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Berlin International Film Festival · 2013

Berlin International Film Festival 2013

Panorama

Programme

56 films · 13 reviews

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The Act Of Killing

Review preview for The Act Of Killing

Unquestionably and understandably harrowing, in places unbearably so, this reflection upon acts of murder, genocide and torture, told by the perpetrators themselves, is a masterpiece.

Merlin Harries · 5 out of 5
People responsible for the mass murder of suspeced Communists at the onset of the military regime in 1965 are challenged to restage their actions and question the pride they still take in them.

(Country: Denmark, Norway, UK; Year: 2012; Director: Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn)

Full review

Art/Violence

Three young women turn grief into an artistic form of rebellion.

(Country: Palestinian Territories, USA; Year: 2013; Director: Udi Aloni, Batoul Taleb, Mariam Abu Khaled)

Baby Blues

Life spins out of control as a teenage mother struggles to cope with caring for her baby.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2012; Director: Kasia Roslaniec; Stars: Magdalena Berus, Nikodem Rozbicki, Klaudia Bulka, Michal Trzeciakowski)

Bambi

The story of one individual's journey through gender role transition to live as a beautiful woman.

(Country: France; Year: 2012; Director: Sébastien Lifshitz; Stars: Marie-Pierre Pruvot)

Behind The Camera

The director and stars play themselves in a film about filmmaking.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2013; Director: E J-yong; Stars: Youn Yuh-jung, Park Hee-soon, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Ok-vin)

Belated (Deshora)

Things change for a couple in a troubled marriage when a young man arrives on the scene.

(Country: Argentina, Colombia, Norway; Year: 2013; Director: Bárbara Sarasola-Day; Stars: Luís Ziembrowski, Alejandro Buitrago, María Ucedo)

Belleville Baby

Review preview for Belleville Baby

A fascinating meta-textual picture.

Scott Macdonald · 4.5 out of 5
The director looks back at her youthful romance in Paris with a small-time criminal.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2013; Director: Mia Engberg)

Full review

Born This Way

A visit to a support centre for LGBT people in Cameroon, and the judge who is fighting for their rights.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Shaun Kadlec, Deb Tullmann; Stars: Alice Nkom)

The Broken Circle Breakdown

A young couple fall in love and life seems to hurtle along at a breakneck pace.

(Country: Belgium, Netherlands; Year: 2012; Director: Felix van Groeningen; Stars: Johan Heldenbergh, Veerle Baetens, Nell Cattrysse)

Burn It Up Djassa

A story of life, dance and poetry in the Wassakara slum just before the outbreak of war.

(Country: Cote d'Ivoire, France; Year: 2012; Director: Lonesome Solo; Stars: Abdoul Karim Konaté, Adelaïde Ouattara, Mamadou Diomandé, Souleymane Bamba)

Cold (Soguk)

in the middle of winter, a married man falls in love with a Russian sex worker.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2012; Director: Ugur Yücel; Stars: Cenk Medet Alibeyoglu, A Rifat Sungar)

Concussion

Review preview for Concussion

A brilliant central performance from Robin Weigert.

David Graham · 3.5 out of 5
A frustrated woman secretly becomes a lesbian escort.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Stacie Passon; Writer: Stacie Passon; Stars: Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Johnathan Tchaikovsky, Julie Fain Lawrence, Emily Kinney, Laila Robins)

Full review

Don Jon (Don Jon's Addiction)

Review preview for Don Jon

Despite the seemingly grim subject matter, Gordon-Levitt goes the upbeat route with his debut feature.

Owen Van Spall · 3.5 out of 5
A porn-obsessed man tries to give up the one-night stands when he meets a woman whose appeal might exceed his fantasies.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Writer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Rob Brown)

Full review

Exposed: Beyond Burlesque

A celebration of the neo-Burlesque scene in New York, in all its diversity.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Beth B; Stars: World Famous *Bob*, Rose Wood, Julie Atlas Muz, Mat Fraser, Bunny Love, Dirty Martini, Bambi the Mermaid, James Habacker, Tigger!)

