Presented by the Museum of the Moving Image and the Czech Center at the Bohemian National Hall the Panorama Europe Film Festival was held for the tenth time from May 4th to the 31^st covering outstanding recent European fiction and documentary productions, with most of them being shown in New York City for the first time. Of the 17 productions shown 14 were made from 2016 – 18.  The films selected included a master piece of filmmaking, the digitally restored classic long lost 1969 feature Case for the New Hangman by Pavel Juracek.  Panorama Europe which is the most comprehensive New York showcase for important films which have been recently produced or co-produced by members of the European Union was established 10 years ago by the Czech Center under the original name of Disappearing Act, a justified designation since most of the demanding and eclectic productions shown in 2007 could only be viewed at this film festival.  The rapid expansion of video screening services over the last few years offers a chance for these films to persist, as does the more active involvement of cultural institutes.  The Czechoslovakian film Case for the New Hangman will be shown twice in late September in the Lincoln Center Film Society’s series Power of the Powerless.

The 2018 edition of Panorama Europe was coordinated by Gaelle Duchemin from the European Union Delegation to the United Nations, guest curated by Nellie Killian and co-presented by members of EUNIC, the European Union National Institutes for Culture. Its partners included 19 New York based European arts and cultural services, consulates and their related institutions.  Nineteen members of the European Union were involved in the productions, and seven others from outside the EU were involved in co-productions (Syria, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Quatar, Argentine, Brazil, and the USA). The United Kingdom was not involved in any of the productions selected.  The audience had the rare opportunity of viewing a cross section of European productions not seen at the usual film festivals arranged by a few European countries like France, Italy, Germany and Poland. Accessing recent noteworthy films from other EU countries proves very difficult except if they have established film programs as the Czech Republic does. Unless one engages in major film festival and special screenings research it is problematic to track down the best and most recent productions from the Netherlands, Slovakia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Slovenia, Hungary, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Malta and Croatia as Panorama Europe does. Here the European Union and its different media agencies play a crucial and growing role.  Panorama Europe has expanded as expressed by this year’s first time support from the European Union Policy & Outreach Partnership of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States.

To find a common denominator for contemporary films produced or co-produced by 24 countries reflecting a wide variety of cultural and political experiences is problematic. But what seems to link them including one produced in 1969 is the concern with contemporary issues and those impacting us from the past, economic decline, conflictual family affairs, migration. slavery, and environmental issues to name but a few. What was equally impressive was the innovative cinematographic approach presenting these problems, the well captured concern of how individuals experience everyday life issues rather than emphasizing the structural systemic factors causing them, and the story telling abilities of the film makers.

Taste of Cement, Ziad Kalthoum, 2017, Germany, Syria, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Quatar.     In his second documentary feature Kalthoum presents an extraordinary visual exploration of exiled immigrant Syrian construction workers who are confined to the basement quarters of the buildings they are erecting in Beirut.  They are not allowed to leave the building after 7 PM and are restricted to their place of work.  During their evening time the workers follow television reports of the destruction of Syrian Aleppo and the massacre of civilian groups.  There is virtually no recorded conversations between the workers, they silently pass their free time and work without speaking. The sound track reflects the noise of construction, the rumbling of war with the firing of Syrian tanks and the collapse of destroyed buildings.  Precise views from different angles of the construction process in Beirut are juxtaposed with the images of buried people rescued from collapsed houses in Syria. In one frame there are demolished buildings next to half completed luxury high-rises in Beirut and in the next destroyed Aleppo neighborhoods, dust covering both sites.   Migrant laborers who may have lived there provide the upsetting link.  A voice over from a laborer provides a sparse commentary. His father was also a construction worker, building his home 15 years ago but when the war set in the house was destroyed and the son can now only visualize his home and the neighboring ocean but no longer experience it. .  Taste of Cement does not offer an empirical factual context for understanding the cruel irony of the exiled workers’ fate but its persuasive cinematography by Talal Khoury and an impressive natural soundtrack override the need for a dialog and factual accounting, thus making the documentary so enlightening.

Rabot, Christina Vanderkerckhove, 2017, Flanders .        Designed in the 1970s as a model for low cost housing, the Rabot is a three tower complex destroyed by the city of Ghent in 2017. The city provided alternative housing for the few remaining residents of this former model facility which had turned into a ghetto over more than forty years.  The filmmaker embraced a cinema verite approach documenting the demise of the building floor by floor but as an anthropologist with a background in theater and film productions she employed participatory observations with the tenants.  Vanderkerckhove delivered a masterpiece of visual ethnography. She reveals insights into the residents who must leave; some have the desire to stay in spite of the degradation of the building.  She carefully planned one on one non-directive interviews with the remaining tenants who agreed to participate. Some had lived there for decades and recalled the good times they enjoyed there. Many belong to the older groups, as one put it “those who are doomed to be alone remain”. A sense of isolation pervaded comments by others, the disappearance of belonging to a community, of contact and of neighbors closing the doors was  a reason for leaving  without regrets as was the reported absence  of empathy and caring for others.  Some homeless people and derelicts are visible in the hallways. But only a few residents blamed immigrants and the personal problems of others for the dismal conditions of the building.  Some of the apartments the director filmed were actually well taken care of.  The decay of the structure and the offer to leave the housing project for an apartment in Ghent made it easier for the remaining tenants to leave. One wonders why the city allowed Rabot to decay so completely, resulting in the social decomposition of the tenant population.

