A “first” in both cinema and Catholic Church history will be made as the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis will play himself in the family film “Beyond the Sun” from AMBI Pictures.

In his feature film debut (and film debut for any Pope in the history of the Church), His Holiness Pope Francis portrays himself in the inspirational story based on the Gospels, told in several tales with Jesus’s message, so children can learn and incorporate Jesus’s parables.

The idea for the feature film emanated from Pope Francis asking the filmmakers to do a movie for children that communicates Jesus’s message.

Pope Francis is willing to participate in the movie to support charity as all profits from “Beyond the Sun” will be donated to two selected charities – El Almendro and Los Hogares de Cristo (located in Argentina) which support Pope Francis’ social and spiritual message within the film. These organizations help aid at-risk children and young adults in need. 

“Beyond the Sun” is a family adventure story where children from different cultures emulate the apostles while searching for Jesus in the world around them. The film will be uplifting and is intended to spiritually engage and encourage audiences of all ages to transmit Jesus words, to understand them and integrate them to live a better life, make good choices and help others.

Graciela Rodriguez wrote the film’s screenplay based on her own concept.

AMBI co-founders Andrea Iervolino and Lady Monika Bacardi are fully financing and producing the film through their AMBI Pictures banner. Co-producers are Graciela Rodriguez and Gabriel Leybu.

For Producer Andrea Iervolino, the movie represents a full circle return to where his career began. At the age of 15, Iervolino made his first film in his hometown of Cassino, Italy. It was the church in his home town that opened its doors and let him shoot this film within, sparking a career that has seen him produce over 50 films by age 27. “Beyond the Sun,” will have a special distinction among them.

Said Iervolino, “Our excitement and gratitude toward His Holiness, Pope Francis participating in this film is beyond words. This is not just a movie for us, it’s a message, and who better to have on your side to deliver an important societal and spiritual message than the Pope.” Iervolino added, “This movie will provide funds to support extremely worthwhile causes that we take very seriously. This message and cause are very dear to the entire AMBI family and we are honored and inspired by the level of collaboration from the Vatican.”

Monika Bacardi said: “It is a great honor for Andrea and I to have the opportunity to work with His Holiness, Pope Francis, to spread the awareness of his message, through this film. We will make a movie everyone involved with can be proud of. Not only will families from around globe enjoy this film and be entertained, but they will be moved. There are creative ways to help those in need all over the world and we hope this film does just that. We appreciate Pope Francis’s permission to film him and use his image in our movie.”

Principal photography is slated to begin early 2016 in Italy. AMBI will oversee worldwide distribution for “Beyond the Sun” through its Los Angeles-based international sales division, AMBI Distribution.

Monsegnior Eduardo Garcia will be Pope Francis’ advisor for “Beyond the Sun.”   

About AMBI

AMBI Group is a consortium of vertically integrated film development, production, finance and distribution companies wholly owned and operated by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Gomez del Campo Bacardi, Lady of Bayfield Hall, better known as “Monika Bacardi.”

AMBI has quickly emerged as one of the industry’s most prolific financing, production and sales companies with the capacity to develop, package, finance, produce and sell a broad array of films for worldwide distribution. Among the films on AMBI’s burgeoning film slate are a remake of Christopher Nolan’s iconic film Memento;  Lamborghini – The Legend, a biopic on Lamborghini founder Ferruccio Lamborghini to be written by Bobby Moresco; Septembers of Shiraz, starring  Salma Hayek and Adrien Brody; the contemporary fairy tale This Beautiful Fantastic starring Jessica Brown Findlay and Tom Wilkinson; a documentary feature about Federico Fellini title The Man of La Dolce Vita; James Franco’s In Dubious Battle, featuring an ensemble cast that includes Franco, Nat Wolff, Selena Gomez, Vincent D’Onofrio, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Bryan Cranston, Josh Hutcherson, Zach Braff and Sam Shepherd; the 3D CGI family animated film Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad, featuring the  voices of Jamie Foxx, John Cleese, Alec Baldwin, James Franco, Angelica Huston and Heidi Klum; the sci-fi thriller Rupture starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Chiklis and Peter Stormare; the psychological thriller Lavender starring Abbie Cornish and Dermot Mulroney; the romantic comedy All Roads Lead to Rome, starring Sarah Jessica Parker;  Barry Levinson’s acclaimed drama The Humbling, starring Al Pacino; and the sci-fi action thriller Andron: The Black Labyrinth, starring Alec Baldwin and Danny Glover, among several others.

AMBI recently made news with the acquisition of the Exclusive Media Group film library, which gives AMBI an incredibly diverse portfolio of critical hits, commercial blockbusters and cult favorites such as Begin Again, Cruel Intentions, Donnie Darko, End of Watch, Ides of March, Hit & Run, Memento, The Mexican, Parkland, Rush, The Skulls, Sliding Doors, Snitch, Undefeated and The Way Back, to name a few.  In addition to the library titles, AMBI now has the rights to a number of titles within EMG’s active movie development slate, as well as all sequel and remake rights to the popular EMG films.

Andrea Iervolino has produced, funded and distributed over 50 feature films including The Merchant of Venice, The Humbling and All Roads Lead to Rome, to name just a few. He is considered one of the youngest and most accomplished entrepreneurs in the Italian film industry. Iervolino was the recipient of the coveted Mimmo Rotella Award for his contributions to the Italian cinema industry. The award was presented to him at the 2014 Venice Film Festival, alongside fellow recipients Al Pacino and Barry Levinson. Iervolino most recently received the Honor of Recognition as Ambassador of Italian Cinema in the World at annual Italian Contemporary Film Festival (ICFF).

Lady Monika Bacardi is the widow of Luis Adalberto Facundo Gomez del Campo Bacardi, Lord of Bayfield Hall, known as Lord Luis Bacardi (descendent of the Bacardi founder, still a family-run company). Renowned for her passion of modern art and love of photography and movies, Monika Bacardi is a highly successful businesswoman who is now committed to producing films, through AMBI, on top of her numerous philanthropic activities. 

Since the trailer for Howard J Ford’s (Director/Co-Writer of the US number 1 genre hit ‘The Dead’)  ‘Never Let Go’  www.neverletgomovie.com was unveiled at last year’s Berlinale, it achieved substantial buyer interest leading up to the completed film’s Cannes preview where it was hailed by one critic as ‘the most gripping film of the festival’ and has since sold in 18 countries with TV dub’s underway in 7 languages.

Now nominated for the prestigious National Film awards both as best thriller and best Independent film, amongst such giants as ‘Spectre’, ‘Kingsman’, it would seem Brit director Howard (Repped by Gersh LA) is heading for another home run! http://nationalfilmawards.co.uk/nominations-for-the-national-film-awards-2016-revealed/

Howard today said 'The enthusiasm and reactions we get from the film are just incredible and given that I wrote the film after nearly loosing my own son whilst on holiday I'm happy to feel so much support for it, especially for the fact it is a female driven film, as I felt the market was lacking in this area. To be nominated amongst such incredible films is a huge honor and frankly just to be sat near Helen Mirren at the televised event next month is exciting enough, I'm not even going to dream about winning!!'

