OFFICE IN EFM - MARTIN GROPIUS BAU STAND #120

The Forum now completes its programme with a series of Special Screenings which unearth cinematic gems and engage with film history. 

Moroccan director Ahmed Bouanani (1938-2011) faced difficulties of all kinds in trying to get his vision across. Although he himself was only able to complete one feature, he paved the way for the first generation of artistically ambitious filmmakers in his country, whether as a pioneer in working with archive material, as a trailblazer for an independent film aesthetic, or as a literary figure and the author of a history of Moroccan cinema yet to be published to this day. 

Ali Essafi, guest of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin programme in 2016, creates memorial to his compatriot in the documentary Obour al bab assabea (Crossing the Seventh Gate). In lengthy conversations recorded in the last years of Bouanani’s life, who was by then living a secluded life in the mountains, the film reveals an influential chapter in Moroccan film history and draws on the astounding archive that Bouanani left behind.

The Forum has put together the “Autour de Bouanani – Another Moroccan Cinema” programme with Ali Essafi’s support. It includes the documentary shorts which Ahmed Bouanani, Mohamed Afifi and others created in the 1960s as newsreels for the Centre Cinématographique Marocain (CCM), a format they bent to their own artistic will, as well as the short films that the CCM began producing for the newly founded state television in the 1970s.

Bouanani founded the “Sigma 3” collective together with Mohamed Sekkat and Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi, with whom he’d studied at the Paris film school IDHEC. In 1970, the collective produced the feature Wechma (Traces) by Hamid Benani, which is regarded as Morocco’s first arthouse film (and was shown at the very first International Forum of New Cinema in 1971). Bouanani’s artistic influence on the film is significant, as was also the case with the 1978 Alyam, Alyam (Oh the Days!), in which Ahmed El Maanouni created a portrait of a society which the younger generations are turning their back on.

In 1980, Bouanani finally made his only feature as a director. Al-Sarab (The Mirage) is set during the French colonial era and tells the story of a farmer living in poverty who finds a bundle of banknotes in a sack of flour. Yet this unexpected wealth turns out to be more a curse than a blessing. The narrative of this influential film doesn’t bow to any convention, but rather follows the grammar of dreams.

Lead actor Mohamed Habachi, who died in 2013, can also be seen in Hallaq Darb al-Fuqara’ (The Barber of the Poor District) from 1982. This classic of Maghreb Neorealist cinema is the only feature by Mohamed Reggab, another filmmaker from Bouanani’s circle, which denounced the hypocritical alliance between capitalist interests and religion at an early stage. 

Nearly all the films will be screened in subtitled 35-mm archive prints, which have been made available by the Centre Cinématographique Marocain. Alyam, Alyam will be showing in a version digitally restored by the Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with the Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project. Touda Bouanani, daughter of the filmmaker, will be a guest of the Forum.

South Korea is a country equally rich in cinematic treasures that are both hardly screened abroad and largely forgotten at home. This year, the Forum is showing two classics digitally restored by the Korean Film Archive (KOFA), both of which were made at moments of political upheaval. 

1960’s Obaltan (Aimless Bullet) is Yu Hyun-mok’s seventh film and is regarded as his masterpiece. In a Seoul neighbourhood where mostly refugees from the north of the divided country have settled, office worker Cheol-ho lives with his family in hardship. Plagued by toothache, he wanders despondently through the film; it’s others who take the initiative — with tragic consequences. Made between the overthrow of the dictator Rhee Syng-man and the military coup of General Park Chung-hee, the film paints a picture of a society unable to free itself from the clutches of poverty despite all efforts to the contrary. 

Twenty years later, at the end of Park Chung-hee’s subsequent dictatorship, Lee Doo-yong created the epic crime thriller Choehuui jeung-in (The Last Witness), in which a reckless police detective stumbles across machinations from the time of the Korean War while investigating a mysterious murder case. It’s a tough-minded odyssey through provincial South Korea, through rain and cold, filth and mud and bitter poverty; through the collective bad conscience of a society. The censors lopped nearly an hour off the running time of Lee’s most daring film, with only the restoration returning this classic its full length of 155 minutes. 

Fernando Birri's ORG is a monstrous, nearly three-hour long film which has only been screened extremely rarely since its 1979 premiere. For the now 91-year-old Birri, this loose adaptation of Thomas Mann's story “The Transposed Heads” was the result of his experience of exile in Italy. But above all, ORG is an experiment in perception that features over 26,000 cuts and some 700 audio tracks. This mammoth work was partially financed by leading actor Mario Girotti, better known under his stage name Terence Hill. The director bequeathed Arsenal a 35mm print in 1991, which has been digitised as part of the “Living Archive” project.

