Official Section
FIRST WORK
FIRE UNDER THE SNOW
Makoto Sasa / 52´ / 2008 / USA / Betacam SP
Direction: Makoto Sasa
Script: Makoto Sasa
Production: Jim Browne, Vlada Nikolic
Cinematography: Vladimir Subotic, Lincoln Maguire, Makoto Sasa
Editing: Milica Zec
Sound: Aleksandar Protic
Original Music: Chöying Drolma & Steve Tibbetts, Nawang, Khechog, Yungcheng Lhamo, Aaron Mendez
A spirit unbroken by torture for 33 years. A life devoted to the struggle for freedom. Tibetan Buddhist monk Palden Gyatso was incarcerated by the Chinese Army from 1959 until 1992. And his fight continues. Featuring extraordinary historical footage and interviews with the Dalai Lama and others, this captivating and heart-breaking story of an exceptional man is a must-see!
MAKOTO SASA studied Media at Keio University in Japan, and moved to New York City in 1998. She has made several short documentaries, worked as assistant editor for the 35mm features Going Under (2003) starring Roger Rees, and Love (2004). She was the editor and associate producer for a feature documentary about a Japanese photographer. It won the Best Editing Award at the Honolulu International Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the Brooklyn International Film Festival, got theatrical and TV distribution in the U.S., Japan, Canada, and the U.K. Recently, Makoto has been directing and editing several documentaries for Sony Japan's broadband streaming video website "World Event Village".
MINAMI EM CLOSE-UP – A BOCA EM REVISTA / MINAMI IN CLOSE-UP – THE BOCA IN REVIEW
Thiago Mendonça / 19´ / 2008 / Brazil / Betacam SP
Direction: Thiago Mendonça
Script: Thiago Mendonça
Production: Van Fresnot
Cinematography: André Carvalheira
Editing: Fernando Fonini
Sound: Miquéias Motta
Original Music: Zeca Loureiro
A Boca do Lixo – “lixo” means rubbish in Portuguese – is a region in the centre of Sao Paolo stigmatised due to drug trafficking and prostitution. During the 1970s, the production of some very popular films, which are now known as Cine da Boca, took place there. The magazine, Cinema en Close-up became a popular success with the publication of photos of actresses in sensual poses. The magazine is the starting point for telling the story of the Boca films and their characters.
THIAGO MENDONÇA, born in São Paulo where he studies sociology and cinema. Before Minami in Close-up – the Boca in review, his first film, he had worked writing articles about cinema and music for magazines and newspapers in Brazil.
MALABO BARRIO X
Marc Tardiu, Uri Rivero / 53´ / 2009 / Spain / Betacam SP
Direction: Marc Tardiu, Uri Rivero
Script: Juan Antonio Rodríguez, Marc Tardiu, Uri Rivero
Production: Juan Antonio Domínguez
Cinematography: Gabriel Vila
Editing: Luis Vecino
Sound: Angel Berbiela
Original Music: Iván Palomares
Life passes slowly and in silence in Equatorial Guinea under the weight of the military regime and living conditions that are worse than precarious. However, in the district of Ela Nguema, on the outskirts of Malabo, a group of young people are combating the silence with their rap music. Malabo Barrio X is a story of personally overcoming the circumstances and of the search for identity in a globalised world; but, above all, it is the story of an iron friendship, wrought through rhymes and microphones.
MARC TARDIU (1977). He is a graduate in French and Audiovisual Communication. He has worked for Terrat and Gestmusic as an operator and floor manager. He has also worked as Director’s Assistant on film productions, the last of which was Biutiful, by Alejandro Iñárritu. Malabo Barrio X is his first work as director.
URI RIVERO (Barcelona, 1981). He is a graduate in Audiovisual Communication (UPF) and has been working in television for over nine years: Televisión Española (TVE), Televisió de Catalunya (TV3), Gestmusic Endemol and El Terrat. For the last three years he has been the First Production Assistant at El Hormiguero (Cuatro). Malabo Barrio-X is his first documentary as Director.
REBULDING
Eduardo Moratalla / 2008 / 24´/ Spain, Peru / DVCAM
Direction: Eduardo Moratalla
Script: Eduardo Moratalla
Production: Eduardo Moratalla
Cinematography: Eduardo Moratalla
Editing: Eduardo Moratalla
Sound: María Jiménez, Joaquín Rebollo
On 15th August 2007, Peru suffered one of the most devastating earthquakes in its history. One year later, a group of forty volunteers come to work on the reconstruction of one of the damaged villages. The internal fighting in the village complicates the task. As the days advance, the envy and rancour among the residents of the village frustrate the objectives of the volunteers.
