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European Film Market & Co-Production Market

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

36 Attractive Feature Film Projects Searching for International Partners at the Berlinale Co-Production Market

At the 14th edition of the Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 12 to 15, 2017) a selection of 36 promising feature-film projects from 29 countries will come together with a wide range of potential co-production and funding partners from around the world. In addition, the market will be presenting several respected production companies in the scope of their exclusive “Company Matching Programme”.

To aid the producers of the selected projects and companies, the Berlinale Co-Production Market team is organizing a total of approximately 1,200 one-on-one meetings with interested potential partners from a participant pool made up of 550 producers, world sales agents, broadcasters, distributors, film funds and financiers from all across the world.

For the official project selection, 20 promising feature-film projects with budgets ranging from 750,000 euros to eleven million euros were chosen from a total of 323 submissions. They will be presented by internationally experienced producers and have all either already secured production funding from their native countries or have at least been able to cover 30% of their projected financing needs to date.

In the scope of the “Rotterdam Berlinale Express”, three additional film projects will take part both in the CineMart Rotterdam and the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Ten newcomers to the world of international film production will also be presenting their projects at the “Talent Project Market”, which is organized in co-operation with Berlinale Talents. These attendees were chosen from an additional 178 submitted projects.

Among the directors of the selected projects are familiar names such as Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance, A Somewhat Gentle Man, The Beautiful Country), whose films have already been featured three times in the official Berlinale programme, Agnieszka Holland, whose most recent film Spoor is celebrating its premiere at this year’s Berlinale, as well as further directors of Competition films from the past years, including for instance Lou Ye (Blind Massage), Celina Murga (The Third Side of the River), Anne Zohra Berrached (24 Weeks) and Laura Bispuri (Sworn Virgin).

In the category “Berlinale Directors”, three projects from directors whose previous films were shown at the Berlinale will be presented; though these productions are still in a very early stage of development from a financing perspective, they are considered so promising that they can already benefit from finding co-operation partners in order to ease their way to the big screen.

In addition to the meetings with potential partners, which are arranged individually to satisfy the concrete needs of each project, there are also three awards available: the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, worth 20,000 euros, the VFF Talent Highlight Award, worth 10,000 euros, and the ARTE International Prize, worth 6,000 euros, will all be given away at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The four already confirmed companies featured in the “Company Matching Programme” come from Germany, France, Israel and Norway. The 550 other participants can also request one-on-one meetings with them in order to exchange information on a structural level or on the basis of project slates and move towards exploring the possibility of long-term co-operation.

There are at least two films screening in the festival programme of the upcoming Berlinale which were presented at the Berlinale Co-Production Market as projects in previous years and met partners: Una mujer fantástica (A fantastic woman) by Sebastián Lelio, which is part of the Competition, and Mulher do pai (Nalu on the Border) by Cristiane Oliveira, which is being shown in Generation 14plus.

The primary partners of the Berlinale Co-Production Market are the MDM – Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and Creative Europe MEDIA, a programme of the European Union.

The Berlinale Co-Production Market is a part of the European Film Market.
The Berlin House of Representatives, which is located right across from the European Film Market in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, will once again serve as a co-operation partner and main venue for the event.

Official project selection for Berlinale Co-Production Market 2017
(in alphabetical order by production company):
– Where the Summer Went (D: Beatriz Sanchis), Animal de Luz Films, Mexico
– Psychobitch (D: Martin Lund), Ape&Bjørn, Norway
– 7500 (D: Patrick Vollrath), Augenschein Filmproduktion, Germany
– Irene (D: Celina Murga), Cepa Audiovisual & Tresmilmundos Cine, Argentina
– The Ski Jumper Who Didn’t Want to Land (D: Hans Petter Moland), Chezville & Storyline Studios, Norway
– Overgod (D: Gabriel Mascaro), Desvia Produções, Brazil
– Clear Blue (D: Lindsay MacKay), Devonshire Productions, Canada
– Man’s Fate (D: Lou Ye), Dream Factory, China & Chinese Shadows, Hong Kong, China
– The Deer (D: Bogdan George Apetri), Fantascope, Romania
– The Monster Within (D: Rodrigo Susarte), Forastero, Chile
– Lost Country (D: Vladimir Perisic), KinoElektron, France, Trilema, Serbia & MPM Film, France
– Benigno Cruz (D: Jorge Hernandez Aldana), La Pandilla Producciones, Venezuela & Lucía Films & Paloma Negra Films, Mexico
– Eloe (D: Piotr Złotorowicz), Lava Films, Poland
– Charlatan (D: Agnieszka Holland), Marlene Film Production, Czech Republic
– A Film by Verner Holm (D: Jannik Johansen), Profile Pictures, Denmark
– Blanquita (D: Fernando Guzzoni), QuijoteRampante, Chile
– Paloma’s Wedding (D: Marcelo Gomes), Rec Produtores, Brazil
– Waiting for an Angel (D: Akin Omotoso), Rififi Pictures, South Africa & Triptych Media, Canada
– Dead Noon (D: Jeff Desom), Samsa Film, Luxembourg
– Daughter of Mine (D: Laura Bispuri), Vivo Film, Italy

