Berlin International Film Festival | 11 February

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Daily: Day 3 - 11 February

Competition

Competition

Signs and Wonders
by Jonathan Nossiter

Dividing one's time between the duties of a sommelier and those of a film director sounds like the perfect way to lead one's life, and that is exactly what Jonathan Nossiter does.Nossiter, whose documentary debut Resident Alien screened in the 1991 Panorama, has followed up his Sundance 1997 Grand Jury Prize winner Sunday with this year's Berlin competition contender Signs And Wonders.

Also in competition today
You Shi Tiaowu (The Island Tales). For one mad, scrambled night, seven people find themselves trapped on a small island in the South China Sea. The authorities have identified the place as the probable source of a deadly new disease and have put it under quarantine: no arrivals or departures.

 

Focus

We Three Kings of Berlinale

The stars of David O Russell's movie talk long hair, gook camps, and Saddam's cut...

3 Kings press conference -

Press conference

Streaming video
Entrance of George Clooney and Ice Cube for the official screening of Three Kings.

 

Today's Screenings

Competition
You Shi Tiaowu (The Island Tales) (Japan).
Dir: Stanley Kwan. Cast: Michelle Reis, Shu Qi, Takao Osawa, Julian Cheung.
An island is quarantined by the government , who fear it's the source of a new plague. 104 mins.
+ short The Moment. Dir: Thomas Voigt. 5 mins.

Signs And Wonders
Dir: Jonathan Nossiter. Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Stellan Skarsgård, Deborah Unger. A witty and often magical drama of the heart, showing that despite the pitfalls of love, it may indeed be a heavenly power. 108 mins.

Retrospective

Alraune (German)
Dir: Henrik Galeen. Cast: Brigitte Helm, Paul Wegener Ivan Petrovich. (1927)
Live musical accompaniment: Aljoscha Zimmermann. The romanticism of monsters and the melancholy of the artificial. German subtitles. 128 mins

Sorbace Serdce
Dir: Vladimir Bortko. Cast: Jevgenij Jevstignejev, Vladimir Tolokonnikov, Boris Plotnikov. (1988) German translation. 130 mins.

Das Eskimobaby (German)
Dir: Heinz Schall. Cast: Asta Nielson. (1916). Introduced by Dan Nissen. 62 mins.

+ short Die Ideale Gattin.(1913) Cast: Lyda Salmonova, Grete Berger, Ernst Lubitsch. Musical accompaniment: Aljoscha Zimmermann.
Introduced by Eva Orbanz. 21 mins.

The Terminator (US)
Dir: James Cameron. Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton. Introduced by John Kirk. A robot assassin is sent back through time from the future to prevent the leader of the human resistance from being born. (1984). 107 mins.

T2: Judgment Day (US) (1991)
Dir: James Cameron. Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong. A boy destined to lead the human resistance against a race of machines is hunted by one robot ­ and protected by another. The two killing machines battle over the future of mankind.135 mins.

Homage: Jeanne Moreau

Ascenseur Pour L' ´Echafaud (Elevator To The Gallows) (France) Dir: Louis Malle. Cast: Maurice Ronet, Jeanne Moreau, Georges Poujouly. (1958). 92 mins.

Les Amants (The Lovers) (France) Dir: Louis Malle. Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Alain Cuny, Jean-Marc Bory. (1958) Eng. subtitles. A rich, provincial wife has a secret life in Paris, but finds real satisfaction in an affair with a young man. 93 mins.

Mademoiselle. (English) (1965).
Dir: Tony Richardson. Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Ettore Manni, Keith Skinner, and Umberto Orsini. A village school teacher becomes a victim of her own libido. 100 mins.

Homage: Robert De Niro

Mean Streets (US) (1972)
Dir: Martin Scorsese. Cast: Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Amy Robinson. Four young Italian Americans use Tony's Bar as a base for drinking, brawling and hustling. 110 mins.

