WHO IS ODA JAUNE? (World Premiere - Perspektive Deutsches Kino) is a complicated, surprising documentary portrait of German-Bulgarian painter Oda Jaune - whose contemporary paintings defy categorization to explore a vast range of moving and often disturbing imagery: pregnant men, faceless naked bodies, perverse figures, joyful creatures and flying people all exist side by side.
And like her paintings, Jaune herself is cloaked in mystery, refusing to easily ascribe meaning to her work. She is a beautiful sphinx, enigmatic, inscrutable, a woman of few words, preferring to let her unforgettable imagery speak for her.
In filmmaker Kamilla Pfeffer's documentary, she explores her own complicated tension with her intensely private subject, to fascinating effect. During their collaboration, Oda Jaune has regrets about being documented, withdraws, and refuses to comply. Pfeffer proceeds with caution, attempting to make something visible out of Jaune's fragility and secrecy.
WHO IS ODA JAUNE? is a film about the delicate act of painting, the act of documentary filmmaking as a provocation, and an ambitious attempt to capture an enigmatic artist in her prime.
Limited advance screener links available upon request.
Director Kamilla Pfeffer and Oda Jaune are available for interviews
upon request, at the festival and also in advance.
BERLINALE PRESS DAY:
Sunday, Feb. 14th, 11:30am - 2:00pm
Talent Available: Director Kamilla Pfeffer, subject Oda Jaune
*Convenient festival location provided upon request
Regards,
Petra Kauraisa / Matt Johnstone Publicity
Ph: +1.310.500.5413 Email: Petra@kauraisa.com
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2016 Berlinale - World Premiere
Perspektive Deutsches Kino Section
WHO IS ODA JAUNE?
(Wer ist Oda Jaune?)
Germany / 2016 / 75 min / Color
In German and French with English subtitles
Directed by: Kamilla Pfeffer
Starring: Oda Jaune, Lars Edinger, Thomas Ostermeier, Jonathan Meese
Festival Screenings:
Sun Feb 14 19:30, CinemaxX 3
Mon Feb 15 12:00, Colosseum 1
Mon Feb 15 20:30, CinemaxX 1
Synopsis:
Sometimes she paints gelatinous fairies, pregnant men, amorphous bodies. At other times joyful beings, creatures in paradise and flying people emerge on her canvasses. Monstrosity and tenderness lie side by side in Oda Jaune's paintings, just as they disturb and move those that view them. Born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1979, she studied at the Arts Academy in Düsseldorf and became a star pupil of Jörg Immendorff. She also became his wife. After her husband's death she moved to Paris to pursue her work there. Her gallerist also represented Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
A film biography about a young artist as successful as she is shy? The painter would not have allowed that. Nor was it sought by the filmmaker. Instead, we are given an account of a complicated encounter. During their collaboration the protagonist repeatedly has qualms, withdraws and refuses to comply. For her part, the filmmaker deploys cautious manoeuvres in order to make visible something of Oda Jaune's fragile act of painting, without damaging it in the process nor resorting to trite illustration.
Filmmaker Bio:
Director Kamilla Pfeffer, born in Germany in 1982, studied political science and Romance philology in Mainz and Strasbourg before she began the documentary filmmaking and photography program at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in 2009. 'Who Is Oda Jaune?' is her feature directorial debut, and also her graduate thesis. She is also a freelance journalist and a script consultant for documentary films.
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