Berlin International Film Festival

The Berlinale is a unique place of artistic exploration and entertainment. It is one of the largest public film festivals in the world, attracting tens of thousands of visitors from around the globe each year. For the film industry and the media, the eleven days in February are also one of the most important events in the annual calendar and an indispensable trading forum.

The Berlin International Film Festival enjoys an eventful history. The festival was created for the Berlin public in 1951, at the beginning of the Cold War, as a “showcase of the free world”. Shaped by the turbulent post-war period and the unique situation of a divided city, the Berlinale has developed into a place of intercultural exchange and a platform for the critical cinematic exploration of social issues. To this day it is considered the most political of all the major film festivals.

Berlin International Film Festival started in 1951 and takes place in Berlin, Germany, Europe

Official Website

Meryl Streep will be Jury President of 66th Berlin International Film Festival

Three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep will be the Jury President of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival taking place February 11 to 21, 2016. ”Meryl Streep is one of the most creative and multifaceted film artists. To mark our enthusiasm for her extraordinary talent we awarded her the Honorary Golden Bear in 2012 for her lifetime achievement. I am very happy that she is returning to Berlin and with her artistic experience will take on the chairmanship of the International Jury”, says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick. Meryl Streep has appeared in over 40 films and is considered one of the world’s most talented and versatile actresses. She has been a guest at the Berlin International Film Festival on a number of occasions: in 1999, she was awarded the Berlinale Camera, and in 2003, together with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman she shared the Silver Bear award for their performances in The Hours. In 2006, she could again be seen in the Berlinale Competition in Robert Altman’s ensemble comedy A Prairie Home Companion. In 2012, the Berlinale dedicated a homage to Meryl Streep and awarded her the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement. “It is a thrill to return to the festival under any circumstances, but it is with great relish and anticipation I look forward to jury duty. The responsibility is somewhat daunting, as I have never been President of anything before, and I hope I can come up to the precedent set by the distinguished juries of preceding years. Grateful for the honor”, says Meryl Streep with regard to her jury presidency.
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Cinedigm to Release LIFE Starring Robert Pattinson in Fall 2015 | VIDEO

Following its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Cinedigm has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to Anton Corbijn’s LIFE, starring Dane DeHaan (Life After Beth; Kill Your Darlings; Place Beyond The Pines), Robert Pattinson (Twilight, Cosmopolis, Maps To The Stars), and Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Sexy Beast, Schindler’s List ). LIFE will open with a theatrical, digital and television VOD release beginning in Fall 2015. Corbijn’s follow-up to A Most Wanted Man, LIFE captures the nuances and complexities of the relationship between photographer and subject in a way rarely seen or understood by someone outside the business. In a nod to Corbijn’s own past experience, the film is told from the perspective of the Life photographer Dennis Stock (played by Pattinson) who meets and profiles Dean (DeHaan) for the magazine, turning out some of Dean’s most iconic photographs. “Life gorgeously chronicles the back story behind the 1955 photo spread that brought moody young heartthrob James Dean to the attention of the American public seven months before his death,” said Yolanda Macias, Cinedigm’s Executive Vice President of Acquisitions. “Beautiful to look at, powerful to experience, Life, using an Eisenhower-era America as prism, brilliantly presages America’s coming celebrity culture.” The film was produced by Iain Canning’s See-Saw Films (The King’s Speech, Slow West), and is the second project in an ongoing collaboration between Corbijn and Canning, following their work together on Control. The script was written by Luke Davies (Candy, Lion). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-0Zym0vFWw
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Vice and FilmBuff To Release Berlin Film Fest Hit “PRINCE”

FilmBuff in partnership with VICE Media will release in the U.S., PRINCE (PRINS), the feature debut from acclaimed Dutch music video director Sam de Jong. PRINCE first debuted at the 2015 Berlinale, where it received an honorary mention for the coveted Crystal Bear for Best First Feature. Produced by 100% Halal, PRINCE will be available in North America in theaters and all major VOD platforms starting August 14th, 2015.

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Iranian Film TAXI Wins Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival

Taxi by Iranian director Jafar Panahi

Taxi by Iranian director Jafar Panahi was awarded Golden Bear for Best Film, at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival.

A yellow cab is driving through the vibrant and colourful streets of Tehran. Very diverse passengers enter the taxi, each candidly expressing their views while being interviewed by the driver who is no one else but the director Jafar Panahi himself. His camera placed on the dashboard of his mobile film studio captures the spirit of Iranian society through this comedic and dramatic drive…

Panahi who is reportedly banned from filmmaking in Iran and not allowed to travel, said in an earlier statement, “I’m a filmmaker. I can’t do anything else but make films. Cinema is my expression and the meaning of my life. Nothing can prevent me from making films. Because when I’m pushed into the furthest corners I connect with my inner self. And in such private spaces, despite all limitations, the necessity to create becomes even more of an urge. Cinema as an Art becomes my main preoccupation. That is the reason why I have to continue making films under any circumstances to pay my respects and feel alive.”

