The World Cup of Cinema - Bhutan

Travellers and Magicians 

(Screen capture image taken from a Prayer Flag Pictures production/ Distributed by Zeitgeist Films)

The date was June 11th, 2019. The location was Guam, an island territory in the Western Pacific. A football match was played between two teams in which the Guam national football team won 5-0 advancing to the next round of the Asian qualifiers. This match occurred in the nascent stages of what was eventually a 3 year process; one that was impacted by acts of terrorism, months of hysteria over a global pandemic, a volcanic eruption, and geo-political warfare. And that’s before one gets to the typical shithousery that occurs during World Cup qualifying.

The World Cup of Cinema - Wales

Rebecca’s Daughters 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Astralma Erste Filmproduktions and Chris Sievernich)

I don’t know how much of this might be the result of prejudiced English wankers, but in any case I found the distribution of Welsh cinema to be rather poor. Take for instance the 1992 film Hedd Wyn. Paul Turner’s anti-war biopic was the first (and so far only) full length Welsh language film to be nominated for an Oscar. This likely lead Fox Lorber to acquire the US rights and release a VHS copy of the film through Orion Home Video in the mid 1990s. No further release of this film has ever been issued in the US. The fact that a film that could easily be considered a landmark achievement in Welsh cinema has been left to languish in VHS purgatory, should illustrate what I’m up against here. While there are VHS copies of this film in libraries near where I live, currently I’m not willing to haul a VCR and video monitor into a library just to watch a film, … … not yet anyway.

The World Cup of Cinema - Morocco

Mille Mois (A Thousand Months) 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Gloria Films, Agora Films, Entre Chien et Loup, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Radio Télévision Belge Francophone, Soread-2M, and Studio El Orch/ Distributed by Optimum Releasing)

What occurred in my search for Moroccan cinema was pretty much what I had expected to happen for a handful of countries when I first plotted this project. I actually found a fair number of films that I could consider as proper selections, but getting access to any of them proved to be extremely difficult. None of the films that I had on my list appeared to have garnered any sort of distribution to North America. In addition to this, streaming options for all of these films were effectively non-existent. And this was the case for Internet sites spanning the entire legitimacy spectrum. For this particular selection, worldcat.org indicated 8 university libraries within the US that were holding, what I presume were import copies. Unfortunately, none of these libraries where willing to lend out a copy through the ILL system. I grew frustrated enough to actually consider what I view as my final fallback option.

The World Cup of Cinema - Qatar

Dari Qatar 

(Screen capture image taken from a film that was distributed by The Doha Film Institute via YouTube)

Logically if one where to attempt this project, starting with the host country might seem like a natural choice, given that one would already know that they were taking part in the event and that there would be no ‘qualification grief’ associated with the corresponding selection. Unfortunately things didn’t quite work out that way in this particular instance. I have to be honest, Qatar was the most difficult country when it came to finding a decent selection to watch. While I may not have been particularly thorough in my research, based on all the time that I spent at the Doha Film Institute website and elsewhere I currently know of maybe … 3? feature length films that would satisfy my criteria as a Qatari film. And as for accessing any of these films in order to watch them, … HA!

The World Cup of Cinema - Poland

Dług (The Debt) 

(Screen capture image taken from a Studio Filmowe Zebra production/ Distributed by TLA Releasing)

Poland, just like Ghana, earned my wrath by eliminating a country that I had previously written a critique for. Thanks a lot you deplorable bastards! Now that I got that out of my system, let’s proceed.

The World Cup of Cinema - Ghana

Devil in the Detail 

(Screen capture image taken from a Sparrow Productions film/ Distributed by TubiTV)

At this point in the project it would be safe to assume that behind every critique that I write there’s at least 2 or 3 films that I had my eye on, but chose not to watch for a variety of reasons. This is usually the case for countries like Ghana where I lacked a great deal of prior knowledge about their film culture and who I just passively hoped wouldn’t get in. Unfortunately these rotten scoundrels managed to knock out Nigeria. But putting my personal bitterness aside, I don’t think there’s a worse scenario in which to exclude a potential selection, than a case where I find something that really piques my interest but yet is completely inaccessible. While I have vague memories about how I ever came across it to begin with, during my research for Ghana I discovered the film Obonsam Besu which tempted me in a thoroughly inexplicable manner. The trailer for the film can be seen in the first half of this video.

The World Cup of Cinema - Cameroon

Ninah’s Dowry 

(Screen capture image taken from a Fintu Films production/ Distributed by The Roku Channel)

I would like to state for the record that I really don’t like how Africa configures its World Cup qualifiers. I find the process of using two-legged ties to determine all the slots to be far more nerve-racking, especially when compared to the rather placid manner in which other countries qualify through group stage play. I actually felt legitimate anxiety when tracking the CAF scores on my phone, hoping that the countries that got through were the ones that I had already written critiques for. I don’t know why I go through these types of emotions. I should really try to relax more and learn to accept the results that occur with a far more positive attitude.

