Now that scouting trips for the Panorama 2014 are over, viewings in Berlin are in full swing. 50 fictional and documentary films will be chosen to give the programme its distinctive profile between innovative mainstream and radical alternative. So far 19 films have been invited.
Confirmed to date are new works by Michel Gondry, Kutluğ Ataman, Robert Lepage, Sophie Fillières, Benjamin Heisenberg, Maximilian Erlenwein, John Michael McDonagh, and Tsai Ming-liang. Directorial debuts will be contributed by the USA with, for example, Things People Do by Saar Klein and The Better Angels by A. J. Edwards. Astonishing films from Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong have also been picked for the programme, while Latin America is well represented again: already confirmed are two Brazilian productions - Daniel Ribeiro’s Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), and Marcelo Gomes’ and Cao Guimarães’ O Homem das Multidões (The Man of the Crowd).
The opening film of the Panorama Special has also been selected: Jalil Lespert, who could last be seen in Robert Guédiguian’s Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars in the 2005 Berlinale Competition, is now coming as the director of the film Yves Saint Laurent. With his work, Berlin’s flagship cinema, the Zoo Palast, will be re-inaugurated as a Berlinale venue after extensive renovations, on February 7, 2014.
Along with other Berlinale sections, including the European Film Market, the Festival’s return to the Zoo Palast is a clear sign of a revival at the heart of western Berlin. The Panorama Special will pick up where it left off. Though, over the past three years, things have certainly gone on in great form at the Friedrichstadt-Palast and the Kino International – and both will remain Berlinale sites, in particular the International, which will continue to screen Panorama premieres.
The Heiner Carow Prize, first awarded in 2013 for the best German film, has now established itself. Offered in conjunction with the DEFA Foundation (and endowed with €5,000), it will be awarded to a film that employs extraordinary aesthetic means to deal with social and political issues.
Last but not least, there will be another relocation this year: after many, often wild venues around the city, the TEDDY Award will be presented for the first time in its 28-year history in a baroque setting at the Komische Oper Berlin.
Arrête ou je continue (If You Don't, I Will)
France
By Sophie Fillières
With Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric
World premiere
Bai Mi Zha Dan Ke (The Rice Bomber)
Taiwan
By Cho Li
With Huang Chien-wei, Nikki Hsieh, Michael Chang
World premiere
Bing Du (Ice Poison)
Taiwan / Myanmar
By Midi Z
With Wang Shin-Hong, Wu Ke-Xi
World premiere
Calvary
Ireland / Great Britain
By John Michael McDonagh
With Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen
European premiere
Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks)
Brazil
By Daniel Ribeiro
With Ghilherme Lobo, Tess Amorim, Fabio Audi
World premiere
Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?
France
By Michel Gondry
With Noam Chomsky
World premiere
O Homem das Multidões (The Man of the Crowd)
Brazil
By Marcelo Gomes, Cao Guimarães
With Paulo André, Silvia Lourenço
International premiere
Papilio Buddha
India / USA
By Jayan Cherian
With Kallen Pokkudan, Saritha Sunil, Sreekumar SP, David Briggs, Prakash Bare, Thampy Antony
European premiere
Quick Change
Philippines
By Eduardo Roy Jr.
With Mimi Juareza, Jun jun Quintana, Miggs Cuaderno, Natashia Yumi, Francine Garcia
International premiere
Stereo
Germany
By Maximilian Erlenwein
With Jürgen Vogel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Petra Schmidt-Schaller, Georg Friedrich, Rainer Bock
World premiere
Test
USA
By Chris Mason Johnson
With Scott Marlowe, Matthew Risch
European premiere
The Better Angels
USA
By A. J. Edwards
With Jason Clarke, Diane Kruger, Brit Marling, Wes Bentley
International premiere
The Lamb
Germany / Turkey
By Kutluğ Ataman
With Nesrin Cavadzade, Cahit Gök, Mert Taştan, Sıla Lara Cantürk, Nursel Köse
World premiere
Things People Do
USA
By Saar Klein
With Wes Bentley, Jason Isaacs, Vinessa Shaw, Haley Bennett
World premiere
Triptyque (Triptych)
Canada
By Robert Lepage, Pedro Pires
With Lise Castonguay, Frédérike Bédard, Hans Piersbergen
International premiere
Über-Ich und Du (Superegos)
Germany / Switzerland / Austria
By Benjamin Heisenberg
With André Wilms, Georg Friedrich
World premiere
Unfriend
Philippines
By Joselito Altarejos
World premiere
Xi You (Journey to the West)
France / Taiwan
By Tsai Ming-liang
With Lee Kang-sheng, Denis Lavant
World premiere
Yves Saint Laurent
France
By Jalil Lespert
With Pierre Niney, Guillaume Gallienne, Charlotte Le Bon, Laura Smet, Marie De Villepin
International premiere – Opening film Panaroma Special