Docs @ Darklight 2012

 There is superb programme of documentaries during Darklight 2012 this weekend. A common theme running through this year’s documentary strand is the use of archive in unique and innovative ways, whether it be performing live with 16mm projectors or animating intricate collages.

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THU 23 AUG 20.00 DOCUMENTARY/ANIMATION/BIOGRAPHY

Rolling Stone magazine has labelled Icelandic documentary Amma Lo-Fi (Grandma Lo-Fi) one of “The Hottest Rock Films at SXSW”‘ “It is a hard-to-resist little “feelgood” movie” Twitch Film At the tender age of 70 Sigrídur Níelsdóttir started recording and releasing her own music straight from the living room. 7 years later she had 59 albums to her name with more than 600 songs. Before long the Icelandic/Danish musician and visual artist became an adored cult figure in the Icelandic music scene, represented here by her young apprentices Sigur Ros, Mugison, múm, and Sin Fang of Seabear who pay tribute to the grandma’s irresistibly catchy, yet eccentric pop tunes. Grandma Lo-fi is a cinematic tribute to an amazing musician and to her boundless creativity, created by the young musicians and artists that she inspired. Director Kristin Bjork Kristjánsdóttir will be in attendance for Q&A

TRAILER HERE https://vimeo.com/34582312#at=0

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FRI 24 AUG 18.00 DOCUMENTARY/ ARCHIVE

“.. a masterpiece..We Went to War is a beautiful, meditative film …. a film to be treasured.” DocGeeks.com “..Tarkovsky-like…An excellent film made like an example of how to make documentaries.” Shooting People.org In 1970, a young British director Michael Grigsby made the first film about veterans returning home from the Vietnam war, the critically acclaimed, I Was a Soldier. Some 40 years after the film’s first release, I Was a Soldier is now hailed as a ‘classic’ (Sight & Sound) ‘We Went to War’ sees renowned documentarist Michael Grigsby & Rebekah Tolley return to the stories of those once young Americans, now aged and scarred by lives lived far too brutally, far too young; the film finds a shared sense of understanding with those returning today, whose voices strain to be heard beyond a mental wilderness not of their making. Co-author of the film Rebekah Tolley will be attending the screening.

TRAILER HERE https://vimeo.com/34582312#at=0

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Personal Archive:Live Documentary 16mm (IRL) Fergal Brennan & Sharon Phelan FRI 24 AUG 20.00 LIVE EVENT / DOCUMENTARY / MUSIC Animator Fergal Brennan presents a very special screening. Handpicking 16mm footage and reel to reel audio recordings from his family archive Fergal has pieced together a programme of personal history. Musician Sharon Phelan provides the soundtrack, working with field recordings, other found sound & vinyl records from the period. Expect: Pleasure of the senses Don’t Expect: Narrative or comprehension

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SAT 25 AUG 18.30 DOCUMENTARY / AUTOBIOGRAPHY / HISTORY

“…a deeply personal piece of art that never descends into the confessional or the therapeutic, and a work of social and literary criticism that never lectures or hectors, but rather, with melancholy, tenderness and wit, manages to sing.” (New York Times). “Droll, angry, erudite, moving, this is the most poignant, beautiful, entrancing British film of the year.” (Empire) OF TIME AND THE CITY is both a love song and a eulogy to Liverpool. It is also a response to memory, reflection and the experience of losing a sense of place as the skyline changes and time takes its toll. Terence Davies returns to his native Liverpool and to his film making roots to capture a sense of the City today and its influences on him growing up in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Following the screening, Terence Davies and Donald Clarke will be discussing this film and Terence’s extraordinary body of work.

TRAILER HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHF3FR1IWUw&feature=player_embedded

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SUN 26 AUG 15.00 DOCUMENTARY/ BIOGRAPHY / XXX

“Should you ever wonder what the word spitfire means, look no further than Martine and Louise Fokkens. The sisters wear their accumulated experiences remarkably well. (The filmmakers) normalize lives that could easily have been exploited for self-righteous judgment or mockery.” **** Critics’ Pick. Time Out New York Loads more reviews here! http://www.filmforum.org/movies/more/meet_the_fokkens#reviews Sisters doing it for themselves in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Louise and Martine Fokkens are identical twins. For over fifty years they were working as prostitutes. They freed themselves from the control of their pimps, ran their own brothel, and set up the first informal trade union for prostitutes. They are familiar faces in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, but soon they will bid their farewells. The Ladies Fokkens is a portrait of these remarkable women, as well as a history of the Red Light District over the past fifty years.

TRAILER HERE http://meetthefokkens.com/trailer

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CLOSING FILM: Indie Gaming: The Movie (2012, CA) DOCUMENTARY/ GAMING/ TECH

“The film delivers, taking us on a journey with regular people pushed to do something different, but equally extraordinary. There is a vibrant, beating heart that powers Indie Game: The Movie and will hopefully serve to inspire the many of us who confine ourselves to small places and lock humanity out while struggling and striving to create something beautiful. Possibly the most mature look at video games yet,” (IndieWire). “Indie Game: The Movie is more than just a film about video games, it’s an examination of the artistic spirit and the latest evolution of independent artist.” (Film Threat). Loads more reviews here!http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/press/ After two years of painstaking work, designer Edmund McMillen and programmer Tommy Refenes await the release of their first major game for Xbox, Super Meat Boy—the adventures of a skinless boy in search of his girlfriend, who is made of bandages. At PAX, a major video-game expo, developer Phil Fish unveils his highly anticipated, four-years-in-the-making FEZ. Jonathan Blow considers beginning a new game after creating Braid, one of the highest-rated games of all time.

TRAILER HERE http://vimeo.com/25268139