The Party | Press Conference Video Highlights | Berlinale 2017

Sally Potter (Director, Screenwriter)

Patricia Clarkson (Actress)

Cillian Murphy (Actor)

Kristin Scott Thomas (Actress)

Bruno Ganz (Actor)

Timothy Spall (Actor)

Kurban Kassam (Producer)

Christopher Sheppard (Producer)

Moderation: Jenni Zylka



Full version: http://bit.ly/2kFzGKy

Janet has just been appointed minister in the shadow cabinet – the crowning achievement of her political career. She and her husband Bill plan to celebrate this with a few close friends. The guests arrive at their home in London but the party takes an unexpected turn for the worse when Bill suddenly makes two explosive revelations that shock Janet and everyone present to the core. Love, friendships, political convictions and a whole way of life are now called into question. Underneath their cultivated liberal left-wing surface people are seething. Their dispute leads to the big guns being brought out – even in a literal sense.

For her eighth theatrical feature British director and screenwriter Sally Potter, who last took part in the Berlinale Competition with Rage in 2009, has invited a stellar cast to join her party. Beginning as a subtly witty comedy replete with sharp-tongued dialogue, the film later veers off into tragedy. When life can no longer be controlled by reason, people will fight tooth and nail to protect their seemingly stable existence.

WITH

Patricia Clarkson (April)

Bruno Ganz (Gottfried)

Cherry Jones (Martha)

Emily Mortimer (Jinny)

Cillian Murphy (Tom)

Kristin Scott Thomas (Janet)

Timothy Spall (Bill)

CREW

Written and directed by

Sally Potter

Director of Photography

Alexey Rodionov

Editor

Anders Refn, Emilie Orsini

Sound

Jean-Paul Mugel

Production Design

Carlos Conti

Costumes

Jane Petrie

Make-up

Naomi Donne

Casting

Irene Lamb, Heidi Levitt

Line Producer

Alice Dawson

Producers

Christopher Sheppard, Kurban Kassam

Executive Producers

Jim Reeve, Robert Halmi Jr., John Giwa-Amu

Co-producer

Michael Manzi

BIOGRAPHY

Sally Potter

Born in London, UK in 1949, she made her first 8mm film when she was 14, followed by short experimental films. Since 1969 she has also worked as a performance artist, choreographer, dancer and musician. Her international breakthrough as a film director came in 1992 with her Oscar®-nominated adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel 'Orlando'. In 2007 she directed 'Carmen' at the English National Opera. Her films The Gold Diggers (1983), The London Story (1986), Yes (2004) and Rage (2009) have all screened at the Berlinale.

Filmography

1969 Jerk; short film 1970 Play; short film 1971 Hors d’oeuvres; short film 1979 Thriller 1983 The Gold Diggers 1986The London Story; short film 1987 Tears, Laughter, Fears and Rage; TV series 1988 I Am an Ox, I Am a Horse, I Am a Man, I Am a Woman; documentary 1992 Orlando 1996 The Tango Lesson (Tango-Fieber) 2000 The Man Who Cried (In stürmischen Zeiten) 2004 Yes 2009 Rage 2012 Ginger & Rosa2017 The Party