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A gay interest movie is the top Teddy winner, In the Name of, but this time I am really interested in watching film because of the director, Małgośka Szumowska, and her previous film, Elles.

But definitively the film to watch as Must Be Seen is the Jury Award winner, Concussion by Stacie Passon a film that is starting to look very promising not only for today's honor but because seems will become one of the very few lesbian interest films that crossover to mainstream cinema. Film already has a US distributor and is none other than Radius-TWC (yes, is another Weinstein company) plus Paradigm Films. Very good news.

Most remarkable, top feature films Teddy winners are by women directors'. Excellent!

Winners are in *BLUE.

1/30/13
As stated at Berlinale official site, the Teddy Award is the most outstanding queer film prize in the world with a clear vision that shows prize is socially engaged, political honor presented to films and people who communicate queer themes on a broad social platform, thereby contributing to tolerance, acceptance, solidarity and equality in society.

The theme of this year’s Teddy Award is ‘Queer icons: Let’s open up our queer family album’. This is a celebration of gay men, lesbians, bisexual men and women, transgender, closet queens and raging queers, from Valeska Gert to Divine, from Tom of Finland to James Baldwin and from Mishima to Mapplethorpe. The 27th Teddy Award will feature an homage to Jean Marais, commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth. The theme is underlined in the series of works Golden Queers by the painter Rinaldo Hopf which will be on display from 1 to 28 February. His artwork – the Teddy design for 2013 – makes reference to the anniversary of Marais’ birth.

The Teddy award is a non-profit event and is financed exclusively through the contributions and donations of the sponsors and benefactors of the Teddy foundation, the hard work of its many volunteers and through sponsorship and ticket sales for the event itself.

Every year films from all sections of the Berlinale compete for the Teddy Awards. Award ceremony will be on February 15.

Did a spontaneous classification for each movie, but be aware that some films blur the LGBT interest to go more mainstream, meaning: films could appeal more to general audiences than to genre audiences, those films are left without a classification.

The Films

Feature Films

Competition
La Religieuse (The Nun), Guillaume Nicloux, France, Germany and Belgium (L)
Vic+Flo on vu un ours (Vic+Flo Saw a Bear), Denis Côté, Canada (L)
*W imię… (In the Name of), Małgośka Szumowska, Poland (G) BEST FEATURE FILM

Panorama
백야 Baek Ya (White Night), LeeSong Hee-il, South Korea (G)
Chemi sabnis naketsi (A Fold in My Blanket), Zaza Rusadze, Georgia (G)
*Concussion, Stacie Passon, USA (L) SPECIAL JURY AWARD
Deshora (Belated), Barbara Salasola-Day, Argentina, Colombia and Norway (G)
Interior. Leather Bar., Travis Mathews and James Franco, USA (G)
Lose Your Head, Stefan Westerwelle and Patrick Schuckmann, Germany (G)

Panorama Special
Boven is het stil (It's All so Quiet), Nanouk Leopold, Netherlands and Germany (G)
Maladies, Carter, USA
Flores Raras (Reaching for the Moon), Bruno Barreto, Brazil (L) (photo)
明天記得愛上我 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, Arvin Chen, Taiwan (G)

Forum
Echolot, Athanasios Karanikolas, Germany
くじらのまち Kujira no machi (The Town of Whales), Keiko Tsuruoka, Japan (L)

Perspektive Deutsches Kino
Freier Fall (Free Fall), Stephan Lacant, Germany (G)
Zwei Mütter (Two Mothers), Anne Zohra Berrached, Germany (L)

Documentary Films

Berlinale Special
Tribute to Rosa von Praunheim
Rosakinder (Pink Children), Julia von Heinz, Chris Kraus, Axel Ranisch, Robert Thalheim, Tom Tykwer, Germany

