Kristof Bilsen stunning doc assesses the disease’s toll on patients and carers trapped in the international care-market
Shakespeare’s line about “second childishness and mere oblivion” – the last of the seven ages of man bleakly proclaimed by Jacques in As You Like It – might come back to you watching this. But it doesn’t do justice to a very moving and profound documentary from director Kristof Bilsen and executive producer Kirsten Johnson (Dick Johnson Is Dead) about dementia, dementia care, the globalised market in compassion and what society deems to be woman’s work.
My colleague Charlie Phillips enthused about this film in 2019 and I can only agree. It is a deeply affecting portrait of what it means to be a professional caregiver; and what it means for both patient and nurse to be separated from their families by fate, biology and market forces.
Shakespeare’s line about “second childishness and mere oblivion” – the last of the seven ages of man bleakly proclaimed by Jacques in As You Like It – might come back to you watching this. But it doesn’t do justice to a very moving and profound documentary from director Kristof Bilsen and executive producer Kirsten Johnson (Dick Johnson Is Dead) about dementia, dementia care, the globalised market in compassion and what society deems to be woman’s work.
My colleague Charlie Phillips enthused about this film in 2019 and I can only agree. It is a deeply affecting portrait of what it means to be a professional caregiver; and what it means for both patient and nurse to be separated from their families by fate, biology and market forces.
- 1/5/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Asian features, female directors dominate prize winners.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has announced the winners of its 49th edition, with Zheng Lu Xinyuan’s The Cloud In Her Room winning the Tiger Award and accompanying €40,000 prize.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The Tiger jury, comprised of Hany Abu-Assad, Emilie Bujès, Kogonada, Sacha Polak and Hafiz Rancajale, praised the film for how it “gracefully portrays a certain global generation paralysed by modern alienation and capitalism.”
The film tells the story of a woman who returns to her hometown for Chinese New Year and embarks on a relationship with...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has announced the winners of its 49th edition, with Zheng Lu Xinyuan’s The Cloud In Her Room winning the Tiger Award and accompanying €40,000 prize.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The Tiger jury, comprised of Hany Abu-Assad, Emilie Bujès, Kogonada, Sacha Polak and Hafiz Rancajale, praised the film for how it “gracefully portrays a certain global generation paralysed by modern alienation and capitalism.”
The film tells the story of a woman who returns to her hometown for Chinese New Year and embarks on a relationship with...
- 1/31/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Most selections are North American, Us premieres.
Polish and Dutch Oscar submissions Corpus Christi and Instinct are among the international competition line-ups announced by the 55th Chicago International Film Festival on Monday (16).
Most of the films screening in the festival’s international sections are North American and Us premieres and have already been selected to represent their country in the Academy’s best international feature film race. They include Our Mothers (Belgium), and Spider (Chile).
Several of last year’s festival selections represent their countries this season, among them Aga (Bulgaria), Joy (Austria), Dear Son (Tunisia) and Wolkenbruch’s Wondrous...
Polish and Dutch Oscar submissions Corpus Christi and Instinct are among the international competition line-ups announced by the 55th Chicago International Film Festival on Monday (16).
Most of the films screening in the festival’s international sections are North American and Us premieres and have already been selected to represent their country in the Academy’s best international feature film race. They include Our Mothers (Belgium), and Spider (Chile).
Several of last year’s festival selections represent their countries this season, among them Aga (Bulgaria), Joy (Austria), Dear Son (Tunisia) and Wolkenbruch’s Wondrous...
- 9/16/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Kristof Bilsen’s new film is about western Alzheimer’s patients in Thailand. He explains the ‘western gaze’ – and why his film struck a deeply personal chord
‘It’s easy for people to say, ‘We should all care for our loved ones’,” says Kristof Bilsen “But what happens when you can’t?” For his new documentary, Mother, the 39-year-old Belgian travelled to northern Thailand to film at Baan Kamlangchay, a centre for westerners with Alzheimer’s whose families have left them in the hands of Thai caregivers.
The political was very personal for Bilsen. During the three years he made the film, his own mother Rosemarijn was in decline with dementia. “My dad tried to give her home care but he’s 78, so it proved overwhelming,” Bilsen says. “So he visited her a lot in an old persons’ home. The subject of the film is very close to me – the...
‘It’s easy for people to say, ‘We should all care for our loved ones’,” says Kristof Bilsen “But what happens when you can’t?” For his new documentary, Mother, the 39-year-old Belgian travelled to northern Thailand to film at Baan Kamlangchay, a centre for westerners with Alzheimer’s whose families have left them in the hands of Thai caregivers.
