Interview | Seite 2 | Freie Generation Reporter:innen

20Feb.

The art of creating change

An interview with Rima Das. Generation has the tendency to pull film makers back to Berlin again and again over the years. Sometimes it is for a second film, often they come back as part of the International Jury. For Rima Das it is already her third visit at Berlinale. After presenting her feature film Bulbul Can Sing (review) in the 2019 Generation program and returning as part of the International Jury in 2020, she is now showing her most recent feature film Village Rockstars 2 (review) in the 14Plus competition. The day after the European premier, Liv and I sit down with her and leading actress Bhanita Das at Berlinale Palast for an extended chat. In 2019 Liv and Carlotta already had the pleasure to interview her about Bulbul Can Sing (read here) and it’s a heartfelt reunion on ...

21Feb.

Von JohannaNo comments

Interview

Taking the Berlinale’s hearts by storm

After an incredible premiere of Young Hearts by Anthony Schatteman I can’t help but want to speak to Anthony about his debut feature film. We meet at Berlinale Palast for an interview about Young Hearts and his experience at Berlinale so far. fGR: You’ve lived in Berlin before, but this is your first time at Berlinale presenting your own film. Do you have a favourite interaction so far or did you experience something particularly surprising? Anthony Schatteman: Today we showed the film to a very young audience for the first time. At the premiere on Saturday we had a few kids, but today it was a room full of schools. That scared me a bit, but the response was really good. At first I thought that maybe the children just like to clap, but during the Q&A so many of them came to the mic...

26März

Von Liv ThastumNo comments

Interview

Erinnerungen an Wüsten

Ein Rückblick auf die Berlinale 2023. Heute vor einem Monat war der letzte Tag der 73. Berlinale. Ich sitze auf dem kleinen Balkon eines Hotelzimmers in der Nähe von Zagora im Süden Marokkos. Das Mittagsgebet hallt kratzig durch die Lautsprecher des Minaretts und wird von den umliegenden Bergen zurückgeworfen. Ich blicke auf die Hauptstraße und den dahinter liegenden riesigen Palmenhain, der sich entlang des Wadi Draa Flusses bis zu den angrenzenden Bergen und der dahinter liegenden Erg Chigaga Wüste erstreckt. Die Sonne scheint erbarmungslos auf die ausgetrocknete Landschaft - die Berlinale und dieser kalte Februar könnte sich nicht weiter entfernt anfühlen. Also was ist da noch in meinem Kopf von der diesjährigen Berlinale? Was hat sich da festgesetzt und will auch keinen Platz mach...

28Feb.

Von JohannaNo comments

Interview

Welcome to Country

It’s Thursday afternoon, two days before the Generation Kplus award ceremony. Jub Clerc (director of Sweet As) takes some time out of her day to talk to Konstantin and me about her debut feature film that captures the coming-of-age experience of an Indigenous girl called Murra. Freie Generation Reporter:innen: Congratulations on your debut feature film. How does it feel? Jub Clerc: *jokes* It’s no big deal! But in all honesty – Berlinale is like the Mecca for filmmakers, you just want to get here. There are a couple of festivals around the world, that everyone wants to get their film to. So when we heard we got into Berlinale it was the best news and we are so happy to be here. And the audiences are incredible. I never imagined that it would translate so well over here. But something is h...

„I stopped believing in the power of cinema“

24Feb.

Von KonstantinNo comments

Interview

„I stopped believing in the power of cinema“

"My ne zgasnemo (We Will Not Fade Away)" is the new documentary of award-winning Ukrainian director Alisa Kovalenko and premiered at the Berlinale 2023 in the Generation 14+ section. Her film closely follows the lives of five teenagers in the embattled Donbass region just before the Russian invasion in February 2022. © Alisa Kovalenko Freie Generationen Reporter:innen: Alisa, after the Russian invasion, you decided to join the armed forces of Ukraine and fight at the frontline. When and why did you decide to go back to working on your documentary? Alisa Kovalenko (Director): After the Russian invasion, I stopped believing in the power of cinema. I felt useless as a documentary directory. My entire system collapsed, and I felt like I needed to ...

23Feb.

