Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.09.2010, Page 33

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2010 For more information and the full schedule visit www.riff.is
New Visions
A closer look at the films in RIFF's main competition category
after that success came quickly and shortly after the
Arcade Fire video, REM called me and asked me to
do a video. But now I refuse a lot of things and I'm
not really interested in doing very successful bands.
Why should I? They don't need it. I feel it’s my re-
sponsibility to focus on unknown bands, to be an in-
termediary and to promote all the wonderful things
that I encounter around the world and make them
known to others.
But aren't consumers becoming more choosy,
refusing to be fed by the mass industries and
picking out things on the internet?
I wish that were the case. But the golden age of the in-
ternet was, like, five years ago when unknown bands
were able to surface and become famous in this way.
But now, the industry is back in business. It took the
big guys a few years but now they understand how it
works. Take Pitchforkmedia for example. I recently
spoke to the guy who started up Pitchfork and he
said he hoped he hadn't created a monster. But yes,
he did create a monster! In the end people will read
Pitchfork and Pitchfork will tell them what to listen
to. People don't have much initiative or imagination.
They don't use the internet like they could or should.
They just wait to be fed.
Are you done with the idea of the Take Away
Shows now?
No, right now I'm not done with this idea. I still have
to continue doing my little things. I do portraits of
people I love around the world. I travel, spend a few
hours with people, they play their music, and they
get a beautiful film. Sometimes I get a nice dinner
or something in return. That's how things should
work. I'm trying to prove to myself that I can get by
on virtually no money at all. What I'd like to continue
exploring is my fascination of the relationship of
man and images and how we play with images in
this age of information.
What I'm scared of is that I don't think people
are taught enough about images and new technolo-
gies. It seemed that the internet was an easy tool but
it's not. People are not being educated on the subject.
We go to school to read text but we don't know how
to read images. People are becoming numb to im-
ages. My point is that the only way to save our souls is
by going so far into the images that they cease to ex-
ist. Icelandic people have been very inspiring to me,
especially how they create. Creation is an everyday
thing. People make so many images constantly that
they don't make any sense. It's the actual creation of
the images that makes sense and not the end result.
It's something I've been trying to do as much as I
can in my work. I say to the musicians I record: "Let’s
just have a really good time, whatever the result of the
movie may be.” Artists interact with their audiences
and everyone is a part of the creation. Let's reach the
ultimate point where everybody is making films and
nobody is watching them.
Words
Wiebke Wolter
ANNA MARGRéT BJöRNSSON
films | RIFF essentials
Twelve up-and-coming directors will present their first or second films in the ‘New Visions’
category at The Reykjavík International film festival (RIff), one of which will go home with
the festival’s Golden Puffin Award. This year’s films represent a diverse worldview—from
Greece to the united States and Iraq to Romania. Shot with a subjective camera or narrated
without any dialogue, many of this year’s ‘New Visions’ focus on innovative forms of filmmak-
ing. Still, most of the films manage to capture aspects of real life without feeling like abstract
concept films.
I undertook the task of viewing the entire 1.089 minutes screened in the ‘New Visions’ cat-
egory to try and help you choose which films and directors to check out. If I had a say in who’s
taking the Golden Puffin home, I’d vote for ‘The four Times’ from Italy and ‘flowers Of Evil’
from france.
‘Aardvak’
(Kitao Sakurai, uSA/Argentina)
What’s it about?
A blind recovering alcoholic befriends his Jiu
Jitsu teacher and descends into the dark under-
world his teacher inhabits.
What’s it really about?
Issues of control and losing control, and the
different levels of strength and weakness.
What makes it special?
Most scenes begin with sounds from a black
screen, giving the audience a sense of what it’s
like to be blind.
‘The Christening’
(Marcin Wrona, Poland)
What’s it about?
Michael has everything he could dream of—a
beautiful wife, a newborn son and a good
job. Unfortunately, there is a mafia vendetta
against him, and Michael tries to save his fam-
ily.
(There was no copy of the film available to
screen in advance, so you’ll have to find out
yourself what it’s really about.)
‘Song of Tomorrow’
(Jonas Bergergård/Jonas Holmström,
Sweden)
What’s it about?
Stig Manner collects items he finds and tries
unsuccessfully to help his friend Janos, a broke
street musician, to get his career started.
What’s it really about?
Those who fail in society.
What makes it special?
