CPH PIX 2011 English Catalogue

Film Festival COPENHAGEN 14 APRIL-01 MAY 2011

SECTIONS

HEARTBEATS (FRONT RUNNERS)

THE HOUSEMAID (ASIAN CONNECTION)

MICROPHONE (SOUND ON SCREEN)

KARATE-ROBO ZABOGAR (MIDNIGHT MADNESS)

ON TOUR (FRENCH DELIGHTS)

8

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

128 EVENTS

242 SPOTLIGHT: GERMANY

22

POLITIKEN AUDIENCE AWARD

138 ANDRZEJ ZULAWSKI

248 NEW NORDIC FILMS

24

MAESTROS

158 NORDIC SCI-FI

256 IT CAME FROM THE EAST

38

FRONT RUNNERS

164 PUNK’S NOT DEAD

268 SPOTLIGHT: ROMANIA

51

3x3

174 AMERICAN INDIES

274 WORLD VIEWS

64 NEW DANISH TALENT

184 ANXIOUS ANIMATION

282 SPOTLIGHT: ITALY

84

PIX SPECIALS

196 THRILLS AND KILLS

288 SPOTLIGHT: UK

104 SOUND ON SCREEN

212 MIDNIGHT MADNESS

296 INDEX

114 SOUND ON SCREEN: NOISE

222 ASIAN CONNECTION

118 SOUND ON SCREEN: LIVE

236 FRENCH DELIGHT

FESTIVAL guide

WELCOME velkommen

AUDIENCE CENTRE publikumscentrum

PIXerhas turned are unbelievably PIX blevet trethree, år, ogand vi erwe utroligt glade for, athappy that so many people have supported så mange har taget godt imod os. Menour vi festival. har ikkeWe have no intention of resting on our laurels tænkt os at hvile på successen, for vi synes however, selv der we feelvithat are many we can do Vi erasmeget, kanthere gør bedre - og things det prøver vi så. better – and this is what we’re trying to do.

Of course, har selvfølgelig pakket programmet med de bedste we have packed the programme with the best films film, vi har kunnet finde, og krydret dem med de we have been able toog find, and we have them mærkeligste, sjoveste voldsomeste.

Vispiced har også up with the most bizarre, funny and violent films udvidet festivalen med otte dage og kastet os ud i out tre there.

We haveenalso expanded the duration of the nye projekter: redesignet programavis (som du festival by eight daysetand on three finder i biograferne), heltembarked nyt website (som new vi ved projects: a redesigned catalogue (which you can find du vil elske) og selvfølgelig vores mobil-app (som vi in the cinemas), an entirely new website (which we også selv glæder os til). Vi håber I vil tage godt imod know you will love) and, of course, our mobile app det og selvfølgelig fortsætte med at give os masser af (which even we look forward to using). We hope that feedback på mail og facebook - for PIX er til you will enjoy attending our festival, and that you for publikum, så lad festen begynde, rigtig god won’t hesitate to give us plenty of feedback via mail fornøjelse! and Facebook – PIX is meant for the audience, so let Jacob Neiiendam & Thure Munkholm the party begin. Have a great festival!

Jacob Neiiendam & Thure Munkholm

This year, PIX’ audience centre is ini Vangsgaards I år ligger PIX publikumscentrum Vangsgaards Store Store Bogudsalg on Rådhuspladsen (between Strøget Bogudsalg på Rådhuspladsen (mellem Strøget og and Vestergade).

Here, you find further information Vestergade). Her kan du finde yderligere information about the films the festival, free wireless om filmene og and festivalen, nydeenjoy godt af gratis wifi, internet, purchase PIX merchandise and discount købe PIX merchandise og rabatkort samt få besvaret cards and ask any questions you may have about eventuelle spørgsmål og dele dine oplevelser med os. the festival and its films and share your experiences Festivalcentrum er åbent fra d. 14-29. april kl. 11-18. with us. The audience centre is open from 14 to 29 April from 11:00 to 18:00 hrs.

branche PIX IN HUSETS Aktive filmprofessionelle kan søge om akkreditering BIOGRAF til festivalen på hjemmesiden. Brancheaktiviteter,

herunder master classes, seminarer og workshops During the entire festival, PIX will move into Husets offentliggøres 4. april på hjemmesiden.

Biograf in Magstræde. Here, you can also obtain further information about the festival, enjoy free wi-fi and purchase PIX merchandise. First and foremost, however the venue will screen good films.

Tickets for Husets Biograf can only be purchased or Ønsker du nyheder og baggrundsinformation om reserved via cphpix.dk until 14 April. From 14 April, festivalen, så tilmeld dig vores nyhedsbrev på cphpix. tickets can be purchased only. Reserved tickets have dk eller find os på facebook.com/cphpix to be collected by 15 April at the latest. All ticket reservations will be deleted on the morning of 16 April.

Facebook og nyhedsbrev

INDUSTRY

FESTIVAL PASS

Active film professionals can apply for an accreditation for the festival via our website.

Information about industry activities, including master classes, seminars and workshops will be published on 4 April.

For the ultimate film enthusiast, the festival pass is the best solution. This applies to all screenings in the period between 14 April and 1 May. The festival pass can only be bought via cphpix.dk and is personal and non-transferable. The festival pass can be collected at the box office of Cinemateket one business day after ordering it. Festival passes can only be picked up between 15:00 and 21:00 hrs. Please note that Cinemateket is closed on Mondays. The festival pass can only be purchased until 20 April.

This year, we will also introduce the afternoon festival pass, which is only valid for screenings before 17:01 hrs during the same period as the general festival pass.

The afternoon festival pass costs DKK 400, while the complete festival pass costs DKK 800 for all 18 days.

FACEBOOK AND NEWSLETTER For news and background information about the festival, sign up for our newsletter on cphpix.dk or find us on facebook.com/cphpix

VISITING DIRECTORS A good festival experience also means meeting the Danish and international filmmakers, who present their films to the audience and answer questions after the screening. We will continue to update our website with information of visiting directors in the time leading up to and during the festival as filmmakers confirm their attendance.

PIX-TV …there isn’t really anything by that name, but if you want to see moving images from the film festival’s events, you can find them on youtube.com/ cphpixfestival. If you also want to see interviews and background material, then Filmz TV will be covering the festival intensively. Filmz TV can be seen on filmz.dk or on videovideo.dk.

TICKETS Tickets can be bought directly at the cinemas and via the websites of the cinemas that offer the possibility of buying tickets online, or via kino.dk. Tickets for certain events can also be bought on cphpix.dk.

The price of tickets before 17:01 hrs is DKK 75, the price after 17:01 hrs is DKK 80.

DISCOUNT CARD It is possible to buy a discount card that costs DKK 395. The discount card gives you access to six cinema screenings at a reduced price. The discount card can be purchased at the box offices of all the cinemas as well as at the Festival Centre. Individual discount tickets can only be exchanged at the box offices of the relevant cinemas – they can not be used to buy tickets online. Cinema screenings with an increased ticket price will incur an extra charge. Unused discount tickets will not be refunded.

RESERVATION NOTE To avoid too many unclaimed tickets, pre-reserved tickets for PIX have to be collected one day prior to the screening during the festival. If you order before the festival, the ticket has to be picked up one week after making the reservation at the latest.

6

FESTIVAL programME

CREDITS Festival Catalogue Editor: Thure Munkholm Contributors: Michael Bo, Camilla Solkær Buskov, Kim Foss, Jacob Hansen, Katrine Horn Jensen, Louise Højgaard Johansen, Kasper Heftholm Kristensen, Jeanette Kruse, Niels Lind Larsen, Mads B. Mikkelsen, Thure Munkholm, Jacob Neiiendam, Lise Nielsen, Freja Mannov Olesen, Michael Panduro, Eva Novrup Redvall, Nikolai Schulz, Kasper Würtz English Translation: Andrew Blackwell Festival Director: Jacob Neiiendam Head of Programme: Thure Munkholm Programme Coordinator, Print Coordinator and Cinema Contact: Nikolai Schulz Programming Committee: Eva Novrup Redvall, Niels Lind Larsen, Kasper Heftholm Kristensen, Michael Bo Programming Assistants: Camilla Solkær Buskov, Kasper Würtz, Michael Panduro, Mike Lamb Industry & International Relations Manager: Riina Spørring Zachariassen Industry Assistant: Christina Damgaard Øster Head of Production: Andreas Steinmann Production Assistant: Julia Gelting Event Coordinator: Louise Højgaard Johansen Event Assistants: Freja Mannov Olesen, Nanna Sofie Bjerre Jelsgaard Marketing Coordinator: Lars B. Frahm Marketing Assistants: Anja Schulze-Larsen, Mikkel Korsgaard, Thomas Køj Nissen, Michelle Klarskov Hansen PR & Press Coordinator: Jeanette Kruse PR & Event: Mia Keinicke Volounteer Coordinator: Lena Bredlund Advisory Board: Michael Fleischer (chairman), Lars Langballe, Mads Nedergaard, Michel Schønnemann, Birgitte Stærmose, Mette Søgaard.

CPH PIX is part of copenhagen film festivals: CEO: Jørgen Ramskov Accountant: Lars Sørensen Board of Directors: Søren E. Jacobsen (chairman), Nina Crone, Jens Gehl, Jon Stephensen, John A. Tønnes Graphic Design: India Website Design: E-types

THANKS TO : Dagmar, Empire, Gloria, Grand, Palads, Vester Vov Vov, Imperial, Angel Films, Another World Entertainment, Camera Film, Miracle Film, Panvision, Nordisk Film Distribution, Scanbox, Filmcompagniet, Sunrise Filmdistribution, UIP, Øst for Paradis, Lars Top-Galia, Torsten Hvas, Søren Høy, Bette Thomas, Uffe Paulsen, Maja Friis, Anders Lysne, Carsten Mørch-Bentzen, Hans Poul Petersen, Aleksandra Biernacka, Izabela Kiszka, Joanna Tamborska, Lone Garde, Claudia Marchegiani, Simon Field, Nadja Nørgaard Kristensen, Mikkel Kastberg, Myriam Blundell, Anne Lindberg, Mette Frank, Sandra Piras, Martin Strange-Hansen, Christina Rosendahl, Annette K. Olesen, Jakob Høgel, Nikoline Riget, Thomas Krag, Henriette Bretton-Meyer, Giorgiana Zachia, Eric Franssen, Anne de la Hamelinaye, Mariette Riessenbek, Kim Liebeck, Carla Cattani, Serena Mazzi, Sylvana Tucci, Melissa Ford, Ulrik Bolt Jørgensen, Stine Meldgaard, Anne Juul, BMF, Anna Basse, Jonathan Jensen, Jane Mogensen, Per Hedegaard, Carl Nørrested, Lars Movin, Neil Young, David Mackenzie, Daniel Bird, Joanna Lapinska, Casper Andersen, Tina Koehler, Jon Holtze, Magda Stroe

FESTIVAL programMe

biografer cinemas og venues and venues

5 12 6 19

2 11

18

1 10 15

9 3

16 8 7 4 14

20

1

bRemen Nyropsgade 39-41, 1602 nyropsgade København V

2

CInemAteket CInemateket gothersgade 55, Gothersgade 1123 Københavan K tlf. 3374 tel.

3374 3412 3412

3

4

DAgmAR teatRet teAtRet dagmaR Jernbanegade 2, 1608 København V tlf. 7013 tel.

7013 1211 1211 Den soRte dIamant DIAmAnt den Søren Kirkegaards plads 1, søren 1221 København K tlf. 3347 tel.

3347 4747 4747

5

emPIRe bIo guldbergsgade 29 F, f, Guldbergsgade N 2200 København n tlf. 3536 tel.

3536 0036 0036

6

Folkets hus Stengade 50, 2200 København n N stengade

17

7

gloRIA gloRIa rådhuspladsen 59, Rådhuspladsen 1550 København V tlf. 3312 tel.

3312 4292 4292

13

13

loPPen Christiania, sydområdet Sydområdet 4 B b 1. sal Sal christiania, 1440 København K tlf. 3257 tel.

3257 8422 8422

8

gRAnD teatRet teAtRet gRand Mikkel Bryggers bryggers Gade gade 8, mikkel 1460 København K tlf. 3315 tel.

3315 1611 1611

14

oveRgADen oveRgaden overgaden neden Neden Vandet 17, Overgaden 1414 København K

9

bIogRAF, husets CaFé, CAFé, husets bIogRaF, PlAneten Planeten Magstræde 14, 1466 København K magstræde

15

PAlADs Palads axeltorv 9, 1609 København V tlf. 7013 tel.

7013 1211 1211

10

ImPeRIAl ImPeRIal Ved Vesterport 4, 1612 København V tlf. 7013 tel.

7013 1211 1211

16

PRessen I PolItIkens hus rådhuspladsen 37, Rådhuspladsen 1785 København V

11

hAllen kb hallen bangs Vej 147, Peter Bangs frederiksberg 2000 Frederiksberg

17

Råhuset onkel Dannys Plads 7, Onkel 1711 København V

12

lIteRAtuRhAus lIteRatuRhaus Møllegade 7, 2200 København n N møllegade tlf. 3332 tel.

3332 9818 9818

18

skuesPIlhuset Sankt annæ Plads 36, sankt 1250 København K

19

stengADe stengade Stengade 18, 2200 København n N stengade

20

vesteR vov vov absalonsgade 5, 1659 København V tlf. 3324 tel.

3324 4200 4200

7

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

SERIETITEL

10 films by first-time directors compete to win THE NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

CPH PIX main competition is dedicated to new talents - and the prize is awarded by an international jury to the director who is found to have the strongest vision. Ten highly different films by firsttime directors compete for this year’s grand prize of €30,000 - which is intended as a contribution towards making the notorious 2nd film. The fact that the films in the competition are first features, is the only common factor for a competition programme that otherwise ranges widely in terms of both geography, subject matter and genres. We travel from South Korea to Albania, from red-haired revolution to deep-felt sibling drama and from worn-out sci-fi horror to intense chamber drama.

Canadian director Daniel Cockburn offers cerebral gymnastics at its very best in the philosophical, science-fictional detective drama ‘You Are Here’. The fact that Cockburn is originally a video artist is evident in the film, and his teasingly

unpretentious, yet intelligent play with the film medium gives the already unconventional plot yet another twist.

Also Romain Gavras’ ‘Our Day Will Come’ is not exactly your standard fare, but a feature-length sequel to his ground-breaking and controversial M.I.A music video ‘Born Free’. There is plenty of social indignation and a solid portion of crazy humour, when Gavras lets the red-haired - headed by Vincent Cassel - take up their fight for recognition.

South Korean Jo Sung-hee combines innovative minimalism with mutually conflicting genre elements such as sci-fi, horror and realism in ‘End of Animal’, which was called the most remarkable South Korean debut ever, by the critic Tony Rayns. That is a compliment to take seriously!

FILMSERIE

Albanian reality is consistently used as the backdrop of Buyar Alimani’s atypical love drama ‘Amnesty’ about Elsa and Spetim, who embark on a fateful affair, while their respective spouses serve time in prison. Difficult love is also the material of Alicia Duffy’s powerful and extremely effective ‘All Good Children’. The story about a pair of siblings, who after their mother’s death are sent to northern France to live with their aunt, suddenly loses its childish innocence and turns into a regular thriller.

Two brothers, their mother and a coffin may not sound like the material of great films, but Alistair Banks Griffin’s courageous and competent ‘Two Gates of Sleep’ demonstrates explicitly that less is indeed more. Things are also silent and intense in ‘Pear’ by documentary and short film director Zhang Ciyu, which is an effective Chinese chamber piece about a hopeful future, which slowly disintegrates like rotting pears.

FESTIVAL programMe

9

The effect of social media on the political agenda is stylishly and experimentally thematised in French director David Dusa’s ‘Flowers of Evil’ about an Iranian girl, who is forced to move to Paris by her parents, who want to protect her from the ongoing civil revolution.

In Portuguese director Pedro Caldas’ ‘Civil War’, the war element is to be understood at a personal and highly claustrophobic level. We are in southern Portugal in 1982, where a mother and her teenage son fight a silent battle over who is worse off. Things are different yet again in Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s ‘Viva Riva!’, which takes place in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, where petrol supplies have dried up, and the city’s underworld is burning in more than just one sense of the word, and a story about impossible love also sets the streets on fire.

the international jury Benjamin Heisenberg (born 1974) trained at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. While here he made a number of short films, and as soon as he finished his studies, he was accepted at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film, also in his home town of Munich. Here, he continued making shorts and formed the prestigious film magazine Revolver in 1998 together with, among others, fellow filmmaker Christoph Hochhäusler (whose film ‘The City Below’ is screened at PIX 2011). Heisenberg had his feature film debut with his graduation film ‘Schläfer’ (‘Sleeper’), which premiered in 2005 in the ‘Un certain regard’ section in Cannes, and he won the festival’s First Steps Award.

It was a highly topical drama about a young scientist who agrees to spy on one of his colleagues, who is suspected of belonging to a terrorist cell. In 2010, he followed this film with ‘Der Räuber’ (‘The Robber’), which competed in main competition at the Berlin Film Festival, and has since been shown at festivals across the world including CPH PIX, where Heisenberg also attended as a guest. Alongside his career as a film director, he has continuously exhibited his works as a video artist.

Jackie (Jacqueline) Raynal (born 1940) studied at Sorbonne and became an apprentice of film editing at Genevilliers Lab in Paris.

Here, she became an assistant editor – in spite of her young age – on numerous films such as Jean Renoir’s ‘The Elusive Corporal’ (1962).

After receiving accreditation as Chief Editor from the Centre National de la Cinématographie, she was given the chance to work together with some of the most interesting filmmakers of the time, including Eric Rohmer. In 1967, she both edited and had her acting debut in Rohmer’s ‘La Collectioneuse’, and she also directed her first film, the feminist experimental film ‘Deux Fois’, which won her several awards.

Later, she became one of the main players in the Zanzibar movement together with Philippe Garrel. At the beginning of the 1970s, she decreased her production work and moved to New York. Here, she has worked as a curator for the legendary arthouse cinemas Bleecker Street Cinema and Carnegie Hall Cinema, while she has directed a number of film projects, including ‘Hotel New York’ (1984) and, most recently, ‘Hommage à Eric Rohmer’ (2010).

Marianne Slot (born 1968) was born and raised in Denmark, but moved to Paris in the early 1990s, where she founded the film production company Slot Machine in 1993. She started out as the regular (French) co-producer of Lars von Trier’s films – from ‘Breaking the Waves’ via Golden Palm winner ‘Dancer in the Dark’ to his latest film ‘Melancholia’, but alongside his films, she has developed a number of her own projects, above all with new talents from regions such as South America. Among these there have been a number of exciting Argentinian filmmakers such as Albertina Carri, Paz Encina and, not least, Lisandro Alonso, for whom she produced no less than three films, and whose latest film ‘Liverpool’ played at CPH PIX in 2009. In 2008, she shared the producer credit with Pedro Almodóvar for the Argentinian super talent Lucretia Martel’s award-winning ‘The Headless Woman’. Marianne Slot last attended PIX with Juliette Garcias’ competition film ‘Be Good’ in 2009, but is back again this year with Marian Crisan’s Romanian film ‘Morgen’. Since 1998, Marianne Slot has also assisted the Spanish film festival in San Sebastian with the selection of films from Scandinavia, and she has also occupied various advisory posts, among other places at the French Film Institute and for various regional film funds in France.

FESTIVAL programMe

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

11

Alicia Duffy

All Good Children When their mother dies, 11-year old Dara and his older brother Eoin are sent from Ireland to northern France to live with their aunt in the countryside. Dara meets the red-haired and strangely charismatic girl Bella, whose English parents are restoring a nearby castle. They make friends, but when Bella loses interest in him, the fragile Dara becomes obsessed with her, and an innocent childhood romance takes a fatal turn and ends up a hair-raising thriller. Alicia Duffy’s ‘All Good Children’ is based on Sam Taylor’s novel ‘The Republic of Trees’, and large parts of the film take place in the romantic forests where broken hearts of children can release their rage, and where ghastly things can happen when nobody is around. There are hints of Claire Denis and Lynne Ramsay in this heart-rending and terrifying film, but the film comes into its own thanks to how it accurately depicts the painful years between childhood and youth. ‘All Good Children’ is a romantic and cinematically refined experience that offers more than just a hint of gothic melancholy.

Fr 22. April Mo 25. April Th 28. April

16:45 14:15 19:15

Gloria Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

All Good Children Ireland, Belgium, France 2010, 80 min.

English, French / English Subtitles Director: Alicia Duffy Script: Alicia Duffy Camera: Nanu Segal Editor: Nicolas Chaudeurge Music: Steve Stapleton, Daniel Figgis Sound: Niall Brady Production: Aria Films, Artémis Productions, Caveman Films, Cinémadefacto, Element Pictures, Euroimages Fund of the Council of Europe Producer: Igor Gabriel Cast: David Brazil, Kate Duchêne, Martin Firket, Jack Gleeson, Imogen Jones Distr.: Coach 14

12

FESTIVAL programME

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

Buyar Alimani

Amnesty Albanian filmmaker Buyar Alimani allows a solid portion of reality to enter into his melancholy and delicately sensual film, which takes place in damp and worn-down houses and in the dusty streets of autumn, where one can almost smell the rotting leaves in the gutters. In order to facilitate Albania’s entry into the EU, a new law allows for the detainees of the country’s prisons to have sex with their visiting spouses on a fixed date. So, once a month, the patient Elsa takes the bus to Tirana, where her husband is locked up. So does Spetim, whose wife is also imprisoned. But the months are long, and outside the prison walls, a quiet and secret romance develops between the two, in spite of the conservative and patriarchal norms that govern the world outside. It is a fateful affair built on borrowed time, which becomes even shorter when the government decides to release selected prisoners. Alimani has faith in his audience, and lets the images tell their own distinct and picturesque story. But in the end, it is the actors that make ‘Amnesty’ a lasting experience.

Su 24. April We 27. April Su 1. May

16:45 19:15 12:15

Gloria Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Amnistia Albania, Greece, France 2011, 83 min.

Albanian / English Subtitles Director: Buyar Alimani Script: Buyar Alimani Camera: Elias Adamis Editor: Bonita Papastathi Sound: Leandros Dounis, Xenofontas Kontopoulos Production: 90 Productions, Patos, Fantasia Ltd., Arizona Films, Nova Producer: Bujar Alimani, Thanos Anastopoulos, Guillaume de Seille Cast: Luli Bitri, Karafil Shena, Todi Llupi Distr.: m-appeal

FESTIVAL programMe

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

Pedro Caldas

Civil War Summer 1982 in southern Portugal. The pale slacker Rui would rather sit behind closed curtains and listen to Joy Division than hang out at the beach. His father is no more than a voice on the telephone, and his mother is having an affair with a much younger man. War has broken out between teen spleen and mid-life crisis in the family home, and the battles are fought in awkward and claustrophobic silence. Enter the sweet and lively Joana on her bicycle, with a ringing bell and the summer wind breezing through her hair. She manages to convince Rui to join her at her secret spot on the beach, where the cliffs tower high above the sand and the black waves wash ashore in fateful gusts during the night. But can she get through to the taciturn Ian Curtis clone before it’s too late? Pedro Caldas sends a friendly nod to Eric Rohmer, and his depiction of our age is discrete and accurate, with a tactful sensitivity for both the younger and the older generations’ existential worries. A poetic and ever-relevant film for anyone who misses summer, but actually prefers to spend it indoors when it’s here.

Sa 23. April We 27. April Su 1. May

12:15 16:45 19:15

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Guerra Civil Portugal 2010, 92 min.

Portuguese / English Subtitles Director: Pedro Caldas Script: Pedro Caldas, João Gusmão Camera: Leonardo Simões Editor: Nelly Quettier Sound: Raquel Jacinto Production: Blackmaria Producer: João Figueiras Cast: Francisco Belard, Maria Leite, Catarina Wall, Nuño Romano Distr.: Blackmaria

13

14

FESTIVAL programME

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

Jo Sung-hee

End of Animal One of this year’s great cinematic surprises comes from South Korea, and is both a strange and dark work in the hybrid genre ‘apocalyptic minimalism’. A genre that may have only just come into existence with this film, and which contains elements of both sci-fi, horror, black comedy and realism. Pregnant Soon-young travels by taxi through a deserted landscape to visit her mother, when the driver picks up a mysterious extra passenger and it turns out that he has no money to pay for the trip. Instead, he can tell his two co-passengers intimate details about their private lives, which they only know about themselves. What’s more, he predicts - to the second - an extensive power outage that makes the car and the rest of civilisation break down. This is the start of a gallows humour nightmare, where the few participants are all almost themselves. What it lacks in budgetary means, ‘End of Animal’ makes up for with narrative ingenuity, and the genre’s leading critic Tony Rayns has deservedly called Jo Sung-hee’s film for the possibly most remarkable debut in Korean film history - and this is not bad when speaking of a country that has experienced a true cinematic renaissance in the past decade.

Mo 25. April Fr 29. April Su 1. May

19:00 16:30 16:30

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Jimseung ui kkut South Korea 2010, 114 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Jo Sung-hee Script: Jo Sung-hee Camera: Baek Moon-Su Editor: Sung-Hee Jo Sound: Kong Tae-Won Production: Huh Eun-Kyoung, The Korean Academy of Film Arts Producer: E.K. Heo Cast: Lee Min-Ji, Park Hae-Il, Yoo SungBok, Park Sae-Jong, Kim Yeong-Ho Distr.: CJ Entertainment

FESTIVAL programMe

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

15

David Dusa

Flowers of Evil Social media on film is much more than ‘The Social Network’. In David Dusa’s ambitious drama ‘Flowers of Evil’, the internet’s infinite potential is turned into a narrative motor in the story about the Iranian girl Anahita, a student from Teheran, who as a result of her overprotective parents’ encouragement has come to Paris to avoid the brutal demonstrations in the aftermath of the country’s parliamentary elections.

Romance ensues when she meets the charming Parisian hotel porter Gecko, but she finds it hard to engage in their relationship, as she is intensely preoccupied with following the unrest in Iran via the internet. Dusa uses the internet as a structural basis for the film and also imitates it stylistically with digital footage and hectic editing, which is reminiscent of our way of navigating the web. The love story between Anahita and Gecko is however never abandoned in the midst of the sophisticated form, but demonstrates a fine picture of a young and far from untroubled love affair.

Th 28. April Fr 29. April Su 1. May

21:30 21:30 14:15

Cinemateket Cinemateket Cinemateket

Fleurs du mal France 2010, 100 min.

French, Persian / English Subtitles Director: David Dusa Script: David Dusa, Raphaëlle Maes, Louise Molière Camera: Armin Franzen Editor: Yannick Coutheron, Nicolas Houver Sound: Bruno Auzet Production: Sciapode Producer: Émilie Blézat Cast: Rachid Youcef, Alice Belaïdi Distr.: Sciapode

16

FESTIVAL programME

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

Zhang Ciyu

Pear On a mountain slope in northern China, Wan picks pears, which he brings to his wife in the city. The young couple is in the process of building a new house, a villa with two floors, a real symbol of Chinese growth.

However, they are running out of money to complete the house, and Wan’s wife must work as a prostitute in a small, makeshift, provincial brothel in order to make ends meet. Wan hangs out in the brothel’s waiting room together with the brothel madame’s husband, while the clients file past. And this is also where the film hangs out, while the pears rot in the case, and the promised Chinese wealth fails to materialise. Zhang Ciyu, who has made several short films and documentaries, makes his feature film debut here with a very tight story, which keeps the details to a minimum and maintains focus on the inertia and hope turned quiet desparation amidst China’s young generation. Certainly a courageous choice to reduce a portrait of a society to a half-hearted drinking binge at a dim brothel, but Zhang is in full control of his cinematic devices. With its sublime and atmospheric images, and a dry and entirely played-down “survival” humour, he has created a modern chamber piece with a political sting. This kind of film doesn’t grow on trees!

Mo 25. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

16:30 19:00 19:00

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Pear China 2010, 87 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Zhang Ciyu Script: Zhang Ciyu Camera: Zeng Ming Editor: Zhang Ciyu, Hiroshi Okuhara Music: Wang Wen Sound: Zhang Cifu, Jin Ling Production: Pu Minfeng Producer: Jian Debin, Zhang Gelv, Zhang Wenxia Cast: Wang Zhengwu, Qiu Li, Lin Xiaojing, Zhang Shifu Distr.: Zhang Ciyu

FESTIVAL programMe

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

17

Alistair Banks Griffin

Two Gates Of Sleep The old cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words has rarely made more sense than in Alistair Banks Griffin’s visually concise debut film, which premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and has since guested many festivals around the world. In the American deep south, two brothers live isolated with their sick mother. Apart from going on the daily hunt in the forest surrounding their house, they hardly ever leave the safety of their own home, until the day their mother dies, that is. In silence, the two brothers now march through the dense forests and swampy rivers, carrying their mother’s coffin, while they deal with her death in different ways. The fact that the goal of the journey is kept a secret, makes it no less important for them or us. For restraint is the core aspect of Alistair Banks Griffin’s debut which, with its reminders of both Terrence Malick’s grandiose depictions of nature and William Faulkner’s southern state novel about the last journey ‘As I Lay Dying’, poses many more questions than it presents answers. The images are allowed to speak their own language in ‘Two Gates of Sleep’, and simultaneously manage to deliver its simple tale with an atmosphere so intense, that words become superfluous, making it very difficult not to surrender completely to the depiction of the dead mother’s very last journey upon the shoulders of her two sons.

Tu 26. April We 27. April Fr 29. April

16:30 Cinemateket 20:00 Cinemateket 16:45 Cinemateket

Two Gates Of Sleep USA 2010, 78 min.

English Version Director: Alistair Banks Griffin Script: Alistair Banks Griffin Camera: Jody Lee Lipes Editor: Brady Corbet, Alistair Banks Griffin Music: Daniel Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans Sound: Dan Flosdorf Producer: Andrew Renzi, Josh Mond Cast: Brady Corbet, David Call, Karen Young Distr.: Recreation Media

18

FESTIVAL programME

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

Djo Tunda wa Munga

Viva Riva!

With ‘Viva Riva!’, director Djo Munga, educated in Belgium, challenges his country’s tarnished cinematic reputation with a sensual and dazzlingly beautiful gangster film shot in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo.

And given that this is from a country that is usually associated with cheap Nollywood productions, we are truly dealing with a downright breakthrough. When the petrol supply to Kinshasa is about to run dry, and while the normally heavily trafficked streets are beginning to empty, criminal forces in the city’s underworld set out to earn as much as possible from the mess. A gang of smugglers from neighbouring Angola try to enter the market, and this kicks off a violent struggle to become king of the underworld. During this criminal showdown, the otherwise bright Riva manages to fall head over heels in love with the rival’s gorgeous girlfriend, and suddenly there is more than mere petrol, money and power at stake. ‘Viva Riva!’ is an action-packed, whirlwind thriller, shot on location in a city whose hectic pace is perfectly reflected in the film, which can boast some of the best-dressed gangsters ever to appear on a cinema screen.

Su 24. April Tu 26. April Fr 29. April

19:15 Dagmar Teatret 21:30 Dagmar Teatret 21:30 Vester Vov Vov

Viva Riva!

Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgium, France 2010, 110 min.

Lingala, French / English Subtitles Director: Djo Tunda wa Munga Script: Djo Tunda Wa Munga Camera: Antoine Roch Editor: Yves Langlois Music: Louis Vyncke, Congopunq Sound: Marianne Roussy Production: Formosa, MG Productions Producer: Boris Van Gils, Michael Goldberg, Djo Tunda Wa Munga Cast: Patsha Bay Mukuna, Manie Malone, Hoji Fortuna, Alex Herbo Distr.: Beta Cinema

FESTIVAL programMe

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX

19

Romain Gavras

Our Day Will Come Romain Gavras turned YouTube upside down with his hard-boiled and controversial music video for M.I.A.’s ‘Born Free’, where a fascist government detains the red-haired in concentration camps, and thereby indirectly creates a guerilla army of terrorists/ freedom fighters, dressed in strawberry helmets and ammunition belts. ‘Our Day Will Come’ is a kind of feature film sequel, though now with humour. The redhaired teenage thug Remy lives in a terraced house and spends his days fighting with his mother, his sister and the local hooligans. One day, Remy meets the charismatic psychologist/psychopath, Patrick (Vincent Cassel), who decides to systematically test his young prodigy’s limits. Soon, the two of them establish a ‘red front’ in a revolutionary struggle for recognition, and for an independent state in the holy land of red-heads: Ireland. A hopeless escape from a more or less imagined enemy, leaving a trail of minor destruction and bizarre behaviour behind them. The clash of civilisations is just around the corner in Gavras’s witty and provo-cynical allegory of everyone’s struggle against everyone, in an age where the majority is a minority, and it is cool to stand out.

Sa 23. April Th 28. April

21:45 16:45

Gloria Gloria

Notre Jour Viendra France 2009, 88 min.

French / Danish Subtitles Director: Romain Gavras Script: Romain Gavras, Karim Boukercha Camera: Andre Chemetoff Editor: Benjamin Weill Music: Sébastien Akchoté Sound: Jérôme Gonthier, Erwan Kerzanet Production: 120 Films, Les Chauves-Souris, TF1 Droits Audiovisuels Producer: Vincent Cassel, Éric Névé Cast: Vincent Cassel, Olivier Bartélémy, Justine Lerooy Distr.: Miracle Film

20

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

nEw TaLEnT GRanD pIX

DanIEL CoCkbuRn

yOu ARE HERE A THOuGHT EXPERIMENT: A man is sitting in a prison cell. Someone slides a sheet of paper, with Chinese symbols on it, under his door. On the shelf behind him is a gigantic, ten volume opus that contains the code for this message - but who is it who is doing the thinking?

The man, the books or the cell? The Canadian video artist Daniel Cockburn’s philosophic science fiction film starts out, quite appropriately, with a small lesson about the relationship between the (bad) habits of sight and the freedom of thoughts, before it moves onto a labyrinthine and dizzying detective story about a female archivist, a one-eyed inventor, a telephone switchboard and a crowd of people named ‘Alan’.

Imagine an intelligent version of ‘Inception’, produced with an extremely low budget, and co-directed by Charlie Kaufman and Jorge Luis Borges, and you are close to being in the middle of the kind of cerebral gymnastics, which make up ‘You Are Here’. Cockburn’s charming and mischievous feature film debut is a small library of ideas that challenges the perception of reality, and bodes well for the future - not least Cockburn’s own.

su 24. April We 27. April sa 30. April

20:00 CInEmaTEkET 21:30 CInEmaTEkET 16:30 CInEmaTEkET

yOu ARE HERE Canada 2010, 78 min.

English Version Director: Daniel Cockburn Script: Daniel Cockburn Camera: Cabot McNenly Editor: Duff Smith Music: Rick Hyslop Sound: Fred Brennan Production: zeroFunction Productions Inc. Producer: Daniel Bekerman Cast: Tracy Wright, R. D. Reid, Anand Rajaram, Nadia Litz, Shannon Beckner Distr.: zeroFunction Productions Inc.

THE AUDIENCE AWARD THE AUDIENCE AWARD IS YOUR AWARD. POLITIKEN’S FILM EDITOR, KIM SKOTTE, EXPLAINS WHY YOUR VOICE COUNTS.

Illegal immigrants, awkward lust and demanding love. Naked women, chopped-off fingers – and what does a Korean schoolgirl’s suicide have to do with an old woman’s attempts at learning to write good poetry?

Petter Næss. So this is almost home-grown! But the majority of the chosen films are made by directors whose names are probably not known to a wider audience. It is to a great extent a voyage of discovery which CPH PIX is inviting you to join.

Thematically, you can cover the entire spectrum, if you watch the ten films that have been selected to compete for Politiken’s Audience Award.

From a purely geographic perspective, the audience can almost circle the planet. From close neighbours such as Norway and Germany to France, Belgium, Spain and Romania. On to Russia, Canada and the United States. Yes, all the way to South Korea, from where Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Poetry’ (‘Shi’) has found its way via the main competition programme in Cannes to Copenhagen. The films which are competing for Politiken’s Audience Award are allowed to have competed at other festivals. This means that several of the films that are shown in Copenhagen have been crowned with awards and distinctions.

The audience itself will have the chance to assess whether the Canadian, Xavier Dolan, and the Romanian, Marian Crisan, are the auteurs of tomorrow. Whether Olivier Masset-Depasse is a worthy heir to the Belgian Dardenne brothers, or whether Svetlana Proskurina can add a much-needed feminine perspective to Russian masculine mysticism.

Even if much is being said about globalisation and Americanization, it is a fact that national film traditions from, for example, Russia, Romania and Spain are alive and kicking.

‘Maskeblomstfamilien’ is based on a novel by the popular Norwegian author, Lars Saabye Christensen, and is directed by the ‘Elling’ director,

But isn’t such an audience award just a consolation prize? An award that should make the audience feel that it has a certain degree of influence, while it in reality is the jury that decides what is important? It might be like this in some places, but for the films that are shown at CPH PIX, the Audience Award is far from being just a consolation.

FILMSERIE

To begin with, the main competition at CPH PIX is reserved for first-time directors. This means that many strong and interesting films are already excluded from being chosen to participate in the competition.

But on the other hand, you can give your vote, as a normal audience member, to some of the best films shown. The Audience Award is your award, and your vote means something, even when the festival is over, because CPH PIX is also a showcase, where Danish importers and distributors can see how a potentially interesting film is received by an audience. Experience shows that the winner of Politiken’s Audience Award has great prospects of being acquired for Danish distribution. The winning films have demonstrated that a Danish audience find them attractive, and the 100,000 kr in release support, which follows the award, help make the decision to import a winning film much easier.

So join in, and help determine which film should have Politiken’s Audience Award - and give your favourite a push in the direction of proper Danish cinema distribution after the festival.

FESTIVAL programMe

nominated FILMs shameless Poetry Illégal Midnight Son Morgen Sleeping Sickness Black Bread Heartbeats Truce THE SOLITUDE OF PRIME NUMBERS

23

MAESTROS They have proven their worth ages ago, but nonetheless the directors of the MAESTROS SERIES keep renewing their own and the film world’s cinematic language.

CPH PIX may be dedicated to the new names on the film front, but there are also directors whose importance simply cannot be avoided. And the one group would not exist without the other. The directors of this year’s Masters series have actively defined film history, which the young talents relate to when they make their films.

The fact that experimentation is not only the domain of young filmmakers is also demonstrated by the output of the golden oldies. Like when the new wave master Godard lets his latest film, ‘Film socialisme’, be shot on a mixture of various digital formats, seasoned with mobile footage and YouTube clips, or when the cult director, Monte Hellman, who has released his first feature in 21 years, in ultra-modern b-movie style creates a falsely told meta noir with ‘Road to Nowhere’ – and thereby defies all the usual rules which apply to portraying criminal intrigues.

In the Asian camp, we have three indefatigable auteurs: the South Korean Hong Sang-soo, the Thai Apichatpong Weerasethakul and the Japanese Takashi Miike. With ‘Hahaha’, the Golden Palm winner, ‘Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives’ (to which we are also dedicating a major exhibition) and ‘13 Assassins’ respectively, the three directors will undoubtedly more than satisfy their hungering fans, who like us cannot get enough of their strokes of genius.

The Polish master director and screenwriter behind films such as Roman Polanski’s early works, Jerzy Skolimowski, enters into an unexpected alliance in his latest film with the indie icon Vincent Gallo, who won the award for best male actor at the Venice Film Festival. ‘Essential Killings’ is a both visually intoxicating and ultra-tough drama about a political prisoner’s escape through snow-clad Poland, which also won the Special Jury Prize in Venice.

The Spaniard, Agustí Villaronga is on home turf in his psychological coming of age story about a small boy’s shocking experiences in the aftermath of the Catalan civil war, while the Iranian Abbas Kiarostami seeks out more light-hearted grounds with ‘Certified Copy’, something as atypical for this master as a romantic comedy - with Juliette Binoche as the female protagonist.

With a not so insignificant portion of autobiographical irony, Otar Iosseliani has with ‘Chantrapas’ made a successful meta film about making films under social resistance. Raoul Ruiz’ literary adaptation, ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’, with a length of four and a half hours, is indisputably this year’s longest film, but given that it is told equally as captivating as the best 18th century romances, it doesn’t feel one minute too long.

FESTIVAL programMe

maestros

25

Takashi Miike

13 Assassins The enfant terrible of Japanese film, Takashi Miike, has jumped from one genre to another over the past ten years, but with ‘13 Assassins’ he is back in absolute top form. It is not only his best film since ‘Ichi the Killer’ (2001), it is also his greatest project to date - a loyal and sumptuously beautiful remake of Eiichi Kudo’s samurai classic from 1963. The story takes place in the mid-1800s in a Japan ruled by Shoguns. When the ruling Shogun’s gruesome brother Naritsugu crosses the line with his murders and rapes, the samurai Shimada is hired to liquidate the brute. In the film’s first half he assembles a - not so surprising - total of 13 samurais, who face Naritsugu’s superior army of 200 men. After plans for an ambush are jotted down on paper, the whole thing culminates in a 50-minute savage and visual showdown, which beats most things seen in this genre. ‘13 Assassins’ is cool classicism, everything is done by the book like a pure-bred Asian western, and even when things get violent and heads literally start to roll, Miike’s goal is not to serve up headless excesses of violence. Instead, he gives us a solid dose of diabolic humour, which finds its purest expression in the forest man Koyata, who is not a samurai, but has a physique like a tree trunk, a member that makes John Holmes appear a smurf, and a sexual appetite to match it.

Sa 23. April We 27. April

20:00 Empire 19:00 Palads

Jûsan-nin no shikaku Japan 2010, 126 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Takashi Miike Script: Daisuke Tengan Camera: Nobuyasu Kita Editor: Kenji Yamashita Music: Kôji Endô Production: Sedic International, Shogakukan, Toho Company, Recorded Picture Company (RPC), Dentsu Producer: Minami Ichikawa, Tôichirô Shiraishi, Michihiko Yanagisawa Cast: Koji Yashuko, Takayuki Yamada, Goro Inagaki, Yusuke Iseya Distr.: Hanway Films

26

FESTIVAL program

maestros

Agustí Villaronga

Black Bread In the harsh years after the civil war in Catalonia, a shocking and savage attack suddenly takes place.

10-year-old Andreu accidentally discovers the father and son that are its victims. As he leans in on the dying boy, he hears him utter the word Pitorliu - the name of the monster that allegedly rages through the village. When Andreu’s father is wrongfully accused of murdering the two, Andreu sets out to find the real murderers, and the boy’s explorations end up shedding light on some dark secrets, that have been long suppressed. Augusti Villaronga propels Andreu into a brutal coming-of-age process and forces his young protagonist to relate to an adult world filled with lies, myths and cover-ups. The masterful Spanish director has based ‘Black Bread’ on a novel by Emil Texidor and manages to conjure up a suggestive psychological universe around his young hero. ‘Black Bread’ was one of the most talked about films at this year’s festival in San Sebastian.

Sa 16. April We 20. April

19:00 17:00

Grand Teatret Grand Teatret

Pa negre Spain, France 2010, 108 min.

Spanish / English Subtitles Director: Agustí Villaronga Script: Agustí Villaronga Camera: Antonio Riestra Editor: Raúl Román Music: José Manuel Pagán Sound: Dani Fontrodona, Fernando Novillo Production: Massa d’Or Produccions, Cine I AV, S.L., Televisió de Catalunya, S.A. Producer: Isona Passola Cast: Francesc Colomer, Sergi López, Eduard Fernández, Laia Marull, Marina Comas Distr.: Beta Cinema

maestros

FESTIVAL programMe

27

Otar Iosseliani

Chantrapas In Russian, ‘chantrapas’ means something as unidiomatic as ‘those that can’t sing’, but in French one has adopted the expression as a telling depiction of people who are good for absolutely nothing. Thus, the tone is set for Otar Iosseliani’s French-Georgian, partly autobiographical artist portrait ‘Chantrapas’. In the opening scene, we meet the hopeful director Nicolas, who proudly presents his recently completed film to two friends (the film shown is in fact a short film that Iosseliani made back in 1959), whose opinions stigmatise Nicolas’ dilemma as an artist. Should he, as one of them suggests, re-edit the lot in order to avoid provoking the authorities, or should he, as the other one pleads, insist self-confidently on his artistic integrity and turn it up to full blast? We are subsequently taken back to Nicolas’ Georgian childhood, which is filled with slaps in the face, cigarettes and innocent secret drinking, and which offers a presumably realistic image of the world where decisions are constantly made by higher powers - be they religious or secular. The grown-up Nicolas therefore moves to Paris to live his artistic dream, but he discovers that opposition can be found everywhere.

‘Chantrapas’ confidently, and with a perfect dose of ironic distance, balances the artist’s struggle and his self-absorption, and the entirety is accompanied by a soundtrack that forcefully mixes traditional folk songs with Soviet propaganda tones and entirely new rythms.

We 20. April Mo 25. April Fr 29. April

16:40 Gloria 12:00 Grand Teatret 19:00 Vester Vov Vov

Chantrapas France, Georgia 2010, 122 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Otar Iosseliani Script: Otar Iosseiani Camera: Julie Grünebaum, Lionel Cousin Editor: Emmanuelle Legendre, Otar Iosseliani Sound: Jérôme Thiault Production: Pierre Grise Productions, Sota Cinema Group, Sanguko Films Producer: Martine Marignac, Maurice Tinchant Cast: David Tarielashvili, Nika Endeladze, Tamuna Karumidze, Fanny Gonin, Bulle Ogier, Pierre Etaix Distr.: Les Films du Losange

28

FESTIVAL programME

maestros

Jerzy Skolimowski

Essential Killing After a self-imposed exile from the film world that lasted more than fifteen years, Polish master director Jerzy Skolimowski returned full force in 2008 with the film ‘Four Nights With Anna’. That it was more than the proverbial swallow that does not make a summer is proven with the potent Venice-winner ‘Essential Killing’.

Indie star Vincent Gallo plays a suspected terrorist of unknown provenance, who after being captured somewhere in the Middle East is interrogated and tortured, before he is put in chains and flown away to an unknown destination. When an accident causes a moment of confusion, he manages to get away, and what follows is an intense escape through snow-clad forests and valleys, where the sparkling beauty of nature stand in stark contrast to the starved convict who silently fights his way towards freedom. Not surprisingly, Gallo won the award for best male actor at last year’s Venice Film Festival, for it is his hard journey through the Polish winter landscape that is the film’s focal point, and Skolimowski focuses almost exlusively on Gallo’s tormented body, which gradually breaks down during the long escape through the inhospitable landscape.

The result is a highly captivating film.

Th 14. April Sa 23. April

16:45 21:30

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Essential Killing Poland, Norway, Hungary, Ireland 2010, 83 min.

English, Polish, Arabic / English Subtitles Director: Jerzy Skolimowski Script: Jerzy Skolimowski, Ewa Piaskowska Camera: Adam Sikora Editor: Réka Lemhényi Music: Pawel Mykietyn Production: Skopia Film, Recorded Picture Company, Element Pictures, Mythberg Films, Cylinder Production Producer: Jerzy Skolimowski, Ewa Piaskowska Cast: Vincent Gallo, Emmanuelle Seigner, David L. Price Distr.: NonStop Entertainment

FESTIVAL programMe

maestros

29

Jean-Luc Godard

Film socialisme In the first third of Jean-Luc Godard’s latest and highly topical opus ‘Film Socialisme’, a luxurious ocean liner is a floating metaphor for Europe as an artificial paradise that is sailing towards a head-on collision with reality. Nobody on board the ship has noticed anything yet, apart from possibly Patti Smith and the philosopher Alain Badiou, who are singing and speaking to deaf ears. The colourful Godard has filmed his opus on everything ranging from mobile phones to HD video (and clips ripped from Youtube), and his ‘film socialism’ is also a contribution to the ever-present copyright debate: artists have no rights, but merely duties. This is especially true for Godard, whose reflections about the world’s state of affairs are openly presented with images, sounds and texts. But there is also space for two cats, a llama and a parrot in the film’s Babylonian structure, which is less of a linear argument and more of a challenge by one of the greatest filmmakers of the 21st century to think critically. See it. See it!

Tu 26. April Su 1. May

19:15 19:30

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Film socialisme Switzerland 2010, 101 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Jean-Luc Godard Script: Jean-Luc Godard Camera: Fabrice Aragno, Paul Grivas Production: Vega Film Producer: Ruth Waldburger Cast: Catherine Tanvier, Christian Sinniger, Jean Marc Stehle, Agatha Couture, Marie-Christine Bergier Distr.: Wild Bunch

30

FESTIVAL programME

maestros

Hong Sang-soo

Hahaha It wasn’t only high time that Cannes’ Un Certain Regard prize went to Hong Sang-soo last year - it was also the right time, as with his tenth film, South Korea’s unmatched auteur brilliantly sums up all his abilities as well as his entire back catalogue. All the actors from the director’s earlier films appear in ‘Hahaha’, which on the surface tells a fairly straightforward and undramatic story about a promising film director who meets an old friend and film critic over a few bottles of rice wine before emigrating to Canada. But as we all know, events are defined by the eyes that perceive them, and nowhere is this more true than in Hong Sang-soo’s film.

The two friends discover that they have both recently visited the island of Tongyeong, and long flashbacks let them share the experiences they made there. But what they don’t know is that they have both moved in exactly the same circles, visited the same people and courted the same girls, but with fairly different results.

The repetition of events from different perspectives has been a consistent theme for Hong Sang-soo ever since ‘Virgin Stripped Bare of her Bachelors’ (2000), and with his seemingly inexhaustible stock of ideas and subtle sense of humour - he constantly finds new ways to illuminate how our misunderstandings of each other characterise our time together and make our emotional lives more difficult. A truth that also dawns on our two drinking characters in ‘Hahaha’ and makes their laughter get stuck in their throats. Like all men in Hong Sang-hoo’s films, they are a couple of sorry old wretches, but likable ones at that.

Th 28. April Sa 30. April

16:45 19:15

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Hahaha South Korea 2010, 116 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Hong Sang-soo Script: Hong Sang-soo Camera: Hongyeol Park Editor: Sungwon Hahm Music: Yongjin Jeong Sound: Mir Kim Production: Jeonwonsa Film Cast: Sangkyung Kim, Sori Moon, Junsang Yu Distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

FESTIVAL programMe

maestros

31

Raoul Ruiz

Mysteries of Lisbon The admittedly long running time should not discourage audiences from buying a ticket to see Raoul Ruiz’s masterful adaptation of Camilo Castelo Brancho’s classic ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’. Think ‘Brideshead Revisited’ or a great novel that you can’t put down. Or, maybe more relevant in our days, a DVD box set with the complete seasons of ‘The Wire’. The story tells the sad fate of an orphan, Joao, who is the result of a futile romance between two aristocrats, who came from different lineages and would never be able to marry each other.

The film is told by Joao who at 14 is desperate to get to know his origins. He has lived with a friendly priest, who gives away his mother’s identity, and from then on it doesn’t take long before the film weaves a tapestry of intrigues and desires around the boy’s story. As in the Proust adaptation ‘Time Regained’, Ruiz shows why he is one of the few living directors that can be entrusted with the great classical works of literature. With ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’ he has not only made a captivating adaptation, but perhaps also his best film to date - which with an impressive back catalogue of nearly 100 films is quite a compliment.

Su 24. April

14:30

Cinemateket

Mistérios de Lisboa Portugal, France 2010, 272 min.

