Two short films today are dealing with upcoming feelings of young girls for other young girls, which are leading to big confusions…
In the swedish short “Min Homosyster”,Cleo is spending warm sunny days with her sister and her “cool” girlfriend Gabbi. She is thinking about who she is on love with and why she´s always so nervous when her friend Sadira calls.
“La prima sueca” tells the story of Cata, who is waiting for her 15th birthday to come. Her cousin Klara, who is visiting, seems to be quite strange to her. Why doesn´t she like to wear skirts and what´s with that sort hair cut? The initialy mistrust seems to fade and maybe Cata doesn´t think of Klara that bad after all.
These two short films who are running in the section “Generation” gently observe the coming of age of young women and the accompanying irritations they have to deal with. Where and when, you´ll find below yeat again ;)
Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n’ont fait que se creuser un tombeau
Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves
Canada
183′
Director: Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie
‘After twelve weeks of striking, assemblies, solidarity, arrest, protest, what do we get? Nothing.’ As the 2012 ‘Maple Spring’ student protest movement in Quebec slowly ebbs away, a dark storm of violence gathers. Driven by a growing sense of frustrated powerlessness and a longing for a new life, Klas Batalo, Ordine Nuovo, Tumulto and Giutizia form an avant-garde splinter group. Their deep-rooted hostility towards the prevailing social order finds an ambiguous political expression in acts that include guerilla pranks and throwing Molotov cocktails. Using powerful imagery shaped by a century of political aesthetics, the film is a collage of scenes and documentary fragments that makes the isolation of the four protagonists tangible. In the course of a path formed by ideals and doubt, we witness their radicalism as it increasingly turns inwards.
12.02. / 20:00 HKW
Chavela
Chavela
USA 2017
90′,
Director: Catherine Gund, Daresha KyiHauptsächlich
Singer Chavela Vargas gained a name for herself firstly in Mexico and later worldwide chiefly for her interpretation of traditional rancheras. These songs were mainly composed by men and mostly speak of unfulfilled love for women, world-weariness and loneliness. Chavela performed them with her own unique feeling for rhythm and her distinctively rough and yet vulnerable voice. Her masculine appearance and red poncho made her unmistakable. In Acapulco, which in the 1960s was the playground for the rich and famous in the world of politics and culture, she rubbed shoulders with many celebrities, turning the heads of Frida Kahlo and Lana Turner with her charm and striking beauty. After a 13-year break from performing brought on as a result of her addiction to alcohol she was rediscovered in the 1990s and enjoyed a glorious comeback as the muse of artists and directors such as Pedro Almodóvar. The unpublished material in this film, as well as the interviews with Chavela herself and her contemporaries, colleagues and partners have resulted in an affectionate portrait of a charismatic and exceptional artist – who was openly lesbian throughout her life until her death in 2012 at the age of 93.
12.02. / 14:30 Colosseum 1
Como Nossos Pais
Just Like Our Parents
Brazil 2017
102′,
Director: Laís Bodanzky
Rosa is in her late thirties. Her parents are divorced. She lives with her own family in an apartment in central São Paulo. Her husband is often away on research trips that are not particularly lucrative, so it’s up to her to support and care for their two daughters. Instead of concentrating on her calling as a playwright she is obliged to earn a living writing advertising copy for a bathroom ceramics company. Coping with sexual conflicts in her relationship, dealing with problems with her various commissions, but also being obliged to tend to her fragile father’s needy artistic personality all present an increasing challenge to Rosa. When Rosa’s mother makes a surprising disclosure to her one day, Rosa decides to break out of her usual obligations. In so doing she discovers that life holds many surprises in store for her. Laís Bodanzky’s impressively naturalistic film portrays the lives of three generations living in Brazil’s largest city. These are lives caught between individual passions and living the lie. At the heart of the film is the portrait of a woman engulfed by the permanent demands that are placed upon her who decides to find out who she really is.
