Siyabonga [We are Thankful] (2018, Joshua Magor]

Festivalscope made it happen - a film that premiered recently in Locarno can be viewed in my sitting room. This film was even nominated for a Golden Leopard. I am really happy that I have seen this film, or rather docu-fiction.
Siyabonga is the name of the main character. He is very interesting in acting. When he hears that Mr. Magor has a casting for his new film, he embarks on an adventure to be a part of that film. There are, however, several obstacles on Siyabonga's way. First he needs to find a copy of the newspaper with the announcement. Then he needs to WiFi and somebody who can contact Mr. Magor in proper English. Next problem to find enough money to get there. A friend wwant to send him to a witch, whose spell might enhance his chances. At last Siyambongo reaches the instructor and he tells his story. Will the interview be a success.
Joshua Magor says, that the story of Siyambongo nade him drop his original project and make a film about yje castee. Siyambongo tells its story in long and well-composed takes. We meet normal people, living simple and normal lifes. We see lives far from the focus of world media, lives in the present - and a young man following his dream.
8/10

Roman einer jungen Ehe (1952, Kurt Maetzig)

Wenn es auch nach dem Ende der DDR Vorbehaltsfilme gegeben hätte, könnte dieser Film einer werden. "Wie soll man bloß Stalin danken?", fragt sich Agnes Sailer, die Hauptperson dieses Streifens. Kurz nach dem Krieg war sie aus dem zerbombten Dresden in das ebenso zerbombte Berlin bekommen. Ihre Mutter hatte ihr gute Referenzen mitgegeben und hangelte sie sich im demokratischen Sektor nach oben. Ihr Pech war allerdings, dass sie sich in Jochen Larsten, einem Star des Westend-Theaters verliebte. So etwas kommt bei den Genossen nicht gut an und so dauert es denn auch nicht lange bis ihre vorbehaltlose Hingabe an die Parteilinie in Zweifel gezogen wird. Zwar ist Jochen im Grunde genommen ein guter Kerl, aber ersieht sich Zwängen im Westen ausgesetzt. Nur mit großem Widerwillen zieht er eine Nazi-Uniform in Des Teufels General an. Agnes wird eine Karriere im Westen angeboten, sie findet aber, dass Die schmutzigen Hände nicht ihren ethischen Ansprüchen genügen. Dann wird auch noch "Viktor Hartmann", der Regisseur von Jud Süß rehabilitiert. In der zerrissenen Stadt Berlin hält auch die Ehe der beiden Protagonisten nicht. Doch einmal sieht Jochen ein, dass die Zukunft im Osten liegt. Der Roman einer jungen Ehe kann fortgesetzt werden.
Es scheint, dass sogar dem Osten dies Propaganda-Spektakel zuviel war. Es besteht denn auch nur ein gradueller Unterschied. Zehn Jahre früher hätte man wohl "Sieg Heil" gerufen und nun ist es "Stalin Pieck".
4/10

Ko to tamo peva (1980, Slobodan Šijan)

April 5, 1941, somewhere in Serbia. Two men, gypsies, sing about people who wait for the sun to rise. They want to go to Belgrade for different reasons. There is a budding singer who has - as he says - an important audition. A consumptive man also needs to make the trip. Another man, later we learn that he is a Germanophile, is according to a very informative article in the English Wikipedia, modeled after a former Yugoslav prime minister. A veteran from World War I reminds us of the pending war. There are many stones on the way to Belgrade, a farmer ploughing the road, a funeral service, an extended lunch break. The closer we come to the capital, the clearer becomes the fact that the country soon will be at war. The singers already said from the beginning that the trip won't end well.
Who's Singing Over There is after 38 years still very watchable. The comic effects are well-dosed. As in most good comedies the characters seem to be close to tragedy.
9/10

Fausto (2018, Andrea Bussmann)

This Fausto is to me like an intellectual easter-egg hunt. I started to understand the concept of Bussmann after I read an interview with her on Mubi. But I am still not very interested in this work. Different people tell stories about different people. There is e.g.  one about a navigator who makes indigenous people believe, that his God will burn up the moon, because the deity was angry with them. Yes - a lunar eclipse. In the interview we learn that the navigator is Columbus. Yes, that Columbus, a man reaching out for more. A Faustian character?
There are also stories about the supernatural, haunted houses, a girl having a conversation with an angry animal in a zoo. If you find the easter eggs, you might get insight into something. You hear also about animals with perfect sight at night and that they can't be domesticated. Or about two almost identical graves in a graveyard. And a voice-off that should lead your ideas to Goethe's Lynkæus.
Different ideas hidden in the head of Bussmann and very little help to tidy up her playground. There is very impressive camera work.
Festivalscope gave me one chance to make sense of this. After my chance to see this, I am confused and not really inclines to give it a second chance to find out what this was all about.
3/10

Bussmann was intrigued by her camera's abilities tro catch light at night.

بلاش تبوسني [Kiss Me Not] (2018, Ahmed Amer)

Tamer is directing his first feature film; his friend Ibrahim is making a documentary about this project. So with Balash Tebosni we watch film like a Russian doll with different layers. The main problem of Tamer is that the actress Fagr suddenly has religious reservations to a kissing scene. The scene is about a married couple in which the husband has performance problems of his own. A kiss might be a starter to solve this problem. Fagr has come to the conviction that the display of intimacy on the big screen is an obscenity that is not compatible with the demands of religion. She does her best to sabotage this kissing scene as good as she can.
Her different strategies are probably supposed to be funny. Now, what is hilarious to some may be deadpan to others. I saw the film at an open air presentation together with many Arabs. There were very few laughs, if any. This tells me that the jokes didn't work for them either.
Then there is the meta layer, the so-called documentary about Tamer's movie. This would be a good opportunity to reflect about the present day situation in Egypt. Religion, especially the fundamentalist version of it, is marching ahead, gaining always more popularity, There are some flashes from old Egyptian melodramas. As someone who is not really acquainted with the history of Egyptian films, this was just a glimpse. While there is a contrast between those great kissing scenes and the problems with new moralism in society, the movie rather focusses on the artistic problems director Tamer has. Thus Kiss Me Not is rather about the artistic problems an individual has. I think the film misses the opportunity to discuss the dramatic changes in society.
Amerc also uses different gimmicks as playing with different formats and beeping out obscene words. In s funny comedy this might have worked. In a lame piece like Kiss Me Not this is at best irritating.
Last year I saw Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim,  a film to which Amer contributed the manuscript. This film was very enjoyable and really had different layers. It is therefore hard to undersyand, why Kiss Me Not is so mediocre.
4/10