Fatal (Kashi-ggot)

A man's decision to join a group of Christians leads to a fateful meeting with the woman his gang raped ten years earlier.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2012; Director: Lee Don-ku; Stars: Nam Yeon-woo, Yan Jo-a, Hong Jeong-ho, Kang Ki-doong)

Fifi Howls From Happiness (Fifi Az Khoshhali Zooze Mikeshad)

The artist Bahman Mohassess works on his final creation.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Mitra Farahani; Stars: Bahman Mohassess)

A Fold In My Blanket (Chemi Sabnis Naketsi)

Conformity and oppression in a small town community.

(Country: Georgia; Year: 2013; Director: Zaza Rusadze; Stars: Tornike Bziava, Tornike Gogrichiani, Zura Kipshidze, Avtandil Makharadze, Giorgi Nakashidze)

Frances Ha

Review preview for Frances Ha

You can enter through the objects, like an Eames chair or three pairs of Ray Bans, bought online. Or through the religious conflict inherent in a bacon bagel.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Lightning-in-a-bottle, Noah Baumbach’s love poem to his star and co-writer Greta Gerwig recalls Godard’s early celebrations of Anna Karina, but, as a New York movie, it’s beautiful in a brand new way.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Noah Baumbach; Writer: Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig; Stars: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, Michael Zegen, Patrick Heusinger, Teddy Cañez, Hannah Dunne, Grace Gummer, William Todd Levinson, Marina Squerciati, Finnerty Steeves)

Full review See: 2012 New York Film Festival - diary two

Gut Renovation

A look at the gentrification of a Bohemian neighbourhood in Williamsburg.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Su Friedrich)

Habi, the Foreigner (Habi, La Extranjera)

Fascinated by the Muslim community she is encountering for the first time, a young woman decides to take on somebody else's identity.

(Country: Argentina, Brazil; Year: 2013; Director: María Florencia Álvarez; Stars: Martina Juncadella, Martín Slipak, María Luisa Mendonça, Lucía Alfonsín)

Inch'Allah

A French Canadian doctor commutes between Israel and the West Bank, bringing an outsider's perspectiveto two very different worlds.

(Country: Canada, France; Year: 2012; Director: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette; Stars: Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani, Yousef Sweid, Sivan Levy, Carlo Brandt)

Interior. Leather Bar.

Review preview for Interior. Leather Bar.

This is a curious film, an important film and, in its oblique way, a very funny film.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An attempt to recreate 40 minutes of gay bdsm-focused footage cut from William Friedkin's 1980 crime thriller Cruising.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Travis Mathews, James Franco; Writer: Travis Mathews; Stars: Val Lauren, James Franco, Travis Mathews, Christian Patrick, Brenden Gregory)

Full review

It's All So Quiet (Boven Is Het Stil)

A Dutch farmer opens up about his emotional distance as he anticipates the impending death of his father.

(Country: Netherlands, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Nanouk Leopold; Stars: Jeroen Willems, Henri Garcin, Wim Opbrouck, Martijn Lakemeier)

Jury

A satire about the conflicts between members of a jury convened to review a film.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2012; Director: Kim Dong-ho; Stars: Ahn Sung-ki, Kang Soo-yeon, Katsue Tomiyama)

Kai Po Che

Three ambitious young cricketers find their friebdship threatened by the incrasing violence between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat.

(Country: India; Year: 2013; Director: Abhishek Kapoor; Stars: Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkumar, Amit Sadh, Amrita Puri)

The Legend Of Paul And Paula (Die Legende Von Paul Und Paula)

Two longtime friends fall in love but approach the relationship in very different ways.

(Country: Germany; Year: 1973; Director: Heiner Carow; Stars: Angelica Domröse, Winfried Glatzeder)

Lifelong (Hayatboyu)

A tale of lost love and the increasing alienation that blights a middle class couple's relationship.

