The documentary is on the rise, as evidenced by the two Golden Bears at the Berlinale successively awarded to On the Adamantby Nicolas Philibert, in 2023, then at Dahomey, by Mati Diop, at the end of the last edition (February 15 to 25). All the more reason to rediscover creative works – which do not simply deal with a subject – and remain in theaters for too short a time: around ten feature films (as well as a few shorts) released in 2023 are thus rescheduled in around sixty cinemas, in France, as part of the fifth edition of Best of doc (until March 19). Also on the program, new films and some previews, Averroes & Rosa Parks by the same Philibert (released March 20), Apolonia Apolonia by Lea Glob (March 27), and My worst enemy by Mehran Tamadon (May 8).
The panorama is rich, and the complete list can be found on the bestofdoc.fr website. Let’s start with the unforgettable River, by Dominique Marchais, in which the former film critic continues his cartography of landscapes under perfusion, here the sublime Gaves of Béarn, endangered by human activities and global warming, while so many alternatives only require to spring forth. Of spurts, the triptych Zorn I, II, III by Mathieu Amalric is not missing: fans of improvised music will witness the behind-the-scenes creation in the presence of the tireless New York saxophonist and composer, John Zorn, who, in the third part, leads a fiery collaboration with the Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan.
“No future” by a Russian youth
Some logbooks remain in our memories: one of them, The perpetual leek, by Zoé Chantre, in the style of Alain Cavalier, tells the daily life of a young woman from a certain date, March 5, when she learns that her mother has cancer. Another, How to Save a Dead Friendby Russian director Marusya Syroechkovskaya, delves into the no future of a Russian youth in the suburbs of Moscow: the tragic story of a young man who dies before having lived, his girlfriend remaking the film of a relationship that lasted twelve years, a crazy love on the edge of the abyss .
In a style proven by Iranian cinema, with a camera embedded in the vehicle, here a mini-van, Stone leaf gun, by Maciek Hamela, captures, during a journey, portraits of Ukrainian families who have fled their homes since the invasion of their country by Russia in 2022. Elsewhere, in Brazil, Kleber Mendonça Filho revisits his neighborhood of Recife in Ghost portraitsthe film sliding from intimate space to the city, with a touch of strangeness and surrealism, in search of lost cinemas (some having been replaced by evangelical churches) and anonymous people who kept the spotlights turning.
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