EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2023 Documentary Special Screenings

Monday October 30th, 2023

We announce the Documentary Special Screenings of the 31^st edition of EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival.

ALEXANDER

Documentary portrait of the Polish artist Aleksander Dętkoś.

Original title: Aleksander
Director: Dariusz Gackowski
Cinematographers: Dariusz Gackowski, Artur Homan
Produced by: Dariusz Gackowski
Country and year: Poland, 2023

AND THE KING SAID, WHAT A FANTASTIC MACHINE!

photo by Alexander Tikhomirov

A film journey through the historically vast ocean of contemporary media culture, where we can find out how the camera obscura was created, watch the first moving image demonstration, see the invention of the webcam, visit today’s Hollywood and learn more about a world filled with 45 billion cameras. The documentary broadens our understanding of the visual world we now live in, asking questions about humanity’s uncontrollable obsession with the image and the social consequences it entails.

Director: Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck
Produced by: Plattform Produktion
Country and year: Denmark, Sweden, 2023

ANSELM

The portrait of German artist Anselm Kiefer presented at Cannes is like his large-scale sculptures - monumental yet still embracing the human perspective. And it is certainly not a conventional documentary featuring talking heads. After the memorable Pina, Wim Wenders offers another immersive film experience, allowing us to enter the world of the artist and his works. Fictionalized scenes, archival footage, and 3D shots from the gigantic studio contribute to a nuanced portrayal of a man struggling with post-war collective amnesia.

Director: Wim Wenders
Cinematographers: Franz Lustig
Produced by: Road Movies Filmproduktion
Polish distributor: Stowarzyszenie Nowe Horyzonty
Country and year: Germany, 2023

CROWS ARE WHITE

©MEMORY

For more than a thousand years, a mysterious Buddhist sect of monks has inhabited an isolated monastery in Japan, where it practices acts of extreme physical endurance in pursuit of enlightenment. The director, who comes from a Muslim family, in an attempt to find answers about his faith and personal life, sets out to the monastery in search of answers about the sense and purpose of these mysterious practices. He wants to document them, but when he arrives there, he finds out his presence is not welcomed.

Polish title: A wrony są białe
Director: Ahsen Nadeem
Cinematographer: Matthew Nauser
Produced by: Argent Pictures, Memory, Normal Content
Polish distributor: Against Gravity
Country and year: Japan, Ireland, USA, 2022

FAREWELL SAVAGE

In Colombia, the “Whites” think that the Indian of Amazonia does not feel anything because there are no words in his language to express feelings. Is it possible that a whole people feel nothing and have no words to speak of love? Director Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento, himself a descendant of an almost extinct indigenous Colombian community, went to meet the Cácuas, to talk about their feelings, their loves, their loneliness.

Original title: Adieu Sauvage
Director: Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento
Cinematographer: David Garcia
Produced by: Fox the Fox Productions, Grand Angle Productions
Country and year: Belgium, 2023

GRASSHOPPER REPUBLIC

In the high stakes world of grasshopper trapping, a group of young Ugandans risking it all for a chance to escape poverty, upset the balance between nature and humanity.

Director: Daniel McCabe
Cinematographers: Daniel McCabe, Michael McCabe, Michele Sibiloni
Produced by: XTR
Country and year: USA, 2023

HIDDEN LETTERS

Film tells the story of two Chinese women trying to balance their lives as independent women in modern China while confronting the traditional identity that defines but also oppresses them. Connected through their love for Nushu – a centuries-old secret text shared amongst women – each of them transforms through a pivotal period of their lives and takes a step closer to becoming the individuals they know they can be.

Polish title: Sekretny alfabet
Director: Violet Du Feng
Cinematographers: Tiebin Feng, Wei Gao
Produced by: EST Studios, Fish + Bear Pictures
Country and year: China, Norway, USA, 2022

A HOUSE FOR WANDERING SOULS

In a small village in Galicia in northern Spain, Pablo’s family lives attached to their ancient traditions and beliefs. Feeling that he did not fit into their world, Pablo left 20 years ago to become a filmmaker. But, as both he and his family are growing older, a restless feeling in him starts to get stronger, urging him to go back home to confront the ghosts of the past and find answers, in the limited time they still have together.

Original title: O auto das ánimas
Director: Pablo Lago Dantas
Cinematographer: Pablo Lago Dantas
Produced by: DianaToucedo Films
Country and year: Spain, 2023

MIECZYSŁAW JAHODA. THE MAGICIAN FROM CRACOW

A film profile of Mieczysław Jahoda – a cinematographer, pioneer of new cinematography techniques, director of the first Polish films in the CinemaScope system and on Eastmancolor film stock, explorer of modern methods of shaping the film image in Polish cinema. The film is an attempt to save his achievements, creative efforts and reflections for future generations.

Original title: Mieczysław Jahoda. Sztukmistrz z Krakowa
Director: Wiktor Skrzynecki
Cinematographer: Tomasz Samosionek
Produced by: Grupa Filmowa, Telewizja Polska, Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych (WFDiF)
Country and year: Poland, 2022

MRS. IRAN'S HUSBAND

Sultan Mohammad’s quest for power and expansion puts the burden on his two wives: Iran and Sara, to maintain his prestige and assets. As the ruler of a mountain kingdom with 11 children and a flock of sheep, he seeks to marry for the third time, but the changing world brings new challenges for his wives who are fighting for their basic rights.