“Berlinale Directors” projects:
– Ten Thousand Happiness (D: Johnny Ma), Image X Productions, China
– Colour of the Skull (D: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer), Mille et Une Productions, France
– Zorro (D: Ronny Trocker), Zischlermann Filmproduktion, Germany

“Rotterdam Berlinale Express”:
– Girls of the Sun (D: Eva Husson), Maneki Films, France
– Jumpman (D: Ivan I. Tverdovsky), New People Film Company, Russia
– The Wife of the Pilot (D: Anne Zohra Berrached), Razor Film Produktion, Germany

“Talent Project Market” – projects and selected production talents (in alphabetical order by production company):
– The Deposit (P: Eva Sigurdardottir), Askja Films, Iceland
– MNK Boy (P: Aydin Dehzad), Kaliber Film, Netherlands / Turkey
– Shock Labor (P: Maria Carla del Rio), Marinca Filmes, Cuba
– The Bus to Amerika (P: Nefes Polat), Mars Production, Turkey
– The Space Between (P: Angela Lee), Nifty Pictures, USA
– Memoryland (P/D: Quy Bui), Pixelholic Media, Vietnam
– Tomorrow is a Long Time (P: Jeremy Chua), Potocol, Singapore
– Never the Bright Lights (P: Tonee Acejo), Quiapost Productions, Philippines
– You Will Die at Twenty (P: Hossam Elouan), Transit Films, Egypt / Sudan
– Breaking Surface (P: Julia Gebauer), Way Creative Films, Sweden

Company Matching (in alphabetical order by company):
Black Sheep Film Productions, Israel
Haut et Court, France
Mer Film, Norway
Weydemann Bros., Germany

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival

Berlinale Goes Kiez

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Since 2010, the Berlinale’s Flying Red Carpet has traveled from arthouse cinema to arthouse cinema on seven evenings during the festival, visiting Berlin’s movie lovers in their neighborhood cinemas. On each of these evenings, one Berlin arthouse cinema turns into an additional festival venue and presents two selected films from the Berlinale program.

 

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Just like they do at the regular festival, the film teams usually introduce their works in person at the neighborhood cinemas and are available to answer questions and discuss their films with audiences after the screening. Besides the film team, a patron of the cinema will also welcome audiences to the small Red Carpet: one prominent film personality acts as the patron of each neighborhood cinema, thereby supporting the cultural work of his or her favorite theatre.

 

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Please enjoy highlights from last year’s Berlinale Goes Kiez in the following video from the Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival:

 

Neighborhood Cinemas 2017:
Bundesplatz-Kino (Wilmersdorf)
City Kino Wedding im Centre Français de Berlin (Wedding)
Eiszeit Kino (Kreuzberg)
Odeon (Schöneberg)
Thalia Programmkino (Potsdam-Babelsberg)
Toni & Tonino (Weißensee)
w o l f  (Neukölln)

The Berlinale Goes Kiez project was launched in 2010 on the occasion of the festival’s 60th anniversary and has proven to be hugely popular with audiences. In past years, Berlinale Goes Kiez has visited the following cinemas: ACUDkino (Mitte), Adria (Steglitz), Babylon (Kreuzberg), Bundesplatz-Kino (Wilmersdorf), Capitol Dahlem (Zehlendorf), City Kino (Wedding), Die Kurbel (Charlottenburg), Eiszeit Kino (Kreuzberg), Eva Lichtspiele (Wilmersdorf), filmkunst 66 (Charlottenburg), fsk (Kreuzberg), Hackesche Höfe Kino (Mitte), IL KINO (Neukölln), Kant Kino (Charlottenburg), Moviemento (Kreuzberg), Neue Kammerspiele (Kleinmachnow), Neues Off (Neukölln), Odeon (Schöneberg), Passage (Neukölln), Sputnik Kino (Kreuzberg), Thalia Kino Berlin (Lankwitz), Thalia Programm Kino (Potsdam-Babelsberg), Tilsiter Lichtspiele (Friedrichshain), Kino Toni & Tonino (Weissensee), Union Filmtheater (Friedrichshagen) as well as Yorck (Kreuzberg).

