24th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Becoming
synopsis
This minimalist six-minute film looks at the creation of animal life through time-lapse footage of an embryo’s development – a process universal to all animals, including people. The film follows, in microscopic detail, the development of an alpine newt in its translucent egg all the way from first cell division to moment of hatching.
biography
Dutch documentary filmmaker and photographer Jan van IJken (1965) focuses on nature and the world of animals, as for instance in his early film Facing Animals (2012) or in his look at the motion of a flock of birds, The Art of Flying (2015), which was shown in Jihlava as well.
more about film
| director: | Jan van IJken |
| producer: | Jan van IJken |
| photography: | Jan van IJken |
other films in the section
A shop by the side of the road. One after another, people enter and exit the small building. The randomness and illogical nature of the action feels unreal. The sense of timelessness and of being in an unnamed place further heightens the dreamlike nature of the scene. The nearly motionless black-and-white camera records a fragment of life in a place torn from the context of the world.
Dream
Laila Pakalnina
Latvia / 2016 / 7 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
A look at the Balkans migration route in December 2015. Throngs of refugees make their way to Dobova, Slovenia. They get on the waiting buses in an orderly fashion and enter the system. The Slovenian government has had the journey under control for a month. Confined to a single file line, the migrants go through checks, inspections, and wait for the next step.
Stop and Go
Ralph Kronauer, Giovanni Pannico
Germany, Italy / 2017 / 15 min.
section: Short Joy
Central European Premiere
A VHS installation from the realm of documentary film. The pair of home video recordings, both made in 1992, are shown on two separate monitors in order to provide an aestheticised trip back to the time when the reunified German was a fragile construct and young people succumbed to (self-)destruction. VHS technology, prefab housing estates, the former East Germany, the sharp rise in neo-Nazism, the spread of hard drugs. Replace East Germany with Czechoslovakia and you see the shared experiences of the post-communist states.
Triangular Stories
Henrike Naumann
Germany / 2012 / 14 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
For the past several months, the infamous refugee camp in Calais has been home for a young Afghani. His daily experiences and his feelings about life in the Jungle are reflected in his letters to his parents, which paint a picture of the inescapable situation of hopelessness. The young man keeps on repeating his mantra: “Soon I will be in England.”
Jungle
Colia Vranici
France / 2016 / 18 min.
section: Short Joy
East European Premiere
The camera enters an office. The receptionist answers the telephone, her co-workers drink coffee during their break and talk about their plans. Later, there is a meeting. The stiffness of the situation reveals a hidden story. What exactly took place from June 2015 to September 2016 in the government building in Amsterdam?
Stand-by Office
Randa Maroufi
Lebanon, France, Netherlands, Romania / 2017 / 13 min.
section: Short Joy
East European Premiere
This minimalist portrait of young parents offers a voyeuristic look at their daily routine. The intimate scenes, dominated by just two colors (grey and red) and shot using a slow zoom, are accompanied by the sounds of the city and barely audible dialogues.DETAIL:“I now remember my dream, daddy. You were at work. I was across the street. Helping some lady I think. I don't really know why. I don't remember. But I was afraid.”
New Life
Kiro Russo
Bolivia / 2015 / 16 min.
section: Short Joy
East European Premiere
A film about one of the many forms of love, shot sensitively and without pathos. Daniela and Fouad met purely by chance. She is alone and he needs a residence permit. Over time, their pragmatically motivated relationship weaves the two protagonists into a fragile web of intimacy. But Fouad’s professions of love start to be a hindrance for Daniela.
Mon amour, mon ami
Adriano Valerio
Italy, France / 2017 / 15 min.
section: Short Joy
East European Premiere
A compulsory stay in a Seoul facility known as Hanawon serves to prepare North Korean defectors for life under capitalism. Eight people tell of their experiences from their new lives, highlighting the challenges and prejudices that they must face in the completely different system. Their authentic testimonies are heard against the background of scenes of the bustling megalopolis.
Hanawon
Romain Champalaune
Netherlands / 2019 / 15 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
At the funeral of her grandmother, Yanlin, a young Chinese girl, learns that the deceased was a medium – and was possessed by a spirit named Gong. The film is Yanlin’s personal confessional – she never believed in the existence of miracles, but is now becoming interested in the world of spiritualism and finding out who Gong was in order to understand her grandmother better.
Beyond the World
Yanlin Li
United Kingdom / 2018 / 16 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
A three-hundred-kilometer unmaintained dirt road is the only way to reach the nearest hospital from a remote African village. Through naturalistic observational camerawork, the film captures the journey of an ambulance driver in southern Ethiopia struggling to overcome all possible obstacles in order to safely deliver a laboring woman to the doctors.
Mud road
Francesco De Giorgi
Ethiopia, Italy / 2019 / 10 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
Tabatô – the site of this black-and-white-and-red docudrama – is a small community in the Republic of Guinea-Bissau on the west coast of Africa. What makes this place remarkable is that all the local inhabitants are musicians. Into this small oasis in a world of instability is brought the idea of shooting and the trauma of war. The unpacked mystery of a closed suitcase.From the arrivals hall, a well-dressed native with a turban on his head emerges. The wheels of his suitcase roll across the hardened clay of the open plain. He is alone. A shot rings out... he hits the ground.
Tabatô
João Viana
Portugal / 2013 / 13 min.
section: Short Joy
Czech Premiere
<3 / Less Than Three
Jorė Janavičiūtė
Lithuania / 2019 / 12 min.
section: Short Joy
International Premiere