The film essay Verfluchte Liebe deutscher Film (Doomed Love – A Journey Through German Genre Films) already showed how wild, unpredictable, sensual, daring and taut even German cinema can be. Now Dominik Graf and Johannes F. Sievert continue their archaeological adventure journey to the margins, to the depths and also to the very centre of German film and television production and throw up justified questions along the way: why hasn’t this cinema developed any real audacity with respect to genre? Why aren’t there any young directors following in the footsteps of the rebellious Klaus Lemke, who simply shoots from the hip? Offene Wunde Deutscher Film (Open Wounds – A Journey Through German Genre Films) leaves you wanting more

Forum Special Screenings 2017

Choehuui jeung-in (The Last Witness) by Lee Doo-yong, Republic of Korea (South Korea) 1980

Obaltan (Aimless Bullet) by Yu Hyun-mok, Republic of Korea (South Korea) 1961

Offene Wunde deutscher Film (Open Wounds – A Journey through German Genre Films) by Dominik Graf, Johannes F. Sievert, Germany – WP

ORG by Fernando Birri, Italy 1979

Autour de Bouanani – Another Moroccan Cinema

Al-Sarab (The Mirage) by Ahmed Bouanani, Morocco 1980

Alyam, Alyam (Oh the Days!) by Ahmed El Maanouni, Morocco 1978

Hallaq Darb al-Fuqara’ (The Barber of the Poor District) by Mohamed Reggab, Morocco 1982

Obour al bab assabea (Crossing the Seventh Gate) by Ali Essafi, Morocco 2017 – WP

Wechma (Traces) by Hamid Benani, Morocco 1970

Short Film Programme I

Men Lahm wa Salb (De chair et d’acier) by Mohamed Afifi, Morocco 1959

Tarfaya Aw Masseerat Sha‘er (Tarfaya ou La marche d’un poète) by Ahmed Bouanani, Morocco 1966

Al-‘Awdah li Agadir (Retour à Agadir) by Mohamed Afifi, Morocco 1967

Sitta wa Thaniat ‘Ashar (Six et douze) by Ahmed Bouanani, Abdelmajid R’chich, Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi, Morocco 1968

Short Film Programme II

Thakirah Arba’at ‘Ashar (Mémoire 14) by Ahmed Bouanani, Morocco 1971

Al-Boraq (Shining) by Abdelmajid R’chich, Morocco 1972

Al-Manabe’ al-Arba‘a (Les quatre sources) by Ahmed Bouanani, Morocco 1977

(OT: Selbstkritik eines bürgerlichen Hundes)

GERMAN PREMIERE

Director: Julian Radlmaier, Germany, 2017, 99 Minutes, Aspect ratio: 1,37:1, Sound format: 5.1, original language & subtitles: German/ English

Self-criticism of a bourgeois dog (Germany, 2017) is a political comedy with magical twists. The first full-length feature film by director Julian Radlmaier, who also plays the leading role, will celebrate its German premiere at the section Perspektive Deutsches Kino at the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival. The world premiere of the film will be presented at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Bright Future Award Competition.

Synopsis

A bourgeois dog confesses how he was transformed from being a filmmaker to being four-legged: Unable to find financing for his film, JULIAN is forced to accept a job as a seasonal farmhand. At a party, however, he makes the young Canadian expat CAMILLE believe that he‘s going to do research for a communist fairy-tale film and offers her the leading part. To his great surprise, she decides to accompany him, sparking off Julian‘s lurking romantic fantasies. Thus they arrive at the deceitfully idyllic scene of an exploitative apple plantation. While Julian finds the manual labour agonizing and fears the strange roommates in his humble container home, Camille enthusiastically plunges into the alleged research and makes friends with HONG and SANCHO, two credulous proletarians in pursuit of happiness. For Julian, it‘s getting more and more difficult to act the communist filmmaker. And what’s more, a hot-tempered model worker with American dreams gets in his way, a mute monk with magical powers and a screw loose shows up, the owner of the plantation accidentally gets killed, and an attempted revolution ends up in confusion. At this moment, however, the sparrows in the trees come up with an unexpected plan...

Director

Julian Radlmaier studied at the German Film and Television Academy (dffb), worked as personal assistant for Werner Schroeter and has translated and edited several film-theoretical writings by french philosopher Jacques Rancière. In 2013, his short A spectre is haunting Europe, which premiered in Oberhausen, received the German Film Critics‘ Award. His next film, the medium-length feature film, A proletarian winter‘s tale (2014), screens at renowned international festivals such as Rotterdam or Viennale and is awarded at FICUNAM Mexico D.F. and Olhar de Cinema (Curitiba IFF). Self-criticism of a bourgeois dog is his graduation film at dffb.

Self-criticism of a bourgeois dog is a Faktura Film Produktion in Co-Production with DFFB and RBB, funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Nordmedia Mediengesellschaft Bremen / Niedersachsen. German distributor is Grandfilm.

The film industry of the future, with the newest technological developments, trends that provide a glimpse of things to come and evolving business models, is the focus of a total of five innovative events united under the newly created label “EFM Horizon” and made possible with the support of Audi. The platform, which encompasses the formats “Propellor | Speednic”, “EFM Startups”, “VR NOW Con Business Mixer”, “Game <3 Cinema” and “The Next Level of Cinema”, simultaneously aims to offer EFM trade visitors opportunities for networking with members of adjacent sectors of the audio-visual industry, such as tech, virtual reality and games.

“Game <3 Cinema”

Friday, February 10, 2017, 7:30pm to 9:30pm

MGB Kino (Niederkirchnerstr. 7, 10963 Berlin)

The local multiplayer event “Game <3 Cinema” combines cinema and computer games in a shared gaming experience that plays out on the big screen. The event format is produced by Booster Space and was presented for the first time at the International Games Week in Berlin. Trade guests from the film market can experience the world of gaming together with an audience of gaming fans within the cinema context and discover potential new uses for cinemas in the process.

