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#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival

Berlin’s Panorama Dokumente Complete: Opening on February 10, 2017

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

 

 

Authoritarian Regimes Under Observation / Music Documentaries Featuring Almodóvar’s Muse and Electronic Avant-Garde

Director Monika Treut Receives Special TEDDY Award 2017

 

The French production Belinda by Marie Dumora is slated to open Panorama Dokumente with a contribution to the previously announced thematic focus “Europa Europa” (see post here). The Yenish people have occupied a difficult position in the national fabric of Europe since time immemorial: like the Sinti and Roma, they typically have trouble aligning themselves as they are legally and socially excluded by majority populations. The grandparents of 15-year-old sisters Belinda and Sabrina first met in a German concentration camp – the young women were placed in foster care at an early age and were lucky to land in the La Nichée children’s home. With the start of life comes the start of a long struggle with the world – a world also determined by limits and rules on this most diverse of all continents. A haunting, harrowing documentation of everyday life as it is lived on the margins of society.

Three films demand that we take a fresh historical look at European events whose echoes are still felt so many years later:

First off is No Intenso Agora (In the Intense Now) from Brazil’s João Moreira Salles, who juxtaposes a cornucopia of archive materials documenting the events which unfolded in Paris in 1968 with amateur footage showing the suppression of the Prague Spring and footage of a self -confident Chinese society under Mao, just as his mother experienced it back then – as a private political reflection.

Next up is an exciting bit of time travel in Jochen Hick’s Mein wunderbares West-Berlin (My Wonderful West Berlin), an account of queer living situations in West Berlin in an era when emancipation had yet to be invented, primarily covering the 1960s to the the 1980s but also taking time to revisit the roots of the gay rights movement in the immediate post-war period.

 

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Bones of Contention, by American Andrea Weiss, is an in-depth look at the LGBT community in Spain during the Franco regime into the present. (Photo courtesy of Berlinale Press Office)

 

And finally, a long look underneath the rug of Spanish reticence in Bones of Contention by Andrea Weiss of the USA: In search of the earthly remains of iconic Spanish poet and fascist murder victim Federico García Lorca, the filmmaker stumbles upon the entirely unexamined history of the suppression of the LGBT community under Franco, while also becoming familiar with the struggles of today’s movement, whose efforts to procure some sort of long overdue justice for the hundreds of thousands who were “disappeared” during the fascist era are met with little support.

In Tahqiq fel djenna (Investigating Paradise), distinguished French director Merzak Allouache seeks answers to a question which also exerts an influence on today’s Europa. In order to try to fathom the origins of the desire for death exhibited by so many young Arab men in Algeria, one must understand that they are motivated by the florid fairy tales that their spiritual leaders have led them to believe, including above all the notion that sex and wine will finally be available in abundance after death. The young Algerian journalist Nedjma researches the paradise that Salafist preachers promise young men together with her colleague Mustapha. A dense analysis of the extreme manifestations of a destructive, conservative Islam that seeks to dominate.

The second of the two previously mentioned thematic focal points “Black Worlds” is reinforced by Yance Ford’s Strong Island. The director processes the murder of his own brother 25 years ago in a documentary film by equal turns personal and political, in a formally open examination of racist terror, grief work and smouldering anger about inequality.

Is this the heart of “America”? And does Rambo live inside it like the man in the moon lives inside his satellite? Erase and Forget by Andrea Luka Zimmerman (Great Britain) doesn’t pose the question, it answers it instead. The all American hero, the most highly decorated soldier of all time with hundreds of human lives on his conscience, roams like a benevolent patriarch through Idaho, where the people are proud of the high level of diversity in the available flavours of right-wing radicalism, just another normal part of life out here.

Two films turn their attention to Latin America and structures that still make their effects felt from left and right-wing authoritarian forms of society.

In Tania Libre, Lynn Hershman Leeson, a guest at Panorama for the third time, accompanies Cuban artist Tania Bruguera during sessions with trauma therapist Dr. Frank Ochberg. After having served a sentence for treason meted out in the wake of a performance that expressed criticism of the regime, she wants to acquire the skills necessary to process the invasive infringement wrought by the paranoid machinery of the people’s dictatorship, including the revocation of her right to practice her art. The founder of the Institute for Artivism Hannah Arendt in Havana intends to campaign in Cuba’s next presidential election in 2018.

The second film hails from Chile: El Pacto De Adriana (Adriana’s Pact) by Lissette Orozco. The director accidently comes across indications that her once favourite aunt Adriana colluded actively with the secret service back in the days of the Pinochet junta. Her research yields a picture that can be found after the fall of every dictatorship ever: those that lived well under the terror regime steadfastly deny their involvement after the winds have shifted. A macrocosm opens up within a family’s intimate history – and no one knew nothing.

The French-Swiss-Palestinian co-production Istiyad Ashbah (Ghost Hunting) by Raed Andoni on the other hand leads us back into the present. In the scope of shooting for a film, a group of ex-prisoners from Israeli detention re-enact a sort of exhaustive catalogue of their experiences, in role plays and often in what borders on trauma therapy. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have experienced things like this in a variety of forms – what impact will these experiences have on the affected societies in the future?

 

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Three extraordinary music documentaries make up a last thematic focus: On the one hand, we have Chavela by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi, an homage to the Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, whose exceptional talent carried her to the world’s most notable concert halls, and whose independence and prodigious sacrifice in her life as a lesbian testified to an admirable attitude that stayed with her to a ripe old age. The last concert of this lover of Frida Kahlo, which took place under the patronage of Pedro Almodóvar (who has featured her music consistently in his films), was an homage performed in Madrid to the great gay Spanish poet Federico García Lorca (see also the Panorama production Bones of Contention in this connection).

On the other hand, Panorama brings together two films that treat electronic music culture in Germany: An inventor, innovator, a creator of genres, that’s Edgar Froese. Revolution of Sound. Tangerine Dream by Margarete Kreuzer is devoted to the story of the band and their influential, world famous music – while director Romuald Karmakar turns his attention once again to the settings of his “Club Land Trilogy”: With Denk ich an Deutschland in der Nacht (If I Think of Germany at Night) he shows the development of the music genres in question in the here and now, by enabling us to watch and listen to notable DJs while they work, including Ricardo Villalobos, Sonja Moonear, Ata Macias, Roman Flügel and Move D/David Moufang.

