Sporting a hangover from his party, and still with the sounds of the darbuke ringing in my ears (among other things), I share a coffee with Fatih Akin. The Turkish-German director of Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul.A documentary about that city and its music, it's a distinct change of direction for the director of Head On, the emotionally coruscating drama that won the Golden Bear in Berlin last year. It turns our that there was a very personal reason for that"Before Head On appeared ...
16th Int. Hamburg Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (October 11th - 16th, 2005)Hamburg’s third largest film festival ended on October 22nd with an awards ceremony recognizing the best feature films. A record number of people filled the cinemas and attended the various events surrounding the six-day fest. The number of ticket-holders grew by 5.5%. Among the festival guests were 120 accredited members of the film and media industry from around the world. Over 25 filmmakers were also in attendance incl...
UNVEILED awarded the "Hessischer Filmpreis" during the Frankfurt BookfairMedia Luna Entertainment awarded the director Angelina Maccarone whose film UNVEILED won the "Hessischer Filmpreis" during the Frankfurt Bookfair on Friday, October 21st. Among 30 other films in the competition, UNVEILED was awarded as Best Feature Film of the year.The film is a political drama and touching love story between two women, starring Jasmin Tabatabai and Anneke Kim Sarnau. Prosecuted in Iran for her homosexualit...
On 4th November mobile multimedia professionals will meetat Schmidt-Theater in Hamburg, to explore trends, content and business models for mobile media. The symposium is organised by the team of Bitfilm Festival, which takes place at the same time, in cooperation with the State of Hamburg’s Independent Media Commission (HAM), Studio Hamburg and Debitel subsidiary Midray.Will we watch TV on cell phones ? Will animated ring videos replace ring tones?Which fi lms, series, and games work well on t...
The exground filmfest in Wiesbaden is one of the most important festivals of Independent Film in Germany.From November 11 to November 20, 2005 exground filmfest presents once again the highlights of independently produced short and long films in the Hessian capital – the best out of a record high of 1,700 entries.The sections American Independents, News from Asia, International, documentations, and Shorts comprise about 360 productions, among them several premieres. This year’s host country,...
HAMBURG 13 CLOSES WITH CASH PRIZES AND ELECTRIC SHADOWSThe thirteenth installment of the Hamburg Film Festival came to a close on September 29 with an invitational screening of the Chinese film "Electric Shadows" (Dyan-Ying), which is simply a direct translation of the Chinese word for "movies". The film is basically a declaration of love for the medium itself, and female director Xiao Jiang picked up a nice little purse of 10,000 Euros, the Otto Sprenger Prize for best debut film. Sprenger is ...
"Just an Ordinary Jew" ('Ein Ganz Gewohnlicher Jude') directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel of the Berlin Bunker drama "The Downfall", and starring Ben Becker in a mesmerizing 89 minute screen monologue, turned out to be the capstone of the Hamburg film festival. Based on a recent book by Swiss author Charles Lewinsky, this heady piece of work adresses itself to the thorny issue of what it means to be a Jew in contemporary Germany. Emanuel Goldfarb, a German journalist of Jewish heritage, but not a...
Dropping in on the Hamburg film festival on the way back from San Sebastian is something like stopping off at a neighbourhood bar for a nightcap after a gala bash at the Waldorf. Which is not to say that Hamburg is not interesting or lacking in films of merit -- just that it's on a much smaller scale (although Hamburg, as a city, is far bigger than San Sebastian) and is geared to the tastes of the local film-buff public, rather than to industry professionals. Films are shown in five venues, mo...
It's fairly unusual at a film festival with umpteen titles to pick from that one selects three names out of a hat, and all three turn out to be not only winners, back to back, but films of quality ranging from excellent to astounding. Today's triple winning ticket: "ZOZO" from Norway by way of Beirut, "Fratricide" Brudermord) -- astounding turf battle between Turks and Kurds in a German city, and "Bashing", a hypnotic Kafkaesque look at life on Desolation Row in a northern Japanese industrial w...
