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Der 21. Dezember ist der kür­zes­te Tag des Jahres, und eini­ge pfif­fi­ge Kurzfilmverleihe haben ihn des­halb zum „Tag des Kurzfilms“ aus­er­ko­ren, 2017 ist es die sechs­te Ausgabe. Diesmal sind wir auch dabei und zei­gen aus­ge­wähl­te Filme des First-Steps-Teams. First Steps – Der Deutsche Nachwuchspreis zeich­net jedes Jahr ers­te Werke in ver­schie­de­nen Kategorien aus.
Wir zei­gen einen Animationsfilm, zwei aus der sel­ten zu sehen­den Gruppe der mit­tel­lan­gen Filme sowie 3 Werbefilme, alle­samt Nominierte bzw. Preisträger aus die­sem Jahr. Höchstwahrscheinlich wer­den es sich so man­che Beteiligte nicht neh­men las­sen, ihren Film per­sön­lich vorzustellen.

Do. 21.12. um 20:00:

Stranden Spielfilm, 28 Min. Regie: Moïra Himmelsbach, KHM Köln
Zulay hat Schwierigkeiten an ihrem ers­ten Praktikumstag. Mila und David machen einen Schiffsausflug. Leonie möch­te in einer Boutique unge­stört ein Kleid anpro­bie­ren. Ruth und ihre Tochter Mira wol­len im Wald die ver­stor­be­ne Katze begra­ben… Ein Film über das Hadern und Scheitern der Kommunikation.

Ayny / Mein zwei­tes Auge Animationsfilm, 11 Min., Regie: Ahmad Saleh, KHM Köln
Als ein Krieg ihre Heimat zer­stört, müs­sen zwei Brüder mit ihrer Mutter flie­hen. Auf der Suche nach einem siche­ren Ort ver­lie­ren sie nie ihren Traum aus den Augen: ein­mal auf einer ganz beson­de­ren Gitarre ihre Musik zu machen – einer wun­der­schö­nen Oud.

Mikel Spielfilm, 31 Min., Regie: Cavo Kernich, UdK Berlin
Mikel führt ein Nomadenleben in Berlin. Als ille­ga­ler Flüchtling arbei­tet er für die Renovierungsfirma von Norbert. Der ver­spricht ihm eine Aufenthaltsgenehmigung und fai­re Bezahlung.

ABC of Death Werbefilm, 43 Sek., Regie: Dorian Lebherz, Daniel Titz, Filmakademie B‑W Ludwigsburg In einem klei­nen eng­li­schen Dorf ereig­nen sich selt­sa­me Todesfälle. Es kann jeden zu jedem Zeitpunkt tref­fen. Doch es gibt ein Muster: den Namen. Eine uner­war­te­te Wendung bricht den Fluch und ret­tet die Zukunft des Dorfes.
Bad Pets I+II Werbefilm, 48 Sek., Regie: Moritz Rautenberg, Christian Ricken, HFF München
Zwei kur­ze und böse Clips über die Rache von Haustieren, die mit ihrem Futter unzu­frie­den sind.
Three Polar Bears Werbefilm 1:39 Min., Regie: Artjom Baranov, HFF München
Drei Polarbären wol­len die Erde vor der Klimaerwärmung ret­ten. Sie stür­men ein Autohaus, um die poten­ti­el­len Käufer von umwelt­schäd­li­chen Autos zu ver­hau­en. Doch sie machen einen Fehler.

A film byThomas Riedelsheimer.  In eng­lish with ger­man subtitles.

