AIFF 2019: Feature Docs -Survival (Peoples, Rhinos), War & Protest, Siberia to Alaska, Growing Up [UPDATED 11/11/19]

This looks like strong group of films.  Many link directly or indirectly to Alaska, They'll take you to Siberia,  to visit Canadian and South American Indigenous Peoples and Sami in Finland, to Kenya, Scotland and Chile, Alaska, Germany, and Vietnam.  This is all the feature docs.  You can see the list of films from all the categories in my previous AIFF2019 post.  I'll try to do something similar for the narrative features (fictional feature length films).  There are simply way too many shorts in all the categories to cover them like this, but I'm thinking of ways to help film buffs find out about them as easily as possible.

To help people plan their viewing schedules, I've put the documentaries up in the order that they will be show (I'll put up the time for The Power of Yoik as soon as I find it.  Also, a couple of cases I'm not sure of country.)


DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

 SATURDAY, Dec 07, 2019

ALS ICH MAL GROSS WAR  (Back When I Was Big)
Directors:  Philipp Fleischmann & Lilly Engel
Germany
82 minutes
Showing:  SATURDAY, Dec 07, 2019 3:00 pm  Alaska Experience Theatre - Small

I'm having trouble finding much about this film in English, but never fear. ]Google Translate is has gotten really good.  First, for those literate in German from the film's website:

"Können Sie sich noch daran erinnern, wie es war, als Sie ein Kind waren? Als das ganze Leben noch vor einem lag, aufregend, verheißungsvoll, voller Abenteuer und Träume... Was wird eigentlich aus diesen Träumen, wohin verschwinden sie beim Erwachsenwerden? Das sind die Fragen, die ALS ICH MAL GROSS WAR stellt. Und mit Humor, Herz und Poesie beantwortet.

Fünf Jahre haben die Filmemacher Lilly Engel und Philipp Fleischmann die drei Kinder Lucas, Marius und Renée dokumentarisch begleitet. Der Zuschauer kann sie auf dem Weg vom Kind zum Teenager erleben – und gleichzeitig die Veränderungen ihrer Träume. Für die Alter Egos der Kinder in der Zukunft konnte mit Isabell Polak („Vaterfreuden“), Constantin von Jascheroff („Picco“) und Sebastian Schwarz („Ballon“) ein prominenter Hauptcast gewonnen werden.

ALS ICH MAL GROSS WAR ist eine so noch nie gesehene Mischung aus Dokumentar- und Spielfilm, ein kindlicher Blick in die Zukunft und ein erwachsener Blick zurück in die eigene Vergangenheit. Eine berührende und humorvolle Geschichte, die von großer Freundschaft erzählt, vom Erwachsenwerden, und die uns mit Leichtigkeit und Witz zum Lachen und Nachdenken bringt."

While this is in the documentary category, the description says it's a mix of documentary and fiction.

"Can you still remember what it was like when you were a child? When the whole life was still ahead of you, exciting, auspicious, full of adventure and dreams ... What will become of these dreams, where do they go when they grow up? These are the questions that once I asked WHY. And answered with humor, heart and poetry.

Filmmakers Lilly Engel and Philipp Fleischmann accompanied the three children Lucas, Marius and Renée documentary for five years. The viewer can experience it on the way from the child to the teenager - and at the same time the changes of their dreams. For the future alter egos of children in the future, a prominent main cast could be won with Isabell Polak ("Vaterfreuden"), Constantin von Jascheroff ("Picco") and Sebastian Schwarz ("Balloon").

WHEN I'VE BEEN GREAT is an unprecedented mix of documentary and feature film, a childlike look into the future and a mature look back into your own past. A touching and humorous story that tells of great friendship, about growing up, and that makes us laugh and think with ease and wit."

Nae Pasaran
Directed by:  Felipe Bustos Sierra
Scotland
2018
Showing:  SATURDAY, Dec 07, 2019 6:00 pm   Bear Tooth Theatrepub

This looks like a great movie, and not just because this summer I was at La Moneda, the building that was bombed in this clip.  But having recently visited Santiago, I have a little more connection to the story of the director and the story he tells in this film.  Felipe Bustos Sierra's father is a journalist who was exiled from Chile to Belgium during Pinochet's rule.  The director grew up in Belgium and now, lives in Scotland.


The film is about factory workers who realize that the engines they are supposed to repair are from the Chilean air force that has been bombing its own capital.  They manage to not work on the engines for years.  They info I've found on the film doesn't tell impact of 'losing' those engines, but it hints that the film will.



SUNDAY, Dec 08, 2019


Follow the River - Searching for freedom in Alaska
Director:  Tilo Mahn
Germany
67 minutes
Showing:  SUNDAY, Dec 08, 2019 12:00 pm   Alaska Experience Theatre - Large

From German Documentaries:

Mike and Nate Turner believe in a life consistent with nature. Father and son have decided to quit their old life and go back in time to start a new life in the wilderness of Alaska. Surrounded by vast forests, mountains and rivers they follow the roots of the early trappers and hunters. Mike and Nate want to leave everything behind that had determined their former life. Getting away from civilization is a way for them to live their ideals and dreams: to live off the land just like the early trappers and hunters did. Their story tells a story of people who want to break away from the rest of the world.

FOLLOW THE RIVER_ALASKA_Trailer 2018 from Salomé Lou Römer on Vimeo.



Northern Travelogues
Director:  Kira Jääskeläinen
Finland
58 minutes
Showing:  SUNDAY, Dec 08, 2019 2:00 pm    Alaska Experience Theatre - Large

From the film director's website:

In 1917 Finnish explorer Sakari Pälsi travelled to north-eastern Siberia carrying a cinematograph and 13,000 feet of film with him. The journey birthed a unique documentary film and a travelogue.

