For the third year, the best of new Brazilian cinema will be on show in Berlin as Première Brasil Berlin again returns to the city to unspool a selection of the most important new films from Brazil, along with a special focus on the work of Oscar®-nominated director Héctor Babenco.

As in previous years, the Première Brasil programme is being curated by Ilda Santiago, director of Festival do Rio, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, the 2012 edition of which wrapped October 18 to record attendance figures.

From 16 - 27 November, Berlin film fans will be treated to a cross-section of the latest in Brazilian cinema, from feature films to documentary and docu-fiction films. The selection is complemented by TV productions which reflect the dominant features of the film selection.

The Première Brasil Berlin season is a similar event also organized by the Rio de Janeiro Int'l Film Festival at New York's Museum of Modern Art every July.

The Berlin festival begins 16 November with a wonderful homage to all the con men of the world: Toniko Melo's "VIPs" (2010), a stylish fictionalized study of a real life Brazilian swindler, which was named best film at the Festival do Rio 2010 as well as winning four further awards including best actor for leading man Wagner Moura. Ilda Santiago will open the festival in the presence of many of the directors whose work will be seen during the 11 day season.

What unites the films being shown during Première Brasil Berlin is their fine sense for a society in flux, for people in search of their identity. Karim Aïnouz' "O Abismo Prateado/The Silver Cliff" (2011) tells of a well-established dentist who is completely uprooted from her normal existence by a single telephone call. In "Luz nas Trevas/Light in Darkness", the directors Helena Ignez and Ícaro C.Martins use gaudy, pop-like images to relate the family saga of a glittering 1960s gangster and his son, Tudo-ou-Nada, ‘all-or-nothing'.

Flávia Castro explores the momentous recent history of Latin America with her "Diário de uma Busca/Diary, Letters, Revolutions". Her film about a journey tracing the footsteps of her father, the political activist Celso Alfonso Gay de Castro, earned her the award for best documentary film at the Festival do Rio 2010.

Special guest at Première Brasil is Héctor Babenco. Three films have been selected to spotlight the creative work of this multi award winning director, who was born in 1946 in Mar del Plata. On 18 November, at 9.15 p.m., in conversation with Ilda Santiago and the audience, Babenco will recount  the events in his career both before and after the world-famous "Kiss of the Spiderwoman", starring William Hurt, Raul Júlia and Sônia Braga, for which his film received three Academy Award nominations in 1985 including a Best Director nomination for him.

At 6 p.m. on 19 November, the event holds a discussion on the role of the political documentary film in Brazil with the directors Flávia Castro, Sandra Kogut, Eryk Rocha and Silvio Tendler. Additional audience encounters with the directors will offer insights into the latest developments in Brazilian film production.

Première Brasil Berlin is being attended by filmmakers Karim Aïnouz ("O Abismo Prateado/The Silver Cliff"), Henrique Dantas ("Filhos de João/Sons of João"), Helena Ígnez "(Luz nas Trevas/Light in Darkness"), Toniko Melo ("VIPs"), Silvio Tendler ("Utopia e Barbárie/Utopia and Barbarism"), Eryk Rocha ("Transeunte/Passerby"), Gustavo Pizzi ("Riscado"), Flávia Castro ("Diário de uma Busca/Diary/Letters, Revolutions") and Luciano Vidigal, Cadu Barcellos, Wagner Novais and Rodrigo Felha, four young directors whose film "5 x UPP" documents the work of the special police unit "Unidade de Polícia Pacificador/Police Pacification Unit"  in the favelas of the megalopolis that is Rio.

The young directors of "5 x UPP" are coming to Berlin bringing their film project on the impact of UPPs at the favelas in Rio and how it is changing to whole city. The same filmmakers were engaged in the previous Cannes selection  "5 x Favela, This Time By Ourselves", a  2010 project produced and coordinated by Brazilian master Carlos Diegues.

