News

Always a frontrunner, “Black Crab” scribe Pelle Rådström has won Göteborg’s Nordic Series Script Award for his screenplay of “Pressure Point,” a tense, involved and compelling three-part miniseries on the build up to murders which shook Sweden to its core.

The winner was announced at an awards ceremony on Jan. 28 during the Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision. Rådström’s Award comes with a cash prize of €17,000 ($), funded by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

The prize comes as relations between Sweden’s film-tv sector and its government have built to open hostility, with Göteborg Fest honorary president Ruben Östlund calling Sweden’s “culture policy” embarrassingly uneducated, after culture minister Parisa Liljestrand’s speech at Göteborg’s opening ceremony on Friday.

In such a context, the prize is also an endorsement of public broadcaster Svt’s support for a mini-series made with acute, nuanced intelligence which offers at...

What are the limits of art, of freedom of expression in the case of neo-Nazis expressing anti-democratic views? Can rehabilitation programs reduce crime?

Those are some of the pressing and relevant questions raised by the limited series “Pressure Point” (“Smärtpunkten”), for which Swedish scribe and creator Pelle Rådström is in the running for the Nordic region’s biggest screenwriter award – the Nordic Series Script Award. The three-part Svt series toplining David Dencik, Maria Sid (“All the Sins”), Martin Nick Alexandersson, Einar-Hugo Strömberg and Linus Gustafsson, is helmed by double Berlin Crystal Bear winner Sanna Lenken. Art & Bob produces with REinvent handling sales.

Famed for the Netflix thriller “Black Crab,” Rådström goes back in his series to true events that shook Sweden 26 years ago, when its legendary playwright Lars Norén and his producer Isa Stenberg staged the controversial play “7:3” in which the main characters were three long-term convicts, including two neo-Nazis.

Ruben Ostlund’s satire won awards including best film and best director.

Ruben Ostlund’s Triangle of Sadness swept Sweden’s Guldbagge Awards on Monday night, winning six prizes including best film and best director.

The satire also won best actress in a supporting role for Dolly de Leon, who recently secured a Bafta nomination for her performance as cleaner-turned-leader Abigail, and best actor in a supporting role for Croatian actor Zlatko Burić.

Sofie Krunegård won the best costume design prize and Stefanie Gredig won the best makeup award for their work on the film.

Triangle Of Sadness won the...

Ruben Östlund’s Oscar contender Triangle of Sadness continues to build award buzz, on Monday night sweeping Sweden’s Guldbagge Awards, taking six trophies, including Best Film and Best Director.

The capitalism satire also picked up Best Supporting Actress trophy for Dolly de Leon, the Filipino breakout whose turn in Triangle as Abigail —a cleaner on a luxury yacht who becomes the de facto leader of the one-percenters left over after a shipwreck —has put her on Hollywood’s radar.

Croatian actor Zlatko Burić, a scene-stealer in Triangle as the obnoxious Russian billionaire Dimitry, took the Best Supporting Actor nod, just a month after scooping the same prize at the European Film Awards. Sofie Krunegård also won the Guldbagge for Best Costume Design for Triangle, and Stefanie Gredig took the award for Best Make-Up.

Östlund’s dramedy, which co-stars Harris Dickinson, Woody Harrelson, and the late Charlbi Dean, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival,...

French feature documentary triumphs with audiences aged 12 to 14 years old.

French director Cyril Dion’s feature documentary Animal has won the European Film Academy’s (Efa) Young Audience Award 2022.

The winner was revealed during an online award ceremony on Sunday evening in Erfurt, Germany, which was streamed live on the Yaa website.

The Award honours European films for an audience between 12 and 14 years and has been an official category of Efa’s European Film Awards since 2012.

Animal tracks two teenagers who travel to meet with scientists and activists around the world, searching for another way of living alongside other species,...

The award honours films for teenagers aged 12-14.