PRIZES OF THE INTERNATIONAL JURY

GOLDEN BEAR FOR BEST FILM (awarded to the film’s producer)
Taxi Taxi by Jafar Panahi

SILVER BEAR GRAND JURY PRIZE
El Club The Club by Pablo Larraín

SILVER BEAR ALFRED BAUER PRIZE for a feature film that opens new perspectives
Ixcanul Ixcanul Volcano by Jayro Bustamante

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Radu Jude for Aferim! (Aferim!)

ex aequo Małgorzata Szumowska for Body (Body)

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST ACTRESS
Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years (45 Years) by Andrew Haigh

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST ACTOR
Tom Courtenay in 45 Years (45 Years) by Andrew Haigh

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST SCRIPT
Patricio Guzmán for El botón de nácar (The Pearl Button) by Patricio Guzmán

SILVER BEAR FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION in the categories camera, editing, music score, costume or set design

Sturla Brandth Grøvlen for the camera in Victoria (Victoria) by Sebastian Schipper

ex aequo Evgeniy Privin and Sergey Mikhalchuk for the camera in Pod electricheskimi oblakami (Under Electric Clouds) by Alexey German Jr.

BEST FIRST FEATURE AWARD

BEST FIRST FEATURE AWARD
600 Millas 600 Miles by Gabriel Ripstein

PRIZES OF THE INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM JURY

GOLDEN BEAR FOR BEST SHORT FILM
HOSANNA HOSANNA by Na Young-kil

BERLIN SHORT FILM NOMINEE FOR THE EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS
Dissonance Dissonance by Till Nowak

AUDI SHORT FILM AWARD
PLANET Σ PLANET Σ by Momoko Seto

PRIZES OF THE JURIES GENERATION

Children’s Jury Generation Kplus

CRYSTAL BEAR for the Best Film
Min lilla syster My Skinny Sister by Sanna Lenken

SPECIAL MENTION
Dhanak Rainbow by Nagesh Kukunoor

CRYSTAL BEAR for the Best Short Film
Hadiatt Abi Gift of My Father by Salam Salman

SPECIAL MENTION
The Tie The Tie by An Vrombaut

International Jury Generation Kplus

THE GRAND PRIX OF THE GENERATION KPLUS INTERNATIONAL JURY for the best feature-length film,
Dhanak Rainbow by Nagesh Kukunoor

SPECIAL MENTION
Min lilla syster My Skinny Sister by Sanna Lenken

THE SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE GENERATION KPLUS INTERNATIONAL JURY for the best short film
Giovanni en het waterballet Giovanni and the Water Ballet by Astrid Bussink

SPECIAL MENTION
Agnes Agnes by Anja Lind

Youth Jury Generation 14plus

CRYSTAL BEAR for the Best Film
Flocken Flocking by Beata Gårdeler

SPECIAL MENTION
Prins Prince by Sam de Jong

CRYSTAL BEAR for the Best Short Film
A Confession A Confession by Petros Silvestros

SPECIAL MENTION
Nelly Nelly by Chris Raiber

International Jury Generation 14plus

THE GRAND PRIX OF THE GENERATION 14PLUS INTERNATIONAL JURY for the best feature-length film
The Diary of a Teenage Girl The Diary of a Teenage Girl by Marielle Heller

SPECIAL MENTION
Nena Nena by Saskia Diesing

THE SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE GENERATION 14PLUS INTERNATIONAL JURY for the best short film
Coach Coach by Ben Adler

SPECIAL MENTION
Tuolla puolen Reunion by Iddo Soskolne and Janne Reinikainen

PRIZES OF INDEPENDENT JURIES

PRIZES OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY

Competition
El botón de nácar (The Pearl Button) by Patricio Guzmán

Panorama
Ned Rifle (Ned Rifle) by Hal Hartley

Forum
Histoire de Judas (Story of Judas) by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche

PRIZES OF THE FIPRESCI JURY

Competition
Taxi (Taxi) by Jafar Panahi

Panorama
Paridan az Ertefa Kam (A Minor Leap Down) by Hamed Rajabi

Forum
Il gesto delle mani (Hand Gestures) by Francesco Clerici

PRIZE OF THE GUILD OF GERMAN ART HOUSE CINEMAS
Victoria (Victoria) by Sebastian Schipper

CICAE ART CINEMA AWARD

Panorama
Que Horas Ela Volta? (The Second Mother) by Anna Muylaert

Forum
Zurich (Zurich) by Sacha Polak

LABEL EUROPA CINEMAS
Mot Naturen (Out of Nature) by Ole Giæver and Marte Vold

TEDDY AWARD

Best Feature Film
Nasty Baby (Nasty Baby) by Sebastián Silva

Best Documentary/Essay Film
El hombre nuevo (The New Man) by Aldo Garay

Best Short Film
San Cristóbal (San Cristóbal) by Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo

Teddy Jury Award
Stories of Our Lives (Stories of Our Lives) by Jim Chuchu

MADE IN GERMANY – PERSPEKTIVE FELLOWSHIP
Oskar Sulowski for Rosebuds

FGYO-AWARD DIALOGUE EN PERSPECTIVE
Ein idealer Ort (A Perfect Place) by Anatol Schuster

Lobende Erwähnung
Im Sommer wohnt er unten (Summers Downstairs) by Tom Sommerlatte C

