MY VOTE IS A SECRET

Or not quite…the entire day being dedicated to the open presentation of ideas and possible movie projects.
The process always amazes me – here are 16 foreign students who do not know either the land or its language. Even less the culture, social milieu, history or political geography. En plus, they do not know each other and will have to produce a movie together. And still, these young film makers are able to create images, sounds, dialogues – a complete documentary movie – in only four weeks –from this initial stage to the final presentation in Sibiu.
Thierry Garrel sees the documentary as an” open question. It is not a machine to see, but to think “

And thinking they did - a Polish student would like to record a Gypsy symphony in images. No dialogues, no interviews – just ‘lieders ohen worte “. He already found a musical atelier that restores violins – Of local gypsies and Sibiu philharmonic musicians.
The other students, question the project -“What do you want say ?” “How will you make the tune visible? “What do you want us, the viewers to feel ? “ Beauty, beauty everywhere…. says the student.

Otilia, a delicate young Moldovian is interested in “children’s games.” In Kishinau the kids play “imaginary river games” - jumping from Nistru to Prut…and Otilia would like to discover the Romanian games. I think most of kids,from anywhere are in front of the computer nowadays, but still these waterways remind me of Eminescu ‘s Doina, recited by my father in Boston, so far away from home –‘De la Nistru pin la Tisa tot Rominu plinsemi-sa”

Ionut, a Romanian director has a “space”, close by in the mountains, where cement and steel took over the wooden home– transforming the Transylvanian village into an European Metropolis… Huge empty houses, enriched locals, Arabian horses, caviar and champagne – mark the ‘’transition”, the passage from simplicity and beauty to progress and ugliness. Thierry warns : “Be careful in using metaphors in documentaries !!! They may dilute the story instead of enriching it.”

Mila, coming from Serbia is interested in rituals and traditions threatened by the new EU rules…Since the European integration, pigs can no longer be slaughtered in the Romanian villages for Christmas , The dead can no longer be mourned by their family at home, but only in church. The old trees are felled along the village roads. The strict EU rules replace the Old, in a new world where both the sorrow and the joy seem to vanish under Bruxelles control. Thierry , as a Frenchman living in Vancouver understands and likes Mila’s idea .– “il faut des rites”’ In the movies even “shooting is a ritual.”

Malena, a Peruvian editor living in Vienna, would like to surpass time and geography by finding “treasured objects” - those hidden memories, kept and given from one generation to another….She intends to talk to locals , visit their homes and discover their heritage wrapped in the cloth if time,
From some strange reason I find the idea of creating “magical realism” in Romania disturbingly foreign ,and I can not stop my words : “ Malena , you are in country where having a Bible carried a prison term. We are not the Palestinians who took their house keys to the refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan…When I immigrated I was not allowed to take my birth or marriage certificate, my university diplomas, my wedding ring or my photographs. Communism killed our souls , our treasured objects were replaced b y whispered memories. We hardly survived the present and never understood the past.” “ ……… My voice breaks and I dissolve in tears, to the delight of Thierry who sees me as the future audience. ”Roxana’s emotion prove that Malena’s idea has documentary value”.
Yes, I think – she may celebrate the treasured objects through their nostalgic absence.

AUGUST 25, 2009 SIBIEL ROXANA VON KRAUS

BONHEUR , HAPPINESS, FERICIRE

BONHEUR, HAPPINESS, FERICIRE..
It was the theme of the first day at Aristoteles. Beautifully introduced by Thierry Garell, “the Master of Documentary”, who after thirty years of directing and producing the genre for ARTE , has just retired to enjoy life and teach others this extraordinary art of nonfiction.
The class, of sixteen students from Eastern and Central Europe has the good fortune of viewing his montage of “ 7 Moments de Bonheur” in documentaries : from the first scene of a small child eating , to “L’Amour qui dure” - the marriage that marks a love story. Followed by “My Vote is a Secret”- announcing Mr. Mandela’s victory in the South Africa Election , when people went back to Soweto – singing. – another wedding of sorts,,…My favorite passage was “Lumieres sur L’Oubli” – that follows the archive news reels of the end of the Spanish Civil War , moving between Las Ramblas in Barcelona to the street café in Bruxelles ,from the prisons of Cyprus releasing the Turkish-Ciprioti war prisoners to crying mothers , embracing their returned sons –completely unaware of the news cameras, reporters, or us…. This is exactly how I felt when I held my son, coming back from Iraq. The time has stopped around me , and he became my life.
“La Vie comme elle Va” , the life went by and we expected the last scene. But the seventh moment was delayed , meant to conclude the teaching session of our “documentary en desordre. “
According to Thierry Garrel “the documentary speaks simultaneously to our sensibility, our imagination and out intelligence.” And to prove the point we screened three more documentaries in the afternoon: the “Portraits” of Alain Cavalier – short stories of women with an unique métier, “Contacts” –a photo journalistic report on Nan Goldin and “A mi-mots” a whispered poetic film on Edna O’Brien. Who says that “writing is holy, in the pure sense of the word. It is an extension of prayer and religion” And the more you read the better you write, because “MAGIC FOLOWS THE VERY FEW!”
A thought shared by Thierry Garrel – “the more documentaries you see, the better movies you will make.”

August 24, 2009 Sibiel – Roxana von Kraus