photo courtesy of Visions du Réel 2009
Nyon film festival 2009
by Jillian Hudson
Wang Hao’s “Pediatrics Department” raises many interesting questions abut Chinese public hospitals and the medical system as a whole. Throughout the two hours that Hao allows us look into the professional lives of the doctors and nurses of the pediatric unit the audience has a chance to relate to the characters and sympathize with their troubles.
Nyon Film Festival 2009
Jared Bloch
Sergiy Bukovsky’s, “The Living,” is a 75 minute indictment of the methodological impoverishment and starvation imposed on Ukrainian “kulaks” by the Soviet State in the 1930′s.
The film presents a chronological accounting, via diplomatic letters, of the excruciatingly purposeful suffering inflicted on Ukranian peasants, in the form of farm collectivization.
"I'm afraid to remember those times". Photo courtesy of Visions du Réel Film Festival
The anger and sadness in the faces of those who lived through this tragedy is almost unbearable to look at as they describe in minute detail their ordeal. “I’m afraid to think about, let alone remember those times,” one interviewee tells the camera.
photo, courtesy of Visions du Réel 2009
Nyon film festival 2009
by Jillian Hudson
Yu Guangyi’s documentary “Survival Song” is a shockingly candid view into the lives of a Chinese working class family who has been forced to live in poverty and misery in the name of a new and modern China.
photo provided by Visions du Reel 2009
photo provided by Visions du Reel 2009
Nyon film festival 2009
by Jillian Hudson
“Cash and Marry” is the humorous portrayal of a man’s search for an EU (European Union) bride at all costs. Director and main character Georgiev Atanas calls upon his Bosnian friend Marko who is currently living in Vienna, Austria to help him find a bride who will give him papers to live and work in the EU.
Nyon Film Festival 2009
Jared Bloch
Danny Chanoch, courtesy of Visions du Réel Film Festival
Moshe Zimmerman’s, Pizza in Auschwitz is a disturbingly beautiful treatise on what human beings make of pain and suffering, how human beings have the capacity to transform horror into something altogether comprehensible.
Born in Lithuania, Danny Chanoch is a holocaust survivor and Isreali citizen. He has convinced his two adult children to visit his childhood home and the sites of his multiple incarcerations in Poland. The trip for the elder Chanoch is a chance to reclaim a childhood which, as his daughter offers in one of many heated family discussions along the way, was stolen from him in the most cruel way.
Ed. note: We’ve now moved this post to Jonell Galloway’s food blog on GenevaLunch, “The Rambing Epicure.” You’ll find this and much more on buying, cooking, eating at home and dining out from our food expert! Be sure to visit soon.
Over 60,000 candles were lit by volunteers on Saturday night in the grounds of the Chateau of Prangins. The reason: to mark the 10 years the chateau has been the home of the Swiss National Museum.
Luckily there was no rain or wind on the night, the air was crisp and clear and when nightfall came, the thousands of tiny tea lights glowed in the courtyard, in the gardens, and around the trees in the grounds.
Suzy
Last night was of the unforgettable standard. Not a particular fan of Mika, and having never heard of Justice, I was planning on taking the night easy (ie, Spending it in the FC Gingins bar where the rest of the international community seems to cluster). However, much to my surprise, last night was a proper music festival in the true sense.