ALIGARI FILM PRIZE
Balikbayan #1 Memories of Overdevelopment Redux III (Balikbayan #1 Memories of Overdevelopment Redux III) by Kidlat Tahimik

PEACE FILM PRIZE
The Look of Silence (The Look of Silence) by Joshua Oppenheimer

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FILM PRIZE
Tell Spring Not to Come This Year (Tell Spring Not to Come This Year) by Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy

HEINER CAROW PRIZE
B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin (B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin) by Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck and Heiko Lange

THINK:FILM AWARD
Oskar Dawicki in The Performer (Oskar Dawicki in The Performer) by Łukasz Ronduda and Maciej Sobieszczański

ex aequo
Untitled (Human Mask) (Untitled (Human Mask)) by Pierre Huyghe

Lobende Erwähnung
Thamaniat wa ushrun laylan wa bayt min al-sheir (Twenty-Eight Nights and A Poem) by Akram Zaatari

READERS’ JURIES AND AUDIENCE AWARD

Panorama Audience Award fiction film
Que Horas Ela Volta? (The Second Mother) by Anna Muylaert

Panorama Audience Award documentary film
Tell Spring Not to Come This Year (Tell Spring Not to Come This Year) by Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy

BERLINER MORGENPOST READERS’ JURY AWARD
Victoria (Victoria) by Sebastian Schipper

TAGESSPIEGEL READERS’ JURY AWARD
Flotel Europa (Flotel Europa) by Vladimir Tomic

ELSE – SIEGESSÄULE READERS’ JURY AWARD
Zui Sheng Meng Si (Thanatos, Drunk) by Chang Tso-Chi

PRIZES BERLINALE CO-PRODUCTION MARKET & BERLINALE TALENTS

ARTE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
Marcela Said (Chile) for Los Perros

EURIMAGES CO-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD
Emily Atef (Germany) for 3 Days in Quiberon

Special Mention
Syllas Tsoumerkas (Greece) for The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea

VFF TALENT HIGHLIGHT PITCH AWARD
Director Abner Benaim (Panama) and producer Gema Juarez Allen (Argentina) for Biencuidao

DOLBY® ATMOS POLICY TRAILER
Warren Santiago (Thailand/ Philippines)

BERLINALE TALENTS DOC STATION DEVELOPMENT GRANT
Marouan Omara (Egypt) for Dream Away
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Darren Aronofsky to Head 2015 Berlinale Competition Jury

Darren Aronofsky

Director, screenwriter and producer Darren Aronofsky will serve as Jury President, the International Jury who will decide who will receive the Golden Bear and Silver Bears of the 2015 Berlinale Competition.

The other members of the International Jury are Daniel Brühl, Bong Joon-ho, Martha De Laurentiis, Claudia Llosa, Audrey Tautou and Matthew Weiner.

Darren Aronofsky, Jury President, USA
Following his studies at Harvard University, Darren Aronofsky celebrated his feature film debut in 1998 with Pi, which won the award for Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival and Best Script at the Independent Spirit Awards. He presented his highly acclaimed cinematic adaptation Requiem for a Dream at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000, and the cult film The Fountain at the Venice Film Festival in 2006. Again in Venice, his film The Wrestler won the Golden Lion in 2008, and was hailed as the film of the year at the AFI Awards in Los Angeles. The film’s success also represented a sensational comeback of actor Mickey Rourke.

In 2011, Darren Aronofsky presented Black Swan, a psychological thriller taking place in the world of professional ballet. It was nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Director’s Guild of America Awards and the BAFTAs. His visually sweeping film Noah was released in 2014.

Daniel Brühl, Germany
Daniel Brühl is one of a handful of German movie stars who have also established a successful international career. Following his distinction with the German Film Award for Das weiße Rauschen,Vaya con Dios and Nichts bereuen in 2002, he celebrated his breakthrough in 2003 with Good Bye, Lenin!, which screened inCompetition at the Berlinale. For that role, Daniel Brühl received the European Film Award as well as another German Film Award. His international work has included roles in Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate and Michael Winterbottom’s The Face of an Angel. Following various productions in Germany, Spain, France and the US, he was recently nominated for numerous awards, including a Golden Globe Award, for his work in Ron Howard’s Rush. His most recent role was alongside Helen Mirren in Simon Curtis’s Woman in Gold.

Bong Joon-ho, South Korea
Born in 1969 in Seoul, South Korea, Bong Joon-ho studied sociology before graduating from the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA). He initially worked as a screenwriter and director’s assistant while also making many short films of his own. His feature film debut Barking Dogs Never Bite was released in cinemas in 2000. His film Memories of Murder was screened at the San Sebastián film festival, among others, and won numerous awards. In 2006, following its world premiere in the Quinzane des Réalisateurs in Cannes, The Host would go on to become the biggest box office hit ever in South Korea. Bong Joon-ho was invited to Cannes once again in 2009 forMother, this time in the section Un Certain Regard. His English language film debut Snowpiercer, featuring Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton and John Hurt, was a selection in the 2014 Berlinale Forum program.

