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Two Films by Andrea Luka Zimmerman

Taskafa: Stories from the Street (2013)     Estate, a Reverie (2015)

Artangel Open Winner, and the first director to be shortlisted for both the Grierson and Jarman Awards, the work of filmmaker, artist and cultural activist Andrea Luka Zimmerman presents tender portraits of community and solidarity, exhibiting sentiments almost entirely missing from our contemporary political vocabulary.

Her feature documentary Estate, a Reverie (2015), celebrates her community s resilience in the face of the impending demolition of their east London housing estate and the passing of the utopian promise of social housing it once offered. Filmed over seven years, Estate reveals and celebrates the resilience of residents, asking how we might resist being framed exclusively through class, gender, ability, disability or geography to present a spirited celebration of extraordinary everyday humanity.

Taskafa, Stories of the Street (2013) is a film about resistance and co-existence told through the lives of the street dogs of Istanbul featuring text and readings by the late John Berger.

 

directed by Andrea Luka Zimmerman
Turkey 2013

 

The street dogs of Istanbul are more than mangy mutts, lying about the walkways of alleys and town squares, they are pets, protectors, playmates, and confidantes of shop owners, the plaza regulars, and children. They are seen by the human populace as friends and as performing a public service for which they are fed and receive affection. Taskafa: Stories of the Street - named after the late king of the dogs - reveals as much about the individual dogs as it does the people who speak about them, look after them, and express their fears about the gentrification of old Turkish squares into upscape shopping centers and neighborhoods into luxury living through their worry about what will become of the dogs. The narration includes passages from a poem by John Berger, the late art critic who also provided a reading for Zimmerman's documentary ESTATE, A REVERIE.

Eric Cotenas

Theatrical Release: 12 April 2013 (Turkey)

Reviews                                                                   More Reviews                                             DVD Reviews

 

DVD Review: Second Run DVD - Region 0 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover

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Distribution

Second Run DVD

Region 0 - PAL
Runtime 1:06:54
Video

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.5 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate

Audio English/German/Turkish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles English (burnt-in)
Features Release Information:
Studio: Second Run DVD

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
� Estate, a Reverie (2015; 16:9; 1:23:27)
� Interview with director Andrea Luka Zimmerman (16:9; 26:07)
� 24-page booklet featuring a personal text by John Berger, an essay by Ali Smith, as well as new writings on the films by US academic Colin Dayan and OpenDemoncracy editor Rosemary Bechler

DVD Release Date: 15 May 2017
Amaray

Chapters 6

 

Comments

Shot on high definition video, TASKAFA adapts well to DVD in Second Run's mid-range bitrate anamorphic encode. The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track consists primarily of narration and talking head interviews, but there are some occasionally striking uses of the sound field in capturing the natural sounds of the locations (including the barking of dogs). Subtitle are burned into the image for the German and Turkish dialogue. Besides the second film, extras include a new interview with Zimmerman - who discusses how she came upon the street dogs of Istanbul and learned about them, ESTATE, A REVERIE, ideas of community and exclusion, as well as her philosophy of filmmaking - as well as a twenty-four page booklet.

  - Eric Cotenas

 

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directed by Andrea Luka Zimmerman
UK 2015

 

Written off as a "problem estate" in the seventies and called "the heroin capital of Europe" by a journalist in 1990, the Haggerston Estate has been on its last legs for almost thirty years without a caretaker and maintenance by the efforts of its tenants (including documentarian Andrea Zimmerman herself for seventeen years). The estate stopped accepting tenants in 2004 and was scheduled for demolition starting in 2009. Zimmerman's documentary is a portrait of the remaining tenants of the final block Pamela House (after the Samuel Richardson heroine) in 2014. Rather than focusing on the political aspects of gentrification and marginalization, ESTATE, A REVERIE is exactly what the title states: a survey of the individual tenants and families, some of whom keep to themselves, others seen in social clubs, giving impromptu artistic performances (some of them not always welcome), even sharing stories of the old days across generations and ethnicities, and the ways in which they have transformed their worlds without the oversight of maintenance and tenancy guidelines. The structure gives way to readings by art critic John Berger.

Eric Cotenas

Theatrical Release: 13 January 2015 (Norway)

Reviews                                                              More Reviews                                                    DVD Reviews

 

DVD Review: Second Run DVD - Region 0 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:
Distribution

Second Run DVD

Region 0 - PAL
Runtime 1:23:27 (4% PAL speedup)
Video

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.5 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate

Audio English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Second Run DVD

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
� Taskafa: Stories of the Street (2013; 16:9; 1:06:54)
� Interview with director Andrea Luka Zimmerman (16:9; 26:07)
� 24-page booklet featuring a personal text by John Berger, an essay by Ali Smith, as well as new writings on the films by US academic Colin Dayan and OpenDemoncracy editor Rosemary Bechler

DVD Release Date: May 15th, 2017
Amaray

Chapters 6

 

 

Comments

Shot in HD video, ESTATE, A REVERIE looks quite good on SD video (allowing for the sometimes less than ideal natural lighting environments). The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is a bit more adventurous with interviews and narration accompanied by some music and a sense of environment in the sound design. There are no subtitles.

  - Eric Cotenas

 

DVD Menus
 

 

Screen Captures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

 
Distribution

Second Run DVD

Region 0 - PAL



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