Shattered

by Xu Tong
China, 2011


from IFFR site:
Xu Tong continues his enervating, sometimes controversial reporting on the morals of the Chinese underclass. In the lead role, an 80-year-old, retired railway worker Tang Xixin, who is visited by his daughter Caifeng (the brothel owner from Fortune Teller, IFFR 2010). They are straight-talking people.

Tang Xixin is a retired railway official who has lost little of his outspoken character at the age of 80. He does not like to receive his adult children in his ramshackle home, but he makes an exception for his daughter Caifeng (who was a guest in Rotterdam last year). She runs a brothel and is involved in equally illegal mining practices. In other words, a woman of the world who tries energetically to keep out of the hands of the law.
Xu Tong films the family the way it is. The old Tang, with his flood of words, is an ideal witness to the 20th century; his daughter is a colourful symbol of the new China. Even though in the views of the state she is undoubtedly far from being a role model. Xu Tong’s intimate, occasionally raw style of filming fits in well with that. He does not make any moral judgement and that makes him controversial in China. The result is nevertheless sincere and authentic.


my thoughts:
A father (Old man Tang) and his daughter (Caifeng) in Heilongjiang province (northeast China). 


Very interesting in this film is the mirror between history and modern China. With photos but moreover with stories. I love it how this eighty year old man keeps talking. You can see he loves to talk but he teaches us a lot about how things were years ago. And even talks about his membership with The Party (which he canceled) and what happened when Mao died. 


And then his daughter... what a couple they form. Both strong persons. Arguing most of the time. And most of the time about nothing and anything. Sometimes hilarious. At other times annoying. 
But she also takes care of him so I suppose they have a warm relationship after all.
She was in prison (illegal brothel) and tells about that. She's still in the underground business but no longer in brothels but in mining. 


Generational conflicts. Family arguments also with other family members. Sexual habits. All very much out in the open. This film offers a very intimate and inside view on family life. 


Also the house is something worth watching, so iconic. I have been in houses like this with walls full of posters and craziness. They are like little Chinese museums.


Oh and again some slaughtering in this film... this time a pig. What is it with Chinese filmmakers that they want us to go through that whole procedure again and again lol.


Also this film is not an easy watch and it wasn't an enjoyable watch for the whole film and sometimes even an uncomfortable watch, but nonetheless at the finish line I did have the feeling of having watched an interesting film. I haven't watched other films by Xu Tong but will be on the lookout for them. 

Whose eyes

by Tan Tan
China, 2011


from IFFR site:
Daily life as seen by surveillance cameras. Well actually, as seen by leading experimental filmmaker Tan Tan.

Four ‘fake surveillance videos’, mixed with violent outbursts that are recorded on real security cameras and apparently random shots from everyday Chinese reality: the image of Whose Eyes. Which reality is the most real, and who sees what?


my thoughts:
Sometimes also a short film can move you so much. This mixture of surveillance shots taken from trams, a shop, at an ATM, an outdoor fitness area, etc. show much more than you would think at first sight. 


It reveals one of the biggest problems in Chinese society... that it seems nobody is willing to help or care for the other (outside of their inner circle). The problem is huge. It was one of my fears when living in China that I would get into a traffic accident and that I would be lying there helplessly without anybody helping me. Because that's what happens. They don't take action or initiative. Not when an accident happens, a fight takes place, a child is hurt or wounded or whatever. Out of fear to be hold responsible, out of fear not knowing what to do.
Partly it's historical luggage: One of Mao's quotes: To let things drift if they do not affect one personally. But also governmental authorities are to blame. Apparently people are so terrified of being charged themselves instead of the one who caused the accident or whatever (easier way out for the authorities). 


A few months ago this was tragically shown in the news world wide when a toddler was run over by a van several times and nobody reacted, until a migrant woman rescued her. The toddler died within a week afterwards. The Chinese began to wonder whether they had become a 'world without morals'.