“EFM Startups”

Monday, February 13, 10am to 12:30pm

Berliner Freiheit (Berliner Freiheit 2, 10785 Berlin)

The successful “EFM Startups” initiative, which brings the film industry together with thought leaders and mavericks from the tech scene, is continuing under the umbrella of “EFM Horizon presented by Audi”. Ten select startups from Germany, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Spain will present new technologies for production, distribution and marketing to EFM trade visitors. Pre-arranged one-on-one meetings with potential partners are intended to serve to pave the way for possible co-operations. “EFM PopUp Offices” in the atrium of the Martin-Gropius-Bau will be made available for use by the attending startups.

“EFM Startups” is made possible with the support of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

The participants at “EFM Startups” 2017:

        ·         AIVA (Luxembourg)

·         CtrlMovie (Switzerland)

·         DIVE (Spain)

·         Illusion-Walk (Germany)

·         Mobisol Group (Germany)

·         Native Studios Creace (Germany)

·         PICL (The Netherlands)

·         SPHERIE by SpiceVR (Germany)

·         Viorama (Germany)

·         Virtelio by realab (Luxembourg)

“VR NOW Con Business Mixer”

Monday, February 13, 4pm to 7pm

Berliner Freiheit (Berliner Freiheit 2, 10785 Berlin)

Everyone is talking about virtual reality – and the film industry is no exception. At the same time, there is a lot of uncertainty about how these new technologies of VR, AR, MR, and 360° can be used in the film business, which technologies make sense, what costs they bring with them, etc. In talks, presentations and discussions, the “VR NOW Con Business Mixer” – a conference and networking event – addresses the most current impulses and trends in the sector and brings virtual reality pioneers and experts together with members of the film industry. At the same time, participants also have the opportunity to test diverse VR technologies.

The event is organised in co-operation with Virtual Reality e.V. Berlin-Brandenburg and made possible with the support of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

“The Next Level of Cinema”

Tuesday, February 14, 11am to 1pm

Audi Berlinale Lounge (Marlene-Dietrich-Platz 1, 10785 Berlin)

Leading companies and creatives provide interested distributors, sales agents, producers, exhibitors and cinema operators with insight into the challenges facing the film industry of the future. Special emphasis is placed here on the topics of digitisation and innovation. After taking a look at brief case studies, there will be opportunities for discussion with and among participants.

Included among the guests expected to attend are representatives from Audi, IBM (Watson), Dolby (Atmos) and filmmakers such as David OReilly and Thomas Wallner.

“Propellor | Speednic”

Tuesday, February 14, 2:30pm to 4:30pm

Rooftop Café (Potsdamer Platz 1, 10785 Berlin)

The question of the film industry of the future and how the branch can best work to actively shape its own development by employing forward-thinking concepts and innovations is at the centre of the first “Propellor | Speednic”, a closed networking and workshop event in Berlin. 24 select participants – twelve of them from the film industry and twelve from the technology sector – will discuss how we can develop and implement new sales, distribution and marketing models together as well as how we can learn from success stories from other branches.

The incubator programme “Propellor Film Tech Hub” is a joint initiative of EFM, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the international documentary film festival CPH:DOX and the Berlin-based innovation studio Cinemathon.

Further information on the events as well as details regarding possibilities for attending “EFM Horizon presented by Audi” can be found at the “EFM Horizon” website

Three Surprising Indie Gems from China and Hong Kong / Brazil Well-Represented with Five Films

With the invitation of 24 further feature films, the selection for the Panorama 2017 programme has been completed. 51 works from 43 countries have been chosen for screening in the section, including 21 in Panorama Dokumente and 29 feature films in the main programme and PanoramaSpecial. 36 of these films will be celebrating their world premieres at the Berlinale, while the programme also features six international and nine European premieres  

The German production Tiger Girl by Jakob Lass will open this year’s edition of PanoramaSpecial at Berlin’s Zoo Palast cinema, along with the previously announced Brazilian production Vazante.

In Tiger Girl’s fast-paced narrative, a strong friendship develops between two women, one in which conventional value systems begin to unravel, in what amounts to a veritable moral portrait of the underbelly of today’s German republic. Daniela Thomas’ Vazante represents for its part the programme focus “Black Worlds”, which is also reinforced by the freshly confirmed inclusion of the South African production Vaya by Akin Omotoso, which offers an immersion in the urbanity of Johannesburg.

The fourth film from Brazil is Como Nossos Pais (Just Like Our Parents) by Laís Bodanzky, who depicts the everyday lives of three generations in Sao Paulo as a pyrotechnic display of individual passions and existential delusions staged with a sublime naturalness. The short animated film Vênus - Filó a fadinha lésbica (Venus - Filly the Lesbian Little Fairy) by Sávio Leite rounds off Brazil’s strong presence at this year’s edition of Panorama.

With Discreet, US indie director Travis Mathews, a chronographer of a gay Western modernity, is showing his second film in Panorama. An eerie soundscape floats atop his often elliptically edited story, which revolves around a man approaching middle age who gets caught up in the darker depths of his past.

