Russia
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Two approaches to war
From San Francisco International Film Festival: Andrei Nekrasov and Olga Konskaya captured the immediate aftermath of the bombing, shooting, and looting during the intense 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia. Two other filmmakers focus on the everyday life of a single US army platoon stationed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan – showing just how…
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Disaster capitalism
Is all the talk about ‘national priorities’ in the aftermath of hurricanes, coups, and wars, usually just a cover for the imposition of the of-the-shelf policies of neoliberal economics? And is the US response to Haiti following this same form?
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Soft power
A documentary from the time when American films portrayed Soviet commissionaires changing sides to betray communist ideals, and Soviet television showed CIA agents gunning down innocent comrades.
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A Young Harsh Reality
Can documentaries benefit from the film techniques used in fiction films? David Kinsella’s "Killing Girls" is exemplary.
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Dying city
The city of Leningrad and the blockade during the Second World War. No words. No music. Only sounds and black and white images of a dying city.
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DOCUMENTARY HISTORY: Dziga Vertov and the ‘Factory of Facts’
Dziga Vertov (1896-1954) remains one of the most influential documentary filmmakers. Yet – aside from the astounding The Man with a Movie Camera (1929) – his movies are rarely screened and little known. The Giornate del Cinema Muto Film Festival in Sacile, Italy (9–16 October 2004) hosted a retrospective of Vertov’s vital silent films. The…
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A unique opportunity to watch a creative process
It was a unique experience for me – a novice of classical music – to be totally spellbound for ninety minutes, following the creative process of three young conductors taking part in a masterclass with the world-famous conductor Valerie Gergiev.
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Taste of «brighter living»
There are over 150 IKEA branches all over the world. And now Russia has one of its own. On 22 March 2000, Russia's first IKEA opened its doors in the Moscow suburb of Khimki.
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IDFA 2000: Documentary Globetrotting
ANETTE OLSEN journeyed to the most distant corners of the world through the films shown at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam last November. She reports on some of her cinematic adventures.