passing by the open dynamic way, guiding the at- in case of the most extreme In one of the public screenings sexual harassment - is even di- film was almost ready to be- sure, in a repetitive warning
a purpose. So we hear Stalin’s coffin. Representatives of the tention of these viewers, mak- shots, in the Funeral images melita.zajc@gmail.com they organised in a Sudanese rectly politically tainted. Thus, gin shooting when the military to children about the devils melita.zajc@gmail.com

38 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019 FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 39
 The age of platforms
MEDIA:  Analyzing contemporary social media practices likes fake news, Geert Lovink
looks toward a possible end to «platform nihilism». BY MELITA ZAJC
Author Geert Lovink
Sad by Design: On Platform
Nihilism
The title says it all. This is a
bitter book. Written in essay-
istic, first-person narrative, it
talks about things we all know
from our daily experience ever
since social media became our
whole world. Behaviour modi-
fication and fake news are the
topics of the day, but there are
other less outspoken transfor-
mations also occurring: blur-
red boundaries between work
and private life, the precarious
conditions of permanent avai-
lability, the paradox between
the hyper-individualised sub-
ject and the herd mentality of
the social, the pressure to lead
a predictable life, permanent
social ranking, amplified but
less visible hierarchies, indiffe-
rence, hatred.
In spite of its bitterness, it
is a pleasure reading as it not
only observes but also gives
WHERE ALL
STORIES MEET
MONTREAL
INTERNATIONAL
DOCUMENTARY
FESTIVAL
40 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
these things a broader mean-
ing and places them in a histor-
ical context. Take, for example,
the hype around big data and
artificial intelligence. We are
impressed by the knowledge
that can be obtained through
analysing huge quantities of in-
formation, but knowing data is
also collected about us raises a
multitude of concerns. Author
Geert Lovink connects this dis-
content to the 1970 resistance
against the census in the Neth-
erlands and the German pro-
tests of 1983. «For these pro-
testors, the big data collection
of personal IDs, matched with
identifiers such as religion, po-
litical beliefs, and ethnic back-
ground was unacceptable», (p
88). He meticulously explains
how recent focus on the com-
puter as interface obscured its
initial, computational purpose,
and thus the fact that statistics
and computers have a joint
origin in the widespread use
of IBM’s punch card technolo-
gy by the Nazis to coordinate
forced labor, and its broader
role within the Holocaust in
terms of counting and select-
ing Jews (p 84).
The platform age. The compu-
ter has been associated with
population control and geno-
cide (p 79) long before we
enthusiastically praised it as a
liberation tool for individuals
and communities (p 80). I first
heard about Geert Lovink, a
theorist, activist and net critic,
While the
1980s were
the golden
era of media,
and networks
dominated
the nineties,
we’re now
well into the
platform age.
who «has made an effort in hel-
ping to shape the development
of the web», in the mid-1990s.
At that time he founded the in-
ternational Nettime circle/mai-
ling list and I wrote an essay for
the publication accompanying
the Nettime May Conference
- Beauty and the East, organi-
sed by Nettime and Ljudmila
(Ljubljana digital media lab)
in Ljubljana in 1997. This was,
writes Lovink, the new media
period, «in which we, as acti-
vists, artists, designers, and
community organisers belie-
ved we could play a role». But
this «short summer of net cri-
ticism» was soon over and ven-
ture capital monoculture with
the hype of e-commerce pre-
vailed until the dotcom crash
and 9/11 in 2001. What follo-
wed was Web 2.0, «a low-key
period of recovery» with blogs,
RSS feeds, user-generated con-
tent and the rise of Google. The
NOV. 14 — 24 2019
tween two groups that are nor- of secular media, so it is huge
mally at odds. that I got permission to film
Conflict is not present on them at all», she says.
this beach, which is one of the
important messages of the film. Zumba.  «If you drink salty wa-
Materiality of media. Lack of People come here to enjoy the ter from the sea you get thirsty
appropriate theory makes break from the daily troubles, and want to drink more», says
Lovink’s work, and this book, each and all giving an effort to one of the women. She belongs
that much more important. make it work. In that light, it to the older generation and
His academic «role models» seems almost natural to see ul- watches life at the beach from
are German media theorists traorthodox girls take off their a distance. She is sitting in the
Klaus Theweleit and Friedrich long dresses and heavy stock- shadow on a bench dressed
Kittler. They investigated the ings to don a bikini while at modestly and wearing a wig.
traumatic roots of media in the beach. The daughter of the She is not entirely happy with
the Second World War and Bnei Brak woman with eight what she sees. «She is naked.
for them, «media could not neighbors is among them. «It is Or rather, worse than naked»,
be separated from the milita- against my personal taste, but she says about one of the bi-
ry». An approach which «was here at the beach we are wom- kini-clad girls, but her remark
radically different from IT’s en with our private space so I seems to stem from lack of un-
(…) cycles of hype and their choose to respect her choice,» derstanding rather than con-
PIXABAY
obsession with the future.» she says. demnation.
Another academic influence Like several others, she is
«knowledge of networks acqui- is an anthology, Texte zur Me- Spiritual Holocaust. Naturally, aware Tel Aviv is a sinful city.
red in the previous periods was dientheorie  published by Re- not everybody is enthusiastic As if to underline her opinion
transformed into (…) profit for clam in 2004. Its main point of about the arrangement. Cer- we hear the bass tones from
the few» (p 62). The «fourth difference is the emphasis on tain rabbis in Bnei Brak are the gay beach. But she adds
internet phase», which began the materiality of the media not happy at all. They are well with a rueful twinkle in her
after the 2008 global financial (p 63). This well explains his aware that the women meet eyes, that things are changing
crisis, «is defined by the rise bold claim that the platforms another culture that could be a as a way of nature, and that
of the extractivist model» and we use to communicate have threat to their way of life. One you have to keep up. This is a
«social media platforms that been designed to make us sad. of them describes the beach as kind of openness that seems to
subordinate networks as mere This is not a determinist view, a «spiritual Holocaust». In the exist in her seemingly closed
tools for hypergrowth» (p 63). akin to McLuhan’s «media is film we get to see how they are world, and this is probably
While the 1980s was the golden the message», in the sense posting pashkevilim – the spe- what we will find in most com-
era of media, and networks do- that media determine society. cial wall newspapers that are a munities like that.
minated the 90s, we are now Of course, sadness already
well into the plat-
form age. Lack of theory
existed before soci-
al media but this is a
If we still hear makes Lovink’s particular kind of sad-
Bikini-clad pluralism typical way of communicating
in ultraorthodox communities
– warning against the mini bus-
ses taking their congregants to
There is a lot of humour
along the way. We follow the
small-talk of the women, and
at some stage, a small group
about «new media» work, and this ness, a sorrow that ha- ISRAEL:  A different kind of coexistence is happening on a beach, a bit off the beaten the beach. We see a group of of women considers signing
today, says Lovink, book, that more ppens «when we can track in secular and pluralistic Tel Aviv. BY HANS HENRIK FAFNER women leaving the beach to up for Zumba – another no-no
is because in all important. no longer distinguish take the bus home at the appo- among the conservative rab-
these decades we between telephone Kosher Beach lar outing for the ultraortho- opening hours are on the muni- inted time, only to find that the bis.
failed to develop and society. If we dox. The vast majority of the cipal payroll. bus has disappeared. It turns «In later years the girls have
an adequate theory. Despite can’t freely change our profi- Director Karin Kainer beachgoers come from neigh- They are among out that the assistants adopted a behavior that you
overwhelming global statis- le and feel too weak to delete Israel, USA boring Bnei Brak, an almost the eye-openers of of the rabbi have been do not find anywhere in the
tics that illustrate a majori- the app, we’re condemned to completely ultraorthodox city, Kainer’s film, be- A tall wooden there to send the bus Scriptures», says someone, and
ty of mankind (55% in June feverishly check for updates A young man is performing an landlocked between secular cause even on «lady fence to away, so the women the underlying message is this
2018) are online, hooked on during the brief in-between» aria from a well-known opera; communities. It is a segregated days» all lifeguards protect visitors are forced to make might not be such a bad thing
platforms» (p 62), no one seri- (p 47). Far from being a natu- his voice a bit shrill but still beach, meaning that Sundays, are male, and they from prying their way home on after all.
ously took on the challenge to ral response, such sadness is (kind of) Puccini. Two men dan- Tuesdays, and Thursdays are are typical Israeli eyes has their own.
establish Internet studies, let integrated into the design of ce to the tones, both wearing for women while men are in- lifeguards. Their na- fenced off part «I was surprised to Realities.  Suddenly the Middle
alone platform studies. «Artis- interfaces and the architectu- microscopic swimming trunks. vited for a swim on Mondays ked torsos are dark of the beach. learn how much will Easters realities enter the sce-
tic new media programs have res of apps (p 51). A small group of ultraorthodox and Wednesdays. «Bnei Brak is brown from the power these women ne. There is a red alert, and the
silently been closed down, This is a scary view but
have been merged into harm- Lovink presents it with per-
Jewish girls approaches. They extremely crowded,» says one sun, and they move possess,» says Kainer
hesitate, stop, look the other of the women in the film. «From around normally among all the after the screening at DocAviv,
lifeguards have already orde-
red the women to be ready to
less (…) enterprises such sonal conviction and academic way but can’t keep themselves my kitchen window I can stare ultraorthodox women. Nobody the annual documentary film get out of the water and reach
as «digital humanities», or rigour, in a dialog with other from glancing, while giggling right into eight other apart- seems to care. On the contra- festival of Tel Aviv. «They are a shelter in 90 seconds. Every-
have been subsumed into the scholars, as a result of a par- loudly. This is a real-life me- ments, and I hear every fart ry, the religious women make deeply religious, but far from body does as they are told, but
broadcast logic of media and ticular configuration of individ- eting in Tel Aviv, happening from the neighbors. When I go errands in the lifeguard tower being suppressed by the will as soon as they are on dry soil
communications.» This has ual and social in contemporary in Kosher Beach, the latest do- to the beach I get an amazing all the time and the mood is of the men. This is how we of- reaching the shelter becomes
seriously limited the available social media. In the words of cumentary by Israeli director feeling of freedom. The ocean light. Some bring them slices of ten see them, but actually, they less urgent. A lot of them take
knowledge and undermined Sherry Turkle, another internet Karin Kainer. In it, Kainer follo- opens my heart!» watermelon, and when a baby are strong feminists, and they The Book of Psalms out of their
the capacity to fully grasp the scholar: we are alone together. wed life on a sandy stretch of bottle needs to be heated the know exactly what they want. bags and start reciting!
implications of the contem- Throughout the book, Lovink Mediterranean coastline that The UN beach. The segregated lifeguards go out of their way In each case when a rabbi tries They come from a different
porary platform age for peo- intertwines his own research has always been less frequ- beach of Tel Aviv has been aro- to help. to block their way, they find world that many find strange,
ple and societies. «The white and scholarly work with histor- ented by so-called regular be- und for many years. Nobody Actually, this is just one of their own creative solution.» but are willing to live a life
male geeks from engineering ical information and contem- achgoers. As a result, the mu- cares to remember how many. three special beaches on this It was no easy task to gain alongside others – to give it a
and would-be venture capi- porary critical theories. But its nicipality has put it aside for Little by little it became a ha- bit of coastline. Apart from the access to the privacy of the try, and respect the world if it
talists from business schools greatest advantage is its var- special purposes, and Kainer ven for the ultraorthodox po- segregated beach, there is one beach, and even less so with respects them. In this way, the
have achieved cultural domi- ious proposals for solutions. paints this through a number pulace that most often is from for the gay community, and in a camera. In Kainer’s opin- film holds a broader message
nance - endlessly replicating Thus it is bitter, but not a little of almost surreal meetings bet- out of town. But in the spirit of between, there is one especial- ion, Bnei Brak is an extremely with special importance for
Silicon Valley schemas and bit pessimistic. If you will read ween diverging cultures. pluralism, the city council took ly for dog owners. One of the closed world for any outsider, the Middle East where it was
leaving those with social sci- one book this summer, make
ence, arts, and humanities sure it is Sad By Design.
or design background on the
A tall wooden fence to pro- up the task and runs the beach lifeguards mentions the one in and it took her several months
tect visitors from prying eyes as a municipal offer. The beach the middle as «the UN beach» to establish the first contact
has fenced off part of the beach, is kept clean, and the four life- because the canines seem to and gain a tiny bit of trust.
created.
sidelines» (p 9). melita.zajc@gmail.com which has become a popu- guards that are present during function as peacekeepers be- «They do not trust any kind fafner4@yahoo.dk
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 41
 The burns of corruption
VENICE:  The best documentary of the Venice Film
Festival? BY TRULS LIE

lowed up on the hospital exec-

utives and, helped by internal

FRANCISCO + VERONICA
whistleblowers, reveled how
they were sending substantial
amounts of money to private
enterprises abroad. And they
also reveal how many of them

