Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

IRON BUTTERFLIES (Melbourne IFF 2023) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 11, 2023August 14, 2023 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas documentary, Iron Butterflies, Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, Melbourne IFF 2023, Roman Liubyi, Russo-Ukrainian War

In 1997, Belgian artist and filmmaker Johan Grimonprez’s groundbreaking Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y brought raw Situationist energy to the traditional documentary in a powerful meditation on the history of airplane hijacking, seen through the lens of mainstream news media and the writing of Don DeLillo. With fans including Slavoj Zizek and broadly considered in retrospect to be a profound and almost eerie foreshadowing of 9/11, subject matter aside Grimonprez pushed the limits of how documentary itself as a form could be conceived.

Reviews

KLONDIKE – Review by Justina Walford

July 30, 2023January 8, 2024 Justina Walford eastern Ukraine, guest post, justina walford, Klondike, Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, Maryna Er Gorbach, Samuel Goldwyn, Ukranian films

When we see expectant parents, we think of nurseries and colorful mobiles with the laughter of nervous parents emotionally in sync and awaiting their important day. But in the dark of Klondike’s opening scene, it doesn’t take long to realize that this typical expectant parents’ conversation is not what we expect. The couple has a hole in their house. The environment is bleak and brown. And their conversation is interrupted by a loud explosion. So now we expect a drama with action and blood. But no. Again, we are turned around by the dry, absurdist wit of writer and director Maryna Er Gorbach, and we see this couple struggle with the mundane as much as with the mind games of politics and war.