At Berlinale Archstone www.ArchstoneDistribution.com  is selling from suite 511, Ritz Carleton. For remaining territories email: pross@archstonedistribution.com

Director Howard J Ford will be in attendance 13th and 14th February. For meeting enquiries email: howard@latitudefilms.eu

A red carpet premiere of ‘Never Let Go’ in North America has today been announced and will be held weekend of 22nd April as part of Artemis Women in Action film festival in Los Angeles.

Howard is now attached as director to 2 further feature films including British female crime caper ‘Husk’ and Supernatural Thriller ‘Indelible’ due to shoot in the US later this year and is also in talks about a A-List remake of ‘Never Let Go’!

With actress Meryl Streep serving as Jury President  the International Jury will decide who will receive the Golden Bear and Silver Bears of the 2016 Berlinale Competition.

The other members of the International Jury will be actor Lars Eidinger (Germany), film critic Nick James (United Kingdom), photographer Brigitte Lacombe (France), actor Clive Owen (United Kingdom), actress Alba Rohrwacher (Italy) and director Małgorzata Szumowska (Poland).

Meryl Streep, Jury President, USA

Meryl Streep has appeared in over 40 films and is considered one of the world’s most talented and versatile actresses. She has received countless awards and nominations, including three wins among her unprecedented 19 Oscar nominations. She was honoured with a Golden Globe eight times and nominated an additional 20 times. Meryl Streep’s international breakthrough came in the late 1970s with the TV series Holocaust and Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter (1978, her first Oscar nomination), as well as the couples drama Kramer vs. Kramer (D: Robert Benton, 1979), for which she garnered her first Oscar statuette. She won further Academy Awards for her compelling performance in Sophie’s Choice (D: Alan J. Pakula, 1982) as well as her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (D: Phyllida Lloyd, 2011). Meryl Streep has been a guest at the Berlin International Film Festival on a number of occasions. In 1999, she was awarded the Berlinale Camera and, in 2003, she shared the Silver Bear with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman for their performances in The Hours (D: Stephen Daldry). In 2006, she could again be seen in the Berlinale Competition in Robert Altman’s ensemble comedy A Prairie Home Companion. The 2012 Berlinale Homage was dedicated to Meryl Streep and she was also awarded an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement. Most recently, Meryl Streep excelled in films such as the historical drama Suffragette (D: Sarah Gavron, 2015), Ricki and the Flash (D: Jonathan Demme, 2015) and the musical Into the Woods (D: Rob Marshall, 2014). She will next be seen in Stephen Frear’s Florence Foster Jenkins. As president of the Berlinale 2016 jury, Meryl Streep takes on the role of a juror at a film festival for the first time in her longstanding career.

Meryl Streep, Alba Rohrwacher, Clive Owen, Małgorzata Szumowska, Lars Eidinger, Brigitte Lacombe, Nick James

Lars Eidinger, Germany

Lars Eidinger is one of Germany’s most accomplished actors. He alternates between stage, screen and television roles without difficulty. Since 1999, he has been a member of the ensemble at Berlin’s Schaubühne theatre, where he has also directed plays. His most outstanding performances on the stage include Thomas Ostermeier’s production of “Hamlet”, which Eidinger has played nationally and internationally over 250 times since 2008.

His breakthrough on the screen was in Maren Ade’s Everyone Else, which won the Jury Grand Prix (Silver Bear) at the Berlinale in 2009. He participated in the Berlinale Competition again in 2012 with Home for the Weekend (D: Hans-Christian Schmid), and in 2015 with Sworn Virgin (D: Laura Bispuri). In that same year he was also in the Panorama section with Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents (D: Stina Werenfels). Eidinger, who has received many prizes, such as the Grimme Award and the German Film Critics’ Award, has played in international cinema productions, including most recently the period drama Matilda (D: Alexey Uchitel). Now, after Clouds of Sils Maria, he is working with Olivier Assayas again, as well as with Philipp Kadelbach in London, on the BBC series SS-GB starring Sam Riley.

Nick James, United Kingdom

Nick James is an internationally renowned film critic, author and programmer from the United Kingdom. In the late 1980s he began to write articles about film for “City Limits” magazine, where he soon became head of the film section. Since 1997 he is editor of the internationally celebrated film magazine “Sight & Sound”. His articles on film, art and literature have been published in, for instance, “The Guardian”, “The Observer”, “The Independent”, “Vogue”, the “London Review of Books” and “The Literary Review”. In 2002 “Heat”, his book about Michael Mann’s film of the same name, was published. In 2010 he received the title of Chevalier de L’ordre des arts et des lettres from the French Ministry of Culture. Since 2012 he has curated the “Deep Focus” film series, which is put on twice a year by the British Film Institute at BFI Southbank.

Brigitte Lacombe, France

Since the 1970s, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, who lives in New York, has ranked among the world’s best-known and most successful artists in her field. Her photographs frequently appear in publications such as “Vanity Fair”, “Vogue”, “The New Yorker”, “Zeit Magazin”, “The Financial Times”, and “The New York Times Magazine”. In 1975, one of her first big assignments took her to the Cannes Film Festival and ever since she has had very close links to the world of cinema. She works regularly as a special photographer visiting the film sets of directors such as Martin Scorsese, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Spike Jonze, Sam Mendes, David Mamet and Michael Haneke. From 2009 to 2013, she was commissioned by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) to take portraits of over 350 international filmmakers and actors, mostly from the Middle East region. Lacombe, who has received many prizes, including the Art Directors Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Photography, has published two books to date: “Lacombe anima / persona” (Steidl-Dangin, 2008) and “Lacombe cinema / theatre” (Schirmer/Mosel, 2001).

Clive Owen, United Kingdom

In 1991, right at the start of his career, Berlinale audiences got to see Clive Owen in Stephen Poliakoff’s Close My Eyes, which screened in the Panorama section. With it the English actor began a long list of impressive performances in which he has succeeded in balancing small arthouse productions such as Croupier (D: Mike Hodges, 1998) or Shadow Dancer (D: James Marsh, Competition - out of competition 2012) with big mainstream hits such as Sin City (2005). He received the Golden Globe and a nomination for an Oscar for Mike Nichols’s Closer (2005), and worked with directors such as Robert Altman (Gosford Park, 2001), Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, 2006) and Spike Lee (Inside Man, 2006). Owen, who is currently playing the lead in Soderbergh’s TV series The Knick (since 2014), for which he has been Golden Globe nominated, starred in Tom Tykwer’s political thriller The International (2008), which opened the Berlinale in 2009. This spring he will begin production on Luc Besson’s Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

Alba Rohrwacher, Italy

Alba Rohrwacher numbers amongst the most important actress of her generation. The daughter of a German father and Italian mother, she made her feature film debut with An Italian Romance (D: Carlo Mazzacurati) in 2004. Since then she has worked with numerous renowned Italian and international directors. She has already won the Italian David di Donatello film award twice (2007 and 2008). In 2009 she was celebrated as a European Shooting Star at the Berlinale and in Venice in 2014 she won the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress for her performance in Hungry Hearts (D: Saverio Costanzo). She had already made two Berlinale Special guest appearances, with What More Do I Want (D: Silvio Soldini, 2010) and Doris Dörrie's Bliss (2012), before she shone in the lead role in Laura Bispuri's 2015 Competition entry Sworn Virgin. Amongst her other successes are I Am Love (2009) by Luca Guadagnino, Dormant Beauty by Marco Bellocchio (2012) and Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders (2014).

