FILM AND VIDEO PROGRAM
| Opening Film: Sur mes lèvres - Read My Lips |
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| "Read My Lips" takes a crime plot as the framework for an unusual character study. Carla (Emmanuelle Devos, "Esther Kahn") is the hard-working 35-year-old employee of a property development company. She wears a hearing aid because of a handicap that has left her intimidated and lonely. Director Jacques Audiard ("A Self-Made Hero") expertly manipulates sound and images to give a vivid sense of Carla's dislocation. Carla, given the opportunity to hire an assistant, writes a job description for a 25-year-old male that resembles a personal ad. She hires Paul ("Brotherhood of the Wolf's" Vincent Cassel), a thief just out of prison who has no business experience. Carla and Paul are both frustrated and resentful and use the talents of the other to make up for what each lacks. Passed over for a promotion, Carla wants to use Paul to get back at the employers who have taken her for granted, while Paul gets Carla to read lips from a distance so that he can discover the details about some hidden cash. Devos, who received the Best Actress Cesar (French Oscar) for this role, gives a remarkable performance, depicting Carla becoming stronger and more assured as she enjoys her unexpected talent for scheming and manipulation. Devos' expressive face reveals Carla's coiled intensity and rage. Cassel is also a forceful presence as the instinctive Paul. The intricate screenplay, co-written by Audiard, also received a Cesar Award. Audiard's skilled direction emphasizes close-ups of Carla and Paul as their continually changing partnership faces increasingly dangerous risks. This focus on character raises "Read My Lips" far above the typical thriller. Audiard successfully maintains suspense on different levels throughout a film that is both gripping and compelling. F 2001; D: Jacques Audiard; C: Vincent Cassel, Emmanuelle Devos; 115 min.; fiction Wed. 07.05. International |
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| Focus Canada: Aftermath: The Remnants of War |
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| War has a dirty secret: it never really ends. Aftermath: The Remnants of War weaves archival images and personal stories into a powerful portrait of the lingering devastation of war. Based on the Gelber Prize winning book by Donovan Webster, this insightful film reveals the twentieth century as the most violent in all of human history, with a death toll of more than one hundred million. Filmed on location in Russia, France, Bosnia and Vietnam, the film features personal accounts of individuals involved in the cleanup of war: from de-miners who risk their lives on a daily basis, psychologists working with distraught soldiers in Bosnia, a treasure hunter turned archeologist in Stalingrad, and scientists and doctors struggling with the contamination of dioxin used during the Vietnamese war. The poignant stories convey a sobering message as we face the realization that war doesn't end when the fighting stops. CAN 2002; D: Daniel Sekulich,73,Doc. Fri. 09.05. 17:30 Kleisthaus Wed. 14.05. 20:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Aiki | |
| The young boxer Taichi is forced to leave his old career behind following a nasty motorcycle accident that chains him to a wheel chair. Understandably, his suffering is not purely on a physical level. He was a passionate boxer, and cut off forever from the one thing that made him feel alive he sinks into a pit of frustration and deep depression, driving away everyone close to him. Salvation comes on the wings of love: Samako - a young and mysterious girl, who works in the local temple. She introduces him to an aiki-jujutsu master, who teaches him the secret of the martial art: "by accepting your opponent, control your opponent." Inspired, Taichi begins the hard struggle of rebuilding his life. Aiki is based on a true story. More often than not, this appears to be a license for uncritical directors to unleash terrifying cascades of suffocating sentimentality. Not so in Aiki. Daisuke Tengan, son of legendary director Shohei Imamura, instead tells his story with a discipline, control and economy that in all respects reflect the philosophy rooted in the ancient martial art portrayed in the film. The end result is a touching, life-affirming, and not to mention strong and dynamic film, crammed with colourful and sympathetic characters. Simply a film one can't refuse! JAP 2002; D: Daisuke Tengan; C: Haruhiko Kato, Rie Tomosaka; 119 min. Thurs. 08.05. 20:15 Eiszeit 2 Mon. 12.05. 17:45 Eiszeit 1 |
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| Bangkok Dangerous | |
| Kong, a professional killer, has been mute since childhood. He works the city's toughest streets, silence his only response to the killings he performs. He is numb, acting with a sociopathic coldness as he brings down his steady, impersonal revenge on the world. Ultimately, the chance for his transformation (and redemption) arrives in the form of shop assistant Fon. She is able to provide the only tenderness and warmth he's ever known. Suddenly stricken with remorse and guilt for his past actions, he fights back against those who would force him to remain a killing machine. Thailand 2000 D: Oxide und Danny Pang; C: Pavarit Mongkolpisit, Premsinee Ratanasopha, Patharawarin Timkul, Pisek Intrakanchit; 105 min. Thurs. 08.05. 19:30 Arsenal Mon. 12.05. 22:00 Eiszeit 1 |
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| Blind in Manhattan | |
| Colorfully gay and picturesque is how New York City is depicted in this documentary. The camera beautifully melts these colors into one psychadelic blur. Maren, who visits the neon-metropolis with her pen-pal, Kordula, seems thoroughly amused and enjoys the experience. Only: Maren cannot see the poppy post-card-like impressions. Every once in a while the film reminds the viewer of her perspective. Then one has to listen, instead of watch. It's the conversations between the girls that meet for the first time and the meeting of the seeing and the blind that fascinates by its casualness. GER 2001, D: Florian Fickel; 80 min. Thurs. 08.05. 19:45 Eiszeit 1 Fri. 09.05. 12:00 Kleisthaus |
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| Born Freak | |
