Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda is currently working on a new film on Patrice Lumumba and returns to basic questions: who was Patrice Lumumba whose influence spread across the borders of Congo? Why have the United States, Belgium and other western countries made him a mortal enemy? Why did he become a quasi-living legend in the course of his short life and brief career? The lecture is set up as a ‘production room’: a conversation between a filmmaker preparing a film production on Lumumba and the public which could play the role of board of producers. Antwerpen, Extra City, 23 october, 2009.

read more

Conceived by film-maker Eyal Sivan, the long-term project “Documentary Moments” elaborates documentary film practice through screenings and encounters with film-makers who shaped particular moments of the practice’s history. Its initial chapter is an homage to artists who contributed to the renaissance of documentary film in the post-war period: Alain Resnais (b. 1921), Edgar Morin (b. 1921), Marcel Ophuls (b. 1928), and Frederick Wiseman (b. 1930). In Take 3 of the Documentary Moments, Eyal Sivan and film historian Stella Bruzzi introduce Frederick Wiseman and "direct" cinema. Frederick Wiseman has scrutinised American life and institutions revealing the mechanisms of administration and hierarchy. As a benchmark in the history of social documentary, as both a school and a genre, Wiseman’s infinitely re-qualified and “direct” cinema is indispensable in any debate on the potential of the documentary image to produce truth. The introduction was followed by a screening of Primate (F. Wiseman, USA 1974, 105 min) and by a conversation between Frederick Wiseman, the film historian Stella Bruzzis and Eyal Sivan, both of which could not be included in this documentation.

Conceived by film-maker Eyal Sivan, the long-term project “Documentary Moments” elaborates documentary film practice through screenings and encounters with film-makers who shaped particular moments of the practice’s history. Its initial chapter is an homage to artists who contributed to the renaissance of documentary film in the post-war period: Alain Resnais (b. 1921), Edgar Morin (b. 1921), Marcel Ophuls (b. 1928), and Frederick Wiseman (b. 1930). In this 4th take of the Documentary Moments, Eyal Sivan introduces Marcel Ophuls' use of the documentary interview and montage to review and re-edit historical narration, subverting the hegemony of authority. His epic oeuvre – both in scope and in length – is a landmark of the critical historical essay.

Curator Eduardo Thomas was presenting contemporary experimental documentaries in his series “authorship”, “authority” and “authenticity” at the Berlin Documentary Forum. He selected films, that erode the seemingly immutable conventions of the consistent abuse of hierarchical structures within the field of documentary filmmaking. In this in-depth interview by Alan Toner, Eduardo Thomas introduces the films he selected, reflects on his series and discusses the questions he encounters when thinking about documentary practices today.

Filmmaker Florian Schneider has organised a retrospective about Michal Mraktisch for the Berlin Documentary Forum on June 2-6 2010 under the title "Missing Image". Alan Toner asks Florian Schneider about the background of this remarkable film-maker and his role and influence for the development of the Documentary Film as we know it today.

Alan Toner asks Angela Melitopoulos and Bettina Knaup about their performance "Möglichkeitsraum - Feminism and Performance Art" presented at the Berlin Documentary Forum on June 3rd 2010. Most of the program cannot be screened online due to copyright problems that burden much video performance art. Bettina Knaup and Angela Melitopoulos explain the particular situation of that genre, and how it is effecting their work with an archive of feminist performance art.

In this in-depth interview film historian Stella Bruzzi and Alan Toner discuss the development of documentary film in relation to advances in film technology, and consider possible perspectives for the future. This conversation took place during the Berlin Documentary Forum, where Stella Bruzzi investigated in conversation with Frederick Wiseman questions about “direct” cinema and the potential of the documentary image to produce truth.

Rabih Mroué opened the Berlin Documentary Forum with his performance "The Inhabitants of Images" on June 2nd 2010. In this interview, Alan Toner and Rabih Mroué discuss implications that images might have and the possibility that they bear an reality of their own. Rabih Mroué also gives some insights about his performance, for those who didn't get a chance to see it.