The original style of Moroccan filmmaker Hicham Lasri was already apparent at Panorama 2015 in The Sea is Behind and on display again last year in Starve Your Dog. Now he returns for the third time with HeadbangLullaby, a visually stunning psychedelic fairy tale swimming in vibrant colour and full of absurd situations, which also takes a long socially critical look at the history of Lasri’s native Morocco.

Naoko Ogigami already enchanted audiences in Berlin with Megane in 2008 and Rentaneko in 2012. In her most recent film Karera ga Honki de Amu toki wa (Close-Knit), the Japanese director employs contemplative, focussed imagery to honour a potential matter-of-factness for non-normative sexualities and the value of families that are defined by love and care and not by conventions.

Three modern arthouse films from China and Hong Kong shed some fresh light on the complex upheavals afoot throughout the vast country. Establishing alternatives for one’s self within authoritarian systems is a great step towards individual freedom: In Bing Lang Xue (The Taste of Betel Nut), we experience the whirlwind of young love on a resort island, while in Ghost in the Mountains and Ciao Ciao, a French co-production, we bask in the breath-taking landscapes of the Chinese highlands through the power of adept cinematography.

In his New Zealand film One Thousand Ropes, Samoan director Tusi Tamasese creates mythic images full of tension and concentration to relate the story of Maea, the baker and male midwife with the healing hands, whose personal demons play an integral role in his everyday life.

Today whole hordes of young cosmopolitans are drawn to Berlin by the promise of happiness that the city has come to represent – three films that pay tribute to this vision in extremely different manners are gathered at Panorama: the psycho thriller Berlin Syndrome by Australian director Cate Shortland, featuring Teresa Palmer, Max Riemelt and Matthias Habich; the feminist fairy tale The Misandrists by Berlinale regular Bruce LaBruce; and the para-pornographic work of underground science fiction Fluidø, by Taiwanese-American artist Shu Lea Cheang.

Europe

Thirteen more films have been confirmed for the final selection from Europe alone. These include works like the Spanish debut feature Pieles (Skins) by Eduardo Casanova, Rekvijem za gospodju J. (Requiem for Mrs. J.) by Serbia’s Bojan Vuletić, Ferenc Török’s 1945 from Hungary and God's Own Country, Francis Lee’s feature-film debut from United Kingdom. Teona Mitevska returns with a bitter depiction of Macedonian adolescents trying to get their bearings in When the Day Had no Name. Also returning to Panorama are Norwegians Ole Giæver, with the emancipatory and philosophical self-examination Fra balkongen (From the Balcony), and Erik Poppe with Kongens Nei (The King's Choice), which deals with the Norwegian king’s resistance to the German armed forces in World War II.

Luca Guadagnino will show his French-Italian account of summer love, Call Me by Your Name, featuring Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar, a screen adaptation of André Aciman’s novel of the same name, co-written with James Ivory.

The Belgian-French-Lebanese co-production Insyriated by Philippe Van Leeuw is an intense chamber drama featuring Hiam Abbass as a woman trapped in the family’s apartment while a war rages on outside. Kaygı (Inflame) by Ceylan Özgün Özçelik tells the story of the incremental roll-out of wide-spread censorship of the press in Turkey and its effect on the work of a young female journalist. And finally there is Georgian director Rezo Gigineishvili’s Hostages, in which a longing for freedom and independence escalates into a readiness to use violence for young Soviet citizens during an airplane hijacking set in 1983.

The Panorama Audience Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Documentary will be presented for the 19^th time together with radioeins and for the first time in co-operation with rbb television. In 2016, over 30,000 audience members cast their votes. On the Berlinale Publikumstag, February 19, the winning films will be presented in CinemaxX7 following the awards ceremony.

For the fifth time, the Heiner Carow Prize will be awarded to a documentary, fiction feature or essay film in Panorama in co-operation with the DEFA Foundation for the Promotion of German Film Culture. Following the presentation of the award on February 16 in Kino International, the Heiner Carow film Bis dass der Tod euch scheidet (Until Death Do Us Part, GDR 1979) will be shown.

Panorama main programme and Panorama Special

1945 - Hungary
By Ferenc Török
With Péter Rudolf, Bence Tasnádi, Tamás Szabó Kimmel, Dóra Sztarenki, Eszter Nagy-Kálózy
European premiere

Berlin Syndrome - Australia
By Cate Shortland
With Teresa Palmer, Max Riemelt
European premiere

Bing Lang Xue (The Taste of Betel Nut)– Hong Kong, China
By Hu Jia
With Zhao Bing Rui, Yue Ye, Shen Shi Yu
World premiere

Call Me by Your Name - Italy / France
By Luca Guadagnino
With Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, Victoire Du Bois
European premiere

Ciao Ciao - France / People’s Republic of China
By Song Chuan
With Liang Xueqin, Zhang Yu
World premiere

Como Nossos Pais (Just Like Our Parents) - Brazil
By Laís Bodanzky
With Maria Ribeiro, Clarisse Abujamra, Paulo Vilhena, Felipe Rocha, Jorge Mautner, Herson Capri, Sophia Valverde, Annalara Prates
World premiere