The World Cup of Cinema - Canada

waydowntown 

(Screen capture image taken from an 842896 Alberta production/ Distributed by Home Vision Entertainment)

What!? How did this happen? When did Canada suddenly become good at soccer? Did they play these matches on ice and use sticks to move the ball aboot? At the time that I’m writing this, not only are Canada atop the standings of the octagonal, but they’re four points clear of both the US and Mexico. Hopefully either FIFA or at least CONCACAF will launch an investigation to figure out how these hosers cheated their way into the World Cup. Perhaps this will happen after they go to Qatar and get exposed for the frauds that they are. But alas, sigh!, they made it in and I should critique one of their films, which honestly shouldn’t be that difficult to do.

The World Cup of Cinema - Ecuador

Qué tan lejos 

(Screen capture image taken from an Ecuador Para Largo production/ Distributed by Venevision International)

And now I arrive at the countries that forced me to do more work than what I had initially thought was necessary. Had I done some deeper research at the beginning of this project I might have discovered that Ecuador managed to qualify for three World Cups in the 21st century, which likely would’ve prodded me to search for some Ecuadorian films to consider. Instead I only considered their 2018 results where they finished 8th in the CONMEBOL qualifiers which led me to think that I didn’t need to worry about them. As a result of this I got caught a bit off guard, which honestly was probably overdue to happen.

The World Cup of Cinema - Netherlands

Amsterdamned 

(Screen capture image taken from a First Floor Features production/ Distributed by Concorde Film)

I think subconsciously, one of my aims for this project was to explore the diversity of film culture that existed on a global scale. I really wanted to expand my notion of what a film is or what a film could be by witnessing a wide variety of different approaches, traditions and techniques. Thus I did not anticipate encountering cinematic elements that I would see over and over again, and yet I have run across a rather fatuous, random commonality that I can’t seem to avoid. Currently I have watched 5 films in this series that feature, at some during the picture, children who hang out on rooftops.

The World Cup of Cinema - Saudi Arabia

Wadjda 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Razor Film Produktion, High Look Group and Rotana Studios/ Distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Despite reports of documentaries that were filmed in the 1970s, the Saudi film industry began in earnest during the 21st century making it possibly the world’s youngest film culture. So while some may refer to this selection as an obvious one, there really wasn’t much to choose from. The country’s first feature films where produced during a time when movie theaters were still forbidden. Advances in modern technology though would ultimately render this ban as futile. The lifting of this restriction came at a time when people were not exactly wholly dependent on a movie theater in order to watch a film.

The World Cup of Cinema - Serbia

Druga Strana Svega (The Other Side of Everything) 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Dribbling Pictures, Survivance and HBO Europe/ Distributed by Icarus Films Home Video)

Serbia earned a special distinction in this series. They were the first country to qualify for the World Cup before I actually sat down and watched one of their films. When doing my initial research for this project there were a few Serbian films that ended up on my radar. However since I didn’t think Serbia would get the automatic berth from their group stage, such films were never at the top of my to do list. After the team’s shock victory against Portugal I did some casual research later that night and found this selection. I must admit that the ease in which I found a film that interested me, that satisfied my selection criteria, and which I could access relatively painlessly was a bit spooky. Perhaps I’ve overestimated how difficult this project would be to complete. I’m not quite sure if I’ve benefited more from sheer luck or from an increasingly globally conscious world, but either way I’ve probably received a modest boost from both.

The World Cup of Cinema - Uruguay

La Vita Útil (A Useful Life) 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Federico Veiroj, MediaPro and Versátil Cinema/ Distributed by FilmRise via TubiTV)

Federico Veiroj’s second feature film was initially introduced to American audiences through the efforts of the Global Film Initiative, which was founded by Susan Weeks Coulter in 2002. I would gather that the main purpose of the initiative was to support and promote the work of filmmakers from around the globe and to make such work available to American audiences, a mission that I would certainly support. For a period of about 10 years it ran a Global Lens program to bring foreign films to US theaters and beyond. La Vita Útil was included as part of its 2011 class of films. This program by all appearances is currently defunct and I’m not quite sure whatever became of the Global Film Initiative. The last Global Lens program that I found was from 2014. This occurred not long after FilmRise acquired the distribution rights for the entire GFI collection. There are Facebook and Twitter accounts for the GFI, but there haven’t been any posts to either since October … … of 2015.

The World Cup of Cinema - Australia

The Fringe Dwellers

note: the following critique may contain images and/or the names of Australian Aboriginal people who are currently deceased.

