Given the uniqueness and weirdness of the films of Bela Tarr, it's surprising that more of his films are not part of the Criterion collection. Here's hoping that his masterpiece Werckmeister Harmonies is but the first. A stark and deeply humanist portrayal of a small town sinking under the weight of its own desperation, it's a singular vision of a dystopian state that has already arrived, even if it's hidden in small parts of the world, and well worthy of a 4K/Blu-ray release. It's what must be a typical evening at the local bar in this (presumably) average town in Hungary, and the barman is calling the rather early closing time of 10pm. But before everyone leaves, they insist that János (Lars Rudolph), of the...
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- 4/17/2024
- Screen Anarchy
In a typical scene from “An Endless Sunday,” three teenage delinquents wander beside a canal. They end up killing a frog with a brick. Another group of children slightly younger than they are are also mucking about, and one of them is playing the recorder, blasting out a wobbly but recognizable version of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the second movement. It’s a musical cue that in cinema, when accompanying youths up to no good, evokes Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange.” While this Italian debut feature from Alain Parroni has more in common stylistically with Andrea Arnold’s “American Honey,” there’s a streak of nihilism and disregard for the future that would call to mind Kubrick’s droogs even without the audio shout-out.
The teens here are a trio: moody lunkish Alex (Enrico Bassetti) and his girlfriend Brenda (Federica Valentini), who acts older than she is but looks younger,...
The teens here are a trio: moody lunkish Alex (Enrico Bassetti) and his girlfriend Brenda (Federica Valentini), who acts older than she is but looks younger,...
- 9/9/2023
- by Catherine Bray
- Variety Film + TV
Werckmeister Harmonies.Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) begins at closing time. Dousing the embers in his wood-burning stove, a weary bartender shouts at the gathered drunks to get out. Not yet, they say, there’s still one last thing left to do. And right on time arrives János (Lars Rudolph), a bug-eyed young man full of uncomplicated yet not entirely naïve wonder about the universe. He picks one drunk to be the sun, another the Earth, and a third to be the moon, and has them act out a swirling, swaying dance, the sun shining, the Earth revolving until, quite suddenly, János calls them to a stop: a lunar eclipse, wonder of wonders, has settled onto the Earth, blocking out the light of the sun, and calling the entire room to a hush. But then, says János, the moon passes, the sun returns, and all of them have “escaped the weight of darkness,...
- 6/12/2023
- MUBI
"We're not going anywhere. Neither now nor later." Janus Films has unveiled a new official trailer for a 4K restoration re-release of a film from 2000 titled Werckmeister Harmonies, which originally debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section. This new 4K version premiered last year at the Toronto & Taipei Golden Horse Film Festivals, and will play in a few art house theaters, starting at Film at Lincoln Center in NYC. Worth catching in the cinema if you have the chance. "Béla Tarr’s mesmeric parable of societal collapse is an enigma of transcendent visual, philosophical, and mystical resonance." In this, a young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction - featuring a massive stuffed whale and strange man known as "the Prince." The film stars Sandor Bese, Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz, Hanna Schygulla, plus many other locals.
- 5/6/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Legendary Hungarian director Béla Tarr is at peace.
“It’s time for the old guys to leave. Retire, enjoy the sun,” he tells Variety in Cairo.
Tarr, in town to collect his lifetime achievement award and lead a workshop for young filmmakers, stopped making feature films after 2011 “The Turin Horse.” He has no intention of going back on his word.
“Everyone knew it was going to be my last. I knew that if I manage to make this movie, I won’t be able to say more. The language I have been creating became perfect. It’s ready and packed, so take it or leave it. It’s up to you now,” he says.
“You can’t repeat yourself, it’s boring and fake. We all know these guys who had some success 30 years ago and they keep using the same recipe. But something that was powerful 30 years ago is not powerful today.
“It’s time for the old guys to leave. Retire, enjoy the sun,” he tells Variety in Cairo.
Tarr, in town to collect his lifetime achievement award and lead a workshop for young filmmakers, stopped making feature films after 2011 “The Turin Horse.” He has no intention of going back on his word.
“Everyone knew it was going to be my last. I knew that if I manage to make this movie, I won’t be able to say more. The language I have been creating became perfect. It’s ready and packed, so take it or leave it. It’s up to you now,” he says.