After her success at Panorama with Anderson, Annekatrin Hendel is back with an extremely intimate story of friendship that has larger societal implications. In Fünf Sterne (Five Stars) she spends four existential weeks in a seaside hotel with a close female friend. The two women’s conversations revolve around the often glamorous past in East Berlin, the current struggle with a diagnosis – and how our life plans relate to our actual lives.
Speaking of life plans: they can be found in abundance in Tristan Milewski’s Dream Boat – even if they seem to resemble one another, here under the premise of a temporary manipulation of society on a cruise exclusively for gay men. A society completely devoid of heteros, who normally rule the world, and completely devoid of women too: by purging the majority the minority becomes one. Many of the guests come from countries where simply being the way they are exposes them to serious danger: a concentrated form of existence is the result here, which represents a challenge beyond the purely physical for the participants.

Special TEDDY for Monika Treut

The Special TEDDY Award is presented by the friends’ association TEDDY e.V. to a filmmaker whose accomplishments have made an especially significant contribution to the characterisation of queer filmmaking over the years.

As a director, producer and author, Monika Treut has not only left her mark on feminist and lesbian cinema since the 1980s – she has also had a great impact on the German-speaking independent film scene and inspired practitioners and audiences alike all the way into world of US American indie cinema as a trailblazer for the New Queer Cinema. The boldness of and iconoclastic approach to her subjects and aesthetics are closely linked with the liberating energy of the Spontex movement of the 1970s. Her documentary Gendernauts won the TEDDY Award for Best Documentary Film in 1999 as well as audience prizes the world over. Since the presentation of her feature film debut with Elfi Mikesch Seduction: The Cruel Woman in 1985, the Berlinale has shown more than twelve of her films. On the occasion of the presentation of the award in the scope of the 31st TEDDY Awards on Friday, February 17th, Panorama will be showing her second feature film, the 1989 classic Die Jungfrauenmaschine (Virgin Machine).

 

Panorama Dokumente

Belinda – France
By Marie Dumora
World premiere

Bones of Contention – USA
By Andrea Weiss
World premiere

Chavela – USA
By Catherine Gund, Daresha Kyi
With Chavela Vargas, Pedro Almodóvar
World premiere

Denk ich an Deutschland in der Nacht (If I Think of Germany at Night) – Germany
By Romuald Karmakar
With Ricardo Villalobos, Sonja Moonear, Ata, Roman Flügel, Move D/David Moufang
World premiere

Dream Boat – Germany
By Tristan Ferland Milewski
World premiere

Erase and Forget – United Kingdom
By Andrea Luka Zimmerman
World premiere

Fünf Sterne (Five Stars) – Germany
By Annekatrin Hendel
World premiere

Istiyad Ashbah (Ghost Hunting) – France / Palestinian Territories / Switzerland / Quatar
By Raed Andoni
World premiere

Mein wunderbares West-Berlin (My Wonderful West Berlin) – Germany
By Jochen Hick
World premiere

No Intenso Agora (In the Intense Now) – Brazil
By João Moreira Salles
World premiere

El Pacto de Adriana (Adriana’s Pact) – Chile
By Lissette Orozco
World premiere

Revolution of Sound. Tangerine Dream – Germany
By Margarete Kreuzer
With Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann, Christoph Franke, Johannes Schmoelling
World premiere

Strong Island – USA / Denmark
By Yance Ford
International premiere

Tahqiq fel djenna (Investigating Paradise) – France / Algeria
By Merzak Allouache
International premiere

Tania Libre – USA
By Lynn Hershman Leeson
With Tania Bruguera, Frank Ochberg
Spoken by Tilda Swinton
World premiere

 

Already announced for Panorama Dokumente:

Casting JonBenet – USA / Australia, by Kitty Green
Combat au bout de la nuit (Fighting Through the Night) – Canada by Sylvain L’Espérance
I Am Not Your Negro – France / USA / Belgium / Switzerland, by Raoul Peck
Política, manual de instrucciones (Politics, instructions manual) – Spain, by Fernando León de Aranoa
Ri Chang Dui Hua (Small Talk) – Taiwan, by Hui-chen Huang
Untitled – Austria / Germany, by Michael Glawogger, Monika Willi

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

 

Santa Barbara International Film Festival

BEN GURION, EPILOGUE will have its US premiere at the Santa Barbara Int’l Film Festival

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Go2Films is bringing light in the form of the founder of the State of Israel and its first Prime Minister.

At a time of  global leadership crisis, BEN-GURION, EPILOGUE (Israel/France, 2016 | Documentary, 55 min. Director: Yariv Mozer) brings thought-provoking insights about the role of leaders in today’s complex world.

In the great depths of the archive, six hours of interview footage was discovered of one of modern history’s greatest leaders- David Ben-Gurion. It is 1968 and he is 82 years old, five years before his death. He lives in his secluded home in the desert, removed from all political discourse, which allows him a hindsight perspective on the Zionist enterprise. Ben-Gurion’s introspective soul searching is the focus of this film, and his clear voice provides a surprising vision for today’s crucial decisions and the future of Israel.
BEN-GURION, EPILOGUE will be making its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF).  The festival will run February 1-11, 2017. SBIFF recently released its film program.

Watch the Trailer

Here’s a poignant review of  BEN-GURION, EPILOGUE by the New York Times’ Isabel Kershner:
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Ben-Gurion on Israel, Peace and Back Pain: A Lost Interview Is Brought to Life

KIBBUTZ SDE BOKER, Israel — The rare, intimate and reflective interview with Israel’s founding prime minister was filmed nearly 50 years ago, but it never aired.

David Ben-Gurion, at 82 and five years out of office, spoke in the six-hour interview of state-building and the biblical prophets that guided him; the security imperative of his young nation and Israel’s quest for spiritual and moral superiority; his battle with lower back pain and his interest in Buddhism.

It was April 1968, and “The Old Man,” as Ben-Gurion was nicknamed for much of his life, had been largely abandoned by his own political protégés. Paula, his rather brusque and devoted wife, had died that January, leaving him in near isolation in his chosen retirement home in Sde Boker, a remote communal village in the Negev desert.

“The most important thing which I learned, I learned by living here,” he said. “I want to live in a place when I know that my friends, and myself, we did it. Everything. It’s our creation.”

Watch Ben-Gurion reflecting on the prophets and on turning to God for strength. “God is everywhere,” he said.

He sat for two hours a day, over three consecutive days, and spoke in English. He wore a turtleneck sweater, his casual uniform for cooler days. When the interviewer said he was ready to wrap up the final session, Ben-Gurion protested that they still had 10 minutes to go.

But the reels of silent footage and the soundtrack languished for decades in separate archives. Excerpts from the recently rediscovered conversation form the core of a new documentary, “Ben-Gurion, Epilogue,” in which the Zionist luminary offers a raw, contemplative self-analysis of his life’s work.

