Berlin International Film Festival

The 2016 Berlin Film Festival revealed the first wave of titles that will screen in the Panorama section. By mid January some 32 fiction films and 18 documentaries will have been selected for the Panorama 2016. Films include Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan (pictured above) starring Julianne Moore, and Ethan Hawke. In Maggie’s Plan, everything revolves around possible relationships, and the compulsions and constraints of pregnancy, as well as a threesome – or maybe not. The fresh ideas the actors bring to their characters make for great fun. In Nakom by Kelly Daniela Norris and TW Pittman, first fiction film from Ghana at the Berlinale, life is just starting for a young medical student, far away from his village in Ghana’s capital, Accra. But suddenly his father dies and, as the oldest son, he is ordered home. There he has his hands full, trying to deal with the wishes of his relatives and getting the farm back on track. A portrait of customs and traditions in rural Ghana, but also of a departure from the limitations that every village community in the world imposes on its children. Dokumente films make up about a third of the Panorama program. So far the festival has selected two: Laura Israel’s Don’t Blink – Robert Frank is an exceptionally lively and organic portrait of this photographer and filmmaker as well as a kaleidoscope of Jewish life in New York. When navigating his later years, Frank is at times grumpy and dissatisfied, at others affable and ironic. William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Ed Lachman, with music by Lou Reed, Patti Smith, the band Bauhaus – Frank’s life and work reveals a cornucopia of inspiration. From Romania comes Hotel Dallas by Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang: the film investigates the formative influence of a TV series on a society in upheaval. With underlying humour, fun and fantasy, Livia Ungur takes us and Patrick Duffy, the star of TV series Dallas, on a tour through her Romania – a country that still has not stopped dreaming of better days. Additionally, the only official LGBTIQ (in short, queer) film prize at an A-festival in the world is celebrating its 30th anniversary: the Teddy Award. This year’s anniversary program will present a total of 16 films. The Panorama will be presenting a special screening, the world premiere of the restoration of Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others, Germany 1919). This film by Richard Oswald was the first gay film in cinematic history. Its restoration has been carried out by the Outfest Legacy Project / UCLA Film & Television Archive in Los Angeles and underscores the need to archive films on 35mm, at present the only reliable storage medium. Panorama 2016 Já, Olga Hepnarová (I, Olga Hepnarová) – Czech Republic / Poland / Slowak Republic / France By Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda With Michalina Olszanska, Marta Mazurek, Ondrej Malý World premiere Junction 48 – Israel / Germany / USA By Udi Aloni With Tamer Nafar, Samar Qupty, Salwa Nakkara, Sameh Zakout, Ayed Fadel World premiere Les Premiers, les Derniers (The First, the Last) – France / Belgium By Bouli Lanners With Albert Dupontel, Bouli Lanners, Suzanne Clément, Michael Lonsdale, David Murgia International premiere Maggie’s Plan – USA By Rebecca Miller With Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph European premiere Nakom – Ghana / USA By Kelly Daniela Norris, TW Pittman With Jacob Ayanaba, Grace Ayariga, Abdul Aziz, Justina Kulidu, Shetu Musah, Esther Issaka, Thomas Kulidu, James Azudago, Felicia Awinbe, Sumaila Ndaago World premiere Remainder – United Kingdom / Germany By Omer Fast With Tom Sturridge, Cush Jumbo, Ed Speleers, Arsher Ali, Shaun Prendergast International premiere S one strane (On the Other Side) – Croatia / Serbia By Zrinko Ogresta With Ksenija Marinković, Lazar Ristovski World premiere Starve Your Dog – Morocco By Hicham Lasri With Jirari Ben Aissa, Latifa Ahrrare, Fehd Benchemsi European premiere Sufat Chol (Sand Storm) – Israel By Elite Zexer With Lamis Ammar, Ruba Blal-Asfour, Haitham Omari, Khadija Alakel, Jalal Masarwa European premiere – debut feature film Théo et Hugo dans le même bateau (Paris 05:59) – France By Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau With Geoffrey Couët, François Nambot World premiere The Ones Below – United Kingdom By David Farr With Clémence Poésy, David Morrissey, Stephen Campbell Moore, Laura Birn European premiere – debut feature film War on Everyone – United Kingdom By John Michael McDonagh With Michael Peña, Alexander Skarsgård, Theo James World premiere Panorama Dokumente Don’t Blink – Robert Frank – USA / France By Laura Israel International premiere Hotel Dallas – Romania / USA By Livia Ungur, Sherng-Lee Huang With Patrick Duffy World premiere – debut feature film The complete Teddy30 program with short synopses of the films 1 Berlin Harlem – Germany (Federal Republic), 1974 By Lothar Lambert, Wolfram Zobus Legendary film from super-indy filmmaker Lambert, one time most-featured Berlinale director, about the forms of racism in Berlin’s vibrant lifestyle at the time of the film’s making. Brimming with cameos galore: alongside leading actor Conrad Jennings the likes of Ortrud Beginnen, Tally Brown, Ingrid Caven, Peter Chatel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Günter Kaufmann, Dietmar Kracht, Evelyn Künneke, Lothar Lambert, Y Sa Lo, Bernd Lubowski, Brigitte Mira, Vera Müller can all be seen. Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others) – Germany, 1919 By Richard Oswald A significant world premiere: realised by the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project/UCLA Film & Television Archive, the newly-restored version of this cultural document of immeasurable value is screened for the first time – in a 35mm print, still the only reliable archive medium. Before Stonewall – USA, 1984 By Greta Schiller, Robert Rosenberg Info-Schau (former title of Panorama) 1985 The legendary film from Greta Schiller reveals a lot which is missing from Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall – but nevertheless agrees with him in quite a few details. The world “before Stonewall”, the beginning of the post-war gay rights movement: the German portrait of this dark Adenauer era in which homosexuals were transferred directly from concentration camps to West German correctional facilities and have not been rehabilitated is yet to come. Greta Schiller later gained renown with Paris Was A Woman which she screened together with her partner and screenwriter Andrea Weiß in the 1996 Panorama. Die Betörung der Blauen Matrosen (The Enchantment of the Blue Sailors) – Germany (Federal Republic), 1975 By Ulrike Ottinger Ulrike Ottinger won the Special Teddy Award in 2014 for her incomparable lifetime achievement, of which this enchanting queer film is an early example even before her groundbreaking films Madame X and Bildnis einer Trinkerin (Ticket of No Return). Die Wiese der Sachen (The Meadow of Things) – Germany (Federal Republic), 1974-1987 By Heinz Emigholz Panorama / Teddy Award winner 1988 At a time when New German Cinema still appeared to be elusive, this artist and architect amongst West German filmmakers inspired with strikingly visual collages, associative streams and intellectual juxtapositions. An important work from an important German filmmaker. Gendernauts – Eine Reise durch die Geschlechter (Gendernauts – A Journey Through Shifting Identities) – Germany, 1999 By Monika Treut Panorama / Teddy Award winner 1999 One of the early researchers into the walled-in, gender-dualistic world of female and male, Monika Treut is at once a pioneer and veteran of Queer Cinema – an icon of the emancipation movement. She has screened numerous works in Panorama. I Shot Andy Warhol – USA, 1996 By Mary Harron The attempted assassination of Andy Warhol from the perspective of Factory member, artist, writer and publisher of the S.C.U.M. Manifesto Valerie Solanas. Mary Harron’s debut film was produced by Christine Vachon who, with her Killer Films production company, has produced many works screened at the Berlinale and Teddy Award winners including all of Todd Haynes’ films. Je, tu, il, elle (I, You, He, She) – France / Belgium, 1974 By Chantal Akerman In her boundary-breaking feature debut Chantal Akermann herself plays a young woman who seeks to address her experience of isolation through the study of other individuals. In tribute to Chantal Akerman, Panorama is screening two of her films: alongside Je, tu, il, elle, her Panorama film from 1983, Toute une nuit (A Whole Night). Looking for Langston – United Kingdom, 1989 By Isaac Julien Panorama / Teddy Award winner 1989 Now a star of the video art world, Isaac Julien has always first and foremost been a poetical activist, aesthete and cultural historian in the service of emancipation. This montage of archive material, dramatised scenes and literary texts creates an image of black gay identity exemplified by the life and work of Langston Hughes during the “Harlem Renaissance” in 1930s and 1940s New York City. Machboim (Hide and Seek) – Israel, 1979 By Dan Wolman Info-Schau (former title of Panorama) 1980 Today it is exactly the same as 36 years ago: love between Arabs and Jews is punished, hate and murder are accepted as normality. Dan Wolman casts a brave early look at this never-to-be-accepted situation. Marble Ass – Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 1995 By Želimir Žilnik Panorama / Teddy Award winner 1995 Žilnik counters the homophobia and transphobia of Balkan societies which came to light years after the fall of the Berlin Wall with an early and anarchistic stand in what is still, to this day, one of the most extraordinary films to emerge from the entire region Nitrate Kisses – USA, 1992 By Barbara Hammer Forum 1993 A never seen in this way before, sensitively creative conquest of the female sexual realm, radically beyond the prescriptions of mainstream culture. Barbara Hammer has screened many of her works at the Berlinale. The Watermelon Woman – USA, 1996 By Cheryl Dunye Panorama / Teddy Award winner 1996 Racist tendencies might appear to have been expunged from emancipation and gender discourse – but this is far from being the case. The racism inherent in mainstream culture is not necessarily recognised as such by alternative thinkers. Dunye takes a stance with a reflection on a representative figure of this complex issue. Tongues Untied – USA, 1989 By Marlon Riggs Panorama / Teddy Award winner 1990 An early work of queer black emancipation from the then beacon of hope in the Afro-American gay rights movement – another artist and intellectual who died far too young from AIDS. Toute une nuit (A Whole Night) – France / Belgium, 1982 By Chantal Akerman Info-Schau (former title of Panorama) 1983 The director at the forefront of the post-war gender debate was already present in only the third year of the Info-Schau with this film. Virtuoso atmospheres between people and things, between spirit and world and time and space distinguish the work of this passionate artist who took her own life in October 2015. Panorama is screening two films in tribute to Chantal Akerman: alongside Toute une nuit, her debut from 1974, the radical Je, tu, il, elle (I, You, He, She). Tras el cristal (In a Glass Cage) – Spain, 1987 By Agustí Vilaronga A scandalous film at the time of making: an old Nazi and his young carer in Spain. A truly dark work about dark subject matters, the concealment and unrepentant nature of the post-fascist Spanish world when it had not yet begun to grapple analytically and politically with those grim times. In 2000 Vilaronga won the Manfred Salzgeber Prize with El Mar.

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