Battles
A film by Isabelle Tollenaere
2015
Documentary, 85 minutes, DCP.
Produced by Michigan Films.
With the support of Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, The Netherlands Film Fund.
Synopsis
EN / Is a war ever truly over? Battles offers a wondrous view of our discordant world. The film reveals a past that has not passed, by observing the traces that remain in landscape and memory. The troops are long since gone but a ghost army continues to haunt the land.
A bomb, a bunker, a tank, a soldier – four archetypes of warfare lead us chapter by chapter to places in Europe where conflicts have occurred in the recent past. We discover the transformation of people, objects and landscapes after demilitarization. An old man in a land swamped with bunkers, scenes of a bizarre prison camp at night, the last moments of antique explosives, an army of women working on inflatable artillery. How people live with and between the military traces that surround us. Conflict seems to be near, then far off again, but always absurd.
Battles is a unique world in which the everyday and the extraordinary are observed with equal attention. A twilight zone where past and present, war and play, threat and innocence intersect.
FR / Battles révèle un passé qui n’est pas passé en observant les traces de la guerre dans le paysage et les mémoires.
Bombe, bunker, tank, soldat : quatre symboles de la guerre nous mènent chapitre après chapitre dans de récents lieux de conflit en Europe.
On y découvre la transformation des individus, des objets et des paysages après la démilitarisation.
Une zone d’ombre où se mêlent passé et présent.
Crew
Director : Isabelle Tollenaere
Cinematography : Frédéric Noirhomme
Field Recording : Kwinten Van Laethem
Editing : Nico Leunen
Sound design & Mix : Michel Shöpping
Screenings
2015
International Film Festival Rotterdam – FIPRESCI AWARD – World premiere
Visions du réel Nyon – – International premiere
Beursschouwburg – Belgian avant-premiere
Docville Leuven – Belgian premiere
Cinema Zuid, Antwerpen
Krakow Film Festival
Olhar de Cinéma, Festival Internacional de Curitiba, Brasil – New views
Open City Documentary Festival, London – Emerging International Filmmaker
Singapore International Festival of Arts
Lima Independiente International Film Festival
Film Festival Oostende – Belgian Press Prize + Special Mention
Pacific Meridian International Film Festival
DMZ Korean International Documentary Festival
Fidocs, Chile
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival
Bergen International Film Festival
Nederlands Film Festival
Filmfestival Hamburg
Rio de Janeiro Int’l Film Festival
Festifreak, Argentina
Underdox München
Inconvenient Film Festival (Human Rights Festival) – Special Jury Mention
Viennale
Filmer à tout prix
Kasseler Docfest
Pravo Ljudski Film Festival Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
IDFA
WATCH DOCS Human Rights in Film International Film Festival
ARTDOCFEST, Russia
Trieste Film Festival, Italy
FICUNAM, Mexico
Tartu World Film Festival 2015
2016
Docu Days Ukraine (UA)
Full Frame Festival (USA)
FICIC Festival, Cosquin (AR)
La Case Encendida, Madrid (ES)
MIBDO, Muestra Internacional Documental de Bogota (CO)
Les Ecrans Documentaires, Paris (FR)
November Film Festival, London (UK)
2017
Cinema Ritcs (BE)
2018
The Left Bank Cine-Club, Tel Aviv (IL)
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