Docs in Focus IV—Post-Soviet & Muslim Worlds
May: Docs in Focus IV, FLMTQ Releases 291-311
During the month of May Filmatique presents its first expanded documentary series—twenty contemporary nonfiction films. Topical strands range in theme from dictatorship and corruption in the post-Soviet world to explorations of spirit and devotion from such celebrated filmmakers as Ulrich Seidl and Gianfranco Rosi.
The second installation of Docs in Focus IV looks beyond US borders to post-Soviet and Muslim worlds. Andrei Ujică's The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu examines the psychology of a post-Soviet dictator through the lens of his own propaganda; Lise Birk Pedersen's Putin's Kiss traces a young Russian woman's coming to terms with the slippery ideology of her youth. Cyril Tuschi's Khodorkovsky portrays the famous Russian oligarch turned dissident.
Films by Parvez Sharma, Yuri Ancarani, Janus Metz and Abbas Fahdel examine subcultures and geopolitical struggles of the Muslim world—A Sinner in Mecca portrays a gay man's participation in the Hajj; The Challenge whisks the spectator into the opulent hobbies of Qatari sheikhs. Armadillo offers an embedded perspective of the conflict in Afghanistan through the eyes of a group of Danish soldiers; Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) takes stock of a filmmaker's community before and after the US invasion of Iraq.
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The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Andrei Ujică (2010)
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Andrei Ujică / Romania-Germany, 2010
On Christmas Day, 1989, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elsa, died by firing squad—the last people to be executed by the state. A brutal dictator, Ceaușescu had presided over the country for more than three decades, helming one of the most oppressive communist regimes in Eastern Europe. While press freedom and civil liberties characterized the beginning of his reign, dissent soon became a crime punishable by death. A fearsome propaganda machine amplified Ceaușescu’s power as he laid waste to a once prosperous nation, and turned neighbor against neighbor.
Crafted from over 1,000 hours of official state broadcasts and intimate home movies, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu is a tour-de-force political documentary, providing a glimpse inside the mind of an increasingly narcissistic and paranoid leader. Andrei Ujică's third documentary premiered at Cannes, Toronto, Reykjavik, IFFR - International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Bergen International Film Festival, where it won Best International Documentary.
Khodorkovsky, Cyril Tuschi (2011)
Khodorkovsky, Cyril Tuschi / Germany, 2011
Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s life has followed a peculiar trajectory—from the top of Russian society, to a Siberian prison. His meteoric rise tracked alongside that of Putin and his sycophants amidst the cowboy capitalism characterizing post-Soviet Russia, first as the proprietor of the nation’s first private bank during the Yeltsin years, then as head of Russian oil company Yukos. Eventually, however, Khodorkovsky ran afoul of the regime, and was arrested in 2003 on dubious charges of tax evasion and fraud.
A formidable piece of investigative journalism, Khodorkovsky traces the decades-spanning metamorphosis of one of the most fascinating figures in Putin’s Russia—the rare oligarch turned political dissident. Cyril Tuschi's first documentary premiered at Berlin, Istanbul. Vancouver, and the Munich International Documentary Festival, where it won the Documentary Film Award. Khodorkovsky is a New York Times Critics' Pick.
Putin’s Kiss, Lise Birk Pedersen (2011)
Putin's Kiss, Lise Birk Pedersen / Denmark-USA, 2011
Before Nashi, teenage Masha had a pretty average middle-class life in Russia. At 16 she joined the democratic, anti-fascist and anti-oligarch-capitalist political youth movement, working her way up to leadership roles and eventually becoming the host of a state-funded television program. Over time, however, Masha forms friendships with other journalists, including Kremlin-critic Oleg Kashin, who surfaces one day brutally beaten. Cracks begin to form as her ideology, so certain in youth, is called into question.
Capturing the idealism and disenchantment of youth, Putin's Kiss offers an unconventional glimpse inside the politics of contemporary Russia. Lise Birk Pedersen's first documentary premiered at IDFA - Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, Istanbul, Hong Kong and Sundance, where it won Best Cinematography - Documentary.
A Sinner in Mecca, Parvez Sharma (2015)
A Sinner in Mecca, Parvez Sharma / USA, 2015
Parvez Sharma is a middle-aged man, Muslim and gay. His whole life he has aspired to complete the Hajj, Islam's great pilgramage to Saudi Arabia. Not only is homosexuality forbidden in Mecca: so is filming. With a hidden camera, Sharma embarks on a stunning journey inside the holy city.
At once a meditation on nonconforming sexual identity and an act of resistance against Wahabi fundamentalism, A Sinner in Mecca charts a personal odyssey of being and becoming gay within one of the world's least understood religions. Parvez Sharma's second documentary premiered at CPH:DOX, Outfest, Warsaw, and Hot Docs.
Armadillo, Janus Metz (2010)
Armadillo, Janus Metz / Denmark-Sweden, 2010
Mads and Daniel are Danish soldiers, stationed amidst NATO forces at Camp Armadillo in Afghanistan’s Hemland Province. With Taliban fighters a stone’s throw away, these young men live a rarified existence–sharing moments of camaraderie within the relative safety of the military base, while mortal danger awaits beyond. Chaos and confusion mount as civilians become nearly indistinguishable from combatants, and the objectives of their humanitarian mission are increasingly blurred.
Deconstructing the moral and ethical binaries of war, Armadillo offers an embedded perspective of the conflict in Afghanistan, all the more powerful for its evasion of easy answers. Janus Metz's second documentary premiered at Zurich and BFI London, where it won Best Documentary; and the Cannes International Film Festival, where it won the Critics' Week Grand Prize.
The Challenge, Yuri Ancarani (2016)
The Challenge, Yuri Ancarani / Italy-France, 2016
Qatari sheikhs are among the most affluent individuals on the planet. Basking in the riches of their small nation’s petrochemical boom, several convene in the desert for a sporting weekend with the most bizarre spectacles on display. One sheikh has chartered a private jet for his coterie of falcons, while another rolls up in a yellow Lamborghini with his pet cheetah.
Whisking the spectator into a surreal universe, The Challenge is quite a curious aesthetic object itself–attuned to its protagonists’ opulent lifestyles while seemingly agnostic to their profligate displays of wealth. Yuri Ancarani's second documentary premiered at SXSW - South by Southwest, IndieLisboa, Taipei, New Directors/New Films and the Locarno International Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize.
Homeland (Iraq Year Zero), Abbas Fahdel (2015)