CPH:PIX 2009 Int. Catalogue

Film Festival Copenhagen 16-26 April 2009

CPH:PIX Is PArT oF CoPenHAGen FILm FesTIvALs

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Welcome!

It is my pleasure to warmly welcome you to a new adventure. I welcome you to CPH:PIX, a new international film festival in Copenhagen.

I am proud to take part in CPH:PIX - and I am proud of danish films and the international context from which they spring.

With CPH:PIX, we highlight the global aspects of films. every nation has its own film language but every nation is also part of an international film language. danish films form part of this worldwide language. And danish films depend on the influences from the global film scene.

Alone we would be poor. And the world would be poor without Carl Th. dreyer and Lars von Trier.

Films break down borders and bring people together - just as CPH:PIX does. moving pictures ‌ It is all about magic. It is all about you and me. Films bring tears to your eyes. Films make you scream with fear. Films make you think. Which other media has this effect on us?

Films form part of our lives and of our common cultural heritage. That is why I believe that Copenhagen Film Festivals, CPH:PIX International Feature Film Festival, BUsTer International Film Festival for Children and Youth, and CPH:doX International documentary Film Festival are important contributions to the international film scene. And of course, the danish public is enriched by these events.

Therefore, I welcome CPH:PIX - the newest and youngest member of the family.

Carina Christensen minister of Culture denmark

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let the show begin “Film should only be seen in the theatre”. This saying, that every dane know, was made popular by denmarks most dear and longtime film critic. But films should also be seen in Copenhagen.

This is the aim of the new Film Festival and CPH:PIX. CPH:PIX will be a pillar in the cultural life in Copenhagen. The Italian-American Film director Frank Capra once said about the expression of filmmaking: “Film is one of the three universal languages, the other two: mathematics and music”. He did not mention the spoken word. He did not mention the danish, the German, the French or the english language. But in a very precise way Capra put words to the reason why we support the Film Festival and CPH:PIX and why film plays such a big role in this and every society. Film is its own special language and in a way unique only to films you learn, dream and feel life in new ways with the art of film.

This Festival will put focus on special films from all over the World: Films which you normally can’t find at your local cinema.

But first and foremost the Festival gives the Copenhageners the opportunity to see films of quality and to see glimpses of lives and visions shaped very differently to their own. CPH:PIX is a window to the world.

The many guests from the Film Industry and Film Institutions will draw attention in the media and in the streets of Copenhagen - a good thing that will brand Copenhagen and make the film scene lively.

Let me give my warm thanks from Copenhagen to those who made this new CPH:PIX Festival a reality. establishing a new Film Festival - and an international one - is not an easy matter.

Copenhagen benefits from your vision and determination. Turn off the lights and let the show begin. ritt Bjerregaard The Lord mayor of Copenhagen

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WeLCome To THe neW FILm FesTIvAL oF denmArK Finally it’s happening! on April 16th, we open the cinema doors to 10 days of film festival excitement, offering a wealth of cinematic experiences. CPH:PIX draws on the experience of Copenhagen International Film Festival and natFilm Festival, and with more than 185 feature films in the programme, we are proud to welcome you to the biggest danish film festival ever.

Being a new film festival, we have decided to focus on that - the new. The newest films from 2009. The newest ideas. The newest talents.

That’s why the festival’s competition programme is dedicated entirely to first-time feature directors.

12 young filmmakers from all over the world have been nominated for CPH:PIX’s neW TALenT GrAnd:PIX with a cash award of 50,000 euros promising to take the winner’s talent even further. new dimensions new ideas also result in new media. digital 3d has been coming for a long time, but now it’s here. CPH:PIX is proud to be able to open the gates to a new dimension and to present the next generation of 3d for the first time in Copenhagen.

Another sphere that is witnessing rapid change is the intersection of films and computer games. In a two-day seminar, Films & Games, we will focus on two separate worlds that are beginning to overlap more and more.

live A film festival also offers the chance to think outside the box, and this is what we’re doing with a series of live and special events.

The cult director of all cult directors, John Waters, will visit the festival with his wild one-man show; Peter Greenaway will take a bath at skuespilhuset; the slovenian art rockers Laibach will electrify J.s. Bach with both images and sounds in the marble Church; and in the vaults deep underneath rigshospitalet (aka The Kingdom hospital) we will screen - what else - The Kingdom. and Films But first and foremost, the festival is about films, films and more films - from all over the world, in all genres. World premieres, european premieres - among others Jonathan demme’s brand new ‘neil Young Trunk show’. most films shown are not distributed in danish cinemas and can therefore only be seen at CPH:PIX. The numerous themes range from revolutions, about today’s politically grounded film art, to a spotlight on one of europe’s most exciting filmmaking countries at present: Belgium.

This is your festival, so grab the opportunity - you’ve only got 10 days!

Have a great time!

Jacob neiiendam and niels Lind Larsen Festival director and Head of Programming

CPH:PIX 2009

ConTenTs

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neW TALenT GrAnd PIX PIX sPeCIALs revoLUTIons eUroPeAn voICes *sPoTLIGHT: THe BeLGIAn Boom *sPoTLIGHT: FrenCH TemPTATIons *sPoTLIGHT: neUes deUTsCHes KIno *sPoTLIGHT: neW dAnIsH TALenTs LATIn Zone AmerICAn IndIes *sPoTLIGHT: CLeArLY CAnAdIAn AsIAn ConneCTIon *sPoTLIGHT: norTH KoreA *sPoTLIGHT: AsIAn AvAnTGArde mIddLe eAsT

mAIn ProGrAmme

191 LIve 206 FILm & GAmes

LIve

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WeIrd And WIred

3d reTrosPeCTIve: JonATHAn demme oZPLoITATIon mIdnIGHT mAdness

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neW TalenT grand pix The Artist Be Good The Blessing Crush And Blush Gigantic Guidance Helen Katalin varga A Light In The Fog moon north Without You I’m nothing

Being a new festival, CPH:PIX focuses on everything that’s new and creatively inquisitive.

For this reason, our competition is dedicated to first-time filmmakers.

The 12 films nominated for the new Talent Grand Pix are all feature debuts by the respective directors. Geographically, they range from south Korea to sweden and Argentina, and they have all been selected, because - in all their variety - they demonstrate authentic artistic courage and an impressive level of quality.

The films are appraised by an international jury, and the winner will receive a cash prize worth 50,000 euros at CPH:PIX Award show on saturday, 25 April in Glyptoteket - an award that hopefully ensures that the winner can further develop his or her talent.

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THe ArTIsT

mArIAno CoHn, GAsTon dUPrAT

It’s easy enough to make a parody of the self-obsessed art world, but to make a parody that itself becomes a piece of art is quite a feat. ‘The Artist’ is a sparkling original story about a world of inflated fake artists - or rather fake critics. Jorge (sergio Pangaro) is a carer in a geriatric home and his white robe is a pale reflection of everything he dreamt of becoming. one of his patients, romano, is a drooling senile man, whose only word in his vocabulary is ‘cigarette’, but who seems to be hiding something else, and who comes up with some extremely fascinating drawings. Jorge tries to submit the drawings, which we never get to see, to a fancy gallery and omits saying that they aren’t his own, and before he knows it, he is proclaimed - hysterically - as being the newest find of the art world. suddenly, Jorge is whirled into a new world of back-patting and ass-kissing, money and fame, and he wisely takes old romano with him and prays that the old man doesn’t drop dead. ‘The Artist’ was written in collaboration with the art curator Andres duprat, who is happy to expose the hollowness of the art establishment, but the directing duo mariano Cohn and Gaston duprat also manage to elevate the satire and create a suspenseful and highly entertaining film, which bears the Argentinian hallmarks of underplayed humour while making sure that every single brushstroke is in the right place.

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Cinemateket empire Bio dagmar Teatret

el arTiSTa Argentina 2008, 92 min. spanish / english subtitles director: mariano Cohn, Gaston duprat script: Andres duprat Camera: ricardo monteoliva editor: santiago ricco music: diego Bliffeld sound: Adrian de michele, Anibal Girbal Production: Aleph media Producer: Fernando sokolowicz, eduardo Costantini, Alfredo Federico, Tore sansonetti, Gianluigi Gardani, Anibal Jozami, Leon Ferrari, diego Porcile Cast: sergio Pangaro, Alberto Laiseca, Arturo Caravajal, Andrés duprat, Luciana Fauci distr.: Costa Films

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THe BLessInG HeIdI mArIA FAIssT

After the impressive shorts ‘Liv’ (2006) and ‘Frederikke’ (2007), danish director Heidi maria Faisst has tackled her first feature with a dense drama about childbirth, ‘The Blessing’. Katrine and Andreas have just become the parents of a charming little girl, and the whole family is suffused with happiness. But something seems to be amiss with the mother. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by spontaneous motherly love, Katrine can’t find her feet at all in her new role. The thing that completely rocks her boat is her relationship to her own mother, Lise (played with perfect acridity by solbjørg Højfeldt), who undermines everything Katrine does and even manages to make a sarcastic “you must be having a good time” feel like a death blow. But when Andreas is out on a business trip, the vulnerable Katrine, who is brilliantly played by Lærke Winther, is exposed to her mother’s dubious help and critical manipulation, and she has to hit rock-bottom before she can finally assert herself as a mother before her own mother. ‘The Blessing’ reminds one of the subject matter of simon staho’s merciless ‘daisy diamond’, but while his film was also a formal experiment, ‘The Blessing’ almost has a dogma touch - not least thanks to manuel Claro’s grainy cinematography - with its scanty aesthetics, and the film creates an unbearable proximity to the poor, postnatally depressed Katrine. Faisst strongly conveys one of the largest emotional taboos and does so without manipulating identities, and thereby convinces us that there is unconditional love on the other side of tears.

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dagmar Teatret empire Bio

velSignelSen Denmark 2009, 75 min. danish / english subtitles director: Heidi maria Faisst script: Heidi maria Faisst Camera: manuel Alberto editor: Cathrine Ambus Production: Zentropa entertainments, new danish screen Producer: meta Louise Foldager Cast: Lærke Winther, solbjørg Højfeldt, mads riisom distr.: nordisk Film

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Be Good JULIeTTe GArCIAs

There is more to the feature film debut by the former editor and trained art historian Juliette Garcias than immediately meets the eye. much more. The seemingly classic coming-of-age story about the young nathalie (Anaïs demoustier), who takes on a summer job in a village in Burgundy delivering bread for a bakery, slowly reveals much deeper secrets that eclipse the emotional turmoil that accompanies the passage from childhood to adulthood. Juliette’s many white lies about herself and her past start getting bigger and bigger, while one constantly tries to guess what lies behind her extreme obsession with an older pianist, who lives in the area with his wife and child. Juliette Garcias is an accomplished master of the art of making subtle hints, and she makes a convincing case for how much can be gained from letting the characters say nothing and the images tell their own story. Her competent treatment of this psychological drama and its traumatic origins turns the film into a stirring piece of detective work, which one follows from the edge of one’s seat.

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Cinemateket dagmar Teatret empire Bio

SoiS Sage France, Denmark 2008, 90 min.

French / english subtitles director: Juliette Garcias script: Juliette Garcias Camera: Julien Hirsch editor: Catherine vilpoux Production: slot machine Producer: marianne slot, marie Gade Cast: Anaïs demoustier, Bruno Todeschini, nade dieu distr.: Trustnordisk

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CrUsH And BLUsH KYoUnG-mI Lee

Is there anything more agonisingly embarrassing (and potentially dangerous) than a woman who is convinced that a certain man has a crush on her, despite of the man having no idea who she is? This premise is explored

by Kyoung-mi Lee in her pitch-black, humorous debut feature. mi-suk is a young and extremely awkward russian teacher, who is demoted to teaching english to public school children who know the language as well as she does. she has a weak spot for her colleague and former teacher seo, who is married and who only has eyes for their fellow colleague, the beautiful Lee. Yang refuses to acknowledge that she doesn’t have a cat’s chance in hell with seo, and she is not the kind of person who gives up easily. so she teams up with his teenage daughter to prolong a possible divorce, only to make sure that seo doesn’t think of marrying Lee. A foolproof plan? Hardly. The director allows herself to get closer to her obsessive-neurotic protagonist than any male colleague would be able to, while at the same time establishing a clear-cut misanthropic tone, which is screamingly funny, even if it deals with a poor creature on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Park Chan-wook (‘old Boy’) is the co-author of the film, which has been called south Korea’s equivalent to ‘Fatal Attraction’, but Lee provides her very own sarcastic voice that demonstrates a talent we’re sure to see more of in future.

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dagmar Teatret Gloria empire Bio

miSSeu hongdangmu South Korea 2008, 101 min.

Korean / english subtitles director: Kyoung-mi Lee script: Kyoung-mi Lee, Park eun-gyo, Park Chan-wook.

Camera: Kim dong-yeong editor: shin min-gyeong music: Jang Yeong-gyu Production: moho Film Producer: Park Chan-wook Cast: Gong Hyo-jin, Lee Jong-hyeok, Hwang Woo-seul-hye, seo Woo, Bang eun-jin, Bong Junho distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

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GIGAnTIC mATT AseLTon

eccentric is hardly an adequate word to describe the characters and the plot of the romantic indie-comedy ‘Gigantic’. matt Aselton describes everyday life - and a well-known film genre - with a fresh dose of absurdity, and thereby underlines the unpredictability and the originality of both parts. Brian Weathersby (Paul dano) lives a fairly ordinary life. He is single, a mac-jobber at a mattress store in new York and dreams of adopting a child from China. Along comes Al Lolly (John Goodman), a bragging millionaire with an exceptionally bad back, and takes Brian’s advice to invest in a bankruptingly expensive swedish mattress. His daughter Harriet (played with unrivalled charm by the fabulous Zooey deschanel) comes to pick it up. she immediately falls asleep on one of the beds, and when she wakes up, covered by a blanket, she is filled with tenderness for the considerate Brian, kicking off a challenging romance.

Brian’s family immediately interferes for fear of the connection costing him the right to adopt as a sole parent. Harriet invents fantastic delaying tactics because of her fear of committing herself, and John Goodman is a menacing father-in-law with an attitude. And then there is the tramp, who for mysterious reasons keeps mugging Brian and giving him a good beating. nothing is what it seems, but Aselton’s point is that everything is far more, than it seems. surprises are lurking under every unturned stone, thereby confirming the joy and richness that is the strange thing called life.

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dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

giganTic USA 2008, 98 min. english director: matt Aselton script: matt Aselton, Adam nagata Camera: Peter donahue editor: Beatrice sisul music: roddy Bottum sound: Joseph m. White Production: Gigantic movie LLC Producer: mindy Goldberg, Christine vachon Cast: Paul dano, Zooey deschanel, John Goodman distr.: Fortissimo Films

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GUIdAnCe JoHAn JonAson

nothing is more menacing to a marriage than a mid-life crisis, which likes to set in when one’s age seriously starts to make itself felt and the rigid framework of everyday life contains far too much routine. This is very much the case for roy and Ylva, an older couple who are rapidly approaching retirement age. roy has long been off work sick, even though none of his doctors have managed to put a diagnosis to his symptoms, apart from that they are probably psychosomatic, and Ylva is more than just a bit tired of this. one day, when she meets the young and charming therapist Carl, she forces roy to accept his offer to take part in a course that is sure to put him back on track. The stoic roy is a man who does what he is told, at least when he initially disappears into the swedish wilderness with what quickly turns out to be not such a stable young man with not quite such a solid idea of what therapy is. And while a surprising power struggle develops between the two, Ylva is enjoying her new-found freedom in full measures - and wakes up with a bitter taste in her mouth. With its exemplary short duration, Johan Johanson has made a film that proves that he’s a director who is capable of cutting to the bone of his story while at the same time managing to hit the psychological nuances of each scene with a degree of precision, which many of his older colleagues would no doubt give their right arm to master.

Fr April 17 16:30 We April 22 21:45 Fr April 24 20:00

dagmar Teatret Gloria empire Bio

guidance Sweden 2009, 78 min. swedish / english subtitles director: Johan Jonason script: Johan Jonason Camera: simon Pramsten editor: Helena Fredriksson, Johan Jonason Production: Garagefilm Producer: rebecka Lafrenz, mimmi spång Cast: Björn Andersson, Adam Findley, eva Fritjofson, Lisbeth Johansson distr.: swedish Film Institute

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HeLen

CHrIsTIne moLLoY, Joe LAWLor

18-year-old Joy has disappeared without a trace, and the police doesn’t have many leads to follow. Hoping to get closer to knowing what happened, they reconstruct her last hours, and her shy school friend Helen (Annie Townsend) volunteers to play the role of Joy. The missing girl seemed to have everything: a loving family, a good boyfriend and a bright future. But Helen, on the other hand, has none of these. she has no friends, she doesn’t even know who her parents are - and she has grown up in an institution that she is about to leave, as she is turning 18 soon. Helen quickly starts to get completely absorbed in the task she’s been entrusted with, going about it with meticulous care and visiting the missing girl’s parents, friends and boyfriend on her own initiative - thereby gradually assuming Joy’s life. The directing duo Christine molloy and Joy Lawlor have found their own unique voice. With ‘Helen’, they stay well clear of the renowned British murder mystery tradition, and the result is a film, which uses long, beautifully composed camera movements to create a both complex and highly simple atmosphere surrounding the searching girl, who moves through the film as she would through a dream that she’s constantly afraid of waking up from.

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dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

helen UK, Ireland 2008, 77 min. english director: Christine molloy, Joe Lawlor script: Christine molloy, Joe Lawlor Camera: ole Birkeland editor: Christine molloy Production: Arts Council of england, newcastleGateshead Initiative Producer: Christine molloy Cast: Annie Townsend, sandie malia, dennis Jobling distr.: visit Films

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KATALIn vArGA PeTer sTrICKLAnd

The British filmmaker Peter strickland has spent several years shooting his debut feature in Transylvania, largely without production funding and without speaking either Hungarian or romanian. He is nevertheless a fluent speaker of cinematic language. ‘Katalin varga’, which was one of the great surprises at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, is an almost archaic story of the title character Katalin (Hilda Peter), who has kept a painful secret for 11 years. Her son is not her husband’s child, but the result of a rape. When the truth comes out, Katalin has no other choice but to leave the village, and with her son in tow she sets off with a borrowed horse carriage to take her revenge on the man who now has destroyed her life twice. The result could be a straightforward revenge story, but ‘Katalin varga’ becomes instead a nuanced and captivating portrait of a strong but wounded woman, who is driven by equal measures of love and anger. strickland makes exemplary use of the Transylvanian landscape and its local habitats - which feels almost like a time warp, even if we are in europe anno 2009 - and he has created a sensually intense film allowing us to almost smell the grass and taste the earth. Few directors are able to create such a strong sense of proximity, but strickland is also well supported by the cameraman mark Gyori and not least Hilda Peter, who, without revealing more about the taciturn Katalin than is necessary, emanates tension, grief and forgotten vitality.

mo April 20 16:30 Fr April 24 21:30 sa April 25 19:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret Posthus Teatret

kaTalin varga Romania 2009, 84 min.

Hungarian, romanian / english subtitles director: Peter strickland script: Peter strickland Camera: mark Gyori editor: matyaf Fekete Production: Libra Film Producer: Peter strickland Cast: Hilda Peter, Tibor Palffy, norbert Tanko, melinda Kantor, sebastian marina, roberto Giacomello, Laszlo matray. distr.: memento Films

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A LIGHT In THe FoG PAnAHBArKHodA reZAee

Iranian film has perfected personal minimalism, and Panahbarkhoda rezaee masters this art as well as anyone. His background in short films serves him well in this simple and beautiful story about the widow rana (Parivash nazariyeh), who lives with her ageing father in an old dilapidated house in the Iranian highlands, where the mist shrouds both the countryside and life like a veil. rana’s father is a petroleum lantern repairman and rana, whose husband never returned from the war, helps and looks after him. Knowing that he doesn’t have long to live, the old man encourages his daughter to get married to ramat, a neighbour who is not exactly attractive, but nevertheless the only real option. The story couldn’t be more simple and the outcome no more magnificent. rezaee’s discreet influence can be felt in every scene, as he displays a sensual awareness that is expressed in both the sounds and the images. The film has been shot in long takes that undoubtedly required detailed directing and concise photography by the film’s cameraman Ali mohammad Ghasemi, but the result is simple and generous. It’s as if rezaee doesn’t want to interrupt a scene with editing, so that it can fully unfold, and it’s this balance between minimalist perfection and intimate grandiosity that lends ‘A Light in the Fog’ its own power. rezaee is not on his way to become one of Iran’s great directors. He’s there already.

su April 19 18:00 We April 22 19:00 Fr April 24 16:30

Gloria dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

cheraghi dar meh Iran 2008, 75 min.

Farsi / english subtitles director: Panahbarkhoda rezaee script: Hossein saberi Camera: Ali mohammad Ghasemi editor: Panahbarkhoda rezaee Production: Zoha Film, documentary and experimental Film Center Producer: mahmoud Fallah Cast: Parivash nazariyeh, massoud Heshmat, Behrouz Jalili distr.: documentary and experimental Film Center

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moon

dUnCAn Jones

It might seem like a close to impossible task for an actor to be the only cast-member of an entire film. But in the hands of a cinematic talent such as director duncan Jones, the result can be quite exceptional. In the nottoo-distant future, sam Bell (sam rockwell) is about to complete his three-year contract on the moon and is looking forward to returning to earth. He has lived on his base in total isolation with only a video recording of his wife and the station’s robot Gerty (Kevin spacey) for company. But his work with the large harvesters keeps him only partly busy, and sam is starting to come apart at the seams. one day, he experiences a hallucination and has an accident with his moon-jeep.

When he wakes up again back at the base, nothing is like it was before. ‘moon’ allows itself to be a refreshingly philosophical and at times entertaining variation of the science-fiction genre, which otherwise tends to drown in noise and special effects. The versatile sam rockwell is the film’s emotional anchor, and together with the intelligent screenplay, the director creates an intimate, perceptive and quite moving film about memories and identity. despite its impressive visual design, ‘moon’ is more about inner space than outer space, leaning on role models such as ‘2001’ and ‘solaris’.

mo April 20 18:45 Th April 23 19:15 su April 26 21:30

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret CinemaxX

moon UK 2009, 96 min. english director: duncan Jones script: nathan Parker Camera: Gary shaw editor: nicolas Gastor Production: Liberty Films Producer: stuart Fenegan, Trudie styler Cast: sam rockwell distr.: nonstop entertainment

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rUne densTAd LAnGLo

In what is cleverly marketed as an antidepressant offroad movie, the former documentary filmmaker and first-time feature director rune denstad Langlo travels far north to tell his story about the former elite skier Jomar, who has ended up in a pit of sadness as the operator of an old ski-lift near Trondheim. But after being visited by an old friend who tells him that he’s the father of their joint ex-girlfriend’s child, Jomar heads even further north with a snow-scooter and full of determination to be responsible for his actions. But he quickly becomes snow-blind and has to seek out help among the original characters that inhabit the wilderness, who all give us their own loveable view of life. Among other things the wonderfully homophobic teenager Ulrik, who teaches him to get wasted with the help of a razor blade, a tampon and a drop of home distilled brandy. making full use of minimalist deadpan acting, which sends an acknowledging nod to both Jim Jarmusch and Langlos’s fellow norwegian Bent Hamer, Anders Basmoo Christiansen excels as the failed Jomar, and the cinematographer Philip Øgaard, who was also responsible for the photography of Hamer’s eccentric ‘Kitchen stories’ (2003), uses immense wide-angles to create a dazzling contrast between the muddy twilight of everyday life and the sparkling whiteness of snow.

The screenplay was written by one of norway’s most popular authors, erlend Loe (‘Gone With the Woman’), and his sophisticated verbal economising is part of what makes ‘north’ an exceptionally warm and amusing film experience.

mo April 20 18:30 Fr April 24 19:00 su April 26 20:30

dagmar Teatret vester vov vov empire Bio

nord Norway 2009, 78 min. norwegian / english subtitles director: rune denstad Langlo script: erlend Loe Camera: Philip ogaard editor: Zaklina stojcevska Production: motyls Producer: Brede Hovland, sigve endresen Cast: Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Kytte Hellum, marte Aunemo distr.: sandrew metronome Filmdistribution

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WITHoUT YoU I’m noTHInG FLorIAn eICHInGer

The 25-year-old Hannes doesn’t at all feel like visiting his father, who lives in a cottage in the Bavarian alps, but his girlfriend Ann insists on meeting him. Hannes is an actor on the verge of professional breakthrough, and his father is a theatre director and a thoroughbred libertine. They haven’t talked to each other for eight years, but maybe they have more in common than Hannes would like to admit. What’s more, the father’s slightly nymphomaniac girlfriend Lavinia turns out to be the same age as Ann, and the two of them are quickly drawn into the venomous psychological game between father and son - a game that ends up having unpredictable consequences for all of them. ‘Without You I’m nothing’, which will have its european premiere at CPH:PIX, is a classic chamber piece, and therefore not the easiest genre for a new director to rise to the occasion in. But Florian eichinger elegantly manages to turn the chamber of the isolated mountain cottage into a cinematic and lively space, and with a well-written plot, which is far from being unambiguous or vulgar in a 1970s style in its depiction of the classic father-son conflict, he manages to keep up the intensity all the way. eichinger knows his Cassavetes and early Bergman, but ‘Without You I’m nothing’ is also an actors’ film in the best sense of the term. Peter Kurth is monumental as the detestable and dominating father, and the three young faces will no doubt be part of the staple of German film in the coming years.

We April 22 18:30 Fr April 24 18:30 sa April 25 15:00

dagmar Teatret Posthus Teatret empire Bio

bergFeST Germany 2008, 89 min.

German / english subtitles director: Florian eichinger script: Florian eichinger Camera: André Lex editor: Jan Gerold sound: daniel vernunft / Ivan Wyszogrod Production: Bergfilm Gbr eichinger / Lappe Producer: Cord Lappe Cast: Anna Brüggemann, Peter Kurth, martin schleiß, rosalie Thomass distr.: Bergfilm Gbr eichinger

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CPH:PIX AWArd sHoW Come and take part in this year’s CPH:PIX Award show.

sa April 25

21:00

Glyptoteket

We welcome denmark’s biggest actors, musicians, artists and film personalities to cocktails and lounge music at 2100 hrs. Afterwards, the festival’s two awards will be handed out in the column-lined Central Hall: Politiken’s Audience Award and neW TALenT GrAnd PIX. You can enjoy the rest of the evening in the company of the dJ duo FILUr and Jean von Baden.

Location: Glyptoteket Tickets: 250,- including free bar (sold via www.cphpix.dk) dJ: Kasper Bjørke & Kasper Barfod aka FILUr + Jean von Baden doors open at 2100 hrs.

Ticket numbers are limited.

With support from danish Film directors

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AUdIenCe AWArd

CPH:PIX 2009

awaking From a dream (Spain) camino (Spain) country Wedding (iceland) endgame (uk) everyone else (germany) its not me, i Swear! (canada) lions den (argentina) momma’s man (uSa) moscow, belgium (belgium) my dear enemy (South korea) no puedo vivir sin ti (Taiwan) original (denmark, Sweden) prince of broadway (uSa) revanche (austria) Sunny Spells (France) The daisy chain (ireland, uk) The dark harbour (japan) The exploding girl (uSa) The good, The bad, The Weird (South korea) vasermil (israel) 20 films are nominated for Politiken’s Audience Award. The films will be selected so that they reflect those films in the festival’s programme that aren’t distributed in danish cinemas, but deserve to be. The audience in the cinema will act as jury, and it’s entirely up to you if you want to vote with your eyes, your heart or your head.

The winner of Politiken’s Audience Award will receive support for the distribution and launch of his or her film in denmark (worth 125,000 dKK).

In other words: the audience gets the chance to expand the range of films on offer in danish cinemas.

Politiken’s Audience Award is presented in collaboration with Politiken newspaper.

COFFEE MACHINE 1 SPOON

2 SPOONS

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8610

deLIver Us From evIL oLe BornedAL

Canada has david Cronenberg, but denmark has ole Bornedal, who, 15 years after ‘nightwatch’ is making it clear that the rejuvenation of danish film is coming from the veterans. ‘deliver Us From evil’ is a story about guilt, mourning, loss, revenge and, above all, about love, the most important of all. Johannes (Lasse rimmer) and Pernille (Lene nystrøm) have bought an old country estate in Johannes’s childhood village in western Jutland, but they are having trouble finding the rural idyll. Johannes’ brother Lars (Jens Andersen) has been stuck in the mire here, driving lorries, drinking heavily and beating up his pregnant girlfriend (Pernille valentin).

When one day he runs over a pensioner, he blames the village’s Bosnian refugee and drums up a lynch mob in the middle of the annual village party. Johannes tries to bring back law and decency, but before he knows it, he has to defend his own family from the mob, like a better dustin Hoffman in ‘straw dogs’. ‘deliver Us From evil’ is a colourful affair, but it’s also a reminder that evil is closer to us than we think - both in the world and in ourselves. The style of Bornedal’s moral story will undoubtedly arouse discussions and indignation, as he - supported by dan Lausten’s beautiful, almost monochrome images, which give the film a hyperrealist edge - goes full throttle and tells the story with plenty of pathos, tears, spit and blood, bible quotes, graphic violence, nail guns, and sonja richter as an itinerant Greek choir. After all, he is ole Bornedal.

Th march 26 21:30

Grand Teatret

Fri oS Fra deT onde Denmark 2009, 100 min. danish director: ole Bornedal script: ole Bornedal Camera: dan Laustsen editor: Anders villadsen Production: Thura Film A/s Producer: michael obel Cast: Lasse rimmer, Lene nystrøm, Pernille vallentin, Jens Andersen distr.: sF Film

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BLIXA BArGeLd - rede/sPeeCH The charismatic Blixa Bargeld is best known as the lead singer of the German industrial band einstürzende neubauten and for his 20 years as guitarist for nick Cave’s backing band, The Bad seeds, which he left in 2003. But Blixa Bargeld is a versatile gentleman, who with his base in Beijing, Berlin and Los Angeles constantly seeks out new territories. Like a modern renaissance man, the 50-year-old Punk aristocrat displays the same unmistakable authority as a singer, actor, composer, lyricist, lecturer and performer. And like nobody else, he has managed to create a dramatic and timeless form of expression, which has nonetheless maintained its relevance across many decades. ‘rede/speech’ is Blixa Bargeld’s lavishly praised solo performance that has attained a cult following - a project he himself calls ‘pseudo-scientific entertainment’. Using an absolutely minimal set-up consisting of a microphone and four effects pedals, he improvises his way forward through ideas and concepts from the world of science, constantly leaning out over the precipice of semantic and auditory short circuits. In earlier shows, he has conjured up both the dnA of an angel and the structure of the solar system - with words and sounds alone.

sa march 28 22:00

Gasværket

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GrAn TorIno CLInT eAsTWood

Walt Kowalski (Clint eastwood) spends all day sitting on his porch in detroit growling at everything that surrounds him. The ageing former car factory worker’s wife has just died, and he himself has a, mildly put, strained relationship with his family and all the Asians who are moving into the houses of the formerly white neighbourhood. But Walt’s bark is worse than his bite, and in spite of all his swearing, curses and racist outpourings, he is a good man. After catching his neighbour’s son attempting to steal his well-kept classic Ford Gran Torino, he decides to help protect the boy and his family against the immigrant gangs that are raging through the neighbourhood. Walt Kowalski could well be eastwood’s star character, dirty Harry, 40 years later. The world has changed - it is no longer black and white, but full of confusing shades of grey - and Walt, who is of the old school, hasn’t quite kept up with things. But the same can’t be said about Clint eastwood, and even if one thinks one knows where the story is going, he still manages to build in a surprise.

The now 78-year-old Hollywood icon has experienced a veritable heyday in the past 10 years, and with the both amusing, dramatic and touching ‘Gran Torino’ - which could well be his swan song as an actor - he once again reaffirms his status as one of America’s most exciting filmmakers and social commentators.

Tu April 7

22:00

empire Bio

gran Torino USA 2009, 116 min. english, Hmong / danish subtitles director: Clint eastwood script: nick schenk Camera: Tom stern editor: Joel Cox, Gary d. roach music: Kyle eastwood, michael stevens Production: Warner Bros Producer: Clint eastwood, robert Lorenz, Bill Gerber Cast: Clint eastwood, Bee vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley distr.: sandrew metronome Filmdistribution

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THe BoAT THAT roCKed rICHArd CUrTIs

Waves will roll high and champagne will be flowing when CPH:PIX rolls out its purple carpet for the first time and kicks off the festival with the premiere of richard Curtis’ latest star-studded comedy ‘The Boat That rocked’. The film takes place in 1966 and tells the (almost) true story of one of england’s first pirate radio stations. London is ‘swinging’ and British music is about to take the lead in popular music worldwide, but the national radio broadcaster BBC limits rock-and-roll to two hours a week. As a result, pirate radio stations such as radio rock are flourishing, as they fire away 24 hours a day from international waters in the north sea. It is here that the inexperienced Carl (Tom sturridge) ends up with his godfather (Bill nighy) after being kicked out of school. The shipwreck houses a motley crew of more or less crazy dJs (among others Philip seymour Hoffman, rhys Ifans and nick Frost), so Carl is taught a totally different lesson than he thought he would.

Because at radio rock, the rules of the mainland don’t count, and the station is therefore a thorn in the eye of the government sourpusses (Kenneth Branagh), who are willing to do anything to pull the plug on radio rock. A limited number of tickets will be on public sale for the opening party, where richard Curtis - the man behind film hits such as ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, ‘notting Hill’ and ‘Love Actually’ - will himself be present together with Bill nighy and nick Frost. After the screening, we will serve delicious drinks and play more music, courtesy of dJ Kasper Bjørke and dJ eif.

Th April 16

20:45

Imperial

The boaT ThaT rocked UK 2009, 130 min. english / danish subtitles director: richard Curtis script: richard Curtis Production: Universal Pictures Cast: Philip seymour Hoffman, Bill nighy, rhys Ifans, nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Tom sturridge, Jack davenport, ralph Brown, Chris o’dowd, January Jones distr.: UIP

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THe BAAder meInHoF ComPLeX ULI edeL

There is currently a strong focus on the political activism of the 1960s, as well as on the glorious ideals that got corrupted by the illegal powers assumed by the activists. only one month after the release of the film about the danish Blekingegadebanden terrorist group, we are presented with Uli edel’s gripping account of (yet another) dramatic chapter in recent German history, namely the story about the rote Armee Fraktion. The parallels are striking, but ‘The Baader meinhof Complex’ is a dramatised feature, and an ambitious and stylish one. In the wake of the blossoming political activism of the 1960s, a handful of young people form the Baader-meinhof group, led by Andreas Baader and Ulrike meinhoff. They are dissatisfied with the pacifist approach of the left-wing activists, who time and again are left to stand and watch as they get beaten up by the heavy-handed German police. The Baader-meinhof group becomes the rote Armee Fraktion (rAF), and decides to take up arms and declare war against capitalism and its supporters. In this way, they go that one step further than their danish colleagues. Their aim is to create a more humane society, but through their inhumane methods they not only spread blood and terror, they also lose their own humanity in the process.

The rest is history, but it’s our history, told with the precision of political thrillers, adequate differentiation and thought-provoking relevance. see CPH:PIX’s other political films in the revolutions series.

Fr April 17

21:00

dagmar Teatret

der baader meinhoF komplex Germany 2008, 149 min.

German, english, French, Arabic / danish subtitles director: Uli edel script: Bernd eichinger Camera: rainer Klausmann editor: Alexander Berner music: Peter Hindertuer Production: Constantin Film Producer: Bernd eichinger Cast: martina Gedeck, moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Bruno Ganz, nadja Uhl, Jan Josef Liefers, stipe erceg, niels Bruno schmidt, vinzenz Kiefer, simon Licht, Alexandra maria Lara, Hannah Herzsprung, daniel Lommatzsch, sebastian Blomberg, Heino Ferch, Tom schilling, Bernd stegemann distr.: nordisk Film

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8332

Bronson

nICoLAs WIndInG reFn

meet england’s most violent man. Better known by his nickname Charles Bronson, the UK-born michael Peterson checked into the jug for the first time as a 19-year-old after being arrested for an armed robbery. driven by an excessive desire to be famous, his serialpsychopathic assaults on both policemen and prison staff have secured him a spectacular prolongation of his imprisonment. no less than 30 of his 34 years in prison have been spent in solitary confinement, and he has been released for less than four months in total. In his latest film, nicolas Winding refn takes Bronson’s personal story as his starting point, but the result is miles away from being a classic ‘biopic’. Instead, the director of the ‘Pusher’ trilogy has created a muscular and incredibly stylish cabaret of violence, with a shameless worship of raw, animal masculinity that will undoubtedly divide opinions. Inspired by stanley Kubrick and the Italian crime films of the 1970s, ‘Bronson’ is like one long tribute to ‘A Clockwork orange’ - but without the Ludovico treatment. A magnificent, testosterone-fuelled mixture of song, soap opera and a good old-fashioned dose of extreme violence, featuring a chillingly dazzling Tom Hardy in the lead role.

su April 19

21:30

Grand Teatret

bronSon UK 2008, 92 min. english director: nicolas Winding refn script: Brock norman Brock Camera: Larry smith editor: mat newman music: Lol Hammond sound: Tim Barker Production: vertigo Films, str8jacket Creations, Aramid ent Producer: rupert Preston, danny Hansford Cast: Tom Hardy, James Lance, Amanda Burton, matt King distr.: scanbox danmark

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mAmmoTH LUKAs moodYsson

With his first english-language film, ‘mammoth’, the swedish director Lukas moodysson turns his sights abroad while keeping one toe in his home territory, back to the capricious narrative style of ‘show me Love’ and ‘Together’. The mexican actor Gael García Bernal plays the main part of Leo, an overgrown teenager of a computer game programmer, who has made a fortune without really wanting to, and who is now fighting a hard inner struggle to make the right choices. His wife, ellen (michelle Williams), works as a surgeon at an emergency ward, while their daughter is looked after by their Filipino nanny Gloria (marife necesito), who herself had to leave behind her children to be able to earn enough money for their joint future. While Gloria is dreaming of being able to travel back home, Leo flies to Thailand in a private jet and ends up meeting a sexy bartender. It’s the working mothers, their sorrow and their betrayal that are at the centre of moodysson’s film, and like in Iñárittu’s symphony of fates ‘Babel’, ‘mammoth’ moves freely between the lives that are lived in widely differing parts of the world - from the UsA to the Philippines and Thailand. The result is a thought-provoking and beautiful story, which steers clear of preaching in its handling of the question about what it means to take responsibility in a globalised age.

mo April 20 21:00

dagmar Teatret

mammuT Sweden, Germany, Denmark 2009, 125 min. english, Thai / danish subtitles director: Lukas moodysson script: Lukas moodysson Camera: marcel Zyskind editor: michal Leszczylowski Production: Zentropa, memfis Film Producer: Lars Jonsson Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, michelle Williams, marife necesito distr.: sandrew metronome

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8427

HUmAn Zoo rIe rAsmUssen

We have previously had the pleasure of experiencing rie rasmussen in ‘Femme Fatale’ and ‘Angel-A’, but with her ambitious feature film debut as a director, ‘Human Zoo’, which she has also written and produced herself, the former model makes her mark as a new danish talent. rie also plays the lead role of the half Albanian, half serbian Adria, who is haunted by war traumas experienced during her earlier life in Kosovo, and she now lives illegally in marseille. Here, she starts off a relationship with the slacker shawn, and the love story is interwoven with flashbacks of the rapes and ethnic cleansing during the conflict. since her break with the psychopathic soldier who took her under his wings at the time, Adria has developed into a resourceful woman, a quality she needs when her past suddenly catches up with her. ‘Human Zoo’ is a candid film that offers a level of reckless energy that is hard to find elsewhere.

The temporal leaps remind one of Tarantino, while the steamy sex scenes and the savage orgies of violence are mixed together to create a verhoevenesque cocktail, served with an outstanding soundtrack.

sa April 18 Tu April 21 Fr April 24

21:15 14:00 19:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret Palads

human zoo France 2009, 110 min. english, serbic, French, Arabic / english subtitles director: rie rasmussen script: rie rasmussen Camera: Thierry Arbogast editor: rie rasmussen Production: europa Corp.

Producer: rie rasmussen Cast: rie rasmussen, nikola djuricko, nick Corey, vojin Cetkovic, Hiam Abbass, said Amadis, Branislav Lecic, Ivan Jevtovic, Jean-Pierre sanchez, Cyril raffaelli, daphne Hacquart, Jean-Luc Boucherot, vladimir Posavec, Branislav Tomasevic, dany Benedito distr.: europa Corp

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THe WresTLer dArren AronoFsKY

now this is what you can call a comeback! For years, mickey rourke has been traipsing through obscurity, with only the gossip press taking an interest, while his film career seemed like it was merely a myth. now, he has risen from the gutter as the failed wrestler randy ‘The ram’ robinson, who is fighting to return to the arena in the autumn of his career. And for rourke, merely standing up again is not enough: he creates a convincing and deeply moving portrait of a defeated man, which deservedly earned him a Golden Globe and an oscar nomination. The wrestler ‘The ram’ has sacrificed everything for his sport: his life, his family and his health. In the 1980s, he was at the peak of his career. now, 20 years later, he leads a life filled with doping, a bad heart and shows in small gyms. But his dream of a comeback is still alive in the lonely hulk of a man with platinum blond hair - at least until an accident in the ring forces ram to face reality and to make an existential choice. ‘The Wrestler’ is as far away from ‘rocky Balboa’ as one could get. The film is a raw, vulnerable and at times downright funny story about a man who refuses to be counted out. The film also offers superb acting performances by evan rachel Wood as ram’s lost daughter and marisa Tomei as the stripper Cassidy, whose days in the spotlight are also numbered.

We April 22 21:15

dagmar Teatret

The WreSTler USA 2008, 109 min. english / danish subtitles director: darren Aronofsky script: robert siegel Camera: maryse Alberti editor: Andrew Weisblum music: Clint mansell Production: Protozoa Pictures Producer: scott Franklin, darren Aronofsky Cast: mickey rourke, marisa Tomei, evan rachel Wood, mark margolis, Todd Barry, ernest miller distr.: UIP

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8428

AdAm resUrreCTed PAUL sCHrAder

Inner demons are not a new obsession of Paul schrader, who wrote ‘Taxi driver’ and directed the masterpiece ‘mishima’. The film adaptation of Yoram Kaniuk’s controversial and lauded novel from 1968 has been decades in the making, but schrader has managed to do full justice to the untraditional Holocaust story. The result is an intense and intelligent drama, suffused with moral ambiguity and unpleasant thought-experiments. one meets the title protagonist Adam the first time when he’s picked up and taken to a closed mental asylum in the desert outside Tel Aviv in 1961. The asylum, which primarily houses survivors of the concentration camps, is run by a philanthropic doctor who tolerates Adam’s extreme behaviour and is just as fascinated by him as the other patients are. This is understandable, as Adam is full of fun, charming, provocative and dreadfully scarred by his past. The now tragically manic clown was a big cabaret star in Berlin before the nazis sent him to the camps. separated from his family, Adam ends up spending his time on all fours, literally as the camp commander’s dog. The result is a chilling and at times dark-humoured film, which is borne by a terrific Jeff Goldblum, who is on a par with Jack nicholson in ‘one Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest’ - a film that bears comparison to this one.

