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Daily:
Day 2 - 10 February
Three
Kings
by David O Russell
Director
Russell (Flirting With Disaster, 1996) draws
on Vietnam combat experiences, but his bizarre and at times
even surreal action-comedy mixture is neither a straightforward
war adventure, nor a jingoistic tear-jerker. Russell was
more concerned with depicting the absurd situation behind
enemy lines, where US bombs are still dropped to this day
an unusually differentiated approach for a Hollywood
film.
Also in competition today Ljubisa Samardzic's
Nebeska Udica,
which looks at Belgrade under fire, and Akira Ogata's ambitious
debut feature Boy's
Choir.
Press
conference
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Top
Secret
Last
night there was a solemn swearing-in ceremony at the jury
dinner, that they would keep all matters pertaining to jury
duty top secret. Also, festival director Moritz
de Hadeln underlined the absolute independence of the jury
and its decisions.
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Competition
Three
Kings (US)
Dir: David O Russell.
Cast: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube.
Near the end of the Gulf War, a trio of American soldiers
hears rumours of a hidden cache of Kuwaiti gold.
English. 112 mins.
Nebeska
Udica (Sky Hook) (Yugoslavia)
Dir: Ljubisa Samardzic.
Cast: Nebojsa Glogovac, Ana Sofrenovic, Ivan Jevtovic.
A seven-day period in May 1999 at the peak of the NATO
bombing of Serbia.
Serbian. 95 mins.
Dokuritsu
Shonen Gasshoudan (Boy's Choir) (Japan)
Dir: Akira Ogata.
Cast: Atsushi Ito, Sora Toma, Teuyaki Kagawa.
Looks at the disillusionment of some youthful radicals
when faced with changing ideals.
Japanese. 130 mins.
Zaïde
(France) 1999.
Dir: Josée Dayan.
Cast: Jeanne Moreau , Guillaume Depardieu, Mathieu Amalric.
90 mins.
Hommage: Jeanne Moreau
La
Notte (France) 1960.
Dir: Michelangelo Antonioni.
Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Marcello Mastroianni, Bernard Wicki
and Monica Vitti.
A moderately successful novelist and his wife begin to
question their marriage and their life.
121 mins.
Hommage:
Jeanne Moreau
Hi,
Mom! (USA).
1970.
Dir: Brian De Palma.
Cast: Robert De Niro, Charles Durnham, Allen Garfield,
Abraham Goren and Lara Parker. The adventures of a
young porno film-maker.
87 mins.
Hommage:
Robert De Niro
Johnny
Mnemonic (USA) 1995.
Dir: Robert Longo.
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Dina Meyer, Ice-t, Takeshi Kitano
and Denis Akiyama.
Johnny works as a courier carrying data in
his brain.
98 mins.
Bhopal
Express (India)
Dir: Mahesh Mathai.
Depicts how the 1984 Union Carbide toxic gas accident affects
a newly-wed couple.
98 mins.
Elze
Is Giljos (Elze's Life Love Was All She
Had) (Lithuania)
Dir: Algimantas Puipa.
A chapter from the history of German-Lithuanian relations
in the town of Nehring.
139 mins.
Grass
Dir: Ron Man.
English.
Examines how deeply rooted marijuana is in our culture.
79 mins. +
short Psycho Path
The
Third Miracle
Dir: Agnieszka Holland.
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Ed Harris, Ann Heche.
A priest discovers that the nun who is to be beatified
has a daughter.
113 mins.
Crissy
(Australia)
Dir: Jacqui North.
A family faces a major challenge when the eldest daughter
can no longer hide the fact that she has Aids.
52 mins.
Panorama
Buddies
(US) 1985.
David befriends militant gay Robert who is dying
of Aids.
81 mins.
+ short Living With Aids
Voiz
(Orator) (Uzbekistan)
Dir: Jusuf Razykov.
Cast: Bachodyr Adylov, Lola Altoeva, Javochir Zakirov.
A witty and poetic
story about an Uzbek who can't give up his three-woman
harem.
83 mins.
Shadow
Boxers
Dir: Katya Bankowski.
Katya Bankowski, herself a boxer, portrays Luica
Rijker, the kickboxing world champion.
72 mins.
+ short Darling International
Asfalto
(Spain)
Dir: Daniel Calparsoro.
Cast: Najwa Nimri, Gustavo Salmerón, Juan
Diego Botto.
Three criminals are in love with each other.
92 mins.
Sulla
Spiaggia E Di La'Dal Molo
(Italy) Drama.
Dir: Giovanni Fago.
Cast: Lorenza Indovina, Stephane Freiss, Laurent
Terzieff.
A friendship overcomes war and destruction.
130 mins.
Forum
George
Washington
(US)
Dir: David Gordon Green.
