Category: Berlinale 2013

On the last day of the 63 Berlinale I was lucky enough to see the Chilean film “Gloria” directed by Sebastián Lelio

Sebastián Lelio, born in Chile in 1974, graduated from Escuela de Cine de Chile and “Gloria” is his fourth feature film which has already won him the ‘Cine en Construcción’ industry award at the San Sebastian Film Festival. In 2012 Lelio was a guest of the DAAD Artists-in Berlin Programme.

In an interview for the German television broadcaster ZDF Lelio says that he first saw actress Paulina García when he was seven. Years later he became a film director and has always asked himself how come this amazing actress has never been given to play a leading role. He changed that with “Gloria” – a film that would “fit her like a glove”.

Gloria wants to live and dance, to love and be loved, to have a meaningful and sensual life. However, it turns out that this most human desire might not be that easy to realize when you are an approaching 60 divorcée, your children have their own life and you have all of those years ahead of you just with yourself. You have to be at least twice as strong to keep on going. Larger than life in order to chase away the emptiness and keep on singing with the radio while you drive down the Santiago highways.

To quote the director Sebastián Lelio: “Paulina is Gloria and Gloria is the film.” Indeed, the magnetic actress is giving us a brilliant, deep, moving and emotional performance that most deserved won her this year’s Silver Bear for Best Actress.

If you feel like going to the movies, go and see “Gloria”. After the film you would leave the theater hall, humming the words of Umberto Tozzi’s song “Gloria” and out of the blue you might feel … happy and full with lust for life.

Here are three video excerpts from the film together with two interviews in English with the director Sebastián Lelio (who apart from being talented turns out to be very very charming as well):

http://www.critic.de/film/gloria-5117/trailer/

http://www.arte.tv/de/gloria-von-sebasti-n-lelio/7311634,CmC=7317814.html

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/1840890/Sebasti%25C3%25A1n-Lelio-zu-seinem-Film-Gloria

 

“Harmony lessons” is a frighteningly precise, brilliantly shot and thought provoking film. The kind you do not see every day.

I was amazed to find out that this deep and mature peace of work is the first full-length feature film of the 28 years-old Kazakh director Emir Baigazin.

Baigazin takes us to the Kazakh province and introduces us to the 13-years Aslan, played by the talented Timur Aidarbekov. After being bullied and publicly humiliated from the school gang leader Bolat, Aslan develops a mental disease striving for harmony, perfectionism and cleanness. The cruelty we see among the children is frightening, The apathy taking turns with new portions of violence coming from the institutions is even more so.

The cold aesthetic of “Harmony lessons” will make you feel uncomfortable. At times, you would want to turn the lights on or just leave the salon for a minute. But you won’t.

This is more than a film about violence, humiliation and fear. Without much words or sounds but with many long shots and using slow, almost documentary close observations of the nature world, the director takes us into the inner world of an isolated and troubled child.

Be prepared – “Harmony lessons” will disturb you, it will make you think of it days after you have seen it and the feeling of unease will not go away that quickly.

“Harmony lessons” is a strong and honest film – a real experience for those who would appreciate it. It did not win the Golden Bear this year but I hope we will be seeing much more of Emir Baigazin’s work in the years to come.

Here you could see three scenes from the film:

http://www.kino-zeit.de/filme/trailer/harmony-lessons

The first film I saw from the 63 Berlinale Competition programme is “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker” by the Bosnian director Danis Tanović.

I was looking forward to it because I like the work of Tanovic. You certainly remember “No Man’s Land” his first feature film that won him the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001 and his 2010 film “Circus Columbia” with the amazing Miki Manojlović.

Last year Danis Tanović was a special guest at the International Sofia Film Festival and I could experience him live during a meeting with the public in one of the Sofia film theaters.  I remember he said that he makes films when something makes him really angry.

This must have been the case with his new film. Tanović read the story of a Roma family in the newspaper and got so appalled that he decided to reconstruct the event. The director met the couple Nazif and Senada and persuaded them to play themselves in the production. They agreed (just like their two lovely young daughters (!) )  and so did their neighbours.

With this half-documentary film shot only for eight cold winter days Tanović is returning to his roots – he used to be a documentary filmmaker during the war.

Don’t expect any Kusturica clichés here though– no Roma music and people singing and dancing on the streets. We are quietly invited into an episode of a loving and hardworking Roma family – father Nazif who collects scrap metal for recycling to make ends meet and his wife Senada who minds their home and the girls.

One day Nazif finds his pregnant wife Senada in pain. After rushing to the hospital, they find that she has miscarried and urgently requires surgery to take the baby out. The problem is that they have neither a medical insurance nor the money to pay the surgery. What do you do then? How do you escape the viscous circle of bureaucracy and poverty in order to save the life of your partner?

These are just some of the questions you will be probably asking yourself during the film. The strongest feature of the film is that it does not give you any ready answers.

As for the close ups of the eyes of Nazif or the silent tears of his wife Senada – they cannot be retold. You have to see and feel them for yourself. Then maybe you will be able to find some kind of answer for yourself.