Portuguese, French / English Subtitles Director: Raoul Ruiz Script: Carlos Saboga Camera: André Szankowski Editor: Carlos Madaleno, Valeria Sarmiento Music: Jorge Arriagada Sound: Ricardo Leal Production: Clap Filmes Producer: Paulo Branco Cast: Léa Seydoux, Melvil Poupaud, Clotilde Hesme Distr.: Alfama Films

32

FESTIVAL programME

maestros

Abbas Kiarostami

Certified Copy When Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami - who was responsible for cementing Iran’s status as one of the world’s most important cinematic nations in the mid 1990s together with Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and whose impressive filmography includes titles such as ‘The Taste of Cherries’ (1997) and ‘Ten’ (2002) - premiered his latest film at last year’s Cannes film festival, his choice of genre surprised many of his fans. With ‘Certified Copy’, Kiarostami has tried his hand at making a light - and on the surface more conventional - romantic comedy, which has a great deal in common with both Howard Hawk’s wonderful classic ‘Bringing Up Baby’ (1938) and Rosselini’s highly modern breakthrough ‘Journey to Italy’ (1953). ‘Certified Copy’ is about a middle-aged British author who is in Tuscany to promote his latest book.

While here, he meets the French woman Elle, played

by Juliette Binoche in one of her best roles. As the title indicates, the progress of their relationship ends up originally toying with the relationship between original and copy, and between fantasy and reality.

Tu 26. April

21:45

Gloria

Copie conforme France, Italy 2010, 106 min.

French / Danish Subtitles Director: Abbas Kiarostami Script: Abbas Kiarostami Camera: Luca Bigazzi Editor: Bahman Kiarostami Sound: Dominique Vieillard Production: MK2 Productions, BiBi Film, Abbas Kiarostami Productions Producer: Angelo Barbagallo, Charles Gillibert, Marin Karmitz, Nathanaël Karmitz, Abbas Kiarostami Cast: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carrière, Agathe Natanson Distr.: Miracle Film

FESTIVAL programMe

maestros

33

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives In last year’s Golden Palm winner, this beautifully meditative fable, we meet the ageing farmer Uncle Boonmee, who lives in the very North of Thailand. Here, he tends to his animals and fields, while a kidney disease is rapidly eating away what is left of his life. One night, he gets an unexpected visit from his late wife, who turns up as a ghost during dinner, and by his lost son, who returns as a cross between a human being and a large ape with shining red eyes. They have come to say farewell to Uncle Boonmee, and with their help he embarks on a final journey towards the afterlife.

Apichatpong’s latest film revolves thematically around the question of the soul’s afterlife, and the staunch belief that our place in this life is determined by our actions in an earlier life, which is still extremely dominant in Nabua, the part of northern Thailand where the story about Uncle Boonmee is filmed, and close to where Apichatpong himself grew up. The region, and the film about ‘Uncle Boonmee’, are also elements in a larger art project called ‘Primitive’, which we are also showing this year (mentioned in another part of the catalogue). But the film can be seen separately without any problems, and is the latest stroke of genius by one of the absolute greatest film artists in the world today.

Th 14. April Su 24. April

19:00 14:30

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Lung boonmee raluek chat UK, Thailand, France, Germany, Spain 2010, 113 min.

Thai / English Subtitles Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Script: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Camera: Yukontorn Mingmongkon, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom Editor: Lee Chatametikool Sound: Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr, Koichi Shimizu Production: Illuminations Films, Kick the Machine Producer: Simon Field, Keith Griffiths, Apichatpong Weerasethakul Cast: Sakda Kaewbuadee, Jenjira Pongpas, Thanapat Saisaymar Distr.: Sunrise Film Distribution

34

FESTIVAL programME

maestros

Monte Hellman

Road To Nowhere The cult director, Monte Hellman’s first proper film in 21 years is a long-awaited chapter in an exclusive output, not least of which includes the existentialist road movie ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’ from 1971, which has let Hellman enjoy mythical status among cinephile audiences. ‘Road to Nowhere’ is an enigmatic and cryptical meta-noir, which is as much about seeing films as it is about making them. Mitchell Haven is a young film director who, during his work on a ‘true crime’ film, finds out that nothing about the true story is actually true and that the young femme fatale, whom he has cast to play the main role, shares quite possibly more than just her good looks with the woman who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, that he is now trying to uncover in his film. The illusions are piled up high, and the roles trade places in Hellman’s Chinese box of a plot, which brings the small film team from North Carolina to London, Verona and Rome, and which self-consciously comments on the state of American independent filmmaking. A hyper-modern B-movie based on a classic recipe: jealousy, obsession, murder and fatal attraction.

Th 21. April Tu 26. April Fr 29. April

12:00 Dagmar Teatret 21:00 Grand Teatret 20:00 Husets Biograf

Road To Nowhere USA 2010, 121 min.

English Version Director: Monte Hellman Script: Steven Gaydos Camera: Josep M. Civit Editor: Céline Ameslon Sound: Rich Gavin Producer: Steven Gaydos, Melissa Hellman, Monte Hellman Cast: Tygh Runyan, Cliff De Young, Waylon Payne, Rob Kolar Distr.: E1 Entertainment

FESTIVAL programMe

maestros

35

Eric Rohmer

Special Presentation: The Collector Few directors have earned the label, ‘maestro’, as much as the French new wave director, Eric Rohmer who, right up to his death in January last year, continued to refine his very own version of the kind of emotional drama which, for many people, defines French dialogue film. Even if the dialogues always have been the bearing elements of his universe, like a door that gradually opens up to the characters’ emotional worlds, it is at the same time the light and cheerfully seductive tone which defines his films. And few films pulsate with life and spiritual energy more than the first feature film in his series of ‘Moral Tales’, ‘The Nymphomaniac’, from 1967, about the young nymphet, Haydée, who spends the summer at a castle with two male acquaintances, who have entered a pact to stay away from her sexually, which is constantly hampered by her energetic dealings with the other men in the neighbourhood. With this film, Rohmer not only earned a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, he also found a new and essentially more frisky tone, which he consequently pursued and refined in his many later films. We are proud to be able to show you Rohmer’s magnum opus at this year’s festival, with a personal introduction by Jackie Raynal, the film’s editor, who worked very closely together with Rohmer.

Apart from being a film editor, Jackie Raynal also a film director and a member of this year’s PIX jury.

Sa 30. April

15:00 Husets Biograf

La Collectionneuse France 1967, 89 min.

French, English / English Subtitles Director: Eric Rohmer Script: Eric Rohmer Camera: Nestor Almendros Editor: Jackie Raynal Music: Blossom Toes, Giorgio Gomelsky Production: Les Films du Losange Producer: Georges de Beauregard, Barbet Schroeder Cast: Patrick Bauchau, Haydée Politoff, Daniel Pommereulle Distr.: Les Films du Losange

36

FESTIVAL programME

maestros

Béla Tarr

The Turin Horse One can calmly call the master director, Béla Tarr’s latest film for a cinematic experience beyond the ordinary. Its intense portrayal of two people’s gradual path to their last destination took the critics by storm at this year’s film festival in Berlin. It all begins with a brief story about how the philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, one day witnessed a horse being abused on the streets of Turin, and threw himself around its neck to protect it. ‘Nobody knows, what subsequently happened to the horse,’ the film’s narrator concludes ironically, before Bela Tarr and his regular team (the editor, Agnes Hranitsky, the author, Lazlo Kraznahorkai, the composer, Mihaly Vig, and the cinematographer, Fred Kelemen) open up for his perhaps most minimalistic film to date, which succeeds the brief prelude with a two-and-ahalf hour long depiction of the last seven days of two simple farmers, as everything gradually comes to a standstill around them. In thirty heart-wrenching takes, which are structured like a Genesis fabel in reverse, their last days are portrayed in breathtakingly beautiful black-and-white images accompanied by an hypnotic soundtrack. An uncompromising film for everyone who thought that film art was dead.

Fr 22. April

16:20

Grand Teatret

A Torinói ló Hungary, France, Germany, USA, Switzerland 2011, 146 min.

Hungarian / English Subtitles Director: Béla Tarr Script: László Krasznahorkai, Béla Tarr Camera: Fred Kelemen Editor: Ágnes Hranitzky Music: Mihály Vig Sound: Gábor ifj. Erdélyi Production: TT Filmmûhely Producer: Gábor Téni Cast: János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos Distr.: Øst for Paradis

FESTIVAL programMe

maestros

37

Svetlana Proskurina

Truce The visionary Russian filmmaker Svetlana Proskurina is currently one of the most reliable and, at the same time, least known directors around. With ‘Truce’, which has already garnered a plethora of awards all over the world, she delivers, through her typical use of daydream images, raw realistic resonance and humorous undercurrents, one of her best films to date. The film tells an absurd story, which in an inexplicable, though within the film’s own logic, completely natural way creates a space, destroyed by industry, where local lunatics and criminals get drunk on cheap vodka and fear not to pull out weapons just about every time they get the chance. This might sound like Russian exaggeration, but Svetlana Proskurina’s cinematic stroke of genius lies in the fact, that she lets the dreary scenario blend itself with transcendentally soulful digressions, which at times make the situation highly romantic. Ambiguity is a virtue, and even when nihilism seems to be turning into caricature, it is clear, that there is more at stake in the films of this unique Russian director.

Fr 22. April We 27. April

16:30 19:00

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Peremirie Russia 2010, 95 min.

Russian / English Subtitles Director: Svetlana Proskurina Script: Dmitri Sobolev Camera: Oleg Lukichyov Editor: Sergey Ivanov Music: Sergey Shnurov Production: Mosfilm, Studio Slon Producer: Sabina Yeremeyeva Cast: Ivan Dobronravov, Andrei Feskov, Aleksandr Golubkov Distr.: Studio Slon

Front runners They are innovative and wild. The directors in FRONT RUNNERS are the new generation of filmmakers.

Where is the art of filmmaking heading in the 2010s? If you asked the eleven international filmmakers that we have assembled in the Front Runners section, you would get eleven different answers - which can all be seen here. Eleven highly different films, all of which look ahead and believe in themselves.

Meanwhile the tendency towards semidocumentary mockup minimalism, which has left its clear mark on the most innovative films of the past few years, takes an entirely new turn in Sergio Caballero’s ghost fable ‘Finisterrae’, Mexican director Nicolas Pereda’s ‘Summer of Goliath’ and Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s epic ‘My Joy’.

So perhaps it is not surprising that several of the films in this section look at the world through the eyes of a young outsider. The Greek ‘Attenberg’ has been met with enthusiasm everywhere. The 22-year-old wunderkind Xavier Dolan is back in front of and behind the camera with the odd but romantic drama of a love triangle in ‘Heartbeats’. The youngest and darkest contribution however is the Chinese director Li Hongqi’s extremely downplayed and absurd Locarno winner ‘Winter Vacation’ - a film you should only see, if you have a strong sense of (black) humour.

Three artistic temperaments that could hardly be any more different, and which are complimented in their diversity by Michael Rowe’s ascetic ‘Leap Year’, whose shocking explicitness is paradoxically echoed in this year’s most extravagant and visually ambitious film. We are, of course, talking about Gaspar Noé’s neon-coloured brain trip ‘Enter the Void’, which many people have undoubtedly been looking forward to seeing on the big screen.

The Front Runners’ films are above all made for the cinema, and it is here that they should be seen.

FRONT RUNNERS

FESTIVAL programMe

39

Marco Berger

Absent One of the greatest hits at last year’s CPH PIX was Marco Berger’s sexy drama ‘Plan B’. That he is once again represented in this year’s programme is a stroke of luck for us, as the successor ‘Absent’ is just as original and captivating as its precursor. Martin has fallen in love with his male swimming teacher, and finds all kinds of excuses to slowly but surely invade his private life. The teacher, Sebastian, discovers only too late what his young student is up to, but at this point he has already been compromised to such a degree that there is no way back. A tragic event makes Sebastian aware of the fact that he also has feelings for Martin, but Berger brilliantly maintains the focus on the fact that in this rare case, it is the youth who is exploiting the adult by constantly being aware of his vulnerable position. The story is subtly told through Martin’s unwavering gaze, which is in sharp contrast to his apologetic body language. Berger’s subtle story of mismatched love slowly turns into a tingling thriller with its very own definition of unease.

We 20. April Sa 23. April

21:45 14:20

Gloria Grand Teatret

Ausente Argentina 2011, 87 min.

Spanish / English Subtitles Director: Marco Berger Script: Marco Berger Camera: Tomás Pérez Silva Editor: Marco Berger Music: Pedro Irusta Sound: Carolina Canevaro Production: Oh My Gomez! Films Producer: Marco Berger, Mariana Contreras, Pablo Ingercher Casas Cast: Carlos Echevarria, Javier de Pietro, Anto- nella Costa, Rocio Pavon, Alejandro Barbera Distr.: Rendez-vous Pictures Stillfoto: Nahuel Berger

40

FESTIVAL programME

FRONT RUNNERS

Athina Rachel Tsangari

Attenberg Last year’s CPH PIX success ‘Dogtooth’ proved incontrovertibly that the Greeks are capable of making great cinema art and Athina Rachel Tsangari, who was the co-producer of ‘Dogtooth’, takes an inspired step further in her second feature, ‘Attenberg’. The timid 23-year-old woman Marina lives with her architect dad in a prototypical Greek factory town. She keeps to herself and instead of getting involved with the world around her, she studies it from afar and is helped by suicidally depressing songs, documentaries by Sir David Attenborough and some sex lessons from her only friend, the much more precocious Bella. When a stranger comes to town and challenges her to a table football match, something suddenly clicks. In the meantime, her pessimistic father is preparing for his departure from earthly life, which he thinks is thoroughly overrated. In other words, there is a reason for Marina’s emotional makeup being what it is. With ‘Attenberg’, Tsangari has made an alternative coming of age film, which deserves just as much attention as ‘Dogtooth’.

Sa 30. April Su 1. May

16:45 21:30

Dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

Attenberg Greece 2010, 95 min.

Greek / English Subtitles Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari Script: Athina Rachel Tsangari Camera: Thimios Bakatakis Editor: Sandrine Cheyrol, Matthew Johnson Sound: Leandros Dounis Production: Haos Films, Faliro House Productions, Boo Productions, Stefi S.A. Producer: Maria Hatzakou, Giorgos Lanthimos Cast: Ariane Labed, Giorgos Lanthimos, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelia Randou Distr.: Øst for Paradis

FESTIVAL programMe

FRONT RUNNERS

41

Nanouk Leopold

Brownian Movement ‘Brownian Movement’ is a technical term that describes the way in which particles in gases and fluids are constantly influenced by other particles and thereby shift around. An apparently indescribable process, which nonetheless takes place. It is this kind of influence that Charlotte seems to be exposed to in Nanouk Leopold’s fine drama, which takes its title from this physical phenomenon. Charlotte is happily married with the successful architect Max, with whom she has a young son. She works as a doctor in Brussels and has a life that seems wholesome and perfect. But Charlotte has an inexplicable flaw. Without an obvious motivation, she starts inviting male patients, all of whom have different ailments, to an apartment she has rented for this purpose. Here, they have sex, after which the men disappear again. Charlotte reveals her activities to Max, who demands that she starts a therapy to shed light - not least for herself - on her strange desire. With grand and intense images, Leopold creates a cinematic universe that is appalling in all its chamber piece-like intensity.

Th 21. April Tu 26. April Sa 30. April

19:15 Dagmar Teatret 12:00 Grand Teatret 19:00 Vester Vov Vov

Brownian Movement Netherlands, Germany, Belgium 2010, 97 min.

English, French / English Subtitles Director: Nanouk Leopold Script: Nanouk Leopold Camera: Frank van den Eeden Editor: Katharina Wartena Music: Harry de Wit Sound: Markus Stemler Production: Circe Films, Coin Film, Serendipity films, Bella Cohen Films, VPRO Producer: Stienette Bosklopper Cast: Sandra Hüller, Dragan Bakema, Sabine Timoteo, Ryan Brodie Distr.: Films Distribution

42

FESTIVAL programME

FRONT RUNNERS

Denis Côté

Curling The desperately grey universe of ‘Curling’ may seem similar to one of Scandinavian dead pan minimalists such as Aki Kaurismäki and Roy Andersson, but in Canadian filmmaker Denis Coté’s latest film ‘Curling’, the ambivalent grey tones serve another purpose. The far from talkative Jean-François lives in the middle of nowhere with his 12-year-old daughter, whom he isolates so that she won’t suffer the same defeat in her encounter with the outside world as he did. During the day, he works in a worn-out bowling hall, and at night he is employed at a shabby motel - and he is only home with his daughter to give her the home education that she requires to stay away from seeking contact with the outside world. The always accurate Coté lets his condensed film unfold from the concrete starting point that a young girl has no concept of the rest of the world, and in the course of the film, the narrative branches out into unexpected directions. Julyvonne is fabulously played by Philomène Bilodeau, Emmanuel Bilodeau’s real daughter, who gives the portrait of a girl plenty of empathy.

Th 21. April Sa 30. April

21:45 14:20

Gloria Grand Teatret

Curling Canada 2010, 98 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Denis Côté Script: Denis Côté Camera: Josée Deshaies Editor: Nicolas Roy Production: Nihilproductions Producer: Stéphanie Morissette, Denis Côté Cast: Emmanuel Bilodeau, Philomène Bilodeau, Roc LaFortune, Sophie Desmarais Distr.: Doc & Film

FESTIVAL programMe

FRONT RUNNERS

43

Gaspar Noé

Enter the Void Gaspar Noé’s latest and long-awaited film is literally a cinematic out-of-body experience: a hallucinatory, neon-coloured cerebral death trip through Tokyo’s underworld and nightclubs, seen exclusively through the eyes of a young, American small-time pusher, who - to top it all off - dies half an hour into the film. Oscar and his sister Linda share an apartment in Tokyo, where she works as a stripper, and he makes a living selling dope. The latest sensation on the market is DMT - a drug that the brain itself produces in the moment of death, and which gives you a corresponding experience. When Oscar is shot in an ambush, he is caught between life and death by his promise to Linda to look after her, no matter what happens. The camera work is almost unparalleled in film history, and Noé’s neon mindfuck is inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, mind-expanding experimental films and modern chemistry. ‘Enter the Void’ is one of its days’ most visually ambitious films, and has already earned a status as a kind of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ for the ecstasy generation. Has to be seen in the cinema.

Mo 25. April We 27. April

21:00 Grand Teatret 20:30 Grand Teatret

Soudain le vide France 2009, 161 min.

English, Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Gaspar Noé Script: Gaspar Noé Camera: Benoît Debie Editor: Marc Boucrot, Gaspar Noé Music: Thomas Bangalter Sound: Valérie Deloof, Alexis Durand Production: Wild Bunch, Fidélité Films Producer: Pierre Buffin, Marc Missonnier, Vincent Maraval Cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy Distr.: Another World Entertainment

44

FESTIVAL programME

FRONT RUNNERS

Sergio Caballero Lecha

FInisterrae Two ghosts set off on a pilgrimage, starting at the Sónar festival in Barcelona and taking them along the Camino. Sergio Caballero is the artistic director of Sónar, and he makes his debut as a film director with a wonderful fable that is loosely based on the French cult auteur Philippe Garrel’s legendary Nico film from 1970, ‘The Inner Scar’. The ghosts wander across the supernatural landscapes to the gloomy tones of Nico and Suicide, while their white sheets become increasingly soiled. The film is however more arty children’s television for adults than traditional ghost film. Talking animals, trees with ears and Catalan video art from the 1980s seen through a peeping hole in a hollow tree - imagination has the last word, and as in a real fairy tale, everything has a happy ending.

‘Finisterrae’ was made as an extended trailer for the Spanish music and arts festival, and it is one of this year’s most unusual, moving and funny films.

Tu 19. April Tu 26. April Sa 30. April

21:30 16:45 19:00

Grand Teatret Gloria Dagmar Teatret

FInisterrae Spain 2010, 80 min.

Spanish, Russian / English Subtitles Director: Sergio Caballero Lecha Script: Sergio Caballero Lecha Camera: Eduard Grau Editor: Martí Roca Music: Sergio Caballero Lecha, Jimi Tenor Sound: Jonathan Darch, Jordi Juncadella Production: Advanced Music, Eddie Saeta S.A., Sonar Advanced Music Producer: Luis Miñarro Cast: Santí Serra, Pavel Lukiyanov, Yuri Mykhaylychenko Distr.: Eddie Saeta, S.A.

FRONT RUNNERS

FESTIVAL programMe

45

Xavier Dolan

Heartbeats You could have feared that Xavier Dolan had already made his best film with his autobiographical debut, the festival hit ‘I Killed My Mother’. But the merely 22-year-old Canadian supertalent has more films up his sleeve, and the follow-up, the quirky love triangle drama ‘Heartbeats’, confirms Dolan’s status as a director to look out for. Dolan prudently avoids the most immediate references, and he has made a radically different film to his debut success. Marie and Francis (again played by Dolan himself) are best friends, but while she is sexually aggressive and energetic, he maintains an introverted and almost acerbic distance to the world around him.

The two of them do little else than feel superior to other people with a mixture of condescending arrogance and a solid dose of complacency, until one day, when they meet the charming Nico at a dinner party, and both take interest in him. The three of them become inseparable for a short while, but Nico seems to be above the banal erotic obsession that both Marie and Francis succumb to, and suddenly the two close friends lose their footing.

We 20. April Tu 26. April Sa 30. April

14:30 17:00 21:45

Grand Teatret Empire Gloria

Les amours imaginaires Canada 2010, 102 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Xavier Dolan Script: Xavier Dolan Camera: Stéphanie Biron Weber Editor: Xavier Dolan Music: Sylvian Brassard Sound: François Grenon Production: Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, Mifilifilms Producer: Xavier Dolan, Carole Mondello, Daniel Morin Cast: Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri, Niels Schneider Distr.: Rezo Films International

46

FESTIVAL programME

FRONT RUNNERS

Michael Rowe

Leap Year The controversial Camera d’Or winner ‘Leap Year’ is built upon Monica del Carmen’s fearless and self-transcending performance as the 25-year-old protagonist Laura. She is single, works as a journalist and lives in a small apartment in Mexico City, where the entire film takes place. Laura lives her life on the edge and her existence is a cocktail of tinned food and casual sex with random men she picks up in town.

The 29th of February is circled in red in her calendar, and as the simple plot progresses, we start to realise why. When one of Laura’s male acquaintances, Arturo, sticks around after a one-night-stand, the two of them embark on a sadomasochistic relationship, where the violence increases, and which propels the dark and minimalist film of debut director Michael Rowe towards the mysterious date - and to the point where we can no longer avoid the question of who actually dominates whom. A courageous film for those who dare.

Fr 22. April Su 1. May

21:45 19:00

Dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

Año bisiesto Mexico 2010, 92 min.

Spanish / English Subtitles Director: Michael Rowe Script: Lucia Carreras, Michael Rowe Camera: Juan Manuel Sepulveda Editor: Óscar Figueroa Music: Karin Burnett, Immanuel Miralda Sound: Miguel Ángel Molina, Santiago de la Paz Production: Machete Producciones, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía Producer: Edher Campos, Luis Salinas Cast: Monica del Carmen, Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Armando Hernández Distr.: Pyramide International

FESTIVAL programMe

FRONT RUNNERS

47

Sergei Loznitsa

My Joy The journey ends before the night is over in Sergei Loznitsa’s pitch-black road movie ‘My Joy’, which was nominated for the Golden Palm at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film starts off on a hyper-realist track on Ukrainian country roads, where truck driver Georgys is on his way with a truckload of flour, but develops into an apocalyptic and almost medieval odyssey without destination, as Georgy gets to know an almost Gogolesque gallery of characters: an old soldier, a child prostitute and some toothless highwaymen. Bad luck and random violence veers the plot via some detours into the dark heart of the post-Soviet road system, where broken men lose both their names and their ability to talk. Evil is countered by evil, and chaos rules. That things have never been any different can be seen in the faces that fill the screen. Loznitsa was a documentary filmmaker before making his fictional debut with ‘My Joy’, and this is reflected in the observant and accurate imagery, which roots the film’s folkloristic and inventive feel-bad philosophy in a far-too-familiar Russian reality.

A metaphysical horror movie from the end of the world.

Fr 22. April Th 28. April

16:45 21:30

Dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

Schastye Moe Germany, Ukraine, Netherlands 2010, 127 min.

German, Russian / English Subtitles Director: Sergei Loznitsa Script: Sergei Loznitsa Camera: Oleg Mutu Editor: Danielius Kokanauskis Sound: Vladimir Golovnitsky Production: Ma.ja.de. Fiction, Arte, Kinofilm Producer: Heino Deckert, Oleg Kokhan Cast: Viktor Nemets, Vladimir Golovin, Aleksey Vertkov, Dmitriy Gotsdiner Distr.: Fortissimo Film Sales

48

FESTIVAL programME

FRONT RUNNERS

Nicolas Pereda

Summer of Goliath With its evocatively atmospheric story about a presumed murder, infidelity and other concealed deeds in a small Mexican village, the filmmaker, Nicolás Pereda, underlines the fact that he is a director to keep an eye on. ‘Summer of Goliath’ is not only an unusually beautiful depiction of youthful longing, but also part-crime story, part-comedy and an elegant collective portrait from the fringes of Mexican society. However, with Pereda, nothing is quite the way it looks, and there is a good reason for this: He takes the oral narrative tradition, with its constant developments and reworkings, as his point of departure. Pereda has found his own unique style, somewhere between his fellow Mexican, Carlos Reygadas, and the Portuguese director, Miguel Gomes and, with his fourth film, he has achieved something of a breakthrough within the genre of, for lack of a better expression, one could call imaginative realism. ‘Summer of Goliath’ won the Orrizonti competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2010.

Fr 22. April Su 1. May

22:30 Husets Biograf 14:20 Grand Teatret

Verano de Goliat Mexico, Canada 2010, 76 min.

Spanish / English Subtitles Director: Nicolas Pereda Script: Nicolas Pereda Camera: Alejandro Coronado Editor: Nicolas Pereda Sound: Jose Miguel Enriquez Rivaud Production: En Chinga Films Producer: Andres Castañeda, Nicolas Pereda Cast: Gabino Rodríguez, Teresa Sanchez, Harold Torres Distr.: FiGa Films, LLC. Stillfoto: Andrés Castañeda

FESTIVAL programMe

FRONT RUNNERS

49

Li Hongqi

Winter Vacation Anyone feel like going on a cosy winter vacation to inner Mongolia? Not after ‘Winter Vacation’, you won’t...

Absurdity is the basis of everything in the Chinese poet, author and film director, Li Hongqi’s hermetic universe, and he masters it to perfection in his heartwrenchingly strange and eerily tragi-comic film, which echoes Roy Andersson and Samuel Beckett, but takes things a step further, with its crass hyper-realism. On the last day of the winter holidays, a group of school children are killing time in each other’s, and a terribly melancholic grandfather’s sad company. A girl asks a schoolmate what he wants to be when he grows up.

‘An orphan’ is his short answer. The absurd gallows humour is pitch-black and unexpected, and comes from a director who masters his timing to the bone.

The static compositions and expressionless faces say more than a thousand words, so the viewer will literally double up with laughter. This is Chinese social realism from a suburb of hell...and you should only see it if you have a sense of humour.

Fr 22. April Th 28. April

14:00 16:30

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Han jia China 2010, 91 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Li Hongqi Script: Li Hongqi Camera: Qin Yurui Editor: Li Hongqi Music: Zuoxiao Zuzhou, The Top Floor Circus Sound: Guo Rn’ru Production: Alex Chung Producer: Alex Chung Cast: Bai Junjie, Zhang Naqi, Bai Jinfeng, Xie Ying, Wang Hui Distr.: Capricci Films

8 ½ months of intense filmmaking · 110 film students from more than 20 countries · PROfESSiONAl camera and editing equipment, film studio and 3D cinema · meet PROmiNENT directors, script writers and actors · SPECiAliSED teaching by professionals from the film- and TV-industry · 8½ months of filmmaking at an iNTERNATiONAlly renowned film college

www.europeanfilmcollege.com info@europeanfilmcollege.com

fILmSERIE

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

51

3X3

SERIETITEL

In ouR RECuRRInG SECTIon 3X3 WE INTRODuCE THREE sTRONG NAMEs FROM THE WORLD OF FILM, who aRE woRTh payInG aTTEnTIon To ThIS vERy momEnT. ThIS yEaR’S SELECTED TaLEnTS ComE fRom CounTRIES aS DIffEREnT aS ITaLy, SouTh koREa anD ThE uS, anD ThE fESTIvaL pRESEnTS THREE POWERFuL WORks FROM EACH OF THEM

3X3 Mike Ott

SERIETITEL

Slackers, shoe-gazers and lazy charmers are the specialty of the American independent director, Mike Ott.

Few directors live up to the description ‘independent’ like Mike Ott, who had his debut in 2006 with ‘Analog Days’, and now has a small and highly personal output of three features under his belt, as well as a number of shorts. Mike Ott has been compared to slacker auteurs, such as Gus Van Sant, Todd Solondz and Richard Linklater, but his sharp observations of the worries of the young American middle class bring him into a league of his own. Ott grew up on the outskirts of Los Angeles, where he also made his first 8mm fiction films, and he has since trained at the California Institue of the Arts (CalArts).

But he also has one foot in the music scene, where he

not only runs the record label Sound Virus Records, but also directs music videos for bands such as Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Blood Brothers. But it is primarily with his films that Mike Ott has made a name for himself amongst the indie audience, as his films look a bit further when it comes to finding a story with a heart. His faith in young amateur actors lend his films a special kind of authenticity and vulnerability, and if you look closely, you will find many faces reappear throughout his works. Mike Ott will attend CPH PIX in person to present his films and to man the turntables at the closing night party.

FESTIVAL programMe

3 X 3 MIKE OTT

53

Mike Ott

Analog Days A small gem from the American independent scene. The hugely talented Mike Ott depicts four college kids in California over the course of a year.

Lloyd has dropped out and works in a video store, when he isn’t smashing up Republican campaign offices in the middle of the night. Molly, Jordan and Tammy are half-heartedly pursuing their studies, but all three dream of achieving more than their prospects allow them to. The down-played fictional narrative is however most of all a framework for a string of sharp and ironic observations, which impale the intolerable insecurity of teenage existence. The tone of the film touches on Van Sant, Solondz and Linklater, but also manages to retain its very own voice - possibly because Mike Ott always approaches his young anti-heroes at eye-level.

Fr 22. April We 27. April

20:00 Husets Biograf 16:30 Dagmar Teatret

Analog Days USA 2006, 90 min.

English Version Director: Mike Ott Script: Mike Ott Camera: Jason Joel Harris, Jay Keitel Editor: Lane Farnham Music: Derek Fudesco, Alec Puro, Ryan Rehm Sound: Badger Coon Production: Sound Virus Media Producer: Jenifer Shahin Cast: Chad Cunningham, Granger Green, Ryan Johnsen, Ivy Khan Distr.: Small Form Films

54

FESTIVAL programME

3 X 3 MIKE OTT

Mike Ott, Carl McLaughlin

Kid Icarus ‘Independent’ is more than just a fashionable term for the American director Mike Ott, who with his three films and various shorts has specialised in the dreams and vulnerable insecurities of youth. Both are abundantly present in the documentary ‘Kid Icarus’, which in the course of a year follows one of Ott’s own film school student’s Icarian ambition of becoming the new Spielberg, in accordance with the American motto that you can do anything you want. The balance between illusion and reality is a difficult one to master when you takes your future success for granted, and after he has assembled a mixed bunch of helpers, reality slowly turns against our young antihero. It’s not so much the dubious film project as the social games and the blinding prestige that surrounds the art of filmmaking that preoccupy Ott. And here, he presents a heartrendingly tragicomic but never denouncing study of forgetting yourself in your quest for a fleeting dream - but also about learning from yourself and each other. Cory (Cory Zacharia, who also plays the lead in ‘Littlerock’) is unforgettable as an aspiring actor and the involuntary centre of events.

Sa 23. April Mo 25. April

12:00 Dagmar Teatret 22:30 Husets Biograf

Kid Icarus USA 2008, 85 min.

English Version Director: Mike Ott, Carl McLaughlin Camera: Carl McLaughlin, Jason Tippet Editor: David Nordstrom Distr.: Small Form Films

FESTIVAL programMe

3 X 3 MIKE OTT

55

Mike Ott

Littlerock It’s the bum notes that give Mike Ott’s indie film its charming slacker authenticity. Two Japanese siblings are stranded in a Californian small-town when their car breaks down, kicking off a road movie that doesn’t leave the spot. The place is called Littlerock, and even if none of them really speaks any English, they nonetheless make friends with the loafer Cory and his friends, whom they meet at a party at their motel. It doesn’t take long for Atsuko, the sister, to become popular, and bitter-sweet indie music ensues as both Cory and his friend defy the language barrier to experience an exotic romance. The days are spent smoking cigarettes and cycling around aimlessly in the dusty desert, and the warm summer nights turn into one long party. But under the surface there are signs of racism, hidden debt and homophobia. Mike Ott’s observant camera does not resort to detached irony in its accurate portrayal of the youngsters and their purposeless wandering and search for love and a form of identity. Ott communicates with images, so not much is lost in translation.

Mo 25. April Th 28. April

21:30 Dagmar Teatret 17:00 Husets Biograf

Littlerock USA 2010, 83 min.

English Version Director: Mike Ott Script: Mike Ott Camera: Carl McLaughlin Editor: David Nordstrom Sound: Fred Thornton Production: Small Form Films Producer: Fred Thornton, Sierra Leoni, Laura Ragsdale Cast: Astuko Okatsuka, Cory Zacharia, Roberto Sanchez Distr.: Small Form Films

3X3 Lee Chang-dong

SERIETITEL

The Korean auteur, Lee Chang-dong, creates unforgettable film poetry with a universal resonance.

Lee Chang-dong (born 1954) is one of the great humanists of contemporary art-house filmmaking, and with his current output of five films, he has conquered the hearts of both audiences and critics all over the world. His films are gripping and almost universally human, but in spite of their unusual stories, they are never intrusive or sensationalist. Lee Chang-dong was an author before he became a film director, and he had no formal film training when he made his debut, ‘Green Fish’, in 1997. The international breakthrough came three years later with ‘Peppermint Candy’, which covers 20

years of modern Korean history, and which for many people has become synonymous with the renaissance of Korean film art in the past decade. The fact that he has found time between his film projects to man the post of Minister of Culture in the east Asian country can only be seen as an expression of the deep humanism that unites his works and which, with last year’s latest addition, ‘Poetry’, has been provided another unforgettable chapter. Lucky are those who still have their first encounter with Lee Chang-dong before them.

3 X 3 LEE CHANG-DONG

FESTIVAL programMe

57

Lee Chang-dong

Oasis It takes a director like the Korean Lee Chang-dong to present as controversial and downright awkward subject, as the love relationship at the core of ‘Oasis’. A young man, who has served a sentence for manslaughter and drunk driving, is released and finds that his family barely wants to have anything to do with him. He visits the family, the head of which he had killed, and finds a young, cerebrally handicapped girl, whose family has hidden her away so that they don’t have to be reminded of her existence. The young man is lonely, feels attracted to her, and rapes her. An awful scene, yet free of aggression. No matter how unreasonable it can seem, the two begin to develop feelings for each other, and we follow them with bated breath, for how can this possibly end well? How can society possibly tolerate them? How can a relationship, which is initiated by a rape, ever begin to flourish? The reason why we not only believe in it, but also deep down hope for it, is Lee Chang-dong, who tells his story without sensationalism or cheap effects, but with an exuberant humanistic tone, which is very much his own.

We 20. April Su 1. May

12:00 16:45

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Oasiseu South Korea 2002, 132 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Lee Chang-dong Script: Lee Chang-dong Camera: Choi Yeong-taek Editor: Kim Hyun Music: Lee Jae-jin Production: East Film Company Producer: Cho Min-cheul, Jay Jeon, Myeong Gye-nam Cast: Sul Kyung-gu, Moon So-ri, Ahn Nae-sang Distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

58

FESTIVAL programME

3 X 3 LEE CHANG-DONG

Lee Chang-dong

Peppermint Candy What is Korean film? The short answer could also be the most correct: Korean film is Lee Changdong’s ‘Peppermint Candy’, not only because it is so breathtakingly visionary as a work of art, and is so impassioned as a statement, that it seems almost to be possessed by the devil himself. But also because the film, which is Chang-dong’s second work, assumes the task of dissecting the anatomy of South Korea itself, including its national traumas and the Korean male’s problems in finding a less aggressive masculine expression; a recurring theme in Korean film. ‘Peppermint Candy’ is, however, neither journalism or chronicle, but pure art. At the beginning, a man runs out onto the train tracks on a bridge and gets himself killed, and from here the film jumps back and forth in his life with its own irresistible logic, and lets him mirror the culture of which he is a product. If we in the West have been lulled into the belief that art is exclusively either an aesthetic or a narrative affair, then it’s time we thought again. For Chang-dong, film is a loaded gun, a fast approaching train.

Tu 26. April Sa 30. April

14:20 Grand Teatret 19:00 Palads

Baghasatang South Korea 1999, 130 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Lee Chang-dong Script: Lee Chang-dong Camera: Kim Hyeong-gu Editor: Kim Hyun Music: Lee Jae-jin Producer: Jae-Young Jeon, Gye-nam Myeong, Makoto Ueda Cast: Sul Kyoung-gu, Moon So-ri, Kim Yeo-jin Distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

FESTIVAL programMe

3 X 3 LEE CHANG-DONG

59

Lee Chang-dong

Poetry A brilliant and intensely gripping Korean drama about a woman in the late Autumn of her life who takes poetry writing classes and discovers that her grandchild, who lives with her, is partly responsible for a school girl’s suicide, because he and his school friends, over a longer period of time, forced her to have sex with them. Only a large sum of money from the parents can prevent the boys from having to face punishment and public humiliation, and the grandmother struggles with the dilemma of doing the right thing morally or maintaining family loyalty. Lee Chang-dong’s film was the one that touched most hearts in Cannes last year, and was the favourite of a number of critics to win the Golden Palm.

The film’s topic is harsh, but its sensitivity and loyalty to the film’s characters, indeed all of the characters, is so gentle and unfolds with such humanitary power, that the spectator feels drained at the end. Not emotionally raped, but rather spurred on to experience what can only feel like completely new insights into the human psyche.

Fr 22. April We 27. April Su 1. May

19:00 Grand Teatret 16:15 Gloria 21:15 Vester Vov Vov

Shi South Korea 2010, 139 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Lee Chang-dong Script: Lee Chang-dong Camera: Seok Kim Hyun Editor: Kim Hyun Sound: Lee Seung-cheol Production: Pine House Films Producer: Lee Jun-dong Cast: An Naesang, Kim Hira, Lee David, Yun Junghee Distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

3X3 Toni Servillo

SERIETITEL

Three films, which offer undeniable proof that the Italian Toni Servillo is one of his generation’s best actors.

Toni Servillo (born 1959) was already a star on his home turf, when he broke through internationally in 2008 with his roles in Matteo Garrone’s ‘Gomorrah’ and Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘Il Divo’, where he played an unforgettable Giulio Andreotti, Italy’s former prime minister. Toni Servillo is a productive gentleman - above all in the theatre.

Apart from his work as an actor, he has directed opera productions in Naples and Lisbon, and when he accepts a part in a film, it is always on his own terms. Solid character portraits, which focus more

strongly on physical charisma than on dialogue, are Servillo’s great strength on the big screen, where he always totally dominates the scenes he is in. You can see this for yourself in three films with Servillo, and ‘One Man Up’ was particularly chosen for the festival by the man himself. And don’t miss Stefano Incerti’s ‘Gorbaciof’, which is one long declaration of love to the lines and contours of a face that is so expressive, that you immediately feel as though you’re is in very special company.

FESTIVAL programMe

3 X 3 TONI SERVILLO

61

Claudio Cupellini

A Quiet Life The past pays a visit in Claudio Cupelini’s compelling story about repressed deeds and the belief in a new life. Toni Servillo plays the Italian cook and ex-gangster, Rosario Russo, who owns a hotel just outside Hamburg, where he lives with his German wife and his son. He lives a quiet life, quarrels a bit with his wife and otherwise devotes himself to running the hotel kitchen, as if it was the only thing that meant something to him. Until the day two Italian boys arrive at the hotel. They bring with them an unpleasant reminder of his past and, little by little, the tranquil facade he has built around his new life starts to crumble. ‘The Quiet Life’ is a highly compact story, and portrays a man’s increasingly desperate balancing act between the past and the present with great tact. Servillo shines as the taciturn protagonist, and he deservedly won the award for best actor at Rome International Film Festival, for his compelling portrayal of a man with a concealed past and a dream of starting a new and tranquil life.

Su 17. April Mo 25. April

19:00 16:45

Grand Teatret Gloria

Una vita tranquilla Italy, Germany 2010, 100 min.

Italian, German / English Subtitles Director: Claudio Cupellini Script: Filippo Gravino, Guido Iuculano, Claudio Cupellini Camera: Gergely Pohárnok Editor: Giuseppe Trepiccione Sound: Michael Busch, Gilberto Martinelli Production: Acaba Produzioni, Babe Film, EOS Entertainment Producer: Fabrizio Mosca Cast: Toni Servillo, Marco D’Amore, Francesco Di Leva Distr.: Beta Cinema

62

FESTIVAL programME

3 X 3 TONI SERVILLO

Stefano Incerti

Gorbaciof Italian power-face Toni Servillo plays the reigning role as the cahier and small-time hustler Marion Pacileo - also known as Gorbachev thanks to the large birthmark on his forehead - who alongside his work for the local prison also has a great passion for playing poker. Although it isn’t small change that is gambled with in the back room of the local Chinese restaurant, his losses are apparently covered thanks to a solid portion of well-planned embezzlement. Until the day he falls head over heels in love with the restaurant owner’s daughter. In order to save her from becoming the next stake to cover her father’s gambling debt, he gets into more trouble than he likes. ‘Gorbaciof’ is not only a beautiful tribute to 1970s Italian crime films, but also one long declaration of love to Servillo, whose expressive face alone manages to carry the film’s full range of emotions - from the quiet infatuation to ultimate desperation. With Servillo fronting the cast, director Sefano Incerti has managed to make an incredibly elegant film, which does something as rare as trust a simple story.

Su 17. April Sa 23. April Th 28. April

14:20 Grand Teatret 19:15 Dagmar Teatret 19:00 Vester Vov Vov

Gorbaciof - Il cassiere col vizio del gioco Italy 2010, 87 min.

Italian / English Subtitles Director: Stefano Incerti Script: Stefano Incerti, Diego De Silva Camera: Pasquale Mari Editor: Marco Spoletini Music: Teho Teardo Sound: Marco Coppolecchia Production: Devon Cinematografica, Surf Film Producer: Angelo Curti, Edwige Fenech, Luciano Martino Cast: Toni Servillo, Mi Yang, Geppy Gleijeses Distr.: NonStop Entertainment

FESTIVAL programMe

3 X 3 TONI SERVILLO

63

Paolo Sorrentino

One Man Up In his cinematic breakthrough, Toni Servillo plays the cocaine-snorting nightclub singer, Antonio Pisapia.

He is reasonably popular with his audiences, and ends up going home every night with girls who are young enough to be his daughters. But his obvious cynicism and complacency are bound to give him problems, and when he is arrested one night together with an underage girl, Antonio has nowhere to go, and is consequently left to his own demise. Strangely enough, Antonio has a namesake, with whom he also shares the same birthday, except that the other Antonio is 10 years younger. What is more, he is a friendly, successful football player, who still has a few good years left on the pitch, before he will embark on a coaching career. However, an untimely injury puts a sudden end to both his career and dreams, and suddenly even this Antonio is left to his own devices.

Naturally, the two destinies, both of which are based on authentic, Italian celebrity blunders meet, and ‘One Man Up’ depicts how short the distance can be between success and fiasco. The film has been especially chosen for this series by Toni Servillo himself, as the one of his many film roles that he is most proud of.

Su 17. April Fr 22. April

12:00 Grand Teatret 21:30 Vester Vov Vov

L’uomo in più Italy 2001, 100 min.

Italian / English Subtitles Director: Paolo Sorrentino Script: Paolo Sorrentino Camera: Pasquale Mari Editor: Giogiò Franchini Music: Pasquale Catalano Production: Indigo Film, Keyfilms Roma Producer: Francesca Cima , Angelo Curti, Nicola Giuliano Cast: Toni Servillo, Andrea Renzi, Antonino Bruschetta

NEW DANISH TALENT The series dedicated to THE POOL OF DANISH TALENT

In NEW DANISH TALENT we show that the stylistic capers and cinematic experiments are also flourishing as they should be here in Denmark. We can do a lot more than describe kitchen sinks or the quarrels of nuclear families about who should do the washing up.

The feature film front presents a varied trio with ‘Rosa Morena’, a Danish-Brazilian coproduction about the homosexual Thomas, who so desperately wants to have a child, that he sets off to Brazil to buy one; the never conventional Linda

Wendel’s modern Strindberg update ‘Julie’, and a brand new Director’s Cut of ‘Charlie Butterfly’ from 2001. This version has given the original a welcome overhaul in the editing room, and the film can now present itself from its best side. We find talent in unpolished form in the short film section, where we once again have assembled a series of programmes of enraged, humorous and deadly serious film stories from both Super 16 and New Danish Screen, which show us a promising new generation of energetic Danish filmmakers.

FESTIVAL programMe

new danish talent

65

Dariusz Steiness

Charlie Butterfly Director’s Cut 2011 It has been nine years since Dariusz Steiness’ debut film premiered, but he has not been able to let go of it and has continued to work on it ever since.

Now, it is ready, newly edited and newly conceived, but still retro-cool, timeless and with one of the best Danish soundtracks ever. Baard Owe lends his forever inscrutable face to play the main role of the fireman Hans Underlin, an overbearing and fascinating fireball, who walks into other people’s lives ruthlessly, but not without a certain fascinating charm. His favourite victim is his son Jesper (lead singer of The Sandmen, Allan Wegenfeldt), who tries to escape by drinking, but ends up leaving. When Hans loses his beloved wife and his eyesight in a car accident shortly after, it is him who has nothing to hold on to in life. He loses all sense of connection, and it is only when Jesper returns, that light comes back into his life. Even at the premiere in 2002, ‘Charlie Butterfly’, which the director co-wrote with Klaus Rifbjerg, was different from other cosily amusing Danish kitchen sink films, and Steiness’s new edit has only made his vision even clearer.

Su 24. April

19:00

Dagmar Teatret

Charlie Butterfly - Director’s Cut 2011 Denmark 2011, 78 min.

Danish Version Director: Dariusz Steiness Script: Klaus Rifbjerg, Dariusz Steiness Camera: Eigil Bryld Editor: Dariusz Steiness, Åsa Mossberg Music: Michel Rassum, Carsten Dahl Sound: Eddie Simonsen, Lars Rasmussen Production: Zentropa, Det danske Filminstitut Producer: Jonas Frederiksen, Peter Ålbæk Cast: Baard Owe, Allan Vegenfeldt, Vigga Bro, Diana Axelsen, Henrik Jandorf Distr.: Dariusz Steiness

66

FESTIVAL programME

new danish talent

Linda Wendel

JULIE Linda Wendel, who made her debut with ‘Ballerup Boulevard’ in 1986, is not known for pussyfooting around neither her audience nor the film industry. Being one of the most consistently experimental figures in the Danish film world, she still manages to break the expectations we might have of her or her films. And this is a status that becomes Wendel. After the intelligent comedy ‘Him, Her and Strindberg’, and the alternative family drama that is shot in one take, ‘One Shot’, Wendel is back with another special Strindberg adaptation. Based on the dramatist’s canonised play ‘Miss Julie’, she tells the story of a young female tennis star (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen), who falls head over heels in love with her coach in order to feel the affection that she has always missed in her thick-skinned and indebted father (Jesper Christensen). The condensed quality of ‘One Shot’ is repeated in ‘Julie’, which Wendel stages during a single summer night. A modern and courageous story about everlasting themes such as seduction and decline.

Tu 26. April

19:00

Grand Teatret

Julie Denmark 2011, 80 min.

Danish Version Director: Linda Wendel Script: Linda Wendel Camera: Henrik Bohn Ipsen Editor: Jacob Thuesen Sound: Mick Raaschou Production: Babyfilm ApS Producer: Linda Wendel Cast: Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Rolf Hansen, Jesper Christensen, Trine Appel, Niels Skousen Distr.: Scanbox Danmark

FESTIVAL programMe

new danish talent

67

Carlos Augusto de Oliveira

Rosa Morena In the first Danish-Brazilian co-production ever, we meet Anders W. Berthelsen in the role of the broody homosexual, Thomas. He has been refused the right to adopt, due to his sexual orientation, and goes on holiday in Sao Paulo, not only to visit his friend Jakob (David Dencik), but also to examine the shadier possibilities for fulfilling his dreams of having a child. He is soon caught up in a series of delicate situations, not least of a moral kind, where 100,000 dollars are easily transacted for a stolen child. When he meets the pregnant Maria, who is willing to give up her unborn child in lieu of payment, Thomas is drawn into a muddy cocktail of confidence, distrust, business and true feelings. Who is misleading whom? ‘Rosa Morena’ deservedly won a special award at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival last year, and has since shown to packed audiences in Sao Paulo.

Su 24. April

19:00

Grand Teatret

Rosa Morena Denmark, Brazil 2010, 90 min.

Portuguese, Danish, English / Danish Subtitles Director: Carlos Augusto de Oliveira Script: Morten Kirkskov, Jens Dahl, Carlos Augusto de Oliveira Camera: Philippe Kress Editor: Anja Farsig Music: Frithjof Toksvig Producer: Ivan Teixeira Cast: Anders W. Berthelsen, Bárbara Garcia, David Dencik, Viviane Pasmanter, Pablo Rodrigues, Georgina Castro, Iben Hjejle Distr.: Nordisk Film Stillfoto: Philippe Kress

68

FESTIVAL programME

new danish talent

Martin Werner, Peter Bækkel, Anders Berthelsen, Jesper Maintz

NEW DANISH SCREEN 1 4 films

BOSPORUS: Surrounded by crowds and noise, the elderly widower Murat lives a quiet life in Turkey’s most densely populated city, Istanbul. Every day is routine, and now and again Murat resorts to alcohol to contain his grief over losing his family, who was killed in a tragic car accident many years ago. His loss is painful, and drives him up the mountain to the cemetary every day to visit their graves. One day, a beautiful woman moves into the apartment downstairs, and a burst pipe, or perhaps a little bit of magic, triggers a conversation between them.

Man in Space, Child in Hell: At home, Carl spends all his time in his room. In this isolated universe, Carl’s drunken tyrant of a father and his repressed and beaten mother are mostly reduced to foot steps and voices in the kitchen, just as the contact is minimised to conversations through the door to his room. We follow Carl’s childhood through various moments in his young life, and observe how he is slowly formed by - and responds to - growing up in a dysfunctional family.

THE GREAT MISTAKE: At a Mafia family reunion, the name Giuseppe Baldini comes up, a black spot from the past, who has been on the family’s death list for so long, that he has almost been forgotten.

La Familia therefore sends their most cold-blooded hitman to Italy to liquidate Baldini. But what awaits him in Venice takes the otherwise so cunning and calculating assassin by complete surprise, and the question is, whether one can take the piss out of a hitman.