The European Film Academy has nominated Cyril Dion’s Animal, Sanna Lenken’s Comedy Queen and Lars Montag’s Dreams Are Like Wild Tigers for its 2022 Young Audience Award (Yaa).

Selected by film experts and teenagers around Europe, the three films will now be watched online and in cinemas by young juries in 42 countries.

The recipient of the award, which honours European films for teenagers aged 12-14, will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 13 in Erfut, Germany.

In Animal, Dion follows two teenagers who travel around the world to meet...

The sci-fi satire is Sophie Linnenbaum’s graduation film.

Sophie Linnenbaum’s sci-fi satire The Ordinaries was one of the big winners at this year’s Filmfest München, picking up the German Cinema New Talent Award for best director and best producer for Britta Strampe and Laura Klippel of the Berlin-based production house Bandenfilm.

The Ordinaires is Linnenbaum’s graduation film from the Film University Babelsberg.

“You have to rub your eyes in amazement: this is supposed to be a graduation made at a university? The Ordinaries has what feels like a multimillion-dollar budget,” enthused the jury of producer-director Sönke Wortmann,...

Festival opens with Teppe Isobe’s ’Deadly School’.

Eight local features wiill have their world premiere at Japan’s Skip City International D-Cinema Festival, which is running as a hybrid event from July 16.

The festival opens with the world premiere of Teppe Isobe’s coming of age drama Deadly School, which is adapted from the play by Kaoru Asakusa about high school girls working hard for their school festival. Teppe Isobe has won prizes at Skip City for three of his films Who Knows about My Life (2018), F is for Future (2019) and Cornflakes (2020).

Held in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, Skip City focuses on emerging talent,...

REinvent International Sales has closed on several deals Alex Herron’s English-language horror thriller “Dark Windows” after unveiling the movie’s first footage at Cannes.

“Dark Windows” is being sold as part of REinvent Chills’ label for genre films. The story is about four teenagers who were involved in a car crash and decide to stay at a summerhouse in the countryside to work through their grief. A masked man then appears to terrorize them.

REinvent has sold the movie to Latin America (Gussi), as well as Hungary, Czech Republic a,d Slovakia (Vertigo). Sf Studios will distribute in the Nordics.

The movie stars Annie Hamilton (“Inventing Anna”), Anna Bullard, Rory Alexander, Joel Saemundsson and Morten Holst.

Herron is a Norwegian director whose recent credits include “Leave,” a horror film about a young woman who tries to find her origins after being abandoned as an infant at a cemetery. Also represented by REinvent,...

REinvent International Sales has closed major territory sales on “UFO Sweden,” a science fiction movie adventure from Crazy Pictures, a Swedish film collective whose past credits includes the 2018 hit movie “The Unthinkable.”

Described as a mix between “X-Files” and “Stranger Things,” “UFO Sweden” is set in a small town and follows a teenage rebel placed in foster care, who suspects that her father is not dead, but has been kidnapped by UFOs. With the help from a UFO association, she is determined to find out the truth. REinvent International Sales has sold “UFO Sweden” to Germany (Telepool), Spain (A Contracorriente Films) and Hungary (Vertigo). Other deals are in discussions.

Crazy Pictures got the idea for the film after learning about UFO-Sweden, which investigates mysterious phenomena and manages the world’s largest UFO archive, Archives for the Unexplained in Norrköping, Sweden.

“UFO Sweden” shot in Norrköping, Sweden, in September. Sf Studios...

REinvent Intl. Sales has scored sales across its slate, including Alex Herron’s horror film “Leave” and Sanna Lenken’s “Comedy Queen.”

“Comedy Queen,” which world-premiered at Berlin and won the Crystal Bear in the Generation section, has sold to Benelux (In the Air), France (Les Films Du Preau), Spain (Yoda Films), Poland (Vivarto), Hungary (Ads Service), Lithuania (Scanorama) and the former Yugoslavia (Fivia).