Th April 23 su April 26

21:30 21:30

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

adam reSurrecTed USA, Germany, Israel 2008, 106 min. english director: Paul schrader script: noah stollman Camera: sebastian edschmid editor: sandy saffeels music: Gabriel Yared Production: July August Productions Producer: ehud Bleiberg, Werner Wirsing Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Willem dafoe, derek Jacobi, Ayelet Zurer distr.: Bleiberg entertainment

CPH:PIX 2009

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FILm PArTY AT THe PALAIs CPH:PIX invites everyone to take part in an unforgettable evening with a true film festival party. odd Fellow Palæet will be the setting for an evening with purple carpets, fantastic music, delicious drinks and a festive review of the best film clips of the century.

Party in the ballroom and lounge in the winter gardens.

Audience-friendly prices at the bar.

Location: odd Fellow Palæet, Bredgade dJ: Jean von Baden Tickets: 95.- at www.cphpix.dk (105.- at the door; cash only) includes welcome drink doors open at 2200 hrs

Fr April 17

22:00

odd Fellow Palæet

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revoLUTIons

CPH:PIX 2009

revoluTionS The American Trap disgrace endgame Il divo In The Loop Lettre Á La Prison resolution 819 secrets of state state of Play United red Army

Political films are back in the limelight. Both when it comes to portraits of revolutionary heroes, presidents and terrorists - ranging from Che Guevara, nixon and Bush to the Baader meinhof group - but also when it comes to more traditional genre films, which these days often obtain their political context from reality.

The ten films we are presenting under the banner ‘revolutions’ show what a wide range political films cover. From the three hour Japanese portrait of ‘The red Army’, over the biting and entertaining comedy ‘In the Loop’ about Britain’s motives to join the war in Iraq, to the brand new and nail-biting ‘endgame’ about the end of the apartheid regime in south Africa.

CPH:PIX 2009

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THe AmerICAn TrAP CHArLes BInAme

We are given an eye-level look at global political intrigues in this explosive crime thriller. set in the cold war period between the first and the second Kennedy assassination, Lucien rivard travels from Havanna’s casinos to the night clubs of dallas, from the jungles of Indonesia to Quebec and new orleans in his capacity of a middleman. Politics, corruption and drugs are three sides of the same matter, and the intelligence agencies of the UsA, the soviet Union and France have joined forces with various criminal organisations to gain control of the natural resources of third world countries, and this is where Lucien enters the picture. The film’s style is a central element of this large-scale production, and just as soderbergh’s drug epos ‘Traffic’, ‘The American Trap’ has a different colour hue for each location that the plot encounters - from cool blue cityscapes to the warm yellow dust of the south. The cinematography is neither handheld nor steady, but uses superior, gliding visuals that look fantastic on the big screen.

su April 19 19:00 We April 22 15:00 Th April 23 21:00

vester vov vov empire Bio dagmar Teatret

le piÈge amÉricain Canada 2008, 110 min.

French / english subtitles director: Charles Biname script: Fabieene Larouche and michel Trudeau Camera: mathilde savard-Cloutier, merlin Girard Cast: rémy Girard, Gérard darmon, Colm Feore, Joe Cobden, Janet Lane, Tony Calabretta, serge Houde, dino Travarone, Jeff Boudreault, denis Grevereaux, matthew Boylan, Bill Lake, James Bradford distr.: e1 entertainment

36

revoLUTIons

CPH:PIX 2009

8274

dIsGrACe sTeve JACoBs

should the people pay the price for their country’s misdeeds? This is one of many complex questions that are posed in this tragic yet beautiful drama based on J.m.

Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel about the deep scars that Apartheid has left behind in south Africa’s population. John malkovich delivers one of his best and most downplayed performances in the role of the cool and disillusioned university professor, who doesn’t even try to defend himself, when it’s revealed that he’s had sex with one of his students. He leaves Cape Town and moves out to his daughter in her isolated farm, despite the fact that he hasn’t had any contact with her for years.

Here, he finds it difficult to calm down, not least because of his innate distrust of black people. But at the exact time he lets his guards down, his worst nightmare comes true and they are assaulted by three young black men.

But the father and daughter’s ways of dealing with the ensuing fear and anger are completely different, and he realises that he no longer knows what kind of country he’s living in. The captivating drama finds its very own, unique voice and becomes a meditation over race, class and history, while exploring the connection between the personal and the political in a country going through a turbulent transition.

su April 19 16:45 We April 22 17:30

dagmar Teatret empire Bio

diSgrace Australia 2008, 120 min. english, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Zulu / english subtitles director: steve Jacobs script: Anna maria monticelli Camera: steve Arnold editor: Alexandre de Franceschi music: Anthony Partos sound: sam Petty Production: Wild strawberries/sherman Pictures Pty Ltd. Producer: Anna-maria monticelli, emile sherman, steve Jacobs Cast: John malkovich, eriq ebouaney, scott Cooper, Fiona Press, Jessica Haines, monroe reimers, Charles Tertiens distr.: sF Film

CPH:PIX 2009

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8447

endGAme PeTe TrAvIs

one has to pay attention to keep up with ‘endgame’, which is a highly fascinating description of the secret meetings between the AnC and P.W. Botha’s south African government, which led to the abolition of apartheid. The story takes place in 1985, as the racist regime was already in the process of falling apart, while the AnC was spreading public terror and the sympathies were turned towards the imprisoned nelson mandela.

But it was economic interests that really got the process going, as is shown in Pete Travis’s sharp docudrama, which takes place in both south Africa and england - for it is here, far away from the battle scenes, that a British mining corporation meets with the AnC leader Thabo mbeki (Chiwetel ejiofor) and the Afrikaaner professor Willie esterhuyse (William Hurt) for secret roundtable discussions to ensure that their business can survive the inevitable change. Travis explains the tense meetings and brings them to life in a way that lets us feel the tension in the air. Liberal esterhuyse is kept on a tight leash by south Africa’s intelligence agency, and each word is analysed inside out, and the film illustrates with dramatic clarity that what is being said will have immediate consequences on the other side of the world. ‘endgame’ is an intelligent political thriller, which holds us in its grip for the entire 109 minutes without oversimplifying its subject matter. The film will have its european premiere at CPH:PIX.

We April 22 20:00 su April 26 12:15

empire Bio dagmar Teatret

endgame UK 2009, 109 min. english director: Pete Travis script: Paula milne Camera: david odd editor: Clive Barrett Production: Channel 4, Target entertainment Group Producer: david Aukin, Hal vogel Cast: William Hurt, Chiwetel ejiofor, Jonny Lee miller distr.: Target entertainment

38

revoLUTIons

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8115

IL dIvo

PAoLo sorrenTIno

Kafka has not lived in vain, but has been reborn as the Italian director Paolo sorrentino, whose biting political comedy ‘Il divo’ has experienced a triumphal international success since its premiere at the Cannes film festival last year. The film portrays the seven-term Christian democratic prime minister Giulio Andreotti (played with uncanny precision by Toni servillo) - whose illegal activities and relations to the Italian mafia have been long known and have earned him the nickname Beelzebub - during his seventh term as prime minister.

But apart from being a regular portrait, which no doubt hit its protagonist like a well-placed punch in the face, sorrentino’s film is also an urgently necessary fight against the absurd logic that has long controlled the lines of command in Italian politics. one ends up crying, laughing and clutching ones head in despair about the absurdity in sorrentino’s detailed and cryptic account of the abuse of power at the highest level of Italian politics. It’s not since elio Petri took Cannes by storm in 1970 with his incisive satire about the ‘Investigation of a Citizen Above suspicion’ that a political comedy has so thoroughly exposed its country’s political mentality. All one can do is stand back and gawp in disbelief.

su April 19 su April 26

14:30 21:30

dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

il divo Italy 2008, 110 min.

Italian / english subtitles director: Paolo sorrentino script: Paolo sorrentino Camera: Luca Bigazzi editor: Cristiano Travaglioli music: Teho Teardo Production: Indigo Film Producer: nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Andrea occhipinti, maurizio Coppolecchia Cast: Alberto Cracco, Piera degli esposti, Lorenzo Gioielli, Paolo Graziosi, Gianfelice Imparato, massimo Popolizio, Aldo ralli, Giovanni vettorazzo, Fanny Ardant, enzo rai distr.: sunrise Film distribution

CPH:PIX 2009

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8464

In THe LooP ArmAndo IAnnUCCI

nothing is sacred in the world of satire, and this is especially true for ‘In the Loop’, which is every bit as sharp as ‘The office’. The film offers a jab below the political belt-line over why the United Kingdom took part in the war in Iraq. When the minister for international development, simon Foster (Tom Hollander) makes a blundering statement in a radio interview that ‘war is unpredictable’, all hell breaks loose. The utterance is made in the days when the whole world is waiting to know if Iraq will be invaded or not, and the British media throw themselves onto any quote that is open to interpretation. When the unfortunate minister tries to back out, he makes things worse and is sent to Washington, where things soon start getting just as much out of hand. one can’t do justice to the constantly bifurcating story in just a few lines. The film oozes with entanglements in high politics and personal duplicity across the Atlantic and in 10 downing street, without Armando Iannucci ever losing his way. ‘In the Loop’ is hysterically funny, incisively vicious and probably much too true.

We April 22 14:00 Fr April 24 22:30

dagmar Teatret empire Bio

in The loop UK 2009, 105 min. english director: Armando Iannucci Camera: Jaimie Cairney editor: Billy sneddon Production: BBC Films Producer: Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy. executive Cast: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina mcKee, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison, Anna Chlumsky, Paul Higgins, mimi Kennedy, Alex macQueen, olivia Poulet, david rasche, steve Coogan, Zach Woods, enzo Cilenti, Johnny Pemberton, Joanna scanlan distr.: nonstop entertainment

40

revoLUTIons

CPH:PIX 2009

8401

LeTTre À LA PrIson mArC sCIALom

made in 1969 in the wake of the student uprisings and while the political banners were still flying high over the european cities, ‘Lettre à la prison’ is possibly one of the most captivating political films ever. The selfproduced film was never completed due to a lack of funds, and right up until last year, when the director was given money to develop it, only the legendary film essayist Chris marker was allowed to see an early cut, thereby confirming that the film also existed outside the mythological accounts of film history. shot entirely with private funds and inspired by said Chris marker, ‘Lettre à la prison’ is a series of travel letters from a young Tunisian, who has moved to Paris to visit his brother, who is imprisoned for the murder of a young woman. devised as visual postcards, which move imperceptibly between fiction and documentary, scialom focuses on his protagonist’s spontaneous impression of the colonial power France - and thanks to the loaded imagery, the result is a fascinating look at an apparently insoluble political conflict.

Tu April 21 sa April 25

19:00 14:00

Husets Biograf Cinemateket

leTTre À la priSon France 2008, 70 min.

French / english subtitles director: marc scialom script: marc scialom Camera: marc scialom editor: marc scialom Production: Film flamme Producer: Jean françois neplaz Cast: Tahar Aïbi, marie-Christine Lefort, myriam Tuil, marieChristine rabedon, Jean-Louis scialom, Hamid djellouli, JeanLouis dupont distr.: Film flamme - Polygone étoilé

CPH:PIX 2009

revoLUTIons

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8355

seCreTs oF sTATe PHILIPPe HAIm

The intense, but mostly invisible ‘war’ between terrorists and secret services within europe’s borders is a dirty and hair-raising affair with many fronts. In the topmodern French action thriller ‘secrets of state’, the d.G.s.e. (France’s answer to the CIA) collides with Islamic extremists. diane (vahina Giocante), who is an interpreter specialising in Arabic, is recruited as an agent for d.G.s.e. while Pierre (nicolas duvauchelle), a young immigrant with a criminal history, is recruited as a terrorist after spending time in jail. Both of them soon find themselves to be pawns in a game that is much bigger than they can handle, while their missions accelerate in parallel towards an unbearably hair-raising climax in the Parisian metro. ‘secrets of state’ has everything a ‘24 hours’-style agent/spy/action film should have, and more still: the film is based on a hitherto unseen level of extensive and thorough research of both terrorist recruitment and the d.G.s.e., whose operatives have never before been portrayed in such a detailed way on film. A world-class adrenaline shot from europe.

Fr April 17 Tu April 21

21:00 14:15

vester vov vov dagmar Teatret

SecreT deFenSe France 2008, 99 min.

French / english subtitles director: Philippe Haim script: Philippe Haim, Julien sibony Camera: Jerome Almeras editor: sylvie Landra music: Alexandre Azaria sound: Pierre Gamet, vincent mauduit, Frederic Le Louet, FrancoisJoseph Hors Production: UGC Ym, France 3 Cinema, France 2 Cinema Producer: Yves marmion Cast: Gerard Lanvin, vahina Giocante, nicolas duvauchelle, simon Abkarian, rachida Brakni, medhi nebbou, Aurelien Wiik, nicolas marie, Katia Lewkowicz, Catherine Hiegel distr.: Atlantic Film AB

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sTATe oF PLAY KevIn mACdonALd

In the star-studded thriller ‘state of Play’, which is based on the formidable British mini-series of the same name from 2003, russell Crowe plays the journalist Cal mcCaffrey, who investigates a series of brutal, seemingly unrelated murders. Helen mirren is the editor who smells the blood and puts Cal and his partner della (rachel mcAdams) on the case. one of the victims was the assistant of the political shooting star stephen Collins, played by Ben Affleck, and when it’s revealed that she was also his lover, he is put in a somewhat awkward spot. everyone becomes involved in a dangerous game with political secrets that can’t be revealed at any price, and mcCaffrey soon realises that when it’s a question of great sums of money, everyone can be bought. The heavyweight political players, who have put everything into fronting Collins as a presidential candidate, have no intention of letting anything get in the way of their plans. Kevin mcdonald, who directed ‘The Last King of scotland’, is back with more high-tension entertainment with a film, where friendship and truth mean less than power.

sa April 18 21:30 We April 22 19:00

CinemaxX Palads

STaTe oF play USA 2009, 118 min. english / danish subtitles director: Kevin macdonald script: matthew michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Peter morgan, Billy ray Camera: rodrigo Prieto editor: Justine Wright Production: Andell entertainment Producer: eric Fellner Cast: rachel mcAdams, russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, robin Wright Penn, Helen mirren distr.: UIP

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UnITed red ArmY KoJI WAKAmATsU

United red Army was the Japanese answer in the 1970s to the rote Armee Fraktion. The group was formed in 1972 when two radical left-wing groups teamed up to accelerate the revolution, but ended up killing each other (and two policemen) in a bloody showdown in a small mountain hut. The experienced new wave director Koji Wakamatsu, who has more than 100 films under his belt, knew many of the people involved in person, and in his three-part marathon opus he describes the radicalisation of Japanese youth, which culminated in the UrA. Focusing on the two ‘dogma brothers’ and ideological spearheads nagata and mori, and the naive-idealist girl Toyama, the film exposes the inner tensions of the collective psychology of fanaticism with a style that’s called ‘Jitsoruko’ - a unique hybrid genre, which mixes fiction and documentary. As the UrA’s 29 members increasingly isolate themselves from the outside world they’re trying to change, their good intentions are corrupted along the same lines as those of other left-wing terrorist groups of the time, including denmark’s own Blekingegadebanden. The music is scored by Jim o’rourke from sonic Youth, and the film won the audience award at the Tokyo Film Festival.

mo April 20 15:00 Th April 23 19:00

empire Bio Husets Biograf

jiTSuroku rengo Sekigun: aSama SanSo e no michi Japan 2007, 189 min.

Japanese / english subtitles director: Koji Wakamatsu script: Wakamatsu, Asako otomo Camera: Tomohiko Tsuji, Yoshihisa Toda editor: Koji Wakamatsu Production: Wakamatsu, skhole Co. production Producer: Koji Wakamatsu, noriko ozak Cast: Akie namiki, Arata, Takaki Uda, soran Tamoto distr.: dissidenz International

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resoLUTIon 819 GIAComo BATTIATo

The United nations’ resolution 819 was the international community’s attempt to protect the muslim minority in srebrenica in Bosnia, when the Balkan war flared up.

But the Un troops nonetheless stood back helplessly when General mladic and his Bosnian-serb army brutally overpowered the province in July 1995. Thousands of residents were deported and at least 8000 people, especially children and older men, disappeared. The war crimes tribunal in The Hague reacted by sending the experienced French investigator Jacques Calvez to the war zone to find out what happened. This is the real story behind Giacomo Battiato’s sober and captivating criminal drama, which won the audience award at the film festival in rome. despite the fact that Calvez starts his investigation just a few weeks after the massacre, it quickly develops into a race between him and the perpetrators, who do everything to cover their tracks.

It is only in the months after the implementation of the peace agreement that the secrets of the mass graves are brought to light. At that point, experts from all over the world are brought in to dig, but even for them it’s a task that is hard to endure. For Calvez however, this is only the beginning of a year-long battle to find all the victims and to gather crucial evidence against those responsible for the massacres - a woefully dark chapter in recent history of europe.

su April 19 su April 26

16:45 19:15

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

reSoluTion 819 France, Poland 2008, 96 min.

French / english subtitles director: Giacomo Battiato script: Thierry Jonquet, Giacomo Battiato Production: Breakout Films Producer: Georges Campana Cast: Benoît magimel, Hippolyt Giradot, Karolina Gruszka, Hristo shopov, nevena rosuljas, dimitrije llic, Christophe odent, emina muftic, Anezka novak, vieszlav Hajek, Borislav rudic distr.: TF1 International

eUroPeAn voICes : BeLGIAn Boom

belgian boom eldorado JCvd Left Bank moscow, Belgium nowhere man Private Lessons rumba vinyan

To prejudiced ears, successful Belgian films might sound like a contradiction in terms, but Belgium has actually become one of europe’s most productive and exciting filmmaking nations.

This is partly thanks to new, lucrative tax incentives, which have turned Belgium into a centre for european co-productions. But it is to an even greater degree thanks to a dedicated talent development scheme, which is now bearing fruit.

The latest success of Belgian films can be compared to that experienced here in denmark with dogme, but in Belgium the new output covers a much wider range in terms of style and genre, as the eight films shown here attest to perfectly. on Friday, 17 April, CPH:PIX will have a special focus on Belgian films, where you can watch four brand new films in a row, meet the guests from the films and also satisfy other appetites with Belgian chocolate and delicious Ganda ham - the Flemish answer to serrano ham. The four films shown are: ‘moscow, Belgium’, ‘nowhere man’, ‘rumba’ and ‘Left Bank’.

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8137

eLdorAdo BoULI LAnners

A burnt-out heroin junkie and a bragging used car salesman are on their way through Belgium on blazing wheels. Both of them find that their lives are all about treading water, and they therefore team up for a last attempt to lace their blood with petrol and add meaning to their lives. But if their first encounter, a far from elegant break-in attempt, hasn’t already hinted at it, it becomes increasingly clear that the journey is going to be about much more than chocolate and beer. After the skewed and amusing ‘Ultranova’, Belgian Bouli Lanners has made yet another film that is as anarchistic in its sense of fun as it is doleful in its portrayal of individuals.

For Lanners is not afraid of tackling the big questions in life, and thanks to his excellent eye for absurd situations and his neurotic insecurity (he plays the part of the burnt-out car salesman himself), he quickly manages to derail the otherwise ultra-American road movie genre - while at the same time demonstrating, how enlivening it is when a european comedy goes down its own route.

mo April 20 16:45 Tu April 21 16:15 su April 26 21:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

eldorado Belgium 2008, 85 min.

French / english subtitles director: Bouli Lanners script: Bouli Lanners Camera: Jean-Paul de Zaeytijd editor: ewin ryckaert sound: olivier Hespel, marc Bastien Production: Lazennec, rTBF production Producer: Jacques-Henri Bronckart Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe nahon, didier Toupy, Francoise Chichery, stefan Liberski, Baptiste Isaia, JeanJacques rausin, renaud rutten, Jean-Luc meekers. distr.: Films distribution

CPH:PIX 2009

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JCvd

mABroUK eL meCHrI

van damme is back! And the muscles from Brussels has hardly been better than in this cunning action comedy where he plays himself. It’s not easy to be van damme and to see ones career reduced to the lowest shelves of the local video store. What’s more, he has to struggle with a sticky agent, struggling finances and a divorce case with his ex-wife to be, so van damme decides to move back to Belgium, where he still enjoys a certain celebrity status. But he’s hardly managed to unpack his things before he ends up as a hostage in a post-office robbery. This obviously creates a certain degree of attention, which makes the police believe that the old testosterone bomb has really lost it and that he’s staged the robbery himself. ‘JCvd’ is both a tribute to van d’s action career and a portrayal of the true self behind a hero’s attitudes, and it is told with a cool sense of selfirony, that van damme went along with all the way.

With his trademark stone-faced appearance, he lets the director el mechri subject him to pretty much everything in this surprisingly amusing account of a super-hero, who ends up in quite a thankless situation.

mo April 20 21:00 Tu April 21 21:30 Fr April 24 23:00

Palads dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

jcvd Belgium, France 2008, 102 min.

French / english subtitles director: mabrouk el mechri script: Frédéric Bénudis, mabrouk el mechri Camera: Pierre-Yves Bastard editor: Kako Kelber music: Gast Waltzing sound: Philippe Kohn Production: Gaumont Producer: sidonie dumas Cast: François damiens, Jean-Claude van damme, Zinedine soualem distr.: Atlantic Film AB

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8146

mosCoW, BeLGIUm CHrIsToPHe vAn romPAeY

A working-class neighbourhood called moscow in the Belgian town of Ghent might not sound like the most attractive place to go on an excursion, but there is lots to look forward to in Christophe van rompaey’s debut feature, which is a true serving of kitchen sink realism in the best mike Leigh style, packed with drama, smiles and loving warmth. Apart from that, there is not much to laugh about in life for the 40-something matty (played brilliantly by Barbara sarafian from ozon’s ‘8 1/2 Women’), who is a single mother of three after her academic husband has left her for a slender student.

Things go from bad to worse when she is knocked down by the lorry driver Johnny, a former alcoholic rowdy who is at least 20 years her junior. But Johnny falls for the foul-mouthed matty and turns up at her doorstep, and after a few more or less unsuccessful dates, matty begins to open up to the enthusiastic truck-driver.

And that’s when the ex-husband reappears, tired of Lolita-sex. ‘moscow, Belgium’ is a love triangle with a couple of loveable losers, who expect nothing but disappointments. But it is also a surprisingly uplifting film - without losing sight of reality - thanks to its exceptionally well-written screenplay and a director, who knows exactly what he wants.

Fr April 17 14:30 We April 22 19:00

dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

aanrijding in moScou Belgium 2008, 102 min.

Flamish / english subtitles director: Christophe van rompaey script: Jean-Claude van rijckeghem, Pat van Beirs Camera: ruben Impens editor: Alain dessauvage sound: dirk Bombey, Alex Goosse, Frederik van de moortel Production: A Private view Producer: Jean-Claude van rijckeghem Cast: Barbara sarafian, Jurgen delnaet, Johan Heldenbergh, Anemone valcke distr.: Bavaria Film

CPH:PIX 2009

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noWHere mAn PATrICe ToYe

There are mid-life crises, and then there is Tomas (Frank vercruyssen), who’s in his mid-40s and is so tired of his perfect life with a perfect family in a perfect house, that he has an alternative identity lying in wait. one day, when he’s on his way to the garden centre, he passes a burning house, and he grabs the opportunity and stages his own tragic death. In reality, he has bought a bar on a small African island, but he’s hardly settled down before the dream turns into a nightmare. The bar is a wreck, the island is bereft of tourists, the locals hate him, steal from him and beat him up, and he doesn’t have a penny in his pocket and can’t go back home.

Patrice Toye grabs a universal problem by the horns and investigates what we’d really do, if we got the freedom we all fantasise of. she does this with tongue in cheek and with a surprisingly original story - the screenplay won an award in sundance - where Tomas’ actions have strong repercussions, which have to be seen. There are many layers of surrealism and biting sarcasm in Toye’s film, but even if one sits in the darkened cinema with a big grin on one’s face, it’s hard to avoid feeling that the story is just a bit too familiar.

Fr April 17 Tu April 21

16:45 21:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

(n)iemand Belgium, Netherlands 2008, 96 min. dutch / english subtitles director: Patrice Toye script: Bjorn olaf Johannessen, Patrice Toye Camera: richard van oosterhout editor: nico Leunen Production: La Parti, Circe Films, Tarantula Producer: vincent Tavier, Philippe Kauffmann Cast: Frank vercruyssen, sara de roo, muzaffer ozdemir distr.: Funny Balloons

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CPH:PIX 2009

8619

LeFT BAnK PIeTer vAn Hees

The Belgian ‘Left Bank’ begins in true social-realist style, as it tells the story of marie, a promising young athlete in Antwerp. Her future suddenly seems uncertain after her blood tests indicate that she’s suffering from an illness. But she meets the archer Bobby, and the steamy relationship allows her to forget her worries.

In order to get away from her slightly freakish mother, she moves in with Bobby in Linkeroever, a remote apartment block on the fringes of Antwerp. marie’s routine lifestyle changes from one moment to the next, and so does the film, which goes from pure naturalism to a more psychological depiction of her condition which includes symbolic hallucinations and a wound that refuses to heal. The story about a missing woman who lived in the same apartment as marie has moved into, and a mysterious black hole in the basement seem to obsess her, while they run through the film like a menacing undertone. For all its physical explicitness, ‘Left Bank’ develops into an occult horror movie, which only subtly hints at the fact that marie’s surroundings are far more vicious than she thinks.

Fr April 17 Fr April 24 su April 26

21:30 21:00 23:00

dagmar Teatret Palads vester vov vov

linkeroever Belgium 2008, 102 min.

Flemish, French / english subtitles director: Pieter van Hees script: Pieter van Hees, dimitri Karaktsanis Camera: nicolas Karakatsanis editor: nico Leunen Production: Caviar Films Producer: Bert Hamelinck, Kato maes Cast: eline Kuppens, matthias schoenaerts, sien eggers distr.: Caviar Films

CPH:PIX 2009

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8122

PrIvATe Lessons JoACHIm LAFosse

It’s never been easy being young, as many films throughout the history of cinema have born witness to. It’s therefore not surprising, that the 17-year-old tennis enthusiast Jonas agrees to accept an offer from three older friends of the family to help him through his exam studies, when he once again is facing having to repeat a year unless he studies like mad during the summer break. His parents, who are divorced and spend most of their time trying to settle down in their respective new lives, leave Jonas in their friends’ care, and soon he is cramming more than just maths. Fun turns into seriousness, and seriousness into fun as the director, the only 33 year-old Joachim Lafosse, slowly removes the safety net from under his young protagonist (impressively played by the newcomer Jonas Bloquet), who has to make his first steps into adulthood with a blindfold over his eyes and his trousers round his ankles.

And even if things don’t all go according to plan, neither for young Jonas nor for his older teachers, luckily there is no trace of moralising in Lafosse’s impressive account of what inevitably happens when one’s desires wreak havoc with one’s emotions.

sa April 18 16:30 su April 19 19:00 mo April 20 21:00

Cinemateket Husets Biograf dagmar Teatret

eleve libre Belgium, France 2008, 105 min.

French / english subtitles director: Joachim Lafosse script: Joachim Lafosse, Francois Pirot Camera: Hicham Alaouié editor: sophie vercruysse sound: Benoit Biral Production: Haut et Court Producer: Jacques-Henri Bronckart Cast: Yannick renier, Jonathan Zaccaï, Jonas Bloquet distr.: Films distribution

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rUmBA

domInIQUe ABeL, FIonA Gordon, BrUno romY

‘rumba’ has been described as an episode of ‘sesame street’, written by Louis Buñuel and directed by Jacques Tati. Add to this a stylised pop art approach with garish pastel colours, spectacularly choreographed rumbas and a consistent deadpan humour, which lifts the otherwise highly tragic story to one comic highlight after another.

This is quite an achievement by the directing trio dominique Abel, Fiona Gordan and Bruno romy, who also play the film’s main roles. dom (Abel) and Fiona (Gordon) are teachers at the country village school and spend their weekends pursuing their great passion: rumba dance competitions. With another long-handled trophy under their arms, they are on their way home one evening, when they are involved in a car accident.

After being discharged from hospital, they have to learn to live with their new disabilities. dom has suffered a terrible amnesia, and Fiona has lost a leg. none of this is very beneficial for a dancing career, and things fail to get better, when their house burns down, because Fiona’s wooden leg catches fire. All of it is presented with visual and physical slapstick with hardly any dialogue or music, which didn’t lessen the enthusiasm at the film’s premiere in Cannes last year.

Fr April 17 Tu April 21 Th April 23

19:00 21:00 19:00

dagmar Teatret Husets Biograf vester vov vov

rumba Belgium, France 2008, 77 min.

French / english subtitles director: dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno romy script: dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno romy.

Camera: Claire Childeric editor: sandrine deegen sound: Fred meert, Gilles Laurent, Helene Lamy au rousseau Production: Courage mon Amour, mK2 Prods.

Producer: dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, marin Karmitz, nathaniel Karmitz, Charles Gilibert Cast: dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Philippe martz, Clement morel, Bruno romy distr.: mK 2

CPH:PIX 2009

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vInYAn

FABrICe dU WeLZ

Fabrice du Welz’s psychological delirium of a horror movie is definitely not a film for everyone, but if one’s in the mood for a hallucinatory expedition into the dark jungles of consciousness, one can expect a deeply unsettling kind of cinema experience. Jeanne and Paul are a French/British couple who lost their little son in the Tsunami that hit the coasts of Thailand in 2004.

Jeanne (emmanuelle Béart) is meanwhile convinced that he is alive, and when she seems to see him on a video recording, she and Paul (rufus sewell) travel from Phuket towards the jungle on the border of closedoff myanmar. But as their illegal journey progresses, hope turns into doubt and blame into revenge, while the fragile distinction between reason and madness crumbles away in the cold and humid depths of the jungle. The Belgian director du Welz (‘The ordeal’) has teamed up with Gaspar noé’s cinematographer to create a dark cinematic journey, where ‘don’t Look now’ follows ‘Apocalypse now’ inside the heads of its two guilt-ridden parents - and of the spectators, who are slowly engulfed in the film’s nightmarish atmosphere, helped along by the noise collages of the expressive sound design.

sa April 18 Th April 23 su April 26

21:00 21:30 19:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret Palads

vinyan Belgium, France, UK 2008, 97 min. english, Thai / english subtitles director: Fabrice du Welz script: Fabrice du Welz Camera: Benoit debie editor: Colin monie sound: Frederic meert Production: Film4 Producer: michael Gentile Cast: emmanuelle Beart, rufus sewell, Petch osathanugrah, Ampon Pankratok, Julie dreyfus, Josse de Pauw distr.: nonstop entertainment

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BeTTer THInGs dUAne HoPKIns

“This was real life, and real life was difficult at best.”

British filmmakers have a unique knack for depicting the physical hardships of existence with an almost transcendental majesty, which lifts depressing realism up to being a cathartic kick. The renowned art photographer duane Hopkins is no exception and in his debut as a director he elevates photography from its confines of being a recording medium to ethereal heights, which have their musical match in Joy division. ‘Better Things’ is an episodic and elliptic elegy about life and not least death in the west english Cotswolds, which, ironically, are described as the quintessence of english idyll in most tourist brochures. The films 18 protagonists (many of which are played by amateurs) drive in and out of a permanent blue twilight and - in the case of the teenagers - an apathetic heroin-induced daze. Isolation, death, emptiness and drug-abuse haunt both young and old, and are mirrored from generation to generation.

Hopkins’ observational and almost documentary camera tells aptly little but aptly enough, that one as a spectator almost creates the film oneself, while one sees it. The outcome is authentic close-up, and moving from a distance.

Fr April 17 Tu April 21 sa April 25

16:30 23:00 18:00

Cinemateket vester vov vov Gloria

beTTer ThingS UK 2008, 93 min. english director: duane Hopkins script: duane Hopkins Camera: Lol Crawley editor: Chris Barwell sound: douglas macdougall Production: Third Films, Flying moon Producer: samm Haillay, rachel robey Cast: rachel mcIntyre, emma Cooper, Liam mcIlfatrick, Che Corr, Freddie Cunliffe, Jane Foxhall, Tara Ballard, Betty Bench, Frank Bench, Patricia Loveland, Bryndley Hutt, Lillian Hutt, Kurt Taylor, megan Palmer, Katie samuels, michael socha, mike randle, Kerry rowe, Hilary davies distr.: Celluloid dreams

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8618

THe dAIsY CHAIn AIsLInG WALsH

Irish director Aisling Walsh has been behind a string of powerful social-realist dramas placed in historic settings such as ‘sinners’ about the magdalene Laundries in 1960s Ireland and ‘song for a raggy Boy’, which won a Golden swan at the first edition of Copenhagen International Film Festival. now, she is back with a horror film surprisingly. After the tragic death of their baby, martha (samantha morton) and her husband Thomas (steven mackintosh) move from London to a remote Irish village. martha, who is pregnant again, hopes to find calm and energy in the fresh air, but when she starts taking an interest in the young neglected girl next door, daisy, the cultural divide turns out to be bigger than expected. The local community thinks that daisy is a changeling, and as she is possibly responsible for the violent death of her parents, they are prepared to burn her at the stake. But martha, whom daisy seems to trust, takes her under her wings, not knowing what she has brought into the house. ‘The daisy Chain’ is a film squarely placed between Ken Loach and ‘The omen’.

Walsh lets the psychological horror emerge from a realism we can all relate to. she uses it to strengthen the environment and the characters, while mirroring the intense atmosphere in the raw landscape, thereby making the horror tangible and unassailable. This is a first-class thrill.

embassy of Ireland

Fr April 17 19:00 Tu April 21 16:45 We April 22 21:30

Palads dagmar Teatret CinemaxX

The daiSy chain Ireland, UK 2008, 90 min. english director: Aisling Walsh script: Lauren mackenzie Camera: simon Kossoff editor: Chris Gill, Brian oates Production: subotica entertainment Producer: Tristian Lynch, dominique Wright Cast: samantha morton, steven mackintosh, mhairi Anderson distr.: ContentFilm International

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eden

deCLAn reCKs

Billy and Breda are about to celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary. not that there’s that much to celebrate any more: Billy, who works as a telephone operator spends more time eaves-dropping on other families’ conversations than he dedicates to his own family, and Breda finds it increasingly difficult to arouse his interest. But with two children and a house it’s difficult to face up to the problems. At the same time, Billy’s attraction to a younger woman slowly turns into a fatal infatuation, and the evening before the 10year anniversary threatens to end in a bigger drama than either of the two imagined. The Irish dramatist eugene o’Brien has adapted his own award-winning play for the screen, and the director declan recks has directed the story with a keen eye for the classical qualities and virtues of the genre. Thus, the scenes of this marriage don’t end up being a venomous dissection of monogamy, but are delivered with a nuanced human force, becoming a powerful and moving experience thanks to the outstanding performances of Aidan Kelly and eileen Walsh. And the Irish accents are sweet music to the ears.

Fr April 17 su April 19 Fr April 24

18:00 19:00 21:00

Gloria dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

eden Ireland 2008, 83 min. english director: declan recks script: eugene o’Brien, based on his play Camera: owen mcPolin editor: Gareth Young Production: samson Films Producer: david Collins Cast: Aiden Kelly, eileen Walsh, Padraic delaney, Lesley Conroy, Karl shiels, sarah Greene distr.: samson Films Limited

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remBrAndT’s J’ACCUse PeTer GreenAWAY

After having dramatically dissected rembrandt’s unsettling magnum opus in ‘nightwatching’ in 2007, the forever idiosyncratic British filmmaker Peter Greenaway returns to the pseudo docudrama genre he was so fond of in his short film days with ‘rembrandt’s J’Accuse’. Here, Greenaway casts himself in the main role as the purportedly objective narrator and critic who goes through a detailed analysis of all the accusatory implications that the picture contains according to him.

He brings the painting’s historic personalities to life in scenic tableaux and staged interviews, and lets them explain what potentially happened. In a cleverly layered system of fictional reasoning, the media-conscious Greenaway fills the screen with frames and words, texts and images, which are woven together to form a tight document that pretends to be real. despite its cryptical form, ‘rembrandt’s J’accuse’ is a surprisingly accessible work - not least thanks to its amusing touch of oldfashioned educational film - which will go down well with both established fans and Greenaway-beginners.

mo April 20 19:15 Th April 23 14:15

Cinemateket dagmar Teatret

rembrandT’S j’accuSe UK, Netherlands 2008, 90 min. english, dutch / english subtitles director: Peter Greenaway script: Peter greenaway Camera: reinier van Brummelen editor: elmer Leupen Production: submarine production Producer: Femke Wolting, Bruno Felix Cast: eva BirthIstle, Jodhi may, emily Holmes, michael Teigen, natalie Press distr.: ContentFilm International

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soI CoWBoY THomAs CLAY

It was a brilliant move by the British director Thomas Clay to cast the danish actor nicolas Bro as the protagonist in ‘soi Cowboy’, and it was courageous of Bro to take on the part. After having shocked the whole world and their mother with his debut ‘The Great ecstasy of robert Carmichael’, Clay takes a no less controversial approach in his latest film - even if he does so in a totally different way. ‘soi Cowboy’ takes place in Thailand, where Bro plays a danish film director, Tobias, who has come to a standstill in Bangkok with his pregnant Thai girlfriend Koi. Tobias is in love, and Koi needs him so that she doesn’t have to go back to a life as a prostitute in the soi Cowboy neighbourhood. But the little they have to say to each other has been said a long time ago. Clay seems to be inspired by Apichatpong Weerasethakul in the first part of the film - filmed in black-and-white where the plot has come to a halt and the story is told through atmospheres, observations and low-key humour.

But suddenly the film changes character, taking on wild colours and a gangster plot. Clay doesn’t make it clear if this is a staging of Tobias’s screenplay, or a portrayal of the West’s view of Thailand that contrasts the Thai people’s own reality. But the result is provocative and highly fascinating, and it’s great fun to watch Bro play on foreign ground.

sa April 18 21:30 mo April 20 21:00 Th April 23 21:45

dagmar Teatret Palads Gloria

Soi coWboy UK, Thailand 2008, 116 min. english, Thai, danish / english subtitles director: Thomas Clay script: Thomas Clay Camera: sayombhu mukdeeprom editor: Thomas Clay Production: Pull Back Camera, de Warrenne Pictures Producer: Joseph Lang, Tom Waller Cast: nicolas Bro, Pimwalee Thampanyasan, Petch mekoh distr.: The Coproduction office

eUroPeAn voICes : FrenCH TemPTATIons

French TempTaTionS The Beautiful Person A French Gigolo The sea Wall sunny spells Paris 36 The Countess The Joy of singing A Lake Public enemy no 1 stella summer Hours

Institut français

Copenhague

You can find no less than 11 fresh French gems in this year’s programme.

What’s more, CPH:PIX invites all the Francophiles among you to cross a day off your calendars to indulge in the latest French harvest on monday, 20 April.

Four widely ranging films are on the menu cards, from the duras drama ‘The sea Wall’ via diastème’s virtuoso ‘sunny spells’ to Christophe Honoré’s latest opus ‘The Beautiful Person’ and the grown-up comedy ‘A French Gigolo’.

All of this will of course take place in Copenhagen’s stronghold of French films, Grand Teatret, on monday, 20 April from 1415 hrs. We will also offer vin rouge, fromage and visiting directors.

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THe BeAUTIFUL Person CHrIsToPHe HonorÉ

With his quirky and charming update of madame de Lafayette’s classic passion novel, ‘La Princesse de Clèves’, Christophe Honoré cements his status as one of French film’s leading talents. Transposed to a presentday school class, reminiscent of ‘notes on a scandal’, where the gap between teacher and student is small enough to be overcome in the name of love, the story portrays the new student at the school, the dark-haired beauty Junie (Lea seydoux), and her hard struggle to stick to the narrow path of virtue. The new leading lover of French film, Louis Garrel, excels in the role of the passionate charmer nemours, an Italian teacher who wins her affection, while Grégoire Leprince-ringuet plays the class’ shy boy, the forever faithful otto, who has been promised her heart. The film is a classic drama of passions, as we know it best from literature, which is here portrayed with a convincing mixture of song and sensuality. The style is semi-documentary, which not only brings out the intense feelings of the protagonists, but also manages to set the stormy drama ablaze with yearning sighs.

mo April 20 14:15 Th April 23 18:00

Grand Teatret Gloria

la belle perSonne France 2008, 95 min.

French / english subtitles director: Christophe Honoré script: Christophe Honoré, Gilles Taurand Camera: Laurent Brunet editor: Chantal Hymans Production: ArTe France, scarlett Prod Producer: Florence dormoy, Joey Fare Cast: Louis Garrel, Lea seydoux, Gregoire Leprince-ringuet distr.: Le Pacte

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A FrenCH GIGoLo JosIAne BALAsKo

The popular French actress, author and director Josiane Balasko is back in all three roles, but contents herself with a supporting role and lets the terrific nathalie Baye dominate this talented comedy drama. Judith (Baye) is a self-confident and successful mature career woman who is more than happy to pay her way to sex with young men after a wrecked marriage. Her sister (Balasko) is a hopeless romantic, who has never found love and who is still searching, while Judith is enjoying an uncomplicated life, until she meets marco (Carvaca). He is a working class man and is happily married to Fanny (Carré), but as he was never able to earn enough money, he became a gigolo. He really only wants everything to balance out, but he ends up upsetting the equilibrium in Judith’s perfectly planned world. she makes the mistake of committing to a regular weekly appointment with him, and their relationship ends up being about much more than the sex she pays for. It’s rare to see a story about a woman over 50 who pays for sex, but Balasko handles the topic tastefully and with much respect for her characters. The result is a charming, bitter-sweet film with both brains and a heart, not to mention two brilliant performances.

mo April 20 21:30 We April 22 16:45 sa April 25 21:45

Grand Teatret dagmar Teatret Gloria

clienTe France 2008, 103 min.