UPSTAIRS: Jonas is tiring of his relationship, and feels hemmed in by his girlfriend who is always eating and incessantly talking. Stricken with panic, he ends the relationship and moves into a dilapidated apartment to live a life of cigarettes, beers and pussy with his childhood friends. The big brute Frank, his upstairs neighbour, doesn’t hesitate in sharing his selfproclaimed expertise about women and relationships, and the brazen kiosk owner loves to show off his own back catalogue of female conquests, which are stored on his iPhone. Yet the ex-girlfriend, Rie, still haunts Jonas, quite literally even, and he soon realizes that not everything can be drowned out by drinking - especially not the surprises of single life.

FESTIVAL programMe

new danish talent

Th 28. April

19:00

69

Cinemateket

Bosporus Denmark 2010, 24 min.

Turkish / English Subtitles Director: Martin Werner Script: Martin Werner & Sane Munk Jensen Camera: Burak A. Turan Editor: Morten Giese & Esra G. Pertan Sound: Bjørn Vidø Production: Bacon A/S Producer: Charlie Gaugler Cast: Turgay Tanülkü, Zuhal Gencer, Engin Benli

The Great Mistake Denmark 2010, 20 min.

Danish / English Subtitles Director: Anders Berthelsen Script: Rune Christensen, Anders Berthelsen Camera: animation Editor: Anders Berthelsen Sound: Brian Dyrby Production: Ja Film Producer: Ellen Riis, Kirstine Dollerup Cast: voice actors: Mark White, Peter Glaser, Lawrence Marvit, Rune Christensen

Hvem brænder børnene i helvede Denmark 2010, 34 min.

Danish / English Subtitles Director: Peter Bækkel Script: Arn Lou, Peter Bækkel Camera: Mads Thomsen Editor: Birger Møller Jensen Sound: Martin Saabye Production: Nordisk Film Production A/S Producer: René Ezra, Tomas Radoor Cast: Lau Kierkensgaard, Robert Pedersen, Simon Selchau, Sebastian Alstrup, Mads Duelund, Bodil Jørgensen, Bjarne Henriksen, Pernille Høier

Upstairs Denmark 2010, 38 min.

Danish / English Subtitles Director: Jesper Maintz Script: Jesper Maintz and Jacob Weinreich Camera: Erik Zappon Editor: Adam Ross Sound: Hans Christian Kock Production: Basmati Film Producer: Ellen Riis Cast: Mads Koudal, Ene Øster Bendtsen, Peter Gilsfort, Chadi Abdul-Karim

70

FESTIVAL programME

new danish talent

Emma Balcázar, Lars H. Ostenfeld, Peter Gornstein

NEW DANISH SCREEN 2 3 films

The Prayer: Young Claudia enjoys a very special relationship with the Virgin Mary, with whom she openly shares her fantasies about her somewhat older, but good-looking neighbour, Jens, a cook she has a giant crush on, and occasionally works for.

Sexually fixated and filled to the brim with teenage hormones, Claudia thinks of nothing but losing her virginity, and preferably to Jens the cook. But how should she go about it, and what can she do to get his girlfriend out of the picture?

The Fir Tree: The fir tree is abducted as a young fir cone, and must take root and grow up far away from its family. The hopeful tree has great ambitions of growing up to the sky and doing well. We see the world pass by through the eyes of the tree, while it is impatiently waiting to grow higher and thicker than the surrounding trees, and it persistently tries to counter the hardships, a tree can be exposed to in a forest. Until the day in December, when a small boy falls in love with the tree.

PEACEFORCE: In the year 2032, Denmark is reduced to a dystopian rubble landscape. English is now the main language, and the now-defunct regions have been replaced by military zones, where violence and riots are a regular aspect of everyday life for the military units on patrol. The shabby representative of the people’s council from the Outer District asks for help at the overrun military headquarters, as his people are being terrorised by a rabid elephant. The young, law-abiding soldier, AHT 43162, insists that Peaceforge does something about it, and he signs up voluntarily for his first field mission, to deal with the task. But can the representative be trusted?

FESTIVAL programMe

new danish talent

Th 28. April

21:45

Cinemateket

Tro, håb og sex Denmark 2011, 33 min.

Danish / English Subtitles Director: Emma Balcázar Script: Emma Balcázar Camera: Aske Foss Editor: Morten Højbjerg Sound: Morten Groth Production: Nordisk Film Production A/S Producer: Thomas Heinesen Cast: Shelly Levy, Lars Hjøllund, Diana Axelsen

Grantræet Denmark, UK 2011, 27 min.

Danish / English Subtitles Director: Lars H. Ostenfeld Script: Lars H. Ostenfeld, Bo Hr. Hansen Camera: Erik Zappon Editor: Kaspar Astrup Schröder Sound: Kristoffer Salting, Kristian Eidnes Andersen Production: Mette Mailand Producer: Mette Heide Cast: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt, Henrik Vestergaard

Peaceforce Denmark 2010, 20 min.

English Version Director: Peter Gornstein Script: David Sandreuter Camera: Jacob Viit Kusk Editor: Nikolaj Monberg Sound: Rune Klausen Production: Miso Films ApS Producer: Jonas Allen, Beatrice von Schwerin, Peter Bose Cast: Cyron Melville, Henning Jensen, Anders Hove, Silja Byske, Søren Poppel, André Babikian

71

72

FESTIVAL programME

new danish talent

Jeanette Nordahl, Rasmus Kloster Bro, Andreas Thaulow

SUPER 16 1 3 films

WHEN I TURNED FOURTEEN: On her 14th birthday, Laura is visited by her mother’s friend, Asger, a fashion photographer, whom Laura has always been fascinated by. Asger is supposed to photograph Laura, which her mother, Henriette, has long been looking forward to, in spite of her growing jealousy towards her beautiful daughter. But what Henriette doesn’t know is that Laura’s feelings for Asger are starting to change. This presents a strain in the relationship between mother and daughter, which manifests itself in confrontation and rivalry, providing Laura with serious challenges. The meeting with Asger and the world of modelling becomes an introduction to adult life, and a discovery of her sexuality. She experiences desire for the first time and also the power that goes with it.

LIV: “Liv” - a drama about a fisherman and the village he lives in. Verner is a young fisherman with a worn out heart, and who should no longer go out to sea.

But Verner belongs at sea, and when he ignores the doctor’s orders, he challenges his own health and the expectations of the men in the village. Meanwhile, the boy Jeppe, who desperately wants to go to sea, tries to get Verner’s attention. Together they set out for their last and first adventure on the seas.

Før stormen: 15-year-old Sigurd lives with his young mother, Marianne, in a run-down apartment in Copenhagen. Marianne has just met Peter, who would like to make a good impression on Sigurd.

But Sigurd is worried on behalf of his mother and remains sceptical towards Peter.

FESTIVAL programMe

new danish talent

We 27. April We 27. April We 27. April We 27. April

12:15 15:00 18:00 21:00

73

Empire Empire Empire Empire

Fjorten år og to nætter Danmark 2010, 21 min.

Danish Version Instruktør: Jeanette Nordahl Manus: Eini Carina Grønvold, Jeanette Nordahl Kamera: Gry Friis Jørgensen Klip: Bodil Kjærhauge Lyd: Sille Boel Produktion: Zentropa, Beofilm Producer: Nadja Nørgaard Kristensen Medv.: Dorte Limkilde, Igor Rado, Marie Louise Wille

Liv Denmark 2010, 23 min.

Danish Version Director: Rasmus Kloster Bro Script: Rasmus Kloster Bro Camera: Martin Munch Editor: Giusy Naitana Sound: Philip Flindt, Simon Ellegaard Production: Fraktion, Super 16 Producer: Signe Bruntse Cast: Jonny Olsen, Thomas Rasmussen

Før stormen Denmark 2010, 20 min.

Danish Version Director: Andreas Thaulow Script: Andreas Thaulow & Jesper G. Laursen Camera: Sturla Brandth Grøvlen Editor: Esra Geelmuyden Pertan Sound: Brian Dyrby Production: Framework Films Producer: Christina Jul Gregersen Cast: Oskar Cornelius Mogensen, Paw Terndrup, Anna Fabricius, Adam Martina Fisker

74

FESTIVAL programME

new danish talent

Christina Christensen, Kristian Sønderby, Sven Vinge, Johan Knattrup Jensen

SUPER 16 2 4 film

TOMRUM: Tinus de Schunard lives in Maison Farfelu, a magical place you never would have thought existed, unless you’ve been there. In a séance, he confronts his dark sides. Unexpected visitors open a world where it is hard to distinguish between reality, dreams and nightmares.

Man and Mirror: In a deserted village, a lonely old man builds a mirror out of the materials he has at hand. During the laborious work, he unintentionally steps through the mirror and causes unpredictable chain reactions - from car chases, fights and hurricanes to forest fires, wars and a space trip until he comes out on the other side of the mirror, which turns out to be complete.

WORDS: Someone knocks on Eigil Strøm’s door.

Outside is a strange man who wants a signed copy of his latest novel...the one with the girl.

THE ROAD TO PARADISE: Johan wants to see what it takes to become a myth. So he follows in the footsteps of Eik Skaløe, the lead singer of Steppeulvene, who committed suicide in India in 1968. And he would like to do so all the way. Luxuryloving Mikkel is not so wild about Johan’s wild life experiments, but nonetheless joins him on the trip, which takes the two Danes across a magical, wild and unpredictable India. A crazy trip, reserved for those who are out of their minds.

FESTIVAL programMe

new danish talent

We 27. April We 27. April We 27. April We 27. April

13:30 16:30 19:30 22:30

75

Empire Empire Empire Empire

Tomrum Denmark 2010, 15 min.

Danish Version Director: Christina Christensen Script: Christina Christensen Camera: Sophie Winqvist Editor: Dan Loghin Sound: Andreas Kongsgaard Mogensen Production: Super16 Producer: Marie Peuliche Cast: Tinus de Schunard

Manden der arbejdede på et spejl Denmark 2010, 15 min.

Danish Version Director: Kristian Sønderby Sound: Jonas Colstrup Production: Kristian Sønderby, Super 16 Producer: Kristian Sønderby

Ord Denmark 2010, 15 min.

Danish Version Director: Sven Vinge Script: Sven Vinge Camera: Mads Køngerskov Editor: Esben Grundsøe Sound: Christian Scheuer Production: Mads Damsbo, Sven Vinge, Super 16 Producer: Mads Damsbo Cast: Rasmus Haxen, Samy Andersen, Aske Ruus

Vejen Til Paradis Denmark 2010, 25 min.

Danish Version Director: Johan Knattrup Jensen Script: Johan Knattrup Jensen Camera: Martin Køhler Jørgensen Editor: Julius Damsbo Sound: Brian Dyrby Production: Framework Films Producer: Mikkel Kastberg Cast: Johan Knattrup, Mikkel Kastberg

Cinema Museum: Jesper Just

FILMSERIE

FESTIVAL programMe

Throughout the festival, PIX will convert Husets Biograf into a veritable cinema-museum when we open the doors to Danish video artist Jesper Just.

77

78

FESTIVAL programME

cinema-museum: jesper Just

Throughout the festival, PIX will convert Husets Biograf

saturated universe, which often revolves around the

into a veritable cinema-museum when we open the

emotional lives of adult men. In more than twenty

doors to Danish video artist Jesper Just, who with

video works, which were shot on everything from

his exhibitions across the world has long attained

8mm, 16mm and 35mm to various digital formats, he

international star acclaim.

has developed a consistent formal language, whose cinematic references range from Douglas Sirk and

Just’s video works all originate from a close dialogue

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s emotional outbursts to

with the world of film - its drama and aesthetics - and

David Lynch’s atmosphere-driven dream universes.

he challenges everything from the dance film to the classic melodrama and reveals new and unexplored

Through his films, Just deconstructs stereotypical

dimensions, which lie latent in these genres. Together

ideas of gender, sexuality, race and power. Instead

with Jesper Just, who will also attend the festival, we

of obscuring the relation between the sexes behind

have assembled three programmes, which make out

an illusory veil, Just’s films let the veil fall, revealing

a detailed introduction to his unique video universe.

the complexity and allowing for a more varied and sensitive self-understanding and understanding of

Jesper Just, who currently lives and works in New

human relationships in general.

York, trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 2004. His works are all borne by his

The three programmes offer a unique opportunity to get

strong signature and a unique style, where a blend of

to know the entire range of Jesper Just’s opus - from

humour and playing with classical filmic conventions

the early ‘Victim-as-hero / Michael Douglas, a social

are employed to create a unique and symbolically

loser’, made while he was still at the Academy of Fine

cinema-museum: jesper Just

FESTIVAL programMe

79

Arts, to his latest film ‘Sirens of Chrome’, which like most

A Voyage in Dwelling (2008)

of his works is filmed by the Danish cinematographer

Victim-as-hero / Michael Douglas, a social loser (2001)

Kasper Tuxen.

Some Draughty Window (2007)

The programmes will be shown daily in Husets Biograf

PROGRAMME 3 (shown 16, 19, 22, 25, 28 April and 1

at 12:00 hrs - entry is free.

May, always at 12:00 hrs) It Will All End In Tears (2006)

Each programme lasts about one hour.

The Lonely Villa (2004) A Fine Romance (2004)

PROGRAMME 1 (shown 14, 17, 20, 23, 26 and 29 April,

A Question of Silence (2008)

always at 12:00 hrs)

Something to Love (2005)

A Vicious Undertow (2007) No Man Is an Island (2002)

On Sunday, 1 May at 16:30 hrs at Cinemateket, you will

Bliss and Heaven (2004)

also have the opportunity to meet Jesper Just at an

Romantic Delusions (2008)

illustrated master class about his characteristic filmic

This Love is Silent (2003)

universe. Entry is free.

PROGRAMME 2 (shown 15, 18, 21, 24, 27 and 30 April,

The programme is presented in collaboration with

always at 12:00 hrs)

MOMO - moves in movies. Read more on www.cphpix.dk

Sirens of Chrome (2010)

- or drop by in Husets Biograf during the festival period.

No Man Is an Island II (2004)

Sculpture Architecture pAinting Opening hours Tuesday - Sunday: 10am - 5pm Thorvaldsens Museum Bertel Thorvaldsens Plads 2 1213 Copenhagen K www.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk

fILmSERIE

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

81

PRIMITIVE a LaRGE EXhIbITIon by ThE ThaI DIRECToR, aRChITECT anD vIDEo aRTIST APICHATPONG WEERAsETHAkuL, baSED on hIS GoLDEn paLm wInnER ’unCLE boonmEE who Can RECaLL hIS paST LIvES’.

82

FESTIVAL programME

primitive

Thai filmmaker and visual artist Apichatpong

eastern Thailand, which suffered a horrible fate during

Weerasethakul acceded to the throne of the filmmaking

the Thai army’s hounding of communists from the

world, when he won the Golden Palm in Cannes in

1960s to the 1980s - a historical chapter that remains

2010. His winning film ‘Onkel Boonmee Who Can

suppressed in the Thai collective conscience and

Recall His Past Lives’ (which can also be seen at this

memory until this day. During the occupation of the

year’s festival) is far from a one off event in his work.

authorities, a large part of the village men disappeared,

Aside from constituting an elegant continuation of a

which in Weerasethakul’s filmic universe is symbolically

film career, which took off with the black-and-white

mirrored in the region’s ancient legend of a ghost

serial tale ‘Mysterious Object at Noon’, the film is the

widow, who abducts every man who enters into her

crowning of the diverse opus and multi-platform

kingdom. Using local beliefs in spirits, spirituality and

project ‘Primitive’, which is set in the region in northern

myths as a starting point, Nabua’s story is recounted

Thailand where the film was shot. PIX and Overgaden

in a poetic borderland between fact and fiction. In a

Institute for Contemporary Art are proud to present

consistent and searching pictorial language, which

a spectacular special exhibition, which manages to

ranges from the semi-documentary to the poetically

frame and introduce the Thai architect, filmmaker and

dreamlike, the widowed village is re-imagined as a

video artist to a Danish audience. The exhibition is

society of men that are liberated from the ghost widow

open from 8 April to 1 May. Read more about it on our

- the men being played by the male descendants of

website from 1 April.

the Communist farmers. They take us on a journey, where memories and dream scenarios are evoked in

Just as the feature film about ‘Uncle Boonmee’,

the jungle. The exhibition is organized in collaboration

‘Primitive’ takes place in the village of Nabua in north-

with Overgaden Institute for Contemporary Art and

primitive

FESTIVAL programMe

83

Avenue AV, and consists of seven mutually dependent

The exhibition will run from 9 April to 1 May at

film sequences, which are spread across the exhibition

Overgaden Institute for Contemporary Art (Overgaden

space and give us the experience of a spatial dimension.

Neden Vandet 17, 1414 Copenhagen C). Open Tuesday

As a spectator, you can freely move in and out of the

to Sunday from 13:00 to 17:00 hrs (on Thursdays open

work’s individual parts, which can be seen individually

to 20:00 hrs). Entry is free of charge.

but also correspond with each other.

The exhibition consists of the following parts: I’m Still Breathing (11 minutes, looped / Digital, 16:9, Stereo / colour) An Evening Shoot (4:10 minutes, looped / Digital, 16:9, Silent / Colour) Nabua (9 minutes, looped / Digital, 16:9, Dolby 5.1 /

www.avenue-av.dk

Colour) Nabua Song (4:15 minutes, looped / Digital, 16:9, Stereo / Colour) Making of the Spaceship (28:10 minutes, looped / Digital, 16:9, Silent / Colour) A Dedicated Machine (1:35 minutes, looped / Digital,

The exhibition is supported by the Danish Arts

16:9, Silent / Colour)

Council and DCCD - the Danish Center for Culture

Primitive (29:35 minutes, looped / Digital, 16:9, Dolby

and Development.

5.1 / Colour)

PIX SPECIALS

FESTIVAL programMe

pix specials

85

Zhang Yimou

A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop According to Jean-Luc Godard, a gun and a girl is all you need to make a film. This credo is wittily paraphrased in Zhang Yimou’s ‘A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop’, which is at times a completely crazy remake of ‘Blood Simple’, the debut noir thriller by the Coen Brothers. The protagonist Wang is a pathetic, morally debased noodle bar owner in a deserted Chinese city. He lives on the shop premises with his wife, who is thoroughly fed up with her selfish husband’s mood swings. In order to spice up her life a bit, she embarks on an affair with the taciturn cook, Li. The sexual escapades are however soon discovered, and it’s not long after Wang’s wife makes Li the reluctant owner of a gun, that Wang hatches up a plan of liquidating the unfaithful lovers. But nothing goes as planned in this grotesque and burlesque comedy.

Fr 29. April

21:30

Grand Teatret

San qiang pai an jing qi China 2009, 95 min.

Chinese / Danish Subtitles Director: Zhang Yimou Script: Jianquan Shi, Jing Shang Camera: Xiaoding Zhao Editor: Peicong Meng Sound: Yijing Zhang, Wei He Production: Beijing New Picture Film Co., Film Partner International Producer: William Kong, Weiping Zhang Cast: Honglei Sun, Dahong Ni, Ni Yan, Xiao Shen-Yang Distr.: Camera Film

86

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

George Roy Hill

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid When Robert Redford and Paul Newman jumped out from the famous cliff’s edge at a decisive moment in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’, they leapt straight into film history books. The tale of the two sympathetic and highly charming bank robbers, who at the end of the 19th century find it harder and harder to stay one step ahead of the law, helped revitalise the western genre, while it bemoaned a dying era. Originally, the studio that produced the film, intended to cast Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in the two leading roles, but when McQueen resigned in protest at the fact that Newman was named first on the poster, director George Roy Hill suggested that they instead use Redford, who had not yet become a big star. The chemistry between Redford and Newman was immediate and unmistakable - and the film was the beginning of a long friendship between the two stars. On the double occasion that Robert Redford turns 75 and his legendary Sundance Film Festival turns 30, PIX shows the film that cemented Robert Redford’s name in film history and gave the name to his festival. Don’t miss out on the unique opportunity to see a real classic on real celluloid and, of course, on Copenhagen’s largest screen.

We 27. April

21:30

Imperial

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid USA 1969, 110 min.

English Version Director: George Roy Hill Script: William Goldman Camera: Conrad Hall Editor: John C. Howard, Richard C. Meyer Music: Burt Bacharach Production: Campanile Productions Producer: John Foreman Cast: Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Katharine Ross Distr.: Hollywood Classics Ltd.

FESTIVAL programMe

pix specials

87

Gustav Wiklund, Torgny Wickman

Christina Lindberg Double Feature Meet the Swedish cult star and ‘screen queen’ Christina Lindberg in person, when she introduces two of her best films at Cinemateket! Lindberg made Swedish films saucy and dangerous on the big screen in the 1970s, and her innocent appearance and shapely forms made her an international superstar within the (s) exploitation genre. In ‘Diary of a Rape’ (1971), the merely 21-year-old Lindberg plays a nymphomaniac, who is split between her sweet boyfriend and a nut case named Helge. The film switches between dream, memory and reality in a juicy mixture of social realism and soft erotica. ‘Anita: Swedish Nymphet’ (1973) lives up to its title - and more. Anita is a 16-year-old rebel, who after a series of shabby affairs meets a long-haired bohemian psychologist (played by a young Stellan Skarsgård), who can cure her insatiable sex drive; all she has to do is move in with him in an artists’ collective! Naturally, things go horribly wrong, and the film culminates on the psycho-sexual fringes where all forms of bourgeois morale are dismissed. You’ve been warned.

Th 7. April

19:30

Cinemateket

Christina Lindberg Double Feature Sweden, 230 min.

Director: Gustav Wiklund, Torgny Wickman

88

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein 375 cinemas across the world will screen a theatre production - and the audience in the Palads cinema can join in - when PIX in collaboration with Information and Biozonen shows the live performance of ‘Frankenstein’.

The performance takes place in London and is filmed with no less than eight cameras, whose images will be sent around the world through a direct live feed.

Behind the production is the Oscar-winning British director Danny Boyle, who is known for ‘Trainspotting’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and, most recently, ‘127 Hours’.

Boyle in fact started his career in theatre, and he has now returned to the stage with ‘Frankenstein’. The first 10 weeks have already sold out, but due to the success, the production has been granted a longer life - both on stage, but now also in the cinema. The story of Frankenstein today enjoys the status of a classic: a scientist brings a stitched-together body to life - a deed that is driven by a strong craving for knowledge, which has fatal consequences for both the creator and for his creation. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the monster and Jonny Lee Miller (‘Trainspotting’) is Frankenstein.

Th 24. March

20:00 Palads

Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein UK 2011, 120 min.

English Version Director: Danny Boyle

FESTIVAL programMe

pix specials

89

Anders Lundorph

The Elephant Man - LIVE In line with the successful performance of Reptilicus - LIVE at last year’s PIX, The Royal Danish Theatre’s Play House and PIX now present ‘The Elephant Man - LIVE’!

‘The Elephant Man’ is best known as David Lynch’s film about the strongly deformed John Merrick, who is exhibited in the city’s markets by the avaricious and hard-hitting Bytes. But Merrick is soon discovered by the master surgeon Dr. Treves, who is professionally interested in his illness, and he brings him under his care at the hospital. From having been a dirty and dumb animal, the Elephant Man lets himself be educated like an obedient child, and he soon reads faultlessly from both the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. But Treves finds it hard to keep preying eyes away, and everywhere he goes, people are ready to exploit Merrick as a vulgar money machine and sensationalist entertainment. Even if Treves calls himself Merrick’s friend, his ambition to gain renown and professional recognition has led him to create another trained monkey, this time dressed in better clothes and exhibiting better manners, but still stripped of basic human dignity. Eventministeriet, which is behind this rendition of the story, takes a dogmatic approach with an ultra-brief rehearsal period of just four days. See the result this April evening.

Su 10. April Su 10. April

19:00 21:00

Skuespilhuset Skuespilhuset

Elefantmanden - LIVE Denmark 2011, 90 min.

Danish Version Director: Anders Lundorph Script: David Lynch, Christopher de Vore, Eric Bergren Production: Eventministeriet i Skuespilhuset Producer: Rikke Hedeager Matthiesen Cast: Joen Højerslev Olaf Johannessen Stine Schröder Jensen Frank Thiel Thomas Levin

90

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

Heidi Maria Faisst

Rebounce Louise is like most teenagers. She has fun with her friends, worries about her disturbingly small breasts, and is waits for her boyfriend Nicklas to take a little more initiative in their relationship. Louise lives with her understanding, but heavy-handed grandparents, as her mother, Susan, has spent the past three years in prison. When Susan is suddenly out again, the mother that Louise has dreamt of is within reach and for the young girl, it feels glamorous to walk through town with her mother, hiding coke in her panties, as opposed to arguing with her obdurate grandmother. The rebellious picture postcard quickly fades, even though Louise is not willing to admit it. Heidi Maria Faisst’s ‘Rebounce’, which was in this year’s youth competition at the Berlin Film Festival, offers a carefully observed and unforced story about a young girl, whose wavering identity is not exactly stabilised by the grownups around her, in a world where love and all the best intentions are not enough. Faisst already proved with her feature film debut, the gripping chamber piece ‘The Blessing’ (CPH PIX 2009), that she has a unique ability to depict complex human relationships without being patronising or over-dramatising. Débutante Frederikke Dahl Hansen gives us a highly accurate performance as the young Louise, who is both fragile and indomitable.

Tu 26. April

21:30

Dagmar Teatret

Frit fald Denmark 2010, 90 min.

Danish Version Director: Heidi Maria Faisst Script: Heidi Maria Faisst Camera: Manuel Alberto Claro Editor: Cathrine Ambus Sound: Morten Wille, Morten Groth Brandt Production: Zentropa Entertainments25 Producer: Meta Louise Foldager, Jonas Bagger Cast: Frederikke Dahl Hansen, Anne Sofie Espersen, Dar Salim, Kirsten Olesen, Niels Skousen Distr.: Nordisk Film

FESTIVAL programMe

pix specials

Denis Villeneuve

Incendies The Canadian new wave is still alive, and this year’s Oscar candidate and festival darling ‘Incendies’ once again affirms that the American indie scene has gotten itself a welcome competitor. Last year, Quebec-based Denis Villeneuve, who has long earned himself the reputation of being one of Canada’s most groundbreaking directors, was represented at CPH PIX with his film about the Montreal massacre ‘Polytechnique’. But with ‘Incendies’ he explores new territories and beautifully weaves together the past and the present in a tale about the twins Simon and Jeanne, who face a complex testament after the death of their mother. The notary Lebel can inform them that not only is the father, whom they thought was dead, alive, but they also have a brother they knew nothing about. The information brings the upset twins to their mother’s homeland, Lebanon, and the film subsequently turns in part into a present-day detective investigation and in part into a tale of the mother’s activist past at a time when riots between Christians and Muslims were at their worst. Villeneuve is professionally sparing in his use of plot-propelling factors, and he creates a tensioncharged drama that consistently manages to surprise - and which will hardly leave a dry eye in the house.

Th 14. April

16:40

Grand Teatret

Incendies Canada, France 2010, 130 min.

French, Arabic / English Subtitles Director: Denis Villeneuve Script: Denis Villeneuve Camera: André Turpin Editor: Monique Dartonne Music: Grégoire Hetzel Sound: Sylvain Bellemare, Jean Umansky Production: micro_scope, TS Productions Producer: Luc Déry, Kim McCraw Cast: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard Distr.: Scanbox Danmark

91

92

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

Kasper Holten

Juan How does Don Juan, the seducer of all seducers, look in the 21st century? And what drives a man to make an infinite number of conquests, when even he can sense the danger involved in constantly wanting to have more?

Kasper Holten brings Mozart’s Don Juan up to date as a staggering cinematic drama that unfolds in evocative locations of an unnamed metropolis. The live singing brings us out to a contemporary reality, where Juan, a famous artist and notorious playboy, has to confront his demons. The plot takes place during the course of just 24 hours, with both a sense of humour, a solid nerve and a feeling of intimacy feeding the beautifully shot tale. Backed by a brilliant international cast and Concerto Copenhagen, Christopher Maltman delivers a complex portrait of Juan as a restless modern man who is chasing the relieving yet fleeting sense of happiness among art projects, parties and fast cars. Together with Mogens Rukov, Kasper Holten has created a work that originally uses opera as a basis for not just making an opera film, but quite simply a film. A scoop for both music and film lovers.

We 30. March We 30. March

19:00 21:30

Imperial Imperial

Juan Denmark 2011, 104 min.

English / Danish Subtitles Director: Kasper Holten Script: Kasper Holten, Mogens Rukov Camera: Andras Nagy Editor: Mikkel E.G. Nielsen Music: Concerto Copenhagen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sound: Hans Møller Production: Blenkov & Schønnemann ApS Producer: Malene Blenkov, Michel Schønnemann Cast: Christopher Maltman, Mikhail Petrenko, Maria Bengtsson, Elizabeth Futral, Katija Dragojevic Distr.: SF Film

FESTIVAL programMe

pix specials

93

Mark Romanek

Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro, author of ‘The Remains of the Day’, has produced this cinematic adaptation of his novel ‘Never Let Me Go’, but the screenplay was written by the somewhat more sharp-edged Alex Garland (‘28 Days Later’). In other words, this film features major talents, and the three leading roles are also some of the most promising new names: Carey Mulligan (‘An Education’), Andrew Garfield (‘The Social Network’) and, of course, Keira Knightley. The Hailsham boarding school is as idyllic and English as they come, but even if the children are given a safe upbringing, something is obviously amiss. Why are they as isolated as they are, and what is actually going on in the outside world, from which they are being shielded? A teacher says too much and is sacked, while the headmaster assures them that it is only for their own good. When they turn 18, they have to leave school, and while their hormones flourish and cause infatuation and jealousy among the three friends, the truths about their fates also starts to be unveiled. Even if you know the story, Romanek’s quiet, stylish and sad film is an almost dishearteningly beautiful experience.

Fr 22. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

14:20 16:30 17:00

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret Empire

Never Let Me Go UK 2010, 103 min.

English Version Director: Mark Romanek Script: Alex Garland Camera: Adam Kimmel Editor: Barney Pilling Music: Rachel Portman Production: DNA Films, Film4, Fox Searchlight Pictures Producer: Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich Cast: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Charlotte Rampling Distr.: Fox Film

94

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

Greg Mottola

Paul The duo consisting of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost is known for its comic tribute to the genre film with ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’. This time, they have set out to tackle the little green men from outer space in an energetic ode to Spielberg. Graeme and Clive are two English comic book geeks and science fiction freaks, who are on a pilgrimage to the ComicCon shrine in San Diego. On their road trip around the United States, they suddenly run into a real alien who is on the run from agents dressed in suits. The result is a terrific adventure, and fans of science fiction classics such as ‘E.T.’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ can look forward to this one. But with Pegg & Frost as protagonists, we keep both feet firmly planted in comedy, and the director Gregg Mottola (‘Superbad’) is also a signal that this is fun of the best kind. Likewise Seth Rogen, whose voice for the alien is further proof that we are not in the darkest corner of the galaxy. This outlandish sci-fi comedy takes a swipe at Area 51, as well as Christian fanatics, and there is even room for a wonderful cameo appearance by none other than Sigourney ‘Alien’ Weaver, as well as a close-up study of alien genitals. All that remains to be said is: E.T., go home!

Mo 25. April

21:30 Palads

Paul UK, USA, Spain, France 2011, 104 min.

English / Danish Subtitles Director: Greg Mottola Script: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg Camera: Lawrence Sher Editor: Chris Dickens Music: David Arnold Production: Big Talk Productions, Relativity Media, Working Title Films Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Nira Park Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman Distr.: UIP

FESTIVAL programMe

pix specials

95

Michael Winterbottom

PIX Opening Night - The Trip The award-winning team that made ‘Tristram Shandy’, an tremendously enjoyable film experience, is back: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon revisit their roles (or play themselves?), and the versatile Michael Winterbottom directs the two old friends in the hysterically funny and clearly part-improvised road movie, which is already enjoying a cult life as short episodes on the net. A newspaper has paid Coogan to go on tour in the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales in North England to eat at the best restaurants. But Coogan soon regrets having said yes to this project, as his girlfriend has abandoned him, and the only person he can bring along on the journey is Brydon. They are worse than an old couple, in the way they drive each other mad and constantly compete with each other, and the result is as brilliant as it is sidesplittingly funny. For the opening of PIX in Imperial, there will be snacks and beer in the foyer at 21:30, courtesy of Madaroma og Braunstein, accompanied by the film-musical DJ’s, Our Soundtrack. At 22:30, the event begins in the screening theatre with the official opening of PIX, and not least the presentation of the Nordisk Film Award for a new Danish film talent, worth 105,000 kr in cash. And then there’s the film!

We 13. April

21:30

Imperial

PIX OPENING NIGHT - The Trip UK 2010, 120 min.

English Version Director: Michael Winterbottom Camera: Ben Smithard Editor: Mags Arnold, Paul Monahgan Music: Michael Nyman Sound: Per Boström, Christer Melén, Fredrik Stålne, Joakim Sundström Production: BBC, Revolution Films Producer: Andrew Eaton, Melissa Parmenter Cast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Claire Keelan, Margo Stilley, Ben Stiller Distr.: Sunrise Film Distribution

96

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

PIX Closing Party The raw space of Pressen is the setting for this starspangled night, where the many guests of the festival, as well as the audience, are invited to celebrate this year’s competition winners. PIX will tonight announce the winner of this festival’s New Talent Grand PIX, which is not only a tribute to, but also financial support to the sum of 30,000 Euros for a new, international film talent. The many ballot papers collected during the festival will also have been counted, and the audience’s favourite film will be rewarded with Politiken’s Audience Award. For the first time this year, PIX will also host the Nordic Film Composers’ Award which, apart from the honour, also entails a cash award of 10,000 Euros to the winner. Hear live music by the nominated Nordic film composers Johan Söderqvist (‘In a Better World’, Sweden), Slowblow (‘Undercurrent’, Iceland), Juri and Miska Seppä (‘Rare Export’, Finland), Gaute Storaas (‘Elias og jakten på havets gull’, Norway) and Peter Peter and Pete Kyed (‘Valhalla Rising’, Denmark). When all the applause has faded, DJ Gul will fire up under his impressive music collection, which broadly encompasses rock ‘n’ roll and electro-pop, as well as subtle musichistorical curiosities. As a special cadeau, PIX’s Artist in Focus, the American indie hero, Mike Ott, will also flex his musical muscles in the DJ hot seat. Come as you are, and give it all you’ve got, at the festival’s lavish, music score’ching closing party.

Sa 30. April

19:30 Pressen

pix specials

FESTIVAL programMe

PIX Launch - Flow My Firetear Get your fingers covered in printer’s ink when PIX presents its hot-off-the-press festival programme for 2011. The programme paper will reveal the more than 170 films shown at this year’s festival, as well as concerts, parties, visiting directors and much more.

But the focus of tonight’s launch is an in every way unique experience - both musically and cinematically.

In one of this year’s special series, PIX will pay tribute to punk, and the many intersections which in the early 80’s were created between the worlds of music, art and filmmaking. And exactly this intersection is the focus of tonight, as we are proud to be able to present nothing less than the world premiere of the visual artists Michael Kvium, Christian Lemmerz and the performance group VÆRST’s collaboration with Sort Sol on the extreme art/music video project from 1992, ‘Flow My Firetear’.

In a series of vibrant tableaux, which range from being provocative to simple-mindedly funny, the video work presents a transgressional interpretation of Sort Sol’s album by the same title, and it is only now, in connection with PIX’s launch and this year’s special focus on punk, that it has been pulled out from the warehouse and edited by the artists. Kvium & Lemmerz will attend the night together with Sort Sol, who will ensure the perfect round-off to the great premiere. In addition, you can experience the announcement of the winner of PIX’s Trailer Competition 2011 as well as the audience favourite.

We 16. March

21:30

Grand Teatret

97

98

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

François Ozon

Potiche Has François Ozon, who can look back on a film career spanning 20 years, including outstanding films, such as ‘Swimming Pool’ and ‘8 Women’, ever made a better film than ‘Potiche’? Its mood is irresistibly contagious, entirely without reservation or any middle class fear of appealing to the laughing masses. Catherine Deneuve is a housewife, Suzanne Pujol, in a French province in the 70’s, and her husband, who is also screwing his secretary, is the owner of the local umbrella factory. When he ends up in hospital, she is formally appointed the director, and before long reforms are being made left, right and centre, while the husband looks on helplessly - well, almost helplessly. Gérard Depardieu plays his best role in many years as the town mayor, who had a sexual relationship with Suzanne when they were young. If you are allergic to boulevard comedy, you should not go near ‘Potiche’; if you loathe singing in films, you will feel completely lost; and if you are totally against being seduced in spite of your best shot at resistance, you quite simply best stay at home.

Mo 25. April

16:40

Grand Teatret

Potiche France 2010, 103 min.

French / Danish Subtitles Director: François Ozon Script: François Ozon Camera: Yorick Le Saux Editor: Laure Gardette Music: Philippe Rombi Sound: Pascal Jasmes Production: Mandarin Films Producer: Eric Altmeyer, Nicolas Altmeyer Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard Distr.: Scanbox Danmark

FESTIVAL programMe

pix specials

99

S. Shankar

Robot Even if you have seen all the excerpts which currently flourish on-line, you still can’t possibly be fully prepared for what ‘Robot’ has to offer. The most expensive Indian film in history is also one of the most extravagant contributions to this year’s programme.

Classical Indian values such as music, dance and strong melodrama are here employed in an insane science fiction story with absurd comical ideas, which ends up culminating in action scenes that are so grandiose and inventive that even Hollywood couldn’t possibly dream of keeping up. The Tamil mega-star, Rajni, plays the double role as the scientist Dr. Vasee and the robot, Chitti, who dances, shoots, makes fractal calculations and kung-fu battles his way through a story which contains so many funny ideas, that it is impossible not to be swept away by it. Between scenes where Chitti talks to mosquitoes, falls in love with his creator’s girlfriend or runs horizontally along the side of a train, there is also time for romantic entanglements and plenty of grandiose musical numbers. The film’s makers have commissioned help from Stan Winston Studios in Hollywood and the martial arts choreographer, Yuen Woo-Ping in Hong Kong among others, and the result is a film that is so fast-paced and far out that we can only recommend that you embrace Chitti and sing along to Robot!

Tu 26. April

21:30 Palads

Endhiran India 2010, 155 min.

Hindi / English Subtitles Director: S. Shankar Script: Karky, S. Shankar, Sujatha Camera: R. Rathnavelu Editor: Anthony Music: A.R. Rahman Sound: Resul Pookutty, Mark Lanza, Kunal Rajan Production: Sun Pictures Producer: Kalanidhi Maran, Hansraj Saxena Cast: Superstar Rajni, Aishwarya Rai, Danny Denzongpa Distr.: Fusion Edge Media

100

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

Ken Loach

Route Irish Recently sent home from Baghdad in 2007, the army man, Fergus, finds out that his best friend since early childhood, Frankie, also a soldier, has been killed on the notorious Route Irish, which stretches from Baghdad’s airport to the city’s Green Zone. Together with Frankie’s widow, the beautiful Rachel, his parents and the authorities, Fergus must find out the background of the killing, which turns out to have happened under more and more fishy circumstances. Driven by defiance, a nagging conscience and rage, Fergus sets in motion his own investigation of the murder and is consequently forced to reveal a different picture of Frankie than the one they thought they knew inside out. With ‘Route Irish’, Ken Loach has directed a deft psychological and political thriller about the consequences of war, which are by no means over after the return home from the war zone.

Sa 30. April

19:00

Grand Teatret

Route Irish United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain 2010, 110 min.

English / Danish Subtitles Director: Ken Loach Script: Paul Laverty Camera: Chris Menges Editor: Jonathan Morris Music: Isobel Griffiths Sound: Ray Beckett Production: Wild Bunch, Why Not Productions, Sixteen Films Producer: Rebecca O’Brien Cast: Mark Womack, Andrea Lowe, John Bishop, Trevor Williams Distr.: Camera Film

pix specials

FESTIVAL programMe

Peter Weir

The Way Back With ‘The Way Back’, the veteran director Peter Weir takes the classic fugitive film on a huge hike.

The Second World War is at its peak, when Janusz is betrayed by his own wife, and convicted of spying against Poland’s communist regime. As a punishment, he is sent to one of the Siberian gulags. Here, Mother Nature is the captor and, behind the barbed wire, only the strongest and most cold-blooded prisoners prevail.

Janusz soon realizes that his internment is one long and slow death sentence. He therefore takes on the role as leader for a motley crew of inmates who, in spite of their many differences, all share a desire to be free, and they organize a successful attempt to escape, and head for Mongolia...on foot. However, this is not only the beginning of the familiar duel between man and nature, but also a tenacious battle against fatigue and lurking madness. They soon discover that there is further to their goal than they thought, as the tentacles of communism spread rapidly fra beyond Soviet borders. As their energies dissipate, they also begin to realize that they won’t all come out of this journey to freedom alive.

We 23. March

21:30 Palads

The Way Back USA 2010, 133 min.

English / Danish Subtitles Director: Peter Weir Script: Peter Weir, Keith R. Clarke Camera: Russell Boyd Editor: Lee Smith Music: Burkhard von Dallwitz Sound: Stuart Morton, William Ward Producer: Peter Weir, Nigel Sinclair, Joni Levin, Duncan Henderson Cast: Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Mark Strong, Saoirse Ronan Distr.: Scanbox Danmark

101

102

FESTIVAL programME

pix specials

MissAsssnatch, Alexander Natas

The Wild Wild World of MissAsssnatch The shots are literally fired from the hip in this cavalcade of boundary-transgressing, provocative and X-rated video works by the mere 24 year old, renowned, American video and performance artist, MissAsssnatch, who here invites the audience on a wildly voyeuristic trip to the darkest nooks and crannies of a deviant woman’s mind. MissAsssnatch doesn’t tell any stories, but instead uses the film medium as point of entry to a mythological reality known from the YouTube generation. Through 16 beautiful, seductive and often shockingly perverse art films, we follow the young and beautiful MissAsssnatch at close range during bizarre auto-erotic or sadomasochistic rituals, LSD trips, near death experiences and demonic possessions. The ambiguity is palpable, and everything is left open, as though these were brief glimpses through the keyhole to a forbidden world. In MissAsssnatch’s film, elements from silent films, pure cinema and the French new wave are mixed with Alfred Hitchcock, undisguised fetichism and pure rock ‘n’ roll. It is pure visual voodoo, created to seduce, shock, repel and excite. ‘The Wild Wild World of MissAsssnatch’ was made in collaboration with the Danish producer and curator, Alexander Natas. The film contains strong erotic scenes and is not for the faint-hearted!

Su 24. April

21:30

Grand Teatret

The Wild Wild World of MisssAssnatch USA, Denmark 2011, 94 min.

Director: MissAsssnatch, Alexander Natas Script: MissAsssnatch, Alexander Natas Camera: MissAsssnatch, Alexander Natas Editor: MissAsssnatch/Alexander Natas, Martin M. Schmidt Music: Sort Sol, Anton LaVey Production: SMEGMAPUPPET Producer: Alexander Natas

FESTIVAL programMe

pix specials

Sort Sol - LIVE “It’s like when a predator smells blood,” Lars-Top Galia says about the enormous attention that the news around the reunion of Sort Sol has created, from both the press and their fans. One can (un)safely expect a roar of a concert when the three former punks, Steen Jørgensen, Lars Top-Galia and Tomas Ortved step onto the stage of KB Hallen and once and for all demonstrate their indubitable status as Denmark’s original blackfaced antiheroes. For the tour, the band has also hired three of today’s best young musicians, Manoy Ramdas, The Adam and AC. So expect fuck finger and rawness, leather and madness when Sort Sol eclipses the Danish capital for this night’s concert.

Fr 8. April

20:00 KB Hallen

Sort Sol - LIVE Still: Anders von Greffelstejn

103

SOUND ON SCREEN

SERIETITEL

PIX’s music films intersect with fiction and in each their own way they grant music a decisive role within the common framework of feature filmmaking.

We guarantee you an extraordinary experience when the Irish photographer and filmmaker Seamus Murphy attends the festival and takes you on a trip across England, while creating a massive music video opus for PJ Harvey’s latest album ‘Let England Shake’. PIX is proud to present the very first screening of an assembled cinema version of the magical work.

You can also see what happens when Nordic melancholy meets ‘Walk the Line’ in the moving biopic ‘Cornelis’ - about the Dutch-Swedish troubadour Cornelis Vreeswijk. And you can enjoy Sander Francken’s sensual musical journey through India and Mali in the epic cinema poem ‘Bardsongs’.

In an entirely different world, you can find American multi-artist Will Oldham as a convinced born-again Christian in Alverson’s meditative ‘New Jerusalem’, and with the fictional ‘Microphone’

we present a highly relevant film about the fight of Egypt’s youth against the country’s unreasonable censorship for art and music in the underground scene - before the revolution in 2011.

We also offer a true and absolute rock ‘n’ roll story about the legendary Creation Records and its flamboyant mastermind, Alan McGee, in the music film ‘Upside Down: The Creation Records Story’. It is also pure rock ‘n’ roll when the Serbian Vanja warms up her drum set in ‘A Star is Born’ for her debut concert in this entertaining guide on how to become a rock musician in a country without copyright love.

You should also see and hear Michael Nyman, when he shows new sides of his multifaceted artistic output in a series of short films, which he will personally present to the audience. The films move on the border between art and music film, and have been carefully selected by PIX and Nyman together.

FESTIVAL programMe

sound on screen

105

Vanja Kovacevic

A Star Is Born Adversity fuels creativity, as we all know. Apart from being a huge fan of the American indie band The Decemberists, a Serbian girl, Vanja, also dreams of becoming a drummer. Unfortunately she finds it hard to count to four, and has actually never sat behind a drum kit. This is all about to change in this entertaining guide on how to become a rock musician. All it takes is a concert booking nine and a half months in the future, an audition to recruit musicians, a drum kit - and not to mention a group of patient band members. For even if Vanja has an iron will and stakes everything on a career as a musician in a country without copyright-love, talent is not always a given, and the film describes the time spent in the practice room, which turns into a veritable war zone that is dominated by Vanja’s insistent beats on the drum kit. The band is called Writers of Fiction, meant as a downright hommage to The Decembrists, and ‘A Star Is Born’ is both written, directed, edited and produced by the all-dominating and charming Vanja Kovacevic, who can now also add ‘drummer’ to her CV.

Fr 15. April Sa 23. April

22:30 Husets Biograf 16:45 Gloria

Zvezda Je Rodena Serbia 2009, 75 min.

Serbian / English Subtitles Director: Vanja Kovacevic Script: Vanja Kovacevic Camera: Pablo Ferro Zivanovic Editor: Vanja Kovacevic, Marko Simic Music: Nikola Bercek Sound: Milos Drndarevic, Vladimir Zivkovic Production: Intermedia Network Producer: Vanja Kovacevic, Tijana Konstantinovic Cast: Vanja Kovacevic, Ivana Smolovic, Nemanja Acimovic, Nikola Bercek, Aleksandar Sisic, Milos Popovic Distr.: m-appeal

106

FESTIVAL programME

sound on screen

Sander Francken

Bardsongs “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” Sander Francken starts his beautiful and sensual film with this quote by Emily Brontë.

He subsequently - through three songs from widely different cultures - takes us on a fantastic trip that was filmed in India and Mali among other places, where in spite of the vast differences in living standards and backgrounds one is left with the feeling that there is more that unites us than makes us different. The songs, performed by local musicians, are the framework for the stories that are based on the narratives and words of wisdom that are often delivered through music.

We meet a plastic collector from the Indian province Rajastan, who tries to teach his son that immediate happiness can turn out to be its opposite, and vice versa. We join an African schoolboy on his quest for the greatest knowledge in the world, and we are taken on a trip across the Himalayas with a father and a daughter, who become wiser about themselves and each other on the long road to the market. It is a simple, gripping and beautifully shot musical journey about being a human being.

Th 21. April Su 24. April

14:15 Dagmar Teatret 17:00 Husets Biograf

Bardsongs Netherlands 2010, 94 min.

Hindi, Bambara, Ladakhi / English Subtitles Director: Sander Francken Script: Joost Schrickx, Sander Francken Camera: Bert Pot, Melle van Essen, Sal Kroonenberg Editor: Gys Zevenbergen Music: Sakar Kahn & family, Afel Bocoum, Tsiring Stanzin, Morup Namgyal, Adi Bhasin, Rainer Michel Production: Sander Francken Film Producer: Sander Francken Cast: Dhamender Singh, Kishan Soni, Kolado Bocoum, Abba Bilancoro, Tsewang Spalgon Distr.: Film Europe

FESTIVAL programMe

sound on screen

107

Amir Chamdin

Cornelis Cornelis started out as a psychiatric nurse and ended up as Sweden’s minstrel. His life story is fascinating, while his musical back catalogue of 38 albums is impressive. Swedish director Amir Chamdin has succeeded brilliantly in making a portrait of the musical charmer, whose debut album from 1964 ‘Ballader och Oförskämdheter’ says a lot about his life’s journey. Cornelis’ musical career takes off when the popular singer Fred Åkerström (David Denzik) watches him play live at a bar and introduces him to the record industry. From then on, the songs almost write themselves, love blossoms, and Cornelis’ sociopolitical songs seduce the Swedish people. But with success comes failure, and in this gentleman’s case also jealousy, paranoia, drug-abuse and drinking, while his family slowly falls apart. ‘Cornelis’ is a moving film about the rise and fall in the classical sense, but told with a touch of Nordic melancholy and authentic 1960s and 1970s atmosphere and delivered both gently and brutally by Norwegian Hans-Erik Dyvik Husby - who is perhaps best known as Turbonegro’s front man Hank von Helvete.

Sa 23. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

16:40 Grand Teatret 19:00 Vester Vov Vov 19:00 Vester Vov Vov

Cornelis Sweden 2010, 100 min.

Swedish, Dutch / English Subtitles Director: Amir Chamdin Script: Antonia Pyk Camera: Crille Forsberg Editor: Gregers Dohn Music: Jack Vreeswijk Sound: Anders Billing Production: Chamdin & Stöhr Filmproduktion Producer: Martina Stöhr Cast: Hank von Helvete, David Dencik, Malin Crepin Distr.: SF Film

108

FESTIVAL programME

sound on screen

Ahmad Abdalla El Sayed

Microphone Khaled has returned to his native Egypt from the US with a fresh and optimistic new outlook, but he is met with conservatism and strong censorship of the sprouting music culture. Especially hip hop’s free flow of words and messages is a thorn in the side of the regime, but Alexandria’s youth fights for its art and music from the underground and up. They stage pirate concerts on the streets when the official venues shuts them out, and Khaled lets himself be inspired and embarks on organising a concert for all the unheard voices. Ahmad Abdalla’s second feature navigates between fiction and cinema vérité, and successfully mixes amateur actors and real-life musicians, making ‘Microphone’ a thoroughly musical, vociferous and highly relevant film - not least at a time when the Egyptian people have taken things into their own hands and have overthrown the country’s dictator after 30 years.

Sa 23. April Fr 29. April Su 1. May

12:00 16:45 21:45

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Microphone Egypt 2010, 120 min.

