The information for some films below is copied from the Berlin Film Festival’s website:
1.ENDO (2007, Jade Castro, Philippines)
This film is mentioned in Raya Martin’s blog and it is in Oggs Cruz’s list.
http://cinematografica.wordpress.com/
http://oggsmoggs.blogspot.com/2007/12/cinematic-highlights-of-2007.html
http://oggsmoggs.blogspot.com/2007/07/endo-2007.html
This is the trailer of the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMIb6oZ9B6c
Jason Abalos stars in it.
http://filipinohunks.blogspot.com/2006/10/jason-abalos.html
2.EZRA (2007, Newton I. Aduaka, Nigeria)
http://festival.sundance.org/2007/insider/feature5.html
3.FORBIDDEN LIE$ (2007, Anna Broinowski, Australia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790808/
This film is in Adrian Martin’s list.
http://www.anotacoescinefilo.blogger.com.br/2007_12_02_archive.html
4.GRANDMOTHER’S FLOWER (2007, Mun Jeong-hyun, South Korea, 90 min)
http://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_programm/datenblatt.php?film_id=20081137
“Reading the diaries of his great uncle, whom he had only known as a spooky, psychically disturbed old man, Mun Jeong-hyun comes across an unexpected series of family tragedies, which reflect Korean history in the 20th century: Japanese colonial oppression, division, war, emigration, discrimination abroad, and a political blindness that splits society deep in two. Sometimes the film even takes slight comic turns – for instance when Mun questions his parents about their attitude toward political and social topics and father and mother express fundamentally diverging points of view. In his conversations with his mother, however, devastating facts come to light, facts that caused his grandmother – who was treated as equally responsible for the activities of her husband and his brothers – to suffer more than anyone. Her home town is still invisibly divided into the upper section, middle-class villagers, who after the colonial period aligned themselves with the side of the left, and the lower section, working class, who stood on the side of the right. Both sides deny responsibility for any atrocities, which the film tactfully illustrates by means of animated sequences. The depth of Mun’s shock about his family’s involvement in the bloody history of Korea is met with the sobriety and level-headedness of his work. He leaves no doubt that his family history does not merely represent an individual catastrophe, but a common one. Christoph Terhechte”
5.FLIPPING OUT (2007, Yoav Shamir, Israel)
http://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_programm/datenblatt.php?film_id=20080889
“Following their military service, many young Israeli soldiers retreat to northern India. There they spend their end-of-service bonus on drugs of all kinds. High up in the mountains they sit in front of gigantic hookahs, enjoying the view or dancing round the clock. But very few of them seem to be able to relax. The young Israelis tell of their deployment in the occupied territories almost mechanically and usually unreflectively, but their memories catch up on them. Some of them even suffer from hallucinations and psychotic episodes. But the Israeli state has provided for them – there are therapeutic support centers, the orthodox offer round table talks, and a former Mossad agent takes care of the especially difficult cases. He brings those who have flipped out back into the fold. Yoav Shamir’s documentary paints an indirect portrait of a society that is under permanent strain and doesn’t know how to vent the pressure. When the rainy season comes to northern India, the whole community travels to Goa – including the Mossad agent and the therapists. Anke Leweke”
6.NOTHING BUT GHOSTS (2006, Martin Gypkens, Germany, 129 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803047/
This film is in Olaf Moller’s list.
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/08/46/2007-world-poll-2.html#Moller
Images from the film:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2140/2316842450_69e11ce71e_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3268/2316842454_8abc50a962_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/2316842458_b7b94e728d_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2241/2316842460_1e004d3f6b_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3123/2316842464_7c444b3602_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2295/2316842466_8f57e527aa_o.jpg
7.SEAVIEW (2008, Paul Rowley, Nicky Gogan, Ireland, 82 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzDr8D8oDY
http://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_programm/datenblatt.php?film_id=20080334
“In the postwar period, exactly 60 years ago, the seaside holiday camp Mosney was founded in Ireland to give families a temporary refuge from their everyday life. Today the place is used for another kind of place of refuge: as a home for asylum seekers, most of whom remain there for several years. “Passages are houses or walkways that have no outside – like a dream.” says Walter Benjamin in the “Passagenwerk”. Inside the low grey buildings is a completely equipped world of entertainment. The camera wanders dreamily through the abandoned dance hall, an empty swimming pool, through dining halls, children’s play areas, along the slot machines, colorful plastic decorations, neon signs touting fish & chips. Each time before it once again stops in front of a door marked “Push Bar to Open,” other spaces open up: mattrasses and bedding stacked up to the ceiling, second hand shopping clothes and shopping turn the dream into a nightmare, without transition and in unchanged pastel tones. “The new business,” is how one employee refers to the change from tourism to directing a refugee camp with a seaview. At least the children have the possibility of getting education and a creative shape to their everyday life. But the stories of their parents, who came from Nigeria, Somalia, Russian, or Croatia with quite different expectations, thwart the smooth pans again and again. Stefanie Schulte Strathaus”
8.SOUTH MAIN (2008, Kelly Parker, USA, 77 min)
http://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_programm/datenblatt.php?film_id=20080154
“In order to contain violence on the streets and rampant gang crime, city authorities decided in December 2004 to clear out and tear down one complete apartment block in South Central Los Angeles. The inhabitants, living below the poverty line and dependent on state support, received compensation and had to move on short notice. The film follows three African-American women, all of them single mothers, in their lives at their new homes. Latisha relates how her fiancé was killed on his way home in a random shooting shortly before the move. The film gives her a full ten minutes to describe the inconceivable. It is a scene of great intensity that brings the filmmaker’s attitude to a point: being there, listening, noticeably letting the time go by. No lurid wallowing in myths of the ghetto, no conjuring up of the “social powder-keg,” no social kitsch, but instead a participatory, exact view, concentrating on the women themselves. Precise, strictly framed images result from this, which neither accuse us nor appeal to us, but that simply show. Images from the underclass, telling of poverty and the precarious living conditions on the social periphery. Images from America at the beginning of the 21st century. Birgit Kohler”
9.TEA (2007, Hanna Antonina Wojcik-Slak, Slovenia, 87 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0IqDb93Uew
Wojcik-Slak directed BLIND SPOT (2002, A+++++++++++++++), which was shown in Bangkok in 2005.
10.WHEN TIMAWA MEETS DELGADO (2008, Ray Gibraltar, Philippines)
This film is mentioned in Raya Martin’s blog, and it is reviewed in Lilok Pelikula’s blog:
http://lilokpelikula.wordpress.com/
This clip from the film is highly recommended:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JWEKhnvYsUU
This is the synopsis of the film from youtube:
“This unconventional story revolves around the unconventional lives of JUN DELGADO and RUBEN TIMAWA and their American dream.
Jun Delgado, on one hand is a self-proclaimed filmmaker whose parents and siblings are already in America, decides to enroll in nursing after breaking up with his girlfriend who is pestering him to do something with his life, to earn money, and live a normal life. Delgado also dabbles into video coverage of weddings, baptisms, and funerals, and pornography to earn his living.
Ruben Timawa, on the other hand is a gay literature teacher and a Palanca award-winning writer, decides to enroll in nursing when the object of his desire, a supposed to be rabid leftist leaning street activist, went to America. The only way for Timawa to go to America is to become a nurse first.
The two meet at the College of Nursing dean's office. And this meeting opens worlds of possibilities for these two losers.”
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Film wish list for Jan 2008
http://celinejulie.blogspot.com/2008/02/film-wish-list-for-jan-2008.html
Film wish list in 2007
http://celinejulie.blogspot.com/2008/01/film-wish-list-many-months-ago.html
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