“You can’t repeat yourself, it’s boring and fake. We all know these guys who had some success 30 years ago and they keep using the same recipe. But something that was powerful 30 years ago is not powerful today.
- 11/18/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics) has handed out its prize in the 76th Venice International Film Festival’s competition to Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy,” which wraps its 2019 edition on September 7.
Originally titled “J’accuse,” the French drama about the Dreyfus affair, scripted by Polanski and Robert Harris, is based on Harris’ 2013 novel of the same name. It tells the true story of Georges Picquart, the 19th-century French army officer and Minister of War, as he struggles to expose the truth about the doctored evidence that sent Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry convicted in 1894 of treason, to Devil’s Island. The French penal colony operated in the 19th and 20th century in the Islands of French Guiana, located in South America.
Starring as Georges Picquart is French actor Jean Dujardin, who leaped to international fame with his performance as George Valentin...
Originally titled “J’accuse,” the French drama about the Dreyfus affair, scripted by Polanski and Robert Harris, is based on Harris’ 2013 novel of the same name. It tells the true story of Georges Picquart, the 19th-century French army officer and Minister of War, as he struggles to expose the truth about the doctored evidence that sent Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry convicted in 1894 of treason, to Devil’s Island. The French penal colony operated in the 19th and 20th century in the Islands of French Guiana, located in South America.
Starring as Georges Picquart is French actor Jean Dujardin, who leaped to international fame with his performance as George Valentin...
- 9/7/2019
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Santiago, Chile – In the run-up to the upcoming 76th Venice Int’l Film Festival, Paris-based Stray Dogs has closed international sales rights on Chilean drama “Blanco en Blanco,” which holds its world premiere in the festival’s Horizons sidebar.
Filmed last year in the frigid tundra of Chile’s Tierra de Fuego and Spain’s tropical Canary Islands, the anticipated second feature by helmer-scribe Theo Court (“Ocaso”) features Chile’s Alfredo Castro, who starred in 72nd Venice Golden Lion winner “Desde Alla” (“From Afar”) by Lorenzo Vigas. Castro leads an international cast that includes Germany’s Lars Rudolph and Spanish thesp, Lola Rubio.
Set in the early 20th century, the drama centers on a photographer, played by Castro, who heads to Tierra de Fuego where he has been commissioned by a wealthy landowner to cover his wedding.
The photographer discovers that the bride is a mere child and begins to obsessively photograph her in secret.
Filmed last year in the frigid tundra of Chile’s Tierra de Fuego and Spain’s tropical Canary Islands, the anticipated second feature by helmer-scribe Theo Court (“Ocaso”) features Chile’s Alfredo Castro, who starred in 72nd Venice Golden Lion winner “Desde Alla” (“From Afar”) by Lorenzo Vigas. Castro leads an international cast that includes Germany’s Lars Rudolph and Spanish thesp, Lola Rubio.
Set in the early 20th century, the drama centers on a photographer, played by Castro, who heads to Tierra de Fuego where he has been commissioned by a wealthy landowner to cover his wedding.
The photographer discovers that the bride is a mere child and begins to obsessively photograph her in secret.
- 8/21/2019
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Looking back on this still-young century makes clear that 2007 was a major time for cinematic happenings — and, on the basis of this retrospective, one we’re not quite through with ten years on. One’s mind might quickly flash to a few big titles that will be represented, but it is the plurality of both festival and theatrical premieres that truly surprises: late works from old masters, debuts from filmmakers who’ve since become some of our most-respected artists, and mid-career turning points that didn’t necessarily announce themselves as such at the time. Join us as an assembled team, many of whom were coming of age that year, takes on their favorites.
Upon the release of The Man from London, one might have been hard-pressed to consider Béla Tarr and his co-director Ágnes Hranitzky genre filmmakers beyond the broad designation of “European art house cinema.” While still fitting snugly...
Upon the release of The Man from London, one might have been hard-pressed to consider Béla Tarr and his co-director Ágnes Hranitzky genre filmmakers beyond the broad designation of “European art house cinema.” While still fitting snugly...
