When not singing country ballads, Kris Kristofferson is best known for
playing hardboiled cowboys in films like Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and
Billy The Kid or Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate. It thus comes as a surprise
to find him playing a laid-back rodeo rider in a low-budget British movie
with two such quintessentially British actresses as Julie Walters (Educating
Rita) and Brenda Blethyn (Secrets and Lies). Still, that's precisely Kristofferson's
role in Nick Hurran's Girls' Night (screening today in competition) a film
which stretches all the way from the north of England to the bright lights
of Vegas.
Last time Jacques Doillon was on the festival trail, he was accompanied
by a five-year-old actress, Victoire Thivsol, who startled everybody by
winning a Golden Lion at the Venice Festival. This time, he's back with
a 17-year-old - Elise Perrier - who stars as a young woman who causes chaos
when she stumbles into the lives of a middle-aged film director and his
family in Trop (peu) d'amour. Also screening in competition: Gus Van Sant's
Good Will Hunting.
Geoffrey Macnab
IN BRIEF
The New Berlin: Planning For The Next Century. Festivalgoers who want
to see the new Berlin should sign up for one of the official city tours
on: Monday 16.2.1998, 11.00-23.00 or Friday 20.2.1998, 11.00-13.00.
The good news: the tours, which are supported by Partner fuer Berlin
GmbH, are free.The bad news: places are limited. Anyone interested should
go to the Info-Counter, CineCenter, Budapester Str, 42, 1st Floor.
IN TOWN
Ben Affleck, Frans J Afman, Ben Barenholtz, Lawrence Bender, Sue Bruce-Smith,
Francine Bruscher, Assi Dayan, Hans W. Geissendoerfer, Anna Maria Karlsdottir,
Michael Moore, Marco Mueller, Heather Playford-Delman, Carmelo Romero de
Andres, Gus van Sant, Lambert Wilson, Dan Talbot, Marianne Saegebrecht,
Piers Handling, Jean Labadie, Jose Maria Morales, Tom Luddy, Cheng-shenn,
Jacques Doillon, Purisa Djordjevic, Hark Bohm
*Will the real Helmut Kohl please stand up?
At the opening ceremony of the 21st Children's Film Festival, presented
by German 'Super-Wife' Veronica Ferres, director Moritz de Hadeln asked
for questions - only to be floored by the first one. "Are you the federal
chancellor of Germany?" asked a budding politician/ cineaste. With the
skill of Tony Blair at the dispatch box, De Hadeln replied that, with all
due respect, the politician in question is in fact twice his size.
*Security at the opening party at the Intercontinental was very effective. One poor runner from the press office parked his bike outside only to find later that some hardened criminals had removed it. It later transpired it was an inside job: Intercontinental security thought it contained an incendiary device...
UPDATE
Athe International today advance screenings will be held of the Panorama
films Ya pian zhan zheng (14.00, official premiere on Day 8) and I Think
I Do (17.00, official premiere on Day 9).
The guided walk through the UFA-poster exhibition at the Kunstforum
der GrundkreditBank, Budapester Str. 35, at 11.00 on Sundays cannot, as
announced, be attended without reservation. Please phone in advance to
register: Kunstforum, 514 79 78. Extra market screenings: 13 February Brnnen
(The Well) at 21.00, Studio 6 Cube at 12.00, Royal 3 Kalle Blomkvist och
Rasmus at 18.00, Studio 2 Malenkaja prinzessa (The Little Princess) at
16.00, Studio 10
