The Aye Aye festival hosts every year a special programme section with focus on Eastern Europe, the "Orient-Express", covering various film genres, from animation and documentaries to fiction films. A special attention is dedicated to the Balkan cinematography this year.
Aye Aye Film Festival Nancy-Lorraine, France
September 1 – 10, 2011
East Silver Caravan titles in programme:
Cinema Komunisto
Director: Turajlic Mila
Producer: Pesikan Dragan, Turajlic Mila
Production company: Cinema Komunisto, Intermedia network, Dribbling Pictures, ERT S.A. - Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation
Cinema Komunisto, Serbia, 2010, 100 min, Digi Beta, HD, Arts and Culture, Creative, History, Politics, Society
When reality has a different script from the one in your films, who wouldn't invent a country to fool themselves? Using rare footage from dozens of forgotten Yugoslav films, as well as never-seen-before archive from film sets and Tito’s private screenings, the documentary recreates the narrative of a country, the stories told on screen and the ones hidden behind it. Stars such as Richard Burton, Sofia Loren and Orson Welles add a touch of glamour to the national effort, appearing in super-productions financed by the state. Tito’s favorite film director, his projectionist who showed him films every night for 30 years, the most famous actor of partisan films, and the director of the film studios who was a secret policeman – all tell how the history of Yugoslavia was constructed on the screen.
East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2011 / East Silver TV Focus 2011 / Docu Talents From the East 2008 /
Dancing into Solitude
Director: Sommerová Olga
Producer: Konířová Jarmila
Production company: Originální videojournal
Do samoty v tanci, Czech Republic, 2009, 56 min, Digi Beta, Arts and Culture, Music, Politics
A musical and documentary composition about a life of the biggest Czech heroineof the 20th century, an enemy of the Nazi and the communist regimes, Dr. MiladaHorakova, the only woman who was executed during trumped-up trials directed by the felonious communist regime in the 1950's. The film does not only look into a making of an opera production, it also reflects a fate of a brave woman leading an unequal fight with a totalitarian power. The film is built upon an opera staging of the trial, with authentic archive footage of the trial and interviews with creators of the opera.
East Silver 2009
Pit No. 8
Director: Kaat Marianna
Producer: Kaat Marianna
Production company: Baltic Film Production, Interfilm Production Studio
Auk Nr 8, Estonia, Ukraine, 2010, 95 min, HD, Creative, Personal View, Social Issues
In the heart of a once thriving Ukrainian coal-mining region everybody digs – retirees, unemployed miners and even the children. Years ago, the town's desperate residents decided to start mining illegally; they excavate everywhere!!! The story focuses on the Sikanov family, which has three children. 15-year-old Yura, the grandson of a powerful Soviet plant director, is the head of the family working as a miner in the illegal pit. Most Jura wants to run his own cafe somewhere far from home, but the responsibility for the two sisters and looming economic crisis pushes his dreams in the distant future.
East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010 / East European Forum 2008 /Silver Eye Nominees 2010 / Docu Talents from the East 2010
Selected East Silver docs in programme:
Tobacco Girl
Director: Garvanlieva Biljana
Producer: Beetz Christian
Production company: Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion
Tabakmädchen, Germany, Macedonia, 2009, 29 min, HD, Social Issues, Society
Mumine, a 14year old Turkish girl lives with her family in the high mountains of Macedonia. Her family belongs to the Turkish minority. Mumine’s family needs her for the difficult work in the tobacco fields – their only source of income. Mumine is raised in the tobacco plants and the things that are ripe are sold. She is sold to her future husband for 3000 Euros. Will she find a way out from this ‘law of nature’? She has two possibilities in the village: either to be married or to go to school, but then to be sold to her husband for a higher price. It is her dream to move to the city Skopje to go to school. She wants to become a teacher.
East Silver 2010
Village Without Women
Director: Sarenac Srdjan
Producer: Robin-You Estelle
Production company: Les films du balibari, Mainframe Film Production
Selo bez žena, Croatia, France, 2010, 83 min, Digi Beta, HD, Creative, Social Issues, Society
In Southwest Serbia, atop a mountain and four kilometres from the nearest road, the Jankovic brothers hold down the fort in the womanless village of Zabrdje. Dragan, Zoran, and Rodoljub, along with their neighbour, Velimir, represent the entire population of what was once a vibrant rural community. They live in tough conditions. No running water, no roads, not even a hint of a woman’s touch. Not to mention, the three brothers still share the same bedroom. Zoran, the eldest brother, dreams of marrying a woman capable of handling life in Zabrdje. Can he fulfil his dream and renew hope in his village?
East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010 / East European Forum 2008 / Ex Oriente Film 2008 /Docu Talents From the East 2009 /