| Fraser's journey into the history of disabled performers. Born physically different because of the drug thalidomide, Mat explores, through dramatic reconstruction, the lives of some of Europe's legendary 18th and 19th century disabled entertainers. He continues his search in America and meets several of the greats from the Side Show's that once formed the backbone of the nation's entertainment industry. Mat performs at the last surviving freak show in America: Side Shows by the Seashore in Coney Island, New York. Returning to Britain Mat takes to the stage at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in a one-man show inspired by his experiences. Mat's quest, both personal and historical, concludes in a dramatic finale that will entertain and challenge audiences everywhere. UK 2001,D: Paul Sapin,50,doc. Fri. 09.05. 22:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Focus Canada: Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story |
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| He was the brilliant director of Mon oncle Antoine, a friend and collaborator of François Truffaut, Bernardo Bertolucci and Jean Rouch, his genius hailed around the world by critics and artists like John Cassavetes, Jean Renoir, Cocteau, the shining star of a generation of Quebec filmmakers. He was also an actor, a writer, a painter and a medical doctor. Claude Jutra was full of surprises, none greater than his suicide in the face of the ravages of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 56, in the waters of the St. Lawrence River. He left behind a legion of friends, and one of them, director Paule Baillargeon, set out to explore the mystery of this extraordinary life. Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story offers a touching and intimate portrait of this daring artist, highlighting his brilliant achievements while tenderly probing the darkness that lay beneath. The film is filled with the light and shadow of Jutra's life: his idyllic childhood in the bosom of a prosperous and cultivated family who expected their eldest son to become a doctor; his discovery of moving pictures and the consuming passion that led him to make his first film (Le Dément du Lac Jean-Jeunes, 1948) while still a teenager, with his close friend Michel Brault, whom he introduced to filmmaking; his stays in France and Africa, where the eternal rebel was befriended by the great French auteurs Truffaut, Cocteau and Rouch; and the wild years of his youth followed by a period of artistic maturity that gave an emerging Quebec and Canadian cinema some of its most critically acclaimed and best-loved works (A Chairy Tale, co-directed with Norman McLaren, À tout prendre, Mon oncle Antoine and Kamouraska). But there were also dark moments, when Jutra lashed out at the limitations of the Canadian film industry - does it even exist he asks in Cine boom? - and his lifelong battle with the bureaucratic institutions with their political agendas and short memories. There was the life-threatening motorcycle accident that left him profoundly changed, the rejection in Quebec that led to his decision to leave for English Canada, where he undertook new filmmaking projects and made new friends, his subsequent return to Quebec, where he surrounded himself with an artistic family of young actors and artists, and lastly, his courageous battle against the disease that was shutting him up in "an invisible glass cage," until he made his final leap into the unknown. While the film portrait explores the inner Claude Jutra and his recurring themes (childhood, madness, the struggles of outsiders and misfits), it also explores his place in the political life of Quebec. In tracing Jutra's career, Paule Baillargeon recalls the heady days of the 1960's and '70's that saw the emergence of national cinemas and the affirmation of French-Canadian identity. Claude Jutra was a trailblazer in a new age in which cinema was allied with great political movements, struggling to bring about social change and smash taboos like interracial love, infidelity, abortion, homosexuality (À tout prendre). Claude Jutra was a natural leader, a brilliant thinker, an eloquent speaker. He was at the forefront of the struggle to create a new society and a new art form at a time when Quebec was a hotbed of creativity, and everything seemed possible. Beyond the facts and anecdotes of an exhilarating and richly varied life, the film reveals a complex personality, both joyful and tormented. Exploring the powerful symbols of water, childhood, and the central mother figure with whom Claude shared a troubled, intense love, the film suggests the darker depths of a brilliant man who was committed body and soul to an art that helped brighten the shadows of his existence. This affecting exploration of Jutra's life is illustrated with archival materials and interviews with actors like Geneviève Bujold and Saul Rubinek (whom Claude inspired to become a director himself), producer Ralph Thomas, and editors Werner Nold and Toni Myers, as well as the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, a life-long friend who said of Jutra that he "had a way of writing in poetry instead of prose." A sensitive portrait of a generous human being and a fearless artist, Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story is a film that goes straight to the heart. Fifteen years ago, as though executing his final script, Claude Jutra gracefully stepped out of this world. But here, his work and his memory live on. CAN 2002; D: Paule Baillargeon; 85 min. doc. Wed. 14.05. 19:30 Arsenal |
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| Chronique d'une mort décidée - A Decision to Die | |
| "I met Jean-Marie Lorand last May. Suffering from neuro-muscular degeneration, Jean-Marie gradually lost the use of his muscles. At age 9, he gets about in a carriage but that doesn't prevent him from leading a very active life. Confined to bed for the past three years, worn out by physical and psychological pain, Jean-Marie demands the right to die with dignity. In the meantime, he wants to leave a record of his story. I suggested filming him for three weeks whatever his final decision : to live or request euthanasia. This film is the result of our meeting and our friendship." (Vincent Fooij) BEL 2001, D: Vincent Fooij, Jean-Marie Lorand,54 min.,doc |
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| Focus Canada: The Daddy of Rock´N´Roll |