Martha De Laurentiis, USA
Martha De Laurentiis and her husband Dino founded their production firm – today known as the De Laurentiis Company – in 1980. Since then it has been responsible for over 40 feature films and television series, including Stephen King’s directorial debut Maximum Overdrive, The Bedroom Window by Curtis Hanson, Michael Cimino’s Desperate Hours, Breakdown and U-571 by Jonathan Mostow and Brett Ratner’s Red Dragon. It produced Ridley Scott’s film adaptation of Hannibal, which screened out of competition at the Berlinale in 2001. De Laurentiis Company is also an executive producer of the Hannibal television series, which stars Mads Mikkelsen and has entered its third season in the US. At the 2014 festival, Martha De Laurentiis talked about the Hannibal series at Berlinale Talents.

Claudia Llosa, Peru
Peruvian native Claudia Llosa studied Communication Studies in Lima and later scriptwriting at the Escuela TAI in Madrid. She began her career in advertising before starting her own film production company. Her first feature film Madeinusa was released in 2006. Three years later, the WCF-funded film The Milk of Sorrow was a selection in the Berlinale Competition program and went on to win the Golden Bear and the FIPRESCI Award. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2012, her short film Loxoro was a selection in the Berlinale Shorts program and won the Teddy Award. Her English-language film debut Aloft, starring Jennifer Connelly, Mélanie Laurent and Cillian Murphy, screened in Competition in 2014 and Sundance Spotlight 2015.

Audrey Tautou, France
Audrey Tautou’s feature film debut – in the comedy Venus Beauty Institute – garnered her a César Award. Her international breakthrough came in 2001, when she starred in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie and was nominated for the European Film Award, as well as for another César and a BAFTA in 2002. Other films in her repertoire include Cédric Klapisch’s acclaimed L’Auberge Espagnole trilogy, Not on the Lips by Alain Resnais, Salvadori’s Priceless, Coco Before Chanel, and international productions such as The Da Vinci Code and Stephen Frears’ Dirty Pretty Things. Most recently, the French actress worked with Claude Miller (Thérèse Desqueyroux) and Michel Gondry (Mood Indigo).

Matthew Weiner, USA
Since 2007, Matthew Weiner has been the creator, executive producer and writer of the successful and critically acclaimed television series Mad Men, whose seventh and last season is currently running in the US. To date, he has received nine Emmys, two BAFTAS, three Golden Globes, numerous WGA awards and many other distinctions recognising his work on the series. As a director, he has been nominated twice by the DGA for his work behind the camera. Are You Here, starring Owen Wilson and Amy Poehler, marks his feature film debut as a writer, director and producer. Weiner’s other credits as a writer include the television series Becker, The Naked Truth, and The Sopranos – for which he was also an executive producer.
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18 Documentaries Complete Lineup for 2015 Berlinale Panorama

Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth)

Panorama Dokumente of the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth) by Jean-Gabriel Périot.

Using archive material, the film traces without bias or commentary the developments leading up to the “German Autumn” in late 1977. The gradual radicalisation of leaders of the Red Army Faction (RAF) is made palpable in excerpts from, e.g., Holger Mein’s film Freiheit für Teufel (Freedom for Teufel) and Ulrike Meinhof’s Bambule (Rampage). The film examines the expulsion of a large number of undergraduate students from the German Film and Television Academy (dffb) for their radicalism, as well as the independent student workers’ cinema, ROSTA Kino, and the directors’ revolt at the “EXPRMTL (Knokke Experimental Film Festival)” in Belgium.

Tell Spring Not to Come This Year by Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy addresses the fatal situation in Afghanistan now that all international troops have left the country. And Censored Voices by Mor Loushy traces the bitter taste of triumph. Young Israeli soldiers return home after the Six-Day War and immediately talk on tape about their experiences: the country is in a flush of victory. Now the director shows these same men listening to what they once said.
A statement by Katrin Seybold, who died in 2012, opens her final work: “The films I make need to be made. When people are dead, then they’re dead, and all we have left are Gestapo reports, the reports of the perpetrators.” Die Widerständigen „also machen wir das weiter …” (The Resistors “their spirit prevails …”) consists of interviews about the resistance movement against the Nazis. The film was finished by Seybold’s friend and colleague Ula Stöckl, whose legendary 1968 film, Neun Leben hat die Katze (The Cat Has Nine Lives), is screening in this year’s Berlinale Classics.

Music films and special artist portraits have a tradition in the Panorama. Nina Simone went from being a talented jazz and classical pianist to a highly political human rights activist. In the film What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus weaves together film documents, interviews and, of course, the music of this inimitable singer to create an atmospheric portrait. Brett Morgen also includes a great deal of music in Cobain: Montage of Heck, an intimate glimpse into the life and work of the founder of the grunge band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain.

Inuk Silis Høegh’s Sume – Mumisitsinerup Nipaa (Sumé – The Sound of a Revolution) shows how the rock musicians of this band from Greenland devoted themselves in the mid 1970s to opposing Danish colonisers and brought about the revival of Greenlandic, their native tongue. And, as already announced (Press Release from December 16, 2014), in around 1980 one of the most creative musical chapters in West Berlin took place, as documented in B-Movie: Lust and Sound in West-Berlin by Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck and Heiko Lange.