Director: Marjan Khosravi
Cinematographer: Mehdi Azadi
Produced by: Seven Springs Pictures
Country and year: Iran, 2023

NORTH CIRCULAR

A documentary musical that travels the length of Dublin’s North Circular Road, from the Phoenix Park to Dublin Port, exploring the history, music and streetscapes of a street that links some of the country’s most beloved and infamous places. The film also includes musical performances from artists local to the North Circular, including John Francis Flynn, Séan Ó Túama, Eoghan O’Ceannabháin, Ian Lynch & Gemma Dunleavy.

Director: Luke McManus
Cinematographers: Evan Barry, Jamie Goldrick, Patrick Jordan, Richard Kendrick, Luke McManus
Produced by: Madhouse Films
Country and year: Ireland, 2022

PIANOFORTE

photo by Darek Golik

There are 160 competitors in the preliminary round, with only 12 making it to the finals. The Chopin Competition is the oldest event of this rank in the world. It is held every 5 years in Warsaw, and it has been attended by the most famous pianists. There is always huge excitement, both on the stage and among the audience, and for the performers it is great opportunity that happens once in a lifetime. The protagonists of the film are several young contestants from various parts of the world, whose lives have been subordinated to playing the piano since childhood.

Director: Jakub Piątek
Cinematographer: Filip Drożdż
Produced by: Telemark
Polish distributor: Against Gravity
Country and year: Poland, 2023

PLANET OF THE HUMANS

Planet of the Humans dares to say what no one else will, that we are losing the battle to stop climate change on planet Earth because we are following leaders who have taken us down the wrong road — selling out the green movement to wealthy interests and corporate America. This film is the wake-up call to the reality we are afraid to face: that in the midst of a human-caused extinction event, the environmental movement’s answer is to push for techno-fixes and band-aids. It’s too little, too late.

Director: Jeff Gibbs
Cinematographer: Jeff Gibbs
Produced by: Huron Mountain Films
Country and year: USA, 2020

Q

An intimate and haunting portrayal of a quest for love and acceptance at any cost, depicts the insidious influence of a matriarchal religious order in Lebanon on three generations of women in the Chehab family. Filmmaker Jude Chehab potently documents the unspoken ties and consequences of loyalty that have bonded her mother, grandmother, and herself to the mysterious organization. A masterful portrait of the toll that decades of unrequited love, lost hope, abuse, and despair takes on a person, Q is a tale of the eternal search for meaning.

Original title: ق
Director: Jude Chehab
Cinematographer: Jude Chehab
Produced by: Chehab Films
Country and year: Lebanon, USA, 2023

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS

©️2022 Kab Inc

On March 28th 2023, legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away after his struggle against cancer. In the years leading up to his death, Sakamoto could no longer perform live. Single concerts, not to mention sprawling global tours, were too taxing. Despite this, in late 2022, Sakamoto mustered all of his energy to leave the world with one final performance: a concert film, featuring just him and his piano. Curated by Sakamoto himself and presented in his chosen order, the twenty pieces performed in the film wordlessly narrate his life through his music.

Director: Neo Sora
Cinematographer: Bill Kirstein
Produced by: Bitters End, KAB America
Country and year: Japan, 2023

SUPERPOWER

When Sean Penn began filming Superpower in late 2021, a full scale invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin was a looming, if seemingly distant, threat. Penn traveled to Ukraine to learn more about Volodymyr Zelensky, the actor and comedian who played an unlikely presidential candidate on television before becoming the actual President of Ukraine. But on February 24, 2022, while Penn was filming in Kyiv, Putin’s invasion took the world by storm. As explosions rocked the city, he became an inadvertent front-row witness to this historic ‘David and Goliath’ struggle. The film is a heart wrenching glimpse into a country fighting for its freedom.

Director: Aaron Kaufman, Sean Penn
Cinematographers: Aaron Kaufman, James Mills, Serhiy Morgunov, Austin Otto, J. B. Rutagarama, Lauren Terp, William Voermann
Produced by: Aldamisa Entertainment, Endeavor Content, Projected Picture Works, See It Now Studios, VICE News, Vice Studios
Country and year: USA, 2023

THEATRE OF VIOLENCE

Dominic Ongwen was just 9 years old when the Lord Resistance Army terrorist group abducted him and killed his parents. The group then tortured, brainwashed and forced the boy to kill others. 30 years later, Ongwen surrendered to the authorities and now stands accused of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the first former child soldier ever to do so. The charges range from murder to slavery. But can the adult man be separated from his traumatic past when it comes to sentencing?

Polish title: W teatrze przemocy
Directors: Łukasz Konopa, Emil Langballe
Cinematographer: Kacper Czubak
Produced by: Made in Copenhagen
Country and year: Denmark, Germany, 2023

WHO TELLS THE STORY?

This short film centers around a debate between three important activist artists: Haskell Wexler - legendary cinematographer and filmmaker, Hubert Sauper - award winning documentarian, and Susan Meiselas - world renowned photojournalist. What’s truth? Is it truth, fact or fiction? Who tells the story? Whose story is it? Interspersed with their films and photographs.

Directors: Alan Barker, Joan Churchill
Cinematographers: Alan Barker, Joan Churchill
Produced by: Joan Churchill
Country and year: USA, 2023

A WOMAN

A Woman is a documentary essay, a very personal look into the life of a French orphan, that starts on the coast of the Saône in Burgundy and ends on the shores of the Río de la Plata in Argentina. A film about emigration, remembering and forgetting.

Original title: Eine Frau
Director: Jeanine Meerapfel
Cinematographer: Johann Feindt
Produced by: unafilm
Country and year: Germany, Argentina, 2021