Von SarahNo comments

Interview

A Call for Media Literacy

Monday afternoon in the lounge area at Urania. In the cinema hall I can hear people clapping and cheering. Any minute now and I will meet Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck, the two directors of the film “And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine”. It’s their first feature-length film with its world premiere at Sundance where it already received the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision. In their documentary they tell their story about the invention of the camera, how it has become a mass medium used by everyone while showing up both its potential as well as its downsides. On Sunday the film had its European premiere here at the Berlinale, today it is shown in front of a younger audience. After the Q&A which was open to the audience the two men take some time to sit down wit...

21Feb.

Von KonstantinNo comments

Interview

Only love can create freedom

"Le paradis (The Lost Boys)" is the feature debut of the Belgian director Zeno Graton, which premiered at the Berlinale 2023 in the Generation 14+ section. It's a rainy morning in Berlin when he and his two leading actors, Khalil Gharbia (Joe) and Julien de Saint Jean (William), enter the press lounge of the Berlinale Palace. Freie Generationen Reporter:innen: Mr. Graton, what is freedom to you? Zeno Graton (Director): Well, the thing about freedom, I tried to portray was, a form of freedom that is not linked to the physical freedom. Joe (Khalil Gharbia) for example, is going to get released, live in his own apartment, have his own job, but that is not freedom to him. He is looking for something else. He looks for a bond and what I tried to convey with this movie, was that only love c...

“Once you leave you can never go back to who you were as a child” – Im Gespräch mit der Regisseurin Venice Atienza von “Last Days At Sea”

19Juni

Von SarahNo comments

Interview

“Once you leave you can never go back to who you were as a child” – Im Gespräch mit der Regisseurin Venice Atienza von “Last Days At Sea”

Am Mittwochvormittag durfte ich mit der philippinischen Regisseurin Venice Atienza über Zoom sprechen, deren Dokumentarfilm “Last Days at Sea” im diesjährigen Berlinaleprogramm gezeigt wird. Es entspann sich ein inspirierendes Gespräch über ihre empatische Art, Filme zu drehen und was es heißt, sich auf der Leinwand als Regisseurin vulnerabel zu zeigen. fGR: Would you like to introduce yourself shortly? My name is Venice Atienza. I initially studied cinema, but before that I actually wanted to be a chef. One day, when I was 16 or 17 years old, I was watching a Korean drama and I asked my mother: “What job makes people feel things?” and she replied by asking me “Why don’t you become a film maker?”. After applying for the second time I finally got into film school. I really always kn...

“Because movies and art can be dreamlike” – Interview with Dash Shaw

13Juni

Von Anna-FaridaNo comments

Interview

“Because movies and art can be dreamlike” – Interview with Dash Shaw

Interview about the film CryptozooThe open-air cinema Rehberge is filling up more and more. The director of the film "Cryptozoo" Dash Shaw is invited on stage to receive the honorable mention for the best feature film from the international jury. After he says a few words about his film and leaves the stage, it gets quiet and the film starts. We walk out of the film with Dash Shaw to ask him a few questions: fGR (free generation reporter): The whole movie is really incredibly special animated. So first of all, I wanted to ask how was the process of the animation? Dash Shaw (director): It was first storyboarded. So then the storyboards kind of become the division of labor of how everything is organized. And then there's a casting process of casting different artists to do different backgrou...

A Strong Female Voice From Iran – Eine kleine Begegnung inmitten des hektischen Berlinalealltags

14März

Von SarahNo comments

Interview

A Strong Female Voice From Iran – Eine kleine Begegnung inmitten des hektischen Berlinalealltags

Als ich die Berlinale Lounge für mein Interview mit Massoud Bakhshi, dem Regisseur von „Yalda, la nuit du pardon“, betrete, werde ich herzlich von der PR-Vertreterin Marie-France in Empfang genommen. Sie fragt mich, ob ich Lust hätte, anschließend noch mit einer der Schauspielerinnen des Films zu sprechen. Da ich mich sehr dafür interessiere, wie die Schauspielerinnen diesen im Iran stark kritisierten Film wahrnehmen und ob sie dafür Risiken auf sich nehmen mussten, freue ich mich sehr über dieses Angebot.Nach dem Roundtable Interview mit dem Regisseur werde ich also von Marie-France zu der Schauspielerin geleitet. Schon während ich Platz nehme, frage ich mich, wer genau sie eigentlich ist. Sie hat recht kurze braune Haare, trägt roten Lippenstift, ihr Lidstrich glitzert silbern und sie tr...