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Sheffield DocFest · 2011

Sheffield DocFest 2011

Doc/EU

Programme

20 films · 5 reviews

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5 Pictures of a Father (5 fortællinger om en far)

What does your father mean to you? In this contemplative exploration of paternity, director Nadia Josefine El Said asks five daughters of different ages to talk about their fathers.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2010; Director: Nadia Josefine El Said)

At Night I Fly

“It’s a place where everything that is fucked up gets deposited. And that’s why I’m here,” says Marty, one of the maximum security inmates in California’s New Folsom Prison. But the Marty of today seems very far from fucked up - he’s one of many articulate, eloquent inmates who has benefitted from the prison’s long running Arts in Correction programme. The group’s acting, rapping and writing help hardened ex gang members get in touch with their humanity – something of utmost importance in this most dehumanizing of institutions. The roaming, meditative camera takes us into every corner of prison life, a life governed by routine and boredom. It’s also ruled by the ever present threat of violence, as racial tension runs high and stabbings are frequent. Above all, New Folsom is about mind over matter, with many of the prisoners struggling to come to terms with the bleakest of sentences: life without the possibility of parole.

(Country: Sweden, Denmark; Year: 2011; Director: Michel Wenzer)

Born in USSR (Gimę SSRS)

Review preview for Born in USSR

A nice idea which could have been better executed, even on a low budget.

Val Kermode · 2 out of 5
Animated allegory about the USSR.

(Country: Lithuania, Turkey; Year: 2010; Director: Simona Zemaityte)

Full review

Build Something Modern

At look at the young modernist architects who travelled from Ireland to build cathedrals for Thirties missionaries in Africa.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2011; Director: Paul Rowley, Nicky Gogan)

Cigarettes & Songs (Cigarety a pesnicky)

In an evangelical church in Eastern Slovakia, something extraordinary is happening. A group of Roma gypsies and Slovakians have come together to make music and are recording a CD of ancient Roma songs in new compositions. Bela cannot speak about the loss of his wife and children, but pours out his emotions in moving song. Irena has left her husband Emil and her children behind in their tiny home, happy to have a few days to focus on the songs which have forever been a part of her life. Their Slovakian colleagues have had no experience with the Roma before, who, like in so many other countries, are continually persecuted. They soon warm to their humour and humility, in a stirring film about the unifying, therapeutic power of music.

(Country: Slovakia; Year: 2011; Director: Marek Sulik, Jana Kovalcikova)

Do It Yourself! (Vivienne Westwood: Do It Yourself)

Review preview for Do It Yourself!

What comes over very strongly in the film is that Vivienne is an endearing mixture of the anarchic and the down to earth.

Val Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary about fashion designer, punk icon and cultural provocateur Vivienne Westwood.

(Country: France; Year: 2010; Director: Letmiya Sztalryd, Jean-Marie Sztalryd; Stars: Vivienne Westwood)

Full review

A First Class Delegation (UNE DÉLÉGATION DE TRES HAUT NIVEAU)

Is North Korea really paradise on earth? Aware of the western press' imperfections, partiality and even dishonesty, "Strip Tease" wanted to lead its own investigation. As the first western television crew to enter the country in over ten years, "Strip Tease" was escorted by a "first class delegation" composed of eminent representatives of the Belgian people. Lead by Willy Burgeon, honorary president of the Walloon Parliament, the delegation led its enquiry in the land of Kim Jong Il, venerated leader and reincarnation of his admirable father Kim Il Sung.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2000; Director: Philippe Dutilleul)

How Are You

They met at a Copenhagen disco in the mid 90s, only to discover they lived in the same building. Soon Dane Michael Elmgreen and Norwegian Ingar Dragset were enjoying a passionate personal relationship - and a soaring professional one as the Nordic countries’ most provocative installation artists. Whilst popular abroad, at home they found their work met with bemusement. “The Danish establishment didn’t really see the need to invite these two depraved homo boys and their performance to serious art events,” laughs Elmgreen. Fifteen years on, the Nordic countries have fully embraced their boys. Not only have the pair designed a controversial WWII monument, they have also been chosen to curate two pavilions at the distinguished 2009 Venice Biennale. ‘How Are You’ takes a look back at Elmgreen and Dragset’s playful and inspiring body of work, whilst following the artists in Venice as they oversee installation of ‘The Collectors’. It’s their biggest project to date - an ambitious real estate exhibition concept, complete with dead body floating in a swimming pool.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2011; Director: Jannik Splidsboel)

I'll Get You (J'AURAI TA PEAU)

A hidden little masterpiece of the Striptease series, ‘I’ll Get You’ reveals how a well loved pet, stuffed and mounted on the mantle for ever more, slowly reveals the pain and mistrust between parents and children in a seemingly ordinary family.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 1993; Director: Richard Olivier)

Inbetweener (Dagar emellan)

As a child Erik Bafving enjoyed holidays with his father, but learned to dread their home life together. When he was fifteen years old, his greatest fear became a reality, and Bafving’s new life, harbouring a terrible secret, began. Through sketches and photographs he tells his story...

