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The solar eclipses of 1961 and 1999, both observable in Serbia, bracket the events explored in the lyrical imagery of Nataša Urban’s debut feature-length documentary. But because life so rarely arranges itself neatly along a defined timeline, they do it imprecisely, blurring over a little at either edge, the way memories do. As a metaphor, too, these astronomical events are evocatively imperfect: Our tiny little moon can occasionally blot out the sun the way an individual’s act of willful forgetfulness can all but obscure massive geopolitical upheaval. But an eclipse passes according to immutable laws of physics; memory and reckoning do not obey a similarly strict orbit. People are far less predictable than planets.

Still, our interpretation of celestial mechanics can be politicized, as the Serbian-born Urban outlines in the contrasting depictions of the two eclipses. In 1961, lovely, scratchy archive footage shows excited Yugoslavs crowding the streets, at the express encouragement of the government,...

The duo were speaking at the final Cph: Dox A Morning With… session in Copenhagen on Thursday (March 31).

Riotsville, USA director Sierra Pettengill and The Eclipse filmmaker Natasa Urban discussed the different ways documentaries can use historical archive footage in the final Cph: Dox A Morning With… session in Copenhagen on Thursday (March 31).

US professional archival researcher and filmmaker Pettengill said she felt compelled to make her film, about the full-scale town centre replicas built by the military in the 1960s for riot training, because they are “not part of our historical memory in the USA.”

Initially finding some intriguing...

The film will receive the awards for best cinematography and best original score at the ceremony in December.

Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom has won two prizes at the European Film Awards, among the eight winners that have been unveiled ahead of the ceremony on December 11.

An eight-member jury met in Berlin to choose the winners in the categories of cinematography, editing, production design, costume design, make-up and hair, original score, sound and visual effects. All were chosen from the feature film selection of 53 films.

The winners will be honoured at the ceremony in Berlin on December 11.

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The 31st edition of the festival features 82 films including 46 world premieres in competition and will take place from 22-26 July in Marseille. Following the online edition of the FIDLab co-production platform (read the news) from 6-10 July, it’s a return to the physical realm and to real screening rooms with the 31st edition of FIDMarseille which begins today and will last five days. The programme includes 82 films, 50 of them representing 28 countries in the festival’s four competitive strands (with 46 world premieres and 4 international premieres). 17 films are vying for awards in the international competition and they will be evaluated by a jury headed by Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiro Suwa. Included in this section are N.P from Belgian filmmaker Lisa Spilliaert, Homelands from Serbian director Jelena Maksimovic, Eyes / Eyes / Eyes / Eyes by Spanish filmmaker Albert García-Alzórriz, Two Stones from Dutch director Wendelien Van...