(featured image: "Madeline's Madeline") After nearly four hundred films screening over ten days to 21,000 accredited guests and a third of a million ticket buyers, the Berlin International Film Festival drew to a close this past Sunday. The 68th installment of Europe’s largest film festival was a robust edition, with an unusually-high number of worthy films spread over the Berlinale’s dozen ... more >
ARCHIVES
BERLINALE : Golden Bear handed to Adina Pintilie for “Touch me not”
Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray and Wes Anderson take home awards
Intimacy and sex are essential elements to finding happiness in life, a theme found in this year's winning film. "Touch Me Not,” by Adina Pintilie, has won the Golden Bear prize at this year's Berlinale. The festival opened on February 15th and closed today and included around 400 films. Of those, nineteen were competing for the top Golden Bear prize. Romanian director Adina Pintilie said she ... more >
IXCANUL, where rite and dream lie
Jayro Bustamante won the Silver Bear at the 2015 Berlinale for this film
Maria Mercedes Croy, Maria Telon and Manuel Antun
Directed by Jayro Bustamante
The mother and daughter lead the fat sow to the boar’s pen. They pry open their mouths and pour bottles of rum down their throats to get them in the mood. As they begin to mate, the young woman lingers behind to watch. They need the sow to give birth, for soon the young woman’s fiancé and future family will arrive and they will need the meat for the celebration. Her name is Maria (María Mercedes ... more >
IXCANUL RISING
Made in Guatemala
Ever since his Silver Bear win earlier this year at Berlin Jayro Bustamante's IXCANUL (pronounced eesh-kanool) has garnered about fifteen different awards and distinctions. This good year gave Bustamante, a filmmaker from Guatemala, some much-needed exposure and, hopefully, even-better means to make another film soon. In IXCANUL Maria, 17, lives on the slopes of an active volcano. An arranged ... more >
BERLINALE REPORT – Anton Corbijn’s LIFE
Film was written by Luke Davies
A premiere was held on February 9th
Running time: 111 minutes
As usual, lots of mesmerizingly-good cinema to see and report on at the ongoing Berlinale. I'm a die-hard Cannes-goer but somehow Berlin being held in February seems to work pretty good timing-wise for a lot of the more vital and less-established filmmakers. The wild, young things go to Berlin and the older, more reliable filmmakers make their appearance in May. This might have something to do ... more >