Pavel Abrahám

This French director is a critic of documentary activism who calls himself “a bit of an anti-Michael Moore”, refusing, unlike one of the most famous activist filmmakers, to „think for the audience“. On the contrary, he „offers them something they can think about“. Philibert gained attention especially thanks to his successful film To Be and To Have, in which he portrayed a French single-class school and its specifics. A combination of a sensitive perspective of a specific world of preparations in one single-class school full of children of various ages and an original topic depicting ordinary life attracted large audiences, resulting in a worldwide commercial success. Other films in the retrospective also include Nénette, an original feature documentary about a female orang-utan with a Mona Lisa smile, and a film, or rather a return to the world of making a film about a triple murder – Back To Normandy

Stream FOR FREE from June 10 to 23!

Since the French film festival FID Marseille is nearing, we have prepared, in cooperation with its organizers, a selection of the most original film debuts by contemporary documentary filmmakers.

STREAM FOR FREE to June 9

RETROSPECTIVE OF BERT HAANSTRA – Filmmaker Holding a Mirror to the Society

Bert Haanstra was born in 1916 in Holten in the Netherlands. He became a professional filmmaker in 1947. He received international acclaim for his short documentary film Mirror of Holland, which was awarded the Grand Prix for a short film at the Cannes festival in 1951. Throughout his carrier, Haanstra has won over a hundred film awards. As a director, he holds a mirror to the society, reflecting also on the material most mirrors are made of – glass in his film of the same name Glass: a short, Oscar-winning film made at glassworks in Leerdam and Schiedam that shows the work of glass blowers. His other films include a fresh and humorous montage entitled ZOO (Haanstra draws striking similarities between humans and animals).

STREAM FOR FREE to June 2