Best Documentary
The Revenant Project:
Persons, Places, Things
Persons, Places, Things
Cheri-lee is inconsolable when her Granny Daisy dies.
As Daisy ascends, she sees Cheri-lee’s grief, and returns
as a little white egg that transforms into a butterfly.
A metamorphosis that mirrors Cheri-lee’s stages of grief
As Daisy ascends, she sees Cheri-lee’s grief, and returns
as a little white egg that transforms into a butterfly.
A metamorphosis that mirrors Cheri-lee’s stages of grief
Tomislav Žaja
Director
Tomislav Žaja was born in 1967 in Zagreb, Croatia. He earned his master’s degree in Documentary Film Directing at the FAMU in Prague. He is a multi-awarded author of more than fifty documentary films. He is a member of the Documentary Association of Europe and the International Documentary Association.
As you know, history is a strict, objective science. It does not tolerate weaklings and dilettantes. At the same time, the close attention, if not to say painful attitude of society to the moral and material assessment of historical events requires from scientists a special delicacy, a complexly composed approach. History and cinematography have much in common - it is not for nothing that they have always gravitated towards each other. Man has always strived to capture the idea of an event and its image, which could later give rise to such a variety of meanings that the original event was replaced by another interpretation of it
Cinema, like history, works with time and its “consequences”. Filmmakers create the passage of time, and historians study what the passage of time has created. It must be stated that cinema always documents the present time - it does not know historical terms, cinema captures the reality that is presented to it. History, on the contrary, is familiar only with the vocabulary of the past tense. Therefore, when working with history as a material, you should not expect an objective view from the camera - it does not know how to look back.
”The Revenant Project: Persons, Places, Things” does not set itself such a task, although it takes on the traces of history inscribed in the present. The arrangement of buildings, spaces, their changes and transformations are concepts that are familiar to cinema and can be worked with. The authors of The Revenant Project have done a thorough theoretical study, and the movie is just a way to consolidate what they have done. Historical buildings and their ruins always look winning in the frame, their texture, scale, their very meaning fascinate: the team of “The Revenant Project” understands this perfectly well.
Perfectly calibrated compositions, fresh images, characteristic details and visual description of the objects under discussion. The cameraman works well with modern techniques and has a flair for stylish and intelligent imagery. This type of shot is redundant for movies, but it is lacking in television, with only piece projects moving from the internet to the broadcast grid. The editing and post-production, too, are up to the challenges that “The Revenant Project” offers.
There is no movie language in this movie, but there is the language of scientists, the language of historical facts and terms. The authors propose to talk about the traces of history in the language of man, in the words of textbooks. “The Revenant Project: Persons, Places, Things” presents the best words, remarkable people and the most important issues of our time, but does not put the camera at its service. And it should. Cinema and history have a lot in common.
Cinema, like history, works with time and its “consequences”. Filmmakers create the passage of time, and historians study what the passage of time has created. It must be stated that cinema always documents the present time - it does not know historical terms, cinema captures the reality that is presented to it. History, on the contrary, is familiar only with the vocabulary of the past tense. Therefore, when working with history as a material, you should not expect an objective view from the camera - it does not know how to look back.
”The Revenant Project: Persons, Places, Things” does not set itself such a task, although it takes on the traces of history inscribed in the present. The arrangement of buildings, spaces, their changes and transformations are concepts that are familiar to cinema and can be worked with. The authors of The Revenant Project have done a thorough theoretical study, and the movie is just a way to consolidate what they have done. Historical buildings and their ruins always look winning in the frame, their texture, scale, their very meaning fascinate: the team of “The Revenant Project” understands this perfectly well.
Perfectly calibrated compositions, fresh images, characteristic details and visual description of the objects under discussion. The cameraman works well with modern techniques and has a flair for stylish and intelligent imagery. This type of shot is redundant for movies, but it is lacking in television, with only piece projects moving from the internet to the broadcast grid. The editing and post-production, too, are up to the challenges that “The Revenant Project” offers.
There is no movie language in this movie, but there is the language of scientists, the language of historical facts and terms. The authors propose to talk about the traces of history in the language of man, in the words of textbooks. “The Revenant Project: Persons, Places, Things” presents the best words, remarkable people and the most important issues of our time, but does not put the camera at its service. And it should. Cinema and history have a lot in common.