*Berlinale Goes Kiez is supported by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.logo_medienboard_berlin-brandenburg_1_(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

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Hugh Jackman’s Logan claws out world premiere in Berlin film festival

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

By Andrew Pulver

Logan, the third and final standalone Wolverine film to star Hugh Jackman as the adamantine-clawed mutant, is to receive its world premiere at the Berlin film festival in February.

Logan, which follows X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and The Wolverine (2013) in featuring the character as its main protagonist, revolves around an ageing Wolverine whose powers are failing. Directed by James Mangold, and co-starring Patrick Stewart and Dafne Keen, Logan will screen an as out-of-competition film, ahead of its cinematic release in early March.

Also receiving its world premiere at the festival will be Viceroy’s House, the Gurinder Chadha-directed historical drama about the end of the Raj and the partition of India, featuring Hugh Bonneville as Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, and Gillian Anderson as Lady Edwina Mountbatten.

Like Logan, Viceroy’s House will screen in an out-of-competition slot; as will T2 Trainspotting, the long-awaited sequel to the 1996 Irvine Welsh adaptation. Although T2 Trainspotting will have been released in the UK before the festival begins, its screening at the festival is billed as an “international premiere”.

These films join the already announced lineup, which includes the Richard Gere thriller The Dinner, Penélope Cruz in The Queen of Spain and Aki Kaurismäki’s latest, The Other Side of Hope. The festival also revealed recently that this year’s opening film would be Django, a biopic of the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt directed by Étienne Comar.

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The Berlin international film festival runs from 9-18 February.

(Source: theguardian.com)

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The Berlinale Festival profile

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Berlin: an exciting, cosmopolitan cultural hub that never ceases to attract artists from around the world. A diverse cultural scene, a critical public and an audience of film-lovers characterize the city. In the middle of it all, the Berlinale: a great cultural event and one of the most important dates for the international film industry. More than 335,000 sold tickets, more than 20,000 professional visitors from 122 countries, including more than 3,800 journalists: art, glamour, parties and business are all inseparably linked at the Berlinale.

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The entire world of film

The public program of the Berlin International Film Festival shows about 400 films per year, mostly international or European premieres. Films of every genre, length and format find their place in the various sections: great international cinema in the Competition, independent and art house in Panorama, films for young audiences in Generation, new discoveries and promising talents from the German film scene in Perspektive Deutsches Kino, avant garde, experimental and unfamiliar cinematography in the Forum and Forum Expanded, and an exploration of cinematic possibilities in Berlinale Shorts. The Berlinale Special, including Berlinale Special Gala, is showing new and extraordinary productions and honours great cinema personalities. Berlinale Special Series, which began in 2015, presents selected international series. The program is rounded out by a Retrospective as well as an Homage, which focuses on the œuvre of a great personality of cinema, curated by the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen. Beginning in 2013, the Retrospective expanded to include presentations of Berlinale Classics. They show current restorations of film classics as well as rediscovered films.

Furthermore the Berlinale has regularly organized a program of special presentations that open up new perspectives, provide insight into key themes, make new connections and explore realms where film intersects with other creative disciplines. Food, pleasure and the environment – these are the topics that lie at the centre of the Culinary Cinema. Berlinale Goes Kiez is traveling from arthouse cinema to arthouse cinema within the city to present selected films from the Berlinale program and NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema is devoted to the cinematic story-telling of Indigenous peoples worldwide.

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The film industry at the Berlinale

The Berlin International Film Festival is a source of inspiration in the global film community: film programs, workshops, panel discussions, joint projects with other social and cultural actors – the forms of cooperation and the possibilities for creative interaction are countless.