I experienced it also works the other way: Chinese people always looked extremely surprised (almost annoyed) if I would reach out to them to help them. 


I found the sound of the film a bit disturbing at times, I don't know if it was meant to be this loud, maybe he wanted to wake his viewers up with his message. 


But other than that I found this film very interesting!


In the credits we read: God and all the eyes.... 

L'estate di Giacomo

The summer of Giacomo
by Alessandro Comodin
Italy / France / Belgium, 2011


from IFFR site:
A summer day in Italy. The camera follows the deaf-mute Giacomo and a childhood girlfriend Stefi closely - in the woods, by the river - without wanting to disrupt the mystery of their relationship, between restrained sensuality and childhood games. Many regard this lyrical and modest docu-fiction as the best Italian debut in years.

After a long opening scene in which 19-year-old Giacomo plays a stormy drum solo while the camera focuses on his hearing aid, the hard-of-hearing boy sets off on a languid summer afternoon with his childhood girlfriend Stefi through the woods to a remote river. There the two swim and sunbathe, enjoy picnic sandwiches, chatter away mindlessly, listen to music and throw clay at each other in the water.
During large parts of the minimalist, delicate, occasionally sultry Summer of Giacomo, the camera moves not a millimetre off Giacomo and Stefi - the viewer can almost count the spots on his back and the soft tears in her neck. The wonderful, nonprofessional actors Giacomo Zulian and Stefania Comodin apparently have no trouble holding the viewer's attention and slowly the relationship between the two of them becomes clearer. At last year's Locarno Festival, novice director Alessandro Comodin won an award in the category ‘Cineasti del Presenti’ (Filmmakers of the Present).


my thoughts:
What a sweet coming of age film. Makes you think of dreamy summers, of childhood years, being a teenager and teenager loves and it brings back memories of those years where life was more carefree. 


Set in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region this documentary/fiction film follows Giacomo, who is deaf, and his childhood girlfriend Stefi. Loved the interaction between the two friends, loved the settings, loved the music. 
Not much happens. But when thinking back of my own teenage summers I have the same hazy lazy feeling about it (apart from my summer jobs that is ;). Even getting bored because of that haziness and longing for some action. With this film I did get the feeling that there was that kind of under layer as well. So for me it did portray those teenage years very well.


The film doesn't give any clue about what and how, not even after the surprising turn of events in the end of the film. I guess it had to tell me something about eventually growing up, out of that teenager stage and being more serious now. Less innocent. I think the film doesn't have the carefree feel anymore in the end what it does have in the beginning, so that was my conclusion of the film. But that's all for you to interpret yourselves...


I loved it!

Sentimental animal

by Wu Quan
China, 2011


from IFFR site:
Mysterious, oppressive and occasionally shocking film in stylised black-and-white (shot by a colleague director Zhang Yuedong) about the latter days of a potentate: Wu Ye was a respected soldier, but his clan is now preparing a Last Supper for the Spring Festival.

The fact that there are now signs of growing diversity in style, theme and approach in Chinese independent fiction film is clear from the first film by the versatile Wu Quan. In contrasty, very sharp black-and-white (shot by cameraman Zhang Yuedong, who directed the minimalist-absurdist Mid-Afternoon Barks), Sentimental Animal is a meticulously styled, occasionally sensitive and sometimes shocking allegory that will not easily be forgotten.
Wu has made a film about the latter days of a Chinese patriarch. This former soldier and owner of the fish farm where the events take place became physically handicapped after a heroic deed. Although he can no longer speak and needs help from his nurse for virtually all his actions, he is still the respected leader of his clan. But now he is approaching his end and takes on his last, difficult task.


my thoughts:
The film starts off with a man lying on a bed with a tear rolling down his cheek. We don't know yet what is happening. It was an intriguing shot though, as are many others to follow. 


The filmmaker didn't use a real script, they had one but eventually decided not to use it after all.   They decided to follow the flow.