Małgorzata Szumowska, Poland

Małgorzata Szumowska is among Poland’s most prominent filmmakers. She graduated in film directing from the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź. She has won several international awards and her films have been presented at the most important film festivals worldwide. Her first two feature films, Happy Man (2000) and Stranger (2004) were both nominated by the European Film Academy for European Discovery of the Year. The next movie 33 Scenes from Life was awarded at the film festival in Locarno. Szumowska’s films have been seen frequently in Berlin. Stranger was shown in the Panorama section in 2005. In 2012, Elles starring Juliette Binoche opened the Panorama and went on to theatrical distribution in more than 40 countries. Her first film in Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival was In the Name of, which won the Teddy Award at the 63rd Berlinale. Małgorzata Szumowska was seen in Competition here most recently in 2015, with Body, for which she won the Silver Bear for Best Director. The film went on to garner the most awards of any Polish film in 2015.

The International Jury presents the following awards:

Golden Bear for Best Film (awarded to the film’s producer)

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize for a feature film that opens new perspectives

Silver Bear for Best Director

Silver Bear for Best Actress

Silver Bear for Best Actor

Silver Bear for Best Script

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution in the categories camera, editing, music, score, costume or set design

Since 2006, when it introduced the Best First Feature Award, the Berlinale has been even more committed to supporting the next generation of film makers. The award is endowed with 50,000 Euros, donated by the GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrecht), a society dedicated to safeguarding film and television rights. The prize money is to be split between the producer and the director of the winning film. Additionally, the director will be awarded with a high-quality viewfinder as both a useful instrument and memorable trophy.

Festival Director Dieter Kosslick and the heads of the Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation, and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections have nominated a total of 18 directorial debuts. The winners will be announced at the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 20.

A three-person jury will decide on the Best First Feature Award:

Enrico Lo Verso (Italy)

Enrico Lo Verso was born in Palermo in 1964 and grew up in Syracuse. His first leading role, in The Stolen Children (1992) by Gianni Amelio, brought the Sicilian actor to international attention as well as gaining him nominations for the European Film Award and the Golden Globes in the Best Actor category. Following this he appeared before the camera for Gérard Corbiau in Farinelli (1994), Gianni Amelio in Lamerica (1994, European Film Award) and Ridley Scott in Hannibal (2001). He went on to later film with Giuseppe Tornatore Baarìa (2009). In addition, he has worked with such greats as Ettore Scola and Ricky Tognazzi. In 2012 audiences saw him in Edoardo Ponti's The Nightshift Belongs to the Stars, which won the Best Narrative Short award at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Ursula Meier (Switzerland / France)

Part Swiss part French director Ursula Meier studied film at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion (IAD) in Belgium. She was second assistant director on two films by Alain Tanner while also making her own short films. After two documentaries, she directed the TV film Strong Shoulders for Arte. Her first feature for the big screen, Home, premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival Semaine de la Critique. Her next film, Sister, was shown in Competition at the 2012 Berlinale and won a Silver Bear Special Award. Both films were the Swiss submissions for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, Home in 2009 and Sister in 2013. Ursula Meier directed the Quiet Mujo segment of the omnibus film Bridges of Sarajevo presented in official selection at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Ursula Meier was at the 2015 Berlinale with her documentary short Kacey Mottet Klein, Birth of an Actor (Generation).

Michel Franco (Mexico)

Director and producer Michel Franco was born in Mexico City and started making films whilst he was still a student. After various short films and commercials, he celebrated his feature debut in 2009 with Daniel & Ana, which was invited to the Directors' Fortnight sidebar in Cannes. Three years later he received the Un Certain Regard Award for After Lucia, also in Cannes. In 2015 he returned to the Croisette, where his Chronic, with Tim Roth in the lead role, won the Best Screenplay Award in the Competition. That same year 600 Miles, which Franco produced and was directed by Gabriel Ripstein, screened in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, winning the award for Best First Feature. Franco was also involved as a producer in the Venezuelan-Mexican coproduction Desde allá (D: Lorenzo Vigas), which won the Golden Lion at the 2015 Venice Film Festival.

The following 18 films are nominated for the Best First Feature Award:

Competition (2)

Genius – United Kingdom / USA

By Michael Grandage

With Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce

Inhebbek Hedi (Hedi) - Tunisia / Belgium / France

By Mohamed Ben Attia

With Majd Mastoura, Rym Ben Messaoud, Sabah Bouzouita, Hakim Boumessoudi, Omnia Ben Ghali

Panorama (5)

Aloys – Swiss / France
By Tobias Nölle
With Georg Friedrich, Tilde von Overbeck

Já, Olga Hepnarová (I, Olga Hepnarová) – Czech Republic / Poland / Slowak Republic / France 
By Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda
With Michalina Olszanska, Marta Mazurek, Ondrej Malý

Nakom – Ghana / USA
By Kelly Daniela Norris, TW Pittman
With Jacob Ayanaba, Grace Ayariga, Abdul Aziz, Justina Kulidu, Shetu Musah, Esther Issaka, Thomas Kulidu, James Azudago, Felicia Awinbe, Sumaila Ndaago

San Fu Tian (Dog Days) – Hong Kong, China / People’s Republic of China
By Jordan Schiele
With Huang Lu, Tian Mu Chen, Luo Lan Shan

Shelley – Denmark / Sweden
By Ali Abbasi
With Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Cosmina Stratan, Peter Christoffersen

Forum(4)

Akher ayam el madina (In the Last Days of the City) - Egypt / Germany / United Kingdom / United Arab Emirates

By Tamer El Said

With Khalid Abdalla, Laila Samy, Hanan Youssef, Maryam Saleh, Hayder Helo

Barakah yoqabil Barakah (Barakah Meets Barakah) - Saudi Arabia

By Mahmoud Sabbagh

With Hisham Fageeh, Fatima AlBanawi, Sami Hifny

Deadweight - Germany / Finland

By Axel Koenzen

With Tommi Korpela, Ema Vetean, Archie Alemania, Jeanne Balibar

Zhī fán yè mào (Life after Life) – People’s Republic of China

By Zhang Hanyi

With Zhang Li, Zhang Mingjun, Wang Ji Shan, Wie Xiao Min, Zhang Zhi Min

Generation (5)

6A - Sweden

By Peter Modestij

With Emine Özkan, Tyra Olin, Omeya Lundqvist, Caroline Söderström

Rara - Chile / Argentina

By Pepa San Martín

With Julia Lübbert, Emilia Ossandón, Mariana Loyola, Agustina Muñoz

Valderama - Iran

Von Abbas Amini

Mit Hamed Alipour, Nafiseh Zare, Gity Ghasemi, Assadolah Monjazi

Woorideul (The World of Us) – Republic of Korea (South Korea)

By Yoon Ga-eun

With Choi Soo-in, Seol Hye-in, Lee Seo-yeon

Zhaleika - Germany

By Eliza Petkova

With Anna Manolova, Snezhina Petrova, Mihail Stoyanov, Stoyko Ivanov

Perspektive Deutsches Kino(2)

Agonie (Agony) - Germany

By David Clay Diaz

With Samuel Schneider, Alexander Srtschin, Alexandra Schmidt

Meteorstraße (Meteor Street) - Germany

By Aline Fischer

With Hussein Eliraqui, Oktay Inanc Özdemir, Bodo Goldbeck

The Berlin International Film Festival will commemorate these outstanding artists by presenting three special screenings in their honour.

