Panorama To Turn 30 With Van Sant, Breillat, Winterbottom

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival, first presented as the “Info-Schau” in 1980 by its former director Manfred Salzgeber (and renamed Panorama in 1986), a number of filmmakers from the early years will show their latest films.  For instance, in 1985 the “Info-Schau” screened Gus Van Sant’s directorial debut, “Mala Noche,” as well as the documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk” by Robert Epstein. Now, in 2009, Gus Van Sant will present “Milk,” his new film about Harvey Milk,  while Robert Epstein’s documentary on the same topic will be re-screened on this occasion.

In addition, Catherine Breillat’s film “Tapage nocturne,” which was first presented in 1980, will be shown again in 2009. This is in an addition to her latest film, “La Barbe Bleue,” an exploration of the famous tale of Bluebeard, which will screen in the main program. Joe Dallesandro, who played one of the protagonists in “Tapage,” is this year’s Special Teddy Award-winner. He will also be coming to Berlin for the presentation of “Little Joe,” Nicole Haeusser’s documentary portrait of him.

A John Hurt triptych completes the films being presented for this 30th anniversary: in the official programme, Panorama will be showing Richard Laxton’s latest film, “n Englishman In New York,” in which John Hurt plays Quentin Crisp in his later years. The Presentation also includes Jonathan Nossiter’s first film, “Resident Alien” (with Quentin Crisp and John Hurt) that premiered in Panorama in 1990, as well as Jack Gold’s 1975 film “The Naked Civil Servant,” in which John Hurt plays the young Quentin Crisp in England.

Also announced in regard to the Panorama was Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’s presentation of a work in progress, “The Shock Doctrine,” in the Panorama Dokumente section. Based on Naomi Klein’s book of the same name, the filmmakers analyze “the systematic trend towards the privatization of public assets - a trend that has, in the interim, affected national economies almost everywhere, and by doing so is generating a sense of injustice in billions of people.”

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The Panorama will “soon” announce the opening films of the Main Programme, Panorama Special and Panorama Dokumente, as well as the complete list of films. The following is a list of films announced today: Features “La Barbe bleue” by Catherine Breillat, France (world premiere) With Dominique Thomas, Lola Creton, Daphne Baiwir “An Englishman In New York” by Richard Laxton, Great Britain/USA (world premiere) With John Hurt, Denis O’Hare, Jonathan Tucker, Swoozie Kurtz, Cynthia Nixon “Das Vaterspiel” (Kill Daddy Good Night) by Michael Glawogger, Germany/Austria/France (world premiere) With Jeremy Strong, Ulrich Tukur, Sabine Timoteo “El nino pez” (The Fish Child) by Lucia Puenzo, Argentina/Spain (world premiere) With Ines Efron, Emme, Pep Munne, Arnaldo Andre, Carlos Bardem “Welcome” by Philippe Lioret, France With Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi, Audrey Dana Panorama Dokumente “The Shock Doctrine” by Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross, Great Britain (world premiere) “Little Joe” by Nicole Haeusser, USA (world premiere) With Joe Dallesandro 30 Years of Programming - Celebration Presentations “Milk” by Gus Van Sant, USA 2008 With Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, Josh Brolin, James Franco “Resident Alien” by Jonathan Nossiter, USA 1990 With Quentin Crisp, John Hurt, Holly Woodlawn, Sting “Tapage nocturne” by Catherine Breillat, France 1979 With Bertrand Bonvoisin, Marie-Helene Breillat, Joe Dallesandro, Dominique Laffin, Gerard Lanvin “The Naked Civil Servant” by Jack Gold, Great Britain 1975 With John Hurt, Liz Gebhardt, Stanley Lebor, Katharine Schofield “The Times Of Harvey Milk” by Robert Epstein, USA Login to recommend this article » posted on January 14, 2009 |Share Login to Leave a Comment »