XXXX Pärnu Filmifestival

XXXX PÄRNU FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAMME   Monday, 12 October Tõstamaa Secondary School in the manor house of Tõstamaa Manor 12.30 HOMECOMING, directors Roman Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk, Ukraine, Poland, 19′ A boy who fled Ukraine for Poland visits his childhood home and parents as a robot dog. This is the first science fiction documentary at our festival. SPACE CARRIES ON FOREVER – STRATEGIES FOR LIFE, director Suzuki Yuki, Japan, 95′ A world filmed through a microscope, hidden from the human eye, where tiny life forms are not only artistically beautiful but also able to adapt to climate change and the different radiation of outer space. We also discover that many creatures and plants can change their sex. 18.00 Nominees for the festival's honorary award for artistic achievement. THREE LEelots, director Krzysztof Nowicki, Poland, 67′ Krzysztof Nowicki's music film about a choir in which men and women from different professions regain their will to live. WINTER IN THE SOUTH, SNOW ON THE GROUND, director Seba Vidal Campos, Chile, 97′ The Patagonian pampa in Seba Vidal's homeland is a true realm of peace while the rest of the world fights and battles.   Wednesday, 14 October Festival Palace 1 (Strand), Hestia Hotel Strand, A. H. Tammsaare pst 35, Pärnu, in the Jurmala Hall   15.30 JACQUOT OF NANTES, director Agnès Varda, France, 120′ Long ago, a boy grew up in a garage where everyone liked to sing. It was 1939, he was eight years old, and he liked dolls and operas. Later he wanted to make films, but his father forced him to study mechanics. This is a film about Jacques Demy's youth, his games and worries, and his first attempts at making films... It was a happy childhood despite the war and the post-war years. The story of Jacquot – a man with a calling – was filmed by a woman who shared his life from 1958 onward. Discussion with Mark Soosaar   18.00 THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, director Jacques Demy, France, 92′ Geneviève, the daughter of the owner of an umbrella shop in Cherbourg, is deeply in love with the young car mechanic Guy. When Guy is called up for military service in Algeria, separation forces the young lovers to make difficult choices about love, family and the future. Jacques Demy's bittersweet musical is sung throughout and accompanied by Michel Legrand's unforgettable music and vivid visual world.     Thursday, 15 October Sütevaka Humanitarian Gymnasium, Lõuna tn 20, Pärnu 8.30–10.00 HOMECOMING, directors Roman Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk, Ukraine, Poland, 19′ A boy who fled Ukraine for Poland visits his childhood home and parents as a robot dog. This is the first science fiction documentary at our festival. DATING IN THE DARK, Myanmar, 50′ In Naung Sone village in the southern Shan hills, young men go to a neighboring village at nightfall to find partners. A humorous student film reveals how this Pa-O custom actually works. 10.25–11.10 ALIEN ON A BIKE, director Jacopo Domenichini [contact details withheld], 9′ A portrait of a young courier who earns a living in the city's nighttime darkness. BORSCHT, director Yuqing Jiang [contact details withheld], 14′ The filmmaker's audiovisual letter from Tallinn to her mother in Shanghai proves that true love is interrupted neither by distance nor by a break lasting years. Sometimes even a porridge or soup from childhood can bring people together... HOMECOMING, directors Roman Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk, Ukraine, Poland, 19′ A boy who fled Ukraine for Poland visits his childhood home and parents as a robot dog. This is the first science fiction documentary at our festival. 11.30–12.15 SAFOORA, director Parviz Rostami, Kurdistan, 18′ Rituals, dances, songs and prayers by Kurdish women to Saint Safoora, asking her and the heavenly powers to send rain to the fields and heal those whom earthly powers cannot save from death. HOMECOMING, directors Roman Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk, Ukraine, Poland, 19′ A boy who fled Ukraine for Poland visits his childhood home and parents as a robot dog. This is the first science fiction documentary at our festival. 15.30 EVERYDAY AINU, director Oki Kano, Japan, 30′ An audiovisual museum artifact from the national museum of Japan's Ainu minority documents the everyday life of a hunter, fisherman, seaweed gatherer and cultural worker. The film does not idealize life, because it was made by the Ainu themselves. Thus the museum is honest and the community is strong. Discussion with the director. GOD IN MILITARY UNIFORM, director Kano Endo, Japan, Taiwan, 107′ Taiwan had long been a Japanese colony when the spirit of a Japanese man appeared there. Fearing a curse, the island's inhabitants turned the spirit into a god who comes to help those in need. The filmmakers, anthropologist Yohei Fujino and documentarian Kano Endo, visit more than 50 shrines, where gods in military uniforms await them at the altar. The film crew investigates whether Japan really has been so warlike that there is no other way. Discussion with the director. 18.00 THE LAST PROMETHEUS OF DONBAS, director Anton Shtuka, Ukraine, 104′ A documentary epic about heroes who protect an almost century-old power plant by night and by day. The mythical power station must survive like Prometheus, who gave people light and warmth. Discussion with the director.   