French / english subtitles director: Josiane Balasko Camera: robert Alazraki editor: Claudine merlin, marie de la selle Production: Gaumont Producer: Cyril Colbeau-Justin, JeanBaptiste dupont Cast: nathalie Baye, eric Caravaca, Isabelle Carre, Josiane Balasko, Catherine Hiegel, marilou Berry, Felicite Wouassi, George Aguilar distr.: Gaumont

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THe seA WALL rITHY PAnH

At first glance, ‘The sea Wall’ might look like regis Wargnier’s ‘Indochine’, but don’t expect great romantic tear-jerks in rithy Panh’s film adaptation of marguerite duras’ semi-autobiographical novel about her upbringing in 1930s Indochina. Astris Berges-Frisbey plays duras’ alter ego, the young suzanne, who breaks with her family while becoming aware of her sexual powers in the process, but it is Isabelle Huppert who sets the agenda and steals the limelight as her mother, the nearly bankrupt colonialist’s widow madame dufresne, who pressurises her daughter to extract as much money as possible from her Chinese admiror, while at the same time taunting her for being a tart. ‘The sea Wall’ is a vibrant drama filled with political and personal tension, fine subtexts and times past. rithy Panh, who himself comes from Cambodia, has made a loyal and unembellished adaptation, which is just as compelling and ambiguous as duras herself - equally analytic, arrogant and conspiratorial, while at the same time being driven by emotions and pent-up romantic dreams. The film is shot in Prey nup in Cambodia and is embedded in longing images by the cinematographer Pierre milon, who also filmed Laurent Cantet’s ‘The Class’.

su April 19 12:00 mo April 20 16:30

dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

un barrage conTre le paciFiQue France, Belgium 2008, 115 min.

French / english subtitles director: rithy Panh script: michael Fessler, rithy Panh, marguerite duras Camera: Pierre milon editor: marie-Christine rougerie music: marc marder sound: Pierre mertens Production: Catherine dussart Productions (CdP), studio 37 Producer: Catherine dussart Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Gaspard Ulliel, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, randal douc distr.: Films distribution

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sUnnY sPeLLs dIAsTÈme

A handful of characters weave themselves into and out of each other during the annual theatre festival in Avignon in this energetic and wonderfully acted backstage comedy drama made in the spirit of robert Altman. The dramatist richard (Bruno Todeschini) can’t stand seeing his own production, as it delves far too much with his past. The play’s two energetic actors maud (emma de Caunes) and Alex (Frederic Andrau) fight both on stage and off. A mysterious Asian groupie (Linhdan Pham) turns up every where, while a depressed vaudeville singer (Jeanne roas) struggles to break through with her pianist sidekick (Judith el-Zein), who has captured the heart of a somewhat tight-lipped theatre technician. In the finer part of the festival, the star dancer Kate (Lea drucker) is fighting with high expectations, while her assistant marko (olivier Py) is struggling with her high standards both professionally and privately. The result is a week full of ups and downs, drinking binges and brawls, as the characters meet during the festival. diastème is best known as an author and dramatist and has written his directing debut with the trendy filmmaker Christophe Honoré (‘Love songs’).

The film won both the audience award and a special mention at the film festival in Thessaloniki.

mo April 20 19:00 sa April 25 16:30

Grand Teatret dagmar Teatret

le bruiT deS genS auTour France 2008, 90 min.

French / english subtitles director: diastème script: Christophe Honoré, diastème Camera: Philippe Guilbert editor: Chantal Hymans Production: rezo Films Producer: Thomas Anargyros, edouard de vessine Cast: Bruno Todeschini, emma de Caunes, Lea drucker distr.: rezo Films International

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THe CoUnTess JULIe deLPY

The bloody story about the Hungarian countess Bathory might seem like a strange choice for the popular French actress, director and musician Julie delpy, who recently charmed her way to great success with ‘2 days in Paris’.

But there is something fascinating, universal and timeless about the attempts of the notorious countess to find eternal youth, even if it has long gone out of fashion to bathe in the blood of virgins. In delpy’s portrayal, Bathory is hard and cynical because this is what the era demands of her. she has power and money, and therefore becomes an attractive catch after her husband dies. But her cold façade melts away when she meets the young Istvan Thurzo (daniel Brühl). she throws herself head-over-heel into an affair with him, and this is later used against her. Istvan’s father, Count Thurzo (William Hurt), sends him away to get married. Bathory is devastated, convinced that it was the age difference that drove Istvan away. This sets off her bloody free fall into insanity. First she taps the blood of her chambermaids, before the entire vicinity of her castle is stripped of its virgins in her manic struggle against ageing. delpy has made an evocative period film with beautiful costumes, and she has even written the music to it herself.

sa April 18 Tu April 21

17:00 21:00

dagmar Teatret Palads

The counTeSS Germany, France 2008, 99 min. english, French / english subtitles director: Julie delpy script: Julie delpy Camera: martin ruhe editor: Andrew Bird, Julie delord Production: X Filme Intl., Celluloid dreams Producer: Andro steinborn Cast: Julie delpy, daniel Bruehl, William Hurt, Anamaria marinca, sebastian Blomberg, Charly Huebner, Anna maria muehe, Frederick Lau, Adriana Altaras, Andre Hennicke distr.: mis. Label

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PArIs 36

CHrIsToPHe BArrATIer

To follow up on his giant success ‘Chorists’, Christophe Barratier has decided to bring ‘moulin rouge’ back to Paris and to a more realistic setting. His charming retro-drama musical takes place in the city of all cities in the middle of the turbulent 1930s, when the sounds of harmonicas and the cries of left-wing activists filled the streets. Here, a group of people with very different backgrounds get together to reopen the local theatre, after it has fallen into the hands of a local gangster.

The likeable Pigoil (played by the veteran Gerard Jugnot from ‘Chorists’), who has been at the theatre for 35 years, becomes the uniting force of the project, because he has to have a job to be able to get his son back. But apart from that, it’s a delightfully motley crew that assembles round him, and each of them have their own reason to fight for the show’s return to the stage. nora Arnezeder is especially charming as the innocent young singer who becomes the theatre’s muse. Barratier’s beautifully designed film doesn’t try to outshine ‘Children of Paradise’, but instead makes use of the captivating music and the highly charming cast to create an atmospheric recreation of a lost time and genre.

We April 22 16:30 Fr April 24 21:00

Grand Teatret Palads

Faubourg 36 France 2008, 120 min.

French / english subtitles director: Christophe Barratier script: Christophe Barratier Camera: Tom stern editor: Yves deschamps music: Wagner sound: daniel sobrino Production: sony Pictures Classics, Pathe Producer: Jacques Perrin, nicolas mauvernay Cast: Gerard Jugnot, Clovis Cornillac, Kad merad, nora Arnezeder, Pierre richard, Bernard-Pierre donnadieu, maxence Perrin, Francois morel, elisabeth vitali distr.: Walt disney studios motion Pictures, denmark A/s

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THe JoY oF sInGInG ILAn dUrAn CoHen

Using good measures of genre-twisted unpredictability, the French director Ilan duran Cohen takes us on a teasing roller-coaster ride, whose baroque and mismatched components include intelligence agents, uranium secrets and singing lessons. eve is a singing teacher and tutors her students at her own home. one of them is Constance, who has recently been widowed by the brutal murder of her husband over his access to confidential information about uranium. now, the agents muriel and Philippe are encouraged to infiltrate eve’s singing lessons with Constance to find out if she is in possession of relevant information of her husband’s projects. eve’s pupils also include Anna (played by the beautiful Caroline ducey, who has played in many films

by Catherine Breillat), who might be working for the russians, and the promiscuous hustler Julien. It all might seem a bit intricate, but thanks to Cohen’s masterful ability of juggling with his narrative components, the film fits together perfectly. And with its soundtrack, that boldly includes traditional American folk music sung with a French accent, ‘The Joy of singing’ is an intellectually stimulating joy for all senses.

Th April 23 Fr April 24 su April 26

16:45 19:00 21:00

dagmar Teatret Husets Biograf Palads

le plaiSir de chanTer France 2008, 98 min.

French / english subtitles director: Ilan duran Cohen script: duran Cohen, Philippe Lasry, noemie Lvovsky Camera: Christophe Graillot editor: Fabrice rouaud music: Philippe Basque sound: Jean-Francois mabire Production: mille et Une Prods., Fugitive Prods Producer: Anne-Cécile Berthomeau, Farès Ladjimi & edouard mauriat Cast: marina Fois, Lorant deutsch, Jeanne Balibar, nathalie richard distr.: Pyramide International

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A LAKe

PHILIPPe GrAndrIeUX

Few directors can depict man’s repressed emotions as well as Frenchman Philippe Grandrieux. With just three films, which are best described as flickering cinematic nightmares, he has long joined the front ranks of europe’s most uncompromising directors, and he is often compared to both david Lynch and Béla Tarr. With ‘A Lake’, he returns to the style of his first film ‘sombre’, an experimental and spine-chilling film about a serial killer. set in a desolate winter landscape, the film is a mostly wordless and patience-testing story about the lumberman Alexis, who lives remotely with his blind mother, his brother and his sister, and about his encounter with a stranger, who enters the frozen wilderness bringing with her an avalanche of emotional consequences. Grandrieux wants his audience to feel the fear that accompanies an encounter with the unknown, and he uses the entire panoply of cinematic expression to achieve this. At the same time, he constructs a uniquely atmospheric universe, where emotions run bare and where fear is gradually mixed with desire - and from which one definitely does not walk away unaffected.

Fr April 17 su April 19 Fr April 24

14:00 12:15 21:45

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret Gloria

un lac France 2008, 87 min.

French / english subtitles director: Philippe Grandrieux script: Philippe Grandrieux Camera: Philippe Grandrieu editor: Françoise Tourmen sound: valérie deloof Production: mandrake Films Producer: Catherine Jacques Cast: dmitry Kubasov, natalie rehorova, Alexei solonchev, simona Hülsemann, vitaly Kishchenko, Arthur semay distr.: Films Boutique

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PUBLIC enemY no.1 JeAn-FrAnCoIs rICHeT

He loved women, weapons, banks and infamy - this could sound like an epitaph on a classic film gangster, but this is the true story about Jacques mesrine, who managed to be the most wanted man on two continents, before he died in 1979 in a shower of bullets and became a legend. mesrine was passionate about film and wrote his own biography, and it is this book that has now been adapted for the screen. The hard-hitting and ambitious epic in two parts has become a huge box-office success and won the French César for best director and best actor. It is also vincent Cassel’s fantastic performance that keeps one nailed to one’s seat for almost four hours.

The film is a fast-paced French version of ‘American Gangster’ laced with ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ and a shot of adrenaline. The film divides mesrine’s life into two parts: the time before he became wanted internationally, and his last, turbulent years, when he was either on the run from the police or in prison. one first meets him when he’s a young soldier with a soul that is scarred by his experiences in the war in Algeria, with which it’s not hard to be drawn into a criminal career. mesrine’s brutal behaviour quickly earns him respect, even from the veteran Guido (depardieu). His life takes a decisive turn when he meets Jeanne (deFrance) in 1966 - a woman who is almost as violent and fearless as himself. But they have to escape to Canada, where an attempted kidnap goes wrong and sends them both to prison.

su April 19 su April 19 Th April 23 Th April 23

14:15 16:30 19:00 21:00

dagmar (Part 1) dagmar (Part 2) Palads (Part 1) Palads (Part 2)

l’inSTincT de morT France 2008, 114 min.

French / danish subtitles director: Jean-Francois richet script: Abdel raouf dafri, JeanFrancois richet Camera: eric Catelan editor: Herve schneid music: marco Beltrami sound: Jean minondo Production: senator entertainment Producer: Thomas Langman Cast: vincent Cassel, Gerard depardieu, Cecile de France, roy dupuis, distr.: nordisk Film

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sUmmer HoUrs oLIvIer AssAYAs

The setting could not be more idyllic. It’s high summer, the sun is blazing over the French countryside and three siblings in their 40s arrive with their families at a beautiful old country house to celebrate their mother’s 75th birthday. They rarely get together, as all of them are busy looking after their careers. Adrienne (Binoche) is a successful designer in new York, Frédéric (Berling) is an economist and teaches in Paris, while Jérémie (renier) is a businessman who is about to move to China. The house evokes many memories in the three siblings, but they don’t pay much attention to their mother’s attempts at trying to get them to discuss what should happen with the house and its precious collection of paintings. But that summer’s family reunion is the mother’s last, and her children have to make up their minds about what they should do with their shared past. With its authentic and empathic performances, this is largely an ensemble film, but after the mother’s death, Frederic is left with shouldering many of the burdens, as he ends with most of the responsibility and therefore feels the brunt of the generational succession more than the others. The tranquil, mature and thought-provoking film about morals, conscience and family ties could have been made by eric rohmer, but instead it is oliver Assayas, who hereby demonstrates his wide range of abilities.

su April 19 Tu April 21

21:45 16:30

Gloria Grand Teatret

l’heure d’ÉTÉ France 2008, 102 min.

French / danish subtitles director: olivier Assayas script: olivier Assayas.

Camera: eric Gautier editor: Luc Barnier; Production: mK2 diffusion Producer: marin Karmitz, nathanael Karmitz Cast: Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, edith scob distr.: Camera Film

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sTeLLA

sYLvIe verHeYde

stella is not like the other girls in school. Being an 11-year-old single child of young, freakish parents, her world is defined by grown-up people and constant partying. The parents manage a bar in Paris, where the local working class hangs out, and stella grows up among these miserable characters and learns about the larger and smaller questions in life, among other things from the somewhat older Alain Bernard (Guillaume depardieu). despite stella’s dislike of children her age, she would ultimately just like to have a friend, and she ends up finding one in Gladys, a girl who introduces her to Balzac and duras and a totally different world outside the smoke-filled atmosphere of the bar - where she can’t find any support from her mother, who is constantly crying, and her father, who likes drinking his ricard. set in Paris anno 1977 with an atmospheric soundtrack from that era, ‘stella’ is consistently told from the girl’s point of view with her dry, slightly philosophical voice over commentary. The film portrays life between dolls and rock music, between teddy-bears and the first period. stella is wonderfully played by Leora Barbara, who with a mixture of dawning adolescence and childlike openness throws herself into her first big love, in a film of ‘show me Love’ proportions.

sa April 18 21:00 We April 22 16:30 mo April 27 17:00

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket Grand Teatret

STella France 2008, 103 min.

French / english subtitles director: sylvie verheyde script: sylvie verheyde Camera: nicolas Gaurin editor: Christel dewynter music: nous deux Production: Les Films du veyrier Producer: Bruno Berthemy Cast: Leora Barbara, Karole rocher, Benjamin Biolay, melissa rodrigues distr.: Films distribution

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neueS deuTScheS kino everyone else Weltstadt without you I’m nothing

CPH:PIX is feeling the pulse of denmark’s great neighbour to the south and is celebrating new German film with a German day at dagmar on Wednesday, 22 April. Here, three young directors will present their very different takes on what’s stirring the collective consciousness in Germany in 2009.

The event will be attended by Florian eichinger, who will introduce the european premiere of his latest film ‘Without You I Am nothing’, which is taking part in this year’s competition programme (and which you can read more about under ‘new Talent Grand Pix’).

The other films shown on the German day are the shattering debut ‘Weltstadt’ and the Berlin silver Bear winner ‘everyone else’. Prior to the latter film’s screening, we will serve Bretzels and beer.

In addition to these three films, we are also showing the German films ‘The Anarchist’s Wife’, ‘Tour excess’, ‘The Baader meinhof Complex’ and ‘Berlin Calling’, which includes a real Berlin club party (see LIve).

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everYone eLse mAren Ade

This German tour de force of a young couple’s misguided ways towards a potentially happy relationship could easily have been called ‘scenes from a tested relationship’. The young director maren Ade comes mercilessly close to the most intimate ritual backwaters of relationships in her story about Gitti and Chris, a young couple who discover quite a few darker sides of each other during their first holiday together. especially the meeting with Chris’s self-proclaimed successful colleague and his girlfriend, who is pregnant with their first, highly idealised child, gives rise to some unexpected tension. Gitti, who is more childishly playful than responsibly grown-up, suddenly makes Chris embarrassed and irritated, and in her attempt to adjust to Chris, Gitti’s otherwise so bubbly character starts to pale. In ‘everyone else’, Ade elegantly lets the couple be the protagonist as a mismatched unit, and she depicts the dynamics between the two with such ruthless precision that one both sympathises with and distances oneself from the couple, which seems all too familiar. ‘everyone else’ took part in the main competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and deservedly won the silver Bear.

We April 22 21:00 su April 26 21:45

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

alle anderen Germany 2009, 119 min.

German / english subtitles director: maren Ade script: maren Ade Camera: Bernhard Keller editor: Heike Parplies Production: Komplizen Film, sWr suedwestrundfunk, Wdr Westdeutscher rundfunk, Arte Producer: Janine Jackowski dirk engelhardt maren Ade Cast: Birgit minichmayr, Lars eidinger, Hans Jochen Wagner, nicole marischka distr.: Bavaria Film

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WeLTsTAdT CHrIsTIAn KLAndT

‘Weltstadt’ is likely to put the latest murders of innocent people in european provincial towns into perspective.

The true story behind the film takes place in the director’s home town in former east Germany, and his obvious intention is to get to the bottom of an incident, where two teenage boys beat a homeless man to death. 24 hours before the fateful event, we meet Karsten and Till, one of them an unemployed drug-abuser who’s in an open war with his mother, who lives in the same apartment block, the other one a recently fired teacher who is eager to drink away his sorrows. even Till’s girlfriend steffi is bogged down by restlessness and her frustration about her brain-dead job at a solarium.

The surrounding world is steeped in white trash and provincial mediocrity, with the city centre’s freshly renovated façades, and the youngsters feel totally cut off from this world. Boredom, a longing to get away and an uncertain future make them aggressive, and the boys cut each other to be able to even feel something.

In ‘Weltstadt’, like in the real world, there is a razorthin line between disillusionment, social brutality and pure terror. With its raw naturalism, cool imagery and brutal subject matter, Klandt’s feature debut evokes associations to Gus van sant’s ‘elephant’, which also describes what precedes an act of violence.

We April 22 16:30 Th April 23 16:30

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

WelTSTadT - ciTy oF The World Germany 2008, 104 min.

German / english subtitles director: Christian Klandt script: Christian Klandt Camera: rené Gorski editor: Joerg schreyer sound: marko Weichler Production: HFF-Potsdam, arte Television Germany/France Producer: martin Lischke Cast: Florian Bartholomäi, Gerdy Zint, Karoline schuch distr.: Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (HFF) “Konrad Wolf”

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THe AnArCHIsT’s WIFe mArIe noeLLe, PeTer seHr

Told from the retrospective view of the grownup daughter, ‘The Anarchist’s Wife’ is a bitter-sweet love story between an idealist spanish activist and his beautiful, glamorous wife, who are forced to separate by his convictions in the heated political climate between the spanish civil war and the second World War. Justo is forced to go underground and be separated from his two children, while his young wife manuela does all she can to hold on to as much of their old life as possible in a world, which is crumbling underneath her bit by bit.

When she tries to be reunited with her husband after the war, she again finds that she takes second place.

The director-couple Peter sehr and marie noelle mix archive footage into the fictional account and thereby give the fictional story a documentary directeness, endowing the story about Justo and manuela’s loyal but costly relationship with a degree of almost factual legitimacy.

Fr April 17 18:30 We April 22 14:15

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

die Frau deS anarchiSTen Germany, Spain, France 2008, 112 min.

French, spanish / english subtitles director: marie noelle, Peter sehr script: marie noelle, ray Loriga Camera: Jean-François robin editor: Luis de la madrid Production: P’Artisan Filmproduktion GmbH Producer: eduardo Carneros, norbert Llaras Cast: maria valverde, Juan Botto, Ivana Baquero distr.: Bavaria Film

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AnoTHer mAn LIoneL BAIer

Upon arrival in the sleepy swiss village Joux valley together with his sweet, simple school teacher girlfriend, the historian François gets a job at the local newspaper, where he covers everything from pick-pocketing to film reviews. But François knows nothing about films, and rather than admitting it, he resorts to plagiarising reviews from an extremely highbrowed magazine. All his copied reviews are so negative that he is denied access to the local cinema and therefore has to go to Lausanne to see the films. Here, he meets the hardcore elite of film critics and the stunningly beautiful, sadistically sharp and sexually provocative rosa (natacha Koutchoumov), who takes the fraudster under her wings. The two of them start a relationship, which, for François, is oppressively and humiliatingly erotic, and which never leaves any doubt about who is - and who is not - wearing the pants. director Lionel Baier, who was at natFilm in 2007 with ‘stealth’, sends a sophisticated nod to both the French new wave and to Patricia Highsmith’s Tom ripley with his black-and-white psycho-intellectual drama, and employs a taut style and psychological conviction to create a captivating story of a ‘nobody’.

sa April 18 21:00 mo April 20 18:00 Tu April 21 16:30

vester vov vov Gloria dagmar Teatret

un auTre homme Schwitzerland 2008, 89 min.

French / english subtitles director: Lionel Baier script: Lionel Baier Camera: Lionel Baier editor: Pauline Gaillard music: Igor stravinsky, Karol szymanowski sound: raphael sohier Production: sAGA Prods.

Producer: robert Boner Cast: robin Harsch, natacha Koutchoumov, elodie Weber, Bulle ogier distr.: Wide management

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revAnCHe GÖTZ sPIeLmAnn

‘revanche’ was nominated this year for an oscar for best foreign-language film, but probably didn’t have a real chance of winning, as this kind of crass european gutter realism is not usually the Americans’ cup of tea.

But it is ours! The Ukrainian prostitute Tamara and the brothel’s errand boy Alex are keeping their stormy relationship secret, as employees are not permitted to be romantically involved. In order to escape, they plan a bank robbery in Alex’ childhood village. The robbery doesn’t work out as planned, and things turn worse when the policeman robert tracks down the couple, which is hiding in Alex’ grandfather’s house. It would be a shame to reveal any more. ‘revanche’ is both a thriller and a complex psychological drama, which tells a complex story about grief, loss, love and revenge with a razorsharp clarity and heartfelt authenticity. one is taken right into the lives of the desperate characters, among other things thanks to the actors preparing themselves for the demanding parts by going undercover at and around the brothels of vienna.

sa April 25 su April 26

21:30 21:30

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

revanche Austria 2008, 117 min.

German, Ukrainian / english subtitles director: Götz spielmann script: Götz spielmann Camera: martin Gschlacht editor: Karina ressler Production: Prisma Film, spielmannfilm Producer: mathias Forberg, Heinz stussak, Goetz spielmann Cast: Johannes Krisch, Ursula strauss, Andreas Lust distr.: Austrian Film Commision

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8399

ToUr eXCess deTLeF BoTHe

A scheduled holiday to the south of France in the father’s expensive Porsche takes a somewhat unexpected turn for the couple Julie and marcel. After an intense argument, Julie gets thrown out of the car, and when the two overgrown teenagers, who both have messed up emotional lives and a raging battle with their parents at home, reunite at her mother’s summer house, they do so with new skeletons in the closet. At the same time, we follow the taciturn financier Heinrich, who has escaped for the weekend from his wife to enjoy a few days in the name of self-fulfilment with his electric guitar, oil painting and a good old-fashioned affair - but who suddenly ends up being the protagonist of a failed effort of activists. detlef Bothe’s well-acted ensemble thriller offers loud arguments, cocaine and one night stands, while showing that the Germans still know how to put together a sterling psychological drama. With his elegant merging of the two different stories, Bothe cuts to the bone of the family as a unit - which has been burnt at the stake, consumed hungrily and resurrected out of pure necessity for the occasion.

sa April 18 Tu April 21

12:15 16:30

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

neben der Spur Germany 2008, 90 min.

German / english subtitles director: detlef Bothe script: detlef Bothe Camera: detlef Bothe editor: Luis de maia Production: B-Filme Producer: detlef Bothe, Yvonne von mach Cast: detlef Bothe, Pierre Kiwitt, oliver Korittke distr.: media Luna entertainment

78

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8184

AUTUmn oZCAn ALPer

To compare ozcan Alper’s debut with Kim Ki-duk’s ‘spring, summer, Autumn, Winter... and spring’ is quite a compliment, but even if this is a more intensely personal film, nature takes centre stage in much the same way. And in a film without much dialogue it is nature that gives the plot its momentum. After having spent 10 years in prison for demonstrating against the government, Yusuf is wrecked and his lungs are ruined.

He has nowhere to go but home to his old mother in a small country village high up in the mountains of northern Turkey, close to the Georgian border and the Black sea. He half-heartedly tries to settle down, but his health and his dark frame of mind don’t allow him to get going with life again. He meets the prostitute eka, and a kind of relationship develops between them, but instead of enlivening each other, they support each other in their despondency. Apart from their personal tragedies there is also a hint of bitter commentary on the socialist dream, which is responsible for their situation. ozcan Alper’s film is a beautiful, sad and tremendously atmospheric tribute to the big russian tragedies, and as in most of these, there is not much hope for winter giving way to a lush spring.

sa April 18 19:00 mo April 20 14:00

Posthus Teatret dagmar Teatret

Sonbahar Turkey, Germany 2008, 106 min.

Turkish, Georgian / english subtitles director: ozcan Alper script: Özcan Alper Camera: Feza Caldiran editor: Thomas Balkenhol Production: Kuzey Film Productions Producer: F. sercan Akar Cast: onur saylak, megi Koboladze, r. Gulefer Yenigul, serkan Keskin, nino Lejava distr.: media Luna entertainment

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79

8562

WronG rosArY mAHmUT FAZIL CosKUn

The fact that two of this year’s best Turkish films were directed by first-time feature directors is a promising sign for an industry that has had difficulties breaking through in the international market. Like ozcan Alper’s ‘Autumn’, mahmut Fazil Coskun’s ‘Wrong rosary’ has garnered both critical acclaim and international awards, most recently in rotterdam. The film takes place in the windy streets of Istanbul, among small dusty bookshops and atmospheric cafés, where a subtle story of impossible love unfolds between a young muezzin and a Christian woman, who has grown up among nuns. musa (nadir saribacak) arrives from Ankara to take up his first job as muezzin and has to call to prayer from a small local mosque. He is inexperienced and shy, but quickly takes interest in Clara (Gorkem Yeltan), who is looking after a sick elderly woman in the apartment next to his. one day, musa follows her to a local church, where he meets the elderly book seller Yakup (ersan Uysal), whom he befriends. slowly, Clara also starts noticing musa’s awkward attempts at being noticed. The film has a wonderfully played-down humour and is beautifully shot, but mahmut Fazil Coskun navigates around all the melodramatic pitfalls and lets his story unfold at its own pace.

Fr April 17 19:00 mo April 20 14:30

Husets Biograf dagmar Teatret

uzak ihTimal Turkey 2008, 90 min.

Turkish / english subtitles director: mahmut Fazil Coskun script: Tarik Tufan, Gorkem Yeltan Camera: refik Cakar editor: Cicek Kahraman music: rahman Altin Production: Hokusfokus Film Producer: Tulin Cetinkol soyarslan Cast: nadir saribacak, Gorkem Yeltan, ersan Uysal distr.: Hokus Fokus

80

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8252

AWAKInG From A dreAm FreddY mAs FrAnQUeZA

At the tender age of 7, marcel has the possibly most traumatic experience, a child can have. His mother abandons him in favour of another life, and she leaves him without a farewell with his grandfather, the moody Pascual, who runs a small hardware shop in an old Catalan village. Initially marcel and Pascual find it difficult to communicate. The boy is scared of the unknown environment - the creaking old house - and of the gloomy man, who first became stranded on his own, when his wife died, and then again, when his daughter ran away from home at a young age. Both of them are scared of committing themselves for fear of being abandoned again, but they slowly find each other, despite the knowledge that even their paths will part.

When this happens, marcel is 20 years old, in love and full of hope for the future. But his patience and love for his grandfather are put to the test again, when Pascual is afflicted by Alzheimers, and instantly their roles are reversed. “A debut that viewers are unlikely to ever forget,” is what variety wrote about Freddy mas Franqueza’s warm and touching film, which is said to be based on the director’s own childhood.

sa April 18 16:30 Tu April 21 19:00 We April 22 18:45

dagmar Teatret Posthus Teatret dagmar Teatret

amanecer de un SueÑo Spain, Poland 2008, 100 min. spanish / english subtitles director: Freddy mas Franqueza script: Freddy mas Franqueza Camera: Carles Gusi editor: José manuel Jiménez music: José manuel Jiménez Production: Terra La vista Follow me Film Production Producer: Claudia Peris vicente monsonis Kama Janczyk Cast: Hector Alterio, Alberto Ferreiro, monica Lopez distr.: Urban Films

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81

8215

CAmIno JAvIer Fesser

In February, ‘Camino’ walked away with no less than six Goyas, the spanish equivalent to the oscars - among other things for best film, best director and best story.

This is all the more remarkable if one sees what a weird and wild film it is. The story is based on a spanish tabloid story about a girl, who died in what the controversial Catholic organisation opus dei called an exemplary way.

The story begins at her hospital deathbed and winds back six months to the religiously chastised but happy Camino, who falls in love with a schoolboy the same age, while discovering at almost the same time that the backaches that are troubling her are more serious than they appear. Check-ups lead to operations that leave Camino paralysed in hospital, where her disturbingly authoritarian mother urges her to devote her suffering to Christ. Javier Fesser, who started his career directing ‘mortadelo & Filemon’, holds no bars in this film while at the same time balancing the emotional with the ironic in a way that leaves us somewhat uncertain about if he’s being truthful or simply taking the piss. Like ‘Let the right one In’, ‘Camino’ breaks all norms and genre conventions, but in its entirely own way that includes hyperrealism, singing violins, animated sequences and bitter sarcasm.

Tu April 21 Th April 23 su April 26

18:45 16:15 17:30

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret empire Bio

camino Spain 2008, 143 min. spanish / english subtitles director: Javier Fesser script: Javier Fesser Camera: Alex Catalan editor: Javier Fesser Production: Peliculas Pendelton, mediapro Producer: Luis manso, Jaume roures Cast: nerea Camacho, Carme elias, mariano venancio distr.: Wild Bunch

82

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8324

BooGIe rAdU mUnTeAn

Bogdan is a 30-something furniture salesman. during a few days’ holidays by the Black sea with his newly established family, he runs into two of his old friends, who still live the same free and wanton lives as when they were teenagers. despite Bogdan’s pregnant wife’s sulking, they decide to go out and let their hair down drinking beers, smoking cigarettes, reminiscing about the past and flirting randomly. The night ends in a cheap hotel room in the company of a prostitute and several empty bottles, and the question of what’s more important: freedom or the responsibility of grown-up life. The new wave of romanian film still has lots of new things to offer, and after a number of films about life under Ceaucescu, the romanians have started portraying the present. The style is still lively and accurately observational, and radu muntean (‘The Paper Will Be Blue’) takes an almost documentary approach with the intimacy of his camera work. John Cassavetes didn’t live in vain, if anyone was in doubt about that, but ‘Boogie’ is also incredibly funny and captivating with its long, uncut dialogue sequences, which come together in a bitter-sweet recognition of the transience of youth and the need to live up to one’s age.

mo April 20 21:15 Tu April 21 14:00 We April 22 14:00

Posthus Teatret dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

boogie Romania 2008, 102 min. romanian / english subtitles director: radu muntean script: Alex Baciu, muntean, razvan radulescu Camera: Tudor Lucaciu editor: Alexandru radu music: electric Brother Production: multimedia est, Antena 1 Producer: dragos vilcu Cast: dragos Bucur, Anamaria marinca, mimi Branescu distr.: e1 entertainment

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8415

deLTA

KornÉL mUndrUCZÓ

nobody can expect to end up in a good mood after seeing ‘delta’, but if one is looking for a cinematic experience that will leave an indelible mark, one can’t avoid it. A ragged and untidy young man returns to his country town, where he finds his sister, mother and her husband working at a run-down pub. The young man (all characters are nameless) decides to take over his father’s dilapidated business and building project, and he is soon accompanied by his sister. They start building the house, sweating in the silence. The two of them start a relationship, but the hard work they put into finding their own personal paradise is doomed to fail, when they are shunned by the family and local society. sending a clear nod to his fellow Hungarian Béla Tarr and Terence malick’s ‘days of Heaven’, Kornél mundruczó (‘Johanna’) demonstrates clearly with this almost Greek tragedy that he has found his own, if somewhat taciturn, voice. The film is a beautiful and atmospheric visual meditation over nature that contains countless thought-provoking symbols - above all the ever-present tortoise, which the sister thinks is a reincarnation of their father.

Th April 23 sa April 25

14:00 21:30

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

delTa Hungary 2008, 92 min.

Hungarian / english subtitles director: Kornél mundruczó script: Yvette Biro, Kornél mundruczó Camera: matyas erdely editor: david Jancso Production: Proton Cinema, Filmpartners (Hungary)/essential Filmproduktion Producer: viktoria Petranyi, Philippe Bober Cast: Felix Lajko, orsi Toth, Lili monori, sandor Gaspar distr.: The Coproduction office

84

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8360

THe InvesTIGATor ATTILA GIGor

This is a good plot for a thriller: 37-year-old Tibor is a large hulk of a skinhead, who doesn’t communicate very much and feels quite at home among the dead at the hospital’s autopsy ward, where he works. one day, he is visited by a one-eyed man, who calls himself Cyclops and offers Tibor a large bag of money if he kills a man.

It’s exactly the money Tibor needs to be able to pay for his mother, who is ill with cancer, to be operated in sweden, so he grabs the opportunity and kills the man - which turns out to be the greatest mistake of his life.

The next day, he gets a secret letter, where the dead man claims to be Tibor’s unknown half-brother, and our simple protagonist is already knee-deep in a mysterious affair full of questions and duplicity. ‘The Investigator’ is not so much a whodunnit as a whohashedunnitto. The first-time feature director Attila Gigor has his tongue squarely in his cheek and makes use of wonderfully absurd digressions right from the opening sequence, where one grotesque death after another bring us in the hands of Tibor, until the wild finale, where nothing is any longer what it seems.

Fr April 17 sa April 18 su April 19

21:00 19:00 21:00

dagmar Teatret vester vov vov Husets Biograf

a nyomozÓ Hungary 2008, 110 min.

Hungarian / english subtitles director: Attila Gigor script: Attila Gigor Camera: mate Herbai Production: KmH Film Producer: Ferenc Pusztai Cast: Zsolt Anger, Judit rezes, sandor Terhes, Ildiko Toth distr.: Trustnordisk

CPH:PIX 2009

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85

8217

LAndsCAPe no. 2 vInKo moderndorFer

eastern european thrillers are a growing breed, and if there is as much punch in them as in the slovenian ‘Landscape no. 2’, then please continue producing them!

The title alludes to a painting: the petty thief sergej and his older friend Polde have discovered the great stunt of breaking in the homes of retired officers from the communist era. For they contain lots of valuable possessions which they in their time ‘confiscated’, and they can’t exactly report them as being stolen. But when sergej walks away with some interesting documents from a general’s home, he ends up having been a bit too light-fingered. The documents turn out to be a list of executioners from the end of the second World War, and they can soil the reputations of too many people. so the old general, who hasn’t quite forgotten his old job, hires the former secret police’s pest controllers, who soon turn everyone around sergej into mincemeat.

‘Landscape’ is a well thought-out cat-and-mouse chase story full of raw violence, no-nonsense excitement, black humour and just the amount of distortion that’s needed to lift the story out of realism.

sa April 18 14:15 su April 19 23:00 mo April 20 16:15

dagmar Teatret vester vov vov dagmar Teatret

landScape no. 2 Slovenia, Serbia 2008, 90 min. slovenian, serbian / english subtitles director: vinko moderndorfer script: vinko moderndorfer Camera: dusan Joksimovic editor: Andrija Zafranovic Production: Forum Ljubljana Producer: eva rohrman Cast: marko mandic, slobodan Custic, Barbara Cerar, maja martina merljak, Janez Hocevar, Jaka Lah, Janez skof distr.: Wide management

86

eUroPeAn voICes

CPH:PIX 2009

8153

morPHIA

ALeKseI BALABAnov

nobody can beat the russians when it comes to making spectacular tragedies, and Alexei Balabanov’s adaptation of michail Bulgakov’s autobiography fits squarely into that niche. In the year of the revolution, 1917, the young doctor Polyakov (Leonid Bichevin) comes to a small village in the countryside, where he’s set to take over the local practice. He is a skilful surgeon, but still somewhat naive, so he is put to the test by a countless number of patients. After an allergic reaction, he gets the beautiful nurse Anna (Ingeborga dapkunaite) to give him a shot of morphine, and this becomes the beginning of a rapid downward spiral into total addiction. The young doctor’s decline mirrors the world surrounding him, as the shock waves of the revolution can be felt all the way out in the countryside. The screenplay, which was written by sergei Bodrov Jr. before his tragic death, contains an incisive political message, but Balabanov’s film is also an extraordinary aesthetic experience. masterpieces such as ‘once Upon A Time in America’ and ‘Barry Lyndon’ are obvious sources of visual inspiration, but Balabanov adds his own memorable chapter to classical russian tragedy, with all that goes with it in terms of pitiful songs, sex and disillusionment.

Fr April 17 su April 19

19:00 19:15

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

morFiy Russia 2009, 110 min. russian / english subtitles director: Aleksei Balabanov script: sergei Bodrov Jr. Camera: Alexander simonov editor: Tatiyana Kuzmichyova Production: CTB Film Co. Producer: sergei selyanov Cast: Leonid Bichevin, Ingeborga dapkunaite, Andrei Panin, svetlana Pismichenko, Katarina radivojevic, Irina rakshina, sergei Garmash, Alexander mosin, Yuri Gertzman, Yulia dainega, Aleksey Poluyan distr.: Intercinema Agency

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8113

sHULTes

BAKUr BAKUrAdZe

russian films are currently experiencing something of a renaissance, with stories that are longing to be told, and films that glow with the kind of inner necessity that is otherwise hard to find. The mysterious and thoroughly minimalist ‘shultes’ is no exception. Lesha shultes lives an inconspicuous life, living with his mother on the outskirts of moscow, and makes a living as a mechanic - and as a professional pickpocket. He also makes a point of writing everything down: names, places, dates. shultes holds a secret, which we only get to guess at the very end of the film. The first-time director Bakur Bakuradze follows his disturbing protagonist with an observational and razor-sharp eye, which reminds one of French masters such as robert Bresson, and especially his classic ‘Pickpocket’. everything is carefully chosen, but as a spectator one is left on one’s own when it comes to trying to read Gela Chitava’s anonymous poker face (Chitava was originally hired as a chauffeur for the project, and was only cast after the filming had begun!). It’s rare that a film, in which so little happens, manages to keep the tension so well. ‘shultes’ is not just an important testament to the renewed artistic will in russian filmmaking, it is also a good introduction to the talented Bakuradze, whom one will want to keep an eye on in the future...

Fr April 17 Th April 23

14:00 18:45

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

ShulTeS Russia 2008, 103 min. russian / english subtitles director: Bakur Bakuradze script: Bakur Bakuradze Camera: nikolay vavilov, marina Gornostaeva editor: serik Beyseuov sound: Arseni Troitski Production: CTB Film Company Producer: sergey selianov, Julia mishkinene Cast: Gela Chitava, ruslan Grebenkin, Lubov Firsova, Cecile Plege distr.: Intercinema Agency

88

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8164

TerrA novA ALeXAnder meLnIK

‘escape from new York’ meets ‘Battle royal’ - in the Gulag! There is no more to say than this big budget russian sci-Fi action bonanza became an immediate hit.

The year is 2013, the death penalty has been abolished and prisons everywhere are overcrowded. When Ivan Zhilin (Konstantin Lavronenko) is convicted of the murder of 22 people, he is given the choice of a life sentence or being deported to the remote Arctic island Terra nova together with 200 other prisoners and very little supplies. The control of Terra nova is quickly assumed by the enormous monkey (Pavel sborschikov) and his brainless friends, who systematically go about killing and eating their fellow captives after the supplies have started rotting. Ivan and his companion nikolai (Andrei Feskov) manage to escape the madness and find a way off the island, which unfortunately means that they have to return to the lion’s den. The film is russian, raw and violent, and well choreographed by the feature film novice Alexander melnik, who manages to add both existentialist elements and political jabs to this testosterone frenzy.

Fr April 17 18:30 sa April 18 19:00 We April 22 21:00

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket Palads

novaya zemlya Russia 2008, 135 min. russian / english subtitles director: Alexander melnik script: Arif Aliev Camera: Ilya dyomin editor: oleg rayevsky Production: Center Andreevsky Flag Production Producer: Anton melnik Cast: Konstantin Lavronenko, marat Basharov, Ingeborga dapkunaite distr.: Andreevsky Film Company

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89

8208

THe ToUr GorAn mArKovIC

The war in the Balkans is far from forgotten and is still fertile soil for good drama. The subject matter, however, has become more universal over the years, of which this wonderfully grotesque comedy is a shining example. For one doesn’t need to know much about the complicated conflict, to appreciate this film. A theatre company from Belgrade is on tour in Bosnia, as the war is at its zenith in 1993. It consists of a motley crew, who all have in common that they spend more time gazing at their own navels and at their playing cards than taking interest in what’s happening around them.

Consequently they have a rude awakening when they arrive in the war zone, where their hopeless manager has booked a handful of, mildly put, dubious performances.

Their choice of material (Feydeau) is a stark contrast to both their audiences and their stages, and they have soon become totally lost and are wandering around on their own in the camps of serbs, Croats and muslims.

The intelligent point being, of course, that they have a foot in each camp and that all the sides of the conflict share the same cultural references. ‘The Tour’ is an elegant balancing act between tragedy and comedy, and the actors deliver terrific performances in Goran markovic’s best film to date, and one of the best ones about the conflict overall.

sa April 18 21:00 su April 19 21:15 mo April 20 14:00

Husets Biograf Posthus Teatret dagmar Teatret

Turneja Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia 2008, 108 min. serbocroatic / english subtitles director: Goran markovic script: Goran markovic Camera: radoslav vladic editor: snezana Ivanovic music: Zoran simjanovic sound: Branko neskov Production: Testament Films Producer: svetozar Cvetkovic, Jasmin durakovic, Tihomir stanic Cast: Tihomir stanic, Jelena djokic, dragan nikolic, mira Furlan distr.: Testament films d.o.o.

90

eUroPeAn voICes

CPH:PIX 2009

8173

WILd FIeLd

mIKHAIL KALAToZIsHvILI

If American film has its westerns, russian films has its “easterns”. ‘Wild Field’ combines the classic virtues of both genres in a basic and unsentimental drama about human nature in the desolate and endless steppes, and at the same time cements both the depth and the breadth of the new wave of russian film. The story takes place in the present, but is timeless in its story about the young doctor mitya, who leads a simple life in a hut in the Kazakh steppe, where he serves the few local farmers, who frequently fight against the lawless cattle thieves from the mountains. The laconic mitya’s story unfolds at a leisurely pace, while a mysterious stranger observes him from a distance and small, ill-fated signs of an almost biblical nature discreetly build up to the finale. Like sergio Leone, the experienced director mikhail Kalatozishvili makes use of the enormous expanses of the landscape, turning it into an almost mythological scenery, and just as his role model, he gives the colourful gallery of personalities an undercurrent of coarse-grained humour. Like a russian relative to ‘There Will Be Blood’, ‘Wild Field’ is epic in its dimensions, but closely personal in its style.