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| "The Daddy of Rock'N'Roll" is Montrealer Daniel Bitton's glimpse into the life of Wesley Willis, Chicago's schizophrenic rock star at-large. Bitton's sympathetic, non-intrusive camera brings us into a typical day of bus riding, songwriting and meetings with friends. Looking and sounding a bit like a black Andre the Giant, Willis comes off as an entertaining and likeable figure, despite his demons (the aptly named Nervewrecker, Heartbreaker and Meansucker) who call him "asshole" and force him to write songs about bestiality. While his life constantly fluctuates between joyride and hellride, Willis is clearly thrilled to be a rock star. An artist turned songwriter, Willis has a cult following of fans, including the Beastie Boys and Billy Corgan, but his catalogue of 2,000 songs are interesting for their bizarre and often hilarious lyrics rather than any musical capability they might suggest. A typically funny moment has Willis transcribing lyrics out loud at the neighborhood Kinko's. "Suck on an Afghan hound's raw dick! ? 'Scuse me miss, I'm just writing up a rock song." Bitton's film, which he directed, shot and edited himself, is an engagingly unusual picture of the mentally ill and what they can accomplish with luck and good friends. Bitton doesn't shy away from revealing Willis' huge, 400 lb. plus body or his endless talk about "sucking ass", but we never condemn him or even feel sorry for him. This well-paced, nicely edited and touchingly humorous piece could well be Bitton's Crumb. It certainly deserves to be. CAN 2002; D: Daniel Bitton; 59 min. doc. Thurs. 08.05. 18:15 Eiszeit 2 Sat. 10.05. 22:00 Eiszeit 1 |
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| Les Diables - The Devils | |
| Chloé (Adèle Haenel) is 13 years old and mute. Traumatised by years of abandonment, unable to bear any human contact, she is entirely dependent on her younger brother, Joseph (Vincent Rottiers). Joseph has been hardened by their years on the run. Fiercely protective of Chloé, motivated by his limitless love for her, terrified that they could be separated at any time, he will do whatever it takes to keep them together. They cling to each other, united against any interference from the outside world. In a home for disturbed children, a psychiatrist offers them a chance of normality- but will they take it? F 2002; D: Christophe Ruggia;105,fiction Sun. 11.05. 19:00 Arsenal |
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| Fahr zur Hölle, Schwester - Go to Hell, Sister | |
| Claire was always her mother's favourite. After a gruesome accident with a spindryer, in which she loses a foot and can never dance again, her elder sister Rita is shut out even more. At the age of eighteen, Claire flees the suffocating parental love and emigrates to Israel. Rita is left behind to look after their mother. The childhood images, almost devoid of colour, then make way for images in which Claire, now about forty, hears about a revolutionary repair operation from her boyfriend (played by fashion designer Wolfgang Joop). She travels back to Germany to fetch her mother's savings book, once opened for this very purpose. The unexpected reunion after so many years evokes feelings of suppressed jealousy and vengeance in the eccentric Rita. Then the film unfolds as a thriller in which Rita holds her wheelchair-bound sister hostage in the huge, half-empty house. This drama, originally intended as a TV film, can be regarded as a play in which almost all events take place within the same space. The two sisters are convincingly played by the German TV divas Iris Berben and Hannelore Elsner (who also played the impressive leading role in R?hler's Die Unber?hrbare). The dance scenes, in which Rita is briefly a child again, are both moving and bizarre. GER 2002; D: Oskar Röhler; C: Iris Berben, Hannelore Elsner, Wolfgang Joop; 98 min.; fiction Fri. 09.05. 22:00 Eiszeit 1 Wed. 14.05. 22:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Forbidden Wedding | |
| "Forbidden Wedding is the story of a man who is forbidden to get married by the Catholic Church in Brazil because he is sexually impotent. My passion is to produce films that tell deceptively small stories that have significance well beyond the frame of the camera. These stories are sometimes tragic, other times funny, and are often seen through the eyes of ordinary people in unusual circumstances. The documentary explores the relationship between an institution and its people, and the triumph of the human heart. Hedir Antonio de Brito, a paraplegic from the age of 15, wants simply to marry Mara. They were preparing for the wedding; invitations had been mailed, and their marriage certificate applied for from the Roman Catholic Church. Then the shocking letter arrived from the local bishop denying their application. According to the Vatican's Canonic Law 1084, a man must be able to copulate in order to get married. When I first read of the story in a small Brazilian newspaper in New York, I was shocked. Didn¹t the Church have more important things to do? Why were priests so concerned with peoples' sex lives? I had to capture this story. I found out that Hedir lived in a small town in southeast Brazil and within a few days I was on a courier flight to document his story. With my digital video camera in hand, I talked to the couple, their families, the townspeople, and the local priests. Many of them were afraid to speak their minds in the shadow of the Catholic Church, but speak they eventually did. Told entirely through their voices, the film unfolds into a gentle love story about human sexuality, the rights of the disabled, and faith in Brazil." Flavia Fontes BRA,2001,Flavia Fontes,56 min.,doc. Sun. 11.05. 22:00 Eiszeit 1 Thurs. 13.05. 17:45 Eiszeit 1 |
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| Forgive Me | |
| Selling himself to the devil (he quotes Murnau's Faust), Cyrus Frisch goes even further in Vergeef me on the path of controversy than in his previous work - this time in the ambitious form of a feature. He develops a dialectic between himself as provocateur, theatre-maker, scriptwriter of people's lives and protagonist in his own film. He penetrates the lives of `outsiders' he has come across in the street: the alcoholic Peter who visits prostitutes and his psychotic alcoholic ex-girlfriend Chiquita, her ex-boyfriend who is suffering from a rare disease, the wheelchair-bound heroin addict Achmed, a woman whose daughter has been killed by a junk and Astrid, who dreams of a career as a singer. Frisch started filming brutal scenes with these physically and/or mentally handicapped people, whose dignity is given away or taken away. When a first edited report screened at the IDFA only evoked positive reactions, he decided to carry on. Frisch provokes questions about the morality of (his) filming, and at the same time the morality of the viewer who is thrown back and forth between disgust and fascination for that disgust, but still keeps on looking. NL 2001; D: Cyrus Frisch; C :Ellen Ten Damme, Sylvia Kristel, Mevrouw Verhoeff, Nico, Chiquita; 85 min. doc. Fri. 09.05. 17:00 Arsenal |
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| George | |