MAGARITA

RUPERTA
Colectiv have given false approvals in
exchange for bribes.
Director Alexander Nanau
Romania, Luxembourg The same old. The newspaper
articles led to a number of de-

Silence. Stillness. Serendipity

The Romanian documentary monstrations. After the fall of
Colectiv by Alexander Nanau the government, a temporary
is a clear statement on power government of technocrats
and corruption. The topic is was installed, where the acti-
PHOTOGRAPHY:  With a touch of magic realism, Doña Maria and her Dreams the fire that broke out during a vist Vlad Voiculescu became
concert in the club of the same the new health minister, taking
provides an exceptional journey through the mysterious world of the name in Bucharest in 2015. In the side of the oppressed and
Venezuelan desert. BY JOÃO VILELA GERALDO the ensuing chaos, 27 people making real changes. One of the
died almost instantly. In the cases we are shown is that of a
following weeks, however, as corrupt mayor
100 years of solitude turned into 12 had stood still like a clever lizard wai- than all Savile Row suits. many as 37 more people died insisting that
years of blood-bound companionship ting for its prey, or meet old blind pot- Or 114-year-old (if records because of the lamentable sta- Under the the local hospi-
and hard-gained trust. A limitless dry ters, wrinkled and sun-toasted chair existed) Doña Ruperta, whose te of the hospitals, allowing rule of tal is equipped
horizon where exoticism never arri- makers, wary stone cutters? Why endless stories about her many deadly infections to take hold. cunning for lung opera-
ved, colour never came through the would anyone choose black crows children and grandchildren nev- The film exposes corruption in power, the tions, despite
tail of a rainbow, and water is more over shiny parrots? er ceased to amuse and amaze, government as well as in the truth must an obvious lack
precious than gold. Doña Maria and The series covers the routines and and which could have filled hun- private sector. And, rather than yield. of sufficient
her Dreams, the iconic book and tra- trials of daily life in the barren lands dreds of pages of dusty books. by the mass media, the scandal equipment. Voi-
vel series from photographer Horst of the Venezuelan «desert», a frontier With her «broken bird» hands was uncovered by a tiny sports culescu points
Friedrichs, which led him to win the place where magic has taken over folded delicately on her lap, the paper, Gazeta Sporturilor. In it out in public.
Lead Gold Award – the most presti- from rule books and institutional wind she heard never seemed to fact, the film ends up with the But the changes wouldn’t
gious in photography – was born laws, and where windswept villages bring news, only the promise, government being overthrown. last. Six months later, the same
under the spell of real adventure and are silent but respectful witnesses ever distant, of much-needed corrupt and populist politi-
the doom and gloom of hard logistics of the rituals and traditions of small rain. Sometimes, when the wind Hexi Parma. Journalist Catalin cians («the social democrats»)
in a Venezuela  slowly disappearing communities who learned fast and blew in the most unusual ways Tolontan and his colleagues – are elected for government –
into the oblivion of oil and early to take care of them- from the Quíbor Valley into Gua- which we awarded with a 10 and it is hard even to believe
politics, and frightfully gai- Barren and selves. delupe, she said an evil spirit (!) minutes applause in Venice what is happening after all the

IRENE VERGEL
ning a reputation as a test abandoned It might be a harsh place might drop by without notice – uncovered how one party af- scandals.
tube for theory and practice as it is, this where children never heard of or a formal invitation. That´s ter another leeched on govern-
gone wrong. Starting in the is a place of Gulliver’s Travels or Robinson why she believed every guest ment money. First among them The rules of power. Under the
country’s northwest Lara Crusoe, and where stray dogs was precious because you nev- was Hexi Parma, entrusted rule of cunning power, the
survival and
State and moving in the would make a feast of Lilliput’s er knew whom you might find at with delivering antiseptics to truth must yield. The tragedy
sacrifice.
same direction to the regi- inhabitants, but where free- the dinner table. From their first casual meeting art collector. He just had a par- 350 hospitals – liquids they in Romania is an example of
on of Falcón, Horst spent dom and fantasy run through in 1993 to her death a few years ticular thing for stones as if their secretly had been diluting to how systematic corruption is
twelve years meeting the same fami- the veins and dried-up riverbeds. Shape and sharpness. The co- later, and through the talks and angles shaped the hearts of his a tenth of the original level of deployed all over the world.
lies for similar periods of time each Yet, barren and abandoned as it is, mings and goings of Horst made tears with Aquilino, her son loved ones. The same quiet pas- concentration. A doctor acted And the corrupt care mostly
year, paying a much anticipated vi- this is a place of survival and sacrifice, him meet the characters and who continued to sit down on sion which Señor Eustiquio, the as a whistleblower and repea- about their own, like in Bu-
sit and looking for shade and smiles where luck and chance play no game, hear the stories that quietly her chair to mold clay as she Cocuy-maker who squeezed the tedly warned that this disin- charest, where on economic
under the tiny rooftops which had and where the daily routines of each shaped the book. Unforgettable had done for decades, the book precious juice of the Agaves, fectant was ineffective – over grounds they declined offers
stood time and temper, and the odd family easily emulate decades of oral characters like Doña Maria Cas- started to take shape and sharp- needed to have to perform an a period of eight years. In the to send their patients to Ger-
storm or two. tradition, stories whispered through tillo, the frail face and stubborn ness. ancient ritual and technique to film, the minister of health many, even if many lives could
PARROTS . ALL PHOTOS: DOÑA MARIA AND HER DREAMS, PHOTOGRAPHS BY HORST FRIEDRICHS
open doors and windows where old body which became the cover The same shape and sharp- fight the thirst you seemingly denies ever having received have been saved.
No pirate ships. But why would any- faces peek as ancient shadows. Faces of the series, who never let her ness which Diego Crespo said find in a barren land. But as bar- these warnings. The owner of
one want to travel thousands of mi- like the rough but protective bark of blindness stop her will to pro- each one of the stones he care- ren as the land might have been, Hexi Parma who had been hi- Screened at Ji. Hlava Inter-
les to photograph a barren, forgot- trees, scarred by heat and silent defi- duce beautiful clay pots shaped fully collected had. Stones laid it was the land where Doña Ma- ding money in foreign banks is national documentary
ten land where there were no pirate ance of the elements. Characters like by wrinkled strong hands. A will bare in his tiny room or hidden ria could «see» no borders at all. indicted, but dies suddenly in a film festival
ships, no wars, no famine, no drama, Señor Aranguren who had the flair that never failed her particular between curling trees or met- Silence. Stillness. Serendipity. suspicious car accident… and other festivals.
and apparently no news? Why would of a distinguished English lord but way of «seeing» what others al tins because Diego was not Subsequently, the news-
anyone want to see places where time whose chickens were more precious could only imagine in dreams. a museum curator or a famous bizzwizzconsulting@gmail.com paper Gazeta Sporturilor fol- truls@moderntimes.review

42 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019 FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 43