The political was very personal for Bilsen. During the three years he made the film, his own mother Rosemarijn was in decline with dementia. “My dad tried to give her home care but he’s 78, so it proved overwhelming,” Bilsen says. “So he visited her a lot in an old persons’ home. The subject of the film is very close to me – the...
- 9/12/2019
- by Stuart Jeffries
- The Guardian - Film News
Luke Lorentzen’s Midnight Family won the grand jury award at this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest, which held its closing ceremony last night (June 11).
The Sundance premiere follows a family trying to make a living by operating a private ambulance in Mexico city. The jury praised the film for providing a “timely warning to the dangers of privatised healthcare.” The top prize also came with a £2,000 windfall.
The jury gave a special mention to Hazzan Fazili’s Midnight Traveller (another Park City premiere) and Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ Sxsx and Cannes title For Sama. The latter also won the audience award.
The respected UK documentary showcase presented its inaugural international award to Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Earth, which charts the environmental destruction wrought by large-scale mining. A special mention went to Kristof Bilsen’s Mother.
The £2,000 Tim Hetherington award, named in honor of the UK photo-journalist...
The Sundance premiere follows a family trying to make a living by operating a private ambulance in Mexico city. The jury praised the film for providing a “timely warning to the dangers of privatised healthcare.” The top prize also came with a £2,000 windfall.
The jury gave a special mention to Hazzan Fazili’s Midnight Traveller (another Park City premiere) and Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ Sxsx and Cannes title For Sama. The latter also won the audience award.
The respected UK documentary showcase presented its inaugural international award to Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Earth, which charts the environmental destruction wrought by large-scale mining. A special mention went to Kristof Bilsen’s Mother.
The £2,000 Tim Hetherington award, named in honor of the UK photo-journalist...
- 6/12/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Further winners included Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Earth and Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s One Child Nation.
Luke Lorentzen’s Midnight Family won the grand jury award (with a £2000 prize) at this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest, which held its closing ceremony last night (June 11).
Full list of winners below
The film tells the story of a family scraping a living operating a private ambulance in Mexico city, and was praised by the jury for acting “as a timely warning to the dangers of privatised healthcare.”
The jury, made up of artist Jeremy Deller, producer Charlotte Cook and artist-filmmaker Jenn Nkiru...
Luke Lorentzen’s Midnight Family won the grand jury award (with a £2000 prize) at this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest, which held its closing ceremony last night (June 11).
Full list of winners below
The film tells the story of a family scraping a living operating a private ambulance in Mexico city, and was praised by the jury for acting “as a timely warning to the dangers of privatised healthcare.”
The jury, made up of artist Jeremy Deller, producer Charlotte Cook and artist-filmmaker Jenn Nkiru...
- 6/12/2019
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Kristof Bilsen’s documentary focuses on Pomm, who looks after Europeans with Alzheimer’s in Thailand while facing problems of her own
A documentary about the pain of mothers losing a connection with their children might not sound like one of the most uplifting films of the year, but Kristof Bilsen’s film is a radical achievement: a love letter to loss, sacrifice and yearning. It questions how we care for elderly loved ones, makes provocative contrasts between east and west in the economics of medicine, and, with a central character who’s pure charisma, this is intimate observational documentary-making of a high standard.
Pomm is a carer in Thailand for westerners with Alzheimer’s. She gives her patient one-to-one care, which comprises singing, joking, hugging and confiding, as well as the basics of cleaning and welfare. This is more personal attention than would be possible in her patients’ home countries,...
A documentary about the pain of mothers losing a connection with their children might not sound like one of the most uplifting films of the year, but Kristof Bilsen’s film is a radical achievement: a love letter to loss, sacrifice and yearning. It questions how we care for elderly loved ones, makes provocative contrasts between east and west in the economics of medicine, and, with a central character who’s pure charisma, this is intimate observational documentary-making of a high standard.
Pomm is a carer in Thailand for westerners with Alzheimer’s. She gives her patient one-to-one care, which comprises singing, joking, hugging and confiding, as well as the basics of cleaning and welfare. This is more personal attention than would be possible in her patients’ home countries,...
- 6/10/2019
- by Charlie Phillips
- The Guardian - Film News
Ai Weiwei, Werner Herzog to particpate in extended conversations following screenings.
A Spotlight section of screenings followed by extended conversations is the major addition to the programme for this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 6-11), revealed today.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and German filmmaker Werner Herzog are among those attending the festival and participating in the section.
Ai Weiwei will present his film The Rest, about Europe’s refugee crisis and the disintegrating humanitarian aid system, which premiered at Cph:Dox in March.
Herzog will take part in a discussion with Patrick Holland, controller, BBC Two, following a...
A Spotlight section of screenings followed by extended conversations is the major addition to the programme for this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 6-11), revealed today.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and German filmmaker Werner Herzog are among those attending the festival and participating in the section.
