Berlinale 2011, Day 1:

Berlinale Palace, tonight at 6pm, red carpet:

I got jostled, pushed, insulted, thrown of the pedestal (literally - LOL) which I thought was too good to be true to have come across in the first place - all because thousands of people (people ...?), movie buffs, paparazzi and celebrity hounds were fighting for the best spots to catch a glimpse of their favourite star. Due to the ensuing pandemonium and because I was simply too far away from the action I only managed to get a few decent shots, and none of them were of Isabella Rossellini, Diane Lane, Josh Brolin or Jeff Bridges. To add insult to injury, the memory card on my camera was full just as Isabella Rossellini's limousine pulled up ... ... Luckily, my friend Willem was luckier, and lucky me, he let me have some of his photos:



Festival director Dieter Kosslick, as usual arriving before everybody else in order to be at the ready to welcome his guests, and as usual wearing his trademark hat:



Jasmin Tabatabai (Unveiled):



Nicolette Krebitz aka Coco (The Tunnel), arriving in a flashy BMW convertible:



Sibel Kekelli (Head On):



Heike Makatsch (Love, Actually):



German director Oskar Roehler (Nowhere To Go, Suck My Dick):



Mario Adorf (Kir Royal, Nachts wenn der Teufel kam):


Earlier this afternoon, after the press conference for True Grit: Joel and Ethan Coen (top picture) and Josh Brolin (bottom picture), leaving the Grand Hyatt, Berlin, via the hotel's back entrance:

Berlinale 2011: Jury Press Conference

The press conference of the International Jury, headed by Isabella Rossellini has just finished.

A major issue and the focus of most questions by the attending journalists, was the blatant absence of Jafar Panahi, the Iranian director who instead of being able to join his fellow jury members in Berlin, has been imprisoned by Ahmedinejad's regime. Panahi's jury chair will be kept open throughout the festival, and all jury members expressed their hope that the Iranian government will come to its senses and release him at the very last minute.

Due to Panahi's inability to attend, the questions of human rights and freedom of speech were also being raised during the press conference and Isabella Rossellini rightly pointed out that it is freedom of speech which forms the basis not just of making films, but of culture in general.

The opening film of this year's festival is the Coen Brothers' True Grit, shown tonight at 7.30pm in the Berlinale Palace in attendance of the male lead, Jeff Bridges and the Coen Brothers themselves.

Berlinale 2011: The Countdown's On

With the 61st International Berlin Film-Festival about to kick off, this afternoon I snatched my camera and took a stroll across the festival's main artery, Potsdamer Platz, to see how things are progressing.

This year's official Berlinale poster was designed by the Berlin-based Boros agency and is without a doubt the most tasteful poster the festival has had in years. The Boros Agency is owned by Christian Boros who also owns the legendary Boros Collection, a collection of contemporary art, located in a converted bunker from WWII in central Berlin:


Unlike Venice or Cannes - which are Berlin's main competitors - the Berlinale is an audience festival, meaning that not only journalists and people from the film industry are able to attend Berlinale screenings, but ordinary cinema-goers as well, subject to availability of course! It has been reported, that on the first day alone, which was Monday, 32,000 tickets have been sold. Ticket sales were close to half a million at last years festival, a number which is expected to be topped this year. The photo below shows the queue outside one of the ticket booths for advance ticket sales on Potsdamer Platz:


The red carpet including spots and floodlights and some basic heating equipment to keep the stars (moderately) warm, are still being installed outside the Theater on Potsdamer Platz which doubles as the home of the Berlinale for the duration of the festival as it has done for the past nine years:



This year's Berlinale poster as seen on the Boulevard of the Stars on Potsdamer Platz:



The historic Martin Gropius Building, built by Walter Gropius' father, is currently receiving a facelift, though it'll still be home to the European Film Market, as it has been for the past five years ever since its previous location proved too small. Outside, everything appears to be ready to roll with all Berlinale flags and banners already up and waving in the brisk Berlin air. Inside, though, it's a different story as hundreds of craftsmen, handymen and electricians and so on are still busy setting up shop for several hundred film companies from all over the world:



Opposite the European Film Market located in the Martin Gropius Building is the Gropius Mirror Restaurant, a fancy eatery based in a 19th century tent imported from Belgium, set up only for the duration of the film-festival. It is currently receiving the finishing touch in order to look its grandest for tomorrow's opening. The building in the back is the Berlin Senate:




CHECK THIS BLOG FOR REGULAR UPDATES ON THE BERLIN FILM-FESTIVAL!