- 1/1/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The upcoming Filmfest Munich just announced 20 exciting world premieres for their New German Cinema strand. Highlights include Fremde Tochter by Stephan Lacant with Elisa Schlott and Heike Makatsch, Detour by Nina Vukovic with Luise Heyer and Lars Rudolph, Luna by Khaled Kaissar with Lisa Vicari, Branko Tomovic and Bibiana Beglau, Lomo - The Language of Many Others by Julia Langhof with Jonas Dassler and Lucie Hollmann and many more exciting movies from young and established German filmmakers. "Do You Sometimes Feel Burned Out and Empty?" The films of the New German Cinema sidebar ask us probing questions about our self-image, self-improvement and other's perception of us, which informs not just Lola Randl's film of that name starring Charly Hübner and Benno Fürmann, but all...
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- 5/24/2017
- Screen Anarchy
When you’ve been married for centuries, it can be difficult to keep your marriage fresh. A bloodsucker seeks psycological counseling in Therapy for a Vampire, a new horror comedy hitting theaters this month.
Synopsis: “Vienna, 1930. Count von Kozsnom has lost his thirst for life, and his marriage cooled centuries ago. Fortunately, Sigmund Freud is accepting new patients; the good doctor suggests the Count appease his vain wife by commissioning a portrait of her by his assistant, Viktor. But it’s Viktor’s headstrong girlfriend Lucy who most intrigues the Count, convinced she’s the reincarnation of his one true love. Soon, the whole crowd is a hilarious mess of mistaken identities and misplaced affections in this send-up of the vampire genre, proving that 500 years of marriage is enough.”
Written and directed by David Ruehm, Therapy for a Vampire stars Tobias Moretti, Jeanette Hain, Cornelia Ivancan, Dominic Oley, David Bennent,...
Synopsis: “Vienna, 1930. Count von Kozsnom has lost his thirst for life, and his marriage cooled centuries ago. Fortunately, Sigmund Freud is accepting new patients; the good doctor suggests the Count appease his vain wife by commissioning a portrait of her by his assistant, Viktor. But it’s Viktor’s headstrong girlfriend Lucy who most intrigues the Count, convinced she’s the reincarnation of his one true love. Soon, the whole crowd is a hilarious mess of mistaken identities and misplaced affections in this send-up of the vampire genre, proving that 500 years of marriage is enough.”
Written and directed by David Ruehm, Therapy for a Vampire stars Tobias Moretti, Jeanette Hain, Cornelia Ivancan, Dominic Oley, David Bennent,...
- 6/6/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
As you can probably tell, this list feels more arbitrary than others. That’s not by design, but the unfortunate premise of the list leaves some room for interpretation. As we move forward, we will start seeing the films that, if you asked a lay person to give an example, would probably be a response. In other words, more people have heard of them, which, in turn, often makes them more “definitive.” Don’t worry, though – there are still some underseen and underappreciated gems the rest of the way through.
40. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
Directed by: Béla Tarr
It’s certainly not the swiftest film on the list, but you can’t expect much quick plot development from Béla Tarr. Wreckmeister Harmonies takes place in a tiny Hungarian town surrounded by nothing. The winter is incredibly cold, but it never snows. Yet the townspeople are excited in the middle of town as...
40. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
Directed by: Béla Tarr
It’s certainly not the swiftest film on the list, but you can’t expect much quick plot development from Béla Tarr. Wreckmeister Harmonies takes place in a tiny Hungarian town surrounded by nothing. The winter is incredibly cold, but it never snows. Yet the townspeople are excited in the middle of town as...
- 8/24/2014
- by Joshua Gaul
- SoundOnSight
3. Eyes Without a Face
Written by Georges Franju, Jean Redon, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, and Claude Sautet
Directed by Georges Franju
France and Italy, 1960
The idea of what a quintessential French horror film might be, especially in the middle of the last century, would be a conflicting concept, the French being culturally revered as the custodians of the high-brow, the poetically human, and the avant-garde (we even import the word in its French form); horror is a genre maintained to provoke the base and primal, better left to B-movie thrills. Enter Georges Franju, a co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française, to helm Eyes Without a Face, a work to arrive with scorn from both French and Anglophone audiences as it had not been crafted to either of their palettes, but rather an amalgamation of tastes and something completely new.
When Dr. Génessier (Pierre Brasseur) identifies the body of his daughter Christiane...
