Here we go again, like every year and like all (wanna-be) respectable cinema blogs or cinephiles around the web, these are my personal favorite documentaries of 2019. As usual, and it goes without saying, the list below is a reflection of my taste, interests and viewing habits during 2019, and thus it is mainly composed of documentaries made in the Eastern part of the Asian continent (but there are few exceptions of course).
Outstanding works (unranked)
Many Undulating Things (Wang Bo, Pan Lu)
History, art, geography and colonialism mixed in an aesthetically challenging piece of work. The movie is an expansion of Miasma, Plants, Export Paintings, a short made in 2018 by Wang Bo and Pan Lu.
No Data Plan (Miko Revereza)
A travelogue and a drifting through America to explore the identities of undocumented immigrants, the director himself and his mother.
Memento Stella (Takashi Makino)
Like a wave of spiritual materialism in continuous becoming.
Cenote (Ts’onot) (Oda Kaori)
After Aragane, and Toward a Common Tenderness Oda moves her attention to the cenotes in Mexico. It’s not a perfect movie, but has some of the most impressive combination of sound and images I’ve seen last year. Entrancing to say the least.
Reason (Anand Patwardhan)
Fascism in contemporary India.
Honorable mentions:
Indiana, Monrovia(Frederick Wiseman)
Happy Android (Jaina Kalifa)
The Holiday Inn-Side (Charby Ibrahim)
Dutch Angle: Chas Gerretsen & Apocalypse Now (Baris Azman)
Special (re)discoveries:
The Man Who Has a Camera (Liu Na’ou, 1935)
Kobayashi Issa (Kamei Fumio, 1941)
Senso Daughter (Sakiguchi Yuko, 1990)
Best cinematic experience
By far the best viewing experience I had in 2019 was not at all an orthodox cinematic experience. At Yamagata I was lucky enough to be at a Gentou (magic lanterns) screening, dedicated to the grass-roots movements in the Miike mine’s strikes during the 1950s.
Asian Docs 