Panorama
*Bambi, Sébastien Lifshitz, France (T)  BEST DOCUMENTARY
Born This Way, Sahun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann, USA (LG)
Exposed, Beth B, USA (GT)
Fifi az khoshhali zooze mikeshad (Fifi Howls from Happiness), Mitra Farahani, USA
Gut Renovation, Su Friedrich, USA
Naked Opera, Angela Christlieb, Luxembourg and Germany (G)
Out in Ost-Berlin - Lesben und Schwule in der DDR (Out in East Berlin - Lesbians and Gays in the GRD), Jochen Hick, Germany (LGBT)
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door is Always Open, Daniel Young, Switzerland (LG)
Sing Me the Songs that Say I Love You - A Concert for Kate McGarrigle, Lian Lunson, USA

Forum
Die 727 Tage ohne Karamo (The 727 Days Without Karamo), Anja Salomoniwitz, Austria
Portrait of Jason, Shirley Clark, USA (G)

Forum Expanded
Helio Oiticica and Neville D'Almeida's Block-Experiments in Cosmococa - program in progress: CC6 Coke Head's Soup, Hélio Oiticica, Neville D'Almeida and Thomas Valentin, Brazil and USA, 1973 (Avant Garde cinema)

Short Film

Berlinale Shorts
Beshivhey Hayom (In Praise of the Day), Oren Adaf, Israel, 20' (G)
Ja kada sam bila klinac, bila sam klinka (When I was a Boy, I was a Girl), Ivana todorovic, Serbia, 30' (T)
*Ta av mig (Undress Me), Victor Lindgren, Sweden, 15' (T) BEST SHORT FILM

Panorama
Two Girls Against the Rain, Sao Sopheak, Cambodia, 11' (L)

Forum Expanded
Not Blacking Out, Just Turning The Lights Off, James Richards, UK, 17'
The Runaway Troupe of the Cartesian Theatre, Lior Shamriz, Germany and China, 18'

Generation
Dina and Noel, Sivan Levy and Natalie Melamed, Israel, 10'
Första gången (The First Time), Anders Hazelius, Sweden, 9'
O Pacote (The Package), Rafael Aidar, 18' (G)

Not sure if they will be in competition, somehow will be highly unfair as the following are excellent movies -some really cinema classics- so will list them apart assuming that they are part of the program and not in the competition.

Retrospective
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, USA, 1935
First a Girl, Victor Saville, UK, 1935
Gado Bravo, António Lopes Ribeiro and Max Nosseck, Portugal, 1934
Peter, Hermann Kostelitz, Hungary and Austria, 1934
Some Like It Hot, Billy Wilder, USA, 1959
Viktor und Viktoria, Reinhold Schünzel, Germany, 1933

Berlinale Classics
Cabaret, Bob Fosse, USA, 1972

The Jury
Sophie Shu-Yi Lin, China
Pavel Cortes, Mexico
Martha Arredondo, Dominican Republic
Benoît Arnulf, France
Dilcia Barrera, USA
Gerjo Pérez Meliá, Spain
Ljosha Chaschyn, Ukraine
Johana Hakanen, Finland
Katja Briesemeister, Germany

As every year there are more Gay than Lesbian interest movies, but have to admit that the full lesbian interest films are great, especially the one from Brazil Flores Raras -with an excellent cast- but also Stacie Passon's Concussion. To learn more about this award go to the official site.

Check some trailers plus summary/images @MOC

Award Ceremony (artetv)

Not many movies leave me speechless, much less wondering what I really saw; more specifically, with my brain empty. But exactly that's what happened after watching Christian Mungiu's film. It took me weeks to decide to write something about this movie and as soon as started I stopped as nothing made sense. No doubt that my expectations had much to do with my reaction and was not until I forgot about his first movie, that I tried to forget about my expectations and after running many times the movie in my head that some clarity came to me and only then decided to read what it has been written about movie and what the director says about his movie.

My surprise was to find so many different story interpretations, that many extensively talked about the story while much less about the film as a film and remarkable is that most gave movie top scores, meaning they highly enjoyed what they saw... for whatever not-so-clear-for-them reason. Was after this moment that words came to my mind and it was time to write about this movie. Yes I liked movie, I liked what I saw but had not much idea why, until now.

