GOD HELP THE GIRL by Stuart Murdoch

The Generation 14plus program of the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival will open with the British musical feature GOD HELP THE GIRL by Stuart Murdoch. In his directorial debut, founder and lead singer of the band Belle and Sebastian gives what the festival describes as a profound and charming account of a summer love in the beat clubs of Glasgow. Stuart Murdoch and his leading actors, Emily Browning, Olly Alexander and Hannah Murray, are expected to attend the premiere on February 7, 2014.

Loulou, l’incroyable secret (WOLFY, THE INCREDIBLE SECRET) by Grégoire Solotareff and Eric Omond

The Generation Kplus competition will open on February 7 with the animated film Loulou, l’incroyable secret (WOLFY, THE INCREDIBLE SECRET) by Grégoire Solotareff and Eric Omond. This brilliantly artistic family film from France is one of five feature-length animated films in this year’s program.

 The eleven children on the Children’s Jury and the seven teenagers on the Youth Jury will award the section’s Crystal Bears.  Generation’s main prize is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. 

The International Jury of Generation 14plus will award the Grand Prix for Best Feature – the three jury members are: Laura Astorga Carrera from Costa Rica, director of the film Princesas Rojas (Berlinale 2013); filmmaker Jan Soldat from Germany, who has presented three much-discussed short films at the Berlinale (including Crazy Dennis Tiger, Berlinale 2012); as well as N. Bird Runningwater, a Cheyenne / Mescalero Apache from the USA who is head of the “Native American and Indigenous Program” at the Sundance Institute, and advisor for the Berlinale’s special series “NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema”.

The three jurors of the International Jury in the Generation Kplus competition will award the Grand Prix for Best Feature and the Special Prize for Best Short Film. The three jury members are: Catriona McKenzie from Australia, director of the film Satellite Boy (Special Mention at the Berlinale 2013); film journalist Christian Bellaj from Germany; and Dutch filmmaker Boudewijn Koole, whose workKauwboy (Berlinale 2012) won the Grand Prix of the International Jury of Generation Kplus, as well as the Best First Feature Award of the entire Festival.

Generation 14plus

3 Histoires d’Indiens (3 INDIAN TALES) – Canada
By Robert Morin
Three stories over four seasons. Depicting the life of a new generation of Native Americans who are less resigned and more active than their parents. From the inside out, this fictional feature offers authentic insights into everyday life on a reservation today.
World premiere

ärtico (arctic) – Spain
By Gabri Velázquez
What’s the value of family when everything has lost all rhyme or reason? Gabri Velázquez presents the everyday moods and states of mind of Spanish adolescents during the economic crisis. Sparse in dialogue and using static tableaux-like imagery, the entire composition is also deeply influenced by music.
World premiere

Feriado (Holiday) – Ecuador / Argentina
By Diego Araujo
In a remote region in the Andes, shy Juan Pablo meets self-assured Juano. A fragile romance evolves that transcends all class distinctions. Their tender explorations are set against a corruption scandal that shakes Juan Pablo’s rich banking family to the core.
World premiere

Mavi Dalga (The Blue Wave) – Turkey / Germany / Netherlands / Greece
By Zeynep Dadak and Merve Kayan
This clique of girls still talks about boys, clothes and the latest music. Yet its carefree days are drawing to a close. A new life is imminent, and this feels both exciting and dangerous. An ensemble film about the end of adolescence and a new beginning.
International premiere

Supernova – Netherlands / Germany / Belgium
By Tamar van den Dop
Where Meis lives, absolutely nothing ever happens. She loses herself in wistful fantasies about love, sex and a world elsewhere. A refreshingly bizarre story that conveys, on all cinematic levels, a sense of immanent change.
World premiere

Obietnica (The Word) – Poland / Denmark
By Anna Kazejak
After a silly infidelity, Janek is doing everything to try to win back his girlfriend. A highly emotional youth-drama and a suspenseful crime story are intricately and cleverly woven together.
World premiere