“Comedy Queen” follows Sasha, a 13-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian. She lives with her father, who can’t get over the death of her mother. She secretly writes a list of everything she has to do to survive, including shaving her hair, stop reading books, saying no to the world’s cutest puppy and become a comedy queen.

Lenken previously won the Berlinale Generation best film prize for her debut feature, “My Skinny Sister.”

“Comedy Queen,” which has been sold to 21 countries worldwide,...

Top prizes for Hong Sangsoo’s ‘The Novelist’s Film’, Claire Denis’ ‘Fire’.

Carla Simon’s Alcarras won the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale, in a ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast this evening (Wednesday 16).

“I feel like I should just move here, because every time I come here something amazing happens,” said Simon on accepting the award.

Alcarras: Berlin review

The award was presented by Competition jury president M. Night Shyamalan, who praised the film “for its extraordinary performances from the child actors to the actors in their 80s and for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy...

Spanish director Carla Simón has won the Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, for her second feature “Alcarràs,” a moving drama about a Catalan farming family facing eviction from their land. She received the prize from jury president M. Night Shyamalan, capping a strong night for female filmmakers. Full report to follow.

Official Competition

Golden Bear for Best Film: “Alcarràs,” Carla Simón

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “The Novelist’s Film,” Hong Sangsoo

Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Robe of Gem,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo

Silver Bear for Best Director: “Fire,” Claire Denis

Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Meltem Kaptan

Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Before, Now and Then (Nana),” Laura Basuki

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Laila Stieler

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “Everything Will Be Ok,” Rithy Panh

Special Mention: “A Piece of Sky,...

PoetBerlinale have announced the first 62 titles selected for the 72nd edition of their festival, set to take place physically from February 10 — 20.FORUMAfterwater (Dane Komljen)Poet (Darezhan Omirbayev)The Middle AgesEurope (Philip Scheffner)A Flower in the Mouth (Éric Baudelaire)Memoryland (Kim Quy Bui)My Two Voices (Lina Rodriguez)Nuclear Family (Erin Wilkerson, Travis Wilkerson)Super Natural (Jorge Jácome)The United States of America (James Benning)Forum EXPANDEDDragon Tooth (Rafael Castanheira Parrode)Home When You Return (Carl Elsaesser)Jail Bird in a Peacock Chair (James Gregory Atkinson)Sol in the Dark (Mawena Yehouessi)vs (Lydia Nsiah)PANORAMATalking About the Weather (Annika Pinske)The Apartment with Two Women (Kim Se-in)Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (Nina Menkes)Swing Ride (Chiara Bellosi)Dreaming WallsKlondike (Maryna Er Gorbach)A Love Song (Max Walker-Silverman)Myanmar Diaries (The Myanmar Film Collective)Into My Name (Nicolò Bassetti)Nelly & Nadine (Magnus Gertten)We, Students! (Rafiki Fariala)Until Tomorrow (Ali Asgari...

The 2022 Berlin International Film Festival has revealed its first titles, including seven films that have been invited to the Berlinale Special program. You can see the full list of confirmed films below.

Those seven include Peter Flinth’s Against The Ice, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Heida Reed and Charles Dance, and Laurent Larivière’s About Joan, starring Isabelle Huppert, which both play as Berlinale Special Galas.

The Panorama program has unveiled 13 titles, with Generation confirming eight features, and further films set for Forum and Forum Expanded.

The Panorama strand includes Myanmar Diaries, a doc/feature hybrid from the Myanmar Film Collective that highlights violence suffered by Burmese citizens.

“The pandemic has created distances – not only between people but also the way we see the world. Amongst the 2022 selection are films shot during the pandemic, reflecting on how it feels to be disconnected from others. It is with this first...

Lead writer Cilla Jackert’s “Thin Blue Line,” a fresh take on a police procedural, is Sweden’s contender for the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize at 2021’s Göteborg Film Festival. Produced during a tumultuous time for police all around the world, the show quickly establishes itself as an intimate portrayal of the lives – both personal and professional – of its central characters who happen to be part of Malmö’s police. That adds drama forefronting the often overlooked humanity in an often plot driven genre.