Asked if he feared for his country, he replied, “Oh, I always feared. I always. Not just now.” Though it was 20 years after Israel’s founding, he said that he feared “the state does not yet exist. It’s a beginning only.”

Interwoven with other footage from the period — of meetings with foreign leaders, a speech in Israel’s Parliament, birthday celebrations — the film is, in part, a wistful ode to a lost generation of leaders who viewed simplicity as a virtue even as they strove for giant goals.

“There is an absence of leadership with those values and that vision,” said Yariv Mozer, the Israeli writer, director and producer of the movie, which premiered last month at the Jerusalem Film Festival. The film, and the recent book by Avi Shilon on which it is based, Mr. Mozer added, “reflect the interest of some young Israelis to turn back to our history, to our past, in order to find answers for today and maybe for the future.”

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Ben-Gurion’s matter-of-fact voice from the grave resonates hauntingly, with its mix of pragmatism and philosophical prescriptions bordering on the prophetic. He described the prophet Jeremiah as one of the greatest because, he said, “I have the feeling that what he was saying is true.”

“He understood politics more than the kings,” Ben-Gurion said. “But he was unpopular.”

Mr. Mozer and Mr. Shilon pointed to the former prime minister’s pronouncements at the time that in return for a true peace, he would give up the territories that Israel conquered in the Arab-Israeli War in 1967, except for the Golan Heights, Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Hebron. He saw no contradiction in believing that Israel had the right to all the land, but could also concede some of it.

“He thought that the most important thing was to live in the Middle East in peace with our neighbors,” Mr. Shilon said. “He said that Israel can win a lot of wars and the Arabs can lose a lot of wars, but that Israel would not be able to stand one defeat; that one lost war would be the end of Israel.” Mr. Shilon added, “The problem with Ben-Gurion was that people stopped listening to him.”

Mr. Mozer and Yael Perlov, the editor and co-producer of the documentary, uncovered the lost interview almost by chance, in the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive in Jerusalem. There, while working to restore an old and unsuccessful feature film about Ben-Gurion by Ms. Perlov’s late father, David Perlov, they tripped across the silent film reels. It took six months to find the soundtrack, which they did in the Ben-Gurion Archives in the Negev.

The interview had actually been conducted as background research for the Perlov film. The former prime minister had chosen the interviewer, Clinton Bailey, who was then a recent immigrant from the United States. Mr. Bailey had been befriended by the Ben-Gurions after Paula invited him in for tea one day when he was wandering near their home in Tel Aviv.

Ben-Gurion helped Mr. Bailey secure a teaching job at the academy he had established at Sde Boker, and Mr. Bailey would sometimes join the aging politician on his brisk walks around the kibbutz.

Mr. Bailey went on to become an eminent scholar of Bedouin culture — and mostly forgot about the 1968 interview. Recalling the period, Mr. Bailey said the simplicity of the Ben-Gurions’ cabin at Sde Boker was “a statement,” adding: “ I don’t think Ben-Gurion wanted the perks of power.”

At Ben-Gurion’s request, the cabin has been preserved and is open to the public. A trickle of Israeli families on school break and foreign tourists passed through on a recent sunbaked weekday.

The man who helped create the modern state of Israel insisted, in his sunset years, on being treated like any other member of the Sde Boker collective and ate lunch in the cramped communal dining room.

“In our kibbutz I told them my name is David,” he said in the interview with Mr. Bailey. “Not Ben-Gurion. So every morning I came to see what David has to do, and I went to do the work. This is what our prophets said, to serve as an example to other people.”

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(Kibbutz residents who were there at the time said they gave him the easier jobs, like tending to the lambs and measuring precipitation.)

Archival footage shows Ben-Gurion dedicating the arrival in Sde Boker of the “radiotelephone,” which he called a “dubious blessing.” In another clip, Moshe Feldenkrais, the mind-body clinician, described how he persuaded Ben-Gurion to perform a circuslike physical feat to bring him more in tune with his body, which resulted in Ben-Gurion’s famously photographed headstands.

Ben-Gurion died in 1973, and was buried in a simple grave next to Paula’s on the edge of a stunning desert canyon. His will stipulated no eulogies or gun salute. The tombstone is inscribed only with his name and the dates of his birth, death and immigration to the country.

Settling the Negev, in his mind, was imperative for the young state’s future. It was also a place where he could champion his ideals.

“We wanted to create a new life, not the life that exists,” he said of the Zionist pioneers. “I believed that we had a right to this country. Not taking away from others, but recreating it.”

He had made tough choices along the way, like refusing to allow the return of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war over Israel’s creation, and placing Israel’s Arab citizens under military rule.

Ben-Gurion believed the state’s mission was to fulfill the biblical concept of an “am segulah,” an exemplary nation of higher virtues, treasured by God. Asked in 1968 if Israel was carrying out that mission, he replied: “Not yet.”

(Source: Go2Films)

Feature Film

Japanese cast of Scorsese’s Silence speak of masterwork for the ages

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

By Kenta Kato

Japanese stars heap praise on American auteur’s direction in his searching adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel about religious persecution.

“God is silence. You have to go into your soul and search for the answer by yourself.”

Thus Yosuke Kubozuka meditated on Martin Scorsese’s new film, Silence, at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) on January 12.

Scorsese’s long-awaited project – based on the acclaimed Japanese novel by Shusaku Endo, a story of religious prosecution in 17th-century Japan, where Christianity was prohibited – has finally been realized. Karen Severns, the FCCJ’s film programmer, praised Scorsese’s film as “a slow-burn masterwork, with a message that has contemporary resonance, reverberating across the centuries.”

The FCCJ screened the movie back in its home country in partnership with Kadokawa Corporation, then hosted a discussion with three of its Japanese stars – Kubozuka, Tadanobu Asano and Issey Ogata.

 

Ogata, who plays the grand inquisitor, Inoue Masashige, said of Scorsese’s direction:

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Japanese Actor Issey Ogata plays the Grand Inquisitor, Inoue Masashige, in Martin Scorcese’s Silence. (Photo via zimbio.com)

“He never really instructs you to act in a certain way, but lets you bring what you have to the table. He never ever said anything negative about what I have to provide for him. In that way, it is really inspiring for actors and leads to many other ideas.”

 

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Yosuke Kubozuka (AsianWiki)

According to Kubozuka, “Scorsese is the king on set. Just being there makes acting so much easier. He is like a mirror that makes me look like twice or three times bigger, and you can kind of think of yourself as a wonderful actor.”

 

Ogata, who tried to read Endo’s novel when he was younger but couldn’t finish, said Scorsese had developed his character beyond what was is laid out in the book. “Scorsese made so much effort to build the character of Inoue… by using imagination as much as possible. That gave me a lot of room to act in free style.”