The most important meeting point is the European Film Market (EFM). Around 550 companies and more than 9,000 professionals from 110 countries build and foster contacts here, strengthen their position in the industry or negotiate film rights.

The Berlinale Co-Production Market, affiliated to the EFM, offers fertile ground for international co-productions.

Berlinale Talents brings high profile professionals attending the Berlinale to workshops and discussions with 250 promising young film talents from all over the world. Both sides benefit. The talents profit from the experience of the professionals, who in turn gain fresh ideas from taking part.

The World Cinema Fund (WCF) provides financial support to film projects in countries with weak film infrastructure thereby helping strengthen the regions’ position on the international film market.

The Berlinale Residency program offers international directors a grant to come to Berlin for several months. Working in close contact with individually selected mentors and market experts, the directors can take a decisive step toward placing their next film project on the way to a successful theatrical release.

The close connection between the festival and market is a unique characteristic of the Berlinale and always results in exceptional synergies.

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(Source: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin)

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Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2017: The Millennial Generation

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Fourteen Films, including nine full-length fiction and documentary films, have been invited for the Perspektive Deutsches Kino in 2017.

Strong fiction films by millennials characterize this year’s selection. The directors, who are mostly in their early 30s and were coming of age around the turn of the millennium, were shaped and socialized by this period. With them we take a look back into childhood and adolescence. We see kids affected by their parents’ separation, and encounter endless parties and drugs. We accompany the protagonists on their search for personal freedom and stability.

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The fiction film Millennials (dir: Jana Bürgelin, prod: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) uniquely exemplifies this generation. It is a documentary-style big city tale that follows the two protagonists, Anne Zohra Berrached and Leonel Dietsche, on their “éducation sentimentale” around Berlin. Leo is a photographer and would finally like some recognition for his photos. Anne is a successful film director and wants a child, but since she has no partner, she has, in wise foresight, frozen a few of her eggs.

In the fiction film Die Tochter (Dark Blue Girl, prod: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) director Mascha Schilinski approaches in an unusual way the problems children have after their parents split up. How must they redefine their positions and attitudes towards their separated parents when it comes to closeness and distance? Seven-year-old Luca (Helena Zengel) – in her desire to remain the only woman in her father’s life and, at the same time, the link between her parents – becomes a master manipulator.

Director Adrian Goiginger, who also studied at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, took a year off and during this time found production partners for his fiction film Die beste aller Welten (The Best Of All Worlds) in Lailaps Pictures in Munich and RitzlFilm in Austria. In a love story of a different kind, he re-examines his childhood by following seven-year-old Adrian (Jeremy Miliker) into the extremely exciting and adventurous world of his heroine-addicted mother.

In the film Zwischen den Jahren (End of the Season, prod: Radical Movies Production, Cologne) by Lars Henning, the world of Becker (Peter Kurth), the film’s protagonist, is very limited. After having served fifteen years in jail, he just wants to lead a quiet life in self-imposed solitude. But then the man whose life he destroyed eighteen years earlier returns to haunt him. It is Lars Henning’s second full-length fiction film and again he has reversed the victim-offender constellation conventional for this genre.

For the first time ever the Perspektive Deutsches Kino will show a film from the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK). The film Final Stage by Nicolaas Schmidt stands out for the filmic balancing act it conducts between documentary observation and subtle staging. Gabi, produced at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, will open the Perspektive 2017 together with Back for Good (see post from December 21, 2016). According to director Michael Fetter Nathansky, it is a cinematic attempt to find expression for what has so often been said but has still been unable to change anything.

Christian von Brockhausen and Timo Großpietsch’s Könige der Welt (We were kings) about the music band “PICTURES” completes the programme. First known as “Union Youth”, the band came together at the turn of the millennium. With their mix of grunge and alternative they quickly became the German “Nirvana”. The film revisits a drug-filled past and accompanies their new start.

On February 19, 2017 – Berlinale Publikumstag – the Perspektive will screen the winners of the Max Ophüls Prize 2017 for best fiction feature and the First Steps Award 2016 for best documentary (Raving Iran, dir: Susanne Regina Meures).