As most that write about film, let's start with the story.

The Story

The story is a fictional interpretation of a real event that happened in 2005 as told by two non-fiction novels by Tatiana Niculescu. The key element is the word fiction as fictionalizing the real story is what allowed Mungiu to create an "evolving" narrative that can be seen in so many ways.

On the surface this is the tale of two orphan girls that after reaching their eighteen birthday had to leave the orphanage and went their separate ways. Alina end up in Germany while Voichiţa stayed in Romania. They were in love and the separation was not easy for none of them. When Alina returns to get some papers, she hopes Voichiţa will go back to Germany with her as work awaits for both of them. But Voichiţa has filled her life with strong commitment to religion and while she still loved Alina she had found what she never had before, a family. Story evolves with the dilemma of staying or leaving that BOTH have and unravels into the known-end as was impossible that their story could have a happy ending.

Of course the above is a very simplistic way to describe the story as this love story is peppered with many decision points that "complicate" the narrative to unimaginable levels, only absolutely amazing Mungiu's creative imagination could make this simple (yet, unconventional) story into a very complex, layered story.

But there is another simple way to describe the story. The tale of how poverty, no-future, ignorance, and religion can make people do unthinkable things, things that were common in darker ages but that should not happen today. What follows has major spoilers and if you wish not to learn them, please skip the rest of paragraph. This tale is told in an Orthodox monastery founded by an ex power plant worker whose life was turned around by an encounter with an Angel, whose church has not been approved by Orthodox authorities and who in private is called Papa, while in public Priest. The monastery has no other men as is inhabit only by nuns with mother superior also called Mama in private and the first in public. It is a tight family with a very strict Papa and a Mama that quietly follows her Papa's will. The few nuns background stories we learn describe situations that have very little to do with faith and more with escaping their previous lives, including Voichiţa's who seems to be the youngest of them all and perhaps Papa and Mama favorite. When Voichiţa's "friend" Alina comes to stay in the monastery, their peaceful monotony is highly disturbed due to conflicts between trying to keep their own peaceful life and helping others, leading them to the ultimate solution: exorcise Alina as the devil inside her is what is making her do everything she does.

And still there is a third simple way to summarize story. The tale of abuse and its consequences. More major spoilers will follow so stop reading paragraph if you wish not to learn them. Alina and Voichiţa were abused in the orphanage by a photographer who took photographs (we assume relationship to child pornography) of many girls, a scandal that later was uncovered and is known to local authorities; is precisely this photographer who finds a "job" (prostitution?) for Alina in Germany. One nun's background story tells about spouse abuse. Alina's foster family abused her in many ways, including stealing money from her. Life in the monastery shows mental abuse by stern priest to submissive nuns. Physical abuse is shown in more ways than with the exorcism. Etc.

Could go on and on with "simple" stories summaries but will stop here to do an exercise, combine the above three simplistic stories into one and there you have some (indeed not all) of what is shown in the screen. It will be up to you to interpret according to your own values what you saw as Mungiu absolutely do NOT take any side, does not influence you in any way and does not give any answers. He just tells a "simple" story in his own particular way.

The Screenplay

The Cannes award winner screenplay written and re-written while filming by Cristian Mungiu can be described by one word: Brilliant!!! Wish to understand more Romanian than what I do, but undoubtedly the richness of the language in this screenplay is perfection to take narrative into what images or actors/non-actors performances couldn't and somehow imagine that much is lost in translation.

The Film as a Film

To me Mungiu's previous film was a strong emotional roller coaster so I was expecting something similar; more clearly I was expecting to feel strong emotions. I did not. I was expecting raw reality told with some hand held camera that gave not great visuals but increased tension and the feeling of emotions. It didn't happened. For me this is a very brainy film in all senses including most tech specs and a few mind blowing awesome images and compositions.

