LETTERS TO MAX
Price: $350.00 Code: 2511 |
Directed by Eric Baudelaire
2013, 103 minutes
Purchase: $350 | Classroom rental: $125
Optional closed captions
What is the job of a diplomat for a country that does not exist? With this question, acclaimed filmmaker Eric Baudelaire initiates a wide-ranging correspondence with his friend Maxim Gvinjia, former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Abkhazia, a country with physical borders, a government, and its own flag, but has not been recognized as a nation.
A small state by the Black Sea, Abkhazia is an independent country depending on who you ask. It seceded from Georgia after the 1992-1993 civil war (which saw Russian troops assisting its efforts, much like they did in South Ossetia, and more recently in the Crimea). But it was never recognized by the United Nations or by most of the world's countries. Only Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Nauru have done so.
In Letters to Max, Eric Baudelaire, director of The Makes and The Anabasis, sets in motion a fascinating discussion with Max through a series of short letters. Each letter poses a question - about Max's political career, about his country, about the war, about life after the war - which Max answers on the film's soundtrack, illustrated by beautiful and impressionistic images of the place itself. It is a remarkably forthright, poetic and insightful conversation about an isolated conflict that has come to be viewed less of an anomaly, and more of a precursor in this post-cold war landscape, particularly in Ukraine.
Projections, New York Film Festival
Documentary Fortnight, Museum of Modern Art
“Baudelaire’s approach, which disseminates Gvinjia's words through a variety of narrative means as the director visually documents the country’s stateless environment, constructs a diaristic audio/visual tour of personal and political histories without betraying the mysteries at the heart of the paradoxical existence of either individual or national identity.” — Keyframe
"Highly Recommended."- Educational Media Reviews Online
1/2 Highly Recommended."Invigorating and surprising, raising intriguing notions regarding sovereignty, identity, and the challenge of being an unlikely pariah among the community of nations." - Video Librarian
2013, 103 minutes
Purchase: $350 | Classroom rental: $125
Optional closed captions
What is the job of a diplomat for a country that does not exist? With this question, acclaimed filmmaker Eric Baudelaire initiates a wide-ranging correspondence with his friend Maxim Gvinjia, former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Abkhazia, a country with physical borders, a government, and its own flag, but has not been recognized as a nation.
A small state by the Black Sea, Abkhazia is an independent country depending on who you ask. It seceded from Georgia after the 1992-1993 civil war (which saw Russian troops assisting its efforts, much like they did in South Ossetia, and more recently in the Crimea). But it was never recognized by the United Nations or by most of the world's countries. Only Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Nauru have done so.
In Letters to Max, Eric Baudelaire, director of The Makes and The Anabasis, sets in motion a fascinating discussion with Max through a series of short letters. Each letter poses a question - about Max's political career, about his country, about the war, about life after the war - which Max answers on the film's soundtrack, illustrated by beautiful and impressionistic images of the place itself. It is a remarkably forthright, poetic and insightful conversation about an isolated conflict that has come to be viewed less of an anomaly, and more of a precursor in this post-cold war landscape, particularly in Ukraine.
Subjects & Collections
Festivals & Awards
Wavelength, Toronto International Film FestivalProjections, New York Film Festival
Documentary Fortnight, Museum of Modern Art
Reviews
“An illuminating snapshot of a land that has been largely off the world's radar since the end of the civil war with Georgia in 1993.” – The Hollywood Reporter“Baudelaire’s approach, which disseminates Gvinjia's words through a variety of narrative means as the director visually documents the country’s stateless environment, constructs a diaristic audio/visual tour of personal and political histories without betraying the mysteries at the heart of the paradoxical existence of either individual or national identity.” — Keyframe
"Highly Recommended."- Educational Media Reviews Online
1/2 Highly Recommended."Invigorating and surprising, raising intriguing notions regarding sovereignty, identity, and the challenge of being an unlikely pariah among the community of nations." - Video Librarian
Trailer
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