myDylarama

Flying Paper (2013)

Tilly Lunken — 2013-05-20T10:38:37Z

Flying Paper (2013) Nitin Sawhney and Roger Hill is the sort of film that captures your heart as much as your politics. It involves adorably precocious children, wonderful ocean views, cute animations and a story that really opens your eyes to the lives of people under occupation.

The blurb describes a film about the “creative resilience of children” but really Flying Paper is about so much more than that. It is about embracing and using your own culture as a way to celebrate your identity in the face of oppression. It is about how the UN and the international community can have a practical impact on children's lives. It is about freedom.

It might be sweet to be a small child flying a kite, capturing the sky and the freedom of wind but there is nothing sweet that this same small child's only chance of experiencing freedom flying this kite. Flying Paper never lets us quite forget this and this is a great strength of the film. It asks its audience, please, laugh with us, share in our joy but do not forget our pain and our reality.

The joy of kite flying can be experienced by everyone, with minimal tools. Kite culture in Gaza is an important tradition, it is a skill passed down through generations and it is increasingly becoming a symbol of what can be achieved by the occupied territory. These kids hold world records, they make beautiful objects and they can fly.

The film is an excellent portrait of a country, crawling out of ruins and into an uncertain future. If Palestine does this with the grins, creativity, passion and skills of these kids then it has a fighting chance.

Blood on the Condor (1969)

Tilly Lunken — 2013-05-20T10:34:34Z

In the programs for film festivals there are always a few films that on the surface appear a little out of place. Blood on the Condor directed by Jorge Sanjines is a 1969 film set in Bolivia and yet, it deeply resonates through our contemporary life and understanding of the occupied Palestinian State. It is an activist film that explores an oppressed people can be manipulated and subjected to unspeakable acts by a government sanctioned colonising force. A small rural Bolivian community that has recently survived a plague that ravaged their town are now part of a eugenics program. In the battle to save their traditions and protect their future a leader is injured and his wife accompanies him to the city. Once there, despite of the best efforts of his brother this man and is left to die by a society absolves itself from his life.

Blood on the Condor is a classic print, it had great political impact at the time and it was fascinating to watch as it was on real (and scratched) film. It has an impressive soundtrack, included original subtitles and really is an iconic window into both how film can impact an activist cause and cinema history. Interestingly, Sanjines chose to use local and indigenous people in this film and it shows sometimes in the acting; however this choice impacts on the heart and soul of this film and ultimately is an empowering decision for the story.

This film is relevant, should continue to be relevant and hopefully with the discovery of this print and its redistribution, become even more relevant to a new generation of film goers and activists.

Nordic Film Festival: Olafur Eliasson Space is Process

Tilly Lunken — 2012-12-06T06:49:48Z

OLAFUR ELIASSON: SPACE IS PROCESS
Jacob Jørgensen/Henrik Lundø; Denmark 2010; 76 mins; UK Premiere

Space is Process is a documentary that follows Olafur Eliasson in the time leading up to the realisation of his Waterfalls intstallations along the Hudson River and his retrospective exhibition at the MOMA in New York. Throughout we see his process and get to experience his art through his philosophies about space. “What is it that makes space productive?” he asks us and what we receive is not so much an answer but a series of reflections on his art and practice.

Even the form of the film itself engages with his ideas – the viewer is frequently encouraged to explore their special interaction with the screen. As with much of Eliasson's artwork we become part of the art itself. This is the first film I have been to where I have been instructed to look away from the screen and experience the space around me in relation to the light from the screen. It all ties back to his philosophy of how we interact with the world and is a beautifully practical way for the audience to experience this.

The documentary gives insight into the artistic process of Eliasson, his workshops and his methods. Like many artists, Eliasson works with teams of people, all contributing to the project but he is very hands on and involved every step of the way. There is no doubt he is invested in his art – as we watch him winched over holes on a glacier it becomes impossible to disassociate him from any of it, regardless of his collaborators.