Nazif and Senada were special guests at the 63 Berlinale. They arrived at the press conference after the screening of the film with the latest member of the family – their new-born son Danis.

Here is the trailer of the film:

We all remember her from the Fontana di Trevi scene of Federico Fellini’s masterpiece “La Dolce Vita”. If you have seen some of Fellini’s drawings, you would notice that she is literally just like out of a Fellini’s dream.

On the 13th of February 2013 the Swedish-born actress Anita Ekberg gave a master class on the start of her acting career in the Berlinale Talent Campus. The discussion was moderated by Peter Cowie – film historian and author of more than thirty books on film.

Being an almost religious admirer of Federico Fellini’s magical cinema, I really wanted to see Anita Ekberg live and hear what she had to say about Il Maestro. Anita Ekberg, 81 years old, has not lost her charm, beauty and sense of humour. She is what I would call a real diva, a living legend.

At the end of the 50s, while being in Rome for a photo session and driving around in her cabriolet with her long blond hair. Anita Ekberg was spotted by Fellini as his Sylvia in “La Dolce Vita”. Anita still recalls that lunch she has had with him and her agent when the Italian director persuaded her to play in the film that would become a milestone in film history. Even though she did not speak any Italian at that time, she remembers how charming, educated and gentle Fellini was. Famous for not giving too much information beforehand to his actors, when Anita asked him to see the script, Fellini simply replied that there is not any. As for the lines, she could just make them up as she wants to. And so she did.

After shooting “La Dolce Vita” Anita Ekberg fell incurably in love with Rome and never returned back to Hollywood. Until this day Italy is her home.

Asked whether she would like to act again, she replied: “For a television production NO; in the cinema – YES. Betty Davis played until her 90s.”  She has got style indeed.

I know you know it, but here it is once again:  the legendary scene on the Trevi fountain. As it was shot in January, you could imagine that it would take courage to get into the cold water just in an evening dress. I personally am glad that Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni found that courage and created history:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKN1T3K1idg

The Panorama programme at the Berlinale is worth a visit. It is another place (besides the Forum section) where you might make your personal discovery of a new director or a film.  Furthermore, in the Panorama section is where the “auteur films” (nice and pretentious as it sounds) have their world or European premiere, usually followed by a Q&A session with the team of the film.

That was the case with my 3^rd film from the Berlinale: “Youth” – a feature film debut of the director Tom Shoval, born in 1981 in Israel.

Tom Shoval takes us to his hometown Petach Tikva, a satellite city of Tel Aviv and tells us the story of two teenage brothers Yaki and Shaul who, in order to save their family from bankruptcy, kidnap a beautiful girl from a rich family and demand a huge ransom for her release. Yaki has just enlisted in the army to do his military service and has a brand new rifle to carry around with him. He is the pride of the family.

“Youth” is a film about violence, disconnection from reality, desperation, depression and also a film that tells us about the middle class who have turned out to be the “new poor” in the current times of economic hardship.

Although the whole film gave me a feeling of uneasiness, I do not see this as a necessary bad thing. I guess it is just my personal problem with films about violence. I just avoid them. Luckily, there was more to “Youth” than only violence.

To quote the director: “This is a story that could happen anywhere in the world. We all face financial problems at some point in our lives, and we all come to the realization that our parents cannot always be a source of security and comfort to us. (…) The difference is that this story happens in Israel.” And in Israel it is a common thing to see teenagers to carry their M-16 rifles even when they play soccer.  The question is what happens when they decide to use them and how often they tend to do so in times of moral and economic crisis. A disturbing question, indeed.

 

Today I saw my second film from the Berlinale – once again from the Forum section: “The Weight of the Elephants” directed by Daniel Joseph Borgman.

Daniel Joseph Borgman, born in Dunedin, New Zealand studies film studies at Otago University in New Zealand and one day decides to go “overseas”. He ends up living in Copenhagen, where he graduates the Danish film school Super 16 and starts working in post-production. “The Weight of the Elephants” is his feature debut. Interestingly, being produced both by a Danish and a New Zealanders company, it is also the first unofficial feature film co-production between these two countries.

Borgman wants to make a film about isolation and dislocation, accidentally comes across the novel “Of A Boy” by Australian novelist Sonya Hartnett and gets even more inspired. Shot in rural Southland, New Zealand, “The Weight of the Elephants” tells a story about an 11-year old boy (played by the talented young actor Demos Murphy) and his intensive world full of fantasies, hope, tenderness and tears – bitter and pure as only the tears of a 11-year old boy can be.

I always fear that a film with and about kids would be either too heart-breaking (and thus manipulating the poor viewer) or just a little bit too sweet (like a Disney family-comedy). Fortunately, “The Weight of the Elephants” is neither of those. It is an honest story told with a strong feeling for the details – just like a child sees the world – full of important details.

Why the title “The Weight of the Elephants” then? In the words of the director: “because the pressure upon a kid (and upon everybody) could sometimes be that heavy”. Then on a more positive note, “sometimes you find someone who respects and cares about you, who sees some worth in you … and then life is not that bad.”