Andy Goldsworthy is best known for his eph­emeral work with natu­re. Sixteen years ago Thomas Riedelsheimer met Andy for the first time. He agreed to be fol­lo­wed around and film­ed by Thomas. Rivers and Tides a fea­ture-length docu­men­ta­ry was released in 2001 and beca­me a very suc­cessful film. LEANING INTO THE WIND fol­lows artist Andy Goldsworthy on his explo­ra­ti­on of the world and hims­elf through eph­emeral and per­ma­nent workings on the land­scape, cities and with his own body. .  (Kasseler Dokfest)

Deutschland, UK 2016, engl. OmU, 97 MIn.
Regie, Kamera & Schnitt: Thomas Riedelsheimer
Darsteller: Andy Goldsworthy, Tina Fiske, Holly Goldsworthy
Musik: Fred Frith

A Film by Clair Denis. Starts Dezember, In french with ger­man subtitles.

This dra­ma (if that is the cor­rect word) fea­tures Isabelle, a divorced artist in paris. She is now sin­gle, lives alo­ne, and unable to deci­de if sear­ching for the One is an urgent prio­ri­ty or a fatui­ty which is pre­ven­ting her from enjoy­ing life and expe­ri­en­cing plea­su­re. She has lovers and the­se liai­sons are dan­ge­rous in that they don’t seem to pro­vi­de the satis­fac­tion they ought.
All the romance, the ero­ti­cism, the exqui­si­te dis­sa­tis­fac­tion of not kno­wing how or whe­ther to be in love, is all disper­sed into tal­king and deba­te and the intellec­tu­al inter­play of ide­as. Of cour­se that may sound like an un-sexy ordeal and very French. And in bla­ckest of black comic sen­ses that is pre­cis­e­ly what it is. The talk’s comic con­tent is most­ly wit­hout the easy laughs and obvious comic beats of, say, Woody Allen or Noah Baumbach. But the­re are big, genui­ne laughs here, too: chief­ly when Isabelle explo­des with rage at an artists’ rustic retre­at when one of her con­tem­po­r­a­ri­es gives vent to an insuf­fera­ble dis­cour­se on his rela­ti­onship to the coun­try­si­de. (Peter Bradshaw)

Credits:
OT: Un Beau Soleil Intérieur
Frankreich 2017, 94 Min., frz. OmU
Regie: Claire Denis
Kamera: Agnes Godard
Schnitt: Guy Lecorne
Darsteller: Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine, Paul Blain, Gérard Depardieu, Nicolas Duvauchelle

A film by Agnieszka Holland. In polish with ger­man subtitles.

Retired civil engi­neer Duszejko lives a secluded life in a moun­tain vil­la­ge clo­se to the bor­der bet­ween Poland and the Czech Republic. She is cha­ris­ma­tic and eccen­tric, a pas­sio­na­te astro­lo­ger and a strict vege­ta­ri­an. One day her bel­oved dogs dis­ap­pear. On a sno­wy winter’s night short­ly after­wards she dis­co­vers the dead body of her neigh­bour and, next to it, deer tracks. More men die in a simi­lar­ly mys­te­rious way. All of them were pil­lars of the vil­la­ge com­mu­ni­ty, and all were pas­sio­na­te hun­ters. Were the­se men kil­led by wild ani­mals? Or has someone been pro­vo­ked to pur­sue a bloo­dy ven­det­ta? At some point Duszejko hers­elf comes under suspicion …
After her foray into the realm of seria­li­sed dra­ma, Agnieszka Holland returns to the big screen with a sub­ver­si­ve thril­ler. Pokot is set in a land­scape of chan­ging sea­sons; howe­ver, the wild beau­ty of the coun­try­si­de can­not hide the cor­rupt natu­re, cruel­ty and stu­pi­di­ty of the peo­p­le who live the­re. Deeply roo­ted in the rea­li­ty of rural Poland, the film is as anar­chic as its heroi­ne, and bold­ly mixes gen­res – from humo­rous detec­ti­ve sto­ry to exci­ting eco-thril­ler to femi­nist fairy-tale.