Première Brasil Berlin also offers audiences the chance to catch up again with Karim Aïnouz, the former DAAD stipendiary. The director of "O Abismo Prateado/The Silver Cliff" has been living in Berlin since 2004 and presents his work again this year as a feature maker but also as a TV director. Two installments of his tv series"Alice", from the year 2008, are on show in the TV Lounge. Also on show every day are productions by Beto Brant ("O Amor Segundo B. Schianberg/Love According to B. Schianberg") or Sandra Kogut, DAAD stipendiary 2011 in Berlin, ("Diário de uma Crise/Diary of a Crisis") - two productions which prove that Brazilian TV is about more than "just" telenovelas.  In addition, a series of monitors in the foyer of the Haus will screen forays by well-known film directors into the realm of TV, all embedded in a Music Lounge.

A selection of press photos is available for downloading in the press section of our website: www.hkw.de/pressphotos

Infos and tickets I http://www.hkw.de/ I 030 - 39 787 175

S-und U-Hauptbahnhof, U Bundestag, Bus 100, Bus M85, S-und U-Brandenburger Tor

Haus der Kulturen der Welt is accessible to the disabled.

In cooperation with the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival

With the kind support of the Brazilian Ministry for Foreign Affairs / Brazilian Embassy in Berlin and the German Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs

The Haus der Kulturen der Welt is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media on the basis of a resolution adopted by the German Parliament as well as by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

PREMIÈRE BRASIL - The Program

LOUNGE

Brazilian TV series and TV films by Karim Ainouz, Tata Amaral, Beto Brant and Sandra Kogut in the grand foyer, daily from 10 a.m.

Wed 16 November

7.30 p.m.

Opening | in the presence of the curator, Ilda Santiago, and the directors featured at the festival

8 p.m.

Feature Film | "VIPs" in the presence of the director

Thu 17 November

7 p.m.

Feature Film | "O Abismo Prateado" (The Silver Cliff) in the presence of the director

9 p.m.

Feature Film | "Luz nas Trevas" (Light in Darkness) in the presence of the director

Fri 18 November

7 p.m.

Feature Film | "Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco" (Pixote: The Law of the Weakest)

21.15 h

Conversation with Hector Babenco

9 p.m.

Feature Film | "O Passado" (The Past)

Sat 19 November

4 p.m.

Film Essay | "Utopia e Barbárie" (Utopia and Barbarism) in the presence of the director

6 p.m.

Panel | "Political Documentary Films in Brazil" with the directors Flávia Castro, Eryk Rocha and Silvio Tendler. Moderation: Ilda Santiago

8 p.m.

Documentary Film | "Diário de uma Busca" (Diary, Letters, Revolutions) in the presence of the director

10 p.m.

Feature Film | "Transeunte" (Passerby) in the presence of the director

Sun 20 November

2 p.m.

Documentary Film | "Filhos de João. O Admirável Mundo Novo Baiano (Sons of João, The Admirable New Baiano World) in the presence of the director

4 p.m.

Docu-Fiction | "Amor?" (Love?)

6 p.m.

Feature Film | "RiscadoC (Craft) in the presence of the director

8 p.m.

Documentary Film | "5x UPP" in the presence of the directors

Thu 24 November

7 p.m.

Film Essay | "Utopia e Barbárie" (Utopia and Barbarism)

9 p.m.

Documentary Film | "5x UPP"

Fri 25 November

8 p.m.

Feature Film | "O Abismo Prateado" (The Silver Cliff)

10 p.m.

Documentary Film | "Diário de uma Busca" (Diary, Letters, Revolutions)

Sat 26 November

6 p.m.

Feature Film | "Riscado" (Craft)

8 p.m.

Feature Film | "VIPs"

10 p.m.

Feature Film | "Luz nas Trevas" (Light in Darkness)

Sun 27 November

2 p.m.

Feature Film | "O Beijo da Mulher Aranha" (Kiss of the Spider Woman)

4 p.m.

Docu-Fiction | "Amor?" (Love?)

6 p.m.

Feature Film | "Transeunte" (Passerby)

8 p.m.

Documentary Film | "Filhos de João. O Admirável Mundo Novo Baiano (Sons of João. The Admirable New Baiano World)