Film list:

Die beste aller Welten (The Best Of All Worlds)
By Adrian Goiginger
With Verena Altenberger, Jeremy Miliker, Lukas Miko, Michael Pink
Feature film
World premiere

Final Stage
By Nicolaas Schmidt
With Aaron Hilmer, Fynn Grossmann
Medium long feature film
World premiere

Gabi
By Michael Fetter Nathansky
With Gisa Flake, Florian Kroop, Britta Steffenhagen, Martin Neuhaus
Medium long feature film
World premiere

Könige der Welt (We were kings)
By Christian von Brockhausen, Timo Großpietsch
Documentary film
World premiere

Millennials
By Jana Bürgelin
With Anne Zohra Berrached, Leonel Dietsche, Jan Koslowski, Anna Herrmann
Feature film
World premiere

Die Tochter (Dark Blue Girl)
By Mascha Schilinski
With Helena Zengel, Karsten Antonio Mielke, Artemis Chalkidou
Feature film
World premiere

Zwischen den Jahren (End of the Season)
By Lars Henning
With Peter Kurth, Karl Markovics, Catrin Striebeck, Leonardo Nigro
Feature film
World premiere

Films announced so far:

Back for Good
By Mia Spengler
With Kim Riedle, Juliane Köhler, Leonie Wesselow
Feature film
World premiere

Eisenkopf (Ironhead)
By Tian Dong
Documentary film
World premiere

Kontener (Container)
By Sebastian Lang
With Joanna Drozda, Anka Graczyk
Medium-long feature film
World premiere

Mikel
By Cavo Kernich
With Jonathan Aikins
Medium-long feature film
World premiere

Selbstkritik eines bürgerlichen Hundes (Self-criticism of a Bourgeois Dog)
By Julian Radlmaier
With Julian Radlmaier, Deragh Campbell, Beniamin Forti, Kyung-Taek Lie
Feature film
German premiere

Tara
By Felicitas Sonvilla
With Sasha Davydova, Leo van Kann, Lena Lauzemis
Medium-long feature film
World premiere

Ein Weg (Paths)
By Chris Miera
With Mike Hoffmann, Mathis Reinhardt
Feature film
World premiere

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival

Competition and Berlinale Special

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Danny Boyle, Hong Sangsoo, Thomas Arslan, Volker Schlöndorff, Sabu, Álex de la Iglesia and Josef Hader’s Directorial Debut in the Competition Programme

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Competition

The following films will be celebrating world or international premieres in the Competition of the Berlinale 2017.

Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja (On the Beach at Night Alone)
South Korea
By Hong Sangsoo (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Right Now, Wrong Then)
With Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Jung Jaeyoung, Moon Sungkeun, Kwon Haehyo, Song Seonmi, Ahn Jaehong, Park Yeaju
World premiere

El Bar (The Bar)
Spain
By Álex de la Iglesia (Mad Circus, The Day of the Beast, The Oxford Murders)
With Blanca Suárez, Mario Casas, Carmen Machi, Terele Pávez, Secun de la Rosa, Alejandro Awada, Joaquín Climent, Jaime Ordóñez
World premiere – Out of competition

Helle Nächte (Bright Nights)
Germany / Norway
By Thomas Arslan (Dealer, Vacation, In the Shadows, Gold)
With Georg Friedrich, Tristan Göbel, Marie Leuenberger, Hanna Karlberg
World premiere

Joaquim
Brazil / Portugal
By Marcelo Gomes (Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures, The Man of the Crowd, I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You)
With Julio Machado, Isabél Zuaa, Nuno Lopes, Rômulo Braga, Welket Bungué, Karay Rya Pua
World premiere

Logan
USA
By James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted, Walk The Line, The Wolverine)
With mit Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Doris Morgado, Sienna Novikov, Elizabeth Rodriguez
World premiere – Out of competition

Mr. Long
Japan / Germany / Hong Kong, China / Taiwan
By Sabu (Monday, Chasuke’s Journey)
With Chen Chang, Sho Aoyagi, Yiti Yao, Junyin Bai
World premiere

Return to Montauk
Germany / France / Ireland
By Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum, Diplomatie)
With Stellan Skarsgård, Nina Hoss, Susanne Wolff, Niels Arestrup
World premiere

T2 Trainspotting
United Kingdom
By Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, The Beach, Slumdog Millionaire)
With Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner
International premiere – Out of competition

Viceroy’s House
India / United Kingdom
By Gurinder Chadha (Bend it like Beckham, What’s Cooking)
With Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi
World premiere – Out of competition

