Review by Cameron Maitland.

VIFF should be doubly praised for its inclusion of Anja Salomonowitz’s film It Happened Just Before in its program - not only for taking a chance on a documentary that distances itself from traditional definitions of the genre, but for not being afraid to still classify it as a non-fiction film.

The film follows two simultaneous threads in five segments. The visual thread shows the mundane daily existence of Austrian people including a border guard, a taxi driver and the Consulate for Cameroon. As these stories play out, a second plot emerges - as each of the people will pause their business to tell the story of a woman involved in human trafficking. As each of these characters goes about their daily lives, we are slowly and deliberately revealed stories of prostitution, slavery and abuse mostly at the hands of Austrians in positions not unlike those shown on the screen. The juxtaposition of these mundane, complacent and possibly complicit people makes the stories of suffering all the more haunting.

The film's slow, deliberate pace might not be for everyone but Salmonowitz uses gorgeous, long artistic takes so, even when the story isn’t interesting, there is something to look at. It is sometimes hard to take a documentary seriously when it blurs fiction and reality to the point where one is unsure what to believe, but Salmonowitz allows the images and stories to flow into and inform one another in a way that really captures the imagination. Hopefully this film marks the beginning of VIFF looking to more experimental forms of artistic documentary to fill its non-fiction program.

It Happened Just Before
Anja Salomonowitz | Austria | 2006 | 72min

Fri. Sept. 28 | 9:45pm | VanCity Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 1:30pm | Pacific Cinematheque