Conceived by filmmaker Eyal Sivan, the long-term project “Documentary Moments” that was for the first time presented at the Berlin Documentary Forum, elaborates documentary film practice through screenings and encounters with filmmakers who shaped particular moments of the practice’s history. In this interview, Alan Toner discusses with Eyal Sivan the background of the "Documentary Moments" and questions that evolve from revisiting films and filmmakers who have shaped the concept of the Documentary so strongly.

Artists Eileen Simpson and Ben White re-animate the film "Struggle in Jerash" by appropriating the tactic of the commercial DVD director’s commentary, subverting its standard authorial voice and placing the audience at the centre of a copyright-expired film. The film offers access to the process of self-understanding through the careful compilation of new commentary voiceover by contemporary Jordanian thinkers on the first feature film shot in Jordan (D: Wassif Sheik Yassin, 1957). At the Berlin Documentary Forum, curator Eduardo Thomas interviews the artists about their work and on the (re)production of conventional notions such as “authorship”, “authority” and “authenticity” in documentary film making. (Conversation and Film)

Filmmaker Florian Schneider has organised a retrospective about Michal Mraktisch for the Berlin Documentary Forum on June 2-6 2010 under the title "Missing Image". This conversation between Florian Schneider and Rick Prelinger, founder of the Prelinger Archives sums up the series "Missing Image".

Video artist Angela Melitopoulos engages Media Activism Brian Holmes at the Berlin Documentary Forum in a dialogue on extra-disciplinary Art Practices and Media Activism while he is presenting his archives and research. Holmes examines four audiovisual regimes that have emerged in the, USA since WW II: broadcast television in the Cold War consumer society; video as a subversion of the televisual norm; networked computing and its new forms of “control environments”; and new communication tactics of migration movements.

Conceived by film-maker Eyal Sivan, the long-term project “Documentary Moments” elaborates documentary film practice through screenings and encounters with film-makers who shaped particular moments of the practice’s history. Its initial chapter is an homage to artists who contributed to the renaissance of documentary film in the post-war period: Alain Resnais (b. 1921), Edgar Morin (b. 1921), Marcel Ophuls (b. 1928), and Frederick Wiseman (b. 1930). Take 2 focuses on "Chronicle of a Summer" by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin (FR 1961, 76 min.). The film builds truth through constructed or almost fictional situations. When released, it provoked heated debates on the relationship between cinema, reality and truth. In 2007, artists Ayreen Anastas, François Bucher and Rene Gabri unearthed an interview with Edgar Morin, in which he mentioned a cache of original rushes. Take 2 introduces shots from the original 16 mm rushes of Chroniqle of a summer and discusses them between the artists Rene Gabri, Ayreen Anastas, François Bucher and Eyal Sivan.

The Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art works on establishing new relations between the conservation and actualization of a film archive. Video artist Angela Melitopoulos engages curator Stefanie Schulte Strathaus at the Berlin Documentary Forum, who presents the idea of a "living" film archive in a selection of feminist and queer films from three historic cinematic events at the Arsenal. (German only)

A conversation between Catherine David and Joachim Koester at the Berlin Documentary Forum. The project evolves around key art works from the past fifteen years as well as new pieces that explore the link between aesthetics, history and politics. David’s prologue to a subsequent exhibition (BDF 2,2012) highlights the work of artist Joachim Koester, who explores the tension between imaginary sites, aesthetic tropes and physical places. In “Morning of the Magicians” (2005) and in “One + One + One” (2006), Koester visits a house in Cefalú, Sicily, known as “The Abbey of Thelema”, which once served as a communal home for the occultist Aleister Crowley and his group of devotees.