Wilde Maus (Wild Mouse)
Austria
By Josef Hader
With Josef Hader, Pia Hierzegger, Georg Friedrich, Jörg Hartmann, Denis Moschitto
World premiere – First Feature

Berlinale Special Gala at the Friedrichstadt-Palast

Es war einmal in Deutschland… (Bye Bye Germany)
Germany / Luxemburg / Belgium
By Sam Garbarski (The Rashevski’s Tango, Irina Palm, Quartier Lointain)
With Moritz Bleibtreu, Antje Traue, Mark Ivanir, Tim Seyfi, Hans Löw, Anatol Taubman, Pál Mácsai, Vaclav Jakoubek
World premiere

Berlinale Special Gala at the Zoo Palast

In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts (In Times of Fading Light)
Germany
By Matti Geschonneck (Boxhagener Platz, Das Zeugenhaus)
In collaboration with Wolfgang Kohlhaase
With Bruno Ganz, Hildegard Schmahl, Sylvester Groth, Evgenia Dodina, Natalia Belitski, Alexander Fehling, Gabriela Maria Schmeide
World premiere

Berlinale Special at Kino International

Masaryk (A Prominent Patient)
Czech Republic / Slovakia
By Julius Sevcík (Restart, Normal – The Düsseldorf Ripper)
With Karel Roden, Hanns Zischler, Arly Jover, Oldrich Kaiser, Dermot Crowley, Milton Welsch, Eva Herzigová
World premiere

A further 13 films have thus been invited to screen in the Competition and Berlinale Special section at the 67th edition ofthe Berlin International Film Festival.

In addition to the previously announced titles (see press releases from January 4, 2017 and December 15, 2016), productions from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong – China, India, Ireland, Japan, Luxemburg, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the USA have now been added to the programme. Austrian actor Josef Hader will be presenting his directorial debut in the Berlinale Competition 2017.

The complete programme of the Competition and Berlinale Special will be announced soon.

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

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19 Filmmakers from the United States at Berlinale Talents 2017

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Berlinale Talents welcomes 250 of the best emerging film and drama series professionals from 71 countries as 2017 Talents.

19 of the selected Talents are living and working in the United States, of whom 11 have US citizenship. The group is comprised of 6 directors, 4 producers, 3 production designers, 3 cinematographers, 1 distributor, and 2 actors.

In addition, 2 Talents with US citizenship are living abroad: Bryerly Long (Japan), Jordan Schiele (China).

The Talents will take part in an expansive six-day programme featuring around 100 events with internationally renowned experts holding master classes and workshops, many of which are open to the public.

Berlinale Talents takes place at the HAU Hebbel am Ufer, February 11 – 16, 2017.

(Source: Berlinale Talents Press Department)

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Berlinale Shorts 2017: Reframing the Image

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

23 films from 19 countries will be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bear as well as the Audi Short Film Award, worth € 20,000, and a nomination for the European Film Awards at the 2017 edition of Berlinale Shorts. The Algerian film Monangambeee, produced in 1969 and directed by Sarah Maldoror, will also be screened out of competition.

The International Short Film Jury 2017 will be composed of Christian Jankowski, artist and professor at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design, curator and social media manager of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Kimberly Drew and the artistic director of SANFIC Santiago International Film Festival Carlos Núñez (see press release from December 13, 2016).

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The Berlinale Shorts competition will feature works from a wide range of filmmakers including Gabriel Abrantes, Salomé Lamas, Jonathan Vinel, Victor Lindgren, Lukas Marxt and Marcel Odenbach, Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca, David OReilly and Rainer Kohlberger.

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Curator Miake Mia Hohne (Photo via Berlinale Media Archive)

“A preconceived image, a clichéd notion of something or someone, can only alter its form if my own view of things expands to include a new perspective. All of the films selected for Berlinale Shorts 2017 have in common the fact that they invite one to recalibrate one’s own perception,” commented curator Maike Mia Höhne in reference to this year’s programme.

In his new film keep that dream burning, Berlin-based director Rainer Kohlberger visualizes an intimation for everything new that comes into being: a promise of the greatest possible indeterminacy.
The Boy from H2 on the other hand, produced by the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, takes us right out on the street so that we may be able to experience what it means to live as a 12-year-old in the divided city of Hebron, opposite ever-present security forces.

