This year in our traditional best collection of documentary films - prize-winners of Sundance and Locarno, festivals in Jihlava, Leipzig and Seville. Actually, movies that conquered audiences all around the world. About motley company films of this program DOCU/BEST tells program coordinator Viktoria Leshchenko.
If you type dead slow ahead into Google, the search engine will spit a multilayered chewing gum back at you. That is exactly what the program coordinator of Docudays UA feels when he or she lets another program out onto the big screens. But what else can it be, if not an appeal to the audience itself: Sit down! Watch! And resurrect!
The stunningly beautiful film Dead Slow Ahead by Mauro Herce is a feast for both the cinephile and the inexperienced spectator. That is exactly how life smolders after the global apocalypse on the only ship that survived. It is as if the people, absorbed by the mechanics of existence, forget to pay attention to the magnificent surrealism of everything that is going on around them.
The deeply touching film 3½ Minutes, 10 Bullets by the American Marc Silver tells the story of the murder of a black teenager which shook up the country. The recorded court hearing is breathtaking: we see the grief-stricken parents, the man who tries to get away with it, and his nervous fiancée, whose words decide everyone’s fate. Self-defense or murder? That is the question that grips us tight until the very end. Now this is especially relevant, as an extensive debate on gun control is taking place in Ukraine.
Brothers by Wojciech Staroń is a touching story about humanity and aging. It is indeed further evidence of Staroń’s talent as a documentary filmmaker and a cameraman. His 20-year-long observation of the protagonists turns their quiet life into a documentary masterpiece.
This year’s DOCU/BEST program is a motley lot. The connection between the films is barely distinguishable, but they all are winners of numerous festivals, recognized and loved by the audience. I believe you will not remain unmoved. And for those who have finally woken up, welcome to all the other screenings of Docudays UA!
On photo "Dead Slow Ahead" by Mauro Herce