Silent Night, Piotr Domalewski, 2017, Poland.   Like other productions featured in Panorama Europe 2018, Silent Night, the first-time feature of Domalewski received numerous awards including the best Polish film of 2017.  In the small country side village Smarzowski a large extended family celebrates Christmas Eve. All members of the family covering three generations show up including the son Adam who has returned from the Netherlands where he is working.  We encounter a picture book set of divergent characters and family conflicts which were hidden until Adam arrives. His plan to sell a house belonging to his father to fund a project in Holland ruptures the holiday harmony though all of the family except for Adam congregates at the end in the local church for midnight mass. Following the strong Polish catholic tradition they celebrate though in the preceding afternoon and evening hours. Though there are strong comedic elements in the film and the provincial life style with old furniture and dated customs are startling for the urban viewers, the story Domalewski presents is rather compelling.  The family members are portrayed in a naturalistic fashion and their affection and love seems stronger than overt and hidden conflict. The father’s long absence from the family as migrant worker has left scars behind. As a migrant worker he supported his family but as he admits at the end of the film it destroyed his attachment to the family, estranged him from his polish home, a fate Adam is repeating.

November, Rainer Sarnet, 1917 Estonia, Netherlands, Poland .   Filmed with a crew of non-professional actors in stunning mono-chrome black and white imagery this tale successfully combines old Estonian folklore, pagan rituals,  werewolves,  ghosts,  witches,  and the plague. It is set in a 19th century village where time has seemed to stop. The villagers stick to their traditions including having kratts, magical creatures in old Estonian mythology. The people are clad in what seen to be rags and participate in nightly rituals when ghosts and the dead seem to come alive. They survive based on conning and thievery from neighbors and the landlord and do not trust each other.  Appearing lazy they need not work since they own kratts for which they traded their souls.  A young village girl Lina has fallen in love with Hans a local boy who in turns yearns for the beautiful daughter of the local German Baron who has come to visit her father. To get the baroness Hans makes a deal with a devil in the local woods. He sells his soul in exchange for a kratt made from snow rendering Hans powerful. Lina secures the means to kill the baroness but can’t do it and his kratt convinces Hans that love transcends everything. November offers an exquisite surreal mixture of traditional Estonian tales, the fantastic elements of witches, devils, werewolves, kratts, and of poor villagers escaping their miserable existence through magic. Its stunning cinematography makes November an outstanding example of Estonia filmmaking and of the resurgence of long lost folkloric story lines. It is also one of the few Panorama Europe 2018 films which can be watched in the United States via You Tube.

Case for the New Hangman, Pavel Juracek, 1969, Czechoslovakia..   This classic political satire presented by Juracek as a surrealistic imaginary story with superb production and sound design relies on narrative elements derived from Jonathan Swift’s 1726 tale Gulliver’s Travel, incorporates ideas from the 1865 story by Lewis Carroll Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and presents the parallel societies of the kingdom of Balnibarbi and Laputa. Laputa is the capital in the sky with a floating castle in which the aristocratic ruler of the society below live. The village in the sky is floating above Balnibarbi. There is no contact between Balnibardi residents and the aristocrats, though they are very attached to them expecting some sort of salvation and derive meaning from their belief in them. Kafkaesque bleak imagery pervades Balnibarbi and the castle in the sky. The residents follow absurd local rules such as abiding by Monday the required day of silence and blocking out the sun. There seems to be no government, yet there is the notion among the dignitaries that they live in a society governed by science with complex hand operated machinery. Our protagonist Lemuel Gulliver accidentally enters Balnibarbi and is confused about strange manners and customs he encounters.  When queried by officials he cannot account for who he is and where he comes from.  They assume he is Oscar the hare since he has the hare’s oversize watch.  Lemuel has numerous non-sequential surreal experiences. Violating local rules he is condemned to death but saved by an invitation to Laputa. Members of the royal family, including an alcoholic prince, who is breeding hares, want to find out where the king is and Lemuel advises them that he is living as a porter in the Monte Carlo Hotel and is unlikely to return. He is sworn to silence which he breaks after his return to Balnibarbi.  After explaining what he experienced and deflating their attachment to the rulers in the sky, Lemuel Gulliver is pursued and beaten up by young residents of Balnibarbi.  He is rescued by the village idiot.

In this persuasive satire Pavel Juracek presents a dysfunctional society without satisfied people, corrupt and idiosyncratic officials, a disconnected ruling group immured in the sky , meaningless rules and regulations,  pervasive self-deception, the attachment to illusionary ideas and  most importantly a collective refusal  to face the truth. His film is far away from the official socialist realism dogma and was promptly outlawed forever by the communist government.

Panorama Europe 2018 has become a very important part of the large New York film festival circuit and should be required viewing for those in search of outstanding current European film productions.

Claus Mueller  filmexchange@gmail.com