Adequate compensation
for the loss?
MEDIA:  Author Jay David Bolter provides a comprehensive description of
contemporary digital culture where digital technologies facilitate and shape
the creation of many diverse communities of participation. BY MELITA ZAJC
Author Jay David Bolter:
The Digital Plenitude: The
Decline of Elite Culture and
the Rise of New Media
On June, 2, Republic Day, a
statue of b-movie and adver-
tising pop icon Bud Spencer
was inaugurated in the Italian
port city of Livorno to an ap-
plauding crowd. Bud Spencer
was not a Livorno native but a
star who achieved world fame
alongside Terrence Hill and a
childhood hero of Filippo No-
garin, the mayor of Livorno
and member of the Five Star
Movement. The initiative, pro-
moted via Facebook, collected
18,000 Euro to realise a life-si-
ze sculpture resembling a toy
from lunapark via crowdfun-
ding campaign. The online art
journal Artribune reported
about this in an article whe-
re they also presented other
cases, such as sculptures of
favourite dogs, indicating that
populist politics has taken
over yet another realm of civic
life, the public art.
I write from Italy, but the
experience of an outright tri-
umph of popular – if not popu-
list – culture is not purely local
at all.  The Digital Plenitude  by
Jay David Bolter is dedicated
to explaining this phenomenon
from the perspective of the
United States, where cultural
antagonism between popular
and elite have even prevailed
over the traditional, class-
based antagonism between
poor and rich. Such is Bolter’s
thesis where, in the preface,
he claims that «unlike their
European counterparts, what
the American working class
44 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
resents above all is not the
economic divide between it-
self and the wealthiest 1% (.)…
Instead, the American (white)
working class both sees and
resents the chasm in outlook
and status that separates it
from the educated elite - above
all, anyone in the media or the
academic world, anyone who
works with words as their pro-
fession or vocation». (p. viii)
Culture of convergence. Bolter
is also the author of  Reme-
diation: Understanding New
Media  (together with Richard
Grusin, MIT 2000), one of the
seminal texts on the practices
of media within the culture of
convergence made possible
by digital technologies. As an
expert and authority on con-
temporary media, he explai-
ned that the fragmentation of
various hierarchies in the arts
has been announced many ti-
mes in many contexts, but our
cultural moment feels different
because «digital technologies,
including social media, make
the changes far more appa-
rent» (p. 13). He traced the
breakdown of the modernist
paradigm back to the advent
of avant-garde art and asserted
that the present breakdown
does not mean that modernism
has been effectively replaced
with a new paradigm (p. 19).
«Instead, our media culture has
become additive, accepting
new forms (…) that sometimes
cooperate with older forms
(…) and sometimes compete
with them.» (p. 20).
The culture of today, claims
Bolter, has a form of digital
plentitude that, like the Inter-
net, has no single centre. Digi-
tal technologies have been de-
ployed in a way that facilitates
and shapes the creation of
several diverse communities
of participation, none of which
are truly universal (p.83). To
understand the current cultur-
al moment, Bolter identified
a few characteristics that, as
dichotomies, shape its main
practices: catharsis and flow,
originality and remix, organic/
spontaneous and procedural-
ity/datafication, history and
simulation (p.84). Procedurali-
ty, flow, remix, and simulation
are primary characteristics of
today’s large digital commu-
nities, but their counterparts
exist too. In the following chap-
ters, Bolter neatly describes
how each of the dichotomies
manifest in the digital pleni-
tude of today.
New meanings. What I like
about the book is that Bolter
treats his sources in exactly
the same way he claims the
today’s culture works, with
no hierarchy or centre: Wiki-
pedia and documentary films
have exactly the same weight
as books and legal documents,
and anonymous commenta-
tors on YouTube are conside-
red as equally important as
Christopher Lasch. In this way,
he creates a new interpretative
context where old notions of
art and avant-garde, moder-
nism and postmodernism get
new meaning. He even creates
new concepts, such as «popu-
lar modernism» and «popular
postmodernism».
What I did not like is that
the author does not consid-
er context. He stresses that
the focus is on US culture,
yet also that several move-
ments – Dada and Futurism
– and authors, from Berthold
Brecht to Mihalyi Csikszent-
mihalyi, came from Europe.
By not acknowledging that
the focus is on the culture of
the global north and that the
insights might have been dif-
ferent if the global south was
also taken into consideration,
important elements pass un-
observed, starting with social
media as a successful busi-
ness enterprise. The enthu-
siastic statement that «Our
media plenitude opens up
opportunities for hundreds of
millions of people to express
themselves and to share their
self-expression with others.
This wealth of opportunity
seems (to me at least) to more
than compensate for the loss
of a single cultural center and
a set of universally shared
standards», conceals the fact
that hundreds of millions of
people pay for these opportu-
nities with their personal data
and with unpaid work. Name-
ly, as they express themselves
[Jay David
in social media, they create
Bolter]
content for this media, with-
creates a new
out being paid for it.
interpretative A broad scholarly tradition
context where is exploring this aspect, as the
old notions of art prosumption – the merging of
and avant-garde, production and consumption
modernism and in the contemporary global
postmodernism
north – and as the monetiza-
get new meaning. tion of user-generated content.
It is a pity this has been com-
pletely left out. It might bring
new light to the truly magical
shift presented at its beginning,
a shift in which working-class
Americans became more an-
tagonistic towards academics
(whose social conditions are
often similarly precarious, see
for example Virginia Eubanks’
book  Automating Inequality,
2018) than towards the wealth-
iest 1%. Might this, too, be the
The culture feature of digital plenitude?
of today...
Is it, as it is making the audi-
has a form ences richer by enabling their
of digital self-expression, also making
plentitude them poorer, by spying on
that, like the them and making them work in
Internet, has their leisure time, but also by
no single substituting traditional ways of
centre. obtaining verified knowledge
and thus simply making them
more ignorant?  The Digital
Plenitude  is a comprehensive
description of contemporary
digital culture and many read-
ers will find it relevant and
extremely useful, while the
unanswered questions require
future research.
melita.zajc@gmail.com
Meaningless events with a lot of meaning
CINEMA:  Long lost documentary from Morocco found and restored, with a radical message that is highly
relevant many years later. BY HANS HENRIK FAFNER
De Quelques Événements
Sans Signification
Director Mostafa Derkaoui
Morocco
There are several good reasons to
consider Mostafa Derkaoui a pioneer
of Moroccan cinema and one of his
country’s most prolific filmmakers. In
January 1974 he returned home after
studies in Łóds, Poland, for several
years, and he immediately set out to
change things.
The Moroccan film industry at the
time was still in its infancy, and Der-
kaoui did not want it to develop into
another showcase of commercial or
entertainment cinema, as was the
case in the dominating Arab qfilm
nation, Egypt. Neither did he want
to produce obscure pieces of under-
ground art for the selected few. He
had no wish to defer to the expec-
tations of the public and the critics
but wanted to proceed differently by
making something that neither re-
ferred to the experiences of people
in capitalist countries, nor to those
in Third World countries, like Algeria
and Egypt.
This became the framework of his
first feature film. Here, we find him
with a group of like-minded filmmak-
ers and intellectuals, and helped
along with plenty of wine and Marxist
principles, as they go into Casablan-
ca in search of a public that should
give them an indication of audience
expectations.
A cinema which doesn’t tackle real
problems makes films go wrong, says
the Moroccan poet and writer Mo-
stafa Nissabory along the way, and
that turns out to become a bitter
confrontation with terse realities. By
coincidence, they interview a person
involved in a murder case, and the
whole project changes direction.
About Some Meaningless Events,
the English title of the film, was only
screened once after completion. It
participated at the Paris Film Festival
in 1975, and right after was banned
by Moroccan censorship and disap-
peared.
Who are you?
Identity: Porto/Post/Doc is giving an
important space on «identity» for a new
generation of international authors. We
talk with its director, Dario Oliveira.
BY TRULS LIE
– Does your «Identities» program reflects
the urgency of talking about us?
– We will present new ideas along with unique
films and discussions with special guests:
Relaunch.  Considered lost, the origi- But the artistic dilemma still exists First against violence of any kind, then about
the state of Cinema, along with a permanent
nal 16mm negative was discovered in many ways. In the film, we witness
decades later at the Filmoteca de Ca- how Derkaoui and his comrades dis- intention of creating discussions around
talunya, and in 2018 it was restored cuss what to do when they realize the theme, as it intends to be a continuous
and digitalized. Now it is finally ready that they have filmed a suspected observation on this challenging field of free
thinking. Both political and personal views.
for public screenings. killer. Should they show it? There
– You are asking – what’s wrong with our
That is nothing less than a cine- are several reasons to kill somebody. contemporary societies, as everybody
matic event. It is a film about the role Sentimental reasons, obscure rea- seems lost?
of cinema, art and national identity, sons. But this man supposedly killed – Yes, but also how our first identity does
and so many years later it is still con- his boss at work. It happened in the affect us, how our daily actions is limiting and
temporary and relevant for today’s port of Casablanca, and we have to stretching us towards others. Can we forget
debate. It is a film that must be seen. consider other things. Maybe most our identity or try to find a new one? Our main
It rings a bell when one person of the port workers want to kill their program will provide ways to think, with films
says that «Moroccan cinema should bosses? Maybe there is a mafia, con- who create wider reflections on this subject. A
be committed to the working-class trolling the port? Yes, this man is a major example is the discovery of a risky and
problems. This is not just a Moroc- criminal, but the problem is far more poetical film on the absence of memory about
can issue, it concerns the whole complex. Palestine, named Off Frame AKA Revolution
Third World cinema. We can see that The filmmakers do not intend to Until Victory by Mohanad Yaqubi [see page
on films made by young Lat- hide problems, even 49].
in American filmmakers.» A cinema which though that could be – Yes, we have reviewed it here in MTR
now. What about using older films in your
It also makes one think beneficial for them in
doesn’t tackle program?
how much has actually some ways. They talk
real problems – This program includes a selection of
changed since then? Free- about aesthetics of vio- contemporary films in dialogue with old
dom of expression and so- makes films go lence, not violence in a and lost films, like the extraordinary De
cial inequality are still very wrong. creative way, like in  The Quelques Evenements Sans Signification by
much issues of the debate Big Boss, the 1971 mar- Mostafa Derkaoui censored by the Morocco
in that part of the world. tial arts blockbuster by Government in 1975. [See this page.]
They were central themes in the so- the iconic Bruce Lee who was tre- – Other examples on the topic of identity?
called Arab Spring that just created mendously popular in Morocco at – «Identities» will display a kaleidoscopic
worse conditions for many popula- the time. They are talking about the collection of artistic and political statements,
tions and only reached Morocco to aesthetic representation of the real sometimes revelatory, sometimes disruptive
a very limited extent, if at all. The thing. like the film X&Y by Anna Odell, constructing
relaunch of this important film was Do you think killing a man will a brave social experiment. The films will
made possible through the support change anything? asks one of the contribute on a very particular way to build
of – among many others – Moroccan filmmakers, and gets the answer, do a broader and coherent perspective of our
state television, but still, you should you think your camera will change times, our problems, our ways to survive and
how we relate with each other.
ask what would happen if a young anything?
– Documentaries, experimental and fiction
filmmaker decided to illuminate the In the end, their camera changed
films, like the beautiful Lost, Lost, Lost by Jonas
ills of society today? a lot, but mostly for the filmmakers Mekas as a major example, showing a relevant
on a personal level. If an established story and individual perspectives about
