Archive Page 3
A Danish documentary film about the attempt to convert a castle into a Russian Orthodox monastery received top honors on April 15 at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, California. “The Monastery” was directed by Pernille Rose Gronkjær, and was given both the Best Documentary and the Emerging Artist awards. The best short film award went to “Cross Your Eyes Keep Them Wide”, directed and produced by Ben Wu.
Here is the full list of winners:
FULL FRAME GRAND JURY AWARD: The Monastery, Directed by Pernille Rose Gronkjær. Produced by Sigrid Helene Dyekær ($20,000 in lab services for a tape to film transfer, or the option of lab services to be used in a two year period from Alpha Cine Labs, Seattle.) The Grand Jury Award recognized this film as the best feature from the documentary film community this year.
FULL FRAME JURY AWARD FOR BEST SHORT: Cross Your Eyes Keep Them Wide. Directed and produced by Ben Wu. ($10,000 in film stock. Provided by Kodak.) The Jury Award for Best Short is awarded to a film 40 minutes or less in length. Honorable Mention: Zo is dat (The Way It Is) Directed by Elizabeth Salgado. Produced by Frieder Wallis.
Continue reading ‘“The Monastery” wins Best Documentary at Full Frame’
The highly acclaimed British feature documentary “Deep Water” is now available on DVD. Set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s, the documentary is the true story of Donald Crowhurst, a free-thinking electronics inventor who enters the first solo non-stop, round-the-world yacht race.
Crowhurst entered the race in the hope of winning a cash prize from the Sunday Times to aid his failing business. However, early on in the voyage he encountered difficulties and secretly abandoned the race while reporting false positions. The British media celebrated him as the likely winner of the race, but the grim reality was that he gradually went insane and eventually committed suicide.
The film has been produced by the London-based APT films, and distributed in cinemas by Pathe. Check out the film’s trailer here.
Buy the film from Amazon.co.uk
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The recent festival success of the feature-length documentary “Invisibles” suggests that cooperation between non-profits and the film industry, which has so far been frowned upon, might have a tangible future. In a beautifully directed ensemle of 5 short films, the “Invisibles” tells us about human tragedies that have been pushed off the headlines by Iraq and other major humanitarian disasters in the world.
The “Invisibles” was produced by leading Spanish actor Javier Bardem in collaboration with the Spanish section of “Médecins Sans Frontières” which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The film is made up of five short documentaries, each directed by a leading name in the film world: Isabel Coixet, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Wim Wenders, Mariano Barroso and Javier Corcuera.
In the cinematic “Letter to Nora”, Isabel Coixet interviews victims of sleeping sickness – a disease which currently affects 18 million people in Latin America. In his contribution, Fernando León de Aranoa portrays the plight of children in Uganda. Mariano Barroso contrasts the use of eflornithine in Africa and the world’s fashion capital, Paris. In his short film, Javier Corcuera examines the long-term effects of post-war trauma. Meanwhile, Wim Wenders travels to Congo to explore the issue of mass rape during the civil war.
Watch the film’s trailer on the website of the Spanish distribution company.
In summer 2007, Europe will continue to be the centre of the universe for those wanting to see some fresh documentaries. All upcoming festivals have lined up an impressive international repetoire of documentary films. Here are the dates and links:
- Munich International Documentary Film Festival (May 3-11) - Click here for the programme
- Madrid Documentary Film Festival (May 4-13) - Click here for the programme
- Cracow Film Festival (May 31- June 5) - Click here for the programme
- “Message to Man” International Documentary Film Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia (June 15-22) - Click here for the programme
Continue reading ‘Itinerary for documentary festival hoppers’
Intended as an easy-to-use self-training tool for early-career documentary filmmakers, UNESCO has published a free e-book on writing documentary scripts. The e-book, written by Trisha Das, analyses both pre-shoot and post-shoot scripts, providing useful advice for those trying to learn the art and craft of documentary filmmaking. The e-book was published as part of a training module, through which the Paris-based UN agency seeks to support filmmakers in developing countries.
Download the e-book here.
The controversy over “The Bridge” continues even one year after the film first screened at festivals around the world. Filmed over the course of a year at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, “The Bridge” explores the issue of suicide and mental health.
After beginning its journey on the festival circuit in 2006, the film infuriated both bridge officials and family members, who complained they were not informed of the film’s true nature by the filmmaker. The documentary also triggered a loud debate within the film community itself about the ethics of documentary filmmaking.
Director Eric Steel set up cameras on both sides of the bridge and recorded approx. two dozen suicides and suicide attempts that took place that year. He then interviewed friends and families of those who had died, piecing together portraits of grief. The director did not inform family members that he would use graphic images of the suicides to “illustrate” the interviews - which led to the families feeling exploited.
Read more about this film on San Francisco Chronicle. A DVD release by Koch-Lorber Films is set for June 12th, 2007.
The actress Daryl Hannah is currently working on a documentary about the problem of sex slavery around the world. Wearing disguise, she travels to brothels in different countries in an attempt to record the disturbing truth about the lives of trafficked victims and sex slaves. The actress herself nearly fell victim to a sex slave operation in Las Vegas when she was 17 but managed to escape.
Search Amazon.co.uk for documentaries.