Two extraordinary artists, both filmmakers whose world careers began in Berlin, are Jia Zhang-ke and Walter Salles: the latter is presenting an affectionate portrait of his colleague Jia Zhang-ke, Um homem de Fenyang (Jia Zhang-ke, a Guy from Fenyang), which includes many excerpts from his films that make recent upheavals in Chinese society more tangible. Besides the previously announced portrait ofFassbinder – Lieben ohne zu fordern (Fassbinder – To Love without Demands) by Danish filmmaker Christian Braad Thomsen, the Panorama is presenting two rediscoveries: one about Yvonne Rainer, the incredibly inspirational but also, by nature, modest dancer, choreographer and filmmaker, whose filmMURDER and murder won the TEDDY Award in 1997 (Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer by Jack Walsh). The other is about Annemarie Schwarzenbach, whose modern European attitudes, writings on travelling the world, and stunning, highly androgynous look in the 1920s are still fascinating today not only to the queer and gender community (Je suis Annemarie Schwarzenbach / My Name is Annemarie Schwarzenbach by Véronique Aubouy).

Two more works have joined the line-up of films that focus on self-determination and sexuality: Danish director Jannik Splidsboel’s Misfits shows how there are several thousand churches in the Bible Belt of the USA but only one gay-lesbian youth centre. For many it is the only safe haven from a socialisation based on religious fundamentalism. Splidsboel presented How Are You about the artists Elmgreen&Dragset in the Panorama 2011. In Haftanlage 4614 (Prison System 4614), Jan Soldat, who showed his short film Zucht und Ordnung (Law and Order) in the Panorama 2012, explores the longings and desires revealed by “prison fetishists”: these inmates are voluntarily behind bars.

The following titles complete the list of Panorama films.

Panorama Dokumente

Censored Voices – Israel / Germany
By Mor Loushy
European premiere

Cobain: Montage of Heck – USA
By Brett Morgen
International premiere

Die Widerständigen „also machen wir das weiter …” (The Resistors “their spirit prevails …”) – Germany
By Ula Stöckl, Katrin Seybold
World premiere

Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer – USA
By Jack Walsh
World premiere

Haftanlage 4614 (Prison System 4614) – Germany
By Jan Soldat
World premiere

Je suis Annemarie Schwarzenbach (My Name is Annemarie Schwarzenbach) – France
By Véronique Aubouy
World premiere

Jia Zhang-ke, um homem de Fenyang (Jia Zhang-ke, a Guy from Fenyang) – Brazil
By Walter Salles
European Premiere

Misfits – Denmark / Sweden
By Jannik Splidsboel
World premiere

Sume – Mumisitsinerup Nipaa (Sumé – The Sound of a Revolution) – Greenland / Denmark / Norway
By Inuk Silis Høegh
European premiere

Tell Spring Not to Come This Year – Great Britain
By Saeed Taji Farouky, Michael McEvoy
World premiere

Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth) – France / Switzerland / Germany
By Jean-Gabriel Périot
World premiere

What Happened, Miss Simone? – USA
By Liz Garbus
International premiere

Previously announced Panorama Dokumente films:

B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin by Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck, Heiko Lange, Germany (WP)
Danielův Svět (Daniel’s World) by Veronika Lišková, Czech Republic (IP)
El hombre nuevo (The New Man) by Aldo Garay, Uruguay / Chile (WP)
Fassbinder – Lieben ohne zu fordern (Fassbinder – To Love without Demands) by Christian Braad Thomsen, Denmark (WP)
Iraqi Odyssey by Samir, Switzerland / Germany / Iraq / United Arab Emirates (EP)
The Yes Men Are Revolting by Laura Nix, Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, USA (EP)

(WP= World premiere, IP= International premiere, EP = European premiere)
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SELMA, LIFE, Among Gala Films in 2015 Berlinale Special

Life directed by Anton Corbijn

Berlinale Special of 2015 Berlin International Film Festival presents recent works by contemporary filmmakers, biopics of renowned personalities.

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Bill Condon MR. HOLMES Among Titles Added to 2015 Berlinale

Mr. Holmes

Eight films have been selected for the Competition Program of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Body
Poland
By Malgorzata Szumowska (Stranger, Elles, In the Name of)
With Janusz Gajos, Maja Ostaszewska, Justyna Suwala
World premiere

Cha và con và (Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories)
Vietnam / France / Germany / Netherlands
By Di Phan Dang (Bi, Don’t Be Afraid)
With Do Thi Hai Yen, Le Cong Hoang, Truong The Vinh
World premiere

Journal d’une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)
France / Belgium
By Benoit Jacquot (Farewell, My Queen; Three Hearts)
With Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Clotilde Mollet, Hervé Pierre, Vincent Lacoste
World premiere

Mr. Holmes
United Kingdom
By Bill Condon (The Fifth Estate)
With Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hattie Morahan
World premiere – Out of competition

Queen of the Desert
USA
By Werner Herzog (Fata Morgana, Fitzcarraldo, Cave of Forgotten Dreams)
With Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Damian Lewis , Robert Pattinson
World premiere

Taxi
Iran
By Jafar Panahi (Closed Curtain, Offside)
With Jafar Panahi
World premiere

Victoria
Germany
By Sebastian Schipper (Gigantic, A Friend of Mine)
With Laia Costa, Frederick Lau, Franz Rogowski, Burak Yigit, Max Mauff, André M. Hennicke
World premiere

Yi bu zhi yao (Gone with the Bullets)
People’s Republic of China / USA / Hong Kong, China
By Wen Jiang (Let the Bullets Fly)
With Wen Jiang, You Ge, Yun Zhou, Qi Shu, Huang Hung
International premiere
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27 Short Films on Lineup for 2015 Berlin Intl Film Festival

Take What You Can Carry

27 short films from will be competing at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, as well as the nomination for best short film at the European Film Awards and the first-ever EUR 20,000 Audi Short Film Award.