| In 1995 the American TV station HBO asked Henry Corra to make a documentary about his twelve-year-old autistic son, George. Henry gives his son a digital amateur camera, to portray the world the way he sees it. Both document George’s life with their cameras and offer an interessting insight into George’s world. George is a charming and intelligent boy, similarly to his uncle Tom Corra, a musician. That turned out to be a problem. After viewing the first thirty minutes of the film, HBO chose not to finance the project any further. To them, George was not autistic enough. But Henry Corra finished the film by financing it on his own and the result is a higly emotional documentary of a father’s love for his imperfect child. 2001; D: Henry Corra and Grahame Weinbren; 87 min., doc. Sat. 10.05. 19:30 Arsenal Sun. 11.05. 17:45 Eiszeit 1 |
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| God´s Children | |
| Six years have passed since Shinomiya completed his previous film, Scavengers: Forgotten Children. A gigantic garbage dump in the suburbs of Manila, called Smoky Mountain, had been considered to be the biggest slum in Asia for forty years until the Filipino government dismantled it by force in November 1995. The Payatas dump, where God's Children was filmed, is called the second Smoky Mountain. The film starts with the tragic collapse of the Payatas dump in July 2000. Pivoting around the lives of three families living in the dump under the extremely harsh living conditions, the film vividly conveys the importance of "family ties" and "life with pride," both of which many Japanese people have long forgotten. After the collapse, the dump was closed, thus depriving the residents their means for living. Yet the residents continued to live there with their heads high for the four months while they were filmed. In the midst of many problems, people are born and die. "For what was the child born?" "That the child entered into this world has a meaning." "I wonder if life should be measured by how long one lives." The film poses many questions such as: "What is poverty?" "What is family?" "What is life? And death?" By showing the process of children's growth and thier ties with their families and friends, the film reexamines human ideal and hope, and ultimately, our way of life itself. We invite you to view this film and experience for yourselves what we experienced in the dump. JAP 2001; D: Shinomiya Hiroshi; 105 min., doc. Thurs. 08.05. 17:00 Arsenal Tue. 13.05. 22:00 Eiszeit 1 |
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| HFF Short-Films | |
| During the past years, students of the HFF have repeatedly made people with disabilities the focus of their work. GAGA 3 presents a selection of short-films, that have been produced by the HFF between 1999 and 2002 and gives an insight to the different perspectives of that can be acquired. Crevetten: GER 2002; D: Petra Volpe, 23 min., doc. Wähle Dich selbst: GER 1999; Petra Böschen; 23 min., doc. ?S"; GER 2002, D: Athanasios Karanikolas; 12 min.; fiction Abgefahren!; GER 2001; D: Matthias Luthardt; 20 min.; doc. Wetka; GER 2001; D: Patrick Lambertz; 10 min., fiction Blindgänger; GER 2001; D: Matthias Luthardt; 15 min.; fiction Cantando la vida; GER 2002; D: Ines Thomsen and Wolf Marcus Göppner; 15 min., doc. GER 1999-2002; 110 min., fiction/doc. |
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| Ich Kann das schon - I Can already Do That | |
| Children with Down's syndrome have trouble with the acquisition of speech. Thus, their ability to understand others and express themselves is very limited. Asking questions and receiving intelligible answers and managing their everyday life according to their desires is therefore nearly impossible. This disability affects the cognitive development of the child. The film documents three children with Down's syndrome over a period of one a half years, who's speech acquisition is supported with Prof. Etta Wilken's sign language supporting communication (GuK). Two-year-old Jonas has already learned a few hand signs and speaks his first words. During the captured one and a half years Jonas learns more and more to articulate his desires. Three and a half year-old David already knows many hand signs and is quickly advancing in verbal articulation. The motorized hand movements remind him of how the words are pronounced. Anna-Lotta is five and a half and is no longer in need of sign language. With the help of games and pictures articualtion, syntax, and reading are being trained. The documentary also shows parents that talk about there feelings and fears after having heard the diagnosis and how their highly anticipated child is different, than expected. GER 2002; D: Heide Breitel; 87 min.; doc. Mon. 12.05. 19:45 Eiszeit 1 Wed. 14.05. 17:45 Eiszeit 1 |
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| The story of exploitation and loss in legendary vocalist Jimmy Scott's eventual rise to fame is not unique in the annals of jazz, and Matthew Buzzell's understated documentary manages to drive that point home far more poignantly than could any form of cooked-up outrage. Performance footage of Scott on a recent tour of Japan--his uniquely phrased renditions of "Time After Time" or "Pennies From Heaven" floating serenely over the strings of a Tokyo orchestra or more compactly interweaving with the piano riffs of his own combo--is intercut with interviews that trace his notoriously stop-and-start career... Kallmann's Syndrome, a rare disease that prevents puberty, assured his signature high voice would remain unchanged, but also apparently led to booze-swilling, gun-toting over-assertions of masculinity. The early death of his mother, hit by a car while saving her little daughter, scattered the then-13-year-old Scott and his nine brothers and sisters into foster homes (cut to a spine-chilling rendition of "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child"). But the true drama lies in Scott's troubled recording career... Scott more or less gave up for 20 years, taking jobs as dishwasher, elevator operator or whatever came along, playing infrequent gigs offered by those few who knew he wasn't dead. And then, slowly, it all started up once more, Scott having acquired the patience and equanimity to sing the blues again. .. USA 2002,D:Matthew Buzzell,77 min.,doc. Sat. 10.05. 19:45 Eiszeit 1 Wed. 14.5. 18:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Klar zur Wende | |
| Inka Janssen is a musician. Before she was diagnosed with multiple sklerosis, she worked as a teacher. In this documentary, she tells about the breakout of her disease, the symptoms, of doctors and examinations. Next to conventional methods of treatment, she has also considered alternative healing methods. She does Qi Gong, nourishment and metabolism therapy, receives treatments with herbs and visits a healer. GER 2001; D: Astrid Vogelpohl and Inka Janßen; 40 min., doc. Fri. 09.05. 19:45 Eiszeit 1 |
