20 Documentaries you cannot miss at the 14th Documentary Edge Festival (Part 2)

By Asian Film Festival on May 26, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

We present the second part of our list of docs you cannot miss at the Documentary Edge Festival which will take place from May 30th to June 23rd, 2019 in Auckland & Wellington.

Kabul, City of the Wind by Aboozar Amini
Afghanistan, Netherlands, Germany, Japan | 2018 – 85 minutes

Fearless and on the lookout for passengers, Abas steers his rickety bus through the chaos of Kabul, still a regular target for terrorist attacks. His bus breaks down and creditors are chasing him for money. To forget his troubles, he sings and smokes hash.

Amid the aftermath of conflict and the constant threat of more bloodshed, life in Kabul somehow goes on as its residents struggle to rebuild and to conquer their fears. Selected to open last year’s edition of the world’s most prestigious documentary film festival, IDFA, Aboozar Amini’s feature captures a sense of Kabul’s precarious daily existence in this well-observed, impressionistic film.

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M for Malaysia by Dian Lee, Ineza Roussille – Malaysia | 2019 – 94 minutes

On 5 May 2018, the people of Malaysia, tired of a decade of unprecedented greed and corruption by their then government, decided to make their voices heard. Despite endless barriers constantly thrown in the way of the campaign, the people of Malaysia found the strength to overthrow one of the longest-ruling governments in the world.

Led by an unlikely coalition of former political rivals headed by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) battled many obstacles and barriers in order to carry out an extraordinary campaign for change.

The film had unprecedented access to Mahathir during the election campaign and documents his final political battle – at 92 years old. Working with his political nemesis whom he had once demonised and jailed, Mahathir sets out to redeem himself and right his wrongs in order to save his country.

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Marks of Mana by Lisa Taouma – New Zealand | 2018 – 56 minutes

Of all of the art of the skin in Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (the Pacific Ocean), the markings for women have been given the least attention. Yet Tatau Fafine is imbued with mana and meanings which reach back through time to the very origins of Pacific tatau history.
The film looks at a number of women who are now reclaiming the art of tatau for themselves, as well as for the memories of their ancestors. The result is a celebration of the wave of female tatau artists that is now turning the tides of the male-dominated culture of Pacific tattooing.

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More Human Than Human by Femke Wolting, Tommy Pallotta
Belgium, Netherlands, US | 2018 – 79 minutes

More Human Than Human explores the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its effects on our lives. Once the realm of science fiction and futurist visions, AI is now part of our current reality. Self-driving cars, autonomous drones seeking their next target or government agencies mining our personal data, we are surrounded by smart machines already.

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Our Time Machine by S. Leo Chiang, Yang Sun, Shuang Liang
China, USA | 2018 – 81 minutes

Ma Ke Liang, the former artistic director of the Shanghai Chinese Opera Theatre, has a son, Maleonn, who is one of China’s most influential contemporary conceptual artists. In this film about their complex relationship, now overshadowed by Alzheimer’s disease, the two renowned culture makers grapple with fading memories, imminent loss, and a strange, ambitious artistic vision.

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Sakawa by Ben Asamoah – Belgium, Netherlands | 2018 – 80 minutes

In Ghana, there is a high rate of youth unemployment. This has led young men and women to practice internet fraud, with the help of animism/voodoo, to earn a living. ‘Sakawa’ is the name given to this practice.
Sakawa meets the new generation in Africa dealing with a digital world in their very own way. Ama is a young mother and a newcomer on the scamming scene.

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The Coming Back Out Ball by Sue Thomson – Australia | 2018 – 84 minutes

In the middle of Australia’s divisive marriage equality vote, Melbourne hosted a gala event to honour and celebrate its LGBTQ+ elders. These are the stories of the people invited to attend the Ball celebrating their gender and sexual identity.

LGBTQ+ seniors began the fight for equality at a time when being queer could land you in jail, lose you your job or worse. But as they have aged, some of these people have started going back into the closet in nursing homes or when accessing aged-care services, owing to feeling unsafe in these environments.

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The Edge of Democracy by Petra Costa – Brazil | 2019 – 122 minutes

Petra Costa lights a personal and political fuse to explore one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history. The result is a powerful document on the wave of nationalism sweeping both Europe and the Americas in recent years.

The Silence of Others by Almudena Carracedo & Robert Bahar
Spain, US | 2018 – 96 minutes

Shot over six years, The Silence of Others reveals the epic struggle of victims of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, who continue to seek justice to this day.

Victims and survivors come together to organise the ground-breaking international ‘Argentine Lawsuit’, and fight against a state-imposed amnesia – a ‘pact of forgetting’ – of crimes against humanity. Four decades into democracy, this is in a country still divided.

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War of Art by Tommy Gulliksen – Norway | 2019 – 102 minutes

The movie portrays the clash of cultures: while the Western culture is keen on originality, North Korean seems more concerned about the quality of performance. Both groups of Western and Korean artists talk about spiritual values conveyed through art, but the values themselves seem to be radically different.

There is comical dialogue between the artists and the local curators and translators about the meaning of art, different lifestyles and the influence of ideology. It also reflects the different personalities of artists – for example, the French provocative artist using human bones and his own blood in his works, or the German musician experimenting with infra- and ultra-sounds.

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