A conversation in german with director Pia Marais about her debut film THE DISOBEDIENT (german title: DIE UNERZOGENEN), together with Actress Céci Chuh.

SYNOPSIS
Stevie (Céci Chuh), a precocious 14-year-old girl must cope with the instabilities of her immoderate parents. When they decide to move to a small provincial town in Germany, Stevie attempts to slip into a normal life. Whilst her parents playfully escape their responsibilities, Stevie tries to make a good impression in town, spreading stories of grandeur and claiming to be the daughter of a diplomat. She makes progress. Yet the good weather doesn’t last and before long, she discovers that her parents have once more resorted to illegal means, as a way of supporting their leisurely lifestyle. As friends and hangers-on of her parents fill their new home, the chaos continually mounts. It is in this atmosphere of physical and emotional destruction, that Stevie must now take a decision.

AWARD
The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam where it won the Tiger Award for the best debut.

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A conversation in german with director Steffi Niederzoll about her debut film SEVEN WINTERS IN TEHRAN

SYNOPSIS
In the summer of 2007, an older man approaches Reyhaneh Jabbari and asks the architecture student who has a side job as an interior decorator for her help in the design of offices. During the site inspection, he tries to rape her. Reyhaneh stabs him in self-defence. She is arrested for murder and sentenced to death. Reyhaneh was to spend the next seven years in prison while her family hired lawyers and made the public aware of the case. However, in spite of the efforts of national and international politicians and human rights organisations, the Iranian judiciary continued to cite the “right of blood-revenge”. This meant that, as long as Reyhaneh did not withdraw her accusations against the man, his family could demand her death. Reyhaneh stuck to her testimony and was hanged at the age of 26.

PRESS
The film premiered at the Perspective Deutsches Kino section of the 73th edition of the Berlinale Film Festival.

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SYNOPSIS
Mika (Karolina Kominek) returns to Poland to meet her father who is suffering from a severe brain injury and inherent memory loss. Although they haven't seen each other for many years, upon her arrival she becomes the father's companion in perplexity – gently guiding him through the labyrinth of his fading mind. And as she does so, she gradually sets off on a journey through her own life. Gradually, the sense of time and space start breaking: the present blends with the long bygone past and places reveal their faraway history and memories. Slowly, life and its end, too, begin to blur. Shot on digital, 35mm, VHS and thermovision cameras, incorporating archive footage. A collage-like journey through time, memory and the origins of our identity.

ABOUT
Ola Jankowska is a Polish-born writer and director, based in Berlin and working internationally. Her first feature fiction Anatomia (Poland, France 2021) premiered in Venice 2021 as a part of Venice Days and has since screened at festivals around the world winning several prizes. Her first feature-length documentary I Was Here (Great Britain, 2019), co-directed with Nathalie Biancheri, premiered at CPH:DOX 2019. Ola’s work was also exhibited at the Polish National Gallery Zacheta. She studied Directing at Lodz Film School in Poland and the NFTS in the UK — as well as participated in programs such as TorinoFilmLab, CPH:LAB, European Short Pitch, Ekran+ or Zurich Masterclass. She also teaches creative writing to screenwriting students at the Lodz Film School.

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 A conversation with director Damian Kocur about his debut film BREAD AND SALT. 

SYNOPSIS
Tymek is a young pianist. He returns to his small hometown for vacation to visit his mother, younger brother and his childhood friends. The central meeting spot for the young people is local newly opened kebab bar. Tymek witnesses the growing tension between his friends and the bar employees of Arabic descend, resulting in tragic consequences.

PRESS
Damian Kocur is a director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. Graduate of the Krzysztof Kieslowski Film School in Katowice and currently a doctoral student at the Lodz Film School. His debut BREAD AND SALT premiered at the Horizons section of the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival, winning the Special Jury Prize.

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A conversation with Matthias Luthardt on his debut film PINGPONG.