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| Program: 1) Kroko 2) Tres | |
| Kroko She is the blonde bomb of backyards, the femme fatale of Neukölln's back alleys. Her eyes seem to raidiate coolness. One could think it's boredom, if it were not for the rude tone and the willingness of pushing anyone in her way aside. Similarly raving Kroko entertains herself. Uring one of her joy rides, she has an accident. A federal court rules that she must spend time helping in a home of disabled people. "Retards" is what she calls them. She finds the contact to her disgracing. Yet, the normal people Kroko lives with don't seem very loveable either and the "retards" seem to give her something she misses in everyday-life. GER 2001, D: Sylke Enders,30 min.,fiction Tres A horrible mistake: Accidently three friends summon a demon. In only a wink of time, "Garas" destroys two souls. When the demon finds a third victim, he can return to Earth for good and subdue it to his evil powers. There is little time. Will the three friends be able to stop the demon and save commissionar Berta Blau? For nearly an entire year 8 senior students of the special pedagogical center finkenkrug-Schule in Berlin worked on the completion of their mystery thriller. With aid of the director and teachers the mentally and partially physically disabled group created their own script and storyboard. They learned how to operate DV-cams, lighting, and meaning of sound and cut. They acted in nearly all areas of the set, so that they did not only act in front of the camera, but over 60% of the time behind it. GER 2002; D: Daniel Stephan; Produktionsgruppe: Jonas Abel, Katja Berlien, Riad Bandar, Jascha Dörsam, Christiane Otto, Julian Herker, Marco Schreiber, Tim Reinke sowie Uta Eling, Hans Satzger; 10 Min. Fri. 09.05. 17:45 Eiszeit 1 |
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| Focus Canada: Larger than Life |
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| "Du wirst zum Forschungsreisenden, in dem Moment, in dem du dich zum ersten Mal auf deine Zehenspitzen stellst, um etwas weiter zu blicken", lautet das Motto von "Tip of the Toes", der Organisation, die für Krebskranke Expeditionen in die unberührte Natur organisiert. "Abenteuer Therapie" nennen sie diese anstrengenden Ausflüge, die einen hoffnungsfrohen Blick in die Weite ermöglichen und einen positiven Beweis der individuellen Stärke zurückgeben sollen. Auch die Jugendlichen, die mit "Tip of the Toes" zur Küste des entlegenen Saguenay Fjords gereist sind, haben eine Vielfalt von Krebstherapien hinter sich. Der Film begleitet sie auf ihrem Trip, der es ihnen ermöglicht, einmal über den Rand des Krankenhausbettes hinaus zu schauen, der in den letzten Jahren ihre Welt begrenzt hatte. CAN 2001; Les Productions en Commun Inc; 50 Min.; Dok. Fassung: Englisch/französische Sprachfassung mit deutschen Untertiteln. Zugang: Untertitel eingesprochen (über Kopfhörer) für Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung. So 11.05. 18:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Doppel: 1) Leben ausser Atem 2) 1000 Jahre möchte ich alt werde | |
| Leben ausser Atem For many things in life we need a long breath. Nina prizzi does not simply prove the truthfulness of this expression, but also that it cannot be taken too seriously. Ever since she fell ill with polio when she was 16, she depended on a breathing aid. For twelve years she was bound to a bed in the University Clinic of Zurich because her insurance declared a portable breathing aid is too expensive. Yet, with the help of her friends, she fought for it and finally won her mobility and freedom bac. Today, Ninan Dorizzi lives in the world, and not in a hospital room, works in the city parlament of Winterthur, and coordinates an organization that helps disbaled people in Russia. CH 2001; D: Aldo Gugolz; 59 min.; doc. 1000 Jahre möchte ich alt werden - I Want to Live for 1000 Years "I Want to Live for 1000 Years" gives a sensitive and and authentic insight into the life of a severely physically disabled man, who has managed not to be forced into the life of a social outcast. It is the story of Fredi from Munich, who falls ill with polio when he is only two years old. Soon, the child is so disabled that it must move to a hospital, which turns into the world it grows up in. The notion of a free life without doctors and medical devices cannot even develop within the child's mind. Since the muscles in his lungs are not working anymore, Fredi's breathing is dependant on an iron lung. At age twelve, Fredi developes a breathing technique that will allow him to leave the iron lung during the day. He prganizes a life with his disability and moves into an own apartment. Going on trips to foreign countries, playing sports, or simply playing cards with friends? A problem, but no problem at all! GER 2001; D: Max Kronawitter; 34 Min.; Doc. Sun. 11.05. 20:15 Eiszeit 2 Mon. 12.05. 17:00 Arsenal |
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| This aptly named profile of Sydney musician and collector of psychotronic films, Jamie Leonarder, explores the intriguing and little known world of ?outsider? culture. A diversional therapist, who formed a band with the patients, Leonarder likens the institutional world of nursing to a painting by Hieronymous Bosch. He has fused compassion for the marginalised with his fascination for music and art from the fringe, and these now permeate every aspect of his life. Oblivious to the conventional preoccupations that beset most 40-somethings, Leonarder and partner, Aspasia, run an underground cinema in which they screen films from their archive of unwanted or neglected titles from schlock horror to American 50s sex education genres while also playing hosts to the outsider community. The Sounds of Seduction, another shared venture, added an offbeat alternative to the Sydney club scene. The highlight here, however, is Leonarder's band, Mu Mesons, whose untamed stage antics bring new meaning to the word ?wild'. This is clever, visual filmmaking, where style craftily echoes subject. AUS 2002, D:Brendan Young,75 min., doc. Mon. 12.05. 22:15 Eiszeit 2 Wed. 14.05. 19:45 Eiszeit 1 |
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| Maangamizi -- The Ancient One | |
