Berlin International Film Festival 2012

View other Berlin International Film Festival Films by strand: Berlinale Special, Berlinale Special Tribute, Competition, Culinary Cinema, Forum, Generation, German Cinema - LOLA@Berlinale, Happy Birthday, Studio Babelsberg, Homage, Panorama, Panorama Documentary, Panorama Special, Perspektive Deutsches Kino, Retrospective - The Red Dream Factory

ABC (Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Madli Lääne)
After endless years of the Liberian civil war, 17 year old Vele is struggling to make the future brighter for her and her two daughters - learning to read and write is the first step.
Anesthesia (Mah-Chui) (Country: Republic of Korea (South Korea); Year: 2011; Director: Kim Souk-young; Stars: Baek Seon-ju, Park Myeong-sin, Park Se-jin, Lim Hyeong-guk)
A young nurse faces a dilemma after inadvertently witnessing her boss commit rape.
Batman At The Checkpoint (Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Rafael Balulu; Stars: Yoav Saadian Rosenberg, Michel Abou Maneh, Roy Turgeman)
Stuck with their parents in traffic at a checkpoint outside Jerusalem, two six-year-olds, Yuval from Israel and Mahmoud from Palestine begin to play and end up fighting over a Batman doll.
The Blessed (La Santa) (Country: Chile; Year: 2012; Director: Mauricio López Fernández; Writer: Mauricio López Fernández)
The End (Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Didier Barcelo; Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Gérard Darmon, Géraldine Nakache, Philippe Caubère, Vanessa Fonte)
Charlotte Rampling explores the nature of her past.
Erotische Fragmente Nr. 1,2,3 (Erotic Fragments No. 1,2,3) (Country: Thailand; Year: 2011; Director: Anucha Boonyawatana; Stars: Chatchawat Prasobned, Chinakhet Chandsamphao, Chuchat Nakthung)
“Three” is the rule. The film has three parts. Each part has three shots and each shot is thirty seconds in length. Three characters share their erotic desires from the point of view of a third class citizen in contemporary Thai society.
The Five Elements (Panchabhuta) (Country: India; Year: 2011; Director: Mohan Kumar Valasala)
The five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether are explored from the perspective of those who live on the edges of society.
Five Ways To Kill A Man (Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Christopher Bisset; Writer: Christopher Bisset, Stephen Hitchcock; Stars: Max Woelky, Conchita Soares, Jojo Urquico, Numan Acar)
Every morning, Sam wakes up with new and exotic people in his bedroom; each one forces him to confront the global impact of his consumerist lifestyle choices.
The Great Rabbit (Gurehto Rabitto) (Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Atsushi Wada; Writer: Atsushi Wada)
An animated rabbit prompts questions about belief and the true nature of reality.
Hungary 2011 (Magyarország 2011) (Country: Hungary; Year: 2012; Director: András Jeles, Ágnes Kocsis, Ferenc Török, Simon Szabó, Márta Mészáros, Péter Forgács, László Siroki, György Pálfi, Bence Fliegauf, András Salamon, Miklós Jancsó)
Béla Tarr,has produced this anthology film together with 11 filmmakers from Hungary. The film is an outcry in a country where the right-wing government is increasingly restricting cultural and filmwork.
I Too Have a Name (Enakkum Oru Per) (Country: USA / Sri Lanka; Year: 2011; Director: Suba Sivakumaran; Writer: Suba Sivakumaran; Stars: Nimmi Harasgama, Subha Wijesiriwardena)
A Tamil woman living in devastated north-eastern Sri Lanka is helped to find new strength.
Karrabing! Low Tide Turning (Karrabing! Kurz Vor der Flut) (Country: Australia; Year: 2012; Director: Liza Johnson, Elizabeth A. Povinelli; Stars: Angie Lewis, Cecilia Lewis, Rex Edmunds)
A group of indigenous Australians who were forced off their homeland go in search of their missing sisters.
Licuri Surf (Country: Brazil; Year: 2011; Director: Guile Martins; Writer: Guile Martins)
An adventure film of a different kind: this film takes us on a journey into the world of young, indigenous men who live only for the next wave.
LI.LI.TA.AL. (Country: Japan; Year: 2011; Director: Akihito Izuhara)
Animated short.
A Little Suicide (Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Ana Lily Amirpour; Writer: Ana Lily Amirpour)
In a world where people hate you without exception and kill you mercilessly, it's no wonder this cockroach is suicidal.
Looking Out (Utsikter) (Country: Sweden; Year: 2011; Director: Marcus Harrling, Moa Geistrand)
A view framed by walls. A woman describes the feelings she has as her imprisonment comes to an end.
The Lost Land (Shi Luo Zhi Di) (Country: People's Republic of China; Year: 2011; Director: Zhou Yan; Writer: Zhou Yan; Stars: Wu Bi, Lipstick Chan)
Marco Polo once described the southern Chinese city of Suzhou as the ‘Venice of the East’. And yet, where streams once flowed, there is now mainly barren wasteland. A community of travellers now stops here to set up their circus... but soon find themselves threatened.
Loxoro (Country: Spain / Peru / Argentina / USA; Year: 2011; Director: Claudia Llosa; Writer: Claudia Llosa; Stars: Belissa Andía, Ariana Wésember, Pilar Gonzales)
The story of a search that crosses boundaries into a remote and unknown world where the unfamiliar is the familiar.
