Happy Birthday – IFP turns 30 – September 2008
By Tanja Meding | November 8, 2008
Between Sunday, September 14, and Friday, September 19, the Independent Feature Project (IFP) Market marked its 30th anniversary with a new name and a six-day celebration filled with tons of valuable industry information and new and exciting film projects. The newly christened Independent Film Week (IFW) is the United States’s biggest and most established film market for developing projects seeking patrons and producers. In addition to changing its name, the IFW also moved from the elegant Puck Building (which housed the Conference) and Angelika Film Center (where all film presentations and screenings were held), to the centrally located Fashion Institute Of Technology (FIT). Read the rest of this entry »
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42nd Hof Film Festival 2008
By Ron Holloway | November 3, 2008
Nicknamed “HOF – Home Of Films” by such festival stalwarts as Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders, the 42nd Hof Film Festival (21-26 October 2008) has survived into its fifth decade due to the unwavering commitment of its founder director-programmer Heinz Badewitz to what was known back then as “New German Cinema” and today still prospers under its present ”German New Wave” label. The festival’s open secret? Soccer and cigarettes. And the hubris of its programmer. Hof faithful had regularly pilgered to this Bavarian town, conveniently situated between Berlin and München, only for the fun of watching, and participating in, the annual Saturday morning soccer match between the local “Hofer Amateur Team” and a thrown-together ”Hofer Film Club” – the latter made up of filmmakers with a bit more on their minds than just wondering how to coax money from a funding commission. Sometimes in the past, when Werner Herzog or Sönke Wortmann were captains of the Hofer Film Club, the filmmakers did manage to win a hard-fought, bloody-nose affair. That is, when Werner’s high-flying kicks might net a surprising goal. Read the rest of this entry »
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29th “Manaki Brothers” ICFF in Skopje/Bitola 2008
By Ron Holloway | October 21, 2008
The 29th “Manaki Brothers” International Cinematographers Film Festival (ICFF) in Skopje/Bitola (27 September to 4 October) was one for the books. Just a few days before the Madedonian festival opened in Bitola, a decision was embarked on a new image by shifting the entire festival to the capital in Skopje. The decision, though painful, was a wise one. Manaki Brothers 2008 established itself as a leading international film festival devoted entirely to the creative artistry of the cinematographer. As proposed by director-cinematographer Tomi Salkovski and seconded by selector critic Blagoja “Dore” Kunovski, the festival committee opted to piggyback the 13 competition entries for the Film Camera 300 Awards in the capital of Skopje as well as in the traditional site of Bitola – with the opening ceremonies held in Bitola, where the Manaki Brothers, Yanaki and Milton, had introduced cinema to the Balkans under Ottoman rule at the turn of the last century. The reason for the shift to the capital, they said, was as plain as the nose on your face: Skopje’s population is over 500,000, Bitola’s barely 100,000. Festivals, to survive, need audiences. Read the rest of this entry »
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57th Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale 2007
By Ron Holloway | August 27, 2008
Now in his sixth year as director of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, Dieter Kosslick takes particular pride in changing the image of the festival each time around. This year, for the 57th Berlinale (8-18 February 2007), he expanded the European Film Market (EFM) beyond the environs of the roomy Martin Gropius Bau, a short three-minute walk from festival headquarters on the Potsdamer Platz.
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Full Metal Village – Heavy Metal Festival in Wacken
By Ron Holloway | August 26, 2008
Before South Korean-born, Germany-based documentary filmmaker Sung-Hyung Cho visited the famous three-day Heavy Metal Festival in the Schleswig-Holstein village of Wacken to shoot Full Metal Village (Germany, 2006), she admitted to knowing little about rural life in northern Germany. But when villagers opened their hearts to Cho to tell some fascinating stories about their past and present, that’s when the film springs to life.
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Karger – Hard Times at Saxon Factory Town
By Ron Holloway | August 26, 2008
Thanks to the advantages of today’s production technology, realist dramas with nonprofessional casts are making the rounds of international film festivals. Not by chance, many of these awarded films have been directed by newcomers in the “Berlin School.” This past year, Elke Hauck’s Karger (Germany, 2007), a debut feature shot on DigiBeta, was awarded at Saarbrücken and programmed in the Karlovy Vary competition.
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Preussisch Gangstar – Hip Hop Club in Buchow
By Ron Holloway | August 26, 2008
For six months, Irma-Kinga Stelmach and Bartosz Werner, students at the Potsdam Babelsberg Film School, followed three youths on their daily routines in the Brandenburg town of Buchow, a popular a health resort for senior citizens just 50 kilometers northeast of Berlin to make Preussisch Gangstar (Germany, 2007).
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La Fine del Mare – Human Traffic Kammerspiel
By Ron Holloway | August 25, 2008
Born in New York, raised in Surinam and the United States, at home in Berlin and Europe, Nora Hoppe first attracted attention as an independent filmmaker when in St. Petersburg she directed the short Brief Gardens (Germany/Russia, 1994), an elegy to her grandmother realized with Russian director Alexander Sokurov’s production company. Her second feature film, La Fine del Mare (The End of the Sea) (Germany/France/Italy, 2007), confirmed her status as a genuine auteur to keep an eye on.
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Nichts als Gespenster – Five Judith Hermann Tales
By Ron Holloway | August 25, 2008
Following the publication of Judith Hermann’s second volume of short stories, Nichts als Gespenster (2003), Martin Gypkens approached the author to film five stories taken from both volumes under the latter book’s title, Nothing But Ghosts (Germany, 2007). After the astonishing critical acclaim accorded Judith Hermann’s first volume of short stories, Sommerhaus, später (1998), it was only a matter of time before her tales about today’s indecisive “lost generation” would be filmed.
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Leipzig DOKfestival 50th Anniversary Books 2007
By Ron Holloway | August 25, 2008
The Leipzig International Festival of Documentary and Animation Films celebrated its 50th anniversary with two highly recommended books on both its topsy-turvy history and yet lasting reputation as surely the most important documentary event on the festival calendar. Herewith short reviews on these key anniversary books on DOKfestival Leipzig by Ralf Schenk and Heidi Martini.
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