The show revolves around the criss-crossing stories of Sara, Magnus, Leah and Jesse as each of them struggle to keep their personal lives in check – or afloat – while facing the daily hardships and bureaucratic constriction of their profession.

Produced by Anagram Sweden, the 10-part show is a shining example of the caliber of scripted drama commissioned by public broadcast network Svt, as other Nordic state broadcasters Dr,...

Titles backed or produced by HBO Europe (“Welcome to Utmark”), NBCU (“Sisterhood”), Fremantle (“Cargo”) and ITV Studios (“Thin Blue Line”) have been nominated for the 5th Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, the most prestigious Nordic award for drama series screenwriting.

In a powerful smackdown, a fifth series, “Cry Wolf,” is produced by Dr Drama, the Danish producer of Nordic Noir icons “The Killing” and “The Bridge” as well as “Borgen.”

Adding another edge to competition, the five contenders are produced by companies based in the five main Nordic countries and backed by three of its biggest public broadcasters, Sweden’s Svt, Denmark’s Dr and Finland’s Yle, as well as pan-Nordic pay TV giant Viaplay, part of the Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent).

The winner of the award, which goes to the main writer, will be announced on Feb. 3 at Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival during its TV Drama Vision,...

Exclusive: Frontieres, the industry initiative for genre film professionals, has named an 11-strong lineup for its 2020 Financing & Packaging Forum.

Frontieres runs three events throughout the year: the Forum, which this year will be held in Sweden in February, the Frontières Platform at the Marché du Film which is held during the Cannes festival in May, and finally the International Co-Production Market at Montreal’s Fantastia festival in July.

The year’s Forum relocates from Helsinki to Karlskrona, Sweden, and will run February 27-29. It is co-organized with The Carl International Film Festival and Nordic Factory, and marks the first collaboration between Frontieres, the Swedish Film Institute and Norwegian Film Institute, and a returning collaboration with the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

This year’s slate features a majority of women directors as participants. Jen Handorf, whose credits as a producer include Alice Lowe’s Prevenge and Ben Parker’s The Chamber,...

This year’s Nordic International Film Festival is changing locations.

With dates set for Oct. 16-20, the fifth annual event will move to the Roxy Cinema at The Roxy Hotel in New York. Panels and parties will take place at the Park Avenue outpost of the Stockholm museum Fotografiska.

Started by two Swedish born filmmakers based in New York, Linnea Larsdotter and Johan Matton, the festival boasts its status as the “biggest film festival outside Europe.” The silent theme for this year’s progressive official program is climate change.

Niff will present one world premiere, six international premieres, two North American premieres, one U.S. premiere and 11 New York premieres among its multiple programs. 79 percent of the films to be shown this year also include at least one woman in power. Additionally, the festival promises a focus on up-and-coming talent to screen in its Aurora Borealis category — part of its...

The Swedish Film Institute has backed nineteen projects in its latest round of funding.

Swedish director Sanna Lenken, who won Berlin’s Crystal Bear in 2015 with My Skinny Sister, is now making a 30-minute short Night Child (Nattbarn), based on a graphic novel by Hanna Gustafsson.

The story is about 14-year-old girl Iggy “who lives a parallel online life to avoid the everyday tedium. A story about identity, sexuality, borderlands and friendship.”

The film is one of several new productions getting backing from the Swedish Film Institute. Others include Dome Karukoski’s anticipated new Tom Of Finland biopic [pictured] and Agnieszka Holland’s Polish drama Game Count.

Other projects backed, listed from highest investments, are:

Becoming Zlatan, wr/dirs Fredrik Gertten, Magnus Gertten; prods Margarete Jangård, Lennart Ström. Documentary about charismatic footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović. $246,000 (2m Sek)

Tom Of Finland, dir Dome Karukoski, wr Aleksi Bardy, prods Gunnar Carlsson, Emma Åkesdotter Ronge. Drama about the...