Fr April 17 19:00 mo April 20 19:00

vester vov vov dagmar Teatret

dikoye polye Russia 2008, 104 min. russian / english subtitles director: mikhail Kalatozishvili script: Pyotr Lutsik, Aleksei samoryadov Camera: Pyotr dukhovskoy Production: studio Barmalei Producer: Andrei Bondarenko, mikheil Kalatozishvili Cast: oleg dolin, roman madyanov, Yuri stepanov, Aleksandr Korshunov distr.: Intercinema Agency

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes

91

8434

CoUnTrY WeddInG vALdÍs ÓsKArsdÓTTIr

It might well be that Iceland has been for sale on eBay, but when a country can churn out such well-made comedies as valdis Óskarsdóttir’s ‘Country Wedding’, there must be some hope left. Ingibjorg is set to marry Bradi, but already at the dawn of their wedding day it’s obvious that things won’t work out as planned.

Ingibjorg herself is scolded by her mother for being late. What’s more, the mother is not terribly happy at the thought of seeing her ex-husband on her daughter’s big day. The groom Bardi tries desperately to get all guests on board the rented buses that will take them to the remote chapel, while he also tries to find out where his unresponsive best man is. Ingibjorg’s secretive friend Lara has not felt it necessary to inform her that she’s bringing along both her date and her spacey grandmother, while her long-lost cousin, the gregarious Brynhildur turns up with his boyfriend, and the grumpy vicar (Ingvar e. sigurdsson from Baltasar Kormákur’s ‘Jar City’) is more interested in watching football on Tv than conducting the ceremony. Óskarsdóttir has worked as an editor for directors such as michel Gondry and Lars von Trier, and this is perhaps why she has such an excellent sense of storytelling, giving us a tale that challenges our prejudices about how smoothly the course of true love runs.

Fr April 17 21:00 mo April 20 21:15 sa April 25 19:00

Husets Biograf dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

SveiTabrÚdkaup Iceland 2008, 99 min.

Icelandic / english subtitles director: valdís Óskarsdóttir script: valdís Óskarsdóttir and cast Camera: Anthony dod mantle editor: valdís Óskarsdóttir Production: sveitabrudkaup ehf.

Producer: davíd Óskar Ólafsson, Gudrún edda Thórhannesdóttir, Árni Filippusson, Hreinn Beck Cast: Ágústa eva erlendsdóttir, Árni Pétur Gudjónsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, erlendur eiriksson, Gísli Örn Gardarsson distr.: Icelandic Film Centre

92

eUroPeAn voICes

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8400

THe FIrsT dAY oF WInTer mIrKo LoCATeLLI

For the shy valerio, life is apparently something lived by the others in his class. The introverted loner therefore spends the largest part of his days with only himself as company - when he isn’t being bullied in the gym or has to fight in other ways with the steady stream of humiliation that reminds him daily of the most important rule of teenage life: you’re either popular, or you’re nothing. In his irreversible solitude he spies on the others in the class, and when he one day comes across two of the popular macho boys in a hot embrace in the shower after a Pe lesson, he has a hold on the secret lovers, who to valerio’s great fortune in no way want to be forced out of the closet. But trying to seize his only way out of his misery, he takes things much further than intended, and suddenly finds himself with a new problem on his hands. The question of guilt and sexuality is touched on elegantly and with psychological ambiguity, which in many ways reminds one of Gus van sant’s ‘elephant’.

At the same time, the taciturn, toned-down realism of mirko Locattelli’s engaging drama becomes a cinematic demonstration that the biggest stories are not always necessarily the most noisy ones.

sa April 18 su April 19

21:15 19:00

Posthus Teatret dagmar Teatret

il primo giorno d’inverno Italy 2008, 88 min.

Italian / english subtitles director: mirko Locatelli script: mirko Locatelli, Giuditta Tarantelli Camera: Ugo Carlevaro editor: mirko Locatelli sound: Brigitta Pasquadibisceglie Production: officina Film Producer: Giuditta Tarantelli Cast: mattia de Gasperis, michela Cova, Andrea semeghini, Alberto Gerundo distr.: officina Film

CPH:PIX 2009

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93

8123

THe resT oF THe nIGHT FrAnCesCo mUnZI

There are many exciting things going on in Italian cinema at present, and it isn’t only established filmmakers such as matteo Garrone (‘Gomorra’) and Paolo sorrentino (‘Il divo’), who are pushing things forward. With his second feature, Francesco munzi confirms that he is one of the country’s most promising new filmmakers, and his multifaceted thriller is highly relevant in its focus on Italy’s new immigrant working class. When silvana, a neurotic wife with a wealthy background, fires her romanian maid, she unknowingly sets off a chain reaction, which ends with disastrous consequences for her family. The laid-off maid maria is forced to move in with her petty criminal ex-boyfriend Ionut and his insecure and jealous younger brother, who lives illegally in the slums of Turin. We follow the two worlds simultaneously with the story of Ionut’s criminal partner, the borderline psychotic marco. He unsuccessfully tries to get his addiction under control and to be reunited with his son. There are not many bright spots in this world, but munzi, who previously made documentaries, has a detailed knowledge of the flip side of society, and this authenticity runs through the entire film and makes it a strong document of europe in the year 2008.

mo April 20 19:00 We April 22 14:30 su April 26 19:00

Posthus Teatret dagmar Teatret Husets Biograf

il reSTo della noTTe Italy 2008, 101 min.

Italian, romanian / english subtitles director: Francesco munzi script: Francesco munzi Camera: vladan radovic editor: massimo Fiocchi music: Giuliano Taviani sound: stefano Campus Production: Biancafilm Producer: donatella Botti Cast: sandra Ceccarelli, Aurelien recoing, stefano Cassetti, Laura vasiliu, Constantin Lupescu, victor Cosma distr.: Films Boutique

94

eUroPeAn voICes

CPH:PIX 2009

8622

CLImATes nUrI BILGe CeYLAn

It doesn’t take much to make someone happy - and even less to make someone unhappy. With these words, and a roguish smile, the star director nuri Bilge Ceylan introduced ‘Climates’ at its premiere in Cannes. And nothing could be more fitting for a film, which observes the couple Isa and Bahar (played by the director himself and his wife) through the changing climates of the seasons and describes their unsuccessful attempts at mending a broken relationship. With his parallel career as a photographer, Ceylan has long earned the nickname as Turkey’s Tarkovskij, as his almost wordless films let the images tell their own story. The way he lets his characters’ underlying melancholy reach out to the skies is both rapturous and down to earth. By using himself and his surroundings as a starting point, Ceylan always ensures that the ecstatic plot is accompanied by a subtle and almost hilarious universality, which has been his trademark since his short film debut ‘Koza’ via the impressive ‘Clouds of may’ to the critically acclaimed sequel to ‘Climates’, ‘3 monkeys’, which had its danish premiere earlier this year. It’s rare that sadness is so beautiful.

Fr April 17 sa April 25

21:15 21:00

Posthus Teatret Posthus Teatret

iklimler Turkey 2006, 98 min.

Turkish / english subtitles director: nuri Bilge Ceylan script: nuri Bilge Ceylan Camera: Gokhan Tiryak editor: Ayhan ergursel Production: nBC Film, Imaj Producer: Zeynep ozbatur Cast: ebru Ceylan, nuri Bilge Ceylan, nazan Kirilmis distr.: Posthusteatret

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes

95

2722

THe BesT oF YoUTH mArCo TULLIo GIordAnA

A six-hour portrait of 40 years of Italian history might not sound appealing to all, but anyone who ventures into the cinema to share in the lives marco Tullio Giordana’s Italian family can expect an epic and immense cinematic experience they’ll probably never forget. ‘The Best of Youth’ won Un Certain regard in Cannes in 2003 and a Tv version of the film has been shown on danish national television, but it’s only now that we finally get to see the story of the two brothers, who grow up in one of Italy’s most turbulent periods, in a danish cinema. The film begins in 1966, when political events are more than just turbulent and end up having widely different impacts on the lives of nicola and matteo. nicola becomes a psychiatrist and political activist, while his hot-tempered brother joins the army, and later the police. Their lives are woven together in an impressively mastered mosaic of personal stories and political portraits of the red Brigades, the murders of Italian judges, the fight against the mafia, Andreotti and Berlusconi. The film has been compared to both ‘rocco and his Brothers’, ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz’ and even ‘The Godfather’. ‘The Best of Youth’ is shown in two parts.

Both parts are shown continuously on sunday, 26 April, including a sandwich and a glass of wine during the break. Please note the higher ticket prices.

We April 22 19:00 Th April 23

19:00

su April 26

14:00

Posthus Teatret (Part 1) Posthus Teatret (Part 2) Posthus Teatret (Part 1 + 2)

la meglio giovenTu Italy 2003, 366 min.

Italian / english subtitles director: marco Tullio Giordana script: sandro patraglia, stefano ruli Camera: roberto Forza editor: roberto missiroli Production: rai Fiction, Bibi Film Tv Producer: Angelo Barbagallo Cast: Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti, sonia Bergamasco, Fabrizio Gifuni, maya sansa, valentina Carnelutti, Jasmine Trinca, Andrea Tidona, Lidia vitale distr.: Posthusteatret

96

eUroPeAn voICes

CPH:PIX 2009

7898

THe rIGHT dIsTAnCe CArLo mAZZACUrATI

Carlo mazzacurati was the man behind the brilliant ‘The Bull’, which fans of Italian cinema might still fondly remember. In ‘The right distance’, he depicts the mistrust and reluctance that always simmers under the thin veil of hospitality in every village. mazzacurati tackles the subject in a Hitchcockian way with elements of suspense, voyeurism and an unpredictable ending. even the new teacher maria (valentina Lodovini) arrives in the village as another Tippi Hedren and makes all the heads turn as she strolls down the main street with her suitcase. Among the prying eyes are Giovanni (Giovanni Capovilla), who has promoted himself to being the village’s anonymous news correspondent, and his Tunisian friend Hassan (Ahmed Hafiene), who becomes so fascinated by her, that he starts to spy on her. What starts out as harassment soon turns into an ominous relationship, and when the idyll starts crumbling with disastrous consequences, the local populace doesn’t hesitate long before placing the blame on Hassan. It’s a matter of - as the title indicates and as mazzacurati shows with deft precision - keeping the right distance to everything and everyone that is unknown.

Fr April 17 Tu April 21

19:00 21:15

Posthus Teatret Posthus Teatret

la giuSTa diSTanza Italy 2007, 109 min.

Italian / english subtitles director: Carlo mazzacurati script: doriana Leondeff, mazzacurati, marco Pettenello, Claudio Piersanti Camera: Luca Bigazzi editor: Paolo Cottignola Production: Fandango Producer: domenico Procacci Cast: Giovanni Capovilla, valentina Lodovini, Ahmed Hafiene distr.: Posthusteatret

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

97

neW daniSh TalenTS CPH:PIX is proud to present this year’s crop of new talent from the successful nesting box of danish film, new danish screen. And we are equally proud to be able to host the premiere of three danish feature films, which have not yet secured a distribution deal in denmark. neW daniSh Screen premiere party - 23 april 2009 in empire bio In continuation of the screenings of the two neW dAnIsH sCreen blocks on 23 April, CPH:PIX and neW dAnIsH sCreen will celebrate the new films at empire Bio and will offer refreshments after the last block.

When the party closes at empire Bio, you get free admissions at the popular nightclub rUsT if you show your ticket of the neW dAnIsH sCreen performances.

98

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

CPH:PIX 2009

8605

no rIGHT TUrn dAvId noeL BoUrKe

‘Part Fantasy. Part mystery. All Pulp!’ is what it says on the poster for ‘no right Turn’, and david noel Bourke’s english-speaking film lives up to that promise perfectly. ‘no right Turn’ is both a tribute to and a tongue-incheek pastiche of the classic Film noir genre. nina (Laura Bach) is a shapely femme fatale, who is saddled to her boyfriend Johnny (Tao Hildebrand), a bragging small-time crook, who straps a piece of raw liver under his nose when they have sex. one night, nina meets monella (sira stampe), an artistically withdrawn soul, whom nina persistently tries to seduce. But nina has a hidden agenda with this friendship. she wants monella to help her steal Johnny’s hidden cash, and together they stage a fake kidnapping, which can only go wrong. ‘no right Turn’ was produced in denmark entirely without public funding with the help of passion, elbow grease and private savings. The film is not likely to find a danish distributor, but it is nonetheless a successful and enthusiastic work. There is plenty of self-irony in Bourke’s direction and in the actors’ performances, which consciously lay it on thick with the archetypal roles. And it is all wrapped in impressively beautiful cinemascope images.

Th April 23 su April 26

19:15 16:45

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

no righT Turn Denmark 2008, 91 min. english director: david noel Bourke script: david noel Bourke Camera: eric Witzgall editor: david noel Bourke & Jakob Keller sound: Jason Luke, samuel Lehn, Jens Peter storm Production: Zentropa, Fridthjof Film APs, supersonic APs, Axis mundi studios, Last exit Productions Producer: Catrina Bourke-madsen, david noel Bourke Cast: Laura Bach, sira stampe, Tao Hildebrand, Lars Lippert, sami darr, Flora nasseri Jensen, mads Koudal, morten steensgaard, Gauthier Bricmont distr.: Last exit Productions

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

99

8580

orIGInAL

AnTonIo TUBLÉn, ALeXAnder BrØndsTed

Henry (sverrir Gudnason) is a pale copy of life. The young bank clerk tries so persistently to accommodate people’s expectations, that he has lost himself in the process. one day, Jon (david dencik) pops out of nowhere and convinces Henry to go with him to spain and to open a bodega. olé! nothing ventured, nothing gained, and Henry doesn’t have that much to lose anyway. But first he has to make a trip to IKeA, go to Copenhagen and say farewell to his deranged mother (Ghita nørby), save a feminist tattooed stripper (Tuva novotny) from a dodgy night club, get hold of some money, find love and smuggle anabolic steroids. That’s quite something for a man who feels like a nobody. Antonio Tublén and Alexander Brøndstedt’s danish-swedish debut is a warm comedy with a human face and original surprises in the plot, which constantly gathers speed. sverrir Gudnason is a comic discovery and david dencik is wonderfully enigmatic as Jon. ‘original’ is a good example of the fact that it is possible to collaborate in an original way across the waters that divide denmark and sweden with a first-class line-up of swedish and danish actors, which also include Jesper Christensen, Charlotte Fich, dejan Cukic and Thomas Bo Larsen.

Fr April 17 su April 19

18:45 19:00

dagmar Teatret Palads

original Denmark, Sweden 2008, 101 min. danish, swedish / english subtitles director: Antonio Tublén, Alexander Brøndsted script: Antonio Tublén, Alexander Brøndsted Camera: Linus eklund editor: Bodil Kjærhauge Production: Zentropa entertainment Producer: Carsten Holst Cast: Ghita nørby, Helle Fagralid, dejan Cukic, sverrir Gudnason, david dencik, Tuva novotny, magnus Krepper, Thomas Bo Larsen, Charlotte Fich, Jesper Christensen distr.: nordisk Film

100

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

CPH:PIX 2009

8616

THe PerFeCT HeIsT dennIs PeTersen

even if we boast of having the world’s best film subsidy system in denmark, it’s not easy to be a first-time feature director. The team behind ‘The Perfect Heist’ knows this all too well. Back in 2001, they made an award-winning short named ‘The Heist’, and it was their success with this fine genre pastiche that gave the filmmakers from Århus the courage to make a feature with the same hopeless criminals. now, the film has finally found its way to the silver screens of the capital, and the result is an exceptionally cheerful action comedy about sonny, Patric, steen and richael, who all dream of performing the perfect heist, while lacking the abilities and the luck to even complete a half-decent one. After yet another failed attempt, where steen shoots himself in the head, the other three end up in jail, where they give vent to their frustrations. Unable to do anything else, they fantasise about different variations of the perfect heist. But even in their fantasies they are not up against trivialities, but motorcycle gangs, the police, upset stomachs, low self-esteem, a lacking sense of the situation and extreme recklessness, which take their plans more and more out of control. The film about the clumsy crooks from Århus is fresh and amusingly written and acted. It deserves to find an audience.

su April 19 Th April 23

19:15 21:00

dagmar Teatret Palads

deT perFekTe kup Denmark 2008, 85 min. danish director: dennis Petersen script: Frederik meldal nørgaard Camera: Anders Holck editor: Henrik Thiesen music: nicklas schmidt Production: stogie, nordisk Film Producer: Tomas radoor, Frederik meldal nørgaard Cast: Frederik meldal nørgaard, Henrik vestergaard nielsen, Anders Brink madsen

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

101

8620

THe PIG dorTe W. HØGH

Taking the debate of the right to freedom of speech as its starting point, dorte W. Høgh made her debut as a director with this oscar-nominated satirical short ‘The Pig’. Asbjørn (78) is admitted to hospital, where he is being tested for rectal cancer. He is not comfortable with the situation, but bonds with the pig that is leaping in a picture that is hanging on the wall opposite his bed.

The pig becomes a guardian angel, and Asbjørn is very upset, when he wakes up after an operation to find that the picture is gone. The pig has been removed out of consideration for a muslim patient in the same room.

Th April 23 20:00 Tu April 28 16:30 (Film 1 of 5)

empire Bio Cinemateket

griSen Denmark 2009, 23 min. danish / english subtitles director: dorte W. Høgh script: Anders August, dorte W. Høgh Camera: Jens schlosser editor: Henrik vincent Thiesen music: Bent Fabricius Bjerre sound: martin saabye Andersen Production: Christian Potalivo/ m&m Productions Producer: Tivi magnusson, Johanne stryhn Hørby Cast: Henning moritzen, Trine Pallesen, Farshad Kholghi, Jesper Asholt m.fl

102

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CPH:PIX 2009

8663

501

JesPer mAInTZ

501 takes place in the local pub, where an unfamiliar guest disturbs one of the regulars, who is about to throw his last, decisive dart in a game of 501. The darts player gives the guest a second chance, and they get together over a glass of beer at the bar. But the guest is not at all the person he pretends to be, and we go back in time to get to know him a little better. Jesper maintz is an editor and has previously directed a string of no-budget films as well as music videos.

Th April 23 20:00 Tu April 28 16:30 (Film 2 of 5)

empire Bio Cinemateket

501 Denmark 2008, 15 min. danish / english subtitles director: Jesper maintz script: Thomas Glud, Jesper maintz Camera: Anders elgaard editor: Jesper maintz sound: Hans Christian Kock Production: JA FILm Producer: ellen riis, Kirstine dollerup Cast: Troels Thorsen, steffen nielsen, Claus Lund, mads dollerup nielsen, Anne stenholt m. fl.

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

8664

BeLoW

Anne-GreTHe BJArUP rIIs

The actress Anne-Grethe Bjarup riis makes her directing debut with a quirky story about Albin, who lives in a dream. He has left the love of his life and has never seen their child. When he returns one night, he is whirled into a nightmare, where he is confronted with his own role as boyfriend, friend, lover, son and grandson. This makes him wake up and change his life.

Th April 23 20:00 Tu April 28 16:30 (Film 3 of 5)

empire Bio Cinemateket

nedenunder Denmark 2008, 17 min. danish / english subtitles director: Anne-Grethe Bjarup riis script: Anne-Grethe Bjarup riis Camera: morten Bruus editor: morten egholm sound: Peter Albrechtsen Production: Zentropa Producer: mikael olsen Cast: Joen Højerslev, Pernille vallentin, Peter Plaugborg, Anne-Lise Gabold m.fl.

103

104

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CPH:PIX 2009

8665

THe moUse PIL mArIA GUnnArsson

Liv, a 10-year-old girl, is given a mouse from mike, a boy in her class, and the two become a couple. But Liv gets jealous when her popular school friend starts flirting with mike. The film is about infatuation, cowardice and jealousy, and it portrays the first tender encounters with love. The mouse, which competed for a Crystal Bear for the best children’s short film in Berlin, is directed by Pil maria Gunnarsson, who graduated from The school of Film directing in Gothenburg.

Th April 23 20:00 Tu April 28 16:30 (Film 4 of 5)

empire Bio Cinemateket

muSen Denmark 2008, 13 min. danish / english subtitles director: Pil maria Gunnarsson script: rum malmros, Pil maria Gunnarsson Camera: Adam Philp editor: Anne Hovad Fischer music: Flemming nordkrog sound: Bobby Hess Production: Cosmo Film Producer: mia marie Borup Cast: eva-Theresa Jermiin Anker, magnus Wettendorff dyring, Frederikke Hjort Arentz m.fl.

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

105

8666

AWAKenInG CHrIsTIAn TAFdrUP

The actor Christian Tafdrup presents his third short film ‘Awakening’, a story about the vulnerable schoolboy Carsten, who finds love in the most unexpected and surprising way, when he becomes melissa’s boyfriend.

He meets her sweet and friendly parents, who treat him kindly. on a weekend trip to their summer house, her father stig and Carsten get on wonderfully. one early morning, Carsten follows stig on a duck hunt, and the two of them have even more in common, than they first thought.

Th April 23 20:00 Tu April 28 16:30 (Film 5 of 5)

empire Bio Cinemateket

en ForelSkelSe Denmark 2008, 39 min. danish / english subtitles director: Christian Tafdrup script: Christian Tafdrup Camera: erik molberg Hansen editor: Anne Østerud music: Henrik Lindstrand sound: Hans Christian Kock Production: nordisk Film Producer: Leila vestgaard, Peter reichhardt Cast: Allan Hyde, Julie Grundtwig Wester, Lars Brygmann, ellen Hillingsø

106

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

CPH:PIX 2009

8667

AQUALorIUs! nIKoLAJ TArP

20 years ago, two boys disappeared in the indoor swimming pool at Hulgårds school and now stories of a monster living at the bottom of the pool circulate amongst the pupils. The school’s bullying victim, 11-yearold Lars, has written a love letter to an older girl, sherin.

When sherin’s boyfriend, the school’s worst thug, finds the letter, he forces Lars to swim down to the bottom of the pool to fetch a shining coin. But Lars is convinced that the monster Aqualorius is waiting in the depths...

The film is the first film by producer nikolaj Tarp.

Th April 23 22:00 Tu April 28 19:00 (Film 1 of 4)

empire Bio Cinemateket

aQualoriuS! Denmark 2008, 12 min. danish / english subtitles director: nikolaj Tarp script: Jacob Weinreich, nikolaj Tarp Camera: rasmus Heise editor: Camilla ebling music: Bjarke monrad sound: Thomas Jæger Production: Zentropa ramBUk Producer: Peter engel Cast: August Igor svideniouk egholm, Jonatan Tulestedt Jarvel, sara nybo vinther m.fl.

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

107

8668

THe CoACH

LArs KrIsTIAn mIKKeLsen

The commercials director Lars mikkelsen tells the gripping story of niels, who is 14 years old and lives in a small provincial town. His life is all about one thing: handball. The coach of his team takes good care of niels, as he sees him as a great talent. After having qualified for the final of the danish championship, the coach throws a party for the boys. niels and his girlfriend Pernille are allowed to borrow the coach’s bedroom, but niels falls asleep and the events take a surprising turn, which puts pressure on niels both on and off the handball court.

Th April 23 22:00 Tu April 28 19:00 (Film 2 of 4)

empire Bio Cinemateket

TrÆneren Denmark 2008, 33 min. danish / english subtitles director: Lars Kristian mikkelsen script: mogens rukov, Christoffer Boe, Lars C. detlefsen Camera: Lars vestergaard editor: Pernille Bech sound: Alex Pavlovic, Johannes dam Production: Zentropa Producer: Carsten Holst Cast: Jens Albinus, Christian Wienberg, sarah Juel Werner m.fl.

108

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CPH:PIX 2009

8669

sUn sHIne

ALICe de CHAmPFLeUrY

It’s summer and 13-year-old nadja is spending the time on her own. At the beach, she becomes fascinated with a small idyllic family, which she starts following. on the way, she meets eskild, who is also straying on his own with his bike. He is attracted to her. nadja lets eskild in on her voyeur project, which gradually escalates and ends up having fatal consequences, when nadja one day tells eskild that the man in the family is her father. Alice de Champfleury is originally trained as an animator at the danish Film school, where she graduated in 1998.

Th April 23 22:00 Tu April 28 19:00 (Film 3 of 4)

empire Bio Cinemateket

Sol Skin Denmark 2008, 29 min. danish / english subtitles director: Alice de Champfleury script: Anton Carey Bidstrup, Alice de Champfleury Camera: marek Wieser editor: Åsa mossberg music: Jonas struck Production: nimbus Film Producer: Jesper morthorst Cast: Gabrielle søndergaard, Jannik Christoffersen, Frank Thiel m.fl.

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : neW dAnIsH TALenTs

109

8670

sHeeP

FrederIKKe AsPÖCK

The Us-trained director Frederikke Aspöck makes her danish debut with the psychological chamber piece FÅr (sheep) about mogens and his wife Bitten, who receive a visit in their summer house by their beloved daughter Kira, who was recently abandoned by her husband and is now alone with the newborn child. The small family is in need of a quiet day together, but when their friends Janne and steen arrive a day too early for a scheduled midsummer night’s dinner, a chain-reaction is set in motion. At midsummer night, the secrets are revealed and the skeletons come tumbling out of the closet.

Th April 23 22:00 Tu April 28 19:00 (Film 4 of 4)

empire Bio Cinemateket

FÅr Denmark 2008, 30 min. danish / english subtitles director: Frederikke Aspöck script: Christian Torpe Camera: Kim Høgh editor: martin schade sound: morten Groth Brandt Production: nimbus Film Producer: Jesper morthorst Cast: søren sætter-Lassen, vibeke Hastrup, susanne Heinrich, Peter schrøder, Kitt maiken mortensen Komponist. rasmus Bille Bähncke

110

eUroPeAn voICes : dK UPdATe

CPH:PIX 2009

8660

FeAr me noT KrIsTIAn LevrInG

When michael hears about a clinical trial for a new anti-depressant, he signs up on a whim. Unfortunately, the pills turn out to have serious side effects and the trial is abandoned. michael refuses to give up his newfound sense of calm and self control which the pills have provided, so he decides to continue the experiment on his own. Intoxicated by his immediate success, michael feels an urge to take control of other people’s lives as well. slowly, his psychological games grow more drastic, until he makes a discovery which forces him to view his actions in a terrifying new light. The film is shown with english subtitles.

Fr April 24

14:00

Cinemateket

den du FrygTer Denmark 2008, 95 min. danish / english subtitles director: Kristian Levring script: Kristian Levring, Anders Thomas Jensen Camera: Jens schlosser editor: Pernille Bech Christensen sound: mick raaschou Production: Zentropa entertainments Producer: sisse Graum Jørgensen Cast: Ulrich Thomsen, Paprika steen, emma sehsted Høeg, Lars Brygmann, stine stengade, Bodil Udsen, Bjarne Henriksen distr.: nordisk Film

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : dK UPdATe

111

8656

THe esCAPe KATHrIne WIndFeLd

danish journalist rikke Lyngvig is taken hostage in Afghanistan by a terror group threatening to kill her if denmark doesn’t withdraw its troops from the country.

However, she gets unexpected help and manages to escape, returning to denmark, where the media place her in the spotlight. Her career takes off, but she has also taken a secret home with her from Afghanistan, which could have disastrous consequences. What price will she pay, when she has to make a fateful choice in a few seconds, and is she willing to give up everything to follow her conscience? The film is shown with english subtitles.

Tu April 21

14:00

Cinemateket

FlugTen Denmark 2008, 114 min. danish, dari / english subtitles director: Kathrine Windfeld script: rasmus Heisterberg, Camera: Jonas Alarik editor: sofia Lindgren Production: nimbus Film Productions Aps Producer: morten Kaufmann Cast: Iben Hjejle, Faigh Zamani, Lars mikkelsen, rafi mohammed Bayan, Henrik Prip, vibeke Hastrup, sonja richter, mikael Birkkjær, Wagma Khattak, søren spanning distr.: sandrew metronome Filmdistribution

112

eUroPeAn voICes : dK UPdATe

CPH:PIX 2009

8655

TerrIBLY HAPPY HenrIK rUBen GenZ

The young Copenhagen police officer, robert, is relocated to a small southern Jutland outpost after a fatal event in his private life. The position of temporary village constable is a necessary stop on the road back to life and to his job in the capital, but the unwritten rules that govern the village forces him to confront bigger challenges than he ever imagined. The wry Western-noir hybrid is based on erling Jepsen’s bestseller of the same name. The film is shown with english subtitles.

Th April 23

14:00

Cinemateket

FrygTelig lykkelig Denmark 2008, 100 min. danish / english subtitles director: Henrik ruben Genz script: dunja Gry, Henrik ruben Genz Camera: Jørgen Johansson editor: Kasper Leick Production: Fine & mellow Productions A/s Producer: Thomas Gammeltoft Cast: Jakob Cedergren, Kim Bodnia, Lars Brygmann, Lene maria Christensen distr.: nordisk Film

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : dK UPdATe

113

8662

Go WITH PeACe JAmIL omAr sHArGAWI

When Jamil, who is a sunni muslim, witnesses the murder of his mother as a child, he flees from Lebanon to denmark together with his father. As a grown-up, Jamil learns that the shia muslim murderer is in his own criminal circle, and he decides to avenge his mother by killing the murderer. When the situation finally spirals completely out of control, Jamil finally acknowledges the futility of the conflict. The film is shown with english subtitles.

We April 22 12:00

Cinemateket

gĂ… med Fred jamil Denmark 2008, 87 min. danish, Arabic / english subtitles director: omar shargawi script: omar shargawi, mogens rukov Camera: Aske Alexander Foss editor: Henrik vincent Thiesen, Per sandholt, Anders refn Production: Zentropa entertainments Producer: meta Louise Foldager Cast: dar salim, salah el Koussa, munir shargawi, Fouad Ghazali distr.: nordisk Film

114

eUroPeAn voICes : dK UPdATe

CPH:PIX 2009

8657

WHen HeAven FALLs mAnYAr I. PArWAnI

As a young girl, sara was removed from her family and placed in foster care. despite her resistance to dig in her unresolved past, she travels to attend the funeral of her biological mother and to see her older brother, danni, to whom she was close as a child. sara soon realises that neither danni nor her father, Kjeld, recognise her.

When she discovers that she has two younger sisters, she decides to hide her identity and to spy on her father’s house. Gradually, a series of terrible events are uncovered, which have traces all the way to her own childhood. The film is shown with english subtitles.

We April 22 14:00

Cinemateket

himlen Falder Denmark 2009, 100 min. danish / english subtitles director: manyar I. Parwani script: manyar I. Parwani Camera: Lars reinholdt editor: Faisel nazir Butt Production: Zentropa entertainments Producer: Ib Tardini Cast: mille Hoffmeyer Lehfeldt, marcus nicolas Christensen, dick Kaysø, Clara Bruun sandbye, Kathinka Lucia meyer-Johansen distr.: nordisk Film

CPH:PIX 2009

eUroPeAn voICes : dK UPdATe

115

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LITTLe soLdIer AnneTTe K. oLesen

In ‘Little soldier’, Lotte returns home from yet another mission as a soldier, scarred by the war she has participated in. Her father, who is a lorry driver, offers her a job as a chauffeur for his nigerian girlfriend, the escort girl Lily. Lotte and Lily don’t take much interest in each other at first, as they only want to survive. But circumstances force them to recognise each other as fellow human beings, and when Lotte slowly becomes a witness to Lily’s life, she makes a decision that will change the future for both of them. The film is shown with english subtitles.

Fr April 24

12:00

Cinemateket

lille SoldaT Denmark 2008, 100 min. danish, english / english subtitles director: Annette K. olesen script: Kim Fupz Aakeson, Annette K. olesen Camera: Camilla Hjelm Knudsen editor: Jacob Thuesen sound: mick raaschou Production: Zentropa entertainments Producer: Ib Tardini Cast: Trine dyrholm, Finn nielsen, Lorna Brown, rasmus Botoft, Jens Jørn spottag, Thure Lindhardt, Henrik Prip distr.: nordisk Film

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JoUrneY To sATUrn

CrAIG FrAnK, THorBJØrn CHrIsToFFersen, KresTen vesTBJerG Andersen

‘Journey to saturn’ is the first danish people’s space adventure in world history: a film about honour, respect, love and integrity. A story about risking one’s life to defend danish values: the corner sofa, the allotment garden and chilled beer. A bunch of thoroughly hopeless danes of different origins are sent to saturn to search for natural ressources but encounter instead the most dangerous alien army in all outer space. The battle seems to be decided before it even starts, but as so often, nothing is what it seems. The film is full of unparalleled visuals, strong emotions, humour and breakneck action.

The film is shown with english subtitles.

Th April 23

12:00

Cinemateket

rejSen Til SaTurn Denmark 2008, 90 min. danish / english subtitles director: Craig Frank, Thorbjørn Christoffersen, Kresten vestbjerg Andersen script: rasmus Heisterberg, nikolaj Arcel, Production: A. Film A/s Producer: Trine Heidegaard Cast: Frank Hvam, Casper Christensen, Iben Hjejle, Ali Kazim, Anders Lund madsen, Kjeld nørgaard, Peter Belli, Lars Hjortshøj, Lasse remmer, Klaus Bondam, simon Juhl distr.: nordisk Film

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remIX

mArTIn HAGBJer

After meeting Clara from the record company major, 16-year-old ruben manages in no time to sign a record contract. But little does he know that he is being caught in a ruthless media grinder. Will talent be enough for him to succeed in a world, where remix is God and the price of fame becomes a matter of life and death? The film is shown with english subtitles.

Tu April 21

12:00

Cinemateket

remix Denmark 2008, 95 min. danish / english subtitles director: martin Hagbjer script: martin Hagbjer, Anders valbro Camera: Anders Löfstedt editor: martin Hagbjer, marie-Louise Bordinggaard sound: Gregers Kjar Production: Zeitgeist Aps Producer: søren Juul Petersen Cast: Camilla Bendix, micky skeel Hansen, Jakob Cedergren, Anette støvelbæk, Kristian Halken, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Henrik Prip, sofie Lassen-Kahlke distr.: sF Film

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laTin zone

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The Bastards Birdwatchers The desert Within Gigante Lion’s den Liverpool meet The Head of Juan Pérez The milk of sorrow Parque via The sky, The earth And The rain vinganca

Latin American film has rediscovered its own voice and is currently generating a continuous stream of outstanding works.

At this year’s film festival in Berlin, the most interesting films were from Latin America, and both the Golden and silver Bear went, respectively, to the Peruvian ‘The milk of sorrow’ and ‘Gigante’ from Uruguay.

CPH:PIX will show both these films.

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BIrdWATCHers mArCo BeCHIs

oddly enough it is an Italian director who is behind this sympathetic film about the rights of Indians in Brazil.

The story takes place among the Guarani people, who are forced to live in a reserve, cut off from the lands of their ancestors. The heavily marginalised Guaranis have been hit by a downright suicide epidemic in the past few years, which is also the point of departure in this story, when the young osvaldo and his friend Ireneu find the bodies of yet another two girls who have hanged themselves. This is the last straw for the tribal elder nadio, who has had enough of the state-ordered financial and spiritual destitution and simply moves the tribe back to the former Guaraniland, which is now owned by an unpleasant landowner. The situation comes to an unavoidable head, both between the two sides and within the tribe itself, when the strongly intoxicated nadio loses control of the situation. ‘Birdwatchers’ is a distressing story with a very specific cause, which one can’t avoid being moved by. But it is also a dramatic film that gives us a unique insight into the culture of Guarani Indians. most roles are convincingly played by Indians themselves with great cinematic appeal.

Fr April 24 sa April 25 su April 26

21:00 20:00 21:45

Posthus Teatret empire Bio Gloria

birdWaTcherS Brazil, Italy 2008, 108 min.

Portuguese, Guarani / english subtitles director: marco Bechis script: marco Bechis, Luiz Bolognesi, Lara Fremder Camera: Hélcio Alemão nagamine editor: Jacopo Quadri Production: Classic (Italia) Producer: Amedeo Pagani, marco Bechis, Fabiano Gullane, Caio Gullane Cast: Claudio santamaria, Alicelia Batista Cabreira, Chiara Caselli, Abrisio da silva Pedro distr.: Celluloid dreams

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GIGAnTe AdrIÁn BInIeZ

The overweight and taciturn security guard Jara (Camandule) leads a boring routine life. He monitors security camera images during night shifts at a colossal supermarket, sneaks home and sleeps in front of the Tv, solves crossword puzzles, listens to heavy metal on his iPod and spends one day a week with his nephew. But things change when Jara directs his interest towards Julia (svarcas), one of the young cleaning assistants who appears on his monitor, and his fascination develops into a deep crush, which the shy hulk sweetly but hopelessly tries to express. despite its title, ‘Gigante’ is a small and dense film, which true to the artistic agenda of today’s Latin American films discreetly mixes everyday realism with its own cinematic ingredients. The same way that Jara is monitoring Julia, we’re monitoring him, and even if the film’s entire dialogue would fit onto the back of a matchbox, we are taken right into the life of the giant, who conceals much more than our prejudices could have imagined. ‘Gigante’ is a highly intimate film, which maintains its tension right through to the end without departing from its everyday setting. For once, we have a Latin American film with an upbeat mood, and ‘Gigante’ thoroughly deserved the silver Bear it took home from this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

su April 19 Tu April 21

12:30 21:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

giganTe Uruguay 2009, 88 min. spanish / english subtitles director: Adrián Biniez script: Adrian Binie Camera: Arauco Hernandez editor: Fernando epstein music: Adrian Binie Production: Control Z Films, Pandora Filmproduktion, rizoma Films, IdTv, Arte Producer: Fernando epstein, Agustina Chiarino Cast: Horacio Camandulle, Leonor svarcas, nestor Guzzini, Federico Garcia distr.: Øst for Paradis

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LIon’s den PABLo TrAPero

In the past few years we have seen a number of films from Argentina and Brazil that take place in prisons.

Taking into account the conditions in their jails, this is not so surprising, as the inhuman circumstances create the perfect framework for a study of human beings under pressure. But Pablo Trapero is not a filmmaker who’s into easy shocks. Instead, he creates an intimate and atmospheric, but at times also consciously unpleasant and stiflingly claustrophobic film about the destinies of imprisoned women with children. The audience is taken there when Julia, a young self-obsessed university student, is sentenced for murdering her boyfriend. not having the resources to convince the male-dominated legal system of her innocence, she ends up in prison for 10 years despite being pregnant. The core of the drama is Julia’s encounter with the imprisoned women, who are allowed to have their children with them, but only until they are four years old. The women, many of whom are real inmates, are incredible, and Trapero lets their everyday lives unfold in a raw and realistic, but also loving and touching way. martina Gusman, who has also produced the film and is married to Trapero, is nothing less than amazing in the role as Julia.

Fr April 17 Fr April 24 su April 26

21:15 17:30 16:30

dagmar Teatret empire Bio dagmar Teatret

leonera Argentina 2008, 113 min. spanish / english subtitles director: Pablo Trapero script: Alejandro Fadel, martin mauregui, santiago mitre, Trapero Camera: Guillermo nieto editor: ezequiel Borovinsky, Trapero music: Intoxicados, Chango spasiuk, Los Palmeras sound: Federico esquerro Production: matanza Cine/Cineclick Asia/ Patagonik production Producer: Pablo Trapero, Youngjoo suh Cast: martina Gusman, elli medeiros, rodrigo santoro, Laura Garcia, Leonardo sauma, Tomas Plotinsky distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

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LIverPooL LIsAndro ALonso

The Argentinian filmmaker Lisandro Alonso has in just a few years become an unavoidable name in the international festival scene, where his innovative and beautiful films are often compared to the works of directors such as Carlos reygadas - a self-professed Alonso-fan - and Béla Tarr. In ‘Liverpool’, which was one of the great sensations of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, he describes the alcoholic sailor Farrel’s long journey on foot through the snow-clad Argentinian landscape, after his ship is moored in southern Argentina, and he returns to his home town with nothing more than a vodka bottle and a canvas bag, after not having visited for more than 20 years. Arriving there after a long delay (Alonso’s journeys always contain a discreet aura of escape for his protagonists), he briefly manages to see his dying mother, and before he manages to rush away from the shabby village in the middle of nowhere, it turns out that he also has a daughter. not much is said in Alonso’s minimalist film, which describes the long journey by foot through the Tierra del Fuego mountains in a captivating pictorial style, which is bound to see the action-hungry part of the audience run away screaming, but which offers the more watchful spectators a both complex and downright shocking story behind the frozen tableaus.

Th April 23 su April 26

21:00 21:00

vester vov vov Husets Biograf

liverpool Argentina 2008, 85 min. spanish / english subtitles director: Lisandro Alonso script: Alonso, salvador roselli Camera: Lucio Bonelli editor: Fernando epstein, martin mainoli Production: Fortuna Films, slot machine Producer: Lisandro Alonso, Ilse Hughan Cast: Juan Fernandez, Giselle Irrazabal, nieves Cabrera distr.: match Factory

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meeT THe HeAd oF JUAn PÉreZ emILIo PorTes

The unsuccessful magician Juan Pérez is in desperate need of a new act to avoid being fired from the local circus company. He opts for a monstrous guillotine, which is to become the main attraction of his show.

What Pérez doesn’t know is that he gets involved with far higher powers than an unimportant magician can cope with by doing so. For the guillotine is not just a mock-up, but has a bloody and authentic history, and as Pérez starts using it, he releases its eternal curse, which is accompanied by a number of eerie characters.