| Realizing a long burning desire, ASIRA (BarbaraO, Daughters of the Dust), an African American doctor journeys to Africa after securing an appointment with the National Institute of Psychiatric Medicine in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. What awaits Asira is beyond anything she had imagined, for her professional expertise has not prepared her for the mysteries and self doubts that confront her. Against a backdrop of ancestral spirits, Asira must battle sexism, intolerance, and jealousy from staff members at all levels. ODHIAMBO (Waigwa Wachira, Gorillas in the Mist), the "country doctor" whose practices are viewed skeptically among his own staff, is a former colleague of Asira. It is the ready communication in their relationship that breeds contempt and suspicion of Asira's every move. In the midst of the whirlwind are the patients, some maniacally insane, frightened and disturbed, but it is a very special patient, SAMEHE (Amandina Lihamba, The Marriage of Mariamu) who terrifies them all. Samehe has not spoken a word during her 20 years at the institution. Samehe and Asira begin a curious relationship confronting intangible elements both benevolent and malevolent. With Odhiambo's encouragement, Asira increasingly becomes deeply involved in Samehe's case. As Asira delves into Samehe's past, frightening images from her own dormant memory shadow her consciousness. In a dramatic reversal, Samehe then initiates Asira into a strange world of spirits where she finally meets MAANGAMIZI (Mwanajuma Ali Hassan), the Grandmother of all grandmothers. In an arduous journey from the dark and ancient forests lining the banks of the Mississippi to the plains and summits of Tanzania, Samehe and Asira discover a surprising, common bond which offers the hope of deliverance. MAANGAMIZI - THE ANCIENT ONE is a unique story that steps out to reclaim the spiritual connection that threads us together as a global community. The fated union of these two women from two different backgrounds and cultures - and yet united by terrifying memories - and the re-emergence of their independent and collective selves through the intervention of the ancestor - is a powerful meditation on the human psyche in its confrontation with a hostile world. Tansania 2001,D:Martin Mhando, Ron Mulvihill; C: Amandina Lihamba, BarbaraO , Mwanajuma Ali Hassan, 112 min., fiction Tue. 13.05. 19:30 Arsenal |
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| Mein kleines Kind - My Little One | |
| "Ultra sound examination in the middle of the pregnancy. The diagnosis: a complex malformation during the 21st week. The prognosis is very bad. 'You must make a decsision!' the doctor tells me. 'The immdeiate termination of the pregnancy is the common way.' This autobiographical documentation tells the story of existence, the birth and leave of my little son Tim, of personal wuestions and developments after the confrontation with the crushing diagnosis, and, mainly, deciding upon the life span of one of my children." (Katja Baumgarten) GER 2001; D: Katja Baumgarten and Gisela Tuchtenhagen; 88 min., doc So 11.05. 17:00 Arsenal |
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| Momente ausser Kontrolle - Moments out of Control | |
| One out of five people has at least one epileptical seizure during his or her life. Still fellow humans react with rejection towards these people, which creates a great problem. What is it like to lose control over one's self? Two men take different approaches mastering their illness; Marno, who accepts his disability as a part of himself and is willing to learn to live with her andMichael, who undergoes surgery to rid himself of his illness. Also, there is the question, how each experiences the loss of control and what it is like to witness a seizure. GER 2001;D:Katrin Huckfeldt; 47 min.; doc Sat. 10.05. 17:45 Eiszeit 1 |
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| My Flesh and Blood | |
| "My Flesh and Blood" is a documentary following Susan Tom of Fairfield, CA and her eleven adopted special needs chlidren. While a daughter without legs dates the most popular boy in school, and a child with severe burns becomes the top student in her class, one of Susan's children plans to destroy this happy family. Joe Tom, fifteen years old, battles with Cystic Fibrosis and Bipolar Disorder. After a devastating reunion with his biological parents, Joe turns his rage towards his "freaky" siblings, threatening to kill one of them. And when one child unexpectedly dies, "My Flesh and Blood" reveals how the Tom family draws strength from their struggles in what turns out to be the most tumultous year of their lives. This film won audience's prize at the Sundance-Filmfestivals 2003 . USA 2003; D:Jonathan Karsh,67 min.,doc. Sun. 11.05. 19:45 Eiszeit 1 Tue. 13.05. 18:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Focus Canada: OCD: The War Inside |
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| Co-directed by David Hoffert and Mark Pancer, OCD: The War Inside has been awarded a "Freddie" - the New York International Health and Medical Award, known as the Oscar® of health and medical film and television production - as well as a Silver Chris Award at the International Columbus Film and Video Festival. Pancer - who himself suffered from OCD - and Hoffert have documented the personal stories of individuals who fight to survive a war inside their minds. Andrew was an intelligent, athletic nine-year-old boy whose anxieties lead him to perform such bizarre acts as gnawing on dirty floors or sticking a knife down his throat. For Grace, a former fashion designer, medication no longer works. Her fears of contamination by touch have made her a prisoner in her own home and hospitalization has become an expected part of her future. An articulate and sensitive teenager, Tricia feels she has finally overcome OCD when it threatens to return to thwart her dreams of a normal life. She nevertheless remains hopeful and determined. Marvin, who developed OCD late in life, undergoes a rare and risky brain operation in an attempt to relieve the disorder. These are the faces of OCD. They don't look any different on the outside. But inside, a daily war is waged for survival CAN 2001; D: Mark Pancer und David Hoffert ; 57 min. Sat. 10.05. 20:15 Eiszeit 2 Tue. 13.05. 17:00 Arsenal |
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| Ouf of our Minds | |