Other winners include Drifters and box office hit A Man Called Ove.

Magnus von Horn’s The Here After was the big winner at last night’s Guldbagge awards in Sweden.

The film, produced by Zentropa Sweden and Lava Film, was selected for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2015. The drama isabout a young man who returns home after serving time in prison, but is not forgiven by the local community,

The Here After won best film, best director and best supporting actor (Mats Blomgren).

Another newcomer, Peter Gronlund, won five Guldbagge prizes for his debut film Drifters, a low-budget feature produced by B-Reel. The film won best script for Gronlund and best actress for Malin Levanon.

Hannes Holm’s A Man Called Ove, a current box-office smash hit, won best actor for Rolf Lassgard. Ove also won the audience award and the prize for best makeup.

Other winners included Beata Gardeler’s Flocking, which won three...

2015 European Film Awards winners and nominations Best European Film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. En Duva Satt På En Gren Och Funderade På Tillvaron. Sweden, France, Germany, Norway, 96 min. Written and directed by: Roy Andersson. Produced by: Pernilla Sandström. Mustang. France, Germany, Turkey, 100 min. Directed by: Deniz Gamze Ergüven. Written by: Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour. Produced by: Charles Gillibert. Rams. Hrútar. Iceland, Denmark, 93 min. Written and directed by: Grímur Hákonarson. Produced by: Grímar Jónsson. The Lobster. U.K., Ireland, Greece, France, Netherlands, 118 min. Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos. Written by: Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou. Produced by: Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Ceci Dempsey and Yorgos Lanthimos. Victoria. Germany, 138 min. Written and directed by: Sebastian Schipper. Produced by: Jan Dressler. * Youth. Youth – La Giovinezza. Italy, France, U.K., Switzerland, 118 min. Written and directed by: Paolo Sorrentino. Produced by: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima and Carlotta Calori. Best...

A Swedish story of sisters bound by love, secrecy and jealousy is given insight and warmth by its director’s personal experience

Swedish writer/director Sanna Lenken describes her admirable debut feature as an attempt to “examine what it means to grow up as a young girl [and] be judged for the way you look and not who you are”. Rebecka Josephson is wonderfully engaging as Stella, the awkward adolescent who discovers with horror that her popular figure-skating sister Katja (Amy Deasismont) is hiding a growing eating disorder. Drawing on personal experience of anorexia, Lenken examines the conflicting web of intimacy and alienation that entraps both sisters and moves with humour and compassion toward resolutions born of honesty, insight and affection.

Continue reading...

The performances are good but the resolution is too smooth in this story of a girl who stumbles upon her idolised elder sister’s eating disorder

Sanna Lenken’s My Skinny Sister is an earnestly intentioned Swedish film about body image, but it wraps up its ideas glibly, like the TV issue movie of the week. At first it looks like a challenging drama about sibling rivalry and sibling dysfunction – something to compare, perhaps, with Catherine Breillat’s À Ma Soeur! or Céline Sciamma’s Water Lilies – but the promise of complexity is not fulfilled. Rebecka Josephson plays Stella, the pudgy younger sister of Katja (Amy Deasismont), sleek teen princess and school ice-skating star. Stella is in awe of Katja; she makes tragically lumbering attempts to emulate her prowess on the ice-rink and conceives an embarrassing crush on Katja’s coach. But when she discovers Katja’s bulimia, the whole...

★★★★☆ Swedish writer-director Sanna Lenken's notable debut My Skinny Sister (2015) about a young teenager's eating disorder is a simple tale given added poignancy by powerful performances from the two leads. Katja (Amy Deasismont) is a promising young figure skater envied and admired by her younger sister Stella (Rebecka Josephson). Katja is beautiful, svelte and talented while 12-year-old Stella is pudgy and awkward. To complicate matters further, Stella has a crush on Katja's German trainer Jacob (Maxim Mehmet).