Arabic / English Subtitles Director: Ahmad Abdalla El Sayed Script: Ahmad Abdalla El Sayed, Haitham Yahya Camera: Tarek Hefny Editor: Hisham Saqr Music: Masar Egbary, Mascara, Soot Fel Zahma Sound: Ahmed Mostafa Saleh, Samah Nabil Production: Film Clinic Producer: Khaled Abol Naga, Mohamed Hefzy Cast: Khaled Abol Naga, Menna Shalabi, Yosra El Lozy Distr.: Film Clinic

FESTIVAL programMe

sound on screen

109

R. Alverson

New Jerusalem Will Oldham, alias Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, has rid himself of his beard and long hair, and excels in the role of Ike who, with an evangelical calmness has found peace in his faith in God, and his faith does him good in the monotonous work at a remote American car tyre factory. He becomes friends with Sean, an Irish immigrant, whose life is traumatised after military service in Afghanistan. The innocent Ike does everything to get his colleague to choose God in these hard times, and Sean is not averse to ignoring the complexities of the world, in favour of subscribing to a more simple religious world view. With ‘New Jerusalem’, the director R. Alverson has created a quiet and unintrusive drama about friendship. Alverson wisely avoids spelling out the obvious conflict between the two men, but lets the story unfold as a quiet and nuanced character study, where the conversations between Ike and Sean lead them both towards a new plateau. The director refrains becomingly from finger-wagging, and we are left safely in the company of the two excellent main characters.

Th 14. April Fr 22. April Fr 29. April

20:00 Husets Biograf 17:00 Husets Biograf 14:20 Grand Teatret

New Jerusalem USA 2010, 92 min.

English Version Director: R. Alverson Script: R. Alverson, Colm O’Leary Camera: R. Alverson Editor: R. Alverson Music: Robert Donne, Champ Bennett Production: Made Bed Producer: Courtney Bowles, R. Alverson Cast: Will Oldham, Colm O’Leary, Walter Scott Distr.: The Made Bed Production

110

FESTIVAL programME

sound on screen

Michael Nyman

Nyman Shorts From train carriages to streets, from Milla Jovovich to a long row of anonymous faces, and from Berlin to Mexico City. All these images and impressions are captured by Michael Nyman’s own video camera, during his many travels across the world. Just like his award-winning film music, the films are repetitive movements, which drive the work, as much as they captivate the audience. Nyman has an eye for the poetic details in everyday life, such as when he observes two train carriages caress each other, or when he juxtaposes singing dolls with the silently threatening character of guns. The majority of the shorts are accompanied

by Nyman’s own music, and there will be plenty of opportunity for the audience to ask the composer and director, questions about how he balances the two art forms, as he will be present for a Q&A after the screening. The films have been especially selected by PIX and Michael Nyman together.

Sa 30. April

14:15

Cinemateket

Nyman Shorts UK, 90 min.

Director: Michael Nyman

FESTIVAL programMe

sound on screen

Seamus Murphy

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake England, as seen through Seamus Murphy’s lens, is shaking. And so is Polly Jean Harvey’s music on her recent and critically acclaimed album ‘Let England Shake’ - from beginning to end! The 12 songs are all accompanied by the photographer’s social poetic pictures of everyday life in the country. Harvey herself grew up on an English farm, but she has since ventured far with her albums, from the raw black rock of her first releases in the early 90’s to the piano pieces on White Chalk fifteen years later. On ‘Let England Shake’, the stunning singer explores new musical territories, and folk music is an ever-present influence on both her choice of instruments as well as the album’s sounds. And the addition of Murphy’s images makes ‘Let England Shake’ a musical and cinematic opus, which is more than the sum of its parts. Seamus Murphy, whose reportage photography has taken him to both the planet’s hot spots and back again, says about photography that it is “part history, part magic”. PIX is proud to be able to present the very first cinema screening of ‘Let England Shake’, and Seamus Murphy’s visit to the festival will give audience members a chance to ask him about the creative collaboration with PJ Harvey - and not least the magic it gives rise to.

Sa 23. April Sa 23. April

11:00 21:30

Grand Teatret Grand Teatret

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake UK 2010, 75 min.

Director: Seamus Murphy Camera: Seamus Murphy Music: PJ Harvey

111

112

FESTIVAL programME

sound on screen

Danny O’Connor

Upside Down: The Creation Records Story + DJ Alan McGee The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, Oasis and Super Furry Animals were just some of the many legendary bands which debuted on the just as legendary Creation Records, headed by the decidedly legendary, and extremely flamboyant, Alan McGee. Documentaries about musical legends tend to be quite boring, but not this time, and for one good reason: the story of Creation Records is simply so rock ‘n’ roll, that you’ll wish that you’d been there yourself. What is most incredible, is that McGee & Co. can still remember things about those happy days in the 80’s and 90’s, when Creation set the musical agenda for a good decade and a half, until the drug-fuelled escapades, as well as the pressure from the commercial music industry, increased and ultimately put an end to all the fun. Interviews with all the protagonists are complemented by a gold mine of rare film clips from the period, where everything was rolling along. The director, Danny O’Connor, will introduce this unique screening of the film, and as if this wasn’t enough, Alan McGee himself will work the turntables at the afterparty in Cinemateket.

Fr 22. April

21:30

Cinemateket

Upside Down: The Creation Records Story + DJ Alan McGee UK 2010, 101 min.

English Version Director: Danny O’Connor Camera: Daryl Chase Editor: Jonny Halifax Production: Document Productions Ltd. Producer: Danny O’Connor Cast: Alan McGee, Bobby Gillespie, Noel Gallagher, Jim Reid m.fl.

SOUND ON SCREEN - SOUND OF NOISE

SERIETITEL

PIX offers three shades of Noise this year.

In the Swedish film ‘Sound of Noise’, noise terrorists have conquered the city and turned it upside down with their noise attacks. The unruly noise comedy by the people behind the cult short film ‘Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers’ are joined here by Shinji Aoyama’s ‘My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me’, where things have been turned seriously upside down. In this

film, noise is the only cure against a worldwide suicide disease, the Lemming syndrome, and noise musicians suddenly enjoy the status of heros. The climax of the noise programme is no doubt the acoustic noise performance of Slütspürt, which consists of the four frontmen behind the eclectic artist collective yoyooyoy.

FESTIVAL programMe

sound of noise

Shinji Aoyama

My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me The year is 2015: a global suicide epidemic has broken out and has now also hit Japan, where several million people have already ended their own lives. The ‘lemming syndrome’ is an unsolved mystery. But in a small hut by the sea live two stoned and secluded noise musicians, whose analogue sound experiments might possibly cure the lethal contagion. The only problem is that they don’t really feel like helping. ‘We don’t play for a cause,’ as one of them puts it. That is, until the day when an old millionaire turns up to have his daughter cured - with screaming noise! Even if ‘My God...’ mixes everything from dystopian science fiction to apocalyptic westerns and French 80s retro, it is in fact a both poetic and (relatively) subdued film, where sound for once plays a more important role than the dialogue. The scenes where the musicians are in action are almost small experimental films in themselves. The question is not if art can save the world, but if the artists think it’s worth the trouble.

Su 17. April Th 21. April

20:00 Husets Biograf 22:30 Husets Biograf

Eri Eri rema sabakutani Japan 2005, 107 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Shinji Aoyama Script: Shinji Aoyama Camera: Masaki Tamura Music: Noboyuchi Kikuki, Hiroyuki Nagashima Production: Rumble Fish Producer: Takenori Sentô Cast: Tadanobu Asano, Aoi Miyazaki, Mariko Okada Distr.: Wild Bunch

115

116

FESTIVAL programME

sound of noise

Noise Night - Slütspürt The third leg in PIX’s noise series is also its climax, namely a concert with Slütspürt. Slütspürt, who are the men behind the eclectic, Danish, musician collective and record label yoyooyoy, have put together a new programme especially for tonight. For Andreas Führer, Anders Lauge Meldgaard, Johannes Lund and Toke Tietze Mortensen, music genres are something you both pay tribute to and put in a blender, and the band’s style ranges from noise, drone and kraut to industrial and psychedelic rock, but it’s always avantgarde. The band members play together and on their own with names such as Frisk Frugt, Kirsten Ketsjer, Yoke & Yohs and Kalde del Hey, and what better place to experience them as Slütspürt than in the black and solid setting of Planeten, on the top floor of Huset i Magstræde. An acoustic noise performance by four tall gentlemen, who are half terrorists, half heroes.

Sø 17. april

21:30 Planeten

FESTIVAL programMe

sound of noise

Ola Simonsson Nilsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson

Sound of Noise Even 10 years ago, Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson, together with the percussion group Six Drummers, created a small stroke of genius with their short film ‘Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers’, where the six Swedish percussionists break into an apartment, start a stop watch and a metronome, and then proceed to perform a dream of a mini-concert, using everything from alarm clocks to oatmeal, before leaving the scene of the crime again (see the film on the link below). Now, the duo have written the score for an entire feature film, where the six musical terrorists attack Malmö and break with conformity in four brilliantly staged movements entitled ‘Music for One City and Six Drummers’. They are chased by the tone-deaf police inspector, Warnebring, who not only hates music, but must even cope with having the first name Amadeus.

However, the police sub-plot is, for the most part, simply a counterpart to the music, but ‘Sound of Noise’ can be forgiven for producing the odd bum note here and there, since the sonic terror attack makes it all worth while, orchestrated with a refreshing imagination which is as cinematic as it is musical. ‘Sound of Noise’ is in a realm of its own, an anarchistic and contagiously entertaining terror musical about the music in our lives, and the life in our music. Well worth beating a drum about. http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=26eyBmUwi6w

Th 14. April Sa 30. April

21:30 17:00

Grand Teatret Empire

Sound of Noise Sweden, France 2010, 98 min.

Swedish / English Subtitles Director / Ola Simonsson Nilsson, Johannes Script: Stjärne Nilsson Camera: Charlotta Tengroth Editor: Stefan Sundlöf, Andreas Jonsson Hay Music: Magnus Börjeson & Six Drummers, Fred Avril Production: Bliss, Nordisk Film, Wild Bunch, dfm Fiktion Producer: Christophe Audeguis, Jim Birmant, Olivier Guerpillon, Guy Pechard Cast: Bengt Nilsson, Sanna Persson Halapi, Magnus Börjeson, Anders Vestergård, Fredrik Myhr, Marcus Haraldson Boij, Johannes Björk Distr.: Sunrise Film Distribution

117

sound on screen: live

SERIETITEL

FESTIVAL programMe

sound on screen: live

Creation Records + DJ Alan McGee After the film ‘Upside Down: The Creation Records Story’, the record label’s very own Alan McGee will get behind the turntables and play the best of Britain, which is synonymous with bands such as Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and Oasis.

Fr 22. April

21:30

Cinemateket

119

120

FESTIVAL programME

sound on screen: live

Death Valley Sleepers + My New Birthday Suit + DJ Gul What better way to celebrate the beginning of PIX 2011 than with a party and a concert that salutes the Danish indie scene. Death Valley Sleepers is the six-member band that plays retro-rock that sends an affectionate nod to the beat and psych scenes of the 1960s and 70s. The band is giving birth to its debut album, and while we wait for it, we can see them play live at PIX. The evening’s first band is My New Birthday Suit, a band that oozes creativity that is so musical and compositions that are so catchy that it’s only a matter of time before the record labels become aware of them.

Apart from celebrating the young musical talents, the evening is a festive celebration of PIX’s presence in Husets Biograf during the 18-day festival period. There will be plenty of opportunities to see a great selection from this year’s programme series in a selection that pays tribute to the spirit of Husets Biograf. On this night, the doors will open at 21:00 hrs - entry is free of charge and there will be an afterparty with DJ Gul following in the bands’ footsteps. We cannot wait to see you.

Th 14. April

21:00 Husets Café

FESTIVAL programMe

sound on screen: live

121

An Evening with Michael Nyman Michael Nyman is best known as the composer for films such as ‘The Piano’ (for which he received an Oscar), ‘The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover’, and more recently ‘Man on Wire’. PIX, The Royal Library and artFREQ. are proud to present an entirely different side of his talents, namely as a filmmaker. The Black Diamond will provide the ideal chamber music setting for a night in Nyman’s company, when he talks about his musical and cinematic activities. For the first time on Danish soil, the audience can see several of his films, accompanied

by Nyman himself behind the Steinway, followed by the film ‘Cine Opera’, which the Athleas String Quartet will accompany live. To round off the event, we will screen Nyman’s own 2010 shot-by-shot interpretation of Dziga Vertov’s big city symphony classic ‘Man With a Movie Camera’, which he has named ‘NYman With a Movie Camera’. Meet the man behind several of film history’s crucial film scores and experience his repetitive and pulsating music live.

Fr 29. April

19:00

Den Sorte Diamant

An Evening with Michael Nyman Still: Sheila Rock

122

FESTIVAL programME

sound on screen: live

JBL & PIX NITE A selection of the record label Crunchy Frogs most outstanding bands will cross swords when PIX and JBL invite you to a free concert at Bremen - Simon Spies’ old cinema. In the true spirit of Spies, the three bands will perform a lively, bleeding, sexy, dramatic, sweaty and razor-sharp show. Powersolo, which has just released the album Buzz Human, is tonight’s headline band and presents its new live line-up, which apart from the two thin brothers Kim Kix and The Atomic Child consists of, among others, Manoj Ramdas (The Good The Bad, Sort Sol) and Kasper Cola (Cola Freaks). Lars and the Hands of Light, who have returned from concerts in the USA, charm their way into our hearts with their top-melodic pop songs. Lastly The Tremolo Beer Gut gives us samples of the upcoming 2011 album with their very own, smoke-filled and notorious surf’n’western.

An evening in three heats with plenty of time to visit the bar in between.

We 20. April

19:00 Bremen

FESTIVAL programMe

sound on screen: live

Jim White - Film & Concert Jim White is a singer and songwriter and is probably best known in Denmark for his role in the film ‘Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus’. He is a guitarist and a sublime storyteller. And he is also a film director. At Loppen, all his talents will come to the fore when we start the evening’s programme with the screening of White’s film debut ‘The Beautiful World’, which White himself will bring along on a 16mm reel. The film is his graduation film from NYU in 1994, and uses New York’s back yards and downsides as backdrop for the story of a homeless man, who seduces a woman in Paris with his tender letters. An entertaining and well-made debut in dry-as-dust and stylish black-and-white images. Just as the film’s protagonist, Jim White’s lyrics dream away about life’s glory and its trivialities between the church and the bar - not to mention the struggle to make peace with both worlds. These stories and anecdotes from his colourful past that took him from the religious environments of the southern states via LA to NYC and back down south to settle down are guaranteed to be told when Jim White goes on stage to play an intimate solo concert. Doors open at 20:00 hrs and the film starts at 21:00 hrs.

Tu 26. April

20:00 Loppen

123

124

FESTIVAL programME

sound on screen: live

Noise Night - Slütspürt The third leg in PIX’s noise series is also its climax, namely a concert with Slütspürt. Slütspürt, who are the men behind the eclectic, Danish, musician collective and record label yoyooyoy, have put together a new programme especially for tonight. For Andreas Führer, Anders Lauge Meldgaard, Johannes Lund and Toke Tietze Mortensen, music genres are something you both pay tribute to and put in a blender, and the band’s style ranges from noise, drone and kraut to industrial and psychedelic rock, but it’s always avantgarde. The band members play together and on their own with names such as Frisk Frugt, Kirsten Ketsjer, Yoke & Yohs and Kalde del Hey, and what better place to experience them as Slütspürt than in the black and solid setting of Planeten, on the top floor of Huset i Magstræde. An acoustic noise performance by four tall gentlemen, who are half terrorists, half heroes.

Su 17. April

21:30 Planeten

FESTIVAL programMe

sound on screen: live

Punk at Stengade The PIX punk series turns it up a notch, when three of today’s best new Danish punk bands play at Stengade, namely the hand-picked Cola Freaks, Mor and Idi Amins.

Idi Amins is punk rock of the sweaty kind, inspired by 70’s lo-fi punk, Jerry Lee Lewis and smelly old carpets, and with absolutely no intentions of turning the world into a better place. Even if the name indicates a more caring approach to things, Mor (Danish for ‘mother’) rams its musical “Cunt in your Face”! That’s the Danish name of the single by the two crazy chicas, who have just released the EP, ‘Vanvidstimer’. After them, the paranoia punk rockers from Århus, Cola Freaks, will strut their stuff. The normal audience response is primal joy combined with grinding teeth, and all the bands will bash your ear trumpets with texts that take the Danish language literally and contort it in their own radical ways. Tonight’s concert is introduced by a surprise film from the PIX punk programme.

Fr 15. April

21:00

Stengade

125

126

FESTIVAL programME

sound on screen: live

F.W. Murnau

Sunrise & KTL live F.W. Murnau’s silent classic, ‘Sunrise’, will conquer new epic heights during PIX, with a newly composed and extreme soundtrack, performed live. And who other than the legendary Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley could create the perfect sounds for Sunrise. His collaboration with Peter Rehberg, aka KTL, is based on a cascade of live guitars, computer programming and effects, and with these they place Murnau’s tragic love story in a universe of dark, ambient drones with a hypnotic orchestration. The two gentlemen held the world premiere of their massive, all-embracing composition at the Louvre in Paris in 2010, and the work will now be performed live for only the second time, during PIX. This is a truly unique event on Danish soil, and a collaboration between PIX, artFREQ. and the cinema, Imperial, which hereby celebrates its 50th birthday.

Scandinavia’s largest screen and an exquisite 35mm print from the British Film Institute will guarantee a superlative visual experience, while KTL bombards your aural senses.

Fr 29. April

24:00 Imperial

Sunrise & KTL live USA 1927, 120 min.

No Dialog Director: F.W. Murnau Script: Hermann Sudermann, Carl Mayer Camera: Charles Rosher, Karl Struss Editor: Harold D. Schuster Production: Fox Film Corporation Producer: William Fox Cast: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston Distr.: Hollywood Classics Ltd.

Proud event sponsor of

John Jameson reminds you to taste responsibly

events

FESTIVAL programMe

events

May Day in Folkets Hus Join the people and haul your festival-battered body along to the old yellow house in Nørrebro to an afterparty with plenty of punch! Folket’s Hus opens at 19:00 hrs, and PIX has built a small makeshift cinema on the 3rd floor for the occasion, where you can see a political surprise from this year’s programme, while you charge your batteries for the afterparty. The Socialist Youth will provide a bar with student-friendly prices and cool DJs, and PIX will pimp the democratic dance floor with visuals from the days when Marx was proofreading Das Kapital. If you’re into a different type of people’s party and love your organic beer, then pop

by Folkets Hus and dance, drink and be merry into the early hours of the morning.

Su 1. May

19:00 Folkets Hus

129

130

FESTIVAL programME

EVENTS

A Wall is a Screen Copenhagen The experienced Hamburg-based film community A Wall is a Screen, has toured Europe since 2003 with a small cart with a projector and sound equipment, and inspired audiences with short films from their enormous archives. The concept is simple: a free cultural event in a city centre, which is normally defined by commercial interests. For each tour, A Wall is a Screen follows a carefully planned route, where the city’s facades are the all-important inspiration for the choice of film. For the team, a wall is not just a wall, but an opportunity to create a symbiosis between film and façade, with often surprising messages as a result. PIX is thrilled to be able to expand the location repertoire to include the streets of Copenhagen, and to thereby show films where they have never been shown before. See your city in a new way, when the guerilla cinema invites you to a 90-minute walk through the city with moving images. Just show up and come along. A Wall Is A Screen - Copenhagen is a collaboration with Hamburg ‘Train of Ideas’, European Green Capital 2011, which is represented by ‘Visions for Future Cities’ on Copenhagen Town Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen) from 25 to 29 May.

Sa 23. April 21:00 MEETING POINT: Domhuset Nytorv

events

131

FESTIVAL programMe

Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

Blair Witch in the Woods Follow in the footsteps of Heather, Josh and Michael, when PIX screens ‘The Blair Witch Project’ in a setting, that is eerily reminiscent of that of the film.

In spite of its minimal budget, ‘The Blair Witch Project’ became a huge success when it premiered in 1999, not least thanks to its untraditional marketing campaign, which kept people guessing if this was an authentic story or not long before the premiere. But when you stand out there in the darkness, there is no doubt about the authenticity. The horror is looming behind every tree trunk and right on the other side of the tent. Don’t miss out on this terrifying opportunity to test your fear of darkness and see or revisit this original 1990s horror film on location in the deep silence of the forest. We will meet at Frue Plads at Nørregade 8, 1165 Copenhagen, where Jameson will offer you a drink and the bus waits to depart. So bring along your warmest lumberjack’s shirt, grab your torch, your smartphone, your compass and your best friend, and join us in the woods - if you dare. Ticket sales start on 1 April on www.cphpix.dk

70 m

THIS IS THE MINIMUM SI ANY USAGE UNDER THE PLEASE USE FILE NAME: JAMESON_PRIMARY_PAN

ARTWORK FOR DESIGN LAYOUT APPROVAL Project Title:

Job Number

JAMESON PRIMARY PAN FOIL

DEPP_007P

Client Name:

IRISH DISTILLERS

Tu 19. April Frue Plads

Print Process

Colour List:

ARTWORK FOR TEXT LAYOUT APPROVAL Date

Originator

18.04.06

AB

Specials

GOLD FOIL CROWN 370

PMS 7401 C

PMS 194 C

PMS 3425 C

ARTWORK FOR FINAL APPROVAL

Origination Software

Macintosh Illustrator CS

Artwork version number

2

FONTS USED:

TBC

20:30 MEETING POINT: Vor PMS 490 C

For more information regarding this artwork, please contact the Production Department at:

Design

Account

Design Bridge Limited International Design Consultants

Production

Client

18 Clerkenwell Close London EC1R 0QN United Kingdom T +44 (0)20 7814 9922 F +44 (0)20 7814 9024 www.designbridge.co.uk

FONTS WILL NOT BE SUPPLIED WITH THIS ARTWORK. ALL SPECIAL COLOURS SPECIFIED ARE FROM THE PANTONE © MATCHING SYSTEM UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. © Design Bridge 2005 GENERAL NOTES: THE COLOURS ON THIS PRINTOUT ARE NOT ACCURATE AND ARE INTENDED TO BE USED AS A GUIDE ONLY, DO NOT USE FOR MATCHING PURPOSES UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. THIS ARTWORK DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY TRAP/GRIP/CHOKE INFORMATION.

© ALL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RESERVED. PENDING FULL SETTLEMENT OF INVOICE. SEE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT.

WHILST EVERY EFFORT IS MADE TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF THE TEXT IN THIS ARTWORK, DESIGN BRIDGE CANNOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS. SEE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

SCALE: AT 100% THE OVERALL WIDTH OF THIS SPECIFICATION BOX WILL MEASURE 252mm

Blair Witch i skoven USA 1999, 210 min.

English Version Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez Script: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez Camera: Neal Fredericks, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams Editor: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez Music: Tony Cora Sound: Jack Sherdel, Gerry Lentz, Harry Cohen Production: Haxan Films Producer: Robin Cowie, Gregg Hale Cast: Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams Distr.: Nordisk Film

132

FESTIVAL programME

events

Crispin Hellion Glover LIVE It’s nothing short of a sensation when PIX and artFREQ. present Crispin Glover live in Copenhagen.

The American director and actor Crispin Hellion Glover visits the festival with his absolutely exclusive show, starting with the so-called ‘Crispin Hellion Glover’s Big Slide Show’, which is an at times dramatic interpretation of eight sumptuously illustrated books. Subsequently, we will screen ‘It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE’ about the woman-murderer Mr. Stewart in a dream of a story, which varies between psychological horror and explicit midnight movie madness. Glover is also known for his roles as George McFly in ‘Back to the Future’ and Creepy Thin Man in ‘Charlie’s Angels’, but as a film director, his reputation relies on word-of-mouth, as he is one of the few people who has managed to keep his films so rare that they can’t be found on the internet - with the uncompromising result that the only way you can see them is to turn up at your local film festival and experience Glover’s own 35mm print including the man himself live in action. You can expect a cinematic freak show and an audiovisual one-night-stand with one of film history’s most visionary players.

Mo 18. April

21:30

Grand Teatret

FESTIVAL programMe

events

Film & Dansens Dage Screen Moves up the pace with the ten best films in the 60secondsdance.dk competition, where everyone has had the chance to contribute with a self-produced dance film - lasting at most one minute. First, we will announce the winner, and subsequently we will travel to New York City with the film ‘NY Export: Opus Jazz’.

The dancers of the New York City Ballet go all the way in the colourful and beautiful work that is set in the big apple. This is not a bad location for a drama about love, aching muscles and ambitions. The film aims to do much more than repeat the ballet world’s cliché “stretch and bend”, and instead lets the modern world be the setting for a sensual and athletic work, which transgresses the usual limits of dance movies. ‘Opus Jazz’ is the directing duo Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipe’s new adaptation of the 1958 film of the same name, which was choreographed by the choreographer of ‘West Side Story’ fame, Jerome Robbins, and the combination of New York, 35mm pictures and the dancers of the New York City Ballet is a pure delight to the eyes.

Fr 29. April

19:15

Cinemateket

133

134

FESTIVAL programME

events

George A. Romero

Film på fortet - Day of the Dead George A. Romero’s third film about the living dead is one of the most pessimistic and politically sarcastic horror films ever made. It is also one of the best, and PIX in collaboration with Philips gives the audience a unique opportunity to see the film simultaneously on Philips’s giant 21:9 screens in a perfect, claustrophobic setting.

Courageous souls are invited to spend an evening isolated on the old military bastion Trekoner Fortet, in a labyrinthine system of corridors and cells. ‘Day of the Dead’ takes place after a Zombie epidemic has ravaged, completely levelled entire cities, and left the majority of the world’s population limping and with a contagious hunger. In a subterranean bunker complex, a small group of scientists and military officials have entrenched themselves, while they conduct a series of experiments on the living dead. Romero maintains his focus on the internal tension between civilian scientists and military staff with a short fuse, before the inevitable happens and the power balance starts to shift. Get ready to spend a dark and bloody night in the dank corridors of the fort; come to the Netto-Boat pier at Nyhavn, and make sure you are dressed in warm clothes!

Fr 15. April

20:30 MEETING POINT: Nyhavn

Film på fortet - Day of the Dead USA 1985, 210 min.

English Version Director: George A. Romero Script: George A. Romero Camera: Michael Gornick Editor: Pasquale Buba Music: John Harrison Sound: David B. Cohn, Patrick O’Sullivan, David Pettuch, Rolf Pardula Production: Dead Films Inc., Laurel Entertainment Inc., Laurel-Day Inc. Producer: Richard P. Rubinstein Cast: Lori Cardille, Joseph Pilato, Terry Alexander, Sherman Howard Distr.: Nordisk Film

FESTIVAL programMe

events

Creativity in Danish Cinema The film medium is facing many new challenges, both as work in its own right, and in terms of the way it is promoted and launched. Cross-media projects emerge on an international level, and transgress the limits of not only film genres as well as those regarding their production, promotion and launch. Social media play a new and critical role in their attempt to reach an audience, which to a greater degree is invited to interact. Can the Danish film industry keep up with new international trends? Is it necessary that money is made available, before creativity can flourish? Is the industry simply too smug to really experiment with new forms? For the film debate, organised by PIX and Rytmisk Center, we have invited among others the directors Kaspar Munk (‘Hold Me Tight’, ‘You & Me Forever’) and Michael Noer (‘The Wild Hearts’, ‘R’), the poet, musician, radio and TV host Kristian Leth (The William Blakes, Speed of Sound) and the producer Lars Knudsen (‘Old Joy’, ‘Shit Year’). The debate is moderated

by Lene Johansen. As a follow-up, Steen Rock Holbek and Tue Track will man the turntables. They have both earned the title ‘film composer’ for ‘Truth About Men’ and ‘Sorte kugler’ respectively, and in Literaturhaus they will delve into the treasure troves of film music and pull out the crackling vinyl.

Mo 25. April

13:00

Literaturhaus

135

136

FESTIVAL programME

events

Kill Your Darlings II PIX has paid a visit to its archives and dug up old film posters from both PIX and its predecessor festival, NatFilm. We are repeating last year’s success with the great film exchange day. This means that you can deliver your used DVDs, and for each film you get a ticket, which allows you to freely select a new film among all the other films that have been handed in. The great sale and film exchange day will take place on Saturday, 30 April in Huset’s Café from 12:00 hrs and onwards. So if you have realized that Hitchcock is not scary, ‘Star Wars’ is mostly for kids or that you have grown too old for your ‘Taxi Driver’ poster, then drop by Huset’s Café and browse to your heart’s content. Films can be delivered at PIX’ festival centre at Vangsgaard’s great book sale at Rådhuspladsen every day during the festival from 11:00 to 18:00 hrs. Only DVDs are accepted. Burnt DVDs or other illegal formats are not accepted. Maximum 10 films per person.

Sa 30. April

12:00 Husets Café

FESTIVAL programMe

events

Movie Moves Mash-Up The night is set for sweaty dancing and film history deluxe, when one of Denmark’s absolute top names in visual performance, the VJ collective Obscura, converts Råhuset in Vesterbro into a living film screen without dogmas. Obscura is known for its groundbreaking visuals and will turn the dancefloor into a film, and film into a dancefloor, as they fill the surfaces of Råhuset with the wildest movie moves from all corners of film history.

A party of this calibre naturally demands dramatic DJs to feed the loudspeakers with a sensational mix of ear-splitting tunes of all kinds of genres - but who this is will remain a surprise. Are your tired senses asking for a brisk dose of over-stimulation, then don your dance shoes and come flash your forbidden moves at this audiovisual mash-up extravaganza. The evening is a collaboration between PIX and MOMO - moves in movies - free entrance.

Th 28. April

21:00

Råhuset

137

...CPH PIX without us.

AUDIO VISUAL SOLUTIONS

FOR ART AND CULTURE

WWW.AVENUE-AV.DK

FILMSERIE

FESTIVAL programMe

RETROSPEcTIVE Andrzej ZULAWSKI SCI-FI, surrealism and sensuality at full blast. Things are rarely quiet when the Polish enfant terrible auteur Andrzej Zulawski sits in the director’s chair.

139

140

FESTIVAL programME

THE POLISH-BORN director and fervent melodramatist, Andrzej Zulawski (born 1940), is probably a dark horse to most people. Even though he has made 13 films which, with an almost unprecedented level of consistency, have portrayed love from the two extremes, where it can be felt most strongly - namely all-consuming fiery infatuation and/or unfathomably painful loss.

For many years been almost impossible to see his early films, and his French films have rarely been shown abroad. We are therefore proud that we, in collaboration with the Polish Film Institute, the Polish Embassy, TVP - Telewizja Polska and the Danish Film Institute/Cinemateket, can present an entire series dedicated to one of the true originals of European film history. Andrzej Zulawski will visit Denmark during the festival and introduce a number of screenings.

TO WATCH A film by Zulawski is like witnessing an overheated emotional explosion. For this reason,

Andrzej Zulawski

he has over time being called everything from hysterical to surrealist - and even if the truth probably lies somewhere in between, one thing is certain: one never goes away unaffected from an encounter with Zulawski’s perplexing chamber of rarities, where big emotions are given free rein.

WITH A CAMERA as a scalpel, he dissects the situations where the human being feels most exposed in its encounter with love. His consistent work with his actors which makes them physically capable of delivering almost superhuman power performances, and his hyper-mobile camera are two of his most outstanding hallmarks - and important building blocks in his consistent new take on classic melodrama.

HIS POWERFUL debut, ‘Third Part of the Night’ (1971), was based on The Revelation of St. John, and the experiences of Zulawski’s own father. The film follows the violent, inner battle of the protagonist,

Andrzej Zulawski

right after he has witnessed his wife and child be shot dead before his eyes. Zulawski was called ‘the new Wajda’, but after ‘Diabel’ (1972), Zulawski had to escape from his native Poland. The story about a man, who is urged by a mysterious black-clad man to commit a murder, was regarded by the censors as a commentary on the government’s infiltration of the Polish youth revolts. The film was shelved for 17 years, and Zulawski settled down in France.

ENDOWED WITH an enormous budget, Zulawski was called home in 1977 to take up the battle against the science fiction hits ‘2001’ and ‘Solaris’. But due to a change of ministers, the major film project ‘On the Silver Planet’ was abandoned just a few days before the shooting was finished. All sets and negatives were ordered to be destroyed. Luckily, Zulawski had the opportunity in 1988 to finish the film, editing it together from material which members of the film crew had kept in complete secrecy - and thereby saved for posterity. Even in this

FESTIVAL programMe

141

version, which we will screen in a rare 35mm print, it is obvious that Zulawski is in the same league as Tarkovsky and Kubrick.

ZULAWSKI’S first French film was the intense tale of unrequited love, ‘That Most Important Thing: Love’ (1975), which gleaned a César award for the sensitive Romy Schneider. This was followed by a long series of emotionally disturbing embraces with love, including the doppelgänger drama ‘Possession’ (1981) with Isabel Adjani, as well as the many films that Zulawski, beginning with the Dostojevsky adaptation ‘L’amour braque’ (1985), made with Sophie Marceau, with whom he also was in a relationship for many years.

FOR A LONG period of time, ‘L’amour braque’ was the only one of Zulawski’s films that could be seen internationally. We are aiming to remedy this shortfall with this retrospective. Look forward to meeting one of film history’s overlooked originals.

142

FESTIVAL programME

Andrzej Zulawski

Andrzej Zulawski

Pavoncello Two tv Films | film 1 of 2

Italy 1912. The young Pavoncello falls head over heels in love with a newly married woman during her honeymoon. Her husband is both old and rich, but as he is also ill, he sees no other possibility to have the child he wants, than to accept his wife’s extramarital escapades.

Blinded by love, Pavoncello doesn’t pay attention to the fact that he is being used for other purposes.

Th 21. April

19:15

Cinemateket

Pavoncello Poland 1967, 29 min.

Polish / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Miroslaw Zulawski, Andrzej Zulawski Camera: Mieczyslaw Jahoda Editor: Wieslawa Otocka Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Józef Bartczak Production: Zespóly Filmowy Unit Rytm, WFF Lódz Cast: Stefan Friedmann, Mieczyslaw Milecki, Michal Pawlicki, Miroslaw Czucza, Joanna Kasperska Distr.: Telewizja Polska S.A.

FESTIVAL programMe

Andrzej Zulawski

143

Andrzej Zulawski

The Story of Triumphant Love Two tv Films | film 2 of 2 Zulawski’s first autonomous attempt at the film medium, after having been an assistant to the Polish director Andrzej Wajda, was made for Polish TV, and based on a short story by the Russian author Ivan Turgenev. It is a romantic horror story about a young couple’s great love, and Zulawski thereby already approached the great subject of love and the power of the flesh in his very first film, a subject he subsequently went on to deal with in one film after another.

Th 21. April

19:15

Cinemateket

Piesn triumfujacej milosci Poland 1967, 41 min.

Polish / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Miroslaw Zulawski, Andrzej Zulawski Camera: Mieczyslaw Jahoda Editor: Wieslawa Otocka Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Józef Bartczak Production: Zespóly Filmowy Unit Rytm Cast: Beata Tyszkiewicz, Piotr Wysocki, Andrzej May, Jerzy Jogalla, Tadeusz Minc Distr.: Telewizja Polska S.A.

144

FESTIVAL programME

Andrzej Zulawski

Andrzej Zulawski

The Third Part of the Night Zulawski begins his convincing feature debut with inspiration from The Revelation of St. John. The film does away with the immediate logic of narration, and instead places itself solely in a psychological world, where the protagonist’s late wife and child can return to life, without this being in any way problematic. The film moves in and out of dream states, until the cyclical ending connects with the film’s starting point. Zulawski’s own father wrote the screenplay, partially based on his own experiences during the Second World War, but the heavily autobiographical film also has strong similarities with Zulawski’s later magnum opus, ‘Possession’. Not just in terms of employing the doppelgänger theme as a way to depict an enormous grieving process involved, in overcoming the loss of a loved one, but also in the way Zulawski manages to get his characters to play in a hysterical, almost trancelike state of constant tension.

‘The Third Part of the Night’ is complex and fascinating, and a good example of the darker kind of surrealism, which directors such as David Lynch were successful in introducing to a larger audience later on.

Fr 15. April

16:45

Cinemateket

Trzecia czesc nocy Poland 1971, 106 min.

Polish / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Miroslaw Zulawski, Andrzej Zulawski Camera: Witold Sobocinski Editor: Halina Prugar, Jadwiga Lesniewicz Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Malgorzata Jaworska Production: Zespóly Filmowy Producer: Barbara Pec-Slesicka, Tadeusz Drewno Cast: Malgorzata Braunek, Leszek Teleszynski, Jan Nowicki, Jerzy Golinski, Jan Nowicki, Michal Grudzinski, Anna Milewska

FESTIVAL programMe

Andrzej Zulawski

145

Andrzej Zulawski

The Devil This is the film that for the first time brought Zulawski on a collision course with the Polish authorities, who didn’t want the film to be shown as they deemed it a hidden political commentary. We follow the young Jakub who, at the beginning of the film, is released from prison by a mysterious man dressed in black. But it isn’t freedom he comes out to, but a world that has turned its back on him in every thinkable way, and in a state of inner confusion, he goes berserk through the cold, Polish landscape, where the mysterious, black-clad man keeps reappearing to convince him to kill innocent bystanders.

Historically speaking, the film takes place in 1793, during the suppression of the nationalist movements which had surfaced in the aftermath of the French revolution.

This is what made the Polish authorities see it as a commentary about the Polish youth movement and its infiltration by the regime. Zulawski’s primary focus, however, is the state of emotional distress that Jakub is in, and it is the desperation and intensity in the way he portrays it, which allow ‘The Devil’ to finally take its rightful position among the most important works of recent Polish filmmaking after those many years of being totally suppressed.

Sa 16. April Tu 26. April

21:30 Cinemateket 20:00 Husets Biograf

Diabel Poland 1972, 122 min.

Polish / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski Camera: Maciej Kijowski, Andrzej Jaroszewicz Editor: Krzysztof Osiecki Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Aleksander Golebiowski Production: Zespóly Filmowy Unit X Producer: Jacek Moczydlowski Cast: Wojciech Pszoniak, Leszek Teleszynski, Malgorzata Braunek, Iga Mayr, Wiktor Sadecki, Michal Grudzinski

146

FESTIVAL programME

Andrzej Zulawski

Andrzej Zulawski

The Main Thing Is To Love Romy Schneider deservedly won a César for best actress for her role in Zulawski’s first French film, which is also the only one of his films to be released in Danish cinemas. And it’s not hard to see why. Rarely has she performed better than here, and it appears that she was born to play the part of the melancholy dreaming diva, Nadina Chevalier who, during a major crisis in her career, sees herself forced to make semipornographic horror films, but who still hopes to be cast in serious roles in the theatre. Opposite her, are a young Jacques Dutronc, who plays her husband, and not least the Italian, Fabio Testi, as the photographer, Servais, who also has to lower himself to taking photographs of various pornographic activities in order to pay his father’s drug debts. Hoping to be able to sell pictures of Nadine, he one day sneaks in to watch her shoot a film, and this is the beginning of an highly emotional infatuation in a minor key.

Su 17. April Mo 25. April

16:45 14:20

Cinemateket Grand Teatret

L’important c’est d’aimer France, Italy, West Germany 1974, 112 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski, Christopher Frank Camera: Ricardo Aronovich Editor: Christiane Lack , Geneviève Louveau, Mari-Claude Van Dorpp Music: Georges Delerue Sound: Jacques Gérardot Production: Albina Productions, Rizzoli Film, T.I.T. Film Produktion Producer: Albina du Boisrouvray Cast: Romy Schneider, Fabio Testi, Jacques Dutronc, Klaus Kinski, Roger Blin, Claude Dauphin, Gabrielle Doulcet Distr.: Tamasa Distribution

Andrzej Zulawski

FESTIVAL programMe

147

Andrzej Zulawski

Possession Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill have probably never acted any better than they do in ‘Possession’, Zulawski’s cult film about the, at times, far too violent power of love. In the roles of Anna and Mark, a married couple, whose marriage has long started to disintegrate, they power-perform their way through this disturbing film, which secured Zulawski’s reputation for good, as a director with a unique vision. Already from the very first scene, it becomes clear that the two of them no longer can muster the same kind of love for each other that they could in the past. Mark’s apparently shady work means that he is gone for longer periods of time, and during his absence, Anna has started seeing someone else. The painful break-up is imminent, but none of them can figure out how to deal with the enormous emotional upheaval that such a break-up also causes, and they therefore process it in each their own untraditional way. And we definitely haven’t said too much, when we reveal that the film soon departs from the classical relationship drama, and instead tries to explore new cinematic territory through one unexpected twist after another. ‘Possession’ can best be described as a surreal doppelgänger drama, perched somewhere between classical monster film and hardcore kammerspiel about losing the one you love. ‘Possession’ is a film that is guaranteed to leave its mark on you.

Th 14. April We 20. April

19:00 21:30

Cinemateket Grand Teatret

Possession France, Germany 1981, 127 min.

English Version Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski, Frédèric Tuten Camera: Bruno Nuytten Editor: Marie-Sophie Dubus, Suzanne Lang-Willar Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Karl Heinz Laabs Producer: Marie-Laure Reyre Cast: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Heinz Bennent, Margit Carstensen Distr.: Tamasa Distribution

148

FESTIVAL programME

Andrzej Zulawski

Andrzej Zulawski

The Public Woman With provocative courage, Valery Kaprisky plays an aspiring actress, who lives off letting herself be photographed naked, but who dreams of becoming an actress. As a follow-up to ‘The Main Thing Is to Love’, but with opposite roles, Zulawski draws a picture of an actress, who fatally flirts with the abyss, when she falls in love with a self-obsessed film director, who hires her to play the main role in his next film: a megalomaniac attempt to direct Dostoevsky’s great novel ‘The Possessed’. Unhappy with the way she is acting, he tries to push her to her limits through increasing power games, which not least include him having full control over her body, and she ends up unable to distinguish the worlds of reality and fiction. ‘The Public Woman’ has been regarded as a powerful manifesto for the states that Zulawski pushes his actors into in order to get them to play as intensely as they do. More than anything however, it is a tragic depiction of how the dream of both love and a deeper meaning in life keeps being subjected to the caprioles of the human body, which always win the day. ‘The Public Woman’ is powerful from beginning to end, at times surreal, and told in a highly effective cinematic language.

Sa 16. April Mo 18. April

16:30 Cinemateket 17:00 Husets Biograf

La Femme publique France 1984, 114 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski, Dominique Garnier Camera: Sacha Vierny Editor: Marie-Sophie Dubus Music: Alain Wisniak Sound: Harald Maury, Joël Beldent, Eivire Lerner Production: Hachette Fox Productions Producer: René Cleitman Cast: Valérie Kaprisky, Francis Huster, Lambert Wilson, Patrick Bauchau, Gisèle Pascal Distr.: Europe Images International

FESTIVAL programMe

Andrzej Zulawski

149

Andrzej Zulawski

L’amour braque Zulawski’s free adaptation of Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’ is a true explosion of energy - and a strong candidate for one of the most energetic films in his opus. The setting is moved from 19th century Moscow to modern Paris, which is perfectly integrated into the epic tale of an impossible love affair. The idiot, who goes by the name of Léon, is a young man who claims to have descended from a Hungarian prince, and who is recently released from a mental hospital and meets gang leader Mickey and his crowd. Together, they set off for Paris, where Léon follows Mickey around until it all ends in a complicated mess when he falls head over heels in love with Micky’s girlfriend, Mary (Sophie Marceau in her first role for Zulawski). Zulawski turns the novel upside down, and in what can best be described as a tribute to the great Russian master, he portrays the idiot Léon as a stoical pillar of calm - unlike almost all other people around him, who dart around manically, screaming, shouting, dancing and running - apparently driven by nothing but their own basic instincts. The result is a film, which with the highest imaginable pace measures the pulse of a world, where everyone seems to be their own idiot.

Fr 15. April Mo 18. April

21:30 Cinemateket 20:00 Husets Biograf

L’amour braque France 1985, 101 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski, Etienne Roda-Gil Camera: Jean-François Robin Editor: Marie-Sophie Dubus Music: Stanislas Syrewicz Sound: Guillaume Sciama, Joël Beldent, Elvire Lerner Production: Sara Films Producer: Alain Sarde Cast: Sophie Marceau, Francis Huster, Tchéky Karyo, Christiane Jean, Michel Albertini Distr.: Tamasa Distribution

150

FESTIVAL programME

Andrzej Zulawski

Andrzej Zulawski

On The Silver Globe Zulawski’s legendary science fiction epic, which for many years was presumed lost, is a brilliantly staged depiction of the failed attempt of a group of people to start a new life on another planet. The starting point is the Polish science fiction trilogy ‘The Silver Globe’, written by Zulawski’s own grandfather, and often cited by the science fiction author Stanislaw Lem as one of the most important science fiction works ever. In three episodes, we first follow four people who escape from Earth to start a new and idealistic world on another planet. Before three of them die, they have managed to leave behind a crowd of descendants, who can slowly create a new lineage. The last survivor is now called the Old Man and is praised like a god. His video diaries from the planet arrive on Earth, which several years after his death sends the man, Marek, back to the silver planet where he, upon his arrival, is praised as being the new Messiah, and as the reincarnation of the Old Man, it is up to him to protect the planet against the enemy race, which has now taken over control. Originally conceived as an ambitious space opera, the film was supposed to follow in the footsteps of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and ‘Solaris’, but the film was suddenly stopped by Poland’s Culture Minister at the time. It was only ten years later that Zulawski was given the opportunity to complete the film, which even in its current form is a hyper-ambitious film, in the same league as both Kubrick and Tarkovsky.

Tu 19. April We 27. April

21:15 16:45

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Na srebrnym globie Poland 1987, 166 min.

Polish / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski Camera: Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz Editor: Krzysztof Osiecki Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Michal Zarnecki Production: Zespoly Filmowe Unit Pryzmat, Studio Filmowe Kadr Producer: Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz Cast: Andrzej Seweryn, Jerzy Trela, Iwona Bielska, Jerzy Gralek, Elzbieta Karkoszka, Krystyna Janda, Grazyna Dylag Distr.: Filmoteka Narodowa

FESTIVAL programMe

Andrzej Zulawski

151

Andrzej Zulawski

Boris Godunov The first of Andrzej Zulawski’s great music films is based on Mussorgsky’s famous opera about Boris Godunov, after a chronicle by Alexander Pushkin. The starting point for Mussorgsky’s opera was the brutal Russian tsar, Boris Godunov, and we follow him here during the tumultuous years from his coronation in 1598 to his death just a few years later, a period marked by political opportunism, murder and conspiracy. The film is based on an American production of the opera from 1987, which was originally meant to be filmed by Zulawski’s mentor, Andrzej Wajda. But he passed on the task to Zulawski, who followed the original slavishly and added a cinematic dimension, which can literally be felt. He makes perfect use of theatrical staging, which stands in exuberant contrast to his extremely mobile camera, which characteristically flies back and forth across the stage and follows the events in close-up.

This is an exceptionally good example of how a filmed opera should look. The plot largely follows the original opera and is here shown with French subtitles.

Su 17. April

19:15

Cinemateket

Boris Godounov France, Yugoslavia, Spain 1989, 121 min.

Russian / French Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Modest Mussorgsky Camera: Andrzej Jaroszewicz, PierreLaurent Chénieux Editor: Marie-Sophie Dubus Music: Modest Mussorgsky Sound: Michel Lepage, Guy Level, Dominique Hennequin Production: Erato Films, La Sept, Avala Films Producer: Daniel Toscan du Plantier, Claude Abeille Cast: Ruggero Raimondi, Kenneth Riegel, Pavel Slaby, Bernard Lefort, Delphine Forest Distr.: La Cinématèque de Toulouse

152

FESTIVAL programME

Andrzej Zulawski

Andrzej Zulawski

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days In few films has Zulawski described stormy infatuation as beautifully as in ‘My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days’ - a perfect tribute to the power of desire and the great game of destiny that is human passion. Shortly after finding out that he suffers from a fatal illness, computer programmer Lucas (Jacques Dutronc) meets the young Blanche (Sophie Marceau). The two fall head over heels in love with each other and escape so that they can spend as much time together as possible, in the short time they have left.

The result is a weekend in the name of love, where the actors wear their hearts on their sleeves and the camera work is so captivatingly beautiful, that it is hard not to surrender unconditionally to the intense depiction of how powerful a driving force love and desire can be - if you embrace it fully.

We 20. April

16:30

Cinemateket

Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours France 1989, 110 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski Camera: Patrick Blossier Editor: Marie-Sophie Dubus Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Jean-Pierre Duret Production: Sara Films Producer: Alain Sarde Cast: Sophie Marceau, Jacques Dutronc, Valérie Lagrange, Myriam Mézières, Laure Killing, François Chaumette Distr.: France Télévisions Distribution

Andrzej Zulawski

FESTIVAL programMe

153

Andrzej Zulawski

Blue Note The famous affair between the composer, Frédéric Chopin, and the author, George Sand, is the basis for Zulawski’s historical drama. The two of them have turned up one summer weekend in 1846, at Sand’s summer residence, together with other great thinkers of the European intellectual elite of the 19th century, among them the painter, Eugène Delacroix, the authors, Ivan Turgenev and Alexandre Dumas the Younger and the opera singer, Pauline Viardot. Sand’s and Chopin’s relationship is coming to an end, and while the invited guests are drinking and entertaining each other, Sand’s daughter, Solange (played by Sophie Marceau), tries to turn the situation around in her favour so that she can seduce Chopin. The director Zulawski undoubtedly had a great personal affinity to the story about Chopin, who like Zulawski himself was a Pole in French exile, and he is here depicted as a misunderstood genius in a superficial world. And he is eminently brought to life by the Polish pianist, Janusz Olejniczak, who together with Sophie Marceau bears the thoroughly musical film on his shoulders.

We 20. April

21:00

Cinemateket

La note bleue France, Germany 1991, 131 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski Camera: Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz Editor: Marie-Sophie Dubus Music: Frédéric Chopin Sound: François Geneste, Michel Vionnet Production: Oliane Productions, Erato Films, Gemini Producer: Marie-Laure Reyre Cast: Janusz Olejniczak, Marie-France Pisier, Sophie Marceau, Noëmi Nadelmann Distr.: Tamasa Distribution Stillfoto: Collections La Cinématèque de Toulouse

154

FESTIVAL programME

Andrzej Zulawski

Andrzej Zulawski

Chamanka Andrzej Zulawski’s first Polish film in almost twenty years is not just a comeback in style, but also a violent and impassioned embrace of the great subjects of his films: love, depicted as an almost physical obsession. A young, unnamed female student is looking for an apartment in Warsaw, and during her desperate search, she meets the somewhat older anthropology professor Michal, who helps her find a place to live.

The two embark on an intense relationship, but Michal becomes more and more obsessed with the young student, and their affair, through detours, ends up interfering with his work of trying to find out how a several thousand year old shaman, whose wellpreserved body he has recently found, had died. Based on a novel by the Polish feminist and author, Manuela Gretkowa, Zulawski here confronts life in his native country very directly, as it appears in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and not least its taboo approach to both sex and religion. In the main role of the young student, Zulawski cast the eminent Iwona Petry, who here delivers one of the most intense acting performances of all his films. Spitting, dribbling, eating, shitting, bleeding, fucking and pissing, she staggers through the film as though in an endless, passionate trance, and thus single-handedly generates Chamanka’s enormous emotional energy.

Su 17. April Th 21. April

21:00 Cinemateket 20:00 Husets Biograf

Szamanka Poland, France, Switzerland 1996, 113 min.

