The KlaraFestival is underway in Brussels! The theme running through this year's festival, which is largely one of classical music but also incorporates dance, theatre and film, is melancholia. As the film director Lars von Trier said, "I see melancholia as a vitamin that we all need. In all western art there is something of melancholia, otherwise something's missing."
To bring this theme of melancholia to life, three composers feature heavily in the two-week KlaraFestival: Britain's John Dowland, born 450 years ago and one of the most influential musicians from the Elizabethan period, his compatriot Benjamin Britten whose centenary is being widely celebrated this year and the Russian master Dmitri Shostakovich, a contemporary and close friend of Britten.
Last night Shostakovich and Britten were on the programme in a performance by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by the young and lively Teodor Currentzis. The concert opened with Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, which was a first for me and throughout which I was totally captivated by the tenor Ian Bostridge's interpretation. After the interval the focus switched to Shostakovich, first a thrilling Piano Concerto No. 2 played by Alexander Melnikov followed by an energetic Symphony No. 9.
Earlier in the week I went to hear ‘Missa sopra Ecco si beato giorgno for 40 and 60 voices’ by Florentine composer Alessandro Striggio, the largest known polyphonic work from the entire Renaissance period. Still to come is a date with Quartet lab, a string quartet that is said to contrast established repertoire with contemporary works and improvisation.
There are also plenty of other offerings on the programme, including classical musicians interpreting Radiohead in a night club and a series of film classics all with a melancholic edge. Take a look at the KlaraFestival website to see if there's anything that grabs your attention. And if you can't make it in person, many of the concerts are broadcast on the radio.
Showing posts with label Film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Film. Show all posts
Friday, 6 September 2013
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Pina: All About Dance
Pina, the 3D film by Wim Wenders for the late choreographer Pina Bausch, is all about dance. Nothing surprising there, you might say. But the film really is about the visual beauty and physicality of dance and movement, not an intellectual reflection on dance. It is about the dance works created by Pina Bausch, not Pina Bausch the person.
Going into the cinema I had anticipated hearing a lot of the choreographer's own voice and listening to insights from dancers who had worked with the German choreographer. Don't get me wrong, the film includes archive footage of Bausch, but she doesn't say much in these clips, and it incorporates interviews with dancers who worked with Bausch at Tanztheater Wuppertal, but their comments reveal little.
Instead it really is the dance productions that take centre stage. Extracts from four of Bausch's works - Kontakthof, Le Sacre du printemps, Café Müller and Vollmond - dominate the film. Each is mesmerising and beautiful, enhanced by the 3D experience. For the film's 3D Supervisor François Garnier, using 3D was ideal because dance is, by its very nature, movement in space. "3D has all the space, all the action, and all the movement to offer. The sense of physical sensation is much more powerful than any intellectual reflection," Garnier says on the Pina website.
The dance is left to speak for itself, creating a rich visual and sensory experience full of colour, movement and beauty. Viewers are left to make their own interpretations, rather than be guided by any voiceover or strong verbal narrative. The picture of Bausch that emerged for me was of a woman who expressed herself through gestures and movements, not lengthy discussions and debates. Her words to the dancers were few and far between, but the words she did utter were exactly what was needed to motivate, encourage and inspire them.
The dancers are filmed both on stage and in outdoor locations in and around the German town of Wuppertal, which was Bausch's home and creative centre for 35 years until her sudden death in June 2009. As Tanztheater Wuppertal's long-time costume designer, Marion Cito, says, "I sometimes cannot believe that Pina Bausch is no longer here...One senses, however, that she lives on in her works." That is perhaps why it is so apt that it is the works that are at the centre of the film.
Going into the cinema I had anticipated hearing a lot of the choreographer's own voice and listening to insights from dancers who had worked with the German choreographer. Don't get me wrong, the film includes archive footage of Bausch, but she doesn't say much in these clips, and it incorporates interviews with dancers who worked with Bausch at Tanztheater Wuppertal, but their comments reveal little.Instead it really is the dance productions that take centre stage. Extracts from four of Bausch's works - Kontakthof, Le Sacre du printemps, Café Müller and Vollmond - dominate the film. Each is mesmerising and beautiful, enhanced by the 3D experience. For the film's 3D Supervisor François Garnier, using 3D was ideal because dance is, by its very nature, movement in space. "3D has all the space, all the action, and all the movement to offer. The sense of physical sensation is much more powerful than any intellectual reflection," Garnier says on the Pina website.
The dance is left to speak for itself, creating a rich visual and sensory experience full of colour, movement and beauty. Viewers are left to make their own interpretations, rather than be guided by any voiceover or strong verbal narrative. The picture of Bausch that emerged for me was of a woman who expressed herself through gestures and movements, not lengthy discussions and debates. Her words to the dancers were few and far between, but the words she did utter were exactly what was needed to motivate, encourage and inspire them.
