Mark your calendars: the excellent, low-budget Globians film fest returns to Berlin Weißensee’s charming Toni cinema six months early.
Gripping, enlightening and sharp, the festival’s defining principle remains a resolve to reveal the interconnectedness of global issues with some thought-provoking and socially conscious documentary filmmaking.
Commenting on the CCTV culture, Diego Samper’s provocative Panopticon (Feb 1, 18:00) examines the logics behind social networking and other modern observational practices as a continuation of those behind the creation of the panopticon, a 19th-century privacy-invading form of architecture.
It’s followed by the European premiere of The Day That Lasted 21 Years, which combines archival documents and footage supported by eyewitness interviews to uncover the story of the Brazilian military’s 21-year, US-backed reign of terror and repression.
Two truly excellent ventures that deconstruct the processes behind global identities are Stefan Baumgartner’s hard-hitting Behind the Screen (Feb 2, 18:00) and Michel Favre’s beautifully shot Si près si loin (Feb 1, 21:30). Baumgartner’s film scales the world to present a poignant exposé on today’s unscrupulous and repressive cycles of gold production and disposal, revealing the international cooperation enabling such exploitation, whilst Favre also explores links between individual and collective destinies by following the return of a Swiss artist to her childhood home in post-colonial Bolivia.
Expect a very international mix of local audiences and globetrotting directors – often financing the trip from their own pockets – and a warm unpretentious atmosphere (including, in past years, tea and cookies served by volunteers).
All in OV with English subtitles.
Globians Doc Fest #9, Jan 31-Feb 3 | Kino Toni, www.globians.com