Discreet - USA                       
By Travis Mathews
With Jonny Mars, Atsuko Okatsuko, Joy Cunningham, Bob Swaffar
World premiere

Fluidø - Germany
By Shu Lea Cheang
World premiere

Fra balkongen (From the Balcony) - Norway
By Ole Giaever
World premiere

Ghost in the Mountains– People’s Republic of China
By Yang Heng
With Tang Shenggang, Liang Yu, Shang Meitong, Xiang Peng, Zhang Yun
World premiere

God's Own Country - United Kingdom
By Francis Lee
With Josh O'Connor, Alec Secăreanu, Gemma Jones, Ian Hart
European premiere

Headbang Lullaby - Morocco / France / Qatar / Lebanon
By Hicham Lasri
With Aziz Hattab, Latefa Ahrrare, Zoubir Abou el Fadl, El Jirari Benaissa, Salma Eddlimi, Adil Abatorab
World premiere

Hostages – Russian Federation / Georgia / Poland
By Rezo Gigineishvili
With Merab Ninidze, Darejan Kharshiladze, Tina Dalakishvili, Irakli Kvirikadze
World premiere

Insyriated– Belgium / France / Lebanon
By Philippe Van Leeuw
With Hiam Abbass, Diamand Abou Abboud, Juliette Navis, Mohsen Abbas, Moustapha Al Kar
World premiere

Karera ga Honki de Amu toki wa (Close-Knit) - Japan
By Naoko Ogigami
WithToma Ikuta, Rinka Kakihara, Kenta Kiritani
World premiere

Kaygı (Inflame) - Turkey
By Ceylan Özgün Özçelik
With Algı Eke, Özgür Çevik
World premiere– Debut film

Kongens Nei (The King's Choice) - Norway / Sweden / Denmark / Ireland
By Erik Poppe
With Jesper Christensen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Karl Markovics, Tuva Novotny, Katharina Schüttler, Juliane Köhler
European premiere

The Misandrists - Germany
By Bruce LaBruce
With Susanne Sachsse, Kembra Pfahler
World premiere

One Thousand Ropes - New Zealand
By Tusi Tamasese
With Uelese Petaia, Frankie Adams, Væle Sima Urale, Ene Petaia, Beulah Koale, Anapela Polataivao
World premiere

Pieles (Skins)– Spain
By Eduardo Casanova
with Ana Polvorosa, Candela Peña, Carmen Machi, Macarena Gómez, Secun de la Rosa, Jon Kortajarena, Antonio Duran "Morris", Eloi Costa
World premiere - Debut film

Rekvijem za gospodju J. (Requiem for Mrs. J.) - Serbia / Bulgaria / Macedonia / Russian Federation / France
By Bojan Vuletić
With Mirjana Karanović, Jovana Gavrilović, Danica Nedeljković, Vučić Perović
World premiere

Tiger Girl – Germany
By Jakob Lass
With Ella Rumpf, Maria Dragus
World premiere

Vaya - South Africa
By Akin Omotoso
With Mncedisi Shabangu, Zimkhitha Nyoka, Nomonde Mbusi, Sihle Xaba, Warren Masemola,
Zimkhitha Nyoka, Nomonde Mbusi, Azwile Chamane
European premiere

When the Day Had no Name - Macedonia / Belgium / Slovenia
By Teona Mitevska
With Leon Ristov, Hanis Bagashov, Dragan Mishevski, Stefan Kitanovic, Igorco Postolov, Ivan Vrtev Soptrajanov
World premiere

Supporting Film

Vênus - Filó a fadinha lésbica (Venus - Filly the Lesbian Little Fairy) – Brazil
By Sávio Leite

Already Announced Titles

Centaur - Kyrgyzstan / France / Germany / The Netherlands, by Aktan Arym Kubat
Honeygiver Among the Dogs– Bhutan, by Dechen Roder
Pendular - Brazil / Argentinia / France, by Julia Murat
The Wound - South Africa / Germany / The Netherlands / France, by John Trengove
Vazante - Brazil / Portugal, by Daniela Thomas

The film will mark the feature directorial debut of Nahon, co-screenwriter of “2 Days in New York” (directed by Delpy). Nahon has also shot campaigns for Macy’s and music videos for artists such as Lykke Li and Adan Jodorowsky.

Specifics of the plot are currently under wraps but it is dark noir with sci-fi undertones and has been likened to the works of David Lynch and David Cronenberg. Filming is set to start in late Spring.

Roxane Mesquida Her credits include: Gregg Araki’s “Kaboom,” Quentin Dupieux’s “Rubber” and “Wrong Cops,” Xan Cassevette’s “Kiss of the Damned," Benoit Jacot’s Palme d’or nominated “School of Flesh,” Catherine Breillat’s Palme d’or nominated “The Last Mistress” and Kim Chapiron’s “Sheitan” opposite Vincent Cassel. She is also a world-renowned model, repped at IMG Models.

Julie Delpy is a two-time Academy Award nominee for “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight.” Last year, she co-starred in Todd Solondz’s “Wiener-Dog” for Amazon Studios. Additional credits include Venice/TIFF selection “Lolo,” Marvel’s “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers,” Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life” and Krystof Kieslowski’s “White."

