You can say that all of the participating filmmakers are indeed winners. Many of the young filmmakers are able to present their first features or documentaries at the festival and many of the renowned filmmakers are actually award winning directors.
DAS FRÄULEIN, Andrea Staka’s very ambitious first feature that the Swiss director has been awarded for, will be the opening film of the festival. Ruxandra Zenide will be presenting her new film RYNA, an intense portrait of a young Rumanian girl that is trying to make sense of her unusual life situation. One of the critics’ insider tips is RIVIERA by French filmmaker Anne Villacéque with the great Miou-Miou in the leading role of a concerned mother. German director Birgit Grosskopf tells the story of the daily shenanigans of a girl gang and Birgit Möller’s VALERIE is about a model who fails to keep up with the demands of the business that she had chosen as her profession. BARAKAT by Djamila Shraoui is a film about two brave women in civil war Algeria and Georgina Garcia Riedel’s film HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS SPENT THEIR SUMMER accompanies three women of different generations on their search for new love.
Well known Italian director Christina Comencini contributes with her new film LA BESTIA NEL CUORE. She has found an original approach to creating a family drama about of one of society’s biggest taboos, child abuse. On occasion of her 70th birthday we are happy to be paying tribute to Hungarian filmmaker Judit Elek who participates with A HÉT NYOLADIK NAPJA.
On March, 11th in cooperation with the Akkordeon Festival we are showing DIE FREUDLOSE GASSE, an homage to silent movie star Asta Nielsen. The film will be accompanied with live music by accordion player Maria Düchler. The cinema premiere of PRINCESAS, an authentic portrait of two befriended sex workers by Spanish director Fernando Léon de Aranoa, will be closing the festival on March, 15th.
GV/EV - german/english version
ogs/oes - original with german/english subtitles
Tribute to Judit Elek
Judit Elek, Hungary 2006,
feature, 103 min., color, 35mm, oes
After her husband’s death an elderly ballet teacher finds herself in the midst of what appears to be a chain of unfortunate events. Trying to keep the family house turns out to be difficult as she sees herself confronted with corruption and betrayal. Quickly things become too much for her as she faces imminent threat to her possession and dignity.
Djamila Sahraoui, Algeria/France 2006,
feature, 95 min., Beta SP, oes
Algeria, during the nineties: Amel is a doctor and tries to carry out her job and live her life despite civil war. One evening, Amel realizes that her husband, a journalist, has disappeared. Confronted by the inertia of the authorities, she decides to set out to find him, accompanied by her colleague Khadija. During their dangerous journey, the two women learn more about each other while also confronting the men of their country.
Nancy Savoca, USA 2003,
feature, 91 min., color, DVD, EV
The illegal immigrant Dolores from El Salvador has illuminating insights cleaning the luxurious apartments of the most successful residents of New York. An unforeseen event brings her back to El Salvador, but now everything is different for her ...
Georgina Garcia Riedel, USA 2005,
feature, 128 min., color, Beta SP, EV
What does female desire look like? And how do self-inflicted limitations and social expectations shade and color it? In her first feature film, Georgina Garcia Riedel lovingly explores the terrain of longing, loneliless and self-realization among three generations of single women in a Mexican American family.
Cristina Comencini, Italy 2006,
feature, 120 min., 35mm, oes
Sabina is beautiful, has a boyfriend that loves her and leads a peaceful life… But is she really happy? She has begun having strange, haunting nightmares. Upon finding out that she is pregnant, a window of memories opens up onto her inner world: her childhood, her family, the rites of a strict yet reassuring middle-class upbringing. But this is just the surface. Something dark and disturbing is stirring underneath….
Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Sabina was awarded best actor in Venice 2005.
Anne Villacéque, France 2005,
feature, 95 min., color, 35mm, oes
Anne Villacéque: For Antoinette and her relationship with her daughter, I thought a lot about Visconti’s Bellissima, with the great Anna Magnani, this magnificent and eternal story of a mother who pushes her daughter to become what she was not able to be herself [...].
Ruxandra Zenide, Switzerland/Romania 2005,
feature, 92 min., color, 35mm, oes
Ryna shows the awakening of a young girl. Trapped between traditional values and her desire to live as a woman, Ryna finally has to pay a heavy price in order to preserve her identity.