Ai Weiwei will present his film The Rest, about Europe’s refugee crisis and the disintegrating humanitarian aid system, which premiered at Cph:Dox in March.
Herzog will take part in a discussion with Patrick Holland, controller, BBC Two, following a...
- 5/9/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
If the 18 participants selected to take part in the Emerging Producers program of the Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival aren’t entirely sure what to expect from this year’s edition, they’re not alone. “I don’t know how to define it,” says Italian producer Paolo Benzi, who along with Irena Taskovski is tutoring the group.
Over the course of five days during the festival, participants come together to question, debate, joust, reflect, and “discuss what it means to produce films nowadays,” Benzi says. “[Emerging Producers] isn’t a training in the strict sense of the word. It’s kind of an awakening of awareness of what we do.”
The program was born out of a 2012 encounter between Benzi and Ji.hlava head Marek Hovorka, where the two discussed the scarcity of places in the documentary field “where you could really get the time or the space to think about...
Over the course of five days during the festival, participants come together to question, debate, joust, reflect, and “discuss what it means to produce films nowadays,” Benzi says. “[Emerging Producers] isn’t a training in the strict sense of the word. It’s kind of an awakening of awareness of what we do.”
The program was born out of a 2012 encounter between Benzi and Ji.hlava head Marek Hovorka, where the two discussed the scarcity of places in the documentary field “where you could really get the time or the space to think about...
- 10/27/2018
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
As documentary subjects go, the Congo has long been a country ripe with compelling material. Colonization, civil war, genocide, an ongoing fight for oil and environmental conservation (most recently explored in the Oscar-nominated “Virunga”) have all created the basis for hundreds upon hundreds of harrowing true stories. These stories are captivating and important, yes, but they also operate by depicting a reality where life in the Congo is fraught with the constant threat of violence and destruction. “Elephant’s Dream” directed by British-Belgian filmmaker Kristof Bilsen, seeks to reconcile this heightened reality with the everyday realities of living and surviving in the Congo. The...
- 3/17/2015
- by Zeba Blay
- ShadowAndAct
Now that the busy winter fest schedule of Sundance, Rotterdam and the Berlinale has concluded, we’ve now got our eyes on the likes of True/False and SXSW. While, True/False does not specialize in attention grabbing world premieres, it does provide a late winter haven for cream of the crop non-fiction fare from all the previously mentioned fests and a selection of overlooked genre blending films presented in a down home setting. This year will mark my first trip to the Columbia, Missouri based fest, where I hope to catch a little of everything, from their hush-hush secret screenings, to selections from their Neither/Nor series, this year featuring chimeric Polish cinema of decades past, to a spotlight of Adam Curtis’s incisive oeuvre. But truth be told, it is SXSW, with its slew of high profile world premieres being announced, such as Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs...
- 2/27/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Previously titled "White Elephants," and now called "Elephant's Dream," here's the trailer for an intriguing upcoming documentary we've been tracking for about 2 years, since it was in pre-production. Directed by Belgian/British director Kristof Bilsen, the Congo (Drc)-set documentary feature is an expansion of Bilsen's critically-acclaimed short film, also titled "White Elephants," and centers on the public sector workers in a Railway station, Post Office and only fire station in Kinshasa, offering poetic, compassionate insight into a country in transition, and lives lived. Further, courtesy of the filmmaker: "This grandiose relic of the...
- 10/10/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
One of 15 films on Tambay's Cannes 2013 predictions list that will not be premiering at Cannes is a feature documentary titled White Elephants, which is a working title. We've been following the intriguing upcoming documentary for about a year, since it was in pre-production. Directed by Belgian/British director Kristof Bilsen, the Congo (Drc)-set documentary feature is an expansion of Bilsen's critically-acclaimed short film White Elephants, and centers on the Central Post-Office in Kinshasa, and its employees. "This grandiose relic of the colonial past has trapped its employees in a frozen time-warp from which they are planning their escape. From past to present,...
- 4/29/2013
- by Natasha Greeves
- ShadowAndAct
Intriguing new documentary I profiled bacn in February when it was said to be in pre-production, from Belgian/Brit Kristof Bilsen - a Congo (Drc)-set documentary feature titled White Elephants, A Congo Trilogy (not to be confused with the 2011 Djimon Hounsou thriller Elephant White), which looks to now currently be in production, with a projected spring 2013 release date possible. The documentary, which is based on a critically-acclaimed short film titled just White Elephants, centers on the Central Post-Office in Kinshasa, and its employees. Here's the synopsis: This grandiose relic of the colonial past has trapped its employees in a frozen timewarp from which...
- 6/13/2012
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.