Polish / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Manuela Gretkowska Camera: Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz Editor: Wanda Zeman, Andrzej Zulawski Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Piotr Knop, Andrzej Trzaska Production: Canal Plus Polska, Compagnie des Films, Alhena Films Producer: Jacky Ouaknine, Chris Bolzli, Jacek Fuksiewicz Cast: Boguslaw Linda, Iwona Petry, Pawel Delag

FESTIVAL programMe

Andrzej Zulawski

155

Andrzej Zulawski

Fidelity Adrzej Zulawski’s adaptation of Madame de Lafayette’s psychological 17th century novel ‘La Princesse de Clèves’ is a seductive study of the nature of passion. Sophie Marceau plays the industrious photographer Clélia, who in order to earn some money accepts a job at the tabloid newspaper La Vérité headed by the media tycoon Mac Roi. Controlled by her temperament and the full force of her emotions, she throws herself head-over-heels into her new job and along the way falls in love - equally head-overheels - with Clève, an old editor, who is trying to save his publishing house by marrying into the powerful Mac Roi family. The passionate encounter with the younger photographer becomes decisive for Clève, who calls off the wedding and proposes to Clélia, who in turn starts fighting her own battle with her stormy emotions when a new suitor, the young paparazzi photographer Nemo, wins her favour.

Tu 19. April Sa 23. April

21:00 Cinemateket 15:30 Husets Biograf

La Fidélité France, Portugal 2000, 165 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Andrzej Zulawski Script: Andrzej Zulawski Camera: Patrick Blossier Editor: Marie-Sophie Dubus Music: Andrzej Korzynski Sound: Pierre Gamet Production: Gemini Films, France 3 Cinéma Producer: Paulo Branco Cast: Sophie Marceau, Pascal Greggory, Guillaume Canet, Magali Noël, Michel Subor, Edith Scob, Guy Tréjan Distr.: Le Petit Bureau

156

FESTIVAL programME

Andrzej Zulawski

An Evening with Zulawski Don’t miss out on this unique encounter with this year’s retro star, Andrzej Zulawski, who will present selected extracts from his body of films, and take the audience on a guided tour through his cinematic career.

Tu 19. April

19:15

Cinemateket

NORDIC SCI-FI Even the Aurora Borealis and the midnight sun cannot compete, in the light of the five extremely rare science fiction gems we are presenting from our own vectors of the galaxy - The Nordic Region!!

That science fiction can be many things lies in the nature of the genre. But what the genre really is capable of, will nonetheless surprise everyone who obtains tickets to see any or all of the five exclusive science fiction gems that we have dug up. And the fact that we are talking about relatively ambitious works with more or less serious political undertones might also delight all those who have a weakness for speculative genre excursions on a low budget.

The obstinate Norwegian ‘Svart Hav’ is specifically made as a protest against industrial overfishing, and in ‘Gladiators’, Peter Watkins anticipates how international politics and reality TV cancel each other out to become sheer spectacle. Four of the films deal with the opportunities of the near future (at the time) – a future, which now is about 30 or 40 years in the past.

The exception is the Finnish ‘A Time of Roses’, which with great authority depicts what the world

will look like in the year 2011, and which can now finally acquire the well-deserved cult status outside Finland, which it has enjoyed in its home country for many years. Another film which is unknown outside its home nation is ‘The Dead Mountaineer Hotel’, which we here will try to salvage from its undeserved oblivion outside Estonia. Based on a text by the Strugatsky brothers (who also wrote the original version of Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’), Grigori Kromanov brilliantly combines home-spun philosophy and hardcore science fiction with dreams and atmospheric images from far up north.

Last, but not least, we are extremely proud to be able to screen the re-premiere of the Danish film in the series, the visually unique, black-and-white, sci-fi horror, Cinemascope movie, ‘The Man Who Thought Life’, which will be introduced by the director himself.

FESTIVAL programMe

nordic sci-fi

159

Risto Jarva

A Time of Roses 2011 is viewed through utopian glasses in Finnish sci-fi cult classic ‘A Time of Roses’ (1969). We’re in the year 2011, where history researcher Raimo Lappalainen has a mission to reconstruct the world as it looked 50 years before. All class differences and ditto conflicts appear abolished, and the media has a power that is even more pervasive than in today’s reality. In the course of his thorough studies, the mad professor unexpectedly becomes obsessed with the sorry and mysterious fate of a nude model, and he hires an actress to recreate her life and death in authentic detail with the hope of being able to show it on TV. Meanwhile a nuclear breakdown is threatening to destroy the world, but the media manages to cover up the disaster. The director Risto Jarva, who was one of the main figures of the largely unknown Finnish new wave, leaves nothing to be desired in a wonderfully insane sci-fi utopia, whose story is said to be inspired by Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’.

Tu 26. April

21:30

Cinemateket

Ruusujen aika Finland 1969, 108 min.

Finnish / English Subtitles Director: Risto Jarva Script: Risto Jarva, Jaakko Pakkasvirta, Peter von Bagh Camera: Antti Peippo Editor: Risto Jarva, Jukka Mannerkorpi, Lasse Naukkarinen Music: Kaj Chydenius, Henrik Otto Donner Sound: Anssi Blomstedt, Tuomo Kattilakoski, Erkki Kurenniemi Production: Filminor Producer: Risto Jarva Cast: Arto Tuominen, Ritva Vepsä, Tarja Markus, Eero Keskitalo Distr.: National Audiovisual Archive KAVA

160

FESTIVAL programME

nordic sci-fi

Peter Watkins

The Gladiators British director Peter Watkins was one of the most uncompromisingly political directors of his times, and he was one of the first to combine the documentary form with speculative fiction scenarios. His best-known film is the hair-raising nuclear war mockumentary ‘The War Game’ from 1965, but he has since made films in both Denmark, Norway and Sweden. ‘The Gladiators’ is filmed in Sweden and has the subtitle ‘The Peace Game’. It is a gloomy satire that takes place in a near future, where an international peace commission has found a permanent solution to wars and conflicts: each nation provides a team that goes on to fight until death, while the battle is broadcast live to TV audiences all over the world. Political rationalism is reduced to absurdity. A man and a woman from two different teams are discovered reaching out for each other during a battle, and are sentenced to annihilation by a gigantic computer. A year later, Watkins went to the United States to shoot the semi-documentary ‘Punishment Park’, which French director Romain Gavras last year remade with the M.I.A. video ‘Born Free’.

Sa 23. April

14:15

Cinemateket

Gladiatorerna Sweden 1969, 91 min.

Swedish, English, Chinese, French, German / Swedish Subtitles Director: Peter Watkins Script: Nicholas Gosling, Peter Watkins Camera: Peter Suschitzky Editor: Lars Hagström Music: Claes af Geijerstam Sound: Pierre Björklund, Tage Sjöberg Production: Sandrews Producer: Göran Lindgren Cast: Arthur Pentelow, Frederick Danner, Hans Bendrik, Daniel Harle, George Harris Distr.: Sandrew Metronome Filmdistribution Stillfoto: Hans Seiden

FESTIVAL programMe

nordic sci-fi

Jens Ravn

The Man Who Thought Things Jens Ravn’s doppelgänger horror movie with the fantastic title ‘The Man Who Thought Things’ is something as rare as a Danish film with an international reach and style, and it was nominated for the Golden Palm in Cannes in 1969. Its consistent black-and-white cinemascope aesthetic was years ahead of its time and heralded the wave of modern science fiction, which continued in the 1970s with films such as ‘THX 1138’.

But for incomprehensible reasons, the film has been impossible to see for years - that is: until now. The famous brain surgeon Max Holst (Preben Neergaard) receives a visit from a certain Mr Steinmetz (played by a fantastic John Price), who can make things materialise merely through the power of thought. When Holst refuses to perform an operation on him that would allow him to keep producing his thought products, Steinmetz produces an evil doppelgänger in the surgeon’s image.

This is a visually unique work in Danish film history, and now it can finally be (re)seen in the cinema. Ravn wrote the screenplay together with Danish author Henrik Stangerup, and Ravn will be present to introduce the film.

Fr 29. April Sa 30. April

16:30 21:30

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Manden der tænkte ting Denmark 1969, 97 min.

Danish / English Subtitles Director: Jens Ravn Script: Henrik Stangerup, Jens Ravn Camera: Witold Leszczynski Editor: Lars Brydesen Music: Per Nørgård Sound: Per Meinertsen Production: ASA Film Studio, Palladium Cast: John Price, Preben Neergaard, Lotte Tarp, Lars Lunøe Distr.: Jens Ravn Stillfoto: Morten Bo

161

162

FESTIVAL programME

nordic sci-fi

David Wingate

Svart Hav If you’re not acquainted with Norwegian coastline terminology, we can inform you that ‘Svart Hav’, or ‘Black Sea’, means that there are very few fish. The film of the same title, which was originally intended as a protest film, presenting a frightening yet realistic vision of the future, concerns a lonely fisherman, who embarks on a battle against the big multi-national fishing interests, which use gigantic trawlers to drain the Norwegian seas of life, to the point where there are almost no fish left for the small fishermen. In one small family, it suddenly all becomes too much for the adult son, who takes things into his own hands and, in a desperate guerilla manoeuvre, attacks one of the huge fish factory ships, and takes a hostage to assert himself. However, this is more easily said than done.

Fr 22. April

16:30

Cinemateket

Svart Hav Norway 1980, 106 min.

Norwegian Version Director: David Wingate Script: Nils Utsi, David Wingate Camera: Jan Alnæs, Agneta Ekman, Frode Kristiansen Editor: Bela Csepcsanyi, Fred Sassebo Music: Claes Neeb Sound: Jan Lindvik, Raymond Mortensen, Tom Sassebo Production: Storyline Studios Cast: Nils Utsi, Roald Kristiansen, Anne Gullestad, Helge Jordal Distr.: Storyline Studios

FESTIVAL programMe

nordic sci-fi

163

Grigori Kromanov

The Dead Mountaineer Hotel Based on a novel by the Russian Strugatsky brothers, the Estonian Grigori Kromanov has made a powerfully atmospheric film, which in a surprising, but definitely talented way, combines hardcore science fiction with homespun philosophizing. In other words, it’s not realism and minimalism which plague ‘The Dead Mountaineer Hotel’, fortunately. In fact, the plot is so far out, that it might just as easily be happening on a completely different planet. However, we are obviously in a deserted hotel in the alps, where a police officer is one day summoned because of some very strange events. At first glance, he thinks that things look fairly normal, but this doesn’t last. When an avalanche suddenly cuts off the small hotel from the rest of the world, and uninvited guests of a more alien nature come to visit them, there is devil to pay in the Estonian alps.

Sa 23. April

16:30

Dagmar Teatret

Hukkunud Alpinisti hotell Estonia 1979, 80 min.

Estonian / English Subtitles Director: Grigori Kromanov Script: Arkadiy Strugatskiy, Boris Strugatskiy Camera: Jüri Sillart Editor: Sirje Haagel Music: Sven Grünberg Sound: Roman Sabsai Production: Tallinnfilm Producer: Veronika Bobossova, Raimund Felt Cast: Uldis Pucitis, Jüri Järvet, Lembit Peterson, Mikk Mikiver Distr.: Estonian Film Foundation

PUNK’S NOT DEAD There are punks on both sides of the camera in this collection of rare gems from the international punk film scene. Hey! Ho! Let’s go!

Punk is the cultural movement that – with its raw energy, do-it-yourself spirit and an iron will to topple all existing value norms – left an unmistakable mark, not just on the music of the time, but also on fashion, art and filmmaking. It is exactly this intersection between film and punk that takes the high seat at this year’s PIX. The special series kicks off with nothing less than the world premiere of Sort Sol’s extreme art / music video project ‘Flow My Firetear’ from 1992 (see Pix Specials) and continues with punks both in front of and behind the camera in a section of rare, international film gems. ‘Suburbia’ is a semi-documentary time capsule from the mid-80s California squatter scene, and it is given political support by ‘Terminal City Ricochet’ with the Dead

Kennedys singer Jello Biafra as a sadistic police officer.

Australian post punk film ‘Dogs in Space’ brings together Iggy Pop and a very young Nick Cave, and both Cave and Blixa Bargeld also participate in ‘Dandy’, which director Peter Sempel himself will introduce at the screening in Husets Bio. The Sex Pistols and The Clash join forces in ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains’.

It is also here (and only here!) that you can see the Spanish surrealist Fernando Arrabal’s insane ‘Car Cemetery’ side by side with the French punk ‘n’ roll director F.J. Ossang’s both first (‘Docteur Chance’) and latest (‘Dharma Guns’) films - two clenched fists full of raw celluloid energy.

FESTIVAL programMe

punk’s not dead

165

Fernando Arrabal

Car Cemetery It is with a solid mix of punk rock and post-apocalypse that the Spanish author and leading figure of the “panic” movement, Fernando Arrabal, made an adaptation of his own theatre play in 1983 as a dreamy pictorial whirlwind of a TV film. In a dystopian future, a group of young punks and other deviants live in a car cemetery at the edge of an atomic crater. They follow the French rock icon Alain Bashung, who in the role of Emanou - the cemetery’s leather-clad Messiah - is condemned to being betrayed by his own people. Within the world of film, the author Fernando Arrabal is probably best-known as the counterpart to Alejandro Jodorowsky and for his absurd, surreal and visually flamboyant film ‘Viva la muerte’ and ‘I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse’. With ‘Car Cemetery’ he hooked up with contemporary punk ideology with a gloomy new wave version of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, which, filled with calm and energy, recounts the Christ myth, as it would have looked from the gutter.

Su 24. April

12:00

Dagmar Teatret

Le cimetière des voitures France 1983, 90 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Fernando Arrabal Script: Fernando Arrabal Camera: Ken Legargeant Music: Alain Bashung Sound: Jonathan Liebling Production: A2 Producer: Ken Legargeant, Romaine Legargeant Cast: Alain Bashung, Juliet Berto, Micha Bayard Distr.: Cult Epics, Inc

166

FESTIVAL programME

punk’s not dead

F. J. Ossang

Dharma Guns F.J. Ossang is rock ‘n’ roll. The French punk singer, author and director makes films that burn and rage on screen with an almost Dionysian intensity and death instinct. The first three minutes of his latest film are some of the most beautiful and colossal moments you can experience in a cinema. All in all, three good reasons to buy a ticket for Ossang’s latest film ‘Dharma Guns’, which to a rare degree insists on the sacred space of the dark cinema and shows us that film can allow us to transgress ourselves. The story begins with a fatal accident that is followed by a journey through a modern netherworld. Black cliffs and a white-glowing sky create a romantic scenario, which Ossang frames in the pure and expressive imagery of silent filmmaking, accompanied by delirious title cards with texts by Rimbaud, Baudelaire and William S. Burroughs. For once, one can justifiably talk about a poet with a camera, and if film indeed were a language, all sentences in Ossang’s opus would end in exclamation marks. A film for people who are not afraid to think big.

Fr 29. April Su 1. May

19:00 21:45

Cinemateket Gloria

Dharma Guns France, Portugal 2010, 93 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: F. J. Ossang Script: F. J. Ossang Camera: Gleb Teleshov Editor: F.J. Ossang, J.C. Sanchez Music: Jack Belsen, Little Drake, MKB Fraction Provisoire Sound: F.J. Ossang, Stéphane Production: Solaris Distribution Producer: F.J. Ossang Cast: Guy Mc Knight, Elvire, Lionel Tua, Diogo Doria Distr.: Umedia

FESTIVAL programMe

punk’s not dead

167

F.J. Ossang

Docteur Chance Joe Strummer played his last film role in F.J. Ossang’s road movie ‘Docteur Chance’, a neo-noir shot in colour in a way that makes us feel we are seeing colour film for the first time. A young gangster deals with stolen works of art and other dodgy items under the order of his overbearing mother. When both a rival gang and dazzlingly beautiful prostitute (played by Ossang’s muse Elvire) get in the way, our young hero has to escape to Chile in a red convertible to meet his mysterious connection, Vince Tayler (Strummer).

The plot is nevertheless not the most important part of this film. Each scene is a dramatic image, every gesture is a goal and an attraction in itself. Ossang’s characters are living a dangerous and beautiful life, and ‘Docteur Chance’ is a romantic film with a rock ‘n’ roll heart. The battle for freedom is however never won so easily. This is also true for the (genre) film, whose possibilities finally reveal themselves like a landscape that remains uncharted when the dust settles again on the red desert sand.

We 27. April Fr 29. April

21:45 19:00

Gloria Dagmar Teatret

Docteur Chance France, Chile 1997, 97 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: F.J. Ossang Script: F.J. Ossang Camera: Rémy Chevrin Editor: Thierry Rouden Music: Messagero Killer Boy Sound: Stéphane Brunclair, Julien Cloquet Production: Valcine S.A., Compagnie des Films, Centre National de la Cinématographie, Canal+ Producer: Jacky Ouaknine Cast: Pedro Hestnes, Elvire, Joe Strummer, Marisa Paredes, Stéphane Ferrara Distr.: Umedia

168

FESTIVAL programME

punk’s not dead

Richard Max Lowenstein

Dogs In Space While most films take a linear approach, ‘Dogs in Space’ is more like being at a party that just becomes wilder and wilder - and you are hereby invited to attend. The party takes place in a run-down old house in Melbourne in the late 1970s, where the eponymous punk orchestra lives and practices. The lead singer Sam (Michael Hutchence from the 80s band INXS) wanders around in a constant drugged stupor and is surrounded by motor saw-brandishing madmen, freaks and his girlfriend Anna, who shares his taste for hard drugs. One day, an unnamed girl enters the chaotic house, and spins both the space-dogs and the no less chaotic plot right out of their orbit. ‘Dogs in Space’ was made in 1986, and looks back at the lost days of punk from a decade’s distance, without resorting to either sentimentalism or knowing better in hindsight.

The film is cranked up to full speed and set against a nice soundtrack that includes everything from Iggy Pop to a very early Nick Cave. And it’s exactly because Richard Lowenstein doesn’t try to force a plot onto his characters that we can enjoy an anarchistic convergence of punk rock and film.

Mo 25. April

17:00 Husets Biograf

Dogs In Space Australia 1986, 103 min.

English Version Director: Richard Max Lowenstein Script: Richard Max Lowenstein Camera: Andrew de Groot Editor: Jill Bilcock Music: Michael Hutchence Sound: Dean Gawen, Peter Clancy Production: Burrowes Film Group Producer: Richard Max Lowenstein, Glenys Rowe Cast: Michael Hutchence, Saskia Post, Nique Needles Distr.: Media Luna New Films UG

FESTIVAL programMe

punk’s not dead

Lou Adler

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains CPH PIX has hand picked a true punk gem from oblivion. The alienated teenager Corinne Burns is the focal point of an entire generation of like-minded girls, when she flips the finger on her small and abandoned home town after being fired from a fast food restaurant.

To let go of her frustrations, she starts the punk band The Stains and names herself Third Degree Burns.

Now, she and the other tender-aged girls are ready to conquer the world. For, as Corinne says, “Every girl should be given an electric guitar on her 16th birthday.”

The Stains don’t have to wait long before they are given an opportunity, and when they are chosen to open for The Looters (played by the punk pioneers of bands such as The Clash and Sex Pistols), they seize it. Corinne’s supernaturally cool and razor-sharp aesthetics don’t just make the band an immediate success. They also turn into style icons, who can mirror themselves every night in an audience that wears The Stains’ visual style as if it were a uniform. But this world conquest comes with a very high price tag for the charismatic Corinne.

For what happens, when you stop being an individual, and instead becomes a sellable commodity?

Tu 26. April

19:00

Cinemateket

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains USA 1982, 87 min.

English Version Director: Lou Adler Script: Nancy Dowd Camera: Bruce Surtees Editor: Tom Benko Production: Red Stripe, Paramount Pictures, Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance Producer: Joe Roth Cast: Peter Donat, Diane Lane, Marin Kanter, Laura Dern

169

170

FESTIVAL programME

punk’s not dead

Peter Sempel

Punk and Glory: The Punk Films of Peter Sempel Three programmes of films by the pioneer punk director Peter Sempel. Shown in collaboration with Goethe Institute Denmark 17:00 NINA HAGEN: PUNK & GLORY (1999-2005, 94 min.)

Nina Hagen appears in this documentary as the loud, wild and eccentric star we all know, but her more meditative and poetic sides are also revealed as she spends time with her 2 kids and her mother as well as many friends and animals. The film was shot over the course of 20 years in Berlin, Hamburg, N.Y., Los Angeles, Paris and the Himalayas. Twenty Nina Hagen songs are to be heard on the soundtrack, and other famous guests who appear include Blixa Bargeld, Jonas Mekas, George Clinton, Angelyne, Wim Wenders, etc.

19:00 DANDY (starring Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld) (1988, 86 min.)

This free-form documentary is loosely based on Candide by Voltaire and revolves primarily around Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld but also includes Nina Hagen, Dieter Meier, Kazuo Ohno and others.

It is no documentary in the conventional sense but rather a floating dreamlike journey that meanders from Hamburg to Berlin, Madrid, New York and Tokyo to the Ganges river, the Himalayan mountains and on to Marrakesch and Cairo. It is A collage reflecting sensations that deal with religion, blues, art, the state of being lost … more of a wondering, a stumbling… Music is provided by Einstuerzende Neubauten, Nick Cave, Beethoven, Verdi, Tote Hosen, Abwaerts and Mozart. Country of origin: Germany

punk’s not dead

19:00 FAST, CHEAP & DIRTY - EARLY PUNK SHORTS

by Peter Sempel.

This feature-length collection of early shorts were shot on Super-8 and run between 3 and 16 minutes in length and share the FAST, CHEAP AND DIRTY aesthetics of punk music itself, exuding the same frantic energy.

Among the films is also ALLEN GINSBERG-HUSTLER FOR LIFE,16mm, 20min, we see him at home singing “September On Jessore Road” from his book The Fall Of America, playing his harmonium. Additionally there is a film of Patti Smith reading from HOWL at a New York benefit for the Harry Smith Library, and a singalong with acoustic guitar follows.

FESTIVAL programMe

Sa 26. March Sa 26. March Sa 26. March

17:00 Husets Biograf 19:00 Husets Biograf 21:00 Husets Biograf

171

172

FESTIVAL programME

punk’s not dead

Penelope Spheeris

Suburbia “It isn’t just one of the best films about punks, but one of the best films ever,” the punk critic, Zack Carlson, famously said about Penelope Spheeris’ fictional companion piece to her legendary documentary about West Coast punk in ‘The Decline of Western Civilization’.

And it’s difficult not to agree with him. Few other films have exhibited as much sensitivity and understanding in their depiction of the youth scene, from which the punk movement itself arose. Like a time capsule from the mid-80’s Californian squatter environment, she here tells the story of a group of rootless youths with widely differing backgrounds, who join together in their feeling of being lost, homeless and with basically no future. It is the punk spirit as a way of life, and it is depicted raw, bluntly and with enormous understanding by Spheeris, who made the film for a minimal budget on location, with local punks from the battered and scarred Los Angeles of the early 80’s.

Sa 23. April

21:45

Cinemateket

Suburbia USA 1983, 94 min.

English Version Director: Penelope Spheeris Script: Penelope Spheeris Camera: Tim Suhrstedt Editor: Ross Albert, Michael Oleksinski Music: Alex Gibson Sound: Sandy Berman Production: Suburbia Productions Producer: Bert L. Dragin, Roger Corman Cast: Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, Jennifer Clay, Timothy O’Brien, Wade Walston Distr.: New Horizons Pictures Corp.

FESTIVAL programMe

punk’s not dead

173

Zale Dalen

Terminal City Ricochet “People should watch this before every American election,” Jello Biafra, the frontman of the Dead Kennedys has said about ‘Terminal City Ricochet’. He himself plays the role of the sadistic policeman and henchman of the unscrupulous Ross Gilmore, who is the mayor of Terminal City. Gilmore manages not only to accommodate his megalomania, but also to increase his chances of being re-elected by building a strong monopoly of the city’s media. Even the smallest protest is beaten to pulp by the heavy-handed police force; rock ‘n’ roll and meat have been banned, and as if this wasn’t enough, the city has also been plagued by a downpour of burning space debris. When the adult paperboy, Alex, witnesses a fatal traffic accident, with Gilmore as the hit-and-run culprit, he is arrested shortly afterwards, accused of being a rock ‘n’ roll terrorist. But he manages to escape, and in the meantime he becomes a member of a resistance movement consisting of a performance artist and a brain-damaged ice hockey goalkeeper.

Together, they hatch a plan to topple Gilmore’s mediacontrolled dictatorship: They must kidnap the hated mayor’s son.

Sa 23. April

16:30

Cinemateket

Terminal City Ricochet Canada 1990, 107 min.

English Version Director: Zale Dalen Script: John Conti, Ken Lester, Bill Mullan, Phil Savath, Al Thurgood Camera: Paul Sarossy Editor: Haida Paul Music: J. Douglas Dodd Production: DC Productions, Emotion Pictures, Téléfilm Canada Producer: John Conti Cast: Peter Breck, Germain Houde, Jello Biafra, Gabe Kouth

AMERICAN INDIES It is no secret that Americans can produce much more than brawny Hollywood blockbusters, but as a precautionary measure, we once again prove this assertion with two handfuls of films that pay tribute to the apparently unlimited possibilities of the independent genre.

It is hardly necessary to explain what the term ‘American independent film’ covers.

Initially the term was coined for films that were produced without interference of powerful and established production companies, but today the indie phenomenon covers a broader definition, which includes films that don’t belong to the broad American main stream offering, be it due to far out experimentation, slowly told drama or a style that is outrageous.

We have assembled ten of the very best independent films for this year’s programme, and even in this selection, the variation is enormous.

In Kitao Sakurai’s ‘Aardvark’, an absurd film noir unfolds in Cleveland’s underworld, while indie icon Ellen Barkin plays a fallen actress in Cam Archer’s accurately titled ‘Shit Year’. One of the biggest independent masters, John Sayles, is back with his usual social indignation in the independence drama ‘Amigo’, and the young queer cult director

Gregg Araki has shaken up his genres and created something as unusual as an occult sci-fi horror teenage comedy with ‘Kaboom’.

Michael Tully gives us anti-religious madness in the southern gothic slacker comedy ‘Septien’.

Kelly Richardt, who directed the sublime ‘Wendy and Lucy’ (CPH PIX ‘09) and ‘Old Joy’ (NatFilm ‘07), is back with the gun-free western intrigue ‘Meek’s Cutoff’, and a trio from Hollywood’s A-list excels far away from home turf in Massy Tadjedin’s ‘Last Night’.

We are also seeing a bit Danish influence in Spencer Parsons’ ‘I’ll Come Running’, which has a Danish-American screenwriter and is produced by the NYC based Danish producer Lars Knudsen. As icing on the massive cake that is our American indie section, we show how video artist Zbigniew Bzymek shines with his first feature, ‘Utopians’.

FESTIVAL programMe

american indies

175

Kitao Sakurai

Aardvark An unlikely friendship between a blind former alcoholic and a young jiujitsu coach is the docu-dramatic material, from which a revenge-laden noir plot slowly and patiently grows forth in Kitao Sakurai’s evocative ‘Aardvark’. Middle-aged Larry has lived much of his life hitting the bottle, but is now in rehab. One day, he passes by the place where Darren teaches self defence, and before long, the two become best buddies.

Darren however has a foot in Cleveland’s hard-boiled underworld, where there is no space for mistakes. Both actors were cast from the street, and they play fictional versions of their real selves in a way that dissolves the boundaries between reality and staging - a distinctive trend in contemporary filmmaking, which is given an extra dimension by being the first film where the main actor has been blind since birth. The wide and dark Cinemascope images contain both the brutal poetry of the genre film and the raw realism of the real life environment.

Su 24. April Fr 29. April

14:15 21:45

Dagmar Teatret Gloria

Aardvark USA, Argentina 2010, 80 min.

English Version Director: Kitao Sakurai Script: Kitao Sakurai Camera: Aaron Kovalchik Editor: Luke Lynch Music: Fall On Your Sword Sound: Jason Candler Production: Naked Faces Films Producer: Andrew Barchilon Cast: Larry L. Lewis Jr., Darren Branch, Jessica Elizabeth Cole Distr.: FiGa Films, LLC.

176

FESTIVAL programME

american indies

John Sayles

Amigo Veteran director John Sayles (‘Lone Star’) is both known and notorious for his huge level of social indignation. ‘Amigo’ is no exception, and to say that he is outspoken in his critique of his own country’s heavy-handed intervention in the affairs of other nations is to say the least. The film takes its beginning in a neglected story from the year 1900, in the years after the Philippines had taken advantage of the war between the USA and Spain as an excuse to declare independence.

We are in the small village of San Isidro, where a platoon of American soldiers are ordered to establish a base.

The young men of the village have already fled and joined the rebels and there is therefore not much left of the village that Lt. Compton has to deal with. He nonetheless approaches the task with an idealistic belief that he can conquer both minds and hearts of the locals, but when the attacks by the increasingly desperate rebels make life difficult for both locals and soldiers, Compton is pushed to resort to tougher means.

Sayles impales American imperialism as confidently as ever, and the parallels to Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq are hard to miss.

Th 21. April Mo 25. April Th 28. April

15:00 21:45 19:00

Gloria Dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

Amigo USA 2010, 128 min.

Tagalog, English, Spanish / English Subtitles Director: John Sayles Script: John Sayles Camera: Lee Meily Editor: John Sayles Music: Mason Daring Sound: Judy Karp Production: Pinoy Pictures Producer: Maggie Renzi Cast: Garret Dillahunt, Chris Cooper, DJ Qualls, Lucas Neff Distr.: Rezo Films International

FESTIVAL programMe

american indies

177

Spencer Parsons

I’ll Come Running Spencer Parson’s ‘I’ll Come Running’ is something as rare as a Danish-American indie collaboration. Shot in both Texas and Århus, with both American and Danish actors in the lead roles, it is a story about the Danish backpacker Pelle (Jon Lange), who is tired of travelling around Texas with his two friends and decides to go home. A few nights before his departure, he meets the charming and impertinent waitress Veronica (Melonie Diaz), and they spend a couple of crazy, loved-up days together. Pelle gives Veronica his address in Denmark, and Veronica also manages to seek him out, but not for the good reasons one could imagine. During a time when most Danish films seem to resemble each other, ‘I’ll Come Running’ gives us a liberating possibility of how things could be changed - towards new stories, new faces and new ways of making films. Behind the film is Danish producer Lars Knudsen, who is less known in Denmark than in the United States, where he works closely together with some of the independent scenes greatest names, from Cam Archer (‘Wild Tigers, We Have Known’ and ‘Shit Year’, which also screen at this year’s festival) and Aaron Katz (‘Cold Weather’) to Kelly Reichhardt (‘Old Joy’). Among the remaining Danish elements is Christian Tafdrup in the role of Pelle’s best friend, while the Danish musician Dúné has composed the soundtrack.

Mo 25. April Su 1. May

20:00 Empire 16:45 Gloria

I’ll Come Running USA, Denmark 2008, 112 min.

English, Danish / English Subtitles Director: Spencer Parsons Script: Spencer Parsons, Line Langebek Knudsen Camera: Siobhan Walshe Editor: David Fabelo Music: Graham Reynolds Sound: Gopal Bidari, Chris Keyland Production: Film Science, Van Hoy/Knudsen Productions Producer: Lars Knudsen, Anish Savjani, Jay Van Hoy Cast: Melonie Diaz, Jon Lange, Christian Tafdrup Distr.: Parts and Labor

178

FESTIVAL programME

american indies

Gregg Araki

Kaboom American filmmaker Gregg Araki is back in the fast lane with the occult science fiction teen(sploitation) horror comedy ‘Kaboom’. 18-year-old Smith is ‘ambisexual’ and attends a college where everyone is young, beautiful and game for anything - in other words, everything would be hunky-dory, if only it wasn’t for some recurring nightmares, where evil creatures in animal masks are heralding the imminent destruction of Earth. This is just the beginning of a bizarre conspiracy cooked up by a mysterious New Age cult. Is Smith really the chosen son? Or is it just the space cake that’s beginning to kick in? Araki’s sexy and pop-punk fable about the apocalypse fuses a smooth music video look with its twisted role models ‘Twin Peaks’, ‘Donnie Darko’ and the Kuchar brothers’ trash extravaganzas - and ironically points towards Araki’s own status as a New Queer Cinema pioneer in the early 1990s, which is coming into fashion again.

Th 21. April Su 24. April

20:00 Empire 14:20 Grand Teatret

Kaboom USA, France 2010, 86 min.

English / Swedish Subtitles Director: Gregg Araki Script: Gregg Araki Camera: Sandra Valde-Hansen Music: Ulrich Schnauss, Mark Peters, Vivek Maddala Production: Why Not Productions, Desperate Pictures, Wild Bunch, Producer: Gregg Araki, Sebastien Lemercier, Andrea Sperling Cast: Thomas Dekker, Chris Zylka, Roxane Mesquida Distr.: Cinema Mondo

FESTIVAL programMe

american indies

179

Massy Tadjedin

Last Night Neither Kiera Knightly, Sam Worthington nor Eva Mendes are best known for their ability to tackle dramatic roles, but in ‘Last Night’ they prove that their otherwise glossy choice of films should be complemented with more serious roles in the future. The directorial debut of the former screenwriter Missy Tadjedin demonstrates that she is just as adept in directing actors as in finding the right words. A marital bust-up between Joanna (Knightly) and Michael (Worthington) results in both of them going away for a weekend - insecure and angry at each other, but convinced that they are nonetheless meant for each other. But two equally successful and sexy singles (Mendes and Guillaume Canet) become the ultimate test for their relationship. The question is if there is a difference between being unfaithful in thought and unfaithful in deed, and if a relationship can survive either of them. Tadjedin’s intelligent and engaging drama is far more closely related to French films (dialogue, food, wine, sex, cigarettes and more dialogue) than to moralising American variations of the well-known theme, and this is what gives the plot a refreshing element of unpredictability.

Sa 16. April Th 21. April Sa 30. April

16:45 21:45 21:30

Gloria Dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

Last Night USA, France 2009, 90 min.

English Version Director: Massy Tadjedin Script: Massy Tadjedin Camera: Peter Deming Editor: Susan E. Morse Music: Clint Mansell Production: Gaumont, Nick Wechsler Productions Producer: Christophe Riandee, Massy Tadjedin, Nick Wechsler Cast: Keira Knightley, Eva Mendes, Sam Worthington, Guillaume Canet Distr.: SF Film

180

FESTIVAL programME

american indies

Kelly Reichardt

Meek’s Cutoff For the American settlers, life was unbearably tough. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood may have looked cool when they strutted down dusty streets with bow legs, but these stories are built on myths of the wild west - cowboys and Indians, steadfast saloon owners, cheating gamblers, sheriffs and wide-eyed damsels in distress. Kelly Reichardt (‘Old Joy’, ‘Wendy and Lucy’), on the other hand, has decided to take a different and more realistic approach to the period in ‘Meek’s Cutoff’, which is purged of gunslingers and tumbleweeds. Here, the simple drama is based around a small group of settlers who travel across the barren and lifeless prairie landscape looking for the nearest waterhole. The goal doesn’t seem to be a specific destination, but simply to move on. Not much is said, but when they do speak, they do so in almost archaic terms. The drama however quietly builds around the various characters, with Michelle Williams heading the cast as the resourceful and stingy Emily. It is a film where the atmosphere threatens to implode rather than explode, and it is made clear that the all-embracing prairie couldn’t be tamed just like that, be it with elbow grease, a six-shooter or a cowboy hat.

We 20. April Su 24. April

19:00 16:30

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Meek’s Cutoff USA 2010, 104 min.

English Version Director: Kelly Reichardt Script: Jonathan Raymond Camera: Christopher Blauvelt Editor: Kelly Reichardt Music: Jeff Grace Sound: Leslie Shatz Production: Evenstar Films, Film Science, Harmony Productions, Primitive Nerd Producer: Elizabeth Cuthrell, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani Cast: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson Distr.: Cinetic Media Inc.

FESTIVAL programMe

american indies

181

Michael Tully

Septien After having disappeared for almost 18 years, the silent Cornelius Rawlings suddenly turns up at the family’s country estate. The place is run down, and his parents have died ages ago, but his two brothers Ezra and Amos still live there, together with the less than sharp oddball, Wilbur, who sleeps in a tractor tire in the back yard. Ezra takes her mother role a bit too seriously, and is obsessed with cleaning, cooking and going to church, while Amos is a self-taught artist and primarily obsessed with painting macabre satanic watercolours of various sporting events. With his bushy beard and his long hair, the prodigal Cornelius doesn’t reveal the reasons for his long disappearance. When he doesn’t spend his days drinking, he wanders around the neighbourhood and wins money from unsuspecting strangers thanks to his surprising athletic abilities. But demons come knocking the door in a serious way, when their old football coach turns up in the guise of a plumber. And only a mysterious prophet seems to be able to help the brothers confront their repressed past.

With a penchant for the literary ‘southern state gothic’ genre, ‘Septien’ is a confidently told tale with a sensitive flair for The South, which even William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor would have envied.

We 27. April Sa 30. April

22:00 Cinemateket 21:00 Cinemateket

Septien USA 2010, 79 min.

English Version Director: Michael Tully Script: Robert Longstreet, Onur Tukel, Michael Tully Camera: Jeremy Saulnier Editor: Marc Vives Music: Michael Montes Sound: Grant Johnson Production: Nomadic Independence Pictures Producer: Brooke Bernard, Brent Stewart, Ryan Zacarias Cast: Michael Tully, Rachel Korine, Robert Longstreet, Onur Tukel, Mark Darby Robinson Distr.: Michael Tully

182

FESTIVAL programME

american indies

Cam Archer

Shit Year Shot on 16mm and in delicate black-and-white images, Cam Archer’s experimental ‘Shit Year’ is reminiscent of 1960’s film culture. The past, the present and the future are consistently blended together, and it’s equally difficult to distinguish between reality and fantasy in the absurd story about the worn-out and faded actress Colleen West (Ellen Barkin). She has just finished her dubious career, and now has to come to terms with the fact that she no longer has her work to mirror herself in. The narrative is difficult to explain, but the unhinged cocktail of a plot contains both mysterious noises from the neighbours, a much younger lover and a returning alien, who might be a doctor. It’s all highly bizarre, but it all makes sense within the film’s precise and brilliant universe. Not least thanks to Barkin, whose portrait of a fallen star is worthy of an independent Oscar.

Mo 25. April Sa 30. April

17:00 12:15

Empire Dagmar Teatret

Shit Year USA 2010, 95 min.

English Version Director: Cam Archer Script: Cam Archer Camera: Aaron Platt Editor: Madeleine Riley Music: Mick Turner Production: Wild Invention, Parts and Labor Producer: Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen Cast: Ellen Barkin, Bob Einstein, Luke Grimes, Melora Walters Distr.: Match Factory

FESTIVAL programMe

american indies

Zbigniew Bzymek

Utopians Some films choose to take a linear approach to their narrative, while others turn the chronology inside out and find alternative ways to tell a story.

The director, Zbigniew Bzymek’s feature film debut definitely belongs in the last category: In every way, ‘Utopians’ is an alternative story about being different.

The yoga teacher, Roger, lives his life like a slacker, where meditation doesn’t exactly seem to create more presence or awareness in his life. He can’t reach his yoga students, who become more and more irritated by his physical and mental distancing, and his relationship to his daughter, Zoe, also seems to be suffering from it.

She has been in military service and falls in love with the schizophrenic Maya. All three characters deviate from what society sees as being normal, and ‘Utopians’ thrives on precisely this balancing act, while the film itself also challenges conventions of both form and content. The linear approach is dissolved by fragmentary impressions, which are instead veiled in bright, sunny images in a fantastic flow of a film.

Tu 19. April Mo 25. April

22:30 Husets Biograf 20:00 Husets Biograf

Utopians USA 2011, 84 min.

English Version Director: Zbigniew Bzymek Script: Zbigniew Bzymek Camera: Robert Mleczko Editor: Kevin Palmer Sound: Harvey Valdes Production: Made-up Language Producer: Zbigniew Bzymek, Lauren Hind, Courteny Webster Cast: Jim Fletcher, Courtney Webster, Lauren Hind Distr.: Foglight LLC

183

ANXIOUS ANIMATION There is both serious and unpretentious entertainment for adults when this year’s animation section presents veterans, debutants and young hopefuls from East and West.

Japanese anime is still the cornerstone of the whole world of animation that is not aimed at children, and this year, CPH PIX presents both Takashi Koike’s long-awaited action fest ‘Redline’ and the complex and violent sci-fi monster film ‘King of Thorn’, inspired by the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.

Japanese animation however has much more and different things to offer than anime, and loner Keita Kurosaka is a shining example of this.

Practically single-handedly, he creates his far out and pencil-drawn grotesquely humourous films. We show Kurosaka’s latest film ‘Midori-Ko’ together with the twenty year old ‘Haruko Adventure’.

From China, we have fetched one of the great new hopes of animation, the debutant Liu Jian,

whose ‘Piercing I’ shows how ugly drawing and minimal animation can be used to emphasise social stagnation and human apathy. ‘Piercing I’ is a thriller, just as the Coen brothers would have made it, with a rare and honest look at modern China.

From Eastern Europe, we have collected a series of short films, which are defined by a unique sense for not only technique and aesthetics, but also for the grotesque and the absurd. From the fast-paced and visually impressive ‘Paths of Hate’ about the endless duel of two fighter pilots, to veterans Mati Kütt and the Quay Brothers, who with ‘Sky Song’ and ‘Maska’ respectively deliver beautiful, compelling, eerie and grotesque stop motion tales.

ONLY FOR ADULTS!

FESTIVAL programMe

anxious animation

185

Kazuyoshi Katayama

King of Thorn ‘King of Thorn’ is based on a Japanese Manga comic, which is a reinterpretation of Sleeping Beauty in a science fiction universe. The year is 2012, and the disease ‘Medusa’ is threatening the population of the entire planet. There is no cure, but you can be frozen into a form of hibernation, which moderates the development of the disease. An isolated chamber is constructed in a castle in Scotland, which will house 200 carefully chosen people. Here, they are to remain dormant until a cure is found. The girl Kasumi is one of the chosen few, who is frozen at the beginning of the film, but something goes horribly wrong. They are awoken to life again, but not in the world they knew from before. ‘King of Thorn’ is an animated feature for Adults with a capital A. While most of today’s animations are made for children, but can be enjoyed by grownups, we are dealing with topics that are so heavy, that most children would probably escape into a cave and read Paddington Bear for the rest of their lives, if they saw as much as ten minutes of it. There is enough plot to fill four episodes of ‘The Matrix’ and three screenplays of ‘Inception’, so get ready for an exceptional brain-gym roller-coaster ride, when the film switches levels of reality at an almost stroboscopic pace. ‘King of Thorn’ demonstrates that Japanese animation masters the art of the unique to the max.

Fr 22. April We 27. April Sa 30. April

12:00 21:30 21:30

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Ibara no O Japan 2009, 110 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Kazuyoshi Katayama Script: Yuji Iwahara, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Kazuyoshi Katayama Animation: SUNRISE Inc. Production: Kadokawa Pictures, Bandai Visual Co. Producer: Yasumasa Tsuchiya Cast: Kana Hanazawa, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Eri Sendai, Sayaka Ohara Distr.: Kaze Stillfoto: YUJI IWAHARA, PUBLISHED BY ENTERBRAIN, INC./Team IBARA

186

FESTIVAL programME

anxious animation

Keita Kurosaka

Midori-ko Midori-ko | film 1 of 3

Japanese animation veteran Keita Kurosaka is a relatively unknown figure in Danish cinemas. With his bombastic and sketchy style, and his warped universes, Kurosaka’s films are far from any kind of anime, and his works can be compared to the films of Bill Plympton. His latest film, ‘Midori-ko’, is an hour-long dream journey into Kurosaka’s strange but amusing and grotesque universe.

In a small apartment in a large housing block, which houses its own manure factory, talking fish and shabby old men, lives the young girl Midori. When a creature, which is best described as a mixture between a baby and an enormous pear falls in through her window one day, Midori suddenly finds herself forced to protect the small new arrival. There is a shortage of food in the city, and everyone from the block’s residents to the city’s strange inhabitants want to have a bite of the juicy newcomer. After being in the making for more than 10 years and with images that were hand-drawn by the director himself, ‘Midori-ko’ is an animation experience of the rarest kind. To introduce ‘Midori-ko’, we will show one of Kurosaka’s animated music videos as well as the 20-year-old ‘Haruko Adventure’.

Su 17. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

22:30 Husets Biograf 17:00 Husets Biograf 20:00 Husets Biograf

Midori-ko Japan 2010, 55 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Keita Kurosaka Script: Keita Kurosaka Camera: Keita Kurosaka Editor: Keita Kurosaka Animation: Keita Kurosaka Music: Hiromichi Sakamoto Production: Mistral Japan Producer: Akira Mizuyoshi Cast: Sayaka Suzuki, Rina Yuki, Chicapan, Miwako Mishima Distr.: Mistral Japan

FESTIVAL programMe

anxious animation

Keita Kurosaka

Haruko Adventure Midori-ko | film 2 of 3

A young woman wakes up to a series of strange events in Keita Kurosaka’s ‘Haruko Adventure’ from 1991. The film offers a black-and-white mixture of still images and hand-drawn elements, which together with the strange imagery and scenes - including among other things one of the longest vomiting scenes in film history - create a brilliant testimony to Kurosaka’s status as one of the true originals of the world of animation.

Su 17. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

22:30 Husets Biograf 17:00 Husets Biograf 20:00 Husets Biograf

Haruko Adventure Japan 1991, 15 min.

No Dialog Director: Keita Kurosaka Script: Keita Kurosaka Camera: Keita Kurosaka Editor: Keita Kurosaka Animation: Keita Kurosaka Music: Keita Kurosaka Sound: Keita Kurosaka Producer: Keita Kurosaka Distr.: Mistral Japan

187

188

FESTIVAL programME

anxious animation

Keita Kurosaka

Agitated Screams of Maggots Midori-ko | film 3 of 3 Vulgar allegories are happily married with bloody excess, when Keita Kurosaka collides with the popular and theatrical, japanese metalband Dir En Grey.

‘Agitated Screams of Maggots’ from 2006 is a rare music video from the hand of Kurosaka, but the commercial offset has in no way yielded a more compromising result. The gears of the short story have been lubed in shit, blood and sexual references and Kurosaka makes a lot happen in the mere three minutes, which, by the way, function as a clear presage to the director’s newest film, ‘Midori-Ko’.

Su 17. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

22:30 Husets Biograf 17:00 Husets Biograf 20:00 Husets Biograf

Agitated Screams of Maggots Japan 2006, 3 min.

No Dialog Director: Keita Kurosaka Script: Keita Kurosaka Camera: Keita Kurosaka Editor: Keita Kurosaka Animation: Keita Kurosaka Music: Dir En Grey Producer: Keita Kurosaka Distr.: Mistral Japan

FESTIVAL programMe

anxious animation

189

Mati Kütt

Sky Song Modern Grotesque | film 1 of 3

The Estonian stop motion veteran, Mati Kütt’s ‘Sky Song’, draws parallels to, among others, Jan Svankmajer, in a bizarre universe, where brain hemispheres recite Freud, while scientists blow smoke rings resembling naked women, and a corps of space-travelling postmen undergo hard training.

Fr 15. April Th 21. April Sa 30. April

20:00 Husets Biograf 17:00 Husets Biograf 22:30 Husets Biograf

Taevalaul Estonia 2010, 45 min.

Estonian / English Subtitles Director: Mati Kütt Script: Mati Kütt Camera: Urmas Jõemees Editor: Urmas Jõemees, Mati Kütt Animation: Märt Kivi, Marili Toome, Andres Tenusaar Music: Tõnu Kõrvits Sound: Horret Kuus Production: Nukufilm OÜ Producer: Arvo Nuut Cast: S.Rüüberg, R.Tolk, A.Maimik, T.Eelmaa, M.Palmiste, M.Jakobson Distr.: Nukufilm OÜ

190

FESTIVAL programME

anxious animation

Quay Brothers

Maska Modern Grotesque | film 2 of 3

The Quay Brothers meet the sci-fi legend Stanislaw Lem in their latest short ‘Maska’ - a grotesque yet evocative dream journey, which mixes adventurous symbolism with eerie images and the unique approach to stop motion animation, which give the Quay Brothers their consistent reputation as the genre’s most important artists.

Fr 15. April Th 21. April Sa 30. April

20:00 Husets Biograf 17:00 Husets Biograf 22:30 Husets Biograf

Maska Poland 2010, 24 min.

Polish / English Subtitles Director: Quay Brothers Script: Quay Brothers Camera: Quay Brothers Editor: Quay Brothers Animation: Quay Brothers Music: Krzysztof Penderecki Sound: Janusz Czubak Production: Se-ma-for Film Production Producer: Marlena Lukasiak, Zbigniew Zmudzki Cast: Magdalena Cielecka Distr.: Se-Ma-For Film Production

FESTIVAL programMe

anxious animation

191

Floris Kaayk

The Origin Of Creatures Modern Grotesque | film 3 of 3

Floris Kaayk’s ‘The Origin of Creatures’ was Holland’s bid for this year’s Oscar in the category Best Animated Short. The film is an extension of Kaayk’s previous experiments with grotesque physical mutations, and it presents an evocative, post-apocalyptic world, where various conjoined body parts try to re-establish a kind of civilization.

Fr 15. April Th 21. April Sa 30. April

20:00 Husets Biograf 17:00 Husets Biograf 22:30 Husets Biograf

The Origin Of Creatures Netherlands 2010, 12 min.

No Dialog Director: Floris Kaayk Script: Floris Kaayk Camera: Reinier Van Brummelen Editor: Floris Kaayk Animation: Floris Kaayk Music: Lennert Busch Sound: Bart Jilesen, Erik Griekspoor, Elena Martin Hidalgo Production: seriousFilm Producer: Marc Thelosen Distr.: NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR ANIMATION FILM (NIAf)

192

FESTIVAL programME

anxious animation

Liu Jian

Piercing I With his head pressed hard against the ground and a cursing, violent security guard standing above him, the young Zhang has hit rock-bottom. He would like to leave Beijing, and return to the life in the countryside, which he abandoned in search of job opportunities, which no longer exist. But when he helps an accident victim, on his way to the train station, a chain-reaction of fateful events is set in motion, which finally results in both extortion and murder; it is not so easy to leave Beijing. Liu Jian’s animation feature debut is a slice of Chinese megacity realism, which takes as its starting point the global financial crisis and slowly develops into a classic entanglement crime thriller, which would make the Coen brothers proud. Moments of hope are few and far between in the director’s take on modern China.

Beijing is a place inhabited by a cynical, despondent youth and a frustrated working class, and provides the setting for this melancholy story, brought to life in simple, grey images, simple animation and a dry sense of humour. ‘Piercing I’ provides sharp insights into modern China, and is a rare example of an animated auteur film, from a director with something to say.

Th 21. April Sa 23. April Su 1. May

16:30 21:30 21:30

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Piercing I China 2009, 74 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Liu Jian Script: Liu Jian Camera: Liu Jian, Lynne Wang Editor: Liu Jian Animation: Liu Jian Music: Zuoxiao Zuzhou Sound: Liu Jian, Lynne Wang Production: Le-joy Animation Producer: Lynne Wang Cast: Liu Jian, Ho Liebo, Yang Siming, Zhang Yu, Shao Min Distr.: FilmSharks International

FESTIVAL programMe

anxious animation

193

Damian Nenow

Paths Of Hate Redline + Paths of Hate | film 1 of 2

The line from conviction through obsession and on to blind hatred are examined in the Polish director, Damian Nenow’s fascinating ‘Paths of Hate’. With its breakneck pace, the film follows the ruthless battle of two fighter pilots, and lets them loose all human integrity in the process. With his sense of magnificent and intense images, Nenow has, understandably, been predicted a great future.

Tu 26. April Sa 30. April

16:45 18:45

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Paths Of Hate Poland 2010, 10 min.

