This year’s Panorama will present 17 feature films in its main programme, 15 in Panorama Special and 18 in its Panorama Dokumente series. 31 of these films are world premieres and 17 directorial debuts.
Opening Films
The Panorama main programme will open with Rusalka (Mermaid), the second work of Russian director Anna Melikyan, whose first film, Mars, screened in the Panorama in 2005. The story imaginatively pursues the childhood experiences of a little girl up into the turbulent and excessive reality of present-day Moscow. Emotionally and visually rich, the film sets the tone for a number of this year’s contributions. In particular women directors – and a third of Panorama features films are by women – have evolved detailed cinematographic narratives.
The Panorama Special will open with the Israeli-German-French co-production Lemon Tree by Eran Riklis. Leading actress Hiam Abbass, (International Jury Berlinale 2007) can also be seen in a French entry, La fabrique des sentiments (The Feelings Factory) by Jean-Marc Moutout. In Lemon Tree, she plays a Palestinian woman who has inherited a lemon grove bordering directly on Israeli territory. The tragic dimensions of what she experiences make the current complexity of the region palpable.
Panorama Dokumente
Panorama Dokumente will open with Parvez Sharma’s A Jihad For Love, which introduces a central topic: the emergence of a new combative attitude among queers in countries where they are denied basic rights, legally and/or morally. Produced by Sandi Dubowski, who confronted orthodox Judaism with human rights issues in his Trembling Before G-d and won the 2001 TEDDY for it, A Jihad For Love confronts the Islamic world and its advocates with similar questions.
Other films addressing this central topic are Das andere Istanbul by Döndü Kilic, EAST/WEST- Sex & Politics by Jochen Hick, Improvvisamente l’inverno scorso (Suddenly, Last Winter) by Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi, as well as Rosa von Praunheim’s Tote Schwule - lebende Lesben.
In addition there’s Julian Shaw’s Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story, an essay on political activist and comedian Pieter-Dirk Uys, who has for years been fighting against apartheid and AIDS in South Africa; and Yunus Vally’s The Glow Of White Women.
The following Panorama Dokumente films concentrate on music, a focal point of all Berlinale sections:
In Café de los Maestros by Argentinian director Miguel Kohan, master musicians and singers from the golden days of the tango come together for an extraordinary big event. Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla co-produced this film with Lita Stantic and Walter Salles.
Heavy Metal in Baghdad by Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi documents the dramatic life of the Iraqi band Acrassicauda from Saddam Hussein’s fall to the uncertain present.
Patti Smith: Dream of Life by Steven Sebring chronicles over eleven years in the life of this singer, poet and painter. Known as the godmother of punk, Patti Smith narrates the film herself.
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell by Matt Wolf revives the avant-garde composer, singer, songwriter and disco producer, who died from AIDS in 1992.
Bananaz by Ceri Levy follows Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the creators of Gorillaz - the first virtual cartoon band - as they brainstorm and implement their ideas.
Manfred Salzgeber Prize
Three outstanding international film experts have been won for this year’s jury: Mirsad Purivatra, director of the Sarajevo International Film Festival Bee Tham Tan, founder of the Asian Film Archive in Singapore Susanne Pfeffer, curator of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin The Manfred Salzgeber Prize is awarded in memory of the former director of the Panorama, who also helped shape the Berlin Film Festival. It goes to a film "that broadens the boundaries of cinema today" and is a non-cash prize for technical services required for cinema screenings.
The TEDDY – Queer Film Award will be presented at the Berlinale on Thursday, February 14, at the House of World Cultures. The nine-member jury, made up of festival organisers from around the world, will present the award in Berlin for the 22nd time.
Opening Films
The Panorama main programme will open with Rusalka (Mermaid), the second work of Russian director Anna Melikyan, whose first film, Mars, screened in the Panorama in 2005. The story imaginatively pursues the childhood experiences of a little girl up into the turbulent and excessive reality of present-day Moscow. Emotionally and visually rich, the film sets the tone for a number of this year’s contributions. In particular women directors – and a third of Panorama features films are by women – have evolved detailed cinematographic narratives.
The Panorama Special will open with the Israeli-German-French co-production Lemon Tree by Eran Riklis. Leading actress Hiam Abbass, (International Jury Berlinale 2007) can also be seen in a French entry, La fabrique des sentiments (The Feelings Factory) by Jean-Marc Moutout. In Lemon Tree, she plays a Palestinian woman who has inherited a lemon grove bordering directly on Israeli territory. The tragic dimensions of what she experiences make the current complexity of the region palpable.
Panorama Dokumente
Panorama Dokumente will open with Parvez Sharma’s A Jihad For Love, which introduces a central topic: the emergence of a new combative attitude among queers in countries where they are denied basic rights, legally and/or morally. Produced by Sandi Dubowski, who confronted orthodox Judaism with human rights issues in his Trembling Before G-d and won the 2001 TEDDY for it, A Jihad For Love confronts the Islamic world and its advocates with similar questions.
Other films addressing this central topic are Das andere Istanbul by Döndü Kilic, EAST/WEST- Sex & Politics by Jochen Hick, Improvvisamente l’inverno scorso (Suddenly, Last Winter) by Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi, as well as Rosa von Praunheim’s Tote Schwule - lebende Lesben.
In addition there’s Julian Shaw’s Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story, an essay on political activist and comedian Pieter-Dirk Uys, who has for years been fighting against apartheid and AIDS in South Africa; and Yunus Vally’s The Glow Of White Women.
The following Panorama Dokumente films concentrate on music, a focal point of all Berlinale sections:
In Café de los Maestros by Argentinian director Miguel Kohan, master musicians and singers from the golden days of the tango come together for an extraordinary big event. Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla co-produced this film with Lita Stantic and Walter Salles.
Heavy Metal in Baghdad by Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi documents the dramatic life of the Iraqi band Acrassicauda from Saddam Hussein’s fall to the uncertain present.
Patti Smith: Dream of Life by Steven Sebring chronicles over eleven years in the life of this singer, poet and painter. Known as the godmother of punk, Patti Smith narrates the film herself.
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell by Matt Wolf revives the avant-garde composer, singer, songwriter and disco producer, who died from AIDS in 1992.
Bananaz by Ceri Levy follows Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the creators of Gorillaz - the first virtual cartoon band - as they brainstorm and implement their ideas.
Manfred Salzgeber Prize
Three outstanding international film experts have been won for this year’s jury: Mirsad Purivatra, director of the Sarajevo International Film Festival Bee Tham Tan, founder of the Asian Film Archive in Singapore Susanne Pfeffer, curator of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin The Manfred Salzgeber Prize is awarded in memory of the former director of the Panorama, who also helped shape the Berlin Film Festival. It goes to a film "that broadens the boundaries of cinema today" and is a non-cash prize for technical services required for cinema screenings.
The TEDDY – Queer Film Award will be presented at the Berlinale on Thursday, February 14, at the House of World Cultures. The nine-member jury, made up of festival organisers from around the world, will present the award in Berlin for the 22nd time.
