Mays's roundup of Europe’s documentary film scene is here. After an eventful month, we move into the summer, where Modern Times Review will be at the Docudays UA, Biografilm, Sunny Side of the Doc and more. With the season expanding, we’ll take one last look back at the films, books, and comments of May 2024.
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News
Extended Submission Deadline Announced for the 7th AJB DOC Film Festival
Navigating censorship and security in Belarusian film with VODBLISK
Editorial
The privilege of the self-portrait
The intersection of migration and personal identity with Night of the Coyotes and Frida: A Self-Portrait.
Films
Bottlemen
Director: Nemanja Vojinovic
The eponymous collectors of plastic waste are just another slice of human history in Nemanja Vojinovic's Bottlemen.
Intercepted
Director: Oksana Karpovych
Contrasting quiet Ukrainian life compositions with intercepted phone conversations between Russian soldiers and their families.
Johatsu - Into Thin Air
Director: Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori
Revealing the hidden world of the evaporated.
Life is Beautiful
Director: Mohamed Jabaly
Living in exile is hard, as we can experience in Mohamed Jabaly's award-winning Life Is Beautiful. Despite the hardships, this film is a feel-good story celebrating solidarity and friendship.
Putin’s Playground
Director: Konrad Szolajski
Russian President Vladimir Putin blames the West for the war in Ukraine, but as Putin's Playground shows, the Kremlin has been subverting the west to suit its own agenda for years.
Reclaiming the Night
Director: Daniel Benjamin Wheeler
A short doc follows a researcher as he probes children’s trauma-induced nightmares.
The Diary of a Sky
Director: Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Nyon's Vision du Réel selection helps uncover unexpected forms of torture.