Ten film-filled days and nights are over—all the bears are gone, and nearly 400 films later, here is a wrap-up of this year’s 60th birthday edition of the Berlinale. Serious films with important messages seemed to dominate the festival. A trend also reflected in the winning films. The top award, the Golden Bear, went to HONEY (Bal, 2010) by Turkish filmmaker Semih Kapalanoglu. HONEY completes Kapanaloglu’s Yusuf trilogy, that started with EGG (Yumurta, 2007) and MILK (Sut, 2008) and sensitively and slowly reveals and examines the close relationship between Yusuf, a 6 year old child, with his father, a bee…
Author: Tanja Meding
The following is Part Two of my report on the female directors in the official selection of this year’s 60th Berlinale. Today, Bosnian writer-director Jasmila Zbanic, winner of the Golden Bear for her first feature GRBAVICA (Esma’s Secret) in 2006, presented her latest work NA PUTU (On the Path). The film tells the story of Luna and Amar, a young Bosnian couple, bothrefugees who have lost their family during the war and are desperately trying to get their lives back on the track. After Amar gets suspended for drinking on the job, he runs into an old army friend, Bahrija,…
Last night, after 10 exciting and film filled days and nights, the 60th Birthday Berlinale came to a close with the grand closing ceremony awarding the prestigious Golden and Silver Bears to the films from the competition section. German filmmaker and jury president Werner Herzog together with his fellow jury members, Italian director and writer Francesca Comencini, Somali writer Nuruddin Farah, German actress Connie Froboess, Spanish producer José Maria Morales, Chinese actress Yu Nan and American actress Renée Zellweger awarded the following films: The Golden Bear for the best film, went to HONEY (Bal, 2010) by Turkish filmmaker Semih Kaplanoglu.…
Berlin, Germany – After this weekend’s Berlinale premiere of Martin Scorsese’s latest work, SHUTTER ISLAND starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the city of Berlin has officially turned into Leo-Land. Leonardo DiCaprio came to town and it seemed as if he was everywhere: in museums, restaurants, department stores–he was also present as the photo-of-the-day, brimming on every LCD monitor in each subway car. However, what I actually want to talk about is marvelous the female directors and their works screening at the Berlinale this year. In light of Kathryn Bigelow’s Academy Award nomination for best feature as well as best director with her…
During this year’s Berlinale, CWB’s James Ulmer and Tanja Meding caught up with Cian Smyth, programmer of the MAYSLES BROTHER DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION at the BELFAST FILM FESTIVAL, to learn a little more about this festival. Founded in 1995 as the West Belfast Community Festival, the festival grew rapidly over 5 years and became a city-wide event in 2000. This coming edition in 2010 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Belfast Film Festival. As Smyth recalls, from the very beginning the festival has been committed to programming films that address important socio-policital themes and bringing the community together to debate…
In 1995, Pastor Richard Gazowsky of the Pentecostal Church in San Francisco received a calling; to set up a Christian film company and deliver the Lord’s message to the people through the power of film. Inspired, he founded WYSIWYG—WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET FILMWORKS. Michael Jacobs verité style documentary, AUDIENCE OF ONE, enters the world of Pastor Gazowsky; Jacobs accompanies the pastor on his quest to produce GRAVITY: THE SHADOW OF JOSEPH, a multi-million dollar biblical science-fiction-epic shot in 70mm. With an incomplete script, half baked ideas about film making, an amateur cast and crew, and a shortfall…
Lynn Collins and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are Kate Montero and Bobby Thompson– a beautiful young couple. She is a dancer, he a musician, and they’re both left with lots of time and imagination on their hands. Walking along on the Brooklyn Bridge one 4th of July, the two wonder where to go and what to do on this special day. So they flip a coin, and then race off in opposite directions to experience two completely different stories – reuniting along the way and experiencing events that will dramatically impact their lives. Kate runs over to Brooklyn towards a tender family…
Are you looking for a film about beauty and aesthetics? Look no further; Fredrick Wiseman’s latest documentary, LA DANSE, about the Paris Opera Ballet has it all: amazing dancers, spellbinding choreography, beautiful photography, and gorgeous architecture all set against the backdrop of the city of Paris.Through the course of 158 minutes, Wiseman introduces us to seven different choreographers and lets us spend time with them and the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, who easily adapt to each of their particular styles and creative processes. In addition to the rehearsal footage, Wiseman also takes us behind the scenes to meet…
A couple of weeks ago, Green Screens, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s film series about all things sustainable, returned after the summer break with a pre-release screening of NO IMPACT MAN – a documentary by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein. This high concept documentary in the line of Morgan Spurlock’s SUPERSIZE ME, features Colin Beavan and his family as they set out to turn into a carbon neutral family within a year. Over the course of a year, the film-team follows Colin, his wife Michelle and their daughter Isabella as they embark on their adventure and experience a number…
Early last Friday morning, I hopped on the Jitney Bus in Manhattan and—two and a half hours later—arrived in East Hampton on Long Island: the center of the 17th Hamptons International Film Festival. Over the course of five days, the festival offered a jam packed calendar with screenings, conversation sessions with celebrities, panel discussions, and parties. According to the press release, this year’s edition featured 107 films. In addition to the different competition and non-competition sections of the festival, this year’s festival paid tribute to new Scandinavian films, with 15 feature length films from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway.…