The CEE selection in the festival’s Competition comprises Ana, mon amour by the Romanian Călin Peter Netzer, Spoor / Pokot by Agnieszka Holland from Poland, Wilde Mouse / Wilde Maus by Josef Hader from Austria (debut feature) and On Body and Soul / Teströl és lélekröl by the Hungarian Ildikó Enyedi.
After winning the Golden Globe with Child’s Pose / Pozitia copilului (Parada Film) in 2013, in Ana, mon amour Calin Peter Netzer is investigating the romantic relationship with all its dependencies and crisis situations against the backdrop of the social realities of Romania. The film was produced by Parada Film in coproduction with augenschein Filmproduktion and Sophie Dulac Productions. It was supported by the Romanian National Film Center, Eurimages, the MEDIA Programme, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW GmbH and France’s Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée.
The main characters are played by Mircea Postelnicu and Diana Cavallioti, and the cast includes: Carmen Tănase, Adrian Titieni and Vlad Ivanov. Ana, mon amour will have its world premiere during the Berlinale and will be released in Romania by Freeman Entertainment on 3 March 2017. Beta Cinema is handling the sales.
Agnieszka Holland ‘s Spoor / Pokot aka Game Count is a crime thriller adapting Olga Tokarczuk’s bestselling novel Drive Your Plough over the Bones of the Dead. The script co-written by Holland and Tokarczuk follows a series of murders of hunters from a small community. An elderly villager Janina finds herself a prime suspect in the police investigation.
Agnieszka Mandat plays the lead and the cast includes Wiktor Zborowski, Jakub Gierszał, Borys Szyc, Andrzej Grabowski, Tomasz Kot and Katarzyna Herman.
The film is a Polish/German/Czech/Sweden/Slovak coproduction, produced by TOR Film Production in coproduction with Heimatfilm GmbH (Germany), Chimney Group (Sweden) and nutprodukce (Czech Republic), nutprodukcia (Slovak Republic). The Polish Film Institute, the MEDIA Programme, the Czech State Cinematography Fund, Eurimages, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Swedish Film Institute and the Polish-German Co-Development Fund supported the film. Beta Film is handling the rights and Next Film will distribute the film in Poland.
Two CEE films were selected for Berlinale Special – the documentary The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov by Askold Kurov and the feature film A Prominent Patient / Masaryk by Julius Sevcík. The first one is a coproduction between Marx Film (Estonia), Message Film (Poland) and the Czech Television with the support of the Polish Film Institute and B2B Doc.
The film focuses on the trial against the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, sentenced by Russia to 20 years of prison in August 2015. The film will have its world premiere at the Berlinale and will also celebrate 30 Years of European Film Academy, being followed by a panel discussion with Mike Downey, Agnieszka Holland, the makers of the film, as well as Sentsov’s (and former Pussy Riot) lawyer Dimitri Dintze.
A Prominent Patient / Masaryk is a drama inspired by the American period in the life of Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovak diplomat in London, who failed to win the support of the British for his country in 1939 and fled to the USA.
The film is a Czech/Slovak coproduction produced by In Film in coproduction with the Czech Television, Radio and Television Slovakia. It was supported by the Czech State Cinematography Fund, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Prague City Hall.
Another two CEE films will screen in the Berlinale Special Series: The Same Sky / Der gleiche Himmel directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel for ZDF and Patriot created by Steve Conrad for Amazon Prime Video.
The Same Sky / Der gleiche Himmel is a German/Czech coproduction created by Paula Milne and staring Tom Schilling, Sofia Helin, Friederike Becht, Ben Becker and Jörg Schüttauf. The series was produced by A UFA FICTION / Beta Film in coproduction with Mia film, in association with Rainmark Films.
American/Czech coproduction Patriot, starring Michael Dorman, Kurtwood Smith, Michael Chernus and Kathleen Munroe is produced by Amazon Studios in coproduction with Milk&Honey.
One CEE documentary has been selected for Panorama Dokumente - the Austrian/German coproduction Untitled directed by Michael Glawogger and Monika Willi.
My Happy Family / Chemi bednieri ojakhi by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross has been selected for Forum. This German/Georgian/French coproduction was produced by augenschein Filmproduktion GmbH in coproduction with Polare Film Llc and Arizona Production. The Romanian Tudor Vladimir Panduru is the DoP.
Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Federal Government Representative for Culture and Media (BKM) and German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) from Germany, Eurimages, the Georgian National Film Centre and France’s Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC) were supporting. ZDF - Das kleine Fernsehspiel has already acquired the broadcasting rights. Zorro Film will distribute My Happy Family in Germany.
Animals / Tiere by Greg Zglinski, a psychological drama in the tradition of David Lynch, was also selected for Forum. The film is a Swiss/Austrian/Polish coproduction between Tell Film, Opus Film and COOP99. The film stars Brigit Minichmayr, Philipp Hochmair, Mona Petri, Mehdi Nebbou and Michael Ostrowski.
Rudzienko by Sharon Lockhart (Poland/USA), A Heart of Love – Director‘s Cut /Serce Miłości – Director‘s Cut by Łukasz Ronduda (Poland) and the short film The Shortest Day by Karø Goldt (Austria) were selected for Forum Expanded.
Three CEE films have been selected for the Short Film Competition: the Polish/German coproduction Miss Holocaust directed by Michalina Musielak, the German/Austrian coproduction Fishing Is Not Done on Tuesdays directed by Lukas Marxt & Marcel Odenbach, and the German/Austrian coproduction Keep that Dream Burning directed by Rainer Kohlberger. The American/Hungarian short film The Rabbit Hunt by Patrick Bresnan was selected out of the competition.
Polish feature film The Erlprince / Krolewicz Olch by Kuba Czekaj was selected for Generation 14plus. The film was produced by Munk Studio-Polish Filmmakers Association in coproduction with TVP, Odra Film and ORKA Production Studio, with the support of the Polish Film Institute and the Wroclaw Film Commission.
This coming-of-age story about an exceptionally gifted teenage boy stars Staszek Cywka, Agnieszka Podsiadlik and Sebastian Łach.
Little Harbour / Piata Loď by Iveta Grófová will have its world premiere in Generation Kplus. The Slovak director’s film is an adaptation of a novel by Monika Kompaníková, with children assuming the roles of adults. The film is a Slovak/Czech/Hungarian coproduction between Hulapa Film, endorfilm and Katapult.
Russian/Lithuanian coproduction Milk directed by Daria Vlasova and Croatian/Slovenian/Swedish coproduction Into the Blue / U Plavetnilo directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic, were selected for Short Films Generation 14plus.
Latvian Singing Hugo and His Incredible Adventures / Dziedošais Hugo un viņa neticamie piedzīvojumi directed by Reinis Kalnaellis, Canadian/Croatian coproduction Hedgehog´s Home directed by Eva Cvijanovic, Georgian Li.le directed by Natia Nikolashvili and Hungarian Volcanoisland /Vulkánsziget directed by Anna Katalin Lovrity, were selected for Short Films Generation Kplus.
The following CEE projects are among the official projects selected for the 14th edition of Berlinale’s Co-production Market (12-15 February 2017): The Deer / Căprioara directed by Bogdan George Apetri and produced by Romania’s Fantascope Films, Lost Country directed by Vladimir Perisic and coproduced by France’s Kino Elektron in coproduction with Serbia’s Trilema and France’s MPM Film, Eloe directed by Piotr Złotorowicz and produced by Poland’s Lava Films, and Charlatan directed by Agnieszka Holland and produced by the Czech company Marlene Film Production.
German/Austrian coproduction Freud (Bavaria Fernsehproduktion & Satel Film) and Bulgaria’s Hausen (Tanuki Films) will participate in CoPro Series 2017, set to take place on 15 February 2017.
The following CEE actors are among the European Shooting Stars 2017 (10-13 February 2017): Elina Vaska (Latvia), Maruša Majer (Slovenia), Tudor Aaron Istodor (Romania) and Zofia Wichlacz (Poland).
Several young filmmakers were selected for the work-in-progress sections of Berlinale Talents: Luka Popadic with The Shift (Serbia/Switzerland), Jonas Trukanas with When the Lights Go Out (Lithuania) and Marta Prokopova with Wild Beast (Slovakia) for Short Film Station 2017, Justyna Tafel with Peace’n’quiet (Centrala Film, Poland) for Script Station 2017, and Agnieszka Elbanowska with Pray for Peace, Train for War (Impact Film, Poland) for Doc Station 2017.