 

The director himself has said: “The conflicts that occur – the persecution of religious minorities, the testing of faith – are timeless.” The film takes place in the insular Japan of the 17th Century, but its themes and characters reverberate across the ages.

 

Asano, who plays a translator involved in prosecuting Portuguese Jesuits, noted:

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Tadanobu Asano (AsianWiki)

“I empathized with the character that I played, and I don’t see him as a vicious figure. He was probably a Christian himself but no longer able to carry on his faith. That led him to the line of work he is in.”

 

One of the most unforgettable characters in Silence is Kichijiro, an indecorous character who succumbs easily to the pressure applied by his prosecutors, who force Christians to trample on a ‘fumie’, a crudely carved image of Christ. According to Kubozuka, Kichijiro “is depicted as a weak, ugly, cunning, and dirty character. But he does commit fumie over and over again, which makes me wonder if he is really weak or actually strong. He is kind of two sides of the same coin.”

The film hints at the fragile morality that exists in the heart of all mankind. “When I went to the United States on 5 January, I asked this question about whether Americans would step on the picture of Jesus Christ in this day,” claims Kubozuka, “And a lot of people said, ‘I guess everybody would.’ So, by having this character Kichijiro, this story becomes something that is relevant to this modern age.”

Silence has been well-received by critics all over the world. Already, Ogata has been named runner-up in the Best Supporting Actor category by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Asked about the growing Oscar buzz, Asano jokes: “If it were not nominated, I suspect God would say something that he should not have said.”

(Source: atimes.com)

 

distribution

Ericsson’s Nuvu to distribute 20th Century Fox TV’s DreamWorks animated features across Africa

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Nuvu, Ericsson’s SVOD platform will distribute 20th Century Fox TV’s DreamWorks Animation-produced titles along with an extensive selection of global film franchises for territories across sub-Saharan Africa in multiple language.

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In a statement, Thorsten Sauer, head of Broadcast and Media Services, Ericsson said:

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Thorsten Sauer, head of Ericsson’s Broadcast and Media Services (Photo via digitalveurope.com)

“This feature film content deal through 20th Century Fox Television Distribution is another major milestone for Ericsson as we look to expand our new SVOD service, Nuvu. Through this partnership, Nuvu subscribers will have access to some of Hollywood’s hottest films as part of their package, localized on a market-by-market basis.”

Developed for mobile operators in Africa, Nuvu leverages the company’s extensive over-the top capabilities based on Ericsson Managed Player and components of Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform, Ericsson’s highly scalable modular technology platforms used by broadcasters and telco service providers to distribute video content efficiently to connected devices.

For a monthly fee, subscribers have unlimited access to an initial 3 000 local and international premium titles across a wide variety of genres including Hollywood and Nollywood movies, TV series, kids, music, gospel and education.

To take on competitors – ShowMax, Amazon and Netflix – Nuvu has built-in ability to distribute content to consumers during off-peak periods minimising data costs for both operator and consumer. The platform also integrates fully into the operator’s customer relationship management and payment systems.

(Source: screenafrica.com, TechMoran)

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival

Berlinale NATIVe 2017 Features Indigenous Films from the Arctic Circle

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

 

Cinema Born of the Icy Cold

NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema will focus in 2017 on Indigenous cinema from the Arctic. The film programme for the special series, which is comprised of nine short and ten feature-length films, will also be complemented by a number of events featuring discussion and other spoken word formats.

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NATIVe 2017 will open with a film from the cultural sphere of the Sámi, Europe’s only Indigenous people: 2016’s Kuun metsän Kaisa (Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest), by Finnish Skolt Sámi director Katja Gauriloff.

Kuun metsän Kaisa tells the story of Gauriloff’s charismatic great-grandmother Kaisa. This personal and poetic documentary film effortlessly weaves original film and sound recordings from the 1930s to the 1970s together with animated sequences and folk tales of the Skolt Sámi. It stands as a testament to the eventful history of the Skolt Sámi and their struggle to preserve their unique culture in the wake of resettlements brought about by shifting borders throughout the course of the 20th century.

The pressure to assimilate and wider social change influence all of the Indigenous peoples who call the area around the Arctic Circle home: these include the Inuit of Canada, the Greenlanders, the Sámi of Northern Europe and Russia’s Kola Peninsula as well as the Yakuts and Chukchi of the Russian Federation’s Eastern Siberian region.

Sustainability, climate change, delocalisation and questions of Indigenous rights and self-empowerment are further themes addressed in this year’s featured films. “Climate change in the Arctic and the economic machinations of the industrialised nations of the West represent serious impositions in the everyday lives of the Indigenous communities which still inhabit the region. The medium of film can play a positive role by enabling them to position themselves and gain international exposure for their points of view,” comments NATIVe Curator Maryanne Redpath.

Festival Director Dieter Kosslick also emphasises the significance of Indigenous cinema: “With each new regional focus, NATIVe demonstrates how multifaceted and creative the world of Indigenous filmmaking is and how much its films enrich the international cinema landscape.”

As in previous years, the film programme of this special series will be accompanied by an extensive supporting programme. On two afternoons, the Embassy of Canada will assist the NATIVe team in co-hosting panel discussions with Indigenous filmmakers and international guests in the rooms of their Leipziger Platz location, to be followed by film screenings.

The event “Arctic Change, Indigenous Life and Scientific Tracks in Sakha / Russia”, organised in co-operation with the Climate Initiative Regional Climate Change (REKLIM) at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, and the DEKRA Hochschule für Medien, will present the effects of climate change on everyday life and the environment in Sakha to a Berlin audience in the scope of talks and short films.

For the first time, NATIVe will also be represented in the special series Berlinale Goes Kiez with an additional screening of the documentary film Angry Inuk, which provides insight into the Inuit perspective on the heated international debate surrounding seal hunting.

 

Feature Films at NATIVe:

24 Snega (24 Snow)
By Mikhail Barynin, Russian Federation 2016
Documentary form
International premiere
Despite the sacrifices it entails, Sergei passionately devotes his life to traditional horse breeding, toughing out the winter in the taiga like a lone cowboy hero. Spectacular cinematography conveys the biting cold feeling of nomadic life in Sakha.

Angry Inuk
By Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Canada 2016
Documentary form
A vivid depiction of the quiet anger of a people whose very subsistence is being threatened from many angles. An outcry to reassess the preconceptions around commercial seal-hunting, while illustrating the role of global sealskin trade for Inuit.

Johogoi Aiyy (God Johogoi)
By Sergei Potapov, Russian Federation 2016
Documentary form
International premiere
The young horse herder Johogoi feels summoned by the equine deity to attend the celebrated summer festival of Sakha. His excitement radiates through his smile as he participates in the rituals, believing he will find the woman who appears in his dreams.

