Docudays UA presents screenings of documentaries at the festival Slava Frolova’s ART-PICNIC. Second installment, The Best of DOCU/SHORT 2013, will take place on August 23, 8:30 pm, in 8th pavilion of VDNH complex (Vystavkovyi Tsentr metro station).
The Best of DOCU/SHORT 2013 focused on short documentaries from all over the world. Docudays UA presents the best films of off this year’s competition program. Including, “Pouters” by Paul Fegan (Scotland), which was a participant of IDFA, winner of the Docudays UA short films competition, and winner of London Short Film Festival. There will also be a screening of Đuro Gavran’s “The Verdict” (Croatia), the film received a special mention at the International documentary film festival in Zagreb, participated in Short Film Corner at Cannes, and in competition of International Film Festival Rotterdam. Moreover, the screening includes the films which received special mentions of the jury at Docudays UA 2013: “ABC” by Madli Lääne (Germany) and “Blossom with Tears” by Huaqing Jin (China).
The screening will be presented by the moderator of DOCU/SHORT competition program Iryna Tantsiura.
“Pouters”, dir. Paul Fegan (Scotland, 2012, 17’)
It is estimated that around 1000 Scottish people, mostly men, engage in "doo fleein," a highly competitive hobby that involves stealing each other's pigeons. The sport is practised mostly in the poorer areas, where fallow land offers ample space for imposing dovecotes equipped with ingenious mechanisms to trap their competitors’ birds. This short documentary focuses on two of these men living in a working-class neighborhood in Glasgow. Rab and Danny have been battling it out for 25 years. Hilarity ensues when we follow them during their hunt, with the two men exchanging mating calls and foul-mouthed diatribes with their birds, and celebrating triumphantly when they manage to catch a prized bird. Even during the interviews, in which the heavily-accented duo speak about their sport and their never-ending rivalry, they always have at least one eye pointed at the sky.
“The Verdict”, dir. Đuro Gavran (Croatia, 2012, 10’)
How much can an ordinary man know about what is happening in the war? How much can people who were a part of the war know about what is happening in the war? How much can the people who led the war know about what is happening in the war? How much can the prosecutors of war crimes know about what happened in the war?
“ABC”, dir. Madli Lääne (Germany, 2012, 12’)
Vele is 17 years old and all she wants is to learn how to read and write – to keep up with her seven-year-old daughter. After the endless years of the Liberian civil war, her ability to sign her own name means the next big step towards independence – away from the painful past, into a brighter future.
“Blossom with Tears”, dir. Huaqing Jin (China, 2012, 38’)
This is a story is about competition and survival: a group of blossom-like children struggle to pave the way for their future lives. The film tells the story of two children (Yuan and Xiang) who are studying acrobatics, and their family. Their thin shoulders bear the hope of both families. While undergoing hardships physically and psychologically as they grow up, they learn to find happiness in life in their own ways. The documentary expresses the director's concern about the life of ordinary people in China.