The large-scale production ‘meet the Head of Juan Pérez’ is a mexican comedy by the first-time feature director emilio Portes, and displays a motley crew of fat clowns, dwarves and gallons of blood. In the best slapstick style, it tells the story about Juan Pérez, who has to fight to keep his self-respect, his wife - and ultimately his own head.

mo April 20 21:00 sa April 25 14:15

Husets Biograf dagmar Teatret

conozca la cabeza de juan pÉrez Mexico 2008, 85 min. spanish / english subtitles director: emilio Portes script: emilio Portes Camera: ramon orozco editor: rodrigo rios, Portes, Yibran Assaud music: Aldo max rodriguez Production: Ultra Films, CCC, Imcine, Foprocine Producer: rodrigo Herranz Fanjul Cast: silveria Palacios, dolores Heredia, Jose sefami, maria Aura, Carlos Cobos, Isela vega, ernesto Yanez, Alejandro Calva, ruben Cristiani, dagoberto Gama, salomon reyes, ramon Alvarez, Itzel Ursul, miguel Angel Fuentes distr.: ImCIne - Instituto mexicano de Cinematografia

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PArQUe vIA enrIQUe rIvero

mexican films are stronger than ever before. not least in artistic terms, with the likes of Carlos reygadas (‘stellet Licht’) ensuring that mexico has joined the top of the list of interesting filmmaking nations. He is not the only director to carry the torch, and enrique rivero’s impressive debut feature, which won the main prize at last year’s Locarno Film Festival, is perhaps the most convincing example of this. With its sober startingpoint in the class-divided life of mexico’s capital, ribero portrays the ageing butler Beto (played by nolberto Coria, who himself works as a butler) and his trivial weekdays, which consist of equal parts cleaning, Tv dinners and brothel visits. His previous employer, who goes by the name La señora, has long moved out, and she’s now trying to sell the house. And if this happens, the timid Beto will suddenly be without work. But if the premise of rivero’s film is minimal, the style is far from it. Like reygadas’ provocatively realistic ‘Battle in Heaven’, ‘Parque via’ starts off calmly, but develops its highly charged class struggle with a surprising impact.

The result is a true cinematic pearl from mexico.

sa April 18 19:15 mo April 20 20:00

dagmar Teatret empire Bio

parQue via Mexico 2008, 86 min. spanish / english subtitles director: enrique rivero script: enrique rivero Camera: Arnau valls Colomer editor: Javier ruiz Caldera, rivero Production: Paola Herrera, enrique rivero Producer: Una Comunion, estudios Churubisco Azteca Cast: nolberto Coria, nancy orozco, Tesalia Huerta distr.: Fortissimo Films

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THe BAsTArds AmAT esCALAnTe

The protagonists in Amat escalante’s long awaited sequel to his intriguing debut, the kidnap drama ‘sangre’, seem to be taken straight out of the classic bad guy gallery of westerns. There are not many forgiving sides to the two mexican labourers Jesus and Fausto, who meet every day in a lay-by far away from civilisation with their shared hope of being able to earn some loose change as illegal workmen in the UsA. In a desperate attempt to turn their backs on their lives in the gutter, they take on another nocturnal job, but this time it turns out to be more challenging than usual. The director Amat escalante has previously worked as the assistant director to Carlos reygadas, and this is clearly noticeable. not just in the challenging story and the provocative mixture of slow milieu-depictions and potent plot-twists, but also in the way he embeds his film in beautiful cinemascope imagery, which has to be seen on the big screen. such beauty hasn’t been seen since sergio Leone.

su April 19 21:00 We April 22 21:00

dagmar Teatret Husets Biograf

loS baSTardoS Mexico 2008, 90 min. spanish, english / english subtitles director: Amat escalante script: Amat escalante, martin escalante Camera: matt Uhry editor: Ayhan ergursel Production: mantarraya, nodream Cinema Producer: Jaime romandia Cast: Jesus moises rodriguez, ruben sosa, nina Zavarin distr.: Le Pacte

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THe deserT WITHIn rodrIGo PLA

Putting images and words to the human being’s inner wastelands is exactly what ‘The desert Within’ does. rodrigo Plá is behind this family epic, where we follow elias and his seven children across several decades. set during the mexican revolution at the beginning of the 20th century, the film depicts the simple elias’ life in the countryside. during the battles between the revolutionaries and the religious populace, who are defending the right to practise their religion, the passive elias loses many people close to him. He therefore launches himself into a self-sacrificing battle to ensure his family’s survival and to obtain God’s forgiveness, but his desperation and hopeless search for miracles leads to suffering and death. The film is saturated with religious symbolism in both its plot and its imagery, and its slow pace allow elias and his family’s sufferings stand out crystal-clear. ‘The desert Within’ is Plá’s second feature after the successful ‘La Zona’ (but it was shot before), and with its Tarkovsky-inspired pace and solemnity, we experience a dark chapter in mexico’s history at first hand.

Fr April 17 su April 19 Th April 23

20:00 16:15 16:30

empire Bio dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

deSierTo adenTro Mexico 2008, 113 min. spanish / english subtitles director: rodrigo Pla script: Laura santullo, Pla Camera: serguei saldivar Tanaka editor: Ana Garcia, Pla music: Jacobo Lieberman, Leonardo Heiblum sound: Antonio diego Production: Buenaventura Producciones Producer: German mendez, rodrigo Pla Cast: mario Zaragoza, diego Catano, memo dorantes, eileen Yanez, Luis Fernando Pena, Jimena Ayala, Katia Xanat espino, dolores Heredia, Angelina Pelaez, martin Zapata, Alan Chavez distr.: ImCIne - Instituto mexicano de Cinematografia

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THe mILK oF sorroW CLAUdIA LLosA

The winner of this year’s Golden Bear in Berlin is a mesmerising film with various layers to its otherwise apparently sparse story. After having sung her mother into the life beyond in the film’s first scene, the young Fausta is on her own in Lima, apart from her sympathetic uncle and his family who live next door. Fausta wants to bury her mother in the village she comes from, but can’t afford the transport of the coffin. so while she is keeping the embalmed corpse under her bed, Fausta is forced to take on a job as a chambermaid for a rich pianist, who is captivated by Fausta’s dreamed up songs. singing is a mean of escaping for the young girl, who lives under a constant fear of being raped. This is what happened to her mother, like to thousands of other Peruvian women, before the regime change in 1990, and the traumas of the war are said to be passed on from mother to daughter during breast-feeding. Hence the title. Claudia Llosa is prodigious at tying together reality with this mild form of magic realism. But Fausta’s inherited anxiety goes so far, that she has stuffed a potato into her abdomen to avoid suffering the same fate has her mother, and the superstition thereby has physical consequences. despite all of this, ‘milk of sorrow’ is a warm and subtle film, which resonates for a long time.

sa April 18 Th April 23

20:00 16:45

empire Bio dagmar Teatret

la TeTa aSuSTada Peru, Spain 2009, 97 min. spanish / english subtitles director: Claudia Llosa script: Claudia Llsosa Camera: natasha Braier editor: Frank Guiterrez Production: Wanda vision Producer: Jose maria morales, Antonio Chavarrias, Cladia Llosa Cast: magaly solier, susi sánchez, efraín solís, marino Ballón, Antolín Prieto distr.: sunrise Film distribution

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THe sKY, THe eArTH And THe rAIn JosÉ LUIs Torres LeIvA

The story of ‘The sky, the earth and the rain’ grows forth from the quiet autumnal images, providing us with a poetic and unobtrusively moving cinema experience of a highly rare kind. Four lonely people cross each other’s paths on a Chilean island, with the charismatic Ana (Julieta Figueroa) as the focal point of a played-down, but tense intrigue with fatal dimensions. When she loses her job and simultaneously starts a romance with her new boss, her relationship to her friends verónica and marta are put to the test. The luminous images follow the contemplative and picturesque tradition of russian masters such as Tarkovsky and sokurov, and frames the characters and the nature with an almost haikustyle perceptiveness and precision, which in contrast to average films invites one to extract the minimal story from the elliptic void between the scenes oneself. For the debut feature director José Luis Torres Leiva lets the images and the few uttered words speak for themselves and thereby creates a sensual drama, which has a local style, but a universal simplicity. ‘The sky, the earth and the rain’ was awarded the Fipresci award at the film festival in rotterdam in 2008.

Fr April 17 sa April 18 su April 19

16:15 14:15 19:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret Posthus Teatret

el cielo, la Tierra y la lluvie Chile 2008, 110 min. spanish / english subtitles director: José Luis Torres Leiva script: José Luis Torres Leiva Camera: Inti Briones editor: José Luis Torres Leiva, Ilan stehberg Production: Cine Banco estudio, Jirafa Films, Charivari Films, Peter rommel Production Producer: Bruno Bettati Cast: Julieta Figueroa, Angelica riquelme, mariana munoz, Pablo Krogh, Francisco ossa Ignacio Aguero distr.: memento Films

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reTrIBUTIon PAULo Pons

many grim and shattering films have been made about rape, but in ‘retribution’, the point of view is surprisingly that of the man. not the rapist, but the victim’s husband. miguel (erom Cordeiro) is a stoical chap from southern Brazil, whose fiancée is the victim of a brutal rape. The police has done absolutely nothing, but miguel’s fatherin-law has the right kind of connections and has traced the assailant Bruno to rio. so miguel has now set off to take revenge, but before he gets that far, he starts an affair with Bruno’s lively and sexy sister and begins to doubt that Bruno is the right man. It might sound like a western, where the avenger comes to town, and miguel is indeed a bit of a cowboy. But the poor man is plagued by grief and insecurity more than he is driven by the revenge that his in-laws try to push on him heavy-handedly. ‘retribution’ is a collective work made on a minimal budget with a surprisingly good-looking outcome. The young film crew took a creative approach to both technique and story, and the result manages to be both a genre film and a complex portrait.

sa April 18 Th April 23

19:00 19:15

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

vinganca Brazil 2008, 105 min.

Portuguese / english subtitles director: Paulo Pons script: Paulo Pons Camera: Thiago Lima silva editor: Bernardo Jucá Production: Pax Filmes Producer: Paulo Pons Cast: erom Cordeiro, Branca messina, marcio Kieling distr.: Pax Filmes

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F ilms, drama, documentaries, entertainment, magazines: enjoy prime time programmes subtitled in several languages on TV5MONDE !

For more information visit www.tv5monde.com Film Festival 16–26 April 2009

TV5MONDE is available via cable, satellite, iptv, adsl and mobile.

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BeesWAX AndreW BUJALsKI

one has to be quite a cold fish to not fall headlong in love with the latest film by the indie-auteur Andrew Bujalski.

As in ‘Funny Ha-Ha’ and ‘mutual Appreciation’, he returns with a mixture of irony and warm-heartedness to depict some American suburban slackers. This is one of his favourite subjects, and in reference to John Cassavetes he has long earned the nickname ‘slackavetes’. This time round, the story is about the charismatic twin sisters Lauren and Jeannie, who share a house in Austin.

The athletic Lauren is between jobs and boyfriends, while the paraplegic Jeannie is fighting to keep her vintage store that she co-owns with her business partner Amanda. Jeannie fears that Amanda wants to sue her and therefore turns to her ex-boyfriend merrill, a lawstudent. The personal and legal entanglements are the plot’s small motors, but the director consciously avoids dramatic climaxes, choosing instead to focus on the moments in between. Like few other directors, Bujalski knows how to write dialogues and to construct his scenes so that they time and time again manage to precisely capture the high-minded idealism of youth, its sporadic moments of happiness and the seemingly insurmountable problems.

Tu April 21 16:15 We April 22 22:30

dagmar Teatret empire Bio

beeSWax USA 2009, 100 min. english director: Andrew Bujalski script: Andrew Bujalski Camera: matthias Grunsky editor: Andrew Bujalski Production: sisters Project Producer: ethan vogt, dia sokol Cast: Tilly Hatcher, maggie Hatcher, Alex Karpovsky distr.: Houston King

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THe BUrnInG PLAIn GUILLermo ArrIAGA

Guillermo Arriaga is best known as the screenwriter for the mexican star director Alenjandro Gonzàlez Iñàrritu for films such as ‘Amores Perros’, ‘21 grams’ and ‘Babel’.

In his directing debut, ‘The Burning Plain’, he draws on his unrivalled ability to tell relevant stories with an elegant stylistic stringency and emotional substance. marina is a 16-year-old girl who lives by the mexican border and tries to deal with the increasingly dysfunctional relationship of her parents. At the same time, far away in Portland, oregon, the self-destructive and sad sylvia (Charlize Theron) works at a posh restaurant, and is followed by a mysterious man on her way home, while Gina (a fantastic reunion with Kim Basinger) throws herself into a stormy illicit affair down south, and the vulnerable maria crosses the border in an attempt to reunite her alienated parents. As he already showed to full effect in ‘Amores Perros’, Arriaga is a master of gradually immersing the audience into the varied gallery of characters of ensemble dramas, and here he presents a story that ends up affecting them all in a most surprising way. The images are beautifully framed by robert elswit, who was also responsible for the cinematography in ‘There Will Be Blood’ and ‘michael Clayton’.

Tu April 21 su April 26

19:00 22:30

dagmar Teatret empire Bio

The burning plain USA 2008, 106 min. english director: Guillermo Arriaga script: Guillermo Arriaga Camera: robert elswit editor: Craig Wood Production: Parkes, macdonald Producer: Walter Parkes, Laurie macdonald Cast: Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, Joaquim de Almeida distr.: sandrew metronome

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CHoKe CLArK GreGG

It takes a lot of courage to make a film adaptation of a novel by the literary cult idol Chuck Palahniuk (‘Fight Club’), but the actor Clark Gregg, who makes his directorial debut in this film, does it with calm confidence.

With sam rockwell in another unforgettable role as an outsider, he has made his own absurd indie-comedy about the former medicine student victor (rockwell), who mac-jobs himself through life together with his friend denny (Brian William Henke - let’s see more of him, please). The two of them also attend meetings of sex Addicts Anonyomous - denny because he is a chronic masturbator, and victor because he wants to seduce some girls. His problem is more his raving mad, institutionalized mother (Anjelica Huston), whose need for medical care he tries to finance through a self-devised scam: he stages his own near-choking death in the city’s noble restaurants, until someone comes over and energetically hits him on the back. The rescuers usually follow up their deed by giving him a decent amount of money, proud of being able to save someone’s life. victor, on the other hand, is convinced that he’s doing them a favour - he is definitely doing us a favour. ‘Choke’ is perhaps not a perfect film, but it is a grotesque and entertaining comedy about life and all the muck one can choke on.

sa April 18 su April 19 Th April 23

19:00 14:15 21:30

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret CinemaxX

choke USA 2008, 92 min. english director: Clark Gregg script: Clark Gregg Camera: Tim orr editor: Joe Klotz Production: Fox searchlight Producer: Beau Flynn, Tripp vinson Cast: sam rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly macdonald, Brian William Henke distr.: scanbox danmark

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The Exploding Girl Bradley Rust Gray

There is plenty of patience in the development of ‘The Exploding Girl’, about the 22-year-old Ivy (Zoe Kazan), who returns home from college to New York during the summer holidays. When her friend Mark (Mark Rendall), who has also just come home, can’t find a place to live, he moves in with Ivy and her mother, and as the weeks go by, Al’s infatuation with Ivy gets more and more apparent, while her boyfriend becomes an increasingly distant voice on the telephone. Ivy suffers from epilepsy and has learned to keep a tight rein on her feelings to avoid stressing her body. It is this explosive threat that is simmering beneath the surface. Bradley Rust Gray consciously avoids over-dramatic effects and instead focuses with a sublime eye on the inner conflicts of a 22-year-old girl, who has as much zest for life as she fears death. The result is ‘Kids’ almost without drugs and sex, but Gray doesn’t have to resort to Brechtian distancing effects to get us interested in his charming and youthful story about a summer flirt, which is told with an authentic level of precision and played endearingly by the young Zoe Kazan (the grandchild of Elia Kazan), whom we are certain to see much more of.

Sa April 18 12:30 Dagmar Teatret Tu April 21 19:15 Cinemateket We April 22 16:45 Dagmar Teatret

The Exploding Girl USA 2008, 79 min.

English Director: Bradley Rust Gray Script: Bradley Rust Gray Camera: Eric Lin Editor: So Yong Kim Production: Soandbrad Producer: So Yong Kim, Karin Chien, Ben Howe, Bradley Rust Gray Cast: Zoe Kazan, Mark Rendall, Maryann Urbano Distr.: Memento Films

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Frozen River Courtney Hunt

It’s not easy being Ray Eddie. After her husband walks out on her and gambles away their savings, the devastated single mother of two boys is suddenly left with the entire responsibility of providing for the family with the minimum wage she earns with her part-time job at a local store. At the same time, she also has to manage to pay the deposit on a new home, so that they don’t have to continue living in a trailer, but she categorically refuses to accept her son’s offer to drop out of school. The world that is portrayed in Courtney Hunt’s Sundance-winner ‘Frozen River’ is not exactly heartening. The town’s inhabitants have to do what they can to survive their economic hardship, and among other things this involves smuggling people across the border from Canada. Ray’s chance encounter with Lila, a Mohawk from the nearby reserve, leads her into this underworld, and the social realist drama develops into a nail-biting thriller. At the centre of it all is the relationship between two women, which comes about through necessity, but develops into a mutual understanding of each others’ situations. The fearless Melissa Leo brings an intensity to the less than flattering leading role, which earlier this year earned her an Oscar nomination.

Sa April 18 16:30 Dagmar Teatret We April 22 21:30 Grand Teatret Su April 26 19:00 Dagmar Teatret

Frozen River USA 2008, 96 min.

English, French / Swedish Subtitles Director: Courtney Hunt Script: Courtney Hunt Camera: Reed Morano Editor: Kate Williams Music: Peter Golub, Shahzad Ismaily Sound: Micah Bloomberg Production: Harwood Hunt Prods./The Cohen Media Group Producer: Heather Rae, Chip Hourian Cast: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Michael O’Keefe, Mark Boone, Jr., Charlie McDermott, John Canoe, Dylan Carusona, Jay Klaitz Distr.: NonStop Entertainment

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Goodbye Solo Ramin Bahrani

Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) is ‘the cab driver to end all cab drivers’, as Dan Turell put it. Or in reality he’s something as few and far between - especially in films - as a good person. When a burnt-out old man with suicidal intentions hires him to drive him up to a mountaintop, Solo reacts instinctively and feels responsible for preventing the misdeed. He ends up taking the uncooperative customer William (Red West) to a bar and ultimately home to his place to let him sleep away his intoxication. He visits him at his motel, washes his clothes without being asked to do so, and tries out his pills. To hardened ears this might sound like a stalker story, but there are no hidden agenda’s in Solo’s altruistic behaviour - as much as there is no Indie irony in Ramin Bahrani’s simple and highly enriching story about two men, who slowly meet each other.

While not intending to change his intentions one bit, the disillusioned William loosens up a little and starts taking interest in his Senegalese taxi driver, who dreams of becoming a flight attendant. ‘Goodbye Solo’ is an outstanding little film about life and human beings - written, directed and acted with deeply resonating authenticity.

Su April 19 16:30 Dagmar Teatret Fr April 24 15:00 Empire Bio Sa April 25 21:00 Husets Biograf

Goodbye Solo USA 2008, 91 min.

English Director: Ramin Bahrani Script: Ramin Bahrani, Bahareh Azimi Camera: Michael Simmonds Editor: Ramin Bahrani Production: Gigantic Pictures Producer: Jason Orans Cast: Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Diana Franco Galindo, Carmen Leyva Distr.: Memento Films

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mommA’s mAn AZAZeL JACoBs

‘momma’s man’ was one of the best films at this year’s sundance film festival, and it’s not hard to see why. defying any kind of categorisation with its elements of heart-rending everyday drama and wry comedy, Azazel Jacobs has made wonderfully original film. And it’s obviously quite a personal one, as Jacobs lets his own parents play the parts of the parents for his cinematic alter ego mikey, a completely ordinary man in his 30s, who visits his parents in new York. Back in Los Angeles are his wife and their newborn child, and everything seems fine, but just as he’s on his way home, mikey suddenly follows a freak impulse and decides to spend an extra day with his parents. one day turns into many, and days turn into weeks, while mikey stops answering the phone calls from his understandably desperate wife and holes himself up in his old attic room among all his childhood memorabilia. It’s never quite clear what it is that has triggered mikey’s existential crisis, for if there was an easy answer, the problem would be solved. But it’s not hard to relate to the film’s precise depiction of family relations and the fear of fatherhood, which in mikey’s case points both ways. ‘momma’s man’ is an original meditation about the ephemeral and the enduring aspects of life, told with refreshing authenticity.

sa April 18 22:30 We April 22 13:45 sa April 25 21:30

empire Bio dagmar Teatret CinemaxX

momma’S man USA 2008, 99 min. english director: Azazel Jacobs script: Azazel Jacobs Camera: Tobias datum editor: darrin navarro Production: Artists Public domain Producer: Alex orlovsky, Hunter C. Gray Cast: matt Boren, Ken Jacobs, Flo Jacobs distr.: visit Films

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PrInCe oF BroAdWAY seAn BAKer

‘Prince of Broadway’ is truly independent. made entirely without the help of production companies and shot on a micro-budget in new York’s pulsating streets, where the director sean Baker has also recruited the film’s authentic gallery of characters. Lucky is a street hustler and an immigrant from Ghana who doesn’t have a green card. He successfully sells fake branded goods in the city’s wholesale district, until his ex-girlfriend thrusts a child into his arms. she claims it’s his son, and in one go, his life changes from being a bachelor to changing nappies, preparing baby food and, not least, taking responsibility for other people than himself.

His boss, the Armenian-Lebanese immigrant Levon, doesn’t have a much easier life, neither in terms of love nor in terms of his small business, as he constantly fears that his stockpile of fake bags and shoes will be confiscated. The two men’s stories take shape as the small boy occupies more and more of their lives. With its raw images and his handheld camera, ‘Prince of Broadway’ is a vibrating, intense, and at times amusing social-realist portrait, whose saturated colours and local neighbourhoods can seem totally exotic. It’s a story about what is true and what is fake in life, but the film itself is totally authentic.

mo April 20 19:00 Th April 23 14:15

Cinemateket dagmar Teatret

prince oF broadWay USA 2008, 100 min. english director: sean Baker script: sean Baker, darren dean Camera: sean Baker editor: sean Baker sound: david Grohman Production: Cre Film Producer: darren dean Cast: Prince Adu, Karren Karagulian, Aiden noesi distr.: sean Baker

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sYneCdoCHe, neW YorK CHArLIe KAUFmAn

The ultra-nerdy screenwriter and indie-hipster Charlie Kaufman became a cult phenomenon with ‘Being John malkovich’ and his collaborations with spike Jonze and michel Gondry. ‘synechdoche, new York’ is his first film as a director, and with Philip seymour Hoffman in the lead as a stage director with great ambitions, health problems and an impossible theatre project, the stage is set for multi-layered meanings and collapsing identities. When Caden Cotard (Hoffman) is awarded an arts grant, he sets about producing a colossal project, which is supposed to take place in a miniature version of manhattan. But his own marital free fall and his secret infatuation with the ticket vendor Hazel ends up, through complicated detours, being played out to him on stage.

Kaufman’s film has been five years in the making, and is about as ambitious in its scale as Caden’s project - and naturally just as grotesque and uncontrolled in its brain-teasing absurdities. Philip seymour Hoffman is sublime, and is surrounded by the wonderful ladies Catherine Keener, samantha morton, emily Watson and michelle Williams.

Tu April 21 21:30 We April 22 18:30

Grand Teatret dagmar Teatret

Synecdoche, neW york USA 2008, 124 min. english director: Charlie Kaufman script: Charlie Kaufman Camera: Fred elmes editor: robert Frazen music: Jon Brion sound: drew Kunin Production: sidney Kimmel entertainment Producer: Anthony Bregman, Charlie Kaufman, spike Jones, Kimmell Cast: Philip seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, sadie Goldstein, Tom noonan, Peter Friedman, Charles Techman, Josh Pais, daniel London, robert seay, michelle Williams, stephen Adly Guirgis, samantha morton, Hope davis, Frank Girardeau, Jennifer Jason Leigh distr.: sF Film

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Wendy and Lucy Kelly Reichardt

Kelly Reichardt had her big breakthrough with ‘Old Joy’ (shown at NatFilm ‘07), and that title is fitting for Reichardt’s work, which is good old school American independent. She not only portrays American life with the kind of unpretentious simplicity that one was used to seeing a generation ago, her characters also seem to be searching for a more original and accommodating America, which seems to be moving further and further away. In ‘Wendy and Lucy’, Wendy is on her way to Alaska, hoping that the days here are longer. But her car breaks down in Oregon and destroys the financial house of cards her plans are built on. While she is waiting to have it repaired, she is arrested for shoplifting and loses her faithful friend and companion, her dog Lucy (who also played the dog in ‘Old Joy’). And that’s that. While she is looking for Lucy, Wendy comes across a number of more or less friendly characters, and Reichardt gets to paint an authentic miniature of Americana. ‘Wendy and Lucy’ is a simple but resonating film, borne by a superb Michelle Williams (who can also be seen in ‘Mammoth’ and ‘Synecdoche, New York’) as Wendy.

She is a woman of few words, but one can sense her stubbornness, her vulnerability and her search for just that bit more in life.

Sa April 18 Su April 19 Tu April 21

18:00 Gloria 21:00 Palads 15:00 Empire Bio

Wendy and Lucy USA 2008, 80 min.

English Director: Kelly Reichardt Script: Reichardt, Jon Raymond Camera: Sam Levy Editor: Kelly Reichardt Production: FilmScience, Glass Eye Pix Producer: Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani Cast: Michelle Williams, Will Patton, John Robinson Distr.: Memento Films

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clearly canadian Before Tomorrow It’s not me, I swear List song straight To The Heart This Beautiful City

none - not one - of the roughly 40 films that Canada produced last year have made it to denmark.

This is doubly annoying, as they don’t only make great films, but as the Canadian film taste also resembles that of the danes in terms of tone and subject matter. Just see ‘Lost song’, which tackles the same issues as Heidi maria Faisst’s ‘The Blessing’, or ‘Beautiful City’, which could be a grown-up version of ‘nordkraft’.

Inuit culture takes up a special place in Canada’s self-awareness - also in cinematic terms, like in the beautiful ‘Before Tomorrow’, which is based on a novel by the danish author Jørgen riel.

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Before Tomorrow Marie-Helene Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu

The Arnait Video Collective is a Canadian group that formed to document the unique knowledge and culture of Inuit women before it disappears. ‘Before Tomorrow’ is their first feature, and the result is highly impressive.

The story takes place in the middle of the 19th century, when an Inuit family meets a neighbouring family in the middle of the summer to share food and stories and to marry off their progeny. They talk with disbelief and nervousness about the visiting Scandinavians and their peculiar customs. After a lucrative fishing season, the tribe’s elder Ninigiuq (played by the director Ivalu) and her grandchild Maniq (Paul-Dylan Ivalu) volunteer to dry the catch on a remote island away from wolves.

But Ningiuq is dying, and when her family fails to turn up, her worst fears that the Europeans have taken more with them than just liquor are confirmed. Based on Jørgen Riel’s novel ‘Before Tomorrow’ and told with the same attentive and observational style as ‘The Fast Runner’ and ‘The Journals of Knud Rasmussen’, ‘Before Tomorrow’ unites the European and Inuit narrative styles.

The result is an exceptionally beautiful film, whose poetry and captivating images bring a special chapter of Canadian history to life.

Fr April 17 16:45 Dagmar Teatret Tu April 21 17:30 Empire Bio We April 22 16:30 Dagmar Teatret

Before Tomorrow Canada 2008, 93 min.

Inukitut / English Subtitles Director: Marie-Helene Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu Script: Marie-Helene Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu, Susan Avingaq Camera: Norman Cohn, Felix Lajeunesse Editor: Norman Cohn, Marie-Helene Cousineau, Felix Lajeunesse Production: Kunuk Cohn, Igloolik Isuma Producer: Stephane Rituit Cast: Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, PaulDylan Ivalu, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Mary Qulitalik, Tumasie Sivuarapik Distr.: Isuma Distributing International

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IT’s noT me, I sWeAr! PHILIPPe FALArdeAU

Philippe Falardeau, who charmed the festival world with ‘Congorama’ (natFilm Festival 2008), demonstrates with this bitter-sweet portrait of an adolescent boy’s reaction to his dysfunctional family, that he is a director to keep an eye on. 10-year-old Léon, a lad with a somewhat sardonic sense of humour for his age, spends his time on dubious forms of entertainment like fake suicide attempts, vandalism, burglary and arson. The cause of his behaviour is fairly obvious, as his parents are a truly horrific match, who love each other, but simply can’t get along. As their relationship deteriorates, Léon’s antisocial excesses escalate. The result could have been a fairly depressing story, but Falardeau accurately balances the tragedy with absurd humour, and he has discovered an entirely irresistible little antihero in Antoine L’ecuyer as Léon. ‘It’s not me, I swear!’ is a warm and profound comedy with a perfect sense of the era it’s set in: the film takes place in the allotment idyll of 1968, and both the choice of sweaters and the parents’ negligence disguised as political liberal-mindedness - cement the fact that it wasn’t always a dream to be a child of the ‘68 generation.

su April 19 17:30 mo April 20 14:15 Tu April 21 19:00

empire Bio dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

c’eST paS moi, je le jure!

Canada 2008, 110 min.

French / english subtitles director: Philippe Falardeau script: Philippe Falardeau Camera: André Turpin editor: Frédérique Broos Production: micro_scope production Producer: Luc dery, Kim mcCraw Cast: Antoine L’écuyer, suzanne Clément, daniel Brière distr.: Films distribution

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LosT sonG rodrIGUe JeAn

‘Lost song’ deals with the same subject as Heidi maria Faisst’s competition film ‘The Blessing’: postpartum depression and the grim solitude and isolation it gives rise to. But this film does so with completely different consequences. elisabeth and Pierre, a couple in their mid-30s, move away from the city to Pierre’s mother in a small idyllic forest cottage to rediscover the spark after the birth of their first child. But Pierre goes to work every morning and leaves behind elisabeth in the almost deserted forest, where she’s extremely bored and shares cigarettes with the young girl next door in a daze of weary apathy. This also goes for her small daughter, who neither wants to sleep nor be breast-fed. elisabeth tries to attend to her needs, but there is no communication between them, and she gradually lets her mother-in-law take over, until her anxiety of losing everything with her baby hits her like a boomerang.

Through the use of minimalistically observant realism and good use of the sunlit but frightening nature, the director rodrigue Jean creates an increasingly claustrophobic atmosphere, which mirrors elisabeth’s mental breakdown and becomes a dangerously uncanny event to witness. ‘Lost song’ won the award for best Canadian film at the Toronto Film Festival last year.

Fr April 17 sa April 25

21:30 21:00

dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

loST Song Canada 2008, 106 min.

French / english subtitles director: rodrigue Jean script: rodrigue Jean Camera: mathieu Laverdiere editor: mathieu Bouchard-malo Production: Filmo Producer: François Landry Cast: suzie LeBlanc, Patrick Goyette, Ginette morin, Louise Turcot, marilou Longpre Pilon, Louis Lafreniere-Audette, Charles Lafreniere-Audette distr.: Transmar Films

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sTrAIGHT To THe HeArT sTÉPHAne GeHAmI

stéphane Gehami’s feature debut ‘straight to the Heart’ cuts to the bone of the story about Benoit, the ostracised black sheep of a bourgeois family, who is a dab hand at stealing cars, but pretty useless at anything else.

He shares his apartment with his wheelchair-bound friend and is accompanied by his protégé and junior thief Jimi, whose energy is drained by his ill and selfpitying mother and therefore looks up to Benoit as a somewhat odd father-figure. After ending a deeply troubled relationship with his girlfriend, Benoit falls head over heels in love with sylvie, whom he meets when he’s about to steal her car. she doesn’t have the least connection to the criminal world and perhaps that is why she is fascinated by Benoit’s rough approach to life, while he himself is attracted to a law-abiding life through sylvie, albeit without being able to commit to it fully.

Gehami, who has also written and produced ‘straight to the Heart’, elegantly finds the right tone between youthful rebellion and a grown-up man’s desire to find peace and quiet, and offers a unequivocal proof that Canadian independent filmmaking can measure up to that of its southern neighbour.

mo April 20 18:30 We April 22 12:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

en plein coeur Canada 2008, 109 min.

French / english subtitles director: stéphane Gehami script: stéphane Géhami, Héloïse masse, Jacques marcotte, Julian Ferera Camera: Ferrera editor: Claude Palardy Production: K-Films amerique Producer: stephane Gehami Cast: Pierre rivard, Keven noel, Benedicte decary distr.: Wide management

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THIs BeAUTIFUL CITY ed GAss-donneLLY

30-year-old ed Gass-donnelly doesn’t fear saying what he thinks in his courageous and perceptive feature film debut ‘This Beautiful City’. Toronto’s West end is inhabited by the creative class, who live in exquisite apartments among street junkies and the homeless, and using this metropolitan contrast, Gass-donnelly demonstrates an impressive sense of the self-destructive behaviour of human beings. Harry and Carol are an outwardly successful but deeply dysfunctional couple, while Johnny and Pretty are the junky and the whore, who - often crying and bleeding - wander around on their constant search for a fix. Carol’s desperation leads her to an encounter with a lonely policeman, and a chain of events causes the lives of these five people to intersect and reveal the rottenness of their lives. Gassdonnelly has created five explosive characters, which the actors deliver with gripping performances. There are no simple solutions in this story, and the distinction between nice and ugly, good and evil is not always easy to make. The audience is captured by this fascinating moral relativism and the film’s raw realism is given an extra dimension by an original visual style using 16mm clips and a searching, handheld camera.

sa April 18 su April 19 su April 26

21:30 15:00 21:00

dagmar Teatret empire Bio Palads

ThiS beauTiFul ciTy Canada 2007, 87 min. english director: ed Gass-donnelly script: ed Gass-donnelly Camera: micha dahan editor: ed Gass-donnelly sound: nelson Ferreira Production: 3 Legged dog Films & resolute Films Producer: ed Gass-donnelly, Lee Kim, Aaron Poole Cast: Aaron Poole, Caroline Cave, Kristin Booth, noam Jenkins, stuart Hughes distr.: ed Gass-donnelly

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148

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THe dAYs

CHee GUAn BoI KWonG

In an unsuccessful attempt to help and protect his younger brother Baby (Ivan Lim), Zi Long (Justin Chan) decides to include him in his teenage gang. Zi Long and his friends are in control at the local school thanks to their punches and fly-kicks, but he has to watch with bitterness when Baby, who is quick on the uptake, no longer follows his footsteps, but with reckless rashness gets more and more attracted by the tempting, but blunt and potentially fatal world of professional crime. Things quickly spin out of control for both of them, and when realities finally hits the two brothers, there is no way back. ‘The days’ is based on a true story that takes place in 1990s singapore, which the novice director Boi Kwong recreates with stunning and well-framed wide screen images, curried with action-filled animation sequences and elegant martial arts fights in the school canteen and on the streets. singapore is a rapidly developing film nation, but while it has so far mostly offered light melodramas or elegant art films like those mad by the country’s greatest director, royston Tan, it is a pleasure to see Boi Kwong showing us that there are far worse crimes committed on the streets of singapore than throwing away chewing gum.

Fr April 17 21:00 sa April 18 18:45 mo April 20 21:00

Palads dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

Sui yue Singapore 2008, 100 min. mandarin, Cantonese / english subtitles director: Chee Guan Boi Kwong script: Christina Choo, Chee Guan Boi Kwong Camera: Beng Huat John Lim Production: originasian Pictures Producer: Yuin Yuin April Tong, randy Ang, Chee Guan Boi Kwong Cast: Adele Wong, Ivan Lim, Justin Chan distr.: Joint entertainment Int.

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12 LoTUs roYsTon TAn

over the past few years, the musical genre has gone through something of a renaissance, and royston Tan’s ‘12 Lotus’ is a shining example that one can sing one’s way to much more than just love. His heart-rending account of a young girl - whose biggest dream is to become a Getai singer at the legendary pop opera in singapore, but who has to tread the path of humiliation to get there - can best be described as an intelligent hodgepodge of Gaspar noé’s thriller ‘Irréversible’ and Baz Luhrman’s ‘moulin rouge’. The film’s director, royston Tan, garnered an overnight cult following with his previous film, ‘881’, which also played on the floorboards and behind the scenes of the distinctive Chinese Getai theatre, a glittery pop musical tradition that can be seen in malaysia and singapore. But in ‘12 Lotus’, the pace is set to full throttle and the tone is more relaxed, while the young protagonist’s far from happy life unfolds in a unique, catchy mixture of melodrama, absurd comedy and colourful kitsch ballads. ‘It’s toxic’, like Britney would have said.

sa April 18 21:45 mo April 20 16:15 Tu April 21 22:30

Gloria dagmar Teatret empire Bio

12 loTuS Singapore 2008, 119 min. mandarin, english / english subtitles director: royston Tan script: Tan, Liam Yeo Camera: Alan Yap editor: Lawrence Ang, Low Hwee Production: Golden village entertainment Producer: seah saw Lam, Lim Teck, Freddie Yeo, mabelyn ow Cast: Liu Ling-ling, mindee ong, Qi Yu-wu, Hao Hao, Yi Lianghuang, damus Lim, Fen Auntie, Lim min-guo distr.: mediaCorp raintree Pictures Pte Ltd

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PLAsTIC CITY YU LIK-WAI

sao Paulo, Brazil’s ethnic melting pot, has the largest Japanese immigrant community in the world and houses just as many Chinese. It’s here, in the Asian neighbourhood Liberdade, that Yu Lik-wai’s brutal and colourful gangster film takes place. The ageing Chinese boss, Yuda, controls Liberdade’s flourishing bootleg market together with his adoptive son Kirin. But an anti-Asian alliance in the Brazilian underworld as well as corrupt politicians encroach on their empire. Yuda ends up in jail, but gets out by staging his own death, while Kirin hides in the favelas, where he is planning a final gang war showdown, which is choreographed almost like a ballet on top of a free-standing bridge head. Yu Lik-wai is best known as a photographer, and many scenes in ‘Plastic City’ are devised as music videos with samba techno, sex and violence. But violence corrupts, and it’s this fact of life that moves the story into increasingly surreal dimensions, where Yuda escapes from the city to the Amazon rain forest like another Colonel Kurtz, in a vain attempt to run away from himself and the evil he has bred. The resulting cocktail was too much for many spectators at the film’s premiere in venice, and Yu took action and cut the film together to a tighter version. It is this new, final version, that we will be showing here, fresh out of the editing room.

su April 19 22:30 We April 22 21:00 Fr April 24 16:30

empire Bio vester vov vov dagmar Teatret

dangkou Brazil, Hong Kong, Japan 2009, 100 min.

Portuguese, mandarin / english subtitles director: Yu Lik-wai script: Fernando Bonassi, Yu Lik-wai Camera: Lai Yu-fai editor: Wenders Li, Andre Finotti Production: Gulane, Xstream pictures Producer: Fabiano Gullane, Caio Gullane Cast: Joe odagiri, Antonio Petrin, Taina muller, milhem Cortaz, Yi Huang, Anthony Wong distr.: Celluloid dreams

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AsHes oF TIme: redUX WonG KAr-WAI

Wong Kar-wai needs no introduction. With his fabulous and elegant declarations of love ‘Chungking express’, ‘In the mood for Love’ and ‘2046’, he has long established himself as one of the greatest living filmmakers. nonetheless, not all is films are equally well known and especially the sword fight film ‘Ashes of Time’ has long been a holy grail among his fans. The film, which takes place in ancient China and portrays the cynical loner ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) - who has isolated himself in the desert after a failed love affair, trying to drown his sorrows and memories in drink while working as a middle-man for contract killers and their clients has only rarely been shown in the version endorsed by the director himself since its premiere in 1994. To rectify this sad fact, Wong Kar-wai decided last year to return to the editing table to create a definitive version of the film. It’s been well worth the wait, as ‘Ashes of Time’ has, since its Cannes re-premiere, quickly proven to be possibly his most beautiful account of the epic struggle between love and suppressed memories.

su April 19 Th April 23

19:15 15:00

dagmar Teatret empire Bio

dung che Sai duk Hong Kong 2008, 93 min.

Cantonese, mandarin / english subtitles director: Wong Kar-wai script: Wong Kar Wai Camera: Christopher doyle editor: William Chang suk Ping & Patrick Tam music: Frankie Chan & roel A. Garcia Production: Jet Tone Productions & Beijing Film studio Producer: Wong Kar Wai & Jeff Lau Cast: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Carina Lau, Charlie Young, Jacky Cheung, maggie Cheung distr.: sF Film

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sPArroW JoHnnIe To

Johnnie To almost single-handedly revitalised Hong Kong’s hard-boiled gangster films back in the 1990s with classics such as ‘A Hero never dies’, ‘Where a Good man Goes’ and ‘The mission’. since then, he has made lots of different films with varying success, but with ‘sparrow’ he has produced a small gem that is easily his best film in years - without resorting to one single gunshot. Kei is a sparrow, which here means a professional pickpocket in the streets of Hong Kong. When a real sparrow one morning flies into Kei’s apartment, his three friends and colleagues see this as an ill-fated sign, and they are soon proven to be right. For a third kind of sparrow soon enters the picture in the shape of the beautiful femme fatale Chun-lei, and all four men become totally infatuated with her. The mysterious woman naturally turns out to have her own hidden agenda, and as is so often the case in To’s films, the plot contains some decent twists. But for once, they are not allowed to get in the way of the story’s development. Instead, To has created a played-down Film noir, which to a large degree is borne by the atmospheres and the small strokes of genius. There is a wonderful anachronism about both the tone of the film and the four gentlemanly scoundrels, headed by Kei, who complements his criminal career with a passion for photography.

Fr April 17 21:00 mo April 20 21:30

Palads dagmar Teatret

mancheuk Hong Kong 2008, 87 min.

Cantonese / english subtitles director: Johnnie To script: Johnnie To Camera: Cheng siu-keung editor: david richardson music: Xavier Jamaux, Fred Avril Production: milkyway Image production Producer: Johnnie To Cast: simon Yam, Kelly Lin, Lam Ka-tung, Lo Hoi-pang, Law Wing-cheong, Kenneth Cheung distr.: Universe Films distribution

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no PUedo vIvIr sIn TI Leon dAI

Life is not always so simple for the taciturn single father Li Wu-Hsiung and his young daughter in Leon dai’s mesmerisingly beautiful melodrama, which is based on a real event in Taiwan, where a father, who wasn’t awarded custody of his daughter, stood by a motorway overpass and threatened to kill himself and his daughter. With his black-and-white strokes of genius, Leon dai goes back in time to the months before the fateful incident, and shows their financially challenged lives in a small illegal building by the harbour as well as - and this is the film’s greatest merit - the great love, that is everpresent between them. And which makes it even harder to accept that Li Wu-Hsiung suddenly finds out that he can’t keep her - after he with the best intentions tries to sign her up for school - because the custodial rights always belong to the mother. even if she, as in this case, disappeared shortly after birth. Leon dai has learned a lesson or two from the masters of Italian neo-realism, and - partly thanks to the fantastic performances of the two lead actors - he has made one of the festival’s most moving films.

sa April 18 14:15 Tu April 21 18:00 We April 22 21:30

dagmar Teatret Gloria dagmar Teatret

no puedo vivir Sin Ti Taiwan 2008, 85 min. mandarin / english subtitles director: Leon dai script: Leon dai, Chen Wen-pin Camera: Chang Hsiang-yu, Chou Yihwen editor: Leon dai Production: Luminoso Film Co. Ltd. Producer: Chen Wen-Pin distr.: FAme Universal entertainment Ltd

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The End of Year Wang Jing

Every year, around 400m Chinese travel home to their famillies to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The same goes for three men, the migrant worker Zhang Guodong, the heart surgeon Li Jialiang and the ageing professor Bai, in this well-made ensemble film. But it’s not that easy to get train tickets during the world’s busiest and biggest temporary migratory movement, neither for the workers, the upper class or for academics. Zhang is running a business with a motley crew of highly entertaining jacksof-all-trades, and when he accidentally causes professor Bai’s heart attack, he immediately offers to renovate the old man’s apartment, so that he can welcome his family in style. In the hospital, Bai’s paths cross that of the heart surgeon, who is having a hard time convincing his wife and teenage son to come with him to visit his family in the countryside. The New Year thereby becomes the impending deadline for this line-up of characters, as much as it becomes the film’s effective driving force replete with comedy and madness. ‘The End of Year’ is an everyday portrait from present-day China, which balances its light, humorous tone with a realistic edge and once again demonstrates, that it’s possible to make upbeat political commentaries in China.