While the Toronto International Film Festival looks around the world and in all genres to find features for its annual incarnation, one area that receives focus is films aimed at children. With the understanding both that quality cinema is not dependent on its target audience, and that cinephiles can begin at any age, the festival’s Kids Programme highlights such features.

The Discovery Programme, on the other hand, brings together films from first and second time directors, with an eye on emerging talent. The festival has now announced the lineups for both Programmes in the 2015 incarnation of the event, along with further additions to the Cinematheque and Vanguard lineup. The Discovery lineup joins previously announced Canadian features. The films, with their official synopses, can be seen below.

Tiff Kids

The Boy and the Beast, directed by Mamoru Hosoda, making its International Premiere

A young boy in modern-day Tokyo stumbles into...

Films set to show at the 40th Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff), updated as announcements are made in the run up to the event.

Tiff will open on September 10 with Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts.

Tiff 40

Key: Wp = world premiere; Nap = North American premiere; IP = international premiere; Cp = Canadian premiere.

GALASBeeba Boys (Canada), Deepa Mehta, WPDemolition, Jean-Marc Vallée WPDisorder (Maryland) (France-Belgium), Alice Winocour NAPThe Dressmaker (Aus), Jocelyn Moorhouse, WPEye In The Sky (UK), Gavin Hood WPForsaken (Canada), Jon Cassar, WPFreeheld (Us), Peter Sollett, WPHyena Road (Canada), Paul Gross, WPLolo (France), Julie Delpy, NAPLegend (UK), Brian Helgeland, IPMan Down (Us), Dito Montiel NAPThe Man Who Knew Infinity (UK), Matt Brown, WPThe Martian (Us), Ridley Scott, WPMiss You Already (UK), Catherine Hardwicke WPMississippi Grind (Us), Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden CPMr. Right (Us), Paco Cabezas WPThe Program (UK), Stephen Frears, WPRemember (Canada), Atom Egoyan, NAPSeptembers Of Shiraz (Us), Wayne Blair, WPStonewall ([link...

Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 10-20) has completed its line-up with the Discovery, New Wave Tiff Kids and In Conversation With… strands and has confirmed the return of Festival Street.

Oscar-winner Julianne Moore, Salma Hayek, Sarah Silverman and Matthew Weiner will take place in separate on-stage conversations as part of the In Conversation With… series, which replaces the Mavericks programme.

For the second year, the Festival Street initiative will see the closure of King Street West between Peter and University Streets, from Sept 10-13.

Events will include Questival, a walking interactive quiz designed by Frontier Design & Innovation; the NewCanadianMusic.ca music stage featuring the world premiere of Titicut Follies – The Ballet inspired by Frederick Wiseman’s 1967 documentary; cinema-inspired installations; magicians; the Slaight Family Zone; and food trucks.

In total, the festival will screen 399 films, of which 289 are features and 110 shorts. Last year’s festival screened 392 in total comprising 284 features and 108 shorts.

Programmers sifted...

Neil Armfield.s Holding the Man, Simon Stone.s The Daughter, Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin and Jen Peedom.s feature doc Sherpa will have their world premieres at the Sydney Film Festival.

The festival program unveiled today includes 33 world premieres (including 22 shorts) and 135 Australian premieres (with 18 shorts) among 251 titles from 68 countries.

Among the other premieres will be Daina Reid.s The Secret River, Ruby Entertainment's. ABC-tv miniseries starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Sarah Snook, and three Oz docs, Marc Eberle.s The Cambodian Space Project — Not Easy Rock .n. Roll, Steve Thomas. Freedom Stories and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky.

Festival director Nashen Moodley boasted. this year.s event will be far larger than 2014's when 183 films from 47 countries were screened, including 15 world premieres. The expansion is possible in part due to the addition of two new screening venues in Newtown and Liverpool.

As previously announced, Brendan Cowell...

Organisers at the Seattle International Film Festival (Siff) announced the complete line-up of 450 films from 92 countries on Wednesday. The festival runs from May 14-June 7.