12.02. / 17:00 Cubix 9
Cuateros
Rustlers
Argentina 2016
85′
Director: Albertina Carri
Albertina Carri wants to make a film about Isidro Velázquez, an almost mythical outlaw figure from northern Argentina who was shot dead by police in 1967. She’s not the only one interested in him: her sociologist father Roberto Carri wrote a book on him called “PreRevolutionary Forms of Violence” and a film was made about his story, although both father and film disappeared during the Dirty War. Legends, families, political alignments, cinema: none offer a stable foothold and Carri’s passage through them is like wandering a garden of forking paths, only to arrive at a landscape of cracked earth and thorns. Carri’s narration is anyway not what it might once have been, a mother doesn’t tell things the same way as a daughter. Legends, families, political alignments, cinema: each produces images and these are what appear on the screen, in one channel, three channels, five. It’s all material plucked from an archive and a wonderfully eccentric one at that: news reels, ads, home videos, interviews, movies, abstract forms. Images that could stem from old films, lost films, new films, possible films, impossible films; this is a film for which no other images will do
12.02. / 19:30 CinemaxX 4
Discreet
Discreet
USA 2017
81′
Director: Travis Mathews
Bacon sizzling in fat, a young woman thanking the subscribers of her YouTube channel, a corpse neatly wrapped up in black garbage bags and floating down a river – as clear as the first few images of Travis Mathews’ mystery thriller may be, the connections only become clearer gradually, as if they were emerging from the subconscious. This elliptically edited story, which revolves around a man who can no longer be described as young, is accompanied by an eerie soundscape. Filmmaker Alex lives in a van. He sets up his camera in rural areas in the US and in the no-man’s land near highways. During a visit to his alcoholic mother one day she shares with him a well-kept secret. There is also a small boy, with whom Alex develops an unexpectedly close relationship. Director Mathews chronicles a modern day gay existence in the West – from anonymous sex to heterosexual porn in a sex bar cabin, or as a service in a motel room. A small house and a life on the margins of society. Meanwhile, on the radio, we are treated to a steady stream of rightwing slogans against everything that is not white and heterosexual, here in Texas.
12.02. / 17:45 CineStar 3
Dream Boat
Dream Boat
Germany 2017
92′
Director: Tristan Ferland Milewski
One week on a cruise ship, with parties, fun and new friendships. The all-gay clientele on board discuss topics such as identity, the body beautiful and the search for sex. Every evening is dedicated to a new theme, challenging the passengers to ever more extravagant, body-hugging outfits. In the cabins however, the talk is more than skin deep as the men open up about their private lives. Marek, a young Polish man just wants to be accepted and loved as a human being and not just because of his taut body. Dipankar from India has just recently come out; he and Palestinian Ramzi are revelling in the kind of freedom they can only dream about in their homophobic societies back home. Martin is HIV positive and ponders hedonistic ways, while Philippe from France observes the proceedings on board serenely from his wheelchair. In his feature film debut director Ferland Milewski succeeds in providing a look behind the scenes of an ostensibly superficial world. His humorous approach helps him create a genuine bond with the protagonists who talk openly about gay desires, free love and good old-fashioned monogamy.
12.02. / 14:00 International
EMO the Musical
EMO the Musical
Australia 2016
94′
Director: Neil Triffett
‘How do we know you´re for real?’ · ‘I tried to hang myself at my last school and they expelled me.’ · ‘Welcome to the band.’ After receiving a Special Mention for Best Short Film from the Generation Youth Jury in 2014, this love story full of irony and exhilaration has now been given the feature-film treatment. Ethan, a sensitive and depressed Emo boy with suicidal tendencies, plays hard doom and gloom rock with the likeminded, in a band where good moods are strictly taboo. Ever chipper classmate Trinity for her part prefers to use her sweet voice to sing praises to the Lord in her Christian youth group. Trinity and Ethan, nobody will ever understand this unlikely match, let alone accept it! And yet that’s exactly what came to pass when their two paths crossed for the first time. The impossible bond they share sets a number of events in motion at their crazy little school.
12.02. / 15:30 Filmtheater am Friedrichshain
Final Stage
Final Stage
Germany 2017
27′
Director: Nicolaas Schmidt
The present, the whole present and nothing but the present. A young man on a footbridge, a bus departs, his friend is gone. This is followed by a majestic parade through a shopping centre. This central shot in the film is a fragile balancing act between documentary observation and subtle direction. Deliberately asynchronous sound serves to heighten the sense that events are nothing more than a construction of an apparently familiar reality. The boy’s melancholic bearing, and the way the film unfolds, are embedded in an extremely expressive, albeit narratively minimalistic, dramaturgy of colour. Vibrant colours introduce each individual sequence: blue, green, yellow, orange, red.
