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Berlin Report
02/17/2008
Berlin Film Festival Winners
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Awards, Berlin, Cinematical Indie  The 2008 Berlin International Film Festival awards have been announced, and while I've only seen one of the films that picked up prizes, I'm very excited about the results. The top honor, the Golden Bear, went to Tropa de Elite (The Elite Squad), which is the first fiction film directed by Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha, who last gave us the brilliant documentary Bus 174. It was also scripted by Oscar-nominated writer Bráulio Mantovani (City of God) and tells the story of a captain in Rio's Special Police Operations Battalion and the corruption within the city's military police force, particularly its brutality in the handling of Rio's favelas. The film was hugely popular in Brazil when it was released there last fall, though mostly it was viewed illegally via the internet. Originally due out in the U.S. last month from The Weinstein Co., Moviefone now shows the film as being a Summer 2008 release, hopefully with a lot of support now thanks to the big win in Berlin.
Another Latin American cinema winner was Mexico's Lake Tahoe, the latest from Fernando Eimbcke (Duck Season), which picked up the Alfred Bauer Prize for innovative filmmaking and a FIPRESCI critics prize. Other winners include Errol Morris' eagerly anticipated documentary on Abu Graib, Standard Operating Procedure, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (aka second prize) and Paul Thomas Anderson, who won the Silver Bear award for best director, for There Will Be Blood. Anderson's film also received a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution (Music) for Jonny Greenwood and its score. The Silver Bear award for best screenplay went to Xiaoshaui Wang for In Love We Trust, while the Silver Bears for acting went to Sally Hawkins, for her peformance in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, and Reza Najie for his performance in Majid Majidi's The Song of Sparrows. Kumasaka Izuru won a best first film award for Asyl -- Park and Love Hotel. For the rest of the Berlin winners head over to the festival's website. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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02/13/2008
Madonna Waxes Eloquent on 'Filth and Wisdom'
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, Berlin, Festival Reports, Cinematical Indie  Madonna's directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom, which is playing the Berlinale in the artsy "Panorama" section, opened today, and our good friends over at indieWIRE had one of the few one-on-one interviews Her Madonna-ness granted to her film fest subjects. indieWIRE reports that buzz from folks coming out of the screening was (some might say surprisingly) mostly positive.
The film, originally envisioned as a short but expanded to 85 minutes, tells the tale of "three friends desperate to better their lot in life, who must duel with the reality of their circumstances." There's A.K., a would-be rock superstar who keeps things afloat while waiting for his ship to come in by turning tricks as a cross-dresser; Holly, who trains as a ballerina by day while working as a stripper at night to survive; and Juliette, who works in a pharmacy while saving money to live her dream of moving to Africa to help children in need.
Madonna chose to show her film at Berlin and, according to the indieWIRE piece, has no plans for further fest screenings. Instead, the film's team is exploring distribution options, "both traditional and non-traditional," so you may be able to see it sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you can check out indieWIRE's excellent writeup of their Madonna interview, and see a sneak-peek three-minute scene from the film. Added bonus for all you guys out there (well, girls too, let's not make gender assumptions here) -- most of the clip is a scene of strippers practicing pole dancing. In, you know ... an artsy way. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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01/23/2008
Indie Bites: Guy Maddin, More Schweiger & 'Water Horse' Breaks China's Blackout
Filed under: Foreign Language, Independent, Berlin, Celebrities and Controversy, Exhibition, Cinematical Indie  In the midst of Sundance Deals and mainstream news, here are some indie bites:
- While it won't be competing, Jam! reports that Guy Maddin's wonderful film My Winnipeg will screen on the opening night of Berlinale's International Forum of New Cinema program. (Check out my TIFF review here.) Personally, I wish it could compete and then take over the world, but I realize that Maddin hasn't gotten enough recognition yet. (He's seriously one of the most accessible filmmakers of strange fare out there. Go check him out if you haven't already.) While Winnipeg isn't competing, another production with Canadian roots is -- Amos Kollek's Restless.
- Meanwhile, Til Schweiger continues to face problems. After ticking people off with his risque all-ages comedy, now Variety reports that he's quit the German Film Academy in protest. Why? Because Keinohrhasen, the movie that's been making waves, wasn't considered for a German film award. The Academy claims they didn't register in time, and that should it get registered, it could be eligible in 2009. I guess that wasn't good enough for Schweiger.
- Remember that movie ban in China? Well, now Variety reports that The Water Horse will be the first foreign film to screen to bust through the ban, over the previously announced Atonement. The latter is screening on February 22, but Horse nabbed itself a February 16 screen date. Will this "blackout" continue? Is it all just a farce? Stay tuned!
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01/19/2008
When Berlinale Closes, It'll Be Kind, and Rewind
Filed under: Berlin, Exhibition  Sometimes I wish I had a large, waiting-to-be-used stash of money that would allow me to go to every film festival that caught my fancy. The other option would be to convince a patron of each fest to wear a mini camera on their lapel, but that would be, well, illegal, so let's stick with the other fantasy. Like many of the big fests, Berlinale is looking to be all sorts of tasty. We've already had some previous screening announcements, and now Reuters has added even more eagerly-anticipated films to the fest list.
In the realm of Berlin's competitive films, Kristin Scott Thomas' I've Loved You So Long has been added to the roster. In the "out of competition" offerings at Berlinale, filmgoers can delight in a who's who of big names. There's Fireflies in the Garden, the Julia Roberts-starring film about a town devastated by an unexpected tragedy. (It's also a film that co-stars the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hayden Panettiere, and Ioan Gruffudd.) Or, if you want to dip back into history, there's Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman's The Other Boleyn Girl. And, what could be better to wrap up the festival than a movie for fans of film? Berlinale will perfectly close with Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind. (Check out James' Sundance review!)
The festival will run from February 7 to 17.
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01/16/2008
The Rolling Stones 'Shine a Light' on Berlinale
Filed under: Documentary, Music & Musicals, Berlin, Exhibition  There's going to be some shiny, happy people at Berlinale this year. At least, some that get to bask in a big, musical, cinematic light. According to the folks over at indieWIRE, Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones concert flick, Shine a Light, will open the 58th Berlin International Film Festival when it kicks into gear on February 7. That's not a bad start to the fest, which has already announced some of the films that will compete this year. In December, titles like Errol Morris' S.O.P.: Standard Operating Procedure were announced, and just last week, flicks like Julia and Elegy were added to the roster.
But back to the Stones. The footage for this film was shot during two concerts at New York's Beacon Theater back in 2006. But this wasn't your average concert-production affair. As iW describes, Scorsese's film used sixteen cameras and collected over half a million feet of concert footage. That's compounded by all the big names involved, which I mentioned in a post about the film last July -- such as Oscar-winner Robert Anderson and cinematographer John Toll. But larger-than-life old men prancing around isn't all you can look forward to in the film. There's also performances by Jack White and Christina Aguilera (who gets a very-close wiggle with Mick Jagger), and behind-the-scenes footage. You can check out a trailer on Moviefone right here.
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