| Mark Deans, Rita Halabarek and Sonia Teuben are full-time professional actors and writers with Geelong's Back to Back Theatre. Each of them has intellectual disabilities. Mark is a brilliant silent clown who worships the now-defunct Fitzroy Football Club. Every lunchtime at work he re-reads the script of the Blue Heelers episode he once appeared in. Rita is a diva, a sexy glamour-queen that inhabits a bizarre fantasy world of mermaids and monsters. She writes all her own lines at Back to Back and always likes to play the lead. Sonia ran away from home and a violent childhood at the age of seventeen. At about the same time she discovered she was gay. When Back to Back did a show with a puppet company for which each of the actors had to invent their own puppet, Sonia decided on a talking vagina. OUT OF OUR MINDS is an intimate character-study of Mark, Rita and Sonia, tracing the connections between their lives and their art, and following them as they rehearse their latest show, a huge outdoor spectacular performed on a football oval in Geelong. AUS 2001; D: David Carlin; C:Mark Deans, Rita Halabarek and Sonia Teuben; 65 min. Fri 09.05. 21:30 Kleisthaus Sat 10.05. 18:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Pansy & Ivy | |
| Pansy & Ivy is a documentary presenting the daily life of two disabled sisters, Soo-jung and Yun-jung. A 36-year-old Soo-jung falls in love with a man, but they soon break up. The end of their relation ship does not defeat her since she has already defeated a handicap from birth. Both sisters wish to have a child. They find the world a beautiful place and dream about love to come. This documentary is a powerful story about strength and optimism and it works to reshape perceptions about the handicap. KOR,2001,D: Kye Un-kyoung,60 min., doc. Tue 13.05. 20:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Paradox Lake | |
| Matt Wolf, a 25-year-old New Yorker, has a need for doing something meaningful with his life. After reading an add in a newspaper he volunteers to work for three weeks as a counselor on a summer camp for autistic children. Matt is in charge of Rob and Wayne, two boys from a Special Need Unit. They, like most of the other kids in the unit, can't speak. They communicate with the outside world in a way inexperienced counselors can't understand. Through patience and care Matt manages to get closer to his kids and be liked by them. That's not the case with Ernie. His rough and angry way of treating his charges leads him nowhere. He keeps provoking Matt who stands up in kids' defense. As the camp goes on Matt gets briefly involved with Rachel, an attractive counselor who takes care of a twelve-year-old camper Jessica. Jessica is probably the greatest fan of animal cartoons and fairy tales in the world. Her favorite activity is recreating stories she has observed using her huge collection of animal figurines. Matt notices that Jessica takes a particular interest in a toy wolf and a cat she hides in various parts of the camp. He suspects that Jessica tries to communicate something to him and decides to find out the meaning behind her game. He is not aware that uncovering Jessica's secret will ultimately uncover the big secret that lies deep within himself. POL/USA 2001; D: Przemyslaw Reut; C: Matt Wolff, Jessica Fuchs; 85 Min. Thurs. 8.05. 22:00 Eiszeit 1 Fri. 09.05. 19:30 Arsenal |
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| Reise zu den Walen - The Voyage to the Whales | |
| Fifteen-year-old Andreas has cancer. His life consists of worries, therapies and doctors. But Andreas has dreams. He dreams of whales, their singing and their free lives in the wide oceans. He especially longs for Keiko, the whale also known as "Free Willy." The Organisation "Herzens-Wünsche e.V." that tries to fulfill severely ill childrens' wishes, arranges a trip to Iceland, where Keiko is being prepared for a life in the wilderness. These will be Andreas' most pleasant days. GER 2002; D: Ulrike Franke and Michael Loeken; 75 min.; doc. Fri. 09.05. 20:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Revolution #9 | |
| Revolution #9 is a psychological thriller examining the mental breakdown of Jackson (Michael Risley), a young man living in New York City, who imagines himself the victim of an overwhelming sensory attack by corporate media. After tracing these influences to a television commercial, he begins to seek out its unsuspecting director (Spalding Gray). Posing as a reporter for a film journal, Jackson prepares for what becomes a disturbing face-to-face confrontation. Meanwhile, Jackson's fiance (Adrienne Shelley) desperately attempts to get him treatment, but becomes entangled and frustrated by the Kafka-esque workings of the mental health care system. As her relationship strains, her simple common decency is second guessed by those around her. Revolution #9 explores the medical and social aspects of schizophrenia, a victim's peculiar obsession with our alienating corporate culture, and the legal maze towards treatment through a story that is harrowing and tragic. USA 2002,D:Tim McCann,90 min.,fiction Mon. 12.05. 19:30 Arsenal Wed. 14.05. 22:00 Eiszeit 1 |
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| Rush 2 | |
| Rush is the story of a group of friends struggling to make sense of their lives. Adam, Troy, Kelly, Maya, Nicky and Mel are deaf . When we first meet them in Rush 1, they are students in a mainstream college, working hard, playing hard, and making tough choices. Rush follows each of them on a different journey as they try to live for the present, and fight for a future. It explores some of the choices which confront them: between success and failure; between a career, a job, or no job at all; between the deaf and hearing worlds, between social isolation and a sense of belonging. Distinctive and original, the three Rush dramas tell stories of friendship, identity, secrets and lies, love and losing it. GB,2002,D: Ray Harrison Graham,76 min.,fiction Sun 11.05. 22:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Sorry, No Vacancies | |
| A "bed & breakfast" hotel in London with hundred bedrooms and a sign on the front door: " No Vacancies". Two words enough to identify an hotel for "council people" -euphemism for refugees, homeless people, mentally disturbed and others who have their accommodation paid and arranged by the local Council while they do not have a permanent place to live. One hotel but different worlds: they are from Afghanistan, Ecuador, Pakistan or Scotland, they lived on streets, had their family killed in their country or suffered from post-traumatic disorders, they are muslim, catholic or hinduist, some don't speak a word of English, others have been brought up in England, they are in "hotels" since 2 weeks, 7 months or 5 years, their names are Saeed, Monica, Riad or Denise. Shot over a period of three months "Sorry, no vacancies" is a film about a closed and transitional universe in which eight residents try to re-organise "their world" having little in common except a painful past. A production of the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen Konrad Wolf, Potsdam-Babelsberg. CH/D 2002; D: Marie-Jeanne Urech; 63 min., doc. Sat. 10.05. 22:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Spiegelgrund | |
