Once again the Anamorphic Club Cafe opened for two days during the Berlinale. A place to meet and greet filmmakers while looking over the filmmaking goods from Sony cameras, Hawk lens and Vantage Films. Directors, producers and cinematographers came together for chats and seminars on the latest filmmaking trends.
@blackandpaper A bit of classical with the Berlinale event at the Anamorphic Club Cafe by Sony, Vantage Films and Hawk Lens #filmfestival #berlinale #pianomusic #filmmakers #piano
♬ original sound – Blackandpaper – Blackandpaper
For this episode of Chat Cinema we talk about the Berlinale. The 75th edition starts February 13th. Has the film gathering event turned a major corner with a new head? The Honeymoon period was pleasant. Now comes the hard part. Turning the Berlin gathering into a true “A-List” festival.
But, beneath the mixed headlines, we also found some gems that will screen over the course of ten days.
Check out the podcast with co-host Steven Yates.
Berlinale press team sent me the location of the press conference, my eyes rolled. House of the Cultures of the World. A 1957 building straddling the Spree River in the Tiergarten section of the city. The symbolism of the location is not lost. After all the controversial headlines, the festival needed to prove point of being open to all. The problem is getting to this symbol of universal openness. Indian Jones would need patience this locale is inside the city, yet in a remote place not easily reached. I needed to take the U5 to the nearest Metro Station, Bundestag, then another eight-minute walk in -2C weather. After talking to other colleagues, we decided to watch the YouTube stream then discuss the details afterward. The reactions, The Berlinale has solidified its place as a second-tier festival.
This has been a cold January in the German Capital. Tricia Tuttle came out on stage wearing a jacket. Was this for warmth or protection? As the newly installed head of the Berlinale spoke in a clear but at times flatness enthusiasm. The jacket could have been more a security blanket. As the newly creative head read from cards, her lack of fervor became clear.
The team placed a best foot forward, going down the list of films on the scheduled to show in February. Normally before a film festival the buzz is built by press leaks of works that will unspool. The only news from Berlin concerned last year’s controversial anti-semitic row, budget cuts this year, threatened boycotts and then the sudden increased funding from the Ministry of Culture. Keeping track of a tennis ball would have been easier than staying up to date on news coming from Potsdamer Platz.
If there were high expectations, a breath of fresh air for the 75th edition of the Berlinale, the audience’s reaction sucked the air out of the room. The timid, almost chilly polite applause did not need explanation. Instead of something new, the festival was merely repackaging an average grade product. The Competition Section has a Richard Linklater work in the batch among the nineteen films in the run for the Golden Bear.
On the small-scale glamour front, the Special Section will include A Complete Unknown with Timothee Chalamet for a German Premiere and Robert Pattison in Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 will hit the Red Carpet. Other stars confirmed to attend are Jessica Chastain with more to be announced. Perhaps the pleas for more big stars to come only reached the Junk Mailbox.
The Berlinale continues to say “It is one of the big festivals” alongside Cannes and Venice in relevance It is time to stop believing the press releases. For Tricia Tuttle, the honeymoon period is over.
The Berlinale starts Feb 13th.
Croat Director Nebojša Slijepčević lifter a page from a tragic event in his region’s history for the the short film “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent“. The story of a train ride that turned into courage and loss during The 90’s Balkan War. This Chat Cinema Podcast talks to the Cannes Film Festival Palm d’ Or winner about the circumstances and speaking out in the face of brutality.
From the Tribeca Film Festival there were more titles screening on the subjects of music and Climate Change.
Saddled with the description “Too Black, Too Fat,” this label would shadow the acclaimed singer for his entire career.
Drew Porter pulls back the sparkling curtain, presenting a story of a singer whose zig zag rise to stardom did not come at a price, more from a silent suffering. Using archival footage with interviews from close friends, the documentary peels away the layers of Vandross move from a New York back-up singer ton the kids show Sesame Street, working with David Bowie and Bette Midler to becoming the top voice of RnB music. Luther: Never Too Much will inspire many to investigate Spotify.
After listening to the opening musical beats, I was hooked on yet another musical themed documentary. Anyone on the Spanish Isle of Ibiza during the summer knows Carl Craig. Form a set at one of the massive Beach Disco locales. The Detroit born techno music maestro is the center of Desire: The Carl Craig Story. As a major figure in the Motor City Music scene the DJ and director Jean-Cosme Delaloye embark on a personal trip beginning in industrial ruins to the global party going capitals.
Slave Play. Not A Movie. A Play is one of those works with the subtlety of a 10lb brick in the face. Jeremy O. Harris goes behind the curtain to show the word his process for creating his controversial sexually charged Tony Nominated drama Slave Play. Many writers are great manipulators, able to play with emotions with a naughty wordsmith veneer. Many will have a problem dramatising a 280-year-old tragedy being reduced to carnal fetish. On the other hand, some will praise Harris’s vision. The world would be a boring place if everyone had the opinion.