(Country: Turkey, Germany, Netherlands; Year: 2013; Director: Asli Özge; Stars: Defne Halman, Hakan Cimenser)

Lose Your Head

A young Spaniard's discovery that he looks like a missing person renders him strangely vulnerable to the whims of a stranger.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Stefan Westerwelle, Patrick Schuckmann; Stars: Fernando Tielve, Marko Mandic, Sesede Terziyan, Stavros Yagulis, Samia Chancrin)

Lovelace

Review preview for Lovelace

The harrowing latter half of the film could easily have become alienating, but Seyfried makes it compelling.

Max Crawford · 3.5 out of 5
The story of Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman; Writer: Andy Bellin; Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Hank Azaria, Adam Brody, James Franco, Sharon Stone)

Full review

Love Battles (Mes Séances De Lutte)

A death, a man, a woman, an experiment.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Jacques Doillon; Stars: Sara Forestier, James Thiérrée)

La Maison De La Radio

A journey into the creative interior of Radio France.

(Country: France, Japan; Year: 2012; Director: Nicolas Philibert)

Maladies

A disillusioned actor, a cross dresser and a woman who barely speaks form a complex friendship.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Carter; Stars: James Franco, Catherine Keener, Fallon Goodson, David Straithairn, Alan Cumming)

My Sisters (Meine Schwestern)

A woman anticipating a heart operation spends what may be her last weekend with her two sisters.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Lars Kraume; Stars: Jördis Triebel, Nina Kunzendorf, Lisa Hagmeister, Beatrice Dalle, Angela Winkler)

Naked Opera

As a rich, powerful man succumbs to terminal illness, his human side becomes apparent.

(Country: Luxembourg, Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Angela Christlieb)

Narco Cultura

An examination of Mexican drug cartels’ influence in pop culture on both sides of the border as experienced by an LA narcocorrido singer dreaming of stardom and a Juarez crime scene investigator on the front line of Mexico’s Drug War.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Shaul Schwarz)

Out In East Berlin - Lesbians And Gays In The GDR (Out In Ost-Berlin - Lesben Und Schwule In Der DDR)

The lives of lesbian and gay people in East Germany are revealed through four generations of testimony.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Jochen Hick, Andreas Strohfeldt)

Parade

A former trapeze artist who was paralysed from the waist down in an accident works to develop a circus in whichhe can demonstrate his acrobatic skill on the ground.

(Country: France, US; Year: 2012; Director: Olivier Meyrou; Stars: Fabrice Champion)

Paul Bowles: The Cage Door is Always Open

A potrait of the legendary Beat Generation writer and composer.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2012; Director: Daniel Young)

Reaching For The Moon

Review preview for Reaching For The Moon

Barreto's film is a stylish feast for the eyes, registering the nuances of the 50s turning into the 60s.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
The poet Elizabeth Bishop falls in love and finds inspiration.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2013; Director: Bruno Barreto; Stars: Miranda Otto, Gloria Pires, Tracy Middendorf, Treat Williams) , Trailer

Full review See: Bruno Barreto on Reaching For The Moon

Roland Klick - The Heart Is A Hungry Hunter

A documentary portrait of the controversial filmmaker.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Sandra Prechtel; Stars: Roland Klick, Otto Sander, Eva Mattes, David Hess, Hark Bohm)

Rock The Casbah (Rock Ba-Casba)

Review preview for Rock The Casbah

A very personal film that takes on big themes almost incidentally, Rock The Casbah is remarkable for the balance it strikes between Israeli and Arab perspectives, often deriving sly humour from the otherwise tragic culture clash.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young Israeli soldier is killed in a guerilla attack in Gaza, with a profound effect on those left behind.

(Country: Israel, France; Year: 2012; Director: Yariv Horowitz; Stars: Yon Tumarkin, Yotam Ishay, Roy Nik, Iftach Rave, Khawla Alhaj Debsi)

Full review See: Yariv Horowitz talks about Rock The Casbah

Salma

Review preview for Salma

Kim Longinotto's documentary about the Tamil poet Salma burns with both indignation and a profound melancholy.

