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"It’s not an easy story but it has a lot of heart"

Interview with Alexandre Rockwell and Lana Rockwell from Sweet Thing We meet the director of Sweet Thing and the actress of Billie Lana Rockwell at the CinemaxX. We are greeted warmly and go over to their hotel because at the CinemaxX it is too loud. We are very happy that the interview worked. We talk briefly about our blog and then the interview starts! Anna: Billie Holiday is a big topic in the film and Billie is also named after her. Why did you choose to include Billie Holiday in your film? Alexander Rockwell (director): There is kind of an aura about Billie Holiday. She has a lot of pain in her life but she’s such an elegant person, she is almost like a dream. There is something very beautiful and kind of dreamy about her but she suffered a lot. I thought she would be a great hero for the protagonist Lana. I thought having Lana named after her would connect her to her father because her father really admired Billie Holiday and he wanted his daughter to have his strength.

The world is blue as an orange

A poem about the Ukrainian documentary film "The earth is blue as an orange". SCENE 1 TAKE 4 The sound of bombs destroys houses and thoughts at night her child sleeps with open eyes The moon hides behind tired chimneys so it doesn't have to see the bullet holes: Blue window frames In the shadow of the Eastern Bloc buildings they step on the sound of shards and surrealism embraces reality A family on the borderline films the orange dust from Красногорівка "Сподіваюся" The focal length of children's dreams reaches as far as Kiev where you hold the lens on rippling fountains The mirror reflex has become weak but the pulse is still high "Yesterday the sky was red" Orange laughter drowns out the grey and the saxophone playing is louder than the bombs The toy tank drives over grandma's back and all I can think about is: Why did the hills turn black and white? Many have

Giving a voice to the voiceless

From the moment the Berlinale programme was published, I wondered whether I was really the right person to write a review of this film. I still ask myself the same question. Since I couldn't bring myself to write a background article on this topic, I turn my review into a commentary and combine the two. It's a topic that has been close to my heart for years, that pushes me emotionally to the limit with every discussion and regularly makes me cry at the mere thought of it. This does not change in Victor Kossakovsky's film Gunda. I'm also emotionally charged by the end of the Berlinale, but the tears would have flown either way. We meet the three most used animals of the western world with incredible calmness and empathy. It begins with Gunda, a recent pig mum. She lovingly cares for her piglets, who all tumble over each other and want to have a drink. We are in the barn, very close to the family and are there when the little ones see the light of day for the first tim

La déesse des mouches à feu - Interview with Robin L’Houmeau

Although most of the film team of " La déesse des mouches à feu " unfortunately left the Berlinale already on Monday, I was pleased getting the opportunity to meet Robin L’Houmeau - who plays Keven in the movie - for an interview on Tuesday. I get a warm welcome when we meet at the CinemaxX and we are going to a little, cosy room in one of the Berlinale-buildings. After we chatted about the festival for a while Robin is ready for my questions. fGR: First of all, how did you come to the movie? Did you had a personal reason to be part of it? Robin: I came to the movie by an audition. Actually I auditioned for another character at first - for Pascal, Catherines first boyfriend in the movie. And then I ended up being chosen for the role of Keven. I hadn’t read the whole script before accepting, for me it was more a question of working with the director Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette , cause I really like what she’s doing, her philosophy and her art of filmmaking. Also I knew the

About the Perception of Women in Spain in the 90s

Las Niñas is a film in this year’s Generation program with a strong young female protagonist first becoming aware of the world’s inequalities between boys and girls and its injustices. It is set in the 90s in Spain. I was lucky enough to get in tough with the films director Pilar Palomero and ask her a few questions: freie Generation Reporter: Can you tell me a bit about the background of the film? Pilar Palomero: The film is not autobiographical, but a lot of my childhood experiences have flown into Las Niñas. A few years ago, when I was thinking about making a film about my education, I found my notebook from my religion class in grade 6. I read an essay, which is exactly the one that appears in the film, where the nun explains the girls sexuality. At the first moment I laughed at the thought of what kind of education we got but then I started to realise how contradictory it was. It was 1992 and they were talking to us about sexuality, chastity and only having sex in the marriage

The wind phone as an emotional escape

After Yuki & Nina in the 2009 Kplus programme, Nobuhiro Suwa returns to the Generation programme with another film. His new film Kaze No Denwa is in the 14+ programme. The day after the world premiere he takes a whole hour for Clara and me to answer our questions about the shooting process, the situation in Japan and other things. We make ourselves comfortable in the lounge of the Hotel Berlin, Berlin and exchange thoughts about Kaze No Denwa, Japan and the world with nice background music, while Isabelle kindly translates for us. Free Generation Reporters : How did the film team come together and how did you find Serena Motola, Haru's actress? Nobuhiro Suwa : It has been 18 years since I shot my last film in Japan. Since 2002, I have actually only worked with French producers. So I didn't know most of my new colleagues before. It was all very exciting and I was quite nervous, but everything went well. We did a casting for Haru, several girls showed up, but in the end

The country of possibilities?

"We want to go Disney. One ticket please." - a review of Los Lobos It is the hope that drives the family to the USA. The hope for a better life, less violence, away from the father. A mother with her two sons, who from now on have to spend their time alone in a run-down room. Samuel Kishi Leopo tells the story of his own childhood in Los Lobos, backed up by his brother's music. The brothers Maximiliano and Leonardo Nájar Márquez give an incredible performance. Due to the warm atmosphere on set and the improvisation of Martha Reyes Arias, who plays the mother, it is not difficult for the two to act completely natural. There was a script, but it served more to define the plot than for the dialogues, because Martha gave the two boys all the freedom during the shooting and adapted to it and not only implemented Samuel's instructions herself, but also transferred them to the two boys. The enthusiasm of the audience can be felt from the very first second. The U

„Here's looking at you, Kid!"

A comment on "Short films 1 14plus" 7 different insights, 7 different lives, people, characters and – 7 different narratives, pictures and ways to tell a story. In “Clebs”, the camera gives a still frame which shows the everyday life of dogs at a rescue station. “Panteres” stays with the two protagonists and focusses on their appearances and bodies, only a smartphone manages to divide viewer and story from each other. “Grevilla” uses a lot of cuts to show many images, not only of facial expressions but also of a kippah, hands, tattoos, it all seems very instructed. In “Black Sheep Boy” the visualization of the story is quite extreme since it is an 2D-animation, so that the picture itself is keeping the viewer distant. In “The Flame” pan shots are used to first show us the surroundings and nature and then belonging kids, people, faces, enabling me to connect the stories that are told with the home of the narrators. “Babylebbe” ’s camera makes me come really close to the cha

The language of visuals

„They take the gold and throw away the chest. That chest is our country.“ Mongolia is considered to be one of the ten most resource-rich countries in the world. Foreign investors have transformed one fifth of Mongolia to mining areas. Nature is being destroyed, the daily life of local people is affected. Byambasuren Davaa, known for „The story of a weeping camel“, takes her new feature film „Veins of the World“ to this year's Berlinale Generation, in which she portraits a nomad family, living in a region that is about to become mining area. In strong cinematographic pictures, the film tells a story about a young boy and his big dream, about the loss of a father, about love to nature and the soul of Mongolian mountains. THE NATURE “Veins of the world” transports a feeling for Mongolian nature through its powerful visuals. Panoramas of Mongolian nature and mining areas alternate with close-ups of the nomads and their changing life. The man behind those strong cinematic pictures i