British music legend and artist David Bowie was one of most extraordinary all-round talents of recent decades. His close ties to Berlin go back to the time he spent in the German capital from 1976 to 1978. At the Berlinale he appeared in the documentaries Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart (D: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Panorama 1998), Scott Walker - 30 Century Man (D: Stephen Kijak, Panorama 2007), and Let’s Dance: Bowie Down Under (dir: Rubika Shah, Generation 2015); as well as in the fiction films The Man Who Fell to Earth (D: Nicolas Roeg, Competition 1976) and Mr Rice’s Secret (D: Nicholas Kendall, Generation 2000).

“David Bowie was a tremendous musician, an avant-garde artist who expressed his creativity in many disciplines,” says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.

To commemorate David Bowie, the 66th Berlin International Film Festival will show The Man Who Fell to Earth by Nicolas Roeg. The screening will take place with the support of Studiocanal at Friedrichstadt-Palast on Friday, February 12 at 9.00 pm.

Alan Rickman was one of the most distinguished character actors of stage and screen. The Briton achieved global fame especially for his performances in films such as Die Hard (D: John McTiernan, 1988), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (D: Kevin Reynolds, 1991) and as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films (2001-2011). Rickman was a guest of the Berlinale several times – with the Competition entries Sense and Sensibility (D: Ang Lee, 1995) and Snow Cake (D: Marc Evans, 2006), as well as with Close My Eyes (D: Stephen Poliakoff, 1991) in the Panorama section.

“His ability to transform himself, his artistry in playing ambivalent characters and his distinctive voice made Alan Rickman a great actor,” says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.

To commemorate Alan Rickman the Berlinale will show Sense and Sensibility by Ang Lee, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 1996. The screening will take place at Kino International on Tuesday, February 16 at 10.30 pm.

Ettore Scola, one of Italy’s greatest filmmakers, directed over 40 films and received countless awards. While he was still a cartoonist for a satirical newspaper, Federico Fellini introduced him into the world of post-war Italian cinema. However it was not until 1964, after years of working as a screenwriter, that he made his own directorial debut with Let’s Talk About Women. In the 1970s, Ettore Scola found international success with films such as We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974); Ugly, Dirty and Bad (1976), for which he won best director at Cannes; and A Special Day, which picked up two Oscar nominations in 1978. Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Nino Manfredi and Jean-Louis Trintignant are only a few of the legendary stars that he directed, and some of them a number of times. In 1984 with Le bal, he participated for the first time in the Competition of the Berlinale and won the Silver Bear for Best Director. He returned to Berlin with the Competition entry Captain Fracassa’s Journey in 1991.

“Ettore Scola was a master of Italian comedy, a social critic who observed everyday life with intelligence, wit and political acumen,” says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.

To commemorate Ettore Scola, the 66th Berlin International Film Festival will show the film Le bal at CinemaxX 6 on Thursday, February 18 at 4.00 pm.

Since 1986 the Berlin International Film Festival has presented the Berlinale Camera to film personalities or institutions to which it feels particularly indebted and wishes to express its thanks.

At the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, three personalities will be awarded the Berlinale Camera: producer, cinema operator and film distributor Ben Barenholtz (USA); actor, director, writer and producer Tim Robbins (USA); and cinema operator Marlies Kirchner (Germany).

Ben Barenholtz

Born in Eastern Poland, now part of Ukraine, Ben Barenholtz became one of the most important figures in the American indie film scene. He immigrated to the US in 1947 and began his career as an assistant manager of the RKO Bushwick movie theatre in New York in 1959. From 1966 to 1968, he managed the Village Theater, which became an important venue for the counterculture and anti-Vietnam protests. It also featured many jazz giants of that period, such as Nina Simone and John Coltrane, as well as bands like The Who and Cream. In 1968, he opened the Elgin Cinema, which became a key venue for independent filmmakers and repertory cinema. It provided a home for the early film works by luminaries such as Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, and the revival of the Buster Keaton films. He invented the legendary “midnight movie” format, with the screening of El Topo (D: Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970), which helped raise underground filmmaking to cult status. In 1972, Barenholtz founded the distribution company Libra Films, which released films such as Just Before Nightfall (D: Claude Chabrol, 1971), Cousin Cousine (D: Jean-Charles Tacchella, 1975) and Eraserhead (D: David Lynch, 1977). In 1984, he joined Circle Releasing as President, distributing such films as 36 Fillette (D: Catherine Breillat, 1988), Tales from Gimli Hospital (D: Guy Maddin, 1988), Thérèse (D: Alain Cavalier, 1986), and Blood Simple (1984), the Coen brothers’ first feature film.

Barenholtz began his involvement in film production with the Coen brothers, serving as executive producer on Raising Arizona (1987), Miller’s Crossing (1990), and Barton Fink (1991), which swept the three top prizes at the Cannes film festival. He went on to produce many successful films, such as Georgia (D: Ulu Grosbard, 1995) and Requiem for a Dream (D: Darren Aronofsky, 2000). In 2008, he was invited to join the Jury for the Best First Feature Award at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival. He made his directorial debut, Music Inn, about the famous music venue, in 2005, which was followed by Wakaliwood: The Documentary (2012), shot entirely in Kampala, Uganda.

Ben Barenholtz will be awarded the Berlinale Camera on Friday, February 12, 2016 at 2.30 pm in the cinema at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, with the Coen brothers in attendance. A Q&A moderated by Michael Barker will follow a screening of the work-in-progress documentary Perseverance, which was produced by Polish Television, and deals with Barenholtz’s entire life.

The Berlinale Camera award to Ben Barenholtz kicks off a new tradition of honouring an outstanding producer with the prestigious award each year as part of the European Film Market.

Tim Robbins

American Tim Robbins has been a successful working actor, director, writer and producer in Hollywood for almost 40 years. He won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Mystic River (D: Clint Eastwood, 2003), and a Best Actor Award at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival for his role in Robert Altman’s The Player (1992). His additional acting credits include such films as Bull Durham (D: Ron Shelton, 1988), Robert Altman’s Short Cuts (1993), The Shawshank Redemption (D: Frank Darabont, 1994), The Hudsucker Proxy (D: Joel & Ethan Coen, 1994), Isabel Coixet’s The Secret Life of Words (2005) and Fernando León de Aranoa’s A Perfect Day (2015.)

Robbins wrote and directed the 1992 political satire, Bob Roberts, and the 1999 film, Cradle Will Rock, which earned a nomination for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and won two Gran Angular Awards – Best Film and Best Director – at the Sitges Film Festival (Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya.) The death row drama, Dead Man Walking, won several prizes at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival, including a Silver Bear for lead actor Sean Penn, and went on to earn four Academy Award nominations, with Susan Sarandon winning for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Robbins attended the Berlinale once again in 2013 as a member of the International Jury. 

In addition to his work on film, Robbins is founder of The Actors’ Gang, a theatre ensemble based in Los Angeles where he has served for over 30 years as Artistic Director. The Gang has been touring throughout the US and internationally with productions of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, George Orwell’s “1984”, “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine” and “Embedded”.