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| © NEUE ROAD MOVIES GmbH, photograph by Donata Wenders |
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Only When I Dance: Rio Teenagers Pursue Their Dreams
Only when I dance is a documentary that follows two teenagers from rough, working class areas of Rio de Janiero striving to attain their dream of becoming professional ballet dancers - unsurprisingly it has been dubbed the Brazilian Billy Elliot. I enjoyed Billy Elliot; I loved Only when I dance.
The key to the film’s appeal lies in its two stars, 18 year-old Irlan Santos da Silva and 17 year-old Isabela Coracy. Director Beadie Finzi chose to follow these two dancers not because she could somehow tell where their lives were going to lead, but because of their personalities.
Speaking in Brussels yesterday evening, Finzi explained how she was immediately drawn to these two particular dancers and could tell from their body language that it was going to work well. True, Finzi knew these two had a lot of potential to succeed in the world of dance, but so did other students. She chose Irlan and Isabela because she could sense their magnetism and warmth - worthwhile characteristics not just for the film, but also because Finzi and her crew were going to spend a year, on and off, with the two dancers and their families, filming the ups and downs of their lives.
Both dancers attended the Centro de Dança Rio, a school set up by former Brazilian ballerina Mariza Estrella in order to give the next generation a chance to succeed in a city where too many young people succumb to the easy temptation of drugs and crime. Mariza acts as the link between the poor neighbourhoods of Rio and the bright lights of New York and other western cities where the young dancers dream of working.
On the one hand the stories of Irlan, who lived with his family in Rio de Janiero’s most violent favela, the Complexo do Alemão, and Isabela, from a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Rio, are a million miles away from those of us watching the film yesterday in Brussels. That was part of the documentary’s appeal, an insight into another world, another way of living.
Yet for all the differences, the story had universal appeal because it was a tale of two children striving to realise their dreams and their parents doing everything within their means to help them. The human emotions, real warmth and sense of truth in the film were what made it. It was impossible not to be moved by the film. And because it was a film about real people and real lives, it was all the more compelling.
Of course a documentary chooses to include only certain elements of the characters’ lives and leave out others, to follow one particular narrative more closely and leave another undeveloped. These are the essential choices made during production in order to condense the real lives of two families filmed over a year into a work lasting less than an hour and a half. I accept that a documentary uses techniques that you find in a fictional film, but for me there’s something about the truth and the reality of a documentary that I find irresistible and inspiring. Only when I dance certainly fell into that category.
The Brussels screening of Only when I dance was organised by the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Enjoy Poverty: Renzo Martens
But the message it carries is a stark one: be resigned to your life of poverty and don’t believe in the hope offered by western charity workers, you have been poor for decades and in reality this probably won’t change, be satisfied with your lot, enjoy your poverty.
This uneasy pairing of, on the one hand, seeming to want to better the Congolese people’s lives and, on the other, concluding that there is no hope of a better life for them runs throughout the film. It makes uncomfortable viewing as you wonder what Martens’ true intentions are.
The film seems to mock the way the western world exploits the poverty in Africa: the white journalists and photographers seeking the worst atrocities so they can sell their ‘story’ to the western media, the United Nations peacekeepers keeping designated areas safe so that overseas companies can fly in and out to search for gold, the western palm oil and cocoa plantation owner whose local workers don’t earn enough to feed their children, and the NGOs who drive around in jeeps and plaster their logos on everything to increase visibility and help secure more funding.
Martens travels around the Congo describing this situation to the Congolese people, telling them how their poverty is a resource that the west exploits to make money, little of which is returned to those in need, and to make themselves feel good. But isn’t Martens complicit in this too?
At one point, Martens sets up a makeshift classroom where he puts basic calculations up on a board to illustrate to local men how photographing malnourished children and raped women and selling these photos to foreign media would bring them more money than taking pictures of weddings and celebrations. They set out to put the theory into practice.
You sit there squirming, as these men are encouraged to point their cameras into the faces of their own suffering people and get a ‘good’ picture that will sell well. Martens and the men go to a hospital to see if the (white) Médecins sans Frontières representative would allow them to take pictures and if he’d be interested in buying their photos. The answer is no, the reason first being that it would be inappropriate, and then, when Martens points out that western photographers are permitted to do so, the reason is because the locals’ work isn’t professional enough.
Martens tells the men bluntly that their plan won’t work, they won’t be able to sell their photos and that they should go back to selling happy, wedding pictures for a pittance. You feel like Martens has used them for his own personal experiment, and then abandoned them once he has made his point and obtained his documentary material. They had put their trust in him and are left disappointed, exploited even.