Gustav Peter Wöhler and Saving Face open the 16th Hamburg Gay&Lesbian Film FestivalThe 16th Hamburg International Gay&Lesbian Film Festival is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, 11 October, 2005.The show place for this year’s celebration is the Streit’s Kino located at Jungfernstieg, a hot spot for tourists, fashion and Hanseatic tradition just south of the city’s Lake Alster. The audience can look forward to an evening full of variety and entertainment with Gustav Peter Wöhler, a theater or...
Filmfest Hamburg catches European Premiere Doris Dörrie’s film DER FISCHER UND SEINE FRAU opens the festivalThe 13th Filmfest Hamburg opens with the European premiere of the German comedy DER FISCHER UND SEINE FRAU. The leads are played by Alexandra Maria Lara, Christian Ulmen, Simon Verhoeven and Young-Shin Kim. Incessantly fascinated by the topic, Doris Dörrie asks in her latest film once morethe question, whether men and women actually suit each other.“Every German film festival wants t...
Filmfest Hamburg opens with DIE NACHRICHTENGeschonneck’s thrilling portrait of the media landscape after GermanReunificationWith the adaptation of the best-selling novel DIE NACHRICHTEN, directed by Alexander Osang with a top-notch cast, the Filmfest Hamburg will open its TV section on September 23, 2005.Director Matti Geschonneck: “DIE NACHRICHTEN – a small panorama of our thin-skinned society, in which a human fate is hanging by a thread just because a rumour or an anonymous denunciation...
Bitfilm Festival 2005 to show cutting-edge digital movies in eight competitionsBitfilm Festival Hamburg (November 2 – 6 2005) presents films that use digital technologies in a creative and innovative way.The audience decides by SMS voting on awards in eight categories with a prizemoney totalling 12000 €:3D SPACE – Computer-generated 3D animationsFX MIX - Digitally composed hybrids, mixing for example live action and animationFLASH ATTACK - Films produced in Macromedia FlashMACHINIMA - Movi...
The theme for Friday’s Sydney Film Festival’s opening night was Sparkle! and it certainly did. The State Theatre, already dazzling with its marble staircase, mirrored and tapestry-covered walls, and second largest cut crystal chandelier in the world suspended over the three-tiered auditorium, provided the perfect venue for the red carpet entrance, accompanied by bright lights, snapping flash bulbs. And…pink diamonds, worn by some of the festival guests and provided by the night’s sponsor...
fmx/05: 10th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime, and Content April 27th to April 30th , 2005 / Stuttgart, Haus der Wirtschaft fmx/05 - 10th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content. fmx continues its steady growth, having emerged as the leading event for Animation, Visual Effects and DCC (Digital Content Creation) in the German speaking area. Topics range from film and TV production, animation, effects and realtime to scientific applications, g...
German Films is organising the 6th Festival of German Cinema in Rome from April 7-11, 2005. The audiences in Rome will get to see six new feature films, a documentary and a selection of short films. The festival will be opened by the winner of the Silver Bear for Best Direction and the Best Lead Actress SOPHIE SCHOLL - THE FINAL DAYS (SOPHIE SCHOLL - DIE LETZTEN TAGE). Director Marc Rothemund will be there in person to introduce the film to the local audience. Following the screening, German Fil...
Inaugural festival guests expected to attend include Prince Albert of Monaco, Archbishop Tutu, Morgan Freeman, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Harvey Weinstein, Amitabh Bachchan.The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) today announced the program for its inaugural event which will take place December 6-11, 2004.The festival will be held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister and the Chairmanship of His Highness...
LOVE IN THOUGHTS (WAS NUETZT DIE LIEBE IN GEDANKEN) opens the 9th Festival of German Cinema in Paris (6 - 12 October 2004) On October 6, 2004, the 9th Festival of German Cinema will be opened in Paris by German Films and its partners in the presence of director Achim von Borries and the main actors August Diehl and Jana Pallaske. A total of eight new feature films, a retrospective, a TV film, two documentaries and two silent films as well as the short film programme of NEXT GENERATION 2004 will ...