No Dialog Director: Damian Nenow Script: Damian Nenow Editor: Damian Nenow Animation: Platige Image Music: Jaroslaw Wójcik, Pawel Piechura, Ramez Nayyar Sound: Maciej Tegi Production: Platige Image, Polish Film Institute Producer: Marcin Kobylecki

194

FESTIVAL programME

anxious animation

Takeshi Koike

Redline Redline + Paths of Hate | film 2 of 2

Intergalactic races, fascist generals, colourful personalities and pure rock ‘n’ roll. The veteran animator, Takeshi Koike, storms in with his feature film debut, ‘Redline’, a film which develops the particular interpretation of classic anime, which he demonstrated in his contribution to the collectively animated ‘The Animatrix’. We follow JP, a young outsider who sports an Elvis haircut and wears tight leather clothing who indirectly ends up being invited to Redline, the largest racing event of the universe. It is a race where all strategies, tricks and bombs are permitted, and where the organisers have added an extra challenge, by placing the competitors on an uninviting planet, controlled by a fascist general with a love of big explosions.

The wild pace and Koike’s unorthodox style are the focal points of a film which combines fast-paced car chases with imaginative, absurdly comical twists and a gallery of characters that is colourful, to say the least.

There are equal parts ‘Death Race 2000’ and ‘Days of Thunder’, with plenty of hysterical, Japanese clout on top. Before the screening of ‘Redline’, we will show Damian Nenow’s more serious, yet no less captivating and stylish short film, ‘Paths of Hate’, which in itself is an unique encounter.

Tu 26. April Sa 30. April

16:45 18:45

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Redline Japan 2009, 100 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Takeshi Koike Script: Katsuhito Ishii, Yoji Enokido, Yoshiki Sakurai Animation: Mad House Music: James Shimoji Sound: Yoji Shimizu, Katsuhito Ishii Production: Mad House, Gastonia Producer: Yukiko Koike, Kentaro Yoshida Cast: Takuya Kimura, Yu Aoi, Tadanobu Asano Distr.: Tohokushinsha Film Corporation

THRILLS AND KILLS In THRILLS AND KILLS we show the best genre films of the past year.

If not at PIX, where else? We have assembled the past year’s best genre films and are showing them on the big screen, where they only rarely get a chance to be seen outside of the festival circuit. These are the kind of films where censors give up, and the lack of guidelines is the guiding principle.

was already banned from several festivals around the world due to its provocative take on the link between violence and porn. For the occasion, we are also showing ‘Life and Death of a Porno Gang’, which together with ‘A Serbian Film’ paints a picture of Serbia that is far from pure speculation.

This is especially true for the blood-splatting gay zombies in this year’s ‘L.A. Zombie’. The provocation and speculation are obvious, but they are never the sole motivation, as there is a meaning to the madness, which extends beyond wanting to defy the genres of the often narrow-mindedly conservative cinema repertoire. Among the most radically transgressional films, we are presenting this year, is Srdjan Spasejovic’s ‘A Serbian Film’, which

We will not judge. ‘A Serbian Film’ is by far the most talked-about film of the series, but less can also do it, so join in - if you dare - when we dish out misanthropic Japanese serial murder splat in ‘Cold Fish’, an Australian psycho thriller in the form of an organised revenge killing gone wrong in ‘Blame’, or the presentation of the property bubble as Hong Kong-style horror movie in the nightmarishly beautiful and social realist ‘Dream Home’.

FESTIVAL programMe

THRILLS AND KILLS

197

Srdjan Spasojevic

A Serbian Film Srdjan Spasojevic’s debut is without doubt one of the most discussed and controversial films that has hit the film world in the past year. There has been almost no end to the outraged reviews and vocal accusations about the film, which has been talked about much more than it has been seen. Director Spasojevic aims however to do more than just provoke with his story about the ageing porn star Milos, who is coaxed back into the fold by the eloquent, artistically ambitious but possibly raving mad director Vukmir. Milos is lured by money and a warped memory of life in the lap of luxury, but before long he finds himself trapped in Vukmir’s extravagant net of artistic ambitions, where Milos is just as effective a henchman, as he is a victim. ‘A Serbian Film’ is an exposure of twisted humanity and a porn industry where absolutely nothing remains sacred.

But it is also a brutal depiction of a society where the only way forward is rarely the right one from a moral perspective. Spasojevic intentionally evokes outrage with both violent scenes and a boundary-transgressing plot, but he does it in order to leave his audience with bitter food for thought, and not to become an extension of the industry he has set out to expose.

Th 21. April Sa 30. April

19:00 22:30

Grand Teatret Empire

Srpski film Serbia 2010, 104 min.

Serbian / English Subtitles Director: Srdjan Spasojevic Script: Aleksandar Radivojevic, Srdjan Spasojevic Camera: Nemanja Jovanov Editor: Darko Simic Music: Sky Wikluh Sound: Djordje Djurovic, Aleksandar Protic, Nikola Zivkovic Producer: Srdjan Spasojevic Cast: Srdjan Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Jelena Gavrilovic Distr.: Cinematic Vision (tidligere CCV)

198

FESTIVAL programME

THRILLS AND KILLS

Michael Henry

Blame To put it mildly: there will be something to live up to for the Australian colleagues of feature film debutant Michael Henry, if they want to try to repeat the success of this chilling thriller. Nothing is left to chance, neither in the clearly drawn pictures or in the compact dialogue.

‘Blame’ tells the story of a group of young people immaculately dressed and wearing black balaclavas - who set off for a remote house to kill its owner. We don’t know who they are, or why they want to kill the teacher, but slowly the motives and the relationships between the characters are revealed - including those, nobody knew about - and the film puts the spectator in a state of constant distrust, as the many implicated people constantly reveal new sides to the story. For who really bears the blame in reality, and who is telling the truth in the first place? The horror lies in what is unsaid, in the wavering eyes, the trembling hand, the psychopathic strategies. In the midst of a gripping psycho-thriller and a subtly orchestrated chamber piece, ‘Blame’ finds its own and deeply alarming voice. An Australian headache worth indulging in.

Sa 23. April Mo 25. April Sa 30. April

17:00 19:15 12:00

Empire Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Blame Australia 2010, 89 min.

English Version Director: Michael Henry Script: Michael Henry Camera: Torstein Dyrting Editor: Meredith Watson Jeffrey Music: Tamil Rogeon Sound: Ric Curtin Production: 3monkeyfilms, Factor 30 Films Producer: Ryan Hodgson, Melissa Kelly, Michael Robinson Cast: Sophie Lowe, Kestie Morassi, Damian de Montemas, Ashley Zukerman Distr.: High Point Films &

FESTIVAL programMe

THRILLS AND KILLS

199

Sion Sono

Cold Fish In recent years, Japanese film director and poet Sion Sono has made a name for himself as one of the most interesting players in the underground scene.

With films like ‘Suicide Club’, ‘Noriko’s Dinner Table’ and ‘Strange Circus’, he castigates Japanese family models with his unique misanthropic sense of humour and an almost manic desire to expose taboos. He is still relatively unknown, but with the brilliant (and four hour long) ‘Love Exposure’ he finally managed to attract major attention. ‘Cold Fish’ is the long-awaited serial murder drama by this Japanese original about two tropical fish dealers. Shamoto runs a small, somewhat shabby shop together with his wife and a stepdaughter who hates him. He is a walking self-excuse, and even his wife rejects each of his pathetic approaches. But a fateful coincidence causes him to meet the rich and successful fish dealer Murata. He is a manic psychopath and a tempting devil, with a fantastic ability to coax people into depravity. He hires Shamoto and trains him in the noble art of murdering people and getting rid of their bodies. But everything comes at a price, and soon Shamoto has to ask himself if he is the hammer or the nail. ‘Cold Fish’ is as extremely revolting as it is terribly beautiful, and the nearly two and a half hours pass by in no time, and one is left with white knuckles, a knot in one’s stomach - and a strengthened suspicion that human nature is fundamentally evil.

Fr 22. April Su 24. April

22:00 Empire 21:30 Dagmar Teatret

Tsumetai Nettaigyo Japan 2010, 144 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Sion Sono Script: Sono Sion, Yoshiki Takahashi Camera: Shin’ya Kimura Editor: Jun’ichi Itô Music: Tomohide Harada Sound: Hajime Komiya Producer: Yoshinori Chiba, Toshiki Kimura Cast: Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Denden, Asuka Kurosawa, Megumi Kagurazaka, Hikari Kajiwara Distr.: Another World Entertainment

200

FESTIVAL programME

THRILLS AND KILLS

Pang Ho-Cheung

Dream Home As beautiful as a Wong Kar Wai film and as bloody as an Italian splatter movie of the worst kind. ‘Dream Home’ is a horror film about the property bubble in Hong Kong and a daring mix of indignant social realism and raw splatter. In fact, it is so raw that we wouldn’t hesitate to call it one of the bloodiest movies ever, not least thanks to the indescribably well-made and realistic effects. The progatonist, Cheng Lai-sheung, is an ambitious career woman, whose biggest dream is to have an apartment in a new, prestigious property in her old neighbourhood. She is ready to sign the contract, but the seller pulls out at the last moment, and she has to withdraw with a dented sense of pride. But Cheng is absolutely determined to get the apartment, even if she has to murder everyone in the entire block to get the price down. The bloody massacre up through the building is complemented by a series of flashbacks, where one slowly finds out why she has ended up so far out. But is she a victim or just another selfish capitalist, who isn’t afraid to get blood on her hands? And who would have thought that a film about property prices could leave behind so many mutilated bodies? See it with your real estate agent!

Tu 26. April Fr 29. April

22:30 21:30

Empire Dagmar Teatret

Wai dor lei ah yut ho Hong Kong 2010, 96 min.

Cantonese / English Subtitles Director: Pang Ho-Cheung Script: Pang Ho-Cheung, Tsang Kwok Cheung, Wan Chi-Man Camera: Nelson Yu Lik-wai Editor: Wenders Li Music: Gabriele Roberto Sound: Tu Du-Che Production: 852 Films, Making Film Producer: Conroy Chan Chi-Chung, Subi Liang, Pang Ho-Cheung Cast: Josie Ho, Michelle Ye, Eason Chan, Norman Chu Distr.: Fortissimo Film Sales

FESTIVAL programMe

THRILLS AND KILLS

201

Duke Mitchell

Gone With the Pope ‘Gone With the Pope’ is a true psychotronic gem from the American underground. Shot in 1975, but never completed, it has long been the holy grail of B-movie lovers in general, and fans of devil-may-care attitude in particular. Only in 1995 was the film discovered in a garage, and after 15 years of restoration work, it is finally being premiered. Simply explained, ‘Gone With the Pope’ is about a gangster who has the un-Christian plan of kidnapping the pope and demanding a one dollar ransom from each and every single Catholic in the world. He assembles a team of four ex-convicts, and together they embark on a journey towards Rome to execute the daring feat. Apart from being a director, Duke Mitchell was also a film actor, comic and a crooner who wasn’t shy to use his abilities and connections within the show business to make one of the wildest films in 70’s USA. The ultra-violent gangster saga, ‘Massacre Mafia Style’ (1974), was in quick succession followed by ‘Gone With the Pope’, which never saw the light of day, and instead ended up collecting dust in the aforementioned garage, until it was rediscovered by the film editor, Bob Murawski (who last year won an Oscar for ‘The Hurt Locker’), in 1995. It is also Murawski who made sure that it can now finally be seen. So don’t miss out on the film that Tarantino would wish he had made, and which is guaranteed to renew your view of 70’s cinema with its hard-boiled “you’re either in, or you’re in the way” attitude. Bob Murawski will be present at the screenings.

Fr 22. April Su 24. April

21:30 Grand Teatret 20:00 Husets Biograf

Gone With the Pope USA 1975, 83 min.

English Version Director: Duke Mitchell Script: Duke Mitchell Camera: Peter Santoro Editor: Bob Murawski, Robert Leighton, Robert Florio Music: Duke Mitchell, Jeffrey Mitchell Production: Duke Mitchell Producer: Duke Mitchell, Bob Murawski, Sage Stallone Cast: Duke Mitchell, Peter Milo, Jim LoBianco, Giorgio Tavolieri Distr.: Grindhouse Releasing

202

FESTIVAL programME

THRILLS AND KILLS

Bruce LaBruce

L.A. Zombie A muscular, naked man in garish colours and with huge fangs rises from the sea and fucks the backside of Los Angeles to life again. This is the premise of the Canadian provocateur Bruce LaBruce’s latest fusion of art film, zombie splatter and hardcore gay porn. ‘L.A. Zombie’ follows LaBruce’s earlier ‘Otto: or, up with Dead People’, but focuses more on the analogy between the bottom rungs of society and the iconic zombie. The borders between the colossal and monstrous zombie, and his homeless human alter ego are slowly erased in a cinematic deluge of splat, bloody sperm and gay sex, while LaBruce manages to weave in small commentaries about society, sexuality and social relations. Porn and dignity come together when you are presented with scenes such as the one where a homeless zombie has sex with a gunned-down businessman - who is subsequently brought back to life - through the bullet holes in his body. It is a nasty and dirty low budget film with plenty of naked, blood-covered men, but it is also a film with a purpose behind all the monstrosities, and a witty twinkle in the eye.

Fr 29. April Sa 30. April Su 1. May

21:45 22:45 21:30

Cinemateket Cinemateket Cinemateket

L.A. Zombie Germany, USA, France 2010, 63 min.

No Dialog Director: Bruce LaBruce Script: Bruce LaBruce Camera: James Carman Editor: Jörn Hartmann Music: Kevin D. Hoover Production: Wurstfilm, Dark Alley Media, PPV Networks Producer: Jürgen Brüning, Robert Felt, Jörn Hartmann, Bruce LaBruce Cast: François Sagat, Rocco Giovanni, Wolf Hudson, Eddie Diaz Distr.: Jürgen Brüning Filmproduktion

FESTIVAL programMe

THRILLS AND KILLS

Scott Leberecht

Midnight Son If you are tired of seeing the vampire film trivialised for the sake of pure entertainment, then ‘Midnight Son’ is a welcome, refreshing and far more mature approach to the genre. This film focuses on the isolation of vampires in its depiction of a monster, who would prefer to be freed from his curse over having to be a powerful demon.

The protagonist Jacob suffers from a dreaded skin disease that means that he can’t bear daylight. He is forced to take on night shifts and consequently lives a very lonely life. One day, he meets the lovely Mary, another nighthawk, who on the other hands suffers from a major drug problem. They fall in love, but as Jacob’s disease develops, he realises that the only thing that can save him is fresh human blood. Blood that he has to procure so that he can lick it out of half-filled blood bags that he has stolen from patients at the local hospital. There is not much romanticism in Scott Leberecht’s big city vampires. Like an early Abel Ferrara, the film’s style is dirty and deliberately messy, like a city should be, and the horror can be found in everyday situations and the entirely straightforward as opposed to in exotic Rococo palaces, abandoned insane asylums or in gloomy basements. ‘Midnight Son’ is a courageous and personal debut, which makes constructive use of the well-known vampire legend.

Sa 23. April Mo 25. April Th 28. April

19:00 12:00 16:30

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Midnight Son USA 2010, 88 min.

English Version Director: Scott Leberecht Script: Scott Leberecht Camera: Lyn Moncrief Editor: Scott Leberecht, Ian McCamey Music: Kays Alatrakchi Producer: Matt Compton Cast: Zak Kilberg,Maya Parish,Jo Jonz,Tracey Walter,Larry Cedar,Arlen Escarpeta,Kevin McCorkle Distr.: Matt Compton

203

204

FESTIVAL programME

THRILLS AND KILLS

Miguel Ángel Vivas

Secuestrados The Spanish media have recently published stories about a gang that breaks into people’s homes, pokes an eye out of each of the inhabitants, threatening to do likewise to the other, if they don’t hand over their credit cards and pin codes. It is stories like these which have inspired the director, Miguel Angel Vivas, to make ‘Secuestrados’, a film that follows a brutal home robbery in real time. The story is simple and cut to the bone: a family is held captive in its own home, and the family father is forced to empty his credit cards under threats of violence against the family. But the desperation of both the kidnappers and the family escalates. How far will any of them go, to either obtain money, or to protect themselves? The whole story takes place lierally in real time, with exemplary, intelligent use of split screen.

‘Secuestrados’ starts out as a solid crime thriller, but slowly and insidiously develops into a nasty horror film, where the setting is the family’s own home and the monsters are people of flesh and blood. It seems obvious to compare it with ‘Funny Games’, ‘À l’intérieur’ and ‘Irreversible’, but the crime story format nevertheless makes this film unique. It knows the conventions of the genre, and reshuffles them, in order to surprise the audience.

Th 21. April We 27. April Fr 29. April

17:00 Empire 19:00 Palads 16:30 Palads

Secuestrados Spain 2010, 85 min.

Spanish / English Subtitles Director: Miguel Ángel Vivas Script: Miguel Ángel Vivas, Javier García Camera: Pedro J. Márquez Editor: José Manuel Jiménez Music: Sergio Moure Sound: Nacho Arenas, Manu Robles Production: Vaca Films, La Fabrique 2, Blur Producciones Producer: Vérane Frédiani, Emma Lustres Gómez, Borja Pena, Franck Ribière Distr.: Cinematic Vision (tidligere CCV)

THRILLS AND KILLS

FESTIVAL programMe

205

Shinya Tsukamoto

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man ‘The Bullet Man’ is Shinya Tsukamoto’s long-awaited third part of the ‘Tetsuo’ trilogy, whose ‘Tetsuo: The Iron Man’ and ‘Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer’ took the audience of NatFilm Festival by storm, and have since become veritable “must sees” among both body horror and cyberpunk aficionados. This time round, the protagonist is an American in Tokyo (in fact, the working title was ‘American Tetsuo’), who in a state of rage turns into a human weapon with lethal bullets after his son gets run over by a mysterious pursuer. He tries to examine his past to find an explanation, and here the plot is tied in with the original story. However, just as in Tsukamoto’s other films, it isn’t the plot which is the central element.

He has said on many occasions that he makes films for the body, not for the brain, and ‘The Bullet Man’ is definitely no exception. Often, his films seem more like an industrial welder who runs amok in a drug-addled haze than classical film narration. His films flash and roar, and tend to leave you out-of-breath, but not knocked out! The music once again stems from the Japanese industrial musician, Chu Ishikawa, who has been his regular composer ever since the first ‘Tetsuo’, and the music for the end credits is provided by none other than Nine Inch Nails, who have reportedly long dreamt of a collaboration with Tsukamoto.

We 20. April Sa 23. April

22:30 Empire 24:00 Gloria

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man Japan 2009, 71 min.

English Version Director: Shinya Tsukamoto Script: Shinya Tsukamoto, Hisakatsu Kuroki Camera: Shinya Tsukamoto, Takayuki Shida Editor: Shinya Tsukamoto, Yuji Ambe Music: Chu Ishikawa, Trent Reznor Sound: Hirokazu Kato Production: Kaijyu Theater, Asmik Ace Entertainment Producer: Shinichi Kawahara, Masayuki Tanishima Cast: Eric Bossick, Akiko Monou, Shinya Tsukamoto Distr.: Coproduction Office Stillfoto: Shinichi Kawahara, Masayuki Tanishima

206

FESTIVAL programME

THRILLS AND KILLS

Akira Nobi

The Day of Ants In the Sky Without explanation, one of this year’s strangest films introduces a gang of hitmen, that strangle people with a special kind of string. After each killing, they meet in a garage, where they hammer nails into the forehead of the body and take photographs of it. One day, they surprise a woman while they are carving up a man with a motorsaw and, in revenge, they abduct her and throw her in a prison cell. Here she is given an ultimatum: Kill for them or be killed. She is later released, and here begins her new career as a hitwoman. ‘The Day of Ants In the Sky’ is a film which is difficult to define. In equal parts, art film, youth film and bloody shock. The colours are at times so faded that they resemble what you would expect from a water-logged porn magazine from 1978, which is perhaps no coincidence, given that the director is a former Playboy photographer. Constantly shifting, one moment the film is a drama, the next, it’s “Japan shock”, the next a pink prison movie, and then back to drama again, told in an almost lethal slow motion.

A film with enormous surprises for those who dare.

Th 14. April Fr 22. April

22:30 Husets Biograf 21:45 Gloria

The Day of Ants In The Sky Japan 2010, 120 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Akira Nobi Script: Akira Nobi Camera: Akira Nobi Editor: Akira Nobi Music: DUB MASTER X Production: Taniguchi Studio Producer: Akira Nobi Cast: Kohei Kuroda, Satomi Yakehiro, Yoshiki Kondo, Yuuki Okamoto, Takumi Hasuo Distr.: Akira Nobi

FESTIVAL programMe

THRILLS AND KILLS

207

Mladen Djordjevic

The Life And Death Of A Porno Gang The Serbian filmmaker, Mladen Djordjevic’s last film was a documentary about the Serbian porn industry, and ‘The Life and Death of a Porno Gang’ can be seen as a kind of fictional sequel. We follow an ambitious filmmaker who is fighting to get his films made. He sees an opportunity to make a quick buck by allying himself with the mafia and making some porn. His success gives him a brilliant idea: They start a travelling road show, with bizarre live porno, which the astonished farmers can amuse themselves with, after parking their pitch forks.

However, desire breeds desire, and before long, they are making snuff porn with poor farmers, whose salary for dying in front of the camera can help their impoverished families survive. There is something wonderfully naive about the film’s approach to its subject, and judging by the Serbian films of today, they are either the world’s most unhappy people, or they simply have a very special sense of humour, perhaps as some kind of buffer, after so many years of hardship.

Th 21. April Th 28. April Su 1. May

14:20 Grand Teatret 16:30 Palads 22:30 Empire

Zivot i smrt porno bande Serbia 2009, 90 min.

Serbian / English Subtitles Director: Mladen Djordjevic Script: Mladen Djordjevic Camera: Nemanja Jovanov Editor: Marko Glusac, Milina Trisic Sound: Vladimir Zivkovic Producer: Srdan Golubovic, Jelena Mitrovic Cast: Mihajlo Jovanovic, Ana Acimovic, Predrag Damnjanovic Distr.: Another World Entertainment

208

FESTIVAL programME

THRILLS AND KILLS

Sean Branney

The Whisperer in Darkness H.P. Lovecraft is possibly one of the world’s most celebrated horror authors. His name adorns hordes of films, comics, role plays and merchandise. Unfortunately, there are not so many faithful, let alone good film adaptations of his work, but this is being remedied now. In ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’, a linguist happens upon the trail of some bizarre flying creatures, which haunt a remote farm in the United States but cannot be photographed. To begin with, he is sceptical, but after a lengthy correspondence, he nevertheless decides to witness the creatures first-hand, and sets off for the farm where he finds his colleague in a wheelchair, weak and exhausted. The colleague tells him about beings from distant planets who can send one’s consciousness on journeys, and about a new world order. But his intervention turns out to have disastrous consequences for himself and the future of the entire planet. The film is produced in collaboration with the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, an organisation which arranges live role-plays under the name Cthulhu Lives! They also made the brilliant silent film ‘The Call of Cthulhu’. ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’ is produced with relatively few means, by a group of dedicated enthusiasts, and is built upon true and unsweetened love for Lovecraft’s literary universe.

Mo 18. April We 20. April

22:30 Husets Biograf 22:30 Husets Biograf

The Whisperer in Darkness USA 2010, 104 min.

English Version Director: Sean Branney Script: Sean Branney, Andrew Leman Camera: David Robertson Editor: David Robertson Music: Troy Sterling Nies Sound: Troy Sterling Nies Production: Fungi LLC Producer: Sean Branney, Andrew Leman, David Robertson Cast: Matt Foyer, Barry Lynch, Daniel Kaemon, Matt Lagan, Joseph Sofranko, Autumn Wendel Distr.: Fungi LLC

FESTIVAL programMe

THRILLS AND KILLS

209

Gerard Johnson

Tony Tony is an almost unbearably clumsy man who lives in a grim concrete estate in North London. He is socially inhibited, poor and unemployed, and is ashamed of being homosexual. But there is also another side to Tony. He is a serial killer who lures various lowlifes into his apartment, where he murders them and hangs on to their corpses in a desperate attempt to have sustained human contact: a corpse is still a body you can cuddle up to at night. Made like an authentic slice of life, Tony resorts to raw documentary images which will remind some audiences of directors, such as Jim van Bebber (‘Roadkill’, ‘Deadbeat at Dawn’). Short episodes depict Tony’s endlessly empty life, his sad attempts to make friends and not least his murders. ‘Tony’ has accurately been described as the British version of ‘Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer’, since the film gives an idea what it would look like if Mike Leigh set out to direct a film about a serial killer. This is Gerard Johnson’s first feature, and the music is by the British post punk band The The, where his brother Matt is the frontman.

Th 21. April Sa 23. April We 27. April

17:15 Gloria 23:00 Husets Biograf 14:20 Grand Teatret

Tony UK 2010, 73 min.

English Version Director: Gerard Johnson Script: Gerard Johnson Camera: David Higgs Editor: Ian Davies Music: Matt Johnson, The The Sound: Tom Barrow Production: Abbott Vision Ltd Producer: Dan McCulloch Cast: Peter Ferdinando, Frank Boyce, Cyrus Desir Distr.: Another World Entertainment

210

FESTIVAL programME

THRILLS AND KILLS

Patrick Steele

True Nature The Pascal family lacks nothing. The father is a wealthy businessman and the daughter Marianne is a top athlete. One night, however, Marianne doesn’t come home, and the family’s otherwise so perfect life is turned upside down. One year later, when they have come to terms with the loss, she suddenly comes home again. She is covered in earth from top to toe and cannot remember anything. She has apparently suffered no harm, but nobody has any idea what happened during the past year, and it’s as if she has brought something with her from the void, something evil that heralds an imminent death. ‘True Nature’ is a well-balanced combination of supernatural horror and family drama. While the genre often has the tendency to be highly vociferous, ‘True Nature’ understands the art of insinuation, and lives through what is concealed and unspoken, with small hints of true, unadulterated horror. It is tempting to compare the film with David Lynch’s works but, in fact, it’s inspiration comes, to a much higher degree, from “American Gothic”, folklore and 1970’s intellectual horror directors, such as David Cronenberg and George Romero. It is an intelligent horror story, and an indictment of the American dream and the price of greed.

Sa 23. April We 27. April Su 1. May

22:30 16:30 19:15

Empire Cinemateket Cinemateket

True Nature USA 2010, 92 min.

English Version Director: Patrick Steele Script: Ann Rotolante & Patrick Steele Camera: Marco Fargnoli & Evan Nesbitt Editor: Ann Rotolante Sound: Douglas Thornton Production: FatCat Filmworks, Ltd. Producer: Ann Rotolante Cast: Carolyn McCormick, Marianne Porter, Reg Land, David Darlow, John Woodruff Distr.: Patrick Steele

FESTIVAL programMe

THRILLS AND KILLS

Jorge Michel Grau

We Are What We Are Cannibalism is probably the most stigmatized taboo of them all, and in the Cannes winner, ‘We Are What We Are’ it serves as a gripping image of total social shame, as portrayed through a cannibalistic family in Mexico City’s slum neighbourhoods. When the head of the family dies in broad daylight and is dragged away as though he were garbage, the surviving members are left in a vacuum where they must decide whether they want to continue this way of life, without the father but with a new leader, or whether they wish to quit their habits. However, the drama heightens rapidly, after the police examine the father’s corpse and uncover their activities. ‘We Are What We Are’ is just as sombre as it is heartless. The music alone gives you the creeps, and the images make playful use of shadows and what cannot be seen. But at the same time, the film maintains a deep sympathy for these cannibal outcasts, and uses them to pose the important question of whether they are a cause or a symptom. ‘We Are What We Are’ has already become the talk of the town at the horror film festivals where it has been shown up til now, and where its raw realism has stood out against the mass of American production line horror films, just as ‘Let the Right One In’ did a couple of years ago.

Th 21. April Sa 23. April

22:30 19:00

Empire Grand Teatret

Somos lo que hay Mexico 2010, 99 min.

Spanish / Swedish Subtitles Director: Jorge Michel Grau Script: Jorge Michel Grau Camera: Santiago Sanchez Editor: Rodrigo Ríos Music: Enrico Chapela Producer: Nicolás Celis Cast: Francisco Barreiro, Alan Chávez, Paulina Gaitán Distr.: Cinema Mondo

211

Midnight Madness Nuns on drugs, samurai pigs and robot motorbikes. In the Midnight Madness series, you can see the best, the worst and the wildest from the four corners of the planet!

Midnight Madness is dedicated to the most far-out and bizarre a- and b-movie gems from all over the world, and it is here that you can meet nuns on drugs, samurai pigs, robot motorbikes, bloodthirsty hillbillies, superheroes and other good company.

From Asia you can, as always, expect some great new films. The lucky ones who had a once-in-a-lifetime experience with Hitoshi Matsumoto’s ‘Symbol’ at last year’s CPH PIX, can look forward to the raving mad Japanese director’s breakthrough film, ‘Big Man Japan’, about an electric sumo wrestler, eighty metres tall (or thereabouts!)

Rubber monsters and skyscrapers made of papier mâché are the stuff that sweet dreams and Japanese cult films are made of. This is true for

both the radioactive ‘Death Kappa’ and ‘KarateRobo Zaborgar’, where Noboru Iguchi (‘Tokyo Gore Police’) pays tribute to the overstrung sci-fi extravaganzas of the 70’s with an extra dose of adrenaline.

The party continues with a healthy portion of purebred exploitation of the classical American kind in Joseph Guzman’s ‘Nude Nuns with Big Guns’ – and yes, it does what it promises, and far more. ‘Tucker & Dale vs. Evil’ and ‘Trollhunter’, on the other hand, are shining examples that you can actually renew the exploitation genre and turn conventions upside down. When was the last time you saw a Norwegian mockumentary monster film?

FESTIVAL programMe

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

213

Hitoshi Matsumoto

Big Man Japan Crazy Japanese filmmaker, Hitoshi Matsumoto, took PIX by storm last year with the angel penises and existentialism of his film ‘Symbol’. His breakthrough from 2007 is no less insane, and we have finally managed to get it to Denmark. ‘Big Man Japan’ starts out as pure documentary, where a film crew pursues the somewhat lazy Sato (played by Matsumoto himself), who spends most of his days on the sofa. But Sato is on standby for the Ministry of Defence. When called into action, he drives his small moped all the way up to Tokyo’s electricity plant, where he is electrified with 3000 volts and transforms into an eight metre high sumo wrestler with bad tattoos. Mega-Sato starts battling all kinds of evil monsters - all of them pathetic and intentionally badly animated - such as the throwing monster that throws around tall buildings, the hop monster or the evil eye monster. The film swings effortlessly between mockumentary and pure nonsense, and even if it sounds like a weak premise for a story, it is unbeatably funny and cleverly handled by Matsumoto, who constantly manages to take the story one step further without losing his balance - not least when public opinion turns against Sato, who has come to kill the innocent-looking baby monster, and suddenly has to face not only a bad salary but also bad press, even worse TV ratings and an angry ex-wife.

Th 28. April Fr 29. April Sa 30. April

22:30 Empire 24:00 Gloria 21:30 Palads

Dai-Nihonjin Japan 2007, 99 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto Script: Hitoshi Matsumoto, Mitsuyoshi Takasu Camera: Hideo Yamamoto Editor: Soichi Ueno Music: Towa Tei Sound: Mitsugu Shiratori Production: RealProduct, Yoshimoto Kogyo Company Producer: Akihiko Okamoto Cast: Hitoshi Matsumoto, Riki Takeuchi, Ryunosuke Kamiki Distr.: Yoshimoto Kogyo Co.

214

FESTIVAL programME

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

Tomo’o Haraguchi

Death Kappa When Tomo Haraguchi presented his latest film at San Sebastian’s international genre festival, he started apologising profusely. Imagine being told that you should make a film like ‘Avatar’, but for a measly budget of 20,000 dollars. This is roughly what Haraguchi must have felt like when he was hired to make ‘Death Kappa’, a grandiose monster movie, on a practically nonexistent budget. But instead of sulking and saying no, he embraced the challenge and thankfully decided to take a humorous approach. But first a bit of Japanese folklore: a kappa is a goblin that resembles a cross between a parrot, a bear and a turtle. On top of its head it has a metal plate, and it enjoys swimming and sumo wrestling.

A Death Kappa is the same, but in a radioactive version.

A girl promises to protect a good kappa close to the grandmother’s house, but when the grandmother is run over by a bunch of thugs, the kappa’s treasure chest is pushed into the ocean, and the resulting rage brings it to life. It beats the thugs to a pulp, dances a little dances, is exposed to a nuclear bomb and mutates into a giant Death Kappa. You should probably not take ‘Death Kappa’ too seriously, but if you are into men in rubber monster suits, remote-controlled toy tanks, explosions that look like firecrackers and flying model aeroplanes where the strings haven’t been removed, you can expect a wonderfully nostalgic monster film.

Th 21. April Su 24. April Sa 30. April

24:00 Gloria 22:30 Husets Biograf 24:00 Gloria

Death Kappa Japan, USA 2010, 90 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Tomo’o Haraguchi Script: Masakazu Migita Camera: Yoshihito Takahashi Editor: Yoshitaka Honda Music: Masako Ishii Sound: Yuji Furuya Production: Fever Dreams, Nikkatsu, Tokyo Shock Producer: Yoshinori Chiba, Yoko Hayama Cast: Misato Hirata, Mika, Ryuki Kitaoka, Daniel Aguilar, Yakan Nabe Distr.: Media Blasters

FESTIVAL programMe

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

215

Jason Eisener

Hobo with a Shotgun It is not easy to make something that is so tacky that it’s good. But ‘Hobo With a Shotgun’ navigates with great ease in the borderland between bad taste and uncompromising exploitation. While films such as ‘Machete’ tried to make the B-movie accessible to a mainstream audience, this anarchistic opus leaves us under no illusions that it is easy to digest. We have scantily clad women that dance in fountains of blood from torn-off heads, half-severed necks that are crudely pieced together with duct tape, and an entire busload of school children that are burned down with a flame thrower. You have been warned! The plot is as simple as its brilliant title: a bum decides to clean up the dredges of a cold-hearted city with a shotgun. The fact that the bum is played by the 1980s movie icon Rutger Hauer is just another stroke of genius among many others.

The film is Grindhouse with a snarling “grrr”, and at the same time a pitch-black mix of exquisite overacting, mad whims and catchy, far-out one-liners. Right up to the last drop of blood, this is one of the most breathtakingly tasteless films you will have seen for a long time. So if you are into this kind of stuff, you should not deny yourself to see one of this year’s absolute must-sees.

We 27. April Fr 29. April

21:30 Palads 22:30 Empire

Hobo with a Shotgun Canada, USA 2011, 86 min.

English Version Director: Jason Eisener Script: John Davies, Jason Eisener, Rob Cotterill, John Davies Camera: Karim Hussain Editor: Jason Eisener Music: Darius Holbert, Russ Howard III Production: Rhombus Media, Whizbang Films Inc., Yer Dead Productions Producer: Rob Cotterill, Niv Fichman, Paul Gross, Frank Siracusa Cast: Rutger Hauer, Gregory Smith, Robb Wells, Molly Dunsworth, Brian Downey Distr.: Atlantic Film AB

216

FESTIVAL programME

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

Noboru Iguchi

Karate-Robo Zaborgar A pig in a Samurai costume kissing people to death, a diarrhea robot, a man who breast-feeds his sons and a myriad of criminally silly costumes are just some of the ingredients in Noboru Iguchi’s tribute to the so-called “effect film” of his Japanese youth. More specifically, it is an update of the TV series ‘Denjin Zaboga’ about a man and his transformer motorcycle.

We know Noboru Iguchi from films such as ‘Machine Girl’, but with his last few films, first ‘Robogeisha’ and now ‘Karate-Robo Zaborgar’, his works have started to take a more upbeat and playful approach. Daimon and his assistant robot Zaborgar fight a tough battle against the cyborg syndicate Sigma and the feminist cyborg Miss Borg. When Zaborgar is killed, Daimon is ashamed of having let him down and retires from the life of a superhero to live a more normal existence.

But what do you say at the welfare office, when your mission is to beat up pig Samurais together with your robot motorcycle? It’s probably best not to take KarateRobo Zaborgar too seriously - it is primarily a tribute to the overblown costume and effect science fiction films (think ‘Night Rider’ meets ‘Batman’ meets ‘Muppet Show’ meets ‘Russ Meyer’, and you’re starting to get the picture), but you nonetheless can’t help seeing the main thread of Iguchi Noboru’s latest film as a romantic tribute to a bygone Japanese era.

Su 17. April Th 21. April

22:00 Cinemateket 21:45 Cinemateket

Denjin Zabôgâ: Gekijô-ban Japan 2010, 101 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Noboru Iguchi Script: Noboru Iguchi Camera: Yasutaka Nagano Editor: Takeshi Wada Music: Shunsuke Kikuchi, Yasuhiko Fukuda Sound: Yasushi Eguchi Production: Denjin Zaborger Film Partners, King Record Co., Sushi Typhoon Producer: Yoshinori Chiba, Toshimichi Ohtsuki Cast: Itsuji Itao, Yasuhisa Furuhara, Mami Yamasaki, Yuya Miyashita, Houka Kinoshita Distr.: Nikkatsu Corporation

FESTIVAL programMe

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

217

Joseph Guzman

Nude Nuns With Big Guns ‘Nude Nuns With Big Guns’. Yes, the text might as well end here because, with a title like that, you hardly need any further explanation. We should just add that the nuns are lesbian, high on dope and are being chased by a motorcycle gang. Yes, people like the exploitation guru, Al Adamson, have not lived in vain in this joint tribute to the woefully neglected genres, ‘nunsploitation’ and ‘biker films’. We follow Sister Sarah, who is drugged, raped and brainwashed by an evil drug priest. In her fiercely drug-addled state, she gets a message from God saying that she has to go back and take revenge, and the rest of the film is liberal portions of sister love, blazing guns and cold nuns’ buns. At first sight, the film might be mistaken for an almost Tarantinoesque pastiche of the exploitation genre, but it has a brutal and sinister undertone that is seasoned with an insane sense of politically incorrect humour, which makes it work on its own terms. This is no imitation, it IS exploitation. As when a giant black biker threatens to rape a mute old nun with the words “I’m gonna nail you harder than they nailed Jesus to the cross.” Good Taste? Most definitely not, but it’s great entertainment.

Fr 22. April Tu 26. April

24:00 Gloria 22:30 Husets Biograf

Nude Nuns With Big Guns USA 2010, 90 min.

English Version Director: Joseph Guzman Script: Joseph Guzman, Robert James Hayes II Camera: Edwin M. Figueroa Editor: Joseph Guzman, Robert James Hayes II Music: Dan Gross Sound: Jason Serrone Production: Freak Show Entertainment Producer: Joseph Guzman, Robert James Hayes II, Maysam Mortazavi Cast: Asun Ortega, David Castro, Maz Siam, Aycil Yeltan, Perry D’Marco Distr.: Camelot Entertainment Group

218

FESTIVAL programME

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

James Gunn

Super What does a chubby loser do when his wife, the only positive thing in his life, is stolen by an awful bloke named Jock, and resumes her former life as a drug addict? Why of course, he dresses up in a home-made costume, arms himself with an enormous wrench, and goes out onto the streets to free his wife, and combat crime in general. The comedian, Rainn Wilson, is possibly the most unlikely superhero ever to come out of Hollywood, but this is just one of the reasons why ‘Super’ works the way it does. The ‘Slither’ director, James Gunn’s past at the trash stronghold, Troma, cannot be overlooked, and even if it is a natural extension of films, such as ‘Kick-Ass’, Gunn’s take on the superhero genre is clearly in an entirely different ‘political incorrectness’ league. Wilson and an energetic Ellen Page dole out beatings left, right and centre, and they quickly lose all sense of morality and ethics in favour of adrenaline and bloodlust. ‘Super’ offers gratuitous mutilation, deadpan comedy, exploding bodies, divine brain surgery, cartoon aesthetics, really wrong sex and a delightful reunion with Kevin Bacon in a rare role as villain.

Su 24. April Th 28. April

22:30 Empire 24:00 Gloria

Super USA 2010, 96 min.

English Version Director: James Gunn Script: James Gunn Camera: Steve Gainer Editor: Cara Silverman Music: Tyler Bates Sound: Larry Long Production: This Is That Productions, Ambush Entertainment Producer: Ted Hope, Miranda Bailey Cast: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon Distr.: SF Film

FESTIVAL programMe

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

219

André Øvredal

The Troll Hunter Even though there is a tradition, in the horror genre, to draw on ghastly local mythology, Norwegian folklore has never managed to take hold in Scandinavian horror films. ‘The Troll Hunter’ changes that fortunately, and brings the hand-held mockumentary monster film, which began with ‘Cloverfield’, to the Norwegian forests.

Here, a low-tech look is combined with both magnificent beasts and breathtaking nature. In ‘The Troll Hunter’, a group of student journalists accompany the mysterious bear hunter, Hans. However, they soon find out that Hans, in fact, has one of those jobs which isn’t exactly widely advertised. He assists the government in keeping secret the existence of gigantic trolls, which hide in the darkest corners of the forests. If they stray away from their heavily protected habitat, Hans has the task of either capturing or killing them. In other words, he’s a troll hunter. The students get in close, not only to this ungrateful occupation, but also to the many sub-species of trolls, otherwise thought to be purely the product of fantasy. The end result is a wild cocktail of laughs and horror in equal dose.

Sa 16. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

21:30 Grand Teatret 16:30 Palads 21:30 Palads

Trolljegeren Norway 2010, 90 min.

Norwegian / English Subtitles Director: André Øvredal Script: André Øvredal Camera: Hallvard Bræin Editor: Per-Erik Eriksen Sound: Baard H. Ingebretsen Production: Filmkameratene Producer: Sveinung Golimo, John M. Jacobsen Cast: Otto Jespersen, Hans Morten Hansen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Johanna Mørck Distr.: SF Film

220

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

mIDnIGhT maDnESS

ELI CRaIG

TuCkER & DALE Vs. EVIL OVER THE PAsT 10 years, we have been inundated with clones of “backwoods” and “wrong turns”, in other words films with the following formula: People from the city take a wrong turn somewhere in the countryside/forest/mountains, and are then hunted by a gang of hillbillies/mutants/cannibals (or all three).

For everyone who, like us, tired long ago of this kind, ‘Tucker & Dale vs. Evil’ seems sent from horror heaven.

It is a backwood film seen from the perspective of the hillbillies, and we can reveal right now that everything revolves around a misunderstanding. Tucker and Dale are two hillbillies. They love corn porridge and regard lumberjack shirts and overalls as the only valid clothing style. Yet, even a hard-working hick can use a little vacation now and then, so they rent a hut by a lake in the forest. Unfortunately, the tranquil idyll is ruined when a bunch of city teenagers decide to camp in the area. And even though Tucker and Dale do everything they can, to improve neighbour relations, the teenagers are convinced that they are raving mad murderers, who are married to beavers and make lampshades out of their deceased grandparents. ‘Tucker & Dale vs. Evil’ does for wrong turn horror, what ‘Wasting Away’ did for zombies. It knows its genre conventions inside out, and so turns them upside down, in what must be one of the best-produced horror comedies for years. And don’t worry, there is just as much horror as there is comedy, and they definitely didn’t go easy on the ketchup.

We 20. April Mo 25. April

24:00 GLoRIa 22:30 EmpIRE

TuCkER & DALE Vs. EVIL Canada 2010, 89 min.

English Version Director: Eli Craig Script: Morgan Jurgenson, Eli Craig Camera: David Geddes Editor: Bridget Durnford Sound: Kris Casavant, Garrell Clark, Michael Playfair Production: Eden Rock Media, Looby Lou, Reliance Motion Picture Company, Urban Island Producer: Morgan Jurgenson, Albert Klychak, Rosanne Milliken, Deepak Nayar Cast: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Chelan Simmons Distr.: SF Film

C U L T - H O R R O R - SP L A T T E R - EROTIC - SCI-FI

ANOTHER WORLD ENTERTAINMENT :PIX CPrHemiere p

TONY CPH:PIX premiere!

DVD 24.05.11!

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A PORNO GANG CPH:PIX premiere!

DVD 10.05.11!

THE HORSEMAN DVD 28.04.11

THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL OUT NOW!

DEADGIRL OUT NOW!

OPSTANDELSEN DVD 10.05.11!

LA FIDÉLITÉ - UTROSKAB CPH:PIX premiere!

OUT NOW!

ALIEN VS. NINJA BLURAY & DVD 11.04.11

w w w. a n o t h e r w o r l d e nt.com Distribution by vme-group.com

BIKINI GIRLS ON ICE OUT NOW!

ASIAN CONNECTION The old acquaintances and new talents of this year’s Asian section show that this is a part of the world in constant cinematic development.

Uniting the multi-faceted Asian film nations under one section can seem an ungrateful task, for there is hardly a region in the world where there is as constant pressure to develop cinematically as there is in Asia - something that is expressed in many different ways, whether you’re in Hong Kong, China or South Korea.

What the Asian films that are collected here have in common, however, is an obvious love of the uniquely cinematic, more often than not accompanied by a solid portion of visual playfulness. The section will show films by both newly hatched talents as well as old masters, and in the latter category, we have no less than two films

by Hong Kong king Dante Lam, who dives into the grim underworld his home town and salutes the

bloodthirsty milieu. Another well-known figure is South Korean Im Sang-soo, who with his usual flair for filmic social criticism has created an outstanding remake of the horror classic ‘The Housemaid’, which is also shown in the newly restored original version.

Even John Woo is back in action, this time in a directing collaboration with Su Chao-pin, and in ‘Reign of Assassins’, the two directors swing their swords in the best martial arts style. The new names certainly have something to offer as well.

For example, they cheerfully embrace the kung-fu comedy genre with films such as ‘Gallants’, which offers a wonderful reunion with a spot-on crew from the old Shaw Brothers. And we haven’t even mentioned them all... Enjoy!

FESTIVAL programMe

ASIAN CONNECTION

223

Feng Xiaogang

Aftershock Even if ‘Aftershock’ starts with a nerve-racking and captivatingly realistic recreation of the earthquake that killed over 240,000 people in 1976, it is not an ordinary disaster movie, but a rock-solid and universal melodrama about the deep scars that such a disaster can leave behind. The film’s protagonists are two sevenyear-old twins - conceived before the China’s famous one-child policy came into force - who experience the earthquake and are trapped in such a way that their rescuers necessarily have to kill one of them if they want to save the other. Their mother now has to make the horrible choice, and when she silently whispers that she would prefer to save her son, everyone expects the daughter to be dead, and so she is left by her father’s grave. But the girl wakes up unexpectedly, and she now has to find her place in the family that adopts her. Feng Xiaogang shows great respect in his treatment of the personal drama of the two youths’ parallel lives, while using China’s history as a deeply effective backdrop.

Su 24. April

16:30

Grand Teatret

Tang Shan Da Di Zhen China 2010, 128 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Feng Xiaogang Script: Wu Si, Ling Zhang Camera: Yue Lu Editor: Xiao Yang Music: Li-guang Wang Production: Huayi Brothers Film Company Producer: Wang Zhongjun, Guo Yanhong, Han Sanping Cast: Jingchu Zhang, Daoming Chen, Yi Lu, Chen Li, Jin Chen Distr.: Angel Films

224

FESTIVAL programME

ASIAN CONNECTION

Tetsuya Nakashima

Confessions CPH PIX is proud to present the critically acclaimed Japanese contribution for the best foreign-language film at the Oscars in 2011 and winner of the Jury Prize at the prestigious Aisan genre festival Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. The film is based on a bestseller by Kanae Minato, and the director is the relatively unknown advertising director Tetsuya Nakashima (‘Kamikaze Girls’). After this film there is no doubt that he is a director we will hear more about in future. ‘Confessions’ is divided into several chapters, each of them a confession. The first episode takes place in a classroom, where a teacher is about to start teaching a group of unfocused school children. The lessons however take a highly unpleasant turn when the teacher makes a bizarre confession: she has injected two of the students’ milk with blood contaminated with HIV. Thus we are slowly swept into a misanthropic maelstrom of murder, confessions and revenge. It’s all about adults versus children in a film that resembles little we have seen before. The atmospheric music is a mixture of, among other things, Radiohead and the Japanese drone metal band Boris.

Tu 19. April Th 21. April

17:00 19:00

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Kokuhaku Japan 2010, 106 min.

Japanese / English Subtitles Director: Tetsuya Nakashima Script: Tetsuya Nakashima Camera: Shoichi Ato, Atsushi Ozawa Editor: Yoshiyuki Koike Music: Toyohiko Kanebashi Sound: Masaru Ohgawara Production: Toho Company Producer: Genki Kawamura, Yuji Ishida, Yoshihiro Kubota, Yutaka Suzuki Distr.: Toho International

FESTIVAL programMe

ASIAN CONNECTION

225

Dante Lam

Fire of Conscience If you enjoy old-fashioned Hong Kong police action movies along the lines of John Woo and Ringo Lam - with a dash of Michael Mann’s almost pornographic approach to blazing guns, then look no further. And if you’re a newcomer to this genre, you can see it as an excellent introduction to the style that has inspired many Hollywood directors, and which makes most western action movies look like a trip to Disneyland. Dante Lam may very well be Hong Kong’s best bet for a new star action director, and at this year’s PIX he is represented with no less than two films. ‘Fire of Conscience’ is classic cops-chase-robbers. Two officers join forces to find the person who stole a fellow policeman’s mobile phone, but when they find the felon, we realise that both of them have something to hide and may be far from the model policemen we thought they were. And this is just the beginning of an intricate tale of corruption, revenge and honour. ‘Fire of Conscience’ is above all an unparalleled technical achievement. Even if the plot and the characterisation is complicated by western action movie standards, it never lets us lose our attention thanks to its fast-paced, brutal and noisy action scenes. Especially the introduction, where the camera flies through a slum in Hong Kong while time has come to a standstill, is highly impressive.

Tu 26. April Fr 29. April

20:00 Empire 19:00 Palads

For Lung Hong Kong, China 2010, 108 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Dante Lam Script: Jack Ng Wai-Lun Camera: Charlie Lam , Kenny Tse Editor: Ki-hop Chan Music: Henry Lai Sound: Kei-Wing Nip Production: Media Asia Films, Visual Capture Producer: Dante Lam, Candy Leung Cast: Richie Jen, Leon Lai, Vivian Hsu Distr.: Media Asia Distribution

226

FESTIVAL programME

ASIAN CONNECTION

Derek Kwok, Clement Cheng

Gallants What happens to old kung-fu heroes when their age begins to make itself known, the kung is covered in dust and the fu is as stiff as a plank? This is what the debutant duo Clement Cheng and Derek Kwok have set out to ponder in the playful and at times moving kungfu comedy ‘Gallant’. They have assembled a bunch of old Shaw Brothers actors, including former sex symbol Siu Yam-Yam, to make a film about being true to what you believes in and never giving up. The story is just as it should be: a young and repressed loser arrives in a distant village, where the martial arts school is run by a bunch of stubborn old men, who refuse to acknowledge that times have changed. “Martial arts are for combat, not for doing sport,” as one of them says. The school needs money, and their only hope is to defeat a modern rival school, which in itself is a perfect excuse to throw in some hefty kung-fu here and there - with some of the genre’s greatest masters. You don’t have to know your Hong Kong classics inside out to enjoy ‘Gallants’, whose pleasurable energy is highly contagious, no matter how well versed you are in Asian martial arts film history.

We 20. April Fr 29. April

17:00 Empire 21:30 Palads

Da lui toi Hong Kong 2010, 98 min.