Cast: Candace Hairston, Donald Holden.
A group of teenagers on the edge of adulthood, how they
deal with a friend's death, love and jealousy, and their
improverished existence in North Carolina.
89 mins.
Norae-Ro
Taeyang-Ul-Ssoda (Shoot The Sun By Lyric)
(Korea)
Dir: Cho Jai-Hong. English subtitles.
Moves to abolish the screen quota system in Korea provoke
major protests.
90 mins.
Havanna
Mi Amor (Germany)
Dir: Uli Gaulke.
Contrasting the fiction of television with stories
of the lives of people who watch every Cuban telenovelaepisode
with bated breath.
72 mins.
Long
Night's Journey Into Day (US)
Dirs: Frances Reid, Deborah Hoffmann.
A moving account of the work of the Truth & Reconciliation
committee in South Africa and a document of a unique
political trial in the history of mankind.
94 mins.
Leçons
De Ténèbres
Dir: Vincent Dieutre.
A journey to selfawareness, encountering along the
way works of the old masters: Caravaggio, Honthorst,
Caraciolo and Riberia.
77 mins.
One
Piece! (Japan)
Dirs: Shinobu Yaguchi, Takuji Suzuki.
Cast: Youji Tanaka, Nao Nekota.
A brilliant series of cinematic short stories.
English subtitles.
72 mins.
Beau
Travail (France)
Dir: Claire Denis.
Cast: Denis Lavant, Grégoire Colin.
An African Foreign Legion outpost is transformed
into a bizarre ballet of violence and passion
driven by homoerotic undertones.
90 mins.
Marsal
(Croatia)
Dir: Vinko Bresan.
Cast: Drazen Kühn, Linda Begonja.
Village dwellers on a small Adriatic island believe
they
have seen the ghost of Marshal Tito.
97 mins.
Press/market
Screenings
Abendland
(Germany)
Dir: Fred Kelemen.
Cast: Wolfgang Michael, Verena Jasch.
The emotional love story of a girl in a laundry
and her unemployed boyfriend facing an uncertain
future in a German town near the Polish border.
140 mins.
Arise!
Walk Dog Eat Donut (US)
Dir: Ken Kobland.
A semi-abstract video poem evoking urban sadness.
30 mins.
and
Third Known Nest (US)
Dir: Tom Kalin.
Different segments are unified by a thematic
thread of body and identity politics in the
age of Aids.
40 mins.
I Could Read The Sky (UK)
Dir: Nichola Bruce.
Cast: Dermot Healy, Brendan Coyle.
The moving story of an old man living in a
bedsit in London.
86 mins.
Hans
Warns Mein 20. Jahrhundert (Hans
Warns My 20th Century)
Dir: Gordian Maugg.
Cast: Florian Hober and Shenja Lacher.
A fictional life story through the use of
old photograghs and film. 105 mins.
Martin
(Israel)
Dir: Ra'anan Alexandrovicz.
52 mins.
and
Shine (Israel)
Dir: Gidi Dar.
48 mins.
Deutsche
Polizisten
(Germany)
Dir: Aysun Bademsoy.
A young group of police officers encounter
people from their own countries and often
have to apprehend them.
60 mins.
Ruang
Talok 69 (Thailand)
Dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang.
Cast: Lalita Panyopas.
English subtitles.
The day after Tum loses her job because
the bank is 'downsizing', she finds a cardboard
box stuffed with banknotes on her doorstep.
115 mins.
Beau
Travail (France)
Dir: Clare Denis.
Cast: Denis Lavant, Grégoire Colin.
An African Foreign Legion outpost is transformed
into a bizarre ballet of violence and passion
with homorerotic undertones.
90 mins.
Forum
22.15
Hubad
Sa Ilalim Ng Buwan (Naked Under The
Moon) (Philippines)
Dir: Lav Diaz.
Cast: Klaudia Koronel. Elizabeth Oropesa.
All families have secrets sometimes
they can destroy the fabric of family life.
110 mins.
Kumar
Talkies (India)
Dir: Pankaj Rishi Kumar.
An examination of the consciousness-shaping
role of local cinema in a globalised and
digitised world.
English subtitles.
76 mins.
Where
A Good Man Goes (Hong Kong)
Dir: Johnnie To.
Cast: Lau Ching-wan, Ruby Wong.
Experiments with daring and unusual stylisation.
86 mins.
Forum
Kinderfest
Tsatsiki
(Sweden)
Dir: Ella Lemhagen.
Cast: Samuel Haus, Alexandra Rapaport, George Nakas.
Tsatsiki dreams about going to Greece to meet his
father.
90 mins.
Kinderfilmfest
|
Berlin 1999
- Berlin 98 - Berlin
97 - Berlin 96
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