Warning: Not for sentimental animal lovers, the film starts off with killing a donkey. All the way. But that happens in a lot of Chinese films. 
It turns out that the donkey is meant for the new year's meal they will have together. A pre-new year's party because they will all go to their hometowns for Chinese New Year's.
It is a new year's party as well as birthday party for Wu Ye, a former soldier still admired by his people. He's seriously ill and this could be the last meal together. He does have more power in himself than everyone thinks though. 


I liked the setting of this film: the fish farm looks like a green/glass house and they all live inside. At night it gives a great shot. 
The film definitely is oppressive but I didn't think it was too shocking. I found it remarkable that in this film there were two men with disabilities. For a longer time they were considered 'useless' in Chinese society, in this film you will see a great form of respect towards both. 


I have been watching quite some films in black and white in this film festival for some reason (and sometimes I didn't even notice, I guess that tells you something about the film, right). For this film there wasn't any other than a budget reason to choose for black and white. It does suit the film. It even makes it a bit more mysterious.

The title has no specific meaning but does refer to the donkeys of the start of the film, the fish from the fish farm and people as they can be the worst of animals... 

Interesting film quote:
"This is my heart on a plate" (plate = empty)

Apuda

by He Yuan
China, 2010


from IFFR site:
With a painter’s eye, the filmmaker portrays a poor, simple man caring for his sick father. Bitter beauty. An exquisite impression of two men who live the way many millions of Chinese do. Not everyone gets to share the new wealth.

In a sensitive and balanced way, He Yuan portrays two men who live in bitter poverty. Apuda is a simple man, who almost thinks like a child - a good child, because he dedicates himself to caring for his sick old father. Even though the film focuses on these two men specifically, it also provides a picture of a China in which millions of people still live in deprived circumstances.
Like other Chinese independent filmmakers, He Yuan has an ethnographic and anthropological background and also a fascination with the lives of ordinary Chinese citizens outside the modern urban centres. But he does not observe in the way a social scientist would. He prefers to compare himself with painters from olden times who went out into nature to capture reality as it revealed itself to them.
While Apuda worries about the health of his father and lovingly nurses him, the filmmaker observes the inevitable end no less lovingly.


my thoughts:
Apuda lives together with his father in a small and simple farm house (no water/electricity) and takes care of him, his father is in his last days of life. They live in Wusuwan village, which is near Lijiang in Yunnan province, China. They are Naxi people (minority group in China). 


The filmmaker is Naxi as well, the film is made from that perspective. He doesn't know the Naxi dialect and is living in a city himself, he said. He stayed in the village a couple of times to do fieldwork before filming. He left the camera rolling in their house most of the time. He compared it with going out in nature to paint, just the way things are.


Apuda and his father spend most of the time of the film in the shared bedroom. Sleeping, eating, smoking (I loved how the pipe was in their pouch), thinking out loud. Not much happens besides of that. But then again it gives a very clear picture of their life... it just isn't that eventful. 


The dad says at one point, when someone brings a gift in the form of eggs: "I sure must be in a bad state to bring me eggs." His body was giving up on him more and more.


The son - while walking through his orchard - is questioning himself and his life: "The will think I am a clown, they will laugh at me" (loosing face) and "All the women (harvesting the apples for him) do is the apple selling business, they are so annoying.... No one will cry at my grave..."
He calculated that one ton of apples would make 800 yuan but stated that he doesn't even produce one ton. In other words, it doesn't bring much for daily living. 
It all sounded so sad, hopeless and lonely. No one will do for him what he now is doing for his father.


The film tells about awareness of life, of getting older, dying, about living the hard way. In our western eyes it for sure doesn't look easy, not clean, poor... 


Eventually the father dies and we are lead through the different stages after his death. I think it was very well captured. Especially the song (song for the death I guess) is lovely.  


