Being back home in my urban environment of Mexico City also means submitting to my evening pastimes of watching stuff on the screen. While binge-watching series is so common that I didn't even consider writing posts about it, occasionally there are some exceptions, such as the DocsMX 2020 Film Festival.
Sure, it's (still) Covid season, so Film Festivals are also cancelled, put on hold, or moved into the cybersphere. The latter is great news for people like me, who would find it too bothersome to actually go to a place to watch movies. Now, thanks to social distancing, the festival comes right into my living room. Until the end of this week there will be numerous new films presented daily.
This Mexican festival of documentaries, which dominates our evenings these days, has some very interesting movies to offer, all of them documentaries from around the world, dealing with all types of topics. I'd like to introduce some of them here. And who knows, it may kick off a series of posts where I talk about my otherwise favorite series. But first, let me list some of the documentaries at DocsMX:
The World According to Amazon
The documentary that got me interested in this festival in the first place looks at this rapidly growing company with its centibillionaire CEO, Jeff Bezos. Directed by Thomas Lafarge and Adrien Pinon, this film analyzes not only the way Amazon transgressed the traditional notion of monopoly, by being the biggest customer, biggest competitor, AND biggest supplier of many small businesses, but also introduces us to the robot-like work process employees are suffering under. To top it off, the documentary hints at Bezos long-term visions, having to do with space programs, not unlike SpaceX. As a good docu, it leaves the viewer with many more questions than they started with. Also, I don't think I entirely agree with all its viewpoints. However, it was interesting enough that I can recommend it to others.
War Photographer
This was the second film I saw at the DocsMX festival, which made me want to stay for more. Directed by Boris Bertram, this Danish documentary follows the daily life of photographer Jan Grarup, as he spends time with his children, takes old-school portraits with his vintage camera, ... and then flies off to cover violent conflicts in places like Iraq, Darfur, and Chechenia. The juxtaposition of these two environments, of extreme danger, violence, and death on one side to the safety, health, and love of his home on the other, makes this docu a stunning experience.
Caught in the Net
Not sure if I got the official English title of this Czech documentary called V siti correct. It was directed by Vít Klusák and Barbora Chalupová, and deals with sexual predators, using social networks to prey on young girls. To reveal the extreme situation, the makers of this documentary hired three young actresses who pretended to be twelve years old, built movie sets looking like realistic bedrooms, and created very modest online profiles for them. Then they followed them as they responded to the countless queries and calls, mostly by adult males. The amount, and the types of contacts was staggering! A highly, highly recommended docu!
Prey
Staying with the topic of sexual predators, here is a Canadian docu with just as much impact. It deals with the familiar phenomenon of how the Catholic Church tries to hide the rampant problem of their sexually abusive priests, by moving them to other parishes. Directed by Matt Gallagher, this film accompanies the trials of one priest, and one of his victims, who refuses to give in to a settlement. This exciting film does not fail to include higher ranking church officials, as well as the dedicated pedophile hunter, determined to persecute the church to the fullest.
Another Day of Life
The last film I picked for my short selection of documentaries at the DocsMX is my favorite so far. It is an international co-production directed by Raúl de la Fuente and Damian Nenow, and it deals with the work of Polish photojournalist Ryszard Kapuściński in Angola in 1975, when the country was just becoming independent, but found itself being invaded by South Africa right away, as well as in the middle of a civil war that would last for the remainder of the century. What makes this docu especially interesting, are the spectacular graphics of Damian Nenow drawn over the already impactful photography.
The Presentation of the Festival
While these are just five great films from the entire selection of promising documentaries, in the end the festival is about a bit more than just watching them. Sure, you can tune in whenever you like, but if you decide to join at the time of the opening, you may get to see a brief Meet the Directors session. Essentially it's a teleconference between the organizers of the festival and the director(s) of the docu. In some cases, such as in the movie Prey, even one of the victims was invited, who made great use of his airtime to raise further awareness of his case.
So if you like good docus, and would like to watch some of the most recent ones, I can highly recommend the DocsMX. You don't even need to come to Mexico City for it! Only if you're someone who enjoys going to film festivals to mingle and network with the makers of the films, it may be disappointing to you. After all, you are not physically present. Otherwise, just put up your feet, get some popcorn ready, and visit the DocsMX for some good documentaries.