12.02. / 22:00 CinemaxX 3
Kometen
The Comet
Sweden 2016
11′
Director: Victor Lindgren
Cast: Abdi Aziis
The sea. High waves. Dark water. A border fence, two men in hiding. Their flight begins. Only one of them will reach Sweden. One of the men is played by Abdi Aziis, who himself has fled from Somalia to Sweden in order to escape the oppression and persecution of gay men. “He is our comet” explains director Victor Lindgren, who, in merely a few selected situations, manages to convey the exertions, the deep abyss, the arrival and the loneliness of those who flee. Both men lay alongside each other on a bench, one arm extended across the other’s belly – an image that symbolizes their intimacy, their shared experience. And in the next moment it’s all gone. Forever. How can life go on? Victor Lindgren’s film Ta av mig was conferred with a TEDDY Award for Best Short Film at the 2013 Berlinale.
12.02. / 22:00 CinemaxX 3
Mein wunderbares West-Berlin
My Wonderful West Berlin
Germany 2017
97
Director: Jochen Hick
Cast: Romy Haag, Maximilian Lenz, Ades Zabel
In West Berlin in the 1960s it was possible to find bars where men could be left to themselves – a fact that was to turn the city into a magnet for young gay men. The protagonists of this film, all still active members of the community today, recall those early years in the city. Theirs are memories of a community that fought steadily for its existence and for change, right up to the fall of the Wall. Faced with considerable social repression in the 1970s, a collective gay identity began to emerge, and the ‘West Berlin homosexual campaign’ called for the abolition of paragraph 175 and the overthrow of patriarchy. Ruined buildings become the venues for new ways of living together such as all-male communes or the ‘queer house’. Cottaging, East-West affairs, leather bars, drag performances in the subway – an anarchic kind of joy outshines past suffering. A decade later, AIDS was to hit Berlin. After Out in Ost-Berlin (Out In East Berlin) Jochen Hick explores queer lifestyles in the West of the city and the roots of a fascination that the metropolis still holds as a refuge – and not just for gay men. A fascinating journey through time featuring previously unpublished archive material.
12.02. / 12:00 CineStar 7
Min Homosyster
My Gay Sister
Sweden/Norway 2017
15′
Director: Lia Hietala
Cast: Juliette Safavi, Tina Pourdavoy, Erika A. Coleman
Ten-year-old Cleo has a head full of questions: How can I tell if I’m in love with somebody? How do I know if I prefer boys or girls? Since her older sister began dating another girl, there are new, strange feelings stirring inside Cleo. During a trip to the Norwegian fjords, she broaches the subject with the young couple and is given some helpful advice.
12.02. / 22:00 CinemaxX 3
Una mujer fantástica
A Fantastic Woman
Chile/USA/Germany/Spain 2017
104′
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Cast: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Aline Kuppenheim
Marina and Orlando are in love and plan to spend their lives together. She is working as a waitress and adores singing. Her lover, twenty years her senior, has left his family for her. One night, when they return home after having exuberantly celebrated Marina’s birthday at a restaurant, Orlando suddenly turns deathly pale and stops responding. At the hospital, all the doctors can do is confirm his death. Events follow thick and fast: Marina finds herself facing a female police inspector’s unpleasant questions, and Orlando’s family shows her nothing but anger and mistrust. Orlando’s wife excludes Marina from the funeral; she also orders her to leave the apartment – which on paper at least belonged to Orlando – as soon as possible. Marina is a transgender woman. The deceased’s family feels threatened by her sexual identity. With the same energy she once used to fight for her right to live as a woman Marina, with head held high, now insists on her right to grieve. Even if her environment conspires against her, the film at least is entirely on her side, showing us a protagonist who, although increasingly side-lined, is nonetheless strong and worldly-wise – a truly fantastic woman.
12.02. / 22:00 Berlinale Palast
Pieles
Skins
Spain 2017
77′
Director: Eduardo Casanova
Cast: Ana Polvorosa, Candela Peña, Carmen Machi, Macarena Gómez
Samantha, Guille, Ana and Cristian all have something in common – and yet they couldn’t be more diverse. Their bodies are different to those of other people; be it the mouth, the left side of the face, the texture of the skin or the feeling that your legs don’t belong to your body. They all live and love hidden away in strangely artificial interiors. As ‘freaks’, they rarely go out onto the street. A confrontation with the rest of the world could have fatal consequences. Director Eduardo Casanova’s strictly symmetrical, pink and purple world is populated by ‘deformed’ people that include the fat, the small, and a woman born without eyes who works as a sex worker. Spanish director Casanova’s episodic feature-length debut is an extension of his previous shorts. Making use of deliberately artificial images he explores the lives of those who, living on the margins of society, are rarely granted places in which they feel secure. However, their situation is not as hopeless as it at first seems, and beauty is a term that is redefined at least once during the course of the film.