Tu April 21 16:45 Cinemateket Th April 23 12:00 Dagmar Teatret

Yi nian dao tou China 2008, 104 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Wang Jing Script: Xie Xiaodong, Wu nan Camera: Li Ran, Zhang lei Editor: Feng Wen Production: China Film Group, Massaway Film, Beijing Film Studio Producer: Xie XIaodong Cast: Chen Gang, Wang Chang’e, Zhang Tong, Feng Dinghong, Zeng Yunzen, Sun Yiming, Pan Yigang, Hu Shuangquan, Li Jiaming, Wang Mingshi, Bo Bing, Xu Ke, Liu Zhongping Distr.: Massway Film Distribution

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norTh korea The Flower Girl A schollgirl’s diary

north Korea has been producing feature films since 1948, and they still do so, encouraged by ‘the beloved leader’ Kim Jong-il, who is a big film lover himself and apparently has a personal dvd collection of more than 20,000 titles.

Until now, films - like so much else from north Korea - have been an inaccessible good for most Westerners, even if some of them enjoyed a great success in the soviet Union and in China. But now four titles from the north Korean film archive have been sold to international distributors, and CPH:PIX is hurrying to be - as far as we know - the first to show north Korean films in danish cinemas.

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8564

THe FLoWer GIrL IK-GYU CHoI, HAK PArK

‘The Flower Girl’, north Korea’s equivalent to ‘Gone With the Wind’, is one of the country’s largest recent hits, based on an opera written by one of its former prime ministers, Kim Il-sung - both on stage, where it is still performed after 40 years and now on the big screen.

‘The Flower Girl’ is the story of the young flower vendor Koppun, who single-handedly has to look after her ill mother and her blind sister, while her brother is in prison.

The Japanese occupiers are horribly inhumane, and both Koppun and her family have to endure cruel humiliation.

With its melodramatic depiction of human hardship and concurrent belief that everything can be changed for the better, this beautifully filmed story is a strong work with a clear message to the younger audience members about how much their parents had to endure to secure them a good life. Based in the 1920s and 30s, when Japan was still ruling the country, the film is a barefaced allegory of the communist ideals that were a source of inspiration all over the world then.

mo April 20 21:30 sa April 25 14:15

Cinemateket Cinemateket

koTpanun chonio North Korea 1972, 127 min.

Korean / english subtitles director: Ik-gyu Choi, Hak Park Cast: Yong-hui Hong distr.: Wavelength Pictures

CPH:PIX 2009

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7408

A sCHooLGIrL’s dIArY JAnG In-HAK

Jang In-hak’s colourful coming-of-age drama offers teenage rebellion with a twist. The film has been seen by more than 8 million people in north Korea - roughly a third of the country’s population. Accompanied by a catchy soundtrack that will definitely have you leave the cinema humming its melodies, the film follows the young schoolgirl su-ryeon, who is embarrassed by her parents’ simple lifestyle, and who more than anything else yearns to move to the big city and adopt a more modern way of life. Her mother works as a librarian and looks after su-reyon, while her father, a scientist, works away from the village - and in her eyes he is simply abandoning the two women in a decrepit house in the countryside. It’s only when her mother becomes seriously ill and her father makes an important scientific discovery that su-reyon’s starts questioning her rebellious tendencies. In many ways, the young su-reyon’s character can be seen as a modern update of the main figure in ‘The Flower Girl’, which is also shown at this year’s festival. ‘A schoolgirl’s diary’ is the first north Korean film in many years that has seriously managed to reach beyond the country’s borders. once one has seen the film, one knows why.

sa April 18 sa April 25

14:00 16:45

Cinemateket Cinemateket

han nyeohakSaengeui ilgi North Korea 2006, 94 min.

Korean / english subtitles director: Jang In-hak script: An Jun-bo Camera: Hwang ryong-cheol, Han Heuigwang editor: Pak Jeong-suk music: Jo seong-su Production: Korea Film studio release and production Producer: Kim Jong-il Cast: Pak mi-hyang, Kim Jin-mi, Kim Yeong-suk, Kim Cheol, Kim myeong-woon, shin Hakmyeong, Kim Jeong-mi distr.: Wavelength Pictures

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8183

dAYTIme drInKInG noH YoUnG-seoK

everything seems to be going wrong for young Hyeok-jin. during a drunken stupor, his three friends decide to go on a road trip the following day. But only Hyeok-jin appears at the bus station in the suburb of mid-winter seoul, and from then on the protagonist’s misunderstandings escalate. He moves further and further out into the countryside, hoping that his friends will soon catch up with him. on the way, he meets one eccentric after another - from hot-tempered men to simultaneously flirtatious and frigid women - and every encounter leads to a toast with the traditional Korean drink, soju. But he’s not always in good company, and the naive Hyeok-jin with his gradually constant soju-intoxication finds that almost every attempt to socialise fails. With its long scenes, raw tone and slightly experimental form, ‘daytime drinking’ is a road-movie in disguise. Like all good road-movies, the film is about the journey rather than the destination, and this is maybe just as well, as Hyeok-jin loses both his sense of direction, his money and his clothes in this rousing Korean independent film, which is served with deadpan comedy and head-splitting hangovers.

mo April 20 18:45 su April 26 14:15

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

noT Sool South Korea 2008, 116 min.

Korean / english subtitles director: noh Young-seok script: Young-seok noh Camera: noh Young-seok editor: noh Young-seok music: noh Young-seok Production: stonework Film Producer: noh Young-seok Cast: song sam-dong, Yuk sangyeob, Kim Gang-heui, Tak seong-jun distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

CPH:PIX 2009

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8242

dreAm KIm KI-dUK

The often taboo-breaking Korean director Kim Ki-duk has always been someone who can devise a fascinating story that creeps up on the audience, only to pull the rug from under its feet without warning. This film is no exception. In ‘dream’, Jin (Joe odagiri) wakes up from a violent nightmare, in which he’s responsible for a car accident. strongly shaken, he drives to the location he dreamt about, only to discover that there has in fact been an accident. Jin is convinced it’s his fault, but a surveillance camera reveals that the beautiful fashion designer ran (Lee na-young) was behind the wheel.

It turns out that ran is a sleepwalker and that she in mysterious ways lives out Jin’s dreams when he sleeps.

This is often quite impractical, as many of Jin’s dreams are about having wild sex with his ex. The film is far out, full of black humour and, as always, exquisitely directed.

The borders between dream and reality are seriously blurred when Jin moves in with ran to prevent his dreams from destroying her life, and she has to resort to increasingly extreme methods to keep himself awake.

Fans of Kim Ki-duk should not deprive themselves of this tour of dreamland.

Tu April 21 sa April 25 su April 26

20:00 16:30 18:00

empire Bio Grand Teatret Gloria

bi mong South Korea 2008, 93 min.

Korean, Japanese / english subtitles director: Kim Ki-duk script: Kim Ki-duk.

Camera: Kim Gi-tae editor: Kim Ki-duk music: Park Ji Production: Kim Ki-duk Film, sponge Producer: Kim Ki-duk, song myung-chui, david Cho, Kai naoki, Kunizane mizue.

Cast: Joe odagiri, Lee na-young, Zia Kim, Tae-Hyeon distr.: showbox/mediaplex Inc.

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The Chaser Na Hong-jin

Thrillers that seriously ooze originality and nail-biting excitement are few and far between. But this is one of them. The debut filmmaker Na Hong-jin’s film about a serial killer is delivered at breakneck speed, replete with action, horror, political undertones and a story that is always one step ahead. Jung-ho used to be a policeman until he gave up his job to become a pimp.

When yet another one of his girls disappears on the job, he drives out to the customer himself to angrily demand an explanation. But before he even gets that far, he is involved in a banal car crash with said customer, Young-min, without knowing his identity. They both end up at the police station, where Young-min surprisingly admits murdering a number of women. Unfortunately, the police don’t believe him. Without traces of the victims or the crime scenes, they let the culprit go, and so it’s up to Jung-ho to uncover the truth and chase the murderer through the streets of Seoul. Warner Bros. have been fast off the blocks to secure themselves the American remake rights. This can’t go wrong, but do make sure you get a chance to catch the original while you have the chance.

Sa April 18 21:00 Palads Su April 19 21:30 Dagmar Teatret Mo April 20 22:30 Empire Bio

Chugyeogja South Korea 2008, 124 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Na Hong-jin Script: Na Hong-jin Camera: Lee Sung Je Editor: Kim Sun Min Music: Kim Jun Seok, Choi Yong Rock Sound: Choi Tae Young Production: Bidangil Pictures Producer: Choi Moon-su Cast: Yun-seok Kim, Jung-woo Ha, Yeong-hie Seo Distr.: NonStop Entertainment

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8236

My Dear Enemy Lee Yoon-ki

‘My Dear Enemy’ is one of those Asian films that almost scream for an American remake. But Hollywood has to make a real effort to match the tone and the chemistry of Lee Yon-ki’s charming anti-love story. Heui-su, who is in her early 30s, runs into her ex-boyfriend Byeong on a racecourse, and he still owes her 3.5 million won ($2,600). But Byeong doesn’t have anywhere close to that amount of money, and he instead convinces the slightly desperate Heui-su to drive her around to visit a couple of friends to organise the money. The trip takes them to a motorcycle club, various woman friends of Byeong and closer to times past. The plot of Lee’s small road movie is not spectacular in itself, but one feels that one is in competent hands from the very first scene to the surprising finale. There is a slacker-style quality but nonetheless a constant progress in the direction, while special emphasis is placed on the editing, the music and the winter images of Seoul. The acting is sublime between Ha Jeong-woo (‘The Chaser’) as the speedtalking lad Byeong and Lee’s regular leading lady Jeon Do-yeon, who plays the more uptight and calculating Heui-su, who ends up turning the story to her side.

Fr April 17 Sa April 18 Su April 19

21:45 Gloria 19:00 Palads 18:45 Dagmar Teatret

Mut-Jin-Ha-Roo South Korea 2008, 123 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Lee Yoon-ki Script: Park Eun-yeong Camera: Choi Sang-ho Editor: Kim Hyeong-ju Music: Kim Jeong-beom Sound: Kim Seong-dal Production: Lotte Entertainment Producer: David Cho, Jo Gwang-heui, Oh Jeong-wan Cast: Jeon Do-yeon, Ha Jeong-woo, Oh Ji-eun Distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

162

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The Dark Harbour Naito Takatsugu

It’s definitely not easy to find an outlet for one’s passion when one lives in a dump of a seaport village and is far from being the first banana - something that is painfully clear for the chubby single fisherman Manzo.

Taunted by his colleagues, he gives it a desperate try anyway, and tries out video dating at the local pub.

But it’s almost a foregone conclusion that things will go wrong when one approaches the mating game’s noble art of warming up with the insecurity of a nun on her first date with a sailor. But what does an honestly needy man do when he’s about to turn 40, and the desire to both love and be loved is bigger than ever before, while all opportunities not only seem far away, but simply out of reach? The answer, which shall not be revealed here, is far from the biggest surprise in Naito Taktsugo’s wonderfully underplayed comedy, which is like an unusual mix between Jacques Tati and Shohei Imamura’s subtle ‘The Eel’, and which offers deadpan details and a black humour that even Swedish director Roy Andersson would find hard to match.

Fr April 17 Su April 19 Tu April 21

22:30 Empire Bio 21:30 Dagmar Teatret 21:00 Vester Vov Vov

Futoko Japan 2008, 101 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Naito Takatsugu Script: Takatsugu Naito Camera: Kiyoaki Hashimoto Editor: Shinichi Fushima Production: PFF Partners Producer: Mayumi Amano Cast: Shinya Kote, Yuko Miyamoto, Kazuki Hirooka Distr.: Pia Film Festival, Pia Corporation

CPH:PIX 2009

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8572

PorCo rosso HAYAo mIYAZAKI

The renowned Japanese anime director Hayao miyazaki had his break-through in denmark with the delightful fable of Chihiro in ‘spirited Away’, which neither talked down to grown-ups nor went over the heads of children.

The film also made most of the West become aware of the fact that the biggest animation sensation of the past twenty years came from neither the UsA or eastern europe, but was as Japanese as sashimi.

Under his legendary company studio Ghibli, miyazaki has spent more than twenty years - like Walt disney in his heyday - producing one quirky cinematic pearl after another, and many of these older films are now, finally, seeing their danish premiere, and this is ample reason to be excited. We are proud to be able to present one of the best of these productions, ‘Porco rosso’, a story of a bewitched pilot and bounty hunter, who equipped with a pig’s head, bad manners and sublime mastery of the art of flying - has long taken Japanese audiences on a journey through the higher ethers. The film is shown in the original version. All you have to do now is get that ticket!

Fr April 17 su April 19

21:30 21:00

Grand Teatret CinemaxX

porco roSSo Japan 1992, 94 min.

Japanese / english subtitles director: Hayao miyazaki script: Hayao miyazaki Camera: Atsushi okui editor: Takeshi seyama Production: nippon Television network Corporation Producer: Toshio suzuki, rick dempsey Cast: shûichirô moriyama, Tokiko Kato, sanshi Katsura distr.: Camera Film

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8271

sTILL WALKInG HIroKAZU Kore-edA

The most interesting Japanese filmmaker of the past ten years, Hirokazu Kore-eda (‘nobody Knows’), is moving in familiar territory with his underplayed, realistic and thought-provoking family drama. But he understands how to make the genre his own. Based on his own book, the film portrays the Yokoyama family, including grandparents, children and grandchildren, who come together for the anniversary of the eldest son’s death 15 years before. It’s not a day everyone’s looking forward to, especially not the youngest son, who is still fighting for his father’s appreciation. on the surface, everything is fairly undramatic, and the events that unfold over the 24 hours that the family is united seem almost banal and predictable. But the conflicts are sizzling under the surface. The film is an intelligent and nostalgic reminder of the chances we have to get closer to our parents, when we and they need it most. As always, the director manages to bring out impressive and nuanced performances from the actors, not least Kiki Kirin as the mother, who is funny, moving and incisive. The master director Yazujiro ozu lurks in the background in more than one meaning of the term, but Kore-eda delivers purer naturalism and incisive irony, and the result is no less captivating.

Tu April 21 Th April 23 Fr April 24

21:45 14:00 14:15

Gloria dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

aruiTemo aruiTemo Japan 2008, 114 min.

Japanese / english subtitles director: Hirokazu Kore-eda script: Hirokazu Kore-eda Camera: Yutaka Yamazaki editor: Kore-eda Hirokazu music: Gontiti sound: Tsurumaki Yutakaa, ohtake shuji Production: Cine Qua non Producer: Yoshihiro Kato, Hijiri Taguchi Cast: Hiroshi Abe, Yui natsukawa, You, Kazuya Takahashi distr.: Celluloid dreams

CPH:PIX 2009

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8136

ToKYo sonATA KIYosHI KUrosAWA

With ‘Tokyo sonata’, the Japanese genre director and festival darling Kiyoshi Kurosawa wanted to - as he put it - make an entirely ordinary film. For the director’s fans, however, it won’t be hard to identify the master’s unique touch in this charming everyday drama, where the family is at the centre, as so often in Kurosawa’s films. ‘Tokyo sonata’ is about ryuhei, a man who one day loses his job, but who instead of letting on about it at home, pretends that nothing has happened. He still gets up every morning and pretends to go to work, but instead kills time in a seemingly endless dole queue, while learning that life as a job-seeker has its own rules.

But the proud head of the family is not the only one living a double life. His wife, who has long seen through his fraud without saying anything, is fighting her own fight for survival - and the same goes for their son. everyone puts on a brave front, while Kurosawa sends more than one nod towards the old Japanese master director Yasujiro ozu, and the fantastic precision of the three actors make sure that this subtle financial crisis comedy is a well-rounded success.

mo April 20 21:45 Tu April 21 14:15

Gloria dagmar Teatret

Tôkyô SonaTa Japan 2008, 119 min.

Japanese / english subtitles director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa script: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, sachiko Tanaka Camera: Akiko Ashizawa editor: Koichi Takahashi music: Kazumasa Hashimoto sound: masayuki Iwakura Production: entertainment Farm, Fortissimo Films Producer: Yukie Kito, Wouter Barendrecht Cast: Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyoko Koizumi, Yu Koyanagi, Kai Inowaki distr.: Fortissimo Films

166

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8172

nATIve dAnCer GUKA omArovA

Guka omarova is one of the few female directors from the increasingly productive Kazakhstan, and she is one of the country’s best directors overall. After her brilliant debut ‘schizo’, she now continues down the same vein of staging a criminal plot in the raw and spectacular nature of the steppes. ‘native dancer’ centres mostly on the ageing shaman Aidai (played by the real-life shaman neisipkul omarbekova), who bluntly predicts the future to three visiting clients and dramatically heals sick people with mud and animal blood from freshly slaughtered sheep. There doesn’t seem to be anything that can get her away from the place, until a group of local gangsters demand to buy her land. This kicks off a fierce drama, where the gangsters set the corrupt police on Aidai and her supporters. But Aidai refuses to move even one inch, and looks for help with the wealthy Batir, who, like everyone else, has gangster connections, and whose son she is treating. ‘native dancer’ is filled with curious events, slightly parodic action and real local mysticism. It is the merit of omarova that the individual parts fit together to a surprising and entertaining whole, which once again demonstrates that the flat, sandblasted deserts of Kazakhstan conceal more than what meets the eye.

Fr April 17 17:30 We April 22 19:00

empire Bio dagmar Teatret

bakSy Kazakhstan 2008, 87 min.

Kazakh, russian / english subtitles director: Guka omarova script: Guka omarova, sergei Bodrov Camera: rafik Galeev editor: dasha danilova Production: CTB Film Company, studio ¡§Kazakhfilm¡¨, Les Petites Lumieres, Kinofabrika GmbH Producer: sergei Bodrov, sergey selyanov, sergey Azimov, natacha devillers Cast: nesipkul omarbekova, Farkhat Amankulov, Tolepbergen Baisakalov, Almat Ayanov distr.: Fortissimo Films

CPH:PIX 2009

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8234

rACKeTeer AKHAn sATAev

‘racketeer’ is police slang for a person who is involved in organised crime, and this job description is very common in the film of the same name, which is an unexpected Kazakh answer to martin scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’. We follow sayan, who tells us his personal story from cradle to top gangsterhood. As a young boy, sayan is a natural talent as a boxer, who knocks out his opponents in the first round. He quickly attracts the attention of the local mobster boss ruslan, and before long he is solidly part of a world where - as soon becomes clear - one can’t rely on anyone. ‘racketeer’ strikes a secure balance between raw realism and stylised pop, with sidelong nods to directors such as Tarantino and Guy ritchie. In Kazakh, nota bene! But there are no camels or other Borat’esque clichés in Akhan sataev’s film, which instead obtains the substance of its plot in the repercussions of the collapse of the soviet Union, where champagne and expensive cars have a completely different, controversial meaning than in western films. sayan Isambaev is rocksolid in the role of the up-coming ‘racketeer’, and there is enough material here for both fans of the genre and curious cinéphiles.

We April 22 21:30 sa April 25 12:30

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

rekiTir Kasakhstan 2008, 80 min. russian / english subtitles director: Akhan sataev script: Timur Zhaksilykov Camera: Khasan Kydraliev editor: valeri Peretyatko music: Andrei Lifinsky Production: sataifilm Producer: Azamat Ilyasov, Akhan sataev Cast: sayan Isembaev, murat Bisembin, saken Aminov, mentai Utepbergenov distr.: sataiFilm

168

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8300

sonGs From THe soUTHern seAs mArAT sArULU

When the blond russian farmer Ivan has a dark-haired son, the first thing he does is to suspect his dark neighbour, the Kazakh Asan, of being the real father.

Asan’s wife, on the other hand, gives birth to a blond son, and the stage is thereby set for ethnic conflicts in a rare poetic drama from Kazakhstan. The screen is filled with fiery temperaments and, not least, with amply bosomy women. The family unit is the starting point for the explosive emotions in marat sarulu’s debut feature, which offers partying, music, drinking, noisy savagery and lots of beatings like a Kazakh Kusturica film. But the story also harbours a serious element in its depiction of ethnicity, tradition and heritage, which mean everything to the inhabitants of this no- or every-man’s-land, that includes russians, Kazakhs, europeans, Asians, Christians and muslims. Urban Kazakhstan almost always feels like it’s beyond time, but here there is a reason for the conflicts about identity and the ensuing wars - both private and national - never taking an end. sarulu makes brilliant use of the dramatic Kazakh nature through a cinematographic approach that is both naturalistic and poetic. But he has first and foremost created a wild and entertaining film about how wrong things can go even in the best neighbourhoods.

sa April 18 su April 19

12:45 16:30

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

peSn’ yuzhnih morey Kasakhstan, Russia, Germany 2008, 82 min. russian / english subtitles director: marat sarulu script: marat sarulu Camera: Giorgi Beridze editor: Karl riedl music: Andrei sigle sound: Jörg Theil Production: rohfilm Gbr, Kino Company Producer: sain Gabdullin, Karsten stoetr Cast: vladimir Yavorski, dzaidarbek Kunguzhinov, Irina Agejkina, Ajzhan Ajtenova distr.: roHFILm GmbH

CPH:PIX 2009

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8297

FIrAAQ nAndITA dAs

on the big screen, nandita das has demonstrated in films such as deepa mehta’s ‘earth’ and ‘Fire’ that she is one of India’s most talented actresses. now, das has taken the leap into directing with a film that deals with one of her favourite causes: the open wound of the forever festering conflict between Hindus and muslims. Her debut feature ‘Firaaq’ is a tightly woven ensemble drama. In Urdu, the title means both separation and search, and this double meaning becomes a defining part of the entire film. The story begins in Gujarat in 2002, where three thousand muslims died in communal riots, but das prudently decides to portray the consequences of the tragedy through the fates of individuals. during the course of 24 hours, ‘Firaaq’ follows the reactions among a number of muslims and Hindus from all levels of society, ranging from the mixed upper-class couple, which can neither decide to stay nor to leave, over an abused woman, who drums up the courage to leave her husband as the violence comes to a head, to the henna artist, who suspects her best friend’s muslim friend to have scorched her house. As is obvious in das’s differentiated view, equal statuses and equal rights between Hindus and muslims are both still wishful thinking.

Th April 23 sa April 25

14:30 19:00

dagmar Teatret Husets Biograf

FiraaQ India 2008, 101 min.

Hindi, english, Urdu / english subtitles director: nandita das script: shuchi Kothari, nandita das Camera: ravi K. Chandran editor: sreekar Prasad music: rajat dholakia Production: Percept Picture Co. Producer: Harindra m. singh, shailendra m. singh Cast: naseeruddin shah, raghubir Yadav, Paresh rawal, deepti naval, sanjay suri, Tisca Chopra, shahana Goswami, nowaz, mohd. samad distr.: Wide management

170

AsIAn ConneCTIon : AsIAn AvAnTGArde

CPH:PIX 2009

aSian avanTgarde A Cheonggyecheon dog Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly Gelatin silver Love Land of scarecrows my darling of The mountains Pussy soup river People routine Holiday service The Clone returns Home

The wildest films come from Asia. nowhere else are filmmakers as ready to experiment and push the boundaries without pandering to financial profitability as in Asia.

The ten films shown in this spotlight are not avantgarde in the limited artistic sense of the word, but they are films that don’t care about conventions and which bustle with creativity.

From the electrifying semi-documentarism in ‘river People’ to the pure madness of ‘Pussy soup’.

These are not the kind of films you can rent at Blockbuster every Tuesday, but they are films that will excite your curiosity and fill you with astonishment. Grab the opportunity!

CPH:PIX 2009

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BLInd PIG WHo WAnTs To FLY edWIn

A young woman eats a firecracker. Her mother plays badminton and her blind father is a dentist. Her childhood boyfriend is a video editor and her father’s assistant dreams of winning the talent show Planet Idol. All of them are members of the Chinese minority of Indonesia and all of them are fighting to find their cultural identity on foreign grounds. But where most films with the same subject matter would automatically be sentimental, ‘Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly’ turns the small family’s oppressive situation into an absurd tableau instead. The minimalism is beyond deadpan, and the result is tragicomic sophistication with almost surreal dimensions, which gives the political subject matter new wings. The Chinese director, who himself grew up in Indonesia, and who simply calls himself edwin, is not exactly conflict-averse, as he lets his young couple edit together historic footage of the racial riots in Jakarta in 1998 to a karaoke video! one thing, however, is certain: stevie Wonder’s ‘I Just Called to say I Love You’ will never be the same again, once you’ve seen ‘Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly’.

su April 19 21:00 We April 22 19:00 Th April 23 19:00

vester vov vov Husets Biograf Cinemateket

babi buTa yang ingin Terbang Indonesia 2008, 77 min.

Bahasa Indonesian, mandarin / english subtitles director: edwin script: Helmer edwin Camera: sidi saleh editor: Herman Kumala Panca music: mindra Benyamin sound: Wahyu Tri Purnomo Production: Babibutafilm Producer: meiske Taurisia Cast: Ladya Cheryl, Pong Harjatmo, Andhara early, Joko Anwar distr.: babibutafilm

172

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CPH:PIX 2009

8132

servICe

BrILLAnTe mendoZA

A decrepit porn film theatre in manila is the setting for the latest film by the productive Filipino director Brillante mendoza. Just as the wrecked building, the Pineda family, which runs the cinema and lives in the same building, has seen better days. The son has made his girlfriend pregnant, and Flor, the family’s no-nonsense matriarch, is in the middle of divorcing her unfaithful husband. There are plenty of loud arguments and even louder sex in the cinema, which is frequented by the local transsexuals, prostitutes and pickpockets, and with its scenes of overfilled toilets and in-your-face blow-jobs, mendoza doesn’t exactly avoid the filth. In his everyday portrait, the director is looking for schisms. For while there is much banging going on inside the cinema, the story’s only progress are the days that go by. In the same way, the raw homo-humour is a defence mechanism against a hopeless life in poverty. ‘service’ was in the main competition at Cannes, where it predictably irritated and shocked the unprepared. But if one doesn’t let oneself be provoked, one can expect a fascinating film full of raw realism, black humour, and a colourful and raving mad line-up of characters, who, as they swarm in and out of the many nooks and crannies of the cinema, remind one of both Fellini and the Taiwanese master director Tsai ming-liang.

Fr April 17 Fr April 24

21:30 21:00

Cinemateket Husets Biograf

SerbiS Philippines, France 2008, 94 min.

Filipino / english subtitles director: Brillante mendoza script: Armando Lao, Boots Agbayani Pastor Camera: odyssey Flores editor: Claire villareal music: Gian Gianan Production: Centerstage Prods., swift Prods.

Producer: Ferdinand Lapuz Cast: Gina Pareno, Jaclyn Jose, Julio diaz, Coco martin distr.: Fortissimo Films

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THe CLone reTUrns Home KAnJI nAKAJImA

Wim Wenders acted as executive producer on Kanji nakajima’s spellbinding science fiction drama, and this makes good sense, as there is a touch of ‘Wings of desire’ in this film’s labyrinthine account of memories and the link between life and death. As a child, the astronaut Kohei lost his twin brother in a tragic accident.

Wrought with guilt, he promised his mother to live much longer in compensation, but years later, a routine repair in a space station goes wrong, and Kohei disappears in outer space. Back on earth, his wife is waiting for compensation, but instead she learns that Kohei has agreed to having his body replaced by a clone, loaded with his memory. The clone, however, is obsessed with Kohei’s childhood trauma and doesn’t function like he should. A new clone is brought to life, but the first one manages to escape, and the stage is set for confused identities. Using a steady pace and very little special effects, a plain and effective art direction and dazzlingly beautiful cinematography, nakajima elegantly blurs the distinction between reality and illusion. The film is impressively well-written and well-made, and is told with a warm and calm humour, and offers a story that is bound to hang around in one’s memory.

su April 19 16:45 We April 22 19:15

Cinemateket Cinemateket

kuron Wa kokyo Wo mezaSu Japan 2008, 110 min.

Japanese / english subtitles director: Kanji nakajima script: Kanji nakajima Camera: Hideho Urata editor: Ken memita music: Yuta Yamashita Production: Agung Producer: Kiyoshi Inoue, rie Yamamoto Cast: mitsuhiro oikawa, eri Ishida, Hiromi nagasaku, Kyusaku shimada, Toru shinagawa, Kenichi Yajima, ryo Tsukamoto, sho Tsukamoto distr.: Agung Inc.

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8248

GeLATIn sILver Love KUrIGAmI KAZUmI

To say that Kurigami Kazumi’s feature film debut has been a long time in the making is very much an understatement. The 73-year-old photographer has been a huge name in the Japanese art world for decades, and his pictures have been shown at many of the world’s biggest museums. Therefore it is not surprising that photography plays a central role in his first film, starting ‘gelatin silver’ in the title, which refers to a special developing process for black-and-white images, to the story itself, which can be described best as a mesmerising mixture of Antonioni’s photo thriller ‘Blow-up’, Luc Besson’s serial killer pastiche ‘Léon’ and the Japanese cult director shinya Tskuamoto’s ‘snake of June’. A young, unknown photographer is hired to take pictures of a beautiful amazon with a dark past, which both the young man and the audience gets to know through his lens - where the lion’s share of the compelling, almost wordless mystery takes place. An erotic obsession develops as the unknown woman dominates her observer both in front of and behind the camera, and the result is a claustrophobic but beautiful film about philosophy, photography and the danger of the unknown.

mo April 20 16:30 We April 22 18:00

Cinemateket Gloria

zerachin Shirubâ love Japan 2008, 88 min.

Japanese / english subtitles director: Kurigami Kazumi script: Go mitsunori Camera: Kurigami Kazumi editor: maruyama mitsuaki music: Inoue Yosui Production: Pyramid Film Producer: Harada masahiro Cast: masatoshi nagase, rie miyazawa, Kôji Yakusho distr.: Phantom Film Co. Ltd.

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mY dArLInG oF THe moUnTAIns KATsUHITo IsHII

The Japanese director Katsuhito Ishii is known for his hip and surreal style, and he manages to surprise us once again with his latest film. even if he seems to have put aside his most far-out ideas, he hasn’t become less original. ‘my darling of the mountains’ is an exact, image-by-image remake of Hiroshi shimizu’s classic ‘The masseurs and a Woman’ from 1938 - or, to use Ishii’s own words, a “cover version” as opposed to a remake.

Two blind masseurs arrive at a health resort, where one of them falls in love with a mysterious young woman from Tokyo. At the same time, a thief is on the loose, and when all the trails lead to the woman, things come to a head. By recreating the slightly mannered acting style, which was natural in the 1930s, Ishii has created a melodrama that constantly shifts between the authentic and the artificially staged. The result is poetic, light and comical - almost bordering on slapstick - but it is also filled with an inscrutable irony, which, together with the rapturously beautiful nature tableaux, reminds us of douglas sirk’s phenomenal melodrama. This is hardly accidental.

Fr April 17 Th April 23

14:15 19:00

dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

yama no anaTa - Tokuichi no koi Japan 2008, 94 min.

Japanese / english subtitles director: Katsuhito Ishii script: Katsuhito Ishii Camera: Hiroshi machida editor: sayaka noji music: Toshio nakagawa, Toru midorikawa Production: Toho Producer: Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Kaoru matsuzaki, Kazutoshi Wadakura Cast: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, ryo Kase, maiko, shinichi Tsutsumi, Tomokazu miura distr.: Tohokushinsha Film Corporation

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8398

Pussy Soup Minoru Kawasaki

Minoru Kawasaki has also attracted a growing fan base in Denmark with his bizarre ‘illogical animal movies’, such as ‘Calamari Wrestler’ about a squid that becomes a world champion wrestler, and ‘Executive Koala’ about a koala bear accused of murdering his wife. In his latest effort, Kawasaki goes one step further with a protagonist who is a one foot tall cuddly toy that resembles Hello Kitty who moves about among live actors. The kitten Taishou is destined for a fêted life as a model cat for the Japanese answer to Whiskas, just like his father.

But Taishou wants to stand on his own four legs. He escapes from the family pressure and tries his luck as a stray cat, a taxi driver and a surgeon, before he surprises himself by demonstrating innate talents as a noodle cook. Unfortunately, his overbearing father reacts to his son’s success by opening his own noodle restaurant just round the corner, and the stage is soon set for a relentless father-son conflict with cup noodles and shrimp pasta - live on nationwide Japanese TV. Well, what can we say? You have to see it for yourselves.

Sa April 18 21:45 Sa April 25 19:15

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Neko Râmen Taishô Japan 2008, 80 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Minoru Kawasaki Script: Minoru Kawasaki, Masakazu Migita Production: River Top, Zooi Cast: Toru Furuya, Seizou Kato, Kazuki Kato, Nao Nagasawa, Saaya, Toshio Kurosawa Distr.: The Klockworx Co

CPH:PIX 2009

asian connection : Asian Avantgarde

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River People Jianjun He

In a red, mist-shrouded and muddy river of abstract dimensions, the two 18-year-old cousins Laba and Baowa sail around catching fish. They do this every day, from morning to evening, all year round. For generations, their families have been living off fishery and running of a small restaurant by the Yellow River, and the youngsters are set to follow in their footsteps.

Baowa has a huge urge to get away, and despite his father’s dissent, he talks openly about his dreams. Both boys left school after 6th grade, and given their lack of education and the family hanging heavily over their heads, it seems unlikely that they will ever be able to break with the rigid social heritage and get away from life on the river. When the boys sail out in their coffinlike dinghy, each day resembles the next in the same way as the earth resembles the skies in their eyes.

‘River People’ flows along with the same lingering pace as Laba and Baowa’s daily grind, and with its unique depiction of a contemporary but isolated China, the film moves inscrutably between fiction and documentary, melancholy and inescapable reality.

Fr April 17 16:45 We April 22 16:45

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Shuishang renjia China 2008, 87 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Jianjun He Script: He Jianjun Camera: Guo Zhirong, Ma Ke Editor: Qi Ziyi Production: Beijing Jingle Culture Development Co. Producer: Shan Dongbing Cast: Shan Jingtao, Shan Jingquin, Shan Haoshan Distr.: Beijing jingle Culture Development Co. Ltd.

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8308

Routine Holiday Hongqi Li

“Had he known that he’d end up like this, it would have broken his heart”, says a man when he gives his friend a vacuum-frozen chicken. The tone is pitch black and the style absolutely minimalist in ‘Routine Holiday’, which is exactly what a group of men and one of their sons hold in each other’s confined company. The annual national holiday week has started in China, and people are flowing from the cities to the provinces to visit their families.

But freedom can be just as demanding as work, and one after another the small group gathers around the living-room table in a dismal suburban apartment, where the sparse conversations become a parody of all forms of communication. Absurdity is the basic element of the Chinese poet and author Hongqi Li’s hermetic universe, and he masters it to perfection in his heart-rending, strange and disturbingly tragicomic film, which has its most dramatic moment when Aristoteles states in an opening title card that the earth is round. Fans of Roy Andersson, Samuel Beckett and Werner Herzog’s early films will find enough material for a post-existentialist status update among the film’s deadpan-philosophical one-liners.

Fr April 17 Tu April 21

16:15 Dagmar Teatret 19:15 Dagmar Teatret

Huangjin zhou China 2008, 80 min.

Mandarin / English Subtitles Director: Hongqi Li Script: Hongqi Li Camera: Li Xi Editor: Hongqi Li Music: Zuzhou Zuoziao Sound: Bin He Production: Inner Mongolia Official Film Studio Producer: Cai Ning Cast: Yang Bo, Xiao He, Duo Yu, Gao Sui Distr.: red flag film

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A CHeonGGYeCHeon doG KIm KYUnG-mooK

The easiest way of describing what you can expect from ‘A Cheonggyecheon dog’ would be to call it the Korean answer to david Lynch’s ‘Inland empire’. But the merely 23-year-old director Kim Kyung-mook finds a style in his just one hour long film that is just as headstrong and unsettled as its protagonist. A transsexual (courageously played by the popular Korean actor Park Ji-Hwan) is hurled into a both physical and spiritual metamorphosis after meeting a talking dog, which through the film’s title becomes an homage to Buñuel, dalí’s surreal classic from 1928. on his inner journey towards a new identity, he goes through a number of stages, which remind one suspiciously of genre parodies of pastel-coloured Asian musicals and underground s&m porn among other things. The title also refers to a former sewer of a river that runs through seoul, but which has become the city’s trademark and a tourist attraction after being cleaned - a symbol of the beautification, which in Kim Kyong-mook’s film is constantly under threat of being inundated with the putrid sludge of the subconscious.

A horrible, original and deeply amusing film for those who dare.

mo April 20 21:30 Th April 23 16:45

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

cheonggyecheonui gae South Korea 2008, 62 min.

Korean / english subtitles director: Kim Kyung-mook Camera: Yu ll-seung editor: Kim Kyung-mook Production: nowhere Production Producer: Kim Kyung-mook Cast: Park Ji-Hwan distr.: nowhere Production

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8250

Land of Scarecrows Roh Gyeong-Tae

The world is literally laced with toxic rubbish dumps in Roh Gyeong-tae’s ‘Land of Scarecrows’, and the story is not much more accessible. But that should not put you off, as the experimentalist Roh uses the civilisation-sceptical background to create a suggestive and disturbing story about the search for identity and warmth. Ji-young is an artist of sorts in the land of scarecrows, but dreams of becoming a man. She wraps away her breasts, puts on a suit and travels to the Philippines, coming back with the young Rain, who only discovers too late that she is married to a woman.

Somewhere else, the young Loi-tan has been fired from his job as a dishwasher. Convinced of being a Filipino who was adopted by Koreans, he travels away to find his family and ends up with Ji-young via Rain. ‘Land of Scarecrows’ contains more dialogues then Roh’s debut ‘The Last Dining Table’ (shown at NatFilm ‘07), but don’t expect chattering small talk or a sequential plot. It’s in the visual, surreal and enigmatic no-man’s-land that Roh is king, and here he’s in a league of his own. ‘Land of Scarecrows’ won the main prize at Asia’s largest film festival in Pusan.

Su April 19 12:15 Dagmar Teatret Su April 26 19:00 Vester Vov Vov

Heosuabideuleui ddang South Korea 2008, 90 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Roh Gyeong-Tae Script: Gyeong-tae Roh Camera: Choi Jung-soon Editor: Choi Hyun-suk Sound: Lee eun-jee Production: Neon Cinema, Teddy Bear Films Company Producer: Roh Gyeong-tae, Antonin Dedet, Kim Jae-chung Cast: Kim Sun-young, Phuong Thi Bich, Jung Du-won, Shin An-jin Distr.: Studio 2.0

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CPH:PIX 2009

6 - 15 NOV 09

10 DAYS IN COPENHAGEN WITH: * 150 NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMS

AN INDUSTRY PLATFORM PRESENTING:

* MASTERCLASSES AND Q & A’S WITH DIRECTORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

* DOX:FORUM, A UNIQUE FORUM FOR DOCUMENTARY DISTRIBUTION

* SIX INTERNATIONAL CASH PRIZE COMPETITIONS

* MA JOR DISTRIBUTORS, SALES AGENTS, CURATORS, ONLINE PLATFORMS & FESTIVAL DIRECTORS

* CROSSOVER PLATFORMS BETWEEN MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS & FILM

* FIVE FULL DAYS OF PROFESSIONAL SEMINARS * DOX:MARKET - 250 TITLES ON DEMAND

www.cphdox.dk

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CPH:PIX 2009

middle eaST melodrama Habibi Kabuli Kid The Wedding song salt of This sea Lemmon Tree 7 days $9.99 vasermil

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meLodrAmA HABIBI HAnY TAmBA

everyone is talking about his last concert in Lebanon in 1976, while the civil war was raging, but the burntout crooner, Bruno Caprice, can’t remember anything himself. Today, he works at a hotel in Paris and resignedly longs for love. At the same time in Beirut, the paths of two women cross. one of them is nadine, a self-taught beautician, the other randa Hafouche, a wealthy lady, who hires nadine. Both of them heard Bruno’s music at the time and neither of them have forgotten it. so when randa’s husband, a sponsoring-happy coffee producer, organizes a comeback for Bruno in Beirut, the stage is set for a nostalgic meeting with the two women’s past. Bruno, on the other hand, is not so impressed.

He doesn’t have a musical bone left in his body, and his appearance with his one-hit-wonder - naked and extremely drunk on nationwide Tv - does not quite go as expected. ‘melodrama Habibi’ is a successful FrenchLebanese co-production, where we are introduced to Beirut and its surroundings through Bruno’s eyes of a stranger. Here, the über-French collides with the colourful life of Lebanon in a warm comedy with lots of underlying nuances.

su April 19 14:30 mo April 20 19:00 Th April 23 16:15

dagmar Teatret Husets Biograf dagmar Teatret

une chanSon danS la TeTe Libanon, France 2008, 96 min.

French, Arabic, english / english subtitles director: Hany Tamba script: Hany Tamba Camera: emmanuel soyer editor: marie Jo Audiard music: Khaled mouzanar Production: Haut & Court Producer: emmanuel Agneray, Jérome BLeITrACH Cast: Patrick Chesnais, Pierette Katrib, Gabriel Yammine, Julia Kassar distr.: Films distribution

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8361

THe WeddInG sonG KArIn ALBoU

The French-Algerian director Karin Albou has only made two films, but she has already made a name for herself as an incredibly interesting director. she deals with female sexuality, Arab and Jewish culture and religion - and not least with the collisions that result when one throws the two elements together. ‘The Wedding song’ follows two teenage friends in nazi-occupied Tunis in 1942. nour, who is muslim, has grown up in the same street as the wealthier Jewish girl myriam. They are secretly envious of each other’s lives, but share their curiosity about men and sex. nour is engaged, but can’t afford the wedding, while myriam suddenly finds herself being married off to an older doctor when her family has to pay a fortune to the German occupiers to stay in the country. The slightly naïve nour, who has never gone to school, starts wondering if the Germans are right, and when they need each other most, the two friends start to drift apart. Albou personifies a well-known conflict in a way we’ve rarely seen before and describes the girls’ sexuality and vulnerability with a naturalness, which one nonetheless finds unusual in a middle eastern context.