Friday, 16 October Festival Palace 2 (Old Town School), Nikolai tn 26, Pärnu 13.35–15.15 SPACE CARRIES ON FOREVER – STRATEGIES FOR LIFE, director Suzuki Yuki, Japan, 95′ A world filmed through a microscope, hidden from the human eye, where tiny life forms are not only artistically beautiful but also able to adapt to climate change and the different radiation of outer space. We also discover that many creatures and plants can change their sex. Discussion with the director.   16.00 THREE LEelots, director Krzysztof Nowicki, Poland, 67′ Krzysztof Nowicki's music film about a choir in which men and women from different professions regain their will to live. Discussion with the director.   18.00 FORGET THE CINEMA!, director Arantzazu Gómez Bayón, Spain, Finland, 78′ A self-portrait by the filmmaker, a woman of the 21st century who, after becoming a mother, tries to divide herself between family and public life. A true confession whose imagery and metaphors also belong to the 21st century. Discussion with the director.   Saturday, 17 October Festival Palace 2 (Old Town School), Nikolai tn 26, Pärnu Student films 10.00 A JOURNEY THROUGH THE EYES OF SURVIVORS, directors Valery Grysha, Oleksandr Hoisan, Ukraine, 8′ Archival footage from 1906 of San Francisco's Market Street inspired a student film that adds the earthquake that struck the USA's most beautiful city to the historical footage. ALIEN ON A BIKE, director Jacopo Domenichini [contact details withheld], 9′ A portrait of a young courier who earns a living in the city's nighttime darkness. THE WHITE SHIP, director Anthony Noack, [contact details withheld], 6.2′ For Estonians, a mythological white ship that appears from the sea and takes the dreamer aboard to carry them to the promised land is a symbol of freedom. From Tallinn's TV tower, the sea of freedom and the gateway to Helsinki could already be seen in 1980. But which white ship is the artist at the TV tower waiting for today? BORSCHT, director Yuqing Jiang, [contact details withheld], 14′ The filmmaker's audiovisual letter from Tallinn to her mother in Shanghai proves that true love is interrupted neither by distance nor by a break lasting years. Sometimes even a porridge or soup from childhood can bring people together... WEN-JIN, director Roy Tsai, Hong Kong, Singapore, 47′ While browsing the internet, the student filmmaker found a documentary about a grandfather she had never known, made after the Second World War and now restored. This revealed connections between professional judgment, public memory and family ties. 12.00 DATING IN THE DARK, Myanmar, 50′ In Naung Sone village in the southern Shan hills, young men go to a neighboring village at nightfall to find partners. A humorous student film reveals how this Pa-O custom actually works. THE VOICE OF SPIRITS, Myanmar, 63′ The Lisu people have a deep connection with nature. They communicate daily with the spirits of their fields and forests. The shaman Byar Wu helps manage these relationships. His own task is to call lost souls back into the bodies of their owners, in order to prevent serious illnesses. BONE CONJURERS, Myanmar, 27′ Speaking with the bones of the dead is an ancient tradition of the Pwo Karen people. Those who remain on earth have a duty to teach the departed how to reach heaven. The Karen live in former Burma, now Myanmar. 15.30 WINTER IN THE SOUTH, SNOW ON THE GROUND, director Seba Vidal Campos, Chile, 97′ The Patagonian pampa in Seba Vidal's homeland is a true realm of peace while the rest of the world fights and battles. Discussion with the director.   18.00 – AWARDS EVENING – TV PROGRAMME RECORDING   20.00 Late-night cinema Festival Palace 2 (Old Town School), Nikolai tn 26, Pärnu TAMSEN, directors Robert Strauß, Lisa Carstensen, Germany, 9′ St Thomas's Day on the island of Föhr in North Friesland. Bicycles are moved into the cellar and rubbish bins hidden in the shed. According to an old custom, children can do whatever they please outside on the night of St Thomas's Day... THE WONDERFUL BISTRO "CHEZ JEANNINE", director Pierrick Bourgault, France, 76′ Jeannine, an 80-year-old bistro owner, turns her tiny café into a refuge for society's outcasts, young and old, through her rebellious spirit, sharp tongue and generosity. A documentary as a hymn to community. Every evening and night, Jeannine's place is cozy and cheerful, and worries fade into the darkness of the street. Discussion with the director.   Sunday, 18 October Festival Palace 2 (Old Town School), Nikolai tn 26, Pärnu 12.00 AMANDA, director Jose Miguel Jimenez, Ireland, 82′ Irish artist Amanda Cullen tries through her art to erase the trauma she suffered from abuse in a psychiatric hospital. 14.00 NOT WITHOUT YOU, directors Petra Lataster-Czisch, Peter Lataster, Netherlands, 84′ An intimate portrait of the filmmaker's father and mother – painter Ger Lataster and photographic artist Hermine van Hall. The mother's passing brings an entirely new breeze into the father's work... 16.00 DESCENT INTO THE VALLEY, director Johan Huimerind, [contact details withheld], 62′ A portrait of photographic artist Peeter Laurits as an independent thinker and shaman. His work begins in Kütiorg in southern Estonia and reaches into the infinity of space. 18.00 EPP MARIA. LIFE IN PAINTING, director Anu Aun, [contact details withheld], 84′ A view into Epp Kokamägi's elegiac world, which she has created with her magical canvases in Pärnu County, at her home on the Baltic Sea coast.