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2011; Director: Erik Bäfving)

Last Days of the Arctic (Andit norðursins)

When he was young, Ragnar Alexsson spent his summers living on the southern coast of Iceland with an isolated family of farmers, marvelling at the way they lived at one with the land. In fact, Ragnar never stopped marvelling at the lives of people living in constant contact with the forces of nature. When he received his first camera he found himself almost instinctively documenting them. Now known as RAX, he has built his reputation as one of the world’s most celebrated photographers. His beautifully detailed black and white images tell the epic narratives of the northern hemisphere, recording the faces, vanishing lifestyles and traditions which will soon be lost. 'In Last Days of the Arctic' he takes us through the most memorable photos of his career and along with him as he captures new stories, from the Innuit Arctic hunters tracking polar bears to the majestic beauty and massive devastation of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

(Country: Iceland, UK, Germany, United States, Netherlands; Year: 2011; Director: Magnus Vidar Sigurdsson)

Mama Africa

Review preview for Mama Africa

Manages to do justice to Makeba’s wonderful talent and noble activism.

Robert Munro · 4 out of 5
A documentary portrait of the acclaimed performer and political campaigner.

(Country: Finland, Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Mika Kaurismäki; Writer: Don Edkins, Mika Kaurismäki; Stars: Miriam Makeba)

Full review

Needle Exchange

They’ve been through plenty of tough times together and helped each other exchange their heroin habits for a passion for tattoos. Now Glenn’s got a job and Spencer’s got a girl. As their lives stabilize, will their friendship survive?

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2010; Director: Colm Quinn)

Nyman in Progress

When Michael Nyman was seven years old, his school music teacher noticed his interest in piano and took him on as a protégé for the next ten years. The investment wasn’t in vain: Michael Nyman went on to become one of the UK’s most original, talented and celebrated composers. In his many film scores, including a dozen Peter Greenway films, Jane Campion’s 'The Piano' (1993), and the Oscar winning doc 'Man on Wire' (2008), his music is known for being a strong character of its own. The film follows Nyman during an extremely rich period in his professional life. On the musical front he’s travelling the world and readying a challenging piece for the London Proms. He’s also about to reveal a long-held passion for the visual, with a remarkable exhibition of video art and photography. Throughout, Silvia Beck’s portrait offers a unique insight into Michael Nyman’s personal views, his thoughts and emotions; his world.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2010; Director: Silvia Beck)

Over to you, Trygve (Over til deg, Trygve)

He’s not keen on small dogs, or refugees and don’t get him started on city dwellers. Retired construction worker Trygve Hoiseth is happy with his life in a remote Norwegian valley, where he can do whatever he wants. Amused filmmaker Havard Fossum tries to find out what makes him tick.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2010; Director: Håvard Fossum)

Padoum in Sodome and Gomorrhe (PADOUM À SODOME ET GOMORRHE)

Padoum has several lives: In L.A. he's a masseur, in Brussels he's a massive earner. We won't reveal anything just now, but you should know he is writing his memoirs in which his spiritual and sexual life will be revealed. He has kept some excerpts for "Strip-Tease" (for adults only).

(Country: Belgium; Year: 1988; Director: Marco Lamensch, Jean Libon)

Phnom Penh Lullaby

A misfit in his native Israel, Ilan came to Cambodia hoping to make a fresh start. Eight years later, he finds himself living in a cramped room with girlfriend Saran in the oppressively hot capital Phnom Penh. They communicate together in pidgin English, and try to make ends meet by reading Tarot cards on the seedy streets at night, their baby Jasmine in tow. They can’t afford for their two-year-old daughter Marie to live with them, so they undertake an arduous journey to the countryside. Saran has promised that her family will take care of the girl - as they have done her other children by other men. But all is not as it seems, and Ilan soon finds himself in confusing, frightening circumstances, unable to adequately protect his daughters in a country where young girls are sold into prostitution every day. An intimate observational portrait of life in an all too brutal country.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2011; Director: Pawel Kloc)

Planet Kirsan (Planeta Kirsan)

Review preview for Planet Kirsan

Funny and also very sad.

Val Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
In the republic of Kalmykia, children are raised under the shadow of a national obsession with chess.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2010; Director: Magdalena Pieta)

Full review

Position Among The Stars (Stand Van De Sterren)

Review preview for Position Among The Stars

The family are captivating subject matter, the strong personalities frequently tugging in different directions, so that the film is never short of drama.

Emma Slawinski · 3.5 out of 5
The effects of globalisation in Indonesia’s rapidly changing society ripple into the life of a poor Christian woman living in the slums of Jakarta with her Muslim sons and teenage granddaughter.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2010; Director: Leonard Retel Helmrich) , Official site

Full review

Rat's Island

Eddie has built a basic shack on a river estuary in Ireland, not far from a motorway. He and his son Andrew fish the waters and prepare for the winter, in this spare observational portrait of life on the margins of society.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2011; Director: Mike Hannon)