Important message. We should un- Moroccan cinema had existed, the identity, from the cultural, social and historic
derstand that  De Quelques Événe- quest for a new audiovisual language field.
ments Sans Signification  was created would presumably have been met – You have mentioned «rebel cinema», what
in a complicated era. The magazine with goodwill and encouragement. is this?
«Souffles», that was published by a That was not the case, and the way – This approximation is only possible with
small group of self-professed «lingu- Morocco’s authoritarian power rela- a deep dive into a rebel cinema, free from
istic guerillas» had just been banned tions are still the same, the questions cultural ideologies, far from the news, far
and its founder jailed along with ot- Mostafa Derkaoui asks have certainly from populist personalities. This also includes
her supporters of a Marxist-Leninist not lost any of their significance, in forgotten films and subjects, giving a new
revolution. Two failed attempts at mi- spite of all the years. life to old film collaborations, like Portrait of
litary takeovers in 1971 and 1972 had Jason by Shirley Clarke, or the new She is the
exacerbated the political situation Screened at Porto/post/doc film Other Gaze by Christiana Perschon – rescuing
authors and stories of women who were
and the following repression isolated & media festival.
victims of censorship.
Morocco under King Hassan II. This
helps to explain why the film was
banned. fafner4@yahoo.dk truls@moderntimes.review
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 45
 Fishing in tidal waters
ECOLOGY:  Director Renu Savant gives us the opportunity to see the ancestral, small-
fishing methods of the men of Mirya on the west coast of India. BY TRISTEN BAKKER
The Ebb Tide
Director Renu Savant
India
My father fished as a hobby
throughout my childhood. He
made lures and rods in our ba-
sement in Toronto, Canada and
on weekends he would take this
self-made gear north to our cot-
tage and fish early morning into
dusk. I was not overly interested
in fishing, but I enjoyed spen-
ding time with my father, and I
learned some of these techni-
ques not because I was directly
trying to, but rather by watching
him and asking questions.
The dirtiest work of all?
CONTROL:  The determination of a community that come
together in the name of justice. BY CARMEN GRAY
Solidarity
Director Lucy Parker
UK
Exactly one century ago, Bri-
tish industrialists came up
with a dirty solution for the
«troublemakers» that posed a
threat to their unbridled pur-
suit of profit: they started a
secret blacklist and added the
names of activists and trade
unionists agitating for better
working conditions. The Eco-
nomic League gave bosses a
phone number to call if they
wanted to check on a prospe-
ctive employee for anything
other than passive obedience
46 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
Everyman. The men in the villa- are part of their childhood; the
ge of Mirya on the west coast life is home to them. In Mirya,
of India, the place where  The these skills are what have kept
Ebb Tide  is shot, are teaching these people going in times of
and learning in a similar way. no other work and no other
Ancestral techniques choice.
passed down from fat- Fishing is This hour-long film
her to son over many a languid shows us small-scale
generations are still activity fishing: during mon-
being used for sur- taking soon season the wa-
vival. The young boys patience, ter rises and the men
go to school and have skill, and are able to capitalise
dreams of doing other on this by fishing in
luck.
work or creative pur- the high creek waters.
suits. But they often Different methods of
come back to this ancestral fishing are shown: hunting for
way of supporting themselves crabs amongst the mangrove
and their families due to lack of trees, night fishing with nets
employment and prospects in during the high tide, casting
the «outside» world. The skills from a boat in the waters of
Knock-on effects. Members of
the Blacklist Support Group
started a decade ago to cam-
paign for justice and truth
through a public inquiry, give
shocking accounts of how litt-
le it took to get on the wrong
side of those hiring and firing.
Any gesture of sympathy for
non-moderate causes, no mat-
ter how minor, could get you
a file, not to mention any le-
gitimate plea for attention to
health and safety. A worker
who complained about asbe-
stos was sacked the next day,
and his information written
up. A former serviceman who
wrote a letter to his local co-
uncil praising it for awarding
Nelson Mandela a Freedom
medal was also put on the list
for his effort (institutionalised
to the state and to those over- racism also drove which acti-
seeing the cogs of the mo- ons were deemed suspect). A
ney-making machines. It was female picketer reads herself
disbanded in 1993 following described as a «nasty piece of
pressure from press investi- work» in her file and asserts
gations, but its blacklist files that the behaviour ascribed
on the construction industry to her was exaggerated or fa-
were simply carried over to bricated. Another worker re-
a new organisation, The Con- calls a Jubilee Line Extension
sulting Association, run by colleague in London whose
former League employee Ian morale was driven so low that
Kerr, to continue the vetting he hung himself. Blacklisted
procedures. More than two workers would battle to stay
thousand of its files were sei- afloat financially, having to
zed by a data protection or- take jobs for a few weeks at a
ganisation in 2009, and their time that nobody else wanted
revelations form the basis of to do. Their ability to provide
documentary  Solidarity. In for their families obstructed
interviews with a number of in what was already a very
workers whose job prospe- precarious industry, in which
cts and personal lives were one could be sacked without
seriously impacted by this warning, had a knock-on effe-
clandestine targeting and sur- ct of stress and marital relati-
veillance, director Lucy Par- onships foundering. With no
ker conveys the human toll transparency, victimised uni-
of such sinister methods of on members were accused of
societal control. simply being paranoid.
Ancestral
techniques
passed
down from
the world. Bycatch father to This film is power-
occurs at a stagge- son over ful in its simplicity and
ring volume with many remarkable in how it
hundreds of species touches on many themes
generations
caught and killed in are still in a concise way over its
order to catch only being used short runtime.  The Ebb
the swollen creek. There is not are no women in the film other ages that build this film. also with minimal editing and One of the themes in the one species of fish. Tide  is not perfect, nor
for survival.
much of an explanation as to than the filmmaker herself. dialogue. During the night-fish- film is a sustainable blue econ- This film shows us is it trying to be. It is a
which creek we are at or who Early on in The Ebb Tide, di- Ancestral heritage. Occasio- ing scenes, only the flashlights omy. A young man remarks, that fishing was not quiet, contemplative and
the men are specifically – the rector Renu Savant comments nally there is voice-over from they themselves hold illumi- «A friend once said to me, we meant to be an activity played calm film. Fishing is a languid
men are presented as arche- that she was originally in Mirya the director. But interestingly nate the men and their nets. should take up our traditional out on a mass scale. It is a form activity taking patience, skill,
types, the everyman in this doing research for her film it never attempts to further We just watch what is going on. business – fishing. I told him, of hunting, originally meant to and luck. The film is a reflec-
situation. about deep-sea fishing. But comment on the action of the We often only see the backs of traditionally fishing is not a help humans survive. «Fish are tion of this in its slow unhur-
As viewers, we are learning none of the big-business fisher- film. Instead, it speaks of the the fishermen. These men were business, our ancestors just a natural wealth, for the poor», ried nature.
by watching just as the boys men would let her shoot. The making of the film itself in con- taught by observation over made a living out of it». says a fisherman. Fishing is not
did from their fathers. And we monsoon arrives and she be- cise clear statements: «The many years. And that’s what meant to cause the destruction Screened at Dok Leipzig
are being shown a skill that was gins capturing images of the lo- images I make are a record of this film mirrors for us. We feel Patience, skill, luck. Big-busi- of marine environments as bot- documentary film festival
only taught to the boys of the cal fisherman in the creek. She the times and the people wor- as if we ourselves are youth, let ness fishing is rampant these tom trawling and overfishing and other festivals.
village. Women have no place hired a crew to shoot in Mirya king in this creek». in on this secret of ancestral days and it is rapidly depleting do, leaving a barren landscape
in these activities. Indeed there and credits them with the im- There is no music in the film, heritage. the oceans and lakes around in its wake. tristen@fastermilesanhour.com
Solidarity, then, gathers
powerful testimony of the
collateral damage inflicted on
on could be per-
vasive, and wreck
lives. A trade uni-
Ada’s story
those whose labour props up on representative with friends
class-biased capitalism. It also involved in anti-racism cam- TRAUMA:  A certain kind of trauma more common than
offers a rather chilling portrait paigning recounts how she we’re willing to admit BY BIANCA-OLIVIA NITA
of how unethical exploita- was lured into a years-long
tion and cruelty can flourish sexual relationship with an
through unthink- undercover cop who That Which Does Not Kill of embodying her, their judg-
ing, unexceptional posed as an activist ments, and how they came to
bureaucrats who Espionage and swept her up in Director Alexe Poukine understand the young woman
carry out instruc- and police a whirlwind romance, Belgium, France deeper. This turns everything
tions with no ques- deception could mimicking what she into a mosaic that illustrates
tion. A fair amount be pervasive, wanted to hear, before In 2013, at the end of a scree- just how commonplace sexual
of the film takes and wreck lives. disappearing, leaving ning of Alexe Poukine’s first abuse actually is.
us inside a parlia- her with a shattered feature film, a woman (Ada)
mentary hearing ability to trust, and
in which file compiler Kerr the sense of having been in a
is grilled. Unarticulate and relationship with a ghost. She
approached her and told her a
story. It was the story of what
happened to her nine years
Becoming.  The narrative is
captivating, arresting and
extremely intimate, alternating
is Ada yet all of them become
parts of her. So, the sum of the
collective telling of an unseen
A common human space. It is
by finding this common gro-
seemingly overwhelmed when is by no means the only one earlier, something that almost a facts with feelings and intro- woman’s story becomes a por- und that the film challenges
pressed on the moral implica- with such a story to tell — an decade later she still struggled spections, keeping the viewer trait of the sexual relations of the idea of sexual trauma as it
tions of his activities, he as- Undercover Policing Inquiry is to come to terms with. She was wanting to know what hap- power between people, and is socially defined – an ill-inten-
serts that he did not interpret ongoing, its findings expected 19 back then and had freshly pened next. Beyond that, it is of how commonplace – inten- ded abuser, eventually a stran-
the information he was given to be compiled in a report by embarked on the adventure of the storytellers’ own reflecti- tional of not – sexually trau- ger, inflicting hurt by force.
to record. «You could have di- 2023. life, having moved to Lille to ons on what «becoming Ada» matic experiences are among By relating, one can no longer
aled me up like the speaking While many of the stories study and live with a friend. meant to them that opens up all of them. instinctively say «this never
clock, in a sense,» he says, in a we hear in Solidarity date back But shortly after, a man she a new dimension in the film. At the fine line between what happened to me». Ada’s story
comparison that unintention- decades, the film brings us into knew raped her three times Their experience comforts the we desire and what we don’t, Ada’s story opens a common human spa-
ally sums up the robotic, in- a current-day, cross-industry within a one-week period, and viewer with just how easy it is between unspoken wants and opens a ce, revealing how abuse can
human nature of labour untied meeting of disgruntled employ- it changed the course of her to judge the victim, for exam- questions not asked, there common actually lie in the familiar, in
from social conscience and ees (online food delivery firm life. After meeting her again ple, when the story does not seems to lie a shared, scarred human space, common people’s instincts, in
responsibility — the kind of Deliveroo, whose workers have and having her write down comply with the commonly past. Some of the narrators revealing how not asking, not saying or not
passive yes man that authori- no right to union reps and can what happened, Poukine tur- understood idea of what rape have been sexually abused, having the power to say no, or
abuse can
ties prize. be dismissed at any time, and ned Ada’s story into a film. actually means. Even though while some others have strug- simply in not recognizing what