Panorama

Chutney Popcorn (English)
Dir: Nisha Ganatra. This comedy cheerfully confounds Indian tradition and American mores. 92 mins.
+ short Hartes Brot. Dir: Natalie Percillie. 7 mins.

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.

Botin De Guerra (Spoils Of War) (Spain).
Dir: David Blaustein. The Plaza de Mayo mothers touched the world with their pleas for information on those 'disappeared' during the post-Peron era. 116 mins.

My Mother Frank
Dir: Mark Lamprel. A woman finds salvation in education, at the same university as her son. 96 mins.
+ short Mabrouk Again! Dir: Hany Tamba. 18 mins.

Grass
Dir: Ron Mann. Examines how deeply rooted marijuana is in our culture. 79 mins

+ short Psycho Path 30 mins.

Chrissy (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.

Neun Leben Hat Die Katze
Dir: Ula Stöckl. 91 mins.

Extension Du Domaine De La Lutte (Whatever) (France)
Dir: Philippe Harel. Cast: Philippe Harel and José Garcia. A radical and frank look at the male predicament and the dangers of frustration. 118 mins.

Hotel Splendide
Dir: Terence Gross. Cast: Toni Collette, Daniel Craig, Katrin Cartlidge, Stephen Tompkinson. An imposing hotel located on a dreamlike (or perhaps nightmarish) North Sea island houses a matriarch who casts her spell on all.

No One Sleeps (English).
Dir: Jochen Hick. Cast: Tom Wlashchiha, Irit Levi and Jim Thalmann. A medical student follows the lead of his father, a high-ranking Aids researcher in the GDR.
108 mins.

Toro
Dir: José Javier Reyes. Rolly supports his family by performing live sex acts.
105 mins. (Philippines)

Forum

Seitsemän Laulua Tundralta (Finland)
Dir: Markku Lehmuskallio, Anastasia Lapsui.
The result of some long-term cinematic exploration of the lifestyle of North Siberian Eskimos. 85 mins.

El Valley Centro (US)
Dir: James Benning. Lifestyle of a modest and growing rural community. 90 mins.

Where A Good Man Goes (Hong Kong)
Dir: Johnnie To. Cast: Lau Ching-wan, Ruby Wong. An experiment with daring and unusual stylisation86 mins.

Cinéma Vérité: Defining The Moment (Canada)
Dir: Peter Wintonick. Unravels the history of the cinematic form to which Canadian film-makers have made a significant contribution. 105 mins

Fragments De Vies (Cameroon)
Dir: François L Woukoache. Cast: T Lubambu, D Djobong.
Three interlinked episodes show how fear of persecution, trauma, political coruption and poverty overshadow human relationships. 85 mins.

The Punishment (Austria)
Dir: Goran Rebic. Deals with another aspect of the Balkan War. 100mins.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (Straight From The Heart) (India)
Dir: Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Cast: Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan. A clever piece of Bollywood cinema with all the ingredients perfectly blended. English subtitles.
187 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.

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.
+
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.
+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.

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.

Kinderfest

Blinker
Dir: Filip Van Neyghem.
A likeable family allows space for each highly individual personality to thrive.
92 mins.

Man Van Staal (Man Of Steel)
Dir: Vincent Bal.
A 13-year-old boy becomes a man of steel in his dreamworld, where he encounters his dead father. 85 mins.

Pettson & Findus ­ Katten och Gubbens Ar (Petterson & Findus)
Dir: Albert Hanan Kaminski. An animated film recreates the world of an old man and his inquisitive cat. 74 mins

Manolito Gafotas (Manolito Four Eyes) (Spanish)
Dir: Miguel Albaladejo. A family lives in a working-class Madrid neighbourhood.
90 mins.

Rang-E-Khoda (The Colour Of Paradise)
Dir: Majid Majidi. A blind boy experiences sight which reawakens his senses.
88 mins


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