EDUARDO MORATALLA. Under reconstruction is the first documentary by the Madrid filmmaker, Eduardo Moratalla. He graduated in Journalism in 2003. His career has been divided between journalism and the audiovisual sector. He currently is head of the Grabarte production company, with which he carries out his documentary and fiction projects. He was selected in 2006 for the pitching at Mercadoc in Malaga with his documentary project, Haydée, una heroína olvidada. He also participated as a scriptwriter and director of photography in the documentary, La Marea. He was film editor for the Cuban short, El Escaparate, selected at the Pobre de Givara Film Festival 2005 (Cuba).
MY FUTURE
Lieven Corthouts / 50´ / 2008 / Belgium / Betacam SP
Direction: Lieven Corthouts
Script: Lieven Corthouts
Production: Eric Goossens, Frederik Nikolai
Cinematography: Lieven Corthouts
Editing: Nathalie Cools
Sound: Steve Thielamans
Original Music: Ethiopique designed by Peter Van Laerhoven
A small village in the northern highlands of Ethiopia. The students of grade 10 just finished their final exam. The result will be so important that it will change their lives. If they pass, they can go to the city of Mekelle. So also Tsega, if she passes and her mother lets her go, she can study in Mekelle. If she fails she has to stay in the villa
LIEVEN CORTHOUTS. He has not studied at any film school but he has an enormous interest in photography and cinema. Thanks to the Flemish Film Fund, Belgian Cooperative, Off World and Rolf Orthel (Bert Haanstra), he was able to make his first documentary in 2008, My future. The premiere in Belgium and Ethiopia was a great success. He has attended the Idfa Academy and the Berlinale Talent Campus.
SONBOL
Niko Apel / 54´ / 2008 / Germany / Betacam SP
Direction: Niko Apel
Script: Niko Apel
Production: Jochen Laube
Cinematography: Beate Scherer
Editing: Ben von Grafenstein
Sound: Axel Wolf
Being a 35 years old divorced woman with a dental surgery, a passion for car rallyes and for telling dirty jokes lets you stand out of the crowd if you are living in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Sonbol constantly questions the rules and values of her society in order to be herself.
NIKO APEL was born in Frankfurt in 1978. While he was studying, he worked at a film club where he presented selected films. At the same time, he also shot a number of short movies. He began studying documentary film at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. Besides documentaries such as Genova città aperta (2001) and If dogs run free (2002), he has also made the short films Prime Time (2003), Gülay (2004) and the biopic Pake (2006). Besides this activity, he has also written a number of screenplays. Sonbol was made as his final student graduation film. This year Sonbol won a prestigious “First Steps Award”.
LE REFLET / THE IMAGE
Direction: Jérôme Amimer
Guión: Jérôme AmimerProducción: Jérôme Amimer, Guillaume Coudray
Fotografía: Audrius Kemezys
Edición: Julie Duclaux
Sonido: Algis Alpanavicius
Música Original: Sylvain Chauveau
In 1942, my grandmother had to leave her village in Russia burned by the Germans. She was 25 years old. She died thirty six years later, here, in France. I was 10. About her I know only few things. 65 years later, I went there, in Russia, to step out of the silence. Bringing back sounds and images that could have been hers, trying to find what she had left, what was lost, what was unknown to me but was still mine.
JÉRÔME AMIMER was born in France 1967. He was studied history and cinema. He was a projectionist. He's a producer of documentary films for ten years. He's become director in 2008 when he made his first fi lm Le Reflet. Now he prepares his next film The Way.
WALIDIEN, CHILDREN OF OTHERS / WALIDEN
Awa Traoré / 52’/ 2009 / Mali, Senegal, France
Direction: Awa Traore
Script: Awa Traore
Production: Les Films d’un Jour, Karoninka
Cinematography: Aldo Lee
Editing: Yaël Bitton
Sound: Yiriye Sabo
In Mali, as in many countries in Africa, traditional adoption used to positively consolidate the ties within the family. Nowadays, mentalities are changing and believes are being lost; as a result, adoption can become a nightmare for the child, as it was the case for the director for about 10 years of her life. In this film, Awa Traore sheds a light on what remained unspoken for too long: the experience of a waliden who has suffered mistreatments upon being adopted traditionally.
AWA TRAORÉ is a young and talented malian documentary filmmaker. Waliden, Children of Others is her first film. From her personal experience, she questioned the practice of traditional adoption of children in her country, Mali.