Digital films shot with a hand-held-camera
aren't visually exciting, but in this case it
works fine. Narration, characters and camera
seem so painfully realistic that this film feels
like a documentary.
‘Jo for Jonathan’
(Maxime Giroux, Canada)
What’s it about?
Jonathan and his older brother, who he ad-
mires, attend dangerous illegal car races.
What’s it really about?
A young man who tries to be someone he is
not.
What makes it special?
The antithetical use of music. You see a car
race but instead of hearing car noises, you hear
very slow music. Or you see a party scene, but
instead of hearing music, you hear a very seri-
ous voice-over.
‘Attenberg’
(Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece)
What’s it about?
Unworldly Marina is 23 years old and lives with
her ailing father. She has never felt sexual de-
sire, until she makes out with her experienced
friend Bella, and later on with a man.
What’s it really about?
Leting go of the first love, the father, and find-
ing grown-up love, a man (and let’s be hon-
est, it’s also about vicarious embarrassment,
watching people having clumsy sex.)
What makes it special?
Little bizarre and humorous sequences of Ma-
rina and Bella promenading up and down a
street that have no relevance to the story. But,
is it really necessary to have the actors spit all
the time and make farting noises with their
mouths?
‘At Ellen’s Age’
(Pia Marais, Germany)
What’s it about?
Ellen is a stewardess in steady relationship.
When she finds out that her boyfriend impreg-
nated another woman, she loses it and winds
up living with a collective of vegan activists.
What’s it really about?
Drifting around and trusting strangers.
What makes it special?
This film is narrated in a very realistic fashion.
Not everyone who appears is meaningful to the
plot and the end of the story is unpredictable,
like in real life. Unfortunately, the dialogue
sounds a little stilted—didn't the actors have
vocal coaches?
‘Tomorrow’
(Marian Crisan, france/Romania/Hun-
gary)
What’s it about?
Nelu lives in a small town on the Romanian-
Hungarian border. He decides to help a Turk-
ish man cross the border on his way to Ger-
many.
What’s it really about?
Dreary life and despair on the eastern edge of
the EU.
What makes it special?
The film tells its story in a very quiet and hum-
ble way, but makes you want to cry out loud.
flowers Of Evil
(David Dusa, france)
What’s it about?
A young woman from Teheran's high society is
sent to Paris and falls in love with the bellhop
at her hotel.
What’s it really about?
Love and war in times of YouTube and Face-
book.
What makes it special?
The mix of film and YouTube videos, along
with the question of how the internet changes
our perceptions of the world in general. Oh,
and of course the extraordinary breakdance
sequences!
DO
N'T
M
ISS
!
‘Inside America’
(Barbara Eder, Austria)
What’s it about?
Mexican-American teens in Texas, struggling
with life, bereft of future prospects.
What’s it really about?
Mexican-American teens in Texas, struggling
with life, without future prospects.
What makes it special?
This film succeeds in dealing with this politi-
cally explosive subject without being cheesy or
judgmental!
DO
N'T
M
ISS
!
‘Littlerock’
(Mike Ott, uSA)
What’s it about?
When her car breaks down on a road trip
through California, a Japanese student winds
up stranded in a small desert down.
What’s it really about?
The foreign and language barriers.
What makes it special?
Nobody understands what anybody else is say-
ing, so there is no real dialogue in this film, but
a lot of simultaneous monologues.
DO
N'T
M
ISS
!‘The four Times’
(Michelangelo frammartino, Italy)
What’s it about?
An old lonesome shepherd lives his last days in
a quiet small village in the south of Italy, herd-
ing his goats.
What’s it really about?
The circle of life—but not in a Lion-King kinda
way. Wow!
What makes it special?
The focus of the film shifts from one unpre-
dictable protagonist to another, not using any
dialogue at all. And there is one amazingly cho-
reographed scene in which a dog makes a car
crash into the goat stall. How did they manage
to train a dog like that (or was it maybe a tiny
actor in a dog suit)?
DO
N'T
M
ISS
!
‘Mandoo’
(Ebrahim Saeedi, Iraq)
What’s it about?
A small Iranian family, including an injured
old man, tries to cross the Iraqi-Iranian border.
What’s it really about?
The terrors of war and mortal fear.
What makes it special?
The whole film is shot through the eyes of the
old man. That provokes very unusual camera
perspectives: If he lies down the camera tilts
with him, if he closes his eyes the screen turns
black, and we only actually see his face is when
he looks into a mirror.
DO
N'T
M
ISS
!