The continued drought in Kenya is causing havoc on communities. Last year I screened a film on the violence caused by lack of water for farmers. This year another entry came on my screen, Searching for Amani. Once again, it is a story involving conflict over scare resources. Nicole Gormley and Debra Arko’s camera accompany a minor’s journey to understanding the reason for his father’s murder while trying to understand the fast-changing world around him.
There is a part of Nairobi Kenya where the raw Earth is no longer visible. The area is covered with fabric strips from discarded clothing dumped by global clothing brands in the capital neighbourhood. This shocking scene encapsulates fashions footprint on the environment. Japanese fashion designer Yuima Nakazato traveled to the African nation to see the piles of excess clothing waste. Kossai Sekine’s makes an environmental statement on how Climate Change consequences have been compartmentalized by consumers and the fashion business in his film Dust to Dust.
Tribeca Film Festival ran from June 6th to 16th.
The Berlinale must have a deal with Airbnb. Another creative head is relocating to Berlin, the fourth in five years. After the September shock resignation of Chatrian, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth announced she and a replacement committee would actively seek one artistic head instead of a duo team. Minister Roth felt the festival needed a new direction after years of going to the principle office soberness. Finally, the recognition a sweeping overhaul was needed. After a long wait, I feel vindicated.
Tricia Tuttle takes charge of the film festival this spring from outgoing head Carlo Chatrian. The American born fest organiser ran the BFI London Film Festival.
This begs the question, why did the Berlinale have two heads? At the 2019 announcement, the team had the chemistry of a vegan touring a McDonald’s Burger Patty factory. In Carlo and Mariette’s defence, the two inherited a film festival in steep decline, with a resistant to change thin skinned staff structure, then the Covid Pandemic hit, not ideal situations for even the most seasoned leaders. Carlo headed the creative side, his cinema views veered more toward art house, shunning the glamour, while Mariette, a Berlin insider, would handle the admin tasks. Rissenbeek jumped in March 2023. The behind the scenes drama of the Berlinale have overshadowed the festival itself.
After budget cut announcements, fewer films, the writing was on the wall. Chatrian’s resignation, or should we say, “knifed in the stomach”, triggered a petition signing from global filmmakers lead by Martin Scorsese requesting a reversal of his decision to leave.
As a former attendee, I was to be placed me on a “no go” list for my, now proven right, 2019 Berlinale critiques. I thought major change was warranted at the February film affair. This was a festival basking in its own high-minded pretensions, yet had fallen behind both bigger and smaller cinema gatherings. The size of the festival emphasised quantity, screening up or over 300 or more films in different sections, at the expense of quality.
Berlin has never been a service friendly city. The city has been called “A service desert”. The festival lives up to this reputation. In comparison to other festivals, cinema curating was never a strong point in the German Capital. Forget about asking the Berlinale coordinators about the films showing, they were too busy telling everyone how busy they were. The way to learn if a good film was unspooling: 1. Fest gossip 2. Insider trading 3. A compass.
Tricia could be a much needed shot in the arm for the Berlinale. The powers in Germany decided on her because they want a festival on par with Cannes and Venice. Tuttle has a more commercial sense regarding cinema and certainly with a loaded rolodex of names to the creative world. Her approach will be different than the past on how to organize a cinema gathering, perhaps leaner, more glitz. However, she will have to overcome organisational challenges in trying to revive the fortunes of an increasing less relevant film festival.
The saying “Hope is the last thing ever lost.”
The 74th edition of the BERLINALE starts February 15th, 2024.
Fame is a cheap commodity in the social media world. The lust for for followers has corroded the lines of behavior. Chasing likes is a pluto treasure hunt in the digital world.
Director, actor and producer Hugo Becker shows the self-destructive side of bargain basement celebrity with his Oscar qualifying short film MUKBANGER.
A Black and Paper interview with Hugo Becker.
Why do you think people are obsessed and willing to be mocked and to risk life and death for Social Media celebrity or fame?
I do not believe this starts like that, from one day to the other. It is a long and sad process. What I try to demonstrate in the movie is that it usually starts in a very genuine and naive approach. People who end up making these type of videos had no clue they would end up doing this when they were starting doing videos as teenagers. That is why it is much more dangerous than we think. It is not only for other people, some very balanced individuals sometimes fall into this downward spiral. It is the same type of addiction and vicious circle you find in drugs or porn. And I am not only talking about the creators, but also the viewers.
Is Mukbanger a class or socio-economic issue commentary?
Money is part of the issue, for sure, for some people. But not the main reason. Love and attention are. Otherwise they would do something else I think, because there are many bad ways to make easy money. The real reasons of people getting involved in MUKBANG are I believe the quest of recognition at all costs, the loneliness, the lack of love and existential issues.