Jumalan morsian (A Bride of the Seventh Heaven)
By Anastasia Lapsui, Markku Lehmuskallio, Finland 2003
With Angelina Saraleta, Viktoria Hudi, Ljuba Filipova, Jevgeni Hudi
At birth, Syarda was promised as a bride to Num, the highest god of the Nenets. Now an elderly lady, still bound to this fate, she tells the story of her wistful, yet self-determined life to a blind young girl who alleviates her loneliness.

Kniga Tundry. Povest’ o Vukvukaye – Malen’kom Kamne. (The Tundra Book. A Tale of Vukvuka – the Little Rock.)
By Aleksei Vakhrushev, Russian Federation 2011
Documentary form
Jovial and as energetic as a teenager, the wise Vukvukai guides his nomadic Chukchi community. These tough reindeer herders survive in their snowy wonderland despite the harsh threats posed by the weather and Russian politics.

Kuun metsän Kaisa (Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest)
By Katja Gauriloff, Finland 2016
Documentary form
The Swiss author Robert Crottet visits the Skolt Sámi and records spirited Kaisa’s unique storytelling gift. Handmade animation and rare archival footage illustrate the full world of the Skolt Sámi, from magical moments to the hardships of war.

Maliglutit (Searchers)
By Zacharias Kunuk, Canada 2016
With Benjamin Kunuk, Jocelyne Immaroitok, Karen Ivalu, Joseph Uttak
European premiere
The tranquil life of a nomadic family in Nunavut is torn apart by a marauding gang of hunters looking for wives. Kuanana, the head of the family, goes out for revenge. A poetic Inuit Western.

Sameblod (Sami Blood)
By Amanda Kernell, Sweden 2016
With Lene Cecilia Sparrok, Mia Erika Sparrok, Maj Doris Rimpi, Julius Fleischanderl
A teenage girl from a traditional Sámi family yearns to be accepted by the Swedish society of the 1930s, a society full of prejudice and discrimination against her people. A shrewd commentary on institutionalised abuse and its consequences.

Seitsemän laulua tundralta (Seven Songs from the Tundra)
By Anastasia Lapsui, Markku Lehmuskallio, Finland 2000
With Vitalina Hudi, Hatjako Yzangi, Gregory Anaguritsi, Nadezhda Volodeeva
A rich contemplation of the Nenets in a seven-part chronicle, each guided by a meaningful song. Once a free people, the Soviet rule arrives to infringe upon their culture, affecting their identity irreversibly. An emotional political statement.

SUME – Mumisitsinerup Nipaa (SUMÉ – The Sound of a Revolution)
By Inuk Silis Høegh, Greenland / Denmark / Norway 2014
Documentary form
For the Greenlanders of the 1970s, the surge of the progressive rock band SUME was mind-blowing: lyrics in their own language, inspiring them to act against the repression of their people. This is the compelling testimony to their revolution.

 

Short Films at NATIVe:

Bihttoš (Rebel)
By Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Canada / Norway 2014
Documentary form
In a poignant personal essay, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers examines her complex relationship to her Sámi father. Her family’s blissful life was silently affected by a dark pain her father harboured. A pain rooted in past injustices against a whole generation of the Sámi.

Half&half
By Aka Hansen, Denmark / Greenland 2014
Documentary form
Aka Hansen ponders her mixed heritage by posing well-struck questions about how others perceive her, which in contrast to the filmic symmetry suggests that identity cannot be split neatly in half.

Nowhere Land
By Rosie Bonnie Ammaaq, Canada 2015
Documentary form
Denied the opportunity to lead a true Inuit life on Baffin Island, Rosie Bonnie Ammaaq shares the grief she felt when forced to relocate, while witnessing the heartbreaking demise of her homeland. She stands in front of the camera and bares her soul.

Ogo Kuyuurduu Turara (Boy and Lake)
By Prokopyi Nogovitsyn, Russian Federation 2003
With Slava Titov, Roman Danilov, Vladimir Krivoshapkin
A Sakha boy sets out on a lyrical journey through the boreal forest to catch fish in a secluded icebound lake. He performs the laborious task as a meditative ritual, at the same time drifting into a magical oneiric world.

Sámi Boddu (Sámi Moment)
By Ken Are Bongo, Norway 2011
With Nils Henrik Buljo, Svein Birger Olsen
Surrounded only by the wintry tundra, two Sámi men meet and contemplate the immense horizon. The silence is scarcely broken by the soft breeze, shared cigarettes and a few laconic words.

Sikumi (On the Ice)
By Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, USA 2008
With Brad Weyiouanna, Tony Bryant, Olemaun Rexford
On the frozen barren horizon, Apuna spots a furious fight between two hunters, which escalates to a fatality. As Apuna rushes to the scene he becomes conflicted when the perpetrator asks him to bend his morals and appeals to his sense of community.

Sloth
By Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Canada 2011
With Bryan Pearson
A witty sketch of the Inuit way of life, playfully poking fun at stereotypical perceptions.

Tungijuq
By Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël, Canada 2009
With Tanya Tagaq, Zacharias Kunuk
An artistically powerful statement about the reality of hunting, expressed through a fantastic icy universe and Inuit throat singing, embracing the relevance and appreciation of this vital act.

Vor dem Schnee (Before the Snow)
By Christian Vagt, Germany 2007
Documentary form
Eerie first-hand accounts of the supernatural and the dead in the world of the Khanty and Nenets. An intimate atmosphere encompasses the spiritual world void of interpretation, and tells of the mysteries beyond the reality of western Siberia.

 

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

#BIFF, Berlin Film Festival, World Premiere

Hedgehog’s Home to Premiere at Berlin International Film Festival

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Hedgehog’s Home (Ježeva kuća), an animated film by Canadian-Croatian Eva Cvijanović based on a classic tale by Branko Ćopić, will have its world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

The film, which was part of the national curriculum for primary school literature in Croatia, has been included in the Generation Kplus competition programme at the famous festival, which will be held from 9 – 19 February 2017.

Hedgehog’s Home is about a hedgehog who lives in a lush and lively forest. He is respected and envied by the other animals. However, the hedgehog’s unwavering devotion to his home annoys a quartet of insatiable beasts. Together, they march off towards Hedgehog’s home and spark a tense and prickly standoff.

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Cvijanović’s 10-minute animated film is based on Ćopić’s classic story which is a warm and universal tale for young and old that reminds us there truly is no place like home.

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The film has been narrated in three languages – Croatian (by actor Rade Šerbedžija), English (by actor Kenneth Welsh (Twin Peaks), and in French (by actor France Castel).

