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BelDocs with Caravan Films

Belgrade’s documentary film festival Beldocs 2011, which takes place at the beginning of May, will present 5 Caravan titles, including Silver Eye Award winner, Family Instinct by Latvian director Andris Gauja, Bulgarian Paradise Hotel, at goEast recently awarded A Piece of Summer or Kosovian Seeking Magic. Beldocs offers a presentation of new Serbian documentaries as well; including a recent Caravan hit Cinema Komunisto by Mila Turajlic.

Apart from the international and Serbian films, the festival will present special section of German documentaries (prepared in cooperation with DOK Leipzig) – one of them, 9 Lives, can be found in East Silver Market 2010 as well.

Beldocs 2011, Belgrade, Serbia
May 4 – 11, 2011



Selected East Silver films in Beldocs programme:

A Piece of Summer

Production company: Polish Filmmakers Association

Kawalek lata, Poland, 2010, 24 min, Digi Beta, Portrait

It is the last days of the summer holidays. A grandfather, who works in Bieszczady Mountains, awaits the arrival of his grandson. Surrounded by wild nature they try to reach an understanding of each other. The camera keenly observes, with slow and subtle pace, a developing relationship to one another and to the world that envelopes them.

East Silver 2010

 

Cinema Komunisto

Director: 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

 

Paradise Hotel

Director: Tzavella Sophia
Production company: Agitprop Ltd., HBO Bulgaria

Hotel Rai, Bulgaria, 2010, 54 min, Beta SP, Human Rights, Social Issues, Society

The young Demir dreams of a wedding. But his Roma tower block at the outskirts of a provincial town in Bulgaria is no place for romance. 25 years ago it had all it takes for panel socialist heaven: from parquet floors to intercom, the coveted hot water central, street lamps, benches under murmuring apple trees. Someone called the place Paradise Hotel – and the name stuck. But now? The parquet disappeared. The water stopped. The lights went off. And if you cross the field behind Paradise Hotel, you will see Bozhidar “The God Given” who protects everyone from evil and excessive happiness in a documentary about panel integration, love, misery, a lot of dreams, a little lyrics and one Gypsy wedding.

East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2011 / Silver Eye 2010 Nominees

 

Seeking Magic

Production company: Crossing Bridges Productions

Tu e lyp' magjine, Kosovo, 2009, 36 min, HD, Anthropology

In a world where black magic and witch doctors are considered a thing of the mythical past, "Seeking Magic" takes us to Kosova, a land caught between times, where many still visit mystical healers for guidance and cures to their ailments. This documentary follows the journeys of two young women, who after losing hope in other avenues, each turns to such magical doctors with their problems. But are the healers just another part of the patriarchal system that has traumatized the very women who come to them for help, or are they truly casting away evil spells and bringing luck upon their patients?

East Silver 2010

 

Family Instinct

Director: Gauja Andris
Producer: Melberga Madara
Production company: Fa Filma

Ģimenes lietas , Latvia, 2010, 58 min, HD, Drama doc, Portrait, Social Issues

"Family Instinct" is a film about incest - an illegal act, social taboo and a violation of religious norms. Zanda is a 28-year-old woman, worn out by hard work. Surrounded by poverty and despair, she is trying to survive with her two children in a god-forsaken Latvian village. Her hardships can be traced back to living in a relationship with her brother Valdis. When Valdis is put in jail, the local community forces her to make a difficult choice: to stay with him or with her children. Despite her ill fortune, she manages to express her love for the children, still hoping to save her family. The film offers a tragicomic but highly authentic insight into the bleak reality of Latvian countryside today.

East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2011 / Silver Eye 2010 Nominees / Silver Eye Winner 2010 / Docu Talents from the East 2010