The Overnight starring Jason Schwartzman will close the event and as previously announced Spy (pictured) with Melissa McCartney will kick off proceedings. Kevin Bacon will receive career achievement in acting award.

“This year’s festival is bigger and more international than ever, with a record 92 countries represented,” said Siff artistic director Carl Spence. “Adding to our diverse international line-up is our new programme, Culinary Cinema, which features 11 fantastic new films.

“And I’m particularly excited to welcome Kevin Bacon as this year’s Tribute Guest – Siff will now be only one-degree of separation away!”

Galas and premieres include Max Landis’ directorial debut Me Him Her, Chris Evans in Before We Go, Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segal in the Centerpiece Gala End Of The Tour . Inside Out, Mr. Holmes and [link...

Sanna Lenken’s Swedish drama wins best film in the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation Kplus section.

My Skinny Sister (Min lilla syster), from Swedish first-time feature director Sanna Lenken, has been named best film in the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation Kplus section.

The Sweden-German co-production centres on Stella, a girl entering adolescence who discovers her big sister and role model is hiding an eating disorder.

Awarding the Crystal Bear, the jury said: “The film’s unique perspective, stunning performances and challenging theme really touched our hearts.”

A special mention was given to Rainbow (Dhanak), an Indian film from director Nagesh Kukunoor.

“This year, we chose a colorful, touching and humorous film,” said a jury statement. “The story and the performances of the young protagonists impressed us deeply.”

In a reversal, the Generation Kplus international jury gave My Skinny Sister a special mention and its Grand Prize - worth €7,500 - to Rainbow.

Other awards...

He may have been around for a long time, but until this Sundance where he was working on Jenni Olson’s “The Royal Road”, I had never heard of publicist, Matt Johnstone before. This Berlin he is promoting a slew of films.

See his full slate below:

"Dora Or The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents" (Switzerland - Germany / Panorama)

Dora, a life-loving, mentally disabled teenager, is taken off medication by her mother to allow her to mature and find her own independence. As she explores her newfound sexuality, she becomes pregnant after a spontaneous sexual encounter with a suspicious man, and continues an affair with her dubious suitor. This sexual awakening deeply affects her mother, and sets Dora on an unexpected path to adulthood and independence. Based on the acclaimed German play by Lukas Bärfuss. Trailer: http://vimeo.com/111535397 *English Subtitles: Click Cc button on bottom right of Vimeo link

"My Skinny Sister" (Sweden - Germany / Generation)

Just as Stella enters the exciting and awkward world of adolescence, she discovers that her idolized big sister Katja, a competitive figure skater, is hiding an eating disorder. As the secret unravels and the disease tears the family apart, Stella is torn between her love for her sister and loyalty to her family. Writer / Director Sanna Lenken, who struggled with anorexia as a teenager, has created a powerfully autobiographical debut feature film, with striking debut feature performances from her two leading actresses. Trailer: http://youtu.be/uX-u_cebYL8

"Misfits" (Us - Denmark - Sweden / Panorama Dokumente)

A vibrant portrait of three brave Lbgt teenagers in the 'bible belt' of the Us - Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the drop-in community center they call home, as they struggle to find themselves in a highly conservative and religious community, where a church resides on nearly every street corner. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1rR_Cu8a8c

"Nuclear Nation II" (Japan / Forum)

A sequel to the acclaimed documentary follows the displaced residents of Futaba, who have been exiled from their homes for over four years in the wake of the Fukushima Nuclear reactor disaster. A powerful film that examines the human cost of nuclear energy and capitalism. Theme Music by acclaimed composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Trailer: To be Released Shortly

For more information on these films at the Berlinale email mattjohnstone-pr[At}sbcglobal.net...

Danish director Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm took home the Gothenburg Film Festival’s Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film for drama In Your Arms.

The coveted award comes with the world’s biggest festival cash prize of 1 million Sek ($120,000).

