Berlin Festival

Speed Interview with Dieter Kosslick Berlinale Chief

Filmfestivals correspondant Claus Mueller sat down with Dieter Kosslick head of the Berlin festival for an open discussion on the festival changes.

Claus Mueller What is the most important change compared to last year?

Dieter Kosslick The most important change of course is that we finished out five year plan, including the change of the market, that is the move to the Martin Gropius Bau. That was a big move, and there is another little change, that we give the awards at the end of the festival on stage live so you can see it on television without having a press conference first. And we have a little kindergarten.

Berlin wrap the film we hadda miss

It's always a bit of a let-down when a big one like this wraps and you look through the catalogue noting oodles of films you were dying to see but just didn't have time to get to.  Ouch! Among the most coveted 'near misses' (since it would have been possible to see them, but at the expense of missing other simultaneously scheduled events) I can list with sweet regret (and this is only a small sampling), the following: "The Notorious Betty Page" (with a fetishistically luscious Gretchen Mol); "Absolute Wilson", a feature length doc on highly controversial opera stage director, Robert Wilson; German films "Sehnsucht" (longing) and "Elementary Particles", Chabrol's "L'Ivresse du pouvoir" with her emminence francaise, Isabelle Huppert;  Sidney Lumet's "Find Me Guilty" with Vin Diesel; Altman's "A Prairie Home companion" with homespun philosopher Garrison Keillor starring as  Hymn-Self; "Syriana", the Middle-East thriller featuring Gorgeous George Clooney; and Terence Malick's "The New World" -- the last three, major Hollywood releases shown out of competition.

And the Winners were...

Golden Bear, the big one for best feature film in competition, "GRBAVICA" directed by Jasmila Zbanic of Bosnia. Zbanic has received fairly wide recognition for her documentary films, among them '"Do you remember Sarajevo?". This her feature film debut and the picture focuses on the traumas of the Yugoslavian wars and their current aftermath. This is basically a study of the relationship between a young mother and her twelve year old daughter. The child wants to believe that her father was a war hero, but mother Esma, wants to protectr her daughter and herself by concealing the truth about the war in Sarajevo and the circumstances surrounding Sara's birth. Sounds good to me, but I didn't get to see it, so no evaluative comments. "Grbavica" also picked up a second award, the Eucheminical Jury Prize, which is basically a distinction for films with redeeming Religious content, or something like that - let"s just say it was a nice Christian film.

The Berlin Panorama Audience Award 2006

The audiences’ ballots have been counted: the Panorama Audience Award 2006 – which is sponsored by “radioeins” of RBB, Berlin-Brandenburg’s public radio and television broadcasting station, and Berlin’s city magazine “tip” in collaboration with the Berlinale’s Panorama section – goes to Bubot Niyar (Paper Dolls), directed by Tomer Heymann.

Der Lebensversicherer by Bülent Akinci wins „Dialogue en perspective

Perspektive Deutsches Kino: Der Lebensversicherer by Bülent Akinci wins „Dialogue en perspective“

Young German-French jury by TV5MONDE and German-French Youth Office (DFJW) awards the prize “Dialogue en perspective” for the third time

Capote impresses press and fans alike in Berlin

The crush to get a gander at HOFFMAN AS CAPOTE was so great yesterday that an extra press screening had to be improvised a half hour after the initially scheduled one in the Cinemaxx multi-screen theatre complex. Presumably, the half hour decollage allows reels of the film to be switched from one hall to the other without missing a beat. Unfortunately, the press conference time remained unchanged, so that those condemned to the later viewing (like myself), found the conference already well underway upon arrival at the Hyatt just around the turn from the Cineplex. 

Birdflu alerts upstage Festival on Berlin front pages

During the ten days of the Berlinale most Berlin dailies adorn their front page with large colour photos of celebrity clowning the night before. On Thursday, day number 7 of the fest, however, what was to be seen on all Berlin front pages were shots of men in hooded white spacesuits holding up dead swans fished out of the city lakes, or otherwise attempting to deal with the sudden arrival of the dreaded aviary virus in the midst of the city. Of course, this does not mean that we can expect to see people keeling over on Kurfurstendam in the next few days, but it is a sobering note coming at a time when the city is flooded with foreign visitors here for the film festival.

The Talent Campus provides an inspiring opportunity

“The Talent Campus provides an inspiring opportunity for filmmakers to come together and gives us all the chance to listen to and learn from each other“, summarizes film music composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love) his experience at the Berlinale Talent Campus. The concluding event of the Campus yesterday was the presentation of the awards: the winner of the Volkswagen Score Competition is Alasdair Reid from Great Britain. In a vote, the 520 talents from 101 countries named High Maintenance by Phillip Van (USA) as Talent Movie of the Week. The Berlin Today Award had already been presented to the Brazilian Anna Azevedo during the Campus opening ceremony.

House warming party at Talent Campus

House Warming at the Opening Night: Live-Band, Food and Films at the Opening

Picture copyright: BERLINALE TALENT CAMPUS