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Berlin International Film Festival · 2014

Berlin International Film Festival 2014

Panorama

Programme

51 films · 13 reviews

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20,000 Days On Earth

Review preview for 20,000 Days On Earth

Pollard and Forsyth, who have previously worked with Cave on Bad Seeds videos, turn inner states into inhabitable rooms. What is real and what is unreal is not for the audience to guess.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
An intimate portrait of Nick Cave.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard; Stars: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Blixa Bargeld, Kylie Minogue, Susie Cave, Ray Winstone, Darian Leader, Arthur Cave, Earl Cave)

Full review See: Conversation wth Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth about 20,000 Days On Earth

European premiere. Documentary

2030 (Nuoc)

The wife of a murdered man makes tough choices in a futuristic Vietname where global warming has taken its toll.

(Country: Vietnam; Year: 2014; Director: Minh Nguyen-Vo; Writer: Minh Nguyen-Vo; Stars: Quynh Hoa, Hoang Tran Minh Duc, Kim Long Thach, Quy Binh, Hoang Phi Tran)

World premiere

Anderson

Documentary about secret police informer Sascha Anderson.

(Year: 2014; Director: nnekatrin Hendel)

World premiere. Documentary

Another World

Consideration of the aftermath of the Occupy movement.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Rebecca Chaiklin, Fisher Stevens)

World premiere. Documentary

The Better Angels

Set in the harsh wilderness of Indiana, this is the story of Abraham Lincoln’s youth. It tells of the hardships that shaped him, the tragedy that marked him forever, and the two women who guided him to immortality.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: AJ Edwards; Writer: AJ Edwards; Stars: Wes Bentley, Diane Kruger, Jason Clarke, Brit Marling, Jamie Harrold, Lola Cook, Casey Roberts, Cameron Mitchell Williams, Reagan Leonard, Wayne Pyle, Tim Duquette, Robert Vincent Smith, Joseph K. Bevilacqua, Heidi Philipsen, Phillip X. Levine)

International premiere

Blind

Having recently lost her sight, Ingrid retreats to the safety of her home - a place she can feel in control, alone with her husband and her thoughts. But Ingrid's real problems lie within, not beyond the walls of her apartment, and her deepest fears and repressed fantasies soon take over.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2014; Director: Eskil Vogt; Writer: Eskil Vogt; Stars: Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Vera Vitali, Henrik Rafaelsen)

European premiere

Brides (Patardzlebi)

Exploration of a woman's life with the convict she married.

(Country: France, Georgia; Year: 2014; Director: Tinatin Kajrishvili; Writer: Dato Chubinishvili, Tinatin Kajrishvili; Stars: Sergo Buiglishvili, Anuka Grigolia, Nita Kalichava, Mari Kitia, Giorgi Makharadze, Tamar Mamulashvili, Giorgi Maskharashvili, Beka Samadbegishvili)

World premiere

Calvary

Review preview for Calvary

Although displaying much of the barbed wit of his first film, this is a more measured and moving work.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A priest finds himself under threat.

(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2014; Director: John Michael McDonagh; Writer: John Michael McDonagh; Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, M Emmet Walsh, Isaach De Bankolé, Marie-Josee Croze, Domhnall Gleeson, David Wilmot)

Full review See: Conversation with John Michael McDonagh, Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd and Joyce Carol Oates about Calvary , Conversation with Kelly Reilly about Calvary

European premiere

The Circle (Der Kreis)

Story of a network surrounding a magazine that was the only gay organisation to survive the Nazi regime.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2014; Director: Stefan Haupt; Writer: Stefan Haupt, Christian Felix, Urs Frey, Ivan Madeo; Stars: Anatole Taubman, Marianne Sägebrecht, Antoine Monot Jr., Aaron Hitz, Marie Leuenberger, Peter Jecklin, Ueli Jäggi, Babett Arens, Matthias Hungerbühler, Ruth Schwegler, Sven Schelker, Stefan Witschi, Markus Merz, Martin Hug, Maja Stolle)

World premiere. Documentary

Concerning Violence

Review preview for Concerning Violence

A collage of archival footage, carefully curated to create a provocative think piece.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
An examination of colonialism.