This year’s members of the International Short Film Jury are documentary filmmaker and curator Madhusree Dutta, Turkish artist Halil Altındere, and producer and festival director Wahyuni A. Hadi from Singapore. Screening in competition are the latest works of Nadav Lapid, Amit Dutta, Jennifer Reeder, Matt Porterfield, artist duos Daniel Schmidt & Alexander Carver, Mischa Leinkauf & Matthias Wermke in collaboration with Lutz Henke, Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovačič, among many others.

What images have the power to dispel the pleasure found by some in being a soldier? Israeli director Nadav Lapid asks himself this question and then discovers an image that is able to do exactly that in Lama? (Why?). In Japan, there’s a new term since Fukushima: “atomic divorce”. It is what the many divorces are called that have been filed all over Japan in the aftermath of the catastrophe. Christian Bau attempts to capture this phenomenon in Snapshot Mon Amour. David Muñoz visits a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon. The production of his film El Juego del Escondite (Hide & Seek) relates directly to the question of what enables a refugee to remain the subject of his or her own narrative. Then there is the quintessence of artist intervention in public space – the raising of white flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge last summer in New York City – which can be seen as either an affront or a chance: the documentary Symbolic Threats by Leinkauf, Wermke and Henke offers a number of interpretations.

Matt Porterfield’s Take What You Can Carry tells of a young woman who is a foreigner in Berlin – and in doing so portrays Generation Y, with performance group Gob Squad as its mouthpiece. Jennifer Reeder’s Blood Below the Skin gives a glimpse of the tender and tangled web of love and dependency between a mother and her daughter that goes beyond the traditional allocation of roles.

Berlinale Shorts 2015:

Architektura, Ulu Braun, Germany, 15’ (WP)
Bad at Dancing, Joanna Arnow, USA, 11’ (WP)
Blood Below the Skin, Jennifer Reeder, USA, 32’ (WP)
Chitrashala (House of Painting), Amit Dutta, India, 19’ (WP)
Däwit (Daewit), David Jansen, Germany, 15’ (WP)
Dissonance, Till Nowak, Germany, 17’ (WP)
Hosanna, Na Young-kil, South Korea, 25’ (DP)
La Isla está Encantada con Ustedes (The Island is Enchanted with You), Alexander Carver & Daniel Schmidt, USA / Switzerland / Australia, 28’ (IP)
El Juego del Escondite (Hide & Seek), David Muñoz, Spain, 23’ (WP)
Kamakshi, Satindar Singh Bedi, India, 25’ (WP)
Lama? (Why?), Nadav Lapid, Israel, 5’ (IP)
Lembusura, Wregas Bhanuteja, Indonesia, 10’ (IP)
Lo Sum Choe Sum (3 Year 3 Month Retreat), Dechen Roder, Bhutan, 20’ (WP)
maku (veil), Yoriko Mizushiri, Japan, 6’ (WP)
The Mad Half Hour, Leonardo Brzezicki, Argentina / Denmark, 22’ (WP)
Mar de Fogo (Sea of Fire), Joel Pizzini, Brazil, 8’ (WP)
Of Stains, Scrap & Tires, Sebastian Brameshuber, Austria / France, 19’ (IP)
Pebbles at Your Door, Vibeke Bryld, Denmark, 18’ (WP)
Planet Ʃ, Momoko Seto, France, 12’ (WP)
San Cristóbal, Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo, Chile, 29’ (WP)
Shadowland, John Skoog, Sweden, 15’ (IP)
Snapshot Mon Amour, Christian Bau, Germany, 6’ (WP)
Superior, Erin Vassilopoulos, USA, 16’ (IP)
Symbolic Threats, Mischa Leinkauf, Matthias Wermke & Lutz Henke, Germany, 16’ (WP)
Take What You Can Carry, Matt Porterfield, USA / Germany, 30’ (WP)
The, Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovačič, Austria, 13’ (WP)
YúYú, Marc Johnson, France / Spain / USA, 15’ (WP)
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Isabel Coixet’s NOBODY WANTS THE NIGHT to Open 2015 Berlinale

The 65th Berlin International Film Festival will open on February 5 with the world premiere of Nobody Wants the Night, by Spanish director Isabel Coixet.

The Spanish-French-Bulgarian co-production takes place in 1908, in the Arctic seclusion of Greenland. The adventure film focuses on courageous women and ambitious men who put anything at stake for love and glory.