English Version Director: Derek Kwok, Clement Cheng Script: Derek Kwok, Clement Cheng, Frankie Tam Camera: Sing-Pui O Editor: Matthew Hui Music: Teddy Robin Kwan, Tommy Wai Production: Beijing Poly-bona Film Publishing Company, Focus Films, SilMetropole Organisation Producer: Ka Tung Lam Cast: You-Nam Wong, Siu-Lung Leung, Kuan Tai Chen, Teddy Robin Kwan Distr.: Golden Network LTD

FESTIVAL programMe

ASIAN CONNECTION

227

Park Soo-Young

No Doubt It is rare that a film about pedophilia takes such a confident approach, and keeps its balances as virtuously as Park Soo-Young’s Korean drama. It is about a young man, who moves to a village where a little girl disappears soon after. The local police leak the information that the young man was previously convicted of being a pedophile, and the locals end up going berserk. Atypically for a crime film, ‘No Doubt’ is told in a relatively slow pace, but it is also so much more. It is not as in-your-face with the way it tackles a social taboo as, say, a modern French film would be, but instead it offers no easy excuses to its protagonist.

It isn’t a miscarriage of justice that he runs away from, but that said, is he necessarily to blame for the local girl’s disappearance? And when she is found dead, is he the only person capable of having killed her? Not to mention his family, his mother and his sister, who find it hard enough to relate to his past, but is it reasonable that they, even now, should be punished for his sins?

Soo-young’s film gives us a level-headed and balanced story, which gradually unfolds in all its horror.

Tu 19. April Fr 22. April Sa 23. April

20:00 Husets Biograf 19:00 Dagmar Teatret 14:15 Dagmar Teatret

Dolyigil soo eobtneun South Korea 2010, 88 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Park Soo-Young Script: Ahn Seung-hwan Camera: Choi Yoon-man Editor: Choi Hyun-sook Music: Jung Jae-hwan Sound: Seo Young-joon Production: Jack Film Producer: An Chul-ho Cast: Lee Jung-jin, Kim Tae-woo, Chung In-kee, Kim Chang-sook Distr.: M-Line Distribution

228

FESTIVAL programME

ASIAN CONNECTION

Joselito Altarejos

Pink Halo-Halo The Philippines is a film nation experiencing substantial growth, and amongst its solid handful of highly radical and stylistically spectacular directors is Joselito Altarejos. Last year, PIX screened Altarejo’s beautiful ‘The Game of Juan’s Life’ about a young rent boy who has to give up his entire savings to pay a bribe to the police, and is therefore unable to afford a journey to his family in the province. This year, we’re showing ‘Pink Halo-Halo’, which quietly tells the story of a boy whose father, a professional soldier, is absent.

The boy, of course, doesn’t grasp the extent of the conflict in which his father is a mere pawn, and we empathise with his constant hope that his father soon will return. At the same time, we begin to sense that things may already have gone horribly, horribly wrong.

We know the feeling created by ‘Pink Halo-Halo’ from the Turkish film ‘Honey’, but Altarejo’s film is far from being laboured: it simply shows how this young boy lets himself be enchanted by even the most everyday things in his village, and how he loves the toxically pink drink of the title. The awfulness is something we others add to the equation. At our own expense.

Mo 25. April Th 28. April

21:45 17:00

Gloria Grand Teatret

Pink Halo-Halo Philippines 2010, 80 min.

Phillipino / English Subtitles Director: Joselito Altarejos Script: Joselito Altarejos Camera: Pao Pangan Editor: Chuck Gutierrez Music: Richard Gonzales Sound: Richard Gonzales Production: BEYONDtheBOX Producer: Joselito Altarejos, Markk Perete Cast: Angeli Bayani,Allen Dizon,Paolo Constantino,Mark Xander Fabillar,Dexter Doria Distr.: Joselito Altarejos

ASIAN CONNECTION

FESTIVAL programMe

229

Su Chao-pin, John Woo

Reign Of Assassins It’s been 10 years since Ang Lee breathed new life into the Chinese martial arts sub-genre, Wuxia, with ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. Since then, Chinese martial arts films have become increasingly common in western cinemas and, thankfully, it looks as if this trend will continue. One of the genre’s greatest directors is John Woo, who has completed his latest installment of brandishing swords, and there is nothing subdued about it. Like an intelligent spin on ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, the gorgeous Michelle Yeoh and Jung Woo-Sung play a married couple in ‘Reign of Assassins’, each of whom is totally unaware of the fact that their partner is a worldclass contract killer. Naturally, this creates a certain amount of drama. The romantic element is a welcome addition to a familiar genre, which Woo masters deftly, without allowing it to drown in stylistic excess; he instead gives us a healthy portion of fantasy, and action scenes, choreographed so masterfully that they are a sheer delight to watch. ‘Reign of Assassins’ is an exquisite Wuxia action thriller with a powerful punch.

We 20. April Tu 26. April

20:00 Empire 19:00 Palads

Jianyu China 2010, 117 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Su Chao-pin, John Woo Script: Chao-Bin Su Camera: Wing-Hung Wong, Arthur Wong Editor: Ka-Fai Cheung Music: Peter Kam Sound: Wei He, Yuan He Production: Lion Rock Productions, Stellar Entertainment Producer: Terence Chang, John Woo Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Woo-sung Jung, Kelly Lin Distr.: Nordisk Film

230

FESTIVAL programME

ASIAN CONNECTION

Im Sang-soo

The Housemaid The remake of the Korean horror classic, ‘The Housemaid’ (which we are also showing in this year’s programme), moves the story to a luxurious, well-to-do home, where a maid is hired to look after the couple’s young girl and, as it turns out, the husband’s sexual needs. All the important elements from the original ‘Housemaid’ are twisted according to a new logic, while various new characters are introduced and the film is given a different tone, but at its core, ‘Housemaid’ is just as freaky and violent as the original. But it is also far more sexy and cool, and it steadily progresses towards a finale that is worthy of the naturalistic horror of the Grand Guignol. This ending was much discussed in Cannes last year! Im Sang-soo, one of Korean cinema’s most poignant social critics, has directed this film, which follows all the conventions of the horror genre, but nevertheless only presents the unexpected on the genrelevel, in relation to his earlier films, ‘The President’s Last Bang’, ‘The Old Garden’ and ‘A Good Lawyer’s Wife’.

Mo 18. April Tu 26. April

16:30 19:15

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Hanyo South Korea 2010, 107 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Im Sang-soo Script: Im Sangsoo Camera: Lee Hyung-Deok Editor: Lee Eun-Soo Music: Kim Hong-Jip Production: Mirovision Producer: Jason Chae Cast: Ahn Seo-Hyun, Jeon Do-Youn, Lee Jung-Jae, Park Ji-Young Distr.: Mirovision

FESTIVAL programMe

ASIAN CONNECTION

Kim Ki-young

The Housemaid (1960) One of the most famous films in South Korean history, from long before the modern breakthrough in the 90’s and 00’s, is Kim Ki-young’s horror film from 1960. The film has been restored for the occasion of the great critical and commercial success of the remake. In the old version, sublimely filmed with compact blackand-white compositions in a claustrophobically narrow setting, a piano teacher and his wife employ a young housemaid to look after the house and the couple’s two small children. It soon turns out that the housemaid not only wants to have a man, she also wants to have some power, and undoubtedly has more than just one screw loose. A cat-and-mouse game ensues, the power structures in the small apartment change drastically and imperceptibly, and rat poison ends up playing a pivotal role. Just as in a Shakespearean drama, the characters drop dead like flies, but one does not grow tired of guessing the outcome until the very last frame of this downright crazy film. The film is shown in a restored 35mm print.

Sa 30. April

16:15

Cinemateket

Hanyo (1960) South Korea 1960, 110 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Kim Ki-young Script: Kim Ki-young Camera: Kim Deok-jin Editor: Kim Ki-young Music: Han Sang-ki Production: Korean Munye Films Co., Ltd. Producer: Kim Young-chul Cast: Lee Eun-shim, Kim Jin-kyu, Ju Jeung-nyeo, Um Aeng-ran Distr.: Coordinamento WCF

231

232

FESTIVAL programME

ASIAN CONNECTION

Park Jung-bum

The Journals of Musan In its short life, ‘The Journals of Musan’ has already received plenty of acclaim. The first prize at both the Pusan and Rotterdam film festivals deservedly went to Park Jung-bum’s intense drama about a North Korean’s alienation among his earlier compatriots down south.

Jeon (played by the director himself) has escaped from the regime in the north and ended up in a shantytown for defectors in Seoul, where he lowers his head and sneaks along the walls and tries to stand out as little as possible. In the already hierarchical South Korean society, North Korean defectors end up at the very bottom, and Jeon, who is just as gullible, loyal and vulnerable as the abandoned puppy he adopts, has to take some strong punches. Through the beautiful Sukyoung, whom Jeon meets in church, where he doesn’t feel at home either, he gets a job at a nightclub, but this results in even more humiliation, and as a North Korean, Jeon is not used to defending himself. The story about discrimination is perhaps not so new in itself, but Park makes it look impressively meaningful and relevant, even here on the other side of the world. The first-time director, who has based the film on the experiences of some of his North Korean friends, describes not only the cultural divide from the outside, but also shows how Jeon himself winds up in a moral vacuum. The result is a socially indignant, personally committed and wisely reflective drama, which draws us right into the situation.

Th 21. April Su 24. April

16:30 21:45

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Musanilgi South Korea 2010, 127 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Park Jung-bum Script: Park Jung-bum Camera: Kim Jong-sun Editor: Jo Hyun-joo Sound: Moon Jun-Young Production: Fine Cut Producer: Park Jung-bum Cast: Park Jung-Bum, Jin Yong-Uk, Kang Eun-Jin, Park Young-Deok Distr.: Finecut / Cineclick Asia

FESTIVAL programMe

ASIAN CONNECTION

Lee Jeong-Beom

The Man From Nowhere Nobody takes the law into their own hands like the Koreans do, and they have turned the ‘vigilante film’ into a genre and a quality benchmark. The small taciturn man who is totally down-trodden by society’s worst criminal elements, and then rises up again to commit ruthless and just revenge, has characterized the best Asian action films of the past ten years, from ‘Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance’, via ‘Old Boy’, to ‘A Bittersweet Life’.

‘The Man from Nowhere’ joins the ranks with a story about the quiet pawnbroker Taesik (Won Bin from ‘Mother’), who keeps to himself, and only reluctantly finds himself in the company of a somewhat neglected girl from the same staircase. But when the small girl is kidnapped in a complex drug crime, Taesik, who turns out to have a history of his own, becomes more than just a bit annoyed, and as a result there is no end to the nasty consequences. The director, Lee Jeonbeom, who made his debut with the thriller ‘Cruel Winter Blues’, choreographs the action scenes in a flashy and spectacular way, with plenty of pace, style and coolness.

But the ballet of violence is only half the cocktail. The sentimentality is equally significant, and here it is taken to the max with the innocent young girl who is caught in the cynical clutches of violent gangsters. There is very little depth to this story, but who needs that? The style and the pathos are pure, and the film is executed to hard-hitting perfection.

Fr 22. April Th 28. April Sa 30. April

17:00 Empire 19:00 Palads 16:30 Palads

Ajeossi South Korea 2010, 119 min.

Korean / English Subtitles Director: Lee Jeong-Beom Script: Lee Jeong-Beom Camera: Lee Tae-yoon Editor: Kim Sang-bum Music: Shim Hyun-jung Sound: Kim Suk-won Production: CJ Entertainment Producer: Lee Tae Hun Cast: Won Bin, Kim Sae-ron Distr.: CJ Entertainment

233

234

FESTIVAL programME

ASIAN CONNECTION

Dante Lam

The Stool Pigeon After making the huge hit ‘Beast Stalker’, Dante Lam is back in top form with ‘Stool Pigeon’, an effective Hong Kong action thriller which follows in the footsteps of his earlier works. As always, Lam confidently combines clear-cut moral dilemmas with hard action rhythms in a potently cinematic mixture, which blends melancholy melodrama with pure-bred political thriller.

At the heart of the film is the high-ranking detective officer, Lee, who often has success recruiting criminals as informants for his work, according to the principle that you have to use bad guys to capture bad guys.

But the work with the informants is a morally opaque affair, which calls for both trust and a certain intuition.

When the previously convicted Ghost Jr. discovers that his younger sister has become a prostitute in Hong Kong’s criminal underworld in order to pay off her late husband’s gambling debts, he accepts Lee’s offer to become an informant. There is plenty of acrobatic action in this story, which is shot on location in Hong Kong’s traffic chaos, giving the film a welcome authentic touch.

Su 24. April Th 28. April Su 1. May

20:00 Empire 21:30 Palads 16:30 Palads

Sin yan Hong Kong 2010, 112 min.

Chinese / English Subtitles Director: Dante Lam Script: Wai Lun Ng, Dante Lam Camera: Kenny Tse Editor: Ki-hop Chan, Matthew Hui Music: Henry Lai Production: Emperor Motion Pictures, Huayi Brothers Producer: Candy Leung Cast: Nick Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Lunmei Kwai Distr.: Emperor Motion Pictures

CINÉMA TV5MONDE, VERDENS STØRSTE BIOGRAF MED FILM PÅ FRANSK

Copyrights :DIEU SEUL ME VOIT (VERSAILLES-CHANTIERS) © Why Not Productions/STUDIOCANAL/France 2 Cinéma, LIBERTÉ-OLÉRON © Why Not Productions/Les Films Alain Sarde/France 2 Cinéma, FRANCE BOUTIQUE © FPI

www.tv5monde.com

DIEU SEUL ME VOIT (VERSAILLES-CHANTIERS) Af Bruno Podalydès Søndag, den 10 april. kl. 21.00 Onsdag den 13 april, kl. 14.05

LIBERTÉ-OLÉRON Af Bruno Podalydès Søndag, den 17 april kl. 21.00 Onsdag, den 20 april kl. 14.05

FRANCE BOUTIQUE Af Tonie Marschall Torsdag den 28 april kl. 21.00

TV5MONDE er tilgængelig på kabel, satellit, IPTV og ADSL TV5MONDE partner af

French delight It is not monotonous repetition that characterises this year’s French film selection, but a striking variety, which bears witness to a cinematic nation that never stops to look back.

We confidently promise that there is something for every taste in this year’s French film section. A well-endowed porn star, who has trouble finding his feet in his love life and unintentionally ends up ruining it, is at the centre of Christophe Honoré’s violent gay drama ‘Man at Bath’. A somewhat differently vulnerable existence is portrayed in the coming of age film ‘Love Like Poison’ by Katell Quillévéré, which confidently and with a fine understanding of youthful searching tells the story of 14-year-old Anna, whose parents have just separated. The break-up takes place while Anna herself is in the process of discovering her dawning sexuality, which definitely doesn’t fit in with her strict catholic upbringing.

Up-front images are also a part of ‘Venus Noir’ - the account of the South African Saartjie Baartman, who in the aftermath of the French revolution was given the unflattering name of Hottentot Venus. The true story tells of how she was abducted to England by a doctor, who wanted to examine and expose this exotic phenomenon, until she was sold as a prostitute.

The true story of the two new wave directors Godard and Truffaut, which unfolds in the documentary ‘Two in the Wave’, is a more cheerful encounter, and no matter if you do or don’t know the story of one of the greatest modern film movements, there is new material to be found here.

A FRENCH EVENING IN GRAND TEATRET On Monday April 25, PIX and Institut Francais will host a whole day of French cinema at Grand Teatret. We open the programme with the humorous study of an artist in ‘Chantrapas’, before we continue with Andrzej Zulawski’s ‘The Main Thing Is To Love’ which is one of the strongest titles in this year’s retrospective programme. We continue with the playful ‘Potiche’ by veteran filmmaker Francois Ozon and the story of one film history’s most important friendships, that of Godard and Truffaut, in the documentary ‘Two in the Wave’. To warm up to the last film of the night, the much anticipated ‘Enter the Void’ by Gaspar Noé, Institut Francais will treat us to a glass of wine.

FESTIVAL programMe

french delight

237

Abdellatif Kechiche

Black Venus ‘Black Venus’ could be described as a French equivalent to David Lynch’s ‘The Elephant Man’. It tells the true story of the so-called Hottentot Venus, Saartjie Baartman, who was born in South Africa in 1789. A British doctor took her to Britain, where she was exhibited as one of the wild Negroes. She was subsequently sold and ended her days in Paris as a prostitute. Until 1974, her genitals and brain were exhibited in Paris, continuing her humiliation well beyond her earthly life, which was no a bed of roses either. In Abdellatif Kechiche’s drama, however, she is presented with both compassion and quiet indignation - both during her encounters with the top tiers of the scientific community, who take a close look at her genitals, as well as the decadent nobility, who take pleasure from her body.

Mo 18. April Sa 23. April

18:30 Grand Teatret 20:00 Husets Biograf

Vénus noire France 2010, 159 min.

French, Afrikaans, English / English Subtitles Director: Abdellatif Kechiche Script: Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalia Lacroix Camera: Lubomir Bakchev Editor: Ghalia Lacroix, Albertine Lastera, Camille Toubkis Sound: Nicolas Waschkowski, Eric Armbruster Production: MK2 Productions, France 2 Cinéma Producer: Charles Gillibert, Marin Karmitz, Nathanaël Karmitz Cast: Yahima Torres, Andre Jacobs, Olivier Gourmet, Elina Löwensohn Distr.: MK 2

238

FESTIVAL programME

french delight

Katell Quillévéré

Love Like Poison 14-year-old Anna has grown up in a strict catholic family. She spends her days at a boarding school, but when she comes home for a summer holiday, she finds out that her parents have separated and that her father has moved out. Seeking comfort and sympathy, her mother has entered a cryptic alliance with the local priest, who is also her childhood friend. Anna herself is not involved very much in the great changes in the family, but sticks to her bedridden grandfather, who even on his sickbed manages to come up with the odd provocative remark. Anna is soon to be confirmed, but the faith in God that has always been with her begins to falter, as Anna has fallen in love with Pierre and the grip on her emotions make her unable to relate to her own budding sexuality, which contradicts the devotion she has previously offered to her faith. The outstanding Clara Augarde endows the role of Anna with an innocent maturity and makes Katell Quillévéré’s fine and loyal coming of age drama ‘Love Like Poison’ a unique experience.

Fr 22. April Tu 26. April Th 28. April

12:15 Dagmar Teatret 21:30 Vester Vov Vov 12:00 Grand Teatret

Un poison violent France 2010, 92 min.

French, Italian, English / English Subtitles Director: Katell Quillévéré Script: Katell Quillévéré, Mariette Désert Camera: Tom Harari Editor: Thomas Marchand Music: Olivier Mellano Sound: Florent Klockenbring Production: Les Films du Bélier Producer: Justin Taurand Cast: Clara Augarde, Lio, Michel Galabru, Stefano Cassetti Distr.: Films Distribution

FESTIVAL programMe

french delight

239

Christophe Honoré

Man At Bath The French-Arab porn star François Sagat stars in no less than two films at this year’s PIX. Aside from playing one of the leading roles in Christophe Honoré’s highly graphical gay film ‘Man At Bath’, he is also a gay zombie in Bruce LaBruce’s ‘L.A. Zombie’. And he is the kind of man you tend to notice. The tone is already set in the very first scene of ‘Man At Bath’. Emmanuel (Sagat) reluctantly says farewell to his boyfriend Omar (Omar Ben Sellem), who is on his way to New York to promote his latest film. Omar’s infatuation with Emmanuel has faded, so the opportunity to travel far away is very welcome. Emmanuel however is used to ruling the world with his dick, and neither he nor it can tolerate rejection, so as Omar doesn’t dance to his tune, the farewell scene ends in a consummated finale, which will probably shock the more tender souls in the audience.

The complicated romance can not be destroyed so easily though, no matter how nasty it might look at times.

We 27. April Fr 29. April Sa 30. April

19:00 Grand Teatret 16:45 Gloria 21:30 Vester Vov Vov

Homme au bain France 2010, 72 min.

French, English / English Subtitles Director: Christophe Honoré Script: Christophe Honoré Camera: Frederic Oliver, Stéphane Vallée Editor: Chantal Hymans Sound: Nicolas Waschkovski Production: Les films du bélier, Le Théâtre 2 Gennevilliers Producer: Justin Taurand Cast: François Sagat, Chiara Mastroianni, Dustin Segura-Suarez, Omar Ben Sellem, Rabah Zahi, Kate Moran Distr.: Le Pacte

240

FESTIVAL programME

french delight

Mathieu Amalric

On Tour The former TV producer, Joachim Zand (the French actor, Mathieu Amalric, who has also directed), has left everything behind - family, work, friends and enemies - to embark on a new life in America. But instead of staying on the other side of the Atlantic, he returns to France as the director of a troupe of plump burlesque dancers, whom he has promised a magnificent tour through France, with a blazing finale in Paris. En route, the irrepressible American ladies must face the fact that there is little glamour to be found in cheap motels, at which they are forced to stay due to Zand’s increasingly obvious lack of money. However, this does not prevent them from breathing life into their own hedonistic universe, which intoxicates both men and women among their audiences. But when their dream of going to Paris also looks as if it is about to fall through, because Zand’s former sins are catching up with him, the women have to take things into their own hands. ‘On Tour’ shows a contagious, bombastic and decadent universe, where one can easily sing about God saving the United States while simultaneously pulling shreds of paper out of ones vulva.

We 27. April Th 28. April Sa 30. April

17:00 Grand Teatret 21:30 Vester Vov Vov 14:30 Dagmar Teatret

Tournée France 2010, 111 min.

French, English / English Subtitles Director: Mathieu Amalric Script: Élodie Van Beuren Camera: Christophe Beaucarne Editor: Annette Dutertre Sound: Olivier Mauvezin Production: Les Films du Poisson Producer: Yael Fogiel, Laetitia Gonzalez Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Julie Atlas Muz, Mimi Le Meaux, Angela de Lorenzo Distr.: Le Pacte

FESTIVAL programMe

french delight

241

Emmanuel Laurent

Two In the Wave ‘Two in the Wave’ is the story of a friendship. JeanLuc Godard was born in 1930, François Truffaut two years later. A love of film brought them together, and they both wrote for the same publications, Cahiers du Cinema and Arts. When Truffaut made his debut as a director with ‘The 400 Blows’ (‘Les quatre cents coups’), which won the Best Director award in Cannes in 1959, he helped his friend become a director, and gave him the screenplay for ‘Breathless’ (À bout de souffle’).

Throughout the 60’s, they collaborated and helped each other out, but the great societal, political and cultural revolutions led them in separate directions. Godard radicalised his own approach, while Truffaut continued in a business-as-usual manner. The favourite actor of them both, Jean-Pierre Léaud, was split between his two mentors - like a child amidst a painful divorce.

The friendship and break-up of the two men became the quintessence of the recent history of French film.

Mo 25. April Sa 30. April

19:00 14:15

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Deux de La Vague France 2010, 91 min.

French / English Subtitles Director: Emmanuel Laurent Script: Antoine de Baecque Camera: Etienne de Grammont, Nick de Pencier Editor: Marie-France Cuénot Production: Films à Trois Producer: Emmanuel Laurent Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claude Chabrol, Jean Cocteau, Jean-Luc Godard, Anna Karina Distr.: Wide Management

SPOTLIGHT: GERMANY Qualität muss sein!

THIS YEAR’S CROP OF GERMAN FILMS.

Tom Tykwer’s modern love triangle consisting of a married couple, who independently of each other fall in love with the same man. A German doctor, who cures sleeping sickness in Africa, while his wife and daughter have returned to their home country. A chilled love affair between a young woman and her husband’s significantly older boss, and a pregnancy story with the dimensions of a medical novel. These

components go, if not hand in hand, then at least in highly successful genre-transgressing formations in this year’s German festival crop.

PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH: GOETHE-INSTITUT & GERMAN FILMS

GERMAN DAY IN GRAND TEATRET On Friday April 15, PIX and the Goethe Institute present a cornucopia of German films, when we begin in the afternoon with a brutal play for power in Christoph Hochhäusler’s ‘The City Below’ followed by Ulrich Köhler’s African tale ‘Sleeping Sickness’, which poses difficult questions about the aid industry. Before the last film of the day, Tom Tykwer’s modern day love triangle, ‘Drei’, the German Embassy to Denmark treats us to beer and pretzels.

FESTIVAL programMe

SPOTLIGHT: GERMANY

243

Isabelle Stever

Blessed Events Some things are too true to be good in German director Isabelle Stever’s intelligent and ominous ‘Blessed Events’, which combines inspiration from master directors such as Michael Haneke and Lucrecia Martel in a razor-sharp, dark and bizarrely dreamlike psychodrama - even if the plot looks like it has come straight out of a medical novel. 30-something Simone is an introverted loner, who spends a lonely New Year’s Eve at a night club, but wakes up on the back seat of a car with a strange man after a one-night-stand. When she realizes she is pregnant, she runs into him again by accident at the hospital, and the two of them embark on a relationship without knowing any more about each other than their names. They move in together in an old house while waiting for their child to be born while both Simone and the rest of us are waiting with a sense of foreboding for happens next. The style is lingering and accurate, but as hair-raising as a horror movie. Annika Kuhl is both subtle and intense as the pregnant Simone, whose enigmatic gaze becomes the film’s very own trademark.

Fr 22. April Mo 25. April

21:30 16:45

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Glückliche Fügung Germany 2010, 91 min.

German / English Subtitles Director: Isabelle Stever Script: Isabelle Stever, Anke Stelling Camera: Bernhard Keller Producer: Sigrid Hoerner, Anne Leppin Cast: Annika Kuhl, Stefan Rudolf, Arno Frisch Distr.: Media Luna New Films UG

244

FESTIVAL programME

SPOTLIGHT: GERMANY

Tom Tykwer

Drei With the unruly and tempo-filled ‘Run, Lola, Run’, German filmmaker Tom Tykwer made a name for himself as a director to keep an eye on. After two large international productions he has now returned to his native Germany. This time, the action does not take place in Tykwer’s home town of Wuppertal, but in Berlin.

‘Drei’ is a kind of love poem to the modern city dweller and his desperate struggle to hang on to conventional everyday routines, especially in the relationship. What happens when three people meet, and love (or at least attraction) arises - among all three of them? Can one live in trinity, or does it just make things complicated?

We have seen love triangles before, but never like this.

The film is both funny and serious at the same time without being the least bit sentimental. It is a love story that doesn’t distinguish between the sexes, but also a humanly vulnerable one of its kind. Welcome back, Tom!

Fr 15. April

21:30

Grand Teatret

Drei Germany 2010, 120 min.

German, English / English Subtitles Director: Tom Tykwer Script: Tom Tykwer Camera: Frank Griebe Editor: Mathilde Bonnefoy Music: Johnny Klimek, Gabriel Isaac Mounsey, Tom Tykwer Production: X-Filme Creative Pool, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Producer: Stefan Arndt Cast: Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper, Devid Striesow, Annedore Kleist Distr.: Øst for Paradis

FESTIVAL programMe

SPOTLIGHT: GERMANY

245

Ulrich Köhler

Sleeping Sickness Large parts of Ulrich Köhler’s Africa film ‘Sleeping Sickness’ is filmed at night, and it manages to achieve a dreamlike aura of mythological jungle fever and self-sacrifice in this inpenetrable darkness.

The German physician, Ebbo Veltman, and his wife have spent the best part of the past 20 years, combatting sleeping sickness across the African continent. But the German financing is beginning to dry up, and his wife and daughter both yearn to return to Europe.

The daughter leaves first for boarding school at home, and then the wife leaves. A couple of years later, a young, African-born, French envoy from WHO in Paris, arrives in Cameroun to evaluate Veltmann’s project.

What he meets however, is a kind of human ghost, whose fascination with Africa has gradually become an obssession, even though he still strives to live up to his professional oath, and help wherever he can. ‘Sleeping Sickness’ has no qualms about confronting difficult questions about aid contra self-help, but it is first and foremost a very human story about two completely different men’s inner and outer struggles.

Fr 15. April Sa 23. April

19:00 19:15

Grand Teatret Cinemateket

Schlafkrankheit Germany, France, Netherlands 2011, 91 min.

German, French, Dutch / English Subtitles Director: Ulrich Köhler Script: Ulrich Köhler Camera: Patrick Orth Editor: Eva Könnemann, Katharina Wartena Sound: Julien Sicart Production: Komplizen Film, Ö-Filmproduktion, Why Not Productions Producer: Maren Ade, Janine Jackowski Cast: Pierre Bokma, Jean-Christophe Folly, Jenny Schily, Hippolyte Girardot, Sava Lolov Distr.: Match Factory

246

FESTIVAL programME

SPOTLIGHT: GERMANY

Christoph Hochhäusler

The City Below The brutal power games which take place beneath the civilized surface in the bank world, can only be perturbed by one simple and fatal ingredient: When emotions become involved. As they do in ‘The City Below’, where an immediate and inexplicable attraction, between a young women and her husband’s older boss, risks destroying everything. Svenja’s husband works for an international bank which is run by Roland, an old-school director who knows the rules of the game inside out. But a single moment is enough to jeopardize everything, and a brief meeting at an art reception sparks a drive in both of them, towards laying their perfect lives in ruin. Christoph Hochhäusler’s third and most recent film can almost be described as a piece of cinematic architecture. It is directed with a pure, cool and tightly composed style, framed by basic materials such as glass, steel, concrete and white light.

Hochhäusler belongs to the so-called Berlin school, a generation of younger directors, whose films are accurate in their expression, while at the same time hinting at larger causal connections in a globalized reality. Elegant and with great power and substance.

Fr 15. April Su 17. April

16:40 16:45

Grand Teatret Gloria

Unter dir die stadt Germany 2010, 110 min.

German / English Subtitles Director: Christoph Hochhäusler Script: Christoph Hochhäusler, Ulrich Peltzer Camera: Bernhard Keller Editor: Stefan Stabenow Music: Benedikt Schiefer Sound: Michael Busch Production: Heimatfilm Producer: Bettina Brokemper Cast: Wolfgang Böck, Robert HungerBühler, Corinna Kirchhoff Distr.: Match Factory

NEW NORDIC FILMS Six new films from Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland. See what is going on amongst our Nordic neighbours right now - and let yourself be taken by surprise.

If there is anything we Scandinavians are good at, it is to look at ourselves with critical eyes. The six films in this series take the cliché literally, and give us highly different perspectives of how we live our lives up here in the cold North.

The fact that we are far from being a socially realistic framework for contemporary reality, is made most clear in the Finnish road movie ‘Lapland Odyssey’, where a group of slackers struggle through the wilderness at night to buy a digital TV box.

Petter Næss’s adaptation of Lars Saabye Christensen’s bestseller ‘Maskeblomstfamilien’, on the other hand, is a bleak drama about family secrets. And the equally Norwegian ‘Limbo’, which takes place in Trinidad in the 70’s, is a portrait of the breakdown of a woman - and an entire social class.

The two Swedish youth films ‘Savage’ and ‘She Monkeys’ are basically not youth films, but universal stories about how difficult it can be to be yourself. Universal stories, told in very different ways, but with a shared intensity and psychological complexity.

From Iceland, the director, Grímur Hákonarson’s highly original ‘Summerland’ will surely capture many hearts with its almost all-toohuman sense of the oddly tragicomic in an everyday life that is about to fall apart. Nordic film is still going strong, and there may well be a few things we can learn from - and about - our neighbours to the North.

sponsorereD BY

FESTIVAL programMe

NEW NORDIC FILMS

249

Dome Karukoski

Lapland Odyssey A north Finnish slacker is given an ultimatum by his girlfriend and sets off on a frantic, nocturnal road trip through Lapland in Dome Karukoski’s windswept comedy, which serves its humour so black that it looks as if it was lit by the last rays of the midnight sun.

In a small town far North, the days are mainly spent sleeping, drinking, looking at breasts, complaining, as well as sleeping and drinking more. Here, we find Janne, a young man at his best age, who has made a career out of sleeping in and living on welfare assistance.

Inari, Janne’s girlfriend, on the other hand, is not so enthusiastic about his lack of ability to move on in life - and when she finds out that Janne has used the money she gave him to buy a digital TV box on beers with friends, she gives him the somewhat unexpected ultimatum: get hold of a new digital box before dawn or piss off. Together with his friends, Janne ventures into the night and heads for the next big city. But the journey is far from straightforward, and en route they meet everything from a kind water polo team and vodkaintoxicated Russians with hunting knives and rifles, to a snowstorm, a couple of homicidal taxi drivers, and, not least, Inaris’s disdained ex, the successful Little Mikko.

Fr 22. April

20:00 Empire

Napapiirin sankarit Finland 2010, 89 min.

Finnish / English Subtitles Director: Dome Karukoski Script: Pekko Pesonen Camera: Pini Hellstedt Editor: Harri Ylönen Sound: Christian Holm Production: Helsinki-Filmi Producer: Aleksi Bardy Cast: Jussi Vatanen, Jasper Pääkkönen, Timo Lavikainen, Pamela Tola, Kari Ketonen Distr.: Angel Films

250

FESTIVAL programME

NEW NORDIC FILMS

Maria Sødahl

Limbo Life in limbo between your homeland and exotic postings is the framework for Norwegian director Maria Sødahl’s feature film debut about a woman’s breakdown in Trinidad in the 1970s. Sonia arrives from Norway to Trinidad together with her two children in order to join her husband’s life in the tropical heat. Before her departure, she has had to put her mother in a nursing home, and she quickly suspects that her husband (Henrik Rafaelsen, who can also be seen in ‘Happy, Happy’) has had an affair before she joined him. Her suspicions are only reinforced by an encounter with the decadent lifestyle, where the Swedish veteran ex-pat Charlotte quickly inaugurates her into the routines of endless parties and constant gossiping. The subdued melodrama focuses on the destinies of accompanying wives as it portrays the challenges of a privileged life in exile with brilliant acting performances and seductive settings throughout. Especially Lena Endre gives a gripping performance of a woman who, in the encounter with Sonia’s fresh perspective on her everyday life, begins to doubt the choices she made in life.

Su 24. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

21:30 Vester Vov Vov 19:00 Palads 12:00 Grand Teatret

Limbo Norway 2010, 104 min.

Norwegian, English / English Subtitles Director: Maria Sødahl Script: Maria Sødahl Camera: Manuel Alberto Claro Editor: Jens Christian Fodstad Music: Johan Söderqvist Sound: Hugo Ekornes Production: SF Norge, Nimbus Film Productions, BOB Film Sweden AB Producer: Petter J. Borgli, Gudny Hummelvoll Cast: Bryan Brown, Lena Endre, Cecilie A. Mosli Distr.: Det Norske Filminstitut (NFI)

FESTIVAL programMe

NEW NORDIC FILMS

251

Petter Næss

Shameless With ‘Shameless’, Norwegian filmmaker Petter Næss (‘Elling’) has made a superb screen adaptation of his fellow countryman Lars Saaby Christensen’s bestseller of the same name. The condensed family tragedy follows the teenager Adrian, who is unlike most children. He was born during a solar eclipse, and just as robust concepts such as night and day converge during such an event, Adrian also suffers a natural disorder, which is kept a secret from the rest of the world. Furthermore there is something not quite right about the dynamics in his otherwise lovely family.

Adrian’s relationship to his mother is a little too intimate, while the feelings between father and son are frozen solid. Adrian’s only confidante is the neighbourhood’s other outsider, the albino Emilie. When Adrian, parallel to his dawning adolescence, gradually finds out what kind of major family secret he is marked by, he initiates a quiet but highly destructive counterattack, which has fatal consequences for everyone around him.

Th 21. April Th 28. April Sa 30. April

16:40 21:30 16:30

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Maskeblomstfamilien Norway 2010, 90 min.

Norwegian / English Subtitles Director: Petter Næss Script: Lars Saabye Christensen, Åse Vikene Camera: Daniel Voldheim Editor: Inge-Lise Langfeldt Music: Nils Petter Molvaer Sound: Kasper Val Bjerregård Larsen, Peter Albrechtsen Producer: Dag Alveberg, Synnøve Hørsdal Cast: Marcus Mathias Aarnseth, Maria Bonnevie, Eindride Eidsvold Distr.: Det Norske Filminstitut (NFI)

252

FESTIVAL programME

NEW NORDIC FILMS

Martin Jern, Emil Larsson

Savage Kim has just come out of prison and his greatest wish is to live an ordinary, average life. He works hard, works out hard and spends time together with his girlfriend.

But with no money, he is forced to live with his father, who certainly does not approve of his son’s plans to give up his criminal career. Kim’s life is interwoven with those of three other youths: Jesper, who lives in a bus where the fridge is always filled with energy drinks, and who tries to earn some extra cash through internet porn services; Ylva, whose sexual fantasies don’t exactly go hand in hand with her devout Christian upbringing; and Susanne, who practises her talents as a stripper. The directors of ‘Savage’, Martin Jern and Emil Larsson, secure their focus on a Scandinavian youth culture where criminality is no surprise, to the extent that it is very difficult to shake off society’s negative expectations, and changing the course of one’s life seems virtually impossible. The harsh depictions of youth are strongly contrasted by the beautiful images of unspoiled summer in the Swedish archipelago.

Su 24. April We 27. April Fr 29. April

12:15 Dagmar Teatret 19:00 Vester Vov Vov 17:00 Empire

Odjuret Sweden 2011, 84 min.

Swedish / English Subtitles Director: Martin Jern, Emil Larsson Script: Emil Larsson, Martin Jern Camera: David Grehn Editor: Erik Bäfving Sound: Karl Camnert, David Gulich Production: Dansk Skalle Producer: Martin Jern, Emil Larsson Cast: Rolf Jarl, Sofie Karlsson, Michael Petersson Distr.: Det Svenske Filminstitut (SFI)

FESTIVAL programMe

NEW NORDIC FILMS

253

Lisa Aschan

She Monkeys A toxic triangle drama takes place between the two best friends, Emma and Cassandra, and Emma’s younger sister, Sara, who mirrors herself in the somewhat older duo. After a reluctant start at the riding school, Emma and the more self-confident Cassandra become each other’s irreplaceable company. Both as friends and as competitors, and also as conspirators in a dangerous game that makes them constantly test each other’s, and everyone else’s limits. Lisa Aschan’s youth film won the main prize at the Gothenburg Film Festival in February, and once again underlines the Swedes’ special ability to take a both (self-)critical and poetic look at the more stifling aspects of welfare democracy. There are echoes of Lukas Moodysson’s recent classic, ‘Show Me Love’, in the two young rebels’ unspoken pact. Yet it’s the small details in Aschan’s film which come together to form a larger tale about becoming adult before being ready for it. And about how persons can develop and end up, if they hide themselves in the image of others.

Su 24. April Th 28. April

12:00 17:00

Grand Teatret Empire

Apflickorna Sweden 2011, 83 min.

Swedish / English Subtitles Director: Lisa Aschan Script: Lisa Aschan, Josefine Adolfsson Camera: Linda Wassberg Editor: Kristofer Nordin Music: Sami Sänpäkkilä Sound: Johanna Printz, Andreas Franck Production: Atmo Production Producer: Helene Lindholm Cast: Kevin Caicedo Vega, Maria Hedborg, Sigmund Hovind Distr.: Det Svenske Filminstitut (SFI)

254

FESTIVAL programME

NEW NORDIC FILMS

Grímur Hákonarson

Summerland Things are going mad in the mountains in Grímur Hákonarson’s Icelandic art house comedy, ‘Summerland’.

While the clairvoyant mother works as an unauthorised palm reader, and talks to the local elfin people, the father, Óskar, is in chaos with his tax papers, and struggles with the family’s ghost museum, and the teenage daughter, who also swings a pendulum from time to time, is justifiably ashamed of their skull-clad car. In order to pull himself out of his financial quagmire, Óskar lets himself be tempted by the lucrative offer of two German art collectors to buy the elfin stone, which the mother uses every day as a contact portal to surrounding spirits. From here, things are absolutely on track to go wrong. Suddenly, the family is publicly branded as swindlers, their hut is foreclosed, and it is no longer quite so easy to bluff the paying customers, from the established cultural attractions, into their skullmobile. They are at their wit’s end. The director, Hákonarson, walks the plank, and delivers a not only totally crazy, but also thoroughly moving film.

Fr 15. April We 20. April

17:00 Husets Biograf 20:00 Husets Biograf

Sumarlandid Iceland 2010, 85 min.

Icelandic / English Subtitles Director: Grímur Hákonarson Script: Grímur Hákonarson, Ólafur Egill Egilsson Camera: Ari Kristinsson Editor: Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir Sound: Kjartan Kjartansson Production: Blueeyes Productions Producer: Baltasar Kormákur, Agnes Johansen Cast: Kjartan Gudjónsson, Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir, Snorri Engilbertsson Distr.: Icelandic Film Centre

FESTIVAL programMe

255

Sommerkurser på Den Europæiske Filmhøjskole

www.europeanfilmcollege.com · Pris 4.200,-

SVT1 Sverige

SVT2 Sverige

NRK1 Norge

SVENSK PÅ SKÆRMEN OG NORSK PÅ NETHINDEN Det er ikke kun i biografens mørke, at der venter dig store oplevelser. Hver eneste dag sender vores svenske og norske nabolandskanaler et væld af kvalitetsprogrammer, der lader os komme helt tæt på vores nærmeste naboer. Mange programmer er tekstet på dansk, så du ikke går glip af noget.

IT CAME FROM THE EAST This year’s Eastern European section is far from Balkan kitsch, post-communism and heavy inner monologues.

In terms of genre, the films range as widely as they do in terms of geographic location, so abandon your prejudices and take a seat. An obvious proof of the region’s cinematic prosperity is Serbian director Oleg Novkovic’ hyperrealistic, melancholy musical melodrama ‘White White World’ about the self-destructive drama of a mother, a daughter and a bartender.

‘A Woman With a Broken Nose’ shows the so-called butterfly effect in miniature format, when a woman’s suicide sets off a chain of unexpected events for the three protagonists, who witness the event.

And in the intense family drama ‘The Christening’, Marcin Wrona lets the mood shift from idyll to pure thriller in the story of a man, who seemingly, but only seemingly, possesses everything he could ever dream of.

In the Hungarian ‘Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project’, three visions of the Frankenstein myth are the starting point for

outright horror, and the Russian director Aleksei Fedorchenko’s ‘Silent Souls’ is a ritualistic and almost hypnotic road movie. The polar thriller ‘How I Ended This Summer’ uses breathtakingly beautiful images to describe the worsening mood at a polar station, when its two inhabitants are not picked up as expected, but are instead forced to remain in solitude for an indeterminate amount of time. This, however, is only half as frightening as being invited to an obligatory company team building event in the pitch-black Croatian ‘Forest Creatures’.

In the Polish film ‘The Mill & the Cross’, Lech Majewski uses a painting of Brueghel as his starting point and takes us on a visionary cinematic journey from there, and the almost Bressonian ‘Eighty Letters’ paints an autobiographical, memory-based portrait of a son’s relationship with his mother. Finally, Sasa Hajdukovic has shot the first film to come from the Serbian Republic in Bosnia with ‘32nd of December’, which effectively fuses social circumstances and personal stories.

FESTIVAL programMe

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

257

Sasa Hajdukovic

32nd of December ‘32nd of December’ by Sasa Hajdukovic is the first film out of the Serbian Republic in Bosnia. The director takes a firm hold of the country’s current situation and uses the destinies of three common people as a starting point for telling a story that draws lines to the country’s state in between communism and capitalism, hopes and reality. The former national football player Piksi had to give up his career and now owns a bar. On New Year’s Eve, he meets the rebellious 19-year-old girl Una, and becomes attracted to her youthfully indomitable spirits.

For Una, the encounter is no more than a game, while Piksi quickly pictures himself in a relationship with the young girl. Dragana is Una’s best friend, and she has spent all of New Year’s Day preparing to have dinner with a man who turns out to be a corrupt police officer.

When the 31st of December is not followed by the 1st of January, but by the 32nd of December, the colour of hope is far from green, and Hajdukovic does not pull the wool over his characters, but lets the tragedy unfold with them at its core.

Th 21. April We 27. April

14:30 Dagmar Teatret 21:30 Vester Vov Vov

32. Decembar Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010, 88 min.

Serbian / English Subtitles Director: Sasa Hajdukovic Script: Sasa Hajdukovic Camera: Sasa Petkovic Editor: Petar Bilbija Music: Marko Bilbija, Petar Bilbija Sound: Milan Kovarbasic Production: VizArt Film Production Producer: Sasa Hajdukovic, Zoran Galic, Boris Jevdjenic, Sasa Petkovic, Slobodan Perisic Cast: Anja Stanic, Nikolina Jelisavac, Slobodan Perisic, Ljubisa Savanovic, Dragana Maric, Aleksandar Stojkovic Distr.: VizArt Film Production

258

FESTIVAL programME

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

Václav Kadrnka

Eighty Letters How is the past depicted in the eyes and memory of a child? The Czech director Václav Kadrnka accepts the challenge and creates a cinematic memorial to the story of his own parents, and succeeds eminently thanks to the high art of suggestion. Martin follows his mother during her hectic day, which includes a carefully planned route through the city, from one administrative office to another in her quest for a blue form. The absent, emigrated father takes up more and more space, as the film develops, and especially the letters that they write to each other (which are in fact the director’s parents’ own letters) bear witness to a loss and a physical distance, which the letters can only partially remedy. But the world of the grownups is a distant reality for the young Martin, who tries to understand his surroundings through silent observations. ‘Eighty Letters’ is like a discreet space in the lives of its characters, an interim state which plays a decisive role for their future, while the director gradually reveals the motives of the characters.

Sa 23. April Fr 29. April

16:45 19:15

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Osmdesát dopisu Czech Republic 2011, 75 min.

Czech / English Subtitles Director: Václav Kadrnka Script: Jiri Soukup, Vaclav Kadrnka Camera: Brano Pazitka Editor: Pavel Kolaja Music: Ondrej Krajnák Sound: Jan Cenek Production: Bystrouska Producer: Vaclav Kadrnka Cast: Zuzana Lapcíková, Martin Pavlus, Gerald Turner Distr.: Václav Kadrnka

FESTIVAL programMe

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

Ivan-Goran Vitez

Forest Creatures A Zagreb-based advertising company has just been bought by a Dutch company, who has invited all the employees to attend a compulsory team building weekend of white water rafting and paintball. The atmosphere among the employees is tense, as the power has been distributed differently by the new management, and nobody feels safe in their position.

While the collegial intrigues are going on in comparative peace and friendliness, things become altogether more serious when a mad hillbilly enters into the otherwise so edifying paintball game and shoots live rounds from his shotgun, killing one of the female colleagues. The others manage to overpower the insane stranger, but what nobody expects is that the man’s raging wife is his accomplice, and before they know it, bloodbath is on the agenda. Nothing is too far out in Ivan-Goran Vitez’ crazy ‘Forest Creatures’. Be ready for surprises!

Th 21. April Tu 26. April

16:45 Dagmar Teatret 21:30 Palads

Suma summarum Croatia 2010, 120 min.

Croatian / English Subtitles Director: Ivan-Goran Vitez Script: Matija Ivce Camera: Tamara Cesarec Editor: Mato Ilijic Music: Sinisa Krneta, Hrvoje Stefotic Sound: Dubravka Premar Production: Kinorama Producer: Ankica Juric Tilic Cast: Vilim Matula, Hana Hegedusic, Zeljko Königsknecht, Natasa Dangubic Distr.: Kinorama

259

260

FESTIVAL programME

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

Alexei Popogrebsky

How I Ended This Summer Two men sit in a polar station in the Arctic Ocean.

The place was once a vital source of information for the surrounding communities, but it seems to have lost its function, and now only the experienced meteorological technician, Sergei, and his recently graduated student intern, Pavel, are left. In a few days, they expect a ship that is supposed to pick up Sergei, whose visit to the cold has lasted several years, and to bring him back to his long-missed wife and child, and this will hopefully bring Pavel onto the path of adventure that made him sign up for the job in the first place. When Pavel is sent a radio telegram, the content of which he doesn’t feel like revealing to Sergei, in the hope that they will be taken home before it becomes necessary to deal with.

But the ship never comes, and Pavel and Sergei are left alone in the freezing cold with Pavel’s secret, which becomes increasingly hard to keep. The film deservedly won the Silver Bear for best cinematography at last year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Fr 22. April Fr 29. April

19:15 12:00

Dagmar Teatret Grand Teatret

Kak Ya Provel Etim Letom Russia 2010, 124 min.

Russian / English Subtitles Director: Alexei Popogrebsky Script: Aleksei Popogrebsky Camera: Pavel Kostomarov Editor: Ivan Lebedev Music: Dmitriy Katkhanov Sound: Vladimir Golovnitsky, Sigitas Motoras Production: Koktebel Film Company, TV Channel Russia Producer: Roman Borisevich, Sergei Chliyants, Aleksandr Kushaev Cast: Grigory Dobrygin, Sergei Puskepalis, Igor Chernevich Distr.: Sunrise Film Distribution

FESTIVAL programMe

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

261

Aleksei Fedorchenko

Silent Souls “A deep and moving piece of cinematic poetry about both love and loss,” the industry journal, Screen Daily, wrote about the Russian director, Aleksei Fedorchenko’s ritual road movie, after its premiere in Venice last year.

And it is difficult to disagree. We follow the ageing Miron who, after the death of his beloved wife, asks his old friend, Aeist, to help him with his final farewell to her.

But the parting must follow a number of ancient, local and slightly bizarre customs, so the two friends set off on a long drive, with only two small birds in a cage and the dead wife on the back seat. As the customs prescribe, Miron has to expose his most intimate and personal memories of his wife, but as they approach their destination, a sacred lake where the final farewell is to take place, Miron finds out that he is possibly not the only person to have loved his wife. Told in hypnotic imagery and with a subdued plot, which conceals quite a few major surprises, ‘Silent Souls’ also opens up a wide range of existential reflections on all things past and present, as well as love and death. Comparison with other east European originals, from Andrei Tarkovsky and Béla Tarr to Krysztof Kieslowski, is natural, but even in the company of his great role models, Aleksei Fedorchenko has managed to find a singularly unique own voice.

Th 21. April Su 24. April

12:00 21:45

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Ovsyanki Russia 2010, 74 min.

Russian / English Subtitles Director: Aleksei Fedorchenko Script: Denis Osokin Camera: Mikhail Krichman Editor: Sergei Ivanov Music: Andrei Karasyov Sound: Kirill Vasilenko Production: April Mig Pictures Films Company, Media Mir Foundation Producer: Igor Mishin, Mary Nazari Cast: Igor Sergeyev, Yuri Tsurilo, Yuliya Aug, Ivan Tushin Distr.: Memento Films

262

FESTIVAL programME

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

Kornél Mundruczó

Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project The Hungarian filmmaker, Kórnel Mundruczó, has partly based his chilling thriller on Mary Shelley’s novel ‘Frankenstein’, partly on his own theatre play about Shelley’s classic, and partly on himself. He also delivers a colossal performance as the protagonist, the thickskinned theatre and film director, Viktor, who realizes too late that he has created a monster. An expressionless, 17-year-old brute who first turns up unannounced to Viktor’s auditions in an old house, kills his young coactress and escapes to hide somewhere in the enormous building. Here, an elderly lady lives together with her daughter and her husband, and the ghosts from the past soon start pouring out of the sewers, with fatal consequences for all involved. Mundruczó once again demonstrates great style, as he uses his visual flair to set Shelley’s gothic drama in contemporary Budapest, and in the city’s gloomy urban winter landscapes. According to the original novel, Frankenstein’s hapless creature has a heart of gold, and it is here that Mundruczó sows his modern tragedy.

