THE RUSSIAN FILMMAKER SAID…

Masja, Awardwinner from the Wolga

The Russian filmmaker said, the first day was awful. They went to the Film Festival but there were only 2 persons in the auditorium with 200 seats. She was clearly disappointed. And in the evening they had a press conference. The war movies, presented by several directors, were clearly glorifying the horrors of war.

There were problems, sound distortions first of all and of format, some films were presented 4×3 but were 16×9 and vice versa, never mind that some projectors had not enough lumen.

For the Iranian films the attendance improved considerably, people came and left, some stayed for 10 minutes, others discussed their private matters or talked on the mobil, whole families attended with their children, mothers in black with their babies. Most of the Iranian movies were war related, very often concerning the Irak-Iran war.

At all the International films, the audience was nonexistent. The director of the international section, had put together a very good International Film Program but some films were “hot poatoes“, too hot to touch it seemed, to be presented to a any audience at all. After

Uli Stelzner – an Exceptionally Courageous Guy

Uli Stelzners “La Isla – Archives of a Tragedy“ questions could have come up easily about the situation in Iran after the tragic crackdown of the Green Movement, the dead and the disappearance of so many young people which are unaccounted for till today. But nobody was in the audience. Questions could also have been asked, what had gone so terribly wrong in the Palestine Territories after the voting 2005/06: why all attempts to a dialogue had gone nowhere between the different factions. Why power sharing between Hamas and Fatah was not possible. Why always one wanted to usurp power at the top. Why distruction and deceit had taken over on all levels between Hamas and Fatah. Why Fatah and Hamas did not learn to cooperate. Who’s interest was it that powersharing was not an option, not for Fatah and not for Hamas?