The result is a courageous and thought-provoking film, which reaches far beyond its historical setting.

sa April 18 su April 19 Tu April 21

19:00 14:00 14:30

Husets Biograf dagmar Teatret dagmar Teatret

le chanT deS marieeS Tunesia, France 2008, 100 min.

French, Arabic, German / english subtitles director: Karin Albou script: Karin Albou Camera: Laurent Brunet editor: Camille Cotte music: Francois-eudes Chanfrault sound: Francois Guillaume Production: Gloria Films Producer: Laurent Lavole, Isabelle Pragier Cast: Lizzie Brochere, olympe Borval, najib oudghiri, simon Abkarian distr.: Pyramide International

CPH:PIX 2009

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sALT oF THIs seA AnnemArIe JACIr

28-year-old soraya was born and raised in Brooklyn with other Palestinian refugees. But when she finds out that her grandfather left behind a bank account with almost 15,000 dollars in Jaffa in 1948, from where he was forced into exile when the state of Israel was formed, she packs her suitcase and sets off to ramallah. But things turn out to be more complicated and the money not so easy to lay her hands on. When soraya meets the young and equally frustrated emad, she nevertheless sees a possibility to unite their equally bitter, but widely different situations: he has been given a scholarship in Canada, but can’t get an exit visa to leave Palestine.

The two of them decide to take matters into their own hands, no matter what the consequences, and end up on a journey that takes them into Israel - and thus past her grandfather’s old house, which is now inhabited by a liberal Israeli. soraya is played with insisting power by the poet suheir Hammad, and emad by saleh Bakri (‘The Band’s visit’). Under the direction of the first-time feature director Annemarie Jacir, they give us a fresh approach to a perpetually present conflict - and to a passionate story about justice and freedom.

Fr April 17 sa April 18

15:00 14:45

empire Bio dagmar Teatret

milh hadha al-bahr Palestine, France 2008, 109 min.

Arabic, english / english subtitles director: Annemarie Jacir script: Annemarie Jacir Camera: Benoit Chamaillard editor: michèle Hubinon music: Kamran rastega sound: eric vaucher Production: JBA ProdUCTIon Producer: Jacques Bidou & marianne dumoulin Cast: suheir Hammad, saleh Bakri, riyad Ideis, shelly Goral distr.: Pyramide International

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CPH:PIX 2009

8513

KABULI KId BArmAK AKrAm

denmark is participating in the war in Afghanistan, but it’s rare that we get a chance to see the country and its inhabitants portrayed as in Barmak Akram’s captivating, subtly amusing and slightly unsettling debut feature about a taxi driver in Kabul. When Khaled (Hadji Gul) discovers a swaddled infant on the back seat of his cab and realises it hasn’t been left there by accident, he begins to panic. His friends urge him to keep the small boy, as Khaled himself only has four girls, but he wants to get rid of the child at any cost. He even tries to leave it in the taxi of a colleague, before meeting two French aid workers who accept the challenge with a lot of energy (while being portrayed fondly but with a touch of irony). The French couple promise the mother of the child 100 dollars through a Kabul radio station, and the next day five veiled women are ready to pick up the money and the reward. With the entertaining story as a pretext and the smouldering war in the background, ‘Kabuli Kid’ becomes a portrait of a man, his city and his culture. The result is a insightful pleasure, balanced with the seriousness of Khaled’s nervous ardour, as a situation that goes against the rules in Kabul can cost you your life.

mo April 20 14:30 su April 26 19:00

dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

kabuli kid Afghanistan 2008, 94 min.

Farsi, French / english subtitles director: Barmak Akram script: Barmak Akram Camera: Laurent Fleutot editor: Herve de Luze, Pierre Haberer, elise Fievet music: Akram Production: Fidelite Films Producer: olivier delbosc, marc missonier Cast: Hadji Gul, valery shatz, Amelie Glenn, mohammad Chafi sahel, Helena Alam distr.: Wild Bunch

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$9.99

TATIA rosenTHAL

don’t be misled by the plasticine. There is nothing childfriendly about the first Australian-Israeli co-production ever. nine animators have worked for a year to create the story about the disillusioned inhabitants of a sydney apartment block, who are all trying to find the silver lining. Unemployed dave thinks he’s found the answer in a $9.99 book, but things aren’t quite that straightforward in this lively mosaic, which also includes dave’s decrepit father, a lovesick workman, a supermodel with a penchant for suave men, a not very wretched pensioner, a debt-ridden magician and a fallen angel.

The latter character’s voice was provided by Geoffrey rush, who also fittingly described Tatia rosenthal’s debut “a claymation of robert Altman’s ‘short Cuts’.”

But it is the film’s surrealism that gives the impressive claymation its unique edge.

sa April 18 17:00 mo April 20 19:00

dagmar Teatret vester vov vov

$9.99 Australia, Israel 2008, 78 min. english director: Tatia rosenthal script: etgar Keret, Tatia rosenthal Camera: susan stitt, James Lewis, richard Bradshaw editor: dany Cooper Production: sherman Pictures, Lama Productions Producer: emil sherman, Amir Harel. executive producers, mati Broudo, Hezi Bezalel Cast: Geoffrey rush, Anthony LaPaglia, samuel Johnson, Claudia Karvan distr.: Fortissimo Films

188

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CPH:PIX 2009

8563

7 Days

Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz

When one of the Ohaion family’s many brothers dies, the rest of the family gathers at his widow’s home to mourn for seven days according to Moroccan-Jewish tradition.

However the remaining six sons, two daughters, mother, widow and various in-laws have much more mundane things on their minds than to pray and to eat, which according to the ‘shiva’ tradition is the only appropriate way to keep oneself busy when there has been a death in the family. Nevertheless the family business is close to bankruptcy, one of the brothers has to look after his campaign to run for mayor, while a fatal menage à trois is in the offing. In other words, the conflicts are seething under the surface of this seemingly close-knit family, where especially the women are defying the traditions and flout the authority of the matriarch Hanina. All the while the film does not turn its blind eye on the political history beyond the four walls of the house, as the first Gulf War mirrors the inflamed conflicts on the home front. With ‘7 days’, directing duo Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz return to the family that they portrayed from a different angle in the festival hit ‘To Take a Wife’ (2004), and they have assembled the cream of Israeli actors to create a universal family drama with a Jewish twist.

Sa April 18 Su April 19

15:00 Empire Bio 21:30 Dagmar Teatret

Shiva Israel 2008, 103 min.

Hebrew, French, Moroccan / English Subtitles Director: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz Script: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz Camera: Yaron Scharf Editor: Joelle Alexis Production: Thaleia Prods.

Producer: Jean-Philippe Reza, Eilon Ratzkovsky, Yochanan Kredo, Yossi Uzrad, Guy Jacoel, Eric Cohen, Elie Meirovitz Cast: Ronit Elkabetz, Albert Iluz, Yaël Abecassis Distr.: Other Angle Pictures

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8042

Lemon Tree erAn rIKLIs

It’s a rare thing that a film that manages to set a political agenda also manages to offer such incisive and pure everyday drama as ‘Lemon Tree’. The film takes place on the border between the West Bank and Israel. A Palestinian woman is tending her Lemon grove, when none less than the Israeli defence minister moves in next door. suddenly, the soft-spoken woman becomes a security threat, but she doesn’t let herself be removed as easy as that - at least not without having consulted a lawyer first. And so she suddenly becomes a hot subject in the media - while the minister himself takes on increasingly humane traits. The metaphor is not just political, as the emphasis is placed on classical human virtues such as dignity and love - presented with a heart-warming yet ironic glint in the eye, while steering well clear of being patronising. ‘Lemon Tree’ was nominated for both best screenplay (suha Arraf and eran riklis) and best actress (Hiam Abbas) at the european Film Awards in 2008.

Fr April 17 Th April 23

19:00 16:30

Cinemateket Grand Teatret

ShajaraT limon Israel 2008, 106 min.

Arabic, Hebrew, French / danish subtitles director: eran riklis script: suha Arraf, eran riklis Camera: rainer Klausmann editor: Tova Asher Production: eran riklis Productions Producer: eran riklis Cast: Hiam Abbass, doron Tavory, Ali suliman, rona Lipaz-michael distr.: Camera Film

190

asian connection : Middle east

CPH:PIX 2009

8090

Vasermil Mushon Salmona

The Israeli Mushon Salmona has made his feature debut with this powerful and unsentimental portrait of three teenagers in southern Israel. Dima is a Russian immigrant, Adiel an Ethiopian Jew and Shlomi a native Israeli. The stage is set for an encounter with three maladjusted and destructive youths, who all have their own problems, especially with their parents. They steal things, sniff glue and their paths meet in a crash, when Shlomi thinks that Adiel has stolen his pizza-delivery scooter, while in fact it’s the restless Dima who is the culprit. They all end up in the same football team, which is run with a firm hand by coach Matan. He increasingly becomes the father they never really had, and things start looking brighter for the three boys, who acknowledge that they have more in common than first assumed. Religion and ethnic affiliation take on a personal relevance for multicultural youth, and ‘Vasermil’ is told at the eye-level of youngsters, employing a heavy metal soundtrack and a liberatingly raw, handheld style, which is free from aestheticising.

Sa April 18 17:30 Empire Bio Tu April 21 16:45 Dagmar Teatret We April 22 16:15 Dagmar Teatret

Vasermil Israel 2007, 93 min.

Hebrew, Swahili, Russian / English Subtitles Director: Mushon Salmona Script: Mushon Salmona Camera: Ram Shweky Editor: Reut Hahn Production: Transfax Film Producer: Marek Rozenbaum, Itai Tamir, Cast: David Teplitzky, Adiel Zamro, Nadir Eldad Distr.: Israel Film Fund

CPH:PIX 2009

live

LIve

John Waters Laibach 2 X 24 Bathrooms Berlin Calling Films In Games The Kingdom Closer

Films should be seen in the cinema.

But festivals should be experienced all over the city.

In LIve, we have gathered the events that go beyond the usual setting of the cinema, be it Jimmy Page strumming a two-headed guitar in ‘It might Get Loud’ or the slovenian Laibach filling the marble Church with images and sounds.

But you should not forget our parties: Berlin Calling with dJ Kalkbrenner in Kødboderne 18.

And, by the way: films should also be seen in the basement of rigshospitalet.

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8640

THe KInGdom

LArs von TrIer, morTen ArnFred

The Kingdom at the Kingdom. The doors to the Kingdom - the nickname of Copenhagen’s largest hospital have reopened, and now Lars von Trier’s cult series is returning to the place where it all began. on 23 April you can be part of a very special experience. CPH:PIX has been given special permission to show ‘The Kingdom’ at the emergency hospital of rigshospitalet, which lies deep down in the basement, behind thick walls.

The evening will be dedicated to ‘The Kingdom’, as we will show the entire first season of what is probably the world’s best Tv series among hospital beds and white coats. Tickets can be purchased via www.cphpix. dk doors open at 1830 hrs, access is via the entrance hall of rigshospitalet. The price is 100 kr. and includes a portable dinner from the Kingdom’s catering centre.

Be prepared to take the good with the evil.

Th April 23 Fr April 24

18:30 18:30

rigshospitalet rigshospitalet

rigeT Denmark, 240 min. danish, swedish director: Lars von Trier, morten Arnfred script: Lars von Trier, Tomas Gislason, niels vørsel Camera: eric Kress editor: molly malene stensgård, Jacob Thuesen Production: Zentropa entertainments Producer: Peter Aalbæk, Ib Tardini Cast: ernst-Hugo Järegård, Kirsten rolffes, Holger Juul Hansen, søren Pilmark, Ghita nørby, Jens okking, otto Brandenburg, Annevig schelde ebbe, Baard owe, Birgitte raaberg, Peter mygind, vita Jensen, morten rotne Leffers, solbjørg Højfeldt, Udo Kier distr.: Trustnordisk

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InsIde rooms: 26 BATHrooms PeTer GreenAWAY

own-logic systems, homespun categorisation models and pseudo-documentary premises are some of the main ingredients of Peter Greenaway’s early short films.

In ‘Inside rooms: 26 Bathrooms’ his observant camera infiltrates 26 bathrooms and pretends to identify them according to alphabetic principles. CPH:PIX, Classy mondays and eventministeriet at skuespilhuset have created a scenic associative sequence of music, sound and movement, which comments on Greenaway’s voyeuristic journey into the private sphere, where visits to the toilet, eating, arguing, sex, reading and sleeping are only some of the things that go on in the bathroom. The show ‘2 x 26 Bathrooms’ is a two-piece performance, where Borderline ensemble, who creates the music in Greenaway’s spirit with improvised sound painting, together with two performers headed by theatre director Line Paulsen, will conjure up a number of scenic tableaus, which start off in banal everyday events, but are quickly twisted out of proportion and grow into extreme dimensions driven by the delusional powers of neurosis. The tableaus comment on doing things behind closed doors and on the wealth of bathroom scenes in the history of cinema, and culminates in the screening of Greenaway’s ‘26 Bathrooms’, which forms the second half of the event. Peter Greenaway will attend the performance in person.

Tu April 21

21:00

skuespilhuset

inSide roomS: 26 baThroomS England 1985, 26 min. english director: Peter Greenaway script: Peter Greenaway Camera: mike Coles editor: John Wilson Production: Artifax Producer: sophie Balhetchet Cast: Cossi Fanni Tutti, Geoffrey Palmer distr.: Channel 4 International classymondays.com

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JoHn WATers: THIs FILTHY WorLd - dIrTIer & FILTHIer The unique American film icon John Waters will pay an extraordinary visit to Copenhagen with his crazy stand-up show ‘This Filthy World - dirtier & Filthier’, a “vaudeville” act that celebrates his incredible filmmaking career with a provocative and devious monologue that takes the audience on a wonderfully misbehaved trip to the extremes of the contemporary art world, where it can share in Waters’ fascination with true crime, trash and exploitation films - a journey where absolutely nothing is sacred! John Waters is the quintessence of cult films and the ‘midnight movies’ phenomenon, and his films - which range from ‘mondo Trasho’, ‘Pink Flamingos’ and ‘Female Trouble’, via the original ‘Hairspray’, which will also be shown at CPH:PIX, to ‘A dirty shame’ and ‘Cry Baby’, with a tender-faced Johnny depp - are eternal classics. John Waters made his debut 45 years ago, and it’s already 30 years since he let the corpulent transvestite divine eat a dog turd in front of rolling cameras.

Waters is a legend in the league of pioneers

such as david Lynch and Kenneth Anger, and he is indisputably one of the top-ten bad boys of film history: an unflinching yet forever tonguein-cheek provocateur who likes to hit way below the belt. John Waters - crowned ‘The Pope of Trash’ by none less than William Burroughs - will be flown in to Copenhagen especially for this unique show, which has only been performed in few places around the world. What’s more, John Waters has never before set foot in scandinavia, and it’s quite unlikely that he’ll ever do so again.

CPH:PIX and artFreQ.’s presentation of Waters’s stand-up performance at Glyptoteket is therefore a unique opportunity to witness his decadence, his mad view of the world, his far out ideas and his equally gentle and brutal honesty both closeup and live. Tickets can be purchased via www. cphpix.dk.

Fr April 24

22:00

Glyptoteket

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HAIrsPrAY JoHn WATers

“You can’t stop the motion of the ocean on a saturday night...!” With this rhythmic statement of fact, John Waters broke through the musical barrier in 1988 with the camp classic ‘Hairspray’ about a group of dancing hairsprayed youngsters in the no man’s land between the buttoned up conservatism of the 1950s and the free love of the 1960s. The obese teenager Tracy Turnblad, played by the future talk show host ricki Lake, has been smitten by a mad dancing habit. Together with her best friend Penny Pingleton, she rushes home every day from school to watch the Tv dance show ‘The Corny Collins’ show’. Here, all the dancing contestants are blond and slim, especially the notorious star of the show, the platinum bombshell Amber von Tussle. But there is one exception: on one day each month, the naughty black kids are given the chance to go wild on negro day. But rebellion is around the corner, and suddenly the narrow-minded limits are transgressed on polished dance floors. Waters’ ‘Hairspray’, which has since become both a veritable Broadway hit and experienced a remake in 2007, combines the very best elements of the classic film musicals with a confident historical awareness and a welcome touch of sarcasm.

“Welcome to the sixties!”

We April 22 22:00

Cinemateket

hairSpray USA 1988, 115 min. english / danish subtitles director: John Waters script: John Waters Camera: Bojan Bazelli editor: michael Tronick Production: new Line Cinema Producer: Craig Zadan, neil meron Cast: ricki Lake, Jerry springer, divine, debbie Harry distr.: new Line Cinema International

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LAIBACH: KUnsT der FUGe There are not many performers who manage to do full artistic justice to the space and the arches under the enormous dome of Copenhagen’s marble Church. But artFreQ. and CPH:PIX have managed to find a live orchestra that can match last year’s murcof success. Laibach - named after the German name for Ljubljana - has always been provoking the established music scene. since 1980, they have been cultivating their ideological heavy-, industrial- and techno-universe, and they have been a great source of inspiration for bands like rammstein and marilyn manson.

But it’s especially as the “world’s weirdest cover band” that Laibach have established their reputation. nothing is sacred when they take out their musical meat-grinders and unravel their extreme harmonies and industrial noise. Laibach’s interpretation of Bach’s ‘The Art of Fugue’ is an unusual Laibach act. Laibach describe their 80-minute performance as a ‘Konzert für das Kreuzschach und vier schachspieler’ - replete

with surround sound and films on the big screen!

Bach never specified the instrumentation for ‘The Art of Fugue’. But since the music is based on mathematics and algorithms, Laibach thinks that this work should be considered world history’s first example of Techno. Laibach therefore decided that computers and software should be the starting point for their distinctive interpretation.

Laibach dedicates ‘The Art of Fugue’ to Bach, schoenberg, Kraftwerk, Carp. George Hope verney as well as Fisher and spasski. Come and experience a timeless synthesis, a kind of analogy between contrapuntal Bach of the 18th century and the spirit of the German electronic pioneers of the 20th century, in one of Copenhagen’s most monumental churches. Tickets can be purchased via Billetnet or on www.cphpix.dk

sa April 25 22:00 Frederiksgade 4

marmorkirken,

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3 - 26 APRIL ØKSNEHALLEN STARBIRDCLOSER.DK søren solkær starbird is one of the world’s best rock photographers and the subject of the portrait exhibition CLoser in Øksnehallen from 3 to 26 April. As part of the exhibition, Øksnehallen will have its own cinema during this period, which will show music films, to which CPH:PIX has been allowed to contribute. The cinema programme is crowned by two unique film&live events with two russian film classics and music created especially for the occasion by exciting names. read more about CLoser and the entire programme of the exhibition’s cinema on www. starbirdcloser.dk

17 april, 2000 hrs: ‘battleship potemkin’ with live music by Frederik Thaae (A Kid Hereafter) and manoj ramdas (ex-The raveonettes) 22 april 2000 hrs: ‘The man with the movie camera’ with live music by Larry Agersbæk & James Braun Holders of a cinema ticket from CPH:PIX get 25 kr. discount at the door of the CLoser exhibition.

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BATTLesHIP PoTemKIn serGeI eIsensTeIn

Battleship Potemkin is presented with a new soundtrack made for the occasion and played live by manoj ramdas and Frederik Thaae. It’s hardly unreasonable to call sergei eisenstein the father of modern, dynamic filmmaking. This is rarely - if ever - as evident as in Battleship Potemkin. At the start of the 20th century, the russian sailors on the battleship Potemkin are getting tired of the violent officers and the harsh conditions on board. The result is a violent mutiny, which sparks the beginning of a revolt against the Tsar’s suppressive regime. The Tsar is known for his ruthless disposition and he responds in the most brutal manner without showing any consideration for civilians.

Fr April 17

20:00

Øksnehallen

bronenoSeTS poTyomkin 1925 russian / english Titles director: sergei eisenstein sound: daniel vestergaard Production: manden med Cameret and Film + musik Live v. Palle vedel Cast: manoj ramdas: Guitar Frederik Thaae: elektronica

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THe mAn WITH THe movIe CAmerA dZIGA verTov

The man with the movie Camera is presented with live music. A new soundtrack has been composed for the occasion and is performed live by James Brown and Larry Agersbæk. In this fantastic film, vertov combines politics, documentarism and aesthetics, so the result is an elated and downright giddy work. The two main components of this opus - camera and editing - act as equal partners through the entire 70 minutes of the film. vertov’s male cameraman, his brother, films life in a modern metropolis during one day. vertov’s editor, who also happens to be his wife, edits and reassembles the footage, and thereby restructures life. The camera starts rolling as the city awakens. Busses and trams fill the streets, soon to be joined by crowds of people.

We follow the inhabitants of moscow and Kiev, and their daily work and off-work routines. A whole life is compressed to this one day. The camera peaks between the legs of a woman giving birth, spies on children who are spellbound by a street magician, and follows an ambulance with a victim of an accident. new rituals replace old ones, as we see one couple getting married - and another one getting separated - at a registry office instead of a church. vertov has utilised many different ways of filming and editing - including slow motion, animation, double exposure, split screens, zooming in and out, reverse zoom and still images. The result is a beautiful work that captivates its audience.

We April 22 20:00

Øksnehallen

chelovek’S kino-apparaTom 1929 russian / english Titles director: dziga vertov sound: daniel vestergaard Production: manden med Cameret and Film + musik Live v. Palle vedel Cast: James Braun: elektronica / synth + mix Larry Agersbæk: Guitar + elektronica

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IT mIGHT GeT LoUd dAvIs GUGGenHeIm

CPH:PIX is turning up the voltage! It’s half a century since the guitar was attached to an effects amplifier, and since then pop music has never been the same. The director davis Guggenheim, the man behind the oscar-winning Al Gore film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, pays a deserved tribute to the electric guitar in a great cinematographic film, which treats both eyes and ears. ‘It might Get Loud’ is a film about the universal significance of the guitar, but to a great extent also about some of the people who know best how to use it: Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s The edge and White stripes’s Jack White. Guggenheim brings us close to three legendary guitarists and their creative process. each of them give us a demonstration of their abilities - including songs that haven’t been released yet - but the film’s greatest coup is bringing them all together for a unique jamming session. Anyone who’s ever played the air guitar to ‘stairway to Heaven’ will simply gulp down ‘It might Get Loud’, and one is generally in competent hands with Guggenheim, who wraps his images in lyrical guitar aesthetics, but who never gets lost in technical nerdishness.

sa April 18 16:00 su April 19 21:45 We April 22 21:00

Øksnehallen Cinemateket dagmar Teatret

iT mighT geT loud USA 2008, 107 min. english director: davis Guggenheim Camera: erich roland, Guillermo navarro editor: Greg Fintor Production: Thomas Tull Producer: davis Guggenheim, Peter Afterman, Cast: Jimmy Page, The edge, Jack White distr.: nonstop entertainment

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A sKIn A nIGHT vInCenT moon

‘A skin a night’ is the perfect warm-up to this summer’s concert with The national. on the surface, it’s a fairly straight-forward documentary about the creation of the Brooklyn-based band’s latest album ‘Boxer’. But in the hands of the young director vincent moon, the story is toned down in favour of a new wave-style curiosity about the medium film as an art form, which turns the film into a fascinating pictorial poem - with The national’s melancholy sounds forming the movingly beautiful soundtrack - as opposed to a traditional documentary.

The result deserves to be seen on the big screen, as its characteristically overexposed, yellow-tinted images make ‘A skin a night’ just the visually wonderful work one would expect from the alternative music video director. monsieur moon’s camera glides around in associative sweeps among the band members in the studio, through the crowds of an intensely vibrating concert and out into the city right back to the band members’ childhood - and thus becomes a pleasing portrait of The national and its poetry.

sa April 25

16:00

Øksnehallen

a Skin a nighT USA, France 2008, 63 min. english director: vincent moon Camera: vincent moon music: The national Production: Kidam Producer: Alexandre Perrier Cast: matt Berninger, Aaron dessner, Bryce dessner, Bryan devendorf, scott devendorf, Padma newsome distr.: Playground music scandinavia A/s

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Iron mAIden FLIGHT 666 sAm dUnn, sCoT mCFAYden

In the spring of 2008, Iron maiden set off on their somewhere Back in Time World Tour, one of the most ambitious and enormously staged concert tours ever.

In just 45 days, they flew around the world in their specially designed Boeing 757 with the lead singer Bruce dickinson as pilot. sam dunn and scot mcFayden (‘metal: A Headbanger’s Journey’) was part of maiden’s team and was allowed to film the band everywhere.

The result is a wild, honest and extremely entertaining documentary, which brings us closer to Iron maiden than ever before and gives us a fascinating insight into the world’s wildest rock show on wings. ‘Iron maiden Flight 666’ is a must for fans, not just of Iron maiden, but of music films in general, for it is rare that the chaotic life of a tour is described with such precision and wit. We are there from mumbai to L.A., from sydney to sao Paolo, off stage, at the bars, among the 500,000 fans at the concerts - and, of course, on stage during the show. The film is a true ‘Access All Areas’ pass. Let your hair down and fly with us on April 21, when we celebrate the release of ‘Flight 666’ across cinemas worldwide.

Tu April 21

21:30

Palads

iron maiden FlighT 666 USA 2009, 112 min. english director: sam dunn, scot mcFayden script: sam dunn, scot mcFayden Camera: martin Hawkes editor: Lisa Grootenboer, Wendy martin, mike munn Production: Banger Films Producer: Kevin Cast: Bruce dickinson, steve Harris, Adrian smith, nicko mcbrian distr.: Arts Alliance media Ltd

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soUL PoWer JeFFreY LevY-HInTe

There is lots of bongo drumming and self-confident black attitude in ‘soul Power’. And no, we are not talking about a 90-minute commercial for the kind of charttopping classics one has already heard a million times before. When the legendary boxing promoter don King organised the legendary ‘rumble in the Jungle’ fight between George Foreman and muhammad Ali in 1974, he also organised a terrific three-day black music festival. spearheaded by James Brown and B.B. King, American musicians met African colleagues such as miriam makeba and Fania All-stars on their home ground for a musical party that reached far out across the soul genre and included virtuoso performances with all types of instruments. If one is in need of new tones, one can find everything in a repertoire that is served with political bite and which radiates the joy of playing. ‘soul Power’ consists entirely of footage filmed on location in 1974, and we are there before and during the concert, as well as on stage and behind the scenes.

The atmosphere is not for wet fish, and the concert gets to prove its historical significance in a film produced by the director of the oscar-winning ‘When We Were Kings’ from 1996, which described the fight between Ali and Foreman.

sa April 18 16:45 We April 22 23:00 su April 26 14:15

Cinemateket vester vov vov dagmar Teatret

Soul poWer USA 2008, 92 min. english, French, spanish, Xhosa / english subtitles director: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte Camera: Paul Goldsmith, Kevin Keating, Albert maysles, roderick Young editor: david smith sound: Tom efinger Production: Antidote Films Producer: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, david sonenberg, Leon Gast Cast: James Brown, Bill Withers, BB King, the spinners, miriam makeba, Celia Cruz and the Fania All-stars, the Crusaders, muhammad Ali, don King, stewart Levine, Hugh masakela, George Plimpton, stokely Carmichael distr.: Celluloid dreams

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Berlin Calling Hannes Stoehr

Now the Berlinophile techno generation has its very own Quadrophenia in the form of ‘Berlin Calling’. The Berlinbased electronic composer Martin Karow alias DJ Ickarus is touring around the world’s most successful in-crowd clubs with his girlfriend and manager Mathilde. They share everything, from bed to office and music studio, but Mathilde is getting more and more tired of Ickarus because of his increasing drug habit. After one of his gigs, Ickarus loses control and ends up at a psychiatric clinic, where the head physician diagnoses a druginduced mental disorder. Even when he’s hospitalised and suffering nightmarish flashbacks, Ickarus fails to take the situation very seriously and keeps on composing music on his laptop from his hospital bed, but when the record label calls of the release of his new album, and Mathilde comforts herself with her black ex-girlfriend, Ickarus sneaks out of the clinic to get more cocaine.

The director Hannes Stoehr has cast the role of Ickarus with the internationally known DJ Paul Kalkbrenner, who has also produced the film’s soundtrack. The result is a fictional document about the real club scene in today’s Berlin, filled with intoxication, ecstasy, hope for the future and lifeblood in even the darkest situations.

Th April 23 21:00 Dagmar Teatret Sa April 25 22:30 Empire Bio

Berlin Calling Germany 2008, 105 min.

German / English Subtitles Director: Hannes Stoehr Script: Hannes Stoehr Camera: Andreas Doub Editor: Anne Fabini Music: music, Paul Kalkbrenner Production: Sabotage Films, Stoehrfilm, WDR, Arte production Producer: Karsten Aurich, Hannes Stoehr Cast: Paul Kalkbrenner, Rita Lengyel, Corinna Harfouch, Araba Walton, Peter Schneider, RP Kahl, Henriette Mueller, Udo Kroschwald, Megan Gay, Maximilian Mauff, Peter Moltzen, Dirk Borchardt, Andre Hoffmann Distr.: Beta Cinema

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Berlin Calling AFTERPARTY Get ready for a German afterparty! After the screening on 23 April in Dagmar, you’ll have the opportunity to see Berlin Calling’s lead actor in action, when Kalkbrenner and his fellow DJ and label colleague Sascha Funke play at Kødboderne 18 and give us a glimpse of the German techno scene in the year 2009. Being a perfect setting for this German extravaganza, the trashy premises of Kødboerne almost remind one of the grey concrete paradise of Berlin. Tickets to the screening in Dagmar (90kr.) give you free access to the party.

Tickets for the party only can also be purchased at the door at Kødboerne 18 (90kr.).

Th April 23 23:00

Kødboderne 18

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FILM & GAMES

CPH:PIX 2009

film & games CPH:PIX is focusing on the interaction between feature films and computer games with two special events at Cinemateket.

In many ways, Denmark is just as advanced in the games industry as it is in the film industry. While games are the new trendy medium, film can boast tradition, genres, narrative forms and technologies that have been developed over more than 100 years. But the two worlds have much to learn from each other, even if they lead separate existences.

The CPH:PIX event will demonstrate examples of the innovation and quality present in the creative work underlying a well-running computer game - but it will also challenge games developers and filmmakers to enter into a dialogue and lock their horns, both for their own mutual benefit and, hopefully, that of the audiences.

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mACHInImA machinima is a new film genre and an example of creative gameplay, where the tools of computer games are used for new, often artistic projects. machinima is the term for the production techniques where one can make a film with just the tools already available in a game.

1230 hrs: can one make films with machinima?

The award-winning director Per Fly (The Inheritance, manslaughter) has taken on the machinima challenge and, with the help of the game motor source and G-mod, made a scene from his not yet completed feature film.

1300 hrs: dogme-machinima The animation director rickard söderström from The danish Film school has set himself the goal to produce a small film called ‘Tribute to Chabrol’ as a machinima, but he’s only allowed two days to make it from start to finish.

1430 hrs: machinima live The founder of the machinima movement, Hugh Hancock, does a “live” machinima event, where the audience can participate with input and ideas for the production of a film sequence. Hancock has directed more than 16 machinima animations, among others the feature-length ‘Bloodspell’.

1630 hrs: end These seminars are organised in collaboration with Fredrik vogel, animation producer and games developer at vogel Film & media (www.vogelfilm.dk).

1330 hrs: machinima Tv nWn - new World news is the latest addition to the genre: a Tv show shot in machinima. Hans von Knut skovfoged is the man behind it. su April 19 1400 to 1430 hrs: break

12:30

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IndUsTrY semInAr 0900 to 1230 hrs: growth and employment in ďŹ lm, Tv and computer games.

To kick off the cluster development secretariat Copenhagen entertainment, Copenhagen Capacity in collaboration with medIA desk, new danish screen and CPH:PIX invites all film, Tv and computer game content producers as well as financial advisors and political decision-makers to an exclusive industry seminar. The programme will shed light on the barriers that need to be overcome to clear the way for sustainable businesses within technology-based entertainment. due to the limited number of non-reserved places, we ask you to submit an application for participation together with a motivation between 2 and 10 April 2009 on www. cphentertainment.dk.

mo April 20 09:00

Cinemateket

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nArrATIve vs. GAmePLAY To tell a story in a film and in a game is not comparable. or is it? The afternoon feels the pulse of the discussion and clarifies the relationship between the gameplay of computer games and the need for a dramatic plot.

1330 hrs: do computer games influence films?

Looking at the computer games of the last few years, which place the player in fascinating and interactive worlds in different ways, Andreas Gregersen (lecturer at Copenhagen University) asks: “Computer games: narrative, fiction, simulation or what?”

1415 hrs: danish games developers vs danish filmmakers Io Interactive is denmark’s largest and most successful games developer with international hits like the Hitman series, Freedom Fighters and Kane & Lynch under its belt. They will be present with the crew behind their latest (but still secret) game: the director Karsten Lund, the screenwriter oliver Winding and the producer mads

Prahm. Together with screenwriter Kim Fupz Aakeson and a feature film director, Hans Fabian Wullenweber. They will discuss the process from idea to game/film, how one tells a story, which limits and advantages the two media have - and they will hopefully have something to learn from each other.

1615: end

mo April 20 13:30

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weird and wired : 3D

CPH:PIX 2009

weird and wired : 3D Bolt Coraline Meet The Robinsons The Nightmare Before Christmas U2 3D CPH:PIX is focusing on the interaction between feature films and computer games with two special events at Cinemateket.

In many ways, Denmark is just as advanced in the games industry as it is in the film industry. While games are the new trendy medium, film can boast tradition, genres, narrative forms and technologies that have been developed over more than 100 years. But the two worlds have much to learn from each other, even if they lead separate existences.

The CPH:PIX event will demonstrate examples of the innovation and quality present in the creative work underlying a well-running computer game - but it will also challenge games developers and filmmakers to enter into a dialogue and lock their horns, both for their own mutual benefit and, hopefully, that of the audiences.

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BoLT

BYron HoWArd, CHrIs WILLIAms

disney’s latest addition to its line-up of animated films has already triumphed in 2d, but now Copenhagen’s cinemagoers can experience it in 3d. With its ‘Truman show’-inspired screenplay, this is the story about the dog ‘Bolt’ (John Travolta), who lives a protected life as an action-series hero in his own Tv show together with his owner and colleague Penny (miley Cyrus).

When a day on the film set ends with Penny being kidnapped, Bolt escapes from his trailer boiling with rage and desperation to free Penny. Bolt arrives in new York, where he, convinced of his superhero powers, teams up with the cat mittens (susie essman) and the superfan-hamster rhino (mark Walton), and together they journey across the United states to free Penny.

Thanks to the well-written screenplay, ‘Bolt’ appeals in equal measures to children and adults, not least in the original version shown here and with the additional third dimension in the action scenes, which the film is obviously made for.

Tu April 21 Th April 23

19:00 19:00

Palads Palads

bolT USA 2008, 96 min. english director: Byron Howard, Chris Williams script: dan Fogelman, Chris Williams editor: Tim mertens Cast: John Travolta, miley Cyrus, suse essman, mark Walton, malcolm mcdowell, James Lipton, Greg Germann distr.: Walt disney studios motion Pictures, denmark A/s

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CorALIne HenrY seLICK

Henry selick (‘The nightmare Before Christmas’) is back with his first stop-motion film in 13 years, and we are proud to present ‘Coraline’ at CPH:PIX. Again, this will be the only chance to experience the original version in denmark. ‘Coraline’ is the first stop-motion film produced in 3d (‘The nightmare Before Christmas’ was converted later), and this is visible. In contrast to drawn animations, selick’s puppet universe was created three-dimensionally, and the director makes full use of this. The story is based on neil Gaiman’s short story of the same name and is about the overlooked girl Coraline, who discovers a parallel world where her mother gives her all the attention she could ask for and then some. But her ‘new’ mother’s love is far from sincere, and Coraline ends up having to fight for her life and the prospect of getting back her real parents. selick’s work with the extra dimension almost draws us into the film, so that we evidently feel that we are not only observing, but experiencing this fantastic universe together with Coraline. Here, the 3d is not just a wow-effect, but an Alice in Wonderland’esque passage to another world.

mo April 20 19:00 We April 22 19:00

Palads Palads

coraline USA 2009, 100 min. english director: Henry selick script: neil Gaiman Henry selick Camera: Paul Gentry, Pete Kozachik editor: Christopher murrie Production: Laika entertainment, United states Pandemonium Producer: Harry Linden, Bill mechanic, mary sandell, Henry selick, michael Zoumas Cast: dawn French, dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer saunders, Keith david, Ian mcshane, John Hodgman distr.: Walt disney studios motion Pictures, denmark A/s

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meeT THe roBInsons sTeve Anderson

‘Alwas look straight ahead’. This is the moral of disney’s ‘meet the robinsons’, and apparently also of disney itself. Just a few years earlier, the company made the no doubt difficult decision to close their traditional animation studio in order to focus exclusively on computer animations. ‘meet the robinsons’ is their first CGI film made in both a 2d and a 3d version. And the latter hasn’t been shown in denmark yet. 12-yearold Louis has invented a memory machine to be able to recall the fateful day when he was left behind as a baby on the doorstep of a orphanage, but before he manages to get the machine going, it gets stolen by a man in a bowler hat from the future. With the help of Wiliam, who is the same age as Louis, he chases after the man, and ends up in a future world that seems to have it all. even a family, who is willing to adopt him, for in William’s raving mad family, there is space for everything and everyone, and an inventor like Louis fits in perfectly. more perfectly than he suspects. The film’s main attraction is the crazy family with all its loveable eccentrics - including a big band composed of trained frogs - and the many imaginative futuristic machines and roller-coaster rides, which obviously get better in 3d.

su April 19 su April 26

17:00 17:00

Planetariet Planetariet

meeT The robinSonS USA 2007, 95 min. english director: steve Anderson script: Jon Bernstein, michelle spitz; and don Hall, nathan Greno, Joe mateo, Aurian redson, steve Anderson Production: Walt disney Feature Animation Producer: dorothy mcKim Cast: Angela Bassett, daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry distr.: Walt disney studios motion Pictures, denmark A/s

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U2 3d

CATHerIne oWens, mArK PeLLInGTon

To say that ‘U2 3d’ is like being there yourself is almost an understatement. The film is a unique experience, with sound and images turned up all the way. ‘U2 3d’ not only takes the cinema audience to a concert with one of today’s best and biggest rock bands, it takes us out into the crowds, onto the stage and 360 degrees around the concert sphere of U2 at break-neck speed, driven by a camera that knows no limits. The Irish quartet has survived longer than most bands. With Bono as its front man, flanked by Larry mullen and Adam Clayton, and with The edge on the extreme perimeters, the band, at its best, is much larger than the sum of its parts. The film’s 3d format does full justice to this synergy. The footage is from U2’s vertigo Tour in 2006, both outdoors and in indoor arenas. The band plays 14 classics, including Bono’s recital of the Un declaration of Human rights. The film, which was presented as a work in progress at Cannes in 2007, is now ready to be shown to the audiences of CPH:PIX. ‘U2 3d’ is a quantum leap from traditional concert films and even from traditional 3d films, and in the words of The new York Times, “it’s the first Imax movie that deserves to be called a work of art.”

sa April 18 20:30 We April 22 20:30

Planetariet Planetariet

u2 3d USA 2007, 85 min. english director: Catherine owens, mark Pellington Camera: Peter Anderson, Tom Krueger editor: olivier Wicki music: U2 sound: Carl Glanville Production: 3ality digital entertainment Cast: Bono, Adam Clayton, Larry mullen Jr., The edge distr.: Tycho Brahe Planetariet

CPH:PIX 2009

WeIrd And WIred : 3d

215

8639

nIGHTmAre BeFore CHrIsTmAs HenrY seLICK

‘The nightmare Before Christmas’ is the man of many ideas Tim Burton’s and the director Henry selick’s classic puppet animation from 1993 about the uncrowned king of Halloween pranks and terror Jack skellington (Chris sarandon). Jack is getting tired of frightening children and childish souls year after year, and is searching for new pastures. one day, Jack takes his ghost dog Zero for a walk through the forest, where they accidentally discover a clearing surrounded by trees that all have doors in them, each of them representing a holiday festivity. The tree that attracts Jack’s attention is a massive Christmas tree. He opens the door and is sucked into a world of colours, happiness and snow. determined to make Christmas a part of Halloween Town, he returns to hatch out a grandiose plan and recruits the town’s inhabitants to perform tasks such as abducting santa Claus, thereby taking full control of Christmas. In this version, ‘The nightmare Before Christmas’ has taken another step up the evolutionary ladder by being the first film not originally made in 3d to go through some technical wizardry and taking on a new life with a third dimension. The depths of this film shine through, and it is not too much to say that it’s like seeing it all over again for the first time.

Fr April 24 sa April 25

20:30 17:00

Planetariet Planetariet

nighTmare beFore chriSTmaS USA 1993, 76 min. english director: Henry selick script: Caroline Thompson Camera: Pete Kozachik Production: skellington Productions Producer: Tim Burton Cast: danny elfman, Chris sarandon, Catherine o’Hara, William Hickey distr.: Walt disney studios motion Pictures, denmark A/s

216

WeIrd And WIred : reTrosPeCTIve : JonATHAn demme

CPH:PIX 2009

jonaThan demme Fighting man melvin And Howard stop making sense swimming To Cambodia neil Young: Heart of Gold rachel Getting married neil Young Trunk show

From minimalist documentary to diabolic cannibal. From oscarwinning blockbusters to the world’s best concert films.

Few directors have managed to shop around among the genres and work in the Hollywood system without losing their integrity like Jonathan demme. demme is unique among today’s greatest filmmakers, and his stature is emphasised by the wide range of his works. most recently, he has moved from the greatly charming romantic comedy ‘rachel Getting married’ to his third concert film with neil Young (!), ‘neil Young Trunk show’, which will have its european premiere at CPH:PIX. The Jonathan demme programme is arranged in collaboration with Cinemateket, which will show further films of his outside the festival period in April: ‘something Wild’, ‘married to the mob’, ‘The silence of the Lambs’, ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘The manchurian Candidate’.

CPH:PIX 2009

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8576

FIGHTInG mAd JonATHAn demme

Jonathan demme started his career with the legendary producer roger Corman. Corman was a master at making B-movies full of violence and sex with ultra-low budgets, but he also had an exceptional gift for discovering new trends and talents, and as a producer he gave a number of untested directors a chance to make films. one of them was demme, who directed three films for Corman in the earls 1970s. The best of these is ‘Fighting mad’ with Peter Fonda in the lead role as a small man who employs extremely hard-hitting measures to take up the fight against big money machines. An unscrupulous coal mining company is in the process of bulldozing away the locals from their properties, when Fonda rises to the occasion. He has his misgivings, and a bow and arrow!