Violet – Belgium / Netherlands
By Bas Devos
In a shopping mall, Jesse’s best friend is stabbed to death right before his eyes. To convey his silent despair, the film uses long shots that have an artistic, photographic quality and are embedded in a spherical sound track. 
World premiere

What We Do in the Shadows – New Zealand / USA
By Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement
Youth is not a question of age. In their mockumentary, the popular team from the cult TV series Flight of the Conchords and the film Eagle vs. Shark takes a biting look at the life, love and woes in a Wellington flat shared by vampires.
European premiere

Above Us All – Netherlands / Belgium
By Eugenie Jansen
After the death of her Indigenous mother in Australia, Shay’s father insists on returning to his old home in Belgium. Grief and leave-taking are dealt with quite differently in these two places. In 3D and 360-degree pans, the film revolves around the question of our existence in time and space.
World premiere (out of competition)

The programme also includes:

52 Tuesdays, Australia, by Sophie Hyde – EP
Atlántida (Atlantida), Argentina / France, by Inés María Barrionuevo – WP
Einstein and Einstein, People’s Republic of China, by Cao Baoping – EP
Galore, Australia, by Rhys Graham – IP
God Help the Girl, Great Britain, by Stuart Murdoch – EP
Il Sud è Niente (South Is Nothing), Italy / France, by Fabio Mollo – EP
Ömheten (Broken Hill Blues), Sweden, by Sofia Norlin – IP
Somos Mari Pepa (We Are Mari Pepa), Mexico, by Samuel Kishi Leopo – EP

Generation Kplus

Beyond Beyond – Sweden / Denmark
By Esben Toft Jacobsen
In search of his mother, the little rabbit Johan enters the fantastic underworld of the Feather King. Jacobsen’s third film in Generation is an elaborate, animated 3D family adventure that tells profoundly of love and loss.
World premiere

Emil & Ida i Lönneberga (That Boy Emil) – Sweden
By Per Åhlin, Alicja Jaworski Björk and Lasse Persson
Little Emil just wants to help, but then everything always goes wrong. Banned to the shed, he’s supposed to think about his misdeeds – that is, until he gets into mischief again. Astrid Lindgren narrates this lovingly animated film about the little prankster who is known in German-speaking countries as Michel. 
German premiere (out of competition)

Finn – Netherlands / Belgium
By Frans Weisz
Finn just has to learn to play the violin! Music entwines reality and dreams – and helps him see his dead mother again. Flemish actor Jan Decleir brilliantly embodies the mysterious violin teacher.
International premiere

Hitono Nozomino Yorokobiyo (Joy of Man’s Desiring) – Japan
By Masakazu Sugita
After an earthquake, Haruna and her little brother Sotha are taken in by relatives. Nobody has told the boy that his parents are dead, a fact that weighs heavily on Haruna. In meditative images, this debut film sensitively portrays the repercussions of huge catastrophes on children.
World premiere

Jack et la mécanique du cœur (Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart) – France / Belgium
By Mathias Malzieu and Stéphane Berla
A cuckoo clock beats in Jack’s chest, instead of a heart. Falling in love is strictly forbidden, because strong emotions will cause his clock to tick wildly out of control. Mathias Malzieu adapted his bestselling short novel for this fantastic animated film; the songs are all by his band Dionysos. 
International premiere

Killa (The Fort) – India
By Avinash Arun
After moving, Chinu finds it difficult to adjust to his new surroundings. But gradually he makes new friends and gains more confidence. An atmospheric coming-of-age story, in which the landscape and the weather play a decisive role.
World premiere

Midden in de Winternacht (A Christmoose Story) – Netherlands / Sweden / Belgium
By Lourens Blok
Mr. Moose, Santa Claus’s flying elk, has crashed into the barn and urgently needs help from little Max. This wintery adventure, based on Andreas Steinhöfel’s book for children, spices up this traditional Christmas tale with charming humour and irony.
International premiere