Additionally, the Actors’ Gang Prison Project works to help California prison inmates rehabilitate themselves through the arts, with acting members of the Gang, including Robbins, working with inmates in several California Prisons. To date more than 500 inmates have participated in The Prison Project, which recently received the endorsement of the California Department of Corrections and the U.S. Justice Department.

In 2014, Robbins was honored with the National Guild for Community Arts Education Leadership Award, recognizing his innovative and socially conscious work as a film and theater artist, his passionate commitment to equity and social justice, as well as his steadfast advocacy and support for arts education. The Guild noted that “The Prison Project at The Actors' Gang is an inspiring, national model for our field which demonstrates the power of arts participation to unlock human potential and creativity, heal, and transform lives.”

The Berlinale Camera will be awarded to Tim Robbins on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 10.30 pm in the Kino International cinema, with Catalan director Isabel Coixet giving the honorific speech and German actor Louis Klamroth presenting. The award ceremony will be followed by a screening of Dead Man Walking (1995).

Marlies Kirchner

Cinema operator Marlies Kirchner has been dedicated to film for more than 40 years. She first worked for distributor Neue Filmkunst at Cannes, before becoming co-owner of the arthouse Theatiner Filmkunst in Munich. She initially ran it together with her husband, Walter Kirchner, before becoming sole operator in 1975. The cinema, in a listed building, opened in 1957 with the Italian comedy Cops and Robbers starring Totò and, over the years, has become a Munich institution and mecca for movie devotees. The cinema has always presented a programme of high-quality films. From films banned in the Nazi era to avant-garde films, and European auteur cinema, usually shown in their original language with subtitles, the repertory offers Munich’s moviegoers a diverse and sophisticated selection of films. The distribution arm, Neue Filmkunst, supplements that with discoveries from film festivals. The film theatre’s contribution to keeping art films alive and Marlies Kirchner’s endeavours in sustaining high quality cinema in the Bavarian state capital have been honoured several times with the city’s prize for cinemas (“Kinoprogrammpreis”), most recently in 2015. The Munich film festival also dedicated its 1999 homage to her.

Marlies Kirchner will be awarded the Berlinale Camera on Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 12.30 pm at the Berlinale Lunch Club.

The Berlinale Camera has been awarded since 1986. Until 2003 it was donated by Berlin-based jeweller David Goldberg. From 2004 through 2013 Georg Hornemann Objects, a Dusseldorf-based atelier, sponsored the trophy, which goldsmith Hornemann then redesigned for the Berlinale in 2008: Modelled on a real camera, the Berlinale Camera has 128 finely crafted individual components. Many of these silver and titanium parts, such as the swivel head and tripod, are movable.

For the seventh year running, the special series Berlinale Goes Kiez will roll through a variety of Berlin’s independent cinemas on seven festival evenings and roll out the red carpet on neighbourhood sidewalks, not only to welcome local and international guests but also to honour the cinemas themselves along with their faithful audience.

From February 13 to 19 2016, one independent neighbourhood cinema per evening will be featured as an additional festival venue and present selected films from the various sections of the Berlinale.

Numerous guests from the film teams have already announced their intention to attend and take advantage of the opportunity to present their work personally and engage in conversations with the audience after their screenings.

No less than four of the seven cinemas will be taking part in Berlinale Goes Kiez for the first time. Neukölln’s IL KINO, which opened one year ago, will kick off the special series with two Asian films from Panorama (Jug-yeo-ju-neun Yeo-ja | The Bacchus Lady) and Forum (Lao Shi | Old Stone). An eclectic evening awaits the audience in ACUDkino, with Berlin um die Ecke (Berlin Around the Corner) from the Retrospective and Boris sans Béatrice (Boris without Béatrice) from the Competition section.

The Neue Kammerspiele in Kleinmachnow will also show two films from the Competition section of the festival, Cartas da Guerra (Letters from War) and 24 Wochen (24 Weeks). And in City Kino Wedding, located in the Centre Français de Berlin, the Culinary Cinema section will welcome its guests to the neighbourhood with The Singhampton Project. A menu inspired by the documentary film will be presented by Vincent Garcia at the Restaurant Pastis. Finally, the Kino UNION in Friedrichshagen will be celebrating the grand opening of two new projection rooms together with Berlinale Goes Kiez.

For every cinema, a prominent filmmaker will serve as a “cinema patron” for the evening and thus help to support the cultural mission of the neighbourhood movie theatre. On opening night, Sebastian Schipper, who presented his film Victoria in the series last year, will be our guest at IL KINO.

Festival Director Dieter Kosslick: “The festival would like to thank these brave champions of independent neighbourhood theatres, who have created a place where film can grow beyond the screen with their cinemas. They make a great effort to ensure that a simple trip to the movies can also lead to a dialogue – we are delighted to be able to support them in these efforts with Berlinale Goes Kiez.”

Programme
Saturday, February 13 at IL KINO, Neukölln

18.30 pm Panorama: Jug-yeo-ju-neun Yeo-ja (The Bacchus Lady) by E J-yong

21.30 pm Forum: Lao Shi (Old Stone) by Johnny Ma

Sunday, February 14 at Toni & Tonino, Weißensee

15.30 pm Generation Kplus: Rara by Pepa San Martín

18.30 pm Competition: Mahana (The Patriarch) by Lee Tamahori

21.30 pm Competition: Inhebbek Hedi (Hedi) by Mohamed Ben Attia

Monday, February 15 at ACUDkino, Mitte

18.30 pm Retrospective: Berlin um die Ecke (Berlin Around the Corner) by Gerhard Klein

21.30 pm Competition: Boris sans Béatrice (Boris without Béatrice) by Denis Côté

Tuesday, February 16 at Neue Kammerspiele, Kleinmachnow

18.30 pm Competition: Cartas da Guerra (Letters from War) by Ivo M. Ferreira

21.30 pm Competition: 24 Wochen (24 Weeks) by Anne Zohra Berrached

Wednesday, February 17 at Kino UNION, Friedrichshagen

18.30 pm Generation 14plus: Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank) by Hans Steinbichler

21.30 pm Panorama: Jonathan by Piotr J. Lewandowski

Thursday, February 18 at Babylon, Kreuzberg

18.30 pm Competition: Alone in Berlin by Vincent Perez

21.30 pm Berlinale Shorts Go Kiez

Hopptornet (Ten Meter Tower) by Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck

Another City by Pham Ngoc Lan

Love by Réka Bucsi

personne by Christoph Girardet, Matthias Müller
Notre Héritage (Our Legecy) by Jonathan Vinel in Zusammenarbeit mit Caroline Poggi

Friday, February 19 at City Kino Wedding at the Centre Français de Berlin

15.00 pm Homage: Die Ehe der Maria Braun(The Marriage of Maria Braun) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

18.30 pm Culinary Cinema Goes Kiez: Schwarzbunt Märchen by Detlev Buck, Roger Heeremann; The Singhampton Project by Jonathan Staav. To be followed by a dinner at Restaurant Pastis

21.30 pm Perspektive Deutsches Kino: Meteorstraße(Meteor Street) by Aline Fischer

UNDERFIRE

The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro

An HBO Film.

Trailer.