And of course the social networks and some algorithms, because let’s face it, they provoke and accelerate this downward spiral. Because they push you more and more in the same environment, leaving you in a kind of mental cage. In which the definition of success is to be viewed, to be followed. To exist. As much as possible. No matter the cost. When success actually should be about achieving something that makes sense, about helping people around you, about fighting for your ideas, trying to improve the world around you.
France is a country and culture renowned for cuisine, you are a Frenchman, in the movie those images are poles apart. Please explain?
Well, there is art cuisine and Food porn. These are two very different things. I did a series called Chefs as an actor, and we were lucky enough to be taught by great French Chefs like David Toutain, and Thierry Marx. Thanks to them, I learned that art cuisine is about creating something beautiful, supposed to make you feel good, to enlighten your day, to make you travel in your head, while learning a whole new taste universe that you might not know.
The other, Mukbang, is not about food really, it is about putting your physical health in danger with random and bad products, in a huge and absurd quantity, it is about damaging yourself, your body and in the long run your mental health. And that is what probably fascinates and/or reassures people watching. Not about the food they eat in reality. The first time I learned about Mukbang, and watched a documentary about it, I did not eat for two days. Not only because of the food, but because I could not believe it was a real phenomenon watched by millions of people. And when I realized it was actually real, and not science-fiction, I was terrified that we already got to that point… As if the tv show in the movie Requiem for a dream was actually really broadcasted on Fox.
There is a slippery slope of good guy/bad guy in the film, explain.
My intention was clearly not to point out one person responsible for the whole thing. But on the opposite, I strongly believe that all of them share a responsibility at their level. Like we all do on many subjects. Of course, everyone in its own way, and at a different level of responsibility. But is Mika naive and innocent? No. Is his manager protecting him like he should? No. Is the broadcaster supposed to let them do this? Probably not. Are people supposed to watch things like that and encourage the creation of such videos ? Clearly not. Can the family have a good and or bad influence over it? Yes, but sometimes we unfortunately do not even realize how our reactions, and choices can affect and have consequences for other people around us. So, question is, once we know, what do we do about it? What is the limit?
What was the cinematography influence?
So many geniuses. So many people I admire. Complicated to say. Of course, I am an unconditional fan of Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Milos Forman, Agnès Varda, Darren Aronofsky, Joachim Trier… I have always been impressed of the way they manage to put you in the shoes of the character so that you feel like him and you understand his weirdest behavior without explanations.
For that film, Mukbanger, I wanted the audience to feel trapped inside, like him. Looking for a way out, trying to escape. That is why I used this format 4:3, and I made these frame choices of Mika literally eating the frame. In the meantime, it had to be moving and interacting all the time so you never get a chance to stop and think, like him, you just go on, because you want see further, you want to know how it ends, you are addicted.
I also somehow wanted the audience at the end of the film to understand that they actually are in the position of the viewers, the “voyeurs”, and to understand how addictive this can be for anyone. And thus why we have to be extremely careful, especially for the younger generation. Because this addiction is part of us… you want more ? Well, this is human nature, most of us if not all of us do unfortunately. All right then, but therefore it is urgent that we help people focus on the interesting, on the beautiful, on the things that are greater than us. Talk about ideas, about how to improve things, and not waste time watching people wasting their own life Mukbanging.
To me, this phenomenon is like an alarm, it is really the metaphor of human nature over-consuming and choosing the wrong path. This movie is a small attempt to stop it.
Chat Cinema talks to director Turan Haste about his Oscar Qualifying short film THE MOISTURE. The Venice Film Festival entry is a story of challenging relationships for a teacher in a remote Turkish village.
The Chat Cinema Podcast talks to Director Mike Donahue about his Academy Awards 2023 qualifying short live action film. Mike’s film TROY is the story of an intimate relationship, albeit, one sided through a thin wall. Tea and Charlie live in a New York City apartment next to fellow tenant Troy, a man with a “busy” urban life.
I have no pleasure in Carlo Chatrian’s abrupt departure. The Swiss native is a cinema enthusiasts. During my interview with the former Locarno Film Festival head, I found him to be engaging, positive and passionate about the cinematic art form. After taking the helm in Berlin in 2020 following the departure of Kosslick, Carlo seemed a right fit to elevate the event into the same leagues as the Cannes and Venice fests. Skeptical thoughts came to my mind cause of Chatrian’s intellectual demeanour. The German capital’s institutions are not known for easy change especially headed by outsiders. After having my accreditation rejected cause of the Chat Cinema Podcast critiquing the Berlinale, this is an organisation resistant to even listening. Now, I feel vindicated.
As I was attending an event on Saturday September 2nd, suddenly a push notification came on my phone, “Resignation” at the Berlinale. Another one! Following Mariette Rissenbeek’s earlier exit, the dual in charge of one of the world’s biggest film festival checked out. Statements have been flying from the Ministry of Culture about only wanting one creative head.
With his contract over in 2024, the search is on for a new creative director. The Berlinale will continue, the question is who would want to head the February Festival?