Mo 25. April Sa 30. April

14:30 21:45

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Szelíd Teremtés - A Frankenstein Terv Hungary, Germany, Austria 2010, 105 min.

Hungarian / English Subtitles Director: Kornél Mundruczó Script: Kornél Mundruczó, Yvette Bíró Camera: Mátyás Erdély Editor: Dávid Jancsó Music: Philipp E. Kûmpel, Andreas Moisa, Gyòrgy Kurtág, Péter Zombola Sound: Gábor Balázs Production: Proton Cinema, Essential Filmproduktion, Filmpartners m.fl.

Producer: Viktória Petrányi, Susanne Marian, Philippe Bober, Gabriele Kranzelbinder m.fl.

Cast: Rudolf Frecska, Kornél Mundruczó, Lili Monori, Kitty Csíkos Distr.: Coproduction Office

FESTIVAL programMe

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

263

Marcin Wrona

The Christening In 2002, the Polish filmmaker, Marcin Wrona, won the award for the best film school production at the Tribeca Film Festival with his short film, ‘Magnet Man’, making a name for himself as one of the most promising eastern European directing talents. Now he presents his feature film debut, ‘The Christening’, which fully lives up to expectations. Michal lives a seemingly uncomplicated and happy life, and has everything he ever dreamt of.

He is married to the beautiful Magda, they have an adorable baby, and his company is a great success.

But this unblemished surface gradually begins to crack, as Michal’s old friend gets more and more involved in Michal’s life, amongst other things by becoming the godfather of the newly born son. Despite the fact that the friend’s increasingly direct involvement in the couple’s lives is the result of Michal’s own suggestions, he nevertheless finds it difficult to accept the consequences, and with her impeccable ability to create compact drama, Wrona subtly transforms the domestic idyll into the setting for a gripping thriller.

Fr 22. April Fr 29. April

14:30 21:45

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Chrzest Poland 2010, 86 min.

Polish / English Subtitles Director: Marcin Wrona Script: Dariusz Glazer, Grzegorz Jankowski, Grazyna Trela Camera: Pawel Flis Editor: Piotr Kmiecik Music: Marcin Macuk Sound: Miroslaw Makowski Production: Odeon Film Studio Producer: Marek Rudnicki, Leszek Rybarczyk Cast: Tomasz Schuchardt, Wojciech Zielinski, Natalia Rybicka, Adam Woronowicz Distr.: m-appeal

264

FESTIVAL programME

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

Lech Majewski

The Mill & The Cross When the Polish outsider-director, Lech Majewski, said yes to the commission to make a film based on one of the major works in European art, it was under two conditions. He didn’t want to make a documentary, and he didn’t want to invent a story that could not be seen in the painting. The result is both a daring and visionary recreation of Pieter Brueghel’s epic painting, where the Passion of Christ and the crucifixion are displaced to Flanders in the 16th century.

The crucifixion, however, is only a single detail in a panoramic landscape consisting of hundreds of villagers and Spanish soldiers on horseback. Majewski focuses on a handful of figures from the painting, including an ageing Virgin Mary. But even Brueghel himself (played

by Rutger Hauer) appears in the film from time to time, while he talks to his friend and benefactor, the art collector, Nicholas, and explains his intentions and objectives with the painting. In a fascinating collision between the painting’s two-dimensional surface and the film’s three-dimensional depth, we are literally drawn into the universe of the painting, at the same time as we see it being created. The result is an originally told and vivid piece of pictorial magic about the powerful presence of (art) history.

Fr 22. April Tu 26. April Su 1. May

19:00 Vester Vov Vov 17:00 Grand Teatret 14:15 Dagmar Teatret

The Mill & The Cross Poland, Sweden 2010, 91 min.

English Version Director: Lech Majewski Script: Lech Majewski, Michael Francis Gibson Camera: Adam Sikora, Lech Majewski Music: Lech Majewski, Jozef Skrzek Production: Bokomotiv Filmproduktion AB Producer: Lech Majewski, Freddy Olsson Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Rutger Hauer, Michael York, Joanna Litwin Distr.: Wide Management

FESTIVAL programMe

IT CAME FROM THE EAST

265

Srdjan Koljevic

The Woman with a Broken Nose A desperate woman with a bloody face and a broken nose sits in a taxi. Suddenly, she opens the door and throws herself out of the car and over the Branko bridge, which connects the old Belgrade with the new. The woman’s suicidal act subsequently weaves together the lives of the three witnesses: the taxi driver, who is devastated that he couldn’t stop the woman; a depressed school teacher, Anica, who can’t relate to her students’ attention, and the crazy pharmacist, Biljana, who is beginning to doubt whether she should marry her fiancé. The lives of these three very different people are all plagued by traumas from the past, and none have, until now, had the courage to confront them.

‘The Woman with a Broken Nose’ won the award for best Serbian film last year, and effectively mixes serious drama with well-timed deadpan humour.

Sa 23. April Tu 26. April

21:45 16:45

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Zena sa slomljenim nosem Serbia 2010, 105 min.

Serbian / English Subtitles Director: Srdjan Koljevic Script: Srdjan Koljevic Camera: Goran Volarevic Editor: Marko Glusac Music: Mario Schneider Sound: Sebastian Schmidt Production: Film House Bas Celik, Mediopolis Film- und Fernsehproduktion Producer: Jelena Mitrovic, Srdan Golubovic, Alexander Ris Cast: Nebojsa Glogovac, Branka Katic, Anica Dobra, Nada Sargin, Jasna Zalica Distr.: Aktis Film International GmbH

266

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

IT CamE fRom ThE EaST

oLEG novkovIC

WHITE, WHITE WORLD TO BREAk OuT INTO song in environments such as these - among Serbia’s working class, its hustlers and its drug-addicts, surrounded by industrial landscapes - is not the most obvious thing to do. But when it does happen, as here in Oleg Novkovic’s minor key inspired musical, the melancholy of the songs hits the audience with a punch. The young woman, Rosa, embarks on a relationship with King, the somewhat older bartender at the local bar. Even Rosa’s mother has a weakness for King, but he does what he can to keep both women apart. When Rosa becomes pregnant, the conflicts increase in strength, and the relationship between the mother and King turns out to have been more than just a platonic flirt. The characters in ‘White, White World’ only know how to hurt each other. They abuse each other and themselves, and launch into self-destructive attempts to save the little love that is left between them. With its measured amounts of fine folk music, ‘White, White World’ lets the genres collide, just as the emotional brutality appears in sharp contrast to the film’s occasionally peculiar lyricism. A highly untraditional film, and a Serbian semi-musical in a minor key.

su 24. April su 1. May

16:45 12:00

DaGmaR TEaTRET DaGmaR TEaTRET

BELI, BELI sVET Serbia, Germany, Sweden 2010, 121 min.

Serbian / English Subtitles Director: Oleg Novkovic Script: Milena Markovic Camera: Miladin Colakovic Editor: Lazar Predojev Music: Boris Kovac Sound: Sebastian Schmidt Production: Hepp Film, ostlicht filmproduktion Producer: Uliks Fehmiu, Milena Trobozic Cast: Uliks Fehmiu, Hana Selimovic, Jasna Duricic Distr.: Films Boutique

CPHPIX.DK – ALSO ON YOUR SMARTPHONE See trailers, plan your very own PIX programme and find recommendations for films you should see. All this in our app for your smart phone. The app works with both iPhone and Android.

SPOTLIGHT: romania The new wave of Romanian films.

Romanian films blossom like never before, and continue their triumphant run at festivals all over the world. We have assembled four of this year’s great films from the humble film nation with great

ambitions - and we have invited the directors behind these films to visit our country.

Presented in collaboration with the Romanian Cultural Institute.

FESTIVAL programMe

SPOTLIGHT: ROMANIA

269

Cristi Puiu

Aurora Not much is handed away in Cristi Puiu’s grim psycho thriller ‘Aurora’, which - much like the Romanian director’s landmark masterpiece ‘The Death of Mr Lazarescu’ - focuses on a single human being in a limited timeframe. This time with Puiu himself in the part of the 42-year-old divorced family father Viorel, whose anger is simmering under the secretive surface, while he is hatching a terrible plan. Everyone and everything seems to have turned against him, and over the course of three hours we are given a dissection of the anatomy of crime. Puiu’s strategy is based upon the passing of real time through single takes, and upon our imprinted expectations of the crime genre. Depending on your sense of humour and personality, ‘Aurora’ can however also be seen as a pitch-black comedy about male inadequacy and a world that has left the protagonist in the lurch - and here Puiu is in line with his motley crew of colleagues from the ‘Romanian New Wave’. Anyone who dares see this film can expect a monumental, heart-rending and essentially cinematic experience by a colossal talent. The film was nominated for the Golden Palm in Cannes.

Tu 19. April Sa 30. April

16:30 Husets Biograf 15:15 Gloria

Aurora Romania, France, Switzerland, Germany 2010, 181 min.

Romanian / English Subtitles Director: Cristi Puiu Script: Cristi Puiu Camera: Viorel Sergovici Editor: Ion Ioachim Stroe Sound: André Rigaut Production: Mandragora, Société Parisienne De Production, Bord Cadre Films, Essential Filmproduktion Producer: Bobby Paunescu, Anca Puiu Cast: Cristi Puiu, Clara Voda, Catrinel Dumitrescu, Luminita Gheorghiu, Valentin Popescu Distr.: Coproduction Office

270

FESTIVAL programME

SPOTLIGHT: ROMANIA

Marian Crisan

Morgen The expectations ran high for the Romanian feature film debutant Marian Crisan, who won the Golden Palm for the best short film for ‘Megatron’ in 2008. We can safely reveal that he lives up to these expectations with ‘Morgen’, which won no less than 4 awards at last year’s film festival in Locarno, among them the Special Jury Prize. The film describes the absurdity of national boundaries with a hint of humour, which is reminiscent of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s offbeat comedies. The middle-aged Nelu lives in the small town of Salonta in Romania with his wife, close to the Hungarian border. When he isn’t doing shifts at the local supermarket, he crosses the border to fish on the other side. Early one morning, Nelu sees a Turkish refugee hiding from the border police, and in spite of language barriers, Nelu decides to help, and he takes the Turk, Behran, home with him under a carpet in the sidecar of his motorbike. A special bond is tied between the two as they battle to get Behran on to Germany to reunite with his son. The film uses great intimacy and a solid dose of humour to focus on a highly topical problem, which affects thousands of people all over the world.

Th 21. April Th 28. April Sa 30. April

19:00 Vester Vov Vov 21:45 Dagmar Teatret 16:40 Grand Teatret

Morgen France, Romania, Hungary 2010, 100 min.

Romanian / English Subtitles Director: Marian Crisan Script: Marian Crisan Camera: Tudor Mircea Editor: Tudor Pojoni Sound: Calin Potcoava Production: Mandragora, Slot Machine, Katapult Film Producer: Anca Puiu, Marianne Slot, Iván Angelusz Cast: András Hatházi, Yilmaz Yalcin, Elvira Rîmbu, Dorin C. Zachei, Molnar Levente, Razvan Vicoveanu Distr.: Les Films du Losange

FESTIVAL programMe

SPOTLIGHT: ROMANIA

Bogdan George Apetri

Outbound There is a clear deadline in the stylish and sharply defined ‘Outbound’, which takes place over the course of a single day. Halfway through serving a sentence for a crime she has not committed, Matilda is granted leave to spend a day in freedom to attend her mother’s funeral. She has no plans to return to prison, but before she can escape from the country, she must confront her past and the family she abandoned many years ago. Her brother, Andrei, has meanwhile carved out a new life for himself and is not much help, and his wife would ideally like to throw her out. But the stubborn Matilda doesn’t give up so easily, even if the conflict is threatening to explode, and before she has made it across the border. This kind of film needs raw nerve, and there is an abundance of the stuff in ‘Outbound’, a fast film which is constantly moving in unpredictable directions, and does this with solid cinematic self-confidence. The images are bathed in burning sunlight and shadows, yet the style never overpowers the raw realism in which the story is anchored. And Ana Ularu’s ‘no shit’ attitude is a scoop in the role as Matilda.

Mo 25. April We 27. April

12:15 21:45

Dagmar Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Periferic Romania, Austria 2010, 87 min.

Romanian / English Subtitles Director: Bogdan George Apetri Script: Bogdan George Apetri, Cristian Mungiu, Ioana Uricaru, Tudor Voican Camera: Marius Panduru Editor: Eugen Kelemen Sound: Mirel Cristea, Alexander Koller Production: Saga Film Producer: Alexandru Teodorescu Distr.: MK 2

271

272

FESTIVAL programME

SPOTLIGHT: ROMANIA

Constantin Popescu

Principles of Life Everything seems to be going fine for the middleaged entrepreneur, Velicanu. He has everything a man in his position could wish for. And as the icing on the cake, he is in the process of building a new house, where he can live with his new wife and their child. The holidays are around the corner, and before he can enjoy the hammock, he just needs finish some last bits of business.

But this is where things slowly begin to go wrong for Velicanu. His employees make a mess of things, his ex-wife is complaining and his temperamental teenage son, from the previous marriage, is impossible to prise away from the computer. Add a sticky heatwave into the mix, and you have a great set-up for a dialogue-borne and naturalistic film about a man in a crisis, while the pressure builds up, and doubt is taking over. ‘Principles of Life’ is a film from the fringes of the new Romanian wave, and points towards a more immediate realism than the country’s other films.

Sa 23. April Th 28. April Su 1. May

19:00 Vester Vov Vov 21:45 Gloria 14:30 Dagmar Teatret

Principii de viata Romania 2010, 97 min.

Romanian / English Subtitles Director: Constantin Popescu Script: Rzvan Rdulescu, Alex Baciu Camera: Liviu Mrghidan Editor: Corina Stavil Production: Hi Film Productions Producer: Ada Solomon Cast: Vlad Ivanov, Gabriel Huian, Rodica Lazar Distr.: Coach 14

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

politiken. plus.

DET KGL. TEATER.

Som fast abonnent på Politiken er du medlem af Plus og får for eksempel 20% rabat på en lang række ballet-, skuespil- og operaforestillinger.

Bestil Politiken på politiken.dk/avis eller ring på 70 21 20 00

273

WORLD VIEWS Illegal immigrants, slavery and Indian suicide compatriots are some of the subjects, that this year’s socially committed World Views series take a look at.

In the WORLD VIEWS series, it is contemporary reality that is given extra attention, and the films in the series embrace the issues which define global agenda - regardless of their geographic location.

Hossein Keshavarz’s ‘Dog Sweat’ depicts an Iranian youth culture which is recognisable to most people, but which is taboo and constantly challenged when it is lived out in a strict conservative society.

The natural and universal resistance of the youths therefore not only hits those that are close to them, like their parents or teachers, but also the social agenda that they are forced to conform to.

‘The Bang Bang Club’ is based on true events which happened 17 years ago in South Africa, shortly before the final fall of the apartheid regime in 1994.

We follow a group of young photographers, who have made it their declared goal to document the atrocities, so that the world would not be seduced by notions of what is happening which were completely detached from reality. In the moving and absolutely

unintrusive ‘Son of Babylon’, large issues are mirrored in small details in the tale of a 12-year-old Iraqi boy, who after the fall of Saddam Hussein sets off to find his father, who disappeared during the war.

The story of Indian farmers who commit suicide in their thousands every year might not exactly sound like the stuff of comedies. But nonetheless, the debutant director, Anusha Rizvi has managed to make the subject digestible in the black humoured ‘Peepli Live’. A highly topical film, also in a Danish context, is the Belgian Oscar candidate ‘Illégal’, which shows the gloomily harsh reality of the Russian immigrant Tania, who after spending eight years in the country is handed over to the authorities. In the last film of the series, ‘Even the Rain’, historical slavery is put in a contemporary perspective in the story about a Spanish film crew headed by Gael Garcia Bernal, who come to Bolivia to describe a grim past, which they unconsciously re-awaken with their film project.

FESTIVAL programMe

world views

275

Hossein Keshavarz

Dog Sweat If you always have to fight for what you believe in, it is hard not to reach the point where you just want to let go. In all its simplicity, this is the morale which makes the first-time director, Hossein Keshavarz’s ‘Dog Sweat’ so highly relevant. Shot in complete secrecy in Tehran, he tells the story, in ‘Dog Sweat’, of the everyday lives of six young Iranians, which consist of, in equal parts, work-outs at the gym, drinking whisky on the floor and going for walks through the streets. A feminist falls in love with a married man, a newly enamoured couple is looking for a place where they can be on their own, and a female pop singer tries to avoid being exposed.

The situation is recognisable to most people, and yet it is not. For the youths in ‘Dog Sweat’ have to live with an extra hurdle, namely an ultra-conservative society, which doesn’t allow them to live the kind of life, which in all other places is defined as being normal. If you give in, it is usually to the parents’ wishes of entering into an arranged marriage. If you buy whisky, you do so in a dark alley. If you go for a walk with your beloved, it is because you have nowhere else to go. ‘Dog Sweat’ has a rare sense of tact in its depiction of everyday life in the Iranian capital, and the difference between the life we all know and one that will probably seem remote to most people.

Fr 22. April Th 28. April

19:00 16:45

Cinemateket Cinemateket

Dog Sweat Iran, USA 2010, 90 min.

Persian / English Subtitles Director: Hossein Keshavarz Script: Maryam Azadi, Hossein Keshavarz Camera: Ehsan Karimi Editor: Mollie Goldstein, Hossein Keshavarz Music: Simon Taufique Sound: Jeff Formosa Production: Deluxe Art Producer: Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Azadi, Alan Oxman Cast: Sara Esfahani, Tahereh Azadi, Shahrokh Taslimi, Ahmad Akbarzadeh, Rahim Zamani, Bagher Forohar, Maryam Mousavi Distr.: Deluxe Art

276

FESTIVAL programME

world views

Icíar Bollaín

Even The Rain In ‘Even The Rain’, director Icíar Bollaín engages us with a captivating tale of human exploitation across centuries in a story that is built as a film within a film.

Spanish film director Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal), arrives with his film crew in Bolivia to make a film about Columbus’ discovery of America. The choice of Bolivia as location is not accidental, as the poorest country of South America provides plenty of manpower willing to work long hours for practically nothing. Thus, the film crew and its idealistic director end up committing exactly the same kind of oppressive crime that they accuse Columbus for. Sebastian casts the Bolivian Daniel in the leading role as Hatuey, who headed the battle against the Spaniards, but in reality, Daniel heads the local demonstrations against the privatisation of the increasingly vulnerable water supplies. This commitment bestows the film with a realistic touch that really makes it difficult to distinguish between imagined fiction and the harsh realities of everyday life.

Fr 22. April Tu 26. April

12:00 21:45

Grand Teatret Dagmar Teatret

Tambien La Lluvia Spain, France, Mexico 2010, 104 min.

Spanish / English Subtitles Director: Icíar Bollaín Script: Paul Laverty Camera: Alex Catalán Editor: Ángel Hernández Zoido Music: Alberto Iglesias Production: Morena Films Producer: Juan Gordon Cast: Luis Tosar, Gael García Bernal, Juan Carlos Aduviri, Karra Elejalde Distr.: Pan Vision Danmark A/S

world views

FESTIVAL programMe

277

Olivier Masset-Depasse

Illegal Olivier Masset-Depasse’s award-winning Belgian Oscar candidate ‘Illégal’ paints a picture of a rigid system, where human destinies time and again get caught in the traps of bureaucracy, and its theme is highly topical, not least in Danish context. The Russian girl Tania has lived illegally in Belgium for 8 years with her 13-year-old son Ivan. She manages to make ends meet in terms of both work and school, but she is tortured by a constant fear that authorities will discover her illegal status. When the inevitable thing happens and Tania is handed over to the extradition authorities, her only thought is to make sure that her son does not get thrown out of the only country he has ever known, just because she has broken the law. Therefore, Ivan escapes while Tania is imprisoned. Masset-Depasse has obviously done his research about illegal immigrants, and the film is uncannily realistic in its depiction of the claustrophobic hell that the deportees are left in, while they, in the hope of being reunited with their loved ones and of getting a fair treatment, wait for their fates to be sealed.

We 20. April Sa 23. April We 27. April

17:00 Husets Biograf 14:30 Dagmar Teatret 12:00 Grand Teatret

Illégal Belgium, Luxembourg, France 2010, 90 min.

French, English, Russian / English Subtitles Director: Olivier Masset-Depasse Script: Olivier Masset-Depasse Camera: Tommaso Fiorilli Editor: Damien Keyeux Music: André Dziezuk, Marc Mergen Sound: François Dumont, Marc Bastien Production: Versus Production Producer: Jacques-Henri Bronckart, Olivier Bronckart Cast: Anne Coesens, Alexandre Gontcharov, Milo Masset-Depasse Distr.: Films Distribution

278

FESTIVAL programME

world views

Anusha Rizvi

Peepli Live Peepli Live is based on the tragic fact, that several thousand impoverished Indian farmers commit suicide every year. The result could easily have been a depressing film with plenty of pointed fingers, but the first time director, Anusha Rizvi, has fortunately chosen a humorous approach and delivers nothing less than a cheerful little suicide comedy. In the small village, Peepli, lives the farmer Natha, a pleasant man who demands nothing more of life than a meal and a hammock. He is penniless, and his family cannot repay its debts. But they see a way out: the local government offers large financial compensations to the families of deceased farmers, and suicide is an accepted cause of death. Natha “volunteers”, and before long the media have laid their hands on the good story, whereupon the whole nation is following Natha’s difficult decision. They follow him everywhere, even to the toilet, and soon it all becomes too much for him. ‘Peepli Live’ is refreshingly far from Bollywood’s synchronised dancing and heroes who resemble Chewbacca in a Hawaii shirt. Just like last year’s ‘Dev.D’, it testifies to the fact that a new wave of Indian directors, who want to do more with their films, are on their way, and they’re in great shape. ‘Peepli Live’ has a wonderful beat and a subtle sense of humour, and seriously deflates all the stereotypes about what an Indian film can or should be.

We 20. April Mo 25. April Th 28. April

19:00 Vester Vov Vov 21:30 Vester Vov Vov 14:20 Grand Teatret

Peepli Live India 2009, 106 min.

Hindi / English Subtitles Director: Anusha Rizvi Script: Anusha Rizvi Camera: Shankar Raman Editor: Hemanti Sarkar Music: Mathias Duplessy Production: Aamir Khan Productions Producer: Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao Cast: Omkar Das Manikpuri, Raghuvir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffar, Malaika Shenoy Distr.: UTV Motion Pictures

FESTIVAL programMe

world views

279

Mohamed Al Daradji

Son of Babylon Mohamed Al-Daradji’s ‘Son of Babylon’ takes place in 2003, shortly after Saddam Hussein’s downfall.

12-year-old Ahmed sets off on a dangerous journey with his grandmother, to look for his father who disappeared during the war many years ago. With its loyal focus on the two protagonists, the boy seeking his father, and the mother her son, ‘Son of Babylon’ paints a strong and sensitive portrait of Iraq in the aftermath of a futile war.

The story is kept personal, but has a universal resonance, as the story of Ahmed and his grandmother is shared by many. ‘Son of Babylon’ progresses like a desert road movie, and places a beautiful and humanistic emphasis on people’s ability to forgive political abominations, rather than dwelling on the obvious injustice. The young Yasser Talib shines as Ahmed, and makes the difficult role easy to relate to. The horrors of war resound constantly in the story, yet they never drown out the human focus.

Th 14. April Su 17. April Th 21. April

17:00 Husets Biograf 17:00 Husets Biograf 21:30 Dagmar Teatret

O gios tis vavylonas Iraq, United Kingdom, France, Arab Emirates, Egypt 2009, 90 min.

Arabic, Kurdish / English Subtitles Director: Mohamed Al Daradji Script: Mohamed Al Daradji, Jennifer Norridge Camera: Mohamed Al Daradji, Duraid Munajim Editor: Pascale Chavance, Mohamed Jbara Music: Kad Achouri Sound: Hugo Adams, François Boudet, Glenn Freemantle Production: CRM-114, Human Film, Iraq AlRafidain Producer: Atea Al Daradji, Mohamed Al Daradji, Dimitri de Clercq Cast: Yassir Taleeb, Shehzad Hussen, Bashir Al-Majid Distr.: Human Film

280

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

woRLD vIEwS

STEvEn SILvER

THE BANG BANG CLuB IN THE ROLE OF the Pulitzer-winning photographer, Greg Marinovich, the angel-faced Ryan Phillippe finally manages to break free from the image of a harmless teenage idol, and demonstrates great dramatic potential in Steven Silver’s powerful apartheid story, ‘The Bang Bang Club’. The year is 1994, and Nelson Mandela has just been released from prison, facing a South African reality which threatens to turn into a gigantic bloodbath.

Four young white photographers, who were cheekily nicknamed The Bang Bang Club because they always managed to be in the line of fire, or “in the bang bang”, as the locals called it, are using their analogue cameras as a weapon to portray the horrors of reality, and to attract the necessary international attention to the terrible situation. Silver has a sharp eye for the role of the photo-journalists in the development, and brings the all-too-recent, yet often overlooked past to life, without resorting to know-it-all didacticism, in this drama about doing heroic deeds in a world, which invites one to do exactly the opposite.

Fr 29. April

16:40

GRanD TEaTRET

THE BANG BANG CLuB Canada, South Africa 2010, 107 min.

English Version Director: Steven Silver Script: Steven Silver Camera: Miroslaw Baszak Editor: Ronald Sanders, Tad Seaborn Music: Philip Miller Sound: Roderick Deogrades, Nico Louw Production: Foundry Films, The Harold Greenberg Fund, Instinctive Film, Out of Africa Entertainment Producer: Adam Friedlander, Daniel Iron, Lance Samuels Cast: Malin Akerman, Ryan Phillippe, Taylor Kitsch, Patrick Lyster Distr.: Scanbox Danmark

films exhibitions concerts seminars 3-13 nov 2011 COPENHAGEN INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL WWW.CPHDOX.DK CPH:DOX IS PART OF COPENHAGEN FILM FESTIVALS WHICH ALSO ORGANIZES THE DANISH CAPITAL’S OTHER MAJOR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALS: CPH PIX - INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM FESTIVAL & BUSTER - INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH LEARN MORE AT WWW.CPHFILMFESTIVALS.DK

THE BRANDING

DENMARK FUND

mfonden.dk

SPOTLIGHT: Italy The variety of current Italian filmmaking is striking.

This year’s Italian focus is a snapshot of the status of current Italian filmmaking. The variety is striking, and the roll that Italian filmmaking has been on in the past five years can not be denied and is expressed both in terms of initiative and quality.

No matter if, as in this year’s films, it is about drug

sentences, psychiatric hospitalisation or warm comedies, the common denominator is a glowing cinematic energy and a fine sense of a good story.

Presented in collaboration with Cinecitta Luce

AN ITALIAN DAY AT GRAND TEATRET On Sunday April 17, CPH PIX and Cinecittà Luce present a solid mix of new and established Italian talents and we open with Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘One Man Up’ which is based on the true story of the decline and failure of a couple of Italian celebrities. After the highly relevant film, Italy’s best know face is up in ‘Gorbaciof’ starring Toni Servillo, who is also represented in our 3 x 3 section. In late afternoon we screen the uncompromising and moving portrait ‘Pietro’, before we continue with yet another round of Servillo in a brilliant part in ‘A Quiet Life’, which won him an award in the Film Festival in Rome. We round the evening off with Saverio Constanzo’s ‘The Solitude of Prime Numbers’ based on Paulo Giordano’s bestselling novel and starring Isabella Rosselini.

FESTIVAL programMe

SPOTLIGHT: ITALY

283

Matteo Botrugno, Daniele Coluccini

And Peace on Earth An all too realistic tale about a group of youngsters’ battle with everyday life, their finances and own instincts. Marco has just come out of prison after serving a sentence for dealing drugs. He has barely managed to come out, when his old friends try to get him to sell drugs again - as thanks for not blowing the whistle on them. He reluctantly lets himself be persuaded and starts pushing again from a bench in a nearby park, from where he observes everyday life in the neighbourhood, and imagines what it must be like to live a different life. Around him, we follow the other inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Not least the young Sonia, who with equal parts naiveté and true grit is determined to fight her way out of the milieu, and the three local thugs Faustino, Massimo and Federico, who hang out and spend most of their time doing drugs or stealing mobile phones from minors, while they talk about picking up girls - or boys. A desperate attempt to cover up an embarrassing secret ends up tying them all together in a violent and endless spiral. Inspired by films such as ‘Gomorrah’, the film is shot on location in one of Rome’s most crime-ridden neighbourhoods by the promising directing duo Matteo Botrugno and Daniele Coluccini.

Sa 16. April Su 24. April

16:40 21:45

Grand Teatret Gloria

Et in terra pax Italy 2010, 89 min.

Italian / English Subtitles Director: Matteo Botrugno, Daniele Coluccini Script: Matteo Botrugno, Daniele Coluccini, Andrea Esposito Camera: Davide Manca Editor: Mario Marrone Music: Alessandro Marcello Sound: Valerio Stirpe, Andrea Viali Production: Kimerafilm, Settembrini Producer: Simone Isola, Gianluca Arcopinto Distr.: Ellipsis Media International

284

FESTIVAL programME

SPOTLIGHT: ITALY

Daniele Gaglianone

Pietro Pietro is not quite normal. Anxious and slightly autistic, he shunts nervously through the streets of the city, placing advertising brochures on car windows, which is apparently the only job he is capable of. He lives together with his brother in a rundown apartment, which they have inherited from their parents, and life isn’t easy here. The brother is a junkie, constantly bummed out and primarily focused on getting Pietro to perform his grimaces and funny faces for his friends at the local bar, while his sleazy boss exploits him. But Pietro’s life lightens up a bit when he meets a fragile and shy girl at work. The two quickly take a liking to each other, but when Pietro decides to present her to his brother and friends at the bar, things take a dramatic turn. Focusing on his charismatic protagonist, the director, Daniele Gaglianone, draws a consciously caricatured image of a society which has lost all sense of compassion and humanity, and which is simply looking for the next weak victim to ridicule, threaten or. The result is a tough and uncompromising, but also touching, poetic and though-provoking portrait.

Su 17. April We 20. April Su 24. April

16:40 Grand Teatret 21:30 Vester Vov Vov 19:00 Vester Vov Vov

Pietro Italy 2010, 82 min.

Italian / English Subtitles Director: Daniele Gaglianone Script: Daniele Gaglianone Camera: Gherardo Gossi Editor: Enrico Giovannone Music: Evandro Fornasier, Walter Magri, Mario Actis, Plus Production: BabyDocFilm, La Fabbrichetta Producer: Enrico Giovannone, Francesca Frigo, Andrea Parena, Gianluca Arcopinto, Emanuele Nespeca Cast: Pietro Casella, Francesco Lattarulo, Fabrizio Nicastro, Carlotta Saletti Distr.: Ellipsis Media International

FESTIVAL programMe

SPOTLIGHT: ITALY

285

Ascanio Celestini

The Black Sheep There is plenty of narrative zeal in ‘The Black Sheep’, about the outsider Nicola and his unjust upbringing in a closed ward. The film begins in the early 60’s, where the slightly backward Nicola lives with his grandparents.

His mother is hospitalised in the local insane asylum, and his father works far away. Distant and unfocused, he does badly at school, occupied instead with making up fantasy stories, in order to escape the bullying of his older brothers. He also makes plans for how he can conquer the heart of his great love, delightful Marinella from his class. One day, Nicola sees his brothers commit a terrible crime, but in order to cover it up, they accuse their younger brother of being retarded. Nicola is locked away in the closed ward. Time has passed and, as a adult, Nicola’s world has now shrunk down to just the insane asylum and weekly excursions to the local supermarket.

Here, he one day meets Marinella again and begins dreaming of a normal life. With ‘The Black Sheep’, the director, Ascanio Celestini, tackles a story which he has already staged as a theatre play and published as a book. The result is a film which positively oozes narrative pleasure, all the while shifting elegantly from the past to the present, and from the harsh existential conditions of reality to the infinitely more beautiful world of dreams.

Th 21. April Su 1. May

21:30 Vester Vov Vov 16:40 Grand Teatret

La pecora nera Italy 2010, 93 min.

Italian / English Subtitles Director: Ascanio Celestini Script: Ascanio Celestini, Ugo Chiti, Wilma Labate Camera: Daniele Ciprì Editor: Giogiò Franchini Music: Ascanio Celestini Sound: Maurizio Argentieri Production: Madeleine, Rai Cinema, supported

by MiBAC Producer: Alessandra Acciai, Carlo Macchitella, Giorgio Magliulo Cast: Ascanio Celestini, Maya Sansa, Giorgio Tirabassi, Luisa De Santis, Nicola Rignanese Distr.: BIM Distribuzione

286

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

SpoTLIGhT: ITaLy

SavERIo CoSTanZo

THE sOLITuDE OF PRIME NuMBERs ‘THE sOLITuDE OF PRIME Numbers’ is based on Paulo Giordano’s bestseller of the same name. The author also co-wrote the screenplay for Saverio Constanzo’s cinematic climax of a complex story, about two lonely people who are attracted to each other, but are both scarred in body and soul, making it difficult for them to open up to others. The story moves forwards and backwards in time, so we gradually come to understand, why both Mattia and Alice feel alienated towards life.

Both suffered their own trauma, as children in the 80’s, which has haunted them through their youth and into adulthood. With expressive images, and an original soundtrack by musicians such as Mike Patton, Saverio Constanzo manages to achieve a close-up perspective of the tormented couple. At the same time, the strong performances in both the lead and the supporting roles, including Isabella Rossellini as Mattia’s dominating mother, create an exciting and, at times, almost horrifying story about how life can shape itself in highly different ways, as a result of those small, decisive moments.

su 17. April sa 23. April Mo 25. April

21:00 21:30 19:00

GRanD TEaTRET vESTER vov vov vESTER vov vov

LA sOLITuDINE DEI NuMERI PRIMI Italy, Germany, France 2010, 118 min.

Italian / English Subtitles Director: Saverio Costanzo Script: Saverio Costanzo, Paolo Giordano Camera: Fabio Cianchetti Editor: Francesca Calvelli Music: Mike Patton Production: Offside, Bavaria Pictures, Les Films des Tournelles Producer: Mario Gianani Cast: Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Marinelli, Maurizio Donadoni, Isabella Rossellini, Filippo Timi Distr.: Le Pacte

CPH PIX poesi og S-more • Alle forestillinger til kr. 65* • Last-minute-rabat • Få 25 % på åbningsfesten • Få 25 % på afslutningsfesten • S-more særforestillinger * Normalpris aften kr. 80.

Tilbuddene forudsætter medlemsskab af S-more.

Mere service

Mere rabat

Mere sjov

Læs mere på dsb.dk/s-more

SPOTLIGHT: UK TODAY There is far more than 5 o’clock tea to be found in new British films.

This year’s four films range from industrious grave-robbery to stylish drama in an online suicide forum, from ultra-tough Scottish school violence to a film made on no budget. It is absolutely obvious

why Great Britain is one of the first places Hollywood looks, when it tries to find new talents for the American film industry.

FESTIVAL programMe

SPOTLIGHT: UK TODAY

289

William Brown

Afterimages Everyone talks about the digital revolution, but only few people do anything about it and make films for fun. English filmmaker William Brown visited CPH PIX last year with his charming Godard hommage ‘En attendant Godard’. This year, he returns with his brandnew film ‘Afterimages’, and again we can expect a simple and likeable film, shot on video with absolutely no money - but with the same energy and desire to make films that drove his French role models in the 1960s.

Dennis, an émigré from Guatemala, who makes a living as a baker in the middle of nowhere in Scotland finds a mobile phone on the street. The telephone contains nothing but a video of a girl being raped by three hooligans in a forest. After seeing the clip without knowing what was happens after, he can’t forget it again. ‘Afterimages’ of the video have burnt themselves into his mind and so the good-hearted Dennis sets out to find the girl and the three hooligans. If you have a penchant for the particular British kind of solidarity for the man on the street (and for French digressions), then ‘Afterimages’ is good company.

Fr 22. April We 27. April

14:15 Dagmar Teatret 22:30 Husets Biograf

Afterimages UK 2010, 92 min.

English Version Director: William Brown Script: William Brown Camera: Tom Maine Editor: William Brown Sound: Deanne Cunningham Production: Beg Steal Borrow Producer: William Brown Cast: Dennis Chua, Ben Milne, Flossie Topping, Andrew Slater, Nick Marwick, Tommy Zyw, Gumi Bako Distr.: Beg Steal Borrow

290

FESTIVAL programME

SPOTLIGHT: UK TODAY

John Landis

Burke and Hare Back in the 19th century, when people were dying like flies, decent money could be made organising fresh bodies for the anatomy studies of medical academies.

It is this clever line of work that would secure the two industrious Irishmen William Burke and William Hare a somewhat special place in the history books. They start out low-key with a bit of innocent grave digging, but soon the two gentlemen get a taste for the life of luxury that goes together with entrepreneurship, and it’s not long before they have to find new ways of delivering fresh bodies, if they want to maintain their level of wealth. It sounds like a dreary story, but in the hands of veteran John Landis it is presented with a great sense of humour. The man behind 80s cult hits such as ‘Blues Brothers’ and ‘An American Werewolf in London’ is back in great shape. The two main roles are played by Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis, two absolute experts of comic timing. They are helped by stars such as Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry and Christopher Lee in sublime supporting roles. Landis might be embellishing the truth a bit, but what difference does it make: this cock-and-bull story is just too bloody hilarious.

Th 21. April Su 24. April Sa 30. April

12:15 17:00 12:00

Dagmar Teatret Empire Grand Teatret

Burke and Hare UK 2010, 91 min.

English Version Director: John Landis Script: Piers Ashworth, Nick Moorcroft Camera: John Mathieson Editor: Mark Everson Music: Joby Talbot Sound: Peter Hanson Production: Aegis Film Fund, Ealing Studios, Fragile Films, Prescience Producer: Barnaby Thompson Cast: Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry, Christopher Lee Distr.: Pan Vision Danmark A/S

FESTIVAL programMe

SPOTLIGHT: UK TODAY

291

Peter Mullan

Neds John is proud to have finished primary school and looks forward to a cooler life in high school. The joy of anticipation is short-lived however, when he is faced with a proletarian Scottish threat, which ends up sealing the red-haired boy’s fate: “If you show up at my school, I will beat the hell out of you every single day.” And this is not entirely inaccurate, for notwithstanding John’s personal ambitions, it is not his academic agenda that is given most attention. Not only does he have to deal with his older brother’s reputation of being a bully, but he also has to find his own feet in the midst of daily thrashings and worse still. Peter Mullan, the director of the heart-rending ‘Magdalene Sisters’ (2002) knows his social realism to the core and with ‘Neds’, which stands for non-educated delinquents, he paints a bitter portrait of Glasgow in the 1970s. Violence is the only dominant principle, and instead of promoting John’s obvious intelligence, he is ridiculed by both teachers and students, until he has no choice but to become exactly as is expected of him.

Th 21. April Fr 29. April

21:30 19:00

Grand Teatret Grand Teatret

Neds UK, France, Italy 2010, 124 min.

English / English Subtitles Director: Peter Mullan Script: Peter Mullan Camera: Roman Osin Editor: Colin Monie Music: Craig Armstrong Production: Blue Light, Fidélite Films, Studio Urania Producer: Olivier Delbosc, Alain de la Mata, Marc Missonnier Cast: Conor McCarron, Steven Robertson, Martin Bell, Marcus Nash Distr.: Another World Entertainment

292

FESTIVAL programME

SPOTLIGHT: UK TODAY

Karl Golden

Pelican Blood There is so much going on in Karl Golden’s film, both in terms of subject-matter and aesthetics, that one is constantly reminded of the 60’s and 70’s, when British film and its FRONT RUNNERS, such as Stanley Kubrick and Lindsay Anderson, gained a reputation of not batting an eyelid when things became dangerous.

‘Pelican Blood’ often feels like a national cinematic rebirth. Stevie and Nikko originally met each other on an on-line suicide forum, which they both survived.

But now they meet again. He has become a passionate amateur ornithologist, and has decided to end his life as soon as he has written his personal observations on 500 bird species. He only has 13 more to write about!

The film conveys a bad temper and a dull pain from all the missed opportunities. We only want the best for the attractive, young couple, but the unspoken lurks everywhere in the film’s peripheries, and one should never joke about morbid personalities. Not a film you’ll forget so quickly...

Tu 19. April We 27. April Su 1. May

19:00 Grand Teatret 16:30 Palads 19:00 Palads

Pelican Blood UK 2009, 94 min.

English Version Director: Karl Golden Script: Cris Cole Camera: Darran Tiernan Editor: Martin Brinkler Music: Niall Byrne Production: EM Media, Ecosse Films Producer: Robert Bernstein, John McDonnell, Douglas Rae Cast: Harry Treadaway, Arthur Darvill, Emma Booth, Christopher Fulford Distr.: Karl Golden

2011 Look forward to the next BUSTER film festival, 15 to 25 September 2011!

BUSTER gives it a go: Music on film - turn up the volume (our amps goes to 11)!

BUSTER for real: Lies and consequences Free educational DVD: New films with complete teaching materials!

294

FESTIVAL programME

Akira Nobi nobi@taniguchi-studio.com Aktis Film International GmbH info@aktisfilm.com Alfama Films alfamafilms@orange.fr AV Pictures jane@avpictures.co.uk Bavaria Film claudia.rudolph@bavaria-film.de Beg Steal Borrow wjrcbrown@gmail.com Beta Cinema beta@betacinema.com BIM Distribuzione bimfilm@bimfilm.com Blackmaria blackmaria@blackmaria.pt Camelot Entertainment Group festivals@camelotfilms.com Capricci Films contact@capricci.fr Catalan Films & TV mmedir@gencat.cat Cinetic Media Inc. info@cineticmedia.com La Cinématèque de Toulouse contact@lacinemathequedetoulouse.com CJ Entertainment infofilm@cj.net Coach 14 festivals@coach14.com Coproduction Office festivals@coproductionoffice.eu Cult Epics, Inc nico@cultepics.com

distributors

Europe Images International contact@europeimages.com FiGa Films, LLC. contact@figafilms.com Film Clinic mohefzy@film-clinic.com Film Europe info@filmeurope.eu Filmax filmax@filmax.com Films Boutique info@filmsboutique.com Films Distribution info@filmsdistribution.com Les Films du Losange l.zipci@filmsdulosange.fr FilmSharks International alpha@filmsharks.com Finecut / Cineclick Asia cineinfo@finecut.co.kr Finnish Film Foundation jenni.domingo@ses.fi Foglight LLC daniel@foglightfilms.com Fortissimo Film Sales info@fortissimo.nl France Télévisions Distribution c.rae@francetv.com Fungi LLC branney@cthulhulives.org Fusion Edge Media nordic@fusionedge.net Gaumont abuhl@gaumont.fr Golden Network LTD info@goldnetasia.com

Deluxe Art hokesh@gmail.com

Grindhouse Releasing info@grindhousereleasing.com

Doc & Film doc@docandfilm.com

Hanway Films info@hanwayfilms.com

E1 Entertainment NAbed@elent.com

High Point Films & info@highpointfilms.co.uk

Eddie Saeta, S.A. eddie@eddiesaeta.com

Hollywood Classics Ltd. hollywoodclassicsuk@compuserve.com

Ellipsis Media International ellipsis@ellipsis.it

Human Film Isabelle@humanfilm.co.uk

Emperor Motion Pictures enquiry@emp.hk

Icelandic Film Centre info@icelandicfilmcentre.is

Estonian Film Foundation film@efsa.ee

Jinga Film rosana@jingafilms.com

Ealing Studios naomi.weiner@ealingstudios.com

Jim White JImSUperwhite43@aol.com

eOne Entertainment pascalel@filmsseville.com

Jürgen Brüning Filmproduktion producer@ottothezombie.de

distributors

FESTIVAL programMe

Karl Golden karlgolden@yahoo.co.uk

Rezo Films International festival@rezofilms.com

Kaze contact@kaze.fr

Revolution Films email@revolution-films.com

Kinorama info@kinorama.hr

Sciapode eblezat@sciapode.net

m-appeal festivals@m-appeal.com

Se-Ma-For Film Production biuro@se-ma-for.com

M-Line Distribution nahie@mline-distribution.com

Small Form Films soundvirus@aol.com

Match Factory info@matchfactory.de

Soul Food Films milos.milosevic@soulfoodfilms.com

Matt Compton matt@mattcompton.net

Storyline Studios knud@storylinestudios.no

Media Asia Distribution wwdisti@mediaasia.com

Studio Slon studio_slon@bk.ru

Media Blasters info@media-blasters.com

Swedish Film Institute (SFI) gunnar.almer@sfi.se

Media Luna New Films UG info@medialuna.biz

Tamasa Distribution contact@tamasadiffusion.com

Memento Films sales@memento-films.com

Telewizja Polska S.A. aleksandra.biernacka@waw.tvp.pl

Michael Tully mynameismichaeltully@gmail.com

TF1 International office@thefestivalagency.com

Mirovision sales@mirovision.com

The Made Bed Production idleness@mac.com

MK 2 intlsales@mk2.com

Toho International tohointl@toho.co.jp

Nasjonalbiblioteket arild.jorgensen@nb.no

Tohokushinsha Film Corporation kokusai@tfc.co.jp

National Audiovisual Archive KAVA kava@kava.fi

TrustNordisk susan@trustnordisk.com

New Horizons Pictures Corp. frankm@concorde-newhorizons.com

UIP Tinna_Munk@uip.com

Nikkatsu Corporation nobu@nikkatsu.co.jp

Umedia contact@umedia.fr

NonStop Entertainment info@nonstopentertainment.com

UTV Motion Pictures monika.hak@utvgroup.com

Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) Stine.Oppegaard@nfi.no Nukufilm OÜ nukufilm@nukufilm.ee

Václav Kadrnka info@vaclavkadrnka.com

Le Pacte contact@le-pacte.com

Voltage Pictures christian@voltagepictures.com

Parts and Labor lars@population2.com

Wide Management wide@widemanagement.com

Patrick Steele karmitz@donet.com

Wild Bunch ycornu@wildbunch.eu

Pyramide International pricher@pyramidefilms.com

Yoshimoto Kogyo Co. lee.sonia@yoshimoto.co.jp

Recreation Media info@recreation-media.com

zeroFunction Productions Inc. zero@zeroFunction.com

Rendez-vous Pictures contact@rendezvouspictures.com

VizArt Film Production vizart@vizartfilms.com

295

296

FESTIVAL programME

index

13 Assassins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 32nd December . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Dream Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Drei . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Aardvark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Absent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Afterimages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Aftershock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Agitated Screams of Maggots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

All Good Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amigo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amnesty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

L’amour braque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Analog Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And Peace On Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Attenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Aurora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

175 39 289 223 186 11 176 12 149 53 283 40 269

Eighty Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 The Elephant Man - LIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 End of Animal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14 Enter the Void . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Essential Killing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Even The Rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

The Bang Bang Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bardsongs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Before the Storm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Big Man Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Black Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Black Sheep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Black Venus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blair Witch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blessed Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blue Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Boris Godounov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bosporus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Brownian Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Burke and Hare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid . . . . . . . . .

280 106 72 213 26 285 237 131 198 243 153 151 68 41 290 86

Car Cemetery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Certified Coppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Chamanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Chantrapas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27 Charlie Butterfly - Director’s Cut 2011 . . . . . . . . . 65 The Christening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Christina Lindberg Double Feature . . . . . . . . . . . 87 The City Below . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Civil War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13 Cold Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 The Collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37 Confessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Cornelis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Crispin Hellion Glover - LIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Curling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 The Day of Ants In the Sky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Day of the Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 The Dead Mountaineer Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Death Kappa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 The Devil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Dharma Guns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Docteur Chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Dog Sweat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Dogs In Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Fidelity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Film socialisme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Finisterrae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The Fir Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Fire of Conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Flowers of Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 Forest Creatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Gallants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 The Gladiators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Gone With the Pope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Gorbaciof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 The Great Mistake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Hahaha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Haruko Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Heartbeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Hobo with a Shotgun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 The Housemaid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 The Housemaid (1960) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 How I Ended This Summer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 I’ll Come Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Illegal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Incendies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

91 The Journals of Musan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Juan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Julie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Kaboom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Karate-Robo Zaborgar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kid Icarus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

King of Thorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

178 216 54 185

L.A. Zombie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains . . .

Lapland Odyssey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Last Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Leap Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Life And Death Of A Porno Gang . . . . . . . .

Limbo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Littlerock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Liv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Love Like Poison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

202 169 249 179 46 207 250 55 72 238

The Main Thing Is To Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Man and Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74 Man At Bath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 The Man From Nowhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

FESTIVAL programMe

index

Man in Space, Child in Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Man Who Thought Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Maska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meek’s Cutoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Microphone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Midnight Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Midori-ko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Mill & The Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Morgen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Movie Moves Mash-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

My Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days .

Mysteries of Lisbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

68 161 190 180 108 203 188 264 270 137 115 47 152 31

Neds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Never Let Me Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 New Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 No Doubt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Noise Night - Slütspürt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Nude Nuns With Big Guns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Nyman Shorts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Oasis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57 On The Silver Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 On Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 One Man Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 The Origin Of Creatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Our Day Will Come . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19 Outbound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Paths Of Hate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Pavoncello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Peaceforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Pear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16 Peepli Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Pelican Blood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 Peppermint Candy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Piercing I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Pietro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Pink Halo-Halo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 PJ Harvey - Let England Shake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

111 Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Potiche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 The Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Principles of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 The Public Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Punk and Glory: The Punk Films of Peter Sempel 170 A Quiet Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

Redline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Reign Of Assassins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Road To Nowhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 The Road To Paradise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74 Rebound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

297

Rosa Morena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Route Irish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Savage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Secuestrados . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Septien . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Serbian Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Shameless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

She Monkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Shit Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Silent Souls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sky Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sleeping Sickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Solitude Of Prime Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Son of Babylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sound of Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Star Is Born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Stool Pigeon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Story of Triumphant Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Suburbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Summer of Goliath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Summerland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sunrise + KTL live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Super . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Svart Hav . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

67 100 252 204 181 197 251 253 182 261 189 245 286 279 117 105 234 143 172 48 254 126 218 162

Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project . . . . . . . .

Terminal City Ricochet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Third Part of the Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Time of Roses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tomrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Troll Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Truce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

True Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Turin Horse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Two Gates Of Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Two In the Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

262 173 205 144 159 74 209 95 219 36 210 220 35 17 241

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Upstairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Utopians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33 68 183

Viva Riva! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18

A Wall Is A Screen - Copenhagen . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 The Way Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 We Are What We Are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 When I Turned Fourteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

72 The Whisperer in Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 White, White World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 The Wild Wild World of MissAsssnatch . . . . . . . 102 Winter Vacation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The Woman With A Broken Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop . . . . . . . . . 85 Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74 You Are Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20

298

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Hovedsponsor MAIN SPONSOR

Mediepartner MEDIA PARTNER

offentlige partnere OFFICIAL CONTRIBUTORS

sponsorer SPONSORS

gh

us

e t b r au n s

te

in

br y

officielle partnere OFFICIAL PARTNERS

hå nd

n av eh bryg get på køg

PARTNERS AND CONTRIBUTORS saMarbejdspartnere og bidragsydere

den Polske AmbAssAde i dAnmArk

DANSK SKUESPILLERFORBUND

Augustinus fonden

VAngsgAArds store bogudsAlg

madaroma

www.avenue-av.dk

* 5 7 1 0 1 8 2 0 0 0 2 7 3

www.cphpix.dk

*

Main sponsor:

Media Partner:

Official Contributors: