Documentary Screen program which captures the spirit of the time most accurately is traditional for the Pacific Meridian Film Festival. The participants in the program raise a wide range of socially relevant questions through the honest stories of our contemporaries. The audiences will learn what issues are reflected upon from October 10 to October 16 at the Okean Movie Theater.
Program:
The Two Sights, Director: Joshua Bonnetta (Canada, Great Britain)
In the past, the gift of receiving visual or aural signs from the future was handed down from generation to generation on the Outer Hebrides islands off the Scottish coast. Between 2017 and 2019, Joshua Bonnetta set about exploring their landscapes and collecting the oral history of this visionary gift. The two sights in the film are those of image and sound that each follow their own course while also being portents that interact in a game of anticipation, of echoes and unison.
Ecstasy, Director: Moara Passoni (Brazil, USA)
An elliptical portrait of a young girl experiencing both rapture and torture starving herself as a way to find a place in a brutal uncertain world.
Faith: Valentina Pedicini (Italy)
Warrior monks, former martial arts champions, live in isolation in an Italian monastery. For 20 years they have been preparing through prayer and demanding training for a “higher war,” in which they want to fight evil in the name of the Father. A poetic emotional journey in an unknown world. A film to investigate the profound motivations for a radical choice, the reasons for devotion.
Art Comes from the Beak the Way It Has Grown: Sabine Herpich (Germany)
At the Mosaik art studio in Berlin, artists with disabilities are absorbed in their work. We accompany the artists in the course of creation and get an insight into the functioning of the institution itself: its processes, staff and spaces. The film succeeds in maintaining its focus on the art itself rather than the handicaps of its creators.
I Walk on Water: Khalik Allah (USA)
The film is a sort of modern day epistle. It has to do with focusing on the light in everyone and recognizing the divinity therein. Shot from July 2019 to February 2020, it serves as a time capsule of life just prior to the coronavirus pandemic and the most recent racial tensions surrounding policing in the United States.
Epicentro: Hubert Sauper (Austria, France)
Austrian documentary filmmaker, director, writer, producer best known for DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE (2004), which was nominated for an Academy Award. He is famous for his socio-political documentary films which have garnered over fifty major international prizes including at Berlin, Venice, and others. Sauper has worked as a visiting professor at many film schools and universities around the world, among them Harvard, Yale, Columbia University, Moscow International Film School, etc.
School of Seduction: Alina Rudnitskaya (Denmark)
At the age of 30, everyone wants the same: safety, high social status and eternal happiness. In modern Russia, where patriarchy reigns, these desires are not easy to fulfill. But the heroines of the film take matters into their own hands and decide to master the art of seducing man — preferably a rich one. Seven years of watching them add up to a tragicomedy about gender roles and femininity in Putin’s Russia.
Ilya Kormiltsev. In Search of the Whole Person: Anna Golikova (Russia)
An outstanding poet, brilliant translator, novelist, essayist, literary and music critic, multi-format publisher – Ilya Kormiltsev (1959-2007) is widely known as the main author who wrote texts for NAUTILUS POMPILIUS rock band from the city of Sverdlovsk. The film was shot to celebrate his 60th anniversary.
To the Street: Kira Vetlugina (Russia)
The film is about artists of different social status, education and world views united by the decision to go out on the street and turn it into a stage. Underground passages, subway cars, parks and squares are their battlefields for passers-by not being indifferent, for the opportunity to do what inspires them and be heard, for the feeling of freedom and independence. This is a search for their own audience, a step on the way to stadiums, and often just a way not to die of hunger.
Heel-and-Toe: Maxim Tomash (Russia)
With his trumpet, a hamster and a good mood, Anton Kuznetsov tours Eastern Europe as Antoha MC, a Russian hipster one-man band with a happy message. His positive music for party audiences features great beats, personal raps and colorful trumpet solos. This intimate documentary portrait features no interviews, voice-overs or talking heads. Instead, the filmmakers follow Kuznetsov on tour while the subdued artist develops from a modest cult figure into a rising superstar.