Were Dengê Min (Come to My Voice) – Turkey / Germany / France
By Hüseyin Karabey
Jiyan’s Kurdish father will only be let out of prison if he turns in a weapon. The search for the gun that he has never possessed takes Jiyan and his grandmother on an odyssey. Hüseyin Karabey has blend different narrative threads into a cinematic gem.
World premiere

The programme also includes:

Ciencias Naturales (Natural Sciences), Argentina / France, by Matías Lucchesi – WP
Loulou, l’incroyable secret (Wolfy, the Incredible Secret), France, by Grégoire Solotareff and Éric Omond – IP
MGP Missionen (The Contest), Denmark, by Martin Miehe-Renard – IP
Tante Hilda! (Aunt Hilda!), France / Luxembourg, by Jacques-Rémy Girerd and Benoît Chieux – IP

Short films – Generation 14plus

Cowboys Janken Ook (Even Cowboys Get to Cry), Netherlands, by Mees Peijnenburg – IP
Emo (the musical), Australia, by Neil Triffett – WP
Exchange & Mart, Great Britain, by Martin Clark and Cara Connolly – EP
Luna Vieja (Old Moon), Puerto Rico, by Raisa Bonnet – EP
Mike, Great Britain, by Petros Silvestros – WP
Proavlio (Schoolyard), Greece, by Rinio Dragasaki – IP
rhizome, Japan, by Masahiro Ohsuka – EP
Seagulls, Great Britain, by Martin Smith – WP
Snowblind, Australia, by Sean Kruck, Berlinale Generation 14plus 2009: Summer Breaks – IP
SOLITON, Japan, by Isamu Hirabayashi, Berlinale Generation 14plus 2013: Ninja & Soldier –WP
Søn (Son), Denmark, by Kristoffer Kiørboe – WP
Tits, Great Britain, by Alex Winckler, Berlinale Generation Kplus 2011: Thomas – IP
iBhokhwe (The Goat), South Africa, by John Trengove, Berlinale Talent 2014 – WP 
Vetrarmorgun (Winter Morning) Faroe Islands, by Sakaris Stórá, Berlinale Talent 2010) – IP

Short films – Generation Kplus

Ağrı ve Dağ (Ağri and the Mountain), Turkey, by Hasan Serin – EP
el (away), Hungary, by Roland Ferge – WP
Eleven, New Zealand, by Abigail Greenwood – WP
Eu não digo adeus, digo até logo (I Don’t Say Goodbye, I Say See You Soon), Brazil, by Giuliana Monteiro – WP
Hijos de la tierra (Earth’s Children), Peru, by Diego Sarmiento, Berlinale Talent 2014 – WP
Kalle Kran, Sweden, by Johan Hagelbäck, Berlinale Generation Kplus 2013: Köttbullarna och mobbångrarna – WP
Min vän lage (My Friend Lage), Sweden / Denmark, by Eva Lindström, Berlinale Kinderfilmfest 1995: Lutning – EP
Moy lichniy los’ (My Own Personal Moose), Russian Federation, by Leonid Shmelkov – WP
Nain Géant (Dwarf Giant), Switzerland / France, by Fabienne Giezendanner – WP
Out of this World, Sweden, by Viktor Nordenskiöld – WP
Pigs, USA / Singapore / Malaysia, by Laura Mohai – IP
Rangzen (Freedom), India, by Gaurav Saxena – WP
Sārtulis (Little Ruddy) Latvia, by Dace Rīdūze, Berlinale Generation Kplus 2011: ZĪĻUKS – WP
Sepatu Baru (On Stopping the Rain), Indonesia, by Aditya Ahmad – IP
Sprout, Republic of Korea, by Ga-eun Yoon – IP
The Dam Keeper, USA, by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi – WP 
Vāsa (Vasa), Latvia, by Jānis Cimmermanis, Berlinale Generation Kplus 2012: Corrida – WP