(Country: Sweden, US, Denmark, Finland; Year: 2013; Director: Göran Olsson; Writer: Göran Olsson)

Full review

European premiere. Documentary

Cracks In Concrete (Risse im Beton)

Gangs, drugs, dirty rap, dirty fights and dirty sex pervade the Viennese district to which Ertan returns after a ten-year spell in prison - now he makes a bid to go straight and help his son.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2014; Director: Umut Dag; Writer: Umut Dag, Petra Ladinigg, Petra Ladinigg; Stars: Murathan Muslu, Alechan Tagaev, Erdem Türkoglu, Ivan Kriznjak, Shamil Iliskhanov, Daniel Mijatovic, Magdalena Paulus, Martina Spitzer, Elif Dag)

World premiere

The Decent One (Der Anständige)

Biography of SS commander Heinrich Himmler who committed suicide at the end of May 1945 by taking a cyanide capsule.

(Country: Israel, Austria, Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Vanessa Lapa; Writer: Israel, Austria, Germany )

World premiere. Documentary

Difret

Meaza Ashenafi is a young lawyer who operates under the government's radar helping women and children until one young girl's legal case exposes everything, threatening not only her career but her survival.

(Country: Ethiopia; Year: 2013; Director: Zeresenay Mehari; Writer: Zeresenay Mehari; Stars: Meron Getnet, Tizita Hagere)

European premiere

The Dog

Review preview for The Dog

Poignant and robustly entertaining.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Portrait of the motor-mouthed, completely uncorked John Wojtowicz, whose 1972 botched robbery of a Brooklyn bank was dramatized in Dog Day Afternoon.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Allison Berg, François Keraudren)

Full review

European premiere. Documentary

Fever (Fieber)

A woman haunted by her formative years with her mentally ill father goes back to the family home to reconcile herself with her past.

(Country: Austria, Luxembourg; Year: 2014; Director: Elfi Mikesch; Writer: Elfi Mikesch; Stars: Martin Wuttke, Eva Mattes, Sascha Ley, Nilton Martins, Nicole Max, Carolina Cardoso)

World premiere

Finding Vivian Maier

Review preview for Finding Vivian Maier

Though it's never less than engaging, there's a nagging sense of missing out on the bigger picture.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Documentary about the street photographer who only became famous after her death.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: John Maloof, Charlie Siskel)

Full review See: Finding Vivian Maier conversation with Charlie Siskel and John Maloof , Charlie Siskel interview about Finding Vivian Maier

European premiere. Documentary

Fucking Different XXY

Compilation of short films exploring gay and lesbian relationships.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Buck Angel, J. Jackie Baier, Felix Endara, Kay Garnellen, Jasco Viefhues, Mor Vital, Sasha Wortzel, Gwen Haworth; Stars: Kay Garnellen, Emy Fem, Antonette Rea)

World premiere. Documentary

Güeros

Coming of age comedy.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2014; Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios; Writer: Alonso Ruizpalacios, Gibrán Portela; Stars: Tenoch Huerta, Sebastián Aguirre, Ilse Salas, Leonardo Ortizgris, Raúl Briones, Laura Almela, Adrian Ladron, Camila Lora, Alfonso Charpener)

World premiere

Happy To Be Different (Felice chi è diverso)

An older gay couple talk about their long-term relationship.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2014; Director: Gianni Amelio; Stars: Glauco Bettera, Giorgio Bongiovanni, Mosè Bottazzi, Nicola Calì, Ciro Cascina, Francesco Cocola, Roberto David, Ninetto Davoli, John Francis Lane, Corrado Levi, Pieralberto Marchesini, Alba Montori, Claudio Mori, Fernando Nigiro, Roberto Pagliero)

World premiere. Documentary

Highway

An industrialist's daughter is abducted.

