As a FIPRESCI jury member at this year’s Montreal Film Festival, or as we call it here in Montreal, Le Festival des films du Monde, I would like to put forth a certain number of random thoughts about the festival and some films I was privileged to watch as part of the first feature films’ selection. Like James Joyce’s Ulysses that many brag about but few have read, The FFM is one of those festivals that have been criticized though the years by many who haven’t attended it. Being my first incursion in that festival, I have come to realize during those 12 days, that some of the preconceived ideas (about the quality of the films, organization, structure, spectatorship…) were justifiable, and others were less.
Watching films by first timers, and more so, films that have not been previously shown, puts us as spectators and jury members in an interesting yet peculiar spot since we have mostly been accustomed to watch films with many points of reference in relation to auteurism, influences, value or reputation. Watching those films, without any preconception invites us to new a level of receptivity. That particular experience has been extremely rewarding since it gave us the opportunity to reevaluate the way we appreciate films. Now that said, I can personally say that the range of quality goes from dull bombs to witnessing a good filmmaker in the making, and that oscillating quality makes the FFM the rollercoaster it is.
The Long Way Home by Alphan Eseli is by far the most accomplished film we have seen, both technically and narratively. It’s a powerful philosophical epic tail, whose structure is classical and yet extremely modern, graced by details, with a good-intended Manichaeism and draped in silences that speak louder than words. This well constructed tail of survival and camaraderie in the face of fatality is the work of a filmmaker who seems to have both a well-defined film language and a well-informed pessimism.
As a FIPRESCI jury member at this year’s Montreal Film Festival, or as we call it here in Montreal, Le Festival des films du Monde, I would like to put forth a certain number of random thoughts about the festival and some films I was privileged to watch as part of the first feature films’ selection. Like James Joyce’s Ulysses that many brag about but few have read, The FFM is one of those festivals that have been criticized though the years by many who haven’t attended it. Being my first incursion in that festival, I have come to realize during those 12 days, that some of the preconceived ideas (about the quality of the films, organization, structure, spectatorship…) were justifiable, and others were less.
Watching films by first timers, and more so, films that have not been previously shown, puts us as spectators and jury members in an interesting yet peculiar spot since we have mostly been accustomed to watch films with many points of reference in relation to auteurism, influences, value or reputation. Watching those films, without any preconception invites us to new a level of receptivity. That particular experience has been extremely rewarding since it gave us the opportunity to reevaluate the way we appreciate films. Now that said, I can personally say that the range of quality goes from dull bombs to witnessing a good filmmaker in the making, and that oscillating quality makes the FFM the rollercoaster it is.
The Long Way Home by Alphan Eseli is by far the most accomplished film we have seen, both technically and narratively. It’s a powerful philosophical epic tail, whose structure is classical and yet extremely modern, graced by details, with a good-intended Manichaeism and draped in silences that speak louder than words. This well constructed tail of survival and camaraderie in the face of fatality is the work of a filmmaker who seems to have both a well-defined film language and a well-informed pessimism.
Edited by Christina Stojanova
© FIPRESCI 2013