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Tag archives for documentary

Short films – Make them, all the cool kids are doing it

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Claes, a man fighting his inner jail. Photo: Martina Carlstedt

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s Interview Man. Fighting films, one question at a time. Well maybe I’m not that bad but every time I get invited to a screening I immediately need to fire a couple of questions at the people involved. Yes, I’m weird that way and friends stop inviting me to things but it’s totally worth it. This just gives me more time to watch films.

The other day I got invited to the first screening of a short film called Claes, directed by Martina Carlstedt. She’s currently studying documentary filmmaking at the University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre (Dramatiska Institutet) and this is her latest baby.

Reality often outperform fiction says filmmaker Martina Carlstedt. Photo:Martina Carlstedt

Since visiting Uppsala Short Film Festival I’ve gotten completely hooked on shorts. I get really inspired excited by good short films and I have to say that the Uppsala festival really missed a great one because after Claes I felt like going home and paint a Jackson Pollock.

First off I want to say thank you for the screening. You and your producer, Geir Hansteen Jörgensen, were great hosts and the film was fantastic. A simple film with a huge heart that managed to catch the complex life of an old man with a fear of leaving his front door. Would this be a good way of describing the film?

Yes that is a good way of describing it. But it is also a film about fighting fears. Fears that sometimes creates an inner jail. It also highlights what lonesomeness and isolation can do to a person.

Tell me a little about the film Claes. How did it come to life?

I knew Claes when I was a little child. He was almost like a step-dad to me, a very kind, loving and social person. But when i was 6 years old he moved away and we didn’t have any contact for over 18 years. Last year I was in Gothenburg with another film project and decided to visit Claes where he lives nowadays. When I realized how he changed since i was a child, and what kind of isolated life he lives, I got very affected and sad. But I also felt his need of talking to someone about his situation. So i started filming him, without any intention of what i was gonna do with the material. His brutal honest way of describing his fears and angst in life made me feel that i had to do a film about him.

How come you decided on focusing on the genre of documentary? Is it a genre you enjoy more then others?

To me documentary and fiction have the same purpose. To tell a story that affects people in one way or another  and hopefully make people reflect a little bit differently on their own life or the world that we live in. But what I’ve experienced is that the reality often outperform fiction and I often find the stories I want to tell in my surroundings, in my reality as I see it.

Tell us a little bit about the process, how has it been? Has it been a struggle? A labor of love?

The process of making this film was really hard from time to time. It’s hard to be close to a person who is suffering. I wanted to understand his inner conflicts and isolation. This affected me mentally more then I could have imagined. I reflected a lot on my life during this process and filming claes was a bit like  therapy for me and him. I felt like Claes looked at the camera as someone who finally listened to him.

How do you feel now when you’ve released Claes into the world? Nervous, excited, sad?

I feel both nervous and excited. The most important for me was that Claes felt OK with me doing this film. He has seen it and feels good about it. Now i just hope that people will see it and hopefully gain something.

Since Uppsala Short Film Festival has already been this year, are there plans on next year? Have you sent it to any other festivals?

I’ll try to send it to Uppsala next year. Now we’ll see if Gothenburgs Film Festival and the documentary film festival Tempo wants a piece of it.

Chris Gardner - Film

November 14, 2010

A serious dose of Swedish film: part 2

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The block that impressed me the most yesterday was the last one and I will be focusing on that one now. The block was called Här & nu (Here & now) and it’s all film from Uppland. This doesn’t mean it’s necessarily filmed here, just that it’s got production connections to Uppland.

First I just have to squeeze in a film by the name of The Jaukka Brothers (Bröderna Jaukka). It’s written and directed by Peter Grönlund and it’s one of my favourites of the festival for one reason and one reason only, the genre. The film is a small crime tale that creates great tension. Jani and Toumas are brothers. They are in the business of robbing and burglary. In other words, not the kind of guys you want your daughter bringing home for dinner. The film takes place during a meeting between these brothers and a Russian by the name Micha. Of course Micha has his crew of bad guys with him and there’s something rotting in Denmark. It’s fantastic how quickly the film gets you on pins and needles and keeps you there until the end credits. Check it out if you get the chance.

But back to the Here & now block of films. There were quite a few that deserve your attention. The first one of the night, A Moment Of Reality (Yek Lahzeh Az Yek Vagheiyat), is probably the strongest documentary so far. It’s about the Iranian election in 2009 and the whole thing is filmed by eyewitnesses of the riots that broke out during this time. I have to warn the little more sensitive people out there that you do see people die on screen. It’s a strong statement from the film maker, Sara Sam.

Another short but lovely film was the documentary Hand Gymnastics (Handgymnastik). We get to join a group of elderly ladies sitting around a table doing hand gymnastics. It’s made in a very simple way but delivers a lot of heart and gave the audiences probably the biggest laughs of the night.