(Country: Nepal, India; Year: 2014; Director: Imtiaz Ali; Writer: Imtiaz Ali; Stars: Randeep Hooda, Alia Bhatt)

World premiere

Homeland (Ieji)

A man returns to cultivate his land near Fukushima, despite the fallout threat.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2014; Director: Nao Kubota; Writer: Kenji Aoki; Stars: Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Yûko Tanaka, Yôji Tanaka, Masaaki Uchino, Ken Mitsuishi, Renji Ishibashi, Sakura Andô, Takashi Yamanaka)

World premiere

If You Don't, I Will (Arrête ou je continue)

A couple on a hike, debate their relationship.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Sophie Fillières; Writer: Sophie Fillières; Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Joséphine de La Baume, Emmanuelle Devos)

World premiere

Ice Poison (Bing Du)

Review preview for Ice Poison

With the pacing so glacial, the predictable story is likely to prove fatal for all but the most patient viewers.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A young farmer becomes a drugs courier in a bid to make ends meet.

(Country: Taiwan, Myanmar; Year: 2014; Director: Midi Z; Writer: Midi Z; Stars: Wang Shin-Hong, Wu Ke-Xi)

Full review See: Interview with Ke-xi Wu about Poor Folk, Silent Asylum, Ice Poison, Road To Mandalay and Nina Wu

World premiere

I'm Not Angry

Story of a pair of political activists who find their romance threatened.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2014; Director: Reza Dormishian; Stars: Baran Kosari, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Reza Behboudi, Misagh Zare, Bahram Afshari)

International premiere

Journey To The West (Xi You)

Review preview for Journey To The West

A meditative miniature of hypnotic grace.

Rebecca Naughten · 4.5 out of 5
A slow-moving Buddhist monk acquires a follower on the streets of Marseille.

(Country: France, Taiwan; Year: 2014; Director: Tsai Ming-liang; Stars: Lee Kang-sheng, Denis Lavant)

Full review

World premiere

The Lamb (Kuzu)

A mother's fatal joke turns a quiet village into a nightmare.

(Country: Germany, Turkey; Year: 2014; Director: Kutluğ Ataman; Writer: Kutluğ Ataman; Stars: Nesrin Cavadzade, Cahit Gök, Mert Taştan, Sıla Lara Cantürk, Nursel Köse)

World premiere

Land Of Storms (Viharsarok)

A gay love affair sparks trouble in a Hungarian village.

(Country: Hungary, Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Ádám Császi; Writer: Iván Szabó; Stars: András Sütö, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Ádám Varga, Lajos Ottó Horváth, Enikö Börcsök, Zita Téby, Uwe Lauer, Gábor Harsai, Kristóf Horváth, Miklós Dr. Réfy, Gyula Hajdú, Michel Victor, Zsolt Nyári, Szabolcs Fábián)

World premiere

Last Hijack

Documentary about Somali pirates.

(Country: Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Belgium; Year: 2014; Director: Tommy Pallotta, Femke Wolting; Writer: Tommy Pallotta, Femke Wolting)

World premiere. Documentary

Love Is Strange

Review preview for Love Is Strange

Courageous and uncompromising

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
The consequences of a gay marriage on family and friends.

(Country: US, France; Year: 2014; Director: Ira Sachs; Writer: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias; Stars: John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Darren E. Burrows, Charlie Tahan, Eric Tabach, John Cullum)

Full review

International premiere

The Man of the Crowd (O Homem das Multidões)

Finally part of a trilogy explores two different types of loneliness.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2013; Director: Marcelo Gomes, Cao Guimarães; Writer: Marcelo Gomes, Cao Guimarães, based on the story by Edgar Allen Poe; Stars: Paulo André, Sílvia Lourenço, Jean-Claude Bernardet)

International premiere

Mario Wirz

Six weeks before his death from cancer, poet Mario Wirz takes a walk with his friend Rosa von Praunheim during which he candidly shares his final thought

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Rosa von Praunheim)

World premiere. Documenary. Panorama Supporting Film

The Midnight After

A group of minibus passengers find themselves in a strange new world.