actually lie in
Picturehouse Cinemas, who such an experience is complex gled to find boundaries, inflict- the familiar is happening as unwanted or
«political troublemaking». Ano- fail to pay all staff a living wage, Embodying.  Its structure is so in many ways, it is most often ed pain themselves, or have traumatic, until sometime af-
ther sinister dimension of this are two of numerous compa- simple but so powerful. Sever- reduced to basic facts. It is by gone through experiences that ter the damage is done. At the
surveillance was the close nies whose practices are called al people narrate Ada’s story in adding all the definitory micro- left them searching in the am- end, That Which Does Not Kill is
collaboration and exchange out here). These hostile en- the first person, like it’s theirs, elements usually unseen – of biguity and discomfort of what not a film reflecting only on
of information that occurred vironments, exacerbated by while Poukine films and inte- thoughts and actions unfolding they meant. What they all have her story, but a film reflecting
between the Consulting As- increasingly casualised indus- racts with them at times. The at the moment in real-time – in common, however, is the society as a whole. And that
sociation, the police, and the tries, show that the battle for result is a visceral portrait of that others can truly begin to reality of how those moments opens an unexpected space for
security services. The organi- workplace fairness is one of what happened to this wo- empathize and understand. changed them. Witnessing empathy, for introspection and
sation kept notes on «political ever-changing terrain which man, and its collective narra- It’s these exact elements what they have to say about for mindfully looking at sexual
troublemaking» as well as that requires ongoing vigilance, and tion goes beyond the limits of that make That Which Does Not their feelings and the recalling trauma as an experience that
related to industrial action, is never fully won. what the story is. «Embodying» Kill so vivid. Not only those of of their past is confrontational, is more commonplace than we
with worker attendance at de- Ada’s words awakens the nar- Ada’s story but all those per- as these experiences are relat- are willing to admit.
monstrations and friendly ties Screened at IDFA rator’s own feelings and expe- sonal ones that surface from able - as parts of what they tell
to activists also monitored. and other film festivals. riences. Their emotions unfold the storytellers’ points of view. are the parts of stories many of
Espionage and police decepti- carmengray@gmail.com to reveal their own process None of the women in the film us have lived or heard. olivianita@outlook.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 47
 «Such an ordinary thing»
ECOLOGY:  Inspired by the growing movement of global
eco-villages, a group of 12 adults and 6 children set
out to start the first such eco-community in Estonia. BY
JO-ANNE VELIN
nutes are cut from five years of
patiently observing the growth
and fracturing of what the dire-
ctor calls «the very first Estoni-
an eco-community» – a dozen
adults together with their yo-
ung children create a viable,
ecological way of life in a tight
cluster of neglected buildings
on 33 hectares of arable land
somewhere in Estonia.
The circle, in this case, is
especially their preferred seat-
ing arrangement when they
meet to address tensions and
troubles - including conflicting
views on how to raise children,
for example. Love is the big an-
swer, but how to put this into
practice is hard and this film
indicates how different ways
of managing communal deci-
sion-making can work. Change
may have to start from with-
in, but that’s the same place
where sexual attractions and
jealousies lurk. The room in
which the circle forms is usu-
ally uncluttered, fresh, and
wooden-walled; the windows
are curtain-less. This is the
The Circle So many films and books are new documentary from Estoni- safe zone in which real anger
entitled The Circle, you are for- an director, Margit Lillak feels and cathartic physical expres-
Director Margit Lillak given if, at first, the title of this lukewarm. However, its 95 mi- sion can purge the hurt, and
Estonia
Roberto Cavallini Italy Giedrė Burokaitė Lithuania
NEW GENERATION OF EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY FILM PRODUCERS
Irene M. Borrego Spain
Rea Rajčić Croatia Angelos Stavros Rallis Greece Patricia D’Intino Hungary
Puk Eisenhardt Denmark Jean-Baptiste Fribourg France
Yulia Serdyukova Ukraine Łukasz Długołęcki Poland Yin-Yu Huang Taiwan Jitka Kotrlová Czech Republic
Angela Bravo Sweden Marcian Lazar Romania
Vincent Metzinger Belgium
Tomáš Krupa Slovakia Fawzia Mahmood United Kingdom Tekla Machavariani Georgia
EMERGING 2020
Organized & Curated by:
Ji.hlava International
Documentary Film Festival
PRODUCERS
www.emergingproducers.com
48 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
sometimes reconcile needs, in
a dynamic process of peaceful
cohabitation.
The triangle. Ironically or per-
haps poetically, a triangle cau-
ses the circle we first encoun-
ter in the film, to crackle: two
women love the same man, but
he has a marriage and children
with one of them already and
we learn how unresolved tensi-
ons taint the whole community.
Very little of how others have
to live with this tension ap-
pears in the film, but as triangle
meets circle we are, most of
the time, at eye-level with who-
ever speaks; the material is
direct, the camera usually dis-
creet. I am surprised by the ca-
ndor of the moments, and the
willingness of the community
to expose itself as much as it
appears to have done. Intense
dialogue and confrontational
scenes are interspersed with
everyday life for the children
who are, frankly, often more in-
teresting. Some struggle more
openly with this new way of
life, miss friends from their old
school, or seek the security of
more rigour. One girl sits glum-
ly in a worn, upholstered chair
and complains about her new
school: «Let’s go out and do
nothing. Let’s pick up some le-
aves. You don’t learn anything
like that. (… In the old school)
there were lessons. There was
routine and discipline. All the
good things!»
The film also shows us how
the adults understand their
frustrations as vestiges of
ways of thinking and behaving
that prioritise personal advan-
tage over the well-being of the
community. The man in the
middle of the love triangle says
even at home his way of think-
ing is «capitalist,» meaning in-
strumentalising others for his
own benefit first. The irony is
that one of his lovers, a key
co-founder of the community
and articulate feminist, sees
her incapacity to withdraw
from the triangle as very hum-
bling: if she can’t do even this,
how hard must it be for people
in war zones to find peace?
Hard work. The community
is never fully separate from
the rest of Estonian rural life,
though the edit chooses to
keep our focus tightly within
the 33 hectares and only very
incidentally follows someone
outside its space – for exam-
ple, when one girl goes for ri-
ding lessons at a busy stable.
Indeed, the drone shot that
opens the film makes you very
conscious of this spots place
amongst the other farms and
houses nearby.
Though it may be the first
«eco-community» in Esto-
nia, there are several collec-
tive-living communities all
over Europe, especially in de-
populated rural locations. But
eco-peace-building is very hard
work! Here, the serious efforts
to challenge egos, stop power
games, and heal wounds, in-
clude rituals and techniques
borrowed from pagan tradi-
tions, lots of active listening,
and lots of
mediation.
Change may A mem-
have to start ber of the
from within, commu-
but that’s the nity is a
same place practicing
where sexual shaman.
Estonia
attractions and
jealousies lurk. does have
its own
pagan her-
itage but I doubt a teepee was
part of that. Regardless: what-
ever works, and why not? After
the circle meetings break, often
we see languorous, free form
dancing bring people together
again.
I love the girl on a bicycle,
who says straight to the cam-
era, «Our eco-community is
such an ordinary thing. Why
do they visit us all the time?
Why don’t they make their own
eco-community? »
In this simple geometry cre-
ated by people who challenge
the classic urban, nuclear-fam-
ily-centric way of life, sharing
responsibilities fairly in an
ecological way and maintain-
ing a flat power structure may
be their goal, but this film is
respectfully built on the ten-
sions between that goal and
the deeper drives of dominant
personalities who live there
and who absorb most of the
oxygen for a while.
Screened at Ji.hlava inter-
national documentary film
festival and other festivals.
velinraconte@googlemail.com
Collective memory restored
PALESTINE:  A Palestinian filmmaker has created an important documentary about his
people’s troubled past by finding old footage considered lost. BY HANS HENRIK FAFNER
Off Frame AKA and one very different than the
Revolution Until Victory usual narrative.
Director Mohanad Yaqubi Understanding the guerilla figh-
Palestine, France, Qatar, Lebanon ters.  A newsreel from Jerusa-
lem in 1930 tells us that there
The Palestinians? Who are are three quarters of a million
they? Such a people do not Arabs and 160,000 Jews in the
exist. This is the essence of country. The next clip is from
what Israeli premier minis- February 1933. Hitler has come
ter Golda Meir said back in to power. The Jews of Eastern
the 1970s. Actually, she just Europe have always been per-
expressed what much of the secuted, but not in Germany.
Western world felt. In those Under Hitler, however, anti-
days, Palestinians were associ- semitism became institutiona-
ated with plane hijackings and lized. Fast forward. The Pales-
terror. Very few saw them as a tinian tragedy unfolds in 1967
legitimate national movement. when the Israelis conquer the
That, of course, has changed. West Bank. The film includes
The Palestine Liberation Move- long-forgotten pictures from
ment, founded back in 1964, the time, of refugees crossing
has gained international recog- the Jordan River at the Allenby
nition. Now, though still living Bridge.
under occupation and scat- More squalid refugee camps
tered around the Middle East in barren landscapes follow
in refugee camps, few question this. People cook meals and
the Palestinians’ claim to peo- tend to children under prim-
plehood. But the thing is, this itive conditions. One old
has not come due to a sudden newsreel mentions important
change of mind on the Pales- instances of genocide – Vi-
tinian side. Since they were etnam, South Africa, Native
evicted from their homeland Americans, Mozambique, and homeland with peace and end, Mohaned Yaqubi includes
in 1948, they have considered Nazi massacres. Without men- dignity. There is no doubt that present-day pictures, e.g. a
themselves a people. In spite tioning the Palestinian nakhba, the Zionists are the enemy, but falafel seller in Ramallah with
of all allegations, they have the message and the connec- there is no enmity against the a large picture of Yasser Arafat
always seen their fight tion are clear: armed Jews as a people. «We do not at his stand. This is his way to
as a legitimate strug- resistance is not only want to throw them into the convey his important messa-
gle for freedom and The ongoing legitimate, but it is sea, but we do not want them ge, that Arafat is more than a
justice. A fight for love message is a also the only solu- to throw us into the desert,» picture and a vague memory.
and dignity. return to the tion. says one of the fighters. People have a tendency to seek
That is a hard one homeland The important Munich 1972, when Palestin- normalcy and forget because
to prove if you lack with peace milestones are there. ians killed 11 Israeli athletes at documentation is lacking, and
the documentation. and dignity. An eyewitness tells the Olympics, is retold along this is what he has repaired in
Palestinian filmmaker about the Israeli at- the same lines, and all of it a sublime way through making
Mohanad Yaqubi, one tack on the Jorda- is credible. There is footage this important film.
of the founders of the Ramal- nian village of Al Karameh in showing the events as a reac- It tells us the story, and it
lah-based outfit, Idioms Films, March 1968. More than 10,000 tion to September 1970, when brings to our attention to a
set out to do exactly that. When Israeli troops against 450 Pal- the Jordanian regime shelled lot of nuances that might oth-
the Israelis invaded Lebanon in estinian guerilla fighters. «We the refugee camps in and erwise be forgotten or end up
1982 most of the films made fought for 15 hours,» says the around the capital, Amman. as stereotypes. In the begin-
by the Palestinian revolution, voice. «Their tanks ran out Yasser Arafat and the PLO lead- ning, there is footage from a
as he calls it, were lost. So he of gas, we blocked the roads, ership were expelled by the classroom in a refugee camp,
took upon himself the pains- they had many wounded and Jordanians, and clearly so with where the teacher tries to
taking effort to collect the bits finally they retreated. This is a American and Israeli backing. strengthen the national spirit
and pieces, copies sent to in- turning point in the history of Yaqubi makes his point clear and very symbolically Yaqubi
ternational film festivals before Fatah and the guerilla war. This with pictures of other instanc- ends his narrative in a class-
1982 and left there. What that was the first confrontation, and es of Israeli aggression, and all room in modern-day Ramallah.