And when the mine owners start using force to clear away the people, Fonda gets really angry. extremely angry. ‘Fighting mad’ is 1970s exploitation with all it entails in terms of violence, sex and Technicolor. But demme is obviously more interested in characters and locations than the genre is used to, and therefore gives the excesses a new, realistic dimension.

Tu April 21

21:45

Cinemateket

FighTing mad USA 1976, 90 min. english / danish subtitles director: Jonathan demme script: Jonathan demme Camera: michael W. Watkins editor: Anthony magro Production: santa Fe, Twentieth CenturyFox Film Corporation Producer: Phil Krasne Cast: Peter Fonda, Harry northup, John doucette, scott Glenn distr.: 20th Century Fox

218

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CPH:PIX 2009

8614

meLvIn And HoWArd JonATHAn demme

After three films with the producer roger Corman, Jonathan demme had enough of over-geared sex and violence, and devoted himself to more low-key films with a stronger emphasis on characters and plot.

The breakthrough, which elevated him from the B-list to Hollywood’s crop of new talents was ‘melvin and Howard’. Based on real events, the film tells the story of a simple milkman, melvin (Paul Lemat), who early one morning is driving along the never-ending highway of nevada and decides to give a lift to a shabby tramp (Jason robards) who’s on his way to Las vegas. melvin is a kind man, even to the old vagrant, who claims to be Howard Hughes. He even gives him a dollar and forgets everything about it, while continuing his life, that is mostly an up-hill struggle. Good fortune simply doesn’t seem to be a part of life for melvin and his wife Lynda (mary steenburgen), until it one day turns out that the old hitchhiker really was Howard Hughes, and that the deceased billionaire has bequeathed 156 million dollars to melvin. This rich and moving film won two oscars.

su April 19

14:15

Cinemateket

melvin and hoWard USA 1976, 93 min. english / danish subtitles director: Jonathan demme script: Bo Goldman Camera: Tak Fujimoto editor: Craig mcKay Production: UIP Producer: Art Linson, don Phillips Cast: Paul Le mat, Jason robards, mary steenburgen distr.: UIP

CPH:PIX 2009

WeIrd And WIred : reTrosPeCTIve : JonATHAn demme

8573

sToP mAKInG sense JonATHAn demme

music has always occupied a special place in Jonathan demme’s films, and demme’s significance for the music film can hardly be overrated. What he manages to achieve with his concert films is that he not only describes the concert experience, but also captures its soul. By abstaining from disruptive sidesteps, demme focuses entirely on the music and the musicians’ performance, but make no mistake: the talented direction and detailed editing make it possible to create a music film that not only reflects a unique performance, but which becomes one itself. ‘stop making sense’ is both demme’s and the genre’s magnum opus. Filmed with six cameras during three concert nights in new York in 1983, demme captures Talking Heads at the peak of their career. designed in collaboration with the band’s lead singer david Byrne, who choreographed the concerts almost as if they were films, the result is a perfectionist work, which itself acts as an instrument of the total experience, from the emergence of Byrne on stage with ‘Psycho Killer’ on a tape recorder, until the show comes to an end 88 minutes later. one doesn’t have to be a Talking Heads fan to get carried away. After the screening, a Friday Late night awaits in Asta Bar with dJs and drinks.

Fr April 24

22:00

Cinemateket

STop making SenSe USA 1984, 88 min. english director: Jonathan demme script: Jonathan demme, Talking Heads Camera: Jordan Cronenweth editor: Lisa day Production: mTv, Talking Heads Producer: Gary Goetzman Cast: Bernie Worrel, Alex Weir, steven scales, Lynn marbry distr.: Øst for Paradis

219

220

WeIrd And WIred : reTrosPeCTIve : JonATHAn demme

CPH:PIX 2009

8574

sWImmInG To CAmBodIA JonATHAn demme

The simplicity that Jonathan demme brings to the music film is also applied to his documentary work, which decidedly and with a mesmerising effect manages to cut away the irrelevant stuff and let the subjects speak for themselves. This is especially true in ‘swimming to Cambodia’, which on paper seems like a modestly fascinating account of the actor david Gray’s experiences in Cambodia, when he played a minor role in ‘The Killing Fields’. Gray talks about everything from Hollywood anecdotes to his impressions of the Khmer rouge. Half of what he talks about is hard to relate to today, but that doesn’t matter, as Gray is a fabulous raconteur, and it’s this enthusiasm that demme perfectly captures. All we get is a man in front of a camera, a glass of water on a table, a map of Asia and a soundscape by Laurie Anderson, but this is enough to create a gripping journey into the head of a unique performer - and through a chilling chapter of world history.

mo April 20 16:45

Cinemateket

SWimming To cambodia USA 1987, 85 min. english director: Jonathan demme script: spalding Grey Camera: John Bailey editor: Carol Littleton Producer: r.A. shafransky Cast: spalding Grey, sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler distr.: BFI Productions

CPH:PIX 2009

WeIrd And WIred : reTrosPeCTIve : JonATHAn demme

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8575

neIL YoUnG: HeArT oF GoLd JonATHAn demme

‘A concert film has never looked or sounded better’ was variety’s verdict of Jonathan demme’s music portrait recorded over two days in nashville’s legendary ryman Auditorium in August 2005. And ‘Heart of Gold’ is indeed a true gem. It’s not the same discharge of energy as ‘stop making sense’, but perceptive, precise and nostalgic. neil Young was diagnosed with a dangerous brain disease one year before, and thought that he was going to die. But instead of wasting away, he focused all his restless energies on his autobiographic album ‘Prairie Wind’, which is closely related to the two earlier classics ‘Harvest’ and ‘Harvest moon’. Taking the three albums as a starting point, Young assembled his large crew of band and studio musicians to perform an exceptionally personal concert. demme eminently captures the meditative mood, the joy - as Young had by now recovered again - and, above all, the talent that pervades the stage like wildfire. ‘neil Young: Heart of Gold’ won the audience award at natFilm in 2007.

Fr April 17 23:00 We April 22 21:45

vester vov vov Cinemateket

neil young: hearT oF gold USA 2006, 103 min. english director: Jonathan demme script: Jonathan demme Camera: ellen Kuras editor: Andy Keir Production: Clinica estetico/shakey Pictures Producer: Jonathan demme, Ilona Herzberg Cast: neil Young, emmylou Harris, Ben Keith, spooner oldham, rick rosas, Karl Himmel, Chad Cromwell, Wayne Jackson, Pegi Young, Grant Boatwright, diana dewitt, Gary Pigg, Anthony Crawford, Tom mcGinley, Jimmy sharp, Clinton Gregory, Larry Cragg, Fisk U. Jubilee singers, the nashville string machine distr.: UIP

222

WeIrd And WIred : reTrosPeCTIve : JonATHAn demme

CPH:PIX 2009

8423

rACHeL GeTTInG mArrIed JonATHAn demme

The otherwise so Bambi-eyed Anne Hathaway shows a new side of her huge talent in this oscar-nominated performance as the reformed alcoholic Kym, who returns to her picture-book family to participate in her older sister’s massively staged wedding. But as the family is gathered for the first time in ages, old skeletons come tumbling out of the closet, and questions of guilt, shame and reunion resonate in pretty much all the family relationships. Kym’s irritation over her sister’s superficially immaculate lifestyle knows no boundaries, while the rest of the family see Kym as an opportunistic drama queen and can’t stand her tendency of rattling off sharp one-liners. With the razor-sharp ‘rachel Getting married’, Jonathan demme returns to the Hollywood he turned his back on, and hurray for that. The raw, unsettled images endow the film with a sensitive style and brilliantly complement the plot’s equally intimate and distanced depiction of family life. And with his usual knack for making the soundtrack an active participant, demme integrates a colourful palette of mixed-genre music, which culminates at rachel’s climax of a wedding. ‘rachel Getting married’ is free from the redundant simplifications of clichés and the result is a deeply touching and authentic account of the healing power of forgiveness.

sa April 18 su April 19 sa April 25

14:30 21:00 19:00

dagmar Teatret Palads Cinemateket

rachel geTTing married USA 2008, 114 min. english director: Jonathan demme Camera: declan Quinn editor: Tim squyres music: Zafer Tawill, donald Harrison Jr. sound: Jeff Pullman Production: sony Pictures Classics Producer: neda Armian, marc Platt Cast: Anne Hathaway, rosemarie deWitt, mather Zickel, Bill Irwin, Anna deavere smith distr.: Walt disney studios motion Pictures, denmark A/s

CPH:PIX 2009

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8374

neIL YoUnG TrUnK sHoW JonATHAn demme

A trunk show is a collection of unique items collected along the highway of life. In neil Young’s case it’s a display musical and spiritual highlights of a long career, that is unpacked on stage at Philadelphia’s Tower Theatre. With Young himself as the core of the show, surrounded by his personal icons - at times with an avenue of all his acoustic guitars and at other times surrounded by his closest musical friends Ben Keith, rick rosas, ralph molina, Anthony Crawford and his wife, Pegi Young - we get an intimate view of neil Young’s creative process and life on stage. ‘Trunk show’ is a natural sidepiece to ‘Heart of Gold’. As the title suggests, we get a more extensive tour of Young’s career this time, and for demme this has also meant a dissolution of the narrow concert film form. Using handheld video and film cameras, he instead shows us a close-up view of the life of the musician neil Young, showing us the concert preparations, life backstage and the show itself. In long, uncut sequences, demme lets us experience how Young opens his heart song after song, until both the concert and the film culminate in genuine rock-and-roll energy.

Fr April 17 sa April 25

21:45 19:00

Cinemateket dagmar Teatret

neil young Trunk ShoW USA 2009, 90 min. english director: Jonathan demme script: Jonathan demme Camera: declan Quinn editor: Glenn Allen music: neil Young Production: Clinica estetico Producer: Bernard shakey Cast: neil Young, Pegi Young, ralph molina, rick rosas, Ben Keith, Anthony Crawford, eric Johnson, Cary Kemp distr.: Clinica estetico

224

WeIrd And WIred : oZPLoITATIon

CPH:PIX 2009

ozploiTaTion ’nobody shoots a car the way Aussies do.

They manage to shoot cars with this fetishistic lens that just makes you want to jerk off!’

Quentin Tarantino say Australian films from the 70s and a guy with thick glasses will immediately answer ‘Picnic at Hanging rock’.

But when the Australian government relaxed its censorship in 1971, this started off a profusion of trashy films, made with guerilla tactics without permissions or budgets, full of violence, bare breasts, cannibalism and car chases, and extremely popular. officially, nobody wanted to know about them, but the Australian ozploitation films were the biggest best-sellers of the decade. ‘Patrick’ made record earnings in Italy, and ‘The man From Hong Kong’ was the biggest box-office hit ever in Pakistan! And then came ‘mad max’, which the crime-prevention board of the Australian president would like to have seen banned: “It contains scenes of pack rape, barbecuing traffic policemen and running down children, which only a very small minority of Australians could consider worthwhile entertainment”.

Is that so?

CPH:PIX 2009

WeIrd And WIred : oZPLoITATIon

225

8457

mAd mAX GeorGe mILLer

‘mad max’ was the B-movie that catapulted an unknown mel Gibson into a career as an A-list actor. The rest is history. The torment of the policeman max, who is on the verge of going mad (the title doesn’t only refer to the protagonists anger), was an element that Gibson transferred to other roles such as martin riggs, but this original role remains his most iconic. max tries to fight against his brutal impulses, but in a post-apocalyptic world in the near future, where lawless gangs wreak havoc, he and his loved ones are not allowed to live in peace. The resulting picture of the world that is painted in this film is extremely raw. Fortunately, the vision’s dark nihilism is contrasted by performances that are so liberatingly over the top, as would seem fitting for characters with names such as Toecutter and nigthrider, max’s motorbike-racing adversaries.

The director George miller himself calls his low-budget road movie a B-movie with A-movie ambitions, and his experimental and ground-breaking action scenes on the highways are sublimely directed. You can look forward to seeing it again!

sa April 18

22:00

Cinemateket

mad max Australia 1979, 93 min. english / danish subtitles director: George miller script: George miller, James mcCausland Camera: david eggby editor: Cliff Hayes, Tony Paterson Production: Kennedy miller Productions, Crossroads, mad max Films Producer: Byron Kennedy, Bill miller Cast: mel Gibson, Joanne samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, steve Bisley, roger Ward distr.: Warner Bros

226

WeIrd And WIred : oZPLoITATIon

CPH:PIX 2009

8227

noT QUITe HoLLYWood mArK HArTLeY

Already at the explosive opening montage-sequence of mark Hartley’s documentary oozes an infectious enthusiasm for ozploitation. ‘not Quite Hollywood’ pays tribute to a camp niche of Australian film production, which had its heyday in the 1970s, in the aftermath of a period of heavy censorship. The style’s trashy character bears comparison with the Italian output of the same time and with the American grindhouse tradition, as the cheaply produced films tested the audience’s limits with its depiction of violence, splatter and sordid sex. no bars were held, as long as it could draw the audience to the local drive-in - and the result was some bizarre and pretty fantastic films. Through captivating interviews, the content is placed in a historical perspective, while the people involved reminisce about the guerilla mentality of the productions, including the non-existent safety measures for the dangerous, self-performed stunts. The detailed accounts are dynamically edited together with a wealth of samples, which illustrate the scope of this relatively unknown sub-genre and make us want to see more of it. The most fervent fan is Quentin Tarantino, who with his usual aficionado-spirit rejoices at the discoveries and recommends overlooked “classics”. We are pleased to present many of these at the festival.

Fr April 17 21:30 sa April 18 16:45 mo April 20 19:00

CinemaxX dagmar Teatret Palads

noT QuiTe hollyWood: The Wild, unTold STory oF ozploiTaTion!

Australia 2008, 102 min. english director: mark Hartley script: mark Hartley Camera: Kart von moller editor: Jamie Blanks, sara edwards, mark Hartley music: stephen Cummings, Billy miller sound: rob mackenzie Production: magnolia Pictures, Film Finance Corp Producer: michael Lynch, Craig Griffin Cast: russell Boyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, richard Franklin,,Quentin Tarantino, Brian Trenchardsmith distr.: magnolia Pictures

CPH:PIX 2009

WeIrd And WIred : oZPLoITATIon

227

8495

PATrICK

rICHArd FrAnKLIn

Kathy’s new job as a nurse at a private hospital turns into a veritable nightmare when she is put in charge of the comatose patient, Patrick, who kills his mother and her lover in the film’s prologue. since then, he has been lying motionless with open, gazing eyes, and without being able to communicate. Until now! Kathy is convinced that Patrick is trying to communicate with her, and she looks for help around her, both professionally and from her ex-husband. As a number of bizarre accidents and deaths accumulate, she realises that her patient doesn’t want to share her with others, but how does one stop a murderer with supernatural powers whom one hardly understands? ‘Patrick’ is an atypical ozploitation film. It shares the movement’s B-film mentality, but tones down the usual trash elements in favour of a more psychological thrill. Using limited means, the director richard Franklin (‘Psycho II’) has managed to orchestrate impressively virtuous and wild scenes, which have become cult material since, and the whole of his hair-raising film is driven by an ill-fated atmosphere.

sa April 18 Fr April 24 sa April 25

23:00 21:30 21:00

vester vov vov CinemaxX Palads

paTrick Australia 1978, 110 min. english director: richard Franklin script: everett de roche Camera: donald mcAlpine editor: edward mcQueen-mason Production: Australian International Producer: Antony I. Ginnane, richard Franklin Cast: susan Penhaligon, robert Helpmann, rod mullinar, Bruce Barry distr.: Antony I. Ginnane

228

WeIrd And WIred : oZPLoITATIon

CPH:PIX 2009

8459

THe mAn From HonG KonG BrIAn TrenCHArd-smITH, YU WAnG

Long before Jackie Chan left his accustomed surroundings in the ‘rush Hour’ films, Jimmy Wang Yu, a chopsocky veteran with substantial martial arts abilities, was in the same situation as detective Fang, who has to go undercover in sydney to crush a criminal organisation. Two Australian police officers assist him, but they soon find that the clash of cultures is about to tear their city apart. In his search for the arms-smuggling, drug-dealing gangster boss Wilton, the unstoppable Fang fly-kicks his way past countless henchmen, which he pursues ruthlessly through the streets of sydney, by foot and in wild car chases, when he’s not taking a break seducing Australian women. It’s obviously a 007-spoof, and Fang’s nemesis is played in true fashion by an earlier Bond actor, George Lazenby. ‘The man From Hong Kong’ was a convincing debut by Brian Trenchard-smith, a productive director, who ended up being one of the ozploitation movement’s big shots.

Here, he energetically strikes a balance between corny satire and well-choreographed fight sequences, and thereby delivers both an innovative film and a worthy addition to the genre.

su April 19 su April 26

19:00 14:00

Cinemateket Cinemateket

The man From hong kong Australia 1975, 111 min. english director: Brian Trenchard-smith, Yu Wang script: Brian Trenchard-smith editor: ron WilliamsJimmy Wang YuJimmy Wang Yu Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, George Lazenby, Hugh Keays-Byrne, ros spiers distr.: The national Film and sound Archive

CPH:PIX 2009

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8494

TUrKeY sHooT BrIAn TrenCHArd-smITH

“Hunting is the national sport... and people are the prey!”

The tag-line for ‘Turkey shoot’ sounds both promising and twisted, and the film also delivers ample helpings of sheer entertainment and slightly warped splatter.

Forget the orwellian story about a totalitarian society in a dystopian 1995, where “deviators” are punished and rehabilitated in prison camps. The film’s main attraction is the manhunt itself, as five of the inmates manage to escape. olivia Hussey from ‘Black Christmas’ plays one of the escapees, and she looks more terrified than ever - and for good reason, as she is pursued by an unpleasant gang, which is heavily armed with everything from exploding arrows to bazookas, not to mention their cannibalistic wolverine! Chopped off limbs, a skewered eye and a devoured little toe all follow suit... Yes, one can easily see why this strange hotchpotch enraged the critics at the time. If one has a penchant for exploitation of the more extreme kind, one shouldn’t deny oneself ‘Turkey shoot’. The crowning of the film is the huge, bald-headed roger Ward (mel Gibson’s superior in ‘mad max’), who is perfectly cast as a sadist guard.

sa April 18 su April 19

21:00 21:15

Palads dagmar Teatret

Turkey ShooT Australia 1982, 93 min. english director: Brian Trenchard-smith script: Jon George, neill d. Hicks Camera: John r. mcLean editor: Alan Lake Production: FGH, Filmco Limited, Hemdale Film Producer: Antony I. Ginnane, William Fayman Cast: steve railsback, olivia Hussey, michael Craig, roger Ward, Lynda stoner distr.: Antony I. Ginnane

230

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CPH:PIX 2009

midnighT madneSS Callback: The Unmaking of ‘Bloodstain’ Chemical Wedding The Children Cold Prey II dead snow The disappeard The Good, The Bad, The Weird Tokyo Gore Police Wasting Away When The Full moon rises

There’s something special about seeing films at midnight, and something special about being able to show them.

In midnight madness, we lower our guards and let loose all the beasts of the night. on 17 and 18 April, you can enjoy the horror when we unleash Zombies and Japanese techno-monsters - and the ground is prepared for atmospheric horror, ghastliness and a bar.

CPH:PIX 2009

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8452

CoLd PreY II mATs sTenBerG

norway has become the nordic slasher nation number 1 with cold mountain horror films such as ‘manhunt’, ‘next door’, ‘Kill Buljo’ and ‘dead snow’. now, mats stenberg is here with the sequel to one of the best examples, ‘Cold Prey’, which was norway’s biggest box office hit in 2005. The sequel immediately set a new audience record and continues in the same bloody footsteps of the first film. Jannicke (Ingrid Borso Berdal), the only survivor from part one, is found beaten up and covered in blood - ‘not my own’, she sighs - and is taken to a small hospital that is facing closure. nobody believes her insane story about a monster that has killed all her friends, but during a routine check, the police find that there is something to her story and bring back all the bodies. But - surprise, surprise - one of them is not quite dead. ‘Cold Prey II’ is directed by mats stenberg, who wrote the screenplay for the original, and this film also has a fine, natural and characteristic plot, which makes us feel at home before the mountain monster goes berserk. ‘Cold Prey II’ delivers the goods - and looks great as well.

mo April 20 21:30 Fr April 24 24:00 sa April 25 19:00

CinemaxX Grand Teatret Palads

FriTT vilT ii Norway 2008, 86 min. norwegian / english subtitles director: mats stenberg script: Thomas moldestad Camera: Anders Flatland editor: Jon endre mork Production: Fantefilm Producer: martin sundland, Kristian sinkerud Cast: Ingrid Berdal, marthe rovik, mats eldøen, Kim Wifladt, robert Follin, Fridtjov såheim, Johanna mørck, Per schaaning, vetle Werring, mads Pettersen, Inger ravn, Andreas Cappelen, Bernhard ramstad, Charlotte Grundt, viktoria Winge distr.: Trustnordisk

232

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CPH:PIX 2009

8581

CHemICAL WeddInG JULIAn doYLe

The charismatic Iron maiden lead singer Bruce dickinson can do more than just sing. Alongside his career as lead singer for the greatest heavy metal band of all times, he has also bided his time as a poet, a pilot and a professional fencer. With ‘Chemical Wedding’ he has now also added “screenwriter” to his Cv - with an occult horror film directed by Terry Gilliam’s regular editor Julian doyle that aims to do for the legendary satanist Aleister Crowley what ‘re-animator’ did for H.P. Lovecraft in the 1980s. We start out at Crowley’s deathbed in 1947, where two young students come in for a short audience with the occult master, only to fast forward 50 years to Cambridge immediately after. Here, an elderly professor is possessed by Crowley’s spirit - thanks to an advanced virtual reality machine that the school has just installed - and he now sets off on a depraved chase through the city, hounding the right red-haired girl that can occupy the main role in a special sexual ritual. ‘Chemical Wedding’ is a wonderfully unpretentious old-school horror film that uses equal measures of sex, splat and occultism to show that dickinson and doyle have understood that the word movie is spelled with a big and marvellous B at the front.

Fr April 17 Tu April 21 Th April 23

24:00 19:00 23:00

Gloria Palads vester vov vov

chemical Wedding UK 2008, 106 min. english director: Julian doyle script: Bruce dickinson, Julian doyle Production: Bill and Ben Productions Producer: Julian doyle Cast: John shrapnel, Jud Charlton, Kal Weber, Lucy Cudden, simon Callow distr.: Chippenham Film Ltd

CPH:PIX 2009

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8216

CALLBACK: THe UnmAKInG oF ‘BLoodsTAIn’ erIC m. WoLFson

‘Bloodstain’ was meant to be a tough thriller in the best Tarantino style, but the first day of shooting ends in chaos, replete with a mugging and a gunfight. It’s not surprising that things end up going so badly wrong if you look at the crew of actors that the young director marci mcFadden (Kate orsini) has lined up: Tony (Jeff Parise) is a raving mad schizophrenic, who suffers from a fiercely split personality. When he stops taking his medication, his evil alter ego takes over - and he is one talented actor! Carl (michael deGood) is a robber, but in real life he’s a complete wimp, and Peter (Johnny moreno) is an unbearably self-centred shakespearean actor who is reduced to working as a telephone whore on a gay hotline. The director herself is a reincarnation of Ilsa, she Wolf of the ss. Together they form an explosive and extremely pathetic cocktail. We have seen many mockumentaries that take the piss out of Hollywood, but rarely one that has so much energy and uninhibited lunacy as ‘Callback’, which is the film about the film that never was. The result is absolutely insane, totally silly and outrageously funny - and it escalates into a disaster one doesn’t forget that quickly.

sa April 18 Tu April 21

24:00 21:30

Glyptoteket Cinemateket

callback: The unmaking oF ‘bloodSTain’ USA 2008, 96 min. english director: eric m. Wolfson Camera: megan schoenbachler editor: Wolfson, deGood Production: Jaffle Prods.

Producer: Jason mandl, Jordan Leibert, eric m. Wolfson Cast: Jeff Parise, Johnny moreno, michael deGood, Kate orsini, Jennifer Hall, Burnadean Jones, darrin reed distr.: Push Worldwide

234

WeIrd And WIred

CPH:PIX 2009

8379

deAd snoW TommY WIrKoLA

Yes! Angry nazi zombies buried in the norwegian mountains - why didn’t anyone come up with that great idea before? seven students are on their way to a friend’s remote cottage, while she herself has decided to take the long way there on skis. This is unfortunate.

Because what our young friends don’t know is that a platoon of evil nazis under the command of oberst Herzog were killed among these exact mountains during the occupation. They have risen from the dead and are still mad as hell. ‘dead snow’ is thoroughbred genre material, but in contrast to films like ‘Cold Prey’ it’s not so much a slasher thriller with shock effects as it is an action splatter film with crazy zombies: ‘evil dead’ meets ‘stalingrad’. All eight youngsters are medical students - in itself a great genre parody - and martin is scared of blood. Let’s just say that he ends up being cured of his phobia! ‘dead snow’ offers great entertainment, chainsaws, nazi gold, intense sex, moth-eaten uniforms and lots of torn-off limbs. eins, zwei, die!

Fr April 17 Fr April 24 sa April 25

22:00 24:00 21:00

Glyptoteket Grand Teatret Palads

dØd SnØ Norway 2009, 88 min. norwegian / english subtitles director: Tommy Wirkola script: stig Frode Henriksen, Tommy Wirkola Camera: matthew Weston editor: martin stoltz Production: Yellow Bastard Productions Producer: Terje stromstad, Thomas evjen Cast: Charlotte Frogner, Ørjan Gamst, stig Frode Henriksen, vegar Hoel, Jeppe Laursen, evy Kasseth røsten, Jenny skavlan, Bjørn sundquist, Ane dahl Torp, Lasse valdal distr.: mis. Label

CPH:PIX 2009

WeIrd And WIred

235

8182

ToKYo Gore PoLICe YosHIHIro nIsHImUrA

Japanese Gore is a genre in itself, with highlights such as Takashi miike’s ‘Ichi the Killer’. It is extremely violent, over the top and, as one might guess, covered in blood.

In its latest reincarnation, gore has found a new audience with its even wilder excesses of splatter, soft core porn and beautiful young women on a bloody trail of revenge.

‘Tokyo Gore Police’ is a first-class example of this genre, produced with a bigger budget and better special effects than most gore films. ruka (eihi shiina from miike’s ‘Audition’) has painful memories of her policeman father, whose head was shot off. To avenge his death, ruka herself has become a policewoman with a long leather jacket and a short skirt, working for a special unit in a futuristic Japan that hunts bizarre cyborgs, named ‘engineers’ because of their ability to change shape according to their surroundings. ‘Tokyo Gore Police’ has lots of ‘splattitude’ and cool images - and luckily also a great deal of disarming humour. It’s not a film for everyone, but bloodhounds will lap it up with joy.

Fr April 17 24:00 mo April 20 21:45 sa April 25 21:45

Glyptoteket Cinemateket Cinemateket

Tokyo gore police Japan 2008, 109 min.

Japanese / english subtitles director: Yoshihiro nishimura script: Yoshihiro nishimura Camera: shu G. momose music: Koh nakagawa Production: eleven Arts, Inc. Producer: satoshi nakamura, Yoshinori shiota, Yoko Hayama Cast: Tak sakaguchi, Itsuji Itao, eihi shiina distr.: eleven Arts

236

WeIrd And WIred

CPH:PIX 2009

8491

WAsTInG AWAY mATTHeW KoHnen

There are film festivals dedicated to zombie films. There are dwarf zombies and nazi zombies and baby zombies.

But don’t come and tell us that the genre can’t be reinvented. In ‘Wasting Away’, a neon-green substance from the army’s biological labs ends up in the beer soft ice of four youngsters, which kills them instantly and sees them rise from the dead as zombies. The point being that they have no idea what happened. matthew Kohnen turns the usual perspective inside out and sees the world through the eyes of zombies. The two young couples feel perfectly ok. Quite cheerful, actually. They have no idea that they have turned into salivating dunces, who wobble around and keep missing each other’s lips when they try to kiss. on the contrary, they think that it’s the rest of the world that has gone funny, with people moving around at high-speed and talking like mickey mouse on helium. The film is hilariously funny and imaginatively crafted by Kohnen, who lets things come to a head without losing control. Zombies tend swarm about it great numbers, but here, a small group of them stick together in a crazy, crazy world, where everyone is trying to kill them for inexplicable reasons.

sa April 18 Tu April 21 Fr April 24

22:00 21:15 19:15

Glyptoteket dagmar Teatret Cinemateket

WaSTing aWay USA 2007, 105 min. english director: matthew Kohnen script: matthew Kohnen, sean Kohnen Camera: Allan Fiterman editor: michael schwartz, emily Chiu Production: Wasted Pictures Producer: sean Kohnen Cast: matthew davis, Juliana robinson, michael Gran distr.: K5 International

CPH:PIX 2009

WeIrd And WIred

237

8378

THe CHILdren Tom sHAnKLAnd

Could it be any cosier? It’s Christmas, and elaine and Jonah arrive to spend their holiday with their three children at elaine’s amiable sister Chloe, her husband robbie and their children. They live in a small cottage in the english countryside of course. The couples are rich, liberal and gorgeous, maybe a bit too liberal when it comes to bringing up children, but they are having a good time. only elaines’ teenage daughter is sulking, but then she is allowed to smoke some weed with her uncle, while he looks at her legs. ‘The Children’ unfolds in good time with its spot-on characters. We know, that it’s a horror film, so we are constantly on guard, but the demons are taking their time until we, like the poor family, are suddenly stuck like on a fly-trap and can’t get away. It all starts with the children feeling a bit unwell and behaving slightly more recklessly than usual. And then things really get going. The director Tom shankland (‘WAZ’) is in full control of the shock effects, the images are both warm and chillingly grim - snow and blood go well together - and the story torments us right until the very end. This is easily the scariest horror movie in many years. don’t watch it, if you have children, know anyone with children, or if you used to be a bit of a little devil yourself.

sa April 18 24:00 We April 22 21:00

dagmar Teatret Palads

The children UK 2008, 84 min. english director: Tom shankland script: Tom shankland Camera: nanu segal editor: Tim murell Production: vertigo films Producer: Allan niIblo, James richardson Cast: eva Birthistle, raffiella Brooks, stephen Campbell moore, Jake Hathaway, William Howes, eva sayer, Jeremy sheffield, rachel shelley, Hannah Tointon distr.: mis. Label

238

WeIrd And WIred

CPH:PIX 2009

8565

THe dIsAPPeAred JoHnnY KevorKIAn

What do you get if you combine the inspiration from Asian horror with pure British social realism, which is equal parts ‘The streets’ and Ken Loach? Well, take a guess. matthew lives together with his father in an housing estate in London’s dismal east end. His younger brother has, like many of the neighbourhood’s children, disappeared without a trace and is feared killed, and matthew is not the only person blaming himself. He has visions and hears voices, but gradually sees a larger pattern in the mysterious happenings. or maybe it’s just the pills that are beginning to have an effect? The firsttime feature director Johnny Kevorkian turns London’s run-down concrete slum into a claustrophobic, mental labyrinth, where one constantly doubts what is real and what is not. But ‘The disappeared’ belongs first and foremost to the young talent Harry Treadaway, who lends the borderline psychotic matthew a rare degree of authenticity, which ought to give rise to a new school within the horror genre. If one liked ‘Let the right one In’, or simply likes to be surprised by a genuinely scary and refreshingly serious horror film, there is every good reason to go and see ‘The disappeared’. Bloody good, innit!

sa April 18 Fr April 24 sa April 25

24:00 24:00 23:00

Gloria Grand Teatret vester vov vov

The diSappeared UK 2008, 96 min. english director: Johnny Kevorkian script: neil murphy & Johnny Kevorkian Camera: diego rodriguez editor: Celia Haining sound: mathew Gough Production: Lost Tribe Productions Ltd Producer: neil murphy & Johnny Kevorkian Cast: Harry Treadaway, Greg Wise, Alex Jennings distr.: Lost Tribe Productions

CPH:PIX 2009

WeIrd And WIred

239

8114

THe Good, THe BAd, THe WeIrd KIm Jee-Woon

It has taken two years to make south Korea’s most expensive film to date, but the result was well worth the effort. ‘The Good, the Bad, the Weird’ is a star-studded Asian western - or rather eastern - that draws on its spaghetti role-models right through to the title. But it does so with its own, brilliant style, a decent amount of tongue in cheek and superbly entertaining action scenes. The virtuous bounty hunter (Jeong Woo-seong), the evil bandit (Lee Byeong-heon from ‘A Bittersweet Life’), and the crazy soldier of fortune (song Kangho from ‘The Host’) meet for the first time on a train during the film’s terrific opening sequence, all of them in search of a highly desirable treasure map. From then on one impressive set-up follows the other right up to the film’s showdown finale, just as in sergio Leone’s films. Kim Jee-woon’s noodle western is two hours of top entertainment that is faster than its own shadow, featuring three highly enthusiastic actors - who perform their own stunts - and a safe, whose Franz Jäger brand sends a small tribute to the olsen Gang.

sa April 18 Tu April 21 sa April 25

23:45 21:30 24:00

dagmar Teatret CinemaxX Gloria

joheunnom nabbeunnom iSanghannom South Korea 2008, 127 min.

Korean, mandarin, Japanese / english subtitles director: Kim Jee-woon script: Kim Jee-woon Camera: Lee mo-gae editor: nam na-yeong Production: CJ entertainment Producer: Choi Jae-weon Cast: song Kang-ho, Lee Byeongheon, Jeong Woo-seong distr.: nonstop entertainment

240

WeIrd And WIred

CPH:PIX 2009

8485

WHen THe FULL moon rIses moHAmAd moHd KHALId

If one is the kind of person who thinks that less is more, one is best advised to avoid this extravagant hotchpotch of all the best ingredients of the fantastic world of midnight movies. With its black-and-white imagery, which is as damp as many film noirs, this is a story about the hard-boiled journalist saleh, who by chance comes across a small provincial community, where men disappear mysteriously each time the full moon is at its zenith. The community buzzes with rumours that a pontianak - a peculiar south east Asian vengeful female spirit - is on the loose. And as saleh gradually tries to get to the bottom of this mysterious story, it turns out that the rumours are not that groundless after all. He quickly finds his doubts being challenged by everything from mysterious events and bewitched amulets to evil spirits and lewd femmes fatales. The malaysian director mohamad mohd Khalid is a man for whom too much is not enough, and with ‘When the Full moon rises’, he has dived deep into film history’s goodie bag and created an anarchic melange of the best elements of local superstition, American film noir, Asian vampire films and hectic crazy comedies. An entertaining midnight movie, that is guaranteed to send you home singing.

sa April 18 23:30 mo April 20 23:00 Fr April 24 23:30

dagmar Teatret vester vov vov Gloria

kala malam bulan mengambang Malaysia 2008, 110 min. malay / english subtitles director: mohamad mohd Khalid script: mohamad mohd Khalid Camera: raja mukhriz raja Ahmed editor: raja Affandi Production: Tayangan Unggul Producer: Gayatri su-Lin Pillai Cast: rosyam noor, Umie Aida, Avaa vanja distr.: Tayangan Unggul sdn BHd

NEED A CAR? PLEASE CALL +45 70 11 33 55

w w w. e u r o p c a r. d k

242

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CPH:PIX 2009

7 days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 $9.99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 12 Lotus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 501 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Adam resurrected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 The American Trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The Anarchist’s Wife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Another man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Aqualorius! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 The Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7 Ashes of Time: redux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Autumn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Awakening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Awaking From A dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 The Baader meinhof Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Bastards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Battleship Potemkin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Be Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Beautiful Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Beeswax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Before Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Below . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Berlin Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Best of Youth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Better Things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BirdWatchers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Blessing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blixa Bargeld - rede/speech. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Boat That rocked. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Boogie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bronson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Burning Plain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27 125 198 9 60 131 142 103 204 95 54 119 8 171 24 26 211 82 28 132

Callback: The Unmaking of ‘Bloodstain’ . . . .

Camino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Chaser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chemical Wedding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Cheonggyecheon dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Choke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Climates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Clone returns Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Coach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cold Prey II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Coraline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Countess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Country Wedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Crush and Blush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

233 81 160 232 179 237 133 94 173 107 231 212 64 91 10

The daisy Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 The dark Harbour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 The days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 daytime drinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 dead snow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

deliver Us From evil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 delta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 The desert Within . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 The disappeared. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 disgrace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Il divo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 eldorado. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 The end of Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 endgame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

111 everyone else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 The exploding Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Fear me not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Fighting mad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Firaaq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 The First day of Winter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 The Flower Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 A French Gigolo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61 Friday Late show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Frozen river. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Gelatin silver Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Gigante . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Gigantic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11 Go With Peace Jamil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 The Good, The Bad, The Weird . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Goodbye solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Gran Torino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12 Hairspray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Helen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13 Human Zoo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 In the Loop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Inside rooms: 26 Bathrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Investigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Iron maiden Flight 666 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It might Get Loud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It’s not me, I swear! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

39 193 84 202 200 143

JCvd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 John Waters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Journey to saturn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 The Joy of singing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Kabuli Kid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Katalin varga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14 The Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Laibach: Kunst der Fuge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 A Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Land of scarecrows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Landscape no. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

CPH:PIX 2009

IndeX

Left Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Lemon Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Lettre à la prison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 A Light in the Fog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 Lion’s den. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Little soldier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Liverpool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Lost song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 mad max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . mammoth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The man From Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The man with the movie Camera. . . . . . . . . . . meet the Head of Juan Pérez. . . . . . . . . . . . . . meet the robinsons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . melodrama Habibi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . melvin And Howard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The milk of sorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . momma’s man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . morphia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . moscow, Belgium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . my darling of the mountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . my dear enemy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

225 29 228 199 123 213 183 218 127 137 16 86 48 104 175 161

native dancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 neil Young Trunk show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 neil Young: Heart of Gold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 nightmare Before Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 no puedo vivir sin ti. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 no right Turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 north . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17 not Quite Hollywood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 nowhere man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 original . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

99

Paris 36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Parque via . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Patrick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Perfect Heist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Pig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Plastic City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Porco rosso. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prince of Broadway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Private Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Public enemy no.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pussy soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

65 124 227 100 101 150 163 138 51 68 176

rachel Getting married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 racketeer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 rembrandt’s J’Accuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 remix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 resolution 819 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The rest of the night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 retribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 revanche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

243

The right distance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . river People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . routine Holiday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rumba. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

96 177 178 52

salt of this sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The sea Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . secrets of state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A schoolgirl’s diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sheep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shultes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A skin a night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The sky, the earth and the rain . . . . . . . . . . . soi Cowboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . songs From the southern seas. . . . . . . . . . . . soul Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sparrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . state of Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . still Walking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stop making sense. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . straight to the Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . summer Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sun shine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sunny spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . swimming to Cambodia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . synecdoche, new York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

185 62 41 172 157 109 87 201 128 58 168 203 152 42 70 164 219 145 69 108 63 220 139

Terra nova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Terribly Happy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

This Beautiful City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tokyo Gore Police. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tokyo sonata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tour excess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Turkey shoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

88 112 146 235 165 89 77 229

U2 3d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 United red Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 vasermil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 vinyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Wasting Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Wedding song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Weltstadt - City of the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wendy and Lucy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Heaven Falls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the Full moon rises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wild Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Without You I’m nothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Wrestler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wrong rosary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

236 184 73 140 114 240 90 18 31 79

244

credits

Festival Catalogue: Editor: Niels Lind Larsen.

Contributors: Niels Lind Larsen, Jacob Neiiendam, Thure Munkholm, Mads Mikkelsen, Katrine Sommer Boysen, Louise Johansen, Per Andreasen, Kasper Løvborg.

Translation: Andrew Blackwell Festival Director: Jacob Neiiendam.

Head of Programming: Niels Lind Larsen.

Head of Production: Andreas Steinmann.

Guest and Industry Coordinator: Riina Spørring Zachariassen.

Guest Coordinator: Nanna Wermelin Marketing: Lars B. Frahm, Lea Weggerby, Signe Bergmann.

Events: Emil Thorup, Katrine Sommer Boysen, Anna Wistreich, Sara Brøns.

Press: Camilla Buchardt, June Risum Scheibel.

Print Coordinator: Nikolai Schulz.

Cinema Coordinator: Mette Bubandt Aagaard.

Volunteer Coordinator: Lena Bredlund.

Film i Spil: Fredrik Vogel.

Festival-crew: Jonas With.

CPH:PIX is a part of Copenhagen Film Festivals CEO: Mikkel Harder Munck-Hansen.

Head of Marketing: Per Hedegaard.

Accounts and Bookkeeping: Eva Pipino, Rikke Møller Pedersen.

Accountant: JS Revision.

Board of Directors: Søren E. Jakobsen (chairman), Lissy Bellaiche, Nina Crone, Kirsten Dalgaard, Jens Gehl, Claus Hesselberg, Lise Lense-Møller, Jon Stephensen, John Tønnes.

Graphic design: E-types.

Trailer: Grey / Simon Engstrøm.

CPH:PIX 2009

CPH:PIX 2009

THAnKs To oUr KInd PArTners

245

københavn

embassy of Ireland

Institut français

Copenhague

Contributors: embassy of Belgium, Belgian Tourist Agencv of Copenhagen, Flanders Image, WB Images, Ludmo, deutsche Botschaft, German Films, Goethe Institute, embassy of France, Institut Francais, uniFrance, embajada de espana en Copenhague, embassy of Ireland, Us embassy, embassy of Israel, royal danish Theatre, Tv5monde, embassy of Canada, danish Film directors

Thanks to: ClearChannel, dAdIU (dansk Akademi for digital Interaktiv Underholdning), Kino.dk, e-types, dansk reklamefilm, Fundament Film, Louisiana, Frederiksberg Kommune, shortcut, Filmlageret, Brøchner Hotels, Glyptoteket, marmorkirken, rigshospitalet, Gasværket, Closer, Kødboderne 18, skuespilhuset, Filmkopi, danish Producers Association, Lufthavnsparkeringen, Classy mondays, nordisk Film Foundation, michael Christiansen, Janne Giese, Louise Hagemann, new danish screen, Thomas Howalt, Gunnar Wille, Jacob riis, eBH, Palle vedel, Heineken and our partners in the cinemas and the distributors

buster.dk

september 17-27 2009

SPONSORED BY

MEDIA PARTNER

COPENHAGEN FILM MARKET CPH:SCREENINGS - new Danish feature films

CPH:SCREENINGS JR. - new Nordic films for children and youth

24-25-26 September 2009 www.cphpix.dk