12.02. / 12:45 CinemaxX 7
La prima sueca
Swedish Cousin
Argentina 2016
20′
Director: Inés María Barrionuevo, Agustina San Martín
Cast: María Paula Mattio, Cecilia Valenzuela Gioia, Ámbar Taborda Ceballos, Nazarena García
It’s not long to go until Cata’s 15th birthday and she’s getting more nervous by the day. She’s irritated about her dress, her chilled-out friends, everything! Even her level-headed and reserved cousin from Sweden annoys her. But Cata’s moodiness gradually gives way to tentative feelings of affection. In a sensitive portrayal the two directors gently capture the emotional whirlwind and irritations of a teenager.
12.02. / 22:00 CinemaxX 3
Richard the Stork
Überflieger – Kleine Vögel, großes Geklapper
Germany/Belgium/Luxembourg/Norway 2016
84′
Director: Toby Genkel
Cast: Tilman Döbler, Christian Gaul, Nicolette Krebitz, Marco Eßer
`What kind of a sparrow are you?’ · ‘I…I am a stork.’ When Richard awakes one fall morning to find himself alone in his stork nest, he’s aghast. How could the others have left him behind? Undaunted, Richard sets out alone for Africa to prove to his stork family that he’s one of them. Unfortunately, there’s one inconvenient truth: Richard is in fact a sparrow and not at all equipped with what it takes to complete such a long-distance flight. On his voyage across Europe, he encounters a whole cast of winged oddballs, including Mafiosi crows and high voltage pigeons, as well as the helpful owl Olga and karaoke-loving parakeet Kiki, who are both blessed with brilliant ideas. Through his many adventures, Richard finally learns that it’s actually not so bad being a sparrow amongst the most colourful birds.
12.02. / 12:30 Zoo Palast 1
Strong Island
Strong Island
USA/Denmark 2017
107′
Director: Yance Ford
In a phone call at the beginning of Yance Ford’s film an employee for the district attorney refuses to make any more statements regarding the murder of William Ford and declares herself unwilling to take part in his documentary. William was Yance Ford’s brother; his murder in 1992 threw his family into a state of shock. Their devastation came about not just because this young Afro-American man was shot and killed by a white car mechanic for an apparently trifling reason, but also because of what was to follow. Ford’s subjective camera tells the story of a black middle-class family in America, a country which was, and still is, characterised by injustice and racism. His film is a puzzle, the pieces of which cannot be put together. Interweaving personal essay, detective investigation and documentary interviews with friends and relatives, he succeeds in painting a personal and political picture of the mood of this unequal country during the Obama era. Ford’s concentrated, often minimalistic cinematic language describes simmering anger, grief and his own transgender coming out – as well as the relativity of equal opportunities.
12.02. / 17:00 CineStar 7
Vênus – Filó a fadinha lésbica
Venus – Filly the lesbian little fairy
Brazil 2017
6′
Director: Sávio Leite
Cast: Helena Ignez
In this animated fairy-tale Filly, a lesbian fairy with nimble fingers, seduces women by day dressed as a boy. But at night something strange happens and soon half the population of Whatsit Village are eagerly queuing up.
12.02. / 22:00 CinemaxX 3
Wilde Maus
Wild Mouse
Austria 2017
103′
Director: Josef Hader
Cast: Josef Hader, Pia Hierzegger, Georg Friedrich, Jörg Hartmann
Georg feels confident and at ease in his position as a member of a Viennese newspaper’s editorial staff. He is both loved and feared – as befits an established music critic who wields a sharp pen. But then he is suddenly made redundant. A cost-cutting measure, he is told – before being shown the door. But instead of telling his young wife Johanna, whose thoughts currently revolve around her desire for children and her next ovulation, Georg is out for revenge. He finds an ally in giving vent to his anger at his ex-boss in the shape of an old school friend, Erich. What begins with minor property damage soon turns into a campaign of all out terror. At the same time, Georg and Erich have a go at trying to revive a dilapidated rollercoaster in Vienna’s Prater amusement park – the legendary ‘wild mouse’. In his directorial debut, cabaret artist and actor Josef Hader tells a funny, dramatic story about the Austrian middle-classes’ private fears of failure and social decline. A witty and ironic film that reflects on how a bourgeois life can go awry – and then perhaps manages to get back on an even keel after all.
12.02. / 15:00 Friedrichstadt-Palast
12.02. / 18:30 Toni & Tonino