Notes on documentaries and handdrawn visuals by Els Edes
Sepideh asked Fatma if she was scared. Fatma replied: “We put our soul in our hands and walk.” She said she wasn’t afraid. Regarding the Apaches heard in the background, she remarked casually: “They are there to shoot us.” The filmmaker asked explicitly: “Do they shoot from the helicopters?” “Yes,” Fatma said, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
The Last Journey (Den sista resan) is a heartwarming Swedish documentary that had the entire cinema laughing and crying during the Sneker Filmwinter. It’s a road trip in a bright orange Renault 4 that turns out to be so much more than just a journey.
A powerful, raw, and deeply disturbing glimpse into Russian indoctrination. Pasha risks everything to show how a new generation is being shaped by a fabricated history.
I placed Agatha's Almanac at the top of my IDFA watchlist. After the festival, it remained at the top as my overall favourite.
I had tears in my eyes a few times, realizing just how special that small-scale farming life actually is. The romance of two very ordinary, happy people amidst the wildflowers naturally captures the imagination. But what a contrast to what unfolds later in the film.
I read 1984 in highschool and remembered quite a lot of it, because it had made an impression. That knowledge was handy watching this film in which a lot of Orwells nightmares have become reality
The king gives the filmcrew permission to collect DNA from the elephants. Why? I'm wondering. What follows is an adventurous quest for the ghost elephants led by the last local trackers
Was Varda the first YouTuber, before YouTube even existed? I recognise her playfulness with the camera, her experimental way of filming from a lot of Youtubers. Love it!
Notes on tone, pacing, and why action speaks louder than words in this masterful documentary on gun violence in America.