Hamburg Film Fest Program:23-30 September 20045x2 (‚Fünf mal Zwei'), François Ozon, FranceAlexandrie... New York, Youssef Chahine, EgyptBush's Brain Joseph Mealey/Michael Shoob, USASchau mich an! (‚Comme une image’), Agnès Jaoui, FranceEn Garde, Ayse Polat, GermanyFour Shades of Brown, Tomas Alfredson, Sweden, DenmarkGreen Tea, Yuan Zhang, ChinaLand of Plenty, Wim Wenders, GermanySüperseks, Torsten Wacker, GermanyVitrina (Movies from spanish-speaking countries)Machuca, Andrés Wood, Ch...
On 23.09.04 the 12th Filmfest Hamburg will open with the German premiere of the Danish gospel comedy ‘Oh Happy Day’ by film and theatre director Hella Joof.After a bus accident the Baptist preacher Jackson (Malik Yoba, ‘Smoke’) and his choir from Harlem get stranded in a provincial Danish town. Housewife Hannah (Lotte Andersen) is to blame for this, since she ran her bike into gospel choir’s touring bus. As a result, choirmaster Jackson is injured and needs to take a rest amidst suspic...
Karlovy Vary 2004 – The atmosphere this year around the Hotel Thermal was electric, something like Time Square on a busy evening, (and the comparison is not that excessive!) especially outside the main entrance to the Velky Sal. Live music was continuously played on stage where crowds of youngsters gathered to drink, cheer, and indulge in what is surely one of the highlights of the Czech social calendar attended by international showbiz figures such as Elijah Wood, Harvey Keitel, John Cleese o...
Fantasy Filmfest July 21 - August 18 via Sasha Soren/Arte Six Boom-sha-la-la-la, it's the magickal horror/fantasy tour. Starting out in Munich, and cutting a creepy swathe through Stuttgart, Cologne and Frankfurt, to a final weeklong blow-out in Berlin, the Fantasy Filmfest dishes everything from haute horreur to gore-n-splatter.The festival kicks off with black comedy/fantasy "Kontroll". The film centers on a group of ticket inspectors and a killer having a field day on the Budapest metro.Also ...
British Gala: The Best of British: the finest features produced in the UK in the last twelve months will be featured at the forthcoming festival edition to be held August 18 to 29.Ae Fond KissKen Loach Long awaited, Glasgow-set romance, from one of Britain’s greatest filmmakers. BlindedEleanor Yule Powerful drama of jealousy and passion, starring EIFF favourite Peter Mullan Dead Man's ShoesShane Meadows Fourth feature from one of Britain's best-loved filmmakers; a gritty tale of gangland r...
The 12th Filmfest Hamburg takes place from September 23 to 30, 2004 in the cinemas ‘Metropolis,’ ‘CinemaxX Dammtor,’ ‘Abaton,’ ‘Ufa-Palast Grindel’ and ‘3001.’The 12th Filmfest Hamburg will open with the German premiere of the Danish gospel comedy ‘Oh Happy Day’ by film and theatre director Hella Joof.After a bus accident the Baptist preacher Jackson (Malik Yoba, ‘Smoke’) and his choir from Harlem get stranded in a provincial Danish town. Housewife Hannah (Lotte Ande...
KinderFilmfest opens with German PremiereDirector Peter Timm’s new family comedy MY BROTHER IS A DOG opens KinderFilmfest on September 24th.The children’s film section KinderFilmfest goes into its second round from September 24 to 30, 2004. It was brought into being by the festival director Albert Wiederspiel in 2003 and is once again aiming at attracting seven- to twelve-year-old film enthusiasts.The KinderFilmfest opens on September 24 with a German premiere in the presence of the film’s...