material on hand, he rebuilt we won. Afterward, thousands of that puts the Munich massa- The teacher tells her students
the collective memory of the joined the movement and cre in a totally different light. about a tragic attack on a Jew-
Palestinian people. Yaqubi has wanted to return to Palestine.» «What a strange thing. A ish school in France, and in the
created a marvelous documen- country called Palestine with- same sentence, she reminds
tary painting a picture of Pal- Vanessa Redgrave. The ongo- out Palestinians in it. John the youngsters about how their
estinian feelings and thoughts, ing message is a return to the Foster Dulles, one of those own people are being persecut-
responsible for Vietnam, was ed in the same way – a very rel-
rather clear about it. He said, evant and important message
as for the Palestinians, the old from an outstanding film.
ones will die, and the young
ones will forget,» we hear the Screened at Porto/post/
outspoken actress Vanessa doc film & media festival and
Redgrave say. other film festivals.
Important message. This is
what the film is all about. In the fafner4@yahoo.dk
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 49
 Counterbalancing the traditional narrative
MIGRANTS:  In 2001, Fahed reached the UK filled with dreams. By 2018 he is on the brink of a mid-life crisis. BY LAUREN WISSOT
My English Cousin
Director Karim Sayad
Switzerland
Karim Sayad’s  My English Co-
usin  is a much-needed coun-
terbalance to the slew of re-
fugee-themed docs of recent
years. Refreshingly surprising
in directorial choices - starting
with the opening shot of an in-
dustrial pier set to the sound
of The Specials’s classic ska la-
ment for the UK’s once-vibrant
manufacturing sector,  Ghost
Town - Sayad’s film takes as its
subject not the plight of today›s
asylum seeker trying to find his
way in a foreign new world, but
the struggle of a middle-aged
immigrant grappling mentally
to make his way back home.
A crisis (of sorts). The dire-
ctor’s «English cousin» (by way
of Algeria) is going through a
midlife crisis of sorts. Fahed
had arrived in the UK 17 years
prior, illegally and initially re-
duced to sleeping on the stre-
BIARRITZ
INTERNATIONAL
DOCUMENTARY
FESTIVAL
WWW.
FIPADOC.
COM
50 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
ets. In the intervening years,
he worked his way up the
blue-collar ladder to a small
flat and a steady job, chopping
cabbage and creating kabobs
at Pizzo Centro. Now, however,
he’s at a crossroads, suffering
from what red words on a black
screen succinctly sum up as
«The Shit Life Syndrome».
Indeed. Fahed’s life seems
to run on an exhausting, and
increasingly tedious, Ground-
hog Day-style loop. Sayad cap-
tures his cousin at home alone,
listlessly eating dinner on a
couch. He catches up on the
phone with a relative back in
Algeria, sleeps for a few hours,
and then awakes at half-past
five for work. Rinse and repeat.
(That said, living in the unfor-
tunately appropriately named
town of Grimsby, with his pros-
pects apparently as dim as that
of this near-dead locale, what
more can one expect?) Only
once do we catch a glimpse of
the longtime girlfriend of this
paunchy man whose «dream»
has turned into a relentless
struggle, a hardworking guy
who’s done everything «right»
to earn his place in his adopt-
ed country - and now wants
nothing more than to reverse
migrate. The distant blond Brit
is literally seated nearly out
of frame in another room. No
21 - 26
JANUARY
2O20
wonder they split before the
end of the film’s first «chapter».
«Working Class Heroes». In part
two, we encounter a newly
single Fahed, still
slicing for skewers Karim
at Pizza Centro Sayad’s My
but going home English
to the flat he sha-
Cousin is a
res with a group of
much-needed
white Brits. (Who,
counterbalance
it should be said,
are just as much in to the slew of
need of translating refugee-themed - once again set to a
subtitles as Fahed, docs of recent
which the director years.
helpfully provides.)
Fahed demonstra-
tes a breezy openness in front he’s accumulated over the
of the lens (perhaps because years (including a heavy safe!)
he is not addressing the audi- to the beat of Sid Vicious’s My
ence so much as his filmmaker Way. And yet the song simul-
relative), which lends to a sha- taneously seems to clash with
red sense of intimacy that even the images onscreen - not un-
extends to the roommates. «I’ll like Fahed himself, forever out
see you in the morning,» one
tells Fahed as he makes his
way to bed. To which another
swiftly responds, «You haven’t
seen him in the morning in fu-
cking weeks».
My way. Soon, howe-
ver, Fahed readies
his return to Algeria,
shopping at an out-
door market for gifts
to take home. There’s
a terrific sequence
dynamite soundtrack
choice - in which Fa-
hed attempts to pack
up nearly everything
of sync with his adopted land.
And here we’ve reached
the third chapter - the «Alge-
rian Wedding»...or not. Back
in his native country, Fahed
also struggles to get himself in
sync. As he prepares to marry
an Algerian woman he barely
knows, his aunt confronts him
with several harsh truths - not
just that he’s not fully comfort-
able in Algeria, but also that he
is a wholly different man when
in England. His future is there,
she asserts. His «mentality» is
now British, not Algerian.
Like every immigrant
throughout history, Fahed is
destined to exist between two
worlds, not fully from one or
the other. Sayad’s camera cap-
tures this dichotomy exquisite-
ly - cutting from relatives danc-
ing joyously to Algerian music
to interviewing a ten-year-old
cousin about his future, which
he definitively states lies
abroad. Family versus liveli-
hood is the eternal question,
the immigrant’s dilemma with
no easy answer. Though the
lively boy isn’t worried. He’ll
just find a wife on Facebook.
And like his split with the
British girlfriend, the post-
ponement of Fahed’s wedding
(and his family’s fears that his
bride-to-be is using him for his
papers) plays as more inevita-
ble fact than a plot twist. Cut to
«The World Is Divided Into Two
Parts» in red on black (which
we soon poignantly learn re-
fers to «those with friends» and
«those who are lonely»). He’s
back in England, back at Pizza
Centro, reunited once again
with his white working-class
mates.
«Life Is Confusing At This
Point,» the final chapter, sim-
ilarly seems preordained. As
demonstrations begin against
the Algerian government, Fa-
hed has returned not to partic-
ipate in politics but to marry.
Maybe. While indecisive wed-
ding plans add to the family
tension and protests mount in
the streets, things take a more
personal turn as Fahed and his
aunt visit a cemetery to pay
their respects to relatives, per-
haps for the last time. For, in
the end, Fahed is back where
he started: Grimsby, England.
Only this time set to a mourn-
ful Algerian tune lamenting the
immigrant’s circular plight.
Screened at Dok Leipzig
documentary film festival
and other festivals.
laurenvile@yahoo.com
ASHO
EXODUS
Contemporary documentaries from Iran
DOK LEIPZIG:  A look into the extended programme of Iranian documentary featured at Dok Leipzig 2019. BY MELITA ZAJC
A cinemato- ous about Iranian documen- in 2018 caused the collapse short film Asho by Jafar Na- who was promised to Asho
graphy with tary films. This year’s docu- of the Rial, their hard work is faji, also in Dok Leipzig Inter- as a bride as soon as she was
a history mentary festival Dok Leipzig no longer worth the effort and national Competition, about born, is dancing and singing
reaching will present a large selection now they are waiting in line to a kid shepherd Asho, «the the name of Emma Stone,
back to the of contemporary Iranian doc- be taken back to Afghanistan. Eagle» in English, who is safe- worried that cinema will take
early years umentary cinema. In addition The film portrays guarding the her future husband away. The
of film media. Films that have to Family Relations by Nasser them as they face, Audiences, fascinated sheep, watching products of media culture are
the power to engage the Zamiri (full review below), one by one, the with Iranian feature films on a tablet taken up, transformed and
imagination and emotions of which is part of the Dok Leip- Iranian officials. films, are no doubt and dreaming reused in various ways across
audiences all over the world, zig International Competition This minimalist also curious about of becoming an the globe, and the film Asho
with directors that are regular where it will have its world conceptual ap- Iranian documentary actor. Skillfully, shows how easily it happens
guests at major film festivals, premiere, other selected films proach underlines films. this idealised that globalised media cul-
and the only cinematography also demonstrate the power the universality rural portrait ture further enforces social
of the Global South with a to challenge the viewer’s of contemporary brings up the practices that are considered
record of producing some mind, engage, and fascinate. surveillance techniques and human rights issue of forced non-acceptable within the
of the world’s best - this is Exodus by Bahman Kiaro- shows the absurdity of their marriage with quite unex- culture that initially produced
cinematography of the Islamic stami, a son of the legendary capacity to strengthen the pected turns. In a globalised them.
Republic of Iran. Abbas, provides a close-up grip over freedom, the grip world, in which a shepherd Screened at Dok Leipzig
What about their documen- look at the illegal migrants in which the state laws and carries a tablet instead of documentary film festival
tary films? Audiences, fas- to Iran from Afghanistan at a divine laws merge. a stick, rural tradition and and other festivals.
cinated with Iranian feature return centre in Tehran. After Another aspect of humanity urban media culture mix into
films, are no doubt also curi- the US sanctions against Iran and love is explored in the novel cultural flows: a girl melita.zajc@gmail.com
To cure a despot
IRAN:  A severe critique of the Muslim model of a
family from within, and subtle analysis of patriarchy and
authoritarianism. BY MELITA ZAJC
Family Relations Absolute power. Family Relati- doubt, but let’s not reveal how
ons  is no observational docu- it does. In the scene with Hit-
Director Nasser Zamiri mentary. The scenes are well ler, one thing is already clear.
Iran studied and prepared, and, in It’s not the point if the dictator
addition, reworked in post-pro- does not want to, or cannot,
This film, directed by Nasser duction: from the very start, properly pronounce the word.
Zamiri who is known as one of the protagonists enter and exit The point is, the authoritarian
the most successful short film- the field of vision in an instant, experience the world they live Baba? » Even Haji Baba him- is always right. This, proba-
makers in Iran, is an excellent as if transported by an invisible in, their relations with others, self, this despotic, autocratic, bly, is one of the most reliable
study of authoritarianism. It hand. This creates a dream-like and their responsibilities; but, ruthless husband and father ways to recognise an authori-
has two equally important qua- atmosphere in which everyt- what about all other members gets to speak. After hearing the tarian regime. In these terms,
lities: one is a deep respect for hing seems far from the real. of such society – women and testimonies of his victims, he the film is very self-reflective.
the victims and their suffering; As the film unfolds, we under-
the other is the courage to face stand there is good reason
children, the victims? denies everything with a soft
childlike voice resembling the
Somewhere towards its mid-
dle, we learn that when Haji
the autocrat and give for this. It very well The voice of the devil. In this voice of the devil in the films Baba got ill, his children, the
him every possibi- describes a society in film, they are invited to speak. about exorcism. same children he abused, went
lity to present and Family which a group of pe- The worlds have a particularly While the rhythmic repeti- searching for a cure and finally
defend himself. That Relations is no ople - grown-up men important role from the very tion of the name in response learned that he is depressed
the dictator demon- observational - treat other members start when the protagonists to the brutalities resembles because he lost authority as
strates no need for documentary. of society - children rapidly fill-up the screen, then a dramatic performance in they grew up. So they started
defense and is thus and women - with the the voice (presumably) of the an Ancient Greek theatre, the faking that he still has the au-
denying any guilt lightness of a cartoon: director tells those who do not scene in which Haji Baba tries, thority over them. By doing
and responsibility is probably having absolute power over want to be in the film to leave. in vain, to pronounce the name this, they helped him recover
the key feature of authoritari- their existence, they «enter» Many of them do. In addition, Hitler is very close to stand-up – a deeply political, allegorical
anism. The brilliance by which and «exit» their subjects as the words have a form of a dia- comedy. Yes, there are several criticism of its country of ori-
the filmmaker makes this gra- they please. Most probably, logue. For each mention of the moments when one is invit- gin, but not limited to it.
dually visible is breathtaking. this also well represents the man’s cruelty, another voice ed to question if it is what it
lightness by which these men responds in wonder, «Haji claims to be. The end leaves no melita.zajc@gmail.com
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 51