David O’Reilly (Please Say Something, Golden Bear for Best Short Film 2009 & RGB XYZ, Berlinale Shorts 2008 ), who will also speak about his filmmaking philosophy at the 2017 edition of Berlinale Talents, will present his new computer game Everything. Everything is the complete opposite of how we commonly conceive of games – there are no levels to be reached, instead there is only the possibility to become anyone and everything. The insight acquired along the way represents a reframing.
Jonathan Vinel (Notre Héritage, Berlinale Shorts 2016 & Tant qu’il nous reste des fusils à pompe, Golden Bear for Best Short Film 2014, both created in collaboration with Caroline Poggi) rearranges sequences from the video game Grand Theft Auto V into a new narrative about losing one’s friends in his film Martin Pleure.

In Avant l’envol, the modern, futuristic architecture that sprang up in Ivory Coast in the wake of independence from France assumes the role of protagonist, an architecture that stands for the newly gained self-confidence of the period.

The film Monangambeee, which is part of the collection of Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art e. V. and was only recently digitized, bears witness to a cinematic practice in opposition to colonial oppression.

The extraordinary diversity of Portuguese cinema is represented by no less than four productions at Berlinale Shorts, including among others the most recent work from filmmaker Salomé Lamas (Eldorado XXI, Forum 2016 & Terra de ninguém, Forum 2013), Coup de Grâce, in which a father and daughter explore a space marked by absence. João Salaviza’s new film Altas Cidades de Ossadas follows a Creole rapper on a deep dive into the darkness of night and the aggressive poetry of his lyrics. In 2012 Salaviza took home the Golden Bear for Best Short Film for Rafa, dedicating the award to the Portuguese government: “We are in a moment where we really don’t know what will happen,” Salaviza declared at the time, adding that the dedication was contingent on the administration taking a stand to improve conditions for the country’s filmmakers.

Included among the films to be screened at Berlinale Shorts 2017 are:

Altas Cidades de Ossadas (High Cities of Bone), João Salaviza, Portugal, 19’ (WP)
Avant l’envol, Laurence Bonvin, Switzerland, 20’ (IP)
The Boy from H2, Helen Yanovsky, Israel / Palestinian Territories, 21’ (WP)
Call of Cuteness, Brenda Lien, Germany, 4’ (WP)
Centauro (Centaur), Nicolás Suárez, Argentina, 14’ (IP)
Cidade Pequena (Small Town), Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal, 19’ (IP)
Coup de Grâce, Salomé Lamas, Portugal, 26’ (WP)
The Crying Conch, Vincent Toi, Canada, 20’ (WP)
Ensueño en la Pradera (Reverie in the Meadow), Esteban Arrangoiz Julien, Mexiko, 17’ (WP)
Estás vendo coisas (You are seeing things), Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Brazil, 18’ (IP)
Everything, David OReilly, USA / Ireland, 11’ (WP)
Le film de l’été (A Summer’s Film), Emmanuel Marre, France / Belgium, 30’ (WP)
Fishing Is Not Done On Tuesdays, Lukas Marxt & Marcel Odenbach, Germany / Austria, 15’ (WP)
Fuera de Temporada (Out of Season), Sabrina Campos, Argentina, 23’ (WP)
Hiwa, Jacqueline Lentzou, Greece, 11’ (WP)
Os Humores Artificiais (The Artificial Humors), Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal, 30’ (WP)
keep that dream burning, Rainer Kohlberger, Germany / Austria, 8’ (WP)
Kometen (The Comet), Victor Lindgren, Sweden, 11’ (IP)
Martin Pleure (Martin Cries), Jonathan Vinel, France, 16’ (WP)
Miss Holocaust, Michalina Musielak, Poland / Germany, 22’ (WP)
Monangambeee, Sarah Maldoror, Algeria, 15’ – Out of competition
Oh Brother Octopus, Florian Kunert, Germany, 27’ (WP)
The Rabbit Hunt, Patrick Bresnan, USA / Hungary, 12’ (IP)
Street of Death, Karam Ghossein, Libanon / Germany, 23’ (WP)

For further information regarding the Berlinale Shorts programme please contact:

Anika Väth

+ 49 170 671 72 91

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

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Berlinale Talents: 250 Young Filmmakers from 71 Countries Invited – ARRI new Partner

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Berlinale Talents welcomes 250 emerging professionals from 71 countries to its 15th edition. Exploring the theme “Courage: Against All Odds”, the Talents will participate in a six-day programme featuring over 100 events, with many open to the public. Environmental sculptor Christo is going to join Berlinale Talents. The acclaimed artist will be one of around 100 internationally renowned experts presenting and discussing their work. Berlinale Talents will again take place in the theatres of HAU Hebbel am Ufer from February 11 to 16, 2017.