| Former victims of children's senatorium ?Am Spiegelgrund" and their friends and relatives give an insight to the traumatic experiences that still hav influence on their lives today. The film makers consciesly only portray four people, to enable the audience to establish a relationship to the person. Furthermore, experts give insight into the historical medical context. Among the mentioned experts are Elisabeth Brainin, psychiatrist and neurologist, Wolfgang Neugebauer, director of the documentation archive of the Austrian resistance, and Dr. Werner Vogt, who was impeached by Heinrich Gross in 1979 for insult, but was found not guilty. AUT 2000; D: Angelika Schuster, Tristan Sindelgruber; 71 min., doc. Fri. 09.05. 18:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Triste e arrabiato - la storia di marian - Sad and Angry - The Story of Marian | |
| Marian is a sixteen-year-old boy from Rumania. When he was six he accidentally swallowed some caustic soda, which burnt his esophagus and pharynx. Ever since then his life has been a torment, in and out of operating rooms. He eats by means of a small tube that has been implanted in his stomach and breathes thanks to a cannula. His voice is a whisper because his vocal cords were damaged during an operation. Marian has arrived in the Italian part of Switzerland to see if the hospitals there can make his dream come true: he would like to live a fairly normal life. "I imagined Marian as a sort of large, surly adolescent, physically weakened by these last terrible years. Instead, a child who barely looked ten years old appeared before me, one meter ten centimeters tall, weighing thirty kilos. He didn't grow like other children his age, he remained small and frail. He smiles: he seems ready to face a new and decisive challenge" (M. Beltrami). I/CH,2002; D: Michael Beltrami; 87 min.; Doc. Mon. 12.05. 18:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Un ?ora sola ti vorrei - For One more Hour with You | |
| For many years, the scraps Alina Marazzi wove into an intensive collage, were hidden in her grandmother's closet. A forgotten family secret: pictures and films of the family, journal entries and letters, and hospital reports of her mother. Marazzi uses this material to recreate a pictures of this beautiful, young, Milano high society woman her mother used to be, but whom she never really knew. When Alina was seven years old, her mother, thirty-three, commit suicide, as a result of years of suffering from severe depresion. With her impressive visual reminiscence, Marazzi has not only filled a blank in her own story, but has also captured a gripping portrait of a depression that even captivates the stranger's attention. I 2002; D: Alina Marazzi; 65 min.; doc. Thurs. 08.05. 22:15 Eiszeit 2 Fri. 09.05. 19:30 Kleisthaus |
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| Utopia Blues | |
| The story of a young man who refuses to give in to society's rules of the game. All or nothing! Nothing inbetween. His dream: becoming famous with his music. To realize his utopia, eighteen-year-old Rafael Hasler, does anything that seems necessary to him, regardless the consequences. But his dreams and desisres overcome him and he goes too far: total rebellion against societal norms. "Our society takes its toll from young adults these days. The problems are clear: the loss of freedeom, the increasing consumption quality of society, unemployment. The loss of faith in life, Aids etc. Those who are not able or willing to conform with society's norms, go under. Many of which land in psychiatric institutions. As the doctors draw a clear line between sane and insane, they often forget that all healthiness, contains unhealthiness and that part of insanity, is sanity. Equally ignored is psychiatric Ronald D. Laing's statement, that 'Illnesses can be a healthy result of unhealthy circumstances.'" (Stefan Haupt) CH,2001; D: Stefan Haupt; C: Michael Finger, Tino Ulrich, Babett Arens; 90 min.; fiction Tues. 13.05. 19:45 Eiszeit 1 Wed. 15.05. 17:00 Arsenal |
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| Waan - Delusion | |
| This is a beautiful, clear-eyed and tender film about schizophrenia. It follows two young Dutch men over a period of six months and is as full of daylight and colour as Cronenberg's new Spider is dark and dank. Years ago, Reiner listened to the music of Jon & Vangelis and heard a female voice in the music. He asked the voice to come into his body. Now 27 years old, Reiner can't get rid of her; he's tried everything, but she refuses to budge from her lodgings deep inside his gut. Twenty-six-year-old Carlos cannot separate reality from fantasy. Every day he sits at his typewriter and bangs out a few film scenes, and then sends them off to the film companies. He finds his inspiration in meetings and the innumerable gangster moves he has seen over the years. In Delusion, one of Carlos' film scripts has got the green light... Award-winning documentary filmmaker Boudewijn Koole brings a rare sensitivity to his exposition of the interior and external worlds of these two thoroughly engaging, and relatively high-functioning, schizophrenics. One has to ask whether our support system would serve them so well. As the film's closing quote allows them to drive home: "I don't mind being mad. I do mind being called mad." This is something we can probably all relate to in our own way, and the Dutch clarity of light and form on view here allows us to feel for the demons of delusion while doing a great service in demystifying a malaise that haunts our streets and dreams. NL 2002; D: Boudewijn Koole 50 min. Tues. 13.05. 22:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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| Weightless | |
| The documentarist Sigve Endresen portrays the singer Kari Iverland's recording process and journey towards a finished album. Through her lyrics, we get an insight into the existential unrest she has felt throughout her life. This is further elaborated upon in meetings with Kari's parents, and with the doctor that treated her in a phase of her life when she stopped eating and thus almost chose death. As the child of two missionaries who are working to improve an unjust world, she paradoxically became a victim. This is heart-breaking, but still heart-warming film. Once and again, the humanist Sigve Endresen proofs his unsurpassable skills as a documentarist. Kari Iverland's trust is never abused, and the film lifts her experiences away from personal events and to universal level. NOR 2002, D:Sigve Endresen,75 min., doc. Thurs. 08.05. 17:45 Eiszeit 1 Mon. 12.05. 20:15 Eiszeit 2 |
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