A hundred years later director Kira Jääskeläinen returns to the Bering strait in Pälsi's footsteps. By combining old and new film footage, Pälsi's notes and the stories of the local Indigenous peoples, the film tells the story of the Chukchi and Siberian Eskimos from the days gone by till today. 

Northern travelogues TRAILER from Illume Ltd on Vimeo.


Also from the website, about the director:

Kira Jääskeläinen was born in Warsaw into a Finnish-Polish family.  She moved to Finland as a child, and the first part of her life she studied classical cello under the supervision of professor Seppo Laamanen in Helsinki.

Wanting to explore other countries, Kira moved to Copenhagen at the age of 19. She studied Russian studies at the University of Copenhagen. During several expeditions to north-eastern Siberia, Kira's interest in documentary filmmaking grew. She has studied at the All Russian State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow and in several international documentary workshops, including Eurodoc and Nipkow Program.

Since 2010 Kira has worked in different aspects of filmmaking for companies in Finland, Denmark and Germany.  Her debut film Tagikaks - Once Were Hunters (2012) has been screened & awarded on festivals all over the world. Kira was the artistic director of Polish Film Weeks in Finland during 12 years. She is a regular guest curator and jury member at international film festivals.

Currently Kira lives and works in her country house in Southern Finland. She has just finished a new documentary film Northern Travelogues, which will premiere in the beginning of 2019. 

MONDAY Dec 09, 2019

Kifaru
Director:  David Hambridge
USA - Kenya
79 minutes
Showing: MONDAY Dec 09, 2019 6:00 pm  Bear Tooth Theatrepub

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Kifaru, David Hambridge’s account of efforts to protect the only surviving northern white rhinos in the wild, arrives at a critical stage in the preservation of the species. Confronting the possibility of extinction through the eyes of a dedicated team assigned as Sudan’s caretakers adds another layer of urgency, transforming the film from competent conservation documentary into compelling real-life drama.
Relocated from a conflict area in his namesake country as a juvenile, Sudan ended up in a Czech zoo for years, before he was transferred to the Ol Pejeta wildlife conservancy in central Kenya, along with his captive-raised daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu. Besides sheltering a variety of other dislocated species, the refuge’s goal is to protect Sudan from poachers and care for him long enough for wildlife scientists to develop a method to clone his DNA, a completely unprecedented task. Surrounded by armed rangers guarding the reserve’s perimeter, new recruits JoJo and Jacob join the privileged ranks of Sudan’s caretakers under the watchful guidance of veteran keeper James.

This is a film from North Carolina State of the director talking about his work and this film.





 WEDNESDAY,  Dec 11, 2019

The American War
Director:  Dr. Daniel Bernardi
USA/Vietnam (not certain)
Showing:  WEDNESDAY,  Dec 11, 2019 8:00 pm   Alaska Experience Theatre - Large

Excerpt From Veteran Documentary Corps Blog:

SC: How did you come up with the idea for the film?
Daniel Bernandi: After successfully producing roughly 25 short films on 25 different veterans, I knew it was time for Veteran Documentary Corp to begin making feature-length documentaries to tell deeper, more developed stories of the veteran experience. I selected Vietcong veterans as the subject of our first feature for a couple reasons.  First, despite the fact that many Americans have seen stories or read about the Vietnam War, the story of the Vietcong veteran has not been told — at least not for American audiences. Why did the Vietnamese fight? What was their experience of, for example, Agent Orange or South Vietnamese torture? What was it like being Veterans in a county that includes veterans from the “other” side (e.g., South Vietnamese soldiers)? Second and equally important, I wanted to address experiences shared by veterans across time and country. The experience of war is more universal than era or nation might otherwise suggest.

 FRIDAY Dec 13, 2019


Cumhachd a' Yoik/The Power of Yoik
Directed by Paul-Anders Simma
Finland
58 minutes
Showing:  Friday Dec 13, 2019 6:00 pm  Anchorage Museum Auditorium

From IDFA:

Yoiking is the sacred chanting style of Europe’s only indigenous peoples, the Sami’s. Yoiking was a powerful tool for the shamans to reach the spirit world. When Lapland was colonized, the invaders forbade the yolk. Many Shamans where burned as witches, when they refused to stop to Yolk. Young Sami woman Inga Gaup- Juuso belongs to a nomadic family. Tourists are invading their lands, and the herds are driven out of the best grazing grounds. When the family reindeer herd is struck by starvation, Inga decides to test the power of Yoik.

The closest I can find to any video of The Power of Yoik is embedded in this Tweet from last year. The video is no longer up at the BBC link.

Watch "The power of Yoik" on I-player until November 31st, 2018. I-Player is BBCs catchup service and can be reached by 50 million people. https://t.co/nWDlJAleW9 pic.twitter.com/bVBdSJfV5o

— Paul Simma (@psimma) November 1, 2018

SATURDAY  Dec 14, 2019

The Condor & the Eagle
Directors:  Clement Guerra & Sophie Guerra
90 minutes
Canada
Showing:  SATURDAY  Dec 14, 2019 12:00 pm   Anchorage Museum Auditorium
Video from the film's Indiegogo campaign.


From Indigenous Again:

Four Indigenous leaders embark on an extraordinary trans-continental adventure from the Canadian plains to deep into the heart of the Amazonian jungle to unite the peoples of North and South America and deepen the meaning of “Climate Justice”.
This film documents the stories of these four well-known Native environmental spokespeople who are at the forefront of a perspective shift in the identity of their people, from forgotten voices to strong shared communities with the power to bring change to the entire world. Their path through the jungle takes them on an unexpectedly challenging and liberating journey, which will forever change their attachment to the Earth and one another.