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Festival Director Dieter Kosslick comments on the upcoming anniversary edition: “Since 2003 we have welcomed 5,128 young Talents to Berlin, with over 100 returning to the festival or the film market each year. This extended network symbolises cultural exchange across all borders, keeps the festival cutting-edge and is living proof that talent development always pays off.”

An international selection committee chose the 250 Talents out of 2,711 applicants from 127 nations based on their prior achievements and the impact and relevance of their artistic work in their home countries. The 2017 Talents hail from the fields of directing (106), producing (49), acting (15), screenwriting (5), cinematography (17), editing (14), production design (13), film criticism (8), sales and distribution (10), score composing (6) and sound design (8). Out of these, 40 participants with projects in development have been selected for Project Labs in the categories documentary, fiction and short film. The Talents are usually five to ten years into their careers and have extensive professional expertise, considerable festival exposure and, often times, award-winning films under their belts.

ARRI New Co-Partner of Berlinale Talents

In order to further boost its talent development, Berlinale Talents is delighted to welcome ARRI as a co-partner in 2017. Boasting a long tradition, the company is a global leader in the development, manufacturing and marketing of camera and lighting systems for the film industry, and is also active as an integrated media service provider in postproduction and in the rental of camera, lighting and stage equipment. ARRI will support the 2017 Berlinale Talents programme with several events focusing on technical innovation in image and light design as well as digital postproduction. These include, among others, a workshop with leading experts at the “Camera Studio” and a case study on a large TV drama series production.

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Berlinale Talents Project Manager Christine Trostrum (Photo via berlinale media archive)

“ARRI and Berlinale Talents share core values such as a pioneering spirit, a dedication to perfecting their craft and a passion for artistic work. It is an honour for us to have gained a strong and visionary partner such as ARRI, especially on its 100th company anniversary,” Berlinale Talents Project Manager Christine Tröstrum comments.

Dr. Jörg Pohlman, Managing Director of ARRI AG, adds: “Berlinale Talents is where success stories are created and future trends are forged. It’s important to us to actively support this major platform for talent development and to help shape the programme. We very much look forward to the ideas and contributions of the international Talents and wish all participants a successful Berlinale Talents 2017.”

For more information on the Berlinale Talents Click Here

The full Berlinale Talents programme will be published on January 31, 2017.

Press contact Berlinale Talents:
Malte Mau

phone +49 30 259 20-518
fax +4930 259 20-534

Berlinale Talents is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, a business division of the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, in cooperation with the Creative Europe MEDIA programme of the European Union, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Federal Film Board.

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

#BIFF, Berlin Film Festival

World Premiere of Django to Open the Berlinale 2017

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

On February 9, 2017, the 67th Berlin International Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Etienne Comar’s directorial debut: Django.

Django will participate in the official competition of the Berlinale.The French film revolves around Django Reinhardt, the famous guitarist and composer, and his flight from German-occupied Paris in 1943. Within moments, this superb guitarist was able to reach people’s hearts with his instrument. Yet as Sinti, his family was harassed and hounded by the Nazis.

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“Django Reinhardt was one of the most brilliant pioneers of European jazz and the father of Gypsy Swing. Django grippingly portrays one chapter in the musician’s eventful life and is a poignant tale of survival. Constant danger, flight and the atrocities committed against his family could not make him stop playing,” says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.

Director Etienne Comar has already made a name for himself as a screenwriter and producer – Of Gods and Men, Haute Cuisine, My King – and co-producer – The Women on the 6th Floor, Timbuktu.

For Django, Comar’s first work as a director, he cast actor Reda Kateb (Far from Men) in the title role. Starring alongside him are Cécile de France (The Kid with a Bike), as well as Alex Brendemühl and Ulrich Brandhoff.

The screenplay is written by Etienne Comar and Alexis Salatko. Django Reinhardt’s music was re-recorded for the film by the famous Dutch jazz band Rosenberg Trio.

The film is produced by Fidélité, Arches Films and Pathé. Pathé International will be handling international sales.

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(Source: Berlinale press office)