“Do you want to allow the following program to make changes in your brain?”
The slogan of this year’s Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival reflects on its main focus — the digitalization of people’s lives and their so-called digital rights. The festival, as usual, hits one of the hottest buttons of the modern world, collecting together documentary films that explore both the benefits and the dangers of digital developments.
Docudays UA was founded in 2003 and has been held annually since 2005. It is also a part of the international Human Rights Film Network.
This year, the festival will take place on March 22–30 at 13 locations, and will include workshops, exhibitions, discussions, and, of course, movie screenings.
This year Docudays UA will screen 29 films, both feature-length and short, in its competition program, as well as 48 non-competition pictures. All the movies will have English subtitles.
A festival pass giving visitors access to all screenings and events costs Hr 900, a one-day pass is Hr 300, and tickets for individual screenings cost Hr 50 or 90. Tickets can be bought online at www.docuday.ua or at Kyiv, Zhovten, Lira cinemas.
But before getting any tickets, moviegoers will have to pick out which films to watch from the festival’s large selection. To help them, here are what the Kyiv Post reckons are some of the best pictures to be screened at this year’s Docudays UA.
‘Sakawa’
Another documentary from “The Network” program explores digital rights violations through internet fraud, which for poor unemployed young people in Ghana is a rare opportunity to make a living. The film follows the Sakawa boys, a group of fraudsters using internet romance scamming as a way to earn money. They use electronic waste (laptops, keyboards) thrown away by the West in Ghana. The film introduces the newcomers to the group, who join the Sakawa boys for various reasons from providing for their families to dreaming about traveling. Meanwhile, their experienced mentors teach the newbies tricks of scamming. “Sakawa” is a documentary feature debut of Ben Asamoah, a Belgian director with roots from Ghana.
“Sakawa.” Zhovten Cinema (26 Kostiantynivska St.) March 25. 6:30 p. m. Hr 90. March 26. 4 p. m. Hr 50
Documentary “Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World” puts a spotlight on Bellingcat, a group of citizen journalists investigating crimes and armed conflicts all over the world. (Courtesy)
‘Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World’
This documentary, which focuses on the group of citizen investigative journalists known as Bellingcat, will open the festival this year. In the era of fake news, social media hoaxes and propaganda wars, the online sleuths at Bellingcat publish groundbreaking investigations based on open-source information, exploring the most complicated and disputed events, including the Syrian war and the crimes of Mexican drug cartels. “Right now they are winning, so we need people fighting against them,” the film’s trailer says.
Some of Bellingcat’s most famous investigations have concerned the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, and the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom. But its journalists not only uncover the stories behind conflicts, wars, and crimes — Bellingcat also shares its techniques, publishing case studies and guides for others to learn from.
Directed by Dutch filmmaker Hans Pool, “Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World” introduces viewers to the Bellingcat team, explaining what motivates them and how they work. Variety, the U.S. online and print publication covering entertainment business, says that the documentary “feels like a spy thriller at times.”
“Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World.” Zhovten Cinema (26 Kostiantynivska St.) March 23. 11:30 a. m. Hr 50
Oscar-nominated documentary “Minding the Gap” follows the lives of three friends growing up in the United States of America and finding delight in skateboarding. The picture will be screened at the Docudays UA film festival in Kyiv. (Courtesy)
‘Minding the Gap’
This intimate yet universal story of three male friends united by their love of skateboarding is a documentary feature debut for one of them, Bing Liu. “Minding the Gap” was shot for over a decade, tracing the lives of three teenagers growing up in the city of Rockford in Illinois, the United States, as well as their transition to adult life. They face challenges and traumas both as teenagers and adults — hardships with family matters, parenthood, and masculinity. “Life might be moving too fast. We have to fully grow up, and it’s gonna suck,” one of the friends says in the film. Through conversations featured in the film, “Minding the Gap” offers extraordinary deepness, in what at times reminds one of therapy sessions.
