The jury nominated three documentaries for the third Dirk Vandersypen Award. In random order these are:
Raymundo by Ernesto Ardito and Virna Molina - Argentina 2002
This is a documentary film about the life and work of Raymundo Gleyzer, Argentine filmmaker, kidnapped and murdered by that country’s military dictatorship in 1976. Through Raymundo’s life, we follow the story of Latin American revolutionary cinema and the liberation struggles of the 60’s and the 70’s. Raymundo was one of the major architects of the militant cinema, yet after this “disappearance”, he fell into oblivion.
It is essential that the new generation rediscovers his life and works which are a source of inspiration today more than ever. This documentary will bring back what the CIA and the Latin American dictatorships couldn’t destroy: the memory, the ideals and the courage to tell the truth.
The jury on Raymundo :
The Jewish-Argentine film-maker Raymundo Gleyzer has been making engaging films about Latin American since the 1960's. He was kidnapped and murdered during the military dictatorship in 1976. The film describes the engagement of Raymundo by means of fragments from his own documentaries, and his own private film archives. His next of kin, and fellow colleagues tell about him, his work, his ideals, the political evolution in Argentina, and his death.
A fascinating story on three levels: the personal story of film-maker Raymundo Gleyzer, a history of engaged film in Latin America, and the last half century of the history of Argentina.
It's a film which gives an impressive portrait of a man who, even in the most difficult of circumstances, remained loyal to his ideals. At the same time, it shows the importance of Latin American film for history/revolution/consciousness-raising in that continent.
more information : www.filmraymundo.com.ar
The World Stopped Watching by Peter Raymont - Canada 2003
The World Stopped Watching is a sequel to the Genie Award-winner The World is Watching (1987), a cinema verité investigation of the role journalists play in covering international events. This documentary captured the reporting of a climactic moment in the US-financed Contra war against Nicaragua’s revolutionary Sandinista government. Once the Sandinistas were out of office, the world’s journalists soon rushed off to the next hot spot. In other words, The World Stopped Watching.
Filmmakers Peter Raymont and Harold Crooks returned to Nicaragua in 2002 to discover what became of a nation no longer in the glare of the world’s media. Accompanied by legendary Newsweek photographer Bill Gentile and acclaimed Boston Globe columnist Randolph “Ry” Ryan, the filmmakers travel throughout the impoverished country. They encounter Nicaraguans from every level of society, including former president Daniel Ortega. Gilles Paquin, of Montreal’s La Presse, offers a current view of the country where, for the first time in Latin American history, a former president has been jailed for corruption.
The jury on The World Stopped Watching :
Sandinista Nicaragua was a top-story from the late 70's to the late 80's: the end of the Somoza dictatorship, the hopeful Sandinista revolution, the contras who, with the help of the United States, opposed the revolution, the unexpected election defeat of the Sandinistas. American and Canadian journalists return to the country, where for a decade hardly a journalist was to be seen. They look up people they had interviewed, people whose lot it was to endure the course of history, or people who helped determine that history. Extensive archive material is also shown over Sandino, the Sandinista revolution and the contras.
The filming of an exceptional event: journalists return to an area which has completely fallen 'out of fashion'. They have a look at what has happened to the people in the meantime, doing this with respect for victims. We see the re-confrontation of the situation through the eyes of the journalists, which also makes this a film about a journalism which is sympathetic with its subject, and has questions about its own responsibility.
more information : www.nfb.ca/theworldstoppedwatching/
Zehn Tage, ein ganzes Leben / Journey into Exile by Tanja Hamilton - Germany 2003
Chile,
September 11th,
1973: Antonio Coloma is a city councilman for the Communist
Party in the southern town of Temuco at the moment of the
military coup against Salvador Allende. After 10 days of
detention and torture he is able to escape to Germany. 30
years later he travels back to his home country. He is
confronted with the resentment of his old party comrades
and encounters the soldier, who three decades ago saved his
life. The protagonists struggle to deal with the
impossibility of objective truth and the difficulty of
staying faithful to your ideals and beliefs in a
dictatorship.
„Journey
into Exile“ is a story of how human relationships
strain beneath the pressure of totalitarian systems. In the
end remains the recognition that it is impossible to escape
from the responsibility of oneīs own actions. "Journey into
Exile" is Tanja Hamiltonīs thesis project at Filmacademy
Baden-Württemberg.
The jury on
Zehn Tage, ein ganzes Leben / Journey into
Exile :
The
Chilean Antonio Coloma, who fled to Germany in 1973,
returns to Chile for a confrontation with the
past.
Soon after Pinochet's coup d'etat he was detained, and then
released conditionally. After that he was fortunate
enough to be able to flee the country. He still lives
in Germany with his wife and children.
In Chile, among other things, he goes in search of his old
communist party comrades and the man he probably owes his
life to: someone who was in charge of a military commando
and recognised him during a razzia on a train, but he let
him go anyway.
The jury finds this film the most enduring, best narrated
and filmed story of all the entries. Antonio Coloma's
personal search is a penetrating story yet it refrains from
imposing emotions on the viewer. Even when Antonio is
confronted with the disbelief of his communist ex-comrades
("was he really ever in prison?"), the film does not
attempt to convince the viewer that Antonio is in the
right. The viewers find themselves often doubting
what was, is, and could have been.
'Journey into Exile' is thus also a film about memory,
about recollection: people who have experienced the same
things seem to store them in their memories each in their
own way.
The film is nuanced, even suspenseful: who is the officer
who recognised Antonio on the train? And why didn't
he arrest him? Will Antonio be able to find him or is
he already dead, like so many of those involved back then?
'Journey
into Exile' also makes deliberate use of fragments of the
last radio speech by President Salvador Allende, during the
bombardments of the presidential palace. More than
thirty years after the fact, the speech is still gripping.
more information :
www.filmareal.de
