MAGNIFICIENT SEVEN 2012 - European feature documentary film festival - Belgrade

Disturbing as much as it is fascinating, the latest film of one of the founders of the modern theatrical documentary is a revealing triptych about the phenomenon of prostitution recounted through images form Thailand, Bangladesh and Mexico.

The stories of three different worlds, three different cultures and three different religions are driven by the idea of drastic visual and thematic contracts. Thailand’s shiny “Aquarium” that we encounter at the beginning is a metaphor for a developed hi-tech world in which everything has an alluring facade of order and control. Replacing the glitter of the affluent world, Glawogger juxtaposes it directly with the oriental vibrancy of the murky and impoverished district in Faridpur, Bangladesh, inviting us into the world of the “City of Joy”. The camera, pressed against the walls of long, narrow and dark hallways, documents on the one hand the constant movement of girls, who are sometimes no older than children, in vivid clothing and grotesque make up, and on the other hand women in various situations, which are either encounters and business arrangements or incidents. With the final story set in Mexico, in a small town on the border next to the Rio Grande, the film plummets into gloomy spaces filled with threats and dangers. The night and void are interrupted by occasional flashes of long forgotten humanity.

This dynamic and modern documentary, which invites us to the intimate universe of the Nobel-laureate José Saramago, enjoyed immense success in Portugal during its five-month continuous run in theaters. In Brazil, it became the most watched Portuguese film of all times, having been screened in eleven cities. The film received the greatest cinematic honor of being elected as the official Portuguese contender for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category, a privilege which all countries up until this year reserved strictly for fiction feature films.

An exciting journey that this lively, charming and emotional documentary takes us on is a worldwide travelogue of the famous writer, but it is also an unstoppable and constant movement of the spirit in search of answers as to what this world is exactly like and what we are like within it. His wife Pilar del Rio is always present by Saramago’s side as an inseparable companion and a woman who bestows inspiration and energy upon him. The film focuses on this deep and multilayered relationship that fills every bit of their rich lives.

One of the most important European filmmakers, Andrius Stonys from Lithuania, reveals with his piercing poetic style the vibrant world of Georgia, a world of mythical heroes and deeply rooted traditions. This is an exceptional documentary that is playful in its meticulous disentanglement of the layers of simple events in the hero’s everyday life. Ramin, an elderly champion in traditional wrestling, became a legend after defeating seven opponents in no more than fifty-five seconds. Stonys invites us into Ramin’s world without any introduction or explication, allowing the images to be testimonies in their own right.

At the beginning of the film, the viewers perceive the hero as an odd-looking old man, unusually dynamic and active, who allows the camera to discretely take part in all his activities. Important situations are interwoven with seemingly irrelevant ones and are always seen from Ramin’s point of view, but it is his presence and participation that reveals the full meaning of these events. Gradually and delicately, penetrating the depths of the world of the aged wrestling legend, the film comes to the emotional core of the story – a long forgotten love. “When I met Ramin for the fist time, his wrestler’s handshake nearly broke my hand,” recounts Stonys. “But when I heard his story about the girl he loved 50 years ago, it nearly broke my heart.” And that is where the new and unexpected adventure begins, that of a man who is determined to fight till the end.

The story of unwanted asylum-seekers, which unfolds as a dramatic thriller, reveals the cruelty behind the supposed humanity of one of the world’s best-developed state systems.

People awaiting their definite deportation from the Swiss territory are jailed at the special administrative detention center. Even though some of them spent years in Switzerland, where they worked, paid taxes, and started families, they are ordered to leave the country as soon their application for asylum is rejected. Although the application consideration process may take up to two years, the deportation is announced without any warning and its implementation is imminent. Behind the closed prison doors, tension rises with every day that passes. Wardens trained to praise humanist values are on one side, and on the other are men at the end of their journey, defeated by fear and anxiety. Relations of friendship and hatred, respect and revolt are built up until the announcement of the deportation, which is experienced like a stab. This relationship ends mostly in distress and humiliation. Those who refuse to leave are handcuffed, tied up and forcibly put on a plane. In this extreme situation, despair has a name: special flight.

A process, undocumented as of yet, in the alchemic laboratory of the world’s most exclusive restaurant, and an encounter with passion and creativity of its creator, Ferran Adrià, one of the most famous and innovative chefs of today.

This is an exciting quest – from the initial experiments to the premiere of the finished dish. In the course of that process, various basic ingredients are examined in a completely new way. Taste and texture are systematically analyzed: by boiling, roasting, frying, steaming; by vacuumizing and freeze-drying; and finally, by tasting. Ideas emerge, are discussed and all the results, whether good or bad, are thoroughly documented – on a laptop beside the cooking spoon. And according to that extensive documentation, a grandiose finale is prepared – topped with the final touch of the great chef, incredible and marvelous bites are finally presented to the guests.

Pause for a moment. Hold your breath. Open your eyes wide. A gem of modern documentary filmmaking lies in front of you. Invisible threads connect people’s inner worlds and mystic landscapes into a philosophical essay, characterized by sophisticated auteurist approach and spellbinding cinematography.

Fascinated by the timelessness of scenes and people on the documentary photographs from the remote yet alluring Portuguese region of Barroso, the French documentary filmmaker Marc Weymulle was further intrigued when he discovered landscapes that these photographs left out like a carefully hidden secret. The book where he found these images has a paradoxical title “Negrões - White Memory”. That is the point at which he starts this surprisingly metaphysical journey through the intertwined layers of time. These layers are impressed upon the hazy and mystical landscapes, cobbled streets, dark interiors, and faces that are sculpted by their destinies; it is a journey into the deeply buried thoughts and memories. The life there is shaped by the alternation of rain, snow, blossoming and ripening, and by the rhythm of the herds that leave in the morning and return at dusk. “Barroso is a remarkable region: with respect to its history and the questions it raises; questions that are simple yet essential,” noted Marc Weymuller. “The landscapes serve as a mirror. In reminding us of what we used to be, they warn us about what we have become.”

“The Prophet” is a new documentary venture by the author of the cult film “Black Sun.” Gary Tarn once again creates a fascinating visual essay inspired by the free camera of Dziga Vertov and famous documentaries of Chris Marker and Werner Herzog.

The film blends the visual documentary narrative together with the verses from the book “The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran, an American poet, painter and philosopher of Lebanese origin. Written in the form of poetic orations addressing the great questions of life, the book became seminal soon after it was first published in 1923. The film consists of a series of short sequences that reflect the topics of each of these orations. This hybrid documentary conjures up an imaginary and unique 21st century city by combining footage shot around the world – in New York, Beirut, Milan, Belgrade and London. The visual study directly juxtaposes inhabitants of various cities, while the verses penetrate deep below the surface of the images.