Transformed through film
Ji.hlava:  Inspiration
Forum, a unique
experience uncommon for
most film festivals, brings
scientists, politicians,
artists, social reformers,
and journalists together
with documentary
filmmakers and attending
public to discuss complex
problems of today’s
world. BY PETR FISCHER
Since the very
beginning,
the Ji.hlava
International
Documentary
Film Festival
has been held
under the motto, «Thinking
through Film». This motto
is, in a way, a provocation
that implicitly indicates that
thinking in a public space has
been sidelined, or somehow
lacking, and has to be revived.
But can thinking that has
retired, has gone hidden, be
replaced by film – not prima-
rily a discourse providing a
framework to our thinking,
but a sequence of images, a
compact visual structure?
Image as configuration. The
difference between conceptual
thinking and thinking through
film, through image, is aptly
described by Czech philos-
ophe Miroslav Petrícek in his
book, Thinking in/through/with
Images. Concepts are successi-
ve, following up on one anoth-
er, developed in a discussion,
whereas an image makes the
world prominent here and
now at once. Concepts, too,
suddenly become visible in all
of their implications and an
image is then something of a
configuration, not a text that
can simplify what is complex;
52 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019
an image as a configuration Motionless Socrates. Inspirati-
allows for immediate insight on Forum, held as part of the
into the unity of things. An Ji.hlava Documentary Film
image thus becomes an in- Festival, strives to infuse the
spiration for the dispute that festival interspaces with live
strives to somehow untangle, thinking. It is usually staged
capture or conceive the expe- as a discussion, where the
rience of immediacy. diversity of opinions enli-
As explained in the afore- vens the topic, making it into
mentioned book by Miroslav something worth pausing over,
Petrícek, this movement from taking a breath and thinking
image to dispute, or back, about. Although thinking is
is very tricky, as it becomes a live movement, it requires
clear that in a certain sense it us to stop, and step out from
is impossible because the line the march of time. In that
between the image and the respect, it resembles a film,
word or concept an illusion of uninter-
cannot be crossed. rupted movement, in
Something always Since the very which motion (image)
remains that can- beginning, is regularly interrup-
not be completely the Ji.hlava ted in order to move,
transferred from International to be enacted. In the
one world into the Documentary context of thinking,
other. The fact that Film Festival ecstasy is traditionally
these two methods has been mentioned – a raptu-
of testifying or per- held under re that enables us to
ceiving the world surrender to the issue,
the motto,
cannot be reduced to live it through, to
«Thinking
does not mean that become one with it,
these two worlds through Film». thus getting to know
should not be in it completely. In this
mutual communication. On context, an image of motion-
the contrary, if they are sup- less Socrates, as portrayed
plemental to each other, i.e. in Plato’s dialogues, often
if they factually complement appears: the philosopher is
each other (not externally, standing on the spot for many
but internally; comple- hours without movement,
mentation stemming from focused on a single problem
wholeness, not an external that he is contemplating, or
addition), their dialogue is im- that seized him and keeps him
portant exactly because they still, as if struck by the ele-
are mutually interrelated and ctrifying power of a stingray.
provide a more complex idea But are these ancient Greek
of the world we are living in. depths also the sources of the
The linking element – thinking word «inspiration», lying at the
and image as a film – is life it- very heart of the Inspiration
self. As Miroslav Petricek puts Forum? Being inspired, we are
it: «Thinking is characterised hit by the strike of knowledge
by the same complexity as which, as indicated by the ety-
life, and forms a part thereof, mology of the word in-spirare,
a moment, in any way being infuses life.
able to relate to life, to think Documentary cinema strives
life; it is always human think- to capture life through film. It
ing – which is always a pre- attempts to record life so as
requisite for thinking about a to not only reveal or «catch
human being. Thinking as an life living», display it as corpus
expression of life.» delicti, an exhibit, but also to
deform it as little as possible.
In short: to capture live im-
ages and images of the living,
without trying to animate
them, i.e. in terms of artificial
animation known, for example,
from the tourist industry. If
a documentarian «animates»
someone, it is only himself or
herself, trying to breathe in
life to testify to this aspiration
by film. In order to serve its
purpose, a discussion forum
has to be something like a «life
stage», a kind of a laboratory
on the path to the testimony
of life, where different paths
are tested, doors are opened
to various possibilities which
can later be seen as dead
ends, others can point to a
direction in which new and
ground-breaking discoveries
– life revelations – are made.
The Inspiration Forum can,
therefore, be a place where life
itself is found.
«Thinking through Film». This
kind of existential poetics
that I gradually sank into can
certainly be marked as a mere
frivolous play with words and
their meanings, an intellectual
exhibition, elevating the banal
to something exceptional and
unique. However, a game, as
is well-known, is a serious
business; the players have
to invest themselves fully in
it because only that makes it
truly a game. And only that
renders a living, inspirational
outcome, something that
moves us. And this is also
how Ji.hlava’s organizers
approach «Thinking through
Film» – as a game of its kind.
And since they are serious
about their mission, their
efforts to live the connection
between film and thinking
inspires filmmakers and their
viewers. But – and this has
been omitted or perhaps ins-
ufficiently emphasised – what
is the purpose of inspiration?
About Inspiration Forum.:
These are the main top-
ics covered by this year’s
Inspiration Forum (God &
Co. | Church In an Accel-
erated World; Woman in
Change | Inspiration for
the Third Millennium; Re:-
democracy| New Models
for the Future; Climate-
geddon | How to Make
Politicians Act; How Not
to Be Afraid? | State of
the World and the Effec-
tive Role of the Individual;
Made in China | From Con-
fucius to Xi Jinping). In the
course of six festival days,
it will open up six key
topics in more than thirty
discussions and present
over one hundred guests
from all over the world,
among them: Fawzia Koofi
(AFG), Sophie Howe (UK),
Bill McKibben (USA),
Tomáš Halík (CZ), Stein
Ringen (NO), Alisa Ganie-
va (RUS), Srecko Horvat
(HR), Isabelle Salton (BR),
Francisco Cantú (USA),
Kapka Kassabova (BG),
Magda Vašáryová (SK),
Katerina Šimácková (CZ),
Saša Uhlová (CZ), Zoe
Gudovic (SRB), Katerina
Šafaríková (CZ), Marta Ja-
lowska (POL),Dariusz Kar-
lowicz (POL), Anna Oro-
sz (HU), Jan Sokol (CZ),
Martin M. Šimecka (SK),
Adéla Gjuricová (CZ), Ea-
mon Ryan (IE), Sini Harkki
(FI), Juraj Zamkovský (SK),
Jonathan Ledgard (UK),
Bence Ságvári (HU), Chris-
tian Weißgerber (GER),
Pavla Melková (CZ), Clif-
ford Coonan (IE).
9th Inspiration Forum
will take place as part of
23rd Ji.hlava IDFF on Octo-
ber 24–29, 2019
What is the purpose of bre-
athing in life through film or
discussion?
The above at least implies
that it is a sort of a representa-
tion, conceptual or visual
«grasping», thinking of what
is real. Thinking that leads to
a change, a transformation of
oneself. In the words of Miro-
slav Petricek in his Thinking
in/through/with Images: « We
can tell if we are thinking the
real – by seeing how we our-
selves are transformed. Like
viewers changing in front of an
object in a gallery, to see the
object as an image.»
Being transformed through
film, that is what it is about.
s.rickinson@31mag.nl
On the dark side of the truth
TRUTHS:  A new book on
documentary practices
post-9/11 begins with an
often-repeated (idealistic)
blaming of the media for
the election of Trump, but
develops into a complex
analysis of how digital
culture shapes our political
realities.
BY NINA TRIGE ANDERSEN
Kris Fallon
Where Truth Lies: Digital
Culture and Documentary
Media after 9/11
University of California Press,
USA
There is a very particular tired-
ness connected to the claim
that media were to blame for
the election of Donald Trump
in 2016. It has been repeated as
a self-evident fact so often that
it is barely worth considering
the meaning of such a claim
anymore.
What is worth noting is that
the claim is rarely, if ever, put
forward by people outside of
the media universe. People
who make a living from pro-
ducing, publishing or analysing
media and media content tend
to grossly overrate its power
and blatantly overlook the life
experiences that shape ordi-
nary people’s political minds.
In a sense, Kris Fallon’s new
book Where Truth Lies: Digital
Culture and Documentary Media
after 9/11 falls within this tradi-
tion of detached understand-
ing of how the world works and
why: «In 2016, when real-estate
heir and reality television fig-
ure Donald Trump was unex-
pectedly elected president of
the United States, media were
to blame», is how Fallon opens
his account. Honestly, I almost
cancelled my scheduled review
right there. I predicted 200+
pages of utter boredom and
restless irritation.
Luckily – probably motivated
by the catchy title of the book –
I hung on for a few more pages
and soon realised that this was
indeed something else. Fallon
did not persuade me that me-
dia were to blame for the elec-
tion of Trump – or, we must as-
sume, that media would have
been to thank had he not been
elected. But he did persuade
me that a critical analysis of
the current media landscape
in light of the historical devel-
opment of documentary prac-
tices and digital technologies
is both timely and politically
relevant.
Generalised confusion. The
empirical point of departure
FADI ABOU HASSAN. SEE LIBEX.EU
for Fallon’s venture into the vi-
cious struggle over truth that
marks contemporary media
landscapes is the American
government’s announcement
that terrorism could only be
fought if the good guys went
over to «the dark side».
In hindsight, Fallon writes,
the then vice president Dick
Cheney’s remarks after the 9/11
attack in 2001 about having to Fallon writes that documen- yes, the pun of the title is of cuts Fallon’s analysis. With
«spend time in the shadows in tary film has met with an in- course intended. Morris’ latest film American
the intelligence world» fore- creasingly polarised public. One of these documentary Dharma, that interrogates the
told, as Fallon tells us, a «long Under a government that had directors is Errol Morris. With ideological universe of Steve
period of deep political turmoil openly admitted to be ventur- films such as The Thin Blue Bannon, the director has come
and conflict over events yet ing into the shadows, it be- Line (about a revoked murder under fire for promoting an alt-
to come, events that included came still more difficult to fil- conviction) and The Fog of War right ideologue.
revelations of secret ter what to believe, and (about former U.S. Secretary «I certainly did not anticipate
prisons, torture, Documentary still less obvious what of Defense and President of that», Morris has said. «That
human rights abus- film has was socially meaningful the World Bank, Robert McNa- may be because I’m an idiot.
es, over a hundred met with an and to whom. mara), Morris has harvested Possibly.»
thousand civilian increasingly Fallon contextualises broad acclaim as one of the Where Truth Lies suggests
casualties, two wars the new forms of media greatest documentarists of his more convincing explanations
polarised
abroad, and an un- and digital narration time, and has been among the – not of this incident specifi-
public.
precedented erosion with an historical anal- pioneers embracing the criti- cally, but of how documentary
of civil liberties for ysis of documentary cal potential of new digital nar- media became such a contest-
average citizens at home.» practices. Through readings ration tools. ed battlefield, and how the cre-
Fallon analyses how docu- of specific documentary works However, coincidentally, the ation of social meaning became
mentary practices and digital and oeuvres, and the reception publication of Where Truth Lies such a chaotic enterprise.
technologies interacted with of them, the book elegantly coincided with Morris himself
these events, and he does so traverses the complex ques- falling victim to the polarised
with insight, historical over- tion of Where Truth Lies, and political situation that under- nina.trige.andersen@gmail.com
view and a cool sense of de-
scription: «The blurring of
legal and political lines … pro-
duced a state of generalized
East Doc
confusion», Fallon claims. He
convincingly demonstrates the
relation between obfuscating
Platform
political strategies implement-
ed in «the real world» and the
mediating tools that those
grasped for.
Errol Morris. New hybridised the largest co-production,
forms of media and documen- funding and distribution
tary aesthetics were already market for central and East
underway in the decades be-
fore 9/11. Media workers be- European documentaries
gan experimenting with these
methods to uncover what was
more than ever perceived to be Deadline
hidden truths, truths that mi- November 8, 2019
litary, states, economic elites,
intelligence agencies, instituti-
ons, political parties and other
powerful agents were going to
still greater lengths to conceal.
This also gave rise to what Fal- Prague, march 7–13, 2020 dokweb.net
lon describes as a «conspiracy
media».
FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 53
 Unpredictability is a very good trait
IDENTITY:  A kaleidoscopic portrait of a strange and divided nation behind the scenes. BY HANS HENRIK FAFNER

