Documentary Films - Competition 2017 / Land of the Free / Denmark, Finland 2017
In the economically depressed neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles it’s far too easy to get on the wrong side of the law. One fateful day 42-year-old Brian, who has just been released from serving a long prison sentence, experienced it firsthand. The vicious cycle of social determination, however, also begins to effect the lives of teenager Juan and seven-year-old Gianni. The debuting director immerses herself in the depths of human vulnerability in order to draw out fragments of hope.
In the economically depressed neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles it’s far too easy to get on the wrong side of the law. Here, theft and drug dealing are the order of the day, and even minor offenses can erupt into unexpected violence that you’ll regret for the rest of your life. One fateful day 42-year-old Brian, who has just been released from serving a long prison sentence, experienced it firsthand. The time has come to breathe in deeply his newly regained freedom, although in a world so transformed as to be unrecognizable it’s easy for a person to suffocate. It’s even harder to watch as Juan, a teenager on probation, and seven-year-old Gianni get caught in the vicious cycle of social determination. Three portraits mutually reflecting each other – the tale of a single sad life manifest in three forms. With sensitivity and respect for her protagonists, the debuting director immerses herself in the depths of human vulnerability in order to draw out fragments of hope, demonstrating that if your life completely falls apart, you might be able to discern its contours in something as simple as a cup of coffee.
Martin Horyna
95 min / Color, DCP
International premiere
Director Camilla Magid
/ Screenplay Camilla Magid, Stine Fischer Christensen
/ Dir. of Photography Consuelo Althouse
/ Music Manoj Ramdas
/ Editor Rasmus Stensgaard Madsen
/ Producer Heidi Elise Christensen, Signe Byrge Sørensen
/ Production Final Cut for Real
/ Coproduction Tuffi Films
/ Sales DR Sales
Camilla Magid (b. 1979, Copenhagen) graduated in film from the University of Copenhagen and in Arabic language and culture from the Royal Danish Defense College. Since 2006, when her 29-minute documentary The Black Lines (En sort streg om øjet) investigated the difficulties faced by two young Syrian women in a rapidly changing Arab society, her filmography has added a number of other shorts. In the medium-length White Black Boy (Sort hvid dreng, 2012) she focuses on a young Tanzanian albino whose life at boarding school brings many bitter experiences. In this way, she took on an issue that was difficult to imagine, the problems faced by Africans with pigment deficiencies where local shamans attribute magical powers to them and the superstitious want their lives forfeited. Dozens of festivals programmed the film, and it enjoyed a successful run. Land of the Free is the director’s feature-length documentary debut.
DR Sales
Emil Holms Kanal 20, 2. – 5., DK-0999, København
Denmark
Phone: +45 352 030 40
E-mail: [email protected]
Camilla Magid
Film Director
Stine Fischer Christensen
Producer
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