A Coming of Age drama in the seemingly intact world of the German middle class:
when 16-year-old Paul shows up at his relatives’ house to gain distance from the death of his father, he triggers an emotional avalanche with drastic consequences.

Director Matthias Luthardt's debut film was invited to the Semaine de la Critique
at the Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered on May 19, 2006 and won two awards,
the SACD Screenplay Award and the Young Critic Award of the Student Jury
of the German-French Youth Office.

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Apichatpong Weerasethakul on his debut film MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON, the blurred lines between documentary and fiction, and on "Avatar" being a document of humanity.

More about Apichatpong Weerasethakul
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/the-metaphysical-world-of-apichatpong-weerasethakuls-movies
https://mubi.com/de/notebook/posts/soundtrack-mix-23-sonic-memoria-apichatpong-weerasethakul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMyTI5yrfk0

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A conversation with Céline Sciamma on her debut film NAISSANCE DES PIEUVRES.

 In her films, Sciamma challenges cinematic and cultural conventions regarding the field of growing up, bodies, love, family and the arts as such. Within her films, questions arise around the gazes we are used to follow and where they lead us: „The cultural realm and the fictional realm are not safe places for women. We are still in that same patriarchal system that we need to hack: the one in which women could never save themselves.“, Sciamma said in an interview.

Interview by The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/02/07/celine-sciammas-quest-for-a-new-feminist-grammar-of-cinema

Wikipedia about Alice Guy-Blaché

Wikipedia about Germain Dulac

CELLES QUI S'EN FONT by Germain Dulac (short film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQHoZvTu-sA

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We had an interesting conversation with director Itonje Søimer Guttormsen about her debut film GRITT. On March 10 at 8pm (Berlin time).

SYNOPSIS
The artist Gritt is struggling for belonging in an unwelcoming society, but then she undergoes a radicalisation process in the name of art. 

PRESS
"Gritt is a commentary on the exploitative and commercial nature of the arts industry. It also questions the responsibility of collaborative creativity through Gritt’s attempt (and failure) to work creatively with a local group of asylum seekers, using their experiences (lives, vulnerabilities, traumas) to tell an ‘important’ and moving story."  - Tara Judah, Ubiquarian 

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A conversation with French director Alexis Langlois on three of his short films:

 TRINKETS & DARK THOUGHTS (FR, 27min, 2016) 

 TERROR, SISTERS! (FR, 28min, 2019) 

 THE DEMONS OF DOROTHY (FR, 29min, 2021) 

 “If you could cut Langlois’ films in two, they would bleed glitter. A vibrant director of the new French queer cinema, Alexis Langlois makes films that are angry and alive, and insist you stand up and take notice. Reminiscent of the bold visual style and queer anarchy of filmmakers like Gregg Araki, Bertrand Mandico, video artist Ryan Trecartin, and “Filth Elder” John Waters, Langlois’s defiantly anarchic, politically militant shorts celebrate the jubilant creativity of LGBTQ+ communities. His films may focus on telling minority stories but they revel in the universality of popular culture, a shared language that Langlois is ultimately intent on queering. This love of pop culture, especially from the ’90s and ’00s, is evident in practically every frame, which is raucously saturated with references to music videos, supernatural sitcoms like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, horror films, and the totems of queer culture.” - MUBI 

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Als das Debut von Markus Schleinzer in Cannes Premiere feierte, verliessen einige Zuschauer*innen den Saal:  MICHAEL ist das klinische Porträt eines 35-Jährigen Pädophilen, der ein zehnjähriges Kind in seinem Keller gefangen hält. Der Film setzt sich mit der Täterfigur auseinander. Warum dieses kein "Monster" ist und was die Eltern des Kinderdarstellers von dem Film halten, erfahrt Ihr in dieser Episode des 35K-Podcasts. Neben Regisseur Markus Schleinzer kommen auch Kameramann Gerald Kerkletz und Hauptdarsteller Michael Fuith zu Wort. Viel Spaß beim Zuhören!

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