Some indoor and outdoor scenes have outstanding production design and cinematography, a true feast to the eyes, so good that made me wish many more in the screen. None is as impressive as when the nuns take Alina from one side of the monastery to the church as the "black centipede" in the white snow background plus the fast movement make this still camera long-take just unbelievably good. The use of light and darkness is remarkable in many scenes as well as the use of color in the many ways it is used, especially the color palette used inside the chapel that made me recall Russian movies. Storytelling pace is slow, very slow at times, which obviously allows you to see everything that is in the screen plus "think" about what is happening while watching; it is only after the second third of film when pace increases but interestingly enough the use of long takes continues.

Even when director describes the pressure of deadlines while filming and after, you can see the attention given to details in many moments and actors/non-actors performances are remarkable as all make you believe their characters. Especially the two Cannes winners leading actresses that unbelievably follow the complete film style in their performances as even in the more dramatic moments they are immutable, mostly expressionless -even deadpan- and you still clearly see what the character is feeling deep inside.

Chirstian Mungiu has done another amazing film, very different to his previous work and yet remarkable in its own way; now I am "dying" to see what comes next from him and just hope it doesn't take much time. But know he will take his time as his artistry is not based on rushing, but on well-crafting all movie elements.

Closing Remarks

As mentioned in the beginning, read many story interpretations but none captured my attention more than the one that compared story to totalitarianism or what Romanians had to live while under totalitarian regime. Until I read interpretation this idea was not in my head, but now think that is a possibility as story could be describing totalitarian ruling, the one that comes from government but also from religion.

Yes, film has some lesbian interest BUT film is not what I can call a lesbian interest movie as is SO different to what the genre does that know that many looking to watch for this reason will be disappointed and surely many will not stand the film very slow pace as more than three thirds of film have very slow storytelling style and narrative. But the last comment is also true for general audiences. Of course I highly recommend watching film but believe some will like it while some will not, still there is no doubt that for whatever reason film will stay long in your head.

Know will see film many more times looking for what could be hidden inside the "obvious" story, but the next time for sure will see it as a totalitarian story.

BIG ENJOY!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

A HUGE surprise, very positive surprise. Knew the highlights of the storyline but never imagined that a story like this one could be told as is done here; much less that story is being told in a film from Latin America. Think that have so much to say about this film that post will be long, so please bear with me.

The Film - part 1

Feature film debut by Chilean Marialy Rivas, after her much acclaimed short Blokes, is an impressive work that looks and feels like the work of a more experienced director as does quite successfully something that not many have been able to accomplish; she does a fragmented film so well, with such a good rhythm that makes watching a great experience as you can hardly tell that films is a rapid (at many times) succession of moments that make narrative to flow almost seamless. There is only one consideration to experience this, you have to really understand Spanish as I believe this is the kind of film where much will be lost in translation and consequently, you will see more the fragments than the narrative flow.

The filmmaking style comes from mimicking the Internet with its fast transactions, fast typing, fast blogging, fast posting, fast liberation, fast multitasking and fast everything; but also mimicking Internet's proliferous use of images (photos, drawings and videos) and words, more often than not, spontaneous words posted without much thinking. More or less this is what Marialy Rivas said in an interview and according to me that's a good description of what you see in the screen. A world inhabited mainly -but not only- by younger people, a world that has a succession of fragments, moments, a world that Marialy Rivas and her team were able to capture quite well in the screen. Have seen many fragmented style films from America, Europe and Asia but in my opinion none, I say none, does it as well as is done here -not even Japanese cinema. Chapeau Miss Rivas.

Technically movie is very complex; just as an example, the screenplay was written by four people, Rivas plus Pedro Peirano (La Nana, NO), Sebastián Sepúlveda (also did editing) and Camila Gutiérrez; and don't doubt that film was made in the editing room, which obviously required more filming to fill the gaps to finally reach the end product. Also worth mentioning is that film is almost entirely shot with a subjective camera showing the perspective of the main character; there are a few objective shots that I imagine were done to increase the "hotness" factor in movie as these are mostly sex scenes.