Richard Edson is one of the most recognizable character actors in independent cinema. He made a smashing debut in Jim Jarmusch’s “Stanger Than Paradise” followed by a slew of roles in classic films: Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” Barry Levinson’s “Good Morning Vietnam,” Oliver Stone’s “Platoon,” John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “Strange Days."

"Happy Log" an adventure/family feature by Gary R. Thieman has been released both digitally AND on DVD in the US! 

On the verge of depression following the murder of his father, Cory, a nervous, guilt-ridden 12-year-old “altar boy”, is coaxed  by his adventurous best friend, Ben, to prove their manhood by embarking on their first overnight fishing trip out in the wild on the Mississippi Bayou’s Wolf River; but their trip goes awry when the hapless “altar boys” become targets of a mob hit in progress by a cold-blooded assassin who is determined to collect on a gambling debt.

Watch the trailer for "Happy Log"

Read more about "Happy Log" and watch WLOX's intervirew with Director Gary Thieman:

"Happy Log," a movie filmed in South Mississippi released on DVD and instant video

It’s been 5 years, but 2012 Coast film set for January release

Locally Shot Film Makes It Big Time 

"Happy Log" is ready for immediate delivery - ask for avails and screeners!. See also our other family films listed here below!
 

WORLD PREMIERE

Nomination for the Glashütte Original Documentary Award

Directors: Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest, USA, 2017, 98 Minutes, Color, 5.1

FOR AHKEEM (USA, 2017) is the coming-of- age story of an extraordinary young girl who never gives up as she strives to balance school, family, and trauma within the challenging world of being a Black teenager in America. This feature documentary by Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest will celebrate its world premiere at the section Forum of the Berlin International Film Festival and is nominated for the overall sections Glashütte Original Documentary Award. The prize will be presented during the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast. FOR AHKEEM is one of 16 documentaries that have been nominated for the Award.

Film

Beginning one year before the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, FOR AHKEEM is the coming-of-age story of Daje Shelton, a Black 17-year-old girl in North St. Louis. She fights for her future as she is placed in an alternative high school and navigates the marginalized neighborhoods, biased criminal justice policies and economic devastation that have set up many Black youth like her to fail. After she is expelled from her public high school, a juvenile court judge sends Daje to the court-supervised Innovative Concept Academy, which offers her one last chance to earn a diploma. Over two years we watch as Daje struggles to maintain focus in school, attends the funerals of friends killed around her, falls in love with a classmate named Antonio, and navigates a loving-but-tumultuous relationship with her mother.

As Antonio is drawn into the criminal justice system and events in Ferguson just four miles from her home seize the national spotlight, Daje learns she is pregnant and must contend with the reality of raising a young Black boy.

Through Daje’s intimate coming of age story, FOR AHKEEM illuminates challenges that many Black teenagers face in America today, and witnesses the strength, resilience, and determination it takes to survive.

FOR AHKEEM is according to the Filmmaker Magazine one of the most anticipated films of 2017.

Directors

Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest are an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaking team. Their previous feature documentary, GoodFortune, about two Kenyans battling major foreign aid efforts that bring them more harm than benefit, was broadcast to millions of viewers in prime time on the PBS series POV. Good Fortune received a National Emmy Award in addition to awards for international reporting and promoting social justice from the Overseas Press Club, Fledgling Fund, and Witness. Their previous documentary Walking the Line, about vigilantes on the U.S.-Mexico border, was broadcast nationally in five countries and recognized with awards for production, reporting, and preserving human rights. The team also co-founded the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, a not-for-profit group of professional filmmakers who come together weekly for feedback and support.

FOR AHKEEM is a Weissman Studio production, Transient Pictures Film, in Co-Production with ITVS, funded by the Sundance Institute, Filmmaker Fund, IDA, Park Foundation, San Francisco Film Society, and NYSCA.

In the spirit of its opening conference, Berlin Critics’ Week 2017 closes with a political film ostensibly about a myriad of other things. Fittingly also, an accompanying flicker film follows this inner logic of antithesis which by imposing structures seeks to subvert them. Screened as world premieres will be the longest and the shortest films of the program: a 202-minute-lasting exploration of love in the digital imaginarium (produced in Germany) and a look to analogue film — from Hungary with love (and reverence). Completing this amorous trilogy is an oddball homage to Japanese “Roman Porno” movies of the 70s.

All screenings at Berlin Critics’ Week are accompanied by debates on timely questions of film culture, politics and aesthetics.

Berlin-based director Alexandre Koberidze (“Colophon”, “Der Fall”) will present the world premiere of “Let the Summer Never Come Again”. Shot on location in Georgia, the film uses its length of three hours and twenty-two minutes to demonstrate what images could, can and even ought to do. Brutal reductions of resolution herald the thrills of a pictorial dimension within the digital.

“Aroused by Gymnopedies” by Isao Yukisada (“Go”, “Crying Out Love in the Center of the World”), in which the director pays homage to Japanese “Roman Porno” films of the 70s, has an unambiguous reference point as a low budget film for the old Nikkatsu Studio, yet the film couldn’t be more contemporary. The young girls offering themselves to the superannuated film director have a perfect picture in mind, while he is totally into a tune by Erik Satie.