Executive Produced by Tim Van Patten (Game of Thrones, Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire)

In 1943, Tony Vaccaro, a WWII Italian-American infantryman, smuggled his $47 portable camera into combat, and, in thousands of images, created the most comprehensive and intimate record of war. Shooting with gun and camera at great risk, Tony developed photos in combat helmets at night and hung negatives from tree branches. After the war, he kept these photos locked away for decades in an effort to forget the war. UNDERFIRE retraces Tony's moving journey through Europe, still very fit at 93, with these remarkable photographs that celebrate the life amidst the horror of war.

A film by Aslı Özge

produced by EEE Productions (DE), Topkapi Films (NL), Haut et Court (FR)

world sales Memento Films International

year of production: 2016, 112 minutes

The feature film ALL OF A SUDDEN by director Aslı Özge will celebrate its world premiere in the Panorama Special section of the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival. Born and raised in Istanbul, and since 2000 also Berlin-based, director Aslı Özge has crafted her first German language film that confronts questions of guilt and justice and explores the pressure that society can impose on an individual. A young man’s entire existence is put at risk by a single decision.

ALL OF A SUDDEN is Aslı Özge's third feature film and her second appearance at the Berlinale in three years. Her feature LIFELONG screened in Panorama Special of Berlinale 2013. Her feature film debut MEN ON THE BRIDGE premiered internationally in Locarno in 2009 and won a string of awards including Best Turkish Film. Özge's critically acclaimed films were released in numerous territories. In ALL OF A SUDDEN the director creates a powerful vision of German society and the destructive forces that unfold in a situation of profound uncertainty.

ALL OF A SUDDEN features lead Sebastian Hülk ('The White Ribbon', ‘Inglourious Basterds'), Julia Jentsch ('Sophie Scholl', 'Hannah Arendt, 'The Edukators'), Hanns Zischler ('Munich'), Sascha Gersak ('Five Years') and Luise Heyer ('Jack').

ALL OF A SUDDEN is an international collaboration that has brought together highly acknowledged producers. ALL OF A SUDDEN is produced by EEE Production’s Fabian Massah ('4 Minutes', 'Atlantic', 'Men On The Bridge') in coproduction with Topkapi Films ('The Broken Circle Breakdown', 'Post Tenebras Lux', Netherlands), Haut et Court ('The Lobster', 'The Class', France) and WDR/Arte. International sales are handled by Memento Films International.

Synopsis: After the party in Karsten’s apartment, everybody leaves except Anna. Admiringly, Karsten approaches this mysterious woman. How could he have known, that in a moment of weakness, his well-established life would spiral out of control and turn into a disaster? In this small provincial German town, disappointment soon fuels anger, justice hides behind hypocrisy, and evil gradually unfolds. In a unique way of visual storytelling, ALL OF A SUDDEN explores the upheaval of human minds stirred by profoundly unsettled truths.

Niloya Trailer

In Focus: Diverse Documentary Forms and Events

The Berlin International Film Festival has long been committed to documentaries in their diverse forms. This is reflected in the programmes of the Berlinale’s different sections and initiatives, as well as in the European Film Market (EFM) and Berlinale Talents.

In 2016, a total of 77 documentaries will be screening in a variety of forms. In addition, discussion of a wide range of different aspects related to documentaries will be intensified – at workshops, panels and presentations.

Here is a list of the films and events in 2016:

European Film Market (EFM) - “Meet the Docs”

The EFM documentary networking platform “Meet the Docs” will take place for the eighth time in 2016. The initiative, in collaboration with the European Documentary Network (EDN), promotes exchange among the international documentary industry, who can meet and mingle at the “Meet the Docs” stand in the Martin-Gropius-Bau. Accredited Festival and Market visitors can participate in the enhanced panel series programme and one-on-one meeting format “Meet the Festivals” with programmers of international documentary film festivals and benefit from a documentary film project consulting by EDN.

Films in the “Docs Spotlight” series

Under the roof of “Meet the Docs”, the “Docs Spotlights” series by CPH:DOX, IDFA and DOK Leipzig present a selection of the previous documentary festival programmes.

A Good American
Friedrich Moser | Slingshot Films

Becoming Zlatan
Fredrik Gertten, Magnus Gertten | Autlook Filmsales

Between Fences
Avi Mograbi | Doc & Film International

 

Cinema, mon amour
Alexandru Belc | Romanian Film Center 

Democracy
David Bernet | Doc & Film International

Francofonia
Alexander Sokurov | Films Boutique 

Homo Sapiens
Nikolaus Geyrhalter | NGF Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Human
Yann Arthus-Bertrand | Kinovista 

Man Falling
Anne Wivel | Wide House 

Nice People
Anders Helgeson, Karin af Klintberg | First Hand Films

Shadow World
Johan Grimonprez | Wide House 

Snow Monkey
George Gittoes | Cinephil 

Song of Lahore
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Andy Schocken | Autlook Filmsales

The Swedish Theory of Love
Erik Gandini | First Hand Films 

Thru You Princess
Ido Haar | Go2Films

“Meet the Docs” Panel Programme

Meet the Docs: Distributors

February 13 - 16, 2.00 – 3.00 pm, EFM Producers Hub

International leading documentary distributors will briefly introduce themselves, their company profiles and what kind of documentaries they are looking for.

Meet the Docs: Festivals

February 12 - 16, 11.00 am – 12.00 pm at the Meet the Docs stand (MGB 2nd floor)

This session series introduces documentary film festivals, which will share their insights and insides and answer questions in one-on-one meetings.

Meet the Docs: Talks

February 13 - 16, 5.30 – 6.00 pm at the “Meet the Docs”/ American Independents in Berlin stands (MGB 2nd floor): a joint panel series focussing on current documentary topics being discussed from a European as well as US perspective. In collaboration with IFP & the Sundance Institute.

Talks 2016

Documentary Training & Markets               

Documentary VOD              

Documentary Formats                     

Documentary Series

Meet the Docs: Conversations

Conversations focusing on current doc industry topics, co-hosted by our doc festival partners: CPH:DOX, DOK Leipzig, IDFA, Vision du reel and Hot Docs.

New this year: IMCINE – Instituto Méxicano Cinematografía is an official host at Meet the Docs – presenting a panel as well as the EFM Doc Industry Lunch

Friday, February 12, 4-5pm at the EFM Producers Hub

Campaigns around documentaries – Busting the Myths!

In collaboration with DOK Leipzig

More and more producers and distributors experiment with outreach campaigns that engage audiences in new ways, build non-profit partnerships, or aim to make the world a better place. Interrogated by DOK Leipzig’s Brigid O’Shea, Ben Kempas (Filmmaker, Campaigner) will be on a mission to counter 12 of the most common misconceptions around outreach work.

February 13, 4-5pm at the EFM Producers Hub

Truth and dare: The art and politics of contemporary documentary practice

In collaboration with CPH:DOX

In an era where social impact is on the agenda of documentary filmmaking, where does this leave the artistic thinking? Meet festival director Tine Fischer (CPH:DOX) and London-based curator and producer Jacqui Davies along with two prominent artists and filmmakers  for a discussion of the relation between art, political thinking and documentary film.

Sunday, February 14, 4-5pm at the EFM Producers Hub

Different Roads and Radical Approaches: Three Exciting Dutch Filmmakers

In collaboration with IDFA

Three up-and-coming Dutch directors talk about their cinematic approaches, which were rewarded with IDFA Awards in 2015, and the roads they've taken to reach the Berlinale. Featuring Niki Padidar (Ninnoc – selected for Generation Kplus), Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan (Strike a Pose – selected for Panorama Dokumente).