Rebecca Naughten · 4 out of 5
The story of a woman shut away by her family for 25 years, who became a published poet, politician and activist.

(Country: UK, India; Year: 2013; Director: Kim Longinotto; Writer: Ollie Huddleston)

Full review

Sing Me the Songs that Say I Love You - A Concert for Kate McGarrigle

A concert is held to commemorate the influential musician.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Lian Lunson; Stars: Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Anna McGarrigle)

Something In The Way

A deeply religious taxi driver with an obsessive appetite for pornography falls in love with the sex worker who lives next door.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2013; Director: Teddy Soeriaatmadja; Stars: Reza Rahadian, Ratu Felisha, Verdi Solaiman)

So Much Water (Tanta Agua)

A 14 year old girl on a family holiday is dismayed by the endless rain, but then makes new friends.

(Country: Uruguay, Mexico, Netherlands, Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Ana Guevara Pose, Leticia Jorge Romero; Stars: Malú Chouza, Néstor Guzzini, Joaquín Castiglioni)

State 194

A documentary following Salam Fayyed, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, as he works to have his country recognised by the United Nations as an independent state.

(Country: US, Israel; Year: 2012; Director: Dan Setton; Stars: Salam Fayyed)

The Swimming Pool

Four young people spend time at the pool on a slow summer day.

(Country: Cuba, Venezuela; Year: 2012; Director: Carlos Machado Quintela; Stars: Raúl Capote, Mónica Molinet, Felipe García, Carlos Javier Martínez, Marcos Costa)

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard

An exploration of the complex social and political issues around the Pirate Bay trials.

(Country: Sweden, Denmark, Norway; Year: 2013; Director: Simon Klose)

Two Girls Against The Rain

The story of a lesbian couple whose love has survived the brutality of the Khmer Rouge and decades of social ostracism.

(Country: Cambodia; Year: 2012; Director: Sao Sopheak)

Upstream Color (Upstream Colour)

Review preview for Upstream Color

The subject of understanding and mystery prove a sticking point, with the film remaining so wilfully opaque that it is more frustrating than rewarding by the end credits.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A man and woman are drawn together as they try to reassemble their wrecked lives.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Shane Carruth; Writer: Shane Carruth; Stars: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins)

Full review See: New Directors/New Films preview

White Night (Baek Ya)

A man travels to Seoul to meet a friend from the internet and unravel the threads of his past.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2012; Director: LeeSong Hee-il; Stars: Won Tae-hee, Yi Yi-kyung, Hyun Sung)

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

A married man whose wife wants another child tentatively reconnects with his gay identity.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2013; Director: Arvin Chen; Stars: Richie Jen, Mavis Fan, Stone, Kimi Hsia, Lawrence Ko)

Workers

Review preview for Workers

Valle’s deadpan comedy demonstrates a master image-maker at work.

Michael Pattison · 4 out of 5
A loyal factory cleaner is refused a pension whilst a maid finds herself employed by the dog who inherited the house where she works.

(Country: Mexico, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: José Luis Valle; Stars: Susana Salazar, Jesús Padilla)

Full review

A World Not Ours

Review preview for A World Not Ours

Forgetting Ain El-Heweh seems to be something the rest of the world has got good act, Fleifel's heart-felt film is a powerful reminder.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Personal study of life in the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp.

(Country: Lebanon, United Kingdom, Denmark; Year: 2012; Director: Mahdi Fleifel)

Full review

Yesterday Never Ends (Ayer No Termina Nunca)

Ten years after their son's death, his parents meet at the site of his grave, which is about to be bulldozed to make way for a mega-casino.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Isabel Coixet; Stars: Javier Cámara, Candela Peña)

Youth

Two men trying to be good sons and save their families from ruin become violent kidnappers.

(Country: Israel, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Tom Shoval; Stars: Eitan Cunio, David Cunio, Moshe Ivgy, Gita Amely, Shirili Deshe)