It’s a contradictory film, which initially made me question the point of my monthly contributions to Médecins sans Frontières and by the end had me questioning what Martens really hoped to achieve with his documentary.
The film is showing at the KVS in Brussels until May 10 as part of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts.
(Photo credit: © Renzo Martens)
Monday, 16 February 2009
Big films on a small scale
I finally discovered what claims to be the smallest cinema in Brussels: the Styx in the Ixelles area. Don’t ask me how it has taken me eight years of living in Belgium to make it there!
I felt like I was going back in time as everything about the cinema is on a smaller scale than we’re generally used to these days, including the entrance price at just 5 euros.
It seems to operate in a slightly haphazard and laid-back way, but quaintly so. For example, the cash desk, squeezed into the corner of the entrance area, was only staffed a few minutes before the film started. But then again, there weren’t exactly hordes of people to deal with. My friend and I were the only ones waiting to watch the 9pm showing of The Changeling, and merely two film-goers came out of the early evening film.
The room would have seated about 40 people, but the only other person to turn up was the projectionist who gave us a little wave as he set the reels in motion and bade us goodnight as we left.
I was a little disappointed that the piano, randomly placed in the corner of the room, wasn't played. I suppose it’s there to accompany the occasional showing of a silent film, but it wouldn’t have been out of place to have struck up a few chords before the film started!
The Styx, which is partnered with Actor’s Studio in the city centre, has just two screens, curiously numbered 2 and 3. It tends to show both arthouse films and more mainstream movies that have stopped running in the larger cinemas.
If you want to see what’s on at the moment, click on www.styx.cinenews.be. And to find the cinema, the address is 72 Rue de l'Arbre Benit, a stone’s throw from Place Boniface and Avenue Louise.
I felt like I was going back in time as everything about the cinema is on a smaller scale than we’re generally used to these days, including the entrance price at just 5 euros.
It seems to operate in a slightly haphazard and laid-back way, but quaintly so. For example, the cash desk, squeezed into the corner of the entrance area, was only staffed a few minutes before the film started. But then again, there weren’t exactly hordes of people to deal with. My friend and I were the only ones waiting to watch the 9pm showing of The Changeling, and merely two film-goers came out of the early evening film.
The room would have seated about 40 people, but the only other person to turn up was the projectionist who gave us a little wave as he set the reels in motion and bade us goodnight as we left.
I was a little disappointed that the piano, randomly placed in the corner of the room, wasn't played. I suppose it’s there to accompany the occasional showing of a silent film, but it wouldn’t have been out of place to have struck up a few chords before the film started!
The Styx, which is partnered with Actor’s Studio in the city centre, has just two screens, curiously numbered 2 and 3. It tends to show both arthouse films and more mainstream movies that have stopped running in the larger cinemas.
If you want to see what’s on at the moment, click on www.styx.cinenews.be. And to find the cinema, the address is 72 Rue de l'Arbre Benit, a stone’s throw from Place Boniface and Avenue Louise.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Flemish film beats James Bond
Loft is a new Flemish thriller that is having rather a lot of success here in Belgium, even getting larger audiences in Flanders than the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace.
It’s the cinema equivalent of an intelligent page-turner, and I loved it. You’re completely absorbed by the film, it’s enjoyable, there’s great dialogue, the characters are interesting and you’re constantly trying to figure what makes them tick.
The film centres around five male friends, all married, who rent a loft where they can entertain their lovers in private. All’s well in their little world until one morning a dead woman is found in their loft.
It's essentially a “whodunnit” and as the action twists and turns we get more insight into the five men’s characters and discover how their lives are intertwined, for better or for worse.
The music, composed by Germany’s Wolfram de Marco, is performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra and is suitably dark and atmospheric. The script was written by Bart de Pauw and the film directed by Erik Van Looy.
As far as I’m aware it has only been released in Flanders and Brussels so far. Hopefully it will be distributed further afield in the not too distant future. In the meantime there are trailers on the official website.
It’s the cinema equivalent of an intelligent page-turner, and I loved it. You’re completely absorbed by the film, it’s enjoyable, there’s great dialogue, the characters are interesting and you’re constantly trying to figure what makes them tick.
The film centres around five male friends, all married, who rent a loft where they can entertain their lovers in private. All’s well in their little world until one morning a dead woman is found in their loft.
It's essentially a “whodunnit” and as the action twists and turns we get more insight into the five men’s characters and discover how their lives are intertwined, for better or for worse.
The music, composed by Germany’s Wolfram de Marco, is performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra and is suitably dark and atmospheric. The script was written by Bart de Pauw and the film directed by Erik Van Looy.