Written by Georges Franju, Jean Redon, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, and Claude Sautet
Directed by Georges Franju
France and Italy, 1960
The idea of what a quintessential French horror film might be, especially in the middle of the last century, would be a conflicting concept, the French being culturally revered as the custodians of the high-brow, the poetically human, and the avant-garde (we even import the word in its French form); horror is a genre maintained to provoke the base and primal, better left to B-movie thrills. Enter Georges Franju, a co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française, to helm Eyes Without a Face, a work to arrive with scorn from both French and Anglophone audiences as it had not been crafted to either of their palettes, but rather an amalgamation of tastes and something completely new.
When Dr. Génessier (Pierre Brasseur) identifies the body of his daughter Christiane...
- 10/31/2013
- by Zach Lewis
- SoundOnSight
Hosted at one of Hollywood's most iconic venues, The Egyptian Theater, the German Currents Film Festivals brings to Los Angeles an outstanding selection of new cinematic works screening here for the first time. Now in its 7th edition this annual celebration of German-Language is co-presented by the Goethe Institut Los Angeles and the American Cinematheque, in cooperation with Austrian Consulate General and the Consulate General of Switzerland; with support of German Films, Deutsche Welle (Dw), The Friends of Goethe and Elma.
The festival includes narrative feature, documentaries, shorts, and family-friendly films that form part of the 4 day celebration from October 4th-7th. One of the highlights of the program is More Than Honey, which was recently chosen as the Swiss entry for the Foreign Language Academy Award, read more Here, which will be closing the festival on Monday night.
To discuss the film and interact with La audiences some of the filmmakers will also be in attendance:
Rayna Campbell - lead actress, Layla Fourie (North American Premiere)
Matt Sweetwood - director, Beerland (La Premiere)
Jan Ole Gerster - director, Oh Boy
Ennis Rotthoff - composer, Measuring The World (Us Premiere)
For more information click Here
For tickets and information about the Egyptian Theater click Here
Gala Opening Night - Us Premiere
Friday, October 4, At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Measuring The World (Die Vermessung Der Welt)
Directed by Detlev Buck
Two of the greatest minds of the 19th century, mathematician Carl Friederich Gauss (Florian David Fritz) and scientist Alexander von Humboldt (Albrecht Abraham Schuch), dedicate their studies to measuring and comprehending the world they live in. Based on Daniel Kehlmann's best-selling novel of the same name, this visually stunning epic is a playful re-imagining of the great men’s lives. Humboldt, a man with a passion for global exploration, is contrasted with Gauss, a man who experiences his world through mathematical theories and figures. Humboldt, aided by his colleague, Aimé Bonpland, travels the globe physically engaging the world he wishes to understand, applying modern, scientific thinking to comparatively unknown regions. Though he remains in the same destitute community for much of his life, Gauss’ interior journey of mathematical discovery proves to be just as rich and visually stunning as Humboldt’s adventures in remote areas of the world. Fact and fiction are mixed, often to humorous effect, to chronicle the findings of two very different men who nevertheless sought the same answers. Measuring The World was nominated for two German Film Awards in 2013, and the film has won Best Costume Design and Best Make-up Design awards at the 2013 Austrian Film Awards.
In Person: Composer Enis Rotthoff
Germany / Austria (2012), 123 min. In German, French, Spanish with English Subtitles
Saturday, October 5, At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature
Oh Boy
Directed by Jan Ole Gerster
Jan Ole Gerster's wry and vibrant feature debut Oh Boy, which swept the 2013 German Film Awards, paints a day in the life of Niko, a twenty-something college dropout going nowhere fast. Niko lives for the moment as he drifts through the streets of Berlin, curiously observing everyone around him and oblivious to his growing status as an outsider. Then on one fateful day, through a series of absurdly amusing encounters, everything changes: his girlfriend rebuffs him, his father cuts off his allowance, and a strange psychiatrist dubiously confirms his 'emotional imbalance'. Meanwhile, a former classmate insists she bears no hard feelings toward him for his grade-school taunts when she was “Roly Poly Julia,” but it becomes increasingly apparent that she has unfinished business with him. Unable to ignore the consequences of his passivity any longer, Niko finally concludes that he has to engage with life. Shot in timeless black and white and enriched with a snappy jazz soundtrack, this slacker dramedy is a love letter to Berlin and the Generation Y experience.