The film is co-produced by The National Film Board (NFB) of Canada, winner of 12 Oscar Awards, and Croatia’s Bonobostudio.

Find out more about the film here.

(Source: croatiaweek.com)

Palm Springs International Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival

JUST ADDED: BEST OF FEST – #PSIFF January 16

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

 

Two films have been added to the Best of the Fest Line-Up!

 

TRUMAN

Spain/Argentina – 2015 – 108 minutes
Director: Cesc Guy
WORLD CINEMA NOW
truman_psiff
Two of Spanish-speaking cinema’s finest stars, Ricardo Darin and Javier Cámara, play lifelong friends reconnecting for a short visit under the shadow of terminal cancer in this wide and tender (and surprisingly funny) movie from Cesc Gay. Goya Winner: Best Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Goya Awards.
Mon, Jan 16 – 5:00 PM – Camelot
Purchase tickets HERE.

 

24 WEEKS

Germany – 2016 – 102 minutes
Director: Anne Zohra Berrached
WORLD CINEMA NOW
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A German woman is told her unborn baby will probably have Down syndrome and must decide whether to abort the pregnancy in this moving drama. “A wrenchingly affecting picture.. an incredible, revealing performance from Jentsch (Sophie Scholl).” – Screen
Mon, Jan 16 – 7:30 PM – Camelot
Purchase tickets HERE

 

The Best of the Fest line-up is now online.

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FESTIVAL MERCHANDISE

merchandise_psiff

A stand-alone Film Festival Store  for the Palm Springs International Film Festival is featuring a complete collection of Film Festival Merchandise at Destination PSP. The Festival Store is now open and will be open every day through January 16.
The Festival Store is located in the Regal Cinema Courtyard Plaza, unit 16,
just down from the Regal Cinemas and across the courtyard from the
Festival Ticket and Information Center.

You can also shop online at Destination PSP by clicking HERE.

DREAM VACATION PALM SPRINGS

VACATION PALM SPRINGS “DREAM VACATION” WINNER WILL RECEIVE:
* A Four (4) night stay for up to 4 people in a luxury 3-bedroom Palm Springs vacation rental home during the 2018 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Winner will also receive the following:dream_vacation_psiff
* Opening -or- Closing Night Screening and Gala Reception – 4 Tickets
* Festival Screening Passes – 4 non-transferable passes, good for all regular screenings
Enter NOW through January 16, 2017
Must be at least 25 years of age to enter this contest.
No purchase necessary.
One entry per person; employees of PSIFF are not eligible.
(Source: psiff.org)
Venice International Film Festival

UPDATE: 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Announce Audience Awards

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

 

*This is an update from yesterday’s 28th Annual Palm Springs 28th International Film Festival Audience Awards.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

When We Rise and Take Me Home Huey Receives Mercedes-Benz Audience Awards;

Toni Erdmann Receives FIPRESCI Prize;

Gael García Bernal and Isabelle HuppertReceive Acting Prizes;

White Sun Receives New Voices/New Visions Award;

No Dress Code Required Receives The John Schlesinger Award;

Neruda Receives Cine Latino Award; Mercenary Receives The HP Bridging The Borders Awards

Palm Springs, CA (January 15, 2017) – The 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) announced this year’s juried award winners at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs on Saturday, January 14, 2017. The Mercedes-Benz Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature were announced on Sunday, January 15, 2017 during the closing night screening of “The Comedian.”  The Festival, held from January 2-16, 2017, screened 190 films from 72 countries.

 

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature:

When We Rise (U.S.), directed by Gus Van Sant.  From Gus van Sant and Dustin Lance Black, the festival screened the first episode of this stirring seven-part docudrama that charts the progress of Gay Liberation from its early days in San Francisco in the 1960s to its 21st-century triumphs.  When We Rise will air on ABC starting February 27. The screening was a North American premiere at the Festival.

 

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature:

Take Me Home Huey (U.S.), directed by Alicia Brauns and Christine Steele.  This moving documentary traces the evolution of Steve Maloney’s eponymous mixed-media sculpture, in which he took a wrecked Huey helicopter and transformed it into a memorial to the men who served and lost their lives in Vietnam. It’s a salutary reminder of the healing power of art. The film was a World Premiere at the Festival.

 

FIPRESCI PRIZE

A special jury of international film critics reviewed 43 of the 85 official submissions for the Academy Awards(R) Best Foreign Language Film category screened at this year’s Festival.  Awards are presented to the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor and Actress in a Foreign Language Film.

 

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:

Toni Erdmann (Germany), directed by Maren Ade.  In this unforgettable comedy, a prankster father puts on a wig and false teeth and invades the life of his rigid, ambitious corporate consultant daughter, whose life is upended in profound and often hilarious ways.The jury presented the award to the film, “for its originality, human complexity and unique tonal orchestration that seems natural and uncalculated. It is also an observant look at corporate culture carried by two wonderful performances.”

 

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film:

Gael García Bernalin Neruda(Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín.  The jury said, “Bernal’s performance is the heart of the film’s tonal shifts, infusing the historical drama with the very poetry of its subject matter.”

 

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film:

Isabelle Huppert in Elle (France), directed by Paul Verhoeven.  The jury said, “Isabelle Huppert gives depth and humanity to a complex and conflicted character in a challenging, unorthodox film. Her intelligence, self-assurance, and gift for conveying rich emotional tones have never been more strikingly displayed.”

The FIPRESCI jury members were Kiva Reardon (programming associate, TIFF), Yael Shuv (chief film critic, Time Out Tel Aviv) and David Sterritt (editor-in-chief, Quarterly Review of Film and Video).

 

NEW VOICES/NEW VISIONS AWARD

The New Voices/New Visions competition showcases ten films from emerging international directors bringing their first or second narrative features to the Festival. The winner is selected by a jury of festival programmers and U.S. distributors.

 

New Voices/New VisionsAward:

White Sun (Nepal/U.S./Qatar/Netherlands), directed by Deepak Rauniyar. The film is a dark comedy about two brothers from each side of the Nepalese civil war brought together after 10 years for their father’s funeral. A trenchant, eye-catching parable, this is the best film to come out of Nepal in years.

 

The jury issued the following statement, “White Sun, for its sympathetic but unsentimental portrayals of multiple perspectives, artfully integrating landscape as a participating character in the film. Featuring stunning performances from an ensemble cast, directed with sensitivity, the film’s storytelling leaves space for the audience to experience the tension between tradition and modernity. The film balances personal and political drama with a touch of absurdist humor.”