OVERSEAS

Odessa is a famous city – an
obvious statement about one
that has certainly made its
mark on history. When these
words come from a young girl
living in Odessa of today, ho-
care, he depicts his own peo-
ple without telling us what is
right or wrong, good or evil.
Many instances are both.
He travels the country by
rail. It is a proud institution
the other – a heavyset man
with a beer belly – is a proud
Ukranian. They discuss who is
to blame for all the misfortunes
of the country and, without go-
ing into the question of Crimea

Silent cries and The Diviners

Director Roman Bordun
Ukraine
wever, the city’s claim to fame
seems less obvious. She does
not elaborate but adds that she
has the intention to become
with all the frills of yesteryear
and, at the same time, outdated
and rundown.
One passenger
and direct enmity, tempers
flare. But still, there is a neigh-
bourly undertone of mutual
understanding, which seems to

a money-driven welfare system famous – her plan is to study

at one of the best universities
in Russia. «I’m drunk!» she con-
The

MESSAGE TO MAN FESTIVAL/St. Petersburg:  Midnight Family and Overseas show two very different kinds of
underprivileged workers within a backdrop of our times’ ruthless capitalism.  BY ALEKSANDER HUSER
Overseas
Director Sung-a Yoon
Belgium/France
Midnight Family
Director Luke Lorentzen
Mexico/USA
Sung-a Yoon’s feature docu-
mentary Overseas starts with a
static shot of a young Filipino
woman cleaning a bathroom.
After a while she starts to cry,
but still carries on with her
solitary work. The scene illus-
trates a core point taught at
the training centre for Filipino
workers about to work abroad
as maids, which the film por-
trays: Never let your employ-
ers see you cry.
At the training centre, the
women are prepared for the
tasks they will perform as so-
called OFW’s (Overseas Fil-
ipino Workers) in Asian and
Middle-Eastern countries,
such as cooking and serving
meals, cleaning houses and in-
fants, and perhaps also clean-
ing disabled family members.
The challenges they will meet
are plentiful, both in terms of
being away from their family
– whom many of them will be
supporting through this as-
signment for at least two years
– and from the constant de-
mands and sometimes abuse
from the families they are go-
ing to serve.
The training includes
role-playing of more or less
typical situations for this line
of work, where the soon-to-be
housemaids take turns playing
the part of the OFW and var-
ious members of the employ-
er families. Some of the par-
ticipants have already been
working abroad and can thus
share their experiences with
the first-timers – serving in the
film as confirmations of what
is depicted in the role-playing
sessions. The re-enactments
make up a substantial part of
the film, sometimes adding a
sense of odd humour. Just as
often, however, these dram-
atizations show the gravity
of some of the incidents the
workers may have to face –
amongst which are sexual har-
assment and even attempts of
rape.
Yoon’s approach is obser-
vational, with a tableaux-style
somewhat similar to the Aus-
trian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl.
But even though its visual style
is partly distanced, as well as
the fact that the film does not
focus on one main character,
Overseas is far more empathic
towards its protagonists than
the case usually is with Seidl’s
films.
Money and ethics. The Belgi-
an-French production Overseas
was screened in the interna-
tional feature documentary
competition at the Message to
Man festival in St. Petersburg. So
was  American filmmaker Luke
Lorentzen’s  Midnight Family,
which among two other prizes
The women was awarded the Golden Cen-
are prepared taur Grand Prix for Best Film.
for cooking At the beginning of the film,
and serving a text explains that in Mexi-
meals, co City, with a population of
cleaning nine million, the government
houses and operates less than 45 emer-
infants. gency ambulances. Therefore,
a loose and somewhat shady
system of private ambulances
is running much of the city’s
emergency healthcare. The
film follows the Ochoa family,
with the father, his two sons
and a friend of the family own-
ing and operating one of these
ambulances. The film’s most
central character is the oldest
son Juan, 17 years of age, ap-
parently running most of this
Midnight nightly family business. He
Family admits that he likes the adren-
shows the aline the job provides, but is
effects of this nonetheless seen handling the
ideology in seriously wounded with im-
the Mexican pressive maturity.
capitol. At the end of the day, the
aim of these private ambu-
lances is to make money. The
Ochoa family doesn’t nec-
essarily have the most ad-
vanced equipment or skills,
but through listening in on
police radios, they often get
to the scene of the accidents
before the government’s par-
amedics. The film shows the
Ochoas racing other rivalling
emergency cars to get there
first, so that they can provide
their services – and hopefully
get paid for it.
The dilemmas rising from
this are sometimes brutal:
Should they drive the patient
to the nearest state-owned
hospital, or travel slightly
longer to a private one, with
more chances of receiving
payment? On several occa-
sions, we witness them not
getting any money, for in-
stance if the patient doesn’t
have the proper insurance.
Leaving people with serious
injuries still doesn’t seem to
be an option. All aspects of
the hospital choices aren’t
always completely clear, due
to the film’s fly-on-the-wall
approach. However, this is
more than compensated for
with the film’s closeness to
its subjects, both in situa-
tions of extreme stress (with-
out focusing too much on the
sometimes heavily injured
patients) and in the quiet
tinues, which might put things
a bit in a different perspective.
This is taken from a late-night
street scene in the Ukrainian
port city by the Black Sea. It is
part of a new documentary by
Roman Bordun, who works as
a design engineer for building
and architectural structures in
Lviv. He is also a photographer
and painter, he films a video
diary, and now he decided to
MIDNIGHT FAMILY
portrait his home country by
stretches of waiting for the filming people and scenes in
next emergency. three cities – Odessa, Lviv, and,
Midnight Family is an intense of course, the capital, Kiev.
documentary thriller, but at
the same time a warm portrait Country and pride. The film has
of a family trying to make ends been described as a kaleidosco-
meet – which also includes pic portrait of contemporary
paying bribes to the police Ukraine, one that is very much
to stay in business – without to the point. It consists of a se-
judging or defending their ac- emingly unconnected series
tions. of takes from different parts of
Moreover, the film depicts the cities. It leaves you a bit
an extreme version of a mon- puzzled in the beginning but, all
ey-driven welfare system, thus of a sudden, it makes sense.
giving a raw and unsettling It is a clever portrait of a peo-
portrayal of today’s ruthless ple and nation that, in itself,
capitalism – which links it the- seems unconnected to reality
matically to the equally strong and, at the same time, deeply
Overseas. Whereas Midnight divided. Like the intoxicated
Family shows the effects of young woman in Odessa, most
this ideology in the Mexican people express love and admi-
capitol, Overseas has a more ration for their country, and
international scope, conveying still they feel the old bonds to
– and giving a voice to – an un- the Russians – whom they dis-
derprivileged and hugely over- like, even hate. Others feel like
looked class of silent workers true Europeans but also a need
in the global economic system. to conceal their poverty and
It’s time we see and hear their obvious inadequacies within
cries. the European context. Bordun
Screened at Message to seeks out the essence of all
Man, St. Petersburg, this. He walks the streets with
and other festivals. open eyes and an open mind,
and his absence of judgment is
one of the many strong sides of
alekshuser@gmail.com this documentary. With gentle
is ever-
on an intercity
disharmony train expresses
his admiration
present. for Japanese
railways. The
Japanese super-
humans, as he puts it. Their
electric trains run at 1,200
kmph he claims over and over.
But still, he prefers his homey
carriages that are always run-
ning late, because this is his
country and pride.
Unpredictability. Ukraine seems
to be permanently wet and
damp, and one is never really
at ease – at least not in the Wes-
tern sense of the word. People
go swimming amongst dead le-
aves in the brownish water of
a lake, and
Bordun ta-
Apocalyptical kes us to a
visions and naturist be-
messages of ach on a ri-
doom guide verside. You
humanity see church
through ages towers on
and cultures the oppo-
site bank,
while people
make themselves at ease on
the utterly charmless beach.
«The atmosphere is more sin-
cere in a way,» says one of the
beachgoers with a broad smile.
It is not quite clear what he is
hinting at, but that doesn’t mat-
ter – not everything needs a de-
eper explanation, and Bordun is
blessed with a deep feeling for
this. Being content is a goal in it-
self – like the Kiev family enjoy-
ing themselves at a full-fledged
picnic in drizzling rain.
The disharmony is ever-pres-
ent. Two people sitting on a
bench outside an apartment
block. One – an elderly wom-
an – is ethnic Russian, while
be a way to get by in spite of all
the disagreements. There is a
reason why Bordun describes
his nation as diviners.
At times this borders the gro-
tesque. The girl with lofty plans
for fame at a Russian universi-
ty takes part in a street party
where everybody is drinking,
some heavily, and still the at-
mosphere stays calm. People
sit in small groups talking and
having a good time. But a cou-
ple of guys start fighting. Or
rather, one guy decides to beat
up another who is defenseless
in his drunken stupor. Even this
seems to take place in a good
spirit, and nobody takes notice.
They let it happen, the way you
let things happen in Ukraine.
Then, a soothing winter sets
in. When the snow covers the
Ukrainian cities they change
their ways. Bordun revisits the
now snow-clad place of the
wild street parties and the des-
olate nudist beach. The spots
seem different and tranquil,
otherworldly in a strange way
– as if the white blanket gives
the Ukrainian people a break
to get ready to face each oth-
er and their common society
again once spring arrives.
After watching this kaleido-
scopic tale for a bit less than
an hour, you sit back with a
wish to go there and experi-
ence the strange and fascinat-
ing world of Roman Bordun.
«Unpredictability is a very
good trait,» says one girl in one
of the Ukrainian cities, and she
seems to be so right!
Screened at Dok Leipzig
documentary film festival
and other festivals.
fafner4@yahoo.dk

54 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019 FALL 2019 N# 6 | MODERN TIMES REVIEW 55
 Close to Turkey’s border
JINWAR:  Kurdish women of Syria intend to rebuild their lives. BY HANS HENRIK FAFNER

Who is Afraid of
Ideology?
Director Marwa Arsanios
Lebanon/Kurdistan/Syria

Jinwar is a very special

community. It is a tiny village in

the easternmost part of Syria,
close to the borders of Turkey
and Iraq. It is Kurdish land, but
Jinwar is open for all ethniciti-
es and denominations. But that
being said, no men are allowed.
The village is as refuge for wo-
men and their children. Some
inhabitants have escaped abu-
sive husbands, others are wi-
dows, and a few just feel that
this is the right way for them
– to decide their own fate and
prove their own strength.
The landscape is open and
windswept. There are no neigh-
bors to be seen from the clus-
ter of small clay houses, and
this is important. The whole
idea has to be close to nature,
to be self-sufficient. This way
the women of Jinwar live ac-
cording to a Kurdish saying: On
this soil, ants, birds, snakes,
humans and foxes have the
right to live.
Mountains as protectors. Leb-
anese filmmaker Marwa Ar-
sanios has taken upon herself
to describe this take on life in
her latest documentary. This
has become a truly gripping
tale, visiting women on three
locations in the region. Apart
from Jinwar she has visited fe-
male soldiers in the mountains
of Kurdistan and she has given
voice to refugees from a Leba-
nese cooperative on the Syrian
border. Together they give us
an important insight in life and
survival in war-torn environ-
ments, and at the same time a
refreshing view of our resource
exploitation and its impact on
our eco-political models.
«I remember my childhood»,
says Arsanios as some kind of
mission statement in the begin-
ning. «My mother told me that
we should not hurt the earth,
we should protect the tree,
don’t eat meat, don’t kill the
animals.»
With that in mind the female
soldiers seek shelter in the
mountains and form their phi-
losophy of guerilla warfare in
accordance to their surround-
ings. Here nobody can treat
them. They gain strength from
the mountains and the land.
Mountains have always been
a strong protector of perse-
cuted people. We are remind-
ed that the Yazidis fled to the
mountains in 2014 when ISIS
attacked them. The ISIS is no
longer around in the same
way, but new dangers lurk and
therefore the women keep up
their guard. As they put it, they
sing songs to the mountains,
not about them.
New Beginning. This is a film
about a new beginning. The
women of Jinwar are fully awa-
re that the Syrian regime in
Damascus is planning to regain
full control over the Jezireh re-
gion where they live – but now
Turkey’s «security zone» is a
very close, as we know from
the political situation. But they
do not intend to let the rulers
reinstate the old system that
was centralized and lacked
all respect for the local popu-
lations. They did not want to
understand the people, and a
lot of social and psychological
ills spread before 2011.There
is an abundance of public land
around them and 80 percent is
fertile. The 59 women of Jinwar
have built new hangars for the
sheep, and in all of Jezireh 15
MARWA ARSANIOS
million trees have been plan-
ted. The war has made the
women realize what was stolen
from them, and they are deter-
mined to correct things.
This is their message as well
as the message of this spectac-
ular film. If you are Kurdish,
you do not get a security ap-
proval but if you are from Alep-
po, you do right away. The war
has taught each of the women
that they can gain strength
from the nature, cooperation
and mutualism – and that is
true ecology.
Screened at RIDM Montreal
International Documentary
festival and other festivals.
fafner4@yahoo.dk

The female
soldiers seek
shelter in the
mountains
and form their
philosophy of
guerilla warfare
in accordance
to their
surroundings.

56 MODERN TIMES REVIEW | N# 6 FALL 2019