At the gala event on Saturday evening, Copenhagen-based Sahlstrom also won the Fipresci award for his film about a nurse who travels with a terminally ill man to a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland.

The jury said of Sahlstrom’s film: “The award goes to a film, that with honest sensitivity, brings up the questions: when is life worth living? When is life not worth living?

“Told in a pure language, with poetic moments, and with an acting that is vibrating of human authenticity. It is a film that ends with death - but also with life, love and hope.”

The Dragon Award for best documentary went to Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence, the follow-up...

The 65th Berlinale has begun to unveil its lineup for this coming February 5th to 15th in the German capital. Watch this page for updates as more announcements come in.

Competition

Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh)

Ixcanul (Jayro Bustamante)

As We Were Dreaming (Andreas Dresen)

Under Electric Clouds (Alexey German)

Eisenstein in Guanajuato (Peter Greenaway)

45 Years (Andrew Haigh)

Knight of Cups (Terrence Malick)

Perspektive Deutsches Kino

The Bunker (Nikias Chryssos)

Spiderwebhouse (Mara Eibl-Eibesfeldt)

HomeSick (Jakob M. Erwa)

Wanja (Carolina Hellsgård)

Sibylle (Michael Krummenacher)

A Perfect Place (Anatol Schuster)

I Remember (Janna Ji Wonders)

Generation 14Plus

Short Skin (Duccio Chiarini, Italy)

Corbo (Mathieu Denis, Canada)

Nena (Saskia Diesing, Netherlands/Germany)

Flocken (Beata Gårdeler, Sweden)

The Beat Beneath My Feet (John Williams, Great Britain)

Generation Kplus

Paper Planes (Robert Connolly, Australia)

Snow Pirates (Faruk Hacıhafızoğlu, Turkey)

Mini and the Mozzies (Jannik Hastrup and Flemming Quist Møller, Denmark)

Rainbow (Nagesh Kukunoor, India)

My Skinny Sister...

The Berlinale's announced thirteen features lined up for the Generation programs aimed at younger viewers attending its 65th edition, running from February 5 through 15: Duccio Chiarini's Short Skin, Mathieu Denis's Corbo, Saskia Diesing's Nena, Beata Gårdeler's Flocken, John Williams's The Beat Beneath My Feet, Robert Connolly's Paper Planes, Faruk Hacıhafızoğlu's Kar Korsanları, Jannik Hastrup and Flemming Quist Møller's Cykelmyggen og Minibillen, Nagesh Kukunoor's Dhanak, Sanna Lenken's Min lilla syster, Mark Noonan's You’re Ugly Too, Brian Perkins's Golden Kingdom and Tallulah Schwab's Dorsvloer vol Confetti. » - David Hudson...

The Berlinale's announced thirteen features lined up for the Generation programs aimed at younger viewers attending its 65th edition, running from February 5 through 15: Duccio Chiarini's Short Skin, Mathieu Denis's Corbo, Saskia Diesing's Nena, Beata Gårdeler's Flocken, John Williams's The Beat Beneath My Feet, Robert Connolly's Paper Planes, Faruk Hacıhafızoğlu's Kar Korsanları, Jannik Hastrup and Flemming Quist Møller's Cykelmyggen og Minibillen, Nagesh Kukunoor's Dhanak, Sanna Lenken's Min lilla syster, Mark Noonan's You’re Ugly Too, Brian Perkins's Golden Kingdom and Tallulah Schwab's Dorsvloer vol Confetti. » - David Hudson...

For short films, the Tribeca Film Festival is a must. Winning the award for Narrative Short or Best Documentary Short automatically qualifies a film for the Academy Awards. Their track record isn’t too bad either. Shawn Christensen’s Curfew had its New York premiere at the Festival and went on to win the Academy Award.

This year, Tribeca will show 60 short films in eight categories, from a variety of new and returning directors (including Christensen with Grandma’s Not A Toaster), and featuring performances from a number of Hollywood stars. Elijah Wood plays a standup comic who attempts a daring set in Setup,...