DokuFest – International Documentary and Short Film Festival
July 7 – 15, 2012, Prizren, Kosovo
This year’s pick for the Green Dox competition includes Rainer Ludwigs’s creative caravan short Leonid’s Story. The section devoted to environmental issues will present the German-Ukrainian production as the only East European title among 6 documentaries. Dispatched through the caravan to compete in Prizren was also the enormously successful Romanian documentary animation Crulic: A Path to Beyond by Anca Damian. The intensive diary of an innocent prisoner features within Human Rights Dox section together with the recently added Austrian production Mama Illegal which provides a deep insight into the minds and lives of Moldavian families that strive home with their mothers laboring abroad.
The most eyed section of all is Balkan Dox – starting the competition of 12 short and feature docs originating in the Southeastern Europe. Among them is another newly admitted caravan member Family Meals, directed by Dana Budisavljević. The director’s personal excursion into her own family’s regular debates finally concludes in Kosovo after it starred at several industry events like 2010 East European Forum, last year’s Rough Cut Boutique in Sarajevo, or East Silver Market held this March in Prague. The same programme selection is going to refresh DokuFest audiences with this year’s France 4 Visionary Award winner in Cannes, Ilian Metev’s Bulgarian doc Sofia’s Last Ambulance, former participant at several IDF events.
The non-competition programme deals with a variety of perspectives on different regions and themes – from Kosovan, Polish, Russian or Albanian cinema tours to Alain Resnais, music docs, Arab revolution or youth cinema. A programme choice titled Dealing with the Past features among others also last year’s Best Balkan Documentary Award winner A Letter to Dad by Srdjan Keca, a member of the 2012 East Silver Caravan. Irena Fabri’s directing debut Awakening, included in Teens on Film selection, is another caravan title that appears at DokuFest.
For complete programme visit the official DokuFest website.
Films submitted through East Silver Caravan:
Crulic - The Path to Beyond
Crulic - Drumul spre dincolo , Poland, Romania, 2011, 69 min, 35 mm, DCP, Digi Beta, HD, Animated, Drama doc, Human Rights, Social Issues
The animated documentary feature "Crulic - The Path to Beyond" tells the story of Crulic, a 33-year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on a hunger strike. The story is told from the point of view of Crulic, in the present tense, after his death. A strong visual style, the result of beautifully blending hand-drawn collage, stop-motion and cut-cut animation techniques, create a striking, surprisingly integrated and memorable film.
East Silver / East Silver Caravan 2012
Leonid's Story
Istoriya Leonida , Germany, Ukraine, 2011, 19 min, DVD, Animated, Environmental, History, Human Rights
A Soviet family searching for a modest paradise is swept into an immense disaster. Chernobyl 1986. Leonid grew up in the village next to the reactor. The film comprehends the development of this world disaster through the destiny of the protagonist and his family. The small episodes reconstruct the emotional dimension of the tragedy: The children who run to the burning reactor, getting a look at the spectacular drama, the unsuspecting village people in the surrounded area, the animals which remain behind after the evacuation, and the helpless tries of mankind to eliminate the impact of the nuclear disaster, accompanied by the faceless Soviet system. In the end there is a happy ending: The triumph of life over the disaster.
East Silver / East Silver Caravan 2012
Recently added East Silver Caravan films in the programme:
Mama Illegal
Mama Illegal , Austria, 2011, 95 min, HD, Drama doc, Human Rights, Reportage, Social Issues
They gave the smugglers all their money and risk their life on their journey across borders: Three women from a small town in Moldavia, living now in Austria as cleaning women. On top of their hard job they live a life in illegality without documents, far away from their children and family for years.
East Silver / East Silver Caravan 2012
Family Meals
Nije ti život pjesma Havaja , Croatia, 2012, 49 min, Digi Beta, HD, Creative, Personal View, Society
Do you remember when was the last time you talked to your parents? What did you talk about? Did you go a step beyond weather forecast and daily politics? Can a conversation about buried family secrets help you eat without cramps in your stomach? Can a failed birthday cake help you embrace the past? A birthday celebration brings together an ordinary four member family five years after their last gathering. They start questioning what made them turn away from each other. Through the ritual of family meals, the film unveils how important it is to feel accepted by our loved ones.
East Silver / East Silver Caravan 2012
Awakening
Budjenje , Serbia, 2011, 85 min, DVD, HD, Current Affairs, Personal View, Politics, Social Issues
Ten years after Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown and the democracy officially came to Serbia, the society is still in chaos, burdened with corruption, violence towards minorities, strikes… The movie portrays this transitional chaos from a generational and personal perspective. Three young people keep their video diaries. Vladimir (26) is an art historian, a dandy who occasionally works in a factory in order to help his single mother and younger brother. Marija (20) is a student of Faculty of Dramatic Arts who recently stayed without parents. Branislav (23) - is trying to finish his studies facing the difficulties of life of a guy from Kosovo, living in the capital.