(Country: Hong Kong, China; Year: 2014; Director: Fruit Chan; Stars: Janice Man, Kara Hui, Goo-Bi GC, Cherry Ngan)

World premiere

My Mother, A War And Me (Meine Mutter, ein Krieg und ich)

The director turns her gaze onto her own family history.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Johann Feindt, Tamara Trampe; Writer: Tamara Trampe)

World premiere. Documentary

Natural Resistance

Review preview for Natural Resistance

Extensive talk about the importance of serendipity in the wine making process suggests that Nossiter is taking a similar approach to his film, hoping the diversity of ingredients will generate something interesting, but he's only partly successful.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
A documentary about the artisan wine business in Italy.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2014; Director: Jonathan Nossiter; Stars: Stefano Bellotti, Elena Pantaleoni, Giovanna Tiezzi, Corrado Dottori, Gianluca Farinelli)

Full review

World premiere. Documentary

The Night (YE)

A rent boy strikes up a friendship wtih a female prostitute.

(Country: China; Year: 2014; Director: Zhou Hao; Stars: Zhou Hao, Liu Xiao Xiao, Li Jin Kang, Zhou Feng Qi)

World premiere

Night Flight (Ya Gan Bi Haeng)

A man bumps into an old friend on the night-time streets of Seoul and they try to rekindle their old friendship.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2014; Director: LeeSong Hee-il; Stars: Lee Jae-joon, Kwak Si-yang)

World premiere

Papilio Buddha

A band of displaced untouchablesin India embrace Buddhism in order to escape from caste oppression.

(Country: India, US; Year: 2013; Director: Jayan Cherian; Writer: Jayan Cherian, Jayan Cherian; Stars: Kallen Pokkudan, Saritha, Prakash Bare, David Briggs, Kozhikode Narayanan Nair, Narayanan Nair, Padmapriya, Kallen Pokudan, Sreejith Ramanan, Saritha, Saritha Saritha, Sreekumar Sree, Sujatha, Antony Thekkek)

European premiere

Quick Change

Story of an entertainer who offers cheap, cosmetic fixes to transgendered men.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2013; Director: Eduardo W Roy Jr; Writer: Eduardo W Roy Jr; Stars: Mimi Juareza, Jun Jun Quintana, Migs Cuaderno, Francine Garcia, Natashia Yumi, Filipe Martinez, Rolando Inocencio, Sashi Giggle)

International premiere

The Rice Bomber (Bai mi zha dan ke)

Based on the true story of a farmer who made rice bombs in a political protest of the Taiwan government's joining of the World Trade Organisaation in 2002.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2014; Director: Cho Li; Writer: Cho Li; Stars: Huang Jian-wei, Nikki Hsieh, Michael Chang)

World premiere

Standing Aside, Watching (Na kathese ke na kitas)

A woman feels alienated after returning to her home town.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2013; Director: Yorgos Servetas; Stars: Marina Symeou, Marianthi Pantelopoulou, Yorgos Kafetzopoulos, Nikos Georgakis)

World premiere

Stereo

A small-town motorcycle mechanic finds his past comes back to haunt him.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Maximilian Erlenwein; Writer: Maximilian Erlenwein; Stars: Jürgen Vogel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Petra Schmidt-Schaller, Georg Friedrich, Rainer Bock, Adrian Can)

World premiere

Superegos (Über-Ich und Du)

Life with its improbable coincidences confronts a delinquent Bohemian, Nick Gutlicht, with the ageing controversial star psychologist, Curt Ledig, whose Nazi connections are well known. Reluctantly Nick soon becomes the old man's object of study.

(Country: Germany, Austria, Switzerland; Year: 2014; Director: Benjamin Heisenberg; Writer: Benjamin Heisenberg, Josef Lechner; Stars: Susanne Wolff, Hildegard Schroedter, John Keogh, Leonard Carow, Maria Hofstätter, André Wilms, Markus Schleinzer, Georg Friedrich, Nina Fog, Margarita Broich, Peter Rappenglück, Eisi Gulp, Elisabeth Orth, Hakan Orbeyi, Gonny Gaakeer)

World premiere

Test

Gay romance set against the backdrop of the San Francisco AIDS epidemic.