In Person: Director Jan Ole Gerster
Germany (2012), 85 min. In German with English subtitles
Us Distributor: Music Box Films
Saturday, October 5 At 9:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - L.A. Premiere
Beerland
Directed by Matt Sweetwood
Matt Sweetwood hails from the Midwest. Though he has lived in Germany for over ten years, the people and their culture remain a mystery to him. He undertakes a last-ditch attempt to figure the place out: by exploring the heart of German culture, their beer. If he delves into their rites and rituals, explores all the contradictions and stereotypes, will that make him, finally, a part of them? The infinite variety of beers, breweries and beer fests, the age-old history of beer, is more overwhelming than the American ever imagined. The trail of his research leads him to places far off the beaten tourist path, light-years away from the Oktoberfest. He encounters people whose dialect he barely understands. Amazingly, he finds that a country as small a Germany is subdivided into a thousand different tongues and customs, with beer as the common thread. He discovers a land full of oddities and contradictions. The Germans are deathly serious and silly at the same time, tradition-bound and weirdly visionary. Ultimately, he forms a real bond with them, finding friends where he least expected them.
In Person: Director Matt Sweetwood
Germany (2012), 85 min. In German and English with English Subtitles
Kindermatinee
Sunday, October 6 - 2:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
The Adventures of Huck Finn (Die Abenteuer Des Huck Finn)
Directed by Hermine Huntgeburth
A lively German language adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic satire. Huck Finn, having found treasure with his best friend Tom Sawyer, is now chafing in the shoes and starched shirts that come with his new wealthy lifestyle. He’d like nothing more than to kick off his shoes and run wild along the river. He gets his chance when his drunken father (August Diehl) arrives and demands a share of Huck’s money. Huck decides to escape downriver and he brings along Jim, the house slave who has recently discovered that he will be handed over to a slave trader. The two travel the Mississippi River on a makeshift raft, hoping to outrun Huck’s violent father and find a place where Jim can be accepted as a free man. Twain’s timeless adventure is exuberantly brought to the screen in a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Germany (2012), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Film Workshops
Sunday, October 6 - 1:00 - 1:50 Pm & 4:00 - 4:50 Pm
Join the Echo Park Film Center for an afternoon of cinematic exploration and education with the Epfc "Filmcicle" in the courtyard of the Egyptian Theatre. The "Filmcicle" is a bicycle powered cinema and school on 3 wheels. Using traditional analog motion picture film we encourage audience members - young and old - to spend some time with us creating cinematic wonder.
www.echoparkfilmcenter.org
Sunday, October 6 At 5:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - Us Premiere
Gold
Directed by Thomas Arslan; starring Nina Hoss
Official selection (competition) at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Gold is a Western about seven German immigrants who set out in search of gold in the backwoods of British Columbia during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. Each have their motives: an older couple seeking security, a father (Lars Rudolph) hoping to help his impoverished family, an unpleasant newspaperman (Uwe Bohm) chronicling the journey, and a mysterious packer (Marko Mandic) with a past to outrun. The last to join is Emily Mayer (Nina Hoss), a metropolitan woman whose delicate demeanor masks a steely determination to survive. Assembled by a deceptively confident businessman of questionable motives, the settlers must travel through a relatively uncharted stretch of Canadian wilderness to reach their goal, the gold fields of Dawson. As the path grows more treacherous, betrayals come to light and desperate choices are made. Following in the footsteps of McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Meek’s Cutoff, Gold is an epic that offers an unconventional take on the well-worn Western genre.
Germany (2013), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Sunday, October 6, At 7:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - North American Premiere
Layla Fourie
Directed by Pia Marais
Winner of the Jury Special Mention at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Layla Frourie is a film about Layla, who is a single mother living with her son in Johannesburg and getting by with casual work. After training as a polygraph operator she manages to secure a job with a company specialising in lie detectors and security. On her way to her new workplace she is involved in an accident which will fundamentally change her life. Layla becomes entangled in a web of lies and deceit. The truth could lead to the loss of her son. For her third feature film Pia Marais - who has lived in Berlin for many years - returned to South Africa where she grew up to make this classic thriller. She uses the genre to take a look at a country which still bears the scars of apartheid. In this way, everyday life in South Africa enhances the tension in the screenplay which she co-wrote with Horst Markgraf. Almost casually, Layla Fourie develops into a political thriller which takes the audience into the paranoia, fear and mistrust of a society that is still profoundly affected by racial conflict.