Screened on the same evening is an experimental film by Hungarian director Bori Máté, whose loosely assembled material in “The Headless Appearance” can be seen as another homage — to color and recollection.

The closing night of the 3rd Berlin Critics’ Week is given over to “Planetarium” by French director Rebecca Zlotowski („Belle Épine”, „Grand Central”). Her film explores film history through a politically complex and formally elaborate perspective: a Jewish film producer seeking to reinvigorate the French film industry of the late 30s finds inspiration in the presence of young spiritualists (Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp). Portman is introduced as a professional medium and re-discovers herself in the spotlights of film sets. All the while on the outside, Europe precipitates into a catastrophe.

Austrian director Siegfried A. Fruhauf will complete this final night with a liberating attack on our retinas. For five minutes, “Fuddy Duddy” scorches the eye with structures that ambivalently offer both uncertainty and hold.

Following the opening conference “Lost in Politics” on the night of February 8, at silent green Kulturquartier, the third Berlin Critics’ Week will take place from February 9 through 16, 2017 at Hackesche Höfe Kino Berlin. The event offers seven nights of film screenings and debates.

The Berlin Critics’ Week is organized by the German Film Critics Association (Verband der deutschen Filmkritik e.V.).

The films at a glance
 

The film program, including all screening dates, are available online at http://wochederkritik.de/en_US/wdk2017/.

Debate topics and official guests follow.

Juries and Awards

The International Jury for Generation14plus presents the Grand Prix for Best Film (7,500 euros) and the Special Prize for Best Short Film (2,500 euros), endowed by the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (German Federal Agency for Civic Education). The three members of this year’s jury are:

Benjamin Cantu

The German-Hungarian director divides his time between Berlin and Budapest. His feature film debut Stadt Land Fluss (Harvest) celebrated its world premiere at Generation in 2011. His more journalistic pieces include an award-winning documentary on HIV for ARTE/rbb; The Berlin Patient (2013).
Jennifer Reeder

The award-winning director from the USA was featured in the Generation14plus short film competition in 2016 with Crystal Lake. In 2015 she presented Blood Below the Skin in Berlinale Shorts. In addition, her films have been shown in the framework of the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial. 
Roberto Doveris

The Chilean filmmaker was awarded the Grand Prix by the International Jury as well as a Special Mention by the Youth Jury for his debut film Las plantas (Plants) at Generation14plus in 2016. He served as editor-in-chief at CinemaChile, an agency for the promotion of Chilean film culture, and currently runs his own company, Niña Niño Films.

In the GenerationKplus competition the three-member International Jury presents the Grand Prix for Best Film (7,500 euros) and the Special Prize for Best Short Film (2,500 euros), endowed by the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk (The Children’s Charity of Germany). The jury is composed of the following members:

Aneta Ozorek

Aneta Ozorek from Poland is festival programmer, producer and film educator. She is currently active as a programmer at Kino w Trampkach (Cinema in Sneakers) for Children and Youth in Warsaw.

Yoon Ga-eun The Korean director won a Crystal Bear for her short film Sprout at GenerationKplus in 2014 and in 2016 she celebrated her feature film debut, once again at Generation Kplus, with Woorideul (The World of Us).

Fabian Gasmia

Fabian Gasmia is a German producer and a co-founder of DETAiLFILM. His numerous co-production credits include Nashorn im Gallop (Rhino Full Throttle, dir: Erik Schmitt, Generation 2013), Berlin Metanoia (dir:  Erik Schmitt, Generation 2016) and the 2016 Silver Bear winner L’avenir (Things To Come, dir: Mia Hansen-Løve).

The Generation children’s and youth juries are made up of eleven young Berliners aged from twelve to 14 and 16 to 18 respectively. They select the recipients of the Crystal Bears for the best short and feature-length films in both competitions. The jury members were chosen from the over 1,000 applicants who completed questionnaires on Generation films at last year’s Berlinale. Both juries are ready to go and excited to see the films of this year’s Generation programme in the cinema and determine the prize winners together.

Cross-Section Screenings

With the cross-section screenings, festival attendees under the age of 18 have the opportunity within the framework of Generation to see a selection of Berlinale films from other sections, works which are also devoted to the experiences and perspectives of young individuals. This year’s cross-section films are:

Dayveon by Amman Abbasi - USA, from Forum. This film tells the story of the title character, a 13-year-old boy who is struggling to come to terms with the violent death of his brother.

Karera ga Honki de Amu toki wa (Close-Knit) by Naoko Ogigami - Japan, from Panorama. A tale of friendship between eleven-year-old Tomo and the transgender woman Rinko, which examines social conventions and what family really means.

Festival Posters from the Past 40 Years

On the occasion of the 40^th anniversary edition of Generation, the section venue Haus der Kulturen der Welt will be exhibiting a selection of Generation posters from the past four decades. The posters will be presented digitally on an array of video monitors, inviting guests to embark on a visual journey into the past, in which both the development of the section and its sense of purpose since its founding in 1978 can be clearly seen and traced.

Berlinale School Project

For the eleventh time and counting, Generation is co-operating once again this year with the network for film and media competence VISION KINO to organise the Berlinale School Project, with the aim of supporting the sustained inclusion of works of cinema in school lessons. Before attending the festival with their pupils, around 50 teachers will receive the opportunity to prepare lessons on films from the Generation programme under the guidance of specialists in film education and to integrate the films into their classes in consideration of various aspects of the works in question both before and after their trips to the Berlinale.