As far as I’m aware it has only been released in Flanders and Brussels so far. Hopefully it will be distributed further afield in the not too distant future. In the meantime there are trailers on the official website.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Binoche turns Brussels opera into cinema
La Monnaie opera house turned itself into a cinema for the first time on Monday evening, with a showing of Mauvais Sang, a film from 1986 starring Juliette Binoche. Before the film started, the French actress came on stage to give a half-hour interview about her work and life.
The main reason for her being in Brussels this week is a dance performance that she’s giving with Akram Khan, In-I. I didn’t know that Binoche was also a dancer. Apparently she isn’t, or at least wasn’t until last year. “You have to discover new things, push yourself,” Binoche told the audience. And that was one of the reasons why she accepted the opportunity to work with Khan.
It’s not only Binoche the dancer who is in the Brussels spotlight. The cinematheque is holding a retrospective of her films this month. Given that retrospectives are more often for the dead or those whose heyday is over, Binoche assured the audience that her acting career wasn’t over.
She did acknowledge, however, that on several occasions she had considered giving up acting and once went to her teacher to ask for a lesson in how to teach acting, thinking that could be an alternative career. She was met with the words “No way! Not yet.”
“Sometimes the desire to do something isn’t there any more. But you just have to be patient. It comes back,” Binoche said.
As for the film Mauvais Sang. I unfortunately felt like I was in a film studies class at university thinking I’m sure I’m supposed to find this intellectual and ground-breaking, but I don’t. Highlights: the aerial shots of three of the characters parachuting down to ground; the lines delivered by a sinister American female character who (intentionally) spoke French with an amusing Anglophone accent. Lowlights: the clever camera shots substituting for what it lacked in plot and character depth; too many occasions when I found myself simply thinking “what?”
The main reason for her being in Brussels this week is a dance performance that she’s giving with Akram Khan, In-I. I didn’t know that Binoche was also a dancer. Apparently she isn’t, or at least wasn’t until last year. “You have to discover new things, push yourself,” Binoche told the audience. And that was one of the reasons why she accepted the opportunity to work with Khan.
It’s not only Binoche the dancer who is in the Brussels spotlight. The cinematheque is holding a retrospective of her films this month. Given that retrospectives are more often for the dead or those whose heyday is over, Binoche assured the audience that her acting career wasn’t over.
She did acknowledge, however, that on several occasions she had considered giving up acting and once went to her teacher to ask for a lesson in how to teach acting, thinking that could be an alternative career. She was met with the words “No way! Not yet.”
“Sometimes the desire to do something isn’t there any more. But you just have to be patient. It comes back,” Binoche said.
As for the film Mauvais Sang. I unfortunately felt like I was in a film studies class at university thinking I’m sure I’m supposed to find this intellectual and ground-breaking, but I don’t. Highlights: the aerial shots of three of the characters parachuting down to ground; the lines delivered by a sinister American female character who (intentionally) spoke French with an amusing Anglophone accent. Lowlights: the clever camera shots substituting for what it lacked in plot and character depth; too many occasions when I found myself simply thinking “what?”
Saturday, 1 November 2008
Life through Leibovitz's lens
The documentary film “Annie Leibovitz: life through a lens” (showing at Flagey, Brussels, and coinciding with an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London) was 80 minutes of sheer enjoyment. Directed by her sister Barbara, the film captured her passion for photography, people and life.
The film bursts with energy: interviews with people Leibovitz has photographed, archive footage of her days at the Rolling Stone magazine, images of some of her most famous pictures.
We see the Queen being photographed at Buckingham Palace (yes, the shoot that caused the BBC to do some explaining after their editing made it look as if the queen had stormed out), Whoopi Goldberg telling us how the photo of her emerging from a bathtub full of milk had cats following her around for weeks and Yoko Ono talking about the picture that Leibovitz took of her and John Lennon just hours before the former Beatle was shot dead.
Leibovitz is seen from her own perspective as well as that of colleagues, family members, friends and people she has photographed. You get a real sense of what makes Leibovitz the photographer tick.
The film bursts with energy: interviews with people Leibovitz has photographed, archive footage of her days at the Rolling Stone magazine, images of some of her most famous pictures.
We see the Queen being photographed at Buckingham Palace (yes, the shoot that caused the BBC to do some explaining after their editing made it look as if the queen had stormed out), Whoopi Goldberg telling us how the photo of her emerging from a bathtub full of milk had cats following her around for weeks and Yoko Ono talking about the picture that Leibovitz took of her and John Lennon just hours before the former Beatle was shot dead.
Leibovitz is seen from her own perspective as well as that of colleagues, family members, friends and people she has photographed. You get a real sense of what makes Leibovitz the photographer tick.
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