(Year: 2013; Director: Chris Mason Johnson; Writer: Chris Mason Johnson; Stars: Scott Marlowe, Matthew Risch)

European premiere

That Demon Within (Mo Jing)

Review preview for That Demon Within

Wu keeps us caring with an intense yet nuanced performance, as if relishing the chance to break out of the romantic hero mould that characterised his early career.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
After a policeman unwittingly saves the life of a notorious gang leader, he sets out to try to dismantle his criminal network.

(Country: Hong Kong, China; Year: 2014; Director: Dante Lam; Writer: Dante Lam; Stars: Daniel Wu, Nick Cheung, Sixuan Chen, Kai Chi Liu, Ka Wah Lam, Andy On, Kwok-Lun Lee, Stephen Au, Kuan-Chun Chi, Ken Wong, Deep Ng, Sammuel Leung, Lam Tsing, Philip Keung, Astrid Chi Ching Chan)

Full review

World premiere

Things People Do

A man loses his job and, unable to tell his family, forges a career in crime.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Saar Klein; Writer: Joe Conway, Saar Klein; Stars: Jason Isaacs, Wes Bentley, Vinessa Shaw, Haley Bennett, Sam Trammell, W. Earl Brown, Jeremiah Bitsui, Missy Yager, Chad Brummett, Matthew Page, Michael Sheets, Crystal Miller, Beth Bailey, Boots Southerland, Nathan Brimmer)

World premiere

Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers And The Emergence Of A People

An epic film that moves between the present and the past through the work of contemporary photographers and artists. Their pictures and stories seek to reconcile legacies of pride and shame while giving a voice to images long suppressed, forgotten, or hidden from sight.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Thomas Allen Harris; Writer: Thomas Allen Harris, Paul Carter Harrison, Don Perry)

International premiere. Documentary

Unfriend

A teenage boy is determined to win back his boyfriend... at any cost.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2014; Director: Joselito Altarejos; Writer: Zig Madamba Dulay)

World premiere

Vulva 3.0

An intimate examination.

(Country: Germany, Canada; Year: 2014; Director: Claudia Richarz, Ulrike Zimmermann; Writer: Ulrike Zimmermann; Stars: Christoph Zerm, Marion Hulverscheidt, Laura Merritt, Claudia Gehrke, Mithu Sanyal)

World premiere. Documentary

The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho)

Review preview for The Way He Looks

By sporadically renouncing traditional reverse shots, Ribeiro gives us an impression of what it is like to be denied a certain gaze - but the director uses this effect with caution.

Sophie Charlotte Rieger · 4 out of 5
Story of a blind teenager who yearns for independence.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2014; Director: Daniel Ribeiro; Writer: Daniel Ribeiro; Stars: Ghilherme Lobo, Fabio Audi, Tess Amorim, Eucir de Souza, Isabela Guasco, Selma Egrei, Júlio Machado, Naruna Costa, Lúcia Romano, Victor Filgueiras) , Official site , Trailer

Full review See: Article about Blindness and blind people in cinema

World premiere

Yves Saint Laurent

Review preview for Yves Saint Laurent

The actors have great chemistry and potently communicate things about human behavior in relationships, universal and specific, self-destructive and kind.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
Biopic of the French fashion designer.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Jalil Lespert; Writer: Jacques Fieschi, Jérémie Guez, Marie-Pierre Huster, Jalil Lespert; Stars: Pierre Niney, Charlotte Le Bon, Guillaume Gallienne, Judi Beecher, Nikolai Kinski, Ruben Alves, Laura Smet, Janicke Askevold, Xavier Lafitte, Anne Alvaro, Xavier Alcan, Marianne Basler, Jeanne Dandoy, Astrid Whettnall, Rani Bheemuck)

Full review

World premiere. Opening night Panorama Special