Germany (2013), 108 min. In English
In Person: lead actress Rayna Campbell
Monday, October 7 At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - L.A. Premiere
The Shine of the Day (Der Glanz Des Tages)
Directed by Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel
Philip (Philip Hochmair) is is a young and successful actor working for the most important theatres in Vienna and Hamburg with a committed and single-minded approach to his craft. During a season in which he is busy with a production of Buchner’s Woyzeck, Philip is visited by the elderly Walter (Walter Saabel), who introduces himself as the uncle he’s never met. Walter is a former circus artist and the two men soon bond over stories of their careers. These two entertainers, both at different stages in their lives, learn from each other’s experiences. As his conversations with Walter grow more philosophical, Philip slowly emerges from his once isolated lifestyle. He is even inspired to enlist Walter’s assistance in helping a Moldavian neighbor with an immigration issue. The actors, though not related, essentially play themselves and the largely improvised script was developed around their personal experiences. The result is a rare onscreen friendship that feels warm and sincere. Co-directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel draw on their documentary filmmaking background to create a naturalistic atmosphere in which these performances can flourish.
Austria (2012), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Monday, October 7 At 9:15 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature
More Than Honey
Directed by Markus Imhoof
Winner of multiple awards, including 2013 German Film Award (Lola) for Best Documentary film, More Than Honey, directed by Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) tackles the vexing issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction. With the tenacity of a man out to solve a world-class mystery, he investigates this global phenomenon, from California to Switzerland, China and Australia. Exquisite macro-photography of the bees (reminiscent of Microcosmos) in flight and in their hives reveals a fascinating, complex world in crisis. Writes Eric Kohn in Indiewire: "Imhoof captures the breeding of queen bees in minute detail, ventures to a laboratory to witness a bee brainscan, and discovers the dangerous prospects of a hive facing the infection of mites. In this latter case, the camera's magnifying power renders the infection in sci-fi terms, as if we've stumbled into a discarded scene from David Cronenberg's The Fly." This is a strange and strangely moving film that raises questions of species survival in cosmic as well as apiary terms.
Switzerland/Germany/Austria (2012), 90 min. In English and German w/English subtitles
Us Distributor: Kino Lorber...
The festival includes narrative feature, documentaries, shorts, and family-friendly films that form part of the 4 day celebration from October 4th-7th. One of the highlights of the program is More Than Honey, which was recently chosen as the Swiss entry for the Foreign Language Academy Award, read more Here, which will be closing the festival on Monday night.
To discuss the film and interact with La audiences some of the filmmakers will also be in attendance:
Rayna Campbell - lead actress, Layla Fourie (North American Premiere)
Matt Sweetwood - director, Beerland (La Premiere)
Jan Ole Gerster - director, Oh Boy
Ennis Rotthoff - composer, Measuring The World (Us Premiere)
For more information click Here
For tickets and information about the Egyptian Theater click Here
Gala Opening Night - Us Premiere
Friday, October 4, At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Measuring The World (Die Vermessung Der Welt)
Directed by Detlev Buck
Two of the greatest minds of the 19th century, mathematician Carl Friederich Gauss (Florian David Fritz) and scientist Alexander von Humboldt (Albrecht Abraham Schuch), dedicate their studies to measuring and comprehending the world they live in. Based on Daniel Kehlmann's best-selling novel of the same name, this visually stunning epic is a playful re-imagining of the great men’s lives. Humboldt, a man with a passion for global exploration, is contrasted with Gauss, a man who experiences his world through mathematical theories and figures. Humboldt, aided by his colleague, Aimé Bonpland, travels the globe physically engaging the world he wishes to understand, applying modern, scientific thinking to comparatively unknown regions. Though he remains in the same destitute community for much of his life, Gauss’ interior journey of mathematical discovery proves to be just as rich and visually stunning as Humboldt’s adventures in remote areas of the world. Fact and fiction are mixed, often to humorous effect, to chronicle the findings of two very different men who nevertheless sought the same answers. Measuring The World was nominated for two German Film Awards in 2013, and the film has won Best Costume Design and Best Make-up Design awards at the 2013 Austrian Film Awards.
