CEE Films at the 2013 Berlinale

22-01-2013

CEE Films at the 2013 Berlinale

By Iulia Blaga

Films from Poland, Romania and Slovenia will screen in the 2013 Berlinale Official Competition.

The Official Competition, Panorama, Forum and Generation sections have also selected films from Turkey, Georgia, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic and Latvia.

The Polish director Małgośka Szumowska returns to the Berlinale after Elles (2012), starring Juliette Binoche, with W imię... /In the Name of, selected for the Official Competition. The film is produced by Mental Disorder 4 in coproduction with Canal +, and it follows Father Adam who takes over a small parish in the middle of nowhere and has to confront a long forgotten burden and passion. The main characters are played by Andrzej Chyra and Mateusz Kościukieiwcz. Memento Films is the sales agent.

Danis Tanovic makes his entrance in the Official Competition of the Berlinale with Epizoda u životu berača željeza/An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, the story of a 31 year old woman pregnant with her third child who needs emergency surgery, but has no health inssurance. The film is a coproduction between Bosnia and Herzegovina, France and Slovenia, involving Pro.ba, Emotionfilm and Asap Film France. The cast includes Senada Alimanovic, Nazif Mujic, Sandra Mujic, and Semsa Mujic.

This is also the first Berlinale for the Romanian director Călin Peter Netzer, who screens in the Official Competition with Poziţia copilului/Child's Pose, a mixture of drama, emotion and humour about the relationship between an overbearing mother and her adult son. Răzvan Rădulescu and Călin Peter Netzer wrote the script and the main characters are played by Luminiţa Gheorghiu (Moartea domnului Lăzărescu/The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu) and Bogdan Dumitrache (Cu cele mai bune intenţii/Best Intentions). Child's Pose is a 100% Romanian production between Parada Film and HaiHui Entertainment.

After travelling with the first two parts of his Paradise film trilogy to Cannes and Venice, ground-breaking Austrian director Ulrich Seidl is a newcomer to the Berlinale where the third film in the series is to be screened in the Official Competition. Paradies: Hoffnung/Paradise: Hope is a coproduction between Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion GmbH (Austria, www.ulrichseidl.com), Tatfilm (Germany, www.tatfilm.de) and Société Parisienne de Production ( France, www.coproductionoffice.eu).

Georgia sends two films to Berlin. On 7 February, the Panorama’s main programme will openwith the Georgian Chemi Sabnis Naketsi/A Fold in My Blanket by Zaza Rusadze. Produced by director’s production company Zazarfilm with the support of the Georgian National Film Centre, the film tells the story of a young man returning to his home town after studying abroad. Tornike Bziava, Tornike Gogrichiani, and Zura Kipshidze are the main actors. Media Luna New Films is the sales agent.

A Georgian-German coproduction will be screened in Forum. Grzeli nateli dgeebi/In Bloom, the first feature by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß, is focusing on two young female friends in a country marked by civil war and poverty in 1992.

Two Turkish films were also selected for Panorama. Asli Ozge's Hayatboyu/Lifelong is a Turkish-German-Dutch coproduction between Razor Film Produktion, Augustus Film, Kaliber Film, Bulut Filmand, and Soda Media. The cast includes Defne Halman, Haka Cimenser, and Gizem Akman. Uğur Yücel's Soğuk/Cold is a 100% Turkish production starring Cenk Alibeyoğlu, A. Rıfat Şungar, and Valeria Skorohodova.

Croatia is also represented with two films selected for the Forum section. Krugovi/Circles Srdan Golubović’s drama of three parallel stories about heroism is produced by the Serbian company Bas Celik and the German company Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion, in coproduction with the Slovenian company Vertigo/E-motion Film, the Croatian company Propeler Film and the French company La Cinefacture.

Another Croatian coproduction, this time with Bosnia and Herzegovina, was also selected in Forum. The story from Obrana i zaštita/A Stranger aka The Bridge, written and directed by the acclaimed theatre and film director Bobo Jelčić, is set in Mostar, a town still divided into the Croatian and the Bosnian side 20 years after the war. The film is a tale about prejudice, human weaknesses and conflict between the individual and the society played by: Bogdan Diklić, Nada Đurevska, Ivana Roščić, and Izudin Bajrović. The project involves Spiritus Movens, Produkcija Kadar and Croatian Radio and Television.

Two Austrian films will be shown in the Forum section, beginning with the world premiere of Gustav Deutsch's Shirley – Visions of Reality. This Austrian production of KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production uses 13 cinematically vivified paintings by Edward Hopper in order to tell the story of a woman who lives in a reality she sees as a made up construct. The cast includes Stephanie Cumming, Christoph Bach, and Florentin Groll.

Die 727 Tage ohne Karamo/The 727 Days without Karamo by Anja Salomonowitz (also in Forum) is a documentary experiment of 21 binational couples sharing personal moments of their love stories, forming one complete story of how love can rise above the written law. The 80 minite film is produced by Amour Fou Vienna.

The German-Polish coproduction Sieniawka by Marcin Malaszczak, screening in Forum, is a lyrical portrait of post-socialist reality between Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, conceived of as a mix of fictional staging and documentary representation of a dilapidated mental asylum and a landscape scarred by coal mining

Reha Erdem's Jîn (Turkey), selected in Generation 14plus, sees the war between guerrillas and the army in Kurdish areas in Turkey through the eyes of a 17 year old girl, a young fighter (played by Deniz Hasgüler). The film is produced by Ömer Atay through Atlantik Film.

Kasia Rosłaniec's Baby Blues (Poland), will have its European premiere in Generation 14plus. After Mall Girls, Kasia Rosłaniec made a teenage mother’s tour de force through a world of daily chores, nappies fashion and drugs. Zentropa International Poland is producing.

Mammu, es Tevi mīlu/Mother, I Love You by the Latvian director Jānis Nords, selected in Generation Kplus, is the touching story of a misunderstood adolescent who tries to negociate his relationship with his mother while delving into the world of the petty crime. The film is produced by Tanka (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and stars Kristofers Konovalovs, Vita Varpina, and Matiss Livcans.

CEE FILMS AT THE BERLINALE:

Official Competition:

W imię... /In the Name of by Małgośka Szumowska (Poland)

Epizoda u životu berača željeza/An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker by Danis Tanovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina-France -Slovenia)

Poziţia copilului/Child's Pose by Călin Peter Netzer (Romania)

Paradies: Hoffnung/Paradise: Hope by Ulrich Seidl (Austria-Germany-France)

Panorama:

Chemi Sabnis Naketsi/A Fold in My Blanket by Zaza Rusadze (Georgia)

Hayatboyu/Lifelong by Asli Ozge (Turkey-Germany)

Soğuk/Cold by Uğur Yücel (Turkey)

Forum:

Grzeli nateli dgeebi/In Bloom by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß (Georgia-Germany)