The Story - part 1

Inspired by a real blog that run from 2005 to 2007, film tells the perhaps not that unusual story of a young girl-almost woman that uses the blog to vent her thoughts about everything that matters to her and when you come from a very conservative family ruled by religion what matters to you is sex as a consequence of your healthy sexual appetite that is furiously requesting everything that is denied by family (when everything sexual is forbidden) and most of all religion (guilt), especially those religions like Evangelical Christians -as portrayed here- or Catholicism.

The Film - part 2

To tell the story film uses different storytelling techniques. One, perhaps the less used, is having the characters telling their lines; another is the actual representation of the blog in the screen plus live chatting, and close-ups of people posting comments in the blog, in all cases you see what is written; last uses the main character voice over that tells what she is thinking, which most times contradicts what she just said. Also uses (very sexually graphic) animated line drawings and photo stills -some tinted-. There are moments that have two styles at once, which is very effective to give the fast rhythm and accurately represent multitasking.

I laughed hard at many of the written texts with the misspelled words, the very Chilean colloquial words and sentences (written colloquial language is always funny), and Anglicisms like Yisus (Jesus) and guater (water), all of which indeed you find in the infamous net. Here is where especially I believe that much will be lost in translation and understanding Spanish becomes essential.

But what blew my mind was Alicia Rodríguez outstanding performance as the lead character, Daniela. She is so good with silences and most of all with face expressions, specifically her eyes tell everything that words don't say. Amazing for a young actress and more for a non-European actress. She is so good here that got extremely surprised when I learned that have seen her previous films, Navidad, La Vida de los Peces, Gatos Viejos and Bonsai, films where she was "invisible" to me. So I deduce that her greatness here has more to do with the expert hand of a great director.

The Story - Part 2

So the story is about sexual awakening in a very repressive environment, which obviously leads to lots of sexual encounters in many forms. There are many sex scenes, some more graphic than others, and some suggested. Nothing you have not seen in European cinema but here, done within the filmmaking/storytelling style(s) frame become quite "hot", to use the American word; which is indeed unusual in Latin American cinema that tends to do sex scenes quite vulgar in one extreme or so not erotic in the other extreme. Surprising is to find that some non-Spanish speaking critics and viewers find sex scenes "excessive", so perhaps this is another issue that is lost in translation.

This takes me to the part of the story that will include some spoilers, so if you wish not to learn them please stop reading this and the following paragraph. Was reading some reviews in lesbian sites and to my surprise some say that this is not a lesbian-interest movie. Absolutely disagree. This is not a bisexual character movie, this is a 100% lesbian interest story about a girl that had to follow family/religion/society rules in her sexual awakening and that included exploring love and sex with men. Not only is the story of many women in the world, but with a few differences, can be the story of many of my friends and mine. For me there was no need to learn the real-life story as knew that after Daniela says that she is lost and movie ends, what comes next is her discovering her sexual preference and according to what I saw in story there was only one she will follow to be part of her own self.

I learned that Camila Gutiérrez, who co wrote the script, is the real-life blogger and recently she publicly "came out" as lesbian; so, this recount of her life -with many creative liberties- had to end exactly the same way. Why? The main clue in the film story is the repressive family and the role the mother plays as the direct executioner of the repression.

No More Parts

Definitively an interesting film from any point of view that I could analyze it and believe that made clear that there is a great director behind movie that hope will continue to take risks in her next movie as much as she did here. As we know film has been honored while traveling the festival circtuit starting with winning the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at 2012 Sundance, being official selection at 2012 San Sebastian in the Horizons section and winning the Sebastiane Award, being official selection at the 2012 Berlinale at Generation section, is Chile's submission for the 2013 Goya Awards and more accolades. All this done while becoming a box office success in Chile.

So is a film that attracts mainstream cinema viewers, as film does not compromise much the way it ends which know pleases general audiences. But undoubtedly this is a lesbian-interest movie that will please many that could see something of themselves in film; but I know that due to the graphic male/female sex scenes many could be offended by film, so watch at your own risk.

I do highly recommend film, but insist that chances are that if you don't understand Spanish much will be lost in translation.

BIG ENJOY!!!

Watch trailer @MOC