The Man That Got Away (Country: Canada; Year: 2012; Director: Trevor Anderson; Writer: Trevor Anderson, Trevor Anderson; Stars: Aryn McConnell, Bryce Kulak, Noam Gagnon, Connie Champagne)
Director’s statement: A musical. A life. My family almost forgot to tell me about my great-uncle Jimmy. True story, or so I’m told. Jimmy grew up on a farm, on the Canadian prairies, in the Rosebud Valley, during the Great Depression. His older brothers were teenage mechanics, or outfielders on the local baseball team. But not Jimmy. At ten years old, Jimmy was Georgie Kempt’s star pupil in tap dance and acrobatics.
Nostalgia (Nostalgie) (Country: Venezuela; Year: 2012; Director: Gustavo Rondón Córdova; Writer: Gustavo Rondón Córdova; Stars: Rafael Gil, Jesus Jimenez, Gonzalo Cubero, Iris Guedez)
A man struggles to come to terms with the death of his wife.
Rafa (Country: Portugal/France; Year: 2012; Director: João Salaviza; Writer: João Salaviza; Stars: Rodrigo Perdigao, Joana Verona, Nuno Bernardo, Nuno Portfirio, Pietro Romani)
A teenager faces beaurocracy when his mum goes missing.
THE RUINED HEART! Another Lovestory Between A Criminal And A Whore (PUSONG WAZAK! Isa Na Namang Kwento Ng Pag-ibig Sa Pagitan Ng Isang Kriminal At Isang Puta) (Country: Philippines; Year: 2012; Director: Khavn De La Cruz; Stars: Ian Lomongo, Cara Eriguel)
Boy meets girl. No, it’s not about that. Untimely death. You can’t protect yourself against that, ever.
Say Goodbye to the Story (ATT 1/11) (Country: Germany 2005 -; Year: 2011; Director: Christoph Schlingensief; Stars: Katharina Schlothauer, Stefan Kolosko, Robert Stadlober, Irm Hermann, Björn Thors)
A pure nightmare: outtakes of a film that consists of nothing but outtakes.
See You Tomorrow (Ad balloon) (Country: Republic of Korea (South Korea); Year: 2011; Director: Lee Woo-jung; Stars: Lee Min-ji, Jang Eui-young, Park Kyung-hye)
A day in the life of a first grader at high school.
Some Actions Which Haven't Been Defined Yet In The Revolution (Yi chang ge ming zhong hai wei lai de ji ding yi de xing wei) (Country: People's Republic of China; Year: 2011; Director: Sun Xun; Writer: Sun Xun)
A place, set apart and yet familiar to everyone, is revealed to the viewer. A space in which time and surface become one; where crows and cats alternate and give way to a view of classrooms and burning clouds, the image of a teacher and an ordeal in a hospital …The events are not at all specific and could take place anywhere in the world. And yet the memory of the historical event, repeated in the present, is made visible by these images.
Strauß.ok (Country: Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Jeanne Faust; Writer: Jeanne Faust; Stars: Nguyên Ngoc Guý, Hoáng Quôc Toan, Hui, Utz Biesemann)
Bird of paradise flowers, spider flowers and carnations are being beautifully arranged. It’s a bit too warm for the four people working in this little room.The rhythm and sequence of their movements is predetermined, and if you’re new here it’s not easy to join in their routine.
To the Dawn (An das Morgengrauen) (Country: Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Mariola Brillowska)
Lola falls asleep with her head on the table and is pursued by nightmares.
Two Ships (Vilaine Fille Mauvais Garçon) (Country: France; Year: 2012; Director: Justine Triet; Writer: Justine Triet; Stars: Thomas Lévy-Lasne, Laetitia Dosch, Serge Riaboukine)
An artist and a young woman spend the night together – vacillating between hospital and bed, between light-heartedness and high drama.
Uzushio - Whirling Current (Uzushio) (Country: Japan; Year: 2011; Director: Naoto Kawamoto)
“Denial provides the film with its conflicting structure. The conflict refers to the effort involved in bringing together that which was filmed earlier with the actual work on the material in the here and now – in other words, scratching on the celluloid.But this activity, this aesthetical clash, contains the denial of one or other of the two periods of time. How can the present be contained in the memory of the past?It is like a tiny spark that catches fire, or a single roar in the abundance of the ocean.” (Naoto Kawamoto)
We Will Win (Country: Lebanon; Year: 2006; Director: Mahmoud Hojeij; Writer: Mahmoud Hojeij)
The film is a portrait of the attempt to solve the Arab- Israeli conflict within eight minutes. Three Men meet in Paris and deal with the political, economical and psychological questions, which surround this antagonism.
White Lobster (Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: David Lalé)
On Nicaragua’s Mosquito Coast, the windfall cocaine which washes onto the shores has been both a blessing and a curse.
A Woman Called Yssabeau (Ein Mädchen Namens Yssabeau) (Country: Germany / Mexico; Year: 2011; Director: Rosana Cuellar; Writer: Rosana Cuellar; Stars: Sophia Augusta Kennedy, Lou Castel, Fiona Bader)
Set in a distant and unknown land, the film follows the journey of a young woman named Yssabeau and ventures deep into a culture full of unknown rules and rituals.
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