Monthly Archives: February 2013

Art

Berlinale 2013 – The Weight of Elephants

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The Weight of Elephants (Forum)
New Zealand / Denmark / Sweden 2013, 87 min
Language: English
Director: Daniel Joseph Borgman
Cast: Demos Murphy, Angelina Cottrell, Matthew Sunderland, Catherine Wilkin
World Sales: New Zealand Film Commission

“Everyone leaves me. I always lose everything.”

Keenly observed humiliations of childhood, through the eyes of a boy abandoned by his mother to the care of his grandma and severely depressed uncle.

Daniel Joseph Borgman’s debut feature is an intimate account of an 11-year-old boy’s struggle with isolation and abandonment, inspired by Sonya Hartnett’s novel Of a Boy.

Anyone who has learned to swim in a school class at a pool, used a cardboard tube telescope to focus reality, jumped from a height to see how it feels, stayed home sick from school, or sneaked out of home at nightfall will respond to this existential thriller through the eyes of a child.

Though the two films are completely different, audiences who appreciated Låt den rätte komma in will also find much to appreciate in The Weight of Elephants.

For what it’s worth, this is one movie at this year’s Berlinale that I will screen twice.

Art

Berlinale 2013 – Kwaku Ananse

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Kwaku Ananse (Berlinale Shorts Competition)
Mexico / USA / Ghana 2013, 26 min
Languages: Twi, English
Director: Akosua Adoma Owusu
Cast: Jojo Abot, Koo Nimo, Grace Omaboe, Karim Adam
World Sales: Obibini Pictures

A woman travels alone, from city to country, to her father’s ancestral home in Ghana, for his funeral. The story of a daughter and her father opens to myth, as, overwhelmed by the funeral rites, she escapes into the forest, a spirit world, in search of Kwaku Ananse.

Startlingly beautiful forest compositions are just one aspect of the highly accomplished film making demonstrated in this remarkable short, from Akosua Adoma Owusu. There will be more to come from her, I am sure.

Art, Social Progress

Berlinale 2013 – Terra de ninguém (No Man’s Land)

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Terra de ninguém / No Man’s Land (Forum)
Portugal 2012, 72 min
Language: Portuguese
Director: Salomé Lamas
World Sales: siehe Produktion

US PREMIERE: 23 February 2013 (MoMA Documentary Fortnight)

After the Fall
Paulo de Figueiredo – sixty-six years old, a man with no identification, no civil records about him, who lives under a bridge in Beckettian austerity with other homeless of the city.

He has been brought to the basement of an abandoned palace, where he sits in a chair, center of frame. He knows he is being filmed, that he will be judged by the audiences who see this film in the not-distant future, after he has died. That is why he is here.

Alone but for her camera man and sound man, Salomé Lamas sat within striking distance of Paulo de Figueiredo and asked him the hard questions.

His is the only voice we hear, his the only face we see. A series of numbered title frames punctuate his recollections, like a silent echo of his interlocutor’s questions. He keeps his off-camera questioner in his gaze, engaging and revolting in equal parts. He holds our attention completely throughout the film’s 72 minutes. Mirabile dictu, a human link is established, inexorably, between subject and film maker, and now the audience.

From the 1960s to through the 1990s, Paulo de Figueiredo served in Rhodesia, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Basque country, among other places, variously as commando, mercenary, security-bodyguard and assassin.

Arrested trying to cross into Spain after a killing in France, he was convicted in the absence of a corpse and sentenced to thirty years maximum security, where he was isolated in a 1.5 meter by 12 meter cell, with a television for company and one hour a day alone in a dog run for exercise. He was released to the streets after ten years, for good behavior.

We assume Paulo de Figueiredo is blending memories and fantasy as he describes his journeys and jobs, drawing distinctions between his work as a soldier-mercenary, security guard-bodyguard and killer-assassin, and that of his eternal target – the terrorist.

Throughout his career, Paulo de Figueiredo happily killed terrorists. “Like taking a drink of water. Brandy, rather. I don’t like water.” He holds his enemy in contempt. “Cowards, they enjoy killing the innocent.” He details atrocities with sangfroid, even good humor. “For great evils, a strong remedy.”

For Paulo de Figueiredo, a life of murder and punishment began with childhood in colonial Angola, which he recalls wistfully, as Eden before the Fall. “It was wonderful. Portugal doesn’t know what it lost.”

Art, Social Progress

Berlinale 2013 – Including NATIVe, A JOURNEY INTO INDIGENOUS CINEMA

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This year the Berlinale launches a new program, NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema. Curator Maryanne Redpath selected a 24-film slate of features, short fictions and documentaries, including some milestones of indigenous film making from past years.

Here’s my list for this year, drawn from NATIVe, Forum, Generation, Panorama and Competition – all showcasing the festival as incubator for cross-cultural influence.