 

New Voices/New Visions Special Mentions:

Kati Kati (Kenya/Germany), directed by Mbithi Masya and Mellow Mud (Latvia), directed by Ren?rs Vimba.  The jury said, “Both directors create worlds that lead the audience deeply into beautifully-realized worlds.”

The films were juried byJonathan Howell (founder and director, Big World Pictures), Funa Maduka (Global Content Acquisition group, Netflix), Jane Schoettle (International Programmer, TIFF).

 

THE JOHN SCHLESINGER AWARD

The John Schlesinger Award, named after the director, writer, producer and festival supporter,ispresented to the director of either a first or second feature documentary from among those screened at the festival.

 

Schlesinger Award:

No Dress Code Required (Mexico), directed by Cristina Herrera Bórquez. This memorable doc follows a same-sex couple, Víctor and Fernando, as they fight for the right to be married in their home town of Mexicali, Baja California. A rallying cry for equality and a testament to the power of ordinary people to become agents of change.

 

The jury issued the following statement, “For a film that does not let you look away as ordinary people rise to the challenge of fighting for their legal rights, the John Schlesinger Award goes to No Dress Code Required, a compelling documentary that puts us on the front line of the evolving story of marriage equality.”

 

Schlesinger Special Mention:

Beauties of the Night (Mexico), directed by María José Cuevas.  The jury said, “For a beautifully crafted exploration of ageism with a powerful vision, and an empowering take on what it means to grow old in a culture obsessed with youth and beauty, Special Mention goes to Beauties of the Night.”

The films were juried by Daniela Elena Alatorre (head of documentary programming, Morelia International Film Festival), Fenton Bailey (co-founder, World of Wonder Productions), Sudeep Sharma (senior programmer, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles).

 

CINE LATINO AWARD

The Cine Latino Award is presented to the best Ibero-American film screening at the festival.  The award aims to highlight the creativity seen in modern Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American films.  Cine Latino is supported in part by Acción Cultural Espanola, Spain’s Public Agency for Cultural Action.

 

Cine Latino Award:

Neruda (Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín.  The jury said, “Bypassing narrative tropes associated with films about important historical figures and creating a nearly fantastical story that is as visually striking as it is telling about the relationship between an artist and his creation, the Cine Latino Grand Jury Prize goes to Neruda.”

 

Cine Latino Special Mention:

Everything Else (Mexico), directed by Natalia Almada. The jury said, “Coming from a doc background gives this filmmaker a unique perspective and framing that has created a powerful film. Her story often asks more questions than there are answers for but anchored by a strong, yet understated performance this film succeeds.  The film is executed with precise framing and uncanny cinematography.”

 

The films were judged by Carlos Aguilar (film journalist), Lane Kneedler (Director of Programming, AFI Fest) and Andrea Roa (producer)

 

THE HP BRIDGING THE BORDERS AWARD

The HP Bridging the Borders Award is presented by Cinema Without Borders and Hewlett Packard, which honors the film that is most successful in exemplifying art that promotes bringing the people of our world closer together. The prize includes an HP ZBook 17 Mobile Workstation, valued at $4,000.

 

HP Bridging the Borders Award:

Mercenary (France), directed by Sacha Wolff.  The film is a fierce, moving thriller about a massive Polynesian rugby player recruited to play in France. This stunning debut film shows us a violent, unfamiliar world through the eyes of an unforgettable outsider.

 

The jury said, “The winner of HP Bridging The Border Award is the story of a tattooed, colossal 19 year-old recruited from his island shack in Wallis, New Caledonia , to the brutal world of a rugby team in France. Wolff, paints the contrasting societies with authenticity and elicits from his non-professional actor, Toki Pilioki a performance of quiet dignity that scorches your memory. The winning film is Mercenary by Sasha Wolff.”

 

The Best of the Fest screenings will take place on Monday, January 16.  For a complete list of screenings visit www.psfilmfest.org.

best_psiff

 

The complete list of award winners are:

 

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature

When We Rise (U.S.), directed by Gus Van Sant

 

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

Take Me Home Huey (U.S.), directed by Alicia Brauns and Christine Steele

 

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Toni Erdmann (Germany), directed by Maren Ade

 

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film

Gael García Bernal in Neruda (Chile)

 

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film

Isabelle Huppert in Elle(France)

 

New Voices/New Visions Award

Winner:White Sun (Nepal/U.S./Qatar/Netherlands), directed by Deepak Runiyar

Special Mentions: Kati Kati (Kenya/Germany), directed by Mbithi Masya and Mellow Mud (Latvia), directed by Ren?rs Vimba

 

The John Schlesinger Award

Winner: No Dress Code Required (Mexico), directed by Cristina Herrera Bórquez

Special Mention: Beauties of the Night (Mexico), directed by Maria José Cuevas

 

Cine Latino Award

Winner: Neruda (Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín

Special Mention: Everything Else (Mexico), directed by Natalia Alamda

 

HP Bridging the Borders Award

Winner: Mercenary (France), directed by Sacha Wolff

About The Palm Springs International Film Festival

psiff16_logo_01_360

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 135,000 attendees last year for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Film Awards Gala, a glamorous, black-tie event, presented by Chopard and sponsored by Mercedes Benz and Entertainment Tonight, and attended by 2,500.  The Film Awards Gala honors the year’s best achievements in cinema in front of and behind the camera.  The celebrated list of talents who have been honored in recent years includes Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Matthew McConaughey, Julianne Moore, Brad Pitt, Eddie Redmayne, Julia Roberts, David O. Russell, Meryl Streep, and Reese Witherspoon.  PSIFF is organized by The Palm Springs International Film Society, a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization with a mission to cultivate and promote the art and science of film through education and cross-cultural awareness.

(Source: psiff.org)

 

 

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival, Culinary Cinema

11th Culinary Cinema: Passion Food

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

“Passion Food” is the motto of the eleventh Culinary Cinema, which will be held from February 12 to 17, 2017. This year eleven recent full-length films focusing on the relationship between food, culture and politics will be presented.

Berlinale-“Undoubtedly, passion – and its mastery – is a driving force behind the work of cooks and filmmakers, and simultaneously one of its themes,” Festival Director Dieter Kosslick says in explaining the motto.

At 7.30 pm the main programme of Culinary Cinema will present four world and one international premieres. Following these screenings, star chefs Eneko Atxa, Alexander Koppe, Tim Raue, Sebastian Frank and Christian Lohse will take turns serving a menu inspired by the films in the Gropius Mirror Restaurant.

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The Spanish documentary Soul by José Antonio Blanco and Ángel Parra will open the programme. The film’s protagonist Eneko Atxa runs a restaurant complex near Bilbao in the Basque region. His exploration of the soul of cooking has him travelling to famous colleagues in Catalonia and Japan. Eneko Atxa (three Michelin stars, “Azurmendi”, Larrabetzu, province of Bizkaia) will create the meal on this first evening.