Berlinale 2017: Silberner Bär Alfred-Bauer-Preis

Regie: Agnieszka Holland
in Zusammenarbeit mit Kasia Adamik
Kamera: Jolanta Dylewska, Rafał Paradowski
Schnitt: Pavel Hrdlička

mit: Agnieszka Mandat (Duszejko)
Wiktor Zborowski (Matoga)
Miroslav Krobot (Boros)
Jakub Gierszał (Dyzio)
Patricia Volny (Dobra Nowina/Good News)
Borys Szyc (Wnętrzak)

Termine: 

A film by Julian Rosefeldt. In eng­lish with ger­man subtitles.

The film inte­gra­tes various types of artist mani­fest­os from dif­fe­rent time peri­ods with con­tem­po­ra­ry sce­na­ri­os. Manifestos are depic­ted by 13 dif­fe­rent cha­rac­ters, among them a school tea­cher, fac­to­ry worker, cho­reo­grapher, punk, news­rea­der, sci­en­tist, pup­pe­teer, widow, and a home­l­ess man.

The film con­sists of 13 seg­ments, each 10:30 minu­tes long. In each, a cha­rac­ter reci­tes parts of mani­fest­os of various poli­ti­cal or artis­tic movements.

D/Ö 2017, 98 Min., engl. OmU, 
Regie: Julian Rosefeldt
Kamera: Christoph Krauss
Schnitt: Bobby Goode
mit:
Cate Blanchett, Ruby Bustamante, Ralf Tempel

A film by David Lowery. In eng­lish with ger­man subtitles.

Lauded film­ma­ker David Lowery, last at the Festival with the lyri­cal Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013), reu­ni­tes with his col­la­bo­ra­tors for a haun­ted tale like no other—one con­cei­ved in secret and fue­led by the spi­rit of pure, crea­ti­ve expression.

Lowery’s meti­cu­lous­ly spar­se nar­ra­ti­ve con­tem­pla­tes a spec­tral figu­re who was once a man (Casey Affleck). Prematurely taken from this Earth, he makes his way toward his for­mer home, whe­re he is fated to remain fore­ver­mo­re. Shrouded in a white sheet, he obser­ves the lament of his grief-stri­cken lover (Rooney Mara). Bearing unseen wit­ness to her pain, the wisp stands sen­try for years to come, inter­ac­ting only with time as it hurt­les fur­ther and fur­ther for­ward, the rem­nants of his huma­ni­ty quiet­ly evaporating.

Making full use of his sin­gu­lar abili­ties as a visu­al sto­rytel­ler and fine­ly tun­ed craft­sman, Lowery bold­ly returns with an enri­ching expe­ri­ment in micro-cine­ma that gor­ge­ous­ly defies categorization

„But the­re is a kind of sen­ti­men­tal romance in the ghost’s silent stoi­cism and deter­mi­na­ti­on to car­ry on. The awful ine­vi­ta­bi­li­ty of death is com­pli­ca­ted by the thought that you might have to sur­vi­ve, as a ghost, for reasons as arbi­tra­ry and meanin­g­less as the cau­se of your death. Which is sca­ri­er still.“ Peter Bradshaw | The Guardian

USA 2017, 90 Min., engl. OmU 
Regie, Buch & Schnitt: David Lowery 
Kamera: Andrew Droz Palermo 
mit:
Casey Affleck,
Rooney Mara,
Will Oldham,
Rob Zabrecky

A film by Katell Quillévéré. In french with ger­man subtitles.

Surfing usual­ly stands for life and free­dom. Sometimes the oppo­si­te: In the light of dawn, three young sur­fers head for the oce­an. Surf’s up! Stormy swells pro­mi­se powerful brea­k­ers. A few hour­se later, one of them, Simon, is just an emp­ty shell being kept ali­ve by machi­nes. At the same time, a woman waits for the organ donor that will save her life. In moving, sen­si­ti­ve images, cross­cut­ting adre­na­line-laden sports pho­to­gra­phy with the lifel­ess body in the ICU, direc­tor Katell Quillévéré exami­nes the dif­fi­cult ques­ti­on of how the living should deal with the dead. Based on the novel by Maylis de Kerangal.