In Person: Composer Enis Rotthoff
Germany / Austria (2012), 123 min. In German, French, Spanish with English Subtitles
Saturday, October 5, At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature
Oh Boy
Directed by Jan Ole Gerster
Jan Ole Gerster's wry and vibrant feature debut Oh Boy, which swept the 2013 German Film Awards, paints a day in the life of Niko, a twenty-something college dropout going nowhere fast. Niko lives for the moment as he drifts through the streets of Berlin, curiously observing everyone around him and oblivious to his growing status as an outsider. Then on one fateful day, through a series of absurdly amusing encounters, everything changes: his girlfriend rebuffs him, his father cuts off his allowance, and a strange psychiatrist dubiously confirms his 'emotional imbalance'. Meanwhile, a former classmate insists she bears no hard feelings toward him for his grade-school taunts when she was “Roly Poly Julia,” but it becomes increasingly apparent that she has unfinished business with him. Unable to ignore the consequences of his passivity any longer, Niko finally concludes that he has to engage with life. Shot in timeless black and white and enriched with a snappy jazz soundtrack, this slacker dramedy is a love letter to Berlin and the Generation Y experience.
In Person: Director Jan Ole Gerster
Germany (2012), 85 min. In German with English subtitles
Us Distributor: Music Box Films
Saturday, October 5 At 9:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - L.A. Premiere
Beerland
Directed by Matt Sweetwood
Matt Sweetwood hails from the Midwest. Though he has lived in Germany for over ten years, the people and their culture remain a mystery to him. He undertakes a last-ditch attempt to figure the place out: by exploring the heart of German culture, their beer. If he delves into their rites and rituals, explores all the contradictions and stereotypes, will that make him, finally, a part of them? The infinite variety of beers, breweries and beer fests, the age-old history of beer, is more overwhelming than the American ever imagined. The trail of his research leads him to places far off the beaten tourist path, light-years away from the Oktoberfest. He encounters people whose dialect he barely understands. Amazingly, he finds that a country as small a Germany is subdivided into a thousand different tongues and customs, with beer as the common thread. He discovers a land full of oddities and contradictions. The Germans are deathly serious and silly at the same time, tradition-bound and weirdly visionary. Ultimately, he forms a real bond with them, finding friends where he least expected them.
In Person: Director Matt Sweetwood
Germany (2012), 85 min. In German and English with English Subtitles
Kindermatinee
Sunday, October 6 - 2:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
The Adventures of Huck Finn (Die Abenteuer Des Huck Finn)
Directed by Hermine Huntgeburth
A lively German language adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic satire. Huck Finn, having found treasure with his best friend Tom Sawyer, is now chafing in the shoes and starched shirts that come with his new wealthy lifestyle. He’d like nothing more than to kick off his shoes and run wild along the river. He gets his chance when his drunken father (August Diehl) arrives and demands a share of Huck’s money. Huck decides to escape downriver and he brings along Jim, the house slave who has recently discovered that he will be handed over to a slave trader. The two travel the Mississippi River on a makeshift raft, hoping to outrun Huck’s violent father and find a place where Jim can be accepted as a free man. Twain’s timeless adventure is exuberantly brought to the screen in a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Germany (2012), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Film Workshops
Sunday, October 6 - 1:00 - 1:50 Pm & 4:00 - 4:50 Pm
Join the Echo Park Film Center for an afternoon of cinematic exploration and education with the Epfc "Filmcicle" in the courtyard of the Egyptian Theatre. The "Filmcicle" is a bicycle powered cinema and school on 3 wheels. Using traditional analog motion picture film we encourage audience members - young and old - to spend some time with us creating cinematic wonder.
www.echoparkfilmcenter.org
Sunday, October 6 At 5:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - Us Premiere
Gold
Directed by Thomas Arslan; starring Nina Hoss
Official selection (competition) at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Gold is a Western about seven German immigrants who set out in search of gold in the backwoods of British Columbia during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. Each have their motives: an older couple seeking security, a father (Lars Rudolph) hoping to help his impoverished family, an unpleasant newspaperman (Uwe Bohm) chronicling the journey, and a mysterious packer (Marko Mandic) with a past to outrun. The last to join is Emily Mayer (Nina Hoss), a metropolitan woman whose delicate demeanor masks a steely determination to survive. Assembled by a deceptively confident businessman of questionable motives, the settlers must travel through a relatively uncharted stretch of Canadian wilderness to reach their goal, the gold fields of Dawson. As the path grows more treacherous, betrayals come to light and desperate choices are made. Following in the footsteps of McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Meek’s Cutoff, Gold is an epic that offers an unconventional take on the well-worn Western genre.
