KINO - German Film News January 2005

Dieter Kosslick Interview ...
Dieter looks back over his shoulder at the past three years as director of the Berlinale. He cites his favorite festival films. He talks about the growing strength of the Berlinale Talent Campus. He discusses future plans for the European Film Market in the Gropius Bau. He looks forward to the Summer Berlinale. And he reveals who he wants to take with him to a Berlinale premiere!

Balkan Focus ...
Eight pages are devoted to the astonishing film revival in the Balkans. Find out why the Second Tirana International Short Film Festival was one of the best film events of the past year. The Film Camera Festival »Manaki Brothers« in Bitola celebrated its silver jubilee in grand style in 2004, but watch for an even bigger blowout in Macedonia this coming September ­ to commemorate the first film shot by the Manaki Brothers back in 1905. What better place to hold a seminar on »Orthodox Iconography and Modern Film Culture« than on the idyllic island of Crete!

Voice of the Critics ...
Jürgen Karl Klauss is unstinting in his praise of Alles auf Zucker: »Dani Levy uses every opportunity, uses every chance, to squeeze every ounce of the comic out of Zucker, abetted by an acting ensemble who fit their roles like a glove.« Dorothea Moritz waxes eloquent on Oskar Roehler’s Agnes und seine Brüder: »Sad and funny at the same time, Agnes and His Brothers is a film that walks the tightwire between debonair kitsch and sophisticated absurdity.« Ron Holloway takes a close look at Der neunte Tag: »Supported by strong acting performances by Ulrich Matthes and August Diehl in the Good vs Evil duel, Volker Schloendorff’s The Ninth Day stands tall as one of the best German films of the current season."

News and Views ...
Martin Blaney explores the guidelines of the World Cinema Fund »to support films from regions whose cinematography is endangered by political and/or economic crises and to support the visibility of these films in Germany and facilitate their presentation to an international audience.« An initiative of Dieter Kosslick at the Berlinale, the WCF was three years in planning. Susanne Beck tells why Mary Carroll at Titelbild Subtitling and Translation was awarded the Innovation Prize for German Cinema to Titelbild by German State Cultural Minister Christina Weiss.

Last, but not least ...
Do you know about the first-ever Amnesty International Jury at Rotterdam this year? Besides an inside report on the founding of the Amnesty International Award, KINO 83 also has a rundown on the entries and the winner. Last, but not least, the KINO Film of the Year Award 2004 goes to ...

Ron and Dorothea Holloway