Réparer les vivants
F 2016, 103 Min., frz. OmU 
Regie: Katell Quillévéré
Buch: Katell Quillévéré, Gilles Taurand
Kamera: Tom Harari
Schnitt: Thomas Marchand
mit: Tahar Rahim, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Dorval, Bouli Lanners, Dominique Blanc

A film by Cecilia Atán & Valeria Pivato. In spa­nish with ger­man subtitles.

54-year-old Teresa has work­ed for deca­des as a live-in maid with a fami­ly in Buenos Aires. When the fami­ly sells the house, she is forced to take a job in the distant town of San Juan. Although fee­ling uncom­for­ta­ble with tra­ve­ling, she embarks on a jour­ney through the desert. During her first stop, in the land of the mira­cu­lous “Saint Correa”, she loses her bag with all her belon­gings. This unex­pec­ted inci­dent leads her to cross paths with El Gringo, a tra­ve­ling sales­man, the only one who can help Teresa find her bag. What see­med like the end of her world will ulti­m­ate­ly pro­ve her salvation.

La Novia del Desierto, Arg./Chile 2017, 78 Min., span. OmU,
Regie: Cecilia Atán, Valeria Pivato,
Kamera: Sergio Armstrong,
Schnitt: Andrea Chignoli,
mit: Paulina Garcia, Claudio Rissi u.a.

A film by Alexandra Balteanu. In roma­ni­an with ger­man subtitles.

Short moments and con­ver­sa­ti­ons pie­ce tog­e­ther the por­trait of three women’s working day. Lidia rai­ses pige­ons and lives a mun­da­ne exis­tence with a hus­band and two child­ren. Denisa, the feis­tier of the three, wants to buy her freel­oa­der boy­fri­end a new pair of snea­k­ers. Vanesa, the youn­gest, dreams of fin­ding the per­fect guy with green eyes. All three share a work­place as sex-workers under a bridge on the high­way con­nec­ting Bucharest to the next city. In spi­te of their rival­ry, the three women try to make their time wort­hwhile by sha­ring food or spaw­ning sto­ries about their hard­ships and their loves. Besides the con­stant com­pe­ti­ti­on, they are also pres­su­red by the thre­at from the local poli­ce. Most days are punc­tua­ted by visits from the dis­trict poli­ce­men, who come to coll­ect their ‚pocket money‘. The men enjoy play­ing a game of ‚cat and mou­se‘ with them and one day, such a visit takes an unex­pec­ted turn.

D 2016, 75. Min., rumän. OmU, 
Regie & Drehbuch: Alexandra Balteanu
Kamera: Matan Radin
Schnitt: Antonella Sarubbi
mit: Corina Moise, Iulia Lumânare, Iulia Ciochină, Sergiu Costache, Dragoş Olaru

A film by Thomas Kruithof. In french with ger­man subtitles.

Two years after a burn out, Duval, unem­ploy­ed, is cont­ac­ted by a mys­te­rious employ­er to retran­scri­be tap­ped tele­pho­ne calls. Without ever won­de­ring about the orga­niza­ti­on employ­ing him, Duval, in despe­ra­te straits, accepts the job.

Although this simp­le work allows him to get back on his feet, it will nevert­hel­ess place him at the cen­ter of a poli­ti­cal con­spi­ra­cy, plun­ged, despi­te hims­elf, into the bru­ta­li­ty and stran­gen­ess of the under­ground world of the secret service.

La Mécanique de l’ombre
F 2016, 90 Min., franz. OmU
Regie: Thomas Kruithof
Buch: Yann Gozlan, Thomas Kruithof
Kamera.: Alex Lamarque
Schnitt: Jean-Baptiste Beaudoin 
mit: François Cluzet, Denis Podalydès, Sami Bouajila, Alba Rohrwacher, Simon Abkarian