MY NEIGHBOUR, MY BROTHER: Two shorts from Berlinale 2019
Experimental documentaries take centre stage at the 2019 Berlinale.
From the frontlines of the war on refugees
REFUGEES: Chinese artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei follows up his documentary Human Flow with a reportage from the warzones that await refugees in Europe. The Rest is about the millions who came for shelter but found none.
From riches to rags: Living the life among the Sierra Leonean elite to the American supermarket
SIERRA LEONE: Solomon Juxton-Smith is working in a supermarket in New York, resembling perhaps any middle-class American. But before this life he had another. He lived in Sierra Leone and his father was the ruler of the country.
What future lies ahead for the human mind?
NEUROSCIENCE: Major developments within neuroscience have led to incredible progress in treating illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease and severe depression. But what future lies ahead for the human mind when we start tampering with our brain and emotions?
CPH:DOX 2019
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The man behind elections – and Fox News
MEDIA: Roger Ailes transformed America with Fox News. A born bully.
The anatomy of neo-nationalist misogyny
Miki Dezaki set out to understand why a network of powerful people find it so important to shut up the women who demand justice for the sexual labour they were coerced into during WWII.
The long goodbye
PROSTITUTE: The short documentary Rita is the story of an old-school prostitute in Athens at the crossroads of her career.
Populism – a buzzword?
The term «populism» is so broad as to be basically meaningless. It can conjure the spectres of fascism, authoritarianism, nativism, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia and all the other bêtes noires of modern liberal democracy. And what about the documentaries on the populism?
Intimacy versus American convention
Between the two recent films depicting the Utøya massacre, Reconstructing Utøya is the one that succeeds.
Laila, mother of the addicts
Laila at the Bridge takes the viewer on a harrowing journey to Kabul’s dark underpass, following a woman who attempts to save as many drug addicts as she can.
Tell the world
The documentary Under the Wire provides a first hand account of what really transpired during the early days of the war in Syria during the siege of Homs and the attack that killed war correspondent Marie Colvin.
How time and lies make true stories disappear
In Beirut, one man creates a puzzle of the city’s past in order to tell some painful stories left untold but not forgotten.
Zero conference and Nobel prices
If you are prone to dismiss warnings about environmental destruction as exaggerations, you might as well stop reading right away.
Does the end justify the means?
The power of science versus the power of television in the attempt to save the pink river dolphin.
Saying goodbye to analog film
Cinema Futures is both a poetic farewell to a disappearing medium and a complex analysis of the mixed aspects of digital revolution.
A female role model
A new year, new opportunities. 17 years ago, Charlotte Horton left the UK for Italy, where she’s devoted her time to restoring Potentino castle. We meet to discuss the ecological attitude to life, local traditions, democracy and micro-politics.
Colonial voyeurism revisited
It is hard to tell if the archival documentary African Mirror is a rehabilitation of a colonial mind, a critique of colonialism or a piece of essayistic nostalgia over the colonial gaze. Probably it is a mix, and as such, nothing new.
No winners, no losers
While US Democrats, Republicans and the President bicker over a border wall, Chèche Lavi shows what whimsical policy measures mean to real people.
Documentary as a transmission medium
The new documentary Spaces of Exception draws parallels between the experiences of oppression and resistance in Native American reservations and Palestinian refugee camps.
From «success story» to chaos and confusion
But Now is Perfect tells the story of how a small local village in the south of Italy opened up their community and welcomed refugees seeking a better future in Europe. But it is also a story about loss and tragedy.
What’s wrong with Italy?
Two brave Italians with courage: one as a writer, the other as a photographer.
In Extremis: A story about bravery, talent and betrayal
WAR REPORTER: Marie Colvin covered all the main conflicts of our time, always with the same aim: not only to bear witness, but to bring action.
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