Liu, a debut director, departs from many rules of the classic documentary filmmaking: He appears in his own picture and talks directly to the camera. Such authenticity and unusual approaches won the film critical acclaim, earning it the U. S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. It was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards in 2019. The New York Times’ A. O. Scott called the picture an “astonishing debut feature” and the Atlantic’s Sophie Gilbert defined it as an “extraordinary feat of filmmaking.”
“Minding the Gap.” Zhovten Cinema (26 Kostiantynivska St.) March 23. 4:10 p. m. Hr 50. Izone (8 Naberezhno-Luhova St.) March 24. 7 p. m. Free. Kyiv Cinema (19 Velyka Vasylkivska St.) March 28. 7 p. m. Hr 90
Documentary “Death by Design,” which is to be screened ar Kyiv’s Docudays UA film festival, reveals the risks that electronic device industry poses to the environment and people’s health. (Courtesy)
‘Death By Design’
This documentary takes an aim at the dark side of digitalization. U.S. director Sue Williams, who has been exploring China’s history through documentaries for years, this time, focuses on the modern page of the country’s development, its digital devices field in particular. “Death by Design” investigates the production of electronic devices, such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets, revealing the dirty underside of the industry. The film shows how even the smallest devices have a destructive influence on the global environment and living creatures’ health, while the digital production industry seems endless with consumers falling for new devices with new, better functions their makers promise. “We throw it away. My point is: Where is away? Away is here for someone,” the movie trailer says.
“Death by Design.” Izone (8 Naberezhno-Luhova St.) March 25. 7 p. m. Free. Zhovten Cinema (26 Kostiantynivska St.) March 28. 5 p. m. Hr 50
Documentary film “The Cleaners” about internet content moderators will be screened during the Docudays UA film festival in Kyiv. (Courtesy)
‘The Cleaners’
The main characters of this documentary are anonymous people who have great power — they censor the internet deciding what is appropriate and what must be deleted. The Variety says that “The Cleaners” is a “thorough record of how our obsessive online culture has sunk to the low point it’s at today.” The masses of pornography and war-zone images posted every day have an irreparable effect on those who “clean” it. Content moderators look at thousands of questionable harsh posts every day, and “The Cleaners” looks at the impact such experience has on them. Directed by German filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck, the film resembles a horrifying thriller, except it depicts reality, giving even more chills to its viewers. The film will be screened as a part of “The Network” non-competition program featuring films about the main focus of this year’s Docudays.
“The Cleaners.” Zhovten Cinema (26 Kostiantynivska St.) March 24. 6:30 p. m. Hr 90. March 25. 5 p. m. Hr 50
“Still Recording” chronicles the events of Syrian war that took place in Douma, a city in Ghouta region, which has been a center of anti-government demonstrations in 2011. (Courtesy)
‘Still Recording’
This film chronicles one of the most tragic wars in the modern history of humanity, the ongoing armed conflict in Syria. It is the story of two Syrian men, Saeed and Milad, who move from Damascus to Douma to join the demonstrations against the Syrian authorities. “Still Recording” tracks down the dreadful transformation of the city, where Syrian rebels went from liberation and celebration to war, siege, and hunger. As the city is besieged and the camera films, the two friends make an attempt to start a graffiti art project. However, a new obstacle appears in their way: the Syrian Army carries out a chemical attack in the Ghouta region, where the city is located. The film’s directors Syrians Ghiath Ayoub and Saeed Al Batal, along with videographers shot 500 hours of footage in Douma to tell a story of their struggling country and provide evidence of horrible crimes. “Still Recording” received acclaim at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in 2018, earning the Sun Film Group Audience Award.
“Still Recording.” Kyiv Cinema (19 Velyka Vasylkivska St.) March 24. 7 p. m. Hr 90. Zhovten Cinema (26 Kostiantynivska St.) March 28. 9:40 p. m. Hr 90 n