The ensemble cast includes international stars such as French actress and Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche (Camille Claudel 1915, The English Patient), Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi (Babel,The Brothers Bloom) and Irish film artist Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects, Miller’s Crossing). Filming took place in Bulgaria, Norway and Spain.

“I’m very pleased that Nobody Wants the Night will open the 2015 Berlinale. Isabel Coixet has created an impressive and perceptive portrait of two women in extreme circumstances,” says Dieter Kosslick, director of the Berlinale. “It will also be the first film to be screened in Dolby Atmos® in our Berlinale Palast.”

Six films by Isabel Coixet have already been presented in various sections of past Berlinale programmes, including My Life Without Me (2003) and Elegy (2008) in Competition. In 2009 Isabel Coixet was member of the festival’s International Jury.
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Berlin Film Fest Reveals Films in 2015 Panorama Program

Eleven fictional and eight documentary films have been selected to screen in the 36th Panorama program of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival taking place from February 5 to 15, 2015.

East Asia will again make a strong showing in 2015. Already confirmed are significant works by renowned directors from Taiwan and South Korea. With Paradise in Service, director Doze Niu Chen-Zer from Taiwan presents a difficult chapter of East Asian history that has hardly ever been dealt with before: the establishment of brothels to keep up the morale of armed forces in the battle “against Mao”. And with JK Youn’s epic Ode to My Father, South Korea, half of a still divided country, investigates the repercussions of the Korean War and their impact on today.

The USA’s presence will also be felt: After Henry Fool and Fay Grim (Panorama 2007), cult filmmaker Hal Hartley, an iconic figure from the golden days of 1980s US-independent film, has concluded his trilogy with a masterpiece: Ned Rifle. And Justin Kelly provides an unusual directorial debut with I Am Michael, which was co-produced by Gus Van Sant. In it James Franco portrays a gay activist during the so emancipating 1980s, who then tries to turn straight in the 1990s. From the same decade, but set in the 1980s is an example of a filmmaker’s extraordinary perseverance, even though his work was edited beyond recognition by its investors: seventeen years after the premiere of the film 54 about the legendary New York nightclub, Studio 54, director Mark Christopher is presenting his original cut 54 – The Director’s Cut to the public.

Raoul Peck will present his latest work in the Panorama: the Haitian-French-Norwegian co-production Murder in Pacot (screenplay: Pascal Bonitzer). A character piece set outdoors against the catastrophe of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince looks with bitter rage at class distinctions in Haitian society.

One film from Latin America has already been confirmed, a co-production from Uruguay and Chile: Aldo Garay’s The New Man. Here, too, recent history is explored: in the heat of the battle that Tupamaros and Sandinistas are fighting against the military dictatorships in their respective countries, Roberto, a young boy from Nicaragua, suddenly finds himself with foster parents in Uruguay. When he then decides to change his gender, he is also confronted with the limits of tolerance in leftist society.

Child abuse is the subject in several works, including the aforementioned The New Man, and films from Austria (The Last Summer of the Rich by Peter Kern), Switzerland (Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents by Stina Werenfels), Canada (Chorus by Francois Delisle) and the Czech Republic (Daniel’s World by Veronika Liskova). Evidently the time is ripe to broach this difficult topic again and in so doing take even greater risks.

The Norwegian fictional film Out of Nature by Ole Giæver and Marte Vold is a zeitgeisty parable about a man, and his search for identity and joy in life. The young father needs a break from parental bliss: he retreats to the mountains to rethink what he wants from life.

In the Swedish contribution Dyke Hard by Bitte Anderson, all the stops have been pulled on what makes indie cinema so entertaining. A zany, quasi musical of post-punk-lesbo-rock-‘n’-roll calibre: this is underground fun at its purest.

Five other films (besides The New Man, The Yes Men and Daniel’s World) have already been confirmed for Panorama Dokumente:

B-Movie – Lust & Sound in West-Berlin by Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck and Heiko Lange also embraces this rediscovered pleasure in the 1980s: a cornucopia of unbridled creativity spurts from this period in Berlin, which is revealed here to have been a highpoint. Alongside almost forgotten gems are tracks by Gudrun Gut, Blixa Bargeld and Nick Cave, among others.

Scandal at the Zoo Palast: R.W. Fassbinder’s conquest of the Berlinale began with Love Is Colder than Death in the 1969 Competition. In Fassbinder – To Love without Demands, Danish filmmaker Christian Braad Thomsen opens his archive and generously gives us a contemplative afternoon in a hotel room in Cannes with this unendingly inspiring filmmaker.

Kenya is among those African countries where, under the influence of evangelical organisations from the United States, hatred has been ignited against homosexuals. In Stories of Our Lives, Jim Chuchu lets a whole range of brave people talk. Banned in its country of origin, the film also presents pre-Christian rites that respect self-determination much more than society today.

In his 162-minute 3D documentary Iraqi Odyssey, Iraqi-Swiss filmmaker Samir masterly depicts the latest, highly complex history of Iraq as revealed by events in a family.

Last not least, news of a celebration! On February 13, 2014, the Teddy Awards will be presented for the second time at the Komische Oper Berlin. The Special Teddy 2015 will go to Udo Kier. Almost no other actor has crossed, fused, redrawn and extended the many boundaries of cinematic art with such ease.

