64th Berlinale: Panorama Dokumente will open at Cinestar 7 on February 7 presenting 16 films including ten world premieres

Berlin, Germany, 22-1-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — This year’s Panorama Dokumente is presenting 16 films, including ten world premieres. All first screenings will be presented at Cinestar 7 in the Sony Center and at Kino International.

Panorama Dokumente will open at Cinestar 7 at 5.00 pm on February 7 with the world premiere of the Dutch co-production Last Hijack by Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting. The film depicts what motivates piracy in Somalia.

The topic of Africa, which is also reflected in the Ethiopian fictional feature Difret, is central as well to Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson in Concerning Violence. This work, a strong commentary on Africa’s decolonisation, cites Frantz Fanon’s “The Wretched of the Earth” – and Lauryn Hill lends these texts her voice. Olsson presented The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 about the Afro-American civil rights movement in Panorama in 2011.
Last not least, the history of photography is shown from an Afro-American perspective by Thomas Allen Harris in Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People.

In Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?, Michel Gondry conveys with terrific ingenuity and loving humour his impressions from a series of talks with American linguist Noam Chomsky.

Panorama also has a tradition of music films 

The British entry 20,000 Days on Earth by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard is a densely poetic portrait of Australian musician, author and actor Nick Cave, whose more than 30-year career still displays a fascinating degree of artistic integrity and authenticity.

Besides Tamara Trampe and Johann Feindt’s Meine Mutter, ein Krieg und ich (My Mother, a War and Me), which traces the Second World War in the Ukraine, Annekatrin Hendel’s Anderson takes a look at Germany’s past by focusing on one of the most dubious figures of not-too-distant history. Sascha Anderson, charismatic pop star of the alternative literature scene in East Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg during the 1980s, was a zealous informant for the Stasi: even after more than twenty years, the wounds he inflicted on his former friends and colleagues run deep.

“Unfuck the world!”

This slogan from Another World by US-American filmmakers Rebecca Chaiklin and Fisher Stevens resonates in a number of Panorama fictional features, and captures an attitude towards life related to the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011. This documentary gives an overview of events and how they led to many new initiatives.

With Natural Resistance, Jonathan Nossiter takes a different approach to the same purpose: ten years after Mondovino, he provides insights into ecological vineyards, as well as developments in the other direction, the destruction of land caused by industrial wineries in Italy. Nossiter unites film history and wine production into an intelligent analysis. Panorama is screening this film in collaboration withCulinary Cinema.

Several works revolve around emancipation: for instance, Gianni Amelio’s Felice chi è diverso (Happy to Be Different) delivers a detailed account of queer history in Italy; or Claudia Richarz and Ulrike Zimmermann’s Vulva 3.0 gives a calm analysis and assessment of the current perception of the vulva – from education and censorship, to genital mutilation and intimate surgery.

Rosa von Praunheim’s short documentary film Mario Wirz will screen prior to Elfi Mikesch’s fictional feature Fieber (Fever).

For the 20th anniversary of Derek Jarman’s death, and in collaboration with the British Film Institute (BFI) and Berlinale Classics, the Panorama will be screening Jarman’s debut film Sebastiane – in a new 2K digital version, remastered from the original camera negative by the BFI National Archive. Panorama wants to thank Edition Salzgeber for the screening rights as well as congratulate it on its 30th anniversary.

The PanoramaPublikumsPreis (PPP – the Panorama’s audience award) for both the best fictional and the best documentary feature will again be presented in CinemaxX 7 on the last day of the Festival (Berlinale Kinotag), at 5.00 pm on February 16. After the ceremony, there will be a screening of the winning fictional film, followed by the best documentary at 8.00 pm. Last year almost 28,000 moviegoers participated in the Berlinale’s largest jury.

In collaboration with DEFA Foundation, the Heiner Carow Prize, which was conceived to promote German cinematic art, will be awarded for the second time to a documentary, fictional or essay film from the Panorama section. After the ceremony, at 5.00 pm on February 13, Heiner Carow’s Ikarus(GDR 1975) will be screened at Kino International.

The three jury members are: director Jan Krüger, who participated in the Berlinale with Rückenwind(Light Gradient) in 2009, and Auf der Suche (Looking for Simon) in 2011; director Peter Welz, who presented Burning Life at the Festival in 1995; and Gudrun Scherp, who is head of Information Management and the Archives of Personal Histories at DEFA.

In 1988, Heiner Carow (1929 -1997) was a member of the Berlinale’s International Jury. In 1990, he won a Silver Bear and the Teddy Award for his film Coming Out.

The 28th Teddy Award Gala will be held this year at the Komische Oper Berlin on Friday, February 14. Dagmar Manzel, the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, and many others will pay tribute to the best queer films of the Berlinale and all the nominees. Following the ceremony, festivities at the opera will continue with the Midnight Special and the After Show Chill & Dance. The Teddy Award Closing Party will take place at the SchwuZ club’s new location in Neukölln.

The following list completes the line-up of films announced in the first two Panorama press texts (released on December 19, 2013 and January 17, 2014, and is available at www.berlinale.de).

Panorama Dokumente

20,000 Days on Earth – Great Britain
By Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard
With Nick Cave
EP

Anderson – Germany
By Annekatrin Hendel
WP

Another World – USA
By Rebecca Chaiklin, Fisher Stevens
WP

Concerning Violence – Sweden / USA / Denmark
By Göran Hugo Olsson
EP

Der Anständige (The Decent One) – Israel / Austria / Germany
By Vanessa Lapa
WP

Der Kreis (The Circle) – Switzerland
By Stefan Haupt
With Marianne Sägebrecht, Anatole Taubman, Matthias Hungerbühler, Sven Schelker
WP

Felice chi è diverso (Happy to Be Different) – Italy
By Gianni Amelio
WP

Finding Vivian Maier – USA
By John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
EP

Fucking different XXY – Germany
By Mor Vital, KAy Garnellen, Felix Endara & Sasha Wortzel, J.Jackie Baier, Buck Angel, Jasco Viefhues, Gwen Haworth
WP

Last Hijack – Netherlands / Germany / Ireland / Belgium
By Tommy Pallotta, Femke Wolting
WP

Meine Mutter, ein Krieg und ich (My Mother, a War and Me) – Germany
By Tamara Trampe, Johann Feindt
WP

Natural Resistance – Italy
By Jonathan Nossiter
WP

The Dog – USA
By Frank Keraudren, Allison Berg
EP

Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People – USA
By Thomas Allen Harris
IP

Vulva 3.0 – Germany
By Claudia Richarz, Ulrike Zimmermann
WP

Panorama supporting films

Mario Wirz – Germany
By Rosa von Praunheim
WP

Previously announced films in Panorama Dokumente:

Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? by Michel Gondry, France (EP)

(WP = World Premiere, IP = International Premiere, EP = European Premiere)

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© Lennart Malmer
Concerning Violence by Göran Hugo Olsson