Picco, Philip Koch, Germany 2010

In Germany, 'Picco' is the name given by inmates to the new kid on the cell-block . It is also the title of Philip Koch's first film in which he uses various accounts and eye-witness reports to highlight gross problems and deficits in detention centres across Germany.

Though Koch's film certainly raises a number of important issues, Picco is essentially a psychological thriller. And let me warn you: It ain't for the faint hearted, either. Though he takes pains not to show any blood or direct violence, the lack of both work in favour of the film, making it all the more violent, if only in the minds of the spectators. Similarly, Koch entirely avoids the use of music, hellbent as he seems to be to allow his audience to be emotionally manipulated. And given the strength of the story no doubt, only a very carefully selected score may have managed not to cheapen the unfolding tragedy we witness on screen. It is only the cinematography where Koch deviates from the cinema verite style which dominates his film as he uses a green filter, with the effect of making life in prison and the prison itself look particularly morbid, lifeless and cold.

Picco is an exercise in psychological film making, an edge-of-your-seat thriller with an excellently crafted story which slowly, almost unnoticeably, heads towards its inevitable, barbarous ending, bound to leave you gasping for breath. However, due to the documentary character of the film, which also is underscored by subtitles that indicate the number of days Picco aka Kevin has been imprisoned, the spectator never loses sight of the fact that what's going on on screen is all based on actual facts. And that's more than enough to give any of us pause.

Picco is highly recommended viewing for everyone, one of the best films to come out of Germany in the past few years, and Koch a talented director to be reckoned with.

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, Woody Allen, USA/ Spain 2010

Woody Allen's last offering falls under what I choose to dub his Dostojevskyan films - films that are concerned with the meaning of life. True, seen this way, all Woody Allen films are Dostojevskyan in one way or another, although there are a few exceptions - Sweet and Lowdown, Hollywood Ending, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, to name but a few - that are lighter in tone and less preoccupied with the oddities and sheer randomness of our existence. I find that ever since Matchball, Allen's films have become darker again - a result of him getting (old)er? - which suits me, incurable pessimist that I am, just fine. In fact, although You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger offers few new insights - let alone any comfort - as to why we're here and what the deuce this is all about, I very much liked this film, if only because it captured the futility of it all, the irony of our lives and of our actions, in a way that only Allen can. I sometimes wonder where exactly Allen's wisdom - or call it pessimism, if you will - orginates from since his own life could not have been more fortunate and successful. But then, that's me looking in from the outside. And as every Woody Allen fan has learned over the years: A view from the outside is always blurred, distorted and thus hopelessly unreliable.

While not quite as sombre as Cassandra's Dream - in which the Dostojevkyan touch was not just a touch but a punch in every Pollyanna's face - You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger still basically tells you that whatever we may do or not do, we are all at the mercy of fate at every twist and turn of our lives. And one day you lose and the next you may win. If you're lucky. I'm surprised that given Allen's pessimism and his penchant for making films in Europe, he has yet to make a film in Germany. No other nation, it is widely believed, is better at pessimism than the Germans. So it seems to me Allen would be well advised to select Berlin as a location for his next film ( ... suggestion for a screenplay: Scarlett Johansson plays an American exchange student and au-pair based in Berlin where she babysits for the US ambassador to Germany, played by Josh Brolin who falls hopelessly in love with her, but sexy Scarlett, however, has her eyes set on her professor at the Truro College, played by Bruno Ganz ... and so on ...).

The premise of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is a line not by Dostojevsky, but - lo and behold - by Shakespeare, from Macbeth to be precise: "Life is but a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". And I'm sure that's precisely how more than one critic see Allen's latest film. And yet, although the film's premise may be a truism - after all, Shakepeare had that one figured out 500 years ago - not only am I very much in line with Allen's Shakespearean-Dostojevskyan view of the world, but I also like Allen's perceptions, the way he crafts a story, fist-tight and often hilarious dialogue included, and brings it to the screen. I've always said that even the worst Woody Allen films are better and more entertaining than 90% of all films out there.

So yes, though this is perhaps not exactly vintage Allen, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger still is a pretty good film, well observed, well written and, as always in a Woody Allen film, there's excellent acting all around with a cast led by Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin. Though the real surprise and discovery is newcomer Lucy Punch who besides providing some much needed comic relief, also brings a new meaning to the term Essex Girl .

