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2011, canada, emotions, featurefilm, Filmfest Hamburg, hamburg, Monsieur Lazhar, motionpictures, movie, music, musictherapy, Novena, Paraguay, reviews, spamdora, suggestions, The Music never stopped
During the last days I have been finally watching three pictures at the Filmfest. “Novena” from Paraguay (a production from the Netherlands), “The Music never stopped” from the USA and the Final feature “Monsieur Lazhar” from Canada.
Novena by Enrique Collar
On Thursday evening I went to the premiere of “Novena” (another movie after “The Waves”) in the Vitrina Section of this year’s Filmfest. “Novena” is in English called “The Nine Deathprayers”
This picture takes place in a small town in Paraguay and it describes the 9 days after a death in a ceremony. The Vitrina head said: “Novena is a pain in the ass film” because you don’t know whether it is a documentary, a motionpicture or some artificial inbetween. The director of that picture was a painter before he did his first feature film and before he moved from Paraguay to the Netherlands. He said at the Q+A that Novena was formerly imaged in a painting cycle with a 2mx2m piece. He said as well that the picture was made in in his hometown in Paraguay with people that were from that town inclusive his uncle.
I liked this silent and calm artificial picture. And if you have anytime the chance to see it. By the way, the actors spoke completely in Guarani. I was happy bout the subtitles.
More Info about it:
The Music never stopped by Jim Kohlberg
Friday evening I have seen this feature at the <a href="3001 in the Schanzenviertel.
This picture that is based on an essay by Oliver Sacks about one patient he once have had was fantastic. I was touched … (I was weeping at different parts of the picture.) First of all the trailer…
Gabriel leaves shortly before he finishes the College his home. He has big conflicts with his parents because he is into music, against the Vietnam war and against this conservative life of his parents. 20 years later the parents will be informed that Gab is having a really big brain tumor and they have to be there for him. Gab will lose most of his brain in a surgery. After the surgery the parents will have long time no connection emotionally to Gabriel. His father is doing research and reads about a musictherapist and he is fighting her to take care of him. After a lot of lows and downs … there will be a connection between the father and his son even when it is just with the help of lyrics and sounds by the Grateful Dead. I highly can recommend this picture. It's just not about the relationship between Gab and his parents. It is about the power of music. And it is an hommage for musictherapy.
More info about the motionpicture:
Yesterday I went finally to the last feature of the Filmfest. I was able to see who were winning the “Awards” at the theater but I will tell you about it later in a final Filmfest post.
Monsieur Lazhar by Philippe Falardeau
The picture had its premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and at this festival it hunted a deal with Arsenal (a German distribution) down. Later it was at the Toronto International Film Festival and anyhow … since then the director feels like “George Clooney in Up in the air” cuz his motionpicture is anyhow always highly much liked and wherever he goes … it will go home with a prize. 🙂 … This picture deserves it.
It is a hearttouching story about one schoolclass that has lost its teacher. She did suicide. Monsieur Bachir Lazhar read about it in the newspaper and he wants to be the new teacher. He is an immigrant from Algier where his family was terrorized and he asks in Canada for asylum … the school doesn’t know about. What happens to the schoolclass and what happens to Monsieur Lazhar?! Well you can watch it very soon in your local theaters because the “Worldtour” of this movie just started. Monsieur Lazhar won in Hamburg the Art Cinema Award donated by the C.I.C.A.E. Congratulations.
More info about the picture:
Well, these were my last pictures of the Filmfest and the next Festival will come sooner or later. 🙂
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