For one so clearly engaged and responsive to art, this artist is quite reserved about forcing his opinion and interpretation on his public, he argues that his work is “open and inclusive” and to impose a meaning would restrict the potential options for engaging with the art. Eliasson himself is incredibly charismatic. He demonstrates an incredible drive and commitment to his practice but this is tempered with good humour and the cheeky grin of someone who still can't quite believe he is able create what he does.

At points there could be arguments for a more focused direction and structure of this film. It leaps about a bit in time, content and form. However, process is by its very nature not necessarily clean, precise and beautifully finished and so the style actually works well for the subject and isn't too distracting. After all uniting it all is Eliasson. This film seeks to provoke thoughts about art, space and process and it does achieve all of this, but what it ultimately produces is an intriguing and intimate portrait of the artist himself.

This film was screened as part of the inaugural Nordic Film Festival.

Romanian Film Festival - Periferic

Tilly Lunken — 2012-11-26T13:37:03Z

Established in 2003, The Romanian Film Festival is in its 9th year and is continuing to bring the best of Romanian films to a wider audience. Periferic (aka. Outbound) is the debut feature film from the New York based Romanian filmmaker Bogdan George Apetri. Matilda is given a twenty-four hour release from prison to attend her estranged mother's funeral and uses the opportunity to execute an escape plan.

What Apertri essentially does is capture a day in the life of this woman. This is a character based film and through the action that occurs and her encounters with the three most important men in her life we gain a deeper understanding of who she is, what she has been and why she wants to leave.

Lead actress Ana Ularu delivers a tremendous performance as Matilda. She insists “actresses always want to play the loving mother, but it's a trick … [we are] not interested in something that is to going to exercise us in anyway.” It is clear that she relished the chance to play such a character. A character that she describes as “dehumanised in everyway” proves mesmerising portrait on screen.

The film as a whole has a strong forward momentum but the steady pace isn't frantic, much like its central character it is focused. In many ways we experience it all through her perspective, a fact which is reinforced with lovely symbolic corridor shots that echo her life on the inside. When this base-line intensity is punctured occasionally by moments of unexpected violence and humour they jump out as if they escaped from her control.

Using the technique “bleach bypass” Apertri filters our reception of this world with a limited colour palette. It is beautiful and the light washes over it with “a cold looking sun… [but] it's not hot because it is summer, it's hot because it is hell.” It's an interesting effect because it delivers sharp lines in close up and yet smudges the edges of the wider frame, much like memory. In many ways this stylistic decision actually delivers a more authentic, more real manifestation of the action. This perhaps isn't the act of seeing unfolding action; it could be memory. Whatever it is, it is it feels an incredibly personal to the lead character.

As we leave Matilda at the end of the film, the question is open – not complete. As she stares defiantly at the sunrise, we are left wondering what life will throw next at this woman, but as Ana says “she's still standing” so whatever it is, we know she'll survive.

The Romanian Film Festival in London, THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE 2012

Tilly Lunken — 2012-11-24T04:11:29Z

The Romanian Film Festival in London brings an extraordinary line-up of new and exciting films, between 22- 25 November 2012, at Curzon Renoir Cinema - Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Profusion International who are behind the festival are also the people behind the Profusion Crime Series, a collection of crime writing from Eastern Europe.

The films are screened at the Renoir Cinema, London WC1A 1AW (Tube: Russell Square)

Festival programme here: www.rofilmfest.com/c/1/programme

Special guests include Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur, stars of ‘Beyond the Hills', Rodica Lazar (Principles of Life), Ana Ularu (Periferic), Victor Rebengiuc (Medal of Honour).

"The Romanian Film Festival took off in 2003, as a way of putting Romanian film makers and their fans together. The Romanian New Wave was beginning to emerge at that time as well, highlighting remarkable actors and young directors. Supported and inspired by these sparkling new talents the Romanian Festival went from strength to strength." Press release, RoFF