The children actors Demos Murphy and Angelina Cottrell have done an amazing job in the movie and so has the director Daniel Borgman. I personally, would be looking forward to his next project.

Here is a trailer to the film:

http://vimeo.com/58546362

http://www.theweightofelephants.com/#one

 

If it happens that the tickets for a film from the Competition section which you really wanted to see, are sold out right before you, just buy a ticket for a movie from the Forum section and you won’t regret it.

In the Forum section young, independent and promising filmmakers show their films, which are very often even more inspiring, personal and touching than the ones from the already established directors. What is more, here you have bigger chances for making your personal discoveries of the festival – a new exciting movie or a director. And isn’t this what festivals are really for? To open your eyes for something new.

To describe it as inspiring, personal and touching would be absolutely valid for the Spanish film “La Plaga” directed by Neus Ballús, which I went out to see yesterday. But what makes it so interesting and special?

• This is the first full-length feature film of the young director Neus Ballús who graduated in editing and filmmaking at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University in 1999 and has since made a number of short film documentaries;
• “La Plaga” is on the thin line between fiction and documentary since none of the protagonists are professionals actors but they play themselves;
• the director has spent the last 4 years working closely with each and every one of the protagonists so that they could feel comfortable in front of the camera and tell their personal stories;
• “La Plaga” is shot in the outskirts of Barcelona, where the director grew up and therefore, knows every inch of it;
• The absolute lovable 80 years-old Maria Ros with her amazing will to live and take care of her field, who will touch your heart and most certainly will make you laugh … and cry;

After the screening, there was a little Q&A session with the team of the movie, where the director Neus Ballús explained that right now, in the middle of the economic crisis, people in Spain are feeling just as confused as the protagonists in the movie. Just like them they are waiting for the rain, for some kind of rain to come and finally wash this “plague” away.

“La Plaga” is a slow, gentle, and personal movie made through the loving eyes of somebody who is showing you her home. I would recommend a watch, if you have a chance. In the meantime, I will be updating the blog with more reports from this year’s 63. Berlinale. So stay tuned!

Here is a link to the trailer:

http://vimeo.com/51745928

 

Queuing to go to the movies. How long since you last did it?

This is the queue for the Berlinale on the 7^th of February 2013– the day the festival officially starts for the 63^rd time.

You would need three things to “survive” the queue:

• patience (or some knowledge of alternative meditation techniques)
• 1 hour of your time and a good book with you
• to know exactly what you want to see and when

It is worth noting, that tickets are put into purchase only three days before the screening and you are able to buy not more than two tickets at a time – a restriction that on a second thought does make sense.

If we speculate that you want to see a film every day of the Berlinale and you want to be on the safe side, regarding tickets, you might want to be at the ticket center 30 minutes before it actually opens … every day. In other words, the early-morning-waiting-on-a-queue-ritual will become one of your own little morning rituals – at least for the next 5 days. People actually do that. And some even take leave from their jobs to do it – like the lady who was standing before me on the queue. Respect.

Surprisingly, you can book tickets on-line only for a very few titles. An interesting contrast to our every-day on-line buying, selling, consuming, and sharing. For the Berlinale, on the contrary, are faced with the slow process of waiting your turn. You actually make a physical effort to go to the movies. Call me an old-fashioned soul, but I like it.

As one might guess, the tickets for any of the 19 films competing for the Golden and Silver Bears are the most difficult to get – especially when they are shown between 19.00 and 21.00 hours. For understandable reasons, it is fairly easy to get tickets for the very early morning or the late night screenings. That is why yours truly will be seeing 2 films at 9,30 AM! – something I honestly haven’t done before.

As I usually tend to do, I have an unrealistically long list with films I would like to see. On the other hand, I was never a realist.

So far, I have managed to get tickets for:

• “The Weight of Elephants”, Director: Daniel Joseph Borgman; New Zealand, 2013
• “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”, Director: Danis Tanovic (!!!) – one of my favourite usual suspects; Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013
•  “Harmony Lessons”, Director: Emir Baigazin; Kazakhstan, 2013
• “Gloria”, Director: Sebastián Lelio; Chile, Spain 2012
• “In the Limelight: Anita Ekberg” – not a movie really but a meeting with Anita Ekberg (Fellini’s dream in “La Dolce Vita”), who joins the Berlinale Campus to give a master class on her acting career (!!!)

Three further films I wouldn’t like to miss:

• the Romanian “Child’s Pose” (“Pozitia Copilului”) directed by Calin Peter Netzer;

(After seeing “12:08 East of Bucharest” (“A fost sau n-a fost?”) in 2007 directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, I keep a close watch on Romanian cinema and it has not turned me down since.)

• the Korean “Nobody’s Daughter Haewon” (“Nugu-ui Ttal-do Anin Haewon”). It is about dreams. And what could you need more?

• The Iranian “Closed Curtain” (“Pardé”) directed by Jafar Panahi, who fortunately has ignored his 20-year ban on making films.

…

Tomorrow will be my personal opening of the festival with the Spanish film “La plaga” directed by Neus Ballús. It won’t be exaggerated to say, that I am looking forward to it.