Berlinale 2011: International Competition

Competition programme:

A Torinói Ló (The Turin Horse) Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland/USA
By Béla Tarr (Satantango, Werckmeister Harmonies)
With János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos
World premiere

Almanya - Willkommen in Deutschland (Almanya) Germany
By Yasemin Samdereli – debut film
With Vedat Erincin, Fahri Yardin, Aylin Tezel, Lilay Huser, Demet Gül
World premiere / Out of Competition

El premio (The Prize) Mexico/France/Poland/Germany
By Paula Markovitch – debut film
With Paula Galinelli Hertzog, Sharon Herrera, Laura Agorreca, Viviana Suraniti, Uriel Lasillo
World premiere

Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader And Simin, A Separation) Iran
By Asghar Farhadi (About Elly, Fireworks Wednesday)
With Leila Hatami, Peyman Moadi, Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat, Sarina Farhadi
International premiere

Les contes de la nuit (Tales Of The Night) France
By Michel Ocelot
World premiere – animated film in 3D

Les femmes du 6ème étage (Service Entrance) France
By Philippe Le Guay (Le coût de la vie)
With Fabrice Lucchini, Sandrine Kiberlain, Carmen Maura, Natalia Verbeke International premiere / Out of Competition

Margin Call USA
By JC Chandor – debut film
With Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore , Paul Bettany, Zach Quinto
International premiere

Mein bester Feind (My Best Enemy) Austria/Luxemburg
By Wolfgang Murnberger (The Bone Man)
With Moritz Bleibtreu, Georg Friedrich, Ursula Strauss, Uwe Bohm, Marthe Keller, Udo Samel
World premiere / Out of Competition

Saranghanda, Saranghaji Anneunda (Come Rain Come Shine)
Republic of Korea
By Lee Yoon-ki (Love Talk, This Charming Girl)
With Lim Soo-jung, Hyun Bin
World premiere

Schlafkrankheit (Sleeping Sickness) Germany/France/Netherlands
By Ulrich Köhler (Windows on Monday, Bungalow)
With Pierre Bokma, Jean-Christophe Folly, Jenny Schily, Hippolyte Girardot
World premiere

The Forgiveness Of Blood USA/Albania/Denmark/Italy
By Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace)
With Tristan Halilaj, Sindi Laçej, Refet Abazi, Ilire Vinca Çelaj, Çun Lajçi
World premiere

Un Mundo Misterioso (A Mysterious World) Argentina/Germany/Uruguay
By Rodrigo Moreno (The Custodian)
With Esteban Bigliardi, Cecilia Rainero, Rosario Bléfari
World premiere

Unknown Germany/Great Britain/France
By Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan)
With Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz
International premiere / Out of Competition

V Subbotu (Innocent Saturday) Russia/Germany/Ukraine
By Alexander Mindadze (Otryv/ Soar)
With Anton Shagin, Svetlana Smirnova-Marcinkevich, Stanislav Rjadinsky, Vjacheslav Petkun, Sergej Gromov
World premiere

Bizim Büyük Çaresizliğimiz (Our Grand Despair)
Turkey / Germany / Netherlands
by Seyfi Teoman (Tatil Kitabi/Summer Book)
with İlker Aksum, Fatih Al, Güneş Sayın, Baki Davrak, Taner Birsel, Mehmet Ali Nuroğlu
World premiere

Coriolanus UK/Serbia – debut film
by Ralph Fiennes
with Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, James Nesbitt
World premiere

Lipstikka Israel/UK
by Jonathan Sagall (Urban Feel)
with Clara Khoury, Nataly Attiya, Moran Rosenblatt, Ziv Weiner
World premiere

Pina Germany/France - dance film in 3D
by Wim Wenders (The American Friend, Buena Vista Social Club, The Million Dollar Hotel)
with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal
World premiere / out of competition

Wer wenn nicht wir (If not us, who?) Germany
by Andres Veiel (The Survivors, Addicted to Acting)
with August Diehl, Lena Lauzemis, Alexander Fehling
World premiere

Yelling To The Sky USA – debut film
by Victoria Mahoney
with Zoë Kravitz, Gabourey Sidibe, Tim Blake Nelson
World premiere

The Future Germany / USA
by Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know)
with Hamish Linklater, Miranda July, David Warshofsky
International premiere

The Competition-productions are from Argentina, Austria, Germany, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Luxemburg, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and USA.

Berlinale, International Jury 2011

The International Jury, presided over by Isabella Rossellini, will decide who is to take home the Golden Bear and the Silver Bears as well as the Alfred Bauer Prize in the Competition of the 61st Berlinale.

The other members of the Jury are producer Jan Chapman, actress Nina Hoss, actor, producer and director Aamir Khan, director Guy Maddin, costume designer Sandy Powell and director Jafar Panahi.