Monday, February 15, 4-5pm at the EFM Producers Hub:

Hybrid Cinema: California City, a Contemporary Case Study

In collaboration with Vision du réel

Conversation between Bastian Günther, German filmmaker and Sonia Otto, producer at Indi Film, Germany, moderated by Luciano Barisone, Director of Visions du réel.

Tue, Feb 16, 4-5pm at the EFM Producers Hub:

Documentary Storytelling in Mexico: a Transnational_Transnarrative Approach

Hosted by IMCINE – Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía

The stories and practices documentary filmmakers do that engages them with Mexico, the U.S. and Central America. Panelists representing Mexico/ Central America: Tatiana Huezo (director; Tempestad selected for Forum), Adriana Trujillo (Doc Station at Berlinale Talents 2016), Kyzza Terrazas (filmmaker, writer) as well as Charlotte Uzu (Les Films d’Ici).

Berlinale Talents

Doc Station 2016

Ten documentarists from five continents receive a week of assistance in developing their next project. In cooperation with German Federal Film Board (FFA), Sources 2 and ZDF/ARTE

Doc Station Directors in 2015: 10 projects, 5 continents
Mila Turajlic, The Labudovic Files, Serbia / Algeria
Jennifer Rainsford, Stories From The Debris, Sweden
Madsen Minax, At The River, USA
Adam Bizanski, The Badir Brothers, Israel
Adriana Trujillo, 1821: The Era Of Good Feelings, Mexico / France
Marko Sipka, The Land, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mich’ael Zupraner, Abu Naim, Israel
Afsaneh Salari, The Silhouettes, Iran
Nele Wohlatz, The Perfect Future, Argentina
Gabrielle Brady, No Man Is an Island, Australia / Germany 

For more information on the 10 selected projects, please go to www.berlinale-talents.de/bt/find/both  

The Doc Station project presentation will take place on Wednesday February 17, 2016 from 10.30 am - 12.00 noon at the Gropius Mirror Restaurant across the European Film Market.

Doc Station Mentors in 2016:
Kathrin Brinkmann, ZDF/ARTE, Germany
Don Edkins, AfriDocs, South Africa
Jakob Kirstein Høgel, Meta Film, Denmark
Merle Kröger, pong, Germany
Meike Martens, Blinker Filmproduktion, Germany
Ulla Simonen, Made Film (Finland) und Sources 2 (Germany)  

 

Events with a focus on documentary film

To the Dark Side: Investigative Documentary
Thursday, February 18, 5-6pm at HAU1
With Alex Gibney

No Time to Remember: Film on the Move
Sunday, February 14, 11.30 am-1.30 pm at HAU3

Connected Stories II: Immersing, Integrating, Involving
Sunday, February 14 following Connected Stories I: Prototyping, Participation and Personalisation (2.30-6.00 pm) at HAU3
In cooperation with Medienboard and Creative Skillset

An additional screening of Panorama-film Uncle Howard will be held at Berlinale Talents.

Competition (2)

Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) - Italy / France
By Gianfranco Rosi
World premiere

Zero Days - USA
By Alex Gibney
World premiere

Berlinale Special (4)

National Bird - USA
By Sonia Kennebeck
World premiere

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble - USA
By Morgan Neville
European premiere

The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger - United Kingdom
By Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth, Bartek Dziadosz, Tilda Swinton
World premiere

Where To Invade Next - USA
By Michael Moore
European premiere

Panorama (17)

Brüder der Nacht (Brothers of the Night) - Austria 
By Patric Chiha
World premiere

Curumim - Brazil
By Marcos Prado
World premiere

Der Ost-Komplex (The GDR Complex) - Germany
By Jochen Hick
World premiere

Don't Blink - Robert Frank - USA / France
By Laura Israel
International premiere

Europe, She Loves - Switzerland / Germany
By Jan Gassmann
World premiere

Hotel Dallas - Romania / USA
By Livia Ungur, Sherng-Lee Huang
World premiere

Inside the Chinese Closet - Netherlands
By Sophia Luvarà
International premiere

Kiki - Schweden / USA
By Sara Jordenö
European premiere

Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures - USA / Germany
By Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
With Edward Mapplethorpe, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, Brooke Shields
International premiere

Mariupolis - Lithuania / France / Germany / Ukraine
By Mantas Kvedaravicius
World premiere

Strike a Pose - Netherlands
By Ester Gould, Reijer Zwaan
With Thomas den Drijver
World premiere

The Lovers and the Despot - United Kingdom
By Rob Cannan
European premiere

Uncle Howard - United Kingdom / USA
By Aaron Brookner
With Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver, Tom DiCillo, Brad Gooch, Frederic Withterand
European premiere

WEEKENDS – Republic of Korea (South Korea)
By Lee Dong-ha
World premiere

Who's Gonna Love Me Now? - Israel
By Tomer Heymann, Barak Heymann
World premiere

Wu Tu (My Land) - People’s Republic of China
By Jian Fan
European premiere

Zona Norte - Germany
By Monika Treut
World premiere

Forum (19)

A Magical Substance Flows into Me - Palestine / Germany / United Kingdom
By Jumana Manna
World premiere

And-Ek Ghes... - Germany
By Philip Scheffner und Colorado Velcu
World premiere

Bein gderot (Between Fences) - 
Israel / France
By Avi Mograbi
World premiere

Dubina dva (Depth Two) - Serbia / France
By Ognjen Glavonić
World premiere

Eldorado XXI - Portugal / France
By Salomé Lamas
World premiere

Fei cui zhi cheng (City of Jade) - Taiwan / Myanmar
By Midi Z
World premiere

Die Geträumten (The Dreamed Ones) - Austria
By Ruth Beckermann
World premiere

Havarie - Germany
By Philip Scheffner
World premiere

Homo sapiens - Austria
By Nikolaus Geyrhalter
World premiere

Kate Plays Christine - USA
By Robert Greene
International premiere

Landstück (Piece of Land) - Germany
By Volker Koepp
World premiere

Makhdoumin (A Maid for Each)
 - Lebanon / France / Norway / United Arab Emirates
By Maher Abi Samra
World premiere

Manazil bela abwab (Houses without Doors) – Syria / Lebanon
By Avo Kaprealian
World premiere

P.S. Jerusalem - Canada
By Danae Elon
European premiere

The Revolution Won’t Be Televised - Senegal
By Rama Thiaw
World premiere

Rio Corgo - Switzerland / Portugal
By Maya Kosa und Sergio da Costa
International premiere

Les Sauteurs (Those Who Jump) - Denmark
By Moritz Siebert, Estephan Wagner und Abou Bakar Sidibé
World premiere

Ta’ang – Hong Kong, China / France
By Wang Bing
World premiere

Tempestad - Mexico
By Tatiana Huezo
World premiere

Generation (7)

Aurelia y Pedro (Aurelia and Pedro) - Mexico
By Omar Robles, José Permar
World premiere

Genç Pehlivanlar (Young Wrestlers) - Turkey / Netherlands
By Mete Gümürhan
World premiere