54: The Director’s Cut
USA
By Mark Christopher
With Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Mike Myers, Sela Ward, Mark Ruffalo
World premiere

Chorus
Canada
By François Delisle
With Sébastien Ricard, Fanny Mallette, Pierre Curzi, Geneviève Bujold
European premiere

Der letzte Sommer der Reichen (The Last Summer of the Rich)
Austria
By Peter Kern
With Amira Casar, Nicole Gerdon, Winfried Glatzeder
World premiere

Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern (Dora or The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents)
Switzerland / Germany
By Stina Werenfels
With Victoria Schulz, Jenny Schily, Lars Eidinger, Urs Jucker
International premiere

Dyke Hard
Sweden
By Bitte Andersson
With Alle Eriksson, Peggy Sands, M. Wågensjö, Iki Gonzales Magnusson, Lina Kurttila
International premiere

Gukje Shijang (Ode to My Father)
Republic of Korea
By JK Youn
with Hwang Jung-min, Kim Yunjin
International premiere

I Am Michael
USA
By Justin Kelly
With James Franco, Zachary Quinto, Emma Roberts
International premiere

Jun Zhong Le Yuan (Paradise in Service)
Taiwan
By Doze Niu Chen-Zer
With Ethan Juan, Wan Qian, Chen Jianbin, Chen Yi-Han
European premiere

Meurtre à Pacot (Murder in Pacot)
France / Haiti / Norway
By Raoul Peck
With Alex Descas, Ayo, Thibault Vinçon, Lovely Kermonde Fifi, Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin
European premiere

Mot Naturen (Out of Nature)
Norway
By Ole Giæver, Marte Vold
With Ole Giæver, Marte Magnusdotter Solem, Rebekka Nystadbakk, Ellen Birgitte Winther, Sievert Giaever Solem
European premiere

Ned Rifle (Ned Rifle)
USA
By Hal Hartley
With Liam Aiken, Martin Donovan, Aubrey Plaza, Parker Posey, Thomas Jay Ryan
European premiere

Panorama Dokumente

B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin
Germany
By Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck, Heiko Lange
With Mark Reeder, Marius Weber
World premiere

Danieluv svet (Daniel’s World)
Czeck Republic
By Veronika Liskova
International premiere

El hombre nuevo (The New Man)
Uruguay / Chile
By Aldo Garay
World premiere

Fassbinder – lieben ohne zu fordern (Fassbinder – To Love without Demands)
Denmark
By Christian Braad Thomsen
With Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Irm Hermann, Harry Baer, Lilo Pempeit
World premiere

Iraqi Odyssey
Switzerland
By Samir
European premiere

Stories of Our Lives
Kenya
By Jim Chuchu
With Kelly Gichohi, Paul Ogola, Tim Mutungi, Mugambi Nthinga, Rose Njenga
European premiere

The Yes Men Are Revolting
USA
By Laura Nix, Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno
European premiere
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New Films by Terrence Malick, Andreas Dresen Among First Films Announced for 65th Berlin International Film Festival Competition

Cinderella

The first seven films for the 65th Berlin International Film Festival Competition program have been selected, and include former Berlinale bear winners Andreas Dresen (Nightshapes 1999,Grill Point 2002) and Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line 1999) with their newest films. Frequent Berlinale Forum guest Peter Greenaway will participate in this year’s Competition. The directorial debut by Jayro Bustamante, simultaneously Guatemala’s debut in Competition, a feature film by former Generation participant Andrew Haigh, and the newest work by Russian director Alexey German are also among the first selected Competition films. The live action film adaptation Cinderella by Kenneth Branagh will screen out of competition.

Films confirmed in Competition to date (in alphabetical order):

45 Years
United Kingdom
By Andrew Haigh (Weekend)
With Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay
World premiere

Als wir träumten (As We Were Dreaming)
Germany / France
By Andreas Dresen (Grill Point, Cloud 9, Stopped on Track)
With Merlin Rose, Julius Nitschkoff, Joel Basman, Marcel Heuperman, Frederic Haselon, Ruby O. Fee
World premiere

Cinderella
USA
By Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet)
With Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgård, Holliday Grainger, Sophie McShera, Derek Jacobi und Helena Bonham Carter
International premiere – Out of competition

Eisenstein in Guanajuato
The Netherlands / Mexico / Belgium / Finland
By Peter Greenaway (The Tulse Luper Suitcases)
With Elmer Bäck, Luis Alberti
World premiere

Ixcanul (Ixcanul Volcano)
Guatemala / France
By Jayro Bustamante
With María Mercedes Coroy, María Telón, Manuel Antún, Justo Lorenzo, Marvin Coroy
World premiere – Debut feature

Knight of Cups
USA
By Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line)
With Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman
World premiere

Pod electricheskimi oblakami (Under Electric Clouds)
Russian Federation / Ukraine / Poland
By Alexey German (Paper Soldier)
With Lui Frank, Merab Ninidze, Viktoriya Korotkova, Chulpan Khamatova, Anastasiya Melnikova, Piotr Gasowski
World premiere
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