Our cinema wasn't too full to begin with but during screening many people walked away. I must admit I did have a moment or two that I dozed off as well. The film is absolutely not an easy watch, it takes quite something to sit through. You literally have to work through it. But I still think it's worth that, it shows so well how many people still live in China. It's not a picture the government wants to show because it's not a sign of the first economy of the world they want to be, but it still *is* reality in China. 

One old man

by Hai Bo
China, 2011


from IFFR site:
The filmmaker is also a photographer and needs no words to show that poverty and beauty are not mutually exclusive, using a farmer who is too old to work anymore.

A portrait, without words, of an old man in the countryside. The man was undoubtedly a farmer, but now he is only an old man, a poor and useless man. He shuffles round and watches others at work. A man like so many others in the great China.


my thoughts:
Beautiful old man, beautiful scenery. When I see old people in China I always wonder what they have been through. What is their luggage. Especially in a country like China. Like with this man, their faces often tell it was an awful lot they had to go through. 


During the film we follow this man while walking, I guess on his (or his son's?) land or in a village, it isn't very clear. It would be so interesting to learn more about his story... 

He was a giant with brown eyes

C'était un géant aux yeux bruns
by Eileen Hofer
Azerbaijan / Switzerland, 2012


from IFFR site:
After her parents’ divorce, Sabina reluctantly followed her mother to Switzerland. Five years later Sabina, now 17, finally returns to her homeland of Azerbaijan. The film enters a family’s intimacy to tell a universal story that deals with adolescence, separation and self-discovery.

Eileen Hofer’s personal, independently-made feature debut has no professional actors, one or two takes for each scene and a budget of 20,000 Euros. Hofer could not and would not choose between fiction and documentary, so did not get funding via the traditional channels.
Born and bred in Switzerland with Turkish roots, the director tells a gripping coming-of-age story about life between two cultures. She follows her stepsister Sabina (17), who came with her mother from Azerbaijan to Switzerland. Her older sister Narmina stayed behind with their father in Bacu.
Five years later, Sabina returns to Bacu for a summer holiday. She secretly intends to stay with her beloved relatives. However, her father has marriage plans, again, while Narmina's boyfriend has been called up for military service. And has Sabina in the meantime not become too alienated from her roots? The title refers to a dream of every child: that his or her father is a hero. Sabina has to learn to deflate that myth.


my thoughts:
What a great film! 
The filmmaker Eileen Hofer lives in Switzerland and her dad is married to Sabina's mother. That's how she met Sabina and that's how the idea of the film came to life. The filmmaker joined Sabina/her stepsister to Azerbaijan for a visit and stayed with them while being there. A lovely coming-of-age story with a little extra when learning about these backgrounds. 


The film is a mixture of fiction and documentary so it's not sure what is real and what is made up but actually it doesn't matter very much. 
It's a lovely inside view into daily life of an Azeri family and I think because of her bond with Sabina and the opportunity to stay with the family in house, it was possible to show this intimate picture. Sabina and her mother moved to Switzerland five years ago and is now back for a visit in her hometown where her father, sister and other relatives still live. It's so interesting to get a glimpse of her life which in a way is between the Western world and Muslim and Russian traditions.


The film festival is always a way for me to 'travel' to countries where I wouldn't come otherwise. I guess Azerbaijan is one of those countries. We get to see Baku and some mountain villages in Azerbaijan and learn about the culture. Sometimes in between the lines but also because even Sabina doesn't know about certain customs anymore. 


Before and after screening we got to meet the filmmaker who is a journalist in daily life. Her own family fled Lebanon in the mid 1970s. Her father is Swiss, her mother half Turkish-half Lebanese. She states she feels multicultural because of that. She told a bit more about the trip to Azerbaijan. It was such an inspiring Q&A.  I'm looking forward and very interested to her next films!


Lovely film quote:
"We all waste time on looking for our identity, but the beauty of life is in the simple things" (father)