FRIDAY, 8 FEBRUARY

22:00 – CinemaxX 6
Tabatô (Berlinale Shorts Competition)
Portugal 2013, 13 min
Language: Mandinka
Director: João Viana
Cast: Mutar Djebaté, Fatu Djebaté, Mamadu Baio
Production Company: Papaveronoir

SATURDAY, 9 FEBRUARY

14:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Kya hua is shahar ko? (Forum)
India 1986, 90 min
Language: Hindi
Director: Deepa Dhanraj

16:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Terra de ninguém (Forum)
Portugal 2012, 72 min
Language: Portuguese
Director: Salomé Lamas
Production Company: O Som e a Fúria
World Sales: siehe Produktion

22:00 – CinemaxX 3
Kwaku Ananse (Berlinale Shorts Competition)
Mexico / USA / Ghana 2013, 26 min
Languages: Twi, English
Director: Akosua Adoma Owusu
Cast: Jojo Abot, Koo Nimo, Grace Omaboe, Karim Adam
Director’s Website: akosuaadoma.com

SUNDAY, 10 FEBRUARY

12:00 – Haus der Berliner Festspiele
Nana (NATIVe – Indigenous Cinema)
Australia 2007, 6 min
Language: English
Director: Warwick Thornton
Cast: Kiara Gibson, Mitjili Gibson
Samson & Delilah (NATIVe – Indigenous Cinema)
Australia 2009, 101 min
Languages: English, Warlpiri
Director: Warwick Thornton
Cast: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson, Mitjili Gibson

16:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Cheongchun-eui sipjaro (Forum)
Korea 1934, 70 min
Language: Korean
Director: Ahn Jong-hwa
Cast: Lee Wan-yong, Shin Il-seon, Kim Yeon-sil

19:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
The Weight of Elephants (Forum)
New Zealand / Denmark / Sweden 2013, 87 min
Language: English
Director: Daniel Joseph Borgman
Cast: Demos Murphy, Angelina Cottrell, Matthew Sunderland, Catherine Wilkin
World Sales: New Zealand Film Commission

21:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Tian mi mi (Forum)
Taiwan 2012, 114 min
Languages: Mandarin, Taiwanese
Director: Hsu Chao-jen
Cast: Shao-yang Huang, Lieh Lee, Sonia Sui, Kenny Bee

MONDAY, 11 FEBRUARY

14:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Elelwani (Forum)
South Africa 2012, 103 min
Language: Tshivenda
Director: Ntshavheni Wa Luruli
Cast: Florence Masebe, Ashifashabba Muleya, Vusi Kunene
Production/Distributor: Shadowy Meadows Productions

16:45 – Delphi Filmpalast
Hélio Oiticica (Forum)
Brazil 2012, 94 min
Languages: Portuguese, English
Director: Cesar Oiticica Filho
Production Company: Guerra Filmes

19:15 – Delphi Filmpalast
Das merkwürdige Kätzchen (Forum)
Germany 2013, 72 min
Language: German
Director: Ramon Zürcher
Cast: Jenny Schily, Anjorka Strechel, Mia Kasalo, Luk Pfaff, Matthias Dittmer
World Sales: Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

21:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Krugovi (Forum)
Republic of Serbia / Germany / Croatia / Slovenia / France 2012, 112 min
Languages: Serbian, English
Director: Srdan Golubovic
Cast: Leon Lucev, Nebojsa Glogovac, Nikola Rakocevic
Production Company: Film House Bas Celik

TUESDAY, 12 FEBRUARY

13:45 – Market Screening
A batalha de Tabatô (Forum)
Guinea-Bissau / Portugal 2013, 78 min
Language: Mandinka
Director: João Viana
Cast: Imutar Djebaté, Fatu Djebaté, Mamadu Baio
Production Company: Papaveronoir

17:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Obrana i zastita (Forum)
Croatia / Bosnia and Herzegovina / Croatia 2013, 87 min
Languages: Croatian, Bosnian
Director: Bobo Jelcic
Cast: Bogdan Diklic, Nada Gjurevska, Ivana Roscic, Izudin Bajrovic
World Sales: Spiritus movens d.o.o.

19:15 – Delphi Filmpalast
Materia oscura (Forum)
Italy 2013, 80 min
Language: Italian
Directors: Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti

21:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Echolot (Forum)
Germany 2013, 77 min
Language: German
Director: Athanasios Karanikolas
Cast: Aenne Schwarz, Lena Vogt, Nina Horvath, Julian Keck
Production/Distributor: Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen ‘Konrad Wolf’

WEDNESDAY, 13 FEBRUARY

11:00 – HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU3) / Top Floor
Indigenous Cinema: Beyond Tribe and Nation (Berlinale Talent Campus Panel)
with Catherine Fitzgerald, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, Jason Ryle, Tainui Stephens

14:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Kanko no machi (Forum)
Japan 1944, 73 min
Language: Japanese
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita
Cast: Ken Uehara, Mitsuko, Mitsuko Mito, Eijirou Touno, Chiyo Nobu, Makoto Nobori, Mitsuko Lida

16:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Portrait of Jason (Forum)
USA 1967, 105 min
Language: English
Director: Shirley Clarke

18:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Senzo ni naru (Forum)
Japan 2013, 118 min
Language: Japanese
Director: Kaoru Ikeya
World Sales: Berlinale Forum Office

21:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Grzeli nateli dgeeb (Forum)
Georgia / Germany / France 2013, 102 min
Language: Georgian
Director: Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß
Cast: Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria
World Sales: Memento Films International

THURSDAY, 14 FEBRUARY

09:30 – Friedrichstadt-Palast
Epizoda u zivotu beraca zeljeza (Competition)
Bosnia and Herzegovina / France / Slovenia 2013, 75 min
Language: Bosnian
Director: Danis Tanovic
Cast: Senada Alimanovic, Nazif Mujic, Sandra Mujic, Semsa Mujic
World Sales: The Match Factory

11:30 – CinemaxX 3
La Eterna Noche de las Doce Lunas (Generation Kplus)
Colombia 2013, 87 min
Languages: Spanish, Wayuunaiki
Director: Priscila Padilla

14:00 – HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU2)
Launching Films: Publicity and Film Critique (Berlinale Talent Campus Panel)
with Peter Cowie, Sylvia Müller, Gordon Spragg

16:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Mo sheng (Forum)
People’s Republic of China 2013, 87 min
Language: Mandarin
Director: Quan Ling
Cast: Hong Tao, Xiaodong Guo

19:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
…Moddhikhane Char (Forum)
India / Japan / Italy / Denmark / Norway 2012, 88 min
Language: Bengali
Director: Sourav Sarangi

21:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Computer Chess (Forum)
USA 2013, 92 min
Language: English
Director: Andrew Bujalski
Cast: James Curry, Chris Doubek, Robin Schwartz, Myles Paige, Patrick Riester
World Sales: The Film Sales Company

FRIDAY, 15 FEBRUARY

11:30 – CinemaxX
Tough Bond (Generation 14plus)
USA 2012, 83 min
Languages: Swahili, English
Directors: Austin Peck, Anneliese Vandenberg

14:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Konyaku yubiwa (Forum)
Japan 1950, 96 min
Language: Japanese
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita
Cast: Kinuyo Tanaka, Toshiro Mifune, Jukichi Uno

16:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
La plaga (Forum)
Spain 2013, 85 min
Languages: Catalan, Spanish, Ilokano, Moldavian, Russian
Director: Neus Ballús
Cast: Raül Molist, Maria Ros, Rosemarie Abella, Iurie Timbur, Maribel Martí
World Sales: Berlinale Forum Office

18:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Sieniawka (Forum)
Germany / Poland 2013, 126 min
Language: Polish
Director: Marcin Malaszczak
Cast: Stefan Szyzszka, Stanislaw Cheminski, Jerzy Szlosar, Franciszek Zajdel

21:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Sto lyko (Forum)
Greece / France 2013, 74 min
Language: Greek
Directors: Christina Koutsospyrou, Aran Hughes
Cast: Giorgos Katsaros, Ilias Katsaros, Spiridoula Katsarou, Adam Paxnis, Kiki Paxni

SATURDAY, 16 FEBRUARY

14:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Yuyake gumo (Forum)
Japan 1956, 78 min
Language: Japanese
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita
Cast: Shinji Tanaka, Yuko Mochizuki, Yoshiko Kuga, Eijiro Touno, Takahiro Tamura, Isuzu Yamada

16:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Vaters Garten – Die Liebe meiner Eltern (Forum)
Switzerland 2013, 93 min
Languages: Swiss German, German
Director: Peter Liechti

19:00 – Delphi Filmpalast
Powerless (Forum)
India 2013, 80 min
Languages: Hindi, English
Director: Fahad Mustafa, Deepti Kakkar
World Sales: Berlinale Forum Office

21:30 – Delphi Filmpalast
Matar extraños (Forum)
Mexico / Denmark 2013, 63 min
Language: Spanish
Director: Jacob Secher Schulsinger, Nicolás Pereda
Cast: Gabino Rodríguez, Esthel Vogrig, Tenoch Huerta, Harold Torres
World Sales: Interior13 Cine

SUNDAY, 17 FEBRUARY (BERLINALE KINOTAG)

15:00 – Haus der Kulturen der Welt Kino 1
The Weight of Elephants (Forum)
New Zealand / Denmark / Sweden 2013, 87 min
Language: English
Director: Daniel Joseph Borgman
Cast: Demos Murphy, Angelina Cottrell, Matthew Sunderland, Catherine Wilkin
World Sales: New Zealand Film Commission

17:45 – CineStar 3
Soguk (Panorama)
Turkey 2012, 105 min
Language: Turkish
Director: Ugur Yücel
Cast: Cenk Medet Alibeyoglu, A. Rifat Sungar

20:30 – Berlinale Palast
Vic+Flo ont vu un ours (Competition)
Canada 2013, 90 min
Language: French
Director: Denis Côté
Cast: Pierrette Robitaille, Romane Bohringer, Marc-André Grondin
World Sales: Films Boutique