Life on the Border - Syria / Iraq
By Hazem Khodeideh, Basmeh Soleiman, Sami Hossein, Rounahi Ezadin, Diar Omar, Delovan Kekha, Mahmod Ahmad, Zohur Saeid
European premiere

Neiwa - Mexico
By Abraham Cruz Herrera, Javier Vázquez Cervantes
World premiere 

Ninnoc - Netherlands
By Niki Padidar
International premiere

Royahaye Dame Sobh (Starless Dreams) - Iran
By Mehrdad Oskouei
World premiere 

Skatekeet - Netherlands
By Edward Cook
International premiere

Berlinale Shorts (8)

Oustaz - Chad
By Bentley Brown
World premiere

A Man Returned - United Kingdom / Netherlands / Denmark
By Mahdi Fleifel
International premiere

Hopptornet (Ten Meter Tower) - Sweden
By Maximilien Van Aertryck & Axel Danielson
International premiere

He Who Eats Children - USA
By Ben Russell
World premiere - documentary / experimental film

El Buzo (The Diver) - Mexico
By Esteban Arrangoiz
International premiere

Das águas que passam (Running Waters) - Brazil
By Diego Zon
World premiere

Balada de um Batráquio (Batrachian's Ballad) - Portugal
By Leonor Teles
World premiere - documentary / experimental film

Los murmullos (Murmurings) - Mexico
By Rubén Gámez

Perspektive Deutsches Kino (6)

Hinter dem Schneesturm (Beyond the Snowstorm) - Germany
By Levin Peter

Pallasseum - Unsichtbare Stadt (Pallasseum - Invisible City) -Germany
By Manuel Inacker
World premiere

Die Prüfung (The Audition) - Germany
By Till Harms
World premiere

Research Refugees: Meinungsaustausch (Research Refugees: Doulogue) - Germany
By Sophia Bösch, Sophie Linnenbaum
World premiere

Valentina - Germany
By Maximilian Feldmann
World premiere

Wer ist Oda Jaune? (Who is Oda Jaune?) - Germany
By Kamilla Pfeffer
World premiere

 

Culinary Cinema (14)

Ants on a Shrimp - Netherlands 
By Maurice Dekkers
World premiere

Café Nagler - Israel 
By Mor Kaplansky
International premiere

Campo a través. Mugaritz, intuyendo un camino (Off-Road. Mugaritz, Feeling a Way.) - Spain 
By Pep Gatell
International premiere

Cooked - Air - USA 
By Ryan Miller
World premiere

Cooked - Fire - USA
By Alex Gibney
World premiere

How to Build an Igloo - Canada 
By Douglas Wilkinson

In Defense of Food - USA 
By Michael Schwarz
German premiere

Kivalina - USA 
By Gina Abatemarco
World premiere

Vleesverlangen (Need for Meat) - Netherlands 
By Marijn Frank
International premiere

Noma – My Perfect Storm - United Kingdom 
By Pierre Deschamps
German premiere

Portret van een tuin (Portrait of a Garden) - Netherlands 
By Rosie Stapel
International premiere

Schwarzbunt Märchen - Germany 
By Detlev Buck

The Singhampton Project - Canada 
By Jonathan Staav
European premiere

Wanton Mee - Singapore 
By Eric Khoo
German premiere

Leading Chinese production and distribution outfit Fundamental Films and Company Films announced that Harald Zwart (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, The Karate Kid) will direct their upcoming action film, Rally Car, (working title) starring Keanu Reeves (John Wick, The Matrix Trilogy). Jeremy Lott (Spy Kids) has penned the script which is based on a treatment by Stephen Hamel. Reeves and Hamel will produce under their Company Films banner along with Fundamental Films Chairman Mark Gao and President Gregory Ouanhon, while EVP of Development, Gary Glushon, will Executive Produce. Fundamental Films is financing the project, with IM Global handling international sales and introducing the film to buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market next week.  CAA is representing the U.S. rights.

Rally Car centers on a hot shot former champion NASCAR driver (Reeves), who doesn’t want to believe his glory days are behind him. When his professional and personal life begin to spiral out of control, he’s forced to take part in a high stakes international rally race across the face of China, with a young Chinese girl as his co-driver, in order to prove he’s still the badass racer he thinks he is.

Fundamental Films Chairman Mark Gao said of the project: “This is a story that will resonate with audiences worldwide and we’re looking forward to the thrilling ride Harald Zwart will be taking us on. The project promises to be action-packed, full of high-octane car-chases, heart-pumping adventure and visually stunning locations to showcase some of the most dramatic landscapes of China.”

Company Films’ Stephen Hamel added: “We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with Fundamental Films and this is such an incredible opportunity to shoot on location in China. Big stunts and fast cars jamming through some of the most amazing locations on earth. We couldn’t be more pleased that Harald has joined us to direct. He has a real passion for the project and vision for the action and the drama that is spot on. This is going to be a blast on the big screen.” Hamel is currently producing the Morten Tyldum-directed Passengers starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.

 Rally Car is the second collaboration between Fundamental and Company Films, following Replicas, also starring Reeves and based on Hamel’s treatment.

Harald Zwart, Keanu Reeves and Company Films are represented by CAA, and Jeremy Lott is represented by CAA and Aperture Entertainment.

 Fundamental Films continues to grow beyond distribution in the Chinese market, steadily becoming an international player in film financing, funding and the co-production of international projects. The company is currently working on a number of local and international productions, including Luc Besson’s big-budget graphic-novel Valerian, where Fundamental is the main financier, and Matthias Hoene’s Warrior’s Gate, amongst others.  

Brenton Thwaites (MALEFICENT, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES, THE GIVER) has been cast in the picture which the Exchange will be selling at Berlinale and EFM'16, February 11 - 19, 2016.

OFFICE UPRISING tells the story inside one of the worlds leading arms manufacturers where a substance is slipped into the employees' drinks by the board of directors that supposedly makes them work more efficiently. Due to a slacker within the company though, they are fed the wrong formula and start turning into homicidal maniacs. It soon is up to the slacker to step up his game to rescue himself and his friends from the growing Zombie plague inside the company compound. 

OFFICE UPRISING is directed by Steven C. Miller (MARAUDERS, EXTRACTION, AGGRESSION SCALE, SILENT NIGHT) and written by Ian Shorr (SPLINTER, ALWAYS WATCHING: A MARBLE HORNETS STORY) and Peter Gamble. The film is produced by Giulia Prenna (THE EVIL GENE, GREYSTONE PARK), and William Clevinger (THE BITS ARE COMING, SUBMERGED). 

"Fans of the growing zombie genre craze are going to love Office Uprising," said O'Shea, "We are truly excited to have cast Brenton Thwaites, a sensational, versatile young leading man who will hit the comedic notes and sell the action. Similar to Nicholas Hoult in WARM BODIES, and Jesse Eisenberg in ZOMBIELAND, Brenton Thwaites has the star quality to make OFFICE UPRISING into a breakout theatrical hit."

About The Exchange:

Collaborative and transparent, The Exchange is a leading international sales and finance company committed to creating strong relationships between filmmakers, film financers and distributors through the exchange of product, information and commerce. Created by veteran sales executive Brian O'Shea, the company specializes in high quality, commercial films that appeal to North American audiences and the ever-evolving global film market. For more information, please visit: www.theexchange.ws.