The World Cup of Cinema - Türkiye

Uzak (Distant) 

(Screen capture image taken from an NBC Ajans production/ Distributed by New Yorker Films)

Often during this project I’ve been torn between my desire to dabble in curious, adventurous cinematic pursuits and the necessity of completing this project in a timely manner, with the latter requiring a bit more discipline and focus than the former. For Türkiye, I’ll lean more towards the objective of completion as I return to the foolproof strategy of revisiting a film that I had previously watched once before. While I certainly enjoyed Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s third feature film enough to want to watch it again, I still wonder how much different my reaction will be the second time around. This becomes an even more intriguing query when there’s a substantial amount of time between viewings. The film itself doesn’t change in the interim, only the viewer of such work. Theoretically I could critique any film once every 10 years and each critique may develop into something completely different. The biggest difference for this visit is that I’m going in with the prior knowledge of the sudden and tragic death of one of its starring performers. I suspect that this may lead me to see the film in a darker, more bittersweet light.

The World Cup of Cinema - Sweden

Aniara 

(Screen capture image taken from a Meta Film Stockholm production/ Distributed by Magnolia Home Entertainment)

My initial selection for Sweden was a film that hadn’t been distributed to the United States and was out of my reach. Well, almost out of my reach. I did find a website that would allow me to watch it, but the thing is you get to a certain point in this project where you have to contemplate how much of an advocate that you want to be for acts that others might find infringing to peoples’ copyrights. And let’s be honest even if I stay within the bounds of the law I live in an absurd world where some people might histrionically flip out over the notion that a person could watch a film on a website. Just think of the horror! I don’t want to reveal what this film is though because I’m holding out hope that someday I may be able to watch it and thus include it in future iterations of this series. Is this manner of thinking foolish? Probably. Trust me, there is a part of my brain that feels I should just resign myself to the notion that at the end of this project I will be left with a sizable list of films that I’ll never be able to watch. Be aware that there is a trace amount of self-flagellating torture involved when doing this.

The World Cup of Cinema - Tunisia

Asfour Stah (Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces) 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Cinetelefilms, France Media, Scarabee Films and La Sept/ Distributed by Kino On Video)

Before I started this project there were certain countries whose cinema culture I knew absolutely nothing about. While one might reasonably assume that such countries would be difficult to complete, this wasn’t always the case. In regards to Tunisia, Férid Boughedir’s 1990 feature was one of the first films that I considered as a potential selection. I didn’t have any real difficulty confirming the selection criteria for the film, and since a DVD copy was distributed to the US, finding a copy in a local library was relatively painless. When everything unexpectedly falls into place this project could almost be a fun thing to endeavor.

The World Cup of Cinema - Columbia

La Estrategia del Caracol (The Strategy of the Snail) 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Crear TV and Producciones Fotograma)

This film was directed by Sergio Cabrera, whose work I had never seen before, which may have actually prompted me to select it. I think there was a subtle subconscious desire on my part to use this project as an excuse to expand upon my prior cinematic experiences. I think this should be a goal for every cinephile; to watch a film from as many different directors as possible. If I really put forth an effort, there’s no reason I couldn’t reach, … I don’t know, … a thousand different directors?!?, maybe? Of course there would still be issues with access. My desire to watch this film offered an excellent example of how frustrating this project could be at times.

The World Cup of Cinema - Switzerland

Amateur Teens 

(Screen capture image taken from A Film Company production/ Distributed by Synergetic Distribution)

Switzerland proved to be a rather challenging selection to complete. The first complication stemmed from the fact that several different languages are spoken in the country (mainly French, German and Italian) so it’s not uncommon for actors and actresses from other nations to sneak into Swiss cinema. For this country, confirming the ‘theatrical performer’ portion of my checklist was more frustrating than normal. Take for instance the 2010 film Songs of Love and Hate. This film was shot in Switzerland. Its director Katalin Gödrös was born in Switzerland and, based off what I’ve read, has spent a decent portion of her life living there. But when I got to the cast which included Dutch actor Jeroen Willems and a trio of German actresses; Sarah Horvath, Luisa Sappelt and Mira Elisa Goeres, it suddenly dawned on me that this film wouldn’t work. There is a part of me that really hates excluding a film on the basis of such technicalities and yet I know that if I go ahead and select it, I run the risk of having someone complain ‘hey these people are German, not Swiss’, so either way I can’t win.

The World Cup of Cinema - New Zealand

Black Sheep 

(Screen capture image taken from a Live Stock Films production/ Distributed by Dimension Extreme)

New Zealand was one of those countries that I checked off my list just for the sake of having it done. And why not? After all I felt very confident that they would win the Oceania region. Ever since Australia left they’ve been the heavy favorites to win the confederation, which in this case would have left them one goofy win away from furtively slipping into the World Cup. Maybe in a ‘normal’ world I might have waited to see who would win the region first and then possibly who that team would be paired up with in the inter-continental playoff before choosing to write a critique. But given the delays caused by the pandemic, this just didn’t seem like a good idea.