Isabella Rossellini is one of the most renowned actresses in international cinema. In recent years she has also made her mark as a producer and director. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini has played in more than 40 feature films and worked with such directors as Robert Zemeckis, Joel Schumacher, Peter Weir, Abel Ferrara, Peter Greenaway and David Lynch or John Schlesinger, with whom she filmed The Innocent in Berlin in 1992. She celebrated her international breakthrough in 1986 with Lynch’s cult film Blue Velvet. She was a guest at the Berlinale for the first time in 1994 as the leading actress in Fearless. In 2005 she presented the short film My Dad is 100 Years Old, a tribute to her father. She returned in 2007 as narrator to Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon The Brain! and in 2008 she presented her directorial debut Green Porno about the sex life of insects. In autumn 2010, filming was finished on Late Bloomers (Berlinale Special 2011), the romantic comedy directed by Julie Gavras in which Isabella Rossellini stars alongside William Hurt.

Renowned director, author and producer Jafar Panahi made a number of short films and documentaries before he filmed his directorial debut, Badkonake sefid (The White Balloon), which earned him the Camera d’or in Cannes in 1995. In 1997 he won the Golden Leopard in Locarno for Ayneh (The Mirror), and in 2000 the Golden Lion in Venice for Dayereh (The Circle). Offside won the Silver Bear (Grand Prix of the Jury) at the Berlinale in 2006. In his films Jafar Panahi critically examines the social circumstances in his country. Shortly after the Berlinale invited him to be on the International Jury in 2011, Panahi was sentenced to six years imprisonment and banned from filmmaking for the next 20 years. There has been worldwide protest against this verdict that violates the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The Berlinale is holding a place open in the Jury for Jafar Panahi and in doing so wants to signalize its support for his struggle for freedom.

Producer Jan Chapman is an outstanding figure in the Australian film industry. Her first international success came with The Piano (1993), which went on to win three Oscars. Since then she has continued working successfully with director Jane Campion, most recently in 2009 on the historical romantic drama Bright Star. In 1989 she founded her own production company, Jan Chapman Films, and has subsequently produced numerous films with different directors that have been acclaimed by both critics and audiences (Love Serenade, Holy Smoke, Lantana, Somersault). In 2004 she received the “Officer of the Order of Australia” for her contributions to Australian cinema.

The talented German film, television and theatre actress Nina Hoss celebrated her first major success in 1996 in the title role of Bernd Eichinger’s A Girl Called Rosemarie. In 2000 she was one of the Shooting Stars at the Berlinale. Her close collaboration with director Christian Petzold has been extremely successful: she won the 2001 Adolf Grimme Award for her role in his film Something To Remind Me and two years later the Adolf Grimme Award in Gold for Wolfsburg. Her performance of Yella earned her the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2007. Her most recent screen roles include the modern vampire thriller We Are the Night (by Dennis Gansel) and the romantic movie Summer Window (by Hendrik Handloegten).

Aamir Khan is a Bollywood superstar: He rose to overnight fame with the film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). In 2001 he achieved international success in the drama Lagaan - Once Upon A Time In India which was nominated for an Academy Award. After his directorial debut in 2007 with Taare Zameen Par, Khan starred in the film 3 Idiots which broke all box-office records in his home country. Aamir Khan is also an acclaimed producer: the film satire Peepli Live (2010) was chosen as the Indian entry for an Academy Award nomination. Altogether, four of his last ten films entered the running for an Academy Award nomination.

Filmmaker Guy Maddin, who grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, created a cult classic with his first feature film Tales from the Gimli Hospital of 1988. He has since notched up nine feature films and countless shorts, often integrating stylistic features that draw on the aesthetics of old silent movies and early sound productions. In 2007 he presented his silent movie Brand Upon the Brain! at the Berlinale. It was accompanied by a live orchestra, three Foley artists, a singer and Isabella Rossellini as narrator. In 2008 Guy Maddin opened the Berlinale Forum with My Winnipeg. For this tribute to his Canadian hometown he combined documentary footage with family photos and old film excerpts.

Trained in London, Sandy Powell designs costumes for film, theatre, dance and opera. She works on outstanding productions designing costumes for the most diverse historical epochs. To date she has been nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards. She won the first of three Oscars for her work on the film Shakespeare In Love (1999). Her costumes for Martin Scorsese’s biopic The Aviator brought her a second Academy Award in 2005. Most recently she was honoured for her work on the film The Young Victoria (2010). In addition she has been nominated nine times for the BAFTA, and took home the award twice, for Velvet Goldmine in 1999 and The Young Victoria in 2010.

Source: Berlin Film festival