Author Archives: basiltsiokos

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, September 26:
WE BREATHE AGAIN

Director:
Marsh Chamberlain

Premiere:
Alaska (May 2017)

About:
An exploration of the epidemic of suicide among Alaskan Native peoples.

Chamberlain’s film profiles four individuals personally impacted by suicide, a once rare occurrence among the Native people of Alaska, but which now is a leading cause of death, appearing nearly four times the national average. The experiences of an elder like Keggulluk address the consequences of colonial and racist policies like boarding schools intended to split up Native families and destroy culture and language, while the pervasiveness of intergenerational trauma is reflected in younger figures like Eddie, a young father determined to break cyclical patterns of abuse and pain. In speaking out about the taboo topic of suicide, they and the other subjects demonstrate the resilience and hope needed to help curb its devastating toll on their people.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 22:
BOBBI JENE

Director:
Elvira Lind

Premiere:
Tribeca 2017

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Camden, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, Biografilm, Melbourne, Helsinki

About:
An American dancer leaves a position with Israel’s premier dance company to return to the US to begin a solo career.

Bobbi Jene left Juilliard to join Ohad Naharin’s internationally acclaimed Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv a decade ago. On the eve of turning 30, she makes the difficult decision to move on, sharing the news that she’s relocating to San Francisco with both her mentor (and past lover), Naharin, and her current partner, Or. The latter, a fellow dancer ten years her junior, agrees to maintain a long-distance relationship, though it’s increasingly clear Bobbi Jene wants him to come to America. Lind keeps the focus on Bobbie Jene as she starts over in the Bay Area, teaching and working on a very personal, vulnerable, and sexually-charged piece that is shown in snippets here. While praised by friends and fellow dancers as revelatory, viewers not particularly attuned to modern dance may be left scratching their heads at what all the fuss is about. Similarly, while the handsomely shot observational film itself has clearly resonated with some for its intimacy, claiming multiple accolades upon its debut, it frankly doesn’t feel that particularly different from other portraits of young artists and their creative process.

Coming to theatres this Thursday, September 21:
HISSEIN HABRE, A CHADIAN TRAGEDY

Director:
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Premiere:
Cannes 2016

Select Festivals:
Toronto, IDFA, New York, London, Dubai, CPH:DOX, Hong Kong

About:
Victims of the African dictator relate the personal impact of his crimes against the people of Chad.

Haroun briefly provides much-needed context for Western audiences unfamiliar with Habré, a brutal dictator who ruled Chad between 1982 and 1990. While Haroun lived in exile during this period, others weren’t so fortunate, with the regime responsible for the deaths of approximately 40,000 political prisoners and the torture of hundreds of thousands more. Other than linking Habré’s power to relationships with the US, France, and several other players, the filmmaker foregoes further political history to instead give voice to the dictator’s many victims, using as interlocutor a former prisoner, Clément Abaïfouta, chairman of the Association of the Victims of the Crimes of the Hissein Habré Regime. Using a fairly standard survey approach, the film benefits more from its topicality – emerging on the festival circuit just as Habré was found guilty of crimes against humanity by a court in his home-in-exile, Senegal – than from any particularly special craft, as it allows the viewer to bear witness to its subjects’ difficult testimony.