The film makers of Hand Gymnastics, Ellen Fiske, Caroline Gynther and Cajsa Jönsson, are probably very hungry film makers because they actually had two films in this block. The other one, We Are Fourteen (Vi är fjorton år), is about three teenage girls that are best friends and we get to follow them through their daily lives. It’s a great insight to the sort of teenager that normally really bug me. We are talking about the girls that use way to much make-up and way to little brain power. In my head it’s the people that would sit in the back of the class and eat crayons if you told them it would make them smarter. This film was little over 30 minutes long but never felt boring. It was interesting and very funny. And to be fair, I would sit in the back and eat crayons as well if someone told me I would get a script sold.

I have reached out to the film makers of these two films and asked for an interview. Let’s see if they reach back.

Chris Gardner - Film

October 27, 2010

A serious dose of Swedish film: part 1

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It’s getting cold outside but thank God the theaters are only a stone throw away from each other with a warm pub in between. Today has been a great day of film watching. It started off with some great international films from countries like Argentina, Hungary and Australia. The strongest film of the morning went to the Mexican film Dolls (Muñecas). This is maybe not the best film of the festival but without a doubt one of the heaviest and darkest. It’s impossible not to be affected by it and truly is a great piece of film making.

After that block of films I gave myself a nice two hour break. Gave myself a chance to look around and breath a little Uppsala air and one thing’s for sure. It’s small! I’ve been in bigger shopping malls during my visits in USA. But that doesn’t take away the fact that Uppsala really is a beautiful city. Actually, my “walkabout” wasn’t really to play tourist for a few hours. I was using the time to prepare for my next mission, to sit through 8 hours of film. And since I missed some Swedish films yesterday I felt this was my chance for redemption. I was going to watch 8 hours of SWEDISH film.

I need to clear something up with everybody. I can have a hard time with films that try too much to be something they’re not. In other words, pretentious films can really rub me the wrong way. However, since I’m not a hater I will instead focus on the better films (and hate the bad ones in silent).

The first Swedish film that really stood out for me was Tussilago by Jonas Odell. It’s the best animated film of the festival so far in my eyes and it tells a very interesting story about the west german terrorist Norbert Kröcher. The whole film is told from his girlfriends point of view. It’s very well made and feeds you information and animation constantly.

Another great one was Incident By A Bank (Händelse vid bank) by the director Ruben Östlund. The whole film is in one shoot and covers a bank robbery. In this film we have over 90 extras all doing different things so as a director Östlund really shows that he knows what he’s doing. It’s really impressive. I understand why he won the Gold Bear for best short at the Berlin film festival. It’s easy to say that this is a strong contender in winning Best Film here in Uppsala as well.

One film that I personally think no one should miss is I’m Painting Some Imagination (Jag målar lite fantasi). It’s a documentary about two mentally disabled people expressing themselves through art. One of them, Anette, does very basic drawings but gives away the different emotions she’s going through. The other artist, Johannes, really does amazing things. He paints and sculpts. One of the things he likes to do is paint his interpretation of classic pieces from artists like Da Vinci or Munch. The film is truly fascinating

To go through all of the greats and not so greats would result in a text of epic proportion so instead I thought why not divide it into two posts? So be patient. It will be continued.

Chris Gardner - Film

October 27, 2010

And we’re off!

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My new necklace. Isn't it a beauty? Photo: Chris Gardner

First day is almost done but it’s a wrap with film watching for me. I’ve already seen 26 films from a variety of countries. Sadly today the Swedish film blocks had the worst times for me. Don’t hate me, I had to eat. That being said I still managed to squeeze in some Swedish films.

One of the strongest films of the day is a film from Croatia called Party (Tulum). It’s about a woman that goes out and has fun with some friends. She then falls asleep and wakes up in a completely different place. Not only was this the first film of the day that I felt had a good ending, it also had a great feeling to it.

I hate to rain on any one’s parade because I know the effort, time and passion it takes to make a film but the films I really didn’t share that passion for were Maybe Siam from Germany, A Galaxy Over There from the UK and Little Hans (Hänschen Klein) from Germany.

I would give “The best film of the day award” to the Norwegian film Samaritan (Samaritanen). It’s about a Norwegian man that is in desperate need of affection. One day he accidentally hits an immigrant with his car and offers to take care of him. I felt that this film had the best acting and editing. It was tight and no scene felt unnecessary.

Then we have a film called 1987-1993 which is a Swedish/Norwegian documentary about Marius who spent 7 years finding the perfect snowboard jump. To document this he had his mom taking pictures and that is the documentary. A series of photographs with the moms voice over it. Sadly enough the film felt 7 years long.

Now it’s time for the party that celebrates the start of the festival.

Chris Gardner - Film

October 25, 2010