Barkeepers also have to master passions, as otherwise they might lose control of the situation. In the documentary Schumanns Bargespräche (Schumann’s Bar Talks) director Marieke Schroeder accompanies legendary barkeeper Charles Schumann to the world’s best bars. Alexander Koppe (one Michelin star, “Skykitchen”, Berlin) will cook.

In his episode of the Netflix series Chef’s Table (dir: Abigail Fuller), Tim Raue tells how he succeeded in turning the negative energies of his youth into positive ones by cooking. In another episode, David Gelb, who created Chef’s Table, takes us to Korea, to the kitchen of a hermitage where Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan prepares temple food. Tim Raue (two Michelin stars, “Tim Raue”, Berlin) will take up his position at the stove of Culinary Cinema for the seventh time.

In Mark Tchelistcheff’s film André – The Voice of Wine we learn that vines have to suffer to bear quality grapes. This knowledge from viniculture is, in a figurative sense, also true of André Tchelistcheff, an oenologist who emigrated from Russia. In the 1930s, after the end of Prohibition, he helped re-establish winemaking in California. Sebastian Frank (two Michelin stars, “Horváth”, Berlin) will serve the meal for this film.

mayo_biff
Monsieur Mayonnaise | Herr Mayonnaise from Director Trevor Graham and filmmaker Philippe Mora will be screening in 2017 Culinary Cinema (Photo courtesy of The Berlinale)

In Monsieur Mayonnaise, Australian director Trevor Graham accompanies painter and filmmaker Philippe Mora who is researching his family’s eventful past. His father, Georges Mora alias Monsieur Mayonnaise fought in the Résistance. After the war he moved to Australia and founded an artist colony. Christian Lohse (two Michelin stars, “Fischers Fritz”, Berlin) will cook on this evening.

To wrap up the main programme, Culinary Cinema Goes Kiez will present the Canadian production Theater of Life by Peter Svatek at EISZEIT Kino. It shows how highly celebrated chef Massimo Bottura sets up a soup kitchen in Milan that cooks meals made from discarded food. Markthalle Neun and restaurant “Restlos Glücklich” will be responsible for this evening’s meal.

At the late-night screenings (where no meals are served afterwards), the passion for good food and ecological engagement will remain the leitmotif. Should we eat animals or just pet them? This is the question explored by filmmakers John Papola and Lisa Versaci in At the Fork. And in Christopher LaMarca’s Boone, three young farmers from Oregon have a dilemma: they may milk their goats but are not allowed to sell the milk. In Atlantic, Risteard Ó Domhnaill examines how it was possible that the fish population of the vast North Atlantic was almost wiped out and the ecosystem destroyed. In addition Wendell Berry, who has shaped ecological thinking in the USA for the past 50 years is portrayed by Laura Dunn in Look & See: The Story of Wendell Berry.

The Canadian short film Hand.Line.Cod. by Justin Simms completes this year’s programme.

“In its eleventh year, Culinary Cinema will once more be a melting pot for films and cooks who explore the human body and soul through the topic of food. Is eating a passion, a vital activity, or a profit-oriented commercial sector? This requires clarification,” says Thomas Struck, curator of Culinary Cinema.

A fiery passion also blazes during Culinary Cinema’s “TeaTime”:The cookbook „Studio Olafur Eliasson: The Kitchen“ features the communal spirit of cooking and creativity by one of today’s most recognized artists („TeaTime“, Feb. 14, 2017).
Kamal Mouzawak, Slow Food activist from Lebanon, reflects on problems of migration, and the relationship between a person’s homeland and food. (“TeaTime”, Feb. 15, 2017).

Nobody visiting the Festival should have to forego eating well: in cooperation with Markthalle Neun and Slow Food, delicious Berlinale Street Food will again be on sale at food trucks at the corner of Joseph-von-Eichendorf-Gasse and Alte Potsdamer Straße (Feb 8 – 19, 2017).

Tickets for Culinary Cinema will go on sale starting at 10.00 am on February 6, 2017 at central ticket counters in the Arkaden am Potsdamer Platz, at Kino International, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Audi City Berlin, and online at http://www.berlinale.de.

The films in the Culinary Cinema programme 2017:

André – The Voice of Wine – USA
By Mark Tchelistcheff
Documentary
World premiere

Atlantic – Ireland / Canada
By Risteard Ó Domhnaill
Documentary
German premiere

At The Fork – USA
By John Papola
Documentary
International premiere

Boone – USA
By Christopher LaMarca
Documentary
German premiere

Chef’s Table – Jeong Kwan – USA
By David Gelb
Documentary-Series
World premiere

Chef’s Table – Tim Raue – USA
By Abigail Fuller
Documentary-Series
World premiere

Hand.Line.Cod. – Canada
By Justin Simms
Documentary

Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry – USA
By Laura Dunn
Documentary
European premiere

Monsieur Mayonnaise – Australia / Germany
By Trevor Graham
Documentary
International premiere

Schumanns Bargespräche (Schumann’s Bar Talks) – Germany
By Marieke Schroeder
Documentary
World premiere

Soul – Spain
By Ángel Parra / José Antonio Blanco
Documentary
World premiere

Theater of Life – Canada
By Peter Svatek
Documentary
German premiere

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

Palm Springs International Film Festival

Palm Springs International Film Festival – January 16 – BEST OF THE FEST

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

 

The Best of the Fest line-up is now online.

best_psiff

FESTIVAL MERCHANDISE

merchandise_psiff

A stand-alone Film Festival Store  for the Palm Springs International Film Festival is featuring a complete collection of Film Festival Merchandise at Destination PSP. The Festival Store is now open and will be open every day through January 16.
The Festival Store is located in the Regal Cinema Courtyard Plaza, unit 16,
just down from the Regal Cinemas and across the courtyard from the
Festival Ticket and Information Center.

You can also shop online at Destination PSP by clicking HERE.

DREAM VACATION PALM SPRINGS

VACATION PALM SPRINGS “DREAM VACATION” WINNER WILL RECEIVE:
* A Four (4) night stay for up to 4 people in a luxury 3-bedroom Palm Springs vacation rental home during the 2018 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Winner will also receive the following:dream_vacation_psiff
* Opening -or- Closing Night Screening and Gala Reception – 4 Tickets
* Festival Screening Passes – 4 non-transferable passes, good for all regular screenings
Enter NOW through January 16, 2017
Must be at least 25 years of age to enter this contest.
No purchase necessary.
One entry per person; employees of PSIFF are not eligible.
(Source: psiff.org)