In the context of the school project, Generation is extending and expanding its commitment to “welcoming classes” this year, by enabling up to ten of them to participate at the Berlinale. Documentation on previous editions of the School Project can be found at the website www.visionkino.de.

Advance Sales for Group Tickets

Starting January 30, discounted tickets for groups of five or more persons for all of the films of Generation can be ordered daily from 09.30am to 5.00 pm by calling 0800 724 03 22 (or from outside of Germany: 0049 30 259 22 85 73). You can find further information at: www.berlinale.de/generation.

ANA, MON AMOUR by Romanian director Călin Peter Netzer (Golden Bear Winner 2013) in the Competition Line-up at the Berlinale 2017 

ANA, MON AMOUR

a film by Călin Peter Netzer

 starring 

Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavalioti, Adrian Titieni, Vasile Muraru

 Romania / France / Germany 2016

127 Min.

Romanian with German and English subtitles

Production: Parada Film (Romania)

Co-Production: augenschein Filmproduktion (Germany), Sophie Dulac Productions (France)

German Film Distribution:

German theatrical release: Autumn 2017

MENASHE

(Forum)

Directed by Joshua Z Weinstein

Written by Joshua Z Weinstein, Alex Lipschultz and Musa Syeed

(Acquisition Title/Mongrel Media)

Starring Menashe Lustig and Ruben Niborski

Synopsis:

Deep in the heart of New York's ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, Menashe, a kind, hapless grocery store clerk, struggles to make ends meet and responsibly parent his young son, Rieven, following his wife Leah's death. Tradition prohibits Menashe from raising his son alone, so Rieven's strict uncle adopts him, leaving Menashe heartbroken. Meanwhile, though Menashe seems to bungle every challenge in his path, his rabbi grants him one special week with Rieven before Leah's memorial. It's his chance to prove himself a suitable man of faith and fatherhood, and restore respect among his doubters.

Performed entirely in Yiddish, the colloquial language of the Hasidic community, Menashe uses intimate, handheld camerawork to drop us inside and humanize a hermetically sealed world of black-hatted, working-class men debating in crowded shuls or seeking counsel in the rabbi's library. And yet Menashe is in many ways an outsider in this tight-knit circle, as he bucks convention and ruffles feathers to stay true to himself.

Screenings:

Press & Industry Screening: Fri, 02/10 - 09:30 | CinemaxX 6 Public Screening #1: Sun, 02/12 - 19:15 | Delphi  Public Screening #2: Tue, 02/14 - 16:30 | CineStar 8  Public Screening #3: Wed, 02/15 - 20:00 | Colosseum 1  Public Screening #4: Sun, 02/19 - 19:30 | CinemaxX 4  

TRT: 81 min

Country: USA

Language: Yiddish

 http://amadeus-ent.com/EFM2017new/

Amadeus Entertainment would be delighted to meet you at European Film Market in Berlin and discuss our new slate of films. 

To schedule a meeting with us please choose a convenient time slot in our calendar: https://efm2016.youcanbook.me

Attendance: 9th-15th February

Location:  Stand number 39, ground floor, Martin Gropius Bau  

TomCat Films teams up with SGL Entertainment to bring you the best, edgiest horror around.  Many territorries and rights are still available!  Ask for avails in your territory.

Meet with Summer Hill Films (and TomCat Films) at Marriott Hotel Ballroom, stand #117 from February 9th to 16th.  

In the meantime, take a look at the SGL catalog! 20 features full of horror and scifi - enjoy!

Visit us at EFM, Marriott Ballroom, Stand #117 Feb. 9 - 16, 2017

Sincerely,

The Summer Hill Films & TomCat Films Team

                            

Ted Chalmers              &              Emma Ilves
  COO                                              Marketing 

Summer Hill Films
10645 N. Tatum Blvd., #200-130, Phoenix, AZ 85028 USA
Main: +1-480-535-8711
Fax: +1-480-535-8712
Email: info@tomcatfilms.com
www.tomcatfilmsllc.com / www.summerhillfilms.com/

PREMIÈRE MUSIC + MEDIA MARKET BERLIN 2017. The largest trade fair for film professionals in the performing arts. More than 700 international participants come to network with other broadcasters, producers and artists, make co-production, broadcasting and distribution deals and find out about the new technologies that can change their industries. Become a part of this spectacular event now! www.avantpremiere.at

Professor Salazar hates change. Many years ago, he shut himself away in his laboratory. He lives with his daughter Alisa, who grew up among the test tubes and lab devices. The formula he has finally invented is going to change the world! Without him noticing, Alisa has grown up and no longer wants to do things his way. To return everything back to normal – his body, his daughter and, finally, his good old familiar life – Salazar is forced to venture out into the place he has avoided like the plague all these years: the real world.

Year of production: 2017

Genres: Animation, Family, 3D

Countries: RUSSIA

Languages: RUSSIAN, ENGLISH

Budget: 5 - 10 M$

Duration: 40 mn

Producer(s) : Timur BEKMAMBETOV (Bazelevs)

Synopsis