The United Nations Association Film Festival, which celebrates the power of films dealing with human rights, environmental themes, population, migration etc., chooses education as its main theme for this year (“Education is a human right”). The 14th UNAFF is organized in cooperation with the Stanford Film Society and the UNA Midpeninsula Chapter.
14th UNAFF, USA
October 21 – 30, 2011
Selected East Silver titles in programme:
Paradise Hotel
Director: Tzavella Sophia
Producer: Bozhilova Martichka
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 2010 / Silver Eye Nominee 2010
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 /
Our School
Director: Coca-Cozma Miruna, Nicoară Mona
Producer: Coca-Cozma Miruna, Nicoară Mona
Production company: Sat Mic Film, Motto Pictures
Şcoala Noastră, Romania, Switzerland, USA, 2011, 93 min, 35 mm, Beta, DVD, HD, Creative, Human Rights, Social Issues
Alin, Beniamin, and Dana fighting to overcome racism as they are moved from a dead-end Roma school into a mainstream Romanian school. Alin falters in isolation, while Beniamin finds the strength to stay on in the friendship of Romanian classmates. Dana abandons school for early marriage and motherhood. Shot over four years, the film follows the workings of race relations from close up. The hand-held camera allows for the complex construction of scenes, lingering on whispered exchanges between children during class and using the evocative settings of the small Transylvanian town to convey the subtle shifts in atmosphere that come with fear of change and unresolved, long-standing racial tension.
East Silver 2011