Conceived by film-maker Eyal Sivan, the long-term project “Documentary Moments” elaborates documentary film practice through screenings and encounters with film-makers who shaped particular moments of the practice’s history. Its initial chapter is an homage to artists who contributed to the renaissance of documentary film in the post-war period: Alain Resnais (b. 1921), Edgar Morin (b. 1921), Marcel Ophuls (b. 1928), and Frederick Wiseman (b. 1930). In Take 1, Eyal Sivan discusses with Marie-José Mondzain and Adrian Rifkin Alain Resnais documentary practice and the narration of genocide, that Alain Resnais has created with Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog), where he quintessentially demonstrates the use of images to establish an independent authority. This video has two audio channels, first English/French, second english translation

Cultural historians Ariella Azoulay and Issam Nassar discuss at the Berlin Documentary Forum the representation of Palestinian refugees in photographs from 1947 to the early 1950s. Their conversation addresses theoretical and aesthetic aspects of interpreting photographs, as well as the role photography can play in questioning the dominant discourse on the creation of the State of Israel.

The following is an English translation by Craig Keller of an interview by Jean-Marc Lalanne with Jean-Luc Godard, dated May 18th 2010, in the French cultural weekly Les Inrockuptibles. The original French text can be accessed at the Inrocks site.

===

The filmmaker received us at his home in Switzerland for a provocative, and intimate, interview. Welcome to Rolle.

Rolle's not exactly the center of the world. Just a small, slightly dreary town on Lake Geneva, 40 kilometers from the city of Geneva. But it's also an Eden for multimillionaires seeking a tax-haven. For the nice taxi driver who takes us to the gare de Genève, this geography of celebrities has kept few secrets: "You see the house on the shore at the bottom of the hill — that's Michael Schumacher's. And there's where Peter Ustinov lived. Phil Collins is right over there..."

And what about Jean-Luc Godard? "Once, a Japanese guy got into my car," the driver continues, "and asked me if I knew where monsieur Godard lived. I told him yes, and I took him there, at which point he said: 'Wait just one minute,' — he took three photos, got back into the cab, and asked me to take him back to the gate. He's known all the way to Japan, monsieur Godard!" Whether or not he's the most mythic ("all the way to Japan") resident of the Vaud, monsieur Godard doesn't live in Rolle for the same reason as his neighboring celebs.

A resident of France, that's where he pays his taxes. He lives in Switzerland because he was born here; because he can't do without "certain landscapes", he'll tell us in an interview which, as always with this man, is greatly panoramic. For four hours, in his slightly messy, very functional office, right next to his work area with its half-dozen flat-screens and its shelves filled with countless VHS tapes and DVDs from which he pulls his citations, we spoke about history, politics, Greece, intellectual property, and, of course, cinema — but also about more intimate things: such as his health, and his relationship to death.
—J.-M. L

read more

"When one makes a film, it is for people who are used to going to see films and who understand them." (Souleymane Cissé)

Cannes 2009, Souleymane Cissé ist zurück: "Mit einem gewissen feministischen Blick situiert sich 'Min Ye' inmitten der Bourgeoisie Malis und den wohlhabenden Vierteln von Bamako. Wir sind weit weg vom zurückgebliebenen oder elenden Afrika, auch weit weg von all den Filmen (manchmal auch sehr schönen, das ist nicht der Punkt), die in altertümlichen Kostümen im und vom Dorf handeln. Oder um es deutlicher zu sagen: wir sind weit weg von der traurig berühmten Rede Sarkozy's in Dakar 2007", schreibt Serge Kaganski für den Blog des Popkultur Magazin Les Inrockuptibles. "Min Ye – Dis-moi" läuft ausser Konkurrenz.

read more

»Teshome Gabriel, who had a very long association with UCLA, passed away late on the evening of Monday, 14 June 2010, as he was being driven to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Panorama City by his wife, Maaza Woldemusie. Teshome earned his doctorate in film studies at UCLA and went on to become a faculty member at the same university. The brief official announcement of his death issued by UCLA’s International Institute describes him as having “written extensively on memory and the cinema, theories of Third Cinema, on the aesthetics of nomadic thought in cinema and on weaving and the digital in developing countries.” Intriguing as is this description, to which I shall return shortly, it does not gesture at his unique – and, sad to say, largely unrecognized by the faculty and administration — place in the intellectual life of UCLA and the part that he played in mentoring untold number of students.«
by Vinay Lal

read more