Germany (2013), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Sunday, October 6, At 7:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - North American Premiere
Layla Fourie
Directed by Pia Marais
Winner of the Jury Special Mention at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Layla Frourie is a film about Layla, who is a single mother living with her son in Johannesburg and getting by with casual work. After training as a polygraph operator she manages to secure a job with a company specialising in lie detectors and security. On her way to her new workplace she is involved in an accident which will fundamentally change her life. Layla becomes entangled in a web of lies and deceit. The truth could lead to the loss of her son. For her third feature film Pia Marais - who has lived in Berlin for many years - returned to South Africa where she grew up to make this classic thriller. She uses the genre to take a look at a country which still bears the scars of apartheid. In this way, everyday life in South Africa enhances the tension in the screenplay which she co-wrote with Horst Markgraf. Almost casually, Layla Fourie develops into a political thriller which takes the audience into the paranoia, fear and mistrust of a society that is still profoundly affected by racial conflict.
Germany (2013), 108 min. In English
In Person: lead actress Rayna Campbell
Monday, October 7 At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - L.A. Premiere
The Shine of the Day (Der Glanz Des Tages)
Directed by Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel
Philip (Philip Hochmair) is is a young and successful actor working for the most important theatres in Vienna and Hamburg with a committed and single-minded approach to his craft. During a season in which he is busy with a production of Buchner’s Woyzeck, Philip is visited by the elderly Walter (Walter Saabel), who introduces himself as the uncle he’s never met. Walter is a former circus artist and the two men soon bond over stories of their careers. These two entertainers, both at different stages in their lives, learn from each other’s experiences. As his conversations with Walter grow more philosophical, Philip slowly emerges from his once isolated lifestyle. He is even inspired to enlist Walter’s assistance in helping a Moldavian neighbor with an immigration issue. The actors, though not related, essentially play themselves and the largely improvised script was developed around their personal experiences. The result is a rare onscreen friendship that feels warm and sincere. Co-directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel draw on their documentary filmmaking background to create a naturalistic atmosphere in which these performances can flourish.
Austria (2012), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Monday, October 7 At 9:15 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature
More Than Honey
Directed by Markus Imhoof
Winner of multiple awards, including 2013 German Film Award (Lola) for Best Documentary film, More Than Honey, directed by Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) tackles the vexing issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction. With the tenacity of a man out to solve a world-class mystery, he investigates this global phenomenon, from California to Switzerland, China and Australia. Exquisite macro-photography of the bees (reminiscent of Microcosmos) in flight and in their hives reveals a fascinating, complex world in crisis. Writes Eric Kohn in Indiewire: "Imhoof captures the breeding of queen bees in minute detail, ventures to a laboratory to witness a bee brainscan, and discovers the dangerous prospects of a hive facing the infection of mites. In this latter case, the camera's magnifying power renders the infection in sci-fi terms, as if we've stumbled into a discarded scene from David Cronenberg's The Fly." This is a strange and strangely moving film that raises questions of species survival in cosmic as well as apiary terms.
Switzerland/Germany/Austria (2012), 90 min. In English and German w/English subtitles
Us Distributor: Kino Lorber...
- 10/4/2013
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
The Berlin International Film Festival is celebrating its opening today, on February 7, 2013 at 7.30 pm. After a few words of greeting from Minister of State for Cultural and Media Affairs Bernd Neumann and Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit, the Festival will be officially opened by Jury President Wong Kar Wai (Hong Kong, China) and Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick. The International Jury – whose other members are Susanne Bier (Denmark), Andreas Dresen (Germany), Ellen Kuras (USA), Shirin Neshat (Iran), Tim Robbins (USA) and Athina Rachel Tsangari (Greece) – will also be introduced during the gala. Anke Engelke will again host the evening. This year’s music will be provided by Ulrich Tukur & Die Rhythmus Boys. 3sat will be broadcasting the opening live. Ziyi Zhang in Yi dai zong shi (The Grandmaster) by Wong Kar Wai Following the gala, Wong Kar Wai’s epic martial-arts drama The Grandmaster will have its international premiere. The director and his leading actors,...
- 2/7/2013
- by hnblog@hollywoodnews.com (Hollywood News Team)
- Hollywoodnews.com
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